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The island of Gran Canaria lies in which body of water? | Why Gran Canaria And The Canary Islands Are Worth A Visit | The Huffington Post
Why Gran Canaria And The Canary Islands Are Worth A Visit
04/20/2012 08:53 am ET | Updated Apr 20, 2012
The following is an excerpt from the new book Going Local in Gran Canaria: How to Turn a Holiday Destination into a Home by Matthew Hirtes, out now from Summertime Publishing.
Think Gran Canaria, think skyscraper hotels an eyesore '70s "entertainment" complexes. Think again. From the ruggedly charming (in other words, warts-and-all) north coast, dotted with natural swimming pools, to the verdant and mountainous interior, Gran Canaria's so much more than your bog-standard package-tour destination. Peel back its veneer, and there's a whole new world to discover. Which possibly explains why many of its more than 2 million annual visitors decide to return, some even to stay.
African in terms of geography but Spanish politically speaking, you'll find Gran Canaria in the Atlantic Ocean, 130 miles off the coast of Africa. Cadiz, the nearest port on the Iberian peninsula, lies 777 miles away. The third largest, despite its name, of the Canaries, the island's sandwiched between Tenerife in the west and Fuerteventura in the east. Las Palmas, located on the northeast tip of Gran Canaria, is its capital.
Located in the heart of the Canarian Archipelago, Gran Canaria's as round as a ball. And just as bouncy, with its inhabitants a particularly vivacious bunch. It may not be the largest island in the Canaries but it houses almost half the population.
As any hot-spot theorist will tell you, the tectonic-plate splitting of South America from Africa formed the Canary Islands. A mantle plume expelled molten rock to the surface. Gran Canaria's origins date back 15 million years, but it wasn't until another million had elapsed before anything happened above sea level.
The Moors once ruled mainland Spain, but the North African influence is as keenly felt on Canarian soil. Not least because of the shortish stretch of water separating the orphan Canaries from Mother Africa. They even import sand from the Sahara to furnish the dunes of Maspalomas, the jewel in the crown of Gran Canaria's beaches.
There are more than 80 beaches on the islands. Chances are your average tourists will visit just two, Playa del Ingles and the neighboring Maspalomas. Whilst this pretty pair is not without its merits, the two are just the tip of, to extend the analogy even further, a whole north pole of icebergs.
Away from the main resorts, you'll find delights such as Sardina del Norte. When I heard an estate agent trumpeting this area as a "zone of great potential," I thought to myself, Oh, leave it alone, it's perfect. An environmentalist acquaintance of mine, Cuco, is also worried about Sardina. He claims its tiny beach is unable to sustain the number of people who go there. And considering that these are almost exclusively Canarians from the north of the island, I feel slightly guilty even mentioning its name.
So, just as there's little grotty about neighboring Lanzarote, Gran Canaria's not just an 18-30 mecca. Instead, to borrow a line from celebrated author Julia Donaldson, it's a land "with fiery mountains and golden sands." One which caters for outdoorsy types with a surfeit of cycling, hiking and mountain-climbing options.
Indeed, traveling to the center of the island will fool any sat-nav into identifying you location as Asia with the mountains resembling a collection of mini Everests. For keen sightseers, it's an ideal destination with stunning vistas unfolding before your very eyes. There are miradors, viewing points, aplenty should you wish to pause for a more lingering look.
A World Biosphere Reserve, Gran Canaria's an eco-friendly destination. Around 50% of the island makes up this reserve, encompassing six rural towns with a population of over 18,000. Get back to nature on Gran Canaria with a stay in one of the casa rurales, rural houses converted into self-catering establishments and hotels for the benefit of environmental tourism.
The Canarian Network of Naturally Protected Areas, Red Canaria de Espacios Naturales Protegidos, is the body who looks after this half of Gran Canaria. Of the 146 protected sites under control of this network in the Canarian Archipelago, a total of 33 are in Gran Canaria, making it the second-most protected island of the Canaries.
Independent, but not to the extent of Catalonia, the locals seem as proud of their pre-Spanish past as their post-colonial one. Parents still use aboriginal names such as Aythami to christen their newborn babies. Although the Spanish World Cup win of 2010 was celebrated wildly, the reaction of my friend Tino was not untypical: "Bah, I'm African, not Spanish."
Photos of Lovely Gran Canaria
Photos of Lovely Gran Canaria
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| Atlantic Ocean |
In the Harry Potter series of books during which month of the year is Harry Potter’s birthday? | Canary Islands: Essential information | Travel | The Guardian
Canary Islands holidays
Canary Islands: Essential information
Lying off the north-west coast of Morocco, the Canary Islands offer sand, sea and sun with a Spanish twist. Much of Tenerife and Gran Canaria are overrun with tacky beach resorts, but the other islands are less touristy and, many would say, more interesting. Good for winter sun.
Tuesday 24 October 2006 07.52 EDT
First published on Tuesday 24 October 2006 07.52 EDT
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Lying off the north-west coast of Morocco, the Canary Islands are in fact the tips of an enormous volcanic mountain range that lies deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean. The topography of the seven main islands and several small islets is incredibly varied, but all offer sand, sea, and sun with a Spanish twist for hordes of holidaying northern Europeans.
The largest and most visited island is Tenerife, followed by Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and a host of less popular isles. Much of Tenerife and Gran Canaria are overrun with tacky beach resorts, clubs and bars, though inland it is still possible to escape the commercialism. The other islands are less touristy and, many would say, more interesting. The population of 1.6 million people survives largely on tourism.
Best sites
· All About Spain - the Canaries Covers the main islands, beaches, national parks and excursions, with photos.
· Guide to Lanzarote Featuring an indepth look at volcanoes, wines and the defunct salt industry.
· The Foreign Office travel advice
If you only do three things
Visit the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria , see the volcanic landscape of Lanzarote and the laurel forests of Parque Nacional de Garajonay on La Gomera.
News and current affairs
Canary Islands online publications from the world news guide .
Language
Spanish; English is widely spoken in tourist areas.
Health
No vaccinations necessary.
Climate
The weather is perpetually warm and moderate, ranging from around 18C (64F) in winter to 24C (75F) in summer. Water temperature is 19-22C year-round. There is little rain, and some islands - particularly those that are very flat, such as Lanzarote and Fuerteventura - are very arid. It can be cool at high altitude in winter, so pack at least one warm change of clothes with your beachwear.
Food
Canary Island cooking combines Spanish with African and Latin American influences. Not surprisingly, fish is available in abundance. It is traditionally served with potatoes and a hot sauce called mojo. Watercress stew, pork ragout, rabbit with sweet black pudding and gofio bread are also typical. But what most resorts dish up is bland European food - fish and chips, steaks, pasta - and fast food to satisfy the package tour market.
Events
January: Arona, Tenerife: Martial Arts Fiesta; celebrations to honour St Anthony Abbot include martial arts and wrestling contests.
February to March: Santa Cruz de la Palma: pre-Lent carnival with talcum powder fights. Las Palmas, Gran Canaria: Drag Queen Day; highlight event of carnival celebrations in this gay mecca. Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife: carnival with Latin music, spectacular floats and spangly costumes.
· More details at What's on When .
What to buy
Duty free goods (eg alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, cameras, radios, watches) or local crafts such as ceramics, fabrics, wine and cigars.
Embassies and visas
UK: Spanish Embassy, 39 Chesham Place, London SW1X 8SB (020 7235 5555).
Canary Islands: Consulate General at Edificio Catalunya, C/Luis Morote 6-3, PO Box 2020, 35080 Las Palmas (+34 928 262 508). The British Embassy is in Madrid.
Visa requirements: EU citizens do not need a visa. North Americans, New Zealanders and Australians do not need a visa for stays of up to 90 days.
Currency
£1 buys approx. 1.48 euros.
Getting there
Scheduled and charter flights link the UK and Europe with the Canaries; all the islands except La Gomera have airports. Ferries link the islands, and connect them with Cadiz in Spain, but they are not particularly frequent.
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In the Harry Potter series of books what is the name of the driver of the Knight Bus? | Knight Bus | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Harry Potter: "How come the Muggles don’t hear the bus?"
Stan Shunpike: "Them! Don’ listen properly, do they? Don’ look properly either. Never notice nuffink, they don’"
— Harry talking to Stan the Knight Bus Conductor in 1993 [src]
The Knight Bus is a triple-decker, purple AEC Regent III RT that assists stranded individuals of the wizarding community through public transportation. It operates at a very fast speed and obstacles will jump out of its way. To hail the bus, a witch or wizard must stick their wand hand in the air in the same manner that a Muggle might do to hail a taxi, though it is possible to book tickets for travel on the bus in advance.
Contents
On 20 April , 1994 , Rubeus Hagrid and the hippogriff Buckbeak travelled together on the Knight Bus for a hearing in front of the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures in regards to Buckbeak's future following the attack on Draco Malfoy . [3]
During the holiday break in 1995 , Hermione used the Knight Bus to join everyone at 12 Grimmauld Place after Nagini 's attack on Arthur Weasley . [4]
In 1996 , Harry, Ron, and Hermione travelled back to Hogwarts from 12 Grimmauld Place on the Knight Bus after the Christmas holidays. They were accompanied by Lupin and Tonks . Madam Marsh was also on the Knight Bus but had to get off due to illness. [5]
Etymology
The Knight Bus is named after the various night bus services throughout Great Britain , as well as a play on the word "knight", as it gives the connotation that the vehicle comes to the rescue of those who need it. [6]
Behind the scenes
The Knight Bus seen in the 2004 movie Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban used a body constructed from three separate RT-class AEC Regent III buses. The triple-deck body was then fitted to a Dennis Javelin bus chassis. In order to portray the bus driving at high speeds, the cars around the bus drove slower while the bus drove at its top speed, and the footage was sped up afterward. Two buses were constructed for the film's external shots, while the interior shots were filmed on a set that would rock back and forth to simulate the bus' movement.
One of the props is currently on display at The Making of Harry Potter . The other was moved to Orlando, Florida in 2010 for the grand opening ceremony of The Wizarding World of Harry Potter , where it carried some of the actors from the film series to the ceremony. It remained in storage until 2014, when it was moved outdoors as part of the upcoming Diagon Alley attraction. [7]
The bus's height posed a challenge for the filmmakers when the vehicle was required to pass underneath bridges. To solve this problem, the top of the bus was designed to be removable.
Since Apparition would be a faster and more practical way of transportation, the Knight Bus may be used for those who cannot use Apparition or Portkeys, or those who are underage, and therefore need the bus, and may even be accessible to Squibs.
The Shrunken Head in the film version of the book
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , a talking Shrunken Head with a Caribbean accent was hung from the rear-view mirror.
In the book, items appear to jump away to avoid collision. In the film, the bus just swerves around or squeezes past (or through) obstacles, and in terms of the latter, the driver is shown throwing a switch that causes the bus to contract. The bus also becomes invisible within the distance, materialising when called, and vanishing when leaving.
One notable feature of the film adaptation of the Knight Bus is the large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 , the Knight Bus squeezes in between two London Buses brick by brick.
In a International trailer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Harry says to Stanley Shunpike while riding the Knight Bus: "Isn't this a bit dangerous?" to which Stan replies: "No. We haven't had an accident in about a week." These lines were cut from the final version of the movie.
The LEGO Harry Potter Knight Bus sets are noted for their heavy use of purple bricks, which are rare and therefore much valued both for novelty and for collectors to use in their "My Own Creations." [8]
The Leaky Cauldron offers tickets for the Knight Bus as part of its room service. [9]
Concept art for the Knight Bus by Julian Caldow depicts it en route to Aberdeenshire , Cardiff , The Lizard , London , and the Isle of Skye . [10]
Although the capacity of the bus is not stated in the books, in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban a sign inside the bus states that the bus can carry 9 passengers, 3 on each level.
Author's comments
"The Knight Bus was so-named because, firstly, knight is a homonym of night, and there are night buses running all over Britain after normal transport stops. Secondly, ‘knight’ has the connotation of coming to the rescue, of protection, and this seemed appropriate for a vehicle that is often the conveyance of last resort.
The driver and conductor of the Knight Bus in ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ are named after my two grandfathers, Ernest and Stanley."
Appearances
| Magical objects in Harry Potter |
In the Harry Potter series of books who killed Cedric Diggory in the Goblet of Fire film? | Harry Potter Series Audiobooks | UNABRIDGED Series | Audible.com
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Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors - and then the attacks start.
Enchanting
We all need fantasy to turn to when reality closes in. The Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, Peter Pan and now Harry Potter lead the way.
Reviewed on January 03 2017 by Charles Atkinson (Greensboro, NC, United States)
3
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When the Knight Bus crashes through the darkness and screeches to a halt in front of him, it's the start of another far from ordinary year at Hogwarts for Harry Potter. Sirius Black, escaped mass-murderer and follower of Lord Voldemort, is on the run - and they say he is coming after Harry. In his first ever Divination class, Professor Trelawney sees an omen of death in Harry's tea leaves.... But perhaps most terrifying of all are the Dementors patrolling the school grounds, with their soul-sucking kiss....
The Threat From Within
The increasing suspense as it becomes clear that there is an intruder in the castle who will stop at nothing in their quest to murder Harry....as his .. Show More » parents before him were brutally murdered.
Reviewed on November 22 2015 by Gretchen SLP (Sacramento, California)
4
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The Triwizard Tournament is to be held at Hogwarts. Only wizards who are over seventeen are allowed to enter - but that doesn't stop Harry dreaming that he will win the competition. Then at Hallowe'en, when the Goblet of Fire makes its selection, Harry is amazed to find his name is one of those that the magical cup picks out. He will face death-defying tasks, dragons and Dark wizards, but with the help of his best friends, Ron and Hermione, he might just make it through - alive!
The Best of a Brilliant Series
The humor, the many laugh-out-loud moments, and the palpably real pain, loneliness and longing of preadolescent friendships. Also, this is the book wh.. Show More » ere you begin to notice that J.K. Rowling has pulled off a feat previously only achieved by Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series: Her prose is "growing up" with Harry and his friends, and by this volume is approaching adult language, and is, like Harry, Ron, and Hermione, rapidly leaving childhood behind.
Reviewed on November 21 2015 by Gretchen SLP (Sacramento, California)
5
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When Dumbledore arrives at Privet Drive one summer night to collect Harry Potter, his wand hand is blackened and shrivelled, but he does not reveal why. Secrets and suspicion are spreading through the wizarding world, and Hogwarts itself is not safe. Harry is convinced that Malfoy bears the Dark Mark: there is a Death Eater amongst them. Harry will need powerful magic and true friends as he explores Voldemort's darkest secrets, and Dumbledore prepares him to face his destiny....
Masterful Narration Continues
Jim Dale continues his masterpiece of narration, drawing the reader on, not as some storytellers do with a tone of gathering round the fire for a grea.. Show More » t tale, rather, as though seeing, experiencing each moment through the eyes of Harry, Dumbledore, and even Snape (ProFESSOR Snape, Harry!). Having now Audibled (yes, that's a verb in our house) 6 of the 7 Potter books back to back (I'm binge-listening much the way I binge-read the books 12 years ago) I am utterly gobsmacked at Mr. Dale's tireless energy, emotion, pacing and character throughout this series. Every voice distinct, the children's voices maturing in style and tone over the years, the adults remaining flawlessly consistent and true. These recordings are a treasure for any HP fan, and will transport (or rather reapparate) you to that magical realm of Hogwarts, Quidditch pitches, Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade and Privet Drive. Thank you to Ms Rowling for making these favorites available to the Audible audience. And Bravo, Mr Dale.
Reviewed on May 13 2016 by Gina (Camas, WA, United States)
7
| i don't know |
Which late actor played Albus Dumbledore in the first two Harry potter films? | Richard Harris - IMDb
IMDb
Actor | Soundtrack | Producer
A genuine star of cinema on screen and a fiery hell raiser off screen, Richard St John Harris was born on October 1, 1930 in Limerick, Ireland, to a farming family. He was the son of Mildred Josephine (Harty) and Ivan John Harris, and was an excellent rugby player, with a strong passion for literature. Unfortunately, a bout of tuberculosis as a ... See full bio »
Born:
| Richard Harris |
In the Harry Potter series of books which animal is Hagrid allergic to? | Harry Potter Cast | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Edit
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (Redirected from Harry Potter cast)Jump to: navigation, searchThe list of Harry Potter cast members is a list of actors who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the Harry Potter film series based on the book series by J. K. Rowling. Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson have played Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger in all the films. When they cast only Radcliffe had previously acted in a film. Complementing them on screen are some of the most renowned actors of the United Kingdom and Ireland, including Helena Bonham Carter, Jim Broadbent, John Cleese, Robbie Coltrane, Warwick Davis, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Richard Griffiths, Richard Harris, John Hurt, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Miranda Richardson, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Maggie Smith, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, David Thewlis, Emma Thompson, Julie Walters and Mark Williams, among others. Sixteen actors have appeared as the same character in the first six films of the franchise, and many of these actors have reappeared in either of the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In the books, a significant number of characters who have not appeared since some of the earlier novels reappear to fight to defend Hogwarts in the large, final battle.[1] David Yates, director of the final four Potter films, said, "I want to get them all back" for the final instalment of the series, referring to his desire to bring back as many actors who have appeared in the franchise as possible for the climactic battle sequence in the film.
Some well-known British actors who have not appeared in the series are asked in jest why they have not been cast. In 2007, when Yates was directing the fifth film, Bill Nighy, who had previously collaborated with Yates on three of his television projects, said that he "joked with [Yates] that maybe now I wouldn't be the only actor in England who hadn't been in Harry Potter". But "nobody called", Nighy added.[2] Ironically, in 2009, Nighy was cast as Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour in Deathly Hallows, which Yates directed. Nighy said, "I am no longer the only English actor not to be in Harry Potter and I am very pleased."[3] Jude Law has quipped, "Nobody's asked me. I was a bit too old for Harry".[4] When a reporter compared Potions professor Horace Slughorn's obsession with famous names to the series' connection to "every notable British actor," Jim Broadbent, who plays Slughorn said, "Well, not every actor gets invited. I know some who are still waiting."[5]
With the exception of Chris Columbus, each director has had a cameo appearance in their respective film: Alfonso Cuarón appears as a wizard holding a candle during a scene at The Three Broomsticks in Prisoner of Azkaban; Mike Newell is heard briefly as the radio presenter in Frank Bryce's house in Goblet of Fire; and David Yates features as a wizard within a magical moving portrait in Order of the Phoenix. Producer David Heyman also makes a cameo appearance as a wizard featured within a magical moving portrait on the DVD of the third film, Prisoner of Azkaban.
The list below is sorted by film and character, as some characters have been portrayed by multiple actors.
Key
(v) indicates the actor or actress lent only his or her voice for his or her film character.
(y) indicates the actor or actress portrayed the role in a flashback scene or when the character was young.
(f) indicates the actor or actress did not appear in any new footage for the film; footage from an earlier film or films was used.
A light grey cell (such as the one in the "Charity Burbage" row in the "Philosopher's Stone" column) indicates the character was not in the film adaptation.
A dark grey cell (such as the one in the "Dedalus Diggle" row in the "Deathly Hallows" column) indicates the character does appear in the novel, but has not yet been cast.
Contents
1.4 Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters
1.5 Ministry of Magic employees
1.6 Other Order of the Phoenix members
1.7 Muggles
1.8 Foreign wizards and witches
1.9 Hogwarts denizens (non-human and ghosts)
1.10 Wizarding world people
| i don't know |
In the Harry Potter series of books what are the names of Molly Weasley’s brothers who were killed by Death Eaters in the First Wizarding War? | Harry Potter Before Book 1: What is Molly Weasley's family backstory? - Quora
Quora
Written Jul 16, 2013
Molly Weasley is a pure-blood born to the Prewett family.
She had two brothers - Fabian and Gideon Prewett. As mentioned in Book 5, those two were in the original order and were both killed by Death Eaters (five) in/during (possibly) the First Wizarding War. It has been mentioned that the family name ended with their death although it stays on with Molly's children.
Her family might also have been branded as "blood-traitors" because they involved themselves with the Order.
It has also been mentioned that she is related to the Blacks. In the following Black Family Tree, there is a Prewett couple mentioned - Ignatius and Lucretia Prewetts. Considering Percy's middle name was Ignatius, Molly must have been close to them. Although their names being on the family tree does indicate them not being Pro-Order/Muggles/Half-Bloods.
Apart from this there is no "official or confirmed" knowledge about her past which has been mentioned in the books, or later on by Jo.
| Ron Weasley |
What is the name of the wizarding pub in London in the Harry Potter novels? | harry potter - Why weren't the Weasleys a part of the Original Order? - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange
Why weren't the Weasleys a part of the Original Order?
up vote 23 down vote favorite
2
Why did Arthur and Molly Weasley not join the original iteration of the Order of the Phoenix, during the First Wizarding War? We know that they were definitely old enough to join (it is stated in the Goblet of Fire that the Whomping Willow was planted after Molly left Hogwarts, and we know that it was planted in Lupin's first year).
So why did Arthur and Molly not take part in the original order, and its resistance against Voldemort?
up vote 55 down vote accepted
There is no direct canon information (books, interviews, pottermore that I checked).
However, by the time Harry's parents were murdered, Weasleys already had 6.5 kids (F&G were 2 years ahead of Harry, Ron was same age, Ginny 1 year younger). Wikia gives the date range as
Bill was born in 1970, which is approximately when the war began, and Ginny was born in 1981, two months before the end of the war
Having 5-6-7 small kids to raise kind of puts a damper on most people's most activities, be it social life, or participation in secret orders.
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Ugh, if I had a nickel for every secret order I couldn't join because of the kids... – Nerrolken Jul 9 '15 at 18:01
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@Nerrolken - I'll settle for a nickel for every time I didn't get to engage in intimate adult recreational activity because of the kids... – DVK-in-Florida Jul 9 '15 at 18:12
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@DVK you'd either have a lot of nickels or a lot of kids. – mikeTheLiar Jul 9 '15 at 20:35
1
Make that a galleon. – Coded Monkey Jul 10 '15 at 9:49
Ron was about Harry's age during the fist wizarding war. Having to look after an infant while taking part in a war would have been very difficult for Molly. – rah4927 Jul 10 '15 at 13:22
up vote 15 down vote
Building on @DVKs answer, JKR has confirmed on her own website that Gideon and Fabian Prewitt (both of whom were members of the original Order of the Phoenix) were in fact Molly's older brothers :
"No one lived after he decided ter kill 'em, no one except you, an' he'd killed some of the best witches and wizards of the age — the McKinnons, the Bones, the Prewetts.
Although there's no canon confirmation one way or another, it's a distinct possibility that they were instrumental in Molly not becoming a member of such a dangerous organisation, basically vetoing their baby sister from joining.
We see a similar occurrence in the books, with Molly seeming to bar Ron, Harry and Hermione from becoming full members.
13
Ughm... Did you read the same Harry Potter that I did? :) When did anyone manage to succeed in getting Molly to do anything other than what she WANTED to do? – DVK-in-Florida Jul 9 '15 at 18:13
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@DVK - Arguably, the death of her older brothers could have been the spur into action that she needed to get more involved. – Valorum Jul 9 '15 at 18:19
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A "baby" sister... with 6.5 kids? – algiogia Jul 10 '15 at 12:21
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@algiogia - I can assure you that that's irrelevant :-) – Valorum Jul 10 '15 at 13:13
1
My brother, who is seven years younger than me and the youngest of my siblings, is now over a foot taller than me. I still call him "shorty" and "small-fry." Nicknames stick, especially for the "baby" of the family, even long after they are relevant. – Zoneman Jul 10 '15 at 19:08
| i don't know |
In the Harry Potter series of books what make and model is the Weasley family’s flying car? | Flying Ford Anglia | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Arthur: "But the things our lot has taking to enchanting, you wouldn't believe..."
Molly: "LIKE CARS, FOR INSTANCE?"
Arthur: "C-Cars, Molly dear?"
Molly: "Yes, Arthur, cars. Imagine a wizard buying a rusty old car and telling his wife all he wanted to do with it was take it apart to see how it worked, while really he was enchanting it to make it fly."
— Exchange between Arthur and Molly Weasley [src]
The Flying Ford Anglia was a light blue Ford Anglia 105E Deluxe that was modified by Arthur Weasley to be able to fly , as well as become invisible , via the use of a specially installed device called an Invisibility Booster . It was also modified so that it could fit eight people, six trunks, two owls , and a rat comfortably.
Contents
Flight between Little Whinging and the Burrow
"Your sons flew that enchanted car of yours to Surrey and back last night."
—Molly Weasley on her son's flight [src]
Fred, George, and Ron Weasley flying to the Burrow after rescuing Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive
The Flying Ford Anglia was used in the summer of 1992 by Fred , George , and Ron Weasley to rescue Harry Potter, who was locked up in his room at the Dursleys' and had been unable to receive any mail from the Wizarding community as a result of Dobby 's attempts to protect him. When they arrived at 4 Privet Drive , the Weasley boys pulled the car up to Harry's window, alerting him to their presence, after which they proceeded to pull off the bars on Harry's window and help him retrieve his things. As they were returning to the Burrow , Harry was worried that his friends would get in trouble for using the car due to the Reasonable Restriction for Underage Magic , but as they did not place the spell upon the car and were "only borrowing it, "it "[didn't] count."
Upon their Return to the Burrow, Mrs Weasley was furious with her sons for taking the car but placed no blame on Harry. The next morning, at breakfast, Mrs Weasley told Mr Weasley what the boys had done, and, startled, he began to ask how it went before hastily switching to a reprimand at a look from his wife. He tried to excuse the car by referring to a loophole in the law regarding ownership of charmed objects , but Molly noted that he was the one who had written that law.
Last Flight
Driving the Flying Ford Anglia to Hogwarts and into the Whomping Willow
At the start of their second year, Harry and Ron used the enchanted car to get to Hogwarts when the entrance to Platform 9¾ was sealed by Dobby , in another attempt to protect Harry by preventing his return to school. Ron was worried that his parents might not be able to get back through, so they used the car to fly to Hogwarts . Just as they arrived on school grounds, the car began to break down and they ended up crashing into the Whomping Willow. Professor Snape informed them that their journey was "seen by no less than seven Muggles " and that if it had been up to him he would have had them on the train back to London the very same night.
The car, after having unloaded everything and everyone in it, drove off into the Forbidden Forest , where it later saved Harry, Ron, and Hagrid 's dog, Fang , from Aragog 's family . Considering it did all of this on its own, the enchantment placed on the car apparently gave it some level of sentience. Arthur was fined 50 Galleons for bewitching the car illegally.
Destiny
In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 , at some point between 1993 and 1998, the car was presumably taken into the Room of Hidden Things by a member of the Hogwarts staff. In the level "Fiendfyre Frenzy", the car is upside-down on the first part when you are escaping from the flames , and you have to lift it up and use it as a bridge. It is presumably destroyed along with the other artefacts in the Room of Hidden Things. Since it is the Lego videogame, it is not canon. [1] Its canon fate is unknown, but it is possibly still dwelling in the forest.
Behind the scenes
The Flying Ford Anglia
| Ford Anglia |
In the Harry Potter series of books what is the name of Harry Potter’s pet owl? | Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Arthur Weasley - Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Arthur Weasley
From Wikibooks, open books for an open world
Overview[ edit ]
Arthur Weasley is the head of the Weasley family, and so is father to Bill , Charlie , Percy , Fred, George , Ron , and Ginny . He worked at the Ministry of Magic in the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office when Cornelius Fudge was the Minister of Magic. Arthur was then promoted to head the Office for the Detection and Confiscation of Counterfeit Defensive Spells and Protective Objects when Rufus Scrimgeour became the Minister. After Scrimgeour leaves the Ministry, this Office is likely abolished, but we do not learn where Arthur is reassigned; he does continue working for the Ministry. Arthur is a thin man, going bald, but the little hair on his head is as red as any of his children’s. His dearest wish is to find out how Muggle airplanes stay up.
Arthur Weasley's birthday is apparently 6 February.
Role in the Books[ edit ]
Beginner warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.
Chamber of Secrets [ edit ]
Mr. Weasley first appears when he arrives home from an overnight Ministry raid searching for Dark magic objects to find that Fred, George, and Ron have rescued Harry from the Dursleys' . Mr. Weasley is intrigued, first, by Harry's presence, and second, by the Twins having used his flying car . "How did it go?" When his wife, Molly , sternly reminds him their behavior was bad, Mr. Weasley weakly chastises them. Ron and Harry depart, and Mrs. Weasley's yelling can be heard even from Ron's attic bedroom.
Mr. Weasley accompanies the group to Diagon Alley to shop for school supplies. Heated remarks, partly motivated by Hermione Granger 's Muggle parents being present, are exchanged with Lucius Malfoy at Flourish & Blott's, and result in a brawl from which Mr. Weasley emerges slightly the worse for wear.
All of the Weasley children, plus Harry, ride from The Burrow to London in Mr. Weasley's flying car; Mrs. Weasley comments on how there seems to be so much room inside, unaware that Mr. Weasley has charmed it so that the inside is larger than the outside. At King's Cross Station, Ron and Harry are unable to pass through the barrier at Platform Nine and Three Quarters . They fly Mr. Weasley's car to Hogwarts, where it crashes into the Whomping Willow . The car ejects them before wildly driving off into the Forbidden Forest; it re-appears later, saving Harry and Ron from the giant spider, Aragog's , children.
We next see Mr. Weasley after Ginny Weasley is rescued from the Chamber of Secrets . Mr. Weasley chastises her: "How many times have I told you not to trust something, if you can't see where it keeps its brains?"
Prisoner of Azkaban [ edit ]
Mr. Weasley accompanies his family (Mrs. Weasley, Percy , Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny ) to Diagon Alley for school supplies. After dinner, Harry returns to the lounge to look for the Rat Tonic Ron bought for Scabbers , his pet rat. He overhears Mr. and Mrs. Weasley discussing whether or not Harry should be told that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban . Black apparently intends to murder Harry. As students board the Hogwarts Express the next day, Mr. Weasley takes Harry aside to tell him about Black; Harry admits he overheard the previous night's conversation. Mr. Weasley asks Harry to promise he will not go looking for Sirius Black, but the train departs before Harry can respond, leaving him confused about why Mr. Weasley thinks he would want to look for Black.
Goblet of Fire [ edit ]
Mr. Weasley procures tickets for the Quidditch World Cup , and Harry and Hermione are invited to attend with the family. After Harry receives Uncle Vernon 's grudging permission, Mr. Weasley arranges to collect Harry. Mr. Weasley, unaware the Dursleys boarded over their fireplace, has had it connected to the Floo network . When he arrives with Ron and the Twins in this constricted, closed space, Mr. Weasley determines that his only way out is to blast a hole in the wall, terrifying the Dursleys. The situation remains strained, even though Mr. Weasley attempts to engage Vernon and Petunia in a friendly conversation about electricity. Fred accidentally-on-purpose drops some Ton-Tongue Toffee , and Dudley Dursley picks it up and eats it, massively enlarging his tongue. Mayhem ensues, with the Dursleys, clearly blaming anything to do with the Wizarding world, attacking Mr. Weasley with china figurines even as he tries to help them.
Returning to the Burrow, Mr. Weasley is angry enough to scold the Twins for their behavior, warning them that these type of pranks damage Muggle-Wizard relationships. He threatens to tell Mrs. Weasley, but when she, entering, demands, "tell me what?" he backs off sharply, though apparently not sharply enough. From Ron's bedroom, Harry and Ron can again hear Mrs. Weasley yelling.
Early the next morning, Mr. Weasley, Harry, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny walk to Stoatshead Hill, where, along with Amos Diggory and his son, Cedric , they find the Portkey that will transport them to the match. Arriving at the campground, they set up camp, with Mr. Weasley enchanted by such common things as matches and the mallet used to drive in tent pegs. Tea and breakfast are finally ready, just as Bill , Charlie , and Percy arrive from the nearby woods, where they have Apparated in. Throughout the afternoon, Mr. Weasley exchanges greetings with other Ministry wizards passing by, while identifying them for the others. Ludovic Bagman stops by, taking bets on the match's outcome, and asking if Mr. Weasley has seen Bartemius Crouch ; shortly afterwards, Bartemius himself stops by, and they discuss problems Ludo is having with the Bulgarian delegation. They also mention some event that will be happening at Hogwarts; Mr. Weasley and Percy evidently know what this event is, but reveal nothing to the inquisitive students.
Mr. Weasley escorts Harry, Hermione, and the Weasley children to the top box, where Mr. Weasley has a small run-in with Lucius Malfoy . During the game, Mr. Weasley has to restrain his sons and Harry, who are entranced by the Bulgarian mascots, the Veela . He promises that the Irish mascots are even more impressive: leprechauns appear, showering the crowd with gold coins. When the competition between the Quidditch teams turns ugly, so does the conflict between the team mascots; the Veela, throwing fireballs, start turning into bird-like creatures with cruel beaks, displaying their true appearance. Mr. Weasley wisely comments that women should not be judged by looks alone.
After the match, a riot breaks out; Mr. Weasley, along with Bill, Charlie, and Percy, leave to battle the mob of apparent Death Eaters , while Harry, Ron, and Hermione hide in the woods; someone nearby invokes Voldemort's Dark Mark that appears in the night sky. Shortly after, they are surrounded by wizards casting Stunners in all directions. Mr. Weasley rushes in and defends Harry, Ron, and Hermione against Bartemius Crouch's accusations that they summoned the Mark. After the confusion has abated, Mr. Weasley ushers Harry, Ron, and Hermione back to their tents, reassuring them along the way. After a short night, everyone catches an early Portkey back to Stoatshead Hill and the Burrow. Mrs. Weasley, reading about the riots in the Daily Prophet , is relieved to see them all safe.
Later, hack journalist Rita Skeeter publishes an article in which she deliberately misquotes Mr. Weasley, and for the rest of the summer, he works long hours at the Ministry , attempting to repair the damage. Mr. Weasley is at the Ministry when Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Fred, and George leave for Hogwarts.
Order of the Phoenix [ edit ]
When Harry reaches Number 12, Grimmauld Place , Mr. Weasley is already there, ensconced in a meeting with other Order of the Phoenix members. He has dinner along with the other Weasleys, Hermione, Remus Lupin , and Sirius Black . Fred and George had earlier warned Harry that he should not mention Percy, who is estranged from the family, and whenever Percy's name is mentioned, "Dad breaks whatever he's holding".
When Remus asks Harry after dinner if he has any questions about Voldemort, Molly Weasley protests; Mr. Weasley, supporting Lupin and Sirius, avers that Harry has a right to know. Harry's insistence that he will only tell Ron and Hermione anything he learns earns them, Fred, and George permission to stay and listen as Harry's questions are answered. Defeated, Mrs. Weasley still sends a protesting Ginny to bed. Between them, Lupin, Sirius, Mr. Weasley, and Bill explain what the Order of the Phoenix is, and what they believe Lord Voldemort is attempting to do.
Mr. Weasley accompanies Harry, charged with using underage magic, to the Ministry of Magic for his hearing. Mr. Weasley suggests they travel by non-magical means to make a better impression, so they commute by subway. Mr. Weasley is enthralled by the ticket vending machines (even though they are broken), and by the escalators. He and Harry use the Ministry's visitor's entrance, then travel through the Ministry and the Auror branch, to his office, an over-filled converted broom closet. When the hearing starts, Mr. Weasley escorts Harry to the courtroom, then waits outside until Harry returns, cleared of all charges. As he and Harry are discussing the trial, Percy Weasley exits the courtroom; he apparently fails to notice Mr. Weasley, who says nothing to him, though his expression tightens. Mr. Weasley and Harry see Cornelius Fudge talking with Lucius Malfoy as they pass through the Ministry Atrium; spotting Mr. Weasley and Harry, Lucius suggests they finish their discussion, which apparently concerns a large donation Malfoy will be making, to the Minister's office.
Just before Christmas, Harry sees Nagini the snake attacking Mr. Weasley. Harry alerts Professor McGonagall who takes him to Professor Dumbledore ; Dumbledore, in turn, dispatches the Headmaster portraits to raise the alarm. Mr. Weasley is found alive, but seriously injured, and taken to St. Mungo's . The Weasley children and Harry are sent by Portkey to Grimmauld Place; after a tense night, Mrs. Weasley sends word that Mr. Weasley will survive. Shortly after, the family visits him in the hospital. Mr. Weasley effusively thanks Harry for saving his life, though Harry is uncertain how much gratitude he deserves; having witnessed the attack through the snake's eyes, he believes he may have been the agent of the attack on Mr. Weasley. Later, while Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Tonks , and Moody are discussing the incident, Harry overhears Moody saying that Harry may be possessed by Voldemort.
On Christmas, the family visits Mr. Weasley again. Arthur is enchanted by Harry's gift, a collection of screwdrivers and fuse wire. It seems that he and an apprentice healer have been experimenting with Muggle healing techniques, and have tried something called "stitches" on Mr. Weasley's wound. This has apparently been less than successful. Harry, Ron, and Hermione leave as Mrs. Weasley starts winding up to yell at her husband.
Shortly before school starts again, Mr. Weasley returns to Grimmauld Place, fully healed. His arrival, with all his family, interrupts an incipient duel between Sirius and Snape , though Mr. Weasley believes that the situation was not as serious as Harry thought.
Finally, Mr. Weasley is present at King's Cross station when Harry returns from school. Mr. Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Tonks, and Moody, along with Ron, Harry, and Hermione, speak to the Dursleys, saying that they expect to hear regularly from Harry, and if they do not, they will be visiting to see what is wrong.
Half-Blood Prince [ edit ]
At The Burrow, Mrs. Weasley tells Harry that Mr. Weasley has been working extremely long hours at the Ministry. Mr. Weasley arrives later, extremely wearied. Being a Ministry employee, and feeling he must set a good example, before Mrs. Weasley lets him enter, he confirms who she is and insists that she do the same. In this exchange, we learn that his dearest wish is to learn how Muggle airplanes stay up.
As he is working long hours, Mr. Weasley is seldom seen while Harry is at the Burrow, though he accompanies Mrs. Weasley, Harry, Hermione, Ginny, and Ron to Diagon Alley to buy school supplies. He is scandalized that vendors are offering phony anti-Dark magic charms, saying if he was on duty, he would run them in. Mrs. Weasley asks him to remain calm. The family splits up, with Harry, Ron, and Hermione going to Madam Malkin's for robes, escorted by Hagrid , while Ginny and her parents head to Flourish & Blotts for textbooks. They regroup later to visit Fred and George's store, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes .
Mr. Weasley escorts Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny to the Hogwarts Express. On the platform, Harry privately tells Mr. Weasley that he followed Draco Malfoy to Borgin & Burkes in Knockturn Alley. While there, Malfoy spoke about some Dark magic object that he needed repaired. Mr. Weasley says they have thoroughly searched Malfoy Manor and found nothing.
Ron later passes Mr. Weasley's message to Harry saying that Malfoy Manor was searched again, and still nothing was found.
We see Mr. Weasley during Christmas at the Burrow. Harry says he overheard Malfoy and Severus Snape discussing some task the Dark Lord has assigned Draco, and about an Unbreakable Vow Snape made to Draco's mother, Narcissa Malfoy. Mr. Weasley believes Snape may be trying to determine what Draco's mission is, to report it to the Order of the Phoenix; Remus Lupin echoes this opinion.
Deathly Hallows [ edit ]
We hear that Mr. Weasley visited the Dursleys with Kingsley Shacklebolt , advising them to accept the Order's offer to hide them when Harry turns 17 and the protective charms that Lily Potter 's death provided end. Unimpressed by Mr. Weasley, who half-destroyed the parlor when he last visited, Vernon Dursley, nonetheless, accepts guidance from Shacklebolt, possibly because he has seen him on TV, standing behind the Prime Minister.
Mr. Weasley is among the protectors accompanying the six Harry Potter decoys used to confuse the Death Eaters when Harry leaves Privet Drive shortly before his 17th birthday. Additionally, Hagrid mentions that the defensive modifications to Sirius Black's motorcycle, the one which the true Harry will be riding, were done by Mr. Weasley.
On arriving at the Burrow, Mr. Weasley rushes in to see what is happening, and is dismayed that George's ear was severed by a spell, but relieved there is no other injury.
Mr. Weasley assists Mrs. Weasley in preparing for Bill and Fleur 's wedding. When Mrs. Weasley assigns Harry and Mr. Weasley the job of cleaning the chicken coop, Mr. Weasley tells Harry not to bother; Ted Tonks has sent Sirius' wrecked flying motorcycle, which Mr. Weasley has stored in the chicken coop, hoping to figure out how brakes work when he puts it all back together.
When the Ministry falls and Death Eaters attack The Burrow, Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape, eventually taking refuge in Grimmauld Place. Mr. Weasley sends his Patronus there, letting them know the family is safe and to not reply, they are being watched.
Before infiltrating the Ministry to search for Voldemort's Locket Horcrux , Harry, Ron, and Hermione secretly observe its operations for a month. They watch Mr. Weasley going in with the other Ministry workers each morning and returning home in the evening. When they actually enter the Ministry to locate Dolores Umbridge , who has the Locket, Harry is on a lift (US: elevator) with Mr. Weasley when Percy steps on. Percy, seeing his father there, quickly gets off at the next floor; Mr. Weasley confronts Harry, who is disguised as Albert Runcorn , and tells him that if he provides information against any other wizards as he did against Dirk Cresswell , he will be in deep trouble. Harry warns Mr. Weasley that he has a trace on him, but Mr. Weasley thinks "Runcorn" is threatening him.
Mr. Weasley also participates in the final battle at Hogwarts. Kingsley Shacklebolt assigns him, along with Lupin and himself, to lead squads on the Hogwarts grounds in the battle. We then see him and Percy, who has reconciled with the family, together dropping the healed Pius Thicknesse , and later with the other Weasleys following the battle, consoling each other over the tragic loss of Fred in the battle.
Strengths[ edit ]
Arthur Weasley appears to be a talented and competent wizard. The Weasleys are one of the Old Wizarding Families, pureblood as far back as they can trace. However, Mr. Weasley, and the entire family, shun Voldemort's "pure-blood" superiority ideology, believing their ancestry should grant them no particular advantage or status over Half-bloods, Muggle-borns, or even Muggles. Many Pure-blood wizards consider this a betrayal, and have branded the Weasleys, and those like them, with the epithet "blood traitor" . This "betrayal of the blood" has resulted in Mr. Weasley receiving verbal abuse from pure-blood wizards, who also generally mock his relative poverty. Mr. Weasley's strong character shows in his unflinching response to these assaults. As late as the final book, we see him not only standing his ground against these attacks, but challenging Albert Runcorn (who unknown to him is actually Harry Potter in disguise), a high-level official in the now Death-eater dominated Ministry of Magic.
A devoted husband and loving father, Mr. Weasley always puts his family first. His main strength is his affable, calm demeanor and also his compassion. Lucius Malfoy claims Mr. Weasley is, "a disgrace to the name of wizard," because he helped author Muggle Protection Laws that he now enforces.
Mr. Weasley feels that everyone should be given a chance. This even extends to allowing others to possibly place him at risk: while hospitalized after being attacked, Mr. Weasley agreed to allow an apprentice healer to experiment with new Muggle wound-healing methods on him.
Weaknesses[ edit ]
It could be argued that Mr. Weasley's inability to control the Twins, or other family members, is a weakness. However, whenever a Weasley child needs any correction, he is swift to apply it; witness his reaction when he discovered one of the Twins inveigling Ron into making an Unbreakable Vow , an act that can result in death. It is perhaps more likely that he feels very deeply about his children, to the point that, particularly after Mrs. Weasley's usual browbeating, he feels it is unreasonable or unnecessary to additionally scold or punish them.
In Lord Voldemort's eyes and the Death Eaters , of course, his love for his children is a weakness, as is his fondness for Muggles and their technology. To Percy Weasley and others in the Ministry, Mr. Weasley's lack of ambition is clearly considered a deficiency. He, however, is happy with his job, and though it may pay less than he would like, he feels he is doing something that benefits Wizardkind; he has no desire to advance to a post that would take him away from his beloved Muggles.
However content Mr. Weasley may be with his stalled Ministry career, his underachieving nature has created a hardship for his wife and children. His meager salary barely supports the family, and Molly and the seven offspring have always had to make do with few extras—used and hand-me-down goods are a Weasley tradition. The older boys hardly seem bothered by this, but Ron's self-esteem is particularly affected. He, being the youngest of six sons, is often the last to inherit family possessions that have exchanged many hands. And though Ginny is younger than Ron, she, being a girl, has different requirements, or, by the time Ron is ready to pass on something to her, it may have become so shoddy as to be unusable and must be replaced, likely with a better second-hand item. Mr. Weasley does accept a promotion later in the series, allowing him to better provide for the family, particularly after the older boys have moved out.
Readers have little feel for Mr. Weasley's magical abilities. Given the charms he is able to work on the Ford Anglia, and on Sirius Black's flying motorcycle, one guesses that he is at the very least capable. The flying car, in particular, is quite a magical feat, apparently becoming sentient enough to recognize family members, and it later rescues Ron and Harry in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets; it is unclear if Mr. Weasley ever intended for his charm to have such a profound effect on it, and he may actually possess powers he fails to recognize or has never taken the initiative to fully develop. From his selection by Moody as a protector for the seven Potter decoys and selection by Kingsley to lead troops into the grounds at the Battle of Hogwarts, he must be a reasonably strong duelist and skilled with defensive spells, though we never directly see him in battle.
Relationships with Other Characters[ edit ]
Arthur Weasley is a devoted husband who enjoys a loving relationship with his wife, Molly. As the family patriarch, Mr. Weasley is supposedly called in when Molly is unable to control the children. He is rather remarkably ineffective at this, however, unwilling to punish his offspring more than they have been already. The only time we see him angry is after the Twins tricked Harry's cousin Dudley with Ton-Tongue Toffee. It is mentioned that, in the past, he was furious enough to strike Fred for inciting Ron to make an Unbreakable Vow, a potentially lethal act.
Arthur does seem more than a little overshadowed by his wife, though that may be simply the viewpoint from which we see them. Throughout the series, Harry, despite eventually reaching his majority, is treated by the Weasley family more or less as one of their own children, and so he, and we, will understand Arthur and Molly's relationship through a child's eyes. A more mature reader may guess that Arthur has followed a somewhat old-fashioned parenting path, leaving the daily child-rearing duties to Molly and acting primarily as the family bread-winner. Given the odd hours he is required to be working, this is likely a workable solution, though it does put rather a strain on Molly. We are only given occasional hints of their interactions when the children are not present, but what hints we are granted do suggest that Arthur and Molly remain devoted to each other, even after seven children and at least twenty five years of marriage.
The Weasley children dearly love their father, though even they may consider him rather eccentric. When Percy, the third eldest son, becomes obsessed with his Ministry career and mindlessly follows their anti-Harry Potter agenda, he estranges himself from the family. Mr. Weasley becomes particularly upset over Percy's behavior. Percy eventually reconciles with the family, and Mr. Weasley immediately accepts him back.
Mr. Weasley is also close to Harry, treating him much like a son, though their relationship is never as strong as the ones Harry shares with Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Albus Dumbledore, or even Rubeus Hagrid. Harry is always a welcome visitor at The Burrow, but with seven children, it would seem unlikely that Harry would receive any special attention other than as an honored guest. Presumably their relationship grows much closer after Harry marries Ginny Weasley.
Muggles endlessly fascinate Mr. Weasley, particularly the strange items they use in lieu of magic, and their resulting lifestyle. Mr. Weasley constantly queries Harry Potter about his life while at the Dursleys; he is also curious about Hermione Granger's and her Muggle parents' lives; his attempts to discuss Muggle technology with the Dursleys when he visits there terrifies them. He has a very open, congenial character, and always attempts to engage someone in conversation.
It is his fondness for Muggles that has Mr. Weasley often at daggers drawn with Lucius Malfoy. Their ongoing feud erupts into a physical altercation in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Mr. Weasley is an Order of the Phoenix member, and he appears to be well liked and regarded by other Order members; Dumbledore apparently places the utmost trust in his abilities and loyalty, and recognizes the important role he plays in not only protecting Harry, but providing him a surrogate family life.
Analysis[ edit ]
We can see that Arthur is intended to be something of a father figure, from the first time we meet him. He is overshadowed by Dumbledore, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, who are either more closely connected to Harry (Sirius is his godfather), or because they spend more time with Harry (Dumbledore and Lupin are at the school, where Harry spends the major part of his time). Arthur's fatherly influence is largely limited to what Harry picks up from Arthur's interactions with his sons, but Harry's feeling at home in The Burrow clearly means that he accepts Arthur's nominal head of household position there.
Many of the names given to characters in the Potter series clearly are meant to carry some indication of the personalities involved. In the case of Arthur, one wonders if the association one is meant to draw, consciously or otherwise, is with the legendary English king. There are definitely some similarities in the feelings of the characters of Arthur Weasley and the Arthur portrayed by T. H. White in The Once and Future King; notably, Arthur Weasley shares King Arthur's preoccupation with the rule of law and the rights of all people, not just the birthright "nobility," represented in the Potter series by the "pure-blood" wizards. This connection is somewhat tenuous, so while it could be quite interesting to explore, it may be beyond the scope of this work. One does rather wonder whether Molly is meant to represent Guinevere in this case, exactly who would be filling the roles of Merlin and Lancelot, and whether Percy is an analog for Mordred.
Questions[ edit ]
Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here.
How and where did Mr. Weasley purchase the car in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets that he charmed into flying?
Greater Picture[ edit ]
Intermediate warning: Details follow which you may not wish to read at your current level.
It is interesting to note that in the original plotline for the seven-book series, the author intended that Arthur Weasley would not survive Nagini's attack at the Ministry in book 5. In the ongoing pattern of father figures falling to Voldemort, Arthur Weasley was supposed to fall in this book, along with Sirius Black . It is uncertain why Arthur was spared, but it certainly seems to tighten the bonds between the Weasley family and Harry when he becomes the instrument that saves their father. The author has later stated that Mr. Weasley's death would have radically changed the dynamics between the Trio, effectively nullifying Ron's good humour, which helps to balance and bind the group.
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Harry Potter (book series)
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This article covers a subject that is part of the real world, and thus should not be taken as a part of the Harry Potter universe.
All seven books together in a special edition box set
The Harry Potter books make up the popular series written by J. K. Rowling . The series spans seven books. The books have been made into movies by Warner Bros. Pictures with the last book split into two films.
The books concern a wizard called Harry Potter and his journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry . The stories tell of him overcoming dangerous obstacles to defeat the Dark wizard Lord Voldemort who killed his parents when Harry was 15 months old. The first book, Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone , was published in 1997 by Bloomsbury in London. The last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , sold more than 12 million copies in the U.S.
Beginning on 6 October , 2015 , the entire series was presented in a fully-illustrated format, with over 100 illustrations per title, by Jim Kay . [1] The 7 books were also all reunited in one ebook the same year.
Contents
[ show ]
Publishing
The French edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ; Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers in English Harry Potter at the Wizarding School.
It is said that J. K. Rowling sent her preliminary copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to 12 publishers before it was accepted and published by Bloomsbury .
The following is an incomplete list of publishers of the books all over the world.
India : Manjul Publishing House (Hindi and its dialects)
Vietnam: Nhà xuất bản Trẻ
Poland: Media Rodzina
The Dutch version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Titles of the series
The author published seven books in the Harry Potter series, as well as numerous complementary books. You can get all seven eBooks as one download on Pottermore with Harry Potter: The Complete Collection . A sequel to the original series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released July 31st, 2016.
Original series
The following is a list of the seven books in the Harry Potter Series. Each novel corresponds to a year-long period of time, usually in reference to Harry Potter 's year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry .
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the U.S) (UK release: 26/06/97; US release 9/01/98)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (UK & US releases: 21/07/07)
Sequel
This sequel takes place nineteen years after the events of the final book in the original series. It is unknown weather this will be a stand alone novel or the start of a new series.
Quidditch Through the Ages , a complementary novel to the series
Complementary books
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (19 November, 2016)
Audiobook editions
Since the inception of Harry Potter series, the stories have also been released as audiobooks. In the United Kingdom, the audiobooks were narrated by Stephen Fry , with Jim Dale handling the narration for the U.S. editions. The audiobooks were released in both CD and cassette formats, though the cassette editions are no longer in print due to the general lack of demand for titles in this format. For the earlier books in the series, there was generally a delay between the release of the print and audio editions. [3] The later editions generally saw the audio copies being released the same day as the print editions, likely a result of the growing popularity of the series. Most recently the books were made available in the first ever online audio editions through Pottermore via the Pottermore Shop and were also made available to libraries for lending.
Enhanced Ebooks
In October 2015, Enhanced Editions of the 7 books were published exclusively on iBooks by Pottermore . Enhanced editions are said to include the full original text plus illustrations, animations and interactions as well as annotations written by J.K. Rowling to give you interesting insights into the world of Harry Potter. [4]
An inspiration
A LEGO set inspired by the series
The Harry Potter Series inspired many other creations, such as:
The series inspired an extensive line of LEGO playsets.
A film empire, created by Warner Brothers :
A LEGO Harry Potter video game (years 1-4) developed by TT Games was released in 2010. A sequel, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 , was released the following year.
The Wizarding World of Harry Potter , a theme park land in Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure, opened in 2010 in America . An additional expansion, Diagon Alley, was opened in 2014.
Numerous toy and doll sets.
Behind the scenes
Header artwork for each chapter of the Harry Potter books
The first and last books of the Harry Potter books of the series came out ten years apart. Coincidentally, the first and last movies of the series also came out ten years apart.
There is a dinosaur that has been named Dracorex hogwartsia , with Hogwartsia being based on the name of Hogwarts , in honour of the series. The name translates to "Dragon King of Hogwarts."
With the exception of the first and third books, there is always a chapter with the same name as the book.
Also, with the exception of the third book, there is always at least one character that dies in the final chapter(s) of the books (although in the second book this is a basilisk , not a human character).
Additionally, two books have characters named after them. They are:
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince : Severus Snape
In September 2012 , J. K. Rowling admitted to having rushed work on some of the Potter novels due to tight deadlines, and floated the possibility of someday releasing "director's cut" editions of the novels. [5]
Brad Walrod served as the typesetter for the Harry Potter books from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire onwards.
In total, the Harry Potter series spanned 36 years, beginning in 1981 and ending in 2017.
| Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban |
In the Harry Potter series of books what is the name of the team sport, played by seven players on each team, at Hogwarts School? | Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Harry Potter Series #3) by J. K. Rowling, Kazu Kibuishi, Mary GrandPre |, Paperback | Barnes & Noble®
Meet the author
Overview
This edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban has a gorgeous new cover illustration by Kazu Kibuishi. Inside is the full text of the original novel, with decorations by Mary GrandPré.
For twelve long years, the dread fortress of Azkaban held an infamous prisoner named Sirius Black. Convicted of killing thirteen people with a single curse, he was said to be the heir apparent to the Dark Lord, Voldemort.
Now he has escaped, leaving only two clues as to where he might be headed: Harry Potter’s defeat of You-Know-Who was Black’s downfall as well. And the Azkaban guards heard Black muttering in his sleep, “He’s at Hogwarts… he’s at Hogwarts.”
Harry Potter isn’t safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may be a traitor in their midst.
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Editorial Reviews
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J. K. Rowling continues to bewitch readers everywhere with the third book in her magical Potter series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Harry's ongoing exploits, along with those of his contemporaries, teachers, and relatives, are as imaginative, entertaining, and mysterious as ever. For during Harry's third year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he must face his greatest challenge yet: a confrontation with Sirius Black, an escaped convict and madman who is rumored to be in cahoots with Harry's archenemy, the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort. This alone would be daunting enough, but Harry's task is made even more trying when he discovers that Sirius is suspected of being the one who killed Harry's parents.
For Harry, the Hogwarts campus has always been a sanctuary, but when Black escapes from the horrifying clutches of Azkaban Prison, all clues suggest the madman is headed for Hogwarts and Harry himself. As a result, the school starts to feel more like a prison than a sanctuary as Harry finds himself constantly watched and under guard. What's more, the terrifying Dementors -- the horrifying creatures who guard Azkaban Prison -- are lurking about the campus looking for Black. And their effect on Harry is a devastating one.
Still, life at school offers plenty of distractions. Harry really likes the new teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts, Professor Lupin, who might be able to teach Harry how to defend himself against the Dementors. But Professor Snape's behavior toward Lupin has Harry wondering what secrets the two men are hiding. Harry's friend Hermione is also acting very strangely. And, of course, there is the tension caused by the ongoing Quidditch competition between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins and the never-ending bullying of the Slytherin leader, Draco Malfoy.
One of Rowling's greatest strengths is her ability to stack mystery upon mystery in a way that keeps the pages turning without frustrating the reader. Her clues are always fair and bountiful, but it's easy to lose track of them in the midst of all the high suspense, spell-casting action, and unexpected plot twists. That's okay, because Rowling ties it all neatly together at the end in a way that will leave readers snapping their fingers and muttering, "Oh yeah. Forgot about that one. How clever!"
Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
Rowling proves that she has plenty of tricks left up her sleeve in this third Harry Potter adventure, set once again at the Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry. Right before the start of term, a supremely dangerous criminal breaks out of a supposedly impregnable wizards' prison; it will come as no surprise to Potter fans that the villain, a henchman of Harry's old enemy Lord Voldemort, appears to have targeted Harry. In many ways this installment seems to serve a transitional role in the seven-volume series: while many of the adventures are breathlessly relayed, they appear to be laying groundwork for even more exciting adventures to come. The beauty here lies in the genius of Rowling's plotting. Seemingly minor details established in books one and two unfold to take on unforeseen significance, and the finale, while not airtight in its internal logic, is utterly thrilling. Rowling's wit never flags, whether constructing the workings of the wizard world (Just how would a magician be made to stay behind bars?) or tossing off quick jokes (a grandmother wears a hat decorated with a stuffed vulture; the divination classroom looks like a tawdry tea shop). The Potter spell is holding strong. All ages. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Children's Literature - Rebecca Joseph
In this most interesting Harry Potter adventure yet, Harry returns for his third and most dangerous year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A mass murderer involved in the death of Harry's parents is on the loose and is after Harry, and the terrifying guards of Azkaban come to guard the school. Determined to catch the murderer, Harry, aided by his friends Ron and Hermione, learns more about the facts leading to his parents' tragic deaths and must face his deepest fears. This book keeps readers on the edge of their seats and makes them yearn for the next installment in the Harry Potter saga.
Children's Literature - Jan Lieberman
This book is as daring and thrilling as any fantasy can be. Harry must confront the evil wizard responsible for his parent's death. Foes may wear disguises and appear harmless. Harry, with help from his friends, must use all his wits to discover the truth. In between quidditch games, studying, and coping with being an emerging teen, Harry has to battle the forces out to end his life. This third book flies by with breath-taking adventures and in-depth character development that helps us understand the complex cast with greater appreciation. I'm panting for Book Four.
ALAN Review
Those thousands of fans already familiar with this series will not be disappointed; Rowling is surprisingly inventive in her small details and startling in her plot twists. And what is particularly pleasing is that Harry grows in this novel, as the thematic concerns of the series grow in complexity. In this, the 3rd Harry Potter book, Harry returns to Hogwarts for his third year. He is shadowed by the knowledge of Sirius Black, a close associate of Lord Voldemort and one-time intimate friend of Harry's parents. Lord Voldemort has escaped from the prison of Azkaban and is undoubtedly looking to avenge himself upon Harry. While struggling with this shadow, Harry also deals with the presence of the Dementors, the guards of Azkaban. The Dementors are looking for Sirus Black because they want to suck all joy and happiness out of those they find, and Harry, because of his past, is particularly susceptible to their powers. Supported by close friends Ron and Hermione, our hero Harry faces Black, fights for the House Cup, and in the end, comes to a new knowledge of his parents that he had never dreamed possible.Here the good and the evil are not so starkly drawn, and may even at times blend in disturbing ways. If the final unraveling of the mystery is a bit clumsy, handled by lengthy and stilted exposition rather than her usual brisk action, Rowling is still wonderfully adept at creating engaging characters and a narrative line that pushes forward at a remarkable pace. Genre: Fantasy. 1999, Arthur P. Levine, Ages 9 to 12, $16.00. Reviewer: Gary D. Schmidt
School Library Journal
Gr 4 Up-The third book in J.K. Rowling's wildly popular Harry Potter series (Scholastic, 1999) is spiritedly brought to life in this audiobook narrated by English actor/singer Jim Dale. In this installment, Harry's life seems to be in danger when Sirius Black, a wizard convicted of multiple murders, escapes from prison and appears to be heading towards Hogwarts to seek revenge against Harry for causing Voldemort's downfall. Dale, who also recorded the audio versions of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Jan. 2000, p. 73) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (April 2000, p. 76) gives a tour de force reading performance as he chronicles Harry's third year at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. With his mastery of verbal inflection, expressive voice, and terrific accents, Dale deftly shifts from general narration to numerous character voices without disrupting the flow of the story. In fact, his tone is so warm and inviting that listeners don't feel the tapes nearly 12 hours length; instead, they will eagerly anticipate listening to more. Adding Dale's vocal talents to Rowling's already well-written and engaging story makes this a quality audiobook worthy of inclusion in all audio collections.-Lori Craft, Downers Grove Public Library, IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|
Midwest Book Review
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban will involve a wide age range, with Jim Dale's performance adding life to the unabridged presentation telling of Potter's encounter with an old family enemy. Tensions builds in an excellent book on tape which is just as hard to quit as the print version.
Talk Magazine
Rowling writes fantastically (one growling book has wo be stroked to get it open) and yet with 20'th century verit .
Talk Magazine's 10 Best Books of 1999
Fantasy & Science Fiction
Readers are welcoming back old friends, hissing at the recurring villians, cheering Harry's Quidditch team (Quidditch is a kind of aerial basketball played on broomsticks with five balls), and completely enthralled with the new mysteries that arise. And let me add here that Rowling is one of the few authors who, while playing fair, has still taken me by surprise with who the villian is in each book.
From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (September, 1998)
"A wonderful first novel. Much like Roald Dahl, J.K. Rowling has a gift for keeping the emotions, fears, and triumphs of her characters on a human scale, even while the supernatural is popping out all over. The book is full of wonderful, sly humor [and] the characters are impressively three-dimensional (occasionally, four-dimensional!) and move along seamlessly through the narrative. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" is as funny, moving and impressive as the story behind its writing. Like Harry Potter, [J.K. Rowling] has wizardry inside, and has soared beyond her modest Muggles surroundings to achieve something quite special."
--The New York Times Book Review
"A charming, imaginative, magical confection of a novel...a glorious debut, a book of wonderful comic pleasures and dizzying imaginative flights. There is no cause to doubt Rowling's abilities and promise, and every reason to expect great things, truly great things, from her in the future."
--The Boston Sunday Globe
"You don't have to be a wizard or a kid to appreciate the spell cast by Harry Potter."
--USA Today
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 2
Harry went down to breakfast the next morning to find the three Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table. They were watching a brand-new television, a welcome-home-for-the-summer present for Dudley, who had been complaining loudly about the long walk between the fridge and the television in the living room. Dudley had spent most of the summer in the kitchen, his piggy little eyes fixed on the screen and his five chins wobbling as he ate continually.
Harry sat down between Dudley and Uncle Vernon, a large, beefy man with very little neck and a lot of mustache. Far from wishing Harry a happy birthday, none of the Dursleys made any sign that they had noticed Harry enter the room, but Harry was far too used to this to care. He helped himself to a piece of toast and then looked up at the reporter on the television, who was halfway through a report on an escaped convict:
"... The public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."
"No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Uncle Vernon, staring over the top of his newspaper at the prisoner. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair!"
He shot a nasty look sideways at Harry, whose untidy hair had always been a source of great annoyance to Uncle Vernon. Compared to the man on the television, however, whose gaunt face was surrounded by a matted, elbow-length tangle, Harry felt very well groomed indeed.
The reporter had reappeared.
"The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries will announce today -"
"Hang on!" barked Uncle Vernon, staring furiously at the reporter. "You didn't tell us where that maniac's escaped from! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!"
Aunt Petunia, who was bony and horse-faced, whipped around and peered intently out of the kitchen window. Harry knew Aunt Petunia would simply love to be the one to call the hot line number. She was the nosiest woman in the world and spent most of her life spying on the boring, law-abiding neighbors.
"When will they learn," said Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his large purple fist, "that hanging's the only way to deal with these people?"
"Very true," said Aunt Petunia, who was still squinting into next door's runner beans.
Uncle Vernon drained his teacup, glanced at his watch, and added, "I'd better be off in a minute, Petunia. Marge's train gets in at ten."
Harry, whose thoughts had been upstairs with the Broomstick Servicing Kit, was brought back to earth with an unpleasant bump.
"Aunt Marge?" he blurted out. "Sh - she's not coming here, is she?"
Aunt Marge was Uncle Vernon's sister. Even though she was not a blood relative of Harry's (whose mother had been Aunt Petunia's sister), he had been forced to call her "Aunt" all his life. Aunt Marge lived in the country, in a house with a large garden, where she bred bulldogs. She didn't often stay at Privet Drive, because she couldn't bear to leave her precious dogs, but each of her visits stood out horribly vividly in Harry's mind.
At Dudley's fifth birthday party, Aunt Marge had whacked Harry around the shins with her walking stick to stop him from beating Dudley at musical statues. A few years later, she had turned up at Christmas with a computerized robot for Dudley and a box of dog biscuits for Harry. On her last visit, the year before Harry started at Hogwarts, Harry had accidentally trodden on the tail of her favorite dog. Ripper had chased Harry out into the garden and up a tree, and Aunt Marge had refused to call him off until past midnight. The memory of this incident still brought tears of laughter to Dudley's eyes.
"Marge'll be here for a week," Uncle Vernon snarled, "and while we're on the subject" - he pointed a fat finger threateningly at Harry - "we need to get a few things straight before I go and collect her."
Dudley smirked and withdrew his gaze from the television. Watching Harry being bullied by Uncle Vernon was Dudley's favorite form of entertainment.
"Firstly," growled Uncle Vernon, "you'll keep a civil tongue in your head when you're talking to Marge."
"All right," said Harry bitterly, "if she does when she's talking to me."
"Secondly," said Uncle Vernon, acting as though he had not heard Harry's reply, "as Marge doesn't know anything about your abnormality, I don't want any - any funny stuff while she's here. You behave yourself, got me?"
"I will if she does," said Harry through gritted teeth.
"And thirdly," said Uncle Vernon, his mean little eyes now slits in his great purple face, "we've told Marge you attend St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys."
"What?" Harry yelled.
"And you'll be sticking to that story, boy, or there'll be trouble," spat Uncle Vernon.
Harry sat there, white-faced and furious, staring at Uncle Vernon, hardly able to believe it. Aunt Marge coming for a week-long visit - it was the worst birthday present the Dursleys had ever given him, including that pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.
"Well, Petunia," said Uncle Vernon, getting heavily to his feet, "I'll be off to the station, then. Want to come along for the ride, Dudders?"
"No," said Dudley, whose attention had returned to the television now that Uncle Vernon had finished threatening Harry.
"Duddy's got to make himself smart for his auntie," said Aunt Petunia, smoothing Dudley's thick blond hair. "Mummy's bought him a lovely new bow tie."
Uncle Vernon clapped Dudley on his porky shoulder.
"See you in a bit, then," he said, and he left the kitchen.
Harry, who had been sitting in a kind of horrified trance, had a sudden idea. Abandoning his toast, he got quickly to his feet and followed Uncle Vernon to the front door.
Uncle Vernon was pulling on his car coat.
"I'm not taking you," he snarled as he turned to see Harry watching him.
"Like I wanted to come," said Harry coldly. "I want to ask you something."
Uncle Vernon eyed him suspiciously.
"Third years at Hog - at my school are allowed to visit the village sometimes," said Harry.
"So?" snapped Uncle Vernon, taking his car keys from a hook next to the door.
"I need you to sign the permission form," said Harry in a rush.
"And why should I do that?" sneered Uncle Vernon.
"Well," said Harry, choosing his words carefully, "it'll be hard work, pretending to Aunt Marge I go to that St. Whatsits -"
"St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys!" bellowed Uncle Vernon, and Harry was pleased to hear a definite note of panic in Uncle Vernon's voice.
"Exactly," said Harry, looking calmly up into Uncle Vernon's large, purple face. "It's a lot to remember. I'll have to make it sound convincing, won't I? What if I accidentally let something slip?"
"You'll get the stuffing knocked out of you, won't you?" roared Uncle Vernon, advancing on Harry with his fist raised. But Harry stood his ground.
"Knocking the stuffing out of me won't make Aunt Marge forget what I could tell her," he said grimly.
Uncle Vernon stopped, his fist still raised, his face an ugly
puce.
"But if you sign my permission form," Harry went on quickly, "I swear I'll remember where I'm supposed to go to school, and I'll act like a Mug - like I'm normal and everything."
Harry could tell that Uncle Vernon was thinking it over, even if his teeth were bared and a vein was throbbing in his temple.
"Right," he snapped finally. "I shall monitor your behavior carefully during Marge's visit. If, at the end of it, you've toed the line and kept to the story, I'll sign your ruddy form."
He wheeled around, pulled open the front door, and slammed it so hard that one of the little panes of glass at the top fell out.
Harry didn't return to the kitchen. He went back upstairs to his bedroom. If he was going to act like a real Muggle, he'd better start now. Slowly and sadly he gathered up all his presents and his birthday cards and hid them under the loose floorboard with his homework. Then he went to Hedwig's cage. Errol seemed to have recovered; he and Hedwig were both asleep, heads under their wings. Harry sighed, then poked them both awake.
"Hedwig," he said gloomily, "you're going to have to clear off for a week. Go with Errol. Ron'll look after you. I'll write him a note, explaining. And don't look at me like that" - Hedwig's large amber eyes were reproachful - "it's not my fault. It's the only way I'll be allowed to visit Hogsmeade with Ron and Hermione."
Ten minutes later, Errol and Hedwig (who had a note to Ron bound to her leg) soared out of the window and out of sight. Harry, now feeling thoroughly miserable, put the empty cage away inside the wardrobe.
But Harry didn't have long to brood. In next to no time, Aunt Petunia was shrieking up the stairs for Harry to come down and get ready to welcome their guest.
"Do something about your hair!" Aunt Petunia snapped as he reached the hall.
Harry couldn't see the point of trying to make his hair lie flat. Aunt Marge loved criticizing him, so the untidier he looked, the happier she would be.
All too soon, there was a crunch of gravel outside as Uncle Vernon's car pulled back into the driveway, then the clunk of the car doors and footsteps on the garden path.
"Get the door!" Aunt Petunia hissed at Harry.
A feeling of great gloom in his stomach, Harry pulled the door open.
On the threshold stood Aunt Marge. She was very like Uncle Vernon: large, beefy, and purple-faced, she even had a mustache, though not as bushy as his. In one hand she held an enormous suitcase, and tucked under the other was an old and evil-tempered bulldog.
"Where's my Dudders?" roared Aunt Marge. "Where's my neffy- poo?"
Dudley came waddling down the hall, his blond hair plastered flat to his fat head, a bow tie just visible under his many chins. Aunt Marge thrust the suitcase into Harry's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, seized Dudley in a tight one-armed hug, and planted a large kiss on his cheek.
Harry knew perfectly well that Dudley only put up with Aunt Marge's hugs because he was well paid for it, and sure enough, when they broke apart, Dudley had a crisp twenty-pound note clutched in his fat fist.
"Petunia!" shouted Aunt Marge, striding past Harry as though he was a hat stand. Aunt Marge and Aunt Petunia kissed, or rather, Aunt Marge bumped her large jaw against Aunt Petunia's bony cheekbone.
Uncle Vernon now came in, smiling jovially as he shut the door.
"Tea, Marge?" he said. "And what will Ripper take?"
"Ripper can have some tea out of my saucer," said Aunt Marge as they all proceeded into the kitchen, leaving Harry alone in the hall with the suitcase. But Harry wasn't complaining; any excuse not to be with Aunt Marge was fine by him, so he began to heave the case upstairs into the spare bedroom, taking as long as he could.
By the time he got back to the kitchen, Aunt Marge had been supplied with tea and fruitcake, and Ripper was lapping noisily in the corner. Harry saw Aunt Petunia wince slightly as specks of tea and drool flecked her clean floor. Aunt Petunia hated animals.
"Who's looking after the other dogs, Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"Oh, I've got Colonel Fubster managing them," boomed Aunt Marge. "He's retired now, good for him to have something to do. But I couldn't leave poor old Ripper. He pines if he's away from me."
Ripper began to growl again as Harry sat down. This directed Aunt Marge's attention to Harry for the first time.
"So!" she barked. "Still here, are you?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"Don't you say 'yes' in that ungrateful tone," Aunt Marge growled. "It's damn good of Vernon and Petunia to keep you. Wouldn't have done it myself. You'd have gone straight to an orphanage if you'd been dumped on my doorstep."
Harry was bursting to say that he'd rather live in an orphanage than with the Dursleys, but the thought of the Hogsmeade form stopped him. He forced his face into a painful smile.
"Don't you smirk at me!" boomed Aunt Marge. "I can see you haven't improved since I last saw you. I hoped school would knock some manners into you." She took a large gulp of tea, wiped her mustache, and said, "Where is it that you send him, again, Vernon?"
"St. Brutus's," said Uncle Vernon promptly. "It's a first-rate institution for hopeless cases."
"I see," said Aunt Marge. "Do they use the cane at St. Brutus's, boy?" she barked across the table.
"Er -"
Uncle Vernon nodded curtly behind Aunt Marge's back.
"Yes," said Harry. Then, feeling he might as well do the thing properly, he added, "all the time."
"Excellent," said Aunt Marge. "I won't have this namby-pamby, wishy-washy nonsense about not hitting people who deserve it. A good thrashing is what's needed in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. Have you been beaten often?"
"Oh, yeah," said Harry, "loads of times."
Aunt Marge narrowed her eyes.
"I still don't like your tone, boy," she said. "If you can speak of your beatings in that casual way, they clearly aren't hitting you hard enough. Petunia, I'd write if I were you. Make it clear that you approve the use of extreme force in this boy's case."
Perhaps Uncle Vernon was worried that Harry might forget their bargain; in any case, he changed the subject abruptly.
"Heard the news this morning, Marge? What about that escaped prisoner, eh?"
As Aunt Marge started to make herself at home, Harry caught himself thinking almost longingly of life at number four without her. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia usually encouraged Harry to stay out of their way, which Harry was only too happy to do. Aunt Marge, on the other hand, wanted Harry under her eye at all times, so that she could boom out suggestions for his improvement. She delighted in comparing Harry with Dudley, and took huge pleasure in buying Dudley expensive presents while glaring at Harry, as though daring him to ask why he hadn't got a present too. She also kept throwing out dark hints about what made Harry such an unsatisfactory person.
"You mustn't blame yourself for the way the boy's turned out, Vernon," she said over lunch on the third day. "If there's something rotten on the inside, there's nothing anyone can do about it."
Harry tried to concentrate on his food, but his hands shook and his face was starting to burn with anger. Remember the form, he told himself. Think about Hogsmeade. Don't say anything. Don't rise -
Aunt Marge reached for her glass of wine.
"It's one of the basic rules of breeding," she said. "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup -"
At that moment, the wineglass Aunt Marge was holding exploded in her hand. Shards of glass flew in every direction and Aunt Marge sputtered and blinked, her great ruddy face dripping.
"Marge!" squealed Aunt Petunia. "Marge, are you all right?"
"Not to worry," grunted Aunt Marge, mopping her face with her napkin. "Must have squeezed it too hard. Did the same thing at Colonel Fubster's the other day. No need to fuss, Petunia, I have a very firm grip ..."
But Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were both looking at Harry suspiciously, so he decided he'd better skip dessert and escape from the table as soon as he could.
Outside in the hall, he leaned against the wall, breathing deeply. It had been a long time since he'd lost control and made something explode. He couldn't afford to let it happen again. The Hogsmeade form wasn't the only thing at stake - if he carried on like that, he'd be in trouble with the Ministry of Magic.
Harry was still an underage wizard, and he was forbidden by wizard law to do magic outside school. His record wasn't exactly clean either. Only last summer he'd gotten an official warning that had stated quite clearly that if the Ministry got wind of any more magic in Privet Drive, Harry would face expulsion from Hogwarts.
He heard the Dursleys leaving the table and hurried upstairs out of the way.
Harry got through the next three days by forcing himself to think about his Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare whenever Aunt Marge started on him. This worked quite well, though it seemed to give him a glazed look, because Aunt Marge started voicing the opinion that he was mentally subnormal.
At last, at long last, the final evening of Marge's stay arrived. Aunt Petunia cooked a fancy dinner and Uncle Vernon uncorked several bottles of wine. They got all the way through the soup and the salmon without a single mention of Harry's faults; during the lemon meringue pie, Uncle Vernon bored them all with a long talk about Grunnings, his drill-making company; then Aunt Petunia made coffee and Uncle Vernon brought out a bottle of brandy.
"Can I tempt you, Marge?"
Aunt Marge had already had quite a lot of wine. Her huge face was very red.
"Just a small one, then," she chuckled. "A bit more than that . . . and a bit more . . . that's the ticket."
Dudley was eating his fourth slice of pie. Aunt Petunia was sipping coffee with her little finger sticking out. Harry really wanted to disappear into his bedroom, but he met Uncle Vernon's angry little eyes and knew he would have to sit it out.
"Aah," said Aunt Marge, smacking her lips and putting the empty brandy glass back down. "Excellent nosh, Petunia. It's normally just a fry-up for me of an evening, with twelve dogs to look after. . . ." She burped richly and patted her great tweed stomach. "Pardon me. But I do like to see a healthy-sized boy," she went on, winking at Dudley. "You'll be a proper-sized man, Dudders, like your father. Yes, I'll have a spot more brandy, Vernon. . . ."
"Now, this one here -"
She jerked her head at Harry, who felt his stomach clench. The Handbook, he thought quickly.
"This one's got a mean, runty look about him. You get that with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty little thing it was. Weak. Underbred."
Harry was trying to remember page twelve of his book: A Charm to Cure Reluctant Reversers.
"It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now, I'm saying nothing against your family, Petunia" - she patted Aunt Petunia's bony hand with her shovel-like one - "but your sister was a bad egg. They turn up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's the result right in front of us."
Harry was staring at his plate, a funny ringing in his ears. Grasp your broom firmly by the tail, he thought. But he couldn't remember what came next. Aunt Marge's voice seemed to be boring into him like one of Uncle Vernon's drills.
"This Potter," said Aunt Marge loudly, seizing the brandy bottle and splashing more into her glass and over the tablecloth, "you never told me what he did?"
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were looking extremely tense. Dudley had even looked up from his pie to gape at his parents.
"He - didn't work," said Uncle Vernon, with half a glance at Harry. "Unemployed."
"As I expected!" said Aunt Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who -"
"He was not," said Harry suddenly. The table went very quiet. Harry was shaking all over. He had never felt so angry in his life.
"MORE BRANDY!" yelled Uncle Vernon, who had gone very white. He emptied the bottle into Aunt Marge's glass. "You, boy," he snarled at Harry. "Go to bed, go on -"
"No, Vernon," hiccuped Aunt Marge, holding up a hand, her tiny bloodshot eyes fixed on Harry's. "Go on, boy, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash (drunk, I expect) -"
"They didn't die in a car crash!" said Harry, who found himself on his feet.
"They died in a car crash, you nasty little liar, and left you to be a burden on their decent, hardworking relatives!" screamed Aunt Marge, swelling with fury. "You are an insolent, ungrateful little -"
But Aunt Marge suddenly stopped speaking. For a moment, it looked as though words had failed her. She seemed to be swelling with inexpressible anger - but the swelling didn't stop. Her great red face started to expand, her tiny eyes bulged, and her mouth stretched too tightly for speech - next second, several buttons had just burst from her tweed jacket and pinged off the walls - she was inflating like a monstrous balloon, her stomach bursting free of her tweed waistband, each of her fingers blowing up like a salami -
"MARGE!" yelled Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia together as Aunt Marge's whole body began to rise off her chair toward the ceiling. She was entirely round, now, like a vast life buoy with piggy eyes, and her hands and feet stuck out weirdly as she drifted up into the air, making apoplectic popping noises. Ripper came skidding into the room, barking madly.
"NOOOOOOO!"
Uncle Vernon seized one of Marge's feet and tried to pull her down again, but was almost lifted from the floor himself. A second later, Ripper leapt forward and sank his teeth into Uncle Vernon's leg.
Harry tore from the dining room before anyone could stop him, heading for the cupboard under the stairs. The cupboard door burst magically open as he reached it. In seconds, he had heaved his trunk to the front door. He sprinted upstairs and threw himself under the bed, wrenching up the loose floorboard, and grabbed the pillowcase full of his books and birthday presents. He wriggled out, seized Hedwig's empty cage, and dashed back downstairs to his trunk, just as Uncle Vernon burst out of the dining room, his trouser leg in bloody tatters.
"COME BACK IN HERE!" he bellowed. "COME BACK AND PUT HER RIGHT!"
But a reckless rage had come over Harry. He kicked his trunk open, pulled out his wand, and pointed it at Uncle Vernon.
"She deserved it," Harry said, breathing very fast. "She deserved what she got. You keep away from me."
He fumbled behind him for the latch on the door.
"I'm going," Harry said. "I've had enough."
And in the next moment, he was out in the dark, quiet street, heaving his heavy trunk behind him, Hedwig's cage under his arm.
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J. K. Rowling is the author of the beloved, bestselling, record-breaking Harry Potter series. She started writing the series during a delayed Manchester to London King’s Cross train journey, and during the next five years, outlined the plots for each book and began writing the first novel. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published in the United States by Arthur A. Levine Books in 1998, and the series concluded nearly ten years later with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, published in 2007. J. K. Rowling is the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees including an OBE for services to children’s literature, France’s Légion d’Honneur, and the Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award. She supports a wide number of causes through her charitable trust Volant, and is the founder of Lumos, a charity working to transform the lives of disadvantaged children. J. K. Rowling lives in Edinburgh with her husband and three children.
Kazu Kibuishi is the creator of the New York Times bestselling Amulet series and Copper, a collection of his popular webcomic. He is also the founder and editor of the acclaimed Flight anthologies. Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, his first graphic novel, was listed as one of the Best Books for Young Adults by YALSA, and Amulet, Book One: The Stonekeeper was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a Children's Choice Book Award finalist. Kazu lives and works in Alhambra, California, with his wife and fellow comics artist, Amy Kim Kibuishi, and their two children. Visit Kazu online at www.boltcity.com.
Mary GrandPré has illustrated more than twenty beautiful books for children, including the American editions of the Harry Potter novels. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal, and her paintings and pastels have been shown in galleries across the United States. Ms. GrandPré lives in Sarasota, Florida, with her family.
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In the Harry Potter series of books which animal is James Potter’s ‘Patronus’ | Patronus Charm | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
The spell as seen in the third video game .
SPSexpecto from SpellShapes.utx from the texture files of the third video game PC version.
Two Patronuses planned for the films but ultimately cut include a Thestral and a chimpanzee [29]
The Patronuses of James Potter and Minerva McGonagall match their respective Animagi form. These are the only characters whose Patronus and Animagus forms are known. It is uncertain whether all Patronuses will match the form of the Animagus, but so far, an instance of differing forms has not been revealed.
Similarly Remus Lupin's Patronus is a wolf, but whether this is a universal among werewolves or not is unknown.
In the first chapter of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows , a white peacock appears in the gardens of Malfoy Manor. Some fans believed this bird to be Lucius Malfoy 's Patronus. However, J. K. Rowling stated that no Death Eater except Severus Snape could (or had a need to) conjure a Patronus, because Death Eaters fight alongside that which Patronuses fight against. [30] This means that the peacock was in fact a living creature. It is stated in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that the creature was in fact an albino peacock.
In the video game adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , the more moderate Expecto Patronum is a ball of light. In the console versions, it works as a guided-missile that can only be steered left or right, and accelerate. In the PC version, before cast, a white ring goes up Harry's arm and if it reaches top of the wand, Harry has to try the spell again, and it is used only to attack Dementors (it also produces lightning effects). At the climax of the game, a stag (Harry's Patronus) jumps out of the wand to drive away all the Dementors nearby attacking Harry and Sirius, and its during that battle in the console versions, Harry's Patronus changes into a stag with altered controls.
The lecture that Harry gives on Patronuses to Dumbledore's Army in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is extremely similar to the lecture Remus Lupin gave him in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban .
In the third book when Dementors attack Harry, Hermione and Sirius, Harry's Patronus is very weak and thin (based on how there were tons of Dementors) yet the Dementors were still unable to pass through it. One Dementor was able to make it vanish by gesturing at it though.
According to Harry Potter Fanon, the incantation for making a Patronus able to speak and carry messages is Nuntius Expecto Patronum.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 , Dolores Umbridge 's Patronus seems to emanate a shield that keeps the Dementors separated from everyone in the courtroom. In addition, Kingsley Shacklebolt's Patronus is described in the novel as taking the form of a lynx, however in the film it is depicted as a shimmering comet of light from which springs silvery images of witches and wizards screaming in terror as Kingsley's voice details the death of Scrimgeour and the fall of the Ministry.
In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 , Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy, Walden Macnair , Barty Crouch Jr , and an unnamed Death Eater can all cast the spell, despite the fact that Rowling stated that no Death Eater besides Severus Snape could produce a Patronus. It is most likely that this was simply incorporated for gameplay purposes.
According to W.O.M.B.A.T. , it is possible that Patronuses vary in strength according to which animal's form they take. Later canon from Wonderbook: Book of Spells , however, stresses that this is not the case and that the form of the animal has no correlation to the strength of the Patronus (see, for instance, Illyius and Symposia Rawle ).
The Patronus spellbook , owned by Remus Lupin , includes information and instruction on the Patronus Charm.
In an interview, J. K. Rowling stated that the happy memory that would produce the strongest Patronus for her would be the births of any of her three children, though a close fourth would be when she learned that Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was going to be published. [31] She has also stated that she'd like for her Patronus to be an otter, like Hermione's, but she has a feeling it might actually be a large dog. [30] However, in a message on Twitter in 2014 , she claimed it would be a pine marten . [32] Additionally, in a 2000 interview, she stated that the Patronus Charm was her favourite spell in the series so far. [33] </nowiki> Rowling later revealed that a pine marten was what she had tested as in the initial form of the Patronus test that was later posted on Pottermore. She took the test again in its final form and tested as a heron. [34]
Luna Lovegood's hare Patronus is possibly a reference to the moon rabbit , a figure in East Asian mythology.
Learning to cast a Patronus is one of the tasks given to the player in the final Chapter of the game Wonderbook: Book of Spells . For learning the incantation and gesture, the player is given the Trophy "Expecto Patronum!" On the next page, the player is given the chance to cast a true Patronus, the form of which is apparently chosen randomly. Amongst the possible Patronuses are a bat, a bull, a cat, a goat, a horse, a rabbit, a scorpion and a snake. [35] For discovering their Patronus, the player is awarded the Trophy "True Patronus.""
J.K Rowling has stated the only way that a Patronus is only able to change its current form is through eternal unchangable love.
Although J. K. Rowling has stated that the plural form is Patronuses and not Patroni, the German translation always translates it as Patroni.
J. K. Rowling confirmed on 21 August 2015 on Twitter that Rubeus Hagrid was not able to conjure a Patronus, though he was a member of the Order of the Phoenix. [36]
On 22 September , 2016 , Pottermore unveiled the long-awaited and discussed option for members of the site to determine their patronus. This takes the form of a quiz of several questions that can only be taken once, at which point the member's patronus is revealed and added to their member profile. [37]
Patronuses in the films
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Harry's Patronus physically attacks the Dementors by charging at them, as depicted in the books, with first successful patronus shield he conjure being used to force a Boggart in the form of a Dementor back into its trunk. Also, Patronuses produced by the members of Dumbledore's Army make noises and are capable of interacting with physical objects, such as Ron's dog Patronus knocking over Neville Longbottom . Also, in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 Umbridge's Patronus was heard hissing.
There was a noted change in appearance of Patronuses in general in the Order of the Phoenix movie. In movies 5-8, Patronuses very wispy and airy, while in the third film they look more substantial, solid and brighter.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 , during the infiltration of the Ministry of Magic , Umbridge's Patronus was very clearly seen several times in the same scene and often looked less like a cat and more like a reanimated, feline corpse, with the skeletal features visible. This is odd for a Patronus (they usually look quite 'alive' and well) and its twisted form may be a nod to both Umbridge's nature and the circumstances under which it was cast.
In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , the Patronus in its powerful wave-like form emits a deep reverberating sound. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 this effect was also used when Aberforth Dumbledore protected Hogwarts from Dementors.
Appearances
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In the Harry Potter series of books what is the name of the Charms Master at Hogwarts School? | James Potter I | Harry Potter Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Main article: Attack at Godric's Hollow (1981)
A deceased James after being murdered by Lord Voldemort
When the Dark Lord arrived at Godric's Hollow on Hallowe'en in 1981 , James told Lily to take Harry and run. After his wife and son were out of the room, he stood to face the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time on his own, in order to give his wife and child time to escape the cottage. However, James had made a fatal mistake; he had left his wand in the living room, where he had been entertaining his young son with it before Voldemort's arrival. Voldemort effortlessly murdered him with the Killing Curse - James "fell like a marionette whose strings were cut". [4] Voldemort then proceeded upstairs to where Lily and the infant Harry were hiding. Voldemort murdered Lily who died protecting Harry, but thanks to her loving sacrifice , the Killing Curse Voldemort cast at Harry rebounded and destroyed the Dark Lord's body leaving Harry with only a lightning-bolt scar . Thus, Harry became known as "the Boy Who Lived" and his fate was sealed.
Post-mortem
Harry Potter: "You'll stay with me?"
James: "Until the very end."
— Harry speaks to his parents through the Resurrection Stone [src]
James and Lily as seen by Harry in the Mirror of Erised
After James' and Lily's deaths, their son was raised by Lily's unloving sister, Petunia Dursley , and her grumpy husband, Vernon , along with their glutton of a son, Dudley . Despite not remembering his parents, Harry held them in high esteem. This faltered slightly where his father was concerned, when he learned that James had been something of a bully in his youth, witnessing a memory of Severus Snape 's, in which James and Sirius picked on and humiliated Snape simply because they were bored. [11] Snape, who switched sides after Lily's death and became Potions professor at Hogwarts, treated Harry with disdain throughout his academic career, perceiving him to be "arrogant as his father, a determined rule-breaker... attention-seeking and impertinent". [4] He frequently bullied and humiliated Harry as James had previously done to him, as a sort of revenge.
The echo of James reappearing through Priori Incantatem to aid his son
Harry saw a vision of his parents in the Mirror of Erised in 1991. [16] Three years later, while duelling with Voldemort in the Little Hangleton graveyard , Harry experienced Priori Incantatem. The shades of his mother and father and others which Voldemort's wand had murdered, came out of Voldemort's wand to help Harry in his escape from the graveyard. [17] In 1996, Harry also witnessed a memory of James viciously humiliating Snape back when they were Hogwarts students. He suspended Snape in the air and went as far as taking Snape's trousers off in front of a large crowd of students.
Harry temporarily brings back his family and friends with the Resurrection Stone
In 1998, Harry learned he was a Horcrux of Voldemort's, and walked toward his death in the Forbidden Forest . Upon entering, he used the Resurrection Stone to summon James and others who had perished in the war against Voldemort. James and Lily told Harry that they were tremendously proud of him, proud of his outstanding courage and strength, and assured him that they would stay with him until the very end. Harry described their very presence as his courage, the reason he was able to keep putting one foot in front of the other, with Lily smiling at him, and James nodding in encouragement. He eventually named his eldest child after his father. James would gain two more grandchildren in Albus Severus and Lily Luna Potter . [4]
Physical appearance
James before his death
James was a tall, thin man with hazel eyes and untidy black hair that stuck up at the back. During his Hogwarts years, he had an indefinable air of having been well cared for and even adored. As late as his fifth year, he started wearing glasses, though he had not in his first year.
His son, Harry , was constantly noted to look very much like him, having the same untidy hair, thin face, mouth, eyebrows, and even hands. However, as observed by Harry in Snape's worst memory, James' nose was slightly longer than his son's.
In his animagus form, James was a tall and powerful red stag, large enough to subdue an adolescent werewolf alongside Sirius' bear-like black dog form.
Personality and traits
Severus Snape: "He fancies you, James Potter fancies you! And he’s not... everyone thinks... big Quidditch hero —"
Lily Evans: "I know James Potter’s an arrogant toerag. I don’t need you to tell me that."
— Snape and Lily discussing James in their fifth year [src]
James was a clever and talented wizard, but very mischievous in his youth. He was arrogant and boastful, and occasionally bullied and jinxed other students just for fun, particularly his long-time rival, Severus Snape . However, even in this stage of arrogance, he still displayed some positive qualities of character. Despite being a pure-blood , he strongly disagreed with the concept of blood purity and was disgusted with any prejudice towards Muggle-borns , and did not hold prejudice towards werewolves (such as Remus Lupin , who was one of his dearest friends). This loyalty would extend to his adulthood when he used his wealth to support the unemployable Remus. [11] Snape would later point out that James was lazy. [18]
James ultimately matured and changed his ways; he lost some of his arrogance and stopped hexing other people just for fun. He become enough of a responsible student and leader to be Head Boy in his final year, and later a member of the original Order of the Phoenix . Though he never completely lost his rebellious side, it was clear James had left Hogwarts a far better person than he had been upon entering it.
His best quality was his willingness to sacrifice himself for his wife and son, as demonstrated when he told Lily to take Harry and run while he held off Voldemort , proving himself to be a true Gryffindor . [11]
Magical abilities and skills
James's stag Patronus and Animagus form
"You know, Harry , I think you would have given your father a run for his money, and that is saying something."
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The 1999 film ‘Topsy Turvy’ by Mike Leigh is about which playwright and composer duo? | Topsy-Turvy (1999) - The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
Spine #558
The world of Gilbert and Sullivan comes to vivid life in director Mike Leigh’s extraordinary dramatization of the staging of the duo’s legendary 1885 comic opera The Mikado. Jim Broadbent and Allan Corduner brilliantly inhabit the roles of the world-famous Victorian librettist and composer, who, along with their troupe of temperamental actors, must battle personal and professional demons while mounting this major production. A lushly produced epic about the harsh realities of creative expression, featuring bravura performances and Oscar-winning costume design and makeup, Topsy-Turvy is an unexpected period delight from one of contemporary cinema’s great artists.
Cast
Disc Features
DIRECTOR-APPROVED SPECIAL EDITION
Director-approved digital transfer, supervised by cinematographer Dick Pope, with DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on the Blu-ray edition
Audio commentary featuring director Mike Leigh
New video conversation between Leigh and musical director, Gary Yershon
Leigh’s 1992 short film A Sense of History, written by and starring actor Jim Broadbent
Deleted scenes
Featurette from 1999 including interviews with Leigh and cast members
Theatrical trailer and TV spots
PLUS: A booklet featuring a new essay by film critic Amy Taubin
New cover by Yuko Shimizu
Current Posts
Topsy-Turvy: Great Performances
By Amy Taubin March 28, 2011
Topsy-Turvy is both an anomaly among the films of Mike Leigh and, contrary as it may seem, a Rosetta stone. On the one hand, it is Leigh’s only costume picture and only biopic—a far cry from the . . . Read more »
Three Reasons
Topsy-Turvy: Great Performances
By Amy Taubin March 28, 2011
Topsy-Turvy is both an anomaly among the films of Mike Leigh and, contrary as it may seem, a Rosetta stone. On the one hand, it is Leigh’s only costume picture and only biopic—a far cry from the . . . Read more »
Press Notes: The Mikado and Topsy-Turvy
April 13, 2011
Critics are whistling a happy tune about our twin Gilbert and Sullivan releases on DVD and Blu-ray: the 1939 Victor Schertzinger Technicolor adaptation of The Mikado and Topsy-Turvy, Mike Leigh’ . . . Read more »
Film Essays
Topsy-Turvy: Great Performances
By Amy Taubin March 28, 2011
Topsy-Turvy is both an anomaly among the films of Mike Leigh and, contrary as it may seem, a Rosetta stone. On the one hand, it is Leigh’s only costume picture and only biopic—a far cry from the . . . Read more »
Interviews
Dressing for Leigh: An Interview with Lindy Hemming
By Sam Wasson March 24, 2011
Costumer Lindy Hemming began her decades-long collaboration with Mike Leigh at London’s Hampstead Theater Club, where the director, with his now legendary method of extended improvisation, was . . . Read more »
Three Reasons
| Gilbert and Sullivan |
In the human body, what is a hallux valgus more commonly known as? | SPLICEDwire | "Topsy Turvy" review (1999)
REVIEW CROSS-REFERENCE
Jaunty, jolly biography 'Tospy-Turvy' captures spirit, panache of Gilbert and Sullivan
Director Mike Leigh has usurped his subjects' mirthful sense of humor and penchant for prolonged presentation in his new film "Topsy-Turvy," a jaunty, jolly, light-hearted look at the lives of Victorian operetta architects Gilbert and Sullivan.
Like G&S, Leigh delights in garnishments that add color to his characters and to the pliant performances such details inspire.
Leigh's actors are always especially absorbed in their parts because of the way he works -- creating the screenplay in concert with his players during incessant rehearsals -- but in contrast to his downcast-but-hopeful, slice-of-life dramas ( "Secrets and Lies," "Career Girls" ), this picture radiates a distinct playfulness that is nothing short of contagious.
The film drops us right into a rift that formed between the duo in the wake of their biggest flop, "Princess Ida" (the movie's title comes from a London Times review that called Gilbert the "king of topsy-turvydom").
A bedridden Arthur Sullivan (Allan Corduner) -- the composer -- perhaps contemplating mortality and considering his legacy, wants to abandon their collaborations of famously light fare in favor of dedicating himself to serious opera. "I cannot waste any more time on these simple soufflés," be bemoans like a peevish child with lamb chop sideburns.
For his part, the insulted William Schwenck Gilbert (Jim Broadbent) -- the playwright and a perfectly proper, pompous sourpuss -- is beside himself, as he always considered that he was the one sacrificing his words to suit Sullivan's music. He honesty doesn't see the irony when his partner points out most of his plots turn on "a magic coin, a magic lozenge and now a magic potion."
But after sulking around for several months, Gilbert find himself reinvigorated by an afternoon at a Japanese cultural exhibition in London, and after talking Sullivan into one more go at it, "The Mikado" is born.
The machinations of staging this now-classic -- if innocuous -- humorously imperial homage to Asian culture are the at the axis of "Topsy-Turvy's" very English farce. Around the preparations turn the undiminished lives, personal and professional, of its creators: Their highs, their lows, their quirks, their divergent personalities and their rivalry.
Both Broadbent ( "Little Voice" ) and Corduner ( "The Impostors ") give illustrious performances that deftly walk a comedic-dramatic line, and almost every scene is a pleasure, thanks in part to Leigh's obvious devotion to the material (the film is very well-researched), his meticulous dedication to detail (there's this one great cut-away to a chorus girl, backstage, ambitiously mouthing the lead's lines) and his wonderfully droll period dialogue. Favorite line, mostly because of harumph-ing Broadbent's sanctimonious delivery: Gilbert describes his mother as "the vicious woman who bore me into this ridiculous world. No one respects her more than I do, and I can't stand the woman!"
Leigh's catching comical bent extends even to making sport of the technological advancements of the day -- characters coo over new-fangled reservoir pens and shout into rudimentary telephones.
But he saves plenty of time for staging entire sections of the play as well, both in rehearsal and in performance (you walk away humming the vacuous and maddeningly catchy "Three Little Maids From School") -- and also for secondary stories involving G&S's favorite players, including coddled Robert Temple (Timothy Spall, "Secrets and Lies"), prima donna Durward Lely (Kevin McKidd), lonely romantic Leonora Braham (Shirley Henderson) and coquettish Jessie Bond (Dorothy Atkinson).
It hardly needs mentioning in a Mike Leigh movie, but the acting of all of the above approaches poetry in their syncronicity with the material.
The movie is lengthy, and Leigh meditates on trivialities, but engrosses you in the vivid details of this fascinating duo.
"Topsy-Turvy" will likely not draw an audience much outside the Gilbert and Sullivan Society circles, but anyone else who happens upon it will doubtless enjoy themselves -- even if they don't really know what they're watching.
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Malacology is the branch of zoology concerned with which type of creatures? | Branches of zoological study - definition of Branches of zoological study by The Free Dictionary
Branches of zoological study - definition of Branches of zoological study by The Free Dictionary
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Branches+of+zoological+study
(zō-ŏl′ə-jē, zo͞o-)
n. pl. zo·ol·o·gies
1. The branch of biology that deals with animals and animal life, including the study of the structure, physiology, development, and classification of animals.
2. The animal life of a particular area or period: the zoology of Alaska; the zoology of the Pleistocene.
3. The characteristics of a particular animal group or category: the zoology of mammals.
4. A book or scholarly work on zoology.
zo·ol′o·gist n.
Usage Note: Traditionally, the first syllable of zoology has been pronounced as (zō), rhyming with toe. However, most likely due to the familiarity of the word zoo (which is merely a shortened form of zoological garden), the pronunciation of the first syllable as (zo͞o) is also commonly heard. In 1999, 88 percent of the Panelists found the (zō-) pronunciation acceptable, and 60 percent found the (zo͞o-) pronunciation acceptable, with 68 percent using the (zō-) pronunciation and 32 percent using the (zo͞o-) pronunciation in their own speech. Thus, while both pronunciations can be considered acceptable, the (zō-) pronunciation may be perceived as more scientific.
zoology
1. (Zoology) the study of animals, including their classification, structure, physiology, and history
2. (Zoology) the biological characteristics of a particular animal or animal group
3. (Zoology) the fauna characteristic of a particular region
4. (Zoology) a book, treatise, etc, dealing with any aspect of the study of animals
zoological, zoologic adj
the scientific study of animals, including characteristics, physiology, development, classification, etc.
[1660–70]
The scientific study of animals, including their growth and structure.
Zoology
1. the study of the geographical distribution of animals.
2. the study of the causes, effects, and other relations involved in such distributions. — zoogeographer, n.
zoological classification; the scientific classification of animals.
zoology
1. The study and classification of animals.
2. Study of animals.
Noun
1.
zoology - all the animal life in a particular region or period; "the fauna of China"; "the zoology of the Pliocene epoch"
aggregation , collection , accumulation , assemblage - several things grouped together or considered as a whole
biota , biology - all the plant and animal life of a particular region
avifauna - the birds of a particular region or period
animal group - a group of animals
2.
zoological science
siphon , syphon - a tubular organ in an aquatic animal (especially in mollusks) through which water can be taken in or expelled
hood - (zoology) an expandable part or marking that resembles a hood on the head or neck of an animal
plastron - (zoology) the part of a turtle's shell forming its underside
collar - (zoology) an encircling band or marking around the neck of any animal
protective coloration - coloration making an organism less visible or attractive to predators
pallium , mantle - (zoology) a protective layer of epidermis in mollusks or brachiopods that secretes a substance forming the shell
cloaca - (zoology) the cavity (in birds, reptiles, amphibians, most fish, and monotremes but not mammals) at the end of the digestive tract into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open
venous blood system , venation - (zoology) the system of venous blood vessels in an animal
biological science , biology - the science that studies living organisms
bugology , entomology - the branch of zoology that studies insects
ethology - the branch of zoology that studies the behavior of animals in their natural habitats
herpetology - the branch of zoology concerned with reptiles and amphibians
ichthyology - the branch of zoology that studies fishes
malacology - the branch of zoology that studies the structure and behavior of mollusks
mammalogy - the branch of zoology that studies mammals
oology - the branch of zoology that studies eggs (especially birds' eggs and their size, shape, coloration, and number)
ornithology - the branch of zoology that studies birds
protozoology - the branch of zoology that studies protozoans
palaeozoology , paleozoology - the study of fossil animals
natural scientist , naturalist - a biologist knowledgeable about natural history (especially botany and zoology)
aestivation , estivation - (zoology) cessation or slowing of activity during the summer; especially slowing of metabolism in some animals during a hot or dry period
vagile - having freedom to move about; "vagile aquatic animals"
caudate , caudated - having a tail or taillike appendage
acaudal , acaudate - lacking a tail or taillike appendage
ametabolic , ametabolous - undergoing slight or no metamorphosis
univalve - used of mollusks, especially gastropods, as snails etc.
bivalve , bivalved - used of mollusks having two shells (as clams etc.)
vertebrate - having a backbone or spinal column; "fishes and amphibians and reptiles and birds and mammals are verbetrate animals"
invertebrate , spineless - lacking a backbone or spinal column; "worms are an example of invertebrate animals"
live-bearing , viviparous - producing living young (not eggs)
ovoviviparous - producing living young from eggs that hatch within the body
warm-blooded - having warm blood (in animals whose body temperature is internally regulated)
cold-blooded - having cold blood (in animals whose body temperature is not internally regulated)
alular - pertaining to alulae
ambulacral - pertaining to the ambulacra of radial echinoderms
anguine - of or related to or resembling a snake
annelid , annelidan - relating to or belonging to or characteristic of any worms of the phylum Annelida
anserine - of or resembling a goose
| Mollusca |
Which band had a 1959 hit with the song ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’? | Branches of biology by Somali National University - issuu
issuu
Issuu on Google+
CHAPTER ONE: Introduction of Biology
I- Definition, Branches of Biology. Bio – means life • Ologos – to study / the study • BIOLOGY – is the study of life / the study of living things Biology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. ¡ Biology generally recognizes the cell as the basic unit of life, genes as the basic unit of heredity. • Biologist – is the person who studies Biology 2 Major Divisions of Biology • Botany – the study of PLANTS and who does make the observation about the botany is called Botanist. • Zoology – the study of ANIMALS and who does make the observation about zoology is called Zoologist Somali National University
BRANCHES OF BIOLOGY • Every one is study of a group of organism. • There are many branches of biology.
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• Zoology is concerned with animals. • Who does make the observation about zoology is called Zoologist. Somali National University
• Botany is concerned with plants • Who does make the observation about the botany is called Botanist. Somali National University
• Cytology is the study of cells.
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• Ecology is the science which studies the releationship of living things between each other and their environment. • Also ecology is concerned with pollution. Such as air and water pollution Somali National University
• Genetics is the study of how features is passed to offspring from their parents.
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• Anatomy is the study of the inner organs of the body (kidney, hert, liver etc.)
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• Microbiology is the study of microscopic life. • For ex. Bacteria.
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• Taxonomy is the study of the classification of living organisms. • Classification is made groups of organisms.
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• Ornithology is the study of birds.
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• Entomology is the study of insects. • Such as mosquito and spider
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• Parasithology is the study of parasites. • Parasites are harmful organisms for living things.
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• •
Bacteriology is the study of bacteria Bacteriology is the study of bacteria and their relation to medicine and to other areas such as agriculture (e.g., farm animals) and industry. Bacteria are single-celled microorganisms which can live as independent organisms or, dependently, as parasites.
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•
Mycology is the study of fungi of all kinds including mushrooms, molds, truffles, yeasts, lichens, plant pathogens, and medically important fungi.
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• Virology is the study of viruses and viral diseases.
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• Physiology is the branch of biology that deals with the functions and processes of living organisms, both animals and plants. • Physiology is concerned function of tissue, organs and systems.
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• Morphology is concerned with phenotype (Apearance) of living things.
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• Embriology is the study of ​ development organisms between the fertilization of the egg and the time when the animal is born.
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Anthropology is the study of humans, past and prese It is study of the origins, the behavior and the physica social, cultural development of humans.
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Histology is the study of tissues A tissue such as bone, nerve or muscle in animals and epidermis , phloem in plants, is made up of many Hundreds of cells of a few types. The cells of each type have similar structures and functions, So that the tissue itself can be said to have a particular function e.g. nerves conduct impulses, phloem carries food in plants.
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Ichthyology (from Greek: ikhthus, "fish"; and logos, "study"), also known as Fish Science, is the branch ofbiology devoted to the study offish. This includes bony fishes (Osteichthyes), Cartilaginous fish ( Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish ( Agnatha).
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Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians. A person who studies reptiles and amphibians is called a herpetologist. •Reptiles are a group of tetra-pod animals comprising today's turtles, crocodilians, snakes, lizards. •Amphibians are animals that live part of their lives in water and part on land. They are vertebrates and are also ectothermic. E.g Frog, Salamander
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Malacology is the branch of zoology that studies the structure and behavior of mollusks.
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In zoology, mammalogy (mastology) is the study of mammals – a class of vertebrates with characteristics such as homeothermic metabolism, fur, four-chambered hearts, and complex nervous systems
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Phycology is the branch of botany concerned with seaweeds and other algae.
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Agrostology is the branch of botany concerned wi
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Immunology is the branch of biomedicine that is conc the structure and function of the immune system, inna and acquired immunity, and laboratory techniques inv the interaction of antigens with antibodies.
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•Paleontology is the study of the history of life on as based on fossils. Fossils are the remains of plan fungi, bacteria, and single-celled living things. •Paleontologists use fossil remains to understand d aspects of extinct and living organisms.
Somali National University
Ethology is the study of behavior of an organism. The ethology examines such processes as animal aggression, mating habits and animal communication.
Somali National University
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Which Polynesian island was originally called Rapa Nui before it was discovered by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeeven in 1722? | Easter Island - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com
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Early Settlement
The first human inhabitants of Rapa Nui (the Polynesian name for Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua) are believed to have arrived in an organized party of emigrants around 300-400 A.D. Tradition holds that the first king of Rapa Nui was Hoto-Matua, a ruler from a Polynesian subgroup (possibly from the Marquesa Islands) whose ship traveled thousands of miles before landing at Anakena, one of the few sandy beaches on the island’s rocky coast.
Did You Know?
After the decline of the moai culture, a new cult of bird worship developed on Easter Island. It was centered on a ceremonial village called Orongo, built on the rim of the crater of the Rano Kao volcano.
The greatest evidence for the rich culture developed by the original settlers of Rapa Nui and their descendants is the existence of nearly 900 giant stone statues that have been found in diverse locations around the island. Averaging 13 feet (4 meters) high, with a weight of 13 tons, these enormous stone busts–known as moai–were carved out of tuff (the light, porous rock formed by consolidated volcanic ash) and placed atop ceremonial stone platforms called ahus. It is still unknown precisely why these statues were constructed in such numbers and on such a scale, or how they were moved around the island.
Phases of Island Culture
Archaeological excavations of Easter Island reveal three distinct cultural phases: the early period (700-850 A.D.), the middle period (1050-1680) and the late period (post-1680). Between the early and middle periods, evidence has shown that many early statues were deliberately destroyed and rebuilt as the larger and heavier moai for which the island is most famous. During the middle period, ahus also contained burial chambers, and the images portrayed by moai are thought to have represented important figures that were deified after death. The biggest statue found dating to the middle period measures about 32 feet tall, and consists of a single block weighing about 82 tons (74,500 kilograms).
The late period of the island’s civilization was characterized by civil wars and general destruction; more statues were toppled, and many mataa, or obsidian spearpoints, have been found dating to that period. Island tradition claims that around 1680, after peacefully coexisting for many years, one of the island’s two main ethnic groups, known as the Short-Ears, rebelled against the Long-Ears, burning many of them to death on a pyre constructed along an ancient ditch at Poike, on the island’s far northeastern coast.
Outsiders on Easter Island
The first known European visitor to Easter Island was the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who arrived in 1722. The Dutch named the island Paaseiland (Easter Island) to commemorate the day they arrived. In 1770, the Spanish viceroy of Peru sent an expedition to the island; the explorers spent four days ashore and estimated a native population of some 3,000 people. Just four years later, the British navigator Sir James Cook arrived to find Easter Island’s population decimated by what seemed to have been a civil war, with only 600 to 700 men and fewer than 30 women remaining.
A French navigator, Jean-Francois de Galaup, comte de La Perouse, found 2,000 people on the island when he arrived in 1786. A major slave raid from Peru in 1862, followed by epidemics of smallpox, reduced the population to only 111 people by 1877. By that time, Catholic missionaries had settled on Easter Island and begun to convert the population to Christianity, a process that was completed by the late 19th century. In 1888, Chile annexed Easter Island, leasing much of the land for sheep raising. The Chilean government appointed a civilian governor for Easter Island in 1965, and the island’s residents became full Chilean citizens.
Easter Island Today
An isolated triangle measuring 14 miles long by seven miles wide, Easter Island was formed by a series of volcanic eruptions. In addition to its hilly terrain, the island contains many subterranean caves with corridors that extend deep into mountains of volcanic rock. The island’s largest volcano is known as Rano Kao, and its highest point is Mount Terevaka, which reaches 1,969 feet (600 meters) above sea level. It has a subtropical climate (sunny and dry) and temperate weather.
Easter Island boasts no natural harbor, but ships can anchor off Hanga Roa on the west coast; it is the island’s largest village, with a population of roughly 3,300. In 1995, UNESCO named Easter Island a World Heritage site. It is now home to a mixed population, mostly of Polynesian ancestry and made up of the descendants of the Long-Ears and Short-Ears. Spanish is generally spoken, and the island has developed an economy largely based on tourism.
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‘Down the Rabbit Hole’ is the opening chapter of which children’s novel? | Multimedia/Test/Rapa Nui National Park - MediaWiki
Multimedia/Test/Rapa Nui National Park
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Rapa Nui is full of moais, but Ahu Akivi are the only moai that face the ocean.
Rapa Nui National Park is a national park and UNESCO -inscribed World Heritage Site located on Easter Island , Chile . Rapa Nui is the Polynesian name of Easter Island; its Spanish name is Isla de Pascua. The island is located in the southeastern Pacific Ocean , at the southeastern extremity of the Polynesian Triangle . The island was taken over by Chile in 1888. Its fame and World Heritage status arise from the 887 extant stone statues known by the name " moai ", whose creation is attributed to the early Rapa Nui people who inhabited the island around 300 AD. Much of the island has been declared as Rapa Nui National Park which, on 22 March 1996, UNESCO designated a World Heritage Site under cultural criteria (i), (iii), & (v). The park is under the administrative control of the Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF), which provides legal protection to the total area of the island. As Easter Island has insufficient resources for conserving its natural heritage, the Government of Chile and the National Council of Monuments have provided financial support for the conservation efforts.
Contents
Geography[ edit ]
Rapa Nui, showing the three main volcanoes Terevaka , Poike , Rano Kau , as well as Anakena beach, the islets including Motu Nui . Modern Hanga Roa , the ruins at Orongo and the quarry at Rano Raraku. It marks major ahus with moai.
Geographically isolated, the island forms the eastern geographic and cultural boundary of Polynesia. It is 3,700 kilometres (2,300 mi) west of Chile, about 2,200 km (1,400 mi) east of Pitcairn Island (the nearest human habitat) and is the most remote inhabited spot on Earth. The park is triangular in shape and has a length of 23 km (14 mi) and a width of 11 km (6.8 mi). It is home to an extinct megalithic culture which is seen in the form of edifices of huge statues called " moai " made out of volcanic rocks. The topography includes volcanoes and a rugged coastline. Its elevation varies from sea level to 300 m (980 ft). It has fresh water lakes, volcanic craters and a coastline which is subject to erosion.
Rapa nui metro system
The park experiences a warm sub-tropical climate with southeast trade winds from October to April. The annual average rainfall is 1,250 millimetres (49 in), with rains occurring during the winter season. The average temperature varies from 19 °C (66 °F) in winter to 24 °C (75 °F) in summer.
Moai at Rano Raraku , Easter Island .
Rongorongo F tablet. Rongorongo is a system of glyphs discovered in the 19th century on Easter Island that appears to be writing or proto-writing . Numerous attempts at decipherment have been made, none successfully. Although some calendrical and what might prove to be genealogical information has been identified, not even these glyphs can actually be read. If rongorongo does prove to be writing and proves to be an independent invention, it would be one of very few independent inventions of writing in human history.
The Rapa Nui people inhabited the island around 300 AD. The park was created by the Chilean Government in 1935. The native people were confined to a reserve area just outside the capital city of Hanga Roa and the rest of the land was leased to sheep ranchers. The movement for independence was started in 1964 and following this the lease for sheep farming was terminated during the 1980s and the entire island was declared a historic park. The population of the island which was 2,770 in 1972 rose to 3,792 by 2002, mostly concentrated in the capital.
The island was brought under the administrative control of Chile in 1888. Its fame and World Heritage status arise from the 887 extant stone statues known as "moai". Much of the island has been included in the Rapa Nui National Park. On 22 March 1996 UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site of cultural significance under criteria (i), (iii), & (v).
Coat of arms of Rapa Nui
Culture[ edit ]
The moai with headgear at Ahu Tahai , restored with coral eyes by the American archaeologist William Mullo.
The moai in the park are of varying height from 2 to 20 metres (6 to 65 ft). The volcanic rock formations quarried for sculpting are a distinctive yellow-brown volcanic tuff found only at the Ranu Raraku on the southeast side of the island. Some of the moai were also carved from red scoria . The ceremonial shrines where they are erected for offering worship are known as "ahu".
Of impressive size and form, they are normally built close to the coast and parallel to it. Many moai are also seen in the quarries in an unfinished state. The production and transportation of the 887 statues are considered remarkable creative and physical feats. The moai have been under restoration since 1950. The period between 1837 and 1864 was a critical time when, for reasons that remain unknown, all the standing statues were toppled (probably during the tribal wars), although with little damage. Subsequently they were retrieved and returned to their original positions during the period of restoration with international assistance. The moai represented a clan's "most revered forebears who were believed to bestow ‘mana’ on living leaders". The park also has a few petroglyphs and paintings.
Rano Kau crater from near Orongo , showing a gap at the southern end of the crater wall
The Birdman cult which replaced the moai cult worship was concentrated in Orongo at a ceremonial site called Mata Ngarau. The location is at an elevation of 250 metres (820 ft), on a narrow ridge between the ocean, and the deep crater of Rano Kau volcano, which last erupted about 150,000 to 210,000 years ago.
The earliest inhabitants of the island called it "Te Pito o TeHenua" (the navel/end of the world). The island was discovered by the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen on Easter day, 1722. As a result, he named it "Easter Island". He observed that the inhabitants were of three groups: "dark skinned, red skinned, and very pale skinned people with red hair".
In the 19th century, a Tahitian visitor who thought the island resembled Rapa but was bigger (nui means big), gave it the Polynesian name "Rapa Nui". In Chile, the island is called "Isla De Pascua" Spanish for Easter Island.
Wildlife[ edit ]
As the island was isolated there are many endemic species of animals and plants. The park is under IUCN Management Category II in southeastern Polynesia. Its biogeographic and ecological history has undergone a sea change from what existed in the ancient days when there were palm trees and a broad leaf forest. Before the Polynesians settled here in the 4th century, the island had an extensive forest cover of trees, shrubs, ferns, and grasses. The island is now almost completely grass-covered with only a few ornamental trees and shrubs scattered over the island.
Flora[ edit ]
Of the 150 recorded plant species, 45 are endemic. However, the island is largely covered by grass with three endemic species. In ancient times the only species of tree found here was Sophora toromiro which is now extinct on the island; it is a species related to the Chilean palm, Jubaea chilensis. In the steppe areas of the island, the vegetation consists mostly of species of w:Stipa and w:Nassella . Other species recorded are of introduced varieties. Among the shrubs, the hau hau ( Triumfetta semitriloba ) is still present but Coprosoma spp. , is not seen on the island. The wood of the now extinct Jubaea palm was used to make devices for transporting the huge stone moai statues. It has been established by carbon dating that this species of tree existed on the island till the 17th century. Ferns are indigenous to Rapa Nui, and four of the 15 species noted are endemic: Doodia paschalis , Polystichum fuentesii , Elaphoglossum skottsbergii, and Thelypteris espinosae . Triumfetta semitriloba which was considered an extinct species on the island was located in 1988. According to a recent report (1991), apart from 166 introduced species of plants, 46 indigenous plant species including nine endemic species have been recorded. Also noted in the lower level of the Rano Raraku crater are tall w:bulrushes and Scirpus tautara that were probably introduced by seafarers from w:South America .
Fauna[ edit ]
The island's only mammals are rodents and carnivorans . The reptiles recorded are three species of marine turtles and two terrestrial lizards , Lepidodactylus lugubris and Ablepharus boutoui poecilopleurus . Four bird species - three terrestrial and one marine - are found on the island. These are: Fregata nubor , Red-tailed Tropicbird , Phaethon rubricauda and Kermadee petrel . Three micro- lepidopteran species are reported in the park which have no links to South American species; one of these is Asymphorodes trichogramma .
A swallow flying over Hanga Roa swimming pool.
Two merops on the Moai area
Rapa nui horses
Conservation[ edit ]
Invasive plants have been introduced for livestock grazing. Forest fires are a common feature, threatening the remaining native plant species. Archaeological investigations indicate the terrain is subject to damage from erosion and the influx of tourists.
Though declared a national park in 1935, the first management plan (by CONAF) was not implemented until the 1980s. As a result of inadequate funding, conservation was initially at a low level leading international conservation agencies to provide financial and technical support. Chile responded by setting up a Rapa Nui Monuments Board which enabled actions to be taken independent of the government. The World Monument Fund started working here in 1968 with UNESCO later recognizing the site as a World Heritage site of cultural importance. With an airline operating (the airport built in 1965 was expanded in 1985) between Chile and the island, more scientists have become interested in island's heritage, undertaking research on various aspects of its now defunct culture. In view of Easter Island's poor financial resources, the w:Government of Chile and the National Council of Monuments have provided financial support for the conservation efforts.
Map and sketches of Easter Island, in 1772-5
Monument in Rapa Nui
Rapa Nui, Easter Island
Outer slope of the Rano Raraku volcano, the quarry of the moai with many uncompleted statues.
Rano Raraku volcano from the south
Moái in an exhibition.
Moai in Winter.
A row of moai in a line in front of another one laying on the ground.
Lake on volcano Rano Raraku
Indide view of volcano Terevaka
Vulcano Puakatike
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By area, what is the smallest of the United Arab Emirates? | United Arab Emirates Land Statistics - World Atlas
Coastline: 818 miles (1,318 km)
Land Area:
(land) 32,278 sq miles (83,600 sq km)
(water) 0 sq miles (0 sq km)
(TOTAL) 32,278 sq miles (83,600 sq km)
To convert sq km (kilometers) to sq mi (miles)
Land Area: (all countries)
Land Divisions: There are 7 emirates in the United Arab Emirates. They are Abu Zaby (Abu Dhabi), 'Ajman, Al Fujayrah, Ash Shariqah (Sharjah), Dubayy (Dubai), Ra's al Khaymah and Umm al Qaywayn
Horizontal Width: 251.09 miles (404.08 km) from As Sila east to Al Ayn
Vertical Length: 140.23 miles (225.68 km) from Hamim north to Bani Yas
Note: Lengths and widths are point-to-point, straight-line measurements from a Mercator map projection, and will vary some using other map projections
Bordering Countries: (2) Oman, Saudi Arabia
Geographic Center: About 43.61 miles (70.18 km) northeast of Bida Zayed
Highest Point: Jabal Yibir 5,666 ft. (1,727 m)
Lowest Point: Persian Gulf 0m
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In March 1935 which cartoon character made his debut in Looney Tunes ‘I Haven’t Got a Hat’? | United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
Official name: United Arab Emirates
Area: 82,880 square kilometers (32,000 square miles)
Highest point on mainland: Mount Yibir (1,527 meters/5,010 feet)
Lowest point on land: Sea level
Hemispheres: Northern and Eastern
P.M.
= noon GMT
Longest distances: 544 kilometers (338 miles) from northeast to southwest; 361 kilometers (224 miles) from southeast to northwest
Land boundaries: 867 kilometers (539 miles) total boundary length; Oman 410 kilometers (255 miles); Saudi Arabia 457 kilometers (284 miles)
Coastline: 1,318 kilometers (819 miles)
Territorial sea limits: 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles)
1 LOCATION AND SIZE
The United Arab Emirates is located in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula, bordering the Persian Gulf. Seven emirates (states) make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE): Abu Dhabi, Dubayy, Ash Shāriqah, Ra's al Khaymah, Al Fujayrah, Umm al Qaywayn, and 'Ajmān. With an area of 82,880 square kilometers (32,000 square miles), the UAE is nearly as large as the state of Maine.
2 TERRITORIES AND DEPENDENCIES
The United Arab Emirates has no territories or dependencies.
3 CLIMATE
The climate is arid and subtropical. The months between May and October are extremely hot, with shade temperatures of between 39° and 49°C (100° and 120°F). Humidity on the coast can exceed 85 percent. Winter temperatures can fall as low as 2°C (36° F) but average between 17°C and 20°C (63°F and 68°F). It is cooler in the eastern mountains. Normal annual rainfall is from 5 to 10 centimeters (2 to 4 inches), with considerably more in certain regions; the mountains receive an average of 14 to 20 centimeters (5 to 8 inches) and the eastern coast receives an average of 10 to 14 centimeters (4 to 5 inches). The wettest months are February and March. Prevailing winds, including the cool Shamal from the northeast and the Khamsin from the south, produce sandstorms. Influenced by monsoons, they vary by season and location.
4 TOPOGRAPHIC REGIONS
Abu Dhabi, extending along the Persian Gulf coast and into the interior of the Arabian Peninsula, occupies about four-fifths of the UAE's territory. The remaining six emirates are clustered together on the Musandam Peninsula to the northeast. The UAE is mostly a flat, sandy desert except for the easternmost region, where the northern tip of the Al Hajar Mountains stretches into the country from Oman to the east.
5 OCEANS AND SEAS
The northern, and longest, part of the UAE's coastline borders the Persian Gulf, with a short section to the east bordering the Gulf of Oman.
Seacoast and Undersea Features
There are coral reefs in the shallow waters off the UAE's eastern coast on the Gulf of Oman. Shoals lie off the UAE's Persian Gulf coast, which has no natural deepwater harbors, unlike the Gulf of Oman coast, which has several.
Sea Inlets and Straits
The UAE is situated at a strategic location along southern approaches to the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman and is a vital transit point for global crude oil shipments.
Islands and Archipelagos
The UAE includes more than one hundred islands, most of them owned by Abu Dhabi. The country's capital, the city of Abu Dhabi, is located on an island of the same name. Other islands, including the island of Dās, are used for oil and gas operations related to offshore drilling.
Coastal Features
Six of the emirates have coasts on the Persian Gulf, while the seventh, Al Fujayrah, lies along the Gulf of Oman to the east. The Persian Gulf coast has numerous islands as well as lagoons and other indentations, and the shore is sandy with many salt flats (called sebkhas ). The alluvial flats bordering the Gulf of Oman on the eastern coast are an extension of the fertile coastal strip that runs between the mountains and the sea in Oman, known as the Al Batinah coast.
6 INLAND LAKES
There are no lakes in the UAE.
7 RIVERS AND WATERFALLS
There are no perennial rivers in the UAE; however, there are small areas of wetlands.
8 DESERTS
More than two-thirds of the UAE's total area is a sandy and largely uninhabited desert, running from the westernmost tip of Abu Dhabi east to the land border with Oman and north to the Musandam Peninsula. Sand dunes in the southeast can reach heights of 100 meters (330 feet). The two major oases are the al-Liwa' Oasis in south-central Abu Dhabi and the Buraimi Oasis at Al 'Ayn, on the border with Oman.
9 FLAT AND ROLLING TERRAIN
Most of the UAE is very flat, including its coastal lowlands and desert interior.
10 MOUNTAINS AND VOLCANOES
The UAE's eastern region comprises barren, rugged mountains that are the northernmost extension of neighboring Oman's Al Hajar range. The highest peak in the country, Mount Yibir, which rises to 1,527 meters (5,010 feet), is located in this region.
11 CANYONS AND CAVES
There are many caves in the Al Hajar Mountains in the eastern part of the UAE.
12 PLATEAUS AND MONOLITHS
Except for the mountainous area in the east, the UAE is a low-lying country with no significant plateaus.
13 MAN-MADE FEATURES
All of the UAE's major ports are man-made, including Port Jabal 'Ali and Port Rashid, two of the largest artificial harbors in the Middle East. Irrigation canals support farming near the Buraimi Oasis at Al 'Ayn.
14 FURTHER READING
Crocetti, Gina L. Culture Shock! United Arab Emirates . Portland, OR.: Graphic Arts Center, 1996.
Johnson, Julia. United Arab Emirates . Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishers, 2000.
Kay, Shirley. Seafarers of the Gulf . Dubai: Motivate Pub., 1992.
Web Sites
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Joan Fussey, Miss Haggard and Josh Fiddler are all characters in which ‘Carry On’ film? | Carry on Camping (Gerald Thomas,) @ film-hunter.com
Carry on Camping
Mrs. Fussey
Gerald Thomas
Plot: Sid and Bernie keep having their amorous intentions snubbed by their girlfriends Joan and Anthea. The boys suggest a camping holiday, secretly intending to take them to a nudist camp. Of course they end up in the wrong place, and meet up with the weirdest bunch of campers you can imagine! Coach loads of sex-starved schoolgirls and bands of hippies all add to the laughs.
| Carry On Camping |
What was the name of the prison from which anti-apartheid campaigner Nelson Mandela was released in February 1990? | Ready Get Movie: Carry on Camping
Carry on Camping
The 'CARRY ON' team - refusing to let sleeping bags lie!
Genres: Comedy
IMDB Votes: 950
Versions: ipod, divx
Actors: Scott, Terry as Peter Potter, Windsor, Barbara as Babs, Jacques, Hattie as Miss Haggard, Bresslaw, Bernard as Bernie Lugg, Bayntun, Amelia as Mrs. Fussey, Oulton, Brian as Mr. Short, Laye, Dilys as Anthea Meeks, Holloway, Julian as Jim Tanner, Noble, Trisha as Sally, Williams, Kenneth as Doctor Kenneth Soaper, Hawtrey, Charles as Charlie Muggins, Butterworth, Peter as Josh Fiddler, James, Sid as Sid Boggle, Sims, Joan as Joan Fussey, Marsden, Betty as Harriet Potter
This is undoubtedly one of the best movies I had to exercise laughing out loud at the scene where the farmer is teaching his daughter pregnant "" I do not know what his name was? "I could not have asked for the pleasure that I ? " The door falls and the farmer answers to a man who want some milk, "Oh hi. I previous round and his daughter gave me. And I want some more, please, but do not worry, I'm willing to pay for it this time " Cut to farmers with the aim of his gun Classic Scene
If you ask people to keep a name in the movie, many Follow Camping name, perhaps due to the famous scene from "flinging" Barbara Windsor. However, deserves to be memorable for other reasons, namely: * Sid James is in his best comedy (especially when the errors Joan Sims' Stew for the foot bath) * Bayntun Amelia (Joan Sims' screen mother, Mrs Fussey ) is a perfect representation of the dominant mother in law / mother overprotective. (She reprises the role as the mother of Charles Hawtree Run abroad a few years later). * The winning formula of family pairings Sid James / Joan Sims and Kenneth Williams / Hattie Jacques. * 60 references work, and reflect the times in places (Terry Scott watching holiday brochures at a time when the holidays are becoming foreigners viable for ordinary people, the hippie ending showing the kind of generations). * References to the quaint pre-decimalisation money, especially when Sid James and Peter Butterworth speaking fees from the campsite. For my money, was the last great Camping continue. Convenience and abroad were good, but the regulars Camping saw the height of its powers, and it showed. Wonderful movie.
"Carry On" films are back in fashion. DVD review. Two plumbers nudista plan a vacation, but things do not work as expected. Uses the phrase "Oh Beautiful," which was also used in the recent "Love Actually." Future soap contains several British players. Best scenes are between Jacques and Williams. Terry of Terry and June "and his wife (with the terrible) laughter is a good team. Hippie rock band that sounded interesting. What is the recent British comedy as funny as this movie? "Bringing the Camping" is hilarious fun late 60s.
In my opinion this is the best in the series Carry On. All the faces you know and love are in this one as Sid James, Kenny Williams, Babs Windsor, Charles Hawtrey, Terry Scott, Julian Holloway, Bernard Bresslaw, Joan Sims and Hattie Jacques great course. There is something about Carry On films. You can put one and you know you will laugh out loud maybe half a dozen times in the majority, but was all smiles. They also are so stringent they are seeing at the same time to relax with a beer or three. Camping is only the final Carry On film. It has a charm that no other could capture the comedy films in Britain during the sixties and remains a classic of cinema. Carry On ... salute you.
This Carry on Camping movie (a guilty pleasure for me), contains one of the best jokes in the convoluted history of cinema. The children drive to what they believe to be the nudist camp you're looking for. One sign said "All Asses must be shown." Guffaw boys, their girlfriends are dismayed. Sid is the manager asks. "He has gone for a piss" is the answer. Soon, the manager appears scruffy, hitching up his pants with a wooden letter "P", whereas the nail on the sign so it now reads "All passes must be contained." Most of the other jokes are old as the hills (and welcome, however), but whoever came up with something to develop this business owned by Charles Kaufman / Preston Sturges / club of Jacques Tati.
Download Carry on Camping Movie Here Sid and Bernie keep having their amorous intentions snubbed by their girlfriends Joan and Anthea. The boys suggest a camping holiday, secretly intending to take them to a nudist camp. Of course they end up in the wrong place, and meet up with the weirdest bunch of campers you can imagine! Coach loads of sex-starved schoolgirls and bands of hippies all add to the laughs.
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In the nursery rhyme ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ how many blackbirds were baked in a pie? | Sing A Song Of Six Pence | Nursery Rhymes by Hooplakidz - YouTube
Sing A Song Of Six Pence | Nursery Rhymes by Hooplakidz
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Uploaded on Mar 21, 2011
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Sing Along to one of the most popular songs Sing A Song of Six Pence nursery rhymes by Hooplakidz and have fun watching and learning !!!
Lyrics to Sing Along :-
Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds
When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house,
Counting all the money;
The queen was in the parlor,
Eating bread with honey
The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a blackbird
Who snapped off her nose!
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The vitelus is which part of an egg? | Blackbird: Turdus merula | Environment | The Guardian
Turdus merula
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Blackbirds are famously vocal and are the subject of many well-known songs and verses. In the popular nursery rhyme Sing a Song of Sixpence, 24 were baked in a pie, but even that didn't stop them singing. Only the male bird is black - females are brown with a streaky breast. Males have a bright yellow beak and ring around their eyes.
Where they live
Blackbirds can be found in woodland but prefer breeding in garden hedges and bushes. They can also be found in city and town parks and trees. There are estimated to be about 4.5 million birds in the UK, increasing during the winter.
How to spot them
They can often be seen searching for food. They eat a wide variety of insects, earthworms and berries and often run across the garden, picking them up before running back for cover. Male blackbirds sing to establish a territory, so listen out for this between February and June. Singing is usually done from prominent perches, trees or rooftops. During the breeding season you might see the male bird defending its territory from other males. The bird will threaten the intruder by running a short distance and then bowing its head and tail at the same time. Head bowing and a diagonal run are used to woo the female during courtship. Guys, this rarely works with human females, but give it a go anyway, it might make them laugh.
Listen out for
Blackbirds are very vocal and have a number of songs and calls, including a flute-like warble. The poet William Henley wrote: "The nightingale has a lyre of gold,
the lark's is a clarion call, the blackbird plays but a boxwood flute, but I love him best of all." Other sounds include high-pitched squeaks and a volley of chatters when threatened by predators such as pet cats.
Did you know?
When defending their territory, male blackbirds respond more aggressively to rivals with more orangey bills. Females, on the other hand, just prefer shiny ones.
Spotter's ratings:
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What is the title of Samuel Beckett’s play which consists of about 25 seconds of screams and heavy breathing? | April 2015 Issue by Old Town Crier - issuu
issuu
From the Bay to the Blue Ridge
From the Bay
CALVERT MARINE MUSEUM BOAT BUILDING To the Blue Ridge
HATS ON FOR SPRING! It’s Race Season Road Trip
THE MARITIME REPUBLIC OF EASTPORT Civil Discourse
THE WAR ENDS … OR DOES IT? Across the Bridge
NATIONAL HARBOR
The Harbor Is Waking Up!
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Setting The Standard In 2006 Old Town For 35 Years AWARD OF EXCELLENCE
AND THE PAST 15 YEARS
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april’15 A Division of Crier Media Group OTC Media LLC PO Box 320386 Alexandria, Va. 22320
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phone: 703. 836. 0132 [email protected] oldtowncrier.com Published the first week of every month. Worth waiting for! PUBLISHER Bob Tagert MARKETING & ADVERTISING Lani Gering Bob Tagert SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE Laura Parker DESIGN & PRODUCTION Electronic Ink 9 Royal Street, SE Leesburg, Va. 20175 Chris Anderson Peggie Arvidson Sarah Becker F. Lennox Campello Steve Chaconas Doug Coleman Ashley Denham Busse Doug Fabbioli Nicole Flanagan Lani Gering
CONTRIBUTORS Frances Killpatrick Miriam Kramer Jeff McCord Laura Parker Julie Reardon Chester Simpson Bob Tagert Carl Trevisan Ryan Unverzagt Lori Welch Brown
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Financial Focus
© 2015 Crier Media Group, Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. The Old Town Crier is published monthly and distributed to selected Alexandria residents, hotels, restaurants and retail shops. Also distributed in the Annapolis, Fredericksburg, Blue Ridge and Washington, DC areas as well as St. John, USVI.
About the cover The Confederate Statue that stands facing south at the intersection of North Washington and Prince streets in Old Town Alexandria. The inscription reads: ERECTED TO THE MEMORY OF THE CONFEDERATE DEAD OF ALEXANDRIA, VA BY THEIR SURVIVING COMRADES MAY 24th 1889 THIS MONUMENT MARKS THE SPOT FROM WHICH THE ALEXANDRIA TROOPS LEFT TO JOIN THE CONFEDERATE FORCES MAY 24, 1861 Photo: BobTagert
Old Town Crier
On the road with OTC Torrington, Wyoming resident Dick Glandt borrowed long time Old Town Crier reader and subscriber Donna Beth Downer’s November issue and took it with him to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Dick and his wife Marilyn were vacationing in France. The OTC really gets around! If you would like to see your picture here, take the OTC with you on your next trip, snap a high resolution photo and send it along with information for the caption to [email protected].
April 2015 | 1
PUBLISHER’S NOTES BOB TAGERT
SPRING EVENTS March
Water Taxi to National Mall: Cherry Blossom Festival Service March 21 - April 12, 2015
April 16th Annual Easter Ea Egg Hunt at Lee-Fendall House April 3-5, 2015 Doggy Happy Hour Opening Day April 7, 2015 82nd Annual Alexandria Historic Homes & Garden Tour April 18, 2015 2 Spring2ACTion: Alexandria’s Biggest Day of Giving April 22, 2015
May
S
pring is in the air and the buds are beginning to bloom. We have made it through another difficult winter, but the future looks great as the southern temperatures return. Speaking of the south, one hundred and fifty years ago, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia and the Civil War came to an end…or has it? This month Doug Coleman writes about the last days of Petersburg leading up to Appomattox. With no Facebook or social media, word of the surrender and end of the war took months to reach everyone. Doug explores this reality and will continue to follow the aftermath of the war. On our cover is a photograph of the Confederate Civil War soldier statue at the intersection of South Washington Street and Prince Street here in Old Town Alexandria. We have all driven past it for years but have you ever looked at it? Here is a chance. This month’s Road Trip took us back to one of our favorite places, the Maritime Republic of
Eastport, Maryland. We have many fond memories over the years of meeting the folks who live and play in Eastport. Located across Spa Creek from Annapolis, Eastport is a world away. With the nice weather coming, we decided to write about two new eateries in Old Town where it is easy to grab a bite to eat and enjoy a park or a bench for lunch outside. Check out the Dining Out column. Open Space author Lori Welch Brown hit on a great relationship conundrum in her column titled “Shelfies”. Peggie Arvidson has given all of you a short course in reading palms in her Spiritual Renaissance column — you can learn a new way to entertain your friends. All this and more in this issue. In addition to looking at all of the pretty pictures, be sure to see what our advertisers have to offer this month! A sure sign of spring is Easter, which is celebrated April 5. We at the Old Town Crier wish all of you a very Happy Easter.
Historic Alexandria Attics and Alleys Tours May 2-30, 2015
Local Farmers Markets
Canine Cruise May 9, 2015 Free Mother’s Day Museum Tours May 10, 2015
Old Town Farmers Market Go to: VisitAlexandriaVA.com/SPRING to find more events & things to do this season
2 | April 2015
Market Square • 301 King Street Saturday 7 a.m. - Noon, year round Free parking in Market Square garage during market hours People who come to Alexandria on Saturday mornings find themselves in a busy plaza where local farmers and artists have been selling their products since 1753. Old Town Alexandrias Market Square is thought to be one of the nations oldest continually operating farmers markets, serving as a primary source of meat, dairy, fish, fruits and vegetables for Alexandrians. George Washington sent his
produce from Mount Vernon to be sold here. Today, the market offers folks a way to reconnect to the past, while participating in an ongoing local and national tradition.
Del Ray Farmers Market
Corner of East Oxford & Mount Vernon avenues Saturday 8 a.m. - Noon, year round The Del Ray Market is producer grown, with fresh vegetables and fruits in season. All year round this market offers meats, eggs, fresh pasta and sauces, Amish cheese, yogurt, bakery goods, eggs, jams and jellies, fancy nuts and bakery goods.
Old Town Crier
ON THE MEDIA LAURA PARKER
The Customer Is Always Right (on Social Media)
T
he old customer-service adage, “the customer is always right” is especially true on any social media platform. When a customer has a bad experience in a brick and mortar establishment, the incident can typically be resolved through the immediate intervention of a manager. However, when a customer encounters a bad digital experience the entire world (i.e. your brand’s entire online customer following, as well as anyone with one-degree of separation) can easily know a one-sided view of the incident with the click of a “share icon.” Of late, social media networks have become the soapbox platforms for many customers. They are the forum for immediately voicing opinions without any thought of the repercussions. These networks offer the perfect opportunity for customers to complain, provide criticism, or to actively support any business. It is for these very reasons, that companies must tread carefully on social media. They must be ready to immediately respond to both positive and negative customer feedback. Their responses must not only be timely, they must be appropriate — let’s not forget the case of the ever-ready screen shot — I’m looking at you U.S. Airways, 1-800-Flowers, or any of the numerous viral instances when a social media post or apology went awry. And so, rather than an extensive list of hypotheticals that might not accurately apply to every social media instance of customer outcry, here are two “don’ts” and two “do’s” that will serve you well in your responses to disgruntled customers. • Don’t waste time debating with a customer online. It is far too easy to manipulate comments via selective screen shots or
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Photoshop. • Don’t post tongue in cheek remarks that will immediately cause someone to post “that’s racist,” “that’s anti-feminism,” or any “wtf ” type comments that seem to have become the new social media currency. • Do think of your comments as those pesky confidentiality agreements that will never expire. Unless you are a very savvy tech guru, once you post anything online it leaves a digital footprint that can always be tracked. • Do tread carefully by remembering that a proper response can change your biggest critic into your loudest brand ambassador. Until further notice, the customer is always right on social media. You might not agree with what they have to say, and they might be completely inaccurate in their understanding of company rules and regulations, but as long as they decide to engage your company in a dialogue via social media they are always right. They are right because they chose to contact you directly, which is what any good business asks of its customers. They might be wrong in their accusations or chosen means of communication, but once the dialogue has started you must put yourself in their shoes, which means thinking that they are right. Only through this pro-customer mentality can you hope to revert a disgruntled customer back into a positive brand ambassador. Laura P. Parker is a freelance writer and content marketing consultant who specializes in improving the marketing efforts of small-businesses through well-written, engaging, and ROI enhancing content. [email protected] www. laurapparker.com Subscribe today and enjoy every issue of the Old Town Crier at home. Fill out this form, enclose a check for $25 (12 issues) and drop it in the mail to: Old Town Crier, PO Box 320386, Alexandria, Va. 22320
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Personality profile BOB TAGERT
George Surgent & The Patuxent Small Craft Guild
Y
ou may wonder why a boatbuilding program is the subject of a personality profile. There are two reasons: If you have ever sailed a boat you understand that it not only has a personality but also a spirit. The other reason is George Surgent, the museum’s boatwright in charge of the whole program. The Patuxent Small Craft Guild is part of the ongoing education offered at Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons, Md. I met with George a few weeks ago in his small office above the work in progress at the Patuxent 4 | April 2015
Small Craft Center, which is adjacent to the Small Craft Building, which houses about 20 old and restored boats ranging in size from a dugout canoe to the forty-five-foot draketail Penquin. The Guild was established and became members of the museum in 1981. In the early days George became a volunteer to help and guide young people in the fine art of boat building. As the organization grew, George became a paid staff member and today is the director of the Guild. Sitting across from George at his paperPERSONALITY PROFILE > PAGE 7
Old Town Crier
BizNotes The New and the Renewed in Old Town’s Hospitality Scene
Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille and Carr Hospitality’s Oliver Carr in the lobby of the new Hilton Garden Inn
The New
The Hilton Garden Inn is Alexandria’s newest hotel and the brand’s first property in the city. The new hotel, owned by Carr Hospitality, is located at 1620 Prince Street, in the heart of Old Town. “We look forward to introducing our guests to the vibrant history and modern flair of Alexandria,” said Mary Anne Russell, general manager.
“Guests can experience chic dining, boutique shopping and sophisticated art galleries. The unique attractions of Alexandria are all within walking distance of our new location, and our nation’s capital is only a short subway ride away.” Situated two blocks from King Street Metro station and minutes from Reagan National Airport, Potomac River waterfront and Mount Vernon,
Hilton Garden Inn Alexandria Old Town provides travelers with inviting social spaces and high-end amenities ensuring a great stay at an even greater value. The rooftop terrace offers stunning views stretching above the Alexandria skyline as far as the Washington Monument. Comfortable seating and wooden arbors in the terrace gardens provide guests an impressive social venue. The hotel also features a meeting room offering more than 603 square feet of flexible meeting space. Additionally, the hotel will be LEED certified, demonstrating the property’s commitment to sustainability through water and energy efficiency, material selection, environmental health and innovation in design.
The Renewed
Kimpton’s Hotel Monaco Alexandria just completed a multimillion-dollar renovation to all guestrooms, suites, hallways and the living room, including the addition of a ridiculously awesome bridal suite named the Eleanor Suite, after Martha Washington’s granddaughter Eleanor Custis — one of Virginia’s most wellknown brides and socialites.
Luxurious rooms are part of the Monaco���s multimillion dollar renovation. photo: Ron Blunt
In the heart of the Colonial seaport George Washington once called home, Monaco Alexandria, a Kimpton Hotel stands out as a landmark fourstar luxury destination. Following an extensive renovation by Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, the six-story red-brick property has emerged as a 241-room jewel known for its high style and whimsy, pet-friendliness, and abundant amenities. General Washington’s legacy and the Civil War era subtly inform the spirit and décor of this boutique hotel, but its pampering personality and bold style are very much in the now. Monaco Alexandria is located at 480 King Street.
Flavors in Bloom Celebrating our 5th anniversary with blooming specials and colorful tastes of spring!
The Spice & Tea Exchange®
320 King Street | Alexandria, VA 22314 571-312-8505 | [email protected] spiceandtea.com Old Town Crier
April 2015 | 5
FINANCIAL FOCUS carl m.trevisan, cfp© & stephen m. bearce
It’s Tax Time Tips for getting organized
A
sk many Americans about their experience with tax time and they are likely to describe lots of paperwork, confusing rules, and late nights on their computer. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Getting organized now — instead of waiting until the days before April 15— may help streamline your tax preparation and help you identify deductions that you might otherwise overlook in the last-minute rush. You’ll need the right paperwork to get started (see box below), but you may want to consult a tax advisor to determine whether you need to consider additional factors that are unique to your situation. After you have accounted for the most common aspects of tax preparation, dig a little deeper to discover other areas of your life that may offer tax breaks.
Parenthood
Children are not just a blessing to your family. They also bring with them a host of potential tax breaks. • Dependency exemption. For the 2014 tax year you can deduct $3,950 for each qualifying child you claim as a dependent on your tax form. If your adjusted gross income is above a certain level, you may not receive the full exemption amount.
• Child Tax Credit. This credit can be worth as much as $1,000 per child under the age of 17 that you claimed as a dependent on your tax return. For 2014, the amount of the credit begins to phase out for joint filers with adjusted gross incomes that exceed $110,000 and for single filers and heads-of-household whose income exceeds $75,000. • Child Care Credit. If you paid childcare for a dependent child under age 13 so you could work, you can earn a credit of between $600 and $1,050 in 2014. If you are paying for the care of two or more children, the potential credit you can earn increases to between $1,200 and $2,100. As with most other tax breaks, the size of the credit depends on your income and, in the case of this particular credit, how much you pay for care. (You can count up to $3,000 for the care of one child and up to $6,000 for the care of two or more).1 • Adoption credit. If you adopted a child in 2014, you can claim a credit of up to $13,190 help offset the cost. Income phase-outs apply for adjusted gross incomes that range from $197,880 to $237,880.1
Lesser-Known Deductions
You may be able to benefit from either a tax deduction or a tax credit if
Tax Preparation Documents Document: Form W-2 from your employer Why You Need It: The starting point for determining your taxable income. Document: Form 1099 and other statements from investment firms Why You Need It: Helps you compute capital g ains, which are taxable, or capital losses, which you may be able to deduct. Dividends and interest are taxable at ordinary income tax rates. Contributions to a traditional IRA may be tax deductible if you meet income thresholds established by the IRS. Document: Real estate records Why You Need It: You may be able to deduct mortgage interest and real estate taxes. Expenses associated with investment real estate may be deductible. If you s ell real estate at a profit, you may be required to pay taxes on a portion of the gain.
After you have accounted for the most common aspects of tax preparation, dig a little deeper to discover other areas of your life that may offer tax breaks. you had any of these types of expenses during 2014. • Purchased an electric car or plug-in hybrid. • Had student loan debt paid by parents. • Had out-of-pocket expenses related to a job search. • Had moving expenses associated with a first job. • Were self-employed and paid Medicare premiums. • Had jury duty pay that was surrendered to employer. • Utilized the American Opportunity Credit and/or other governmentsponsored education programs to pay for education expenses. • Made energy-saving home improvements. These are just a few of the tax savings that may await you come April 15. Of course, your individual circumstances will determine if you are eligible for these and other tax breaks. Your tax professional should be able to provide more information on what you do and don’t qualify for. This communication is not intended to be tax advice and should not be treated as such. Each individual’s situation is different. You should contact your tax professional to discuss your personal situation. Because of the possibility of human or mechanical error by Wealth Management Systems Inc. or its sources,
neither Wealth Management Systems Inc. nor its sources guarantees the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or availability of any information and is not responsible for any errors or omissions or for the results obtained from the use of such information. In no event shall Wealth Management Systems Inc. be liable for any indirect, special or consequential damages in connection with subscriber’s or others’ use of the content. © 2015 Wealth Management Systems Inc. All rights reserved. This column is provided through the Financial Planning Association, the membership organization for the financial planning community, and is brought to you by Carl M. Trevisan, a local member of FPA and Stephen M. Bearce. McLaughlin Ryder Investments, Inc. and McLaughlin Ryder Advisory Services, LLC and their employees are not in the business of providing tax or legal advice. These materials and any tax-related statements are not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used or relied upon, by any such taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding tax penalties. Tax-based statements, if any, may have been written in connection with the promotion or marketing of the transaction (s) or matter(s) addressed by these materials, to the extent allowed by applicable law. Any such taxpayer should seek advice based on the taxpayer’s particular circumstances from an independent tax advisor. Securities offered by McLaughlin Ryder Investments, Inc. and investment advisory services offered by McLaughlin Ryder Advisory Services, LLC.
1 Source: TurboTax, "Birth of a Child," updated for tax year 2014.
6 | April 2015
Coleman Law Group Attorneys at Law
PERSONALITY PROFILE FROM PAGE 4
strewn desk, he obviously appeared to be a very busy man, and he is. His eyes would light up behind his glasses as he told me of his love of boats. The Guild is made up of volunteers who are constantly involved with projects from building new boats or restoring old ones. Volunteers and members of the guild usually do the restoration work, while anyone can build a canoe or 12foot skiff under the guidance of the members. For a fee of $600 for Calvert Marine Museum
can have a sailing version, including sail, spars, dagger board, and rudder. The classes require two Saturdays and the project is done. Another project the Guild is working on is a reproduction of the 1939 Ped-L-Craft. M.M. Davis in Solomons built these pedal boats for the 1939 New York World’s Fair and other locations including Washington, DC (think Tidal Basin) and Philadelphia. A good number of these boats were built in a six-month period and some remained in operation until the
Serving Virginia and DC for over 20 years (703) 739-4200 coleman-lawyers.com 602 Cameron Street Alexandria, VA 22314
If you have ever sailed a boat you understand that it not only has a personality but also a spirit. members and $650 for non-members, you can build a 16-foot wooden canoe. With the “Build a Canoe Appointment” program, you give them two days and you can build a boat. The fee includes all materials necessary to complete one canoe and paddles. There is no experience necessary, as the members will guide you through the process. The Guild also offers a similar class in building a 12-foot rowing skiff. The cost for the skiff is $950 for CMM members and $1,000 for non-members. For an additional $800 you
1960s. On the day I was at the Center, there were about 10 members busily working on the boats that were either being built or restored. Some members were even repairing and putting fiberglass (bad word in that shop) on someone’s rowing dinghy that was paying to have the work done. This is another way the Guild can raise money for on-going programs. The Center is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and folks are invited to take a look around, or better yet, build a boat.
JAZZ 4 Justice Tuesday, April 7, 2015 @ 7:30pm Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center 3001 North Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311 Call or email the Alexandria Bar Association at (703) 548-1106 or [email protected] for tickets and sponsorship information.
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a bit of history sarah becker©
Alexandria & The Civil War
“L
Lewis McKenzie 1810-1895
ike so many individual participants in the national blood-letting, Alexandrians going to [civil] war were simply fulfilling their duty, upholding personal honor, not caught up in the political argument over a state’s right to secede or the moral argument of owning slaves,” George Kundahl wrote. Until President Lincoln responded to the Confederate firing on Ft. Sumter in April 1861. “I have received your communication, mailed [April 15th] in which I am requested to detach from the Militia of the State of Virginia ’the quota designated in a table,’ which you append, ’to serve as infantry or riflemen for the period of three months, unless sooner discharged,’” Governor John Letcher
President Abraham Lincoln enters Richmond (April 4, 1865)
8 | April 2015
wrote the Secretary of War on April 16, 1861. The Secretary asked the states for 75,000 soldiers. “In reply…I have only to say that the Militia of Virginia will not be furnished to the powers at Washington for any such use or purpose as they have in view,” Letcher continued. “Your object is to subjugate the Southern states, and a requisition made upon me for such an object—an object, in my judgment, not within the purview of the Constitution or the Act of 1795, will not be complied with. You have chosen to inaugurate civil war and, having done so, we will meet it in a spirit as determined by the Administration and exhibited towards the South.” Like South Carolina before, Virginia seceded from the Union. During the Civil War, Alexandria, occupied as of May 24, 1861, functioned primarily as a military base. Railroads and the Potomac waterway combined to form a Federal transportation hub. In 1861 three railroads entered Alexandria. Another operated river steamers between its rail terminus at Aquia Creek and the city. “We landed at Alexandria and saw as melancholy and miserable a town as the mind of man can conceive,” Anthony Trollope wrote in the winter of 1861-1862. “The people were all Secessionists, but the town was held by the northern party. Through the lines, into Virginia, they could not go at all. Up to Washington they could not go without a military pass…Here trade was killed altogether—except that absolutely necessary trade of bread.” Food and fuel were scarce. Owners of town lots were encouraged to cultivate gardens. Food prices were high and civilians traded little. “We are sorry to learn that your
business is so much depressed that you cannot pay at maturity the small amt. you owe us,” New York’s Baxter & Co. wrote Alexandria’s Leadbeater & Co. in September 1861. “The evil effects of the [civil] war bear probably much more heavily on us than they do on you because we have large amounts due us at the south; we have not lost all confidence in our southern customers for many of them we think are men of integrity; and as for the War or its effects, we are not in any way responsible.” Union occupiers required Leadbeater & Co., all of Alexandria’s businesses to purchase new licenses. The application included an oath of allegiance to the United States. Restored Virginia’s oath read: “Alexandria County—to wit: I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, as the supreme law of the land, anything in the Constitution and laws of the State of Virginia, or in the Ordinance of Convention which assembled at Richmond, on the 13th of February, 1861, to the contrary notwithstanding; and I will uphold and defend the Government of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the Convention which assembled at Wheeling, on the 11th day of June, 1861.” A signed loyalty oath was also needed to secure a travel pass, to fish in the Potomac River, or hold political office. “I am induced to subscribe the oath affirmation as a condition on which I can transact my business…because there are many prescriptions…in the store of Leadbeater & Co. given by physicians which require renewal daily—for the sick,” Mary Leadbeater wrote May 27, 1862. Not all southerners were seriously invested in slavery. In 1862 President Old Town Crier
civil DISCOURSE DOUG COLEMAN
Appomattox:Almost the End
I
n late March of 1865, Grant threatens Lee’s supply line to Petersburg, meaning that Lee’s army is now in danger of being enveloped and starved into submission. Lee characteristically chooses to go on the offensive. At about four in the morning on March 25th, Confederates masquerading as deserters surged out of the darkness before Fort Stedman. Follow-on troops overrun the fort and punch a hole in the Union lines 1000 feet wide. Lee’s ultimate objective is very ambitious – to seize and destroy the Federal supply depot at City Point. But then the attack slows and fizzles, the Yankee artillery pounding the captured fort until a counterattack pushes the Confederates back into their own lines. The breakout lasts just four hours. Grant loses about 1000 men, Lee about 4000 – this at a time when Lee was already outnumbered about 125,000 to 50,000. On March 31 Grant goes on the offensive. He severs Lee’s supply line
on Boydton Plank Road. The attack cuts off about 10,000 Confederates at Five Forks under General Pickett. Sheridan pounces with cavalry, but his unsupported troopers cannot overcome Pickett’s veterans and are driven back at Dinwiddie Courthouse. But the next day Warren’s corps arrives with infantry and gets behind the Confederate line. It turns into a route. With the Petersburg line about to become enveloped, Lee reports to Jefferson Davis on April 2nd that he will abandon Petersburg and can no longer protect Richmond. The Confederate government evacuates; the final capital will be Danville, then wherever Jefferson Davis lays his head. On April 3rd, Union troops occupy Petersburg and Richmond. Ironically, the mayor actually begs the Yankees to occupy the city to put out the fires set by the retreating army, gutting the downtown area. On April 4th, Lincoln visits the White House of the Confederacy and is cheered by crowds of newly freed slaves. His security
Confederate killed in April 2 breakout at Petersburg.
photo: Thomas C. Roche, Library of Congress
Old Town Crier
Richmond after the fire of April 1865
team consists of ten soldiers. Lee’s last hope is to make it to Lynchburg, where forts and a supply depot await him. As his army marches towards Lynchburg, Sheridan’s cavalry gets in front of him, while he has the entire Army of the Potomac on his heels. On April 3rd, Custer’s cavalry clashes with Fitzhugh Lee’s rearguard at Namozine Church; Custer loses almost 100 men, but captures over 600 Confederates. On April 4th, there is fighting at Tabernacle Church and Amelia Courthouse. Yankee cavalry has occupied the train stations at Burkeville and Jetersville to deny Lee railway support. On April 5, there is a skirmish at Amelia Springs following a Yankee raid burning Confederate supply wagons. On April 6th, Longstreet arrives at Rice’s Station to find the tracks blocked by cavalry. The pressure is continuous and relentless. The Yankee cavalry forged in the Gettysburg and Shenandoah campaigns is now being used with game-ending efficiency. On April 6, nearly a quarter of Lee’s
photo: Mathew Brady, National Archives
army is cut off by Yankee cavalry and supporting infantry at Saylor’s Creek near Farmville; Lee loses 7,700 men in a day. As the survivors limp past Lee, he exclaims: “My God, has the army dissolved?” This will prove to be the last major engagement of the war. On April 6 and 7, retreating Confederates attempted to block the pursuit by burning the High Bridge over the Appomattox River. The rearguard action costs the Yankees over 800 men, but they put out the fire and cross, leaving Lee’s men no time to consume the rations waiting for them in Farmville. Later that afternoon there is a skirmish at Cumberland Church near Farmville; Lee won, making this his final victory, small though it was. On April 4, Lee had telegraphed the quartermaster at Lynchburg to send trains with supplies to Appomattox station. Wire-tapping Yankee cavalry intercept this message; they forward it to the Confederate quartermaster. CIVIL DISCOURSE > PAGE 42
April 2015 | 9
Cannot. Stop. Listening. Steven Wilson: Cannot. Erase.
10 | April 2015
If
prog were to have a reigning king, that title would surely be bestowed upon Steven Wilson without any opposition, no doubt. Primarily known for over 20 years as the mastermind behind Porcupine Tree, Wilson completely changed the face of prog in ways that has made it more relevant, more original, and more successful than ever. In addition to his work with Porcupine Tree, Wilson has also spent almost thirty years as one half of noman (the influential synth-pop duo with Tim Bowness) as well as projects such as Bass Communion, IEM, Blackfield (a successful collaboration with Israeli superstar Aviv Geffen) and Storm Corrosion — his 2012 album with Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt. If that wasn’t enough, Wilson has also become an in-demand producer, having been responsible for remixing the entire King Crimson catalog, as well as classic albums by Yes, Jethro Tull, and others, and is revered in the audiophile community for those projects. And, yet he still has time for solo albums. Following 2013’s mind-bogglinglyamazing The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories), Steve put his solo band to task on this new set which stands damn near, if not at, the very top of his entire output. Fans of every facet of Wilson’s style will find something to love on this album, from the ambient to the heavy. It’s like he looked at everything he’s done before and decided to better it. Building from a sound sculpture, the opening “First Regret” sets the mood with sparse piano and a subtle beat before drifting right into the epic, “3 Years Older,” which comes in sounding not all that different from Permanent Waves-era Rush, with further detours through Yes, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, and perhaps even a little Crosby Stills & Nash. But with all those influences, this still sounds like Steven Wilson. While never one to write particularly happy songs, there’s a certain mood in this, and the other songs on the album, that sounds
considerably less dystopian than a lot of his work. This is clever music that sounds like it was fun to write, and even more fun to play. Oh yeah, and the playing. My, oh my, this band is tight. All the musicians are established in their own right — guitar wizard Guthrie Govan (Asia, Aristocrats), bassist Nick Beggs (Kajagoogoo, Iona), jazz keyboard virtuoso Adam Holzman, and the great Marco Minneman on drums. Originally assembled for dates to support 2011’s Grace For Drowning, this band has had time to morph into a formidable unit, sounding like they’ve always played together. Fans of early PT albums like The Sky Moves Sideways will totally love the dark groove of “Perfect Life,” featuring a spoken-word appearance by classical powerhouse Katherine Jenkins, and an absolutely gorgeous vocal refrain that builds and builds into something akin to nirvana. The title track, on the other hand, is an almost perfect pop song that betters pretty much anything on Lightbulb Sun. One of my favorite tracks. The multi-sectioned “Routine” begins with a long acoustic-driven movement with Mellotron and piano and a haunting vocal cameo by Israeli pop star Ninet Tayeb, that moves into some explosive instrumental passages that rival anything done by Genesis, Pink Floyd, or Rush. Tayeb wails amidst the musical grandeur in a way that bands like Touchstone can only dream of, before Wilson sings us back out on a quiet, reflective, and hopeful note. Wilson, as always, is in perfect voice. One of my favorite singers, the way he is able to carry such dramatic music without ever resorting to shouting or gut-wailing is a special talent. He sounds cool and calculated, yet brutally honest in his crystal-clear delivery and I love him for it. The razor-sharp math-rock of “Home Invasion” is jarring at first but it cooks. All that time spent deep in the King Crimson vault has surely paid off. This is some seriously intense playing. The vocals don’t come in til
about the four-minute mark and it gets kinda funky, with a punchy vocal by Wilson and some good fuzz on the guitar, and a nice spaced-out ending that segues right into the chilled-out groove of “Regret #9.” Featuring a killer solo by Holzman and amazing guitar work from Wilson, this jam more than cements this album’s status as a masterpiece. The ambient banjo in the outro confirms it. Short and sweet, “Transience” has a spooky, old-English folk feel to it. Subtle, yet intricate, the fingerstyle guitar carries you like waves, and the bass pedal bombs send you soaring. “…this is only the start,” Wilson sings at the end. And once you hear what comes next, you’ll know exactly what that means. Clocking in at 13:33, “Ancestral” starts out sounding like an ambient remix of some lost Sgt. Pepper outtake before the band kicks in about four minutes in, laying down a dark, slow, heavy vibe, setting Wilson up for one of his best guitar solos of the record. Ninet Tayeb makes another appearance before the band begins flying through an intricate musical maze, full of sinister twists and turns. This is seriously some of the most impressive stuff I’ve ever heard. A whirlwind of that magnitude commands a breath of fresh air and Wilson does not disappoint. “Happy Returns,” with its light piano and strummed acoustic, reminds me of 1999’s Stupid Dream, but with one of the most personal, reflective lyrics I’ve ever heard from Wilson — “the years they pass like trains / I wave and they don’t slow down.” I think we all can relate to that. Closing out the album, “Ascendant Here On” … light piano and choir taking us out in a most tranquil fashion. While Wilson has not ruled out an eventual return of Porcupine Tree, it seems he’s enjoying the freedom of solo work, and the success it’s been bringing him. It’s obviously working. With this album, Steven Wilson has reached a new peak in his career. This is a true work of art. Old Town Crier
AFTER AFTER HOURS HOURS
Birchmere 703.549.7500 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave. birchmere.com
Las Tapas 703.836.4000 710-714 King St. lastapas.us
Carlyle Club 411 John Carlyle Dr. 703-549-8957 thecarlyleclub.com
The Light Horse 703.549.0533 715 King St. thelighthorserestaurant.com
Chadwicks 203 S. Strand St. 703.836.4442
Morrison House 703.838.8000 116 South Alfred St.
Evening Star Cafe 703.549.5051 2000 Mt. Vernon Ave.
Murphys Irish Pub 703.548.1717 713 King St. murphyspub.com
The Fish Market 703.836.5676 105 King St. fishmarketoldtown.com Flying Fish 703.600.FISH 815 King St. flyingfishdc.com
OConnells 703.739.1124 112 King St. Rock It Grill 703.739.2274 1319 King St.
Austin Grill & Tequila Bar 703.836.8969 801 King St. Southside 815 703.836.6222 815 S. Washington St. St. Elmos 703.739.9268 2300 Mt. Vernon Ave. Taverna Cretekou 703.548.8688 818 King St. TJ Stones 703.548.1004 608 Montgomery St. tjstones.com Trattoria da Franco 703-548-9338 305 S. Washington St. Two Nineteen 703.549.1141 219 King St.
King Street Blues 703.836.8800 112 N. St. Asaph St.
Shooter McGees 703.751.9266 5239 Duke St. shootermcgees.com
La Portas 703.683.6313 1600 Duke St.
These establishments offer live entertainment. Call to confirm show times, dates and cover charges. Check our advertisers’ websites.
A BIT OF HISTORY FROM PG 8
Abraham Lincoln, relying on his war powers, responded to Virginia’s repeated intrastate disputes and approved West Virginia’s admission into the Union. Northwestern and eastern Virginia divided politically; over issues like voting rights, abolitionism and industrialization. In August 1863 Wheeling became the capital of the State of West Virginia, and the capital of the Union-friendly restored government of Virginia moved from Wheeling to the federally-occupied city of Alexandria. Richmond remained the capital of seceded Virginia and the Confederate States of America. The military repeatedly criticized the Alexandria Gazette for its dual coverage of Alexandria and Richmond politics. Restored Governor of Virginia Francis H. Pierpont—a lawyer, northwestern Virginia coal operator, and anti-slavery Whig— also moved to Alexandria in 1863. Mayor Lewis McKenzie, Unionist Congressman Lewis McKenzie and First Ward Alderman Lewis McKenzie welcomed him. Pierpont established his executive offices in the Farmer’s Bank Building. McKenzie, born October 7, 1810, was a lifelong Alexandrian; a byproduct of Virginia’s antebellum south and an abolitionist repulsed by the city’s slave trade. In 1864 the restored government [seven Virginia counties] called a Convention. The attendees acknowledged the 35th State of West of Virginia, adopted an amended constitution, and abolished slavery. “There have been few Alexandrians whose Old Town Crier
fortunes, political and otherwise, waxed and waned more than Mr. McKenzie’s,” the Alexandria Gazette and Advertiser reported upon his death in 1895. “Like many prominent men, he had his peculiarities, paradoxes, inconsistencies and freaks.” Lewis McKenzie was a Presbyterian, Prince Street homeowner, and “ardent Unionist.” “Slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest,” President Lincoln said in his March 4, 1865 Inaugural Address. “All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the [Confederate] object….” Lincoln, his April 15, 1865 assassination “brought the civil war substantially to a close.” By 1865 war operations no longer included Alexandria and on July 7 the military departed the city. News of Richmond’s collapse, General Robert E. Lee’s April 9 surrender, and Old Glory’s return to Ft. Sumter confirmed the cessation. Restored Governor Francis H. Pierpont relocated to Richmond; politician Lewis McKenzie, also a railroad executive, returned to Congress, and Confederate Colonel John S. Mosby, 43rd Battalion of Partisan Rangers, willingly supported Republican President Ulysses S. Grant following passage of the General Amnesty Act of 1872. Reconstruction ended with the Compromise of 1877. Sarah Becker can be reached at: abitofhistory53@ gmail.com
April 2015 | 11
THE LAST WORD MIRIAM R. KRAMER
Somewhere in Time
I
n 1980, the movie Somewhere in Time became one of the classic romantic films of its era, with a timeless theme and gorgeous musical score. Christopher Reeve plays a young Chicago playwright intrigued by an elegant older lady who comes up to him at a party, asking him to return in time to her. Upon finding pictures of her as a beautiful young woman at a hotel in Michigan, he finds a way to
go back in time to meet her, played by Jane Seymour, in 1912. Author Diana Gabaldon uses a different technique with her first historical novel, Outlander, and the many sequels she has written to continue the adventures of her main characters, Claire and Jamie. They also meet, as if by fate, somewhere in time. She expands on this idea in multifaceted ways with these sequels, using it to create a series worth any reader’s time. While Gabaldon’s
CaribBean Mystery and intrigue
Jeff mccord A dead Marine washed ashore on a Caribbean island leads investigators to otherworldly perpetrators in historic pirate waters and high level abuses in Washington. An intrepid maritime historian working the case for U.S. Naval Intelligence discovers a 60-year record of extraterrestrial activity in the Caribbean basin. History and national security politics meet science fiction in this mystery based on exhaustive factual research and informed conjecture by Virginia author Jeffrey Roswell McCord. AvAilAble from AmAzon in pAperbAck ($10.97) or As A kindle downloAd
12 | April 2015
atmosphere and methods are not the full-blown romance of the aforementioned film, she is successful in creating a historical romance that is down-to-earth, funny, lovely, and at times poetic. Some may call these books fantasy, but they are definitely not aimed at a hard-core fantasy market. Thoroughly enjoyable, this historical fiction suspends disbelief and whisks readers away from mundane existence while helping them feel they know these people, or would even like them as friends. Claire Beauchamp Randall is a practical former nurse back from France after World War II, having recently rejoined her husband, Frank, an historian who worked for the British spy agency MI6 during the war and has taken up an appointment at Oxford. In Scotland on a working holiday, she collects botanical specimens while her husband researches his six-times greatgrandfather, a British officer in charge of keeping savage Scottish clans in line. While on a trip collecting herbs that heal near a Neolithic circle of stones reminiscent of Stonehenge, she accidentally leans upon a tall stone, only to find herself whirled two centuries into the past, from 1946 to a small battle in 1743 in the Scottish Highlands. As if this turn of events is not sufficiently bizarre, she quickly encounters a man who looks like her husband, the English dragoon Jonathan Randall, his ancestor. Quickly kidnapped from him by a band of Scottish cattle rustlers, Claire’s intelligence, natural courage and presence of mind lead her to create a temporary story that will help her pass in this strange society as a type of healer. In the process, she helps heal Jamie Fraser, a tall young red-headed warrior who is loathe to reveal his true identity to her and even
others at the Scottish castle of the MacKenzie clan, since he is suspected of murder. All the while she tries to defray suspicions that she is either an English or French spy while taking stock of her surroundings and trying to get back to the standing stones that brought her to the eighteenth century. Gabaldon is a wonderful natural storyteller, who indulges in a richness of detail that seams together historical, anthropological, medicinal, botanical, socioeconomic, and other well-researched facts about the places and people who overflow her books. In telling Claire and Jamie’s story, she makes them the consummate travelers, able to adapt to environments as diverse as the open Highlands, Edinburgh, a Scottish castle, seamy seaports, or a townhouse in aristocratic Paris where Bonnie Prince Charlie seeks to gather funds and an army to retake his throne from the English. In addition, she gives them possession of an unexpected love that surpasses mundane realities and terrors while allowing the two to survive them. There is a touch of a ghostly quality to their bond and the way it manages to survive across centuries. Also, while a few they encounter are themselves eerie, evil, or mystic, they are never anything but full-blooded, adventurous, ardently loving or angry, and humorous towards one another. Gabaldon shows her skill in the way Jamie and Claire’s conversation alters subtly when they meet again after real time has passed, their more mature romantic conversation conveying the fear, terrible loneliness, and hardship they have experienced away from one another, and their renewed appreciation for what they have. A bodice may rip here
or there in this romance, but not without an accompanying joke or believable passion. Gabaldon’s books do not easily fit into any category such as historical fiction, romance, fantasy, or ghost story, since they are their own unique amalgam of those genres. In Dragonfly in Amber and Voyager, the second and third in the Outlander series, Gabaldon expands on the promise of the first book, advancing in time while covering other geographies and peoples encountered by the pair, as well as involving others from Claire’s twentieth century. To avoid plot spoilers, I will cease my comments on all three books here. Gabaldon’s plotting skill keeps readers attentive to details in her books, as one character from one book may easily appear again like a jack-in-the-box in another. Luckily finding a dull second in her writing is difficult, but truthful moments of beauty and humanity emerge at unexpected moments, along with the wistfulness that accompanies the passage of time. I anticipate finishing this eight-book series myself, as I was only able to start and to read these three books this month. The cable network Starz features a televised series of Outlander, and I look forward to it now that I have drawn my own mental picture of the characters. In short, readers with imagination will suspend disbelief for not only Gabaldon, but also her characters and their stories, however highly colored and prone toward constant adventure and misadventure. These works are popular, blood-stirring fiction at its best, the way adventure novels like The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas were in their day. Old Town Crier
URBAN GARDEN LANI GERING
April Showers (and Pruning & Prep) Bring May Flowers marigolds, zinnias in the garden. When all frost danger has passed you can move your stored fuchsias and geraniums outdoors. Trim them back, feed and re-pot if necessary. Water them well. When they have finished blooming, you should deadhead your spring flowering bulbs. Do not cut off the green foliage yet! These green leaves continue to grow for a few weeks, and provide the bulb with food for flowering next year. Divide perennials like Daylilies, Delphiniums, iris, chrysanthemums, Daisies, and Phlox. The additional plants you create can be traded or given to friends, or moved to a new area of the garden. Hybrid Tea Roses should be fertilized prior to buds beginning to bloom. Using a systemic fertilizer will help prevent insect infestation later in the summer, as it feeds your rose. Plant new rosebushes before growth starts and buds swell. If you have a pond or pool you should set aquatic plants any time after the middle of the month.
The Lawn
Shrubs & Trees
There still is time to plant trees and shrubs. However, by mid month it will be a little late to transplant large trees or shrubs, so do them now. The months of March, April and May are ideal for pruning evergreens. So if you have a Juniper, Cypress or conifer that need shearing or pruning this is a good time to accomplish this task. Remove all dead, diseased, and undesirable wood. However, do not prune back into the bare wood part of the plant. Prune your Forsythia after it finishes
Old Town Crier
flowering. Broadleaf and needle leaf evergreens benefit most from lightly spreading a high nitrogen fertilizer around their bases.
Perennials, Annuals & Bulbs
April is the month for planting summer flowering bulbs like dahlias, gladiolas and lilies. Mix bulb fertilizer, processed manure and peat moss into the planting soil. Tuberous Begonias and Canna should not be set outdoors until all danger of frost has passed, so wait until next month. Plant annual seeds of asters, cosmos,
The application of a spring type of lawn fertilizer should perk up the lawn and improve its over-all color and appearance. If there is moss growing in the lawn, use spring lawn fertilizer that has the moss-killer included, so you can do both jobs in one easy application. Spring is also a good time to thatch and over-seed the lawn. Thatch buildup can smother your lawn and provide an environment for diseases. Remove thatch with a brisk raking, or with a de-thatching machine. Over seeding will help fill-in the lawn and deter the re-growth of moss and weeds. Use about one pound of quality grass seed for every 300 square feet of lawn area. Apply a light compost or soil over the seed to keep it moist and in place.
Aerating the lawn will allow water to penetrate deeper into the lawn soil and reduce the need to water during the dryer months ahead. Use a garden fork and punch holes over the surface of your lawn. As mowing becomes necessary, be certain that the blade is sharp to prevent tearing the grass tips. Set the blade on your lawnmower to cut the grass at 2½ inches to avoid scalping (a mulching blade will eliminate the need to rake or bag the clippings, prevent thatch buildup, and the clippings will provide food for the lawn).
Houseplants
Rotate your houseplants so that each side receives its share of light, for even growth and a balanced shape. As the sun’s rays strengthen, some plants, such as African Violets, may need to be moved away from a southfacing window to avoid leaf scorch. Spring-cleaning your plants will keep them beautiful and help to avoid diseases. Remove any spent flowers, dead leaves or branches, or any yellowing leaves. Rinse the dust from the leaves with the kitchen sprayer. Clean leaves allow the plant to breathe! Pinching back the tips of foliage plants will stimulate new growth and make your plant fuller and bushier. If you keep a Coleus as a houseplant you can still start cuttings for transplant to the garden. Use a sharp clean knife to cut the stem just below a leaf node. Remove the lowest leaves, dip the cut end into a rooting hormone and insert it into some fresh, sterile potting soil. These cuttings will be ready to use as a bright garden accent by early June. This column provided courtesy of The Fairy Garden. For a full range of gardening tips and all other aspects of gardening check out the website: fairygarden.com.
April 2015 | 13
GALLERY BEAT F. LENNOX CAMPELLO & amy marx
Phyllis Plattner Gods of War
Chronicles Saints and Martyr
Chronicles Heads and Hands
Last month I had rotator cuff surgery and my right arm is pretty much out of commission for 6-8 weeks, and thus I asked DC area artist Amy Marx (www. amymarx.com) to guest review a show. What follows is her review of Phyllis Plattner’s recent show at American University’s Katzen Museum.
his feet. Goya’s emotionally charged depiction of this man’s last minutes of life was unprecedented. The painting graphically illustrates the Spanish resistance to Napoleon’s invasion and occupation in the Peninsular War. Art historian Kenneth Clark has said this is “the first great picture that can be called revolutionary in every sense of the word, in style, in subject, and in intention.” In 2001 Phyllis Plattner began the creation of a series of artworks in which she made meticulously rendered copies of art historical paintings in the style of the original artist, and photographs culled from newspapers and magazines. In “Chronicles of War, Saints and Martyrs” she utilized Goya’s historic
renders “Liberty” in feminine form leading the people over the dead bodies of the old order, in one hand holding aloft the tri-color flag of the French Revolution, the epic violent battle for freedom, and in the other hand she carries a bayoneted musket. This iconic painting of the July 1830 Revolution depicts the overthrow of n 1770 Edmund Burke said, King Charles X of France. Delacroix “The only thing necessary wrote his brother: “If I haven’t fought for the triumph of evil is for for my country at least I’ll paint for good men to do nothing.” her.” These words are as relevant In 1814 Francisco Goya painted today as they were then. There are, “The Shootings of the Third of May in the history of the visual arts, many 1808 in Madrid.” It is a gut-wrenching examples of artists “doing something,” portrayal of a man with arms upraised speaking in images rather than words. before a firing squad. He has an In 1830 Eugene Delacroix painted expression of horror on his face. His “Liberty Leading the People.” He comrades lie in a bloody heap at
I
14 | April 2015
painting, mentioned above, and amplified its effect. She placed Goya’s painting in the center of a sixteenpaneled piece. To the left of Goya’s work is the arrow-pierced Saint Sebastian, an early Christian martyr (288 AD) from “The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian” by Andrea Mantegna, (1480). On the right is Christ, blindfolded and bound, about to be scourged, painted by Van der Weyden, (1450). Further heightening the effect of “Chronicles of War, Saints and Martyrs” is a horizontal row of images along the bottom, a format known as predella panels. From left to right are painted the following: The Twin Towers ablaze on September 11, Christ’s feet nailed to the cross, the GALLERY BEAT > PAGE 42
Old Town Crier
all plant & garden aprIl 17-27
It’sSpring! OTC0415
Time to play in the dirt 915 King Street • Old Town Alexandria 703.684.1435 alexandria.tenthousandvillages.com Monday-Saturday 10-7 • Sunday 12-6
Art&Antiques ABACA IMPORTS 1120 North Fairfax St. 703-683-5800
ELDER CRAFTERS 405 Cameron St. 703-683-4338
JAMES WILHOIT ANTIQUES 227 S. Washington St. 703-683-6595
AMERICAN HERITAGE GALLERY 901 North Columbus St. 703-519-7869
FACTORY PHOTOWORKS 105 N. Union St. 703-683-1501
Jeffrey Winter Fine Arts 110A S. Columbus St. (in the courtyard) 703-962-6266
THE ANTIQUE GUILD 113 N. Fairfax St. 703-836-1048 ARTCRAFT 132 King St. 703-299-6616 ARTS AFIRE GLASS GALLERY 1117 King St. 703-548-1197 THE ATHENAEM 201 Prince St. 703-548-0035 AUBURN ARTS GALLERY 110 South Columbus St. 703-548-1932 BANANA TREE 1223 King St. 703-836-4317 BELGRAVIA FINE ART 411 Cameron St. 703-549-2011 BIRD-IN-THE-CAGE ANTIQUES 110 King St. 703-549-5114
FINE OLD POSTERS 1015 King St. 703-684-3656 FIVE OAKS ANTIQUES 2413 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-519-7006 FOLIOGRAPH GALLERY 217 King St. 703-683-1501 FRASER GALLERY 7700 Wisconsin Blvd. Suite E Bethesda 301-718-9651 FRENCH COUNTRY ANTIQUES 1000 King St. 703-548-8563 GALLERY G 215 King St. 703-836-5400 GALLERY INDIGO 1607 King St. 703-838-8098 GALLERY LAFAYETTE 320 King St. 703-548-5266
BROCKETTS ROW ANTIQUES 277 South Washington St. 703-684-0464
GALLERIE LA TAJ 1010 King St. (Gadsby Arcade) 703-549-0508
THE CLASSICAL GALLERY 110 S. Columbus St. 703-836-7736
GALLERY WEST 1213 King St. 703-549-7359
CURZON HILL ANTIQUES 108 S. Columbus St. 703-684-0667
GOSSYPIA 325 Cameron St. 703-836-6969
DIEHL ANTIQUES 614 N. Washington St. 703-706-8191
IMAGINE ARTWEAR 1124 King St. 703-548-1461
Old Town Crier
Kellys Art & Frame 510 N. Washington St. Alexandria, VA 22314 703-549-3313
SPURGEON-LEWIS ANTIQUES 112 N. Columbus St. 703-548-4917 STUDIO ANTIQUES & ART 524 N. Washington St. 703-548-5188 STUDIO BIANCO 220 S. Henry St. 703-299-0662 TIME JUGGLER 411 Cameron St. 703-836-3594
MARIS ELAINE GALLERY 178 Waterfront St. National Harbor 301-686-0323
TORPEDO FACTORY ART CENTER 105 N. Union St. 703-838-4565
MINDFULL HANDS GALLERY 211 King St. 703-683-2074
TRASTEVERE 303 Cameron St. 703-683-9555
OLD COLONY SHOP 222-B S. Washington St. 703-548-8008
VAN BOMMEL ANTIEK HAUS 1007 King St. 703-683-4141 703-629-6521 by appt. Steve Young, Proprietor
P & C ART 212 King St. 703-549-2525 PAUL McGEHEES GALLERY 109 North Fairfax St. 703-548-7729
THE VON BRAHLER LTD./GALLERY 1437 Powhatan St. 703-798-8686
POTOMAC WEST INTERIORS & ANTIQUES 1517 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-519-1911
WASHINGTON SQUARE ANTIQUES 689 S. Washington St. 703-836-3214
PRINCE ROYAL GALLERY 204 S. Royal St. 703-548-5151
Frida Kahlo
by F. Lennox Campello, circa 1981 limited edition of 10 signed and numbered etchings, 8 x 6.5” available from Alida Anderson Art Projects, LLC Washington, DC e: [email protected] p: 301.437.1054
feast your eyes. feed your soul.
THE PRINCIPLE GALLERY 208 King St. 703-739-9326 SCULPTURE GALLERY 115 S. Patrick St. Studio 303 703-683-5056 SILVERMAN GALLERIES ANTIQUES 110 N. Asaph St. 703-836-5363
visit a museum. April 2015 | 15
POINTS ON PETS ASHLEY DENHAM BUSSE
King Street Cats Adoption Calendar APRIL 2015 For details & MORE INFO website: www.kingstreetcats.org email: [email protected] King Street Cats is looking for foster homes! You provide the spare room and TLC and we provide food, litter and all vetting. Please email for our Kitten Fostering FAQ at: [email protected] King Street Cats 25 Dove Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Every Saturday & Sunday 1:30 - 4:30 pm Pro Feed Bradlee Shopping Center 3690 King Street Alexandria, VA 22302 Every Saturday & Sunday 1- 4 pm PETCO UNLEASHED AT PENTAGON ROW 1101 S. Joyce Street Arlington, VA 22202 Saturday, April 4 Saturday, April 18 Sunday, April 19 1- 4 pm THE DOG PARK 705 King Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Saturday, April 4 1- 4 pm DOGMA 2772 S. Arlington Mill Drive Arlington, VA 22206 Sunday, April 12 1- 4 pm barrett street library 717 Queen Street Alexandria, VA 22314 Saturday, April 11 10:30 am - 2:30 pm
16 | April 2015
Pet-Friendly Spring Cleaning
I
don’t know about you, but this time every year, when hints of spring are all around, when the temps are rising a bit and the sun is shining more, I get the urge to spring clean and refresh my home. If you’re reading this column, chances are you’re a pet-lover, so you may be interested to learn that there are lots of ways you can spring clean and refresh so that your pet is happier and more comfortable. The most important thing to keep in mind is that pets are, in general, much more sensitive to toxins, fumes, and irritants than we humans are. Consider the results of this study, by the Environmental Working Group (EWG), of products used in the home: “Dogs and cats were contaminated with 48 of 70 chemicals tested, including 43 chemicals at higher levels than those typically found in people, according to our study of plastics and food packaging chemicals, heavy metals, fire retardants, and stain-proofing chemicals in pooled samples of blood and urine from 20 dogs and 37 cats collected at a Virginia veterinary clinic. In dogs, the average level of stain- and grease-proof coatings (perfluorochemicals) was 2.4 times higher. In cats, fire retardants (Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers or PBDEs) were 23 times higher, and Mercury was more than five times the amounts compared to average levels in people found in national studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and EWG. The study is the most comprehensive investigation of the chemical body burden of companion animals conducted to date, with 23 chemicals reported in pets for the first
time. The results reinforce findings from prior studies showing that pets’ unique behaviors may place them at risk for elevated exposures and health risks from chemicals pollutants in the home and outdoors, in air, water, food, soil and consumer products for people and pets.” Scary, huh? But there are ways to keep your pets safe and healthy as you spring clean. Here are a few tips and precautions: • Remember that the cleaning supplies you use may have harsh chemicals or poisonous substances in them, so keep them out of reach of your pet, and don’t allow your pet around them until surfaces are dry. Ammonia, chlorine, laundry detergent, formaldehyde, phenols (like carbolic acid, hydroxybenzene and oxybenzene), and perchloroethylene are the worst; cats are sensitive to pine oil and birds to aerosols especially. • Your pet may shed more now that the weather’s warming up, so stay on top of brushing and grooming. There’s no need to shave your pet down for warmer weather — in fact, his coat is designed to keep him cool and shaving him down may change his coat. If your pet’s shedding — and those tumbleweeds of dog fur — bother you, take him to a reputable groomer for a Furminator or similar de-shedding treatment. • When you’re washing all your bedding, remember to wash your pet’s also. • This is a good time of year to throw your pet’s toys in the dishwasher or washing machine for cleaning — get in the habit of doing this monthly (bowls and bedding should be washed more often, of course). • Leave open containers of baking soda around the house — but out of reach of your pet — to eliminate stale odors. These don’t emit harsh fumes like
chemical sprays or deodorizers. • Don’t use the self-cleaning option on your oven — the fumes can be seriously harmful to your pets. If you must use the self-cleaning function, open the windows and remove your pet from the home. • Open the windows and clean on a day where you can allow fresh air to breeze through and get rid of lung-burning fumes. But — especially if you live in a high-rise — ensure that your screens are in place and are functioning so that your pet doesn’t fall out. Even cats can be seriously injured by a fall from a window. • Pets can have allergies too, so if you’re stirring up a lot of dust, consider having your pet visit a friend for the night in order to let the dust settle. Short-nosed dog breeds like bulldogs and pugs can be particularly sensitive to respiratory irritants. • And don’t forget about the outdoor threats: when spring hits and you start to spend more time in the yard, be aware of pesticides and other lawn treatments. Make sure your pet isn’t out in them when they’re freshly applied or — better yet — don’t use harsh chemical pesticides. • DO keep up with flea, tick, and heartworm preventives, however, as the weather gets warmer and you spend more time outdoors. • Many types of mulch and fertilizer can be harmful, too: make sure not to let your pet lick or eat fertilizers, mulch, and other interesting-smelling lawn items. It’s just a good idea to keep them from eating anything outdoors because you never know if it’s poisonous or toxic. Cocoa mulch can be especially enticing — and especially dangerous — so avoid using it. Happy Spring, and happy cleaning! Ashley Denham Busse has worked parttime for Doggywalker.com since 2006. Doggywalker.com is a professional petsitting company located in Old Town Alexandria, celebrating more than 13 years of providing daily walks and customized inhome pet care. Visit www.doggywalker.com or email [email protected]. Old Town Crier
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CARIBBEAN CONNECTION JEFFrey R. Mccord
DONKEYS
IN PARADISE
A
ssateague Island National Seashore, the 37 mile long pristine Atlantic barrier island straddling Virginia and Maryland, boasts world famous wild ponies. Fifteen hundred miles south, the Virgin Island archipelago, mostly thinly developed mountainous tropical islands has it’s not so famous, but well-loved feral donkeys. Donkeys have been a key part of Virgin Island life for centuries. And, donkeys still have their day on the principle islands of St. Croix (US), St. Thomas (US), St. John (US), Tortola (UK), Virgin Gorda (UK) and Anegada (UK). About 300 of these “burros” roam the forests and yards of St. John, trimming roadside bushes, cutting grasses the old fashioned way and delighting tourists and residents alike. Anegada has also has a few
18 | April 2015
hundred donkeys among its 2,000 wild hoofed animals. As transportation, they had (and still have) advantages over internal combustion engines that go beyond the price of fuel. An older gentlemen from St. Thomas laughingly told me their donkey would bring his father home on Saturday nights when he’d had too much rum to find his own way. When he was a boy, every family had a donkey. It was the only way, other than sailing, to get around the often steep, rugged island trails. Sadly, donkeys are growing more scarce on some islands as jeeps and pick-up trucks replace their once dominant roles in personal and farm produce transport. Last August, a story in the British Virgin Islands Beacon, for instance, was headlined “Wanted: Donkeys.” The Beacon
quoted several native “belongers” who bemoaned the dearth of donkeys. Tortola farmer Moviene Fahie explained how she tamed them: “I just talk with him, treat him good, feed him good, bathe him, shampoo him,” she said. “And he come tame.” On nearby St. John, where twothirds of the island is the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park, the donkeys still thrive. But, they often need human friends. Ms. Dana Bartlett, owner of Carolina Corral in Coral Bay, is the islander most often called when a donkey is in trouble. Last Saturday night (March 16) was a rough one for Coral Bay males (“Jacks”). “The dominant Jack in our neighborhood fell through plywood boards into a well not far from Skinny CARIBBEAN CONNECTION > PAGE 19
Old Town Crier
CARIBBEAN CONNECTION FROM PAGE 18
Legs’ Bar and drowned,” Dana recalls. “It was a bad way to go; but, what happened next was a fight between two males over who’d be the new top male. One Jack bit off a testicle of the other and he was bleeding badly.” Dana was called by a local and she, in turn, called St. John veterinarian Laura Palminteri, owner of “Canines, Cats and Critters,” which has vet branch offices on St. Thomas and Tortola. “Dana had the Jack lying along the road and quieted down by the time I arrived at about 8 pm,” Dr. Laura recalled. “I looked him over and tended to him in the headlights of my car. He’d lost too much blood to give him general anesthetic, so I gave him shots of Novocain and completed the castration.” The now gelded Jack is recovering nicely in Carolina Coral, which has eight horses and nine donkeys, including two recent rescues. Aside from the Jack, a couple weeks ago someone called Dana about a female (“Jenny”) seen lying along Centerline road near St. John’s Carolina region, named after a large plantation during Danish days. Dana arrived in the early evening and found the Jenny who’d struggled up a nearby dead-end lane. “She’d lost a hoof — probably caught in a drainage grate — and was bleeding. I tranquilized her with a syringe and
k
then wrapped the foot tightly and spent the night with her right there because she couldn’t be moved. Next morning, a friend and I moved her to Carolina Coral in a pick-up truck,” said Bartlett. Dr. Laura, who stopped by to checkout the Jenny a day or two later, assures that “the hoof will grow back in three-to-six months.” She teamsup with Dana, as needed. “Generally, with feral donkeys, if Dana can touch them, I’ll do what needs to be done,” says the good doctor. Last year, Dana called the doctor about a young donkey who’d been hit by a car, which resulted in a broken shin bone. “I called a friend, an equine specialist at the University of Pennsylvania, and decided to operate,” Dr. Laura recalled. “I put pins in the fracture secured by an external fixation device.” The youngster took about three months to recover at Carolina Corral. Dr. Laura, who has lived on St. John for 17 years, says Dana Bartlett deserves a lot of thanks and support for her rescue work. Among other community services, each year Dana drives Santa Claus on a donkey cart to an island Christmas bazaar and festival. Dana, who grew up on an Ohio dairy farm and learned even more about animal husbandry during ten years in the local 4-H club, came to St. John in 1993. “The Carolina Corral began with two native donkeys out of the wild
Ann Street Gardens
y
ey west getawa
that I tamed,” Dana says. “Donkeys have been running free here since plantation days. They were still used regularly until the 1970s for hauling water, wood and charcoal and for taking local children to school.” For tourists and others, Dana provides horseback trail rides and donkey cart tours of St. John’s mostly wild and unspoiled Coral Bay region. While no one knows for sure how the equally lovable, but wild, Assateague Island ponies came to live on that East Coast barrier island, we know how the donkeys arrived in the Caribbean. They came during Columbus’ second voyage to the New World (1493 to 1496) when he discovered and named the Virgin Islands and founded what would become the city of Santo Domingo on Hispaniola. Four Jacks and two Jennies were brought ashore in Hispaniola so they could mate and produce larger, stronger mules for work. Through recent academic genetic research, we also know our Caribbean species is a direct descendant of the world’s first domesticated donkey herds in ancient Nubia (now southern Egypt, northern Sudan). Since they evolved in a hot desert climate, donkeys are well adapted for Central and South America where today about 20 percent (8 million) of the world’s donkeys live. While the wild ponies of Assateague Island became famous
through the classic “Misty of Chincoteague” children’s novel, West Indian donkeys have a place in North American children’s hearts as well. “Tingalayo” may be the most widely known Caribbean children’s song in the U.S. Here are a few of the lyrics: My donkey walk. My donkey talk. My donkey eat with a knife and fork. Chorus: Tinagayo, Come little donkey come. Tinagayo, Come little donkey come. My donkey laugh. My donkey sing. My donkey wearin’ a diamond ring. Repeat chorus. Jeffrey R. McCord is a free-lance journalist and media relations consultant who has called Northern Virginia his home for more than 20 years. The author of “Undocumented Visitors in a Pirate Sea,” a quarterfinalist in the 2014 Amazon Breakthrough Novel contest, Mr. McCord’s articles on international economics and consumer protection have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Gannett newspapers and Truthout.org, among other publications. He now divides his time between Virginia and St. John, USVI
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April 2015 | 19
ROAD TRIP BOB TAGERT & Lani Gering
THE MARITIME REPUBLIC OF EASTPORT MARYLAND MRE
20 | April 2015
W
e all know about Annapolis, Maryland. Great restaurants, unique shops, the Naval Academy, and sailboats everywhere…after all, Annapolis is considered America’s Sailing Capital. Spa Creek is one of the borders of Annapolis and on the other side is the community of Eastport. A bustling part of Annapolis today, but 20 years ago Eastport was more of an after thought. There were only a couple of watering holes with Davis Pub and Marmadukes being most poplar. Today Marmadukes has been replaced by Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse while Davis Pub remains true to its’ roots. Eastport is all about being on the water. The peninsula is surrounded on three sides by water. The farming community began to give way to streets and houses began to spring up in the 1800’s. The streets led to easier access for the watermen to the creeks. As the maritime industry began to grow, boat builders and sail makers moved to Eastport and sailors followed. Where the Charthouse Restaurant sits is the former site where the iconic Trumpy boats were built. In 1925, Trumpy built the Sequoia at the Camden, New Jersey yard, which would later serve as the Presidential yacht between 1933 and 1977. In 1947 the Trumpy yard was relocated to Eastport. In 1998, the Maryland State Highway Administration temporarily shutdown the bridge from Annapolis to Eastport for needed repairs. Instead of whining about the loss of traffic and customers, a few of the locals got together over a few beers and formed the Maritime Republic of Eastport. The day the bridge was officially closed, the MRE had enlisted a few hundred reenactors complete with artillery and fired on Annapolis. The group then retreated to Leon’s barbershop where officials of MRE were elected and more beer was consumed. We are proud to be charter members of the MRE as “Ambassadors to the Commonwealth.” The MRE flag features two retrievers, a heron and a crab. They continue to sponsor many fundraisers, including the Old Town Crier
highly anticipated “Slaughter Across the Water,” an annual tug of war pitting Eastport groups against the folks across Spa Creek. The MRE also began the annual burning of the socks to celebrate the spring equinox and begins the sailing season. “We like it this way” is our motto. And we do. The goal was to foster a spirit of independence and merriment in a manner befitting the character of Eastport and at the same time, to celebrate Eastport’s proud heritage and quality of life. To learn more about the MRE, go to their website at www. themre.org. These creative folks took what might have been a huge disaster and turned it into an economic boom, and they are still active today. We spent the night at a friends condo on Spa Creek but there are some very cute B&B’s in Eastport as well as the big chain hotels the likes Old Town Crier
of Marriot, etc. in Annapolis that are willing to provide you with shelter. While Eastport is only 45 minutes away from Old Town Alexandria, staying overnight gave us the opportunity to experience some nightlife without having to consider a drive back to Alexandria after our adult beverage consumption. This is the way to do it! You don’t get the whole Eastport experience in just a day trip. We started out at one of the oldest or maybe even “the” oldest bars in Eastport/Annapolis — the infamous Davis Pub. We usually order a crab cake sandwich here but opted for the steamed shrimp “Balmore” style along with an ice cold Natty Bo. (see photo) This was probably the best thing that has come down the pike in a long time. This is a must stop during your trip since you get to rub elbows with the
locals — they are a very colorful bunch! We then met up with old friends at the Eastport Yacht Club just to catch up. One of those friends was Kevin Brooks of Eastport Oyster Boy fame and major MRE proponent and citizen. Was great to see him and get the latest news about Eastport’s premier band. We have featured them in our Bay section several times over the years. If you have a chance to see them perform while you are there, do it. We rounded out our evening with appetizers and cocktails at the newest place in town, the Blackwall Hitch. This is the forerunner to the Blackwall Hitch that will soon open in the old Torpedo Factory Food Pavilion space. Two of the band members from a local favorite “The Cheaters” entertained the crowd with a great range of music. The kind that makes you want to dance….and we did. Be sure to make this a stop.
The trip to the MRE wouldn’t be complete without a night cap at the Boatyard Bar & Grill. This is the place in town where you can meet up and “relax with local sailors, fisherman and all lovers of the Chesapeake”! There are also other things to see and do besides eat and drink. They have a very fun market and café in the Leeward Market, the Annapolis Maritime Museum is located in Eastport as well as the Annapolis Maritime Antique store. There are small art galleries, and other fabulous restaurants to frequent but we only had so much time. You will note we didn’t provide street addresses since you can pretty much figure it all out once you are in Eastport. All it takes is a drive across the Spa Creek Bridge from Annapolis. That and the fact that everyone has that handy GPS or the MapQuest app on your iPhone. Make a Road Trip to the MRE a priority this year! April 2015 | 21
FROM THE BAY…
it’s spring boat show time on the bay!
Bay Bridge Boat Show April 17-19 Friday, April 17 10am - 6pm Saturday, April 18 10am - 6pm Sunday, April 19 10am - 5pm Adult One Day $12 Adult Two Day Combo $19 Children 12 & under FREE This show has secured commitments from more than 200 powerboats! The boat list on the Annapolis Boat Shows website includes new and brokerage boats, almost all available for immediate sale. Demo boat rides, sponsored by PropTalk, will allow boat show goers to ‘try before they buy.’ “Each year as the show concludes, boat buyers complete their boat deals and are on the bay the next day,” said the show’s general manager Paul Jacobs. “What could be better than a 22 | April 2015
summer on the Chesapeake in your new powerboat purchased and outfitted at the Bay Bridge Boat Show?” Boats by leading powerboat manufacturers representing every imaginable size and style, including Center Consoles; Trawlers; Express Cruisers; Down East Cruisers; Pontoon Boats; Luxury Offshore Cruisers; Jet Skis & Jet Boats; Ski Boats; Bowriders; Bass Boats; Inflatables, Kayaks, SUPs and Canoes. Lots of fun activities will provide something for everyone, including: Free Opening Day BBQ Bash Sponsored by Trident Funding Corporation and Black Dog Propellers featuring: Hemingway’s Carolina-style Barbecue Buffet; Live entertainment by the popular rock band, A Classic Case; Pool-side cash bar serving local craft beers including Dogfish Head Ale and Fin City Brewing; Gourmet chocolates courtesy of Parfections Chocolate; and Local craft brewers on-
hand to discuss their specialty brews. The BBQ Bash begins at 5pm and is free to all ticket holders, exhibitors, and staff. Lifetime Anglers Offer Fly Fishing & Casting Lessons and Demonstrate How to Build a Custom Rod: Joe Cap and Bill O’Brien of Shore Tackle and Custom Rods will illustrate fly fishing techniques, demonstrate how to cast a spinning rod, and explain the value of custom-built rods. Eastern Shore Style Grilled Fish Cooking Demonstration: Brandon Gentry, Exec. Chef of Hemingway’s will prepare mouth-watering whole grilled fresh Chesapeake Bay rockfish fillets. Daily at 3:00 pm Focus on Fishermen: An impressive selection of new fishing boats, the latest center consoles, and affordable brokerage boats for immediate sale. Tackle shop discounts include fishing gear and accessories. Stand Up Paddleboard: Discover the newest fitness craze — SUP. Watch
Capital SUP perform daily dockside demos of the “gym on the water.” Learn more about night paddling with LED lights illuminating the water from underneath — unlike anything you’ve experienced before! Restored Historic Wooden Boats: See wooden classics, vintage race boats, and other antique boats displayed by Chesapeake Antique Classic Boat Society. Visit the website to see more than $3000 in valuable door prizes donated by sponsors and exhibitors. There is on-site parking: $3 donation to Kent Island High School Athletic Boosters. Food and drink will be available at the Pool Bar and an expanded food court and there will be a children’s area with face painting and a Moon Bounce. Free seminars provided by Chesapeake Bay Magazine and Annapolis School of Seamanship. The Bay Bridge Boat Show takes place in Stevensville, Md. FROM THE BAY > PAGE 26
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April 2015 | 23
…TO THE BLUE RIDGE JULIE REARDON
Vicky Van Mater’s tailgate of a few years ago. The Middleburg Hunt scarf is featured.
Hats On for Spring! Virginia Race Schedule Saturday, April 4 12:00 noon Old Dominion Hounds Point to Point Ben Venue Farm, Ben Venue 540-364-4573 540-636-1507 Sunday, April 12 12:30 pm Loudoun Hunt Point to Point Oatlands Plantation, Leesburg 540-338-4031 Saturday, April 18 1:30 pm Middleburg Spring Races Glenwood Park, Middleburg 540-687-6545 504-687-6595 Saturday, April 25 1:00 pm Foxfield Spring Races, Charlottesville 434-293-9501 foxfieldraces.com Sunday, April 26 1:00 pm Middleburg Hunt Point to Point Glenwood Park, Middleburg 540-687-6069 540-454-2991 Saturday, May 2 1:00 pm Virginia Gold Cup Races Great Meadow,The Plains 540-347-2612 vagoldcup.com
24 | April 2015
Anne Sittmann, Nick Greenwell and Brandy Greenwell. Brandy is wearing the hat that won the 2014 competition.
T
ime for hats! In the words of the classic Irving Berlin song, “In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it, you’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter parade.” But Easter bonnets and fancy hats aren’t just for Easter Sunday. There’ll be plenty of chances all month long to show off at the many spring race meets in the Hunt Country, from Old Dominion Hounds’ point to point on April 4 to the Middleburg Hunt point to point on Sunday, April 26. And then, of course, the First Saturday in May falls on the 2nd this year. For most horse fans this means Derby Day unless, of course, you live in Virginia, where it’s Gold Cup day. For the gentlemen, hats are also appropriate as are bow ties, even for those who rarely or
never wear them. Winter sank its talons deep into March, so several of the early point to points had to be postponed and/or rescheduled so April is a busy month with a race every weekend on the point to point circuit. Typically the dress is very casual at the early race meets, and hats tend to be those for warmth or rain protection, but with the spring weather, the dresses and hats come out. Dress should be appropriate to the weather conditions, especially footwear since the races, parking and tailgating areas are mostly farm fields. Some of our favorite meets are Old Dominion’s on April 4th this year in Rappahannock County, Loudoun Hunt meet at Oatlands on April 12,
and Middleburg Hunt on April 26th at Glenwood Park in Middleburg. Old Dominion’s races usually coincide with the peak of blooming redbuds and dogwoods in early April and the course at Ben Venue offers spectacular views of both the races and the Blue Ridge mountains. The meet at Oatlands will have a ladies sidesaddle race this year. Middleburg’s meet is held at Glenwood the week after the big sanctioned Middleburg Spring Races. Glenwood, a mile outside the town of Middleburg, is a grand old race course with stone grandstands under tall oaks and Middleburg’s races also offer prizes for the best hats, as well as a tailgate BLUE RIDGE > PAGE 25
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BLUE RIDGE FROM PAGE 24
competition. The competition is intense, according to one member, because everyone wants the hunt-theme embroidered linen tablecloth that’s offered as the prize for the winner. More information on upcoming meets is listed below. In case your Easter hat is dusty, outdated or you want something new this year for the races, a trip to the hunt country might be in order to score the perfect lid. Most of the tack shops carry them; this is horse country after all so some of the feed shops even carry them. Tri County Feeds in Marshall (tricountyfeeds.com) and Horse Country Saddlery in Warrenton(horsecountrylife. com) might have what you need. Both have a nice selection of hats for the races, both equestrian-themed and otherwise, and men might even find the perfect tie or hacking jacket amongst their selections. In Middleburg, Patty Milligan designs custom and vintage hats, even those to match your race day or party outfits at her business Forget Me Nots; call or text her at 571-218-5901. Old Town Crier
“Like our best friends’ home if our best friends were amazing chefs and knew exactly what we wanted before we asked.” Trip Advisor
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destination dining When you find yourself in wine & hunt country, one of these fine restaurants is near
Mountain trails, wineries and the Thornton River Grille. Perfect day.
photos: G. Busick Photography
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3710 Sperryville Pike | Sperryville, Va. thorntonrivergrille.com | 540.987.8185
FROM THE BAY FROM PG 22
The Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show April 24-26 Friday, April 24 Saturday, April 25 Sunday, April 26
10am - 6pm 10am - 6pm 10am - 5pm
Adult One Day $12 Adult Two Day Combo $19 Children12 & under FREE This in water show will feature nearly 80 sailboats available for immediate sale — new and brokerage — including catamarans, mono-hulls, racing boats, family cruisers, day sailors, yachts, and many more boat displays on land. Always a picturesque spring weekend in the charming historic seaport, this is the first opportunity of the year for experienced and novice sailors to shop for the latest in equipment, electronics, clothing, inflatables, boating accessories and gear of all kinds at the 100+ on-land nautical exhibits. 26 | February 2015
“This isn’t just any boat show,” said Paul Jacobs, president and general manager. “The Annapolis Spring Sailboat Show is a multifaceted maritime experience. There are boat tours, sailboat rides, sailing lessons, historic tours, Naval Academy tours, Maryland crab cakes, blue crabs, raw bars, craft beers, painkillers, and breathtaking views.” Lots of fun activities on land and on sailboats will provide something for everyone, including: Fun free sailing crewed by Annapolis Community Boating. No experience necessary and all ages welcome. Register at the show. On-Board Sailing Workshop sponsored by American Sailing Association and Beneteau. Instructors provided by Sailtime. Designed for the beginning sailor, this workshop takes place on a Beneteau First 22 sailboat and includes 30 minutes of dock-side sailing basics and 90-minutes of onwater sailing instruction. Pre-register at our website.
Cruisers University, a comprehensive cruising educational program, offers one- to four-day tuition packages covering cruising destinations, boat systems, navigation, procedures, and all things related to the cruising lifestyle. Pre-register at our website. The first-ever high school regatta, Annapolis Junior Keelboat Regatta, will race in the Annapolis Harbor and conclude at the docks of the sailboat show. Sailing teams will use the J-World Annapolis fleet of J/80’s and represent six regional high schools. They will compete for a traveling cup, designed by Weems and Plath. Preliminaries and finals take place on April 25th and 26th. Annapolis Sailing Cruises will take visitors aboard the 74-foot Schooner Woodwind. Additional fee. Free opening day networking celebration includes complimentary hors d’oeuvres catered by Paladar Latin Kitchen, live entertainment, cash bar, and Foulest Foulies Contest sponsored
by SpinSheet. Come for the boats and stay for the party. All are welcome. The event begins at 6pm and is open to all sailboat show ticket holders, exhibitors, and staff. Throughout the sailboat show Paladar Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar will provide free food and rum drink tastings in Susan Campbell Park. Discover the newest fitness craze — Stand Up Paddleboard or SUP. Watch Capital SUP perform daily dockside demos of the “gym on the water.” Learn more about night paddling with LED lights illuminating the water from underneath. The show takes at City Dock in Annapolis, Md. There will be valuable door prizes donated by sponsors and exhibits given out throughout the show. For full details on both shows, check out the website at AnnapolisBoatShows.com.
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• Gifts • 18th Century Accessories • Floral Arranging Components • Spectacular Furniture Line Culpeper’s Finest Steak & Seafood Restaurant 110 E. Cameron Street • Historic Culpeper, Va. 540.825.4444 • piedmontsteakhouse.com
Old Town Crier
201 E. Davis Street Old Town Culpeper 540.825.9178 clarkehardware.com
302 East Davis Street Culpeper, Virginia 22701 540.317.5702
S & BARL P O E H
*
all sales final no refunds or exchanges
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Clarke Hardware
liquidation sale! everything must go if you need it, we have it!
174 E. Davis Street, Culpeper, VA 22701 540.829.WINE • culpeperwines.com • facebook.com/VINOSITY Tue-Thu 10a-6p • Friday 10a-8p • Saturday 10a-6p • Sunday Noon-5p
Serving FreSh SeaFood daily live entertainment every Weekend
HOURS 10a - 5p Tue-Sat
149 East Davis Street • 540-825-7694 designerschoice4you.com
Indulge your curiosity
L P E P E R, V A
GET YOUR TICKETS ONLINE AT: April 2015 | 27
540.825.4416 | facebook.com/gnarlyhops
BEHIND THE BAR lani gering
photo: Bob Tagert
ALEX TAYLOR IS BEHIND THE BAR AT HANK’S OYSTER BAR 1026 KING STREET OLD TOWN ALEXANDRIA 703-739-HANK (4265) HANKSOYSTERBAR.COM
Alex is serving "I'm on a Boat," with house-made Falernum style rum, pineapple, lime and Captain Morgan Black Float He is behind the barSunday 2 pm – close, Monday Lunch/Dinner, and Tuesday-Thursday Lunch.
Alex Taylor How did you get started in the bartending business? I had a pretty amazing childhood being an embassy brat and living overseas for a good portion of my youth. I recall being 16, living in Geneva, Switzerland, working the embassy holiday party with the other high school riff-raff. I think we teenagers drank more Bacardi and Cokes than we served, by far. Let’s just say that none of our parents reacted very well to our dispositions. Fast forward: I had just graduated the University of Virginia with a history degree and had already spent some time in the restaurant industry during college. As I attempted to plot my life’s path, I had the opportunity to tend bar at Farmington Country Club. Learning on the job, I was provided my first glimpse of how dynamic flavor combinations could be generated through cocktail creation. Of course, what we now refer to as “classic cocktails” were just cocktails at the country club. All in all, I believe the consistent learning process and creative outlet (not just in making drinks, but also guest interaction) were my main motivating factors that kept me grounded in the restaurant
industry. I’ve been fortunate to continue learning something new every day and have learned from many talented individuals throughout my 17 year tenure in the industry; I can only hope to impart a fraction of all that I’ve experienced to the next crop of industry people. Biggest bartender pet peeve? It seems like an easy task to rattle off pet peeves: Rude guests, unreasonable requests, providing cell phone charging services, being a coat check, providing extra strong cocktails, dealing with overly intoxicated guests, etc. The fact of the matter is that these are all integral aspects of being a booze slinger, regardless of the style of bar. You take the good with the bad. I try to roll with the punches because focusing on one pet peeve is likely to slow me down and affect service overall. Shrug it off and move on to the next guest and I’ll be smiling and laughing again. What is the most clever line anyone has ever used to get you to give them a free drink? Clever lines? Doing anything for a free drink? These things have become BEHIND THE BAR > PAGE 29
This is where your new favorite whiskey comes from. Visit us in Sperryville. Tours daily. www.copperfox.biz
28 | April 2015
Old Town Crier
Liberty Join us in the beginning of APRIL for the re-opening of our outside patio Good Food dining area! & Drink for All!
Cheer
112 King St., Old Town Alexandria
703.739.1124
www.danieloconnells.com
BEHIND THE BAR FROM PAGE 28
like background music for me: I acknowledge their presence and keep moving. Guests should come in often, be friendly, tip fairly, establish a rapport with us and certainly not ask for a free drink. What is the best/worst pickup line you have overheard at the bar? I remember working in a large, sports-bar environment and the bar was completely packed. A guy took the last chicken wing off of a girl’s plate sitting at the bar. He then asked for her number so he could buy her dinner to make up for eating her last wing. Needless to say, she didn’t think it was cute; her response certainly wasn’t printable material. Tell us an interesting encounter you have had with a customer. I believe each guest interaction has the potential to be an interesting encounter. The random, esoteric conversations that border on the ludicrous are one of the many reasons why I’m in this amazing profession. While I’ve had the opportunity to serve famous athletes, actors, and comedians, that doesn’t mean those experiences were interesting. However, there was an instance where I was advising a fellow bartender to watch a particular guest as he was downing double shots of Jägermeister; the other bartender recognized the guest as a former cast member of Saturday Night Live. Turned out, he was a really funny guy, down-to-earth, and handled his Jäger shots like a pro.
Now open for BRUNCH Saturdays & Sundays at 10AM 121 South Union Street, Old Town Alexandria 703.548.1785 unionstreetpublichouse.com
If you could sit down and have a drink with anyone in the world, past or present who would that be? Off the top, I’d say the comedian Dave Attell. He had a great show on Comedy Central named “Insomniac” where he would visit different cities and frequent local bars. By the end of the show, after the consumption of many, many drinks, there was always a sense of satisfaction of having a great time, meeting new people, and seeing new places. So I’d love the opportunity to bring back the show one-more time as Dave Attell’s co-host. I’ll even pick up the first round. If you would like to see your favorite bartender featured here, send contact information to [email protected]. Old Town Crier
April 2015 | 29
Tacos to the South, Pizza to the North!
T
his month we took a little To the South different approach to Dining Out. District Taco (DT) — of the popular Instead of taking on a “white food truck fame — opened in the table cloth” approach we decided south end of Old Town on Washington to introduce a couple of new Street (former Chicken Out space) and places that have good are serving some of the eats and good prices in best Mexican food in a casual atmosphere. District Taco the area. While several Both restaurants have 701 South Washington Street other restaurants boast migrated to Old Town 571-386-1400 serving “Mexican” from across the 14th Mon – Sun: 7 am – 10 pm food, I have found that Street Bridge in DC. Districttaco.com it usually is a mix of Lost Dog Café and all sorts of south of the District Taco both border cuisines. This opened their doors in isn’t true of District the last few months and are off on a Taco, they serve traditional Yucatan good run. style food. I have dined “in” and DINING OUT > PAGE 33
30 | April 2015
Old Town Crier
G GERANIO RISTORANTE Redefining Italian Cuisine in Old Town Alexandria Dinner Entrees from $14 722 King Street Old Town Alexandria 703.548.0088 www.geranio.net
“The Finest Lebanese Cuisine” –Washington Post, 2001 Family Owned & Operated Come and Enjoy a Cozy Candlelit Dinner Carry-Out Available • Free Delivery Open 7 Days for Lunch & Dinner
719 King St. Old Town Alexandria 703.684.9194 • thepitahouse.com
dine out!
®
SUNDAY BRUNCH 10 AM-3 PM • ONLY $9.95 So many delicious choices
Pancakes with Sausage Irish Country Breakfast Three Egg Omelette Eggs Benedict Homemade Quiche French Toast Hamburger Platter STEak & Egg SPECIal only $10.95 Old Town Crier
713 King Street Old Town Alexandria
703.548.1717 murphyspub.com
April 2015 | 31
Dining Guide american BILBO BAGGINS 208 Queen St. 703-683-0300 BITTERSWEET 823 King Street 703-549-2708 CARLYLE CLUB 411 John Carlyle St. 703-549-8957 CHADWICKS 203 Strand St. 703-836-4442 chadwicksrestaurants.com An Old Town tradition since 1979 and an original Georgetown pub and restaurant since 1967. CHART HOUSE One Cameron St. 703-684-5080 CITY KITCHEN 330 South Pickett St. 703-685-9172 fatcitykitchen.com USA City inspired menu choices that bring together traditional American and global cuisine with their own personal touch. Casual dress. $30 and under. Lots of free parking. Open 7 days a week with brunch on Sat & Sun 11-3. AMEX, Discover, MasterCard, Visa COLUMBIA FIREHOUSE 109 S. St. Asaph St. 703-683-1776 DUTCHS GRILL (Holiday Inn) 2460 Eisenhower Ave. Alexandria, VA 703-960-3400 THE GRILL RESTAURANT/ PIANO BAR AT MORRISON HOUSE 116 S. Alfred St. 703-838-8000 EVENING STAR CAFÉ 2000 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-549-5051 FAST EDDIES BILLIARD CAFE 6220 Richmond Hwy. 703-660-9444 FIN & HOOF 801 N. Saint Asaph St. 703-836-4700 FINN & PORTER AT MARK CENTER 5000 Seminary Rd. 703-379-2346 FIRE FLIES 1501 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-548-7200 FLAT IRON STEAK & SALOON 808 King St. 703-299-0777 FOSTERS GRILLE 2004 Eisenhower Ave. 703-725-1342 GADSBYS TAVERN 138 N. Royal St. 703-548-1288 HARD TIMES CAFE 1404 King St. 703-837-0050
32 | April 2015
HUNTING CREEK STATION 1106 King St. 703-836-5126
PORK BARREL BBQ 2312 Mount Vernon Ave. 703-822-5699
RED MEI 602 King St. 703-837-0094
INDIGO LANDING #1 Marina Dr. Washington Sailing Marina 703-548-0001
RAILSTOP GASTROPUB 901 N. Fairfax St. 703-683-8793
THAILAND ROYAL 801 N. Fairfax St. 703 535-6622
JACKS PLACE 222 North Lee St. 703-684-0372
RAMPARTS 1700 Fern St. 703-998-6616 rampartstavern.com
TOKYO JAPANESE STEAKHOUSE 66 Canal Center Plaza 703-683-8878
JACKSON 20 480 King St. 703-842-2790
REYNOLDS STREET CAFÉ 34 S. Reynolds St. 703-751-0830
JOE THEISMANNS 1800 Diagonal Rd. 703-739-0777
RIVER BEND BISTRO 7966 Fort Hunt Rd. Hollin Hall Shopping Center 703-347-7545
KING STREET BLUES 112 N. St. Asaph St. 703-836-8800 LAPORTAS 1600 Duke St. 703-683-6313 LIGHT HORSE RESTAURANT 715 King St. 703-549-0533 LOST DOG CAFE 808 North Henry St. 571-970-6511 MACKIE’S BAR AND GRILL 907 King St. 703-684-3288 MAJESTIC CAFÉ 911 King St. 703-837-9117 MANCINIS 1508 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-838-FOOD Mason Social 728 Henry Street Old Town Alexandria 703-548-8800 mason-social.com MONROES AMERICAN TRATTORIA 1603 Commonwealth Ave. 703-548-5792 MOUNT VERNON INN Mount Vernon, Va 703-780-0011 MURPHYS IRISH PUB 713 King St. 703-548-1717 murphyspub.com Old-world Irish pub featuring a roaring fireplace, serving a variety of imported, domestic and non-alcoholic beers in a friendly atmosphere. Serving robust American-Irish meals at fair prices. Favorites include fish and chips and Irish stew. Irish-style entertainment nightly. NICKELLS AND SCHIFFLER 1028 King St. 703-684-5922 NINAS DANDY Potomac Party Cruises Zero Prince St. 703-683-6076 dandydinnerboat.com OCONNELLS RESTAURANT & BAR 112 King St. 703-739-1124 danieloconnellsrestaurant.com OVERWOOD 220 North Lee St. 703-535-3340
ROCK IT GRILL 1319 King St. 703-739-2274
SHOOTER MCGEES 5239 Duke St. 703-751-9266 SOCIETY FAIR 277 S. Washington St. 703-683-3247 SOUTHSIDE 815 815 S. Washington St. 703-836-6222 T.J. STONES GRILL HOUSE & TAP ROOM 608 Montgomery St. 703-548-1004 tjstones.com American cuisine with libations from around the world. Bar specials Mon-Fri, 4-7 PM. Brunch served Sat & Sun. TRADEMARK 2800 Jamieson Ave. 703-253-8640 TRADITIONS (Holiday Inn) 625 First St. 703-548-6300 UNION STREET PUBLIC HOUSE 121 South Union St. 703-548-1785 unionstreetpublichouse.com Old Towns favorite neighborhood tap and grill. Distinct southern style menu, fine steaks, fresh seafood. Sunday brunch, private parties, happy hour. VERMILLION 1120 King St. 703-684-9669
THE WAREHOUSE BAR & GRILL 214 King St. 703-683-6868 asian
MAI THAI 9 King St. 703-548-0600
KAI ZEN TAVERN 1901 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-836-1212
BRABO by Robert Weidmaier 1600 King St. 703-894-3440 BRABO Tasting Room 1600 King St. 703-894-5252 RESTAURANT EVE 110 S. Pitt St. 703-706-0450 TEMPO 4231 Duke St. 703-370-7900 temporestaurant.com Northern Italian, French provincial and American cuisine featuring fresh seafood, meats and pasta served in a contemporary, romantic atmosphere. CEDAR KNOLL INN GW Parkway at Lucia Ln. 703-799-1501 FRENCH BASTILLE 606 N. Fayette St. 703-519-3776 bastillerestaurant.com LE REFUGE 127 N. Washington St. 703-548-4661 FONTAINES CAFFE & CREPERIE 119 S. Royal St. 703-535-8151 LA MADELEINE 500 King St. 703-729-2854 TWO NINETEEN RESTAURANT 219 King St. 703-549-1141
VIRTUE GRAIN & FEED 106 South Union St. 571-970-3669
MALAYA 1019 King St. 703-519-3710
Sang Jun Thai 300 King Street 571-312-3377
CONTINENTAL
SAMUEL BECKETTS IRISH GASTRO PUB 2800 S. Randolph St. Villages of Shirlington 703-379-0122
ASIAN BISTRO 809 King St. 703-836-1515
Caphe Banh Mi Vietnamese 407 Cameron St. 703-549-0800
BISTRO ROYALE 1201 N. Royal St. 703-519-9110 bistroroyal.com YVES BISTRO 235 Swamp Fox Rd. In the Hoffman Center 703-329-1010 CHEZ ANDREE 10 East Glebe Rd. 703-836-1404 LA BERGERIE 218 N. Lee St. 703-683-1007 labergerie.com
ITALIAN BERTUCCIS 725 King St. 703-548-8500 BUGSYS PIZZA RESTAURANT 111 King St. 703-683-0313 bugsyspizza.com FACCIA LUNA 823 S. Washington St. 703-838-5998 GERANIO RISTORANTE 722 King St. 703-548-0088 geranio.net Still Old Towns highest-rated Italian restaurant (Zagat). Discerning Old Towners flock here for refined cuisine in this comfortable, yet sophisticated restaurant. With entrees from $14, there is no reason not to enjoy a selection from their Wine Spectator award-winning list, while being attended by the friendly staff of seasoned professionals. Reservations recommended and casual attire welcomed.
PITA HOUSE 719 King St. 703-684-9194 thepitahouse.com Family owned and operated; carry out available and free delivery. DELIAS MEDITERRANEAN GRILL 209 Swamp Fox Rd. Alexandria, VA 703-329-0006 BISTRO DU SOLEIL 1116 King St. 571-312-2754 SEAFOOD Hanks Oyster Bar 1026 King St. 703-739-HANK RTS RESTAURANT 3804 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-684-6010
IL PORTO RESTAURANT 121 King St. 703-836-8833
FISH MARKET-OLD TOWN 105 King St. 703-836-5676 fishmarketoldva.com Internationally known and locally owned! We serve shrimps, a few crabs, tall people and lots of nice people, too! Live music and lively food!
LA STRADA 1905 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-548-2592
ERNIES ORGINIAL CRABHOUSE 1743 King St. 703-836-0046
SAPORE DITALIA RISTORANTE & PIZZERIA 1310 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-683-9680
THE WHARF 119 King St. 703-836-2834 wharfrestaurant.com "Its All About the Seafood," traditional and creative coastal cuisine.
LANDINI BROTHERS 115 King St. 703-836-8404 landinibrothers.com Elegant, classical Italian cuisine served in a lovely historical setting. Fresh veal, homemade pastas, and fresh fish are some of the daily choices. An extensive list of wines and champagnes served in a sophisticated and friendly atmosphere. OLD CHICAGO PIZZERIA 2245 Huntington Ave. 703-960-1086 PARADISO 124 King St. 703-837-1245 PINES OF FLORENCE 1300 King St. 703-549-1796 RED ROCKS FIREBRICK PIZZA 904 King St. 703-717-9873 TRATTORIA DA FRANCO 305 S. Washington St. 703-548-9338 VILLA DESTE 600 Montgomery St. 703-549-9477 MEDITERRANEAN LA TASCA 607 King St. 703-299-9810 “Spring into Spain and Feast Like a King.” Offering unlimited tapas at lunch and dinner. Choice of dessert included. Lunch 11:30-4:30 for $20.07; dinner 4:30-close for $30.07. Eat a little, drink a little, have a lot of fun!
FLYING FISH 815 King St. 703-600-FISH flyingfishdc.com FISH MARKET-CLINTON 7611Old Branch Ave. Clinton, MD 301-599-7900 INDIAN DISHES OF INDIA 1510A Bellview Blvd. 703-660-6085 MEXICAN LATIN SOUTHWESTERN AUSTIN GRILL 801 King St. 703-684-8969 LOS TIOS GRILL 2615 Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-299-9290 LOS TOLTECOS 4111 Duke St. 703-823-1167 TAQUERIA POBLANO 2400-B Mt. Vernon Ave. 703-548-TACO (8226) CASA FELIPE 835 N. Royal St. 703-535-7868 TRES HERMANAS 4580 Duke St. 703-370-3800
TAVERNA CRETEKOU 818 King St. 703-548-8688 tavernacretekou.com
Old Town Crier
DINING OUT FROM PG 30
carried “out” and everything has exceeded my expectations. They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words” and I am sure you will agree from the photos accompanying this write up. The condiments alone are impressive. The food screams FRESH and the flavors are amazing. You can tell that the fare is made fresh every day. The price is right as well – not anything over $8 in this place. My favorite is the 3 taco combinations but my friend is partial to the Burrito Mojado (black beans, rice, cheese, Salsa de Chile, sour cream and your choice of protein and toppings). I haven’t tried the breakfast fare yet but I can only imagine that consuming a taco, burrito or the huevos rancheros will definitely be a great start to your day. They don’t serve beer, wine or cocktails but they have a fabulous choice of specialty sodas in over 10 flavors as well as the normal colas, etc. My favorite is black cherry! If you haven’t had the chance to dine here, put it on your bucket list. As they say at DT, “Orale!” which roughly translates to “Right On!”
April Brings EASTER and a
New Spring Menu Make your reservations now for Lunch, Brunch or Dinner
Fine Wines, Fine Dining, Casual Style
Wine Tastings every Saturday 2 - 4 pm 7966 Fort Hunt Road (In the Hollin Hall Shopping Center)
Reservations: 703-347-7545
RiverBendBistro.com Plenty of FREE parking
To the North
The Lost Dog Café — of Gourmet Pizza Deli fame in Arlington — opened in the north end of town on Henry Street a month or so ago. They are located on the street level of the new Belle Pre apartment building right on the corner Henry and Belle Pre Way. This store is the fifth location to open in the metro area. I never knew what the Lost Dog was all about until they opened here in Old Town but several of my foodie friends who are Lost Dog Café 808 North Henry St. 571-970-6511 Lostdogcafe.com
pizza and sandwich experts had been waxing poetic about it when we heard they were coming to town. The menu boasts 53 (ask why the number 49 is left off the menu when you stop in) sandwiches alone. All of which run in the $8.50$9.50 price range. The menu is pretty extensive. I ordered the “Grownup Grilled Cheese” and Bob had the “El Bandito.” Both are tagged as favorites on the menu and both were very tasty
Great Steaks
Late Night Menu Available Every Night
DINING OUT > PAGE 35
April 2015 | 33
CHEF’S SPECIAL CHESTER SIMPSON
Joseph Lennon JOSEPH LENNON IS THE CHEF AT MASON SOCIAL 728 NORTH HENRY street old town ALEXANDRIA 703-548-8800 mason-social.com
Chef Lennon moved to Virginia in 2008, and has worked at, in chronological order: Vermilion, Columbia Firehouse, The Grille at Morrison House, Urbana and Bourbon Steak and now Mason. When did you first become interested in cooking and why did you decide to pursue a culinary career? I started cooking after a car accident during my freshman year of college left me without transportation to get to my job at a farm in southeast Penn. I was on the grill station when the bus pulled up, about three months into my tenure. It was busy, it was scary, it was fast, and then four hours later, it was over. I was hooked. I started reading cookbooks in history class, cooking in my free time and spent all summer in a tiny kitchen working on my knife and saute skills.
photo: ©2015 Chester Simpson
Who have been the biggest inspirations of your career? Chef Dan Profita was one of the first chefs I worked for that really taught me the value of a work ethic, cleanliness, and mise en place. He was a great inspiration to me very early in my career. Since moving to the DC metro area, John Critchley has been a guiding light as I transitioned from line cook to running a kitchen. He taught me how to manage numbers and how to manage people individually. Dennis Marron and Tony Chittum also inspired me to help my kitchen staff excel to the height of their capabilities because it truly elevates the guest experience when every member
of the kitchen and service staff are well-trained and knowledgeable. What dish on your menu are you curious to see how it is received by your guests? I want to get more raw seafood preparations, raw beef, and some housemade charcuterie on the menu. I’m confident that diners in the Parker-Gray neighborhood will enjoy those items, but I’m curious to see how popular they will be compared to our bar menu. What do you do to insure the quality of the food going out of the kitchen? We use tasting spoons in the kitchen to taste all of the food we serve. I am able to taste about half of all the food that goes out of the kitchen, and we demo new dishes to the service staff on a regular basis to get their feedback and a different perspective. If any chef in the world could prepare you a meal, who would it, be? I would love to eat at one of Thomas Keller’s restaurants. I think I have a trip to Chicago planned for the summer to eat at Alinea, and that should be great. DC has such an awesome dining scene that I would be comfortable eating at a few dozen spots in the city, but time off is a bit of a factor right now. What is your guilty food pleasure? IHOP! If you would like to see your favorite chef featured in this space, send contact information to chester@chestersimpson. com.
(L to R) Roast Celery Root Hummus, Lamb Shank, Mac & Cheese, and Marrow Burger.
34 | April 2015
HOB-CrierAd-150325.pdf
DINING OUT FROM PG 33
and very filling. There are 31 (if I counted correctly) pizzas to choose from and you have the option to “build your own.” Prices range from $10.95 to $21.95 depending on size and ingredients. They also have a nice selection of appetizers, soups, salads, pastas, milk shakes, floats and desserts. Check the menu out online! On our first foray into the café we shared an appetizer and had a few glasses of wine on our way to another restaurant opening. We had a bit more time when we had our sandwiches and beer so got to know a little more about their mission. Lost Dog is well known as a place to get great food at a great price, and according to their mission statement, the café also serves up a hefty slice of compassion with each pizza. Since 2001, Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation has saved the lives of over 18,000 dogs and cats, helping them connect with loving families and forever homes. Each location donates portions of sales proceeds to the rescue effort. The Old Town location donates the proceeds from several of their colorful t-shirts. Being animal lovers, this was a nice thing to know. In addition to being good guys and serving good food, they also do a booming carry out business. The carry out section of the store has a vast selection of craft beer and 41 varieties of wine. Both beer and wine are available to purchase cold. This would be a great way to enjoy one of their gourmet pizzas without having to get dolled up to dine in, something I am anxiously waiting to do. I love good pizza at a good price and eating it while lounging in my sweats at home sounds like the thing to do. As with District Taco, add Lost Dog to your bucket list if you haven’t already been.
1
Fresh Fish Specialties • Prime Rib & Steaks Hot Chocolate Lava Cake
3-Courses for $39
Monday & Tuesday Nights Two Course Dinner with Bottle of Wine for Two $39.95
Sunday - Thursday $4 - $7 Bar Bites Monday - Friday • 4:30pm - 6:30pm
Brunch • Lunch • Dinner One Cameron St. • Alexandria (703) 684-5080 chart-house.com
GRAB a bite! Chez Andrée Restaurant Français & Bar 10 East Glebe Road Alexandria, Virginia 703.836.1404 chezandree.com
Old Town Crier
GRAPEVINE
Virginia Wine 101 The Land of Virginia
The landscape and climate of Virginia offers countless choice sites for vineyards. Each of the state’s five main land regions — the Appalachian Plateau, the Appalachian Ridge and Valley Region, the Blue Ridge, the Piedmont, and the Atlantic Coastal Plain — boasts vineyards and wineries. Granite-based soils in western areas of the state and sandy loam soil in the eastern both offer prime grape-growing ground. And good drainage can be found on all landscapes at all elevations. Virginia’s five distinct climate regions — the Tidewater, Piedmont, Northern Virginia, Western Mountain and Southwestern Mountain — provide a temperate climate that’s not too hot or cold for extended periods. Virginia’s varying weather patterns see the mountainous southwest and Shenandoah Valley average a 160-day growing season; and east of the Blue Ridge, an average of 200 days. Six of the United States’ 187 American Viticultural Areas, or AVAs — grape-growing regions defined by geographic features that influence the wines they produce — are in Virginia: Eastern Shore, Monticello Northern Neck, North Fork of Roanoke, Rocky Knob, and Shenandoah Valley. Given Virginia’s preponderance of wellsituated grape-growing sites with ideal soil conditions, fine wines now come from all over the state.
White Wines
Chardonnay grapes are so malleable, they can be used to make a variety of wines from dry to sparkling. No one style defines this grape, which produces medium- to full-bodied wines with flavors that range from tart green apple to buttery pear. Chardonnay is one of the most widely planted winemaking grapes in the Commonwealth; and Chardonnay wines pair well with everything from chicken and turkey to smoked fish, crab and selected cheeses. Petit Manseng, a white wine variation of the black Manseng grape, gets its name from its small berries. It makes distinctive dry white wines and can be harvested late to make fine white and dessert wines. Petit mansengs have rich aromas of candied fruit, spice and honey. Petit Manseng
36 | April 2015
goes well with a variety of foods and includes Asian and Thai dishes that are not overly spicy. Riesling grapes produce wines that epitomize the harmony between sugar and acid, at the same time keeping their distinct differences. A Riesling wine can be tart and bone-dry on the one hand or extremely sweet on the other. Riesling grapes take on the character of the land they are grown. Virginia Rieslings have the wine’s typical floral and fruit characteristics, often with a citrus and peachy aroma. Try a Virginia Riesling with Virginia sugar-cured ham or roast turkey. Sauvignon Blanc grapes are at home in a variety of growing conditions and grown by many Virginia vineyards. The grape makes dry white wines known for their sharp acidity and aroma of fresh herbs and hay. When Sauvignon Blanc vines grow in limestone-rich soil, the resulting wine can have the smoky aroma of flint. Sauvignon Blancs go well with shrimp, salmon and other seafood as well as poultry dishes, notably roast chicken. Seyval Blanc, sometimes shortened to Seyval, is a popular, reliably productive French-American hybrid that ripens early in the fall harvest season. It makes a crisp, distinct dinner wine, or conversely, sweet dessert wine. Known for its smell of green apples, Seyval is a component of some white wine blends. Seyval Blancs pair well with chicken, game birds, swordfish and a variety of other foods. Viognier gives off a strong and appealing perfume of fresh fruit and flowers. While this suggests a sweet wine, Viognier is typically a dry, or slightly off dry wine. A popular choice of vineyards and vintners alike, Virginia Viogniers are garnering attention beyond the state’s borders. Viogniers accompany lobster, veal, cheeses and pork well, including nearly any food with a rich sauce. Vidal Blanc, often shortened to just Vidal, is a hardy, thick-skinned grape that thrives in even the coldest winegrowing regions. Vidal Blancs vary in style from dry, crisp wines to late-harvest sweet wines to expensive ice wines. Vidal Blancs have fruity, floral traits that complement scallops, crab, grilled salmon and tuna. Chicken and turkey as well as sweeter foods such as fruit platters go well with Vidal Blancs, too.
Red Wines
Cabernet Franc is a thin-skinned grape that ripens early. It’s fruitier, more herbal and lower in acidity than its genetic offspring, Cabernet Sauvignon. Similar to Merlot in body, Cabernet Francs tend to have spicy aromas with hints of mint, plum, blackberry and violets. National and state wine experts consider Cabernet Franc to be among Virginia’s best red wines. Sometimes similar to Merlot in food pairings, Cabernet Francs go well with pastas with red sauces, beef stew and even hamburgers. Merlot vines like rocky, arid ground but also adapt well to soils with more clay content. The thin-skinned Merlot grape produces wines softer in tannins than Cabernet Sauvignon yet with similar leather, mint and blackberry qualities. Approachable and easy-todrink Virginia Merlots are favorites among wine drinkers. Their elegant and concentrated flavor makes them pair well with pastas in red sauce, beef stew and lamb, among other dishes. Cabernet Sauvignon is one of the world’s most widely planted red varietals and a longstanding favorite among Virginia vineyards and vintners. Cabernet Sauvignon yields a dry wine that can be light and approachable or, should the vintner desire, heavier and age-worthy. Complex flavors of black currant, green olive, mint and herbs characterize most Cabernet Sauvignons. And the winemaking process can endow it with hints of vanilla, smoke and leather. Cabernet Sauvignons go well with steak, hamburger, leg of lamb and pungent cheeses. Norton is the oldest native North American varietal and was being cultivated and made into wine in Virginia prior to the Civil War. A Virginia native Norton was named the “best red wine of all nations” at the Vienna World’s Fair of 1873. Nortons are deeply colored, ageworthy wines with rich, fruity aromas and flavors. They complement red meat, smoked meat, wild game, rock fish and many cheeses. Petit Verdot creates a dark, purplish, medium-bodied red wine
characterized by perfumes from fruity and spicy to herbal, with bouquets of leather, coconut, smoke, toast and dark chocolate. Petit Verdot’s flavors and tannins go together well with Cabernets and Merlots and make it a small but influential addition to many blended Bordeaux-style red wines. This red wine can pair well with steaks, rich sauces, Italian foods, barbecue, strong cheeses. Chambourcin is a vigorous, disease-resistant French-American hybrid developed in the Loire Valley of France. Noted for evocative herbal aromas and crisp acidity, Chambourcins are typically dry, fullflavored wines with hints of berries. They pair well with a variety of foods, from hamburgers and veal to tuna, swordfish, Mahi-mahi and flounder.
Other Wines
Rosé is a wine that can range from light to dark pink. The color typically results from red-skinned grape skins remaining in the wine for only a short period before removal. Originally a dry, subtle wine, Rosés are now similar to white wines in how they range from dry to semi-sweet. Rosés go well with all sorts of seafood and make a fine apéritif wine to pair with cheeses. Sparkling Wines get their bubbly, nose-tickling characteristic by carbonation caused by natural fermentation in the bottle or by having carbon dioxide added during the winemaking process. Sparkling wines are usually white or rosé in color and range from dry to semi-sweet in taste. Many Virginia wineries offer excellent examples of sparkling wines. Sparkling wines go well with mild and strong cheeses, with shellfish, seafood with light sauces, Asian dishes, poultry, fruits and dessert. Fruit Wines & Meads Each fruit wine takes its names from its primary ingredient. Various Virginia winemakers offer such fruit wines as blackberry, raspberry, apple, pear, peach, blueberry and strawberry. A few wineries are also producing meads (honey wines). Publisher’s note: This article brought to you by the wine experts at virginiawine.org Old Town Crier
EXPLORING VIRGINIAWINES DOUG FABBIOLI
Take Advantage, Don’t Exploit
S
pring is finally here and I find myself thinking about some bigger issues. As we’ve built our business over the last ten years, I have worked hard to identify and take advantage of good opportunities. Closely managing vineyards and orchards, hiring people who demonstrate a great work ethic, and producing authentic, marketable and high quality products are all crucial in helping turn a good opportunity into a success. We want to grow good crops sustainably, we want our staff to feel appreciated and we want our products to consistently demonstrate high quality. I have also worked hard to avoid exploiting any situation or opportunity. I recognize that the words “take advantage of ” and “exploit” can sometimes be interchangeable, but the difference in nuances can mean the difference between good business and bad ethics. This is the difference between, say, recognizing a great entrepreneurial opportunity in knowing that outdoor concert goers will get thirsty,
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and charging $10 for a bottle of water at the event. Businesses are not the only ones to exploit opportunities; consumers can as well. For example, in the past we have had winery visitors bring large groups of people, who bring their coolers, dogs, kids and even tents and other camping gear in tow. They would camp out for hours in our picnic area and purchase one or two bottles of wine. That would be taking advantage of the opportunity but it would also be exploiting it for all it is worth. (For the record, we and many other wineries no longer allow our facilities to be treated like public parks.) We need businesses to identify and take advantage of an unfulfilled need and find the way to fill it. The business deserves a profit for providing solutions and filling those needs. As the business matures, the cost to produce that product should stabilize in a way that it is sustainable to the land, the labor, the profit and the customer as well. As an example, the local wine and libations industry has been able to take advantage of a
local customer base that has a little more money in their pocket than other parts of the country. We can charge a little more per bottle than other parts of the country. However, we will use this advantage to build our customer base, business infrastructure and quality control processes. This makes this industry viable
and sustainable for years to come. But it is not good practice to charge high prices just because people want the product now. The market will shift, the exploitation will be recognized and the product will fall out of favor. So we have learned to take advantage of good market, good weather, good
collaboration and great land. Our lesson is to not exploit the advantage to where others are hurt, the practices are unsustainable or the customer may lose faith in the business. Recognizing how to take advantage but not exploit is key to good business, politics, family and the rest of life.
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www.peterkramer.com April 2015 | 37
VIRGINIA WINE Trail Profiles Bedford County Wine Trail bedfordwinetrail.com The Bedford Wine Trail in the Central Virginia region includes five vineyards and wineries surrounding Bedford.
n three fox vineyards aPriL & May events n
aPriL 4th: three fox easter egg roLL – see website for detaiLs n May 2nd: 11th estate CeLebration n May 3rd: bLessing of the vines n 14th bUd breaK CeLebration – date to be annoUnCed
Blue Ridge Wine Way www.blueridgewineway.com The Blue Ridge Wine Way features eight wineries and vineyards in the spectacular mountains of the Northern Virginia region. Botetourt County Wine Trail botetourtwinetrail.com The Wine Trail of Botetourt Country features 3 wineries in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Eastern Shore Wine Trail esvatourism.org The Eastern Shore of Virginia Wine Trail hosts three wineries along the Land Between Two Waters. This area is a unique rural coastal environment. Hundreds of miles of Atlantic Ocean and Chesapeake Bay shoreline provide a wealth of recreational opportunities for beach-lovers, fishermen, and boaters in addition to wine lovers.
Tasting Room Hours - Open Year Round Thursday-Saturday, & Monday 11-5 pm • Sunday 12 pm (noon)- 5 pm
Mention or bring this ad for a complimentary tasting for two through 12/23/2010 10100 Three Fox Ln. • Delaplane, VA • 540-364-6073
Fauquier County Wine Trail fauquiertourism.com/wineries.html Fauquier County is home to 16 wineries and vineyards —each with its own unique flavors. Enjoy awardwinning Virginia wines, wine tastings and tours. Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail svwga.org The Shenandoah Valley Wine Trail is an association of six vineyards and wineries. Loudoun Wine Trail visitloudoun.org Loudouns Wine Trail in Northern Virginia takes you through Virginias hunt country to 23 participating wineries.
A small, family winery focused on quality, sustainable farming and our community Visit us and other quality wineries on the Loudoun Wine Trail–www.loudounfarms.org Serving your local red wine needs since 2006 Open Daily 11am - 5pm Educational wine events
Fabbioli Cellars Douglas Fabbioli Colleen M. Berg 15669 Limestone School Rd Leesburg 703-771-1197 www.fabbioliwines.com
Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail chesapeakebaywinetrail.com The Chesapeake Bay Wine Trail, in the Chesapeake Bay region, highlights six different wineries. Heart of Virginia Wine Trail www.hovawinetrail.com The Heart of Virginia Wine Trail in Central Virginia presents several events throughout the year at four wineries located in the central region of the state. Blue Ridge Wine Trail blueridgewinetrail.com The Blue Ridge Wine Trail features five wineries and vineyards in the spectacular mountains all within minutes of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Generals Wine & History Trail thegeneralswinetrail.com In 2009, 10 wineries banded together to form a new type wine trail experience. The new wine trail experience was to tie our rich wine heritage with our rich historical heritage and thus the Generals Wine & History Trail was born. Monticello Wine Trail monticellowinetrail.com The Monticello Wine Trail leads to 24 wineries from its hub in Charlottesville. Source: Virginia Wine Marketing Office
38 | April 2015
For More Information: virginiawine.org Visiting Virginia’s Wine Country Its always a good idea to call before visiting. Many Virginia wineries are small, family-owned operations and may be closed during the time you are planning to visit. If you are a group of eight or more, call ahead to help the winery prepare for your visit and to make sure they can accept groups. Most of our wineries have grape cluster highway signs within a ten-mile radius pointing the way to the winery. Many of these signs also tell you how many miles to go before reaching the winery.
Old Town Crier
No-Show Time?
W
hat’s wrong with bass fishing shows? In their heyday, mid-winter fishing shows attracted tens of thousands of anglers shopping for boats, tackle and seminars. BASSARAMA was huge for over 25 years! Not any more. Shows don’t have “it” anymore! There’s something about shows in this region. A bit further south and shows boom! Further north and the same is true! The regions’ fast pace, reliance on the Internet for tackle and seminars, and the dominance of big retailers is making it harder for shows to compete. And now, boat dealers are going at it alone. Boats brought them in! Whether someone was in the market for a new boat or just wanted to see what was new, boats were the star of the show. Recently, boat dealers have been conspicuously absent. Instead some have opted to throw their own shows, many in direct
Bassing IN APRIL Potomac River
Fish are shallow! A variety of moving lures will work! In clear water, try Lucky Craft suspending Pointer 78 jerkbaits on Quantum EXO spinning reels with 8-pound test GAMMA Copoly! They cast a mile and can pick off aggressive fish. Using Mann’s Classic 3/8-ounce willow/ Colorado spinnerbaits with white skirts on 12-pound test GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon line will work on areas close to deep drops. Use craw pattern Lucky Craft lipless LV-500 in areas with emerging grass. Use GAMMA Edge fluorocarbon 12-pound test to crawl these lures on the bottom or snap
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competition with the “big” show! It was a matter of time! It’s a lot of work to haul boats to a show, set up and break it down. Housing and feeding staff is pretty pricy too! Why would a boat dealer want to spend the time and money to go to a show, when they could have an Open House and heavily promote it for less money and have their entire inventory available! In fact many sell booths at their dealerships to tackle related companies! Shows brought in big name talent and it didn’t matter which headliner showed up to bore the crowds with inane tank demos or thoughtless half hour seminars. Seminars used to be part of the excitement too! Nowadays, show promoters, trying to save a few bucks will get bargain pros to appear. To fill out the schedule, shows allow exhibitors to place their local pros on stage to do infomercials for their GO FISH > PAGE 42
and drop out of grass. In taller grass, go to the Lucky Craft LVR D-7. For creek mouth points and flats with deep water close by, use a Lucky Craft LC 1.5 RT with rattles to cover shallow areas with riprap and wood cover. Use casting gear with 10-pound test Copoly line It’s also time to unleash Mizmo tubes with an insert head on spinning gear with 8-pound test GAMMA Copoly line. Start targeting docks near deeper water, as fish will use them as current breaks. These can be fished anywhere along with Punisher ¼ ounce hair jigs. Fish baits slowly and spray with garlic Jack’s Juice fish attractant. For the hair jigs, try 15-pound GAMMA Torque braid with 8-pound Copoly leader. Carolina rigs also cover long flats. Use a 12-24 inch leader. A ¾ or 1 ounce Round Valley Tungsten weight will keep the rig in contact with the bottom. Use soft plastics soaked in garlic Jack’s Juice Bait Spray.
April 2015 | 39
Beat Cardio Boredom Cycling Hills
C
ardio is the key to a successful workout program and essential to heart health. The recommendation for cardiovascular exercise is at least 45 minutes most days of the week. There is no way to make the time go by any faster, however changing up the program and adding a little variety to the workout can make the task seem less
daunting. Here are just a few ways to change up your workout. Find a hill that takes about 1 to 1½ minutes to climb. Warm up for 15 minutes, moderate effort. You can also use a stationary bike and adjust the resistance in time intervals.
Hill climb 1: Stay seated, use moderate resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Hill climb 2: Stay seated, increase resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Hill climb 3: Sit halfway up the hill, then stand, using moderate resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Hill climb 4: Sit halfway up the hill, then stand using
hard resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Hill climb 5: Stand the entire way using moderate resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Hill climb 6: Stand the entire way using hard resistance. Recover by pedaling downhill in easy gear. Ride at a moderate effort for about a half hour, then cool down for 5 minutes at easy effort.
Cycling Intervals
• Warm up for 15 minutes at a moderate effort. • Pedal hard for 10 seconds recover for a minute of easy pedaling. • Pedal hard for 20 seconds recover for a minute of moderate pedaling. • Continue to increase hard pedaling in ten second increases until you have reached one minute of hard pedaling followed by a recovery of one minute. • Repeat the intervals twice for a 30minute workout or three times for 45 minutes.
Treadmill Intervals
0:00-10:00 Warm-up jog; 5.0 MPH 10:00-10:20 Sprint at 7.5 MPH 40 | April 2015
10:20-11:20 Jog at 5.0 MPH 11:20-14:00 Repeat minutes 10:00-11:20 twice 14:00-17:00 Jog at 5.0 MPH 17:00-27:00 Run at 6.5 MPH 27:00-31:00 Jog at 5.0 MPH 31:00-35:00 Run at 6.5 MPH 35:00-39:00 Jog at 5.0 MPH 39:00-55:00 Repeat minutes 31:00-39:00 twice. 55:00-60:00 Gradually slow pace to cool down at jog/walk. If the interval speed is too much, adjust the pace to your fitness level. You can use a combination of walking and jogging instead of running and jogging. These timed interval workouts can be used on any piece of cardio equipment, an elliptical or stair climber as well as the treadmill or bike. Don’t think that you have to limit yourself to a machine. Take your watch on your next run and do timed intervals of increased and decreased speed throughout your normal running routine.
Old Town Crier
FROM THE TRAINER RYAN UNVERZAGT
Less Is More: Rest & Recovery
T
hanks for being a loyal reader of the Old Town Crier. Don’t forget to support the fine businesses that advertise on these very pages. Without them, none of this quality material would be possible, and the contributing writers would not be able to share their expertise. That said, April is an exciting time of year because the weather is getting nicer and the grass is getting greener. I hold faith that most of you have been diligently working on your wellness lifestyle. However, there comes a time when you should pull back on the reigns, take your foot off the accelerator, or just stop to “smell the roses.” (or cherry blossoms in DC) I’m mainly speaking to all those hard-core fitness enthusiasts who constantly workout to the point of no return. Don’t get me wrong, I promote physical activity on most, if not all, days of the week. These activities can include leisurely walks, bike rides, roller-blading, or taking the family to a water park. However, structured exercise (in which there are specific, measurable parameters such as intensity, duration, sets and reps) should be performed in moderation to prevent overtraining. There are very few personal trainers who will admit that more exercise is not always better. Rest and recovery are probably the most overlooked aspects of any fitness program, even above flexibility. A little bit of R & R is important because you want to prevent needless injuries, burnout or
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staleness, and avoid the overtraining syndrome. Here is a list of symptoms associated with over-training: • Performance plateau, followed by decreased strength & endurance • Decrease in lean body mass • Decreased appetite • Less energy and desire to exercise • Irritability • Interrupted sleep patterns •Excessive muscle soreness • Increased heart rate at rest and during exercise Without adequate rest, there will not be positive adaptations to exercise. Exercise is a stressor to the body, so what you do between workouts is just as vital as what you do during your workout. During that time between exercising, your body is trying to regenerate, recover, and ultimately adapt to handle the physiological stress placed upon it. Just because you had an awesome workout doesn’t mean you should sabotage it by not taking care of yourself until the next workout. Over-training is a serious issue for the extreme exerciser. Here are a few suggestions for meaningful rest and recovery:
does the trick.
Sleep
Get as much of this as you can because your body recovers best with rest. Try for at least 8 hours a night. If your schedule allows, take a 20-minute nap during the day too. (Just not at work!)
Light Exercise
Add in a few light workouts.
Yes. It’s ok to lighten up the intensity a bit. This way you get a chance to recover while still staying active. Even professional and Olympic athletes take advantage of this strategy to help them prepare for an important game or event.
Listen to Your Body
Don’t ignore the symptoms listed above because you
could end up ultimately giving up on exercise, which is by far the worse consequence of all. Unverzagt holds a BS in Wellness Management from Black Hills State University and is a Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). He is an active member of the National Strength & Conditioning Association (NSCA).
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Nutrition
This is the first thing you need to address. It’s true that you are what you eat and the best time to eat for recovery is within one hour after finishing a workout. You should include a mixture of protein and carbohydrates. Try a turkey and cheese sandwich, or cottage cheese with fruit or sliced tomatoes, or just a glass of skim milk
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April 2015 | 41
CIVIL DISCOURSE FROM PG 9
Custer’s troopers are waiting at the station when four supply trains pull in on April 8th. Then Custer tears up the tracks so the trains cannot flee. At the same time, Lee’s advance units arrive at the station; they are forced to retreat after four hours, losing 25 precious artillery pieces. Then Custer burns three of the trains and shoots the Confederate wagon mules. Skirmishing continues around the village until dusk. But the Yankees now hold the high ground and are blocking Lee’s way to Lynchburg. That night Lee meets with his remaining generals and determines to attempt a breakthrough the following morning, supposing that he is facing only a cavalry screen which can be brushed aside. What Lee does not know is the Federal line has been reinforced with infantry the same night. The next morning, Lee launches the attack. As expected, the first and second lines of cavalry are easily dispersed. But behind the cavalry at the crest of the ridge is a line of blue coated infantry. The road to Lynchburg is blocked. Checkmate — it is over for Lee. A mere week has passed since the breakout. GALLERY BEAT FROM PG 14
well-known image of an inmate in Abu Ghraib, a World War Two survivor with a prosthetic leg, and finally the tangled heap of stainless steel, a ghostlike cathedral, the remains of the World Trade Center. A cherub from Raphael’s Sistine Madonna glances heavenward atop all of this with additional angels on either side. And there’s more, even in this one piece. This is one of twelve complex pieces that make up “Chronicles of War,” the epic two-part show at The Katzen Center at American University. The other half is entitled “Legends.” The two together form “Gods of War!” “Legends” details the Zapatista uprising in San Cristobal, Mexico, which Plattner witnessed. She and her archaeologist husband later lived in Italy. She tells the story of the Zapatista uprising utilizing Italian Renaissance GO FISH! FROM PG 39
products. This is in contrast to quality on-line seminars that are outpacing shows, offering at-home viewing without having to park or invest a lot of non-productive time. Shows are as low tech as can be. Not much buzz on the Internet either. In fact, some shows have come and gone almost unnoticed. Speaking of products, there aren’t a lot at the shows. Manufacturers used to appear with their entire lineup for fishermen to see and touch! This included the new gear for the upcoming season. Major brands also brought their top pros along to sign autographs or just chat about the products. This stimulated interest and 42 | April 2015
In the preceding week Grant had been in touch with Lee trying to convince him to lay down his arms. Now Lee sends a note to Grant as muskets are still popping that he would like a meeting to discuss terms. Grant lets Lee choose the place — the McLean house — and a ceasefire goes into effect. Lee shows up dressed in his best uniform; Grant’s is spattered with mud. The two men had known each other in the Mexican War and they make awkward small talk for a while. Then Lee comes to the point and the papers are signed. Federal generals bargain with McLean to purchase the furniture in the surrender room as souvenirs. As Lee leaves the house, the Yankees begin to cheer. Grant shuts them down right away, explaining: “The Confederates were now our countrymen, and we did not want to exult over their downfall.” Grant’s terms are generous. The Confederate officers are allowed to retain their side-arms and horses; the men are allowed to carry off horses and mules for the spring planting. Lee and his generals are not arrested. Grant issues rations to the Confederates he has been starving for the last week. The dead are buried and the wounded cared for. Many
units burn, bury or smuggle their colors rather than surrender them as trophies. On April 10 Lee gives his farewell address; many Confederates are dumbfounded, unaware they are beaten. On April 12th, Lee’s army endures a formal surrender ceremony presided over by Union General Joshua Chamberlain. There are no cheers or jeers and each Confederate unit receives the salute of arms as they pass the Union ranks; they reciprocate, “honor answering honor.” By the end of the day 28,000 Confederates have stacked their arms. Grant’s grace and dignity are brilliant. Not only has he begun to reunite the nation as the vanquished are treated as “countrymen” versus POWs, but he makes surrender palatable for the remaining armies at a time when an endless guerilla war is a real possibility. The way Grant handles the armistice matters. Even so, almost 200,000 Confederates remain under arms across the South and entire armies have yet to surrender — notably Joe Johnson’s in North Carolina. But the writing is on the wall and Johnson’s army of close to 100,000 lay down their arms on April 26th. Armies in Alabama and Louisiana
surrender in May. The last army, that of Cherokee chief Stand Watie, holds out until June after winning the last engagement of the war at Palmito Ranch in May. The Shenandoah is at sea when the war ends and continues to raid Northern shipping until her captain turns her over to the British in November. Nathan Bedford Forrest pursues a guerrilla war of sorts with the Ku Klux Klan. The James and Younger boys, trained under Quantrill, string it out as a lifestyle until the gang is shot to pieces in Northfield, Minnesota in 1877. There is a group that meets down at the American Legion which has still not surrendered. This month’s cover portrays the Confederate memorial at the intersection of Prince and Washington Streets. The statue’s name is “Appomattox.” The soldier’s back is forever turned on Washington. His arms are crossed in a posture conveying he is unlikely to change views anytime soon: Sic semper tyrannis.
paintings, substituting Zapatistas for the saints and apostles. For example, “Legends, Deposition” is after a painting by Caravaggio, (1585), and “Legends, Mary Magdalene in Glory,” is after a painting by Domenichino, (1600). The succession of places in which they lived is reflected in the subject matter, style, and technique of the work. Italian Renaissance meets Liberation Theology. The soft-spoken, long time professor at The Maryland Institute College of Art is profoundly antiwar. In order to speak against war and violence she employs images of violence. Though the images are deplorable, the overall effect is beautiful. “Chronicles of War” is a pastiche of images of human violence borrowed from art historical paintings and photo-journalism across cultures and across time. She juxtaposes violent
images with the bucolic and the divine, skies at sunrise and at sunset, cherubs and angels, Jesus and Mary. Eight or more panels are assembled into one artwork. She also adds borders of gorgeous motifs from a multitude of cultures and intricately carved and gold-leafed frames and borders. The overall shapes of each work are based on Renaissance altarpieces, copied directly from the Italian in the “Legends” half of the show, and more loosely based on Asian, German and Italian altarpieces in “Chronicles of War.” Plattner has done all of this work herself. It is a fourteen year project, to which she plans yet to add. It represents an immense labor of love. Plattner enumerates the vast array of violence throughout human history. From the guillotine to napalm, to a pyramid of human skulls, from child soldiers to suicide bombers,
from Napoleon to the Samari, from Guernica to the Mayan Bonampak murals in Chiapas, Mexico. Could there possibly be something she has left out? Plattner’s work has a continuing relevance to our present condition as the world is menaced by ISIS. One might say that the destructive history of all humankind is represented here. The forms of destruction are assembled by the type of destruction so that each artwork has a theme. In “Chronicles of War, Heads and Hands,” 2008, the subject is beheadings. In “Chronicles of War, Swords and Lances,” 2008, a pastiche of death by blade, the central image is the “Battle of San Romano” by Paolo Uccello, (1432). Above fourteen panels of death and destruction, cherubs alight in the vault of heaven. With fist-fulls of flowers they rain rose petals over the bloody folly of humankind.
the local retailers were able to cash in on the extra manufacturer push. It’s a changing marketplace. Nearly all Mom and Pop tackle stores are gone, replaced with big box stores. Like boat dealers, the big retailers don’t “need” a show! They are their own show! They produce month long events instore to bring in national and local pros to demonstrate products with instore experts to provide an informed shopping experience. In addition, the Internet keeps most bass anglers at home. They know what they want and shows don’t satisfy their tackle appetite. Ticket prices are affordable, but the “deals” end there! Nothing really special about show pricing, nothing special at all about the show experience.
Big shows have been in a recovery cycle for the last 10 years. One year there are huge crowds, but the lack of show attractions keep these people from coming back the following year. Too many non-fishing related booths; cooking, knife sharpeners, siding and window sales pitches and other detractions disappoint. But after a good attendance year, more fishing companies climb aboard anticipating a great show, but the prior year’s disappointed attendees stay home. Then the following year, word gets out that there are more fishing related booths, but last year’s disappointed exhibitors stay home. Bass shows were moving sideways. To grow the show, promoters add other fishing related themes. Saltwater, fly-fishing and
destination outfitters provide floor traffic, not necessarily resulting in sales for bass booths. Show identity is now blurred! Parking, flu season, and lackluster exhibitors are jeopardizing big bass shows. But don’t overlook shows, just lower expectations. As larger onestop shows are fading, smaller more localized shows still offer a lot! It may not be the big show, but it’s still show time!
Doug Coleman is an attorney and amateur historian in Alexandria; comments and corrections are welcome at [email protected].
Capt. Steve Chaconas is Potomac bass fishing guide and contributing writer for BoatU.S. (BoatUS.com) Potomac River reports: nationalbass.com. Book trips/purchase gift certificates: info@ NationalBass.com.
Old Town Crier
Fragrance: What to Wear and How to Wear It
T
he smell of spring is in the air. With the smell of spring brings about the desire to try a new fragrance. Switching to a new fragrance in the warmer months is like shedding our heavy winter clothes. I’ve even heard of fragrance referred to as woman’s clothing. And, the type of fragrance notes chosen are referred to anything from a spring dress to a fur coat. Since we are all ready to put our fur coats away after this historic winter, allow me to guide you toward your “spring dress” and teach you how best to wear it.
What to Wear
Warmer months call for lighter fragrance notes – floral, citrus, and clean are most common. Floral is by far the most popular fragrance category. It becomes even more popular when the temperatures rise. Consider floral notes such as gardenia, orange blossom, lily, rose and peony. These are most often found in fragrances. In fact, Casablanca lily is the most popular fragrance note sought out by customers.
Citrus Notes
Orange is too fruity, grapefruit too ordinary. But, bergamot, bitter orange, and mandarin are just right. For a greener smell, look for fragrances that pair citrus notes with green leafy notes. Some examples of common combinations are verbena, lemon and cedar or lemon, basil and oak. Because citrus notes tend to evaporate quickly, pairing them with woody notes will make them last longer.
Ozonic (or Clean) Notes
When sniffed, these fragrances are reminiscent of the seashore or fresh water. Most often people will refer to them as clean and fresh. The scent will remind them of a breeze coming off the ocean or the way we expect a summer breeze to smell. When mixed Old Town Crier
with floral notes, these ozonic fragrances gain more depth, last longer and are unique.
How to Wear It
Believe it or not, there are many ways to apply a fragrance to ensure maximum impact for the occasion or event in which you are wearing it. For day, the objective is to smell good and leave behind in your path a waif of your scent. It’s not meant to overpower those around you, but make you feel elegant and sophisticated. The movement of our body throughout the day makes a fragrance rise which makes it important to apply it low on the body. Behind the knees, on the wrists and even applied to your skirt or pants will ensure the fragrance rises and lingers as you move throughout the day. Night brings out a different objective for fragrance. Sensuality is usually associated with applying a fragrance at night. To create the allure of fragrance at night, proper placement is of utmost importance. Target areas of sensuality such as behind the ears, around the neck, and on the hair. There is also the decadent way of applying fragrance. We all need a little decadence every once in a while. Keep in mind, unless you want to replace your perfume bottles often, apply your fragrance with decadence on rare occasions. The decadent approach is to spritz an area in front of your body and walk through it. This approach allows the fragrance to settle lightly on the skin and clothing. In order to be effective, you must spritz a fair amount of fragrance before you walk through it. Finally, some general rules about applying fragrance. Hold the fragrance bottle a minimum of 5-7 inches away from the body and mist it over you. Spray each area only once. If the body or clothing is “wet” after spraying, then you’ve held it too close. Enjoy the art of choosing a new spring fragrance and applying it with decadence!
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SPIRITUAL RENAISSANCE PEGGIE ARVIDSON
Can My Life Line Tell Me How Long I’ll Live?
H
and Analysis, or as I like to call it, Pragmatic Palmistry is an interesting topic for so many people. Whenever people find out that I not only read hands, but that I spent a year getting my first certification and another year gaining my Master level certification they think I’m either bonkers or really interesting. It’s up to you to decide for yourself, of course. Here are few Myths and Facts about Hand Reading for your next trivia night. 1. You cannot tell how long you’re going to live by the length, depth or shape of a life line on the hand. A life line begins between the index (Jupiter) finger and the Thumb and it curves around that fleshy pad below the thumb. It may be long or short, it may swing wide or curve close to the base of the thumb. It can
The
tell you how grounded you are in the life you’re living right now – how much you enjoy being here on the planet, and how good you are to your body, but it cannot show you how long you’re going to live. If you’re interested in your life expectancy - - your family history, your eating habits, your drinking habits and your tendency to walk in traffic or down dark alleys in the worst part of town are more indicative of your life expectancy than a line on your hand. 2. You may or may not have a “marriage” line. It doesn’t mean you will or will not be married. It seems that the internet is full of pictures of “marriage” lines and people who have been happily single for decades suddenly wig out thinking they are supposed to have TWO marriages! Or worse, there are people who are happily
married and then find out (according to the internet, so it MUST be true) that they have 3 marriage lines – they call me in a panic wondering if I can tell them what’s wrong with their marriage or what’s going to happen to their spouse. Of course there are those who don’t have any “marriage” lines and they feel hopeless in pursuing their own highest and best good in a relationship, believing that they are ’fated’ to be alone forever. None of this is true. There may (or may not) be one (or more) short, horizontal lines very close to the base of your pinky (Mercury) finger. This line (or lines) will be ¼ inch or shorter if you have it (we’ll talk about that other, longer line below the pinky in a minute). If you have one it can indicate a meaningful relationship. This meaningful relationship can
Pragmatic Palmist PEGGIE ARVIDSON
Are you ready to use the wisdom in your hands to manifest the business of your dreams? Would you like to find out once and for all how to get out of your own way and attract love and money, using the gifts of your own DNA? Private readings, group sessions, classes and workshops are NOW available by appointment at:
Phone and Skype appointments are also available!
9028 D Prince William Street, Manassas, VA • 703-392-9200 • RisingPhoenixHC.com
44 | April 2015
be with a friend, a parent, a child, a co-worker or your bookie. It does not mean that you will have a romantic relationship with anyone, unless you and they agree to it. 3. It follows then that there are NO CHILDREN LINES that cut through or below the “marriage” lines. There are no “boy/son” lines nor “girl/daughter” lines. In Pragmatic Palmistry, you have complete free will, and to my understanding there is a great deal of luck, prayer and timing involved in whether or not you give birth to children. There are many mothers and fathers who have no “children” lines and there are many adults who are child-free by choice that have the socalled “children” lines. Your hands cannot predict your future, nor the future of any other being. 4. Your heart line doesn’t tell the full story when it comes to your love life. Your heart line begins below the pinky (Mercury) finger and travels horizontally across your hand toward the thumb side. It may end in one of four areas which is a telltale sign of how you love and how you wish to be loved. It’s also an indicator of your communication style, and interestingly enough one of the best tools for team building and sales training I’ve ever found in the workplace. Once you know and understand your heart line type you can communicate more effectively with everyone you meet, especially those you care most about. 5. Everything in your hands, with the exception of your fingerprints, can change. This means that everything
you see in your hands today may shift and change and even disappear in a few months or years or decades. This is because you are constantly growing, changing and expanding and it’s reflected in the lines, markings and even the shape of your hand. 6. Your fingerprints never change. They are formed when you’re in the womb and they remain with you until you leave Earth. This is why hand analysts look to them as the key to your soul’s language. In our parlance we use your fingerprints to unlock the mystery of your life’s purpose while you’re on Earth. There are many ways to unlock your purpose of course, and these are your fingerprints, so you’ll find that your purpose, as translated from your fingerprints will feel familiar to you. Using your hands can help you find ways to allow that purpose to blossom into your everyday life. Now, go forth and amuse your friends at your next Friday night bar-b-que with your newfound palmistry facts! Peggie Arvidson, the Pragmatic Palmist is a healer, teacher and soul coach as well as the founder of The Profitable Alchemist Academy. She’s helped thousands of people connect with their life purpose and put it to work for them through private readings, small group classes and individual coaching programs. You can learn more & sign up to receive your free mini-reading at PeggieArvidson.com. She’s also available for private sessions at Rising Phoenix Holistic Center in downtown Manassas, Va. Old Town Crier
OPEN SPACE LORI WELCH BROWN
XL and I recently passed the six month anniversary of our wedding—halfway through the first year, which, I’m told, is the toughest. Funny, I thought all those years on match.com were the toughest. Assuming for most couples it’s because you’re faced with working through the grownup stuff like taxes, budgets and whose coffee mugs make it into the cabinet vs. the toss pile. The coffee mug challenge has likely rattled many a union. About three months into shacking up, XXL and I had a rather lively discussion over storage containers that was about two decibels away from becoming a domestic situation. I never realized how passionate a man could be about Tupperware. Being a grownup is highly overrated on so many levels. XXL scores more grownup points than yours truly, however, as he has a prior marriage under his belt. He’s experienced, whereas I, on the other hand, am a total rookie. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you. Marriage is a wonderful, beautiful thing, but if you’re like me—a woman who spent a few decades perfecting her solo act—it can be challenging. Typically when I’m confronted with a challenge or embarking on some endeavor where my frame of reference is limited, I head to see my friends at Barnes & Noble. On my path to personal exploration, as well as finding a suitable partner, I was a B&N frequent flyer, often consulting with trusted advisors such as Elizabeth Lesser, Eckhart Tolle, Martha Beck, Ram Dass, Julia Cameron, Pema Chodron, Anne Lamott, Thich Nhat Hanh and a few others on a wealth of subjects. I literally grew up with them. I spent so much time with them I should have probably invited them Old Town Crier
to the wedding. Over the years I’ve welcomed them into my home where they’ve landed on my nightstand or found coveted space on my bookshelf. My ‘shelfies’ cheered me up, made me laugh, counseled me after relationship blunders, picked me up after break ups, and assured me that I wasn’t the freak that I sometimes thought I was after some perceived shortcoming or failure. What I learned from my shelfies was that no matter what I was going through, I wasn’t alone. Sometimes a single quote or passage would lift me up out of the darkness or radiate a divine light bulb of clarity. When we descend all the way down to the bottom of a loss, and dwell patiently, with an open heart, in the darkness and pain, we can bring back up with us the sweetness of life and the exhilaration of inner growth. When there is nothing left to lose, we find the true self — the self that is whole, the self that is enough, the self that no longer looks to others for definition, or completion or anything but companionship on the journey. This is the way to live a meaningful and hopeful life — a life of real happiness and inner peace. This is the Phoenix Process. —Elizabeth Lesser from Broken Open
For me, there is nothing more comforting than cuddling up with a shelfie, coffee cup in hand, soaking in the experiences of someone who has blazed the trail. Thank you B&N for some of the best $24.95 I ever spent. Sharing your journey with a companion is a blessing and a treasure, as long as you’re not fighting over which suitcase to bring and who forgot the sunblock. When you’ve been single, independent, in control (aka controlling), and maybe a wee bit self-centered, you have to learn how to make room in the suitcase for someone else. Change was needed and change never comes without some kicking and screaming. For awhile, I pointed the finger of change at XXL. After all, while he had been married—that marriage didn’t work. Clearly, he needed to change. After a few rounds of pointing the finger at XXL, however, it began to occur to me that there were probably a few areas I could tweak. The logical woman to ask for advice would have been my own Mom who was married to my dad for 52 years. Unfortunately, she passed back in 2006 so I had to seek advice elsewhere. I circled the shelves of B&N, and of course, there was
definitely no shortage of authors willing to weigh in on the subject of marital bliss. I had already read and reread the Venus/ Mars book—which, in my opinion, should be required reading for every man and woman hoping to communicate outside of their own gender. The one that caught my eye was “The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands,” by Dr. Laura Schlessinger. Now, I know Dr. Laura is a bit controversial — people either love her or hate her, but she actually offers some good, practical advice — advice even this strong, independent feminist woman could relate to, i.e., “We all think we’d like to be able to control everything and everyone around us. We imagine we’d be safe and secure, always on familiar turf. Frankly, the texture of life does not come from the familiar (which is comfortable), but from challenging ourselves with the unfamiliar.” Hmmm. Maybe she’s on to something. Men are simple. They have basic needs: they want to love us; make us happy; fix our problems; and slay our dragons. In return, they basically want us to be happy. They’d also like us to be nice to them, smile a lot, not treat them like one of our girlfriends (describe our daily vents in 1200 word rants with colorful adjectives and finely tuned details about our feelings) and occasionally give them some sex and affection … preferably both, and probably more than occasionally. Sounds good to me. Oh — and when faced with the coffee mug challenge ask yourself “is this the hill I want to die on?” Thanks, shelfie. April 2015 | 45
The Harbor Is Waking Up … Sorta!
W
hile it is still going to be a little quiet here in April on the waterfront until we start gearing up for Memorial Day in May, the foliage along American Way is finally starting to green up and the sun is spending more time shining than it did during the long last month of winter! “March Madness” continues with the final rounds of college basketball being aired on the Harbor’s Jumbo Plaza Screen down on the waterfront. This is a fun way to watch some hoops, people watch and get some fresh air at the same time. Will be a great place to watch the championship game if weather
Harbor, we have retailers coming and permits! going on a regular basis (more on that in You can see by the cool ad in this section the May column) but the restaurant scene that the Harbor is the proud host of the is booming. Granite City Food Brewery is Annual Peep Diorama contest sponsored set to open in late April on the first floor of by The Washington Post. This has been a the Esplanade Apartment complex and we very creative contest over the years and it are getting our very own Chipotle soon. will be fun to see the actual creations in The MGM is going up really fast. I person. There are some very imaginative By Lani Gering people in our area as well as just “Peep am looking forward to having a world Geeks” in general. Be sure to check them class Casino in my neighborhood. The out and pick your favorite. You may be inspired to entertainment that will be coming to the MGM is enter next year! going to be some of the best around. As has been the case since the inception of the The Wine & Food Festival returns the first
Close Shave Yields Big Bucks for St Baldrick’s!
T
he month of March brought a whole lot of fundraising to the harbor with the St. Baldrick’s event held at Harrington’s Pub and Kitchen. For those of you unfamiliar with the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, it is a volunteer-driven charity that has a commitment to raising money for research to find cures for childhood cancers. The particular fundraiser hosted at HPK was a “head shaving”
46 | April 2015
event where guys and gals offer to have their heads shaved after garnering monetary support from friends and co-workers. The top fundraiser at the event at HPK was Kenny Irwin aka “Uncle Kenny” as he is known here in PG County as well as St. Mary’s and Calvert. Kenny gets around — he is the On Premise Sales Manager for locally owned Bozick Distributors. This means that he gets to visit
bars and restaurants that carry the adult beverages he represents. His top dog is one of my favorites —Coors Light! Kenny raised $2710 for the charity. The cool thing about him taking the challenge is that he really, really likes his hair! Congratulations to Uncle Kenny! If you want to know more about St. Baldrick’s check them out at stbaldricks.org. Watch for an event in your area.
Old Town Crier
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Looking forward to the warm weather and those April showers that are going to bring on the May flowers! Have a Happy Easter everyone!
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‘Teardrop’ by Massive Attack is the theme tune to which US television medical drama starring Hugh Laurie? | fusetronsound
Title: Great Dose of Monotonous Techno
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $21.00
"Calling someone "ahead of his/her time" is straight out of Music Marketing 101 and is a claim that rarely holds much merit. On occasion, though, its a phrase that is entirely appropriate and accurate. Joel Brindefalk was as integral a part of Swedens premiere off-kilter dance label, Börft, as anyone outside its founders, Jan Svensson (FRAK, etc), Birre Isgren (FRAK, etc), and, eventually, Joachim Nordwall (Skull Defekts, etc). While Brindefalks work under monikers such as Contemporary Punk Unit(CPU), Egglady, and others showcased his skill and range as a producer, it was always Ü that impressed most. In 1992, still just a teenager, he was, in fact, very much ahead of his time. Great Dose of Monotonous Technowas released on cassette to little fanfare and festered in obscurity for years. As Börft and Digitalis formed a collaborative partnership in 2010, reissuing this album became a top priority. Recently, as the worlds of noise and techno have again begun to merge, Brindefalks early experiments sound almost prophetic with their relentless repetition, formless shape, acid tingers, and simple, pounding rhythms. Great Dose of Monotonous Techno is the perfect title for this record. It contains music whose impact is felt through its crushing loops and gloomy melodies. Ü might make people dance, but does so begrudgingly. There is an undercurrent of angst flowing throughout Great Dose, adding another edge to an album already cut with razors. Sadly, Brindefalk passed away in February of 2013 as this reissue was finally coming to fruition. He leaves a serious void in Swedish underground electronic music, but his legacy will only continue to grow. Remastered from the original tapes by Brindefalk friend and pupil Andreas Tilliander at Repeatle. Cut to vinyl by Helmut Erler at Dubplates & Mastering, Berlin. Original artwork and layout by Christian Carlssonmodified for vinyl by Brad Rose." - Digitalis.
Country: USA
Price: $16.00
"The second full-length release by U.S. Girls is an even more fully realized excursion into a hazy alternate universe where pop vocals and muzzy scree fuse in harmony. Go Grey conjures up ambient aerosols while luminous kaleidoscopes of sound sizzle, peak, and explode. Megan Remy is a chanteuse from (perhaps) the future, guiding all who choose to sail an evocative trip through her unique aural hallucinogenic landscapes. Its a journey of lush vistas, warm currents, and complex beauties. 23nd-Century-style, of course. So come aboard and see why U.S. Girls is being hailed the Eno of the 50s--the 2250s! Can you imagine? Lets hope so." - Siltbreeze.
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"If the alluring moniker used by Megan Remy conjures images of volleyball teams or cheerleading squads, forget it. Not that theres any doubt that Remy--sorry, U.S. Girls--couldnt rise and conquer either challenge. Like fellow DIY ingenues Sally Strobelight and Inca Ore, U.S. Girls approach is deceptively ethereal and delightfully haunting; lithe, lysergic gamma rays of keyboard murk beamed over percussive bonk sort of resemble Diamanda Galas reinterpreting Suicides Red Star. And dig that cover of Bruce Springsteens "Prove It All Night," done in such an effortless, barbital lush youd swear the air was filled with mescaline. Guess what? Its not." - Siltbreeze
Country: USA
Price: $6.00
"There⿿s no disputing the truth that certain formats befit certain artists. Think about it: where⿿s the logic in Tangerine Dream rocking a 3-way split 3 CDR? Those fools need room to roam. Conversely, why would Orthrelm drop a 4xLP? Who needs 160 minutes of 8-second spazz songs? The medium is a message, man. And for Megan Remy⿿s brief, brave re-imaginings of guitar/voice pop rapture done under the U.S. Girls flag, the 45 RPM 7 inch single is the absolute dream medium for transporting said sounds to the interested earhole. Short and sweet (and chemical) like a sugar rush, Me + Yoko is her latest reverb-gaze drug nugget in a string of strong singles (following releases on Hardscrabble Amateurs and Cherry Burger), and it⿿s another keeper. Whistling to life with a scrap of found sound/dialogue, the song then wings into a vague, hazed-out stone-toss between 2 tired notes (a dead ringer for that famous Les Rallizes Denudes bass riff), ebbing and flowing beneath smeary streaks of white-washed vocal blur. A Top 40 single for a universe of ghosts. The B, ⿿Rise + Go, might actually be the more aching of the two, a broke-down bedroom ballad, awash in sad seas of reverb, lapping at the shores of isolated islands, gently sailing into heartbreak. Sounds lo-fi but lush, like it was recorded high on a cloud on a cheap 80s boombox. Imagine that. Black vinyl 45 RPM singles, mastered by Pete Swanson, in photocopied sleeves with art by Remy. Edition of 380." -Not Not Fun
Country: USA
Price: $7.00
"Here comes US GIRLS resurrecting puzzled memories. Nostalgia to be unsure of, or maybe days lost behind thick shadow. Something is bubbling to the surface, but why is it happening? Strange, this is innocent melody at drift on waves of tape disintegration. Shes a one woman call and responder dialing up minimalist lines and beats. A loner. And of course, these two jams are crooned so hard and with such ease that we fall deep within the emptiness on either side. This is music with plenty of space for being dissolved, and sure, it could even be the gift of an inner door that opens on and on."-Pigeon Row. Edition of 300 copies.
SOLD OUT
Country: Italy
Price: $31.00
"Deluxe repress edition of this incredible masterpiece made out of two live performances of the U.S. Steel Cello Ensemble recorded in 1979 at The Showing Room in NYC and at Helen Shlien Gallery in Boston. The Ensemble performs playing large sheets of metal and producing amazingly droning sounds. These live recordings are the result of an evolutionary refinement of instrumental design and playing techniques which Robert Rutman explored and developed after a ten year period of practice. He invented the two only instruments played by the Steel Cello Ensemble: the Bow Chime - a six foot sheet of steel formed into a horizontal curve with an iron bar attached to the top corners of the metal sheet - and the Single String Cello - an eight foot sheet suspended vertically from a stand. This limited reissue has been released in occasion of Bob Rutmans 83rd birthday party concert at Cookies, in Berlin. Edition of 300 copies." -Holidays.
Country: Japan
Price: $26.00
"Legit reissue with mini-LP style packaging; includes 5 bonus tracks. "First incarnation of the legendary Japanese hard prog psych rock act Flower Travellin Band. Debut album by Yuya Uchida & The Flowers which was started by Yuya Uchida (born on 17 November 1939) who already was making some rockabilly singles in the early 60s and was one of the opening performers when The Beatles came to Japan in 1966. But when he traveled to Europe in 1967, he was immediately inspired by Cream, Jimi Hendrix and The Who. When he returned to Japan, he started the band The Flowers with vocalist Remi Aso, and the band caused a sensation in the Japanese music scene. Most of the tracks on this album are covers of songs by Cream, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix, and one original song." - Columbia.
Country: UK
Price: $23.00
"Following his self-imposed exile in Britain, soon-to-be Flower Travellin Band leader Yuya Uchida embarked on the task of creating a hand-picked band in the hope of achieving a home-grown outfit to rival groups hed been listening to in London. Legendary guitarist Hideki Ishima was his first recruit, followed by steel guitarist Katshiko Kobayashi and then the bravest move of all, the beautiful vocalist Remi Aso was asked to front the band, now named The Flowers. The bands debut LP, originally released in 1968, completely changed the Japanese musical scene, featuring as it did, hard covers of Big Brother And The Holding Company, Cream and Jefferson Airplane songs, and its ground-breaking cover art, featuring the bands members, including Miss Aso, naked in a cornfield, changed the musical landscape for ever. Digitally remastered. Numbered, limited collectors edition." -Phoenix.
Title: Experimental Music of Japan Vol. 8: Assemblage
Format: CD
Country: Japan
Price: $26.00
"This is the eighth volume in Edition Omega Points Experimental Music Of Japan series. Japanese composer and synthesizer artist Kazuo Uehara was born in Osaka in 1949. He studied composition in Tokyo and in New York and is a Professor of Music at the Osaka University of Arts, teaching composition, experimental music and also multi-media performance. His music has been performed in France, Germany, the U.S., and other countries and he has also performed his interactive live music and multi-media pieces at major festivals in Sweden, Bulgaria, Russia, France, Poland, Brazil, China, Korea and other countries. He was the main prize-winner at the Bourge International electroacoustic music competition in 1983. In 1990, he was awarded a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. He has been producing the International Festival for Contemporary Music in Japan since the 1980s. "Assemblage is a word from the domain of modern art. This is one of the techniques in the expression of art. The word means mixture, originally. I decided that assemblage would be the concept of this CD. A collage by Picasso is similar example. Dadaism is also another similar example. I try to express new directions in music by using the assemblage technique. Music Collage Re-Mix Version is based on the live recording of a performance from Brazil in 1989 -- a collaboration with a Brazilian dancer and her voice. Pont De lAlma De Paris was a piece composed at INA-GRM, which is well-known as the place where musique concrète was created by Pierre Schaeffer. The title of this piece Pont De lAlma is the name of the metro station in Paris. I tried to express the harmony between traditional images and contemporary images of Paris. OTO Mandala 2 -- usually a mandala is created as a visual image but in this piece I tried to create a mandala image by using sound with bandoneon by Miho Kurosawa. Sound Work 1 is the first piece I composed by using a personal computer. I used NEC PC 8-bit which came out in the beginning of the 1980s. I tried to create very simple synthesized sounds. Forest Of Gombe is a piece on the subject of nature from a chimpanzees forest in Africa. Assemblage 2004 was composed using the assemblage technique using various sounds, noises from nature and instruments like piano and biwa. Meteora Version 1.0 is the name of a strange rock from the northern part of Greece. Meteora 1 is created as acousmatic music." Housed in a cardboard paper sleeve. Including newly-written liner notes in Japanese & English by the artist. Limited edition of 400 copies only." - Omega Point.
Title: Obscure Tape Music Of Japan Vol. 15: Event 73
Format: CD
Country: Japan
Price: $27.00
"From 1972 to 1973, I was based in New York for my creative activities and live performances. New York at this time was in its golden age of experimental music. Towards the end of my stay, I held a live performance entitled Event 73 to sum up my creative works in New York. The venue for the performance was The Kitchen of the Mercer Arts Center that provided spaces for innovative and emerging artists. This CD consists of a mixture of sounds that were created at a studio prior to the live performance and the sounds recorded live at the performance. I used the Buckla Synthesizer for electronic sound and also for transformation of the sound. The work has four different segments: 1) Diffusion 2) Condensation 3) Chaos 4) Revolution. Each segments meanings and sounds itself doesnt necessarily correlate to each other. Yet, the images that are evoked by each word express the chaotic world of the day." -Edition Omega Point.
Title: Obscure Tape Music Of Japan Vol. 16: Early Works
Format: CD
Country: Japan
Price: $27.00
"Edition Omega Point presents a collection of early work from Japanese experimental composer Kazuo Uehara. "Seoul 1982 was composed using recorded sounds as raw material to reassemble the historical soundscape of Koreas capital city, Seoul, in the early 1980s. During this time, despite the political chaos and the tension in the city under the Korean military government, I felt the lively energy in peoples lives. The raw material comprised a wide range of different sounds, including the street cries in the downtown, cheerful voices of children in the Namsang area, noise of arterial streets, and conversations of from students at the Seoul National University. Apart from that, the encounter with the Korean traditional percussion music group, Samul Nori, was such a precious moment in my fieldwork. I would like to dedicate this piece to the people in Korea, especially the original members of Samul Nori, and also to the French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who captured the decisive historic moments. Music For Contemporary Dance is dedicated to Takao Kusuno. In the 1970s, the art space Jean-Jean in Shibuya served as a popular venue for experimental music, theater, dance, etc. Within this movement, I did collaborative works with Takao Kusuno who performed as an artist and dance director. In the 1980s, Kusuno moved his base to Brazil where his outstanding performances won numerous awards until his early passing. This piece was composed in collaboration with Kusuno to explore new approaches for dance. The work has two consecutive parts, subtitled Crows Habit and I Am A Clown. It was not merely contemporary dance, nor Butoh, but it indicated the contemporary room for the dance scene of the time. His work returned home with Brazilian dancers and was staged in Japan in 2009. Science Technology Expo 85 - Music For Cell Universe was specially composed for the Health and Sports Pavilion at the International Exposition, Tsukuba, Japan, 1985. The space was comprised of 27 multiscreen films and stereophonic space. The uniquely designed space controller, the system for moving sound image, made it possible to control the electronic acoustic sound image to create virtual 3D space. Homage To Xenakis was composed at a UPIC workshop held in Tokyo in the 1980s where the composer Iannis Xenakis made remarks on each presented work. The musical composition tool, UPIC, was created by Xenakis, and was developed at the Centre dEtudes de Mathématique et Automatique Musicales (CEMAMu) in Paris. This unique sound synthesis system allows the user to create music by drawing lines on the board. Xenakis originally envisaged this tool to be used for pedagogical purpose. Other than musicians, the workshop drew participants from children to adults. The piece was composed in collaboration with the computer graphic artist Masao Kohmura and others." -Edition Omega Point.
Title: Ive Got Something I Cant Explain
Format: 7"
Country: AUSTRALIA
Price: $6.00
"Ufonaut is an exercise in one-man-bandism. The a-side of this release incorporates layers of droney guitars, drums and whispers while the b-side (the real meat and potatoes!) opens with a samplicous cut and paste jazz number and closes with drones, jingles and jangles. Grey vinyl, fancily packaged and strictly limited to 200 hand numbered copies." - Saucerlike.
Country: USA
Price: $7.00
"200 page monster edition / perfect bound / full-color glossy cover. Inside: the third epic installment of The Misunderstood Story. Torn apart by the Vietnam draft, the band members continue their various struggles. We follow steel guitarist Glenn Campbells days with Rod Piazzas Dirty Blues Band, Juicy Lucy and Joe Cocker, and Rick Browns fugitive adventures on the run from the US military and the FBI. PLUS: revelatory interviews with Ace Kefford of The Move and Chris Youlden of Savoy Brown. Fly around the world and visit The Matadors from Czechoslovakia, The Speakers from Colombia, The Wild Cherries and The Creatures from Australia, Prudy from Bratislava and Belgiums Plastic Bertrand. Johan Kugelberg interviews DIY cult icons The Popes and explains the joys of Primitive Sh*t Music. We also have stories on the very early Prehistoric Pretty Things, Brian Jones, Mel Lyman, Wild Bill Kennedy & The Twiliters and lots more, including our massive review section covering hundreds of vinyl and CD reissues, music related books and DVDs." - Ugly Things.
Country: USA
Price: $8.50
"Contents: Issue #30 is a Kinks special, featuring an extensive, no holds barred interview with Ray Davies by Kinks biographer Jon Savage, along with various sidebar articles and a host of rare and previously unpublished photos, all focused on the bands 1964-68 heyday. Also in this issue: The Masters Apprentices, Ollie Halsall and Patto, 60s garage punks The Hysterics, girl garage rockers The Bittersweet, Dutch beat icons Q65, 70s Texas punks The Nervebreakers, a rundown of the greatest 60s punk compilations by Johan Kugelberg, Cromagnon, The New Nadir, and lots more, including, as always, our extensive review sections covering all the latest reissues, rocknroll books and DVDs." - Ugly Things. 176 pages, perfect bound/full-color glossy cover.
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $10.00
"With Love as our major cover story, this issue is sure to fly off the shelves. In an extensive, soul-baring interview, guitarist Johnny Echols (Arthur Lees right-hand man throughout Loves classic period) tears down the mystery and the myth to reveal the true story of this seminal band. We also have a pile of other amazing stories: Dutch psychedelic freaks Group 1850, destructive Ohio proto-punks The Electric Eels, English freakbeat giants Wimple Winch and The Craig, plus The Leopards, The Syndicate, The Reekers, The Hangmen, Barrence Whitfield, Wildwood, Illes and more. Also, The San Francisco Beat, a brand new column by Cyril Jordan of the Flamin Groovies, and of course our extensive review sections covering all the latest reissues, rocknroll books and DVDs." - Ugly Things. 176 pages, perfect bound/full-color glossy cover.
Country: USA
Price: $10.00
"For our cover story this issue, we have a massive, exclusive, detail-packed interview with Dave Davies of The Kinks by Richie Unterberger, who also got access to internal memos from Warners/Reprise (the Kinks US record company) that shed new light on the bands story. Also on the cover? US 70s art punks The Screamers; we are featuring an extensive unpublished 1978 interview by Jon Savage, rare photos and more. And theres lots more: Texas garage-psych icons The Golden Dawn, cult hard rock trio Dust, Swedish beat innovator Hazze Hep, Dutch beat group The Lazy Bones, 70s punkers Elton Motello, Norways Borres Kork, Unsettled Society (of 17 Diamond Studded Cadillacs infamy), Blue Cheer, Vanda-Youngs Marcus Hook Roll Band, the early years of Lester Bangs, Rhino 39, and mind-melting interviews with Dennis Dunaway (Alice Cooper), acid folkster Marc Brierley, and Johnny Strike of Crime. Cyril Jordan of the Flamin Groovies shares his experiences of 1968, and we take a journey deep, deep into The Diamond Mine with legendary DJ Dave Diamond. And, as always, our comprehensive review sections covering all the latest reissues, in-depth, and rocknroll-related books." - Ugly Pop.
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $10.00
"This issue has cover stories on the Flamin Groovies, the Dictators and the Human Expression. Cyril Jordan recounts the making of the Groovies seminal Teenage Head album. The Human Expression released a pair of mind-blowing garage-psych singles in 1966 and 1967 that are today regarded as among the most exciting and original of the era. In this issue the band members tell their full story for the first time. Stu Boy King was the drummer for The Dictators classic debut album Go Girl Crazy! He talks here in-depth for the first time since his ejection from the group in 1975. We also have fabulous exclusive interviews with the late Dave Hassinger (studio engineer for the 1964-66 Rolling Stones 1964-66, Jefferson Airplane, and the Electric Prunes, Steve Katz (Blues Project; Blood, Sweat & Tears), and Denny Tedesco, director of The Wrecking Crew. We also have eye-opening stories on San Franciscos demented proto-punks Psycotic Pineapple, a drug-scarred Santa Barbara 60s saga starring Turquoise, UK 70s punks Red Lights (Never Wanna Leave), Michigan garage greatness with Joe Doll, The Beau Biens and the aftermath, plus Hamilton & the Movement, Phoenix, Los Free Minds, Mickey Finn & the Blue Men & more. As always theres also our instructive review sections covering all the latest reissues and rocknroll-related books." - Ugly Things.
Country: USA
Price: $10.00
"Cover stories this time include southern California garage psych cult heroes Things To Come, Canadian heavy psych monsters Bent Wind, and San Franciscos seminal punk rocknroll villains Crime, who are the subject of a sensational new feature story loaded with scandalous revelations from the heyday of the 70s punk scene. Other stories include: New England 60s garage rocker Travis Pike, Boston punks Unnatural Axe, Texas punks The Skunks, The Box Tops, San Diegos Inmates, an archeological expedition into the Music Machines garage, and interviews with The Turtles, Christine Ohlman (the Wrongh Black Bag), and Keith Richards guitar-maker, Ted Newman Jones. Plus the latest installment in Cyril Jordans ongoing Flamin Groovies saga, and our extensive review sections, the ultimate consumers guide to all the latest vinyl and CD reissues and rocknroll-related books." - Ugly Things.
Country: USA
Price: $10.00
"Two fantastic bands take pride of place on the cover this issue. The Yardbirds, one of the most innovative groups of the 60s, are re-examined via a fascinating interview with Paul Samwell-Smith, the bands bass player, musical arranger, and one of their key songwriters. The Weirdos were at the epicenter of the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 1970s, but their story has never been covered before with any depth or detail. We rectify that this issue with an epic feature story loaded with wild and weird photos. Also in the spotlight are London 60s mods The Carnaby and The Game, Syracuse budget rock heroes The Penetrators, Texas garage-punks The Wig, Berkeley power pop icon J.D. Buhl, late 60s Manchester long-hairs Greasy Bear, and frilly-shirted pop-psych purveyors Fortes Mentum. Also, the story of Custom Fidelity Records, a riveting journey behind the scenes of the vanity record pressing industry in its mid-century heyday. Not to forget the latest installment in Cyril Jordans ongoing Flamin Groovies saga, and our extensive review sections, the ultimate consumers guide to all the latest vinyl and CD reissues and rocknroll-related books." - Ugly Things.
Title: Off the Hook/Screw the System
Format: 7"
Country: USA
Price: $7.00
"This storied first-wave Toronto punk outfit have been sadly under-represented on vinyl. Apart from a couple of live comp tracks, their sole 70s waxing was a misguided attempt at a power pop hit single -- not a completely miserable 45, but hardly suggesting the raw power they were capable of. A 90s CD collected their incendiary studio recordings, proving true their live reputation as a rough, hard-edged punk outfit, but that material is tied up by bad contracts and will probably never see legit vinyl release. Now The Ugly are back; while legendary local hooligan and original frontman Mike Nightmare passed away in the 90s, new vocalist Greg Dick (of contemporaries The Dream Dates) is about as capable and credible as they come, and the veteran Ugly trio of drummer Tony Torcher, bassist Screamin Sam Ferrara (both of The Viletones) and guitarist Steve Koch (also of the Demics) are determined to set the record straight. This isnt the usual castrated reunion schtick, either -- the new 45 is as tough as they ever been, swaggering through the topsides punkified early Stones in classic fashion but turning up the aggression on the 1978-vintage flipside, a raw, mean and quick-paced hard punk blast with a grinding guitar recalling early Black Flag or Subhumans. One time pressing of 480 only in swank pocket sleeve with insert, produced by Don Pyle (Crash Kills Five) and cut loud by Peter Moore for maximum impact. No colour vinyl or gimmick versions." - Ugly Pop.
Title: Live on the Phone
Format: Cass
Country: USA
Price: $12.00
500 pressed. Digipack covers with fullcolor sticker. "Paying tribute to the mighty egg, UKE OF SPACES CORNERS COUNTY take the opportunity to stretch way out on this release, with a collection of late winter early spring burners to welcome in the coming season of fertility and new beginnings. Neo-Sea shanties and dreaming yelping dogs make way for freight train field recordings and song poems, allowing a lush backdrop of defined yet spacious riffs to enter into the sonic field by means of electric, acoustic and prepared guitars, analog drum machines, stand up bass, trombone, effected keyboards, bells and fingersnaps. This is the cd version of previously released and now out of print cassette on Goaty Tapes. The cd reissue features a print of a beautiful watercolor rendition of the original cassette cover art by Amy Moon Offermann-Sims." - Turned Word.
Title: Flowers in the Night
Format: CD
Country: USA
Price: $12.00
"The UKES bring us all another butter country moon fried farm folk bammer to sing or bang a gong along to. Once again this release features a full band of self taught weirdo clinger and clangers carefully caressing tones out of anything from an effected mandolin to a marble in the bottom if a well tuned 5 gallon bucket. Players include Andy Neubauer, Dan B, Amy Moon O-s, Kristen Myers, Caleb Gamble, and Ben Grubb. Cover art by Janel Beckman and printed by Leif Goldburg. Insert art by Amy Moon and Kristen Myers." -- Turned Word.
Title: Flowers in the Night
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $13.00
"The UKES bring us all another butter country moon fried farm folk bammer to sing or bang a gong along to. Once again this release features a full band of self taught weirdo clinger and clangers carefully caressing tones out of anything from an effected mandolin to a marble in the bottom if a well tuned 5 gallon bucket. Players include Andy Neubauer, Dan B, Amy Moon O-s, Kristen Myers, Caleb Gamble, and Ben Grubb. Cover art by Janel Beckman and printed by Leif Goldburg. Insert art by Amy Moon and Kristen Myers." - Turned Word.
Title: So Far On The Way
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $13.00
"I cant say if it was ale, victuals or the tuneage, but once I got into the thick of this record my whole body began to tingle & my eyes got to sparklin. It reminded me of the scene w/Lawrence Olivier in Marathon Man when he sees them diamonds for the 1st time. I got to readin the inserts & seen one of the main brains on here was Dan Beckman whod also been on that Flak Mask 7" I liked. But he wasnt scratchin out the numbers 11201 on this lotto ticket. In fact, this is just about as opposite of that as they come. Sure its been recorded all over creation, but So Far On The Way breathes deep from the flora n fauna of southern Appalachia rather than the wheezeve urban twiddley-dum. Its corn pone jocularity conjurs up an aura of Doc Snocks hickum & Dans voice is similar enough w/Pete Stampfels to lend an air of friendly Holy Modal Rounders cheer onto the porch. Theys even got the gumption to croak out a haunting dirge-like interpretation of Sun Ras Outer Spaceways Incorporated (here entitled Outter Spaceways). And guess what? It dont suck! Addin this lp in w/the recent spate of great releases whats come out over the past few months, it nestles comfortably between Lord Fyres Destruction At 2013 & The Cherry Blossoms debut (which is gonna get harped on here soon). Id say this is a dinger for comers, be they shoeless or clueless. And how bout that paste on cover & hand stitched lyric book whats enclosed?. I dunno about you, but until Pep Lester releases his lp of Avant-Bluegrass ditties, the bar for goodness starts here." - Siltblog.
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $14.00
"III is as immediate as a truck with failed brakes crashing through your living room wall. The third and final installment of a trilogy entitled Ceremony, its opening moments rage and wail, with distorted guitars pulling out in front of the drums like hellhounds that have slipped their masters leash. But this isnt a mono-dimensional freak-out. Smith paces himself, pulling back into brooding drones and pensive picking before lashing out once more. As befits a journey thats taken three discs to unfold, it ends with a grand gesture; the final melody is as epic as Roy Montgomerys mid-90s work, and it unfurls over a landscape of blasted wah-wah licks & feedback that somehow reconcile The Stooges and Popul Vuh." - Signal To Noise.
Country: USA
Price: $26.00
"A double-LP reissue of the 1997 CD, with an additional seven tracks taken from various 7-inches and compilations-sixteen songs in total of unparalleled refinement and sensitivity (and often a great deal less). Includes a bonus 7-inch containing two previously unreleased tracks culled from the Zoll sessions. "Classic early industrial / power electronics from the American Northwest receives a deluxe vinyl treatment of their entire output. Violent cacophony reminiscent of Whitehouse and similar ilk; a beautifully presented monstrosity." Limited edition of 400 copies." -Dom America
Title: Sex at the Maly Trostenets
Format: LP
Country: Sweden
Price: $22.00
"Originally released as a private cassette in 2007 and later re-released the same year on Thorax. After returning to this cassette repeatedly during the years we felt it needed to be presented to a wider audience. Sex at the Maly Trostenets presents two longer pieces of industrial tape loop works with a dry and uneffected analogue song. Never harsh or aggressive but rather focusing on texture and atmosphere. Cold, lo-fi machinery that relentlessly keeps pounding. Always minimal but never boring. The delicate ruggedness of Sex at the Maly Trostenets is simply something you rarely encounter these days. Far away from the contemporary lo-fi genre where lo-fi is not mere a description of recording technique but also embodies an idea of poor musical standards. Recording is retrieved from original tape master making it more detailed and rich in sound than previous releases. Carefully mastered for vinyl. Comes with bigger inlay based on the original cassette artwork." - Järtecknet. Ultra Fuck is Dan Johansson of Sewer Election. Edition of 200 copies.
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"Kansas Citys goblin king of neo-Giallo, brood-blooded dark fantasy soundtracking returns with his fourth official full-length, two years after the badass psychodrama of Prophecy of the Black Widow. The time betwixt was well spent, on tours (Europe twice, including the Mogwai-curated All Tomorrows Parties fest), one-off tapes and 12-inches (Welcome to the Chill Zone, Final Exit, etc.), and tweaking the mixes and minutia of the seven undead invasion omens comprising Confrontations. What instantly distinguishes this new album from the previous two is its ominous, slow-burn compositional model, building its evil temple brick by brick, basking in the tension of each new chiming, Carpenter-esque synth line or monkish doom Om for multiple measures before stirring the next substance into the cauldron. This elegant sense of patience gives the tracks a more oozing, operatic aura; these confrontations arent hostile showdowns in the woods but the creeping dread of alien-nation body snatchers infiltrating the populace. Death comes slipping. Can someone hire this genius to score the They Live remake already? X-filed highway cover artwork designed by Dionysian visualist TIM GOODWILLIE." -Not Not Fun.
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $8.00
"After 2 full-lengths mining vintage horror scores and Italo/Goblin-isms for inspiration, Kansas City riddler and composition whiz Umberto slow-pans his focus out of the graveyards and black widow cobwebs into the celluloid-stained artificial streets of Beverly Hills police beats and pop culture ghost-busting. Freeze! is an inscrutable but impressively legit reinvention of Jan Hammer-style 80s soundtrack cheese: soaring keyboard lines, fast-tappin piano, locked-in bass grooves, goofy canned drums, baroque purple haze soloing, etc. Put An APB On Those Bastards kicks things off with a tension-ramping Corvette cruise into the heat of the night, while Illegal Entry With Intent To Zuul is a pitch-perfect rooftop chase scene that ends with somebody falling fifty stories into a posh private pool (and is apparently also somehow about that horned dog demon that possesses Sigourney Weaver in G-Busters?). A bizarre and thoroughly enjoyable curveball from one of our fave current music-makers. Black vinyl 45s in pro-printed jackets with hilarious/hijacked Eddie Murphy artwork by Derek Goon. Edition of 500." -Not Not Fun
Country: USA
Price: $17.00
Repressed. "EXPO 70 bass/synth player MATT HILL has gone solo. His debut LP under the UMBERTO moniker is an analog masterpiece heavily influenced by the classic film score work of Goblin, except arguably better. From the moment you drop the needle, youll be transported to Italy as an extra in a vintage horror flick directed by Dario Argento. This is some of the most accessible, yet totally authentic sounding music of the "giallo" genre weve ever heard. It was previously only available as a hyper limited edition CDR and cassette tape via Sonic Meditations. For fans of Goblin, John Carpenter, Zombi, and classic Italian horror soundtracks."-Permanent Records.
SOLD OUT
Title: Prophecy of a Black Widow
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"The one Umberto performance we had the rad fortune to bear witness to involved at least a dozen dudes, dads, and ladies all on stage wearing sunglasses at night and shredding keyboards/keytars bathed in a sea of fog machinery and strobe lights and extraterrestrially-costumed interpretive dancers. Shit was BEYOND. Umberto mastermind Matt Hill allegedly went to legit music school back in the day and used to play bass for Expo 70 (Justin/Expo released the debut Umberto tape/CDR, From The Grave, on his Sonic Meditations label) before splintering into his current electro-satanic Goblin worship guise -- and we for one cant get enough. Prophecy Of The Black Widow is his sophomore LP and though the badass evil Italo goth-synth horror-score blueprint of Grave remains, the main variation is subtle vibe-shift from 70s Argento/Carpenter-isms into more early/mid-80s new wave creep-scapes. Theres still plenty of eerie nightmare keyboard riffs and vintage witch-disco breakouts but the synths squelch with more of a neon retrofuturist bent and theres even one brazenly feel good soaring-into-the-sunset closing credits anthem (the literally-titled Everything Is Going To Be Okay). Whatever prophecy Prophecy is foretelling, were on board. Black vinyl LPs in jackets with sick fake-3D lettering and art by Seth Johnson." -Not Not Fun
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"Upon relocating from the Midwest to Los Angeles last year, MATT HILL discovered a number of his original audio folders were deleted or corrupted beyond repair. In preparation for a string of performances, he holed up and tried to recreate some of these lost compositions, strip-mining his memory for clues and notation. This revisitation process had a particularly transformative effect on the seething lead cut from 2010s Prophecy of the Black Widow, elongating its curvature into even more elegantly paranoid shapes, riding the beat through wider corridors of spider webs and blood-red light. "Temple Room (Extended Version)" functions like a directors cut: expansive, indulgent, and attuned to a deeper strain of the nightmare. Catch Umberto on tour this spring in half the Western world. Edition of 427 LPs." -Not Not Fun.
Title: Tra Scienza e Fantascienza
Format: LP
Country: Switzerland
Price: $27.00
“First vinyl reissue of a highly-sought after electronic abstract future jazz release by Italian soundtrack and library music composer Piero Umiliani, originally released on Umilianis label Omicron in 1980 under the pseudonym Moggi. Umilianis releases are generally expensive and hard to find, and Tra Scienza e Fantascienza is no exception. Umiliani was a master, gifted with a never-ending passion for music, and an experimental innovator who manipulated synthesizers with ease, forging a sound that could be reductively termed avant-garde. Timeless atmospheres and alien hypnotic sonorities that are modern and charmingly retro; minimal and complex; arranged with precision. Umiliani was way ahead of his time; hear, for instance, "Happy Accompaniment": it sounds like a 2015 minimal house track.” - We Release..
SOLD OUT
Title: Tra Scienza e Fantascienza
Format: LP
Country: Switzerland
Price: $27.00
"First vinyl reissue of a highly-sought after electronic abstract future jazz release by Italian soundtrack and library music composer Piero Umiliani, originally released on Umilianis label Omicron in 1980 under the pseudonym Moggi. Umilianis releases are generally expensive and hard to find, and Tra Scienza e Fantascienza is no exception. Umiliani was a master, gifted with a never-ending passion for music, and an experimental innovator who manipulated synthesizers with ease, forging a sound that could be reductively termed avant-garde. Timeless atmospheres and alien hypnotic sonorities that are modern and charmingly retro; minimal and complex; arranged with precision. Umiliani was way ahead of his time; hear, for instance, "Happy Accompaniment": it sounds like a 2015 minimal house track." - We Release Whatever the Fuck We Want.
Country: Italy
Price: $24.00
"Exact repro" reissue of the 1975 LP, part of the "Background Music" series. The theme is African music and instruments.
"Piero Umiliani was an Italian composer of film scores, most famous for his song "Mah Nࠍah Nࢠof 1968, that was originally used for a Mondo documentary about Sweden (Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso) and became world-famous in 1977 when performed for The Muppet Show. The song was also an anthem of the Benny Hill show. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many exploitation films in the 1960s and 1970s, covering genres such as spaghetti western, Eurospy, Giallo, and soft sex films. Although not as widely regarded as, for example, Ennio Morricone or Riz Ortolani, he helped form the style of the typical European 60s/70s jazz-influenced film soundtrack that later experienced a revival in films like Kill Bill and Oceans Twelve. Piero Umiliani was born in Florence on July 17 1926. In 1959, charged by great Mario Monicelli to compose the OST of "I Soliti Ignoti" (Big Deal on Madonna Street) OST, he gains international recognition. The score featured Chet Baker on trumpet and it was the first experiment ever of Jazz Music on an Italian comedy movie. In 1961, he writes the music for "Smog" OST were again he featured Chet Baker artistry along with Helen Merrill shaping a masterpiece in Jazz OST history. Il 1970, the Master opened Liuto Edizioni Musicali, his own publishing company and Sound Work Shop recording studio. The first album of this new professional dimension was "Svezia, Inferno e Paradiso" (Sweden, Heaven and Hell") who contained the biggest hit of his career: "Mah Nࠍah Nࢠ(Muppet Show, Benny Hill Show, Red Skelton show). From Liuto catalogue came some of the greatest and richest moments in Italian film Music history. "La Ragazza dalla Pelle di Luna" (The Girl with the Skin of the Moon), "La Legge dei Gangsters" (The Gangsters" Law), Angeli Bianchi
Angeli Neri (White Angels
Black Angels) etc. Liuto catalogue also features incredible background music albums that delivers an amazing variety of sounds: from "To.Day"s Sound" and "News" to "Tra Scienza e Fantascienza" (Between Science and Science Fiction). In those great albums Piero Umiliani combined live Musicians with Electronic instruments. A very exhaustive manifesto of such works can be heard on "Musicaelettronica Vol. 1 & 2" anthology albums. In the past few years, the Timeless and Stainless sound of Piero Umiliani has strongly come back with the inclusion of his music in OSTs of movies like "Playing by Heart" (Sean Connery), "Thick as Thieves" (Alec Baldwin) and ultimately the star packed Hollywood production "Ocean"s 12" with great Crepuscolo Sul Mare track. Major Multinational brands have used his music for television advertising and the CD releases of his music were acclaimed worldwide. In his long career Piero Umiliani composed and recorded 190 soundtracks, 40 library albums and 35 TV title themes." - Discogs.
Country: Italy
Price: $38.00
“Limited edition of 500. Glossy sleeve. First reissue. Piero Umilianis self-released 1968 Effetti Musicali LP exposes his art and his versatility; among his keyboards and other implements, Umiliani creates overlapping sounds and situations with full artistic autonomy, free from the influence of any outside producer. The result is a stunning psychedelic experiment. Remastered from the original Umiliani family master tapes.” - Cinedelic. "We all love a bit of Umiliani, and here on this exceptionally rare recording (for his own label) hes wearing his weirdo hat. Its orchestral, challenging, experimental and sometimes absolutely beautiful (listen to Oriente Misterioso). This is a strange peak in the underground world of peculiar library music." - Jonny Trunk (Vice, Record Collector, MOJO).
Title: Genti e Paesi del Mondo
Format: LP
Country: Italy
Price: $26.00
"The mid 70s presented mature, fertile grounding for maestro Piero Uimilianis Sound Workshop Studio, exploring side ways explorations in to gravitational soundscapes and beyond. Released in 1975 via his prolific Omicron imprint, Genti e Paesi Del Mondo (Peoples and Countries of the World) is a return to the ethnic flavors so beloved of Umilianis zeitgeist. Umiliani turns anti-clockwise, launching a left field mental audio pad to uncharted territories. On Genti e Paesi Del Mondo sparse, eerie electronic confections spar in unison alongside moody transgressional vibes. Umilianis mysterious pathways unlock a trinket box echoing the Germanic stylings of Wolperaths Plank Studio and Herzog-era Popol Vuh. This loving reissue recreates the original artwork, master tape laquer cutting and Umilianis autograph notes on the project." - Black Sweat.
Title: Black Dwarf Wreckordings 83-85
Format: 4 LP Box
Country: Germany
Price: $93.00
“2013 release. Un-Kommuniti (sometimes also called Un-Kommunity or Thee Un-Kommuniti) was an early-to-mid-80s project run by Tim Gane with support of Joe Manning, Vince "Van Hire" Adams,Dave "Smut" Smit, and Pete Levy. Tim Gane went on to achieve renown with his band Stereolab and his participation in the band McCarthy in the late 80s. Un-Kommuniti ran their own tape label, Black Dwarf. The group was interested in musical alchemy and the result of this approach in the creation of their music is an incredible mix of psychedelic elements paired with the heaviest power electronics and noise sound-walls, leading the listening to the ultimate psychedelic journey. People familiar with the music of Stereolab will definitely recognize the roots of their musical output in this four-LP box set. They were active from 1983 until 1987 and released on numerous cassette culture labels including Freedom in a Vacuum, Broken Flag, Selbstmord Organización, Cause for Concern, Sound of Pig, and more. Besides their Brutality of Fact 7", released on Cause for Concern in 1984, they just had two other vinyl releases -- contributions to the compilations Freedom in a Vacuum (1987) and Statement (Broken Flag, 1984). This is the ultimate chance to enjoy a musical journey with almost four hours of carefully selected tape tracks by Un-Kommuniti. All the tracks selected for this box were recorded between 1983 and 85 and were previously only released on the groups own Black Dwarf label. Includes tracks from Black Dwarf(BDRS1), Doktrine (BDC1), Overliberated/Live in the Shithouse (BDW 06), The Prime Advantage (BDC10),Anarchist Bingo Hall/Soundtracks (BDC11), Sense of Unmaking (BDC12), Dhol Chants (BDC14), and Ex-Oblivione (BDC17), as well as the compilations Faith Will Never Die... (BDC05) and Crusade (BDC08).” - Vinyl-on-Demand.
Country: USA
Price: $24.00
"The songs are constructed from the practice tapes of two bands I was playing in at the time, Gateway Evening Colours (with Alex Farrill on drums and Brian House on bass) and Innnocent Delights (with Miles Huston on drums and vocals and Sam Mehran on keyboard and guitar). In both bands I was playing guitar through a no-input mixer setup. Gateway Evening Colours was working on a kind of deep blues/country-rock noise-wall sound, very minimal and jammy. Innocent Delights was less rock-ish, more free, more psychedelic. The majority of the songs consist of loops cut from GEC and ID practice tapes, cut-and-pasted with a computer wave editor, and also EQd and tweaked on a computer. While the source tapes were collective efforts, the editing process was my own solipsistic endeavor. What I wanted to do was isolate moments of group-improvisational clarity, and cut and paste them into a larger composition. It was this combination of the non-control of group improvisation with the hyper-control of cutting and pasting alone on a wave editor that intrigued me. Instead of developing compositions through the act of improvising, here the improvisations themselves become the compositions..." - ND.
"Originally released as a CDR in 2007, Unchained is the project of Nathaniel Davis. Also included in the reissue are a number of bonus tracks from the 2006 CDR, Anlehnung, originally released on the Paha Porvari label." - New Images.
Title: Superstars Of Greenwich Meantime
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $22.00
"Ruling at the perpetual pivot and pole of a peerless sound world over the past 25 years, the SUN CITY GIRLS are one of the few last arab cowboys of genius. SUPERSTARS OF GREENWICH MEANTIME is the premier long player from the UNCLE JIM... a smoked out X+Y=Fuck You dialectic. Rawer than Rudy Ray Moore, shrewder than Lenny Bruce, more spoken tongue wizard insanity than Lord Buckley and more deranged than Charles Baudelaire; this is ALAN BISHOPs own personal anthology of BLACK HUMOUR, filled to the brim full of diatribes backed up by bad ass musicians (including all of the Sun City Girls). A masterpiece of the SCG cannon. Limited to 500 copies." - Black Velvet Fuckere.
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Title: Superstars Of Greenwich Meantime
Format: CD
Country: USA
Price: $14.50
"This is a CD reissue of this previously vinyl-only, limited-edition 500-copy release, originally issued on the Black Velvet Fuckere label. Ruling at the perpetual pivot and pole of a peerless sound world over the past 25 years, the Sun City Girls are one of the few last Arab cowboys of genius. Superstars Of Greenwich Meantime is the premier long player from Uncle Jim (aka Alan Bishop) - a smoked out X+Y= Fuck You dialectic. Rawer than Rudy Ray Moore, shrewder than Lenny Bruce, more spoken tongue wizard insanity than Lord Buckley and more deranged than Charles Baudelaire; this is Bishops own personal anthology of black humour, filled to the brim with cranky diatribes backed up by bad ass musicians (including all of the Sun City Girls). A masterpiece of the SCG canon. Featuring Charles Gocher, Richard Bishop, Alvarius B, Liz Allbee, Andrew McGinnis, Specs One and Porest." - Abduction.
Country: USA
Price: $8.00
New metal project of Dave Nuss of NNCK (also featuring George Devoe and Arik Moonhawk Roper of Matta Llama) 8-song demo housed in handsome screened jacket. Edition of 100. "UNDER SATANS SUN is a new female-fronted 6-piece metal band out of New York City -- 2 singers who are sisters plus instrumentalists from backgrounds as diverse as NYC itself. The band name is taken from an early 20th century French existential/religious treatise in which an estranged priest meets with the devil Himself in a battle of wits. The outcome: darkness and the void. Thematically, the band actualizes the harsh intersection of the physical and the metaphysical. Religious queries and sexuality intertwine in reverence of the primeval urges of the human flesh, as well as the drive to transcend all such vulgarities in solitary pursuit of the non-corporeal. Musically, the songs are strongly influenced by folk traditions engaging love and the earth, as well as the harsher aspects of urban wasted life characteristic of the band�??s milieu. Each song is based on a strong vocal melody and the mangled interpretation of its dissolution into a sea of unbridled passion. The members of Under Satan�??s Sun seek to connect with their audience on a fundamental level by communicating about those things to which we can all relate: love and loss, sex and its abuse, and the despair and delectation of being alone."
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Country: Sweden
Price: $22.00
"Swedish underground counter-culture monster album from 1971, originally released as a private pressing of 150 copies, never sold at shops at the time. These bunch of freaks were clearly influenced by Dylan, early Velvet Underground and The Fugs, but they came with a sound of their own. Stoned/druggy atmosphere alternating from acoustic/acid-folk tracks to devastating, fuzzed-out ones like Green Ocelot, which was included at #38 in the recent Punk Before Punk top 50 list in Ugly Things magazine. Limited to 500 copies, with remastered sound in nice papersleeve mini-LP replica." -Black Light
Title: War in the Night Before
Format: LP
Country: Italy
Price: $38.00
"First reissue of War in the Night Before by The Underground Set (1971), one of the most important and rare Italian rock albums of the 70s. Limited-edition LP in deluxe sleeve with laminated front and matte back. Includes download code for full album plus six tracks from rare 7"s released in 1970 and 71. The Underground Set were Italian band Nuova Idea, releasing under an assumed name for contractual reasons (they released another cult LP in 1971 as The Psycheground Group).War in the Night Before was produced by Gian Franco Reverberi (whose earlier work was sampled to form the basis of the 2006 Gnarls Barkley hit "Crazy"); Reverberi also composed the album under his Ninety alias. The Underground Sets second album, War in the Night Before is definitely heavier than their 1970 self-titled debut, with great fuzz guitar, organ, Mellotron, and drums. Some riffs in a Black Sabbath style anticipate what would be defined, decades later, as "stoner rock." Psychedelia, beat, rhythm and blues, and progressive rock are all mixed into these instrumental tracks with some polyphonic choirs typical of Genovese prog (particularly New Trolls).” - Cinedelic.
Country: France
Price: $20.00
"Olympia, Washingtons political post-punk outfit Underpass uses a minimalist approach to craft songs about isolation, displacement and gentrification. Formed in 2013 by Alexander Miranda, the bands creative force behind the quartet, and his cohorts, whose names are withheld due to border issues, N.C. (bass) D.L. (synths) and M.W. (floor tom and snare), create dark heavy punk at its best by incorporating large atmospheric synths, deep, echoing bass lines with Robert Smith-kissed guitar compositions and haunting vocals. Recorded in Vancouver, BC over the course of two sleepless days and nights by Joseph Hirobiashi, then mastered by Mell Dettmer (Earth, Sunn O)))), Assimilation is nothing short of a call to action. On "Stranger" Miranda recalls the cities where he came of age such as Vancouver, Seattle and Olympia that have since come and gone and he no longer recognizes due to the intense wave of development that surged through the region in the early 2000s and still continues today. "Side" reflects more personal experience, recalling a time where a friend was assaulted and stabbed multiple times while on public transit in Southern California. Underlying the record as a whole, Miranda draws on his personal experiences growing up in a politically-charged Native American family where he experienced cultural displacement, personal conflict, and of course, assimilation. "I really admire writers who can create songs that mean something different to everyone," explains Miranda. "With Assimilation I tried to accomplish this by allowing each listener to connect to the record in different ways by internalizing their own experiences and relating to it in their own unique way." 350 gram sleeve with insert and a download coupon." - Desire.
Artist: UNDO
Title: un sperme qui meurt de froid en agitant faiblement sa petite queue dans les draps dun gamin
Format: CDR
Country: Canada
Price: $13.00
undo is Christof Migone and Alexandre St-Onge. Instrumentation: microphones. Site: mouths. "The duos variations on the microphone in the mouth theme (tape hiss on max, mumbled voices, sub-vocal sounds, etc) are like so many shades of grey. Appropriately enough, the track titles are taken from Samuel Becketts The Unnamable. And the grey cover is something Beckett himself might havewarmed to." - Phil England, The Wire. CD housed in jewel case with hand silkscreened insert and wrapped in metal wire. Highly recommended!
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Title: Live at Cafe OTO
Format: Double CD
Country: Belgium
Price: $19.00
"Supergroup power trio featuring drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat), guitarist Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), and bassist Guy Segers (Univers Zero) caught in wild act at Cafe OTO, London, on May 24, 2013." - Sub Rosa
Title: Live at Cafe OTO
Format: LP
Country: Belgium
Price: $16.00
LP version, featuring 4 tracks from the 10-track CD. "Supergroup power trio featuring drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat), guitarist Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), and bassist Guy Segers (Univers Zero) caught in wild act at Cafe OTO, London, on May 24, 2013." - Sub Rosa
Country: USA
Price: $13.00
"One-sided lp YES!! New crew new underground new sounds just stinking NEW. Body Morph/Mossy Throats/EXBX/ Russell Street Soup Sgt/DJ Ding Dong aka Dan D aka Square D and Hellfire Holly (The Jasons, Uneven Dead, Costco, has a kool young sis) make up this Michigan Basement Free Sound Non-Movement Unit. Exit Human is they debut platter, and what a freaking mug creeper it is. Slow moving reed and lurch galore. Chamber music for ear wax from 43 BC. Forwards, backwards, whatever speed you want, the message slays the same. WARNING= stoker alert. Dive in and join us in these warm and fruitful strange waters of audio moss. Art by HHolly in the new AT record sleeve fold over style. Numbered of Edition of 100, few left." -American Tapes
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Title: How to Blow Your Mind and Have a Freak-Out Party
Format: LP
Country: Spain
Price: $29.00
"A rare underrated freaky psychedelic LP that will appeal to those into The Summer Of Love meets The Mothers Of Invention sounds that will delight those ears into psychedelic exploitation albums like Love Machine, Mesmerising Eye, Fire & Ice LTD or Friendsound. Featuring a mindblowing production with harpsichord, sitar, chimes and anyting that makes freaky psych sounds. A trip back to the days of LSD and free love. Comes with a facsimile reproduction of the original insert. 500 copies limited edition." -Wah Wah.
Title: Ite, Missa Est (Computer Music)
Format: LP
Country: Sweden
Price: $15.00
Original LPs from 1982. "Tamas Ungvary is a conductor and computer music composer. Since 1972, Ungvarys many compositions have been performed at the majority of the European and American festivals. Ungvary has held numerous workshops and seminars both in Europe and in the United States." - Fylkingen.
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Country: USA
Price: $5.00
"�??Kutter�?� starts out in some plodding, kind of questionable James Williamson Stooge Explosion action, but once it lets loose it gets fucking crazy �?? fast rhythm and totally solid riffs, hurdled back and forth with reverb and delay, and benefiting from very sympathetic post-production. Buzzsaw jammer, will rock. Not too sure about �??Porkys�?� as it points into a Lightning Bolt/Dan Deacon sorta artjock thing, but the same production and killer mixing helps this one out too as it gets going. A pure noise-rock single in 2008, right down to the offensive cover art; everything old is new again. Pretty rad." -Doug Mosurak...Dustedmagazine.com
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Title: Skum Of The Earth
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $14.00
"Always a lightning rod of controversy, CHRIS LUTZKOs jihadist approach to punk has been beneficial in getting the word out about his local terror cell, the UNHOLY TWO. But after three years of live shows met with confrontation and polarized minds corrupted by conspiracy propaganda and subversive volume, the pivotal "put up or shut the fuck up" moment has arrived. As the countrys best hype man since Flavor Flav, Lutzko knew that all of his vitriolic soapboxing--not to mention the tweeter-busting feedback from the stage--had to be manifested in $kum of the Earth, the Unholy Twos debut album for Columbus Discount Records. On $kum of the Earth, Lutzko is aided mostly by ADAM SMITH on "power electronics" and BO DAVIS on drums, but he also invited a collection of townie notables, including the production team of TOM SHANNON (CHEATER SLICKS) & WILL FOSTER (GUINEA WORMS, and ANTHONY ALLMAN (EL JESUS DE MAGICO) on synth, to make for what seems like an all-night basement session in Washington Beach gone horribly out of control." -Columbus Discount
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Country: UK
Price: $9.00
"UnicaZürn is Stephen Thrower and David Knight. Ωmegapavilion consists of three improvisations played, recorded, and edited by UnicaZürn specifically for this release across one weekend in March 2015 in Battersea, London. Instrumentation included ARP Solina String Ensemble, EMS Synthi AKS, electric guitar, and two iPads. Heres Joe Banks, writing about the group for The Quietus: "UnicaZürn is an ongoing collaboration between David Knight and Stephen Thrower, two musicians with some serious avant rock credentials -- Knight was a key member of Shock Headed Peters and songwriting partner to the divine Danielle Dax, while Thrower was with Coil for eight years and is also one half of Cyclobe. The music they make together using a variety of vintage keys and reed instruments is a viscerally organic strain of proto-ambient, strongly influenced by the pre-sequencer Tangerine Dream of Zeit and Atem. Were firmly in drone territory here, but a long way away from throwing a few synth loops into GarageBand and hoping for the best." - The Tapeworm.
Country: USA
Price: $18.00
"Issued a decade ago as a CD on Housepig, Unicorns beautiful and sinister album "Playing With Light" is re-introduced to listeners as a rearranged and remastered LP. Unicorn is WT Nelson, known previously as party to 90s avant-hardcore outfit Man is the Bastard and its spawn, the prolific Bastard Noise. "Playing With Light" features three tracks originally prepared to accompany short films by Stephanie Miller, and, interspersed with standalone compositions, works cohesively to limn a world where the alien oscilloscapes of Bastard Noise merge with earthy synths and electric mandocello. The album opens with a transfixing music box motif that wouldnt be out of place ushering in the opening credits of a vintage thriller. In "Spots," the 10-minute centerpiece track, a mostly unaccompanied synth melody uses syncopation to create the impression of stumbling through darkness. "Clay & Fire" threatens to burst into full-bore power electronics territory but doesnt; the narration we hear is not a transgressive confession but instead a factory workers discovery of pottery as a respite from his labor. From there the record offers an electronic crescendo before resolving in the almost-comforting "Far Away; Close To You," which trails off in Morse code blips clearly transmitted but only possibly received. "Playing With Light" is unique in Nelsons discography and is entirely deserving of this vinyl reincarnation. "Rhodes, Electric Mandocello, Various Trogotronic Electronic / Electro Acoustics Prototypes & Field Recordings." Mastered by Timothy Stollenwerk and presented in an edition of 250 copies with download code." -Fabrica.
Country: UK
Price: $27.00
"Uniform formed in New York City in late 2013 when old friends Ben Greenberg (Hubble, The Men, Pygmy Shrews) and Michael Berdan (York Factory Complaint, Drunkdriver, Believer/Law) realized they lived on the same street. Their impulsive collaboration quickly yielded the 2014 Our Blood/Of Sound Mind and Body single. The six tracks that make up the equally abrasive but more refined Perfect World have been coming together between tours and work ever since. The music that Greenberg and Berdan conjure up under the Uniform moniker is immediate, aggressive, and even primal in form, but it plumbs untold depths. Berdans venomous voice mines deeply personal themes of resentment, regret, reflection, and addiction over the hum of Greenbergs almost impossibly disciplined guitar, bass synth, and drum machine lines. Greenberg uses the word "templatized" to describe their approach to writing songs for Uniform. "Theres this set bunch of gear to create sounds, and it only creates sound through a certain process, or within its own limitations," Greenberg says. "The goal of songwriting is to see how many different kinds of sounds you can get from the same basic process and machine." On Perfect World, that machine is firing on all cylinders. The guitar is run through a cheap 80s preamp marketed to metal kids. The drum machine is equally no-frills, an Akai XR20 that Greenberg says "most people wouldnt want to keep around." These humble components are combined with noisy synth and Berdans profound howling to form something much greater. Post-punk, synthpunk, and industrial traditions are borrowed from as needed, but the constraints placed on the process mean the result is unique to Uniform. Berdan describes his lyrics as the consequence of feeling "so full of pain, confusion, deep selfishness, and general animosity that you make some horrible mistakes and have to learn how to forgive yourself for them." Perfect World feels like the sum of all that pain and confusion, but it also feels like the catharsis." - Alter.
Title: The Ales What Cures Ye: Traditional Songs from the British Isles Vol. 1
Format: LP
Country: UK
Price: $23.00
"The Ales What Cures Ye by United Bible Studies is a compendium of traditional and modern folk songs as interpreted by the band and inspired by Folkways. United Bible Studies in The Ales What Cures Ye are David Colohan (Raising Holy Sparks), Michael Tanner (Plinth), Áine ODwyer, Nicholas Palmer, Alison Cotton, Richard Moult, Louise McGrath, and Sharron Kraus. Mixed by Michael Tanner; mastered by Patrick Klem; sleeve by Lucy Duncombe. Edition of 300; includes download code. The record also comes with a booklet of words by the band members. Here are three extracts:
"Titled after the Black Sands of Sweet Streams of Nancy and pieced together from the relative geographies of melodies found elsewhere on the album, Blacksands represents, to my mind, the band as a whole -- waxing and waning between various members offerings and sewn together with a shared understanding of something more unified and ancient. Recorded in various parts of the English countryside and the Irish midlands."
"Dave brought the Litany to the table, and I was only faintly familiar with it from the Hart/Prior version. F.W. Moormans paean to itinerant labouring hardships, the piece always conjured images of the families left behind in the search for pit work -- A concept which lead to the creation of a kind of coda, The Burning Sea -- with Alison Cottons vocals from Ten Thousand Miles echoed here in an altogether different form... that of a distressed wife abandoned overseas, set against a scree of gradually deconstructed/decaying viola lines."
"Manys the tip Johnny Moynihan offered me regarding the songs I was singing whilst touring with him one Summer. Singing The Recruited Collier exactly as Anne Briggs had done was one of them. However, on this recording, Nature intervened. The tide was fast approaching & in our haste, I sang take my heart rather than break my heart. Not only that, but I sang it twice, perhaps recalling Pavements advice to repeat any mistakes you made so as to make them seem deliberate. With no room for second takes, we made good our escape from the smugglers cave & I swore to never haul a harmonium up & down a cliff face ever again." " - MIE.
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Country: Netherlands
Price: $25.00
"Dutch lutenist Jozef van Wissem is renowned for his experimental approach to Renaissance and Baroque forms of lute music. By cutting-and-pasting classical pieces, constructing palindromic melodies, or adding electronics and processed field recordings, he manages to seamlessly bridge the musical languages of the 17th and 21st centuries. If this approach seems coldly academic on paper, the results are anything but: his music is uncluttered and direct, with a viscerally hypnotic and emotional impact, and delivered with an ascetic intensity reflected both in his Biblical titles and his No Wave influences. He has collaborated with James Blackshaw, Smegma, Keiji Haino and Jim Jarmusch, amongst others. Mostly based in Ireland, the ever-shifting line-ups of United Bible Studies have spent the last decade roaming far and wide from their folk roots, exploring ecstatic group improvisation, song-craft, and studio-based prog epics. The album title Downland is a play both on van Wissems Lowlands home, and the Renaissance lute composer John Dowland, rumored to have been born in Ireland. The seeds of this collaboration were sown in late 2007, when United Bible Studies were part of the bill for van Wissems first Irish concert. He was particularly taken with Paul Condons bass playing and eventually wrote a piece with this in mind, which became the ecstatic "Come Holy Ghost." Van Wissem began recording tracks for United Bible Studies to overdub and a postal collaboration began in earnest in 2009. The Bible Students were given a free hand, and different band members were drawn to different pieces. Áine ODwyers harp playing goes hand in glove with the lute parts, both players favoring hypnotic figures accruing impact over time. The album is bookended by two different versions of the same composition, "Downland" and "The Seas Have Lifted Up Their Voice." Propulsive and metronomic, with Beach Boys-inspired harmonies, it led UBS to a new way of working. Van Wissems pieces were either stark and minimal, or had multi-layered harmonies which led UBS into less-than-familiar territory. The sparser pieces lent themselves to being shaped into songs, and the addition of extemporaneous textures. Van Wissem wrote the lyrics for "Altars Of Brick (The Day Is Coming)" for Alison ODonnell to sing. Its ominous tone inspired Gavin Prior to write the tangentially-related "Í Rith na h-Óiche" in Gaelic. ODonnell did historical research for her courtly romance "Seven Tears," named after Dowlands famous song cycle. The Bible Students have woven murk and mystery around the lucid austerity of van Wissems compositions, together creating an album which is unlike anything in either of their substantial back catalogs and more than the mere sum of its parts. United Bible Studies are: Paul Condon, Diarmuid MacDiarmada, Alison ODonnell, Áine ODwyer, Ivan Pawle and Gavin Prior." - Incunabulum.
Country: USA
Price: $13.50
"Document of a big band made up of the entire lineups of Pelt and Rake (+ additional miscellaneous players) that gigged several times in 1996 and 1997. Whether clearing the room at the Fredericksburg Centre for the Arts or emptying the hall at the Black Cat, the band always kicked it with uncompromising true love and substantial Oastem! vibe. The long improvisations performed varied wildly from show to show, often starting with a bang and slowly expanding into open space where the interesting little details emerged. This LP is an extract from the center of a two hour performance recorded in April 1997 at Tommys in Richmond. The players are: Mike Gangloff (guitar, shenai, electronics), Jack Rose (lap steel), Patrick Best (guitar, bass resonator, conga), ~SKB (bass and percussion), V2G2 (nylon string guitar, percussion, shenai and voice), Planet C (moog, sax, percussion), Mick (dumbek and dijembe), Beth Jones (dijembe), and ??? Edition of 330 copies."- Eclipse.
Title: Your First Ever River
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"If you know the man behind United Waters (B.K.A Brian Sullivan) from anything, youll know him as the guitar thudder in Brooklyns densest duo, Mouthus. And if you were really listening to all those ninety million releases they did in the past few years, youd notice that Mr. Sullivan is a deconstructionist of the highest order. Molten riffs that would cream the face off of both Nocturno Culto and Dave Murray combined dismantled themselves to reveal rock as a gas and thin air to be nothing but a petrified turd left over in a backstage buffet platter by Michael Angelo Batio. On his debut release under the United Waters moniker entitled Your First Ever River, Sullivan continues to expose the contradiction of sound for what it is, but theres not so much discombobulated shrailing this time round to drive the point home. Brians vision on Your First Ever River sucks in the sound and vibe of mid-nineties basement dwellers, early seventies robe donning prog rockers and present day turtle necked Germans to continue his pursuit for the never knowing sound. Lets hope your there enough to bask in the revelatory glow of its sound." - Tony Rettman.
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Title: History of the Units: The Early Years 1977-1983
Format: LP
Country: UK
Price: $15.00
"Community Library is proud to bring you the first ever legitimate reissue of San Franciscos synth-punk legends, Units! The LP features an abridged tracklist showcasing from the original 7"s and LP. Please note however the included download coupon card entitles buyers to the full 21 CD songs. The remastered audio is fantastic, for anyone who bought the original LP for $50++ only to find it had been ruined in mastering and has no low end whatsoever.....this is a chance to hear the songs in their intended synth punk glory!" - Community Library.
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Country: Portugal
Price: $32.00
"A mythical Magma album recorded in 1971, during the 1001 Centigrades period. The album aims at introducing wider audiences to the zeuhl feel, with a less hermetic sound, favoring a groovier jazz-rock approach. Features the vocalist of Ergo Sum on one track as well as Tito Puentes on trumpet; otherwise this is pretty much the same line-up as in their previous album. A few dreamy moments with acoustic guitar and flutes (the track Clementine), and other typically dense moments with pulsating bass lines, mad sax and weird Vander screams punctuated by furious drumming with a groovy edge. Fully-licensed, exact reissue in gatefold cover and 180 gram vinyl. Limited to 600 copies in black vinyl." -Golden Pavillion
Country: Belgium
Price: $25.00
"Gatefold sleeve. Founding members of the original "Rock In Opposition" (R.I.O.) movement and the inventors of "chamber rock," mythic Belgian band Univers Zero have continued to change and grow and develop over their entire career, while still keeping an ensemble sound and spirit that is easily recognizable. These recordings were previously unavailable in an LP format. Longstanding dark-hued Belgian chamber rockers and avant-prog pioneers led by drummer/composer Daniel Denis, Univers Zero was formed in 1974 with co-composer and guitarist Roger Trigaux (who left the band in 1980). This 2LP documents the final 1980s line-ups before the bands long sabbatical from recording and touring. Despite many line-up changes over the years, their overall sound remained fairly consistent." - Sub Rosa.
Country: Belgium
Price: $25.00
“Univers Zeros 1977 debut album, reissued as a double LP with a bonus track "La Faulx" spread over sides C and D. Long-running Belgian chamber rockers and avant-garde pioneers led by drummer and composer Daniel Denis, Univers Zero formed in 1974 with co-composer and guitarist Roger Trigaux(who left the band in 1980). This is their first album, recorded between August 2 and 5, 1977.” - Sub Rosa. "The rhythmic energy and dissonant riffs, the distinctive sound of the bassoon and strings, and the tricky, fragmented time signatures make for a challenging and highly distinctive listening experience." --AllMusic.
Country: USA
Price: $16.50
"Olson: "You Stoned?" Ramirez: "Probably" Possibly the going rate for this unit - Universal Indians had this whole other life that spewed out on the stages and floors, a couple records, a few cassettes, even a video (which will see the light of day on dvd, much later). But more at home and more comfortable slamming out psych blow-outs in the basement of 325 Foster Ave in Lansing, MI. The so-called legacy thing for MK1 Universal Indians which stretched from 94 to 97 (not 93 that all music states) was simple in the philosophy dept and may have a fools merit - Drudge up some riffs, words, jack the amps, over-distort the Rat pedals to the point of canceling itself out, throw it together for Jesse Harper executed by The Dead C, praying for a spot in the Twisted Village or Siltbreeze. And get real high. American Tapes was barely in the double digits and we attempted to capture every session, every show on Olsons handheld recorder - lo fi to the gills but solid and thick sounding like speakers takina shit. Green light was at the crossroads for stacks and stacks of tapes to be pillaged throughout last Springtime end and Summer eves until four solid cuts were culled for an LP release. And this is the shit - the first side ranges from over the fucking top heavy driving High Rise wah battle to some serious reps on Olsons traps accompanying minimal trashed-out skronk chords pushing on the VU meter to pure slimy menacing blues skuzz that dissipates into a fine, loose rubbery mess (like every song does, and yeah, these are actual songs) with the sound is so thick that the grooves are white. Side Two holds two songs meshed together with fine stewardship ala GDs Ithaca 77 Scarlet/Fire blowout for a solid side-long mother of all battalion guitar ventures. Nudging Driver UFO & The Holy Sound of the American Pipe in the UI unisound tradition in a 16 minute rant that makes this cut a pinnacle in the annals of low-brow grong for the UI books - 3 or 4 minutes of semi-coherency, the rest a blaze of solid head-fuckery, a good one to get lost in. Our version of hard, loose psych to match head on all the fancy collector jargon hustled for big bills (only to receive some waysted bar band hashing out piss bloooz). Call it pride but it needed to be solid and realer than real. The end result coincides to a cruddy mix tape (levels are screwed considering each song is from a different session) and acclimates to the shitiest of stereos. These four cuts are from 94-95, two live cuts, two prax sessions, Olson kills the drums, Ramirez hashes the riffs, the wah & mumblings. And there was another guitar lazily played by someone from somewhere doing something when she wasnt doing her homework. Limited to 300 copies on vinyl - the demon is finally at rest." - Killertree.
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Country: USA
Price: $6.50
"Reissue of AM71. Back in the day, UI (and duo-era Wolf) to me, always represented Michigan sound. And this tape is exactly what makes UI such a legendary and great band. This is the classick line up of Big Juh, GG, and Dillo the Killo...and is an absolute headfuck from start to finish. Warped shots of something that sounds like band, constantly moving into interesting passages and never staying to long before its time to get to another tripped out tape warble underwater with 3 layers of 3 UI shows on top of each other...or something close to that. Fully Michigan. A perfect tape." - Gods of Tundra.
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Title: Mauvais Oeil, Djinns, Sorcellerie
Format: LP
Price: $28.00
"Psychedelic, Religious, Spoken Word. Originaly collected in Morrocco. 100 copies, 50 yellow/50 green. Silkscreened cover.
Long story short, the material presented on this record was extracted from a tape bought on a market in south Morroco back in 2007. These spoken words should help you get rid of the evil eye, witchcraft and other demons... whether you understand arab or not ! Note : All special effects are from the original recording, weve not added anything !" - Standard In-Fi
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Title: For Whom The Bowl Tolls
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $14.00
"UNMANNED SHIP are active stoners. The difference between active stoners and lazy stoners is obvious. The active ones do cool shit while theyre baked and the lazy ones do lame shit. Unmanned Ship stay busy as bees in Chicago. One of the rad things the Unmanned Ship dudes do is make fucking killer instrumental rock jams. The three of em concoct quite a hypnotic brew. Its the kind of bubbly, dark, sweet porter I bee nectar fermenting into at the end of summer under less honey-friendly conditions. Coincidentally, their brand of stoner rock has the geometric and psychedelic qualities of a honeycomb. These grooves are repetitive and techincial, but never too flashy and by no means boring. A grounded rhythm section is nicely complemented by hydrodynamic guitar lines and extraterrestrial effects. Not exactly what Id deem space rock, but a bit arthropodic to be sure. In fact, this whole record would score an Apoidean documentary quite nicely. With the majority of the footage shot within the hive and featuring a substantial amount of bee carnage of course, this would make the PERFECT soundtrack to a Planet Earth chapter on bee fights. Id buy that for a dollar! This hyper limited, hand-screened, hand-numbered LP full of heavy, buzzing, intoxicating rock is HIGH-ly recommended for stoned drones. The Queen would never approve, but fuck that bitch-shes fucking all of us." -Lance Barresi (Permanent Records) Limited to 300 copies with silkscreened jackets.
SOLD OUT
Title: The Story of My Life: Complete Recordings
Format: Double LP
Country: Spain
Price: $35.00
"Double LP of 60s punk, garage, moody sounds and proto-hard-rock of the highest order. Complete recordings (1966-1975) of this legendary band from Michigan, including their three killer 45s plus unreleased recordings and alternate takes. Includes master tape sound and an insert with photos and liner notes. Unrelated Segments created some of the most celebrated garage-punk anthems of all time. Tracks like "Cry, Cry, Cry" with its teenage-angst vocals and out of control fuzztone guitar break, "The Story of My Life" with that bizarre and ultra-punk bass line or the moody-punker "Its Gonna Rain" have been included on countless garage comps (Back from the Grave, Acid Dreams, Nuggets, etc.) and have been covered by numerous bands who worship them as 60s punk gods. Sadly, the band never got the chance to record a full album. After three outstanding 45s, they recorded a projected fourth single that never saw the light of day, just when the band had changed its name to U.S. and had started playing in a heavier vein, similar to early MC5. Soon after, the band split up and some of their members formed psych-rock band Lost Nation. On this collection, along with their official 45s and alternate takes/rehearsals, youll find the unreleased 45 from 1969 plus some demos recorded by an unnamed post-Unrelated Segments/Lost Nation band in 1972. An amazing find which shows the band playing pure Detroit high-energy hard rock." - Guerssen.
Title: What Does The Brain Have To Do With It
Format: Double CD
Country: USA
Price: $26.00
"ZEV has been exploring and breaking ground in the audio and textual fields since the mid 1970s. Although best-known for his metal-based percussive performances, uns, his electronics and vocal-based whirlwind, was one of the most innovative (and individual) audio experiments of the early 1980s. unss combination of sound poetics and voice treatments with dense sonic landscapes resulted in challenging, unique, and rewarding audio. A historical testament to the challenge uns presented appears on the first track of this 2 CD set, when some of the audience members -- in addition to repeatedly shouting Die! as the set concluded -- shout out for Flipper. Given the ire Flipper drew from their audiences, the fact that the audience preferred that disconnect to the disconnect uns was creating speaks volumes about the gauntlet uns had thrown down. Even when uns was active (1980-83), recordings were extremely difficult to come by and live performances were infrequent. This new 2 CD set presents four live performances, with only fractional snippets previously released anywhere. For fans of: uns, ZEV, Lieutenant Caramel, sound poetry, musique concrete." - C.i.P.
Title: 17 Diamond Studded Cadillacs
Format: LP
Country: Spain
Price: $23.00
"Complete recordings (1969-1974) of legendary U.S. acid-punk band Unsettled Society, famous for appearing on the seminal psych compilation Endless Journey back in the 80s. But Unsettled Society have been a total mystery until now. The band came from the New York suburbs and were famous locally for their powerful stage shows, full of strobe and psychedelic flashing lights. In 1969 they released their first 45 for the Charm label: "17 Diamond Studded Cadillacs," which is pure acid-psych, lo-fi basement insanity. It was coupled with "Passion Seeds," a killer moody, atmospheric psych ballad. Between 1972 and 1974 they released two more 45s in a fantastic heavy psych vein, the last one recorded under the Thunder Head name. All of them are included here with sound taken from the original tapes. Includes a fold-out insert with lots of amazing unseen photos and detailed liner notes by Charm Records boss Pete Huntley. " - Guerssen.
Country: UK
Price: $8.00
"Cassette-only release. Edition of 250 copies. Two readings of the short story Johnny Remember Me by its author Cathi Unsworth and by Pete Woodhead (O Yuki Conjugate/The Sons Of Silence). Cathi Unsworth is a writer and editor who lives and works in London. She is the author of three pop-cultural crime novels, Bad Penny Blues, The Singer and The Not Knowing, and the editor of the short story collection London Noir, all published by Serpents Tail. Cathi has written on music, film, art, fashion and culture for Sounds, Bizarre, BFI Flipside, Mojo and Uncut, amongst many others. Her collaborator on this release is Pete Woodhead, an electronic composer who cut his musical teeth as part of O Yuki Conjugate and The Sons Of Silence and is now best known for his soundtrack contribution to the hit British zombie movie Shaun Of The Dead. "He stood at the back of the room, in a smartly cut pale blue suit, so cleanly shaven his skin still had a rosy glow from the razors kiss, thick brown hair set into a shiny pompadour that looked as though it had been set in plastic. His bulbous dark blue eyes darted around the cellar, and he pulled on a cigarette fretfully. For a second it seemed that he was too nervous to come across the floor, but then his eyes became still as they settled on what he was searching for. With a sudden sense of purpose, he walked towards Johnny. And that was when all the trouble started." - The Tapeworm.
Title: The Day Of Shadow Bells
Format: Cass
Country: UK
Price: $27.00
"Its common to name the MC5 and the Stooges among the forefathers of what they call punk rock, but it was their associates in a third band, the Up, who could more accurately be identified as the real precursors of punk. In fact, if you trace the punk rock lineage back to the Ramones -- and many do -- the connection is even clearer, because the Ramones were really little more than a watered-down, cheapened clone of the once-mighty Up of Detroit and Ann Arbor. This determined quartet of killer skinnies from the Murder City were not as skilled in music and stagecraft as their stablemates in the MC5, nor as charismatic as their colleague Jim Osterberg (Iggy Pop) and his band The Stooges, but they dedicated every fiber of their being to playing high-energy rock n roll that was designed to inspire their audiences to leave the square world behind and come and join the revolution. This complete Up recordings/deluxe packaging includes a DVD of unseen footage plus a set of facsimile gig flyers/booklet that includes extensive liner notes by American Michigan Rock specialist Ken Shimamoto, with involvement from original bassist Gary Rasmussen. The 16-page booklet includes never-before-seen photographs of the band." -Applebush
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Title: Live at the Lucrezia
Format: DVD
Country: USA
Price: $17.00
"52-minute DVD (all region, all format) of Up-Tight playing at their best. Incredible sound quality, the video is close-up and personal. Unless you have been lucky enough to catch this tremendous live band on tour, this is the only way you are going to experience the real thing! Black-clad and with an ominous aura created by their distorted guitar epics, burnt-out ballads and raucous mantric jams, Up-Tight are seriously not to be messed with. Heading up the second generation of Japanese psychedelic rock acts (following on from Fushitsusha, Kosokuya and Shizuka) theyre one of the best live groups in Japan. As you might expect from their name, theres a chiselled intensity to their playing which displays some startling post-Velvets stances. With the power to lay down spontaneously loose, acid-fried and drugged garage psych jams of hypnotic guitar squall, and a line of impassioned and fathomless vocals that are capable of kicking you right in the gut, Up-Tight have a mesmeric feel to them, unmatched by any peers." 2-sided DVD that is both NTSC & PAL compatible."-Last Visible Dog
Country: Switzerland
Price: $28.00
"Up-Tight are a three-piece psych group based in Hamamatsu, Japan with a history dating back to 1992 has released around 10 records. Up-Tights current line-up (2016) is original members T. Aoki (vocal & guitar) T. Ogata (bass) and T. Shirahata (drums). The ghosts of The Velvet Underground, Les Rallizes Dénudés and Amon Düül loom large over their personal feedback song-destruction universe. This LP is the first re-issue of their original CD-R-only release in Japan in 1999 in a very limited edition of 100 copies. It has been remastered in Berlin from original recordings and presented here in an edition of 300. Here is what David Keenan (Wire magazine) thought about this first CD-R released in 1999 : "Up-Tight are a noxious young trio from south Tokyo, all acolytes of the legendary Japanese psych group Les Rallizes Dénudés, who augment their sound with crushing, Sabbath-styled dynamics, earsplitting acid leads and beautiful Velvets-inspired ballads... Song structures are mostly kept loose, allowing for lots of noisy improvisation. Generally the album is anchored by heavy riffs. Just when you thought youd got to grips with Tokyos paradigm destroying psych scene, this one hits like a sucker punch." All songs are five to ten minutes long, varying from very melodic ballads to psychedelic journeys. The album ends with an epic track, "無題", which is an 18 minutes tour-de-force, that takes you to another dimension as if the Velvet Undergrounds "Sister Ray" would have a child with Acid Mothers Temple, while listening to Amon Düül under codeine. Up-Tight are from the generation that emerged with the madness of the Tokyo 90s and the P.S.F Records scene. Close to Acid Mothers Temple (the two bands recorded an album together), Up-Tight has a unique sound and is one of the most important underground reference in the Japan psychedelic scene." - Desastre.
Title: The Beginning Of The End
Format: LP
Country: Italy
Price: $34.00
"It is a rare feeling when music can give you the sensation like a bullet through the head, and you call it a pleasure. Well, that is what happened when we first listened to these four tracks from The Begininng of the End the new studio album from Japanese garage-psych heroes Up-Tight. We played the disc once and we were speechless. Why? The reason was easy: We got a picture of a band at its creative zenith. The Lp opens with Our Own Portrait, guided by mantric drum beating, rigid bass pulsations and T.Aoki providing a vortex of massive fuzzed guitar. A Song For Your Pain is a beautifully inspired ballad, with a melancholic voice floating on a carpet of melodic soft psychedelia. Side B is the Beginning Of The End, for real! The Destruction is a trippy improvisation, with amps on fire and instruments in a state of pure sonic catharsis. Introducing the title-track as the final chapter, with Aokis raucous crooning that evokes smoke and dark shadows, then collapsing into a wall of guitar squall. Our ears are still blowing! And its time to play this record again. Get ready for a long trip cause there is no turning back with this incredible new album, Up-Tight takes the tradition of Japanese psych-rock and brings it to a brand new level of crazy intensity and destructive power. Available on vinyl only. Second edition of only 120 copies. brand new artwork, with insert. " -8mm
SOLD OUT
Country: Japan
Price: $13.00
"Up-Tight are a noxious young trio from Tokyo, all acolytes of the legendary Japanese psych group Les Rallizes Denudes, who augment their sound with crushing, Sabbath-styled dynamics, earsplitting acid leads and beautiful Velvets-inspired ballads. The opening Melt Rain filters the thug rock of UK geasers like The Deviants through a PSF aesthetic, with epic levels of feedback and sustain. If song structures are mostly kept loose, allowing for lots of noisy improvisation, generally the disc is anchored by heavy riffs. Just when you thought youd got to grips with Tokyos paradigm destroying psych scene, this one hits like a sucker punch." - David Keenan.
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Country: Italy
Price: $24.00
"The formidable Lebanese/Italian jazz nomads release a long player of deepness on Morphines new live series. Limited edition of 400. The LP is packaged in a silk-screened outersleeve with artwork from Bill Kouligas (Pan Records, Berlin). The Eupen Takes is a live document clearly showing what the collective is normally improvising on stage, a chaotic but still tight blend of jazz, kraut and electronics, where nothing is previously planned, and analog synths and spaced out sounds melt with instruments in a natural and free approach. The Eupen Takes LP contains the second half of the June 2011 show at the Meakusma stage, Eupen Muzik Marathon." - Morphine.
Title: A Brute -Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone Solo
Format: LP
Country: Japan
Price: $130.00
Incredibly expensive release in a numbered edition of 100 copies by Urabe, who many consider the new Kaoru Abe (though Urabes sound has grown to be more space filled than Abes ever was). The LPs feature one performance from 1987, two from 97 and one from 2000. The three most recent shows took place at Kid Ailack Art Hall (a block away from Modern Music), one of which includes a gnarled spit valve solo or something.. Great stuff. The striking sleeve is similar in construction to the PSF lp from a few years back.
SOLD OUT
Country: Japan
Price: $20.00
"Alto saxophone, harmonica, chains, metal, accordion, bells, toy flute -- Masayoshi Urabe. Metal junk, cello, etc. -- Kiyoharu Kuwayama (track 2 only). A new solo album by Masayoshi Urabe is always a cause for rejoicing. This is his first since the frankly frightening Ware Wai Seidei No Kyojyo Zo on PSF in 2003. Urabe rarely plays live now, but this live album catches him in action in a converted saki brewery on the shores of Lake Biwa, near Kyoto. The damp heat of midsummer in this part of Japan seems to have worked its magic on Urabe, and this is an altogether gentler performance than normal. Over one long solo track, he bends his breath and body to the air in his saxophone, his tones blending with the sound of the insects outside the venue. A shorter second track captures him in a rare outing on accordion, toy flute and harmonica together with Kiyoharu Kuwayama. Another radical, effortlessly convincing album from the master of contemporary rock n roll breathing." -PSF
Title: Rock N Roll Breathing
Format: VHS
Country: Japan
Price: $22.00
"Masayoshi Urabe Solo Harmonica, Chain, Alto, Soprano Sax, Tambourine and Bell performances along with graphic artwork showcase. 1 hour running time. Housed in hard case with insert in Japanese and English - numbered edition of 200." - There.
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Title: Soingyokusaiseyo (All Soldiers, Prepare for Suicide Attack)
Format: LP
Country: France
Price: $18.00
"A beat-up light fixture hangs from a weathered ceiling, as the glint of a red light bulb spills along the length of its electric cord. Masayoshi Urabe stands underneath, in a half-penumbra of light. His saxophone is fit into his folded body, as he releases riffs of heavy rock. The atmosphere is thick with cigarette smoke and wisps of smoke that fly off from the movements of his body, heated by two bare light-bulbs nearby. Through moments of intermittent illusion, you can see the bright flash of a drum set deep in the stage, or sense the murmur of sidemen who would stir up such a smoky aura. A theatre of apparitions, of pure hallucinations provoked by ritual, the music reverberated with its double: Masayoshi Urabe has transformed the tiny stage of the Cave 12 in Geneva into a new-york-like heavy metal stadium, his solitary presence swings into action on stage like a horde of savages - a rock-n-roll animal. The audience must have prepared for the show by an endless loop of listening to a vulgarian best of Lou Reed record. This will be the most rock-like of his three shows in April 2001, for which the audience has prepared its ears as delicately as it prepped its hair, in a pre-concert ritual taking hours before the show. In each concert of his series, Urabe invoked the invisible at the foot of the walls where he found himself, and fought against the traces of ghosts who still yet haunt the club spaces - the artist Yayoi Kusama in the room of the Contemporary Regional Art Fund in Dijon, the legendary sets people described - or that we told him about while speeding along the highway between shows, militants of speed or direct action like Yoko Ono, Albert Ayler, Sam Peckinpah. Each night spelled an encounter with a different phantom. Another night, the mythic echo of a concert by Haino Keiji infused the grand wooden room of the Totem de MaxŽville. Masayoshi deployed returning, seductive riffs and their feedback, and attacks with the sword-like edge of his saxophones bell; drawing out an immense space to the point of stamping of a floorboard, he imposed a tentative victory over this incarnated marching band, before the static silence of the last transformation of a ghost rider. I cant believe what I no longer know thats the ghost I want to hold CIRCLE X "Puerto Rican Ghost (After Mars)" 1992 ... evenings to catch the phantom and its echo." - Yves Botz.
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Country: Japan
Price: $28.00
"After years of pleading Siwa finally convinced Chie Mukai and Masayoshi Urabe to offer up this much needed document of their ongoing collaborative work. The original recordings were culled from live performances between1990-2001 and were then edited by Urabe. Chie Mukai should be known to many for her work within the more structured confines of her band Che-Shizu but she also has an impressive history in improvised music that goes back to her time as a student with Takehisa Kosugi in the mid 70s. The Che-Shizu albums and her two previous solo releases (a CD on PSF and the out of print LP on Siwa) have introduced a select few to the meditative drone of the er-hu (a traditional two string violin) but here she can also be heard on vocals, piano, toys and various percussion instruments. Likewise Urabe, known mostly for slowly wrenching unfathomable screams from his alto saxophone expands his instrument choices to employ a soprano saxophone, some percussion, harmonicas, chains and a particularly vicious electric guitar. This is passionate, physical and highly individual improvised music with an intensely human soul. A companion video released on the Japanese "There" label is also available and does more to explain the physical nature of these performances than any audio document could. But you have to buy the LP first. This is a vinyl only edition of 400 copies and comes in a silkscreened sleeve." -Siwa.
SOLD OUT
Country: Japan
Price: $21.00
"Alto saxophone, bells - Masayoshi Urabe; percussion - Toshiaki Ishizuka. Thrilling, blood-shaking, soul-scraping and defiantly non-sexless improv set from two Japanese titans. Recorded live at the Apia club in Tokyo in December last year, this set showcases Urabes uniquely physical approach to improvisation -- ferociously concentrated, contorted, sweating and eruptive with physical power. His lines seem to boil up from his flesh, with gurgles, gasps and rasping breath defining sparse, sonic regions in which silence itself seems to breath. Ishizuka is the perfect foil, providing subtle shade and balance around Urabes transformative sculpting of space. One track, 58 minutes. Comes with a booklet of evocative black and white photographs of the event by Tatsuo Suzuki. The title translates as The Backbone of Summer." - FE.
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Country: USA
Price: $4.50
"Some of you out there might be aware of those crazy Christians who make up the truly disorienting SoCal based band, Dry Rot. Their debut LP from last year, Philistine, was one of the most bizarre and disturbing full lengths to come out in a coons age, referencing everything from This Heat to the Minutemen to Void within a scant album side. Drew and Jordan from the band have a new “project” called Uranium Orchard, and the four song demo tape they just did up might rival their other band in sheer fuckedness alone. Theres pretty much no reference to Hardcore in the sound, but just like they do in Dry Rot, they glop together a bunch of sound references unconsciously that shouldnt stick together, but somehow do. A lot of it sounds like the takes on Captain Beefheart that came out of the UK in the late 70s (such as the fore mentioned This Heat), but then theres all these weird electronic surges going on in the background and spacey parts that sound like “Angel Rat” era Voivod. Like I said before, these guys… theyre real weird." - Tony Rettman, Rettsounds.
Price: $29.00
<a href="http://cameleonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/urbain-autopsy-1984-1987">URBAIN AUTOPSY 1984-1987 by URBAIN AUTOPSY / VVV008</a>
“URBAIN AUTOPSY was a Paris based band who released over 80 tracks on self produced tapes between 1984 and 1987. Drawing their influences from Suicide, The Residents, Throbbing Gristle to Joy Division or Bauhaus to name a few, they had their own way of combining power electronics, industrial, experimental, cold wave, post punk...
This LP contains 12 tracks emblematic of their short "career" and comes with an 8 page biography. Pressing quantity is 200. All sleeves are handmade. There are many different artworks (some of them unique), different letterings, etc.” - Vinyl Vidi Vici.
Country: France
Price: $25.00
"Reissue of their first cassette published by Medicinal Tapes in 1986. Urbain Autopsy was a Parisian band that released over 80 tracks on self-produced tapes between 1984 and 1987. Drawing their influences from Suicide, The Residents, Throbbing Gristle to Joy Division or Bauhaus to name a few, they had their own way of combining power electronics, industrial, experimental, cold wave and post punk." - Rotorelief.
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Title: Fraction Sur Le Temps
Format: LP + DVD
Country: Spain
Price: $24.00
“Urban Sax was created in 1973. Gilbert Artman, the mastermind behind Lard Free -who has also participated in dozens of recordings by other artists of the French experimental scene that included Delired Chameleon Family, Clear Light, Komintern, etc.- developed an interest in the relation between space and sound. He organised a first experiment that took place in the town of Menton, in the South of France. Artman strategically placed 18 saxophonists, and their sound reverberated through all the village. As time went by the band increased and currently their performances count with up to 34 saxophonists, 1 bass player, 3 percussionists, 2 dancers and 8 vocalists, with a line up that varies depending on each particular project. You can find saxophonists playing over rooftops, or climbing down buildings or arriving in helicopters. It is a fascinating experience that can be hardly translated to vinyl, but through the years they have recorded some of their music and here we are proud to offer vinyl reissues of those works, including one previously released on vinyl format!
Urban Saxs music is constructed over the concept of ""continuous sound", around which build and develop poly-rhythmic loops, modulated and nested in a partition and a principle of "distant sound" allowing to question the listening audience. It is about linking audio and visual performances. The music is semi repetitive, with evolving pieces of different colors. Entire saxophone family is represented: sopranos, altos, tenors and bass baritones..." (Wikipedia).
"This is some amazing shit right hyah, folks. Imagine something like, say, a concert band playing outtakes from Magmas "Theusz Hamtaahk" trilogy. Youd possibly arrive at this." (...) "Everything starts with this massive (and I mean it...were basically talking about something the size of an orchestra here) wash of sound, like something dropped wholesale out of the trippier parts of Ligetis material in the "2001" soundtrack. Then we get swept into the primal repetition of a simple motif...very Magma-like, save for the obvious difference in forces. As the proceedings go on, it gets more complex; another wash, and then into another primal minimalist cycling with strange, otherworldly drones and choral voices in the background, chuffing percussion...and then a drift off into Ligeti-land again, with chanting vocals following, and huge gusts of wind from the sax players breathing thru their horns as some sort of Saturnian Sun Ra lullabye starts to course through the group. And thats just the first half. This is some potent stuff. Its very much ritual music, as one would expect with it being composed for Urban Saxs ritualistic performances. And its quite trippy, especially for something largely acoustic (although there are four presumably electric guitars in the forces) with little electronic tinkerage to enhance the strangeness." (...) "There are some other recordings in Urban Saxs catalog, but this is perhaps the most amazing, most trippy of them all." Extracts from a review by Lugia from Julian Copes Head Heritage website
Fraction sur le temps was originally released in 1986 on Celluloïd. The Wah Wah reissue reproduces the original sleeve artwork, comes in remastered sound and lacquer cut by Lex Van Coeverdeen @ The Vinyl Room for improved performance and features a booklet with photos and liner notes written by Gilbert Artman himself.” - Wah Wah.
Country: Spain
Price: $24.00
“Urban Sax was created in 1973. Gilbert Artman, the mastermind behind Lard Free -who has also participated in dozens of recordings by other artists of the French experimental scene that included Delired Chameleon Family, Clear Light, Komintern, etc.- developed an interest in the relation between space and sound. He organised a first experiment that took place in the town of Menton, in the South of France. Artman strategically placed 18 saxophonists, and their sound reverberated through all the village. As time went by the band increased and currently their performances count with up to 34 saxophonists, 1 bass player, 3 percussionists, 2 dancers and 8 vocalists, with a line up that varies depending on each particular project. You can find saxophonists playing over rooftops, or climbing down buildings or arriving in helicopters. It is a fascinating experience that can be hardly translated to vinyl, but through the years they have recorded some of their music and here we are proud to offer vinyl reissues of those works, including one previously released on vinyl format!
Urban Saxs music is constructed over the concept of ""continuous sound", around which build and develop poly-rhythmic loops, modulated and nested in a partition and a principle of "distant sound" allowing to question the listening audience. It is about linking audio and visual performances. The music is semi repetitive, with evolving pieces of different colors. Entire saxophone family is represented: sopranos, altos, tenors and bass baritones..." (Wikipedia).
1991s Spiral makes its first ever appearance on vinyl format here. Previously it had only been available on CD, originally released on the EPM Musique label. The Wah Wah reissue comes in remastered sound and lacquer cut by Lex Van Coeverdeen @ The Vinyl Room for improved performance and features a booklet with photos and liner notes written by Gilbert Artman himself.” - Wah Wah.
Country: Spain
Price: $24.00
“Urban Sax was created in 1973. Gilbert Artman, the mastermind behind Lard Free -who has also participated in dozens of recordings by other artists of the French experimental scene that included Delired Chameleon Family, Clear Light, Komintern, etc.- developed an interest in the relation between space and sound. He organised a first experiment that took place in the town of Menton, in the South of France. Artman strategically placed 18 saxophonists, and their sound reverberated through all the village. As time went by the band increased and currently their performances count with up to 34 saxophonists, 1 bass player, 3 percussionists, 2 dancers and 8 vocalists, with a line up that varies depending on each particular project. You can find saxophonists playing over rooftops, or climbing down buildings or arriving in helicopters. It is a fascinating experience that can be hardly translated to vinyl, but through the years they have recorded some of their music and here we are proud to offer vinyl reissues of those works, including one previously released on vinyl format!
Urban Saxs debut LP was issued in 1977 on Cézanne / Cobra. It is the soundtrack of Urban Sax first architectural sound shows, but also a splendid work on its own, with a similar sense of musical experimentation and adventure to that of La Monte Young, Phil Niblock, Glenn Branca, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, a.o. Urban Saxs music is constructed over the concept of ""continuous sound", around which build and develop poly-rhythmic loops, modulated and nested in a partition and a principle of "distant sound" allowing to question the listening audience. It is about linking audio and visual performances. The music is semi repetitive, with evolving pieces of different colors. Entire saxophone family is represented: sopranos, altos, tenors and bass baritones..." (Wikipedia).
16 saxophone players gathered to record the 1st Urban Sax LP, after several years of touring festivals and outdoor venues. They were perhaps reluctant to actually record their music events, hence reducing the spatial effects of musicians playing around and above the audience. I assume Gilbert Artman had to make compromizes to re-create the Urban Sax magic in studio, using studio trickeries and sound effects. For example, the extremely low rumbles on track #1 sound like slowed down, processed saxophone recordings. The music is not only live performance, then, but partly composed in the studio. Vocals starting 14:00 on side one add the pseudo-primitive, typical Urban Sax mood. The music gets uncompromizingly repetitive on side two, where a 5 notes loop on soprano saxophone (starting 3:45) is played endlessly to mesmerizing effects, on a background of sustained low notes by the 8 tenor players. The effect is hypnotic, and these enchanting sounds could go on for ever. This is where Urban Sax gets closer to LaMonte Young, and have been compared to Rhys Chatham or Glen Branca on saxophones.
The Wah Wah reissue reproduces the original sleeve artwork, comes in remastered sound and lacquer cut by Lex Van Coeverdeen @ The Vinyl Room for improved performance and features a booklet with photos and liner notes written by Gilbert Artman himself.” - Wah Wah.
Country: Spain
Price: $24.00
“Urban Sax was created in 1973. Gilbert Artman, the mastermind behind Lard Free -who has also participated in dozens of recordings by other artists of the French experimental scene that included Delired Chameleon Family, Clear Light, Komintern, etc.- developed an interest in the relation between space and sound. He organised a first experiment that took place in the town of Menton, in the South of France. Artman strategically placed 18 saxophonists, and their sound reverberated through all the village. As time went by the band increased and currently their performances count with up to 34 saxophonists, 1 bass player, 3 percussionists, 2 dancers and 8 vocalists, with a line up that varies depending on each particular project. You can find saxophonists playing over rooftops, or climbing down buildings or arriving in helicopters. It is a fascinating experience that can be hardly translated to vinyl, but through the years they have recorded some of their music and here we are proud to offer vinyl reissues of those works, including one previously released on vinyl format!
Urban Saxs music is constructed over the concept of ""continuous sound", around which build and develop poly-rhythmic loops, modulated and nested in a partition and a principle of "distant sound" allowing to question the listening audience. It is about linking audio and visual performances. The music is semi repetitive, with evolving pieces of different colors. Entire saxophone family is represented: sopranos, altos, tenors and bass baritones..." (Wikipedia).
1978s Urban Sax 2, also on Cézanne / Cobra, is the continuation of their debut work. Actually it features parts 2 and 3 of the pieces contained on 1, again similarities with works by La Monte Young, Phil Niblock, Glenn Branca, Steve Reich, Terry Riley, a.o. are present, and its the perfect companion to 1 as it is, basically, part two of that first album.
The Wah Wah reissue reproduces the original sleeve artwork, comes in remastered sound and lacquer cut by Lex Van Coeverdeen @ The Vinyl Room for improved performance and features a booklet with photos and liner notes written by Gilbert Artman himself.” - Wah Wah.
Country: USA
Price: $13.00
"2008 repress! "Now in their 25th year, what better time to reissue this collection of songs that inspired a generation of punk, art-punk, post-punk, and pop-punk bands, from the Minutemen and Gun Club to Yo La Tengo and Butthole Surfers, in addition to newer bands such as The Dishes, The Reds, and ST-37. A 31-song collection featuring such Urinals classics as Im a Bug, Black Hole, and Ack Ack Ack Ack, in addition to a selection of madcap covers such as the Jetsons Theme, and songs by Soft Machine and Roky Erickson. Recordings were made between 1978 and 1980, during the heyday of American punk. Includes the complete Urinals, Another EP, and Sex/Go Away Girl 7" material, 3 tunes from long out-of-print compilations, several unreleased studio and rehearsal pieces, and samples from the bands archive of live tapes, including their very first performance as a three-piece." - Warning Label
Country: USA
Price: $21.00
"In The Red is proud to announce this double-vinyl release of THE URINALS Negative Capability, originally released by Amphetamine Reptile on CD in 1996. Before changing their name to the less restricting 100 FLOWERS and becoming one of the most respected underground post-punk-pop acts in the US, Los Angeless seminal trio released eleven songs during their 1977-1980 tenure-ten on their three 7-inch singles and one more on a 7-inch compilation, all on their own Happy Squid label (they were about the only Los Angeles band to do that back then). This retrospective triples their output to 31 songs! Want to hear Americas Wire, only twice as primitive (if thats possible), with one quarter the sound quality? Even when they are covering the Soft Machines "Why Are We Sleeping?" they sound like a three-step primer on minimalism, in scratchy, fast, burping, nutso punk with clipped vocals. You can see why the Minutemen covered "Ack Ack Ack Ack," but its the real solid, melodic stuff-such as the Last-inspired harmonies of the great A-sides "Black Hole" and "Sex," and "Scholastic Aptitude," and the instrumental "Surfing With the Shah" (which foreshadows the coming of 100 Flowers and later offshoot TROTSKY ICEPICK)-that makes so many Angelinos remember this goofy but great trio so fondly. Negative Capability has an unrelenting, authoritative intelligence and sense of humor." -Jack Rabid. Includes digital download card.
Country: USA
Price: $16.00
"An overview of the vector, thus far anyway, of this bracing post-core duo/trio/whatever who were once based in western Mass., and are now scattered between Mass., L.A. and Montreal. The hub of the band is vocalist, Jackieboy, and guitarist, Dick Riddick. According to Jackie, the initial idea was to do “a knuckle-dragging hardcore Chrome kinda mash up with drum machine. My concept as vocalist was to front the band as a Jewish New Yorker stand-up comedian whose found himself fronting a punk band and is trying to roll with the punches. Originally I wanted the live performances to be half stand-up and half music but dropped this and just put occasional zingers in between songs.” Initially, they were based in a farmhouse in Hadley, MA and decided to use a drum-box, both because it was a Chrome-like thing to do, and also since they couldnt find a drummer who shared their twisted vision. This album includes portions of their debut show, at Florence MAs 13th Floor, in December 2014. Still a duo, they then recorded the eight tracks that comprise the Get In Line With Mental Decline EP in February 2015 at Dead Air Studios. The demo version of Confront Ya/Dickies was recorded in March 2016. The live NY show from January 2016 was recorded at Betaville, and features special guest drummer Denny McDermott. The last bit is from Greenfields John Doe Jr., recorded in March 2016. And theres no way a mere recording can convey the very special brand of chaos these menches conjure up. But if close your eyes and crank this up, youll get close enough for jazz." - Byron Coley, 2016. Edition of 413.
Title: Procession of Talking Mirrors
Format: LP
Country: Belgium
Price: $26.00
"The person behind Urpf Lanze is Belgian visual artist Wouter Vanhaelemeesch, who is mainly known for his large-scale ink drawings that offer a hermetic blend of weirdo characters, medieval iconography and surrealist decors. His artwork started gaining some attention a few years ago when renowned avant-garde lutenist Jozef Van Wissem started using Vanhaelemeeschs work to decorate many sleeves of his recorded output, including his collaborations with filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, noise legends Smegma, free-folk band United Bible Studies and fingerpicker James Blackshaw. Next to doing exhibitions in places like Tokyo, New York and Paris, his drawings appear regularly in zines and underground publications all over the world. He also runs the audioMER label together with designer Jeroen Wille and has provided artwork for records by Jack Rose, Robbie Basho, Mauro Antonio Pawlowski, Cian Nugent, Graveyards, Second Family Band and many others. Urpf Lanze is the moniker of his rather unorthodox solo guitar project, under which he has been playing for several years now. With an acoustic guitar that lays flat on his lap, tuned to unwieldy scales, he brutalizes the instrument in an oddly musical way. As if this wasnt enough, he lays down some vocal work that goes from ventriloquist-like whines and mumbles to deep and guttural grunts. The result is a rather unhinged and demented music. Imagine the rawness of Bill Orcutt, the more frightening sides of Loren Mazzacane Connors and the absurd stylings of Wilburn Burchette all wrapped into a Lovecraftian sonic nightmare. Procession of Talking Mirrors is his first full-length solo album. Recorded live on a 4-track tape recorder, these six tracks offer a mixture of Japanese folk music, free psych, scratchy Delta-blues recordings, damaged lo-fi and aggressively percussive fingerpicking. While some tracks may carry a more melancholy tone, others seem closer to acoustic death metal than any kind of folk music. However you may describe it, it is most definitely not a record for the faint of heart." -Audiomer.
Country: USA
Price: $9.00
"Brooklyn, NY duo USA IS A MONSTER take a break from their prolific, terrifically noisy Load Records catalogue to release two acoustic songs with Lovepump United. This surprisingly quiet release from the normally skronktastic band is a lush, psychedelic exploration recorded with a seven-piece ensemble at The Werehouse in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The vinyl itself is an extremely limited, beautiful full-color picture disc 7-inch with artwork by the band." - LU.
Title: Lets Just See What Happens
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $19.00
"REL is proud to present the debut LP of the Scottish duo Usurper (Ali Robertson and Malcy Duff). Creating a sound nearly impossible to describe, Usurper combines obsessive metallic clunk, destroyed voices, broken horns and dropped marbles (?), into dense fields of activity. Working towards an intuitive sound logic all its own, Usurper creates a surreal, comic structure that is unmatched and an energy that will make you laugh as soon as you shake your head in bafflement. The B side features a trio set with the addition of Sticky Foster (A Band, Prick Decay, Coffee) who blends seamlessly into the group. The LP is a one time, hand numbered edition of 200 copies with bold design featuring Malcy Duffs illustrations silk screened by Ashley Paul. The inside features a liner note pocket housing the full 24-page comic 2.1.3 by Duff." - Rel.
Country: Spain
Price: $59.00
"Three-LP box version in purple-and-gold hot-foil-stamped box with eight-page insert and poster. A treasure trove of previously unreleased West Coast guitar psychedelia, 1966-1975. "Uther Pendragon was more than just a band, it was a family. Closer than brothers, they lived together, made music together, worked, played, laughed, cried and dreamed together." --Mike Stax (Ugly Things)
This is the incredible story of Uther Pendragon, a lost psychedelic band from San Francisco whose music has remained buried until now. Formed in the Bay Area in 1966 as a teen garage group called Blue Fever, Uther Pendragon lasted from 1966 until 1978. During that time, the band went through different names and phases, as their music evolved from garage to psychedelia to hard rock, but the core of the band always remained the same: Mark Lightcap (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bruce Marelich (lead guitar, vocals), and Martin Espinosa (bass, vocals). After finding their ultimate drummer in Mike Beers, the group finally settled on the Uther Pendragon name in the early 70s. But despite being active for all that time and recording at numerous studios (including their own in Palo Alto), Uther Pendragon never released any recordings. Their complex and fascinating story, which involves winning a Bay Area Battle of the Bands and playing with Country Joe & The Fish, recording a killer garage-psych 7" acetate in 1967, going to the legendary Pacific Recording Studios in 1969 to record a demo, living as a family in the same house for many years and rehearsing seven days a week, building their own recording studio and music corporation, being managed by Craig Pedersen (Something Wild, Tripsichord Music Box), being involved in an occult-themed rock opera called Sabbat, and much more, is told with all the details by Mike Stax from Ugly Things in this sets extensive liner notes, with rare photos. Produced from the bands vast archive of original master tapes, San Francisco Earthquake includes their unknown-until-now 7" acetate from 1967 (fab garage-psych in the vein of The Human Expression or The Music Machine); tracks from 1966-69 including a groundbreaking, moody psycher from 1966; a demo tape from 1969 recorded at Pacific Recording -- an incredible document for any lover of early SF garage-psych (think Oxford Circle, The Savage Resurrection, Moby Grape . . .) -- and many tracks recorded at their home studio in Palo Alto. 100% unadulterated West Coast guitar psych and hard rock that recalls QMS and even Kurihara-era White Heaven." - Guerssen.
Country: Spain
Price: $25.00
"Uther Pendragon was more than just a band, it was a family. Closer than brothers, they lived together, made music together, worked, played, laughed, cried and dreamed together." --Mike Stax (Ugly Things)
“This is the incredible story of Uther Pendragon, a lost psychedelic band from San Francisco whose music has remained buried until now. Formed in the Bay Area in 1966 as a teen garage group called Blue Fever, Uther Pendragon lasted from 1966 until 1978. During that time, the band went through different names and phases, as their music evolved from garage to psychedelia to hard rock, but the core of the band always remained the same: Mark Lightcap (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bruce Marelich (lead guitar, vocals), and Martin Espinosa (bass, vocals). After finding their ultimate drummer in Mike Beers, the group finally settled on the Uther Pendragon name in the early 70s. But despite being active for all that time and recording at numerous studios (including their own in Palo Alto), Uther Pendragon never released any recordings. Their complex and fascinating story, which involves winning a Bay Area Battle of the Bands and playing with Country Joe & The Fish, recording a killer garage-psych 7" acetate in 1967, going to the legendary Pacific Recording Studios in 1969 to record a demo, living as a family in the same house for many years and rehearsing seven days a week, building their own recording studio and music corporation, being managed by Craig Pedersen (Something Wild, Tripsichord Music Box), being involved in an occult-themed rock opera called Sabbat, and much more, is told with all the details by Mike Stax from Ugly Things in this sets extensive liner notes, with rare photos. Produced from the bands vast archive of original master tapes, San Francisco Earthquake includes their unknown-until-now 7" acetate from 1967 (fab garage-psych in the vein of The Human Expression or The Music Machine); tracks from 1966-69 including a groundbreaking, moody psycher from 1966; a demo tape from 1969 recorded at Pacific Recording -- an incredible document for any lover of early SF garage-psych (think Oxford Circle, The Savage Resurrection, Moby Grape . . .) -- and many tracks recorded at their home studio in Palo Alto. 100% unadulterated West Coast guitar psych and hard rock that recalls QMS and even Kurihara-era White Heaven.” - Guerssen.
Country: Spain
Price: $59.00
"Limited repress. Three-LP box version in purple-and-gold hot-foil-stamped box with eight-page insert and poster. A treasure trove of previously unreleased West Coast guitar psychedelia, 1966-1975." - Guerssen.
"Uther Pendragon was more than just a band, it was a family. Closer than brothers, they lived together, made music together, worked, played, laughed, cried and dreamed together." - Mike Stax (Ugly Things).
"This is the incredible story of Uther Pendragon, a lost psychedelic band from San Francisco whose music has remained buried until now. Formed in the Bay Area in 1966 as a teen garage group called Blue Fever, Uther Pendragon lasted from 1966 until 1978. During that time, the band went through different names and phases, as their music evolved from garage to psychedelia to hard rock, but the core of the band always remained the same: Mark Lightcap (rhythm guitar, vocals), Bruce Marelich (lead guitar, vocals), and Martin Espinosa (bass, vocals). After finding their ultimate drummer in Mike Beers, the group finally settled on the Uther Pendragon name in the early 70s. But despite being active for all that time and recording at numerous studios (including their own in Palo Alto), Uther Pendragon never released any recordings. Their complex and fascinating story, which involves winning a Bay Area Battle of the Bands and playing with Country Joe & The Fish, recording a killer garage-psych 7" acetate in 1967, going to the legendary Pacific Recording Studios in 1969 to record a demo, living as a family in the same house for many years and rehearsing seven days a week, building their own recording studio and music corporation, being managed by Craig Pedersen (Something Wild, Tripsichord Music Box), being involved in an occult-themed rock opera called Sabbat, and much more, is told with all the details by Mike Stax from Ugly Things in this sets extensive liner notes, with rare photos. Produced from the bands vast archive of original master tapes, San Francisco Earthquake includes their unknown-until-now 7" acetate from 1967 (fab garage-psych in the vein of The Human Expression or The Music Machine); tracks from 1966-69 including a groundbreaking, moody psycher from 1966; a demo tape from 1969 recorded at Pacific Recording -- an incredible document for any lover of early SF garage-psych (think Oxford Circle, The Savage Resurrection, Moby Grape . . .) -- and many tracks recorded at their home studio in Palo Alto. 100% unadulterated West Coast guitar psych and hard rock that recalls QMS and even Kurihara-era White Heaven." - Guerssen.
Country: Germany
Price: $22.00
"Alitaju Ylimina" is the first vinyl album by Finlands Uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a marvellous fold-out sleeve with a full-colour drawing by Uton himself on the outer sleeve and some fierce black&white illustrations by dutch artist Christelle Gualdi inside. Uton is the one-man project of Jani Hirvonen originally hailing from Tampere and currently travelling and recording in India. Hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the Finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Paavoharju and Lau Nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. The music of Uton is no exception there, drawing inspirations from psychedelia to free jazz to pure ecstatic drones and noises using a wide range of acoustic instruments from various parts of the globe and a bulk of electronics. Recorded in glorious lo-fi the mystery of Hirvonens sound is difficult to pinpoint; sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze - gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust. Uton has previously released dozens of CDs, CD-Rs and Cassettes on a myriad of labels including Jewelled Antler, Pseudo Arcana, Last Visible Dog, Digitalis and his own Ikuisuus. He has collaborated with Amon Dude (Avarus), Anla Courtis (Reynols), Antony Milton (Black Boned Angel), Ben Reynolds, Peter Wright, Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystävät) among others. The latter collaboration (under the Hevoset moniker) will be released on LP by Dekorder later this year." - Dekorder.
Title: Echoes in the Wonderland
Format: LP
Country: USA
Price: $18.00
"After countless releases on labels such as Housecraft, Digitalis, Dekorder, Sloow, etc. and his own label, Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam, UTON finds a new home with DNT. Echoes in the Wonderland is the first full-length LP by Finlands JANI HIRVONEN since 2009s Unexplained Objects (Dekorder) and is no less weird than his previous excursions from the outer regions of the cosmos to the minds innerspace. As the album title could say, this is a way to the "wonderland" (also called the "other side"-many names been used during the history of humankind), which shouldnt be mixed for the adventures of famous Alice-even it might give some idea about what is going to happen, but thats just a start of it all-the start of nothing else but listeners mind. What are the "echoes" then? They are something which are coming from beyond to here where we stay-this album being a link between these worlds; inside & outside; like they are working together. Psychedelic transmissions of consciousness. Bizarro alien communication thats difficult to pinpoint, Utons "sheer ravishing beauty, elegancy and variegation is stashed behind a wall of grey, inscrutable haze-gorgeous melodies and voices, reeds and alien sounds gleaming through the mist from time to time, shimmering like diamonds through layers of dust." (Dekorders words) Co-released with Finnish label Ikuisuus in a unrighteously limited pressing of 275 with full-color pro-printed jackets designed by Uton himself. The DNT edition is limited to 110 hand-numbered copies." -DNT.
Country: Belgium
Price: $9.00
"UTON plays ballads for the new earth. covered under a blanket of tone colors and nature cones, this brain is transferring a total new spectrum of trance. including a super guest-appearance by BRIDGET HAYDEN. full color cover and insert, painted tapecase." - Cauliflower Dreams.
Title: Live in the Center of the World
Format: Cass
Country: US
Price: $8.00
"Double a-side tape, played in reverse on the B, this documents an Uton live show. More abrasive than recorded output. Acoustics, vocal mantras, and pulsating drone that leave you confused when it is all over with. Offset printed gold on platinum vellum, clear labels "touched by the golden hand" in an edition of 100 copies on hi-bias chrome tapes." - Black Horizons.
Country: USA
Price: $11.00
"One of Finlands best kept secrets returns with a new album, and a sonic excursion through the Finnish forests unlike any other. Massive drones are balanced by the hypnotic dance of flutes, bells, and keyboards. Underneath everything runs a mind-altering stream of fuzzed-out brainwaves. Every corner you turn, theres another smiling nymph, begging you to follow the golden path into the mystic woods. UTONs minimalist rumblings are there to infect and enchant, and never fail to impress. "Utons a genius & I always love his art, album titles & cryptic noise mud-slides. Great forestdrone, shortwave, bowed guitars? ... I dont know what he uses, but it all sounds mysterious & subconscious, dreamlike."- Glenn Donaldson, Jewelled Antler.
Country: Finland
Price: $15.00
"first disc recorded in july/august 2007, collecting sounds and tunes together with experimental new methods. from small no-fi dada sounds to space-ambient atmospheres to acoustic pseudojazz to psychedelic moonshine to screaming guitar feedback to violin scratches... making a tour to the mind of what is. second disc, The Book of Beginnigs, is mostly recorded early 2006, and shows the another deep-drone-dream-realm of Uton. few tracks with J.Koho (from Kulkija, Free Players, Tulasi etc.), and also some help from Vanessa Rossetto (Mighty Acts of God, Pulga etc.), Brad Rose (the North Sea etc.), Maxime Primault (Enfer Boreal) and Magnus Olsen (Elektronavn). comes in beautiful silkscreened clothe-sleeves and small booklet."-Om ha sva ha ksha a la va ra yam
Country: Germany
Price: $22.00
""Straight Edge XXS" is the 2nd vinyl album by Finlands Uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies on the Dekorder label. It comes in a gorgeous full-colour collage sleeve assembled by Hirvonen himself. While Utons last Dekorder album "Alitaju Ylimina" (and most of his other recorded works respectively) are hazy lo-fi drone masterpieces for the most part, this is a completely diffferent affair. Recorded straight to tape within one month, right after returning from a 6-month trip to India, these songs (if you could call them songs) are completely out-of-this-world; very short and crazed sketch-like pieces sounding like a Nonesuch Explorer LP of long lost field recordings from an as yet unexplored continent. Or is it World Music from an unknown planet recorded by those Sublime Frequencies guys from mysterious short wave transmissions? Well, it is all that and more. It is pure ecstatic expression channelized through Psychedelia, Free Jazz, Noise and rural ancient Folk Music from all over the world in a completely naked, predominantly acoustic setting. One of the purest forms of music you could imagine; while all the familiar Uton elements remain evident in a hazy backcloth. Uton is the one-man project of Jani Hirvonen originally hailing from Tampere. Hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the Finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Paavoharju and Lau Nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. Uton has previously released dozens of CDs, CD-Rs and Cassettes on a myriad of labels including Jewelled Antler, Pseudo Arcana, Last Visible Dog, Digitalis, Ruralfauna and his own Ikuisuus. He has collaborated with Amon Dude (Avarus), Anla Courtis (Reynols), Antony Milton (Black Boned Angel), Ben Reynolds, Peter Wright, Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystävät) among others. The latter collaboration (under the Hevoset moniker) is released on LP by Dekorder simultaneously." - Dekorder.
Country: Germany
Price: $18.00
"Unexplained Objects" is the 3rd vinyl-only LP by Finlands Uton for the Dekorder label, like his previous Dekorder albums released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a beautiful full-colour heavy duty sleeve designed by Hirvonen himself. While the last albums explored rural soundworlds from the outer reaches of this planet and hidden places of the inner human (and animal) mind, he has finally left planet earth completely and is now reaching out for outer space and alien communication. Hirvonen seems to have traveled the spaceways, bringing home folk music and field recordings from faraway planets and alien cultures. Erich von Däniken beware! Uton is the one-man project of Jani Hirvonen originally hailing from Tampere. Hirvonen is one of the most active musicians of the Finnish underground scene that has recently presented us the likes of Kuupuu, Kemialliset Ystävät, Islaja, Paavoharju and Lau Nau and a seemingly never-ending stream of beautiful and highly original record releases. Uton has previously released dozens of CDs, CD-Rs and Cassettes on a myriad of labels including Jewelled Antler, Pseudo Arcana, Last Visible Dog, Digitalis, Ruralfauna and his own Ikuisuus. He has collaborated with Amon Dude (Avarus), Anla Courtis (Reynols), Antony Milton (Black Boned Angel), Ben Reynolds, Peter Wright, Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Jan Anderzen (Tomutonttu, Kemialliset Ystävät) among others. The latter collaboration (under the Hevoset moniker) has been released on LP by Dekorder as well." - Dekorder.
Title: Were Only In It For The Spirit
Format: CD
Country: USA
Price: $11.00
"For the past five plus years, Uton has been one of the most consistent projects to come out of the snowy confines of his native Finland. His output has been constant, but the quality is always great. His drones have always been underscored with a sense of melody and a keen utilization of the space where the music was created. These songs are not icy or glacial, though, like one might think. Uton has an uncanny ability to inject an inviting sense of warmth and spirit. Were Only In It For The Spirit is ghost music; barely there and out-of-sight in the blink of an eye. The man responsible for these masked-spirit journeys is Tampere native, Jani Hirvonen. Hes collaborated with the likes of Jan Anderzén (Kemialliset Ystävät, etc), Bridget Hayden (Vibracathedral Orchestra), & Anla Courtis (Reynols), among others. When it comes to enchanted, sprawling drones, Hirvonent is a true Rennaissance man. He is joined by Vapaas J.P. Koho on all tracks, who complements Hirvonens delicacy with subtle hints of chaos. Were Only In It For The Spirit continues to trek through new worlds of sound, polishing off the once-rough edges of Utons sound into something that acts as a beacon in the void. Dark, brooding drones for guitar and electronics flicker and fade like a distant, stellar horizon. Hirvonen is a master craftsman, and Koho is his perfect foil. The two play off each others every move and produce an end result that rivals anything Uton has released previously. Were Only In It For The Spirit is a magical piece of work." -Digitalis
Country: USA
Price: $12.00
"Perhaps this collaboration was destined to happen, and were overjoyed that it is happening here! Tampere, Finlands Uton (Jani Hirvonen) and Taranto, Italys Valerio Cosi (who is ? of Pulga) are two of the most creative and most prolific musicians working in experimental music at the moment, and on Käärmeenkääntopiiri, Uton and Valerio have mastered a sound that combines elements of psychedelia, free jazz, Krautrock, environmental sounds, drones and more for an ecstatic listening experience. A mélange of electronic and acoustic instrumentation join together as naturally as the coming of the tides. By turns meditative and forceful, introspective and extroverted, all the while commanding undivided attention from the listener. This is experimentation that remains inviting even in its darker passages. 2007 has been a banner year for both of these musicians, and this release finds them in top form, creating a work that shows exactly why they are in such high demand. Käärmeenkääntopiiri will leave you hoping this is the beginning of many more collaborations between these two." -Fire Museum.
Price: $23.00
“Archaic Sounds, Natural Music & Joy”
“This album is about a way to simply make raw, basic, natural and joyful music. This album is also about and with the Swedish saxophone visionary Bengt Nordström, ”Frippe” who first of all talked to me about making and playing natural music. The legend of Bengt Nordström (1936-2000) tells how he picked up the clarinet and the saxophone after being deeply touched by the music of Tony Scott and Sonny Rollins. Then meeting Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler changed his musical vision; so much that he no longer fit into the contemporary jazz scene in Sweden. Frippe spoke of a totally spontaneous, improvised, creative music at a time when everyone else was trying to master bebop. Because of this, he was left to play alone for many years. He became ”the outsider”; that nobody wanted, or had the nerve to play with. During intermissions at clubs, like the ”Golden Circle”, he took the opportunity to play small solo concerts and recorded himself. He released small editions of his work on his own ”Bird Notes” label. Although the recordings were mostly solo sax, on rare occasions, he was joined by Don Cherry on trumpet, bassist Sven Hessle or bassist Björn Alke who would show up to play duets with him. His collection had two releases: Albert Aylers; ”Something Different!!!!!!” (BNLP 1) and Bengt Nordströms own; ”Natural Music” (BNLP 2). The other recordings were not numbered or catalouged but were released as LPs and EPs. It was not until the mid 70s that Bengt Frippe Nordström formed his own band, the ”Miljövårdsverket”. After some years of trying different constellations, the musicians, bassist Björn Alke (1938-2000), violin player Lars Svanteson (b. 1949) and myself, drummer Peeter Uuskyla (b. 1951), became established as a ”working unit” and cut the albums ”Nows The Frippe Time” (Dragon Records DRLP 82), ”The Environmental Control Office” (Ayler Records aylCD-021/022), ”Frippes Protocol” (aylDL-086) and ”Creative Addition” (aylDL-116). This album is also about me talking to my children Nema (b. 1993) and Simon Cecil (b. 1990) to continue making natural music with your own voice, body and whatever music instruments you use. This album is recreated, created and recorded 2015, 7″ vinyl side A recorded 1967 and side B recorded 1987. Hope you like it!” - Peeter Uuskyla.
Country: USA
Price: $13.00
"2007 saw the first recording from Melbourne, Australias The UV RACE-a self-released tape featuring four songs of primitive thud, minimal assemblage and high-energy expression. Over the next three years the band has continued to show dedication to these themes with a string of cassettes and singles and their 2009 self-titled debut full-length, and their sophomore album Homo delivers on the promise of these early releases. Working again with EDDY CURRENT SUPPRESSION RING guitarist MIKEY YOUNG at the recording and mixing stages, The UV Race developed the songs over several sessions. Their willingness to explore is clear, from the psychotic bedroom confessional of "Girl in My Head" with its confident teen-heat swagger, to the seven-minute closer "Homo," where nods to the Ramones enclose a psychedelic freak-out reminiscent of the closing minutes of The Stooges Funhouse. In between, the band explores influences ranging from their Australian proto-punk and garage fascinations to American country, Krautrock and UK post-punk, citing the Velvet Underground and the Saints as influences. Includes members of TOTAL CONTROL and STRAIGHTJACKET NATION. Includes digital download coupon." -In The Red
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $6.00
"In the beginning, the U.V. Race were the product of two rural Australians imagination. Throughout high school, Al & Marcus had the band but no sound. A few years go by and Al moves to Melbourne and joins Straight Jacket Nation with Daniel -- they play speedy hardcore. Marcus moves to Melbourne and with his pal Al, Daniel, Moses and Emily, U.V. Race made some noise. After some playing around, they released a great single on Aarght! Records and a split tape with pals Eddy Current Suppression Ring. Enter S.S. Records and this new record, Malaria, the U.V. Races second record. Four songs long, the UVs take their influences (X, Cramps, Electric Eels, VU, etc.) and get loose. While the songs are songs, nothing is too planned out as the band thrives on spontaneity. Captured on tape by Eddy Current guitarist Mikey Young, Malaria is yet another great record to come out of todays Melbourne DIY scene." -S-S
SOLD OUT
Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"God is saying this to you: Racism is the third album by Australias most genius avant-tards THE UV RACE, dragging melodious pop songs through a devolved, malodorous glam-punk aesthetic. It continues the stylistic jump from their self-titled debut to sophomore full-length Homo, further exploring the possibilities of the first wave of punk, incorporating orchestral arrangements and gutter-glitter psych stomp, like if Vom tried to write their own Forever Changes; like if the Electric Eels backed up Bolan or if The Fall put out a record on Crass Records. There are tuneful lamentations of heartbreak and loss alongside very debased, toilet-humor punk licks; Lovecraftian psych-cult morbidity at one moment and rousing anti-anthems against self denial the next. It has been an especially productive year for the band-they are about to launch their first feature-length film, Autonomy and Deliberation, and the soundtrack LP recorded for the film comes alongside Racism, a split 7-inch with Native Cats (on Ride the Snake), a split live LP with Eddy Current Suppression Ring (on Almost Ready, originally released on a limited run of cassettes back in 2008), and the Gypsy King single (from Racism, on HoZac). All this, plus the output of the numerous other Melbourne bands in which members of UV Race play-Asps, Dick Diver, East Link, Guy & Marcus Blackman Experimentation, Lower Plenty, School of Radiant Living, Soma Coma, Straightjacket Nation and Total Control-reveal a relentless commitment for the sake of the song. LP includes digital download coupon." -In The Red.
Country: Australia
Price: $15.00
"Crude proto-punk reminiscent of the glory days of VOM, Modern Lovers, Zakary Thaks, Electric Eels, Crime, and a whole host of historic losers. Aaarrggght! Records are very proud indeed to present you with this killer slice of idiot savant punk rock. "The full-length debut masterpiece from Melbourne avant-tard six piece. Following two limited-edition (and now highly sought after) seven inch singles released here and in the USA, the UV Race have fulfi lled the potential only hinted at on those EPs. Produced by Mikey Young of Eddy Current Suppression Ring. "Bringing to mind some of the cornerstones of mid 70s proto-punk (Modern Lovers, Gizmos, Electric Eels and the like), the UV Race likewise avoid rote punk trappings with their really quite sophisticated use of piano and saxophone, and the over-riding presence of singer Marcus introverted musings on life as a small town misfit. His sincerity and unconventionality is what makes the UV Race compelling listening." -Aarght
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Country: USA
Price: $15.00
"Live at Missing Link Records - May 2nd 2008. Great sets from Australias finest! Comes with full color sleeve, two sided insert, and download card of entire show!!" - Last Laugh.
Title: Old Birth of New Death
Format: Cass
Country: USA
Price: $7.50
"First in a four-part series of recordings based on Gene Wolfes four-part "Book of the New Sun" series. Torture-meditation drones, spatial field recordings, acoustic guitar, gothic synthesizer washes, fragmented spoken-word, and a deeper investigation into the longer format. Hand dubbed C-36 with letterpressed wrap-around cover in metallic gold ink. Edition of 100." -Phaserprone.
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Country: USA
Price: $20.00
"U W OWL has finally found their first proper release after making numerous small edition CD-Rs and contributing a track on United Bamboos They Keep me Smiling compilation curated by Hisham Bharoocha (x- Black Dice, Soft Circle). This LP features ten songs chosen from a mass of recordings between 2003 and 2004. Electrical currents, desolate sound scapes, dark tunnels, late night jams and structured waste recorded on a broken dust-filled concrete basement floor in Bushwick - Brooklyn, NY. 333 copies. 140g Vinyl. Packaged in a self assembled dye-cut and letterpressed jacket by Jonas Asher, with insert." - Phaserprone.
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Title: Lost and Found Adventures
Format: LP
Country: Belgium
Price: $18.00
"The six pieces, now released by Monolisa Records, are part of a private tape released in 1992 by Razoul Uzlu (aka Raymond Dijkstra). The music on this album, created through automic writing, is a kind of imaginary animation music with a nice blend of collage and harmony, from sober sweetness to neurotic alienation. Multitracked synthesizer with voices and noises are the basic ingredients of these adventurous mono recordings. The cover of the record, also made by Razoul Uzlu, is a collage of selected prints of old engravings and texts. This is the first Monolisa release in an edition of 500 copies with stamped and numbered innersleeve." - Monolisa.
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| i don't know |
How many ‘Books’ make up the Old Testament of the Bible? | What Books Make Up the Bible?
What Books Make Up the Bible?
Related
Which Bible Translation Is Best?
Most modern versions of the Bible contain 66 books, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament. Originally, the number of books in the Bible was 49 because the Jews divide the 39 Old Testament books into 22 books by combining several books into one (e.g., they combine the twelve Minor Prophets into one book). The New Testament canon has remained stable at 27 books since early times. A complete list appears below.
Old Testament
I. The Gospels and Acts
1. Genesis
II. The Epistles of Paul
6. Joshua-Judges
7. Book of Kingdoms (I & II Samuel, I & II Kings, considered one book)
7. I Corinthians
11. The Twelve (The "Minor" Prophets, considered one book)
11. Philippians
21. Ezra-Nehemiah (considered one book)
22. Chronicles (considered one book)
The church of God does not accept the Apocrypha (the books of Esdras, Tobit, Judith, The Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, the books of Maccabees, etc.) or any other so-called apostolic or early church writings as canonical.
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| thirty nine |
Chartwell was the family home of which British Prime Minister? | 3. The Historical Books of the New Testament | Bible.org
3. The Historical Books of the New Testament
Introduction
As previously mentioned, the New Testament falls into three categories based on their literary makeup—the historical, the epistolary, and the prophetical. The four Gospels make up about 46 percent and the book of Acts raises this to 60 percent. This means 60 percent of the New Testament is directly historical tracing the roots and historical development of Christianity. Christianity is based on historical facts. This is inherent in the very nature of the gospel. Christianity is the message of the gospel and what is a gospel? It is good news, information derived from the witness of others. It is history, the testimony of historical facts. “The gospel is news that something has happened—something that puts a different face upon life. What that something is is told us in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. It is the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.” 10 Following this four-fold account, Acts gives the historical account of the extension of the gospel message from Jerusalem, into Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth, into the Gentile world. It begins:
1:1 I wrote the former account (the Gospel of Luke), Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach 1:2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after he had given orders by the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 1:3 After his suffering he had also presented himself alive to these apostles by many convincing proofs. He was seen by them over a forty-day period and spoke about matters concerning the kingdom of God.
1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth.
Luke is volume one and Acts is volume two of Dr. Luke’s treatise about the historical life and ministry of the Savior as begun by the Lord Jesus. This was continued by the Savior through the Holy Spirit working in the life of His apostles following Christ’s ascension into heaven. Acts thus provides the historical outline of the apostles’ ministry in the life of the early church. This becomes crucial to our understanding of much of what we have in the epistles, which were historical letters written to living people in historical places. The New Testament, then, is a historical book of the Good News of the living God at work in human history, not just in the past, but in the living present and the future in light of the promises of God.
The Synoptic Gospels
Before beginning a survey of each of the Gospels, it might be well to say a bit about the use of the term, The Synoptic Gospels. Though each Gospel has its distinct emphasis and purpose, the first three are sometimes referred to as the Synoptic Gospels because they “see together,” that is, they have the same point of view with regard to the life of Christ, agreeing in subject matter and order. Further, they also present the life of Christ in a way that complements the picture given in the Gospel of John. The following show a number of areas that are common to each of the first three Gospels:
The announcement of the Messiah by John the Baptist (Matt. 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3).
The baptism of Jesus (Matt. 3, Mark 1, and Luke 3).
The temptation of Jesus (Matt. 4, Mark 1, and Luke 4).
The teaching and miracles of Jesus (The major portion of each Gospel).
The transfiguration of Jesus (Matt. 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9).
The trial, death, and burial of Jesus (Matt. 26-27, Mark 14-15, Luke 22-23).
The resurrection of Jesus (Matt. 28, Mark 16, Luke 24).
The Purpose and Distinctive Focus of the Four Gospels
16:13 When Jesus came to the area of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” 16:14 They answered, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 16:15 He said to them, “And who do you say that I am?” 16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:14 gives the four stock answers or schools of thought for a large number of people in Jesus’ day. Only a few at first, a believing remnant, recognized Him for who He really was, the Son of God. Thus, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the Gospel writers set about to reveal just who Jesus really was as to His person and work. In a four-fold way, each with their own distinctive focus, but in accounts that are complementary, the four Gospels answer the questions posed by the Lord to the disciples. They declare just exactly who Jesus is. They show Him to be the Messiah of Old Testament expectation, the Servant of the Lord, the Son of Man, the Son of God, and the one who is the Savior of the World. The Gospels give us God’s portrait of the person and work of Christ with four distinct pictures.
In Sidlow Baxter’s Explore the Book, he calls our attention to the interesting similarity between the vision in Ezekiel 1:10 and the Gospels, though he does not suggest the four living creatures were a type of the Gospels. He writes:
Most of us, perhaps, are familiar with the parallel which has often been noted between the four Gospels and the four “living creatures” in the opening vision of the prophet Ezekiel. The four “living creatures,” or cherubim, are thus described in Ezekiel 1:10: “As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion, on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.” The lion symbolizes supreme strength, kingship; the man, highest intelligence; the ox, lowly service; the eagle, heavenliness, mystery, Divinity.
In Matthew we see the Messiah-King (the lion).
In Mark we see Jehovah’s Servant (the ox).
In Luke we see the Son of Man (the man).
In John we see the Son of God (the eagle).
It needs all four aspects to give the full truth. As Sovereign He comes to reign and rule. As Servant He comes to serve and suffer. As Son of man He comes to share and sympathise. As Son of God He comes to reveal and redeem. Wonderful fourfold blending—sovereignty and humility; humanity and deity! 11
Matthew addresses his Gospel primarily to the Jews to convince them that Jesus of Nazareth is their Messiah, the King of the Jews. With the genealogy of Jesus, Matthew also uses ten fulfillment quotations by which he seeks to show that this Jesus, though rejected and crucified, is the long-awaited Messiah of the Old Testament (Matt. 1:23; 2:15; 2:18; 2:23; 4:15; 8:15; 12:18-21; 13:35; 21:5; 27:9-10). But though rejected by the nation as a whole and crucified, the King left an empty tomb.
Mark seems to be addressed to the Romans, a people of action but of few words, and presents Jesus as the Servant of the Lord who came “to give His life a ransom for many.” In keeping with this, Mark, the shortest of the Gospels, is vivid, active or lively, and presents a very clear eyewitness account, especially of the last week of Jesus’ life on earth. “A full 37 percent of this Gospel is devoted to the events of His last and most important week.” 12
Luke, the doctor historian, presents Jesus as the perfect Son of Man who came “to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10). Luke strongly stresses the true humanity of Christ while also declaring His deity. Some believe that Luke particularly had the Greeks in mind because of their keen interest in human philosophy.
John immediately (1:1-2) focuses the reader on the deity of Christ by presenting Jesus as the eternal Son of God who gives eternal and abundant life to all who would receive Him by believing in Him (John 1:12; 3:16-18, 36; 10:10). Though written to all mankind, John’s Gospel is especially written to the church. Five chapters record the farewell discourses of Jesus to His disciples to comfort them just a few hours before His death. In addition, seven miraculous signs of Jesus are set forth to demonstrate that Jesus is the Savior and to encourage people everywhere to believe in Him that they might have life (John 20:30-31).
Matthew
Author and Title:
Each of the Gospels receives its name from the human author who wrote it. Though this first Gospel, as with each of the Gospels, never names its author, the universal testimony of the early church is that the apostle Matthew wrote it, and our earliest textual witnesses attribute it to him by giving it the title, “According to Matthew” (Kata Matthaion). Matthew, who was one of the original disciples of Jesus, was a Jew writing to Jews about the One who was their own Messiah. His original name was Levi, the son of Alphaeus. Matthew worked as a publican collecting taxes in Palestine for the Romans until he was called by the Lord to follow Him (Matt. 9:9, 10; Mark 2:14-15). His quick response may suggest his heart had already been stirred by the ministry of Jesus.
At an early date this gospel was given the title Kata Matthaion, “According to Matthew.” As this title suggests, other gospel accounts were known at that time (the word gospel was added later) … 13
Date: A.D. 50s or 60s
Suggestions for the dating of Matthew range from A.D. 40 to A.D. 140, but “the fact that the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 is viewed as an event yet future (24:2) seems to require an earlier date. Some feel that this was the first of the Gospels to be written (about A.D. 50), while others think it was not the first and that it was written in the 60s.” 14
Theme and Purpose:
As evident in the questions Jesus asked His disciples in 16:14f., Matthew wrote to Jews to answer their questions about Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus had plainly declared that He was their Messiah. Was He really the Old Testament Messiah predicted by the prophets? If so, why did the religious leaders fail to receive Him and why didn’t He establish the promised kingdom? Will it ever be established, and if so, when? Thus, Matthew is addressed primarily to a Jewish audience to show them that this Jesus is the long-awaited Messiah. This is seen in Jesus’ genealogy (1:1-17); the visit of the Magi (2:1-12); His entry into Jerusalem (21:5); the judgment of the nations (25:31-46); the often mentioning of the “kingdom of heaven” as is common with the other Gospels, and in the Old Testament fulfillment quotations mentioned previously.
Key Words or Concept:
Jesus, the Messiah, the King of the Jews.
Key Verses:
1:20-23. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.” 22 Now all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23 “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.”
16:15-19. He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not overpower it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
28:18-20. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Key Chapters:
Chapter 1 is key in that it introduces the genealogy and birth of Jesus as son of David, son of Abraham, and as one born by the miraculous work of the Spirit, with Joseph being the legal father by adoption, but not the physical father.
Chapter 12 is key because in this chapter we see the turning point when the religious leaders formally reject Jesus as their Messiah by attributing His miraculous power to Satan. At this point Jesus began to speak in parables to hide truth from the unresponsive. From this point on more time is given to His disciples.
Christ as Seen in Matthew:
As previously stressed, Matthew’s goal is to demonstrate that Jesus is the Messiah of Old Testament expectation. He is the son of Abraham and David. Thus He is the King who comes offering the kingdom. The phrase “the king of heaven” occurs some thirty-two times in this Gospel. Further, to show that this Jesus fulfills expectations of the Old Testament, ten times he specifically stresses that what happened in the life of Jesus fulfills the Old Testament. Further, he uses more Old Testament quotations and allusions than any other book of the New Testament, some 130 times.
Outline:
Matthew naturally falls into nine discernible sections:
I.
The Person and Presentation of the King (1:1-4:25)
II.
The Proclamation or Preaching of the King (5:1-7:29)
III.
The Power of the King (8:1-11:1)
IV.
The Program and Progressive Rejection of the King (11:2-16:12)
V.
The Pedagogy and Preparation of the King’s Disciples (16:13-20:28)
VI.
The Presentation of the King (20:29-23:39)
VII.
The Predictions or Prophecies of the King (24:1-25:46)
VIII.
The Passion or Rejection of the King (26:1-27:66)
IX.
The Proof of the King (28:1-20)
Mark
Author and Title:
Mark’s Gospel is actually anonymous since it does not name its author. The Greek title, Kata Markon, “According to Mark” was added later by a scribe sometime before A.D. 125, but there is strong and clear evidence (external and internal) that Mark was its author. “The unanimous testimony of the early church fathers is that Mark, an associate of the apostle Peter, was the author.” 15 In A.D. 112, Papias cited Mark as “the interpreter of Peter.” Dunnett points out, “A comparison of Peter’s sermon in Acts 10:36-43 with Mark’s Gospel shows the former to be an outline of the life of Jesus which Mark has given in much greater detail.” 16
Though Mark was not one of the original disciples of Christ, he was the son of Mary, a woman of wealth and position in Jerusalem (Acts 12:12), a companion of Peter (1 Pet. 5:13), and the cousin of Barnabas (Col. 4:10). These associations, especially his association with Peter who was evidently Mark’s source of information, gave apostolic authority to Mark’s Gospel. Since Peter spoke of him as “Mark, my son,” (1 Pet. 5:13), Peter may have been the one who led Mark to Christ.
In addition, he was also a close associate of Paul. Ryrie writes:
He had the rare privilege of accompanying Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey but failed to stay with them through the entire trip. Because of this, Paul refused to take him on the second journey, so he went with Barnabas to Cyprus (Acts 15:38-40). About a dozen years later he was again with Paul (Col. 4:10; Philem. 24), and just before Paul’s execution he was sent for by the apostle (2 Tim. 4:11). His biography proves that one failure in life does not mean the end of usefulness. 17
Date: A.D. 50s or 60s
The dating of Mark is somewhat difficult, though many scholars believe this Gospel was the first of the four Gospels. Unless one rejects the element of predictive prophecy, 13:2 clearly shows that Mark was written before A.D. 70 and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. Ryrie points out:
In fact, if Acts must be dated about A.D. 61, and if Luke, the companion volume, preceded it, then Mark must be even earlier, since Luke apparently used Mark in writing his gospel. This points to a date in the 50s for Mark. However, many scholars believe that Mark was not written until after Peter died; i.e., after 67 but before 70. 18
Theme and Purpose:
The theme of Mark is ‘Christ the Servant.’ This thrust is brought in 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many.” A careful reading of Mark shows how the two themes of this verse, service and sacrifice, are unfolded by Mark. Mark is addressed primarily to the Roman or Gentile reader. As a result, the genealogy of Jesus is omitted along with the Sermon on the Mount and the condemnations by the religious leaders receive less attention. Also, since Mark presents Jesus as the Worker, the Servant of the Lord, the book focuses on the activity of Christ as a faithful Servant effectively going about His work. This focus seems evident by Mark’s style as seen in his use of the Greek euqus, “immediately, at once,” or “then, so then,” which occurs some 42 times in this Gospel. Its meaning varies from the sense of immediacy as in 1:10, to that of logical order (“in due course, then”; cf. 1:21 [“when”]; 11:3 [“shortly”]). 19 Another illustration of this active focus is Mark’s prominent use of the historic present to describe a past event, which was evidently done for vividness.
Key Word:
Servant, Servant of the Lord.
Key Verses:
8:34-37. Then Jesus called the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will save it. What advantage is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? What can a person give in exchange for his soul?”
10:43-45. “But it is not this way among you. But whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Key Chapters:
Chapter 8 forms a key chapter in Mark, much like chapter 12 in Matthew, because here there is a change in both the content and course of the ministry of Jesus. The pivotal event that brings about the change is the confession of Peter, “You are the Christ (the Messiah)” (8:29). This is followed immediately by a warning that they should tell no one, the revelation of His death, the call to discipleship, and the transfiguration.
That faith-inspired response triggers a new phase in both the content and the course of Jesus’ ministry. Until this point He has sought to validate His claims as Messiah. But now He begins to fortify His men for His forthcoming suffering and death at the hands of the religious leaders. Jesus’ steps begin to take Him daily closer to Jerusalem—the place where the Perfect Servant will demonstrate the full extent of His servanthood. 20
Christ as Seen in Mark:
Of course, Mark’s contribution especially centers on presenting the Savior as the Sacrificing Servant who gives His life obediently for the ransom of many. The focus is clearly on His ministry to the physical and spiritual needs of others always putting them before His own needs. This emphasis on the Savior’s servant activity is seen in the following:
Only eighteen out of Christ’s seventy parables are found in Mark—some of these are only one sentence in length—but he lists over half of Christ’s thirty-five miracles, the highest proportion in the Gospels. 21
Outline:
With the theme of the book being that of Christ the Servant. The key verse, 10:45, provides the key for two natural divisions of the Gospel: the Servant’s service (1:1-10:52) and the Servant’s sacrifice (11:1-16:20). We can divide this into five simple sections:
I.
The Preparation of the Servant for Service (1:1-13)
II.
The Preaching of the Servant in Galilee (1:14-9:50)
III.
The Preaching of the Servant in Perea (10:1-52)
IV.
The Passion of the Servant in Jerusalem (11:1-15:47)
V.
The Prosperity of the Servant in Resurrection (16:1-20)
Luke
Author and Title:
Both Luke and Acts, which are addressed to Theophilus as a two-volume work, are attributed to Luke, and while Luke is nowhere named as the author of either, a great deal of evidence points to Luke, “the beloved physician” (Col. 4:14) as the author of both books. Significantly, these two books make up about 28 percent of the Greek New Testament. The only places where we find his name in the New Testament are Colossians 4:14; 2 Timothy 4:11; and Philemon 24. It is also believed that Luke referred to himself in the “we” sections of Acts (16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16). These “we” sections of Acts show that the author was a close associate and traveling companion of Paul. Since all but two of Paul’s associates are named in the third person, the list can be narrowed to Titus and Luke.
By process of elimination, Paul’s “dear friend Luke, the doctor” (Col 4:14), and “fellow worker” (Phm 24) becomes the most likely candidate. His authorship is supported by the uniform testimony of early Christian writings (e.g., the Muratorian Canon, A.D. 170, and the works of Irenaeus, c. 180). 22
It seems evident from Colossians 4:10-14 that Luke was a Gentile for there Paul differentiates him from the Jews. Here the apostle states that, of his fellow-workers, Aristarchus, Mark, and John were the only ones who were Jews. This suggest that Epaphras, Luke, and Demas, also mentioned in these verses, were Gentiles, not Jews. “Luke’s obvious skill with the Greek language and his phrase “their own language” in Acts 1:19 also imply that he was not Jewish.” 23
We know nothing about his early life or conversion except that he was not an eyewitness of the life of Jesus Christ (Luke 1:2). Though a physician by profession, he was primarily an evangelist, writing this gospel and the book of Acts and accompanying Paul in missionary work … He was with Paul at the time of the apostle’s martyrdom (2 Tim. 4:11), but of his later life we have no certain facts. 24
Date: A.D. 60
Two commonly suggested periods for dating the Gospel of Luke are: (1) A.D. 59-63, and (2) the 70s or the 80s, but the conclusion of Acts shows us that Paul was in Rome, and since Luke is the former treatise, written before Acts (Acts 1:1), the Gospel of Luke must have been written in the earlier period, around A.D. 60. However, suggesting that Luke’s Gospel received its final form in Greece and not in Rome, some have suggested A.D. 70.
Theme and Purpose:
The purpose of Luke is clearly stated in the prologue of his Gospel.
1:1-4 Now many have undertaken to compile an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 1:2 like the accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning. 1:3 So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 1:4 so that you may have certainty regarding the things you were taught.
Several things need to be noticed regarding his approach to presenting the gospel:
Luke states that his own work was stimulated by the work of others (1:1), that he consulted eyewitnesses (1:2), and that he sifted and arranged the information (1:3) under the guidance of the Holy Spirit to instruct Theophilus in the historical reliability of the faith (1:4). This is a carefully researched and documented writing. 25
As a Gentile, Luke must have felt responsible to write his two-volume account of the life of Christ so it would be available to Gentile readers. This seems evident from the fact that Luke “translates Aramaic terms with Greek words and explains Jewish customs and geography to make his Gospel more intelligible to his original Greek readership.” 26
Luke, written by the “the beloved physician,” is the most comprehensive and longest of the Gospels. It presents the Savior as the Son of Man, the Perfect Man who came to seek and save the lost (19:10). In Matthew we see Jesus as Son of David, Israel’s King; in Mark we see Him as the Lord’s Servant, serving others; in Luke we see Him as the Son of Man, meeting man’s needs, a perfect man among men, chosen from men, tested among men, and supremely qualified to be the Savior and High Priest. In Matthew we see groupings of significant events, in Mark we see the snapshots of significant events, but in Luke we see more details of these events by the physician/historian.
His perfect human nature as the Son of Man, yet also Son of God, is brought out by the following:
1. His physical birth with his genealogy traced all the way back to Adam (3:38) (Matthew goes back only to Abraham).
2. His mental development is stressed in 2:40-52.
3. His moral and spiritual perfection is also stressed as evidenced at His baptism by the voice of the Father from heaven and by the anointing of the Holy Spirit.
So in Jesus we have One who is perfect manhood—physically, mentally, and spiritually.
Key Word:
Jesus, the Son of Man.
Key Verses:
1:1-4 Now many have undertaken to compile an account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 1:2 like the accounts passed on to us by those who were eyewitnesses and servants of the word from the beginning. 1:3 So it seemed good to me as well, because I have followed all things carefully from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 1:4 so that you may have certainty regarding the things you were taught.
19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.
Key Chapters:
Chapter 15. In view of the theme stressed in 19:10, the emphasis on ‘seeking’ in the three parables of chapter 15 (the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son) makes this a key chapter in Luke’s Gospel.
Christ as Seen in Luke:
The humanity and compassion of Jesus are repeatedly stressed in Luke’s Gospel. Luke gives the most complete account of Christ’s ancestry, birth, and development. He is the ideal Son of Man who identified with the sorrow and plight of sinful man in order to carry our sorrows and offer us the priceless gift of salvation. Jesus alone fulfills the Greek ideal of human perfection. 27
Outline:
The Prologue: The Method and Purpose of Writing (1:1-4)
II.
The Identification of the Son of Man with Men (1:1-4:13)
III.
The Ministry of the Son of Man to Men (4:14-9:50)
IV.
The Rejection of the Son of Man by Men (9:51-19:44)
V.
The Suffering of the Son of Man for Men (19:45-23:56)
VI.
The Authentication (by resurrection) of the Son of Man Before Men (24:1-53)
John
Author and Title:
From early in the second century, church tradition has attributed the fourth Gospel to John the apostle, son of Zebedee and brother of James. Jesus named John and James, “Sons of Thunder” (Mark 3:17). Salome, his mother, served Jesus in Galilee and was present at His crucifixion (Mark 15:40-41). He was not only close to Jesus as one of the Twelve, but he is usually identified as “the beloved disciple” (13:23; 18:15, 16; 19:26-27), was one of the inner circle and one of three Christ took with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1). He was also closely associated with Peter. After the ascension of Christ, John became one whom Paul identified as the “pillars” of the church (Gal. 2:9).
In the strict sense of the term, the fourth Gospel is anonymous. No name of its author is given in the text. This is not surprising because a gospel differs in literary form from an epistle (letter). The letters of Paul each begin with his name, which was the normal custom of letter writers in the ancient world. None of the human authors of the four Gospels identified himself by name. But that does not mean one cannot know who the authors were. An author may indirectly reveal himself within the writing, or his work may be well known in tradition as coming from him.
Internal evidence supplies the following chain of connections regarding the author of the Fourth Gospel. (1) In John 21:24 the word “them” refers to the whole Gospel, not to just the last chapter. (2) “The disciple” in 21:24 was “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (21:7). (3) From 21:7 it is certain that the disciple whom Jesus loved was one of seven persons mentioned in 21:2 (Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the two sons of Zebedee, and two unnamed disciples). (4) “The disciple whom Jesus loved” was seated next to the Lord at the Last Supper, and Peter motioned to him (13:23-24). (5) He must have been one of the Twelve since only they were with the Lord at the Last Supper (cf. Mark 14:17; Luke 22:14). (6) In the Gospel, John was closely related to Peter and thus appears to be one of the inner three (cf. John 20:2-10; Mark 5:37-38; 9:2-3; 14:33). Since James, John’s brother, died in the year A.D. 44, he was not the author (Acts 12:2). (7) “The other disciple” (John 18:15-16) seems to refer to the “disciple whom Jesus loved” since he is called this in 20:2. (8) The “disciple whom Jesus loved” was at the cross (19:26), and 19:35 seems to refer to him. (9) The author’s claim, “We have seen His glory” (1:14), was the claim of someone who was an eyewitness (cf. 1 John 1:1-4).
Putting all of these facts together makes a good case for the author of the Fourth Gospel having been John, one of the sons of a fisherman named Zebedee. 28
Date: A.D. 85-90
Some critics have sought to place the dating of John well into the second century (about A.D. 150), but a number of factors have proven this false.
Archeological finds supporting the authenticity of the text of John (e.g., John 4:11; 5:2-3), word studies (e.g., synchrontai, 4:9), manuscript discoveries (e.g., P52), and the Dead Sea Scrolls have given powerful support to an early dating for John. So it is common today to find nonconservative scholars arguing for a date as early as A.D. 45-66. An early date is possible. But this Gospel has been known in the church as the “Fourth” one, and the early church fathers believed that it was written when John was an old man. Therefore a date between 85 and 95 is best. John 21:18, 23 require the passing of some time, with Peter becoming old and John outliving him. 29
Theme and Purpose:
Probably more than any other book of the Bible, John clearly states the theme and purpose of his Gospel. Significantly, this statement of purpose follows Thomas’ encounter with the resurrected Savior. If you recall, Thomas had doubted the reality of the resurrection (John 20:24-25). Immediately after this the Lord appeared to the disciples and addressed Thomas with these words, “Put your finger here, and examine my hands. Extend your hand and put it into my side. Do not continue in your unbelief, but believe.” Thomas then declared, “My Lord and my God!” The Lord then said to Thomas, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are the people who have not seen and yet have believed.” It is following this exchange and the focus on the need of believing in Jesus that John gives us the theme and statement of purpose:
20:30 Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples that are not recorded in this book. 20:31 But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
In keeping with this statement of purpose, John selected seven sign-miracles to reveal the person and mission of Christ that it might bring people to believe in Jesus as Savior. The term used of these miracles is shmeion, “a sign, a distinguishing mark,” and then “a sign consisting of a miracle, a wonder, something contrary to nature.” John always refers to Jesus’ miracles by this term because shmeion emphasized the significance of the action rather than the miracle (see, e.g., 4:54; 6:14; 9:16; 11:47). These signs revealed Jesus’ glory (see 1:14; cf. Isa 35:1-2; Joel 3:18; Am 9:13). These seven signs consisted of the following: (1) the turning of water into wine (2:1-11); (2) the cure of the nobleman’s son (4:46-54); (3) the cure of the paralytic (5:1-18); (4) the feeding of the multitude (6:6-13); (5) the walking on the water (6:16-21); (6) the giving of sight to the blind (9:1-7); and (7) the raising of Lazarus (11:1-45).
John’s special theme and purpose is also easily discerned by the distinctive nature of his Gospel when compared to Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
When one compares the Gospel of John with the other three Gospels, he is struck by the distinctiveness of John’s presentation. John does not include Jesus’ genealogy, birth, baptism, temptation, casting out of demons, parables, transfiguration, instituting of the Lord’s Supper, His agony in Gethsemane, or His Ascension. John’s presentation of Jesus stresses His ministry in Jerusalem, the feasts of the Jewish nation, Jesus’ contacts with individuals in private conversations (e.g., chaps. 3-4; 18:28-19:16), and His ministry to His disciples (chaps. 13-17). The major body of the Gospel is contained in a “Book of Signs” (2:1-12:50) which embraces seven miracles or “signs” which proclaim Jesus as the Messiah, the Son of God. This “Book of Signs” also contains great discourses of Jesus which explain and proclaim the significance of the signs. For example, following the feeding of the 5,000 (6:1-15), Jesus revealed Himself as the Bread of Life which the heavenly Father gives for the life of the world (6:25-35). Another notable and exclusive feature of the Fourth Gospel is the series of “I am” statements that were made by Jesus (cf. 6:35; 8:12; 10:7, 9, 11, 14; 11:25; 14:6; 15:1, 5).
The distinctiveness of this Gospel must be kept in perspective. The Gospels were not intended as biographies. Each Gospel writer selected from a much larger pool of information the material which would serve his purpose. It has been estimated that if all the words from the lips of Jesus cited in Matthew, Mark, and Luke were read aloud, the amount of time taken would be only about three hours … 30
Key Words:
The key concept in John is Jesus, the Son of God, the one who is the Logos, the very revelation of God (John 1:1, 14, 18). But there are a number of other key words in the presentation of Christ like truth, light, darkness, word, knowledge, believe, abide, love, world, witness, and judgment. The verb believe (Greek, pisteuw) occurs 98 times in this Gospel. The noun, “faith” (Greek, pistis) does not occur.
Key Verses:
1:11-13. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children—children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.
1:14. Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.
3:16. For this is the way God loved the world: he gave his one and only Son that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
20:30-31. Now Jesus performed many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples that are not recorded in this book. But these are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
Key Chapters:
It is difficult to choose a key chapter in John’s Gospel, but surely the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus in chapter 3 rates as one of the key chapters. John 3:16 is perhaps quoted more than any other verse in the Bible. Also important in this chapter are the words of the Savior regarding the need to be born again or from above (see 3:3-6).
Other key chapters are John 4, the encounter with the woman at the well, the discourses with the disciples preparing them for His absence, John 13-16, and the Lord’s prayer to the Father in John 17.
Christ as Seen in John:
While the deity of Christ is a prominent theme in the Bible in many places, there is no book that presents a more powerful case for the deity of Jesus as the incarnate Son of God than does this Gospel. The fact is that one who is identified as “The man called Jesus” (9:11) is also called “God, the One and Only” (1:18 NIV), “Christ, the Son of the Living God” (6:69 KJV) or “the Holy One of God” (6:69 NIV, NASB, NET).
This declaration of the deity of Jesus Christ is further developed by seven “I AM” statements made by Jesus and recorded in John’s Gospel. These seven statements are: I am the bread of life (6:35), I am the light of the world (8:12), I am the gate (10:7, 9), I am the good shepherd (10:11, 14), I am the resurrection and the life (11:25), I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6), I am the true vine (15:1, 5).
Another distinctive of John’s Gospel, again focusing on the person of Christ, are the five witnesses that witness to Jesus as the Son of God. In John 5:31f., Jesus is responding to the arguments of His opponents. They were claiming that His witness was without other witnesses to corroborate His testimony, but Jesus shows that is not true and proceeds to remind them that there are other witnesses to the validity of His claims: there is His Father (vv. 32, 37), there is John the Baptist (v. 33), His miracles (v. 36), the Scriptures (v. 39), and Moses (v. 46). Later, in 8:14 He declares that His witness is indeed true.
… On certain occasions, Jesus equates Himself with the Old Testament “I AM,” or Yahweh (see 4:25-26; 8:24, 28, 58; 13:19; 18:5-6, 8). Some of the most crucial affirmations of His deity are found here (1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 14:9; 20:28). 31
Outline:
H. Concerning the World (15:18-16:6)
I. Concerning the Holy Spirit (16:7-15)
J. Concerning His Return (16:16-33)
V. The Intercession of the Son of God (17:1-26)
VI. The Crucifixion of the Son of God (18:1-19:42)
VII. The Resurrection of the Son of God (20:1-31)
A. The Empty Tomb (20:1-9)
B. The Appearances of the Risen Lord (20:10-31)
VIII. The Epilogue: The Appearance by the Lake (21:1-25)
A. The Appearance to the Seven Disciples (21:1-14)
B. The Words to Peter (21:15-23)
C. The Conclusion of the Gospel (21:24-25)
Acts
Author and Title:
Although the author is unnamed in Acts, the evidence leads to the conclusion that the author was Luke. As previously mentioned, Acts is the second volume of a two-part treatise written by Luke, the physician, to Theophilus about “all that Jesus began to do and teach.” In support of Luke as the author, Ryrie writes:
That the author of Acts was a companion of Paul is clear from the passages in the book in which “we” and “us” are used (16:10-17; 20:5-21:18; 27:1-28:16). These sections themselves eliminate known companions of Paul other than Luke, and Colossians 4:14 and Philemon 24 point affirmatively to Luke, who was a physician. The frequent use of medical terms also substantiates this conclusion (1:3; 3:7ff.; 9:18, 33; 13:11; 28:1-10). Luke answered the Macedonian call with Paul, was in charge of the work at Philippi for about six years, and later was with Paul in Rome during the time of Paul’s house arrest. It was probably during this last period that the book was written. If it were written later it would be very difficult to explain the absence of mentioning such momentous events as the burning of Rome, the martyrdom of Paul, or the destruction of Jerusalem. 32
Regarding the title, all available Greek manuscripts designate it by the title Praxeis, “Acts,” or by the title, “The Acts of the Apostles.” Just how or why it received this title is uncertain. Actually, “The Acts of the Apostles” is perhaps not the most accurate title since it does not contain the acts of all the apostles. Only Peter and Paul are really emphasized, though the promise of the coming of the Spirit was made to all the apostles in Acts 1:2-8 who were then to go into all the world preaching the gospel in the power of the Spirit (however, see 4:32). Many have felt that the book would be more accurately titled, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit” since it describes the spread of Christianity from the time of the coming of the Spirit in Acts 2 as promised in Acts 1:8.
Date: A.D. 61
The issues regarding the dating of the book are summarized by Stanley Toussaint as follows:
The writing of Acts must have taken place before the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Certainly an event of such magnitude would not have been ignored. This is especially true in light of one of the basic themes of the book: God’s turning to the Gentiles from the Jews because of the Jews’ rejection of Jesus Christ.
Luke scarcely would have omitted an account of Paul’s death, traditionally dated from A.D. 66-68, if it had occurred before he wrote Acts.
Nor did Luke mention the Neronian persecutions which began after the great fire of Rome in A.D. 64.
Furthermore, a defense of Christianity before Nero by using the Book of Acts to appeal to what lower officials had ruled regarding Paul would have had little point at the time of the Neronian antagonism. At that time Nero was so intent on destroying the church, the defense set forth in Acts would have had little effect in dissuading him.
The date usually accepted by conservative scholars for the writing of Acts is around A.D. 60-62. Accordingly the place of writing would be Rome or possibly both Caesarea and Rome. At the time of writing, Paul’s release was either imminent or had just taken place. 33
Theme and Purpose:
The book of Acts stands out as unique among the New Testament books for it alone provides a bridge for the other books of the New Testament. As Luke’s second treatise, Acts continues what Jesus “began to do and to teach” (1:1) as recorded in the Gospels. It begins with Christ’s Ascension and continues to the period of the New Testament Epistles. In it we have the continuation of the ministry of Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit at work in the apostles who went forth preaching and establishing the church, the body of Christ. Acts is the historical link between the Gospels and the Epistles.
Not only does it make this bridge for us, but it provides an account of the life of Paul and gives us the historical occasion for his letters. In the process, Acts recounts the first 30 years of the life of the church.
After summarizing various views on the purpose of Acts, Toussaint writes:
The purpose of the Book of Acts may be stated as follows: To explain with the Gospel of Luke the orderly and sovereignly directed progress of the kingdom message from Jews to Gentiles, and from Jerusalem to Rome. In Luke’s Gospel the question is answered, “If Christianity has its roots in the Old Testament and in Judaism, how did it become a worldwide religion?” The Book of Acts continues in the vein of the Gospel of Luke to answer the same problem. 34
Acts 1:8 expresses the theme of Acts—the indwelling Holy Spirit empowering God’s people to be the Savior’s witnesses both in Jerusalem (home base), and in all Judea and Samaria (the immediate and surrounding areas), and even to the remotest part of the earth (the world).
Key Word:
Key people include: Peter, Stephen, Philip, James, Barnabas and Paul.
Christ as Seen in Acts:
The resurrected Savior is the central theme of the sermons and defenses in Acts. The Old Testament Scriptures, the historical resurrection, the apostolic testimony, and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit all bear witness that Jesus is both Lord and Christ (see Peter’s sermons in 2:22-36; 10:34-43). “To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (10:43). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (4:12). 35
Outline:
Acts can be naturally outlined around Acts 1:8, the spread of the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth. 36
I. The Witness in Jerusalem (1:1-6:7)
A. The Expectation of the Chosen (1:1-2:47) Progress report no. 1: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).
B. The Expansion of the Church in Jerusalem (3:1-6:7) Progress report no. 2: “So the Word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly” (6:7).
II. The Witness in all Judea and Samaria (6:8-9:31)
A. The Martyrdom of Stephen (6:8-8:1a)
1. The Arrest of Stephen (6:8-7:1)
2. The Address of Stephen (7:2-53)
3. The Attack on Stephen (7:54-8:1a)
B. The Ministry of Philip (8:1b-40)
C. The Message of Saul (9:1-19a)
D. The Conflicts of Saul (9:19b-31) Progress report no. 3: “Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee, and Samaria … was strengthened; and [it was] encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it grew in numbers, living in the fear of the Lord” (9:31).
III. The Witness to the Extremity of the Earth (9:32-28:31)
A. The Extension of the Church to Antioch (9:32-12:24) Progress report no. 4: “But the Word of God continued to increase and spread” (12:24).
B. The Extension of the Church in Asia Minor (12:25-16:5) Progress report no. 5: “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers” (16:5).
C. The Extension of the Church in the Aegean Area (16:6-19:20) Progress report no. 6: “In this way the Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power” (19:20).
D. The Extension of the Church to Rome (19:21-28:31) Progress report no. 7: “Paul … welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ” (28:30-31).
10 Machen, p. 17.
11 J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore The Book, A Basic and Broadly Interpretative Course of Bible Study From Genesis to Revelation, Vol. 5, Inter-Testament and the Gospels, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1960, p. 120.
12 Bruce Wilkinson and Kenneth Boa, Talk Thru The Bible, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, 1983, p. 305.
13 Wilkinson/Boa, p. 308.
14 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible, Expanded Edition, Moody, p. 1509.
15 John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck, editors, The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Victor Books, Wheaton, 1983,1985, electronic media.
16 Walter M. Dunnett, Professor of New Testament, Moody Bible Institute, New Testament Survey, Evangelical Teacher Training Association, Wheaton, 1967, p. 17.
17 Ryrie, p. 1574.
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Dhaka is the capital of which Asian country? | Dhaka | national capital, Bangladesh | Britannica.com
national capital, Bangladesh
Bangladesh
Dhaka, also spelled Dacca, city and capital of Bangladesh . It is located just north of the Buriganga River, a channel of the Dhaleswari River , in the south-central part of the country. Dhaka is Bangladesh’s most populous city and is one of the largest metropolises in South Asia. Pop. (2001) city, 5,333,571; metro. area, 9,672,763; (2011) city, 7,033,075; metro. area, 14,543,124.
Night view of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Meer Abdul Qadir (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Boat traffic on the Buriganga (“Old Ganges”) River, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Hubertus Kanus/SuperStock
History
Dhaka’s name is said to refer to the dhak tree, once common in the area, or to Dhakeshwari (“The Hidden Goddess”), whose shrine is located in the western part of the city. Although the city’s history can be traced to the 1st millennium ce, the city did not rise to prominence until the 17th century, when it served as the capital of the Muslim Mughal dynasty of Bengal province (1608–39 and 1660–1704). It was the centre of a flourishing sea trade, attracting English, French, Armenian, Portuguese, and Dutch traders.
Historic buildings of the Muslim period include Lal Bagh fort (1678) and its tomb of Bibi Pari (died 1684), wife of a governor of Bengal; the Bara Katra (great caravansary , a building historically used for sheltering caravans and other travelers; 1664); the Chhota Katra (small caravansary; 1663); and Husayni Dalan (a religious monument of the Shīʿite branch of Islam; 1642). Other 17th-century buildings include the Hindu Dhakeshwari temple and Tejgaon church, built by the Portuguese.
With the removal of the provincial capital to Murshidabad (1704) and the weakening of the muslin industry, Dhaka entered a period of decline. It passed under British control in 1765 and was constituted a municipality in 1864, but it continued to lose prominence until it was designated the capital of Eastern Bengal and Assam province (1905–12). During the early 20th century Dhaka served as a commercial centre and seat of learning. Following the end of British rule, when the region became a part of Pakistan , it was named the capital of East Bengal province (1947) and of East Pakistan (1956). Dhaka suffered heavy damage during the war of independence in 1971 but emerged as the capital of Bangladesh.
The contemporary city
Mymensingh
Since its establishment as the capital city, the population, area, and social and economic diversity of Dhaka have grown tremendously. Together with its river port of Narayanganj , 10 miles (16 km) to the south, Dhaka now is one of the most densely industrialized regions in the country. Traditional products include jamdani (fine-quality muslin), embroidery, silk, and jewelry. Among the city’s major industries are jute processing and the manufacture of chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, leather goods, ceramics, and electronics products. A strong export-oriented garment industry emerged in the late 20th century.
The area around Dhaka consists of a level plain bounded by the Meghna , Padma ( Ganges [Ganga]), and Jamuna ( Brahmaputra ) rivers. The plain is crossed by a network of streams and rivers, the chief being the Dhaleswari, Buriganga, and Sitalakhya. Important crops are rice, jute, sugarcane, and oilseeds; there is also some cattle farming.
The city contains several universities, among which the University of Dhaka (1921), the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (1962), and Jahangirnagar University (1970) are prominent. Dhaka is also home to numerous government colleges, a nuclear-science training and research centre, the national library, a museum, and the national art gallery. In addition, the area includes the site of the ancient city of Vikramapura, former capital of the Pala rulers of Bengal (8th–12th century). Among Dhaka’s more recent buildings of note are the Star Mosque (Tara Masjid), built in the Mughal architectural style in the early 19th century with later renovations; Curzon Hall at the University of Dhaka, erected at the beginning of the 20th century, combining Mughal and European influences; and the National Assembly Building (Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban), designed by architect Louis I. Kahn and completed in 1982.
National Assembly Building (Jatiya Sangsad Bhaban; completed 1982), Dhaka, Bangladesh, designed by …
© Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.com
| Bangladesh |
The Royal Albert Hall is in which London road? | Bangladesh - Facts, History and Geography
Bangladesh
By Kallie Szczepanski
Updated April 10, 2016.
Bangladesh is often associated with flooding, cyclones and famine. However, this densely populated nation on the Ganges/Brahmaputra/Meghna Delta is an innovator in development, and is quickly pulling its people up out of poverty.
Although the modern state of Bangladesh only gained independence from Pakistan in 1971, the cultural roots of the Bengali people run deep into the past. Today, low-lying Bangladesh is among the most vulnerable countries to the threat of rising sea-levels due to global warming .
Capital:
Rajshahi, 878,000
Bangladesh's Government:
The People's Republic of Bangladesh is a parliamentary democracy, with the president as chief of state, and prime minister as head of government. The president is elected to a 5-year term, and may serve two terms total. All citizens over 18 years of age can vote.
The unicameral parliament is called the Jatiya Sangsad; its 300 members also serve 5-year terms.
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The president officially appoints the prime minister, but he or she must be the representative of the majority coalition in parliament. The current president is Abdul Hamid. Bangladesh's Prime Minister is Sheikh Hasina.
Population of Bangladesh:
Bangladesh is home to approximately 168,958,000 people (2015 estimate), giving this Iowa-sized nation the eighth highest population in the world. Bangladesh groans under a population density of almost 3,000 per square mile.
Population growth has slowed dramatically, however, thanks to a fertility rate that has fallen from 6.33 live births per adult woman in 1975 to 2.55 in 2015. Bangladesh also is experiencing net out-migration.
Ethnic Bengalis make up 98% of the population. The remaining 2% is divided among small tribal groups along the Burmese border and Bihari immigrants.
Languages:
The official language of Bangladesh is Bangla, also known as Bengali. English also is commonly used in urban areas. Bangla is an Indo-Aryan language descended from Sanskrit. It has a unique script, also based on Sanskrit.
Some non-Bengali Muslims in Bangladesh speak Urdu as their primary tongue. Literacy rates in Bangladesh are improving as the poverty rate falls, but still only 50% of men and 31% of women are literate.
Religion in Bangladesh:
The predominant religion in Bangladesh is Islam, with 88.3% of the population adhering to that faith. Among Bangladeshi Muslims, 96% are Sunni , over 3% are Shi'a, and a fraction of 1% are Ahmadiyyas .
Hindus are the largest minority religion in Bangladesh, at 10.5% of the population. There are also tiny minorities (less than 1%) of Christians, Buddhists and animists.
Geography:
Bangladesh is blessed with deep, rich and fertile soil, a gift from the three major rivers that form the deltaic plain upon which it sits. The Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers all wend their way down from the Himalayas, carrying nutrients to replenish Bangladesh's fields.
This luxury comes at a heavy cost, however. Bangladesh is almost entirely flat, and except for some hills along the Burmese border, almost entirely at sea-level. As a result, the country is flooded regularly by the rivers, by tropical cyclones off the Bay of Bengal, and by tidal bores.
Bangladesh is bordered by India all around it, except a short border with Burma (Myanmar) in the southeast.
Climate of Bangladesh:
The climate in Bangladesh is tropical and monsoonal. In the dry season, from October to March, temperatures are mild and pleasant. The weather turns hot and muggy from March to June, awaiting the monsoon rains. From June to October, the skies open and drop most of the country's total annual rainfall (as much as 6,950 mm or 224 inches/year).
As mentioned above, Bangladesh often suffers from flooding and cyclone strikes - an average of 16 cyclones hit per decade. In 1998, the worst flooding in modern memory struck due to an unusual melt-off of Himalayan glaciers, covering two-thirds of Bangladesh with flood water.
Economy:
Bangladesh is a developing country, with per capita GDP of just about $3,580 US/year as of 2015. Nevertheless, the economy is growing rapidly, with a 5-6% annual growth rate from 1996 to 2008.
Although manufacturing and services are increasing in importance, almost two-thirds of Bangladeshi workers are employed in agriculture. Most factories and enterprises are owned by the government, and tend to be inefficient.
One important source of income for Bangladesh has been workers' remittances from the oil-rich gulf states such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Bangladeshi workers sent $4.8 billion US home in 2005-06.
History of Bangladesh:
For centuries, the area that is now Bangladesh was part of the Bengal region of India. It was ruled by the same empires that ruled central India, from the Maurya (321 - 184 BCE) to the Mughal (1526 - 1858 CE). When the British took control of the region and created their Raj in India (1858-1947), Bangladesh was included.
During the negotiations surrounding independence and the partition of British India, predominantly-Muslim Bangladesh was separated from majority-Hindu India. In the Muslim League's 1940 Lahore Resolution, one of the demands was that the majority-Muslim sections of the Punjab and Bengal would be included in Muslim states, rather than remaining with India. After communal violence broke out in India, some politicians suggested that a unified Bengali state would be a better solution. This idea was vetoed by the Indian National Congress, led by the Mahatma Gandhi .
In the end, when British India gained its independence in August 1947, the Muslim section of Bengal became a non-contiguous part of the new nation of Pakistan . It was called "East Pakistan."
East Pakistan was in an odd position, separated from Pakistan proper by a 1,000-mile stretch of India. It was also separated from the main body of Pakistan by ethnicity and language; Pakistanis are primarily Punjabi and Pashtun , as opposed to the Bengali East Pakistanis.
For twenty-four years, East Pakistan struggled under financial and political neglect from West Pakistan. Political unrest was endemic in the region, as military regimes repeatedly overthrew democratically elected governments. Between 1958 and 1962, and from 1969 to 1971, East Pakistan was under martial law.
In the parliamentary elections of 1970-71, East Pakistan's separatist Awami League won every single seat allocated to the East. Talks between the two Pakistans failed, and on March 27, 1971, Sheikh Mujibar Rahman declared Bangladeshi independence from Pakistan. The Pakistani Army fought to stop the secession, but India sent troops to support the Bangladeshis. On January 11, 1972, Bangladesh became an independent parliamentary democracy.
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman was the first leader of Bangladesh, from 1972 until his assassination in 1975. The current Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina Wajed, is his daughter. The political situation in Bangladesh is still volatile, but recent free and fair elections provide a glimmer of hope for this young nation and its ancient culture.
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Which English pop artist created The Beatles ‘Sgt Pepper’ album cover? | THE BEATLES - ALBUM COVER DESIGNS — Peter Stern
THE BEATLES - ALBUM COVER DESIGNS
Richard Hamilton -The Beatles White Album Cover Design
In one of Richard Hamilton's last filmed interviews, he tells the story of how he designed the Beatles White Album cover. The previous Beatles record, Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album cover was designed by the English Pop Artist, Peter Blake. which is packed full of Blake’s now iconic imagery. Together with Paul McCartney, they decided that the next Beatles cover should be the total opposite of the Sgt Pepper’s design, and Richard created a minimalist white double cover sleeve. The Beatles record label, EMI had concerns, but Paul McCartney, who commissioned Richard, persuaded EMI to allow the design to go ahead.
The Beatles White Album is probably the first album to be known by the cover design and not the actual name of the album, which is simply, “The Beatles”.
| Peter Blake |
The Gopik is a unit of currency in which country? | Spotlight On: The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ | Athena
Spotlight On: The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’
This entry was posted on 30th May 2016 by Simon Coates.
Perhaps the most iconic album cover of all time, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band remains a landmark design from the height of the psychedelic 60s. A high-concept artwork that paid homage to The Beatles ’ influences even as it blurred the boundaries between the group and their Sgt Pepper’s alter egos, it cost an unprecedented £3,000 to create in 1967.
Legendary British pop art pioneer Peter Blake was called upon to create the album cover, along with his then wife Jann Haworth, and the pair approached the work as through they were staging a piece of theatre. After suggesting that The Beatles appear on the sleeve dressed in their Sgt Pepper’s psychedelic military chic finery – as if fresh from playing a concert and surrounded by adoring fans – Paul McCartney sketched a rough idea that Blake and Haworth brought to life.
The end result comprised 57 photos and nine waxworks, with the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Lewis Carrol and Bob Dylan nestling alongside Fred Astaire, boxer Sonny Liston and poet and author Edgar Allen Poe. There was also a nod to The Beatles’ rivals, The Rolling Stones , with the inclusion of a Shirley Temple doll wearing a jumper that bore the slogan “Welcome The Rolling Stones Good Guys”. John, Paul, George and Ringo even included past “moptop” versions of themselves, installing Madame Tussauds wax statues that had been created a few years before, during the Beatlemania frenzy. A very meta addition to the line-up, it also showed just how far The Beatles had come in the four short years since the release of their debut album, Please Please Me .
Each face in the crowd was picked by The Beatles themselves, though John Lennon’s suggestions to include Jesus Christ and Adolf Hitler were perhaps wisely refused. When Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was released, on 1 June 1967, its artwork was an explosion of colour that remains one of the finest examples of British psychedelia from the era’s heyday. The subject of high-profile parodies by everybody from Frank Zappa to The Simpsons, the album cover – not to mention the album itself – remains, simply, a true work of art.
Explore our Beatles page here, and purchase your exclusive Athena Album Art Sgt Pepper’s print here.
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In the 1990 film ‘White Hunter, Black Heart’, Clint Eastwood’s character is based on which film director? | White Hunter Black Heart (1990) - IMDb
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White Hunter Black Heart ( 1990 )
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A thinly fictionalized account of a legendary movie director, whose desire to hunt down an animal turns into a grim situation with his movie crew in Africa.
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Edit
Storyline
The world famous movie director John Wilson has gone to Africa to make his next movie. He is an obstinate, contrary director who'd rather hunt elephants than takes care of his crew or movie. He has become obsessed with one particular elephant and cares for nothing else. Written by Mattias Thuresson
14 September 1990 (USA) See more »
Also Known As:
Cazador blanco, corazón negro See more »
Filming Locations:
Did You Know?
Trivia
Second of almost two consecutive biopics for Clint Eastwood . This 1990 movie was about film director John Huston whereas Eastwood's 1988 film Bird (1988) was about jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker . See more »
Goofs
The plane's flight to Africa is marked from it's starting point in Europe, south to it's destination in Uganda. The shot then switches to the plane flying over the Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. See more »
Quotes
John Wilson : How 'bout that. I feel pretty good, really. It's like I always tell ya kid, you gotta fight when you think it's the right thing to do. Otherwise, you feel like your gut's full of puss. Even if you get the hell beat outta ya, if ya fight, ya feel ok about it.
(United States) – See all my reviews
Clint Eastwood's caricature of legendary moviemaker John Huston marked a change of pace at the time from the Malpaso Man's usual shoot-'em-ups. But because this semi-fictional account of Huston's elephant safari during the filming of 'The African Queen' is so thinly disguised, all the coy name changes (Eastwood is "John Wilson") and character imitations seem pointless. The actor-director mimics Huston's distinctive voice and mannerisms with refreshing, unflattering candor, but is too relaxed to accurately capture the older filmmaker's irresponsible iconoclasm (when faced with a charging wild elephant one almost expects him to mutter, "...go ahead, jumbo, make my day.") It could have been a fascinating character study of silver screen illusions and obsessions, but too much of the film is marred by Eastwood's pedestrian direction (POV shots from a monkey?) and by Pete Viertel's self-promoting autobiographical screenplay, presenting himself (as 'The African Queen' co-writer "Pete Verrill") in a too transparently flattering portrait: honest, handsome, and (of course) a "brilliant" artist.
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| John Huston |
Virologist Max Theiler won a 1951 Nobel Prize for developing a vaccine against which disease? | White Hunter, Black Heart [VHS] (1990): Clint Eastwood, Jeff Fahey, George Dzundza, Alun Armstrong, Marisa Berenson, Edward Tudor-Pole, Roddy Maude-Roxby, Richard Warwick, John Rapley, Catherine Neilson, Charlotte Cornwell, Richard Vanstone, Jack N. Green, David Valdes, Stanley Rubin, Burt Kennedy, James Bridges, Peter Viertel: Amazon.co.uk: Video
By Treefingers on 30 Mar. 2010
Format: DVD
In White Hunter, Black Heart, Clint Eastwood reaches close to his creative peak, both as an actor and a director. A penetrating, highly involved movie, loosely based on the true story of John Huston travelling to Africa to film 'African Queen'.
Eastwood plays the central character - a self-centered, megalomaniac movie-director, who sacrifices everything and everybody around him during a trip in Africa, just to fulfill his own ambition to shoot an elephant. Along the way he faces up to some moral and ethical dilemmas, and battles his own personal demons in the excellent climax.
As an actor here, he displays a depth that is not often found in his more traditional western films (which I also loved!). As a director, I believe it is the beginning of a run of films where he rarely makes a false step, and was his creative peak.
White Hunter, Black Heart seems even more impressive today than when it came out, and certainly didn't deserve its fate as the biggest box-office disaster of Eastwood's career. The film is superbly acted, edited, and is perhaps the best looking film Eastwood has directed. Check it out.
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Which record label is named after founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss? | A&M Records' Greatest Hits | Rolling Stone
A&M Records' Greatest Hits
A&M Records' Greatest Hits
On the label's 50th anniversary, founders Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss remember five decades of classic records
15
All Stories
"As Dizzy Gillespie used to say, 'The closer I get, the farther it looks,'" Herb Alpert says of how he's feeling about the 50th anniversary of A&M Records, the label he founded in 1962 with partner Jerry Moss (the "M" to Alpert's "A"). "The crazy part is how quickly it all goes."
Alpert shouldn't worry about A&M's legacy disappearing anytime soon, as is made clear by the release last week of A&M 50: THE ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION – a three-disc, 60-song set that takes the listener through the hits that turned a tiny artist-driven imprint into one of the most important, era-defining names in popular music. "I was on a major label for a year and a half, and I had a real 'a-ha' experience," says Alpert, a successful trumpet player and bandleader before starting A&M. "I didn't like how artists were treated, and I filed that feeling away. I thought, 'If I ever get a chance to have my own company, it'll be a true artist label, and revolve around the artist.'" Once freed from his major-label deal, Alpert began the new label with a handshake deal with Moss in his garage. "We had a huge advantage," Alpert says. "There was no board of directors – just Jerry and myself. We made decisions quickly, and signed artists we liked."
The original plan was to release Alpert's own single "Tell It To The Birds," as well as Charlie Robinson's "Love Is Back in Style," featuring a trumpet solo by Alpert. They scraped together $2,000 to produce and manufacture the two songs. "Herb's record was a hit," Moss recalls. "It sold several thousand copies, which was enough to get us going." A&M continued to be a vehicle for Alpert to release his music, from his breakthrough Sixties smash "The Lonely Bull" with his group the Tijuana Brass to the 1979 disco groover "Rise," which rose to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to win a Grammy. (Decades later, "Rise" was memorably sampled by Puff Daddy for the Notorious B.I.G. 's 1997 smash "Hypnotize"). But A&M grew to be more than a record company – it was a cultural curator, home to many of the most innovative pop artists of the next few decades. In the Seventies, A&M released classic sides from powerhouse performers like Joe Cocker and singer-songwriter superstars like Cat Stevens and Carole King . In the Eighties, the label made household names out of New Wave mavericks like the Police and the Human League, and turned Janet Jackson into the megawatt persona she is today. In the Nineties, A&M joined the alt-rock revolution, signing grunge icons like Soundgarden .
That's just a partial list of the platinum-plaque scoring, award-winning multitudes on the A&M roster, which grew so flush that Alpert and Moss's initial $1000 investment turned into $500 million dollars when the company was sold to Polygram in 1989. (Further mergers later made it part of Universal Music Group's lucrative Interscope-Geffen-A&M division, where it is now home to artists including Maroon 5 and K'naan.) Alpert and Moss stayed on at the imprint until 1993, when they signed their final artist – a then-unknown talent named Sheryl Crow . Through each period, however, A&M's modus operandi remained the same, according to Moss. "The whole idea was to make great records," he says. "We pursued whatever it took to make our releases the most incredible." Here, Alpert and Moss take us on a tour of 15 crucial albums that would shape not just A&M's history, but that of pop culture as a whole.
By Matt Diehl
| A&M Records |
Which German composer wrote the oratorios ‘Elijah’ and ‘St Paul’? | Jerry Moss | Short Biography
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Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss Biography | The…
Inductees: Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935), Jerry Moss (born May 8, 1935) Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss founded A&M Records, one of the most successful independent labels of the ...
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Co-founder, with Jerry Moss, of Carnival Records (1961-1962). After the label had been in existence for a year, they discovered that there was another record label named Carnival ...
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Alpert and A&M Records partner Jerry Moss both agreed in 1987 to sell A&M to PolyGram Records for a reported $500 million. Both would continue to manage the label until 1993, when ...
Herb Alpert | Biography
He is also a recording industry executive ? he is the "A" of A&M Records (a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold).
Herb Alpert Biography, Bio, Profile,…
He is also famous for being a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records (a recording label he and business partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold).
Herb Alpert Biography
Alpert had been signed briefly to RCA Records as a vocalist in 1960---it was there, in fact, that he'd first met Jerry Moss---but all the previous Tijuana Brass records had been ...
Carpenters biography 2005, Richard and…
On April 22, 1969, Richard and Karen went to the office of Jerry Moss to sign the contract. Since Karen was at nineteen legally underage, once again her parents had to ...
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Barefoot Jerry perform Two Mile Pike at Wayne Moss's studio Cinderella Sound as part of James Szalapski's film "Heartworn Highways" More info on Barefoot Jerry here: www ...
The Lonely Bull (album) : Ask Biography
... released in 1962, is the debut album from Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, and was also the first album ever released by A&M Records - which was co-founded by Alpert and Jerry Moss.
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Which prolific English Novelist’s first book was entitled ‘Jigsaw’? | Smashwords – View book
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The Cross of Love
By Barbara Cartland
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| Barbara Cartland |
What does ‘N’ represent in the Periodic Table? | Barbara Cartland : The Cross Of Love | Free eBook Download
About the Book About the Author
When Rena's father dies she is alone in the world, forced out of the vicarage that has been her home, with nowhere to go and no money. She seeks help at the large wooden cross standing in the nearby grounds of The Grange. And there in the earth she finds three golden coins, which she hands over to the new young Earl of Lansdale. They form a friendship, the sweetest one of her life. But her new happiness is threatened by Mr. Wyngate, a wealthy man determined to force the Earl to marry his daughter. There is something sinister about Mr. Wyngate, also another man who looks mysteriously like him, and seems to come and go without warning. In the end, one man lies dead and another's heart is broken before Rena's faith and courage triumph. If you enjoy Downton Abbey you will love Barbara Cartland.
Barbara Cartland was the world’s most prolific novelist who wrote an amazing 723 books in her lifetime, of which no less than 644 were romantic novels with worldwide sales of over 1 billion copies and her books were translated into 36 different languages.
As well as romantic novels, she wrote historical biographies, 6 autobiographies, theatrical plays and books of advice on life, love, vitamins and cookery. She wrote her first book at the age of 21 and it was called Jigsaw. It became an immediate bestseller and sold 100,000 copies in hardback in England and all over Europe in translation. Between the ages of 77 and 97 she increased her output and wrote an incredible 400 romances as the demand for her romances was so strong all over the world.She wrote her last book at the age of 97 and it was entitled perhaps prophetically The Way to Heaven. Her books have always been immensely popular in the United States where in 1976 her current books were at numbers 1 & 2 in the B. Dalton bestsellers list, a feat never achieved before or since by any author. Barbara Cartland became a legend in her own lifetime and will be best remembered for her wonderful romantic novels so loved by her millions of readers throughout the world, who have always collected her books to read again and again, especially when they feel miserable or depressed. Her books will always be treasured for their moral message, her pure and innocent heroines, her handsome and dashing heroes, her blissful happy endings and above all for her belief that the power of love is more important than anything else in everyone’s life.
Editorial Reviews
Missy rated it 4 of 5 stars
The feisty heroine was awesome. There is excellent humor combined with a fight with evil that makes this a timeless romance to enjoy.
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Which late singer had a favourite pet cat called Delilah? | ENpodcast - Free english podcasts - Freddie Mercury
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Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was the most famous and legendary rock star of all times. His real name was Farrokh Bulsara. However, even his official passport read Frederick Mercury. He hated if somebody called him anything but Freddie. He chose his first name prior to his arrival to England. He added “Mercury” when Queen first started.
Though Freddie was homosexual and never concealed it, he had a wife. Her name was Mary Austin. They were always incredibly close. Freddie was always saying that she was his best friend and that he didn't want any other friends except her. The song “Love Of My Life” was about Mary. After his death, Freddie left her most of his money, his house and his recording royalties.
Freddie Mercury was a big cat lover. He had more than ten cats and he even wrote a song about his favorite one Delilah. While on tour, from time to time Freddie called home to talk to his pets. Mary brought the cats to the phone so they could listen to him speak.
Freddie Mercury graduated Ealing Art College and took the degree in Art and Graphic design. He was the one who designed the Queen emblem also known as “The Queen Crest.”
Mercury was the legendary performer. He had a recorded range of three, almost four, octaves. Most of his singing fell in the tenor range.
Freddie never thought of himself as a great pianist. He was always afraid of performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” in concert. He worried that he would mess everything up. Later he didn't use the piano in his records that much. Therefore, in the concerts he was free to run and dance during his performances.
Though Freddie was so full of pep on the stage, he was a very shy person in his life and rarely gave interviews. He always felt very lonely and tried to fight this feeling with the help of countless parties.
Freddie's assistants always had to have a pen and paper with them in case inspiration suddenly hit. Lyrics for “Life is real” were written while he was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Lyrics for “Crazy little thing called love” Freddie made up while taking a bath. He suddenly got inspired and started to write a song. He even had a piano brought to the bathroom so he could compose.
In the concert, Freddie Mercury was in the best shape only after some great emotional stress. Once there was an incident with his current boyfriend Bill Reid. They bawled on each other for several hours. Next day Freddie woke up completely hoarse. Since Queen was scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live, the entire day Freddie tried to get his voice back.
Freddie Mercury was an amazing singer! He was always so abundantly and deliciously alive. He created so many unfading masterpieces. However, his impetuous way of life ruined him. He died in the prime of life. As they say, the good die young.
Vocabulary list:
prior to – задолго до, в преддверии
to conceal – скрывать, утаивать
to take degree – получать степень
crest – гребень, плюмаж
range – диапазон; ряд, линия, цепь
to mess up – портить, проваливать
full of pep – заводной, полон энергии
stage – сцена
to fight back – подавлять, бороться (с чувствами)
countless – бессчётный, бесчисленный
to bawl – кричать во всю глотку
hoarse – охрипший
to schedule – назначать, намечать, планировать
to board – подниматься на борт (самолета)
to find out – узнавать
to substitute (for) – заменить (на)
to be abundantly and deliciously alive – вести интересную и яркую жизнь
unfading – незабываемый
impetuous – импульсивный, горячий; пылкий, страстный
to ruin – губить, погубить
| Freddie Mercury |
Agrava, Cephlon and Virn are all fictional planets in which BBC science fiction television series? | ENpodcast - Free english podcasts - Freddie Mercury
Tweet
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was the most famous and legendary rock star of all times. His real name was Farrokh Bulsara. However, even his official passport read Frederick Mercury. He hated if somebody called him anything but Freddie. He chose his first name prior to his arrival to England. He added “Mercury” when Queen first started.
Though Freddie was homosexual and never concealed it, he had a wife. Her name was Mary Austin. They were always incredibly close. Freddie was always saying that she was his best friend and that he didn't want any other friends except her. The song “Love Of My Life” was about Mary. After his death, Freddie left her most of his money, his house and his recording royalties.
Freddie Mercury was a big cat lover. He had more than ten cats and he even wrote a song about his favorite one Delilah. While on tour, from time to time Freddie called home to talk to his pets. Mary brought the cats to the phone so they could listen to him speak.
Freddie Mercury graduated Ealing Art College and took the degree in Art and Graphic design. He was the one who designed the Queen emblem also known as “The Queen Crest.”
Mercury was the legendary performer. He had a recorded range of three, almost four, octaves. Most of his singing fell in the tenor range.
Freddie never thought of himself as a great pianist. He was always afraid of performing “Bohemian Rhapsody” in concert. He worried that he would mess everything up. Later he didn't use the piano in his records that much. Therefore, in the concerts he was free to run and dance during his performances.
Though Freddie was so full of pep on the stage, he was a very shy person in his life and rarely gave interviews. He always felt very lonely and tried to fight this feeling with the help of countless parties.
Freddie's assistants always had to have a pen and paper with them in case inspiration suddenly hit. Lyrics for “Life is real” were written while he was flying over the Atlantic Ocean. Lyrics for “Crazy little thing called love” Freddie made up while taking a bath. He suddenly got inspired and started to write a song. He even had a piano brought to the bathroom so he could compose.
In the concert, Freddie Mercury was in the best shape only after some great emotional stress. Once there was an incident with his current boyfriend Bill Reid. They bawled on each other for several hours. Next day Freddie woke up completely hoarse. Since Queen was scheduled to perform on Saturday Night Live, the entire day Freddie tried to get his voice back.
Freddie Mercury was an amazing singer! He was always so abundantly and deliciously alive. He created so many unfading masterpieces. However, his impetuous way of life ruined him. He died in the prime of life. As they say, the good die young.
Vocabulary list:
prior to – задолго до, в преддверии
to conceal – скрывать, утаивать
to take degree – получать степень
crest – гребень, плюмаж
range – диапазон; ряд, линия, цепь
to mess up – портить, проваливать
full of pep – заводной, полон энергии
stage – сцена
to fight back – подавлять, бороться (с чувствами)
countless – бессчётный, бесчисленный
to bawl – кричать во всю глотку
hoarse – охрипший
to schedule – назначать, намечать, планировать
to board – подниматься на борт (самолета)
to find out – узнавать
to substitute (for) – заменить (на)
to be abundantly and deliciously alive – вести интересную и яркую жизнь
unfading – незабываемый
impetuous – импульсивный, горячий; пылкий, страстный
to ruin – губить, погубить
| i don't know |
The Apo Reef lies off the coast of which country? | APO REEF NATURAL PARK
APO REEF NATURAL PARK
APO REEF NATURAL PARK
The 34-square kilometer Apo Reef in Occidental Mindoro is the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world and the largest in the country. It is on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
The Apo Reef Natural Park lies approximately 33 kilometers off the coast of Sablayan in the province of Occidental Mindoro. The coral reefs cover a total area of 34 square kilometers, making it the second largest contiguous coral reef in the world, next only to the Great Barrier Reef of Australia.
Also considered as the second largest atoll-like reef in the country, Apo Reef consists of two separate coral reefs that are separated by a 30-meter deep channel with a fine white sand bottom, numerous mounds and patches of branching corals under the deep blue water.
Three islands comprise the Apo Reef Natural Park. Apo Menor or Binangaan Island is marked of limestone rock with few vegetation. Cayos del Bajo Island is a coralline rock formation with no vegetation. Apo Island, the largest of the three at 22 hectares, features a shallow lagoon surrounded by a mangrove forest that benefit many of the coastal and marine species in the area, as well as a sanctuary for sea birds.
It is in Apo Island where park rangers who patrol the reef’s boundaries have put up their quarters, as well as basic amenities for visiting divers – except potable water or electricity. It also features a historic lighthouse that dates back to the Spanish Colonial Period.
The Apo Reef Natural Park, including its peripheral buffer zone, is a marine sanctuary and is thus a “no-take zone”. This means fishing within the reef is banned. It is a popular site for tourists, who bask in its fine white sands, leisurely stroll along boardwalks within the mangrove area, or marvel at the extremely diverse coral species and other marine life that include sharks and rays.
The Apo Reef was proclaimed as a protected area under the category of Natural Park by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 868 issued in 1996. In May 2006, the DENR’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) submitted the reef for consideration as a World Heritage Site of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Its protection and conservation is a joint effort of the DENR, the local government unit, and civil society.
To know more about:The country’s protected areas, click: http://pawb.gov.ph/
Apo Reef on the World Heritage List, click: http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5033/
Copyright © 2017. All Rights Reserved
Department of Environment and Natural Resources *
Visayas Avenue, Diliman, 1100 Quezon City, Philippines
+63-2-929-6626
| Philippines |
Which city hosted the 2010 Paralympic Games? | Mindoro Occidental | Mindoro Guide | Rough Guides
Mindoro Occidental
Asia » Philippines » Mindoro » Mindoro Occidental
Aside from a few intrepid wildlife enthusiasts and divers around Sablayan, Mindoro Occidental remains wonderfully undiscovered, and travellers with flexible travel plans and a penchant for bumpy jeepney rides will have their efforts rewarded with wild jungly mountains, remote beaches, and maybe meeting a few of the local Mangyan people along the way.
San José on the southwest coast has the only functioning airport on Mindoro and makes a logical starting point for trips north to the Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park, home to the tamaraw, a dwarf buffalo endemic to Mindoro and in acute danger of extinction. Further north, the fishing town of Sablayan is the jumping-off point for a sight no scuba diver should miss, the Apo Reef Marine Natural Park, a vast reef complex offering some of the best diving in the world. As well as organizing a trip from Sablayan, you can also do so in advance at a dive shop in Manila or Busuanga. Sablayan is also a base for a visit to Mounts Iglit-Baco or the Sablayan Watershed Forest Reserve, a lowland forest with beautiful Lake Libao at its centre. The northwest of the island is little visited, though there are some unspoilt beaches around the town of Mamburao, the low-key capital of Mindoro Occidental.
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Femicide is the killing of which members of society? | ACUNS – Femicide: A Global Problem
FRA Violence against Women Survey by Sami Nevala, Statistician Freedoms & Justice Department
Dr. Michael Platzer of the Vienna ACUNS Liaison Office opened the discussion, outlining the issue and referring to a movie coming out soon on femicide, called It’s a Girl. The side-event started with a projection of a short clip on femicide, providing an understanding of the phenomenon in India: “I wanted to check the sex of the child, because having another daughter would increase the liability, in that you educate a daughter, you invest money, and then she leaves the house. […] The intention of killing infant girls by gender-related abortion, by infanticide, or by neglect and discrimination leading to death cuts across social and economic boundaries. It occurs in wealthy and poor families, and in many countries. In India gender-related abortion of some 10 million girls over the last two decades has led to an alarming gender gap. On average, only 899 girls are born for every 1,000 boys. It is estimated that 50 million women and girls are missing. The phenomenon is as old as many cultures. It reflects the low esteem, in which many women are held in many societies, where a girl is seen is a burden, a boy is seen as an essentially economic asset.”
Ms. Angela Me (Chief, Statistics and Surveys Section, UNODC) presented data on the killing of women in the context of global homicide, as presented in The Global Study of Homicide (October 2011). Looking at the global data, it appeared that men are most vulnerable. 80% of victims are men and most perpetrators are also men. Particularly in the Americas, but overall as well, and varying across regions, it is mostly men that are killed. Why then discuss femicide? The great majority of women are killed in the domestic context and this is not an issue of a specific country/region. She showed evidence (graphs and statistics) to support this statement. In Europe half of the women killed in 2008-2010 were killed by a family member. For men it is just 15%. There is a clear relation between the killing of women and the killing due to partner and family violence. In North America the percent of family and partner violence-related femicide reaches 70%. Policies on homicide focus on street violence or organized crime, leaving aside domestic violence. For some women the most unsecure place is their own home. What of the governments’ responses? How many people were prosecuted and convicted? At present there is no sufficient data on this. There is a need to invest more on data on crime prevention and criminal justice.
Dr. Anna Alvazzi del Frate (Research Director, Small Arms Survey) mentioned the work they are doing in Geneva on small arms and prevention and reduction of arms violence. They also use homicide as a proxy in their research, such as in The Global Burden of Armed Violence, prepared in support of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence and Development (a diplomatic initiative to which 112 countries have adhered, which aims at a measurable reduction of armed violence by 2015). Some trends in homicide were included in this report, of which a chapter was devoted to femicide. “Femicide” is used to define any killing of a woman. It is different from the definition given in the 1970s, which had a very strong feminist component (killing women because they were women). It is more likely for men to be killed, but some important patterns were found that link long-term violence against women with the killing. Women who live in abusive relationships run a much higher risk to be killed. The presence of a gun in the home is very likely to transform disputes into killings. “Violence against women is the most frequent and less punished crime in the world.” was the first sentence of the documentary show at the beginning and it holds true. One of the consequences is that statistically the killing of a woman may not pop-up as intentional, it is not properly investigated, properly prosecuted, and it may be classified as manslaughter or unintentional homicide, because there is a high level of tolerance of violence against women. And this, of course, has consequences for the researchers as well, since the information is not coming from all possible sources (criminal justice and public health). The research tried to map the prevalence of the female rates of homicide. In practice, the majority of the countries (mostly in Africa and Asia) fall in a grey area. There are 25 countries in the high/very high femicide rates and they are in the Americas. Very frequently national rates do not express the situation in different cities or regions within a country. Therefore femicide, more so than homicide, is an issue that should be looked at more locally. There is a paradox: in some countries, the overall risk to get killed is low, yet domestic violence may be there and, very frequently, the women are killed in conflicts. 60% of homicide is committed with fire arms. Only 30% of women are killed with a fire arm. This is a big problem and it requires thinking and preventive action. In some cases this is the only form of violence that still remains, such as in Europe, a type of violence that is not to be accepted.
Mr. Sami Nevala (Statistician and Team Coordinator, Freedom & Justice Department, European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights) introduced an ongoing project, which will, for the first time, produce comparable data in the EU on the issue on violence against women. There is no possible way to measure femicide, given the lack of data, but the survey will provide data on the factors and contexts that can lead to femicide. The fact that relevant data on the violence against women across the EU did not exist prompted the European Council to issue a call for research. This was the basis to take further action. The first step was to look at existing research on both national and international level. The finding was that for the national level there existed a project of the European Council, Coordination Action on Human Rights Violations, which listed a number of national-level initiatives. For the international level, the UN Secretary General’s database on violence against women was looked into, which provides a global overview of existing surveys. All these initiatives have shown that the surveys have a limited use, since they have been carried out on different methodologies, and offer, therefore, no relevant view on the EU level. Research has been carried out by the World Health Organization and the UN Economic Commission for Europe. However, for international programs, the EU countries are not typically the focus. Funding considerations directed such projects to other areas of the world, but in this instance there was a need for EU-level action. When developing the study, the data needs were taken into consideration, using indicators of the UN Statistics Division, OHCHR, as well as the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence. The objective of this exercise was to make sure the data collected will have policy utility, not only to EU-level actors, but to member states and the civil society as well in developing and advocating policy change. 2010-2011 a pre-study was conducted in six member states. At present there are around 1,000 interviewers in the 27 member states and Croatia. The respondents are at least 18 years old, there is just one person interviewed per household, and the interviewers are trained to be able to ask sensitive questions and handle potentially challenging situations that may occur during the interviews. The questions cover a range of physical, sexual and psychological violence, including stalking and harassment, issues less covered in other international studies of this nature. The extent, nature and consequences of violence are looked at: whether it has led to injuries, whether the respondent needed to take time off work, whether they took advantage of a variety of services (police, etc.). On a separate section there are questions asked retrospectively about the respondent’s victimization in childhood. Considering the use of services and reporting, they are interested to see which services were contacted: police, support services, health care, social services and whether the respondents were they satisfied with contacting them and if not, why not. This is something that can then be fed in policy development. We can find out what would be for them a helpful support service and inform them about existing support systems. The results will be analyzed in 2013, but until then a number of reports will be issued, and an interactive website will be set up for these purposes as well.
Dr. Janice Joseph (Professor of Criminal Justice, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey) talked about femicide in Latin America. She began by making the distinction between “femicide” and “homicide”, bringing in the gender perspective. Femicide is seen as a hate crime or a form of terrorism. The most common form in intimate femicide, but there are others as well: intra-family (honor killings), infanticide, multicidal femicide (serial killiers) and systemic femicide (in war zones). Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and El Salvador were the four countries she took into consideration. They went through political unrest in the 1960s and many of their inhabitants were displaced in the United States. There is also a high rate of poverty and inequality, in addition to family dysfunctions. Guatemala has the highest female mortality rate in the world (for 2011, 750 women – a lot, given the small population of the country). In Honduras femicide occurs every 48 hours. Between 2004 and 2007 the killing rate of women grew four times more than that of men. In El Salvador every 13 hours a woman is killed. In 2011 640 women were killed. For Nicaragua, there is no quality data on femicide, since there is no clear distinction between femicide and homicide. Factors determining femicide include: domestic violence, organized crime (trafficking in human beings, gangs), acts of revenge, poverty, marginalization, migrants status, etc. Explanations for this phenomenon include: inequality between men and women, the issue of control, economic exploitation, race, sexism, and the cultural clashes (the “macho” culture that justifies and glorifies violence against women, as portrayed in the media and many songs). There is also the cultural background to be taken into consideration, the fact that most of these countries went through a civil war. The gruesome way in which women are killed is a pattern that has resurfaced. There is also a backlash towards women who works outside their homes and try to become independent. Honduras and El Salvador have passed laws that prohibit violence against women, but they are not yet enforced. Guatemala was once of the first countries to pass a law (20-50 years penalty) against femicide. However, the law in not enforced and the criminal justice system is dominated by complacency (climate of passivity and unwillingness of the authorities to investigate the crimes) and complicity with the perpetrators (by intention or abstention: corruption, intimidation, lack of policy, lack of resources and proper training). In the recent years the international community has picked up this issue and there have been responses from the EU and the Congress, not in tangible terms, but still, femicide is brought to the forefront.
John Dussich (World Society of Victimology) offered a platform to carry this information forward. In his view, the subject has reached such a level of intensity and severity that it truly merits more visibility than it is has had.
Eduardo Vetere (Vice-President International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities and former Director of the Division for Treaty Affairs UNODC Italy) concluded the session by drawing attention to the resolution adopted by the Commission on Narcotics Drugs this year on gender-specific policies related to drug abuse and control. He suggested that it could be the starting point of a resolution on femicide at next year’s Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.
| Woman |
The Carisbrook Rugby Stadium is in which country? | Femicide : International Alliance of Women
By Joanna Manganara on 18 January 2016
In her September Newsletter, President Joanna Manganara writes about femicide.First of all she states what femicide is.
Femicide (sometimes referred to also as feminicide or gender-related killing) is specifically defined as the killing of a woman because she is a woman, or the killing of a girl because she is a girl ( http://unstudies.org/about-unsa/acuns/acuns-vienna/projects/femicide ). Femicide, according to the UN, is the extreme and ultimate manifestation of existing forms of violence against women in patriarchal societies. Crimes of this kind reinforce the idea that women are sexual objects and belong to men. For a case to be considered femicide, there must be an implied intention to carry out the crime, as well as a demonstrated connection between the crime and the gender of the victim.
“Femicide” was proposed as an alternative to the gender-neutral term of homicide which overlooks the realities of inequality and systematic violence against women. Femicides are also sometimes referred to as “crimes of passion” (predominantly in the European context), “honour killings” (mostly in the Middle East) or gendercide ( http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/women_insecure_world.pdf ).
The global extent of femicide is estimated at approximately 66,000 victims per year for the period between 2004 and 2009. This represents about almost one-fifth of all homicide victims for an average year. Violence against women is institutionalized to lesser or larger extents through family structures, social and economic frameworks, and cultural and religious traditions. Culturally and socially embedded, femicide continues to be tolerated or justified—with impunity as the norm. Due to the fact that it is so widely accepted, the targeted killing of women very often remains unrecognised, under-reported or neglected by governments ( http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2013/5/un-women-calls-for-urgent-and-effective-action-against-femicide ).
| i don't know |
Los Barcos was the name of the fictional village in which BBC television series? | About: Eldorado (TV series)
About: Eldorado (TV series)
An Entity of Type : television show , from Named Graph : http://dbpedia.org , within Data Space : dbpedia.org
Eldorado was a British soap opera created by Tony Holland from an original idea by John Dark and Verity Lambert that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa del Sol in Spain and following the lives of British and European expatriates, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as EastEnders and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported Australian soaps such as Home and Away and Neighbours. A co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity and J.Dark y J.Todesco. Eldorado aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the slot vacated by Terry Wogan's chat show Wogan, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.00pm.
Property
abstract
Eldorado was a British soap opera created by Tony Holland from an original idea by John Dark and Verity Lambert that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa del Sol in Spain and following the lives of British and European expatriates, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as EastEnders and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported Australian soaps such as Home and Away and Neighbours. A co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity and J.Dark y J.Todesco. Eldorado aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the slot vacated by Terry Wogan's chat show Wogan, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.00pm. In spite of a high-profile advertising campaign on television, radio and in the press preceding the launch ('Are you ready for Eldorado?', read by actor Campbell Morrison), the programme was not initially a popular hit with viewers or critics. Ratings improved with a radical overhaul, but it was eventually cancelled by the new controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob.
(en)
comment
Eldorado was a British soap opera created by Tony Holland from an original idea by John Dark and Verity Lambert that ran for only one year, from 6 July 1992 to 9 July 1993. Set in the fictional town of Los Barcos on the Costa del Sol in Spain and following the lives of British and European expatriates, the BBC hoped it would be as successful as EastEnders and replicate some of the sunshine and glamour of imported Australian soaps such as Home and Away and Neighbours. A co-production between the BBC and independent production company Cinema Verity and J.Dark y J.Todesco. Eldorado aired three times a week in a high-profile evening slot on the mainstream channel BBC1, filling the slot vacated by Terry Wogan's chat show Wogan, on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 7.00pm.
(en)
| El Dorado (disambiguation) |
In September 2011, which British comedian swam the length of the River Thames for charity? | The Story of Eldorado
The Story of Eldorado
The Story of Eldorado
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In 1992 "Eldorado" was destined to be the next big thing in television. A joint production by the BBC, Cinema Verity and J.Dark y J.Todesco, it was going to be the show to win the ratings war with ITV.
It's hard to appreciate now just how ambitious this show actually was. It was the first (and last) show the BBC produced to be made entirely overseas. An editing suite was even built on location so that the finished episodes could be shipped to London ready for screening. There had never been such a multi-lingual cast featured before and some of them even spoke in their native language without subtitles. An entire village was created on a remote hillside near Coín, near Malaga in southern Spain, in just three months.
Much was made of the "£10 million" purpose built set. In reality it cost £2 million to build. The entire year of "Eldorado" cost £10 million - surprisingly little for a primetime show airing 3 nights a week.
The pedigree behind "Eldorado" was impressive. The original idea was conceived by John Dark and Verity Lambert. At the time John Dark had a wealth of successful productions to his name and Verity Lambert's entire career had been spent producing critically acclaimed and popular television shows. They approached the BBC with the concept and it wasn't long before Julia Smith and Tony Holland (creators of "Eastenders") were brought on board. The working title of "LIttle England" was deemed too parochial and changed to "Eldorado".
Things were looking good, but the BBC were keen to deploy their secret weapon. The launch date was brought forward by six months and the number of episodes increased from two to three per week. That it managed to get on air so prematurely was a minor miracle. Much publicity was given to the "sun, sea and sangria" show and a host of journalists were flown over to Spain for the launch party.
The first episode aired on 6th July, 1992 which attracted a healthy 8m viewers. However the ratings quickly dipped and less than a month later typically 3.5m were tuning in. The press backlash was savage. Much criticism was made of some of the more inexperienced cast members and the whole venture was cited as a prime example of the BBC wasting licence fee revenue in a time when Britain was in recession.
Although viewing figures stabilised around the 5m mark, it was obvious however that "Eldorado" was not courting as much interest as had been hoped. To put it in context, "Eastenders" was pulling an average of 15m viewers and rival "Coronation Street" was nearer the 20m mark.
Crisis meetings were held at BBC Television Centre. An overworked Julia Smith left the production and a new Producer (Corrine Hollingworth) was brought on board. Script writers were relocated to Spain to work more closely with the cast/crew and several members of the cast were unceremoniously axed. By all accounts, it did the trick. The show seemed more assured, morale was reportedly better and by late 1992 the ratings had risen to around 7m. The future for the "sunshine soap" seemed appropriately bright.
One can only have imagined what may have happened had the controller of BBC (Jonathan Powell) not jumped ship to become head of Drama at Carlton Television. In March 1993 the incoming controller, Alan Yentob, was tasked with deciding the future of "Eldorado". After some weeks of deliberation, he decided it had none. On the 14th March 1993 the decision was made to axe "Eldorado".
Whether it was just curiosity or (more likely) a reflection of the growing quality of the programme, the viewing figures continued to steadily rise - culminating in a final episode on the 9th July 1993, watched by over 10m people. Several campaigns tried to save the show but the BBC was not about to change its mind. The set was abandoned and still stands to this day.
The show sold well to other countries and proved surprisingly popular in countries as diverse as Russia, Poland and Mauritius.
The tagline often used for the promotional pieces on BBC1 was "Are you ready for Eldorado?". The ironic thing was that, partly because the BBC were so keen to launch early, "Eldorado" wasn't ready for itself, something that some people never forgave it for.
| i don't know |
Which British newspaper was launched with the slogan ‘It is, are you’? | History of Newspapers by the NMA
William Caxton sets up the first English printing press in Westminster.
1549
First known English newsletter: Requests of the Devonshyre and Cornyshe Rebelles.
1621
First titled newspaper, Corante, published in London.
1649
Cromwell suppressed all newsbooks on the eve of Charles I's execution.
1690
Worcester Postman launched. (In 1709 it starts regular publication as Berrow's Worcester Journal, considered to be the oldest surviving English newspaper).
1702
Launch of the first regular daily newspaper: The Daily Courant.
1709
First Copyright Act; Berrow's Worcester Journal, considered the oldest surviving English newspaper, started regular publication.
1712
First Stamp Act; advertisement, paper and stamp duties condemned as taxes on knowledge. Stamford Mercury believed to have been launched.
1717
The Kentish Post and Canterbury Newsletter launched. It took on its current name, Kentish Gazette, in 1768.
1718
Leeds Mercury started (later merged into Yorkshire Post).
1737
Belfast News Letter founded (world's oldest surviving daily newspaper).
1748
Aberdeen Journal began (Scotland's oldest newspaper - now the Press & Journal).
1772
Hampshire Chronicle launched, Hampshire's oldest paper.
1788
Daily Universal Register (est. 1785) became The Times.
1791
Harmsworth (then Northcliffe) bought The Observer.
1906
Newspaper Proprietors Association founded for national dailies.
1907
National Union of Journalists founded as a wage-earners union.
1915
Rothermere launched Sunday Pictorial (later Sunday Mirror).
1922
Death of Northcliffe. Control of Associated Newspapers passed to Rothermere.
1928
Northcliffe Newspapers set up as a subsidiary of Associated Newspapers. Provincial Newspapers set up as a subsidiary of United Newspapers.
1931
Audit Bureau of Circulations formed.
1936
Britain's first colour advertisement appears (in Glasgow's Daily Record).
1944
Iliffe took over BPM Holdings (including Birmingham Post).
1946
Guild of British Newspaper Editors formed (now the Society of Editors).
1953
General Council of the Press established.
1955
Month-long national press strike. Daily Record acquired by Mirror Group.
1959
Manchester Guardian becomes The Guardian. Six-week regional press printing strike.
1960
Photocomposition and web-offset printing progressively introduced.
1964
The Sun launched, replacing Daily Herald. Death of Beaverbrook. General Council of the Press reformed as the Press Council.
1969
Murdoch's News International acquired The Sun and News of the World.
1976
Nottingham Evening Post is Britain's first newspaper to start direct input by journalists.
1978
The Times and The Sunday Times ceased publication for 11 months.
1980
Association of Free Newspaper founded (folded 1991). Regional Newspaper Advertising Bureau formed.
1981
News International acquired The Times and the Sunday Times.
1983
Industrial dispute at Eddie Shah's Messenger group plant at Warrington.
1984
Mirror Group sold by Reed to Maxwell (Pergamon). First free daily newspaper, the (Birmingham) Daily News, launched by husband & wife team Chris & Pat Bullivant.
1986
News International moved titles to a new plant at Wapping. Eddie Shah launchedToday, first colour national daily launched. The Independent launched.
1987
News International took over Today.
1988
RNAB folded. Newspaper Society launched PressAd as its commercial arm. Thomson launched Scotland on Sunday and Sunday Life.
1989
Last Fleet Streetpaper produced by Sunday Express.
1990
First Calcutt report on Privacy and Related Matters. Launch of The European (by Maxwell) and Independent on Sunday.
1991
Press Complaints Commission replaced the Press Council. AFN folded. Death of Robert Maxwell (November). Management buy-out of Birmingham Post and sister titles. Midland Independent Newspapers established.
1992
Management buy-out by Caledonian Newspapers of Lonrho's Glasgow titles, The Herald and Evening Times.
1993
Guardian Media Group bought The Observer. UK News set up by Northcliffe and Westminster Press as rival news agency to the Press Association. Second Calcutt report into self-regulation of the press.
1994
Northcliffe Newspapers bought Nottingham Evening Post for £93m. News International price-cutting sparked off new national cover-price war.
1995
Lord Wakeham succeeded Lord McGregor as chairman of the PCC. Privacy white paper rejected statutory press controls. Most of Thomson's regional titles sold to Trinity. Newsquest formed out of a Reed MBO. Murdoch closes Today(November).
1996
A year of buyouts, mergers and restructuring in the regional press. Regionals win the battle over cross-media ownership (Broadcasting Act). Newspaper Society launches NS Marketing, replacing PressAd.
1997
Midland Independent Newspapers is bought by Mirror Group for £297 million. Human Rights and Data Protection bills are introduced.
1998
Fourth largest regional press publisher, United Provincial Newspapers, is sold in two deals: UPN Yorkshire and Lancashire newspapers sold to Regional Independent Media for £360m and United Southern Publications sold to Southnews for £47.5m. Southern Newspapers changes its name to Newscom, following acquisitions in Wales and the West (including UPN Wales in 1996). Death of Lord Rothermere. Chairmanship of Associated Newspapers passes to his son Jonathan Harmsworth. Death of David English, editor-in-chief of Daily Mailand chairman of the editors' code committee.
1999
Trinity merges with Mirror Group Newspapers in a deal worth £1.3 billion. Newsquest is bought by US publisher Gannett for £904 million. Portsmouth & Sunderland Newspapers is bought by Johnston Press for £266m. Major regional press groups launch electronic media alliances (eg, This is Britain, Fish4 sites.) Freedom of Information bill introduced. Associated launches London's free commuter daily, Metro.
2000
Newscom is sold to Newsquest Media Group for £444m, Adscene titles are sold to Southnews (£52m)and Northcliffe Newspapers, Belfast Telegraph Newspapers are sold by Trinity Mirror to Independent News & Media for £300m, Bristol United Press is sold to Northcliffe Newspapers Group, and Southnews is sold to Trinity Mirror for £285m. Daily Express and Daily Star are sold by Lord Hollick's United News & Media to Richard Desmond's Northern & Shell. Launch of Scottish business daily Business a.m. and more Metro daily frees. Newspaper Society launches internet artwork delivery system AdFast. Communications white paper published.
2001
RIM buys six Galloway and Stornaway Gazette titles, Newsquest buys Dimbleby Newspaper Group and Johnston Press buys four titles from Morton Media Group. UK Publishing Media formed. Sunday Business changes name to The Businessand publishes on Sunday and Monday.
2002
Johnston Press acquires Regional Independent Media's 53 regional newspaper titles in a £560 million deal. Northcliffe Newspapers Group Ltd acquires Hill Bros (Leek) Ltd. Queen attends Newspaper Society annual lunch. New PCC chairman, Christopher Meyer, announced. Draft Communications Bill published. The Sunand Mirror engage in a price war.
2003
Conrad Black resigns as chief executive of Hollinger International, owner of Telegraph group. Claverly Company, owner of Midland News Association, buys Guiton Group, publisher of regional titles in the Channel Islands. Archant buys 12 London weekly titles from Independent News & Media (December) and the remaining 15 the following month (January 04). Independent begins the shift to smaller format national newspapers when it launched its compact edition. Sir Christopher Meyer becomes chairman of the Press Complaints Commission. DCMS select committee chaired by Gerald Kaufman into privacy and the press. Government rejects calls for a privacy law.
2004
Phillis Report on Government Communications published (January). Barclay Brothers buy Telegraph group and poach Murdoch Maclennan from Associated to run it. Kevin Beatty moves from Northcliffe Newspapers to run Associated Newspapers. Trinity Mirror sells Century Newspapers and Derry Journal in Northern Ireland to 3i. Tindle Newspapers sells Sunday Independent in Plymouth to Newsquest. The Times goes compact (November).
2005
Johnston Press buys Score Press from EMAP for £155m. Launch of free Liteeditions for London Evening Standard and Manchester Evening News. The Timesputs up cover price to 60p, marking the end of the nationals’ price war. The Guardian moves to Berliner format after £80m investment in new presses. DMGT puts Northcliffe Newspapers up for sale; bids expected to open at £1.2 billion. Johnston Press buys Scotsman Publications from Barclay Brothers for £160m.
2006
DMGT sale of Northcliffe group aborted but DC Thomson acquires Aberdeen Press & Journal. Trinity Mirror strategic review: Midlands and South East titles put up for sale. Growth of regional press digital platforms. Manchester Evening Newscity edition goes free. Government threat to limit Freedom of Information requests. Associated and News International both launch free evening papers in London during the autumn.
2007
Archant Scotland acquired by Johnston Press. Northcliffe Media buys three regional newspaper businesses from Trinity Mirror; Kent Regional Newspapers, East Surrey and Sussex Newspapers and Blackmore Vale Publishing. Dunfermline Press Group acquires Berkshire Regional Newspapers from Trinity Mirror. Tindle Newspapers buys 27 local weekly newspapers from Trinity Mirror which retains its Midlands titles.
The government abandons plans to tighten Freedom of Information laws and limit media access to coroners’ courts. Former Hollinger International chief executive Conrad Black is sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison for fraud. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation buys Dow Jones, owner of the Wall Street Journal, appointing News International boss Les Hinton as chief executive.
2008
The global economic downturn hit advertising revenues and shares of media companies fell sharply during the year. John Fry was announced as Tim Bowdler’s successor at Johnston Press in September. The Independentannounced a plan to move to DMGT’s Kensington building to cut costs in November. The BBC Trust rejected plans for local video that would have a negative impact on regional titles in the same month following a sustained campaign by the NS.
2009
Russian businessman Alexander Lebedev acquires the London Evening Standardfrom Daily Mail & General Trust and the title is subsequently relaunched as a free newspaper. Baroness Peta Buscombe is appointed chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.
2010
Britain officially emerges from the longest and deepest recession since the war. Lebedev acquires the Independent and Independent on Sunday from Independent News & Media for a nominal fee of £1. Trinity Mirror acquires GMG Regional Media, publisher of 32 titles, from Guardian Media Group for £44.8 million.
News International erects paywalls around its online content for The Times and The Sunday Times. Eleven regional print titles are launched by seven publishers in the first six months of the year. Newly-elected coalition government announces it will look at the case for relaxing cross-media ownership rules and stop unfair competition from council newspapers. The Independent launches i, a digest newspaper to complement their main title, and the first daily paper to be launched in the UK in almost 25 years.
2011
In April, following campaigning by the NS and the industry, a revised Local Authority Publicity Code came into effect to crack down on council newspapers. In July, The News of The World was closed after 168 years of publication. The Prime Minister announced an inquiry led by Lord Justice Leveson into the role of the press and police in the phone-hacking scandal. In October, Lord Hunt of Wirral was appointed chairman of the Press Complaints Commission.
Five regional daily titles switched to weekly during the year. Local cross media ownership rules were abolished. Kent Messenger Group’s proposed acquisition of seven Northcliffeweekly titles was referred to the Competition Commission by the OFT forcing the deal to be abandoned. Northcliffe Media announced the subsequent closure of Medway News and the East Kent Gazette.
2012
The London 2012 Olympics and Diamond Jubilee saw national and local press titles produce a host of supplements, special editions and other initiatives in digital and print to help their readers celebrate the events.
In November, the press industry came together to progress plans for a new, tougher, independent system of self regulation following publication of Lord Justice Leveson's report into the role of the press and police in the phone-hacking scandal. MailOnline became the world's biggest newspaper website with 45.348 million unique users.
The creation of a new local media business Local World was announced. Led by former chief executive of publishers Mecom and Mirror Group David Montgomery, Local World is created from the newspapers and websites of Northcliffe Media and Iliffe News & Media.
2013
Significant progress was made by the newspaper and magazine industry in setting up the Independent Press Standards Organisation - the new regulator for the press called for by Lord Justice Leveson. More than 90 per cent of the national press, the vast majority of the regional press, along with major magazine publishers, signed contracts to establish IPSO. Led by Sir Hayden Phillips, the independent appointments procedures were well underway, with the regulator due to launch on 1 May 2014.
Politicians, publishers and press freedom organisations from across the globe railed against the Government's Royal Charter for press regulation which Culture Secretary Maria Miller admitted could become redundant if IPSO was successful. The Guardian prompted heated debate over the issue of mass surveillance after publishing a series of stories based on information leaked by the US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The local press was widely praised for its coverage of floods which blighted communities with Prime Minister David Cameron singling out the Eastern Daily Press in particular. Local papers created thousands of jobs distributing Regional Growth Fund cash to small businesses.
2014
A new voice for the £6 billion national, regional and local UK news media sector was launched in the form of the News Media Association, formed by the merger of the Newspaper Society and the Newspaper Publishers’ Association.
In a climate of grave threats to press freedom, the importance of newspaper journalism was highlighted through stories such as The Times’ exposure of the Rotherham abuse scandal and The Yorkshire Post’s Loneliness campaign.
The Independent Press Standards Organisation, the new press regulator, launched in September with the vast majority of local and national publishers signed up to it.
2015
In October 2015, Trinity Mirror announced the acquisition of Local World for £220 million, demonstrating the publisher’s firm belief in the future of local news media.
Newspapers grew their UK monthly print and online reach to more than 47 million people, more than Google’s 45 million, with newsbrands driving nearly a billion social media interactions over the course of the year.
The importance of news media in holding power to account was emphasised through agenda agenda-setting campaigns such as The Sunday Times’ exposure of corruption within football world governing body Fifa and Sunday Life’s hard hitting campaign to expose and abolish the cruel practice of illegal puppy farming.
| The Independent |
What is the name of the bank in the UK television series ‘Dad’s Army’? | MoD anti-rape campaign launched with shocking posters of 'army sex attacks' | The Independent
Crime
MoD anti-rape campaign launched with shocking posters of 'army sex attacks'
Exclusive: The offensive will see posters with the slogan ‘Don’t kid yourself! Without consent it’s RAPE’ displayed in army barracks and training centres
Friday 24 July 2015 14:45 BST
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The Independent Online
Photographs depicting men and women who have been raped by soldiers are the focus of a powerful campaign by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) warning service personnel that consent is always required before they have sex.
The offensive against rape will see posters with the slogan ‘Don’t kid yourself! Without consent it’s RAPE’ displayed in army barracks and training centres across the country in the coming weeks.
A poster from the MoD's anti-rape campaign
It has been instigated by General Sir Nick Carter, the head of the army, amid concern over sexual offending in the military, and is the first time the armed forces have launched a campaign aimed at rape and sexual assault.
The posters, developed in consultation with Stonewall and Rape Crisis, portray a number of scenarios ranging from a female soldier raped by her colleagues to a male rape victim. They are captioned with comments indicating stereotypical attitudes held by some soldiers. One of the posters, featuring a man sat on the floor, trousers around his knees and his head in his hands, with a smirking man in the foreground, has the words: “He’s gay, he would have been gagging for it.” Another, showing a picture of a woman wearing a short skirt, says: “... she was asking for it.”
Service personnel are being warned that someone being passive during sex does not constitute consent, nor does how someone dresses or behaves. Consent has to be free and informed, so someone who is sleeping or drunk cannot give it. Differences in rank do not give individuals any right to have sex, and it does not matter if offenders think they are just having a laugh, for sex without consent is rape, say defence officials.
The new initiative will feature in the August issue of the British Army’s Soldier magazine. In a statement, an Army spokesperson said: “The Consent Campaign, which has been endorsed by Rape Crisis and Stonewall, is the latest in a number of internal initiatives that the Army has launched to ensure all of its employees act lawfully and treat each other in a way that is consistent with our values and standards.”
This comes after an MoD report released on 20 July revealed that almost half of service personnel believe sexual harassment is a problem in the Army. It also found that nearly four out of 10 female soldiers had been subjected to comments of a sexual nature in the past year, in what General Sir Nick Carter has described as “totally unacceptable” and a “problem of culture.”
“The imagery and messaging are bold, hard-hitting and, most importantly, really clear about consent,” said Katie Russell, spokeswoman for Rape Crisis England and Wales.
The report into sexual harassment in the British Army warns: “Although the policy within the Army is clear on what behaviours are acceptable, this is clearly not resonating with some service personnel. There is a possibility that some individuals simply do not understand that they are doing something wrong.”
There have been more than 400 cases of rape or sexual assault in the military in the past five years, according to MoD data. But these do not represent to full scale of the problem, as they do not include cases investigated by civilian police forces.
Sometimes senior officers fail to refer sexual offences to the Royal Military Police, warned a report by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabularies earlier this month.
And the lack of comprehensive and reliable statistics on the number of allegations of sexual assault and rape made by and against service personnel remains a concern, according to Liberty.
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VT is the abreviation for which US state? | What is the abbreviation for Vermont?
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a state in New England
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Which beverage, introduced in 1898, was originally called ‘Brad’s Drink’? | Vermont | history - geography - state, United States | Britannica.com
state, United States
Alternative Title: Green Mountain State
Vermont
(2010) 625,741; (2015 est.) 626,042
Total area (sq mi)
Seats in U.S. House of Representatives
1 of (435)
Eastern (GMT − 5 hours)
1Excluding military abroad.
Vermont, constituent state of the United States of America . One of the six New England states lying in the northeastern corner of the country, it was admitted to the union on March 4, 1791, as the 14th state. It is sparsely populated, and its capital, Montpelier , is one of the least-populous U.S. state capitals. Vermont is bordered to the north by Quebec , Can., to the east by New Hampshire , to the south by Massachusetts , and to the west by New York . From the Canadian to the Massachusetts border, the Connecticut River separates Vermont from New Hampshire. The river, from the mean low-water line on the western bank, is entirely within New Hampshire’s borders.
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Strafford, eastern Vermont.
Glen Allison—Stone/Getty Images
In many ways Vermont is a vigorous survivor of an earlier, simpler time in the United States. Millions of people visit the state each year, and many thousands of out-of-state residents maintain second homes in Vermont. These people primarily seek the beauty and tranquility of Vermont’s mountains and narrow valleys and the sense of the country’s past that pervades the entire state. The steeples of white wooden churches rising above mountain-bound small towns with trim village greens, the herds of dairy cattle on sloping mountain pastures, and the red-gold leaves of tree-lined autumnal lanes are aspects of scenic Vermont that, in painting and photography, have become symbols of the rural United States.
Many people left their birthplaces in Vermont to pursue opportunities in the opening West or in urban centres of the Northeast. In turn, many creative personalities have sought the spiritual refuge offered by the state. Vermont has never stood in the mainstream of the country’s history, but its people and land have poured into their country a strength and a sense of continuity that joins the achievements of the nation’s past with the purposes of its present. Area 9,616 square miles (24,906 square km). Population (2010) 625,741; (2015 est.) 626,042.
Land
Caledonia
Snowfall in Vermont usually averages between 70 and 80 inches (1,800 and 2,000 mm) in the valleys and up to 110 inches (2,800 mm) in the mountains. Total annual precipitation varies from 34 inches (870 mm) in the eastern and western sections to more than 40 inches (1,025 mm) in the mountains. Winter temperatures can drop to −34 °F (−37 °C) and lower, and summer temperatures rarely rise above 90 °F (32 °C). Pleasant summer days often turn cool after nightfall. The annual growing season is only about 120 days—somewhat longer in the low-lying Champlain valley—because frost usually comes in September and may strike as late as the beginning of June. The short growing season and rocky soil make dairying the dominant form of commercial farming.
Early autumn snow on a Vermont farm.
Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images
Plant and animal life
At one time many of Vermont’s hilltops were cleared for pastures and open fields. As farmers abandoned the hillsides, the open spaces quickly refilled with trees. Pine, spruce, fir, and hemlock are common; maple and birch are among the deciduous species. The state tree is the sugar maple, which reflects Vermont’s prominence in maple sugar and syrup production. The wooded areas, with their small brooks and springs, produce a great variety of ferns and wildflowers; in the spring and summer they are filled with the many species of birds common to the Northeast. Environmental factors such as acid rain have affected trees in the higher elevations. Concerns about excessive logging have led to state restrictions on clear-cutting.
Vermont has a huge deer population, and deer hunting is an autumn ritual. Bears are often seen, but wild members of the cat family are rare. There is a growing moose population and (since 1993) an annual moose-hunting season. Small animals abound in Vermont. Fishing in the lakes and streams, including ice fishing in winter, is popular.
People
Saint Albans Raid
Most Vermonters live in valley cities and towns. Burlington , in the Champlain valley, is Vermont’s largest community , followed by Essex , near Burlington; Rutland, in the Otter valley; Colchester, just north of Burlington; and South Burlington. The Burlington–South Burlington metropolitan area contains about one-third of the state’s population. The Green Mountains were long a barrier between eastern and western Vermont, and judgeships and political candidates often were chosen to balance an eastern and western sectionalism. Although regional division is now a minor factor, some observers detect it emerging between southern and northern Vermont, presumably a reflection of the influx of newcomers and resort developments in the south. Others sense a dichotomy involving small towns and large towns, which revolves around such public issues as state constitutional reforms, welfare aid, and educational innovations . Three isolated northeastern counties have been known since 1949 as the “Northeast Kingdom,” a name bestowed by former governor and U.S. senator George Aiken in recognition of the area’s natural beauty. Pragmatically, however, the major sense of regionalism is derived from large towns, which form a centre for surrounding rural areas.
Stowe, Vt., with leaves beginning to change in autumn.
Visions of America/SuperStock
Demographic trends
With the end of the American Revolution and Vermont’s acceptance into the union, the area experienced a tremendous population surge, primarily fueled by settlers from southern New England. From 1790 to 1810 Vermont’s population grew by 150 percent, increasing by nearly 133,000 in 20 years.
The renewed threat of invasion during the War of 1812 , several years of harsh weather marked by the notable year of 1816—known as “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death” and also called the “Year Without a Summer”—and the eventual opening of more fertile western lands slowed Vermont’s population growth substantially. Between 1810 and 1950 Vermont’s population increased by only some 160,000. Much of this population stagnation was attributed to the emigration of Vermonters who sought greater economic opportunities elsewhere. This trend continued into the mid-20th century.
The building of the Interstate Highway System during the 1950s and ’60s, the growth of tourism and recreation in Vermont, which also spurred the construction of second homes there, and greater local economic opportunities, highlighted by the construction of an International Business Machines (IBM) plant, ended the century-long population stagnation. From 1960 to 2000 Vermont’s population grew by nearly 220,000.
While emigration of young Vermonters has slowed, the influx of newcomers is outstripping the growth of the native-born population. In 1960 more than three-fourths of Vermonters were native-born; by 2000 this proportion had dropped to about three-fifths. This decrease, coupled with perceived differences in the social expectations of nonnatives over the range and costs of government services, has led to some tension between native Vermonters and newer arrivals.
Growth has been uneven. Chittenden county, which contains the city of Burlington, is secure in its position as Vermont’s population centre. Population increases have contributed to the expansion of suburbs outside traditional town centres, which has been accompanied by the loss of farmland and open space and, in ski-area towns, development on mountaintops and at higher elevations.
Such demographic changes have had wide impacts on Vermont. Politically, Chittenden county controls one-fourth of the seats in the General Assembly (the lower house of Vermont’s legislature), weakening the voice of the more rural counties.
Development around ski areas raised environmental concerns and led to increasing environmental legislation beginning with the passage of regional planning in 1970. Loss of farmland to development, including the advent of large retail stores, as well as the changing face of the Vermont landscape, has raised concerns about urban sprawl and long-term effects on downtown economies, tourism, and agriculture. In 1993 the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed Vermont’s traditional agricultural and town centre landscape as endangered by urban sprawl, the first time the trust had listed an entire state as being at risk. In 2004 the trust named the state one of its 11 most endangered places. How to manage growth to preserve those attributes that make Vermont unique while encouraging economic development has become a key public policy issue.
Economy
Vermont’s economy relies heavily on the service sector; its collective activities long have been the most important in terms of overall value and employment. Vermont has a low unemployment rate as compared with other states, although pockets of high employment still exist. Wages in the state are somewhat lower than the national average.
Agriculture
The nature of farming has changed in Vermont. Although it has been surpassed by manufacturing and tourism as an economic force, farming still remains important. The number of farms declined by about one-third between 1950 and 2000, and employment in farming and its related industries has dropped to only a tiny fraction of the state’s workforce. Less than half of the farms are dairy farms, the traditional mainstay of Vermont agriculture, but more than three-fourths of the state’s farm income comes from dairy products.
Tapping maple trees for syrup in Vermont.
Bob Holland/Shostal Associates
A move toward large-scale farms—encompassing most agricultural sectors from dairying to egg production—has raised some concerns about their effects on the environment and the decline of the family farm. Vermont is first in milk production in New England and leads the United States in the production of maple syrup . Specialty and gourmet foods have also become an important niche in Vermont agriculture. Vermont farming, because it has shaped the state’s landscape, also is important to tourism.
Manufacturing
Vermont’s hundreds of manufacturing plants reflect national industrial trends. The number of machine-tool plants in Springfield tends to expand and contract along with the national economy. The St. Albans area, in Franklin county, suffered from the decline of the railroad industry. Textile mills were once major employers in many cities, such as Winooski, but many of these have closed or moved to the South. Some computer industries have moved into Vermont. Other Vermont firms have become subsidiaries of national firms. The state’s Agency of Commerce and Community Development searches constantly for new industry, while an industrial park authority offers guidelines for establishing manufacturing facilities.
Workers on break outside Green City Mill, Burlington, Vt., early 20th century.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Many Vermont industries are small companies that provide specialized products. Wood and paper products are natural for a state so heavily timbered, and about one-third of Vermont’s manufacturing plants make bowls, hockey sticks, furniture, and paper of different kinds. Printing is among the major industries.
Mining
Extractive industries contribute significantly to Vermont’s economy. Quarries in Barre are among the largest granite pits in the world, and marble from Proctor is used for constructing commercial and public buildings—such as the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington , D.C. , and the United Nations headquarters in New York City. Slate quarries operate along the Vermont–New York border.
Tourism
Tourism is the second largest component of the state’s economy. Vacation resorts, motels and hotels, and related services employ thousands of Vermonters to serve the many tourists who visit the state each year. Skiing facilities at Stowe, Dover, Sherburne, and the Mad River valley are among the many Vermont winter resorts that attract people from throughout the Northeast. During the summer, visitors hike mountain trails, search through antique shops, study exhibits in the many museums, attend musical and dramatic performances, or bicycle or drive through the state and take photographs. Thousands of “leaf-peeping” tourists fill Vermont’s roads in autumn as they look at the dramatic changing colours of the trees. The Tourism and Marketing Division of the Agency of Commerce and Community Development is active in promoting tourism, and its Vermont Life magazine depicts the state’s scenic resources.
Skiing, Jay Peak, Jay, Vt.
Dennis Curran/Vermont Department of Tourism and Marketing
Transportation
Vermont has limited Amtrak passenger rail service. Airline service is limited in southern and central Vermont, but the airport at Burlington provides links to cities in the Northeast and Midwest. The major road arteries are north-south routes in the Connecticut River valley and the lowland valley south of Lake Champlain. Interstate highways link Vermont with Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Quebec province. Elsewhere, roads are often winding, narrow, and hilly, following the contours of the land. None of these factors is conducive to industrial expansion, and transportation remains a major problem.
Government and society
Constitutional framework
On July 8, 1777, Vermont adopted a constitution that was the first in the United States to prohibit slavery and to eliminate property qualifications for voting or holding office. It was revised in 1786, and in 1793 the present constitution was adopted. Amendments may be considered only once every four years.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Which US businessman funded the Standard Oil Company? | John D. Rockefeller - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com
John D. Rockefeller
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Introduction
John D. Rockefeller (1839-1937), founder of the Standard Oil Company, became one of the world’s wealthiest men and a major philanthropist. Born into modest circumstances in upstate New York, he entered the then-fledgling oil business in 1863 by investing in a Cleveland, Ohio, refinery. In 1870, he established Standard Oil, which by the early 1880s controlled some 90 percent of U.S. refineries and pipelines. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors, in order to gain a monopoly in the industry. In 1911, the U.S. Supreme Court found Standard Oil in violation of anti-trust laws and ordered it to dissolve. During his life Rockefeller donated more than $500 million to various philanthropic causes.
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John D. Rockefeller: Early Years and Family
John Davison Rockefeller, the son of a traveling salesman, was born on July 8, 1839, in Richford, New York . Industrious even as a boy, the future oil magnate earned money by raising turkeys, selling candy and doing jobs for neighbors. In 1853, the Rockefeller family moved to the Cleveland, Ohio , area, where John attended high school then briefly studied bookkeeping at a commercial college.
Did You Know?
One of the charitable organizations established by John D. Rockefeller, Sr. was the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission, founded in 1909. Less than 20 years after its creation, the Commission had achieved its primary goals, the successful eradication of hookworm disease across the southern United States.
In 1855, at age 16, he found work as an office clerk at a Cleveland commission firm that bought, sold and shipped grain, coal and other commodities. (He considered September 26, the day he started the position and entered the business world, so significant that as an adult he commemorated this “job day” with an annual celebration.) In 1859, Rockefeller and a partner established their own commission firm. That same year, America’s first oil well was drilled in Titusville, Pennsylvania . In 1863, Rockefeller and several partners entered the booming new oil industry by investing in a Cleveland refinery.
In 1864, Rockefeller married Laura Celestia “Cettie” Spelman (1839-1915), an Ohio native whose father was a prosperous merchant, politician and abolitionist active in the Underground Railroad . (Laura Rockefeller became the namesake of Spelman College, the historically black women’s college in Atlanta, Georgia , that her husband helped finance.) The Rockefellers went on to have four daughters (three of whom survived to adulthood) and one son.
John D. Rockefeller: Standard Oil
In 1865, Rockefeller borrowed money to buy out some of his partners and take control of the refinery, which had become the largest in Cleveland. Over the next few years, he acquired new partners and expanded his business interests in the growing oil industry. At the time, kerosene, derived from petroleum and used in lamps, was becoming an economic staple. In 1870, Rockefeller formed the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, along with his younger brother William (1841-1922), Henry Flagler (1830-1913) and a group of other men. John Rockefeller was its president and largest shareholder.
Standard Oil gained a monopoly in the oil industry by buying rival refineries and developing companies for distributing and marketing its products around the globe. In 1882, these various companies were combined into the Standard Oil Trust, which would control some 90 percent of the nation’s refineries and pipelines. In order to exploit economies of scale, Standard Oil did everything from build its own oil barrels to employ scientists to figure out new uses for petroleum by-products.
Rockefeller’s enormous wealth and success made him a target of muckraking journalists, reform politicians and others who viewed him as a symbol of corporate greed and criticized the methods with which he’d built his empire. As The New York Times reported in 1937: “He was accused of crushing out competition, getting rich on rebates from railroads, bribing men to spy on competing companies, of making secret agreements, of coercing rivals to join the Standard Oil Company under threat of being forced out of business, building up enormous fortunes on the ruins of other men, and so on.”
In 1890, the U.S. Congress passed the Sherman Antitrust Act, the first federal legislation prohibiting trusts and combinations that restrained trade. Two years later, the Ohio Supreme Court dissolved the Standard Oil Trust; however, the businesses within the trust soon became part of Standard Oil of New Jersey , which functioned as a holding company. In 1911, after years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Standard Oil of New Jersey was in violation of anti-trust laws and forced it to dismantle (it was broken up into more than 30 individual companies).
John D. Rockefeller: Philanthropy and Final Years
Rockefeller retired from day-to-day business operations of Standard Oil in the mid-1890s. Inspired in part by fellow Gilded Age tycoon Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919), who made a vast fortune in the steel industry then became a philanthropist and gave away the bulk of his money, Rockefeller donated more than half a billion dollars to various educational, religious and scientific causes. Among his activities, he funded the establishment of the University of Chicago and the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research (now Rockefeller University).
In his personal life, Rockefeller was devoutly religious, a temperance advocate and an avid golfer. His goal was to reach the age of 100; however, he died at 97 on May 23, 1937, at The Casements, his winter home in Ormond Beach, Florida . (Rockefeller owned multiple residences, including a home in New York City , an estate in Lakewood, New Jersey, and an estate called Kykuit, old Dutch for “lookout,” set on 3,000 acres near Tarrytown, New York.) He was buried at Lake View Cemetery in Cleveland.
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What is the capital of Morocco? | Oil Company Histories
1889: Standard Oil (Indiana) founded as subsidiary of Standard Oil Trust
1911: Standard Oil of Indiana founded with dissolution of Standard Oil
1910s: Standard Oil of Indiana purchases Pan American Petroleum
1914: Standard Oil of Indiana licenses "thermal cracking" process for producing gasoline to competing oil companies
1925: Standard Oil of Indiana acquires controlling interest in Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company
1932: Standard Oil of Indiana sells Venezuela operation to Jersey
1954: Pan American and Standard of Indiana merge, new company is called American Oil Company [Amoco]
1957: Begins joint venture with Iran independent of Iranian Oil Consortium
1958: Amoco signs agreement with Shah of Iran
1960s: Amoco Egypt Oil Company, Cairo, founded
1980s: Amoco Sharjah Oil Company, Sharjah, U.A.E., in partnership with UEA, produces natural gas and natural gas liquids in Sharjah
1990s: Amoco Oman Oil Company begins oil and gas exploration program
Corporate Offices:
1866: Atlantic Petroleum Storage Company founded
1870: Atlantic Petroleum Storage Company establishes Atlantic Refining Company (Atlantic)
1874: Atlantic sold to John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Trust
1905: Richfield Oil Corporation founded
1911: Standard Oil Trust dissolved under Sherman Antitrust Act, and Atlantic is spun off as independent company
1916: Sinclair Oil Corporation, founded by Harry F. Sinclair
1931: Richfield goes into receivership and Sinclair merges with Rio Grande Oil and Prairie Pipeline and Prairie Oil and Gas Companies
1936: Richfield Oil Corporation emerges from receivership
1952: Atlantic begins offshore Gulf Coast production
1963: Atlantic purchased the Hondo Oil & Gas Company
1966: Richfield Oil Corporation merges with Atlantic Refining Company, creating Atlantic Richfield Company [ARCO]
1968: ARCO partners with Exxon for Alaskan North Slope production
1969: ARCO acquires Sinclair Oil Corporation
1972: ARCO headquarters moves from New York City to Los Angeles
1977: ARCO acquires the Anaconda Company
1985: ARCO divests East Coast marketing and refining operations
1988: Tricentrol acquired by ARCO
1988: ARCO completes merger with Houston based Union Texas Petroleum Holding Inc.
1989: ARCO forms anew publicly held company, Lyondell Petrochemical
1993: ARCO's U.S. oil and gas business restructured and divided into four business units�ARCO Permian, ARCO Western Energy, ARCO Long Beach, Inc., and Vastar Resources, Inc.
1994: Vastar Resources Inc. initiates a public offering of 17 million shares of its common stock
1996: ARCO signs Production Sharing Contract with Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company, to undertake major Enhanced Oil Recovery project in Algeria's second largest oil field, Rhourde El Baguel
1997: ARCO and Russia's largest oil company, LUKOIL, sign joint venture agreement to invest in oil and gas projects in Russia and other countries
1998: ARCO subsidiary (Western Midway Co.) and a unit of Mobil Corporation reaches agreement to exchange oil and gas properties in California's San Joaquin Valley and the Gulf of Mexico; The California properties owned by Western Midway go to Mobil, while Mobil oil and gas properties in the Gulf go to Western Midway. Upon completion of the exchange, Western Midway will be sold to Vastar Resources Inc. (82.2% owned by ARCO)
1998: ARCO sells majority interest in ARCO Chemical Company and divests its coal assets in the U.S.
Corporate Offices:
(213) 486-3511
Ashland Oil
1924: Ashland Refining Company of Ashland, Ky., founded as a refining arm of Swiss Oil Company of Lexington
1930: Ashland Purchases Tri-State Refining
1931: Acquires Cumberland Pipeline Company's eastern Kentucky pipeline network
1936: Ashland Refining merges with Swiss Oil to form Ashland Oil & Refining Company
1946: Ashland Oil & Refining Company products first sold under the brand name "Ashland"
1948: Ashland and Allied Oil merge
1949: Ashland and Aetna Oil merge, Ashland acquires Kentucky retail marketing operation Freedom-Valvoline, including Valvoline Motor Oil brand and also acquires Southern Pipe Line Company
1950: Frontier Oil Refining of Buffalo, N.Y., and National Refining of Cleveland, Ohio, join Ashland
1956: Acquisition of R. J. Brown Company of St. Louis.
1963: Ashland acquires United Oil
1966: Ashland acquires Warren Brothers construction company
1967: Ashland purchases ADM Chemical Group and forms Ashland
1969: Ashland forms Ashland Petroleum operating division and Arch Mineral
1970: Ashland changes name to Ashland Oil, Inc.
1970: Ashland acquires Northwestern Refining of St. Paul, Minn. and the SuperAmerica retail marketing chain
1971: Exploration and production activities are consolidated into Ashland Exploration
1975: Construction division is formed, and Ashland Coal is created
1991: Ashland acquires The Permian Corporation and merges with Scurlock Oil Company
1992: Ashland Chemical acquires most of Unocal's chemical distribution business, establishing the IC&S Division
1994: Ashland's Valvoline acquires Zerex
1995: Ashland changes company's name to Ashland Inc.
1997: Ashland signs agreements with Marathon to combine the refining, marketing and transportation assets of the companies. Ashland acquires 38 percent of Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC
Corporate Offices:
1879: Pacific Coast Oil Company established
1900: Pacific Coast Oil purchased by Standard Oil, but remains separate operation
1906: Pacific Coast Oil consolidated with other Western US operations of Standard Oil into Standard Oil Company (California)
1911: Dissolution of Standard Oil Trust makes Standard Oil of California (Socal) independent
1926: Socal merges with Pacific Oil Company
1929: Socal establishes Bahrain Petroleum Company to hold Bahrain concession
1932: Bahrain Petroleum strikes oil in Bahrain
1933: Socal wins Saudi Arabia concession; Socal establishes California-Arabia Standard Oil Company, Casoc, to hold concession for Saudi Arabia
1933: Socal discoveries oil in Saudi Arabia
1936: Texaco joins with Standard Oil of California (later Chevron), to found the Arab-American Oil Company [Aramco]
1936: Texaco purchases half interest in Bahrain Petroleum and California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (Calarabian) from Socal
1936: California-Texas company, Caltex, founded as a joint venture between Socal and Texaco as outlet for future oil production in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1961: Socal buys Standard of Kentucky
1974: Bahraini government acquires 60% interest in BAPCO
1980: Bahraini government acquires remaining interest in BAPCO
1984: Socal buys Gulf Corporation and after restructuring changes name to Chevron Corporation
1993: Chevron undertakes a joint venture with the government of the Republic of Kazakhstan forming a new company named Tengizchevroil
1993: Pennzoil Company assimilates Chevron
Corporate Offices:
Exxon
1882: Standard Oil of New Jersey formed by Standard Oil Trust
1888: Standard Oil of New Jersey establishes Anglo-American Oil Co. (predecessor of Esso Petroleum Co.) to market oil in the British Isles
1899: Standard Oil of New Jersey becomes a holding company for Standard Oil Interests, a subsidiary of Standard Oil
1898: Standard Oil of New Jersey gains control of Imperial Oil Limited of Canada
1928: Standard Oil of New Jersey acquires interest in Turkish (now Iraq) Petroleum Co.
1911: Standard Oil of New Jersey [Jersey] becomes independent with dissolution of Standard Oil Trust
1911: Humble Oil Company formed
1919: Jersey acquires majority ownership of Humble Oil
1930: Anglo-American acquired by Jersey
1933: Socony-Vacuum and Standard of New Jersey merge their Far East facilities and interests into a 50-50 venture called Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or Stanvac
1947: Jersey affiliate, Imperial, strikes oil in Canada
1947: Anglo-Iranian, Jersey and Socony sign 20-year contract with Iran
1948: Jersey (30%) and Socony-Vacuum (10%) join Socal (30%) and Texaco (30%) in Aramco venture
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1959: Jersey buys remainder of Humble Oil
1959: Jersey strikes oil in Libya
1960: Jersey begins to market gasoline under the brand name Esso
1960: Jersey purchases Monterey Oil
1961: Jersey buys Honolulu Oil
1962: Assets of Stanvac split between Jersey and Socony Mobil
1972: Jersey changes name to Exxon
1972: Iraq nationalizes Iraq Petroleum Company, of which Exxon is 12% owner
1972: Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar acquire 25% interest in Exxon's production operations (in country), with right to increase stake to 51% by 1982
1980: Exxon buys Colony Oil Shale Project
1981: Exxon sells Esso Standard Libya to Libyan government
1982: Exxon ends Colony Oil Shale Project
1985: Exxon acquires 48% of Hunt Oil Company's production sharing agreement in North Yemen
1998: Exxon and Mobil announce plans for merger
Corporate Offices:
1901: Gulf Refining Company founded
1907: William Mellon reorganizes Guffey Oil and Gulf Refining under name of Gulf Oil Corporation
1922: Gulf Oil Corporation forms Eastern Gulf Oil Company
1928: Gulf joins Turkish Petroleum Company
1929: Gulf buys Paragon Refining Company
1934: Gulf sells its share of Iraq Petroleum Company to Socal
1934: Anglo-Iranian and Gulf Oil Corporation establish Kuwait Oil Company as a 50-50 joint venture to compete for Kuwait concession (which they obtain); Subsequent agreement establishes British control of KOC
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1955: Acquires Warren Petroleum
1971: Gulf purchases 10% in Syncrude Canada Limited
1984: Chevron buys Gulf
1887: Ohio Oil Company founded
1889: Ohio Oil Company purchased by J.D. Rockefeller subsequently consolidated into the Standard Oil Trust
1905: Marathon headquarters moved to Findlay, Ohio
1911: Standard Oil Company of Ohio [Sohio] separated from Rockefeller's "Standard Trust"
Mid-1950s: Sohio joins partnership with Continental and Amerada, called Oasis Group
1962: Ohio Oil Company renamed the Marathon Oil Company
1962: Marathon buys Plymouth Oil
1982: Marathon becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation, which has since become USX Corporation
1991: USX issues separate shares of common stock to reflect the performance of its two major businesses (steel and oil) and reinstates Marathon's symbol (MRO) on major stock exchanges
1990: Marathon Oil Company headquarters moved to Houston
1997: Ashland signs agreements with Marathon to combine the refining, marketing and transportation assets of the companies; Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC formed Ashland acquires 38 percent of Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC
Corporate Offices:
Findlay, Ohio 45840
Mesa Petroleum
1956: After resigning as a geologist with Phillips Petroleum Co., T. Boone Pickens forms development and production company called Petroleum Exploration
1959: Altair Oil and Gas is established to conduct oil and gas exploration in Canada
1964: Petroleum Exploration, Inc., and Altair merge to form Mesa Petroleum Co.
1967: Mesa Petroleum Co. shares began trading on the American Stock Exchange
1969: In hostile takeover, Pickens merges larger Hugoton into Mesa
1979: Mesa sells holdings in Canada and the North Sea to reduce debt and buy additional Hugoton reserves; Mesa also creates the Mesa Royalty Trust
1983: Mesa forms Gulf Investors Group (GIG)
1984: Mesa repurchases nearly 90 percent of the GIG units in a $500 million public tender offer
1985: The Mesa Petroleum Company changes its name to the Mesa Limited Partnership
1986: Mesa purchases Pioneer Corporation
1988: MESA partnership acquires gas reserves from Tenneco Inc.
1991: Mesa Limited Partnership changes name to MESA Inc.
Corporate Offices:
1866: The Vacuum Oil Co. incorporated
1879: Standard Oil Co., headed by John D. Rockefeller, purchases a three-quarter interest in Vacuum
1870: Rockefeller and four partners organize Standard Oil Company in Ohio
1882: Rockefeller organizes his various oil holdings into the Standard Oil Trust, with headquarters in New York
1882: Standard Oil of New York formed
1911: Standard Oil Company of New York (Socony) founded with dissolution of Standard Oil
1918: Socony purchases a 45% interest in Magnolia Petroleum Co.
1926: Socony purchases the properties of General Petroleum Corp. of California
1929: Vacuum acquires the Lubrite Refining Co., a refining and marketing company based in St. Louis
1930: Socony acquires White Eagle Oil & Refining Co.
1930: Vacuum acquires Wadhams Oil Corp., and the White Star Refining Co.
1931: Socony acquires all the assets of Vacuum Oil Co. and changes its name to Socony-Vacuum Corp.
1933: Socony-Vacuum and Standard of New Jersey merge their Far East facilities and interests into a 50-50 venture called Standard-Vacuum Oil Co., or Stanvac
1934: Socony-Vacuum Corp. changes its name to Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc.
1947: Anglo-Iranian, Jersey and Socony sign 20-year contract with Iran
1948: Jersey (30%) and Socony-Vacuum (10%) join Socal (30%) and Texaco (30%) in Aramco venture
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texaco and Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1955: Socony-Vacuum changes name to Socony Mobil Oil Company
1959: Magnolia Petroleum and General Petroleum merged with other domestic subsidiaries into Socony Mobil Oil Company; Two major operating divisions created within the company: Mobil Oil Co. for the U.S. and Canada, and Mobil International Oil Co. for the rest of the world (except the areas in which Stanvac had interests)
1960: Mobil Chemical Co. formed
1960: Mobil Petroleum Co. Inc. formed to oversee Socony Mobil's 50% interest in Stanvac
1962: Assets of Stanvac split between Jersey and Socony Mobil
1966: Socony Mobil Oil Co. changes name to Mobil Oil Corporation. Mobil Oil Co. becomes the North American Division; Mobil International becomes the International Division, with coordinating responsibility for Mobil Petroleum Co. Inc.
1971: Mobil enters joint venture with Iranian Oil Company
1972: Mobil's 11.875% stake in Iraq Petroleum Company is nationalized
1975: Mobil increases its share of Aramco from 10% to 15%
1976: Mobil completes acquisition of Marcor, the holding company for Montgomery Ward Department Stores
1976: Mobil Corporation formed as holding company
1979: Mobil sells 51% of its Turkish refinery to Turkish Petroleum
1984: Mobil acquires 100% of Superior Oil
1985: Yanbu Petrochemical Company (YANPET), a joint venture petrochemicals complex at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia plant begins operation; Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) are 50-50 partners in YANPET
1996: The Qatargas project, in which Mobil has a 10% interest, comes on line producing first LNG from Qatar
1996: Mobil commissions two new plants in Yemen and Syria
1997: Second Qatargas liquefaction train completed
1998: Exxon and Mobil announce plans for merger
Corporate Offices:
1910: Cities Service Company formed
1920: Occidental Petroleum founded
1953: Cities Service Company obtains Dhofar province concession in Oman
1956: Armand Hammer buys Occidental Petroleum
1965: Cities Service Company begins marketing products under the brand name "CITGO"
1965: Occidental wins oil concession in Libya
1983: Occidental acquires Cities Service Company
1983: Occidental reorganized Cities' assets and sells newly formed "CITGO Petroleum Corporation" to Southland Corporation
1980s: Libya nationalizes 51% of Occidental's operation in Libya
1986: Occidental acquired the Midcon Corporation,
1994: Occidental Petroleum Corp. completes acquisition of Placid Oil Co., which was founded in 1936 by H.L. Hunt
1995: Occidental purchases 19% stake in Clark USA
1998: Occidental and Royal Dutch/Shell, Anglo-Dutch oil group complete a $1bn global asset swap
1998: Occidental sells Occidental Netherlands Inc. unit to TransCanada Pipelines Ltd.
Corporate Offices:
1889: South Penn Oil Company organized as a unit of Standard Oil Company
1916: Name "Pennzoil" trademarked by Pennsylvania Refining Company, a predecessor to Pennzoil
1954: Bill Liedtke, John Overby, and George Bush form Zapata Offshore Oil Company
1963: Pennzoil Company is formed through consolidation of South Penn Oil Company, STETCO Petroleum Corporation and Zapata Offshore Oil Company
1965: Pennzoil Company acquires United Gas Corporation
1993: Pennzoil Company assimilates Chevron
1994: Pennzoil Company signs oil development deal with Qatar
1995: Pennzoil Company agrees to concession agreement with Egypt for Gulf of Suez
1998: Pennzoil-Quaker State Company was formed with merger of Pennzoil and Quaker State
1998: Simultaneous with the Pennzoil-Quaker State merger, the Pennzoil Company's marketing, manufacturing and fast oil change businesses (Pennzoil Products Group) is spun off and renamed the PennzEnergy Company
Corporate Offices:
1833: Marcus Samuel starts import export business in London
1890: Royal Dutch Company launched
1892: Marcus commissions the first special oil tanker and delivers 4,000 tons of Russian kerosene to Singapore and Bangkok
1897: Samuel's company begins to operate under the name Shell Transport and Trading Company, Limited
1903: Shell and Dutch company N.V. Koninklijke Nederlandsche Maatschappij tot Explotatie van Petroleum-bronnen in Nederlandsch-Indië form the Asiatic Petroleum Company
1903: Royal Dutch and Shell group begins joint marketing campaign under name "British Dutch"
1906-1914: British Dutch Group acquires producing interests in: Romania (1906), Russia (1910), Egypt (1911), Venezuela (1913) and Trinidad (1914)
1907: Royal Dutch/Shell partnership is extended worldwide, with the creation of the Royal Dutch / Shell Group of Companies
1912: Trading in the US starts after the acquisition of the American Gasoline Company, an American marketing company
1912: Turkish Petroleum Company founded with 50% ownership by Turkish National Bank, 25% Deutsche Bank, 25% Royal Dutch/Shell
1915: Formation of the Shell Company in California
1918: Royal Dutch/Shell buys Mexican Eagle
1922: Shell Union Oil Corporation [later Shell Oil Company] formed to consolidate Shell interests in the US with those of the Union Oil Company of Delaware
1937: Shell, Total, and Partex form the consortium Petroleum Development (Oman and Dhofar) later, Petroleum Development Oman
1945-55: Exploratory drilling in Tunisia, Algeria, Nigeria, Trinidad and offshore in British Borneo; Production from the Iraq Petroleum Company increases dramatically
1949: Royal Dutch shortens its corporate title to "Shell"
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1956: Shell discovers oil in the Sahara
1959: Joint Shell/Esso exploration company called N.V. Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij (NAM) discovers gas fields in Groningen in the Netherlands
1974: Omani government claims 25% interest Petroleum Development Oman
1975: Omani government raises its interest in Petroleum Development Oman to 60%
1979: Shell acquires Belridge Oil
1984: Shell buys minority interest (30%) in Shell Oil US
Mid-1980s: Royal Dutch/Shell buys remaining 31% of Shell Oil U.S.A. (the remainder that it did not yet own)
1998: Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. and Saudi Aramco initiate joint venture combining their eastern U.S. refining and marketing assets under the name Motiva Enterprises LLC, paralleling a joint venture launched by Shell and Texaco under the name Equilon Enterprises LLC for their Midwest, Southwest and West Coast downstream assets; Shell to own 35% of Houston-based Motiva, while Texaco and Aramco will each own 32.5%
1998: Occidental and Royal Dutch/Shell, Anglo-Dutch oil group complete a $1bn global asset swap
Corporate Offices:
1897: Joe Cullinan founds Texas Fuel Company
1903: Joe Cullinan and Arnold Schlaet found The Texas Oil Company in Beaumont, Texas
1906: Texas Oil Company registers the trademark name, "Texaco"
1936: Texas Oil Company purchases half interest in Bahrain Petroleum and California-Arabian Standard Oil Company (Calarabian) from Socal
1936: Texas Oil Company joins with Standard Oil of California (later Chevron), to found the Arab-American Oil Company [Aramco]
1936: California-Texas company, Caltex, founded as a joint venture between Socal and Texas Oil Company as outlet for future oil production in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1956: Texas Oil Company acquires Regent Oil, a British company
1959: Texas Oil Company purchases the Paragon group of companies
1959: Texas Oil Company adopts the name Texaco for all of its businesses
1962: Texaco acquires White Fuel Corporation
1964: Purchases Superior Oil Company Venezuela
1984: Texaco acquires Getty Oil Company
1988: Texaco Forms Star Enterprise, a 50/50 joint venture with Saudi Refining Inc., to refine, distribute and market Texaco-branded products in the Eastern U.S.
1995: Texaco and Norsk Hydro formed a joint venture, Hydro Texaco, to market petroleum products throughout Scandinavia
1998: Texaco acquires Monterey Resources, a California based independent oil and gas producer
1998: Texaco and Shell Oil form downstream alliance in the Western U.S.
1998: Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. and Saudi Aramco initiate joint venture combining their eastern U.S. refining and marketing assets under the name Motiva Enterprises LLC, paralleling a joint venture launched by Shell and Texaco under the name Equilon Enterprises LLC for their Midwest, Southwest and West Coast downstream assets; Shell to own 35% of Houston-based Motiva, while Texaco and Aramco will each own 32.5%
Corporate Offices:
(9140 253-4000
Union Oil (Unocal)
1890: Union Oil formed in California by merger of Hardison & Stewart Oil Company, the Sespe Oil Company, and the Torrey Canyon Oil Company
1917: Union purchases Pinal-Dome Oil Company
1922: Shell buys 25% of Union Oil of California
1922: Shell Union Oil Corporation formed to consolidate Shell interests in the US with those of the Union Oil Company of Delaware
1965: Union acquires Pure Oil
1983: Union Oil changes name to Unocal
1992: Ashland Chemical acquires most of Unocal's chemical distribution business, establishing the IC&S Division
Corporate Offices:
2141 Rosecrans Ave., Ste. 4000
El Segundo, CA 90245
1886: Burmah Oil founded in Scotland
1901: Shah of Iran signs concession agreement with William D'arcy
1904: Burmah Oil signs agreement to supply oil to British Admiralty
1905: Burmah Oil and D'arcy oil merged into Concession Syndicate
1908: Oil struck in commercial quantities in Iran
1909: Anglo- Persian Oil formed and Burmah Oil buys majority (97%) of shares in initial public offering
1914: British government becomes majority stockholder in Anglo- Persian Oil
1918: Anglo- Persian Oil purchases British Petroleum from British Government, which in turn had seized the company form Deutsche Bank during W.W.I.
1932: Shah cancels Anglo-Persian concession
1933: Anglo-Persian wins back Iran concession
1934: Anglo-Iranian and Gulf Oil Corporation establish Kuwait Oil Company as a 50-50 joint venture to compete for Kuwait concession (which they obtain); Subsequent agreement establishes British control of KOC
1935: Anglo-Persian renamed Anglo-Iranian Oil Company Ltd.
1947: Anglo-Iranian, Jersey and Socony sign 20-year contract with Iran
1951: Mossadegh nationalizes Anglo-Iranian assets in Iran and founds National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) to administer nationalized assets
1954: Anglo-Iranian re-named British Petroleum, previously the name of one of its subsidiaries
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1962: British Petroleum begins commercial development in Abu Dhabi
1966: British Petroleum begins commercial development in Libya
1969: British Petroleum signs agreement with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio, which became effective in January 1970; According to the agreement Standard takes over BP's leases in Alaska; In return, BP acquires 25% of Standard's equity, a stake that would rise to a majority holding in 1978
1970: BP sells 33% of El Bunduq oilfield to a Japanese consortium in exchange for access to Japanese markets
1972: BP sells 33% of Abu Dhabi Main Areas Ltd. to Japanese oil company
Mid-1980s: BP buys 53% of Sohio, Sohio becomes BP's American arm, eventually buying all of the outstanding stock
1987: British government sells of its stock in BP
1987: British Petroleum acquires remaining stock of Sohio as well as British company Britoil
1987: Sohio merged with other BP interests to form BP America
1988: Kuwait Investment Office holding of BP stock reaches 21.6%
1989: British government forces reduction in KIO holding to 9.9% of BP stock
1998: BP announces merger with Amoco, new company will operate under the name BP Amoco p.l.c.
Corporate Offices:
Britannic House, One Finsbury Circus
London EC2M 7BA, UK
Elf Aquitaine
1941: Societe Nationale des Petroles d'Aquitaine (SNPA) incorporated at the initiative of the French government
1966: French government merges gas and oil interests into Enterprise de Recherches et d'Activities Petrolieres (ERAP), giving ERAP majority ownership of SNPA
1974: ERAP begins onshore and offshore exploration in Iran
1976: ERAP is reorganized and increases share of SNPA ownership to 70%
1976: ERAP changes name to Societe Nationale Elf Aquitaine, known as Elf Aquitaine Group
Corporate Offices:
444 Madison Avenue - 20th floor
New York - NY 10022
Tel: (1) 212 922 30 04
Fax: (1) 212 922 30 74
Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi (ENI)
1953: Enrico Mattei founds Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi [ENI] as a conglomeration of 36 subsidiaries including AGIP, with government sanction
1956: Signs 50-50 oil cooperation deal with National Iranian Oil Company
1970-75: Founds Agip (Qatar) Ltd,
1980s: Libya gains control of 50% of ENI Libya
1981: Enoxy, a joint ENI Occidental petrochemical and mining venture founded
1985: ENI wins contract to construct pipeline in Iraq
1986: ENI wins portion of a pipeline contact for Yemen
1992: ENI transformed into joint stock company traded on Italian and NYSE
Corporate Offices:
Fax: +39-0-6-59-002-141
Iraq Petroleum Company
1912: Turkish Petroleum Company founded with 50% ownership by Turkish National Bank, 25% Deutsche Bank, 25% Royal Dutch/Shell
1914: Turkish Petroleum Company reorganized, with Anglo-Persian holding 50%, Deutsche Bank and Shell each holding 25%
1914: Ottoman Grand Vizier promises Mesopotamian concession to Turkish Petroleum Company, but final concession agreement is not signed
1922: CFP joins Turkish Petroleum Company
1925: Turkish Petroleum Company gains oil concession in Iraq
1928: Gulf joins Turkish Petroleum Company
1928: Royal Dutch/Shell, Anglo-Persian, CFP, Exxon, Mobil, Atlantic Richfield, Gulf Oil Corporation, Standard Oil of Indiana [Amoco], and Participations and Explorations Corp., establish a joint venture called the Near East Development Company; The Near East Development Company signs "Red Lines Agreement" binding participating companies to cooperate with Turkish Petroleum Company in any ventures in Turkey, the Levant, Iraq and Arabian Peninsula (Atlantic, Gulf, and Standard eventually sell their shares to other participants)
1929: Turkish Petroleum changes name to Iraq Petroleum Company
1932: Mosul Petroleum Company formed to hold northern portion of IPC's Iraq concession
1938: Basrah Petroleum Company formed to hold southern portion of IPC's Iraq concession
1939: IPC establishes Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company Ltd. (ADPC) to hold Abu Dhabi concession
1939: British government seizes IPC shares held by CFP
1966: Iraq revokes portions of IPC concession and nationalizes these concessions
1972: Iraq nationalizes remaining IPC concessions
1973: Iraq nationalizes assets of foreign assets in Basrah Petroleum Company
National Iranian Oil Company
1951: Iran nationalizes National Iranian Oil Company
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Jersey, Socony, Texaco and Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Iricon Agency Ltd., Richfield Oil Corp., Signal Oil and Gas, Aminoil, Sohio, Getty, Atlantic Oil, Tidewater Oil, San Jacinto Petroleum Corp., and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP). IOP then negotiates agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1973: Oil Services Company of Iran (Osco) formed by NIOC to take over operations of IOP
1957: National Iranian Oil Company signs deal with ENI for oil production
1971: Mobil enters joint venture with National Iranian Oil Company
1990: National Iranian Oil Company signs agreement to import about 200,000 barrels a day of gas oil and kerosene from Bahrain, Qatar and Abu Dhabi refineries ending embargoes established during the Iran-Iraq war
Kuwait National Petroleum Company
1934: Anglo-Iranian and Gulf Oil Corporation establish Kuwait Oil Company as a 50-50 joint venture to compete for Kuwait concession (which they obtain); Subsequent agreement establishes British control of KOC
1934: Sheikh Ahmed grants 75-year concession to KOC
1951: KOC oil concession extended for additional 17 years
1960: Kuwait National Petroleum Company established as a shareholder company owned by the government and the private sector
1968: KNPC commissions Shuaiba Refinery, the world's first all hydrogen refinery
1974: Kuwaiti government acquires 60 ownership of KOC
1975: KNPC becomes a fully state-owned company
1980: Kuwait Petroleum Corporation created, KNPC becomes fully owned by KPC; KNPC takes charge of the three oil refineries; Mina Al-Ahmadi, Mina Abdulla and Shuaiba, in addition to the LPG plant in Mina Al-Ahmadi
1981: Kuwait Oil Company purchases the Santa Fe International Corp., of California
Corporate Offices:
Buildings 1 & 2: (+965) 2420121/2425553
Emad Center: (+965) 2436333
Fax: (+965) 2433839
Saudi Aramco
1933: King Abdul Aziz Bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud signs agreement authorizing Standard Oil of California (Socal) to explore for oil in what is now the Eastern Province of the Kingdom
1933: Saudi government signed a concession agreement with the Standard Oil Company of California, predecessor of today's Chevron
1938: Commercial oil production begins in Saudi Arabia
1944: Calarabian a joint venture of Socal and Texaco changes name to Arabian �American Oil Company [Aramco]
1948: Jersey and Socony-Vacuum join Socal and Texaco in Aramco venture
1949: Saudi Arabia builds Tapline through northern Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon to the Mediterranean
1973: Saudi Arabian Government begins purchasing Aramco's assets from its shareholders, Socal (later Chevron), Texaco, Exxon and Socony-Vacuum (Mobil)
1975: Aramco initiates work to design, build and operate twin industrial cities at Jubail on the Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea
1980: Saudi Government acquires 100 percent of Aramco's shares, although Aramco partners continue to operate and manage Saudi Arabia's oil fields
1985: Yanbu Petrochemical Company (YANPET), a joint venture petrochemicals complex at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia plant begins operation; Mobil and Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) are 50-50 partners in YANPET
1988: Royal decree establishes the Saudi Arabian Oil Company [Saudi Aramco] to take over the management and operations of Saudi Arabia's oil and gas fields from Aramco
1988: Saudi Aramco forms a joint venture with Texaco called Star Enterprise; Under the agreement, a Saudi Aramco subsidiary acquires a 50 percent share in Star's three refineries in the United States
1991: Saudi Aramco acquires a 35 percent interest in SangYong Oil Refining Company, South Korea's third-largest refiner and leading lubricant manufacturer,
1993: Royal decree merges all of the Kingdom's state-owned refining, product-distribution and marketing operations, as well as the Government's half-interest in three joint-venture refineries into Saudi Aramco
1994: Saudi Aramco enters joint venture with the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) purchasing a 40-percent stake in Petron Corp
1996: Saudi Aramco acquires a 50 percent interest in Motor Oil Hellas and Avin Oil, the refining and distribution affiliates of Greece's Vardinoyannis Group
1998: Shell Oil Co., Texaco Inc. and Saudi Aramco initiate joint venture combining their eastern U.S. refining and marketing assets under the name Motiva Enterprises LLC, paralleling a joint venture launched by Shell and Texaco under the name Equilon Enterprises LLC for their Midwest, Southwest and West Coast downstream assets; Shell to own 35% of Houston-based Motiva, while Texaco and Aramco will each own 32.5%
Corporate Offices:
Fax: +966-3-873-8490
Total Oil (CFP)
1924: Foundation of the French Compagnie Francaise Des Petroles (CFP), which assumes French shares of Turkish Petroleum Company
1927: Discovery of the first oil field near Kirkuk in Iraq
1954/5: Creation and registration of the trademark TOTAL, and foundation of the first companies marketing TOTAL products
1954: Consortium of oil companies, including British Petroleum, Exxon, Socony, Texas Oil, Socal, Gulf, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, and CFP form the Iranian Oil Participants Ltd. (IOP) and negotiate agreement with Iranian government and for oil production in Iran
1956: Discovery of the Hassi-Messaoud oil field and Hassi R'Mel gas field, in the Algerian Sahara
1960: CFP absorbs the OFP (Omnium Francais Des Petroles) group
1970: French Petroleum Company of Canada founded. The company is renamed Total Petroleum (North America) later that year
1973: First listing of CFP shares on the London Stock Exchange
1978: CFP signs an agreement with Abu Dhabi covering development of the Upper Zakum field and production of butane and propane as well as the condensates associated with the oil produced by ADPC (GASCO)
1980: TOTAL acquires Vickers Petroleum Corp., expanding TOTAL's presence in the United States
1985: CFP changes company name from CFP to TOTAL CFP
1985: TOTAL CFP acquires all United States hydrocarbon assets of Lear Petroleum Partners
1987: TOTAL CFP acquires hydrocarbon assets held by TIPCO in the United States as well as those of Francarep Italia, and divests of all refining assets and most of the Group's marketing interests in Italy
1988: TOTAL CFP acquires CSX OIL & GAS in the United States
1991: TOTAL CFP changes company name to TOTAL
1991: Reduction of the French government's direct share holding in TOTAL from 31.7% to 5.4%
1995: TOTAL signs agreements for establishing the Yemen gas liquefaction project and a development contract for the Iranian offshore fields Sirri A and E
1996: Divestment by the French State of a further 4% of TOTAL's capital, reducing the government's stake to 0.97%; TOTAL signs a production-sharing agreement for development of Algeria's Tin Fouyé Tabankort field
1998: TOTAL announces details of its development plans for Iran's giant South Pars gas field in coordination with the National Iranian Oil Co.
Corporate Offices:
92069 Paris La Défense Cedex
France
phone : 33 (0)1 41 35 40 00 (Switchboard)
fax : 33 (0)1 41 35 28 27
American Independent Oil Company (AMINOIL)
1947: Consortium of Phillips, Ashland, Signal Oil and Gas, J.S. Abercrombie, Sunray Mid-Continent Oil Co., Globe Oil and Refining Co., and Pauley Petroleum Inc formed to bid on Neutral Zone concession; Consortium is named American Independent Oil Company [Aminoil]
1948: Aminoil wins Neutral Zone concession from Kuwait
1970: Aminoil acquired by R. J. Reynolds Industries, Inc.
Eastern and General Syndicate
1919: Major Frank Holmes establishes Eastern and General Syndicate
1925: Eastern and General Syndicate wins al-Hasa Concession
1925: Eastern and General Syndicate awarded oil concession in Bahrain
Standard Oil Company
1870: John D. Rockefeller and Henry Flagler found Standard Oil
1882: Rockefeller organizes his various oil holdings into the Standard Oil Trust, with headquarters in New York
1886: Standard Oil founds Natural Gas Trust
1901: Standard establishes regional affiliate, Republic Oil
1907: Standard establishes Standard Oil of California
1911: Standard dissolved under court order, creating Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon), Standard Oil of New York (Mobil), Standard Oil [California] (Chevron), Standard Oil of Ohio (Sohio, arm of BP), Standard Oil of Indiana (Amoco), Continental Oil (Conoco), Atlantic (ARCO)
| i don't know |
Who did actor Jack May play in the BBC radio series ‘The Archers’? | The Times' Obituary for JACK MAY
1922-1997
Jack May, actor, died yesterday aged 75. He was born on April 23, 1922.
With his suave accents and polished come-to-bed manner, the character of Nelson Gabriel, as memorably enacted by Jack May, was something of an enigma in the rustic world of that awesomely long-lived radio soap, The Archers. Latterly, of course, he and his Borchester wine bar had seemed less out of place in a serial which, in past years, had been furiously and trendily updating itself to be more in tune with the mores of the late 20th century. Drugs, abortion, live-in gay relationships, depression, suicide, Jennifer Aldridge trying to learn to fly are now staple fare, at a far remove from the original gentle bucolics of a rural Britain still in a state of innocence in such matters.
Yet, when Nelson Gabriel first joined the cast, not so long after The Archers first went on the air in 1951 as a BBC Light Programme "experiment", he did so as a somewhat mysterious figure. What on earth was an "antiques dealer" (as he then was) doing in a programme which billed itself as "a tale of country folk"? And how had the son of the conspicuously loamy-voiced Walter Gabriel acquired a speaking voice which argued some immersion in a public school, even if only one of a minor and possibly spurious nature? His antecedents were always left deliberately vague. His background was apparently RAF, but whether that had been at wingco or warrant officer level was never precisely established. His father would have liked to see him in jail and nearly did when his son was implicated in the Great Borchester Mail Van Robbery, for which which he was tried and happily acquitted. This was a case of Archers scriptwriters suffering from one of their periodic and rather charming rushes of blood to the head.
Nevertheless, in general, in a programme which, in those far-off days, concerned itself much more with the state of Britain's postwar agricultural economy than it does now, Nelson and his activities never seemed totally out of place. A two-minute visit to the antiques shop once or twice a week, provided a soothing counterpoint to the problems of bringing on the spring wheat; lifting the potatoes; or battling to accomplish the lambing against the hostility of the elements.
By the time Nelson's antiques gave way to the wine bar in the 1970s, life had changed in Ambridge, too. Young (and generally female) sophisticates had abandoned the milkpail and the beer pump for the frenzied life of solicitors' offices and snatched lunchbreaks over a glass of spritzer. Father Gabriel might still be quaffing pints of Shires ale at the Bull in the company of Tom Forrest a vignette of senescent rusticity if there ever was one but the young folk would almost certainly be patronising Nelson's in-town premises with their background muzak, open sandwiches, Cabernet Sauvignon by the bottle and tinkling, kittenish conversation: "Oh, no, not another one Nigel, I'm supposed to be driving".
Being chained, as he was, to a soap of such formidably enduring character tended to obscure the fact that Jack May was a fine actor with a solid repertory experience behind him. Born at Henley-on-Thames and educated at The Forest School, Essex, after war service in the RAF in India he was offered a place at RADA but turned it down in favour of a place at Merton College, Oxford. This did his acting no harm. He was active in OUDS and was determined to be an actor when he came down.
He had always set his sights on Birmingham Rep, then the starting point outside London for any stage career. Eventually, he was invited by its producer Douglas Seal to audition for a small part in that never easy Shakespearean exercise, the three parts of Henry VI. After a read-through it became apparent that the Birmingham Rep had acquired a star, and May soon found himself cast as the eponymous hero. He carried the play, the production of which was so successful that it was given an airing at the Old Vic. By general consent among the critics, May's rendering of Henry's heartbroken lament:
O God! methinks it were a happy life
To be no better than a homely swain....
which was to foreshadow the great outpouring of Shakespeare's Richard II), was the riveting centre of the production.
In 1951, the year of its launch, Tony Shryane, producer of what was then seen as a farming serial, The Archers, approached May and asked him if he would like a part. It was an inspired choice to fit a character of his kidney into a programme which bade fair at its outset to sound like a radio version of Virgil's Georgics. May (in the person of Nelson) added the touch of louche barfly, slightly dodgy, hovering on the brink of criminality, which counterbalanced the earnest accents of rural economics. Eventually the whizzkid aged a trifle but, whether as antiques dealer or wine bar proprietor, he always had a definable niche.
Nelson's love-life was always something of a mystery. He "never married" but was he a homosexual? Certainly the demanding Julia Pargetter, widow and mother of the toffee-nosed and tiresome Nigel, did not think so, since she danced assiduous attendance on him, even somewhat obtrusively, helping him with his interior décor on occasions.
May's Archers career was a classic example of how an individual can become indistinguishable from his soap opera role. Yet, for May, there was life outside The Archers. He acted in a number of films, notably The man Who Would Be King, and was familiar on television in drama productions which ranged from Goodbye Mr Chips to The Age of Kings.
He is survived by his wife, the actress Petra Davies, and by a son and a daughter.
| Nelson Gabriel |
Which Internet search engine was shortened to Ask.com in 2006? | The Archers (Series History)
The Archers (Series History)
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Aug 16 2007, 10:44 AM Post #1
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Favorite Current Daytime Soap Opera
Law & Order (my favorite daytime show)
Favorite Soap Opera of All Time
Another World
Favorite Current Primetime Soap Opera
Nip/Tuck
Favorite Primetime Soap Opera of All Time
Peyton Place
Running Time: 15 minutes, then later reduced to 12 minutes
Country: United Kingdom
Home Station: BBC Light Programme, BBC Home Service, BBC Radio 4
Creator: Godfrey Basely
First Broadcast: 1 January 1951
Last Broadcast: Still running
No. of Episodes: 15,232 (as of August 3, 2007)
Opening Theme: Barwick Green
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2006 Cast
The Archers is a British radio soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It is the world's longest running radio soap with more than 15,000 episodes having been broadcast, and was originally billed as an "everyday story of country folk". Despite its rural flavour, it is in fact recorded in the heart of Birmingham, the UK's second largest city. The Archers is the most listened to Radio 4 programme, and holds the BBC Radio programme record for the number of times listened to over the internet, with over 750,000 listeners .
The Archers is set in the fictional village of Ambridge in the fictional county of Borsetshire, in the real Midlands of England. Ambridge and Borsetshire have both been mapped. Borsetshire is situated between the (in reality, contiguous) real counties of Worcestershire and Warwickshire, south of Birmingham in the West Midlands. Ambridge itself is sometimes said to be based upon the village of Inkberrow in Worcestershire, where the village pub, The Old Bull, was the model for The Bull in Ambridge (and is shown as such on the BBC Archers web site).
Other fictional local villages include Penny Hassett, Loxley Barrett, Darrington, Hollerton, Edgeley, Waterley Cross and Lakey Green. The county town of Borsetshire is Borchester, and the nearest really big city is the cathedral city of Felpersham. Anywhere further away from Ambridge may be referred to humorously with comments such as 'but that's on the other side of Felpersham!', but characters do occasionally venture further: a number attended the Countryside Alliance march in London, there have recently been knowledgeable references to the gay scene in Manchester's Canal Street, and a number of scenes have taken place abroad. Birmingham is a favourite destination for a shopping trip.
Many of the story lines concern the title characters, the middle-class Archer family who own and manage Brookfield Farm. The farm has been passed down the generations from original owner Dan (now deceased) to his son Phil, currently the oldest surviving Archer, and is now co-owned by three of Phil's children: David (who manages it with his wife Ruth), Elizabeth and Kenton. As well as some other farming and retired Archers families and offspring (Pat & Tony, Phil & Jill, Tom), the other main families include (a summary to give the flavour, see below for more detail)
The prosperous Aldridges, portrayed as money-driven practitioners of agribusiness. Brian, the head of the family, is a serial adulterer. The rich and elderly, Woolleys. Jack is now badly affected by Alzheimer's disease. The Grundys, formerly struggling tenant farmer who were previously portrayed comically and disapprovingly, but are now seen as doggedly battling adversity. The urban, nouveau riche "incomers": pretentious and domineering, Lynda Snell is the butt of many jokes, although her sheer energy makes her a stalwart of village life. She is partnered by the long-suffering Robert. The perpetually struggling (and complaining) Carters. The widower milkman and casual farm labourer Mike Tucker who battles, sometimes successfully, with depression.
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Adam
Many plots involve the teen and twenties offspring of these families, so new nuclear families come into existence over time. Other distant relatives also reappear from time to time. Some characters are very well known, but never heard on air. Over the years, some non-speaking characters become "real", or vice-versa (for example, Mrs. Antrobus, "the Dog Woman").
Sometimes mocked as a comfortable middle-class series with stereotypical comic yokels, the programme has nonetheless tackled many serious social issues. There have been, for instance: rural drug addiction; inter-racial relationships; direct action against GM crops; family break-ups; and civil partnerships. Thus, given the (allegedly) middle-class nature of the Archers audience (and the generally unsympathetic treatment of characters such as Sid Perks, the adulterous pub landlord, who nevertheless has forcibly expressed views on the superiority of those aspects of "traditional morality" which suit him), the Archers may be seen as a counterpoise to the uniformly differently inclined lower-middle-class British newspapers. For instance, it seems likely that the intense discussion both in Ambridge and the "real world" about whether the term "wedding" is appropriate for a Civil Partnership will make the use of the term much more frequent, and perhaps even more acceptable, in Middle England.
There are six episodes a week running from Sunday to Friday. All except the Friday evening episode are re-broadcast the following day, and all of the week's episodes are re-run as a Sunday morning omnibus.
Unlike television soaps, Archers actors are not held on retainers, so most do other acting work and can disappear for periods if they are working on long term projects such as films or television series. One example is the actress Tamsin Greig who plays Debbie Aldridge. Greig, who is now arguably, currently, the most famous actor in The Archers, has become well known for her appearances on television comedy shows such as Green Wing and Black Books. As a result, Debbie often looks after a farm in Hungary in which her family has an interest whilst she is filming these shows, and then returns again to Ambridge when her commitments allow. Because of this, and by the nature of the storylines focussing on particular groups of characters, in any given week the series comprises 20�30 speaking characters out of a regular cast of about 60. Greig now has competition from young actress Felicity Jones who plays Emma Carter in the series; Jones, after a period studying at Wadham College Oxford has moved into large TV parts such as the new ITV series Northanger Abbey in which she starred.
Adam & Ian
History
Starting on Whit Monday 1950, and continuing through that week, a pilot series of five episodes was broadcast to the English Midlands, created by Godfrey Baseley, as 'a farming Dick Barton'; it was decided to commission the series for a longer national run. (In the pilot series the Archers' farm was not called Brookfield but 'Wimberton Farm'.)
Since 1 January 1951, a fifteen-minute episode (since 1998, twelve minutes) has been transmitted across the UK each weekday, at first on the BBC Light Programme and subsequently on the BBC Home Service (now Radio 4). The original scriptwriters were Geoffrey Webb and Edward J. Mason who were also working on the series Dick Barton - Special Agent whose popularity partly inspired The Archers and whose slot in the schedules it eventually took over. Originally produced with collaborative input from the Ministry of Agriculture, The Archers was conceived as a means of disseminating information to farmers and smallholders to help increase productivity in the post-war years of rationing and food shortages. The programme was hugely successful; at the height of its popularity it was estimated that 60% of adult Britons were regular listeners. It was used as a propaganda vehicle to reinforce notions of Englishness, and to foster and inculcate notions of rebuilding in post-war Britain. The programme's educational remit, and the involvement of the government, ended in 1972 but some long-term listeners still refer to "the Min. of Ag. bit" and it is true that the dialogue often contains more references to European farming subsidies, the buying habits of large supermarkets and the difficulties of marketing organic meat, than is usual in everyday conversation.
The actor Norman Painting has played the character of Phil Archer continuously ever since the first trial series in 1950. As a script writer, his first episode was the one in which Phil's first wife, Grace, was killed in a fire on the launch day of ITV. Painting was allowed to make a change to the initial script of the episode, and subsequently went on to write around 1,200 complete episodes, credited as "Bruno Milna", culminating in the 10,000th episode.
Killing off Grace Archer was widely seen as a "spoiler" by the BBC; the cast had realised something was going on when the decision was made to record the episodes in London rather than Birmingham, and the episode was broadcast on the night of ITV's debut. The emotional response of listeners to news of Grace's death overshadowed the debut of the new competitive television network, and also inspired an episode of the television comedy programme Hancock (1961) that featured a fictional soap, The Bowmans, parodying the series. On the 50th anniversary of ITV's launch, Ysanne Churchman, the actress who played Grace, sent a congratulatory card to ITV, signed "Grace Archer".
Vanessa Whitburn has been the programme's editor since 1992.
According to Who's Who in The Archers 2007, episode 15,047 was to be broadcast on 1 January 2007. Episode 15,000 was broadcast on 7 November 2006.
Caroline & Oliver
Themes
A recurring theme over the years has been the resentment of the working-class Grundy family towards the middle-class Archers. Labour politician Neil Kinnock in the 1980s jokingly referred to The Archers as "The Grundys and their Oppressors". The series, however, now deals with a wide range of contemporary issues including illicit affairs, drug abuse, rape, and gay marriage - inviting criticism from conservative commentators such as Peter Hitchens that the series has become a vehicle for liberal and left-wing values and agendas, with characters behaving out of character to achieve those goals. However, one of the show's enduring charms is its ability to make absorbing stories out of everyday, small scale concerns, such as the possible closure of the village shop, the loss and subsequent rediscovery of a pair of spectacles, competitive marmalade-making, or utter nonsense such as a 'spiletroshing' competition, rather than the large-scale and rather improbable events that form the plots of many soap operas.
Main characters
A list of all Archers characters, and the actors who played them, can be found here, although the list ends in 1997. The credits which follow are not necessarily complete; actors who played the characters as children have not always been included.
The Archer family: senior citizens
Phil Archer (Norman Painting) is the current patriarch of the Archer family and a leading resident of the village. His first wife Grace died as a result of injuries sustained in a stable fire and, five decades later, he has never entirely recovered from the trauma. His second wife Jill was trapped in a burning house in 2004 and this brought back many feelings. Phil handed responsibility for the family farm to his second son David, but still remains involved in Brookfield. Phil has had a number of health scares in recent years but is still a keen pianist and plays the organ for church services and the music for the village Christmas play. He has a living sister, Christine, widow of former gamekeeper George Barford, and a deceased brother, Jack, an alcoholic who ran one of the two pubs in the Ambridge, The Bull. Phil and Jill have retired to Glebe Cottage, which was previously home to their daughter Shula, and before that to Phil's parents Dan and Doris.
Jill Archer (Patricia Greene) is the second wife of Phil Archer and matriarch of the family. Together they have four children - twins Shula and Kenton, and David and Elizabeth. Some ten years younger than her husband, she is more active in village life and supports her children by taking on child-minding duties. Jill is an active member of the Women's Institute, opened up a holiday cottage business, and is teaching her grand-daughter Pip how to keep bees. Unlike Phil, a former Justice of the Peace, Jill has a less traditional outlook on life, reflected in her opposition to hunting and private education.
Christine Barford (Lesley Seweard), younger sister of Phil. Married a gamekeeper, which was seen as a class transgression.
Cast Rehearsing
The Archer family: middle aged Archers
Shula Hebden Lloyd, n�e Archer, for a while Hebden (Judy Bennett) is the elder daughter of Phil and Jill and twin sister of Kenton. Her first husband, Mark Hebden, a solicitor, was killed in a road accident in 1994 that also involved her best friend Caroline Bone (now Sterling). Shula and Mark's son Daniel was born after the death of his father as a result of IVF treatment after a long struggle with infertility. Some years after Mark's death, Shula had an affair with the village doctor (who was himself living with Shula's good friend Usha Gupta), thus two-timing her boyfriend Alistair (the local vet) whom she subsequently married. This was in the context of Shula's devout Christianity and membership of the local Parish Council. She owns and runs the riding stables which formerly belonged to Christine Barford, her aunt. She used to have great fun with her best friend, Caroline, but recently Caroline has become engrossed in her husband Oliver Sterling and their business activities. Since her marriage to Alistair, Shula has lost her lightheartedness and become rather dour, self-centred and even, at times, sanctimonious. Coping with the childhood arthritis of her son, Daniel, has not helped, and nor has her husband's gambling addiction, which nearly destroyed their marriage before he finally admitted to owing huge sums to Matt Crawford and others. The couple resolved to stay together; they remortgaged the business to pay off the debts and Alistair started attending Gamblers' Anonymous meetings.
Kenton Archer (Richard Attlee, formerly played by Graeme Kirk) is portrayed as the wastrel of the Archer family. Having turned his back on the family farm to join the Merchant Navy, Kenton tried his hand at a number of ventures, including selling antiques and running a wine bar. He disappeared to Australia and New Zealand for several years and was married (originally to gain a visa, though they subsequently fell in love), had a daughter (Meriel), and divorced before returning home. Kenton now manages Jaxx cafe in Borchester, but his staff often cover for him whilst he pursues various other interests. His fianc�e, Kathy Perks, is the ex-wife of Sid Perks, the landlord of The Bull.
David Archer (Timothy Bentinck, formerly played by Nigel Carrivick) is the second son of Phil and Jill and, as the only child of the four to show any interest in, or aptitude for, farming, has assumed responsibility for Brookfield Farm. Over recent years he has become increasingly caring, for example driving up to Northumberland to bring his widowed mother-in-law to stay, and renting a piece of land to Joe Grundy to allow him to keep the barn he had erected without planning permission. Brookfield has suffered in recent years from bovine TB, but David is enthusiastic about his herd of Herefords . His cowman's heavy-handed advice (which he and Ruth reluctantly accepted) that they should dispense with the services of Shula's husband as vet for their dairy herd in favour of a specialist caused a serious family rift, and was followed by his near-affair with Sophie Barlow. Recently, he bought an old tractor, dubbed Rufus, which he has restored.
Ruth Archer, n�e Pritchard (Felicity Finch) is the wife of David Archer. Unusually the character comes from a real rather than fictional place, Prudhoe in Northumberland. She came to Ambridge as a Harper Adams student looking for agricultural work experience and promptly met David, who was keen to settle down: the couple married within two years. They have three children: Philippa (Pip), Josh and Ben. Ruth survived breast cancer which struck in 2000, undergoing a mastectomy operation. Ruth's utterance "Oh noooooo", spoken in her broad Northumberland accent, is frequently parodied on the BBC Radio Four comedy programme Dead Ringers. Ruth teetered on the brink of an affair with their employee Sam in the autumn of 2006, which will no doubt have shock waves for years to come.
Lilian Bellamy, n�e Archer (Sunny Ormonde, formerly played by Elizabeth Marlowe) is the twice-widowed, gin-soaked, chain-smoking second daughter of Jack and Peggy Archer. She spent time as a tax exile in the Channel Islands after the death of second husband Ralph Bellamy. On her return to Ambridge in 2003, she took up with Matt Crawford (then a married man); her exploits cause much gnashing of teeth from her respectable sister Jennifer Aldridge. Lilian was elected to the parish council in January 2006. More recently she has been taking dancing lessons from Mike Tucker after she discovered that Crawford's ex-wife was a much better dancer than herself.
Tony Archer (Colin Skipp) is the youngest child and only son of Jack and Peggy Archer. In his younger days he romanced a string of girlfriends and led a laddish life before settling down to marry Pat, with whom he now runs a fully organic establishment at Bridge Farm. Despite owning an MG sports car, bought with a windfall from his mother, he is generally considered to be a rather dull man. His brother-in-law Brian Aldridge enjoys winding him up over farming matters, and dinner parties involving the two couples usually end in tears. Pat and Tony had three children, John, Helen and Tom. John was tragically killed in a tractor accident, but Helen and Tom are still living in with their parents.
The Archer family: the younger generation
Helen Archer (Louiza Patikas, formerly played by Frances Graham and Bonnie Engstrom), Tony and Pat Archer's daughter, makes a cheese called "Borchester Blue" in the farm dairy and runs the organic farm shop, Ambridge Organics, in Borchester. After the suicide of her gamekeeper partner Greg Turner in 2004, she suffered from anorexia nervosa, but recovered after a time at a specialist clinic. She recently dated a journalist who quickly rejected her; this subsequently threatened a return to her earlier problems. On New Year's Day 2007, she ran over Mike Tucker whilst she was drunk, but Tom took the blame for her. Since then she has developed a new type of cheese with Oliver Sterling.
Tom Archer (Tom Graham) is the younger son of Tony and Pat. He took over his elder brother's pig herd after John was killed in a tractor accident, going on to produce organic sausages. Tom and his then girlfriend Kirsty faced criminal charges in 1999 for the destruction of a field of genetically modified crops on Brian Aldridge's land, but neither was convicted. Tom is highly ambitious for his sausage-making business, but his contract with a supermarket chain nearly bankrupted him, despite his disastrous affair with their buyer, Tamsin. Tom was forced to throw in his lot (and become a junior partner of) his aunt Jennifer's husband Brian Aldridge. In the process, the sausage business lost its organic status, which created further tension between the families. In February 2006 he started dating Brenda Tucker, having provided support to her when her mother died suddenly two months earlier. Later the same year, Tom expanded his business and set up a new independent business, Gourmet Grills, essentially a burger van albeit specialising in high-quality meat products. When Helen ran over Mike Tucker, Tom took the blame and this resulted in Mike turning against him and opposing his relationship with Brenda. Mike has since found out the truth, Helen paid for the driving course that Tom was sentenced to attend, and Tom and Brenda have moved into one of the holiday cottages at Home Farm.
David & Ruth Archer with Sam Batton
The Grundy family
Joe Grundy (Edward Kelsey, formerly played by Reg Johnstone and Haydn Jones) is the oldest of the well-established local family, and often provides comic relief. Joe maintained for many years that the Archer dynasty had robbed them of their estate. After years attempting to keep the family farm afloat, they were made bankrupt in 2000 and were forced to move to a sink estate in Borchester. Joe took this especially hard and in one of the most harrowing episodes ever broadcast, bludgeoned his beloved ferrets to death with a hammer. The family moved back to Ambridge shortly thereafter. Lately he has begun to assist Oliver Sterling in the management of a new dairy herd at Grange Farm.
Eddie Grundy (Trevor Harrison) is Joe's son and Clarrie's husband. During their marriage he was unrequitedly enamoured of Jolene Rogers, now Perks, his partner in a country and western double act. Eddie's hopes of a career in music appear to have been permanently dashed. He has a history of involving himself in numerous dubious money-making schemes and at one point stood trial for unwittingly selling condemned meat. He mainly makes his living by laying patios and selling novelty garden gnomes. Joe has participated in some of Eddie's money-making schemes; at other times he scolds his son: legality never dictates his response.
Clarrie Grundy n�e Larkin (Rosalind Adams, formerly played by Heather Bell and Fiona Mathieson) is Eddie Grundy's long-suffering wife. She became involved with him after her late father Jethro employed him to remove the range in their home. Clarrie spends much of her time sorting out problems created by her husband, sons and father-in-law. She works at the dairy at Bridge Farm, where Pat Archer is a good friend, and behind the bar at the Bull.
William Grundy (Philip Molloy) is the elder son of Eddie and Clarrie. He is gamekeeper for Borchester Land; his bosses are Brian Aldridge and the loathsome Matt. In August 2004, he married Emma Carter and they had a son, George, but she harboured a dark secret. Whilst Will was engaged to Emma, she enjoyed two one-night stands with his brother Ed, including one on her hen night, leading her to believe that Ed was George's father. Eventually she left Will for Ed, taking George with her. Will's existing rivalry with Ed became even more intense: to Clarrie's despair, the brothers engaged in physical tussles and bitter arguments over Emma and George.
Ed Grundy (Barry Farrimond) is the younger son of Eddie and Clarrie. A farm labourer, Ed secured a job in France and planned to move there secretly with Emma and George, but they were thwarted in November 2005 by Will. In May 2006, Ed mysteriously vanished after Emma left the caravan and moved into her parents' home, saying it was for the sake of her baby's health. He remained missing, despite a police investigation into his disappearance, until July 2006 when he was admitted to hospital after being beaten up while sleeping rough in Borchester. Whilst living as a vagrant, he had become addicted to alcohol and crack cocaine. On returning to the village, Ed at first sought refuge with mentor and past employer, Oliver Sterling, who did his best to help Ed face his demons and abandon his vices. With the additional help of family support and counselling Ed has made major steps towards recovery, demonstrated by his increased dedication to Oliver Sterling's dairy farm.
The Woolley family
Jack Woolley (Arnold Peters, formerly played by Philip Garston-Jones) is a self-made man originally from Stirchley in Birmingham who owns the village shop. Until recently he also owned local country-house hotel Grey Gables (now owned by its long-time manager Caroline Sterling and her husband Oliver), the cafe (managed by Kenton Archer) and the Borchester Echo (a local newspaper). Jack has started to suffer from what is probably Alzheimer's disease and is receiving treatment for it, leading Peggy to take more responsibility for the day-to-day operations of his businesses. In 2005 Peggy tried to persuade her husband to agree to his affairs being governed by power of attorney. At the same time, Jack Woolley's adopted daughter Hazel (various actresses, on this occasion Annette Badland) came over from the United States, after some years of absence. Using the cover of an Internet business and an imaginary stepfamily, she failed in an attempt to con Jack and Peggy and gain control of the Grey Gables hotel and leisure complex.
Peggy Woolley, n�e Perkins, formerly Archer (June Spencer, briefly played by Thelma Rogers) is the widow of Jack Archer, Phil's elder brother. They managed (and later owned) the Bull. After many years of close friendship, Peggy married Jack Woolley. Peggy has two daughters, Jennifer and Lillian, and a son, Tony, by her first husband. She is indulgent of her grandchildren and has provided several of them with significant financial support. After Hazel's attempt to take over Grey Gables, she finally persuaded Jack to relinquish many of his business interests. She is a natural conservative and her views about her grandson's gay marriage could not be predicted.
Tamsin Greig as Debbie
The Aldridge family
Brian Aldridge (Charles Collingwood) is considered by some the villain of the serial and by others as one of the most interesting and subtle characters in the programme. Married to Jack and Peggy Archer's daughter Jennifer, he is primarily a farmer, but has interests in a number of businesses, including a partnership in Tom Archer's sausage business. Brian has had several extra-marital affairs during his marriage to Jennifer, including (the then) Caroline Bone in 1985 and more recently with the Irish-born translator Siobhan Hathaway, which produced his only son, Ruair�. He has an uncomfortable relationship with his gay stepson, Adam, which has been the source of some friction with his wife. He is exceptionally close to his stepdaughter, Debbie.
Jennifer Aldridge, n�e Archer (Ysanne Churchman, Angela Piper) is the elder daughter of Peggy Woolley by her first husband, also confusingly named Jack. In early years her character was the hippy of the Archer family, her first child, Adam, being � sensationally at the time � the illegitimate result of a fling with a cowman, Paddy Redmond. She married a travelling businessman, Roger Travers-Macy, in the late 1960s and had a daughter, Debbie. She then divorced and married Brian Aldridge. With Brian she had two daughters, Kate and Alice. Jennifer has endured Brian's series of affairs over the years, partly by having one affair with her ex-husband, though Brian has long suspected John Tregorran as having rivalled him for Jennifer's affections at one time. Jennifer's current main source of worry is the behaviour of her gin-soaked, chain-smoking sister Lillian, who has moved back into the village. This concern has been shared with her brother Tony, whom Jennifer is usually keen to put down.
Adam Macy (Andrew Wincott) is the first child of Jennifer Aldridge, his presumed father being former Brookfield farmhand Paddy Redmond. Adam was adopted by Roger Travers-Macy, Jennifer's first husband. Adam lived abroad for many years, mainly in Kenya, helping breed goats, but came back to the family farm when a major relationship broke up. After a year or so, he fell in love with Ian Craig, the chef at Grey Gables. Ian and Adam's liaison has elicited little moral outrage or criticism in the village, with the exception of Sid Perks, who briefly barred Adam from the Bull, the village's only pub, and Adam's grandmother Peggy Woolley, who was distinctly uncomfortable with the relationship. Adam and Ian considered embarking on parenthood; Ian had plans to artificially inseminate his old friend, Madds, and share responsibility for the child they hoped to produce, but Madds then fell in love with another man and changed her mind. The producers of The Archers maintain this was a very popular plot nationwide, although posts on the BBC's Archers message boards were mainly negative. Ian has proposed to Adam, who has accepted. The pair entered a civil partnership on 14 December 2006.
Debbie Aldridge, formerly Gerrard, n�e Travers-Macy (Tamsin Greig) is the daughter of Jennifer and Roger Travers-Macy, but chooses to use the surname of her stepfather Brian. After a spell at the University of Exeter she returned home to get away from a relationship with Canadian lecturer Simon Gerrard (Garrick Hagon). Simon followed her to Ambridge and was turned away by Brian. Many years later, after a series of failed relationships, Debbie got involved with Simon again and in spite of Brian's forebodings they were married. However, Debbie subsequently discovered that Simon was being unfaithful, and they divorced. Debbie was devastated when, shortly after her split from Simon, she learned of Brian's affair with Siobhan and the birth of Ruair�. She left the village to work for a firm in France, but eventually returned. Over the last few years, Brian has come to rely on Debbie to help run Home Farm. When Adam returned from Africa, a bout of sibling rivalry erupted which is still ongoing. Debbie is currently based in Hungary, where she runs the estate owned by a consortium to which Brian belongs. She often visits home; however Brian often secretly visits Siobhan and their son Ruair� (who live in Germany), using a visit to Debbie as cover. The installation of a new webcam has now allowed Debbie to talk and appear to everyone via computer.
Kate Madikane, n�e Aldridge (Kellie Bright), is the eldest daughter of Brian and Jennifer. Kate inherited her mother's hippy tendency, giving birth to a daughter, Phoebe, at the Glastonbury Festival, by Roy Tucker, (with whom Phoebe lives in Ambridge), before disappearing to Johannesburg, South Africa where she has married Lucas Madikane (Connie M'Gadzah) and has another daughter, Noluthando ("Nolly") and, born July 2007, a son, Sipho (Xhosa for 'gift'[4] ).
Alice Aldridge (Hollie Chapman), the youngest daughter of Brian and Jennifer, was studying at an exclusive private school, but left it to study A-Levels in psychology, maths, design technology and physics at Borchester College after getting excellent GCSEs. Her best friend is the vicar's daughter, Amy Franks. She likes horses, having progressed from a pony called Chandler (who had to be put down) to a horse, Spearmint. She is friends with both Adam and Debbie. After discovering her father's infidelity, she sought and gained sanctuary at the vicarage, but in considering joining the RAF, she came into conflict with Amy.
The Pargetter family
Nigel Pargetter (played by Graham Seed, formerly by Nigel Caliburn, now Carrington) is the eccentric aristocratic owner of Lower Loxley Hall, a mansion on the outskirts of Ambridge. He used to be considered to be something of the "idiot son" of the family, once going to a hunt ball dressed in a gorilla suit, but his success in saving the hall has somewhat stopped this view. Married to Elizabeth and father of twins Lily and Freddie, he was convicted of drink-driving in 2003. His beloved mother Julia died suddenly in December 2005. Recently, Nigel has been concerned about the environment, and is trying to become "green". He has also taken an interest in his family history, particularly in his late Uncle Rupert.
Elizabeth Pargetter, n�e Archer (Alison Dowling) is Phil and Jill's youngest daughter and, along with Kenton, at first rejected village life, attempting a career in publicity in London. She returned to Ambridge but endured a disastrous relationship with local businessman Cameron Fraser (which resulted in Elizabeth undergoing a secret abortion) before snaring Nigel Pargetter, the owner of a local manor house, Lower Loxley. Elizabeth and Nigel have developed the stately home as a conference venue. Elizabeth was born with a heart defect. She became pregnant and had twins, Lily and Freddie, but the strain of the pregnancy on her heart meant that she soon afterwards had to undergo a heart valve replacement operation. Elizabeth is highly critical of the way David manages the Brookfield estate, and Elizabeth's mother-in-law Julia, who lived in the family pile until her recent demise, was highly critical of Elizabeth.
Felicity Jones as Emma Grundy
The Tucker family
Mike Tucker (Terry Molloy) lost an eye in a farming accident, for which Brian Aldridge was found responsible. He was regarded as one of the most humourless characters in the village, even before the death of his beloved wife Betty in December 2005. Mike was unsuccessful as a farmer, having gone bankrupt in the 1980s, and now runs a milk round in Ambridge. He also undertakes occasional forestry work. On New Year's Day 2007, he was run over by Helen Archer, but rescued by Robert Snell. When Tom took the blame, Tucker forbade him from continuing a relationship with Brenda, his daughter. However, after finding out that Helen was driving he became more sympathetic and apologised to Tom.
Roy Tucker (Ian Pepperell) was formerly part of a teenage gang which perpetrated a series of racist attacks on Usha Gupta. Realising the error of his ways, he went on to gain a degree in business studies at Felpersham University and now works at Grey Gables, recently being promoted to deputy manager. He had an on/off relationship with Kate Aldridge, which resulted in their daughter Phoebe, born in 1998, but is now married to Hayley. He, Hayley and Phoebe live with Mike Tucker in Willow Farm.
Hayley Tucker, n�e Jordan (Lorraine Coady, formerly played by Lucy Davis) comes from Birmingham and first appeared as John Archer's girlfriend. Initially her urban background led to her being unprepared for rural life. Hayley and John split up shortly before his death in a tractor accident in 1998. In 2001 she married Roy Tucker and became stepmother to Phoebe; she continues to find Kate Aldridge's visits from South Africa to Ambridge uncomfortable. Hayley works at Lower Loxley as nanny to Freddie and Lily Pargetter. Despite Betty's sudden death, Hayley remains unhappy at living with her father-in-law and wishes that she and Roy had a home of their own.
Brenda Tucker (Amy Shindler) has had some controversial short-term relationships, with Debbie's husband, with Lilian's then (much younger) lover and with Lilian's son. For several years she worked at Radio Borsetshire, until leaving home in 2005 to pursue a media studies degree. She returned home when her mother died suddenly in December 2005. Feeling unable to return to university, leaving her father so soon after Betty's death, she decided to transfer to Felpersham University, planning to return to her studies in September 2006. She started dating Tom Archer following a Valentine kiss after they grew closer in the weeks after her mother's death. Despite her often-quoted intelligence and ambition, Brenda appears content to continue working for Tom's burger venture. She has now moved in with Tom.
The Carter family
Neil Carter (Brian Hewlett), is another business failure. Susan wanted him to be a white collar worker but he decided that he was a pigman at heart. He used to be Tom's partner in a piggery. The family lived in a caravan, after selling their house, until he finished a self-build house on his own land. He dislikes all Grundys but especially Ed, who, until his disappearance, lived in the caravan with Emma and George.
Susan Carter, n�e Horrobin (Charlotte Martin) briefly became the most notorious Archers character ever when her imprisonment at Christmas 1993 for assisting her armed-robber brother Clive Horrobin led to the launch of the "Free the Ambridge One" campaign. Questions were asked in the House of Commons of then Home Secretary Michael Howard. Her aspirational tendencies took a hammering when daughter Emma married into the Grundy family in 2004, but in 2006 she was approved by the Royal Mail for the position of sub-postmistress despite her criminal record. She had previously worked for several years at the village shop and post office, and as Tom Archer's assistant in his sausage-making business.
Emma Grundy, n�e Carter (Felicity Jones) is the daughter of Susan and Neil Carter, who were horrified when their daughter announced she was marrying into the Grundy family. When Will discovered her infidelity with his brother, she moved with Ed and baby George to a caravan outside her parents' home. A DNA test showed that despite Emma's certainty to the contrary, George was Will's son. She returned to living with her parents.
Christopher Carter (Will Sanderson-Thwaite) is the younger offspring of the Carter family. His mother had some difficulty bonding with him when he was born with a hare lip. Now a blacksmith by occupation, he recently had a brief relationship with Venetia, the daughter of a prominent Borsetshire family. His mother rather desperately encouraged this, to Neil's disapproval, but the couple soon found themselves incompatible, and Chris finished the liasion.
Other Ambridge residents
Matt Crawford (Kim Durham) of Nightingale Farm is the chairman of Borchester Land, a property development company, one of whose directors is Brian Aldridge. An outsider by birth, Matt often appears to work himself into positions of power, such as the parish council, and many of the villagers are often suspicious of his motives. For example, when local vet Alistair owed him a gambling debt, Matt said that he would reduce the amount he owed in exchange for the administration of performance enhancing drugs to one of his racehorses. Alistair refused, and Crawford increased the pressure, forcing Alistair and Shula to take out a mortgage on the stables, which they already owned. Matt's estate manager Graham Ryder (Malcolm McKee) is often seen as his puppet and many suspected that Matt directed his unsuccessful parish council election campaign in 2003. In 2005, Matt divorced his wife Yvette and has since moved in with his new partner Lilian Bellamy.
Rev Alan Franks (John Telfer) was appointed vicar of Ambridge and neighbouring parishes in 2003, moving from Nottingham where he had previously worked as an accountant and a non-stipendiary minister. He was widowed before moving to Ambridge and is father to Amy, currently studying at the local college. In late 2005, his blossoming relationship with Usha Gupta, a Hindu, caused some unease to some of his parishioners, including Shula Hebden Lloyd.
Amy Franks (Vinette Robinson formerly played by Natalia Cappuccini) is the vicar's spirited daughter who is a friend to Alice Aldridge.
Bert Fry, (Eric Allan) husband of Freda Fry, was employed for many years as a farmhand by David and Ruth until his recent retirement although he still does some casual work. The couple continue to live in a farm cottage. He is portrayal is close to a stereotypical "yokel", like Jethro Larkin before him. He composes poetry and has won several ploughing contests.
Usha Gupta (Souad Faress, formerly played by Sudha Bhuchar) works as a solicitor in Felpersham and is one of very few ethnic minority characters in the series. On moving into the village, Usha was the subject of a harassment campaign by a racist gang which included Roy Tucker. To offer support and protection the local GP, Richard Locke (William Gaminara), then her lover, moved into her house, Blossom Hill Cottage, shortly afterwards. When she discovered that he had had an affair with Shula Hebden she ended the relationship and threw him out. More recently, some local parishioners made complaints to the bishop when Alan, the vicar, began a relationship with Usha (who is Hindu). Usha is also regularly on the receiving end of helpful advice about her unmarried status by her Aunty Satya (Jamila Massey), an occasional visitor to Ambridge from Usha's home town of Wolverhampton who has attempted to match-make for her on numerous occasions.
Sid Perks (Alan Devereux) is landlord of the village pub, The Bull, although he first came to Ambridge from Birmingham where he had been sent to borstal for breaking and entering. He has previously been widowed and divorced but his third marriage to country singer Jolene is happier. He displayed vitriolic homophobia towards Sean Myerson when the latter captained the village cricket team, and again when Adam Macy began a relationship with Ian, the Grey Gables chef. In early 2006, Sid and Jolene worried that Caroline Pemberton's decision to sell her controlling interest in The Bull would threaten the pub's future, but were relieved when Lilian bought her share.
Kathy Perks (Hedli Niklaus), formerly married to Sid, now lives at April Cottage with her son Jamie. She manages the caf� and shop at Lower Loxley and organises occasional film nights at the village hall. Kenton Archer started going out with her but they quarrelled when he brought back his three year old daughter, Meriel, to Ambridge and expected Kathy to look after her. Miserable and alone, Kathy befriended Lower Loxley chef, Owen King, but he raped her just before Christmas 2004. It has taken Kathy a long time to trust a man again and Kenton has shown uncharacteristic patience in helping her to rebuild her confidence.
Lynda Snell (Carole Boyd) lives at Ambridge Hall with her husband Robert Snell. They moved to Ambridge from Sunningdale in 1986 and is resented as an outsider. She is a keen gardener, and is often involved in disputes with her neighbour Joe Grundy. In 2003 she acquired two llamas, Wolfgang and Constanza (named after Mozart and his wife) who have been known to roam around the village. In May 2007 Constanza gave birth to a cria which Lynda named Salieri, reassuring one acquaintance that the legend of Salieri murdering Mozart is a myth. She attempts to produce a play every Christmas, and often drives villagers to distraction in her attempts to fill parts. In 2004-05 Lynda ran a campaign to renovate the former Cat & Fiddle pub. Despite recruiting the help of Griff Rhys Jones, the scheme failed and the building will instead become flats. January 2006 saw Lynda elected to the parish council alongside Lilian Bellamy. According to a BBC survey she is the most annoying character on the show.
Robert Snell (Graham Blockey) was employed as a computer expert. He has found work in this area hard to obtain recently and has capitalised on his DIY skills to set up a small business doing general building work.
Caroline Sterling, n�e Bone, formerly Pemberton (Sara Coward) moved to the village in the 1977, aged 22, when she was hired by Sid as barmaid in the Bull. Her career took off when in 1979 Jack Woolley offered her a job at Grey Gables and she progressed up to become manager. Upon Jack's retirement, she and partner Oliver Sterling managed to raise funds to buy the hotel and she is now proprietor. On her arrival she soon attracted the attention of many of the male villagers - she once had an affair with Brian Aldridge, and was romantically linked with former village Doctor Matthew Thorogood, and businessman and one-time estate owner Cameron Fraser (who disappeared with �60,000 of her savings), and she was engaged to non-stipendiary minister and vet Robin Stokes. In 1995 she married the new owner of the estate, Guy Pemberton, but after only seven months of marriage he suffered a heart attack and died leaving her the Dower House and a majority share in the Bull (which she sold to Lilian Bellamy, in order to raise funds to buy Grey Gables). When Oliver Sterling moved to the village she began an affair with him and they eventually moved into Grange Farm together. They were married in June 2006.
Jigsaw Puzzle
Visitors and visitations
Heather Pritchard (Joyce Gibbs) Ruth Archer's widowed mother who lives in Prudhoe, Northumberland. She is now a rare guest in Ambridge.
Satya Khanna (Auntie Satya; Jamila Massey) An occasional visitation upon long-suffering niece Usha Gupta. Forever trying to give Usha unwanted relationship advice or a welcome shoulder to cry on, and architect of numerous failed matchmaking ruses. Thanks to Usha's parents' disapproval toward their daughter's lifestyle, Satya provides the main link with her family. No mean cook, Sayta often arrives bearing food parcels for her culinarily inept niece.
Former principal characters
Dan Archer (Harry Oakes, Monte Crick, Edgar Harrison and Frank Middlemass) was the first owner of Brookfield and the patriarch of the Archer family. The character survived the deaths of the first three actors before finally being killed off in 1986. Elizabeth witnessed his fatal attempt to rescue a sheep in difficulty, despite her pleading with him not to.
Doris Archer (Gwen Berryman), Dan's wife and mother of Phil Archer and his siblings. Her death was discovered by Shula in 1980.
Grace Archer (Monica Gray and Ysanne Churchman) was Phil Archer's first wife and the first major character to be killed off. The episode featuring her death was first broadcast on 22 September 1955. The previous night, which happened to be the night that ITV (now ITV1), the UK's first commercial television channel was launched, she received fatal injuries, trying to rescue her horse, Midnight, from a fire. This was seen as a ploy to keep loyal viewers and listeners away from the new station.
Aunt Laura (Gwenda Wilson and Betty McDowall), New Zealander in-law of the Archer clan who fulfilled a similar dramatic role to Lynda Snell who now lives in Aunt Laura's former home, Ambridge Hall. In 1985, Aunt Laura fell in a ditch and listeners were treated to her forlorn cries while owls hooted overhead. She was found alive and spent a week in hospital being treated for pneumonia, but died of heart failure soon after being discharged on St Valentine's Day, while her friend Freddy Danby read to her from Moby-Dick.
Tom Forrest (George Hart and Bob Arnold) was Doris Archer's brother and a gamekeeper. He was a major character for many years and used to introduce the omnibus edition on Sunday mornings. In 1957, he was charged with manslaughter after shooting poacher Bob Larkin. He was cleared after being on trial.
Marjorie Antrobus (Margot Boyd), breeder of Afghan hounds. Used to fulfil a similar role to Linda Snell, as a bossy but well-meaning do-gooder. Now resident in The Laurels retirement home and a silent character.
Sophie Barlow (Moir Leslie) a fashion designer who was once engaged to David and once involved much of Ambridge in her fashion shows. She reappeared in the serial in August 2006. She flirted with David and made a play to have an affair with him. When the reality of her flirting dawned on the na�ve David he backed away and she returned to London. David's wife Ruth had meanwhile in exasperation at David's seeming affair fallen in love with the farm's contractor Sam.
Tim Beecham (Tim Brierley and David Parfitt), an old friend of Nigel Pargetter. Once well known for persistently failing his law exams. Nigel and Shula found themselves in court in 1984 for taking a car they erroneously believed to be Beecham's. Now a silent character.
Colonel Freddy Danby (Norman Shelley and Ballard Berkeley) lodged with Laura Archer at Ambridge Hall.A widower he always wanted to marry her, but it was not to be. Affairs became difficult as when she died, her property was left to a New Zeland relative and the colonel was cut out.
Siobhan Donovan (formerly Hathaway, Caroline Lennon) moved in to Honeysuckle Cottage in 1999 with her husband, new local doctor Tim Hathaway. Their marriage came under strain when Siobhan miscarried a much-wanted baby and Tim became close to Ambridge's vicar Janet Fisher. It collapsed completely after Tim discovered Siobhan's affair with Brian Aldridge. In November 2003, Siobhan gave birth to Brian's child Ruairi, but she moved to Germany after Brian refused to leave Jennifer. Siobhan has made occasional appearances in The Archers when Brian made clandestine visits to Germany to see his son, while supposedly on business trips to Hungary. Siobhan's revelation in 2007 that she had terminal cancer, and her request to Brian to care for Ruairi after her death, brought another crisis to the relationship of Brian and Jennifer, who eventually agreed to Brian's request for them to raise Ruairi together. The village is in the process of being engulfed by gossip and, for some, by scandal. Died from cancer on 1 June 2007. Ruari has now come to Ambridge to live with his father.
Janet Fisher (Moir Leslie), the former vicar of Ambridge and surrounding villages, was a close friend of Shula's. Ambridge was one of the first parishes to have a female incumbent.
Cameron Fraser (Delaval Astley) came to Ambridge in the late 1980s when he bought the Berrow Estate from Lilian Bellamy. Became quite the local villain during his relatively brief tenure which saw Mike Tucker lose an eye in an accident, Marjorie Antrobus swindled out of a sizeable portion of her savings, and a pregnant Elizabeth Archer abandoned at a motor service station as he fled overseas to escape arrest. He had also attempted to rape Shula Archer.
Walter Gabriel (Robert Mawdesley and Chriss Gittins), originally a smallholder, was a friend of the Archers' and provided comic relief in the years before the Grundy family were introduced. Walter continually tried to romance Mrs. Perkins, Peggy's mother, who he referred to as "Mrs. P". Walter Gabriel's phrase "My old pal, my old beauty" remains one of the most enduringly-remembered phrases associated with The Archers, even among non-listeners.
Nelson Gabriel (Jack May), Walter's son, was for many years the most disreputable character in the village. He had a shady history. He was charged with the Borchester mail-van robbery in 1967, but was eventually acquitted. After spells in London and Spain, he ran a wine bar and later an antque shop (with Kenton Archer). Finally he suddenly disappeared to South America, where he died in strange circumstances.
Jethro Larkin (George Hart), Stereotypical yokel. His tenure came to end in 1987 when helping David fell a tree using a chainsaw. So two Larkin family members, Jethro and Bob, have met their end at the hands of members of the Archer family. Father of Clarrie.
Julia Pargetter-Carmichael, mother of Nigel Pargetter and sometime entertainer, died from a stroke in 2005, shortly after the actress who played her, Mary Wimbush, died, also from a stroke, aged 81.
Simon Pemberton (Peter Wingfield), Guy Pemberton's caddish son, inherited the estate after his father's death. Pemberton unsuccessfully attempted to end the Grundy's tenancy of Grange Farm following their farm fire in 1996. He had a brief relationship with Shula after Mark's death, but hit her after she confronted him with evidence that he was involved with another woman. Subsequently, he came close to having a relationship with Debbie Aldridge, but Pemberton grievously assaulted her after she confessed that she could not love him. Pemberton then quickly left Ambridge after denying responsibility for his actions to Brian.
John Tregorran (Roger Hume, Basil Jones, Simon Lack, Philip Morant and Basil Jones) originally arrived in Ambridge in a gypsy caravan. Thoughtful and provocative, Tregorran was such a popular and charismatic character that listeners at Archers public events still ask about him - and about Carol Grey, whom he eventually married.
Betty Tucker (Pamela Craig) wife of Mike, mother of Roy and Brenda. Betty was a popular villager who supported the family even when Mike was violent and depressed. Betty managed the village shop and kept hens and gossiped. She died suddenly before Christmas 2005. She was written out of the series when the actress who played her retired and emigrated to New Zealand.
Silent characters
The Archers is famous for its silent characters, who often play important roles in the narrative despite not being played by actors. They are numerous, and most only "appear" once or twice. Some of the better known are:
Baggy, and Fat Paul - disreputable friends of Eddie Grundy. Snatch Foster was formerly also a friend of Eddie Grundy, but ended up in prison for selling condemned meat to him.
Mandy Beesborough - Brian missed his daughter Alice's birth because he was at the races with her. She has daughters including India, whom Oliver and Caroline's foster child Carly described as having "an arse the size of a continent".
Neville Booth (bellringer) and his nephew Nathan (clear skies enthusiast and parish council candidate).
Derek Fletcher - "incomer" (only been in Ambridge since 1979) who lives on the Glebelands housing development. He is currently chair of the parish council. Known for his 'NIMBY' views and collection of garden gnomes. In a standing joke, he is often described as excessively talkative.
Pru Forrest - Tom Forrest's wife. Famously spoke once to Terry Wogan and was revealed to be Judi Dench
Freda Fry - wife of Bert Fry. Her cooking at The Bull is widely admired. Until she gave her notice in January 2007, she worked as cleaner at Brookfield.
(John) Higgs - Jack Woolley's chauffeur and handyman at Grey Gables. Often thought by Grey Gables staff to be rather sinister.
Jessica - buxom falconer at Lower Loxley. Has been known to attract Nigel's eye.
Trudy Porter - silent for 34 years, until 4 April 2006, when listener Christine Hunt played her in a charity special, after her husband paid �17,000 to Children in Need.
Mrs. (Eileen) Titcombe (n�e Pugsley) - housekeeper at Lower Loxley.
(Edgar) Titcombe - head gardener at Lower Loxley, who is married to the widowed Mrs. Pugsley. Noted for always wearing a battered hat.
Bob Pullen - nonagenarian resident of Manorfield Close. His weak bladder is a regular source of amusement to speaking characters.
Theme tune
The Archers' widely recognised theme tune is called Barwick Green. It is a "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath, written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood.
The Archers: Looking For Love
Books and audiobooks
There are several books about The Archers. The most recent are Who's Who in The Archers by Keri Davies, published by the BBC and annually updated for the Christmas gift-giving season since 2003. Davies has been a producer and scriptwriter for The Archers since 1992. His youngest son, Dominic Davies plays Daniel Hebden Lloyd.
There are also several books written by Joanna Toye, including The Archers Encyclopaedia (co-written with Adrian Flynn) which was published to coincide with The Archers' 50th anniversary, and several novelisations. Three of these are 1951-1967 Family Ties, 1968-86 Looking for Love and 1987-2000 Back to the Land. These were all abridged for BBC audiobooks.
There are also audiobooks of actual episodes, titled Vintage Archers. The third volume contained several "Lost episodes" which were digitally restored.
A new audiobook, Ambridge Affairs: Love Triangles is to be released on 3 September 2007.
Cameo appearances
Many famous people have made cameo appearances on the programme.
In 1984 Princess Margaret and the Duke of Westminster, in connection with a fashion show to commemorate the centenary of the NSPCC.
In 1989, for the 10,000th episode, Dame Judi Dench made an appearance as Pru Forrest. Terry Wogan was also featured and Esther Rantzen was responsible for the spot effects.
In 1991 DJ John Peel appeared as himself
In June 2004 DJ Chris Moyles appeared as a random customer - and suspected Pub of the Year judge - in The Bull
On 22 September 2006 Zandra Rhodes played herself in an episode, also connected to a fashion show.
Others who have made appearances include Britt Ekland, Humphrey Lyttelton (1956), Griff Rhys Jones, Anneka Rice, Dame Edna Everage, Stephen Fry, and Alan Titchmarsh.
Robert Winston appeared as a fertility specialist consulted by Hayley and Roy Tucker on January 2, 2007 and February 7, 2007.
Trivia
Current stock holdings of the main farms are available at the following links: Brookfield, Home Farm, and Bridge Farm
Inspector Morse, Colin Dexter's famous fictional detective, was a fan of The Archers.
In 1961, Galton and Simpson parodied The Archers in an episode of Hancock's Half Hour entitled "The Bowmans".
A sketch from A Bit of Fry and Laurie entitled, Hard Man's Record which saw the first appearance of the character Alan, mentions that Alan had "a short spell as Nigel Pargetter in The Archers", claiming that, "Someone had to do it."
In the radio panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, Barry Cryer once sang Love Me Tender" to the theme tune from The Archers, during the One Song To The Tune Of Another round.
Jeremy Clarkson in his anthology of articles, Clarkson on Cars, lambasts The Archers by describing them as "...living in a farm-subsidised world and thinking postage stamps are amazing...."
A special episode of Arena broadcast on BBC Four, on 1 January 2007 focused on The Archers and included interviews with current actors and scriptwriters.
The Archers, whilst being the longest running soap opera on radio, is not the longest in the world. The American soap opera Guiding Light has had 10 more episodes, and started on radio in January 25, 1937, before moving to television in June 30, 1952.
Researched by Steve Frame, 13 Aug 2007
Sources: Wikipedia
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Which British athlete won a Gold Medal in the heptathlon at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin? | After baby, Ennis-Hill now aims to bounce back in Beijing| News | iaaf.org
Home of World Athletics
Jessica Ennis of Great Britain crosses the line during the Women's Heptathlon 800m to win overall gold on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games on 4 August 2012 (Getty Images) © Copyright
08 NOV 2014 Feature Sheffield, Great Britain
After baby, Ennis-Hill now aims to bounce back in Beijing
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Jessica Ennis-Hill has confirmed that next summer's IAAF World Championships in Beijing figure highly in her plans on the road to defending her Olympic heptathlon title in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
The 28-year-old British combined-events exponent will be looking to regain the heptathlon world title she won in 2009 before finishing with the silver medal two years later in the Korean city of Daegu.
Ennis-Hill also won gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games but was forced to miss last year’s World Championships in Moscow due to injury and sat out the entire 2014 season because of pregnancy, with her son Reggie arriving in July.
However, she has now been back in almost full training for a month.
“At the moment it's just about taking small steps but I'm hoping to compete again next summer. The World Championships in Beijing is a realistic aim and would be great,” she told British media this week.
“But the main aim is the Rio Olympics, that's where I want to be back at the top of my game.
“I'm hoping to get a really good qualifying score for the Rio Games and take it from there, but I'm not pushing things too soon,'' she added.
“There are lots of things to be careful about. My body has been through so much so it's all about taking small steps and listening to my physio Alison Rose.
“Even though I was training during my pregnancy it was nowhere near the level I'm training at now. It's about doing the rehab stuff and building back up as strong as I can. It's a bit like getting back on a bike again.
“But it would be incredible to be able to step away from my sport, have a baby, and then come back to win another Olympic gold medal. It would be a fairytale.
"The focus has shifted but I am still very determined and focused on my athletics. It's about training, putting the work in and seeing if I can get to Rio."
Same person, same determination
"I am still the same person. I am still very driven and focused and determined, and I want to come back and see if I can do both.
"I know it will be an incredibly hard challenge and I am going to have to put a lot of time and work into it.
"But I believe with the people around me and a fantastic coach in Toni (Minichiello) we can definitely get there," commented Ennis-Hill.
Potentially, Ennis-Hill could face another recent mother in a battle for medals in Beijing: her long-time rival Tatyana Chernova.
The Russian beat Ennis-Hill to the 2011 heptathlon world title and also gave birth to her first child, a daughter Anna, barely a week before Ennis-Hill in early July.
However, during their absence from the track this summer, both women will certainly have noted the progress of Ennis-Hill’s 21-year-old compatriot Katarina Johnson-Thompson, who topped the 2014 world lists with the personal best of 6682 points at the famous meeting in the Austrian town of Gotzis, part of the IAAF Combined Events Challenge.
Even though the IAAF World Championships, Beijing 2015, is more than nine months away, the heptathlon could be one of the most enthralling events on the programme in the Chinese capital with Canada’s Brianne Theisen-Eaton, the Netherland’s Dafne Schippers and France’s 2014 European champion Antoinette Nana Djimou all surely also wanting to have a say in the destination of the medals.
Phil Minshull for the IAAF
07 NOV 2014 General News Rudisha gets ANOC Award for Best Male Athlete of London 2012
Jessica Ennis of Great Britain crosses the line during the Women's Heptathlon 800m to win overall gold on Day 8 of the London 2012 Olympic Games on 4 August 2012 (Getty Images) © Copyright
Jessica Ennis of Great Britain & Northern Ireland celebrates winning the gold medal in the women's Heptathlon (Getty Images) © Copyright
Jessica Ennis crosses the line to win the heptathlon at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin (Getty Images) © Copyright
Jessica Ennis on her way to winning the heptathlon at the London 2012 Olympic Games (Getty Images) © Copyright
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What was British Prime Minister Harold Wilson’s first name? | London 2012: Jessica Ennis – Team GB's poster girl | Sport | The Guardian
The Observer
London 2012: Jessica Ennis – Team GB's poster girl
Sheffield's Jessica Ennis, 26, is the archetypal girl next door despite being spoken of by her coach as one of most talented youngsters he's ever seen
Jessica Ennis holds her MBE alongside her parents Alison and Vinny after it was presented to her last November. Photograph: Wpa Pool/Getty Images
Saturday 4 August 2012 19.06 EDT
First published on Saturday 4 August 2012 19.06 EDT
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The 40ft banner draped across the front of John Lewis in her home city of Sheffield is the local confirmation of Jessica Ennis's national and international status – a status cemented last week when she appeared, eyes fixed on the camera and in mid-javelin throw, on the cover of Time magazine's Olympics special .
Though she may be an athlete first and foremost, as she consumately demonstrated yesterday competing in the heptathlon, there is no denying the fact that the 26 year old is also the photogenic poster girl for London 2012.
The image of Ennis that adorns the South Yorkshire department store reflects both her huge media profile and the weight of public expectation she bears: the 5ft 5in athlete transformed into a giant in the eyes of her native city and the wider world.
Yet off the track, Ennis, who studied psychology at Sheffield university, leads as normal a life as a top-flight athlete can, spending her free time making lasagne, shopping and listening to Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z on her iPod. The small Sheffield house she shares with her fiance, Andy Hill, is a modest affair that serves only to enhance her reputation as the archetypal girl next door.
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about Ennis is her sheer, overwhelming normality. She has none of the odd intensity or psychological hang-ups that afflict so many of the people in her field. Nor is she one to pontificate on matters social and political: a conversation with Ennis – the daughter of a Jamaican father and a Derbyshire mother – is more likely to touch on what's been on TV and who's doing what on Saturday night than what's going on in Westminster or abroad.
She has been with Hill, a construction worker, since they met as students at the city's King Ecgbert secondary school. He watches and plays football; she keeps up with the soaps and scans bridal magazines to give her ideas for their wedding next year. Despite protests from her coach, who feared it would prove to distracting, Ennis found herself a new training partner three years ago in the shape of her chocolate labrador, Myla. As well as wreaking canine havoc in the house, Myla also accompanies Ennis on some of her training runs.
But for all the normality of her home life, Ennis is a truly outstanding athlete. According to Mick Thompson, the coach who first spotted her talent when she was 10, her abilities were obvious from the very beginning.
"She stood out a mile," he said. "She was clearly a brilliant hurdler and a very good high jumper straightaway, you could see that, without any input from us all." Ennis was, added Thompson, "probably one of most talented youngsters I've ever seen".
The former British decathlete Dean Macey rates her as, on paper at least, "the best person on the planet" at the moment. The secret of her success, he adds, is not difficult to fathom: "She's just naturally more gifted and talented than the people she's up against."
The only British face that has come close to eclipsing hers during the Games has been the sideburned countenance of Bradley Wiggins. But even Wiggo's epic Tour de France win, Olympic victory, endearingly vodka-powered celebrations have not completely redirected the spotlight.
Ennis's rise through the sporting ranks has been astonishing, seeing her progress from being Britain's first-ever European junior champion to world champion, world indoor champion and European champion. She has twice come third in the public vote for BBC Sports Personality of the year, although, after Wiggins, she must be in with a slightly better shot next time around.
Her astonishing two-year unbeaten streak, which lasted from 2009 to early last year, saw her name mentioned in the same breath as Usain Bolt and was made all the more staggering given the fractured ankle that had threatened to end her career in 2008. The stress injury, in May that year, left her following the Olympic action in Beijing from her Sheffield sofa, her foot in a plaster cast and her future in the balance. Yet, after months of rehabilitation, she was back the following summer to win Britain's first heptathlon gold medal at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin. Another ankle injury last year proved a similarly temporary setback.
Those who know Ennis attribute her success to a combination of natural ability, hunger and steeliness. Her coach, Toni Minichiello, describes her as "the toughest competitor I know" and an athlete whose talent is outstripped only by her determination to win. Even in her weaker events, such as the javelin, she pushes herself as hard as she can. Minichiello tells an anecdote in which Ennis, fed up with a long and hard javelin training session, is reaching the end of her tether. Told by her javelin coach, Mick Hill, that she can only knock off if she throws a javelin further than she has managed all day, she responds by immediately doing exactly that.
Whether her life will return to such comparative normality when the games are over remains to be seen. One thing, however, is certain. Ennis, or Jess, as she is fast becoming in the common British consciousness, is all too aware of what is expected of her. Everywhere she goes, people let her know exactly what they want her to do.
"It kind of washes over me now," she told the Guardian recently. "I know how hard it is going to be and what it is going to take, that it won't be easy at all. But I think people mean it in a nice way, they are saying: 'You winning that gold will be great,' so it is a nice kind of support."
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In the novel Peter Pan, what are the first names of Wendy’s two brothers? | Wendy Darling | Disney Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Wendy Darling is the deuteragonist in Walt Disney 's 1953 feature film Peter Pan , based on the original character from J.M. Barrie's original novel .
Contents
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Background
Wendy is an English girl living in London during the Edwardian era . While her age isn't specified, she is usually portrayed as a preteen on the brink of adolescence. Throughout her childhood, she lived with her parents, George and Mary , her brothers, Michael and John , as well as their dog Nana , who doubled as the children's daily caretaker when their parents were absent on their dates or parties.
Being the eldest child of a middle-class family of the era, Wendy served as a heavy influence on her brothers, specifically in regards to their love of Peter Pan and his lore. She would regularly tell the boys stories of Peter's various adventures in the supposedly fictitious isle of Neverland , most notably the stories of his battles with the villainous Captain Hook . To most people (her father, for instance), Peter Pan and the stories surrounding him were nothing more than a childish fantasy. To Wendy and her brothers, however, the legends of Pan were all too true, and his stories were used to maintain the fun and whimsy of their childhood, despite their parents encouraging the act of practical behavior.
Voice
Wendy was originally voiced by Kathryn Beaumont who also voiced Alice in Alice in Wonderland . When Beaumont retired from voicing Wendy in 2005, voice actress Hynden Walch has taken over the role and has been Wendy's current voice actress since. Kat Cressida (the voice of the similarly-aged Dee Dee from Dexter's Laboratory) briefly voiced Wendy for a short period of time. Kath Soucie voices adult Wendy while Harriet Owen also voices young Wendy in Return to Never Land . Maia Mitchell voiced Wendy in the Jake and the Neverland Pirates movie Jake and the Never Land Pirates: Battle for the Book .
Personality
Wendy is imaginative, mature and very maternal. She loves to care for others and tell stories to her younger brothers, Michael and John. Though her imagination is vivid and praised by them, her storytelling was initially looked down upon by her father, George , who found Wendy's stories and childlike nature to be immature and ridiculous, and voiced his desire to have her abandon her childhood as soon as possible to prepare herself for eventual adulthood. Because of this, she grew a fear of growing up and found comfort in the stories of Peter Pan and Neverland .
Nevertheless, upon visiting Neverland for the first time, Wendy ironically found her maturity and motherly instincts surfacing and growing. During her brief time, yet life changing experience on the island it became a more prominent part of her character as all the adventurous events unfolded. This led Wendy to finally accepting the fact that she will inevitably become an adult, one day. Even so, the young girl didn't allow this revelation to destroy her wondrous imagination.
As an adult (seen in Return to Never Land ) Wendy hasn't lost her belief in Peter Pan, and tells stories about him to her two children, Jane and Danny . She has grown into a caring, smart, kind, and beautiful woman.
Appearances
Peter Pan
Wendy in the original film
Wendy is introduced as the eldest child of George and Mary Darling. According to the narrator, she is an expert on Peter Pan, and the source of stories about him. However, when the practical George learns that she is once again telling stories to John and Michael, he disciplines her. He angrily tells her that it's time for her to grow up, and that night will be her last one in the nursery ; the next, she will be forced to have a separate room. (Dialogue between them strongly suggests that this has been going on for a while now, and him punishing her is an indication that he is fed up with her childish stories.) As Mary is tucking her into bed, Wendy tells her that she does not want to grow up. As Mary goes to close the window, Wendy warns her not to lock it. According to Wendy, she has Peter's shadow , and she is certain that he will come back for it.
Later that night, Wendy is awakened and startled when Peter is trying to get his shadow on. Wendy offers to sew it on for him (as he is trying to reattach it with a bar of soap). Through conversation, Wendy learns that Peter likes to hear her stories. However, when Peter learns that she is to "grow up" and leave the nursery for good, Peter offers to take her to Never Land where she would never have to grow up. There, she could be the mother of the boys who live there and tell them many stories. Wendy tries to kiss Peter out of gratitude, but Tinker Bell , who is jealous, pulls Wendy's hair causing Peter to chase her around the room trying to shove her with his hat. By this time, Michael and John awaken and are allowed to go with them. Peter sprinkles them with pixie dust , and after a few false tries, they are able to fly by thinking happy thoughts. They then fly to Neverland.
When they reach there, they are attacked by Captain Hook. Tinker Bell is asked to lead Wendy, John, and Michael to safety, but soon leaves them behind. By the time Wendy catches up, she is shot at by the Lost Boys , mistaking her as a bird (also called a Wendy-Bird by the Lost Boys). Though she is not hit, she falls towards the ground before being saved by Peter. After scolding the boys, Peter introduces Wendy as their new mother.
Later, Peter takes Wendy to meet the mermaids in their lagoon . However, they take a jealous dislike for her and begin to mock and tease her, even attempting to pull her into the water and drown her. An angered Wendy picks up a seashell and is about to hit them in defense but she is stopped by Peter who assures her that they were only playing. Suddenly, the lagoon darkens and Peter spots that Hook is close by. Terrified, the mermaids dive into the water and hide. Peter and Wendy follow Hook to Skull Rock and discover that the pirate has captured Tiger Lily , the Indian Princess. Wendy watches as Peter defeats Hook and rescues Tiger Lily, but is left behind when Peter flies off with Tiger Lily but tries to keep up.
Wendy attends a celebration at the Indian Camp in honor of Peter's rescue of Tiger Lily. However, Wendy is soon put to work gathering firewood and is not allowed to join the festivities. She leaves in a huff when she sees Tiger Lily flirting with Peter. At Hangman's Tree , Wendy decides to go home in the morning with Michael and John, much to the anger of Peter. After talking to Michael, she realizes that he is forgetting what home is like, and sings to him about their mother. After hearing her song, the Lost Boys decide to return with her, infuriating Peter, who believes they are going back to grow up, never to return.
Wendy, her parents, and Nana witnessing Hook's ship in the clouds
As they go to leave, Wendy and the boys are captured by Hook. Wendy remains faithful that Peter will save them until Hook reveals that he has placed a bomb in the hideout. He gives the children the option of joining his crew , but they refuse. He then forces Wendy to walk the plank. As she drops, she is rescued in secret by Peter, who had been saved from the bomb by Tinker Bell. Peter frees Wendy and the boys and Wendy watches them as they take on Hook. After the battle, Peter reveals that he will take Wendy, John, and Michael back home, which pleases Wendy. Peter uses pixie dust to make Hook's ship fly. Wendy is next seen asleep on the window seat, where her parents find her when they return home. Wendy happily announces that she is ready to grow up, but George reveals that he has changed his mind and decided that Wendy can stay in the nursery. He then notices a ship made of clouds sailing across the moon and realizes that he saw it when he was young. Wendy is last seen looking at it through the window with her parents, as the wind breaks it into clouds itself.
Return to Never Land
Wendy reunited with Peter Pan in Return to Never Land.
Wendy reappears as an adult in the sequel. By this time, she has married a man named Edward and has two children, Jane and Danny . She still tells them stories about Peter Pan. However, when World War II hits, Edward leaves with the British army, leaving her alone with them. Eventually, the war takes its toll on Jane, and she stops believing in her mother's stories. One day, Wendy reveals to her and Danny that they must be sent to the countryside for safety, and asks Jane to tell stories to Danny. An angry Jane ridicules Wendy's stories and their faith in them, in very much the same way as her grandfather did in the first film. Wendy appears again at the end of the film when Jane returns with Peter. While she is with Danny, Wendy is able to meet Peter again. He is distraught that she has grown up, but she assures him that she hasn't changed. She is last seen reuniting with Edward, who has returned home from the war.
Tinker Bell
Wendy in Tinker Bell
A younger version of Wendy makes a cameo appearance as a little girl in the prequel. In the middle of the film, Tinker Bell finds a ballerina music box. At the end, Queen Clarion , the queen of the fairies, allows her to travel to the Main Land to return it. When she arrives in London, she leaves it by a window, where Wendy, as a little girl, arrives and takes it in.
Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Wendy as she appears in Jake and the Never Land Pirates
Wendy made a special appearance in the special. In it, Captain Hook learned of Wendy's beloved stories revolving Peter and his adventures, which inevitably end with Hook's defeat and humiliation. Embarrassed by his betrayal in the book, Hook, Smee , and his crew traveled to London and steal it in an attempt to destroy it. However, more urgently, it served as the connection between Wendy and Never Land, and as a result, the more it is damaged, the more Wendy's memories of Peter and Never Land as a whole are obliterated, prompting Peter to rally a crew of wholesome Never Land pirates to help battle Hook and save Wendy's memories. To help further the success, Wendy, John, Michael, and Nana tag along on the adventure as well.
Cameos
Wendy makes numerous cameo appearances in the House of Mouse , in her younger incarnation from the original film. She is usually seen flying with Peter, John, and Michael while her parents are nightclub patrons. She can be seen in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse , during the finale song , with Peter, John, and Michael. She was seen with her brothers during the headcount of all the guests in the episode " Ask Von Drake " In the episode " House of Scrooge ", she was seen storming out of the club with the audience that are tired of Scrooge's budget cuts.
Live-action appearances
Once Upon a Time
Wendy as she appears on Once Upon a Time
Wendy and her family made an appearance on the second season of the fairy tale drama, Once Upon a Time . She was played by Freya Tingley . She was dressed in a nightgown that is far more elaborate and frilly than the Disney version, having a yoke and colored in white instead of blue; it more closely resembles the version from the 2003 film.
One day a boy named Baelfire comes to the Darlings' house to steal some bread. Wendy catches him but lets him eat as much as he likes. They soon become very good friends. She lets him stay in her house in secret, but her parents soon discover him. However, they decided to let him live with them after Wendy convinces George to let him stay. During this time, a shadow comes to the nursery window and takes her away to Neverland. The following morning she returns home after realizing how Neverland was not such a happy place after all. The shadow also let her return home because he wanted to take a boy instead of a girl. She worries through tears that it will take John or Michael away and she will never see them again. That night, after Mary tucks them in for the night and leaves, they try to prevent it from coming but they are unsuccessful. It is about to kidnap Michael but Bae tells it to take him instead. It agrees and Wendy and her brothers then see him leave their home forever.
Some time later, despite Wendy's previous escape from Neverland, she had somehow become Peter's prisoner when she and her brothers had returned to Neverland. In exchange for her safety, John and Michael agreed to become servants to Peter. Due to imprisonment on Neverland, Wendy never aged while John and Michael returned home and grew older throughout the years. In the present day, she is used by Peter to cement Henry 's loyalty to him by posing as an ill member of the Lost Boys in order to make his goals appear benevolent by trying to help her and Neverland. While this does motivate Henry, Wendy dislikes lying to him, but Peter states it is necessary for the truest believer to believe in a goal, his goals. Peter quickly places Wendy back in prison after she plays her part, indicating that this version cruelly mistreats her unlike the original story or the Disney version.
Wendy is eventually freed from Neverland and reunited with her brothers in Storybrooke .
Video Games
Wendy appears in Neverland in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories .
In the original Kingom Hearts , Wendy was mistakingly believed to be one of the seven "Princesses of Heart", and was kidnapped by Captain Hook as a result. However, upon learning from Maleficent that she is not one of the chosen ones, Riku ordered Hook to leave all deadweight behind on Neverland, including Wendy, though Hook refused as a result of how much trouble it was to capture her. Meanwhile, Peter Pan arrives on the Jolly Roger to rescue Wendy, and does so after finding her unconscious in the middle of it.
After being escorted to London, Wendy awaits Peter's arrival at Big Ben , where they share a moment, with her asking him to stay with her in London, though she eventually agrees that Neverland is where he truly belongs and accepts his departure.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories , Wendy appears as a figment of Sora 's memories, where she's used as bait by Captain Hook in order to lure Peter to his doom.
Disney Parks
Wendy posing for a photo at Disneyland Paris
Wendy appears as a meetable character at the Disney theme parks around the world, dressed as she appeared in the original film (blue hair tie holding her ringlet ponytail, light blue nightgown, black bedroom ballet slippers). A longer-sleeved variation of her nightgown is worn during the cold winter months, more resembling a blue bathrobe than a nightgown or pajamas.
She used to be rare to meet at Disneyland , but would appear semi-often at Walt Disney World (occasionally explaining that she often comes back from the nursery or Neverland ) [1] .
Disneyland Resort
Wendy appears as an audio-animatronic in Peter Pan's Flight . She plays the same role she did in the original film.
In the Disneyland version of Fantasmic! , Wendy is seen assisting Peter in his battle with Hook and his crew during the Peter Pan segment.
Walt Disney World Resort
Wendy appeared in the former castle stage show, Dream Along With Mickey , in the Magic Kingdom . She, along with Peter, help fulfill Goofy 's dream in becoming a pirate, and battles Captain Hook and Smee. She is last seen during the finale "Any Dream is Possible". In the show, her nightgown was much more elaborate, resembling an actual one with frills and lace.
Disneyland Paris
In France, Wendy can be seen in Disney Dreams! . Here, she and Peter are about to take a flight when his shadow escapes and releases the magic from the Second Star to the Right . After he finds it and restores the magic, he and Wendy enjoy their postponed flight.
Trivia
Wendy's facial features are extremely similar to Alice from Alice in Wonderland . It makes sense because her film movements and voice were taken from Kathryn Beaumont.
Wendy's name comes from one of J.M. Barrie 's friends in adulthood, Margaret Henley who died at age five-and-a-half. She called him her "friendy," which came out pronounced "fwendy".
In some Disney storybooks Wendy's nightgown and hair tie are pink instead of blue.
While most illustrations of Wendy show her and her brothers as being barefoot, the Disney version is the only one that depicts her with shoes. However, she was seen barefoot for a split-second when Peter Pan arrives at the nursery to get his shadow back.
Most illustrations and depictions of Wendy show her wearing nightgowns that have long sleeves; the Disney movie and Once Upon a Time are the only two known versions that have her doing so.
Despite not making an appearance in Kinect Disneyland Adventures , Wendy is mentioned several times by Peter Pan.
Kathryn Beaumont was originally supposed to reprise her role as Wendy in Return to Neverland, but for unknown reasons, she was replaced by Kath Soucie.
Wendy's nightgown has been turned into an actual sleepwear for girls numerous times to promote the film.
Gallery
The Disney Wiki has a collection of images and media related to Wendy Darling .
References
| michael and john |
The Oswaldo Cruz Institute and the Butantan Institute are in which South American country? | Wendy Darling | Peter Pan Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
Edit
She belongs to a middle class London household of that era, and is the daughter of George Darling , a short-tempered and pompous bank/office worker, and his lovely wife, Mary . Wendy shares a nursery room with her two brothers, Michael and John .
At some point, she and her brothers began seeing Peter in their dreams.
Eventually, she meets Peter Pan one night, and helps him sew his shadow back on. She tells Peter she knows many more stories, causing Peter to want to take her to Neverland.
Peter and the tribe of Lost Boys who dwell in Neverland want her to be their "mother" (a role they remember only vaguely), a request she tentatively accedes to, performing various domestic tasks for them.
She eventually realizes that she and her brothers must go home, or risk their parents giving up on them ever returning, and them forgetting their parents forever.
When leaving, however, she was taken by Captain Hook , along with her brothers and the Lost Boys . Forced to become a pirate or die, Peter soon comes to the rescue, and saves the children.
Wendy is brought back to London, and leaves Neverland forever, but never forgetting her adventures
Personality
Edit
She loves to tell stories and make believe. However, she is also the only one concerned as she realizes her brothers are forgetting their real parents, and is the one who decides they must go back home, even though she has faith the window will always be kept open for their return.
In a later added ending, Wendy has grown up and married, and has a daughter, Jane. When Peter returns looking for Wendy (not understanding that she would no longer be a young girl, as time escapes him while he is in the Neverland), he meets Jane; Wendy lets her daughter go off with him, apparently trusting her to make the same choices.
| i don't know |
Former Olympic athlete and Gold Medallist Michael Duane Johnson was born in which US state? | Michael Duane JOHNSON - Olympic | United States of America
Olympic Games 1992 , 1996 , 2000
Sprint superman
Michael Johnson is widely regarded as one of the greatest sprinters of all time. In the 1990s, the four-time Olympic gold medallist dominated the 200m and 400m, going an incredible seven years undefeated in the latter.
College boy
Born in the Texan city of Dallas on 13 September 1967, Michael Duane Adalbert Adam Johnson was the youngest of five siblings. As a teenager he devoted himself to his studies, with athletics just a regular sideline. Aged 19, he enrolled at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. It was there, in April 1987, that he was spotted by Clyde Hart – the coach who would later take him to the pinnacle of world athletics – as he broke the university 200m record. By then he had already adopted his distinctive running style, characterised by an upright gait and short stride, that would later see him nicknamed “the Duck”.
The road to the top
After gaining a degree in accountancy, Johnson decided to focus full-time on athletics in 1990. Unusually, he excelled over both 200m and 400m, finishing the year at the top of the international rankings for both distances. It was a rare combination but one that would soon bring him glory. In 1991, in Tokyo, he was crowned world 200m champion, but then suffered a setback the following year when food poisoning denied him the chance of glory in the individual events at the Olympic Games in Barcelona. However, he was restored to fitness in time to help the US 4x400m relay team secure the victory that brought Johnson his first taste of Olympic gold.
Seven years unbeaten
Starting in 1993, Johnson embarked on an incredible sequence of 58 400m races in which he went undefeated, and he was soon being hailed as “Superman”. The pinnacle of his track career came on home soil, at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. 83,000 spectators looked on as Johnson, resplendant in his golden running shoes, completed a remarkable 200m-400m double, an achievement never matched before or since in men’s athletics. His times were remarkable too: 19.32 seconds for the 200m – a world record that stood for 12 years until being broken by Usain Bolt – and 43.49 seconds for the 400m.
A decade of solid gold
On 26 August 1999 in Seville (SPA), Johnson set a new 400m world record of 43.18 seconds, which remains unbeaten to this day. In the space of a decade at the top, which culminated in a final Olympic gold in the 400m at Sydney 2000, he amassed a total of eight world and four Olympic titles (never once experiencing the taste of silver or bronze). He retired from competition in 2001 to pursue a successful career as a media pundit, while also managing the career of one of his successors, Jeremy Wariner, who won Olympic gold in the 400m at Athens 2004.
| Texas |
Jodie Foster sings ‘My Name is Tallulah’ in which 1976 film? | Michael Johnson: ‘For eight years I was a five-time gold medallist. Then it was four-time. It’s not the same’ - Telegraph
Athletics
Michael Johnson: ‘For eight years I was a five-time gold medallist. Then it was four-time. It’s not the same’
Michael Johnson’s steely perfectionism made him the fastest man on earth, but not necessarily the nicest. Now he’s learned to relax – sort of
Michael Johnson Photo: KEVIN KUNISHI FOR SEVEN MAGAZINE
Image 1 of 4
Usain Bolt (JAM) World record holder for 100m and 200m, poses with Academy Member Michael Johnson (R) after receiving the Laureus World Sportsman of the year Photo: Getty Images
Image 1 of 4
Michael with his brother and sisters at their home in 1972. Michael is second from left. Photo: COURTESY OF HARPER COLLINS
By Helena de Bertodano
7:00AM BST 09 Jul 2012
The gold shoes may have been auctioned off and his 200m record broken but Michael Johnson is still – in many people’s minds – the fastest man on earth. Not only does he hold the world record for the 400m, he is the only male athlete in history to win the 200m and 400m at the same Olympics.
“I was the face of the 1996 Games,” says Johnson, now 44, matter-of-factly, when we meet at his exquisite home high in the hills above San Rafael, northern California. More than the face of the Games, he was the feet of the Games: those gold Nike racing spikes pummelling the ground as he sped over the 200m finishing line and – in an uncharacteristic display of emotion – roared with pure joy when he saw his phenomenal time flash up: 19.32 seconds.
But Johnson was more than just an extraordinarily fast runner: he was the sport’s first multimedia superstar, a sort of Tiger Woods of athletics, bringing it into the mainstream. The Man With The Golden Shoes – as he became known – graced magazine covers around the world and secured multimillion-dollar-endorsement deals previously unthinkable for a sprinter. “I’m proud of being remembered as someone who changed the sport in terms of what’s possible,” says Johnson in his distinctively deep voice. He sits down on a gold-print sofa adorned with pale gold cushions. “People thought it wasn’t possible to be a champion at 200 metres and at 400 metres. What I did changed sprinting and how people looked at sprinters. It also changed the economics of the sport in terms of the financial demands I was able to make.” Dressed in a purple-and-white-striped shirt, jeans and black loafers, Johnson is far more relaxed and friendly than I had anticipated, with a streak of wry humour. In fact, he is so approachable that I find myself telling him that I had not been expecting an easy interview.
“I didn’t used to be this way,” he agrees amiably, taking a sip of coffee. “I have changed. As an athlete, I was never really comfortable with being a celebrity. Everybody wanted something of me and I didn’t really do a good job of understanding that. It was a huge intrusion into my life… and when journalists asked me questions… it became this kind of…” he trails off and growls to show the stand-off that resulted.
Despite the austere demeanour he projected in those days, Johnson was always an athlete who stood out – partly because of his peculiar running style: the stiff straight back coupled with the short piston stride. As a child, his friends laughed at him for running “funny”; as an adult, reporters compared him to a running duck. “It was funny to me too,” says Johnson drily. “I was winning.”
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“Opting for gold shoes could have been considered downright cocky,” he writes in his book, Gold Rush, recently published in paperback, “but I was confident and never doubted my ability to deliver gold medals to match my shimmering footwear.” His confidence was not misplaced. Even 12 years after retirement, Johnson is still tied with Carl Lewis for the most gold medals won by any runner in history. He has four Olympic golds and eight golds at world championships.
There is a fine line between confidence and arrogance and Johnson treads it carefully. He has high expectations of himself but knows his flaws. “I work hard to improve myself as a person – as a father, as a husband, as a manager. I’m always on that mission.” In the past, he says, he was a perfectionist. Was that a good thing?
“No,” he says, smiling. “It creates some struggles when you have that expectation of other people. I’ve gotten much better with it. I’ve had to learn that not everybody does things my way. But I do expect the absolute best of everyone around me and I’m disappointed when people don’t expect that of themselves.” He once said he was difficult to live with. “I think I was. I don’t know if I still am – you’d have to ask my wife.” He and his first wife, Kerry D’Oyen, an entertainment reporter and the mother of his 12-year-old son Sebastian, broke up after Johnson retired from racing. Now he is married to Armine Shamiryan, a chef – whom he says he met “randomly” through friends in Los Angeles nine years ago.
So while he is having his photograph taken, I ask Johnson if he minds if I talk to her. “Go ahead,” he says, unfazed. I find Armine, a petite, dark-haired Armenian, in the kitchen, making Greek salad for lunch. “He is a control freak,” she says affectionately. “And he makes me work out in the gym every day, which I hate. But I think he’s changed a lot. As he’s got older he’s realised that he can’t make everything perfect and once you realise that, you can either accept it or be miserable about it. He’s accepted it.”
Johnson thoroughly enjoys the wealth that his success has bought him. “From as young as I can remember, this is the life I always wanted. I wanted to have the luxury of having really nice fast cars – I have a couple of McLarens and a Porsche and…” he stops himself, perhaps thinking he has said enough. But in his garage, I also glimpse a silver Mercedes SLS AMG – which seriously impresses the photographer who identifies it for me – and a Ferrari. “I wanted to be able to live wherever I wanted, to travel the world and to be able to take care of my family back in Texas.” Indeed, his large, secluded house looks like a high-end show home, with a general impression of tasteful opulence but hardly a hint of anything personal. A bar with a wine refrigerator dominates the living room (Johnson is something of a wine buff) but there is none of the usual paraphernalia of family life.
Video: Marvellous Michael at the double
As we talk a tall boy walks past the room, a school backpack slung over his shoulder. “That’s Sebastian,” Johnson tells me. “What’s up?” he asks his son. “Nothing,” says Sebastian defensively, moving swiftly on. Johnson raises his eyebrows at me: “It’s not always been easy for Sebastian. People are absolutely silly with him – they start asking him how fast he is and if he’s going to be a runner too and it’s just not fair to him. I’ve encouraged him to be involved in lots of different things. I’ve groomed him not to feel any pressure. He’s not actually crazy about sports, he plays the drums and wants to be a writer.”
As the youngest of five children growing up in Dallas, Texas, Johnson says his parents – a truck driver and a schoolteacher – set high standards but also encouraged their children to seek out their own paths: “My dad taught me that the more you put into something, the better the result. I have a lot of similar personality traits to my dad. He is a hard, demanding, no-nonsense person, my mother is much more compassionate. But when she’s not happy with you, whew, I’d much rather be dealing with my father at that point because she just does not hold back.” Johnson started running competitively at the age of 10 and at Baylor University, where he took a degree in business, he beat Calvin Smith, then the world champion, in the 200m. By the time he graduated he was the first male athlete ever to hold the number one ranking in the 200m and 400m.
Yet he had more than his share of bad luck. He prepared for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, only to develop a stress fracture in his left leg before the trials began. At the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, he was the favourite to win the 200m but contracted food poisoning shortly before the Games, causing him to lose weight and strength. He failed to reach the final. “By 1996, I was in danger of finishing my career as the greatest athlete ever at 200m and 400m, world-record holder – but without winning an [individual] Olympic gold medal.” Finally, however, the stars aligned and he won two. At the time Johnson said he knew his record would be broken one day but most likely the grandmother of that athlete had not been born yet. And then, just 12 years later, along came Usain Bolt, breaking Johnson’s 200m record by 0.01 of a second at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, then the following year absolutely shattering it when he ran 19.19 seconds at the 2009 world championships.
“Unbelievable,” exclaimed an astonished Johnson no less than six times in his on-air commentary directly after the race, wearing his hat as a BBC commentator, one he will don again during the forthcoming London Olympics. And yet he genuinely doesn’t seem to mind that his record has been broken. Surely it must have hurt the moment it happened? Johnson chuckles and shakes his head. “No it didn’t. But I’ve come to realise that I’m different. I’m just able to move on. That doesn’t mean that I’m not extremely proud of what I was able to do. I will always have the memory of that moment – that can never be taken away. But you cannot expect to hold a record forever. And I’m not doing anything these days to keep it!”
Part of the fascination with watching sprinters, says Johnson, is witnessing the limits of human ability. Does he think man is nearing his fastest speed possible? “We’re always trying to figure out what the limits are. Part of it is psychological – we always want to do better than people did before us. That’s the most significant reason why people continue to get faster. I doubt if Bolt would have run 19.31 at the Beijing Olympics if I hadn’t run 19.32 before him.”
In a documentary on Channel 4 last week he also argued, controversially, that athletes like him and Bolt, who are descended from West African slaves have a “superior athletic gene” due to selective breeding by slave owners and appalling conditions that meant only the strongest slaves survived. All things being equal, however, does he think he could have outrun Bolt? He’s not willing to speculate. “Look: it’s fun for everybody else to debate who would win a race between Usain Bolt and myself – but it’s never going to happen. If it did happen, it would have to happen now, and we already know who would win that!”
Johnson is so enamoured with Bolt, in fact, that he’s urged the Jamaican to take on the 400m – in other words, to usurp Johnson completely. And he even gets frustrated with Bolt’s famous laid-back attitude to racing – so different from his own tautly controlled pre-race nervous energy. “It’s debatable whether that gives him his best performance. Maybe his time could be even faster.”
Maybe, I suggest, Johnson might have been even faster if he had taken Bolt’s relaxed approach? He shakes his head firmly: “I know that I could not have been. I spent all those years trying to understand who I was as an athlete – the only approach that works for me is to be extremely focused.” And yet he feels he never quite fulfilled his potential: “I always knew that I could run faster than I ran. I spent my entire career trying to run a flawless race – which is rare for anyone. I ran out of career time before I achieved my perfect race.”
Originally he had five Olympic golds: three individual and two for the 4 x 400m relays. But in 2008, one of the other sprinters in the 2000 Sydney Olympics relay, Antonio Pettigrew, admitted he had taken performance-enhancing drugs and agreed to return his gold medal. A disgusted Johnson announced that he would return his medal too.
A shadow crosses Johnson’s face when I bring up the subject. “I was very angry and disappointed. For eight years I could say I was a five-time Olympic gold medallist. Then I had to start saying four-time. It doesn’t sound the same.” He sighs deeply: “Now I’m more sad than angry. [Pettigrew committed suicide in 2010.] The stupid thing is it was so completely and totally unnecessary. We didn’t need him in the race. We were so far ahead we could have put you on the team and we would still have won.”
In Gold Rush, Johnson describes himself as “somewhat of an honorary Brit” and is looking forward to cheering on both Britain and the United States in the London Games. He expects at least two of the same athletes from 2008 to dominate again. “It will be about [US swimmer Michael] Phelps and Bolt again. It’s rare that you have athletes who are superstars at two consecutive games [but] Bolt can still do something spectacular.” Britain, he reckons, will have good results in certain sports. “I think the UK will do well in cycling and in rowing. They’ve also got some good swimmers. But in athletics it’s going to be tough. I don’t think they’re going to do poorly but it certainly won’t be great. The problem in Britain is you have a small country that is very powerful in terms of its standing in the world. But the media attention focused on the talent that comes up is so intense that they don’t stand a chance.”
Johnson says he is relieved to have retired from the fast lane and doesn’t miss the intense pressure to perform. He doesn’t even enjoy working out any more. “I do about an hour four days a week. It’s hard to get motivated. I used to get a gold medal when I went for a run. Now I don’t get anything.”
Having been the fastest man on earth, the rest of one’s life must feel like a bit of an anticlimax. “Yes and no,” replies Johnson. “When I won [the Royal Television Society’s] pundit of the year [award] that was huge for me. I can’t say that was something I dreamed of as a teenager and I don’t expect any of those things to equal the feeling of winning a gold medal, but I knew when I got into that sport that I was going to have to retire at a very early age, I would have a lot of living left ahead of me, and I would have to set new goals which are probably not going to equal the joy of this.”
These days he is a man who really knows how to enjoy life. “My life is pretty good. I’m on vacation every three weeks. In the evening I get to sit here with this view” – he sweeps a hand toward the well-manicured garden outside the French doors and the bay beyond – “and I have a glass of wine with my wife and have friends over. It’s a great life, I love to play and I play very hard. I work hard too.
“My expectations aren’t what they used to be,” he continues. “Take that candle for example,” he says, pointing at a tall cream candle on the coffee table in front of us. “That candle has been twisted the whole time that we’ve been sitting here. In the old days, I would have turned it as soon as I walked in. Now it doesn’t bother me.”
‘Gold Rush’, by Michael Johnson (Harper Collins) is available to order from Telegraph Books at £8.99 + £1.10 p&p. Call 0844 871 1516 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk
This article also appears in SEVEN, free with the Sunday Telegraph. Follow SEVEN on Twitter @TelegraphSeven
| i don't know |
Which British boxer was nicknamed ‘The Dark Destroyer’? | The Best-Ever British Boxing Nicknames | Bleacher Report
The Best-Ever British Boxing Nicknames
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Perhaps no sport is as linked with nicknames as boxing, so much so that when Sylvester Stallone penned Rocky, he gave no fewer than five to fictional heavyweight champion Apollo Creed .
Fighters have always attracted monikers, going back to 19th-century champ Nonpareil Dempsey and beyond, but really took off around the 1920s, spearheaded by that era's heavyweight king Jack Dempsey—"The Manassa Mauler."
British boxing was not always so enamoured with the nickname, associating it more with the hoopla and razzmatazz of the US, where it was a sport for the press pack to coin a nom-de-guerre for upcoming contenders.
Plenty of British champions such as Benny Lynch, Ken Buchanan and John Conteh never attracted a moniker that stuck.
It's maybe not entirely coincidental that it was in the 1980s, the decade of the Big Bang and rampant commercialism, that the UK truly embraced the nickname. The likes of "Ragamuffin Man" Lloyd Honeyghan and "Clones Cyclone" Barry McGuigan won world titles and almost edge their way into this list.
Consequently, this countdown is dominated by fighters of more recent vintage or those who fought on American soil and picked up a nickname there.
Among those who just missed out are Sheffield super-bantamweight Kid Galahad, lightweight contender Anthony "Million Dollar" Crolla and the always enigmatic early 2000s light-middleweight Richard "The Secret" Williams—a name that divides opinion but lodges itself in the memory.
And now, here are the 15 best-ever nicknames in British boxing.
Years Active: 1989-2003
Record: 41-2-1 with 32 KOs
Early in his career, Lewis was known as "The Lion," but later on he coined his own more distinctive moniker as "The Pugilist Specialist."
It fit Lewis' self-styling as a cerebral fighter who talked of his fondness for chess, and although this didn't always go down well with American audiences, he ultimately emerged as the king of the 1990s heavyweights, avoided by Riddick Bowe before defeating Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson.
This nickname may not inspire fear in the heart of opponents but suited a fighter who could systematically take opponents apart, ultimately registering wins over every man he faced.
Years Active: 1986-2002
Record: 31-12-1 with 11 KOs
Pictured above is Silky Jones on the left in a British title fight against one of the worst nicknamed Brits—"Spice Boy" Ryan Rhodes.
Before footballers had "good tekkers" or other such recent abominations, they had "silky skills." Paul Jones brought the term to boxing even if wasn't always as silky as he may have made out with 12 losses on his record, four by way of knockout.
However, he did claim the WBO light-middleweight title back in 1995 with a huge upset win over Verno Phillips, a great effort on the night and what remains his claim to fame.
With a distinctively British use of the word "silky" and the telling fact that he was often referred to in print as just Silky Jones, so that some may not even know his first name, this has to rank highly.
File alongside "Sugar" Ray Robinson and "Mantequilla" Jose Napoles.
Years Active: 1901-1913, 1919
Record: 53-3-5 with 35 KOs (plus 8 "newspaper decisions")
Jim Driscoll wasn't literally undefeated, but like Nonpareil Dempsey before him, he lost very few fights at a time when top fighters took more risks and thus suffered more defeats.
Driscoll had lost just once when in 1909 he beat world featherweight champion Abe Attell on points in a fight where it was stipulated that only a KO could win the Welsh challenger the crown.
Despite winning 10 straight fights on US soil from late 1918 to early the next year, he never got the proper title shot he deserved but did claim the British and European belts.
On the back of his excellent form in America, it was the legendary cowboy and U.S. newspaperman Bat Masterson who dubbed him "Peerless Jim," a label he thoroughly deserved.
Years Active: 2003-
Record: 23-12 with 12 KOs
Losing six of his first 11 fights, Ovill McKenzie was never supposed to get anywhere in the sport and hasn't benefited from major promotional backing at any point in his career.
His nickname, "The Upsetter," recognises that he is reduced to the role of the away fighter looking to spring a surprise on the local favourite—but it's a role he has relished with notable successes.
He nearly did for future world-title challenger Tony Bellew in Liverpool back in 2010, flooring Bellew hard in both of the opening two rounds before the Liverpudlian rallied.
After losing a rematch with Bellew, he has bounced back, latterly as a cruiserweight holding both British and Commonwealth titles with five of his last six fights being early KO wins.
London's Tony Conquest and County Durham's Jon-Lewis Dickinson are the two most recent victims to be upset in their backyards by McKenzie.
Years Active: 1926-1953
Record: 84-34-17 with 24 KOs
In the 100-year span between the two undisputed British heavyweight champions—Bob Fitzsimmons and Lennox Lewis—Tommy Farr probably came closest to claiming the crown.
He gave champion Joe Louis an unexpectedly tough night at Yankee Stadium in 1937, winning several rounds and going the distance whilst taking his own fair share of licks.
It was his impressive performances on a US tour that continued into 1938 that won him the respect of US sports-writers, which has often been in short supply for British heavies, and with it the sobriquet of "The Tonypandy Terror."
This evocative name was typical of the early 20th century and heavyweights such as "The Ambling Alp" Primo Carnera, "The Boston Gob" Jack Sharkey and "The Pottawatomie Giant" Jess Willard.
Farr was a British champion and registered a win over former world champion Max Baer.
Years Active: 1978-1992, 1996-1998
Record: 48-6 with 28 KOs
It has become something of a truism that Herol Graham was one of the best British fighters never to win a world-title, dropping a split-decision to Mike McCallum in 1989, knocked out by Julian Jackson the next year and stopped late against Charles Brewer on his comeback in 1997.
The British WBO champions of the early 1990s, Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank, were none too keen to face Graham, seeing him as a high-risk, low-reward opponent.
His nickname, "Bomber," was deliberately misleading, characterising him as a guy who would be looking for a big punch when he was in actuality a defensive maestro who could frustrate opponents with his unorthodox style and lightning reflexes.
The name stuck firm, however, and to this day he is mentioned in print and on the airwaves as just "Bomber" Graham. Latterly Tony Bellew has adopted the same moniker but with less resonance.
Years Active: 2008-
Record: 10-8 with 9 KOs
Larry Olubamiwo is proof that a great nickname can only take you so far. A confessed comicbook fan, he adopted "The War Machine" from an Iron Man character.
He was seen as something of a prospect, despite turning pro aged 30, and won 10 of his first 11 fights, all but one of them by KO.
The former bodybuilder's limitations were brutally exposed in 2011 at the York Hall when John McDermott finished him inside the first round.
Olubamiwo hasn't won since and sullied his reputation by failing a drugs test in 2012 before admitting to using 13 banned substances.
Perhaps it's a shame that a name that conjures so much didn't find a better home, but it's a really good one and deserves its high placing.
Years Active: 1911-1921, 1923
Record: 132-3-1 with 99 KOs (plus 8 "newspaper decisions")
Jimmy Wilde is arguably the best-ever British boxer pound-for-pound and was the world flyweight champion from 1916 to 1923.
He attracted several nicknames including "The Mighty Atom" and "The Tylorstown Terror," but the most pictorial remains "The Ghost with the Hammer in His Hand."
For much of his career, Wilde weighed in below 100 pounds when the flyweight limit is 112. At 5'2.5", he looked small and emaciated yet he still racked up an incredible 99 career knockouts.
In 1999, The Ring ranked him the 13th-best fighter of the 20th century across all weight classes.
Years Active: 1904-1915
Record: 19-8-1 with 16 KOs
Nearly 100 years before there was "Iron" Mike Tyson and Paul "Scrap Iron" Ryan, there was a Yorkshire heavyweight called Iron Hague.
He won the British and European heavyweight titles in 1906 by first-round KO but lost against pound-for-pound legend Sam Langford in the same year, the American fighter himself memorably dubbed "The Boston Tar Baby."
According to local historians from Mexborough, Hague's hometown, his was a childhood nickname bestowed on him for his iron self will and the ability to take severe corporal punishment without betraying any pain—good preparation for the prize ring.
Iron Hague is not to be confused with his namesake and fellow Yorkshireman William Hague, the former Foreign Secretary and one-time Conservative leader.
Years Active: 1987-1996
Record: 42-5-1 with 35 KOs
Few fighters have embodied their nickname better than '"he Dark Destroyer" Nigel Benn, one of the flat-out most intimidating British boxers ever.
Benn came to destroy or be destroyed and only nine of his 48 fights went the distance—he was memorably outlasted by domestic rivals Michael Watson in 1989 and Chris Eubank in 1990.
The Ilford man is notable for his willingness to travel and take on tough challenges, winning world titles on the road in two weight classes, seeing off Doug DeWitt, Iran Barkley and Mauro Galvano along the way.
Benn was part of a glamorous era for British boxing when fights on ITV brought in more than 10 million viewers on several occasions .
With his flash suits, menacing persona and impressive KO ratio, Benn was a popular favourite who more than lived up to his billing.
Years Active: 2002-2012
Record: 26-2 with 24 KOs
Some things are just meant to be. A big-swinging, big-punching cruiserweight turned heavyweight with the surname of Haye could only become "The Hayemaker."
Incredibly the clip above shows that Haye made it many years in boxing before the lightning bolt struck and the seemingly most obvious of nicknames was adopted. A pre-national treasure status Clare Balding makes some terrible alternative suggestions as well.
Haye says in the interview, "I'm not going to use a nickname," which is probably the first of many occasions that he told the British public one thing and then did another.
"The Hayemaker," now nearly 34, has not fought since 2012, but if he can return to fitness, there are some big domestic fights available against young up-and-comers Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua.
Years Active: 1910-1925
Record: 41-1 with 34 KOs
Technically this is not a nickname but a military rank because Stepney heavyweight Billy Wells was a bombardier in the British Army before he became a professional boxer, with the perfect moniker already at hand.
Wells followed Iron Hague as British heavyweight champion and also scored a win over Gunner Moir, who held the rank below bombardier in the Royal Artillery.
After the outbreak of World War One, many of Wells' opponents had military-inflected names such as Guardsman Charlie Penwill, Soldier Jones and the less-than-fearsome-sounding Bandsman Dick Rice.
Wells would not have much success on the international stage, twice being knocked out in European title challenges against France's Georges Carpentier who had the singular nom-de-guerre of "The Orchid Man."
Years Active: 1992-2002
Record: 36-1 with 31 KOs
"You know I bring drama, excitement, you know me, Larry—from my wicked entrance, my flip over the ropes, to a knock-out." So the Prince summed himself up speaking to HBO in 2000.
It was often remarked in the 1990s, a time when the Royal Family was perceived to be out of favour, that Prince Naseem was the most popular prince in the land, even if he wasn't too high up in the line of succession.
The long-time world featherweight king elevated himself with his own title early in his boxing career, a typical act of bravado from a showman who ran on confidence.
The story may well be apocryphal, but when Hamed arrived in America for his first showcase fight against Kevin Kelley (pictured) with a huge HBO advertising spend behind him, it was said that some US observers genuinely believed he was descended from Yemeni royalty.
Such was the pervasiveness and brilliance of the nickname Prince Naseem, a grandiose moniker which Hamed earned the right to bear with his hugely entertaining boxing career.
All boxer records from BoxRec .
| Nigel Benn |
What is a young swan called? | The Cult: Nigel Benn | FIGHTLAND
The Cult: Nigel Benn
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Illustration by Dan Evans
The latest inductee to The Cult was a popular and gutsy British boxer whose bouts with Chris Eubank attracted huge TV audiences. You can (in fact you must) read our previous entries here .
Cult Grade: From Darkness into Light
Nicknames in sport sometimes come across as forced, but when Nigel Benn stalked into a boxing ring as "The Dark Destroyer" it felt like a natural fit. During his heyday in the 1990s, there were times when Benn went to a dark place within himself – where years of anger lay buried – and became capable of destroying anything that lay in his path. Even his own life seemed to teeter over the abyss.
The man whose fights with Chris Eubank became the stuff of British sporting legend was shaped by an emotionally fraught journey to the top. Born to Barbadian immigrants, the sixth of seven boys, Benn grew up in Ilford, north-east London. He first experienced tragedy when his elder brother and hero, Andy, died in suspicious and violent circumstances. Nigel was just eight, and he later talked of carrying the anger and confusion over his brother's death deep into his adult life.
He quickly grew into a tough kid who wasn't afraid to express himself with his fists. Nigel shoplifted and fought with local National Front skinheads, hustled and smoked, and seemed to be heading towards a fate similar to that of his lost sibling. Aware of this, his father Dixon pushed him towards joining the army, another elder brother having already done the same.
It was in the forces that Benn took up boxing, finding an immense aptitude for the sport, as well as a new sense of purpose and direction. He not only dominated in the ring, but began coaching others, too.
When asked in interviews, Benn can recall the exact time he spent in the army: "Four years, 256 days". For 18 months of that stretch he was stationed in Northern Ireland, a country still gripped by its long-running ethno-nationalist struggle. And, while the service had positives, the experience of being a young black squaddie in a conflict zone left another mark on Benn's soul.
Boxing success followed as an amateur and a pro, but there was no fairtytale element to Benn's career. He lost his Commonwealth title to Michael Watson in 1989, lost to his bitter rival Eubank in 1990, and was then denied what he felt should have been his redemptive moment when their rematch was scored a draw in 1993.
Even what could have been his greatest achievement – defeating the much-hyped Gerald McClellan in a brutal encounter in 1995 – was marred by tragedy. After being written off by the bookies and knocked out of the ring in the first round, Benn fought back with typical heart to beat his opponent. It should have been one for the ages, but a blood clot on the brain left McClellan permanently disabled, blind, and requiring round the clock care to this day. That fight is only remembered for its dreadful aftermath, for leaving McClellan in darkness.
Try as he might, not all of Benn's demons could be exorcised in a boxing ring. Throughout his years as a top-draw fighter he battled drink and drug addiction, had numerous affairs, and attempted suicide in 1999. He was a man who seemed always on the brink of being enveloped by the darkness, forever battling to stay just the right side of an evil force that could only sometimes be harnessed.
It would have been little surprise if Benn had allowed the darkness to destroy him entirely, but today, as a born-again Christian, he seems to have found peace within himself. Perhaps some old scars remain, but it would seem that the Dark Destroyer cherishes his new life in the light.
Point of Entry: Medium
After leaving the army Benn took work as a security guard while climbing the amateur ranks, eventually making his professional debut shortly after his 23rd birthday, in January 1987. By the following April he had become Commonwealth middleweight champion, but lost the belt to the talented Watson.
Benn picked himself up and fought on, a theme of his career and life. Contesting his next five fights in the United States, in April 1990 he earned the WBO middleweight title by defeating American Doug DeWitt, then made a successful defence against Iran Barkley. Benn was now a world champion and his star had grown back home. His life was about to become inextricably linked with the man who he would face next: Chris Eubank.
The build up to their fight in November 1990 was as bitter as any in British boxing. There is a TV clip from the pre-fight contract signing in which Eubank refuses to look at Benn in an effort to psyche his opponent out; all Benn can do is stare menacingly at the back of his rival's head. Eubank is asked if he hates Benn and replies that he does not; asked the same question, Benn replies, "I do personally hate him." And you sense that, in the moment, he really bloody means it.
In hindsight, this long-running feud between the broadly disliked Eubank and the considerably more popular Benn was a fantastic box office draw and made both men very wealthy, a fact Benn now acknowledges with a smile. 18 million watched their second fight in 1993, roughly one in every four people in Britain. Like all good foes, they desperately needed each other.
Naturally, Benn would have preferred to be on the winning side of at least one of those bouts. The first was a dramatic contest, Benn knocking Eubank down in the ninth only for his opponent to rise and land a left hook, then a flurry of blows that ended the fight. Afterwards, Eubank called Benn the hardest puncher he had ever faced.
Again, Benn picked himself up and found new success. After the Eubank defeat he went on a 10-fight winning streak that included claiming the WBC super middleweight title in October 1992 and defending it three times. Soon enough, Eubank was calling again.
But, by the second contest, Eubank had been forever changed by his bout with Watson, who suffered permanent neurological damage after their fight in 1991. Eubank seemed to have lost his finishing instinct, and was fighting opponents of questionable quality.
Of course, he was always going to be up for the Benn fight. Though it did not hit the same high notes as the first it was nevertheless unmissable and, with the scorecards level late on, the final round saw both men go to war to secure the win. The bout was declared a draw; Benn retained his WBC belt, Eubank his WBO championship.
For Benn, two more successful defences followed before the McClellan fight. Though he retained his title twice more after that dark night in London, he was not the same afterwards. He surrendered his super-middleweight title to "Sugar Boy" Malinga in March 1996 with a display that did not resemble the Nigel Benn of old. The heart had gone; two more defeats to Steve Collins signalled an overdue end.
Like Eubank, Benn could not claim to have been the best in the world – Roy Jones Jr held that mantle in the middleweight divisions during this period, and neither fought the American. But he was a brave, hugely determined man who would always fight to the bitter end. Benn at his best was like a wounded animal, one that attacked with most ferocity when he'd been hurt emotionally or physically. Take him to a dark place and Nigel Benn could destroy almost anything.
The Moment: Coming back for more, vs Gerald McClellan
The McClellan fight epitomised Benn: to be knocked clean out of the ring in the first round (at 3 minutes in the video below), then return with a flurry of blows in the second, was his life in microcosm. What happened later in the bout was a tragedy, but in that moment of recovery Benn had shown himself to be the gutsiest of fighters.
Closing Statement
"I can't say [Gerald McClellan] was my best fight, though, because he came out in a wheelchair, blind and 80 per cent deaf. Not that I cared at the time because I wasn't a Christian at the time and thought everybody had to be knocked over."––Nigel Benn
| i don't know |
Which rapper’s real name is Louise Harman? | Lady Sov: Rap Pixie With Puck
Music
Lady Sov: Rap Pixie With Puck
Lady Sovereign's "Love Me or Hate Me" attitude was on display at the 9:30 club Saturday. (By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006
This is the next big thing in American popular music? This outrageously peckish 5-foot-1 white-girl rapper with an oft-impenetrable British accent and an apparent tendency to forget her streetwise if silly lyrics -- a problem that the artist, 20-year-old Lady Sovereign, blamed on all the beer she was swilling Saturday night at the 9:30 club?
You betcha.
So, too, does Jay-Z, the iconic rapper and Def Jam Records president, who's banking on Lady Sovereign to become a stateside pop star. Def Jam will release Lady Sov's compelling full-length debut, "Public Warning," tomorrow, and the expectation is that the album will be a hit here.
As interesting as she may be on CD and MP3, Lady Sovereign is even more captivating onstage. That's not necessarily because of her performance skills, which need sharpening (less "blah-blah-blah"-ing through the lyrics, please, and try for better diction, too), but because of her caustic wit and unpredictable persona, which are at extreme odds with her appearance. Petite and ponytailed, Lady Sov looks not unlike a 12-year-old girl.
But Saturday, performing for the first time in the District, she introduced one song ("The Broom") by saying, "It's about some [expletive] I hit over the head because she was being rude," and another ("9 to 5") by noting that she'd written it "a long time ago, but it still makes sense because I'm still a lazy bastard."
The self-described "biggest midget in the game" also spotted a man in a full-body banana suit in the well-below-capacity crowd and ordered him to roll (yes, roll) onto the stage. She drop-kicked the strange fruit, verbally abused him, threw a bottle of water at him, then shoved him off the stage. Acting most unladylike, she also led the crowd in a hideous call-and-response belching exercise, discussed her private parts in moderate detail, and shattered an empty beer bottle against a wall by way of demanding another drink.
No wonder Lady Sov has been dubbed "Feminem" by the pop press. It's a perfect sobriquet, given her verbal dexterity, self-deprecating irreverence, penchant for antagonizing audiences, and undeniable whiteness. (Before performing "Hoodie," a funky slice of social commentary about street fashion, she sneered and said: "I can't dance to my music. It's pathetic, but I'm white.")
Lady Sov's breakthrough U.S. hit, "Love Me or Hate Me," even sounds like something out of Eminem's playbook with its clever, clownish wordplay, singsongy chorus and devil-may-care attitude as she thanks those who love her and more or less extends a middle finger to those who don't.
Of course, she's doing much less bird-flipping these days: The uproarious video for "Love Me or Hate Me" reached No. 1 on MTV's "Total Request Live," an early indicator that Lady Sov (real name: Louise Harman) very well could succeed where her Brit-rap predecessors such as the Streets and Dizzee Rascal have failed -- which is to say, in America. But she might have to do so without getting much love from hard-core Southern hip-hop fans. Performing the song "Random" on Saturday, Lady Sov mocked the dominant American rap idiom and even alluded to the likes of Chingy and J-Kwon.
As it turns out, though, Lady Sov seems to have more in common with Southern rap than she realizes. "Random" was actually the hopped-up highlight of the hour-long show, a club banger with a chant-along refrain that was delivered with the explosive, frenetic energy that's a hallmark of crunk. Then again, crunk doesn't incorporate London street slang a la this "Random" couplet: "J-Lo's got a batty / Well, you can't see mine cuz I wear my trousers baggy." Nor do Lil Jon and his ilk tend to employ the sorts of electro-rock accents favored by Lady Sov and her counterparts from the Brit-rap "grime" scene.
Backed by a three-piece "band" (deejay, drummer, bassist), Lady Sov didn't just stick to straight-ahead rap during the show. She also attempted a somewhat atonal cover of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant," for which she had to consult a lyric sheet. Her stab at punk ultimately came across as more amusing than menacing, so put away those Bonnie Rotten references for now.
She also took a genre-jumping run during the encore performance of "Public Warning's" title track, a chaotic, thrashy electro-ska sound clash. At the center of the sonic storm was Lady Sov, who opened the song with a breathtaking blast of rapid-fire rapping before slowing down just enough to announce her royal status.
All hail the new queen of pop? Not exactly. "Crown me the pint-size clown of the town," she declared. Consider it done, shorty.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
| Lady Sovereign |
Philip Pirrip is the lead character in which Charles Dickens novel? | Lady Sov: Rap Pixie With Puck
Music
Lady Sov: Rap Pixie With Puck
Lady Sovereign's "Love Me or Hate Me" attitude was on display at the 9:30 club Saturday. (By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
TOOLBOX
By J. Freedom du Lac
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 30, 2006
This is the next big thing in American popular music? This outrageously peckish 5-foot-1 white-girl rapper with an oft-impenetrable British accent and an apparent tendency to forget her streetwise if silly lyrics -- a problem that the artist, 20-year-old Lady Sovereign, blamed on all the beer she was swilling Saturday night at the 9:30 club?
You betcha.
So, too, does Jay-Z, the iconic rapper and Def Jam Records president, who's banking on Lady Sovereign to become a stateside pop star. Def Jam will release Lady Sov's compelling full-length debut, "Public Warning," tomorrow, and the expectation is that the album will be a hit here.
As interesting as she may be on CD and MP3, Lady Sovereign is even more captivating onstage. That's not necessarily because of her performance skills, which need sharpening (less "blah-blah-blah"-ing through the lyrics, please, and try for better diction, too), but because of her caustic wit and unpredictable persona, which are at extreme odds with her appearance. Petite and ponytailed, Lady Sov looks not unlike a 12-year-old girl.
But Saturday, performing for the first time in the District, she introduced one song ("The Broom") by saying, "It's about some [expletive] I hit over the head because she was being rude," and another ("9 to 5") by noting that she'd written it "a long time ago, but it still makes sense because I'm still a lazy bastard."
The self-described "biggest midget in the game" also spotted a man in a full-body banana suit in the well-below-capacity crowd and ordered him to roll (yes, roll) onto the stage. She drop-kicked the strange fruit, verbally abused him, threw a bottle of water at him, then shoved him off the stage. Acting most unladylike, she also led the crowd in a hideous call-and-response belching exercise, discussed her private parts in moderate detail, and shattered an empty beer bottle against a wall by way of demanding another drink.
No wonder Lady Sov has been dubbed "Feminem" by the pop press. It's a perfect sobriquet, given her verbal dexterity, self-deprecating irreverence, penchant for antagonizing audiences, and undeniable whiteness. (Before performing "Hoodie," a funky slice of social commentary about street fashion, she sneered and said: "I can't dance to my music. It's pathetic, but I'm white.")
Lady Sov's breakthrough U.S. hit, "Love Me or Hate Me," even sounds like something out of Eminem's playbook with its clever, clownish wordplay, singsongy chorus and devil-may-care attitude as she thanks those who love her and more or less extends a middle finger to those who don't.
Of course, she's doing much less bird-flipping these days: The uproarious video for "Love Me or Hate Me" reached No. 1 on MTV's "Total Request Live," an early indicator that Lady Sov (real name: Louise Harman) very well could succeed where her Brit-rap predecessors such as the Streets and Dizzee Rascal have failed -- which is to say, in America. But she might have to do so without getting much love from hard-core Southern hip-hop fans. Performing the song "Random" on Saturday, Lady Sov mocked the dominant American rap idiom and even alluded to the likes of Chingy and J-Kwon.
As it turns out, though, Lady Sov seems to have more in common with Southern rap than she realizes. "Random" was actually the hopped-up highlight of the hour-long show, a club banger with a chant-along refrain that was delivered with the explosive, frenetic energy that's a hallmark of crunk. Then again, crunk doesn't incorporate London street slang a la this "Random" couplet: "J-Lo's got a batty / Well, you can't see mine cuz I wear my trousers baggy." Nor do Lil Jon and his ilk tend to employ the sorts of electro-rock accents favored by Lady Sov and her counterparts from the Brit-rap "grime" scene.
Backed by a three-piece "band" (deejay, drummer, bassist), Lady Sov didn't just stick to straight-ahead rap during the show. She also attempted a somewhat atonal cover of the Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant," for which she had to consult a lyric sheet. Her stab at punk ultimately came across as more amusing than menacing, so put away those Bonnie Rotten references for now.
She also took a genre-jumping run during the encore performance of "Public Warning's" title track, a chaotic, thrashy electro-ska sound clash. At the center of the sonic storm was Lady Sov, who opened the song with a breathtaking blast of rapid-fire rapping before slowing down just enough to announce her royal status.
All hail the new queen of pop? Not exactly. "Crown me the pint-size clown of the town," she declared. Consider it done, shorty.
© 2006 The Washington Post Company
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According to Greek mythology, who was the first woman on Earth? | PANDORA - The First Woman of Greek Mythology
Pandora
Epimetheus and the birth of Pandora, Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Ashmolean Museum
PANDORA was the first mortal woman who was formed out of clay by the gods.
The Titan Prometheus was once assigned the task of creating the race of man. He afterwards grew displeased with the mean lot imposed on them by the gods and so stole fire from heaven. Zeus was angered and commanded Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and the other gods create the first woman Pandora, endowing her with beauty and cunning. He then had her delivered to Prometheus' foolish younger brother Epimetheus as a bride. Zeus gave Pandora a storage jar (pithos) as a wedding gift which she opened, releasing the swarm of evil spirits trapped within. These would forever after plague mankind. Only Elpis (Hope) remained behind, a single blessing to ease mankind's suffering.
Pandora's daughter Pyrrha (Fire) was the first child born of a mortal mother. She and her husband Deukalion (Deucalion) were the sole survivors of the Great Deluge. To repopulate the earth they were instructed to cast stones over their shoulder which formed a new race of men and women.
The creation of Pandora was often depicted in ancient Greek vase painting. She appears as either a statue-like figure surrounded by gods, or as a woman rising out of the earth (called the anodos in Greek). Sometimes she is surrounded by dancing Satyroi (Satyrs) in a scene from a lost Satyr-play by Sophokles.
FAMILY OF PANDORA
PARENTS
NONE (created by the gods) (Hesiod Works & Days 54, Hesiod Theogony 560, Aeschylus Frag 204, Sophocles Pandora, Pausanias 1.24.7, Hyginus Fabulae 142)
OFFSPRING
[1.1] PYRRHA (by Epimetheus ) (Apollodorus 1.46, Hyginus Fabulae 142)
[1.2] PYRRHA (Strabo 9.5.23)
ENCYCLOPEDIA
PANDO′RA (Pandôra), i. e. the giver of all, or endowed with every thing, is the name of the first woman on earth. When Prometheus had stolen the fire from heaven, Zeus in revenge caused Hephaestus to make a woman out of earth, who by her charms and beauty should bring misery upon the human race (Hes. Theog. 571, &c.; Stob. Serin. 1). Aphrodite adorned her with beauty, Hermes gave her boldness and cunning, and the gods called her Pandora, as each of the Olympians had given her some power by which she was to work the ruin of man. Hermes took her to Epimetheus, who forgot the advice of his brother Prometheus, not to accept any gift from Zeus, and from that moment all miseries came down upon men (Hes. Op. et Dies, 50, &c.). According to some mythographers, Epimetheus became by her the father of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Hygin. Fab. 142; Apollod. i. 7. § 2 ; Procl. ad Hes. Op. p. 30, ed. Heinsius; Ov. Met. i. 350); others make Pandora a daughter of Pyrrha and Deucalion (Eustath. ad Hom. p. 23). Later writers speak of a vessel of Pandora, containing all the blessings of the gods, which would have been preserved for the human race, had not Pandora opened the vessel, so that the winged blessings escaped irrecoverably. The birth of Pandora was represented on the pedestal of the statue of Athena, in the Parthenon at Athens (Paus. i. 24. § 7). In the Orphic poems Pandora occurs as an infernal awful divinity, and is associated with Hecate and the Erinnyes (Orph. Argon. 974). Pandora also occurs as a surname of Gaea (Earth), as the giver of all. (Schol. ad Aristoph. Av. 970; Philostr. Vit. Apoll. vi. 39; Hesych. s.v.)
Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
CLASSICAL LITERATURE QUOTES
The creation of Pandora, Athenian red-figure kylix C5th B.C., British Museum
Hesiod, Works & Days 54 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"The gods keep hidden from men the means of life [i.e. fire] . . . Zeus in the anger of his heart hid it, because Prometheus the crafty deceived him; therefore he planned sorrow and mischief against men. He hid fire; but that the noble son of Iapetos stole again for men from Zeus the counsellor in a hollow fennel-stalk, so that Zeus who delights in thunder did not see it. But afterwards Zeus who gathers the clouds said to him in anger : ‘Son of Iapetos, surpassing all in cunning, you are glad that you have outwitted me and stolen fire--a great plague to you yourself and to men that shall be. But I will give men as the price for fire an evil thing in which they may all be glad of heart while they embrace their own destruction.’
So said the father of men and gods, and laughed aloud. And he bade famous Hephaistos (Hephaestus) make haste and mix earth with water and to put in it the voice and strength of human kind, and fashion a sweet, lovely maiden-shape, like to the immortal goddesses in face; and Athene (Athena) to teach her needlework and the weaving of the varied web; and golden Aphrodite to shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs. And he charged Hermes the guide, the Slayer of Argos, to put in her a shameless mind and a deceitful nature. So he ordered. And they obeyed the lord Zeus the son of Kronos (Cronus). Forthwith [Hephaistos] the famous Lame God moulded clay in the likeness of a modest maid, as the son of Kronos purposed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene girded and clothed her, and the divine Kharites (Charites, Graces) and queenly Peitho (Persuasion) put necklaces of gold upon her, and the rich-haired Horai (Horae, Seasons) crowned her head with spring flowers. And Pallas Athene bedecked her form with all manners of finery. Also [Hermes] the Guide, the Slayer of Argos, contrived within her lies and crafty words and a deceitful nature at the will of loud thundering Zeus, and the Herald of the gods put speech in her. And he called this woman Pandora (All-Gifts), because all they who dwelt on Olympos gave each a gift, a plague to men who eat bread.
But when he had finished the sheer, hopeless snare, the Father sent glorious Argus-Slayer [Hermes], the swift messenger of the gods, to take it to Epimetheus as a gift. And Epimetheus did not think on what Prometheus had said to him, bidding him never take a gift of Olympian Zeus, but to send it back for fear it might prove to be something harmful to men. But he took the gift, and afterwards, when the evil thing was already his, he understood. For ere this the tribes of men lived on earth remote and free from ills (kakoi) and hard toil (ponoi) and heavy sickness (nosoi) which bring the Keres (Fates) upon men; for in misery men grow old quickly. But the woman took off the great lid of the jar (pithos) with her hands and scattered all these and her thought caused sorrow and mischief to men. Only Elpis (Hope) remained there in an unbreakable home within under the rim of the great jar, and did not fly out at the door; for ere that, the lid of the jar stopped her, by the will of Aigis-holding Zeus who gathers the clouds. But the rest, countless plagues (lugra), wander amongst men; for earth is full of evils and the sea is full. Of themselves diseases (nosoi) come upon men continually by day and by night, bringing mischief to mortals silently; for wise Zeus took away speech from them. So is there no way to escape the will of Zeus."
Hesiod, Theogony 510 ff (trans. Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) :
"Scatter-brained Epimetheus who from the first was a mischief to men who eat bread; for it was he who first took of Zeus the woman [i.e. Pandora], the maiden whom he had formed."
Hesiod, Theogony 560 ff :
"[Zeus] was always mindful of the trick [of Prometheus, who had won for mankind the meat of the sacrificial beast,], and would not give the power of unwearying fire to the Melian race of mortal men who live on the earth. But [Prometheus] the noble son of Iapetos outwitted him and stole the far-seen gleam of unwearying fire in a hollow fennel stalk. And Zeus who thunders on high was stung in spirit, and his dear heart was angered when he saw amongst men the far-seen ray of fire. Forthwith he made an evil thing for men as the price of fire; for the very famous Limping God [Hephaistos (Hephaestus)] formed of earth the likeness of a shy maiden [i.e. Pandora] as [Zeus] the son of Kronos (Cronus) willed. And the goddess bright-eyed Athene (Athena) girded and clothed her with silvery raiment, and down from her head she spread with her hands an embroidered veil, a wonder to see; and she, Pallas Athene, put about her head lovely garlands, flowers of new-grown herbs. Also she put upon her head a crown of gold which [Hephaistos] the very famous Limping God made himself and worked with his own hands as a favor to Zeus his father. On it was much curious work, wonderful to see; for of the many creatures which the land and sea rear up, he put most upon it, wonderful things, like living beings with voices : and great beauty shone out from it.
But when he had made the beautiful evil to be the price for the blessing, he brought her out, delighting in the finery which the bright-eyed daughter of a mighty father had given her, to the place where the other gods and men were. And wonder took hold of the deathless gods and mortal men when they saw that which was sheer guile, not to be withstood by men. For from her is the race of women and female kind: of her is the deadly race and tribe of women who live amongst mortal men to their great trouble, no helpmeets in hateful poverty, but only in wealth. And as in thatched hives bees feed the drones whose nature is to do mischief--by day and throughout the day until the sun goes down the bees are busy and lay the white combs, while the drones stay at home in the covered hives and reap the toil of others into their own bellies--even so Zeus who thunders on high made women to be an evil to mortal men, with a nature to do evil. And he gave them a second evil to be the price for the good they had: whoever avoids marriage and the sorrows that women cause, and will not wed, reaches deadly old age without anyone to tend his years, and though he at least has no lack of livelihood while he lives, yet, when he is dead, his kinsfolk divide his possessions amongst them. And as for the man who chooses the lot of marriage and takes a good wife suited to his mind, evil continually contends with good; for whoever happens to have mischievous children, lives always with unceasing grief in his spirit and heart within him; and this evil cannot be healed. So it is not possible to deceive or go beyond the will of Zeus: for not even the son of Iapetos, kindly Prometheus, escaped his heavy anger, but of necessity strong bands confined him, although he knew many a wile."
The creation of Pandora, Athenian red-figure calyx krater C5th B.C., British Museum
Homer, The Iliad 24. 527 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.) :
"There are two urns (pithoi) that stand on the door-sill of Zeus. They are unlike for the gifts they bestow: an urn of evils (kakoi), an urn of blessings (dôroi). If Zeus who delights in thunder mingles these and bestows them on man, he shifts, and moves now in evil, again in good fortune. But when Zeus bestows from the urn of sorrows, he makes a failure of man, and hte evil hunger drives him over the shining earth, and he wanders resepected neither of gods nor mortals."
[N.B. Later writers say that Zeus gave one of these two jars to Pandora. The poets were at odds as to which jar she received--Hesiod says it was the jar of evils (kakoi), but Theognis and Aesop claim it was the jar of blessings (dôroi). The name Pan-dôra ("all-gifts") perhaps suggests the latter.]
Theognis, Fragment 1. 1135 (trans. Gerber, Vol. Greek Elegiac) (Greek elegy C6th B.C.) :
"Elpis (Hope) is the only good god remaining among mankind; the others have left and gone to Olympos. Pistis (Trust), a mighty god has gone, Sophrosyne (Restraint) has gone from men, and the Kharites (Charites, Graces), my friend, have abandoned the earth. Men's judicial oaths are no longer to be trusted, nor does anyone revere the immortal gods; the race of pious men has perished and men no longer recognize the rules of conduct or acts of piety."
[N.B. Theognis' account is the reverse of Hesiod's--the good spirits escape from Pandora's jar, abandoning mankind in their flight back to heaven.]
Aesop, Fables 526 (from Babrius 58) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) :
"Zeus gathered all the useful things together in a jar and put a lid on it. He then left the jar in human hands. But man had no self-control and he wanted to know what was in that jar, so he pushed the lid aside, letting those things go back to the abode of the gods. So all the good things flew away, soaring high above the earth, and Elpis (Hope) was the only thing left. When the lid was put back on the jar, Elpis (Hope) was kept inside. That is why Elpis (Hope) alone is still found among the people, promising that she will bestow on each of us the good things that have gone away."
[N.B. "Human hands" alludes to the story of Pandora who delivered the jar to mankind. In this version, however, it is apparently her husband who opens it.]
Aesop, Fables 525 (from Chambry 1) (trans. Gibbs) (Greek fable C6th B.C.) :
"The Good Things were too weak to defend themselves from the Bad Things, so the Bad Things drove them off to heaven. The Good Things then asked Zeus how they could reach mankind. Zeus told them that they should not go together all at once, only one at a time. This is why people are constantly besieged by Bad Things, since they are nearby, while Good Things come more rarely, since they must descend to us from heaven one by one."
[N.B. This fable describes the spirits which had escaped from Pandora's jar. It also refers to the two jars set beside the throne of Zeus in the Iliad--one containing Good Things and the other Evils.]
Epimetheus, Pandora and Eros (detail), Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Ashmolean Museum
Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound 250 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) :
"Prometheus : Yes, I caused mortals to cease foreseeing their doom (moros).
Chorus : Of what sort was the cure that you found for this affliction?
Prometheus : I caused blind hopes (elpides) to dwell within their breasts.
Chorus : A great benefit was this you gave to mortals."
[N.B. This is presumably a reference to Pandora's jar--a curse concocted by Zeus to punish mankind for the theft of fire. Prometheus seems to be saying that he was the one who stayed Hope inside the jar when all the other spirits escaped.]
Aeschylus, Fragment 204 (from Proclus, Commentary on Hesiod's Works and Days 156) :
"A mortal woman from out a seed moulded of clay [i.e Pandora]."
Sophocles, Pandora (lost play) (C5th B.C.) :
Sophocles wrote a Satyr-play entitled Pandora or Sphyrocopi which dramatised the story of the first woman.
Plato, Protagoras 320c - 322a (trans. Lamb) (Greek philosopher C4th B.C.) :
"Prometheus stole the mechanical arts of Hephaistos (Hephaestus) and Athene (Athena), and fire with them (they could neither have been acquired nor used without fire), and gave them to man . . . But Prometheus is said to have been afterwards prosecuted for theft, owing to the blunder of Epimetheus [i.e. because he accepted Pandora from Zeus]."
Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 1. 46 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Prometheus had a son Deukalion (Deucalion), who was king of the lands round Phthia and was married to Pyrrha, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora, the first woman created by the gods."
Euphorion of Chalcis, Fragments (trans. Page, Vol. Select Papyri III, No. 121 (2b)) (Greek epic C3rd B.C.) :
"Pandora, donor of evil (kakodôros), man's sorrow self-imposed."
Strabo, Geography 9. 5. 23 (trans. Jones) (Greek geographer C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) :
"[The region of] Thessalia (Thessaly). But speaking of it as a whole, I may say that in earlier times it was called Pyrrhaia (Pyrrhaea), after Pyrrha the wife of Deukalion (Deucalion) . . . But some writers, dividing it into two parts, say that Deukalion obtained the portion towards the south and called it Pandora after his mother [i.e. his mother-in-law], and that the other part fell to Haimon (Haemon), after whom it was called Haimonia (Haemonia), but that the former name was changed to Hellas, after Hellen the son of Deukalion, and the latter to Thessalia, after the son of Haimon."
[N.B. Pyrrha was the daughter of Pandora and wife of Deukalion. Deukalion named various parts of Thessalia after his wife and mother-in-law.]
Pausanias, Description of Greece 1. 24. 7 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) :
"On the pedestal [of the statue of Athena on the Akropolis in Athens] is the birth of Pandora in relief. Hesiod and others have sung how this Pandora was the first woman; before Pandora was born there was as yet no womankind."
Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 142 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) :
"Prometheus, son of Iapetus, first fashioned men from clay. Later Vulcanus [Hephaistos], at Jove's [Zeus'] command, made a woman's form from clay. Minerva [Athene] gave it life, and the rest of the gods each gave come other gift. Because of this they named her Pandora. She was given in marriage to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pyrrha was her daughter, and was said to be the first mortal born."
Nonnus, Dionysiaca 7. 7 ff (trans. Rouse) (Greek epic C5th A.D.) :
"[Aion (Time) addresses Zeus :] ‘But, some may say, a medicine [Hope] has been planted to make long-suffering mortals forget their troubles, to save their lives. Would that Pandora had never opened the heavenly cover of that jar--she the sweet bane of mankind!’"
ANCIENT GREEK ART
| Pandora |
Which English monarch was married to Eleanor of Aquitaine? | Greek Creation Myth
Greek Myth Creation
Beginning of Everything
The most detailed account of Greek Myth Creation comes from Theogony , a poem composed by Hesiod, a greek poet. Greek Mythology starts with the Creation of the universe and the human race.
To the Greeks, everything in the world began with Chaos, a primordial void of darkness. After Chaos came Gaia, the Earth which was born from Chaos or appearing on its own. After Chaos and Gaia came Tartarus, which is deep inside the Earth, the lowest level of the Underworld. Then came Eros, the most beautiful of all immortals.
All else came into being after these four have emerged. Chaos give birth to Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). While sleeping, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (God of the Sky and Sky himself) and Pontus (God of the Sea and Sea). Uranus was the first son of Gaia and later became her husband.
After the emergence of Erebus, Nyx, Uranus and Pontus, all the rest of Creation came from mating. Uranus, the sky, grew as huge as Gaia and enveloped her. Fertile rain fell to the earth and Gaia then gave birth to the rest of the physical world, mountains, oceans, flowers and trees. Their children included 12 children - the Titans, three Cyclops and three hundred handed Giants. In a nutsell, this is how the world came about in Greek Mythology.
Prometheus and the Theft of Fire
There were many tales of where the first humans came from. One of the most convincing tales credited one of the elder Greek Gods (a Titan), Prometheus, who created humans out of mud in the image of the gods.
In the early history of man, an argument emerged on which portion of a sacrificial bull must be given to the gods. The Olympians asked Prometheus to arbitrate. Prometheus then created two piles of meat, one pile had the choicest flesh but with the unappetizing looking stomach on top and the other pile had only bones and but was covered with a layer of juicy fat.
Prometheus then asked the supreme Greek God Zeus to choose which portion should go to the gods. Zeus saw through the deception but still choose the fat-covered bones in order to create an eternal enmity between gods and humans.
Zeus was furious that Prometheus tried to trick him and therefore decided to withdraw the gift of fire to humankind. Man can get the best part of the meat but will have to eat it raw. However, Prometheus stole the fire away from the flaming chariot of Helius (the Sun) and hid in a the hollow stalk of a plant. He then happily sped to man with this heavenly gift of fire.
Revenge of Zeus - Pandora
Zeus rage shook the heavens when he found out that Prometheus stole the fire. To punish Prometheus and mankind, he instructed Hephaestus (God of fire, artisans, smiths) to create a woman of stunning beauty from clay and water.
Pandora , the first woman was thus created. She was then given a final gift, jar which she must not open. Hermes then swiftly brought her down to Epimetheus, the brother of Prometheus. Though Prometheus had forseen that Zeus will retaliate and warned his brother against accepting the gift. Epimetheus did not heed the warning as he was attracted to the great beauty of Pandora.
Pandora stayed on earth for a while before she became curious about the jar the gods gave her. When she opened it, all the misfortune of the world overflowed to the earth. The gifts were in fact labour, old age, evil, plague - brought only trouble to mankind. Panicked, she then quickly replaced the jar lid just before Hope could come out. The rest of the evils and dieseas were already out causing humans much pain and hurt thereafter.
According to Hesiod, not only did the first woman Pandora, released the evils upon the world, she also became the mother of all wicked women. Those who nag
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In which South American city is Sugarloaf Mountain? | Sugarloaf Mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain (P�o de A��car)...
Rio's most iconic mountain
Sugarloaf Mountain - � luoman/Istockphoto
If you've seen Moonraker (1979, James Bond movie starring Roger Moore) you've already been to sugarloaf mountain.
Remember Jaws?..the big guy able to chew nuts and bolts as easily as cornflakes crushing against it in the cable car and surviving unscathed?
Well, that's the mountain we're talking about, but do not worry, you don't need to be a spy to reach the summit and to enjoy the view.
Besides, landing is much easier and stress-free than in the movies.
In fact, it's a two-leg journey in the bondinho (cable car) that takes a few minutes to complete - and about 25,00 U$S of your time - reaching first Morro de A��car (220 meters high) and finally P�o de A��car, rising 396 meters (1,299 ft) above Guanabara bay.
And you get a 360 degree view of the marvelous city of Rio de Janeiro in return.
Granted, the number of Rio de Janeiro attractions could be counted by the dozens so it all boils down to the length of your Brazil holidays to visit them all, but P�o de A��car is the city's most iconic mountain that you simply cannot miss.
Furthermore, if I have to write a very concise list of sights, that would include sugarloaf mountain, corcovado mountain and the two most famous beaches in Rio de Janeiro: Ipanema and Copacabana beach .
Then you could continue with a tour to Samba City to get a hint of what carnival means to brazilian culture and cariocas in particular, a visit to the Botanical Garden and start doing the round of museums of course.
Don't want to overload you with homework because I'd assume you'll spend some time enjoying Rio 's nightlife as well.
At that point, you may consider to remain in Rio forever so keep an eye on your Brazil visa every now and then, would you?
According to history, back in January 1502, Guanabara bay - flanked by Pico do Papagaio (Parrot's Peak) and P�o de A��car (Sugarloaf) at the western tip - became known to the world by the hands of two Portuguese explorers.
The ria (Portuguese for bay) was named Ria de Janeiro (being Janeiro Portuguese for January). Some confusion or translating error took place and rio (river) was adopted instead.
The city was named after this and the cidade maravilhosa of Rio de Janeiro was born, and became one of the most unique South America travel experiences of all times.
Sugarloaf mountain is so emblematic and worldwide known as a Rio attraction that even the Simpsons were there when Homer was kidnapped at "Blame it on Lisa" episode, so what are you waiting for?..
Where to Stay:
Rio de Janeiro has an excellent infrastructure, luxurious hotels, small inns, plenty of hostels and pousadas, mainly located in the southern and downtown areas.
Hotels:
| Rio de Janeiro |
Who wrote the 1950 novel ‘A Town Like Alice’? | Rio de Janeiro - Sugarloaf Mountain Cable Car at Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro - Sugarloaf Mountain Cable Car at Rio de Janeiro
Use
to navigate.
Rio de Janeiro - Sugarloaf Mountain Cable Car at Rio de Janeiro. Photo Credit: Picture of Sugarloaf Mountain in Rio de Janeiro (c) Linda Garrison
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Which musical instrument represents the cat in Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’? | Peter and the Wolf Introduction by Phil Tulga
Peter and the Wolf
- a musical story by Sergei Prokofiev -
Welcome to my introduction on Peter and the Wolf. It includes:1) background on Prokofiev [pruh-COFFEE-ehf], 2) musical themes for each character, 3) multimedia activities that integrate Prokofiev's themes with other areas of the curriculum, 4) Prokofiev's original story that he wrote in 1936, and 5) my follow-up writing prompt and story map/sequence . So take a couple of minutes to read about Sergei Prokofiev, hear the characters' musical themes, and enjoy reading the classic musical tale, Peter and the Wolf.
Background
Sergei Prokofiev (1891-1953) was born in the village of Sontsovka in the Donets region of the Ukraine. He was a child prodigy on the order of Mozart, composing for piano at age five and writing an opera at nine. His first teacher was his mother, a talented pianist. He attended the St. Petersburg Conservatory from 1904 to 1914, winning the Anton Rubinstein prize for best student pianist when he graduated. He traveled widely, spending many years in London and Paris, and toured the United States five times.
In 1936, Prokofiev returned to settle permanently in the Soviet Union. One of his first compositions after his return was Peter and the Wolf, written in just two weeks in April of 1936 for a children's theater in Moscow. Prokofiev invented the story and wrote the narration himself, drawing on memories of his own childhood. He constructed the music as a child's introduction to the orchestra, with each character in the story represented by a different instrument or group of instruments: Peter by the strings, the bird by the flute, the duck by the oboe, the cat by the clarinet, the wolf by the horn section, and so on.
Peter and the Wolf was an immediate success and has been loved by children all over the world. The music is sophisticated enough to be enjoyed by adults, even through repeated hearings. And its moral you can't be a hero if you don't take risks delights children as it must have cheered the composer.
Musical Themes
Prokofiev's Original Story
Early one morning, Peter opened the gate and walked out into the big green meadow.
On a branch of a big tree sat a little bird, Peter's friend. "All is quiet" chirped the bird happily.
Just then a duck came waddling round. She was glad that Peter had not closed the gate and decided to take a nice swim in the deep pond in the meadow.
Seeing the duck, the little bird flew down upon on the grass, settled next to her and shrugged his shoulders. "What kind of bird are you if you can't fly?" said he. To this the duck replied "What kind of bird are you if you can't swim?" and dived into the pond.
They argued and argued, the duck swimming in the pond and the little bird hopping along the shore.
Suddenly, something caught Peter's attention. He noticed a cat crawling through the grass.
The cat thought; "That little bird is busy arguing, I'll just grab him. Stealthily, the cat crept towards him on her velvet paws.
"Look out!" shouted Peter and the bird immediately flew up into the tree, while the duck quacked angrily at the cat, from the middle of the pond. The cat walked around the tree and thought, "Is it worth climbing up so high? By the time I get there the bird will have flown away."
Just then grandfather came out. He was upset because Peter had gone in the meadow. "It's a dangerous place. If a wolf should come out of the forest, then what would you do?"
But Peter paid no attention to his grandfather's words. Boys like him are not afraid of wolves.
But grandfather took Peter by the hand, led him home and locked the gate.
No sooner had Peter gone, than a big grey wolf came out of the forest.
In a twinkling the cat climbed up the tree. The duck quacked, and in her excitement jumped out of the pond. But no matter how hard the duck tried to run, she couldn't escape the wolf. He was getting nearer, nearer, catching up with her. Then he got her, and with one gulp, swallowed her.
And now, this is how things stood: the cat was sitting on one branch, the bird on another . . . not too close to the cat. And the wolf walked around and around the tree, looking at them with greedy eyes.
In the meantime, Peter, without the slightest fear, stood behind the closed gate watching all that was going on. He ran home, got a strong rope, and climbed up the high stone wall.
One of the branches of the tree, around which the wolf was walking, stretched out over the wall.
Grabbing hold of the branch, Peter lightly climbed over on to the tree. Peter said to the bird: "Fly down and circle over the wolf's head. Only take care that he doesn't catch you."
The bird almost touched the wolf's head with his wings while the wolf snapped angrily at him, from this side and that.
How the bird worried the wolf! How he wanted to catch him! But the bird was clever, and the wolf simply couldn't do anything about it.
Meanwhile, Peter made a lasso and carefully letting it down, caught the wolf by the tail and pulled with all his might.
Feeling himself caught, the wolf began to jump wildly trying to get loose.
But Peter tied the other end of rope to the tree, and the wolf's jumping only made the rope around his tail tighter.
Just then, the hunters came out of the woods, following the wolf's trail and shooting as they went.
But Peter, sitting in the tree, said: "Don't shoot! Birdie and I have already caught the wolf. Now help us take him to the zoo."
And now, imagine the triumphant procession: Peter at the head; after him the hunters leading the wolf; and winding up the procession, grandfather and the cat.
Grandfather shook his head discontentedly: "Well, and if Peter hadn't caught the wolf? What then?"
Above them flew Birdie chirping merrily. "My, what brave fellows we are, Peter and I! Look what we have caught!"
And if one would listen very carefully, he could hear the duck quacking inside the wolf; because the wolf in his hurry, had swallowed her alive.
Writing Prompt and Story Map/Sequence
The story ends with the parade on the way to the zoo. Students might make the assumption that all of the characters reach the zoo, and the ending is happy and thoroughly uncomplicated. Yet, Prokofiev chooses to leave the story open-ended, which provides an excellent opportunity to predict what will happen next. Of particular interest is the problem between the wolf and the duck. Will the duck ever escape from inside the wolf's stomach? If so, how? Will something happen on the way to the zoo? Will any of the characters even reach the zoo? All of this uncertainty will serve as inspiration for students to write their own endings. To assist teachers in coordinating this writing activity, I have created the following Story Map and Sequence.
Setting: The story takes place in the meadow surrounding Peters house.
Characters: Peter, bird, duck, wolf, cat, grandfather & hunters
Main Characters: Peter, bird, duck & wolf
Problem: A hungry wolf is trying to catch the animals to eat them.
Solution: Peter makes a plan to catch the wolf. The bird distracts the wolf while Peter slips a rope around the wolfs tail and catches him. Peter and the hunters take the wolf to the zoo.
Major Events/Sequence:
Beginning: Peter and his friends (bird and duck) go into the meadow. The bird and duck play at the pond. A cat tries to grab the bird but fails. Grandfather warns Peter about the wolf, takes him home, and locks the gate.
Middle: As soon as Peter and his grandfather leave, the wolf comes out of the forest. The wolf catches the duck and swallows her. The wolf turns his attention to the cat and the bird, who are up in a tree. Peter watches all of this and makes a plan to capture the wolf.
Ending: Peter and the bird work together and catch the wolf with a rope. When the hunters arrive, Peter asks them to help take the wolf to the zoo. In celebration, everyone parades the wolf towards his new home. The duck is still alive and can be heard quacking inside the wolf.
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Khoom is Hebrew for which colour? | Peter & the Wolf | Essay: Prokofiev's "Peter & the Wolf" | Great Performances | PBS
Essay: Prokofiev’s “Peter & the Wolf”
March 26, 2008
Comments
Breakthru Films
If Sergei Prokofiev had composed nothing except “Peter and the Wolf,” he would have left a sizable mark. The work has helped introduce generations of children to the instruments of the orchestra and the concept of telling a story through music, fulfilling the goal Prokofiev set for himself in 1936. Although this particular narrative, also written by the composer, isn’t entirely cheery — the wolf’s swallowing of an unfortunate duck comes to mind — the sonic side of things is so inventive and engaging that the whole thing seems somehow thoroughly uplifting. Even in the sometimes darker, moodier version of “Peter & the Wolf” brilliantly directed by animator Suzie Templeton being shown on GREAT PERFORMANCES, there is an affecting turn toward the light (moonlight, in this case) at the end. Since the score’s ingenious match of character to instrument enables listeners of practically any age to envision the scenes easily, the brief, original text gets the job done neatly. But chances are, Prokofiev would have loved the way Templeton opens up the story, providing such a rich world of imagery and action that no words are spoken at all, while the music is treated with total respect.
In 1935, in addition to working on his stunning ballet score “Romeo and Juliet,” Prokofiev wrote several short pieces for children, a genre that suddenly seemed to be in demand. Fortuitously, during this same period, the composer attended a couple of events at the Moscow Children’s Musical Theater, taking his own kids along. The director invited him to write something for the theater, and Prokofiev quickly accepted. “In the spring of 1936,” he recorded in his diary, “I started a symphonic tale for children titled ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ Op. 67, to a text of my own. [Prokofiev had first rejected a text prepared by a poet recommended by the theater director, on the grounds that it was clichéd.] Every character in the story had its own motif played each time by the same instrument. … Before each performance, the instruments were shown to the children and the themes played for them; during the performance, the children heard the themes repeated several times and learned to recognize the timbres of the different instruments. The text was read during the pauses in the music, which was disproportionately longer than the text — for me, the story was important only as a means of inducing the children to listen to the music.”
Clearly inspired by the concept, Prokofiev finished composing in one week, taking just another week to do the orchestration. A measure of his devotion to the project can be seen in the fact that he agreed to accept whatever fee the theater could afford.
The scenario of “Peter and the Wolf” is straightforward. A boy (depicted by strings) wanders through nature, observing a duck (oboe), a bird (flute), and a cat (clarinet). The cat tries to catch the bird. Peter’s grandfather (bassoon) admonishes him for wandering in a place where a wolf might attack and makes him return home. From that safe place, sure enough, Peter soon sees a wolf (horns) arrive on the scene. The wolf wolfs down the duck and then threatens the bird and cat. Determined to thwart the aggressor, Peter sneaks back outside and manages to catch the animal, with the help of the bird and a rope. When hunters (lots of timpani and bass drum) arrive on the scene, anxious to kill the wolf, Peter urges them to let the animal be taken to a zoo instead. As they all head off in happy procession, the duck can be heard quacking inside the wolf’s stomach, “for, in his hurry, the wolf had swallowed her whole.”
As Harlow Robinson writes in his 1987 biography of Prokofiev, “If the story has a moral, it seems to be this: don’t be afraid to challenge established beliefs (Grandfather’s caution) or to take risks. It is Peter’s independence, shrewdness and courage that save the day; if he hadn’t disobeyed his grandfather by climbing over the wall, the wolf would never have been caught. Seen in this light, ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is a subtly subversive tract, encouraging children to rely on their wits and not on the greater experience (and inertia) of their elders.”
It’s entirely possible, of course, to view the piece as pure entertainment and music appreciation, devoid of any hidden message.
The first performance featured Prokofiev at the keyboard and was a hit with the young audience at the Children’s Theater. A formal, public performance a few days later “was rather poor and did not attract much attention,” the composer entered into his diary. But the fate of “Peter and the Wolf” quickly improved. Within a few weeks, yet another performance was given in Moscow, and this time, there was no mistaking the triumph. In short order, the work was charming audiences far beyond Soviet Russia. It clearly knew no geographic or demographic boundaries. And the educational element was grasped from the start; concerts for young people were not complete without it.
That Prokofiev should have created such a masterpiece isn’t at all surprising. Robinson explains it neatly: “Long after his own idyllic childhood, he continued to love children for their unfettered imagination, sense of play and inability to dissimulate. That he never forgot what it meant to be a child, and how children think, is evident in the playful but never condescending music he wrote for them, most of all the phenomenally successful ‘Peter and the Wolf,’ written when Prokofiev was a boy of forty-five.”
Over the decades, the work has been performed by virtually every orchestra and conductor and has also attracted an endless list of narrators, including an impressive number of A-listers from virtually every field, among them Sting, David Bowie, Patrick Stewart, John Gielgud, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, Boris Karloff, Jack Lemmon, William F. Buckley, Captain Kangaroo, and the inimitable Dame Edna Everage (a.k.a. Barry Humphries). And, of course, there have been many comic takeoffs on the story as well, including those by the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, P.D.Q. Bach (a.k.a. Peter Schickele), and Allan Sherman.
Now comes Suzie Templeton’s provocative animated, wordless version, set in our own time and in a Russia that, on the surface, does not seem to have improved much from the bleakest Soviet days. But in that ominous world, the spirit of an inquisitive, sensitive, brave boy glows and grows as brightly as ever.
Referenced Source:
Prokofiev, Sergei. SOVIET DIARY 1927 AND OTHER WRITINGS. Trans. and ed. Oleg Prokofiev. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1992.
Robinson, Harlow. SERGEI PROKOFIEV: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Viking Penguin, 1987.
–Tim Smith
Tim Smith is the classical music critic of THE BALTIMORE SUN. He has also written for THE NEW YORK TIMES, OPERA NEWS, and BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE, among other publications. His writing has won several regional and national journalism awards, including a first place in arts criticism from the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors. He is the author of THE NPR CURIOUS LISTENER’S GUIDE TO CLASSICAL MUSIC (Perigee Books).
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What type of creature is a mango? | * Mango (Animals) - Definition,meaning - Online Encyclopedia
Mangoverde :: World Bird Guide :: Ovenbird s :: Pale-legged Hornero
Pale-legged Hornero Furnarius leucopus
Described by: Swainson (1838)
Alternate common name(s): Tricolored Hornero , Tricoloured Horneo, Tricolor Horneo, Tricolour Horneo, Pacific Hornero , Caribbean Hornero ...
The Chimango Caracara is distributed in south-central and southern South America including the extreme south-east of Brazil. It is found in a large variety of open habitats including agricultural land where it follows the plough in large groups.
The Mango Humming-bird
The definitive website on wildbirds & nature
Birds of America ...
Veraguan Mango by Carlos Bethancourt
Although the Neotropical region supports fewer bird families than Africa, there are considerably more bird species here than anywhere else on earth. This means that there are some astoundingly large families of birds in Central and South America.
Mango
Sex: Female
Born on the 7th of February, Mango is the first calf for parents DJ and Inyeti. Being a young rhino means there is a lot to explore and learn about this big wide world, and that's exactly what Mango has been up to! ...
Mango fever
A swamp in Zambia houses the biggest bat roost in the world.
3) Mangoverde.com - Yellow-nosed Albatross
Photo Information: Photo taken by Brian Gratwicke - Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.
Click below for a higher-resolution map ...
Mango the Senegal (Owner: Cathy Quinones )
MUCH THANKS to the Poicephalus FAQs Ken Hulme ([email protected]) and Steve Degroof. Most of this document is plagerization of the FAQ
Senegal Description ...
Lifespan: Usually 15 years. Maximum recorded in captivity, 31 years 4 months
DID YOU KNOW? ...
The related mango bird inhabits India, and allied species are found in Africa and Australia. The male Baltimore Oriole s of East North America the head, throat, shoulders, wings, and tail are black and the rest of the plumage is orange.
Black-throated Mango (Anthracothorax nigricollis)
3/30/04 - Mali, Fortuna Road, Bocas del Toro. Female sitting on her nest.
Green Thorntail (Discosura conversii)
3/30/04 - Centro de Investigaciones Tropicales, Fortuna Road, Chiriqui. A female, looking up.
macroura Swallow -tailed Hummingbird Florisuga mellivora White-necked Jacobin Melanotrochilus fuscus Black Jacobin Colibri delphinae Brown Violet-ear thalassinus Green Violet-ear coruscans Sparkling Violet-ear serrirostris White-vented Violet-ear Anthracothorax viridigula Green-throated Mango ...
Laetitia Ferguson - Butler Point - Hihi Road, RD1, Mangonui 0494, 09 406 0006, [email protected]
Teresa Fischer - [email protected]
Megan Hickman - Farrago Farm - P.O. Box 14, Te Uku, Raglan 3266, 07 825 5052, [email protected] ...
They are especially fond of kale, zucchini, squash, mango, cantaloupe, banana, and apple. Dust this salad liberally on every third or fourth feeding with a high-quality calcium and multivitamin powder mixture.
However the Black Wood Turtle R.
Wild mangoes, bamboo and figs are especially favored. It is fond of salt and visits salt licks regularly. The Sumatran rhino feeds before dawn and after sunset and moves mostly by night. Much of the day is spent in wallows.
When trees are in fruit, usually during the monsoon season, sloth bear s dine on mango, fig, ebony, and other fruits, and also on some flowers. However, ants and termite s, dug out of their cement-hard nest mounds, are a year-round staple.
The Asian Elephant is a herbivore that favors bamboo, berries, mangoes, bananas, shrubs, tree foliage, wood, apples, wild rice, and coconuts. Since their bodies only make use of half of the food they consume, the elephant must eat between 330 and 350 pounds of food each day.
They feast on wild fruits like lychees, mangosteens, and figs, and slurp water from holes in trees. They make nests in trees of vegetation to sleep at night and rest during the day. Adult male orangutan s can weigh up to 200 pounds.
catta's range roughly coincides with the Mangoky River and the following towns: Morondava, Ambalavao, and Tolagnaro. The southwestern part is bordered by the coast.
L. catta ranges further into the interior highlands than other lemur s
A separate population, possibly a different subspecies, of L.
These include: jackfruits, mangos, figs, lychees, durians and others. Fruit trees are spread throughout the forests where orangutan s live, and the fruit ripens and flowers and different times.
Fruits such as bananas, breadfruit, avocados, dates, figs, mangoes, peaches and even tequila rely on them for pollination and/or seed dispersal
Source of genet ic material for disease resistant strains
Rejuvenation of commercial varieties by producing more productive plants ...
Annual home range size in Tamango Nature Reserve, Chile was estimated to be 300 hectares (Smith-Flueck, 2000), a figure which compares well to the 340 hectares reported in Redford and Eisenberg (1992).
: Juices of various fruits are their preferred food, including, but not restricted to, dates, baobab flowers, mangoes, pawpaws, avocado, figs, and passion fruit.
Predominately fruit, particularly mangoes, durian, and figs. Also ants, termite s, honey bee s, small reptile s, birds and amphibians. During monsoon season, the orangutan may supplement its diet with leaves, bark, and pith.
Zoo Diet: ...
Diet: Adults feed on juices of ripe and rotting fruits such as mango and lychees. Caterpillar s feed on Pterocarpus trees and can also be cannabalistic!
Size: Wingspan up to 20cm (8inches)
Conservation status: IUCN Red List: Not assessed, but not globally threatened ...
In the wild, these bats eat wild figs, guavas, bananas, breadfruits, mangoes, papayas, and other aromatic ripe fruits, and the flowers and leaves of many local and introduced plant species. In the Zoo, they eat fruit nectar fortified with vitamins and miner als, fresh fruits and vegetables.
Beyond insects, sloth bear s feast on a variety of fruit and flowers, including mango, fig, and ebony. They are also known to scale the occasional tree to knock down a bee honeycomb, which they will then enjoy on the ground below. It is this habit that's given rise to their nickname, honey bears.
Members of this group include goldenthroats, lancebills, jacobins, mangos, topazes, caribs, sapphires, woodnymphs, emerald s, coquettes, and many other groups of hummingbird s.
Hermit hummingbird s (Phaethornithinae) - There are about 40 species of hermit hummingbird s alive today.
Herbivore. Avocado (young leaves), citrus, coffee, cotton, garden beans, macadamia and mango; ornamentals such as canna, anthurium, azalea, and hibiscus.
Predators and Threats
Birds, bats, spider s, frogs, snake s, and other insect-eaters.
There are about 650 species in this family. Plants include the sumac, mango, cashew and pistachio as well as poison oak, poison sumac and poison ivy.
Burseraceae - Frankincense Family ...
Feeding on the fruits of Buchanania sp. or Sparrow 's Mango (Anarcardiaceae) a very common forest tree on Maratua. - QP
Taxonomic Notes : ...
Markings give it camouflage! ...
Did I mention that my wife loves mangoes? That's her completely obscured in the shadows.
Kinkajou s mainly feed on fruit such as melons, apples, bananas, grapes, figs and mangos. They also feed on nectar, berries, bark, leaves, insects, frogs, honey, birds and eggs.
I also offer my Asian box turtle s all kind of fruit, including banana, cherries, apricots, peaches, melon, figs, watermelon, pears, apples, mango and papaya, as well as vegetables, such as tomatoes, zucchini, pumpkin and cucumbers. Less frequently, I offer them tinned cat and dog food.
Diet: Seed mix of safflower, wild bird food, buckwheat, some sunflower, various millets, canary grass seed, oats and hemp; millet spray, also sprouted; plenty of fruit (mango, apple, pear, figs, grapefruit); greenfood and vegetables (carrot, capsicum, cucumber); eggfood and biscuit for rearing.
In the wild, these bats are often seen near fig or mango orchards. Typically they pluck fruit and fly with it to a night roost, where they hang head-down to eat. They are found from sea level to elevations of 2,500 m (more than 8,000 feet).
Two favorite fruits are the pomegranate and the papaya (pawpaw) with seeds. In captivity, they will eat most fruits including mangos, figs, guavas, bananas, any melons, stone fruits (peaches etc), grapes, citrus fruits, pears and apples.
Foods that include goitrogens are broccoli, brussel sprouts, kale, cabbages, cauliflower, bok choy, grapes, mangos, peas, and soybean. So try to avoid feeding those foods to your pet iguana . They can be fed every once and a while, but not too much.
Most King Parrot owners offer their birds a high quality commercial pellet and seed mix, supplemented with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables such as corn, carrots, mango, bananas, and leafy greens like spinach.
Pollination and Seed Dispersal: As fruit bat s fly from plant to plant getting food, they also pollinate the plants they visit. In addition, they disperse the plants' seeds as they eat. Many plants, including some avocados, dates, mangos, and peaches, ...
Diet
Asian elephant s are among the largest herbivores (plant eaters) preferring grasses, leaves, trees, and shrubs. Their diet varies from acacia trees to wild mangos.
They roost in large colonies.
Like most fruit bat s, it does not use echolocation but relies on its sense of smell and large eyes that provide good vision in low light.
A male may have several females in a harem.
Tamarind fruit mangoes and figs are important food sources.
Like their fruitbat cousins, these bats may occasionally damage crops or gardens, but on the whole play a beneficial role in transporting seeds and in pollinating several species of plants. Plants that are bat -pollinated include avocados, guava, mangoes, bananas, agave (from which tequila is made), ...
We depend on bats for a lot of our food to be pollinated, like mangos, bananas, cashews, dates, figs and more. Tequilla, made from the agave plant, is also dependent on bats pollinators. It is also said that one insect eating bat can eat up to 600 or more mosquito s an hour.
Vecchione, and K. M. Mangold. 1996. Cephalopod a Cuvier 1797. Octopods, squid s, nautilus es, etc. Version January 1, 1996. Tree of Life Web Project. Retrieved January 23, 2007.
Vecchione, M. 2006. Cephalopod s. Mar-Eco. Retrieved January 18, 2007.
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What is the highest level Dan in judo? | Mango Tree, Indian Trees
Home > Reference > Flora & Fauna > Indian Trees > Mango Tree
Mango Tree, Indian Trees
Mango tree, a native of India, but can be found in all tropical countries has a lot of religious significance and various other usage.
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Mango Tree is one of the best known and most popular trees of India. The scientific name of Mango tree is Mangifera Indica. Mango tree bears some very large and tasty fruits. There are several names of this popular tree in the different languages of the country. Both in Bengali language and Hindi language , it is popularly known as Aam. In Telugu language , Mango is known as Mamid or Mamada; and the Tamil people know it as Mangas or Ma. A native to India, mango tree is popularly found in almost all the tropical countries. Though Mango tree does not have scented flowers, still the tree can be identified by its leaves, bark and the shape. The tree can retain its leaves all round the year. Generally, this tree spreads to a great extent to surplus its height. Interestingly, the wind cannot break the tough and bouncy stalks of the leaves of Mango tree easily.
Structure of Mango Tree
Mango tree can grow upto almost 120-130 ft in height, with a radius of 33 ft at the top. The root of the mango tree goes down to around 20 ft, in deep soil. The roots are usually plentiful and wide-spreading. The evergreen leaves of the mango tree contain a specific aroma and are almost 15-35 cm in length and 6-16 cm in width. In the initial stages, the leaves are orange coloured, but turn dark red and eventually dark green as the leaves mature. Flowering takes place generally in between January to March. The flowers have 4 or 5 petals and are 5-10 mm in length. The mango flowers are yellow-greenish in colour. The petals have orange stripes on them. Amongst the thousands of flowers that appear in the tree, only a few have the ability to produce fruits. The stems of the tree are fat, green in colour and wavy. They can bear numerous retreating side stems. Each of these stems has a lot of little and stalked flowers.
Fruit of Mango Tree
The Mango fruit takes 2 to 3 months to get matured and they vary from one tree to another. The normal fruiting period of the Mango tree is from the month of May to July, but one can obtain fruit from them almost every month of the year. The tree has some varieties that produce fruits twice and even three times in every 12 months. The Mangoes can be of different weights. Starting from 170 gm to 1.4 kg, the fruit has a tough and thin skin that can be of green or yellow or red in colour. They contain luscious flesh that is creamy white, yellow or deep salmon in colour. Sometimes the flesh is like fibres and sometimes it is very smooth.
Usage of Mango Tree
Apart from the delicacy of the fruit, the tree has some other valuable properties as well. The timber of Mango tree is quite soft and durable and thus very good for planking and making packing cases and tea boxes. The bark can produce a gum that is used in medicine. The immature fruit can also be used, as a treat to Ophthalmia and some people believe that a tonic prepared from the ripe fruit, is good for the liver. Not only these, various parts of the tree are used to stop bleeding and prescribed in cases of snakebite and scorpion-sting as well.
Religious Significance of Mango Tree
In Hindu religion, mango tree holds a lot of religious importance. To the Hindus, it is an alteration of the God Prajapati , the Lord of all creatures. Further, the rooms in which marriage ceremonies are held are festooned with Mango leaves. The wood is also considered as sacred because it is included in funeral pyres. It is also depicted that a ripe Mango fruit is held by Lord Ganesha . The Hindus also dedicate the flowers of the tree to the Moon on the second day of the Bengali month, Magha .
With all these significances and uses, Mango tree holds a vital position among the people of the country.
(Last Updated on : 01/08/2012)
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Originally built as a research lab off the coast of Puerto Rico, the world’s first underwater hotel, the Jules Undersea Lodge, is now situated in which US state? | 7 Most Incredible Underwater Restaurants and Hotels - Entertainment Designer
Home » News » Hospitality Design News » Restaurant Design News » 7 Most Incredible Underwater Restaurants and Hotels
7 Most Incredible Underwater Restaurants and Hotels
Posted by KarlFabricius on Monday, September 27th, 2010
Image: KTA Public Relations
What could be more inviting than indulging oneself underwater – drinking fine wine, enjoying haute cuisine or simply relaxing in the lap of luxury – while fish swim past and air bubbles float serenely to the surface? Short of restaurants, bars and hotels ensconced on the surface of the moon, entertainment spaces don’t come much more breathtaking. The magic of architectural brilliance and design ingenuity are certainly on the menu for anyone lucky enough to patronize one of these places. Here are seven spaces where vistas of submarine environments open up before the eyes of visitors in the ocean’s depths.
7. Poseidon Undersea Resort, Fiji
Image: Poseidon Resorts
Fiji’s Poseidon Underwater Resort promises “the experience of a lifetime” – and we certainly wouldn’t argue with such a bold claim from a luxury undersea complex featuring a restaurant and lounge as well as over 20 suites, situated in a 5,000-acre (20 km2) coral lagoon. The only thing is – it hasn’t been built yet. While scheduled to be opened in 2008, the project is still in development – but it’s only a matter of time. Nestled in up to 40 feet (12 m) of water, Poseidon will be accessed from the surface via large tunnels – which will also help to maintain air pressure – although one sunken bungalow will require a submarine trip to reach. Each 550-square-foot (51 m2) guest room will offer 270 degree views onto the cerulean sights outside, through thick acrylic windows. It’s said the hotel is being built on land ready to be lowered in stages into the sea. A sub-oceanic paradise beckons – for those who will be able to afford it.
6. Al Mahara, Dubai, UAE
Image: Gryffindor
Billed as “the azure jewel in the Burj Al Arab’s culinary crown”, the Al Mahara (meaning “Oyster”) is a lavish, underwater themed restaurant. Although not actually situated under the sea, it certainly feels as if it is. Guests to this venue, inside Dubai’s iconic 7-star hotel, are seated around a large, cylindrical floor-to-ceiling aquarium, teeming with exotic fish. This acrylic glass tank holds around 990,000 litres (35,000 cubic ft) of seawater and stands as the restaurant’s centerpiece – literally and thematically. The experience starts with a simulated underwater submarine ride from the reception to the dining room – a rather formal destination after the slightly kitsch voyage. It’s all very oceanic, in a plush yet tranquil kind of way and, as dining experiences go, pretty unique. Once named one of the world’s 50 best restaurants, Al Mahara lives up its reputation as one of the must-sees of the Burj Al Arab, completed in 1991. Sleek, inspiring stuff.
5. Jules’ Underwater Lodge, Key Largo, Florida
Image: Jules’ Undersea Lodge
Not a bar or restaurant but one step further, Jules’ Underwater Lodge in Key Largo, Florida is the world’s first underwater hotel. Opened in 1986, this wonder of design and engineering lies 30 feet (9 m) below sea level and can only be reached by scuba diving through the tropical mangrove habitat of Emerald Lagoon. Guests enter through a hatch in the bottom of the cottage-sized structure and soon emerge to find themselves in living quarters fitted with futuristic décor, with comforts ranging from hot showers and a stocked kitchen to music and movies. Then they can curl up in bed and watch the array of fish that approach to peer inside. This retreat began its life as an underwater lab off the coast of Puerto Rico before its conversion into a luxury hotel offering 42” windows on an awe-inspiring underwater world. Compressed air stops water flooding the rooms. An amazing, real deal experience.
4. Utter Inn, in Lake Mälaren, Sweden
Image: Utter Inn
Another underwater hotel, Utter Inn (Swedish for “Otter Inn”) may not hold the luxury allure of Jules’ Underwater Lodge, but for pure quirky charm this strange species of underwater accommodation scores high. Located in Lake Mälaren near Västerås, the structure consists of a typical red Swedish cabin visible above the surface, plus a bedroom 9 feet (3 m) below the water level. Guests are rowed out to this isolated island sanctum and left there. The tiny hotel room cum subaquatic observation station – basically a watertight box – contains twin beds with glass panels just inches away on all four sides offering a view into the fishy habitat outside. While the lake is no tropical paradise, the Utter Inn has the merit of being the brainchild of a local artist. Being so confined may not be to everyone’s taste, but challenging such perceptions is kind of the point – and it certainly makes for a memorable experience.
3. Guinness Deep Sea Bar, Baltic Sea, Stockholm Archipelago
Image: Jump Studio
In terms of pure submarine entertainment design, nothing betters the Guinness Deep Sea Bar, for the simple reason that it’s exactly that – a submarine. Created as part of Guinness’ 2009 250th Anniversary celebrations by Jump Studio, London, the 36-feet-square (11 m2) interior of this custom built vehicle was “a fluid concept, constructed from GRP (glass reinforced plastic), that captures the feeling of being ‘immersed in a dynamic, flowing experience.’” Think being a bubble in a pint of Guinness and you get the idea. The submarine was plunged into the Baltic Sea off the coast of Norway carrying a Belgian competition winner and two friends, who explored the ocean up to 70 m down surrounded by awesome seascapes. The designers had to meet strict marine specs and operational requirements while reflecting the brand statement ‘Alive Inside’. Sipping some of the black stuff, we hope the passengers felt just that!
2. Red Sea Star, Eilat, Israel
Image: Red Sea Star
Sixteen feet (5 m) beneath the waves of the Red Sea is an awesome underwater dining experience. A fantastic example of entertainment design, the Red Sea Star allows visitors to eat while observing the surrounding sea creatures and coral gardens through giant Plexiglas windows, day or night. Colourful fish swirl around outside in a kaleidoscope of colour, and the interior too is inspired by sea life, with everything from the stools to the lighting fixtures in the shape of species such as jellyfish and anemones. The detail of the décor is complemented by soft lighting, designed so as not to disturb the marine life. The Star – so called because of the shape of the floorplan – is accessible via a 50-foot (15 m) bridge and can seat up to 105. Built in 1996, its steel sections were shipped from north Israel, and the whole structure is weighted to the seabed to stop it floating. A “dry diving” experience, at once kitsch and serene!
1. Ithaa, Rangali Finolhu, The Maldives
Image: Alexey Potov
When it comes to subsea eating experiences, nothing touches Ithaa (meaning “pearl” in Dhivehi). Part of the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa, Ithaa was opened in 2005, offering guests the experience of being encased in a clear acrylic tube 16 feet (5 m) below the surface of the Indian Ocean. With 180-degree views, visitors are literally surrounded by fish, sharks and coral reef – so it’s actually as much the sea life watching diners as vice versa! Reached via a wooden walkway and spiral staircase, the 16-by-29 feet (5-by-9 m) restaurant seats 14 people, for an experience intimate yet totally immersed in an underwater world. This unique venue – which takes aquarium technology to a whole new place with its transparent arch – was built in Singapore then transported to the Maldives, where it was sunk. Today, the crystal clear subsea drama seen through Ithaa’s windows is simply mind-blowing.
Very interesting place. But I more interest to dive than to have a breakfast in this place.
hamid
Hi I want to know where is this place at of restaurant
Maryam
How much did it cost to build theses places under water?
carol
How do they get inside these motels and bars
Peppita Tovar Guzman
How is the under water pressure controlled for the guest to feel as if they were on dry land?
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Which actor played Sergeant Francis Troy in the 1967 film ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’? | Blog | Melissa Keroack
Melissa Keroack
by Melissa Keroack
What does budget travel mean to you?
While traveling is a hobby most of us have in common, it is not always accessible for all of us! Traveling costs money, and sometimes it can feel impossible to plan a trip without having enough money saved. For some of my friends, budget travel means downgrading to a three-star hotel instead of a luxury property. For others, it’s giving up their private rooms for hostel dorms. Budget travel is unique to everyone. The broadest definition of budget travel is being financially conscious during your travels. I define extreme budget travel as traveling while spending the least amount of money possible. This is a great option for those of us who can’t get rid of the desire to travel the world without having the finances to support it. Well, fear no more! You still CAN travel the world! Here are my tips for getting around the world with little to no money 🙂
What does it look like?
Accommodation? Free only. Couchsurfing or camping in your own tent or van. Possibly sleeping in churches, temples or mosques. Free lodging via working gigs. Hostel dorms if there’s no other option. Transportation? Free or very cheap only. Hitchhiking or traveling in your own vehicle. If anything, an occasional bus ride or public transit. Food? Cheap only. Supermarket fare or cheap street food. No restaurants, ever. Maybe an occasional takeaway kebab. Attractions? Free only. In cities, walking around and taking photos, enjoying free museums and attractions. In the countryside, hiking and exploring. Forget about paying for a ticket! How to get by? Working from time to time. WWOOFing , Workaway gigs, working in hostels or bars, random gigs along the way.And while there are occasional exceptions, the above is largely how extreme budget travelers spend their time on the road.
Why Should You Consider Extreme Budget Travel?
Travel longer. See more. The less you spend, the more time you have to see everything the world has to offer. The price you would pay for a midrange two-week trip could grow into a multi-month extravaganza when traveling on a budget! Enjoying the same sights at a fraction of the price. Nobody charges you to walk through the piazzas of Florence, nor do you pay anything to enjoy the white sand beaches of Santorini. It feels awesome to look around and know that you paid far less than everyone else! Expensive destinations aren’t off-limits. Extreme budget travelers don’t have to shy away from expensive countries. You find just as many extreme budget travelers in Norway and Australia as you do in Laos and India. The possibility of extending your trip indefinitely. If you pick up enough paid gigs in between, you can keep on traveling forever. This especially works well if you pick up gigs, either officially or under the table, in high-paying countries like Australia. Having more local experience. You’ll get to know locals more intimately, whether it means couchsurfing in locals’ homes, working with locals, hitchhiking with locals, or shopping at the local markets. Plenty of travelers will pass through the same town without having a conversation with someone who wasn’t a waiter or hostel employee. And last but not least — Have the time of your life — on very little cash. You’ll have great stories to tell your kids someday!
You know, I had a feeling you needed more travel inspiration in your life (I can always use more, myself). So I compiled a list of my favorite wanderlust quotes….
However – you should be warned: Reading this article will likely result in you purchasing a plane ticket.
“I travel a lot, I hate having my life disrupted by routine.”
“You don’t live to pay bills and die.”
“Jump—a net will appear.”
“Once a year, go some place you’ve never been before.”
“To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.”
“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”
“I travelled round the world from year to year and each one left me aimless, one more year the worse for wear. I’ve been back to South East Asia and the answer sure ain’t there but I’m drifting north to check things out again.”
“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”
“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
by Melissa Keroack
If you think that traveling the world and getting paid for is impossible, let me tell you that I know of many people who have been on the road for years and are able to sustain their travels in one or other way. You don’t have to look far. Look here:
Travel As Scuba Diving Instructor
While you don’t earn much, it allows you to live in remote and wonderful places that otherwise are just too pricey to visit. Also the lifestyle of a Scuba Diving Instructor makes it worth it.
If you are interested in traveling the world as scuba diving instructor, I strongly recommend to go past the Divemaster level. As such, you can only guide customers and it’s a job that normally locals do and you don’t get paid much. On the other hand, as instructor you will be able to guide and teach courses. These positions are normally covered by foreigners, as you need some educational background to able to pass the exams to reach this level.
Start a Travel Blog
Travel blogs are a great way to make money from your trips around the world but it takes time, effort and dedication to achieve a level where it can pay the bills. You need to give your blog a huge push when you start to make sure it receives enough momentum to take off! This means long hours dedicated to writing high quality content, being active in social media and promoting your site.
If you are up for the challenge of becoming a professional travel blogger, I recommend that you check out Travel Blog Success. It’s a community where professional and very successful travel bloggers share their expertise and take you through every step you need to know to make money with your blog.
Travel & Work on a Cruise Ship
Lots of people spend a fortune every year to go on cruise ships to exotic locations and these cruise companies need crew. What if you could work on one of them? You would still visit those spectacular places, meet interesting people and earn money along the way.
It’s also a job where you can save a lot, as accommodation and food costs are always covered and you can’t hardly spend any money while on board.
Work as a Travel Photographer
It’s a tough market and the competition is fierce, but if you have the skills it is a great way to travel the world and get paid for it. The best clients are tourism boards, outdoor brands and large adventure travel companies.
Become a Travel Writer
Similar to the photography option, it’s a difficult market and the competition is high. It’s not easy to get paid to travel and write but, if you get to certain level, it’s a great way to explore the world.
Many bloggers work as freelance writers for travel publications. These magazines normally need stories and travel bloggers are full of them! So it’s a great way to make some money on the road.
Work Location Independent
What if you could work from anywhere in the world? Then, you wouldn’t need to have a travel-related job in order to travel. Most people are tied to a location due to their job and that’s the reason why they can’t go traveling as much as they want to.
Sources:
by Melissa Keroack
Wouldn’t it be nice to travel with an expert? Someone who knows their way around, no matter where you are. Someone who speaks every language, someone who could get you anywhere you needed to go.
You can’t always ensure that your travel buddy will be the travel guide of your dreams, but what you can ensure is that YOU are prepared with the latest tips and tricks. Whether you’re traveling for business or pleasure, there’s a lot of opportunity for stress. Flying, staying in hotels and navigating your destination can all be a hassle. Make jet-setting a little easier with these 5 insider tips:
Complete a before-you-take off checklist
Make a checklist of all the important to-do items you’ll need to complete before embarking on your travels. This list should include things like, getting your passport and other necessary documents ready to go, confirming reservations, calling your bank and credit card companies to let them know where you’ll be, tending to any household needs such as pet sitters or arranging for a neighbor to pick up your mail for you, to last but not least, packing!
Your trip will be off to a seamless start when you ensure everything is taken care of from the get-go.
Alert your bank and credit card company of your travel plans
This is a great habit to get into if you don’t want your credit card company or bank to put a hold on your card while you are overseas.
Always carry-on luggage
Big bags that need to be checked require that you plan for additional travel time! You need to be at the airport earlier to check them, you need to stay at the airport longer to pick them up once they finally come down the carousel, and who wants to spend even more extra time in an airport when traveling?! Take advantage of the ability to carry a smaller suitcase on the plane with you. Invest in a reliable, carry-on sized roller bag that will work no matter what kind of trip you’re taking. This not only drives you to pack efficiently, it also saves you the hassle of ever having to check a bag.
Be flexible
Plan for delays and try not to get upset when things inevitably go wrong. By giving yourself some additional travel time, you allow room for things to happen that are out of your control. Patience is extremely important when traveling!
Innovate on your transportation
When you finally arrive at your destination, the last thing you want to do is figure out how to get from A to B, especially at the airport. These days, our phones make getting a ride more convenient than ever. Do some research before you leave for your trip to find out what transportation apps are available at your destination. Arrange for a ride ahead of time to eliminate the extra stress of trying to finagle one from the airport when you are tired and anxious to make it to your destination.
Speak up about special occasions!
When staying in a hotel, make sure to mention if you’re celebrating a special occasion at the front desk. Whether it’s a birthday, anniversary, honeymoon, or even just your first time in this location – you have nothing to lose by mentioning it! The hotel might just upgrade your accommodations! Also check to see if the hotels you stay at have a free loyalty program. If they know you’re a member, you could receive extra perks like early check in or late check out.
Act like a local to stay safe
When you’re in an unfamiliar city, it’s always important to take extra safety precautions. One of the best ways to make sure you don’t become a target is to maintain a confident attitude. It’s often the times when people are unsure, lost or stressed out when they run into trouble while traveling. Remain calm, cool and collected and always walk like you know where you are, even if you don’t.
Learn common phrases of the local language
A simple “Please,” “Thank you,” “Excuse me” and “I’m sorry” in the local language goes a really long way. And hey, maybe “Beer” would be good to know too.
by Melissa Keroack
Let’s face it, you don’t get to travel to Spain all the time. So when you do decide to finally plan out a trip, you want to visit more than one city. That means you can only spend a limited amount of time in each place. Let’s start with Spain’s capital, Madrid. Say you only have around three days to see the entire city. Here’s how you will do it and move on to the next great Spanish city with no regrets:
Day one – It’s all about art
The top three museums you must visit are Museo del Prado, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, and Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza . Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum. It’s known for its vast art European collection dating back to the 12th century to the 19th century. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía is more geared towards Spanish 20th century impressionist and expressionist art, including artwork from Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí. It’s most prized possession is the famed Picasso painting titled “Guernica.” The Thyssen-Bornemisza museum is based on a private collection of artwork, the second largest private art collection in the world after the British Art Collection to say the least. It fills the historical gaps between the artworks found in Museo del Prado and Reina Sofía.
While you can snack in between museums, I guarantee you that by the evening you will be craving some well-deserved Spanish cuisine. Head over to the barrio called La Latina. There, you will undoubtedly enjoy some of the best tapas, beer, and wine in the city.
Day two –A historical day
Start your day by touring through the historical Royal Palace and Armory. Once you’ve heard the remarkable stories about all the sorts of things that went down within the walls of that palace throughout history, head over to Playa Mayor. There, you’ll be able to eat, shop, and just bask in the historical grounds. Make sure you exit Plaza Mayor through the Puerta del Sol. This is the center of multiple Spanish roads connecting. It will be very busy, but take in the moment; you will be standing it what originally was one of the gates to the city of Madrid in the 15th century.
When the night falls, head back to your hotel and get ready for a night out in the town. Take the Metro and get off on the Chueca stop. If you haven’t had dinner, you can definitely grab food over there. But the most important thing you need to do in Chueca is party until it’s the morning! Chueca is a known for being extravagant, lively, and booming with energy, especially in the nighttime.
Day three – Rest
Yes, you will most likely be hungover, after partying hard in Chueca, but that’s no excuse to stay in the hotel. Pack a picnic basket with jamon serrano, queso manchego, bread, and wine. Then pass out in the beautiful gardens found in Parque El Retiro. If you’ve visited NYC’s Central Park, Parque El Retiro is something like that but ten times more beautiful. It even has a breathtaking and aromatic rose garden like you’ve never seen before.
One the night hits, purchase a ticket for a nighttime city bus tour. You will be taken through the city’s most historic landmarks and get all the juicy details at the same time without having to lift one finger. You will also be able to appreciate the city from a wonderfully illuminated perspective. Monuments and palaces will take on a new dimension and by the time the bus drops you off you should be well-rested and ready to hit your next Spanish city.
by Melissa Keroack
Have you always dreamed of what it would be like to spend an entire night underwater? Well your dreams have come true! Staying in an underwater hotel is no longer just a fantasy, it has become a full blown reality.
Hotels like Jules Undersea Lodge and Atlantis at The Palm in Dubai,have pioneered the concept and you can now spend a night amongst the fish and other magical sea creatures that the ocean has to offer through an underwater suite. Truly an innovative concept, Jules’ Undersea Lodge claimed status as the world’s only underwater lodging available to the public until recent years when ecotourism has become all the rage.
1. Jules Undersea Lodge
Jules’ Undersea Lodge, named after the author of the classic tale ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’, is the world’s first underwater hotel. Originally built in the early 1970s as a groundbreaking research lab off the coast of Puerto Rico, the Lodge has been in business in Key Largo, Florida since relocating there and opening its hatch to the public in 1986.
The entrance to this underwater abode is appropriately located 21 feet below the surface. Visitors to Jules who are not certified divers will go through a 3-hour crash course in scuba diving before shacking up in their room for the night.
After diving down and resurfacing through the wet room entrance, residents can take off their scuba gear and enjoy all the conveniences of modern life, 21 feet below the surface.
Completely stocked with modern conveniences like air-conditioning, hot showers, a stereo and a DVD player this hotel is perfect for the romantic getaway or the adventurer who truly desires a unique experience (and, yes, the Lodge is fully stocked with compressed air). Dinner and breakfast are even provided to you by the world’s only “mer-chef.”
2. Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai
The underwater suites at Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai are really fit for the king and queen of the seas. They are some of the most intimate and romantic hotel rooms that you could ever dream of… as long as you don’t have nightmares about sharks.
Take a private lift to your three-story, underwater suite and discover a whole new meaning to “sleeping with the fishes.” Floor-to-ceiling windows provide guests with panoramic views of the Ambassador Lagoon, a 3-million-gallon aquarium filled with more than 65,000 marine animals, including sharks and stingrays. Just imagine lying in bed while watching the creatures of the sea pass by.
In-room amenities even include a bath made of sparkling 24-karat gold, as well as 24-hour butler service, of course.
3. Conrad Maldives Rangali Island, Rangali Island, Maldives
The luxurious Hotel Conrad Maldives Rangali does not have an underwater room for you to sleep in, but you can dine in style submerged under water without having to wear a wetsuit to enter!
The Ithaa Undersea restaurant is located 16 feet below sea level. You can enjoy your mix of Maldivian and Western cuisine while you look up to see the beautiful reef and marine life. While dining in this gorgeous setting, visitors can marvel at unobstructed views of sea life in their natural setting.
4. Utter Inn Hotel, Vasteras, Sweden
The Utter Inn is the one and only underwater hotel in Sweden and floats happily in Lake Malaren, near Stockholm. Rooms are located almost 10 feet below the surface with panoramic windows in all directions.
The Utter Inn was created by local artist Mikael Genberg and is now a very fashionable place to spend a weekend in.
If you need a change of pace or scenery and want to come above the surface, be sure to check out their gorgeous deck for sunbathing and admiring the vibrant natural surroundings.
5. Lovers Deep, Caribbean
Lovers Deep is the fanciest submarine you could ever imagine. This submarine takes luxury to a new level. Situated just off the coast of one of the beautiful Caribbean islands of your choice, it is intended for romantic getaways for couples that want to have a private night together submerged beneath the ocean waves.
Once you’re in, the sub will dive way beneath the surface, taking you to maximum depths of 650 feet. This experience is meant to be customized, and comes complete with a gourmet menu curated by a chef as well as the mood lighting and ambiance to your heart’s desire.
by Melissa Keroack
Hospitality, specifically in the world of hotels, is constantly evolving into more a personalized, unique experience on all sides of the globe. “Hotels” are now focused on branding themselves in a way that lets customers stay at uncommon places that they will never forget. Perhaps hospitality is adapting to a new way of thinking, catered to wanderlusting millennials who are constantly craving adventures that stray from the norm. Here are five unique “hotels” that showcase this creativity – and who knows, maybe you’ll find yourself staying at one in the near future:
The Blue Lagoon
First is the Blue Lagoon located in Iceland, known for its ethereal sites and zen state of being. Though it is predominantly for those looking to escape for a spa vacation, the Blue Lagoon is an unforgettable place that you’ll have trouble leaving. The geothermal bright blue waters that stay at 100 degrees all year round will give you a taste of heaven.
The next place you should think about traveling to if you want a twist to a camping trip is El Cosmico, located in Marfa, Texas. Marfa is known for being one of the more free-spirited, hipster towns in Texas, and has been increasingly gaining a reputation for its camping grounds, which host vintage trailers, safari tents, and teepees for you to choose from. You can even rent a wood-fired hot tub and enjoy star-gazing with a companion. It would have been a pretty cool place to watch last night’s blood moon lunar eclipse, don’t you think? Hopefully El Cosmico will still be around in 2033, so you can watch the next one at their unique camping grounds.
Central Hotel & Cafe
Copenhagen, Denmark is home to one of the smallest “hotels” in the world, Central Hotel & Cafe, which holds only one room. Though it is small, the authentic, detailed interior design of the hotel is what has people from all over the world talking. You’ll feel like you’ve stepped into a fairytale as you walk through the doors of the intimate cafe, and up into the small room for you to spend the night on the second floor. Central Hotel & Cafe is the epitome of charm. Plus, Copenhagen is one of the cleanest, most beautiful cities in the world – you’ll never want to leave.
Fogo Island Inn in Canada is another incredibly unique hospitality experience that you should escape to if you want to unplug and get away from it all. Just off the Northeast Coast of Newfoundland, this contemporary island “hotel” offers beautiful views of the North Atlantic Ocean that you can see without any disruptions. Though it is located seemingly in the middle of nowhere, the architecture and interior of the Fogo Island Inn is extremely modern, so don’t worry, there will be places to charge your cell phone just incase you need a reminder that humanity does exist.
Amangiri
Last on this list of different places to spend the night is Amangiri, located in Canyon Point, Utah. Amangiri translates to “peaceful mountain,” which is exactly where you’ll find yourself here. The “hotel” perfectly blends in with the natural landscape of the Utah desert, giving its visitors the feeling that they are far away from society. And, if you’re more of a luxurious vacation person, Amangiri is well-equipped with a sunken rock swimming pool and a plush spa for you to enjoy.
For more information about these five unique “hotels”, be sure to check out Stephanie Duval’s Huffington Post’s article here .
by Melissa Keroack
Many people consider fall their favorite season – and what’s not to love about fall?! From the multi-colored foliage and cool crisp winds, to apple picking and making the wonderful adjustment back to hot coffee – there are so many beautiful things to cherish in autumn. And for those of us lucky enough to live in the Northeast, using our time-off on weekends to explore new towns and cities is one of the best ways to get the most out of fall (because afterall, it is a short season). Here are some places you should think about visiting as the air gets cooler and the colors change:
First, this may not come as a surprise to you, but Boston takes New England’s prize for one of the most beautiful, abundant cities this season. From the multitude of activities to take part in – such as a boat tour down the Charles River, or shopping along the infamous cobblestones of Newbury street under the changing leaves, Boston is one of the most popular New England cities recognized for its beauty in fall. But make sure to visit soon, because winter is coming and we all know how much snow Boston can quickly be covered in.
Stowe is another great New England city to visit in fall, located in Vermont. With a landscape of vibrant yellows and oranges, you’ll feel as though you’re staring into a backdrop for a Macy’s campaign. The Green Mountain Inn is a great place to stay if you’re looking for a weekend getaway that will supply you with great food, service, and nearby hiking areas to explore with friends, family, and significant others. One of Stowe’s most well-known specialties for you to enjoy an impeccable panoramic view of the region is from a hot-air balloon ride supplied by Above Reality Hot Air Balloon Rides. If you’re not too scared of heights, this is a wonderful, unique activity you should splurge on this season (especially with your romantic interest).
Last on this list is Old Lyme, Connecticut, one of the oldest towns in the Connecticut River Valley. Its infamous Inn, The Bee & Thistle Inn, was originally built in 1756! Though it has relocated throughout the years, the Inn is known for its elegance and comfort, creating a classy, cozy atmosphere for you to enjoy as the weather changes. From Old Lyme, you can easily reach the historic Essex Steam Train, which will take you on a beautiful journey throughout the region’s most beautiful scenes. There are also Connecticut River Expeditions hosted by RiverQuest so that you can take in the beauty of the colorful leaves with the soothing sound of rushing water from the river.
In conclusion, you can’t go wrong exploring any of New England’s scenic towns in the fall season. Just make sure you layer-up, because you never know what Mother Nature has in store.
by Melissa Keroack
Travel is one of the best ways to expose yourself up to new experiences. The nuances of different languages, cultures and traditions can open your eyes to ways of life that would have normally slipped beneath your radar. Major travel destinations can draw millions, each eager to have their horizons broadened by new and interesting interactions. However, a new travel trend has surfaced, and it looks to buck the hotspot for a more adventurous vibe.
Emerging destinations are drawing the attention of travelers who are tired of destinations that have accumulated a vibe akin to tourist attractions. Whether trekking through the jungle or visiting small villages on the outskirts of civilization, these locations remain relatively untouched by the fanny-packed crowds.
Virtually untouched by industry, the Canadian Arctic is a beautiful landscape waiting for the intrepid explorer. Home to 20% of the polar bear population, an expedition can take you closer than you’ve ever been to the natural habitat of these beautiful creatures. A picturesque landscape of icebergs and snow, this pristine slice of winter wonderland is perfect for snow bunnies looking for a summer escape. Sadly, this type of environment is shrinking every year, and soon there may not be a tundra to explore.
Rich in history and culture, India is the place to see beautiful ancient architecture. Nickname “City of Pearls,” Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh, and must-see for those willing to make the journey. Bazaars packed with locals explode with sights and sounds of native culture. The birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, small trails allow you to snake through the very heart of the dense jungle. The feral heart of India, where beautiful scenery is matched by a storied history depicted in ancient stone.
From jungle to the mountains, Bhutan is far off the beaten path, and a welcome spot for travelers looking to explore the Himalayas. Though coupled with a level of exclusivity due to the country monitoring its tourist population, finding your way into Bhutan is well worth the effort. Whether you’re looking for wildlife, fresh greenery or snow-capped plateaus, Bhutan offers a piece of everything. The cleanest air you’ve ever breathed hangs amidst ancient Buddhist monasteries. The most sacred of these temples being Takshang Lakhang (Tiger’s Nest) awaits atop of a steep set of stairs. The most sacred ground in Bhutan, tread with care and respect should you find yourself within its hallowed halls.
Free from crowds and tourists, these locations beg to be explored by the brave and the bold. The air surrounding these places positively vibrates with a feeling of discovery. Are you looking for a real adventure? Are vacations to another hotel filled with tourists the last thing on your mind? One of the locations listed above is sure to scratch the explorers itch you’ve been waiting so long to reach.
by Melissa Keroack
Unfortunately, American’s don’t have the same amount of vacation time as Europeans do – but that doesn’t mean we can’t take a week or two off during summer to feel like one! Europe is one of the greatest places to visit during the summer because there are so many different countries you can see that are in close proximity to each other. Here are the top European summer hot spots people can’t stop talking about:
First, let’s talk about the beauty of the South of France. Provence, filled with fields of lavender, fresh olive oil, and beautiful beaches is a favorite amongst Americans because it truly feels like you are on a rejuvenating vacation. Another great place to visit that isn’t too far from Provence is Arles, a historic city filled with beautiful 17th Century mansions, golden, winding streets, and home to a Roman Amphitheatre in the center of town. Arles is also where Van Gogh painted his famous, Cafe de la Nuit, painting, a cafe that you can still eat at and pretend like you’re a part of the famous scene.
Next, Austria is becoming an increasingly popular summer hotspot for those of all ages to enjoy. To most, Austria feels like a step back in time, with it’s beautiful castles, old cafes, and Mozart minuets playing almost on every corner – Austria has not forgotten the importance of elegance, and the breathtaking beauty that goes along with it.
Spain is another great European country to visit during summer. With its vibrant flamingo dancers, massive cathedrals, picturesque plazas, and quaint villages, there are many parts of Spain that you’ll want to explore – Barcelona being one of the most exciting cities in summer. A large majority of Barcelona is decorated by Antoni Gaudi, known for his deep connection with nature expressed by surrealist art and colorful mosaics. Barcelona’s most famous Gaudi piece is La Sagrada Familia, a famous Roman Catholic church whose construction began in 1882 and still isn’t complete. And you’ll see why – the massive architectural plan is utterly surreal, with multiple sky-scraping spires and detail in each and every crevice of the church – you’ll have to see it for yourself.
Lastly, Switzerland is a great escape from the heat of summer, with unbelievable views of snow-capped mountains and towns with such quaint beauty, you’ll think you’re in a fairytale. If you’re a lover of snow sports, you can go skiing on the immaculate slopes of St. Moritz, and enjoy pots of delicious fondue as your day comes to an end. Geneva and Zurich are two favorite Swiss cities lined with cobblestoned streets that you won’t regret visiting.
For more information on what countries you should visit in Europe this summer (quick, it’ll be over before you know it!) check out Fodors.com to plan your vacation accordingly. Bonne chance mes amis!
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Created by cartoonist Robert Lips, cartoon character ‘Globi’ originated in which European country? | All National Stereotypes – National Stereotypes
What a stereotypical place, especially the Western half!
Western Europe
With Northern Europe, seen as the home of advanced technology, sophisticated culture, and loose (or modern, depending on your perspective) morals. Within the region, there’s a definite split between the northern part (Germany, Britain, the Netherlands, and northern France) and the southern part (Italy, Spain, Portugal, and southern France) about which part is emphasized, with the north being seen as more businesslike and the south as more laid-back. Germany straddles the line with Central Europe, with the old East Germany being in many ways similar to its eastern neighbors. The same is true of Austria.
United Europe: The European Union is a specific European phenomenon. Even since its creation in 1957 more countries have joined it and thus provided stable peace in most of Europe ever since the end of World War Two. It also provides economic collaboration and a unity needed to compete with The United States, Japan and China. However, the E.U. is also seen as a bureaucratic monster unable to give its member states one “European” identity, because every country desperately clings on to their own centuries old nationalistic traditions and identity. There are also fears that all the youngest member states (mostly former Eastern Bloc countries) will financially hurt the richer member states.
In the U.S., there are essentially two sets of stereotypes about Europe:
The older stereotypes are all about quaint old monarchies, castles, and sparkly princesses. See: Medieval European Fantasy.
The newer stereotypes suggest that every European government is run by a bunch of leftists and socialists who hate war too much and are probably kinky atheists too. This adds up to the American right-wing viewing Europeans as degenerate, godless commies. The American left sometimes buys into these stereotypes too, but views them more positively and have developed their own stereotype of Europe as a political wonderland free from people resembling Republican Party politicians.
Europeans Are Kinky: Especially continental Europe has a reputation for being far more liberated and open-minded about sex and nudity, compared to the United States of America and Asia. Many erotic exotic foreigner stereotypes are from European descent such as Scandinavia (Sexy Scandinavian), the Netherlands (Free State Amsterdam, thanks to legalized prostitution), France (Everyone Looks Sexier If French, Everything Sounds Sexier in French), Germany (Brawn Hilda), Spain, Italy (Latin Lover, Spicy Latina), Eastern Europe, the Baltic Countries and Russia (Sensual Slavs). There’s some Truth in Television to this: a lot of works depicting sex and nudity causing excitement or controversy in other continents hardly bat an eye in Europe. But, of course, this doesn’t mean all Europeans are like that. The United Kingdom and Ireland, two islands separate from Continental Europe, are far more prudent and, speaking of Ireland, many predominantly Catholic countries in Europe like Spain, Poland or Italy tend to be less easygoing on the topic than others. Also, even in other European countries you’re liable to find people who are more reserved about the matter.
Andorra
Best known as mini state and tax haven. And they have good sky resorts.
Austria
Yodel Land: Since Austria and Switzerland have a similar landscape the countries are both associated with mountaineering, alpine horns, yodeling,… And, of course, often confused with each other.
Austrians are often confused with Germans and Swiss people.
Just like the Germans, people from the Austrian county Tyrol will be portrayed wearing Tyrolean hats and lederhosen and their women having dirndls. All Tyroleans will be drinking beer, eating sausages and playing tuba.
Tyroleans will also be seen performing the “Schuhplattler” (knee slapping) dance.
In the 1970s, a whole bunch of cheap sex comedies were made in Tyrol. The genre was even nicknamed “Tyrolian comedy”, despite the fact that they were actually filmed in Bavaria, thus also coining the term “Bavarian porn” in other countries.
Historically the country brings up images of the once very powerful Austrian-Hungarian Empire. The most famous royal of this time period in popular culture is Empress Sissi, made famous by the film franchise with Romy Schneider. The annual New Year’s Concerts in Vienna still bring the popular image of impeccably dressed noblemen and noble women dancing the Waltz in the Royal Vienna Palace to mind.
Musically the Waltz is Austria’s most famous cultural contribution to the world, exemplified by the music of Johann Strauss Sr. and Jr.
Another famous Austrian composer is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who still brings a large part of tourism to Salzburg, including the Salzburger Festspiele: large classical music festival. For this reason Austrians will sometimes be depicted wearing a curly 18th century style wig and costume. He even appears on Mozartkugeln, a chocolate and marzipan confection bearing his picture. Never mind the fact that he didn’t consider himself to be an Austrian at all. His fame still eclipses other well known Austrian composers such as Franz Schubert, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schönberg.
Yet another musical association with the country is The Sound of Music, about the real life musical family von Trapp. Some tourists even believe that the song Edelweiss is the country’s national anthem. In reality the movie isn’t that popular in Austria, compared to other countries.
Since the end of the 19th century and start of the 20th Austria is also famous as the birth place of psychology and psychotherapy. Sigmund Freud, Viktor Frankl and Alfred Adler were all born here.
A far more negative association with Austria is Adolf Hitler, who was born there. Luckily for the Austrians most foreigners still think Hitler was a German, but apart from that Austria hasn’t quite managed to shake off its far right reputation. The fame of other far-right politicians like Kurt Waldheim (former Nazi elected as president of Austria in 1986) and Jörg Haider (in 1999-2000 the first far right politician since the end of World War II to be elected into the government of a democratic European country) didn’t help either. Nor did the fact that in 1938, 99% of Austrians voted for unity with Germany — ex. in that time and place and even allowing for that 99% probably being a Nazi exaggeration, the vast majority of Austrians WANTED to become German.
In the late 2000s Austria also became notorious for two horrible crimes where people were kept in captivity for many years without anybody noticing anything strange: the kidnapping of Natasha Kampusch case and the Jozef Fritzl scandal.
Early 20th century Austrian painters like Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimt are also world renowned.
Thanks to the fame of the muscular movie stars Johnny Weissmuller note and Arnold Schwarzenegger muscular foreigners will sometimes be born in Austria.
One tourist card
sarcastically stereotypes Austrians as being an impatient or easily agitated people.
Historically, the Austrians had the reputation of being the second-worst army in Europe, somewhat alleviated by having Hungarian reserves available.
In Romania and the Balkans, Austrians had been seen until not long ago as haughty and aristocratic. Romania and the Balkan countries don’t exactly have good memories of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, after all.
Vienna is the only location that exists in foreign eyes. The city is home to the Waltz, Viennese coffee and tea, Vienna sausages and the Wiener oboe. Apart from that Tyrol and the Vienna Woods (Wienerwald) are worth mentioning.
Belgium
The bilingual communities and eternal troubles between Flemings and Walloons often mystify foreigners. The complexity of Belgium’s government often leads to confused ideas about their political situation. In fiction, Belgium is sometimes portrayed as a French-speaking country, even though a majority in the country speaks Dutch and there is even a small German speaking community. This also explains why foreigners often confuse Belgians with Frenchmen, Dutchmen, or Germans. No wonder this surreal country is the birth place of painter René Magritte!
Belgians have a reputation for being easily oppressed and taken advantage of. The country has been conquered several times in history, even receiving the nickname “Europe’s battlefield.” History buffs may know it mostly for decisive battles like Waterloo, the Flanders Fields of World War One and the exhausting battle of the Ardennes near the end of World War II. Strange enough it’s still the center of international politics today with Brussels being the de facto capital of the European Union and the location of the NATO and European Parliament.
Even today, many Belgians distrust politicians, the police, and the judiciary, yet don’t openly voice their opinions except when they are absolutely sure that the object of their criticism isn’t around in the same room. They don’t have a strong nationalistic identity (apart from Flemish nationalists) and thus suffer from an inferiority complex about their status in the world. Even when the country does something positive on an international scale, most Belgians still act cynical, dismissive or, at best, jokingly about it. Patriotic pride is almost nonexistent. All these aspects and the small size of the country has caused other countries to not take them very seriously. Something Belgians don’t appreciate, either. Especially in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and France, the dumb, insignificant Belgian is a common stereotype in jokes. In French, these jokes even have a special name (les histoires Belges, “Belgian stories”).
“Name ten famous Belgians” is a well-known question, assuming that there are no Belgian celebrities. Hilarity Ensues when a foreigner is only able to name two characters, both fictional: Tintin and Hercule Poirot. The facts are different, especially since the lack of being able to name ten Belgian celebrities says more about the summarizing person’s own general knowledge
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And a third world-famous Belgian often invoked when this game is mentioned is one who most Belgian people wish was fictional — infamous child-molester Marc Dutroux. During the late 1990s, the huge scandal surrounding Dutroux led to the stereotypical idea that all Belgians are paedophiles. (Dutroux himself ignited the scandal, by claiming repeatedly he was part of a network which included most major politicians, judges, and police chiefs of the country.)
“What’s Belgium famous for? Chocolates and child abuse, and they only invented the chocolates to get to the kids.”
—Ray, In Bruges
Belgium has produced many internationally famous painters, most notably in Flanders, like the Flemish Primitives (Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van Der Weyden,…), Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Peter Paul Rubens and James Ensor to name the most iconic. The most famous Walloon painter is René Magritte.
The country is also known for having a strong comic book tradition, exemplified by international successes like Tintin, Lucky Luke, The Smurfs, and Suske en Wiske. In fact: Hergé of Tintin fame is even the most influential and revered European comic book artist.
Belgians are often shown eating French fries (“French” doesn’t refer to France, but the verb “to french”). This is more or less Truth in Television, fast-food joints selling French fries (and also cooked mussels and other sea food) abound in the entire country.
In reference to the paintings of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, some cultivated foreigners still have the impression that all Belgians are jolly and petulant peasants who do nothing more than party, drink, and eat. Belgian bars and cafés tend to close much, much later at night compared to other countries and Belgium also has a lot more national, local, official, and non-official holidays, carnivals, and parties in comparison to other countries (though it must be said that not all of them are automatically a day off for the entire working population).
Other national dishes like chocolate, beer, mussels, waterzooi and Belgian waffles contribute to the Belgians’ reputation as “pleasure lovers” and jolly people who enjoy eating and drinking extremely tasty stuff. (Brussels sprouts are usually not associated with tastiness).
Jacques Brel’s universally translated songs also kept this image intact.
British people often assume Belgium is boring. This mostly stems from the country’s notoriously bad bureaucratism, the dreary weather, and the ugly, monotonous urban landscape.
Cycling is the most romanticized sport in Belgium. Men cycling through mud, bad weather, and over steep hills and stony roads only to return home for a cool beer and some French fries is part of the national culture. One of the greatest cyclists ever was Belgian: Eddy Merckx.
Two essential monuments that always need to be in frame whenever Belgium is shown in popular culture are the Atomium and the statue of Manneken Pis, both located in Brussels.
France
Especially in the U.S.A and England. French people are often ridiculed for being cowards who surrender immediately when confronted with danger. This idea is based on their rather quick capitulation during the Nazi invasion of France during World War II and has led to the term Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys. This image only became commonly expressed in the United States after French and American clashes over foreign policy during the Cold War. Actually, the French surrendered in order to prevent the destruction of Paris. This stereotype of cowardice also completely ignores the work of the French resistance, who assassinated Nazi officers, attacked their supply lines, and helped smuggle out POWs.
Thanks to the French Revolution and all the uprisings that followed ever since (from the Communards in the 19th century to the May 1968 student demonstrations), the French also have a reputation for being revolutionaries, active in La Résistance, spilling their blood on the barricades. Of course, they will still put everyone on the guillotine, even though this was abolished by law in 1981.
Everyone Looks Sexier If French, Everyone Sounds Sexier In French and Gay Paree: France also has an association with love, romance, and sex. Candlelit dinners by moonlight in Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the background are not uncommon in romantic films. French men and women are often portrayed as sexy or even oversexed. There are a lot of erotic terms associated with France, among others: a “ménage à trois”, “soixante neuf”, lingerie, liasons, Femme Fatale, voyeurism, French kissing, a French tickler…
Also, All Women Are Lustful in France, a stereotype fed prostitues dancing the can-can in the Moulin Rouge and by actresses like Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve. Even the French national symbol, Marianne, is a bare breasted woman on the barricades.
The archetypal Frenchmen is usually caricatured as a dirty, lazy, unshaven, curly moustached man wearing a beret, striped sweaters, smoking a cigarette, and carrying a baguette under the arm. “Being as dirty as a Frenchman” is actually an English proverb. French squat toilets also promote this image.
Ironically, Frenchmen also have a reputation for being “très chic” and sophisticated. Whoever speaks French must be cultivated, so Gratuitous French is often spoken by aristocratic, posh, snobbish, or very dignified people. This stems from the Middle Ages when most European nobles and royals (even in England) spoke French. Later, during the Versailles era of Louis XIV and later Napoleon Bonaparte, a lot of French sophistication clichés began to blossom, including haute couture, parfum, eau de cologne, a monocle, corsettes, small handkerchiefs, a pince-nez, and a lorgnette.
Pepe Le Pew is an almost perfect parody of a Frenchman, and amalgamates ALL of the above stereotypes — he’s romantic, lecherous, and sophisticated, but is also repellently stinky and an Abhorrent Admirer in his capacity as a skunk.
French are often called “rude or arrogant” by foreigners. They are not afraid of swearing and using bad language (See also: French Jerk). Especially when they are driving. Parisians in particular are considered to be very rude to tourists and foreigners (although not as much the latter as the former). It is not uncommon for travel guides to tell tourists not to look at people in the Metro in the eye, since they will think you have a problem with them.
The English expression “Pardon my French” also stems from the stereotype that the French language is full of insults and/or swearing.
The “arrogant Frenchman” stereotype was also fed by Charles De Gaulle, who both during World War II and later as President (1958-1969) expressed a very non-cooperative and independent view on world politics. During World War II, de Gaulle refused to cooperate in the Allies’ plans to free France. He, unlike all the other leaders, in his public speech right after D-Day stated that this invasion was the real invasion, this had the potential to ruin the Allied deceptions that Normandy was just a feint, with Calais the real invasion point. That was just one of his many, many, many actions whereby it seemed he was more of a problem for his friends than enemies.
Frenchmen will also be portrayed as being too lazy or too arrogant to actually help anybody.
French heads of state also have a reputation for being full of “grandeur”. From the French royals, over Napoleon to the presidents.
French accents are also enormously popular in comedies, Western Animation, and even dramatic films and TV series, often to the point of overkill. French people will always speak with a Maurice Chevalier Accent, usually complete with a “hon hon hon” laugh. All these French characters talk in the same way: “the” and “this” are pronounced “zee” and “zis”, the words “mais oui”, “sacre bleu”, “zut alors”, “mon ami”, or “mon chéri” are used non-stop and the “w” is pronounced “ooweee”. Famous examples are Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, Lumière in Beauty and the Beast, all the French characters in ‘Allo ‘Allo!, and Pepe Le Pew. Sometimes, like in the movie Shrek (where the British character Robin Hood inexplicably speaks English with a French accent), people are depicted as being French for no apparent reason other than evoking laughs while using the accent. In reality, as with any language, how heavy a native accent is while speaking a foreign language usually has more to do with 1) when in their lives they learned the foreign language, 2) how long they’ve been speaking it and to whom, and 3) how good they are at imitating accents. It’s common for a French student of English living in France to talk this way, for example, but it would be very rare for a Frenchman who’s lived for many years in, say, Midwestern America, to not say ‘the’ more or less like a Midwestern American.
Non-French speakers also assume that you can just put “le” in front of every subject and it’s grammatically correct French! The articles “la”, “un”, “une”, or “l'” don’t seem to exist.
In (beat ’em up) videogames, French characters are often depicted as elegant, fatalistic, and angsty, with a penchant for fencing. Examples include Charlotte from Samurai Shodown, Ky Kiske from Guilty Gear, Elisabeth Blanctorche (who uses a riding crop) from The King of Fighters, and French Jerk Raphael and his ward Amy from the Soul Series. Other examples also filled with Gallic ennui include Remy from Street Fighter, who fits the cynical, Nietzsche Wannabe type perfectly and Abel, also from Street Fighter, with his brooding, emo-ish personality (although he is atypical in that he exhibits none of the usual associated elegance, and is a hulking, rugby player type). All of the examples mentioned probably derive from the deep, sullen French philosopher archetype, inspired perhaps by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Jacques Derrida.
French painters are also a popular stereotype. Truth in Television thanks to the great 19th century impressionistic artists like Pierre-August Renoir, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Gustave Courbet, Jean-François Millet, Edgar Degas, Paul Gauguin,… Whenever a scene takes place in a large French city, there will be a painter in the background working on an easle.
A mime is also essential. He will always be based on Marcel Marceau and pretending to be stuck in a box.
As are fashion designers like Coco Chanel, Christian Dior, and Yves Saint-Laurent.
Whenever arthouse movies or independent movies are spoofed they are often French (spoofing Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut or any other “Nouvelle Vague” film). (See also: Le Film Artistique).
And if a French intellectual is depicted, he will always be a caricature of Jean-Paul Sartre and ponder over existential questions.
Frenchmen are often cast as cooks, onion sellers, proprietors of restaurants and/or cafés. They will enjoy eating baguettes, croissants, tarts, cheese, and drink wine. Sometimes they are also depicted as having an eccentric taste: eating snails (escargots) and frog legs. This is also why the French are often nicknamed “frogs” in the English language. See also French Cuisine Is Haughty. Examples of French cooks in fiction: Louis in The Little Mermaid and the cooks in Ratatouille.
Gay Paree: Paris equals France in popular culture, no other locations. On the same token the Eiffel Tower ”must” be present in the background, even if the action takes place in just a random French town. The monument will also be used for the big climax of the story. Another stock location in Paris is the Louvre, so that the characters can go and watch the Mona Lisa. You might get a reference to the Moulin Rouge, Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre, Champs Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, Pont Neuf, the Sorbonne, Place Concorde, Versailles, Place Vendôme, Père Lachaise and the Notre Dame in there too. Paris in general is a popular choice for travel stories set in Europe (which usually equals Paris in American and English popular culture) and romantic tales. If not one of those the city will be used for a historical story about The French Revolution, late 19th century Gay Paree (expect cameos of impressionist painters and the Moulin Rouge here) and/or during the Nazi occupation in World War II.
The rest of France will usually be the Provence, though Bretagne (to show some cliffs), Reims (for the cathedral), Bordeaux (for the wine), Bayeux (for the wall carpet), the Mont Saint Michel (to have a castle), Arles (because of Vincent van Gogh), Dijon (for the mustard), Cannes (for the Film Festival), Avignon (because of the song Sur Le Pont d’ Avignon), Roland Garros (for the tennis tournament), Rouen (made famous by Joan of Arc), Marseille and Nice could get a small reference if you’re lucky.
If the French play sport, it will be pétanque/jeux de boules or cycling in the Tour de France, which is the most famous European cycling contest world wide.
Since the sport got popular in the 2000s, French characters in (American) action movies are often depicted as Parkour professionals.
If a Frenchman sings, it’s always “Alouette”, “Frère Jacques”, or “La Marseillaise”. If he plays an instrument, it will be an accordion. When he listens to a French singer, it’s usually Édith Piaf.
Corsica
Most people across the world know Corsica solely for being an island which is part of France and the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Lazy Bum: In the French speaking world Corsicans are stereotyped as lazy people, an image that, just like other South European isles, stems from the siestas people take because of the hot climate.
Fans of Astérix will be able to name more stereotypes, thanks to the album Asterix in Corsica:
The island is famous for chestnuts, very smelly cheese, unpenetrable maquis bushes and forests, wild pigs and old men sitting on benches. Everyone wears a black bandana or headscarf, in reference to their flag [1]
Apparently all Corsicans are proud, Hot-Blooded and anger will be the only emotion they ever show. They will demand respect from everybody and put on a Death Glare when they have the impression someone offended them. The men are all Knife Nuts who will pull out a blade anywhere, anytime and no particular reason at all. In reality, many Corsicans carry folding-blade knives, but are more likely to use them for eating or whittling than fighting. Though, there is also some Truth in Television to this violent image. Just like other Italian isles Corsica has a centuries old bloody history of countlesss vendettas and family feuds. In the 17th and 18th century the island was notorious for highway men and robbers attacking stage coaches who hid in the thick and unpenetrable Corsican forests and bushes (“maquis”). From the 20th century on Corsican separatists bombing civilians and homes made sure the nation’s reputation for bloodshed wasn’t going away soon.
Older Frenchmen also associate Corsica with singer Tino Rossi.
Germany
All Germans Are Nazis: Thanks to both the Prussian Army of Otto Von Bismarck, the Franco German War, and the First World War and Second World War, Germans are often cast as villains or strict militaristic people, wearing pickelhaube, goosestepping from one place to another, and obeying orders at all cost. The German reputation for belligerence has fluctuated a great deal through the ages. The ancient Germani were considered very war-like by the Romans, but by the Victorian period, the typical German was considered to be sentimental and romantic and musical —Gemütlichkeit and Träumerei were the clichés. Then along came Otto Von Bismarck and the Franco-German War, and all Germans became Prussians… During the First World War, British propaganda even compared the Germans even to the Huns. Especially World War II did a lot of damage to Germany’s public image. The strange thing is that other Axis Powers, like Italy and Japan, managed to escape the assocation with Nazism and Fascism, while Germany is still solely typecast as a country that was morally wrong during those years. For many people, Germans are seen as people who are evil by nature, ignoring the fact that there were quite some notable Germans who opposed their military leaders. There was even a large German resistance movement. Also, ever since 1945, many German politicians and activists have held a pacifist stance.
Thanks to numerous war movies, certain German military officers have become a popular stereotype themselves. They will preferably wear an Erich von Stroheim type monocle, a pickelhaube helmet, and goosestep around the place. All while remaining deadly serious and expressionless.
German women are depicted as strict, dominant, bitchy females with their hair in a tight bun hairstyle. They tend to shout orders in a shrill, abrasive tone, like for instance Dr. Elsa Schneider from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Frau Farbissina from Austin Powers, Private Helga Geerhart from ‘Allo ‘Allo!, and Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS.
There are a lot of German inventions still associated with warfare like zeppelins, Panzer tanks, and U-boats. Not to mention their Messerschmitt airplanes.
In more recent times, especially in British comedy, the conscientious post-World War II German has become a popular character. He is incredibly polite and respectful, and grows nervous whenever the war is mentioned (“Don’t mention The War!”) or very pissed off, if he is called a Nazi.
Germanic Efficiency and Germanic Depressives: Germans have a reputation for being highly organized, ruthlessly efficient, bureaucratic, and deadly serious to the point that foreigners assume they lack a sense of humor. The image of the strict, efficient, and hard-working German is based on the Wirtschaftswunder after World War II, when Germany quickly revived economically. The joyless German stereotype may be derived from their depiction as brutal enemy or seriously devoted bureaucratic worker.
Herr Doktor: And, of course, from the fact that a lot of “serious” professions have been fulfilled by Germans in previous centuries, such as Mad Scientists, psychologists, philosophers, composers, conductors, and psychiatrists. Even in popular culture, people in these professions speak with thick German accents. This image is probably based on real-life examples like the German physicist Albert Einstein and the Austrian psychiatrist Sigmund Freud. Examples of these German scientists in fiction are Ludwig von Drake, Dr. Strangelove,Dr. Otto Scratchandsniff, and… Josef Heiter.
Germany is also the birth place of Lutheranism and Protestantism in general.
18th and 19th century style German romanticism also did a lot to associate Germans with seriousness. Poets, painters, and composers wandering in forests or not far from lakes, especially during the fall, committing suicide over tragic relationships or utter despair about life. May be reflected in “Trauermusik”, “Träumerei”, “schlager music”, or “Sturm und Drang”.
The archetypical German philosopher will always be based on Friedrich Nietzsche. Probably because he literally went mad later in life. Or because the Nazis used his ideas for their own propaganda purposes. Still, Germany has a rich philosophical tradition thanks to names like Immanuel Kant, Martin Heidegger, Arthur Schopenhauer, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Friedrich von Schlegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, …
German Expressionism, paintings, and films with a lot of shadows and distorted backgrounds, has also become infamous.
Even their gothic architecture has something static and deadly serious about it.
If Germans are depicted having fun, they are usually wearing Tyrolean hats, lederhosen, drinking beer, playing the tuba, and celebrating Oktoberfest. The women are robust, large-breasted characters with blonde hair in pigtails or braids, wearing dirndls and carrying dozens of steins of beer at once. These partying Germans are often seen eating schnitzel, sausages, sauerkraut, and sauerbraten while dancing to oom-pah music or performing the “Schuhplattler” (knee slapping) dance. This folklore image isn’t entirely German, since it’s especially associated with Bavarian culture in southern Germany as well as Austria.
IF Germans are depicted as being humorous, the comedy is often based on making others suffer. Bringen sie mir Fegelein! FEGELEIN! Fegelein! Fegelein!
Another “joyful German stereotype” is the female Berlin cabaret singer performing in male costume, usually referencing Marlene Dietrich or the film Cabaret.
Beer drinking is also the oldest and most enduring German stereotype — it can be found in Tacitus’ Germania, in Dante’s Divine Comedy, in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, etc., etc.
Sausages may be considered the German national dish, exemplified by Frankfurter weiners and other meat products like the hamburger, which originated from Hamburg.
All this eating and drinking also created another stereotype: that all Germans are obese.
Germany, just like Russia, is also a popular setting for fairy tales. This mostly stems from The Pied Piper of Hamelin and the collected folk tales from The Brothers Grimm, with Rumpelstiltskin, The Bremen Town Musicians, Rapunzel, and Hansel and Gretel as the most German examples. A trademark of many of these fairy tales is that they are very dark, bloody, and filled with nightmare fuel. Of course, many foreigners immediately make the narrow minded connection that this has something to do with Germany’s reputation for evilness and/or depressing stories. This is also exemplified by the 19th century Scare ‘Em Straight children’s classic Der Struwwelpeter.
German music comes in several variations: deeply serious and sentimental romantic classical music (Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann, Felix Mendelssohn,…), obnoxiously loud and pompous Teutonic noise (Richard Wagner), experimental and unenjoyable classical music (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Kurt Weill,…), Krautrock (Kraftwerk, Can, Neu!, Amon Duul II,…), militaristic rock (Rammstein), jolly oom-pah music, or sappy schlager tunes.
The operas of Richard Wagner have also created several stereotypes associated with Germany, like the large blonde Teutonic woman wearing a Viking helmet, spear, and shield like Brynhildr in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Gratuitous German will be used to describe abstract concepts like Weltschmerz, Schadenfreude, Wanderlust, Zeitgeist, or Gemütlichkeit. In print it will be typed in gothic lettertype. Non-German speakers often add “Das”, “Die”, and “Der” randomly in front of every single German word. Or add unnecessary umlauts or capital letters.
Another stereotype about the German language is that it only sounds impressive when it’s shouted, not spoken or sang.
All Germans are named Fritz, Franz, Otto, Gunther, Hermann, Adolf, Wilhelm, Ernst, or Hans. Women are named Helga, Olga, Gretel, Brunhilda, or Nina. (Needless to say, many of these names are not that popular in Germany nowadays.) Their surnames will often have a “von” or a suffix starting with the letters “Sch-“.
Germany is also the birthplace of cars. Since their invention the country has become closely associated with highly polished but efficient cars driving over the “Autobahn”. Several famous international car brands are German: Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Opel, Porsche, Volkswagen,…
In (beat ’em up) videogames, Germans are often depicted as stoic and serious, verging on melancholic — good examples from the Soul Series include Siegfried Schtauffen, whose back-story is angsty in the extreme and Hildegard von Krone, who typifies the efficient, serious German.
Some beat ’em up characters are also ambiguously German — that is, they have German-sounding names, but it is never specified they are German natives. Examples are to be found in The King of Fighters, with Heidern and Rugal Bernstein (and his children, Adelheid and Rose). In Heidern’s case, this is perhaps because his design inescapably evokes a Nazi officer and so his nationality was hand-waved as “unknown”. M.Bison of Street Fighter fame also evokes this look, and has a similarly “unknown” background. Brocken, (specified as German) from World Heroes shows no such compunction, and is blatantly presented as a “Nazi super-cyborg”. Von Kaiser of Punch-Out!! fame is similarly blatant, and even quips “Surrender! Or I will conquer you!”, taking the All Germans Are Nazis trope to the limit.
Germans also have an unfortunate reputation for producing the most eye-wateringly depraved pornography, catering to the most deviant (or just plain weird) fetishes.
Spoof travelogue show Eurotrash — made in Britain and presented by Frenchmen — played heavily for laughs on German sexuality, partly its porn, and mainly the observed fact that large, beefy, unattractive Germans of both genders tend to insist on their absolute right to go naked at every conceivable opportunity. If the Germans were not overweight and bovine, they were skinny and scrawny — a regular feature involved a German cleaning company, whose selling point was that two unpreposessingly thin guys would clean your house while naked. Eurotrash ran on national stereotypes Europeans had about each other. (The French were God’s anointed, Germans were fat, hearty, and earthy, Swedes sexy, Belgians boring, the British emotionally repressed, Italians sexy and temperamental, and so on.)
Germany consists of Berlin, which is only famous as a grey and depressing location in spy thrillers and because of a a wall that is no longer there. The only other memorable location are the Brandenburger Tor and the Berlin cabaret. Other German cities that foreigners might remember are Münich (only during Oktoberfest. It may ring a bell to sport fans, because during the 1972 Olympic Games, a bunch of competitors were murdered.), Hamburg (birth place of the hamburger), Frankfurt (Frankfurter weiners), Cologne (for its perfume) and Bremen (The Bremen Town Musicians).
Ireland
ScotIreland: Irishmen are often mistaken by foreigners for being English, Scottish, or Welsh. The confusion is understandable, seeing that the accents can be difficult to differentiate for people unfamiliar with them. Also, the Fighting Irish and Violent Glaswegian are basically the same stereotype with the same unintelligible accent. What further adds to the confusion is the fact that several celebrities and other historical characters who are usually called “British” were in fact born in Ireland: The Duke of Wellington, Bram Stoker, Oscar Wilde, Spike Milligan, soccer player George Best,…
The Irish are usually portrayed as heavy drinkers, usually whiskey. Their alcoholism either leads to violence (see Fighting Irish) or being a self-pitying drunk.
Irishmen beating their wives is a popular American stereotype.
Since St. Patrick’s Day is a good occasion to drink and celebrate, the drunk Irishman stereotype will often be brought in association with this holiday. This also brings up the Irish association with the color “green”.
Oireland: (Whether or not because they are drunk) the sentimental Irishman is also a popular stereotype. They are generally presented as a canny and friendly folk (the word ‘quaint’ tends to pop up a lot) with a cheerful song in their hearts and a mischievous twinkle in their eyes, expressing their simple-yet-wise philosophy that’s as old as the hills and informed with the magic and mystery of the ages and the Fair Folk, just waiting for some poor outsider who’s lost sight of the really important things in life that they can educate, and other such horribly trite cliches.
In popular culture, Irishmen will often wear green clothes and have a clover stitched on their chest. Men will have a red beard, sideburns, and are a Fiery Redhead. They’ll smoke a pipe and consume a lot of alcohol. Their name will always be of the “O'” variety: O’ Brien, O’ Ginney, O’ Hara, O’ Flaherty, O’ Donnell,… and have surnames like Patrick, Sean, or Kelly. Expect stock expressions to be used like “Ayyy, ‘t is true…”, “Ah to be shoor, to be shoor and begoraah”, and “Top o’ the moornin’ to ye.” and semi-medieval words like “ye”. Instead of saying “my”, they will use “me”, for instance: “This is me house.”
Irish women will evoke the classic “Colleen” — that is, they’ll have tumbling locks of red or auburn hair pinned up quite high on the crown of their heads so the ringlets cascade down their shoulders. They will be very fair-skinned, possibly freckled, and in flattering depictions, pretty hot in an ethereal sort of way. Bonus points if they also wear an ornately embroidered céilí dress.
The most ancient stereotypes about Ireland show a country stuck in Celtic tradition. There are no major cities, only small farms and villages in green landscapes with lots of hills. All walls are made from stones simply stacked upon each other. Celtic crosses will be seen everywhere. A horse-drawn caravan or covered wagon will be the only means of travel.
The 19th century also brought several enduring stereotypes about Irishmen. They are all poor farmers with lots of sheep. Bad potato harvests made many of them migrate to the U.S.A. during The Irish Diaspora (this is why potatoes are often associated with Ireland as well). In the U.S.A., Irish immigrants were stereotyped as uneducated peasants who marry their cousins. The fact that the Irish are more tied with their families than Americans or British may have created this stereotype.
Irish cuisine will consist of nothing but bacon, corned beef with cabbage, and potatoes. Corned beef and cabbage in particular is a cultural trait of Irish-Americans, learned from their Ashkenazi Jewish neighbors.
Irish Priest: Irish people are often depicted as being devoutly Raised Catholic (even though a large part of the population is also Protestant). Priests in popular culture may speak with an Irish accent as a result.
The Troubles between Catholics, Protestants, and their respective terrorist organisations I.R.A./I.N.L.A. and the U.D.A./U.F.F. are perhaps the most negative image Ireland has cast upon the world. This was especially true in the late half of the 20th century. Images of bomb attacks, protesters, and British soldiers patrolling through the streets were not uncommon.
The Irish Question: Some foreigners have trouble understanding that Northern Ireland is actually not part of Ireland but of the United Kingdom. The eternal battle for independence has led to a lot of violence and bloodshed in the country over the years and the image that all Irish and Northern Irish hate the English.
The Fair Folk: Ireland has a strong association with mythological folklore characters: leprechauns, dwarves, elves, pixies, fairies, goblins, and gnomes will often have an Irish accent. When characters visit Ireland, these little fairy tale characters will usually make a cameo appearance, despite disbelief from the people who see them. Leprechauns in particular will hide a pot of gold near the end of a rainbow.
This also tends to be represented when it comes to Irish (and Irish American) superheroes and supervillains; either their power will be explicitly magical in nature or if a mutation will still have a supernatural theme.
Irish folk music is world famous as well. Expect people playing the fiddle, dancing Riverdance or Lord of the Dance moves, and singing “Danny Boy”, “The Old Irish Washer Woman’s Song”, “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling”, or “It’s A Long Way To Tipperary”.
A reference to U2 isn’t uncommon, too. If not them, it’s to either The Dubliners, The Chieftains, The Cranberries, or Enya.
Irish literature is also internationally renowned. Expect a reference to Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, George Bernard Shaw, or W. B. Yeats to be made.
Ireland is also the ideal location to make a limerick (in Limerick, of course) or to notice “It’s a Long Way To Tipperary”.
Other dominant Irish stereotypes involve cops and mobsters
Italy
Italy is synonymous with style and for having beautiful countryside filled with picturesque villages, ancient Roman ruins, and olive groves. The same goes for their equally stylish paintings, sculptures, architecture, poetry, novels, music, fashion, hair dressing, violins (Stradivari), motors (Vespa), and cars (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, Fiat, Lancia,…). Two of the most refined and admired Golden Ages of Culture took place in Italy: The Roman Empire and The Renaissance.
Hairdressers will often be Italians. Bonus points if they are effeminate and sing the “Figaro” chorus from The Barber of Seville while working.
Italy is one of the leading countries in fashion: “Armani”, “Versace”, “Benetton”, “Gucci”, “Dolce & Gabbana”, “Prada”,… It’s awful to say but even mafiosi dress well in Italy.
Italian cuisine is also renowned. Whenever a cook is depicted in popular culture, he’s usually French or Italian. Italian cooks will usually be making food with lots of olives, tomatoes and pasta (spaghetti, vermicelli, gnocchi, fettucine, linguine, macaroni, ravioli, tortellini, lasagna), salami, scampi, cannelloni, pesto, carbonara, pizza, tiramisu, chipolata, marzipan, pepperoni, panini, muscat, pistachio, tagliatelle, cannoli, risotto, minestrone, carpaccio, gelatine,… One of their famous cheeses (gorgonzola, mozzarella, mascarpone, ricotta, parmigiano,…) will be thrown in the mix as well. Of course, every meal will be served with wine (chianti), grappa, martini, amaretto or some coffee (capuccino, espresso,…).
The homely mother or grandmother (the “nonna”) who enjoys cooking for her family is often used in advertising.
Italian ice cream vendors are also a popular image. They will be selling fruity ice cream (“gelato”, “tartufo”, “tutti frutti”) in the street.
Latin Lover: Just like France, the country is often associated with love and sex.
The Casanova: An Italian man will often be presented as an arrogant, virile, cool, thuggish, macho Italian stallion who walks around with his shirt open to show his pectoral muscles and chest hair. He is a smooth talker, open to flirtation, and an excellent lover, but generally unfaithful or uninterested in the needs of his female partner. These types of Italian men often drive around in large and beautiful cars. This is an especially popular stock character in romantic stories targeted at women. Not surprisingly: Giacomo Casanova was Italian.
The female counterpart of this character is the Italian bombshell, exemplified by actresses as Sophia Loren, Gina Lollobrigida, Claudia Cardinale, Anna Magnani, Monica Bellucci, Isabelle Adjani, Isabelle Rossellini,… Italian women in modern works are always hot.
Note that this stereotype comes from The Sixties, when the aforementioned actresses started taking roles in movies that made it to America and everything Italian was fashionable (it was in the 60s that Italian film and Italian haute couture caught up with France). In older American works, Italian women are often stereotyped as hairy and nauseatingly unclean.
See also: this Flash animation
(made by an Italian).
The Italian language lends itself perfectly for singing. Countless musical terms are of Italian origin.
Opera: Since Italy is the birthplace of opera: expect Italian characters either going to an opera, star in one or just sing some famous opera arias. It gets to the point that every scene taking place in Italy or with Italians will have opera arias as background music, usually by Giuseppe Verdi (Il Trovatore, La Traviata,…), Gioachino Rossini (The Barber of Seville, “William Tell”), Giacomo Puccini (Turandot, Madame Butterfly, Tosca) or Ruggero Leoncavallo (Pagliacci). If not opera, it will be traditional Napolitan songs like Funiculì, Funiculà, O Sole Mio and Santa Lucia. At worst, the background music will consist of mandolin sonatas… during scenes set in Northern or Central Italy (to give you an idea, this is as incongruous as lions living in Antarctica).
Street musicians with an organ and a little monkey performing tricks are always Italians with curly black moustaches.
Italian theatre is best known for the Commedia dell’Arte and all the clown archetypes thereof. Italy’s reputation for clowns and the circus is not so strange since both words are Italian in origin. Other Italian festivity images are the carnival (for instance, the famous one in Venice), confetti and masquerades.
In huge contrast with it’s reputation for beauty and sophistication Italy also has its fair share of negative stereotypes.
Italians Talk With Hands: The world of Opera has led to Italy’s association with melodramatic behaviour. They will usually talk loud, very fast, gesticulate a lot and start intense discussions about the most trivial topics. They will either cry and crave for their “mamma” or lose their temper and start a fight. Their fanaticism is so proverbial that Italian hooligans even have a special name: “tifosi”.
A common trait in media is that Italians just don’t shut the hell up. For example, in the “Family Guy episode “Spies Reminiscent Of Us”, the Trigger Phrase for a KGB sleeper agent is one nobody would say in a regular conversation: “Gosh, that Italian family across the table sure is quiet.”
Italians are often stereotyped as foolish and scary drivers. Advice given during WWII to Allied soldiers occupying Italy said at certain point: “Never race an Italian by any means and with any kind of motor vehicle”. Probably false, but the stereotype endures, and, as Italian Tropers will confirm, true.
Italians have the stereotype that any nation not having a bidet in every bathroom is horribly unclean. But for instance, no Italian restaurants (except some luxury ones) have the bidet
in their facilities, and many Italian males simply never use theirs but pretend that’s impossible to live without.
Italy still has a reputation for being chaotic and disorganized. It took until the 19th century before Giuseppe Garibaldi and Camillo Benso di Cavour finally united all the different regions and city-states into one nation. Ironically enough The Mafia seems to be the only well-organized thing in Italy.
Italy also has a centuries old reputation for bloodshed, corruption, political intrigues and decadence.
Feuding Families: Numerous families have murdered people for some Honor-Related Abuse in an endless Cycle of Revenge for stuff that happened centuries ago. Especially Sicily is notorious for this. Unsurprisingly, the most famous Feuding Families story of all time, Romeo and Juliet, is set in Verona, Italy.
Bread and Circuses and Gladiator Games: During the Roman Empire gladiators fought and killed each other in arenas for amusement of the common people. Prisoners would be thrown for the lions too.
Political intrigues have been a staple of Italian politics since The Roman mpire. Ax-Crazy, power hungry and decadent emperors massacred and tortured their opponents by the score, before being murdered themselves. During The City State Era powerful families like the Medicis and The Borgias also liquidated everyone who stood in their way. No wonder that the most famous book about political scheming, Il Principe, was written by an Italian: Niccolò Machiavelli. Since 1945 Italian politics have been a disorganized cess pool of corruptness, conspiracies, unsolved murders, Mafia intrigues, sex scandals, secret organizations, schemes and governments falling as a result of that. But the CIA also helped things stay that way in their international fight against socialist/communist governments. (See Operation Gladio
)
Fascist Italy: Contrary to Germany, Italy managed to avoid being forever associated with World War II, but it’s association with fascism endures. Benito Mussolini is also yet another example of an almost cartoony Italian despot.
The Mafia: The most infamous negative association Italy has to offer. Criminal gangs existed for centuries, but really started to blossom and evolve in the organized crime networks we know today during the 19th and 20th century. The Mafia is so engrained in Italian society, especially in Sicily, that it’s difficult to entangle and destroy them without making some powerful enemies. In popular culture Italians will often be stereotyped as maffiosi.
Ironically, despite their bloody history, Italians have a reputation to suck at warfare.note If Austria is said to have the second-most useless armed forces in European history Italy may as well be the number one. Their only great military victories have been The Roman Empire, being part of the Allied Forces during World War One and the Italian Resistance giving invaluable help to the Allied Forces during World War II. Italian tanks are popularly supposed to have three forward gears and seventeen reverse gears; the slimmest book in the world is apparently ‘The Italian book of War Heroes; and British people in particular will point to newsreel film of Italian soldiers surrendering by the tens of thousand as proof that whatever they’re good at, it’s not fighting. This stereotype is most mercilessly realized in the manga Axis Powers Hetalia with the Anthropomorphic Personification of Italy, who is portrayed as utterly useless to his fellow Axis members, Germany and Japan — the very word “Hetalia” being a contraction for “Useless Italy”.
Italians are often depicted speaking with a heavy accent in which the schwa is inserted after consonant-final words into their speech, leading to sentences like “I ain’t-a gonna make-a pasta no more!” while illustrating his speech with exaggerated gesticulations. Examples are the Mario Bros., Luigi in The Simpsons, Tony & Joe in Lady and the Tramp and the character portrayed by Chico Marx. Also add some stock phrases like “Mamma mia”, “Vaffanculo!”, “Arrivederci”, “Ciao!”, “Fantastico”, “Bellissima”, “Niente”,…
When Italian men aren’t depicted as young sex symbols they will be middle aged men with curly black hair and equally curly moustaches. In American media, all Italians are Sicilians, and all Sicilians have black hair, brown eyes, and olive skin. Very much not Truth in Television, at least when it comes to the real Sicily (or Italy, for that matter). This trope is so pervasive that when Turner Media colorized a bunch of old black-and-white movies featuring Frank Sinatra, they gave him brown eyes. (For those wondering, Sinatra’s best-known nickname was “Ol’ Blue Eyes”.)
Raised Catholic: Another enduring stereotype is that all Italians are Roman Catholics. Any street scene in Italy will show nuns, priests or The Pope at one point.
If a scene takes place in Italy, it will be either Rome (to visit the Colosseum or the Trevi fountain), Venice (so that characters can take a boat ride or join the Carnival), Pompeii (for the Roman ruins) or Pisa (just to see the Leaning Tower) or a small pictoresque Italian village (usually in Tuscany) complete with an Olive Garden and vineyards. When a scene takes place in Sicily some maffia members will turn up.
A balcony with a veranda in a villa, near a piazza with some frescoes will also provide an Italian atmosphere.
In (beat ’em up) videogames, Italians are mostly depicted as sexy and suave, with examples including Robert Garcia from Art of Fighting, Rose from Street Fighter and Brad Burns from Virtua Fighter. The exception is definitely the brilliantly freaky bondage-fiend Voldo from the Soul Series, a native of Palermo, who provides a rather excellent subversion.
Italians do strongly believe that everybody envies their easy life, good weather, low cost of living, sea and snowy mountains by the step. So when Italians fail at something on a international scale (sports, war,…), all foreigners are blamed for “conspiring together against poor Italy, which never is given the time to rise on its feet before some other big country bashes it down again”.
Italian cinema has four variations: neo-realistic dramas (Vittorio de Sica, Roberto Rossellini, Luchino Visconti, Pier Paolo Pasolini), spaghetti westerns (Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci), blood splattering giallo horror films (Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava, Ruggero Deodato) and an eccentric, decadent bizarre Grotesque Gallery (Federico Fellini).
Chekhov’s Volcano: Much like Iceland, Italy is also known for its volcanoes, with Vesuvius, notable for the Pompeï disaster, and Etna as the most famous examples.
Sardinia
Presumably full of sardines.
To Italians they are generally Badass mountain men who are impossible to understand. Both are somewhat Truth in Television:
During World War I, the Sassari brigade
(raised completely in Sardinia) was nicknamed devils by the enemy. They took it in stride, with their anthem Dimonios (meaning “Devils” in Sardinian) being a long Badass Boast.
Sardinian language
is not a dialect of Italian but a similar separate language, and during World War I the Italians used Sardinian radio operators speaking in their first language because few other people on their own side and nobody on the other side could understand them, so having the enemy listening on the radio didn’t matter.
Sicily
The most famous- infamous we might add- Italian island, mostly notorious for the dominating presence of The Mafia. Apart from the capital Palermo everyone who read of saw The Godfather knows that Don Corleone was born in the Sicilian village Corleone.
The island is also well known for its volcanoes with Mount Etna and Mount Stromboli as the most recognizable ones.
The beaches of Palermo, Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa are favourite tourist destinations.
Historically it’s also known for the Sicilian Vespers (1282), a revolt against the French occupation.
Vatican City
Somewhat of a subtrope of Italy — there can be some substantial overlap, especially in historical works (even though the last three popes — and, of course, the first — were not Italian).
Internationally, the Vatican is known for only two things: Useful Notes:The Pope and the Sistine Chapel, where the ceiling was painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Corrupt Church: In popular culture, The Vatican will be depicted as a Wretched Hive of political and criminal intrigues. For being the smallest state in the world, it holds more power than one would expect. It is adept at operating behind the scenes by providing spies, assassins, and Mafia accomplices and diplomats that will manipulate governments across the entire globe. Its members will be more interested in temporal power and luxury than true spiritual well-being. Also huge supporters of Nazi and Fascist dictatorships. They also hide ancient manuscripts full of secrets that could harm their reputation.
Hiding Behind Religion: Since the Vatican is notoriously secretive about their bureaucracy, treasury, and especially their archives, this has led to many fantastical speculations about what actually isn’t permitted to see daylight? In popular culture, the palace will be shown as a hotbed of sexual deviancy. Despite the proclaimed chastity of its members, there will be papal mistresses, closet homosexuals, orgies of priests and nuns, bastard children rising to high office. Especially in works set before the 20th century, this is a popular trope. In more modern works, the deviancy tends to be restricted to pedophilia.
There are generally a few truly noble priests who take their spiritual responsibilities seriously and work to fight the overall atmosphere of corruption. They can be lowly functionaries, or they can be as high up as the pope, but they are always in the minority. In the end they will usually be persecuted or poisoned. A hundred years after their death, they are named saints.
Liechtenstein
A mini state mostly known as tax haven and for the export of false teeth.
Luxembourg
The most common stereotype associated with this country is that it’s almost never stereotyped, due to the fact that is so small and easily overlooked or forgotten. If it is shown, it will presented as nothing more than a boring village full of bored-looking people surrounded by empty fields.
The unique fact that it’s a Grand Duchy is the only thing it’s internationally famous for.
Yet, just like the Swiss, Luxembourgers are known to be the bankers of Europe.
During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s European radio listeners knew it for Radio Luxembourg, one of the few radio stations that played rock music in a time none of the other European stations did. Its signal was so strong that it reached many other European countries, including the United Kingdom.
Malta
Best known for its knights.
Monaco
Since Monaco has a Prince and is featured in many tabloid stories about the royals, people seem to assume that it’s a glamorous place, which it can be, but generally only for the supremely rich. It’s actually incredibly built-up and crowded.
Micro Monarchy: The ruling Grimaldi family in general are probably the 2nd best known royal family in the world after the British Royal Family, due to cinema icon Grace Kelly marrying Prince Rainier in 1956.
If Monaco is depicted in popular culture, characters are always in a casino, on a yacht, or on the racetrack.
The native Monégasque make up just over 20% of the 30,000 inhabitants of the tiny principality and are stereotyped as keeping themselves to themselves and being fabulously wealthy by the far more numerous French and Italian residents.
As a warm, sunny tax haven, it’s frequently home to the Corrupt Corporate Executive, Rich Idiot with No Day Job, and plenty of Rich Bitches.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands is often referred to as “Holland”, while this is actually only two of the country’s twelve provinces. Note that even some Dutch people will refer to it this way in English, mostly because it’s easier to say and more recognizable.
Dutchmen and women are often depicted wearing clogs, carrying cheese and walking around in tulip fields with many wind mills, “grachten
“, and cows in the background. All women are blond milk maids with pigtails. Huge dikes protect the Dutch from floods, as depicted in the popular story about Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates which is in fact an American story and not a real-life Dutch incident.
All Dutch people eat nothing but ham, cheese or chocolate spread sandwiches, and drink nothing but milk or fruit juice. They will also consume soused herring by tilting their head backwards and slowly lowering the fish into their mouths.
Water is perhaps the Netherlands’ most prominent trademark. For centuries this completely flat country is in many places lower than the sea level, thus causing major flood disasters up until 1953. It also explains its name (“Nederland”: “neder” is an archaic word for something that’s low or down to the ground). Since the Delta Works project the Netherlands has managed to put a stop to most of these continuous floods.
Water is so much a part of the landscape in the Netherlands that even tourists notice it. Rivers, brooks, “grachten” and the sea itself made it necessary for Dutchmen to make boats. Just like the English there is a tradition of being sailors and marineers. There have been many historically famous Dutch admirals, sea captains, discoverers, pirates and colonists.
Free State Amsterdam: A more modern view of the Netherlands depicts the people as drug addicts who smoke marijuana while the streets are full of brothels and prostitutes. This stereotype is based on the more liberal attitudes towards soft drugs, sexuality, LGBTQ rights and prostitution, compared to other countries.
Dutch TV shows, films, advertisements and culture in general also have a reputation for being sometimes borderline obscene, vulgar, scatological and risqué. Even kids’ shows!
For centuries, the Netherlands was called a “tolerant nation”. Indeed, since the 17th century, many foreign refugees have fled to the Netherlands, because in Dutch society people didn’t mind about other people’s beliefs. However, during World War II, more people were persecuted in the Netherlands than in any other Nazi occupied country. After the war, the country successfully managed to restore its reputation and for decades it tolerated many things that are considered illegal or controversial in other countries. Still feeling ashamed about the Netherlands’ huge contribution to the Holocaust, it made talking about problems with immigrants a taboo subject. This changed in 2002, when far-right politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated because of his controversial ideas for a stricter immigration policy. The first political murder in the Netherlands since the 17th century came as a huge shock to the Dutch people and caused them to re-evaluate the policy towards tolerance, especially in the field of immigration. Since Fortuyn’s murder and the murder of controversial film director Theo van Gogh in 2004 by a muslim extremist, more radical (and sometimes racist) opinions about immigration, prohibition, and the freedom of speech have become more outspoken in the Netherlands. In recent years, the Dutch even started to question their stance for decriminalization of soft drugs.
In Europe, Dutch people are often depicted as being arrogant and bluntly direct know-it-alls. They talk loud and are very opinionated about every topic. A Dutchman/woman always knows what others do wrong and how they should correct their behaviour. Instead of remaining discreet about it, to spare other people’s feelings, or at least discuss it in a polite, tactful manner, they simply shout out what’s on their mind, insulting everybody. Their preachiness is usually attributed to their mostly Protestant/Calvinist heritage. So it comes to no surprise that the International Court of Justice is located in The Hague.
Just like the Scottish, they are known to be thrifty about money (“Hollandse zuinigheid”, meaning “Dutch frugality”). All Belgian jokes about Dutchmen target their thriftiness.
In the English language “dutch treat” means splitting the bill—as does “going dutch” on a date.
However, the term “dutch treat”, as well as many other terms, were invented by the English during the Anglo-Dutch Wars of the 17th century. The term “dutch treat” owes less to “Dutch people are thrifty” and more to “Dutch people are scum.” This is clearer in certain other expressions, like “dutch courage” (liquor).
Ironically enough, for being so infamously thrifty, Dutchmen do know how to conduct business. For centuries, Dutch merchants were among the shrewdest and richest businessmen in the world. During the 17th century (nicknamed “De Gouden Eeuw” (“The Golden Age”) in the Netherlands), they were the only country in the world where most of the population led a wealthy, prosperous, and peaceful life, without being occupied by other countries. Historians even see it as the first modern capitalist state. Even in later centuries, Dutch people remained well-known for being merciless and tough marketing geniuses, able to exploit anything for a huge price. Colonel Parker, manager of Elvis Presley, was Dutch and literally embodies this stereotype!
Dutch art is world famous and has produced some iconic and instantly recognizable artists. Painters like Hieronymus Bosch, M. C. Escher and Piet Mondriaan, for instance. However, the Dutch painters of the 17th century like Rembrandt Van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer and Frans Hals are far more admired because of their amazingly realistic depictions of people, still lives and landscapes. Especially the way they portrayed light, nicknamed Hollands licht (Dutch light), has been analyzed countless times. The only other equally iconic Dutch painter is Vincent van Gogh: the archetypical unappreciated suffering artist. Dutch architecture and typography has also been influential, especially the 20th century movement De Stijl.
Dutchmen are also known for being ubiquitous tourists, and have a penchant for caravans.
They also enjoy to go somewhere by bike. Bicycle tourism is very common, compared to other European countries where there’s hardly enough place to go cycling.
Up to and including members of the Royal Family. A recent queen was frequently seen riding her bicycle from the palace to her office.
Another sport closely associated with the Netherlands is ice skating. Dutchmen have won countless gold medals in this discipline.
The Belgian singer Jacques Brel once said that: “Dutch isn’t a language, it’s a throat disease”. Dutch does indeed involve a lot of noises from the back of the throat, therefore a popular stereotype is that Dutch consists of nothing but these sounds. The word “ja, ja, ja” (“yes, yes, yes”) will be uttered non-stop as well.
The Dutch are stereotypically tall. Throughout the 20th century in most so-called advanced countries, due to better nutrition and medical care, the average height increased; about in the 1970s, in most of these countries people stopped getting taller and started to get wider, to the extent that most of these countries have serious obesity problems; the Dutch, however, keep getting taller.
Portugal
Often confused with Spaniards and thus a lot of the Spanish stereotypes will also be applied to them. Which is something they don’t like.
Portuguese are generally known as explorers, thanks to Vasco da Gama, Henry the Navigator, Bartolomeo Diaz, Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Ferdinand Magellan, among others.
References to their wine (“porto”), Fado music, or sardines are also typical, as are their beaches.
Portugal suffered under a dictatorship from 1932 to 1974. The conservative regime of Presidents Antonio De Oliveira Salazar and Marcelo Caetano held back many technical and modern innovations that other European countries did adapt. By the time the country became a democracy again, it had so many technical stuff to catch up with that for a long time it caused the Portuguese to be viewed as primitive and hopelessly stuck in dated traditions.
Brazilian people seem to think that the Portuguese are either dumb or close-minded.
More rarely, Portuguese people are considered more taciturn and fatalistic than other southern European populations, in part because of Fado music (fado means “fate”), mentioned above, and because of their Vestigial Empire status.
In terms of regions:
People from Lisbon usually think of themselves as being cosmopolitan. They’ll also constantly praise their city, even if the transportation companies are on strike or some buildings are in decay.
People from Alentejo (one of the most rural and underdeveloped regions in the country) live life at a snail’s pace, are lazy, and mostly old. They’re probably communists, too.
A Venezuelan stereotypical depiction of Portuguese people is that they are all industrious people who run small businesses, usually Mom & Pop stores and bakeries, and every food store in the country is managed by them (in real life, most of the food distribution chain is indeed managed by people of Portuguese descent).
“El portu del abasto” is an stereotype by itself, a middle-aged mustached man in white butcher clothes. The Portuguese always have a unibrow, even the women.
San Marino
Best known as mini state and tax haven.
Spain
Foreigners often confuse Spaniards with Latin-Americans (Spexico and even the Portuguese or Brazilians…)
Spaniards are often caricatured as being Hot-Blooded and proud to the point of being idle.
The most enduring image about Spain is the bull. According to many stereotypes, Spaniards are all bullfighters and/or love to watch these fights in a huge arena. They may also participate in the “encierro” (“Running of the Bulls”) in Pamplona and get horribly wounded in the process. This stereotype has become a bit outdated since the second half of the 20th century. Nowadays not all Spaniards are that fond anymore of massacring an innocent animal in front of hundreds of spectators. On the Canary Islands and in Catalonia the sport is even forbidden.
Dashing Hispanic, Toros y Flamenco and Badass Spaniard: Bullfighting is one of the things that lead to the idea that all Spaniards are prideful, flashy, and dashing matadors, fencers, conquistadores, knights, swashbucklers, masked outlaws, pirates,… who elegantly swish their swords, rapiers, knives, or banderillas at their opponents. The men all have black moustaches and wear a bandana or another type of headscarf.
In (beat ’em up) videogames, Spanish males are almost universally depicted as prideful, flashy matadors of some sort, with examples including Vega from Street Fighter, Laurence Blood from Fatal Fury, and Miguel Caballero Rojo from the Tekken series.
If Spaniards are not dancing and prancing around with weapons, they are doing the same activities while singing and playing flamenco music. The man will play acoustic guitar and sing serenades under balconies, while tapping one foot on the ground to the beat of the music. He is usually accompanied by a beautiful black-haired young woman who carries a rose between her teeth, hides her face with a fan, or uses castagnettes or a tambourine to keep rhythm. The songs are usually catchy songs about sad topics while the singers wails “ay ay ay”. Or just music from Carmen.
Just like the French and Italians Spaniards are frequently typecast as a Latin Lover or a Spicy Latina.
Spaniards are often depicted as dark-haired people with a suntanned skin.
The Spanish language has also lead to some stereotypes. Whenever a Spaniard speaks it will so rapid that non-Spanish speakers will be unable to make sense out of it. Every Spaniard will shout ””Olé!”, “Arriba!”, “Caramba!”” or ””Ayayayayayay”” in unison whenever the occasion is ripe. When a question mark is used be sure to write it upside down, like is common in their language.
Spain is also often stereotyped as being a Catholic nation. Even though for most of the Middle Ages it was a Muslim country (See Moorish Spain).
Many stereotypes about Spain date back to the 16th and 17th century when the Spanish Empire was the most powerful country in the world. Except references to the Spanish Armada, The Spanish Inquisition, and their famous explorers and conquistadores to be made.
All Spaniards, of course, secretly (or not so secretly) long to bring back The Spanish Inquisition.
Or suffer from a Don Quixote complex…
Modern stereotypes about Spain depict the country as a sunny beach holiday destination, where people have fiëstas and siëstas all day and night long.
Spanish people are also frequently stereotyped as being lazy, an impression derived from their daily siëstas.
Spain also brings up images of hot desert lands with bad roads.
Another negative stereotype are the terrorist attacks by the Basque separatist movement E.T.A.
Whenever Spanish people are cooking or eating, it will be one of the following dishes: olives, oranges, tortillas, sangría, ham, tapas, or paella.
The old Latin-American stereotype for Spaniards, at least in comedy, tends to be “El Gallego” (the Galician guy), a middle-aged man of thick accent and little intelligence, always dressed with a white shirt, a vest, and a black beret, who peppers his conversation with “¡Jolines!”.
Another Latin American stereotype about Spaniards is that they are all very foul-mouthed, who can’t speak two phrases without inserting f-bombs and assorted swearwords front, back, and sideways. Even grannies and small children.
Also, they really, really don’t like South Americans (or Sudacas). Sarcastically pointed out in this song
(by a Chilean group).
Spanish painting has also produced some iconic artists, like Diego Velazquez, Francisco De Goya, Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dali.
In the Netherlands Spain is traditionally seen as the home of Sinterklaas.
Switzerland
Team Switzerland: The Swiss have been a neutral country since 1850 and this resulted in the idea that the people themselves always refuse to take sides, even in emergency situations or if one of the two options is obviously wrong or evil. This image is also influenced by The Red Cross, an organization founded by a Swiss, Henri Dunant.
The Swiss are seen as very punctual and orderly, thanks to their stable government, ability to maintain neutral during foreign conflicts, and reputation for quality watchmaking, both with cuckoo clocks and wrist watches. The famous Swiss pocket knives are also an example of Swiss precision and punctuality.
Thanks to their famously secretive banking system, the Swiss are also caricatured as filthy rich bankers who guard money from dubious origins. Many millionaires or rich people live in Switzerland.
In Europe, the Swiss are thought to be dim-witted, slow people who really like to take their time. This is in great contrast with the precision of their famous watches and cuckoo clocks.
Neat Freak: Another image is the cleanliness of the average Swiss person, famously spoofed in Asterix in Switzerland”. A bit Truth in Television since many Swiss cities have relatively clean streets and crystal clear lakes you can swim in.
The Swiss eat nothing but Swiss cheese, fondue, and chocolate, and all their dogs are Saint Bernards.
Another stereotype: they only export said cheese and chocolate. In reality, their main export is machines that make molds.
Yodel Land: Since Switzerland’s borders are close to another snowy, mountain-filled country, Austria, both countries share the same Alpine clichés: mountaineering, skiing, chalets, yodeling, alpenhorns, Saint Bernards,… Its inhabitants will be depicted wearing lederhosen and caps with feathers. And, of course, foreigners will frequently confuse both countries with each other.
Switzerland is a multilingual community with four official languages (French, German, Italian, and Romansh — a descendant of Latin). As a result, the Swiss are often mistaken by foreigners for being either Frenchmen, Germans, or Italians. Some very ignorant people sometimes confuse The Swiss with Swedish people and vice versa, although their countries are not even geographically close together.
The only Swiss cities that exist in the public consciousness are Zürich and Geneva. The latter city is famous for being the birthplace of Calvinism and the center of the World Health Organization and World Council of Churches, among other institutions. The Geneva Conventions were also signed here, concerning the treatment of wartime non-combatants and prisoners of war. Usually one of these two cities is thought to be the capital, instead of Bern.
William Telling: Expect a William Tell reference at some point.
The Swiss have excellent trademark mercenaries. The only guy they are willing to fight for without certain monetary expectations is the Pope.
The situation differs today. Basically, Swiss citizens cannot be mercenaries anymore but when the treaty was written, the country was still largely Catholic and the Papal Guard was — and still is — allowed.
United Kingdom
A particular confusing country for foreigners, because they are never quite sure which countries/regions belong to it and under which of the many names it should be addressed? Usually, England and the English are the point of reference and Scotland and Wales are seen as separate countries, which will be adressed as individual nations when necessary, despite the fact that none of them are officially independent from England. To set things straight: the United Kingdom as a whole is England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. When referring to Great Britain, it’s just England, Wales, and Scotland.
Britons have a reputation for being polite, proper, sophisticated, decent, clean, stately, reticent, dignified, and for having a talent for standing patiently in queues, as well as a genuine sense of fair-play. The negative end of this stereotype portrays them as being stiff, stuck up, snobbish, prudent, easily embarrassed, pompous, unemotional, bombastic, imperialistic, self-important, phlegmatic, and obsessed with class and social status. Partly true, in the sense that they may not be as instantly outgoing or comfortable with expressing emotion as some other nationalities.
Pink Floyd: “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.”
In League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. II, Alan Quartermain tells Nemo that “pretending everything is tickety-boo is the English national pastime.”
From Doctor Who: “Well, she’s British and moneyed. That’s what they do. They carry on.”
“The British spirit is an indomitable spirit!” — Dudley, Street Fighter.
The Grim Reaper in Monty Python’s: The Meaning of Life complains: “Be quiet! You Englishmen… You’re all so fucking pompous and none of you have got any balls.”
“I’m British; I know how to queue.” — Douglas Adams makes several references to no one being better at queuing than the British.
Keep Calm and Carry On…The British are known for their equanimity, and many works reference the British Stiff Upper Lip, a national character trait that ranges from a general “mustn’t grumble” attitude in mild examples, to an extreme level of ambivalent disregard for the inherent danger in volatile situations. The stiff upper lip is underpinned by understatement, a very British way of speaking, which resolutely refuses to succumb to drama, excitement, or high emotion. Examples generally either play this straight or employ the trope for comedic effect. Straight examples are to be found in films like Master and Commander, which cranks this Up to Eleven throughout, The Bridge on the River Kwai and perhaps most famously in Zulu, which depicts the victorious Last Stand battle of 139 British soldiers against 5000 Zulu warriors. Comedic examples are equally prevalent, most famously seen in Carry On Up The Khyber, where the British rulers in India discover that bloodthirsty Afghan hordes are approaching fast, intending to slaughter them all, but proceed to have a dinner-party under heavy fire (the dining room eventually loses a wall, all the windows, and most of the ceiling) — no one bats an eye-lid throughout.
British characters are usually cast as aviators, sailors, nannies, military commanders, colonials, gardeners, judges, headmasters, butlers, servants, or someone from the upper class.. They will always be dignified, dutiful, and snobbish and look back nostalgically at the “good old days, when discipline was a thing that built character.”
Thanks to The British Empire and their naval traditions, the British have a reputation for being excellent marineers and sailors. During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the British Empire had more colonies overseas than any other nation, covering a quarter of the global landmass. “Rule Britannia, Britannia rule the waves”, one of the most well known patriotic British songs, sums it up best. By the way, whenever a scene cuts to an English location, the soundtrack must quote the refrain from this song for a few notes. Especially in comedy and animation, this is almost a golden rule.
The Stiff Upper Lip stereotype is turned on its head in Australia, where “Whinging Poms” describes a stereotype that British people, particularly the English, are hopelessly stuck-up complainers.
British Accents are used to provide the speaker with a witty, sophisticated outlook (see I Am Very British, Smart People Speak The Queen’s English and Deadpan Snarkers) This can be the charming, witty, intellectual male Brit (James Bond, John Steed, Sherlock Holmes) or the young and sexy English Rose type woman (Emma Peel and various Bond Girls). Characters in historical costume dramas often have British accents, even if the setting has nothing to do with England. Upper-class characters and movie villains are usually represented as The Mean Brit or Evil Brit. Too often they are depicted as eloquent snobs who are in the end humiliated by someone who is more egalitarian.
There are several UK actresses who carved out successful careers (mainly in The Eighties) portraying the sexy, RP-accented, haughty, Brit villainess type character, especially in American works. Examples include Joan Collins (as infamous mega-bitch Alexis Carrington of Dynasty fame), Stephanie Beacham (also Dynasty), Sarah Douglas, Kate O’Mara and Sian Philips.
Outside of the UK, the perceived “posh” accents of the Anglophonic nations (Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the USA) tend to sound more “English” the more upper-class a character is — that is, their accent is close to English RP (e.g less rhotic, pronunciations are more precise, long “a” sounds – “plahnt”, not “plant” etc). Think Frasier and Niles from Frasier, who are often mistakenly thought to have “British” accents, Stewie Griffin (who is actually supposedly meant to have a Boston Brahmin accent) and Helen Daniels and Harold Bishop (especially) from Neighbours for an Oceania example. Essentially, the posher the character, the more “English” they sound.
A Touch of Class, Ethnicity and Religion: Compared to other European countries, the class system has remained far more prominent and dominant in the United Kingdom than elsewhere. Despite not mattering as much as it did before the 1960s, it can still inspire a lot of venom, depending from which class system you’re (pretending to be) from. Generally, the Upper-Class Twit has become a common Butt Monkey in many British comedies, with usually their servants being a lot smarter and sympathetic than they are (see The Jeeves). People from middle class trying to intermingle with upper class and making a fool of themselves in the process have also been a staple in British comedy for decades. However, there is still a good deal of fascination with the intricacies of the class system, as evidenced by the huge popularity of British period dramas, both at home and abroad — Downton Abbey, Parade’s End, and Upstairs Downstairs offer a guilty pleasure; a compelling glimpse into the regimented lives of both master and servant. In some instances though, a privileged background can be a hindrance; for instance, a British rock band is only “authentic” when they are working-class.
In videogames, English female characters are often amongst the most fanservicey and portrayed as steely, no-nonsense femme fatales sporting form-fitting outfits and cut-glass RP accents. Examples include Cammy White from Street Fighter, Isabella “Ivy” Valentine from the Soul Series, Christie from Dead or Alive, Leanne Neville from The King of Fighters and of course, arguably the number one all-time videogame Ms. Fanservice, Lara Croft. This depiction undoubtedly derives from the various sexy Brit Bond Girls, as well as pioneering 1960’s British Spy Drama series The Avengers, which singlehandedly started the Spy Catsuit and TV Action Girl tropes.
English male video game characters however come in one of two distinct flavours. There’s the classically sophisticated Quintessential British Gentleman type, as seen with both Dudley and Eagle of Street Fighter fame, who sport a bowtie and cravat respectively, braces and formal trousers — and of course, both prioritize good manners and taking time to enjoy a cup of tea. The other type is the UK’s exact cultural opposite and derived from the nation’s Punk counter-culture, as seen with various rock and roll, British Rock Star-inspired examples, including Axl from Guilty Gear, Birdie from Street Fighter and Billy Kane of The King of Fighters fame.
Noble Male, Roguish Male: The above characters provide a great example of the polarized way in which British males are often presented in culture generally —that is, they are designed and depicted as being from either the very top (upper class gentleman, the epitome of Western sophistication) OR very bottom (rough and ready, punkish Cockney rogues) of the British social-class scale — all else in between is far less often depicted.
Stock British Characters: The Quintessential British Gentleman has blonde, mousey or shiny black hair, a bushy moustache, is dressed in a bowler hat and black suit, carries an umbrella and interrupts everything for the sake of having his tea (see Spot of Tea). In American movies he usually speaks Cockney slang like “‘Ello, gov’na!” or other random Stock British Phrases like “Cheerio”, “Right-ee-o”, “Hello chaps”, “Innit, eh?”, “Cor blimey”, “I say!”, “I say “what”?”, “Hear Hear”, “Bloody…”, “Tally-ho!”, “Bob’s your uncle”, “It’s a fair cop”, “Shocking”, “Yes. Quite!”, “…and all that”, “What’s all this then?” or “Jolly good show!”. Foreign comedians also have a tendency to portray an Englishman by using the words “bastard”, “wanker”, “tosser” or “bollocks”, which are all considered to be rude words in Great Britain and are always avoided in public, especially on radio or television.
The British Rock Star provides an interesting cultural contrast to the gentleman archetype above, and the UK is equally famous for its Rock, Heavy Metal and Punk heritage, having arguably produced the most famous, recognizable and iconic bands on the planet; The Beatles, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, The Sex Pistols (and more). This aspect of British culture is most famously (and lovingly) parodied in the film This Is Spinal Tap, a mockumentary about a hapless, fictional English Heavy Metal band struggling to remain credible in the early 80’s.
The English Rose is a uniquely English type of female beauty, and most often appears in period settings, though examples from modern works are also possible. Her beauty will be natural and classic; tumbling locks of auburn or light brown hair, porcelain-white skin and bee-stung lips are usual visual cues. Impeccable manners and good breeding are essential characteristics. She will be demure, and whilst generally being above offering any kind of gratuitous Fanservice, she will always be alluringly beautiful in an ethereal sort of way. English actresses like Julie Andrews, Vivien Leigh, Kate Winslet, Rachel Weisz and Jessica Brown Findlay have the appropriate looks, and are often accorded this accolade.
The British are also well known for founding clubs, specifically gentlemen’s clubs. They will frequently come together and have dignified, sometimes elitarian meetings, followed by group activities in which they share their common interests (sports, hunting, playing cards, reading,…). Expect members to smoke a pipe and wear tweed jackets.
“Get three Englishmen together and they’ll start a club. Get three Welshmen together and they’ll start a choir. Get three Scotsmen together and they’ll start a fight.”
Boarding School: Independent, prestigious educational institutions and the associated uniforms worn therein are most commonly associated with Great Britain, and a huge amount of home-grown and international works are dedicated to this setting. The tone of these works generally comes in one of two flavours, although there is a good deal of overlap:
The first is the Boarding School of Horrors, often used in conjunction with the Off to Boarding School trope, an intimidating place filled with stuffy, repressed pupils and sadist teachers. This version is presented in Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, the song “Another Brick in the Wall” by Pink Floyd, Never Let Me Go, the darkly anarchic If…, Roald Dahl’s Matilda, Danny, the Champion of the World and his autobiographical work “Boy: Tales of Childhood”, Greyfriars, St Trinians, Molesworth, Horrible Histories and in videogames with Rule of Rose, a particularly chilling example.
The alternative flavour presents British boarding school life as a far more enjoyable, even magical experience, with hi-jinks aplenty, midnight feasts, pillow fights, and life-long friendships formed. Examples of works from this setting include Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Jennings and of course, possibly the most famous example, Harry Potter.
If characters go to university, Oxford and Cambridge will be at one point referred to as “the best universities in the world”. College students will be wearing a student beret (a tradition that doesn’t exist in non-English speaking universities). Typical pastime activities are rugby, cricket, and the famous annual boat race between these two august institutions.
Stock British Characters, especially in American media (if they are at the higher end of the social-class spectrum), will of course have one of the quintessentially British stock names — “Nigel”, “Rupert”, or “Charles” are all popular choices, usually complemented with surnames such as “Belvedere”, “Kensington”, or “Buckingham”, which reference affluent UK locations. Upper-class British characters will also have (often for comedic effect) highly elaborate double, or even triple-barrelled surnames — “Sir Nigel Featherstonehaugh-Smythe” (incidently, to muddle les autrés, the first part of this surname is pronounced Fan-shaw). There’s definitely some Truth in Television to this stereotype, as certain names (like Nigel) are far more common in the UK than in the US, and there are Brits (mainly aristocrats) with extraordinarily rambling names — Jacobi Richard Penn Anstruther-Gough-Calthorpe provides a rather lovely real life example.
When Britons are playing sport they will be playing cricket, rugby, or darts to make absolutely clear that they are British. Soccer and tennis are popular as well, but generally not British enough in foreign fiction, unless the tennis is at Wimbledon, of course.
Despite being generally portrayed as polite and sophisticated, Britons can sometimes be depicted as more degrading or less classy characters:
Oddly, despite their stuffy stereotype, in Europe the English are sometimes thought of as sexually sadomasochistic, as demonstrated by the French idiom meaning “to spank”: “Le Vice Anglais” — The English Vice. Benny Hill, Carry On and the saucy greeting cards of Donald McGill also contribute to this image.
Rude, violent, and drunken soccer hooligans can be found in other countries as well, but England is tarnished more with this reputation than others. Of course, they all shout in Cockney accents.
British News Papers: Despite the fact that many countries have tabloid magazines and sensational journalists, these trashy, sleazy, and unconscionable newspapers are generally associated with the “Red Tops” of Great Britain.
Mean Brit: The Britons also have a reputation for producing arrogantly opinionated know-it-alls who will cause commotion in countries where expressing your thoughts that bluntly is considered not done. Examples are Christopher Hitchens, John Lydon, Margaret Thatcher, Jeremy Clarkson, Nigel Farage, Anne Robinson, Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, … Some of them can be considered being a charming Magnificent Bastard too though, especially in countries (like the USA) where their blunt, honest attitude helps to cut through a saccharine quagmire of “good-for-you!” schmaltz.
In the U.S.A., the English and their bad teeth have been a staple of comedy for centuries. (for instance in The Simpsons episode “Last Exit to Springfield,” the Family Guy episode “One If by Clam, Two If by Sea” and the Austin Powers series. With real life examples like Johnny Rotten, Susan Boyle, Margaret Thatcher, Amy Winehouse, Elton John, Thom Yorke… it’s not hard to understand where this image came from. “A staple of American humor about the UK is the population’s bad teeth.”
British Accents are nevertheless ubiquitously portrayed as very attractive in the US.
OMG, I loooooove your accent!™ – very much Truth in Television.
In many countries, especially on the European continent, the British cuisine is seen as particularly awful, tasteless, and sometimes downright disgusting, something that has been spoofed in Asterixin Britain. The 1990s, mad cow disease harmed this reputation even more. Expect the following British dishes to make a cameo whenever foreign characters in fiction visit the United Kingdom: buttered scones, Worcester sauce, plum pudding, fish ‘n’ chips, spotted dick (for Double Entendre purposes), Yorkshire pudding, peas, shepherd’s pie, English breakfast,…
In fact, the only food that the English seem to excel in are sweets and candy.
Roald Dahl praises his country’s sweets in his autobiographical novel Boy}}.
Bart and Lisa become addicted to English sweets in the Simpsons travel episode “The Regina Monologues”.
Spot of Tea is also a quintessential element of British cuisine. In Britain, tea is seen as a universal panacea for all ills, and the British love nothing better than ‘putting their feet up’ and enjoying a ‘cuppa’. The quiet gentility of the English tea ceremony is seen as a reflection of the reserved national character. In popular culture, they will usually drop everything they were doing at four o’ clock in the afternoon because it’s “tea time”.
The English are often called “eccentric”. This is partly caused by their driving on the left side of the road and the use of imperial measurements, which no other country in Europe (still) has. They are also the only European country to have a unique version of Christianity as the official state religion: Anglicanism. The usual explanation for the “British eccentric behaviour” is that they have lived for centuries on an isolated island, separated from the rest of the European continent, which caused them to act different from other Europeans. They haven’t been invaded since 1066, which might also explain why so many historic traditions have remained intact and unchanged. For instance, judges and lawyers are still required to wear wigs in court, which stems from the 17th century. (See also British Courts).
With Europe But Not Of It: Their stubbornness to join or support initiatives of the European Union has also been associated with their eccentricity or desire to be “different from the others for the sake of being different.”
To the above point, the UK government is often criticised by the rest of Europe for siding with and supporting its former territory, the USA, over its European brethren. They have been political, economical and military partners ever since the two world wars and the UK is still America’s closest ally. It has often been said that, apart from their historical friendship, the USA trusts the UK more than other European governments, first and foremost because they share a common language. Apart from that other European countries have in the past dared to oppose America’s military plans. The UK government is usually more loyal and/or obedient, with Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair as famous examples. Naturally not all British citizens are supporters of the UK’s loyal relationship with the USA, but nevertheless the UK’s nickname America’s 51st State has stuck to this day.
English aristocrats in particular have a centuries old reputation for eccentricity. You can seriously fill a book with all the mad royals, lords, dukes, earls, and barons that seem(ed) to flourish in the English countryside and their colonies.
Which brings us to the world-famous British comedy: the British are not afraid of laughing at themselves, and a good deal of British comedy pokes fun at the class system and the typical eccentric Englishman. Many British sitcoms and sketch shows have strange, daft characters whose behaviour is very unusual. Other, more “normal” characters will react with calm, dry humor and/or witty remarks about their behaviour. René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo claimed that when they satirized other nationalities in Astérix, each country would always complain about the way they were portrayed in the comic strip, usually because they didn’t understand their depictions. According to them, the only people that never made any trouble about the way they were spoofed were the Britons.
Another stereotype among foreigners about the United Kingdom is that many assume that all British comedy is more high-brow than comedy from other countries. Usually, such people are referring to intellectual, satirical stuff like The Goon Show, Monty Python, Blackadder, and The Office (UK). They don’t realise that the country also makes more low-brow and/or conventional comedy series.
Culturally, Britain is world famous for producing literary classics in the fields of novels, poetry, and plays. London’s West End is viewed as a revered theatrical Mecca, and Hollywood actors will often appear on the London stage (with much fanfare) to increase their credibility. William Shakespeare is still a national institution and usually the foremost British author referenced in popular culture. Other notables are Charles Dickens and his huge volume of Victorian Britain works, Jane Austen and her pioneering depictions of female heroines during the Regency, the vast fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien, and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series to name the most iconic.
The British film industry also seems to consist of seven types of movies, practically their own genre: 1) costume dramas set in previous centuries, usually about the differences between the higher and lower classes 2) socially conscious tragicomedies set in Thatcherite Britain, often in a working-class environment 3) detective films 4) Shakespearean adaptations 5) films set in World War Two glorifying Winston Churchill and the British Army 6) films nostalgically looking back on the marvels of The British Empire 7) James Bond. Between the 1940s and 1970s the country was also known for Hammer Horror, Carry On, The Pink Panther and quirky comedies in the style of the Ealing Studios.
Medieval Britain, with its associated imagery of castles, princesses and chivalrous knights, is frequently used as a template to provide the Standard Fantasy Setting in a huge variety of works – from films, TV series, table-top games and videogames. Characters in these works will of course have the applicable accents, albeit with varying degrees of quality, based on the actors involved. The association is understandable, particularly as Britain is the pre-colonial cultural origin for many who live in the modern Anglosphere. In fact, there have been instances where fantasy universes that weren’t inexplicably Anglo-Saxon, were viewed with hostility — they just weren’t right.
All British castles and manors are either haunted or a location for murder mysteries.
If there’s one thing the British excel at above all other nations, it’s pomp and ceremony. This is most evident every year during the Last Night of the Proms concert in the Royal Albert Hall, where the most famous patriotic classical chant is even called “Pomp & Circumstance”! It’s also visible in many other traditional ceremonies, such as the Changing of the Guards and the Royal Weddings, which include all the pageantry and fanfare of a classic fairytale wedding. Even though other European royal houses also conduct similar ceremonies, these tend to be far more low-key and lack the international press interest.
In some fiction like The Simpsons’ episode “The Regina Monologues”, Great Britain is depicted as if it still has the death penalty, which is of course carried out in medieval style by beheading someone in the Tower of London. The irony of it all is that Great Britain has abolished the death penalty while the United States still has it!
Britain Is Only London: Only one British location exists in foreign fiction: London. Whenever the city is depicted in popular culture expect Big Ben and Tower Bridge to appear in view. The Westminster Chimes will resonate throughout the city. The Tower, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Madame Tussauds, the London Underground, Royal Albert Hall, Trafalgar Square, … may have a cameo, too.
When Buckingham Palace is depicted in popular culture, it’s usually to have a scene with British Royal Guards being tricked into laughing and/or dropping their granite-like facade. The British Royal Family is easily the world’s most famous monarchy, so expect the various members to turn up, usually for comedic or dramatic effect, in a variety of works — from TV to films, books, and even videogames. Since Queen Elizabeth is the best-known monarch in the world, she’s turned up quite a lot in fiction, usually as an Anonymous Ringer or Invisible President, in part due to her function as a constitutional monarch.
British streets are full of double decker buses, red telephone booths, bumbling bobbies, black London cabs, pubs, inns,…
The only non-London British location interesting enough in popular culture is Stonehenge.
The Union Flag (Union Jack) itself is something of a fashion icon, and due to it’s highly recognisable star-burst pattern, the flag is frequently used to brand the clothing, accessories, and home decor of British characters in popular culture.
British Weather and A Foggy Day in London Town: In popular culture it’s always raining in the United Kingdom. Or when in London, expect some smog, Ominous Fog or Mysterious Mist to show up.
It’s VERY much Truth in Television that Brits are obsessed with talking about the weather, probably stemming from — a) Having a highly erratic climate that goes from blazing sunshine to torrential downpours in the space of an afternoon, and b) A cultural need to fill in conversational silences and awkwardness with universally acceptable chit-chat.
If an animal is depicted as being British, it will be an English bulldog.
Stereotypes within England:
Londoners/South Easterners are stuck up, always in a rush, and see themselves as living in the only important part of the nation. Usually sub-divided into the wealthy, glamorous, champagne-swilling elite or rough and ready, possibly criminal cockney working-classes. Southerners view Northerners as backward and stupid — “Northern Monkeys” sums up the Southerner view of anyone living north of the M25.
The Home Counties (Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, etc) — wealthy, expensive, and very upper-middle class. Filled with men called Nigel who work in The City and attractive yummy mummies taking children called Crispin and Henrietta to private schools in enormous, unnecessary 4x4s.
Essex — the UK equivalent of Joisey or The Valley. A county of perma-tanned, slutty dolly-birds and aggressive, vain, flashy geezer-blokes driving around in ghastly, souped-up Escort XR 3is.
West Country dwellers are completely backwards, rustic (in a charming way), and rural — everyone talks like a pirate. East Anglians, despite living on the opposite side of the country, receive the same treatment. The UK equivalent of Sweet Home Alabama, or The Deep South in unflattering examples.
The Midlands — the UK equivalent of Flyover Country. Often depicted as a grim industrial hell-hole in parts. The Birmingham accent is particularly vilified for sounding whiny and slightly stupid.
Yorkshiremen are doughty, thrifty, plain-speaking, and no-nonsense. The men work down mines, wear flat-caps, and race whippets, whilst the women are all Apron Matrons. Often seen as a nostalgic, “trust-worthy” folk. Yorkshiremen (and all other Northerners) view Southerners as “ponces” (or occasionally something slightly less savoury). The South is also seen as being where all the money, jobs and passable weather is in the country, while the North (according to Northeners) has all the down-to-earth honest toil where they just make do with whatever circumstances they land in, however bad they may be.
The huge success of long-running British soap Coronation Street compounds the effect, being set in a fictional Yorkshire town populated by a huge variety of Oop North clichés.
Liverpudlians are vilified as loud, abrasive, work-shy, and chavvy (not helped by the accent), with a passion for permed-hair and shell-suits. They are often presented as criminally inclined, but very family-orientated. The Beatles, the most successful rock band in history, put the city on the map internationally, and such, all Liverpudlians are expected to be huge, nostalgic fans.
Geordies are good-humoured, tough and likely to work in fishing or down the dockyards. They possess an unintelligible accent.
Manchester — the epicentre of Brit Pop in the mid 90s. Full of young males in their early 20’s getting “mad for it”. Seen as quite a “cool” city (2nd to London nationally), and viewed as the style, fashion, and cultural capital of The North.
Scotland
ScotIreland: Foreigners outside the UK frequently mix and confuse Irish and Scottish stereotypes with each other. Many Scottish celebrities are frequently thought to be either Irish or British. The only one nobody mistakes for being anything other than Scottish is Sean Connery.
Man in a Kilt: All Scottish men walk around in traditional Scottish clothing, which includes the tam o’ shanter (a hat), the sporran (a pouch worn on a loose belt), a Sgian Dubh (ceremonial knife), but especially the kilt. Expect jokes to be based on the idea that it is actually a skirt and/or that he doesn’t wear undergarments beneath it. Never mind the fact that nobody in Scotland wears this outfit, except perhaps during national or local festivities or sports competitions.
The English language has a phrase, “going Scottish”, which means walking around with nothing below your skirt or dress.
The Clan: All Scots are part of a clan and take pride in being a part of that family.
Brave Scot and Violent Glaswegian: A positive stereotype about Scots is that they are supposedly all brave and fierce “real” men, toughened by the harsh climate. They don’t mind cold, rain, wind, or fog and will fight their clan or country’s honor at all cost. The negative end of this stereotype depicts them as dour, grouchy, and mean sourpusses with a trigger temper. They will criticize any Scot who doesn’t share their tough ways of living for being No True Scotsman. Sometimes they are even depicted as being ugly, usually in combination with what can be seen beneath their kilts.
“Get three Englishmen together and they’ll start a club. Get three Welshmen together and they’ll start a choir. Get three Scotsmen together and they’ll start a fight.”
All Scots hate the English for more or less colonizing them and long for independence.
In combination with the Brave Scot archetype, the strong men will be participating in the Highland Games, where they throw long poles, stones, weights, and hammers as far away as possible. Another contest is tug o’ war (two teams pulling a rope).
The only other famous Scottish sport all foreigners know is golf, which isn’t part of the Highland Games at all.
As stated on a Monty Python’s Flying Circus sketch: “Scots folk don’t know how to play tennis to save their lives.” (Since the men’s singles victories of Glasgow native Andy Murray in the Olympics and US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013, this stereotype has become less prominent.)
Thrifty Scot: One of the most enduring stereotypes is that all Scots are thrifty and stingy misers who can’t bear the thought of spending a simple penny. Foreigners have created a lot of jokes around this idea.
BRIAN BLESSED, Have I Got News for You: You know, there really is a petrol crisis when motorists in Scotland start panic-buying, with some putting in as much as five pounds’ worth at a time.
The German word “Schottenpreise” (“Scotsmen price”) actually means a “cheap, low price”.
Everything’s Louder With Bagpipes: If you’re Scottish, you’re able to play the bagpipes, specifically the tunes “Amazing Grace”, “Auld Lang Syne”, or “Scotland the Brave”. In popular culture, non-Scottish people, particularly patriotic stuck-up Englishmen, will dismiss these musical sounds as being horrible noise.
All Scots have red or yellow brown hair. Men wear sideburns and/or a beard.
Every Scot has a last name starting with the word “Mac” or “Mc”. Typical first names are Gordon, Donald, Duncan, Hamish, or Angus.
Much like the English, Scottish cuisine is not held in high regard in other countries. In fact: even the English seem disgusted about some of the Scottish national dishes, most notably haggis.
Scots deep-fry everything.
From Doctor Who: “You’re Scottish, fry something!”.
Mock the Week, “Weird Things to See on a Road Sign”: “You are entering Scotland. No salad for 200 miles.”
Scottish liquor on the other hand is universally popular. Whisky (spelled as “whiskey” in Ireland, making the distinction) and especially “scotch” are their most universal export product.
Whenever you’re in Scotland, expect to see some thistles (their national flower), green grassy hills, huge lakes, a variety of sheep, castles, and walls made out of stone cobbles. Only two cities will be mentioned in popular culture: Glasgow and Edinburgh. The only other location worth mentioning is Loch Ness, so that the Monster Of Loch Ness can have a cameo.
The Scottish legal system has also gained some notoriety, with a third verdict apart from “Guilty or “Innocent”, named “Not Proven”.
The Scottish accent is also distinctive and has been imitated — poorly— by many foreigners. Typical Stock Phrases are “aye”, “laddie”, “bonnie”, “wee”, “shiite”, and “mate”, always spoken with a strong emphasis on the letter “r”. Certain syllables will be swallowed, such as “call” which becomes “ca'” and “never” which becomes “ne’er”.
Scots are frequently typecast as poets. This may stem from historical examples such as Robert Burns (a national icon), Walter Scott and William Topaz Mcgonagall (considered to be the worst-ever poet in the English language).
In Great Britain, Scotland is also frequently associated with The Scottish Play.
Scots are also dismissed as being nothing else but a bunch of drunk and violent savages living close to nature. In reality, Scotland has produced quite some notable scientists and inventors who had a positive effect on human history, including Alexander Graham Bell (inventor of the telephone), Kirkpatrick Macmillan (inventor of the bicycle), James Clerk Maxwell (discoverer of electromagnetic radiation), Joseph Lister (introduced antiseptic surgery), Alexander Fleming (discoverer of penicilline), James Watt (inventor of the steam engine), and John Logie Baird (inventor of tv). Some of the world’s most famous British authors were Scottish: Walter Scott, Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie,… Also, historically England has been ruled by monarchs or Prime Ministers born in Scotland a couple of times, including James I, Tony Blair, and Gordon Brown.
Wales
Welsh people are often regarded as stoic, somewhat dull people. In fiction, they will even be stereotyped as being stupid and backward, mainly because they all live on farms and supposedly know nothing about modern technology. Foreign writers are prone to forget that in Real Life Wales is more than just a small village. (A small village just outside Rotherham
, to be exact…)
In fact, Wales’ image as a primitive nation also stems from the fact that it is frequently used as a Standard Fantasy Setting in medieval sword and sorcery stories. Its craggy mountains and rugged terrain make it excellent for tales where King Arthur, knights, druids, castles,… are needed. The fact that Wales’ national symbol is a dragon doesn’t help matters much.
The Welsh language is also one of the most ancient in Europe and still spoken today, which may again explain why so many Englishmen have the feeling history stood still in Wales. Welsh is unlike other languages and has odd conventions (many double letters, strange diacritics,…) that are a frequent source of amusement for those unfamiliar with them. Yet again, not all Welshmen are that familiar with this ancient Celtic language.
All Welsh villages have long and unpronouncable names.
Welshmen are often typecast as being unusually talented at singing.
“Get three Englishmen together and they’ll start a club. Get three Welshmen together and they’ll start a choir. Get three Scotsmen together and they’ll start a fight.”
They are also depicted being obsessed with rugby and own so many sheep that some foreigners have very naughty ideas about what the Welsh do with these animals in their spare time.
A more modern image about Wales is that the country has a lot of coal mines.
Northern Ireland
The Northern Irish, aside from being terrorists, are chain-smokers and The Unintelligible. Nobody likes their accents (on men, at least).
The accent is particularly rhotic and quite harsh-sounding, at least compared to the lilting Southern Irish accents — a classic shibboleth is “an hour in the power-shower”, which comes out as “an arr in the par shar”, when said by a native Northern Irishman.
Before the sectarian conflicts broke the economy, Northern Ireland was known for being very industrialized compared to the rest of the island.
Since the second half of the 20th century, it’s mostly known for The Troubles between Catholics, Protestants, and their respective terrorist organisations I.R.A./I.N.L.A. and the U.D.A./U.F.F. Common images are British soldiers patrolling the streets, bomb attacks and people crowding together to either protest against or indulge in violence.
On a more positive note, a trip to Northern Ireland in fiction is not complete without a visit to the amazing Giant’s Causeway, or the Bushmills whiskey distillery.
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is considered to have more modern morals than the rest of the continent, but has less industrial production.
Horny Vikings: The oldest and most enduring stereotype about Northern Europe goes back to the Viking Age. All Danes, Norwegians, and Swedish are depicted as Vikings or at least wear a stereotypical horned helmet.
Their languages sound very funny in foreigners’ ears. They also have some letters different from the usual Western alphabet. Whenever mock Scandinavian is written the letter “o” will always be an “Ø” and the “a” an “Å”, despite not being that easily replaceable without changing the pronunciation or sound of a word.
A typical phenomenon is the weather. Most of the year the days will be short and the nights long. The “aurora borealis” (northern lights) will appear in the sky at night. The midnight sun will rise, too. Foreigners assume it’s always snowing in Northern Europe, though sunny weather is not uncommon, too.
Up in the northern regions of Norway and Sweden live the Lapp people (now considered a derogatory term and preferably named the Sami people). They will always be seen in the company of reindeers.
Sexy Scandinavian: Another stereotype is the very attractive blond Scandinavian white man or woman, usually hailing from Sweden.
And, you guessed it: Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland will always be confused with each other. Usually, all countries in Northern Europe are called “Scandinavia”, while technically only Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are part of it.
Denmark
Danes are either hot blondes, or boring. They aren’t called “The Canada of Europe” for nothing.
Also stereotyped as heavy drinkers and party animals who love to go to clubs.
And they might be Dutch, depending on who you ask.
Danes also have a reputation for being very open-minded about sex. In 1968, Denmark was the first country to legalize porn. During the late 1960s, many pornographic and/or sex education movies seen in international cinemas were made in Denmark.
Naturally, all Danish films are porn or Dogme95films. Or both.
According to other Scandinavians, Danes don’t speak; they merely mumble.
According to Scandinavia and the World (written by a Dane), Danish people are also known for being accidentally racist.
Most foreigners know of only three things about Denmark: It’s the land of Vikings, LEGO, and Hans Christian Andersen.
In the English speaking world, Denmark’s association with Hamlet is very strong, since the play takes place there.
Following the highly successful importation of serials Borgen and Forbrydelsen to the UK/US, the Danish are becoming known for their incredibly bleak, gritty (but dangerously gripping) drama serials, populated by icy female leads and dour (but hot) male side-kicks.
Denmark also has a reputation for making small snacks, like the “Danish” butter cookies and smørrebrød.
In Great Britain, they are known for exporting bacon and cheese.
And, of course, every Dane has a Danish dog for a pet.
Finland
The Finnish are portrayed as drunken and aggressive (like the Scottish stereotype), and portray Swedes as gays (like the British stereotype).
All Finns go to the sauna.
They all have knives. Or so the Scandinavians say.
Also, shy, self-possessed, never foolish, prone to depression and suicide.
In Russia, they are seen as slow-witted and slow-talking, emotionless, and unable to hold their alcohol. Very frequently lumped together with their kindred Estonians.
The drunk Finn on a bicycle is a common stereotype in Sweden.
Were capable of giving the Russians an extremely nasty surprise in WW2 — in the Winter War of 1939-40 and what is known as the Continuation War of 1941-44. Practically the only nation defeated by Stalin in WW2 not to be turned into a communist puppet state — the Russians knew trying to hold this crazy country down would be more trouble than it was worth. Finland was allowed genuine independence provided it remained strictly neutral. In fact, it even became a word: “finlandisation”.
Finns are often depicted as culturally identical to the other Nordic countries, although the Finnish language is unrelated to theirs and Finland technically isn’t even part of Scandinavia.
Like the British, Finland has a reputation for terrible food. Reindeer meat is seen as something of a joke in other countries that don’t eat it.
Then there is salmiakki, sometimes called “salty liquorice”. A popular candy in Finland, a terror to anyone not from Northern Europe. It’s an acquired taste.
On a lighter note, Finland is also home to The Moomins.
Some Finns can also be die-hard metalheads since Finland is home to many famous heavy-metal bands. Metal also tends to rank high on pop charts even today.
Finns are also notable racecar drivers.
And known for producing mobile phones. (Nokia is Finnish). Many IT innovations — social media, MySQL, mobile technology — originate in Finland.
Iceland
Icelanders are often stereotyped by the other Nordic nations as being Closer to Earth, well-meaning but naïve, and generally more exotic. Also seen as a nation of Cloud Cuckoo Lander s, which probably has something to do with Björk.
Apparently, they are also very pretty, and they like extreme sports.
Reykjavik is seen as a party city by some, although it’s extremely small by the standards of other European capitals.
Icelanders all like fishing, eat shark routinely, and like to visit hot springs and volcanoes. They are friendly and all know each other because the island has such a small population. They may actually still be Vikings, although the Viking age ended at least eight centuries ago.
Their foul tasting and even dangerous traditional cuisine.
Some mention will invariably be made about Iceland being “beyond the tree-line”, in reference to its polar location.
Norway
Just like the other Scandinavian countries Norwegians will be stereotyped as modern-day Horny Vikings.
Another stereotype is that all Norwegians are leather and spikes-wearing black metal fans. They will be seen as pagans with a disturbing interest in Viking mythology and a penchant for church-burning.
Foreigners assume the country to be extremely liberal, multicultural, soft on crime and drugs, and obsessed with tolerance and fairness. These same stereotypes may apply to other Scandinavian countries as well. Ironically, the atheist and church-going population are both equally large in Norway.
No image of Norway is complete without a scene taking place nearby some fjords. Edvard Grieg’s music for Henrik Ibsen’s Peer Gynt is very popular as a soundtrack to these scenes.
Norway is known for its fishing industry and particularly its violent maelstroms. It is very likely that a ship will pass through one off the Norwegian coast and the crew will end up in a hut in a small fishing village, tended to by friendly locals. Today, this stereotype is extremely outdated since most of Norway’s income comes from oil and natural gas, but at one time it was popular.
Because of their huge fishing and petroleum industry, Norway is supposed to be a very rich country, but everything is super-expensive. Especially alcohol.
Traditionally, Norway has been the Scandinavian country with the strictest morality codes, because of a strong layman-movement. Expect this to be shown in some productions, or at least spoofed.
Norwegians all enjoy skiing and langlaufing, of course.
A general stereotype associated with Norwegians is that they are very moody, inward-looking, and quiet. This may have something to do with the weather. It may come as no surprise that painter Edvard Munch, famous for “The Scream”, was born there.
Norwegians also prefer to stay neutral and prefer to mind their own business. Since the 19th century, they were only invaded once, during the Second World War, despite not wanting anything to do with the war. Together with Switzerland, they are the only Western European country who are not part of the European Union and together with Japan are one of the very few in the world that still practice whaling.
In the rest of Scandinavia, the typical Norwegian is seen as a barbaric Noble Savage who prefers to live alone in the forests and who will defend his house, family, and farm from all authority.
The country is also known for petroleum and organizing the annual Nobel Peace Prizes in Oslo, which are handed out by the Swedish monarch. (Because Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel wanted to give his neighbouring country the honor of organizing the event.)
And the woods are full of trolls, according to folklore.
Sweden
Of all Scandinavian or countries in Northern Europe, Sweden is the most prominent stereotyping target.
Swedes may be mistaken for Swiss people and vice versa, although their countries are not even geographically close together.
The Swedish singsong way speaking is often spoofed making use of phonetic accents, like for instance the Swedish Chef on The Muppets.
Similar to Canada, Eh? the verbal tic “Ja” (“Yes”) is used to drive the point home that a character in popular culture is Swedish.
The accent aside, almost all Swedes speak fluent English.
Swedish men are often depicted as blonde, dumb, well-built boytoys. Usually they are ski instructors or handymen. They will always be named Sven or Lars.
Except in other Scandinavian countries, where the Swedish man will be Ambiguously Gay, fond of fashion in general and tight trousers in particular. He is also tech-savvy to the point of nerdiness.
Sexy Scandinavian: Swedish women are usually portrayed as tall, slender, blonde and blue-eyed sex bombs, inspired by real-life blonde Swedes like Victoria Silvstedt, Ulrika Jonsson, Britt Ekland and Agnetha Fältskog from ABBA.
Ice Queen: Another Swedish female stereotype is the icy, cool woman, inspired by Greta Garbo and Ingrid Bergman.
All women are also Straw Feminist. This is Truth in Television to some degree, as Sweden is one of the world’s most progressive and experimental country in terms of gender politics and approaches to how people coexist.
Swedish women have a reputation for not wearing bras and for sunbathing in the nude, or at least topless (this was Truth in Television in the 1980’s but isn’t anymore).
Sweden also seems to be known for having little to no sexual or nudity taboos, as seen on The Simpsons
◊
. Swedes in general tend to be more comfortable and open about sex and nudity than Americans, but some of the stereotype stems from the fact that the Swedish words for “sex” and “six” are homonyms. In short, if Europeans Are Kinky, then the Swedes are the Norse gods of kink.
In Russia, there is a stereotype of a Swedish family — that is, a threesome (at least) of adult lovers of both sexes who live together and engage in steamy sex all day long.
This used to be Truth in Television to some degree: the sexual revolution of the sixties was adopted early in Sweden, leading to quite liberal censorship and morality laws for the time. However, other parts of the world soon caught up.
Today, due to the emphasis on women’s rights and an opposition against gender discrimination, many instances of using nudity in advertising that are considered OK in other countries are frowned upon, or even outlawed, in Sweden.
Swedish cultural fixtures figure into stereotypes such as IKEA, the cradle-to-grave socialist welfare state (and its attendant taxation), Volvo, etc. They are also commonly portrayed in propaganda works as a utopian society as a result of whatever the propaganda authors are advocating, as an example of the virtues of socialism (deconstructed here
), atheism (played straight here
), etc. Leo Tolstoy did this with alcohol suppression way back in 1894 in The Young Tzar, making this one Older Than Radio.
Whenever arthouse cinema is parodied the movies will always be in black or white, surrealistic, too intellectual, and made in either France or Sweden. If a Swedish arthouse movie is targeted, it will always be referencing Ingmar Bergman.
There’s only two genres of music: The grimiest of metal and annoyingly upbeat bubblegum pop. The metal stereotype is applied to pretty much all Nordic countries (except Iceland), while the reputation of Sweden having overly cutesy pop music probably came from ABBA, Roxette, and Ace Of Base.
Due to the huge popularity of books by Astrid Lindgren in the USSR, many Russians associate Sweden with quirky characters such as Karlsson on the Roof and Pippi Longstocking. The country has an excellent reputation for great children’s novels and equally fantastic youth films.
In recent years, Swedish literature and TV have gained a reputation for dark thrillers like Wallander, Van Veeteren, and the The Millennium Trilogy”, where uncomfortably raw and brutal rape and torture scenes are frequent.
This European postcard sarcastically depicts the Swedes as being inflexible.
Apart from humans, Sweden is home to thousands of moose.
Sweden also shares the dubious distinction of inspiring expressions in other languages:
The Spanish word “Hacerse el sueco” (Literally “Playing Swede”, meaning “intentionally playing dumb”).
The German word “Schwedentrunk” (literally “Swedish drink”) is a torture method where the victim is forced to drink foul manure water.
Then again, the German term “Schwedenstahl” (“Swedish steel”) is occasionally used to designate high-quality Swedish metals.
Stockholm Syndrome is a syndrome where kidnapping victims start to feel sympathy towards their kidnappers.
Since the film Be Kind Rewind, acting out scenes from actual big budget films on a low budget level is nicknamed “sweding”, because the characters act to the customers as if their amateur versions are in fact Swedish versions.
Eastern Europe
What a stereotypical place, especially the Eastern half!
Baltic Countries Despite the many linguistic and cultural differences between Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, the three tend to be lumped together in Soviet/Russian pop culture. Some of the common stereotypes of Balts include:
They are cold-blooded, emotionless, reserved, and brooding. The only thing that flares them up is national issues (see below).
Their women are uniformly tall, blonde, and either quite pudgy (if not outright Brawn Hilda material) or lithe and skinny. The men are Aryan athletic hunks not unlike Swedes (see above).
In the USSR, the three republics were viewed as “our very own Europe”, with marvellous Gothic and Baroque architecture, easily available imported goods, a lot of hip and cool design and pop culture of their own, and much more laid-back, tolerant, and liberal than the rest of the country.
In Soviet movies, Baltic actors tended to be typecast as villains, Westerners, aristocrats, or any combination thereof. Their lines were almost always overdubbed due to their heavy accent. Cities like Riga and Tallinn were (over)used as stand-ins for Western European capitals.
In much of Russian media of the last 20 years, Baltic countries are portrayed as being run by ultra-nationalists who seek to weed out the vestiges of Russian presence (banning Soviet symbols, harassing the Russian-speaking population, etc.) and glorify surviving Waffen-SS members as “fighters against Bolshevism” while persecuting Communist resistance and Red Army vets.
Latvia
Latvians are mostly depicted as potato- and fish eating numbheads with poor grammar. Also seen as the resort of Russia.
Estonians have a lot of jokes about Latvians supposedly having six toes on each feet.
Estonia
Most Estonian stereotypes in Russia are almost completely interchangeable with Finns (see the Western Europe section).
Latvians and Lithuanians depict Estonians as being slow.
Though they did create one thing of international fame: the Skype software. It’s true that a Dane and a Swede contributed along, but the other developers were all Estonians.
And you might also known them for composer Arvo Pärt, whose composition “Spiegel im Spiegel” has been used in many films, most recently Gravity.
Lithuania
Very few stereotypes of note exist about Lithuania specifically. Most have trouble telling it apart from Latvia, and the two countries tend to be confused a lot.
In the 19th century Lithuanians were apparently seen by Russia as troublemakers and the most dangerous out of the Baltics due to the old association with Poland.
They’re talented at basketball.
They hate the Polish, though they hate the Russians much, much more.
Central Europe
Very insistent that they are not Eastern European, preferring instead to link themselves to German Catholic culture (all countries in this region are majority-Catholic). Still they’ll often be categorized as the Balkan or the former Eastern Bloc. To most foreigners they are interchangeable with Russians, the most well known Eastern European country.
The most general image of Central Europe is that of a romanticized Ruritania with an Überwald, based on many ancient legends and several gothic horror novels and films, most notably Dracula. This evokes images of large forests, dark castles and people still living very close to nature. All Eastern Europeans are poor, miserable peasants who live in fear of foreigners, vampires, bears, (were)wolves and their own government.
All Central Europeans will be depicted wearing traditional peasant clothing. The one thing that sets them apart from Russia is their jumpy, catchy, dizzy making folk dance music, which always sounds as if it’s twirling around.
All Eastern European countries and regions will have names ending in “-sylvania”, “-davia”, “-akia” or “-gary” .
Despite the Cold War being over since 1991 many stereotypes about Eastern Europe are still based on imagery from this time period, especially the idea that everyone there is a spy or a member of the local military.
Eastern European Animation is also famous, though sometimes ridiculed as being nothing more than surrealistic, colorful, cut-and-paste forest animal stories full of heavily distorted imagery with scratchy lines and scribbles like “Worker and Parasite” on The Simpsons. Also expect some hidden anti-Soviet messages in them.
Central Europe also has an association with Roma culture. Cue to all the stereotypes associated with these people. They are proud, but poor nomads who live in mobile homes and just travel from one region to another before being chased away by local authorities. They spent their time with stealing money, babies and other belongings, or rip you off with con-games, Tarot card reading and fortune telling. Yet they will also enjoy playing guitar and violin by moonlight around the camp fire while everybody dances. They all wear ear rings.
Since the end of the Cold War Central Europe has a bad reputation for being a criminal walhalla. The Russian mafia is strong and human trafficking of young beautiful women to be forced to work as prostitutes in Western Europe is a huge problem.
Czech Republic
To this day you’ll find people still referring to it as “Czechoslovakia”, despite being split in two countries since 1993. Czechs are seen as essentially identical to Germans and not Slavs, and rarely distinguished from Slovaks either.
Czechs have a strong cultural heritage, exemplified by their numerous castles, marionette theatres, puppet films and literary classics like The Golem, The Good Soldier Svejk and the novels of Franz Kafka.
Kafka in particular is the most famous Czech of all time. Expect people visiting the Czech Republic to get lost in kafkaesque bureaucracy or other odd situations.
The Czechs also produced author Karel Čapek, whose play “R.U.R.” gave us the word Robot.
Musically the country also produced very popular folk music, which has often been used as the basis for the work of many famous Czech composers like Antonín Dvořák, Bedřich Smetana, Gustav Mahler and Leoš Janáček. The polka, despite being associated with Poland, is actually a Czech word.
The capital, Prague, is usually thought of as being fairly glamourous for the region of Europe in which it is located. Prague is also often featured as the template East European city in a wide variety of media, and the Barrandov Studios are a popular filming location for Hollywood movies such as xXx, Blade II, Mission: Impossible and The Bourne Identity, where the city is either used in name, or where an ambiguously generic “Euro” location is required. If a film/videogame/book carelessly suggests a location as being somewhere in Eastern Europe, you can bet Prague is the template city.
The most famous Czech region is Bohemia, which gave us the setting to the French opera La Bohème and “The Bohemian Girl”, the word “bohemian” and Queen ‘s “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Interestingly enough all these associations were not thought up by the Czechs themselves.
The meaning of word “Bohemian”, as in “unconventional lifestyle”, is of French origin. Apparently, one of their term for Gipsies was “bohémiens”, because they came to France via Bohemia. This lifestyle is not quite standard for the Czech people, considered by many Slavic neighbours as cold “half-Germans”.
One famous Bohemian thing that the Czechs did create is Bohemian crystal and art glass.
The most enduring Czech stereotype is that they are crazy beer drinkers. The “Pilsner” and “Budweiser” beers being their international greeting card.
As the country holds the title of highest beer consumption per capita in the world, it is more Truth in Television than stereotype.
Their northern neighbours perceive them as a nation of good-natured simpletons, perhaps due to the influence of the novel The Good Soldier Svejk and their language (which sounds to Poles as if it’s made from lisp and diminutives).
Czech girls and women are generally portrayed as beautiful (inspired probably by Czech supermodels like Karolina Kurkova or Eva Herzigova), often combined with kinky and loose attitude towards sex life.
Czech taxi drivers are often thought to be tricksters of foreign tourists. Sadly, this has been proved to be Truth in Television several times, but if such cases are reported, measures against it are taken.
Historically the 15th century priest Jan Hus (burned at the stake for heresy) laid the foundations for making the Czech Republic the quite irreligious country that it is today. It has one of the world’s highest proportions of atheists (a sharp contrast from their northern neighbor Poland, which is one of the most religious European countries).
During the Cold War they were best known for producing the Škoda car, the Prague Spring and the Velvet Revolution.
They are also quite skillful tennis players, with Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova as the most iconic examples.
Hungary
Hungary is known as the birthplace of goulash (which is completely different from the American version), and for its communist era, which may not be over yet. Its language has a reputation as being very bizarre and difficult (which is probably Truth in Television, as it’s one of the few languages in Europe that isn’t Indo-European).
Stereotypically the country is poor and economically still stuck in the 1980s, with old compact cars and bombed-out bridges contrasting with beautiful old cities.
Hungarians are likely to be eccentric Funny Foreigner types and may be typecast as academics; this is probably due to well-known mathematicians such as Paul Erdös and Imre Lakatos. The country is famous for inventions such as the Rubik’s Cube.
The breeding place of Neonazis and right-wing loons. The Fourth Reich. Their discrimination of Roma
and the fact that the current right-wing administration submitted a law that allows the government to play watchdog with all inner-country media
certainly doesn’t help.
Among at least some Europeans, Hungary is also (in)famous for its porn industry, which exploded after The Great Politics Mess-Up.
Occasionally also shares the Transylvanian stereotypes (Vampires, torches and pitchforks etc.) mentioned in detail under Romania, thanks mostly to messy local history and Bela Lugosi.
Poland
In America, there are a lot of jokes about the pigheaded stubbornness and stupidity of the Polish people. (Many Americans are of German descent, and once upon a time a lot of propaganda was spread in Germany about Polish stupidity. The German diaspora brought it with them and it took hold, especially because Polish immigrants and their descendants tended to be working-class. Few Americans, however, are aware of the origins of the stereotype.) Curiously, in Eastern Europe the Polish stereotype is the exact opposite – thought of as being soulful, a little mysterious, highly educated and proud as hell. The Polish accent to a native Russian speaker sounds kind of like what a stiff, clipped British accent sounds like to a native speaker of American English, too.
Because of its unusual religious tolerance at certain points in history, Jews flocked to Poland and so Jews have made up a large portion of the Polish population for a long time. Poland had the largest Jewish population in the world until, well, those Nazis again. There was a massive post-war emigration and a lot of the Polish Jews ended up in America (and Israel—during the first 20-30 years of its existence, Knesset debate would sometimes be held in Polish as angry MKs of Polish origin lapsed into their native tongue). Perhaps because of that, in America most of the Polish people floating around in the cultural consciousness is of Jewish descent and identifies mostly with Jewish culture (Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jerzy Kosinski, etc.) so there tends to be some conflation between Jewish and Polish stereotypes in the American media.
In foreign media Poles generally have names ending in Slavic inflections like -ski or -icz. In reality, not all Polish names have endings like these—only most of them.
Poles are often stereotyped in a clichés similar to Russians, particularly for being huge drinkers. They are known for being devout Catholics and may be insistent everyone else be, too.
In the UK, Polish immigrants are always associated with cheap manual labour and waitressing — and little else besides. Similar to the Mexican immigrant US stereotype. On a positive note though, Poles are seen to be hardworking, friendly, and keen to assimilate. Since the proliferation of Polish store, Polish cuisine, particularly beer and sausages, have earned popularity. Brits are able to purchase things which are commonplace in the US and Europe but otherwise hard to find in the UK (Lays chips, Cheetos, Nestea, and various Polish beers, to name a few things).
Poles eat kielbasa and sauerkraut constantly and are obsessed with bigos. No other dishes exist in Polish cuisine according to popular culture.
Poland has an undeserved reputation for losing wars which is probably due to its being the first country invaded in World War II (exemplified by the erroneous story of Polish cavalry charging German tanks). In reality, Poland has defeated Russia, Germany and other major powers several times in its military history. This likely relates to the stereotype of Poles as stupid and incompetent.
Poles also have a reputation for thievery. Two common jokes:
“Come to Poland; your car is already here.”
Q: Why did the Russian steal two cars in Germany? A: He had to pass through Poland first.
And of course, as matter of a joke, Poland will be confused with the North Pole and/or the South Pole.
Slovakia
When it exists in popular culture, it’s essentially “the Czech Republic but poorer”. A passing reference may be made to mountains. Extra points for noting the capital is Bratislava and not something else.
Slovaks have been stereotyped being bad-tempered, easily offended and having a dark and sadistic sense of humor.
Notoriously typecast as a crime-ridden Den of Iniquity in the Eli Roth torture-porn flick Hostel. Many Slovaks were not exactly thrilled about this, to say the least.
The Balkans
Generally stereotyped as being extremely patriotic, even when it doesn’t matter, hating all their neighbors, but especially hating the Turks.
However, the Greeks will make sure to tell you that they have nothing against the Turks.
It’s not a region- it’s an ethnic-religious cluster fuck.
Greece
To most people Ancient Greece is perhaps the country’s most famous stereotypical image. Apart from the beaches and the uncountable islands Greek musea and ancient buildings are the number one tourist attraction. The Greeks themselves are very proud for being part of the world’s heritage. Ancient Greece was the first great European civilization, which blossomed over several centuries. Their society was a pioneer in painting, sculpture, architecture, pottery making, literature, theatre, language, politics, law, warfare, the justice system, philosophy, medicine, math, geometry, biology, sports, astronomy,… to such a high degree that they remained the standard even long after their civilization crumbled. Ancient Rome copied a lot from them and ever since The Renaissance the ancient Grecian-Roman society has been held in high regard.
Greece is also famous for philosophy. They have produced several famous and influential philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Diogenes of Sinope, Pythagoras, Anaxagoras, Anaximander, Thales, Epicurus, Parmenides, Epimenides, Democritus, Xenophon, Zeno of Alea, Gorgias, Pyrrho, …
Ancient Greek, along with Latin, is still highly regarded in many schools and universities. The Greek alphabet was influential on our modern alphabet and several words, idioms and expressions have been derived from Greek language.
Several Greek locations also thank their fame due to their association with Ancient Greek society: Athens, Sparta, Delphi, Lesbos, Crete, Mount Olympus, Rhodes, Thessaloniki, Corinthe, Epidaurus, …
The downside about this is that ancient Greece is still their only huge and well known achievement to mankind’s history. It seems that ever since the ancient Greek civilization came to an end the country never did anything noteworthy that other countries could praise or remember. Except for the Byzantine Empire, of course. Compare them to Italy, who did survive the ancient Roman time period and kept making their mark on history, culture and science in the centuries that followed.
For instance, Greece is nowadays still internationally famous for the Olympic Games, which is again a hangover from their ancient civilization. It brings up images of athletes running the marathon, throwing discuses, carrying the Olympic torch, lighting the Olympic flame, chariot racing, wrestling,… Since the late 19th century the Olympic Games have returned as the world’s most famous and watched sports event, but it took a Frenchman, Pierre de Coubertin, to revive the games and up to now these modern Olympic Games have only been held in Athens twice: in 1896 and 2004.
The most enduring modern Greek stereotype are the Greek soldiers (“evzones”), immediately recognizable for their traditional military uniforms, recognizable due to the “fustanella”, a kilt-like garment.
In the 1960s Greece managed to become internationally famous again, thanks to actress Melina Mercouri, Zorba The Greek, Jacqueline Kennedy’s marriage to Greek businessman Aristotle Onassis and unfortunately, the Greek colonel dictatorship that ruled the country from 1967 until 1973. The latter also inspired the famous political protest movie Z.
The 1964 film Zorba The Greek has fed the image that all Greeks love to dance the “Sirtaki”. The famous musical piece “Zorba’s Dance” is still used to provide a soundtrack to Greek images and has lead to the wrong impression that both the composition and the Sirtaki dance are part of traditional Greek folklore. They are not: they were composed by Mikis Theodorakis.
A Greek musician will always be playing the bouzouki.
Perhaps the most modern of all Greek stereotypes (most popular in the rest of the EU) is Greece as the monetary black hole, unable to cope with the 2008 stock market crash until this very day
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All Greeks are either Greek Orthodox or still worship gods from Greek Mythology.
My Big Fat Greek Wedding is full of Greek stereotypes (everyone is Orthodox Christian, named Nick, and very proud of their Greek heritage).
All Greeks are each others’ nephews, a stereotype also found in Asterix at the Olympic Games.
Greek men all have a Overly Long Name. They are very hairy over their entire body, sometimes exemplified by a moustache, but this not mandatory. They also wear large ostentatious gold jewelry and watches.
Greek parents are very caring and overprotective about their children, well until their kids are beyond their adult years.
Greek women are usually homely mothers who mostly cook. The rest of the time they will be gossiping.
Just like Italian stereotypes Greeks have a reputation for being unable to keep their voice down. They love to shout and argue passionately, even in public places. A fist- or knife fight might break out afterwards.
This European post card sarcastically depicts the Greeks as being disorganized
.
Greece is famous for its shipping industrynote , which shouldn’t be surprising, considering the fact that they are surrounded by water and have hundreds of small, often inhabitated islands. Whenever a rich Greek businessman is depicted in popular culture he will always be a shipping magnate and be based on Aristotle Onassis, for instance: Percicles Parnassus in Rocky and Bullwinkle and Aristotle Amadopolis in The Simpsons.
If a Greek doesn’t own a shipping empire he will be cast as a restaurant owner. He will mostly serve traditional Greek dishes like moussaka, souvlaki, feta cheese, ouzo and lots, lots, lots of olives. Olive oil will be added to every meal.
Greeks and Turks have a rivalry that goes back many centuries when both countries went to war against each other. To this day Greeks don’t like to be compared to Turks (and vice versa), despite the fact that they obviously have a lot in common due to sharing a similar historical tradition.
For instance, both Greeks and Turks have a reputation for being smokers.
Greece also has a centuries old reputation for homosexuality. The word “lesbian” is derived from the Greek isle Lesbos. In Ancient Greece homosexual relationships were fairly common and the male body was idealized more than the female one.
Greece also has a reputation for providing great warriors such as Alexander the Great and Leonidas of Sparta.
The former Yugoslavia
To most other countries it is mostly known for producing Gavrilo Princip, the man who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary and gave other countries an excuse to start World War I. During the Cold War it was mostly known for Josip Broz Tito and in the 1990s it became synonymous with civil war and genocidal war criminals on the loose.
Slovenes are stuck up, melancholic bureaucrats with no sense of humor and an impeccable sense of frugality.
Croatians have a reputation for being fanatically patriotic. They are also known for being talkative, to the point of being quarrelsome. Historically the country is known for giving us the first fountain pens and the invention of the cravat (though the original version looked different from the modern one).
Bosnians manage to be both very cynical and utter simpletons who consider stubbornness the greatest virtue.
Serbs are stereotyped as murderous maniacs pissed off by things that happened centuries ago. They would rather fight among their own people than unite against a common enemy. And since A Serbian Film they are not likely to gain a reputation for good taste any time soon…
Montenegrins are allergic to work and you’ll never see one stand up or, God forbid, walk somewhere.
Macedonians either don’t exist or are a mish-mash of Bulgaria and Albania. If one Macedonian is mentioned it will be Alexander the Great, even though Alexander The Great and other Ancient Macedonians were actually Greeks and have no relation to modern day Slavs occupying the country.
And of course all these people are repeatedly confused with each other, much to their own chagrin.
Albania
Tribalistic in temperament, settle all their issues with violence, love tracksuits and are either owners of an eatery or work for the mob – Muslim Italians with a weird language nobody understands, apparently.
May still be Dirty Communists (this is at least partially based on fact since Albania remained communist longer than almost any other country in Europe, but is not true today).
Owners of possibly the most Obviously Evil-looking flag
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in Europe, perhaps the world. Seriously, it looks like it was created by M.Bison.
Much like Bulgarians often stereotyped as criminals, human traffickers, gangsters, spies and/or evil militarians.
Romania
Transylvania is the only place that exists. Its inhabitants are pitchfork wielding peasants who fear God and supernatural beings, especially vampires, werewolves and Frankenstein’s monster.
So engrained is Transylvania as a fantastical locale in modern culture, that many people probably don’t even realize that it’s even a real place, let alone a region within Romania.
As said, Romania is most famous in popular culture for its Uberwald-vibe and oh so many books, games and movies involve Dracula and other associated creatures of the night, with examples including Van Helsing, Castlevania, and so on.
If anything, a large percent of Romanians are just as superstitious, only that anything to do with Dracula is a Berserk Button for them.
They are frequently lumped together with Slavic countries despite Romanian being a language closer to Latin than Slavic languages. The fact that most Romanians are Eastern Orthodox (as opposed to Catholic like other Romance peoples) doesn’t help either.
Romanians, seemingly moreso than other nations, get very bad press throughout the rest of Europe for their pick-pocketing gangs and squatters, who bus into neighboring countries and plague top tourist destinations like London, Paris and Madrid.
Another popular stereotype is the freakishly flexible Romanian female gymnast, and (unfortunately) certainly amongst Western Europeans, the association of hellish orphanages with children literally chained to grimy, iron beds.
They have a reputation for being either Communists or prostitutes. Sometimes both.
Bulgaria
| Switzerland |
Acute Coryza is a medical term for which common complaint? | Pop Art: History, Characteristics
and styles, see: History of Art .
What is Pop-Art? - Characteristics
The term Pop-Art was invented by British curator Lawrence Alloway in 1955, to describe a new form of "Popular" art - a movement characterized by the imagery of consumerism and popular culture. Pop-Art emerged in both New York and London during the mid-1950s and became the dominant avant-garde style until the late 1960s. Characterized by bold, simple, everyday imagery, and vibrant block colours, it was interesting to look at and had a modern "hip" feel. The bright colour schemes also enabled this form of avant-garde art to emphasise certain elements in contemporary culture, and helped to narrow the divide between the commercial arts and the fine arts. It was the first Post-Modernist movement (where medium is as important as the message) as well as the first school of art to reflect the power of film and television, from which many of its most famous images acquired their celebrity. Common sources of Pop iconography were advertisements, consumer product packaging, photos of film-stars, pop-stars and other celebrities, and comic strips.
A Bigger Splash (1967), David Hockney.
Leading Pop Artists
In American art , famous exponents of Pop included Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008), Jasper Johns (b.1930), Roy Lichtenstein (1923-97) and Andy Warhol (1928-87). Other American exponents included: Jim Dine (b.1935), Robert Indiana (aka John Clark) (b.1928), Ray Johnson (1927-95), Alex Katz (b.1927), Claes Oldenburg (b.1929), Ed Ruscha (b.1937), James Rosenquist (b.1933), and Tom Wesselmann (b.1931). For more, please see Andy Warhol's Pop Art of the sixties and seventies.
Leading British Pop artists included: Sir Peter Blake (b.1932), Patrick Caulfield (1936-2006), Richard Hamilton (b.1922), David Hockney (b.1937), and Allen Jones (b.1937).
WORLD'S TOP PAINTERS
For details of the best
modern painters, see:
see: Definition of Art .
Origins and Influences
Pop-art, like nearly all significant art styles, was in part a reaction against the status quo. In 1950s America, the main style was Abstract Expressionism , an arcane non-figurative style of painting that - while admired by critics, serious art-lovers, and experienced museum-visitors - was not "connecting" with either the general public, or with many artists. Very much a painterly style, the more abstract and expressive it became, the bigger the opportunity for a new style which employed more figurative, more down-to-earth imagery: viz, something that the wider artist fraternity could get its teeth into and that viewers could relate to. Thus Pop-art, which duly became the established art style, and which in turn was superceded by other schools after 1970.
In some ways, the emergence of Pop-art (and its ascendancy over Abstract Expressionism) was similar to the rise of Dada and its broader based successor Surrealism (and their ascendancy over Cubism ). Both the superceded schools (Abstract Expressionism and Cubism) involved highly intellectual styles with limited appeal to mainstream art lovers. True, Dada was essentially anti-art, but the years during which it flourished 1916-1922 were marked by great polarization and political strife, and as soon as things calmed down most Dadaists became Surrealists. In any event, as explained below under Aims and Philosophy, Pop-art shares many of the characteristics of Dada-Surrealism and is indebted to it for several techniques derived from Kurt Schwitters ' collages, the " readymades " of Marcel Duchamp , the iconic imagery of Rene Magritte and the brash creations of Salvador Dali (eg. Mae West Lips Sofa; Lobster Telephone).
And if Surrealism was essentially internalist, and escapist in nature, while Pop-art was defined by external consumerist forces, both were consumed by the need to make a strong visual impact on the general public.
Another artist who may have had an impact on Pop-art, is Edward Hopper (1882-1967) the realist painter of urban America. Although his painterly style is very different from most pop works, his simple images of ultra-American everyday scenes (eg. "Night Hawks", 1942 and "Gas", 1940) were well known to the pop generation, and may have informed their paintings.
NOTE: For other important 20th century trends similar to Pop art, see Art Movements, Schools (from about 100 BCE).
History
British Pop-Art emerged from within the Independent Group - an informal circle of artists including painter Richard Hamilton, curator and art critic Lawrence Alloway, and sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi, that met in the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
From the first meeting, in 1952, when Paolozzi presented a number of collages assembled from magazine clippings and other " found objects ", including his (now) celebrated collage entitled "I was a Rich Man's Plaything" (created 5 years previously in 1947) their discussions centred largely around the artistic value and relevance of popular mass culture.
Four years later, in 1956, another member of the group, Richard Hamilton, produced his own collage, "Just what is it that makes today's homes so appealing?" - which, along with Paolozzi's 1947 collage, is regarded as one of the earliest examples of British Pop-Art. In 1961, a number of Pop-style works by Derek Boshier, David Hockney, Allen Jones, RB Kitaj and Peter Phillips, featured in the Young Contemporaries Exhibition. In 1962, further publicity was given to British Pop when the BBC screened "Pop Goes the Easel", a film by Ken Russell which explored the new movement in Britain.
USA
Meanwhile in America, during the mid-1950s, the art world was being rocked by a number of artists attached to small movements (eg. Neo-Dada, Funk Art, Lettrism, Beat Art, Polymaterialism, Common-Object, to name but a few), many of whom were incorporating articles of mass culture in their works. They wanted their art to be much more inclusive than traditional styles (like Abstract Expressionism), so they used non-art materials and focused on ordinary, easily recognizable subjects that expressed the popular culture of the day.
Among this upsurge of innovation, work by Robert Rauschenberg , Ray Johnson (1927-95) and Jasper Johns , was beginning to make an impact on the important New York art scene. Between them, they opened up a whole range of new subject matter: Johns, with his paintings of flags, targets and numbers, as well as his sculptures of objects like beer cans; Rauschenberg, with his collage and assemblage art , and "combine paintings" (in which a painted canvas is combined with various objects or photographic images - such as: "Monogram" [1955-9] comprising a stuffed goat with a tyre around its middle) of stuffed animals, Coca-Cola bottles, and other items; Johnson with his celebrity collages of James Dean, Shirley Temple and Elvis. Other influential pioneers and advocates of Pop-art were the composer John Cage (an influential teacher at the Black Mountain College in North Carolina), and the Performance artist Allan Kaprow (1927-2006).
This rising tide of new thinking was further enhanced by renewed interest in earlier avant-garde movements like Dada and Surrealism, whose enduring vitality was reinforced by the influence, if not the actual presence, of several ex-Dadaists and Surrealists, like Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst , and local converts, such as Joseph Cornell. That said, it is important to state that while American avant-garde artists of this period (especially Rauschenberg) were indebted to earlier Europeans (like Duchamp, Schwitters et al) for establishing certain traditions (like collage), their unique focus was on producing art which reflected the reality of contemporary America.
By the early 1960s, a cohort of Pop-style artists began to gain fame through solo exhibitions in places like New York and Los Angeles, several of whom used commercial printmaking techniques (eg. screen-printing ) to create their art, rather than traditional painterly methods. These new talents included: Jim Dine, Robert Indiana, Alex Katz, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, James Rosenquist, Tom Wesselmann, and Andy Warhol. Several works, later to become icons, were shown for the first time. They included Lichtenstein's comic strip oils, Warhol's silkscreen prints of Marilyn Monroe and Campbell's soup cans, and Oldenburg's monumental vinyl burgers and ice-creams.
Strangely, until late 1962 or early 1963, these artists were still labelled by critics as New Realists or some other such term. Thus the two important art shows held in the autumn of 1962 - one curated by Walter Hopps at the Pasadena Art Museum, the other at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York - were entitled "The New Painting of Common Objects" (Pasadena) and "New Realism" (New York). Only hereafter was the term Pop-art used as a technical name for the movement, partly due to the critics discomfort with the term Realist , and partly due to the presence in New York of Lawrence Alloway - now a curator at the Guggenheim Museum - who advocated the adoption of the term.
From 1963 onwards, Pop-art spread throughout America and, helped by British Pop-artists, established itself on the Continent. The movement's rise was aided by parallel growth in other areas. In economics, via the growth of the world economy in general and the American economy in particular; in science, via the spread of television; in contemporary music, (which itself became known as "Pop") through the miniaturization of radio, increased record production, the appearance of cult groups like The Beatles, and the phenomenon of pychedelia; and lastly through an expanding art market.
During the later 1960s, Andy Warhol emerged as the Damien Hirst of his day, gaining fame and notoriety in equal amounts for his iconic celebrity screenprints, his conceptualist film work, his increasingly sleek art production methods and his self promotion - at least until he was shot and seriously wounded on June 3, 1968. Roy Lichtenstein, too, became a household name through his comic-strip blow-ups and several prestigious retrospectives on both sides of the Atlantic. Meantime, Rauschenberg won the Grand Prize at the 1964 Venice Biennale, and maintained his avant-garde reputation by helping to form EAT (Experiments in Art and Technology) in 1966 to boost collaboration between artists and engineers, while Johns maintained his high standing by winning first prize at the 1967 Sao Paulo Biennale.
Perhaps inevitably, having weathered the conformity of the 1950s, and the panic of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), American Pop-art reached its peak during the second half of the 1960s, only to find itself infected and undermined by the angst of the Vietnam War era, and the corresponding rise of anti-Americanism.
Britain
Despite being less brash, less kitschy, more romantic and more nostalgic than its counterpart across the Atlantic, British Pop-art during the early and mid-1960s was strongly influenced by a US pop culture which it regarded as being more up-to-date and more exciting than the home-grown variety. It was during this period that Britain began importing a substantial amount of American television programs, as well as other features of American life, such as burger bars and other fast food outlets. As a result, artists began to draw on American imagery for inspiration, although often with a very British slant. On the other hand, the British advertising and printing industry was far less developed, which restrained British artists from using techniques already well established in New York (eg. silkscreen printing), and forced them to rely on older techniques.
Europe
In Europe, the primacy of American popular culture was diluted by both language and politics. In Paris, still anxious about its junior status to New York as the world's top art centre, American pop culture was tolerated rather than celebrated. Moreover, the French avant-garde - perhaps due to its entrenched Communist Party - had a more political flavour and thus took a more Dadaist line encouraging audience participation in their preferred Performance, Happenings and Conceptual art under the umbrella term of Nouveau Realisme (c.1960-70). The leading French "Pop-artists" or Nouveau Realistes were: Yves Klein (1928-62), Francois Dufrene (1930-82), Matial Raysse (b.1936), Jacques de la Villegle (b.1926), Jacques Monory (b.1934), Alain Jacquet (b.1939), Jean Tinguely (1925-91). Italy, being less political (despite an even larger Communist Party!) remained more open to the artistic and design possibilities inherent in Pop-art. For instance, it was an Italian design group comprising Jonathan De Pas (1932-91), Paolo Lomazzi (b.1936) and Donato d'Urbino (b.1935) that created "Joe Sofa" (1971) a sofa resembling a gigantic baseball mitt.
The Aims, Philosophy and Methods of Pop Art
No international art movement that lasts for more than 15 years and encompasses all known art types, genres and types of media, as well as entirely new forms, can be summed up in a few sentences. Even so, no understanding of Pop-art is possible without taking into account the following concepts which help to characterize its core.
Instant Meaning
The basic idea behind Pop-art was to create a form of art with instant meaning. This was in sharp contrast to the super-intellectualism of Abstract Expressionism with its esoteric canvases so beloved by arts professionals. To achieve their goal of instant meaning, Pop artists experimented with new commercial processes, like acrylic painting , collage on canvas using materials not normally associated with painting, and silkscreen printing. In addition, the imagery and colour schemes for most Pop-art painting and sculpture was taken from high-profile and easily recognizable consumerist or media sources such as: consumer goods, advertising graphics, magazines, television, film, cartoons and comic books. People and objects were presented in bright, often highly-contrasting colours, while compositions were typically very simple and visually appealing to the general public.
Art Can be Made From Anything
Up until the 20th century, traditional fine art painting was normally done in oils: sculpture in bronze, stone or wood. Furthermore, subjects were typically those deemed worthy of aesthetic treatment: the human nude, the human face, the classic landscape, genre-scene or still life. Even Cubism, despite its revolutionary nature, tended to observe many of these artistic conventions. Then came the First World War and the anti-art movement known as Dada. This movement initiated the idea that art can be created from all sorts of stuff, including the most banal everyday scraps of material. Pop-artists maintained and developed this idea. They presented the modern world of popular culture with whatever materials they though appropriate, no matter how low-brow or trivial.
The Idea is More Important Than the Work of Art Itself
Also, up until Dada, the essential feature of traditional fine art was the work itself - the painting, sculpture, etching, carving or whatever. Without a "work of art", there was nothing. All attention was therefore focused on the quality of the finished product, and the skills required to produce it. Dada rebelled against this by celebrating the "idea behind the artwork" rather than the work itself. Many Pop-artists continued this tradition of Conceptual Art . They placed more importance on the impact of the work, and less importance on the making of it. Like the use of low-brow materials, this emphasis on a work's concept and impact was interpreted as an attempt to debunk the gravitas of the art world. This was partly true: some Pop artists did share the anti-art and anti-aesthetic credo of earlier Dadaists. However, mainstream Pop was more positive and more concerned to create new forms of expression, using new methods and new pictorial imagery, than to denigrate tradition. Indeed, many Pop-artists saw themselves as contributing to, rather than junking, fine art.
A More Inclusive and More Relevant Style of Art
No matter how exquisitely conceived and painted, and how well received by influential art critics like Clement Greenberg (1909-94), Harold Rosenberg (1906-78) and others, Mark Rothko's monumental works of Abstract Expressionism were largely unknown to the American (or British) public at large. In contrast, almost everyone recognized Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and numerous other celebrities, as well as the popular foods and other branded products brands that rapidly became the staple subject of Pop-art. Thus from a very early stage, Pop-art declared its intention to reject the elitist character of traditional or high-brow art in favour of populist pictures of well-known subjects.
For most people in the late 1950s and early 1960s, a trip to an art museum entailed a tedious trawl past rows of obscure paintings, most of which were neither understandable nor entertaining. Typically, most famous works (and the artists who created them) could not be appreciated simply by viewing them, but required close study of a museum guidebook. Pop art was instrumental in opening up the world of painting and sculpture to ordinary people who, perhaps for the first time in their lives, could instantly recognize and appreciate the exhibit in front of them. They might not like it, but they were far less likely to feel intimidated by an everyday image they could relate to. In this sense, Pop-art made museums and galleries more relevant to the general public.
Holding the Mirror Up to Society
Unlike Dada, whose entirely negative aim was to subvert and undermine the values of a bourgeois establishment which they blamed for the carnage of World War I, Pop-art sought to reflect the social values and environment from which it sprang. Thus they focused on the preoccupations shared by most American consumers: food, cars and romance. Typically, this was achieved using brash, or satirical, imagery with strong visual impact. And if they were criticized for concerning themselves with such subject matter, they could simply say they were simply (in Shakespeare's words) "holding the mirror up to nature", or in their case "modern society". If nothing else, Pop-art was "the" post-war expression of a world wholly preoccupied the pursuit of materialism.
Postmodernist Tendencies
Pop-art began in painterly fashion, distinguished mainly by its new range of populist subjects which it hoped would convey a more relevant and up-to-date reality. Thereafter, it gradually became more and more concerned, not with depicting reality (or nature), but with impact, medium and style. Such a trend, which almost always leads to a blurring of the line between art and demonstration - between something of beauty and mere entertainment - is the hallmark of postmodernist art . For this reason, Pop-art may be considered the first movement to progress beyond modernism into the contemporary art era. In effect, Pop artists of the 1960s blazed a trail for Photorealism and later Britart and other similar contemporary styles that emerged in the decades that followed. They also paved the way for postmodernist building designs, which rehumanized American architecture significantly.
Critics Versus the Public and Collectors
Pop-art was often scorned by critics for its low-brow focus. For instance, Harold Rosenberg, one of the most influential art critics in the field of contemporary art, described it as being "Like a joke without humour, told over and over again until it begins to sound like a threat... Advertising art which advertises itself as art that hates advertising." In response, one might reasonably ask: With what should art concern itself, if not with the society it comes from? After all, even in the 1960s, one only had to watch television, with its unrelenting barrage of commercials, or drive along streets covered in advertising hoardings, or read glossy magazines packed with repetitive snapshots of music and film stars, to appreciate the intrinsically low-brow focus of modern life. Why should art be any different?
More importantly, Pop-art was (and still is) one of the most popular styles of art, which succeeded in getting through to the general public in a way that few modern art movements did - or have done since. And art collectors like it, too. For example, the painting "False Start" (1959) By Jasper Johns sold in 2006, for $80 million: the 9th most expensive work of art in history. (For more, see Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings ). The work "Green Car Crash" (1963) (synthetic polymer, silkscreen ink and acrylic on linen) by Andy Warhol sold at Christie's , New York, in 2007, for $71.7 million, making it the 14th highest-priced work of art ever sold. (See Top 20 Most Expensive Paintings ). Not bad for a work of low-brow art.
During the 2009 recession, an unknown buyer reportedly purchased Andy Warhol's screenprint Eight Elvises (1964) for a whopping $100 million (£60.5m) in a private sale, making it the 5th most expensive work of art ever sold.
Famous American Pop-Artists
Andy Warhol
Jim Dine (b.1935)
Jim Dine was an exponent of Neo-Dada and Pop-art, specializing in collages, "readymades" (or "found objects composed") and Happenings . He first came to attention in 1959 with his Happenings, which he staged in collaboration with Claes Oldenburg, Allan Kaprow, and the avant-garde composer and conceptualist John Cage. In 1962, he was included, along with Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Dowd, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Edward Ruscha, and Wayne Thiebaud, in the important Pop-art exhibition at Pasadena. During the 1960s Dine produced a range of artworks using items and images of pop-culture, occasionally resorting to Dada sensationalism, as in his installation event "Canticles to the Penis", which was closed by the police in London for being indecent.
Robert Indiana (b.1928)
Born Robert Clark, he began as an abstract painter and wood sculptor before joining the pop art movement in New York City in 1954. Discarded stencils led him to explore a range of word art by putting letters and words (eg. Love, Eat, Die) in his paintings which were based on the decor of pinball machines. He called himself the "American painter of signs." He is best known for his 1960s graphic image "Love", which first appeared on Christmas cards and stamps. Later he created a sculptural version, which he replicated in differing styles and languages including a steel Hebrew version - using the word "Ahava". In 2008, he created a new image employing the word "Hope" all of whose proceeds were donated to Barack Obama's election campaign fund.
Jasper Johns (b.1930)
Together with Rauschenberg, Johns was an early pioneer of Pop-art during the 1950s. Moving from South Carolina to New York in 1949, he first became known for his paintings featuring the American flag (eg. "Flag", 1954-55), as well as other standard graphical images like targets and numbers. He was also noted for including encaustic paint and plaster relief in his oil paintings . After his flag pictures, he began to incorporate real objects into his paintings and also took up sculpture (eg. "Ale Cans", 1964). His use of pop-culture images and materials naturally caused him to be labelled as a Pop-artist, but his artistic statements (including a good deal of Duchamp-like parody, paradox and contradictions) have also led his work to be described as Neo-Dadaist. More of a classical, painterly artist than many other younger practitioners of Pop who relied on techniques of modern commercial art, Johns' intelligent and innovative works attracted much praise and patronage. In due course he explored various other media, including silkscreen and intaglio prints, and lithographs . In 1998, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York reportedly paid $20 million for his work "White Flag", while in 2006, his work "False Start" was bought by private collectors for a reputed $80 million, making it the most expensive painting by a living artist.
Alex Katz (b.1927)
A unique figurative painter, though he has also worked in printmaking and sculpture, Katz was associated with the Pop art due to his reworking of traditional themes in a Pop idiom. He is known for his innovative recasting of ideas used by Impressionists (especially Edouard Manet, Claude Monet and Georges Seurat), such as the differing effects of light, and scenes of bourgeois leisure-seekers, executed using wet-in-wet oil techniques and loose brushwork. On the other hand, some of his works are rather bleakly presented, seemingly without emotion or sensitivity.
Roy Fox Lichtenstein (1923-97)
A leading Pop-artist with an instantly recognizable style, his works turned comic-strip graphics into an international art form. Beginning as an abstract artist in the 1950s, a teaching post at Rutgers University brought him into contact with fellow-teacher Allan Kaprow, and triggered his involvement in pop-culture art. He began by painting free-hand versions of comic-strip frames, complete with text bubbles (eg. "Look Mickey", 1961), and had a sell-out show at the New York gallery of Leo Castelli , in 1961. The following year his works appeared in both major 1962 exhibitions in Pasadena and New York. By late 1963, Lichtenstein began to achieve worldwide attention. Iconic works of the time included: "Drowning Girl" (1963), and "Whaam!" (1963). In 1989, at Christies sale of contemporary art in New York, Lichtenstein's painting "Torpedo...Los!" sold for $5.5 million - a record for the artist.
Claes Oldenburg (b.1929)
Regarded as the major Pop-art sculptor, renowned for his public art installations often featuring monumental replicas of everyday objects, especially foodstuffs like burgers and ice-cream cones. Active in New York from 1956, Oldenburg came into contact with Allan Kaprow, Jim Dine, and the sculptor George Segal, and became taken up with Happenings, and other forms of Performance and Installation art . Noted works included: "Dual Hamburger" (1962), as well as his giant lipstick erected at Yale University in 1969. His main contribution to Pop, similar to that of Rosenquist, was to turn commonplace objects into art.
Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008)
Based largely in New York City, Rauschenberg - regarded, along with his some time lover Jasper Johns, as one of the leaders of Neo-Dada art - an early strain of Pop-art - studied at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, in 1948, under the ex-Bauhaus artist Josef Albers (famous for his "Homage to the Square" series). In 1951 he had his first one-man show at the Betty Parsons Gallery, and in 1954 had a second one-man show at the Charles Egan Gallery. Often described as a member of Neo-Dada for his affiliation with Marcel Duchamps "readymades", he is best known for his "Painting Combines" of the 1950s, consisting of non-traditional materials and objects presented in innovative combinations. At this time Rauschenberg specialized in using "found" materials like trash and other detritus which he collected off the streets of New York. However, from 1961 to 1962, he began to include images as well as found objects in his works, usually photographs transferred to the canvas via the silkscreen process. In this way, his work may be considered contemporaneous with that of Andy Warhol. Rauschenberg also worked in fine art photography, printmaking, papermaking, and performance.
James Rosenquist (b.1933)
A prominent Pop painter, Rosenquist trained at the Minneapolis School of Art and afterwards at the University of Minnesota. In 1955, aged 21, he moved to New York City to study at the Art Students League , before working as a billboard painter. Using his acquired sign-painting techniques to create large-scale paintings, he juxtaposed what appeared to be advertising with romantic-magazine imagery in order to produce a sense of discontinuity and irrationality as a commentary on modern life. A noted work at this time was his room-size painting "F-111" (1965). Like Oldenburg, Rosenquist's main contribution to Pop was to turn ordinary objects into art by giving them monumental size and weight.
Edward Ruscha (b.1937)
An Oklahoma guy who went hip in LA in 1956, Ruscha trained at the Chouinard Art Institute (now the California Institute of the Arts) until 1960 (being influenced by the art of both Marcel Duchamp and Jasper Johns), before working as a layout artist for the Carson-Roberts Advertising Agency in Los Angeles. In 1962, his paintings appeared alongside works by Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Robert Dowd, Phillip Hefferton, Joe Goode, Jim Dine, and Wayne Thiebaud, in the ground-breaking show at the Pasadena Art Museum. His early noted works, generally icily perfect replications of billboards and gasoline stations, include: "Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights" (1961), and the oil painting "Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas."(1963), which had echoes of Hopper's "Gas" (1940). From the mid-1960s, he became known for his Word Paintings (also known as Liquid Word Paintings).
Andy Warhol (1928-87)
Seen by many as the High Priest of Pop-art, Warhol enjoyed a successful career as a commercial illustrator, before achieving worldwide fame for his pop-style painting, screenprints, avant-garde films, and a lifestyle involving a mixture of Hollywood stars, intellectuals, avant-garde artists and underground celebrities. His outlook on the impact of TV - a crucial factor in the identity and popularity of Pop-art - on art and life, is aptly summed up in his famous phrase: "Anyone can be famous for 15 minutes."
During the 1960s, he started producing paintings of iconic American products, like Campbell's Soup Cans, Coca-Cola bottles and dollar bills, together with images of international stars such as Marilyn Monroe, Ingrid Bergman, Elizabeth Taylor and Elvis Presley. He also established his famous New York art studio, known as "The Factory", where he anticipated Damien Hirst's mass production methods by more than 30 years.
Above all, Warhol's art revolved around iconography made famous through TV, newsfilm-clips and advertising, such as atomic bomb mushroom clouds, penitentiary electric chairs, car crashes and race riots. His pictures were therefore instantly recognizable and generated mass appeal.
Partly obscured by issues surrounding his fame and lifestyle, Warhol's status as an innovative and outstandingly creative artist is assured, not least for his transformation of commonplace images into icons of world art. In addition, he was exceptionally prolific, working across a wide range of media, including drawing , painting, printmaking, photography, and films.
Famous British Pop-Artists
David Hockney - Allen Jones - Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi
Peter Blake (b.1932)
First identified as a member of the emerging British Pop Art movement when he showed alongside David Hockney, R.B. Kitaj and others at the 'Young Contemporaries' exhibition, in 1961, Blake attracted wider attention when he featured in "Pop Goes the Easel", the 1962 film by Ken Russell on British Pop-art. However, he remains best known for designing the sleeve for the Beatles' "Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.
Patrick Caulfield (1936-2006)
Caulfield trained at the Chelsea School of Art in 1956, and at the Royal College of Art (1960-1963), where his fellow students included David Hockney and RB Kitaj. In 1964, his works were represented in the "New Generation" exhibition at London's Whitechapel Gallery, which first drew attention to his involvement in the UK Pop-art scene. He specialized in paintings which used ordinary subjects, dead-pan line and colour drawn from the vocabulary of advertising and cheap illustrations, to convey a lively intensity and humour. Often figurative, his works characteristically depict a few simple objects in an interior, executed using flat areas of simple colour (or a single hue) bordered in black outline.
Richard Hamilton (b.1922)
A co-founder of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the artist discussion group that engendered Pop-art in Britain, he is best known for his 1956 collage entitled "Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different, So Appealing?" - now regarded as one of the first examples of British Pop-art. In the mid-1950s after several solo shows, Hamilton took up teaching in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne during which time he pursued a research project on the French contemporary artist Marcel Duchamp, a figure much admired by Hamilton. In the early 1960s he was awarded a grant from the UK Arts Council to curate and preserve the Kurt Schwitters Dadaist "Merzbau" collection of collages, in Cumbria. Also active in London, as an artist, teacher and CND campaigner, Hamilton curated a major British retrospective of Duchamp's work at the Tate Gallery in 1966. In addition, his contacts within the contemporary music scene led to a friendship with Paul McCartney which resulted in Hamilton's cover design and poster art for the Beatles' White Album.
David Hockney (b.1937)
An important contributor to UK Pop art of the 1960s, and a brilliant draughtsman, David Hockney is one of the most outstanding British artists of the twentieth century. He was represented in the Young Contemporaries Exhibition (1961), that signalled the appearance of British Pop Art - although his work was by no means confined to this style. In 1963 he visited New York where he met Andy Warhol. After this, he visited Los Angeles in California, the state which later became his home for many years. The Los Angeles trip inspired him to create a series of paintings, featuring swimming pools, using the new medium of acrylics. The pictures were executed in a flat but highly realistic style, employing vibrant colours. Noted works from the 1960s include "Peter Getting Out Of Nick's Pool" (1966), which won the John Moores painting prize at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, the following year; "Sunbather" (1966); and "A Bigger Splash" (1967), which was purchased in 2006 for £2.6 million - a record for a Hockney painting.
Allen Jones (b.1937)
One of the founders of British Pop-art, Jones uses simple figurative imagery, combined with bright, bold colour. He is best known for his erotic sculpture (eg. the set Chair, Table and Hat Stand, 1969). Other notable works include: "Wet Seal" (1966) and "What Do You Mean, What Do I Mean?" He is also a graphic artist and oil painter.
Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi (1924-2005)
The founder of British Pop-art, Paolozzi trained at the Edinburgh College of Art (1943), St Martin's School of Art (1944), and at the Slade School of Art (1944-1947), before working in Paris, France (1947-1949) where he met and became influenced by a number of famous artists, including the Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti , the former Dadaist and Surrealist Jean Arp, the Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi , and the Cubists Georges Braque and Fernand Léger. His seminal collage "I was a Rich Man's Plaything" (1947) dates from this Parisian period. Back in London, working with sculptures, constructions, collages and lithograph prints, in a largely surrealist style, his compositions included a wide variety of objects and materials. He was a leading founder of the Independent Group in 1952, whose discussions anticipated much of the soon-to-emerge pop art school.
List of Pop-Art Works
Here is a short selected list of famous works by Pop-artists.
I was a Rich Man's Plaything (1947) Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi
Flag (1954-5) Jasper Johns
Just What Is It that Makes Today's Homes So Different? (1956) R. Hamilton
Monogram (1959) Robert Rauschenberg
President Elect (1960) James Rosenquist
Mr Bellamy (1961) Roy Lichtenstein
Large Trademark with Eight Spotlights (1961) Ed Ruscha
Dual Hamburger (1962) Claes Oldenburg
210 Coca-Cola Bottles (1962) Andy Warhol
Marilyn Monroe (1962) Andy Warhol
Campbell's Soup Can (1962) Andy Warhol
Floor Cake (1962) Claes Oldenburg
Triple Elvis (1963) Andy Warhol
Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas (1963) Ed Ruscha
Drowning Girl (1963) Roy Lichtenstein
Whaam! (1963) Roy Lichtenstein
Field Painting (1963-64) Jasper Johns
Love (1964) Robert Indiana
Ale Cans (1964) Jasper Johns
Brillo (1964) And Warhol
Great American Nude #57 (1964) Tom Wesselmann
F111 (1964-65) James Rosenquist
The Diner (1964-66) George Segal
Electric Chair (1965) Andy Warhol
Big Painting No. 6 (1965) Roy Lichtenstein
Soft Toilet (1966) Claes Oldenburg
Ingrid Bergman (1966) Andy Warhol
A Bigger Splash (1967) David Hockney
Lisp (1968) Edward Ruscha
Geometric Mouse, Scale A (1969) Claes Oldenburg
Souvenir (1970) Jasper Johns
Jo Sofa (1971) De Pas, Lomazzi, D'Urbino
Floor Burger (1971) Claes Oldenburg
Still Life with Goldfish Bowl (1972) Roy Lichtenstein
Neo-Pop
During the 1980s there was a revival of interest in Pop Art - a phenomenon known as Neo-Pop (or "Shock Pop-Art"). It was not a new art movement as such, rather a resurgence of artworks based on popular culture - this time derived from the 1980s. While the original Pop Art movement was totally avant garde, Neo-Pop Art is more of a repetition. Thus Neo-Pop artists continue to employ "readymades" and pre-existing items in their worksand also rely heavily on celebrity icons like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and so on. They also draw inspiration from Minimalism, Conceptual Art, Photorealism, Installation/Performance Art and more. If anything, Neo-Pop is merely a more extreme version of Warhol, Oldenburg and Rauschenberg.
The leading exponent of Neo-Pop is Jeff Koons (b.1955), about whom renowned critic Robert Hughes wrote that: "Koons really does think he's Michelangelo and is not shy to say so. The significant thing is that there are collectors, especially in America, who believe it. He has the slimy assurance, the gross patter about transcendence through art, of a blow-dried Baptist selling swamp acres in Florida. And the result is that you can't imagine America's singularly depraved culture without him." Echoes of the criticism addressed to Andy Warhol and Damien Hirst? (In 2005, Koons was elected as a Fellow to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.)
Other leader exponents include Katharina Fritsch, Daniel Edwards, and Yasumasa Morimura. Iconic works of Neo-Pop, both by Jeff Koons, include "Michael Jackson and Bubbles" (1988) - sold in 1991 for $5.6 million - and "Puppy" (1992). See also: Top Contemporary Artists 2014 .
Famous Neo-Pop Artists
Ashley Bickerton, Rah Crawford, Daniel Edwards, Katharina Fritsch, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Gary Hume, Jeff Koons, Mark Kostabi, Yngvar Larsen, Allan McCollum, Komar and Melamid, Cady Noland, Charles Ray, Kenny Scharf, Haim Steinbach, Gavin Turk.
List of Neo-Pop Art Works
Radiant Baby (c.1980) Street art image, New York.
Crack is Wack (1986) mural, Harlem, New York.
| i don't know |
How many players are on the field in a team during a game of Canadian Box Lacrosse? | How Many Players are Needed in Lacrosse?
How Many Players are Needed in Lacrosse?
by Anonymous
How many players are required to play lacrosse?
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Answer This is a tricky question. And it depends on the type and level of lacrosse. For college mens field lacrosse according to the NCAA rule book 10 players must start a game per side but a team can play with fewer if a team loses a player during the game due to penalty or injury.
For High School and Youth boys/mens field lacrosse each team should start with 10 each, but that number can be lowered as low as 7 per side if both sides agree to play with less.
For Womens/Girls Field Lacrosse 12 players per side is a full team and is typically the number played with. However the rule book states that any number of players up to 12 may be used if agreed by both sides.
Box Lacrosse is played with 6 players per side.
I hope this helps Happy Laxin.
Jamey
| six |
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was elected Prime Minister of which country in March 2004? | 2014 World Lacrosse Championship
2014 World Youth and Bud Light Masters Festivals
Thursday, July 10 - Saturday, July 12
U11 and U17
Sunday, July 13 - Tuesday, July 15
U13 and U15
Wednesday, July 16 - Saturday, July 19
Elite/Open, 30+, 40+, 45+, 50+, 55+, 60+
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Who recorded the 1965 song ‘Eve of Destruction’, a protest song against the Vietnam War? | Eve Of Destruction by Barry McGuire Songfacts
Eve Of Destruction by Barry McGuire Songfacts
Songfacts
A protest song about political issues of the '60s, many radio stations refused to play it because of its antigovernment lyrics. There was an upside to this controversy, however, as it piqued interest in the song, sending it to #1 in the US.
The song takes on racism, hypocrisy and injustice at a volatile time in American history. The assassination of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963 was a big influence on the song.
This was written by 19-year-old P.F. Sloan , who was a staff songwriter at McGuire's label and went on to form The Grass Roots. Sloan wrote on his website: "The song 'Eve of Destruction' was written in the early morning hours between midnight and dawn in mid-1964. The most outstanding experience I had in writing this song was hearing an inner voice inside of myself for only the second time. It seemed to have information no one else could've had. For example, I was writing down this line in pencil 'think of all the hate there is in Red Russia.' This inner voice said 'No, no it's Red China!' I began to argue and wrestle with that until near exhaustion. I thought Red Russia was the most outstanding enemy to freedom in the world, but this inner voice said the Soviet Union will fall before the end of the century and Red China will engage in crimes against humanity well into the new century! This inner voice that is inside of each and every one of us but is drowned out by the roar of our minds! The song contained a number of issues that were unbearable for me at the time. I wrote it as a prayer to God for an answer.
I have felt it was a love song and written as a prayer because, to cure an ill you need to know what is sick. In my youthful zeal I hadn't realized that this would be taken as an attack on The System! Examples: The media headlined the song as everything that is wrong with the youth culture. First, show the song is just a hack song to make money and therefore no reason to deal with its questions. Prove the 19-year old writer is a communist dupe. Attack the singer as a parrot for the writers word. The media claimed that the song would frighten little children. I had hoped thru this song to open a dialogue with Congress and the people. The media banned me from all national television shows. Oddly enough they didn't ban Barry. The United States felt under threat. So any positive press on me or Barry was considered un-patriotic. A great deal of madness, as I remember it! I told the press it was a love song. A love song to and for humanity, that's all. It ruined Barry's career as an artist and in a year I would be driven out of the music business too."
This was originally recorded by The Turtles, who released it on their first album earlier in 1965. The Turtles did not release it as a single, and McGuire's version became the hit. As management problems and personnel changes plagued The Turtles, they finally decided to release this as a single in 1970, shortly before they broke up. It was their last song to chart, reaching #100. >>
Suggestion credit:
Andrew - Ventura, CA
McGuire was in The New Christy Minstrels before recording as a solo artist. He had a few hits with the group, including "Green Green" and "Saturday Night," but this was his only hit as a solo artist. Sloan explains: "Barry McGuire had just left the group and was on his own and looking for material to record. He wound up at my publishing company and he was told there was a quirky songwriter he might want to listen to. Now, Barry didn't like the song 'Eve of Destruction' that much. He liked a few other songs of mine better. One in particular called 'What's Exactly The Matter With Me,' which originally was the A-side of the record. When he was ready to record he picked four songs and 'Eve' was the 4th to be recorded, if there was time. If you listen to the recording he's rushing singing through the lyric because of the time constraints and he was reading it for the first time off a piece of paper I had written the lyric on! Okay. McGuire's record is released but 'Eve' is the B-side. Somewhere in the Great Midwest of America a DJ played the wrong side by mistake! So as you can see, when people had written that this song was some calculated idea on how to capitalize on the emerging folk scene, it's simply B.S. Honest to God that's what happened and how the song got played."
McGuire's vocal was recorded late at night as a rough take. His voice was raspy and tired, but the producer loved it and used that take. The producer Jay Lasker brought the song to Los Angeles radio station KFWB the morning it was finished, where it was played for the first time.
The biggest protest song of the '60s, "Eve Of Destruction" became a hippie anthem as the Vietnam War escalated. The song was not written specifically about the war, but the conflict in Vietnam made it even more relevant.
A folk group called The Spokesmen recorded an answer song to this called "The Dawn Of Correction." The Spokesman were actually John Madara and David White, a Philadelphia songwriting team whose hits include " At The Hop " and " You Don't Own Me ." Madara explained to Forgotten Hits : "We wrote the song on a Wednesday, recorded it the following Monday, and it was released by the end of the week. We did not have an artist at the time to record it, so we did it ourselves. We did take a positive stand with our lyrics and tried to answer Barry McGuire's statements in his lyric." Madara added: "In 1966, after recording Joey Heatherton for Decca, we started dating for the next two years, and I was invited in 1966 to go on the Bob Hope tour to Vietnam with Joey. I always felt a little uncomfortable about the lyrics. After the trip to Vietnam, I saw what our soldiers were going through and how much the war made no sense at all. I definitely had some personal regrets with 'The Dawn Of Correction' lyric. When we wrote the song, we were never for the war, we were just for America, and we felt that 'The Eve of Destruction' was a slap against America. Because of the anti-war sentiment, 'The Dawn of Correction' was obviously taken the wrong way."
Legendary session drummer Hal Blaine played on this, and considers it one of his favorites. Blaine has played on songs by Simon And Garfunkel, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys and many others.
When P.F. Sloan wrote this song, he was a pop songwriter and half of a surf-rock duo called The Fantastic Baggys with Steve Barri. Sloan had been listening to the music of folk singers like Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, which prompted the change of direction in his songwriting, and also the change in moniker - he was known to this point as Phil Sloan. In the ensuing years, he scored hits with Where Were You When I Needed You " by the Grass Roots and " Secret Agent Man " by Johnny Rivers, but he faced a backlash in the pop music community, who caved to political pressure and froze him out. Sloan went into a depression and spent time in a mental hospital, earning a living at jobs like drug store clerk and telemarketer. It wasn't until 2006 that Sloan returned to music with his album Sailover, which came together at the urging of the songwriter Jon Tiven , who convinced Sloan to record the album and also produced it.
The lyric in this song, "you're old enough to kill, but not for voting," galvanized the debate over voting rights in America, since in many states citizens couldn't vote until they were 21. During the Vietnam War, support to lower the voting age picked up, as so many young people were sent to war but denied participation in the political process. In 1971, the US Constitution was amended, lowering the voting age to 18.
P.F. Sloan wrote some other protests in 1964 along with this one, including "The Sins of the Family" and "Take Me For What I'm Worth." This was when he adopted the moniker "P.F. Sloan" - he was previously known as "Phil Sloan."
P.F. Sloan credits his religious studies for giving him inspiration for this song. Born Phil Schlein to Jewish parents, he studied a branch of Judaism called Kabbalah not long after his Bar Mitzvah. The song, says Sloan, is essentially a conversation with God, with Sloan venting his frustrations over "this whole crazy world," and God replying that he must move past it ("You tell me over and over and over again...")
Speaking with the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, Sloan explained: "It's an endless dance around this razor's edge about what God is saying every time I sing this song. He's telling me, 'Don't believe we're on the eve, I'm not going to allow it.' And then other times when I sing it, I get the message he's going to allow destruction to happen. Every time I sing it, I get an insight into what's going on."
| Barry McGuire |
In which English city did the Belgrade Theatre open in 1958? | PF Sloan: Songwriter whose protest song 'Eve of Destruction' became the anti-Vietnam War song par excellence | The Independent
PF Sloan: Songwriter whose protest song 'Eve of Destruction' became the anti-Vietnam War song par excellence
Sloan conjured up the chiming acoustic guitar chords that transformed the introduction to 'California Dreamin'
Monday 23 November 2015 19:07 BST
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The Independent Online
Sloan: he said he wrote 'Eve of Destruction' 'as a prayer to God in the form of a poem, begging for clarity ... about the state of the world' AP
The elusive singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer PF Sloan composed “Eve Of Destruction”, the epochal and prescient protest song Barry McGuire took to the top of the US charts in September 1965. By then, Bob Dylan had become the spokesman of his generation, having penned “Blowin' In The Wind”, “Masters Of War” and “The Times They Are a-Changin'”. Yet he was prompted to remark cryptically à propos of the equally valid and vivid imagery used by the gifted and precocious Sloan: “There are no more escapes. If you want to find out anything that's happening now, you have to listen to the music. I don't mean the words. Though 'Eve Of Destruction' will tell you something about it.”
Sloan name-checked the conflicts festering around the Jordan River and Red China, and the civil rights marches at Selma, Alabama, as well as the John F Kennedy assassination and funeral in 1963, and his directness and wide scope of reference turned “Eve Of Destruction” into the anti-Vietnam war anthem par excellence.
However, it proved something of a poisoned chalice; Sloan never quite matched its impact, though he sprinkled fairy dust on several more mid-'60s hits. These included his sole UK Top 40 entry, the pointed, possibly autobiographical, “Sins Of A Family”, a rare name credit for a musician who hid behind myriad aliases and who had returned transformed and energised from his first trip to London, in 1965.
Sloan and his writing partner Steve Barri became a source of repertoire for British acts like the Searchers, who reworked “Take Me For What I'm Worth”, the folk-rock curio they had originated with the faux group the Grass Roots, while Herman's Hermits recycled their compositions “Must To Avoid”, “Where Were You When I Needed You” and “Hold On!”, for their 1966 MGM musical, also called Hold On!
Most famously, perhaps, he was an ancillary member of the Wrecking Crew, the celebrated collective of Los Angeles session musicians. Sloan conjured up the chiming acoustic guitar chords that transformed the introduction to “California Dreamin'”, a track languishing on his fourth album, into the debut smash for the Mamas And the Papas. With the Turtles, Sloan placed “Let Me Be” and “You Baby” – sampled by Fatboy Slim on his first album Better Living Through Chemistry in 1996 – as the heady, follow-up singles to the sextet's first single, a cover of Dylan's “It Ain't Me Babe”.
When Danger Man, the British TV series starring Patrick McGoohan as the spy John Drake, was launched in the US under the title Secret Agent, Sloan came up with a new theme tune, recorded by the instrumental surf group The Ventures, and turned it into a catchy song called “Secret Agent Man”, which Johnny Rivers took to No 3. It has since been covered by Devo and Bruce Willis, and used in several soundtracks and computer games.
All these copyrights should have afforded Sloan a decent income, but he claimed to have signed them away under pressure from various people, though the psychological ailments he suffered from undoubtedly affected his decision-making. “I was ill, I guess, for a good 20, maybe 25 years,” he said in 2006. “It's been overcome and there's hope. Depression, hypoglycaemia, it's a tremendous battle. Catatonia for a long time.”
In 1970, his old friend and contemporary Jimmy Webb eulogised him in the song “PF Sloan”, but Sloan's elusiveness made him an easy prey for charlatans like Dr Eugene Landy, therapist to the Beach Boys' creative genius Brian Wilson. Landy claimed to be Sloan, who was living in an ashram in India so could hardly disprove the deception.
He was born Philip Gary Schlein in 1945 in New York. After the family moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1950s his Jewish father anglicised their name to Sloan in order to obtain an alcohol licence for his drugstore. Nicknamed Flip by his sister, Philip was billed as Flip Sloan on “All I Want Is Loving”, the single he released on the rhythm and blues label Aladdin in 1959.
The previous year, he had bumped into Elvis Presley, who had shown him the chords to “Love Me Tender” in a Hollywood music store. “I felt this incredible energy being transferred into me – an infusion of benevolence, love, and compassion. Elvis stared deeply into my eyes,” Sloan wrote in What's Exactly The Matter With Me? Memoirs Of A Life In Music (2014). “He took me into a timeless place.” His sister refused to believe his encounter with the King but others didn't seem to care, as long as he could come up with the goods.
“He's a great mimic,” the entrepreneur and producer Lou Adler said after he heard Sloan impersonate Dean Torrance on “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena”, Jan & Dean 1964 US hit. He plucked the budding songwriter from the Screen Gems office and offered him and Barri a contract as in-house writers for Dunhill Records, his new company.
Sloan said he wrote “Eve Of Destruction” as “a prayer to God in the form of a poem, begging for clarity and understanding about the state of the world, teetering on the edge. I didn't want to live in this world where hatred and hypocrisy overruled love and beauty. The music came as an after thought. I remember, after putting the pencil down on this song, the feeling that I had received something wonderful... If you believe we are on the eve then we must find a way to prevent it. If you don't believe, then sit back and watch it being destroyed by greed and selfishness.”
The Byrds passed on “Eve Of Destruction” but the day after Barry McGuire cut the track it started getting airplay in Los Angeles. When Adler sold Dunhill to ABC in 1967, Sloan received a small slice of the publishing pie and remained convinced he'd been hoodwinked.
By the time of his valedictory visit to London in 2014 to promote his memoir, the British singer-songwriter Rumer had included “PF Sloan” on her Boys Don't Cry covers album, and his fortunes seemed to be on the up again. He guested with her during a memorable evening at St James's Church, Piccadilly, where he regaled the rapt audience with his tales of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the arranger Jack Nitzsche. Sloan might have sported a stunning toupée but there was magic in the air. He died of pancreatic cancer.
Philip Gary Schlein (PF Sloan), singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer: born New York 18 September 1945; died Los Angeles 15 November 2015.
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In humans the atlas and axis bones are in which part of the body? | 3D Skeletal System: Atlas, Axis, and the Atlanto-Axial Relationship
3D Skeletal System: Atlas, Axis, and the Atlanto-Axial Relationship
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There are 33 vertebrae in your vertebral column. Or is it 24? Doesn't matter—both numbers are correct. You're born with 33, but the sacrum and coccyx fuse to the rest of the spine, making it 24 by the time you're an adult.
Of those 24 (not counting the sacrum and coccyx), two vertebrae are fortunate enough to have names. The atlas (C01) and axis (C02) are two of the most important vertebrae in the spine. Without them, head and neck movement would be impossible.The atlas and axis vertebrae are the two most superior bones in the vertebral column. They are part of the seven cervical vertebrae. The atlas is the top-most bone, sitting just below the skull; it is followed by the axis. Together, they support the skull, facilitate neck movement, and protect the spinal cord. (Think of them as BFFs—you won't find one without the other.)
Unlike the other vertebrae, the atlas does not have a spinous process. Instead, it is ringlike and consists of an anterior and posterior arch, as well as two lateral masses. The transverse processes (the protrusions of bone on either side of the ring) serve as the attachment sites of muscles that assist in rotating the head. The foramina (the holes) give passage to the vertebral artery and vertebral vein.
The axis is somewhat analogous to the other cervical vertebrae in shape, but it differs slightly for two reasons: its spinous process isn't as obviously bifid, and the presence of the dens. The spinous process serves as the attachment site for many muscles of the spine, particularly those close to the skull, as well as the nuchal ligament.
The dens (above, in green), or odontoid process, is a toothlike projection of bone that rises perpendicularly from the upper surface of the body of the axis. Its purpose is very important, but I'll get to that later.
Let's talk about joints.
CRANIOVERTEBRAL JOINTS
There are many types of vertebral joints, but the atlas and axis form the only craniovertebral joints in the body. A craniovertebral joint is exactly what it sounds like: a joint that permits movement between the vertebral column and the skull.
The ligaments in the spine support and reinforce the joints between the vertebrae. The atlas and axis in particular work with the ligaments to move the neck. The atlas and the occipital bone form the atlanto-occipital joint, which allows neck flexion. When you nod your head as if to say "yes," that is neck flexion. The atlas and axis form the atlanto-axial joint, which allows head rotation. If you shake your head as if to say "no," that is head rotation.
The atlanto-axial joint is a compound synovial joint. A synovial joint is a freely moveable joint, differing from other types of joints due to the presence of synovial fluid, which lubricates the joint. Most of the main joints (hands, feet, and other regions in the appendicular skeleton) are synovial joints.
It is also a pivot joint. A pivot joint is made by the end of one articulating bone rotating in a ring formed by another bone and its ligaments. Think of a metal washer twisting around a bolt. The dens articulates with the facet on the atlas, as well as the transverse ligament, and this articulation provides the head with approximately 50% of its movement.
| Neck |
A polyglot is someone who uses or knows several what? | Axis Vertebra Anatomy (Structure) | Axis Bone Anatomy (Structure) | C2 Vertebra Anatomy (Structure)
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Axis Vertebra: Introduction
Directly inferior to the atlas bone (C1) is the second cervical vertebra (C2), which is also referred to as the axis bone (axis, vertebra cervicalis II).
One of the most prominent features of the axis bone is a superior, tooth-like projection called the odontoid process (or dens).
The odontoid process articulates with the anterior arch of the atlas bone, where they form a pivot joint. When the head rotates side-to-side, the atlas bone rotates around the peg-like odontoid process. This is the reason why the second cervical vertebra is also called the axis bone.
Bone Markings:
a. Body or centrum (Corpus vertebrae) is a cylindrical mass on anterior side of the vertebra. It articulates with body of the vertebra below (C3).
b. Odontoid process or dens (Dens axis) is a prominent rounded superior projection from the body. This tooth-like elevation serves a stable point around which the atlas bone rotates (Gr., odous, tooth).
c. Superior articular facet (Facies articularis superior) is a smooth, sightly convex surface that articulates with the inferior articular facet on the altas bone above (C1).
d. Transverse process (Processus transversus) is a small extension that lies inferior to the superior articular facet and projects laterally. It is an attachment site for muscles that move the head and neck.
e. Transverse foramen (Foramen transversarium) is a hole in the transverse process that serves as a passageway for the vertebral artery and vein.
f. Vertebral foramen (Foramen vertebrale) is a large opening in the center of the axis bone that forms a passageway for the spinal cord.
g. Vertebral arch or neural arch (Arcus vertebrae) is the bony archway that encloses the posterior vertebral foramen and protects the spinal cord from damage.
h. Lamina of the vertebral arch (Lamina archus vertebrae) is one of two plates that forms the dorsal portion of the vertebral arch.
i. Spinous process (Processus spinosus) is a narrow posterior projection from the junction of the two laminae. It is an attachment point for ligaments and muscles that move the head and neck.
j. Inferior articular process (Processus articularis inferior) is a downward projection from the vertebral arch. Its flattened inferior surface or facet makes contact with the superior articular facet on C3.
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Sastrugi are parallel wave-like ridges caused by winds on the surface of what? | sastrugi
SASTRUGI
SASTRUGI (saˈstruːgi)
noun – parallel wave-like ridges caused by wind on the
surface of hard snow, especially in polar regions. Singular, SASTRUGA. Origin: Russian dialect (Siberia) zastruga: za, beyond + struga, deep place into which one may fall.
Sastrugi tells the gripping story of Jonathon Bradshaw who, at the age of 36, gave up every modern comfort and started cycling from London to New York via the Arctic Circle. After crossing the barren volcanic deserts of Iceland, only Greenland and its vast polar icecap stood in the way of him reaching North America.
This is the story of how Jonathon crossed the Greenland icecap with no previous polar training, his serendipitous meeting with three Irish adventurers that would change his life forever, and how he confirmed his place in history as a member of the first Irish team to ski to the South Pole. Join him on his arduous six-month adventure across two of the coldest and most remote places on earth.
Available on Amazon in Paperback and Kindle
"A captivating tale of a complete Polar novice's epic journey to the South Pole. Sastrugi is a shining example of the never-say-die spirit of the human soul. The physical and mental resolve shown by the author is admirable.
Despite common perceptions that polar exploration is not what it used to be I can vouch that there is definitely no such thing as an easy ride to the South Pole and, as an absolute rookie, the author’s exploits are all the more commendable.”
| Snow |
‘Bankable Productions’, an independent film and television production company, was founded by which former model? | Nordic Ski Club of Milwaukee - Untitled page
Renee and Tom, noticing new sign at the Tea House
Renee and Tom, noticing new sign at the Tea House
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Dorothy and Tom at the Tea House
Dorothy and Tom at the Tea House
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Wolf track?
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An example of sastrugi: parallel wavelike ridges caused by winds on the surface of hard snow, especially in polar regions. Seen on Island Hop trail
An example of sastrugi: parallel wavelike ridges caused by winds on the surface of hard snow, especially in polar regions. Seen on Island Hop trail
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Moguls caused by high winds previous day. Seen OK Island Hop trail
Moguls caused by high winds previous day. Seen OK Island Hop trail
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‘Podshaving’ is the art of hand-making which piece of sports equipment? | New Kids on the block - White Willow Cricket
New Kids on the block - White Willow Cricket
Posted by jason mellet on September 24, 2014
I often think, " where will the cricket bat industry be in 50 years from now? " and so that question led me to work on this series of blogs. My thought is if you want to know where cricket will be, then simply look at who is working in the industry now and how they are influencing cricket bat making. That will give you some idea of what it will be like 50 years from now.
Some may think that the future looks bleak but I'm here to tell you its not all smoke and mirrors. Yes India and Pakistan will continue to mass produce millions of cricket bats ( and there is a need for that ) with no flair, character or identity BUT there are a few purists who like to do one bat at a time, eat a piece of cake or drink a cup of coffee and then get back into it. Each piece of willow is looked at, examined, weighed, thought about and then put back down for another piece of cake. After discussions with the purchaser of the bat, many pieces of cake and much thought the cricket bat making process begins.
In this series we will talk closely with people like David Wall @WWBats , Marcus Charman @affinitycricket and Lachlan Dinger @dingbatsports to try and understand what makes them tick, their love for cake and why it is they believe the way they do it is the right way, the only way.
Part 1 :
White Willow Cricket
David Wall is a cricket bat maker that adheres strictly to the age old traditions of quality cricket podshaving.
The founder of White Willow Cricket started the brand simply to celebrate the craft he loves. As he put it, the industry was not in need of another brand but quality cricket bat making did need a voice and White Willow sought to be the one to bring this great craft, the necessary exposure.
Selecting the name came about from the original “Wielding White Willow Blog”. The blog shed light on the tools and the materials used to make quality cricket bats. White Willow, also known as English willow or Salix Alba Caerulea is the willow used to make the cricket bat and the brand illustrates the quality of the material.
The creator of White Willow is as genuine as can be. The authenticity and integrity to tradition shines through in his bats. Anyone who appreciates quality hand crafted cricket bats, can see the quality in the bats produced.
True to his podshaving identity, David wall hopes for the future is that people come to enjoy the identity, quality and affordability of a quality hand crafted cricket bat. While White Willow Cricket has gone through considerable change of late, there are many techniques that the founder ( David Wall ) intend to incorporate and of course to bring across the joy that they have for the bat making process in the cricket bats that are made.
White Willow Cricket is integrity and tradition all the way. The bats are handmade and hand finished. It is quality pod shaving through and through, fads and trends in bat making come and go, but White Willow Cricket and only a few other great bat making brands believe that classy cricket bats is truly permanent.
David understands that no two clefts of willow are the same and therefore no two cricket bats are the same. White Willow Cricket lets the clefts of willow speak for themselves and no pre conceived shape can be forced onto a cleft to shape the bat. In fact White Willow is so unique simply because they are original and they do not try to reconstruct other bat makers ideas. Bats are somewhat pieces of art for White Willow Cricket and therefore the bat retains its identity without manipulating it to get a sale. The middles of the bats are left with the majority of the willow mass and aggressive concaving and oversized edges are not high on the White Willow list of great qualities in a bat.
White Willow cricket not only has a great selling line of cricket bats known as the Style Cricket Bats, but they also manufacture & sell the tools of the podshaving trade. These tools are Hand Tools like round bottom planes for shaping bats. This is a whole new level in terms of refreshing and reviving the hand bat making craft.
The willow for the White Willow bats comes from the UK and as with any other proud bat making brand, White Willow will not put a White Willow sticker on a bat that they did not make by hand from start to finish.
White Willow Cricket is crafting bespoke cricket bats that are proving that pod shaving is both a valuable and viable craft in the age of generic modern day cricket bat making.
To learn more about David and his bats and his favorite #hashtag #madebyme here are some links.
| Cricket bat |
In 1786, Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard became the first climbers to reach the summit of which European mountain? | Cricket Insight Behind the Bench with Julian Millichamp - Cricket Insight
Posted On November 21, 2014 By Cricket Insight In Behind the bench And 2196 Views
Behind the Bench with Julian Millichamp
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A master. Julian Millichamp is one of a handful of podshavers that have a genuine right to that title and to be classified as such. A founder of Tauntons famous Millichamp and Hall, he went on to etch Pumas name into the cricket world journals. Players none more famous than Adam Gilchrist used his bats to destroy bowling attacks with confidence and ease before Julian set up Screaming Cat Cricket in Australia and soon shot to the top of the wanted list of cricket bat aficionados the world over. Podshaving is an art-form and Julian Millichamp is as much an artist to his trade as Michelangelo was to renaissance sculpture.
On my travels I have always heard from bat makers “there is only so much you can do with a piece of willow”. I too have succumbed to using this expression when dealing with the public. But for all that can be done, for what we all have tried to achieve, Julian is one that can, has and to a point beyond many of his peers.
Oh how we’d have loved to hop over to Australia to chat with him but the trip for now is a stretch too far. We are lucky though to have been able to quiz Julian over the last few busy weeks as he’s putting time and energy into his kickstarter campaign . Julian after 35 years behind a bench is wanting to impart his knowledge and expertise into a new generation, to keep the : traditions and skills alive. Below we hear from the man himself.
CI: Let’s get the obvious question out of the way, how did you fall into the bat making world?
JM: I didn’t look to get into bat making, more it found me. John Newbery was setting up his first factory and I was simply asked through a friend to lend him a hand. I had previously been in a apprenticeship as as tool maker and with my engineering back ground and john in the process of designing and setting up a machinery plant it was a good opportunity for me get into a different field.
CI: Who had the biggest influence on your bat making career?
JM: This would be the late John Newbery, John was a great experimenter and having been brought up as a child in the Gray-Nicolls factory under his father Len, his knowledge was vast.
CI: What were the most fulfilling and memorable experiences when you lived in the uk?
JM: My day’s in the west country, playing cricket for Taunton and chard as well as working and playing social cricket at the flying geese cricket ground out at bishop lydard. there is nothing better than an good English summer.
CI: When Puma came calling what were the biggest challenges involved?
JM: Working within a large well known brand in itself was a challenge, also fitting into a large team of people and setting up a system to maintain the personal touch that was crucial for success.
We had a great group of people within our department, all passionate about cricket and professional cricketing back grounds. So everyone totally got it, and wanted to get it right.
CI: In your time at Puma Cricket is there anything you would have changed or wanted to try again?
JM: While I was there, we maintained the Perth factory, we prided ourselves on Quality and maintained local craftsmanship, this was the foundation for the whole business. It was a shame to see the Perth factory Close, after I left, and see the plant get split up and those trained left without a future in the trade after a decade of training.
CI: What was Screaming Cat to you?
JM: Screaming cat was my way of trying to keep the tradition of handmade bats alive and return to the very basics of bat making. We tried to secure a handmade bat in the mass market place and a facility where people could be personally involved in their own bat. I believe it is a trade that should still offer this service, but unfortunately it is fast becoming a behind closed doors industry and get what your given, with a fair amount of pot luck. The market place is now totally driven by expensive sponsored players wanting more every year. The feedback on screaming cat and the people that came in for a Tailor made bat was outstanding, and if myself or someone else, doesn’t keep it going, then I fear it will be gone for good.
CI: Where there any noticeable differences between the UK and Australian markets?
JM: Both countries want the best best product they can get, every cricketer wants a great bat, however in Australia it is more brand driven. In England there are so many more smaller brands making a great bat and have the trust of the individual.
CI: What are the most significant changes you’ve witnessed over the year both positive and negative.
JM: The most disappointing change for me personally over the years, would be the cost of maintaining a cricket bat brand, there was a day when you could promote yourself using a top professional player at a reasonable cost. I recall hearing something recently about the income for professional cricketers in Australia leaping something like 4700% over the last fifteen years. I can’t remember the exact amounts but it was staggering. The game has become very commercial and every opportunity to gain an extra dollar has been exploited. This is obviously great for the cricketer but will add pressure to all sports companies, I can see this changing from cricket brands totally in the future and we will end up with just a billboard. I guess I am just old fashioned and believe the game should be the most important aspect and not who the sponsor is, or the size of their chequebook. I guess we are in a new era and it is what it is, and it won’t change going forward.
On a positive the game has developed to much higher level as a result of the professionalism, and we are now seeing very entertaining games from 20/20 to ODI and test cricket. long gone are older the days of bowlers not being able to bat and players not been able to hold their own in the field. As entertaining as this may have been at the time, The game today is knife edge cricket and even in test cricket, playing for the win from ball one is what we see and now expect.
CI: If you could relive one period of your life again, when and what would it be?
JM: I definitely miss my playing and bat making day’s for M&H, Not to mention the traveling between Australia and England from summer to summer. that was hard to beat and would love to roll back the clock with what I know now. I am privileged to hold these memories as I have meet some amazing people along the way.
CI: Are we in danger of losing the true bat maker?
JM: Every customer I have ever had and especially those that have had a bat custom made and watched me work, have expressed their appreciation for this art form. There is no other trades like it. I am simply asking the questions… Do people care about where there bat comes from ? Do they care about the history behind the makers ? Do they still want hand makers and custom made bats into the future ? If the answer to any these questions is yes, now is the time to put your hand up and support it, I have always been a great advocate for small business and I am now in a position to pass on my knowledge, but if the interest isn’t out there then there is nothing I can do, and this will only get harder as time rolls on.
CI: Thank you so much for your time Julian and we all wish you success for the JM Academy
Having spent best part of a decade involved in the cricket world I’ve seen people from of all walks of life gather, drool and covet cricket bats. I find it more than a little sad to think in the same period we could lose the pinnacle of cricket bats and that is the hand made, the handcrafted. Have we undervalued these skills, are we now content with paying more for so much less.
We’ll soon continue our travels and speak to more (Bat Makers) Behind the Benches.
But for now if you value the trade you have a chance to secure it’s future and you’re help could be the difference.
Click the image below to hear from Julian in his own words.
Fantastic read, was fascinating to get an insight into the Puma setup, something i was aware of, but didn’t realise the extent of Julians involvement. Best of luck with the Kickstarter.
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Which Michelin star chef launched his own brand of beer called ‘The Governor’ in 2011? | Marco Pierre White | Official Website
Contact
Marco Pierre White
Welcome to my website, here you will find information on my life, my books, my hotels & restaurants past and present.
At 24, I became Head Chef and joint owner of Harveys with a kitchen staff that included the young Gordon Ramsay. At 33, I become the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.
After leaving Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications, I decided to train as a chef. I began my training in the kitchen at the Hotel St George in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and later at the Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
During these years I had a team including Gordon Ramsay, Eric Chavot (The Capital), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck), Bryn Williams (Odette's), Matt Tebbutt (The Foxhunter), Robert Reid, Thierry Busset, Jason Atherton, James Stocks and in front of house Max (Mark) Palmer, one of the few English Maître d' of a Michelin 3-star, Claude Douart, Philippe Messy (youngest sommelier to gain 3 Michelin stars) and Chris Jones, unusual in being an English sommelier in a 2-star Michelin French restaurant at the age of 21.
Arriving in London as a 16-year-old with "£7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes" I began my classical training as a commis under Albert Roux and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche, a period that would lead Albert to describe me as "my little bunny".
| Marco Pierre White |
According to the proverb ‘People in glass houses shouldn’t do what’? | Marco Pierre White | Official Website
Contact
Marco Pierre White
Welcome to my website, here you will find information on my life, my books, my hotels & restaurants past and present.
At 24, I became Head Chef and joint owner of Harveys with a kitchen staff that included the young Gordon Ramsay. At 33, I become the youngest chef to be awarded three Michelin stars.
After leaving Allerton High School in Leeds without any qualifications, I decided to train as a chef. I began my training in the kitchen at the Hotel St George in Harrogate, North Yorkshire and later at the Box Tree in Ilkley, West Yorkshire.
During these years I had a team including Gordon Ramsay, Eric Chavot (The Capital), Heston Blumenthal (The Fat Duck), Bryn Williams (Odette's), Matt Tebbutt (The Foxhunter), Robert Reid, Thierry Busset, Jason Atherton, James Stocks and in front of house Max (Mark) Palmer, one of the few English Maître d' of a Michelin 3-star, Claude Douart, Philippe Messy (youngest sommelier to gain 3 Michelin stars) and Chris Jones, unusual in being an English sommelier in a 2-star Michelin French restaurant at the age of 21.
Arriving in London as a 16-year-old with "£7.36, a box of books and a bag of clothes" I began my classical training as a commis under Albert Roux and Michel Roux at Le Gavroche, a period that would lead Albert to describe me as "my little bunny".
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How many ounces are in a US (short) ton? | Convert ounce to ton [short, US] - Conversion of Measurement Units
Convert ounce to ton [short, US] -
Conversion of Measurement Units
›› Convert ounce to ton [short, US]
ounce
›› More information from the unit converter
How many ounce in 1 ton [short, US]? The answer is 32000.
We assume you are converting between ounce and ton [short, US].
You can view more details on each measurement unit:
The SI base unit for mass is the kilogram.
1 kilogram is equal to 35.2739619496 ounce, or 0.00110231131092 ton [short, US].
Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results.
Use this page to learn how to convert between ounces and tons.
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›› Definition: Ton
The short ton is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (exactly 907.18474 kg). In the United States it is often called simply "ton" without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne) and the long ton �rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S. applications for which "tons", even if unidentified, are usually long tons (e.g., Navy ships) or metric tons (e.g., world grain production figures).
›› Metric conversions and more
ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 100 kg, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more!
| 32000 |
On a QWERTY keyboard which letter lies between A and D? | Us Short Tons to Ounces (us st to oz) Online Conversion
Us Short Tons to Ounces
(us st to oz)
Conversion Calculator
This converter provides conversion of us short tons to ounces (us st to oz) and backwards.
Enter us short tons or ounces for conversion:
us short tons to ounces Conversion Table:
1 us st = 32000 oz
2 us st = 64000 oz
3 us st = 96000 oz
4 us st = 128000 oz
5 us st = 160000 oz
6 us st = 192000 oz
7 us st = 224000 oz
8 us st = 256000 oz
9 us st = 288000 oz
10 us st = 320000 oz
11 us st = 352000 oz
12 us st = 384000 oz
13 us st = 416000 oz
14 us st = 448000 oz
15 us st = 480000 oz
16 us st = 512000 oz
17 us st = 544000 oz
18 us st = 576000 oz
19 us st = 608000 oz
20 us st = 640000 oz
21 us st = 672000 oz
22 us st = 704000 oz
23 us st = 736000 oz
24 us st = 768000 oz
25 us st = 800000 oz
26 us st = 832000 oz
27 us st = 864000 oz
28 us st = 896000 oz
29 us st = 928000 oz
30 us st = 960000 oz
31 us st = 992000 oz
32 us st = 1024000 oz
33 us st = 1056000 oz
34 us st = 1088000 oz
35 us st = 1120000 oz
36 us st = 1152000 oz
37 us st = 1184000 oz
38 us st = 1216000 oz
39 us st = 1248000 oz
40 us st = 1280000 oz
41 us st = 1312000 oz
42 us st = 1344000 oz
43 us st = 1376000 oz
44 us st = 1408000 oz
45 us st = 1440000 oz
46 us st = 1472000 oz
47 us st = 1504000 oz
48 us st = 1536000 oz
49 us st = 1568000 oz
50 us st = 1600000 oz
51 us st = 1632000 oz
52 us st = 1664000 oz
53 us st = 1696000 oz
54 us st = 1728000 oz
55 us st = 1760000 oz
56 us st = 1792000 oz
57 us st = 1824000 oz
58 us st = 1856000 oz
59 us st = 1888000 oz
60 us st = 1920000 oz
61 us st = 1952000 oz
62 us st = 1984000 oz
63 us st = 2016000 oz
64 us st = 2048000 oz
65 us st = 2080000 oz
66 us st = 2112000 oz
67 us st = 2144000 oz
68 us st = 2176000 oz
69 us st = 2208000 oz
70 us st = 2240000 oz
71 us st = 2272000 oz
72 us st = 2304000 oz
73 us st = 2336000 oz
74 us st = 2368000 oz
75 us st = 2400000 oz
76 us st = 2432000 oz
77 us st = 2464000 oz
78 us st = 2496000 oz
79 us st = 2528000 oz
80 us st = 2560000 oz
81 us st = 2592000 oz
82 us st = 2624000 oz
83 us st = 2656000 oz
84 us st = 2688000 oz
85 us st = 2720000 oz
86 us st = 2752000 oz
87 us st = 2784000 oz
88 us st = 2816000 oz
89 us st = 2848000 oz
90 us st = 2880000 oz
91 us st = 2912000 oz
92 us st = 2944000 oz
93 us st = 2976000 oz
94 us st = 3008000 oz
95 us st = 3040000 oz
96 us st = 3072000 oz
97 us st = 3104000 oz
98 us st = 3136000 oz
99 us st = 3168000 oz
100 us st = 3200000 oz
1 us short ton (us st) = 32000 ounce (oz). Us Short Ton (us st) is a unit of Weight used in Standard system. Ounce (oz) is a unit of Weight used in Standard system.
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Fictional character Cruella De Vil is associated with which breed of dog? | cruella de vil | Dog Breeds of the World
Posted by markuspretzel in dogs . Tagged: ANFPA , budweiser , croatia , cruella de vil , dalmatian , disney , dog breeds , dogs , family dog , glenn close , goran ivanišević , guard dogs , lady and the tramp , marco polo , ožujsko . 1 comment
Now, here’s a breed that needs no introduction! As everyone knows, the Dalmatian was popularised in the 1955 animated Disney movie, Lady and the Tramp, and will forever be associated with the actress Glenn Close after she played the wicked Cruella de Vil in the remake. Do you remember her coat? Yes, it was covered in black spots and made from the skins of poor little Dalmatian puppies! She was such an evil character – probably the most evil character in the history of the cinema. Fortunately, in real life, the Dalmation is a much-loved breed that has been around for a lot longer than fifty years or so: indeed, it is one of the oldest breeds of dog on Earth.
Like Marco Polo and Goran Ivanišević, the Dalmatian is said to have originally hailed from Croatia. Although the breed is usually characterised by its heavily-spotted black and white coat, a special (and less common) liver-coloured version is also available. Pups are born in litters of six to eight, but without markings (these are added later). Whilst the breed generally enjoys very good health, a genetic predisposition to deafness has been identified. This is actually a good thing, as in the past many Dalmatians were drowned or discarded for being stupid or refusing to follow commands when in fact they simply couldn’t hear anything! (This is a bit like some teenagers, today, when they wear their headphones all day).
The Dalmatian is very good at sports such as hunting and running and is, on the whole, a kind dog. Dalmatians excel at catching vermin and helping firemen (so much so that the dog is now the official mascot of the American National Fire Protection Association). They are also associated with Budweiser, though they do not drink it themselves as they prefer Ožujsko, a native beverage. Dalmatians can live for as long as eighteen years, which is like a human being living to 216 years old! For this reason, they are not recommended for elderly owners. Like the Great Dane , they are also not suitable for people who live in small apartments.
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There are four protagonists , all of them animals.
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Cadpig
Cadpig is a fictional character originally created by Dodie Smith for her books The Hundred and One Dalmatians and The Starlight Barking , subsequently used in the Disney animated television series.
The books
In The Hundred and One Dalmatians , Cadpig was one of Pongo and Missis' original 15 puppies. She was the smallest of the litter and shared a close bond with Patch. She is referred to as "the Cadpig", Cadpig being a name for runts in a pig's litter. She was a very weak puppy: she could not walk long distances and got tired easily. She was also addicted to television. In The Starlight Barking , she was the pet of the British Prime Minister, and aided her parents during the events of the story. She first appeared as a puppy of Pongo in 101 Dalmatians.
The television series
In September, 1997, Disney released the television series, which was a new installment in their 101 Dalmatians franchise rather than a continuation. In the series there were four main characters: Lucky , Cadpig, Rolly and Spot . Cadpig is voiced by Kath Soucie .
Cadpig was the youngest of the ninety-nine Dalmatian puppies and she was also the runt of the litter, being physically smaller than her brothers and sisters. Her physical appearance also has some characteristics that are unique to her, as she has a larger head than most of the other Dalmatians, along with floppy ears and blue eyes. Despite her small stature, however, Cadpig can perform feats of strength that her brothers and sisters often cannot do (such as being able to lift another character who is twice her size), though she usually only exhibits such strength when she is angry; she also has an adept sense of hearing, which is stronger than that of her brothers and sisters. Cadpig also seems to have an extensive knowledge of (fictional) tribes and cultures.
Many of the denizens on the Dearly Farm have trouble understanding what Cadpig says, since she loves to speak in what Spot calls “metaphysical metaphors”, though she once mentioned that she got a thesaurus for Christmas, which she implied has helped expand her vocabulary, especially when it comes to synonyms of stupidity such as moron.
Lucky
Lucky was originally created by Dodie Smith for her book The Hundred and One Dalmatians and subsequently used in all of Disney's movies featuring the 101 Dalmatians: One Hundred and One Dalmatians , 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure and 101 Dalmatians , as well as the animated television series.
The book
In Dodie Smith's book, Lucky was one of the original 15 puppies of Pongo and Missis. He is easily recognisable because the spots on his back form an inverted horseshoe. In the book, he actively took part in the escape as the leader of the puppies and helping the Colonel, his parents and Lieutenant Willow by training the pups to obey orders.
The movies
In One Hundred and One Dalmatians , Lucky was also one of the original 15 puppies, but he is the son of Pongo and Perdita (Missis' name being changed to Perdita for the movie; in the original book, Perdita was a completely separate character). His active personality was transferred to Patch , and he was usually one of the followers, not the leaders. He is also one of the weakest puppies in the movie. When he was born, he died shortly after, only to be revived by Pongo and Mr. Dearly which may explain his weakness and how he got his name. Lucky was the one who gave Pongo the idea to cover themselves in soot to hide from Cruella after he was arguing with Patch and both of them fell in the soot. Despite his name, he is probably the most unlucky puppy in 101 Dalmatians because he was close to dying in the march back home. His soot disguise also got washed away in front of Cruella de Vil. In the 1961 movie, he is voiced by Mimi Gibson . In 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, the 1961 movie's direct-to-video sequel, Lucky was a minor character. He is voiced by Ben Tibber.
The television series
Lucky was once again featured in the animated series based on the movies and the book, this time as a main character. Lucky retains many characteristics from the book such as the horseshoe on the back, black ears from the movie and the active personality from the book. In many ways, this Lucky is perhaps more true to Dodie Smith's book. Lucky is headstrong, stubborn, brave (sometimes to the point of foolishness), loyal, fearless (except when it comes to getting shots from the veterinarian) and the favourite puppy of Roger Dearly and often takes his position as favourite puppy for granted and gets very jealous when he feels that any of them are trying to pry this coveted position from him, especially Tripod.
Lucky can always be seen hanging out with Cadpig , Rolly and the chicken Spot plus he has ongoing rivalries with Mooch and Tripod. He particularly despises Cruella and is also a TV and computer game addict.
On a more favourable note, he is quick thinking and can be just as fast in getting out of trouble as he is in getting into trouble, a trait that has saved him and his friends on more than one occasion. He has also proven himself to be a very loyal and faithful friend and is willing to put his friends before his own gain, as can be seen in several episodes. He is voiced by Pamela Adlon and Debi Mae West .
Roger Radcliffe
A musician who is the owner of Pongo. He creates the song "Cruella De Vil". But suspects Cruella stole the puppies. At the end his song reveals to become famous but Roger turns it off even though it was his first big hit, and he became rich because of it. Then when Pongo and Perdy and the puppies return they celebrate by singing a new song "Dalmatian plantation" which shows during the singing, the neighbor dogs bark to the tune of Dalmatian Plantation. It is possible that Dalmatian Plantation becomes more famous and better than "Cruella De Vil".
Rolly
Rolly was created by Disney and based on a character from The Hundred and One Dalmatians , and primarily appeared in the animated television series. He is always hungry which is possible of why he's overweight. And when Pongo and Perdita comes to rescue them Rolly instead of a nice "Hello" asks a nagging, "Did you bring me anything to eat?"
The book
Rolly's name in the book is "Roly-Poly". In the book, Roly-Poly was also one of the original 15 puppies born of Pongo and Missis. He was a mischievous and playful puppy who often got into trouble. It was he who inspired Pongo to tell the others to roll in the soot to disguise themselves from the Badduns and Cruella de Vil after falling in the soot and playing around in it.
The movies
The character Roly-Poly was adapted from the book and into Walt Disney's 1961 classic animated movie One Hundred and One Dalmatians . His name was changed to Rolly and he was given an extra trait: an enormous appetite. He has a red collar (as do all the male puppies in the movie) though the color is changed to blue in some of the picture books and plush toys and spotted ears and can be recognized easily because he is rather plump. His mischievousness was also toned down. He was also one of Pongo & Perdita's 15 puppies who were kidnapped by Cruella de Vil. Rolly also made an appearance in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure, the direct-to-video sequel to the 1961 movie, as a minor character.
Rolly was one of two characters from the 1961 movie to be adapted as a main character in Disney's television series. He still retains the spotted ears from the movie but he now wears a blue collar. He kept his big appetite but was made to look even fatter in the series. Rolly is a loyal brother to his siblings but does hesitate when it comes to going on an adventure with his brother, Lucky, and he prefers to remain out of conflicts even if his friends could really use his assistance. He spends most of his time eating and watching food commercials on TV, if he is not on an adventure with the gang.
Rolly’s biggest asset is his acute sense of smell, which is something that is unique to him as his sense of smell is much more refined than that of the rest of the Dalmatians on the farm. Rolly's biggest flaw is still his appetite. In fact, his strong desire for food has caused many problems for himself, as well as his friends and family, as he tends to go out of his way to find an easy meal, even in situations that require his utmost concentration and best behavior. He is voiced by Kath Soucie .
Spot
Spot is a spotted chicken who wants to become a dalmatian. As a result she has picked up some dog behaviour such as scratching herself with her feet, barking, howling at the moon and, it was once mentioned, urinated on a fire hydrant, much to Cornelia's disapproval.
Spot is very highly strung and is prone to literally bouncing off walls, much to the annoyance of her friends. She provides comic relief and slapstick humour throughout the series.
She is voiced by Tara Strong .
Secondary characters
Mooch - Mooch is Lucky's main rival, asides from Tripod. He is probably second only to Cruella on Lucky's list of most hated. Mooch usually teases Lucky and makes fun of Rolly but once fell in love with Cadpig. Often seen hanging out with Two-Tone, Whizzer and Dipstick. Voiced by Danny Cooksey .
Dumpling - A Female pig who lives on the farm. She has an unrequited crush on Lucky. Voiced by Christine Cavanaugh .
Baron Efrem von Schnickerdoodle - A millionaire whom Cruella is determined to marry. He only appeared in a major role one weekday syndication episode, "Cupid Pups", although he put in a minor appearance at the end of the episode "Dalmatian Vacation, Part III - Dearly Beloved".
Pullet Marlow - Spot's alter ego . A detective who appears on Dearly Farm to solve major mysteries that happen on the farm. Only appeared in two episodes: "The Maltese Chicken" and "K is for Kibble".
Captain Ahab - A pirate who is determined to find the great white whale.
Beamer - The pup's rich uncle. He has long black ears and a shiny emerald collar.
Coco - Beamer's wife, the pup's rich aunt. She has ears similar to Perdita, and many fans belive that she's Perdita's sister. She also has a lilac pearl nacklace. She is voiced by April Winchell .
Cydne the Water Snake - A snake who lives in the swamp. He appears occasionally to scare the poop out of the pups.
Filibuster - Dog of the President. He is mentioned many times in "Mall Pups" but does not appear in any episode.
Lieutenant Pug - Pug is in charge of training the Cadets. He is a typical drill sergeant who enjoys nothing more than screaming and shouting orders at the cadets. His weakness is that he has a tendency to black-out and sleep suddenly during critical moments especially while screaming at subordinates or during combat operations. Pug hates cats and is often paranoid about The Great Cat Invasion, which sometimes leads to panic among the Bark Brigade cadets. This also makes him suspicious of Sgt. Tibs, who is a cat, that he may be a spy. Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
Rebecca - Another girlfriend of Lucky, lives in a DeVil Vill with a curse put upon it by a witch that looks like Nanny, Hester Hen. Her eyes vary from Pink when in a trance, and blue when normal, has a beauty mark that resembles a pink heart, while her spots resembles hearts. She has a pink lace collar. She speaks with an Irish accent. She only appears in "De Vil-Age Elder". Voiced by Alice Ghostley .
Rebecca's Mother - A carridge hound like Rebecca, has a blue lace collar. Bears an odd resemblance to Perdita, for her daughter does not.
Starbuck - Captain Ahab's first mate Skipper. He often suffers from seasickness.
Steven - Steven is an Alligator who resides in the swamp. Whenever the pups and Spot stumble into the swamp, Steven always shows up, and plans to make a snack out of Spot or any of the puppies. He's also hired a few times by Swamp Rat as a "muscle". Voiced by Frank Welker .
Ralphie St. Lowrent - The owner of a fashion company that rivals Cruella's company. Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
The Swamp Rat - Swamp rat is a con man , pawner and a salesman who lives in the swamp. He always tries to sell the pups something, or attempts to make money off stealing things from the Ridiciously-Small-House. Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
Tripod - Lucky's rival in the Bark Brigade. He has three legs and a green sweatband . The reason for this is not specified if his left front leg was either amputated or was born that way, He's also adopted and not a member of the original 15 pups Perdita had. Tripod is the favourite of Lieutenant Pug and was once Cadet of the Month. Despite having only three legs, he is more capable when it comes to athletics than all the other cadets, including Lucky, because he works harder than any of them. Motto: No pain, no gain. Voiced by Toran Caudell .
Cornelia - Cornelia is Spot's mother and dislikes her dog-like antics and is often not very comfortable with Spot mixing around with the pups. Cornelia also often makes Spot babysit her friends' eggs/chicks. Voiced by Tress MacNeille .
Duke - Duke is one of the many pups on the farm, and he appears to be the most muscular out of everyone. he has white ears and a blue collar. He only appears in, "Full Metal Pullet", where his only line was a high-pitched, girlish scream. He is one of Tripod's best friends.
Sourced from the film adaptations
The Colonel - The Colonel is an English Sheepdog, the commanding officer of the Bark Brigade. Sgt. Tibs, Lt. Pug and the cadets. He is quite fair when it comes to punishing and rewarding his subordinates. He is another character taken from the novel and the movie. Voiced by Jim Cummings .
Anita Dearly - Roger's wife and fashion designer for Cruella's company. She is often asked by Ralphie St. Lowrent to work at his company, a rival to Cruella's, but usually turns down the offer. Voiced by Kath Soucie .
Roger Dearly - Owner of the Ridicoulusly-Small-House. Roger creates video games for his computer game company "kindly" sponsored by Cruella. Roger truly hates Cruella, but has to put up with her so that Anita does not get fired. Instead he puts his hatred of Cruella into his computer games such as "The Cruellanator". Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
Dipstick - A rather dim member of the Dalmatian family. Tends to hang out with Two-Tone, Whizzer and Mooch. He also appears in the 1996 live action 101 Dalmatians as a puppy, his look differs from his series look as he has partial black ears and tail, he retains the same look in the live action sequel 102 Dalmatians as an adult, in 102 he has a new owner named Chloe Simon and has a mate named Dottie and they have three pups Domino, Little Dipper, and Oddball (see 102 Dalmatians ). Voiced by Thom Adcox-Hernandez .
Jewel - Another of the original 15 pups, Jewel was never seen in the series yet mentioned by name in several episodes. Had she appeared her look might have been identical to her look from her live action movie appearance in 1996.
Nanny - Caretaker for the Dearlys and the Dalmatians. She appears in the 1961 movie. She also works on the Chow Tower and is quite inventive when it comes to creating new inventions to ease her work such as a catapult to launch her laundry on to the clothesline. -- Voiced by Charlotte Rae .
Patch - Another sibling of the Dalmatians. Enjoys hanging out with Rolly. His look was taken from Dodie Smith's original description from the original novel. Instead of a collar, he has a rope as his collar. He can easily be recognised by the black patch on his eye. He appears in the 1961 animated movie and the 1996 live action movie and the direct to DVD sequel 101 Dalmatians 2 which he is the main pup instead of the other pups. Early promotional material once featured a 'mischievous' Patch as one of the main characters but it was feared that this would flood the show with too many main characters and the idea was dropped. Originally Patch would have also had his protectiveness over Cadpig from Dodie Smith's original novel but the idea was never used. Voiced by Justin Shenkarow .
Perdita - Mother of the 99 puppies. Voiced by Pam Dawber
Pongo - Father of the 99 puppies. Voiced by Kevin Schon .
Sergeant Tibs - Sergeant Tibs is the Colonel's liaison with the Bark Brigade, often running messages to and from the Colonel. In the original novel, the character was a female cat and referred to as "Lieutenant Tib" (a nickname; her real name is "Pussy Willow"), but for the 1961 movie the character was turned into a male cat named "Sergeant Tibs," and remained so for the series. Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
Two-Tone - An unusual pup of the farm, hence her spot pattern, as her lower half is black fur and white spots, often considered a tomboy and seen with Mooch, Wizzer, and Dipstick, also dated Lucky once in the episode "Love 'em Flea 'em" despite them being related. She also appears in the 1996 live action movie but her spot pattern differs as she's half white, half spotted down the middle, has a black ear, no earring and sports a red collar. Voiced by Tara Strong .
Whizzer - Has a case of incontinence of the bladder, also hangs with Mooch, Dipstick, and Two-Tone. Whizzer does not appear in the novel or the animated movies but does appear in the 1996 live-action movie. Out of all of the supporting pups, he has the least speaking roles. Voiced by Christine Cavanaugh
Villains
Main article: Cruella de Vil
Cruella de Vil - Main antagonist of the series. Constantly schemes to steal the Ridicoulously-Small-House and/or get richer. She lives next door to the Dearlys in Villa de Vil. Like her character played by Glenn Close in the 1996 live action film, she is also owner of House of de Vil, a fashion house, where Anita Dearly works for her. Throughout the series as a couple of running gags, she reminds herself of random things by making memos to herself via a RadioShack tape recorder and always calls Roger other names that start with an "R". Voiced by April Winchell .
The de Vils
Ivy de Vil - Cruella's niece. Has two sides: one is extremely sweet when meeting others and one evil side when scheming. Her cart can transform into many things including a helicopter and a machine that can force meteors to fall on a specific place. She is also good at creating computer viruses .
Malevola de Vil - Cruella's mother. Shows little love for her descendants except for Ivy. Drives a very long car with big exhaust pipes and massive amounts of exhaust until it can create its own lightning. She has 2 big and fierce dogs. Although her name here is as shown above, a Disney Villains Top Secret Files book named Cruella's mother Dalmentia.
P.H. de Vil - Cruella's cousin. According to his sales pitch, he's an "evil genius, mad scientist and junk food connoisseur". Once built a robotic version of Rolly, used Rolly as a test subject for his junk food business and schemed to steal the Ridicoulously-Small-House in order to inherit the family fortune with an earthquake machine: The Seismic Mayhemitron. Voiced by Jeff Bennett .
Cecil B. de Vil - Another cousin of Cruella's. His name is a pun on Cecil B. Demille . Cecil works in advertising as a director. Voiced by Rob Paulsen .
Scorch de Vil - Scorch is Cruella's pet ferret . He specializes in making the puppies' lives as miserable as possible. Voiced by Frank Welker
Vindella de Vil - Cruella's pet dog. She is snobbish and vain but generally means the puppies no harm.
Others
Horace and Jasper - Henchmen of the "H. and J. Concepts" company who are employed by Cruella to do her dirty work. This involves delivering ransom notes and going through Anita's trash. They both enjoy watching a TV Series called "What's my crime". Jasper's favorite food is Alchahole. Horace's favorite is Sandwiches and Cakes (Seen in the film). Jasper also enjoys playing Darts on a picture of the court Judge which he uses as his Dartboard , smoking, and drinking . Jasper is also known for pouring his Insigerate ashes on Horace's sandwiches. Horace was voiced by David L. Lander , Jasper by Michael McKean . In the original stage production of the film, Horace was played by Steve LeFayt and Jasper by Michael Visconti.
References
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Which fictional doctor lives in Puddleby-on-the-Marsh? | Learn and talk about List of Doctor Dolittle characters, Characters in children's literature, Characters in fantasy literature, Doctor Dolittle, Lists of fictional animals by work
Doctor Dolittle[ edit ]
Doctor John Dolittle, M.D. is an English doctor who became a doctor for animals after his parrot , Polynesia, taught him to speak animal languages. He lives in the fictional town of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh in England's West Country , along with his many animal friends. He has very few human friends and spends most of his time treating animals, travelling the world with his animals and conducting research into new animals and new forms of animal languages. [1]
Tommy Stubbins[ edit ]
Tommy Stubbins is a boy from Puddleby who, after taking an injured squirrel to Doctor Dolittle, becomes the doctor's friend and assistant. His father is the doctor's favourite shoemaker. He first appears in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle and acts as the narrator in all the books that take place after his arrival. [2]
He was played by William Dix in the 1967 film.
Matthew Mugg[ edit ]
Matthew Mugg is the Cat's-meat-man from Puddleby. He is a friend of Doctor Dolittle and helps to take care of the doctor's house and garden when the doctor is away travelling . He is illiterate but practical, and advises Dolittle to become an "animal doctor" and learn animal languages. He was played by Anthony Newley in the 1967 film.
Prince Bumpo[ edit ]
Prince Bumpo is an African prince from the kingdom of Jolliginki, who has been sent to study at Oxford University by his father, and become a friend of the Doctor's. Bumpo is recognisable by his green umbrella and bare feet - not used to wearing shoes, he usually discards them. Bumpo has been the subject of heavy Bowdlerisation (removal of material deemed offensive, such as racism) in recent years.
He was originally supposed to appear in the 1967 film intact, but casting problems eventually led to his character being considerably softened and renamed as "William Shakespeare the Tenth", played by Geoffrey Holder . [3]
Colonel Bellowes[ edit ]
Colonel Bellowes is a snobbish old man in Puddleby who appears briefly in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle.
In the 1967 film he became General Bellowes, a retired military commander and a magistrate , played by Peter Bull .
He loathes any sort of new, unusual, or odd ideas, including veterinary science; he rejects that a veterinarian can talk to animals. He owns several dogs, horses and other animals, all of whom betray their owner when Dolittle queries them at his trial about their owner's excesses of food, drink and female companionship.
General Bellowes deals harshly with Dolittle, who then flees the country.
Long Arrow[ edit ]
Long Arrow is an American Indian, son of Golden Arrow. He is the world's greatest naturalist, specializing in botany and traveling through the mountains of Peru and Spidermonkey Island. He has learned the language of eagles and thus is able to communicate with Dr. Dolittle. He is featured in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle .
William Shakespeare the Tenth[ edit ]
The tribal leader of Sea Star Island, a floating tropical paradise. He and his tribe are well educated in literature and history, and each citizen is able to speak several languages. Parents name their children after their favorite authors, hence his name. He is nicknamed "Willy" and was played by Geoffrey Holder in the 1967 film. He never appeared in any of Lofting's original books.
Doctor Dolittle's Animals[ edit ]
Polynesia[ edit ]
Polynesia is Doctor Dolittle's parrot, an African Grey . She is able to speak English and first taught Doctor Dolittle the language of animals. She always says she can never remember how old she is, but she remembers that when she came to England, she saw Charles II of England , hiding in an oak tree from the Roundheads: "he looked very frightened". Along with Chee-Chee and the crocodile, she decided to stay in Africa at the end of the original story, but returned in later stories. In The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle she is described as grey and scarlet. In the 1967 film she is a blue and gold Macaw .
Gub-Gub[ edit ]
Gub-Gub is Doctor Dolittle's pet pig . He is a great lover of food . Gub Gub's Book : An Encyclopedia of Food is written as if it were a record of conversations with Gub-Gub on its supposed contents.
Jip[ edit ]
Jip is Doctor Dolittle's dog . He has a very keen sense of smell. In The Story of Doctor Dolittle , he was able to rescue a man stranded on an island by following the man's scent across the ocean. [1] He appears as a Labrador Retriever in the 1967 film.
Chee-Chee[ edit ]
Chee-Chee is a monkey from Africa. Doctor Dolittle buys him from an organ-grinder in The Story of Doctor Dolittle . His name apparently means 'ginger' in monkey language. [1] He appears as a chimpanzee in the 1967 film.
Dab-Dab[ edit ]
Dab-Dab is Doctor Dolittle's pet duck . After the doctor's sister , Sarah Dolittle, leaves the house in Puddleby due to her dislike of crocodiles , Dab-Dab becomes the doctor's housekeeper .
Too-Too[ edit ]
Too-Too is the doctor's pet owl . He acts as the Doctor's accountant, and can tell the Doctor immediately how much money he has in the money box.
Cheapside[ edit ]
Cheapside is a Cockney sparrow from east London. He often visits the doctor, to gossip or bring important news. He is notorious for using bad language. He and his wife Becky live at St. Paul's, in the statue of St. Edmund's left ear. He is a recurring character in the books.
The pushmi-pullyu[ edit ]
The pushmi-pullyu (pronounced "push-me—pull-you") is a "gazelle-unicorn cross" which has two heads (one of each) at opposite ends of its body. In The Story of Doctor Dolittle , the grateful monkeys in Africa persuade it to accompany Dr. Dolittle to England to earn money for him (in Doctor Dolittle's Circus and Doctor Dolittle's Caravan.) The pushmi-pullyu usually only uses one of its heads to talk, reserving the other for eating (thus allowing it to eat while speaking without being rude) and claims that its great-grandfather was the last unicorn .
In the 1967 film , the pushmi-pullyu was instead portrayed as a double-headed llama . The doctor can immediately speak to the pushmi-pullyu, knowing that llamas speak a dialect of camel language. The Eddie Murphy film has a brief scene where it is walking in the background while Dr. Dolittle talks to the tiger in the cage. This is in keeping with the fact that Murphy's movie version is only loosely based on the books. [4]
Toggle[ edit ]
A visually-impaired plowhorse who gets spectacles in The Story of Doctor Dolittle. In the film, he is owned by General Bellowes.
Great Glass Sea Snail[ edit ]
This enormous undersea mollusk with a transparent airtight shell is injured when the mysterious floating Spidermonkey Island finally comes to rest in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle. The animals arrange for him to ferry Dr. Dolittle and his party back through the ocean to Puddleby.
In the 1967 film, Dolittle resigns himself to living abroad for the rest of his life due to the price on his head issued by General Bellowes. The [renamed] Great Pink Sea Snail takes Matthew, Tommy, Emma and a host of small animals from the [renamed] Sea Star Island back to England.
Sophie the Seal[ edit ]
Sophie the Seal is rescued by Dolittle in Dr Dolittle's Circus. She makes it apparent to the doctor that she doesn't like life at the circus and wants to return to the sea to find her husband. Dolittle disguises her as a woman and takes her to the sea, but a villager in Brighton witnesses Dolittle throwing her off a cliff and gets him arrested for murder. The doctor is released from jail by the local magistrate, Sir William Peabody, who is an old school friend. In the book this is the last we hear of Sophie, and it is presumed she makes it back to Alaska.
However, in the 1967 film Dolittle is tried and found guilty of insanity by General Bellowes, who commits him to an insane asylum. The animals catch wind of it and help Dolittle hightail it out of town before he can be incarcerated, embarking upon a series of worldwide adventures on the open sea.
When Sophie catches up to him again, he is ensconced upon Sea Star Island. As the Great Pink Sea Snail leaves with his human and animal cargo, Sophie along with her husband and pups informs him that every animal in Puddleby has gone on strike to protest the treatment of Dolittle by General Bellowes. Overjoyed, he enlists the services of the Great Lunar Moth to help him return to Britain.
Giant Lunar Moth[ edit ]
In Lofting's original books, the Giant Moth makes the arduous trip between the earth and the moon in Doctor Dolittle's Garden and Doctor Dolittle in the Moon.
In the 1967 film, the Giant Lunar Moth travels regularly back and forth between the earth and the moon. When Doctor Dolittle gets good news from England, he ends his exile on Sea Star Island by persuading the moth to make a slight detour and drop him off in Puddleby.
| Doctor Dolittle |
In sport, what is the informal name of the box or bench to which offending players be sent as a penalty during a game? | List of the addresses of fictional characters
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List of the addresses of fictional characters
This is a list of the addresses of fictional characters, from various media such as television, literature, or film.
1
*13 Rue del Percebe (comic of same name by Francisco Ibanez)
A
* Abbott family (Bless This House) - Birch Avenue, Putney, UK
* The Addams Family - Cemetery Ridge, USA
* Alexander, Susan (Citizen Kane) - 185 West 74th Street, New York, New York
* Anderson family (Father Knows Best) - 607 South Maple Street, USA
* Larry Appleton and his cousin Balki Bartokomous (Perfect Strangers) - 711 Calhoun Street, Chicago, Illinois
* Jon Arbuckle and his pets (Garfield) - alternately 711 Maple Street, USA (comic strip) or 357 Shady Grove Lane, USA (TV series)
* Lew Archer's office (series of novels) - 8411 1/2 Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, California
* Avengers Mansion Headquarters of the Avengers - 890 Fifth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City
B
* Barone family (Everybody Loves Raymond) - 320 Fowler Street, Lynbrook, New York (Long Island)
* Batman - Wayne Manor, Gotham City, USA
* Baxter family (Hazel) - 123 Marshall Road, Hydsberg, New York
* Mr. Bear & others (comic strip Achewood) - 62 Achewood Court
* Mr Benn - 52 Festive Road, Putney, London, UK
* Frank Black and Family (Millennium) - 1910 Ezekiel Drive, Seattle, WA
* Sirius Black (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) - 12 Grimmauld Place, London, UK
* Leopold Bloom - 7 Eccles St.
* Elwood Blues (The Blues Brothers) - 1060 West Addison Street, Chicago, Illinois (Wrigley Field) (according to his driver's license)
* Charlie Bone and family (Children of the Red King) - Number 9 Filbert Street
* Ed and Christopher Boone (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time) - 36 Randolph Street, Swindon
* Boswell family (Bread) - 30 Kelsall Street, Liverpool
* The Bower Agency (Who's the Boss?) - 323 East 57th Street, New York, New York
* Bower family (Who's the Boss?) - 3344 Oak Hills Drive, Fairfield, Connecticut
* The Brady Bunch - 4222 Clinton Way, Los Angeles, California
* Emmett Brown (Back to the Future) - 1640 Riverside Drive, Hill Valley, California
* Hyacinth Bucket (Keeping Up Appearances) - Blossom Avenue, UK
* Bueller family (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) - 164 North Dutton Street, Santa Monica, CA (This is in the 1990 NBC sitcom. In the original film, the Buellers lived in Shermer, Illinois, also the setting for The Breakfast Club and, possibly, the homes of Neal Page from Planes, Trains and Automobiles and the McAllister family from Home Alone, all films directed by John Hughes.)
* Phoebe Buffay (Friends) - 5 Morton St. Apt. 14. New York City New York (Manhattan) USA
* Bundy family (Married... with Children) - 9764 Jeopardy Lane, Chicago, Illinois
* Bunker family (All in the Family) - 704 Hauser Street, New York City, New York (Astoria, Queens)
* Burber family - 9 Chickweed Lane (daily comic strip of the same name)
* Bureau de l'Invisible (French novel series) - 28 Crawford Street, a corner away from Baker Street in London
* Montgomery Burns (The Simpsons) - 1000 Mammon Lane, Springfield, USA
C
* Minnie Caldwell (Coronation Street) - 15 Jubilee Terrace until 1962, then 5 Coronation Street, Weatherfield, Greater Manchester, UK
* Carey, Drew (The Drew Carey Show) - 720 Sedgewick, Cleveland, Ohio
* Blake Carrington (Dynasty) - 173 Essex Drive, Denver, CO
* Cheers - 112 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston, Massachusetts. (This is the address given on the show, though the Bull & Finch Pub, the real-life basis for the bar, is at 84 Beacon Street. This may have been an attempt to keep fan letters from going to the real-life counterpart.)
* Clampett family (Beverly Hillbillies) - 518 Crestview Drive, Beverly Hills, California
* Joan Clayton (Girlfriends) - 700 block of North Wilton Place, Los Angeles, California
* Cleaver family (Leave it to Beaver) - 485 Maple Street (later 211 Pine Street), Mayfield, USA
* The Colbys - Belvedere Mansion, Los Angeles, California
* Conner family (Roseanne) - 714 Delaware, Lanford IL
* Dr. Frasier Crane and Martin Crane - Apartment 1901, Elliott Bay Towers, Seattle, Washington
* Cunningham family (Happy Days) - 565 North Clinton Drive, Milwaukee, WI
D
* Darcy, Fitzwilliam (Pride and Prejudice) - Pemberley, Derbyshire, England
* Dethklok (Metalocalypse) - Mordhaus, exact location unknown
* Blanche Devereaux, who owns the house and rents rooms to Dorothy Zbornak, Rose Nylund, and Sophia Petrillo, (The Golden Girls) - 6151 Richmond Street, Miami, Florida
*The Doctor, (Doctor Who comic strip and Virgin New Adventures) - Smithwood Manor, Allen Road, Kent, England
* Dolittle, Dr. John (Doctor Dolittle series of books) - Oxenthorpe Road, Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, Slopshire, England
* Donald Duck - 1313 Webfoot Walk, Duckburg, Calisota
* Dursley family (Harry Potter books) - 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, UK
*Durden, Tyler (Fight Club) - 420 Paper St. Wilmington, DE 19886
E
* Lord Emsworth (novels of P. G. Wodehouse) - Blandings Castle, Shropshire
*The Evans family (Good Times) -321 North Gilbert, Chicago, IL
* Ewing family (Dallas) - Southfork Ranch, Braddock County, Texas, USA
F
* The Fantastic Four - The Baxter Building, New York, New York.
* Basil Fawlty (Fawlty Towers) - Fawlty Towers Hotel, Torquay, Torbay, UK
* The Flanders family (The Simpsons) - 740 Evergreen Terrace
* Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote) - 698 Candlewood Lane, Cabot Cove, ME
* Phileas Fogg - 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens, London, UK
* The Funnies (Doug) - 21 Jumbo Street, Bluffington, USA
G
* Monica Geller, first with Phoebe Buffay, then Rachel Green, finally with Chandler Bing (Friends) - 425 Grove Street, Apartment 20, New York, New York (Chandler and Joey Tribbiani, later Joey and Rachel, lived in Apartment 19; the actual building is at 90 Bedford Street, on the corner of Grove)
* Griffin family (Family Guy) - 31 Spooner Street, Quahog, Rhode Island
* From the Goon comic book series - Lonely Street, home to the Priest and his hordes of zombies
H
* The Halliwell Manor (Charmed) - 1329 Prescott Street, San Francisco, California (The actual manor is located at 1329 Carroll Ave, Los Angeles, California, in the famous Echo Park neighborhood.)
* Tony Hancock (Hancock's Half Hour) - 23 Railway Cuttings, East Cheam
* Major-General Sir Richard Hannay, KCB, DSO (novels of John Buchan) - Fosse Manor, Oxfordshire
* Harper family (Mama's Family) - 1 Old Decatur Road, Raytown, USA
* Hatcher family (Judy Blume's "Fudge" books) - 25 West 68th Street, New York, New York
* Doug and Carrie Heffernan; Arthur Spooner (The King of Queens) - 3223 Aberdeen Avenue, Rego Park, New York
* Earl and Randy Hickey - Room 231, The Palms Motel, 9005 Lincoln Blvd, Camden, USA
* Hank and Peggy Hill (King of the Hill) - 84 Rainey Street, Arlen, TX, 78054 (The zip code is actually for Beeville, TX)
* Sherlock Holmes - 221B Baker Street, London, UK
* Huxtable family (The Cosby Show) - 10 Stigwood Avenue, New York City (Brooklyn)
I
* Uncle Fred, The Earl of Ickenham (novels of P. G. Wodehouse) - Ickenham Hall, Ickenham, Hants, UK
J
*Justice Inc. and the Avenger - No. 1 Bleek Street
K
* Clark Kent (Superman) - 344 Clinton St., Apt. 3B, Metropolis, USA (later 1938 Sullivan Lane, Metropolis)
* Eugene Krabs (SpongeBob SquarePants) - 3541 Anchor Way, Bikini Bottom, Pacific Ocean
* Kramden family (The Honeymooners) - 328 1/2 Chauncey Street, Brooklyn, New York
L
* Lane family (The Patty Duke Show) - 8 Remsen Drive, Brooklyn Heights New York City, New York, USA
* Laverne & Shirley - 730 Knapp Avenue, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
* Lawrence family (Gidget) - 803 N. Dutton Drive, California, USA
* Leopold Bloom (Ulysses) - 7 Eccles St., Dublin 7, Ireland
M
* Magnum, P.I., Robin's Nest - 11435 18th Avenue, Oahu, HI
* Miss Marple - Danemead, High Street, St Mary Mead
* Victor Meldrew, 19 Riverbank, UK
* Mindy McConnell and Mork (Mork and Mindy) - 1619 Pine Street, Boulder, Colorado
* Fibber McGee and Molly (his wife) - 79 Wistful Vista, USA.
* Travis McGee - Slip F-18 at Bahia Mar Marina - docking place of houseboat; this was a real address, although it has since been demolished according to Spider Robinson: a photo of him sitting at the base of the dedication plaque to McGee at the slip (as described in Robinson's novel Callahan's Key) may be found on this page )
* Daria Morgendorffer (Daria) - 1111 Glen Oaks Lane, Lawndale USA
* Fox Mulder (The X-Files) - 2630 Hegal Place, Apt. 42, Alexandria, Virginia, 23242
* The Munsters - 1313 Mockingbird Lane, Mockingbird Heights, USA. There is however a Mockingbird Lane in South Pasadena, California.
N
* Nelson family (I Dream of Jeannie) - 1020 Palm Drive, Cocoa Beach, FL
* Navidson Family (House of Leaves) - Succoth and Ash Tree Lane
* Newman (Seinfeld) - Apartment 5E, 129 West 81st Street, New York, New York
O
* Stan & Hilda Ogden (Coronation Street) - 13 Coronation Street, Weatherfield, Greater Manchester, UK
* Oscar and Felix (The Odd Couple) - 1049 Park Avenue, New York, New York
* Owens family (Mr. Belvedere) - 200 Spring Valley Road, Beaver Falls, PA
P
* Paddington Bear - 32 Windsor Gardens, London
* The Partridge Family - 698 Sycamore Road, San Pueblo, CA
* Reginald Iolanthe Perrin (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin) - 12 Coleridge Close, Climthorpe, London, UK
* Adrianna Pennino (Rocky) - 1818 Tusculum St, Philadelphia, PA 19134-3416
* Petrie family (The Dick Van Dyke Show) - 448 Bonnie Meadow Road, New Rochelle, New York. Their next-door neighbors are Dr. Jerry Helper (a dentist), his wife Millie and their children.
* Petrillo family (The Golden Girls) - 6151 Richmond Street, Miami Beach, Florida
* Phil's Bar & Grill (Murphy Brown) - 1595 I Street NW, Washington, D.C. (Usually written as "EYE Street" to differentiate it from 1st Street, listed as "FIRST" on street signs)
* Pickle and Lamb families (Cloudstreet) - 1 Cloud Street, West Leederville, Perth, Western Australia
* Hercule Poirot - Apt. 56B, Whitehaven Mansions, Sandhurst Square, London W1, UK.
* Solar Pons - 71B Praed Street, London, UK
* Post family (Mr. Ed) - 17230 Valley Road, USA
* Harry Potter - The cupboard under the Stairs, 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey (later moved to normal bedroom, as Dursley family, above)
* Screech Powers (Saved by the Bell) - 88 Edgemont, Palisades, California
R
* Ricardo family (I Love Lucy) - Apartment 4A (later 3D), 623 East 68th Street, New York, New York
* Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show) - Apartment D, 119 North Weatherly Avenue, Minneapolis, MN
* Jim Rockford (The Rockford Files) - 2354 Pacific Coast Highway, California, USA
* Rush family (Keep it in the Family) - Highgate Avenue, Highgate
S
* Fred G. and Lamont Sanford (Sanford and Son) - 9114 S. Central Ave., Watts, Los Angeles, California.
* Doc Savage - 86th floor of "the skyscraper" (implicitly the Empire State Building), New York, New York. He also resided in a Fortress of Solitude at the North Pole ... presumably sharing this space with Superman and Santa Claus!
* Dana Scully (The X-Files) - 3170 W. 53 Rd. #35, Annapolis, Maryland
* Lynette Scavo and her family (Desperate Housewives) - 4355 Wisteria Lane, Fairview, Eagle State
* Seaver family (Growing Pains) - 15 Robin Hood Lane, USA (later specified as Huntington, Long Island, New York)
* Jerry Seinfeld - Apartment 5A, 129 West 81st Street, New York, New York (The actual address of that apartment is 757 S. New Hampshire Ave. in Los Angeles, 1 block south of Wilshire Bl.)
*Angelica Serralde (Blue Demon Jr., el Legado) - Heriberto Frias 15, Mexico City.
* Sethe (main character of Toni Morrison's Beloved) - 124 Bluestone Road, Cincinnati, OH
* Ena Sharples (Coronation Street) - Glad Tidings Mission, 16 Coronation Street, Weatherfield, Greater Manchester, UK
* The Simpsons - 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield, USA
**15201 Maple Systems Road, Cypress Creek, USA (You Only Move Twice )
* Soprano family (The Sopranos); 633 Stag Trail Road in North Caldwell, New Jersey, USA
* SpongeBob SquarePants - 124 Conch Street, Bikini Bottom, Pacific Ocean
* Sabrina Spellman (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch) - 133 Collins Road, in the fictional town of Westbridge, USA
* Patrick Star (SpongeBob SquarePants) - 120 Conch Street, Bikini Bottom, Pacific Ocean
* Steadman family (Thirtysomething) - 1710 Bryn Mawr Avenue, Philadelphia, PA
* Stephens family (Bewitched) - 1164 Morning Glory Circle, Westport, CT
* Harold and Albert Steptoe (Steptoe and Son) - 24 Oil Drum Lane, Shepherd's Bush, UK.
* Stone family (The Donna Reed Show) - 4-3926 Hillsdale
*Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum -177A Bleecker Street in New York's Greenwich Village
* Sugarbaker Design Firm (Designing Women) - 1521 Sycamore, Atlanta, GA
* Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - 1630 Revello Drive, Sunnydale, CA
* Superman and Lois Lane - 1938 Sulivan Lane, Metropolis, USA (in recent/current comics; 1938 being a tribute to the year of the character's comic book debut)
T
* Tanner family (ALF) - 167 Hemdale Street, Los Angeles, California
* Tanner family (Full House) - 1882 Gerard Street, San Francisco, California
* Albert Tatlock (Coronation Street) - 1 Coronation Street, Weatherfield, Greater Manchester, UK
* Taylor family (The Andy Griffith Show) - 322 Maple, Mayberry, North Carolina
* Taylor family (Home Improvement) - 510 Glenview, Detroit, Michigan
* Tenenbaum family (The Royal Tenenbaums) - 111 Archer Avenue, New York City, New York
* Squidward Tentacles (SpongeBob SquarePants) - 122 Conch Street, Bikini Bottom, Pacific Ocean
* Eric Thursley (Faust Eric) - 13 Midden Lane, Pseudopolis, Sto Plains, The Discworld, On top of Great A'tuin, The Univers, Space. nr. More Space
* Aunt Dahlia, Mrs Travers (Jeeves and Wooster) - 47 Charles Street, Mayfair, London; Brinkley Court, Brinkley-cum-Snodsfield-in-the-Marsh, near Market Snodsbury, Worcs
* Tripper, Jack (Three's Company) - 834 Ocean Vista Avenue #201, Santa Monica, California, USA
* Trotter family (Only Fools and Horses) - Nelson Mandela House, Peckham, London
* Joy and Darnell Turner (My Name Is Earl) - Pimmit Hills Trailer Park, Space C-13, Camden, USA
* Jackie and Rose Tyler (Doctor Who) - Flat 48, Bucknall House, Powell Estate, London
V
* Vimes family (Discworld novels) - Ramkin Manor, Scoone Avenue, Ankh-Morpork
W
* Wallace and Gromit - 62 West Wallaby Street, Wigan, Lancs
* Walsh family (Beverly Hills 90210) - 933 Hillcrest Drive, Beverly Hills, California
* Waluigi (Mario Power Tennis) - 12 Grimace Lane, Mushroom Kingdom
* Bruce Wayne (Batman) - Wayne Manor, outside Gotham City (exact location unknown)
* Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, home and business of Fred and George Weasley - 93 Diagon Alley, London
* Wilkerson family ( Malcolm in the Middle ) - 12334 Maple Blvd.
* Lord Peter Wimsey - 110a Piccadilly, London
* Charles Emerson Winchester III (') - 16 Briarcliff Lane, Boston. "Yes, yes, Massachusetts." (Though a remark by Colonel Flagg suggests the Winchester family actually lives in suburban Wellesley.)
* Sandy Winfield II and Kenny Madison - Surfside 6, Miami Beach address of detective agency set on a houseboat.
* Winslow family (Family Matters) - 263 Pinehurst, Chicago, Illinois
* Nero Wolfe - 454 West 35th Street, New York, New York ; also described in some of the novels as simply West 35th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues, that location is the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel.
X
* Xavier Institute for Higher Learning (X-Men) - 1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center, New York
Z
| i don't know |
In the Batman series of films, what is Alfred the butler’s surname? | New ‘Gotham’ TV Show Image Reveals Alfred Pennyworth
New ‘Gotham’ TV Show Image Reveals Alfred Pennyworth
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Fox’s television series Gotham may have begun its life being touted as a tale of Batman’s hometown before the caped crusader donned his cape and cowl (focusing instead on the life of James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) ), but as the time has passed, the more iconic and well-known characters in DC Comics’ mythology have grabbed a firm hold on the spotlight.
First it was the likes of Detective Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) , followed soon after by Selina Kyle a.k.a. Catwoman (Camren Bicondova) , and today the studio has released the first official image of the most important character in Bruce Wayne’s life – Alfred Pennyworth (Sean Pertwee).
As one of the most recognizable and established characters in Batman fiction, Pennyworth will once again be taking over the duties of raising the orphaned Bruce Wayne – played by David Mazouz – but how this incarnation of the character will differ from previous actors’ takes remains to be seen. As we’ve noted in the past, the adolescent years of Wayne’s life are some of the most unexplored in mainstream Batman films, so the Gotham showrunners have some room to maneuver.
Check out the official image of Pertwee in the role of Alfred Pennyworth below (click to enlarge):
The image can be paired with what little is known about Gotham‘s Alfred, but hints are already being dropped that this version of the trusted butler may be someone more likely to lend a hand in Bruce Wayne’s training, and vigilante mission:
Alfred Pennyworth is a tough-as-nails ex-marine from East London who has loyally served the Waynes. Now, in the wake of their tragic deaths, he’s fiercely protective of the young Bruce Wayne.
Michael Caine’s most recent performance as Pennyworth opposite Christian Bale in The Dark Knight Trilogy will be the most obvious reference for audiences, but Caine’s older, more lighthearted (but sensitive) father figure certainly isn’t the only take on the character deemed canonical. Over the years, Alfred has been portrayed as everything from a world-weary senior to a gifted boxer and physical specimen in his own right, so fans should expect a blend of the two in Gotham, going by the early signs.
There’s no real reason to characterize Alfred as ‘tough-as-nails,’ or ‘fiercely protective’ of young Bruce unless viewers will see those traits in action; adding even more evidence to the notion that Mazouz’s Bruce will play a significant role in the series (and far more than simply ‘crossing paths’ with Jim Gordon ).
It should be clear why this new take on Alfred hold particular promise for fans, since the relationship between Bruce Wayne and his trusted friend/butler/partner/surrogate father is generally depicted in one of two ways: both mourning the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne, or far in the future as Bruce’s career as Batman (and Alfred’s supporting role) already underway.
But what of Bruce’s teenage years? Did he rebel? Was it the death of his parents that set him on the path he would walk for the rest of his life, or was it Alfred’s service and protection that nurtured the seed? Questions often overlooked, but perhaps no longer. In essence: was Alfred merely a spectator of Bruce’s life, or a mentor and teacher?
That’s pure speculation on our part, but a chance to explore an intriguing (but under-utilized) chunk of Bruce Wayne’s formative years – even if is just a chance – is still something we’re eager to see in action. What do you think of Pertwee’s casting? Are you on board to see what sides of Wayne and Pennyworth, if any, they choose to spotlight? Or do you remain skeptical of Gotham‘s chances? Sound off in the comments.
Gotham is in development and expected to premiere on FOX in Fall 2014.
Follow me on Twitter @ andrew_dyce .
Source: Fox
| pennyworth |
In which part of the human body are the metatarsus bones? | Alfred Pennyworth | Fictional Characters Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia
The Outsider
“
We soldier on undaunted, you and I, Master Bruce. And if I may say so, sir... I couldn't beg, borrow or steal a finer way to live my life.
”
Alfred Pennyworth is a fictional character that appears throughout the DC Comics franchise. The character first appears in Batman #16 (April–May 1943), and was created by writer Bob Kane and artist Jerry Robinson. Alfred serves as Batman ’s (and Bruce Wayne's) tireless butler, assistant, confidant, and surrogate father figure. In modern interpretations, this has gone to the point where Alfred was Bruce's legal guardian following the death of his parents. He has sometimes been called "Batman's batman." Alfred also provides comic relief, as his sometimes sarcastic and cynical attitude often adds humor to dialogue occurring between himself and Batman. Alfred is a vital part of the Batman mythos, and appears in most other media adaptations of the character.
The character has been consistently popular over the years, having received a nomination for the R.A.C. Squiddy Award for Favorite Supporting Character in 1994 and for Best Character in 2001. Alfred was also nominated for the Wizard Fan Award for Favorite Supporting Male Character in 1994.
In non-comics media, the character has been portrayed by noted actors Michael Gough, Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., and Sir Michael Caine.
Contents
[ show ]
Fictional character biography
When Alfred first appeared, he was overweight and clean-shaven; however, when the 1943 Batman serial was released, William Austin, the actor who played Alfred, was trim and sported a thin moustache. DC editors wanted the comic Alfred to resemble his cinematic counterpart, so in Detective Comics #83 (January 1944), Alfred vacationed at a health resort, where he slimmed down and grew a mustache. This look has remained with the character ever since, even surviving his "death" and resurrection.
Alfred was originally conceived as a comedic foil for Batman and Robin. In most early tales, he made bungling attempts to be a detective on a par with the young masters. He was given a four-page feature of his own, and the feature lasted thirteen issues, skipping Batman #35, with the last story in Batman #36. The stories followed a simple formula with Alfred somehow managing to solve a crime and catch the culprits entirely by accident. After that, the comedic aspects of the character were downplayed.
Pre-Crisis
The Pre-Crisis comics (the comics that were published by DC Comics between 1938 and 1986) established Alfred as a retired actor and intelligence agent who followed the deathbed wish of his dying father, Jarvis, to carry on the tradition of serving the Wayne family. To that end, Alfred introduced himself to Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson at Wayne Manor and insisted on becoming their butler. Although the pair did not want one, especially since they did not want to jeopardize their secret identities with a servant in the house, they did not have the heart to reject Alfred.
Initially, Alfred discovered their identities by accident; while fighting a burglar in Batman #16 (Alfred's first appearance), he accidentally hit a switch and opened a sliding-panel leading to the Batcave. He is helpful to the Duo, following them to a theatre where they are captured, bound and gagged by a criminal gang, and rescues them after Batman attracts his attention by knocking a rope down before the crooks return. This was revised in Batman #110 (September 1957); during his first night at Wayne Manor, Alfred awoke to moaning (Batman had been injured out in a field) and followed the sound to the secret passage to the staircase leading to the Batcave and met his would-be employers in their superhero identities. As it turned out, the wounds were actually insignificant, but Alfred's care convinced the residents that their butler could be trusted. Since then, Alfred included the support staff duties of the Dynamic Duo on top of his regular tasks.
Ironically, Alfred's loyalty would lead him to become a member of Batman's rogue's gallery. While pushing Batman and Robin out of the way of a falling boulder, Alfred was seemingly killed in Detective #328 (June 1964). It was revealed in Detective #356 (October 1966) that he had been revived by a scientist named Brandon Crawford. His attempt at regeneration resulted in a dramatic change: Alfred awoke from his apparent death with pasty white skin with circular markings, superhuman powers, including telekinesis, and a desire to destroy Batman and Robin. Calling himself The Outsider, he indirectly battled the Dynamic Duo on a number of occasions, using others as his puppets – the Grasshopper Gang in Detective #334, Zatanna in Detective #336, and even the Batmobile itself in Detective #340 – and generally only appeared as a mocking voice over the radio. He did not physically appear in the comics until Detective #356, when he is bathed again in the rays of the regeneration machine during a struggle with Batman, and returns to normal, with no memory of his time as a supervillain. His time as the Outsider is collected in Showcase Presents: Batman Volumes 1 and 2.
Alfred was later reunited with his long-lost daughter, Julia Remarque, though this element was not included in Post-Crisis comics. Her mother was the DC war heroine Mademoiselle Marie, whom Alfred had met while working as an intelligence agent in occupied France during World War II.
Post-Crisis
In the Post-Crisis comics' continuity, Alfred has been the Wayne family butler all of Bruce's life, and had helped his master establish his superhero career from the beginning. In addition he was Bruce's legal guardian following the deaths of his parents. Alfred's history has been modified several times over the years, creating assorted versions. In one such version Alfred was hired away from the British Royal Family by Bruce's parents, and he virtually raised Bruce after they were murdered.
Meanwhile another version of Alfred's Post-Crisis life was slightly more closely linked to his pre-Crisis counterpart. In this version Alfred was an actor on the English stage, who agreed to become the Waynes' butler, only so as to honor the dying wish of his father. At the time he begins working for the Waynes, Bruce is but a young child. After several months, Alfred voices the desire to quit and return home to continue his life as an actor. However, these plans are momentarily forgotten when young Bruce returns home, after getting into a fight with a school bully. Alfred teaches Bruce to handle the bully strategically, rather than using brute force. Following Alfred's advice, Bruce manages to take care of his bully problem. Upon returning home, Bruce requests that Alfred stays, and Alfred agrees without a second thought. After the Waynes' murders, Alfred raises Bruce.
Alfred would later aid Bruce in raising Dick Grayson, Jason Todd , and Tim Drake , all of whom would be adopted by Bruce Wayne and become his partner Robin. He also had close friendships with other members of the Bat-Clan including Barbara Gordon and Cassandra Cain . Alfred often acts as a father-figure to Bruce, and a grandfather to Dick, Jason, and Tim. He is also highly respected by those heroes who are aware of his existence, including Superman , Wonder Woman , Green Lantern , and the original Teen Titans .
Alfred has also been romantically linked to Dr. Leslie Thompkins, though his relationship with her never came to anything, particularly after she apparently allowed Stephanie Brown to die from neglect. He also developed feelings for Tim Drake's stepmother, but again, nothing came of it.
During the events of Knightquest, Alfred accompanies Wayne to England, and becomes enraged when Wayne insists on endangering his own health while paraplegic. This was the culmination of several weeks of Wayne's self-destructive behavior, and when Wayne returns to Gotham City, Alfred remains in England, tendering his resignation. He spends some time vacationing in Antarctica and The Bahamas before returning to England. Dick Grayson tracks him down several months later and convinces him to return to Wayne Manor. In that story, it was revealed he had walked out of his own wedding years earlier.
His resourcefulness came to the fore in the No Man's Land storyline, especially in Legends of the Dark Knight #118. Batman is missing for weeks, leaving Alfred alone to watch his city for him. He uses his skills as an actor, storyteller, medic, and spy to survive and collect information on the recently destroyed society. Alfred even uses hand-to-hand combat in a rare one-panel fight sequence between him and a pair of slavers that ends with his rescue by Batman.
In Batman #677, agents of Batman's mysterious enemy the Black Glove attack and beat Alfred in front of Bruce and Jezebel Jet, severely injuring him. In the same issue, a reporter from The Gotham Gazette suggests to Commissioner Gordon that Alfred may be Bruce's biological father, and that this may be a reason for the murder of Martha Wayne. Alfred later denies the entire story, agreeing with Bruce that it was a fabrication. In Batman and the Outsiders Special, Alfred is seen apologizing at the graves of Thomas and Martha Wayne at the loss of Bruce, commenting that he grieves as a parent, regarding Bruce as his son. Later, a secret panel in Alfred's room opens, the result of a failsafe planted by Bruce in the event of his death. Bruce leaves his one final task, and also gives him an emotional goodbye, telling Alfred he considered him as a father. Alfred is left emotionally shattered, commenting more than once that, even if his biological fatherhood is a fabrication, in a deeper sense he actually was Bruce Wayne's father, having watched over him for years and feeling to have failed him in the last moments.
After the event of Final Crisis, when Batman was apparently killed in action, Alfred finds himself with the task of raising Bruce's biological son Damian with Grayson. Batman: Battle for the Cowl sees Alfred allowing Damian Wayne to take on his first mission as Robin, giving Damian a Robin tunic and calling on Squire to assist the new Boy Wonder in finding Tim Drake, who went missing hunting down Jason Todd. Alfred also assists Grayson in his role as Gotham's new Dark Knight.
After discovering that the original Batman was actually lost in time after his battle with Darkseid , Alfred immediately seeking clues of his whereabout. Eventually, Bruce finds his way to the present. After Batman successfully expands his mission globally with Batman Inc., Bruce assumes full responsibly as a father and Alfred assists him in raising Damian.
Outsider leader
In the absence of Batman, the Outsiders will be led by a new Owlman. A Trick or Treat tease from the Oct. 2008 of DC Nation hints that it will be Alfred Pennyworth behind the mask. In Origins & Omens: Outsiders #15, however, Alfred takes the role of leader of the Outsiders unmasked (directing them remotely). Owlman is revealed to be Roy Raymond Jr., a former television mystery show host, who was hand-selected by Batman prior to his death.
Other continuities
In Frank Miller and Jim Lee's All Star Batman and Robin the Boy Wonder Alfred is a much tougher individual with a different back-story. Following Batman's assault on the corrupt Gotham City police, who are readying to beat and probably kill the pre-Robin Dick Grayson, Alfred and Vicki Vale are caught in the devastating car wreckage Batman creates (not aware of their presence) and Vale is badly hurt. Alfred is seen, shirtless and muscled, applying a tourniquet and generally taking control of the situation. The boxouts in the frame describe him as having been a medic in the RAF and as ex-British Secret Service. Later in the series he is seen working out with a punching bag, again with a muscular physique, brooding about Bruce as "my DEMON — my black-eyed, brilliant, willful ANGEL".
Alfred appears in the Elseworlds series Superman & Batman: Generations. He serves the Wayne family before dying in 1967, but his spirit remains around to give Bruce advice. In Generations 2, he makes his final appearance in 1975, when he convinces the ghost of Dick Grayson not to kill the Joker . He manages to convince Dick to pass over, but in the process his own soul crosses over, meaning he cannot come back.
Alfred plays a prominent role in the "Vampire Batman" trilogy where Batman is turned into a vampire to fight Dracula , forging Batman's weapons to use against the remaining members of Dracula's 'family' and subsequently working with Commissioner Gordon after Batman succumbs to his vampiric instincts and begins to kill his old enemies. At the conclusion of the trilogy, with Gordon being hunted by Two-Face and Killer Croc in the remains of the Batcave, Alfred sacrifices his life to allow Batman to drink his blood, giving his old master the strength to save Gordon and Gotham itself one last time before he allows himself to die to end the threat that he has become.
Name
Alfred introduced himself as the son of a butler named Jarvis in one of his early appearances, and the convention being that British butlers are known by their surnames, it was unclear whether Jarvis was his father's first or last name, the latter case which would have made Alfred's name Alfred Jarvis. Whether by coincidence or not, the name "Jarvis" was later used for the Avengers ' butler, Edwin Jarvis , a character with many similarities to Alfred.
Alfred's name was later given officially as Alfred Beagle. This name was subsequently given to an alternative version of the character from the world of Earth-Two, and Pennyworth became Alfred's accepted surname in the mainstream continuity. Alfred has also used the alias “Thaddeus Crane”, which is derived from his middle names. His full name of Alfred Thaddeus Crane Pennyworth was depicted on his tombstone in Superman/Batman: Generations.
Grant Morrison's run has referred to the Beagle surname as a possible stage name.
Family
Jarvis: Alfred's father in pre-Crisis continuity.
Mademoiselle Marie: A war heroine with whom Alfred has a daughter in pre-Crisis continuity.
Julia Remarque: Alfred's daughter by Mademoiselle Marie.
Wilfred Pennyworth: Alfred's brother, Wilfred is referenced in the late 1960s and early 1970s and is mentioned in the 1997 film Batman & Robin.
Daphne Pennyworth: Niece of Alfred Pennyworth and daughter of Wilfred Pennyworth, Daphne briefly appeared in the late 1960s/early 1970s.
Skills, resources, and abilities
Alfred is quite a brilliant man. He primarily keeps up day-to-day operations of Bruce Wayne's home of Wayne Manor and maintains much of the equipment of the Batcave beneath it. A former actor, he can use his acting and disguise skills to help Batman in the field when necessary, and is even capable of impersonating Bruce Wayne on the telephone convincingly. He has also provided first aid up to and including suturing wounds and removing bullets, as well as occasional tactical support. With time, he has increased his surgical skills, and he's now able to perform arthroscopy and other advanced medical procedures, thus limiting, if not eliminating, the need for hospital medical treatment even in the face of grievous injuries (although professional medical treatment was still required when Bruce's back was broken by Bane (Batman: Knightfall) and when he sustained a skull fracture due to the machinations of Hush (Batman: Hush), Alfred noting that his own skills were inadequate for the current tasks).
While not as skilled at hand-to-hand combat as Bruce Wayne, Alfred is still nearly as resourceful. During a time at which he was kidnapped, he readily escapes and overcomes his captors without disturbing the cut of his suit. It was later mentioned that he had been kidnapped unsuccessfully 27 times (it should be noted, however, that these events take place in the Gotham Adventures comics, based on the animated adventures of Batman, and not within the standard DCU continuity). During Batman: The Resurrection of Ra's al Ghul, Ubu, Ra's massively muscled bodyguard and henchman, attempts to use Alfred as a hostage, only to be disabled by a well timed sucker punch from Alfred.
Presumably due to his lack of superpowers, the advanced combat training Bruce's other associates have, and Alfred's age, Alfred is the only member of the "Batman Family" that Bruce does not mind using a firearm, in his case favoring a shotgun when dealing with direct attacks on his person.
In the 1960s TV series Batman, Alfred was skilled in swordsmanship and archery. He also impersonated Batman in scenes where Batman and Bruce Wayne had to be seen together.
Current issues of the various Batman comics seem to indicate that Alfred is a pioneer in and has also mastered several fields of rose breeding (even creating his own, the "Pennyworth Blue"), computer programming, computer engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, nanotechnology, and biotechnology as he singlehandedly builds, programs, and maintains much of Batman's next-generational technology such as the Batcomputer.
In the Christopher Nolan film series Alfred served time in the SAS (which explains his tactical prowess) and allegedly had a mission in Burma.
In other media
Television
Live action
Alan Napier portrayed Alfred in the live-action TV series Batman starring Adam West and Burt Ward.
Ian Abercrombie portrayed Alfred in the short-lived live-action TV series Birds of Prey.
Animation
Olan Soule voice-played Alfred in the cartoon The Batman/Superman Hour.
William Callaway voice-played Alfred in the Challenge of the Super Friends episode "Wanted: The Superfriends". He is among the male humans that get turned into a Bizzaro .
Clive Revill voice-played Alfred in the first three episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, before he had to leave due to a previous commitment. Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. voice-played Alfred throughout the rest of Batman: The Animated Series as well as for the character's appearances in the various other series of the DC Animated Universe. This version of Alfred combines elements from pre-Crisis and post-Crisis continuities; Alfred has been serving the Wayne family since before Thomas Wayne's death and helped his young charge assume the Batman identity, but was also revealed to be a former agent for the British intelligence agency MI-6.
Alastair Duncan voice-played Alfred in the animated TV series The Batman. In this incarnation, Alfred's grandfather served Penguin 's obnoxious family in England, but was mistreated and then fired. He sometimes likes to watch television while dusting. As in other media, Alfred is portrayed as being far from being weak or feeble as he's able to fight, use the Bat Computer or even impersonate Batman when he needs to. While recent incarnations of the Batman franchise have depicted Alfred as elderly, The Batman presents a younger version of the character, presumably in his late-40s or early-50s.
Alfred Pennyworth is featured in Batman: The Brave and the Bold voiced by James Garrett. In "Invasion of the Secret Santas", Alfred appears in a non-speaking cameo in Batman's flashbacks. Alfred appears again in a non-speaking cameo in "Chill of the Night". In "The Knights of Tomorrow", Alfred works on a book about the events depicted in the episode when Batman enters and mentions that Catwoman is on a crime spree. Alfred comments that Catwoman may one day be a good match for Batman. A robot likeness of Alfred Pennyworth named Alpha-Red appeared in "The Super-Batman of Planet X" voiced by James Arnold Taylor. He serves as the robotic butler of the Batman of Zur-En-Arrh.
Alfred Pennyworth appears in the Young Justice episode "Downtime", voiced by Jeff Bennett. He comes out to check up on Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson who are playing a game of basketball.
Film
Live action
William Austin portrayed Alfred in the 1943 serial Batman. Austin's appearance influenced the change of Alfred's design from the original fat, clean shaven Alfred.
Eric Wilton portrayed Alfred in the 1949 serial Batman and Robin.
Alan Napier portrayed Alfred in the 1966 live-action film Batman, based on the 1960s TV series.
Michael Gough portrayed Alfred in director Tim Burton's live-action films Batman and Batman Returns, as well as Joel Schumacher's films Batman Forever and Batman & Robin. In Batman & Robin, he has a niece named Barbara Wilson who becomes Batgirl (Alicia Silverstone). Gough also portrayed Alfred in a 1989 Diet Coke commercial, in the BBC radio-drama presentation of the Knightfall story arc from the Batman comics, and in a series of OnStar commercials featuring Batman.
Michael Caine portrayed Alfred in Christopher Nolan's Batman Trilogy.
Animation
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. voiced Alfred in the animated films Batman: Mask of the Phantasm , Batman & Mr. Freeze : SubZero, and Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman , based on Batman: The Animated Series.
Alastair Duncan voiced Alfred in the animated film The Batman vs. Dracula, based on The Batman.
David McCallum voiced Alfred in Batman: Gotham Knight.
Alan Oppenheimer voiced Alfred in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies.
Jim Piddock voiced Alfred in Batman: Under the Red Hood .
Video games
He appears in LEGO Batman for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii.
An Easter egg in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King shows a character named Alfred Copperworth, an homage to Alfred Pennyworth, located in the Purple Parlor in the city of Dalaran (a copper is the lowest form of currency in the game, equivalent almost to a penny, and was the metal used to make the original U.S. penny).
Alfred's biography can be unlocked in Batman: Arkham Asylum. The player must scan a plaque describing one of Bruce Wayne's donations to the Arkham Medical Center.
Alfred will be appearing in Batman: Arkham City, serving as Batman's primary information source through radio communication - much in the same vein as Oracle in Arkham Asylum.
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What breed of animal is a Chester White? | What are the characteristics of the Chester White pig? | Reference.com
What are the characteristics of the Chester White pig?
A:
Quick Answer
The Cherokee Animal Clinic lists the characteristics of the Chester White pig being solid white hides and droopy ears. Utah Pork Producers goes on to explain that other characteristics of these animals is a high conception rate, large litters and no stress gene.
Full Answer
One important characteristic of the Chester White pig is that it does not carry the stress gene or halothane gene. This means that they will not die when put under general anesthesia. These pigs are shown to be very fertile. They have a 12 percent higher conception rate than other top-ranked breeds, as well as bigger litters. As far as meat quality is concerned, they are also one of the best pork producers in the country. This breed is not only durable and used in other cross-breeding programs, but they grow at a fast rate, gaining as much as one pound a day for every three pounds of food. However, these pigs need to have access to shade or shelters because their light pigment makes them likely to burn.
The Chester White breed of pigs was created in the 1800s in Pennsylvania by breading white pigs with a white boar from Bedfordshire, England. The record associations for the breed were consolidated into one body in the late 1800s in order to better promote and develop it.
| Pig |
Boss, Flex, Vane and Nock are terms used in which sport? | Breeds of Livestock - Swine Breeds — Breeds of Livestock, Department of Animal Science
Breeds of Livestock, Department of Animal Science
Breeds of Livestock - Swine Breeds
Breeds of Livestock - Swine Breeds
Swine
It is believed that the majority of the breeds we now know are descended from the Eurasian Wild Boar (Sus scrofa). Archaeological evidence from the Middle East indicates domestication of the pig occurs as early as 9,000 years ago, with some evidence for domestication even earlier in China. Figurines, as well as bone, dating the sixth or seventh millennium BC have been found at sites in the Middle East. Pigs were also a popular subjects for statuettes in ancient Persia.
While most livestock were utilized initially by nomadic peoples, swine are more indicative of a settled farming community. The reason for this is simply because pig are difficult to herd and move for long distances. Pigs have become vital to the economy in parts of the world. For example, there exists a "pig culture" in New Guinea as strong and complex as any African culture based on cattle.
Alphabetic Breed Listings
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