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What was the first English monastery to be sacked by the Norsemen | "The Wrath of the Northmen": The Vikings and their Memory
"The Wrath of the Northmen": The Vikings and their Memory
by Christina von Nolcken
ou won't be surprised that the Vikings were normally viewed by those they came up against in a markedly negative light. Certainly this was true in England, the area most of our early records come from, and the one I am most familiar with. Indeed, the story of the Vikings is usually taken--and not just by English historians--as starting and ending with events in England. The end is often considered to be the 1066 invasion of England by the Normans (originally Vikings themselves who had settled in northern France and adopted the language they found there), though Viking-type raids continued, especially in the Scottish islands, until about the end of the twelfth century.
The beginning of the Vikings' recorded story--which coincides with the beginning of recorded history for Norway--is usually marked by a Viking raid on a northern English monastery in 793. But 793 wasn't quite the first time the Vikings had caused trouble in England. Here is the entry for 787 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a work only compiled some century later, though it does seem to have used earlier written sources.
787 [789]. In this year [ . . .] came first three ships of Norwegians from Hørthaland [around Hardanger Fjord]: and then the reeve rode thither and tried to compel them to go to the royal manor, for he did not know what they were: and then they slew him. These were the first ships of the Danes to come to England. (Garmonsway, 55)
What is so striking is the total unexpectedness of this happening. The reeve had expected to find peaceful traders who would take their goods to the royal residence, as was customary. And what he got was people who lived by totally different rules.
The event provides a fitting overture for the even more shocking raid in 793. Here is the relevant part of the Chronicle entry for that year:
In this year terrible portents appeared over Northumbria, and miserably frightened the inhabitants: these were exceptional flashes of lightning, and fiery dragons were seen flying in the air. A great famine soon followed these signs; and a little after that in the same year on 8 [June] the harrying of the heathen miserably destroyed God's church in Lindisfarne by rapine and slaughter. (Garmonsway, 55, 57)
It is an event that terrorized the whole of the Western Christian world. This is what one Englishman (Alcuin of York) had to say about it at the time:
Lo, it is nearly 350 years that we and our fathers have inhabited this most lovely land, and never before has such terror appeared in Britain as we have now suffered from a pagan race, nor was it thought that such an inroad from the sea could be made. Behold the church of St. Cuthbert spattered with the blood of the priests of God, despoiled of all its ornaments; a place more venerable than all in Britain is given as a prey to pagan peoples. [. . .] What should be expected for other places, when the divine judgment has not spared this holy place? (Loyn, 55-6)
Well, what could they expect apart from a lot of trouble?
The reach of the raids
These raiding peoples emerge out of all three Scandinavian homelands--Norway, Sweden, and Denmark--sending off their young men all over the known world in search of wealth and prestige.
The Norwegians kept pushing west, sometimes merely raiding, sometimes also setting up settlements, to the Scottish islands, to Ireland (Dublin was founded as a base particularly for slave trading in 841), to northern England. They occupied the Faeroe Islands (825), Iceland (ca. 870-930), and parts of Greenland (ca. 985), finally setting up outposts also in America (ca. 1000). They pushed south through England, into France, down to the Mediterranean.
The Danes expanded westwards along the North Sea coast toward France. They fanned out within France--Paris was sacked in 845 and again in the 860s--and went south to raid in Spain. Pressing through the straits of Gibraltar and into the Mediterranean, they sacked Luna, a small town in northern Italy, apparently thinking it was Rome (860). They almost completely took over England in the ninth century (with a bit of help from the Norwegians) and, in a later wave of invasion, they provided England's kings from 1013-1035: Swein Forkbeard, Harald II and Cnut.
The Swedes traded and colonized around the Baltic. They sailed up Russia's rivers and became the first rulers of the Kievan Russian state. They made their way to Constantinople and the Orient. They served as the bodyguards of the Byzantine emperors.
And they certainly did not do all these things without terrorizing a lot of people. As Priit J. Vesilind put it in his "In Search of Vikings" in the May 2000 issue of National Geographic, "In a casually brutal age Vikings were simply better brutes" (Vesilind, 10-11).
The English might not have agreed with Vesilind's assessment of the age, but they would have agreed with him about the Vikings. Following those traumatizing early raids there was a lull for about a generation. But then there were two further waves of attack. The first involved large groups of Danes coming sometimes for loot but also very often to settle in England's green and pleasant land. By the end of the ninth century it seemed they would take over the whole country. The tide was finally turned by King Alfred and his successors, but then there was a second major wave of attacks, heralded by a terse entry in the Chronicle under 981: "In this year for the first time seven ships came and ravaged Southampton" (Garmonsway, 125). And then the English paid, and paid, and paid to try to keep the invaders from laying waste the country--and still they were often plundered.
Unfortunately, the English made some very serious mistakes in this later period. In 1002 they indulged in what looks like a stupid effort at ethnic cleansing:
1002. In this year the king and his councillors decided to pay tribute to the fleet and to make peace, on condition they ceased from their evil deeds. [. . .] This was accepted and they were paid twenty-four thousand pounds. Then [. . .] in the same year the king gave orders for all the Danish people who were in England to be slain on St. Brice's day [13 November], because the king had been told that they wished to deprive him of his life by treachery, and all his councillors after him, and then seize his kingdom. (Garmonsway, 133-5)
Among those slain was the sister of Swein Forkbeard, king of Denmark. The act provoked Swein to an orgy of revenge that reached its climax in 1011--at least according to our monastic chronicler--when the Vikings plundered Canterbury and seized all those in holy orders, including the archbishop Ǽlfhere. The following year they martyred him:
1012. Then on the Saturday the host became greatly incensed against the bishop, because he was not willing to offer them any money, and forbade any ransom to be given for him. Moreover they were very drunk, for wine had been brought to them from the south. Then they took the bishop, and led him to their tribunal, on Saturday evening, within the octave of Easter [19 April], and pelted him to death with bones and the heads of cattle; and one of them smote him on the skull with the iron [head] of an axe, so that with the blow he sank down and his holy blood fell upon the earth, and his holy soul was sent forth to God's kingdom. (Garmonsway, 142)
It seemed to the English that the world was coming to an end.
Picturing the Vikings
The English weren't the only ones who lived in fear of the Vikings. The French too were traumatized: "From the wrath of the Northmen, O Lord, deliver us," they prayed. And at the other end of the known world the Arabs were simply appalled. Ibn Fadhlan, an Arab emissary who met a group of Vikings in the 920s, described them as "the filthiest of Allah's creatures: they do not wash after shitting or peeing, nor after sexual intercourse, and do not wash after eating. They are like wayward donkeys" (Roesdahl, 34). Elsewhere he provides a detached but terrifying eyewitness account of a Viking ship burial on the Volga (I provide a conveniently abbreviated version of this; I quote at such length because the account is so astonishing):
When a chieftain dies, slaves and servants are asked who will die with him. The one who volunteers cannot alter the decision. In this particular case it was a woman who was treated with great courtesy while the burial was being prepared. On the day of the funeral the chieftain's ship was drawn up on land and people walked around it and said words. A bier was placed on it and cloths and cushions laid on it by an old woman called the Angel of Death. She was responsible for the preparations. The dead body which up to now had been laid in a grave was taken up and dressed in splendid garments specially made for the occasion. He was seated among the cushions in the tent on the ship, with alcoholic drink, food, aromatic herbs and all his weapons. Then a dog, two horses, two cows, a cock and a hen were killed and placed in the ship.
The woman who was to die went round to each tent in the camp and had sexual intercourse with its owner. After this she performed various other rituals. She was raised three times above something which looked like a door frame and said: "I see my master sitting in paradise, and it is beautiful and green and with him are men and slaves [or youths] and he calls me. Lead me to him." Then she killed a hen and was taken to the ship, took off her jewellery, drank two beakers and sang, and was finally taken into the tent to her dead master by the Angel of Death. Six men followed her into the tent and had sexual intercourse with her, then she was killed. The closest relatives of the deceased now lit the firewood under the ship. Others threw more flaming brands on the fire and within one hour everything was burnt. Then they built a mound on the spot and raised a pole at its centre with the name of the chieftain and his king on it, and went away. (Roesdahl, 157)
This picture of the Vikings as primitive, ruthless, and often revolting marauders comes, of course, mainly from their victims, though it is corroborated by onlookers like Ibn Fadhlan. It is also relatively well known to us; it has, for example, helped inspire some striking artwork. But it is not a picture that has enjoyed any kind of continuous existence, even among the descendants of the people the Vikings traumatized.
Let me elaborate very briefly on this point, as it is quite fascinating to follow the different ways in which the Vikings have been perceived in the centuries separating them from our own (here I draw my information mainly from Lars Lönnroth's chapter in Sawyer's Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings).
For a while, it seems, the Vikings were largely forgotten except within Scandinavia itself. There, and especially in Iceland, they were remembered as glorious warriors and explorers, inhabitants of a kind of golden age, until about the end of the fourteenth century. Then they began to be downplayed even in Scandinavia by historians anxious to claim a place for their countries in the civilized world. Only in the late eighteenth century did they come into their own again, this time in a thoroughly romanticized form, as the ultimate in Noble Savages. As such, they were caught up by various nationalistic movements--by the Gothic Society in Stockholm, for example, that consisted of academics and military personnel drinking from horns and reciting Nordic poetry in the hope this would help the country in its struggles against Russia, or by Danish schoolmasters wanting to replace the study of Latin with Old Norse.
As we move into the nineteenth century we also increasingly find the Vikings again making their mark abroad. Most notoriously, they did this in nineteenth-century Germany, where Old Norse and early Germanic mythology achieved a new religious significance in the hands of Richard Wagner (1813-83). Things took a dangerous turn when such ideas began merging with Nietzsche's philosophy of superman, giving rise to the various racist ideas of German supremacy that culminated in the horrors of World War II. A strong anti-Viking reaction almost immediately followed. The Vikings were not entirely forgotten after World War II, but they certainly stopped being lionized. Instead, they were turned into the comic anti-heroes of popular culture--ones like Hagar the Horrible. And while this was happening the scholars--here assisted by developments in archaeology--were busy downplaying the Vikings' activities as fighters and concentrating instead on their activities as traders and on how they regularly settled down as highly respectable farmers--and took rather more baths than our Arab commentator indicates.
These sanitized Vikings are, on the whole, the Vikings we are mainly familiar with today. In the aftermath of the millennial anniversary of the Vikings' discovery of America, however, things seem ripe for change. For in several of the publications marking this anniversary--and here I am thinking especially of some accompanying art work--we see the Vikings coming into their own once again as fighters, and larger-than-life ones at that. It is a picture that would have been all-too-familiar to their medieval contemporaries.
For a list of sources cited in this article, click here .
ABOUT THE AUTHOR | Christina von Nolcken
Christina von Nolcken studied in England at Oxford University, where she specialized in Medieval English Language and Literature. After teaching for three years at St. Anne's College, Oxford, she moved to the University of Chicago where she is associate professor in the Department of English and the College and chair of the Committee on Medieval Studies. She regularly teaches courses on Old and Middle English language and literature and the history of the English language. Most of her writing has been on texts prepared by the followers of John Wyclif (d. 1384) as part of their program to bring education, and especially religious education, to the people.
COPYRIGHT | A version of this article was delivered as a lecture at the October 2000 Humanities Open House at the University of Chicago. Copyright 2001 The University of Chicago.
(c) 2004 The University of Chicago :: Please direct questions or comments to [email protected]
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Who was the owner of Bagpuss | 1000+ images about 793 on Pinterest | The father, This morning and The vikings
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793
In AD 793, Viking Raiders sacked the Monastery at Lindisfarne, an island off the coast of England, or what was then the kingdom of Northumbria. Although there is an earlier recorded incident in which Northman killed an English sheriff on a beach (probably due to a misunderstanding), the raid on Lindisfarne is widely considered the event marking the start of the Viking Age.
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The United Nations flag shows a map of the world on one side what is shown on the other | UN (United Nations) Flag
The background of the flag of United Nation is light blue is color with a white colored map of the world within a wreath of olive leaves on it. This emblem is located right at the heart of the flag .
The proportions which are used in the United Nations flag are 2:3 and 3:5.
The world map within the olive branches signifies the everlasting peace and security which this organization stands for. The flag code of the United Nations restricts arbitrary usage of this flag.
Official Name: United Nations.
Location: Its headquarter is in New York City, the UN also has offices in Geneva, Vienna, and other cities.
National Flag: The background of the flag of United Nation is light blue is color with a white colored map of the world within a wreath of olive leaves on it placed at the center.
Flag Ratio: 2:3
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Who is Bananaman's best friend | Flag Etiquette
Flag Etiquette.........
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Flag Etiquette
Flag etiquette and flags have been a symbol of human achievement since ancient times. Flags have been used to lead armies to victory and to claim ownership of vast territories.
Flags stir up emotions in us that few other symbols can. Flags have always played an important role in general and maritime signaling and identification.
That piece of cloth with its own exclusive design and colors of your nation, your country, that piece of cloth we simply call a flag is a symbol of who we are, what we believe in and where we belong.
It is an accepted fact that people respect the symbolism of the flag, whether it is your country’s flag or another country’s flag.
The international protocol and flag etiquette is the same or very similar in all countries throughout the world.
Let us begin with the United Nations Flag. Not only is it a beautiful and appropriate design, its symbolism is what makes it meaningful:
“Olive branches to symbolize peace. The world map depicts the area of concern to the United Nations in achieving its main purpose, peace and security.”
Flag etiquette is very strict and it is essential that flag protocols and rules are followed correctly. The following basic flag etiquette applies to all nations:
Etiquette relating to the order of precedence for the flag
1. National flag of the country
2. State flag of the country
3. Military flag of the country (in order of creation date)
4. Other flags of the country
The United Nations uses
alphabetical order when presenting a national flag. The United Nations flag etiquette ensures that no one country’s flag has precedence over another country’s flag.
Your country’s flag should never be flown above another national flag on the same staff as this would suggest superiority or conversely, inferiority of one flag, or Nation over another
A country’s flag should never be allowed to drag along the ground
If a country’s flag becomes tattered or faded, it should be removed and replaced with a new flag
Due care and consideration must be taken to ensure that the flag is always flown the correct way up
If a country’s flag is in such a condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem of display, it should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning in private with all due care and respect
Terminology & Flag Etiquette in Flag Display
1. Hoist - the act or function of raising the flag, as on a rope
2. Half Staff or Half Mast – the flag is hoisted to half of the potential height of the flag pole to denote grief and mourning. This is performed by first raising the flag to the top, then lowering it halfway
3. Distress - denoted by flying the flag upside-down
4. Manner of Hoisting - the flag should be hoisted briskly and lowered ceremoniously
5. Disrespect - no disrespect should ever be shown to the flag
6. Storage & Care - the flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit the flag to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged
7. Defacement - the flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature
8. Order of Priority - your country’s flag should be hoisted first and lowered last
9. Placement - international flag usage forbids the display of the flag of one nation above that of another nation in time of peace.
If you have found this information helpful please
it for future reference or to share with your friends and associates.
On that final note of flag etiquette, please browse the rest of A - Z of Manners and Etiquette, including International Etiquette plus Polish and Indian Etiquette
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What is the more popular name of the constellation Crux | The Southern Cross - a star guide - ABC Canberra - Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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Professor Matthew Colless, the Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University, is a big fan of the Southern Cross.
"I find it just a lovely constellation," he says, in his office at the Mt Stromlo observatory high above Canberra.
"For me, as for many Australians, it's the most famous, the most visible, most memorable and most personally relevant constellation."
Crux
The Southern Cross is officially an asterism, a collection of stars that belongs to the constellation of Crux.
With the two pointers (which belong to the constellation of Centaurus) it can be used as a navigational tool to find the South Pole.
The five stars that make up the Southern Cross - Alpha, Beta (also known as Mimosa), Delta, Gamma and Epsilon Crucis - are 10 to 20 million years old. The closest is 88 light-years from Earth, the furthest 364 light-years away.
Professor Colless says the stars were known to the Ancient Greeks and Egyptians but by Roman times the Southern Cross had sunk below the horizon, disappearing from sight in the Northern Hemisphere.
"It was lost for many years," explains Professor Colless, "until it was rediscovered by the Portuguese when they began to circumnavigate the globe."
Fair and Beautiful
The Italian explorer Andrea Corsali, who worked for the powerful Giuliano de Medici of Florence, observed the Southern Cross during a Portuguese voyage to India.
In a letter to his patron he drew a rough diagram of it and wrote "this cross is so fair and beautiful". The original letter hasn't survived but a 1516 copy inscribed on vellum is held in the collection of the State Library of New South Wales and has been on display in the Mapping our World exhibition at the National Library of Australia.
Exhibition co-curator Dr Susannah Helman says there are earlier depictions of the Southern Cross but Corsali was the first to draw and describe it as a separate constellation.
"You can sort of see many more stars than we know in the Southern Cross but what you have is some stars that seem to be in a cross like the Southern Cross we know," says Dr Helman.
Law and customs
Inhabitants of the Southern Hemisphere, including the Incas of South America and indigenous Australians, have always been familiar with the Southern Cross.
Dr Duane Hamacher, a research scientist and ethno-astronomer at the University of New South Wales, says that because there are hundreds of different Aboriginal language groups there are many different stories about the Southern Cross.
"It tells people about when seasons are changing, when food sources are coming in and also gives them a social aspect," Dr Hamacher says. "A lot of the law and the customs are recorded in the stars and the Southern Cross is very important for that."
In areas of South Australia and Queensland the Southern Cross represents a sting ray.
"Sometimes the two pointer stars represent fisherman pursuing the sting ray or it might represent two sharks chasing the sting ray."
From western Victoria there's a story about a man who was chased up a tree by a large emu and in punishment for his cowardice he was turned into a possum.
"So if you look at the Southern Cross it actually represents a possum at the top of a tree," explains Dr Hamacher. "The very top star ... is red. That represents the possum."
Symbol of resistance
In the mid 19th century the Southern Cross was used by some groups of early white settlers, including the Anti-Transportation League, as a symbol of resistance to imperial powers.
In 1854 it was famously flown at the Eureka Stockade.
"The Southern Cross became a symbol for the miners on the goldfield of their independence," says Michael Evans, the Manager of Visitor Experience at the Museum of Australian Democracy. "They put the five stars on their flag that symbolised their rebellion and which they swore an oath of allegiance to."
Tattoo
The Southern Cross has also been used as a sign of resistance in modern protest movements such as the anti-coal seam gas campaign.
For a few years it was also a popular tattoo.
Tattoo artist Peter "Bones" Bone says its popularity has waned, with many people now wanting it removed, perhaps because of its "bogan" association, but it's still favoured by newly nationalised Australians and members of the Australian Defence Force.
"I suppose [it's] their interpretation of wearing their Australian pride," he says. "A lot of military people definitely wear it as a badge of honour and you do find a lot of people particularly when they go on longer deployments ... are drawn towards that type of tattoo."
The Australian flag
The Southern Cross appears on the national flags of New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Brazil as well as on the Australian flag.
The Australian flag featuring the Union Jack, the Commonwealth star and the five stars of the Southern Cross was first flown in 1901.
Mr Evans says many Australians would be surprised to learn it didn't become the official flag until the Queen signed it into law during her first visit to Australia.
"It is only since 1954 that we have officially had a national flag," he says. "And that is the one we know now that proudly shows the Southern Cross."
| The Southern Cross |
Which TV game show was devised by ex Sunday Night at the London Palladium compere Norman Vaughan | Acrux is brightest star in Southern Cross | Brightest Stars | EarthSky
Acrux science.
How to see Acrux. For anyone south of about 27 degrees north latitude, Acrux and the Southern Cross exhibit their midnight culmination (highest elevation above the southern horizon) in late March amd early April. The farther south the better, and from approximately the latitude of Brisbane, Australia, the star becomes circumpolar and can be seen every night of the year.
The star Acrux marks the bottom of the Southern Cross, when you are facing south. For an observer facing south, Acrux is the star nearest the horizon. At magnitude 0.77, Acrux is the most southernly first magnitude star. Nearby Mimosa , or Beta Crucis, at magnitude 1.25, is the 19th brightest star in all the heavens.
Two nearby and brighter stars, Alpha Centauri and Beta Centauri (Hadar), are known as the Southern Pointers. A line drawn from Alpha through Beta, at about 3 times the distance between them, leads to the top of the Southern Cross, Theta Crucis.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835 – 1910), better known as Mark Twain, in the year 1902. Although Twain was unimpressed with the Southern Cross and its brightest star Acrux, many have thrilled to seeing this constellation in southern hemisphere skies. Image via the State Historical Society of Missouri
History and mythology of Acrux. Unlike many star names, which are Arabic, Latin or Greek proper names, Acrux is simply a combination of “A” (for Alpha) and Crux as the name of the constellation. Not of classical derivation at all, it was a name coined by Elijah Hinsdale Burritt, a Connecticut farm boy turned celestial cartographer, circa 1835.
While little if any mythology is known to be associated with this star, and not much more with the entire constellation, the reputation of the Southern Cross is widespread. That might be because early sailors, moving southward on Earth’s globe, thrilled to the sight of it.
The Northern Cross, an asterism of the main stars of Cygnus, the Swan, is larger and better shaped as a Christian Cross, although it contains no stars as bright as Acrux. Interestingly, however, the brightest star in Cygnus, Deneb, is virtually the same apparent magnitude as Mimosa, the second brightest star in Crux. Both are bright blue stars of magnitude 1.25, ranking as the 19th (Mimosa) and 20th (Deneb) brightest stars in the sky.
Many point out that Crux, of which Acrux is the primary star, does not look exactly like a cross. They say it is as exaggerated as were the rumors of Mark Twain’s death well before his actual demise. In fact, Twain wrote of the Southern Cross, viewed for the first time and reported in his book, Following the Equator:
We saw the Cross to-night, and it is not large. Not large, and not strikingly bright. But it was low down toward the horizon, and it may improve when it gets up higher in the sky. It is ingeniously named, for it looks just as a cross would look if it looked like something else. But that description does not describe; it is too vague, too general, too indefinite. It does after a fashion suggest a cross — a cross that is out of repair – or out of drawing; not correctly shaped. It is long, with a short cross-bar, and the cross-bar is canted out of the straight line.
It consists of four large stars and one little one. The little one is out of line and further damages the shape. It should have been placed at the intersection of the stem and the cross-bar. If you do not draw an imaginary line from star to star it does not suggest a cross – nor anything in particular.
One must ignore the little star, and leave it out of the combination – it confuses everything. If you leave it out, then you can make out of the four stars a sort of cross – out of true; or a sort of kite – out of true; or a sort of coffin-out of true.
Despite Twain’s reluctance to be impressed, many love the Southern Cross, and today this constellation is used as a symbol on the flags of several nations in the southern hemisphere.
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
The star Acrux, aka Alpha Crucis, appears single to the eye. But a telescope reveals it to be two stars orbiting around each other. Image via Starfield Observatory
Acrux science. Using data from the Hipparcos mission. Acrux is classified as B0.5 IV. meaning that it is hotter, brighter, larger and more massive than our sun. The designation “IV” indicates that Acrux is a “sub giant” star, not big enough to be considered a giant, but one that has left the realm of normal stars (the “main sequence”) and has entered the terminal phases which ultimately will end up as a white dwarf star.
Acrux is about 321 light-years from Earth, and in fact it is not one star but two nearly identical B-class stars. These can be resolved in a small telescope, making Acrux a nice double, but they appear as a single star to the unaided human eye. The brighter of the two – call it Alpha-1, is magnitude 1.33 and the dimmer – call it Alpha-2 – 1.73, with a resultant magnitude of 0.77. Alpha-1 is a subgiant, whereas Alpha-2 appears to still be on the main sequence, rather oddly termed a “dwarf” star. (All stars on the main sequence are technically considered “dwarf stars” to distinguish them from subgiants and giants – there are no “normal” stars!) According to Dr. James Kaler, the subgiant boasts a temperature of about 25,000 Kelvin at its surface, whereas the smaller star is also cooler, about 16,000 Kelvin.
To make things even more complicated, it appears that Alpha-1 is in fact a double star, whose components’ combined masses are about 24 times that of the sun. Alpha-2 is a single star about 13 times as massive as the sun.
Acrux’s position is RA: 12h 26m 35s, dec: -63° 05′ 57″.
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What is your star sign if you were born on the fourth of July | Cancer - Zodiac Signs | Astrology.com.au
Cancer
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Our daily, monthly and yearly readings are of course general in nature but as a means of introducing our audience to astrology, we believe this initial teaser will stimulate a greater interest to find out more and in-depth information based upon accurately prepared horoscopes which rely on one's time, place and date of birth.
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The Zodiac Sign Cancer
The Astrology of Personality
To be born under the sign of Cancer truly is a karmic blessing. As well as relating to your sensitive emotional nature, it represents a development spiritually as the water signs are strongly linked to the higher evolutionary processes within us.
Simply put, Cancer, you’re basically a selfless, caring and loving person who likes to demonstrate their love for others.
You’re also very intuitive and often exhibit an uncanny ability to go to the heart of things without any intellectual claptrap.
Another great quality of yours is adaptability. Like water you can move and change to fit the circumstances and to accommodate the people you deal with. Although you have a very strong mind when it comes to your own desires and needs, you’re still able to compromise when you feel it supports the group as a whole.
Being a water sign you have a cooling yet invigorating aspect to your personality. In tough times people have a tendency to be drawn to your selflessness and nurturing traits as they know your open ear and warm heart will help them through their difficult times.
The fourth sign of the zodiac, under which you were destined to be born, relates to the domestic sphere of life and therefore you love to be part of a family network. It is here that you really excel and do your best. The Cancer home is very comfortable and even strangers usually feel quite at ease when invited to dinner to spend time in your company.
Many Cancers extend this caring, nurturing vibe to their professional activities as well. It comes so easily to you that it’s no wonder you’re able to work in healing and consoling professions. Your key life phrase ‘I nurture’ demonstrates this fact. When you read the segment on the best professions suited to you, you’ll see what I mean.
Your star sign is very sensitive and you tune in to other people’s vibrations, moods and thinking processes effortlessly so you are able to understand others instinctively. Your perception about their character is usually spot on.
There is a down side to this, however, as you also tend to absorb the negative emotions of others in the process. If you feel this is overloading you, you need to get yourself out of the situation quickly, even for a short time to recover your clarity and peace of mind.
Cancer and its ruler the Moon reflect much of your own personality and, because the Moon regulates the emotions, you can find yourself challenged by incredibly extreme mood swings. Even though your family and friends are well aware of this it can be a little trying for all concerned at times.
As a woman you have maternal and nurturing qualities so you’ll be absolutely well suited to the roles of homemaker and mother. Men born under Cancer also fare well as caregivers and so sometimes they exchange their roles as they do such a good job of looking after the kids as well.
Be careful not to lock yourself away in your own private lifestyle because being reclusive, enjoying your own company, can sometimes overtake your desire to connect to the world at large. Don’t deny others the wonderful qualities you have to offer.
Many Cancers are nocturnal as the Moon shines most brightly in the evening hours. You’ll feel creative and enjoy that stillness and reflective quality of the night hours.
Many Cancers take their cooking skills to a new height by starting restaurants and showing their love of the world at large through this very unique skill. Music, writing and also gardening seem to be popular pastimes for Cancers. You’ll never forget a kind deed and always reciprocate tenfold. You appreciate that same caring attitude in others.
You also realise you’re more nostalgic than many other star signs and memories are important to you, keeping scrapbooks and old shoeboxes full of black and white photos as mementos of the good old times.
Cancer has a wonderfully expressive and inviting face. Because the eyes are the windows to the soul, and your eyes are large and expressive, people feel as though your heart is open enough for them and you are guileless in the way you share your thoughts and feelings.
Fourth sign of the zodiac; cardinal, fruitful, feminine, moist
Zodiac Element
Loving, susceptible, sympathetic, sensual, faithful, instinctive, charitable, over-reactive and moody
Compatible Star Signs
Taurus, Virgo, Scorpio, and Pisces
Mismatched Signs
Mars, Pluto, Jupiter and Neptune
Friendship Planet
Mars
Lucky Numbers and Significant Years
2, 3, 9,11, 12, 18, 20, 21, 27, 29, 30, 36, 38, 45, 47,48, 54, 56, 57, 74, 75, 81, 83 and 84
Lucky Gems
Moonstone, pearl, yellow topaz, red coral, garnet and white jade
Lucky Fragrances
Geranium, sandalwood, white rose, ylang ylang and bergamot
Affirmation/Mantra
I am lovable as well as loving
Lucky Days
Cancer Profile
You were born under Cancer, the 4th sign of the zodiac, indicating sensitivity, motherhood and emotional warmth. Your sign is not an easy one to understand and this has much to do with the fact that the waxing and waning Moon is your ruling planet.
Having sway over the tides and also the animals that occupy the ocean, most notably the crab, your totem, reflects some of these complex mood swings that the Cancerian native experiences. Like the crab, your totem, people will notice that at times you exhibit a hard exterior but underneath that your sensitive and caring nature is by far your most prominent trait. You mustn't hide this behind this impenetrable mask.
Although at times you do try to hide your feelings, it's difficult for you to not show just how caring and compassionate you really are. The Moon also reflects your mothering and nurturing qualities and more often than not you're the first to respond when someone is in need, displaying your extremely compassionate nature.
Your intuitive powers are strong and you always use them in the service of others. You are ruled by the element of water, which makes you adaptable, at times outgoing, but mostly living life in the world of the heart and emotions.
You are adaptable and can easily fit into most circumstances but are certainly most comfortable in your home environment, which you put a great deal of energy into for yourself and the family members you love. You work best in a supportive role with others, and keeping the peace and equilibrium amongst family members and friends is vital to your wellbeing.
At times you are not altogether that trusting, which is why you tend to prefer a smaller group of friends and family members as your mainstay, socially speaking. Even though your personality is quite vibrant you have a preference for dealing with people one-on-one in a most intimate and compassionate way. You feel the plight of others so intensely that at times you absorb the qualities of those you associate with which is why it is so important for you to live and work with those who are positive and upbeat.
If you do end up living or pursuing a career with negative individuals, this could have an adverse reaction on your emotions and, in the long term, your overall wellbeing. It's imperative that you choose your friends and co-workers as wisely as possible.
The quickest way to a Cancerian's heart, and thereby friendship, is to touch their sentimentality. You love anything that will kindle your sense of the past, loving memories and warmth and closeness. Flowers, a candle-lit dinner or anything which elicits your sensitivity will attract you to others and create a feeling of love for them.
At times you feel vulnerable which is why I mentioned earlier that there are periods in your life where you don't necessarily trust others all that quickly. This will be highlighted if you've had some bad experiences in the past, and you must therefore learn to let go of these negative experiences of your life. Cancerians do have a tendency to hold onto the past and their memories like elephants, never forget.
You're probably a night owl due to the fact that the Moon shines most brightly in the dead of night. Your imagination which is rich and varied comes to life in the twilight hours.
Arts, craft and other home activities such as gardening, interior design and just generally an interest in making others feel good are all typical creative Cancerian traits, and I'm sure you possess them in full measure yourself.
You are indeed an individual who can withstand the blows of life and are extremely adaptable under duress and under circumstances which others might fail miserably in. This is possibly what has given you your tough exterior yet at the same time made you aware of the subtler spiritual influences in life. You are able to blend the pragmatic with the spiritual. This gives you the edge in life, making you capable of forbearing troubles and sufferings and coming out the other side enriched with a great deal of wisdom.
Cancer Cusps
Cancer - Gemini cusp
If your birth falls between the 22nd and 29th or 30th of June you will possess qualities and characteristics of both Gemini and Cancer. Cancer, you are undoubtedly a feeling and emotional individual and added to this are the intellectual traits of Gemini which would tend to balance you out.
Gemini has a curiosity and mental agility that is hard to match but this can counteract some of the more emotional traits possessed by you Cancer. This could mean your mind clashing with your heart as the Gemini influence rules your head and the softness of Cancer rules your heart. It is quite likely that this will cause you to procrastinate in matters of the heart especially.
You are able to mediate for others as you have both the intellectual traits of Gemini as a communicator and the feelings and ability to understand others that can be attributed to Cancer. You are a loyal and loving friend and will always try to understand where the other person is coming from
The influence of Gemini could make you rather more excitable than you are comfortable with and perhaps unsettle you in some ways. This will be evened out by the Moon's influence and as the tides ebb and flow so will your moods. Some people may find this hard to deal with, but it is just part of the nature of a cusp baby.
You will be the one who people contact when they are caught in a situation they cannot resolve and it will be your wisdom that you bring to the table. Added to this is your knowledge and warmth and these attributes will put you at the top of everyone's list. It may not necessarily be where you want to be given that you don't like upsetting people, but your desire to help will override your hesitation.
Cancer you are able to take a balanced view and Gemini's intelligence will certainly help you out here. Having the head and the heart both working to capacity should be able to help anyone anywhere solve their problems and you will be much sought after for this talent. This trait may even open doors for you professionally later in life.
Cancer - Leo cusp
If you are born between the 16th or 17th to the 23rd July makes you a Cancer - Leo cusp baby. In your case the water sign of Cancer certainly does not put out the Leo fire but rather cools it just a little, and temper the exuberance of Leo.
Leo's fire will heat up your nature considerably Cancer but you must be mindful of not letting this spill over into your emotional life. You could become extremely demanding or even prone to dramatic outbursts, which are not usually your style, if you don't get your own way. This goes against the grain somewhat for you as you are at heart a mediator but this is what the fire of Leo can bring to your calm gentle world.
Cancer and Leo are both very loyal signs and you would certainly be a good friend to have. You are extremely faithful with those you love and in relationships or friendships your nearest and dearest will get to see this endearing part of your personality. They will actually get to peep inside the hard exterior that typifies the sign of Cancer and be privy to the wonderful soft interior that you possess.
With the influence of Leo your ideals are not always in keeping with the reality of your life. You'll always be surrounded by friends and family and seem to be constantly giving to others, but don't forget to nurture yourself along the way as well. This will keep you more in balance and take care of your compassionate nature.
Don't let Leo's influence burn you out as their enthusiasm can be at times overwhelming, when all you really want to do is crawl back into your shell and relax. The influence of Leo can make you feel a bit insecure at times as you prefer to know where you're going and when you're likely to get there.
Cancer At Large
June 22 - July 3
If you were born between the 22nd of June and the 3rd of July, the power of the Moon is exceedingly strong in your case. Your moods will shift very powerfully in keeping with the phases of the moon, and to understand yourself more adequately, why not keep a calendar of the lunar phases so you can be a step ahead of what's happening. Your romance and love life perfectly reflects who you are, particularly because you are so capable of nurturing others.
July 4 - July 13
Being born between the 4th and the 13th of July means you're an individual who has developed a high degree of concentration and are focused on achieving more than the average sort of life. There are times when you are possessive and domineering of your loved ones, but by the same token you're exceedingly loyal and will sacrifice much for their happiness. Be careful to allow others independence and freedom, rather than trying to keep them under your thumb.
July 14 - July 22
If you are born between the 14th and the 22nd of July, you have the influence of Pisces as well as Cancer, and this means that you're able to love others unconditionally. Your selfless attitude endears others to you and you may be drawn to the helping or healing professions as a result. You may be compassionate but try to keep your feet planted firmly on the ground as well.
Cancer Child
There's no doubt your Cancerian born child will shower you with love, affection and exhibit nurturing and protective qualities from the outset, but you do need to be careful that they don't become too shy and homebound in the process.
These admirable qualities are certainly something you should develop but these should be balanced by adequate outdoor activities and sufficient social interaction to make them grow into self-confident human beings.
There's the tendency on the part of parents of Cancerian children to dote on them, to accentuate their shy and retiring nature, rather than encouraging them to take some initiative and to get out into the bigger, wider world. If they exhibit creative traits such as art, music and other more sedentary hobbies, you must stress that they need sufficient physical mobility to keep them active and healthy as well as encouraging their artistic and spiritual pursuits.
I mentioned above the protective qualities of a Cancerian child. Don't be surprised to find your young child stepping in front of you if they perceive even the least bit of danger to their parents. You'll be shocked at their bravery and desire to not let anything adverse happen to you. This trait will continue through life and you can always rely on the loyalty of your Cancerian child to stand by you.
Cancerian children have a tendency to sulk and to hang on to the past. You need to monitor these deep and brooding intervals and help them understand that there are alternative ways to deal with problems in life rather than retreating into themselves and not speaking. Here again we see the necessity of physical sport which can easily neutralise these negative emotions in your young Cancerian child.
Another cause of this type of emotional weakness which can become a habit, is lack of attention to the dietary needs of your child. These moods are often a result of poor food combinations and an inability to identify which foods your child may be allergic to. Keep in mind that even healthy foods may sometimes act as triggers which can destabilise your child's emotions.
As with most children, teaching your Cancerian child the value of a program in life, with self-discipline at the top of the list, will help steer them in the right direction and give them a sense of personal worth and achievement. It may appear that you are being hard on them sometimes but discipline with these children, as long as it is done in a loving way, is an excellent assurance of their positive all-round development.
Cancer Lover
You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that love and warmth are critical to secure a happy and enduring relationship. With Cancer-born individuals, this understanding goes to a whole new level. When a Crab opens up to reveal the sweetness within, you get a good idea of what they are going to be like as a lover. Strongly governed by emotions, they're natural lovers through and through, and they believe that love lasts forever.
Sexually, Cancer, you like your emotions to translate into intimate physical contact. In that respect, you don't respond well to sex without feeling and eventually lose interest if your sex life is mechanical and dry. However, such idealism also brings with it some dilemmas.
Penetrating your hard exterior is often difficult, especially for those who are too impatient to wait. You tend to safeguard your privacy, testing the waters before committing romantically, and this is the heart of your problem. You must be vocal instead of shy, and let your prospective partner know how you operate. Through open dialogue you can create an atmosphere in which the other person is happy to commit their time and patience to win your heart completely.
As I said, you're an instinctive lover, and once you choose a romantic partner, you go the extra mile to pamper, nourish and mother them in every conceivable way. In many ways you are the ideal lover. You also seek someone who completes you emotionally and physically, and who fulfils your practical and familial needs.
What I reveal now will have a crucial bearing on your future happiness in relationships, so read it carefully, Cancer. Before you rush into making a romantic commitment, build confidence within yourself first. If you lack a strong sense of identity, you may become more insecure and expect your partner to gratify all the needs that you are unable to meet yourself, and this will take a toll on your relationship.
Once you become the master of your emotions, Cancer, you will comfortably and happily enjoy the experience of romance and love. Unfortunately, some Cancerians attract partners who are cold, aloof and indifferent. Because physical closeness is important to you, hugs and kisses need to come your way, or frustration will build within. While it's always good to trust your gut, don't forget to employ some brain power as well.
You must avoid fanning your emotional insecurities, which can wreak havoc in your relationships. Your mood determines the landscape of your relationships, pushing you into reclusiveness and punishing your partner with your painful silence. Though they may put up with this initially, they may walk out in the end.
Release the hold on your innermost feelings and allow for open dialogue. Since your mind and relationships respond to the lunar cycle, find inven- tive ways to offset this. Be perceptive to the early signals of discontent you will be able to iron out complexities before spiraling into emotional desolation. This single piece of advice could have a long-lasting impact on your marriage or long-term relationship.
Cancer Friend
Loyalty happens to be your defining element as a Cancer friend. As the nurturer of the zodiac, you value friendship and prefer to have quality over quantity.
You take tremendous interest in the lives of others, including their highs and lows, and you have an intrinsic ability to make others feel good about themselves. Your inherent ability to nurture enables you to reach out to others, and you prove to be the reliable confidante they never had. That's one big reason why people love having you as their friend. This beautiful quality of encouraging others is how you're able to win friends and influence others without being overpowering or difficult.
For some, this sincerity and affection means that you are taken for granted. However, it can mean quite the opposite for an evolved Cancerian. You are insightful and observant when it comes to picking friends and long-term partners, and correctly employ your sixth sense to grasp people's true intentions.
Another noteworthy quality is your interest in general knowledge and how you use it in practical ways. You celebrate information and unhesi- tatingly share it with others. At the same time, you are humble enough to be receptive to other people's point of view, regardless of whether you take their advice! Cancerians have a natural tendency to make their nurturing, never-say-no spirit the guiding light of their life.
However, as much as you give yourself to others, you may not always enjoy an equivalent degree of reciprocation. The reason for this is fairly simple. You like to seal off the dark feelings you experience and are reticent about sharing them with others. Unwilling to burden them with your woes, you prevent people from fussing over you. But in the end they do just that, and it's exactly how you would like them to behave!
If you want to elicit concern and warmth from others, you need to be open in the way you express your emotions. While you strive to be a friend to others, allow them to be a friend to you. This means that you need to trust them as much as they trust you. Yes, you may need time to achieve this, but the more you do it, the more you'll be loved without being taken for granted.
Cancer Enemy
The water sign of the Crab is hypersensitive and you'll be amazed at your capacity to stretch things beyond measure. If rubbed the wrong way, you can misconstrue seemingly harmless trivia and hold it against someone. This can make you difficult to deal with.
If you notice a Cancer friend withdrawing and straining the chains of communication, rest assured that you have consciously or unconsciously offended them. Before you know it, they will have distanced themselves from you, and any attempt at placating them will fall flat. This passive-aggressive attitude can be quite disconcerting, but it is typical of the Crab, which moves obliquely when it anticipates threat. The more you chase after it, the quicker it gets away from you! The best advice is to let them go. Give your Cancer friend the time to heal and, hopefully, their caring nature will bring them back.
My Light and Shadow
The Light and Shadow
The light and the dark are part of human nature and each star sign exhibits this polarity. It is the yin and yang of life and once we confront these shadowy areas within ourselves the sooner we are able to break free of all self limiting behaviours and habits.
Cancer: The light side
Because you're so connected to your feelings and understand how feelings affect others, you're able to make this a part of your life, which impacts favourably on those with whom you come in touch. You're a deep ocean of sensitive knowledge and your open and generous nature puts you at the top of everyone's list of favourite people.
Your openness and warmth need to be monitored, however, as other unscrupulous people will take advantage of you. You can be shrewd and perceptive when it comes to choosing friends and this is more the case that your intuition has been developed and you're able to see into others' motivations.
Many Cancers have an incredible arsenal of general knowledge that surprises others. You probably like to read a lot and are curious about this, that and the other. Overall, your nurturing spirit is the highlight of your sign and that will always hold you in good stead, wherever you go.
Cancer: The shadow side
It's not often evident but you can be rather dark emotionally and once people see this it can adversely affect their perception of you. Along with the fact that you're sometimes stubborn, it seems you may be a complex individual to deal with.
Sometimes an innocent comment can set you off and underneath that calm exterior your emotions will be boiling over, sulking about what someone's said. You can blame this on the Moon, which tends to heighten your sensitivity to the world and people around you. Occasionally you don't take too kindly to constructive criticism, seeing it as an attack on your nature rather than an intention to do good things.
Although your sensitivity to your environment is an asset, you must be careful not to let these dramatic mood swings undermine your life and relationships.
Much of these problems relate to your early life and some Cancers need to get more in touch with this part of their nature to overcome these sometimes overwhelming feelings.
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What did the dove bring to Noah | July 7 Birthday Horoscope Personality | Sun Signs
Home » Birthday » July 7 Birthday Horoscope Personality
July 7 Birthday Horoscope Personality
Mikki Donaldson Leave a comment
Birthday Meanings Of People Born On July 7th (Zodiac Sign Cancer)
IF YOUR BIRTHDAY IS ON JULY 7, you are likely to be sharp minded and expressive Crabs. You enjoy the valuable life lessons, as you are anxious to explore your spirituality.
The July 7 birthday personality is known to take numerous breaks in which you daydream. You can worry too much though. Alternatively, you can be immovable and more so, worrisome and controlling.
Those of you born on this day 7th July, are also sensitive and often creative adventurers. Furthermore, you can be competitive and confident.
The 7th July birthdate horoscope predicts that you put a lot of work into getting the things you want out of life. You can be philosophical in thinking and inspirational to others who want to succeed.
You are not afraid to dream the impossible but it is a little unrealistic. It would be less disappointing if you would stick to ventures that are more practical.
As a Cancer in love, you will do anything for your partner. You are a creature who is thoughtful and sensitive. Spoiling them is not the word for what you do.
Your soul mate should not be anything less than romantic, understanding and affectionate. You give yourself and expect nothing less from the person that you shower with gifts. Additionally, you have a need to be loved and appreciated.
The birthday astrology analysis for July 7th predicts those born on this day are funny people. Most of all, this Cancerian is quite guilty of having a few unexpected pleasures in the most unusual of places.
If you have a July 7 birth day, you are likely to be found taking pictures of something unusual. You could be a well-paid drafts and design person, as you visualize your life as being fit for royalty. As a career choice, you could easily turn your love of photography into a lucrative profession.
Typically, you are the person to set projects and ideas into motion. You do not mind working for a comfortable lifestyle. You like to work alone however, you do not particularly want to have the spotlight but you inspire others.
People respect you so you have an image to uphold. The 7 July birthdate meanings predict that you should be careful with your spending habits or impulses. It is likely you are the person who saves for the rainy days as you know money plays a very important role.
If you were born on July 7, you are an individual who is easy to become frustrated or bored. You sometimes feel that things are out of control and often, this is irritating.
Maybe you should get a check up. Until you do, an active lifestyle will prove beneficial to your well-being. More so, getting enough rest will reduce feelings of anxiety. If a 7th July Cancer zodiac birth date person would suffer with a mild illness, it typically would be related to the back or head.
If today is your birthdate you daydream a lot, are expressive and stubborn. As a negative trait, you could be controlling or so says the 7th July birthday personality. You may a fair sense of humor with a competitive edge. You are good at a number of professions but perhaps a hobby could prove to be a lucrative and ideal job.
Additionally, you are good at handling your own finances. Those of you born under the zodiac of Cancer are highly sexual creatures who want a comfortable lifestyle. Your health is good but ensure that you get enough rest to be able to deal with stress.
This Day That Year – July 7th In History:
1550 – Chocolate flavoring introduced
1668 – Trinity College, Cambridge awards Isaac Newton a MA
1754 – NYC renames Kings College. It is now Columbia College
1891 – Traveler’s checks started being honored
Celebrities Born On 7 July:
Alesso, Chris Andersen, Cassidy, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Claire Holt, Jeremy Kyle, Satchel Paige, Ringo Starr
Birth Sign:
You Fall Under Star Sign Cancer
Corresponding Rashi (Vedic Moon Sign): Karaka Rashi
Corresponding Chinese Zodiac Sign: Sheep
Birthdate Planet:
Your ruling planet is Moon that symbolizes your daily habits, your responses to different situations in life and your sense of intuition that helps you make important decisions.
Birth Date Symbols:
The Crab Is The Symbol For The Cancer Zodiac Sign
Birthday Tarot Card:
Your Birthdate Tarot Card is The Chariot. This card symbolizes that you are ready to put in hard work to reach your goals.
Birth Day Love Compatibility:
You are most compatible with people born under Sun Sign Scorpio: This is love match in which sparks will fly but will be pretty compatible.
You are not compatible with people born under Sun Sign Leo: This love relationship can be unstable and unpredictable.
Birthdate Numerology:
Number 5 – This number signifies experiences in life that teach us new lessons everyday.
Number 7 – This number signifies spiritual enlightenment and your sole purpose in life.
Lucky Colors For July 7th Birthday:
Cream: This is the color of understated elegance, wealth, money, fame and reputation.
Sea Green: This is a colour that symbolizes overall growth in terms of emotional and physical well-being.
Lucky Days For 7 July Birthdate:
Monday: The day ruled by the Moon and symbolizes your attitude towards life and sympathetic feelings towards others.
Birth Stone:
Your gemstone is Pearl that signifies wealth, clarity, reliability and frankness.
Ideal Zodiac Birthday Gift For People Born On The 7th Of July:
A set of Thai cooking lessons for the man and a fountain pen for the woman.
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What was the Marcels only number one in the sixties | Blue Moon - The Marcels | Song Info | AllMusic
The Marcels
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Song Review by Bruce Eder
Of all the songs written by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, "Blue Moon" is the one best known by rock listeners and casual pop fans, making it unique in the career of a songwriting duo who did their work decades before rock & roll was ever even thought of. It is also unique in the team's output as the only one of their hits that wasn't written for a specific stage or film work, and it went through numerous transformations to take on the form in which it is now known. And it was one of the very few lasting products to come out of the songwriting team's unhappy period in Hollywood in the mid-'30s. Rodgers and Hart were signed as songwriters to MGM, in what proved to be a less-than-fruitful relationship for all concerned -- they were very unhappy with the quality and nature of the movies to which they were assigned, and the studio was taken aback by the fact that the songwriters' work didn't seem to help make the films in question significantly more successful. "Blue Moon" was initially spawned, under the working title of "Prayer," written for a film called Hollywood Party, starring Jean Harlow. She was supposed to sing a lyric that began "Oh Lord, if you're not busy up there...." The song was dropped from that film, however, and then Lorenz Hart changed the lyric slightly to read "Oh, Lord! What is the matter with me...." That version, sung by Shirley Ross, ended up in a movie called Manhattan Melodrama, starring Clark Gable, William Powell, and Myrna Loy -- the movie itself was notable for setting up a plot (later reused in Angels With Dirty Faces and a dozen other lesser movies) about two boyhood friends who end up on opposite sides of the law, and for being the film that was playing at the Biograph Theater in Chicago on the night that bank robber John Dillinger was allegedly caught there and shot to death by federal agents. "Oh, Lord! What Is the Matter With Me" was barely present in the movie, Ross' performance of it in the background buried under dialogue between Powell and Loy, and that would have been the end of it, had it not been for publisher Jack Robbins, who liked the melody and saw no reason why something couldn't be salvaged. Hart took a third pass over the song, recasting the lyrics and coming up with "Blue moon, you saw me standing alone." It was published in that version at the end of 1934, and went on to become one of the best-known songs ever written by Rodgers and Hart, recorded by Mel Tormé and dozens of others before rock & roll audiences discovered it -- Elvis Presley gave it an early entre to audiences for the new music, cutting it on August 19, 1954, in Memphis; as the B-side to "Just Because," it was one of many pop standards (including "Harbor Lights") that the young Presley appreciated and recorded. Presley's version of "Blue Moon," sung in a subdued manner with barely any instrumental accompaniment to his reflective, lyrical vocal performance, is today considered a classic recording and a high point of his early career, but in 1954-1955, like all of his Sun releases, it never reached the national pop charts. The song surfaced to a wider audience only later, in various incarnations on RCA-Victor once Presley and his Sun catalog moved to the new label. "Blue Moon's real breakthrough into rock & roll took place in New York during February 1961 when, at the tail-end of their first recording session, the Marcels, a racially mixed vocal group from Philadelphia (consisting of Cornelius Harp, Richard F. Knauss, Fred Johnson, Gene J. Bricker, and Ron Mundy) were asked by their producer, Stu Phillips, to record "Heart and Soul," a pop standard by Hoagy Carmichael and Frank Loesser. The Marcels didn't know that song, and instead cut a version of "Blue Moon" -- which they did know -- with a prominent bass vocal and fine falsetto ornamentation, and a frantic tempo. A tape of that recording, brought to New York DJ Murray "the K" Kaufman on WINS (which was then a music station), was played more than two dozen time the next night. The song, released within a week on the fledgling Colpix Records label, rocketed to number one on the pop and R&B charts. Although often cited as a nonsense rendition for its upbeat vocal acrobatics, this doo wop-style rendition, in tandem with Elvis Presley's version, helped popularize the song among tens of millions, and perhaps hundreds of millions of new, younger listeners around the world over the decades that followed, making it one of Rodgers and Hart's most lucrative copyrights, decades after Hart's death, and during and after Rodgers' late career, in which he otherwise steadfastly ignored the presence of rock & roll in the musical environment around him.
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Who is the only cricketer to do the double in his first first class season | The Marcels - Blue Moon - YouTube
The Marcels - Blue Moon
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Uploaded on Jun 13, 2009
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Devils darning needle is sometimes the nickname for which flying insect | dragonfly | insect | Britannica.com
Dragonfly
Alternative Titles: Anisoptera, darner, darning needle, devil’s arrow, devil’s darning needle
Related Topics
insect
Dragonfly (suborder Anisoptera), also called darner, devil’s arrow, or devil’s darning needle, any of a group of roughly 3,000 species of aerial predatory insects most commonly found near freshwater habitats throughout most of the world. Damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) are sometimes also called dragonflies in that both are odonates (order Odonata ).
Dragonfly (Libellula forensis).
E.S. Ross
Distinguishing characteristics and flight behaviour
Dragonfly species (Anisoptera) are characterized by long bodies with two narrow pairs of intricately veined, membranous wings that, while generally transparent, may have coloured markings. Unlike damselflies, the front and rear wing pairs are shaped differently. In addition, dragonflies rest with their wings spread horizontally, rather than held vertically against each other (with the exception of one very small family, Epiophlebiidae). Dragonflies have a more powerful build and are generally much stronger fliers than damselflies. The globe skimmer (or wandering glider, Pantala flavescens), a migratory dragonfly, for example, makes an annual multigenerational journey of some 18,000 km (about 11,200 miles); to complete the migration , individual globe skimmers fly more than 6,000 km (3,730 miles)—one of the farthest known migrations of all insect species. Dragonflies also have huge bulging eyes that occupy most of the head, giving some a field of vision approaching 360 degrees.
Swift long-winged skimmer (Pachydiplax longipennis).
© Index Open
The winged adults are diversely coloured in a variety of shades ranging from metallic to pastel. Compared with other insects, they are large, with some having wingspans of up to 16 cm (about 6 inches). Even the smallest species are about 20 mm (0.8 inch) across. As well as being extremely agile fliers, they are also among the fastest insects. Dragonfly wing muscles must be warm to function optimally, and so, if cool, the insect often engages in wing-whirring and basking in the sun to generate heat before taking flight. The dragonfly’s speed and agility contribute to its being one of the most effective aerial predators. Small flying insects are the usual fare, but some dragonflies regularly consume prey that is 60 percent of their own weight.
Life cycle and reproduction
damselfly
Young dragonflies, called larvae or sometimes nymphs or naiads, are aquatic and are as dedicated predators under water as the adults are in the air. The functionally wingless larvae are usually mottled or dull in colour, matching the sediments or water plants among which they live. They have bulging eyes somewhat similar to the adults, but possess a formidable anatomical structure not present in the adult. Called the “mask,” it is a fusion of the larva’s third pair of mouthparts. Disproportionately large, the mask folds beneath both the head and thorax when it is not in use. At the end of the mask is a set of fanglike pincers used to seize prey such as worms, crustaceans, tadpoles, and small fish . Different species of dragonfly larvae can be described as sprawlers, burrowers, hiders, or claspers. Their shape, metabolism, and respiration differ concordantly with the microhabitat they occupy.
A dragonfly larva captures a fish by extending its labial mask.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Slow-motion animation demonstrates how a dragonfly larva extends its labial mask to capture prey.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Larvae crawl from eggs laid in or near water. Some species lay their eggs inside plant tissue, others attach their eggs to substrates at or above the water’s surface, and some may drop or wash their eggs from their abdomen onto water. Larvae absorb oxygen from the water using gills inside the rectum . The abdomen draws water in and pumps it out again through the anus. Water can be forcibly expelled in this way, resulting in jet propulsion as a means of escape. Solid waste is also expelled in this manner. As the larva grows, it molts, its future wings first becoming apparent about halfway through the larva’s development. These wing sheaths then enlarge rapidly with each successive molt. Eventually, the larva crawls out of the water (often at night) and molts one last time, emerging as an adult and leaving behind a cast skin (exuvia).
Britannica Stories
Ringling Bros. Folds Its Tent
Dragonflies, like damselflies, exhibit a mating posture unique to the Odonata. The male and female contort themselves into the “wheel” position before sperm is transferred. Before and after mating, dragonflies often fly in tandem, with the male towing the female in flight using claspers at the tip of his abdomen to grip the back of her head. Pairs of some species may remain in tandem while the female lays her eggs.
Descriptive names
Ultimate Animals Quiz
Many dragonfly families have descriptive common names associated with their scientific names. Examples include the hawkers (Aeshnidae), petaltails (Petaluridae), and clubtails (Gomphidae). Numerous other names related to neither taxonomy nor fact have traditionally been applied to dragonflies, such as horse stinger. Dragonflies have also been known as “snake doctors” in the American South, owing to the superstition that they nurse ill snakes back to health. The term devil’s darning needle is derived from a superstition that dragonflies may sew up the eyes, ears, or mouth of a sleeping child, especially one who has misbehaved. In reality, dragonflies present no danger to humans.
Widow skimmer (Libellula luctuosa).
| Dragonfly |
What was Bram short for in the author Bram Stoker's name | Devil’s Darning Needle « Writing for Nature
Jun3
Of all insects there are few that capture our attention and interest the way dragonflies do. They have, perhaps, the coolest, most evocative name of any group of insects: Dragonfly. In English there are a great number of other common categorical names: Devil’s Darning Needle, Snake Doctor, and Ear Cutter among others. Many of these names come from the mystifying apparent fear of nature that crops up over and over in European views of the world. Many European cultures viewed dragonflies as sinister creatures, servants of the devil, in league with other evils such as snakes and bats.
Other cultures, often more agrarian ones, had a far more benign view of dragonflies, based, perhaps, on the recognition of their fundamental role in controlling populations of pest insects of all sorts. An archaic name for the Japanese Islands is Akitsushima (秋津島), the Dragonfly Islands, where dragonflies symbolized courage, strength, and happiness. For some native American tribes dragonflies symbolized clean, pure water, swiftness, and agility. In the modern world dragonflies are good indicators of environmental heath, indicating a robustly functioning ecosystem.
Libellula quadrimaculata – Four Spotted Skimmer
The Alaskan State Insect
Dragonflies and their close relatives, Damselflies, come in a dazzling array of colors and patterns, ranging in size from less than an inch long up to the South American Megaloprepus caerulatus with a wingspan of over 7 inches. The largest dragonfly we know of is from the 300 million year old fossil Meganeura that had a wingspan of over 2 feet.
Dragonflies are powerful hunters, both in their nymph and adult stages. Dragonfly nymphs are aquatic and prey on any animal or insect they can grab with their claws or their extendible jaws. Insects, small fish, tadpoles, and small amphibians are all food for these voracious predators. The nymphs are large, and, in turn, are prey for a wide range of other animals, insects, birds, and fish. Elva Paulson has some wonderful watercolors of a dragonfly emerging from its nymph stage. Humans are included as predators, many Asian cultures eating both dragonfly nymphs and adult dragonflies as delicacies. One of the most tasty things I’ve eaten (from a long list of foods most people would consider to be unusual) was a plate of deep fried dragonfly larvae. Absolutely delicious. In Beijing I would sometimes find adult dragonflies candied in liquid sugar, their wings crispy with the hardened sugar.
Unknown green dragonfly – note the barbs on the forelegs for catching prey
The adult phase of a dragonfly’s life is short, in temperate climates only the length of the summer. This is their mating stage and it takes them between 2 months and 6 years living under water to reach this stage. Dragonflies are extremely active during this mating phase and must eat often. They have enormous eyes giving nearly 360 vision, incredibly swift reactions, fast, powerful flight, and wicked barbs on their legs to assist capturing insects in flight. The inset above shows these barbs.
Libellula exusta – White Corporal (I think)
eating its prey
The common names of dragonflies often reflect their speed or their abilities as hunters. Meadow-hawk is one of my favorite names, and watching one dart away to catch an insect and return to its roost to devour it definitely brings hawks to mind.
Libellula quadrimaculata – Four Spotted Skimmer
note the different wing heights
Dragonflies are powerful fliers. They have been clocked at over 35 miles an hour, fast enough to get a speeding ticket in a school zone, and, like hummingbirds, can fly forwards, backwards, sideways, up and down, and hover. Their backs are sloped where their wings anchor, placing each pair at different heights, allowing for tremendous wing mobility. Some species of dragonfly migrate, but the scale of some of those migrations has only recently been realized. One dragonfly species in particular, the Globe Skimmer (Pantala flavescens) flies from India to Africa and back , island hopping cross the Indian Ocean, making open water crossings of nearly 1000km (620 miles) between island stops. The only places they can breed are at the Indian and African ends of the migration, many of the islands they use as stopover points do not have sufficient freshwater for dragonflies to breed. This is a stunning feat of flying for an insect and may be a behavior that evolved as a result of plate tectonics splitting India and Africa apart, eventually thrusting India into Asia. If so, this migration could have begun 135 millions years ago. Unfortunately, we have no reliable way of telling if this is the case.
Last year was a good year for dragonflies in Vermont, and this year looks like it is shaping up to be a good one as well. The ecologist in me cannot help wondering why and one idea is that it may be linked to the calamitous drop in bat populations as a result of white-nose disease, a fungus that infects hibernating bats, weakening and eventually killing them. It may be that adult dragonflies have more to eat with fewer bats and a greater percentage of them are surviving through the summer. There is a historical precedent for this sort of boom in insect populations. During the Great Leap Forward, Chairman Mao promoted a policy of killing off all things he thought were eating grain, birds amongst these. With the crash in bird populations in China the insect population exploded.
Unidentified dragonfly – maybe a Darner of some sort
I am happy to see the dragonflies here. Their presence means that the water is clean, we will have fewer mosquitoes, midges, and black-flies, and they are extraordinarily beautiful creatures.
Three-hundred twenty-five millions years old and going strong. They have it figured out!
| i don't know |
What is the principal rock that the Chiltern Hills are made of | Introduction To The Geology Of Hertfordshire
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In Hertfordshire the oldest deposits occurring at the land surface are the Gault Clay and Chalk of Upper Cretaceous age (Fig. 1 ), about 100 million years old. The Gault Clay occurs only in two north-western extremities of the county near Tring and Ashwell, but it forms a continuous area of low-lying ground all along the foot of the Chiltern Hills, and has been proved in boreholes to occur at depth beneath southeast Hertfordshire (Fig. 2 ).
Fig. 2 WNW - ESE Section Across Hertfordshire
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Both the Gault Clay and Chalk contain the fossilised shells of sea animals, such as ammonites and sea urchins, and were deposited on the sea floor. The Gault Clay is composed mainly of fine mud brought into the Upper Cretaceous sea from surrounding land areas by rivers. In contrast, the Chalk is composed almost entirely of calcium carbonate accumulated by microscopic marine organisms, especially planktonic algae. The sea in which it accumulated was much deeper and clearer, with almost no mud from the land.
In south-eastern Hertfordshire the Chalk is about 680 ft thick. It is divided into Lower, Middle and Upper parts by two layers 5-10 ft thick, which are harder than most of the remainder. The Lower Chalk (180 ft thick) often forms a bench projecting north-westwards from the base of the Chiltern scarp near Whipsnade and Ivinghoe. It contains the Totternhoe Clunch, which has been quarried at the village of Totternhoe since the 13th Century as a building and ornamental stone. Examples of its use can be seen in St. Albans abbey gateway, the font in St. Stephens Church, St. Albans, and many other local churches.
The Middle Chalk (220 ft thick) forms the steepest part of the Chiltern scarp, for example at Whipsnade. Its upper layers contain a few layers of flint nodules, which are composed of pure microcrystalline silica, probably derived from sponges and radiolaria living in the Chalk sea. Flint is also common in the Upper Chalk. It is a very hard material, which has has been used as building stone, mainly for facing external walls of churches and houses throughout the county.
The Upper Chalk thickens south-eastwards from about 90 ft on the Chiltern crest near Tring to a maximum of 280 ft beneath south-east Hertfordshire (Fig. 2). This is because at the end of the Cretaceous Period the rocks were uplifted and tilted, and then eroded unevenly before the next sediments were laid down on the eroded surface in the Palaeocene Period about 65 million years ago.
The main Palaeocene deposit in Hertfordshire is the Reading Beds, which consists of 30-50 ft of multicoloured clays with irregular patches of yellow sand and occasional bands of small (1-5 cm) black pebbles. It is a shallow sea deposit at the base, but upper parts were deposited by rivers flowing eastwards across the area. It occurs mainly in south-eastern parts of the county near Radlett and Essendon, but originally extended over the whole of the Chilterns. Patchy remnants or outliers of this earlier cover were left in north-western areas when most of it was eroded by rivers. Examples of Reading Beds outliers occur in northern parts of St. Albans, and at Ayot Green and Burnham Green. An interesting hard rock material sometimes found in the Reading Beds is Hertfordshire Puddingstone (see examples and posters relating to this on the stall).
After deposition of the Reading Beds there was a further cycle of uplift, tilting, erosion and then subsidence of the land beneath the sea. This led to deposition of the London Clay, which overlies the Reading Beds in south-east Hertfordshire and on some of the outliers to the north-west. The London Clay also extends and thickens south-eastwards beneath London. It is a grey or brown clay often containing fossils of marine shells or land plants preserved in iron pyrites (FeS2), a brassy mineral sometimes known as fool�s gold.
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Compared with the solid formations, the superficial or Quaternary deposits of Hertfordshire (Fig. 3) are much more variable in nature and are often laterally impersistent. They originated in various ways, the four most extensive types being:
Gravel deposits of the River Thames, dating from a period when it flowed north-eastwards through the Vale of St. Albans rather than following its present course through London.
Clays and gravels deposited by a glacier, which entered NE Hertfordshire about 400,000 years ago (the Anglian Stage) and blocked the earlier course of the Thames, thus causing the southward diversion through London.
Sediments deposited by the wind under very cold dry conditions or sludged down slopes such as valley sides when the surface layer of a frozen soil melted in summer sunshine.
The Clay-with-flints, which forms a thin layer (<15 ft) over the Upper Chalk on The Chiltern Hills.
During the last 2 million years or so, the climate of Britain changed many times, from a moist temperate environment rather like the present day to very cold and often quite dry arctic conditions. The cold periods are often termed glaciations, because they resulted in the development of glaciers, often covering much of northern Britain, and the warmer periods are known as interglacials. Types (a) to (c) above were deposited in one or more of the most recent cold periods. Interglacial deposits were mainly formed in small lakes or streams, and are therefore even more localised in occurrence.
The gravels deposited by the Thames in cold periods form a series of gently sloping river terraces along the earlier course of the river through the Vale of St. Albans. The oldest are at fairly high levels on the Chilterns, and younger terraces occur at successively lower levels. Because of subsequent erosion each terrace occurs as patchy remnants. All are now composed mainly of angular, frost-shattered flint fragments, but originally they would also have contained large amounts of angular chalk fragments, which have been lost by prolonged weathering.
The Anglian glaciation resulted in deposition of grey Chalky Boulder Clay and associated gravels, both containing fragments of chalk, flint and many other rocks brought by the glacier from N.England, Scotland and even Scandinavia. The glacier reached as far south-west as Bricket Wood, and beyond this the water of the Thames was impounded to form a large lake. Southward overflow from the lake formed a new course, which developed into the present Thames valley through Middlesex and central London.
The Clay-with-flints occurs on higher parts of the Chilterns above the level of the highest Thames terrace. It often contains blocks of Hertfordshire Puddingstone and its mineral composition is like that of the Reading Beds. It is therefore thought to have originated by frost-disturbance and interglacial soil development in a thin veneer of basal Reading Beds surrounding the Reading Beds outliers.
During the later cold stages of the Quaternary, silt known as loess was deposited by the wind over the whole county, forming thin layers (usually 1-3 ft) over the Thames terraces, Anglian glacial deposits and Clay-with-flints. Thicker accumulations are present in many valleys, such as that of the River Lea south of Ware. The surface horizons of soils almost throughout the county are formed from this layer. It makes them fertile and very suitable for agriculture because the loess is easier to cultivate and retains more plant-available water than the underlying gravels or stony clays.
| Chalk |
Which plant is Saint Patrick said to have used to illustrate the Holy Trinity | chiltern hills : definition of chiltern hills and synonyms of chiltern hills (English)
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Location
The Chilterns cover an area of 833 km2 (322 sq mi) and are 18 km (11 mi) at their widest and stretch 74 km (46 mi) in a southwest to northeast diagonal from Goring-on-Thames in Oxfordshire , through Buckinghamshire , via Dunstable Downs and Deacon Hill in Bedfordshire , to near Hitchin in Hertfordshire . [1]
The boundary of the hills is clearly defined on the northwest side by the scarp slope. The dip slope , by its nature, merges with the landscape to the southeast. [2] Similarly, the Thames provides a clear terminal to the southwest, whereas northeast of Luton the hills decline slowly in prominence. [3]
Geology
Chalk soil at the foot of the escarpment of the Chiltern Hills near Shirburn Hill
The chalk escarpment of the Chiltern Hills overlooks the Vale of Aylesbury , and approximately coincides with the southernmost extent of the ice sheet during the last glacial maximum [ citation needed ]. The Chilterns are part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England, formed between 65 and 95 million years ago, [1] and comprising rocks of the Chalk Group and which also includes Salisbury Plain , Cranborne Chase , the Isle of Wight and the South Downs , in the south. In the north, the chalk formations continue northeastwards across north Hertfordshire , Norfolk and the Lincolnshire Wolds , finally ending as the Yorkshire Wolds in a prominent escarpment, south of the Vale of Pickering . The beds of the Chalk Group were deposited over the buried northwestern margin of the Anglo-Brabant Massif during the Upper Cretaceous . [4] During this time, sources for siliciclastic sediment had been eliminated due to the exceptionally high sea level. [5] The formation is thinner though the Chiltern Hills than the chalk strata to the north and south and deposition was tectonically controlled, with the Lilley Bottom structure playing a significant role at times. [4] The Chalk Group , like the underlying Gault Clay and Upper Greensand , is diachronous . [5]
During the late stages of the Alpine Orogeny , as the African Plate collided with Eurasian Plate , Mesozoic extensional structures, such as the Weald Basin of southern England underwent structural inversion . [4] This phase of deformation tilted the chalk strata to the southeast in the area of the Chiltern Hills. The gently dipping beds of rock were eroded , forming an escarpment .
The chalk strata are frequently interspersed with layers of flint nodules which apparently replaced chalk and infilled pore spaces early in the diagenetic history. Flint has been mined for millennia from the Chiltern Hills[ citation needed ]. They were first extracted for fabrication into flint axes in the Neolithic period, then for knapping into flintlocks . Nodules are to be seen everywhere in the older houses as a construction material for walls.
Physical characteristics
Topography
Ivinghoe Beacon (the eastern trailhead) seen looking north from The Ridgeway
Their highest point is 275 m (876 ft) at Haddington Hill near Wendover in Buckinghamshire; a stone monument marks the summit . The nearby Ivinghoe Beacon is a more prominent hill, although it only stands 249 m (817 ft) above sea level . [6] It is the starting point of the Icknield Way Path and the Ridgeway long distance path , which follows the line of the Chilterns for many miles to the west, where they merge with the Wiltshire downs and southern Cotswolds . To the east of Ivinghoe Beacon is Dunstable Downs, a steep section of the Chiltern scarp. Near Wendover is Coombe Hill which is 260 m (853 ft) above sea level. The more gently sloping country – the dip slope – to the southeast of the Chiltern scarp is also generally referred to as the Chilterns, containing much beech woodland and many villages .
Landscape and land use
The dominant feature of the historic landscape is enclosed fields, which accounts for almost 66% of the AONB area. The next and arcitypal landscape is woodland , covering 21% of the Chilterns which is one of the most heavily wooded areas in England. Built-up areas (settlements and industry) make up over 5% of the landscape. Parks and Gardens accounting for nearly 4%, open land (commons, heaths and downland) is 2%, and the remaining 2% comprises a variety of uses, such as: communications, military, open land, recreation, utilities and water. [1]
Rivers
Rivers that drain from the Chiltern Hills include the River Mimram , River Lea , River Ver , River Gade , River Bulbourne , River Chess , River Misbourne and River Wye . These are classified as chalk streams , although the River Lea is degraded by water from road drains and sewage treatment works. [7] The River Thames flows downstream between the Berkshire Downs and the Chilterns.
Transport routes
The Chilterns are transected by a number of transport routes which pass through the area via natural or man made corridors. There are over 2,000 km (1,200 mi) of footpaths in the Chilterns which are also transected by ancient long-distance trackways including the Icknield Way and The Ridgeway . [8] The Motorways include the M40 which passes through both Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire sections and through the purposely excavated Stokenchurch Gap and the M1 through the Bedfordshire section near Luton. Major roads include the A413 , the A41 and A5.
Railways including the Chiltern Main Line via High Wycombe and Princess Risborough , the London to Aylesbury Line via Amersham there is also the Croxley Rail Link authorised to link Watford Junction . Presently the Chilterns are connected on the West Coast Main Line through Berkhamsted and the Midland Main Line with First Capital Connect call at Luton . The Great Western Main Line and branches such as the Henley Branch Line and the Marlow Branch Line connect the southern side of the Chilterns into London Paddington . There is the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway which is a preserved line.
There are no navigable rivers (apart from the River Thames ), the Grand Union Canal passes through the Chilterns between Berkhamsted and Marsworth, with two branches the Wendover Arm and Aylesbury Arm . Air corridors from Luton Airport pass over the Chilterns to the east and west of the airport. In 2012 the UK Government announced that the proposed High Speed 2 rail route would pass through the Chilterns near Amersham, partly through tunnels and partly at surface level. [9]
History
In pre- Roman times, the Chiltern ridge provided a relatively safe and easily negotiable route across southern Iron Age England , thus the Icknield Way (one of England's ancient prehistoric trackways) follows the line of the hills. Its name comes from that of the Cilternsæte , a tribe that occupied the area in early Anglo-Saxon period.
One of the principal Roman settlements in the Roman province of Britannia Superior was sited at Verulamium (now St Albans ) and there are significant Roman and Romano-British remains in the area.
The Tudors had a hunting lodge in the Hemel Hempstead area.
Settlement
Until the coming of the railways and, later, the motor-car , the Chilterns were largely rural with country towns situated on the main routes through the hills. The position of the hills, northwest of London, has affected the routing of major road , rail and canal routes. These were funnelled through convenient valleys (e.g., High Wycombe , Hemel Hempstead ) and encouraged settlement and, later, commuter housing. As at 2002 there were 100,000 people living within the AoNB area of the Chilterns. [10]
The western edge of the Chilterns is notable for its ancient strip parishes , elongated parishes with villages in the flatter land below the escarpment and woodland and summer pastures in the higher land. [11]
List of towns and villages in the Chiltern hills area
Watlington Town Hall from the south
Oxfordshire: Aston Rowant , Checkendon , Chinnor , Ipsden , Lewknor , Mongewell , Newnham Murren , Nuffield , Pyrton , Shirburn , South Stoke , Watlington
Use
The hills have been exploited for their natural resources for millennia . The chalk has been quarried for the manufacture of cement , and flint for local building material. Beechwoods supplied furniture makers with quality hardwood . The area was once (and still is to a lesser degree) renowned for its chair -making industry, centred on the towns of Chesham and High Wycombe (the nickname of Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is the Chairboys). The clean water from the aquifer is still used for public supply and the rivers and streams have fed watercress beds. The chalk of the hills is an important aquifer, exploited to provide water supplies in the area; it has been suggested that over-exploitation has led to the disappearance of some streams.
Nettlebed 's one remaining pottery kiln
In a region short of building stone, local clay deposits and timber provided the raw materials for brick manufacture. Where available, flint was also used for construction ; it is still used in modern buildings , although restricted to decoration to give a vernacular appearance.
Mediaeval strip parishes reflected the diversity of land from clay farmland , through wooded slopes to downland. Their boundaries were often drawn to include a section of each type of land, resulting in an irregular county boundary between, say, Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. These have tended to be smoothed out by successive reorganisations.
In modern times, as people have come to appreciate open country, the area has become a visitor destination and the National Trust has acquired land to preserve its character, for example at Ashridge , near Tring . In places, with the reduction of sheep grazing , action has been taken to maintain open downland by suppressing the natural growth of scrub and birch woodland. In the 1920s and 1930s, the Youth Hostels Association established several youth hostels for people visiting the hills.
The hills have been used as a location for telecommunication relay stations such as Stokenchurch BT Tower and that at Zouches Farm .
Protection
The Chilterns is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and so enjoys special protection from major developments, which should not take place in such areas except in exceptional circumstances. This protection applies to major development proposals that raise issues of national significance. [12] In 2000 the government confirmed that the landscape qualities of AONBs are equivalent to those of National Parks, and that the protection given to both types of area by the land use planning system should also be equivalent. In October 2010 the government confirmed proposals for the High Speed 2 rail link from London to Birmingham with a recommended route through the Chilterns AONB .
Administration
In contrast to National Parks , the Chilterns - as other AONBs - do not possess their own planning authority . The Chilterns Conservation Board has an advisory role on planning and development matters and seeks to influence the actions of local government by commenting upon planning applications . [13]
The local authorities (four County Councils, one Unitary Authority and ten District and Borough Councils) are expected to respect the area's status as a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Chiltern Hundreds
The Chilterns includes the Chiltern Hundreds . By established custom, Members of the British Parliament , who are prohibited from resigning their seats directly, may apply for the Stewardship of the Chiltern Hundreds as a device to enable their departure from the House (see Resignation from the House of Commons ).
The Chilterns in popular culture
The opening credits of the BBC sitcom The Vicar of Dibley feature an aerial shot of the Stokenchurch Gap . This is a major excavation which eases the M40 motorway from the Chilterns into the Vale of Oxford . It is between junctions 5 and 6. The chalk that forms the hills can clearly be seen on both sides of the cutting when driving on the motorway .
See also
| i don't know |
What was the first record played on Radio One | Flowers In The rain Was NOT The First Record Played On Radio 1 - YouTube
Flowers In The rain Was NOT The First Record Played On Radio 1
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Published on Feb 17, 2013
Having found a recording of the opening of Radio 1 I've found out that Flowers In The rain was not the first record played it was this one.
Category
| Flowers in the Rain |
Which Norwegian leader's name has become a by-word for treachery | What was the first record played on Radio 1 - thinkypedia.com
What was the first record played on Radio 1
warriorprincessxena1 answers:
The first complete record played on Radio 1 was Flowers in the Rain by The Move (although this was preceded by a broadcast of part of Beefeaters (On Parade) by Johnny Dankworth, being Blackburn's signature tune carried over from pirate radio). There has been some speculation that the inclusion of Flowers in the Rain was intended to signal the end of the "flower power" "Summer of Love" of 1967. The breakfast show remains the most prized slot in the Radio 1 schedule, with every change of breakfast show presenter exciting considerable media interest.
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Which capital city stands on the Potomac river | The Potomac River Flows Through Cities, History
The Potomac River Flows Through Cities, History
October 21, 2013
The Potomac River is the wildest river in the world to flow through a heavily populated area.
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From VOA Learning English, welcome to This Is America.
I'm Jim Tedder.
And I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.
Today we tell about the Potomac River. The Potomac is one of America’s most historic waterways. It flows more than 600 kilometers, from the Allegheny Mountains to the Chesapeake Bay and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.
Winding Through Cities and States
The Potomac River is the wildest river in the world that flows through a heavily populated area. On its way from the mountains to the ocean, it runs through West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and the United States capital, Washington, DC.
The Potomac River supplies water for most of the six million people who live in the DC area. Millions of people use the river and the land nearby for boating, fishing, bird watching and other recreational activities. The area is home to birds such as the great blue heron and the American bald eagle.
The Potomac River has played an important part in American history. For example, America's first president, George Washington, lived for many years along the Potomac in Virginia. He urged that the river be developed to link Americans with the West.
We Go Where People Lived Thousands of Years Ago...
The wind is blowing hard along the Potomac today, making the water dangerous in some places. So we will make our trip along the river virtually, without ever having to leave the room. For our virtual tour, we will take a small boat, a canoe we move through the water by rowing oars or paddles.
Our trip will take seven or eight days. The boat has only enough space for two or three people. But there is other traffic on the river. We do not feel alone.
We start in the calm waters of Shepherdstown, West Virginia. A travel guide tells us that people lived here 15,000 years ago. The Potomac River was a meeting place for American Indians long before Europeans arrived. The Indians gathered to trade food and furs. Today, people often find objects that the Indians left behind.
Harper's Ferry, West Virginia
We work hard to power our virtual canoe, and are happy to stop and rest at Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. During the 19th century, this village was an important transportation center for the river, a smaller waterway and a railroad. At Harpers Ferry, the Potomac flows through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Here it meets the Shenandoah River.
From our boat we can see the water flowing toward huge rocks. Green trees cover the mountains on either side. Round white clouds hang low against a blue sky. It looks very peaceful.
A Place of Rebellion
But this area is not known for peace. In 1859, the United States was close to civil war between the northern and southern states.
The federal government stored weapons at Harpers Ferry. John Brown and 18 of his supporters captured the storage center. However, federal troops recaptured it the next day. Brown was later hanged. But his name was made famous forever by American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson wrote that although Brown had died, his spirit would march on.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1803-1882: A Great 19th Century Writer and Philosopher
Harpers Ferry became a national historical park in 1944. Today the park welcomes visitors who come to learn about life along the Potomac River.
It's a Bird...
Bird-watching is a favorite activity in the park, where more than 170 bird species have been identified. Great blue herons populate a part of the historic area, and Canada geese can be seen along the edges of the Shenandoah Canal. The park also has pileated woodpeckers and Baltimore orioles.
Most of the time we sail smoothly down the Potomac. But sometimes the river is wild. George Washington understood that the Potomac was difficult to travel on, even for much bigger boats than the canoe. He proposed a waterway to avoid dangerous areas along the Potomac. But he did not live to see it built. Washington died in 1799. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal was built more than 25 years later.
Over the years, continued flooding from the Potomac damaged the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. Today it no longer carries goods. Instead, the C&O Canal is a national park. Kayaks and barges float on the waterway, passing through locks. These devices close off the canal and use special gates to raise or lower the boats. They do this by raising or lowering the water level.
The Towpath
The area between the Potomac and the canal is called a towpath. It extends about 300 kilometers from Washington, DC to Cumberland, Maryland.
Today we see families walking their dogs along the towpath. Other people are running or riding bicycles. Still others are fishing. Swimming is not permitted.
Visitors to the towpath sometimes see brick ovens, or remains of brick ovens. A national park employee tells us that people who lost their homes during the Great Depression once warmed their meals in the ovens.
Dangerous Waters Ahead...
Now we are getting close to the city of Washington. Here the river begins to look dangerous. Signs warn boats away from the 24 kilometers of the Potomac Gorge. People leave their canoes to walk along the towpath.
Water moves fast in the gorge. There are many rocks and waterfalls. The gorge begins above a large waterfall called Great Falls. Here the water drops to sea level. The gorge then extends to Theodore Roosevelt Island, named for America's 26th president.
A Great Blue Heron
Here we may get a good look at a blue heron. This beautiful bird stands for a minute on a rock on one long, thin leg. An eagle spreads its wide wings in the sky, but does not land.
We Enter Washington
We take land transportation to follow the river into America's capital. Washington, DC was built on low wetlands in 1800. The British burned the city in 1812. But Americans soon rebuilt it.
While in Washington, we decide to continue our virtual trip on the Potomac in a larger boat. This will take us past George Washington's home in an area just south of Alexandria, Virginia. He helped design the big white house, called Mount Vernon. The former president and his wife Martha are buried on the property.
Mt. Vernon
Today we see sheep and goats eating grass on the hill between the back of the house and the river. This sight probably looks about the same as it did when George Washington directed activities at his beautiful riverside farm.
The Threat of Pollution
After passing Mount Vernon, we end our trip on the Potomac River as it flows toward the Chesapeake Bay. By now, we have a deep feeling for the beauty of the river. But the beauty always exists under threat of pollution.
Over the centuries, industry, agriculture and human development severely damaged the environment of the Potomac. By the 1970s, people described the river's condition as sickening. Then Congress passed the Clean Water Act in 1972.
The water quality has improved greatly since then. Yet coal mines in West Virginia still drop harmful acids into the water. Waste materials from the Anacostia River float on the Potomac. Sediment material that falls to the bottom prevents traffic on some parts of the river. Pesticide products and fertilizers pollute the water. Many environmentalists worry about the building of new homes and businesses along the river.
Potomac River
The Potomac faces many environmental problems as a result of population growth and its resulting pressures on land and water resources.
The river flows through land controlled by developers, private owners, and state and local governments. These groups often have conflicting ideas about what is good and bad for the river. Several organizations work to protect and improve the Potomac River and the land near it.
The Potomac Conservancy is one of those organizations. It carries out a land protection program, develops land and water restoration projects, and provides education programs for adults and young people.
We hope that Americans will always take care of their historic Potomac River.
This program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Kelly Jean Kelly.
I’m Jim Tedder.
And I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.
To read, listen and learn English with our programs, go to learningenglish.voanews.com.
Join us again next week for another This Is America with VOA Learning English.
| Washington |
What is a man made lake for storing water called | h2g2 - The Potomac River - A Trickle Through History - Edited Entry
- John Adams
Some rivers quietly flow through the annals of history. They become borders, transportation routes, battle sites and a part of the identity of a people. What would the American West be without the Mississippi? London without the Thames ? Paris without the Seine? Egypt without the Nile? The Potomac River in many ways defines Virginia, a state with arguably the richest history of any American state. In the same way, the Potomac River's bubbling presence in the story of the American Republic is undeniable and is generally unconsidered.
The Potomac runs down from two sources in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia and West Virginia, between Maryland and West Virginia then down through (not coincidentally) the border of Virginia and Maryland, and into the Chesapeake Bay. It was named by Algonquin natives, meaning 'a trading place'. Other natives called the river 'Cohongorooton', meaning a river of geese 1 . Luckily, for the purposes of this Entry, and the sanity of its author, the Potomac name was preferred by those westerners who first came to explore the area. One of the first of these explorers was Captain John Smith - the same John Smith who is remembered for his association with the native girl Pocahontas and is immortalised in a Disney film. He chose to call the river 'Petomek'. The spelling has slowly evolved over the years 2 , and only relatively recently was it standardised.
With a watershed of only about 15,000 square miles (around 8% of the drainage area of a major American river like the Ohio and about 1% of the watershed of the mighty Mississippi) the Potomac is not really a significant river, nor is it a part of a particular water system (potamologically 3 speaking). However, it is by this river that the capital of the United States stands. Its significance in the American saga , and not its natural beauty or geographical convenience, is what sets the Potomac apart from other rivers.
Washington - Personally and Geographically
Though it might seem bizarre to modern students of American geography, [George] Washington shared the 18-Century version of 'Potomac fever' 4 that was especially virulent among Virginians, believing that the very river that flowed past his mansion provided the most direct access to the interior waterways of North America. This illusion probably derived its credibility from the long-standing claim that the western borders of the Old Dominion extended to the Mississippi, or even to the Pacific, producing a habit of mind that regarded Virginia as the gateway to the West. Washington embraced this illusion with passionate intensity - so did [Thomas] Jefferson - and starting in 1762 began joining and leading several organisations for improving navigation on the upstream sections of the river. The Potomac mythology stayed with him all his life. (It even played a significant role in the decision to locate the national capital on the Potomac in 1790.) His strenuous efforts yielded no practical results - the natural water route to the interior did not exist, and the man-made version, the Erie Canal , turned out to be in New York - but they did reveal where his thoughts were flowing.
- From His Excellency George Washington by Joseph Ellis (Faber and Faber, March 2005)
George Washington was a realist, whose particular talent throughout the war for American Independence had been his ability to see things as they are, and not as he wished them to be. And yet, he had an odd, illusory fascination with the River Potomac. This river was intimately connected with his vision of his beloved Virginia. He firmly believed throughout his life that his river was the best and only access point on the Atlantic to the western water networks of the Ohio Valley. He actually subscribed to and encouraged the publication of a magazine taking the river's name.
Washington even used his prestige and time to chair meetings of the Potowmack Company, whose intent was to make it possible to run vessels up through the upper reaches of the river. He corresponded with an interested Thomas Jefferson about the company's progress. All this effort was pretty much just a waste of time 5 . There was, Washington surely knew, a great big mountain range, named the Appalachians, from which the Potomac drew its headwaters, and even a mythical and beautiful river like the Potomac can not flow up an incline, through a mountain range and into the ocean.
So how do we explain Washington's fascination with the Potomac? There are several possible answers. Perhaps it was a sort of Virginian vanity which made Washington believe that not only were Virginia's citizens remarkable, but also the state's geographic features. Perhaps Washington was in fact so enamored with his countrymen that he quite literally believed there was something in the water. Washington probably hoped that his vision of a Potomac western passage was true because he knew it would enrich his homeland immeasurably. Had he been correct, the city of Alexandria, Virginia would have lived up to its Egyptian namesake in commercial success and Chesapeake Bay would today brim with cargo ships from all over the world. The Statue of Liberty would probably have shone not to the shores of New York , but to Maryland and Virginia.
Perhaps, as was so often the case in Revolutionary times, the explanation was a thirst for glory. If Washington could be later seen as a visionary who saw the potential of the mighty Potomac, he could be an American Alexander, the benefactor of a great Alexandria, the First in War, First in Peace and First in the Potomac. However, to fully grasp the nature of George Washington's connection to the Potomac River, we must consider the stories of two places which are now intimately related to him - his plantation home and the home of the government he helped to found.
Mount Vernon
George Washington romantically thought of himself as the American Cincinnatus, the Roman man who assumed dictatorial powers in a time of crisis, resolved it, then went back to his farm to live out the rest of his days peacefully. Washington could probably have been crowned as a king had he wished, but instead, after the Revolution, he retired peacefully to his estate - Mount Vernon. He inherited the plantation when he was just 20 years old, and considered it home until his death at the age of 67. It was an enormous, 8,000-acre plantation, with the main house and its piazza overlooking the blue Potomac.
Much of Washington's later years, especially before and after his eight-year Presidency, was devoted to improving his plantation's operations and his home. Each morning, he rode out to survey his lands and the work being done by its 300 slaves. Each day, he must have glimpsed the beautiful Potomac several times. It would be difficult to not have an abiding love for a river that accompanies you through life and greets you each morning. The Potomac was Washington's partner, a witness to every event in his life, from his service as a young officer in the French and Indian War to his final act of magnanimity, the gift of freedom to all of his slaves.
One oft-unnoticed detail of history took place in Mount Vernon in 1785. The Potomac was not only a witness to the events, but was the primary concern of them. This would later be known as the Mount Vernon Conference. A group of delegates from the states of Virginia and Maryland had met in Alexandria, Virginia, to discuss disputes about the navigation, fishing and trade over the Potomac River. Washington invited them to his home for the deliberations and, not surprisingly, they accepted. The conference was very successful. It produced something known as the Mount Vernon Compact, to govern the river. The report issued by the committee ironed out a few other details and was soon ratified by both states.
Excited by the success of this meeting, the Virginia General Assembly called for a meeting of the states to discuss arbitration of interstate commerce. This would be known as the Annapolis Convention. It was not as successful. Some historians would prefer to call it an utter flop. However, it was the Annapolis Convention, spurred by the Mount Vernon Conference, that called for a convention in Philadelphia in May of the following year. This convention would eventually produce the United States Constitution . In some fleeting way, the Potomac River can therefore claim a small but important part in the creation of the US Constitution.
The river and Washington's beloved Mount Vernon must have meshed into a single entity in the mind of America's First President. Since, by all accounts, Washington did not particularly enjoy his time in public service, Mount Vernon must have greeted him as a well-earned piece of domestic paradise when he retreated to it for long breaks during his Presidency. He must have particularly cherished the sight of it, and the beautiful Potomac, when he left public service once and for all in 1797.
Washington, DC
The story of how the capital city of the US came to sit on the Potomac mostly revolves around the story of a dinner party in 1790 at Thomas Jefferson's home. The question of where to put this city had been a running debate for quite some time. There had been many temporary capital cities over the course of the Revolution and the subsequent years. However, the Constitution had called for a permanent seat of government, and so a single site had to be chosen. Each region, and each state, vied for the capital. There were some 16 or so candidates, but the leading choices were sites in the areas of Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York. A site on the Potomac was considered to be a possibility, but not necessarily a serious one.
James Madison, one of America's founding fathers and a Virginian, was the leader in Congress of pushing towards a permanent capital on the Potomac. He held the same sort of delusion about the Potomac which gripped Washington, and to a lesser extent, Jefferson. He led the fight against a Pennsylvania site, and even attempted to argue that the geographic centre of the nation was at the Potomac, and more specifically the absolute centre was, eerily enough, Mount Vernon. Of course, this silly claim was easily refuted by anyone with a map. Madison was mocked for his delusions, on the floor of the US Congress no less, in a way that Washington never would have been.
At the same time, Madison was also the leader in fighting against a public debt scheme, championed by the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton . The idea behind the debt scheme was that all the states would pool their debts (incurred during the Revolutionary war) and the Federal Government would raise some revenue and pay the debt off, rather than allowing the states to do it individually. For the most part, southern states, specifically Virginia, had already retired their debts, and did not want to pay for the debt of the northern states, who had (in their view) irresponsibly put off payment. Virginians, and most southerners, were adamantly against Hamilton's piece of legislation.
During the time of all this political maneuvering, the nation's capital was in New York City. Jefferson invited his friend Madison and his arch-enemy Hamilton to dinner, and over one of the courses 6 they agreed to a bargain. Hamilton would encourage his allies to support a Potomac site for the national capital and would reduce Virginia's monetary burden for the debt assumption plan. In exchange, Madison would allow Hamilton's plan to pass Congress, though he personally voted against it. Four Congressmen with districts situated around the Potomac ended up switching their votes to allow for the debt assumption plan to go through.
It is fitting that the new national capital, to be known as Washington, was created from a messy, politically-charged process. The District of Columbia was carved out of Maryland, bordering the Potomac River. The finer details of how and where to build the new city were left to President Washington. He chose a chunk of land just a stone's throw away from Mount Vernon. The rest, as they say, is history. Washington, DC 7 is now the largest city on the Potomac. In the early spring, the city's blooming cherry blossom trees, a gift from the Empire of Japan, are reflected by the glittering Potomac. Today, the Jefferson Memorial is visible across the Tidal Basin, an extension of the Potomac, and the massive Washington Monument towers above the city and its river. Thus, two of the river's most fervent admirers are now immortalised in stone on its banks.
Across the Tidal Basin from Jefferson's memorial building is a statue and memorial to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. While his body was laid to rest in New York, his image in sculpture gazes out across the capital. When he wanted to get away from the rigours of office, he used to take relaxing voyages on his presidential yacht, the USS Potomac, on, you guessed it, the Potomac. In fact, some of the most personable and humorous stories about Roosevelt come from the times he spent on the Potomac. Other Presidents have taken advantage of their proximity to the river as well. President John Quincy Adams used to regularly swim nude through the river (take a look at his portrait before you consider doing likewise). Harry Truman gambled and told salty stories with his friends on the yacht he inherited after his predecessor, President Roosevelt, died. The Kennedy family used to sail on the Potomac during long weekends. The Potomac has been a cherished recreational venue for American politicians, and for ordinary citizens to an even greater extent. Fishing, hunting, swimming and boating abound, and apparently there are lots of geese to shoot at.
American Rubicon
Any river is a natural boundary, between the far bank and the near bank. Some rivers are such powerful boundaries that separate cultures emerge on either side of them. This is what has happened with the Potomac. To the north of the river is what is generally considered to be the northeastern part of America 8 . Culturally, the Potomac is an important dividing point in America.
Look, for instance, at the election results for the past century or so. With few exceptions, Virginia and all states south have been solidly conservative, while Washington, DC, Maryland and the states to the north have been mostly liberal. States to the north of the Potomac are, according to census demographics, more diverse, while the states south of the river are more homogeneous.
So it is fair to say that today the Potomac is an important divider in America (especially for the Atlantic Coast). However, it was an even more important divider during the time of the greatest conflict between the North and the South - the American Civil War . During this war, the states south of the Potomac were not only different from the northern states. They were at war with them.
Just as ancient history has dramatized the crossing of the Rubicon by Julius Caesar to begin his own Civil War, American history remembers the times that the Confederate General Robert E Lee crossed the Potomac, thus moving into northern territory. He invaded the north twice, first leading to the bloodiest battle of the war, Antietam (also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, particularly in the American South), and then to the war's decisive battle at Gettysburg . Both times he was forced to abandon his attack and recross the Potomac. Various Union generals invaded across the Potomac on several occasions (thus giving the conflict the name 'The War of Northern Aggression' by some) but most had to slink back in humiliating defeat. The river was crossed step by step, soldier by soldier, mostly by way of connected pontoons that formed a temporary bridge that would be dismantled when the army was across.
A River Runs Through it
Probably more than any other river, the story of the Potomac is the very story of its country. The winding tale of the Potomac is not so much just a narrative of the river, but of the winds and turns it took along with its country. It has soaked up the blood and sweat of Patriots, British soldiers, Loyalists, Union men, Confederates, protestors, workers and just plain ordinary folks.
The War of 1812 saw the British threaten the new capital city repeatedly by sailing up the Potomac, until eventually they took the city. President James Madison, the same man who had fought to have the capital city placed on the Potomac, had to flee across the river when news of the imminent attack came. The British demolished the White House and set fire to bridges spanning the river. One of these was the Long Bridge, which was later rebuilt as the 14th Street Bridge, only to have a Boeing 747 crash into it in 1982.
During the American Civil War, dozens of battles raged through northern Virginia, many right along the Potomac. The Union of northern states named its major eastern army the 'Army of the Potomac'. That army fought many of the battles whose names now litter northern Virginia in historical markers. The major battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Harper's Ferry, Antietam, the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House were all fought not far from the Potomac. Thousands and thousands of American lives were lost in these battles.
1 Plenty of geese did and still do call the Potomac home. 2 The list of spelling variations on the name is nearly endless, but it really involves combinations of different spellings of the three syllables. The first syllable, 'Puh-' has been spelled 'Pa-', 'Po-', and 'Pow -'. The second syllable, pronounced '-toe-', can be spelled '-ta-', '-taw-', '-to-' and '-tow-'. The last syllable, '-meck' varies between '-mac', '-muck', '-mek', '-meke', '-macke', '-mak', '-mack', '-moke', etc. This creates some interesting variations such as Powtowmack, Patowmeck and dozens more. And that's not even counting the spelling variations of the alternative 'Cohongorooton' name. 3 Potamology is the study of rivers, which is a new one to this Researcher. 4 Note: The term 'Potomac Fever' also can refer to a condition afflicting horses, a mentality afflicting politicians, or a gay a capella group based out of Washington, DC. 5 Construction of a canal owned by the Chesapeake and Ohio company (which had bought out Washington's Potowmack Company) actually began in later years, intending to do what Washington could not. The parts that improved the navigability of the natural line of the Potomac were in use for a few years, but the scheme was eventually abandoned, uncompleted. The area around the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal is now a national park. 6 Jefferson had a taste for French cuisine, and probably would have offered multiple courses. 7 DC stands for 'District of Columbia', named for Christopher Columbus . Thus the capital district was named for the person who 'found' America , and the city for the person who 'founded' America. 8 Sure, Maryland (which is to the north of the Potomac) was for a while a 'slave state', and it is south of the famous Mason-Dixon line, but it fought on the Union side of the Civil War and is now a very liberal state, unlike its neighbours to the south.
| i don't know |
9What do you get if you cross a collie with a greyhound | Lurchers
Lurchers
Home > Dog Breeds > Lurcher
Thanks to "Nessmoon" of morguefile for this lovely photo of a lurcher
Lurchers were originally bred for poaching and are generally the result of crossbreeding a sighthound with another breed such as a collie or a terrier. Their size is very variable. They can be quite small like a whippet or as tall as a greyhound, but all of them tend to be slightly built.
Some lurchers are bred for agility but you would be well advised to read the comments below if you are considering getting a lurcher specifically for the sport.
I have to confess that I love the kind of lurchers in the photos. Jamie was good friends with three of these beautiful dogs and you couldn't wish to meet a kinder or more equable breed.
Jamie says hello to Misty, a greyhound deerhound cross. Jamie is 22inches at the shoulder and Misty is 3 or 4 inches taller.
Lurchers may have a rough or a smooth coat depending on the cross. They are generally easy to handle and to groom.
Their temperaments and exercise needs can be very similar to the greyhound. The dog in the photo on the left is called Misty and we believe she is a greyhound deerhound cross. Her owners said that all three of their lurchers needed a good flat out run every day but tended to settle down quietly at home after that. Usually they are light on the lead and easy to control but as with any breed you'll always get one or two awkward little devils that do just the opposite. One thing you might have to watch is that they do have a strong hunting instinct and may chase small animals.
One lurcher we knew used to regularly jump a five barred gate with ease but the others were never quite brave enough to tackle jumps this high.
Lurcher fans, there are lots of books written about lurchers and some collectibles too. I've included some here and you can find more dog products in the doggie shop . There are many interesting comments from lurcher people and these are included below.
| Lurcher |
Who was Princess Alexandra married to | Lurchers
Lurchers
Home > Dog Breeds > Lurcher
Thanks to "Nessmoon" of morguefile for this lovely photo of a lurcher
Lurchers were originally bred for poaching and are generally the result of crossbreeding a sighthound with another breed such as a collie or a terrier. Their size is very variable. They can be quite small like a whippet or as tall as a greyhound, but all of them tend to be slightly built.
Some lurchers are bred for agility but you would be well advised to read the comments below if you are considering getting a lurcher specifically for the sport.
I have to confess that I love the kind of lurchers in the photos. Jamie was good friends with three of these beautiful dogs and you couldn't wish to meet a kinder or more equable breed.
Jamie says hello to Misty, a greyhound deerhound cross. Jamie is 22inches at the shoulder and Misty is 3 or 4 inches taller.
Lurchers may have a rough or a smooth coat depending on the cross. They are generally easy to handle and to groom.
Their temperaments and exercise needs can be very similar to the greyhound. The dog in the photo on the left is called Misty and we believe she is a greyhound deerhound cross. Her owners said that all three of their lurchers needed a good flat out run every day but tended to settle down quietly at home after that. Usually they are light on the lead and easy to control but as with any breed you'll always get one or two awkward little devils that do just the opposite. One thing you might have to watch is that they do have a strong hunting instinct and may chase small animals.
One lurcher we knew used to regularly jump a five barred gate with ease but the others were never quite brave enough to tackle jumps this high.
Lurcher fans, there are lots of books written about lurchers and some collectibles too. I've included some here and you can find more dog products in the doggie shop . There are many interesting comments from lurcher people and these are included below.
| i don't know |
In the adverts what was just enough to give your kids a treat | Cadbury Fudge Chocolate Review
“A Cadbury’s Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat.
A finger of Fudge is just enough until it’s time to eat.
It’s full of Cadbury goodness
But there is more I need.
A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat.
It’s full of Cadbury goodness
But there is more I need.
A finger of Fudge is just enough to give your kids a treat.”
I am 32 years old, and I still can’t stop myself humming that little ditty every time I unwrap a Cadbury’s Fudge. That either says something about how effective the advertising campaign was, or something about my childishness, either way I can’t help but feel a small amount of excitement at unwrapping the bar.
How best to describe the humble Cadbury’s Fudge – the perennial kid favourite? The fudge bar itself is a D-shaped finger (11cm long and about 1.5cm at its widest point) coated in a thin layer of Cadbury’s chocolate – smooth on the top, and a sort of rough regular texture on the bottom which looks like it sat on mesh while the chocolate set.
On biting into the bar, the overwhelming flavour is that of the buttery sweetness of the fudge – not as sophisticated or creamy as true fresh fudge, of course, but still has a satisfying and moreish quality. The chocolate to fudge ratio is a little on the mean side, but enough to complement the fudge nicely.
At the end of the finger (which sadly, you reach all too soon) you’re left feeling “mmm, I could eat another one of those”. Maybe a Cadbury’s Fudge is enough of a treat for a child, but for the adult chocaholics among us, I’d thoroughly recommend buying them in a multipack of 6…
| Fudge (chocolate bar) |
What was the name of the Laker Airways cheap trans Atlantic service started in 1977 | UK television adverts 1955-1985
Blue Bird – Blue Bird – Blue Bird Liquorice Rolls.
Blue Riband
I’ve got those — can’t get enough of those Blue Riband blues,
Blue Riband’s the chocolate wafer biscuit I always choose,
When my woman treats me right,
She buys me Blue Riband wafer biscuits, crisp and light,
I’ve got those — can’t get enough of those Bl-u-u-u-e….
Oh! thank you!
Voice-over: Buy Blue Riband — the biscuit to beat the blues.
Bounty (1)
I’d rather have a Bounty.
Bounty brings you tender coconut.
The taste of paradise!
They came in search of paradise.
Bounty (2): 1984
You know I’m waiting,
Just anticipating
Things I may never possess,
While I’m without them
Try a little tenderness …
Bounty — the taste of paradise!
[Tune: “Try a Little Tenderness”]
BubbleYum: 1977
(City gents on a train)
Bubblegum old chap?!
Spearmint BubbleYum actually. I chew BubbleYum because it’s soft and juicy — the flavour lasts such a long time!
How long exactly?
(Go on, blow a bubble — go on!)
Voiceover: LIFESAVERS BubbleYum — the long lasting flavour. You don’t have to blow bubbles.
(Bet you will!)
Butter Snap: c.1970
Man at the kiosk cannot remember the name of what he wants, says things like “it’s a … er …. snappy, snappy taste” to the bewildered kiosk lady; cue a schoolboy swiftly into view “Butter Snap, please, thanks!” and out again, and the chap remembers too late as the kiosk lady pulls down the shutter
Voiceover: Sharp’s Butter Snap, a name to remember!
Cadbury’s Amazin’ Raisin bar
It’s amazing what raisins can do!
Full of goodness and it’s all for you,
It’s got two kinds of chocolate (and caramel too!)
And it’s got raisins and they’re good for you
It’s amazin’ what raisins can do,
All that goodness and it’s all for you,
So just do what you have to do,
It’s amazin’ what raisins can do-oo-oo.
Cadbury’s Big One: 1971
[launched in Tyne Tees and Yorkshire areas in Sep.1971, withdrawn in 1972/73]
(Cowboy looking out across the desert)
If you like your Big One to last a long time,
Big one, sticks out a mile.
Cadbury’s Boost
What can fill the Watford Gap?
What ties up a crocodile’s snap?
What makes policemen drop their hats?
A Boost, a Boost, and Cadbury’s Boost!
Cadbury’s Bournville chocolate: c.1970
For adults only.
Cadbury’s Caramel: early 1980s
(A cartoon rabbit speaks to a cartoon beaver)
Hey Mister Beaver, why are you beavering around?
Haven’t you heard of Cadbury’s Caramel?
Soon as that thick Cadbury’s milk chocolate melts with that dreamy caramel — you just have to take things really easy!
Looks like somebody else could do with some!
Take it easy with Cadbury’s Caramel.
Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons (1): c.1970
Buy some buttons, jolly, jolly buttons,
Buy some buttons, they’ll last you all the day.
When you’ve sixpence to spend
You’ll have buttons to lend,
And buttons to last you while you play!
Voiceover: Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons – sixpence!
Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons (2): c.1984
Sing a song of sixpence,
The king he gave a sigh,
He wasn’t even partial
To blackbirds in a pie,
But when the pie was opened,
Much to his surprise,
His favourite Cadbury’s Buttons
Were right before his eyes.
Cadbury’s Buttons — dairy milk chocolate for beginners!
[Tune: Sing a Song of Sixpence]
Cadbury’s Contrast: early 1960s
I like a man who likes me enough to buy me Cadbury’s Contrast.
Cadbury’s Creme Eggs (1): 1983
You can’t resist them!
Cadbury’s Creme Eggs (2): 1985
How do you eat yours?
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly (1): 1973
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly outchews everything for three pence!
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly (2)
My brother and my friends are very bright, Mr Ghost Train driver. But don’t worry, they won’t be able to scream, ’cos I’ve given them a Curly Wurly. All those miles of chewy toffee covered in creamy Cadbury’s chocolate will keep them quiet.
Ooh, aargh, help — oh crumbs, let me out of here!
Right, confess! Which one of you screamed?
[with Terry Scott as the schoolboy — at the fair]
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly (3)
Hands off my Curly Wurly!
Curly Wurlies, only 10p.
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly (3): 1973
Cadbury’s Curly Wurly outchews everything for three pence!
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (1): c.1970
In the supersonic, scientific, psychedelic ’seventies
Isn’t it nice to know …
There’s still the same great taste
Of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.
Chocolate as it used to be,
Chocolate as it always will be! —
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (2): 1965
Mother just about manages to close a jam-packed suitcase - then child brings teddy bear. She awards herself the CDM for closing it.
Voiceover: Have you been sent packing today? Award yourself the CDM!
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (3): 1965
Man at tailor’s being measured for a suit.
Voiceover: Have you had a trying day? Award yourself the CDM!
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (4)
A glass and a half of full-cream milk in every half pound.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (5)
Nothing tastes nicer — you tell ’em, Cilla!
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate (6): 1970s
One chunk (leads to another),
One chunk (one chunk),
Just a glass and a half in every half-pound,
One chunk (one chunk) leads to another.
Cadbury’s Double Decker
Get on board, get on board,
Get on board with the Double Deckers!
Cadbury’s Flake (1)
What rings the bell with ice-cream eaters? Cadbury’s 99 Flake!
Cadbury’s Flake (3): 1959 onwards
[Series showing girls eating a Flake in exotic settings, e.g. sitting in a gipsy caravan in 1981, and rowing a boat through a waterfall into a cave in Jamaica in 1983]
Only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate,
Tastes like chocolate never tasted before.
Cadbury’s Flake (4): 1969
Cadbury’s Flake. Fold upon fold of creamy milk chocolate.
Cadbury’s Flake (5): 1970s
Cadbury’s Flake — and nothing else matters.
Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut (1): 1976
Everyone’s a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut case.
It’s the nuts and raisins!
They’re all after those crunchy nuts and juicy raisins —
wrapped up in lovely dairy milk chocolate.
Isn’t it strange how the simple combination of —
nutty nuts, juicy raisins, and Cadbury’s chocolate —
can affect people?
Are you a Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut case?
[Frank Muir; Tune: “Return to Django”]
Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut (2): 1977
Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case
It keeps you going when you toss the caber,
Whatever you are doing.
It’s nutricious and beauticious
To judiciously be chewing.
Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case
If only it could help improve my singing,
A healthy recreation.
Cadbury’s — Fruit and Nut.
(We make these up as we go along, you know.)
[Frank Muir; Tune: Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the reed flutes”]
Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut (3): 1977
Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case
I find it very healthy for my ego
It makes one feel more vital
As if one had a title!
Lots more fun than plumbing —
Or a saxophone recital.
Everyone’s a Fruit and Nut case
For bathing and ballooning it’s essential
For any recreation
Cadbury’s — Fruit and Nut.
(They don’t make commercials like this any more!)
[Frank Muir; Tune: Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of the reed flutes”]
Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut (4): 1970s
Everyone’s a fruit and nut case,
Crazy for those Cadbury’s nuts and raisins,
When you’ve got your feet up
What a joy to eat up,
City gents of consequence and blokes who dig the street up:
Everyone’s a fruit and nut case,
Crazy for those Cadbury’s nuts and raisins,
When you’ve got your feet up,
What a joy to eat up,
Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut!
Cadbury’s Fudge
A finger of Fudge is just enough to give the kids a treat,
A finger of fudge is just enough until it’s time to eat.
It’s full of Cadbury goodness, and very small and neat,
A finger of fudge is just enough to give the kids a treat.
Cadbury’s Lucky Numbers: Late 1950s
Lucky Numbers, Lucky Numbers — chocolate and chew.
I’ll be lucky, you’ll be lucky … they’ll be lucky too!
Cadbury’s Milk Tray (1)
Cadbury’s Milk Tray,
With Cadbury’s Milk Tray,
With Cadbury’s Milk Tray
Cadbury’s Milk Tray (2): 1968
And all because the lady loves Milk Tray!
[starring “man in black” Gary Myers]
Cadbury’s Milk Tray Calypso: 1974
A calypso steel band sails to chocolate islands in a chocolate sea
Why don’t you stop what you’re doing and come with me
To fourteen islands in a chocolate sea,
Fourteen … that you’ll love to eat,
… chocolate treat?
Marzipan and a chocolate ice,
A nutty one from the nutty nut tree,
Each a different island in a chocolate sea.
Oh … It’s a different experience every time”
Cadbury’s Monsters, Laughs, and Furry Friends: 1971
We’ve just arrived from Cadbury Land,
Monsters, Laughs, and Furry Friends,
Milk chocolate bars from Cadbury’s,
We’re such a happy band.
You’ll find us now in your sweetshop,
This is Cadbury Land!
Cadbury’s Old Jamaica: 1970s
Don’t ’ee knock it all back at once!
Cadbury’s Picnic: 1970s [later Lion Bar]
Cadbury’s Picnic has so many nutty bits it won’t stand up on its end! Look!
[with Kenny Everett]
Cadbury’s Roses (1): 1958
There’s more to enjoy in Cadbury’s Roses.
Cadbury’s Roses (2): 1964
Roses grow on you!
They say that roses grow on you,
They seem so nice it must be true,
They say that roses grow on you,
Roses grow on you.
Cadbury’s Roses (4): 1979
Say “thank you” with Cadbury’s Roses
Cadbury’s Roses (5): 1982
Thank you very much for the care they needed,
Thank you very much, thank you very, very, very much!
Cadbury’s Roses chocolates with all your favourite centres!
Thank you very much for doing the dishes,
Thank you very much, thank you very, very, very much!
Thank you very much just for being my missis,
Thank you very, very, very — very, very, very, very,
Thank you very, very, very much!
[Tune: “Thank You Very Much” by the Scaffold]
Cadbury’s Rumba: 1973
You’ll succumba to Rumba!
Cadbury’s Snack (1): 1960s
Bridge that gap,
Cadbury’s Snack (2): 1973
It’s Snack time!
Bridge that gap with Cadbury’s Snack Biscuits galore!
One biscuit — two biscuits — three biscuits — four
Five biscuits — six biscuits — biscuits galore!
Cadbury’s Whole Nut (1)
Whole nuts, not crunched or halved
Cadbury’s Whole Nut (2): 1970s
Nuts! Who-o-le Hazelnuts!
Cadbury’s take them and they cover them in chocolate!
[Tune: “The Banana Boat Song”]
Cadbury’s Wispa : 1983 relaunch [now Dairy Milk Bubbly]
(with Hi-de-Hi Stars Ruth Madoc and Simon Cadell)
Ruth: Simon — can I interest you in an amazing new experience?
Simon: Well, that rather depends.
Ruth: It’s called Wispa, and it’s made entirely from milk chocolate, but it tastes very different.
Simon: How odd: I thought that chocolate was just chocolate.
Ruth: Oh no. This is from Cadbury, see. It has this yielding velvety texture to it which can only be described as “indescribable”.
Simon: Absolutely extraordinary. That’s the most pleasurable experience I’ve ever had.
Ruth: I can well believe that….
Voice-over (whispered): Cadbury’s new Wispa. The ultimate chocolate experience. Bite it and believe it!
Chipitos crisps (formerly Wotsits): late 1960s
Tune: Chick, Chick, Chick, Chick, Chicken (Lay a Little Egg for Me)
Chip Chip Chip Chipitos,
Buy another bag for me.
Chip Chip Chip Chipitos,
I’ve seen them on TV.
I haven’t had a bite since lunchtime,
and now it’s nearly three.
Chip Chip Chip chipitos
Buy another bag for me.
Chipsticks: 1976
Young man: Come on, darlin’!
Girl: No!
Young man: You don’t know until you’ve tried it.
Girl: Oh, all right, I’ll try anything once (eats a Chipstick). ’Ere, they’re smashin’ (Young man looks at her cleavage and sighs Yeah). Oh, Chipsticks. They look like chips, don’t they? They’re all crunchy, ain’t they?
Young man: Right. Say when.
Girl: Wait till I’ve finished the Chipsticks.
Smack your chops, lick your lips,
Eat a lovely bag of Chipsticks.
Cornetto (1): 1977
I a taking no chances,
I bring all si-i-x.
Serenader: Si! Now there’s a-neapolitan with a-strawberry and a ….
Just one Cornetto … from Walls ice cream.
[Tune: “O sole mio”]
Oooh, Duncan’s Walnut Whips!
Fox’s Glacier Mints (1)
Fox: Why is there a bear on Fox’s Glacier mints?
Polar bear: There’s a bear on Fox’s Glacier Mints because they’re so clear and cool and minty.
Fox’s Glacier Mints (2): 1983
Clearly minty!
Fry’s Chocolate Cream (1)
Seven pieces of heaven, that’s Fry’s Chocolate Cream,
Seven pieces of heaven, that’s Fry’s Chocolate Cream.
Fry’s Chocolate Cream (2)
I want to be alone, I want to be alone,
Me myself at home sweet home,
Leave the oysters in their bed,
…
Tell the casino that I’ll miss the next game,
I don’t want to dress up, I dont want to dine,
Come up and see me some other time,
I want to be alone with Fry’s Chocolate Cream.
Fry’s Chocolate Cream (3): 1979
Scene: A railway platform. A man is saying ’bye to his lady friend through the train window.
Man: Daphne – here’s something for the journey.
Daphne: Fry’s Chocolate Cream! You remembered!
Man: It will always remind me of you … slim, dark, sophisticated … yet, underneath it all … a soft heart … and a sweetness that will hold me all my life.
Daphne: If only you’d told me before!
[The train doors slam and Daphne is shown seated … reading a magazine. The carriage door opens…]
Man: Can we start all over again?
Voiceover: Fry’s Chocolate Cream … the bittersweet experience!
Fry’s Chocolate Cream (3)
Fry’s Chocolate Cream — make the moment last.
Fry’s Crunchie (1): 1960s
Crunchie makes exciting biting!
Fry’s Crunchie (2): 1969
Crunchie … the taste bomb!
(later changed to “Crunchie … your taste bomb!”)
Fry’s Crunchie (3)
I get a certain feeling
I get it every day
And when I get that feeling
A Crunchie comes my way
It’s that Friday feeling
Thank Crunchie it’s Friday
Get that Friday feeling any day of the week!
Fry’s Crunchie (4): 1976
Bite into a golden Crunchie.
Fry’s Five Boys
(Too early for television advertising? The following newspaper/magazine advert dates from 1902)
Five girls want Five Boys and will have no other.
Fry’s Medley: c.1963
Do yourself a favour — have a Medley …
Chocolate bar with the fruit surprise.
Do yourself a favour — have a Medley!
Real fruit flavour — NEW FROM FRY’s!
Milky chocolate covered — that’s a Medley!
Real fruit too — that’s the fruit surprise!
Do yourself a favour — have a Medley!
Fruity Medley … NEW FROM FRY’s!
Fry’s Turkish Delight: 1957
Fry’s Turkish Delight is a rich red secret —
A rare Eastern essence slowly mingles with smooth milk chocolate —
to give you a long luxuriant taste of the East.
Fry’s Turkish Delight … full of Eastern promise!
[with harem girls]
Fry’s Turkish Delight (2)
Fry’s Turkish Delight, Fry’s Turkish Delight,
From the fabulous east
So full of milk, it almost moos!
Galaxy chocolate (2): 1987
Background music = George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”
A lady (over-elegantly dressed (for the hot climate) swans in and seats herself on a couch, beneath a ceiling fan, and reaches for a bar of Galaxy, slipping off her high heels as she unwraps it
Voiceover: Why have cotton when you can have silk?
After unwrapping and tasting the first piece, the lady drifts off into her own world.
Glees: c.1965
T wo sweets in one!
Golden Wonder crisps (1): c.1969
Golden Wonder — they’re Jungle Fresh…
Golden Wonder — real Jungle Fresh…
When a fellow isn’t feeling very strong
Give a nut a nut….
Look out! People go wild…
Golden Wonder — they’re Jungle Fresh…
Golden Wonder — real Jungle Fresh….
[Tune: The Peanut Vendor]
Golden Wonder are the crispiest crisps!
Golden Wonder crisps (3): 1970
The crisp with the light touch.
Golden Wonder peanuts
Golden Wonder Rock ’n’ Rollers crisps: 1970s
New from Golden Wonder — they’re called Rock ’n Rollers
Betcha gonna like ’em!
There’s a million ways to eat a Wotsit!
Hanky Panky sweet popcorn
Arthur Lowe sitting on a park bench beside a girl:
Would you care for a bit of Hanky Panky?
(SLAP! )
I was only offering you a little nibble!”
( BIG SLAP!)
Harvest Chewy Bars: early 1980s
You’re witnessing a very dangerous experiment.
This man will attempt to eat a cereal bar within earshot of — the squirrels!
Is he barmy?
No, he’s chewing a new Harvest Chewy Bar.
(The squirrels take no notice)
Yes, conclusive proof new moist and chewy Quaker Harvest Chewy Bars are extremely quiet.
Uh-oh!
They’ll be around for ever.
It’s so happy crunching Hula Hoops,
Crisper than a crisp — they’re Hula Hoops,
Hula Hoops, Hula Hoops, Hula Hoops,
Crispy Hula Hoops,
It’s crunchy when you’re munching Hula Hoops.
You should come and stay with Hula Hoops,
New potato rings — they’re Hula Hoops,
Hula Hoops, Hula Hoops, Hula Hoops,
Crispy Hula Hoops,
It’s crunchy when you’re munching Hula Hoops,
So crunchy when you’re munching Hula Hoops.
Ipso
(Small fruit- and mint-flavoured sweets in a boxes with sides like Lego bricks that could be joined together)
Ipso Ipso, Ipso calypso.
So refreshing, lots of flavour …
“Come one, you’ll miss your train!”
Jacob’s Club biscuit (1): 1972
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club,
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club,
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club.
Jacob’s Club — have you ever seen more chocolate on a biscuit?
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our club!
Jacobs Club Biscuits (2): 1980
Scene: A Courtroom
Teddy Boy (taking oath): … nothing but the truth.
Judge : Does the accused usually frequent The Blue Lagoon Gentlemen’s Club?
Teddy Boy and the rest of the courtroom sing to the tune of Barbara Ann:
A Bar-bar-bar, bar-bar-a Club,
A Jacobs Club in my hand, bar-a Club (bar-bar-a Club),
I’ll be munchin’ and a crunchin’, crunchin’ and a munchin’
Bar-a-Club, bar-bar,bar-bar-a Club,
Thick chocolate to excite, thick biscuit to bite,
See a Jacob’s Club….
Voiceover: Jacob’s Club-the biscuit bar, bar none!
Jacob’s Club biscuit (3): 1984
When they’ve gone off the bite at the Angling Club,
And it’s gone all wobbly down the Pottery Club,
If your partner’s waltzed off at the Dancing Club,
They’ve found a club
They really love.
Well, you couldn’t have a biscuit that’s as chocolatey as Club,
Well, you couldn’t have a biscuit that’s as chocolatey as Club,
So come and be a member of the Club Fan Club!
Jacob’s Club biscuit (4)
(With characters from the Wizard of Oz)
Scarecrow: Oh, I wish I had a brain!
Tin-man: I wish I had a heart!
Lion: I wish I had c-c-c- …
Dorothy: Courage?
Lion: No, a c-c Club!
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our Club!
Lion: Jacob’s Club … oh-oh … all that thick chocolate drives me wild!
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit join our Club!
Kit-Kat (1): 1957
Have a break — Have a Kit Kat!
Kit Kat (2): 1984
(Record deal: a dreadful looking group is singing dreadfully)
Lead singer: This is the best bit …
Record producer: I think we’ll take a break!
Voice-over: Have a break, have a Kit Kat!
Lead singer: What do you think?
Record producer: You can’t sing, you can’t play, you look awful!! … You’ll go a long way!!
KP Good ’n’ Crunchy Crisps: 1984
It’s so good and they’re so crunchy …
And nothing even like it’s ever happened before!
They’re so good — Good ’n’ Crunchy Crisps ….
The salt ’n’ vinegar flavour — that’s the one I adore!
You’ve never crunched a crisp that’s tastier or tasted a crisp that’s crunchier than new KP Good ’n’ Crunchy crisps!
It’s so good ’cos they’re so crunchy and….
… I may like lots of crisps!
I bet you’ll like these lots more!
KP Discos
They’re Discos, They’re Discos,
They’re KP Discos,
They’re different, they’re rounder, won’t you take a look,
They’re Discos, They’re Discos,
They’re KP Discos,
And they taste as different as they look-look-look.
KP Discos taste as different as they look!
KP Nuts: c.1970
I’m dancing at this party,
Lettin’ it all hang out,
I’m looking for some peanuts,
But there’s none about.
I’ve got my Number Ones!
My lucky Number Ones (he’s got KP!).
KP nuts are fresh and tasty — in the bag,
They give you lots of protein — which can’t be bad,
They’re irresistible,
They’re really beautiful (we’re having so much fun!)
With Britain’s Number One (he’s got KP!).
My lucky Number Ones!
KP Wigwams. The light-as-a-crisp, munchy-as-a-biscuit snack.
Lee’s Macaroon Bars: c.1960
Lee’s, Lee’s,
Scores of us beg on our bended knees,
For piccaninnies and grandpapas
It’s Lee’s for luscious macaroon bars!
Logger chocolate bars
Lumberjack: I truly love a Logger!
Girlfriend: What, love one more than me?
Lumberjack: The Logger that I truly love’s got marks on, like a tree!
Lovell’s Milky Lunch
Lovell’s Milky Lunch is lov-er-ly, lov-er-ly
Lovells Milky Lunch is lov-er-ly
Lovell’s Milky Lunch is lov-er-ly, lov-er-ly
Lovell’s Milky Lunch is lov-er-ly!
Lovells toffees
Lovells are lovely, lovely, lovely,
Lovells are lovely!
Lyon’s Maid ice-cream: c.1970
With Lyons Maid, you’re laughing!
Lyon’s Maid Cornish ice-cream
Dairy ice cream, like a dream.
Mackintosh’s Reward Chocolates: 1965
Man puts diamond earrings in one space in a box of Reward chocolates ready for his girlfriend
Man: What are you doing now?
Lady: Thinking.
Mackintosh’s [now Nestle’s] Quality Street (1): c.1971
Quality Street was made for sharing
Mackintosh’s [now Nestle’s] Quality Street (2)
Quality, Quality, Quality Street,
Bang the drum and a great big gun,
All the fun of the share.
Made for sharing, made for sharing,
Bang the drum and a great big gun,
All the fun of the share.
Mackintosh’s [now Nestle’s] Quality Street (3): Christmas 1973
Quality Quality Quality Street — Quality Quality Quality Street
All of the sparkle, all of the flair
All of the fun of the share!
Mackintosh’s Mint Cracknel
[To the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn]
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care …
It’ll chase those blues away!
McVitie’s Taxi
Taxi (honk), follow that taxi (honk, honk),
It’s the bumper bargain biscuit of today.
Taxi (honk), follow that taxi (honk, honk),
There’s much more for the fare that you pay.
Taxi, when you’re feeling snack-si,
It’s got that chocolate satisfaction guaranteed,
It’s the bumper bargain, chocolate-flavoured, coated wafer, crispy biscuit
Snack bar … on four wheels (honk, honk)!
Maltesers (1): Late 1950s
Friend: Chocolates, with a figure like yours to take care of?
Woman: Those aren’t chocolates, they’re Maltesers.
Announcer: Maltesers, the chocolates with the less fattening centres.
Maltesers (2): 1980
When you’re giving the boys a lead there’s nothing more tempting than Maltesers.
“Chocolates!?”
“No! Maltesers!”
Inside that delicious coating of milk chocolate is a light, crisp, honeycomb centre. Together they make a winning combination.
“Chocolates!?”
Maltesers — it’s the honeycomb middle that weighs so little.
Marathon [now renamed Snickers] (1): 1976
With the then unknown Keith Chegwin (just prior to the launch of “Swap Shop”)
Hey! New Marathon’s arrived!
New Marathon?!
New Marathon because now the peanuts are greater roasted for extra peanut taste!
Hey! smashing new peanut taste!
New lighter centre (mmm smooth!) super chocolate, golden caramel, peanuts!
New Marathon! Comes up peanuts slice after slice!
New extra flavour — MARATHON!
Marathon [now renamed Snickers] (2): 1976
(Five people in street — each holding a Marathon bar)
1: Marathon is marvellous! You can eat it in the street, in the office — anywhere!
Marathon is marvellous
2: When I’m really hungry Marathon is just right — it’s absolutely perfect!
3: Fills the old tum you know!
Marathon is marvellous
4: It’s very nutty — very filling!
5: Keeps your hunger at bay.
Marathon is marvellous
[With Bob Monkhouse, Richard Murdoch, Vera Lynn, Petula Clark]
Mars Bar (2): 1965
Life is full of fun if you know how to enjoy it, and a Mars bar helps you to enjoy life even more.
You see Mars gives you energy while you work, nourishes you while you relax, keeps you going while you play.
A Mars a day helps you work rest and play — because glucose and sugar, milk and chocolate are all in Mars!
Yes a Mars a day helps you work rest and play.
Maynard’s Wine Gums (1)
Let the juice loose!
Maynard’s Wine Gums (2)
Hoots mon, there’s juice loose aboot this hoose.
Meltis New Berry Fruits (1): 1957
The only sweet with these lovely fruit liqueur centres.
Meltis New Berry Fruits (2): 1950s/1960s
Pineapple, Gooseberry, Strawberry, …………, ………… [order of fruits not known]
Meltis New Berry Fruits with lovely fruit liqueur centres!
Midland Counties ice cream (1): early 1960s
(A family out for a drive in their Morris Minor convertible)
Daughter: There’s one, Dad!
(Dad stops the car and enters a shop displaying a “Midland Counties ice cream” sign)
Dad: Here’s something for everyone!
Daughter: Raspberry Ripple please, Daddy!
Son: Orange bar for me, Dad!
Mum: Ooh! A choc ice!
Dad: And I’m taking home a family brick for tea!
Mum: We always stop when we see this sign.
All: Mmm — Midland Counties!
Midland Counties ice cream (2): 1966
This morning when you’re out shopping,
Pass the Midland Counties cooler without stopping,
And you’ll hear this muffled appeal:
Liberate a lolly from the Counties cooler today,
Free a frantic ice cream from a Counties cooler today.
Reprieve young Raspberry Ripple,
Aid Big Cake to make his break,
Restore Pop Sticks to the people,
Smoothe young Strawberry Jack’s escape.
Liberate a lolly from the Counties cooler today!
(Lyrics by Mike Isaacson / music by Mike Batt)
Milky Way (1)
The sweet you can eat between meals without spoiling your appetite.
Milky Way (2)
The red car and the blue car had a race
All Red wants to do is stuff his face.
He eats everything he sees
From trucks to prickly trees
But smart old Blue he took the Milky Way.
He’s looking for a chocolate treat – fluffy and light
’Cos he knows it won’t spoil his app-e-tite (mm mm MMMM!).
Oh no! the bridge has gone, poor old Red can’t carry on!
But smart old Blue, he took the Milky Way.
This advert made a comback on E4/satellite in 2009 with a couple of changes. “Smart old Blue” was changed to “Good old Blue”, and “’Cos he knows it won’t spoil his appetite” was changed (post-Trades Description Act) to “’Cos he knows it tastes just right”.
Mint Cracknel: 1973
Chap eating a Mint Cracknel in pouring rain, singing to the tune of “Blue Tail Fly”:
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care,
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care,
Gimme Mint Cracknel and I don’t care,
It’ll chase those blues away!
Monster Munch (Smith’s): 1977
This Monster is having his favourite dream —
The one where Monster Munch grows on trees —
Giant trees of course!
There’s one tree for Pickled Onion flavour,
One tree for Saucy flavour,
And one tree for Roast Beef flavour —
Which is all very nice and fun for him —
But not so for his somewhat smaller friends!
However, while he’s enjoying his dream —
Guess who’s enjoying his Monster Munch?
Monster Munch from Smith’s in three flavours
The biggest snack pennies can buy!
Murray Mints (1): 1955
The too good to hurry mints.
Why make haste when you can taste,
The hint of mint in Murray Mints?
Murray Mints, Murray Mints,
The too good to hurry mints.
Treat yourself to Murray Mints — The too good to hurry mints.
Murray Mints (2)
You can never hurry a Murray!
Nestle’s Breakaway
If I eat my sister’s Breakaway she’ll burst my new balloon….
(The balloon pops!).
Well, once you’ve seen one balloon, you’ve seen them all!
Don’t take away my Breakaway!
Nestle’s Dairy Box (1): 1956
With Una Stubbs dancing
My girl is sent by Dairy Box centres!
Nestle’s Dairy Box (2): 1950s
Man (after calling out “Judy” to wake sleeping girl):
Judy’s pretty and Judy’s good,
But little Judy never never could
Resist the chocs in Dairy Box,
So lovely centres in Dairy Box!
Judy:
Fresh butter makes it taste so well,.
Sugar and milk, you’re bound to fall
For just the dreamiest sweet of all.
Man:
Blended in as smooth as silk,
You’ll love the chocs in Dairy Box
With all those lovely centres, centres, centres, centres [fades away]
Nestle’s Dairy Box (2): 1970s
What the world needs now is love, sweet love,
It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of.
What the world needs now is love sweet love,
No not just for some but for everyone.
Dairy Box milk chocolates — for everyone.
Nestle’s Milkybar: 1961
The Milky Bar Kid is tough and strong,
The Milky Bar Kid just can’t go wrong,
The Milky Bar Kid only eats what’s right,
That’s Milky Bar, it’s sweet and white,
Nestle’s Milky Bar.
The Milky Bar Kid is strong and tough
And only the best is good enough,
The creamiest milk, the whitest bar,
The goodness that’s in Milky Bar
Nestle’s Milky Bar.
The Milky Bars are on me!
Nestles Secret Chocolate Bar: late 1970s
(Young lady on train eats her Secret … in secret)
I see her face everywhere I go …
Have you seen her?
Opal Fruits [now renamed Starburst]
Want something fresh?
Made to make your mouth water,
Fresh with the tang of citrus,
Four refreshing fruit flavours,
A chewing gum ever had
And it’s kind to your teeth —
And that ain’t bad.
Orbit ice-cream
The big ice-cream on a stick.
Pacers
Voiceover: Now you can enjoy new Pacers — wait till you taste that fresh chewy spearmint. Now striped with peppermint!
Ice-skater: Striped?
Voiceover: Yes, peppermint stripes. Stripes of peppermint in refreshing chewy spearmint that mingle in your mouth to give a new two-mint freshness.
Ice-skater: Stripes?
Voiceover: Enjoy a new kind of freshness — new striped Pacers: peppermint stripes for two-mint freshness.
Pascall sweets: mid-1950s
Children skip down the road, over a stream on a bridge, and into a sweet shop while singing. Someone who took part as young child adds: “It was filmed in the Cotswolds, in the villages of Lower Slaughter, where we ran through the village and over the bridge and Fifield where the shop was filmed. We children were mostly from Lower and Upper Slaughter and we had to run around singing the song while patting our heads and rubbing our stomachs simultaneously”
Pascalls sweets, Pascalls sweets are the best.
Yes the best are the sweets made by Pascalls.
Don’t you wish that you had for yourself,
Those lovely jars upon the shelf.
Pascalls sweets, Pascalls sweets are the best….
Pascall Murray sweets: 1960s
The flavour lingers longer and longer,
Pascall Murray super sweets,
The flavour lingers longer and longer and longer and longer….
Pascall's White Heather chocolates: 1960s
You can't resist – White Heather!
Pendleton’s Twicer ice-cream: 1950s
There was a young girl of Southend
Who had only twopence to spend,
So what could be nicer
Than a Pendleton’s Twicer?
Ice cream — with a lolly each end!
[Recited by Cyril Fletcher]
Rolo. More fun to have around.
Rolo (5): 1980
Do you love anyone enough to give them your last Rolo?
Rowntree’s Aero
Every bubble’s passed its test.
Rowntree’s Black Magic (1): 1950s
[Cartoon of young man and girl in a park]
Voiceover: Wonderful day, wonderful world…. Uh huh, something’s gone wrong with the reception. What magic could be missing to make it really perfect?
Aah, good thing he remembered: Black Magic. Nothing sweetens the atmosphere so quickly as a box of Black Magic chocolates. There’s a certain something about those centres that’s irresistible; so many, so marvellous: liquid cherry for brightening her eyes, montelimar for parting her lips, orange creme to make her heart beat faster, hazel cluster, coffee cream. They are all so, so delicious.
Black Magic chocolates will win anyone’s heart – yours too. Try them soon.
Rowntree’s Black Magic (2): c.1960
Woman: I remember the first time we met.
That old black magic has me in its spell,
That old black magic that you weave so well …
Man: I couldn’t take my eyes off you!
… the same old witchcraft when your eyes met mine.
Man: I knew I had to see you again!
Woman: Black Magic! It was the first thing you ever gave me!
That old black magic called love.
Rowntree’s Black Magic (3)
Who knows the secret of the Black Magic box?
Rowntree’s Cabana: c.1984
Come, mister tally-man, tally me Cabana,
I want a Cabana and I want one now,
Coconut, caramel, cherries and milk chocolate,
I want a Cabana and I want one now!
Cab-a-a-na, Cab-a-a-a-na,
I want a Cabana and I want one now!
[Tune: Banana Boat Song]
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (1): 1956
Don’t forget my fruit gums, Mum,
I just love those fruit gums, Mum,
Thruppence buys a tube of fruit gums,
Gums that last all day.
Bring me home some fruit gums, Mum,
All my pals love fruit gums, Mum,
Rowntree’s fruit gums last the longest,
That’s why we all say:
They’re smashing! They’re Rowntree’s!
[With a young Dennis Waterman. Later changed to “Don’t forget the fruit gums, chum” to stop mums from being coerced]
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (2)
Rowntree’s fruit gums,
In your tum, tum, tum!
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (3)
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums will last as long as the day.
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (4): 1960s
[A boy wins his race at a school sports day, and his proud father has a flashback of Roger Bannister completing the first four-minute mile. The disheartened losers are given fruit gums, and one by one they break into huge smiles]
It’s the four-minute smile.
The longest lasting fruit gums in the world.
Rowntree’s Fruit Gums (5): mid-1970s
We got plenty of fruit gums,
Raspberry, lemon and lime.
Taste the orange and blackcurrant fruit gums,
’Cause fruit gums last a long, long time.
Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (1): 1959
[The first ever advert for these sweets. The tubes were priced 3d and the boxes 1/-]
(A young couple enter a sweet shop)
She: Look! Rowntree’s pastilles!
He: Would you like some?
She: Ooo please!
Shopkeeper: Yes, only Rowntree’s know how to get the best out of fruit — that’s why you get the real fruit taste in Rowntree’s pastilles. Soft, juicy … there’s nothing like the taste of fruit in Rowntree’s pastilles!
Voiceover: There are plenty of Rowntree’s pastilles in the shops now — be sure to ask for Rowntree’s pastilles! Yes, now you too can enjoy the best sweets in the world…. Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles!
Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (2): 1961
(A housewife is tidying the lounge)
Men! They’re all the same … untidy, lazy … especially when it comes to doing something around the house!
(She spots a tube of Rowntree’s pastilles on the mantelshelf, next to a picture of hubby)
Still, Bill’s not so bad really I suppose. You know, it’s funny the things you remember … little things, like these pastilles he brings me — he knows I like them. Sounds a bit silly I suppose — it’s not to me!
Voiceover: Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles with the tingle tongue taste — just a thought!
Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (3): 1972
(A mother tiptoes downstairs, picks up a tube of Rowntree’s pastilles, and is caught in the act by the children)
Put those pastilles down, ma,
Put those pastilles down,
Pastille pickin’ mama,
Pass those pastilles round!
Mum says she buys fresh, fruity Rowntree’s pastilles for us, but sometimes I’m not so sure!
Pastille pickin’ mama,
Rowntree’s Fruit Pastilles (4)
All you can do is chew.
Rowntree’s Lion Bar
Bite it! Crunch it! Chew it!
Rowntree’s Nutty bar: 1970s
Nuts, nuts — lots of nuts! You get them in a Nutty bar!
Rowntree’s Striper
Four times the flavour, four times the chew.
Rowntree’s Tots
Jelly Tots — your favourite sweet,
Candy Tots — made to eat,
And Teddy Tots — all shiny bright,
Tiger tots — liquorice for you to bite.
Four to choose from on the shelf,
Rowntree’s Tots — please yourself!
Rowntree’s Jelly Tots (1): 1973
Sung by Joe Brown
There’s twenty, thirty, forty or more,
Red ones, yellow ones, colours galore
In the Jelly Tots bag.
Rowntree’s Jelly Tots (2): 1970s
Sung as skipping tune
’Cos they’re small and sweet,
Bags I Jelly Tots,
They’re nice and soft to eat.
Bags I Jelly Tots
Jelly Tots, Rowntree’s Jelly Tots.
Rowntree’s Jelly Tots (3)
Rowntree’s Jelly Tots fill small hands,
And the mum who buys them understands
That in small hands they’re nice to eat,
Jelly soft, and jelly sweet.
And there’s 20, 30, 40, or more,
Red ones, yellow ones, colours galore,
In the Jelly Tots bag
To fill small hands.
“I’ve got just one thing to say to you Jenkins …
You get a lovely lot of Savors in a bag!”
Cheese Savors — they’re made with real cheeses.
You get a lovely lot of Savors — crisp cheese Savors —
A lovely lot of Savors in a bag!
Sharp’s Extra Strong Mints: 1978
Two adverts (1) Launderette (starring Sheila Bernette);
(2) Barber’s Shop (starring Andrew Sachs)
They’ve got to be strong to be good.
Sharp’s toffees
Sharp’s the word for toffee
Smarties (1): 1960s
A tube of Smarties means, lots and lots of chocolate beans!
Yes you get lots and lots and lots and lots, of Smarties!
Buy some for Lulu!
When you eat your Smarties
Do you eat the red ones last?
Do you suck them very slowly?
Or crunch them very fast?
Eat that candy-coated chocolate
But tell me when I ask —
When you eat your Smarties
Do you eat the red ones last?
Smarties (3): 1970s
Hey guys! Check this out!
Here’s how every way-cool chocolate Smartie starts its life
They wait, and when they all come out of their candy-coated shells —
Who knows what awesome things they become!
Nestlé Smarties … wotalotigot!
Only Smarties have the answer!
Smith’s Crisps (1)
Farmer (in potato field): These potatoes are for the crisp makers! (He tugs and tugs at the plants) ’Ere — they won’t come up!
Potatoes: We’re too good to be any old crisps!
We wanna be Smi-iths crisps, we wanna be Smi-iths crisps,
We’re not coming until we make you see …
That if we were Smi-ths crisps, if we were Smi-iths crisps,
What tasty, light, and golden crisps we’d be!
Farmer: I’d better phone Smiths!
We wanna be Smi-iths crisps, we wanna be Smi-iths crisps….
Voiceover: Smiths crisps — so good, every potato wants to be one!
[Tune: “I wanna be Bobby’s Girl”]
Smiths Crisps (2): c.1965
See the face you love light up
With Terry’s All Gold.
Terry’s Chocolate Orange (1)
Unpeel a Terry’s Chocolate Orange today!
Tap it and unwrap it!
Terry’s Chocolate Orange (2): late 1970s
(Wife goes out leaving husband indoors — meets neighbour at the gate)
Neighbour: Do you think it’s all right to leave George there on his own?
Wife: Oh yes!
Neighbour: But aren’t you afraid he might find your chocolate orange?!
Wife: No! (chuckles) I think it’s quite safe!
(George opens a revolving bookcase which leads to a secret tunnel. He triggers and escapes from lots of booby-traps before discovering the chocolate orange)
Voiceover: Terry’s Chocolate Orange — smooth chocolate with real oil of orange. How safe is yours?!
Texan bar (1): 1978
A cowboy faces a Mexican firing firing squad.
Mexican soldier: A last request, gringo!
Cowboy: Guess I’ll finish this chewy Texan Bar …por favor.
Bite through that chocolate …and chew … real slow.
Everybody knows a Texan takes time to chew.
Can you you boys come back next week?
Voiceover: Texan – it sure is a mighty chew!
Texan Bar (2): c.1979
Texan Cowboy: Hold on there Bald Eagle. You wouldn’t fire a man ’til he’d finished his Texan bar would you?
Bald Eagle: Whoah!
Texan Cowboy: Bite through the chocolate and chew. Real slow.
(Indians exhaust themselves dancing)
Texan Cowboy: Someone should have told them a Texan takes time a’chewin’
Tic Tac (1)
A man’s gotta chew what a man’s gotta chew….
Toffo (3):
Sheriff to small boy: “If you wanna be my deputy, you gotta think fast.” He produces three flavours of Toffos and puts them on a little table, saying, “Gonna cover ‘em up and switch ‘em round!”, putting cups over the toffees and moving them about on the table and then asking the boy which is which – “Chocolate?" “Banana?" “Strawberry?”
The boy correctly picks them all and the sheriff says, “Are you after my job?”, and the little boy spins round in his chair and says, "Yup!”
Topic (1)
A Topic munching, cartoon character named Toby (voice = Bill Oddie) is asked a few very simple general knowledge questions (voiceover = Graham Garden?) which he gets wrong.
Voiceover: What’s got a hazelnut in every bite?
Toby: Topic!
Voiceover: Yes, funny how you always remember right at the end!
Topic (2)
What has a hazelnut in every bite? — TOPIC
Thick milk chocolate for your delight,
Nougat, caramel golden light,
And don’t forget a hazelnut in every bite.
Trebor Mints (1)
Trebor Mints are a minty bit stronger!
Trebor Mints (2): 1973
Trebor. More flavour than the common mint.
Trebor Softmints: early 1980s
Mr So-oft, won’t you tell me why the world in which you’re living is so strange…
Oh, Mr So-oft, how come everything around you is so soft and rearranged?…
Voiceover: Bite into the shell of a Trebor spearmint Softmint and everything turns chewy and soft! Mmm — they’re crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!
[Tune: Mr Soft by Cockney Rebel 1974]
Treets [now renamed Minstrels]
The milk chocolate melts in your mouth, not in your hands.
Sealed in a crispy shell.
Trio: early 1980s
Tri-i-i-o, Tri-i-i-i-o, I want a Trio and I want one now!
Not one, not two, but three things in it!
Chocolate, biscuit and de caramel too!
Tri-tri-tri-tr-i-i-i-ii-o
I want a Trio and I want one now!
No three things are quite as good together as the three things in Trio!
[Tune: “Day-O!”, aka “The Banana Boat Song”]
Trio (2): 1985
Scene: An escape by two musicians to the Arctic / the Trio girl arrives by air balloon singing:
Tr-i-o, Tr-i-i-i-o
“Hey man, where does a man have to go to get a little peace?”
Trio girl:
Tr-i-i-o! I want a Trio and I want one now! (ouch!)
Not one, not two, but three things in it!
A chocolaty biscuit and a toffee flavour too!
“Like a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, man!”
Voice-over: No three things are quite as good together as a …
(“TRI-I-I-I-O”)
[Tune: “Day-O!”, aka “The Banana Boat Song”]
Trio (3)
A third advertisement with the same characters ended with the line:
When a duo won’t do-o, have a … TRI-O!
[Tune: “Day-O! “, aka “The Banana Boat Song”]
Tudor Crisps (1970s)
Tudor: the crisp that’s really worth its salt.
Twister
You can’t resist the twist!
Twix (1): 1973
Voiceover with jingly jokey musical background:
Ah! Twix! The three course snack. Chocolate … biscuit … toffee.
Twix (2): 1977
Some people find that most quick snacks are a little too quick —
Snap! and they’re gone!
Twix gives you more to bite into,
Crunchy shortcake biscuit topped with caramel, covered in creamy milk chocolate.
Deliciously satisfying!
Next time, get the longer lasting snack,
Twix — the longer-lasting snack.
It’s all in the mix — Twix!
United biscuit bars
“I am Stan, I am a fan
And I’m delighted to eat United.”
“We are the fellas,
And some things make me cross,
But even I’m delighted
To eat United.”
“We’re all delighted to eat United!”
Wagon Wheels (1)
It’s so big, you’ve gotta grin to get it in!
Wagon Wheels (2)
Wagon Wheels are a treat for me (Wagon Wheels)
They’re the biggest biscuit
You ever did see (Wagon Wheels),
Marshmallow filled, they taste so grand,
A biscuit filled to beat the band.
Walkers Crisps: 1970s
Can you resist Walkers Crisps?
Wall’s ice cream (1)
Stop me and buy one
Wall’s ice cream (2)
More than a treat — a food!
Walls Jolly Jelly ice cream
Wall’s Jolly Jelly,
Wall’s Neapolitan ice cream: 1970s
It’s-a-lovely!
Wall’s Refresher: 1969
Voiceover It may look like a chocolate snack, but when you bite it, you'll know why it's called … the Refresher.
The Refresher: Let's get away on a sunny day: the Refresher
Voiceover: It's chocolate coating around golden vanilla ice cream, and what it does – [image of girl lying on ground].
Our snack is Wall's ice cream snack bar – the Refresher.
White Heather chocolates (Pascall): c.1960
You can’t resist White Heather,
You can’t resist White Heather,
Chocolates and toffees, they’re sensational,
So temptional,
Everybody knows, you can’t resist White Heather.
Wilkinson’s toffees
Wilkinson’s – have you ever tried them?
Wilkinson’s – with liquorice inside them.
Wrigley’s Doublemint chewing gum
Wrigleys Doublemint chewing gum
Double the flavour, double the fun!
Double your pleasure, double your fun,
With Doublemint, Doublemint, Doublemint Gum!
Double delicious, double smooth too,
Doublemint doubles delight as you chew.
So double your pleasure, double your fun
With Doublemint Doublemint Doublemint gum.
Wrigley’s — For a cleaner whiter smile.
Refreshes your breath, naturally Wrigley’s Double Mint!
Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit chewing gum
Juicy fruit adds to your fun
It’s a hit with everyone.
Fine fruit flavour, what a treat,
Makes your mouth feel fresh and sweet,
Juicy fruit adds to your fun,
Juicy fruit chewing gum.
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (1)
Carry the big fresh flavour:
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (2): c.1970
Almost anything you do,
You do a little better when you chew
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.
Voiceover: Try some yourself … and see!
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (3): c.1979/80
End of jingle::
Call it Wrigley’s, call it spearmint, call it gum.
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (4): 1984
When you need a lift but you just can’t take a break —
chew Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum!
The cool refreshing feeling of Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum
Puts a little lift in everything you do —
That good smooth chewing, that crisp clean taste —
That Wrigley’s Spearmint pick-up is going for you!
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum really keeps you buzzin’
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum keeps you buzzin’ along —
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum really keeps you buzzin’
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum keeps you buzzin’ along!
Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum (5)
Clap hands, one, two,
Let’s take a trip to the Wrigley zoo,
Chitter chatter, yakety yak,
When you talk to the animals they talk back.
We’ll talk to Melvin Monkey today,
Let’s hear what Melvin has to say:
“My mummy says I should realize
That monkeys all need exercise,
But teeth need exercising too
And my mum makes it fun to do,
For when I swing she gives me some
Delicious WRIGLEY’s SPEARMINT GUM
It helps to keep teeth clean and bright
And never spoils my appetite.
My mum’s my favourite swinging chum,
We both like Wrigley’s spearmint gum.”
Let’s talk to Buster Beaver today,
Lets hear what Buster has to say:
“My teeth have lots of work to do
Like gnawing tree trunks right in two.”
Now please remember this:
There’s always fun at the Wrigley zoo
And Wrigley Spearmint is fun to chew,
Younger folk and grown ups too,
Enjoy it while it’s helping you.
Yorkie (1)
Long and thick, a real chocolate brick.
Yorkie (2)
I’ve pounded the roads from coast to coast,
Yorkie and me rolling on —
’Cos a long day’s run can be short on fun
Without Yorkie to help me along.
Good, rich and thick, a milk chocolate brick
— each bite a chunky big mouthful,
Yorkie’s the shape that real milk chocolate ought to be …
So when I still that big old mill there’s plenty more in store for me …
From that chunky bar of mine.
Rowntree’s Yorkie chunky milk chocolate.
YZ Chewing Gum
This gum (with a wise owl on the packet) was sold from a machine and a free packet was given every fourth time, when the arrow on the knob pointed forward.
Buy some YZ Chewing Gum,
Smashing you’ll agree,
With the fourth you get one more,
An extra packet free!
5—4—3—2—1, 5—4—3—2—1
First bite into real milk chocolate, 5—4—3—2—1
Then crunch into light crispy rice, 5—4—3—2—1
Chew, chew, chew the caramel topping, 5—4—3—2—1
Uh huh — wafer and fondant too, 5—4—3—2—1
5—4—3—2—1, 5—4—3—2—1.
[Tune: Manfred Mann’s “54321”]
Notes
Bassett’s took over Wilkinson’s in 1961, Barrett’s in 1966, and Jameson’s in the 1980s.
Cadbury’s took over Fry’s in 1916, and both Trebor and Bassett’s in 1989 (calling the latter Trebor Bassett).
Rowntree took over Mackintosh’s in 1969.
Nestle’s took over Rowntree Mackintosh in 1988.
In the 1960s, “Nestle’s” did not have an acute accent. It rhymed with “wrestles”, and was never pronounced “Nestlé”. And “Cadbury” was always known as “Cadbury’s”.
Kraft took over Terry’s in 1993, and Cadbury in 2010.
Barrett’s Sherbert Fountain
| i don't know |
What is added to alcohol and sugar to make a syllabub | Lemon Syllabub Recipe - Allrecipes.com
Constance
8/18/2009
This is a lovely dessert! Try substituting Limoncello for the white wine, it lends a more subtle hint of alcohol. I also like using double cream (Devonshire) for its richness and serve with a ...
CHAMMI
3/12/2006
While I think it's dubious to warn parents about giving their kiddos the equivalent of a teaspoon or two of wine, I have to give Sarah-neko props for sharing this recipe. It's essentially glor...
tanyaw168
8/19/2006
Very delish! I changed the presentation a little bit. I put sponge cake in the bottom of a parfait cup, then a layer of fresh blueberries, and then topped with syllabub and a few more berries. I...
Star Dust Mining Company
2/4/2011
I was going to a dinner part hosted by a bunch of foodies who drink expensive wine, eat cheese I have never heard of and use the word "palate" in their sentences. Needless to say I didn't want t...
6/29/2007
Chilled is the way to go. Note: starts to separate after a day but can be re-whipped.
CathCooks
2/14/2007
This has been very popular with guests. I love to serve it when I cook seafood. I pair it with lemon curd, either swirled or layred. Very nice.
Melonie
7/20/2006
I looked like a star when I brought this for a light unique dessert. Easy & wonderful over berries, decorated with flowers from my garden & lemon peel swirls.
EILEEN B. K.
3/24/2003
Easy to make, and is so simple. Wonderful tasting too, one has to enjoy a fattening dessert every so often!!
KIRSTIEH
9/15/2003
Light and delicious as well as being quick and easy to prepare. Makes a great alternative to a Sabayon/Zambaglioni for a dinner party, since it is made in advance.
| Cream |
According to legend who dug the Rio Grande | How to Make Syllabub: 12 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow
How to Make Syllabub
Two Methods: Lemon syllabub Orange syllabub Community Q&A
Syllabub is a dessert that has been enjoyed for centuries, dating back at least as far as the 1500s. [1] The basis for this dessert is usually milk or cream, soaked in alcohol. It can be eaten alone or as an accompaniment to fruit salad or some other light dessert.
These recipes serve 3-4.
1/2 cup sherry or white wine
1/4 cup white sugar
Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
Fresh lemon balm leaves, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
Orange syllabub:
4 navel or blood oranges, juice 2 of them and make 2 of them into segments
565ml double cream
2-3 tablespoons Grand Marnier (or other orange liqueur)
Handful of toasted almonds (optional)
Steps
1
Lemon syllabub
Lemon syllabub is the most well known type of syllabub and there are many variations on this theme. This is just one example.
1
Dissolve the sugar in the wine or sherry.
2
Beat the cream until it has just started to thicken.
3
Add the lemon juice and dissolved sugar mixture to the cream. Continue to beat as you add the liquid slowly.
4
Continue to beat slowly. Add the lemon balm leaves and lemon rind.
5
Keep beating until the creamy mixture resembles whipped cream in consistency.
6
Transfer the mixture to a serving dish. A glass dish or similar is ideal. Place in the refrigerator to chill; syllabub should be well chilled for serving.
7
| i don't know |
In America it is called an eggplant what is it called in England | Why do the British refer to their eggplant as an ‘aubergine’? | Macmillan
Why do the British refer to their eggplant as an ‘aubergine’?
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Why do the British refer to their eggplant as an ‘aubergine’? This Canadian wants to know. Upon my arrival in the UK, I was astounded to find that the Brits not only pronounce the names of some vegetables incorrectly (e.g. tomato) but they even use the wrong words for some. Could this be their desire to seem more “continental”?
They have chosen a few vegetables at random and decided to refer to them by their French name. Imagine the Cockney market stall proprietor shouting “Zucchini my darlin?” Now replace this with “Courgette m’luv?”. Sounds infinitely more refined, doesn’t it? Oddly, in a quick check with Wikipedia, I’m told that ‘ zucchini ’ was given its name as it is considered to be Italian in origin. The article also mentions its use in France for the dish ratatouille . What, no courgette? A quick confirmation from the Macmillan Dictionary tells me they are indeed the same squash!
I fondly remember picking snap peas in my grandma’s garden, not waiting for them to be washed or prepared and eating them fresh from the vine. Who could imagine eating a mange tout that had not been blanched until al dente (another one for the Italians-urrà!)? Legume refinement abounds!
Filet Mignon anyone? Here the Brits have been sneakier. Instead of going for the obvious French culinary term, they have anglicised it to ‘fillet steak’. But there seems to be some confusion as to when exactly to tip one’s culinary chapeau to the French. I’ve recently been served a pancake that was clearly a crepe. If I desired one rolled and covered in some sweet citrus-flavoured sauce, I suppose I’d have to order a ‘pancake Suzette’. On the other hand, all of us over in North America refer to that staple of the fast food diet as French fries, whilst our British friends rather unceremoniously call them ‘chips’. One wonders how many food items are referred to in English by the French. At a guess, I’d say few.
| Eggplant |
If you only have one match and you want to light a cigarette and the gas fire what do you light first | English Language differences between Australia, USA and UK. Words with different meanings around the world.
"Arvo" is used in Australia meaning "Afternoon", American's just say "Afternoon".
"Homely" means ugly to Americans whereas it means cosy, unpretentious, unsophisticated, or unassuming in the U.K. Contributed by Frances.
"Homely" in America does not mean ugly, simply very plain, like a woman who is not pretty, but not necessarily ugly, she would be called homely. Anon
The following have all been contributed by Anne who, I am sure you will agree, has a way with words:-
In Australia, "pissed" means drunk. In America, it means very angry.
This is an interesting one as in the U.K. "pissed" means drunk and "pissed off" means angry.
"Aubergine" is the word everyone but America uses for a type of large vegetable with purple skin. Americans call it "eggplant". I have no idea why.
Both "aubergine" and "eggplant" are used in New Zealand and Australia. In my experience, eggplant is more common. Amanda
In Australia, a "napkin" is a women's sanitary product. In America, it's a piece of paper or cloth you use to wipe your face and hands when you eat. Ask for a "napkin" at an Australian restaurant... heheheheh.
In Australia, a "nappie" is what you put on your baby's bottom to catch the poo. In America, it's called a "diaper".
In Australia, "barbie" is what you put beef, shrimp and chicken on to grill it outside. In America, it's an anatomically incorrect female doll that comes in a pink box.
In England and Australia, a "flat" is a place people live with one or two bedrooms. In America, this is called an apartment.
Kim Spence has sent in her comments as follows:-
A ‘flat’ in the UK is not a place with one or two bedrooms – it can have any number of bedrooms, as can a house – you can have a luxury four bedroom flat, or a little one-bed house (often referred to as a ‘two up two down’ – kitchen and living room on the ground floor, two bedrooms upstairs). What defines ‘flat’ from ‘house’ is that there is more than one residence within one building and they have a shared entrance. So, a house can be converted into flats (usually by just sealing the top floor off from the bottom and refitting), or flats can be purpose built in blocks. Where flats are built in blocks but have separate entrances they are called maisonettes.
In the UK we also have terraces, which I think are called ‘row houses’ in the US, although I think row houses in the US are only ever quite humble, whereas a terrace in the UK can range from two up-two down miners' housing to the four and five storey curved grand terraces in Bath and London (I think they are ‘townhouses’ in the US, which is a usage creeping in to the UK, also).
More observations on this subject can be found on our other language related pages links to which can be found at the foot of this page.
In Australia, the roads are called "bitumen". Americans have no idea what this is. It confuses them. The American term is "asphalt". This confuses Australians.
Yet again I have been brought to task over the above entries. Aymie from Australia disagrees with some of the above definitions as follows:-
Firstly, Australians both say 'pissed' to mean angry or drunk, depending on context, we also say 'pissed off' for angry.
We say 'eggplant' not Aubergeine, I've never met someone to call it that.
A napkin is a piece of paper used to clean hands or face, not some woman's sanitary product, we call those 'pads' or 'tampons', so dancing around the words there. :) Very, very rarely it may be called a 'sanitary napkin,' but so rarely its never said but the meaning would be understood, if that makes sense.
We do know the difference between a barbie and a Barbie doll. It is called a barbie or BBQ, and the doll is called a Barbie. It all comes down to context.
We use the word 'apartments' more often than flats, although you might say 'a block of flats.
We use both the words asphalt and bitumen, depending on which ever you like to say more I suppose. We do NOT get confused when Americans say asphalt.
I hope that has cleared a little up, I do love to look at your website, it is very interesting, but I do not like to see these lies.
In Australia we refer to ourselves as ozzy's to the Brits as pom or pommie and Americans are just americans.
Uor soda is called soft drink, cool drink or fizzy drink we don't chuck shrimp on the barbie they are called prawns (shrimp are tiny like almost microscopic)
G'day mate is not that common we just say hi or hey: yestedi - yesterday: fridi -friday, thursdi - thursday and so on. Ranga - ginger hair comes from orangutan: thongs are flip flops: Fanny is the vagina: pants are trousers: underpants are jocks(male), knickers(female) or undies(unisex): sneakers, runners or joggers never trainers or just shoes: petrol station - garage: garage - car port a place to store cars boats and tools: back pack - rucksack: speedos - budgie smugglers. We refer to soft drinks by the name of the brand so Coke is Cocacola, Sprite is lemonade but lemonade can also be used, Fanta not orangeaid or whatever but most of our drinks are owned by coca cola: zebra crossing - crosswalk.
Cal O'Mara-Goss
Cerys from Wales points out -
In Britain we have napkins and serviettes, we use both terms. Also a garage is where you park your car and it will be attached to your house or by your house and it is also where you can take your car when it is broken but it does not sell petrol, not where I live anyway in Wales. The place where they sell petrol will be called a petrol station and it will have a little shop. Most of the time people will call the petrol station but the name of the suppliers of petrol, e.g. Murco, Total, BP(British Petroleum).
Woolworths in Britain was known as Woolie’s and sold a mixture of stuff from clothes, pick 'n' mixes to games for the PlayStation or X-box.
We use both chemist and pharmacy. Cough Syrup is known as just plain cough medicine and shampoo is just bought at any shops, in pharmacies/chemists, I don't know if they sell shampoo. The medicine on the shelves is the cough medicine and headache tablets (paracetamol) and behind the counter is everything that you need to have a prescription.
A BBQ is pronounced BarbieQ and a Barbie is a doll.
English say nappies.
We say Aubergine although it is not very common.
English say Afternoon.
Beautiful could be used for anything that a person thinks is nice, e.g. that picture is beautiful.
We have beetroot and we use it in burgers and salad or just on its own
Jenny Bone points out that in the UK this is called Tarmac or Tarmacadam - she also goes on to say that this term comes from the man who invented it (Mr. Mac Adam) who is now the owner of the Tarmac Company.
The place you buy shampoo, cough syrup and lotion is called a "pharmacy" in America and a "chemist" in Australia. In America, a chemist is someone who mixes chemicals in a laboratory.
In America while a 'pharmacy' may be used to describe your chemists, we usually just refer to it as a drug store. Anon
In Australia, the drugs you buy off the shelf at the chemist's for a sniffle are likely to contain codeine, while the isopropyl alcohol is kept behind the counter in tiny, tiny brown glass bottles. In America, codeine is kept in locked controlled areas and dispensed by prescription only, while the isopropyl alcohol is sold off the shelf in big plastic bottles for 99 cents.
Americans chew cinnamon gum, eat red-hots and fireballs (cinnamon candies) and have cinnamon-scented candles. Australians only sell cinnamon in bottles in the grocery store.
Australians put beetroot on burgers, in salads and as a decoration in fancy meals. Americans barely know what it is.
In America, Woolworth's is a clothing store. In Australia, it is affectionately known as "Woolie's" and sells food.
The spun sugar "treat" is Candy Floss in Britain, Cotton Candy in America and Fairy Floss in Australia.
Vaughan McCarthy writes - and Shugues Devantier has sent in various comments to the points made by Vaughan McCarthy which are given in red.
I’m an Australian who has also travelled to New Zealand and the United States and I’d like to make a few corrections, as well as a few additions with regard to differences between Australian, British and North American terminology.
Yes the terminology in mixed company would be "sanitary napkin" referring to tampon or pad would only be something your wife might say to the husband to get while he is at the shop much to his dismay, also a sanitary napkin refers to the plethora of choices i.e. tampon a small cylinder shape for insertion, a pad for external use and ( I Refer to below about panties, we Australians use to describe brief female underwear) a panty liner. Shugues Devantier
I have never heard anyone refer to a woman’s sanitary product as a ‘napkin.’ As another Australian said, we refer to them as ‘tampons’ or ‘pads.’ In a supermarket aisle, the signage would say ‘feminine hygiene,’ or something similarly euphemistic.
‘Pants’ in Australia has the same meaning as in North America. Though ‘trousers’ is also common.
‘Panties’ is not a common term in Australia. No offense, but those I’ve spoken to perceive it as a bit silly and cutesy... in a slightly nauseating way!
We may refer to briefs (usually mens) as ‘jocks.’ But we commonly use ‘undies’ to refer to either male or female underpants, whether briefs, boxers, whatever.
Mens swimming briefs are referred to as ‘speedos,’ not ‘a speedo’ as in the US. In the UK these can be referred to as ‘trunks,’ but the same term in Australia applies to swimming shorts.
A ‘sook’ is someone who is easily upset, often to the point where it can irritate others. An example of its use would be, “pull yourself together and stop being such a sook!”
What is referred to as ‘Saran wrap’ in the US and ‘cling film’ in the UK is universally known as ‘Glad wrap’ throughout Australia – ‘Glad’ being a long-time popular brand of plastic food wrap. It doesn't matter what brand it is we use, we will still refer to it as Glad wrap.
A cloth or paper towel for wiping the hands and face after eating is called a ‘serviette,’ as in the UK, though any Australian will know what you mean if you say ‘napkin.’
Woolworths is a supermarket chain, usually referred to as ‘Woolies.’ They also own a chain of discount department stores selling clothes, electronics, etc. called Big W.
Originally it was the 3 W Woolworths food and such like, Big W clothes, gardening, electrical and such , Walton's (no longer in existence as Big W sells those products. Shugues Devantier
The claim that "Australians only sell cinnamon in bottles in the grocery store" is completely incorrect. It’s not common to find gum or lollies (candy) with cinnamon, but it’s in plenty of baked goods, such as donuts, cakes, etc. and in many sweet hot drink mixes and flavoured coffees. Though you can also buy it separately in small bottles or sachets for use in cooking/baking.
Interesting comment as if you wanted to buy a bar of chocolate you would go to the confectionery store or confectionery aisle in the supermarket. Shuges Devantier
Candy is collectively called ‘confectionery,’ or ‘lollies’ if referring to non-chocolate based confectionery.
Australians refer to sweet, carbonated drinks collectively as ‘soft drinks,’ though they may also say ‘lemonade’ when referring to drinks like 7up or Mountain Dew. Unlike the UK (apparently) ‘Coke’ always refers to the brand ‘Coca-cola.’
A sidewalk (US), or pavement (UK) is called a ‘footpath.’ A crosswalk is a ‘pedestrian crossing.’ A verge is called a ‘nature strip.’ A central reservation (UK) is called a ‘median.’
In Australia the surface of a road can be referred to interchangeably as ‘bitumen’ or ‘asphalt’ – though I’ve heard many of my fellow Australians mis-pronounce it as ‘ashfelt’! In New Zealand they refer to such a surface as ‘tar-seal.’ Australians may also refer to a road with a bitumen/asphalt/tar-seal surface as a ‘sealed’ road. Similarly, gravel roads are often referred to as ‘unsealed’ roads.
Bitumen and Asphalt are to different items, Bitumen is the ingredient that binds the gravel which then becomes asphalt.
We refer to ‘roundabouts,’ never ‘traffic circles’ or ‘rotaries’ and seriously, you can’t drive for more than a few blocks off a major highway without coming across one. I would say they are almost as common as ‘all-way’ stops are in California. Incidentally, there is no such thing as an ‘all-way’ stop in Australia - we use roundabouts instead! We also have a ridiculous parking manoeuvre in some states where you reverse into an angle (45 degree) park. It’s completely daft.
Again interesting as the word DAFT is an old English throw back and most Australians under the age of 30 would never use or possibly even know its meaning. Shuges Devantier
A ‘lorry’ is called a ‘truck,’ or a ‘semi,’ as in ‘semi-trailer.’ However in the outback it is common to see these with three or four full-sized trailers attached, in which case they are called ‘road trains.’ A ‘B-double’ or ‘B-triple’ is a semi that has one full-sized trailer and one or two smaller trailers.
A Truck with more than one tralier in the outback is a prime-mover(the engine and driver part) with all the trailers attached it is then called a ROAD Train. Shuges Devantier
A ‘ute’ (short for ‘utility vehicle’) is what Americans refer to as a ‘pick-up (truck).’ For example, the Toyota Tacoma (which incidentally is called the Toyota HiLux in Australia).
In the UK a ‘saloon’ car is what Americans and Australians call a ‘sedan.’ The UK ‘estate’ car is called a ‘station wagon,’ or simply ‘wagon’ in the US and Australia.
The terms ‘freeway,’ ‘expressway’ and ‘motorway’ are all used in Australia and all mean the same thing, i.e. a dual carriageway, limited access highway. ‘Tollway’ is also used in Melbourne, whereas a toll road in Sydney is always called a ‘motorway.’ The term ‘outlet’ is used in Tasmania in place of all of the above. We don’t refer to ‘parkways’ or ‘turnpikes.’
The above is always called a ‘motorway’ in New Zealand.
The USA and UK refer to highways by number, but although there is an extensive route number system in Australia, we overwhelmingly refer to our highways by name. The only exceptions being the motorways in Sydney and Brisbane, which are referred to as, for example, ‘the M7’ or ‘the M4,’ as in the UK.
Gasoline is called ‘petrol.’ ‘Gas’ in reference to what fuels a car in Australia and New Zealand refers to ‘LPG’ (Liquid Petroleum Gas), which is more or less the same thing as Propane.
As far as I am aware LPG is exactly the same in both Australia and the US one using the word propane the other petroleum
‘Gas’ may also refer to natural gas that fuels an oven or a heater/furnace.
An American ‘cooktop’ installed into a counter (bench) separately from an oven is usually referred to as ‘hotplates,’ though cooktop is also (less commonly) used.
A kitchen counter (US) or surface (UK) is known as a ‘bench’ in Australia.
A ‘wardrobe’ can refer to either a piece of furniture, or a built in closet used to store clothes. On house plans this is usually shortened to ‘Robe,’ or ‘WIR’ for a walk-in wardrobe. ‘Wardrobe’ can also refer simply to a collection of clothes, as in the US. A closet used to store items other than clothes is called a ‘cupboard,’ though sometimes a linen cupboard may be referred to as a ‘linen press.’ Kitchen ‘cabinets’ (US) are referred to as kitchen ‘cupboards,’ though the main food cupboard is still called a ‘pantry.’
A ‘master bathroom’ (i.e. a bathroom attached to a bedroom which is usually the master bedroom) in Australia (and UK) is called an ‘en suite’ (pronounced: ‘on sweet’).
Australians never refer to a ‘restroom,’ except out of politeness when visiting North America! Public toilet facilities are always formally referred to, particularly on signage and maps, as ‘toilets.’ This is also the case in New Zealand. As a guest in someone’s home you would simply ask to use the ‘toilet,’ never the ‘bathroom.’ We simply don’t feel uncomfortable with the terminology. After all, if you ask where the ‘bathroom’ or ‘restroom’ is in North America, it’s pretty obvious what you’re going to use it for, so you may as well just call it what it is. Toilets may be informally referred to as ‘dunnies,’ ‘bogs’ or ‘loos.’ Toilet paper may be informally referred to as ‘bog wrap,’ amongst other colourful terms.
What is the world coming to? of course we use the word RESTROOM it is the term you use in mixed company, maybe at a restaurant or at someones house who you are not so familiar with other than that yes LOO is used which is actually a shortened version of a very English word LAVATORY. Yes I agree signage for Toilets is come place as well as REST AREAS i.e restrooms. I can not believe for the life of me someone typed the word bog paper" even "date roll" is better than that. Has politeness totally gone from the English language we use in Australia? You will have the world thinking we are all illiterate half breads grrrrrrrrrr Shuges Devantier
Electrical sockets/outlets in Australia and NZ are called ‘power points. ‘
Poles that carry electricity cables are often called ‘telegraph poles,’ even though they stopped being used for communication purposes decades ago. In South Australia they are called ‘Stobbie poles,’ after the local manufacturer of their unique concrete and iron poles.
We in Sydney refer to them as Electricity poles. Shuges Devantier
I want to clear up the flat/apartment/unit confusion. In Australia, ‘flat’ is the generic term for a one or two bedroom dwelling that is part of a larger building of similar dwellings – which would be referred to as a ‘block of flats.’
An ‘apartment’ usually refers to an upscale flat, usually in a tall building (‘skyscraper’). I’m pretty sure what we refer to as an apartment is referred to as a ‘condominium’ in the USA.
A villa can be attached to another villa or not but a Villa means more than 1 property on the average size building block in Australia, the reason they are not apartments or units is because there is no other separate dwelling on top of them, yes they can be 2 storey' s high but all part of the same household. Shuges Devantier
A flat may also be called a ‘unit’ and a ‘villa unit’ refers to a flat that is physically detached (usually separated by a garage or carport) from other similar dwellings in the ‘block.’
No doubt someone will come along and say something isn’t right, but I stand by my corrections and additions!
I am 48 years old born here to 4th generation Australians on my fathers side and very English lineage on my mothers side, I am quiet familiar with the difference in terminology as this is one of my passions, Just one more thing serviette is actually a French word and napkin is not just American as when my grandmother (English) taught us to sett the table she asked us to put the Napkins out. Shuges Devantier.
In reply to the above comments:
Loo doesn't come from lavatory, it's from "garde l'eu" - pronounced "gardy loo" in english, and french for "watch out for the water" - and people used to shout it as they emptied their chamber pots out the windows, so the people below could try and dodge it. I learned that on a good old school trip (or field trip if I were in America?).
I'm from Scotland, and one thing that's often confused English people here is that we call all types of beverage, "juice" - if you're asked what kind of juice you want, you could be offered fruit juice, fizzy juice (pop/soda) or diluting juice (squash). And coke can refer to any type of cola.
Another Scottish-ism - tatties are potatoes, neeps are turnips (swedes), and we have square sausages. It's basically sausage meat in a square patty, and it's AMAZING. Most of the time though, we tend to use English terms unless they're part of something Scottish; eg a tattie scone is a kind of flat cake thing, made with potato and flour and we have it with a fried breakfast, and and we have haggis with neeps and tatties.
We get really upset when people call us "Scotch" ... we're Scottish, Scotch is whisky, or a brand of tape! And Jack Daniels is not whisky! Whisky is specifically Scottish or Irish, JD is bourbon (there's a Canadian one too - again, bourbon!).
We call candy "sweeties" or "sweets", and a lolly is specifically a sweetie on a stick.
Another one along the lines of pissed/pissed off, if something is bollocks, it's bad/rubbish, but if it's the dog's bollocks, it's great. A bit like the bees knees! Although it's more of an "adult" term ...
It would be interesting to hear more about American biscuits, the word for coriander (isn't it something mental?) and other lesser known differences. In Britain a biscuit is a cookie, and a cookie refers to a specific type of biscuit.
Oh, we also don't use fanny in the same way Americans do ... here it's a rude word for a lady's bits, and we find great humour in the term "fanny pack" (we call them bum bags). We call our butts our bums, but often use "bottom" or "arse" (although that's mild swearing), and an ass is a donkey.
A purse is a lady's wallet, and we carry our purse and lippie etc in a handbag. We call a "back pack" a "rucksack", but I don't know if I've spelled that right.
Another - corn starch (US) and corn flour (UK).
Oh, and we call underpants "pants", and gents pants are also called boxers or y-fronts, and the tighter boxers are called "briefs" on the packet. I, as a lady, call mine knickers. "Panties" is a somewhat pornographic term to me, but I'm not sure how UK-wide that sentiment is!
Another one! The cinema is the pictures. I think that ones specifically Scottish, I'm not sure, and we usually go to see a film, "movie" sounds very American.
Also, we say "wee" a lot in Scotland. It means small, but some people use it all the time ... "Can I get you a wee drink" doesn't always mean a small one! "When I was wee" is a good one too. But a wee (or wee wee) is also a pee, and now we have Nintendo Wiis, it's all getting a wee bit confusing ...!
A good song for bus journeys is "stop the bus, I need a wee wee! ... A wee wee cup of tea!"
In Glasgow our underground is called the Subway, and in London it's the tube or underground. Londoner think we're dead American.
Stacy Nelson
Napkin here in Japan also refers to sanitary pads as well. Few, if any, know that it also means wipes.
You'll often see foreigners honestly asking for napkins at restaurants and get a weird response from the waiters and waitresses.
Sen Heng
Malcolm has written to say -
"Arriving in Australia some 30 years ago, we were casually informed by a neighbour that his wife was 'in bed with a wog'.
Coming from the UK, we wondered why he treated this affair so lightly. Only later did we learn that she just had a touch of 'flu.
'Wog' in Strine is an infection (ie, a UK 'bug') - to us it was a highly abusive and politically incorrect term for a foreigner (usually of Arab or Asian origin).
[Incidentally, Durex tape was very much still in use in 1980 and sometimes caused me amusement or embarrassment in the office.]"
Amber Budden (Australia) has the following observations on the subject:-
A clarification on the "Napkin" thing - we call them "serviettes". Not sure what they are called in the UK. Some people will call them a napkin, it's another American phrase that is seeping into the culture.
I loved when I was in the UK that they called the petrol station a "Garage". Garage is used for a couple things, but mostly for a place where the car is repaired (eg - the car's in the garage this weekend, can I borrow yours?)
Beer mat - in Australia a beer mat is a mat that lays across the top of the counter of the bar/pub. I believe in the UK a beer mat is a "coaster" (round bit of cardboard that you put under your drink).
Steven Hourihan writes -
"In the UK, a beer mat is also a mat that lays across the top of the counter or on tables in the pub to put your drink on. It is thin and made from cardboard and often has the logo of a brewery or type of beer on it. A coaster is the same type of thing but it's more solid and usually used on tables in the house or at a restaurant to protect the table form stains or damage."
As someone of the older generation who rarely visits a pub, I have always regarded a 'beer mat' as one of the small cardboard disks put under glasses in bars and pubs to prevent drinks damaging the table surface (as a coaster) These are the things that are collected by some people. What a collector of beer mats is called ?
Jocelyn writes:-
In Australia, 'sanitary napkins' is the polite form for pads and tampons. It would generally only be used for example in a toilet in a shop, like, 'please place your sanitary napkin here' on the pad bin. Australians tend not to use polite forms of speaking if we can help it. I don't think I've ever said it out loud.
I do know what a napkin means, but usually, I'd just call it a serviette, or tissue.
A unit generally refers to land that has been subdivided and 2 or more single storey small houses fit, self-contained. A flat is where you have other flats all piled together. An apartment is a fancy block of flats.
I've never heard the word restroom used. Toilet, dunny, loo, outhouse, all fine. In mixed company I would use the polite version, i.e. toilet. A rest area is for trucks and long distance drivers to stop and rest. And use the toilet if necessary.
Fanny here has the same meaning as in Scotland - I always get a kick out of watching The Nanny and her crude opening song.
Underground refers to alternative subculture.
We use sausage here and the only time we would say 'bangers' is in 'bangers and mash' and really we mean a plain meal.
A buggy is like the kind of car you drive around golf courses.
We, in this part at least, call 'trainers' runners.
Underpants are undies or knickers and 'panties' is kind of rude, it is a word only a sleazy guy would use, it has sexual overtones.
We don't use dustbin or trashcan, we use rubbish bin mostly or sometimes garbage bin.
Porridge is made out of oatmeal, it refers to the hot meal only, and oatmeal is the form it is in before it is made into porridge.
Flagpoles are flagpoles but we do have a train station called 'Flagstaff'.
Subway is a brand of fastfood restaurant.
A period is when you menstruate, or one session of a subject at school. At the end of a sentence is a Full Stop.
I don't really like getting called either Madam or Ma'am only foreigners say that, it makes me feel old and distant.
We also use Fresh-off-the-boat, and Chinese call themselves ABCs meaning Australian born Chinese.
Scene means the gay scene.
If you bum something, it means you 'begged' it from a friend. 'Can I bum a light?' or 'I'm a dollar short. Can I bum a dollar from you?'
Once an English person told me they were 'shattered'. All they meant was really tired. To us it means, totally broken down emotionally.
Dick is not a name. At least, not anymore. It is a penis.
Funky is kind of trendy and cool but not mainstream. I asked my American friend to go to this 'funky' bar, she seemed reluctant.
Some other fun Aussie stuff, not sure how many of it is the same or well known over there but:
Stubby Holder - what you put your can of drink in to keep it cold and your hands warm. Made out of wetsuit material usually.
Stubbies - can be a bottle of beer (I'll have a stubby) or the short shorts that AFL players wear.
Tinny - can of beer
"It'll go ya" - it will attack you (as in, "don't stir up the dog or it'll go ya". Incidentally stir up = wind up/agitate. Not sure if that's a universal term)
She'll be right. - "I hit my arm, but she'll be right". Means "it'll be OK". Can be said about almost anything. The cars playing up, but she'll be right. I have a sore head but she'll be right. This report is due in 30 minutes, but she'll be right. Etc.
No worries - not a problem. I mention this one because it's so widely used here, but I'm not sure if it's used in other places.
"Esky" = "Cooler" (the thing you put your ice and drinks in when you are going out for the day)
Quilt = doona.
"Knock off" = "finish". Eg "I knock off in 5 minutes". "knock off time is almost here". "I knocked off an entire pizza last night".
"Beer-O-Clock" = Knock off time :D
Thongs = Flip Flops. A Thong as Americans see it (the underwear) is called a G-String here. Some people might call a G string a thong, but mostly thongs go on your feet and g strings on your butt. Puts a new spin on the "Thong Song" that was put out a few years back. We never say Flip Flops. We know what it means but don't say it.
Dummy = Pacifier
| i don't know |
What is the maximum number of people that Scotty Can beam up at one time in Star Trek | Scotty (Character) - Quotes
Scotty (Character)
from "Star Trek" (1966)
The content of this page was created by users. It has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
Computer Voice : Please enter program.
Scotty : The android at the bar said you could show me my old ship. Let me see it.
Computer Voice : Insufficient data. Please specify parameters.
Scotty : [frustrated] The Enterprise. Show me the bridge of the Enterprise, you chatterin' piece of...
Computer Voice : There have been five Federation ships with that name. Please specify by registry number.
Scotty : N-C-C-1-7-0-1. No bloody A - B - C - or D!
[the Enterprise crew has freed Captain Scott from a transporter buffer after 75 years]
Scotty : The Enterprise? I should have known. I bet Jim Kirk himself hauled the old girl out of mothballs to come looking for me.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Look, Mr. Scott, I'd love to explain everything to you, but the Captain wants this spectrographic analysis done by 1300 hours.
[La Forge goes back to work; Scotty follows slowly]
Scotty : Do you mind a little advice? Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Yeah, well, I told the Captain I'd have this analysis done in an hour.
Scotty : How long will it really take?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, of course I did.
Scotty : Oh, laddie. You've got a lot to learn if you want people to think of you as a miracle worker.
Scotty : [referring to Dr. Crusher] Well, I'll say this about your Enterprise: the doctors are a fair sight prettier.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I need to get down to Engineering and begin that analysis.
Scotty : Engineering? I thought you'd never ask!
Scotty : Call me Scotty!
[La Forge and Scotty are trying to get the Jenolan up and running]
Scotty : [muttering] Bunch of old, useless garbage!
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Huh?
Scotty : I say it's old, Mr. La Forge. It can't handle the interface of your power converter. This equipment was designed for a different era. Now it's just a piece of junk.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, I don't know, it seems like some of it's held together pretty well.
Scotty : Century out of date. It's just... obsolete!
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Well, you know, that's interesting, because I was just thinking that a lot of these systems haven't changed much in the last 75 years. This transporter is basically the same system we use on the Enterprise. Subspace radio and sensors still operate under the same basic principle; impulse engine design hasn't changed much in the last 200 years. If it wasn't for all the structural damage, this ship still might be in service today.
Scotty : Maybe so. But when they can build ships like your Enterprise, who'd want to pilot an old bucket like this?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : I don't know. If this ship were operational, I bet she'd run circles around the Enterprise at impulse speeds. Just because something's old doesn't mean you throw it away.
[Scotty and Geordi are working to restore the Jenolan's systems]
Scotty : Shunt the deuterium from the main cryo-pump to the auxiliary tank.
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Er, the tank can't withstand that kind of pressure.
Scotty : [laughs] Where'd you... where'd you get that idea?
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : What do you mean, where did I get that idea? It's in the impulse engine specifications.
Scotty : Regulation 42/15 - Pressure Variances on the IRC Tank Storage?
Scotty : Forget it. I wrote it. A good engineer is always a wee bit conservative, at least on paper. Just bypass the secondary cut-off valve and boost the flow. It'll work.
[Scotty has been served a glass of "Scotch" in Ten Forward]
Scotty : [to the waiter] Laddie, I was drinking Scotch a hundred years before you were born. And I can tell you that whatever this is, it is definitely not Scotch.
Scotty : Never get drunk unless you're willing to pay for it - the next day.
Scotty : [on new acquirements of the 24th century, such as synthehol and Data] Synthetic Scotch, synthetic commanders...
[Data has taken a bottle of green-colored spirit from Guinan's stock]
Scotty : What is it?
Captain Jean-Luc Picard : How are you feeling?
Scotty : I don't know.
Scotty : [to Dr. Crusher] How *am* I feeling?
Doctor Beverly Crusher : Other than a few bumps and bruises I'd say you feel fine for a man of 147.
Scotty : And I don't feel a day over 120.
Scotty : Good Lord, man! Where have you put me?
Ensign Kane : These are standard guest quarters, sir. I can try and find something bigger if you want.
Scotty : *Bigger*? In my day, even an admiral would nota had such quarters on a starship.
[on the holographic bridge of Scotty's Enterprise, Scotty and Picard are exchanging memories of former starships they've served on]
Captain Jean-Luc Picard : The first vessel that I served on as captain was called Stargazer. It was an overworked, underpowered vessel, always on the verge of flying apart at the seams. In every measurable sense, my Enterprise is far superior. But there are times when I would give almost anything... to command the Stargazer again.
Scotty : Ah, it's like the first time you fall in love. You don't ever love a woman quite like that again. Well, to the Enterprise, and the Stargazer - old girlfriends we'll never meet again.
Scotty : There comes a time when a man finds that he can't fall in love again. He knows that it's time to stop. I don't belong on your ship. I belong on this one. This was my home. This is where I had a purpose... But it's not real. It's just a computer-generated fantasy. And I'm just an old man who's trying to hide in it.
Scotty : [toasting to his long gone comrades] Here's to you, lads.
Commander William T. Riker : [of the shuttle that Picard has given Scotty "on extended loan"] She's not much to look at.
Scotty : [grinning] Laddie, every woman has her own charm; ye just have to know where to look for it.
[last lines]
Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge : Oh, no. You're the senior officer here.
Scotty : Oh, I may be captain by rank; but I never wanted to be anything else but an engineer.
Scotty : I was driving starships, while your great-grandfather was still in diapers! I think you'd be grateful for some help! I'll leave ya to work, Mr. La Forge.
Scotty : Geordi, I have spent my whole life trying to figure out crazy ways of doing things. I'm telling ya, as one engineer to another - I can do this.
Scotty : [ecstatic] Aye!
Scotty : Starfleet captains are like children. They want everything right now and they want it their way. But the secret is to give them only what they need, not what they want.
Scotty : [of the Enterprise-D] A good crew... and a fine ship - a credit to her name. But I've always found that a ship is only as good as the engineer who takes care of her. And from what I can see, the Enterprise is in good hands.
Scotty : Oh, enjoy these times, Geordi. You're the Chief Engineer of a starship; and that's a time of your life that'll never come again. When it's gone - it's gone.
Kirk : What does God need with a starship?
McCoy : Jim, what are you doing?
Kirk : I'm asking a question.
"God" : Who is this creature?
Kirk : Who am I? Don't you know? Aren't you God?
Sybok : He has his doubts.
"God" : You doubt me?
McCoy : Jim! You don't ask the Almighty for his ID!
"God" : Then here is the proof you seek.
[Shoots Kirk with lightning]
Kirk : Why is God angry?
Sybok : Why? Why have you done this to my friend?
"God" : He doubts me.
Spock : You have not answered his question. What does God need with a starship?
"God" : [shoots Spock with lightning; then addresses McCoy] Do you doubt me?
McCoy : I doubt any God who inflicts pain for his own pleasure.
McCoy : We were speculating. Is God really out there?
Kirk : Maybe he's not out there, Bones. Maybe he's right here.
[points to his heart]
Spock : [about Sybok] He reminds me of someone I knew in my youth.
McCoy : Why, Spock, I didn't know you had one.
Spock : I do not often think of the past.
[Around a campfire singing "Row Row Row Your Boat"]
Kirk : Come on. Spock... Why didn't you jump in?
Spock : I was trying to comprehend the meaning of the words.
McCoy : It's a song, you green-blooded... Vulcan. You sing it. The words aren't important. What's important is that you have a good time singing it.
Spock : Oh, I am sorry, Doctor. Were we having a good time?
McCoy : God, I liked him better before he died.
Spock : I've lost a brother.
Kirk : Yes. I lost a brother once. I was lucky I got him back?
McCoy : I thought you said men like us don't have families.
Kirk : I was wrong.
Scotty : [to Kirk about ship status] Ah. All I can say is they don't make them like they used to.
Kirk : You told me you could get this ship operational in two weeks, I gave you three, what happened?
Scotty : I think you gave me too much time, Captain.
Kirk : Very well, Mr Scott. Carry on.
Scotty : Aye, sir.
[Spots a junior engineer nearby]
Scotty : How many times do I have to tell you, the right tool for the right job!
McCoy : [laughs] I don't think I've ever seen him happier.
[They enter the turbolift]
Kirk : Bridge... I hope. I could use a shower.
Spock : [looks at Kirk] Yes.
McCoy : What's the matter, Jim?
Kirk : I miss my old chair.
McCoy : All that time in space, getting on each other's nerves. And what do we do when shore leave comes along? We spend it together. Other people have families.
Kirk : Other people, Bones. Not us.
Kirk : Go to bed, Spock. Good night, Bones.
McCoy : Good night, Jim.
Kirk : [to himself] ... I don't know... I just don't know...
Kirk : [responds to a tapping within the wall] What's that noise?
Spock : [tapping continues] I believe it is a primitive form of communication known as morse Code.
Kirk : You're right. I'm out of practice.
[tapping]
Kirk , Spock , McCoy : "Stand back"?
[the wall explodes]
Scotty : [on the other side of the wall] What are you standing around for? Do you not know a jailbreak when you see one?
McCoy : I'll tell you one thing, Spock: You never cease to amaze me.
Spock : Nor I, myself.
McCoy : [in response to Spock carrying Kirk while wearing jet-boots] You two go on ahead, I'll wait for the next car.
McCoy : Jim... if you ask me, and you haven't, I think this is a terrible idea. We're bound to bump into the Klingons, and they don't exactly like you.
Kirk : The feeling's mutual. Engine room.
Scotty : [over the intercom] Scotty here.
Kirk : We'll need all the power you can muster, mister.
Scotty : Don't you worry, Captain. We'll beat those Klingon devils, even if I have to get out and push.
Kirk : I hope it won't come to that, Mr. Scott.
Kirk : "All I ask is a tall ship, and a star to steer by."
McCoy : Are you sure about that?
Spock : I am well-versed in the classics, Doctor.
McCoy : Then how come you don't know "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"?
[Spock raises his eyebrows]
[eating a campfire dinner]
Spock : Bipodal seeds, Doctor?
McCoy : Beans, Spock. But no ordinary beans. These are from a special Southern recipe handed down by my father. And if you stick your Vulcan nose up at these, you're not only insulting me, but generations of McCoys.
Spock : In that case, I have little choice but to sample your beans.
[last lines]
[around a campfire]
Kirk : [to Spock] Are you just gonna sit there and pluck that thing? Or are you gonna play something?
Spock : [starts playing]
Kirk , McCoy , Spock : [singing in canon] Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily, life is but a dream...
Kirk : What are you doing?
Spock : I am preparing to toast a marsh melon.
McCoy : Well, I'll be damned. A marsh melon. Where'd you learn to do that?
Spock : Before leaving the ship, I consulted the computer library to familiarize myself with the customs associated with "camping out".
McCoy : Well, tell me, Spock. What do you do after we toast the marsh - er, marsh melons?
Spock : We consume them.
McCoy : I know we consume them. I mean after that.
Spock : Oh. I believe we are required to engage in a ritual known as the sing-a-long.
Sybok : What are you doing?
Kirk : In order to lower and re-raise the shields as quickly as possible, we're going to forego the tractor beam, and fly her in manually.
Sybok : How often have you done this?
Sulu : [smiles] Actually, it's my first attempt.
McCoy : [McCoy is watching Kirk climb a mountain] "You'll have a great time, Bones. You'll enjoy your shore leave. You'll relax." You call this relaxing? I'm a nervous wreck. I'm not careful, I'll end up talking to myself.
Kirk : Damn it Spock! God damn it!
Spock : Captain, what have I done?
Kirk : What you've done is betray every man on this ship!
Spock : Worse I've betrayed you. I do not expect you to forgive me.
Kirk : Forgive you? I oughta knock you on your goddamned ass!
Spock : If you think it would help.
McCoy : Do you want me to hold him, Jim?
Kirk : You stay out of this! Why, Spock, why? All you had to do is pull the trigger!
Spock : If I had done that Sybok would be dead.
Kirk : I ordered you to defend your ship!
Spock : You ordered me to kill my brother.
Kirk : But the man may be a fellow Vulcan but he...
Spock : No, no you do not understand. Sybok also is a son of Sarek.
Kirk : You mean he's your "brother" brother?
[Spock nods]
Kirk : You made that up.
Spock : I did not.
Kirk : You did too! Sybok couldn't possibly be your brother because I happen to know for a fact that you don't have a brother.
Spock : Technically you are right I do not have a brother.
Kirk : There! You see?
Spock : I have a half-brother.
Kirk : I gotta sit down.
Kirk : Mr. Scott, you're amazing!
Scotty : There's nothing amazing about it. I know this ship like the back of my hand.
[walks into low-hanging beam, knocks himself out cold]
Kirk : Stand by to execute emergency landing plan... "B."
[a brief pause]
Chekov : What's emergency landing plan "B?"
Scotty : I don't have a clue.
Kirk : [on Comm system] "B" as in Barricade.
Scotty : He can't be serious.
[Chief Engineer Scott making a log entry]
Scotty : USS Enterprise, shakedown crew's report. I think this new ship was put together by monkeys. Oh, she's got a fine engine, but half the doors won't open, and guess whose job it is to make it right.
Scotty : [cursing, on his back trying to fix a computer console] "Let's see what she's got," said the captain. And then we found out, didn't we?
Uhura : [walking in] I know you'll whip her into shape, Scotty, you always do.
Scotty : [getting up] Uhura, I thought you were on leave.
Uhura : And I thought we were supposed to be going together.
Scotty : Oh, I can't leave her now when she needs me the most.
Uhura : [stroking Scotty's cheek] I had a feeling you would say something like that, so I brought us...
[whipping up two packages]
Scotty : [grabbing a package] Oh, lassie. You're the most understanding woman I know.
Starfleet Officer: [transmission on a malfunctioning computer] Red-Red-Red Alert. Red Alert. Red-Red-Red Alert.
Scotty : I just fixed that damn thing! Turn it off, will you?
Captain James T. Kirk : Bones, are you afraid of the future?
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : I believe that was the general idea that I was trying to convey.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : What is this, multiple choice?
General Chang : [over the public address speakers] "I am constant as the northern star."
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : I'd give real money if he'd shut up.
[after Kirk and Martia kiss passionately]
McCoy : What IS it with you, anyway?
Kirk : Still think we're finished?
McCoy : Now, more than ever!
Captain Spock : The lieutenant was the first Vulcan to be graduated at the top of her class.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : She's a Vulcan all right.
Admiral Cartwright : I don't know whether to congratulate you or not, Jim.
[the crew enter the bridge]
Kirk : Once again, we've saved civilization as we know it.
McCoy : And the good news is they're not going to prosecute.
Uhuru : They might as well have prosecuted me. I felt like Lt. Valeris.
McCoy : [looks at Spock] Well, they don't prosecute people for having feelings.
Chekov : Just as well, or we'll all have to turn ourselves in.
Captain James T. Kirk : I'm going to sleep this off. Please let me know if there's some other way we can screw up tonight.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : I'm gonna find myself a pot of black coffee.
Captain Spock : Doctor, would you care to assist me in performing surgery on a photon torpedo?
General Chang : [prosecuting] Dr. McCoy, would you be so good as to tell me? What is your current medical status?
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : Well, aside from a touch of arthritis, I'd say pretty good.
[some scattered laughter from the audience; McCoy smiles, but sees Chang, unsmiling]
General Chang : [unamused] You have a singular wit, Doctor.
Captain James T. Kirk : Bones, I'm wearing a veridium patch on my back! Spock slapped it there just before we went on Gorkon's ship!
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : Why, that cunning little Vulcan!
Kirk : What are we all doing here?
McCoy : Maybe they're throwing us a retirement party.
Scotty : That suits me. I just bought a boat.
Uhuru : This had better be good. I'm supposed to be chairing a seminar at the Academy.
Chekov : Captain, isn't this just for top brass?
McCoy : If we're all here, where's Sulu?
Kirk : *Captain* Sulu, on assignment. Where's Spock?
Captain James T. Kirk : [Spock has beamed Kirk and Bones aboard just before they find out who framed them] No! No! Of all the - son of a - Couldn't you have waited two seconds? They were just about to tell us the whole thing!
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : Bet you wished you'd stood in bed!
Captain James T. Kirk : [Valeris has just engaged thrusters to take Enterprise out of Spacedock] Thank you Lieutenant, ahead one quarter impulse power
Lieutenant Valeris : [spins in chair to face Kirk] Captain, may I remind you that regulations specify thrusters only whilst in spacedock.
Commander Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, M.D. : [the bridge crew cough loudly, Chekov shakes his head, Uhura tuts softly. McCoy leans in to tease Spock] Jim?
Captain James T. Kirk : How did you know that?
Martia : We don't get many presidential assassins.
Captain James T. Kirk : We didn't kill Gorkon!
Martia : Of course not. But there is a reward for your death.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing...
Captain Spock : Mr. Scott, if we return to Spacedock, the assassins will surely find a way to dispose of their incriminating footwear, and we will never see the Captain or Doctor McCoy alive again.
Captain Spock : Thank you, Mr. Scott.
[Watching a replay of the torpedo hit]
Commander Pavel Chekov : It is Enterprise. We fired them.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : That is not possible! All weapons visually accounted for, sir.
Captain Spock : An ancestor of mine maintained that when you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. If we did not fire those torpedoes, another ship did.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : A Bird-of-Prey cannot open fire when she's cloaked!
Captain Spock : All things being equal, Mr. Scott, I would agree with you. However, all things are not equal. This one can.
Lieutenant Valeris : We must inform Starfleet Command...
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Inform them of what? A new weapon that's invisible? Raving lunatics, that's what they'll call us! They'll say we're so desperate to exonerate the captain that we'll say anything.
Captain Spock : And they would be correct. We have no evidence, only a theory which happens to fit the facts.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : [referring to Gorkon's daughter, whom he believed killed Gorkon] That Klingon bitch killed her father.
Captain Spock : Her own father?
Lieutenant Valeris : It is an old story, sir.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : They don't place the same value on life as we do, Spock. You know that. Mark my word, she did not shed one bloody tear.
Captain Spock : Hardly conclusive, Mr. Scott, since Klingons have no tear ducts.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Right where I left it, sir!
Captain Spock : [to Lt. Valeris] Lieutenant, the torpedo hit, once again, please.
[Valeris replays video]
Commander Pavel Andreievich Chekov : It *is* Enterprise. *We* fired.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : That is *not* possible! All weapons *visually* accounted for,
[to Spock]
Cmdr. Nyota Uhura : What, exactly, does *that* mean?
Captain Spock : It means that we can not have fired those torpedoes, someone else did.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Well, they dinna fire on themselves, and there were no the ships present.
Captain Spock : There was an enormous neutron energy surge.
Captain Spock : Too far away. Very near *us*. Possibly *beneath* us.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : If there were a ship beneath us, the Klingons would have seen her.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : A bird-of-prey cannot fire when she's cloaked.
Captain Spock : All things being equal, Mr. Scott, I would agree. However, things are not equal. This one *can*.
Lieutenant Valeris : We must inform Starfleet Command.
Captain Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Inform them of what? A new weapon that is invisible? Raving lunatics, that's what they'll call us. They'll say we're so desperate to exonerate the Captain, we'll say *anything*.
Captain Spock : And they would be correct. We have no evidence, only a theory which happens to fit the facts.
Cmdr. Nyota Uhura : Assuming you're right, Mr. Spock, why would they fire on their own president?
McCoy : Admiral, wouldn't it be easier to put an experienced crew back on the ship?
Kirk : Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor.
[Leaves]
Commander Nyota Uhura : Now what is that supposed to mean?
[Kirk and McCoy are beaming down to Regula One]
Spock : Jim, be careful.
McCoy : *We* will!
McCoy : Damn it Jim, what the hell is the matter with you? Other people have birthdays, why are we treating yours like a funeral?
Saavik : Admiral, may I ask you a question?
Kirk : What's on your mind, Lieutenant?
Saavik : The Kobayashi Maru, sir.
Kirk : Are you asking me if we're playing out that scenario now?
Saavik : On the test, sir... will you tell me what you did? I would really like to know.
McCoy : Lieutenant, you are looking at the only Starfleet cadet who ever beat the no-win scenario.
David Marcus : He cheated.
Kirk : I changed the conditions of the test; got a commendation for original thinking. I don't like to lose.
Saavik : Then you never faced that situation... faced death.
Kirk : I don't believe in the no-win scenario.
McCoy : [to Spock] Are you out of your Vulcan mind?
McCoy : Where are we going?
Kirk : Where they went.
McCoy : Suppose they went *nowhere*?
Kirk : Then this will be your big chance to get away from it all.
Dr. McCoy : You're hiding... hiding behind rules and regulations.
Kirk : Who am I hiding from?
Dr. McCoy : From yourself, Admiral.
Kirk : Don't mince words, Bones. What do you really think?
Dr. McCoy : Jim, I'm your doctor and I'm also your friend. Get back your command! Get it back before you turn into part of this collection, before you really do grow old.
[Discussing the effects of the Genesis torpedo]
McCoy : Dear Lord. You think we're intelligent enough to... suppose... what if this thing were used where life already exists?
Spock : It would destroy such life in favor of its new matrix.
McCoy : Its "new matrix"? Do you have any idea what you're saying?
Spock : I was not attempting to evaluate its moral implications, Doctor. As a matter of cosmic history, it has always been easier to destroy than to create.
McCoy : Not anymore; now we can do both at the same time! According to myth, the Earth was created in six days. Now, watch out! Here comes Genesis! We'll do it for you in six minutes!
Spock : Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions; they will be your undoing. Logic suggests...
McCoy : Logic? My God, the man's talking about logic; we're talking about universal Armageddon! You green-blooded, inhuman...
McCoy : He's not really dead. As long as we remember him.
Kirk : It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known.
Carol Marcus : Is that a poem?
Kirk : No. Something Spock was trying to tell me. On my birthday.
McCoy : You okay, Jim? How do you feel?
Kirk : Young. I feel young.
[Saavik has just left the turbolift]
Dr. McCoy : Did she change her hairstyle?
Kirk : I hadn't noticed.
Dr. McCoy : Wonderful stuff, that Romulan Ale.
[Kirk has been informed of an incoming transmission from Dr. Carol Marcus]
Dr. McCoy : It never rains but it pours.
Kirk : As a doctor, you of all people should be aware of the dangers of reopening old wounds.
[Kirk unwraps Bones' birthday present]
Kirk : Romulan Ale. Why, Bones, you know this is illegal.
McCoy : I only use it for medicinal purposes.
McCoy : [handing Kirk a birthday gift, after Kirk hands him the Romulan ale] Now you open this one.
Kirk : [taking gift] I'm almost afraid to. What is it, Klingon aphrodisiacs?
McCoy : No. More antiques for your collection.
McCoy : [grabbing Spock's arm] You're not going in there!
Spock : Perhaps you're right. What is Mr. Scott's condition?
McCoy : [turns to Scotty] Well I don't think that he...
[Spock use the vulcan nerve pinch on McCoy]
Spock : I'm sorry, Doctor, I have no time to explain this logically.
[sits McCoy down and performs mind meld]
Spock : Remember!
Kirk : Physician, heal thyself!
McCoy : [Lying on the floor, propping himself up on one elbow] Is that all you've got to say? What about my performance?
Kirk : I'm not a drama critic!
Kirk : [Kirk is reacting - badly - to Spock ordering Saavik to take the Enterprise out of spacedock, something she has never done before]
McCoy : Do you want a tranquilizer?
Kirk : [shakes head quickly]
Kirk : Engine room. Well done, Scotty!
McCoy : Jim... I think you'd better get down here.
Kirk : [to McCoy, who is still lying where he fell during Saavik's simulation] Physician, heal thyself.
McCoy : Is that all you've got to say? What about my performance?
Kirk : I'm not a drama critic!
McCoy : [reference to the turbolift] Who's been holding up the damn elevator?
McCoy : [Kirk runs in to the engine room and sees Spock inside the reactor compartment. He rushes over but McCoy and Scotty hold him back] No! You'll flood the whole compartment!
Scotty : Sir! He's dead already.
McCoy : It's too late.
[Spock slowly walks over to the glass and pushes the intercom]
Spock : The ship... out of danger?
Spock : Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many, outweigh...
Kirk : The needs of the few.
Spock : Or the one. I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?
Spock : I have been, and always shall be, your friend.
[he places a Vulcan salute on the glass]
Spock : Live long and prosper.
[Spock dies]
Kirk : No.
Dr. McCoy : [Spock is preparing to enter the radiated warp core] Are you out of your Vulcan mind? No human can tolerate the radiation that's in there!
Spock : As you are so fond of observing, doctor, I am not human.
Scotty : The energizer's bypassed like a Christmas tree, so don't give me too many bumps.
Preston : I believe you'll find everything ship-shape, Admiral.
Kirk : Oh, do you? Do you have any idea, Midshipman Preston, how many times I have had to listen to Mr. Scott on the comm, telling me his trouble? Do you have any idea of the ribbing I've had to endure in the officers' mess... to the effect that the Enterprise is a flying death trap?
Preston : Oh, no sir! Wha... this is the finest engine room in the whole Starfleet! If the Admiral can't see the facts for himself, then, with all due respect, he's as blind as a Tiberian bat!
Kirk : Midshipman, you're a tiger.
Scotty : My sister's youngest, Admiral. Crazy to get to space.
Kirk : Every young man's fantasy. Seem to remember it myself.
Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Kirk : How are we doing?
McCoy : How are "we" doing? Funny you should put it quite that way, Jim. "We" are doing fine. But I'd feel safer giving him one of my kidneys than what's scrambled in my brain.
Kirk : Scotty, you're as good as your word.
Scotty : Aye, sir. The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.
[giving McCoy a handful of computer chips]
Scotty : Here, Doctor, souvenirs from one surgeon to another. I took them out of her main transwarp computer drive.
McCoy : Nice of you to tell me in advance.
Kirk : That's what you get for missing staff meetings, Doctor. Gentlemen, your work today has been outstanding and I intend to recommend you all for promotion... in whatever fleet we end up serving.
Kirk : You're suffering from a Vulcan mind-meld, doctor.
McCoy : That green-blooded son of a bitch! It's his revenge for all the arguments he lost.
Alien : To your planet, welcome.
McCoy : I think that's *my* line, stranger.
Alien : Oh, forgive. I here am new. But you are known, being McCoy from Enterprise.
McCoy : You have me at a disadvantage, sir.
Alien : Oh, I name not important. You seek I. Message received. Available ship stands by.
McCoy : How much and how soon?
Alien : How soon is now. How much is, where?
McCoy : Somewhere in the Mutara sector.
Alien : Oh, Mutara restricted! Take permits many; money more.
McCoy : There aren't gonna be any damned permits! How can you get a permit to do a damned illegal thing? Look, price you name, money I got.
Alien : Place *you* name, money *I* name, otherwise bargain, no.
McCoy : Alright, damn it! It's Genesis! The name of the place we're going is GENESIS!
McCoy : Yes, Genesis! How can you be deaf with ears like that?
Alien : Genesis allowed is not! Is planet forbidden!
Kirk : Scan for vessels in pursuit.
McCoy : [in Spock's voice and manner] Scanning. Indications negative at this time.
[everyone stares at him]
McCoy : [as himself] Did I get it right?
Kirk : Great, Bones. Just great.
Kirk : [showing the Vulcan salute] How many fingers do I have up?
McCoy : That's not very damn funny.
Kirk : You're sense of humor's returned!
McCoy : The hell it has!
[Kirk finds McCoy in Spock's quarters]
McCoy : Jim... help me. You left me... on Genesis... why did you do that? Help me...
Kirk : Bones? What the hell are you doing? Have you lost your mind?
McCoy : Help me, Jim. Take me home.
Kirk : Home is where we are. We are home.
McCoy : Then perhaps it's not too late. Climb the steps, Jim. Climb the steps of Mount Seleyah.
Kirk : Mount Seleyah? Bones, Mount Seleyah's on Vulcan. We're home. On Earth.
McCoy : Remember...
Mr. Adventure : Look at you. You're a twenty-year space veteran, yet you pick the worst duty station in town. I mean, look at this place. This is the hind end of space.
Uhura : Peace and quiet appeals to me, Lieutenant.
Mr. Adventure : Well, maybe that's okay for someone like you, whose career is winding down. But me, I need some excitement, some adventure... maybe even just a surprise or two.
Uhura : Well, you know what they say, Lieutenant. Be careful what you wish for. You might get it.
[Kirk, McCoy and Sulu enter the transporter room]
Kirk : Uhura, is everything ready?
Uhura : Step into my parlor, gentlemen.
Mr. Adventure : That's Admiral Kirk, my God!
Uhura : Very good for you, Lieutenant.
Mr. Adventure : But it's damned irregular. No destination points, no encoded ID's.
Mr. Adventure : So what are we gonna do about it?
Uhura : I'm not gonna do anything about it. You're gonna sit in the closet.
Mr. Adventure : The *closet*? Have you lost your sense of reality?
Uhura : This isn't reality.
[Turns a phaser on him]
Uhura : This is fantasy. You wanted adventure, how's this? The old adrenaline going, huh? Good boy. Now get in the closet.
Mr. Adventure : I'll just get in the closet. All right! Damn!
[Falls into the closet and shuts the door]
McCoy : I'm glad you're on *our* side!
Kirk : [Pointing to the closet] Are you sure you can handle...?
Uhura : Oh, I'll have "Mr. Adventure" eating out of my hand, sir. And I'll see all of you at the rendezvous.
[Witnessing the destruction of the Enterprise]
Kirk : My God, Bones... what have I done?
McCoy : What you had to do, what you always do. Turn death into a fighting chance to live.
Sulu : One minute to space doors.
McCoy : Are you just gonna walk through them?
Kirk : Calm yourself, Doctor.
[the Enterprise faces off against a cloaked Klingon Bird-of-Prey]
Kirk : If my guess is right, she'll have to decloak before she can fire.
McCoy : May all your guesses be right.
McCoy : Rapid aging. All genetic functions highly accelerated.
Kirk : What about his mind?
McCoy : His mind is a void. It seems, Admiral, that I've got all his marbles.
Kirk : Is there anything we can do?
Saavik : Only one thing, sir. Get him off this planet. His aging is part of what's going on around us.
[McCoy is informed of the danger of the transfusion]
McCoy : I choose the danger.
[Kirk glances at McCoy]
McCoy : [mutters to Kirk] Hell of a time to ask...
McCoy : [to an unconscious Spock] I'm gonna tell you something that I... never thought I'd ever hear myself say. But it seems I've... missed you. And I don't know if I could stand to lose you again.
Vulcan High Priestess : Sarek! Child of S'kon, child of So'kar! The body of your son breathes still. What is your wish?
Sarek : I ask for fal tor pan: the refusion.
Vulcan High Priestess : What you seek has not been done in ages past and then, only in legend. Your request is not logical.
Sarek : Forgive me, T'layr. My logic is uncertain where my son is concerned.
Vulcan High Priestess : Who is the keeper of the katra?
McCoy : I am. McCoy, Leonard H, son of David.
Vulcan High Priestess : McCoy, son of David, since thou art human, we cannot expect thee to fully comprehend what Sarek has requested. Spock's body lives: with your approval, we shall use all our powers to return to his body that which you possess.
Vulcan High Priestess : But McCoy, you must now be warned. The danger to thyself is as grave as the danger to Spock. You must make the choice.
McCoy : I choose the danger. Hell of a time to ask.
Kirk : Unit two, this is unit one. The Kobayashi Maru has set sail for the promised land. Acknowledge.
Chekov : [on communicator] Message acknowledged. All units will be informed.
McCoy : You're taking me to the promised land?
Kirk : What are friends for?
[their first look at the USS Excelsior]
Uhura : Would you look at that.
Kirk : My friends, the great experiment: The Excelsior. Ready for trial runs.
Sulu : She's supposed to have transwarp drive.
Scotty : Aye. And if my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a wagon.
Kirk : Come, come, Mr. Scott. Young minds, fresh ideas. Be tolerant.
Scotty : All systems automated and ready. A chimpanzee and two trainees could run her.
Kirk : Thank you, Mr. Scott. I'll try not to take that personally.
Captain Styles : Ah, Mr. Scott. Calling it a night?
Scotty : Uh, yes sir.
Captain Styles : Turning in myself, looking forward to breaking some of the Enterprise's speed records tomorrow.
Scotty : Ah, yes sir.
Scotty : [under breath] Up your shaft.
Scotty : [studying the Klingon Bird-of-Prey's helm] Where's the damn antimatter inducer?
Chekov : This?... no, *this*!
Sulu : If I read this right, sir, we have full power.
Kirk : [exasperated] Go, Sulu!
[the Enterprise is approaching the closed Spacedock doors]
Kirk : And... *now*, Mr. Scott.
Kirk : The doors, Mr. Scott!
Scotty : Aye, sir, I'm working on it!
Kirk : How much refit time before we can take her out again?
Scotty : Eight weeks, sir. But ye don't have eight weeks, so I'll do it for ye in two.
Kirk : Mr. Scott. Have you always multiplied your repair estimates by a factor of four?
Scotty : Certainly, sir. How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?
Kirk : [over the intercom] Your reputation is secure, Scotty.
Kirk : Out of the way...
Shore Patrolman : Sorry, Doctor, I have strict orders...
Dr. Gillian Taylor : [Gillian moans in pain]
McCoy : My God, man. Do you want an acute case on your hands? This woman has immediate postprandial, upper-abdominal distention. Now, out of the way! Get out of the way!
[They enter the operating room]
Kirk : What did you say she has?
McCoy : Forget it.
McCoy : [McCoy, masked and in surgical garb, passes an elderly woman groaning on a gurney in the hallway] What's the matter with you?
McCoy : What is this, the Dark Ages?
[He turns back to the patient and hands her a large white pill]
McCoy : you swallow that, and if you have any more problems, just call me!
[He pats her cheek and leaves]
McCoy : My God, man! Drilling holes in his head isn't the answer! Now put away your butcher knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!
Kirk : Mr. Spock, have you accounted for the variable mass of whales and water in your time re-entry program?
Spock : Mr. Scott cannot give me exact figures, Admiral, so... I will make a guess.
Kirk : A guess? You, Spock? That's extraordinary.
Spock : [to Dr. McCoy] I don't think he understands.
McCoy : No, Spock. He means that he feels safer about your guesses than most other people's facts.
Spock : Then you're saying...
McCoy : Please do.
McCoy : You, ah, realize of course that if we give him the formula we're altering the future.
Scotty : Why? How do we know he didn't invent the thing?
McCoy : [Dr. McCoy is talking about Mr. Spock]
McCoy : I don't know if you've got the whole picture, but he's not exactly working on all thrusters.
McCoy : You're going to try time traveling in this rustbucket?
Kirk : Well, we've done it before.
McCoy : Sure, you slingshot around the Sun, pick up enough speed - You're in time warp. If you don't, you're fried.
Kirk : I prefer it to nothing.
McCoy : I prefer a dose of common sense! You're proposing that we go backwards in time, find humpback whales, then bring them foward in time, drop 'em off, and hope to Hell they tell this probe what to do with itself!
Kirk : That's the general idea.
McCoy : Well, that's crazy!
Kirk : You've got a better idea?
[pause]
Spock : Uhura is busy. I am monitoring.
McCoy : Perhaps, we could cover a little philosophical ground. Life
[pause]
McCoy : Things of that nature.
Spock : I did not have time on Vulcan to review the philosophical disciplines.
McCoy : C'mon, Spock, it's me, McCoy. You really have gone where no man's gone before. Can't you tell me what it felt like?
Spock : It would be impossible to discuss the subject without a common frame-of-reference.
Spock : is a story with a humorous climax.
McCoy : You mean I have to die to discuss your insights on death?
Spock : Forgive me, Doctor. I am receiving a number of distress calls.
McCoy : I don't doubt it.
McCoy : [probing Chekov's head] Tearing of the middle meningeal artery...
Doctor #1 : What's your degree in, dentistry?
McCoy : How do YOU explain slowing pulse, low respiratory rate and coma?
McCoy : Fundascopic examination is unrevealing in these cases!
Doctor #1 : A simple evacuation of the epidural hematoma will relieve the pressure!
McCoy : My God man, drilling holes in his head is not the answer! The artery must be repaired! Now, put away your butcher's knives and let me save this patient before it's too late!
McCoy : You sure this is such a bright idea?
Kirk : What do you mean?
McCoy : [referring to Spock] I mean him! Back at his post like nothing happened. I don't know if you got the whole picture or not, but he's not quite operating on all thrusters!
Kirk : It'll come back to him.
McCoy : Are you sure?
[Kirk doesn't answer]
McCoy : That's what I thought.
[Kirk is pacing back and forth, considering a below-decks room in the Klingon ship for possible whale transport]
Kirk : Scotty, how long is this bay?
Scotty : About sixty feet, Admiral.
Kirk : Can you enclose it to hold water?
Scotty : [laughs] I suppose I could. You planning to take a swim?
McCoy : [sourly] Off the deep end, Mr. Scott!
Kirk : We got to find some humpbacks.
Kirk : Whales, Mr. Scott, whales!
Spock : Ready to engage computer, Admiral.
Kirk : What's our target in time?
Spock : Late twentieth century.
Kirk : Can you be more specific?
Spock : Not with this equipment. I've had to program some of the variables from memory.
Kirk : What are some of the variables?
Spock : The availability of fuel components, mass of the vessel through a time continuum, and probable location of humpback whales - in this case, the Pacific Basin.
Kirk : And you programmed all that from memory?
McCoy : Angels and ministers of grace, defend us!
Spock : [recognizing the quote] Hamlet, Act One, Scene Four.
Kirk : [smiling] No doubt about your memory, Spock. Engage computers. Prepare for warp speed.
McCoy : So, this is the probe's way of saying, "hello" to the people of Earth?
Spock : [looking annoyed] There are other species on earth. Only human arrogance would assume the signal must be meant for mankind.
[faced with a 20th century computer]
Dr. Nichols : Just use the keyboard.
Scotty : Keyboard. How quaint.
Scotty : Admiral, there be whales here!
[Kirk has just spoken very abruptly to Mr. Scott]
Scotty : He's in a wee bit of a snit, isn't he?
Spock : He is a man of deep feelings.
Scotty : Aye, what else is new?
[the crew is on a shuttlecraft pondering what their new starship will be]
Sulu : ...I'm counting on the *Excelsior*.
Scotty : The *Excelsior*? Why in God's name would you want that bucket of bolts?
Kirk : A ship is a ship.
Scotty : Whatever you say so.
[pause]
Scotty : Thy will be done.
[the new starship USS *Enterprise* 1701-A emerges into view]
Scotty : Damage control is easy. Reading Klingon - that's hard.
Scotty : [over the intercom] I'm ready, Spock! Let's go find George and Gracie!
"Star Trek: That Which Survives (#3.17)" (1969)
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, since the Enterprise is obviously functional, I suggest we return to our starting place at top warp speed.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Aye, sir, but even at that it'll take us a while to get there.
Mr. Spock : In that case, Mr. Scott, I suggest we start at once. Can you give me warp 8?
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Aye, sir. And maybe a wee bit more. I'll sit on the warp engines myself and nurse them.
Mr. Spock : That position, Mr. Scott, would not only be unavailing, but also... undignified.
Mr. Spock : Bridge to Engineering. Negative effect on power reduction. Speed is still increasing.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Aye, Mr. Spock, and I found out why. The emergency bypass control of the matter/antimatter integrator is fused. It's completely useless. The engines are running wild; there's no way to get at them. We should reach maximum overload in about 15 minutes.
Mr. Spock : I would calculate 14.87 minutes, Mr. Scott.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Those few seconds will not make any difference, Mr. Spock, because you and I and the rest of the crew will no longer be here to bandy it back and forth. This thing is going to blow up, and there's nothing in the universe can stop it.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Whatever did this is still aboard this ship. I fail to understand why you cancelled the security alert.
Mr. Spock : A force that could hurl us 990.7 light-years away and at that distance still be able to sabotage our main source of energy will not be waiting around to be taken into custody.
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, you have accomplished your task.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : You might at least say thank you.
Mr. Spock : For what purpose, Mr. Scott? What is it in you humans...
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : [muttering] Never mind.
Mr. Spock : ...that requires an overwhelming display of emotion in a situation such as this? Two men pursue the only reasonable course of action, and yet you FEEL that something else is necessary.
Rahda : It doesn't make any sense, but somehow I'd say that in a flash we've been knocked 1000 light-years away from where we were.
Mr. Spock : 990.7 light-years to be exact, Lieutenant.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : But that's not possible. Nothing can do that.
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, since we are here, your statement is not only illogical but also unworthy of refutation.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : What you're saying is that the planet didn't blow up and the Captain and the others, they're still alive?
Mr. Spock : Please, Mr. Scott, restrain your leaps of illogic. I have said nothing. I was merely speculating.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : [working in the service crawlway] I'm so close to the flow now that it feels like ants crawling all over my body.
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, I suggest you refrain from any further subjective descriptions. You now have 10 minutes and 19 seconds in which to perform your task.
Mr. Spock : You have 8 minutes, 41 seconds.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : I know what time it is. I don't need a bloomin' cuckoo clock.
Mr. Spock : You spoke of the feel of the ship being wrong.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Aye. It was an emotional statement. I don't expect you to understand it.
Mr. Spock : I note it, Mister Scott, without necessarily understanding it.
Mr. Spock : "Feels," Mr. Scott?
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : I know it doesn't make sense. Instrumentation reads correct, but the feel is wrong. It's something I can't quite put into words.
Mr. Spock : That's is obvious, Mr. Scott.
Mr. Spock : It is also illogical to assume that any explosion, even that of a small star going supernova could have hurled us a distance of 990.7 light years.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : The point is it shouldn't have hurled us anywhere, it should have destroyed us immediately. Vaporized us.
Mr. Spock : That is correct, Mr. Scott, by all the laws that we know. There was no period of unconsciousness; our ship's chronometers registered a matter of only a few seconds. Therefore, we were displaced through space in some manner which I am unable to fathom.
Scotty : I like this ship! You know, it's exciting!
Scotty : I've never beamed three people from two targets onto one pad before!
Spock Prime : What if I told you that your transwarp theory was correct, that is is indeed possible to beam onto a ship that is traveling at warp speed?
Scotty : I think if that equation had been discovered, I'd have heard about it.
Spock Prime : The reason you haven't heard of it, Mr. Scott, is because you haven't discovered it yet.
Scotty : I'm s... Wha... It... Are you from the future?
Spock Prime : Fascinating!
Scotty : Okay, I'm sure you're just doing your job, but could you not have come a wee bit sooner? Six months I've been here, living off Starfleet protein nibs and the promise of a good meal! And I know exactly what's going on here, okay? Punishment, isn't it? Ongoing! For something that was clearly an accident!
Spock Prime : [pleased] You are Montgomery Scott.
James T. Kirk : You know him?
Scotty : Aye, that's me. You're in the right place. Unless there's another hardworking, equally starved Starfleet officer around.
Keenser : Me.
Scotty : Get aff! Shut up! You don't eat anything! You can eat, like, a bean, and you're done. I'm talking about food. REAL food!
James T. Kirk : Where are you?
Scotty : Where are you?
James T. Kirk : Are you drunk?
Scotty : What I do on my private time is my business, Jim.
Scotty : [to Khan] Are you crazy? Whoever you are.
James T. Kirk : Just listen to him, Scotty. It's gonna be alright.
Scotty : Wait. Jim, if we go in there, we'll die! Do you hear me? The radiation will kill us! Will you listen to me? Look, what the hell are you doing?
James T. Kirk : I'm opening the door. I'm going in.
Scotty : The door's there to stop us from getting irradiated! We'd be dead before making the climb!
Scott : President Lincoln, indeed! No doubt to be followed by Louis of France and Robert the Bruce!
Dr. McCoy : If so, we'll execute appropriate honors to each, Mr. Scott.
Dr. McCoy : You're BOTH out of your heads!
Captain James T. Kirk : And you're on the edge of insubordination!
Dr. McCoy : I'd be on the edge of insubordination to remind the captain that this smells of something happening to him that I might not be able to patch back together again.
Scott : Aye!
Mr. Spock : [checking the sensors] Fascinating. For a moment it appeared almost... mineral, like living rock with heavy foreclaws. Settling down now to completely human readings.
Scott : We can beam IT aboard anytime now, sir.
Dr. McCoy : If they're wrong and they DO beam into a pool of lava...?
Scott : Then they're dead men. I couldnae pull them back in time.
Dr. McCoy : Just what was that you locked onto before you beamed him aboard?
Scott : Ya heard Mr. Spock yourself - "mineral" he called it, like living rock.
Dr. McCoy : And that became Lincoln?
Scott : I couldn't tell. May have been another figure down there standing by. What do you make if it?
Dr. McCoy : I'm not quite sure.
Scott : It's a confrontation of some sort. Those are all figures out of history, notoriously evil.
"Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (#1.23)" (1967)
Scott : The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank.
Scott : Aye. The haggis is in the fire for sure, but I'll not lower my defenses on the word of that mealy-mouthed gentleman down below. Not until I know what happened to the captain.
Scott : Computer - last message received and recorded from Captain Kirk.
Enterprise Computer : Negative. A close copy.
Scott : A voice duplicator?
Enterprise Computer : 98% probability.
Scott : [to McCoy] Well, they've got them, Doctor, and now they're trying to get us.
Scott : Open a channel, Lieutenant. This is the commander of the U.S.S. Enterprise. All cities and installations on Eminiar 7 have been located, identified, and fed into our fire control system. In one hour and forty-five minutes, the entire inhabited surface of your planet will be destroyed. You have that long to surrender your hostages.
Ambassador Fox : Diplomacy, gentlemen, should be a job, uh, left to diplomats. You will, of course, immediately resume a peaceful status.
Scott : No, sir, I will not.
Scott : [on intercom] Scott here.
Capt. Kirk : Scotty, where've you been? Where are you?
Scott : In the Sickbay.
Capt. Kirk : Are you sick?
Scott : Oh, no. I was just checkin' on the lass. She's going to be fine, though. There's nothing wrong with her.
Capt. Kirk : Well, I'm relieved to hear your prognosis, Mr. Scott. Is the doctor there with you or will I find HIM in Engineering?
Scott : [to Kirk] Now we have all the time in the world.
Capt. Kirk : Capt. Kirk to Mr. Scott.
Scott : [on intercom] Scott here, sir.
Capt. Kirk : Mr. Scott, how's Lt. Romaine?
Scott : And this is just getting used to what you might call your space legs.
Scott : That seein' of the future - it's pure bunk.
Scott : "Pain and delight", he said up above.
Dr. McCoy : I'm sure you noticed the 'delight'-aspect of this place.
Captain James T. Kirk : This fellow is keeping us from our property.
Scott : Well, isn't there a way to correct that situation?
Captain James T. Kirk : I certainly think that science might provide an answer.
Capt. Kirk : Oh, yes.
Scott : And I didn't see that it was worth fighting about. After all, we're big enough to take a few insults. Aren't we?
Capt. Kirk : What was it they said that started the fight?
Scott : They called the Enterprise a garbage scow! Sir.
Capt. Kirk : I see. And... that's when you hit the Klingon?
Capt. Kirk : You hit the Klingons because they insulted the Enterprise, not because they...
Scott : Well, sir, this was a matter of pride.
Capt. Kirk : All right, Scotty. Dismissed. Oh... Scotty, you're restricted to quarters until further notice.
Scott : Yes, sir. Thank you, sir! That'll give me a chance to catch up on my technical journals!
Capt. Kirk : Well, where are they?
Scott : I gave them a very good home, sir.
Scott : I gave 'em to the Klingons, sir.
Capt. Kirk : [whispering] You gave them to the Klingons?
Scott : Aye, sir. Before they went into warp, I transported the whole kit 'n' caboodle into their engine room, where they'll be no tribble at all.
Scott : Hold together little darling, hold together.
Scott : Somebody turn of this infernal food factory!
Capt. Kirk : We've got serious trouble with the main computer. We have reason to believe it's kidnapped three of our crew.
Scott : [on viewscreen] Kidnapped? Blue blazes!
Scott : You bloody big scatterbrain! Make up your monumental mind!
Scott : We're giving it a mighty go with the crowbars though!
Captain James T. Kirk : [epilogue] Space: the final frontier.
Commander Spock : These are the voyages of the starship...
Doctor 'Bones' McCoy : ...to explore strange new worlds...
Sulu : ...to seek out new life...
Chekov : ...and new civilizations...
Lieutenant Uhura : ...to boldly go where no one has gone before.
Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : [to Jaylah] You're part of something bigger now, lassie. Right? Dinnae give up on that. 'Cause we'll sure as hell never give up on you. That is what being part of a crew is all about.
Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : [notices many empty glasses] Uh, did you drink all those yourself? I'm impressed.
Jaylah : Someone said it would take my edge off. My edge is still not off.
"Star Trek: The Gamesters of Triskelion (#2.16)" (1968)
Scott : Mr. Spock, the captain, Lieutenant Uhura, and Chekov... they vanished. They got onto the transporter platform, and they just vanished.
Spock : I presume you mean they vanished in a manner not consistent with the usual workings of the transporter, Mr. Scott.
Scott : Aye, o' course I mean that. D'ya think I'd call ya if they just beamed down?
Dr. McCoy : What in the name of heaven is this?
Scott : Heaven's got very little to do with this.
Scott : Scott to bridge.
Spock : Spock here.
Scott : Mr. Spock, the captain, Lt. Uhura, and Chekov - they vanished. They got onto the transporter platform and they just vanished.
Spock : I presume you mean they vanished in a manner not consistent with the usual workings of the transporter, Mr. Scott.
Scott : Why, of course, I mean that. Do you think I'd call you if they just beamed down?
Spock : Have you reversed controls?
Scott : I've made all the proper checks: There was nothing, there was no flash of light, nothing. They were gone.
Spock : Power surge?
Scott : Not down here. All the dials were right and the transporter was functioning properly.
Spock : Recheck your equipment, Mr Scott. I'll scan for them on the planet's surface. Spock out.
Spock : Picturesque descriptions will not mend broken circuits, Mr. Scott.
Scott : Mr. Spock, you said a while ago that there were always alternatives.
Spock : Did I? I may have been mistaken.
Dr. McCoy : Well at least I lived long enough to hear that.
Scott : [checking the shuttle's damage] Very bad, Mr. Spock.
Spock : In what way?
Scott : We've lost a great deal of fuel. We have no chance at all to reach escape velocity. And if we ever hope to make orbit, we'll have to lighten our load by at least 500 pounds.
Spock : The weight of three grown men.
Spock : Consider the alternatives, Mr. Scott.
Scott : We have no fuel! What alternatives?
Spock : Mr. Scott, there are always alternatives.
Spock : When the woman starts explaining how the new high teer is actually Dr. McCoy's child.
Scott : What's that again, Mr. Spock?
Captain James T. Kirk : We don't actually understand it ourselves, Mr. Scott.
Spock : Nor does Dr. McCoy.
Captain James T. Kirk : Computer, this is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Destruct sequence 1: code 1-1A.
Computer voice : Voice and code 1-1A verified and correct. Sequence 1 complete.
Mr. Spock : This is Commander Spock, Science Officer. Destruct sequence number 2: code 1-1A-2B.
Computer voice : Voice and code verified and correct. Sequence 2 complete.
Captain James T. Kirk : Mr. Scott?
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : This is Lt. Commander Scott, Chief Engineering officer of the USS Enterprise. Destruct sequence number 3: code 1-B-2-B-3.
Computer voice : Voice and code 1B-2B-3 verified and correct. Destruct sequence completed and engaged. Awaiting final code for 30 second countdown.
Captain James T. Kirk : Mr. Spock, has the ship returned to the course set for it by my orders?
Mr. Spock : Negative, Captain. We are still headed directly for Cheron.
Computer voice : Destruct sequence engaged. Awaiting final code for 30 second countdown.
Captain James T. Kirk : Computer, this is Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Begin 30 second countdown. Code zero-zero-zero-destruct-zero.
Computer voice : 30 seconds... 29... 28... 27...
Mr. Spock : [referring to Bele and Lokai] Fascinating. Two irrevocably hostile humanoids.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Disgusting is what I call 'em.
Mr. Spock : That description is not scientifically accurate.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : Mr. Spock, the word "disgusting" describes exactly what I feel about those two.
Captain James T. Kirk : That's enough for today. Those two are beginning to affect you.
Captain James T. Kirk : [after Bele relents, and Kirk cancels the self-destruct order] Mr. Spock, is this ship headed for Ariannus?
Mr. Spock : Negative, Captain. The Enterprise is now moving in a circular course.
Scott : Captain, you mean my neck is gonna have to depend on some spooky mumbo-jumbo?
Scott : I went toward her, but... there was something in my way.
Captain James T. Kirk : Something? You mean, someone.
Scott : No, Captain, some... thing. Cold, it was, like a... stinking draft out of a slaughterhouse, but it wasn't... really there. Like a... if you know what I mean.
Scott : [Watching exotic belly dancer] Captain, I think I'm going to like Argelius.
Captain James T. Kirk : Obviously a man of good taste.
Scott : You mean to tell me that all these... well, that all this is... ?
Captain James T. Kirk : Yes, yes, yes, the Argelians think very highly of their pleasure.
Dr. McCoy : Now, that's an understatement if I ever heard one. This is a completely hedonistic society.
Captain James T. Kirk : Do you like her, Scotty?
Scott : Aye, why shouldn't I.
Captain James T. Kirk : Good. I've invited her to join us at the table. I thought you might like to meet her.
Scott : Now that's what I call a real captain: always thinking of his men.
Scott : [as Spock overtaxes the ship's engines] That Vulcan won't be satisfied till these panels are a puddle of lead!
Scott : [as his engines burn out] Mah bairns... mah poor bairns!
Scott : And don't ask for any more warp 9 speeds, Mr. Spock. Our star drive is completely burned out. The only thing we have left is impulse power.
Mr. Spock : Estimated repair time.
Scott : Hangin' here in space? Forever!
Lieutenant Uhura : All power sources locked in, Mr. Scott.
Scotty : Then throw the switch, Lieutenant.
Scotty : Oh, the equipment's guaranteed, but I have my doubts about the stuff inside.
Scotty : My engineers are working on it now, sir. You'll have it within the hour.
"Star Trek: Wink of an Eye (#3.11)" (1968)
Scott : Ship's Log, Stardate 5710.5, Lieutenant Commander Scott reporting. While exploring an outer quadrant of the galaxy, the Enterprise received distress calls from an apparently uninhabited, incredibly beautiful city on the planet of Scalos. Captain Kirk and a landing party have beamed down to investigate.
Scott : Captain Kirk! Where the blazes did you come from?
Captain James T. Kirk : Out of the nowhere, into the here.
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, we can not cope with them on our level.
Scott : Can we find some was of coping with them on theirs?
Mr. Spock : That is a very logical suggestion.
Capt. Kirk : Mr. Spock, ask Scotty how long it would take him to reproduce 100 flintlocks.
Scott : I didn't get that exactly, Captain. 100 what?
Capt. Kirk : 100... serpents. Serpents for the Garden of Eden.
Scott : [Kirk and McCoy are holding Spock when they transport up] What happened, Captain?
Capt. Kirk : That's enough, Bones.
Dr. McCoy : It's NOT enough! You didn't care what happened as long as you could hang your trophy on the wall. Well, it's not on it, Captain, it's in it!
Mr. Spock : Gentlemen, may I suggest we no longer belabor the question of whether or not we should have gone after the creature. The matter has been rendered academic. The creature is now after us.
Scott : Captain, thank heaven.
Mr. Spock : Mr. Scott, there was no deity involved. It was my cross-circuiting to B that recovered them.
Dr. McCoy : Well, then, thank pitchforks and pointed ears! As long as it worked, Jim.
Capt. Kirk : I'm aware of the situation, engineer, and I'm getting a little tired of my senior officers conspiring against me. Forgive me. Perhaps I shouldn't have used the word "conspire."
"Star Trek: Space Seed (#1.22)" (1967)
Captain James T. Kirk : [the landing party has beamed aboard the Botany Bay] Scotty?
Scott : Definitely Earth-type mechanism, sir. Twentieth century vessel. Old type atomic power. Bulky, solid. I think they used to call them transistor units. I'd love to tear this baby apart.
Lt. Marla McGivers : I've seen old photographs of this. Necessary because of the time involved in space travel until about the year 2018. It took years just to travel from one planet to another.
Captain James T. Kirk : Is it possible they're still alive after centuries of travel?
Dr. McCoy : It's theoretically possible. I've never heard of it being tested for this long a period.
Captain James T. Kirk : [looking at a library picture of Khan on viewscreen] Name: Khan Noonien Singh.
Mr. Spock : From 1992 through 1996, absolute ruler of more than a quarter of your world, from Asia through the Middle East.
Dr. McCoy : The last of the tyrants to be overthrown.
Scott : I must confess, gentlemen. I've always held a sneaking admiration for this one.
Captain James T. Kirk : He was the best of the tyrants and the most dangerous. They were supermen in a sense. Stronger, braver, certainly more ambitious, more daring.
Mr. Spock : Gentlemen, this romanticism about a ruthless dictator is...
Captain James T. Kirk : Mr. Spock, we humans have a streak of barbarism in us. Appalling, but there, nevertheless.
Scott : There were no massacres under his rule.
Mr. Spock : And as little freedom.
Dr. McCoy : No wars until he was attacked.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : We've got trouble, Mr. Spock.
Mr. Spock : I am well aware of that, Mr. Scott.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : One lithium crystal left and that with a hairline split at the base.
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott : But it's frustrating. Almost a million gross tons of vessel depending on a hunk a' crystal the size of my fist.
Jojo Krako : I wanna know what happened!
Scott : It looks like we put the bag on YOU, doesn't it?
Jojo Krako : I got rights!
Scott : You got nothin'. You mind you place, mister, or you'll... you'll be wearin' concrete galoshes.
Capt. Kirk : [into communicator] Kirk to Enterprise.
Scott : Enterprise. Scott here, sir.
Capt. Kirk : [talking like a Chicago mobster] You got Krako on ice?
Scott : Aye, he's here. Mad enough to chew neutronium, but behavin' himself.
Capt. Kirk : OK, baby, cool him until I flag you.
Scott : Flag me?
Capt. Kirk : [normal voice] Keep him there until I send for him.
Capt. Kirk : [as mobster] We're gonna make some old-style phone calls from this locale. So you, ah, locate the man at de other end o' de blower and give 'im a ride to this flop.
Scott : What?
Capt. Kirk : [normal voice] Find the man at the other end of the phone and transport him to these coordinates.
Capt. Kirk : [back as mobster] Can do, sweetheart?
Scott : [dubiously] Can do, Captain.
Scott : Lt. Hadley. Check the language banks and find out what a... "heater" is.
"Star Trek: The Animated Series: The Magicks of Megas-Tu (#1.8)" (1973)
Scotty : Captain, there's no reason for it but the engines are fading out.
Scotty : Captain, I don't know how much more emergency power we can take before we start to break up.
Capt. Kirk : If I only had some phasers.
Scott : Phasers - you've got 'em. I have one bank recharged.
Capt. Kirk : Scotty, you just earned your pay for the week.
Mr. Spock : Captain, you're getting dangerously close to the planet killer.
Capt. Kirk : I intend to get a lot closer: I'm going to ram her right down that thing's throat.
Mr. Spock : Jim, you'll be killed, just like Decker.
Capt. Kirk : No, no, I don't intend to die, Mr. Spock. We've rigged a delay detonation device, you'll have 30 seconds to beam me aboard the Enterprise before the Constellation's impulse engines blow.
Mr. Spock : Your chances of survival are not promising. We don't even know if the explosion will be powerful enough.
Capt. Kirk : A calculated risk, Mr. Spock.
Mr. Spock : There's another factor, Captain. The transporter is not working at 100% efficiency. Thirty seconds is very slim timing.
Capt. Kirk : A chance I'll have to take. Kirk out.
Scott : A cranky transporter's a mighty finicky piece of machinery to be gambling your life on, sir.
Scotty : Brought a tear to my eye.
Kirk : Oh, be quiet.
Scotty : Finding retirement a little lonely, are we?
Kirk : You know, I'm glad you're an engineer. With tact like that, you'd make a lousy psychiatrist.
"Star Trek: The Way to Eden (#3.20)" (1969)
Scott : I don't know why a young mind has to be an undisciplined one. They're troublemakers!
Captain James T. Kirk : I used to get into a little trouble when I was that age, Scotty, didn't you?
Scott : Captain, I just had to give one of those barefooted whaddayacallems the boot out of here. She came in bold as brass, tried to incite my crew to disaffect.
Uhura : We can't get any readings at all now.
Scott : Aye, that tears it. The Loch Ness monster couldn't get through that.
Capt. Kirk : Spread out. Find Commander Bem. He's split into three individual parts.
Scott : Beg pardon, sir?
Capt. Kirk : He's some kind of colony creature. And take care not to injure any of the natives here. Phasers on lightest possible stun setting. And don't fire, unless absolutely necessary.
Scott : Doctor, I've seen the captain feverish, sick, drunk, delirious, terrified, overjoyed, boiling mad... but up to now, I have never seen him red-faced with hysteria.
Scott : We'll have to take over the ship.
Dr. McCoy : We're talking about mutiny, Scotty.
Scott : Aye. Are you ready for the vote?
"Star Trek: The Enemy Within (#1.5)" (1966)
Scott : A few seconds after they sent this one up through the transporter, that duplicate appeared. Except it's not a duplicate. It's an opposite. Two of the same animal, but different. One gentle: this. One mean and fierce: that. Some kind of savage, ferocious opposite. Captain, we don't dare send Mr. Sulu and the landing party up. If this should happen to a man...
Scott : Uh, it might profit ya to let Dr. McCoy give ya the once-over.
Captain James T. Kirk : All right, engineer, I'll have my engines looked to.
Capt. Kirk : What is it?
Scotty : He's turned the engines off. They're completely cold. It'll take 30 minutes to regenerate them.
Uhura : [over the intercom] Entering planet's outer atmosphere, sir. Ship's outer skin is beginning to heat, Captain. Orbit plot shows we have about 8 minutes left.
Capt. Kirk : Scotty!
Scotty : I can't change the law of physics! I've got to have 30 minutes!
Capt. Kirk : The purpose of a briefing, gentlemen, is to get me answers based on your abilities and experience. In a critical orbit there's no time for surprise.
Scotty : Unless you people on the bridge start taking showers with your clothes on, my engines can pull us out of anything. We'll be warping out of orbit within a half second a' getting your command.
Captain James T. Kirk : What about the armory?
Scott : Well, I'm there now, sir, and you never saw such a fine collection of antiques in your life.
Mr. Spock : [deflecting Scott's maniac temper from Kirk] Easy, Mr. Scott.
Scott : Keep your Fulkin hands off me! Just keep away! Your feelings might be hurt, you green-blooded half-breed!
Mr. Spock : May I say that I have not thoroughly enjoyed serving with Humans? I find their illogic and foolish emotions a constant irritant.
Scott : Then transfer out, freak!
Scott : It's a fancy name, but how will something that looks like a drop of jelly make this thing work? You'll need microgears and some form of pulley that does what a muscle does.
Scott : [in astonished disbelief] You're going to WHAT? Are they all right in the head, Doctor?
Dr. McCoy : [boldly] No comment.
Capt. Kirk : A simple transference. Their minds and ours.
Dr. McCoy : [sarcastically] Quite simple. happens every day.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)
Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott : The crew hasn't had near enough transition time with all the new equipment. And the engines, they're not even tested at warp power. And an untried captain.
Captain James T. Kirk : Two and a half years as Chief of Starfleet Operations may have made me a little stale, but I wouldn't consider myself untried... They gave her back to me, Scotty.
Cmdr. Montgomery "Scotty" Scott : Gave her back, sir? I doubt it was that easy with Nogura.
Captain James T. Kirk : What about main circuits?
Scotty : Well you have ta see it to believe it, sir. Those big crystals in there have come apart. Each of them, unpeeling like the rind of an orange.
"Star Trek: The Tholian Web (#3.9)" (1968)
Mr. Spock : [about theragen being a deadly Klingon nerve gas] If I remember correctly, it caused fatality only when used in pure form.
Dr. McCoy : That's right. And in this derivative, mixed with alcohol, it merely deadens certain nerve inputs to the brain.
Scott : Oh, well, any decent brand o' Scotch'll do that.
Dr. McCoy : Oh? Well, one good slug of this, and you could hit a man with phaser stun and he'd never feel it, or even know it.
Scott : Does it make a good mix with Scotch?
Paladin : I'd like you to take a look at this gun. It's handcrafted to my specifications. Balance is excellent. The trigger responds to a pressure of one ounce.
Captain James T. Kirk : I'm quite familiar with the piece. Perhaps we could talk about this.
Paladin : I rarely draw it unless I mean to use it. Care for a demonstration?
Mr. Scott : Freeze program. Was she everything I promised, sir?
Captain James T. Kirk : And more! I've never seen a holographic program this detailed before. I swear I can almost smell the gun oil.
Mr. Scott : Aye, well she's still in the experimental stage, but once we get the bugs out...
Scott : [Kirk and Spock return from the past through the Guardian] What happened, sir? You only left a moment ago.
Spock : [to Scott, after seeing McCoy return through the Guardian] We were successful.
Guardian of Forever : TIME HAS RESUMED ITS SHAPE. ALL IS AS IT WAS BEFORE. MANY SUCH JOURNEYS ARE POSSIBLE. LET ME BE YOUR GATEWAY.
Lt. Uhura : Captain, the Enterprise is up there. They're asking if we want to beam up.
Capt. Kirk : [softly] Let's get the Hell out of here.
Scott : The Advisor looked mighty angry. I hope he doesn't give the captain too much trouble.
Mr. Spock : The captain will employ his usual diplomatic balm.
"Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II: Blood and Fire: Part One (#1.4)" (2008)
Lt. Cmdr. Montgomery Scott : Sleep, there's no such thing. It's just an old space tale like Sparkle dancers or Klingons with a heart of gold.
Lt. Pavel Chekov : No, I remember sleep. I did it once. You lie down and don't do anything for six hours. Wonderful.
Mr. Spock : A sustained warp 7 speed will be dangerous, Captain.
Captain James T. Kirk : Thank you, Mr. Spock. I mean to catch them.
Scott : We'll either catch them or we'll blow up, Captain. They may be faster than we are.
| 6 |
What Canadian province was named after one of Queen Victoria's children | Star Trek Database
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A Type K5 star only 68 light-years from Sol, named and sighted as one of the brightest in the night sky by Earth's ancients. Aldebaran is known by its old Earth Bayer classification: Alpha Tauri....
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What number on the Beaufort Scale describes the wind as light breeze | Beaufort Wind Scale
Beaufort Wind Scale
Developed in 1805 by Sir Francis Beaufort, U.K. Royal Navy
Force
Sea surface smooth and mirror-like
Calm, smoke rises vertically
Scaly ripples, no foam crests
Smoke drift indicates wind direction, still wind vanes
2
Small wavelets, crests glassy, no breaking
Wind felt on face, leaves rustle, vanes begin to move
3
Large wavelets, crests begin to break, scattered whitecaps
Leaves and small twigs constantly moving, light flags extended
4
Small waves 1-4 ft. becoming longer, numerous whitecaps
Dust, leaves, and loose paper lifted, small tree branches move
5
Moderate waves 4-8 ft taking longer form, many whitecaps, some spray
Small trees in leaf begin to sway
6
Larger waves 8-13 ft, whitecaps common, more spray
Larger tree branches moving, whistling in wires
7
Sea heaps up, waves 13-19 ft, white foam streaks off breakers
Whole trees moving, resistance felt walking against wind
8
34-40
Gale
Moderately high (18-25 ft) waves of greater length, edges of crests begin to break into spindrift, foam blown in streaks
Twigs breaking off trees, generally impedes progress
9
41-47
Strong Gale
High waves (23-32 ft), sea begins to roll, dense streaks of foam, spray may reduce visibility
Slight structural damage occurs, slate blows off roofs
10
48-55
Storm
Very high waves (29-41 ft) with overhanging crests, sea white with densely blown foam, heavy rolling, lowered visibility
Seldom experienced on land, trees broken or uprooted, "considerable structural damage"
11
| 2 |
Which car manufacturer made the Jetta | Classification of Wind Speeds - Windows to the Universe
Classification of Wind Speeds
Effect of wind on the Sea
0
Large wavelets to small waves
4
Large wavelets to small waves
5
Very high waves, rolling sea
11
Very high waves, rolling sea
12-17
Last modified January 8, 2010 by Randy Russell .
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Who is the host of the Radio 4 programme Just a Minute | Radio 4's Just A Minute to be screened on BBC TWO - Telegraph
Radio 4's Just A Minute to be screened on BBC TWO
Just A Minute, the BBC Radio 4 comedy panel game, is to transformed into a television show.
Nicholas Parsons, the host of Just a Minute Photo: Rex Features
8:05AM BST 20 Oct 2011
The long-running programme will be adapted for a screen audience and aired on BBC TWO next year.
Nicholas Parsons – the original host who has been on the show since its launch – will remain at the helm as chairman for the ten episodes marking the programme’s 45th anniversary.
However, if the experiment proves successful with the string of daytime broadcasts, it could fill a regular slot on the BBC’s schedule.
The television version will operate under the same format as its popular radio counterpart, in which celebrity guests are challenged to speak for one minute on a given subject, without ‘hesitation, deviation or repetition’.
The series will be recorded at BBC Television Centre in November and run over two weeks early in 2012.
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The show has been a bastion of Radio 4’s schedule since it launched in 1967 and has enjoyed regular guests including Kenneth Williams, Derek Nimmo, Clement Freud and Peter Jones.
A new generation of performers such as Paul Merton, Graham Norton and Stephen Fry have complemented the veteran members to keep the show sharp in recent years.
Merton will be among the guests appearing on the new television episodes.
Parsons told the Daily Mail : “After 45 years of chairing Just A Minute on the radio, I am excited to be hosting these special celebratory episodes for BBC TWO.
“I’m sure they will be popular with the show’s many fans and hopefully with a few new ones as well.”
The decision to commission the show for BBC TWO comes after it was revealed last month that the channel is to host more repeats, to help the corporation meet spending cuts.
Just A Minute was born when BBC producer Ian Messiter recalled how, as a schoolboy in the 1930s, his Latin teacher punished pupils by making them talk on a given subject for 60 seconds.
The anniversary television episodes are not the first time the producers have attempted to adapt Just A Minute to the screen, however, trials in the 1990s by ITV and the BBC were short-lived.
| Nicholas Parsons |
In which city was Martin Luther King assassinated | Nicholas Parsons: Actor and broadcaster, and host of BBC Radio 4´s “Just a minute” for nearly 50 years - Talk Radio Europe | Spain's only English speaking talk radio network
Spain's only English speaking talk radio network
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Nicholas Parsons: Actor and broadcaster, and host of BBC Radio 4´s “Just a minute” for nearly 50 years
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Avianca is the national airline of which country | Avianca Flight Information
38 Travelers Photos
Airline Overview
Colombia's national airline and flag carrier, Avianca (AV) was founded in 1919 as SCADTA. It is the country's largest airline and the second largest in North and South America. The carrier operates a primary hub at El Dorado International Airport (BOG) and secondary hubs at El Salvador International Airport (SAL) and Jorge Chávez International Airport (LIM). It flies to about 90 destinations in 22 countries in South America, North America and Europe. The airline has a number of subsidiaries, including Avianca Brazil, Avianca Costa Rica, Avianca Ecuador, Avianca El Salvador, Avianca Guatemala, Avianca Honduras, Avianca Peru and Sansa.
Aircraft Summary
Cheap Flights to Los Angeles
$87
Cheap Flights to Las Vegas
$98
Cheap Flights to New York City
$227
Cheap Flights to Dominican Republic
$653
Cheap Flights to St. Maarten/St. Martin
$769
Cheap Flights to Cabo San Lucas
$376
Cheap Flights to Costa Rica
$478
| Colombia |
In the film Hook who played Hook | Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A.: Book Tickets & Reservations on Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. Flights | Expedia.com
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Avianca Airlines Destinations
Based in Bogota, Colombia, Avianca services 87 must-see destinations in more than 20 countries. Explore Barranquilla. Dash to Buenos Aires. Venture into the heart of Venezuela. With Avianca Airways, the sky’s the limit.
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Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. Flight Status, Online Check-in and Baggage Info
Expedia gives you the tools you need to help make your travels easy and stress-free. Track arriving and departing flights in real-time with Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. flight status , get information on baggage allowance and fees, and view flight timetables based on your departure and arrival times. Check-in for your flight right from the comfort of your home or office by visiting the Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. online check-in . With helpful flight information and great support, Expedia eliminates the hassle in planning your trip and helps you have a great travel experience.
Airports serviced by Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A.
Avianca - Aerovías Nacionales de Colombia, S.A. operates domestic and international flights from the following airports:
Airport Code
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Who plays Rachel in Friends | Rachel Green | Friends Central | Fandom powered by Wikia
Rachel Karen Green-Geller is a fictional character on the popular U.S. television sitcom Friends (1994–2004). She is played by Jennifer Aniston , who received Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe for her performance.
Contents
[ show ]
Early Life
Rachel Karen Green was born to Leonard and Sandra Green , who gave her and her two sisters Jill and Amy , a rather spoiled upbringing. She met Monica Geller for the first time when they were both six years old and they quickly became best friends, remaining exactly that from then until attending the same high school. Rachel also soon met Monica's older brother, Ross , who developed a crush on her which he ultimately decided to keep to himself.
She was also involved with an unpleasant-natured fellow high school student named Chip, who arrived late to take her out to the high school prom. When it appeared that Chip was never going to arrive, Ross, after being encouraged by his parents Jack and Judy , decided to ask her out himself, but missed his chance when Chip arrived before he could ask her. She soon learned how unpleasant, careless and unfaithful at his core Chip was when he ditched her at the prom to have sex with another girl named Amy Welsh .
Rachel herself, however, was a bully to an overweight student named Will Colbert , spurring him and his friend, Ross, who dealt with the fact that she never seemed to notice his feelings for her in a very immature way, to form an "I Hate Rachel Green" Club and spread a rumour about her, saying that she, as Ross put it, "had both male and female reproductive parts" and that, as Will put it, "her parents flipped a coin and decided to raise her as a girl" which everyone in the entire high school (apart from Rachel herself) heard (which may or may not have influenced Chip's unfaithfulness towards her).
Rachel also met Chandler Bing for the first time at Thanksgiving at Ross and Monica's house. Eventually drifting apart from Monica and Ross, Rachel met and got engaged to an orthodontist named Barry Farber, another careless and unpleasant-natured individual who was unfaithful toward her, cheating on her with both her best friend, Mindy and her selfish, shallow, unpleasant, self-absorbed sister Amy (although she didn't learn of this until after she eventually broke it off with him). Later, though, Rachel sleeps with him while he's engaged to Mindy, her former best friend.
Rachel's first appearance in The Pilot .
In 1994, Rachel jilts Barry at the altar and climbs out of the restroom window before running into Central Perk in a rain-soaked wedding dress, having just discovered she is more turned on by a gravy boat than by Barry. Her search for Monica , who she hasn't spoken to in several years, ends as she sees her and tells her what happened. Monica introduces Rachel to the rest of the group: Chandler, Joey, Phoebe and also reunites her with Ross, who eventually decides to suggest that he may someday ask her out on a date, a proposition she does not object to. Rachel confronts her father over the phone about her fleeing from the wedding and announces that she's moving in with Monica. She is excited about this new phase in life, until she is forced to get a job because her father has cut her off financially. She becomes a waitress at Central Perk.
(" The Pilot ")
Rachel is worried about returning her engagement ring back to Barry. When she visits him at his orthodontist office, she learns that he was cheating on her with her best friend Mindy Hunter . He also reveals that he went on their honeymoon with Mindy, which makes Rachel even more upset. She returns the ring and later takes comfort with Ross.
(" The One With George Stephanopoulos ")
Ross falsely claims that his laundromat has suffered a rat infestation so he can spend time with Rachel at her laundromat. Rachel gets into an argument with a bully at the laundry mat who attempts to steal her machine, even though the former had already placed her basket on top of the aforementioned machine. Ross stands up for Rachel and the bully leaves, but not before placing a red sock in the basket, causing all of Rachel's white clothes to turn pink. The same woman later steals Rachel's cart but her wacky, quirky personality enables her to come up with the perfect method of putting the bully in her place-not starting a fight, but jumping into the cart and angrily saying that if the woman wants to take the cart, she will have to take Rachel with it. Outsmarted, the bully slinks away in defeat.
(" The One With The East German Laundry Detergent ")
At Rachel's apartment, Monica reveals how obsessive she is with cleanliness and organization when she disapproves of Rachel's subtle changes to the living room after cleaning it. The guys think it's pretty much a flaw of Monica's, but she tries not to make a big deal out of it. However, she can't even bring herself to sleep by thinking of a pair of sneakers she left haphazardly in the living room just to let the guys think that she, like them, is a "kook".
(" The One With The Butt ")
During a blackout, Ross decides to make a move on Rachel after seeing her out on the balcony, since it's the perfect romantic spot. Before he can get a chance to inform her of his true feelings however, a cat jumps on to his back, and he panics and flails around, trying to throw off the cat, which has by now dug its claws into him. Ross and Rachel come back in with the cat and Rachel decides to search through the apartment building in a hunt for the cat's owner, which turns out to be a handsome Italian man, Rachel brings Paolo back and introduces the rest of the friends to him-it is clear to them all that she is attracted to him despite the fact that he doesn't speak much English, making Ross jealous. When the power turns back on, Rachel is kissing Paolo which makes Ross upset.
(" The One With The Blackout ")
Rachel attends the funeral for Monica and Ross's grandmother. Paolo had to go back to Italy for a while and he sent Rachel some expensive dress shoes. While at the funeral, Rachel messed up one of the shoes. Ross hurts his back at the funeral and tells Rachel he loves her but she thinks it's just the painkillers he has taken talking.
(" The One Where Nana Dies Twice ")
On the last episode Ross goes to China to sort out a bone situation as a representative of the museum. Rachel opens her birthday presents and is touched that Ross gave her an antique cameo that she had seen at an antique shop months prior and mentioned that it reminded her of one her grandmothers had owned. Chandler accidentally lets it slip that Ross loves her by reminding the group that Ross bought Carol an expensive gift when he first fell in love with her. She goes to the airport to try and talk to him before he boards the plane, after realizing she has feelings for him too. Annoyingly, he has on headphones, so she isn't able to flag him down tell him how she feels.
Season 2
Rachel goes to the airport to greet Ross when he comes back from China, then tries to leave in a hurry when she sees he has come back with a woman he is intimate with, and falls over, causing the couple to notice her. She acts incredibly cold to Julie and does everything she can to sabotage her relationship with Ross, including making Phoebe cut her hair "Planet of the Apes" style and trying to convince Ross to avoid sleeping with her, saying it makes women really hot for a guy if he makes her wait. In an attempt to move on from her feelings for Ross, Rachel goes on a blind date, but spends the whole evening drinking wine and talking about the situation with Ross. Rachel gets drunk and leaves a message on Ross's answering machine, claiming that she is over him. Ross listens to the message the next morning, becoming confused and a little angry. He goes to Central Perk later that night to confront Rachel, and they share their first kiss. ( The One Where Ross Finds Out )
In " The One With The List ", Ross's list of pros and cons (Julie versus Rachel) repels Rachel from him because she can't stand the fact that he would use the list as reasons not to be with her. She starts dating Russ, a guy who is in every way like Ross, but claims to not see the similarities until witnessing the two argue using the same vocal inflections and depressed, nasal "hi" when they see her. She gets grossed out by the situation and ends things with Russ. After watching her and Monica's prom video, Rachel realizes that Ross did actually try to confess his feelings back then. Overwhelmed by the fact that he was willing to be her date to the senior prom, Rachel walks up to Ross and kisses him (" The One With The Prom Video "). Their first date does not end well, as Rachel can't stop laughing when Ross touches her butt. Eventually, they get over this small problem and sleep together for the first time in the museum's planetarium, where Ross has taken her to view the night sky (" The One Where Ross And Rachel...You Know ").
Rachel's mother visits, announcing that she is leaving Rachel's father. This is a bomb for Rachel, who struggles to find compromise between her parents. She also has to face Barry's marriage to Mindy , for whom Rachel is a bridesmaid (" The One With Barry And Mindy's Wedding "). The whole wedding is a fiasco: Rachel presents herself at the wedding in a pink marshmallow dress; walks up the aisle with her butt showing; discovers that Barry told everyone that she had syphilis and a nervous breakdown after leaving him at the altar; and is the target of repeated jokes by the best man and a bet placed by Barry in which she would be out of the wedding by 9:45. She does, however, have the guts to stay through the whole wedding and sing "Copacabana" in front of everyone, referencing an earlier humiliation that she mentioned to Ross about not being able to sing it at a talent show due to stage fright.
Season 3
Rachel asks Ross for any sexual fantasies he has. He admits that he likes the Star Wars scene with Princess Leia in the gold bikini, which she re-enacts for him (" The One With The Princess Leia Fantasy "). Being in a relationship with Ross for quite some time now, the two act as relationship counselor for Chandler, and gives him advice on how to behave with Janice (his annoying on-and-off girlfriend) in various situations. (" The One With The Jam ")
Rachel has some casual issues in the next few episodes, such as having trouble with being the peacemaker between Ross and her father. Although they do find Rachel's flaws an interesting subject at brunch the next day ( The One With The Race Car Bed ). On Thanksgiving Day, the friends decide to play football while they wait for dinner to finish cooking. Rachel is the last to be picked, since she is terrible at sports. Ironically, she is the one who wins the game for the girls (" The One With The Football "). Sometime later, she is convinced by Chandler and Joey to quit her waitress job at Central Perk, (" The One Where Rachel Quits ") so she can be free to pursue a career in fashion. Much to her chagrin, she gets a job pouring coffee at a clothing store. At the Moondance Diner , Rachel meets Mark from Bloomingdale's, who helps her get a job in his department. This is the cause of Ross' jealousy (" The One With All The Jealousy "), which leads to some issues between him and Rachel.
Rachel has to work on her and Ross's one-year anniversary. Wanting to make a romantic gesture, Ross brings a picnic to her office, setting out the food and candles while she frantically tries to sort out an incorrect shipment that her department received. After Ross accidentally sets the flowers on her desk on fire, Rachel kicks him out of the office. Ross waits for her at the ladies' apartment, where they have a serious argument that ends with Rachel telling Ross that they should, "take a break." Rachel spends the evening alone, until Mark calls and insists on coming over with Chinese food to talk things out and be a shoulder to cry on. In the meantime, at a bar, Chandler convinces Ross to call Rachel. When he hears Mark's voice over the phone, however, Ross assumes the worst: that Rachel is now involved with Mark. Ross hangs up on Rachel and spends the night with Chloe , the copy girl from the Xerox place (" The One Where Ross And Rachel Take A Break "). Rachel feels awful how she left things with Ross, and makes up with him at his apartment, while Chloe is still there trying to get her clothes together and leave. Things are going well for the couple until Gunther tells Rachel about Ross's night with Chloe. The fight she and Ross have at her apartment is the worst one ever, trapping the rest of the gang in Monica's bedroom. They break up, tearfully and sadly. (" The One With The Morning After ")
Rachel and Ross bicker all the time following the breakup, with Ross constantly reminds Rachel that they, "were on a break!" while Rachel is convinced that Ross cheated on her. The anger they feel is so extreme that Rachel invites everyone but Ross for a weekend ski trip. However, she is forced to accept his help when Phoebe's car runs out of gas on the way, but does not concede to allow Ross to join the rest of the friends on the trip. It is when Ross gives her back her favorite t-shirt (one that used to belong to Ross) that she decides to work on forgiving him ( The One With The Tiny T-Shirt ). Ross insists on taking Rachel to the hospital after she breaks her rib, missing out on an appearance on a TV program to help her. When Rachel finds out about the sacrifice Ross has made on her behalf, she tells him that it's the sweetest thing he's ever done. ( The One With A Chick And A Duck )
When Phoebe asks her for permission to set up Ross with Bonnie, she does not give her the go-ahead until Phoebe mentions that Bonnie's bald. When Rachel finds out that Bonnie is no longer bald, she becomes upset ( The One With The Ultimate Fighting Champion ). Rachel is so jealous that she convinces Bonnie to shave her head so that Ross will break up with her. They even share a kiss, after which she goes upstairs to wait for him. ( The One At The Beach )
Season 4
Ross enters Rachel's room, surprised when he sees Rachel applying after-sun lotion on Bonnie's bald, sunburned head. Bonnie heads back into the bedroom, and Ross and Rachel resume their interrupted kiss. Things don't go beyond this, as Ross insists that he must break up with Bonnie. He ends his relationship with Bonnie, who takes a cab back to her home. Rachel, meanwhile, has written an 18-page letter which she wants Ross to read before they get back together. Having failed to go through the whole letter, Ross wakes up in the morning and tells a worried Rachel that he read the entire letter twice. He is thrown off-course when she asks him, "Does it?" He unknowingly agrees that it does, which leads Rachel to get back together with him. Ross finds out that he unknowingly agreed to take full responsibility for everything which went wrong in their relationship. The couple have sex in Rachel's bedroom, but her continuous references to the letter makes their break-up definitive. When she accuses him of cheating on her with Chloe, Ross explodes, yelling, "We were on a break!!!" Needless to say, their relationship ends once again. Rachel does what she can to humiliate and provoke Ross. For example, she forces him to apologize to a cat ( The One With The Cat ). Things with Ross reached their peak in a dating war which Ross begins by dating a single mother, leading to Rachel dating a college student. It takes a sick Monica to reveal the truth about Ross's babysitting "dates" and Rachel's thieving college boyfriend. ( The One With Joey's New Girlfriend )
Monica and Rachel compete with Joey and Chandler in a "Who Knows Who Better?" competition mediated and created by Ross. Minutes later, the game becomes a real competition. Money is not enough to bet, and both teams are tied in the end. Eventually, the girls lose their apartment to Chandler and Joey. ( The One With The Embryos )
Now single and living in a small, dingy apartment, matters becomes worse for Rachel when she is demoted to the position of Personal Shopper at Bloomingdale's . Rachel is about to quit, until she meets her attractive new client: Joshua Bergin ( The One With Rachel's Crush ). Her crush comes at a costly price, and her boss's niece ends up with Ross ( The One With Joey's Dirty Day ). In order to attract Joshua, Rachel throws a surprise party for Emily Waltham, her boss's niece and Ross's new girlfriend. She suggests a game of Spin the Bottle as a weak attempt to kiss Joshua, and is frustrated when Joey and Emily keep spinning and landing on each other. When she spins the bottle and it lands on Joshua, her attempt at kissing him is interrupted when Phoebe feels the triplets kicking for the first time. Trying to seduce Joshua further, Rachel performs a cheerleading act, only to chip a tooth. She tries to slyly pull her bra out through her sleeve, which doesn't work. With a bra stuck in her sleeve and a chipped tooth, Rachel is crushed when she hears that Joshua thinks it's not the right time for him to date as he just got divorced. Soon after, he comes back to kiss her (" The One With The Fake Party "). Things with Joshua go well until Ross and Emily announce their engagement (" The One With All The Haste "). Her competition with Ross pushes her to propose to Joshua, who has only recently gone through an ugly divorce. He finally breaks up with Rachel when she accidentally answers the door in a wedding dress, saying, "I doooo!". (" The One With All The Wedding Dresses ")
Ross invites Rachel to his wedding in London. She RSVPs that she can't come, claiming to Ross that she can't have the time off of work and that someone should stay have with Phoebe who is too far along in her pregnancy to fly, but confides in Monica that with the history between her and Ross it would be too painful ( The One With The Invitation ). Phoebe makes her reason things out, and Rachel realizes she's still in love with Ross. Determined to share her feelings with Ross, Rachel sets off to London, leaving a very frantic Phoebe behind. Phoebe calls Joey to warn him about Rachel coming to ruin Ross' wedding, but Rachel can't bring herself to tell Ross when she sees how happy he is with Emily. All she is able to say is, "Congratulations." The wedding begins with Rachel sitting among the guests. During the vows, Ross looks at Emily and says "Rachel" instead of "Emily". ( The One With Ross' Wedding, Part 2 )
Season 5
Rachel is surprised as anyone else to hear Ross say her name, instead of "Emily," but the wedding goes on. Emily angrily shoves the ring onto Ross's finger, and Judy Geller remarks that the wedding is turning out, "worse than when he married the lesbian." Rachel interrupts Monica and Chandler's plans to have sex when she goes to chat on the phone with Phoebe about the turnout of events. Rachel is crushed to overhear Ross remark that she doesn't mean anything to him. In the end, she agrees to join him on his honeymoon as a friend. Emily arrives to see them departing together. Ross realizes what it looks like and chases his wife, leaving Rachel alone on the plane to Greece. (" The One After Ross Says Rachel ")
Rachel is so frustrated over her past love life decisions that she decides to leave her future ones to Monica. Monica sets her up with a handsome man who frequents Central Perk. Seeing a depressed Ross on the couch, Rachel decides to blow her date off and console Ross with the goal of telling him her feelings. She does tell him, but she realizes the absurdity of the statement. After laughing hysterically, Ross is at first offended thinking that it was a mean joke, but when she assures him that it was genuine and continuing to laugh at herself, Ross begins to see the humor in his own pain and makes jokes about not knowing his wife's whereabouts since the wedding. Rachel calms down and wants to be sure that things will not now be weird between the two of them, noting that he is married to Emily. He reassures her and says "it's always nice to hear that somebody loves you." (" The One With All The Kissing ")
Emily agrees to come to New York and work on her marriage with Ross under one condition: that he never sees Rachel again. Unknowingly, Rachel convinces Ross to do so, by telling him that whatever Emily needs him to do to fix the marriage, he should do it (" The One Where Phoebe Hates PBS "). When she finds out what he agreed to, she gets mad at him, and fears that like Chandler's old roommate Kip, she will be forced to leave the group because Ross has a stronger claim to Monica and Chandler. She gets Phoebe to agree come with her to start a new group, and Phoebe wants Joey to come as well. Ross gets wind of something being up from Joey and tells Rachel that if anyone has to leave the group, it will be him because his actions and choices led to the situation that they are in (" The One With The Kips "). Rachel tells Ross that she does not feel any better, because she still will not be able to see him. When he does see her one last time and tells Emily over the phone about her presence in the room, Emily is angry, but says that things will be better when she comes and can know where he is at all times. Thrown by this comment, Ross tells Emily that she will have to have some trust in him if they are going to stay married. Upon realizing that she cannot trust him, they decide to divorce. (" The One With The Yeti ")
Rachel dates a new neighbor named Danny (who she fogged in " The One With The Yeti "), even though she has played hardball. She finds it disturbing that he and his sister are close on the border of incest, so dumps him. (" The One With The Inappropriate Sister ")
Rachel decides that her New Year's Resolution will be not to gossip, but she is pushed to the limit when she finds out about Chandler and Monica's secret relationship (" The One With All The Resolutions "). She decides to confront them. After hearing Monica telling Chandler how hard it is to lie to her, she reconsiders.
She also helps Joey in picking up clothes and finds a man's handbag for him (" The One With Joey's Bag "). Her fashion tips, which are supposed to help him get an audition, are the reason why he doesn't get the part when he has a hard time abandoning the bag as the director requested.
Phoebe and Rachel are looking over the apartment across the street that Ross hopes to sublet from ugly naked guy. Phoebe tries to catch the attention of Monica and Chandler across the street and is horrified to see them kissing and pulling off each other's clothes. They conspire to make their lives miserable in various ways to mess with them for keeping secrets--much to the chagrin of Joey who is tired of keeping the secret himself. When Monica says that she will go do laundry (when she is really sneaking away to be with Chandler), Rachel gives her a huge bag of dirty clothes to throw in. Phoebe aggressively hits on Chandler until he can't keep up with the ruse and admits to loving Monica. They still don't want Ross to know, but due to their unfortunate habit of never closing the drapes, he finds out while showing his boss from the museum that he is getting his life back in order. (" The One Where Everybody Finds Out ")
Rachel goes to a furniture store with Ross to help him pick out a new couch. She is angered and embarrassed when Ross, who is irritated when an employee implies that Rachel is way out of Ross's league, informs the employee that they had sex 298 times. She and Chandler help transport the couch to Ross's apartment, although they don't succeed and the couch ends up being sawed in half. (" The One With The Cop ")
Rachel gets a job interview at Ralph Lauren, but she accidentally kisses her interviewer. In a second interview, she blows him off by misinterpreting a gesture that he makes as a sexual innuendo. In the end, he hires her. Rachel causes further embarrassment when she reaches out to shake her new boss's hand, only to accidentally grab his crotch (" The One With Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss "). Rachel tries to smoke to fit in with her new colleague and boss, Kim . They leave her out anyway, and she stops smoking. (" The One Where Rachel Smokes ")
In order to prove that she was over Ross, Rachel sets him up on a date because he tries and fails to flirt with the pizza delivery girl. (" The One Where Ross Can't Flirt ") She's the one to hear Emily's message for Ross about starting things up again, and she convinces Ross to forget about his ex-wife because of the pain she has caused him. (" The One With The Ride-Along ")
When everyone but Ross and Rachel leaves for Vegas, Rachel walks around the apartment naked and accidentally catches Ross's attention. Seeing her naked makes him assume she wants sex with him, a fact that she denies when he comes over. This is the cause of a continuous series of pranks they play on each other. This results in them getting married in Vegas, drunk and their faces painted with Sharpie.
Season 6
Rachel settles for an annulment, leaving Ross to take care of the details. Ross doesn't want another divorce and cannot get the annulment, so he stays married to Rachel until she finds out (" The One Where Joey Loses His Insurance "). Rachel takes care of the forms, albeit in an extravagant manner which makes Ross appear to be a gay heroin addict. They argue and Ross's revelations about their history as a couple make the judge determine that they do not qualify for an annulment and must get a divorce instead. When signing the papers that a still angry Ross has brought over, Rachel confesses to him that this divorce is actually her fault, as she was the one to drunkenly suggest the marriage. (" The One With Joey's Porsche ")
Rachel has to face another hard reality: Chandler is moving in with Monica. At first, Rachel is jovial and suggests that they are "Three's Company," but becomes sad when it is revealed Chandler and Monica would like to live alone. Rachel, however, understands and is still happy for them, but it hurts Monica's feelings because she expected Rachel to be sad. It is later revealed that Rachel didn't take the news seriously because they almost got married in Vegas, and since they didn't, she doesn't think this would happen either. Rachel finally accepts the reality of not having Monica as her roommate, and makes arrangements to live with Phoebe (" The One On The Last Night "). Rachel moves in with Phoebe (" The One Where Phoebe Runs ") and furnishes their apartment with Pottery Barn products, much to Phoebe's initial dismay and, later, delight (" The One With The Apothecary Table "). Her stay is cut short by a fire in the apartment, and she moves in with Monica and Chandler, then Joey, until their apartment is fixed.
Rachel is pointed out to be a push-over in this season, a fact which makes Phoebe prefer her as a lesbian date to high-maintenance Monica. (" The One With The Joke ")
Rachel's youngest sister, Jill, pays Rachel a visit (" The One With Rachel's Sister ") and dates Ross, much to Rachel's chagrin. Ross realizes that nothing can happen between him and Rachel in the future if something happens between him and Jill, so he prevents anything from happening with Jill. This is not only the key to Rachel forgiving Ross, but also the cue for Chandler to cry. (" The One Where Chandler Can't Cry ")
Rachel begins a relationship with Paul Stevens , the father of Ross's girlfriend, Elizabeth . Despite the fact that Ross is uncomfortable with the idea of his ex-girlfriend/the love of his life dating his current girlfriend's father Rachel remains in a relationship with Paul until she dumps him because of his incessant crying. (" The One With The Ring ")
Season 7
Despite stating that she isn't jealous of Monica and Chandler's engagement, Rachel agrees to have a "bonus night" with Ross. They begin kissing in the hallway, when Monica walks in on them. This leads to Monica canceling the celebrations of her engagement, as she is tired of Rachel stealing the spotlight. (" The One With Monica's Thunder ")
Rachel is promoted to Merchandising Manager for polo retail at Ralph Lauren, a position which allows her to hire a personal assistant. This is how she meets Tag, her young, gorgeous boyfriend (" The One With Rachel's Assistant "). She spends the night with Tag in the office, looking for important contracts to Milan which she did not send out. To save face, she prefers to blame Tag for the mistake. (" The One Where They're Up All Night ") Because Tag is not part of her committed future plans, she breaks up with him on her 30th birthday. (" The One Where They All Turn Thirty ")
01:55
Friends-The Cheesecake
Rachel is portrayed as having something of a sweet tooth, sharing several cheesecakes with Chandler and even eating the last of them off the hallway floor. (" The One With All The Cheesecakes ")
When Joey is nominated for a Soapie award, Rachel is the only one of the girls to know what a Soapie is. Joey invites her to the awards ceremony, and Rachel admits that she uses a shampoo bottle in the shower to practice her acceptance speech after winning a Grammy. (" The One With Joey's Award ")
Rachel is reunited with Melissa , the girl who she kissed passionately back in senior year in college. Due to Phoebe's disbelief and Melissa's denial, Rachel kisses Melissa so she wouldn't lose "the one wild thing she had ever done" away from her. Melissa mistakenly believes that Rachel is attracted to her and she feels comfortable enough to express her attraction to Rachel, stating, "Oh my god! You love me". Shocked, Rachel rejects her. Embarrassed, Melissa hales a cab and proposes to Rachel a "kiss goodbye?", Rachel again rejects her and Melissa leaves. Phoebe then kisses Rachel heartily and Rachel says;"What the hell was that?" and Phoebe responds by stating "just to see what all the fuss was about.". Rachel asks how it was and she responds by saying that she's "had better."
In the morning before Chandler and Monica's wedding, Phoebe and Rachel find a positive pregnancy test in the bathroom trash.
Season 8
At the wedding reception, Rachel confesses her pregnancy to Phoebe (" The One After 'I Do' "). Later on, she confesses her pregnancy to Chandler. Finally, she tells Ross that he is the father (" The One Where Rachel Tells Ross "). The baby was conceived during a passionate one night stand when they were both vulnerable, being that Rachel was jealous of Monica's engagement, and Ross hadn't had sex in six months.
A videotape proves that Rachel was the one who made the first move (" The One With The Video Tape "). Wanting to maintain a love life, Rachel goes out with a soap opera actor named Kash Ford. When she tells him that she's pregnant, Kash blows her off. On the verge of telling Ross that she is considering rekindling their relationship, she is blown off by Ross for Mona at the coffee-house. (" The One With Rachel's Date ") She is the reason why Ross and Mona argue and split up. (" The One With The Birthing Video ")
Rachel becomes the source of Joey's attraction, and possible only love, which he confesses to the others. Joey's confession of love is rejected by Rachel, who does not think of him that way. (" The One Where Joey Tells Rachel ") This is the cause of some uncomfortable situations between the two. (" The One With The Tea Leaves ")
During Thanksgiving dinner, Rachel is reunited with Will Colbert. Will, who used to be overweight, is now a handsome man who has hated Rachel since high school. Together with Will, Ross co-founded an "I Hate Rachel Green" club in high school. It was formed by only three people, one of whom was a foreign exchange student who didn't know what the club was about. Will and Ross spread a rumor that Rachel was a hermaphrodite. Enraged, Rachel tells everyone that she knows about Ross and the librarian he made out with.
Rachel wins over most of the attention, first by moving in with Joey (" The One With The Birthing Video ") and denying him dates (" The One With The Cooking Class "); her lateness of the delivery of the baby (" The One Where Rachel Is Late "), which becomes the source of Phoebe's and Monica's bets. In (The One Where Rachel Has A Baby Part 1) Rachel goes into a painful and long labor. During Rachel's labor, Ross's mom gives him her grandmother's engagement ring to give to Rachel. Ross takes it but does not plan to propose. (The One Where Rachel Has A Baby Part 2), Rachel gives birth to a baby girl named Emma. At the end of the episode, the ring falls out from Ross's jacket pocket and Joey picks it up and shows it to Rachel, but when he showed it to her, she said "Yes", thinking he was proposing, only to find out later it was nothing.
Season 9
Things start to change when Ross, who has agreed to not date anyone, learns that Rachel gave her number to a man at a bar that she met on a girl's night out with Phoebe. When Bill calls when Rachel is out in the hall, he chooses to not give her the message (" The One With Rachel's Phone Number "). Things for Rachel get even more complicated when she kisses her new colleague, during her birthday party; a kiss which Ross sees from his apartment (" The One With Phoebe's Rats "). However, Rachel is still unsure about that. She decides to talk to Ross about it, but when he brings home a rebound date, she becomes so angry that she moves in with Joey.
As time goes by, Rachel becomes interested in Joey. She dreams that she's helping Joey study his lines, but is completely turned on by him. She kisses him, at which point the dream ends. She decides to tell Joey how she feels, but Ross's co-worker, Charlie , gets with Joey before Rachel can tell him anything (" The One With The Soap Opera Party "). Because of her jealousy, Rachel mostly maintains a cold rapport with Charlie. This lasts until Charlie breaks up with Joey in Barbados, so she can be with Ross. Rachel admits that she's interested in Joey, which causes his feelings for her to resurface. They decide to speak with Ross before doing anything that could possibly jeopardize their friendship with him. However, Joey sees Ross and Charlie kissing, gets angry that Ross did not clear it with him first, and he walks slowly and steadily to Rachel's room and knocks on her door. When Rachel opens the door, Joey kisses her.
Season 10
Rachel and Joey are now a couple, although they have no idea how they are going to tell Ross about their relationship. This problem is solved when Ross sees them kissing. It is made clear that Ross is not taking this well, but he announces that he will support them anyway. (" The One Where Ross Is Fine ") However, Rachel slaps Joey's hands away every time they start to kiss,and he cannot undo her bra (despite the fact that he once popped Monica's open just by looking at it). After talking to Joey, Monica and Chandler decide that if they are having such a hard time progressing their relationship, it must not be meant to be, musing that perhaps they are just better friends than Chandler and Monica were and each telling the other "I love you."
Rachel focuses more and more on her daughter, throwing a party to celebrate her child's first birthday and insisting that everyone in the group abandon their plans to all be there for this momentous occasion. (" The One With The Cake ") She allows her younger sister, Amy , to babysit Emma. Later on, she is horrified when she discovers that Amy got Emma's ears pierced. Rachel enters her daughter in a baby beauty contest, which Emma wins. (" The One With The Late Thanksgiving ") Rachel becomes so overprotective that she is reluctant to allow her daughter to use the swings at the park. (" The One With The Home Study ")
Rachel comes to believe that Chandler is having an affair after seeing him with a woman. In reality, the woman that Chandler is with is a real estate agent: Chandler and Monica are looking for a house, to start a new family.
Rachel's father has a heart attack, and the stress causes Rachel to turn to Ross for sympathy sex. He rejects her offer because he doesn't want to take advantage of her in her time of grieving, but instead she feels angry and embarrassed, causing him to then declare that from now on, sex is "off the table". However, she informs him that, "With us, it's never off the table".
When her boss at Ralph Lauren catches her interviewing for another job, Rachel is fired. While moving her things out of her office, Rachel and Ross run into Mark from Bloomingdale's. Ross doesn't remember him, until Rachel reminds him of the fact that Ross was insanely jealous of Mark. Ross becomes jealous yet again, until he learns that Mark is married and has twins. Mark offers a job to Rachel at Louis Vuitton, but the job requires her to work in Paris. Monica throws Rachel a going away party where Rachel says goodbye to everybody except Ross, much to his dismay. Rachel later shows up at Ross's apartment, explaining that she couldn't say goodbye to him because it was too difficult due to the fact that he means more to her than the others. Just as she's about to leave, Ross kisses her. Ross is convinced that his passionate night with Rachel means that she is going to stay, and he is heartbroken when she announces that she still plans to leave, and she does. Ross realizes that he must let Rachel know how he feels about her, and hopes confessing his love will persuade Rachel to stay in New York. Ross chases her down to the airport, and confesses his love, and begs her to stay. Confused, Rachel gets on the plane. A broken hearted Ross goes to his apartment and checks the messages on his answering machine. He then hears a message from Rachel who had been trying to get off the plane until the line suddenly cuts off, leaving Ross wondering whether she got off the plane until he hears a voice behind him say "I got off the plane." Ross turns in surprise to find Rachel standing in his doorway. They kiss and get back together and promise to never break up again, then they kiss again and embrace. In the final scene, they are shown holding hands.
It is implied that they got married shortly after the series finale, as Joey mentions in his spinoff sitcom that all of his friends are married, settled down, and with families.
Physical appearance
Rachel is a beautiful young woman with blue eyes and a slim figure. She has had the most hairstyles. In Season 1, it is short and brown until Season 3, when it becomes longer. In Season 4, her hair turns blonde. At the end of Season 6, her hair becomes even longer. Later in Season 7, her hair is chopped off into a short bob. By the end of the series, her hair is fairly long again, going down to her shoulders and is brown again with side-swept bangs.
Personality
Rachel's personality evolves somewhat over the series. Early on, she is portrayed as a spoiled girl. She can often be self-centered, but is often sweet and tries to be a good friend. Later on in the series, especially after she gives birth, she becomes much less self-absorbed. As a girl used to having people at her beck and call, Rachel admits to Mr. Treeger that she has never taken the trash out. When Treeger yells at her for clogging up the trash chute, which he had unclogged shortly before with a lot of efforts, Rachel returns to the apartment in tears and exaggerates the situation. Monica dismisses the exaggerations, saying Rachel always cries. (" The One With The Ballroom Dancing ")
As teasingly established in " The One With The Joke ", Rachel has a reputation for being a "pushover". For instance, in " The One With The Cheap Wedding Dress ", when Rachel, Monica, and Phoebe attend a sale in Brooklyn to find Monica's wedding dress, a confrontation takes place. Rachel is found huddled in a rack, terrified, blowing her panic whistle. When told to get up, Rachel insists that Phoebe hold her hand.
Instances of Rachel standing up for herself are far and few. For instance, in " The One With The East German Laundry Detergent " she is bullied by a horrible woman at the Laundromat but gets to assert herself when Ross encourages her. In " The One With Rachel's Sister ", she angrily confronts Ross but fails to impress anyone. Exceptionally, however, she gets to strong arm her sister, Jill Green , in the same episode and Joey in " The One With Rachel's Book " and " The One With Phoebe's Cookies " entirely on her own. She also claims to have punched a woman in the face for trying to steal her umbrella though there is only her word for it. (" The One With Joey's Dirty Day ")
Despite the personality evolution, Rachel is used to lying. Most significantly, in " The One With Joey's Porsche ", she commits slander in a legal court, accusing Ross of being mentally unstable, being an intravenous drug addict and having failed to consummate his marriage. Very often, lies are told to inflict damage. For example, in " The One With Ross' New Girlfriend ", she deliberately misleads Phoebe in hopes of ruining Julie 's haircut out of jealousy. Also in " The One At The Beach ", Rachel tricked Bonnie into shaving her head. There are also instances of deceit that are more impulsive than deliberate, such as claiming that Monica hurt her ankle in " The One Where Phoebe Runs " or assuming a fake Indian accent in NYU. Nevertheless, they don't justify the act. In "The One With Rachel's Sister", Rachel dismissed Jill's fake crying as a deceitful invention of her own that would not fool its inventor.
Rachel is shown to not like to take any responsibility for things, which is seen in The One With The Jellyfish , when she wants Ross to take all the responsibility for everything that went wrong in their relationship, when they were both at fault. Rachel also has a very jealous side of her when it comes to girlfriends of Ross or women he likes', despite not being with him or interested in dating him. This is shown mostly in The One Where Chandler Can't Cry , and The One With The Cooking Class . This is also shown when guys she likes, mention they have a girlfriend. Its shown in The One Where Monica Sings , that Rachel is a bit of a hypocrite since she gets mad at Ross for not giving her a guy's phone number and moves back with Joey because of this, but in the season 8 episode, The One With The Cooking Class , she doesn't want him to date other women because of the baby coming. However, despite these issues, Rachel has matured more in the later seasons, especially seasons 8 -10.
Relationships
Monica Geller
One of Rachel's closest friends is Monica, her best friend since they were six-years-old. In high school, Rachel was a popular cheerleader with a string of boyfriends. Meanwhile, Monica was her less attractive and overweight best friend. They lost contact for a number of years, to the point where Monica was convinced that she would never become close friends with Rachel again. However, they became close again when Rachel left Barry and moved in with her.
During the period that they live together, Rachel is revealed to be an exceptionally good roommate. As Monica tells Phoebe, Rachel has sweet little quirks, such as folding back the pages in catalogs of things she thinks Monica would like. She also leaves messages on the mirror when Monica takes a shower, and lets Monica borrow her hundred-plus pairs of boots.
Phoebe Buffay
Rachel's other best friend. Phoebe first met Rachel in the pilot episode when Rachel leaves Barry and comes to live with Monica.
In a season 5 episode "The One With The Kips", Phoebe and Rachel consider starting a new group of friends with Joey after Emily (Ross's wife at the time) demands that Ross doesn't see Rachel anymore. Rachel says "We can start a new group, you and me, we're the best ones," to which Phoebe responds "Okay. But let's try to get Joey." This never happened as Ross could not go without seeing Rachel and the group remained as it was.
From seasons 6–7, Rachel and Phoebe lived together after Chandler moved into Monica's apartment. In "The One Where Ross Dates A Student", Phoebe and Rachel's apartment catches fire, causing Phoebe to temporarily live with Monica and Rachel to live with Joey. Later on, in "The One with the Holiday Armadillo", the apartment is fixed and Phoebe and Rachel decide to move back but the repair work left them with only one bedroom, so Phoebe lives there alone while Rachel is living with Joey.
In an early episode, Phoebe and Rachel go to get tattoos together. Though Rachel ends up getting a heart tattooed on her hip, Phoebe does not get the intended lily (for her mother) on her shoulder because she didn't know they did it with needles. Rachel tried to convince her to get the tattoo, but the artist barely touched her with the needle before she ran off screaming. She now has a 'blue freckle' which she claims is 'the earth as seen from a great great distance or as (her) mother sees it from heaven'.
Phoebe and Rachel have a very strong relationship throughout the series, despite occasional and humorous squabbles over things like jogging, massages, Pottery Barn furniture and a lesbian encounter Rachel had in college (which Phoebe refused to believe, even though it turned out to be true). Like with Monica, Rachel and Phoebe have kissed (screen).
Joey Tribbiani
See also: Joey and Rachel
Joey and Rachel first meet at Central Perk, after Rachel leaves Barry at the altar. They become close friends. Later, in the series, Joey falls in love with her, but she does not feel the same way. Even later in the series, Rachel does feel something for Joey, but the past issue is long forgotten. They share a week long, but passionate, relationship. However, they cannot get past the kissing stage, as they know they are just friends, and that's all they ever will be.
Chandler Bing
Rachel and Chandler met in the 1980s when she was introduced to him through Ross. Their first meeting was at a Thanksgiving celebration at the home. The pair met again at a party at Ross and Chandler's college in the winter of 1987 (" The One Where The Stripper Cries "). At this party, Chandler and a drunk Rachel shared a kiss. (It was revealed that the only reason Chandler kissed Rachel was to get back at Ross for kissing a girl he liked.)
In 1993, they met again at a bar which would be torn down to make room for the gang's frequent hangout spot Central Perk. Rachel hadn't seen Chandler since her days in high school. At the bar, Chandler overheard Rachel talking to some friends about how she wanted to have one last night of meaningless sex before her marriage to Barry. She added that she wanted to have sex with the first guy she laid her eyes on, which happened to be Chandler. They never did hook up, but Rachel did have a fantasy about him. (" The One With The Flashback ") In another episode, she confesses to having recurrent erotic dreams about him, much to Ross's chagrin.
Rachel and Chandler cross paths again in 1994, when Rachel storms into Central Perk looking for Monica. Through the course of the series, Rachel and Chandler's relationship grows. They share a close friendship, often consoling and confiding in one another. On one particular occasion, they share a stolen cheesecake with each other and conceal it from the others. Particularly in earlier seasons, they go out to lunch together a few times. However, there has not been any romance between them, as they are just good friends.
Ross Geller
See also: Ross and Rachel
Rachel has been involved in a turbulent,off relationship with Monica's brother, Ross. After an argument over Rachel's prioritizing work over their anniversary and continued friendship with Mark, Rachel announces that they are taking, "a break." Ross, thinking that Rachel is ending the relationship, gets drunk and sleeps with Chloe . When Rachel decides that she wants to make things work with Ross, he becomes determined to prevent her from finding out about his one-night stand. Rachel eventually finds out about Ross's indiscretion, and the pair argue in Rachel's living room while their friends are trapped in Monica's bedroom. Rachel ends the relationship, and the two bicker for a long while.
When Ross decides to marry his British girlfriend, Emily Waltham , Rachel realizes that she's still in love with him despite the fact that she's involved with someone else. Rachel flies to London to tell Ross how she feels, only to change her mind when she sees how happy Emily makes him. The wedding is ruined, however, when Ross accidentally says Rachel's name instead of Emily's during the wedding vows. Despite the fact that Ross is desperately trying to convince his new wife to forgive him, Rachel tells him that she is still in love with him. They decide to pretend that her declaration of love never happened, due to her embarrassment and his marriage to Emily. The marriage eventually fails due to Emily's inability to trust Ross after the, "I, Ross, take thee Rachel," incident.
On a trip to Vegas, Ross and Rachel got married after a drinking binge. Ross wanted to eat a ton of grapes and Rachel wanted to get married, so they decided to get married then eat a ton of grapes. Unable to get an annulment, they had to divorce instead. Years later, Rachel and Ross slept together. This encounter resulted in a pregnancy, and Rachel gave birth to a daughter: Emma. For a time, they decided to remain friends and roommates. Eventually, they reunited for good when they realized they still loved each other.
Rachel - Baby Emma
Emma Geller-Green
Emma is Ross and Rachel's daughter, who was conceived during an encounter in Rachel's apartment, a month before Monica and Chandler's wedding. The name Emma was originally chosen by Monica as the name she wanted to use for her future daughter. Before deciding on Emma, Ross and Rachel discussed several other names: Delilah was rejected because Rachel felt that it made her daughter sound like a Biblical whore, and Isabella was rejected as well. Ross also once stated that he would like to name his daughter Emily, which he soon decided against, possibly because of his marriage to Emily Waltham.
Sandra and Leonard Green
Rachel's mother, Sandra , has a way of being dominating and unpleasant without going overboard. She's also harsh when it comes to her opinions. (Example: She has suggested moving into Ross's apartment after Emma's birth, and she has added that his "dinosaur things" belong in the garbage.) It is implied that Rachel used to be like her mother before she turned her life around and moved to the city. She managed to avoid a loveless marriage, while her mother married, "her Barry." During her first visit to Rachel's NYC apartment, Mrs. Green admits that she wants a life that is similar to her daughter's.
Rachel's father, Leonard Green , is a very dominating, strict and harsh man. He has a striking sense of sarcasm and what he deems right or wrong, but he's not afraid of spoiling his daughters. (Rachel claims that her father bought her her own boat to cheer her up when her pony fell ill.) When his daughters do something that he doesn't like, he has the tendency to cut them off financially. Despite being quite generous when it comes to his daughters, he shares very little of his wealth with others. This is proven when he leaves a 2% tip after going out to eat with Rachel and Ross.
During their marriage, Rachel's parents' love life was practically non-existent. In fact, they married for the sake of money. According to Rachel, they barely spoke during their marriage ... except when they argued. After their divorce, they could not stand to be in the same room as each other. This led to Rachel's friends throwing her two birthday parties at the same time: one with Rachel's mother in Rachel's apartment, and the other with Rachel's father in the guys' apartment.
Jill and Amy Green
Jill and Amy are Rachel's sisters, with whom she has a typical sibling-rivalry relationship. When they were younger, they would constantly pull pranks on each other.
Jill is Rachel's favorite sister, despite being extremely spoiled. During her visit when their father decides to financially cut her off, Jill scoffs at the idea of dating Ross. She changes her mind when she think that Rachel wants her to date him. After two dates, their relationship is ended by Ross, because he doesn't want anything to interfere with his ability to reunite with Rachel. Angry, she sets out to seduce him, after failing to do so, she leaves upset with her sister and says Ross is gay for not wanting to sleep with her.
Unlike Jill, Amy doesn't even recognize Ross. In fact, she is convinced that he's a falafel seller. During Thanksgiving dinner, Phoebe says that Amy is the one that bit Rachel. Rachel and Amy don't have a close relationship, like the one Rachel and Jill have. When Amy visits during Emma's first Thanksgiving, she only says, "Hi." Then she announces that she wants to borrow a hair straightener, referring to Emma as "Emmett" because she is under the impression that the baby is a boy.
Ida Green
Ida is Rachel's grandmother, who is referred to by some as "Spuds." When Rachel finds out that some cute guys live in her grandmother's building, she says, "No sense of personal space? Kinda smells like chicken? Looks like a potato? That's my bubbe!" (This is another indication that Rachel is of Jewish descent, as the word "bubbe" means "grandmother" in Yiddish.)
Career
Rachel gets her first job as a waitress at Central Perk . She is a terrible waitress, taking long breaks to sit with her friends and regularly mixing up orders. Joey and Chandler convince Rachel to quit her job at the coffee shop so she can focus on pursuing a career in fashion. She is hired on as a personal assistant at Fortunata Fashions, where she, ironically, pours coffee.
Rachel is hired on as an assistant buyer at Bloomingdale's, with the help of Mark Robinson . After Mark leaves and Joanna dies, her department is closed and she is demoted to personal shopper.
She becomes the women's wear coordinator at Ralph Lauren. She has an affair with her assistant, Tag Jones . When acquaintances are impressed by Rachel's occupation and query whether Rachel knows Ralph Lauren himself, she always says that she does. However, when they reply, "Really?" she admits she actually does not.
Rachel is fired from Ralph Lauren when her boss overhears her conducting a job interview with a representative from Gucci. Shortly after, she acquires a better position with Louis Vuitton after being told of an opening by her ex-colleague, Mark. Upset by Rachel's impending move to Paris, Ross bribes Rachel's boss from Ralph Lauren into giving Rachel her job back. Initially, Rachel declines this offer and decides to accept the job with Louis Vuitton. However, she cancels her plans to leave New York after she realizes she is still in love with Ross.
Dwellings
For six years, Monica lived with Rachel in her apartment . They had a likable, enduring chemistry which was to become one of the main elements of the show. They were best friends in high school, and got along well as roommates, having occasional squabbles over minor things like who gets the last condom in the packet
When Chandler and Monica decided to live together, Rachel moved in with Phoebe. The two women loved living together but disagreed over things like Pottery Barn furniture and their morning jogging routine
After Phoebe's apartment burned down, Phoebe initially moved in with Joey whilst Rachel was living in Monica's "beautiful guest room". Phoebe said before moving to Joey's "You can stay at Monica's, I'm the one that caused the fire with my stress-release candles." However, an inspector came and found out that it was Rachel's hair straighter that caused the fire, and the living arrangements switched. Rachel moved in with Joey and started to enjoy the more relaxed atmosphere, where it was ok to drop food on the rug and have an afternoon of throwing wet paper towels at the wall.
Rachel lived with Joey until and during some of her pregnancy, when Ross felt left out that Joey knew more about Rachel's needs and milestones than he did. Joey suggested that it would be better for Rachel to move in with Ross, because as the father, Ross should be more involved in the experience. Rachel lived with Ross for a few months after Emma was born but after arguing with him and her kissing her colleague on Monica and Chandler's balcony, she moved back in with Joey.
Age and birthday
Although Rachel's age is treated inconsistently by the show's writers, like all birthdays, the best evidence is that she was born on May 5, 1970 or 1971.
Month and Day
In " The One With Joey's New Girlfriend ," Rachel tells Gunther her birthday is May 5. This is consistent with the month of birthday parties thrown for her on the show.
The party in " The One Where Rachel Finds Out ," which aired in May, 1995.
Season five's month-early surprise party in " The One Where Rachel Smokes ," which aired in April 1999.
Rachel's 30th birthday, however, is celebrated in February in season seven's " The One Where They All Turn Thirty ," which aired on February 8, 2001. (There is no question that the party is on the birthday itself: Rachel, at one point, says, "In Guam, I'm still 29".) Rachel also mentions that her birthday is after Valentine's Day in, " The One With The Girl From Poughkeepsie " ("Next thing you know, it'll be Valentine's Day, then my birthday, then ... Bang! They're lighting that damned tree again.") A birthday in February is also consistent with Rachel's statement to a police officer in season seven that she is an Aquarius (Jan. 21-Feb. 19). May 5 would make her a Taurus. The February date might be a reference to Jennifer Aniston's real-life birthday, February 11.
Year of Birth
A 30th birthday in 2001 (season seven's " The One Where They All Turn Thirty ") implies that Rachel was born in 1971. Her 30th birthday is celebrated as the last, while the 30th birthdays of the others are shown in the flashbacks. This makes her the youngest of all six. However, a 29th birthday in 1999 (season five's " The One Where Rachel Smokes ") implies that she was born in 1970. In other episodes, Rachel's stated age is inconsistent with birth in either 1971, and advances at varying speeds. Chandler refers to her as 28 in season three's " The One Where Rachel Quits " (December 12, 1996), but 15 months later Rachel describes herself as "a 28-year old cheerleader with a fat lip" in season four's " The One With The Fake Party " (March 19, 1998). While these differences appear as inconsistencies, it may be in keeping with Rachel's character to shield her actual age.
Technically, this is how Rachel's age should have gone during the series; 1 (24-25), 2 (25-26), 3 (26-27), 4 (27-28), 5 (28-29), 6 (29-30), 7 (30-31), 8 (31-32), 9 (32-33), 10 (33-34).
Trivia
In the opening theme of Season 8, Rachel's umbrella doesn't fully open.
Before Jennifer Aniston was cast, Courtney Cox was supposed to play Rachel.
Rachel has kissed all five of her friends. She kissed:
Ross - many times, because of their on-off relationship throughout the series
Phoebe - in " The One With Rachel's Big Kiss "
One of Rachel's trademark expressions when shocked or angry is to drag out the enunciation of the word, No, usually with deep inflection. This was periodically paired with Monica's, "I KNOW!"
Rachel is the only friend to have lived in all 4 of the main apartments (Monica's, Joey's, Ross's, and Phoebe's). She has also lived with all of the other friends, except Chandler.
Two of Jennifer Aniston's real-life boyfriends portrayed characters on the show: Tate Donovan as Rachel's boyfriend Joshua Bergin during the fourth season (from " The One With Rachel's Crush " to " The One With All The Wedding Dresses "), and Brad Pitt as Will Colbert, a high school classmate whose intense hatred for Rachel was revealed when he came to Thanksgiving dinner in " The One With The Rumor " (Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston were actually married by the time the episode aired).
In Season 2 , Rachel gets a tattoo of a red heart on her hip.
Rachel's birthday is the most often celebrated in the series, having being celebrated 5 times throughout the entire series.
Rachel is the only female of the group who has carried her own child. She is also the only one who never intended on getting pregnant.
She is the only one in the group to never propose; this, however, is debatable because she admits to Ross that it was her idea for them to get married in Vegas.
She is also the only female in the group and one of the only two in the whole group (next to Joey) to not have an on-screen wedding. Her wedding in Vegas with Ross isn't shown, it only shows them leaving the chapel.
It is revealed in The One With Phoebe's Cookies that Rachel's father gave Rachel her own boat when she was fifteen, apparently because Rachel's pony was sick.
Rachel revealed that she used to have a boyfriend who got stolen away by her sister Amy. She herself once stole Monica's crush.
Rachel revealed that she loved her father and even bought him a hair trimmer. However, he threw it away.
In Season 4 Episode 21 (" The One With The Invitation ") on Rachel's invite to Ross's wedding, the name at the top is Rachel Greene (with an extra e at the end). Her name can be spelled both ways. Her name is also spelled with the e on her Ralph Lauren nameplate, noticeable in Season 9 Episode 12 (" The One With Phoebe's Rats ") and on Emma's birth certificate.
She's scared of turtles as it was informed in "The One With All The Jealousy"
There are a few instances in which kinks are hinted at. In "The One With Phoebe's Uterus" it is hinted that she might have a foot fetish, as Monica is talking about erogenous zones, and Rachel adds, "Toes." When everyone looks at her, she says, "You know... for some people." In "The One With the Chicken Pox" it is hinted that she might also have a thing for guys in uniforms when she asks Ross to don one, and then again in "The One With the Princess Leia Fantasy", before inquiring about Ross' fantasies.
Her zodiac sign is very inconsistent, her birthday, May 5th, implies that she is a Taurus, however in " The One With Chandler's Dad ", when she was being pulled over the police officer noted that she was an Aquarius, this might be due to the fact that actress who plays as Rachel, Jennifer Aniston is an Aquarius herself.
| Jennifer Aniston |
Who had a No 1 in the 80's with China in Your Hand | ‘Friends’: “The One Where Someone Who Was *NOT* Jennifer Aniston Played Rachel” | Decider | Where To Stream Movies & Shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Instant, HBO Go
‘Friends’: “The One Where Someone Who Was *NOT* Jennifer Aniston Played Rachel”
Nov 12, 2015 at 2:46pm
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Can you imagine Friends without Jennifer Aniston playing Rachel Green? It’s a pretty horrifying concept, right? Aniston brought just the right amount of haughtiness and supreme comic timing to the beloved character. And what would we have done without her amazing head of hair ?!?!? The thing is there’s an episode of Friends where Aniston does not play Rachel — if only for a split second.
Eagle-eyed Friends fanatic and RecentlyHeard.com writer Jordan D’Amico spotted this massive continuity error during a recent binge-watch. It happens early on in an episode called “The One With The Mugging,” which aired during Friends‘ ninth season.
The scene is this: Rachel goes to Monica’s apartment to let Joey (Matt Leblanc) know that he landed a huge audition opposite a famous actor named Leonard Hayes (played by guest star Jeff Goldblum). The three then joke about a monkey who used to be in commercials with Hayes. Monica (Courteney Cox) jokes that the monkey might be at the audition with Joey, and when the camera cuts back to Joey it seems Jennifer Aniston has been replaced by an unknown girl in a red plaid shirt.
Check it out for yourself. First, here’s the shot with Aniston and Leblanc:
And here’s what happens when the camera cuts back:
What is going on? That’s not Jennifer Aniston! Those cheekbones aren’t Aniston’s cheekbones! That hair is not Aniston’s hair! And that’s not even the same shirt that Rachel was wearing just a second before!!!
Naturally, the speculation is that it’s a stand in, but the continuity error has put some fans into a tailspin. D’Amico writes:
But, for some reason, seeing this girl, likely a staff or crew member, has shaken me to my very core. What’s real and what isn’t? How many times are our “Friends” actually talking to someone else? Where will the lies end? Why is Gunther’s hair so bright? Could Janice hear herself talk? How did Monica afford that huge Manhattan apartment? How much has Ross spent in legal fees?
If you want to go further down the rabbit hole, you can stream every episode of Friends on Netflix .
[Gifs by Jaclyn Kessel, copyright Warner Bros. & NBC]
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What is the main street in Dublin | Dublin's main street - Review of O'Connell Street, Dublin, Ireland - TripAdvisor
Review of O'Connell Street
Dublin, Ireland (North City Centre)
3537057000
Dublin Luxury Small-Group Tour including St Patrick's Cathedral
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Attraction details
Owner description: A bustling city street lined with monuments dedicated to some of the leaders in the fight for Irish independence.
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“Dublin's main street”
Reviewed December 9, 2011
Not much of interest here apart from the GPO (General Post Office) or the Gresham hotel. Otherwise mostly fast food outlets and not very safe at night unfortunately.
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Ask Ritabix about O'Connell Street
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
1,185 reviews from our community
Visitor rating
Fantastic very central. In the heart of Dublin access to all amenities.
Visited October 2011
Ask amtmcdaid about O'Connell Street
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Karen S
“not enough time”
Reviewed November 24, 2011
Cant wait to go back so I can see all of this area because Im sure I missed loads.
Visited November 2011
Ask Karen S about O'Connell Street
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
JoaoVarandas
“What the hell?”
Reviewed November 18, 2011
What's with that spike sticking in the middle of the street? I personally find it ugly, an historical street of Dublin deserved something a lot better than that sticking out.
If you are into history this is where the Irish independence started! Go and get your history book and stroll up O'Connel street to find out what, where and when.
Visited November 2011
Ask JoaoVarandas about O'Connell Street
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC.
Carlton3
“Pickpockets spoil a great street”
Reviewed October 16, 2011
O'Connell Street is a very wide street leading from old Dublin to the new town over the O'Connell St Bridge. At the corner of O'Connell & Henry Sts where the Henry St Shopping Mall starts there are Eastern European pickpocket gangs. I was surprised to see how many shops in Henry St had doorway security guards, whereas over the bridge in the new town I didn't notice any. When we returned to our hotel at the end of O'Connell St the door was locked from reception. You had to knock to be let in. We twice saw groups of Eastern European men doing the handover - i.e. Passing on goods stolen from tourists to another gang member walking in the opposite direction. We were surprised to see this so openly in Dublin.
Visited September 2011
| O'Connell Street |
Which is the only Scrabble tile worth 5 points | Dublin area guide - Time Out Dublin
Dublin area guide
Discover Dublin's past, present and future from Temple Bar to Docklands
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O'Connell Street sign, Dublin - © iStockphoto.com/Marek Slusarczyk
By Sam Le Quesne
The city centre comprises just a few manageably sized neighbourhoods, bisected by the Liffey, and you'll find that it's no distance at all from the top of O'Connell Street (on the north side of the river) to the peaceful Grand Canal on the south side.
By far the best way to set about exploring the place is on foot. In fact, if you've got a car, park it right now and try not to think of it again unless you're heading out of town. The traffic is too heavy and the town too small to make driving worthwhile. All you need is a good map, a bit of sunshine and a pair of comfortable shoes.
Despite its compact layout, Dublin manages to pack in a good deal of variety. There are historic buildings by the dozen, plenty of green spaces and quiet squares, and enough shops, bars and restaurants to gobble up your holiday allowance ten times over. It is a city with a strong sense of its past (it seems that every few steps brings you to another statue, another heritage plaque announcing the birth place of this playwright, the first home of that poet). And yet, an equal portion of its landscape has been consigned to the future, with a crop of modern structures and buildings contending with the Georgian terraces and the ancient bell towers - of these, O'Connell Street's Spire is undoubtedly the most recognisable, while the many signature bridges that span the Liffey and the multi-million euro developments and regeneration projects from Smithfield to Docklands are there to be discovered.
Dublin by area
Temple Bar
The main action is concentrated in and around the two most central neighbourhoods of Temple Bar and St Stephen's Green. The former, a maze of tiny cobbled streets and busy thoroughfares, has the largest concentration of bars, restaurants, night spots and trendy shops.
It is also home to the city's two major cathedrals, St Patrick's and Christ Church . But somehow, it copes admirably well with its personality clash of holiness and consumerism. While the idea of awe-inspiring monuments to Christianity and raucous parties of staggering stags existing side by side may have caused friction among the locals, it seems to go almost without a hitch as far as visitors are concerned. The rule of thumb is simple: if you want to raise hell, hit the pubs and clubs of Temple Bar after dark; if it's heaven you're interested in, stick to the cathedrals.
St Stephen's Green
More sophisticated by far is the neighbouring St Stephen's Green and its clutch of excellent museums around Kildare Street (notably the National Museum of Archaeology & History ) and the treasure trove of fine art that is the National Gallery of Ireland . And for consumer culture, this is also Dublin's ground zero, thanks to nearby Grafton Street with its shops, cafés and restaurants.
O'Connell Street
The other main shopping hub is O'Connell Street (and its tributary, the ever-busy Henry Street), which culminates in a spearhead of excellent museums dotted around Parnell Square (most notably the Hugh Lane Gallery ). To the west of here is the up-and-coming Smithfield and, further still, the vast Phoenix Park (also home to Dublin Zoo ) while just across the bridge to the south is the formidable campus of Trinity College , with its ancient claim to fame in pride of place in the Old Library & Book of Kells .
Docklands
Finally, to the east is the heady mix of past, present and future that is the city's Docklands.
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Which country lies between Zimbabwe and the sea | Zimbabwe Guide
Zimbabwe Guide
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Zimbabwe is a landlocked country in south-central Africa. It lies between the Zambezi River in the North and the Limpopo River to the south. The country has land borders with Mozambique to the north and east, South Africa to the South, Botswana to the southwest and Zambia to the northwest and north.
Most of Zimbabwe is rolling plateau, with over 75% of it lying between 610m (2000 ft) and 1,525m (5,000 ft) above sea level, and almost all of it over 305m (1,000 ft).
The area of high plateau, know as the high Veld, is some 400 miles long by 50 miles wide, and stretches northeast to southwest at 1,220m (4,000 ft) to 1,676m (5,500ft) This culminates in the northeast in the Udizi and Inyanga mountains, reaching the country's highest point at Mt. Inyangani at 2,596m (8,517 ft). The middle veld is a plateau ranging from 610m (2,000 ft) to 1,220 m (4,000 ft) high. Below 610m (2,000ft) are areas making up the Low Veld, wide and sandy plains in the basins of the Zambezi and the Limpopo.
The steep mountain ranges cut Zimbabwe off from the eastern plains that border the India Ocean. The High Veld is a central ridge forming the country's watershed, with stream flowing southeast to the Limpopo and Sabi rivers and northwest into the Zambezi. Deep river valleys cut the Middle Veld. Only the larger of the many rivers have an all-year-round flow of water. Most of rivers have falls and rapids.
| Mozambique |
Which was the first Scottish group to have three number ones | Travellers' Guide To Botswana - Wiki Travel Guide - Travellerspoint
Okovanga Delta
© All Rights Reserved baluba
In 1966, Botswana achieved full independence from Britain. The following year, the newborn nation discovered that it was home to three diamond mines. Botswana's fortunes rose as the British kicked their royal selves. Though a slump in the diamond industry in 1999 set Botswana back, the country can do little complaining about its first few decades as a nation. It is blessed with one of Africa's best economies.
An excellent economy has given Botswana the luxury to build its tourism industry in a way that is sustainable for the environment. For the budget traveller, this means you're going to have to look hard for places to stay, though it's not impossible. Botswana's done a good job of marketing its wildlife safaris - some of Africa's best - to rich folk. The untamed wildlife which roam Botswana's Kalahari desert, Okavango Delta and numerous national parks are a drawcard attraction all by themselves.
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Brief History
In the 19th century, hostilities broke out between Tswana inhabitants of Botswana and Ndebele tribes who were making incursions into the territory from the northeast. Tensions also escalated with the Boer settlers from the Transvaal to the east. After appeals by the Batswana leaders Khama III, Bathoen and Sebele for assistance, the British Government put "Bechuanaland" under its protection on 31 March 1885. The northern territory remained under direct administration as the Bechuanaland Protectorate and is modern-day Botswana, while the southern territory became part of the Cape Colony and is now part of the North West Province of South Africa . The majority of Setswana-speaking people today live in South Africa.
When the Union of South Africa was formed in 1910 out of the main British colonies in the region, the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Basutoland (now Lesotho) and Swaziland (the "High Commission Territories") were not included, but provision was made for their later incorporation. The election of the Nationalist government in 1948, which instituted apartheid, and South Africa's withdrawal from the Commonwealth in 1961, ended any prospect of incorporation of the territories into South Africa.
In June 1964, Britain accepted proposals for a democratic self-government in Botswana. The seat of government was moved in 1965 from Mafikeng in South Africa, to the newly established Gaborone, which sits near its border. The 1965 constitution led to the first general elections and to independence on 30 September 1966. Seretse Khama, a leader in the independence movement and the legitimate claimant to the Ngwato chiefship, was elected as the first president, re-elected twice.
The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Quett Masire, who was elected in his own right in 1984 and re-elected in 1989 and 1994. Masire retired from office in 1998. The presidency passed to the sitting vice president, Festus Mogae, who was elected in his own right in 1999 and re-elected in 2004. The presidency passed in 2008 to Ian Khama (son of the first president), who resigned his position as leader of the Botswana Defence Force to take up this civilian role.
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Geography
At 581,730 km2 Botswana is the world's 48th-largest country. It is comparable in size to Madagascar , and is slightly smaller than the U.S. state of Texas or the Canadian province of Manitoba . It lies between latitudes 17° and 27°S, and longitudes 20° and 30°E. It borders South Africa to the south, Namibia to the west and north (Caprivi Strip) and Zimbabwe to the east. Although it is popular to say that Botswana shares a quadruple border with Namibia, Zimbabwe and Zambia, this is not the case. The four countries don't convert into exactly one point. Instead, Zambia and Botswana do share a tiny border in the middle of the Zambezi River. The country is predominantly flat, tending toward gently rolling tableland. Botswana is dominated by the Kalahari Desert, which covers up to 70% of its land surface. The Okavango Delta, one of the world's largest inland deltas, is in the northwest. The Makgadikgadi Pan, a large salt pan, lies in the north. The Limpopo River Basin, the major landform of all of southern Africa, lies partly in Botswana, with the basins of its tributaries, the Notwane, Bonwapitse, Mahalapswe, Lotsane, Motloutse and the Shashe, located in the eastern part of the country. The Notwane provides water to the capital through the Gaborone Dam. The Chobe River lies to the north, providing a boundary between Botswana and Namibia, in the Caprivi Region. The Chobe River meets with the Zambezi River at a place called Kazungula (meaning a small sausage tree, a point where Sebitwane and his Makololo tribe crossed the Zambezi into Zambia).
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Sights and Activities
Botswana is one of the best countries in the world to experience a classic safari. It doesn't come cheap however, as the government keeps prices relatively high and reaching some of the best safari spots requires renting a high clearance 4wd vehicle or in some cases even flying in.
Okavango Delta
Okovango from the air
© All Rights Reserved baluba
The Okavango Delta is the world's biggest inland delta and is located in the northwest of the country. The Okavango river does not have an outlet into the sea and instead it ends in the middle of the Kalahari desert where it floods an area as big as 15,000 square kilometres. The flooding starts in the north at the end of the year (December) and hits the south about 5 or 6 months later in May. The area is best reached from the gateway of Maun and to reach the furthest parts you will have to fly in and spend some nights in a lodge, or in some cases camping is possible. Either way, it requires a plane trip. You will be rewarded though as the area is teeming with wildlife and a trip in a dug out canoe, a mokoro, is one of the highlights to this magnificent area. Crocodiles and hippos roam the waters and elephants, zebras and giraffes are here in huge numbers. Like most other places in Botswana, it is best visited from April or May until October/November when it is usually dry and warm and navigating the waters is still possible because only towards the end things are starting to dry up a bit.
Moremi Game Reserve
Adult Male Lion - Moremi
© All Rights Reserved Blakei
The Moremi Game Reserve is a beautiful park covering some 1,800 square kilometres in the northeast corner of the Okavango Delta, but is a reserve in itself. It consists of permanently swamped areas, seasonally swamped areas and dry land and does not only offers water activities such as boat trips but also top game-viewing and incredible scenery. Lion, hippos, buffalos and elephants are abundant and you will see many birds on top of that.
Chobe National Park
Chobe National Park is located in the northeast of the country, between the Okavango Delta/Moremi Game Reserve and the main gateway to Chobe, Kasane. The park is well over 10,000 square kilometres big and is best known fur huge flocks of elephants which roam the area and come to drink water out of the Chobe river during the afternoon. There are also large herds of buffalos near the edge of the river, as well as hippos, lechwes, kudus, impalas and roan antilopes. Although from Kasane it is possibel to reach the park and the first part of the park by normal vehicle, if you want to travel further and cross the Chobe National Park towards Maun , this will mean you have to travel by well equiped 4wd. As a consequence, many people visit the park from lodges in or near Kasane , and some parts get very crowded, mainly during the high season.
Chobe Hippo, close up
© All Rights Reserved Nat and Ev
Central Kalahari Game Reserve
The Central Kalahari Game Reserve, as the name suggests, is located right in the centre of both the Kalahari desert as well as Botswana and is much less visited compared to its northern neighbours. If you want to visit this parks, you need to be highly self sufficient with well equipped 4wd vehicles, including GPS. It is best to travel with at least 2 cars in case something happens. Adventurous travellers will be rewarded with vast empty desert and savannah landscapes and although the wildlife is more scattered out, the sights of a black maned huge male lion is something never to forget. The north of the park is best in general for game viewing.
Khutse Game Reserve
The Khutse Game Reserve is a 2,500 square kilometre big game reserve located just south of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and consists of dry savannah land in the center of the Kalahari desert and has shallow pans, which, when filled with water, attract hundreds of bird species as well as an abundance of springbok, ostrich, giraffe, gemsbok (oryx), lion, leopard and the rare brown hyena, amongst others. Camping facilities are basic and you should bring your own supplies like spare fuel, food and water, as well as tents.
Kgalagadi Transfrontier National Park
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park is actually made up of two national parks, one of which is located across the border in South Africa (former Kalahari Gemsbok NP), which is also the most easy part to visit, with good gravel roads and several rest camps. The Botswana part however is bigger (about three quarters), much more basic, but as a result less visitors go here. It was actually the first of a number of ‘peace parks’ planned to cross national boundaries and re-open ancient animal migration routes and others are planned at the border areas of South Africa with Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Many antelope species like gemsbok and springbok occur here and as result many predators are to be found as well like cheetah and the famous black-maned Kalahari lion, brown hyenas and jackals. It can be reached by a paved road from Gaborone to Tsabong, after which a 4-wheel-drive vehicle is necessary. You will need to self sufficient and take a tent and all supplies, including water and fuel.
Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans
The Makgadikgadi and Nxai Pans are a 2,500 square kilometre big park, located only 37 kilometres north of the main Francistown to Maun road and is vast area which used to be shallow salt lakes. Nowadays, only shallow islands of palm trees and baobabs every now and then break the flatness of the landscape. It is mainly grassland, teeming with wildlife like zebra and wildebeasts.
Mokolodi Nature Reserve
Mokolodi Nature Reserve is located very close to the capital of Botswana, Gaborone, and although it is not as impressive or big like many other parks, offers a great experience if you don't have the time or money to go further into the country. Visitors can go on guided game walks and see elephants, cheetahs, leopards and various species of antelope and even some rare white rhinos roam the area.
Khama Rhino sanctuary
Rhino at Khama Sanctuary Botswana
© All Rights Reserved jacquiedro
The Khama Rhino sanctuary is the best place in Botswana to sea the rare and endangered white rhinos and even a few black rhino are introduced here. It is a small park suitable for normal cars and located in between Gaborone and Francistown, not far from the main road. It doesn't give same feeling of other parks, because it is small and heavily fenced but if you want to see rhinos, this is the best place to go.
The Tuli Block
The Tuli Block is an area of private game reserves covering about 120,000 hectares in the far southeastern corner of the country along the borders with South Africa and Zimbabwe. It is different to many other parts of the country, with rugged and beautiful countryside and known because of its birdwatching potential and its large herds of elephants. Also, some other activities are available in the main rest camps at the Mashatu and Tuli game reserves, like horse riding safaris and mountain bike tours. Tuli Game Reserve also has one of a few wild dog packs in Botswana, only introduced in 2007.
Events and Festivals
New Year’s Day
As in the rest of the world, the arrival of each new year is celebrated all over Botswana with street parties, dances, traditional music, and inordinate amounts of food and drink. New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are great times to celebrate another year of life.
World Wetlands Day
This February event is popular across the country for its focus on environmental, conservation and tree-planting, as well as a Wetlands March. There’s great concern in Botswana over the protection of its wildlife and unique environment.
Maitisong Festival
Gaborone’s major festival takes place in March, and is a performing arts cornucopia of traditional music, dance and theater held all over the city and its suburbs. The event lasts for nine full days and sees the entire population take to the streets in carnival mode.
Maun Festival
Traditional poetry, music and dance are the hallmarks of the Maun Festival, held over a two-day period in April. The visual arts also have their place in this celebration, which is held for the benefit of local schools, as well as honoring northwestern Botswana’s rich tribal culture.
Tjilenje Cultural Festival
This festival takes place in May and is held in Botswana’s northeastern regional town of Nlapkhwane. Totally traditional, the event involves ancient games, dances and stalls crammed with local food and drink.
Toyota 1000 Desert Race
A must-see for fans of off-road motor sport races, this thrilling annual June event involves quads, bikes and cars, with 25 spectator areas set around the country.
President’s Day
Botswana’s President’s Day in July is a four-day national holiday across the country and sees inhabitants returning to their home villages for celebrations including speeches, traditional dance and singing.
Kuru Dance Festival
This unique event takes place every August on the only Bushman-owned game farm in Botswana. The Dqae Game Farm lies in the Kalahari Desert close to D’Kar and comes alive with traditional dance and music for three days.
Botswana Day
The Batswana are proud of the advances their country has made since independence, happily hitting the streets in celebration every year on September 30. Traditional events, street parties and parades are the order of this important day.
Festive Season
Most Batswana follow the Christian religion, and Christmas is a great time to visit as it’s a major holiday here. Seasonal events take place across the region and local choirs sing their hearts out in iconic African style at carol concerts. Western-style restaurants and pubs offer Christmas dinners and everyone gets together to celebrate.
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Weather
Botswana has a semi arid climate with a warm and dry season from April/May to October/November. The rainy season lasts from December to March when high temperatures and humidity make travelling around a bit harder but not impossible. Some roads may be impassable after heavy downpours though and travelling by 4wd is necessary. Temperatures frequently hit 40º C during the day in October and November, when the first late afternoon thunderstorms occur. From May onwards temperatures are still nice and warm and usually it is dry. Frost at night is possible during the months of June to August, but is not common and mainly occurs in the central parts of Botswana, for example in the Kalahari desert.
Getting There
By Plane
Air Botswana is the national airline of Botswana and is based at Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (GBE), 15 km north of the capital city Gaborone . International destinations with Air Botswana include Cape Town, Harare, Johannesburg and Windhoek. Sout African Express flies to and from Cape Town and Johannesburg as well.
By Train
Since 2006, there is a thrice a week train between Francistown in Botswana and Bulawayo in Zimbabwe . The train leaves Francistown on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays around 9am and arrives approximately 6 hours later in Bulawayo. In the other direction, the train leaves Bulawayo at 9:30am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, taking 5 and a half hours.
By Car
Well maintained roads lead into Botswana from Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. From the latter there are several crossings possible, both near the capital Gaborone as a little further east at Martin's Drift where you can travel further north towards the main Gaborone to Francistown tarred road. From Zimbabwe the main crossings are at the Plumtree border between Bulawayo (Zimabwe) and Francistown, and from Kasane in the north to Victoria Falls.
Crossings from Namibia are possible in the west (Buitenpos border) at the main tarred road between Windhoek and Ganzi. In the north there are crossings between the Caprivi strip, for example close to Kasane.
By Bus
Regular buses and minibuses connect Botswana with neighbouring countries along the roads mentioned above. There are daily connections between Gaborone and Johannesburg in South Africa, Bulawayo and Harare in Zimbabwe and several weekly buses go all the way to Lusaka in Zambia as well.
Between Gaborone and Johannesburg minibuses leave when full and take around 6 hours. There are also daily minibuses between Palapye and Johannesburg via the Martin's Drift border crossing, taking about 8 hours. Between Lobatse, minibuses travel to and from Mafikeng in South Africa, taking about 1,5 hours.
Minibuses travel directly between Francistown and Bulawayo which takes about 3 hours including border formalities. Buses travel between Livingston in Zambia and Windhoek in Namibia, travelling through Botswana (Kasane) and also there are chartered minibuses from Maun to Windhoek once a week. Between Kasane and Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, minibuses ply the route and most of these transfers can be arranged by both upmarket lodges as well as hostels.
By Boat
If you want to avoid travelling through Zimbabwe, you can take a direct service from Botswana to Zambia by taking the
Kazungula ferry over the Zambezi River. This crossing is not far from Kasane and onward travel towards Livingstone (for the Victoria Falls) is possible.
Air Botswana has domestic flights between Gaborone , Kasane , Maun and Francistown . Fares are expensive.
There are a number of charter airlines that offer return trips by plane when visiting lodges, especially in the Okavango Delta. These include Delta Air , Moremi Air Services , Sefofane and Kalahari Air Services .
By Train
There is only one line, operated by Botswana Railway, which runs daily between Francistown, Gaborone and Lobatse.
By Car
Botswana is a popular country to get around by car and many people rent 4wd vehicles in Botswana or in neighbouring countries. Daily rates are significantly lower in South Africa and you can drive your car into most neighbouring countries, including Botswana. It usually just means paying a small fee. Driving in Botswana is on the left and the main roads from Gaborone north to Kasane and across the Kalahari to Namibia are tarred. Many other roads are gravel roads or even just sand tracks, and these can become impassable after heavy rains, even with a 4wd.
If you want to explore the central Kalahari, the southwestern corner of Botswana and go to major parks like Chobe and Moremi, you really need a 4wd vehicle and on some route you need to be self sufficient as well, so bring camping gear, enough fuel and drinking water and food. Also watch out on the road as both stock and wildlife can cross and accidents are not unheard of, especially with inexperienced foreign drivers.
Gaborone, Francistown, Kasane and Maun all have car rental agencies and your national driver's licence is enough, although an international driving permit is recommended as well.
By Bus
There aren't that many useful bus services in Botswana but the main routes include Gaborone to Francistown, and from Francistown to Nata and Maun. Most buses run every day. There are also minibuses that travel the same route and leave when full. Still, getting around by car or even hitchhiking is a much better option and relatively safe here.
By Boat
You are most likely to be on some kind of boat in the Okavango Delta and on the Zambezi River, but usually as part of a tour or other kind of package trip. There are no useful public passenger ferries.
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Red Tape
Citizens of Commonwealth countries do not need a visa to visit except those from Bangladesh, Ghana, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
Citizens of EEA countries and Switzerland do not require a visa to visit.
Citizens of Argentina, Angola, Bahrain, Brazil, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, Mexico, Oman, Paraguay, Peru, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, South Sudan, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Uruguay, Venezuela, Zimbabwe do not require a visa to visit.
For citizens of other nations, a visa must be obtained prior to arrival and this usually takes about a week to process.
Language
The official languages of Botswana are English and Tswana.
The language of business in Botswana is English and most people in urban areas speak it, although in the more rural areas many people do not speak English, particularly the older generations. The primary indigenous tongue is Tswana, and is the first language of the overwhelming majority of the population. It is not difficult to learn basic greetings and such, and using these in conversation will make people very happy.
Kalanga and Sekgalagadi are locally spoken.
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Eat
The cuisine of Botswana is unique but also shares some characteristics with other cuisine of Southern Africa. Examples of Botswana food include Pap, Samp, Vetkoek and Mopane worms.
A food unique to Botswana includes Seswaa, a meat dish made of beef, goat or lamb meat. The fatty meat is generally boiled until tender in any pot, with "just enough salt", and shredded or pounded. It is often served with pap (maize meal) or sorghum meal porridge.
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Sleep
Most of the accommodation establishments in Botswana are located near the larger towns and cities, but there are also many secluded game lodges tucked away in the wilderness areas.
Budget accommodation is rather limited compared to neighbouring South Africa, but you can usually find some in the major cities and popular tourist places like Kasane or Maun.
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Drink
Many soft drinks and alcohol drinks are produced in factories in Botswana, including Fanta and Coca-Cola. Local brands are Castle and Lion beers. Milk is fermented to make madila (sour milk) which is eaten on its own or added to porridge. A favourite non alcoholic home made drink is ginger beer.
See also Travel Health
There are no vaccinations legally required to travel to Botswana. There is one exception though: you need a yellow fever vaccination if you have travelled to a country (7 days or less before entering Botswana) where that disease is widely prevalent.
Still, it's a good thing to get your vaccinations in order before travelling to Botswana. The general vaccination against Diphtheria, Tetanus and Polio (DTP) is recommended. Also both hepatitis A as well as typhoid would be recommended.
If you are staying longer than 3 months or have a particular risk (travelling by bike, handling of animals, visits to caves) you might consider a rabies vaccination. Vaccination against Tuberculosis as well as hepatitis B are also sometimes recommended for stays longer than 3 months.
Malaria is prevalent in the country, but mainly during the warm and wet season and particularly in the northern half of the country. The south is generally considered malaria free. Don't underestimate this tropical disease and take precautions. Buy repellent (preferably with 50% DEET), and sleep under a net.
Finally, other possible health issues include diarrhea and other general travellers' diseases like motion sickness . Watch what you eat and drink and in case you get it, drink plenty of fluids (to prevent dehydration) and bring ORS. Also note that Southern Africa and thus Botswana as well has a high percentage of people with AIDS.
The country calling code to Botswana is 267. To make an international call from Botswana, the code is 00.
Post
BotswanaPost is the national postal service of Botswana. It is operating more than 100 post offices and 70 agencies throughout the country and is fairly reliable, albeit not overly fast. All post has to go overland through Gaborone first and international mail by plane might go via Johannesburg , so count on several weeks for your postcard or letter to be delivered to places in Europe or North America . You can use them for parcels as well, though faster and more expensive services are available by companies like TNT , UPS or DHL .
| i don't know |
In the Pink Panther films what was the name of Inspector Clouseau's valet | Pink Panther Survey: Favorite Lines
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Madame, that is by far the ugliest nose I have ever seen and I compliment you on it, it suits you!
2
I was examining the wex!
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I have fixed your doorbell from the ringing, there will be no charge
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I am opposed to the women's libs. Man is the master and women's place is in the... (gets whipped) hhhaaaaaaa
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Good evening commisonaire, how are you, your lovely wife and all the little commisionaires!
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Good Sharkey Colonel God! We were just talking about you.
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Dreyfus: "Good? He is not good, he's terrible, he's the worst.. there is not any man like him anywhere in the world!"
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Dreyfus: "Don't just stand there, help me find my nose!"
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Does Monsieur Charles Litton 'ave a sweemang poohl?
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Do I detect something in your voice that says I'm in disfavour with you?
2
Clouseau: And who are yeu ?
Jarvis: I'm Jarvis, the butler.
Clouseau: And what is it yeu deu..?
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Ahh... The old take off all your clothes ploy!
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Your architect should have his head examined (after Clouseau walks into the wall instead of the doorway)
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Yes, we've made quite a few changes since you went crazy.
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Yes, my wife is very frugal
1
Was it hard in the resistance? Yes, but not as hard as it is now?
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Valet, VALET! Please send up...well please send down my brown suit immediately, faster please! I cannot wait for them, Cato help me get dressed. Give me Paris, France Trocadero 371...
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Clouseau: This is a door??
Jarvis: Yes, that is a door
Clouseau: Yes, I kneow that... I kneow that
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There is a time and a place for everything Kato! This is it! ...( Fly drop kick into Japanese kitchen. )
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Clouseau: That man is crahzy!
Nurse: We don't use that word around here,sir
Clouseau: Then what word do yeu use?
Nurse: Now now...
Clouseau: That man is very now now !
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That is why I have failed where others have succeeded
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That is what I have been saying you "fewl"
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Ten seconds, thats nothing, I can easily be out of here in three.
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Swine Parrot! That is my own personal mustache!
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See that the back door and the front door are luhcked while I slip into my hunchback disguise, kyyoo...
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Pumpin' air'n in the birdin
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Poor Kato...they nearly blew his little yellow skin off!
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One more outburst like that, and I'll have your stripes (said to a Sgt. in a Zebra costume)
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Olga maybe many things, but she is not a one-eyed hunchback
1
Oh the bells, the bells, they deffin me
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Oh commisioner how are you and all the little commisioners?
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Monsieur..Don't try to be funnayyyy with me
1
Meorths? You were complaining about Meorths (Moths)
1
Leave that little Robin Hood boy alone!
1
Lady Litton: "What is it you do Guy?"
Clouseau ( as Guy Gadboise): "Well... yeu kneauw, a little bit of zis and a little bit of zat"
1
In order to get the full effect of the anasthaetics ...
1
If you say no to champange you say no to life
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Clouseau: I'LL stand on YOUR shoulders
Kato: Why?
Clouseau: Because I'm taller than you are - you fewl!
1
I will prove to the world that Maria Gambrelli is innocent... of the crime!
1
I was attacked by a wandering transvestite
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I want that nose (pointing at a real nose on a living person!)
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I see they ra-paired your little yellow skin kato
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I might even be pehrseuded to ruhn for the Peublic Office.
1
Clouseau: How leong have you been a bellboy?
Bellboy: Ohh.. too long monsieur
Clouseau: Well, keep up the geud work and I'll see that you become a bell-MAN.
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Ohhhh... Sixteen bottles on a dead man's rum, yo-ho-ho and a bottle of the chest.
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Dreyus: Maria Gambrelli's the murderer, you are an Idiot!
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Dreyfus: "There is only one man who could have pulled the wrong tooth..it's Clouseau...Keel him, Keeellll himm"
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Dreyfus: "Miss Juvais, come in, make yourself comfortable, pull up a clam."
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Clouseau (on the telephone): And who am I speaking to?
Drefyus: This is the person that wants you killed more than anything in the world!
Clouseau: Are you the head waiter at the leetle Beestro on the Roudy Bouzzare?
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Clouseau: Heeft u goed geslapen? Maria Gabrelli: No! In een cel slaap je niet goed! Clouseau: Klopt, dat meubilair in de gevangenis is oerlelijk!
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Can I buy you a drink?... I see you have one... I shall get myself one...another kahlua and ginger ale!
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All I require is a telephone, my little bag of tools, and some privacy with which to work. That is all I require
| Kato |
Which president of America is the only one never to have won a presidential election | The Pink Panther / Characters - TV Tropes
Regulars (7+ appearances)
Inspector Jacques Clouseau (becomes Chief Inspector after Dreyfus)
Played by: Peter Sellers (most of the original series), Alan Arkin (Inspector Clouseau), Daniel Peacock (Trail; flashbacks), Roger Moore (Curse), Andy Scourfield (Son; ghost) Steve Martin (reboot films)
Debut appearance: The Pink Panther (1963)
"Well, until we meet again and the case is sol-ved!"
A French Sûreté detective who fancies himself the greatest detective in the world, as well as a martial arts expert and master of disguise. Egotistical and arrogant, he is (apparently) blind to his general incompetence in all of his chosen fields of expertise. However, he is so focused on upholding law and order that, more often than not, he is successful despite himself and those who would stand in his way. He is fanatically patriotic and sets the interests of France before everything else, having fought in the French Resistance during the WWII. Eventually becomes Chief Inspector in the original series, and he'll be the first to remind you of his full title.
Accidental Hero : He manages to accidentally save the world in Strikes Again after his concerted efforts to stop Dreyfus's scheme all fail. He also saves Simone Legree in Revenge because he and Cato are in the right place at the right time (they're trying to see into a night club just as baddies are spiriting her out of it).
Breakout Character : Until Captain Jack Sparrow came along, there was no more spectacular example of this trope on film.
Cassandra Truth : In Revenge, an escaped transvestite thief forces Clouseau to give up his clothes and the car he's driving. The thief drives into the trap Douvier's men have set up for Clouseau and is killed. The real Clouseau, forced to wear the thief's female clothing, is mistaken for the thief and captured by authorities who don't believe his story — especially as word spreads that Clouseau has been killed! Ultimately, he stops trying to convince others he's the real deal in favor of escaping the asylum he's sent to and from there turning the situation to his advantage (if everyone believes he's dead, then he can go undercover to figure out who wanted him dead...).
Played by: Burt Kwouk
Debut: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Clouseau's Chinese manservant holds a variety of duties but chief among them is springing surprise martial arts attacks on his boss at any and all hours — not to mention places — as Clouseau wants to be prepared for anything he may encounter in the pursuit of justice.
Battle Butler : Inverted in that his first duty is battling. (Beyond that, he is a butler, valet, and even chef for Clouseau.)
A Day in the Limelight : In most of the films he only appears in two or three scenes, but he has a much bigger role in Revenge.
Disguised in Drag : At the end of Return, Clouseau decides to have dinner at a Japanese restaurant to get a break from Cato's attacks. Cato manages to ambush him anyway — by masquerading as a female waitress.
Hypercompetent Sidekick : He's fully aware that he's this, but doesn't let Clouseau realize it. He admits in the Trail/Curse duet that he isn't completely unhappy that his boss has gone missing, as Cato was the one who usually got hurt in their fights, but having had that job so long, he does miss it a bit. (Between the two films, he even establishes a Clouseau museum in the old apartment.) When Clouseau, Jr.'s existence is revealed to the world in Son, Cato doesn't hesitate to offer his services to him.
Iron Buttmonkey : He takes a lot of lumps in his job, but has his boss' resilience.
Moment Killer : In the endings of A Shot in the Dark and Strikes Again, he attacks Clouseau just as he's getting intimate with a woman. He also does this in a non-romantic manner in Return, when he attacks Clouseau during a dinner celebrating his promotion.
Older Sidekick : To Clouseau, Jr. in Son.
Refrigerator Ambush : How he makes his big entrance in Return. He does it again in Son.
Some of My Best Friends Are X : Uses the phrase in Trail, but in an atypical context. Professor Balls leaves a rude answering machine message that calls him a "picaroon", a (made-up) term meaning "cheat". When Marie explains the meaning to him, Cato says he doesn't mind being called that — "Some of my best friends are picaroons!" (This includes his maternal grandmother, who runs a Miami Beach bingo parlor.)
Spell My Name with an "S" : His name was spelled as Kato in the end credits of A Shot in the Dark, but this was changed in all later appearances. This may or may not have been a case of Writing Around Trademarks with regards to the similar character of Kato in The Green Hornet .
Commissioner (later Chief Inspector before Clouseau) Charles LaRousse Dreyfus
Played by: Herbert Lom (original series), Kevin Kline (2006 reboot), John Cleese (2009 sequel)
Debut: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Clouseau's boss is one of the few people completely aware of the Inspector's bumbling ways, and thus deeply frustrated — to the point of madness, in the original series — by his tenacity. Notable as the only original series character besides Clouseau to appear in the reboot.
Adaptational Heroism : While he is still portrayed as a Jerkass , in the Steve Martin films he lacks the Ax-Crazy tendencies from the Blake Edwards films and he never tries to kill Clouseau or becomes a criminal.
Amusing Injuries : He endures everything from accidentally shooting off part of his nose in Return to a non-fatal explosion in Son. Even when his injuries put him in the hospital, as happens in Curse and Son, he can't escape trouble.
Ax-Crazy : Becomes this after he accidentally chops off his thumb in Shot. He's especially crazy in Strikes Again.
Big Bad : In The Pink Panther Strikes Again.
Broken Ace : It's mentioned in Revenge that he was a very competent policeman himself before Clouseau arrived on the scene.
Butt Monkey and from there Iron Buttmonkey : Example: Near the end of Curse, he manages to survive falling off a cliff (due to rocket launcher recoil) into the sea...backwards...in a wheelchair...with one leg in plaster. An old forum recap of this film at The Agony Booth noted that it would be really hard to swim under those conditions, but he apparently pulls it off.
Da Chief : Starts out as merely this.
Throw the Dog a Bone : At the end of Son, he marries Maria Gambrelli.
Twitchy Eye : He develops it as he's being Driven to Madness in Shot, and it remains a facial tic of his through the rest of the original series.
The Pink Panther
Debut: The Pink Panther (1964)
The Animated Credits Opening created by DePatie/Freling Enterprises visualizes the pink, panther-shaped flaw in the titular diamond as an actual pink panther. This dapper anthropomorphic mute proved popular enough that he appears in most of the credit sequences in the series — the exceptions are A Shot in the Dark and Inspector Clouseau — and when he's not tangling with a caricature of Clouseau (or his successors in the later films), he's playing with the credits and even interacting with the live-action settings and characters. He was quickly spun off into his own series of animated shorts .
Affectionate Parody : Impersonates various movie stars and characters in the openings to The Return of the Pink Panther and The Pink Panther Strikes Again.
Butt Monkey : In the opening of the first film only, where he's pursued by The Phantom's white glove.
Nice Hat : Wears quite a few of them in the opening credits to Return of the Pink Panther.
Paper-Thin Disguise : Disguises himself as a lamp in the opening of Revenge of the Pink Panther. The Inspector does not notice and electrocutes himself when he tries to switch the light on.
Series Mascot : He's so popular that from Return onward, he's always worked into the titles and title sequences even when the diamond isn't brought up at all in the plots.
Recurring Characters (2- 6 appearances)
Sir Charles Lytton/The Phantom
Played by: David Niven (The Pink Panther, Trail of..., and Curse of..., albeit dubbed by Rich Little in the latter two), Christopher Plummer (The Return of...)
Debut: The Pink Panther (1963)
An English gentleman who is also an internationally-notorious jewel thief. Famous for leaving a white, monogrammed glove as his calling card. He is the actual protagonist of the original film and has a parallel plot to Clouseau's in The Return of... Inspector Clouseau is his longtime nemesis, determined to prove the gentleman and the thief are one and the same . For his part, Sir Charles regards Clouseau with some respect, admiring his tenacity.
Affably Evil : He might be Clouseau's archnemesis, but, despite a slightly ruthless streak, he is a pleasant person on the whole and holds Clouseau in very little contempt. (Dreyfus, on the other hand hates him, hates him, hates him!!!! )
Gentleman Thief
Heel�Face Turn : He settles down to enjoy a quiet life after the events of the first film. This doesn't mean that he won't dabble in the art of crookery again, though.
Hypocritical Humor : In the first film, upon discovering that the Pink Panther has already been taken from a targeted safe: "Someone's being highly dishonest!"
Same Language Dub : Niven was terminally ill by the time Trail and Curse were shot (they were his final films) and his voice was extremely weak, hence professional impersonator Rich Little dubbing all his dialogue in both.
Simone Clouseau (later Lady Lytton)
Played by: Capucine
Debut: The Pink Panther (1963)
There are a lot of reasons Inspector Clouseau has never proven the link between Sir Charles and the Phantom, and one of the biggest is that he didn't realize until it was too late that his wife was one of the Phantom's associates. Between her first appearance and her return to the series with the Trail/Curse duet, she divorces Clouseau and marries Sir Charles, and they offer their help to Clifton Sleigh in his search for the missing detective. But do they have an ulterior motive in mind?
Played by: Elke Sommer (A Shot in the Dark), Claudia Cardinale (Son of...)
Debut: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
A sweet, beautiful maid to the Ballon household, and the prime suspect in the murder of its chauffeur. Inspector Clouseau, who is attracted to her, is determined to prove her innocence and save her from the guillotine — unfortunately, as more murders involving the Ballons occur, she's always found at the scenes of the crimes! In Son of the Pink Panther, it's revealed that after the events of A Shot in the Dark she and Clouseau were briefly lovers and Jacques Gambrelli was the result of that union.
Beta Couple : With Charles Dreyfus in Son.
Girl of the Film : The first example of this in the series for Clouseau.
Maid : Not French , mind you, but Italian (albeit played by German and French Tunisian actresses).
Hercule LaJoy
Debut: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Clouseau's assistant in the investigation of the Ballon murders.
Beleaguered Assistant : Trail reveals that he retired from the police force after the events of Shot, as he found working with Clouseau too "exciting".
Sergeant Francois Chevalier
Played by: Andre Maranne
Debut: A Shot in the Dark (1964)
A pleasant, patient underling to both Dreyfus and, after his promotion at the end of The Return of the Pink Panther, Clouseau. He knows how inept Clouseau can be, but accidentally starts the trouble in A Shot in the Dark by assigning him to the Ballon case before realizing how important the case actually is.
Beleaguered Assistant : So, which is worse — attending to the psychotic Dreyfus or the chaos-attracting Clouseau? A tough call indeed...
Mr. Exposition : In the films from The '70s onward, he not only briefs Dreyfus or Clouseau about the main plot, but also seemingly unrelated matters that turn out to be Chekhov's Guns (such as the escaped transvestite thief in Revenge). He's also a useful sounding board for both characters.
Small Role, Big Impact : He's far from being a major character and is generally just Mr. Exposition for a few scenes. However, his assigning Clouseau to the Ballon case is the ultimate cause of Dreyfus going insane and Clouseau's rise to fame.
Professor Auguste Balls
Played by: Graham Stark (Revenge of... and Son of...), Harvey Korman (Strikes Again [unused scenes], Trail of... and Curse of...)
Debut: Officially, Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
Clouseau gets all of his brilliant disguises from this curious costume-shop owner, who has a Gonk of a wife and an odd assistant to boot. The flip-flopping between actors owes to the character originating as a Deleted Role in Strikes Again; when the deleted scenes were incorporated into Trail, Korman was brought back to shoot new scenes as the character.
Amusing Injuries : He and his assistant acquire these in Revenge after a non-fatal explosion , but even wrapped up in bandages they still live to serve when Clouseau consults them to prepare for his trip to Hong Kong.
Double Entendre : His name is an exceedingly goofy one even without the Bilingual Bonus ( AC/DC would be proud).
Large Ham : Professor Balls is one of the hammier supporting characters in the series, which makes sense given that he makes his living selling eccentric disguises that most people (besides, perhaps, Clouseau) wouldn't think to need — a hunchback costume complete with inflatable hump, anyone?
Took a Level in Jerkass : In Trail and Curse, he's a lot nastier than in his other appearances. Granted, he's trying to get the absent Clouseau to pay a tab he ran up, but he leaves rude answering machine messages (and drops a few ethnic slurs with regards to Cato) and in Curse effectively forces Sgt. Sleigh into buying a bunch of ridiculous items he'd been holding for Clouseau. Some of this may be due to the alternating actors, as when he reappears in Son he's back to his rather pleasant self.
Mr. Chong
Played by: Ed Parker (voiced by Robert Rietty in Curse of...)
Debut: Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
An assassin and martial arts master, who is sent after Clouseau in Revenge of the Pink Panther. He later shows up again in Curse of the Pink Panther, this time going after Clifton Sleigh.
Awesome, but Impractical : While it's kind of impressive that he can split a rock in two and then completely demolish his dojo all for the sake of a demonstration, it really doesn't seem like that good of a business model. Then again, that'd certainly explain why he does assassinations on the side.
Glass Cannon : His punches are powerful enough to demolish buildings, yet he gets dealt with very easily in his first appearance. Much less so in his second appearance, where he comes very close to killing Sleigh and only gets taken out by a freak accident.
The Silent Bob : In Revenge he doesn't speak at all, while in Curse he only speaks in his introductory scene.
One-Shot Characters
Played by: Claudia Cardinale
Appears in: The Pink Panther (1963)
The owner of the Pink Panther diamond in the first film, and a royal princess from the country of Lugash, who quickly becomes a target for the Phantom.
Can't Hold Her Liquor : Coming from a country where there's next to no alcohol, Sir Charles is easily able to pump her for information by getting her drunk with champagne. Unfortunately for him it works a little too well, and she passes out before she can tell him where the diamond is.
Shaggy Dog Story : Return implies that she was deposed, the Lugash monarchy abolished, and the Pink Panther diamond was seized from her regardless of her desire to hold onto it.
Spanner in the Works : She was apparently somewhat tempted by Sir Charles's implicit offer for him to steal the diamond so that she could take the insurance money, but chickened out and hid the diamond elsewhere, unwittingly foiling his and George's robbery attempts. However, she gives the diamond to Clouseau's wife so that they can frame him instead.
Lady Claudine Litton
Played by: Catherine Schell
Appears in: The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
Sir Charles Litton's wife, who Clouseau trails at length in an attempt to discover whether or not her husband may be up to his old tricks again. As it turns out however, Claudine has decided to try the thief's profession out for herself.
Ms. Fanservice : Spends much of the film in various states of undress. Naturally, Clouseau finds it difficult to focus on his job when he's around her.
Obfuscating Stupidity : She never seems outright stupid per se, more a blissfully unaware society wife. In reality however, she is the true thief.
What Happened to the Mouse? : It's never revealed if she was arrested for stealing the Pink Panther diamond, or whether the whole thing got pinned on the deceased Colonel Sharky. She doesn't appear or get mentioned in Trail, but that film seems to disregard Return and sets itself up as an alternate sequel to A Shot in the Dark.
Simone Legree
Played by: Dyan Cannon
Appears in: Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
A gangster's moll who helps Clouseau go after his would-be assassins after they turn on her as well.
Throw the Dog a Bone : At the end of the film, she and Clouseau go out on a date, which for once isn't spoiled by Cato showing up and attacking them. Many fans prefer to remember the image of them walking down the street together as the true ending of the series.
Woman Scorned : Seeing how her ex scorned her by trying to have her killed, you can see why she's eager to help out Clouseau.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness : Douvier pulls this on her, and orders his underlings to kill her. However, Clouseau unwittingly foils the attempt, and the two team up afterwards.
Philippe Douvier
Played by: Robert Webber
Appears in: Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
The head of a French drug gang. When his American partners begin to doubt his ability to control his territory, he decides to prove his powers by having Clouseau killed.
Hoist by His Own Petard : Had he just left Clouseau alone, and especially if he hadn't decided to off his ex-girlfriend, he and his American partners would still be in business.
Laser-Guided Karma : Gets some firecrackers down the pants for all the trouble he caused Simone.
Played by: Joanna Lumley
Appears in: Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
A French television reporter who decides to interview Inspector Clouseau's old associates after he goes missing on his way to Lugash to investigate the latest theft of the Pink Panther diamond.
Frying Pan of Doom : When she sneaks into Clouseau's apartment and is ambushed by Cato, she uses one of these to get the upper hand on him.
Going for the Big Scoop : Not even the Mafia can dissuade her from her quest to find out what happened to Clouseau.
What Happened to the Mouse? : She's not even mentioned in Curse; her actress is playing another character. Another reporter establishes at the start of the film that a year's passed since Clouseau vanished, so the trail Marie was following must have gone cold.
Sergeant Clifton Sleigh
Played by: Ted Wass
Appears in: Curse of the Pink Panther (1983)
A year after Clouseau vanished, a supercomputer is tasked with finding the world's greatest detective to seek him out. But Dreyfus was in charge of giving the computer the neccesary information for said search, so he consulted an imprisoned hacker to learn how to reprogram it. The result? The computer gave up the name of the world's worst detective instead: a third-generation New York City cop who may be more pleasant than Clouseau, but no more competent.
Blind Without 'Em : He needs some kind of aid to see much; usually he wears glasses, but in his Establishing Character Moment the situation goes from bad to worse when he loses one of his contact lenses.
Clueless Detective : Just like the guy he's trying to find. And doesn't. Even though he shakes his hand.
Idiot Hero : He does mean well and takes his job quite seriously.
Incredibly Conspicuous Drag : His Establishing Character Moment has him bungling an undercover mission in which he's disguised — badly — as a female prostitute. A drunk man tries to proposition him; there's no way that a sober man would do the same.
Played by: Roberto Benigni
Appears in: Son of the Pink Panther (1993)
Inspector Clouseau had a brief love affair with Maria Gambrelli after the events of A Shot in the Dark, and she never revealed to him that he fathered a child by her. Ten years after Clouseau's disappearance, this young gendarme falls in Love at First Sight with the kidnapped Princess Yasmin of Lugash when his path accidentally crosses with those of her captors, and he comes to embrace his Secret Legacy as a bumbling hero to rescue her.
The Dulcinea Effect : He doesn't realize that she's been kidnapped when he first meets and falls for Princess Yasmin; when he learns the truth, he becomes determined to rescue her.
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What is the largest bird in the bunting family | Birds of The World: BUNTINGS
BIRDS of THE WORLD
EMBERIZIDAE of The World
The Emberizidae family includes brush-finches , buntings , juncos , New World sparrows , and towhees . The majority of these birds live in the New World where the family probably originated. They are small seed-eaters with a finch-like bill. In addition to seeds they also eat insects, especially when feeding their young. They build cup-shaped nests.
Buntings
Order Passeriformes Family Emberizidae
The buntings on this page belong to the Emberizidae family. These buntings are predominantly found in the Old World and most belong to genus Emberiza. There are also birds called buntings in the Cardinalidae family .
Genus Calamospiza - 1 species
Bunting, Lark Calamospiza melanocorys Found: west North America
The Lark Bunting has short thick bluish bill; white patch on the wings. Breeding male has all black body. Females and nonbreeding males grayish-brown upperparts; white underparts with grayish-brown stripes.
Image by: 1) Scot Brim 2, 4, 7) Jerry Oldenettel - New Mexico and Colorado 3) Jason Forbes - Colorado 5) J N Stuart - New Mexico 6) J ohn Breitsch
1, 2, 3, 4) Female 5) nonbreeding male 6, 7) Breeding male
Bunting, Black-faced Emberiza spodocephala Found: Asia
The Black-faced Bunting has brown upperparts heavily streaked with black; brown rump; dark brown tail; yellowish-white underparts; fine dark brown flank streaks. Breeding male has dark gray head.
1) Female 2, 3, 4) Male
Bunting, Black-headed Emberiza melanocephala Found: Europe, Asia
The breeding male Black-headed Bunting has chestnut upperparts; black hood; bright yellow underparts. Female has gray-brown back; grayish head; paler underparts.
Bunting, Cape Emberiza capensis Found: Africa
The Cape Bunting has gray-brown upperparts with some dark streaks; chestnut wing coverts; darker chestnut tail; black crown stripe ; white supercilium; black eye-line; white ear coverts
Bunting, Chestnut Emberiza rutila Found: Asia
The breeding male Chestnut Bunting has bright chestnut-brown upperparts, head, neck; yellow breast, belly; stripes on flanks. Female has mostly dull brown upperparts with dark streaks; pale yellow underparts.
Image by: 1) Alastair Rae 2) Dibyendu
1) Nonbreeding 2) Breeding
Bunting, Chestnut-eared Emberiza fucata Found: Asia
The male Chestnut-eared Bunting has mainly brown plumage; gray crown and nape with dark streaks; chestnut ear-coverts; chestnut across breas; white eye-ringt. Females similar but duller with a less distinct head and breast pattern.
Image by: 1) Charles Lam - Hong Kong 2) Patko Erika 3) Watch-Bird
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Bunting, Cinereous Emberiza cineracea Found: northeast Africa, southwest Asia
The male Cinerous Bunting has grayish back with less streaking than most buntings; pale bill; dull yellow head; pale underparts. Female has brownish-gray upperparts; little yellow on the head.
Bunting, Cinnamon-breasted Emberiza tahapisi Found: Africa
The Gosling's Bunting was previously considered conspecific with the Cinnamon-breasted Bunting.
Image by: 1) Francesco Veronesi - Namibia 2) Johann du Preez - South Africa 3) Joseph Mochoge - Gilgil, Kenya
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Bunting, Cirl Emberiza cirlus Found: southern Europe, northern Africa
The Cirl Bunting has heavily streaked brown back; black crown, eye-stripe, throat; yellow underparts with greenish breast band. Female has chestnut shoulders; streaked gray-brown rump.
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Bunting, Cretzschmar's Emberiza caesia Found: Greece, eastern edge Mediteeranean
The breeding male Cretzschmar's Bunting has brown upperparts with heavy streaking; gray head with orange mustache; rusty-orange underparts; pink bill.
Image by: 1) Michael Sveikutis 2) Werner Witte - Turkey
Bunting, Godlewski Emberiza godlewskii Found; Asia
The Godlewski Bunting has mottled orange and black upperparts; orange-buff underparts; gray head with brown or black eye-stripe, mustache, crown; gray throat; pink legs, feet.
Similar to: Rock Bunting . Rock Bunting has bolder head pattern than Godlewski Bunting.
Image by: 1) Jargal Lamjav 2) Alastair Rae 3) Sergey Yeliseev 4) zqr001
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Image by: 1) Johan Stedt 2) Seergey Yelsieev 3) Jargal Lamjav
1) 2nd year female
Bunting, Red-headed Emberiza bruniceps Found: western Europe, Asia
The breeding male Red-headed Bunting has green upperparts; bright yellow underparts; brownish-red face, breast. Female has paler underparts; gray-brown back; grayish head.
Image by: 1) Jan Svetlik - Kazakhstan 2) Ken and Nyetta - Kazakhstan
1) Female 2, 3) Male
Bunting, Reed Emberiza schoeniclus Found: Europe, Asia
The male Reed Bunting has a black head, throat; white neck collar; pale streaked underparts; heavily streaked brown back. Female is duller with streaked brown head and more streaked underparts.
Similar to: Palla's Bunting . Male Reed Bunting has brown back; male Palla's has gray back. Female Reed Bunting ahs dark throat; female Palla's Bunting has light throat.
Image by: 1) Ian-S 2, 3) Andreas Trepte 4) OldBilluk 5) Cristiano Crolle - Adda River, Italy
1, 2) Female 3, 4, 5) Male
Bunting, Rock Emberiza cia Found: Africa, Asia, Europe
The male Rock Bunting has streaked upperparts; unmarked deep buff underparts; pale gray head with black striping. Female paler than male.
Similar to: Godlewski Bunting . Rock Bunting has bolder head pattern than Godlewski Bunting.
Image by: 1) Joseph Wolf 2) Q Ilex 3) Martien Brand - Europe 4) Cristobal Rueda
2) Female 3, 4) Male
Bunting, Rufous-backed also Jankowski's Bunting Emberiza jankowskii Found: Asia
Image by: 1) John Gerrard Keulemans
Bunting, Rustic Emberiza rustica Found: Europe, Asia
The Rustic Bunting has white underparts; reddish flanks; white supercilium; pink legs, lower mandible. Breeding male has black head; white throat; reddish breast band. Female has heavily streaked brown back, face.
Bunting, Somali Emberiza poliopleura Found; Africa
Image by: 1) RH Porter 2) Patko Erika
Bunting, Striolated Emberiza striolata Found: northwest Africa, Asia
The breeding male Striolated Bunting has sandy brown upperparts; gray head with white supercilium' black eye-line,; moustachial streak.. Female's head has more brown tint to the gray; more diffused streaking.
Similar to: House Bunting . House Bunting previously was subspecies of Stiolated Bunting. Striolated Bunting has white supercilium; House Bunting does not.
1) Male - left; female - right 2) Male
Bunting, Tibetan Emberiza koslowi Found: eastern side of Tibet plateau
The male Tibetan Bunting has chestnut upperparts; black crown; broad white eye-line; white supercilium, throat; black collar; gray underparts.
Image by: 1) Ainus - Yehliu, Taipei County, Taiwan 2, 3) Hiyashi Halso
Bunting, Yellow also Japanese Yellow Bunting Emberiza sulphurata Found: eastern Asia
The male Yellow Bunting has gray-green upperparts with dark streaks; yellow-green underparts; black lores; brown eyes;pale eye-rint; pinkish-brown feet[ gray bill. Female similar to male but paler and no black lores.
Image by: 1, 2, 3) Charles Lam - Taiwan
Bunting, Yellow-breasted Emberiza aureola Found: Europe, Asia
The breeding male Yellow-breasted Bunting has bright yellow underparts; black flank streaks; black face and throat bar; pink lower mandible. Female has heavily streaked gray-brown back; yellow underparts; light face with dark crown;
Image by: 1) Martin Vavrik - Svjatoj Nos peninsula, Lake Bajkal 2) Frankie Chu 3, 4) Hiyashi Halso 5) Sergey Yeliseev - Altajskij, Russia
1) Female 2) Nonbreeding male 3, 4,5) Breeding male
1, 2) Female 3, 4) Male
Genus Melophus - 1 species
Bunting, Crested Melophus lathami Found: Asia
The Crested male Bunting has blue-black mantle, head, underparts, crest; chestnut wings, tail. Female has a brown body; pale throated; darkest on breast with narrow blackish streaks; light eye-ring. It is found in south and southeast Asia.
Image by: 1) killer_9394 2) Tarique Sani 3) Arasai at Sinhagad Fort, Pune, India
1, 2) Male 3) Female
Genus Miliaria - 1 species
Bunting, Corn Miliaria calandra also Emberiza calandra Found: Europe, Asia, Africa
The Corn Bunting has streaked gray-brown upperparts; whitish underparts; light eye-ring. It breeds across southern and central Europe, north Africa and Asia across to Kazahkstan. It is mainly resident, but some birds from colder regions of central Europe and Asia migrate southwards in winter.
Image by: 1) Matthieu Gauvain 2) Mick Sway 3) JV Verde - Portugal 4) Blake Matheson - Iberia 5) Cristiano Crolle - Monfrague, Spain
Genus Pezopetes - 1 species
Finch, Large-footed Pezopetes capitalis Found: Costa Rica, Panama
The Large-footed Finch has dark olive upperparts; slate-gray face; black crown, throat; black tail with orange fringes; olive underparts with brown tint to flanks and lower belly. It is not really finches, despite their name. It is instead members of the Emberizidae family.
Genus Pselliophorus
These birds are not really finches, despite their name. They are instead members of the Emberizidae family. Both species have yellow thighs.
Image by: 1) Daniel Hinckley - Panama
Finch, Yellow-thighed Pselliophorus tibialis Found: Costa Rica, Panama
The Yellow-thighed Finch has mainly dark gray plumage; black crown, wings, throat, tail; bright yellow thighs.
Image by: 1) Charlie Westerinen - near Poas Volcanon, Costa Rica 2) Tim - Costa Rica 3) Jerry Oldenettel - Costa Rica
| Corn bunting |
What is the more common name for the garden plant pyracantha | Emberizidae - Buntings | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology
home » about-birds » birdfacts » bird-families » Emberizidae - Buntings
Emberizidae - Buntings
The buntings are ground-dwelling sparrow-like birds found throughout the world. Taxonomic relationships among the 'nine-primaried Oscines' (which includes the tanagers and the New World blackbirds and warblers ) are rather unclear since all evolved relatively recently, consequently there is some debate as to exactly where some species should be placed.
All have stout bills, reflecting the preponderance of seeds (mostly of grasses and cereals) in their diet, though they do frequently take insects, particularly to feed the young. In many species the bill can move sideways, allowing birds to husk seeds before eating them. Birds vary in plumage colouration, from the streaky brown of the Corn Bunting to the bright colours of the Yellowhammer ; in the more brightly coloured species the female is usually duller than the male.
Although most buntings are monogamous (and territorial), some species, such as the Reed Bunting indulge in extra-pair copulations, some like the Corn Bunting are polygamous, while one or two species form no pair bonds at all, when the female is ready to lay her eggs she will mate repeatedly with two or three males (who themselves will mate with several females). In the non-breeding season they are often gregarious forming large flocks (sometimes with finches) roaming the countryside looking for seeds.
The Yellowhammer is still reasonably a common bird of farmland; the Corn Bunting once was, but massive population declines mean it now has a relatively restricted distribution.
Regularly Occurring Species
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Which is the third largest of the Channel Islands | Alderney, The Third Largest of the Channel Islands | Goista.com
Alderney, The Third Largest of the Channel Islands
On May 1, 2015
image source: en.wikipedia.org
Alderney is one of the Channel Islands, officially some piece of the Balliwick of Guernsey. Alderney is the third biggest of the Channel Islands, and the most northerly. It is frequently said that Alderney is the main Channel Island since it is the stand out that is really in the English Channel/La Manche. (Guernsey, Jersey and the littler islands are really in the Bay of St Malo). There are no urban areas on Alderney. The island itself is just 3 miles in length by 1.5 wide. The primary amassing of houses and shops is in the focal point of the Island in the town of St Anne – regularly alluded to just as ‘Town’. The Parish of St Anne’s incorporates the entire of the Island.
image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Because of its area in the English Channel and its vicinity to the French port of Cherbourg, it has frequently been seen to be deliberately imperative, regardless of the tricky waters that encompass it. In the 19th century, an extensive jetty – the longest in the British Isles – was manufactured at Braye keeping in mind the end goal to frame a harbor shielded from the Swinge tidal race. Despite the fact that it was never finished, its staggering remains frame the advanced harbor. Amid World War II the island was involved by German powers, including the SS, and four constrained work camps were fabricated. Albeit not an elimination camp in the same sense as e.g. Dachau and Buchenwald, a lot of constrained workers, especially from Eastern Europe, were attempted to death, and there is a dedication to them close to Saye which is an absolute necessity see. The uninhabited islet of Burhou, off the northwest end of the island, is an imperative settling range for seabirds. The previous rancher’s bungalow on Burhou can be leased from the Government, and is utilized for ‘make tracks in an opposite direction from it all’ occasions by various Alderney occupants. Toward the south of the islands, differentiating Alderney from the Cherbourg landmass, is the Alderney Race (Raz), infamous for is greatly solid streams and unpleasant oceans. In spite of the dangers introduced by Alderney’s rough coastline and the risks of the Swinge and Race, Braye harbor is a prevalent destination for yachtsmen and in summer the harbor is loaded with pontoons of different sorts, from little RIBs to multimillion pound extravagance yachts.
image source: www.globeimages.net
Despite the fact that the Auregniais (Alderney Norman-French) dialect in the long run vanished in the early piece of the 20th century, the signs prompting Town are bilingual, perusing ‘Town/La Ville’, apparently to support going to French yachtsmen and day-trippers. The ward of St Anne is served by a sublime, very nearly church building like area church in the inside of Town. Alderney is a little island , and in great climate, there’s truly no place that isn’t inside strolling separation. Bikes can likewise be enlisted. Alderney is likely one of the most secure destinations you can visit. Wrongdoing is uncommon and the little wrongdoing is genuinely minor. Individuals for the most part leave entryways opened and frequently leave vehicles unsecured with the keys in the ignition. Amid the mid year, there is a general bus service round the island and even a route service in the middle of Braye and the north of the island.
image source: commons.wikimedia.org
Here are the highlights:
1. Fort Clonque. A 19th-century seaside fort, worked via Landmark Trust.
2. Alderney observes Alderney Week toward the start of August consistently. From one viewpoint, this gives a far reaching project of occasions and merriments, yet in the meantime can make it hard to book settlement and practically difficult to make evening eatery reservations unless done well ahead of time.
3. There is a pleasant scope of eateries, from bistros to keen choice sustenance. There are no “chains” of fast food, no McDonalds, no Burger King, Pizza Hut and so forth. Everything is by regional standards possessed.
image source: www.globeimages.net
How to Go to Alderney
1. Via Plane
Aurigny Air Services offer a few non-stop flights consistently from Southampton and from Guernsey. Different airports (in the United Kingdom in addition to Dinard and Grenoble in France) are served by means of Guernsey.
2. By Boat
Manche-Iles Express work summer ship services from Diélette in France.
Bumble bee Boat Cruises offers a standard service from Guernsey to Alderney
image source: www.flickr.com
| Alderney |
What is England's tallest building | The Channel Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Herm, Alderney | Trysail Cornwall
The Channel Islands
The Channel Islands
The Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are a unique and delightful cruising ground. A reputation for large tidal ranges, strong currents and rock strewn coastline, they are well documented in yachting guidebooks and on Admiralty charts.
Most boats departing from Falmouth or Plymouth will probably make for St Peter Port in Guernsey which is a distance of around 110 nautical miles.
The Channel Islands provide an ideal base for cruising. Most of the main ports are only a day’s sail apart, which makes it easy to Island hop.
Guernsey
The islands environment will make you savour the scent of the clean sea and fresh air, this island is a perfect destination to relax, provision and make plans after your passage across the channel. St Peter Port has facilities including fuel, water & WiFi. There are also showers and supermarkets close by.
Guernsey’s beautiful coastline, which has sandy beaches and dunes, rock pools, coves and rustic harbours and offers great cruising to visiting yachtsman.
When you need to stretch your legs, the cliff walks are really something else, with the islands nature reserves, you will get to experience some of the islands migrating birds and the gorgeous countryside that blooms all year round.
Jersey
An unspoilt landscape of British and French influences, Jersey is a breathtaking place with a relaxing and enjoyable atmosphere, a stunning coastline, fantastic scenery and countryside.
The island is located 100 miles south of British mainland, it’s the most southerly island of the British Isles, but is much closer to France lying just 14 miles from its coast.
Jersey is just 9 miles by 5 miles, and St Helier its main port offers visiting the yachtsman all the facilities you would expect. Approaching by boat you see the sheer beauty of the island and picturesque landscape of the unspoilt coastline.
While on the island you get to explore the lush valleys, and the well kept fields of the beautiful countryside. Jersey has one of the highest tidal ranges in the world, as the tide ebbs and flows in excess of 40feet, it makes the island grow and shrink twice a day.
The tidal streams are something else and are exhilarating to ride. But you need to make sure your calculations are correct as you don’t want to spend hours battling current or going backwards!
With breathtaking cliffs, exposed bays, beautiful sandy beaches and rocky coves that are great to explore. This is an island to blow you away, and make your sailing trip a memorable and enjoyable experience.
Herm
A visit to this Island is an essential part of any trip to the Channel Islands. A stay at Herm lets you enjoy this paradise and its unspoilt natural beauty and peacefulness.
The island has a sheltered half-tide harbour along with sandy beaches, beautiful cliff walks and crystal clear waters. This is a definite ‘Port of Call’ for any Channel Islands trip.
You can moor up around the island using ground chains and buoys by the sandy beaches or enter the inner harbour. With a sandy bottom it takes about 8 boats moored fore and aft.
With scenic deep water moorings around the island and anchorages at Belvoir Bay, the Rosaire Steps and Shell Beach. Herm is the ideal place to seek a quiet relaxing get away from the other marinas and pontoons of the larger ports.
Sark
This island is the smallest of the four main islands, 6 miles east of Guernsey and 20 miles from France.
There are sheltered anchorages on both sides of the island, offering good shelter in the lee. The steep, dramatic cliffs are Sark’s main feature but the island is defiantly worth exploring.
Moorings are also available both sides of the island. The walk from the west side of the island to the pub is particularly dramatic and takes you up 299 steps and really builds a thirst.
The views back down to your mooring and across to Herm and Guernsey are truly stunning especially as the sun is setting.
Alderney
The third largest of the Channel Islands, an unspoiled, relaxing island only one and a half miles wide and three and a half long.
The island enjoys a mild climate very similar to Guernsey and Jersey, it lies just 8 miles from France, but has still manages to avoid mainstream tourism.
The Island is remote, with a beautiful oasis, outstanding beaches, war time history and enchanting flora.
Alderney is surrounded by white sandy bays and clear seas. The beaches are ideal for windsurfers and surfers, and are a haven for yachtsmen. The beaches are clean, quiet and blissfully un-crowded.
Alderney is usually the last port of call for yachtsman leaving the Channel Islands. It’s a great place to relax and explore the old fortifications before leaving for home.
Be warned though, the fuel dock is tidal, and more importantly you need to order your ‘Duty Free’ 24hrs before you leave!!
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On a standard athletic track how many laps are ran in the 10,000 metres | 10,000 Metres | iaaf.org
10,000 Metres
10000 metres
How it works
Runners compete over 25 laps of a 400m track. They make bunched standing starts and can break immediately for the inside.
History
The Ancient Greeks organised a number of events akin to today’s long-distance races. During the mid-19th century, races for betting purposes were very popular in Great Britain and the USA.
Every Olympics since 1912 has included a men’s 10,000m, but it wasn’t until 1988 that a women’s version featured at the Games.
Did you know
When Kenenisa Bekele won the men’s Olympic 10,000m title in 2004, he ran the final lap in 53.02 – a time quick enough to have taken bronze in the women’s 400m at the 1964 Games.
Gold standard
Ethiopians and Kenyans dominate the men's event, while China and Ethiopia have a strong tradition in the women's event.
Paul Tanui in the men's 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015 (Getty Images) © Copyright
Icons
Lasse Viren
The Finn with the knack of peaking for the big occasion is the only man to claim successive Olympic 5000m and 10,000m doubles at the Olympics, in 1972 and 1976 – and that’s despite a fall in the 1972 10,000m final.
Derartu Tulu
The pioneer of Ethiopian women’s endurance running, Tulu was the first woman to win two Olympic 10,000m golds, winning in 1992 and 2000. Her niece Tirunesh Dibaba went on to achieve the same feat, winning in 2008 and 2012.
10,000 Metres men Outdoor All time
1
10,000 Metres women Outdoor All time
1
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Who was the first man to orbit the Earth | Guide to Track Markings
The Guide to Track Markings
I once posted a link to another site that had an easy to understand explanation of basic Track and Field markings. Unfortunately that site has disappeared so I'll have to do it myself. Since I started thinking about writing this article, I have been searching for a track to photograph to give you some visual aids. I have not yet found any track that does not have some weird exception that needs to be explained so I will have to show one of those as an example. When I find a track that has all of the proper markings and nothing else you will see it included in photographs. I guess that shows how rare it is to find a track marked just right. My examples come from California tracks , since I know them so well and have them listed on another page on this site.
VISUAL AIDS--To correspond with this article, I've made a photo layout of the markings at California State University, Northridge
For the complete novice here are the basics: A track runs in a counter clockwise direction, meaning you are always turning left. You are not allowed to run on or inside of the painted lane lines (or obviously the curb). The staggered start lines I describe here compensate for the extra distance you run by being further away from the center of a circle. By the way, the true finish line, just as the true start lines to be discussed later, is the leading edge of the line, meaning a foot or toe on the start line is cheating and timing should stop at the first edge of the finish line you cross no matter how fat the line is. Speaking of FAT, for more and more track meets, particularly the sprints are timed with photographic/electronic devices because no human being can start and stop a watch accurately and consistently enough for times to be valid to the .01 of a second that determine records. That kind of timing is called FAT or Fully Automatic Timing.
A track is measured in lane one, the left, inner most lane. All the other lane lines and markers calibrate the distance the runners are running in other lanes so at the finish line they all have run the same distance. Of course this depends upon the people conducting the race to follow the format the race was measured for. That responsibility usually falls on the starter. Generally, sprints run in lanes so competitors should not ever leave their lane. Some races like the 800 and 4x1600 give runners a certain distance to sort themselves out in lanes before they reach the common break line where they can leave their lanes and break into lane one. Distance races don't consider lanes to be important so they start from a bent waterfall start line. Inner lanes allow a competitor to watch the relative position of the other runners outside of that lane. Outer lanes cannot see the runners starting inside of them (unless they get passed) but they have to run a less severe turn. If races are seeded, most meets seed sprints from the center of the track (meaning the fastest qualifiers get the inner lanes like 4 or 5 and the slowest qualifiers get the outer lanes like 1 and 8 or 9). Major championship meets like the Olympics go one step further and group qualifiers into the first 4 or second 4, then the first 4 group draws for the inner 4 lanes and the second 4 draw for the outer 4 lanes.
How long is a track? I'll discuss metric vs imperial (miles, yards, feet and inches) a lot, but generally a track should be 400m (which means if you run 4 laps you are running 1600m, just over 9m or 31 feet short of a mile). An (older) imperial track, at 440 yards is exactly 4 laps to a mile (meaning it is a little over 2 meters, about 7 feet longer than a metric track).
You can't just pull out a measuring tape or wheel and correctly measure a track. You must first locate the center of the turn and end of the straightaway and calculate circular measurements by pi. In other words, most people have to depend on someone else to have done it for them. Here's a photographic tour of track marks.
If you are looking for a company to plot where to put the marks on your track, here's the best reference I know.
The most common races are 100m (somewhere close to the length of a straightaway, it varies on each track), 200m (half a lap), 400m (one lap), 800m (two laps), 1500 (3 and 3/4 laps), 1600 (a high school distance--4 laps), one mile (4 laps of an imperial track, or 4 laps plus about 31 feet on a metric track), 3200 (another HS distance--8 laps), 5000m (otherwise knows as 5K--12 and a half laps) and 10000m (otherwise known as 10K--25 laps). There are other relays and hurdle races I'll discuss within the article. Since all track organizing groups (High School--NFHS, College--NCAA and Open--USATF and IAAF) have finally agreed on using metric races (a development in the last 30 years, about the time all-weather tracks became popular), almost all all weather tracks I have seen are painted with metric measurements, even if the track is constructed in imperial or non-standard distances. Our problem(s) to be discussed in this article, are to try to decipher the codes someone has painted.
Lets start at the "common" finish line. In theory, it is usually a wide white line at or near the end of the straightaway that usually ends in the direction the prevailing wind is going. Occasionally tracks will offset the finish line by 10m down the straightaway to let the 4x400 passing zone end on the straightaway--if this exists, all the other lines will also be offset by the same distance. If automatic timing has been used at this facility very often, it likely will have a black square on each lane line--that serves as a guide to line up the camera and lanes in a phototiming device. Not all facilities have one common finish line that works for all lap and sprint races, though it is preferred so the phototiming camera does not need to be moved and recalibrated for different races (slowing down a meet). If there is a finish line at the end of each straightaway, you may need to be a little more observant. On a metric track, there will be multiple staggered start lines into the turn from the common finish line. The secondary start line on the opposite side of the track will only have one set of staggered start lines (meaning one in each lane) going into the turn. It is possible to have a track marked with two common finish lines (and thus a full set of start lines relative to each finish line)--Cal Poly, Pomona is one of these. If they aren't running dual finish lines, why would a track have a second finish line? Some tracks might have it for training or odd races to take splits at, some tracks run additional sprints on the backstretch (to double up processing lots of competitors in huge meets), some leave themselves the option to go either direction, depending on that day's wind conditions and a few tracks finish the steeplechase in the opposite direction just because they built the water jump on the wrong end of the track. Some facilities will have the European style of a finish grid--white lines, one meter apart for the five meters before the finish line. The evenly spaced white lines, if present, are a good indication you have found the common finish line--which is the last line in the set.
You should determine if this is a metric track or an imperial track. The finish line on a metric track is the same as the start line (for all even lap races) in lane 1--so lane 1 has fewer start lines than the other lanes on a metric track. So if there are multiple start lines in lane one this is likely an imperial track and certainly is not a 400 meter metric track. There are some tracks that are no particular distance (usually short because there isn't enough space to build a full sized track) and measured race start lines are a hodge podge to compensate (examples are Rio Mesa see picture below, also Chaminade, McClymonds and Oakland Tech--Ambassador College, at 1.5 laps to 400m is completely weird, though well marked). On a proper metric track, the common finish line is in the center of the 4x400 relay passing zone--which is also the passing zone for most other relays that involve 400 or longer legs. Most modern tracks mark that zone with triangles (the wide end of the triangle being the actual line). By the rule book the triangles for the 4x400 should be blue. Some places might use lines or other types of markings to define the relay zone. The international rule book calls for a line with a "Chevron," which is a V-shape on one end of the line (placed so the V is on the side that is "In" the zone). I will stick with triangles for the U.S. High School dominated application. The proper imperial track will have the same relay zones, but they will be slightly offset toward the turn from the finish line--and for any non-400m track there should be three different passing zones that progress the same distance in the same direction away from the finish line. Imperial tracks with cascading relay zones sometimes offset their finish lines to allow space for the relay zones (Righetti, Santa Maria). Other imperial tracks just give up on running a 4x400 relay and instead are marked for 4x440y relay (meaning you will find the imperial start lines along with metric which can be confusing). If you see two start lines, separated by the same distance (about 7 feet) in each lane (as opposed to being progressively further away from each other) you have dual metric and imperial staggered start lines.
Unfortunately we cannot depend on tracks to be marked the same way. The rule book (actually the rule books--they all agree) provide for a "recommended" color code. Since it is only recommended, not absolutely required, the color code is regularly ignored by track painters--I guess these painters are artists and need to be creative. I've seen some liberties taken because the base color of the track is not orange (blue frequently) so they change colors to contrast with that track's base color. So when I quote the rule book, I only quote what they should be. Similarly, I am told by people in the know, there are many tracks where the proper measurement procedures really weren't followed. For example, all lanes are to be measured 20cm outside of the outer edge of the lane line. If there is an inner curb, the measurement is 30cm outside of the curb and if there is a lane line in lane 1, that means the 5cm wide lane line should be 5 cm outside of the curb. On my All Weather tracks page , I criticize many facilities for not having a curb, even though it is necessary for record acceptance--meaning if someone sets a record on an improper track it still doesn't count You can fairly dependably NOT find ALL of these particulars at most tracks. I've also been told by experts that most RECENTLY constructed track curbs are significantly less accurate than the ones built decades ago, particularly before WWII. I suspect this is because old tracks were 1) dirt and thus dependent on an accurate curb for all other measurements; 2) new tracks are supposed to be built metric, but the average american construction worker/surveyor can't figure out metric measurements; it could also be 3) people just don't care about track anymore so administrators figure anything close will do (why spend the money to get it right). The question one must always ask is: How did they measure the track you are standing on and if they made a mistake, did they then do all the other markings relative to the initial mistake or make more mistakes as they went on? Who really knows? You had to be there when they measured it. In all my years of watching this stuff, try as I might, I've never been there when a track was measured. Sometimes we just have to trust and hope that all runners starting from the proper line are truely running the same distance even if isn't exact.
So you have found the common finish line and have determined if you are on a 400m track or something else. On "something else" there will be lots of start lines even in lane 1. On a metric track, lane 1 starts all races (in that area) on the finish line. Distance races will have a waterfall (curved line) start all the way across the track. In lane 2 and beyond you will find multiple start lines:
The first line is the 800m or one-turn stagger line--it should be green. On some, collegiate tracks you might find a white line and a green line almost on top of each other (with the green line being slightly further into the turn as you move out lanes)--in that case the while line is the 200 meter start that finishes at that opposite side finish line, and the green line is the one turn stagger start line. Why the difference? The outer lane has to run a slightly longer distance to the tangent of the next turn--this compensates for that distance just as the curved waterfall start line(s) compensate for it when there are no lanes involved. From some of the one turn stagger lines, you might find a mini-waterfall start line extending out two or three lanes. This is for an "alley" start, where large fields in a distance race can be broken up into multiple starting groups (so the competitors don't fall over each other)--each group will run one turn in their (multiple lane wide) alley until they reach the break line, by then the field should be spread out enough to make it safe to run in a pack. On an imperial track, you should note the lane 1 start line for the 800m is about 15 feet into the turn from the common finish line, about 7 feet beyond the 400m start, but in lane 2 it is just a few feet behind the 400m start (meaning it is now closer to the finish line than the 400m start). If you think about the math for why this occurs, the 15 feet shorter is offset by the extra for 1 turn stagger in 800m vs 7 feet shorter for 1 lap, plus the extra for a 2 turn stagger in 400.
This photo from the imperial track at Los Gatos High School shows the orange (should be green) 800m start line behind the white 400m start line in lane 2, but it is also the orange waterfall line in front of the white 400m start line in lane 1. If you look carefully, you will see three sets of blue triangles (the closest ones staggered in lanes) for the cascading 4x400 relay zones that you will need to properly conduct the race on an imperial track..
This is Rio Mesa High School where they just plain did it wrong. The track is not metric or imperial but somewhere in between. The red line is the 400m start (that should be white), the thin white line is the 800m start (that should be green) and the spacing between the two lines, no matter what the length of the track, should be exactly a 2 to 1 ratio to the finish line (the thick white line)--which it obviously is not.,
VISUAL AIDS--for a more complete visualization of all this stuff, I've made a photo layout of the markings at California State University, Northridge
The next line in each lane should be white and is the 400 meter start line--which can also be used as a two-turn start line, though it does not compensate for the tangent at a break. In addition to ist normal duty as the start for 400 meter races (which include 4x100 relay and 400 hurdles), the two turn start line is usually used for odd relays (like sprint medley or 4x200 if it is not marked for a 4 turn stagger). There should be at least one more start line, a blue line for the 3-turn stagger for the 4x400 relay (3 turns are called for in the rule bood, though many schools fail to have the markings). If you have found the 4x200 relay zones marked on the track, there should also be a fourth, red start line for that race (4 turn stagger, which is two laps entirely in lanes). Also in the lanes other than lane one, you will find two sets of blue triangles. The set that is equidistant from common finish line is the 2nd and 3rd passing zone for the 4x400 relay, while the set that is staggered (equidistant from the one-turn stagger line in each lane) is the first passing zone, still in lanes relative to the blue, 3-turn stagger start line. To run the mile on a metric track, there should be a waterfall start line about at the front edge of the triangle which indicates the beginning of the passing zone (a little over 9m before the finish line).
If you are on an imperial or non-standard track, lane one will also have a start line for each race. But the pattern will be different in that lane--and first make sure it is a pattern. Each of the lines should be progressively the same distance away from each other and the finish line (no matter what direction from the finish line that correction is). Having determined that direction (about 7' into the turn is imperial, anything else is an odd distance compensation and could be anywhere--but it will follow a pattern), if the first line is half the distance of the others, you have a 200 meter start line that finishes on the opposite side of the track, then you have the 400 meter start line (which is not a 2-turn stagger for longer races), then comes the 800 meter start line designed for one turn-stagger. The next line should be a waterfall start line going all the way across the track--it is both the 4x400 start line (for lane 1) and the (waterfall) 1600m start line. Double that distance should be another waterfall start line, which is the 3200 (and 4x800) start line. On many imperial tracks, about halfway through the turn you will find yet another waterfall start line for the 10,000m. Any odd relay races (like distance medly) that don't add up to the distances measured will need to have a special start line created. And on an imperial track, the mile or 2 mile start line is the waterfall at the finish line. Very rarely on an old imperial track (Southwestern College, Chula Vista, I believe), you might find dual start lines, one set that is for metric on the imperial track as described above and another set that match the metric common finish model but are really the imperial start lines. Or it is possible (Gilroy is the only example that I know still exists, West Valley College used to be this way before remodeling) to find imperial start lines to a common imperial finish line with a set of different finish lines for the metric races (which will be counting backward away from the common finish line: 200, 400, 800, 1600 and 3200).
More likely if you see two equal stagger lines, they will be at the 800 lines and the line closest to the finish line is a walkup line--the place where the starter will have the athletes wait until they are given the command to step up to the line. Many of the better tracks will have these walk up lines just behind the distance (waterfall) start lines and some that do not but have been used for top level meets will show evidence of a chalk or tape line that was put in those locations temporarily for that purpose.
The new Claremont high school has black, dashed walkup lines before the white start lines. Photo from Rich Ede.
Lets move away from the finish area--I'll go in the running direction (into the curve) first then we'll come back to discuss the sprints and short hurdle marks.
45m into the curve (from each staggered 400m start line) should be a small (hurdle) mark (though not all high schools will have it) which is the first hurdle of the 400m hurdles (I'll call 400H). It should be green, but remember whatever color it is, you will find 10 in each lane, each separated by 35m each. See the guide to hurdle marks for proper heights of hurdles. The second of these 400H marks is even with another mark, most frequently a small yellow triangle, but an x or a line have been used. This is the beginning of the first 4x100 acceleration zone. This is farthest the second runner can stand before the passing zone. This is 10m before another large yellow triangle or line that marks the beginning of the first actual passing zone. The outgoing runner can start running at the first mark but cannot touch the baton until it crosses this second mark. The outgoing runner has to have the baton and the incoming must have released the baton by the end of the zone 20m away, frequently marked by a yellow triangle pointing back into the zone. In the middle of the relay zone is a white line (which may be missing on some college tracks) for the 300m hurdles start line. In lane one, that line will extend into a waterfall line across the entire track, which is the 1500m start line.
Near this area at the very beginning of the back straightaway is one additional line--some tracks make this a dotted line, some make it jagged. The exact location depends on the length of the straightaway, because this is the line where the staggered start lines for 800m and 4x400 relay resolve. So after running the full turn (the second relay runner in the case of the 4x400), after crossing this line the athletes can break to the inside. By the time they reach the beginning of the next turn all lanes will have run the same distance.
5m after the relay zone is the third 400H mark and then 30m beyond that is a similar mark of a different color--that is the first 300H mark (it should be red), 5m before the fourth 400H mark. You will find this pair of marks the rest of the way around the track to the finish line. There are eight hurdles in the 300H race, so there is one extra mark 10m before the finish line which is exactly at the same point as the beginning of the 4x400 passing zone on a metric track. The fifth 400H/second 300H mark set is 10m and 5m before the next set of 4x100 markings that start near the turn. Those yellow relay marks work the same as the first zone though there might also be red marks that are staggered much more into the turn--those are for the 4x200 relay.
The white line in the middle of the 4x100 zone is the 200m start line (which could be used as a one turn staggered start for odd races like 600m--1 1/2 laps, or 1000m--2 1/2 laps, a break line will have to be ad libbed at the end of the curve/beginning of the straightaway). There should be a waterfall start line extending off the lane 1 start line (some high schools won't have this), which is the start line for distance races like 3000m (7 1/2 laps) or 5000m (12 1/2 laps). On an imperial track, all of this group might be slightly into the turn (about 3 1/2 feet) and there won't be a waterfall start line here. Instead there will be two separate waterfall start lines as you procede into the turn. The first of those lines is the 3000m start line, the second is the 5000m start line.
The rarely run race that sometimes is and sometimes is not marked on a track is the 4x200--the 800 relay. When it is marked, there are different variations on how to run it (with a 2 or 4 turn stagger). The color code for 4x200 is red, but some variations share lines with other races--the key is where you start. The 4x200 is allowed an acceleration, so there will be a small acceleration zone mark 10m before all the zones described. If there is a 4 turn stagger start line, it should be red and will be the fourth start line in lanes. 4 turn stagger runners never run outside of their lanes. There will be a set of red zone marks hugely staggered for the first zone and a set of red zone marks framing the 400 start line in the common finish line area. The third passing zone in this format would be the second 4x100 zone. If there are separate 4x200 relay zones, Lane 1's relay marks should be split (frequently two tones) red/blue near the common finish line (with the red triangles continuing in a staggered pattern as you move out into lanes) and red/yellow at the opposite line (with yellow continuing in the staggered pattern out into lanes). The other variation would be the 2 turn stagger which would start at the common 400m start line. Use the second 4x100 zone as the first zone and the common 4x400 passing zone for the second. Tracks marked for that format would have relay zone markings that frame the opposite side finish line just like I described for the common finish line--those markings and should be red. On an imperial track, this and most other metric relays will be impossible to run exactly correct--and I cannot recall ever seeing all of those markings on any track.
Moving to the other end of the turn will be the last set of yellow 4x100 passing zone marks.
Straightaway start lines may or may not coordinate with with the common finish line and the relay zones. Lets look at the standard way first. With extreemly rare exceptions, the 100 meters (or 110 hurdles) is not run on a turn. The sprint straightaway should have an extra chute to give the 100 or 110H a place to start. A chute is the part of the track straightaway that extends out of the arc to give the track more room to run straight than would be allowed between turns. Both those lines should be white and if they are relative to the common finish line, will be an obvious pair of lines 10m apart. The 110H start line obviously is the one that is farther from the finish line. 100m falls exactly in the middle of the relay zone, 110m aligns with the beginning of the relay zone.. But since all straightaways are not 100 meters (or if the finish line is offset), the lane may not be on the straightaway by the 100m mark (though you will see they approximately align across the way). While I am amazed some people need this explained; if the straightaway lane crosses the curved lines, the straightaway line is usually dotted (or dashed). Follow the straight lines. I've actually had kids (not in the Special Olympics) follow the curved lane lines from a 100m start.
The sprint straightaway is loaded with hurdle marks. You will find the remaining 300H and 400H marks (remember the color code). And you should find at least two more colors, the mens 110H marks (which should be blue) and the Women's 100H marks (which should be yellow). There may be four sets of marks to allow for reverse straightaway races or shuttle hurdle relays. Starting at 100m start and walking to the common finish line, the first mark you will find (about 5 yards out) is the first mens 110H mark. If there is a reverse mark, it (the last 110H mark) will be just about a foot further away. Most of the reverse marks are either small triangles that point the direction they refer to or they are lesser marks (meaning they may only be marked in the outer lanes as opposed to one mark on the inside or two marks on opposite sides of each lane. If they reverse for the men, the next likely mark is the last reverse women's 100H mark. If there are no reverse marks, the next mark you reach (13m out) will be the first women's 100H. Like I said before, remember the colors. You will find 10 hurdle marks for each race (in each direction). I explain in greater detail on the hurdle marks page, but men's hurdles are legacy race invented in yards, so the spacing is 15 yards (to the first), 10 yards in between and 15 yards (plus the one foot that came in the metric conversion that I will note is always at the end) to the finish. Some tracks might also have the imperial start line marked (or have the an extra finish line to use the same hurdle marks). The Women's 100H was invented in metric. The spacing is 13 to the first, 8.5 between and 10.5 to the finish. In order to have common marks (with the wide difference between start and finish) some facilities (Channel Islands for example) have two start line/finish line combinations. In some rare locations, the youth hurdle marks are also on the track though I have yet to see masters marks painted on a track.
Claremont's new track uses arrows for the reverse direction and a straight line for the normal direction.
Of course they also use black lines where red are called for. The last 300H marks (at the wide points of the 4x400 triangles) and the 4x200 acceleration marks in lane 2 should be red. I have no idea why they have the dark area before the relay triangles. Photos from Rich Ede
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Which city was the first destination of Thomas Cook's tours | Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook is the world’s best-known name in travel, thanks to the inspiration and dedication of a single man. Thomas Cook began his international travel company in 1841, with a successful one-day rail excursion at a shilling a head from Leicester to Loughborough on 5 July. From these humble beginnings Thomas Cook launched a whole new kind of company – devoted to helping Britons see the world.
View key dates of Thomas Cook history
A Brief History
On 9 June 1841 a 32-year old cabinet-maker named Thomas Cook walked from his home in Market Harborough to the nearby town of Leicester to attend a temperance meeting. A former Baptist preacher, Thomas Cook was a religious man who believed that most Victorian social problems were related to alcohol and that the lives of working people would be greatly improved if they drank less and became better educated. As he walked along the road to Leicester, he later recalled, 'the thought suddenly flashed across my mind as to the practicability of employing the great powers of railways and locomotion for the furtherance of this social reform'.
At the meeting, Thomas suggested that a special train be engaged to carry the temperance supporters of Leicester to a meeting in Loughborough about four weeks later. The proposal was received with such enthusiasm that, on the following day, Thomas submitted his idea to the secretary of the Midland Railway Company. A train was subsequently arranged, and on 5 July 1841 about 500 passengers were conveyed in open carriages the enormous distance of 12 miles and back for a shilling. The day was a great success and, as Thomas later recorded, 'thus was struck the keynote of my excursions, and the social idea grew upon me'.
Early Tours
During the next three summers Thomas arranged a succession of trips between Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham on behalf of local temperance societies and Sunday schools. Within these limits many thousands of people experienced rail travel for the first time, and Thomas was able to lay the foundations of his future business. He later described this period as one of 'enthusiastic philanthropy' since, beyond the printing of posters and handbills, he had no financial interest in any of these early excursions.
Thomas Cook's first commercial venture took place in the summer of 1845, when he organised a trip to Liverpool. This was a far more ambitious project than anything he had previously attempted, and he made his preparations with great thoroughness. Not content with simply providing tickets at low prices - 15 shillings for first-class passengers and 10 shillings for second. Thomas also investigated the route and published a handbook of the journey. This 60-page booklet was a forerunner of the modern holiday brochure.
The Great Exhibition
By the end of 1850, having already visited Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Thomas Cook began to contemplate foreign trips to Europe, the United States and the Holy Land. Such thoughts had to be postponed, however, when Sir Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace, persuaded Thomas to devote himself to bringing workers from Yorkshire and the Midlands to London for the Great Exhibition of 1851. This he did with great enthusiasm, rarely spending a night at home between June and October, and he even produced a newspaper, Cook's Exhibition Herald and Excursion Advertiser, in order to promote his tours. By the end of the season Thomas had taken 150,000 people to London, his final trains to the Exhibition carrying 3,000 children from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
Across the Channel
Thomas continued to expand his business in Britain, but he was determined to develop it in Europe too. In 1855 an International Exhibition was held in Paris for the first time and Thomas seized this opportunity by trying to persuade the companies commanding the Channel traffic to allow him concessions. They refused to work with him, however, and the only route he was able to use was the one between Harwich and Antwerp. This opened up the way for a grand circular tour to include Brussels, Cologne, the Rhine, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Paris, returning to London via Le Havre or Dieppe. By this route, during the summer of 1855, Thomas escorted his first tourists to Europe.
Switzerland and Italy
Thomas visited Switzerland for the first time in June 1863. Although this initial tour was little more than an information-gathering trip, a party of more than 60 ladies and gentlemen accompanied Thomas as far as Geneva. Among these pioneering tourists was a young woman called Jemima Morrell, who maintained a written account of each day's events. Her original diaries may be studied today in the Thomas Cook Archives. Thomas organised further trips to the Continent in 1863, and by the end of the season he had taken nearly 2000 tourists to Paris, some 500 of whom had continued to Switzerland. With the co-operation of the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway, Thomas began to issue circular tickets (in both English and French) between Paris and the Alps. He then established the first circular tours of Switzerland, which were such an immediate success that he decided to extend his arrangements across the Alps. The first Italian tours took place in the summer of 1864, when Thomas escorted two large groups, one to Florence and parts of central Italy, the other to Rome and Naples.
Hotel Coupons and Circular Notes
Thomas's travellers to Switzerland and Italy were from the growing middle classes and they expected better accommodation than his earlier working-class customers had. He therefore set out to negotiate with innkeepers and hotel proprietors to provide rooms and meals at good prices. His friendship with hoteliers, who were pleased to get his business, enabled Thomas to develop two important travel systems: one was the hotel coupon, launched in 1868, which travellers could use to pay for hotel accommodation and meals instead of using money; the other was his circular note, first issued in 1874 and a forerunner of the travellers cheque, which enabled tourists to obtain local currency in exchange for a paper note issued by Thomas Cook.
Beyond Europe
Building on his successes in Europe, Thomas made an exploratory trip to North America in 1865 and set up a system of tours covering 4,000 miles of railways. Four years later, in 1869, he hired two steamers and conducted his first party up the Nile. The climax of his career, however, came in September 1872 when, at the age of 63, he departed from Leicester on a tour of the world that would keep him away from home for almost eight months. It had long been his ambition to travel 'to Egypt via China', but such a trip only became practicable at the end of 1869 following the opening of the Suez Canal and the completion of a rail network linking the east and west coasts of America.
Thomas and his small party crossed the Atlantic by steamship and made their way through the United States from New York to San Francisco by rail. They travelled by Pacific steamer to Japan, then across the Inland Sea to China, and afterwards visited Singapore, Ceylon and India. Leaving Bombay, they crossed the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea to Cairo, from where most of the party travelled back to London. Thomas himself, however, set off on an extended tour of Egypt and Palestine, finally returning home via Turkey, Greece, Italy and France after an absence of 222 days. The conducted world tour quickly became an annual event, but many additional tickets were issued to independent travellers, some of whom went via Australia and New Zealand rather than China and Japan.
John Mason Cook
While Thomas was travelling round the world, his son, John Mason Cook, successfully completed the firm's move to a new head office at Ludgate Circus. However, father and son argued over certain aspects of the project and in 1878 their partnership ended. John was a better businessman than Thomas, and he set about expanding the company internationally. In an age when telegraphy was in its infancy and there were no telephones or fax machines, this was far from easy.
John created overseas editions of The Excursionist, the newspaper started by his father in 1851, to inform customers in places such as France, Germany, India, Australasia, America and the Far East about the services he offered. (This newspaper, which became known as The Traveller's Gazette in May 1902, continued to be published until 1939.) He also kept up a continuous stream of correspondence with his offices abroad, checking on their work and complaining if anything went wrong. Like many successful businessmen, John Mason Cook combined a flair for grasping business opportunities with a remarkable memory for small details.
The Gordon Relief Expedition
In 1884 John Mason Cook was asked by the British Government to organise a relief expedition up the Nile to rescue General Gordon from Khartoum. Arrangements were made for the movement of 18,000 troops, nearly 40,000 tons of supplies, 40,000 tons of coal and 800 whaleboats. To transport the coal from Tyneside to Boulac and Assiout via Alexandria, 28 large steamers and 6000 railway trucks were required. An additional 7000 railway trucks were needed for the military stores, while on the Nile 27 steamers and 650 sailing boats were used to carry the troops and supplies. John and his Egyptian managers acted as overseers of the entire operation, which relied on the labour of 5000 local men and boys, and completed their side of the contract in November 1884. Despite all the efforts, however, Khartoum fell in January 1885 and Gordon was killed.
Frank, Ernest and Bert
Thomas and John Mason Cook both died during the 1890s and the business was inherited by John's three sons: Frank Henry, Ernest Edward and Thomas Albert ('Bert'). During the first quarter of the twentieth century - a period which saw the introduction of winter sports holidays, tours by motor car and commercial air travel - the firm of Thos Cook and Son dominated the world travel scene.
The company was incorporated as Thos Cook & Son Ltd in 1924, and in 1926 the headquarters moved from Ludgate Circus to Berkeley Street, Mayfair, a once aristocratic area which was now the centre of London society. Then, in 1928, the surviving grandsons, Frank and Ernest (Bert having died in 1914), unexpectedly sold the business to the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, operators of most of Europe's luxury sleeping cars, including the Orient Express.
From Wagons-Lits to British Railways
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the Wagons-Lits headquarters in Paris was seized by occupying forces, and Cook's British assets were requisitioned by the British Government. To save the company from complete financial collapse in its centenary year, a deal was brokered and, fittingly, the organisation was sold to Britain's four mainline railway companies. Thos Cook & Son Ltd settled its affairs with Wagons-Lits (which retained a 25% share in Cook's overseas) immediately after the war, and in 1948 the firm became state-owned as part of the nationalised British Railways.
The Fifties and Sixties
Thomas Cook & Son Ltd benefited from the post-war holiday boom, which saw one million Britons travelling abroad by 1950. The company set up a Business Travel Service and refurbished its holiday camp at Prestatyn (which had opened shortly before the outbreak of war). Although Cook's remained the largest and most successful company in the industry, its pre-eminence was now being challenged by new travel firms that were able to undercut Cook's prices and offer cheap package deals. In 1965 the company's net profits exceeded £1 million for the first time, but in an increasingly cut-throat marketplace Thomas Cook began to fall behind its younger rivals
De-nationalisation and Beyond
In 1972 Thomas Cook returned to private ownership, bought by a consortium of Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association. Radical reorganisation followed and a new, standardised corporate logo (the words ‘Thomas Cook’ in ‘flame’ red) was soon introduced. Thomas Cook managed to survive the recession of the 1970s – a recession that witnessed the collapse of several travel firms – and enhanced its reputation for providing excellent service by launching a Money Back Guarantee scheme in 1974.
Thomas Cook experienced many changes during the 1970s, including the sale of its holiday camp at Prestatyn and the relocation of its administrative headquarters from London to Peterborough. The firm also became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Midland Bank Group. During the 1980s Thomas Cook began to concentrate on its long-haul tours programme, purchasing Rankin Kuhn Travel in 1982 and quitting the short-haul package tours market in 1988 (a market to which Thomas Cook successfully returned in 1996 when it acquired Sunworld). Between 1985 and 1990, Thomas Cook also expanded its network of high street shops through the acquisition of the retail chains Frames, Blue Sky and Four Corners.
The company's continued success was assured in 1992 when it was purchased from Midland Bank by Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), Germany’s third largest bank, and LTU Group, Germany’s leading charter airline. Thomas Cook became a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestLB in 1995. A period of expansion followed – which saw the acquisition of Sunworld, Time Off and Flying Colours in quick succession – culminating in Thomas Cook's merger with Carlson Leisure Group's UK travel interests and the subsequent formation of JMC (including JMC Airlines) in 1999.
Into the 21st Century
In March 2001, following the sale of its Global and Financial Services division to Travelex, Thomas Cook was acquired by C&N Touristic AG, one of Germany’s largest travel groups. Within a matter of months, C&N Touristic AG had changed its name to Thomas Cook AG and launched a new logo and brand identity. On 19 June 2007, Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc merged to form Thomas Cook Group plc.
Another merger followed in October 2011, when Thomas Cook amalgamated its UK high street travel and foreign exchange businesses with those of the Co-operative Group and the Midlands Co-operative Society to create the UK’s largest retail travel network of over 1200 shops. On 1 October 2013 Thomas Cook officially unveiled its new unified brand to the world. The ‘Sunny Heart’ and ‘Let’s go!’ tagline will form an important part of Thomas Cook’s future plans.
Thomas Cook Today
Today, Thomas Cook Group plc is one of the world’s leading leisure travel groups, with sales of over £9 billion and more than 20 million customers. The group is supported by c.27,000 employees and operates from 17 countries. It is number one or two in all its core markets. Thomas Cook’s vision is to deliver trusted, personalised holiday experiences through our high-tech, high-touch strategy. We will be there for our customers wherever, whenever and however they want to connect with us.
Thomas Cook’s timeless spirit of innovation started in 1841 and it is this that makes us stand out from the crowd. It is reflected in our new, trusted products and growing suite of online tools and applications (such as “RepAdvisor” and “DreamCapture”). Innovation shaped our past and it will continue to shape our future.
Further Reading
W. Fraser Rae, The Business of Travel - A Fifty Years' Record of Progress (Thos Cook & Son, 1891)
John Pudney, The Thomas Cook Story (Michael Joseph, 1953)
Edmund Swinglehurst, The Romantic Journey - The story of Thomas Cook and Victorian Travel (Pica Editions, 1974)
Edmund Swinglehurst, Cook's Tours - The Story of Popular Travel (Blandford Press, 1982)
Piers Brendon, Thomas Cook - 150 Years of Popular Tourism (Secker & Warburg, 1991)
Robert Ingle, Thomas Cook of Leicester (Headstart History, 1991)
Derek Seaton, The Local Legacy of Thomas Cook (self-published, 1996)
Lynne Withey, Grand Tours and Cook's Tours - A History of Leisure Travel, 1750 to 1915 (Aurum Press, 1998)
Andrew Williamson, The Golden Age of Travel - The Romantic Years of Tourism in Images from the Thomas Cook Archives (Thomas Cook Publishing, 1998)
Paul Smith, The History of Tourism - Thomas Cook and the Origins of Leisure Travel [boxed set of four volumes] (Routledge/ Thoemmes Press, 1998)
Jill Hamilton, Thomas Cook - The Holiday Maker (Sutton, 2005)
Company Archives
Thomas Cook possesses a unique collection of archive material covering all aspects of the company's history from the founder's first excursion on 5 July 1841 to the present. This material is held in the Company Archives, which functions as a corporate 'memory', offering an information service to Thomas Cook's various departments and to interested members of the public, as well as providing research facilities for academics, journalists and picture researchers from all over the world.
| Paris |
In which city were Walker's Crisps first made | Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook History
Thomas Cook is the world’s best-known name in travel, thanks to the inspiration and dedication of a single man. Thomas Cook began his international travel company in 1841, with a successful one-day rail excursion at a shilling a head from Leicester to Loughborough on 5 July. From these humble beginnings Thomas Cook launched a whole new kind of company – devoted to helping Britons see the world.
View key dates of Thomas Cook history
A Brief History
On 9 June 1841 a 32-year old cabinet-maker named Thomas Cook walked from his home in Market Harborough to the nearby town of Leicester to attend a temperance meeting. A former Baptist preacher, Thomas Cook was a religious man who believed that most Victorian social problems were related to alcohol and that the lives of working people would be greatly improved if they drank less and became better educated. As he walked along the road to Leicester, he later recalled, 'the thought suddenly flashed across my mind as to the practicability of employing the great powers of railways and locomotion for the furtherance of this social reform'.
At the meeting, Thomas suggested that a special train be engaged to carry the temperance supporters of Leicester to a meeting in Loughborough about four weeks later. The proposal was received with such enthusiasm that, on the following day, Thomas submitted his idea to the secretary of the Midland Railway Company. A train was subsequently arranged, and on 5 July 1841 about 500 passengers were conveyed in open carriages the enormous distance of 12 miles and back for a shilling. The day was a great success and, as Thomas later recorded, 'thus was struck the keynote of my excursions, and the social idea grew upon me'.
Early Tours
During the next three summers Thomas arranged a succession of trips between Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Birmingham on behalf of local temperance societies and Sunday schools. Within these limits many thousands of people experienced rail travel for the first time, and Thomas was able to lay the foundations of his future business. He later described this period as one of 'enthusiastic philanthropy' since, beyond the printing of posters and handbills, he had no financial interest in any of these early excursions.
Thomas Cook's first commercial venture took place in the summer of 1845, when he organised a trip to Liverpool. This was a far more ambitious project than anything he had previously attempted, and he made his preparations with great thoroughness. Not content with simply providing tickets at low prices - 15 shillings for first-class passengers and 10 shillings for second. Thomas also investigated the route and published a handbook of the journey. This 60-page booklet was a forerunner of the modern holiday brochure.
The Great Exhibition
By the end of 1850, having already visited Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Thomas Cook began to contemplate foreign trips to Europe, the United States and the Holy Land. Such thoughts had to be postponed, however, when Sir Joseph Paxton, architect of the Crystal Palace, persuaded Thomas to devote himself to bringing workers from Yorkshire and the Midlands to London for the Great Exhibition of 1851. This he did with great enthusiasm, rarely spending a night at home between June and October, and he even produced a newspaper, Cook's Exhibition Herald and Excursion Advertiser, in order to promote his tours. By the end of the season Thomas had taken 150,000 people to London, his final trains to the Exhibition carrying 3,000 children from Leicester, Nottingham and Derby.
Across the Channel
Thomas continued to expand his business in Britain, but he was determined to develop it in Europe too. In 1855 an International Exhibition was held in Paris for the first time and Thomas seized this opportunity by trying to persuade the companies commanding the Channel traffic to allow him concessions. They refused to work with him, however, and the only route he was able to use was the one between Harwich and Antwerp. This opened up the way for a grand circular tour to include Brussels, Cologne, the Rhine, Heidelberg, Baden-Baden, Strasbourg and Paris, returning to London via Le Havre or Dieppe. By this route, during the summer of 1855, Thomas escorted his first tourists to Europe.
Switzerland and Italy
Thomas visited Switzerland for the first time in June 1863. Although this initial tour was little more than an information-gathering trip, a party of more than 60 ladies and gentlemen accompanied Thomas as far as Geneva. Among these pioneering tourists was a young woman called Jemima Morrell, who maintained a written account of each day's events. Her original diaries may be studied today in the Thomas Cook Archives. Thomas organised further trips to the Continent in 1863, and by the end of the season he had taken nearly 2000 tourists to Paris, some 500 of whom had continued to Switzerland. With the co-operation of the Paris, Lyons and Mediterranean Railway, Thomas began to issue circular tickets (in both English and French) between Paris and the Alps. He then established the first circular tours of Switzerland, which were such an immediate success that he decided to extend his arrangements across the Alps. The first Italian tours took place in the summer of 1864, when Thomas escorted two large groups, one to Florence and parts of central Italy, the other to Rome and Naples.
Hotel Coupons and Circular Notes
Thomas's travellers to Switzerland and Italy were from the growing middle classes and they expected better accommodation than his earlier working-class customers had. He therefore set out to negotiate with innkeepers and hotel proprietors to provide rooms and meals at good prices. His friendship with hoteliers, who were pleased to get his business, enabled Thomas to develop two important travel systems: one was the hotel coupon, launched in 1868, which travellers could use to pay for hotel accommodation and meals instead of using money; the other was his circular note, first issued in 1874 and a forerunner of the travellers cheque, which enabled tourists to obtain local currency in exchange for a paper note issued by Thomas Cook.
Beyond Europe
Building on his successes in Europe, Thomas made an exploratory trip to North America in 1865 and set up a system of tours covering 4,000 miles of railways. Four years later, in 1869, he hired two steamers and conducted his first party up the Nile. The climax of his career, however, came in September 1872 when, at the age of 63, he departed from Leicester on a tour of the world that would keep him away from home for almost eight months. It had long been his ambition to travel 'to Egypt via China', but such a trip only became practicable at the end of 1869 following the opening of the Suez Canal and the completion of a rail network linking the east and west coasts of America.
Thomas and his small party crossed the Atlantic by steamship and made their way through the United States from New York to San Francisco by rail. They travelled by Pacific steamer to Japan, then across the Inland Sea to China, and afterwards visited Singapore, Ceylon and India. Leaving Bombay, they crossed the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea to Cairo, from where most of the party travelled back to London. Thomas himself, however, set off on an extended tour of Egypt and Palestine, finally returning home via Turkey, Greece, Italy and France after an absence of 222 days. The conducted world tour quickly became an annual event, but many additional tickets were issued to independent travellers, some of whom went via Australia and New Zealand rather than China and Japan.
John Mason Cook
While Thomas was travelling round the world, his son, John Mason Cook, successfully completed the firm's move to a new head office at Ludgate Circus. However, father and son argued over certain aspects of the project and in 1878 their partnership ended. John was a better businessman than Thomas, and he set about expanding the company internationally. In an age when telegraphy was in its infancy and there were no telephones or fax machines, this was far from easy.
John created overseas editions of The Excursionist, the newspaper started by his father in 1851, to inform customers in places such as France, Germany, India, Australasia, America and the Far East about the services he offered. (This newspaper, which became known as The Traveller's Gazette in May 1902, continued to be published until 1939.) He also kept up a continuous stream of correspondence with his offices abroad, checking on their work and complaining if anything went wrong. Like many successful businessmen, John Mason Cook combined a flair for grasping business opportunities with a remarkable memory for small details.
The Gordon Relief Expedition
In 1884 John Mason Cook was asked by the British Government to organise a relief expedition up the Nile to rescue General Gordon from Khartoum. Arrangements were made for the movement of 18,000 troops, nearly 40,000 tons of supplies, 40,000 tons of coal and 800 whaleboats. To transport the coal from Tyneside to Boulac and Assiout via Alexandria, 28 large steamers and 6000 railway trucks were required. An additional 7000 railway trucks were needed for the military stores, while on the Nile 27 steamers and 650 sailing boats were used to carry the troops and supplies. John and his Egyptian managers acted as overseers of the entire operation, which relied on the labour of 5000 local men and boys, and completed their side of the contract in November 1884. Despite all the efforts, however, Khartoum fell in January 1885 and Gordon was killed.
Frank, Ernest and Bert
Thomas and John Mason Cook both died during the 1890s and the business was inherited by John's three sons: Frank Henry, Ernest Edward and Thomas Albert ('Bert'). During the first quarter of the twentieth century - a period which saw the introduction of winter sports holidays, tours by motor car and commercial air travel - the firm of Thos Cook and Son dominated the world travel scene.
The company was incorporated as Thos Cook & Son Ltd in 1924, and in 1926 the headquarters moved from Ludgate Circus to Berkeley Street, Mayfair, a once aristocratic area which was now the centre of London society. Then, in 1928, the surviving grandsons, Frank and Ernest (Bert having died in 1914), unexpectedly sold the business to the Belgian Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits et des Grands Express Européens, operators of most of Europe's luxury sleeping cars, including the Orient Express.
From Wagons-Lits to British Railways
Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, the Wagons-Lits headquarters in Paris was seized by occupying forces, and Cook's British assets were requisitioned by the British Government. To save the company from complete financial collapse in its centenary year, a deal was brokered and, fittingly, the organisation was sold to Britain's four mainline railway companies. Thos Cook & Son Ltd settled its affairs with Wagons-Lits (which retained a 25% share in Cook's overseas) immediately after the war, and in 1948 the firm became state-owned as part of the nationalised British Railways.
The Fifties and Sixties
Thomas Cook & Son Ltd benefited from the post-war holiday boom, which saw one million Britons travelling abroad by 1950. The company set up a Business Travel Service and refurbished its holiday camp at Prestatyn (which had opened shortly before the outbreak of war). Although Cook's remained the largest and most successful company in the industry, its pre-eminence was now being challenged by new travel firms that were able to undercut Cook's prices and offer cheap package deals. In 1965 the company's net profits exceeded £1 million for the first time, but in an increasingly cut-throat marketplace Thomas Cook began to fall behind its younger rivals
De-nationalisation and Beyond
In 1972 Thomas Cook returned to private ownership, bought by a consortium of Midland Bank, Trust House Forte and the Automobile Association. Radical reorganisation followed and a new, standardised corporate logo (the words ‘Thomas Cook’ in ‘flame’ red) was soon introduced. Thomas Cook managed to survive the recession of the 1970s – a recession that witnessed the collapse of several travel firms – and enhanced its reputation for providing excellent service by launching a Money Back Guarantee scheme in 1974.
Thomas Cook experienced many changes during the 1970s, including the sale of its holiday camp at Prestatyn and the relocation of its administrative headquarters from London to Peterborough. The firm also became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Midland Bank Group. During the 1980s Thomas Cook began to concentrate on its long-haul tours programme, purchasing Rankin Kuhn Travel in 1982 and quitting the short-haul package tours market in 1988 (a market to which Thomas Cook successfully returned in 1996 when it acquired Sunworld). Between 1985 and 1990, Thomas Cook also expanded its network of high street shops through the acquisition of the retail chains Frames, Blue Sky and Four Corners.
The company's continued success was assured in 1992 when it was purchased from Midland Bank by Westdeutsche Landesbank (WestLB), Germany’s third largest bank, and LTU Group, Germany’s leading charter airline. Thomas Cook became a wholly-owned subsidiary of WestLB in 1995. A period of expansion followed – which saw the acquisition of Sunworld, Time Off and Flying Colours in quick succession – culminating in Thomas Cook's merger with Carlson Leisure Group's UK travel interests and the subsequent formation of JMC (including JMC Airlines) in 1999.
Into the 21st Century
In March 2001, following the sale of its Global and Financial Services division to Travelex, Thomas Cook was acquired by C&N Touristic AG, one of Germany’s largest travel groups. Within a matter of months, C&N Touristic AG had changed its name to Thomas Cook AG and launched a new logo and brand identity. On 19 June 2007, Thomas Cook AG and MyTravel Group plc merged to form Thomas Cook Group plc.
Another merger followed in October 2011, when Thomas Cook amalgamated its UK high street travel and foreign exchange businesses with those of the Co-operative Group and the Midlands Co-operative Society to create the UK’s largest retail travel network of over 1200 shops. On 1 October 2013 Thomas Cook officially unveiled its new unified brand to the world. The ‘Sunny Heart’ and ‘Let’s go!’ tagline will form an important part of Thomas Cook’s future plans.
Thomas Cook Today
Today, Thomas Cook Group plc is one of the world’s leading leisure travel groups, with sales of over £9 billion and more than 20 million customers. The group is supported by c.27,000 employees and operates from 17 countries. It is number one or two in all its core markets. Thomas Cook’s vision is to deliver trusted, personalised holiday experiences through our high-tech, high-touch strategy. We will be there for our customers wherever, whenever and however they want to connect with us.
Thomas Cook’s timeless spirit of innovation started in 1841 and it is this that makes us stand out from the crowd. It is reflected in our new, trusted products and growing suite of online tools and applications (such as “RepAdvisor” and “DreamCapture”). Innovation shaped our past and it will continue to shape our future.
Further Reading
W. Fraser Rae, The Business of Travel - A Fifty Years' Record of Progress (Thos Cook & Son, 1891)
John Pudney, The Thomas Cook Story (Michael Joseph, 1953)
Edmund Swinglehurst, The Romantic Journey - The story of Thomas Cook and Victorian Travel (Pica Editions, 1974)
Edmund Swinglehurst, Cook's Tours - The Story of Popular Travel (Blandford Press, 1982)
Piers Brendon, Thomas Cook - 150 Years of Popular Tourism (Secker & Warburg, 1991)
Robert Ingle, Thomas Cook of Leicester (Headstart History, 1991)
Derek Seaton, The Local Legacy of Thomas Cook (self-published, 1996)
Lynne Withey, Grand Tours and Cook's Tours - A History of Leisure Travel, 1750 to 1915 (Aurum Press, 1998)
Andrew Williamson, The Golden Age of Travel - The Romantic Years of Tourism in Images from the Thomas Cook Archives (Thomas Cook Publishing, 1998)
Paul Smith, The History of Tourism - Thomas Cook and the Origins of Leisure Travel [boxed set of four volumes] (Routledge/ Thoemmes Press, 1998)
Jill Hamilton, Thomas Cook - The Holiday Maker (Sutton, 2005)
Company Archives
Thomas Cook possesses a unique collection of archive material covering all aspects of the company's history from the founder's first excursion on 5 July 1841 to the present. This material is held in the Company Archives, which functions as a corporate 'memory', offering an information service to Thomas Cook's various departments and to interested members of the public, as well as providing research facilities for academics, journalists and picture researchers from all over the world.
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Which was the first U.K. bank to introduce cash dispensing machines | Cash machines | Barclays
Cash machines
Parsys 2
A new service of automatic cash dispensing machines or “robot cashiers” was introduced by Barclays in June 1967 in order to allow the bank to operate a 24 hour service, 365 days a year.
Barclays was the first of the high street banks to offer such a service, launching the pilot machine at Enfield branch on 27 June 1967.
The world's first cash machine
The machines were developed jointly by De La Rue Instruments and the bank’s Management Services Department and were installed outside branches so that customers could obtain cash at any time of the day or night. The new service, known as Barclaycash, was designed to dispense £10 against a special paper voucher which the customer inserted into the machine. By keying in a personal code number, the customer could obtain cash in a matter of seconds.
Initially, six such machines were installed at selected branches and, despite being the victim of vandalism at first, proved popular. By the 1970s the machines had been refined in order to offer not only cash but also bank statements and deposit facilities as soon as the customer entered their card and P.I.N. (Personal Identification Number).
On 30 June 1975 a more sophisticated auto-teller service, called 'Barclaybank', was launched. The first two branches to offer the new machines were High Street and Cornmarket Street, Oxford. The machines were operated using a plastic card bearing the name Barclaybank. In 1986 it was decided to link the auto teller machines of Barclays, Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland and Bank of Scotland to enable Barclaybank holders to make cash withdrawals from any of the four banks’ machines and, in 1988, the West of England Building Society joined the reciprocal arrangement.
Barclaybank machines were not only installed outside branches: in 1986, for example, a machine was unveiled at an NCR factory; in 1990 the 10,000th ATM built by NCR - a Barclaybank - was installed as a working exhibit in the Science Museum, Kensington; machines were installed in the House of Commons in 1990 and the House of Lords in 1996.
The first 'drive-thru' cash machine in the UK was opened on 22 May 1998 at Hatton Cross, near Heathrow Airport by Cheryl Baker, TV presenter. It joined the fastest growing network of ATMs in the country which by 1999 had reached 3,200.
Today, more than 80% of cash withdrawn from banks is obtained through cash machines. Of the 63,000 cash machines in the UK, more than 42,000 are situated away from bank branches. The cash machine has become an indispensable part of modern life.
Barclays cash machines have come a long way since Reg Varney opened the first one more than forty years ago.
Parsys 3
| Barclays |
Who was the first prime minister of Modern Israel | BBC - London - Features - Enfield's cash gift to the world
You are in: London > Features > My London > Global City > Enfield's cash gift to the world
Reg Varney
Enfield's cash gift to the world
The cash machine is 40 years old this summer, but where was the birth place of this world-beating invention? New York? Tokyo? Zurich? No, the first ever cash machine was born in Enfield Town.
On June 27 1967, Reg Varney of 'On the Buses' fame became the first person to use a cash machine outside the Barclays Bank on Enfield High Street. Enfield's was the first of six pilot machines trialled by Barclays (the others were in Hove, Ipswich, Luton, Peterborough and Southend) and required the user to have a PIN number and a special paper voucher, which was inserted into the machine in return for a £10 note. Despite initial problems with vandalism, the machines proved popular and became a roaring success.
The Inventor
It was a Scottish inventor, John Shepherd-Barron, who realised the concept of a self-service machine that could be used 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to withdraw cash from one's own bank account. His wife persuaded him to use a four-digit PIN number rather than six because she thought it would be easier to remember. In 2005, Shepherd-Barron was awarded the OBE for his services to banking 'as inventor of the automatic cash dispenser.'
Marking the 40th anniversary, the inventor said, "I am delighted that the cash machine is still going strong. I remember back in 1965 that I would always take money out of my bank on a Saturday morning. However, one Saturday I was one minute late at my bank and it was closed. I had to ask my local garage to cash my cheque."
Reg Varney using the first cash machine
"That night I started thinking that there must be a better way to get cash when I wanted it. I thought of the chocolate vending machine where money was put in a lot and a bar dispatched – surely money could be dispensed in the same way. Within two years my idea had become reality and we opened the first cash machine at Barclays in Enfield."
Forty years on, there are 60,000 cash machines in the UK dispensing around £300m of cash on a quiet day such as Sunday and up to £700m on a busy day, typically a Friday.
It can even be argued that cash machines play a vital public service role and forms an essential part of the UK infrastructure. And, to think, that it all started in Enfield.
Enfield Town
"I think Enfield was a strange place to have the world's first cash machine. I suppose it is a source of pride."
Jean outside Enfield's Barclays
These are the understated words of a life-long Enfield resident, Jean Freeman, who herself celebrates her 80th birthday this summer. Mrs Freeman remembers that her son, Barry, was taken by his school teacher, to look at the cash machine a few days after it was unveiled.
Barry Freeman, who now lives in the Netherlands, was a pupil at Chace Secondary Boys School and recalls, "We were amazed at the time and were very aware of the fact that this was the first of its kind anywhere in the world."
"I was forty back then, and everyone used to look at it," says Mrs Freeman, who then goes on to admit that she was not the quickest convert. "I'm not really one to use cash machines because I'm frightened. I only started to use them three or four years ago. I do use them but only inside the banks."
Rather than using cash machines, Mrs Freeman says that she finds it much safer to use the 'cash-back' facility at the major supermarkets.
"I get told off by my son for not using the Internet. I am interested, but we were in an older era and just never learnt how to use it. I have a mobile phone. When it was first bought for me, I thought I would never use it but now I do it use. I still can't text."
"Enfield has changed so much – it used to be all countryside and a little village." Mrs Freeman tells BBC London wistfully. "It's improved like everything else, but it has got so busy now."
A cashless future?
We are constantly being told that we are moving towards a cashless society, so is the cash machine still a vital feature of every high street? We can now travel around London with our Oyster Cards, pay for the Congestion Charge with our mobile phones and do all our shopping online.
Graham Mott, Head of Planning and Development for LINK, the company that operates the national network of cash machines on behalf of High Street banks, maintains that the future is looking bright.
Mr Mott told BBC London, "People have been talking about the cashless society for some time and the date moves forward five years every time. It is now further away than ever. There is no successful replacement for cash anywhere."
"Customers are reluctant to move away from cash. Usage of cash machines rises consistently between 3%-5% year-on-year."
The developers of the Max Box, launching in the UK this summer, hope there is still a future for cash machines, or rather, they believe they are shaping the future. They are launching what they call a 'revolutionary' cash machine that will also allow users to print off photos, order flowers, buy ring-tones, play games – as well as taking out cash.
However, Mr Mott of LINK is sceptical if users will warm to multi-function cash machines.
"In the UK there is a real desire to focus on the cash." He said. "We are more reluctant to do anything to distract from that. It is possible to have machines to sell theatre or cinema tickets. But people would not be particularly keen on the person in front of them doing that. It would just mean more queuing. People want to 'cash and dash' - get through the transaction as quickly as possible."
"I think the machines will become location specific. Some machines will just be 'cash and dash' and other machines, perhaps the ones inside the banks, will offer more services."
What about using our finger prints instead of a card?
"We could have finger print ATMs right now," explains Mr Mott. "The main constraint at the moment is that we are still having too many false-denials – when the machine fails to match a person with their real fingerprint. That would be an unpleasant experience for them."
"The other issue is privacy. People don't like a database of their finger prints or their irises. I think they would only be accepted on the back of a broader ID database scheme."
One potential new development could involve a tie-up with Transport for London's Oyster Card scheme, possibly allowing users to top-up their Oyster Cards at cash machines but Mr Mott warns that there are still considerable technical problems to be resolved.
Taking over the world
All these new developments whether it is finger print or face recognition technology, will happen in good time and mark another chapter in this story. But for now, forty years after Reg Varney used the first cash machine, there are 1.6 million of them worldwide. There is one at the South Pole. There are some in Norway that talk to help blind users. In parts of the United States they have now replaced whole banks. A German monastery is replacing its collection boxes with a device that will accept payments from debit and credit cards. And, yes, it all started in Enfield.
last updated: 27/06/07
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Who was the first American president to have a beard | President With Facial Hair - List
1. Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the first bearded president of the United States. But he might have entered office clean-shaven in March 1861 were it not from a letter from 11-year-old Grace Bedell of New York , who didn't like the way he looked on the 1860 campaign trail without facial hair.
Bedell wrote to Lincoln before the election:
"I have yet got four brothers and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husbands to vote for you and then you would be President."
Lincoln started growing a beard, and by the time he was elected and began his journey from Illinois to Washington in 1861 he had grown the beard for which he is so remembered .
One note, however: Lincoln's beard was not actually a full beard. It was a "chinstrap," meaning he shaved his upper lip.
Lincoln served as president from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. More »
Ulysses Grant. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)
2. Ulysses Grant
Grant was the second bearded president. Before he was elected, Grant was known to wear his beard in a manner that was described as both "wild" and "shaggy" during the Civil War. The style did not suit his wife, however, so he trimmed it back.
Purists point out the Grant was the first president to wear a full beard compared to Lincoln's "chinstrap."
In 1868, author James Sanks Brisbin described Grant's facial hair this way: "The whole of the lower part of the face is covered with a closely cropped reddish beard, and on the upper lip he wears a mustache, cut to match the beard."
Author A. D. Peterkin noted that Grant also had the "hairiest cabinet."
Grant served as president from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877. More »
Rutherford Hayes. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division
Hayes was the third bearded president. He reportedly wore the longest beard of the five bearded presidents, what some described as Walt Whitman -ish. Hayes served as president from March 4, 1877 to March 4, 1881. More »
James Garfield. Brady-Handy Photograph Collection
4. James Garfield
Garfield was the fourth bearded president. His beard has been described as being similar to that of Rasputin 's, black with streaks of gray in it.
Garfield served as president from March 5, 1881, until September 19, 1881. He died after being assassinated in July of that year. More »
Banjamin Harrison. United States Library of Congress's Prints and Photographs division
5. Benjamin Harrison
Harrison was the fifth bearded president. He wore a beard the entire four years he was in the White House, from March 4, 1889, to March 4, 1893. He was the last president to wear a beard, one of the more notable elements of a relatively unremarkable tenure in office.
Author O'Brien Cormac wrote this of the president in his 2004 book Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Men of the White House: "Harrison may not be the most memorable chief executive in American history, but he did, in fact, embody the end of an era: He was the last president to have a beard." More »
| Abraham Lincoln |
Which record company produced the first gramophone records | Abraham Lincoln's Beard
ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S BEARD: THE IDEA OF AN 11-YEAR-OLD GIRL!
It was the fall of 1860. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican nominee for president of the United States. Election Day was less than a month away. Mr. Lincoln, a lifelong beardless man, received a letter written by Grace Bedell, an 11-year-old girl from Westfield, New York. Written October 15th, 1860, the letter urged him to grow a beard. Unedited, Miss Bedell's letter read:
Hon A B Lincoln...
Dear Sir
My father has just home from the fair and brought home your picture and Mr. Hamlin's. I am a little girl only 11 years old, but want you should be President of the United States very much so I hope you wont think me very bold to write to such a great man as you are. Have you any little girls about as large as I am if so give them my love and tell her to write to me if you cannot answer this letter. I have got 4 brother's and part of them will vote for you any way and if you let your whiskers grow I will try and get the rest of them to vote for you you would look a great deal better for your face is so thin. All the ladies like whiskers and they would tease their husband's to vote for you and then you would be President. My father is going to vote for you and if I was a man I would vote for you to but I will try to get every one to vote for you that I can I think that rail fence around your picture makes it look very pretty I have got a little baby sister she is nine weeks old and is just as cunning as can be. When you direct your letter direct to Grace Bedell Westfield Chatauque County New York
I must not write any more answer this letter right off Good bye
Grace Bedell
The Republican presidential nominee responded on October 19th. His letter to Grace Bedell read:
Private
Miss Grace Bedell
My dear little Miss
Your very agreeable letter of the 15th is received - I regret the necessity of saying I have no daughters - I have three sons - one seventeen, one nine, and one seven years of age - They, with their mother, constitute my whole family - As to the whiskers, having never worn any, do you not think people would call it a piece of silly affection if I were to begin it now?
Your very sincere well wisher
A. Lincoln
The rest is history. When Abraham Lincoln left Springfield on February 11th, 1861, bound for the White House, he was fully bearded. On February 16th the train stopped in Westfield, New York. The president-elect appeared on the train platform, and he called out for Grace. Grace was in the crowd with her two sisters, Alice and Helen. She came forth, Lincoln kissed her, and he said he took her advice. (The photograph to the left was taken in 1863 when Grace was 14; at the right is Grace in adulthood; the photograph in the center is Grace in her mid 60's.)
Today, the original of Grace's letter to Lincoln is in the Burton Historical Collection of the Detroit Public Library. In the early 1990's it was offered for sale at a price of $1,000,000. A private collector who wishes to remain anonymous owns Lincoln�s letter to Grace.
When she was 17, Grace married George Billings, and the couple moved to Delphos, Kansas. Billings was a former Civil War sergeant. The couple had one child, Harlow Drake Billings, who was born on September 16, 1872. Grace passed away on Monday, November 2, 1936, two days prior to what would have been her 88th birthday. Both she and her husband are buried in the Delphos Cemetery. The text of her letter and Mr. Lincoln's reply are on a memorial that was dedicated in the town square on August 8, 1966. The Governor of Kansas, William H. Avery, presided over the dedication ceremonies. The text of the monument reads: "Delphos: the Home of Lincoln's Little Correspondent."
For more on Grace Bedell see Fred Trump's Lincoln's Little Girl: A True Story or Mr. Lincoln's Whiskers by Karen B. Winnick (for younger readers). They are both excellent books. The photographs of Grace as a young girl and in her later years came from Trump's book. The photograph of the middle aged Grace came from Life of Abraham Lincoln by Clifton M. Nichols.
In 2007 researcher Karen Needles found a second Grace Bedell letter to Lincoln. It was discovered in old Treasury Department documents at the National Archives. This letter, dated January 14, 1864, was a request for Lincoln's help as Grace was seeking employment in the Treasury Department. There is no record of any response by Lincoln; it is probable that the letter never reached his desk. For more details on this second letter, CLICK HERE .
In 1999 Westfield erected these statues to honor Abraham and Grace. The photographs were taken by Kieran McAuliffe and sent to me by Ed Steers. Thank you, Kieran and Ed!
This is not a commercial website. None of the photographs and artwork exhibited herein are being sold by the webmaster. Some photographs and artwork are believed to be in the public domain. Any copyrighted photographs and artwork are used in the context of this website strictly for educational, research and historical purposes only, under the "Fair Use" provisions of the Copyright Act, (US CODE: Title 17,107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair Use Section 107). Anyone claiming copyright to any of the posted photographs or artwork please inform the webmaster of such and it will be duly noted or removed.
This page is part of the Abraham Lincoln Research Site. Questions, comments, corrections or suggestions can be sent to R. J. Norton , the creator and maintainer of this site. All text except reprinted articles was written by the webmaster, ©1996-2017. All rights reserved. It is unlawful to copy, reproduce or transmit in any form or by any means, electronic or hard copy, including reproducing on another web page, or in any information or retrieval system without the express written permission of the author. The website was born on December 29, 1996.
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Who was the first coloured man to appear on The Black and White Minstrel Show | Lenny Henry admits regrets over his appearance on The Black and White Minstrel Show - Mirror Online
TV
Lenny Henry admits regrets over his appearance on The Black and White Minstrel Show
The veteran comedian, 56, appeared on the under-fire show in the 1970s after winning TV talent show, New Faces
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"Political football": Lenny with Ray Lavender and Ray Winbow on The Black and White Minstrel Show
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Sir Lenny Henry has told how he was used as a “political football” early on in his showbiz career.
The comedian, 56, appeared on The Black and White Minstrel Show in the 70s after winning New Faces.
But he now looks back with horror at his involvement in the programme.
He said: “I was being used as a political football: the minstrel shows were under fire then for blacking up white people, and it meant they could say, ‘Oh, but we’ve got that black kid from the telly, so it’s all right’.”
Sir Lenny told Radio Times that for much of his career he was “the only black guy within five miles”.
"Anomalous: Lenny, pictured with his mother in 1975, was one of a few black comedians (Photo: Mirrorpix)
He later realised part of his popularity was due to him doing impressions of white characters.
He said: “I was only made aware of that afterwards, that strange, anomalous nature of it, that I was black.”
He plays his own father in Danny and the Human Zoo, a “fantasy memoir” based on his life as a teenager, which is on BBC1 on Bank Holiday Monday.
| Lenny Henry |
Who was the first person known to have died from the effects of radiation | Lenny Henry admits regrets over his appearance on The Black and White Minstrel Show - Mirror Online
TV
Lenny Henry admits regrets over his appearance on The Black and White Minstrel Show
The veteran comedian, 56, appeared on the under-fire show in the 1970s after winning TV talent show, New Faces
Share
"Political football": Lenny with Ray Lavender and Ray Winbow on The Black and White Minstrel Show
Share
Get celebs updates directly to your inbox
+ Subscribe
Thank you for subscribing!
Could not subscribe, try again laterInvalid Email
Sir Lenny Henry has told how he was used as a “political football” early on in his showbiz career.
The comedian, 56, appeared on The Black and White Minstrel Show in the 70s after winning New Faces.
But he now looks back with horror at his involvement in the programme.
He said: “I was being used as a political football: the minstrel shows were under fire then for blacking up white people, and it meant they could say, ‘Oh, but we’ve got that black kid from the telly, so it’s all right’.”
Sir Lenny told Radio Times that for much of his career he was “the only black guy within five miles”.
"Anomalous: Lenny, pictured with his mother in 1975, was one of a few black comedians (Photo: Mirrorpix)
He later realised part of his popularity was due to him doing impressions of white characters.
He said: “I was only made aware of that afterwards, that strange, anomalous nature of it, that I was black.”
He plays his own father in Danny and the Human Zoo, a “fantasy memoir” based on his life as a teenager, which is on BBC1 on Bank Holiday Monday.
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In which war was the term Fifth Column first used | Fifth column - definition of fifth column by The Free Dictionary
Fifth column - definition of fifth column by The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fifth+column
Related to fifth column: fifth estate
fifth column
n.
A clandestine subversive organization working within a country to further an invading enemy's military and political aims.
[First applied in 1936 to rebel sympathizers inside Madrid when four columns of rebel troops were attacking that city.]
fifth col′um·nism (kŏl′əm-nĭz′əm) n.
fifth columnist n.
fifth column
n
1. (Historical Terms) (originally) a group of Falangist sympathizers in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War who were prepared to join the four columns of insurgents marching on the city
2. any group of hostile or subversive infiltrators; an enemy in one's midst
fifth columnist n
fifth′ col′umn
n.
1. a group of people who act traitorously and subversively out of a secret sympathy with an enemy of their country.
2. (originally) Franco sympathizers in Madrid during the Spanish Civil War: the insurgents had four columns marching on Madrid and a “fifth column” of supporters already in the city.
fifth′ col′umnist, n.
Noun
1.
fifth column - a subversive group that supports the enemy and engages in espionage or sabotage; an enemy in your midst
social unit , unit - an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; "the coach said the offensive unit did a good job"; "after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit"
fifth columnist , saboteur - a member of a clandestine subversive organization who tries to help a potential invader
Translations
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References in periodicals archive ?
Defense lawyers claimed that their clients had been defending themselves from "a fifth column that entered the war and played its game in assaulting the Army, to hit the reputation of Tripoli.
Rifi: Hezbollah turned into militia, entering Arsal to destroy country
This week we particularly welcome Bridge House Mission which supports homeless people in Stockton-on-Tees, Lister Housing Co-operative Ltd in Edinburgh, First Step Trust in London which helps disadvantaged people back to work, Eco-Klean carpet cleaners in Wiltshire, the national body Royal Town Planning Institute, textiles specialist Thomas Kneale & Co Ltd in Manchester, London T-shirt printers Fifth Column Ltd, Hegarty Solicitors in Peterborough and Stamford, Kilpatrick Blane window control specialists in Inverclyde, Scotland, and Witherby marine publishers in Livingstone, Scotland.
| Spanish Civil War |
Who was the first wife of Henry V111 | 'Vexillologist'; 'fifth column'; 'Homer sometimes nods'
http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Dear Editor:
Well, he did it again. On the Fourth of July my know-it-all cousin stumped me with a word I'd never heard before. I'm not even sure how to spell it - ``vexillologist''?
E.C., Medina, Minn.
Dear E.C.:
Don't be vexed by ``vexillologist.'' Your cousin undoubtedly used your Independence Day celebration to bring it up because it is the word for a person who studies flags. Vexillologists undertake scholarly investigations of flags, producing papers with titles such as ``A Review of the Changing Proportions of Rectangular Flags Since Medieval Times, and Some Suggestions for the Future.'' Whitney Smith, a pioneer in the field, is credited with having coined the term ``vexillology'' in the late 1950s for the study of flags. The word comes from ``vexillum,'' the Latin term for a square flag or banner used by the ancient Roman cavalry.
Dear Editor:
An article I read used the term ``fifth column.'' I have never heard this phrase before. What is a ``fifth column''?
F.C., Orem, Utah
Dear F.C.:
``Fifth column'' is a term used to refer to a group of secret sympathizers or supporters of an enemy within defense lines or national borders, and especially such a group that engages in espionage or sabotage. The term first came into use in the mid-1930s in the context of the Spanish Civil War, although the exact source is uncertain.
``Fifth column'' apparently first appeared in English in dispatches by William Carney, a correspondent for The New York Times reporting on the Civil War in Spain. On Oct. 16, 1936, Carney mentioned raids in Republican-held Madrid that ``apparently were instigated by a recent broadcast over the Rebel radio station by General Emilio Mola. He stated he was counting on four columns of troops outside Madrid and another column of persons hiding within the city who would join the invaders as soon as they entered the capital.''
Carney was accurately reflecting the fact that Spanish ``quinta columna,'' or ``fifth column,'' was an epithet for subversive Nationalist (``rebel'') elements in the city. But subsequent literature on the war makes no mention of a radio broadcast by Mola, which Carney himself seems not to have heard, and Nationalist biographies of Mola do not attribute the phrase to him. In fact, the first documented use of ``quinta columna'' was on Oct. 2, 1936, in a newspaper article by the Communist leader Dolores Ibarruri, known in Spain as ``La Pasionaria,'' or ``The Passionflower.'' The phrase may actually have been a propaganda invention of the Republicans attributed to Mola in order to justify reprisals against the supposed Nationalist supporters in Madrid. In any event, ``fifth column'' soon became an international catchphrase for a conspiracy of traitors within one's own camp.
Dear Editor:
I'm curious about an expression I've heard - ``Homer sometimes nods.'' What does it mean?
K.W., Fremont, Calif.
Dear K.W.:
The phrase ``Homer sometimes nods'' or ``even Homer nods'' means that even someone who is the best at what they do can turn in a subpar performance. It is a translation of a line from ``Ars Poetica'' by the Roman poet Horace. The sense of ``nod'' meant here is not the downward motion of the head used to indicate a ``yes'' response to something, but the drooping of the head as an indication that someone is about to ``nod'' off to sleep.
Homer was an epic poet, a giant of Greek literature, and the creator of the Iliad and the Odyssey, but Horace obviously felt that that even such a gifted and admired figure was not always at his best. As he put it, ``I think it a shame when the worthy Homer nods; but in so long a work it is allowable if drowsiness comes on.''
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Readers may send questions to Merriam-Webster column, P.O. Box 281, 47 Federal St., Springfield, Mass. 01102. Comment by clicking here.
08/05/04 : 'Spitting image'; 'eclectic'; 'spendthrift'
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What was the first ever household detergent (washing powder) | Best Laundry Detergent Reviews – Consumer Reports
Persil ProClean Power-Liquid Sensitive Skin
Laundry detergent buying guide
High-efficiency top-loaders and front-loaders use a lot less water than agitator top-loaders and require low-sudsing detergents--you'll see HE on the detergent label. Most labels say the HE detergent can also be used in agitator top-loaders. With dual-use detergents on the increase it's harder to find detergent meant only for agitator top-loaders.You'll see four in our Ratings, along with dozens of HE and dual-use detergents in liquid, powder,and pod form.
Pods are convenient and some we tested are impressive at cleaning, but they're a serious health hazard for young children. From January through November 2015, poison-control centers nationwide received 11,552 reports of children 5 and younger ingesting or inhaling pods, or getting pod contents on their skin or in their eyes, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. As early as 2012 Consumer Reports called on manufacturers to make pods safer, and many repsonded posivitely by switching from clear to opague plastic containers and, on some,adding child-resistant latches.
But too many children are still getting their hands on pods. Given this continued danger, we have decided not to include pods on our list of recommended detergents. None were impressive enough in the latest tests to make the cut, but some have been in the past. And we strongly urge households where children younger than 6 are ever present to skip pods altogether. See this story for more details.
| Persil |
Which school was the first to have an old school tie | Best Laundry Detergent Reviews – Consumer Reports
Persil ProClean Power-Liquid Sensitive Skin
Laundry detergent buying guide
High-efficiency top-loaders and front-loaders use a lot less water than agitator top-loaders and require low-sudsing detergents--you'll see HE on the detergent label. Most labels say the HE detergent can also be used in agitator top-loaders. With dual-use detergents on the increase it's harder to find detergent meant only for agitator top-loaders.You'll see four in our Ratings, along with dozens of HE and dual-use detergents in liquid, powder,and pod form.
Pods are convenient and some we tested are impressive at cleaning, but they're a serious health hazard for young children. From January through November 2015, poison-control centers nationwide received 11,552 reports of children 5 and younger ingesting or inhaling pods, or getting pod contents on their skin or in their eyes, according to the American Association of Poison Control Centers. As early as 2012 Consumer Reports called on manufacturers to make pods safer, and many repsonded posivitely by switching from clear to opague plastic containers and, on some,adding child-resistant latches.
But too many children are still getting their hands on pods. Given this continued danger, we have decided not to include pods on our list of recommended detergents. None were impressive enough in the latest tests to make the cut, but some have been in the past. And we strongly urge households where children younger than 6 are ever present to skip pods altogether. See this story for more details.
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Which Stratford on Avon brewery is the first to have used the term Keg in the name of one of their products | Flower and Sons Ltd. - Stratford-on-Avon, History, Photographs
Some history of Flower and Sons Ltd.
Flower's Brewery was founded in 1831 by Edward Fordham Flower. Born in 1805, he was the youngest son of Richard Flower, a brewer, banker, politician and sheep breeder of Marden Hall, near Hertford. The family owned a significant estate but Richard Flower, reportedly despondent and pessimistic with regard to the depressed condition of Britain's agricultural industry following the war with France, decided to sell his property and land and emigrate to America. He assembled a large party of friends and labourers to join his family's move to what was then the frontier region. Edward Flower was 12 when the family was uprooted in 1817.
Richard Flower was a key member of a group of pioneers who proposed to establish a small colony within Illinois. After a long and arduous journey the settlers named the colony Albion which, today, is the seat of Edwards County. Richard Flower acquired a large tract of land from the Government, though local inhabitants viewed the 'English Settlement' with some suspicion. Five years earlier the two countries had been at war. The family settled shortly before Illinois became the 21st U.S. state. Allegedly, Richard Flower played an influential role during an 1822 vote in which state residents decided against making slavery legal. Paradoxically, native Americans were obligated to leave the region and move to Iowa, an undertaking enforced by the Black Hawk War of 1832. In helping his father establishing a new home in adversity, Edward Flower's teenage years were no doubt colourful.
Through shrewd investment in livestock and agricultural machinery, the Flower's were successful in establishing flourishing farmlands, a key learning experience for the future brewer Edward Flower who became known for his remarkably energetic character. Edward Flower would later recount that, living close to the border of a slave state, the family were "constantly having skirmishes with kidnappers, and protecting free African-American's from capture." His father is credited with frequently assisting them in their escapes by personal and pecuniary aid.
Edward Flower became gravelly ill with severe fever and ague when he was 19 years-old. As part of his rehabilitation he returned to England. During his convalescence, which was arguably an elegiacal experience, he determined to remain in the land of his birth. There is however an account which alleges that Edward Flower had to flee America following threats to his life after being involved in an anti-slavery campaign.
Formal education had not been a possibility in America so he determined to acquire some learning north of the border at Lanark where he was staying with the family of the late Robert Owen. How Edward came to Warwickshire is not clear. However, in 1827 he married Celina, eldest daughter of John Greaves and Mary Whitehead of Watchbury House, Barford.
Edward Flower was now part of a wealthy family but determined to forge his own independence by going into business. His first enterprise as a timber merchant was in partnership with John Cox. However, this venture proved unsuccessful and dented his capital. It was the Duke of Wellington's Government, who had cut the tax on brewery beer, that inspired Edward to enter the brewing industry. He gained experience of brewing through family relatives, the Fordham family, and served a form of apprenticeship at their premises in Ashwell, Hertfordshire. In 1831, with a legacy following his father's death in Illinois, he established his own brewery at Stratford-on-Avon . The premises were erected on land between the Birmingham and Clopton roads. The brewery was served by a canal wharf which facilitated the delivery of materials along with the onward distribution of finished products.
The first few years were not without difficulty, particularly through hard lessons learned from poor techniques. However, the introduction of an East India Pale Ale, based on the pale beers produced in Burton-on-Trent , put the brewery on the map. Sales increased rapidly year-on-year and the company's future was secured. In 1852 Edward Flower was joined by his son Charles. Another son, Edgar, would also join the company which enjoyed steady growth during the mid-Victorian period. The original site proved to be too small so a new brewery was built on the Birmingham Road. Brewing continued at the old plant and the offices were retained for an administrative function.
After thirty successful years, Edward Flower retired from the brewery and left the business in the control of two of his sons in 1863. The company's founder was four times Mayor of Stratford, and was also a county magistrate. He became known for entertaining American tourists who came to visit Shakespeare's birthplace, often opening his doors to visitors at The Hill, a mansion he had built in 1855 with wealth accumulated through the brewery. His last term as Mayor saw him oversee the town's celebrations for the Tercentenary of Shakespeare. He twice contested parliamentary seats but was not elected. He and his wife Celina moved to London where the retired brewer worked as a philanthropist, particularly in the field of equine care. Indeed, he would later be dubbed the "Horse's Friend." Edward Fordham Flower died in 1883 at his residence in Hyde Park Gardens. Celina died a year later.
Charles Edward Flower, who had joined the brewery in 1852, also served as Mayor of Stratford and was the munificent founder of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Edgar Flower, in addition to his work at the brewery, was known as an artist and local antiquary. Edward and Celina's other son was Professor William Henry Flower, the distinguished naturalist and surgeon, and also Conservator of the Hunterian Museum of the College of Surgeons. He also served as Director of the Natural History Museum. Charles Flower died in May 1892 from apoplexy during a meeting of the Warwickshire County Council. He and his wife Sarah resided at Avonbank to the north of Trinity Church. The daughter of Philip Martineau, Highbury, London, she also took an active role founding the Shakespeare Memorial Buildings. Following her husband's death, she continued to take a keen interest in the festival, her monetary contributions being frequent and generous. She also continued to fund the restoration of the grammar school, almshouses and the Guild Chapel. After she died in 1908, the newspapers reported that "her private charity knew no bounds, and her philanthropy was not confined to any one sect." In addition to money, she left Avonbank, along with the gardens, and grounds, in order that they "should be connected with those of the Shakespeare Memorial Association by a continuous public walk, and that the house and gardens should be used as an adjunct to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre.
It was under the stewardship of Charles and Edgar Flower that the new brewery was constructed. During the mid-Victorian period the firm had become one of the most important employers in Stratford-on-Avon . By the time the new brewery was completed the workforce was around 200. Many more local people were engaged in trades that depended on the continued success of the company, from farmers to timber suppliers. In the late 1860's John Tod Dickie and John Wittews Downson joined the two Flower brothers in the management of the company.
The new brewery was constructed by the building firm of J. & G. Callaway during the winter of 1869 and completed in March 1870. The old brewery remained in operation next to the canal network but, with a forward-vision of new transport networks, the new brewery was sited close to Stratford-on-Avon's railway station and served by its own sidings. The brewery was further extended in 1874, suggesting that the original plans were inadequate or that the company's sales were exceeding expectations. Export sales were an important component of the accounts and facilitated growth, along with establishing Flower and Sons as an important UK brewery. A network of agency offices were established throughout the country and this developed the company's domestic market considerably during the late 19th century.
As brewing science developed during the Victorian period, the brewery was altered and improved on a regular basis. One such innovation was the modernisation of the mashing plant in 1881 by Emil Welz, a German brewer and engineer. Five years later electricity was installed at the brewery to ensure a constant energy supply.
Along with capital expenditure on the brewery, Flower and Sons developed a tied estate of public houses. By the end of the 1870's the company controlled 20 public houses, mainly in the Stratford-on-Avon area but also with a few outposts a little further afield. Further acquisitions were made during the early-mid 1880's but the estate's size was accelerated when the business was registered as a limited liability company in February 1888. Directors on the early board included Edgar Flower, his sons Archibald Flower and Richard Fordham Flower. The latter was killed at Hammanskraal during the Boer War when serving as a lieutenant in the Warwickshire Imperial Yeomanry. Madeira-born Archibald Park also sat on the board, along with Francis Lawrence Talbot who had been appointed as head brewer. It was during the company's restructuring that Charles Flower retired from the business.
Although Charles Flower headed the business for many years, he is perhaps remembered for his endeavours commemorating Shakespeare. It was in 1875 that he donated a two-acre site and launched an international campaign to erect a theatre in The Bard's birthplace. The resulting theatre, a building adored by Oscar Wilde and accommodating over 700 people, opened in 1879 with a performance of "Much Ado About Nothing." The theatre was destroyed by fire in 1926 and Archibald Flower, nephew of Charles Flower, launched a fund to build a replacement. In 1927 he embarked on a fund-raising trip to the United States in which he and his wife raised a million dollars. Five years later the New Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, the first public building to be designed by a female architect [Elisabeth Whitworth Scott], opened to the public.
Archibald Flower took over at the helm of the company following the death of Edgar Flower in July 1903. However, he and his brother Richard Fordham Flower had played an increasing role within the company since it had been registered in 1888. In 1896 the brothers offered former apprentice Gilbert Thwaites a place on the board at Flower and Sons Ltd. He was a member of the Thwaites family that owned the Eanam Brewery in Blackburn.
Although Flower and Sons Ltd. snapped up individual public houses that came onto the market they, like many large brewery concerns, started to acquire rival breweries in order to take control of their tied houses. In 1896 the company acquired the Caudlewell Brewery at Shipston-on-Stour for £28,250, a deal that included 26 public houses. The company went further afield in a bid to increase their estate. In 1899, Flower's took over the Tavistock Brewery in Devon. Gillett's Swan Brewery at Moreton-in-Marsh was acquired during the following year.
The early years of the 20th century were not favourable for Flower and Sons Ltd. Difficult trading conditions and government legislation forced the shrinking of some markets, particularly within London. Through the autocratic leadership of Archibald Flower, the company remained stable but ambitions of becoming a national brand diminished. However, the company continued as an important provincial brewer.
Trade improved after the First World War and the company reinstated its takeover programme, notably Fortescue & Son of Bromsgrove in 1926 and Rowland's Brewery of Evesham in 1948. By this time the company's tied estate totalled 350 properties.
Sir Archibald Flower died aged 85 in November 1950 so did not live to witness the takeover of the family's brewery. He had been Chairman of the Trustees and Guardians of Shakespeare's Birthplace for 50 years, along with a similar position at the Council of the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre. Flower's Brewery was acquired by J. W. Green Ltd of Luton in 1954 and the name changed to Flower's Breweries Ltd. In 1961 the parent company was absorbed by the expanding Whitbread empire, one of the big six brewers in the UK. Flower's Brewery was closed in 1968 and production transferred to Whitbread's Cheltenham brewery.
Newspaper Articles
"Mr. Richard Flower, most respectable farmer from Hertfordshire, emigrated with his property to America, and has bought and settled with his family on land in the Illinois. From that place, he has written to his friends, giving account of the prospective advantages of the place from the richness of the soil, the salubrity of the climate, and the cheapness of living, but he justly abhors and condemns the continuation of slavery in the United States, which ought to keep every liberal man from its shores; and he does not, in our mind, lay sufficient stress on the privations which a person accustomed to the comforts of England must endure. He can have no recourse to medical aid in case of malady - no intellectual enjoyment, for he says there are no books; and if they could by their industry produce in time a surplus corn, they have no market nearer than hundreds of miles."
"Friday's Post"
Hereford Journal : December 15th 1819 Page 1.
"A complimentary dinner was given to the workmen and others in the employ of Messrs. Flower and Sons, brewers, of Stratford-upon-Avon, on Saturday afternoon last. The occasion was the completion of a new brewery on the Birmingham Road, which has been necessitated by the enormous increase in their trade. The brewery, established in 1830, now covers an extent of ground of many acres. The new brewery, erected on the west side of the Birmingham Road and adjacent to the Railway Road, was designed firm, and the work carried out by Messrs. J. and G. Callaway, contractors and builders, Birmingham. It has been most substantially erected, and with all the modern appliances requisite for carrying on a gigantic trade. The engineering part of the internal fittings have been constructed and erected by Mr. Oxley, of Frome under the direction of the chief engineer, Mr. Wilson. Every recent improvement has been introduced, and the size and completeness of the whole, both internally and externally, render it capable for the firm to meet the requirements of their heavy trade. The entertainment was given in the "Union Room," on the ground floor. Three long ranges of tables, with a cross table, were placed the entire length of the building, and at them were seated nearly 300 of the workmen. The invited guests included the Mayor [Mr. Bird], and other local notabilities."
"Messrs. Flowers New Brewery"
Worcestershire Chronicle : March 16th 1870 Page 2.
"We much regret report a serious accident which befell Mrs. Archibald Flower, wife of the Mayor of Stratford-on-Avon, on Friday last, whilst hunting with the North Cotswold Hounds. The meet was at Charingworth, and the accident occurred near Campden. Mrs. Flower is a fearless rider and goes straight at a fence; and on Friday her horse fell on landing over a fence where there was big drop, with rough ground sloping away, Mrs. Flower being thrown to her head. The animal must have turned right over, as the pummel of the saddle was crumpled up; but we are pleased to say that it neither kicked nor fell on its rider. Mr. Flower, who was only about a hundred yards off, at once came to the assistance of his wife, and found her lying stunned by the fall and unconscious. Messengers were despatched for medical aid, but it was half-an-hour before a doctor arrived. Under the care of Dr. Dewhurst the unfortunate lady was removed to Greville House, Campden, Mr. Dease kindly placing his residence at her service. At eight o'clock Mrs. Flower regained consciousness for minute and recognised her husband. Since then she has been lying in comatose state - just able to speak at times, but apparently knowing nothing about the accident. Mrs. Flower was brought home to The Hill on Monday afternoon and has since been attended by Dr. Norbury. She is suffering from concussion of the brain, fortunately sustaining no other injury. She has been slightly improving every day, and Dr. Norbury is well satisfied with her progress. Our representative called at The Hill late last evening, and this was the gratifying intelligence imparted to him by the Mayor. The greatest sympathy is felt throughout the town for both Mr. and Mrs. Flower, and earnest hopes are entertained that the Mayoress may be speedily restored to health. Mr. Flower asks us to express his thanks for kindly enquiries after Mrs Flower to the many whom he has not been able to thank individually."
"Accident to Mrs. Archibald Flower"
Leamington Spa Courier : January 31st 1902 Page 8.
"After over 64 years' connection with the firm of Messrs. Flower and Sons Ltd., the brewers, 59 years as their traveller - he retired in 1933 - Mr. William Henry Kilmister died on Saturday at his home, 10, Priory Terrace, Cheltenham. Well known in Cheltenham and throughout the Cotswolds, Mr. Kilmister, who was in his 90th year, and had been in failing health for about two years, was a son of the late Mr. William Kilmister, who was for 55 years the licensee of the Fairview Inn, Cheltenham. Mr. and Mrs. Kilmister celebrated the 65th anniversary of their wedding in April, 1944, for they were married at Highbury Congregational Church on April 14, 1879. Sympathy of many friends will be extended to Mrs. Kilmister, the one married daughter, who resides in Gloucester, and four sons, all of Cheltenham in their loss. Joining the firm of Messrs. Flower when he was 14, Mr. Kilmister became a traveller for the company five years later, and continued in this capacity up to the time of his retirement. For 40 years he travelled the Cotswolds in horse and trap, and in his early days when there were few houses that were not free, he did an extensive trade with private customers in town and country. A nine-gallon cask of beer was then much in favour, and it could be purchased at prices ranging from 6s. to 15s. Mr. Kilmister was a native of Cheltenham, as is his wife, who is a daughter of the late Mr. John Austin, of Cheltenham, and is 87 years of age."
"Death of Mr. W. H. Kilmister"
Cheltenham Chronicle : September 15th 1945 Page 3.
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Who was the first Lord Protector of England | slow travel | Over The Doorstep
Over The Doorstep
cycling , Long-distance rides , travel pieces , Travelogues , Uncategorized Bike rides , Cycle touring , cycling holidays , Lochs & glens , national cycle network , Scotland , slow travel John Worthington
Two years ago my son Sam and I cycled Lochs & Glens North from Glasgow up to Inverness. This summer we decided to retrace that journey but this time taking an entirely different route, incorporating the Caledonian Way (Route 78 of the National Cycle Network, newly launched by Sustrans in 2016) which starts in Campbeltown on the Kintyre peninsula.
Sitting on my bike in Campbeltown harbour I swear I can hear the faint sound of Macca’s ghostly bagpipers floating on the breeze as I gaze wistfully towards the Mull of Kintyre. Mist is rolling in from the sea. My desire, as you can probably guess, is always to be here. I can’t though – we’ve got 240 miles to cycle and we have to be in Inverness six days from now. Besides, mist isn’t really rolling in from the sea anyway. It’s pissing down with rain and we’re getting a bit goose-pimply. I’m not entirely convinced Macca has ever been here to be honest.
Our epic trip got off to a good start yesterday with a nice, mostly flat 40 miles in warm sunshine following NCN Route 7 south out of Glasgow, along the Clyde and down the Ayrshire coast to the port of Ardrossan where we caught the evening ferry over to Kintyre. The three hour crossing felt like an adventure in itself, with stunning views of the mountains of Arran silhouetted dark blue against the silvery light as we settled back in the lounge of the CalMac ferry, swigging bottles of beer from the Isle of Arran Brewery (motto ‘Guid ale keeps my heart aboon’).
Kintyre is a peninsular though it feels as cut off as an island: long, thin and straggly, ten miles wide, dangling down into the North Channel of the Irish Sea between Arran to the east and Islay to the west. Its southern tip (the famous Mull of K) is a mere caber’s toss from the coast of County Antrim in Ulster.
Campbeltown, 15 miles north of the Mull, is the region’s main town and it’s a long, convoluted trip by car from Glasgow, which means the peninsula has found itself cast adrift from the Scottish ‘mainland’ over the years. The ferry service, fully launched only in 2016, has now offered a new lifeline to this wild west fringe of Scotland, as well as opening up the region to cycle tourers like ourselves.
Campbeltown retains traces of past glory in the faded elegance of its grand hotels around the harbour and it once claimed with some justification to be the ‘the whisky capital of the world’ with 34 distilleries (which helped to fuel the illegal smuggling routes into Prohibition America in the 1920s). Today though there are only three active ones left and it was named in 2012 as one of the two most economically vulnerable towns in rural Scotland. The B&B where we’re staying in the town centre displays a defiant nationalism with SNP posters and leftover Yes stickers still blue-tacked to the windows nearly two years after the referendum on independence. Maybe they’ve just been left there for the next one.
Route 78 starts in the harbour and goes up the eastern side of Kintyre with several very steep hills made even more challenging by the driving rain and thick cloud, so low at times on the summits that we are can hardly see the road ahead. Occasionally the clouds break up enough to unveil tantalising views of Arran over to our right. A sound like the distant baying of a hound percolates through the porridgy gloom, adding to the romantic and very Scottish feeling of the lonely landscape. There are few places to stop on this section of the route but a restaurant on the way into Carradale village provides brief respite from the rain along with welcome cheese toasties and coffee.
Now there are some people who claim that when you get caught in heavy rain, after a while you just can’t get any wetter. Those people are fools who should be rapped on the head with a small bicycle tool. It is in fact possible to get very wet and then to get much wetter still, and then to carry on getting wetter until the rain has soaked not only through your clothes and the contents of your panniers but has seeped into your pores and inundated your very soul. This is the level of wetness we are to experience over the next few days on the Kintyre Peninsula.
Luckily I have been reading Robert McFarlane’s book Landmarks, a powerful manifesto for the reclamation of the disappearing language of landscape. McFarlane believes that an ability to describe the richness of our natural world can help us to value and protect it more. As a result I have acquired a glossary of regional terms to describe the many types of rain across the British Isles, a good number of which are, unsurprisingly, Scottish or Gaelic dialect words. I suspect this list of rain words is going to come in pretty handy this week.
Arriving at our night stop, the coastal town of Tarbert, we find our B&B has been double-booked by mistake and we have been gazumped by a party of Dutch people doing a whiskey tour of the islands. We sit in the kitchen thawing out from the day’s plypes (sudden heavy showers, Scots) and sipping hot tea as the owner frantically rings round trying to find us an alternative bed for the night. Eventually he finds us a willing host, Andrew who runs The Moorings, a guesthouse with fine views of the harbour front who is already full but offers to put us up in his spare room in the attic.
The Moorings is a comfortable and quirky place, the front garden like a fairy tale grotto stuffed with a menagerie of ornamental creatures: monkeys, bears, big cats, snakes, turtles and exotic birds peeking out from behind plant pots or camouflaged by thick green foliage. Andrew ushers us inside, a stocky bearded Scot, very kind if slightly bossy. ‘I’m afraid I’ll have ter ask yers not to smoke anywhere in the hoose’ he says, rather unnecessarily as I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many no smoking signs gathered together in one place, pinned to every available wall space and door. The house is also festooned in multi-coloured lights that wink on and off as you approach them, including some floor-level bulbs around the toilet in our room that unexpectedly bathe my legs in a disconcerting purple glow as I’m taking a dump later that evening.
Andrew offers to run the sodden contents of our panniers through his washing machine and tumble drier. It’s amazing how many B&Bs do this but I suppose they must be used to bedraggled, miserable looking cyclists down to their last pair of dry pants. On our way out for the evening he beckons me over, looking very grave. He’s spotted Sam sneaking a crafty fag across the road. ‘I can’t believe the young man smokes!’ he says. ‘And him a cyclist!’ ‘I gave up 15 years ago. And I never touch a drop ‘o booze’, though you’d never believe it’ he says, gesturing around at shelves piled high with bottles of spirits from around the world. ‘Me only addiction is me telly’, he says. ‘I’m off to watch Emmerdale…’
Tarbert is a pleasing fishing village with a pretty harbour full of colourful boats. King Magnus Barefoot of Norway sailed here in 1098 and claimed Kintyre as part of the Viking Kingdom of the Sudereys (Southern Hebrides). High on a hill overlooking the town is the picturesque ruined castle mostly built by Robert The Bruce, the Scottish king who after a famous encounter with a spider in a cave decided to abandon his previous devo-max position and form the SNP back in the early 14th century, a crown more recently held by his descendants, the fishermen Alex The Salmon and Nicola the Sturgeon (Did you check all these facts? Ed).
As well as facing seawards Tarbert is also located on the shore of Loch Fyne where the restaurant chain of that name originated. The whole area is famed for its seafood. The Starfish in town has a high foodie reputation but you need to book in advance to have any chance of getting a table. We settle instead for The Anchorage, a cosy harbour-side bistro where we dine as handsomely as no doubt King Magnus Barefoot once did on local produce including fish chowder, smoked salmon and venison sausages. We go on for a couple of beers in the bright green painted Corner House pub next door where old men in kilts are playing pool and the TV is showing a feisty Friday night Scottish League Cup tie between Arbroath and Dundee. It all feels nicely authentic in a low key sort of way so we decide to round things off properly with a ten year old Isle of Arran malt. I judge it to be pleasantly peaty, although I have no idea what that means. It just sounds like the sort of thing you might say when tasting a ten year old malt.
Next morning we are joined at breakfast by two other cyclists, a nice German couple from Konstanz who are thankfully too polite to bring up the embarrassment of Brexit. They are doing the iconic Lands End to John O’Groats route or Das LEJOG as it is probably known in Deutschland. It’s not entirely clear how they managed to end up this far west. They set off from Cornwall about two weeks ago. ‘The weather was good at first’, says the man, ‘but as soon as we entered Scotland it became not so good. And this – this is not a holiday!’, he says gazing mournfully out of the rain-spattered window and looking a little tearful. His wife squeezes his hand and we all agree that cycling is still brilliant even when it’s raining, if only because it makes you appreciate the good days even more. We swap stories of our past campaigns completely forgetting about the bowls of strawberries in front of us until Andrew comes in, looking rather peeved. ‘Are yous all not eating yer froot then?’ he wants to know. Bike chatter is instantly replaced by the clatter of spoons.
From Tarbert the route turns across the peninsula towards the west coast, through the lush if totally unpronounceable Forest of Achaglachgach, memorably described in Richard Guise’s cycling book From the Mull to the Cape:
“The lochside stretch I was rolling through formed the trickily named Achaglachgach Forest, where I panted up and down Glen Achaglachgach, past Achaglachgach House and through Achaglachgach village, which was totally deserted. Maybe they’d all choked to death trying to say ‘Achaglachgach’.”
At this point Kintyre becomes the Knapdale peninsula and the minor road up the west coast offers lovely views of the island of Jura (where George Orwell stayed when he wrote 1984), but today its hazy outline is filtered through the steady ciuran (drizzle, Gaelic). Whatever the weather though, there’s a deep sense of stillness and spaciousness about this landscape which calms the spirit and declutters the mind – ‘fabulous nothing’ as the poet Kathleen Jamie described Jura.
The Kilberry Inn is one of the few places to stop for refreshment round here and has excellent gastronomic credentials, but we are still stuffed from Andrew’s full Scottish this morning and just settle for a bottle of IPA from Colonsay, apparently the smallest island in the world with its own brewery.
Turning inland the route continues along the Crinan Canal towpath and across the raised peat bogs and mossy hummocks of the Mhoine Mhor nature reserve before we encounter the first of many stone circles, standing stones and burial cairns of Kilmartin Glen. This area contains one of the most important Neolithic sites in Scotland dating from around 4,000 BC with around 150 prehistoric monuments crammed into a radius of six miles. Nearby is Dunadd, an Iron Age fort said to be the home of the first Kings of Scotland.
Climbing up into Kilmartin village we reach our night stop the Kilmartin Inn, its slate roof and stark white walls nestling beneath the green slopes that tower above a small cluster of houses, a museum and a village church which contains an impressive collection of medieval gravestones dating back to the 13th century. Carnasserie Castle on the far edge of the village is also worth exploring, an evocative ruined 16th century tower house on a hill overlooking the Glen.
Surrounded by so many reminders of the ancient past and enclosed by the brooding grey sky, rain blattering (heavily and noisily, Galloway) on the pub windows, Kilmartin is an atmospheric location to stay the night, a perfect blend of time and place. Pies and pints are followed by the already established ritual of the nightcap local malt (Isle of Jura). It proves to be pleasantly peaty, though perhaps not quite as peaty as last night’s. But it’s hard to be sure so we have another one just to check.
Before turning in for the night we switch on the TV and find the weatherman beaming with glad tidings. After a few days of widespread rain tomorrow’s forecast shows a ridge of high pressure drifting in from across the Atlantic, bathing Britain in a pool of warm sunshine. There are bright yellow symbols punctuated with fluffy white pillows dotted everywhere across the map. Well almost everywhere. On that long, thin, straggly bit that dangles off the west coast of Scotland there are menacing black clouds leaking diagonal lines of doom. The only bit of the UK, it would appear, where there is any chance of precipitation tomorrow. Even Northern Ireland has little golden orbs of happiness which seems meteorologically unfeasible. Oh and apparently there’s going to be a heatwave in John O’Fucking Groats…
So next morning the rain (somewhere between a dreich and a mi-chailear with a fair amount of bleeterie and a number of heavy flists since you ask) is already set in for the day as we follow Route 78 past the village of Ford and alongside Loch Awe on a 20 mile rollercoaster of a road through thick forest.
After a shivery lunch in a roadside cabin where we dribble pools of water across the floor we cycle across the lovely Glen Nant, Glen Lonan and Glen Hoddle (are you sure about the last one? Ed). Again the challenging, hilly terrain is matched by the stunning beauty of the scenery but it’s too wet to stop and drink it all in as much as we’d really like. One day it would be wonderful to re-visit this whole stretch up from Campbeltown in more serene conditions. However just outside our next night stop in Oban we do at least manage to take advantage of a brief pause in the rain to explore the 13th century Dunstaffnage Castle in the village of Dunbeg, perched formidably on a huge rock overlooking the Firth of Lorn, and like most Scottish castles boasting a long history soaked in blood and passion.
I’ve been to Oban before about 25 years ago when my wife and I stayed here for a few days, taking trips from the harbour to the islands of Mull, Iona and, best of all, the wonderfully bleak Staffa, an outcrop of wave-lashed rock famous for Fingal’s Cave, inhabited only by screeching birds and reachable by a thrillingly wave-tossed ride in a small boat. It rained during our entire stay back then and needless to say it’s started raining again as we arrive now. It would not surprise me in the least to hear that it has not stopped raining in Oban for the past quarter of a century. Despite this it’s a delightful town to stay in. We tuck into top notch fish and chips in one of the many restaurants that line the seafront and then retire to the cosy Lorne Bar for a few pints of Kilt Lifter brewed locally by the Oban Bay company, topped off with the inevitable Oban 12 year old malt. When in Oban etc…
The next day is the fourth consecutive day of rain. A full-on Glibbeid (mix of rain, sleet and hail, Gaelic) is even forecast at one point. For the first time since leaving Campbeltown there is the possibility of catching a train to our next night stop in Fort William. I’ve never skipped a whole day of any bike tour so far and am reluctant to set a dangerous precedent. If I was on my own I’d probably just put on an extra hair shirt under my waterproof jacket and shove another roll of barbed wire down my Lycra shorts and get on with it, but I sense an air of weather fatigue about my companion and fear he may have reached peak precipitation.
Maybe it’s time for common sense to prevail – sod it, we’re on holiday! So a decent morning lie-in and the train it is. Highlights of the Oban-Fort William stretch of Route 78 would have included the impossibly photogenic medieval Castle Stalker, floating on a small islet on Loch Laich (which played the part of The Castle of Aaargh! in Monty Python and the Holy Grail), as well as two more ferry crossings at either end of Loch Linnhe. Oh well, maybe another time…
Our final day is by far the longest with a 66 mile stretch from Fort William to Inverness, but the Scottish weather gods are on our side at last as we wake up to warmer temperatures and even some hazy sunshine beginning to seep through thin white streaks of cloud. We follow quiet roads out of town to join the towpath of the Caledonian Canal, soon reaching the series of eight locks known as Neptune’s Staircase and the unmistakeable hulk of Ben Nevis, the top shrouded in cloud as it generally is for around 300 days every year.
Following the Great Glen Way walking trail, Route 78 continues to Gairlochy where it leaves the canal and runs through the forest along the edge of Loch Lochy (they must have run out of names for lochs by the time they got to this one). This section feels wild and remote and the off-road trail is rocky and slow-going in places, but the sun is now pouring through the forest canopy and there is pure pleasure in our ride at last.
At Laggan Locks, where the route re-joins the canal, we clamber on board the Eagle, a Dutch barge once used as a troop carrier in the Second World War and now converted into a restaurant of real character. Basking on the top deck in the lunchtime heat we stuff our faces with bowls of chilli washed down with Red McGregor ale brewed in Orkney. Sam plumps for the extra hot sauce option with his chilli and I make a mental note not to be cycling in his tailwind this afternoon.
Fortified we continue off-road with more sections of towpath and a well-surfaced cycle track running alongside Loch Oich, then on to Fort Augustus which is exactly half way to Inverness, and a kind of lower key version of Fort William with a few tourist coaches and a smattering of tea shops. A cake stop comes in handy here because as soon as we leave the town we hit the gruelling five mile climb up to Carn an t-Suidhe, the highest point of the Caledonian Way at almost 400 metres, our reward being wonderful sweeping views at the top and a long joyous freewheel down to the village of Whitebridge. Here the route forks left and runs along the long southern shore of Loch Ness for the last, easy 20 miles to Inverness.
As we pootle alongside Scotland’s most famous Loch, the late afternoon sun sinks low, throwing mysterious shadows on the glassy surface. On the edge of my vision something flickers, the hint of a dark shape moving beneath the water. Having had so many slightly disappointing wildlife-watching experiences on holidays over the years (no-show dolphins, mythical puffins, strangely introverted lions), what an irony it would be if I suddenly caught a glimpse of ‘the big one’!
Apparently there have been 1,081 recorded sightings of Britain’s most celebrated monster including half a dozen this year alone and the creature is worth an estimated £60 million to the Scottish economy. If any American or Japanese tourists are reading this they may also be interested to hear of The Leytonstone Lizard, a marvellous giant beast reputed to live at the bottom of my garden in East London (or Jack the Ripper’s East London to give it it’s official name), just behind the pop-up tea room and luxury gift shop.
Actually they did find a 30 foot serpent in Loch Ness a few months ago but it turned out to be a prop from The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, a 1970 Billy Wilder film starring Christopher Lee. Still you never know. After all it was possible at the beginning of the 2015/16 football season to get shorter odds on the Loch Ness Monster being discovered than on Leicester City winning the Premier League, so miracles do occasionally happen. Nevertheless I feel confident in saying that ‘Nessie’ will never be found and hereby go on public record and pledge that if proved wrong, I will cycle from Land’s End to John O’Groats wearing nothing but a pair of underpants decorated with the Scottish flag.
Meanwhile we finally reach the end of the Caledonian Way beneath the castle walls in Inverness. There’s goat curry, there’s Yellowhammer ale from the Black Isle Brewery and there’s a final toast with a 14 year old Auchentoshan malt – a toast to cycling, to good company, and to the glorious Scottish landscape, to its people and even to its godawful weather. Today has been pretty much the perfect day’s bike ride and we feel we’ve earned it.
cycling , Long-distance rides , travel pieces , Travelogues Cycle touring , cycling holidays , Lon Las Cymru , slow travel , Wales John Worthington
Following our adventure north of the border last year my son Sam (now 20) and I decided to keep the Celtic theme going this summer by taking on the legendary Lon Las Cymru, following National Cycle Route 8 from Holyhead to Cardiff.
‘Well, Holyhead’s right at the top and Cardiff’s right at the bottom so I think you’ll find it’s pretty much downhill most of the way’, said a friend who is Welsh so clearly ought to know. The Lon Las Cymru, 250 miles long, covers the entire length of the country, crossing Snowdonia, mid-Wales, and the Brecon Beacons, and has the reputation of being one of the toughest routes on the UK National Cycle Network. But that must be if you start at the bottom of the map and work your way upwards. Luckily we’re going north to south, so it sounds as easy as an afternoon spin round the park.
We begin the ride after a long train journey from London up to Crewe, and then along the north Wales coastline to the tip of Anglesey. After a showery start the afternoon clears up nicely. In contrast to the dramatic landscape of Snowdonia, visible on the horizon just across the Menai Straits, Anglesey offers flat cycling on peaceful country lanes and an atmosphere of pastoral tranquillity.
The route passes the Bodowyr Burial Chamber, a Neolithic site and one of over 120 ancient monuments on the island. Later we cycle through the village sensibly described on the map as Llanfair PG, whose famous railway station sign proclaims it’s full name Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwillismtysillogogogoch (that’s pronounced Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwillismtysillogogogoch).
According to the excellent and oddly compulsive Dictionary of British Place Names by AD Mills – my bible on bike trips – the ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyll’ bit dates from 1536 and means ‘Church of St Mary in the pool of the white hazels’. The rest of the name was added just for a laugh in the mid-19th century, and the whole thing now means ‘Church of St Mary in the pool of the white hazels fairly near the rapid whirlpool by the church of St Tysilio at the red place’.
By early evening we’ve covered 30 miles to our first night stop at the Anglesey Arms just before the Menai Bridge, where some very decent pub grub (pork & leek sausages & mash/steak & ale pie), and a few jars of JW Lees Tackler’s Gold, sets the gastronomic bar high for the week ahead.
Next morning we’re bracing ourselves for an expected deluge. We get away early while it’s still dry, but the rain kicks in about 10.30 and it’s obvious from the thick grey sky that it’s already set in for the rest of the day. We’re probably cycling through some of the finest scenery in Britain but it’s hard to be sure as visibility is soon down to about 50 yards.
It’s time to don my ‘Emergency Poncho’, a bright yellow plastic cape bought for £1 from Halfords prior to the trip. In fact because I was going cycling in Wales I decided to invest in five ‘Emergency Ponchos’. Unfortunately the garment fails on every level, not only letting all the rain in but also turning me into a sort of windsock on wheels, the whole thing ballooning full of air so that I fear I might take off and float away over the mountains of Snowdonia. To make it worse a group of teenagers out on a school trip point and laugh as we go past. Fortunately they are talking in Welsh so I don’t know what they’re saying.
If you’ve never been to North Wales (most people haven’t; even people I know from South Wales never go to North Wales), nothing prepares you for the weirdness of hearing everyone speaking Welsh, ‘the soft consonants strange to the ear’ in the words of the poet RS Thomas. To the outsider it sounds as otherworldly as Elvish or Dothraki , with the occasional English-sounding word thrown in to fool you into thinking you know what’s going on.
I’m immediately fascinated and decide to enrol for a course in the history of Welsh at the University of Wikipedia. The language emerged in the 6th century from Common Brittonic, the ancestor not only of Welsh but also Cornish, Breton and Cumbric (now extinct but once spoken in my home county Cumberland).
Welsh is characterised by a number of strange sounds that occur in hardly any other European language such as the ‘voiceless alveolar lateral fricative’ (apparently also found among Zulu and Navajo speakers). This is the thing that enables Welsh people to manage all those ‘LL’ sounds, and involves constricting the passage of air through the throat as well as some quite strange use of the tongue.
Meanwhile the rain is getting heavier. We shelter for a while in Caernarvon in the ramparts of the impressive 13th century Castle, but standing still just makes us feel colder. I may have written elsewhere on this blog about the joys of cycling in all the elements, the wind in the hair, the sweet solace of summer raindrops or something or other. I’d now like to withdraw those remarks, especially that bit about the sweet solace of summer raindrops, and make it clear that cycling in all the elements is definitely over-rated. In fact it’s often pretty shit.
Around lunchtime in the middle of nowhere we find brief sanctuary in a roadside portakabin which houses a greasy spoon for passing lorry drivers. We clutch our tea mugs with both hands trying to extract whatever heat is available, but by the time food arrives Sam is shivering all over, and even a double cheese burger and chips fails to work its customary magic.
Studying the map I suddenly realise we can cut off a 12 mile loop around Criccieth by taking a short detour along the main road, which would leave just a few miles to our night stop in Porthmadog. But I hate missing out bits of a route even when the weather’s miserable, a grim stoicism I put down to a northern childhood of trudging through rain and wind on country walks with my father. And I was really looking forward to seeing Criccieth Castle.
For about fifteen minutes (I’m not proud of this) I consider just not telling Sam about the short cut. But his teeth are now chattering quite alarmingly. If he checks the map later he’s not going to be pleased. I offer the detour and he grabs it with desperate gratitude. Actually if truth be told I don’t really mind too much. I’m normally pretty gung-ho about these things, but even my ho is not feeling quite as gunged as usual today.
We take the main road for a couple of miles and re-join the cycle route further on. Through the blanket of cloud we can just make out the dark shapes of hills towering above us. We pass through villages whose grey stone houses and slate roofs as black as bibles add to the austere atmosphere of the Snowdonia landscape in teeming rain. Eventually we arrive in Porthmadog. It’s a bustling market town even on such a dismal day, with a great variety of small shops all lit up and cosy-looking, feeling more like mid-afternoon on Christmas Eve than early July.
Our accommodation, the Bluebird B&B , is tucked away down the back streets of town. I hammer on the front door, tempted to shout like Richard E Grant in Withnail and I, ‘We’ve come on holiday by mistake…I demand to have some booze!’ The landlady, a plumpish woman of mature years with the unlikely name of Mrs Lightfoot, seems shocked by our appearance. But once we have wheeled our bikes into the backyard she ushers us inside with a show of fuss and welcome talk of steaming baths and piping hot mugs of tea.
Up in our room we peel off our wet things as rain continues to lash against the window panes. Wimbledon is on the telly, and annoyingly Centre Court is baking in hot sunshine. It’s Kings Landing down there and North of the pissing Wall up here. But things soon get better as I thaw out in one of the most sumptuous baths I’ve ever had. It’s unusually deep and wide with a useful handrail for climbing in and out, and is presumably designed for the elderly and infirm. As I lie soaking I wonder about getting one of these installed at home, but that might feel a bit macabre.
Everything in our panniers is saturated but Mrs L kindly offers to put all our clothes through the tumble drier. Sam, meanwhile, hits on the clever wheeze of drying his sodden trainers using the hair dryer in the bedroom. I have a go on mine too, shoving it down into the toes and waggling it about to blow the hot air around. This seems to be working well until there’s a loud pop from the hair dryer and a stink of burning. I’ve had some low moments on bike trips but I’m fairly sure this is the first time I’ve set fire to my shoes.
Later in the evening, in between showers, we venture out to eat. It’s time for something traditionally Welsh so we head for the Sima Tandoori for a kickass curry. This seems like a good moment to call home and share the news of our heroic battle against the biblical elements. But as I’m waiting for someone to pick up the phone at home the waiter comes over to take our drinks order, so when my wife eventually answers the first thing she hears is me saying, ‘Two large Cobras and some poppadoms please.’
‘Well it certainly sounds like you two are having a good time’, she says. ‘Yes, all is well now’, I say, ‘But you should have seen us earlier – it was hell! ‘Really?’ she says, clearly unconvinced. She has had a long and tiring day at work (school parents evening), has a pasta ready-meal to look forward to, and it’s only Monday; sympathy is in short supply.
Back at the Bluebird we manage to sleep well despite the rain drumming on the windows through the night and seagulls shrieking in the yard. But next morning, although the skies are still leaden, the rain has at least stopped. We eat breakfast in Mrs Lightfoot’s parlour, surrounded by family photographs, many showing young men in army uniform. The shelves are stuffed with ornaments and evidence of a collector’s zeal with numerous chess sets designed on a military history theme: Waterloo, Custer’s Last Stand, The Charge of the Light Brigade…
We are joined by four fellow guests at breakfast, all of retirement age, here on classic British holidays: walking, bird watching and riding around on heritage railways in the rain. They seem a bit glum but cheer up when Mrs Lightfoot tells them the weather prospects for the rest of the week are looking up. She turns to us, and says, ‘And I’d like to say the same to you two, but I’m afraid it’s going to get worse where you’re going…probably much worse…’
This is a bit of a downer and completely at odds with my own reading of the forecast. According to the BBC things should be brightening up as we move further south. Is Mrs Lightfoot privy to some infallible local intelligence on such matters? Or maybe she just thinks we carry our own personal weather around with us – a relentless drizzle – wherever we go.
Leaving Porthmadog we reach the town of Penrhyndeudraeth (‘The promontory between two beaches’). At this rate I might be able to fill an entire blog post with unpronounceable place names. The route continues on a viaduct across the estuary but unfortunately it’s closed for repairs and is not due to re-open until next week.
The only alternative is a ten mile detour on a very busy A-road. I can tell this is not going to be one of those bike trips where everything goes smoothly according to plan. Luckily there’s a railway station in town and the next train leaves in an hour which gives us time for a second breakfast of two pots of tea, a plate of Caerphilly Welsh Rarebit and the Independent crossword.
We take the train a few stops down the line past Harlech Castle to the village of Pensarn where we re-join NCN 8. The sun is shining weakly by now, and I’m pleased to say that Mrs Lightfoot’s Cassandra-like prophesies are proving wide of the mark. The rest of the day is one of my favourite sections of the Lon Las Cymru. The route cuts inland over the hills then follows the coast road down to Barmouth, a seaside resort long past its glory days but retaining a faded windswept elegance. We cycle along the front, sandblasted and showered by spray from the waves crashing in over the Irish Sea, stopping for a late lunch of chip butties and beer.
The route continues along the Mawddach Trail , a lovely ten mile stretch which crosses the River Mawddach via a 700 metre long wooden viaduct built in 1867, and then follows the estuary inland to Dolgellau. There are stunning views of the southern Snowdonia mountains. The Trail uses part of the old Great Western Railway route which used to ferry visitors from northwest England to Barmouth from Victorian times into the early decades of the 20th century. The line fell victim to the Beeching axe in 1965 but, like so many others in Britain, has been happily reincarnated for cyclists and walkers.
From Dolgellau the road gradually snakes upwards 400 metres, reaching high into the clouds, bleak and beautiful up here on these lonely fells, the sky dark and brooding and pierced by occasional shafts of sunlight. Panting heavily to the top I suspect my Welsh friend’s topographical reading of the landscape was not entirely correct.
As we cycle over the brow of the last hill and reach the summit a middle-aged couple climb out of the back seat of a car, grin sheepishly, and get into the front. You could probably be up here all day normally and not see a soul. From the top we swoop ten miles down through the forests of the Dulas Valley to our night stop at Machynlleth, a place described by Mike Carter in One Man and His Bike (a wonderful book about his cycle trip around the British coastline) as ‘a place light on vowels but, if pronounced properly, heavy on expectoration’. The White Lion in the main street provides us with fish & chips, Banks’s Bitter and a comfortable bed.
Rain is falling again when we awake but is expected to stop by mid-morning so we opt for a late breakfast and a delayed start. After cycling hundreds of miles around Britain over recent years, failing to spot any interesting wildlife apart from sheep, today brings a rare success. Outside the White Lion the manager of the pub points out a red kite flying high above the town.
Over the next few days we spot more examples of this supremely graceful bird of prey, now thriving in the UK after once being on the brink of extinction. Once identified it’s easy to spot, even for me, with a wingspan over five feet, forked tail, brown and white colouring with streaks of red-rust, and has such economy of movement that it barely seems to fly at all, gliding effortlessly on pillows of air.
Machynlleth nestles in a valley between the mountains, and the road out of town is almost a mirror image of yesterday afternoon’s climb but this time reaching 509 metres, the highest point on the Lon Las Cymru. At the top we catch up with a man and woman aged about 60 who we saw earlier this morning at breakfast in the White Lion. Both look to be seasoned cycle tourers, whippet-thin and weather beaten, their bikes heavily loaded with luggage. We stop for a chat. One of the great joys of a bike trip, I say, is spotting interesting wildlife. They agree enthusiastically. Indeed only yesterday they saw ospreys, one of the rarest, most elusive and majestic of all British birds! I was about to mention red kites but decide not to bother.
The route continues along the upper course of the River Severn dropping through Hafren Forest and down to our lunch stop in the town of Llanidloes. The name just trips off my tongue like a native, and, mysteriously, I think I may now be acquiring a voiceless alveolar lateral fricative. The sun comes out and we sit outside the Crown & Anchor in the town centre with a pint of Hancocks (served by Ruby, landlady here for the past 50 years), munching pastries from the Talerdigg Bakery next door.
For lunchtime entertainment there’s a procession of brightly coloured and decrepit looking estate cars, 500 in total, streaming through town with klaxons blaring and a cargo of Dutch passengers in very high spirits. It turns out this is the Carbage Run , an annual car rally in which competitors from the Netherlands have to buy and customise their own vehicles which must cost under 500 euros and have been built before 1998.
There’s a different route every year and this time it goes from Holland to Aberdeen, on back roads via London, Swansea, the Peak District and Glasgow. It’s like a cross between the Wacky Races and Jeux Sans Frontieres, with competitors given daily tasks to earn extra points. Today’s challenge is to find someone called Ben and persuade him to travel the rest of the way to Aberdeen with hundreds of crazy Dutch people.
After lunch we enjoy a peaceful and undemanding afternoon on undulating minor roads down into the Wye Valley. At one point the way ahead is blocked by a group of sheep who have wandered from a neighbouring field. Startled by our arrival they hurtle down the lane with a great chorus of baaing as Sam chases after them laughing and ringing his bell for about half a mile until they manage to escape through a gap in the hedge.
Arriving at the Horseshoe Guesthouse in Rhayader, we shower and watch Andy Murray win his Wimbledon quarter final before heading out to The Eagles , a fine old pub which dates from 1579. The menu features locally sourced Welsh black beef and a wide range of game dishes, as well as kangaroo, crocodile and ostrich. We plump for a couple of rich, dark casseroles, mutton (Sam) and pheasant (me). The evening concludes with a fiercely fought game of darts at the Cornhill Inn round the corner from the Horseshoes. Turning in for the night I wonder how Ben is getting on.
Next morning, we’re cycling beneath deep blue skies at last as the route meanders along the course of the River Wye, passing through Newbridge and on to a lunch stop in Builth Wells. There’s more of a sprinkling of English-sounding place names down here, particularly as we get closer to the border. It’s been a couple of days now since we’ve heard any Dothraki and everyone now speaks with a proper Welsh accent like on Gavin & Stacey.
After a couple of pints of Hereford Pale Ale we enjoy some more afternoon cruising along flat quiet roads in glorious sunshine. But everything is going too well. Just as we are approaching the town of Glasbury, near Hay-on-Wye, my back tyre explodes with a frighteningly loud bang.
I’ve not had a puncture in years so I’ve been dodging this bullet for a while. I’ve got a spare inner tube and have even practiced changing it at home so although it’s annoying I’m not too worried. But then I realise the full extent of the damage – it’s not just the tube that’s punctured, there’s a large gash in the tyre itself. There’s no way I can mend this and we’re still 15 miles from our night stop in Brecon, and that’s via the most direct route on the dual carriageway of death.
Luckily for circumstances like these I have a contingency plan up my sleeve which is to Throw Myself Upon The Beneficence Of The Universe. We suddenly notice a bus stop 30 yards down the street and, ten minutes later, the last bus to Brecon pulls up. The driver looks at the bikes and shakes his head. It’s strictly against the rules. I pull my most desperate face and he softens. He’s a mountain biker himself and will not leave us stranded. Top man. Like most bike trips – I think even more than most – the kindness of strangers has been striking throughout the whole week.
He drops us in Brecon town centre and we wheel our bikes to our accommodation at the Bridge Café . This is a wonderfully quirky place run by Carole and Jon, an agreeable pair of rat race escapees who have poured their dreams into this charming and higgledy-piggledy 16th century house, full of nooks and crannies and chickens clucking around in the yard outside. The sloping floors upstairs are strangely disorientating. ‘You don’t need to go the pub’, says Jon. ‘You feel a bit pissed just being in the house.’
I tell Jon about my gashed tyre. ‘You can sometimes do a temporary fix by wodging a bit of cardboard into the hole’, he says, hinting at a level of technical competence I can only dream about. The Bridge Café doubles as a bistro at the weekends and the menu looks enticing but unfortunately this is a Thursday night. We make do with takeaway pizza in the main square and a visit to The George Hotel where we drink fine ale brewed by a local company with the Welshest of names, Evan Evans.
Next morning the Bridge Café wins the coveted Worthington Top Breakfast Of The Trip award: eggs with intensely yellow yolks, local organic sausage and bacon, field mushrooms, artisan bread and excellent coffee. It’s all very much to my liking although Sam, who has developed gritty northern tastes since studying in Hull, would prefer something more authentically proletarian and bemoans the lack of sliced white Sunblest and Nescafe.
After popping into the local bike shop to get a new tyre fitted we set off on the last leg of the Lon Las Cymru, which follows the Taff Trail mostly off-road for 50 miles from Brecon to Cardiff. The first section is one of the most scenic and remotest sections on the whole route, following quiet roads to the Talybont reservoir, and a long hike up through Taf Fechan forest on the western edge of the Black Mountains, pools of warm sunshine pouring through the trees.
We are alone save for a troupe of scouts on an orienteering exercise and the occasional red kite hanging on the breeze. The Brecon Beacons National Park is a pussycat this morning and it’s hard to believe only four days ago a couple of walkers were tragically struck by lightning in separate incidents up on those high peaks. From 450 metres at the top we plunge ten miles downhill (the surface loose and treacherous in places) to a last lunch of omelettes at a pub on the outskirts of Merthyr Tydfil in the one-time heartland of industrial Wales.
The final 30 miles follows the River Taff on flat cycle tracks and B roads through Pontypridd and on to the centre of Cardiff where we end the trip in The Cambrian Tap , Brains Brewery’s newly opened craft ale bar. The city centre is lively and buzzing with the collective relief of another Friday night, heightened on this occasion by the joy of cricket fans pouring out of the Sophia Gardens down the road where England are slaughtering Australia in the first Ashes Test of the summer. And as we toast the successful completion of the Lon Las Cymru, I’m not sure life needs to get much better. It’s been a great trip. Glad we don’t have to cycle all the way back up to the top though.
I hope this encourages someone to try this wonderful ride. If so please do let me know in the comments below, or also if you have any recommendations for other trips.
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cycling , Long-distance rides , Travelogues Bike rides , Cotswolds , Cycle touring , cycling holidays , Jerome , Laure Lee , slow travel John Worthington
Following last year’s successful ride from Paris to the Champagne region, this summer my friends Jeff, Matt, Tim and I stayed closer to home and tackled the Cotswolds & Severn Vale Cycle Tour , a 180 mile circular route beginning and ending in Stroud in Gloucestershire. It proved to be a strenuous but highly enjoyable jaunt, cycling through ancient rolling countryside, chocolate box villages, some seriously challenging hills, and plenty of top notch cake and ale…
The road is signposted to ‘Waterley Bottoms’, which sounds like a place not to be sniffed at. We arrive at this point an hour or two after leaving Stroud station on a Friday lunchtime in late June; the route has begun with a gentle short section along the former Stroud-Nailsworth Railway line, and then a taste of what lies in store over the weekend with a steep climb out of Nailsworth and a sharp plunge down into Wotton.
We follow the road to the incontinent-sounding village of WB, and continue into the Severn Vale, the broad expanse of the river gleaming in the late afternoon sunshine. Jeff, as usual, is out in front on the hills, standing up and as he likes to put it ‘dancing in the saddle’; it’s even possible (warning: weak pun ahead) that he may actually be doing the Dance of the Severn Vales.
We leave the road and turn along the towpath of the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, at one time the widest and deepest ship canal in the world, running headlong into a thick swarm of flesh-eating flies. I have rarely encountered such vicious insects this far south in Britain. I suspect we may have run into a marauding party of Scottish midges, on a weekend mini-break down in the Cotswolds, probably come to laugh at us for electing a Conservative Government.
We rejoin the network of quiet roads, passing through Frampton and Framilode, eventually arriving at our night stop in the village of Haresfield. Matt, who has been reading Laurie Lee’s classic memoir As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning, tells us that the poet passed through Haresfield in 1934 at the start of his journey from Gloucestershire to London and on to Spain. We are staying at the Beacon Inn where the affable landlord serves us platters of fish pie and pints of Uley, a wonderful golden brew made in the nearby village of the same name.
There is a wedding reception at the pub tomorrow and a party of guests staying tonight, which is why we were only able to book the family room – a new experience for us on our cycling trips and one which we are not entirely relishing. As we sit outside beneath the stars, supping our pints of Uley, a taxi pulls up just before midnight depositing some very high-spirited wedding guests, including a man who tumbles out of the cab and falls up the steps into the pub, calling loudly for more beer.
Knackered, we turn in for the night. The family room experience turns out to be less hellish than feared, the room itself comfortable and surprisingly spacious. This is just as well since we are later joined in the small hours by the chap from the taxi who barges in and galumphs around the room, realises that none of us appears to be his wife, burps, grunts an apology and leaves.
After breakfast next morning we discover why the pub is called the Beacon Inn, when we leave the village and face one of the toughest climbs we have ever done on any of our bike trips. Haresfield Beacon climbs 200 metres reaching gradients well over 20%. There is no let up as the road twists and turns upwards, becoming steeper the higher you go. No-one is dancing in the saddle now. I grind up to the summit in my granny gear and collapse on the grass by the side of the road. My heart is thumping against the walls of my ribcage and I feel like I’m going to vomit. Now this is what I call a holiday.
We are now moving into the heart of the Cotswolds and as we pass through one village I notice a macabre looking straw effigy dressed in rags – like a scarecrow or Bonfire Night Guy. This is the first of several such sightings during the weekend, some resembling grotesque human figures, others with the head of an animal, such as a stag or badger. All are placed in front of houses facing outwards to the road, possibly to ward off evil spirits or cyclists down from London for the weekend. Maybe the old gods still inhabit these ancient parts. But perhaps my imagination is just feeling a bit gothic today because it’s the eve of the Summer Solstice, or maybe because the great Christopher Lee passed away only a few days ago…
Meanwhile, north of the historic wool town of Painswick, we hit another gruelling 150 metre climb, less steep than the Haresfield Beacon but longer and almost as exhausting. There are no single hills quite as challenging as these for the rest of the day, but for the next 30 miles all the way to Winchcombe we face a leg-sapping roller coaster of continual climbs and descents.
In the middle of this assault course the Mill Inn at the village of Withington offers welcome lunchtime respite. We sit outside the pub as fat warm raindrops begin to fall, washing down plates of Smoked Haddock Florentine with pints of Sam Smiths, while watching preparations for the Withington annual summer fete in the church garden next door.
Every two years our summer bike trip happily coincides with the football World Cup or European Championship, providing entertainment in the pub after a long day in the saddle. This year there’s no football alas, but it doesn’t matter because, hey, there’s Morris dancing! Bearded men in white flannel costumes and red braces emerge from the pub, a-jingling their bells. As Tim points out, these are men who have clearly not heeded Sir Thomas Beecham’s excellent advice – ‘You should try everything once in life, except incest and Morris dancing’. We watch them trooping over to the village fete as we try, almost certainly without success, to erase all traces of a metropolitan smirk off our faces. They stare back defiantly, a-jingling their bells.
After lunch Matt and I wander over to the village fete, in search of homemade cake. Tim and Jeff stay behind. Inexplicably, they have little interest in cake. When we arrive the festivities are in full swing: clusters of adults and kids try their luck at the coconut shy, lucky dip and mini golf, the Morris Men are cavorting merrily, a-jingling their bells, and in the far corner a Scottish Presbyterian virgin is being burned alive inside a giant wicker effigy. It’s possible I may have imagined one of these.
Meanwhile, from behind a stand of trees at the back of the fete a strange rumbling sound is floating towards us. As we get closer the source of the strange sound becomes clear – a long trestle table, covered with a white cloth, literally groaning with every conceivable kind of cake! Coffee and walnut, carrot, chocolate, lemon drizzle, Dundee cake, scones, the lot…I have sworn never to use the phrase ‘a veritable cornucopia of delights’ in this blog, but if I hadn’t that is exactly the phrase I would be using right now. ’I’m very excited’ says Matt. We both are. It’s impossible to choose. Matt opts for a slab of Ginger Parkin. It does look tempting but I suspect it may sit heavily in the gut on some of those late afternoon climbs. I secretly congratulate myself on my choice of a light and fluffy Victoria Sponge.
A heavy downpour threatens for much of the afternoon but holds off until 5pm, when we suffer the obligatory soaking – every bike trip has to have one. We arrive, sodden, at our night stop Elms Farm near the small hamlet of Gretton three miles from Winchcombe, where our host – the excellent Rose – offers to dry off our shoes by the Aga. Later she drives us into Winchcombe for the evening and even comes back to collect us at closing time. The next morning we enjoy a top breakfast cooked by Rose which, for the carnivores among us, features one of Elms Farm’s very own pigs.
Today’s Midsummer’s Day and fittingly it’s the longest day of our trip with 60 miles to travel. The first half of the day picks up where yesterday left off with a continually undulating route along quiet roads. This section is quintessential Cotswolds country where everything is built from the local stone known as oolite, a form of Jurassic limestone which bathes each village in a distinctive warm yellow tone. We cycle through ‘The Slaughters’, a collective noun given to the time capsule villages of Lower Slaughter and Upper Slaughter, where there has been no new construction in more than a century. Their names sound rich with connotations of ritual sacrifice, though disappointingly it appears they only derive from the old English ‘slohtre’ meaning ‘muddy place’.
‘Bring your daughter to the slaughter’, sings Jeff, an Iron Maiden song from some years back. The song proposes an unconventional approach to child rearing which has never really caught on, and is the kind of lyric that gives heavy metal a bad name. But it suddenly occurs to me that the message the Maiden may have originally intended was ‘Bring your daughters to the Slaughters’, a song extolling the bucolic pleasures of a family weekend in the Cotswolds. As it happens we do possess a number of daughters between us – a quick headcount reveals five. But we have left them at home so, regrettably, on this occasion we won’t be able to bring our daughters to the Slaughters.
We arrive at Bourton-on-the-Water, a town overflowing (at least on a Sunday in late June) with coach loads of visitors and tacky gift shops. We stop to buy over-priced soft drinks. The others set off again and as I am pushing my bike along the pavement, waiting for a gap in the traffic, a red-faced man walking along with a small boy accuses me very aggressively of getting in his way. I politely point out that I’m not actually riding my bike on the pavement and have as much right to be there as he does. He seems unpersuaded by this argument, brandishing his son’s scooter close to my face and yelling ‘Bugger off out of Bourton!’ After a brief hesitation I decide it might be sensible to follow this advice and jump on my bike, pedalling hard down the road (though not without a brave cry of ‘wanker!’ as I go.)
After a lunchtime pit stop at the Fox Inn at Great Barrington just outside Burford, the remaining 25 miles of the day offer agreeably gentle cycling, cruising through the Windrush Valley in the afternoon sunshine. This feels more like proper slow travel after the exertion of the last couple of days, and we even find time for another tea time cake/ice cream stop at the Bibury Trout Farm (which, as one might expect, also does a mean line in trout-related cuisine if you haven’t had lunch).
We stop to ask directions from an elderly couple who have one of the poshest cut-glass accents I’ve ever heard, rather like the Harry Enfield character Mr. Cholmondley-Warner. They are courteous and helpful but reinforce the general impression of extreme well-to-do-ness in these parts that seems to bring out my inner Jeremy Corbyn. I think it’s fair to say that many of these Cotswolds villages don’t appear to be struggling unduly under the yoke of austerity. Everyone round here seems to drive huge and very expensive jeeps and 4x4s. There can be few greater pleasures than pootling down a narrow country lane on a warm summer afternoon, the scent of honeysuckle, the warbling of the skylark, and the impatient revving of an SUV stuck behind you.
By early evening we reach our night stop, the elegant Roman town of Cirencester, and check into our accommodation at the Fleece Inn . The name of the pub and the well-executed Henry Moore-esque murals of sheep in the outside bar area are a nod towards the town’s illustrious history as an important wool-producing centre. I am about to remark that punters must flock to this pub from miles around but then I remember I have already used up my annual EU quota of ovine-related puns on a previous bike trip (see An Autumn Adventure ).
After a few well-earned beers we round off the last evening of our trip with a bracingly hot curry at The Sultan in the town centre. Probably just as well we haven’t got the family room tonight.
With a fairly easy 30 miles back to Stroud and a mid-afternoon train to catch, Monday offers the chance for a leisurely start. It’s a nice flat ride across the South Cotswolds countryside, rising gently beyond Tetbury to reach 200 metres up on Minchinhampton Common, where there are fine panoramic views and cows graze on the golf course or wander nonchalantly into the road. We are expecting a fairly low key end to the route – Stroud is hardly the most iconic destination for a bike trip, especially when you have started in Stroud. But the ride has one last surprise in store, as we enjoy a thrilling fifteen minute descent from high up on the Common, spiralling down into the town centre at high speed shouting at the tops of our voices.
The Cotswolds and Severn Vale Cycle Tour has been a terrific trip. Some of the route directions provided by the Cotswolds tourist board are a trifle idiosyncratic at times and it would benefit from some proper signposting. But this is a minor quibble. The route deserves to become very popular, especially given its proximity to an increasingly cycle-crazy London, and its do-ability over a long weekend, though it’s perhaps best avoided if you’re not keen on hills.
Meanwhile, there’s time for one last pub lunch before we catch the train home. As we sit in the sun there is much checking of emails as the world once more begins to intrude. Food arrives but we eat, for once, in silence as weariness and satisfaction mingle with the tinge of regret that accompanies the end of another adventure. I am reminded of the closing paragraph of Jerome K Jerome’s 1895 cycling classic Three Men On The Bummel:
“A Bummel, I should describe as a journey, long or short, without an end; the only thing regulating it being the necessity of getting back within a given time to the point from which one started. Sometimes it is through busy streets, and sometimes through the fields and lanes; sometimes we can be spared for a few hours, and sometimes for a few days. But long or short, but here or there, our thoughts are ever on the running of the sand. We nod and smile to many as we pass; with some we stop and talk awhile; and with a few we walk a little way. We have been much interested, and often a little tired. But on the whole we have had a pleasant time, and are sorry when ‘tis over.”
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cycling , Day rides , travel pieces , Travelogues Bike rides , Bungay , Cycle touring , cycling holidays , East Anglia , slow travel John Worthington
‘Remember the couple who cycled around Cuba?’ I say. She knows straight away it’s been a difficult week at work. I’m dreaming of escape again.
Some years ago, before the children were born, my wife and I were on a train journey and met a couple in their mid-60s who had just returned from cycling around Cuba, taking their own bikes on the plane and carting their luggage about on trailers. This was before I had done any proper cycle touring myself and it was the first time I realised that a bike holiday could be a great way to have an adventure, to get off the beaten track and discover the ‘real country’. I’ve since discovered that this holds true not just in exotic locations but closer to home as well.
But what really made an impact on us at the time was the openness to life shown by this older couple, their hunger for new experience still burning bright. They were an inspiring example of how the autumn of life might be lived, spitting in the eye of the ageing process and refusing to go gently into that good night.
And in recent years, ‘Remember the couple who cycled around Cuba’ has become a reassuring mantra for us both, a promise of good times ahead, wheeled out whenever we are feeling stuck at the bottom of the u-bend of mid-life . (As Dante put it, ‘Midway in the journey of our life, I came to myself in a dark wood, for the way was lost’ – there being no GPS available in 13th century Italy I guess…)
For my wife though, I’ve come to suspect that ‘the couple who cycled around Cuba’ might be more of a symbol than anything else, a metaphor for the potential freedoms of later life when the birds have flown the nest. It’s shorthand for a wide range of possible travel adventures, some of which may even involve nice hotels, spas, shopping and the like. For me, on the other hand, ‘the couple who cycled around Cuba’ is more literal – I really want to cycle around Cuba.
So I’ve been thinking it might be a good idea to start now, to try out some shorter cycle trips just the two of us, so we can build up to the ‘big one’. The idea is to try a late October ride in the Waveney Valley along the Suffolk-Norfolk border, on Monday and Tuesday of half term week. Son is now away at Uni, daughter is staying with a friend, having reached the age when a mini-break in East Anglia with mum and dad no longer holds the excitement it once did. The dog has been shunted off to my sister’s.
The route is about 50 miles, starting and finishing in the town of Diss, about a two hour drive from our home in east London (also reachable by fast train from Liverpool Street). I want to make this as pleasant and pain-free as possible so we’re going to take things pretty easily the first day with a mere 20 miles to our night stop at Bungay, which leaves 30 miles for the second day.
It’s 11 am on a fresh, sunny morning and the ride out of Diss is pleasant enough, though there are a few more lorries on some of these B roads than we might have wished for. But once we skirt past the village of Hoxne we’re onto quiet lanes alongside the River Waveney, the route dotted with distinctive white-washed cottages with bright red roofs and old watermills. We stop for lunch in The Bell at Wortwell, where I re-acquaint myself with Old Hooky , a friend I haven’t seen for some years. After lunch we’re cruising on flat roads and arrive in Bungay way earlier than expected.
Bungay is a pleasing town boasting the remains of a 12th century castle and crammed full of independent shops selling antiques, second hand books, curiosities and the like. Back in the 1700s it became briefly fashionable as a spa resort and famous for its theatre and music, even acquiring the nickname of ‘Little London’ and attracting illustrious visitors like Dick Turpin and ‘Prinny’ (later King George IV). It’s other claim to fame is the Black Shuck, a ghostly and terrible hound with flaming eyes which has long been part of East Anglian folklore. One of the most infamous sightings took place here in 1577, when the Shuck is said to have burst into the town church and killed two people. More recently, and perhaps most terrifying of all, the Black Shuck was the subject of a song by glam-metal band The Darkness.
Unfortunately the charms of Bungay are not best experienced on a Monday, as most of the town is shut. Woody Allen once said ‘If I had to live my life again, I’d do everything the same, except that I wouldn’t bother to go and see The Magus’ (he’s right, brilliant book, rubbish film). Well, if I had my time over again I probably wouldn’t bother visiting Bungay on a Monday.
We’re staying at the Castle Inn , an appealing 16th century pub which also boasts a Michelin Guide recommended restaurant, though this part is inevitably closed on Mondays. We check in at reception at the same time as an elderly lady and her husband, a sweet old man in a cardigan who endears himself to me by describing himself as an ‘ale man ‘. I ask the woman on duty – the owner it turns out – if she can recommend anywhere else to eat tonight in Bungay.
‘Well actually we also run a very good Italian restaurant, just down the High Street.’
‘Great, what time does it open?’ I ask.
‘It’s closed on a Monday I’m afraid.’
‘Ah.’
‘There is a Thai place, she says, and an Indian, and, er…well there’s always the Fleece of course…’
‘The Fleece?’
‘A chef who used to work for us left to do their food…but most of our guests who end up eating there say they, er, feel rather fleeced actually…’
I sense this may not be the first outing for this joke. I’m also catching a strong whiff of pub-on-pub rivalry and am determined not to be put off. There’s no way we’re not going to be eating at the Fleece tonight.
We dump our stuff in the room and head out to explore the town. Readers of this blog will know there are few things I like more on a bike trip than a bit of serious tea room action. And happily there are no less than three to choose from, even on a Monday! If we wanted to we could go on a toasted tea-cake crawl of Bungay High Street, and that might actually be the best way of spending the afternoon. But in the event we opt for the Old Bank Tearoom, where we enjoy a thick slice of very decent Victoria sponge and a pot of full-bodied rust-coloured tea made with proper leaves.
The Old Bank is a classic tea room blend of the vintage, the nostalgic and the quirky (artfully mismatched crockery, as opposed to the artlessly mismatched stuff we have at home). The standard 1920s tea room music floats along in the background. This music is all part of the gaiety and charm of the tea room experience and I rather like it in small doses, but it must drive you bonkers if you have to work here all the time. ‘I wonder what music we’ll have down at the tea-room today?’ you might ask yourself optimistically on the way to work one morning. ‘Maybe we’ll have a bit of dubstep or the latest Daft Punk album for a change…oh it’s the fucking Charleston again, right…’
There being little else to do in Bungay this afternoon apart from drink tea, we have a short wander before retiring to the Castle Inn to recover from our morning exertions, modest though they have been. Later that evening we go back into town in search of dinner. On the way out of the Castle I spend some time perusing the Michelin Guide-recommended menu on the wall. I feel compelled to see what I could have eaten tonight, had it not been a sodding Monday. My wife tries in vain to hurry me on, knowing no good can possibly come of it. But I’m in a quandary over my main course. I’m tempted by the ‘Hempnall butchers best 21 day hung sirloin steak with a rich red jus and Dauphinoise potatoes’. I’m just not sure I can manage a large steak after all that cake though.
In the end I plump for a starter of East Anglian mussels with smoked bacon lardons, leeks, cider, double cream and parsley, followed by slow cooked shoulder of lamb served on thyme mash, with pan juices and parsnip crisps, rounded off by the dark chocolate tart with chocolate orange sauce and honeycomb ice cream, washed down with a very passable Corbieres, an Armagnac and coffee. I can honestly say it’s one of the best meals I’ve never eaten on a bicycle trip.
Back in the real world of Bungay on a Monday night we find ourselves, inevitably, in the Fleece, eating scampi and chips out of an enormous basket. It may lack Michelin-endorsed finesse but it’s decent enough pub grub and there’s certainly plenty of it for the price. ‘I certainly don’t feel fleeced’, says my wife, a little too loudly. The place is not exactly rammed and a few punters at the baa turn round. She looks sheepish. ‘I think ewe ought to keep your voice down’, I say.
We’re up early next day aiming to get away by 10 o’clock, mindful of the fact that the hour went back last weekend and it’s going to be getting dusk by 5ish. Breakfast at the Castle is good and includes a local butcher’s sausage with an unusual and intense herby flavour which immediately plunges me into a reverie, conjuring up fond memories of my Great Uncle Sam. Proust had his madeleine and I have my sausage. He used to come and stay with us every year in my childhood (Great Uncle Sam that is, not Proust), bringing us yards of this wonderful stuff from his local butcher, Leaf’s of Calverton. He was a sweet, cardiganned old chap, as plump as a fat hen, with a pocket always full of toffees; a First World War veteran, farm labourer (and human scarecrow), Methodist, pencil sketcher and harmonica player (often playing hymn tunes on a country ramble to a field of enthralled cows). He ate a full English breakfast every morning, walked everywhere and lived to his mid-80s.
Later, we collect our things from the room and as I go to settle the bill on the way out I hear our fellow guest, another sweet old cardiganned fellow, complaining to the young breakfast chef. It seems he’s unhappy about the quality of his poached egg and is tearing him off a right old strip. The yolk, apparently, was not runny enough. The young chap is reddening as he tries to explain this is the first time he’s been on breakfast duty, and poached eggs are not really his forte. I’m relieved I went for the fried egg option myself, and secretly sympathise with the old fellow who is becoming less sweet and more cantankerous by the minute. It is annoying to be served a disappointing breakfast egg and it can be hard to let go and move on. I know because I’ve been there.
And all of a sudden I’m confronted with a bleak vision of myself aged 75: the scourge of callow young hospitality industry employees across the Home Counties and East of England. The Cycling Around Cuba Years, I fear, are destined to be followed by the Poached Egg Years.
Meanwhile, it’s a lovely sunny day again as we cycle south of Bungay through a group of small villages known collectively as The Saints, named after a cluster of eleven medieval churches. We pass an enticing turn-off to St Peter’s Brewery, where the very fine ale of the same name is made. Tours and tastings are advertised. It’s only 10.30 though, a bit early for a piss-up in a brewery, assuming I could manage to organise one. I only have a small saddle bag but my wife has a fine pair of voluminous panniers (I vowed this blog would never descend to the level of cheap smut, but I am weak). I suggest we might pop in and take back a few bottles, but the suggestion is not well received.
The route winds on through a network of small lanes, with hardly a vehicle in sight and a deep sense of peace and remoteness. It’s also surprisingly hilly in places considering this is East Anglia (Cuba, I assure my wife, is much flatter), and we are occasionally rewarded with good views across the valley. The horizon is dotted with wind turbines. They generate a fair amount of flak in some quarters and some people think they are not worth the hassle given the size of their energy contribution. In fact data from the National Grid shows that wind generated enough electricity to supply the needs of a quarter of UK homes in 2014, and around 10% of the country’s total electricity supply. It could be an awful lot higher if the ‘greenest government ever’ hadn’t so cynically undermined the industry in a bid to court UKIP supporters in the shires. The ghastly Eric Pickles has intervened personally to stop over 50 planned farms from going ahead, despite a string of opinion polls showing two thirds of the public are in favour. ( http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/oct/28/war-on-windfarms-tories-latest-sop-to-ukip )
I really can’t understand why some critics see them as a blot on the landscape. Looking down the valley they strike me as elegant, graceful even, with their white sails flopping over in the breeze like children turning lazy cartwheels on a distant beach. A few hundred years ago I dare say there were some people round these parts saying, ‘We don’t want all these bloody windmills ruining the view, not in my backyard…how much corn can they even grind anyway? I had that Squire Pickles in the back of the stagecoach once…’
At the bottom of the valley we rejoin the Waveney at Syleham and for a stretch of around five miles we are retracing part of yesterday’s route back to the village of Hoxne. My wife is suffering from a sudden dip in energy levels (having made rather less of a pig of herself at breakfast than me), and there is a growing threat of mutiny in the ranks owing to my failure to pack any provisions. For the last 20 miles we haven’t passed a single shop or pub (unlike Cuba, I say, where there is a great café or restaurant literally round every bend). By this time it’s getting on towards 2 o’clock and luckily we arrive at the Swan in Hoxne, a lovely 15th century inn with low ceilings and oak beams, just in the nick of time for lunch, refuelling on smoked salmon sandwiches and a couple of pints of Timothy Taylor Landlord.
After lunch we set out on the last leg back to Diss, but following a different route to yesterday, looping around the pretty villages of Eye, Mellis and Thrandeston. The late October sun hangs low in the sky, throwing our shadows onto the high hedges of the lanes as we ride past, as if we are accompanied by two ghost cyclists. Maybe even the shades of our Cuban adventurer friends who, for all I know, may be pedalling the great coast to coast in the sky by now. Everything is bathed in that soft golden light that makes this time of year so beautiful. For once there’s nowhere I’d rather be than East Anglia. Except maybe the Caribbean.
We thread our way back to the starting point and find our car, just before dusk arrives. It’s been a successful trip and, I like to feel, an important staging post on the road to Havana.
The full details of this route (‘The Waveney Weekender’) can be found in the book Lost Lanes: 36 Glorious Bike Rides in Southern England, written by Jack Thurston and published in 2013: http://thebikeshow.net/lost-lanes-shop/
cycling , Long-distance rides , Travelogues Bike rides , Cycle touring , cycling holidays , Football , France , Paris , slow travel John Worthington
The summer bike trip I do with my friends Jeff, Matt and Tim began in 2011 and has since become an annual ritual. For the past two years we’ve headed across the Channel to France. In 2013 we tackled the iconic London to Paris ride, following the excellent route on Donald Hirsch’s website . This year we took our bikes over on the Eurostar and cycled east of Paris on a sparkling 150 mile journey to Epernay in the Champagne region. The full details of the route can be found in the highly recommended book Cycling Northern France by Richard Peace and Andrew Stevenson.
This year’s ride also had an extra dimension, happily coinciding with the second (knock-out) round of the football World Cup. Though the England team had already returned home in disgrace, the French had started brightly. With two games to look forward to each night, the atmosphere in the local bars promised to be electric…
With a long weekend of biking, beer and the beautiful game ahead, we leave St Pancras in high spirits. The weather prospects are less bright. The sky is a dismal grey and rain is forecast for the first two days. We may get a bit of sun on the third day if we’re lucky. It’s not ideal but it’s in keeping with the back notes of existential angst that flavour this trip. We’re staying for the first two nights in the town La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, two miles from the house of Samuel Beckett, where the author of Waiting For Godot and many other gloomy plays lived during the latter phase of his life. It promises to be a weekend of dramatic pauses and gallows humour in the face of the absurdity of existence. Plus footy.
The route begins just outside the Gard du Nord and for the first three hours the threatened rain mercifully holds off. We make good progress out through the leafy suburbs of the city along the Canal St. Martin and Canal de l’Ourcq towpaths, then onto quiet roads into the lush green of the Marne valley. At this rate we should do the 47 miles to La Ferté in time for the 6pm kick off in the mouth-watering South American clash between Brazil and Chile.
However we have reckoned without Matt’s annual puncture, which has become a regular feature of our trips. His bike has been christened Berbatov, after the abundantly talented but temperamentally fragile ex-Spurs and Man United striker. This year he has taken the precaution of fitting extra strong Armadillo ‘puncture-proof’ tyres. Around mid-afternoon we hear the familiar hiss of escaping air pressure and the familiar howl of anguish. There’s a delay while a new inner tube is fitted, and when we get going again it starts to shower. Pretty soon it’s raining ‘chats et chiens’ as the French say. We’re now well behind schedule and arrive in La Ferté during the half time interval.
La Ferté is not blessed with accommodation options. The only hotel we could find on Tripadvisor had a review from someone who was given a mouldy chocolate on his pillow and was forced to fill his own bath with 20 buckets of hot water. So we’re staying for two nights in the local Polish Catholic Mission, recommended in the guidebook, for which I have paid the risible sum of 50 euros a night for two double rooms.
The others wait outside the Mission with the bikes while I go to check in. I enter the wrong door and come face to face with a rotund priest sitting at a table scoffing his dinner. He scowls at me, pointing back through the door shouting, ‘Il faut aller à la réception’. I eventually manage to locate the lady in charge, decked out in black and white nun’s habit and wimple, presumably the Mother Superior. I check in and we lock our bikes up in the shed.
I ask the Mother Superior if she knows anywhere with a TV nearby. Her face immediately lights up.
‘Pour le match?’ she asks?
‘Oui’, I reply, ‘Brésil contre Chile.’
‘Et plus tard’ she says, ‘Columbie contre Uruguay!’’
The international language of football truly knows no boundaries. She is so animated I begin to suspect she may have had a bit of a wager, perhaps even a monkey on a Brazil-Columbia double. In fact, although my French isn’t brilliant, I’m pretty sure I hear her say, ‘J’ai un singe sur le Brésil-Columbie double.’
She beckons us to follow and leads us to a bunker in the basement of the building. An underground chapel or crypt perhaps. But inside the darkened room there is a TV, armchairs and a bunch of nuns plumping up their cushions. We settle down for the second half of what turns to be a dour 1-1 draw which Brazil undeservedly win in a tense penalty shoot-out, sending dark horses Chile out of the tournament and triggering a volley of swearing from Tim, followed by a sheepish grin as he remembers there are nuns in the room.
Afterwards we head out to find somewhere to eat and a bar to watch the late evening game. Unfortunately the whole town appears to be shut apart from a kebab shop, a mini supermarket and a Tunisian salon de thé, which has a TV but does not serve alcohol. We dine chez Monsieur Kebab and consider our options. We could get some beers from the mini supermarket and head back to watch another match with nuns. But it’s not really how we imagined we’d be spending Saturday night on our holiday. We opt for the salon de thé where we enjoy an impressive Columbian victory, washed down with several mint teas, before heading back to the Mission.
The rooms are small but functional, with two beds, a shower, a few pieces of religious iconography on the walls and bibles on the bedside table. No TV, no whirlpool bath, no mini bar and no tiny bottles of shampoo. This is very much at the budget end of the Polish Catholic Mission market.
We do the traditional coin toss to decide who rooms with whom. This is our fourth annual cycle trip. We have put up with each other snoring and farting around Devon, northern France and the Low Countries and miraculously still managed to remain friends. I try to decide which Beckett play provides the most appropriate metaphor for our room sharing experience. Maybe Happy Days, in which a woman is buried up to her neck in sand, prattling incessantly to her monosyllabic husband, in a relentless flood of harsh light from which there is no escape, in a world without end and without hope.
The next morning the sky is still grey and rain appears set in for the day. The mood is a tad flat. Not so much Champagne as Pomagne. But at least there’s little danger of starting the day in La Ferté with a hangover. Down in the refectory we are served a meagre breakfast of instant coffee, stale buns and the French equivalent of Dairylea Cheese Spread, a grim repast which does little to lift our spirits. I find it hard to believe the grumpy prelate I saw last night is dining on this spartan fare. He’s probably somewhere in the cloisters tucking into devilled kidneys and eggs benedict, washed down with Green Chartreuse served by cherubic choirboys.
Half way through breakfast a Swiss lady, perhaps around 60 years of age, rushes over to join us. She’s thrilled to have an opportunity to practise her English. It seems she’s been living here in the Mission for some time. The conversation turns to politics. She is a fan of both Vladimir Putin and our own British Queen. She also enjoys watching military parades and is the founder of an organisation that campaigns for world peace. She believes the world would be a better and more peaceful place if it were run by army generals from different countries. She compliments us on our glowing complexions and healthy demeanours, and suggests we might wish to visit the local municipal swimming baths. We decline the invitation. We are looking forward to a day cycling in the hills. In drizzle.
Today’s ride is a relaxed 30 mile circular loop exploring the hilly countryside around La Ferté, following quiet almost-traffic free country roads, meandering through small villages and enjoying sweeping views across the Ourcq valley. Because we’re staying two nights in the Mission it makes a nice change to leave our panniers and saddle bags behind and to ride unencumbered by the spare clothes, 19th century Russian novels and Cuban heels (Tim) that usually weigh us down.
On the way out of town there’s a long steep climb up to the village of Le Limon, particularly gruelling at this time of day before we’re even begun to warm up. Samuel Beckett apparently did most of his shopping in La Ferté and it was probably while cycling up here with his morning baguette that he wrote the famous line, ‘You must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.’
Surprisingly the rain stops as soon as we are up in the hills. Spirits rise even further when we arrive at the village of Certigny and find a great place for lunch, a small café with a few tables in the back. Nothing fancy, but decent rustic French cooking: grilled goats cheese and prosciutto salad, a fine beef and ratatouille, and half a bottle of red each (experience has shown this to be the upper limit in the middle of the day on a cycle tour). Rural France may not be the most happening place in the evening, but they still know how to do lunch thank god.
We get back to La Ferté by late afternoon in time for Mexico v Holland. Near the main square we spot a bar we hadn’t seen the first night. It looks like it might be a promising venue to watch the football. It’s called Le Sports Bar and it has a World Cup wall chart in the window. I enter and ask le patron if he is showing the match. He stares at me as if I am mad, then gestures around the room.
‘Mais où est le TV?’ he asks, ‘Où est le TV?’
A gaggle of drinkers at the bar burst out laughing, and repeat in unison, ‘Où est le TV?’
They are right. There is no TV in Le Sports Bar. Although it does have an old table football in the corner, the paint peeling off and several players with heads missing. And besides, it seems the bar is about to close on account of it being nearly 7 o’clock. Of course, I don’t know what I was thinking of. I murmur apologies. Luckily there’s still time to get to the salon de thé and get a round of mint teas in before kick off.
Following a dramatic late comeback by the Dutch to win 2-1 we discover another eating option on the outskirts of town, a half decent Japanese restaurant where we dine on sushi and Asahi beer before hot footing it back to the salon de thé in time for the late evening game.
Jeff has spotted hookah pipes which somehow seem to have escaped the French smoking ban. He calls for one to be brought over, there being no other form of artificial stimulant available in La Ferté at 10pm. This is my first experience of the hookah and it feels illicit and slightly thrilling, heightened by the solemn ritual of passing the pipe between us. Whenever the flavoured tobacco (more fucking mint) appears in danger of fizzling out, a fat bald man with a goatee beard suddenly appears as if from nowhere and re-lights it, the genie of the pipe.
I’m feeling pretty mellowed out. It may just be the combination of feeling tired from the last two days cycling, the soothing gurgle of the hubbly bubbly and the heat from the burning charcoal, but it definitely feels like it’s ‘working’ on some level, albeit subtle.
Jeff later points out this is the longest smoke he has ever had, lasting the entire 90 minutes of Costa Rica versus Greece, plus half an hour of extra time and a penalty shoot-out, interrupted only for a ten minute fag break outside at half time. My mouth feels like it’s sucked a million Polos and by the end I’m practically communing with power animals. (I read later that one pipe may be the equivalent of around 200 cigarettes, making this possibly the most unhealthy cycling holiday ever. If there are any young people reading – my son for instance – smoking a hookah pipe is a really stupid thing to do.)
Next morning we decide to forego the Nescafe and buns in favour of an early start. As we’re getting ready to leave we run into the Swiss lady, who is waiting for us outside our rooms. She requests our assistance with a letter she is writing to a very high-ranking English General. She is organising an international military coup and wonders if he is doing anything a week on Thursday. Tim patiently helps her compose her letter in polite English, while I go to find the Mother Superior to hand in the keys and check out.
It turns out there’s been a misunderstanding. It seems I have only paid for one night not two and I have to cough up an extra 100 euros. Suddenly the room rates of the Polish Catholic Mission don’t seem quite so risible. The Mother Superior asks me to fill out a form for the second night. I complete the form using the only pen I have on me, which happens to be a red biro, and hand it to her. Clearly horrified she cries out:
‘Non Monsieur, pas de rouge, pas de rouge!’
‘Vous n’aimez pas le rouge?’ I ask. ‘
‘Je deteste le rouge! C’est le couleur du communisme!’ she shouts, screwing up the form, tossing it in the bin and handing me a new one with a blue ballpoint pen.
I consider this. She’s right of course. Red is undoubtedly the colour of communism, and I can understand why a Polish nun may have negative associations (a red rag to a papal bull). But red is surely the colour of many things. I’m not sure it’s reasonable to write off an entire primary colour on this basis. However I don’t have time to dispute with the Mother Superior. We have 61 miles to cycle and France v Nigeria kicks off at six. I fill out the form in (conservative) blue ink and pay for the extra night. In any case, it’s been well worth it for the entertainment.
As we’re leaving the Swiss lady is waiting for us again by the exit. She wonders if we would care to make a donation for world peace before we go. Well, it’s certainly a worthwhile cause, one which I think we’d all wish to support. We’re just not entirely convinced that a global military council is the best way to achieve it. We decline and bid her au revoir.
Today offers the most challenging day’s cycling with over 1,100 metres of climbing, as well as some of the best scenery. The first half of the day runs from La Ferté to Chateau-Thierry. This section offers quiet undulating roads and sweeping valley vistas, the sparkling ribbon of the Marne never far from our sight, and even the sun occasionally donning his chapeau. Or, as Beckett would say, the sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new.
The highlight of the morning is the tough but rewarding path from Orly up towards Bassevelle, a long hike through the deep green silence of the forest. The only sounds to be heard are birdsong, the occasional creaking of timber and cussing from Berbatov as he encounters another pothole or patch of loose gravel. We arrive famished at a promising restaurant only to find it’s just closed (lunch apparently being served between the well-known lunch hours of 7am and 1pm). Luckily, the woman in charge takes pity on us and serves up a cheese baguette and a cold Leffe.
In the afternoon we hit Champagne country proper as the hilly road winds alliteratively through the vineyards of Vincelles, Vernueuil and Vandieres. ‘Expect your spirits to elevate along with the route itself’ the guidebook tells us. There’s a leg- and lung-busting climb up to the hilltop village of Chatillon (‘tough, cruel even, but brief’) where we have a café stop before the final ten mile stretch into Epernay.
Epernay is an attractive and relaxed market town which makes much of its location at the heart of the Champagne industry. Almost every shop is selling a bewildering array of bottles from a multitude of Champagne houses in every possible size from Piccolo to Jeroboam to Nebuchadnezzar.
We have booked into a hotel for the night, given the deplorable lack of ecclesiastical accommodation in Epernay. The front of the building is covered with a vast neon sign which flashes ’58 euros a night!’ It’s a capsule hotel, a Japanese concept that is probably quite cool and minimalist in Osaka. Here, it appears to be the result of a drunken bet to see how tiny a space you can cram two beds, a shower and toilet into and still charge 58 euros.
Epernay has a bit more going on than La Ferté and, with the match about to start, we dive into the first bar we see near the hotel. After playing their opening group games with Gallic flamboyance the French have retreated into caginess. Though clearly the better team, they are struggling to break down a well-organised Nigerian side. The mood in the bar is tense for the first, goalless, hour and a quarter.
There is palpable relief when France score two late goals and murmurs of satisfaction at the final whistle. It’s all a bit low key compared with back home though. No fist pumping or joyous shouts of ‘Oui!!!’ If our team of no-hopers had made it to the quarter finals of the World Cup we’d be yelling ‘Bring on the Germans!’ and hokey cokeying around a pub in North London by now. We wander into the town centre. Things get a bit livelier here – cars driving around the main square honking horns and dangling tricolours from their windows. Then everyone remembers it’s past 8 o’clock and goes home.
We find a great restaurant where we enjoy some classic French cooking: grilled fish, a fine coq au Pinot Noir with mash and a sumptuous crème brûlée – thick sweet custard covered with a thin layer of crisp caramel as delicate as an angel’s wing. Later, though most of the town has inevitably shut, we manage to find one late bar (ie open after 9.30) in the centre to watch Germany beat Algeria in the company of a joyously drunk man and his wife from Cologne.
The final day involves no cycling, just some souvenir Champagne shopping (try saying that after a Jeroboam), followed by a 90 minute train journey from Epernay back to Paris where we check our bikes in at the Eurostar terminal. The train back to London does not leave until 6pm so we have a whole afternoon to kill. We discuss the options. A cultural tour is mooted. There is an interesting exhibition of Bauhaus furniture in town. We give careful consideration to this before deciding, on balance, in favour of a four hour lunch at Terminus Nord .
This is the second year in succession that our annual trip has ended up in this fine art deco brasserie opposite the station. This time we manage to set a collective personal best – all that training has paid off, putting in the hard yards over the last few days. The route unfolds before us: the traditional bottle of Champagne to begin, then onto towering platters of seafood, grilled salmon, a couple of bottles of Muscadet, via tarte tatin, cheeses, dessert wine, eventually reaching our final destination of coffee and Calvados . You must go on, I can’t go on, I’ll go on.
We pay the bill, stagger out into the late afternoon sunshine and head for the train home.
Oh this is a happy day, this will have been another happy day! (Pause). After all. (Pause). So far.
Boats , Travelogues boating , Croatia , family holiday , slow travel John Worthington
A recent family holiday was spent in Croatia, staying in the medieval town of Trogir in Dalmatia. One of the many delights was the amount of travelling around we did on water. The roads once built to speed up travel have become so clogged up in the summer months that the only way to get anywhere is by the boats they were designed to replace. The entire coastline is dotted with ferries, water taxis and private boats of all descriptions as well as the odd cruise liner, serving towns in the region including the colourful city of Split, various islands and local beaches. It’s a wonderfully serene way to get around. But the ‘slow travel’ highlight of our holiday was when we decided to hire our own boat for the day (the first time we’ve ever done this) and cruise around the Adriatic…
It’s nine thirty on a hot morning in late August when we arrive at the boat hire place and select our vessel. It looks a bit tatty but boasts a ‘five horse power Suzuki engine’, although perhaps they are only sea horses. The man in charge spreads out a map and shows me where we are meant to go, his suggested itinerary roughly following the coastline. I point to a tempting mass of blue space on the left hand side of the map but he shakes his head. ‘Too much open sea’, he says, then mutters something darkly under his breath, possibly Serbo-Croat for ‘There be dragons…’
‘You have driven a boat before?’ he asks. I hesitate. I once steered a barge on the Stratford & Avon Canal, and I’ve seen a fair bit of pedalo action in my time. As nautical CVs go I guess it’s not exactly Sir Ben Ainslie though. ‘No, I reply, ‘not as such’. ‘No problem,’ he says, ‘is easy. Easier than car.’ I think it best not to mention that I don’t do that either.
He beckons me over to the boat to give me a demonstration. I try to rope my son into coming with me. He’s recently had his first driving lessons and happily doesn’t seem to have inherited my low capacity for spatial awareness. But the man waves him away. He only wants to talk to the head honcho.
I know it’s important to concentrate very hard on what he’s telling me, but the harder I listen the more my mind seems to keep wandering off. Anyway, it seems there are only three or four things you have to do to get the thing going: put the engine into neutral, make sure the accelerator is on the low setting, pull the starter cord and switch the engine to the forward position.
I watch him do it a couple of times then he gestures for me to have a go. I’m flummoxed. It’s amazing how many permutations of three of four things there are. And apparently it’s important to get them in the right order. He shows me again. I follow it now but the problem is getting the engine to fire up. ‘You must pull harder’, he says, laughing. Evidently this is some kind of test and I have to man up. I pull as hard as I can but there’s just deathly silence. He smirks and pulls out the choke, which is clearly a shameful option of last resort. He suggests I try again. I give it everything I’ve got. It splutters like a wet fart then dies on the wind. Maybe I just want it too badly.
I sense the eyes of my family on me, and am aware out of the corner of my eye that some random strangers have also gathered to watch. Sweat is trickling down my neck. There must be a knack to this. An obscure memory flashes into my mind of a story once told by Kenneth Williams about a temperamental toilet chain in a bedsit, and his landlady’s advice on how to make it flush. ‘You ‘ave to surprise it!’ she said. I pause for a long time and, just when I think the engine is least expecting me to, I give the cord a good sharp yank. It roars into life, or as much of a roar as a five horse power engine can muster. I punch the air, Tim Henman-style, as relief gushes out of me.
He then tries to show me how I can tilt the engine in and out of the water if I want to, but frankly why would I? I’ve reached information overload by now and am not really paying attention. The crew members climb aboard, ropes are untied, I shove the engine into forward and we’re off!
I’m flushed with success and, once we’re past the other moored boats, accelerate towards the wide blue yonder, a sea shanty already on my lips. I waste no time in assigning roles to the crew. I feel it’s important to have some form of hierarchy at sea. My wife is appointed First Mate and my son and daughter are designated Able-Bodied Seamen. I want to keep things fairly informal though (we are on holiday after all), and suggest they might call me ‘Skip’. No-one replies. I guess they can’t hear me above the din of the engine. Never mind, I’m absolutely loving this sea-faring lark, and even before we’ve got beyond the harbour walls a new life plan has begun to crystallise, involving sticking our house on Airbnb, buying a boat and decamping to the Med. We’re so getting a boat!
We stick fairly close to the coastline and things go well for the first couple of hours. It’s a lovely morning, I grudgingly allow everyone to have a turn steering and the crew are in high spirits. Everything feels so wide open and free out here. But then, as Macbeth might have said, vaulting ambition begins to overreach itself. We edge closer and closer, and then well beyond that bit of the map which is meant to be strictly off-limits.
All of a sudden there seems to be an awful lot more water than there was before, stretching in all directions, probably as far as Italy, or maybe Bolivia. The wind whips up and the sun-shade canopy on top of the boat begins to sway alarmingly on its rickety poles, which we now notice are held together with bits of sticky tape and Elastoplast like Jack Duckworth’s spectacles. A sharp gust sees the whole edifice swing over to one side of the boat, blocking my view, and for a worrying few minutes I have no vision at all to my starboard (or possibly port) side. There might be other boats, ferries or even, god forbid, ocean-going cruise liners up ahead and I would have no idea.
The crew manage to wrestle the canopy back into position and hold it steady with great difficulty against the wind. But it’s too dangerous and we’re forced to remove the poles and take down the canvas roof, resigning ourselves to spending the rest of the day roasting under the searing sun without any shade. Meanwhile the waves seem to have become a good deal choppier and the boat is lurching from side to side. I notice that the First Mate is beginning to look a little green around the gills. A long-buried memory floats into my mind, a holiday in the early days of our courtship: a remote Scottish island, a small boat, a rough sea…it didn’t end well.
We decide it’s sensible to turn around and head back towards land. But we’re now sailing into a stiff breeze and making very slow progress against the tide. The sun is overhead and we’re cooking down here. I’m sensing a subtle shift in mood below decks. A fight has broken out between the two Able-Bodied Seamen over a bottle of mango flavoured ice tea. The First Mate appears to be projectile vomiting over the port side (or possibly starboard). We’re so not getting a boat.
Eventually signs of civilisation appear and we head over to the shore where enticing tables, chairs and shade have been spotted. We attempt to moor the boat but someone shouts and tells us we’re not allowed to stop there. We have to back out and I shove the engine into reverse. I must have pressed something by mistake because the engine suddenly jerks upwards and is now waggling around and poking out of the water at 45 degrees.
I shift into forward gear but the propeller is churning half air and half sea, making a terrible racket, and we’re barely moving. I struggle with the engine, pressing every lever that can possibly be pressed, trying to shove it back down into the water, but it keeps popping back up. It’s like wrestling with a greasy pig. I have no clue how to fix it. Behind me I hear the First Mate cry out in despair, ‘This just isn’t right. People like us shouldn’t be allowed to hire boats!’
We manage to crawl about 50 yards along the shoreline and eventually come to a sort of floating jetty. We tie up and clamber off, having to wade waist-deep through water to get to the shore, which doesn’t seem to improve morale much.
Reaching the restaurant, I’m confident things will sort themselves out after a decent lunch as they so often seem to do. Plates of pasta arrabiata and a jug of cold beer duly arrive. The First Mate, however, opts for a small hunk of dry bread and a stomach-settling bowl of thin tomato soup. Her smile is even thinner. I sense mutiny in the air, especially when it turns out you can get a bus just up the road from here all the way back to our apartment. I try to salvage things by declaring my firm belief that ‘the worst is now behind us’, that for the remainder of the voyage the sea will be ‘mirror-calm’. It’s too little too late though. In football parlance I think I may have lost the dressing room. I resign myself to the loss of a valued crew member.
After lunch we bid farewells, and the remaining crew wade out to the boat and attempt to hoist ourselves back on board, which turns out to be a good deal trickier than getting off. Eventually I manage to clamber over the side, gashing my knee in the process, and belly flop onto the deck like a landed tuna, blood dripping from my cut. The kids follow, incurring a couple more minor flesh wounds. They cast off the ropes and I start the engine, but the propeller is just spinning through air and it’s obvious that with an engine only half submerged we’re just not going anywhere.
We drift about 50 yards out to sea but appear to be just turning round in circles no matter how much I accelerate. I examine the engine from every possible angle again, but still can’t for the life of me figure out how to get it back down into the water. Half an hour later the situation is becoming desperate. We’re stranded miles from the boat hire place. The First Mate, doubtless about to hunker down on a sunbed with a Kindle and a chilled mojito, is frankly well out of this.
There’s an ‘SOS’ phone number painted on the inside of the boat but I’m not sure this situation really qualifies. If only there was a ‘General Ineptitude’ helpline that would fit the bill perfectly. My son suggests we shout to people on the beach for help. ‘But what makes you think they will know what to do either?’ I ask. ‘Dad’ he replies, ‘I think everyone knows apart from us’. I have to concede he may have a point. We all jump up, waving our arms and bellowing ‘Help!’
A guy on a jet ski some way off turns and whizzes towards us, probably thinking we are in real distress. I point to the engine bobbing up and down. He mimes the solution but I’ve no idea what he’s trying to tell me. He shrugs and powers away again. For a moment I think he’s just buggered off and left us, but then I realise he’s gone back to the beach to pick up his mate. They whizz back towards us and his mate climbs aboard, grimacing at the blood seeping from my knee, then fixes the problem in about two seconds by pulling on some lever which I swear wasn’t even there earlier.
I feel like hugging them both but settle for a sheepish grin and a thumbs-up. I’m still not quite sure how he fixed it, but as long as I don’t attempt to put the engine into reverse or try and stop anywhere for the rest of the day, everything should now be fine, barring something unforeseeable like a surprise incursion by Somali pirates.
We spend the rest of the afternoon pleasantly cruising around the coastline, taking it in turns to drive, lounging around and dangling our feet in the water. The mood of tranquillity is only temporarily interrupted by a large boat flying the French tricolour, which steams past on our port side (or possibly starboard), churning up some pretty big waves which almost capsize us. It disappears around the headland only to return five minutes later, now passing us on our starboard side (or possibly port), churning up some more big waves, their four man crew giving us a cheery salute as we reel from side to side, water sloshing all over the decks. As they turn and begin to perform a figure of eight around us, it’s clear they have enjoyed a long and satisfying lunch and are looking for some sport. I am minded to give them the finger, but have no wish to trigger an international incident so just smile amiably through gritted teeth.
All too soon it’s late afternoon and time to return the boat. I begin to head back towards Trogir. Behind me, to the west, the sun has sunk lower in the sky, the sea now calmer and flooded with golden light shimmering on the surface of the water. It’s one of those perfectly still, clear moments that seem to hang in the air for ever. But summer is coming to an end, three days from now we will be back in London, another month and my son will be at university, the first to leave home. Time and tide. I glance back once more into the golden light, then turn and drive on towards the harbour.
As we approach the boat hire place I slow the engine. There’s now a lady on duty and she waves to me from the quayside. I wave back. She carries on waving. She certainly seems very friendly. In fact now she’s waving with both hands quite vigorously. It dawns on me this must be the maritime signal for ‘Stop you pillock!’ I cut the engine and throw her a rope. It’s too late to stop the forward drift but luckily she manages to grab the rope, almost gets pulled in, but just manages to steady us in the nick of time before we smash into the propeller of the boat tied up in front, saving the day and doubtless the hefty damage deposit I was forced to hand over this morning.
We climb off the boat and, with the ground still swaying beneath us, stagger back to our apartment, sunburned, bloodied and grinning stupidly.
cycling , Long-distance rides , Travelogues Cycle touring , cycling holidays , Lochs & glens , Scotland , slow travel John Worthington
I’m writing these words listening to From Scotland With Love, King Creosote’s (aka Kenny Anderson’s) love letter to his homeland and soundtrack to Virginia Heath’s documentary film of the same name, released to celebrate the start of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Gorgeous and elegiac, it’s also the perfect soundtrack to accompany my recollections of a wonderful few days cycling north of the border…
Following the success of our Way of the Roses trip last summer, this year my son Sam (now 19) and I decide to head even further north, tackling National Cycle Network Route 7 from Glasgow up to Inverness, a 217 mile ride packaged as ‘ Lochs & Glens North ’ (‘Lochs & Glens South’ being the stretch from Carlisle to Glasgow). It seems a timely choice, given the impending historic vote on independence. Who knows, it may be our last chance – by this time next year Hadrian’s Wall may have been fully re-built…
One Wednesday lunchtime in late July we get the west coast mainline train from London and arrive at Glasgow Central Station around 6pm. The original plan was to have a proper Glaswegian night out before embarking on our journey next morning but this was scuppered by the opening of the Games the day of our arrival. All hotels in the city being either full or prices ramped up to the max, I had booked a B&B 15 miles from where Route 7 starts (ten minutes from the station).
This works out well, enabling us to enjoy a balmy evening of gentle cycling along the towpaths of the River Clyde and the Forth and Clyde Canal, passing place names only previously familiar to me from the Scottish football results on a Saturday afternoon: Partick (Thistle), Clydebank and our first night stop Dumbarton . The town is immediately recognisable by the 5th century walls of Dumbarton Castle perched on a towering volcanic rock, once the hiding place of Mary Queen of Scots en route to exile in France. We find our B&B and head out for the local Weatherspoons, me gorging on a vast plate of fish & chips, Sam getting straight into the tartan mood with ‘Balmoral Chicken’ (apparently very tasty despite its dubious royalist overtones.)
The next morning is the start of the journey proper, and the first of several ‘full Scottish breakfasts’, a subject which had provided us with the opportunity for much idle speculation and lazy national stereotyping on the train journey up. How would this differ from its counterpart south of the border? Would it include a Scotch egg or a deep fried Mars Bar, would the bacon be marinated in Tennent’s Super, or would breakfast be accompanied by one of those famous ‘wee drams’? As it turns out it’s basically the usual full English version except in two respects: a ‘tattie scone’ in place of hash browns/fried bread and haggis for black pudding. As they say in Pulp Fiction, ‘it’s the little differences’.
Having already knocked off 15 miles the night before, the second day is set to be a fairly relaxed 40 mile ride. We leave Dumbarton and follow a cycle path along the River Leven to Balloch on the shores of Loch Lomond, the lake which adorns many postcards and souvenir tea towels. It’s the largest expanse of inland water in Britain, but somehow we manage to see very little of it, the route veering up and away almost as soon as its reaches the Loch, though we keep catching tantalising glimpses through the trees as we climb through Loch Ard Forest and descend to our lunch stop in Aberfoyle.
We are now in the Trossachs National Park, an enchanting area of small lochs and steeply wooded hills. The afternoon’s cycling is magical, with some challenging off road sections, sharp climbs and flowing downhills, up through the Achray Forest and along the shores of Loch Venachar and the wonderfully named Loch Drunkie. We continue on a minor road to our second night base in Callander, a popular tourist town at the base of the Highlands, where we refresh ourselves with Belhaven ale and hearty plates of mutton and ox cheeks, neither of which I’ve eaten since about 1973.
The next morning the weather is still perfect (can this really be Scotland?), and we enjoy a 25 mile ride to Killin through the increasingly rugged Southern Highlands. Cycling along quiet, virtually traffic-free roads and paths, over rolling hills blanketed in purple heather, the sun slanting down through lush pine forests, the beauty of the scenery feels intoxicating at times and I find myself waxing lyrical (or talking bollocks depending on your standpoint). Sam says I remind him of Michael Caine in an old film of Kidnapped he recently watched, who (playing the part of the Scottish independence fighter Alan Breck) at one point roars ‘I’d give my life for the rocks and heather of Scotland!’
We pass the village of Balquhidder, burial place in 1734 of the local hero Rob Roy, outlaw, class warrior and cattle rustler, known apparently as the ‘Scottish Robin Hood’. I’m not sure this is really accurate though. While Robin Hood is said to have stolen from the rich to give to the poor, Rob Roy’s wheeze, as far as I can make out, appears to have been to steal from the rich in order to give to Rob Roy. Maybe Scottish folk heroes are just a wee bit more canny.
We stop for a breather and get chatting to another cyclist, a man in his 60s who lives nearby. He tells us he needs a knee operation but is putting it off as long as possible because there’s a chance he won’t be able to get on a bike ever again. He smiles ruefully and wishes us well. The whole way to Inverness we encounter many fellow cyclists and the camaraderie of the road is much in evidence with a great deal of friendly nodding, cheery waving and theatrical grimacing on hills.
The route continues for a long and lovely stretch along a disused railway line, culminating in a long sweaty climb up the Glen Ogle valley, and across the old train viaduct 60 metres above the main road below. Not for the first time on my cycling adventures I raise an ironic glass to Dr Beeching, who may have butchered much of Britain’s railway network, but who has turned out to make an unwitting contribution to the cause of slow travel by leaving us a legacy of magnificent off road cycle paths (thanks to the work of Sustrans). The track sweeps downhill to Killin where we enjoy an excellent lunch by the waterfalls at the Falls of Dochart Inn : venison casserole (Sam) and smoked haddock risotto (me), washed down with a pint of ale brewed locally at Loch Fyne.
Post-lunch we’re in the mood for no more than a leisurely afternoon pootle which is just as well because the next stretch is a mildly undulating 16 mile single-track road through woods along the shore of Loch Tay. We’ve settled into a good steady rhythm now, rolling along at a respectable pace, me out in front leading the way, calling out useful bits of advice: don’t be afraid of your gears, dance in the saddle when you’re going uphill, never bet on a low pair…the three or four things a man needs to pass on to his children.
We continue on though the village of Kenmore at the foot of Loch Tay and along some quiet roads, passing the turn-off to the village of Dull. The local residents (Dullards?) have clearly retained a sense of humour because a road sign informs us that the village has been twinned with the town of Boring in Oregon, USA. (I read later that the two places have also recently forged an unholy – or possibly just uninteresting – trinity with the town of Bland in New South Wales). The sign says ‘Welcome to Dull, Drive Safely’, as if one could possibly drive any other way in a place called Dull. Personally, I’d have preferred an ironic twist here along the lines of ‘Welcome to Dull, Drive Like the Wind and The Devil Take The Hindmost!’
A few miles further on we reach our evening base, Aberfeldy in Perthshire. Like many towns in the region Aberfeldy is long and thin, basically one long main street featuring four pubs, and although containing a smattering of low key tourism it feels like a very authentic Highlands town. After our evening meal (salmon in dill butter), we embark on a proper crawl, starting at the far end of the street. It’s Friday evening and by the time we arrive at the other end, it feels as if the whole of Aberfeldy is out on the lash. We end up in the Black Watch where a folk duo are playing The Braes o’ Killiecrankie (by Robert Burns), and squash in on seats next to a gang of very drunk labourers. The quietest one tells me he is from near Belfast and moves around the world – Scotland, Holland, Zambia – doing jobs, returning home every few months to see his wife and daughter. He drifts off into his thoughts as the band plays The Irish Rover.
At half past eleven we leave and make our way back to the Breadalbane Arms where we’re staying. The night, it seems, is yet young with the walls shaking to the sounds of a band playing 60s and 70s covers. On the pavement outside we get talking to a couple of lads about Sam’s age, students back home for the summer. I ask them what they are going to vote in the referendum. They answer simultaneously but one says ‘yes’ and the other says ‘no’.
(A selfie of the author undergoing a Zelig-like transformation on a night out in Aberfeldy )
Perhaps I’m a wee bit tired and emotional but I suddenly appear to be channelling the spirit of William Wallace. I say if I was Scottish I would have no hesitation in voting Yes, that it’s a chance to break with the failed neo-liberal consensus and start again, create a new kind of country based on social justice and ecological balance. I talk of the stunning beauty of the landscape we are cycling through and how they must draw inspiration from this. They must seize the moment and vote Yes even if it condemns the rest of us to an endless winter of Conservative government!
I see them exchange glances and smiles. I can tell they are very moved. I close my eyes, summoning all my rhetorical powers for one final flourish, but when I open them they seem to have gone off to the bar, taking Sam with them. It’s a pity. I think I may have been about to pledge my life for the rocks and heather of Scotland.
Back inside the pub it’s all kicking off, ale and malts flowing freely, the band playing Whisky In The Jar, someone’s dog running loose among the swaying bodies. Behind the bar a young man bobs around, drenched in sweat, trying to quench the unslakeable thirst of Aberfeldy on a Friday night, while beside him an oldish woman pulls pints unhurriedly with a frown of Presbyterian disapproval at the rollicking scenes unfolding before her eyes. The band wraps up some time after 1am with a heroic rendition of The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond (the AC/DC version), everyone in the pub linking arms and belting out the words. I glance over at the bar and see the elderly woman now clapping and singing along, her face lit by a smile.
The next morning we’re both a tad weary, though in my case it’s not so much the cycling I’m struggling to keep up with as the après-cycling. I’m also contemplating the fourth day with a certain amount of trepidation as it’s the longest so far (57 miles), and the forecast suggests heavy rain will kick in later, around the time we’re likely to cross the Drumrochter Pass, a remote 12 mile climb through the Cairngorms. Meanwhile, just outside Aberfeldy, a short detour offers a chance to see the Fortingall Yew, an ancient tree which could be anywhere between 3,000 and 9,000 years old, said to be the oldest living organism in Europe. This morning I have a pretty good idea how it must feel.
As we cycle on through Pitlochry we are entering the Cairngorms National Park and the landscape begins to change from the shortbread tin prettiness of the first half of the journey into something altogether more open and wild. The skies ahead begin to darken and there is a sudden chill in the air. This is the region known as Britain’s Arctic. We go through Killiecrankie, and see a re-enactment of the famous battle where the Jacobites defeated William of Orange’s troops in 1689 (inspiration for the Burns song we heard in the pub last night).
Flagging, we stop for a late lunchtime pizza in Blair Atholl, the last outpost of civilisation before the long climb begins. A few miles beyond the village a stone sculpture marks the start of the climb to the 457 metre Drumrochter Summit. A sign says ‘Weather conditions deteriorate without warning and can be severe even in summer…no food or shelter for 30km.’ I half expect the ghost of Private Frazer to appear wailing ‘Dooomed, you’re all dooomed…’
As we begin the long slow climb Sam seems to be dropping further off the pace and I’m concerned about the time in view of what lies ahead. Knowing my bike is a bit faster than his I suggest that, ‘if we swap over, with you having the better bike and me having the not so good bike we’ll probably be about equal.’ We swap, Sam immediately shoots ahead, and it soon becomes apparent that I will be spending the rest of the way to Inverness 200 yards behind struggling to catch up. I’m forced to swallow the bitter truth that the advantage I had ascribed to my superior cycling ability and fitness was pretty much all down to having a better machine. Worse still, from the way he keeps stopping and waiting for me and smirking, I can tell he is enjoying his moment of triumph, perhaps sensing it as some kind of turning point, a symbolic patricide even. Tonight it seems I will be dining on humble pie, served with the neaps of shame and the tatties of hubris.
The 12 mile climb to the summit, meanwhile, turns out to be less arduous than expected, thanks to a very gentle gradient, and a decent cycle path sandwiched between the busy A9 and the railway line (which reaches the highest point of any railway in Britain). At times the path veers away from the road to dip behind the grassy slopes, and away from the roar of the traffic the atmosphere feels lonely and remote. The dark hills surrounding us are bleak and dramatic, late afternoon sunlight piercing the gathering clouds and glinting off the high tarns. We pause at the summit to savour the moment, gulp down fizzy drinks and pick wild raspberries, spirits lifted by the anticipation of a 20 mile glide downhill to our night stop in Newtonmore.
The threatened deluge still hasn’t arrived and although something vaguely damp has been misting the air for much of the afternoon I would hardly call it rain (and coming from the north west of England I feel I know a thing or two about the subject), but more like a mild Cornish mizzle – I’m not impressed frankly. As if sensing my disappointment, the sky now begins to turn chilly, the wind gets up, the mizzle turns to a properly dismal Scottish ‘dreich’ and then it starts. For the last ten miles of the day it feels like we’re being lashed by thick sheets of cold porridge. From here on it’s just a question of heads down, hang in there and plough on to the end.
Newtonmore is a quintessential Highlands village and one of the main locations for the TV series Monarch of the Glen, but we’re too wet and knackered to really care, and all we see that night is the comforting interior of the Glen Hotel , me padding around the bar in my last pair of dry socks while vainly trying to dry off shoes and clothes on radiators upstairs. Luckily for me they are clean out of humble pie so we both enjoy a top-notch chicken and ham puff pastry version instead, one or two ales and in bed by 11 for once.
We awake deeply refreshed after sleeping the kind of sleep only available to the pure at heart (but fortunately also available to those with slightly impure hearts who have just cycled 57 miles and had four pints of best bitter and a large pie). For breakfast we plump for some fine Arbroath Smokies and scrambled eggs which makes a nice change from fried pig and sets us up for our last day, another 60 miles, but mercifully flattish or downhill most of the way.
We make excellent pace on quiet tarmaced cycle paths and minor roads through the Spey Valley to Kingussie, Kingcraig, Inverdruie and past the ski resort of Aviemore. Road signs alert us to the presence of deer and red squirrels. One of the much anticipated aspects of this trip has been the rich wildlife for which the Highlands are justly celebrated. Red squirrels, red deer, Cairngorm reindeer, wild salmon, beavers (in the River Tay), osprey, capercaillie, golden eagles, pine martens, Scottish wildcats… Needless to say we don’t see any of them. Sam claims two red squirrel sightings but when I look they have suspiciously legged it.
Meanwhile, outside Inverdruie, where there is a choice of road and off-road options, a sign says, ‘Warning – if cycling through the forest, roe deer cull in operation!’ We decide, on balance, to stick with the road. We’re just not really in the mood for a culling today. As we head north, behind us we can hear the sound of a repeating rifle, a bullet every two seconds, monotonous and chilling. There’s a massacre taking place in those woods, although one undertaken for necessary reasons of sustainability I don’t doubt. My reading material on this trip is George Monbiot’s recent book Feral and I reflect that, if his argument for re-introducing the wolf and lynx to the Highlands were to be acted upon, there would be no need for this kind of industrial slaughter. Not particularly good news for the deer I guess, but how cool would it be to cycle through a forest knowing there were wolves lurking within…
As we pass a pretty village called Boat of Garten, the puffy white clouds of the morning turn black as the rain comes down again hard and relentless. We abandon our bikes outside a welcoming inn in the town of Carrbridge, tip the water from our shoes down the toilet and eat lunch (sea bream/steak & ale pie) while huddling goose pimpled in a corner.
Happily after lunch the skies have cleared and we soon dry up in the warm sunny breeze. Before leaving Carrbridge we pause to look at the famous ‘coffin bridge’ (above), built in 1717 to carry funeral parties over the river to the churchyard.
Lochs & Glens North now reaches a fitting climax with some thrilling downhill sections along country lanes and past Cava Cairns, a wonderfully atmospheric and well-preserved Bronze Age site with standing stones and huge burial cairns up to 4,000 years old. We have one last rest stop among the ancient stones (below) before the final leg past the Culloden battlefield, site of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s last stand, and down towards Inverness.
A few miles before the end we pass through the village of Balloch, the second place of this name we have passed through on the route (the first Balloch was near the beginning, a few miles outside of Glasgow, a symmetry which is somehow pleasing). I mention this to Sam who agrees this is an unusual coincidence. I point out that ‘it’s not really that surprising because Ballochs normally come in pairs’. I have been planning this punchline for almost 200 miles. I feel it has been worth the wait, though it would perhaps be an exaggeration to say he nearly falls off his bike laughing.
The traffic gets busier as we approach Inverness but the route into town is mostly on safe cycle paths and through small housing estates, right into the heart of the city and our journey’s end. Exhausted, elated, we dump our bikes in the hotel , freshen up and head out for one last night in the capital of the Highlands, a warm and relaxing city that feels as remote and far north as you would expect from a place on the same latitude as Sweden.
We sup a Guinness by the River Ness in view of the castle, its warm sandstone lit salmon pink by the last rays of sunshine, before trudging stiff-legged and sore-arsed into the centre for an excellent final meal in a restaurant called Kool Runnings, where we dine on that well-known Caledonian classic of goat curry, jerk chicken, rice and peas, washed down with a Red Stripe. We’ve got an early start tomorrow for the eight hour train journey back to London but there’s still time for one last pub stop where, by happy coincidence, they are serving a fine summer ale with the name of Golden Peddler.
The train leaves at eight the next morning and for the first couple of hours we get to enjoy the final sections of our bike ride in reverse; the Cairngorms, now framed by blue skies, less menacing than the other day but no less majestic, before the line veers eastwards passing through Stirling and Edinburgh, across the border to Newcastle and beyond. By this time the length of the trip is testing even my allegiance to slow travel, and it’s a relief when we finally pull into Kings Cross and are able to stretch our legs and enjoy a final ride down the Regents Canal and along the River Lea home.
But as we cycle along the towpath, within the space of thirty minutes: a group of men, shouting, chase a mugger across a bridge; a lycra-clad lunatic comes hurtling out of a tunnel and almost sends Sam flying into the canal, no bell, no apology, no fucking manners; finally as we pass under another bridge near Hackney a couple of young ne’er-do-wells hurl a bike tyre at me which bounces off my head. They scarper off, hooting with laughter. I give them the finger and yell that word, the one that’s reserved only for occasions such as this. I feel momentarily better, then worse for letting them get under my skin, reducing me to shouting obscenities in front of my son.
And the Highlands suddenly feel like an awfully long way away. Welcome back to London, with love. Still, as the 18th century cyclist Dr Johnson said, when a man is tired of London etc… and whatever you say about this place, it’s certainly never Dull.
I hope this encourages someone to try this terrific journey for themselves. If so please do let me know in the comments below, or also if you have any recommendations for other trips…
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Travelogues , walks Islands , Lundy , Pirates , slow travel , wildlife John Worthington
Islands have a pull on the imagination, cast adrift from the mainland, floating free, with their own special atmosphere and pristine quality; buffeted by winds and untainted by the smells, noises and pollutants of modern urban life, the air feels fresher, the night sky clearer, and there is a deep silence to be found. They are places of romance and magical fantasy (The Tempest), dreams of paradise (Huxley’s Island) or sometimes dystopian horror (The Wicca Man, The Beach).
England has around 120 islands dotted around (a mere handful compared with over 790 Scottish islands) and on a family holiday in North Devon I’m eager to visit one I’ve long wanted to see, Lundy, located 12 miles off the coast and reached by a two hour boat ride from the harbour at Bideford, which feels like a real adventure in itself.
At half past seven on a chilly morning we board the MS Oldenburg, a 60 year old vessel once used to ferry passengers between the German mainland and the Frisian Islands in the North Sea, transferred to service on Lundy in 1985. While the rest of the family head into the warm fug below decks, lured by the promise of cappuccino and bacon butties, I head up top. As soon as I embark on any boat trip I tend to come over all maritime, humming a sea shanty, strolling about the poop deck and generally behaving like a salty old sea dog. I’m not wearing a cap today but, if I was, there’s little doubt it would be cocked at a jaunty angle.
It’s a dull day so we don’t get our first glimpse of Lundy until we’re fairly close, which adds to the sense of drama as the high granite cliffs and lush green fields loom through the thick clouds.
Lundy’s main attraction is its remote tranquillity, cut off from the modern world, but it also boasts a 13th century castle, a disused lighthouse, a village pub and a unique species of cabbage found nowhere else in the world, imaginatively known as the Lundy Cabbage.
The island has had a colourful history, including being invaded by Barbary Corsair pirates from the Republic of Salé (now part of Morocco) in the 1600s. The Corsairs remained in occupation for five years, flying the Ottoman flag over the island and holding a number of prisoners who were later shipped off to Algiers to be sold into slavery.
I’m a sucker for anything piratical, the more bloodthirsty the better, and the Barbary Corsairs are up there with the best of them. (Although my favourite pirate of all time would have to be Black Bart Roberts, a devoutly religious man who would happily slaughter and maim everyone in sight Monday to Saturday but would never spill a drop of blood on the Sabbath. Except maybe the odd bit of light maiming, every other Sunday, just to keep his hand in).
I’m not sure the Lundy coast-to-coast is ever going to feature as a major event in the UK cycling calendar as the island is just three miles long and three quarters of a mile wide at its broadest point. Still, it makes for a very decent hike up one side and back down the other, with steep craggy cliffs, a profound, slightly eerie sense of calm, the Bristol Channel on one side and the vast blue-green of the Atlantic on the other.
Considering tourism is now its main reason for being, the island is remarkably unspoilt, but that’s why people come here. It’s the absence of things that draws them: it’s car-free, Wi-Fi-free ,there are no TVs and it doesn’t have a Nando’s.
Apart from cabbage, Lundy is also celebrated for its wildlife. A leaflet picked up on the boat lists all the species we can expect to see on our visit: seals, puffins, skylarks, oystercatchers, wheatears, kittiwakes, razorbills, guillemots, deer, Lundy horses…
As impressive as this menagerie sounds, my expectations are not high, being a veteran of slightly disappointing wildlife watching attractions over the years: boat excursions to view elusive sea creatures; zoo trips where charismatic mega fauna, known for their precocious interaction with humans, are unaccountably struck by shyness on the very day I happen to be visiting.
I once took a boat trip which boasted a ‘72% chance of seeing dolphins, porpoises or basking sharks’. It should have said ‘28% chance of seeing fuck all’. So I’m not overly optimistic. However, even I can see that puffins are going to be a shoo-in on this trip. Lundy is famous for its puffins. Indeed, Lundy actually means ‘Puffin Island’ in Old Norse. What’s more, on arrival, a notice in the Lundy Island Office says ‘Puffins spotted today!’ and gives the exact reference point of the sighting – the evocatively named Dead Cow Point. Yes, it’s going to be Puffin City out there today and no mistake…
We set off walking up the west side of the island in the direction of Dead Cow Point. After an hour my daughter, some way in front, cries out. A seal has been spotted 20 yards off the coast! We scramble up a grassy bank and no-one speaks as we watch the sleek black shape floating just below the surface of the water. Nothing happens for a very long time. We keep on watching. Eventually my wife says ‘I don’t think it’s a seal after all. I think it could be a rock.’ We agree. It is a rock, albeit one that looks uncannily seal-like.
Half an hour later we arrive at Dead Cow Point. An elderly man and a small boy are perched on the edge of a cliff taking it in turns to peer through binoculars at a crag on the opposite side of the bay. They have been here a fair while it turns out and are yet to see a single puffin. In fact, there isn’t even a dead cow at Dead Cow Point. I suppose there must have been once but it was probably removed for health and safety reasons.
There are plenty of other birds apart from puffins though, squawking and wheeling and darting overhead and the elderly chap takes great delight in pointing them out and naming them to his grandson.
I suddenly feel inadequate because I’m not good at identifying birds, apart from the obvious ones that everyone can do like robins. I do actually know the names of lots of species though. As a child my brother had an extensive egg collection (considered a legitimate hobby in the very un-pc 1970s). I also used to spend a lot of time playing ‘things that begin with the letter A’- type games with my father (there were few other means of entertainment back then. A bit like Lundy today if fact). If I was a contestant on Pointless I’d be quids in if there was a ‘birds’ round; Capercaillie, Golden Oriole, Ptarmigan, Grebe, Widgeon… just don’t expect me to point them out to you. I wouldn’t know a Ptarmigan if one shat on my head.
It’s the same with a lot of trees and flowers and butterflies. I’m quite ashamed of this ignorance. My dad knew all this stuff, so maybe it’s a generational thing or the effect of years of urban living. I suppose I’m one of those people for whom nature, in the naturalist Richard Mabey’s words, is something of a ‘generalised green blur’. I love that blur, delight in walking and cycling amongst it, and believe passionately that we should do everything we can to protect it. I just don’t know all that much about it. I resolve to do better in future though, starting with that Collins Bird Guide I bought a while back and haven’t opened yet.
Back on the walk, we do have more success with Lundy’s land mammal population, though on a landmass totalling two and a quarter square miles even I would find it hard to miss a dozen majestic wild horses and a large herd of deer.
A little further on we stumble upon the carcass of a small animal, recently killed judging by the raw neck wound and the stench of fresh blood carried on the breeze. ‘It’s a rabbit’, I pronounce confidently, although it is rather a funny looking one. ‘Oh my God, it’s a baby deer!’ says my daughter. ‘Yes, it’s a fawn!’ I say, trying to regain authority by employing a technical term. It is indeed a fawn which has paid the ultimate price for wandering 50 yards from the herd. I’m puzzled by the identity of the killer – a dog out of control? But glancing at my Lundy wildlife leaflet it dawns on me that the assassin must have swooped from the heavens in the shape of a Peregrine Falcon. That green blur can be pretty brutal sometimes.
Back in Lundy’s village pub, The Marisco Tavern, there is more Bambi (casseroled) on the menu and ‘Lundy Experience’, a fine ale from Cornish brewer St Austell. Lundy has a resident population of about 30, all employed by the Landmark Trust to look after the island and its visitors. One of them, a young woman serving food, says she came once on a day trip and has been here ever since. She prefers it on ‘non-trip days’ though, when it’s much quieter, ‘not like today’, she says, gesturing with a sweep of the arm. I look around and see a family munching cake, a young couple playing scrabble and a bearded man in a cardigan.
A sign behind the bar asks people to switch off all mobile devices. I came across a similar notice in a tea shop in Totnes (in fact my wife pointed it out to me as I was talking loudly into my iPhone). This seems to be a growing trend – the ‘digital detox’ space where we are encouraged to unplug ourselves from the grid for an hour or two.
There’s also a clock on the wall which looks odd but I don’t know why. Then I see. It’s numbered backwards, the 9 where the 3 should be, 10 instead of 5 (and vice versa), and so on. Although the hands appear to be in the correct positions, the effect is disorienting. Perhaps this is meant to signify ‘Lundy time’, a place that obeys its own temporal laws. Or maybe it’s a cunning ploy by the Landmark Trust to make sure we miss the last boat back and have to rent out one of the island’s 23 holiday lets.
As beguiling as Lundy is I don’t want to be marooned here overnight. I think I might go a little stir crazy after a day or two on an island of this size and remoteness. (Later that night though, I wake up in bed and think, ‘Let’s move to Lundy! I can become an expert on the island, write books on the flora and fauna, local walks and history of Lundy. Keep bees maybe, grow my beard, learn to play the oud…’)
We make haste to the jetty at the bottom of the cliffs. The clouds have cleared and as the boat chugs away from the little harbour and we say goodbye to so-called ‘Puffin Island’, I sit on the deck and fall asleep with the warm afternoon sun on my face.
I awake to hear a man in conversation with a mother and daughter who are sporting huge pairs of binoculars and clad in matching yellow cagoules. They appear to be comparing notes on the varieties of Lundy wildlife they have spotted, but it soon becomes clear it’s a fairly one-sided contest. The woman reels off a formidable check-list, ‘skylarks, kittiwakes, puffins (yeah right), wheatears, guillemots’, she’s unstoppable now, ‘kestrels, shags, seals obviously…’. Her daughter nods earnestly. She hasn’t finished yet though. ‘But we saved the best till last…(inside, a small part of me dies)…a family of dolphins frolicking just off the rocks over on the east of the island!’ .
I’m reeling frankly. I feel like shoving her off the boat. Dolphins are not even mentioned in the leaflet! For all I know this could be the first sighting of dolphins on Lundy, ever. Lundy is clearly more ecologically rich than the Amazon Basin. How can we have managed not to see any of this? I have failed as a parent.
Thinking dark thoughts, I wander to the back of the boat (which we nautical types call the stern). As the island becomes a faint speck on the horizon I find myself wondering if this is the last time I’ll ever come to Lundy. More and more these days, I find myself thinking such thoughts – rather melancholy, I know, but their poignancy also seems to heighten the experience of things. As Martin Amis said, as you get older things become ‘imbued with a kind of leave-taking resonance, that it’s not going to be around very long this world…so it begins to look slightly magical again’.
Years ago I visited the island of Iona off the west coast of Scotland, a wonderfully mist-wrapped, atmospheric place. As we were leaving, the guide on the boat told us that, according to ancient Scottish legend, ‘If you see Iona once, you will see it twice’. This prophesy has yet to be fulfilled but I like the idea of some ineluctable force calling me back. Although on reflection it does sound like another ploy by the local tourism board to drum up repeat business.
So maybe I’ll return to Lundy one day too. I’m not sure though. I feel like I’ve done Lundy. Apart from the sodding puffins.
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Boats , Books Jerome , slow travel John Worthington
Jerome K Jerome was blessed with one of those great repeating names like Major Major Major Major in Catch-22, or the underrated ex-Man United midfield maestro Djemba-Djemba (disappointingly christened Eric by his parents, as opposed to, say, Djemba). Jerome is also of course the author of two late 19th century classics of comic writing, Three Men In A Boat followed by the bike trip Three Men On The Bummel. I read and loved TMIAB when I was about 12 or 13 but never got round to the sequel. Having now been on a few cycle touring holidays with friends, I’m intrigued to find out how my experience compares with Jerome and his pals all those years ago, a journey made during the original cycle touring boom of the 1890s.
But first I thought I’d revisit TMIAB as a prelude, partly for old time’s sake and partly because I like the idea of reading both books back to back as a kind of ‘slow travel’ (boats and bikes) double-header.
I hardly ever re-read books, on the grounds that I’m past 50, and have never read War & Peace, Ulysses, Middlemarch, Proust (I could go on…) It feels like a wasted opportunity to go back over old ground, like a dog tied to its own vomit as Beckett might say. But having now re-read TMIAB I’m going to make this trip down the lost lanes of literary memory a bit more often from now on. It’s like re-connecting with two old friends – the author and a long gone version of yourself.
As to the book itself it’s just as charming as I remember, although the best parts are sandwiched between a few longuers, including some rather earnest history lessons and some dull passages about the technicalities of sailing that are no doubt fascinating to boating types. Jerome’s writing style, dry and drole at times, elegant and lyrical at others, occasionally takes off into some purplish passages that seem a mite overblown to the modern ear. What, I wonder, did my 13 year old reading self make of these more difficult bits? Maybe I was a more patient reader back then, in an era when long-form books had little competition from faster forms of entertainment.
Anyway, before re-reading it, I could only recall the parts of the book that made me chortle four decades ago under the bed clothes by torchlight (reading was a thrilling and illicit activity in those days). Thankfully these parts are as fresh and funny as ever: the brilliant riff on hypochondria in the opening pages (much copied by Woody Allen et al but never bettered), George getting lost in Hampton Court maze, Uncle Podger, Herr Slossenn Boschen etc. There is an underlying aversion to any kind of toil and a celebration of idleness which is deeply appealing, including the famous quote which I have, for years, wrongly attributed to Oscar Wilde (normally a safe bet): ‘I love work: it fascinates me. I can sit and watch it for hours’.
I realise second time around that most of the best comedy actually occurs off-screen, digressions and anecdotes recounted along the way. The trip itself is fairly uneventful with some low-key shenanigans (an abortive attempt to open a tin of pineapples, a hoo-hah over a wet shirt…) and the kind of familiar tropes recognisable to anyone who has been on any kind of expedition: the hell of packing, unpacking and repacking; the discovery that the very thing you have neglected to bring is absolutely vital and that all chance of happiness depends on it; the obsession with food and drink; an Eeyoreish gloom about the weather forecast (‘Who wants to be foretold the weather? It’s bad enough when it comes, without our having the misery of knowing about it beforehand’).
It reminded me of the narrowboat holidays I went on as a child with my parents and sister, in which all manner of high jinks and uproarious antics took place . Or so it seemed at the time. How we doubled up with mirth when these incidents were recounted later to friends (some caper over an irate fisherman, the mystery of a missing pork pie, a mooring rope poorly tied with predictably hilarious consequences), trying not to notice the glazed eyes and polite smiles. You just had to be there I guess.
But what also struck me about re-reading TMIAB is that, beneath the gentle whimsy, runs a powerful narrative of ‘slowness’, seen as an antidote to creeping social and economic pressures, an attempt to reclaim free time from the maws of modernity – a narrative that was already highly relevant as far back as 125 years ago: ‘I suggested that we should seek out some old-world spot, and dream away a sunny week among its drowsy lanes…some quaint-perched eyrie on the cliffs of Time, from whence the surging waves of the 19th century would seem far-off and faint.’
I guess many of the really big sea-changes of our modern world were already well under way (electrification, mass transportation, urbanisation etc), and to observers like Jerome, there was a sense that, alongside the progress, something had already been lost in the headlong rush towards economic growth and speed. If that was Jerome’s feeling back then, what would he have made of our world of 24/7 rolling news, constant connectivity to a global network, uber-consumerism and the inexorable blurring of work/life boundaries? I’ve no idea, but I’m sure he would have yearned even more for the temporary escape offered by the waterways and cycle paths of England and the Continent…
cycling , Philosophy lite Philosophy , slow travel John Worthington
This is the time of year, as the days get longer and warmer, when opportunities for cycling jaunts come thick and fast: local spins, longer distance charity rides, and the odd ‘sportive’ where I shall be humiliated by younger men and women in unfeasibly tight- fitting leisurewear. But as enjoyable as all these will be, the main events will be the tours I hope to make this summer from Paris to the Champagne region and the northern half of the ‘Lochs & Glens’ route from Glasgow to Inverness.
Of course, one should always bear in mind the old Jewish saying, ‘If you want to make God laugh, tell him your cycling plans’. You never know how a long distance trip is going to work out. Nevertheless, the planning is an integral part of the pleasure. There are trains and B&Bs to book, guidebooks and maps to pore over, place names to relish such as Pisseloup, Killiecrankie and Scone (a place named after a cake must be worth a visit). I confess to being a bit of a mapoholic, having a shelf stuffed with OS charts, walking and cycling routes garnered over years. GPS is great when you’re out on the road, but for anticipation you can’t beat a crinkly old map.
Imagining these yet-to-be trips set me thinking again about the ‘perfect bike ride’. Of course such a thing is impossible and there will always be some mismatch between the imagined ideal and the reality. This tension underpins many forms of travel, the friction between the quest for the Garden of Eden (the sun-kissed beach and tropical paradise of holiday brochures) and the less than perfect place you end up in every summer.
Perhaps, in the end, this is because every journey is a projection of some kind of inner discontent, a gnawing dissatisfaction with where we are and who we are. As Seneca, the Roman philosopher, keen cyclist and an early winner of the Giro d’Italia, observed 2,000 years ago, ”You need a change of soul rather than a change of climate, you must lay aside the burdens of the mind; until you do this no place will satisfy you.” We carry our neuroses, frustrations and unfinished business with us in our panniers, alongside the spare inner tube, bike lube and 19th century Russian novel. And however hard we pedal, there’s no escaping our less than perfect selves.
That said, I am something of an idealist and yearn for perfection however doomed to failure it might be. Plato, himself no slouch in the saddle, used his famous cave metaphor to discuss the idea of perfect Forms back in around 380 BC. We are all held captive in chains inside the cave, facing a wall on which we watch a succession of images – a bike ride for example. We believe this to be the real world, but these images are merely flickering shadows projected by objects held up in front of a fire, hidden from sight behind us. Outside of the cave lies freedom – the true universal Forms, including that of the ideal bike ride. The true philosopher is able to escape these shackles, become liberated from the world of shadows and perceive reality in the full glare of the sun.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, if the Form of the ideal bike ride could be grasped what elements might such a thing include? Or, if perfection is forever out of reach, eluding my grasp like Tantalus’s fruit tree, what might constitute the ‘good enough’ bike ride this summer?
Well, for me, there will be the joy and solace of companionship. As much as I enjoy cycling alone, a trip shared with friends, partner or family brings people together and can create shared memories for years to come. The weather will be dry and warm, but not too hot, with a gentle breeze. There will be a variety of terrain, including a few decent climbs. As much as I love East Anglia and the Low Countries (and have enjoyed cycling in both regions), too much flatness can drive a man mad. The grind of going uphill is more than compensated by the views from the top, the child-like thrill of scooting down the other side, and the virtuous feeling that the coming night’s beer and grub has been well earned.
Talking of which, I think we can take it as read that the ideal bike ride will include cake (during) and ale (towards or at the end). To misquote Brillat-Savarin, a bike ride without cake and ale is like a beautiful woman with only one eye.
And, finally, the best type of route for the ideal bike ride: ‘there and back’, A to B or circular? All have their place. ‘There and back’ is the staple regular ride for most of us (leisure or commute). Working from home these days, the thing I miss most about office life is the bike ride back to my family in the evening. For a longer trip though, having to retrace your tracks is the least satisfactory, offering the fewest surprises and least sense of discovery.
Both of my long distance cycle tours this summer will be of the ‘A to B’ variety. I have great fondness for this format which feels like a true quest. At its best this will involve meaningful start and (especially) end points, offering a kind of secular pilgrimage. Last year, riding with friends from our home city London to Paris, as we reached the foot of the Eiffel Tower the emotional impact of the experience took me by surprise – the sheer satisfaction of having ridden all that way and reached that iconic landmark under my own steam.
This desire for the symbolic A to B journey is also well met by the ever growing number of coast-to-coast routes in Britain. As an island nation the appeal of crossing the width of the country from sea to sea, or indeed its entire length, is obvious. There’s also something poetic about such itineraries, with their time-honoured rituals of dipping a wheel in the waves at either end, an ablution of the spirit as much as the bike: baptism (at the beginning) and dissolution (at our journey’s end). Not that you’d catch me dunking my new Boardman in the radioactive Irish Sea.
But as exciting as the A to B route is, for my ideal bike ride I’d have to plump for a circular trip. Maybe it’s partly the relative rarity of these routes. Creating a long, circular, bike-friendly route is something of a challenge. Then there’s just something so satisfying about finishing up where you started, without having to cover any of the same ground twice. And of course, the idea of the circle itself has so many esoteric and mystical associations, it offers fertile opportunity for no end of psychobabble – the ancient image of the ‘Uroboros’, the serpent devouring its own tail, symbol of renewal, infinity and wholeness…(that’s enough psychobabble. Ed).
I remember, on holiday somewhere when my children were younger, dragging them out on a circular walk and, reaching the end, one of them saying, ‘Dad, what was the point of that? We could have just stayed where we were and saved a lot of time.’ But what I like about the circular bike ride is, precisely, its utter pointlessness, expending all that effort just to end up at the beginning. Nothing has changed, but at some level, inside, something has, even if it’s quite subtle. In TS Elliott’s oft-quoted words, ‘We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.’
You feel different after finishing a long circular ride, more complete, as though something has been resolved. Try it if you don’t believe me. But maybe to get the full benefit it’s best to do it on a UroBoros Bike (apologies to non-London readers. And to everyone actually).
What would your perfect bike ride be like?
cycling , Long-distance rides , Travelogues coast-to-coast , Cycle touring , cycling holidays , lancashire , slow travel , way of the roses , Yorkshire John Worthington
The following is an account of a great cycle tour I did last summer with my son, following the Way of the Roses.
As Wikipedia tells us, ‘The Way of the Roses is the newest of Great Britain’s coast-to-coast, long-distance cycle routes…The route should not be confused with The Wars of the Roses, a 15th century war between two dynastic families.’
It’s an easy mistake to make. Thankyou Wikipedia.
June 2013, The Lion, Settle, North Yorkshire
A bluff, jowly man at the next table in the bar is staring at me in disbelief. He’s not impressed. “What’s the fookin’ point a’that?” he wants to know. “That’s why’t fookin’ petrol engine were invented!”
I’m trying to explain why my son Sam and I are cycling 170 miles across Lancashire and Yorkshire, doing the ‘Way of the Roses’ from Morecombe (home of Eric) on the Irish Sea coast to Bridlington by the North Sea. I try to convince him: the wind in the face, the sheer physical challenge, the chance to slow down, smell the roses (pun intended) and enjoy some of the most stunning landscapes in England.
“Yer off yer ‘fookin’ ‘eds!”
Having been brought up not far from here, in the Lakes, I should have remembered. Londoners (even adopted ones like me) have romantic notions of exploring the countryside on two wheels or two legs; those who live in it sometimes prefer to power through it (or out of it) as fast as they can.
It turns out he already knows about the wind in the face bit though. He’s a motorcyclist, who likes to bomb around the Dales with ‘tmissus in a sidecar and, for reasons I can’t quite fathom, a German second world war helmet and a fake machine gun mounted on the front of his bike.
A right pair of lunes
Sam (18) and I are enjoying a few pints and a slab of beef and ale pie, after a gruelling first afternoon. We’ve cycled 32 miles up the Lune Valley and through the Forest of Bowland in heavy rain and, at one point, a hail storm (on the last day of July) up on the high fells.
I’m pleased Sam’s agreed to come with me. At school he was officially designated as a ‘PE refuser’, a title worn proudly as a badge of honour. He seems really up for this trip though – especially the chance to quaff some choice local ales at my expense. He’s at that in- between stage: old enough to drink but not old enough to stand a round. It’s a difficult age. For me anyway. Actually, I may have slightly over-sold the ale quaffing part of the trip, made it sound like a pub crawl on wheels. It is a pub crawl on wheels, just that the pubs are 30 miles apart.
In the beery fug of the Lion, I think this may be the moment to break the news about the 380 metre climb out of Settle first thing tomorrow morning – the steepest ascent of the whole three day trek. After a good night’s sleep we fuel up on a full English. Sam has extra black pudding. We’re ready to face the hell of High Hill Lane (the clue’s in the name). Happily, we’ve seen off the worst of the weather on day one and the 9 o’clock sun already feels hot on our backs.
Half way up I’m struggling. It’s one of those tortuous climbs that are just go on and on, without hope. If Sisyphus had been riding a bike (Wikipedia is unhelpful on this question) this is exactly the sort of hill he’d have been forced to tackle, over and over. For ever. I glance back and see Sam fifty metres below, pushing his bike and smoking a roll-up. If I was with my cycling mates at home I’d probably tough it out but, hell, there’s no-one here to see my shame apart from a few cows. I get off, walk to the top and drink in the view. The deep silence of the morning is broken by the raucous bleating of sheep being rounded up by dogs in the valley below.
Ruddy ‘ard cycling
We ride on through the Dales. The route winds along the River Wharfe to Burnstall and the delightfully named Appletreewick. We stop for a spot of lunch at the 16th century Craven Arms, a fine inn boasting eight real ales, though with 35 miles still to go until our base for the night we settle for just the one. Wise as it turns out, because as soon as we set off we’re climbing steeply again up to Nidderdale and the village of Greenhow, at 404 metres the highest point of the whole route.
We pause for breath and gaze over the moors by a small chapel at the summit where a plaque tells us Rudyard Kipling’s grandfather was the Methodist minister. His nephew, the celebrated writer and cake-maker himself, is known to have visited the village, saying “you could tell Greenhow Hill folk by the red-apple colour o’ their cheeks an’ nose tips, and their blue eyes, driven into pinpoints by the wind.” It certainly is exceedingly fresh up here.
Ripon yarns
From the top it’s a hair-raising two mile plunge with hair-pin bends into Pateley Bridge, then another sharp climb up through Brimham Rocks before the route begins to even out as we cruise through the peaceful gardens and deer parks of Fountains Abbey, and on through the centre of Ripon. The town is already festooned with flags, celebrating its inclusion in the first stage of next year’s Tour de France. Sam and I can now boast that we’ve ridden part of the 2014 Tour. OK, it’s Ripon High Street, not quite Mont Ventoux, but still.
We stop for the night at the Lock House B&B in Boroughbridge, scene of a famous battle fought in 1322 between King Edward II and Thomas, Earl of Lancaster. The owner tells us she’s been getting a steady stream of cyclists since the Roses route opened in 2010, another example of how the growth of cycle tourism is helping local businesses up and down the country. We do our best to pump some more money into the North Yorkshire economy at the Black Bull Inn and the Crown Hotel (someone, as they say, has to do it) before falling, knackered between, clean white sheets, hoping that all that chain oil came off in the shower.
Pork to York
Breakfast is the full monty again and (we both agree later on the train home), the best meal of the whole trip: fine sausage and bacon, fresh eggs, great toast, homemade orange and ginger marmalade, hot strong coffee. Sam seems to be enjoying the trip almost as much as me and perks up further when I tell him the worst hills are now behind us.
With a song on our lips and a belly full of locally sourced pork products we’re off. After the exertion of the past couple of days the cycling is easy-peasy through the Vale of York, along riverside paths and right into the heart of the old town. We stop for lunch inside the city walls, a stone’s throw from York Minster. After 110 miles mostly seeing only the odd car, tractor or occasional rambler/fellow cyclist, it feels strange to be surrounded by hordes of people waving cameras and clutching designer shopping bags.
We leave York behind and, just outside the city, there’s the only truly off-road stretch of the whole route, a couple of miles on farm tracks that skirt around and then straight through the middle of fields of bushy wheat, glinting gold in the afternoon sun. This is the only section that’s a bit iffy for my road bike and I have to get off and push.
England 1 Norway 0
We re-join the road and continue to Stamford Bridge, not the home of Chelsea FC but the site of another famous battle, this time in 1066. It was fought between the two Harrys: King Harald Hardrada of Norway and our own King Harold Godwinson, victorious up here in Yorkshire but destined to be hammered three weeks later by the French in a pulsating third round tie down on the south coast. Sam tells me how the bridge was held by a single Viking warrior for days who was only defeated when an English soldier sailed down the river in a barrel and shoved a spear up his arse. This has been one of the pleasures of our trip. He’s full of such gobbets of information, gleaned from a childhood passion for non-fiction books and, more recently, endless repeats of QI on Dave and arcane factoids read on the back of Rizla packets.
Cake crisis
It feels all of a sudden as if the hills of the past two days have started to catch up with us. Legs grow heavy and morale is sagging like the udders of a cow at milking time. It’s 4 o’clock and there’s still 30 miles to go to our night stop. I’m desperately in need of cake. We arrive, eventually, in the pleasing town of Pocklington and are directed by a helpful passer-by (my urgent need for gateau now etched across my face) to the ‘best tea shop in Yorkshire’ in the market square. We arrive just as it’s closing.
Luckily we find a small baker’s still open round the corner and there are five different kinds of cake! I want all five but settle on a lemon drizzle iced sponge, washed down with tea, made (I can hardly believe my luck!) with actual tea leaves and served in a china teapot that’s designed properly, so the tea doesn’t dribble down the side when you pour it. It’s all down to the height of the spout, in relation to the lid. My cup (metaphorically) runneth over. Life is just non-stop excitement when you turn fifty isn’t it? Sam has a coke and a meat pie. I don’t really get the younger generation.
Poop poop!
Fortified, we’re up for the final push of the day, 20 odd miles through the Yorkshire Wolds, fairly gentle rolling hills compared to the climbs of the first two days but some of the most scenic countryside as the route winds up and down valleys and around corn fields, lit red and gold by the late evening sun.
Five miles outside of our stop for the night, the perfect stillness is ripped apart by a motorbike, a Harley, flying past us and screaming into the distance. At first I think it might be our friend from Settle and ‘tmissus taking the evening air, but it’s a much younger man. I turn round and see Sam, stationary in the middle of the road, gazing awestruck in the direction of the disappearing dust clouds and the fading roar of the fat boy ahead. His lips soundlessly form a ‘wow’. There is a glint in his eye, reminiscent of Mr Toad on glimpsing a motor car for the first time and uttering the immortal words ‘poop poop!’, an obsession that resulted in six crashed cars, three hospitalisations and a number of fines. I’m not sure a push bike is going to cut it for him much longer and I wonder how I’m going to break this to his mum.
Journey’s end
We arrive at the White Horse in Hutton Cranswick too late to eat so have to make do with takeaway pizza; fortunately the beer is well up to scratch. Next morning, the luxury of a semi lie-in and a lateish breakfast as we only have 20 miles to go to the end of our journey. There’s one last climb just after the village of Burton Agnes and at the top we get our first glimpse of the sea – always a heart-lifting moment on any coast-to-coast ride. This is Hockney country (the artist lives in Bridlington) and I try to see the surrounding patchwork of fields and hills through his eyes, the pastel shades transformed in his landscapes into vivid greens, hot pinks, purples and oranges.
From here on it’s nearly all downhill and at one point we’re freewheeling for an exhilarating 30 minutes without having to touch the pedals once. We enter Bridlington and follow the red and white rose signs down to the beach. Four hundred yards from the sea, a whoosh of air as the PE refuser sweeps past me, hell-bent on being the first over the line. Piqued by this show of insolence, my fingers hovering over the gear lever, I’m about to unleash my big dog, but change my mind and settle for second place. Sometimes a tactical defeat is best. Hopefully he’ll want to come again next year.
A sign pointing back the way we came says ‘Morecombe 170 miles’. We’ve made it and I’d heartily recommend it to anyone. Wonderful scenery, almost all of it on quiet B roads or cycle tracks, well-signed and easy to follow, pretty villages and towns, great pubs, cake. What’s not, as they say, to like? At the end of the promenade the high cliffs of Flamborough Head gleam chalk white against the blue of the sea. Down on the beach, it’s a perfect English day out. Kids building sand castles and flying kites, a fat man bare-chested and burnt scarlet, sea-gulls wheeling and diving. I light the customary cigar. There is hugging, there is fish and chips, there is cold beer. As the 18th century philosopher and Tour de France winner Voltaire once said, “All is for the best in the best of all possible worlds”.
For full route details and other information see ( www.wayoftheroses.info ).
I hope this encourages someone to try this great ride. If so please do let me know in the comments below, or also if you have any recommendations for other trips – I’m looking for ideas for this year’s rides! (Jan 2015).
| i don't know |
Which country was the first to use playing cards | History of playing cards. Cards History
Deck Types
Did you know first cards were used as money?
The first cards have little in common with current ones. However, each period in the history and each country has made them look the way we know today.
History of Playing Cards
Playing cards first originated in China in the 9th century. It is believed that friends and relatives played a leaf game where the earliest cards were first used. Scholars from China in the 10th and 11th centuries had asserted that several types of card games had existed during the Tang Dynasty in China.
The earliest cards in China were known as money cards and were made of four different suits, Strings of coins, coins, myriads of strings and tens of myriads objects. These were represented with numerals between 2 to 9 in the first three suits and for the "tens of myriads" the numbers were from 1 to 9. Scholars believed that these earliest cards might actually have been paper currency which were used as cards as well as the stakes for which the game was played.
The first cards that were ever printed were the deck of Chinese domino and the popular Mahjong tiles evolved from these earlier cards too. A Chinese document dating back to the 11th century asserts that domino cards were introduced during the Tang Dynasty.
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From China to India and Europe
The Indian playing cards have several common features with the early European cards. The cups, swords and rings that were shown in the hands of the Indian statues in the earliest playing cards have much in common with the earliest Sicilian cards.
However, it is not yet clear when and how playing cards were first introduced in Europe. Evidences suggest that playing cards had already been in England in the 13th century, however, the 38th canon of the council of Worcester that mentions about de rege et regina (means the king and the queen) game is now believed to have been chess rather than a card game as it was thought before.
A 13th century miniature painting that was made for King Louis II of Naples does show various people playing cards with King which suggests that card games might already have been introduced in Italy at that time. In our time it is hard to recreate online gambling history, but some have their thoughts about it.
Egyptian Cards
It is possible that the modern day cards might have arrived in Europe from Egypt in late 14th century. The Mamelukes from Egypt are thought to be the ones to introduce cards in Europe. However, by that time cards and card games had already been quite similar to the ones that we know today. The original decks used by the Mameluke had 52 cards that had four suits. The suits in their earlier decks were cups, swords, coins and polo sticks. Each of these suits had ten number cards and three court cards. These cards did not depict people but only names of officers and various designs.
| China |
Who in 1909 became the first man to fly the English Channel | The Origin of Playing Cards - Introduction to European Culture
The Origin of Playing Cards
and their Introduction to European Culture
The origin of playing cards stretches so far back into the shadows of history that it is impossible to point to a specific time or place as their first point of origin. It is more likely that playing cards emerged at different times and in different cultures across the ages. For Europe, this time came around the latter half of the 14th century with one of the earliest historical references coming in 1379 (Giovanni de Covelluzzo, City of Viterbo). By that time, however, playing-cards were as well known in Switzerland and Germany as they were along the Mediterranean coast.
The riddle puzzling historians is how did they get there in the first place. The exact origin of playing cards and their introduction to European culture has been an elusive thread to trace.
There are basically four theories which are discussed in the literature:
The idea that playing cards were invented in China, and gradually found their way west until they arrived in Europe.
The idea that bands of roving Gypsies introduced them to Europe as they journeyed from village to village side-show and entertaining.
The idea that Crusaders returning from the Holy Land brought them back to Europe with them.
The idea that playing cards crossed the Mediterranean from Egypt.
China and the Far East
The idea that playing cards somehow made their way from China to arrive in Europe around the 1370s is an idea born more out of the tendency to ascribe all things unknown to the “East”, than it does out of evidence or plausibility.
It is true that China provides us with the earliest tangible artefacts, in the form of paper money cards dated from the 12th century. It has long been recognized that China was highly advanced in paper manufacture, they had invented woodblock printing, and they lived in a sophisticated society – all the semblances necessary for the production and widespread diffusion of playing cards.
Yet, it is difficult to piece together any connections with 14th century Europe, or to suggest a route by which they may have come to the Continent. It was certainly not by the Turkish Empire, because that road had long since been blocked off.
More importantly, however, is that these early Chinese “money cards” bear no resemblance to the earliest European designs at all. Chinese playing cards were long and narrow, and were covered in Chinese characters. It’s difficult to see a relationship or how these may have transformed into the cards we have today.
It is more likely that these playing cards arose in China, or perhaps Korea, as similar artefacts have been found there.
The other "Eastern Empire" from which playing cards are thought to have originated is India. It is true that India traded with a number of European countries around and along the Mediterranean. However, playing-cards were not known in India until the 16th century, or so the evidence would suggest. Which makes it highly improbable that India was the birth place of playing cards. Playing-cards had appeared in Europe a full 150 years before then. Some have even speculated that the journey was the reverse, and that playing-cards were introduced to India from Europe. But this is a difficult proposition to sell as the playing-cards of India are so different to those of Europe both in style and in shape. There is simply no apparent relationship.
The Gypsies
The idea that roving Gypsies travelling from village to village to delight, deceive, and entertain the village town folk is a romantic notion, and one that seems a plausible explanation for the introduction of playing-cards to Europe. The problem with this theory is that Gypsies are not known to have arrived in Europe in any significant numbers until the early 15th century. By then, playing cards were well and truly vested in European culture.
There is some speculation that Gypsies journeyed through the Turkish Empire, so there does remain the possibility, however remote, that they may have acquired playing cards there, if they existed. But how they got them to Europe, remains another question, since by the time Gypsies arrived, everyone in Europe was already playing cards.
The Crusaders
So nearing now the coast of the Mediterranean itself, it has been suggested that playing cards were brought back from the Holy Land by returning Crusaders. There is nothing to suggest their existence in Palestine in the first place. But significantly, the last crusade ended in 1291. Playing cards were not known in Europe until almost 100 years later.
The Mamelukes
This then leaves us with the Islamic countries bordering the Mediterranean as the only other place from which playing cards could have originated. According to this theory European playing cards originated in Egypt.
The jewel in the crown of this theory is a deck of cards discovered in the Topkapi Sarayi Museum, Instanbul, in 1939. The Mameluke Deck, discovered by Professor L. A. Mayer, dates from the 15th century. However, subsequent finds have yielded even older examples from the 12th century.
The Mamelukes were a caste of hard nail warriors who ruled in various parts of Egypt from 1254 until 1517.
The Mameluke Deck closely resembles the earliest European designs in many important respects. Firstly, it is a deck of 52 cards divided into 4 suits of 13 ranks. Each suit has numbers 1 to 10, represented by suit symbols or “pips” on the card. And each suit has 3 Court Cards "Malik", "Na'ib Malik", and "Thani Na'ib", meaning “King”, “Viceroy”, and “Under Viceroy”.
The resemblance to early Italian packs is immediately apparent. Even in the shape and arrangement of suit symbols on the cards, and also in the way the court cards are represented – not as faces, but as abstract geometric patterns.
It was the refinement and modification of the early Italian design, that we understand as the foundation of the modern European playing card.
The Mameluke Deck is a stunning artefact because it is so much like the standard modern playing card we have today. In fact, you could play any one of our modern games with them today.
The cards from China of the same period are not like these at all, and are not arranged in the same manner. Similarly, we can say the same of Indian cards, and of the games we play with them. The history of European card playing is distinct and unique, like that of other cultures.
In our search to trace the origin of playing cards back into antiquity, some rich and interesting facts have been unearthed. The exact route by which playing cards arrived in Europe may never be fully understood or known. We have seen that playing cards and games of chance and skill have been practiced in many cultures and in many different time periods.
French Regional Patterns of the 18th Century
By the beginning of the Eighteenth century, war, and no doubt extravagance, had drained France's national treasury to little more than copper coins in a tin pot. In 1701 a new duty was imposed on playing cards of 18 deniers a deck. In order to collect the new tax, the country was divided into nine manufacturing regions. Each manufacturer was required to submit a design block to the ‘Recettes generales’. It was in this manner that each region was allotted its own design. Read More »
Early Standard Playing Cards
Very little is known about the history of card making in England. However, through a pictorial history of French, English and American patterns it is clear to see the origins of the English Pattern and its patrimony in the French Rouen design.
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What is the first word in the Wham song Wake Me Up Before You Go Go | WHAM! - WAKE ME UP BEFORE YOU GO-GO LYRICS
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Lyrics
Wham! - Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go Lyrics
You put the boom-boom into my heart
You send my soul sky high when your lovin' starts
Jitterbug into my brain
Goes a bang-bang-bang 'til my feet do the same
But something's bugging you
My best friend told me what you did last night
Left me sleepin' in my bed
I was dreaming, but I should have been with you instead
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go
Take me dancing tonight
I wanna hit that high yeah, yeah
You take the grey skies out of my way
You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day
Turned a bright spark into a flame
My beats per minute never been the same
'Cause you're my lady, I'm your fool
It makes me crazy when you act so cruel
Come on, baby, let's not fight
We'll go dancing, everything will be all right
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go
Take me dancing tonight
I wanna hit that high yeah, yeah
Jitterbug
Cuddle up, baby, move in tight
We'll go dancing tomorrow night
It's cold out there, but it's warm in bed
They can dance, we'll stay home instead
Jitterbug
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go
Take me dancing tonight
Wake me up before you go-go, don't you dare to leave me hanging on like a
Yo-yo
| Jitterbug |
Which card game is also the name of a British racecourse and H.Q. of British horse racing | Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go | Glee TV Show Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
1,733pages on
Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
Album:
Guilty Pleasures
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Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! is featured in Guilty Pleasures, the seventeenth episode of Season Four . It is sung by the New Directions, with Blaine and Sam singing lead.
With Will out for the week and Finn having left as the co-leader of the New Directions, the Glee Club would be cancelled for the week if it weren't for Blaine and Sam. After Blaine admits to liking the band Wham! they come up with a weekly assignment. After having called everyone to the choir room, they reveal their idea: 'Guilty Pleasures'. Blaine and Sam are then asked to reveal their guilty pleasures first, so the two best friends decide to do it through song as the first song of the episode begins.
At first, the New Directions stand around awkwardly, but later, they join in as they can't help themselves. While Sam and Blaine lead, they all eventually end up in the auditorium, dancing in colorful clothing and wearing sunglasses as they enjoy the performance together. The performance is similar to the original video by Wham!.
Contents
Blaine (with Sam and New Directions):
You put the boom-boom into my heart (Sam and New Directions: Do, do!)
You send my soul sky high when your lovin' starts
A jitterbug into my brain (Sam and New Directions: Yeah, yeah!)
It goes a (bang-bang-bang) 'til my feet do the same
Sam (Blaine and New Directions):
(Ah, ah) But something's bugging me
(Ah, ah) Something ain't right
(Ah, ah) My best friend told me
(Ah, ah) what you did last night
(Ah, ah) You left me sleepin'
(Ah, ah) in my bed
(Ah, ah) I was dreaming, but
Sam with Blaine and New Directions:
I should have been with you instead
Blaine and Sam with New Directions:
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go whoa
Blaine and Sam:
I wanna hit that high yeah, yeah
Blaine (with Sam and New Directions):
You take the grey skies out of my way (Sam and New Directions: Do, do)
You make the sun shine brighter than Doris Day
You turned a bright spark into a flame (Sam and New Directions: Yeah, yeah)
My (beats per minute) never been the same
Sam (Blaine and New Directions):
(Ah, ah) 'Cause you're my lady,
(Ah, ah) I'm your fool
(Ah, ah) It makes me crazy
(Ah, ah) when you act so cruel
(Ah, ah) Come on, baby,
(Ah, ah) let's not fight
(Ah, ah) We'll go dancing,
Sam with Blaine and New Directions:
Everything will be all right
Blaine and Sam with New Directions:
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
Cause I'm not plannin on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go whoa
Blaine and Sam:
Cuddle up, baby, move in tight
We'll go dancing tomorrow night
It's cold out there, but it's warm in bed
They can dance, we'll stay home instead (Blaine: Yeah-yeah)
Sam:
Jitterbug (Blaine and Sam: Oooh)
Blaine and Sam with New Directions:
Wake me up before you go-go
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high
Wake me up before you go-go
'Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo
Wake me up before you go-go whoa
Take me dancing tonight
Sam with New Directions:
Wake me up before you go-go, (Blaine: Don't you dare)
Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo (Blaine: To leave me hanging on like a yo-yo)
Wake me up before you go-go
I don't want to miss it when you hit that high (Blaine: take me dancing, I wanna go, go, go)
Wake me up before you go-go (Blaine: Oh!)
Cause I'm not plannin' on going solo (Blaine: I wanna go, go, go)
Wake me up before you go-go (Blaine: go,go, go,go,go)
Take me dancing tonight
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What nationality is singer Kiri-Te Kanawa | Dame Kiri Te Kanawa - Academy of Achievement
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
That's been my sort of aim in life, to never miss an opportunity.
A Stunning and Lyrical Voice for the Ages
Date of Birth
March 6, 1944
Kiri Te Kanawa at the age of six in New Zealand.
The internationally famed soprano, Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, was born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in the small New Zealand seaside town of Gisborne, where Captain James Cook first made landfall. Just at the edge of the international date line, it prides itself as the first city in the world to greet the sun. Here, the birth child of a native Maori man and a woman of European extraction was adopted at five weeks of age by a local couple, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, he also a Maori and she with family ties to the British Isles. The Te Kanawas named their daughter Kiri, the Maori word for bell. She was to be their only child. The family came from modest circumstances: Tom Te Kanawa ran a truck contracting business, while his wife stayed home with Kiri. Some of the soprano’s earliest recollections are of blissfully swimming in the sea with her father and of fishing. On one outing, she nearly drowned when a boat capsized, trapping her underneath, until her father managed to dive down and rescue her. And for almost as long as she can remember, she sang. Her first performances were on a little stage jerry-rigged in the Te Kanawas’ house, complete with a curtain; “the curtains would come back,” she recalled, “and I’d get up and sing.” Without a television in the home, music and singing quickly became the primary entertainment. But although her mom played piano, from early on, Kiri eschewed command performances: “I was rather sort of miffy about it even then. I’d only sing when I felt like it.”
Yet where Te Kanawa had a breezy indifference to her own voice, her mother heard something magical: the raw beauty and talent of her dulcet tones. She told her daughter one morning that she had seen a wondrous vision of Kiri singing at London’s Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Soon, for Te Kanawa’s mother, transforming that vision into a reality became her own life’s dream. But the journey from the languid, peaceful New Zealand coast to top billing in London and New York, and then super-stardom literally around the globe, was a long and arduous one. Te Kanawa says simply that it would take “years and years” to detail how much her parents sacrificed for her, adding with genuine emotion, “the reasons that I’m here today is because of the sacrifice of my parents.”
Kiri Te Kanawa with her adoptive parents, Tom and Nell Te Kanawa, at a party in their garden at Blockhouse Bay, New Zealand, one the eve of Kiri’s departure for the opera stages of London in 1966. (Dame Kiri Te Kanawa)
Te Kanawa began her remarkable rise in the most ordinary of venues, singing at a local school. From there, she would go on to perform at weddings and funerals. The money she pocketed helped pay for her basic necessities, like clothes, as well as for her singing lessons. By 1956, wanting to do whatever they could for their daughter’s talent, the Te Kanawas had packed up for Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, so Kiri could study with a former opera singer turned nun, Sister Mary Leo, at St. Mary’s College for Girls. The schedule was brutal and the schooling, more often than not, a disaster. Te Kanawa was routinely plucked from class in the middle of her lessons to work on her singing whenever Sister Mary was free, and as a consequence, her grades suffered. Within two years, Te Kanawa was asked to leave St. Mary’s.
Undaunted, she enrolled in a business school, where she learned to type and write in shorthand. But she never gave up on her singing. She took a job as a receptionist and then as a telephone operator so she could work at night and study singing during the day. And with pluck and daring, she began to enter competitions. Her breakthrough started in 1960, when she won the Auckland Competition. From there, it was on to voice competitions in Australia. By 1965, she had won most of the South Pacific’s major vocal prizes. She also sang in music show choruses and nightclubs — during one memorable performance, Te Kanawa, dressed all in white, serenaded a drunken club crowd with “Ave Maria.” Then, at age 21, having banked her prize money and earnings, not to mention a scholarship from the New Zealand government, she set off across the globe to England. There, she would finally sing in her first opera.
Kiri Te Kanawa in the role that brought her fame, the Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro.
Te Kanawa enrolled at the London Opera Centre and began her formal instruction in earnest. After a master class at the Centre, it was the celebrated Australian conductor, Richard Bonynge, who told Te Kanawa that she was a soprano, not a mezzo soprano. In 1967, she married Desmond Park, an Australian engineer whom she met in London, and within seven years, her life would be utterly transformed. Her first milestone was finding former Vienna opera star Vera Rozsa, who became her singing coach. Rozsa systematically schooled her in interpretation and stage acting, as well as the technical aspects of operatic singing. By 1970, fulfilling her mother’s dream, Te Kanawa made her debut at the famed Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, singing the roles of Xenia in Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov. She also appeared that season as a flower maiden in Wagner’s Parsifal, but the performance that began her stratospheric rise was as Countess Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in December of 1971. For that, she earned 50 to 100 English pounds per week, a salary that remained unchanged for the rest of her five-year contract.
Critics have described Te Kanawa’s voice as having a “platinum tone and regal aura,” but she herself is far more regular than regal; she has often said that she prefers rehearsals with her fellow cast members to full operatic performances. Indeed, Te Kanawa describes opera, which requires not simply singing talent, but the ability to act and move in concert with all the other performers on the stage as, quite simply, “a mess.” She explains, “There’s the music. There’s the coaching. There’s the instruction. There’s the language. There’s the stage movements, the conductor, the agents, singing teachers, and everybody else.” It is, in her view, nothing short of “a circus.” Actually, Te Kanawa marvels, “You feel as though your brain is going to break.” Her answer, she says, is to retreat into her “typical South Pacific, Polynesian mode” of just going “whoo” and not taking any notice of the whirlwind around her.
Kiri Te Kanawa plays another Countess, the title role in the Royal Opera production of Arabella by Richard Strauss.
In 1974, Te Kanawa was released by Covent Garden to journey to New York’s Metropolitan Opera as the understudy for noted soprano Teresa Stratas, who was headlining as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello. Te Kanawa watched a dress rehearsal, ran through the entire staging on a cold and snowy Friday and then went home to bed. The next morning, she awoke and contemplated a day of shopping. Stratas, after all, was the one who was the marquee star, and the one who was set to take the stage. Then the telephone rang. Jokingly, she told a friend who was staying with her that if it was the Met to tell them that she had indeed “gone shopping.” The friend took her at her word and hung up. The next call, from Te Kanawa’s agent, was far more frantic, telling her to get down to the opera house. Without even so much as a dressing gown in hand, she hailed a cab on the snow-covered New York streets and hopped in. The cabbie, it turned out, was from Brooklyn and had never been to the Met. Te Kanawa ended up directing him herself and raced through the front door. The matinee curtain was rising imminently, and the backstage staff bundled Te Kanawa into her wig and costume and makeup. The performance was scheduled to be broadcast across the United States. There was, she remembered, no time for nerves, only “all-out panic.” This one illustrious performance made Kiri Te Kanawa an international sensation. Remarkably, she made her New York debut with not a single friend or family member in the audience. “I went on, the loneliest person in the world.”
Internationally famed soprano Kiri Te Kanawa shooting a music video in 1992. (Michael Le Poer Trench/Sygma)
Te Kanawa still has mixed emotions about that unprecedented debut, describing it as akin to being “in a jumbo jet going faster than anybody else in the entire planet on that day.” And even the charmed career that followed — demanding performances around the globe, media profiles, numerous recordings, the legendary status as one of the world’s greatest opera stars, and in 1981, the personal invitation to sing at the wedding of England’s Price Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at Westminster Abbey before a record global audience of over 600 million — has left her with an imprint of surprisingly ambivalent feelings. An early riser, Te Kanawa never enjoyed late-night post-performance parties or suppers, preferring instead to return home and go to bed. Almost indifferent to the public eye, she dismisses many of her accolades, saying that praise simply “comes and goes.”
There also remains in Te Kanawa a wistful sadness about the high price of a career that required her to live out of suitcases for months on end. In fact, for all the thunder and noise of the opera stage, she hears with equal and even keener precision the silence, describing the loneliness of leaving the stage after being cheered and handed flowers: “Then you go back to the hotel and all the flowers are dying. And it’s very lonely in the hotel room. There’s nothing there.”
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and Rodney Gilfry in Capriccio, in London, July 1998. (Robbie Jack/Corbis Images)
Her own life too has had its quiet hurts and tragedies. Te Kanawa’s mother died not long after her 1971 debut at Covent Garden. After a serious bout of illness that forced her to quit performing for three months, Te Kanawa and her husband adopted a daughter, Antonia. Three years later, they adopted a son, Thomas. But the marriage ultimately could not hold; she and her husband divorced in the late 1990s. She zealously guards her private life, but cryptically says, “if you’re going to have a career like this, I think there’s huge problems.” In part, she blames her career for the break-up of her marriage and suggests that it took a toll on her children. Moreover, at more reflective moments, she wonders if she should have given it all up and left the stage. “Sometimes in the darkest time, when I regret a lot, in that dark part of the night when it’s really black, I just see this stinking career took so much. Yet it gave me so much.”
Academy members Dame Kiri Te Kanawa and John Williams with the Los Angeles Philharmonic as they perform before a movie screen backdrop at 20th Century Fox Studios during the 2006 International Achievement Summit.
Glamorous, elegant, stunningly beautiful, Kiri Te Kanawa is still a household name. The little girl from a tiny corner of New Zealand ultimately rose to become a Dame Commander of the British Empire and the recipient of distinguished honorary degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities. A concert she gave in Auckland attracted a record-breaking 140,000 fans, and she sang the first song of the new millennium in Gisborne, to a global audience in over 80 countries of some one billion. She was also invited to perform at Buckingham Palace for Queen Elizabeth II’s Jubilee.
As an artist, she is most at home among the works of Mozart, Verdi, and Strauss; Mozart, she has often been told, is the perfect match for her voice. She once described Strauss as “music that fits me like a glove, lyrical and passionate at the same time.” Yet for her own pleasure, Te Kanawa prefers the sounds of the instruments alone; in periods of solitude, she listens to Wagner’s orchestral music, rather than having “to pay attention to voices.”
Kiri Te Kanawa created her own foundation to assist talented young musicians from her native New Zealand.
Te Kanawa remains a deeply patriotic New Zealander, who seeks solace and rejuvenation in the lush, green north coastal region, where the ocean amiably wanders in and out of peaceful inlets. Ironically, the diva who made her mark singing the roles of royalty in elaborate costumes on ornate stages, is a self-described tomboy, who enthusiastically fishes, hikes, boats, plays golf and tennis, and even shoots clay pigeons. Now retired from the operatic stage, she has gradually reduced her engagements, but continues to perform in concert. Her current passion is the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, which she founded to help support promising young New Zealanders with musical talent. The Foundation provides them with mentoring, coaching, and some financial support. She hopes to open doors for them, something she lacked early in her own career. She shares her simple formula for her own success, that she “never ever missed a green light.” She adds that, walking down the street, she would not stop for a red light. “I’m sort of criss-crossing to get to the green light all the time. And that’s been my aim in life: to never miss an opportunity.”
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa performed at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, accompanied by Academy member John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic. Watch Dame Kiri sing “Omio bambino caro” from Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Puccini.
Inducted in 2006
Date of Birth
March 6, 1944
Before she became an internationally celebrated opera star, Kiri Te Kanawa struggled to earn money to pay for her singing lessons. She worked as a telephone operator and performed at weddings and in night clubs to save the money she needed to travel from New Zealand to London. From those hardscrabble beginnings, she rose to dazzle critics and audiences alike with her performances of the classic operatic works by legendary composers such as Mozart, Strauss, and Verdi.
She made her debut at Covent Garden in 1970, but it was a last-minute substitution in 1974 — as an understudy for the role of Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello at New York’s Metropolitan Opera House — that propelled her into opera’s exclusive legion of greats when she was barely 30 years of age.
Her lush and lyrical soprano so entranced England’s royal family that she was personally invited to perform at the wedding ceremony of Prince Charles and Lady Diana — before a live television audience of some 600 million — and later for Queen Elizabeth’s Golden Jubilee. She was also honored as a Dame Commander of the British Empire by the Queen. Having made her mark in performances across the globe, Te Kanawa, a deeply patriotic New Zealander with a strong Maori heritage, is now helping to mentor other talented young New Zealand singers and musicians through her Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation.
Watch full interview
A Stunning and Lyrical Voice for the Ages
The Metropolitan Opera House, New York City
April 9, 2008
Tell us about your debut as the Countess in Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden, in December 1971. Did you have a feeling this was going to be a very big night for you?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No, no. Not at all. I knew that things were working up to it. But you know, when you’re in it, you’re in sort of a mess, because there’s the music, there’s the coaching, there’s the instruction, there’s the language, there’s the stage movements, the conductor. And then you’ve got everybody else coming. You’ve got agents, you’ve got singing teachers. You’ve got this whole world, a circus. You feel as though your brain is going to break, and I think I’m just going to go crazy. I just went into my typical South Pacific, Polynesian mode. I just wouldn’t take any notice of it. I just sort of let it all fly over me. That’s the only way I could cope with it. There’s only so much you can take in in a day. I was coming in from the country. My journey was an hour and a half. I was working long hours, so I could only take in so much.
You were pretty well prepared. You’d done the role before, albeit in English.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes.
Keys to success — Preparation
I’d actually done the Countess, which was very important. I’ve actually done it on stage, yes, with a director. Yes, I worked for several weeks in Santa Fe, which was a wonderful experience. I mean, it was very precious, that experience. I look back and always remember that glorious time. That gave me the strength to do the Covent Garden one. Because I’d done it. I’d been there. And yet, I was in a more superior production, of course. Everything was just super-super-duper. It was really fantastic.
That night in December of 1971, when you first sang the Countess at Covent Garden, did you realize immediately what a big deal this was for your career?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No. I don’t think I thought about that until it really took off. Suddenly, you’ve got agents and jobs, and you’re doing this and doing that. You’re wanted everywhere. And there’s interviews and newspapers. And the Met’s calling and Covent Garden is booking you again. And then Glyndebourne suddenly wants you. Once again, this melee, and I just went into my little spot of just going into cuckooland and not taking too much notice of it for awhile. And then you can cope with it. There was a time when I couldn’t cope a couple of years later. I just overdid everything and decided to take a huge break because it was all too much.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, beloved around the world for her soaring voice and elegant stage presence. (John Swannell)
When you’re in that kind of demand and you’re fairly new in your career, it must be hard to say no to very prestigious invitations.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s harder today. It’s harder today to say no, because there’s less around. And there are a lot more singers who will agree to do anything and sometimes not be capable of doing it. That’s what I’m more worried about, the singers who do a job, an opera, performance of whatever type, and then after the performance, they’ve basically killed their voice off. That’s what I’m more worried about today.
When you approach a role like the Countess in Marriage of Figaro, do you approach it all together, the singing, the acting, the words? Or do you just learn the music first?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Gosh. Now that you ask me the question, it’s going to be hard to answer.
Keys to success — Preparation
First of all, of course, you’ve got to know the music. You’ve got to know all the different things. And so the music came, of course, first with me. Then you had to know what you were doing, then you have to know what your colleagues were doing. You had to know what they were talking about and how they were moving around you. And then you have to make sure that your timing — and your colleague was not, as they say, upstaged during what you were doing. So you had to sort of take your place in the jigsaw puzzle. And the jigsaw puzzle was doing your job within the job. But yet, always being part of the action and having the energy behind all you were doing. So you all live with the same mission, was to complete the story and tell it to the audience. That was my thing all the time. Make sure the audience knows what we’re doing. Of course, you know, surtitles and subtitles have come out. And I think that’s wonderful. Because the audience, if they don’t speak the language, they’re right in it with you. You say, “I understood every word!” And I think, “Yes. Of course, you did.” That’s fantastic.
Can you talk about performing “Porgi, amor” in Marriage of Figaro, and the effect it had on the audience? How did you prepare yourself for that, and how did you react when the audience went crazy?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I never ever believed in any accolades. Because I sort of thought if my singing teacher says it’s okay, and the people who are really, really close to me — and there are only one or two — if they say it’s okay, then I wait for that signal. I wasn’t really taken in by it, and still haven’t been taken in by it because accolades come and go. It’s how you feel about yourself.
Keys to success — Preparation
I do remember the preparations every night, and during the dress rehearsal, that the pianist would come to my room and we’d go up, walk up two or three flights above the dressing room. And I’d literally sing that aria four times through. And then I’d be in costume. And I’d walk. I’d have my costume on. I was all ready. And from that point of work, singing it through three or four times, very softly — never sing full voice — I walked straight down to the stage, sit in position and I was ready. And that’s how I did it. And I continued to do that for many years, every time I did Figaro.
So you went through the whole aria four times before singing it onstage?
Kiri Te Kanawa: It was just another time through by the time I got on stage. It wasn’t more important than the first one or the sixth one I was going to do. I was singing it and singing it and singing it and singing it. It’s one of the most difficult arias in the repertoire. It sits horribly for the singer because it’s a long wait. You’ve got to wait out the first act, and you’re listening to what’s going on, and of course you’re getting more nervous. But there wasn’t time to get nervous because I was too busy singing the aria through. So I had no time to think about anything. That’s what the whole thing is when you’re occupied, you just go on and do it.
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as Amelia in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra at the Royal Opera, 1997. (© Robbie Jack/CORBIS)
You had a remarkable debut at the Metropolitan Opera, when you went on as a last minute substitute for Teresa Stratas in Otello. What was that like?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Gosh. I was brought over to cover Teresa Stratas and watch the production. Covent Garden had released me but I think they resisted my coming here. They weren’t too pleased that I was coming to the Met. They said it was too soon, and I think there was a little bit of opposition there. But anyway, that was fine. I came. And I was going there, watching rehearsals, watching everything they did. I went through the dress rehearsal, watched it, and thought, “Gosh. This is fairly amazing,” and then went home and that was it. That was the end of it. Jon Vickers came into one or two of the rehearsals, and they said, “Let’s go through the whole thing with Jon,” which I did. And it was a horrible afternoon. I went home and it was starting to snow. And I thought, “Well, that’s that.” I woke up the next morning and I thought, “Well, I’ll just go shopping or something.” And then I was going to go to the afternoon performance. And I had someone staying with me.
The telephone rang, and I said, “If it’s the Met, tell ’em I’ve gone shopping,” or whatever it was, and she did. And it was the Met, and she hung up on them. I thought, “God damn it.” I said, “What did they want?” “Oh, they want you to call.” I said, “What? They called?” And I thought it seems like, you know, my antennae went up, and I thought something’s gone wrong. Anyway, I think my agent called me and said, “I think you’re going to have to get down there.” Well anyway, I sort of threw some clothes on. I didn’t have a dressing gown or anything. So he went to the store, got something for me to wear in the dressing room. All hell went loose. I got in a taxi — who came from Brooklyn, didn’t know where the Met was. I said, “But it’s straight down this street here.” I didn’t know where the street was. I was up on 79 or something. And I thought, “This is getting worser and worser.” It was snowing, it had snowed all night and there was snow all on the road. And the guy was saying — I said, “Look. Just stop here. That’s the Met. If you ever need to know it again, there it is.”
And so I rushed across the square or the plaza, straight through. I think you were able to go through the front door by that time. And I did.
Keys to success — Courage
I just went like a mad thing through the front door. And everyone was there. Of course, it’s once again the circus. That “bzzzz” that’s going on. And there’s every man and his dog is there trying to give you information. And there’s the director trying to do something and the conductor’s there. Of course, Jimmy’s there. And Jon Vickers is there. And they’re all there. And you think, “Shut up and get out!” And I just said, “I just need time.” So somehow people threw a wig on me and some makeup and we were on. We’re on the number 52 bus to heaven. So it was like that. It was just this absolute panic. And then I got through the first act. And I thought, “Thank God!” And you know, no one — none of my family — my singing teacher was going to be there in a few weeks to come and see my first performance. And my husband, who was then, was going to come. And all my friends were going to come. And I couldn’t get them, because it was snowing. And it was just — it was impossible. So I went on, the loneliest person in the world.
And I did this performance. And it just went crazy. And I thought, “I think this is what it’s like to hit the jackpot.” It was just the most crazy day in my life. And then for two days after that, it just went sort of crazy. And I thought, “I’m going to have to come down to earth soon. I’m just going to have to start being realistic.”
Legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, cool and elegant, both on the stage and off. (Photo by John Swannell)
Were you nervous?
Kiri Te Kanawa: There was no time for nerves. I was absolutely in a panic. Nerves, I was past that. It was beyond that. I was in a panic.
But you knew the role of Desdemona, and you’d had at least some rehearsal.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think so. I was young and stupid. I was not even 30. When you’re young, you’re invincible. You can do anything you like. And I’ve certainly thought back, and I look at young people now, and I think, “God, they’re young!” I was young, and you could do anything you liked, and I thought, “I can handle this. I’m fine at all this.” And I did. I handled it. Then I had to wait another month to go on for my real performance. Of course, I was more nervous then, so it was a crazy time. It was one of the most exciting two or three days of my life.
Desdemona is a very beautiful and demanding role, dramatically as well as musically.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh yes, it’s one of the best. And I wouldn’t have changed a single moment in all of it. And then having someone like Jon Vickers sitting next to you, that’s amazing. People have done debuts like that before, but I don’t think anything as extraordinary as that. For someone who least expected to go on at 11:00 in the morning, and I’m on at 2:00. That was so far out of my zone, I was not there. But I made it. I made it. And I did it.
Legendary opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa performs with Awards Council member John Williams and the L.A. Philharmonic at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles. (© Academy of Achievement)
After that, you must have really been in demand.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, then it all started. That’s basically what happens in a career if you’re lucky enough to have that sort of start. You’d like it to go a little slower of course, as I would have done. I would have been happy. Two years before, I had a little Covent Garden debut basically, but nothing as whiz bang. I was sort of in a jumbo jet, going faster than anybody else in the entire planet on that day. I look back, and I think, just a moment of that again would have been nice to sort of experience. Because when you’re in it, it’s just going too fast. But I could relive it sometimes, which was nice.
In 1981, you were invited to sing at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Six hundred million people around the globe were watching on television. What was that like?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I suppose it wasn’t quite as bad as the debut at the Met, but it was close. It was, once again, a huge melee of people, and the right things to do and the wrong things to do, and where you had to be. And there’s no toilet. So be sure you know what you’re doing. And I thought, “Well, I have to drink.” I think if there had to be a down side of it — I did the silliest thing in my entire life, but I wanted to do it. Because I’d done it sort of the way I wanted to.
Keys to success — Perseverance
I decided to do Cosi and Don Giovanni side by side. One night would be Don Giovanni, one night would be Cosi fan tutte. One night off. One night it would be Cosi fan tutte and one night it would be Don Giovanni. Night off. I did that four times, and nearly killed myself, because we all did. There was a little bit of a pact amongst us, Tom Allen, and I can’t remember who the others were. But we all decided to do these roles, two of them, for Covent Garden. It was like a Covent Garden fest. I think there was most probably (Magic) Flute, Don Giovanni, Cosi and Figaro. I’m not sure if I — I’m pretty sure I did the Don Giovanni and the Cosi. I can’t remember exactly. And in the middle of it, I did the royal wedding. And I thought, “How dumb is this, to have got myself to this stage that I’ve just actually wiped myself out? There’s going to be no voice left.” So I went and stayed up in London for two weeks in a hotel. So I’d go and do the performance, I’d walk down back to the hotel. It wasn’t very far from Covent Garden. And I’d get in that bed and I’d sleep all day. And I’d get up, get up for air, go and have a meal and go back to bed. And I’d shut up for the whole two weeks and just stayed in bed and sang, bed, sang. And that was it.
And I got to the royal wedding by chance. I can’t remember the exact day, what my schedule was. But Covent Garden and then the royal wedding! I thought, “Oh God. I’ll never do this again!” Because it was already set in stone. The productions were set in stone. I was booked to do it. Then the royal wedding came up, and I thought, “Oh my God, how am I going to get through this?”
Dame Kiri Te Kanawa receives the Gold Medal of the Academy of Achievement from Awards Council member Julie Andrews at the 2006 International Achievement Summit in Los Angeles, California. (© Academy of Achievement)
How did you receive the actual invitation?
It came through Covent Garden. It was John Turley, and he must have rang my agent. Then my agent rang me. And he said, “Charlie wants you to sing at his wedding.” And I said, “Charlie who?” He said, “Charles.” I said, “Charles who?” “Charles Windsor.” “Oh,” I said, “that Charles.” Because I already knew a Charlie. He’s my driver. I thought, “What am I doing singing at Charlie’s wedding? He’s already married. ” It wasn’t that Charlie. It was Charles. So that came through like that. And they said, “And you can’t say a single word.” That was it.
Why?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Because if I told somebody, then it would have got out and all that sort of thing. So I just couldn’t say a single word to anybody, because it would have got to the press. Everyone was trying to find out what was happening at the wedding, and what her dress was like, and who was going to be bridesmaids, and who was going to be all this and that, and who was invited, and all that sort of thing. And of course, the music. No one would have been thinking about that. But as we got close, of course, people would have been thinking, “Who’s going to be singing?” And it was me.
Was it Charles’s choice of song?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, very much. He chose that song.
He’s a music lover?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, very much, yes. I think most probably music was put before him. Because, as in anything like this, it was such a huge wedding that they’d have to say, “Here are six obvious songs that you could have.” And he had the Bach Choir, and he had the English Chamber Orchestra, and me. It was just exciting.
When you received the invitation, did you think it over? I guess you couldn’t possibly turn it down.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, please. No.
Did you know that you would be heard by 600 million people on television? Did you have any idea it was going to be that big a deal?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No. No, I mean that. That didn’t even cross my mind until I came up to the church that day, and I thought, “Oh my God! All these people. It was just unbelievable.
Were you more nervous for that than for an opera debut?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No. I know what those notes are like. This one was a bit more specialized because, you know, there’s timing. I certainly had to be there on time and in the right position. I mean, if I was behind the Queen’s carriage, I was done for. I had to be in front of her. Because behind her, everything shut down. So you have to be in front of the carriage. So I got in a taxi, or Charlie, my driver, took me to the church.
What did you wear?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I wore an outfit which I bought in Paris, and they made it specially for me. A man called Philip Somerville wrote to me and said that he makes hats and could he make my hat. So I took the dress to him and I put the dress on. He put this hat on me as if to say, “That will do.” Of course, everyone says I looked like a bird of paradise, but I thought I looked fine. So now that dress and the hat are in the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa. A lot of my things have gone into the museum now, like letters from Prince Charles and letters from other members of the royal family who I’ve received letters and invitations and Christmas cards from, will all go into the Museum of New Zealand, which is very important for our own little history.
You’ve sung for other royal events as well, haven’t you?
Kiri Te Kanawa: A lot, yes. I’ve sung for the Queen. I’ve sung for all of them.
How did you first become involved with music? What is your earliest memory of singing?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, gosh. That’s a long way back. Because we didn’t have any television when I was growing up — we didn’t have television for a very long time — we used to do little performances, or I used to do little performances. I had a little stage in my parents’ house, and the curtains would come back, and I’d get up and sing. But unfortunately, I would only sing when I felt like it, not when my mother felt like I should be singing. So I was always a bone of contention there. “Come along, Kiri. Come and sing.” I said no, and I wouldn’t sing. So I was sort of miffy about it even then, way back. I’d only sing when I felt like it. So I’d stage my own little performances and sing for her.
Was there a lot of music in your home?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, yes. My mother came from a family of 15, my father from a family of 11. Not that I knew all of them when I was growing up, because I was much, much younger and they were all much, much older. My mother’s sister was a coronet player, one of the very few female coronet players. And, of course, in the South Island, where they grew up, it was all brass. They only played brass. But my mother played piano, which was rather nice. I’d sit around the piano and we’d all sing. That was our entertainment.
When did you realize that you might have a gift for singing?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I didn’t. I didn’t realize it at all until I was singing. I was going to my singing teacher in Auckland, and I started with her when I was 14. And then just slowly, slowly was taking singing lessons once a week with her. And then I went into her chorus, or her choir, and we did choir practice every Saturday and Wednesdays, or whenever it was. And then for many, many years, I just stayed in that choir until I left New Zealand when I was 21. So that was my first indication of singing and being part of a choir, part of a team. But I didn’t actually realize this sort of career of mine was going to actually do anything like it’s done.
Did you ever dream of being an opera singer when you were a child?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No. If you know anyone from New Zealand, from Polynesian countries, they’re very laid back. It’s always, “Oh, it will be all right tomorrow. It will be fine.” It’s all very happy. No one stresses themselves out. Then suddenly, you’ve got this thing on your hands, which is a voice in your throat, and suddenly other people are interested in you. Then you get on this treadmill and there’s no end to it.
What was it like to grow up in Gisborne, in a harbor town?
Kiri Te Kanawa: We lived near the sea. I’d go down and we’d swim in the sea on a regular basis, my father and I. I remember one time — because I still go fishing a lot — my father and I went fishing with a friend and the boat upturned and I was under it. And all I could see was my father trying to get down to me, and the boat and all the things coming out of the boat. It’s like this surreal vision. All I could see is this light and the boat on top of me. And I’m looking up and thinking, “Am I going to get out of this?” And somehow my father came down and dragged me out. That was the day I think I almost drowned.
Even after that, you still like to fish?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh yes. I do like the water.
What sort of influence did your parents have on your life and career?
Kiri Te Kanawa: My mother was a very strong influence. My father just loved me, which was a rather nice combination. But my mother was the driving force. She would teach me songs. She didn’t know how to do it, just sing-along stuff. She somehow had a vision. She says she had a vision. I’m not quite sure about that. But, you know, people do have these ideas. She woke up one day and she said, “I’ve seen you at Covent…” She called it “Convent Garden,” but I’ve since learned it was Covent Garden. “I’ve seen you at Covent Garden. And you’re on the stage there.” And I said, “Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.” That was it. And I went off fishing, most probably, again.
Were there teachers that were important to you musically?
Kiri Te Kanawa: My very first teacher, she was important. I would say my mother and my parents. The reasons that I’m here today is because of the sacrifices of my parents. And I know how much they sacrificed. My father was a very hard worker. He didn’t know what was happening to me. My mother didn’t really know what was happening to me. But they sacrificed. And I can’t tell you how much, because it would go into years and years of what they did do for me. And I look at my children, and I say to them, “You’re here because of my father and my mother. Not because of me.” I did it. And I said to my son the other day, “I can’t actually thank my parents enough because of what they did.” And it really, really was. It was huge. They’ve given me this amazing life, and then I can’t even thank them. So all I can do is help. And I think in lots of ways — with young students, and I’m working with them right now here at the Met — that is, I suppose, my little bit of payback, if you know what I mean.
I need to somehow thank everything. The Met has been wonderful to me. Covent Garden is wonderful, Chicago, San Francisco, my own country. My own country helped me with finances and scholarships, and just the way they treated me. I just have to thank so many people for the reasons why I’m here. I think that’s made me sort of overly ambitious for other people, for myself.
I always said that I never ever missed a green light. Because if I walked down the street, I never, ever wait for a red light. I’ll only take the green light. So you can imagine how I’m walking. I’m sort of crisscrossing to get to the green light all the time. And that’s been my sort of aim in life, is to never miss an opportunity.
Were there singers that you particularly admired when you were growing up?
Kiri Te Kanawa: My very, very first of the greats was Leontyne Price. I just adored her, and still do. She has a voice of unique sound. She’s a glorious, statuesque person. I always thought that I would like to take that feeling of how I saw her, and I would like people to look at me a little bit like that.
What about pop singers when you were growing up. Elvis Presley?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I never liked him when I was young, because I thought it was all a bit crazy. But you look at it, and he’s still there after all this time, because of his recordings, of course, but he was a great icon. Even though things went wrong for him at the end, but there was a lot of stuff he brought out. I like that sort of thing. But I’m more on the classical side. I’m a classical music lover. I love orchestras. I listen to orchestras forever.
When did you give your first public performance?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I was actually paid for it. So I’ll tell you about that one. I went to a school and I sang three or four songs. And I was given a thing called two guineas. I think they still use guineas in horse trading for horse sales. So I was given two guineas to sing my three or four songs. And then I started singing at weddings and funerals, at the reception of weddings and things like that. That’s how I was earning my money to pay for my clothes and my singing lessons, to help my parents out.
Were you a serious student at school?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No. People say, “Oh, she was a dreadful student!” Well, I most probably was. I went to St. Mary’s College in Ponsonby in Auckland. My singing teacher was there. So anytime that she was free, they’d get the call, “Kiri’s to come for singing lessons.” So my ordinary education was constantly broken into by my singing teacher. I never had a definite time. She’d always pull me out of class. Now if I look back on that, it was actually very wrong. They should have put me into classes that were going to advance my education, but it never happened like that. So I just went along with it and the school went along with it, because after a while, they could see that something quite sort of extraordinary was happening. But it wasn’t happening right then.
Did you like to read when you were young? Were there any particular books that stood out for you?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, you know, I came from an area in New Zealand where, at that time, there weren’t very many books. Of course, now I’m almost addicted to them. When I went to England, because I didn’t know very much about England, so I was totally in love with history. I read autobiographies. I read biographies. I read about Winston Churchill, any leader of any country, especially in America. All the prime ministers and presidents I really loved to read about. Then, of course, I love reading about kings and queens of the past, Elizabeth I, and then going on with all the different history of things. I loved all that and still do.
You didn’t go right into a singing career after St. Mary’s. Is it true that you went to a business school?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, I learned to type and some shorthand. But shorthand is now, of course, gone. Dictaphones came in. Everything has changed. But at least the one thing I can do is type. I don’t have to go clunk, clunk, clunk. I can actually do it properly.
Did you work at office jobs?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I was a receptionist and things like that. All those things got me closer to working on my music. I was a telephonist, routing incoming toll calls and things, which gave me night work so I could do my studies during the day. But you’re awake an awful lot. That was the problem. I got tired.
Before you went to London, you won some vocal competitions, didn’t you?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. I won throughout New Zealand. I went to every competition that was possible, which sort of gave me scholarships and money to help me to go overseas.
I went to a lot of competitions. And then I went to Australia and I came in second in one particular competition, and I won the next one, which also carried a scholarship. And then I went back to New Zealand and I sang a couple of concerts, which gave me some more money. And then the government gave me a scholarship and I was sort of on my way. It was not very much money at the time, but it was enough. Because nowadays, you’ve got to have at least 30,000 pounds a year to go to England to study. At least.
So you were already earning a little money for your singing. Were you also singing pop music or doing musicals or anything like that?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I sang … no, no. I never really sang in a show or anything like that. I sang in — maybe The Student Prince or something like that — but it was just in the chorus. And I sang at nightclubs. And someone said that I sing — I went to a place that was called the Colony. And I came in with my little songs and everything. And these people, of course, they’re well into their — really, really into their cups. I mean it’s… well and well — I mean, all over the place. And here I’m evidently — and I’d forgotten what the impact of this was — I was singing “Ave Maria.” You can imagine! They’re sort of all completely drunk and they must have really thought, “Have I just died and I’m off to heaven?” Because she’s singing “Ave Maria.” So evidently, it was quite surreal, that one too. But I sang my little “Ave Maria” and whatever.
You probably looked like an angel as well.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I was dressed in white. Yes. Now, of course, they’d shoot you. They’d say, “Give her the hook,” and pull her off the stage.
Now that you’re so well known, do you suppose any of those people remember who was singing for them?
Kiri Te Kanawa: They actually do! I’m reminded on a regular basis. They’re still alive. I think they’ve got no liver left at the moment. They were really drunk.
What else were you singing in these settings? Were you singing operatic arias for them?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Some, yes. I sang something like “Vissi d’arte,” which was actually stupid in my voice, but I did things that I liked. I do sing a lot of songs from shows, West Side Story and South Pacific and Ivor Novello and things. None of it really hurt my voice, so it was fine.
When were you first drawn to opera? Was it when you were starting out in New Zealand, before you went to England?
Kiri Te Kanawa: It was when I was singing in New Zealand, from 14 years of age, until I left at age 21. I saw Don Giovanni and I saw a couple of other operas. I saw Porgy and Bess, which I consider a complete opera. And I just completely and utterly fell in love with it. And then, of course, I started singing operatic arias, just small ones. But I really never sang in an opera until I sang in England, and I was in a small sort of excerpts from opera in the London Opera Center. That’s the college I studied at. But I really wasn’t singing opera. Because I didn’t think I knew how to do it until I got to England. And then I started to really concentrate on it very seriously, and of course, it is the only thing for me.
You started training as a mezzo soprano. When did you make the leap to soprano?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I don’t think there was a leap. I think it just was a natural progression. I’d looked after my voice for such a long time and always sang within the area I thought my voice could sing, the scale of my voice. And then when I came to England, I thought it was England that did it, or the air that did it. But in actual fact, it was just the natural progression. My voice just went up. And it was wonderful.
Did someone hear it and tell you? Or did you discover it yourself?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No, I was singing Dorabella in Cosi fan tutte, and Richard Bonynge, Joan Sutherland’s husband, came to our college and gave a master class, which was absolutely wonderful. And I was so thrilled by this. And I thought, “Gosh, just to work with this wonderful man!” And he said, “You’re not a mezzo.” And he looked at me and he said, “You’re a soprano.” And I thought, “Oh yeah, tell me another story.” And I just continued as I did. Then, of course, I found my wonderful singing teacher, Vera Rozsa. And from that point on, I just started working on my voice very carefully and it just went up. It just naturally went up. I never knew I had a top C or a top D or anything like that. I hardly ever, ever sing them. But when I want them, hopefully they’re there. I’m not sure top D is there right now, but certainly top C and top C sharp.
What were your first roles with the Royal Opera at Covent Garden?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I sang with Boris Christoff in Boris Godunov as Xenia. She’s the daughter of the Tsar. That was my first role there, along with being a flower maiden in Parsifal. Then, of course, I went to Vienna and sang with Georg Solti and I recorded with him.
It’s a big leap from flower maiden to the Countess in Marriage of Figaro. How did that come about?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I was there to study. They brought me to Covent Garden very, very, very early, and I was to study the Countess for a whole year.
What was your status in the company at that time?
Kiri Te Kanawa: They called us “Junior Principals,” which is a nice title actually. So I studied the Countess. And I was singing Xenia and the flower maiden. There’s all sorts of other little things going on. Singing bits and pieces of concerts. But the most amazing thing is that I learned Figaro in English. They made me learn it in English first, then they sent me off to Santa Fe, New Mexico to sing it in English. And in Santa Fe, I sang with Frederica von Stade. It was her first Cherubino and my first Countess. Then I came back to Covent Garden and had to re-learn it in Italian. How’s that? My head was going “Gong, gong, gong!”
How much time did you have to re-learn the role, in between Santa Fe and Covent Garden?
Kiri Te Kanawa: From the beginning of learning it in English to finally singing it in Italian was about two years. It could have been shorter actually. It might have been eighteen months.
You have been very careful with your voice, and it has held up beautifully. Were you aware as a young singer of the need to conserve your voice?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I’ll tell you a story. I remember there were two wonderful — and I’m still on the story with you, of course — two wonderful front-of-house gentlemen who opened the doors for the clients coming in for the performance. They were huge. I mean, they were the hugest men I’ve ever seen in their big Covent Garden red outfits with the big hat. And they would stand at the front door, and I would slip through there. And they’d let me come through the front of the house rather than going through the stage door. I’ve never really liked stage doors very much. Because I’ve always been a bit scary. I don’t like going into a dark hall, and particularly here at the Met, I don’t like it down there. So I’m always afraid of going through there. Anyway, they let me go through the front of house. And I’d get a lecture every day I’d come through the front of house. “Now, Kiri, you know that singer. Don’t you end up like her. Now, she did this and she did that.” And these two fingers wagging at me telling me, “Don’t you sing like her. Don’t you do what she did. You watch it.” And then they’d mention the singer’s name. And, of course, it was somebody I really, really admired. And I’d get the lecture for years, years and years and years. And I used to enjoy it. And I’d hear about the next singer coming through. “Don’t you be like her.” Or I was to be like this one. “We like this one. She was fine. She was looking after her career.” And so I’d get this lecture from the front-of-house men. It was fascinating. Because those are the people listening there all night. They’re at every performance. And they’re hearing a voice either going up or going down, or degrading, or having good nights and bad nights, and they would have their assessment the next morning and tell me about it.
What about your singing teachers? Your teacher Vera Rozsa must have been an influence.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, a major one, along with Sir Georg Solti. Because they’re both Hungarian, I used to call them the Hungarian mafia. He was always onto me. “Have you bring to Vera?” And then she’d say, “Georg, he won’t be liking this bit.” And between the two of them, there was this whish-whish-whish, like sword fighting, and I was being killed by the both of them. But I enjoyed every minute of it. It was good for me.
Was she also concerned with protecting your voice and keeping you away from roles that weren’t right for your voice?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Totally. And of course, I learned from her. After a while, I knew she wasn’t going to allow me to sing a role that wasn’t right for me. She wouldn’t even coach me on it. So that was it. I wouldn’t even bother to take it to her. Or if it was difficult and I had taken the job, sometimes the daggers would come at me. “You stupid girl! How could you say yes to this stupid thing?” She said, “Right now we have to work!” That’s the hard grind that is very necessary in this world of opera.
We understand that the conductor Sir Colin Davis was knocked out when he first heard you. Was that when you first started at Covent Garden?
Kiri Te Kanawa: When I first auditioned at Covent Garden, I was going and I was singing for English National Opera. And they didn’t want me, or they couldn’t place me. So I went back to Covent Garden and I sang all sorts of things like Capuleti e i Montecchi. And then they’d say, “Would you please come back and sing this aria?” So I prepared and I’d sing it. Then they’d ask me to sing another aria, so I’d sing that. And then another one and another one. And after nine auditions, I thought, “Can’t they make up their mind?” And at any rate, that was it. So I think after all of that time, they were trying to place what my voice was doing, and then finally decided that I would do these smaller roles, along with doing the Countess. And then from that point on, I stayed at Covent Garden for five years.
But the most interesting thing about it was I was paid 50 pounds a week. And that was my salary for the Countess and every role that I did for the next several years. I think my wage was 100 pounds a week at the end of the five years. Can you imagine how much it would cost now?
Sounds like they owe you some money!
Kiri Te Kanawa: Fifty pounds a week for the Countess! Two Countesses a week! And do you know I was pleased? I was actually pleased. It wasn’t about how much money I was or wasn’t getting, it was how much I was learning. I was more than pleased to do that. When I look back, that was my apprenticeship. That’s what you do.
For people that are unfamiliar with opera, what is it you find so compelling?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s a sense of the beginning and end. It’s something you go into. It’s like a journey for the audience. They go through this and come out at the end, and when they leave, they’re completely — hopefully — satisfied. I think that’s what we like to do is complete it.
It’s a very complete art form, isn’t it? It’s like a 3D movie with beautiful music.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, with a glorious orchestra, and sometimes you’ve got a wonderful chorus like you have in Boccanegra or Otello. It’s wonderful.
When you prepare for a big performance, what is your day like?
Kiri Te Kanawa: When I was singing opera, the day was always either a singing lesson or seriously going down to the opera house, wherever I could go, and either working through with an accompanist — certainly, if it was any Mozart, I’d go through all the recits (recitatives), every single recit — because those were the ones that were always the trickiest — and do the whole recit through on the day. Then I’d normally take a singing lesson. If I was in England, I’d take a singing lesson with my singing teacher, then I’d go home, I’d have lunch, then I’d go back into the theater. And that was it. An hour and a half to London and an hour and a half back. I did that twice on performance day. And that’s why I never went out to dinners afterwards. I would just go straight home, because another hour and a half back in the car, and I just was ready for bed, because I’m a very early riser. I don’t sleep very well, so I’m normally awake by at least 6:00 in the morning. So I don’t need to have late nights. I don’t enjoy them.
There must be a tremendous amount of trust in your singing teacher to work with her on the day of the performance. Are you learning new things or just practicing?
Kiri Te Kanawa: It would be vocalizing, tuning in my voice, which is what I tell these students here. They must tune their voice in every day. And then we’d go through the bits in the opera that I was unsure of. There’s little corners. I used to call them the corners, or the top and tail, or the edges. And I’d go through those pieces that I was really unsure of. Or certainly tuning. Sometimes, especially in Strauss, the tuning, I didn’t like what had happened. Because so many of the scales are really tricky. And trying to fit them in with a chord that seems almost discordant. And you’d have to fit your note in somehow. So I’d work on those with her.
You’ve been so closely associated with the music of Richard Strauss and Mozart, who both wrote exquisitely for the voice. What drew you to those composers?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Mozart was always my first choice, because I always found it was like doing vocalise. I loved doing vocalise. I would vocalize all the time with my singing teacher. She said to me, “Mozart is the lubrication for your voice.” So the more Mozart I did, the more easily I could do Strauss. So I would warm up with Mozart and then I could do Strauss. My voice was always in the right position at all times with Mozart.
You seem to specialize in countesses. There are many countess roles in Strauss, like in Capriccio and in Marriage of Figaro, and Vanessa.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, and Rosenkavalier. She’s sort of a countess, even though she’s a really a Marschallin. Am I a countess? No.
But you’re often described as regal. There’s an elegance to your presence. Is that something that comes naturally, or is it something you create on stage?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I like playing those parts. I really do. But I’m more the opposite. I’m a real tomboy. I mean, you hardly ever see me in a dress unless it’s on stage. I’m only wearing pants, because you can go faster in pants. I’ve always found that. You know, the faster you can go, the more you can get out of trouble or get into whatever. But, you know, I go shooting. I shoot with a gun on a regular basis. And I go fishing a lot. And I go golfing. I do lots of things that I love to do outdoors. So that’s why I’m a countess in non-reality and a tomboy in reality.
What are some of the most challenging aspects of an operatic career? You once described it as a lonely life.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s lonely, because you either are there with very, very, very good friends — and they can’t always be there in the right country at the right time for you — or you are with people who you only see on a basic sort of — they’re just there for — not the good reasons for you. I don’t want to sort of go into that too much. But it’s lonely when you leave the operatic stage and you’ve been cheered and flowers have been given to you, and then you go back to the hotel and all the flowers are dying and it’s a very lonely hotel room. There’s nothing there. So you have to have a life. You have to make a life, whatever it might be, whether it be books or you sing in a choir, or as I do, go fishing a lot. Go golfing, go (play) tennis. I took up tennis because it was a faster sport than golf. Because golf took a day, whereas tennis takes a couple of hours.
You spoke earlier about your experience singing in a choir. What’s the significance of that to you?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, yes. I firmly believe choir singing is gorgeous. You can get some nice friends there. It’s another life away from your ordinary life or whatever you’re doing. If you have a very busy life, it’s another way of life, a way of life away from it. And it’s lovely, just making music with other people and you’re making harmonies and things. I think that’s great. I would still go into a choir. In my dotage, I might very well join a choir and sing along. It would be fantastic.
What about balancing personal life and a big career? That’s got to be challenging.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s very challenging. There are sacrifices to be made. I have a divorce now. I don’t put that down to necessarily the career, but I think that was part of it. And I’m happy being divorced. I’m fine with that. It’s an actual fact, I’m happier than when I was married, the last part of my life with my ex-husband. But that doesn’t matter. We had some good years together. There are sacrifices. You have to figure out what is good. I think if you’re in a good happy zone, anything can happen. As long as you’re content within yourself, life is good. But if you’re not content within yourself, it’s a mess.
You have two children. It’s got to be very difficult to spend time away from them.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I did my very, very best as a parent. And if you say you’ve succeeded as a parent, I think you’re lying. Because I think if you did your best, and you say, “I know I sort of somehow… they didn’t do drugs and they’re good kids,” I think that’s enough. But I don’t think you can say (that) unless you’re an at-home mom. But if you’re going to have a career like this, I think there’s huge problems, huge problems.
So you really have to be clear about what you want.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I could have given up the career, but I didn’t. Do I regret that? What do you do? Maybe I should have, but I didn’t. So I had this career. But sometimes, in the darkest time, when I regret a lot, in the dark part of the night, when it’s really black, and I just see this stinking career took so much. Yet it gave me so much.
Are your kids musical?
Kiri Te Kanawa: No, they’re not. They’re both adopted as well. They haven’t really inherited my singing voice, but hopefully they like music. My children come along to my concerts, which is nice.
When you were growing up, was your Maori heritage respected? Was there discrimination?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I wouldn’t say there was discrimination. But there was certainly something that — you were not allowed to speak anything other than English. Maori was not allowed to be spoken. It was not taught. It was not allowed to be spoken. And I remember one time I went to a birthday party, and I wasn’t invited, and they sent me home. I was the only one sent home. I was “the Maori girl,” and that was the way it was. My mother was devastated, absolutely devastated. She said, “How could they do this to a little child?” Once again, you see, it didn’t really upset me, because nothing really worried me. And it still doesn’t. I think man’s inhumanity to man worries me. But things like that, you know, that’s what people did in those times. And I’m sure they’d be ashamed of what they did, because that would not happen (now). I don’t look at people as being “colored” or whatever. I only look at people if they’re rude. And I think, “Gosh, you’re awfully rude, and look at you. I wouldn’t be very proud of that.” But rudeness is something — disrespect I don’t like.
You’ve also written a children’s book, Land of the Long White Cloud, about Maori myths and legends. Was this inspired by your father’s heritage?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. And a little bit because of my mother. We didn’t have books, so my mother would tell me a story every night. She had made it up, and I didn’t know it. I thought it was a real story. And she’d tell me this whole story about the possum up the tree and what he did and what he didn’t do, and then the next night, she’d build up on the story. Week after week, the story was already there, and then, of course, she started making mistakes. I said, “But no. That’s not right. You said it was this.” And she’d have to go back and try to remember the story because she’d kept on making them up. That’s why, in lots of ways, I wrote this book, along with a writer, just sort of making up the stories as I went along, because I wanted it like I had heard it. And I always remembered my mother giving up this story that she had to remember because it wasn’t real. I was constantly correcting her, because she hadn’t remembered some of the animals in the story.
You lost your mother shortly after your big Covent Garden debut. That must have been very difficult.
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it was, because it was such a shock. I always thought of it as her mission. She got me where she wanted me and that was the end of it. The lights went out. Someone just turned off the switch and said, “Right. You’ve done your job. Now you’re off. You’re up with us now.” I always felt it was a bit like that. She adopted me for a mission. I think sometimes, people in their lives, you suddenly see them… Why did they die so soon? Well, that was their duty. They completed that. That was their reason for being on this earth.
My mother had a really tough time when she was young. She came from a very, very poor family. And they all, you know, this is something that she did that was a super thing that did a lot for New Zealand in lots of ways. Because, you know, I am a Maori. And I’m very proud of that and my country is very important to me. Even though I’ve lived away from it for a very long time. But I’ve my finger on the button out there all the time. And I want to do what I can, in the way that I can do it, which is helping young students and singers. For them to find their way in life, whatever it might be, but to inspire, would be an achievement for me, to give somebody direction, to inspire them and to get them to a level that they never thought they could ever get to, and I think that’s what I like to see.
You’ve started your own foundation to help young musicians from New Zealand. What do you hope to accomplish through the foundation? What is your vision?
Kiri Te Kanawa: My vision is promoting singing at the highest standard. Hopefully, doing what I’ve done, as perfectly as possible, as the basis for where they’re aiming for. I’ve raised a lot of money for the foundation, and we’re giving out scholarships, but we’re giving them to young people of a fairly high level. We’re not starting at age 16. We’re looking at young people who are about to launch and go to Juilliard here in America, or the colleges over in England. We may help them with extra coaching. We don’t actually pay for fees at the moment, but we may get there if we find someone that’s extremely high standard. We’re looking for excellence. We’re not looking for someone who’s going to suddenly say, “Oh, I think I’m going to have babies now. ” That’s not on my agenda. I want them on the path to high achievement.
And are you personally involved in choosing the recipients of the grant?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, I look at all of them. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a great privilege. When I get back to London, I have three waiting for me that will spend two full days working on The Magic Flute. And another one who’s going to come and sing for me. And then, of course, there’s the third one who’s already at Glyndebourne singing Poppeia. I normally ask the students, if I’m working with them on this basis, that they will help me with raising funds for my foundation. I won’t take any money from them, but I’ll ask them to be involved in a concert to raise funds. That’s their contribution to my foundation.
It sounds like you’re also helping singers by giving them more practical advice than you had when you were coming up.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, this is the thing. My foundation has brought out this book. It’s a handbook for all the students for when they get to England. There’s names of singing teachers, their contact numbers, where they can get coaching, there’s coaches’ numbers. There’s the schools, all the places where they can rehearse, there’s the colleges. Everything, even down to coffee shops and how much it costs to travel to these places, and the train fares, and how to get a cheaper train fare as a student and all the different things. So it’s really the handbook of the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. For instance, it says, “Do not audition with anything by (Gian Carlo) Menotti. Do not.” Or, “You’re doomed if you sing anything in English.”
What’s the objection to Menotti? He’s not taken seriously enough?
Kiri Te Kanawa: It’s just not accepted. Just don’t do it. There’s information on things like the Young Artists Program at Covent Garden, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music, the Cardiff International Academy, National Opera Studio, the Jette Parker Young Artist Program, Covent Garden, all these things. It’s all the information you need to know that I never had. That’s why I wanted my foundation to provide this information for these young people.
You’ve also been coaching here in New York. How rewarding is that to be working with young singers?
Kiri Te Kanawa: I think it’s one of the most enjoyable couple of weeks I’ve had so far. I’m looking at the stage and I’m thinking, “Better you than me.” And I just can go and work for the students and tell them the things they need to know and the problems that could arise. They’re very well protected here, but sometimes you get out there and you’ll get under the influence of an agent or somebody you don’t know and they’ll say, “Oh, we think you could do this role.” You’ve got to look at people. I’m going to have a talk with some of them and say, “Look. Just remember, if they’re getting money from you, then they’ve got a real vested interest in you. If you’re not paying them anything, and they’re doing it because they feel good and you’re never going to pay them, possibly you’ve got someone who’s going to be worth listening to.” That’s one of the things, along with a lot of other things I’d like to tell them.
So be careful who you take advice from?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Totally. I’d say parents, brothers, sisters, and don’t go far beyond that for the moment. If you’ve had a long-term relationship with an agent, that’s a whole different thing, because that agent is there to care. But a new agent or manager coming in, they’re interested in making money out of you.
Is there personal advice you would give a young person who wants to sing opera? What do you need?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Oh, God. Good parents. Good backup. Good family. My parents were right there all the way for as long as they could be. Then I had a husband who did actually help for a little time. He didn’t after a certain time. I had a really, really good manager. He was really super, and cared, seriously cared, about everything I did. There were two of them, because they were partners. So that was the start of it. Then I got into a stage where it all went well. You’ve got to get into the finance, people who look after your finances. You’ve got to be careful about that, because they can be skimming off the top as well. I got another manager and it didn’t work with him. It just sort of started to go downhill. It’s the longevity of being in a long-term relationship with a lot of these people that will give you your stability. I think what you really should do is have some sort of — not a degree — but certainly a deep knowledge of law and accountancy. I think those would be the two things. I suppose the worst thing you can ever do is a quickie degree and those sort of things, but just some good knowledge of accountancy and law.
Fascinating. And a good singing teacher you can trust.
Kiri Te Kanawa: First of all, you’ve got to find that singing teacher. And that’s difficult. I learned from a wonderful singing teacher. While I’m working with these young people, I’m telling them what I’ve learned and what I know. What I say to them is only what I’ve learned. It’s nothing new. So I say to them, “I’ve had a career for 40 years. If I say this is the way I do it, and I show you how I do it, then I can’t do anything other than prove to you that it’s worked for 40 years.”
How do you know when you have the right teacher?
Kiri Te Kanawa: Well, I’ve learned through other singers that within a year, you can sing quite well. After a year with the same singing teacher, if things start going wrong, then you know you’ve got the wrong singing teacher. But you see, you’re using up time. As far as I can make out, if it seems difficult but simple, we can work that one out. If it’s natural and you’re not standing on your head trying to get a top note that you shouldn’t be getting in the first place.
I’ve said to so many people, all you do is you breathe and you sing. Now, it’s how you breathe and how you sing on top of that is what you have to learn to do. But it’s no more difficult than that. And that’s all I do is I breathe and I sing. But it’s how I do it, and where I put the breath and how high I use the breath, and how low I use the breath, and where I would quickly snatch a breath in order to have just enough to complete the phrase. How I would support when I’m running out of air and to support the next two notes that I’ll need at the end of the phrase to take the next breath. Now, how do I breathe out in order to breathe in? So it’s all those sorts of things that is “breathe and sing.” But it’s the complexities of how to breathe and sing. And as I say to them time and time again, to breathe out is as important as to breathe in, because you take away the tension to breathe out. To breathe in, you build up the breath to put the notes on top of the air. Then I say it’s a bit like a ping pong ball. But the water and the ping pong balls are sitting on the top. That’s where you should be singing.
You’ve talked about the rib cage being important.
Kiri Te Kanawa: It’s below the bust line, the so-called bra line. That’s where I make them breathe. It’s here, and it’s out the back. And I ask them to push the ribs out the back, so it’s like a ballast. And when they want to use the air, that’s all you’re doing is you’re just breathing. And then you expel the air by going inwards. It just a bellows, your lungs.
There are certain roles, such as Capriccio, where the longest thing you do happens at the very end. There’s this long, long beautiful aria, so you have to be so careful about conserving your voice for the whole evening.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes, a long monologue. But the rest of the opera doesn’t tire you. The rest of the opera, it’s just speaking. It’s got nothing to do with over-singing. You wouldn’t do that. And, of course, there’s this whole monologue at the end of it comes out of what you’ve been doing. So there’s no fear of you having sung a huge opera. And then you’ve got the only decent piece in it is at the end. I never felt that that was ever in jeopardy.
But in other operas, you must have to conserve. When you sing one aria, you know what’s coming in the next act.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. Well, that’s what I’m hopefully teaching these young people. If you’re going to sing like that at the beginning of the opera, in three hours time, can you do the same amount of volume at the end? Just think about it. There’s an aria coming at the end and you’ve just done three hours. How are you going to get through that?
You’re sharing a lifetime of knowledge.
Kiri Te Kanawa: Yes. And good counseling.
As you see it, what are the rewards of a career in music?
Kiri Te Kanawa: The rewards? I suppose really having completed this career, with never having been canceled very much — I have canceled occasionally — and having come out of it with a voice. I haven’t had to leave the career because of my voice. I think that’s the important thing. I think that’s what I’ve looked at most of all. Then, of course, now having my own foundation and passing on the knowledge that I’ve learned through these years of experience. I think the most important thing that I would say is it’s voice maintenance and voice longevity. That’s what I would like to instill in everybody, with young students, longevity and maintenance.
Save that voice.
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Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Janette Te Kanawa ONZ DBE AC (pronounced /ˌkɪri tɨ ˈkɑːnəwə/; née Rawstron, born 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand soprano who has had a successful international opera career since 1968. She possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Te Kanawa has received accolades in many countries abroad, singing a wide array of works in multiple languages from the 17th to the 20th centuries. She is particularly associated with the works of Mozart, Stra ... (展开) uss, Verdi, Handel and Puccini, and has found particular success in portraying princesses, noble countesses and other similar characters on stage. Although she now only rarely sings in operas,[citation needed] Te Kanawa still frequently performs in concert and recital, while giving masterclasses and supporting young opera singers in launching their careers.
English Chamber Orchestra&Jeffrey Tate&Kiri Te Kanawa的《Bailero》 歌词
答
歌曲名:Bailero歌手:English Chamber Orchestra&Jeffrey Tate&Kiri Te Kanawa专辑:Ultimate VoicesSarah Brightman - BailèroPastrè dè délai l'aio,As gairé dè buon tèms?...
English Chamber Orchestra&Jeffrey Tate&Kiri Te Kanawa的《2. Bailero》 歌词
答
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Kiri Te Kanawa Personal life
Te Kanawa was born as Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron in Gisborne on New Zealand's North Island. She has Māori and European ancestry, but little is known about her birth parents, as she was adopted as an infant by Thomas Te Kanawa, a Māori, and his wife, Nell. She was educated at Saint Mary's College Auckland and formally trained in operatic singing by Dame Sister Mary Leo, DBE, RSM. Te Kanawa began her singing career as a mezzo-soprano, but later developed into a soprano. Her recording of the "Nuns' Chorus" from the Strauss operetta Casanova was New Zealand's first gold record.
Te Kanawa met Desmond Park on a blind date in London in August 1967, and they married six weeks later at St Patrick's Cathedral, Auckland. They adopted two children, Antonia (born 1976) and Thomas (born 1979). They divorced in 1997. She had never made any attempt to contact her natural parents, but around this time, her half-brother Jim Rawstron contacted her. Initially, she was not willing to meet him, but later agreed to. This episode ended in bitterness, and she has since reaffirmed her decision to have nothing to do with her birth family.
Early years in London
In 1966, without an audition, she enrolled at the London Opera Centre to study under Vera Rózsa and James Robertson, who reputedly said Te Kanawa lacked a singing technique when she arrived at the school but did have a gift for captivating audiences. She first appeared on stage as the Second Lady in Mozart's The Magic Flute, as well as in performances of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas in December 1968 at the Sadler's Wells Theatre. She also sang the title role in Donizetti's Anna Bolena. In 1969, she sang Elena in Rossini's La donna del lago at the Camden Festival; and also was offered the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro after an audition of which the conductor, Colin Davis, said, "I couldn't believe my ears. I've taken thousands of auditions, but it was such a fantastically beautiful voice." Praise for her Idamante in Mozart's Idomeneo led to an offer of a three-year contract as junior principal at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden where she made her debut as Xenia in Boris Godunov and a Flower Maiden in Parsifal in 1970. Under director John Copley, Te Kanawa was carefully groomed for the role of the Countess for a December 1971 opening.
International career
Meanwhile, word of her success had reached John Crosby at the Santa Fe Opera, a summer opera festival in New Mexico, then about to begin its fifteenth season. He cast her/kiri in the role of the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, which opened on 30 July 1971. The performance also featured Frederica von Stade in her debut as Cherubino. "It was two of the newcomers who left the audience dazzled: Frederica von Stade as Cherubino and Te Kanawa as the Countess. Everyone knew at once that these were brilliant finds. History has confirmed that first impression."
On 1 December 1971 at Covent Garden, Te Kanawa repeated her Santa Fe performance and created an international sensation as the Countess: "with "Porgi amor" Kiri knocked the place flat." It was followed by performances as the Countess at the Opéra National de Lyon and San Francisco Opera in autumn 1972. She sang her first Desdemona in Glasgow in 1972 while her Metropolitan Opera debut in 1974 as Desdemona in Otello took place at short notice, replacing an ill Teresa Stratas at the last minute. She sang at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1973, with further débuts in Paris and (1975), Sydney (1976), Milan (1978), Salzburg (1979) and Vienna (1980). In 1982 she gave her only stage performances as Tosca in Paris. In 1989 she added Elisabeth de Valois in Don Carlos to her repertory at Chicago, and in 1990 the Countess in Capriccio, sung first at San Francisco and with equal success at Covent Garden, Glyndebourne and the Metropolitan in 1998.
In subsequent years, she performed at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Sydney Opera House, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, San Francisco Opera, Munich and Cologne, adding the Mozart roles of Donna Elvira, Pamina, and Fiordiligi, in addition to Italian roles such as Mimi in Puccini's La bohème. She played Donna Elvira in Joseph Losey's 1979 film adaptation of Don Giovanni. She was seen and heard around the world in 1981 by an estimated 600 million people when she sang Handel's "Let the bright Seraphim" at the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer.
In 1984, Leonard Bernstein decided to re-record the musical West Side Story, conducting his own music for the first time. Generally known as the "operatic version", it starred Te Kanawa as Maria, José Carreras as Tony, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, Kurt Ollman as Riff, and Marilyn Horne as the offstage voice who sings "Somewhere". It won a Grammy Award for Best Cast Show Album in 1985 and the recording process was filmed as a documentary.[citation needed]
Te Kanawa has a particular affinity for the heroines of Richard Strauss. Her first appearance in the title role in Arabella was at the Houston Grand Opera in 1977, followed by the roles of the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and the Countess in Capriccio. Many performances were given under the baton of Georg Solti and it was with him that in 1981 she made a recording (her third; she made videos in 1973 and 1975 under Pritchard and Böhm) of The Marriage of Figaro.
In recent years her appearances onstage have become infrequent, although she remains busy as a concert singer. She appeared in performances in Samuel Barber's Vanessa in Monte Carlo (televised in 2001), with the Washington National Opera (2002), and the Los Angeles Opera in November/December 2004.
In April 2010 she sang the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in two performances at the Cologne Opera in Germany. Te Kanawa has appeared as a Pennington Great Performers series artist with the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra in 2004.[citation needed]
Also in 2010 Te Kanawa played the spoken part of The Duchess of Krakenthorp in Donizetti's La fille du régiment at the Metropolitan Opera, and sang a tango. She repeated this role at the Met in a revival during the 2011–12 season, and is repeating it again in Vienna in 2013 and at Covent Garden in March 2014 (a run that comprises her 70th birthday).
In the meantime, she performed at Tokyo Global Concert at Nakano-Zero Hall in Nakano Area, Tokyo, Japan, on September 10, 2013.
Kiri Te Kanawa Awards
Te Kanawa received honorary degrees from the UK universities of Bath, Cambridge, Dundee, Durham, Nottingham, Oxford, Sunderland, Warwick as well as the Universities of Chicago, Auckland (NZ) and Waikato (NZ) and is an honorary fellow of Somerville College, Oxford and Wolfson College, Cambridge. She is also patron of Ringmer Community College, a school in the South-East of England situated not far from Glyndebourne.
On 12 June 2008 she received the Edison Classical Music Award during the Edison Classical Music Gala (formerly: 'Grand Gala du Disque') in the Ridderzaal in The Hague.
In 2012, Te Kanawa was awarded a World Class New Zealand award in the Iconic New Zealander category.
Kiri Te Kanawa The Kiri Prize
In January 2010, Te Kanawa and BBC Radio 2 launched an initiative to find a gifted opera singer of the future. The initiative was the BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize competition.
Following regional auditions of over 600 aspiring opera singers, 40 were invited to attend masterclasses in London with Te Kanawa, mezzo-soprano Anne Howells and conductor Robin Stapleton. From these masterclasses fifteen singers were selected for the semi-finals which were broadcast on 5 consecutive weeks on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is Music Night. The semi-finalists were accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra, conducted by Martin Yates, Richard Balcombe and Roderick Dunk and their performances were judged by Te Kanawa, Anne Howells, Robin Stapleton and director John Cox.
Five singers went through to the final which was broadcast on Radio 2 on Friday 3 September 2010. The winner – soprano Shuna Scott Sendall – performed with Te Kanawa and José Carreras at BBC Proms in the Park in Hyde Park, London on Saturday 11 September 2010 and was given the opportunity to attend a three-week residential course at the Solti Te Kanawa Accademia in Italy.
Kiri Te Kanawa Controversies
In a 2003 interview with the Melbourne-based Herald Sun she criticised the high rate of welfare dependence among the Māori people, angering some of her compatriots.
In 2007, Te Kanawa was sued for breach of contract by event management company Leading Edge, after cancelling a concert with Australian singer John Farnham. She cancelled after learning that his fans sometimes threw their underwear on stage, which he would then proudly display. The court found that no contract had been made by the two parties so she was not liable for damages, but Mittane, the company which employs and manages her, was ordered to reimburse Leading Edge A$130,000 for expenditures already incurred.
Moved to Auckland and studied under Sister Mary Leo 1959–1965 at St Mary's College.
Had New Zealand's first gold disc, with a popular operatic aria.
Was 2nd to Dame Malvina Major in the Mobil Song Quest in 1963, and won it in 1965.
Won the Melbourne Sun-Aria in 1965, and was awarded an Arts Council of Great Britain bursary to study at the London Opera Centre.
Made her US debut at Santa Fe Opera with her performance as the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro in summer 1971, and became internationally famous at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London after singing the role on 1 December 1971.
In 1977 she appeared at the Royal Opera House in a German/English production of Die Fledermaus. The New Year's Eve performance, conducted by Zubin Mehta, was recorded for television with the cast was virtually duplicated on the later DVD release. The performance was broadcast on TV in the US on New Year's Eve 1979.
Sang at the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan, Italy.
In 1981 sang at the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer in St Paul's Cathedral, London.
She won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 1983, for Mozart's "Le nozze di Figaro". It was produced by Christopher Raeburn and the London Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Georg Solti. Also featuring were Thomas Allen, Kurt Moll, Lucia Popp, Samuel Ramey and Frederica von Stade.
Created Dame Kiri Te Kanawa in 1982, and returned to New Zealand to sing several times, including the New Year millennium concert at Gisborne in January 2000.
In 1984, made a special recording of West Side Story in the leading role of Maria with José Carreras as Tony, and conducted by Leonard Bernstein.
In 1986, again partnered José Carreras in the recording of the musical South Pacific.
In 1994 celebrated her 50th birthday, culminating in a spectacular Birthday Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Long awaited return to the Metropolitan Opera as Arabella.
November 1999, released a new album, Maori Songs.
Sang in her last opera, Vanessa, in 2004, but continues with recitals and concerts and organising the Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation, to help young music students.
On 15 March 2006, Te Kanawa played a role in the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She sang a medley of "Happy Birthday" to Queen Elizabeth II, in recognition of her upcoming birthday, and "God Save the Queen".
2 December 2007, sang to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Royal Variety Performance. Her performance included leading the National Anthem, God Save the Queen
28 June 2008, she sang Summertime in duet with Portuguese fado singer star Mariza, at Casino Estoril.
19 July 2008, sang her last American concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at Ravinia Park.
19 June 2009, inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, performing solo works, and duets with Frederica von Stade and Josh Groban to a crowd of 18,000
6 February 2010, returned to the Metropolitan Opera as the Duchess of Krakenthorp in La Fille du Régiment – typically a non-singing character part, but an art song by Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera was interpolated into the production for her to sing.
April 2010, returned to the Cologne Opera House in Germany for two final performances of the Marschallin in Rosenkavalier.
2013, she appeared in Downton Abbey playing Dame Nellie Melba, an Australian operatic soprano.
Kiri Te Kanawa Discography
1972 – Mozart – Exsultate Jubilate – (Exsultate Jubilate, Vesperae Solennes De Confessore, Kyrie in D Minor, Ave Verum Corpus ), Te Kanawa, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Sir Colin Davis [Philips] (also re-issued 1986)
1972 – Mozart – Don Giovanni – as Donna Elvira in a studio recording with Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, Colin Davis
1973 – My Favourite Things [Hallmark, SHM 3218]
1974 – Herrmann – Salammbo's Aria from Citizen Kane – The Classic Film Scores of Bernard Herrmann – Kiri Te Kanawa, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Charles Gerhardt [RCA Victor, BMG Classics]
1975 – Bizet – Carmen – as Micaëla in a studio recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti
1976 – Mozart – Le nozze di Figaro – Te Kanawa (Contessa Almaviva), Freni (Susanna), Prey (Figaro), Fischer-Dieskau (Conte Almaviva), Ewing (Cherubino), Begg (Marcellina), Montarsolo (Don Bartolo), Wiener Philharmoniker, conductor Karl Böhm [DVD]
1977 – Duruflé – Requiem/Danse Lente – Te Kanawa, Nimsgern, Ambrosian Singers, Desborough School Choir, Andrew Davis, New Philharmonia Orchestra [CBS Schallplatten GmbH]
1977 – Mozart – Così fan tutte – as Fiordiligi in a studio recording under Alain Lombard
1978 – Mozart – Die Zauberflöte – as Pamina in a studio recording under Alain Lombard
1979 – Strauss – Four Last Songs – London Symphony Orchestra, Andrew Davis [CBS Masterworks]
1979 – Brahms – A German Requiem – Variations on a Theme By Haydn – Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Kiri Te Kanawa, Sir Georg Solti, Bernd Weikl, Margaret Hillis [London Records]
1981 – Gay – The Beggar's Opera – as Polly Peachum in a studio recording with National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge
1981 – Mozart – Le nozze di Figaro – as Contessa Almaviva in a studio recording with London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti
1981 – Puccini – La rondine – as Magda de Civry in a studio recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Lorin Maazel
1981 – Mozart Concert Arias – Kiri Te Kanawa, Wiener Kammerorchester, Gyorgy Fischer [London/Decca Jubilee 417756]
1983 – Canteloube – Chants D'Auvergne (Songs of The Auvergne) / Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras [Polygram SXDL 7604]
1983 – Mozart Opera Arias – London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Colin Davis [Philips], [Polygram 5414319]
1983 – Verdi & Puccini – London Philharmonic Orchestra, John Pritchard [CBS 37298]
1984 – Come to the Fair – Folk Songs & Ballads – with the Medici String Quartet and members of the National Philharmonic Orchestra, Douglas Gamley [EMI EMC 222]
1984 – Puccini – Tosca – as Floria Tosca in a studio recording under Georg Solti
1984 – Ave Maria – a collection of religious favorites with the English Chamber Orchestra and the Choir of St. Paul's Cathedral, London [Philips 412629]
1984 – A Portrait of Kiri Te Kanawa [CBS SBR 236068]
1985 – Handel – Messiah – with Anne Gjevang, Keith Lewis, Gwynne Howell, Chicago Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, Sir Georg Solti [3xLP, Album + Box, London Records]
1985 – Leonard Bernstein West Side Story – a recording of Bernstein's music for the Broadway production West Side Story, with José Carreras singing the part of Tony and Leonard Bernstein himself conducting the orchestra and chorus [Polygram 415253]
1985 – A Room with a View (OST) – the Verdi and Puccini arias "O mio babbino caro" (Gianni Schicchi) and "Chi bel sogno di Doretta" (La Rondine) in the Merchant Ivory film A Room with a View [DRG CDSBL 12588]
1986 – Richard Strauss -Arabella – as Arabella in a studio recording with Covent Garden Royal Opera House Chorus and Orchestra, Jeffrey Tate
1986 – Gounod -Faust – sang the role of Marguerite in a studio recording with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Colin Davis
1986 – South Pacific – London Studio Cast, Kiri Te Kanawa, Mandy Patinkin, José Carreras and Sarah Vaughan
1986 – Kiri – Blue Skies – with Nelson Riddle And His Orchestra [Polygram/Decca 414 666–1 ]
1986 – Christmas with Kiri (with Philharmonia Orchestra of London and Chorus, Carl Davis) London Classic / Polygram
1987 – Puccini Manon Lescaut – sang the title role in a studio recording with Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Riccardo Chailly
1987 – Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick 'Fritz' Loewe – My Fair Lady – a studio cast recording with Te Kanawa singing the role of Eliza Doolittle and Jeremy Irons singing the role of Henry Higgins [Polygram 421200]
1987 – Kiri Sings Gershwin – a collection of George Gershwin songs with the New Princess Theater Orchestra, John McGlinn [EMI]
1987 – Portrait [Polygram 417645]
1987 – Beethoven – Symphonie No.9 – Te Kanawa, Hamari, Burrows, Holl, London Symphony Chorus, London Symphony Orchestra, Eugen Jochum [EMI]
1988 – Mozart – Così fan tutte – recorded the role of Fiordiligi again this time with Vienna State Opera, James Levine
1988 – Bach – Matthäus-Passion – Te Kanawa, von Otter, Rolfe Johnson, Krause, Blochwitz, Bär, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti [Box, Album + 3xCD, Decca]
1988 – Gabriel Fauré – Requiem · Pelléas Et Mélisande · Pavane – Te Kanawa, Milnes, Choeur De L'Orchestre Symphonique De Montreal, Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal, Charles Dutoit [Decca]
1989 – Verdi – Simon Boccanegra – recorded the role of Amelia Grimaldi in a studio recording with La Scala, Milan, Georg Solti
1989 – Songs of Inspiration – Kiri Te Kanawa, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Utah Symphony Orchestra, Julius Rudel [London/Decca/Polygram 425431]
1989 – Mozart – Die Zauberflöte – recorded the role of Pamina again this time with Neville Marriner and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
1990 – Johann Strauss II – Die Fledermaus – sang the part of Rosalinde with Vienna State Opera, André Previn
1990 – Mozart – Le nozze di Figaro – re-recorded the role of Contessa Almaviva in a studio recording with the Metropolitan Opera, James Levine
1990 – Richard Strauss – Der Rosenkavalier – sang the role of the Marschallin with the Semperoper Dresden under Bernard Haitink
1990 – Mozart – Der Schauspieldirector – sang the role of Mademoiselle Silberklang with the Vienna Philharmonic under John Pritchard
1990 – Kiri in Recital – Liszt, Obradors, Ravel – Kiri Te Kanawa, with Roger Vignoles (Piano) [London/Decca 425820 ]
1990 - Italian Opera Arias - with London Symphony Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung
1991 – Richard Strauss – 4 Letzte Lieder and other songs – with Georg Solti and the Vienna Philharmonic
1991 – The Kiri Selection
1991 – World in Union (Single, 7") – (Rugby Union World Cup Theme Song) [Columbia]
1992 – Paul McCartney and Carl Davis – Paul McCartney's Liverpool Oratorio (Movement VII: Crises)
1992 – Tchaikovsky – Eugene Onegin – sang the role of Tatyana in a studio recording with Welsh National Opera under Charles Mackerras
1992 – Verdi La traviata – sang the role of Violetta in a studio recording with the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Zubin Mehta
1992 – Kiri Sidetracks: The Jazz Album
1992 – Mahler – Symphony No. 4, Kiri Te Kanawa, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Georg Solti [Decca]
1993 – Wagner -Tannhäuser – sang the role of Elisabeth in a studio recording with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and the Ambrosian Singers, Marek Janowski
1993 – Mozart Arias (Grand Voci) [Decca]
1993 – Classics – Mozart, Handel, Gounod, Schubet, Strauss [Philips 434725]
1994 – Mozart – Great Mass in C minor – (chorus master: Laszlo Heltay) [Philips]
1994 – Heart to Heart – with Malcolm McNeill
1994 – Puccini – La bohème – recorded the title role in a studio recording with the London Symphony Orchestra, Kent Nagano
1994 – The Sorceress – arias from Handel operas with Hogwood and The Academy of Ancient Music
1994 – Kiri! Her Greatest Hits Live [Decca 443600]
1995 – Christmas with Kiri Te Kanawa: Carols from Coventry Cathedral – Kiri Te Kanawa, Michael George, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Robin Stapleton [Teldec]
1996 – Richard Strauss Capriccio – recorded the role of the Countess in a studio recording with Wiener Philharmoniker, Ulf Schirmer, Decca/London
1996 – Franz Schubert – Lieder – Judith Raskin, Kiri Te Kanawa, Elly Ameling, Peter Pears, Judith Blegen [Sony Classical]
1997 – French Songs and Arias
1997 – Sole et amore – Puccini Arias – Te Kanawa, Vignoles, Orchestre de L'Opera National de Lyon, Kent Nagano [Erato]
1998 – Bizet – Carmen – Highlights – Troyanos, Domingo, Te Kanawa, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Georg Solti [Decca]
1998 – The Greatest Classical Stars on Earth – Plácido Domingo, Kiri Te Kanawa, Luciano Pavarotti, Lesley Garrett, Nigel Kennedy (2CD, Compilation) [Decca]
1999 – Maori Songs – Kiri Te Kanawa, (Air New Zealand) [EMI Classics 5 56828-2]
1999 – Greatest Hits [EMI Classics]
2001 – Kiri (also known as Kiri – The Best Of)
2003 – The Very Best Of
2004 – Kiri – A Portrait
2004 – Dame Kiri Te Kanawa & Friends: The Gala Concert - Gold
2005 – The Best of Kiri Te Kanawa (20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection)
2006 – Kiri Sings Karl – Songs of Mystery & Enchantment (with Karl Jenkins) – arranged and conducted by Karl Jenkins
2013 – Waiata – Sony Music Entertainment
^ "Kiri Te Kanawa sails at Ravinia". Chicago Tribune 2001-07-30. Retrieved 2012-07-03
^ Kiri, the most beloved soprano in Britain
^ Kiri Te Kanawa – beloved diva
^ J.B. Steane. "Kiri Te Kanawa". In Macy, Laura. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Oxford University Press. (subscription required)
^ Matt Thomas, "Dame Kiri Te Kanawa on coaching young singers" on Walesonline.co.uk,8 Dec 2008 Retrieved 7 December 2009
^ Fingleton (1982), p. 21
^ Rubin, Stephen E. (3 March 1974). "Kiri Did It All with a Bit of Maori Pride; About Kiri Te Kanawa". New York Times. p.AL 15. We met on a blind date in London and wed about six weeks later.
^ Billen, Andrew (16 May 2006). "A most undramatic exit for a prima donna". The Times. Retrieved 5 January 2009.
^ Elizabeth Grice, "The dame doesn't give a damn", The Sydney Morning Herald, Spectrum Arts, 18 July 1998, p. 15s
^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online, "Te Kanawa, Dame Kiri"
^ Jenkins and d'Antal (1998)
^ Scott, Eleanor (1976)
^ Lebrech (2000)
^ "Famed soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa is coming to Manila". BusinessWorld. 27 September 2000. p.1. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
^ "10日は中野で国際交流オペラ" [International Exchange Opera on the 10th in Nakano]. Sports Nippon (in Japanese) (Tokyo, Japan). September 7, 2013.
^ "東京国際コンサート 歌姫ルネ・フレミングをゲストに開催" [Tokyo Global Concert Held – with Renee Fleming as the special guest]. MOSTLY CLASSIC (in Japanese) (Tokyo, Japan: Sankei Shimbun Co., Ltd.) 206 (7): 96–97. 2014.
^ "New Year Honours 1982" (24 June 1982) 62 New Zealand Gazette 1995.
^ Staff (26 January 1990). "Citation of Dame Kiri Te Kanawa". It's an Honour. The Commonwealth Government of Australia. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
^ "The Queen's Birthday Honours 1995" (23 June 1996) 62 New Zealand Gazette 1759.
^ World Class New Zealand 2012 Winners
^ "Statement of Mission and Vision". Kiri Te Kanawa Foundation. 13 March 2007.
^ "The BBC Radio 2 Kiri Prize". BBC Radio 2. 3 September 2010.
^ "Dame Kiri remarks strike sour note". BBC News. 1 March 2003.
^ "Singer in court for refusing to perform". Yahoo! News. 28 January 2007.
^ "Kiri Te Kanawa Wins Lawsuit Filed Following Withdrawal from Concerts with Pop Star". Opera News Online. 21 March 2007.
^ "Kiri Te Kanawa Wins 'Panty-Throwing' Lawsuit". Playbill Arts News: Opera. 21 March 2007.
^ Official Grammy Awards Database.
^ "Gold and platinum New Zealand albums to 2013". Te Ara. Encyclopedia of NZ. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
Sources
"Dame Kiri Te Kanawa" in Encyclopædia Britannica Online Accessed 7 July 2008
Fingleton, David (1982). Kiri Te Kanawa: A Biography. Collins. ISBN0-00-216365-9.
Gilbert, Susie; Jay Shir (2003). A Tale of Four Houses: Opera at Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna and the Met since 1945. London: HarperCollins. ISBN0-00-255820-3.
Jenkins, Garry; Stephen d'Antal (1998). Kiri: Her Unsung Story. London: HarperCollins. ISBN0-00-255942-0.
Lebrecht, Norman (2000). Covent Garden: The Untold Story: Dispatches from the English Culture War, 1945–2000. London: Simon & Schuster. ISBN0-684-85143-1.
Scott, Eleanor (1976). The First Twenty Years of the Santa Fe Opera. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Sunstone Press.
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Which famous doctor was found in Africa by a reporter called Henry Stanley | Henry Morton Stanley - Explorer Said Dr. Livingstone I Presume
Henry Morton Stanley
Explorer Who Found Livingstone in Africa
Henry Morton Stanley. London Stereoscopic Company/Getty Images
By Robert McNamara
Updated September 28, 2015.
Henry Morton Stanley was a classic example of a 19th century explorer, and he is best remembered today for his brilliantly casual greeting to a man he had spent months searching for in the wilds of Africa: “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
The reality of Stanley’s unusual life is at times startling. He was born to a very poor family in Wales, made his way to America, changed his name, and somehow managed to fight on both sides of the Civil War . He found his first calling as a newspaper reporter before becoming known for his African expeditions.
Early Life
Stanley was born in 1841 as John Rowlands, to an impoverished family in Wales. At the age of five he was sent to a workhouse, a notorious orphanage of the Victorian era .
In his teens, Stanley emerged from his difficult childhood with a reasonably good practical education, strong religious feelings, and a fanatical desire to prove himself. To get to America, he took a job as a cabin boy on a ship bound for New Orleans.
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After landing in the city at the mouth of the Mississippi River, he found a job working for a cotton trader, and took the man’s last name, Stanley.
Early Journalism Career
When the American Civil War broke out, Stanley fought on the Confederate side before being captured and eventually joining the Union cause. He wound up serving aboard a U.S. Navy ship and wrote accounts of battles that were published, thus beginning his journalism career.
After the war, Stanley got a position writing for the New York Herald, a newspaper founded by James Gordon Bennett. He was dispatched to cover a British military expedition to Abyssinia (present day Ethiopia), and successfully sent back dispatches detailing the conflict.
Questions About David Livingstone Fascinated the Public
The public held a fascination for a Scottish missionary and explorer named David Livingstone. For many years Livingstone had been leading expeditions into Africa, bringing back information to Britain. In 1866 Livingstone had returned to Africa, intent on finding the source of the Nile, Africa’s longest river. After several years passed with no word from Livingstone, the public began to fear that he had perished.
The New York Herald's editor and publisher James Gordon Bennett realized it would be a publishing coup to find Livingstone, and gave the assignment to the intrepid Stanley.
Stanley Searched for Livingstone
In 1869 Henry Morton Stanley was given the assignment to find Livingstone. He eventually arrived on the east coast of Africa in early 1871, and organized an expedition to head inland. Having no practical experience, he had to rely on the advice and apparent assistance of Arab slave traders.
Stanley pushed the men with him brutally, at times whipping the black porters. After enduring illnesses and harrowing conditions, Stanley finally encountered Livingstone at Ujiji, in present day Tanzania, on November 10, 1871.
Dr. Livingstone, I Presume?
The famous greeting Stanley gave Livingstone, “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?” may have been fabricated after the famous meeting. But it was published in New York City newspapers within a year of the event, and it has gone down in history as a famous quotation.
Stanley and Livingstone remained together for a few months in Africa, exploring around the northern banks of Lake Tanganyika.
Stanley's Controversial Reputation
Stanley succeeded in his assignment of finding Livingstone, yet newspapers in London roundly mocked him when he arrived in England. Some observers ridiculed the idea that Livingstone had been lost and had to be found by a newspaper reporter.
Livingstone, despite the criticism, was invited to have lunch with Queen Victoria . And whether or not Livingstone had been lost, Stanley became famous, and remains so to this day, as the man who "found Livingstone."
Stanley's reputation was tarnished by accounts of punishment and brutal treatment meted out to men on his later expeditions.
Stanley's Later Explorations
After Livingstone's death in 1873, Stanley vowed to continue explorations of Africa. He mounted an expedition in 1874 that charted Lake Victoria, and from 1874 to 1877 he traced the course of the Congo River.
In the late 1880s he returned to Africa, embarking on a very controversial expedition to rescue the Emin Pasha, a European who had become a ruler of part of Africa.
Suffering from recurring illnesses picked up in Africa, Stanley died at the age of 63 in 1904.
Legacy of Henry Morton Stanley
There is no doubt that Henry Morton Stanley contributed greatly to the western world's knowledge of African geography and culture. And while he was controversial in his own time, his fame, and the books he published, brought attention to Africa and made the exploration of the continent a fascinating subject to the 19th century public.
| David Livingstone |
What is the capital of Thailand | Stanley and Livingstone (1939 b 100')
Stanley and Livingstone
This drama tells how a reporter found a famous missionary in the heart of Africa.
In 1870 reporter Henry Stanley (Spencer Tracy) and Jeff Slocum (Walter Brennan) return from Indians in Wyoming the government could not contact. New York Herald publisher James Gordon Bennett (Henry Hull) refuses to sell and sends Stanley to find missionary Dr. Livingstone in Africa to prove he is alive. On a boat in the Red Sea Jeff and Stanley meet London Globe publisher Lord Tyce (Charles Coburn), who printed that Livingstone is dead after his son's expedition. On Zanzibar Stanley calls on John Kingsley (Henry Travers) and meets his daughter Eve Kingsley (Nancy Kelly) and recovering Gareth Tyce (Richard Greene). Kingsley says that Livingstone was a great man and offers Stanley a pass; but Eve changes his mind. Eve blames Livingstone for aging her father. Eve warns determined Stanley and hands him a pass. Kingsley gives Stanley advice and a letter for Livingstone, and Eve wishes Stanley well.
Stanley's expedition begins March 21, 1871, and they see animals. In July bearers start dying and deserting. Stanley asks a slave-trader the way to Tanganyika. Natives ambush them with arrows, and Stanley shoots an archer. Hundreds of natives attack, but Stanley starts a fire wall. In October it rains, and Stanley becomes delirious with fever. He learns of a white doctor and pushes on for fifteen days. Dr. David Livingstone (Cedric Hardwicke) welcomes Stanley and says he won't go back but was hoping for help. Stanley hits Bongo for stealing, but Livingstone asks him not to strike Africans. Livingstone leads Africans in singing "Onward Christian Soldiers." Livingstone treats a boy's foot with Stanley's help. Livingstone shows Stanley a map of rivers, and they tour villages; but Livingstone becomes ill. Stanley says he has quinine. Stanley proposes going to the source of the Nile with Livingstone, who says they cannot go for six months. Livingstone sends guides to help Stanley return.
In London Stanley is greeted by Eve and her husband Gareth. Eve says that Stanley has changed and is like Livingstone. Gareth takes Stanley to the Royal Geographical Society with his proof from Livingstone. Scientists challenge his letters and maps, and Lord Tyce accuses Stanley of fraud. Stanley calls Livingstone great and says he grew up in poverty in England, asking them to help Livingstone. A majority votes against Stanley; but John Gresham reports that Livingstone's body was sent to Zanzibar, and Livingstone's letter asked Stanley to carry on for him. Lord Tyce admits his error. Stanley says good-bye to Eve, and Stanley goes to continue Livingstone's work in Africa.
The Wyoming incident is fictitious; Bennett was in Paris when he sent Stanley to Africa. Although Stanley did not become a missionary, he made great contributions to the exploration of Africa. This drama well portrays his determination and the humanitarian Dr. Livingstone.
Copyright © 2001 by Sanderson Beck
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In which cartoon would you find Officer Dibble | Officer Dibble (Character)
Officer Dibble (Character)
from "Top Cat" (1961)
The content of this page was created by users. It has not been screened or verified by IMDb staff.
Overview
Officer Charlie Dibble / Official Matute
Filmography
[Dibble wakes up in a janitor's closet and in his underwear]
Officer Dibble : Oh, my head... Hey, what's coming off? My uniform!
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What is the common name for a turf accountant | Top 50 Cartoon Characters of All Time - Page 3
Top 50 Cartoon Characters of All Time
Modern and Classic Cartoon Characters
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Pink Panther Balloon in Macy's Parade. Gail Mooney/Corbis/VCG / Getty Images
21. Pink Panther
Like Fat Albert, Pink Panther is a character who inspires a tune in your head as soon as you see him, this one in a jazzy saxophone. The Pink Panther was a series of animated shorts, designed to appear at the opening and closing credits of live-action films starring Inspector Clouseau. His popularity allowed him to become his own cartoon, still airing on Boomerang.
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Gumby and Pokey. Classic Media
22. Gumby
Gumby was a pioneer in stop-motion animation for TV. He and his horse Pokey were heroes in their own fictional world, but for television, they ushered in a new era of animation
Underdog. Classic Media
23. Underdog
We can all relate to Underdog, the guy who is underestimated by his enemies, only to prove them all wrong. He's sweet when he's wooing Polly Purebread. He's cunning and brave when he's defeating Simon Barsinister.
Sylvester and Tweety. Pricegrabber.com
24. Tweety Bird and Sylvester
Another duo Chuck Jones created, Tweety Bird and Sylvester, keep each other on their toes, with Sylvester losing out on a yummy bird meal every time. Tweety's baby voice and Sylvester's slobber talk keep us laughing.
Speed Racer. Lionsgate
25. Speed Racer
Most children of the '60s and '70s remember Speed Racer and his Mach 5. Plus, the cartoon introduced us to the world of anime . Thanks to a live-action movie in 2008 and a recent cartoon series, Speed Racer is still part of the zeitgeist today.
Josie and the Pussycats. Pricegrabber.com
26. Josie and the Pussycats
Josie was the Beyoncé of her times, leading a girl pop group and taking on the world. I loved that she wore that groovy cat costume. Josie and the Pussycats was part Scooby-Doo and part The Monkees . The characters still inspire TV today, for instance, in the form of Foxxy Love on Drawn Together.
Heckle and Jeckle. Pricegrabber
27. Heckle and Jeckle
In the tradition of Crosby and Hope or Martin and Lewis, Heckle and Jeckle defeat their opponents with wit and style. The big mystery of these magpies is how they became friends: one has a Brooklyn accent, the other a British accent. Perhaps an origin prequel would answer this question? Hello, Terrytoons?
Top Cat. Pricegrabber.com
28. Top Cat
Top Cat is another product of '60s Hanna-Barbera animation. He's the leader of an alley cat gang, who just wants to make a quick buck. But thanks to Officer Dibble, their plans never come to fruition. Top Cat is cool, but his morals are a tad looser than his gang's, leading to occasional mutiny. Nevertheless, T.C. retains his hold as captain.
L-R: Ren and Stimpy. Nickelodeon
29. Ren and Stimpy
Whenever I talk cartoons with other fans, Ren and Stimpy inevitably enter the conversation. Their outrageous antics, unbridled toilet humor and their "happy dance" make this cat and dog team a long-lasting favorite.
Winnie the Pooh. Michael Buckner / Getty Images
30. Winnie the Pooh
When you hear the name "Winnie the Pooh," you may think of the honey-colored bear who wears a red shirt. But more accurately, you should think "cha-ching!" This little bear who started as a doodle in a beloved children's book has been a thriving franchise for Disney since they bought rights to him and his woodland friends in the '60s. Winnie the Pooh has starred in many cartoons and specials, both on TV and in feature films. The most memorable TV cartoons were Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (1970), Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1970) and Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too 1975. In 2011, Disney released Winnie the Pooh, a very successful movie that returned to the roots of A. A. Milne's original stories.
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What is the national flower of Wales | National Symbols of Wales | Dragon, Choir, Feathers, Daffodil
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National symbols of Wales
National Symbols
National symbols of Wales
The story of Wales is long and, at times, confusing. That would go some of the way towards explaining why the emblems of Wales include a dragon, a vegetable, a spoon and a funny-shaped ball.
The Welsh national flag
Welsh Flag
It took until 1959 for the Welsh national flag to be officially unfurled for the first time. The significance of the dragon in Welsh culture is believed to date back to Arthurian legend when Merlin had a vision of a red dragon (representing native Britons) fighting a white dragon (the Saxon invaders). The use of green and white refer to the colours of the House of Tudor, the 15th century royal family of Welsh origin. The red dragon won the battle, just in case you were wondering…
Welsh male voice choirs
The 450-strong South Wales Choral Union of Aberdare is credited as popularising the Welsh male voice choir tradition after winning The National Music Union Brass And Choral Event in consecutive years during the 1870s. Welsh choral singing is instantly recognisable, with different pockets of the choir singing different parts. Traditional bedrocks of the movement include Treorchy and Morriston and the more recent success of Only Men Aloud has ensured that the male voice choir tradition is as popular with audiences as ever.
by Howie Mudge
In 2007 the distinctive bird of prey was voted the most popular bird among the people of Wales. Less than a century ago there were just two breeding pairs in the country, but the breed’s remarkable recovery means there are over a hundreds to be seen soaring over rural areas of Wales. Several red kite feeding stations also offer visitors the opportunity to get (relatively) up close and personal with these magnificent birds.
Prince of Wales’ Feathers
Three white feathers are encircled with a coronet, inscribed with the German words Ich Dien (‘I serve’). This is the emblem of the Prince of Wales, the Heir Apparent to the British and Commonwealth crown. Direct historic links with Wales are fairly sketchy. Nonetheless, the Three Feathers are proudly worn on Welsh rugby shirts.
The Welsh language
Bi-lingual road signs in Powys, Mid Wales
The native language of Wales is spoken by three-quarters of a million people – most in Wales, but also in England, the USA, Canada and Argentina. There are few Welsh-only speakers and traditionally, Welsh has been the language of rural Wales; but it is increasingly popular within urban populations. Bilingual road signs and the Welsh language television channel, S4C, are just a couple of examples of the language in common use you’re sure to see on your visit here.
The Welsh harp
We can make life a little complicated for ourselves from time to time. As if to illustrate this the triple harp has three rows of strings rather than one. The Italians invented this particular instrument of melody during the 17th century, but a 100 years later it was widely known as the Welsh harp. Other varieties of harps are believed to have been played in Wales since the 11th century and gifted exponents of the art, such as Elinor Bennett and Catrin Finch among others, continue to inspire audiences and aspiring musicians.
The leek
Leeks at Brecon Food Festival, Brecon Beacons
This humble root vegetable is cited as a symbol of Wales in William Shakespeare’s Henry V. Historical evidence also exists that the Tudor dynasty issued leeks to be worn by their guards on March 1, known as St David’s Day in honour of the patron saint of Wales. There is also plenty of entertaining folklore and guesswork why the Welsh are inextricably linked with the leek. The 7th century king of Gwynedd, Cadwaladr, is said to have ordered his men into battle wearing them for identification purposes, but whatever the origins, we grow plenty of them and they taste lovely.
The Welsh lovespoon
A handcrafted gift made of a solid block of wood, the tradition of a male admirer crafting a lovespoon for a young woman indicated to the woman’s family that he was skilled and capable with his hands. The oldest existing lovespoon in Wales dates back to 1667 and can be seen at the wonderful St Fagans: National History Museum . Each specific carving on the spoon is symbolic, from the eternal love of the Celtic knot, to the twisted stem indicating togetherness.
The daffodil
Daffodils
This is one for those who believe that contemporary culture is all style over substance. The origins of the national flower of Wales appears to be as an attractive interloper, introduced during the 19th century, as a replacement for the humble leek. David Lloyd George, the only Welshman to serve as Prime Minister, was a public advocate of the Narcissus (its Latin name) and its appearance in early spring as a symbol of nature’s optimism neatly coincides with St David’s Day on March 1. A more unusual link is that daffodils are grown commercially in Mid Wales to produce galantamine for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
Rugby Union
| Narcissus (plant) |
Which bird is the world wide symbol for peace | Wales | wales.com
The Daffodil
The Welsh for leek (the original national emblem) is Cenhinen, while the Welsh for daffodil is Cenhinen Pedr. Over the years they became confused until the daffodil was adopted as a second emblem of Wales.
The Welsh Flag
Our national flag - The Red Dragon (or in Welsh Y Ddraig Goch) - was granted official status in 1959, but the dragon itself has been associated with Wales for centuries. Some say it’s the oldest national flag still in use, and that it was used by King Arthur and other ancient Celtic leaders.
The Harp
The harp is regarded as the national instrument of Wales. By the end of the 18th century, the triple harp - so called because it had three rows of strings - was widely known as the Welsh harp on account of its popularity in Wales. The harp has been used through the ages as an accompaniment to folk-singing and dancing and as a solo instrument. HRH Prince Charles appoints a Welsh Royal Harpist on a scholarship programme annually. Past Royal harpists include Catrin Finch.
The Prince of Wales Feathers
The Crest of three ostrich plumes and the motto "Ich Dien" (I serve) were adopted by Edward the Black Prince at the Battle of Crecy. Edward became Prince of Wales in 1343, and was a popular leader - so much so that thousands of Welshmen joined him to fight in the French wars. In fact, a quarter of Edward's troops were composed of Welsh archers and spearmen. The crest is used today in royal heraldry and the feathers still adorn the badge of the National Rugby Union team of Wales.
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What do we call a place where leather is prepared | Leather Facts
Leather Facts
Leather Facts
Leather Facts
STOP... Before you make that leather furniture purchase, this is a must read "Buying Guide for Leather Furniture"
PURE ANILINE
Only the finest hides in the world fall in this category. Lovers of truly natural products are particular fond of these leathers. Through the years this type of leather develops a patina which adds to its value as a focal point in any room. Only 5% of the total » world hide supply fall in this category.-Only » A grade meet this criteria.
FULL ANILINE
Also, some of the finest hides in the world fall in this category. The only difference is a slightly lower selection of hides can be used here. A slight protective finish ( usually micropigments) is applied by roller or in the tannage to give the leather some » servicability
SEMI ANILINE / ANILINE PLUS
These leathers are processed a little more, first by aniline dying in large drums like the leathers above, but then also finished on top. Spray pigments of color are applied to the tops of the hides to even out the finish and camouflage natural occurring imperfections. These leathers are light resistant and scratch resistant and are easily cleaned. The next 10 - 15% of the world wide hide supply. » B grade hides meet this criteria.
CORRECTED GRAIN LEATHER
The next 18% of hides fall into this category of leather. These leathers have more processing done like sanding, buffing. embossing and heavily pigmenting, to cover natural imperfections. Insect bites, barbed wire scrapes, horn scratches, etc,are removed to a uniform thickness by sanding before finishing. Top grain leather is from the top 3/64 of an inch or .9 mm to 1.5 mm of the outer grain of the leather hide. See » properties of leather and is the minimum recommended for furniture, not splits as shown in the cuts below. » "C" grade hides meet this criteria. The last 65% of the world hide supply is not suitable for upholstery, instead it is used for clothing, shoes, belts,handbags, industrial, and the automotive industry.
TOP GRAIN LEATHER
The most confusing term used in the furniture industry is the term " top grain'. It can be a contradiction because it often implies what it is not. "Top grain", is the definition that is generally used when the grain is not genuine: when the real grain is sanded away and an imitation grain is stamped into the leather. When the genuine grain remains, the leather is called, "full grain," or " full top grain, " not simply" top grain."
Webster dictionary offers nearly a hundred definitions for the word "top". They include: the highest point,the summit, the best, the upper-surface, the lid, the supreme, the choicest part, the cream, the pick. It also means to excel, to surpass, to dominate or to be superior to the rest.
When one hears the term "top grain" it's reasonable to assume it's the best. But, if the real grain is gone, can that be true? If the real grain was removed and replaced by an imitation grain, the result is neither the best nor the uppermost.
If you want the best, insist upon leather which retains the entire original grain. Insist upon receiving the full grain.
Top grain is generally not the tops!
FULL GRAIN LEATHER
Just as the grain , texture and markings of wood should reveal the nature of the tree from which it came, leather should display the natural markings and grain characteristics of the animal from which it was taken. The best upholstery leathers are clear,clean, and supple. They are also dyed through with transparent aniline dyes. The full natural grain is retained and they are called "full grain leather."
Cheaper leather have the natural or genuine grain sanded away and an imitation grain pressed or embossed into the surface.They are stiff and "boardy" with a heavy coating of pigmentation to cover up imperfections and they look and feel much like plastic.
The better the quality of hide or skin, the less it has to be treated. The natural grain variations should be exposed. One should see the "fat wrinkles" and the feel, or hand, should be supple and natural to the touch. So when choosing your leather, make sure it looks natural, smells good, and has a soft hand. Inspect your leather carefully. Make certain that it retains the full natural grain.
Full grain leather - it is the tops!
Hides selected for furniture are sliced to a uniform thickness on precision machines. Only the surface (top grain) is used. The lower portions or splits are weaker, due to the elongated cell structure. Splits are subject to stretching and therefore provide an unstable base which results in cracking of topcoat finishes. The familiar "chamois" used in auto care is an example of split leather.
These terms below are classified at the tannery level and are not grades of leathers used by manufacturers. For furniture manufacture grades, see individual companies for their leather grading structure.
"This information listed here is a grading structure used at the tannery level and are not grades of leather used by manufacturers on their furniture.
For the production of every kind of hides for furnishings, from the most prized to the most ordinary, hides from various countries and regions are used. Pig hides are also used in the furniture industry, but this sort of leather does not meet durability requirements or quality. The place of origin of raw hides can be divide into three groups.
A. Hides from Southern Germany, Hides from Swiss pastures, Scandinavian Bull hides from Norway and Finland. Hides from Northern Italy.
B. Hides from Northern Germany, English hides, Dutch hides, and North American US hides.
C. Australian Hides, African hides, South American hides, Hides from Asia.
Raw Material
Today we think of leather as a commodity, something that is pretty much the same everywhere. Not true.Leather for furniture comes mostly from cattle and no two hides are alike. Age, heredity, and the environment all influence the character of leather. Leather is the strongest most versatile natural resource. It should be understood that cattle leather is a byproduct of the meat industry, and are raised for beef consumption. Leather is a renewable resource, so it allows us to create valuable products out of what otherwise would be waste. The largest sources of cattle hides are the beef herds of North and South America.
RAWHIDES
Contain high amount (about 70%) of water and become hard and inflexible after drying.
Can be easily attacked by bacteria and rot. They have to be kept refrigerated or the water removed by some means (not very useful for making into upholstery!)
Are dirty with blood, dung, etc., sticking to it and contain hair and other materials which are not needed.
For making into upholstery, the leather should be
Dry and flexible
Should have color, softness and other properties for the specific use.
Tannery operations achieve the above changes.
Tanning makes the leather fiber resistant to bacterial attack. Nowadays, chrome tanning is the most popular method. The modern leather processing can be divided into three parts:
Preparation of wet blue (chrome tanned leather)
CHROME TANNING.
Modification of the properties as needed in the final leather.
Finishing on the surface.
Most of the processes in 1 and 2 are done inside drums (or other vessels) as batch operations in water (orange colored in the text) and a few operations are carried out in special machines on individual hides/skins
Preparation of wet blue (chrome tanned leather)
The first job in the tannery is to give the hides a good wash, with water, some special detergents and some other chemicals. This is called Soaking
Any loose flesh (remember, hides are taken from animals killed for meat!) sticking to the flesh side is scraped off by a knife (using a specially designed machine). This is called Fleshing.
Unhairing
removes the hair on the skin using certain chemicals, which can eat away the hair but not the hide fiber.
The chemicals used to tan the hides and modify the color, softness and other properties should be able to penetrate into the fiber network. The fiber network should be opened up and most other non-fibrous material removed. This is done in Liming. A process is used that requires a special soaking which uses alkali (lime) to increase the water entering the fiber network. Natural grease is also removed in this alkaline solution.
Normally, for the production of upholstery leathers the hides are split in to two layers in a machine using flat knife. The primary purpose of this operation is to make the thickness of the hide uniform throughout. Originally the hide is thickest in the neck portion of the animal and thinnest at the belly portion. The top layer, which is stronger and of uniform thickness, is used for making upholstery leather. The bottom layer is of non-uniform thickness and processed for different uses.
Then a series of adjustments in the acid/alkali balance (pH) of the hide is done before applying the chrome tanning salts. These operations are called Deliming and Pickling.
Chrome tanning salts penetrate the hide and react chemically with the molecules, making the fiber network resistant to bacteria. Modification of the properties as needed in the final leather product.
The main properties modified here are:
Leather Thickness
Color
Softness
A number of other characters can be changed depending on the type of the leather being made by using specific chemicals.
Thickness is reduced by a Shaving machine, which shaves some thickness off from the back of the hide to make it more uniform in thickness.
After adjusting the pH balance, further chemical treatments are carried out.
Retanning uses special plant material or synthetic material to modify a range of properties. Dyes used in dyeing, color the fibers of the leather. Specially prepared oils are used in fatliquoring to make the leather soft (the oils lubricate the fibers). Special requirements such as water proofing, flame proofing, solvent resistance etc. can be fulfilled at this stage.
The leathers are stretched and flattened in Setting Machine and dried. After drying the leather is subjected to mechanical operations to make it soft, flat and tight. Either side can be modified by emery paper on a buffing machine.
FINISHING ON THE SURFACE.
A wide variety of finishing operations is carried out on the leather surface. The most common type is coating with colored mixes. Also worth mentioning is buffing the leather surface with emery (sandpaper) to get a suede or nubuck surface (velvet like surface) and an application of oils and waxes to get a pull up effect. You can see the different types of finishing done on upholstery leathers in the section on types of leathers.
Finishing modifies the surface color, gloss, and the final appearance of the leather. It also provides a protection to the surface from water, wear and abrasion.
Leather Types
Ways to identify ANILINE:
For care and maintenance purposes check to see if the surface has been brushed (has a texture like velvet) or not. This is the point at which people have difficulty distinguishing NUBUCK from ANILINE. There are several ways you can identify an ANILINELeather:
Lightly scratch the surface to see if it leaves a lighter color scratch mark. If it scratches to a lighter color, it is ANILINE. This is not the only test to do because some NUBUCKS will do this also.
Wet your finger and lightly rub it into the Leather to see if it darkens. It should darken lightly, but dry invisibly.
"Pull-ups", are leathers that have a deep richness to them from fat liquors applied during the tanning process. These leathers have a unique characteristic, a "Pull-Up" effect when the leather is stretched it will tend to lighten up in that area but the color returns when heat is applied or friction from rubbing a cloth or your hand in that area. These leathers also tend to scratch easy but have an "Old World" effect or "Aged"look. Products recommended here included "Oleosa" and if the leather has a wax coat apply "Wax On" to replace this wax that is removed with fingernails from use.
also called FINISHED,SEMI-ANILINE,EVERYDAY,PIGMENTED OR PAINTED.
Ways to identify SEMI-ANILINE (PROTECTED):
PROTECTEDLeathers are the most common Leathers, and for most consumers the most practical.
Lightly scratch the surface to see if it leaves a lighter color scratch mark. If it does not scratch to a lighter color (this means the color remains the same), then this is a Protected Leather.
Use SOFT CLEANER and clean the leather. The cleaner should stay on top of the finish and should not darken the Leather.
The surface should have some sort of sheen to it. It is like looking at wood that has a lacquer finish compared to a wipe-on treatment.
NUBUCK:CLEANING CODE N
also called CHAPS,DISTRESSED,BOMBER OR SUEDE.
Ways to identify NUBUCK:
The surface should have a texture similar to velvet. You move your hand across the surface and, if it leaves shading traces similar to the effect when you vacuum a carpet in one direction and then in another, it is Nubuck.
Wet your finger and rub it lightly on the surface. The surface will darken and also will dry to a slightly darker shade.
The Language Of Leather
Full or Pure Aniline
The finest leather available,always made from premium -quality, full-top grain hides(the suface of the hide has not been mechanically altered)
The softest, most luxurious and natural looking leather
More likely to fade and stain, will feature noticable range marks, barbed wire scars, wrinkles, scratches and brands.
Unretouched, resulting in subtle color and shading differences from hide to hide and even within the same hide.
Generally more expensive than other types of leather.
Top 5% of world hide supply
Semi Aniline
High quality. high value, always top grain
Soft and beautiful;durable and practical
Often coated with clear sealant to enhance stain resistance.
Slightly more uniform in color and texture than full aniline.
Fewer noticeable range marks because of top finishing.
Generally less expensive than full aniline leather.
Falls into top 10% of world hide supply.
Nubuck Leather
High quality,top grain leather buffed or sanded to a velvety, sueded like nap.
More likely to fade or stain, will feature noticable range marks and barbed wire scratches,wrinkles,healed scars,manure burns.
Usual the softest of leathers, more durable than a true suede that is produced from the lower quality split of leather.
Falls into top 10-15% of world hide supply
Generally less expensive than Semi Aniline leather.
Pigmented Leather
Least likely to fade or stain.
Opaque dyes and pigments create uniform coloration that minimize natural marks and scars.
Excellent durability with minimal maintenance.
Falls into top 20-30% of world hide supply
Generally less expensive than Nubuck leather.
Bonded Leather
Least likely to fade or stain.
Most economically priced.
An artificial material composed of 10% to 20% leather fibers
Excellent durability with minimal maintenance.
Similiar to particle board or OSB board is to solid wood
Description:↓
Bonded leather, or reconstituted leather, is usually derived from waste scraps from leather tanneries It consists of collagen fibers obtained from macerated hide pieces bonded together with latex binders or fabric fillers constructed into a fibrous mat to create a look and feel similar or sometimes identical to that of genuine leather but at a fraction of the cost . Depending on the quality a man-made pattern is usually discernible as a "grain-like" look.
| Tanning |
What is the name of the aborigine weapon that returns to the thrower | How to Tool Leather (with Pictures) - wikiHow
How to Tool Leather
Four Parts: Choosing and Buying Leather Choosing and Using Tools Creating Your Piece Adding Finishing Touches Community Q&A
Whether you're making a beautiful horse saddle for yourself or a custom belt for your boyfriend, tooling leather is a great craft that can be picked up by even the least crafty among us. Tooling leather is the process of cutting into the leather to create shapes and designs. There are other leather crafting processes that often go hand-in-hand with tooling, however, such as leather stamping. If you're new to the leather world, this article will show you how to do all of the basics and get a beautiful finished product. Just get started with Step number one below!
Steps
Choosing and Buying Leather
1
Find a good place to buy leather. Common places to buy leather include Tandy Leather Factory and Springfield Leather Company. You can find physical stores in your area but there are also a number of online retailers. Of course, if you find another option that you like better, you can take that option!
2
Understand how good leather is sold. When looking at places to buy leather, you should look at how they are selling it. Good leather is usually bought by the square foot or by the piece. You can also buy scrap leather by the bag. If someone's selling you leather that doesn't seem right, be wary.
3
Look out for scars, bug bites, and brands. Not only will scars, brands, and bites make your final product difficult to tool and look bad, they're also a sign that a leather vendor is supplying their leather from places that treat their cows terribly. You don't want to have any part in animals being abused, so buy your leather from good sources.
4
Start by buying cheap, beginner's leather. It is said that writers need to write a few hundred thousand words before any of the words are good. For leather working, you're going to have to do some bad work before you're ready to start doing good work, so you should not start by buying fancy leather. Buy scrap leather by the bag or any other cheap beginner's leather. You'll know when you're ready for something a little nicer!
5
Buy the right type of leather for tooling. For tooling, cow leather that has been vegetable tanned is the best option. Other leathers can be used for other details, but cow veg tan is your friend when it comes to tooling.
You will want to avoid leather that is intended for furniture and leather that is textured. These are not suitable for tooling.
6
Choose the appropriate thickness for your project. Different projects will need leathers of different thicknesses. Make sure you're getting the right thickness for what you want to do. Leather thickness is measured by the ounce. For tooling, 2-3 ounces is too thin. Start instead with 3-4 ounces and use thicker leather depending on your purposes.
Weights translate to a standard range of millimeters. You may want to test the thickness of your leather pieces when you buy a new batch to make sure that you got what you paid for.
Part 2
Choosing and Using Tools
1
Buy a starter tool set. There's no reason to go straight into professional, expensive tools. In fact: it's best to start off with a beginners set because everyone tools differently and what works for someone else may not work for you. You want to be able to experiment. Good starter sets can be bought at very reasonable prices from stores like Tandy, both online and locally.
2
Consider some modeling tools. Modeling tools, while technically designed for clay, can be extremely useful for leather crafting as well. Tools like a stylus are commonly used, as are tools like a modeling spoon.
3
Get a cutting board. You should never cut your leather on scrap wood or any surface with a texture (and of course you don't want to cut on a surface you want to preserve), because the texture can be transferred to the leather and even make the leather more difficult to cut. You want to use a marble or granite cutting board. These can be purchased or you can ask a local contractor or granite supply company for scrap.
A rubber mat underneath can dim some of the sound and keep your cutting board in place.
4
Get a mallet. A mallet is a universal tool that you will need for doing almost any style of tooling. You want to to use a poly mallet when you start learning to work with leather. Never use a metal mallet and avoid wood mallets (as they are delicate). Rawhide mallets are good but expensive, so if you want to experiment with these, wait until later.
5
Focus on the most important tools. If you have to buy tools individually, focus on buying the most basic, most useful tools. A stylus, a swivel knife, a modeling spoon, a beveler, a mallet, and a few basic stamps (often also called single-action tools) will get you through learning the craft.
6
Check to be sure that your tools are the best size for you. Tools come in a number of sizes and the standard sizes are usually for large, male hands. If you are younger or generally have smaller hands, getting smaller sized tools will make the tool significantly easier to use.
7
Understand the language of leather designs. Stamps and the traditional shapes of leather working tools almost have a unique language unto themselves. Most of the tools will have names that do not seem to make sense, but almost all of them refer to the traditional cowboy leather designs and the specific purpose those tools were meant to serve. Learning the names for the tools can be extremely useful, especially for understanding instructions that you find online and for finding the tools you need.
8
Don't feel constrained to standard usages. Tooling leather is just like traditional sculpting: there are lots of tools and everyone uses them in slightly different ways. You should not feel like just because you use a stamp to get one look when it's really for getting another, that you're somehow wrong. Whatever works for you and looks good is fine.
Part 3
Creating Your Piece
1
Print your pattern. The easiest and cheapest way to make your pattern is to simply print it out at home on normal printer paper. You can also trace the design onto wax or tracing paper. However, you should never use carbon paper or draw a design directly onto the leather.
This is an optional step, as you can do your leather tooling freehand or by creating your own pattern.
2
Cut out your piece. Cut the leather into the size and shape of the final piece (a belt if you're making a belt, the side of a saddle, the long rectangle of a wallet, etc). Do not ever use scissors to cut this type of leather however. Scissors are only suitable for very thin, fabric-like leather. You should instead use a box cutter or x-acto knife.
3
Case the leather. Casing leather is just a fancy word for getting it wet, but that doesn't mean you should go straight for some water. Water is perfectly usable but a casing solution (which you can buy from leather stores and online) will help protect your leather from water stains. Just apply your liquid of choice over the surface area that you'll be working with, using a spray bottle or sponge.
You don't want to soak or over-wet the leather, however. Apply the liquid in moderation.
Generally you don't want to case a single area more than once. If you need to stop working for awhile, wrap the leather in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.
4
Trace your design onto the leather. Wait until the leather starts to turn back to its original color and then start tracing your design. Simply align your pattern and then use a dull pencil or modeling stylus to "draw" over the design on the paper. You should not press hard. Lift up the paper and you will see that the casing allows the light pressure of your drawing to transfer the design temporarily onto the leather.
5
Cut your main lines into the leather using a swivel knife. With this temporary outline, you will want to cut the main lines of the design onto the leather. Hold the swivel knife like a pen you're clicking down the end of, with your pointer finger in the saddle and your thumb and middle finger on the barrel. Hold it so that the blade is straight up and down and place the back corner into the leather. Then, pull the blade towards you. Keep your wrist straight and turn the blade as necessary by moving your fingers on the barrel.
The blade should always be pulled towards you, so you will have to adjust your leather accordingly.
It is a good idea to spend a lot of time practicing with the swivel knife on scrap leather before starting a serious project. This will help you learn how to move the blade to get the look you want.
You can change the speed, pressure, and length of the stroke to get different looks. For example, a quick, short pull can create a whisker look.
6
Decide which areas will need to be raised or lowered. With your main lines cut into the leather, you'll want to decide which areas should be lower and which should be raised. You'll also want to think about which areas will need shading or texture. Planning this out ahead of time and mapping it on your sketch can be useful in creating a professional final look.
7
Bevel or emboss the edges to make your design pop. You can use tools like the modeling spoon to press down the edges on one side of the design or the other, in order to make it look raised or make it look embedded. Just make sure to stay consistent which which areas get raised or lowered!
8
Use your stamps to create designs and add shading or texture. Now you can pull out your stamps! Place a stamping tool against your leather, so it is standing up vertically but resting evenly on the leather. Tap or double-tap the mallet down vertically against the top of the leather tool to imprint the design. Begin by using a scrap piece of leather until you realize how much pressure you must exert.
The mallet should not be slammed down on the tool. When you use a stamp, the impression should not break the surface of the leather and create "walls" allowing you to see the sides. The tool should also be held loosely, so that it can bounce back up after being tapped.
In your practice, aim to stamp the leather only once per placement on the leather. Some larger stamps may require two or more strikes of the mallet. In this case, line the stamp up again with the imprints you have already made and strike it again.
9
Weigh the leather down as necessary. Tooling, especially tooling large areas on leather, will make the leather warp. An easy way to combat warping is to weigh the piece down when you are done so that it dries in the appropriate shape. You don't need to use anything too heavy and be careful of placing anything with a texture onto the wet leather.
Part 4
Adding Finishing Touches
1
Bevel the edges of your leather. Use a bevel tool to cut the square off of the edge of your leather. This will keep the edges from rolling up over time. It is only necessary to bevel one side of the leather: the back side can remain flat. Pay special attention to any sharp corners on your leather piece. These will need to be beveled separately, creating a diagonal or cut corner.
2
Add finishes, dyes, or paint. With your edges beveled, you can move on to adding whatever finish is appropriate for your leather. You can use a resist to keep it a particular area clear of the finish or to reduce the coloring. Just be sure to always use gloves when using dyes or finishes....unless you like your hands a different color!
Tandy sells excellent finishes in a variety of colors. To apply these, use a paper towel, wool dauber, or a natural or very old sponge (regular sponges contain a chemical that does not react well with the leather).
You can also use dyes. There are dyes intended for leather, but some leathers can also be dyed with shoe polish! These should be applied in the same way as the finishes.
Acrylic paint thinned with water works on leather, if you'd prefer a painted look. Just use a normal paint brush to apply it. This works better for smaller, detailed sections than larger ones.
3
Smooth the edges. You'll want to smooth the beveled edges of your piece after dying it. You can use a special tool for this purpose but the cheaper option is to simply rub it with a paper towel or canvas cloth! This will make the edges look shiny and professional.
4
Punch holes for stitching. If you plan on doing any stitching, you'll want to add a stitching groove to keep your stitches from being worn down over time. There is a tool for this purpose called a stitch groover. Once you've cut a channel into your leather where the stitching will go, use a pricking iron or overstitch wheel to lightly mark where your individual stitches will go. This will help create an even, professional look. Finally, punch the individual holes you marked using a piercing awl.
When buying an overstitch wheel or pricking iron, get a shorter one to start off with, as it will be more versatile and make it easier to turn corners.
When starting a new stitching line or having to otherwise pick up the overstitch wheel to start again, place the first spoke down in the hole of the last section of the line. This will keep the stitches even.
5
Add other details. Before sewing, you'll want to add any other finishing touches that you know you'll need, like adding snaps. Be aware, however, that adding things like snaps is difficult and requires its own separate set of tools. Once that's done, add your stitching and you're basically done. Rub the whole surface with a cloth to get a nice, smooth final look.
6
Add a clear finish if desired. As a final measure, you can add a clear final finish on after doing your stitching, if you want to. This is not necessary, however. Enjoy your new creation and don't forget to keep practicing!
Community Q&A
If this question (or a similar one) is answered twice in this section, please click here to let us know.
Video
Tips
You may choose to burnish the leather after you wet it but before you stamp it. It may hold the design better. You can find a "rub stick" at a hobby shop that will help you burnish the edges of your leather.
As you grow more experienced with leather tooling, you may want to begin using a beveled edge to create dimension in your design. You strike these tools in a direction, either slightly to the right or to left, instead of hitting the mallet directly on top of the tool.
Invest in leather tooling instruction books, or check them out at the library, if you want to learn to do intricate designs. Practice with simple projects before getting started on harder ones.
Warnings
Do not use a metal mallet when tooling leather. It will apply too much pressure. A poly or rawhide mallet will exert the right amount of pressure against the tool.
Things You'll Need
| i don't know |
How many pieces are on a backgammon board at the start of play | Backgammon FAQ: Basic Rules
Backgammon FAQ
Q: What is backgammon?
Backgammon is a game played by two players, each with fifteen checkers , on a board consisting of 24 narrow triangles called point . The players move their checkers around the board according to rolls of the dice and the first player to get all their checkers off is the winner. The fun comes from hitting and blocking your opponent's checkers to impede their progress.
Backgammon is a game of odds and calculation, but it's also a game of patterns and vision. Because it is played with dice, many people think of backgammon as a gambling game. Backgammon is often played for money, but it is certainly not a game of luck. There is a surprising amount of skill in the game.
Backgammon is an easy game to learn. It's fast-actioned, and fun to play either face-to-face on a real board or over the Internet. You will spend many enjoyable years learning and improving at this game.
"Backgammon is an easy game to play, but not easy to play well." Daniel Murphy
"People think the game consists primarily of mathcalculating odds and so forth. That's not true. It's essentially a game of patterns, a visual game, like chess." Paul Magriel
"It's a game of skill and luck. When I win I can claim it's due to my good skill. When I lose I can claim it's due to my bad luck." David Forthoffer
A backgammon board .
Thirty counters or checkers in two colors, fifteen of the same color for each player.
A pair of dice numbered from 1 to 6. For convenience, two pairs of dice (one pair for each player) is best.
A dice cup , for shaking and rolling the dice. Again, it is better to have two dice cups.
A doubling cube for keeping track of the stakes of the game. See
Q: How do you set up the board?
There are two ways to set up a backgammon board, both really the same.
The first illustration shows the setup when you are plaing White and your checkers move counterclockwise around the board. Red's checkers go in the opposite direction. Both players bear off to the right; you at the lower-right, your opponent at the upper-right.
The second illustration shows the setup when your checkers move clockwise around the board. Red's checkers go in the opposite direction, and both players bear off to the left.
Notice when you bear off to your right, your opponent will be bearing off to their left, and vice versa.
Q: Who goes first?
To decide who goes first, you and your opponent each roll one die. In the case of a tie, you both roll again. The player who rolls the higher number goes first. That player does not roll the dice again; they play the two numbers just rolled on their first turn.
Notice that the player who goes first never has doubles on their first turn because ties on the first roll are always broken.
Q: What is a gammon? A backgammon?
If you bear off all fifteen of your checkers before your opponent has borne off any of theirs, you win a gammon , or double game.
If you bear off all fifteen of your checkers before your opponent has borne off any of theirs and they have one or more checkers in your home board or on the bar, you win a backgammon , or triple game.
Q: What are the inner and outer tables?
Most backgammon boards fold in half. The two halves of the board are called the inner table and the outer table. The side the inner table is on depends on how you set up the checkers. If you bear your checkers off to the right, then the inner table is on your right; if you bear off to the left, then the inner table is on your left.
Your home board and your opponent's home board are both located in the inner table.
Q: What is the mid-point?
That is the name of the point on your opponent's side of the board where you have a stack of five checkers at the start of the game. It is also called your "13-point" because the checkers on that point are 13 spaces away from being borne off. The opponent's mid-point is your 12-point. [See diagram below.]
No, you must play your roll if there is any legal way to do so. If you can't play all of your numbers, you must play as many as you can. So if you roll
and can only play three of your four 6's, that's what you must do.
Q: Can I play one number in such a way as to avoid playing the other?
No, you must play both numbers of a roll if possible. Sometimes this means having to make a move you don't like so that your other number can also be played.
Whites rolls 6-4: White can't play 13/7 with his 6 because that would leave no way to play the 4. Instead, he must play 24/18, allowing him to play 18/14 with the 4.
Whites rolls 6-4: As much as he would like to, White cannot bear off the checker on the six-point! He must play 6/2, using his 4 first, and then use the 6 to take a checker off the five-point.
Q: What if I can only play one number?
If you can play one number but not both, then you must play the higher one.
Whites rolls 6-4: The only checker White can move is his runner. The rules say he must to the 18-point using the 6 rather than hit on the 20-point using the 4.
Q: Is hit-and-run allowed (also known as "pick and pass")?
Yes, if you hit a checker, you are allowed to run your hitter to safety. Here is an example:
Whites rolls 5-2: White may hit Red's checker on the five-point and then move his hitter to safety on the three-point.
There are some variations of backgammon, played in the Middle East, where hit-and-run is not allowed in the player's home board . But the standard game has no such restriction.
Q: Is it ok to have more than five checkers on a point?
Yes, you may place as many checkers as you want on a point. Pile them one on top of another if you run out of room. There are some versions of backgammon still popular in England which allow no more than five checkers on a point (see Old English backgammon), but these are not standard rules.
Q: Can I play low number first when bearing off?
Yes, you may play your numbers in either order, as long as each number is played legally. Using your low number first can sometimes get you out of a sticky situation. Here are some examples:
Whites rolls 4-1: If White plays 4 first, he takes the checker off the four-point and is forced to hit with the 1, leaving two blots. But if he plays the 1 first, moving from the four-point to the three-point, he can then use the 4 to remove the checker from the three-point. This wastes a pip, but it leaves no shots.
Whites rolls 5-4: If White plays his 5 first, he ends up with a gap on his two-pointnot good if he rolls a 2 later. If he plays the 4 first, he fills the gap on the two-point and increases his chances of getting off in two more rolls.
Q: Is stalemate possible in backgammon?
Stalement is a position in which neither player can ever move again. Technically, stalemate is not possible in backgammon. Here is a rough explanation why:
To have a stalemate, each player would have to be blocking the other. Perhaps they each have prime in front of the other player's checkers.
Both players cannot hold their primes forever unless they are stuck on the bar.
If the players are both on the bar, one of them will eventually reenter unless both players are closed out .
So the only possibility for stalemate is both players on the bar and both players closed out, like this:
But this position can't happen. If it could, what was the position before the last hit? A player who was on the bar and closed out cannot hit his opponent. Stalemate might be possible, though, if one of the players makes an illegal play. See this post by Bob Johnson.
Your home board is the last quadrant that a you move your checkers to before bearing them off. The opponent's home board is where you enter your checkers after they have been hit.
The home boards are the points numbered 1 to 6 in the diagram.
Q: What is a closed board?
A player who makes all six points of his home board is said to have a closed board. If you get one of your checkers hit when your opponent's board is closed, you are closed out and cannot make any moves until the opponent opens a point and allows you reenter.
More Information
Q: What is a doubling cube?
A doubling cube is a cubical block, a little larger than a regular die, with the numbers 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64 printed on its faces. It is sometimes simply called the cube . The purpose is to allow players to bet on the game as they are playing.
Q: How do you use a doubling cube?
At the beginning of the game, the doubling cube is placed halfway between the players, either on the bar or at the side of the board, with the number 64 face up. The 64 means that the stakes have not been doubled yet. (Most doubling cubes do not have a 1, so the number 64 is understood to represent 1.)
The position of the cube, halfway between the players, indicates that both players have access to it. That is, either player can make the first double.
At any point during the game, a player who thinks he has a sufficient advantage may double the stakes. He can do this only at the beginning of his turn, before he has rolled the dice.
When a double is offered, the opponent may refuse the double , in which case he resigns the game and forfeits the current stakes. The current stakes is the value of the cube before the double is offered, in this case one point.
If the opponent doesn't want to resign, he may accept the double , and agree to continue play at double the previous stakes. He places the cube on his side of the board with the number 2 face up. The number 2 represents the fact that the stakes are now doubled. The position of the cube means that player now owns the doubling cube and only he may make the next double.
If the game later turns around and the player who owns the cube feels he now has an advantage, he may redouble the stakes to 4. His opponent may refuse and give up the current stakes (now two units) or he may accept and continue play at quadruple the initial stakes.
There is no limit to the number of doubles and redoubles in a single game, except that no player may double twice in a row.
At the end of the game, the loser pays the winner the value of the doubling cube in whatever units they have agreed to play for. For example, if playing for one dollar a point and the doubling cube shows 4, then the loser pays the winner four dollars. In the case of a gammon or backgammon , this amount is doubled or tripled.
Q: Can I double if I am on the bar and closed out?
Yes, you can double at the start of any turn. You have to be alert, though; your opponent, seeing that you can't move, may roll his dice without waiting to see what you do. Just ask him to "wait, please" as he picks up his dice while you decide whether or not to double.
Q: What is an automatic double?
Some people play that if the two players roll the same number on the first roll of the game, then the doubling cube is automatically turned to 2. The cube stays in the middle but now the first voluntary double of the game will be offered at 4.
If the players roll the same number again, then the cube is turned up another notch, though players often agree to limit the number of automatic doubles to one per game.
Q: What is the Jacoby rule?
The Jacoby rule says that a gammon or backgammon does not count extra unless the cube has been turned, that is, unless a double has been offered and accepted in the present game. The purpose of the rule is to avoid long games in which one player tries for a gammon rather than double the opponent out for one point.
Technically, the Jacoby rule is optional, but its use in money play is very common. The Jacoby rule is never used in match play .
The Jacoby rule is named for Oswald Jacoby, coauthor of The Backgammon Book , who proposed and promoted the rule. See post by Daniel Murphy .
Q: What are beavers?
If one player doubles, and the opponent accepts the double and decides his position is good enough, he may immediately redouble while retaining posession of the cube. This immediate redouble without giving up the cube is called a beaver.
For example, suppose the cube is in the center and there have been no doubles yet this game. Player A decides to double the stakes. B accepts the double (the cube now shows 2), then B says "beaver" and turns the cube up one more notch to 4. At this point, if A has second thoughts, he can decline the beaver and give up two points; otherwise the game continues with the cube at 4. B still owns the cube, so he can redouble again on a future turn. All of this happens during A's turn; A now rolls the dice and the game continues.
Playing beavers is optional, so you should agree with your opponent beforehand whether or not you are playing this rule.
| 30 |
In which type of fabric printing are designs applied in wax | Beginners
Bearing Off - The End Of The Game
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Diagram 1
Set up your backgammon board as in Diagram 1 . Black (you) have moved all your checkers around the board from the white Inner Board, to your Inner Board. You are now about to start 'bearing off', i.e., taking your checkers off the board at the very end of the game; each checker bearing off in relation to the dice roll. This is how the game ends and you win - taking off all your checkers before your opponent does. If you roll 3-2 you can remove one checker from the 3-point and one checker from the 2-point. If you roll a die higher than the highest point occupied, checkers can be removed from that highest point; that means that if your highest occupied point is your 4-point and you roll 6-2 you can remove a checker from the 4-point (using the 6) and a checker from your 2-point. Doublets allow you to remove four checkers if possible.
If you roll a die for a point that isn't occupied then you must, if possible, move within your inner board until a die is equal to an occupied point or is less than your highest occupied point. If only one die can be moved then the higher is moved if possible, else the lower one. You cannot move one die then claim that the other is impossible to play - if both dice can be moved legally then you must move both of them; however, you can move either die first, for example, you roll a 5-3, you can move the 3 down inside your board and then remove your highest checker with the 5.
Exercise 1: This first exercise is a simple one where all you have to do is bear-off your checkers as efficiently as possible. Set up your home board as in Diagram 1 and move the following dice rolls bearing off a checker each time: 6-1, 3-2, 4-2, 6-2, your board now looks like Diagram 2 .
##
Diagram 2
###
You now roll 6-2 again; taking a checker off your 5-point (using the 6) and because you don't have any checkers on your 2-point you now have to move within your home board. When bearing off in backgammon you want to make certain that you get as many checkers off each roll as possible and to this end the 2 is moved from the 4-point to the empty 2-point ensuring that on your next roll you will remove at least two checkers. This tactic is very important when bearing off without the possibility of being hit by an opponent (more on this subject later) and is used in the next exercise. Always try to maximise the checkers off on the next roll by filling empty points. Rolling dice that correspond to gaps in your home board can lose you the game and therefore it is vital you concentrate on covering as many points as you can - and preferably the lower ones as opposed to the higher ones.
Exercise 2: Set up as in Diagram 3 and move the following dice rolls filling empty points when you can’t bear-off: 2-2, 6-4, 1-1.
##
Diagram 3
Your board should now look like Diagram 3a if you’ve applied the tactic of covering empty points correctly. If it doesn’t look like this, have another go.
Diagram 3a
Now reset your board to Diagram 3 again and practice on your own until you are happy with the bearing off element of backgammon. Keep setting up and rolling until you are confident with your bearing off. There's nothing to gain by skimping this important part of the game; if you fail to bear-off correctly or efficiently you may well lose the game. When you are fully satisfied with your progress we’ll tackle the problem of bearing off when your opponent has checkers that can hit you and force you back to the beginning (similar to being hit in ludo and having to restart from the beginning again) - situations that can turn a winning game into a losing game; not because of 'lucky' dice rolls from your opponent, but because of lack of knowledge on your part.
##
Bearing Off Against Opposition On The Bar
Whenever a checker is hit in backgammon just like in ludo he has to go back to the start. A checker is hit by an opponent landing upon the same point occupied by a single checker of the opposing side; single checkers are called blots and are very vulnerable to being hit - blots are protected by having two or more checkers of the same colour on a point, this point now belongs to that player and cannot be landed on by the opponent (although, if dice rolls allow, they can be leapt over providing both dice rolls are not blocked). As you might have gathered, having a blot hit while you are bearing off is a major setback and is to be avoided if at all possible. Thinking ahead can result in fewer positions in which this can occur.
The 'start' for blots that are hit is the bar or 25-point as it is sometimes referred to (the bar is the central divider between the two halves of the board). The checker on the bar can only re-enter into an opponent's inner board by rolling dice that correspond to the point numbers in his opponent's inner board (1 to 6, which are in fact points 24- down to 19- for the player on the bar) which are either unoccupied or are occupied by a blot or one or more of his own checkers. Points 'covered' by your opponent (two or more checkers on a single point) cannot be used to re-enter upon.
Being hit and having to restart is true of any blots anywhere, not just the ones you might leave in your home board when bearing off against an opponent’s checker on the bar (or an opponent's checker occupying one or more of your inner points after he has re-entered from the bar). Also, no other checker can be moved on the board anywhere until all checkers on the bar have re-entered. The longer you spend on the bar the more moves your opponent can make without you being able to stop them. If you have two checkers on the bar and your dice roll only allows one of them to re-enter, then the remaining die is forfeit.
Blots in your home board are in great danger against opposition and must be avoided wherever possible. In Diagram 2 you have a blot on your 3-point and in Diagram 3a in Exercise 2 you have several blots! Many games that should have been won are lost when a blot is hit during the bear-off. Hopefully this section will teach you how to avoid this.
Exercise 3: Set up as Diagram 4 , with an opponent on the bar, his 25-point.
##
Diagram 4
Now bear-off, using the same dice rolls as for Diagram 1 , 6-1, 3-2, 4-2, 6-2 and it can be readily seen that if we make the same move with the 6-1, 6 off (shown as 6/0 where 0 is a checker taken off the board), 1/0 we leave a blot on the 6-point. If white rolls a 6 from the bar (it must be a 6 not 4-2, or 5-1 or 3-3 or 2-2 as these are blocked - remember, dice rolls are not added together, they are individual) on his turn he will hit your blot and force it to restart from the bar in his inner board - and, whilst there is a checker on the bar, remember no other piece can be moved until it has re-entered, sort of like rolling a 6 in ludo to start a checker off.
If you are on the bar and cannot re-enter then no other checkers can be moved and your move is forfeit. This is often called dancing or fanning and, if you have any blots exposed it is likely that your opponent can hit them too! So, we play 6/0 and we move the 1, 6/5 (6-point to 5-point) keeping the blot safe. With this in mind (assuming that white never re-enters on his roll except when there's a blot to hit) play the remaining rolls as safely as you can bearing off when you can and down when you can't: 3-2, 4-2, 6-2, and finally another 6-2 leaving the position in Diagram 4a . If your board doesn’t match Diagram 4a , restart and try again.
##
Diagram 4a
Remember, move off or down without leaving a lone checker(s), a blot(s), which white could hit from the bar forcing you to restart from the beginning with that/those checkers.
Now, it is getting quite difficult to take checkers off without leaving a blot - do you know how many rolls leave a blot next time? Don't forget that you are using two dice so each roll is in fact two rolls! To explain: Imagine you are using two different coloured dice, one black, one white and you roll a 3-2; with the black die on 3 and the white die on 2, but it could be the other way around, white die on 3, black die on 2 and still be only one move, 3-2. In fact, using two dice there are thirty-six combinations of dice rolls; so plenty to choose from! Later on you’ll have a chance to learn all thirty-six.
Back to the position in Diagram 4a . How many of those thirty-six possible rolls will force a blot? Don't cheat by looking at the correct answer, write them all down. You should have twenty-five rolls that leave a blot. A quicker way to do it is to calculate the number of rolls that don't leave a blot - there are eleven that don’t: 6-1, 5-1, 4-1, 3-1, 2-1, 1-1 (note that I have only shown six rolls, this is because non-doubles such as 6-1 and 1-6 are shown just once as 6-1 and are counted twice).
Exercise 4: Practice a few bear-offs with a checker on the bar setting up as in Diagram 4 and see if you can avoid leaving blots, using your own dice rolls. It's not always possible to do so, but, often, with a little forethought you can considerably reduce the chances of doing so. This expertise is essential in playing winning backgammon and it is well worth the time taken to master it. Don’t forget that you don’t have to take a checker off each time. You can move within your home board if it’s possible to do so - just as long as you move the entire dice roll. Also, remember that you can move either die first.
##
Diagram 4b
Look at Diagram 4b . If you rolled 6-1 in this position, to avoid leaving a blot, you would move 3/2 with the 1, and then take off 2/0 with the 6. Perfectly legal. It is fine to move either die first; and often, the order in which you move them can make a big difference. Sometimes beginners forget they can do this and they leave a blot – cheering up their opponents who are just waiting for a blot to appear and to turn the game around with a timely hit.
One tip is try to keep your top two points evenly distributed, looking for the bad rolls next time. As a general guide if you are able to take 6-6 or 6-5 on the next roll without leaving a blot then you are almost 99% certain not to leave a blot on the forthcoming roll no matter what it might be - note, not 100% because on rare occasions blots can be left and you can do nothing about it.
Once you've mastered the tactic of bearing off safely against opposition from the bar we'll move on to opposition within your inner board. This is quite likely to happen and it is very important that you fully understand how to minimise your losing chances when your opponent is waiting to hit you back onto the bar from an occupied point within your own inner board.
Bearing Off Against Opposition In Your Home Board
##
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Who recorded the theme music for the Bond film The Living Daylights | The Living Daylights (soundtrack) | James Bond Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
The Living Daylights (soundtrack)
Short Story — Film — Soundtrack — Song — Game — Characters
The The Living Daylights soundtrack cover
The soundtrack for The Living Daylights was composed by veteran Bond composer John Barry and was his last score for a James Bond film.
The title song for the film, "The Living Daylights," was recorded by pop group a-ha. a-ha and Barry did not collaborate well, resulting in two versions of the theme song being produced; Barry's orchestral film version can be heard on the soundtrack and the a-ha greatest hits collection Headlines and Deadlines, while a-ha's preferred pop mix of the song can be heard on their 1988 album Stay on These Roads. However, in recent years members of a-ha have expressed their appreciation for Barry's work on their song, claiming that it was he who turned the track into a Bond theme.
Two other songs were provided for the film by The Pretenders , who had also originally been considered for the title theme, before the success of Duran Duran's " A View to a Kill " led producers to select a-ha in the hope of repeated chart success.
When the soundtrack was remastered on compact disc, eight previously unreleased tracks were added (13-21).
Track listing
"The Sniper Was A Woman"
"Ice Chase"
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What was the first British credit card | The Living Daylights Soundtrack and Movie Music - The 80s Movies Rewind
The Living Daylights Soundtrack
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Duran Duran assumed they were lined up to perform the opening song for "The Living Daylights", since they had such great success with "View to a Kill", so were very disappointed to find out that A-Ha (Norweigen group of "Take on Me" fame) received that honor. -Thanks to Jim
Morten Harket, the singer from A-ha (The band who wrote and performed "The Living Daylights" Theme Song) was offered the role of the villan in the movie but was later rejected by Saltzman because he felt he should only be involved with the music rather than acting. -Thanks to Andrew
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What is the nickname of Coventry City F.C. | SkyBlueUntrust • Coventry City Football Club
Division 2: 1966 - 1967 Champions
Division 3: 1963 - 1964 Champions
Southern Professional Floodlight Cup 1960 Winners
Division 4: 1958 - 1959 Runners up
Division 3 (South): 1935 - 1936 Champions
Division 3 (South) Cup 1936 Winners
Birmingham Senior Cup 1911, 1923, 2007 Winners
Birmingham Junior Cup 1891, 1892 Winners
About Coventry City Football Club
Coventry City Football Club has very humble beginnings dating back to October 1883, when a group of workers from Singers Cycle Works in the Hillfields area of the city, headed by William Stanley, set up a works-based football team when their previous club, Coventry Association, folded.
Singers FC as they were known struggled to compete in their early years, joining the Birmingham League in 1894 and frequently moving ground, playing at Dowell’s Field, Binley Road (1883-87) and Stoke Road (1887-99). In 1898 the club changed its name to Coventry City F.C., and a year later they moved to a more permanent home in Highfield Road, where they would remain for the next 106 years.
Much of the time since has been spent struggling both on and off the pitch. This has included a few relegations (dropping into Southern League Division 2 in 1914, Division 3 in 1925 and even as low as Division 4 in 1958-59) as well as nearly going out of business completely at the outbreak of World War I before being rescued by David Cooke, and officials of the club being found guilty of fixing a match against Bury in 1919/20, their first season in the Football League.
But there have been highs along the way. In 1909 the club (which was still largely amateurish at the time) reached the FA Cup quarter-finals.
The promotion back to Division 2 in 1936 and looking on course to reach the top flight until World War II stopped them in their tracks is another high point, with the entire Harry Storer-era of the 1930’s being considered a golden age for Coventry City. Clarrie Bourton was the talismanic forward in a free-scoring attacking team, and with 182 goals remains the clubs all-time leading goalscorer.
Post-war the club entered the doldrums again and slipped down the leagues, but this ultimately brought about the appointment of the charismatic Jimmy Hill in 1961, who changed the club from top to bottom, and was responsible for the Sky Blue kit and nickname and the famous club song Play Up Sky Blues, based around the Eton Boating Song.
As well as this, Hill completely reinvented the matchday experience, bringing in a matchday programme, cheerleaders, half-time entertainment and competitions and numerous other innovations that drew in the crowds and helped the Sky Blues back up the leagues, gaining promotion to the top flight in 1967 with victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers in front of the club’s highest attendance (officially 51,455 although it’s widely believed to have been much higher – people were sat on the floodlight pylons and right on the edge of the pitch). When Hill resigned before the start of that first season in the top flight to pursue a media career, fans were shell-shocked and has left every fan every since wondering “What If?”
That didn’t stop the club reaching Europe in 1970/71, and Coventry were the only team to beat eventual winners Bayern Munich (including Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller) in the Fairs Cup that year (despite losing heavily on aggregate). The same year also saw Ernie Hunt and Willie Carr’s legendary donkey kick free-kick, which was outlawed after the game and will never be repeated.
Coventry were also the first club to have an all-seater stadium in the 1980’s to try and eradicate hooliganism, but the plan backfired when yobs realised the seats made fantastic weapons…
But by far the greatest day in Coventry City’s history is May 16 1987 when, managed by John Sillett and club legend George Curtis, the club finally won some silverware, winning the FA Cup 3-2 against Tottenham in what is described as one of the best finals ever seen. David Bennett and a sublime diving header by Keith Houchen twice brought Coventry back on level terms before an own goal off Gary Mabbutt’s knee in extra time helped the Sky Blues shock their illustrious opponents and the football world in general, with skipper Brian Kilcline hobbling up the Wembley steps to proudly lift the trophy aloft.
For 34 years the Sky Blues steadfastly refused to relinquish their place at the top table despite numerous relegation battles, becoming the 4th longest serving members of the top flight behind Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool and becoming founder members of the Premier League in the process. It led to the phrase “if the Titanic had been painted Sky Blue it would never have gone down” but this record was made with a highly contentious 2-2 draw with Bristol City in 1976 after a late kick-off allowed both teams to know that the draw would be enough to keep them both up.
But in 2001 the club finally dropped out of the top flight after some high risk gambles by the overly-ambitious Bryan Richardson failed to pay off, and the high transfer fees paid out and his desire to build a new stadium left Coventry City with debts of around £60m and on the brink of going out of business.
The club struggled through the next five years, moving into the much smaller than envisaged 32,609 seater Ricoh Arena in 2005 (but only as tenants) and despite the much improved facilities the ground has yet to be adopted as ‘home’.
2007 saw the profligacy of the 1990’s come to a head, with the Sky Blues 30 minutes away from administration before being bought by investment firm SISU and ex-professional Ray Ranson.
Even so the club has since still failed to be particularly competitive thanks to a blend of poor tactics and limited investment in the squad and the club find themselves once again at a crossroads….
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Who had a U.K. number one in the sixties with Massachusetts | 10 best songs written and recorded by the Bee Gees in the 1960s - AXS
10 best songs written and recorded by the Bee Gees in the 1960s
By: Rachael Monaco AXS Contributor Jun 29, 2015
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When younger generations of music listeners hear the name the Bee Gees they automatically think Saturday Night Fever and the disco explosion of the mid to late 1970s. But the Brothers Gibb, highly talented singers and songwriters, created some of the best music to come out of the 1960s. The brothers created pure three-part harmonies that often highlighted Barry’s falsetto and Robin’s clear vibrato.
The Bee Gees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Music Hall of Fame in 1997 and with worldwide record sales of over 220 million records they are one of the world’s best-selling music artists of all-time. The Bee Gees Hall of Fame citation reads :
“Only Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees”.
In 2003 the Bee Gees were presented with the Grammy Legend Award. In 2004, their song “Saturday Night Fever” received the Grammy Hall of Fame Award. At the 2015 Grammy Awards ceremony the Brothers Gibb were given a Lifetime Achievement Award . Sadly, only Barry Gibb was alive to accept the award. Younger brothers, twins Maurice and Robin, had passed away in 2003 and 2012 respectively.
The Bee Gees were not just hit makes during the disco era. They spent a lifetime together creating songs that have become the soundtrack of so many lives from the late 1950s all the way through the present day. There are a plethora of hit singles from which to choose, but what are the 10 best songs recorded by the Bee Gees in the 1960s?
10) “ Wine and Women ”: Included on the Bee Gees 1965 debut album The Bee Gee’s Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs. At the time “Wine and Women” was released Barry was just 19-years-old and twins Robin and Maurice were 16. Recorded at Leedon Records in Australia, the single reached the number 19 spot on the Australian charts. The brothers encouraged fans to buy as many copies of the single as the could thus placing the song in the Top 35, gaining the recognition of disc jockeys and getting airplay.
9) “ Spicks and Specks ”: Written by Barry Gibb and included on the album of the same name, “Spicks and Specks” had its Australian release in September 1966. Still not reaching the charts in the United Kingdom or the United States, “ Spicks and Specks ” grabbed the number four spot on the Go-Set Australian National Top 40 chart. Upon its worldwide 1967 release, “Spicks and Specks” grabbed the number 28 slot on the German charts, peaked at number two in the Netherlands and topped the charts in New Zealand.
8) “ Holiday ”: Robin and Barry Gibb both have songwriting credits for “Holiday” which was included o their 1967 album Bee Gees’ 1st.. The album marked the first time the Bee Gees added a non-family member to their group. Colin Peterson joined the brothers for a short time as a drummer. “ Holiday ” was the Bee Gees introduction to the United States Top 40. The single reached the number 16 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 12 on the U.S. Cash Box chart. “Holiday” has a haunting melody and Barry and Robin trade off lead vocals on the song.
7) “ I Can’t See Nobody ”: Released as the B-side of “New York Mining Disaster 1941”, many have said that the “soulful voice” that Robin introduced to the Bee Gees sound was an “acquired taste”. Stories of where and who wrote “ I Can’t See Nobody ” vary, but all three brothers have been given songwriting credit at some point. The brothers‘ true ability at harmonization comes through during the final chorus of “I Can’t See Nobody”.
6) “ New York Mining Disaster 1941 ”: Written by Barry and Robin Gibb, the song was included on the 1967 album Bee Gees’ 1st. The song reached the number 15 spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 12 on the U.K . Singles chart. Maurice Gibb once said that the song was “ a total rip-off of the Beatles .” In the United States disc jockeys would introduce the song as one “from a new group from England.” Maurice said it was an honor that people thought they were as good as the Beatles.
5) “ To Love Somebody ”: The second single from the 1967 album Bee Gees’ 1st, “To Love Somebody” ranked at number 17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 9 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart. The song just missed the U.K. Top 40 when it peaked at number 41. Written by Barry and Robin Gibb, “ To Love Somebody ” has been covered several times in the 48 years since its release. Most notably the song was covered by Janis Joplin, Michael Bolton, Michael Buble, Billy Corgan and Clay Aiken.
4) “ Massachusetts :” The Bee Gees released “Massachusetts” on their 1968 album Horizontal. Robin Gibb performed the lead vocals on the song and it became one of his standard songs at Bee Gees live shows. It was their first number one hit in the United Kingdom and in Australia and is one of the best-selling singles of all-time. “ Massachusetts ”, to date, has sold five million copies worldwide. In December 2011 ITV voted “Massachusetts” the third favorite on its list of The Nation’s Favourite Bee Gees Song. “How Deep is Your Love” was the first favorite, “You Win Again” was number two.
3) “ I Started a Joke ”: The last song to feature Vince Melouney on guitar, “I Started a Joke” was included on the Bee Gees 1968 album Idea. The single broke the Top 10 in the United States, reaching the number six spot on both the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and U.S. Cash Box chart. In Canada, Australia, Brazil, Denmark and New Zealand “ I Started a Joke ” was a number one hit. All three Gibb Brothers received writing credit.
2) “ Words ”: Released in 1967, the song was the Bee Gees’ first Top 10 hit in the United Kingdom, grabbing the number eight spot on the U.K. Singles chart. “ Words ” peaked at number four on the Canadian RPM Hot Singles chart and number 15 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. “Words” was a number one hit in Germany, the Netherlands Dutch Top 40 and the Swiss Schweizer Hitparade.
1) “ I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You ”: Released on the Bee Gees 1968 album Idea, “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” was the Bee Gees second number one single on the charts in the United Kingdom. It was their first song to reach the Top 10 in the United States, peaking at the number eight spot on the U.S. Billboard Hot Singles chart. All three brothers were given writing credits on “ I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You ”. The song is about a man who is trying to send one more message to his wife before he is executed for murdering her lover.
| Bee Gees |
In criminal slang, what is a dip | Their Greatest Hits: The Record - Bee Gees | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
Their Greatest Hits: The Record
AllMusic Rating
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AllMusic Review by Jose F. Promis
Their Greatest Hits: The Record stands as the best Bee Gees hits package available, assembling both vital European and American hits from their early-'60s period all the way through to 2001. Disc one includes their major '60s and early-'70s hits, up to "You Should Be Dancing." Included are their major American hits, such as "New York Mining Disaster 1941," "Massachusetts," "To Love Somebody," "Lonely Days," "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," "Jive Talkin'," "Nights on Broadway," and "Words," as well as major European hits, such as "World" and the gorgeous "Don't Forget to Remember." Also included on disc one is the former B-side "If I Can't Have You" (popularized, of course, by Yvonne Elliman). Disc two continues the formula, beginning with the cultural phenomenon that was "Stayin' Alive" and continuing with "How Deep Is Your Love," "Night Fever," "Too Much Heaven," "Tragedy," and "Love You Inside and Out." Disc two also includes Barry Gibb's hit duet with Barbra Streisand, "Guilty," as well as major European hits such as "You Win Again" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls," and later American hits such as "One," "Alone," and their superb 2001 single "This Is Where I Came In." As a bonus treat, the album includes four newly recorded versions of Bee Gees songs which became hits for other artists. These include "Emotion," which was popularized by Samantha Sang and later Destiny's Child; "Heartbreaker," which was a comeback smash for Dionne Warwick; the chart-topping "Islands in the Stream," which was a hit for Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton; and "Immortality," a European hit for Celine Dion. A wonderful, stellar collection through and through from one of the rock era's biggest, brightest, most influential, and most exciting acts. As a final note, the European version of this collection includes two songs which were annoyingly left off the American version: "Jumbo" and "My World."
Track Listing - Disc 1
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What is the most versatile piece on a chessboard | Life and The Chess Board – Patrick's Blog
Life and The Chess Board
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Don't Trap The Queen
Heard a great analogy from a friend the other day pertaining to life and the game of chess. I talk a lot on patrickwurtz.com about taking risks and just going for what you want and this analogy summed it up perfectly and its something that is easy to remember that you can remind yourself of daily, weekly or in specific situations when you just need a push.
It goes like this:
In the game of chess the idea is to protect the queen. The reason being is that the queen is the most versatile piece on the game board. It can move in any direction, diagonally and as many spaces as it wants. In chess if you lose your Queen your chances of winning the game decrease ten fold. So most conservative and smart chess players keep their Queen surrounded in the back so that it is protected at all times. They only use it and risk losing it once the game is thought to be won.
The Queen is yourself in life. You are the most important piece on your life game board and you can move in infinite directions. But you protect yourself by surrounding yourself in your comfort zone and thoughts of doubts. We are afraid to move our piece (ourselves) out into new territory and take risks cause we are scared, don’t want to fail, don’t want to be wrong and don’t want to lose.
Move your Queen! Get it out from the protection of whatever and go destroy the game board. We are the most powerful piece on the board it is not worth wasting.
| The Queen |
Which British aircraft manufacturer built the World War Two bomber the Wellington | Most useles piece! - Chess.com
Chess.com
#1
Nov 22, 2008
Hi chess peops, I want to check which piece in chess is the most useless! Of course, King is not consider one of them because without the king, you lose! (HAHA . . . ) So, please post your opinion on the piece you dislike the most or the piece that you think is most useless.
I think Rook the most useless piece in chess, in the start of the game, it can't even move(Can only move after the first move or will stay at that corner for half of the game)! All the work is done by other pieces. Rook is only good for checking. . . . Most of my game, I don't even use it. . . . (1 of them always stay at the corner until most of my pieces are gone) That might be my weakness.
^_^
davidcarlson wrote:
the pawn directly behind another pawn
Right, that makes sense LOL! Thtas why people always exchange pieces to decrease your opponent's defence!
A Bishop locked in behind its own pawns can be quite useless.
Right, and thats what I always do to my opponents! LOL
Keep forcing their bishop away then BOOM, it is stuck!
#6
Nov 22, 2008
There is no piece in chess that is useless, they all work together in harmony to form an art, and if you removed one of them then you sacrifice the performance of the rest. Even the King can be a powerful warrior in the endgame.
#8
Nov 22, 2008
MikiMouse does have a point, but, some people can win a game without the help of Rook! Some times, the pieces are blocking the way, it makes it hard to come up with a plan to get rid of them. . . .
Oh well, yep, he does have a point.....
#10
Nov 22, 2008
It is true that some people can win a game with out the help of a rook, a bishop, or even a queen for that matter. But, if you just took a piece off of the chessboard never to be put back you would lose much of the appeal of chess, strategically using all of the pieces together.
This bishop is pretty useless:
Nov 22, 2008
EndingPride wrote:
Hi chess peops, I want to check which piece in chess is the most useless! Of course, King is not consider one of them because without the king, you lose! (HAHA . . . ) So, please post your opinion on the piece you dislike the most or the piece that you think is most useless.
I think Rook the most useless piece in chess, in the start of the game, it can't even move(Can only move after the first move or will stay at that corner for half of the game)! All the work is done by other pieces. Rook is only good for checking. . . . Most of my game, I don't even use it. . . . (1 of them always stay at the corner until most of my pieces are gone) That might be my weakness.
^_^
You should work on developing your rooks early in the game. That way you will be using all of your pieces together and that will make you an altogether better chess player.
#13
Nov 22, 2008
Of course, but that is a particularly useless bishop. In the interest of fairness, here is a particularly useless knight:
mikimouse wrote:
EndingPride wrote:
Hi chess peops, I want to check which piece in chess is the most useless! Of course, King is not consider one of them because without the king, you lose! (HAHA . . . ) So, please post your opinion on the piece you dislike the most or the piece that you think is most useless.
I think Rook the most useless piece in chess, in the start of the game, it can't even move(Can only move after the first move or will stay at that corner for half of the game)! All the work is done by other pieces. Rook is only good for checking. . . . Most of my game, I don't even use it. . . . (1 of them always stay at the corner until most of my pieces are gone) That might be my weakness.
^_^
You should work on developing your rooks early in the game. That way you will be using all of your pieces together and that will make you an altogether better chess player.
TY TY TY!! But I am not so good at doing so -_-
the pawn directly behind another pawn
KingPan: this position of the pawns gets me so annoyed 70% of the time im playing i get into trouble.
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Which lighthouse is 4 miles south west of the Scilly Isles | Lighthouses of Southwest England
* Teignmouth (The Den)
1845. Active; focal plane 10 m (33 ft); continuous red light. 6 m (20 ft) round limestone tower with lantern. The tower is unpainted; the lantern is blue plastic or fiberglass. Trabas has a closeup , Chris Allen has a 2011 photo , Brian Sexton has a good photo , Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a street view and a satellite view . The lighthouse also functions as the front light of a range; the rear light is mounted on a tall black mast in front of the Lynton Hotel. This historic lighthouse was built by the Teignmouth Harbour Commission and has remained under their control ever since. Devon Heritage has a brief article describing its construction. Located on the beachfront at Den Point in Teignmouth. Site open, tower closed. Operator: Teignmouth Harbour Commission . ARLHS ENG-153; Admiralty A0262; NGA 0392.
* [Phillip Lucette Beacon]
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 4 m (13 ft); red light, occulting once every 6 s. 4 m (13 ft) stone column. Trabas has a photo , Lighthouse Explorer has Tony Denton's photo , and Bing has a satellite view . Not a lighthouse, but obviously a venerable beacon. Located on a submerged training wall (breakwater) on the south side of the entrance to the Teign, off Marine Parade in Shaldon. Site open, tower closed. Operator: Teignmouth Harbour Commission . Admiralty A0263; NGA 0400.
Torbay Lighthouses
* Berry Head
1906. Active; focal plane 58 m (191 ft); two white flashes, separated by 2.5 s, every 15 s. 4.5 m (15 ft) round cylindrical lantern attached to a 1-story square equipment building. Buildings painted white. Coast Guard and signal stations are nearby. A photo by Robin Lucas is at right, Photographer's Resource has a fine page with many photos, Trabas has an excellent closeup by Klaus Kern, Gordon McKinlay also has a good closeup , and Marinas.com has aerial photos . The light station actually faces northeast rather than south, as can be seen in a Google satellite view . In Huelse's historic postcard view , the light is flanked by acetylene tanks that formerly supplied fuel for the light. Celebrated as England's smallest lighthouse (it looks more like 3 m (10 ft) in photos), this is nonetheless considered a major light. Originally, the rotating light was powered by weights that descended into an underground shaft 45 m (148 ft) long. Located at the end of Gillard Road in Brixham, marking the south entrance to Tor Bay. Site open, tower closed. Operator/site manager: Trinity House. ARLHS ENG-007; Admiralty A0244; NGA 0344.
Berry Head Light, Brixham, May 2005
Geograph Creative Commons photo by Robin Lucas
South Hams District (Dartmouth Area) Lighthouses
* [Kingswear Daymark]
1864. Inactive daybeacon. 25 m (82 ft) octagonal pyramidal hollow granite tower with a gracefully arched base, open underneath. Tony Walker has a nice 2009 photo , Wendy Emlyn has a good photo , and Google has a satellite view . This unusual tower is well maintained as a daybeacon and as a historical monument. Located at an elevation of about 145 m (475 ft) and about 700 m (0.44 mi) from the coast on the east side of the entrance to the Dart estuary. Accessible by road. Site open, and visitors can walk under the tower. Owner/site manager: Dart Harbour and Navigation Authority .
**** Start Point
1836 (James Walker). Active; focal plane 62 m (203 ft); three white flashes every 10 s. In addition, a continuous red light is shown northeastward over the Skerries Bank from a window of the tower (focal plane 55 m (180 ft)). 28 m (92 ft) round cylindrical masonry tower attached to a keeper's house; buildings painted white. Fog horn (blast every 60 s). Three assistant keeper's cottages (1871). A photo is at right, Photographer's Resource has a fine page with many photos, Trabas has a fine photo by Arno Siering, Wikimedia has additional photos , Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a good satellite view . Three of the keeper's houses are available for overnight rental; the fourth is occupied by a resident caretaker who conducts tours of the light station. The station is somewhat endangered by erosion of the cliff on which it stands; the 1860s fog signal building collapsed in 1989 after being undermined by erosion. Note: there is another Start Point Light in the Orkney Islands, Scotland. Located at the end of a sharp promontory that juts eastward into the English Channel about 20 km (13 mi) south of Dartmouth; accessible by car from the A379 at Stokenham. Parking provided. Site open; tower open to tours daily during July and August and during Christmas holidays, and on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from early April to June 30 and on bank holidays. Operator/site manager: Trinity House. ARLHS ENG-148; Admiralty A0228; NGA 0324.
Start Point Light, Dartmouth, March 2008
Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Nilfanion
Eddystone and Plymouth Lighthouses
* Queen Anne's Battery Range Rear
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 14 m (46 ft); directional light, occulting once every 7.5 s, showing white southwestward over the channel, green to the right and red to the left. The light is shown from a small window in a square cylindrical clock tower mounted on the roof of a 2-story building. Trabas has a photo , JuanRa Urrutia has a photo , and Google has a satellite view . Located at the end of Artillery Place off Teats Hill road in Cattedown, on the east side of Plymouth. Operator: Cattewater Harbour Commissioners . Site manager: unknown. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ENG-312; Admiralty A0132; NGA 0184.
* [Nailzee Point Fog Signal]
Date unknown (after 1977). Inactive since 2012. 3 m (10 ft) square concrete "pillbox," with a square opening in the front, painted white. Google has a street view and a satellite view . Located on the south side of the harbor entrance in Looe. Site open, tower closed. ex-Admiralty A0095.
* [Spy House Point (Polperro)]
1911. Active; focal plane 30 m (98 ft); white or red light, depending on direction, 3 s on, 3 s off. 3 m (10 ft) round brick tower with lantern, painted white with black trim. Trabas has a closeup photo , and Google has a satellite view . Located at the entrance to the harbor of Polperro, a small port about 10 km (6 mi) east of Fowey. Site open, tower closed. Operator: unknown. ARLHS ENG-243; Admiralty A0090; NGA 0118.
* [Whitehouse Point]
1892; relocated here in 1904. Active; focal plane 11 m (36 ft); directional light, 1.5 s on, 1.5 s off, showing white over the channel, green to the right and red to the left. 6 m (20 ft) cast iron "drum" tower, with a cylindrical enclosure mounted atop a post and an external ladder to the enclosure, all painted bright red. Not much of a lighthouse, but an unusual light tower. Trabas has an excellent photo , Chris Williams has a closeup , and Google has a street view and a satellite view . Located on the west side of the harbor at Fowey. Site open, tower closed. Operator: Fowey Harbour Commissioners . ARLHS ENG-217; Admiralty A0084; NGA 0108.
* St. Catherine's Point
1904. Active; focal plane 28 m (92 ft); directional light, 2 s on, 5 s off; white light is shown to the southeast over the entrance channel to Fowey Harbour, with red to either side. 6 m (20 ft) round cast iron lantern standing on a short octagonal concrete base. Millichamp has a photo , Gary Ashcroft has a photo , Trabas also has a good photo , and Google has a satellite view . Located on the cliff edge on the west side of the harbor entrance. Accessible by walking the South West Coast Trail . Site open, tower closed. Owner/operator: Fowey Harbour Commissioners . ARLHS ENG-218; Admiralty A0082; NGA 0104.
** [Gribbin Head Daymark]
1832. Never a lighthouse, this is a very large, historic daybeacon: a 25 m (84 ft) square stone tower painted with red and white horizontal bands. Neil Hobbs has a 2007 closeup photo , Paul Love also has a good photo , and Google has a satellite view . Located on the headland, about 75 m (250 ft) above the sea about 2 km (1.2 mi) southwest of Fowey. Accessible by walking the South West Coast Trail . Site open, tower open on Sundays in July, August, and early September. Owner/site manager: National Trust ( Gribbin Daymark ).
* Mevagissey (South Breakwater)
1896. Active; focal plane 9 m (30 ft); white light, 1.5 s on, 2 s off, 1.5 s on, 5 s off. 8 m (27 ft) hexagonal cast iron tower, painted white; base of the tower painted black. Fog horn (blast every 30 s). Roger Marks's photo is at right, Trabas has a closeup photo by Arno Siering, a 2007 photo and a closeup photo of the lantern are available, Makus Matern has a photo sphere , Marinas.com has aerial photos , and the little tower is centered in a Google satellite view . The light is a sibling of the 1890 St. Ives Light (see below). Located at the end of the south breakwater in Mevagissey, about 7 km (4.5 mi) south of St. Austell. Site open, tower closed. Owner/site manager: Mevagissey Harbour Trustees . ARLHS ENG-234; Admiralty A0078; NGA 0100.
Mevagissey Light, July 2010
Flickr Creative Commons photo by Roger Marks
Falmouth Area Lighthouses
**** The Lizard (2) (Twin towers)
1752 (Thomas Fonnereau). Station established 1619. East tower active; focal plane 70 m (230 ft); white flash every 3 s. West tower inactive since 1903. Twin octagonal cylindrical stone towers connected by a 2-story stone keeper's quarters; the east tower is 19 m (62 ft) tall with its lantern, 1st order Fresnel lens, and gallery. The lantern of the west tower has been removed. Building painted white. Fog horn (blast every 30 s). The signal station nearby was built by Lloyd's of London to report ship arrivals. Nick Hubbard's photo is at right, Chris Bradley has a photo , Photographer's Resource has an excellent page with numerous photos, Trabas has a closeup photo of the east tower by Klaus Kern, Wikimedia has several photos , Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a street view and an excellent satellite view . The Lizard , a peninsula southeast of Penzance, is the southernmost point of the mainland of Great Britain; its name does not refer to reptiles but is an English spelling of a Cornish word lysardh meaning a high point or headland. This famous lighthouse has been a traditional landfall for ships arriving in England for more than 250 years. Visitor facilities at the lighthouse were operated by the Trevithick Trust for many years. In 2004 the lighthouse was closed for renovations, and during the same year the trust went out of operation. Trinity House then took over the visitor facilities and reopened the lighthouse on 1 May 2005. In July 2009 the Trinity House Lizard Lighthouse Heritage Centre was opened in the station's engine building. Located on the point at the end of the A3083 highway (Lighthouse Road) from Helston. Parking provided. Site open, visitor center and tower open daily in the summer and at various times during the rest of the year (check the web site for the current schedule). Operator/site manager: Trinity House ( Lizard Lighthouse Heritage Centre
). ARLHS ENG-068; Admiralty A0060; NGA 0064.
East Tower, The Lizard, Landewednack, October 2008
Flickr Creative Commons photo by Nick Hubbard
Penzance Area Lighthouses
* Marazion (?)
Date unknown. Inactive. Approx. 4 m (13 ft) hexagonal brick castellated tower; the light was displayed through a window. A photo is available, and Google has a satellite view . According to Millichamp, lights were shown through a window of the tower, but no evidence has been found that it was ever an official aid to navigation. Located at the end of Leys Lane in Marazion, on Mount's Bay opposite St. Michael's Mount , about 8 km (5 mi) east of Penzance. Site open, tower closed. ARLHS ENG-331.
* Newlyn Harbour South Pier (2)
1914 (station established 1887). Active; focal plane 10 m (34 ft); white flash every 5 s. 10 m (34 ft) round cast iron tower, painted white; the top of the lantern is red and there is also a red band at the base of the tower. A photo is at right, Trabas has a closeup photo by Arno Siering, Jon Law has a good closeup , and Google has a satellite view and a distant street view . The original light was a cast iron tower very similar to the present light; it was replaced when the pier was extended by 90 ft (27 m). The present light was prefabricated in London by Butler Brothers. Located at the end of the pier in Newlyn, on the south side of Penzance. Accessible by walking the pier. Site open, tower closed. Operator/site manager: Newlyn Pier and Harbour Commission . ARLHS ENG-236; Admiralty A0038; NGA 0040.
Newlyn Harbour South Pier Light, May 2010
Wikimedia Creative Commons photo by Herbythyme
Land's End Lighthouses
Note: Land's End is the picturesque and stormy headland at the extreme southwestern tip of Cornwall and of England. Located at the end of the A30 highway, the cape is a popular tourist attraction with a visitors' center and a large parking area.
* Tater Du
1965. Active; focal plane 34 m (112 ft); three white flashes, separated by 2.5 s, every 15 s. 15 m (50 ft) round cylindrical concrete block tower with lantern and gallery, painted white, rising from 1-story service building. Fog horn (two blasts every 30 s). Trabas has a great closeup by Klaus Kern, Photographer's Resource has an excellent page with numerous photos, Tony Kerr has another photo , and Google has a satellite view . The lighthouse was built after the Spanish freighter Juan Ferrar wrecked nearby in 1963 with the loss of 11 lives. Located on a headland about 6 km (4 mi) southwest of Penzance. The road to the light station is not open to the public, but the lighthouse is accessible by hiking about 3 km (2 mi) from Lamorna Cove on the Cornish Coastal Trail. Site open, tower closed. Operator/site manager: Trinity House. ARLHS ENG-152; Admiralty A0032; NGA 0032.
**** Pendeen
1900. Active; focal plane 59 m (195 ft); four white flashes, separated by 2.2 s, every 15 s. 17 m (56 ft) concrete-clad rubblestone tower, attached to 1-story keeper's houses. Entire building painted white. Original rotating 1st order Fresnel lens in use. Electronic fog horn (blast every 20 s). Original fog signal building with two diaphone horns. The 1-story keeper's house complex has four apartments; two are occupied by attendants and the other two are available for vacation rental . An excellent photo is available, Trabas also has a closeup photo by Arno Siering, Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a closeup street view and a fine satellite view . This historic and well-preserved light station is one of the most popular tourist attractions of the Land's End area. Located on the promontory called Pendeen Watch, about 2 km (1.2 mi) north of the B3306 highway at Pendeen. Accessible by road, parking provided. Site open, buildings and tower open to guided tours daily except Saturdays during July and August and during holiday periods in the spring. Operator: Trinity House . ARLHS ENG-100; Admiralty A5670; NGA 6304.
Isles of Scilly Lighthouses
Note: The Isles of Scilly , (pronounced silly in English, syllan in Cornish) are located 45 km (28 mi) southwest of Land's End and are accessible by ferry from Penzance. There are five inhabited islands and about 135 islets and rocks in the group. The permanent population is a little over 2000. The islanders have their own county council, separate from the Cornwall Council.
Bishop Rock
1858 (substantially rebuilt in 1887) (James Walker (1858) and James Douglass (1887)). Active; focal plane 44 m (144 ft); two white flashes every 15 s. 51 m (167 ft) round granite tower, incorporating keeper's quarters, with lantern and a helipad built above the lantern. Tower is unpainted gray stone; lantern and helipad painted white. A hyper-radiant Fresnel lens is in use, giving the light a range of 20 nautical miles (37 km or 23 mi). Fog horn (one long and one short blast every 90 s). Jeremy Pearson's photo is at right, Photographer's Resource has a good page for the lighthouse, Trabas has a great closeup by Joan and Gary Trigwell, and Murray Nurse also has a closeup . This is one of the world's most famous and most exposed lighthouses: on one occasion giant waves ripped the fog bell from the gallery. The engineer James Walker first built a 42 m (138 ft) skeletal tower on the reef, believing that the skeletal design would allow waves to pass through the tower. The ocean demonstrated otherwise, destroying the tower in February 1850 before it was completed. Walker then constructed a 35 m (115 ft) masonry tower, completed in September 1858. Its successful construction was rightly considered a triumph of British engineering. Douglass inspected the tower in 1881 and found that it had been damaged by wave action. He ordered the lighthouse to be strengthened and heightened by 12 m (39 ft) by building what amounted to a new tower completely enclosing the old one. A new lantern increased the height by another 4 m (13 ft). The helipad was added in 1973. Keepers manned the station until December 1992. The lighthouse formerly had a giant "double" Fresnel lens, with two lights, although only the lower lens was used most of the time. Both lights were lit in the fog. Half of this unusual lens is on display at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in Falmouth; USLHS has a photo (1/4 the way down the page). Located on a bare rock pinnacle 6 km (4 mi) west of the Isles of Scilly. Accessible only by helicopter; visible distantly from St. Agnes. Site and tower closed. Operator/site manager: Trinity House. ARLHS ENG-010; Admiralty A0002 (the very first lighthouse in the Admiralty List of Lights & Fog Signals); NGA 0004.
Bishop Rock Light, Isles of Scilly, June 2006
Flickr Creative Commons photo by Jeremy Pearson
* St. Agnes
1680. Inactive since 1911. Approx. 21 m (70 ft) round stone tower with lantern and gallery, painted white. Chris Downer has a good photo , the BBC has posted a photo by Beth Hilton, Terry Burgess has another good photo , and Google has a satellite view and Andrew Abbott's street view . One of the oldest British lighthouses, this tower was built for Trinity House by Capt. Hugh Till and Capt. Symon Bayly. The lighthouse is still owned by Trinity House, but the adjacent 2-story keeper's houses are leased as a private residence. The original coal chauffer, an open container used with no lens, is on display at the botanical gardens on the Isle of Tresco. The lighthouse was replaced by the Peninnis Head Light. Located at the highest point of St. Agnes, southwesternmost of the main Isles of Scilly. Site and tower closed, although the lighthouse can be viewed from nearby. Owner: Trinity House; site manager: private. ARLHS ENG-140.
Lightship Sevenstones (Seven Stones)
Station established 1841. Active; focal plane 12 m (39 ft); three white flashes every 30 s. Fog horn (three 2 s blasts every 60 s). Steel lightship; light tower with lantern amidships. Entire vessel painted red. The Trinity House photo shows LV-19 on this station. Alan Denham has a 2005 photo showing LV-20, and ShipSpotting.com has a photo showing LV-2 in port with Seven Stones markings. Lighthships on this station have been automated and unmanned since 1987. Located on a reef northeast of the Scilly Isles and due west of Land's End. Site open, vessel closed. ARLHS ENG-124; Admiralty A0020; NGA 0020.
St. Ives Area Lighthouses
* St. Ives (1)
1831 (James and Edward Harvey). Inactive since 1890. 6 m (20 ft) square cylindrical stone tower with octagonal gallery and a broad observation room instead of a traditional lantern. A fine closeup is available, Wikimedia has a 2010 photo , and Google has a street view and a satellite view . This tower is mounted on the original harbor wall built by John Smeaton in 1770, but the common belief that Smeaton also built the lighthouse is not correct. After deactivation in 1890 the building was used as a store. The lighthouse was restored in the late 1990s after being nearly destroyed by fire in 1996. Located on the waterfront in St. Ive's. Site open, tower closed. Owner/site manager: Cornwall Council . ARLHS ENG-144.
Godrevy Island (1)
1859 (James Walker). Inactive since 2012. 26 m (86 ft) octagonal cylindrical stone tower, painted white. Keepers houses demolished; oil house survives. Steven Turner's closeup photo is at the top of this page, Photographer's Resource has a good page for the station, Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a satellite view . The author Virginia Wolff spent holidays at Talland House in St. Ives, and her view of this lighthouse inspired the writing of her most famous work, To The Lighthouse (1927). In January 2005, a permit was issued to build apartments that will block this view. Soon thereafter, Trinity House announced plans to deactivate the light, but in August it backed down in the face of widespread protests. In 2012, Trinity House announced once again that the lighthouse would be deactivated and replaced by a smaller light at the end of August. The new light (focal plane 28 m (92 ft); flash every 10 s, white or red depending on direction; Admiralty A5655) is on a post next to the lighthouse. The island (but not the lighthouse) was bought by Dennis Arbon, who subsequently donated it to Hall for Cornwall, a local theater organization. In 2009 the Hall placed the land for sale, but the buyer must maintain public access to the lighthouse. In 2014 Trinity House approached local authorities about possibly transferring management of the lighthouse, but then changed its mind and announced it would maintain the tower as a daybeacon. Located about 500 m (0.3 mi) off Godrevy Point near Gwithian at the northeastern entrance to St. Ives's Bay. Accessible only by boat, but there are excellent views from the Southwest Coast Path. Site open, tower closed. Owner: Trinity House . Site manager: Hall for Cornwall . ARLHS ENG-047; ex-Admiralty A5654; ex-NGA 6284.
St. Ives Light, October 2005
Flickr Creative Commons photo by Ennor
* Portreath
Date unknown. Inactive. Approx. 6 m (20 ft) cylindrical tower topped by a short mast that formerly held a navigation light. A photo is available, and Google has a street view and a satellite view . Millichamp rediscovered this forgotten lighthouse in his survey of English lights. Located at the end of the Landmark Pier in Portreath. Accessible by walking the pier. Site open, tower closed. Owner/site manager: unknown. ARLHS ENG-324.
* [Portreath Beacon]
Date unknown. Daybeacon, never lit. 7.5 m (25 ft) round stone tower, painted white. Ian Garfield has a closeup 2013 photo , and Google has a street view and a satellite view . We need information on the history of this beacon. Located on Lighthouse Hill on the east side of the entrance to Portreath. Site open, tower closed.
Northern Cornwall Lighthouses
Lundy Island North
1897. Active; focal plane 48 m (157 ft); quick white flash every 5 s. 17 m (56 ft) cylindrical brick tower with lantern and gallery attached to two 1-story keeper's houses. All buildings painted white. The lantern is not in use; since 1991 the solar-powered light has been displayed from the roof of the small fog signal tower on the north side of the lighthouse. Steve Hodgson's photo is at right, Photographer's Resource has a page for the lighthouse, Trabas has a great photo , Nick Hubbard has also posted a good photo , Wikimedia has photos , Huelse has a historic postcard view , and Google has a satellite view and a photo sphere by Paul Hollinghurst. Located atop cliffs at the northern tip of the island; accessible by a rough walk of 10 km (6 mi) roundtrip. Site open, tower closed. Operator: Trinity House . ARLHS ENG-074; Admiralty A5616; NGA 6244.
Lundy Island North Light, August 2007
Flickr Creative Commons photo by Steve Hodgson
Torridge District: Mainland Lighthouses
* Instow Range Rear
Date unknown. Active; focal plane 38 m (126 ft); white light, 7.5 s on, 2.5 s off, day and night. 8.5 m (28 ft) square skeletal tower with gallery mounted atop a 1-story equipment hut, painted white. Trabas has Arno Siering's photo showing the light in the middle of a sheep pasture, and Google has a street view and a satellite view . Located just off Rectory Lane on the northwest side of Instow, 425 m (1/4 mi) west southwest of the front light. Site open, tower closed. Operator: Torridge District Council (Port of Bideford). ARLHS ENG-254; Admiralty A5610.1; NGA 6236.
Hartland Point Light, Titchberry, July 2004
Geograph Creative Commons photo by Nicholas Mutton
North Devon District Lighthouses
* [Braunton Sands Low (Crow Point) (2)]
1957(?) (station established 1820). Active; focal plane 8 m (27 ft); flash every 5 s, white or red depending on direction. 7.5 m (25 ft) square pyramidal steel skeletal tower, painted white; no lantern. Trabas has a distant photo , a closeup is available, and Google has a satellite view . Originally there were high and low lighthouses at Braunton Sands; the high light was a remarkable octagonal wood tower mounted atop a 2-story keeper's house. A 1906 view is available. These lights were demolished in 1957. Located on a sandy spit just inside the entrance to the River Taw opposite Instow. It should be possible to walk out to the light. Operator: Trinity House . ARLHS ENG-030; Admiralty A5612; NGA 6240.
** Bull Point (3)
1976 (station established 1879). Active; focal plane 54 m (177 ft); three white flashes every 10 s; also a continuous red hazard light is shown westward over Rockham Shoal. 12 m (35 ft) square cylindrical brick tower with lantern and gallery, attached to 1-story utility building. Four keeper's cottages available for vacation rental . Photographer's Resource has a good page for the lighthouse, Wikimedia has photos , Trabas has a closeup photo by Arno Siering, and Google has a satellite view . Huelse has a historic postcard view of the original lighthouse. This clifftop light station is highly vulnerable to erosion. In September 1972 a large slide destroyed the fog signal building and threatened the lighthouse, forcing Trinity House to replace both structures. A temporary lighthouse (a skeletal tower with lantern and gallery) was relocated to serve while the present lighthouse was designed and built. Located on the point about 2 km (1.2 mi) north of Mortehoe. Accessible by a popular hike from Mortehoe on the South West Coast Path . Site open, keeper's house open to paying guests, tower closed. Operator/site manager: Trinity House . ARLHS ENG-017; Admiralty A5600; NGA 6228.
| Bishop Rock, Isles of Scilly |
What is the collective noun for tigers | St. Agnes
St. Agnes
Island Highlights
There are five inhabited islands - St. Mary's, Tresco, St. Martin's, Bryher and St. Agnes – and countless uninhabited islands to explore. Not only are the entire Isles of Scilly an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, but 2,200 people are lucky enough to call it home.
By Foot
One of the simplest pleasures when staying on Scilly is to go exploring. Between them, the five inhabited islands have more than 60 miles of trails and tracks and approximately 9 miles of paved road, as well as (of course!) the beautiful waters that surround them
St. Agnes
England’s final frontier: totally untamed and thoroughly unspoilt
On the most south-westerly edge of the Isles of Scilly, St. Agnes is totally unspoilt and astonishingly peaceful. It measures just a mile or so across, and its closest neighbour is Gugh, to which it is joined by a sand bar at low tide.
This is an island of wonderful contrasts, from rocky outcrops on its exposed west side to paradise beaches in its more sheltered coves; the tranquillity of the sandbar between St. Agnes and Gugh is particularly magical. Inland are quaint cottages and a patchwork of flower fields, while a lighthouse stands at the island’s highest point. St. Agnes is also a thriving community of working farms and creative, light industrial flair.
St. Agnes urges your senses to seek adventure. Head off in search of the circular maze of rounded beach stones; marvel at the stone stacks and cairns that dot Wingletang Down, or comb the beaches for shipwrecked treasures at Beady Pool. Periglis Beach is a fine spot for a picnic as well as a shell collectors’ paradise. It also offers stunning views across to the bird sanctuary that is Annet, the Western Rocks and out to Bishop Rock. And then there’s the Old Man of Gugh, who stands 3 metres tall and is believed to be associated with Bronze Age rituals.
Of course, there is always the option to simply go for a dip, or sit and watch the world go by whilst sampling the local produce at the restaurants and cafés, or supping a beer at the Turk’s Head pub.
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Green tourism award
St Agnes Boating
St. Agnes All year
St Agnes Boating is a small family owned business that has over twenty years experience boating within the islands using Scilly's only purpose built catamaran the Spirit of St Agnes. For a more intimate bespoke service the Enterprise is available for special hire, fishing and sightseeing trips. Call us or go online to discuss your requirements. Read more »
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Green tourism award
Troytown Farm Shop
St. Agnes All year
Troytown Farm is the only dairy farm in Scilly. Milking 9 dairy cows, it might also be the smallest in the country. Farming on a small scale works for us, as we process the milk in our little dairy and make very special ice cream, clotted cream, butter and yogurt to sell direct to our customers from our farm shop.
Covean Cottage Ts on Ts Cafe
St. Agnes Apr-Oct
Teas on T-Days: delightful garden cafe on the island of St. Agnes serving delicious, freshly baked cream teas and cakes.. 2 - 5 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays Tel. 01720 422620. Also evening Pizza nights during the Summer (pre-orders only). Read more »
St Agnes Boating Wildlife Safaris
St. Agnes Apr-Sep
St Agnes Boating is working with the Seabird Recovery Project and the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust to promote the island’s wildlife. Every Wednesday we have a Wildlife Trust Ranger onboard who is our guide. The Spirit travels to Annet, the protected island where the seabirds nest and then onto the Western Rocks towards the Bishop Rock Lighthouse every Wednesday afternoon. Puffins, Manx Shearwaters and other nesting seabirds should be seen from April to July. Come along to find out why our customers say this trip is exciting, educational, informative and fun! Read more »
St. Agnes Stores
St. Agnes All year
England's most South Westerly Post Office! Our friendly little shop sells a great range of good food, wines, freshly baked bread, pastries and pasties. We stock lots of delicious St. Agnes produe including local island beef and chocolate, and Troytown Farm ice cream. We also have a lovely selection of greetings cards, toys and local gifts. Read more »
Coastguards Cafe
St. Agnes Mar-Oct
Situated above Santa Warna Cove on St Agnes, behind the Coastguard Cottages with one of the wildest views in the UK. This cool family owned cafe serves great coffee, delicious homemade lunches, cakes and cream teas using local produce. Wifi access and lots of seating inside and out. Read more »
Wednesday 21st September
Meet on St. Agnes Quay
Today, it’s the turn of the dairy cattle, as we invite you to tour Troytown Farm on St. Agnes, England’s most south-westerly farm, and arguably the smallest one in the country with just 9 Jersey cows! Read more »
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Green tourism award
Camping
St. Agnes Mar-Oct | £8.75 - £8.75 pppn
In a stunning location, on the water’s edge of the island of St Agnes, Troytown Farm Campsite has breath taking panoramic views from every pitch.
Wake up to the sound of the sea, sample an ice cream made on the farm, relax on the campsites own beach, dine alfresco by the campfire then watch the sunset from your tent. Read more »
Self Catering
St. Agnes Sleeps 4 | All year | £490 - £1,015 per week
Troytown Cottage was recently extended and renovated and now combines Scillonian character with modern comforts such as underfloor heating throughout and plenty of headroom! It is a spacious, comfortable and luxurious let set in a peaceful location, in the heart of our dairy farm, close to the islands beautiful beaches and breathtaking walks. Read more »
Bed & Breakfast
St. Agnes 3 Rooms | Apr-Oct | £44 - £52 pppn
A traditional Cornish cottage guesthouse on the peaceful island of St. Agnes, within a short walk of the beach, Turk’s Head Inn and the quay. Enjoy a delicious cream tea in the garden with freshly baked scones and locally made clotted cream, straight from the island’s dairy farm. All of our 3 guestrooms have sea and garden views. Read more »
Bed & Breakfast
St. Agnes 2 Rooms | Mar-Oct | £50 - £50 pppn
Hellweathers B&B on St Agnes has beautifully refurbished, fresh guest rooms and stunning views to Bishop Rock Lighthouse and the rugged Western Rocks. The garden leads straight onto a golden sandy beach and is perfect for swimming, relaxing, paddling or playing. New owners Kate and Rob offer you a very warm welcome. Read more »
Camping
St. Agnes Sleeps 4 | Mar-Oct | £330 - £500 per week
A rented bell tent is the perfect choice for a totally carefree camping holiday, where you can travel light and be in your tent with the kettle boiling within minutes of arriving on the farm. These traditional, sturdy tents are provided pre-erected and fully equipped with all the gear you need for up to 4 people, allowing you to enjoy every last minute of your holiday. Read more »
Self Catering
St. Agnes Sleeps 2 | All year | £350 - £630 per week
The Flat sleeps 2 in one double room, with lovely views across the ocean. Read more »
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What colour does verdant mean | Verdant | Definition of Verdant by Merriam-Webster
5 Better Ways to Say 'Green'
Did You Know?
English speakers have been using "verdant" as a ripe synonym of "green" since the late 16th century, and as a descriptive term for inexperienced or naive people since the 1820s. (By contrast, the more experienced "green" has colored our language since well before the 12th century, and was first applied to inexperienced people in the 1540s.) "Verdant" is derived from the Old French word for "green," vert, which in turn is from Latin virērē, meaning "to be green." Today, "vert" is used in English as a word for green forest vegetation and the heraldic color green. Another descendant of "virere" is the adjective virescent, meaning "beginning to be green."
Origin and Etymology of verdant
contracted from Medieval French verdoyant, from present participle of verdoyer “to be green, turn green,” going back to Old French verdoier, from verd, vert “green” (going back to Latin viridis, from a base *wir-, whence virēre “to show green growth, be green” of uncertain origin) + -oier, factitive verb suffix, going back to Latin -idiāre, originally representing variant pronunciation (or spelling variant) of -izāre -ize ◆Latin viridis and virēre have been linked to Lithuanian visti “to multiply, breed,” veisti “to breed, rear,” as well as to Old English wīse “sprout, stalk,” Old High German wisa “meadow,” though the semantic connections are vague enough to make this a very tenuous hypothesis.
First Known Use: 1581
| Green |
What is the slang term for a criminal who specialises in safe cracking | What Colors Mean
Word Wise > Speaking of Language
What Colors Mean
We live in a colorful world. In many countries, colors represent various holidays; they are also used to express feelings and enliven language. Find your favorite color and see what it means around the world.
Red
For the ancient Romans, a red flag was a signal for battle.
Because of its visibility, stop signs, stoplights, brake lights, and fire equipment are all painted red.
The ancient Egyptians considered themselves a red race and painted their bodies with red dye for emphasis.
In Russia, red means beautiful. The Bolsheviks used a red flag as their symbol when they overthrew the tsar in 1917. That is how red became the color of communism.
In India, red is the symbol for a soldier.
In South Africa, red is the color of mourning.
It's considered good luck to tie a red bow on a new car.
In China, red is the color of good luck and is used as a holiday and wedding color. Chinese babies are given their names at a red-egg ceremony.
Superstitious people think red frightens the devil.
A “red-letter day” is one of special importance and good fortune.
In Greece, eggs are dyed red for good luck at Easter time.
To “paint the town red” is to celebrate.
Red is the color most commonly found in national flags.
In the English War of the Roses, red was the color of the House of Lancaster, which defeated the House of York, symbolized by the color white.
The “Redshirts” were the soldiers of the Italian leader Garibaldi, who unified modern Italy in the nineteenth century.
To “see red” is to be angry.
A “red herring” is a distraction, something that takes attention away from the real issue.
A “red eye” is an overnight airplane flight.
If a business is “in the red,” it is losing money.
Green
Only one national flag is a solid color: the green flag of Libya.
Ancient Egyptians colored the floors of their temples green.
In ancient Greece, green symbolized victory.
In the highlands of Scotland, people wore green as a mark of honor.
Green is the national color of Ireland.
A “greenback” is slang for a U.S. dollar bill.
Green means “go.” When “all systems are green,” it means everything is in order.
The green room of a concert hall or theater is where performers relax before going onstage.
The “green-eyed monster” is jealousy.
A greenhorn is a newcomer or unsophisticated person.
Green is youthful.
Being “green around the gills” is looking pale and sickly.
“Green with envy” means full of envy or jealousy.
A person with a “green thumb” is good at making plants grow.
A green, or common, is a town park.
Green is a healing color, the color of nature.
Blue
In ancient Rome, public servants wore blue. Today, police and other public servants wear blue.
In Iran, blue is the color of mourning.
Blue was used as protection against witches, who supposedly dislike the color.
If you are “true blue,” you are loyal and faithful.
Blue stands for love, which is why a bride carries or wears something blue on her wedding day.
A room painted blue is said to be relaxing.
“Feeling blue” is feeling sad. “Blue devils” are feelings of depression.
Something “out of the blue” is from an unknown source at an unexpected time.
A bluebook is a list of socially prominent people.
The first prize gets a blue ribbon.
A blue blood is a person of noble descent. This is probably from the blue veins of the fair-complexioned aristocrats who first used this term.
“Into the blue” means into the unknown.
A “bluenose” is a strict, puritanical person.
A “bluestocking” used to be a scholarly or highly knowledgeable woman.
The pharaohs of ancient Egypt wore blue for protection against evil.
The “blues” is a style of music derived from southern African-American secular songs. It influenced the development of rock, R&B, and country music.
“Blue laws” are used to enforce moral standards.
A blue ribbon panel is a group of especially qualified people.
Purple, Violet
The Egyptian queen Cleopatra loved purple. To obtain one ounce of Tyrian purple dye, she had her servants soak 20,000 Purpura snails for 10 days.
In Thailand, purple is worn by a widow mourning her husband's death.
A “purple heart” is a U.S. military decoration for soldiers wounded or killed in battle.
Purple is a royal color.
Purple robes are an emblem of authority and rank.
“Purple speech” is profane talk.
“Purple prose” is writing that is full of exaggerated literary effects and ornamentation.
Leonardo da Vinci believed that the power of meditation increases 10 times when done in a purple light, as in the purple light of stained glass.
Purple in a child's room is said to help develop the imagination according to color theory.
Richard Wagner composed his operas in a room with shades of violet, his color of inspiration.
Yellow
In Egypt and Burma, yellow signifies mourning.
In Spain, executioners once wore yellow.
In India, yellow is the symbol for a merchant or farmer.
In tenth-century France, the doors of traitors and criminals were painted yellow.
Hindus in India wear yellow to celebrate the festival of spring.
If someone is said to have a “yellow streak,” that person is considered a coward.
In Japan during the War of Dynasty in 1357, each warrior wore a yellow chrysanthemum as a pledge of courage.
A yellow ribbon is a sign of support for soldiers at the front.
Yellow is a symbol of jealousy and deceit.
In the Middle Ages, actors portraying the dead in a play wore yellow.
To holistic healers, yellow is the color of peace.
Yellow has good visibility and is often used as a color of warning. It is also a symbol for quarantine, an area marked off because of danger.
“Yellow journalism” refers to irresponsible and alarmist reporting.
White
A white flag is the universal symbol for truce.
White means mourning in China and Japan.
Angels are usually depicted wearing white robes.
The ancient Greeks wore white to bed to ensure pleasant dreams.
The Egyptian pharaohs wore white crowns.
The ancient Persians believed all gods wore white.
A “white elephant” is a rare, pale elephant considered sacred to the people of India, Thailand, Burma, and Sri Lanka; in this country, it is either a possession that costs more than it is worth to keep or an item that the owner doesn't want but can't get rid of.
It's considered good luck to be married in a white garment.
White heat is a state of intense enthusiasm, anger, devotion, or passion.
To whitewash is to gloss over defects or make something seem presentable that isn't.
A “white knight” is a rescuer.
A white list contains favored items (as opposed to a blacklist).
A “whiteout” occurs when there is zero visibility during a blizzard.
A “white sale” is a sale of sheets, towels, and other bed and bath items.
A “whited sepulcher” is a person who is evil inside but appears good on the outside, a hypocrite.
“White lightning” is slang for moonshine, a homebrewed alcohol.
A white room is a clean room as well as a temperature-controlled, dust-free room for precision instruments.
White water is the foamy, frothy water in rapids and waterfalls.
Black
The ancient Egyptians and Romans used black for mourning, as do most Europeans and Americans today.
The “Blackshirts” were the security troops in Hitler's German army, also known as the S.S.
Black often stands for secrecy.
Black humor is morbid or unhealthy and gloomy humor.
A “blackhearted” person is evil.
If a business is “in the black,” it is making money.
A “blacklist” is a list of persons or organizations to be boycotted or punished.
Black is associated with sophistication and elegance. A “black tie” event is formal.
A black belt in karate identifies an expert.
A black flag in a car race is the signal for a driver to go to the pits.
A blackguard is a scoundrel.
The ancient Egyptians believed that black cats had divine powers.
Black lung is a coal miner's disease caused by the frequent inhaling of coal dust.
Blackmail is getting things by threat.
Black market is illegal trade in goods or money.
A black sheep is an outcast.
“Blackwash” (as opposed to “whitewash”) is to uncover or bring out in the light.
A blackout is a period of darkness from the loss of electricity, for protection against nighttime air raids, or, in the theater, to separate scenes in a play.
When you “black out,” you temporarily lose consciousness.
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Who was the first female presenter of Desert Island Discs | BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs - Presenters
Desert Island Discs
Presenters
Roy Plomley
Roy Plomley, the programme's creator, presented the programme for 43 years. Starting out as a stage and film actor, he began working in radio in 1936 as an announcer on Radio Normandy.
Following a stint with International Radio, broadcasting from Paris and London, he began to freelance for the BBC in 1940. Although he also wrote plays, and presented other programmes such as One Minute, Please, he will be forever associated with Desert Island Discs. He wrote several books about the programme: Desert Island Discs (1975), Desert Island Picks (1982) and Desert Island Lists (1984, with his producer then, Derek Drescher).
Michael Parkinson
Michael Parkinson was asked to take the chair following Roy Plomley's death in May 1985. His first castaway, on 5th January 1986, was the film director Alan Parker.
Parkinson, widely celebrated for his successful TV chat-show, had already himself appeared as a castaway on 19th Feb 1972.
Between 1986 and 1988, he presented nearly 100 programmes but by the end of 1987 he'd decided to move on. On 13th March 1988 he interviewed his final castaway - athlete Brendan Foster
Sue Lawley
Sue Lawley was well-known as a TV reporter, newsreader and presenter & had appeared as a castaway on 8th November 1987, interviewed by Michael Parkinson. Her first guest was Lord Hailsham (Quintin Hogg), who was castaway on 27th March 1988.
Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Sue went on to interview a further 771 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport.
On 27th August 2006, her final castaway was the actress Dame Joan Plowright, Sir Laurence Olivier’s widow.
Kirsty Young
Journalist and broadcaster Kirsty Young opened her tenure as presenter by interviewing the illustrator Quentin Blake on 1st October 2006. Among her guests have been musicians Morrissey, Sir Tom Jones, Alice Cooper, and Barry Manilow, politicians Nick Clegg, Alex Salmond and Alan Johnson, actors Sir Michael Caine, Kathy Burke and June Spencer.
In addition to Desert Island Discs, since 2008 she has been the presenter of Crimewatch on BBC One and has also presented the documentary series The British Family and The British at Work.
Other Desert Island Discs presenters
Two other people have presented editions of Desert Island Discs - Leslie Perowne, Head of Popular Record Programmes at the BBC, who interviewed Roy Plomley the first time he appeared as a castaway in May 1942. On the second occasion Plomley was castaway, in May 1958, he was interviewed by Eamonn Andrews.
Strictly speaking, therefore, six people have presented Desert Island Discs over its sixty years, although only Roy Plomley, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley and Kirsty Young can genuinely be called 'Desert Island Discs presenters' in the accepted sense.
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Which Japanese car manufacturer made the Cherry | Desert Island Discs - Mature Times
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Desert Island Discs
I have been an avid listener of Desert Island Discs over the years and in May 2011 when listeners were asked to submit their own choice I spent hours mulling over my top 8 pieces of music. I thought I had it sorted and then another selection sang in my head. And as for choosing one favourite book to take and a luxury….!
History of the programme
Late one evening in 1941, freelance broadcaster Roy Plomley was at his home and already in his pyjamas, when an idea came to him. He sat down and wrote immediately to the BBC. That letter reached the in-tray of the BBC’s Head of Popular Record Programmes, Leslie Perowne. The pitch was successful and a broadcasting institution was born.
That first Desert Island Discs was recorded in the BBC’s bomb-damaged Maida Vale studio on 27th January 1942 and aired in the Forces Programme at 8pm two days later. It was introduced to the listening public as “a programme in which a well-known person is asked the question, if you were to be cast away alone on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would you choose to have with you, assuming of course, that you had a gramophone and an inexhaustible supply of needles”.
Plomley’s first castaway was the popular Viennese comedian, actor and musician, Vic Oliver. The first piece of music chosen by Vic Oliver, and therefore by any castaway, was Chopin’s Étude No.12 in C minor played by pianist Alfred Cortot. During these war years, every BBC Radio show was scripted and Plomley and his guests would ‘read’ their conversations. On 7th May 1942 Roy Plomley made his first appearance as a castaway when the programme was presented by Leslie Perowne.
The programme came off air in 1946 returning to the Home Service in 1951. On 16th September that year, the choice of luxury was introduced when garlic was chosen by the actress Sally Ann Howes. The choice of book made its first appearance on 9th October 1951 when actor and director Henry Kendall chose Who’s Who in the Theatre.
According to Roy Plomley’s book, Desert Island Lists, in addition to the volume of Shakespeare, the castaways would be given a copy of the Bible, which was assumed to have been deposited there by The Gideon Society.
In September 1967, Desert Island Discs transferred to the newly created Radio 4 service. Roy Plomley continued to present the programme until his death, from pleurisy, in May 1985. He was 71. He was replaced by Michael Parkinson who dispensed with the ritual of the pre-recording lunch at Plomley’s club, the Garrick, and insisted that the music was played to the guests during the recording rather than edited in afterwards. Parkinson presented the last of his 96 programmes on 13th March 1988, when his guest was the athlete Brendan Foster.
Sue Lawley became the first female presenter and over the following 18 years, Lawley, a former Nationwide presenter, interviewed 750 people from all aspects of public life including politics, entertainment, science and sport. Describing the role as “one of the best jobs in broadcasting”, Lawley left Desert Island Discs in August 2006 and was replaced by journalist and broadcaster, Kirsty Young. During her tenure in the chair the programme has become available to listen again online and is available as a download.
Over the decades there have been hundreds of famous names who have made their choices and on the BBC website there are 1,500 programmes available for access. The variety of guests is staggering from Politicians, Movie Stars, Royalty and celebrities from all walks of life.
While I enjoy listening to the music for me the most fascinating aspect is the way that the interviewer manages to elicit facts about the castaways.
I have learnt more about a personality from listening to Kirsty Young ask pertinent questions, than any other sources. This is not a celebrity interview but a way of bringing out details about their lives.
The top eight music selections from the public for that special programme in 2011 are below:
1. Ralph Vaughan Williams – The Lark Ascending
2. Sir Edward Elgar – Enigma Variations
3. Ludwig van Beethoven – Symphony No 9 in D minor ‘Choral’
4. Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
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What is the state capital of Idaho | Idaho: Map, History, Population, Facts, Capitol, Flag, Tree, Geography, Symbols
Map of Idaho
The region was explored by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in 1805–1806. It was then a part of the Oregon country, held jointly by the United States and Great Britain. Boundary disputes with Great Britain were settled by the Oregon Treaty in 1846, and the first permanent U.S. settlement in Idaho was established by the Mormons at Franklin in 1860.
After gold was discovered at Orofino Creek in 1860, prospectors swarmed into the territory, but they left little more than a number of ghost towns.
In the 1870s, growing white occupation of Indian lands led to a series of battles between U.S. forces and the Nez Percé , Bannock , and Sheepeater tribes.
Mining and lumbering have been important for years. Idaho ranks high among the states in silver, antimony, lead, cobalt, garnet, phosphate rock, vanadium, zinc, and mercury.
Agriculture is a major industry: The state produces about one fourth of the nation's potato crop, as well as wheat, apples, corn, barley, sugar beets, and hops.
The 1990s saw a remarkable growth in the high technology industries, concentrated in the metropolitan Boise area.
With the growth of winter sports, tourism now outranks other industries in revenue. Idaho's many streams and lakes provide fishing, camping, and boating sites. The nation's largest elk herds draw hunters from all over the world, and the famed Sun Valley resort attracts thousands of visitors to its swimming, golfing, and skiing facilities.
Points of interest are the Craters of the Moon National Monument ; Nez Percé National Historic Park, which includes many sites visited by Lewis and Clark; and the State Historical Museum in Boise . Other attractions are the Snake River Birds of Prey National Conservation Area south of Boise , Hells Canyon on the Idaho-Oregon border, and the Sawtooth National Recreation Area in south-central Idaho.
See more on Idaho:
Selected famous natives and residents:
Joe Albertson grocery chain founder;
Cecil Andrus governor;
| Boise, Idaho |
Which British motor cycle manufacturer made the Dragonfly | Esto Perpetua State Motto | State Symbols USA
Idahoquarterstatequarter.jpg
The U.S. Mint's bicentennial commemmorative quarter for Idaho features a peregrine falcon (the state raptor of Idaho); a map of Idaho with a star indicating the location of Boise (state capital); Idaho's state motto "Esto Perpetua" (Let it be perpetual); and the year Idaho became a state (1890). Public domain image on Wikipedia .
Esto Perpetua - Let it be perpetual
The state motto of Idaho is the Latin phrase "Esto perpetua," which means "Let it be perpetual." Idaho's motto appears on the state quarter, the great seal and Idaho's state flag.
Idaho
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Which champion boxer appeared in the third of the Crocodile Dundee films | Boxing: McCrory turns his hand to screenwriting | Sport | The Guardian
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Some dates, for whatever reason, are etched indelibly into any sportsman's memory. In Glenn McCrory's case it is June 3 1989, the day he became the International Boxing Federation world cruiserweight champion.
Not only was he the first boxing world champion ever to come out of the north-east, he also enjoyed his greatest moment as a fighter in a leisure centre in Stanley, Co Durham, little more than a mile away from the house in which he was born and only 200 yards away from his home at the time.
But it was not the announcement of the judges' verdicts, telling him that he had out-pointed the Kenyan Patrick Lamumba, that provides the most vivid image for McCrory more than 14 years later, a time in which he has become one of the most respected commentators the sport has known, working alongside Ian Darke for BSkyB. Nor was it the sight of his delirious fans, many of whom he knew personally, celebrating his victory.
The sweetest moment of all came later in the privacy of his changing room. "My little brother David was brought into the room in a wheelchair. He had some sort of muscular dystrophy and my mother was having to care for him constantly. I didn't think he would have been able to be there. What I didn't know was that the police had brought him to the fight and he had been able to watch. I find it hard to describe how happy I was when he came in. I loved him so very much," says McCrory, tears welling in his eyes.
David had been fostered by the McCrory family when he was seven years old, a boy, Glenn remembers, who always had a smile on his face. He was small, unlike the strapping young McCrory boys, and walked with a slight limp.
"I think that may have been what attracted my mother to him. There were already six children in the house, aged between two and 12, but he was loved like one of the family. He didn't walk too well and I can remember carrying him to school on my back. Little did we know he was ill.
"Slowly David got worse and when he was 15 the doctors told us what the problem was. And that he was dying. We couldn't believe it and I remember then that my mother started letting him call her 'Mum'. Before then she had said: 'Call me Auntie Gloria because I'm not your real mum.' But hearing what the doctors said changed all that. It was the most poignant moment I had known."
Now Carrying David, Glenn McCrory's story of growing up with his handicapped brother, is to be made into a feature film and, remarkably to those who might believe all boxers are intellectually impaired, but less so to those who know McCrory well, the former champion is writing the screenplay.
"We tried to make it into a play, using other writers. But, to be honest, I did not have the money to do it. And after a while I thought, why use other people to tell my story when I am the one who can remember it all so clearly?" he says.
His synopsis for the film has been accepted by Ipso Facto - the company that will shortly release School for Seduction starring Kelly Brooke - and work on Carrying David will begin in the New Year.
"I suppose I was shocked because they instantly told me that they wanted to do it and they wanted me to write it. My school career was not exactly terrific, academically. But it is almost as if David is still with me, helping me get it right."
David died when he was 29, eight years ago, but many years after doctors had effectively given up hope. But McCrory speaks of him with a passion that is undimmed.
"He was my strength and the strength for all the family. He had this slow death sentence hanging over him but always had a smile. He was told he could never do certain things, because of his handicap, and I could relate to that. I wanted to be Muhammad Ali and be the best in the world and people used to say I would never make it. But he would never give up and it was inspiring. The whole point of my film is who was carrying who? Did I carry him or vice versa? He got so much out of everything I did but I couldn't have done it without him. And it still feels as if he is there for me now."
McCrory has acting experience, even if it began inauspiciously as he played an English policeman in a Bollywood movie, something he recalls as being "more like a back passage to Gateshead than Passage to India". And he has acted in various television dramas since. At one stage he was offered a contract by the Royal Shakespeare Company and was even considered as the new James Bond before Pierce Brosnan was given the nod.
More recently his own Two Triangle Productions has made an outstanding documentary for Tyne Tees Television called Meanest Man on the Planet, a half-hour study of Mike Tyson and Sonny Liston. A fishing programme with Jack Charlton is to be aired soon and McCrory speaks enthusiastically about other projects which have interested terrestrial and satellite broadcasters, including one "hard-hitting drama series based in the north-east".
McCrory sparred famously with Mike Tyson for around 100 rounds when the former world champion was in his prime, not exactly the easiest way to earn a few quid. But it speaks volumes of the self-belief in one of Newcastle's favourite sons that he would share the ring with such a feared fighter.
He won a world title when many had written him off and now has the film world in his sights. History suggests it would be a foolish move to say he might not succeed.
Boxers on the silver screen
Even Mike Tyson has earned money, appearing in the third of the Crocodile Dundee series. These are others who have aspired to careers in the film industry.
Max Baer, world heavyweight champion 1934-35
Extrovert party boy, pictured right with Harpo Marx, was in 19 movies between 1933 and 1958. Often portrayed rough characters. His films include an appearance in African Screams, made in 1949, with Abbott and Costello.
Muhammad Ali, world heavyweight champion three times between 1964 and 1978
Surprised some critics, but certainly not himself, with an impressive performance in the 1977 film The Greatest, which charted his life story. Also starred in the US television series Freedom Road.
Marvin Hagler, world middleweight champion 1980-87
Resisted many lucrative offers to return to the ring after losing his last fight controversially to Sugar Ray Leonard so that he could pursue an acting career. Based in Italy, Hagler has enjoyed considerable success playing the shaven-headed hard man in numerous films and television programmes.
Tommy Morrison, WBO world heavyweight champion 1993
His all-American good looks earned him a part opposite Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 production of Rocky V. Morrison, John Wayne's nephew, basically played himself with the less than inventive screen name of Tommy "Machine" Gunn.
Roy Jones Jr, World champion at weights between middleweight and heavyweight from 1993 to the present
Multi-talented fighter has produced best-selling rap albums and has appeared in three films: Devil's Advocate in 1997, New Jersey Turnpike in 1999 and this year's Matrix Reloaded.
| Mike Tyson |
Name the group, Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Andy Nicholson and Matt Helder | Mike Tyson Live Hong Kong Filmart: Mike Tyson Signs Up for “Ip Man 3”
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Former heavyweight boxing world champion Mike Tyson will join the cast of Ip Man 3 Pegasus Motion Pictures has announced setting up the prospect of some intense fighting scenes between Tyson and martial arts legend Donnie Yen, who reprises the eponymous role from the previous two Ip Man installments.
by Karen Chu – Hollywood reporter
Principle photography of the $36 million Ip Man 3 commences today (March 25) in Shanghai, China. Reuniting the team that made the first two Ip Man films, producer Raymond Wong, director Wilson Yip and writer Edmond Wong.
“Two years ago Mike Tyson opened up a Weibo (the Chinese micro-blogging site) account and the first question he asked was, ‘who is the best fighter in China?’” Pegasus chairman and Ip Man 3 producer Raymond Wong told THR. “Someone answered him ‘Donnie Yen,’ and that gave me an idea. For the third installment in the Ip Man series, we want to have an explosive fight, and Mike Tyson versus Donnie Yen fits the bill.”
Tyson said in a statement: “Who is the best boxer and kung fu master in China? Wait for me, I am coming. Thank you for introducing me to Chinese kung fu.”
Ip Man, also known as Yip Man (1893-1972), was a Chinese martial artist who popularized the practice of Wing Chun, a martial arts discipline that specializes in close-range combat. One of his most famous pupils was Bruce Lee, who developed his own discipline, Jeet Kune Do. Ip was born in Foshan, Guangdong, China but then moved to Hong Kong and opened his schools of Wing Chun in 1949.
Tyson, who made cameos in The Hangover 2 and 3, is set to have a significant role in the threequel, playing a property developer who is also a street fighting boxer. Apart from the introduction of Tyson in the film, kung fu icon Bruce Lee will also appear as a young pupil of Ip Man. The film producers were unable to find an actor to portray Lee’s intensity onscreen so have decided to use computer graphics to recreate the most authentic Lee in the film.
The two previous Ip Man films produced by Wong grossed $37 million worldwide. The threequel is tentatively scheduled for release in 3D in the first quarter of 2016.
Asked about the spate of Ip Man films in recent years Wong said: “It’s been five years since Ip Man 2, and during these years there have been other Ip Man movies released.” Donnie Yen’s portrayal of Ip Man is perhaps the most widely known, but there was also Wong Kar-wai’s well received The Grandmaster starring Tony Leung and Herman Yau’s 2013 release Ip Man – The Final Fight. “The audience suffered ‘Ip Man fatigue’ for a while, but the waves of Ip Man films has calmed down now, so now is the time to present our third installment,” Wong added.
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Which famous outlaw was captured at the siege of Glenrowan Farm and later hanged | Glenrowan| Official Travel and Tourism Website | Heritage Siege Precinct
Ned Kelly's Last Stand
Glenrowan is a tangible link with one of Australia's most infamous historical figures, Ned Kelly. He is part of the nation's mythology, repeatedly re-emerging through Australia's art, literature and music. Dressed in a helmet and suit of armour made of ploughs, Kelly made his famous last stand on 28 June 1880 at Glenrowan following a siege between his gang and Melbourne troopers.
Visitors to the Glenrowan Heritage Precinct can see the key sites of the final siege and Kelly conflict. Glenrowan Heritage Precinct was included in the National Heritage List on 5 July 2005.
The Glenrowan Heritage Precinct is the area of central Glenrowan which is associated with the notorious siege leading up to the capture of Ned Kelly and the deaths of his other gang members Joe Byrne, Dan Kelly and Steve Hart in June 1880. The precinct is divided by the railway line and the railway station which played a pivotal part in the drama. North of the railway line in what is now known as Siege Street is the site of Jones's Glenrowan Inn where the bushrangers held out. Further north and east is the place where Ned was finally captured. To the south of the railway line is the site of the former McDonnell's Hotel where the Kelly sympathisers gathered.
After two years of outlawry in the North East of Victoria, Kelly and his gang planned to ambush and derail a police train. This action is said to have been planned as a precursor to a general uprising in the north east. In the event the police took longer than anticipated to arrive, resulting in the gang taking many captives in the town. Eventually, in the early hours of 28 June 1880, the police were warned of the gang's presence and surrounded the Glenrowan Inn. After a fierce night time gun battle which resulted in the wounding and capture of Ned Kelly early after daybreak, the police set fire to the inn in the afternoon and burnt it to the ground sealing the fate of the other outlaws inside. Ned Kelly was later tried in Melbourne and hanged on 11 November 1880 for the murder of police at Stringybark Creek in 1878.
Since the siege, the town of Glenrowan has developed but the topography of the siege site remains largely unaltered and is quite capable of interpretation today.
Pick up a copy of the Glenrowan Town Map from the Glenrowan Bakehouse which outlines a self-guided walk around the Heritage Siege Precinct.
Why is it significant?
The Glenrowan Heritage Precinct is historically significant as the place most intimately connected with the legend that surrounds Ned Kelly, among the most well known of Australian historical figures. In a similar way the Eureka Historical Precinct (H1874) invokes the history of another rebellion against authority. The small town of Glenrowan was central to the history of the Kelly gang. The members lived in the district and spent much time there among a population generally sympathetic to the outlaws. The plan for a final showdown with police by derailing a train was a feasible if reckless plan that suited itself to the topography of the town where the railway line between Benalla and Wangaratta makes a sweeping curve on a steep embankment.
The siege, the police cordon, the capture of Ned and the burning of the Glenrowan Inn are firmly implanted in Australian folklore and are directly related to this physical place. Significant fabric remaining from the event are the Stationmaster's house (relocated to 16 Siege Street from its original site) and the railway platform (the current station building is a recent remodelling). Many of the mature trees existed at the time of the siege and one group, the 'Kelly copse' where Ned tethered his horse, is of particular note.The stump and logwhere he was captured are no longer visible but remnants of the stump may exist below ground.
The Glenrowan Heritage Precinct is archaeologically significant for its potential to reveal artefacts from the siege event. A large volume of ammunition was expended and there is a tradition of discovery of spent bullets from the soil. As well, the sites of demolished early buildings such as McDonnell's Hotel and the Glenrowan Inn have the potential to reveal artefacts both from the siege and from their everyday use.
| Ned Kelly |
What meat product appears in Punch and Judy | On this day: The Kelly Gang's last stand - Australian Geographic
The burnt remains of the Glenrowan Inn, after a siege between the Kelly Gang and Victorian Police. Image Credit: John Bray/State Library of Victoria
On this day: The Kelly Gang's last stand
BY Matt Ingles |
June 27, 2014
On 27 June 1880 the Kelly Gang's last desperate shoot-out echoed across Glenrowan, Victoria. It left three members of the Kelly Gang dead and their leader Ned Kelly in irons.
Ned Kelly finally farewelled by family
THE FINAL CHAPTER OF the infamous Kelly Gang began on 27 June 1880, when, after eluding the police for almost two years, their luck ran out in the small town of Glenrowan, Victoria. The Gang consisted of Ned Kelly , his brother Dan, Joseph Byrne and Steve Hart, and they had been on the run from the police after a number of incidents.
Prior to the Glenrown Dan and Joe had shot a police informant named Aaron Smith. A few days later, after a sizable police hunt, the desperate bushrangers held up the local railway station and then took 60 of the townspeople hostage at the Glenrowan Inn.
The hostages included the owner of the inn Ann Jones, her children, and other members of the town. Among them were about 20 Kelly sympathisers.
With police surrounding the building the Kelly Gang began firing, wearing armour made out of plough parts that Ned had been constructed in the aftermath of a three-day bank robbery. Joseph Byrne was soon shot in the groin and died of his wounds, while the other three continued to fight well into the night.
During a lull in the fighting, Dan Kelly and the police struck a bargain and the hostages were able to make their way to safety. With only the gang members left inside, the police then set fire to the building. When the smoke finally cleared the burnt bodies of Steve Hart and Dan were found in a back room.
The next morning Ned Kelly emerged from nearby bush behind the police blockade, injured but alive, after retreating there sometime during the night. As he walked out shooting his revolver, policemen aimed low at his legs, which were unprotected. And so, in a hail of bullets, Ned Kelly was finally captured.
History of the Kelly Gang
Ned had grown up in the town of Beveridge, roughly 50km north of Melbourne. Despite being known locally as a hero after saving seven-year-old Dick Shelton from drowning when he was 10, in later life he was known as something of a ruffian. By October 1878 Ned, who was on the run from assault charges, had teamed up with his younger brother Dan, and friends Joseph Byrne and Steve Hart to form the Kelly Gang.
In late 1878, after numerous smaller run-ins with police, things had come to a head near Stringybark Creek when an attempt to corner and apprehend the gang had ended in the death of three police officers (Sergeant Michael Kennedy, and Constables Michael Scanlon and Thomas Lonigan).
While hiding out in the bush, they went on to commit two major bank robberies at Euroa (Vic) and Jerilderie (NSW).
The almost two years later, on 25 June 1880, gang members Dan and Joe went to the valley where Aaron Sherritt, a friend possibly turned police informant, had a small farm. Reportedly, Dan and Joe had captured Anton Weekes, a neighbour, in order to lure Aaron outside.
When Aaron opened his door, Joe Byrne shot him point-blank in the chest in front of his wife and mother-in-law, whom they allowed to leave. The gang then held four police officers assigned to protect Aaron captive in the house for 12 hours before they stole back into the bush.
Siege of the Glenrowan Inn
After a lengthy hunt through bushlands roughly 200km north-east of Melbourne, the police finally cornered the gang at the Glenrowan Inn. Volleys of shots rang out from both sides. After the smoke and gunshots died down it became clear that a total of nine people had been killed during the siege (three gang members, three police, two bystanders and an informer). Another five were injured.
After his capture Ned Kelly was tried and eventually hanged for his crimes , on 11 November 1880 at Old Melbourne Gaol. He was only 25 years old. The owner of the Glenrowan Inn, Ann Jones, reportedly wanted to sue the government for £1050 as a result of the police burning down her inn during the siege (she only received £265, barely enough to cover the legal costs). Her 11-year-old son Jack was also accidentally shot by police during siege and later died in hospital.
The Kelly Gang legend
Ever since Kelly's arrest there has been debate about his true nature. Today Dr Amanda Kaladelfos, a history researcher at Griffith University, compares him to Robin Hood. "Kelly articulated a struggle between rich and poor that resonated with many at a time when the Victorian government's land policies disadvantaged small farmers," Amanda says. Their actions are thought to have contributed to the "rise of the Australian labour tradition", she adds.
According to Peter Norden, a history expert from RMIT University, Kelly "was a symbol of those early Australians who defied the authority of the Protestant English establishment".
To the poor and disenfranchised underclass, the Kelly Gang seemed to be shrugging off the shackles of the day's social structure.
However, Peter acknowledges many are sceptical. Who "would see it as justice that his victims - police officers Michael Scanlan, Michael Kennedy and Thomas Lonigan - have prominent tombstones and a large memorial in the Victorian mountain town of Mansfield, while Kelly lies in an unmarked grave," he says.
The Kelly Gang's story still serves as a major tourist draw to Glenrowan. While none of the original buildings from the famous shootout remain, there are signs and plaques that indicate the site of the original Glenrowan Inn and the location where Ned Kelly was finally captured by police.
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