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Folding@home
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Folding@home (FAH or F@h) is a distributed computing project aimed to help scientists develop new therapeutics for a variety of diseases by the means of simulating protein dynamics. This includes the process of protein folding and the movements of proteins, and is reliant on simulations run on volunteers' personal computers. Folding@home is currently based at the University of Pennsylvania and led by Greg Bowman, a former student of Vijay Pande.
The project utilizes graphics processing units (GPUs), central processing units (CPUs), and ARM processors like those on the Raspberry Pi for distributed computing and scientific research. The project uses statistical simulation methodology that is a paradigm shift from traditional computing methods. As part of the client–server model network architecture, the volunteered machines each receive pieces of a simulation (work units), complete them, and return them to the project's database servers, where the units are compiled into an overall simulation. Volunteers can track their contributions on the Folding@home website, which makes volunteers' participation competitive and encourages long-term involvement.
Folding@home is one of the world's fastest computing systems. With heightened interest in the project as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the system achieved a speed of approximately 1.22 exaflops by late March 2020 and reached 2.43 exaflops by April 12, 2020, making it the world's first exaflop computing system. This level of performance from its large-scale computing network has allowed researchers to run computationally costly atomic-level simulations of protein folding thousands of times longer than formerly achieved. Since its launch on October 1, 2000, Folding@home was involved in the production of 226 scientific research papers. Results from the project's simulations agree well with experiments.
Background
Proteins are an essential component to many biological functions and participate in virtually all processes within biological cells. They often act as enzymes, performing biochemical reactions including cell signaling, molecular transportation, and cellular regulation. As structural elements, some proteins act as a type of skeleton for cells, and as antibodies, while other proteins participate in the immune system. Before a protein can take on these roles, it must fold into a functional three-dimensional structure, a process that often occurs spontaneously and is dependent on interactions within its amino acid sequence and interactions of the amino acids with their surroundings. Protein folding is driven by the search to find the most energetically favorable conformation of the protein, i.e., its native state. Thus, understanding protein folding is critical to understanding what a protein does and how it works, and is considered a holy grail of computational biology. Despite folding occurring within a crowded cellular environment, it typically proceeds smoothly. However, due to a protein's chemical properties or other factors, proteins may misfold, that is, fold down the wrong pathway and end up misshapen. Unless cellular mechanisms can destroy or refold misfolded proteins, they can subsequently aggregate and cause a variety of debilitating diseases. Laboratory experiments studying these processes can be limited in scope and atomic detail, leading scientists to use physics-based computing models that, when complementing experiments, seek to provide a more complete picture of protein folding, misfolding, and aggregation.
Due to the complexity of proteins' conformation or configuration space (the set of possible shapes a protein can take), and limits in computing power, all-atom molecular dynamics simulations have been severely limited in the timescales that they can study. While most proteins typically fold in the order of milliseconds, before 2010, simulations could only reach nanosecond to microsecond timescales. General-purpose supercomputers have been used to simulate protein folding, but such systems are intrinsically costly and typically shared among many research groups. Further, because the computations in kinetic models occur serially, strong scaling of traditional molecular simulations to these architectures is exceptionally difficult. Moreover, as protein folding is a stochastic process (i.e., random) and can statistically vary over time, it is challenging computationally to use long simulations for comprehensive views of the folding process.
Protein folding does not occur in one step. Instead, proteins spend most of their folding time, nearly 96% in some cases, waiting in various intermediate conformational states, each a local thermodynamic free energy minimum in the protein's energy landscape. Through a process known as adaptive sampling, these conformations are used by Folding@home as starting points for a set of simulation trajectories. As the simulations discover more conformations, the trajectories are restarted from them, and a Markov state model (MSM) is gradually created from this cyclic process. MSMs are discrete-time master equation models which describe a biomolecule's conformational and energy landscape as a set of distinct structures and the short transitions between them. The adaptive sampling Markov state model method significantly increases the efficiency of simulation as it avoids computation inside the local energy minimum itself, and is amenable to distributed computing (including on GPUGRID) as it allows for the statistical aggregation of short, independent simulation trajectories. The amount of time it takes to construct a Markov state model is inversely proportional to the number of parallel simulations run, i.e., the number of processors available. In other words, it achieves linear parallelization, leading to an approximately four orders of magnitude reduction in overall serial calculation time. A completed MSM may contain tens of thousands of sample states from the protein's phase space (all the conformations a protein can take on) and the transitions between them. The model illustrates folding events and pathways (i.e., routes) and researchers can later use kinetic clustering to view a coarse-grained representation of the otherwise highly detailed model. They can use these MSMs to reveal how proteins misfold and to quantitatively compare simulations with experiments.
Between 2000 and 2010, the length of the proteins Folding@home has studied have increased by a factor of four, while its timescales for protein folding simulations have increased by six orders of magnitude. In 2002, Folding@home used Markov state models to complete approximately a million CPU days of simulations over the span of several months, and in 2011, MSMs parallelized another simulation that required an aggregate 10 million CPU hours of computing. In January 2010, Folding@home used MSMs to simulate the dynamics of the slow-folding 32-residue NTL9 protein out to 1.52 milliseconds, a timescale consistent with experimental folding rate predictions but a thousand times longer than formerly achieved. The model consisted of many individual trajectories, each two orders of magnitude shorter, and provided an unprecedented level of detail into the protein's energy landscape. In 2010, Folding@home researcher Gregory Bowman was awarded the Thomas Kuhn Paradigm Shift Award from the American Chemical Society for the development of the open-source MSMBuilder software and for attaining quantitative agreement between theory and experiment. For his work, Pande was awarded the 2012 Michael and Kate Bárány Award for Young Investigators for "developing field-defining and field-changing computational methods to produce leading theoretical models for protein and RNA folding", and the 2006 Irving Sigal Young Investigator Award for his simulation results which "have stimulated a re-examination of the meaning of both ensemble and single-molecule measurements, making Pande's efforts pioneering contributions to simulation methodology."
Examples of application in biomedical research
Protein misfolding can result in a variety of diseases including Alzheimer's disease, cancer, Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, cystic fibrosis, Huntington's disease, sickle-cell anemia, and type II diabetes. Cellular infection by viruses such as HIV and influenza also involve folding events on cell membranes. Once protein misfolding is better understood, therapies can be developed that augment cells' natural ability to regulate protein folding. Such therapies include the use of engineered molecules to alter the production of a given protein, help destroy a misfolded protein, or assist in the folding process. The combination of computational molecular modeling and experimental analysis has the possibility to fundamentally shape the future of molecular medicine and the rational design of therapeutics, such as expediting and lowering the costs of drug discovery. The goal of the first five years of Folding@home was to make advances in understanding folding, while the current goal is to understand misfolding and related disease, especially Alzheimer's.
The simulations run on Folding@home are used in conjunction with laboratory experiments, but researchers can use them to study how folding in vitro differs from folding in native cellular environments. This is advantageous in studying aspects of folding, misfolding, and their relationships to disease that are difficult to observe experimentally. For example, in 2011, Folding@home simulated protein folding inside a ribosomal exit tunnel, to help scientists better understand how natural confinement and crowding might influence the folding process. Furthermore, scientists typically employ chemical denaturants to unfold proteins from their stable native state. It is not generally known how the denaturant affects the protein's refolding, and it is difficult to experimentally determine if these denatured states contain residual structures which may influence folding behavior. In 2010, Folding@home used GPUs to simulate the unfolded states of Protein L, and predicted its collapse rate in strong agreement with experimental results.
The large data sets from the project are freely available for other researchers to use upon request and some can be accessed from the Folding@home website. The Pande lab has collaborated with other molecular dynamics systems such as the Blue Gene supercomputer, and they share Folding@home's key software with other researchers, so that the algorithms which benefited Folding@home may aid other scientific areas. In 2011, they released the open-source Copernicus software, which is based on Folding@home's MSM and other parallelizing methods and aims to improve the efficiency and scaling of molecular simulations on large computer clusters or supercomputers. Summaries of all scientific findings from Folding@home are posted on the Folding@home website after publication.
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease is an incurable neurodegenerative disease which most often affects the elderly and accounts for more than half of all cases of dementia. Its exact cause remains unknown, but the disease is identified as a protein misfolding disease. Alzheimer's is associated with toxic aggregations of the amyloid beta (Aβ) peptide, caused by Aβ misfolding and clumping together with other Aβ peptides. These Aβ aggregates then grow into significantly larger senile plaques, a pathological marker of Alzheimer's disease. Due to the heterogeneous nature of these aggregates, experimental methods such as X-ray crystallography and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) have had difficulty characterizing their structures. Moreover, atomic simulations of Aβ aggregation are highly demanding computationally due to their size and complexity.
Preventing Aβ aggregation is a promising method to developing therapeutic drugs for Alzheimer's disease, according to Naeem and Fazili in a literature review article. In 2008, Folding@home simulated the dynamics of Aβ aggregation in atomic detail over timescales of the order of tens of seconds. Prior studies were only able to simulate about 10 microseconds. Folding@home was able to simulate Aβ folding for six orders of magnitude longer than formerly possible. Researchers used the results of this study to identify a beta hairpin that was a major source of molecular interactions within the structure. The study helped prepare the Pande lab for future aggregation studies and for further research to find a small peptide which may stabilize the aggregation process.
In December 2008, Folding@home found several small drug candidates which appear to inhibit the toxicity of Aβ aggregates. In 2010, in close cooperation with the Center for Protein Folding Machinery, these drug leads began to be tested on biological tissue. In 2011, Folding@home completed simulations of several mutations of Aβ that appear to stabilize the aggregate formation, which could aid in the development of therapeutic drug therapies for the disease and greatly assist with experimental nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy studies of Aβ oligomers. Later that year, Folding@home began simulations of various Aβ fragments to determine how various natural enzymes affect the structure and folding of Aβ.
Huntington's disease
Huntington's disease is a neurodegenerative genetic disorder that is associated with protein misfolding and aggregation. Excessive repeats of the glutamine amino acid at the N-terminus of the huntingtin protein cause aggregation, and although the behavior of the repeats is not completely understood, it does lead to the cognitive decline associated with the disease. As with other aggregates, there is difficulty in experimentally determining its structure. Scientists are using Folding@home to study the structure of the huntingtin protein aggregate and to predict how it forms, assisting with rational drug design methods to stop the aggregate formation. The N17 fragment of the huntingtin protein accelerates this aggregation, and while there have been several mechanisms proposed, its exact role in this process remains largely unknown. Folding@home has simulated this and other fragments to clarify their roles in the disease. Since 2008, its drug design methods for Alzheimer's disease have been applied to Huntington's.
Cancer
More than half of all known cancers involve mutations of p53, a tumor suppressor protein present in every cell which regulates the cell cycle and signals for cell death in the event of damage to DNA. Specific mutations in p53 can disrupt these functions, allowing an abnormal cell to continue growing unchecked, resulting in the development of tumors. Analysis of these mutations helps explain the root causes of p53-related cancers. In 2004, Folding@home was used to perform the first molecular dynamics study of the refolding of p53's protein dimer in an all-atom simulation of water. The simulation's results agreed with experimental observations and gave insights into the refolding of the dimer that were formerly unobtainable. This was the first peer reviewed publication on cancer from a distributed computing project. The following year, Folding@home powered a new method to identify the amino acids crucial for the stability of a given protein, which was then used to study mutations of p53. The method was reasonably successful in identifying cancer-promoting mutations and determined the effects of specific mutations which could not otherwise be measured experimentally.
Folding@home is also used to study protein chaperones, heat shock proteins which play essential roles in cell survival by assisting with the folding of other proteins in the crowded and chemically stressful environment within a cell. Rapidly growing cancer cells rely on specific chaperones, and some chaperones play key roles in chemotherapy resistance. Inhibitions to these specific chaperones are seen as potential modes of action for efficient chemotherapy drugs or for reducing the spread of cancer. Using Folding@home and working closely with the Center for Protein Folding Machinery, the Pande lab hopes to find a drug which inhibits those chaperones involved in cancerous cells. Researchers are also using Folding@home to study other molecules related to cancer, such as the enzyme Src kinase, and some forms of the engrailed homeodomain: a large protein which may be involved in many diseases, including cancer. In 2011, Folding@home began simulations of the dynamics of the small knottin protein EETI, which can identify carcinomas in imaging scans by binding to surface receptors of cancer cells.
Interleukin 2 (IL-2) is a protein that helps T cells of the immune system attack pathogens and tumors. However, its use as a cancer treatment is restricted due to serious side effects such as pulmonary edema. IL-2 binds to these pulmonary cells differently than it does to T cells, so IL-2 research involves understanding the differences between these binding mechanisms. In 2012, Folding@home assisted with the discovery of a mutant form of IL-2 which is three hundred times more effective in its immune system role but carries fewer side effects. In experiments, this altered form significantly outperformed natural IL-2 in impeding tumor growth. Pharmaceutical companies have expressed interest in the mutant molecule, and the National Institutes of Health are testing it against a large variety of tumor models to try to accelerate its development as a therapeutic.
Osteogenesis imperfecta
Osteogenesis imperfecta, known as brittle bone disease, is an incurable genetic bone disorder which can be lethal. Those with the disease are unable to make functional connective bone tissue. This is most commonly due to a mutation in Type-I collagen, which fulfills a variety of structural roles and is the most abundant protein in mammals. The mutation causes a deformation in collagen's triple helix structure, which if not naturally destroyed, leads to abnormal and weakened bone tissue. In 2005, Folding@home tested a new quantum mechanical method that improved upon prior simulation methods, and which may be useful for future computing studies of collagen. Although researchers have used Folding@home to study collagen folding and misfolding, the interest stands as a pilot project compared to Alzheimer's and Huntington's research.
Viruses
Folding@home is assisting in research towards preventing some viruses, such as influenza and HIV, from recognizing and entering biological cells. In 2011, Folding@home began simulations of the dynamics of the enzyme RNase H, a key component of HIV, to try to design drugs to deactivate it. Folding@home has also been used to study membrane fusion, an essential event for viral infection and a wide range of biological functions. This fusion involves conformational changes of viral fusion proteins and protein docking, but the exact molecular mechanisms behind fusion remain largely unknown. Fusion events may consist of over a half million atoms interacting for hundreds of microseconds. This complexity limits typical computer simulations to about ten thousand atoms over tens of nanoseconds: a difference of several orders of magnitude. The development of models to predict the mechanisms of membrane fusion will assist in the scientific understanding of how to target the process with antiviral drugs. In 2006, scientists applied Markov state models and the Folding@home network to discover two pathways for fusion and gain other mechanistic insights.
Following detailed simulations from Folding@home of small cells known as vesicles, in 2007, the Pande lab introduced a new computing method to measure the topology of its structural changes during fusion. In 2009, researchers used Folding@home to study mutations of influenza hemagglutinin, a protein that attaches a virus to its host cell and assists with viral entry. Mutations to hemagglutinin affect how well the protein binds to a host's cell surface receptor molecules, which determines how infective the virus strain is to the host organism. Knowledge of the effects of hemagglutinin mutations assists in the development of antiviral drugs. As of 2012, Folding@home continues to simulate the folding and interactions of hemagglutinin, complementing experimental studies at the University of Virginia.
In March 2020, Folding@home launched a program to assist researchers around the world who are working on finding a cure and learning more about the coronavirus pandemic. The initial wave of projects simulate potentially druggable protein targets from SARS-CoV-2 virus, and the related SARS-CoV virus, about which there is significantly more data available.
Drug design
Drugs function by binding to specific locations on target molecules and causing some desired change, such as disabling a target or causing a conformational change. Ideally, a drug should act very specifically, and bind only to its target without interfering with other biological functions. However, it is difficult to precisely determine where and how tightly two molecules will bind. Due to limits in computing power, current in silico methods usually must trade speed for accuracy; e.g., use rapid protein docking methods instead of computationally costly free energy calculations. Folding@home's computing performance allows researchers to use both methods, and evaluate their efficiency and reliability. Computer-assisted drug design has the potential to expedite and lower the costs of drug discovery. In 2010, Folding@home used MSMs and free energy calculations to predict the native state of the villin protein to within 1.8 angstrom (Å) root mean square deviation (RMSD) from the crystalline structure experimentally determined through X-ray crystallography. This accuracy has implications to future protein structure prediction methods, including for intrinsically unstructured proteins. Scientists have used Folding@home to research drug resistance by studying vancomycin, an antibiotic drug of last resort, and beta-lactamase, a protein that can break down antibiotics like penicillin.
Chemical activity occurs along a protein's active site. Traditional drug design methods involve tightly binding to this site and blocking its activity, under the assumption that the target protein exists in one rigid structure. However, this approach works for approximately only 15% of all proteins. Proteins contain allosteric sites which, when bound to by small molecules, can alter a protein's conformation and ultimately affect the protein's activity. These sites are attractive drug targets, but locating them is very computationally costly. In 2012, Folding@home and MSMs were used to identify allosteric sites in three medically relevant proteins: beta-lactamase, interleukin-2, and RNase H.
Approximately half of all known antibiotics interfere with the workings of a bacteria's ribosome, a large and complex biochemical machine that performs protein biosynthesis by translating messenger RNA into proteins. Macrolide antibiotics clog the ribosome's exit tunnel, preventing synthesis of essential bacterial proteins. In 2007, the Pande lab received a grant to study and design new antibiotics. In 2008, they used Folding@home to study the interior of this tunnel and how specific molecules may affect it. The full structure of the ribosome was determined only as of 2011, and Folding@home has also simulated ribosomal proteins, as many of their functions remain largely unknown.
Potential applications in biomedical research
There are many more protein misfolding promoted diseases that can be benefited from Folding@home to either discern the misfolded protein structure or the misfolding kinetics, and assist in drug design in the future. The often fatal prion diseases is among the most significant.
Prion diseases
A prion (PrP) is a transmembrane cellular protein found widely in eukaryotic cells. In mammals, it is more abundant in the central nervous system. Although its function is unknown, its high conservation among species indicates an important role in the cellular function. The conformational change from the normal prion protein (PrPc, stands for cellular) to the disease causing isoform PrPSc (stands for prototypical prion disease–scrapie) causes a host of diseases collectly known as transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), including Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in bovine, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) and fatal insomnia in human, chronic wasting disease (CWD) in the deer family. The conformational change is widely accepted as the result of protein misfolding. What distinguishes TSEs from other protein misfolding diseases is its transmissible nature. The ‘seeding’ of the infectious PrPSc, either arising spontaneously, hereditary or acquired via exposure to contaminated tissues, can cause a chain reaction of transforming normal PrPc into fibrils aggregates or amyloid like plaques consist of PrPSc.
The molecular structure of PrPSc has not been fully characterized due to its aggregated nature. Neither is known much about the mechanism of the protein misfolding nor its kinetics. Using the known structure of PrPc and the results of the in vitro and in vivo studies described below, Folding@home could be valuable in elucidating how PrPSc is formed and how the infectious protein arrange themselves to form fibrils and amyloid like plaques, bypassing the requirement to purify PrPSc or dissolve the aggregates.
The PrPc has been enzymatically dissociated from the membrane and purified, its structure studied using structure characterization techniques such as NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography. Post-translational PrPc has 231 amino acids (aa) in murine. The molecule consists of a long and unstructured amino terminal region spanning up to aa residue 121 and a structured carboxy terminal domain. This globular domain harbors two short sheet-forming anti-parallel β-strands (aa 128 to 130 and aa 160 to 162 in murine PrPc) and three α-helices (helix I: aa 143 to 153; helix II: aa 171 to 192; helix III: aa 199 to 226 in murine PrPc), Helices II and III are anti-parallel orientated and connected by a short loop. Their structural stability is supported by a disulfide bridge, which is parallel to both sheet-forming β-strands. These α-helices and the β-sheet form the rigid core of the globular domain of PrPc.
The disease causing PrPSc is proteinase K resistant and insoluble. Attempts to purify it from the brains of infected animals invariably yield heterogeneous mixtures and aggregated states that are not amenable to characterization by NMR spectroscopy or X-ray crystallography. However, it is a general consensus that PrPSc contains a high percentage of tightly stacked β-sheets than the normal PrPc that renders the protein insoluble and resistant to proteinase. Using techniques of cryoelectron microscopy and structural modeling based on similar common protein structures, it has been discovered that PrPSc contains ß-sheets in the region of aa 81–95 to aa 171, while the carboxy terminal structure is supposedly preserved, retaining the disulfide-linked α-helical conformation in the normal PrPc. These ß-sheets form a parallel left-handed beta-helix. Three PrPSc molecules are believed to form a primary unit and therefore build the basis for the so-called scrapie-associated fibrils. The catalytic activity depends on the size of the particle. PrPSc particles which consist of only 14-28 PrPc molecules exhibit the highest rate of infectivity and conversion.
Despite the difficulty to purify and characterize PrPSc, from the known molecular structure of PrPc and using transgenic mice and N-terminal deletion, the potential ‘hot spots’ of protein misfolding leading to the pathogenic PrPSc could be deduced and Folding@home could be of great value in confirming these. Studies found that both the primary and secondary structure of the prion protein can be of significance of the conversion.
There are more than twenty mutations of the prion protein gene (PRNP) that are known to be associated with or that are directly linked to the hereditary form of human TSEs [56], indicating single amino acids at certain position, likely within the carboxy domain, of the PrPc can affect the susceptibility to TSEs.
The post-translational amino terminal region of PrPc consists of residues 23-120 which make up nearly half of the amino sequence of full-length matured PrPc. There are two sections in the amino terminal region that may influence conversion. First, residues 52-90 contains an octapeptide repeat (5 times) region that likely influences the initial binding (via the octapeptide repeats) and also the actual conversion via the second section of aa 108–124. The highly hydrophobic AGAAAAGA is located between aa residue 113 and 120 and is described as putative aggregation site, although this sequence requires its flanking parts to form fibrillar aggregates.
In the carboxy globular domain, among the three helices, study show that helix II has a significant higher propensity to β-strand conformation. Due to the high conformational flexvoribility seen between residues 114-125 (part of the unstructured N-terminus chain) and the high β-strand propensity of helix II, only moderate changes in the environmental conditions or interactions might be sufficient to induce misfolding of PrPc and subsequent fibril formation.
Other studies of NMR structures of PrPc showed that these residues (~108–189) contain most of the folded domain including both β-strands, the first two α-helices, and the loop/turn regions connecting them, but not the helix III. Small changes within the loop/turn structures of PrPc itself could be important in the conversion as well. In another study, Riek et al. showed that the two small regions of β-strand upstream of the loop regions act as a nucleation site for the conformational conversion of the loop/turn and α-helical structures in PrPc to β-sheet.
The energy threshold for the conversion are not necessarily high. The folding stability, i.e. the free energy of a globular protein in its environment is in the range of one or two hydrogen bonds thus allows the transition to an isoform without the requirement of high transition energy.
From the respective of the interactions among the PrPc molecules, hydrophobic interactions play a crucial role in the formation of β-sheets, a hallmark of PrPSc, as the sheets bring fragments of polypeptide chains into close proximity. Indeed, Kutznetsov and Rackovsky showed that disease-promoting mutations in the human PrPc had a statistically significant tendency towards increasing local hydrophobicity.
In vitro experiments showed the kinetics of misfolding has an initial lag phase followed by a rapid growth phase of fibril formation. It is likely that PrPc goes through some intermediate states, such as at least partially unfolded or degraded, before finally ending up as part of an amyloid fibril.
Patterns of participation
Like other distributed computing projects, Folding@home is an online citizen science project. In these projects non-specialists contribute computer processing power or help to analyze data produced by professional scientists. Participants receive little or no obvious reward.
Research has been carried out into the motivations of citizen scientists and most of these studies have found that participants are motivated to take part because of altruistic reasons; that is, they want to help scientists and make a contribution to the advancement of their research. Many participants in citizen science have an underlying interest in the topic of the research and gravitate towards projects that are in disciplines of interest to them. Folding@home is no different in that respect. Research carried out recently on over 400 active participants revealed that they wanted to help make a contribution to research and that many had friends or relatives affected by the diseases that the Folding@home scientists investigate.
Folding@home attracts participants who are computer hardware enthusiasts. These groups bring considerable expertise to the project and are able to build computers with advanced processing power. Other distributed computing projects attract these types of participants and projects are often used to benchmark the performance of modified computers, and this aspect of the hobby is accommodated through the competitive nature of the project. Individuals and teams can compete to see who can process the most computer processing units (CPUs).
This latest research on Folding@home involving interview and ethnographic observation of online groups showed that teams of hardware enthusiasts can sometimes work together, sharing best practice with regard to maximizing processing output. Such teams can become communities of practice, with a shared language and online culture. This pattern of participation has been observed in other distributed computing projects.
Another key observation of Folding@home participants is that many are male. This has also been observed in other distributed projects. Furthermore, many participants work in computer and technology-based jobs and careers.
Not all Folding@home participants are hardware enthusiasts. Many participants run the project software on unmodified machines and do take part competitively. By January 2020, the number of users was down to 30,000. However, it is difficult to ascertain what proportion of participants are hardware enthusiasts. Although, according to the project managers, the contribution of the enthusiast community is substantially larger in terms of processing power.
Performance
Supercomputer FLOPS performance is assessed by running the legacy LINPACK benchmark. This short-term testing has difficulty in accurately reflecting sustained performance on real-world tasks because LINPACK more efficiently maps to supercomputer hardware. Computing systems vary in architecture and design, so direct comparison is difficult. Despite this, FLOPS remain the primary speed metric used in supercomputing. In contrast, Folding@home determines its FLOPS using wall-clock time by measuring how much time its work units take to complete.
On September 16, 2007, due in large part to the participation of PlayStation 3 consoles, the Folding@home project officially attained a sustained performance level higher than one native petaFLOPS, becoming the first computing system of any kind to do so. Top500's fastest supercomputer at the time was BlueGene/L, at 0.280 petaFLOPS. The following year, on May 7, 2008, the project attained a sustained performance level higher than two native petaFLOPS, followed by the three and four native petaFLOPS milestones in August 2008 and September 28, 2008 respectively. On February 18, 2009, Folding@home achieved five native petaFLOPS, and was the first computing project to meet these five levels. In comparison, November 2008's fastest supercomputer was IBM's Roadrunner at 1.105 petaFLOPS. On November 10, 2011, Folding@home's performance exceeded six native petaFLOPS with the equivalent of nearly eight x86 petaFLOPS. In mid-May 2013, Folding@home attained over seven native petaFLOPS, with the equivalent of 14.87 x86 petaFLOPS. It then reached eight native petaFLOPS on June 21, followed by nine on September 9 of that year, with 17.9 x86 petaFLOPS. On May 11, 2016 Folding@home announced that it was moving towards reaching the 100 x86 petaFLOPS mark.
Further use grew from increased awareness and participation in the project from the coronavirus pandemic in 2020. On March 20, 2020 Folding@home announced via Twitter that it was running with over 470 native petaFLOPS, the equivalent of 958 x86 petaFLOPS. By March 25 it reached 768 petaFLOPS, or 1.5 x86 exaFLOPS, making it the first exaFLOP computing system.
, the computing power of Folding@home stands at 31 petaFLOPS, or 64 x86 petaFLOPS.
Points
Similarly to other distributed computing projects, Folding@home quantitatively assesses user computing contributions to the project through a credit system. All units from a given protein project have uniform base credit, which is determined by benchmarking one or more work units from that project on an official reference machine before the project is released. Each user receives these base points for completing every work unit, though through the use of a passkey they can receive added bonus points for reliably and rapidly completing units which are more demanding computationally or have a greater scientific priority. Users may also receive credit for their work by clients on multiple machines. This point system attempts to align awarded credit with the value of the scientific results.
Users can register their contributions under a team, which combine the points of all their members. A user can start their own team, or they can join an existing team. In some cases, a team may have their own community-driven sources of help or recruitment such as an Internet forum. The points can foster friendly competition between individuals and teams to compute the most for the project, which can benefit the folding community and accelerate scientific research. Individual and team statistics are posted on the Folding@home website.
If a user does not form a new team, or does not join an existing team, that user automatically becomes part of a "Default" team. This "Default" team has a team number of "0". Statistics are accumulated for this "Default" team as well as for specially named teams.
Software
Folding@home software at the user's end involves three primary components: work units, cores, and a client.
Work units
A work unit is the protein data that the client is asked to process. Work units are a fraction of the simulation between the states in a Markov model. After the work unit has been downloaded and completely processed by a volunteer's computer, it is returned to Folding@home servers, which then award the volunteer the credit points. This cycle repeats automatically. All work units have associated deadlines, and if this deadline is exceeded, the user may not get credit and the unit will be automatically reissued to another participant. As protein folding occurs serially, and many work units are generated from their predecessors, this allows the overall simulation process to proceed normally if a work unit is not returned after a reasonable period of time. Due to these deadlines, the minimum system requirement for Folding@home is a Pentium 3 450 MHz CPU with Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE). However, work units for high-performance clients have a much shorter deadline than those for the uniprocessor client, as a major part of the scientific benefit is dependent on rapidly completing simulations.
Before public release, work units go through several quality assurance steps to keep problematic ones from becoming fully available. These testing stages include internal, beta, and advanced, before a final full release across Folding@home. Folding@home's work units are normally processed only once, except in the rare event that errors occur during processing. If this occurs for three different users, the unit is automatically pulled from distribution. The Folding@home support forum can be used to differentiate between issues arising from problematic hardware and bad work units.
Cores
Specialized molecular dynamics programs, referred to as "FahCores" and often abbreviated "cores", perform the calculations on the work unit as a background process. A large majority of Folding@home's cores are based on GROMACS, one of the fastest and most popular molecular dynamics software packages, which largely consists of manually optimized assembly language code and hardware optimizations. Although GROMACS is open-source software and there is a cooperative effort between the Pande lab and GROMACS developers, Folding@home uses a closed-source license to help ensure data validity. Less active cores include ProtoMol and SHARPEN. Folding@home has used AMBER, CPMD, Desmond, and TINKER, but these have since been retired and are no longer in active service. Some of these cores perform explicit solvation calculations in which the surrounding solvent (usually water) is modeled atom-by-atom; while others perform implicit solvation methods, where the solvent is treated as a mathematical continuum. The core is separate from the client to enable the scientific methods to be updated automatically without requiring a client update. The cores periodically create calculation checkpoints so that if they are interrupted they can resume work from that point upon startup.
Client
A Folding@home participant installs a client program on their personal computer. The user interacts with the client, which manages the other software components in the background. Through the client, the user may pause the folding process, open an event log, check the work progress, or view personal statistics. The computer clients run continuously in the background at a very low priority, using idle processing power so that normal computer use is unaffected. The maximum CPU use can be adjusted via client settings. The client connects to a Folding@home server and retrieves a work unit and may also download the appropriate core for the client's settings, operating system, and the underlying hardware architecture. After processing, the work unit is returned to the Folding@home servers. Computer clients are tailored to uniprocessor and multi-core processor systems, and graphics processing units. The diversity and power of each hardware architecture provides Folding@home with the ability to efficiently complete many types of simulations in a timely manner (in a few weeks or months rather than years), which is of significant scientific value. Together, these clients allow researchers to study biomedical questions formerly considered impractical to tackle computationally.
Professional software developers are responsible for most of Folding@home's code, both for the client and server-side. The development team includes programmers from Nvidia, ATI, Sony, and Cauldron Development. Clients can be downloaded only from the official Folding@home website or its commercial partners, and will only interact with Folding@home computer files. They will upload and download data with Folding@home's data servers (over port 8080, with 80 as an alternate), and the communication is verified using 2048-bit digital signatures. While the client's graphical user interface (GUI) is open-source, the client is proprietary software citing security and scientific integrity as the reasons.
However, this rationale of using proprietary software is disputed since while the license could be enforceable in the legal domain retrospectively, it does not practically prevent the modification (also known as patching) of the executable binary files. Likewise, binary-only distribution does not prevent the malicious modification of executable binary-code, either through a man-in-the-middle attack while being downloaded via the internet, or by the redistribution of binaries by a third-party that have been previously modified either in their binary state (i.e. patched), or by decompiling and recompiling them after modification. These modifications are possible unless the binary files – and the transport channel – are signed and the recipient person/system is able to verify the digital signature, in which case unwarranted modifications should be detectable, but not always. Either way, since in the case of Folding@home the input data and output result processed by the client-software are both digitally signed, the integrity of work can be verified independently from the integrity of the client software itself.
Folding@home uses the Cosm software libraries for networking. Folding@home was launched on October 1, 2000, and was the first distributed computing project aimed at bio-molecular systems. Its first client was a screensaver, which would run while the computer was not otherwise in use. In 2004, the Pande lab collaborated with David P. Anderson to test a supplemental client on the open-source BOINC framework. This client was released to closed beta in April 2005; however, the method became unworkable and was shelved in June 2006.
Graphics processing units
The specialized hardware of graphics processing units (GPU) is designed to accelerate rendering of 3-D graphics applications such as video games and can significantly outperform CPUs for some types of calculations. GPUs are one of the most powerful and rapidly growing computing platforms, and many scientists and researchers are pursuing general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU). However, GPU hardware is difficult to use for non-graphics tasks and usually requires significant algorithm restructuring and an advanced understanding of the underlying architecture. Such customization is challenging, more so to researchers with limited software development resources. Folding@home uses the open-source OpenMM library, which uses a bridge design pattern with two application programming interface (API) levels to interface molecular simulation software to an underlying hardware architecture. With the addition of hardware optimizations, OpenMM-based GPU simulations need no significant modification but achieve performance nearly equal to hand-tuned GPU code, and greatly outperform CPU implementations.
Before 2010, the computing reliability of GPGPU consumer-grade hardware was largely unknown, and circumstantial evidence related to the lack of built-in error detection and correction in GPU memory raised reliability concerns. In the first large-scale test of GPU scientific accuracy, a 2010 study of over 20,000 hosts on the Folding@home network detected soft errors in the memory subsystems of two-thirds of the tested GPUs. These errors strongly correlated to board architecture, though the study concluded that reliable GPU computing was very feasible as long as attention is paid to the hardware traits, such as software-side error detection.
The first generation of Folding@home's GPU client (GPU1) was released to the public on October 2, 2006, delivering a 20–30 times speedup for some calculations over its CPU-based GROMACS counterparts. It was the first time GPUs had been used for either distributed computing or major molecular dynamics calculations. GPU1 gave researchers significant knowledge and experience with the development of GPGPU software, but in response to scientific inaccuracies with DirectX, on April 10, 2008, it was succeeded by GPU2, the second generation of the client. Following the introduction of GPU2, GPU1 was officially retired on June 6. Compared to GPU1, GPU2 was more scientifically reliable and productive, ran on ATI and CUDA-enabled Nvidia GPUs, and supported more advanced algorithms, larger proteins, and real-time visualization of the protein simulation. Following this, the third generation of Folding@home's GPU client (GPU3) was released on May 25, 2010. While backward compatible with GPU2, GPU3 was more stable, efficient, and flexibile in its scientific abilities, and used OpenMM on top of an OpenCL framework. Although these GPU3 clients did not natively support the operating systems Linux and macOS, Linux users with Nvidia graphics cards were able to run them through the Wine software application. GPUs remain Folding@home's most powerful platform in FLOPS. As of November 2012, GPU clients account for 87% of the entire project's x86 FLOPS throughput.
Native support for Nvidia and AMD graphics cards under Linux was introduced with FahCore 17, which uses OpenCL rather than CUDA.
PlayStation 3
From March 2007 until November 2012, Folding@home took advantage of the computing power of PlayStation 3s. At the time of its inception, its main streaming Cell processor delivered a 20 times speed increase over PCs for some calculations, processing power which could not be found on other systems such as the Xbox 360. The PS3's high speed and efficiency introduced other opportunities for worthwhile optimizations according to Amdahl's law, and significantly changed the tradeoff between computing efficiency and overall accuracy, allowing the use of more complex molecular models at little added computing cost. This allowed Folding@home to run biomedical calculations that would have been otherwise infeasible computationally.
The PS3 client was developed in a collaborative effort between Sony and the Pande lab and was first released as a standalone client on March 23, 2007. Its release made Folding@home the first distributed computing project to use PS3s. On September 18 of the following year, the PS3 client became a channel of Life with PlayStation on its launch. In the types of calculations it can perform, at the time of its introduction, the client fit in between a CPU's flexibility and a GPU's speed. However, unlike clients running on personal computers, users were unable to perform other activities on their PS3 while running Folding@home. The PS3's uniform console environment made technical support easier and made Folding@home more user friendly. The PS3 also had the ability to stream data quickly to its GPU, which was used for real-time atomic-level visualizing of the current protein dynamics.
On November 6, 2012, Sony ended support for the Folding@home PS3 client and other services available under Life with PlayStation. Over its lifetime of five years and seven months, more than 15 million users contributed over 100 million hours of computing to Folding@home, greatly assisting the project with disease research. Following discussions with the Pande lab, Sony decided to terminate the application. Pande considered the PlayStation 3 client a "game changer" for the project.
Multi-core processing client
Folding@home can use the parallel computing abilities of modern multi-core processors. The ability to use several CPU cores simultaneously allows completing the full simulation far faster. Working together, these CPU cores complete single work units proportionately faster than the standard uniprocessor client. This method is scientifically valuable because it enables much longer simulation trajectories to be performed in the same amount of time, and reduces the traditional difficulties of scaling a large simulation to many separate processors. A 2007 publication in the Journal of Molecular Biology relied on multi-core processing to simulate the folding of part of the villin protein approximately 10 times longer than was possible with a single-processor client, in agreement with experimental folding rates.
In November 2006, first-generation symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) clients were publicly released for open beta testing, referred to as SMP1. These clients used Message Passing Interface (MPI) communication protocols for parallel processing, as at that time the GROMACS cores were not designed to be used with multiple threads. This was the first time a distributed computing project had used MPI. Although the clients performed well in Unix-based operating systems such as Linux and macOS, they were troublesome under Windows. On January 24, 2010, SMP2, the second generation of the SMP clients and the successor to SMP1, was released as an open beta and replaced the complex MPI with a more reliable thread-based implementation.
SMP2 supports a trial of a special category of bigadv work units, designed to simulate proteins that are unusually large and computationally intensive and have a great scientific priority. These units originally required a minimum of eight CPU cores, which was raised to sixteen later, on February 7, 2012. Along with these added hardware requirements over standard SMP2 work units, they require more system resources such as random-access memory (RAM) and Internet bandwidth. In return, users who run these are rewarded with a 20% increase over SMP2's bonus point system. The bigadv category allows Folding@home to run especially demanding simulations for long times that had formerly required use of supercomputing clusters and could not be performed anywhere else on Folding@home. Many users with hardware able to run bigadv units have later had their hardware setup deemed ineligible for bigadv work units when CPU core minimums were increased, leaving them only able to run the normal SMP work units. This frustrated many users who invested significant amounts of money into the program only to have their hardware be obsolete for bigadv purposes shortly after. As a result, Pande announced in January 2014 that the bigadv program would end on January 31, 2015.
V7
The V7 client is the seventh and latest generation of the Folding@home client software, and is a full rewrite and unification of the prior clients for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. It was released on March 22, 2012. Like its predecessors, V7 can run Folding@home in the background at a very low priority, allowing other applications to use CPU resources as they need. It is designed to make the installation, start-up, and operation more user-friendly for novices, and offer greater scientific flexibility to researchers than prior clients. V7 uses Trac for managing its bug tickets so that users can see its development process and provide feedback.
V7 consists of four integrated elements. The user typically interacts with V7's open-source GUI, named FAHControl. This has Novice, Advanced, and Expert user interface modes, and has the ability to monitor, configure, and control many remote folding clients from one computer. FAHControl directs FAHClient, a back-end application that in turn manages each FAHSlot (or slot). Each slot acts as replacement for the formerly distinct Folding@home v6 uniprocessor, SMP, or GPU computer clients, as it can download, process, and upload work units independently. The FAHViewer function, modeled after the PS3's viewer, displays a real-time 3-D rendering, if available, of the protein currently being processed.
Google Chrome
In 2014, a client for the Google Chrome and Chromium web browsers was released, allowing users to run Folding@home in their web browser. The client used Google's Native Client (NaCl) feature on Chromium-based web browsers to run the Folding@home code at near-native speed in a sandbox on the user's machine. Due to the phasing out of NaCL and changes at Folding@home, the web client was permanently shut down in June 2019.
Android
In July 2015, a client for Android mobile phones was released on Google Play for devices running Android 4.4 KitKat or newer.
On February 16, 2018, the Android client, which was offered in cooperation with Sony, was removed from Google Play. Plans were announced to offer an open source alternative in the future.
Comparison to other molecular simulators
Rosetta@home is a distributed computing project aimed at protein structure prediction and is one of the most accurate tertiary structure predictors. The conformational states from Rosetta's software can be used to initialize a Markov state model as starting points for Folding@home simulations. Conversely, structure prediction algorithms can be improved from thermodynamic and kinetic models and the sampling aspects of protein folding simulations. As Rosetta only tries to predict the final folded state, and not how folding proceeds, Rosetta@home and Folding@home are complementary and address very different molecular questions.
Anton is a special-purpose supercomputer built for molecular dynamics simulations. In October 2011, Anton and Folding@home were the two most powerful molecular dynamics systems. Anton is unique in its ability to produce single ultra-long computationally costly molecular trajectories, such as one in 2010 which reached the millisecond range. These long trajectories may be especially helpful for some types of biochemical problems. However, Anton does not use Markov state models (MSM) for analysis. In 2011, the Pande lab constructed a MSM from two 100-µs Anton simulations and found alternative folding pathways that were not visible through Anton's traditional analysis. They concluded that there was little difference between MSMs constructed from a limited number of long trajectories or one assembled from many shorter trajectories. In June 2011 Folding@home added sampling of an Anton simulation in an effort to better determine how its methods compare to Anton's. However, unlike Folding@home's shorter trajectories, which are more amenable to distributed computing and other parallelizing methods, longer trajectories do not require adaptive sampling to sufficiently sample the protein's phase space. Due to this, it is possible that a combination of Anton's and Folding@home's simulation methods would provide a more thorough sampling of this space.
See also
BOINC
DreamLab, for use on smartphones
Foldit
List of distributed computing projects
Comparison of software for molecular mechanics modeling
Molecular modeling on GPUs
SETI@home
Storage@home
Molecule editor
Volunteer computing
World Community Grid
References
Sources
External links
Bioinformatics
Computational biology
Computational chemistry
Computer-related introductions in 2000
Cross-platform software
Data mining and machine learning software
Distributed computing projects
Hidden Markov models
Mathematical and theoretical biology
Medical technology
Medical research organizations
Molecular dynamics software
Molecular modelling
Molecular modelling software
PlayStation 3 software
Proprietary cross-platform software
Protein folds
Protein structure
Simulation software
Science software for Linux
Science software for macOS
Science software for Windows
University of Pennsylvania
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oahspe%3A%20A%20New%20Bible
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Oahspe: A New Bible
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Oahspe: A New Bible is a book published in 1882, purporting to contain "new revelations" from "...the Embassadors of the angel hosts of heaven prepared and revealed unto man in the name of Jehovih..." It was produced by an American dentist, John Ballou Newbrough (1828–1891), who reported it to have been written by automatic writing, making it one of a number of 19th-century spiritualist works attributed to that practice. The text defines adherents of the disciplines expounded in Oahspe as "Faithists".
Oahspe comprises a series of related interior books chronicling earth and its heavenly administrations, as well as setting forth teachings for modern times. Included are over 100 drawings. The title page of Oahspe describes its contents with these words:
A New Bible in the Words of Jehovih and His Angel Ambassadors. A Sacred History of the Dominions of the Higher and Lower Heavens on the Earth for the Past Twenty-Four Thousand Years together with a Synopsis of the Cosmogony of the Universe; the Creation of Planets; the Creation of Man; the Unseen Worlds; the Labor and Glory of Gods and Goddesses in the Etherean Heavens; with the New Commandments of Jehovih to Man of the Present Day.
"The Great Spirit", "Ormazd", "Egoquim", "Agoquim", "Eloih", "The I Am", and "Jehovih" are some of the names used throughout Oahspe as the name of the Creator.
According to Oahspe, the Creator is both masculine and feminine. Om is one of the names used to refer to the feminine (mother) aspect. Other references include, "The All Person", "The unseen" and "The Everpresent", "The All Light", "The Highest Light". God and Lord are titles of office for a person in the spirit realm who began life as mortal/in corporeal form (spirit within a body). The Creator is all and was all and forever will be all; S/he was never born and is beyond all gods. The Creator is our father and mother, and all that are and were born are our brothers and sisters.
Genesis and first presentation
Oahspe (the word is defined as "sky, earth (corpor) and spirit. The all; the sum of corporeal and spiritual knowledge as at present") was published in 1882.
Newbrough started writing the book in 1880 and stated that the writing was done automatically; he had been a spiritualist since the early 1870s. On at least two occasions Newbrough wrote publicly about how the Oahspe came about through automatic writing. A letter published in the Banner of Light (a 19th-century Spiritualist newspaper), and an Addendum in the 1882 Edition republished by Raymond A. Palmer in 1972. Both accounts, written in the first person, indicate that Newbrough sat at a (newly invented) typewriter for half an hour each morning at which time his hands would automatically type (without his knowledge of what was being written).) An article in The New York Times had him explain that, feeling the urge to write, he sat down with pen and paper until a bright light enveloped his fingers and they started writing. Moreover, many of the drawings contain symbols resembling hieroglyphs, presumably drawn. A copy of the "Banner of Light" letter accompanied Oahspes published by the Kosmon Press in England (such as it was received in New Zealand in 1895).
The first presentation of the book took place on 20 October 1882 in Newbrough's house, at 128 West 34th Street in New York City, where he presented the "new bible," "a large quarto volume of over 900 pages," to a group of people. According to the New York Times news article, Newbrough said that the book was not a sacred text per se, but rather a history of religions going back 24,000 years, and that the first publication of the book came about with the financial assistance of a number of unnamed contributors.
Style and language
The first (1882 edition) publication, as it was originally presented in 1882, contained various glyphs, whose resemblance to real Egyptian hieroglyphs was attested to by Prof. Thomas A. M. Ward, who claimed to have deciphered the hieroglyphics on the Cleopatra's Needle obelisk in Central Park. Ward was present at Oahspes first presentation, as was Dr. Cetliniski, an Oriental scholar, who affirmed that mere mortals could not have produced such a book and that "supernatural agents" must have been responsible.
The first reporter on the book, writing for The New York Times, compared the book's content to a revised fusion of Indian and Semitic religions, and said its style was "in one place modern, and in another ancient, and the English of the King James version of the Christian Bible is mixed in with the English of today's."
Basic teachings
Oahspe emphasized service to others; each person is graded according to service to others. Each individual, group and nation is either in ascension or descension; sooner or later, all ascend, rising in grade. The higher one's grade, the better are the conditions within one's own soul, and the better the place awaiting one in heaven.
According to Oahspe, when mortals die their spirits continue to live, regardless of who they worshiped, or even whether they disbelieved in an afterlife. The spirit realm becomes their new home, which is called heaven, and the individual spirit is called an angel. There are unorganized heavens close to or on the earth. Also starting there – and linking to the highest heavens – are the organized heavens. Both types of heavens are accessible to mortals. If a portion of heaven lives in a state of chaos and delights in evil, that portion is called hell.
An angel must subsist for a season after death somewhere along a continuum of delightful to abysmally wretched conditions. The heavenly place where angels initially live is determined by what their habits were as mortals; as well as by their aspirations and diet. Selfish behavior, low thoughts, or eating animal derived food will place a newborn angel in the lowest level, being on the earth. Evil oriented persons enter heaven into hellish conditions. Nevertheless, all in descension eventually turn around and ascend upward to more delightful places within an organized heaven, whose chief is called God. God is an advanced angel ordained into office for a season.
The morphologically plural name Elohim, often translated as god-singular in the Old Testament, is not used to mean the Creator throughout the main body of Oahspe; the singular Hebrew terms "Jehovih" (SHD 3069) and "Eloih" are used instead.
Arrangement
According to Oahspe, the history of humankind is marked by a series of progressions. These lessons come in cycles: advancement followed by recession, being in turn succeeded by other cycles of improvement and regression. Cycles exist within cycles, but one important cycle, used in improving the grade of humanity, is a 3000-year cycle (average), and it is this cycle around which the books in Oahspe are organized.
The first few books of Oahspe lay the groundwork for understanding the nature of the work. This merges into a concise history taking the reader up to the present time, the new era. Separate from the history books are a series of books intended to illume for the reader the requirements of humanity for this day and age.
An interesting graphological characteristic of Oahspe is that a number of its sub-books are printed on pages divided in two. In these, the top half of the page contains a narrative of celestial events, while the bottom half describes the corresponding events on Earth.
Synopsis
Doctrines
Oahspe includes doctrinal books, and precepts for behavior can be found throughout its many books. Freedom and responsibility are two themes reiterated throughout the text of Oahspe. Some core doctrines include an herbivorous diet (vegan, vegetable food only), peaceful living (no warring or violence; pacifism), living a life of virtue, service to others, angelic assistance, spiritual communion, and communal living, (the smallest collective unit being ten families, the largest being a total of 3,000 persons then dividing to create a new community).
Subjects
Ethics
Oahspe exhibits great interest in understanding and applying general ethical principles. The suffix ISM in Faith-ism is defined meaning adherence or following an ideology. The Book of Inspiration in the Oahspe states "I will have no sect. I will have no creed".
Religion
Oahspe speaks of the need for all religions to help the various nations and peoples to rise upward. It also speaks of what it calls "the religion of Gods themselves," in which its adherents have no need for intermediaries such as Saviors and Idols, but who commune directly with, the Creator, the All Person, the collective unconscious of the Universe.
History
Oahspe purports to describe events in the spirit realms and their corresponding influence on events in the physical world starting from approximately 72,000 years ago, although many of such events are not recorded in the existing human records. The Book of Eskra and the Book of Es, according to Oahspe, are the more recent historical records (as they were recorded in the spirit realms) from 1550 BCE to the time Oahspe was transcribed in 1880 CE. The Book of God's Word teaches the record of Zarathustra and dates his time on earth at 9000 years ago.
Geology and archeology
Oahspe gives details, including maps, about lost lands and new lands, particularly a large sunken continent called Pan or Whaga that once filled much of the Pacific Ocean. It also puts forward explanations on the causes of rapid loss or gain of fertility, the cyclical variations in heat and light upon the earth.
Language and linguistics
Oahspe presents many illustrations of symbols said to be of ancient languages and of rites and ceremonies. It states the concept that there was an original language called Pan or the Panic Language, meaning "Earth Language," which originated from the ability of humans to mimic sounds. Its Book of Saphah has details on the claimed meanings and roots of many of the ancient words, symbols and ceremonies.
Evolution or progress
Oahspe contains chronologically-ordered accounts that are cosmological revelations concerning the development of humanity from approximately 78,000 years ago. This also includes a narrative of the genesis of life on earth, from its start as a planet being formed from its beginnings as a comet gathering material as its vortex (subtle envelope) matures till it is placed into its own stable orbit around its sun. After cooling - the transformation of gases and its first life-forms - and finally to the appearance of the human race and its progression from beast to physical and spiritual maturity. The process, according to Oahspe, has reached its last stage with the emergence of the "herbivorous men and women of peace" of this Kosmon era.
System and order
Cosmogony
Oahspe explains physical science as having its basis in subtler realms (which include spiritual forces), and then how to predict from them. Oahspe devotes an entire interior book to the subject, called the Book of Cosmogony and Prophecy, but a general overview can be read in the Book of Jehovih. Also, many examples and edifications are sprinkled throughout Oahspe. Other related subjects include physics and an integrating treatment of gravity, light, electricity, magnetism, heat, weather phenomenon, subtle planetary envelopes (called vortices) that respond to conditions beyond its boundaries and more.
Vortex motion of planets was originally proposed by philosopher and mathematician René Descartes in the early 17th century, and was not a new scientific theory as Oahspe claims. Unfortunately for Descartes and Oahspe, vortex motion of planets was superseded by the scientific work of Isaac Newton.
Cycles
The text describes cyclical events that occur within a range of greater and smaller cycles. For instance, according to Oahspe, the earth is traveling with the sun and its planets through regions of space in a large circuit of 4,700,000 years, which is divided into sections of 3,000 years average, which also occur within larger cycles of 24,000 years and 72,000 years, and so on. Each of these regions has variations in density and other qualities, and so, engender varying conditions that the Earth encounters. Also, explanation is given as to the rise and fall of civilizations.
Administration
The various regions mentioned in the previous Cycles section are under the administration of spiritual or "etherean" beings with titles such as "God" and "Chief" and whose ranks and ages vary in ascending grade, from tens of thousands of years to hundreds of thousands of years old and older. Their dominions cover vast distances and include many spiritual and corporeal worlds of various grades and densities.
These chief officers are designated "Sons and Daughters of Jehovih," and in accordance, the text of Oahspe contains separate sections or "books" such as the Book of Cpenta-Armij, Daughter of Jehovih, and also includes familiar names from non-Abrahamic religions, as in the Book of Apollo and Book of Thor, named as Sons of Jehovih.
Each of these Chiefs, Chieftainesses, Gods and Goddesses are only advanced angels according to Oahspe. And every angel, regardless of rank or office, was once a mortal, either from this planet earth or from some other planet in the universe.
Faithism
Soon after its publication, a number of groups/lodges formed in response to Oahspe. In New York City, the Oahspe Faithists met as early as 1883 in the Utah Hall (25th Street and 8th Avenue) with members only attending services. A first colony based on the book's principles was founded in 1882 by Newbrough in Woodside Township, New Jersey, but was relocated 5 months later to a property in Pearl River New York State.
It was from the Pearl River location that Newbrough and a number of Faithists and orphaned children went to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where they founded the Shalam Colony in 1884. The Shalam Colony continued to exist for more than 10 years, although Newbrough died in 1891 during a severe influenza epidemic.
Faithist group in the United States of America
Universal Faithists of Kosmon inc. (Utah, California, Colorado, and Ohio)
Universal Light: The Voice of Jehovih The I Am Center, c1970-1986 (Anaheim, CA)
Brothers of Shalam (Albion, CA)
Brotherhood of Light, c1901 - 1908 (Arboles, CO)
The Restoration Faithists (New York and Ohio)
The Eloists (New England region)
Oahspe Collage University (online)
Seventh Era Faithist (online)
The New York Kosmon Temple (Brooklyn NY)
Eloin Forest (The Oahspe Foundation, Oregon)
Faithist group Outside of the United States
The Kosmon Church, in the United Kingdom.
The Oahspe Stichting, in the Netherlands.
Jehovih's Faithists (English Español and Português)
The Seekers - AKA Brotherhood of the Seven Rays (Oakpark, Ill)
Universal Brotherhood, in Balingup, NW Australia.
Land of Shalam
The Shalam Colony, or Land of Shalam, was formed in Las Cruces, New Mexico, in 1884, as a commune in which members would live peaceful, vegetarian lifestyles, and where orphaned urban children were to be raised. The commune was decided upon after a convention at Pearl River, New York, in November 1883, and was founded with the financial help of Andrew Howland. Newbrough raised money as well. He charged James Ellis $10,000 to join Shalam, and the next day Ellis demanded his money back. Newbrough refused to return the money. Members spent the first winter in adobe huts, and in 1885 began building a 42-room central building, the Fraternum. Children were "'gathered-up' from foundling homes; handed over by police sergeants; and left in Faithist depositories". Newbrough and his wife traveled as far as Kansas City, San Francisco, New Orleans, and Chicago to gather children. The children, from a variety of races, were pampered and treated with love and kindness.
By the time Newbrough died (on 22 April 1891, of influenza), the colony consisted of the Fraternum, the Children's House (completed in 1890), and a church and other buildings. After the majority of the original volunteers left Shalam in 1886 when the financier, Howland resumed ownership of the property, a second type of colony was built a half a mile away from Shalam; called Levitica, it was founded for people who were not particularly followers of Oahspe teachings but needed a place to live. Levitica was designed in a less communal fashion, and inhabitants lived in more isolated homes. This arrangement also soon failed due to various factors including non-participation.
Apparently, the colony was not a viable financial enterprise, due to the repeated failure of crops, the lack of markets for the crops they did produce, and the frequent flooding of the Rio Grande; Newbrough's wife, Francis van de Water Sweet, had married Howland in 1893 "to put an end to malicious gossip" but the cost of maintaining the colony proved too high. In 1901, the colony folded, and the children were sent to orphanages in Dallas and Denver.
Related publications
Numerous publications have been inspired by Oahspe, incorporating text and ideas from it, as well as reinterpretations, condensed and abridged versions. Many of these publications were from: The Essenes of Kosmon, Montrose, Colorado; Kosmon Press, London; Palmer Publications, Amherst, Wisconsin; Universal Faithists of Kosmon, Salt Lake City, Utah; Kosmon Publishing Inc., Kingman, Arizona; The Eloists, Massachusetts; Four Winds Village, Tiger, Georgia. 2009 Edition of Oahspe Seven Books of Spiritual Wisdom https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24615840M/Oahspe_Seven_Books_of_Spiritual_Wisdom 1998 Edition of Oahspe https://openlibrary.org/books/OL400274M/Oahspe
Biography of John Newbrough
John Ballou Newbrough was born on 5 June 1828 near Mohicanville, Ohio, in a log cabin. His father, William Newbrough, was an Englishman who had attended the College of William & Mary; his mother, Elizabeth Polsky, was Swiss and attracted to spiritualism. Their son was named for the universalist clergyman Hosea Ballou. Newbrough's father was a stern man, flogging his son when the latter "began to receive spirit messages"; his schooling (he went to high school in Cleveland) was paid for by his mother and him selling wool and eggs. He graduated from Cincinnati Medical College, but being highly sensitive to pain and suffering he chose dentistry, setting up practice first in Dayton, then Cincinnati, and then New York City. He ran into trouble with the Goodyear Rubber Company after he developed a much cheaper compound to set teeth in dental plates than the one produced by Goodyear, which dominated the market. He was sued for patent infringement, but when the verdict was handed down in his favor, after he had supposedly consulted with spirits who visited him at dawn, he saw that as confirmation of his spiritual future.
Critical reception
The Surrealist poet David Gascoyne at first found the claims of the book ridiculous, but eventually reread it and evaluated it as "the most astonishing book in the English language".
Martin Gardner, a critic of The Urantia Book, considered Oahspe to be a similar type of production. Gardner opined that Oahspe is even "crazier than the works of Swedenborg and Davis" and that rather than a religious work, the book "could just as well be classified as moonshine." Edgar Johnson Goodspeed included it in Famous Biblical Hoaxes (1956), and Gordon Stein in the book Encyclopedia of Hoaxes (1993) noted that Oahspe has not been taken seriously because it was revealed to contain "many factual errors and unfulfilled prophecies."
Modern marketing
In modern times it has been stated "Newbrough was possibly the first to use the word 'star-ship'."
See also
The Urantia Book
The Seekers (rapturists)
References
Bibliography
External links
An 1891 Version of the Oahspe
A 1912 Oahspe edition containing 1891 front material and image captions, and 1882 body text, at the Internet Sacred Text Archive
Oahspe in Modern Language - online text and freedownload
Pamphlet on the Origin of Oahspe (sacred-texts.com)
Information about the Shalam Colony, a utopian community founded by Oahspe faithists
2009 Edition of Oahspe Seven Books of Spiritual wisdom https://openlibrary.org/books/OL24615840M/Oahspe_Seven_Books_of_Spiritual_Wisdom
1998 Edition of Oahspe https://openlibrary.org/books/OL400274M/Oahspe
The Oahspe at Internet Sacred Texts Archive
1882 non-fiction books
Books about spirituality
Channelled texts
English-language books
Religious texts
Supernatural books
Utopian communities
Religions that require vegetarianism
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey%20Boycott
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Geoffrey Boycott
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Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's most successful opening batsmen, a dogged grafter.
Boycott made his international debut in a 1964 test match against Australia. He was known for his ability to occupy the crease and became a key feature of England's Test batting line-up for many years, although he was less successful in his limited One Day International appearances. He accumulated large scores – he is the equal fifth-highest accumulator of first-class centuries in history, eighth in career runs and the first English player to average over 100 in a season (1971 and 1979) – but often encountered friction with his teammates.
Never highly popular among his peers, journalist Ian Wooldridge commented of him that "Boycott, in short, walks alone", while cricket writer John Arlott wrote that Boycott had a "lonely" career. Others have said that the extent of his introverted nature has been exaggerated, and that while he was obsessed with his own success he was not by nature a selfish player. After 108 Test match appearances for England, Boycott's international career ended in 1982 when he was the leading Test run scorer with over 8,000 Test match runs, earning him an OBE for services to cricket. When dropped from the Yorkshire team in 1986 he was the leading run scorer in first-class cricket. In 1965, while still a young player, he had been named as one of five Cricketers of the Year by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, and he was inducted into the International Cricket Council's Hall of Fame in 2009.
After his playing career ended, Boycott became an often outspoken and controversial cricket commentator on radio and television, never slow to criticise modern players' techniques. In 1998, he was convicted in France of assaulting his former girlfriend Margaret Moore; he was fined and given a suspended sentence. In 2002, after being diagnosed with throat cancer, he underwent successful radiation treatment, and went into remission. He revived his commentating career in 2003, attracting both criticism and praise. He is a former member of BBC Radio 4 Test Match Special commentary team and retired in 2020.
Early life
Boycott was born in the mining village of Fitzwilliam, near Wakefield and Pontefract in the West Riding of Yorkshire. He was the eldest of three sons of Jane (née Speight) and Thomas Wilfred Boycott, a colliery worker from Little Dawley, Shropshire.
When Boycott was eight years old, he was impaled through his chest by the handle of a mangle after falling off an iron railing near his home. Boycott nearly died, and in the efforts to save his life, his spleen was removed. In March 1950, Boycott's father had a serious accident while working as a coalminer, suffering severe damage to his spine after he was hit by empty coal carts: he never fully recovered, and died in 1967.
Boycott began to play cricket at an early age in Fitzwilliam's terraced streets, using a manhole for the wicket. He later claimed that it was at this time that he developed his favourite shots: the square cut, the clip to leg and the straight drive, "because it you hit it straight past the bowler it went right to the bottom of the street, and you could run as many runs as you could get."
He attended Fitzwilliam Primary School, at which he won a Len Hutton batting award for scoring 45 runs and capturing six wickets for 10 runs in a school match. At age 10, he joined Ackworth Cricket Club, demonstrating "outstanding ability". At the age of 11, he failed the examinations that would have taken him to grammar school, so instead went to the local Kinsley Secondary Modern School. A year later, however, he passed his late-entry exams, and transferred to Hemsworth Grammar School. His cricket prowess was such that he captained the school's cricket First XI at the age of 15. During winters he attended an indoor cricket school, where he was coached by former county professional Johnny Lawrence.
While studying for his O-levels, he began to have difficulty reading the blackboard and was initially devastated when told he would need glasses. At first, his cricket playing suffered, encumbered by the fragile spectacles. However, matters improved when a more robust pair, similar to those glasses worn by cricketer Roy Marshall, were fashioned for him at the behest of his maternal uncle, Albert Speight. Albert would go on to be a strong influence on Boycott's early cricketing game while playing for Brierley Juniors Football Club. In 1958, Boycott left school with seven O-level passes and the school's Individual Cricket Cup. That summer he played for the Leeds United under-18 football team alongside Billy Bremner and attracted the attention of Leeds United scouts. During the winter he continued to play nets with uncle Lawrence.
Boycott told the BBC in 1965 that he chose to leave school at 17 because he no longer wished to be a financial strain on his parents, and because he wanted to pursue his cricketing career. He worked as a clerk in the Ministry of Pensions and National Insurance in Barnsley from 1958 to 1963, at the same time playing for a number of cricket clubs. Boycott captained the South Elmsall district team and achieved a batting average of 70. He also played for the Yorkshire Federation's Under-18 team and for Barnsley, where he was noticed by Clifford Hesketh, a member of Yorkshire's County Cricket team committee.
County career
Boycott began playing for his home county in 1962 after topping the averages for Leeds, Yorkshire Colts and Yorkshire Second XI. In 414 matches for Yorkshire he scored 32,570 runs at an average of 57.85, with a highest score of 260 not out against Essex, and 103 centuries in all. He scored another 8,699 runs in List A cricket, averaging 40.08. Boycott twice averaged over 100 in an English first-class season: 100.12 in 1971, and 102.53 in 1979. He is one of only two players to have achieved this twice, Mark Ramprakash being the other. Boycott was appointed captain of Yorkshire in 1971, but was sacked in 1978 after failing to win a trophy while in charge. He was then dismissed as a player, but reinstated after a members' revolt. During his career Boycott frequently clashed with other strong personalities at the club, including Fred Trueman, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth, but remained popular with the Yorkshire crowds.
First years
Before he played in first-class cricket, Boycott played for the successful Barnsley Cricket Club, making his debut in 1959 and becoming a regular team member that year alongside Dickie Bird and Michael Parkinson. In one match against Scarborough, Boycott faced a delivery from Bill Foord which he dispatched to the boundary for four. Foord turned to Parkinson and asked: "Christ almighty, what's this lad's name?" Bird remembered his "application, concentration and absolute belief in himself. He had one great gift, mental strength. You can have all the coaching in the world but the most important thing is to be mentally strong." Although Bird later left Boycott out of his choice XI, he would write: "of all the great players I have seen, if I had to pick a batsman to bat for my life, I would go for Geoffrey." He made his Yorkshire Second XI debut on 6 July 1959 against Cumberland at Penrith, scoring five and 15.
Boycott made his Yorkshire first-team debut on 16 June 1962 against the Pakistan touring team. He opened the batting, scoring four in both innings – the first from a boundary off of his first ball in first-class cricket – and taking one catch, but he did not bowl. He went on to play his first County Championship match the next day, on 20 June, against Northamptonshire. Batting at number four, he scored six and 21*.
Early in his career, Boycott continued to play in his spectacles, and later switched to contact lenses. He feared his career would have ended had he not used such aids as his eyesight was poor. Boycott's initial appearances for Yorkshire failed to impress, and he was compared unfavourably to his main rival, John Hampshire. When Brian Close took over from Vic Wilson as captain of Yorkshire in 1963 he persuaded the committee to keep Boycott on, and was rewarded when, on 2 June 1963, Boycott scored 145 against Lancashire. His century was also part of a 249-run fourth-wicket partnership which became a Yorkshire record. Boycott cemented his place in the Yorkshire XI in the 1963 season with successive scores of 76, 53, 49 not out and 50, and on 29 August made a century partnership in both innings of a match against Leicestershire with Ken Taylor. Boycott handed in his notice to the Ministry of Pensions that same year. After a brief loss of form he kept his place with scores of 62, 28 and 113 in the following matches. This second century again came against Lancashire, making Boycott the first Yorkshire cricketer to score his first two centuries in a Roses match, as the hotly contested Yorkshire versus Lancashire matches were termed.
Boycott went on to hit his highest score thus far, 165 not out, against Leicestershire, and ended his first full season with 1,446 runs at an average of 46.64, placing him second in the 1963 national batting averages. He was awarded his county cap on 2 October. At the start of the 1964 season Boycott hit 151 against Middlesex, followed by another hundred against Lancashire in May, and then played for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against the Australian touring side at Lord's, where he scored 63. On 16 May he completed a third consecutive century, and on 31 May he was called up for the First Test against Australia at Trent Bridge. By the end of the 1964 season, Boycott had topped the country's domestic averages with 59.45.
Although he later became renowned for his ability to occupy the crease for hours of defensive play, he was capable of playing attacking cricket. His highest one day score, a match-winning 146, came in the 1965 Gillette Cup final against Surrey. In his previous Gillette Cup match, the quarter-final against Somerset, Boycott took 32 overs to accumulate 23 runs.
According to the captain, Close, at Lord's after Yorkshire had slowly reached 22/1, Close promoted himself to number three in the batting order so that he could urge Boycott into action. "I joined Geoffrey in the middle and said to him: 'Listen, if I call, you bloody well run.' " Boycott later claimed this plan had been agreed on a fortnight previously, and denied such an incident ever occurring.
Boycott subsequently hit 15 fours and three sixes, even though the modern-day fielding restrictions, which facilitate rapid scoring, did not exist in 1965. One shot, a lofted straight drive off England paceman Geoff Arnold was nearly caught by Boycott's teammates on the players' balcony in the pavilion. Close and Boycott added 192 runs for the second wicket, as Yorkshire posted a then-record total of 317. Cricket writer John Woodcock wrote in The Times that "his magnificent innings contained every stroke in the book. "
In the 1966 season Boycott scored two centuries in one match for the first time, against Nottinghamshire on 18 July. Against Leicestershire on 15 June 1968 he carried his bat through an entire Yorkshire innings of 297 all out, remaining unbeaten on 114*. It was the first time he had been unbeaten at the end of an innings. He ended the season top of the national averages for the first time. On 27 July 1970 he scored 260*, his highest first-class score in England, against Essex. At the end of the season, Close was sacked by the club committee in what Boycott called in 1987 "one of the cruellest incidents in the history of sport." Boycott, on tour in Australia, was awarded the captaincy.
Captaincy
Boycott captained Yorkshire for eight seasons from 1971 to 1978, having been appointed following the sacking of Brian Close in 1970. Despite well publicised conflict between the two players, Boycott recorded in 1987 that he regretted Close's removal from the club, and wrote him a letter in admiration for his contributions to Yorkshire. To captain Yorkshire had been one of Boycott's aims since he started county cricket in 1962. Yorkshire's scorer Ted Lester commented later that Boycott "never got the support he deserved from the committee. After the captaincy was decided on a casting vote, the half that didn't want him never wanted him." Some members of the committee wanted to remove him almost immediately. He also caused strife between his fellow players, including a reciprocated dislike for Richard Hutton, with many players leaving the club citing personal differences with Boycott as the reason for their departure.
After his first season as captain he spent the winter of 1971 playing in South Africa for Northern Transvaal. He played only one match, however, scoring 107 and 41.
Boycott's eight seasons of captaincy were among Yorkshire's least successful. The club failed to win any competitions and ranked low in the Championship table, in contrast to their one-time dominance of English cricket. The beginning of the end of his captaincy came after BBC Radio Leeds interviews in which two Yorkshire committee members and former players, Don Brennan and Mel Ryan, said that a change in leadership was needed. Boycott himself did not suffer a loss of form to mirror that of his county; in his first year as captain, he scored 2,503 runs at an average of 100.12, including a century in his first match as captain. His success was cited by Trueman as evidence that his selfish nature was harming Yorkshire.
Boycott headed the national batting averages in 1972 with 72.35, and was second in 1973 with 63.62. In 1973, however, Yorkshire failed to win any of the 8 championship games with Boycott in charge, and Wisden called the season "disturbingly unsuccessful". It led to further calls for Boycott to be stripped of the captaincy. He was also coming into increased conflict with Richard Hutton, Close, and several members of the committee and senior players. "Looking back," Boycott wrote in 1987 "I wish I had given up the Yorkshire captaincy at the end of that year."
In 1974 Boycott's form dipped, when he scored only 75 runs in the first innings of the season, other than a non-championship century against Cambridge University. He did, however, score 152* against Worcestershire on 15 May to complete his tour of centuries against every first-class county. Both he and Yorkshire suffered through 1975 and 1976, as did his international career, since he refused to play for England from 1974 until 1977. During the summer of 1978 Boycott broke a finger, so John Hampshire temporarily took over as captain. Boycott returned later in the season, scoring 968 runs at 50.94, but this was second to Hampshire's 1,463 at 54.18. A poll of the dressing room showed that 95% of the players wanted a permanent change in the captaincy. On 27 September 1978 Boycott's mother, to whom he was very close, died of cancer, placing further pressure on him. She was buried on 2 October. On 29 September, the Yorkshire club committee met with Boycott to discuss terminating his captaincy. A statement by the club outlined Yorkshire's intention to retain Boycott as a player while giving the captaincy to Hampshire. Boycott, in response, attacked the Yorkshire club and its decision in an appearance on the BBC's flagship chatshow Parkinson on 7 October, prompting both strong criticism from the club and strong public support for his own position.
Later years
Boycott, after much thought, continued as a player at Yorkshire, scoring 1,941 runs at 61.70 in 1979, hitting six hundreds to pass Len Hutton's record of 129 first-class centuries. In 1980 he scored his ninth Roses century, equalling Herbert Sutcliffe's record. He also finished the season with an average of over 50.00 for a record eleventh consecutive year, surpassing the achievement of Jack Hobbs. He would experience growing friction with Hutton's son, Yorkshire's Richard, as well as with later Yorkshire captain John Hampshire. In the early 1980s Boycott continued his run of form, although a slow 347-ball knock of 140* incensed captain, Ray Illingworth, and created friction between Boycott and the rest of the Yorkshire Committee. In 1982 Boycott and Graham Stevenson added a record 149 runs for Yorkshire's tenth wicket against Warwickshire, Stevenson scoring 115 of these runs.
On 3 October 1983 the friction between Boycott and the committee culminated in a unanimous decision not to offer Boycott a contract for the next season. This generated much protest from Boycott supporters, who rallied, calling for his reinstatement at a meeting on 9 October in Ossett, Yorkshire. Bill Athey left the club at this time, and while Boycott in his biography maintained that he had no reason to believe that his actions had caused Athey's departure, Athey later stated to biographer Leo McKinstry that "Boycott's attitude and the atmosphere he created had everything to do with my decision to leave Yorkshire." The "Members 84 Group", consisting of strong supporters of Boycott, met regularly to clamour for the batsman's reinstatement. Their leader, Peter Briggs, stated "Geoffrey Boycott is a giant playing among pygmies."
On 21 January 1984 the Yorkshire Club committee, in the face of this rising pressure, agreed to offer Boycott a contract for 1984. Several members of the committee, including Trueman, Billy Sutcliffe and Ronnie Burnet, resigned. Of the replacement members, 17 were from the Members 84 Group, and Boycott himself was elected, leaving him with both a position on the team and on the Yorkshire Club committee. The 1984 season was, however, not the most prolific for Boycott. McKinstry records that he scored slowly in several matches: 60 in 52 overs against Somerset; 53 in 51 overs against Hampshire; 17 in 26 overs against Leicestershire; 77 in 67 overs against Sussex. This was coupled with continued friction between himself and both players and club members. In particular, Boycott's place on both the team and the committee led to feelings of distrust from both – though Boycott denies this – which led to the loss of support from long-term ally Sid Fielden.
His success on the field resumed in 1985, where he scored 1,657 runs at 75.31, second only to Viv Richards in the national averages. He also shared a record opening partnership of 351 with Martyn Moxon. In contrast to the poor relations between Boycott and the senior players, many junior members of the team remember 1985 and 1986 as pleasant times to be around Boycott, who often coached them on their technique. 1986 saw Boycott score 890 runs at 52.35, his season cut short by injuries which were becoming more frequent as he passed the age of 45. This season was the first since 1962 that he had not hit an overall total of 1,000 runs; he finished eight short in his final match, when he was run out for 61. He advised the then captain to enforce the follow-on, and did not bat again. Since 1984, support for Boycott had waned in light of his slow scoring, multiple injuries and the general atmosphere around him. Both Brian Close and Ray Illingworth increasingly advocated his removal to Yorkshire's committee, and on 23 September 1986 it was confirmed that he would not be offered a contract for the following year. A few months later, captain David Bairstow, a long term ally of Boycott whose leadership had Boycott's support, was ruled out of the running for captaincy for the following season, which was instead given to Phil Carrick, of whom Boycott disapproved. Boycott paid tribute to the Reform Group in 1987, describing them as "dedicated Yorkshire members with a heartfelt stake in their club." He suggests that Close and Illingworth feared his popularity. Boycott was offered contracts by other counties, including Derbyshire and Glamorgan, but he never took these offers up, nor played professional cricket again. At the time of his retirement he had scored more first-class runs than any other active player.
Test match career
Over Boycott's 18-year career he scored 8,114 runs in 108 Test matches for England. He was the first England cricketer to pass 8,000 Test runs and, as of 2023, is seventh on England's all-time run scoring list (behind Alastair Cook, Graham Gooch, Joe Root, Alec Stewart, David Gower and Kevin Pietersen). His average of 47.72 runs over 193 innings is the highest completed career average by an England player since 1970. His Test career included 22 centuries, third in England's records, held jointly with Wally Hammond, Colin Cowdrey, and Ian Bell and surpassed only by Pietersen (23), Root (27) and Cook (33). England did not lose a Test match in which he scored a century and only 20 of his 108 Tests ended in defeat. John Arlott wrote in 1979 that "any expectation of an English win, except in freak bowling conditions, is based on a major innings from Boycott."
Debut year
Boycott began his Test career on 4 June 1964, only two years after his first-class debut, in the first Test against Australia. He top scored with 48 runs from 118 deliveries before he was bowled by Grahame Corling. The match ended as a rain-affected draw, and Boycott did not bat in the second innings as he had suffered a cracked finger. He made 58 at Old Trafford, and then hit 113 at The Oval, his maiden Test century. He finished his first Test series with 291 runs at 48.50.
In the winter of 1964, Boycott was selected for the England team to tour South Africa. After a series of low scores during the warm-up matches, he was more successful in the Test series. His innings included scores of 73 in the opening Test, 76 in the fourth, and 117 in the fifth and final match. He averaged 49.66 in all first-class cricket during the tour, and took five wickets with the ball as England won the Test series 1–0. He made a mixed impression on the other England players, who were impressed by his talent but perplexed by his introverted attitude each time he was dismissed.
Early career
England hosted New Zealand and South Africa in 1965. Against New Zealand, Boycott scored 23 and 44 not out in the first Test at Edgbaston and 76 in the second at Lord's, but missed the third Test owing to injury. He returned against South Africa at Lord's, but after scores of 31 and a slow 28 in 105 minutes, the press began to speculate that he might lose his place in the team. In the second Test, Boycott made a duck in the first innings and later took 140 minutes to score 16 runs when England needed to score quickly; Wisden described the latter innings as a "dreadful effort when courage was needed". Subsequently, Boycott was dropped and replaced by Eric Russell. Boycott returned to the team at the end of the season for the tour to Australia. In the 1965-66 Ashes series, illness dogged his performance initially. He then hit a form of "brighter cricket" during the First and Second Tests. Uncharacteristically, he hit a four from his very first delivery at Perth, and put on 98 in 16 overs with Bob Barber in the Second Test. In the Third Test, Boycott and Barber shared an opening partnership of 234 in four hours; Boycott hit 84, his highest score of the series. But in the Fifth Test he monopolised the strike, ran out Bob Barber and took 75 minutes to make 17 runs. His form deserted him again when the MCC went on to tour New Zealand.
In 1966, England faced the West Indies. Boycott was omitted from the first Test, but in the second he shared a partnership of 115 with Tom Graveney. However, he struggled during the series and managed an average of 26.57. It was a disappointing year for Boycott both for England and Yorkshire, and his average for the former fell to 36.60. Furthermore, he had only passed 50 twice in his last 12 first-class innings. The following summer, he rediscovered his form. On 8 and 9 June 1967, he made his highest Test score of 246 not out against India on his home ground of Headingley. Batting for 573 minutes, Boycott struck thirty fours and a six at a strike rate of 44.32. He began his innings slowly, taking six hours over his first 106 runs; he scored 17 in the first hour and 8 in the second. This particularly frustrated the England selectors as the pitch was excellent for batting, and the Indian attack was weakened by injury. Their frustration was exacerbated when Boycott added 140 runs in four hours on the second day. He did not bat in the second innings and England won by six wickets.
Boycott's slow scoring led to increasing media pressure, and owing to his perceived selfish attitude, he was dropped from the team after the match. He remembered in 1987 that "the decision stunned me at the time, though looking back now I see that it had become inevitable. I was mortified with embarrassment and filled with an angry, burning sense of injustice which I can remember clearly and painfully to this day." A combination of low confidence and a throat infection limited Boycott to two further Test appearances, playing once more against India and once against Pakistan, for the rest of the year. He nevertheless again topped the domestic averages with 1260 at 48.46. In 1967, Boycott toured the West Indies with England, where he hit a rich seam of form. He scored 463 runs at 66.14 in a series England won 1–0.
Over the next two years, Boycott appeared only intermittently in the Test team. A back injury forced him to miss half of the 1967 season, and an average of 32.40 against the Australians during the 1968 Ashes was unspectacular. Domestically, his injury also limited his contribution; however, he did hit five centuries before he was forced to stop playing in June 1968. Health problems with his spleen and trouble adjusting to wearing contact lenses meant that Boycott missed the tour of Pakistan in 1968/69, but he returned to the team by the summer of 1969, scoring 128 against the West Indies at Old Trafford, and another century at Lord's. However, he lost form in the rest of the season; he scored 12 and 0 in the third Test and averaged only 20.20, with two ducks, in the three Tests against New Zealand.
Boycott was left out of the first three Tests against the World XI in 1970; he played in the fourth and scored 15 and 64, and in the final Test of the summer scored 157. He won the Walter Lawrence Trophy for this century. He was selected for the 1970–71 tour of Australia, and averaged 95.93 over all first-class matches. He scored 173 in the opening first-class game, followed by 124 against Queensland. In the third Test match, having hit good partnerships in the first two, Boycott made 77 and 142 not out. During the second match, Boycott allegedly told Basil D'Oliveira, the latter having just announced that he had worked out the action of Australian spinner Johnny Gleeson, that he had "sorted that out a fortnight ago."
This incident was used as evidence for Boycott's selfish attitude for many years after. His highest score was 142 not out in the second innings of the Fourth Test at Sydney, in a 299-run victory. The Fifth Test was drawn, Boycott making 12 and 76*, and in the Sixth Test he was run out for 58. Boycott initially refused to leave the ground in disbelief, and eventually walked off to jeering from the crowd. He made 119 in the second innings but injured his arm against fast bowler Garth McKenzie in a following one-day match and missed the final Test, when England retained the Ashes. He later maintained that the injury permanently affected his wrist, and that he carried a squash ball in a sock in his pocket, which he could squeeze to keep his wrist strong. He ended the series with 657 Test runs at 93.85.
In 1971, Boycott made his One Day International debut against Australia, the press by then touting him as the best batsman in the world. He was the first batsman to receive a ball in a one-day international and his was the first wicket to fall, after he had scored eight runs from 37 balls. In the summer of 1971 he enjoyed an average of over 100 in domestic cricket, and scored 121 not out against Pakistan at Lord's.
He played only two Tests in 1972 owing to a series of injuries, but rejoined the team in the West Indies under Denness's captaincy. Boycott was dismissed for 99 in the first innings against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1973–74 and scored 112 in the second, having earlier made a career-best first-class score of 261 not out against a West Indies Board President's XI.
Boycott and Denness did not get on well, and at the end of the tour they clashed over Boycott's preference for a one-day match over a three-day game against Bermuda. Boycott recalled in his autobiography that when Denness confronted him on the issue he replied "Get out of here before I do something I'll regret." Boycott had "no confidence in Denness's professional ability and no respect for him as a man and another tour like the previous one to the West Indies was the last thing I wanted."
Exile
Between 1974 and 1977, Boycott elected to make himself unavailable for England. He said in 2006 that he had simply lost his appetite for Test cricket and the stress became too much for him. Boycott's biographer, McKinstry, speculates that the self-imposed exile may also have been linked to the appointments of Mike Denness and then Tony Greig to the England captaincy, in preference to Boycott. Boycott was very critical of Denness's captaincy and his standard of batting in his autobiography in 1987, citing it as a factor in his decision, along with the pressures at Yorkshire. His weak immune system was a recurring motivation for not touring the Indian subcontinent. This period of exile coincided with the peaks of several fast bowlers' careers, including Dennis Lillee, Jeff Thomson, Andy Roberts, and Michael Holding. However, he later came back to face the West Indies pace battery at its most fearsome in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Boycott has responded to these accusations by pointing out that Lillee had been out of cricket for 21 months suffering from a serious back complaint and that Thomson had not played in Tests for 23 months before the 1974–5 Ashes series, since an unsuccessful debut Test against Pakistan (Thomson's match figures were 0–110). Furthermore, he was dismissed for 99 in the first innings against the West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 1973–74 and scored 112 in the second, followed by a career-best 261 not out against a West Indies Board President's XI. All of these teams included Roberts, with a young Holding representing the Board XI.
In the meantime, "When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease" was released by Roy Harper in 1975, and again in 1978, dedicated to Boycott and John Snow.
In 1987 the BBC aired a drama about the exile years called Our Geoff written by Andrew Nikold with Boycott being played by Patrick Malahide. The play featured a song called "Boycs Will Be Boycs" with the chorus "Boycs will be Boycs at the end of the day, There'll always be a Geoffrey where-ever Yorkshire play". The song is on YouTube www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5JRSfP6_jQ .
Comeback Tests
When Boycott returned to the Test side against Australia at Trent Bridge in 1977 he ran out Derek Randall in front of his home crowd before going on to make a century. In this match, in which Ian Botham made his England debut, Boycott batted on each of the five days of the match: his first innings 107 started at the end of the first day, he batted throughout the second day and was dismissed on the third day; he started his second innings at the end of day four and batted throughout England's successful run chase scoring 80 not out, scoring the winning runs in partnership with Randall. Among England batsmen, only Allan Lamb, Andrew Flintoff and Rory Burns have emulated this feat of batting on all five days, and all three subsequent to Boycott. He also had a 215-run partnership with Alan Knott. Botham later remarked that "The Aussies, shell-shocked at having to bowl at Boycott for twenty-two and a half hours, capitulated without much of a fight."
On 11 and 12 August 1977, he scored 191 against Australia in the fourth Test in front of a full house at his home ground of Leeds, becoming the first cricketer to score his one hundredth first-class century in a Test match. Boycott reached the milestone from the bowling of Greg Chappell with an on drive for four. In the match, Boycott became the fourth English player to be on the field for the entire duration of a Test. Boycott ended the series with 442 runs at an average of 147.33.
Appointed vice-captain for the tour of Pakistan and New Zealand that winter, Boycott assumed the captaincy in 1978 for two Tests when Mike Brearley was injured, and brought with him his successful summer form. However, he was replaced upon Brearley's return. While the rest of the England team took part in warm-up matches, Boycott remained in Lahore and organised a special warm-up match in which the team would play itself. However, he went on to occupy the crease for a long period of time, limiting the amount of time other players had to practise. He later stated that, as the number-one batsman, he should have the most time in the middle. In the second Test match, he scored 79 and 100 not out, bringing his Test total since his return to the England team to 684 runs at 136.80. It was between this match and the third Test that Brearley broke his arm, giving Boycott the captaincy. Boycott led England to a draw in the third match, his leadership receiving mixed reviews.
Following Pakistan, Boycott and the England team travelled to New Zealand. In the opening Test match, New Zealand defeated England for the first time in 48 years. Boycott took seven hours and 22 minutes to score 77 runs in the first innings, and in the second innings England were bowled out for 64 when chasing 137 to win. In the second match, Botham's first Test century took England to 418, but by the end of the match England needed to score quickly to force a win. Boycott, however, told his team that he would play the way he always had, and proceeded to accumulate runs very slowly. Derek Randall was run out, and Botham went out to bat with his captain, informing the dressing room that "Boycs will be back in here before the end of the over." Botham then ran Boycott out, later claiming in his autobiography that he had done it deliberately. Indeed, some have suggested that this was a team order. Boycott disputes the suggestion that the run-out was deliberate in his autobiography, referring to Botham's account as "a story that gets bigger and more fanciful with every telling". The tale does nevertheless remain a renowned story. Boycott then delayed his declaration, much to the frustration of England bowler Bob Willis. England did eventually declare, and Willis took 4/14. New Zealand were bowled out for 105 and England won by 174 runs. Boycott suffered a scratch on his cornea and missed the last two days of the final match, and by the start of the 1978 season, Brearley had taken the captaincy back from Boycott.
Ashes series, West Indies and India
During the 1978–79 Ashes series, Boycott unusually went in as a Number 11 in the second innings of a match against state side South Australia (not due to injury). At Perth on 15 December, he scored 77 runs without hitting a boundary – the highest total of this nature – though it did include an all-run four. England went on to win the six-Test series 5–1, with Boycott struggling overall through three of the Tests with 263 runs at 21.91. Boycott then played in the 1979 Cricket World Cup held in England, taking two wickets in the opening match against Australia, which England won. The hosts then went on to win their next two games and topped their table for the opening round. Reaching the final after a close victory against New Zealand in which Boycott scored only two, he hit 57 from 105 balls as England chased Viv Richards 138 not out-inspired 286 to win, falling 92 runs short at 194 all out. Boycott ended the competition with the sixth highest strike rate of 42.99 and an average of 23.00.
Following the World Cup, against Australia during a Test match at Perth in 1979–80, Boycott became the first man to be marooned on 99 not out in a Test when he ran out of partners. England then toured the West Indies. Here, Boycott again faced the West Indies' feared pace attack, but succeeded in scoring centuries off the likes of Holding, Roberts, Colin Croft and Joel Garner, despite having passed the age of 40 the previous year. Other batsmen, such as David Gower, found the attack difficult to cope with, and the later England captain stated that Boycott often had no sympathy. Boycott was the third most successful batsman, behind Gooch and Gower, during a tour in which England went down 2–0. He scored 70 in the opening match, the only England player to pass 50.
In the third match, in Bridgetown, Barbados, Boycott was to face what was later said to be Holding's greatest over. Boycott was hit on the gloves by the first delivery, played-and-missed the second outside off stump, was hit on the thigh by the third, fended the next two deliveries away with his bat, and was then bowled by the final delivery. Though in 1987 Boycott would claim a 1966 delivery by Gary Sobers to be the best he ever faced in cricket, he noted of Holding's over that "for the first time in my life I can look at a scoreboard with a duck against my name and not feel a profound sense of failure." Boycott led an England fightback in the fourth Test. Having watched Holding's over several times on video, and worked in the nets on his game, Boycott came out and made 38 in the first innings and then hit his twentieth Test century. His career run total was now 7,410, gaining on Gary Sobers' record of 8,032.
He then played in the 1981 Ashes series, despite being aged 40. During the second Test at Lord's Boycott was dismissed 40 short of a hundred by Dennis Lillee, and was "crushed" given that, as it was his hundredth Test match, he wished to score a century. Forever keen on the England captaincy, Boycott's hopes were cut short when Botham's 149 not out secured victory in Boycott's 101st Test match, and Mike Brearley's position as captain was made secure.
During the series, Boycott became concerned with his form and that he may be dropped before he could chase Sobers' record in the upcoming tour of India. He had scored only 10 and 37 in the Fifth Test; however, in the drawn Sixth Test at The Oval he scored 137, passing Colin Cowdrey's record of 7624 runs and becoming England's highest run-scorer. He ended the series behind only Botham, with 392 runs at 32.66.
'Bye-bye Boycott'
Boycott was again refused the captaincy for the next Test series against India over the winter of 1981–82. Angered by this decision, he stated that "even the Yorkshire Ripper got a fair trial in the dock but I've not been given a single chance." He later battled Keith Fletcher over his slow scoring rate, playing Fletcher's comments to him during a press conference using a tape recorder. The series against India was to be his last. In his final ODI match during England's tour he scored 6 from 12 deliveries. During the following Test series he passed Sobers' career run record, hitting 60 in the first Test, 36 and 50 in the second to take him 81 runs short, and in the third Test he overtook the record with a flick off his pads for four. He became the leading Test run-scorer. In his last Test match, the fourth of the tour, taking place in January 1982, he scored 18 and six. During the tour, Boycott claimed he was too ill to field in a Test Match, but it was later discovered that he was playing golf while his teammates were still out on the field.
This led to Boycott being dropped from the side and forced to return to England, despite apologising via a note to the England dressing room. He claimed in his autobiography, however, that he went to the golf course following medical advice to get fresh air. Later in 1982 he was instrumental in organising, in defiance of a United Nations and a TCCB ban, a rebel tour of apartheid South Africa by 13 current and former England Test cricketers, who were almost all nearing the end of their careers. All the players were banned from international cricket for three years as a result. By the mid-1980s, with Boycott in good county form and physical shape, there was speculation that he might return to the England side. David Gower, England captain of the time, stated, however, that "Geoffrey's been a marvellous servant for England but we have to look to the future and, in view of his age, it wouldn't make an awful lot of sense to pick him again." This was confirmed by the return of Graham Gooch and Tim Robinson's 175 against Australia at Leeds, which prompted Botham, who had once remarked that Boycott was "totally, almost insanely, selfish", to sing 'Bye-bye Boycott' from the England balcony.
Commentator, controversy and personal life
Commentating
Cricket commentator and statistician Simon Hughes states that Boycott is fastidious in the commentary box, always immaculately dressed, and never socialises with the other commentators or production staff. Bill Sinrich, an official of Trans World International, commented that Boycott "fulfilled all our hopes. He was animated, intelligent, informed, with opinions that got the attention of most people."
Boycott laid claim to coining the phrase "corridor of uncertainty" as a reference to the area outside the off stump where a batsman is unsure whether he should leave or hit the ball and was noted for using a key to measure the hardness of the pitch, until this was outlawed by the International Cricket Council. He is especially known for several stock phrases that have become his recognised trademarks in the cricket-watching world, notably (of dropped catches) that his mother or grandmother "could have caught that in her pinny" or (of an easy batting miss) that they could have "hit the ball with a stick of rhubarb." These two phrases in particular inspire much affectionate spoofing of his style.
Boycott was offered a role by Talksport.
Boycott continued to commentate for the station, along with various satellite and Asian channels, until 2003, when his career was further threatened by throat cancer (see below). Having successfully undergone treatment, Boycott enjoyed a renaissance in his career as he returned to high-profile commentating with Channel 4, which had replaced the BBC as rights holders for televising England's home Test games. In November 2005, Boycott re-joined the BBC's Test Match Special to provide commentary for England's 2005 tour of Pakistan. In January 2006, Boycott joined Asian channel Ten Sports. He delivered the 2005 Colin Cowdrey Lecture, speaking about the need for cricket to adapt to changing circumstances and embrace innovations like Twenty20.
Boycott worked on Cricket on Five with Mark Nicholas and Simon Hughes as co-commentators, and was a member of the BBC Cricket Team for commentary on the 2006/7 Ashes series. His role, as in his other commentary-related work, was to contribute to discussion of the main talking points. During England's 5–0 whitewash by Australia, Boycott stated that the team were undeserving of their MBEs and that he felt "so bad about mine I'm going to tie it round my cat. It doesn't mean anything any more. It's a joke".
Boycott has been credited as having a high level of influence in the game, with Yorkshire's Chief Executive Stewart Regan crediting Boycott over the completion of a deal for Younis Khan to play county cricket for Yorkshire in the 2007 season. On a larger scale, Boycott has worked towards scrapping the rule at Yorkshire regarding the number of overseas players. He stated that he believed Brian Close and the other selectors to be living in "past times", and that he wished to encourage a growth in the number of players from Pakistan, the West Indies and India.
His on-air commentary has caused controversy. As a commentator, Boycott has renewed his "pull-no-punches" style, in contrast to most of his fellow commentators. In particular he is known for criticising players, often in a caustic and strident style. In 2005, he mocked the Australian captain Ricky Ponting for electing to bowl first on a batsman-friendly pitch, saying he was a "nice man" for being so generous to the England team. In 2006, he was initially receptive to the difficulties endured by Marcus Trescothick during his periods of stress-related illness; however, he was not always as amiable.
In 2014, Boycott described Indian batsman Gautam Gambhir as "rubbish" based on his performances when the Indian team toured England in 2014. Gambhir was called in as a replacement for injured batsman Shikhar Dhawan for the fifth test match. Subsequently, the third ball into the start of the test match, fast bowler James Anderson bowled Gambhir for a duck. Boycott was heard then saying: "Well he is rubbish isn't he, I told ya. He can't bat in England. I've seen him play nearly all of his 50 test matches. Flat decks in India where the ball doesn't bounce it doesn't do much" in response to commentator Michael Vaughan questioning the matter of being "too early" into the test match to make any comment on Gambhir.
Nevertheless, Boycott has enjoyed a successful commentating career, and his opinions are sought across a number of cricketing media. As well as newspaper columns, Boycott contributes to several online blogs, podcasts and question and answer sessions, notably on the BBC News website and CricInfo. He is also popular among cricket pundits and biographers, being the subject of three significant biographies from 1982 to 2000, while his comments are reproduced across a number of published cricketing quotes collections.
In June 2020, Boycott announced his retirement from Test Match Special, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and his heart surgery as the reasons.
Domestic violence and conviction
Boycott lived for forty years with Anne Wyatt.
In 1996, Boycott was accused of assault by Margaret Moore, a former lover. Boycott denied the charges, claiming she had fallen over and injured herself. He pointed to the fact that Moore was in financial difficulties and said that he would never hit a woman. Moore was declared bankrupt shortly after making the allegations. Boycott was absent for the first trial in January at which he was convicted, after his lawyers had been wrongly informed that it was merely a preliminary hearing. In the second trial, beginning on 20 October 1998, Boycott appeared before a French magistrates' court and was given a three-month suspended sentence, and his £5,300 fine was confirmed. He was criticised by the magistrate for the way he conducted his case and for "rudely interrupting" Mrs Moore's barrister. In September 2019, the magistrate who convicted Boycott recalled that "he was arrogant and he had a deplorable attitude throughout the trial".
According to Boycott, Moore had grown angry when he refused to marry her, stating that "he was not the marrying kind" and had fallen when throwing his clothing from the window, hitting her head on the carpet. When he again appealed against his conviction, Moore's version of events that Boycott had attacked her by punching her in the face, causing bruising, was upheld, in the light of photographs of her injuries shown to the court and the testimony of a doctor that the injuries could not have been caused in the way described by Boycott. In 2015, an investigation by the Daily Telegraph alleged that Moore had admitted to a friend she had slipped on a marble floor and hit her head, causing the injury she later claimed was caused by Boycott. The newspaper also discovered that Boycott's solicitor had been contacted by a representative of Moore, suggesting that the allegation would be dropped if he paid her £150,000. Boycott refused to pay the sum demanded, stating he "considered it to be blackmail". A separate incident documented in court papers also revealed Moore's barrister had demanded £1million from Boycott in return for her silence. Moore's lack of honesty has also been documented in other court cases relating to her business, when Mr Registrar James made a bankruptcy order against her he noted "a deliberate lack of truthfulness" in her evidence.
At the time of the conviction he was working for BSkyB and BBC Radio, commentating on England's tour of the West Indies. He was sacked from both roles. He was sacked from his columnist's job in The Sun, which announced the dismissal in an article on the front page with the headline "Sun Sacks Boycott the Brute", although The Sun had given Boycott an undertaking in writing that they would continue to employ him regardless of the result of the court case, as had Talk Sport. A BBC television spokesman said "Geoffrey Boycott is not under contract with the BBC [television] and there are no plans to use him in the future".
Boycott's commentating career continued, as he was able to carry on working overseas, particularly in India. He hosted The Sunny and Boycs Show with Sunil Gavaskar and he hosted the touring Indian team at his home in August 2002. He worked in South Africa and coached the Pakistan cricket team upon request. In 2001, as resentment towards him in the British media following the court case died down, he was reinstated as a writer for British newspapers, and there was speculation that he would coach Lancashire County Cricket Club following the departure of Bob Simpson, though Mike Watkinson eventually took the role.
Boycott married Rachael Swinglehurst on 26 February 2003 at Wakefield Register Office, and they have a daughter, Emma (born October 1988).
Throat cancer
Talksport, as well as both Indian and South African television programmes, continued to use Boycott as a commentator in 2002, during which he suffered a continual sore throat. Finding a lump while shaving, Boycott returned to England, and on 20 August 2002 was examined at Leeds General Infirmary. By 3 September 2002, he was informed that he had four cancerous tumours in his throat.
Initially, surgeons recommended an eight-hour procedure to remove the tumours; their size and proximity to his voice box eventually persuaded them to recommend radiotherapy, of which Boycott had 35 sessions from 22 October. By December, scans revealed that the majority of the tumours had disappeared, and the final tumour's disappearance was confirmed in early 2003. Although initially reluctant to discuss his health with the public, he spoke privately with his daughter, Emma, and then released a statement publicly, which evoked a significant emotional response. On 16 August 2003, he was given his own standing ovation by the crowd at Trent Bridge as he and a number of other cricketers did a lap of the ground in vehicles to celebrate Trent Bridge's 50th Test match.
Return to commentary
Following this public support, Boycott resumed writing for The Daily Telegraph and commentating on Channel Four for the Cheltenham and Gloucester Championship Final and the following summer's cricket. Radio Five Live then hired Boycott in early 2004. His fellow commentators state that his illness has altered his voice and led to a more pleasant personality, but that he is still prone to unpleasant behaviour. Channel Four producer Gary Francis stated "I think Geoff is a lot more mellow now. He still has his moments, like when the taxi does not arrive and he is not happy, as he makes extremely clear. But overall he's great fun to work with."
In September 2004, Boycott wrote for The Daily Telegraph a posthumous tribute to lifelong friend Brian Clough.
In 2004, it was reported in The Yorkshire Post that Boycott was supporting the United Kingdom Independence Party in that year's election for the European Parliament.
In early 2008, there was speculation that Boycott would be given a role on the England coaching staff, pertaining in particular to the coaching of Andrew Flintoff back from injury. On 8 May 2008, however, the ECB revealed that Boycott would not hold such a position. The two had been involved in the past, and while Flintoff is an admirer of Boycott, the ECB stressed any coaching relationship would only be informal. Boycott, however, used to give informal talks to younger cricket players during his career, and the media speculated that he might find a place coaching the England U19s. Boycott continued in his commentating career for TMS, criticising the England team's approach to the ODI matches under Pietersen in India in November 2008. Also in November, Leo McKinstry published a new biography of Boycott.
On 2 January 2009, Boycott, along with 54 others, was inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame. On 9 August 2009, while commentating on the fourth Ashes Test at Headingley that season, he was invited to take part in an on-field ceremony to induct him into the Hall of Fame along with Ian Botham and the Yorkshire greats Wilfred Rhodes and Fred Trueman. Botham was also in attendance, along with Trueman's widow, Veronica, and Colin Graves who, as Yorkshire County Cricket Club chairman, accepted the honour on behalf of Rhodes. Boycott said: "I would like to thank the ICC for awarding me this great honour and for also choosing Headingley as the venue. This ground holds so many wonderful memories for me and the Yorkshire public have always been my greatest supporters, so having this award on home soil in front of them makes it more special". Colin Graves included Boycott in his tribute to Rhodes when he said: "It is a great honour to accept the cap on behalf of a Yorkshire legend. Wilfred Rhodes was an exceedingly gifted player and is rightly regarded as one of England's greatest all-rounders. I am also delighted to see two other great Yorkshiremen and another great all-rounder inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame today".
Boycott continued to be an active member of the cricket community, voicing his support in late April 2009 for Pakistan player Saeed Ajmal, and calling for the legalisation of the doosra spin-bowling delivery. He levelled criticism in July 2009 against Kevin Pietersen for his captaincy difficulties and in September against Andrew Flintoff for his apparent favour of club cricket over internationals.
On 29 November 2009, Boycott was commentating an ODI between England and South Africa when he was heard swearing on air following a catch taken by Paul Collingwood that dismissed Ryan McLaren. The BBC released a statement on 30 November which read: "An off-air comment made by Geoffrey Boycott in a live broadcast was heard by some listeners which we apologised for as soon as we realised it had been audible."
On 19 August 2017, during an interval question and answer session on day 3 of the England v West Indies Test at Edgbaston, Boycott stated he was more likely to get a knighthood if he "blacked his face". He later stated that his comment had been "clearly wrong" and stated he had "utmost respect" for West Indian cricket players. Having long been nicknamed "Sir Geoffrey", Boycott was formally given that title when appointed a Knight Bachelor in Theresa May's resignation honours on 10 September 2019. In response to criticism from anti-domestic abuse campaigners about his knighthood, Boycott said that he "does not give a toss".
Presidency of Yorkshire, Corridor of Certainty
In March 2012, Boycott was elected President of Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Elected at an annual meeting, he gained 91.09% of the vote. The election came on the back of Yorkshire's relegation from the first to the second division of the County Championship, the reversal of which Boycott targeted immediately upon taking up the post. He remarked to the media that "The only thing that really matters to the membership is that Yorkshire do well in Championship cricket." His tenure also presided over the club's 150th anniversary in 2013. In February 2014, it was revealed that former Test umpire and Yorkshire player Dickie Bird would replace Boycott.
In March 2013, Boycott and his partner Rachael Swinglehurst purchased the Grade II listed Boston Hall in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, citing a desire to be closer to family, friends, and Yorkshire County Cricket Club. Later in 2014 he released a book entitled Geoffrey Boycott: The Corridor of Certainty with Simon & Schuster. ESPNcricinfo reviewed the piece in October, commenting on Boycott's more amiable personality since his recovery from cancer: "we have a much more rounded and nuanced book, full of self-awareness and a willingness, even eagerness, to acknowledge errors, failings and regrets... This a complex, driven man, whom we all recognise and admire for his achievements, revealing aspects of his life and survival that have hitherto been kept close to his chest."
Playing style
Boycott's playing style revolved around intense concentration, solid defence and attention to detail, while avoiding heavy hitting or slogging. He was described in The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket as "one of the greatest opening batsmen that the game has known. He dedicated his life to the art of batting, practising assiduously and eschewing any shot that might even hint at threatening the loss of his wicket." Through his Test career, he scored 15.4% of England's runs, and England won 32.41% of the Tests in which Boycott played. This compares with England's 34.76% victory rate over all Test cricket history. Richard Hutton, Yorkshire and England batsman and son of Len Hutton, described Boycott as a "one-pace player", suggesting that he was unable to alter his playing pace as the match circumstances dictated. Nevertheless, Boycott maintained an "impeccable" defensive technique, and possessed a temperament ideally suited for five-day Test matches. Arlott wrote that "his technique is based on a defence organised as near flawlessness as may be." Boycott himself remarked, in 1981, that: "Given the choice between Raquel Welch and a hundred at Lord's, I'd take the hundred every time." His careful batting is reflected in his 22 centuries for England, of which only two had a strike rate of over 51.00. Former England bowler Frank Tyson wrote in 1987, in The Test Within, that "the greatness of Boycott the batsman and the gaffes of Boycott the man had common roots in an unceasing quest after perfection." Boycott also kept a black book which he used to record bowlers' tendencies.
While this style facilitated his solid defensive play, it inhibited him as a stroke player and made him susceptible to hand and arm injuries, especially his left shoulder, elbow and forearm due to his high elbow to control the bat on defensive strokes. Such injuries would be common throughout his career. One such injury almost required the tip of a broken finger to be amputated. He was occasionally vulnerable to left-arm bowlers, either due to his inability to adjust his line of stroke or because during his career there were few fast left-hand bowlers for him to practise against in the nets. Another reason is because he did not like to move around the stumps, much unlike Bert Sutcliffe, that helped him fare better against pace bowlers, and Boycott later adjusted to move back and across to fast bowlers, while staying still against spinners and medium pacers. Boycott himself disputes this. In spite of that, he was never vulnerable to any one particular bowler. Pace bowler Dennis Lillee was the most successful against him in Test matches, with seven dismissals. Gary Sobers also dismissed him seven times, but Lillee did so in fewer matches. Peter Lever, a Test colleague, discussed with Boycott his vulnerability when playing the hook stroke, which was to get him out on more than one occasion. Overall in Test cricket, 54% of Boycott's dismissals were by being caught, with lbw and bowled taking 14% and 16% respectively. Boycott was an occasional medium-pace inswing bowler. He was never a genuine all-rounder, but took seven wickets at Test level at an average of 54.57, often bowling wearing his cap turned back-to-front to assist his vision.
At the start of his career, Boycott was a below average fielder, having received no coaching on this from Yorkshire and with little inclination to rectify it when concentrating on his batting. A fellow Yorkshire batsman Ken Taylor worked with Boycott, who was "limited in [fielding] ability, " but had "tremendous determination". With further help from his two brothers Boycott's fielding improved. He became a safe pair of hands generally at cover point, though he continued to lack power and pace in the field, never taking more than two catches in a Test innings, and averaging 0.170 dismissals per innings with 33 career catches in all. He would remark in his autobiography that his usual fielding positions depended not on the tactical situation but on whether the captain was one of Boycott's critics, who would therefore banish him to a remote part of the field.
Written works
Boycott has written a number of works on cricket, including his own autobiography and a joint project on the biography of umpire Dickie Bird:
Geoff Boycott's Book for Young Cricketers, 1976.
Put to the Test, 1979.
Opening up, 1980.
In The Fast Lane, 1981
Sir Geoffrey. 21 Years of Yorkshire Cricket, 1984.
Boycott: The Autobiography, 1987.
Free as a Bird: Life and Times of Harold "Dickie" Bird with David Hopps, 1997.
Boycott on Cricket, 1990.
Geoffrey Boycott on Cricket, 1999.
The Best XI, 2008
Geoffrey Boycott: The Corridor of Certainty, 2014
Records
Wisden, a Cricketer of the Year for 1965, when he played nine Test matches, scoring 617 runs with one century and four fifties at an average of 47.46.
Winner of the Walter Lawrence Trophy in 1970.
Test matches
Boycott's abilities in the Test match theatre during his career of 17 years and 216 days have left him with a number of Test cricket records. He is the seventh most capped player for England in Tests, and has the sixth highest career runs total in Tests for an England player, 8114. He was the fourteenth quickest player to reach 8,000 runs, taking 190 innings.
He topped the national averages for six seasons, the highest of any post-World War II player, and is tied for third in the list of centuries for England behind only Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen. England were unbeaten in all 22 test matches in which he scored a century (won 10, drawn 12).
Boycott was also the first player to score 99 not out, and the first to score 99 and then a century in a Test match. The forty-eight century partnerships he was involved was a record for any England player, but has again been surpassed by Alastair Cook. In 1977 against Australia, Boycott became the first England player to bat on all five days of a Test match on his return to international cricket at Trent Bridge. He spent the 629 minutes at the crease for 191 runs in 1977.
Opening partners
Such was Boycott's longevity in the game that he had 16 opening partners for England.
The reason why these figures cover only 191 of Boycott's 193 Test innings is because he batted at No.4 in both innings of the third Test against West Indies at Bridgetown in March 1974 (after Denness, Amiss and Jameson). He opened the batting in the other four Tests in that series.
Career performance
One-Day Internationals
Boycott's ODI career was noticeably less productive than his Test. He did, however, face the first One-Day International ball ever bowled, and was the first batsman to be dismissed in what was the first ever ODI game. The match, considered a one-off at the time due to ODI cricket being in its infancy, was hastily arranged to cover a washed out 1970-71 Ashes Test.
Career performance:
International centuries
In popular culture
Boycott is mentioned in a verse of the Roy Harper song "When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease", from the album HQ (1975), though the album was renamed after the song for its release in the United States. The song uses the sport of cricket as a metaphor for death and mentions Boycott alongside another England cricketer from the time, John Snow, both by first name only in the line "And it could be Geoff and it could be John". The song is dedicated to both of them.
Boycott is mentioned in the last episode of Fawlty Towers, entitled "Basil the Rat". Reading a newspaper, the Major notes that "Boycott made a century" (just before seeing the titular rat).
Honours
Boycott was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Civil Division in the 1980 Queen's Birthday Honours List "for services to Cricket."
He was Knighted in The 2019 Resignation Honours List of Prime Minister Theresa May.
He was awarded honorary life membership of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 1993.
He was president of Yorkshire County Cricket Club between March 2012 and March 2014.
He was awarded an honorary doctorate of Sports Science by Leeds Metropolitan University on 20 July 2010.
Notes
References
Printed sources
Arlott, J. John Arlott's Book of Cricketers. 25 Favourites – Past and Present, Sphere Books, 1979.
Armstrong, G. Legends of Cricket, Allen and Unwin, 2002.
Arnold, P. and P. Wynne-Thomas, The Complete Encyclopaedia of Cricket, 2006;
Boycott, G. Boycott: The Autobiography, Pan Books, 1987;
Boycott, G. Geoffrey Boycott on Cricket, Ebury Press, 1999.
Callaghan, J. Geoffrey Boycott, Hamish Hamilton, 1982;
Clark, C. D. The Test Match Career of Geoffrey Boycott, Spellmount, 1986;
Cox, R. W. British Sport: A Bibliography to 2000: Volume 3, Routledge, 2003;
Hill, J. and J. Williams, Sport and Identity in the North of England, Edinburgh University Press, 1996;
Hopps, D. A Century of Great Cricket Quotes, Robson Books, 1998;
McKinstry, Leo, Geoff Boycott A Cricketing Hero, HarperCollins, 2005;
Meher-Homji, K. Heroes of 100 Tests: From Cowdrey and the Waughs to Warne, Tendulkar and Hooper, Roseberg Publishing, 2003;
Tyers, Alan. "Beefy versus Boycott" The Wisden Cricketer, September 2008.
Whannel, G. Media Sport Stars: Masculinities and Moralities, Routledge, 2002;
Williams, J. Cricket and Race, Berg Publishers, 2001;
Online articles
External links
1940 births
Living people
England One Day International cricketers
England Test cricketers
England Test cricket captains
English cricketers
English cricketers of 1946 to 1968
English cricketers of 1969 to 2000
Yorkshire cricketers
Yorkshire cricket captains
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Northerns cricketers
International Cavaliers cricketers
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
English cricket commentators
People from Fitzwilliam, West Yorkshire
Presidents of Yorkshire County Cricket Club
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Knights Bachelor
Cricket people awarded knighthoods
UK Independence Party people
D. B. Close's XI cricketers
D. H. Robins' XI cricketers
T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club President's XI cricketers
Cricketers from West Yorkshire
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg%20Chappell
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Greg Chappell
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Gregory Stephen Chappell (born 7 August 1948) is a former cricketer who represented Australia at international level in both Tests and One-Day Internationals (ODI). The second of three brothers to play Test cricket, Chappell was the pre-eminent Australian batsman of his time who allied elegant stroke making to fierce concentration. An exceptional all round player who bowled medium pace and, at his retirement, held the world record for the most catches in Test cricket, Chappell's career straddled two eras as the game moved toward a greater level of professionalism after the WSC schism.
Since his retirement as a player in 1984, Chappell has pursued various business and media interests as well as maintaining connections to professional cricket; he has been a selector for national and Queensland teams, a member of the Australian Cricket Board, and a coach.
Family and early life
Born in Unley, South Australia, Chappell was the second of three sons born in Adelaide to Arthur Martin and Jeanne Ellen (née Richardson), a Cornish Australian family. He was steeped in the game from a very early age: his father Martin was a noted grade cricketer in Adelaide who put a bat in his hands as soon as he could walk, while his maternal grandfather was the all-round sportsman Vic Richardson, who had captained Australia in Test cricket. Elder brother Ian and younger brother Trevor also played for Australia, and Greg closely followed in Ian's footsteps to the top. Given weekly lessons by coach Lynn Fuller, the brothers fought out fierce backyard cricket matches, with no holds barred. The fraternal relationship between Ian and Greg became legendary in Australian cricketing history for volatile verbal slanging matches, even during hard fought Test matches, which had their genesis in the family backyard.
Chappell attended St Leonards primary school, where he played his first competitive match at the age of eight; he also played a lot of baseball. Quite small for his age, Chappell developed a technique for dealing with the high bouncing ball by playing most of his shots to the leg side. Aged twelve, he hit his first centuries and was selected for the South Australian state schools team. He was then enrolled at Plympton high school for two years before following brother Ian and attending Prince Alfred College on a scholarship. Chappell recalled himself being an "economical" student whose mind often wandered to the cricket field during class. In the summer of 1964–65, Chappell suddenly grew ten centimetres in seven weeks and within twelve months had shot up to 189 cm. With this greater physical presence, Chappell was able to dominate schoolboy matches; in one of his matches for the school's First XI he scored a double ton and combined with classmate (and future Test teammate) Ashley Woodcock to put on more than 300 runs for the first wicket against Scotch College. Chappell's cricket coach at Prince Alfred, former first-class player Chester Bennett, described Chappell as "possibly the finest all-round schoolboy cricketer in my experience...he could go far in the game."
Cricket career
Early first-class career
The Chappell brothers played grade cricket for Glenelg and they batted together for the first time in a semi final against Port Adelaide in early 1966. Later that year, Ian was chosen for the Test tour to South Africa, which opened up a place in the South Australian team. Greg seized the opportunity by scoring 101*, 102* and 88 for his club, then made his first-class debut against Victoria at Adelaide Oval, aged 18. Hampered by a throat infection, Chappell still managed 53 and 62* to earn an extended trial in the team. The remainder of the season brought another 386 runs in 14 innings, including a maiden century against Queensland.
With the return of the Test players the following summer, Chappell held his place in the South Australian side and was promoted to the number four position, following brother Ian at number three. The highlight of Chappell's season was a brilliant 154 against Western Australia, but his continuing preference for leg side shots was seen as a weakness if he wanted to make Test cricket. During a brief dressing room encounter with the great Don Bradman, then a state and national selector, Chappell was advised to change his grip on the bat in order to improve his off-side play. Without hesitation, Chappell made the recommended change and at season's end, wrote to the English county team Somerset, asking for a contract to play county cricket to further his development.
During two seasons with the county, Chappell scored 2493 first-class runs at a moderate average of 30. Hitherto, Chappell bowled leg spin, but after his growth spurt had found it difficult to land the ball on a consistent length. The green pitches in England encouraged him to experiment with seam-up medium pace, which produced immediate results: he finished with 71 wickets for Somerset, including 7 for 40 against Yorkshire at Leeds in 1969. In his first season, he was capped by Somerset after belting the Middlesex attack for three hours in making 148. Shortly after was hit a severe blow to the eye when hooking at a bouncer from England fast bowler John Snow in a match against Sussex. In between these stints in England, Chappell scored 707 runs (including two centuries) in the 1968–69 Australian season, which made him a favourite to break into the Australian squad for the tour of India and South Africa. His subsequent omission in favour of West Australian unknown Jock Irvine cause a sensation at the time.
Early test career (1970–1973)
Entering the 1969–70 season, Chappell hit four hundreds to earn a place on an Australian A trip to New Zealand. Scoring 519 runs at 57.70, he was the dominant batsman of the tour and with the Test team failing in South Africa, he only needed a solid start to the next season to force his way in to play against England in the 1970–71 Ashes Series. After acting as twelfth man in the first Test, he was selected to bat at number seven for the second match, the first Test played at Perth's WACA ground. During an historic century on debut, he teamed with Ian Redpath to add 219 runs and haul Australia out of a difficult situation. Just days after the Test, he belted 102 in two hours against the English in a tour match. However, the dream start affected Chappell, who struggled for the rest of the series, apart from a score of 65 in the last Test. In the main, he was getting out by playing too many big shots early in his innings.
The inconsistent form continued the following season, when he was omitted from the Australian team for the series with a Rest of the World XI. Press criticism led to a rethink of his mental approach, and when reinstated a new Chappell emerged. He invented what became known as the Chappell "vee" where he played the ball exclusively in a narrow arc between mid off and mid on until he felt he had his eye in. This reorganisation brought him scores of 115* and 197* in the third and fourth unofficial Tests.
Chappell's new-found approach continued to yield results on the 1972 Ashes tour of England. Going into the second Test at Lord's Cricket Ground, Australia was down 1–0, after losing the first Test at Old Trafford by 89 runs. In a match that would be remembered for Bob Massie's remarkable 16-wicket haul, Chappell's masterful 131 in Australia's first innings was a key component in squaring the series. Coming in after Australia had lost its first two wickets with only seven runs on the board, Chappell combined with older brother Ian to steady the innings. The pair put on 75 runs for the third wicket, with Chappell happy to hold down one end while Ian took charge of the scoring. Chappell would not score his first boundary until three hours into his innings, but thereafter the runs flowed. He managed to bring up a well-deserved century just before the close of play on Day Two, and batted for a further hour-and-a-half the next day before he was bowled by Basil D'Oliveira. He had batted for over six hours and hit 14 boundaries. Chappell himself rated this his best innings, as did Richie Benaud, who wrote:
<blockquote>...I thought it close to the most flawless innings I had seen and I still believe that to be the case. It was beautifully elegant with wonderfully executed strokes, great technique and it exhibited a deep knowledge of what was needed to square the series</blockquote>
His game went from strength to strength. In the fifth Test at the Oval, he hit another ton, sharing a big partnership with Ian as they became the first brothers to score Test centuries in the same innings. Against Pakistan he made 116* and 62 at Melbourne and bagged 5 for 61 at Sydney. On the subsequent trip to the West Indies, he achieved the rare feat of scoring a thousand runs on a Caribbean tour, which included 106 in the Test at Bridgetown, Barbados.
In recognition of his outstanding 1972 Ashes tour, Chappell was named, along with fellow Australians Bob Massie, Dennis Lillee and Keith Stackpole, as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1973.
With the Australian team now undergoing a dramatic renaissance, Chappell was the leading batsman, giving him a huge national profile. This brought a lucrative offer to move to Brisbane and captain the Queensland side, as a precursor to taking over the Australian captaincy when Ian decided to retire. He made the move in the winter of 1973.
Move to Queensland (1973–1974)
The interest in his arrival in Queensland was enormous as he was expected to lead the state to its first Sheffield Shield title. Although Chappell gathered more than a thousand runs in the shield matches alone, Queensland was thwarted in the last match of the season by a devastating spell from young New South Wales fast bowler Jeff Thomson. Learning of the bowler's dissatisfaction with his home state, Chappell persuaded Thomson to move to Queensland for the following season. Chappell then departed for Australia's first Test-playing tour of New Zealand. The Chappell brothers shattered records in the Wellington Test, as Ian and Greg scored centuries in both innings, the only such instance. Greg's effort of 380 runs in a Test match (247* and 133) remained a record until beaten by Graham Gooch in 1990.
Unfortunately for Chappell, his health was now blighted by recurring tonsillitis and he found it difficult to bat for long periods during the 1974–75 Ashes series. He was the backbone of Australia's sometimes inconsistent batting, scoring 608 runs at 55.3. At Sydney, where Australia won to reclaim the Ashes, Chappell dominated with 84 and 144, which he followed up with a century in a losing cause in the sixth Test at Melbourne. At Perth, he broke the world record for a fielder by snaring seven catches. Ironically, his grandfather Vic Richardson was one of several players who held the old record of six. Chappell reluctantly had his tonsils removed, but he quickly lost a lot of weight which affected his performance on the tour of England that followed. He played in the World Cup (for what proved to be the only time), then made only one good score (73* at Lords) in the four Ashes Tests that followed.
Australian captain (1975–1977)
Sufficiently recovered, Chappell totally dominated the season of 1975–76, amassing a record 1547 first-class runs at an average of 85.9, with five centuries. Appointed as Australian captain, Chappell began with a century in each innings to win the first Test against the West Indies in his adopted home town of Brisbane. This performance was unique in Test cricket at the time (later replicated by Virat Kohli of India in 2014). He led the team to an overwhelming 5–1 win and the title of unofficial world champions. His personal highlight was a classic 182* in the Sydney Test.
The peak of Australia's form proved to be brief. The team lost a number of players to early retirement, mainly because remuneration was so poor. Chappell was able to parlay his position into a reasonable income with his Queensland contract and personal endorsements, but he still needed to develop business interests in life insurance outside the game. His leadership abilities were tested in the summer of 1976–77 as a number of new players were blooded and Jeff Thomson was laid low by long-term injury. Australia received much criticism for defensive play during a drawn series with Pakistan, but Chappell's form was faultless, and he scored 121 and 67 in the only Test victory. The tour to New Zealand that followed was similar; it was clear Australia was in a rebuilding phase. During the Test at Auckland, a streaker appeared when Chappell was at the crease. Incensed by this new craze and the disruption that it caused, Chappell grabbed the man and hit his bare backside with the bat. When play resumed, the ensuing din from the incident caused Chappell to mis-hear his partner's call for a run, and he found himself run out. For once, the Chappell concentration had been broken. But the most significant occurrence of this match occurred off-field: Chappell was approached to sign with a proposed break away competition, later to be known as World Series Cricket (WSC).
Chappell formally signed a WSC contract the following month, during the Centenary Test, a one-off match against England commemorating one hundred years of Test cricket. He was offered the most lucrative WSC contract in line with his age and high profile as captain of Australia. Chappell led Australia to a dramatic victory. Some of his players felt that he struggled to cope with the pressure of captaincy during the tense England run chase on the final day, when Australia won a dramatic victory, due to by a marathon bowling spell from Dennis Lillee. But Lillee's absence for the forthcoming tour of England would hamper Chappell's campaign to retain the Ashes.
News of the WSC break away was leaked early in the tour, and Chappell quickly found himself besieged. Tour officials and administrators back home questioned his loyalty, journalists were constantly looking for comment, while non-WSC players in the squad accused him of bias in team selections. Leading an inexperienced team in often inclement weather sapped his confidence, while the English bowlers, knowing that he was the key wicket, constantly put him under pressure. After a brave 44 and 112 failed to save the second Test at Manchester, his form fell away and the team slipped to a 0–3 loss.
Chappell, who was a tremendous player of pace bowling, is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen ever to play for Australia. Although adept in all aspects of batting, he was especially noted as a strong player on the on side (or leg side) of the wicket. The English writer and commentator John Arlott wrote of him in 1977:
World Series Cricket (1977–1979)
Chappell was happy for brother Ian to captain the WSC Australian team, which allowed him to concentrate on his batting. In the first season of WSC, he returned to type with 661 runs at an average of 60. The Australians struggled against the array of talented players assembled to represent the West Indian and World teams, and the emphasis on fast bowling destroyed the confidence of many batsmen, who took to wearing helmets for safety. Chappell eventually opted for a helmet with temple guards only – he never wore one with a grille. He never missed an opportunity to slip into a cap when facing medium pace or spin.
In the final "Supertest" of the first season, Chappell captained the Australian team as his brother had suffered a broken finger. After four losses in five matches, the Australians turned matters around, thanks to a magnificent 246* by Greg Chappell, the highest innings played during the existence of WSC. However, the constant diet of fast bowling got to Chappell in the next season, and he managed to pass fifty in the Supertests just once. With a WSC tour of the West Indies looming, Chappell was diagnosed with Bell's Palsy and one side of his face was paralysed. Doctors and family advised him to miss the trip, but Chappell was determined to go and utilise a modified technique he had devised for facing the relentless fast bowling.
After a slow start, Chappell hit the richest vein of form in his career. In quick succession, he peeled off 45 and 90 in Barbados, 7 and 150 in Trinidad, 113 in Guyana and finished his WSC career with 104 and 85 in Antigua, all scored against an attack of Andy Roberts, Michael Holding, Colin Croft and Joel Garner on their home wickets. Unfortunately for Chappell, WSC matches are not included in official statistics as he scored five hundreds in 14 Supertests and a total of 1415 runs at 56.6 average. In all, he missed 24 Test matches during his exile from official cricket.
Post-WSC years (1979–1984)
When WSC players rejoined official cricket for 1979–80, there was plenty of debate over the Australian captaincy. Chappell was the far from unanimous choice, but led the Test team in twin series, against England (won 3–0) and West Indies (lost 0–2), and the first triangular ODI series where Australia failed to reach the final. It was a mixed bag of results and the programming came in for some criticism. Chappell led by example in scoring 74 and 124 in the Brisbane Test against the West Indies in his comeback to Test cricket. His 98* guided Australia to victory over England at Sydney, then 114 and 40* extracted a similar result at Melbourne. While he averaged 44 with the bat and claimed seven wickets in the ODIs, a constant shuffling of positions ensured an uneven Australian performance.
Despite protesting the strenuous nature of the players' workload in this new era, Chappell found himself leading the team to Pakistan two weeks after the end of the Australian season. Pakistan narrowly won the first Test, then prepared featherbed wickets for the remaining two matches. At Faisalabad, Chappell made 235 and as a protest at the pitch, allowed all eleven Australians to have a bowl in Pakistan's innings – the first time this had happened in a Test since 1884. Australia lost the series 0–1. Later in the year, Australia played a second Centenary Test, this time to commemorate the first Test played in England, and the match (played at Lords) ended in a draw due to poor weather. One of only four players who played both matches, Chappell scored 47 and 59, but his best remembered contribution to the match was an attempted citizen's arrest (along with England captain Ian Botham) of an MCC member who attacked one of the umpires in a very ill-tempered scene.
The 1980–81 season brought another three-way competition, this time with New Zealand and India. In the Tests, Australia had a convincing win over the Kiwis, but was held to a drawn series against India. Chappell was in good form throughout the summer, but managed only two international centuries. The first came at Sydney in an ODI against New Zealand, when Chappell set a then record Australian score of 138*. Early in the new year, on the same ground, he played his first Test against India. Despite suffering a bad stomach upset, Chappell hit 204, an innings described by Wisden'' as "masterly". However, this season is best remembered for the triangular ODI series, specifically the third of the best of five finals series, played in Melbourne on 1 February 1981 (See #Underarm controversy, below).
Chappell experienced his only extended run of poor form during the 1981–82 Australian season, which featured Test and One Day matches against the West Indies and Pakistan. His 201 in the second test of the season, against Pakistan, was his only score of note and he registered seven ducks in total in the international matches, including four consecutive ducks spread across two Test matches and two One Day matches. Chappell's average in the Test matches was 30.6 (13.6 without the double century) and his average in the One Day matches was 17.7.
From 1981 onwards, Chappell did not make himself available for most overseas tours. Thus Kim Hughes was captain for the 1981 and 1982 tours of England and Pakistan respectively, before Chappell was returned the captaincy for the Australian summers of 1981–82 and 1982–83. Chappell retired as captain in 1983, playing his last test series (1983–84) under Hughes as captain.
Summary
Chappell was batsman of the ODI team concurrently with his Test captaincy, registering 21 wins and 25 losses from 49 matches; all but four of these matches were after the end of World Series Cricket, and Chappell never captained Australia in a Cricket World Cup tournament. His batting exploits in ODIs were not quite of the same magnitude as his Test match career, but he did hold the Australian record single-innings score (138 not against New Zealand in 1980) for more than ten years. His ODI captaincy career is most commonly remembered for the "underarm" incident in 1981 (see below).
Chappell played his last Test match in January 1984, making 182 in his final innings. Thus, Chappell became the first Test batsman in history to score centuries in both his first and last Test innings. Of all the Test batsmen who have retired since 1974 and scored more than 2,000 Test runs, Chappell's Test batting average of 53.86 is the third highest, behind Kumar Sangakkara (57.41) and Jacques Kallis (55.37). And if Chappell's batting average in Kerry Packer's "Supertests" (the hardest cricket Chappell says he ever played) were added to his test record, his overall average would be 54.30
Controversies
Underarm bowling incident
Chappell instigated the underarm bowling incident in the New Zealand–Australia One Day International on 1 February 1981. With the series tied at 1–1, Australia looked to have gained the upper hand by batting first and setting New Zealand a chase of 235 runs. Undisciplined bowling and fielding by the Australians, and a great innings from Kiwi opener Bruce Edgar narrowed the target to 15 with one over to play. Chappell's younger brother, Trevor, a batting all-rounder who specialised in bowling at the end of an innings, delivered the final over. From the first five balls, Trevor Chappell took two for 8, leaving the new batsman (Brian McKechnie) to score a six to tie the game.
At this point, Greg Chappell intervened, told his brother to deliver the ball along the ground (i.e. underarm) and he then informed the umpire to let the batsman know of the change of bowling style. Despite the protestations of wicketkeeper Rod Marsh, the ball was delivered and the batsman simply put his bat in front of the ball to stop. He then hurled his bat away. A large crowd of 50,000 – mostly Australian – loudly booed the Australian team from the field. The New Zealand Prime Minister Rob Muldoon said it was "the most disgusting incident I can recall in the history of cricket", the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser said it was "contrary to the traditions of the game", and the Chappells' decision was universally condemned. Both brothers have expressed regret and embarrassment over the incident.
Ganguly spat
Chappell's first overseas tour as the coach of the Indian team was to Zimbabwe in September 2005. Sourav Ganguly, the Indian captain, scored a century in the first Test match and later alleged that the coach Chappell had asked him to step down as captain on the eve of the game. This was widely covered by the Indian media. Ganguly was later dropped from the Indian cricket team by the selectors on the grounds of poor form, but many in the media suggested his omission was influenced by the previous row with Chappell.
Book on Rahul Dravid
In his new book, Chappell gave rise to fresh controversy by claiming that Rahul Dravid as a captain didn't receive the kind of support he gave to other captains and his success was not enjoyed by some of his teammates.
Post-retirement
Selector
Australian selector 1984–88
Shortly after Chappell retired from cricket he was appointed selector for the Australian team and also became a member of the Australian Cricket Board. This was a time of rebuilding for the national side, with many players lost through retirement and the South African rebel tours. He resigned from both positions in mid-1988, before the Australian team revived but by which time many key players in that revival had been selected, including David Boon, Geoff Marsh, Merv Hughes and Steve Waugh.
Among the decisions made by the panel when Chappell was a selector included encouraging Kim Hughes to resign, not selecting Hughes on the 1985 Ashes, trying Wayne Phillips, Greg Dyer and Tim Zoehrer as wicketkeepers, and fast-tracking Craig McDermott and Ian Healy to the national side.
Australian selector 2010–11
Chappell was made a selector of the Australian national side on 29 October 2010, replacing Merv Hughes. The "Argus Review" led to Chappell, along with selector Andrew Hilditch and coach Tim Nielsen, being sacked in August 2011. It emerged at the time that Chappell was banned from the Australian dressing room at the request of the players.
Coach
South Australian coach
From the late 1990s Chappell coached South Australia for five seasons during which time the team failed to win a single trophy.
Pakistan consultant
In 2004, he fulfilled a consultancy role for Pakistan's National Cricket Academy
Indian coach
In May 2005, he was appointed coach of the Indian national cricket team for a two-year term until the World Cup 2007. He earned about US$175,000 as salary from the BCCI every year.
This role was the subject of much negative public and media commentary, particularly involving his working relationship with former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, for his tinkering with the batting lineup and his coaching methods. Several senior Indian players whom Chappell coached have come out to criticize his methods, including Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, and Zaheer Khan His comments also did not go down well with the Indian public. Ultimately, his coaching and methods came into question as India crashed out of the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the first round, the first time since the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Chappell resigned after reports that none of the senior players, including Tendulkar, were happy with him and his coaching methods. His rift with India's captain Sourav Ganguly and poor performances of the team at the 2007 World Cup made Chappell a dark figure in the history of Indian Cricket.
Despite the popular perception that Chappell's tenure as coach was an unsuccessful one, he had a hand in laying the foundations of the team that went on to win the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 and 2011 Cricket World Cup. He handed debuts to Sreesanth, Munaf Patel and Suresh Raina, who were all part of India's squad in the successful 2011 World Cup campaign. R. P. Singh, who was India's top wicket taker with 12 scalps in their successful campaign for the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, and Robin Uthappa, another member of the winning squad, were also handed their debuts by Chappell. Sreesanth and Munaf were also part of the Indian squad for the 2007 World T20.
Other
Chappell has served as an academy coach for the Rajasthan Royals, and was hired as the All Stars Coach for the 2008 Twenty20 match against Australia. He also serves as the executive coach for a series of Cricket Summer Camps in the United States as part of Chappell Way.
Commentator
Chappell has worked as a cricket commentator for both Channel 9 and ABC radio.
Personal life
During the early part of his career, since being a cricketer was not yet a full-time profession, Chappell worked in a variety of jobs, including at a life assurance firm, an oil company, and as a promotions officer with Coca-Cola bottlers in Adelaide. He married Judith Elizabeth Donaldson, a schoolteacher from Bexley in New South Wales, in 1971. The couple had three children: older son Stephen was born in 1975, Belinda was born in 1977 just before Chappell's departure for the 1977 Ashes tour, and younger son Jonathan was born in 1980. From an early age, Jonathan chose to pursue baseball, which his father and uncle had also played during their childhood, and played Minor League Baseball from 2004 to 2005.
Chappell was a vegan.
Awards and recognition
Chappell was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1979 New Year Honours. He was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2021 Australia Day Honours for "distinguished service to cricket as a leading player, captain, coach and administrator at the elite level, and to a range of charitable foundations".
Chappell was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986.
In 2002, he was inducted into the Australian Cricket Hall of Fame.
See also
List of international cricket centuries by Greg Chappell
Notes
References
External links
Watch Greg Chappell hit a century on debut in 1970 (black & white footage)
1948 births
Living people
Australia One Day International cricketers
Australia Test cricket captains
Australia Test cricketers
Australian cricket coaches
Australian cricket commentators
Australian expatriate sportspeople in England
Australian Cricket Hall of Fame inductees
Australian cricketers
Australian Members of the Order of the British Empire
Greg
Coaches of the Indian national cricket team
Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers from Adelaide
Cricketers who made a century on Test debut
Officers of the Order of Australia
People educated at Prince Alfred College
Queensland cricket captains
Queensland cricketers
Somerset cricketers
South Australia cricketers
Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
World Series Cricket players
Australia national cricket team selectors
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B9m
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Rùm
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Rùm (), a Scottish Gaelic name often anglicised to Rum (), is one of the Small Isles of the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland, in the district of Lochaber. For much of the 20th century the name became Rhum, a spelling invented by the former owner, Sir George Bullough, because he did not relish the idea of having the title "Laird of Rum".
It is the largest of the Small Isles, and the 15th largest Scottish island, but is inhabited by 40 people, all of whom live in the hamlet of Kinloch on the east coast. The island has been inhabited since the 8th millennium BC and provides some of the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Scotland. The early Celtic and Norse settlers left only a few written accounts and artefacts. From the 12th to 13th centuries on, the island was held by various clans including the MacLeans of Coll. The population grew to over 400 by the late 18th century but was cleared of its indigenous population between 1826 and 1828. The island then became a sporting estate, the exotic Kinloch Castle being constructed by the Bulloughs in 1900. Rùm was purchased by the Nature Conservancy Council in 1957.
Rùm is mainly igneous in origin, and its mountains have been eroded by Pleistocene glaciation. It is now an important study site for research in ecology, especially of red deer, and is the site of a successful reintroduction programme for the white-tailed sea eagle. Its economy is entirely dependent on NatureScot, a public body that now manages the island, and there have been calls for a greater diversity of housing provision. A Caledonian MacBrayne ferry links the island with the mainland town of Mallaig.
Toponyms
Haswell-Smith (2004) suggests that Rum is "probably" pre-Celtic, but may be Old Norse rõm-øy for "wide island" or Gaelic ì-dhruim () meaning "isle of the ridge". Ross (2007) notes that there is a written record of Ruim from 677 and suggests "spacious island" from the Gaelic rùm. Mac an Tàilleir (2003) is unequivocal that Rùm is "a pre-Gaelic name and unclear". In light of this, Richard Coates has suggested that it may be worth looking for a Proto-Semitic source for the name. This is because the British Isles were likely repopulated from the Iberian Peninsula following the last Ice Age. He proposes a name based on the Proto-Semitic root *rwm, a 'height-word' as seen in Ramat Gan in Israel and Ramallah, Palestine. Rum would therefore mean something like ‘(island of) height' or 'high island'.
The origins are therefore speculative, but it is known for certain that George Bullough changed the spelling to Rhum to avoid the association with the alcoholic drink rum. However, the "Rhum" spelling is used on a Kilmory gravestone dated 1843. In 1991 the Nature Conservancy Council of Scotland (the forerunner to NatureScot) reverted to the use of Rum without the h.
In the 13th century there may be references to the island as Raun-eyja and Raun-eyjum and Dean Munro writing in 1549 calls it Ronin. Seafaring Hebrideans had numerous taboos concerning spoken references to islands. In the case of Rùm, use of the usual name was forbidden, the island being referred to as Rìoghachd na Forraiste Fiadhaich—"the kingdom of the wild forest".
The island was cleared of its indigenous population prior to being mapped by the Ordnance Survey, so it is possible that many place names are speculative. Nonetheless, the significant number of Norse-derived names that exist eight centuries after Viking political control ended indicate the importance of their presence on the island. Of the nine hamlets that were mapped in 1801, seven of the names are of Norse origin.
Geography
Rùm is the largest of the Small Isles, with an area of .
Kinloch is at the head of Loch Scresort, the main anchorage. Kilmory Bay lies to the north. It has a fine beach and the remains of a village, and has for some years served as the base for research into red deer (see below). The area is occasionally closed to visitors during the period of the deer rut in the autumn. The western point is the A'Bhrideanach peninsula, and to the southwest lie Wreck Bay, the cliffs of Sgorr Reidh and Harris Bay. The last is the site of the Bullough's mausoleum. The family decided the first version was inadequate and dynamited it. The second is in the incongruous style of a Greek temple. Papadil (Old Norse: "valley of the hermit") near the southern extremity has the ruins of a lodge built and then abandoned by the Bulloughs.
An 1801 map produced by George Langlands identified nine villages: Kilmory to the north at the head of Glen Kilmory, Samhnan Insir just to the north between Kilmory and Rubha Samhnan Insir, Camas Pliasgiag in the northeast, "Kinlochscresort", (the modern Kinloch), Cove (Laimhrige at Bagh na h-Uamha in the east), Dibidil in the southeast, Papadil in the south, Harris in the southwest and Guirdil at the head of Glen Shellesder in the northwest.
The island's relief is spectacular, a 19th-century commentator remarking that "the interior is one heap of rude mountains, scarcely possessing an acre of level land". This combination of geology and topography make for less than ideal agricultural conditions, and it is doubtful that more than one tenth of the island has ever been cultivated. In the 18th century average land rental values on Rùm were a third those of neighbouring Eigg, and only a fifth of Canna's.
Mean rainfall is high at at the coast and in the hills. Spring months are usually the driest and winter the wettest, but any month may receive the highest level of precipitation during the year.
Geology
The main range of hills on Rùm are the Cuillin, usually referred to as the "Rùm Cuillin", in order to distinguish them from the Cuillin of Skye. They are rocky peaks of gabbro, forming the Rum layered intrusion. Geologically, Rùm is the core of a deeply eroded volcano that was active in the Paleogene period some 60 million years ago, and which developed on a pre-existing structure of Torridonian sandstone and shales resting on Lewisian gneiss. Two of the Cuillin are classified as Corbetts: Askival and Ainshval, (Old Norse for "mountain of the ash trees" and "hill of the strongholds" respectively) and Rùm is the smallest Scottish island to have a summit above . Other hills include Hallival, Trollaval ('mountain of the trolls'), Barkeval, and Sgurr nan Gillean (Gaelic: "peak of the young men") in the Cuillin and Ard Nev, Orval, Sròn an t-Saighdeir and Bloodstone Hill in the west. It is likely that only the higher peaks remained above the Pleistocene ice sheets as nunataks.
Hallival and Askival are formed from an extraordinary series of layered igneous rocks created as olivine and feldspar crystals accumulated at the base of a magma chamber. The chamber eventually collapsed, forming a caldera. There are swarms of near-vertical dykes of basalt on the northwest coast between Kilmory and Guirdil, created by basaltic magma forcing its way into fissures in the pre-existing rock. The western hills, although less elevated than the Cuillin, exhibit a superb collection of periglacial landforms including boulder sheets and lobes, turf-banked terraces, ploughing boulders and patterned ground. On Orval and Ard Nev the weathered basalt and granophyre has been sorted by frost heaving into circles 50 centimetres in diameter and weathering on Barkeval has produced unusual rock sculptures. On Sròn an t-Saighdeir there are large sorted granite boulder circles 2–3 metres across on the flat summit and sorted stripes on the slopes. Lava flowing away from the volcanic centre formed Bloodstone Hill, gas bubbles leaving holes in the structure that were then filled with green agate flecked with red. There are some outcrops of the pre-volcanic Lewisian gneiss near Dibidil in the southeast corner of the island, and more extensive deposits of sandstone in the north and east.
History
Prehistory
A site near Kinloch known as Farm Fields provides some of the earliest known evidence of human occupation in Scotland. Carbonized hazelnut shells found there have been dated to the Mesolithic period at 7700-7500 BC.; at this time the landscape was dominated by alder, hazel and willow scrub. A beach site above Loch Scresort has been dated to between 6500 and 5500 BC. The presence of this hunter-gatherer community may have been to take advantage of the local supplies of bloodstone, a workable material for the making of tools and weapons. There is a shell-midden at Papadil in the south and evidence of tidal fish traps at both Kinloch and Kilmory.
Examination of peat cores and pollen records indicates that soil erosion (suggesting clearance of woodland for agricultural purposes) was taking place in 3470 BC (the early Neolithic era); much later, from 2460 BC, evidence of arable cultivation exists. As the climate became damper, peat expanded its coverage at the expense of woodland, and post-glacial sea level changes left raised beaches around the coastline 18–45 metres above the present sea-level, especially between Harris and A'Bhrideanach; Bronze Age artefacts, such as barbed-and-tanged arrowheads typical of the Beaker People, have been found in the machair which replaced it.
There are prehistoric fort sites at promontories near Kilmory, Papadil and Glen Shellesder of uncertain date. These primarily consist of a wall dividing the promontory from the rest of the island, but at Kilmory, there is also a rampart with a hollow containing the traces of an interior structure. At Shellesder, the promontory contains the remains of three round stone-walled huts, one of which integrates with the dividing wall. A small number of cairns, again of uncertain date, are also located along the coast.
Early Medieval Period
In the 6th and seventh century, Irish missionary activity led by Columba established a Christian presence in the region. Beccan of Rùm (previously a monk at Iona) may have lived on the island (at Papadil), for four decades from 632 AD, his death being recorded in the Annals of Ulster in 677. He is known to have been conservative on doctrinal matters and surviving examples of his poetry suggest a passionate personality. He wrote of Columba:In scores of curraghs with an army of wretches he crossed the long-haired sea.
He crossed the wave-strewn wild region,
Foam flecked, seal-filled, savage, bounding, seething, white-tipped, pleasing, doleful.
Simple stone pillars, over 4.5 feet tall, have been found at Kilmory and Bagh na h-Uamha ('bay of the cave'), and may date from this period. The latter pillar in particular is inscribed with a slim cross having strong similarities to a motif in the late 6th century Cathach of St. Columba. The other pillar – at Kilmory – is slimmer (being 9" wide, rather than 1'4"), but is inscribed with a more elaborate design, resembling a globus cruciger sat in a chalice; on the back is a simple Latin Cross.
Scandinavian settlement
From 833, Norse settlers established the Kingdom of the Isles throughout the Hebrides. Despite being a dependency of the Norwegian king, practical authority rested with the MacSorley, following a revolt by their ancestor, Somerled; the strip from Uist to the Rough Bounds, which contained the Small Isles, was ruled by the MacRory branch of the MacSorley. The only archaeological evidence of a Norse presence on Rùm, to date, is a piece of carved narwhal ivory, dating from the MacRory era, which served as a playing token / draughtsman.
Scottish control
In 1266, the Treaty of Perth transferred the Kingdom of the Isles to the Scottish king. At the turn of the century, William I had created the position of Sheriff of Inverness, to be responsible for the Scottish highlands, which theoretically now extended to Garmoran; nevertheless, the treaty expressly preserved the power of local rulers, turning the MacRory lands into the Lordship of Garmoran, a quasi-independent crown dependency, rather than an intrinsic part of Scotland.
After nearly a century, the sole MacRory heir was Amy of Garmoran, who married John of Islay, leader of the MacDonalds, the most powerful branch of the MacSorley. A decade later, they divorced, and John deprived his eldest son, Ranald, of the ability to inherit the MacDonald lands; as compensation, John granted Lordship of the Uists to Ranald's younger brother Godfrey, and made Ranald Lord of the remainder of Garmoran, including Rùm.
In 1380, shortly after it was acquired by Ranald, John of Fordun indicates that Rùm was "a wooded and hilly island" "with excellent sport, but few inhabitants". It is possible that during the early medieval period the island was used as a hunting reserve by the nobility; in Gaelic it was referred to as Rìoghachd na Forraiste Fiadhaich — "the kingdom of the wild forest".
However, on Ranald's death, Godfrey seized Garmoran, leading to an enormous amount of violence between him and Ranald's heirs (Clan Ranald). In 1427, frustrated with the level of violence, King James I demanded that highland leaders should attend a meeting at Inverness. On arrival, many of the leaders were seized and imprisoned; after a quick show trial of Godfrey's heir, and in view of Clan Ranald being no less responsible for the violence, King James declared the Lordship of Garmoran forfeit.
Early modern period
Following the forfeiture, most of Garmoran remained with the Scottish crown until 1469, when James III granted Lairdship of it to John of Ross, the new MacDonald leader, who passed it to his own half-brother, Hugh of Sleat. Clan Ranald objected to the transfer to Hugh, and appear to have retained some level of physical possession, regardless of whether they any legal authority to do so. The status of Rùm during this period is unclear, as surviving records do not mention it as part of Hugh's possessions.
Alexander, the previous MacDonald leader, had made land grants to the eldest and youngest sons of Lachlan MacLean, grandson of Alexander's aunt. John Garbh (the youngest son) now obtained Rùm (possibly, Alexander had quitclaimed it to him); like Hugh's gains, Clan Ranald objected to this transfer. Traditional accounts claim that John Garbh purchased a quitclaim of Clan Ranald rights from their leader, Allan, by giving them a galley; though the galley looked in good quality, the interior (so the legend says) was rotten, hence explaining Clan Ranald's refusal to accept John Garbh's ownership of Rùm. John Garbh subsequently seized Allan, and held him prisoner on Coll for 9 months; presumably Allan was only released once he had agreed to acknowledge the exchange.
In 1493, John Garbh's heirs (the MacLeans of Coll) became direct vassals of the king, as a result of John MacDonald's realm becoming forfeit. This brought them into conflict with the heirs of John Garbh's elder brother (the MacLeans of Duart), who believed themselves to be the leaders of all MacLeans. In 1549 Donald Munro, conducting a survey, noted that although the island "pertained" to Coll it "obeys instantlie" to Duart, a situation that continued for some time.
Munro also reported that, at the time, Rùm was highly forested, with an abundance of deer. Munro goes on to argue that the best way of slaying the deer would be when they are moving uphill (when gravity is against them), their principal home being in the heights. Contemporary with Munro, substantial stone walls were built in the glens to funnel deer into pens.
When Lachlan Mor became leader of the MacLeans of Duart, he pursued the feud with vigour. In 1588, he had the fortune for some remains of the Spanish Armada to arrive in his lands (Mull); Lachlan offered them refuge in return for a supply of 100 soldiers. So it was that in 1588 Lachlan Mor attacked the Small Isles with the aid of Spaniards, and slaughtered its population, sparing neither women nor children. Rùm's character as a hunting reserve, and the low numbers of its former population, meant that there was little long-term impact, once Rùm was repopulated. A contemporary, Skene, noted that
Romb is ane Ile of small profit, except that it conteins mony deir, and for sustentation thairof the same is permittit unlabourit, except twa townis. It is... all hillis and waist glennis, and commodious only for hunting of deir... and will raise 6 or 7 men.
The king imprisoned Lachlan (in Edinburgh) for his actions, but he escaped, and faced no further punishment. A later report for the king indicated that the island was repopulated by members of Clan Ranald
Religious changes
The MacLeans of Rùm and of Duart were mild supporters of the Scottish reformation, remaining Episcopalian, rather than becoming Presbyterian, and consequently the Roman Catholic church thought them susceptible to re-conversion. In 1622, the Irish church sent Cornelius Ward, a Franciscan friar, to bring Roman Catholicism back into the MacLean lands. Arriving on Rùm in 1625, Cornelius reported that it only had three villages; a few decades earlier the much smaller nearby island of Muck was recorded as having twice as many able men, suggesting that Rùm's population had been deliberately constrained.
Cornelius had no luck with the MacLean leadership, who remained Episcopalian, but the (small) population of Rùm does appear to have become Roman Catholic again. In the rest of the nation, Covenanters gradually gained political control. Coll (along with the lands of the MacLeans of Duart) was under the shrieval authority of the sheriff of Argyll; under pressure from the Earl of Argyll, one of the most powerful Covenanter leaders, shrieval authority over Rùm was transferred from Inverness to the Argyll sheriff, which was under the control of the Earl's family.
In later generations, the lairds themselves became Presbyterian, preventing the island from becoming involved in the Jacobite risings, but it did ultimately bring a minor dispute to the island. In 1726, Presbyterianism was established in Rùm, quickly taking hold of the island's population (there were only around 150 people living on Rùm at the time). Nevertheless, Rùm had no permanent Protestant minister, and when one visited, he was obliged to conduct sermons in the open air, there being no church building.
Half a century later, when visiting the wider region, Dr. Johnson was told that the laird had hit one of the tenants across the back with a gold-tipped cane, as punishment for going to Roman Catholic mass, threatening the same treatment for any others who did so. The Roman Catholic population of Eigg, an adjacent island, facetiously called Rùm's Protestantism The Religion of the Yellow Stick.
Population expansion
The introduction of the potato as a food crop, in the 18th century, led to a rapid expansion of demand for arable land, which the populace also planted with barley. The increased health and fecundity this brought, and the lack of further wars, led to a population expansion; by 1801 there were nine hamlets on the island.
In turn, the increased demand for work led to new sources of income. Black cattle were raised for export to the mainland, and (more unusually) goats were kept by the inhabitants, the hair being sent to Glasgow and made into wigs for export to America. The economy was in no small part dependent on the bounty of the sea; Edward Clarke, visiting in 1797 dined on:
....milk, oatcakes and Lisbon wine. I was surprised to find wine of that species, and of a superior quality in such a hut, but they told us it was part of the freight of some unfortunate vessel wrecked near the island.
However, local agriculture was comparatively primitive, and the lack of lime restricted the ability to tan leather, or construct sophisticated buildings; the island was no more valuable than the much much smaller island of Muck. Furthermore, the new demands on the land had reduced the great forest island into an essentially treeless landscape; by the end of the century, this had caused the extinction of the native red deer (Cervus elaphus).
The increase in the price of kelp, as a result of the Napoleonic Wars, was the only thing keeping Rùm's economy afloat. Inevitably, when the Napoleonic Wars ended, the kelp price collapsed, causing severe financial hardship. The laird himself was in additional difficulties as a result of having purchased the Isle of Muck during the peak of demand for kelp. He decided to evict the tenants, and lease the whole island to a relative, Dr Lachlan Maclean.
Depopulation
In keeping with the Highland Clearances that had swept Scotland since the 1750s, in 1825 the inhabitants of Rùm (then numbering some 450 people) were given a year's notice to quit. The inhabitants of Rùm had simply been tenant farmers, paying rent to the laird; they owned neither the land they worked, nor the houses in which they lived. On 11 July 1826, about 300 of the inhabitants boarded two overcrowded ships bound for Cape Breton in Nova Scotia. The laird, and Dr Lachlan, paid for their journey. The remaining population followed in 1827. Similar evictions happened all over the gaelic-speaking parts of Scotland, and collectively became known as the Highland Clearances. Harris was the largest settlement in the 18th century, which was cleared. It had 37 buildings.
In 1827, when giving evidence to a government select committee on emigration, an agent of the laird was asked "And were the people willing to go?"; "Some of them", came the reply, "Others were not very willing, they did not like to leave the land of their ancestors". Years later an eyewitness, a local shepherd, was more florid in his description of the events: "The people of the island were carried off in one mass, for ever, from the sea-girt spot where they were born and bred... The wild outcries of the men and heart-breaking wails of the women and children filled all the air between the mountainous shore of the bay".
Dr Lachlan turned Rùm into a sheep farm, with its population replaced by some 8,000 blackface sheep. So total had been the clearance that he was forced to import families to the island to act as shepherds. However, the prosperity elsewhere in the UK led to traditional staples like mutton and wool being of less interest to consumers, and their price fell. In 1839 the price of mutton fell dramatically, bankrupting Dr Lachlan, and forcing him to leave. Ironically, in the words of one of the emigrees, Dr Lachlan, "the Curse and Scourge of the Highland Crofters" was now "much worse off than the comfortable people he turned out of Rùm 13 years previously".
In 1844 the visiting geologist, Hugh Miller, wrote:
The single sheep farmer who had occupied the holdings of so many had been unfortunate in his speculations, and had left the island: the proprietor, his landlord seemed to have been as little fortunate as his tenant, for the island itself was in the market; and a report went current at the time that it was on the eve of being purchased by some wealthy Englishman, who purposed converting it into a deer forest. How strange a cycle!
Multiple island owners
In 1845, the MacLean laird sold the island to the Marquess of Salisbury, who converted Rùm into an estate for country sports. The Marquis first built a pier at Kinloch, and adjacent limekiln, to help with this process, re-introducing deer, both Red and Fallow. He then passed the land to his son, Viscount Cranbourne, who was more interested in fishing.
The main rivers of Rùm were essentially just trickling streams, so Cranbourne came up with a plan to increase the power of the Kinloch River, by diverting the other two. In 1849, he built a dam at the end of Loch Sgathaig, allowing him to diverting the overflow into the Kilmory River (northwards), rather than the Abhainn Rhangail (southwards). In 1852, he attempted to dam the Kilmory River, half a mile north of Loch Sgathaig, the plan being to send the overflow into the Kinloch River via a short canal; unfortunately Salisbury's Dam collapsed shortly after being built.
In 1870, the island was sold to Farquhar Campbell, from Aros, a man keen on Rùm's potential for shooting. In 1888, he decided to sell it; the sale prospectus described Rùm as "the most picturesque of the islands which lie off the west coast of Scotland" and "as a sporting estate it has at present few equals". According to the sale documents, the population was between 60 and 70, all either shepherds or estate workers and their families. There were no crofts on the island.
In 1888 the island sold to John Bullough, a cotton machinery manufacturer (and self-made millionaire) from Accrington in Lancashire, who continued to use the island for recreational purposes. In the following year, counties were formally created in Scotland, on shrieval boundaries, by a dedicated Local Government Act; Rùm therefore became part of the new county of Argyll. When Bullough died in 1891 he was buried on Rùm, in a rock-cut mausoleum, under an octagonal stone tower. His heirs, however, felt that this was beneath his dignity, and demolished it, moving his sarcophagus into an elaborate mausoleum modelled as a Greek temple, built in 1892 and designed by William James Morley. Argyll, similarly, was not thought fitting for Rùm, and that same year was moved by boundary review to the county of Inverness, where Eigg already sat.
John was succeeded as owner of Rùm by his son, George (later Sir George). George built Kinloch Castle in 1900 using sandstone quarried at Annan. The interior boasted an orchestrion that could simulate the sounds of brass, drum and woodwind, an air-conditioned billiards room, and a jacuzzi. A dam was built on Coire Dubh burn for hydroelectric purposes; the house was the first private home in Scotland, outside of Glasgow, to have an electricity supply.
At this time there were about 100 people employed on the estate. Fourteen under-gardeners, who were paid extra to wear kilts, worked on the extensive grounds that included a nine-hole golf course, tennis and squash courts, heated turtle and alligator ponds and an aviary including birds of paradise and humming birds. Soil for the grounds was imported from Ayrshire and figs, peaches, grapes and nectarines were grown in greenhouses.
This opulence could not be sustained indefinitely, and the Wall Street Crash badly damaged the family finances, decreasing their interest in, and visits to, Rùm. Sir George died in France, in July 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, and was interred in the family mausoleum on Rùm. His widow continued to visit Rùm as late as 1954. When in 1957 Lady Bullough sold the whole island, including the Castle and its contents, to the Nature Conservancy Council, on the understanding that it would be used as a national nature reserve, the mausoleum was the only part of Rùm not included in the sale. Lady Bullough died in London, in 1967, at the age of 98; she was buried next to her husband in the Rùm mausoleum.
Ecology
Rùm is an important study site for research in ecology and numerous academic papers have been produced based on work undertaken on the island. In addition to its status as a National Nature Reserve, Rùm was designated a Biosphere Reserve from 1976 to 2002, a Site of Special Scientific Interest in 1987, and has seventeen sites scheduled as nationally important ancient monuments.
Fauna
The red deer population has been the subject of research for many years, recently under the leadership of Tim Clutton-Brock of the University of Cambridge. These efforts are based at the remote bay of Kilmory in the north of the island. It has been important in the development of sociobiology and behavioural ecology, particularly in relation to the understanding of aggression through game theory. In November 2019 it was revealed that a 45-year study indicated that climate change had affected the gene pool of the red deer population on Rùm. Warmer temperatures resulted in deer giving birth on average three days earlier for each decade of the study. The gene which selects for earlier birth has increased in the population because hinds with the gene have more calves over their lifetime.
The island has small herds of ponies, feral goats (Capra hircus) and Highland cattle. The pony herd, which now numbers about a dozen animals, was first recorded on the island in 1772, and in 1775 they were described as being "very small, but a breed of eminent beauty". They are small in stature, averaging only 13 hands in height and all have a dark stripe down their backs and zebra stripes on their forelegs. These features have led to speculation that they may be related to primitive northern European breeds, although it is more likely that they originate from the western Mediterranean. It is sometimes claimed that they are descended from animals that travelled with the Spanish Armada, although it is probable that they arrived by more conventional means. The goat stocks were improved for stalking in the early 20th century and acquired a reputation for the size of their horns and the thickness of their fleeces. The flock of about 200 spends most of its time on the western sea cliffs. The native cattle were re-introduced in 1970, having been absent since the 19th century clearances. The herd of 30 grazes in the Harris area from September to June, and further north in Glen Shellesder in the summer months.
Rùm is also noted for its bird life. The population of 70,000 Manx shearwaters is one of the largest breeding colonies in the world. These migrating birds spend their winters in the South Atlantic off Brazil, and return to Rùm every summer to breed in burrows high in the Cuillin Hills. White-tailed sea eagles were exterminated on the island by 1912 and later became extinct in Scotland. A programme of reintroduction began in 1975, and within ten years 82 young sea eagles from Norway had been released. There is now a successful breeding population in the wild.
There are brown trout, European eel and three-spined stickleback in the streams, and salmon occasionally run in the Kinloch River. The only amphibian found on Rùm is the palmate newt and the only reptile native to Rùm is the common lizard. Invertebrates are diverse and have been studied there since 1884, numerous species of damselfly, dragonfly, beetle, butterflies, moths etc. having been recorded. Several rare upland species are found on the ultrabasic slopes of Barkeval, Hallival and Askival including the ground beetles Leistus montanus and Amara quenseli. The midge (Culicoides impunctatus), a biting gnat, occurs in "unbelievable numbers".
In October 2006 the popular Autumnwatch series on BBC television showed coverage of the deer rut at Kilmory Bay.
A patch of brown earth soil at the abandoned settlement of Papadil is home to a thriving population of earthworms, which are rare in the elsewhere poor soil of the island. Some individuals of Lumbricus terrestris have reached tremendous sizes, with the largest weighing 12.7 grams. This is speculated to be due to the good quality soil, and absence of predators.
Flora
A tree nursery was established at Kinloch in 1960 in order to support a substantial programme of re-introducing twenty native species including silver birch, hawthorn, rowan and holly. The forested area, which consists of over a million re-introduced native trees and shrubs, is essentially confined to the vicinity of Kinloch and the slopes near this site surrounding Loch Scresort and on nearby Meall á Ghoirtein. The island's flora came to widespread attention with the 1999 publication of the book A Rum Affair by Karl Sabbagh, a British writer and television producer. The book told of a long-running scientific controversy over the alleged discovery of certain plants on Rùm by botanist John William Heslop-Harrison—discoveries that are now considered to be fraudulent. Heslop Harrison is widely believed to have placed many of these plants on the island himself to provide evidence for his theory about the geological development of the Hebridean islands. Nonetheless, the native flora offers much of interest. There are rare arctic sandwort and alpine pennycress, endemic varieties of the heath spotted-orchid and eyebright, as well as more common species such as sundew, butterwort, blue heath milkwort and roseroot. A total of 590 higher plant and fern taxa have been recorded.
Protected and specialist areas
Rum has a number of national and international conservation designations for its spectacular natural and built heritage, including:
Rum National Nature Reserve (NNR)
Special Area of Conservation (SAC)
Special Protection Area (SPA)
Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
7 Geological Conservation Review (GCR) Sites
Rum is within the Lochaber Geopark
Falls within the Small Isles National Scenic Area (NSA)
19 scheduled monuments (SAMs)
The national nature reserve is classified as a Category II protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
Economy, transport and culture
The entire island is owned and managed as a single estate by NatureScot. There are a variety of small businesses on the island including accommodation providers as well as artists and crafters. Most of the residents live in the hamlet of Kinloch, in the east of the island, which has no church, restaurant or pub. It has a village hall, general shop and a post office, which is run as a private business. A small church has been transformed into a school, which counts 5 pupils as of 2022. A cafe opens in summer. Rùm has broadband internet access, installed by a salmon farming company.
In general the island has a transient population comprising employees of NatureScot and their families, researchers, and a teacher. Until recently NatureScot was opposed to the development of the island as a genuine community, but there has been a change in approach since the beginning of 2007. Di Alexander, development manager for the Highlands Small Communities Housing Trust has said: "It has been clear for many years that the small community on Rùm needs to increase and diversify its housing supply away from exclusively SNH-tied housing. Even a couple of new rented houses could make such a difference to the community's wellbeing."
Surprisingly perhaps, on a estate with a population less than thirty, an issue has been lack of land for building. However, a spokesman for the agency has stated "Once we are clear what the trust's priorities are, we will release the land". In 2008 a "Rùm Task Group", chaired by Lesley Riddoch, was created to generate proposals for advancing community development opportunities. It reported to Mike Russell MSP the Minister for Environment in the Scottish Government, and in June a plan was announced to establish a locally-run trust with the aim of reintroducing crofting settlements to the area around Kinloch village. In December it was announced that £250,000 of land and buildings were likely to be placed into community ownership, subject to a ballot of the electorate in January 2009. The transfer of 65 hectares of mixed land, three crofts, 10 domestic properties and eight non-domestic properties in and around Kinloch village to the Isle of Rum Community Trust took place in two phases in 2009 and 2010.
A Caledonian MacBrayne ferry, , links Rùm and the neighbouring Small Isles of Canna, Eigg and Muck, to the mainland port of Mallaig some and hours sailing time away. The Lochnevis has a landing craft-style stern ramp allowing vehicles to be driven onto and off the vessel at a new slipway constructed in 2001. However, visitors are not normally permitted to bring vehicles to the Small Isles. During the summer months the islands are also served by Arisaig Marine's ferry MV Sheerwater from Arisaig, south of Mallaig.
The best anchorage is Loch Scresort, with other bays offering only temporary respites from poor weather. Robert Buchanan writing in the 19th century described it as:
As sweet a little nook as ever Ulysses mooned away a day in, during his memorable voyage homeward. Though merely a small bay, about a mile in breadth, and curving inland for a mile and a half, it is quite sheltered from all winds save the east, being flanked to the south and west by Haskeval and Hondeval, and guarded on the northern side by a low range of heathery slopes. In this sunny time, the sheep are bleating from the shores, the yacht lies double, yacht and shadow, and the bay is painted richly with the clear reflection of the mountains.
In the summer of 2002 a reality TV programme titled Escape from Experiment Island was filmed on the island. This short-lived show (six episodes) was produced by the BBC in conjunction with the Discovery Channel. The show was to piggyback on the success of Junkyard Wars by having the teams build vehicles to escape from the island.
In August 2020 it was announced that four new homes would be built in the village of Kinloch in an effort to attract more people to live on the island.
Demographics
Rùm is one of the most sparsely populated of all Scottish islands. There is no indigenous population; the residents are a mixture of employees of NatureScot and their families, together with a number of researchers and a school teacher.
In recent years, Rùm's inhabitants have been seeking to attract more people to the island in order to boost their population. Their appeal has been successful, with several hundred applications being sent in response to thieir campaign. The island has witnessed a population explosion relative to its size. In August 2020, the population was estimated to be around 32. Less than a year and a half later, the number of inhabitants was estimated to be around 40.
Climate
As with the rest of the British Isles, Rùm features a strongly maritime climate with cool summers and mild winters.
There is a MetOffice weather station at Kinloch providing long term climate observations.
See also
List of islands of Scotland
Beccán mac Luigdech
Religion of the Yellow Stick
Geology of Scotland
Timeline of prehistoric Scotland
Rum layered intrusion
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
Clutton-Brock, T. and Ball, M.E. (Eds) (1987) Rhum: The Natural History of an Island. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.
Edwards, Kevin J. & Ralston, Ian B.M. (Eds) (2003) Scotland After the Ice Age: Environment, Archaeology and History, 8000 BC—AD 1000. Edinburgh. Edinburgh University Press.
Love, John A. (2002) Rum: A Landscape Without Figures. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
McKirdy, Alan Gordon, John & Crofts, Roger (2007) Land of Mountain and Flood: The Geology and Landforms of Scotland. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
Rixson, Dennis (2001) The Small Isles: Canna, Rum, Eigg and Muck. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
Sabbagh, Karl (1999) A Rum Affair. London. Allen Lane.
Scottish Natural Heritage (1999) Kinloch Castle Perth. SNH Publications.
Further reading
Cameron, Archie (1998) Bare Feet and Tackety Boots: A Boyhood on the Island of Rum. Luath Press. .
John A. Love (2001) Rum: A Landscape Without Figures. Edinburgh. Birlinn.
Pearman, D.A.; Preston, C.D.; Rothero, G.P.; and Walker, K. J. (2008) The Flora of Rum. Truro. D.A. Pearman.
External links
Photos
Isle of Rum website
Rum National Nature Reserve
Site Management statement for Rùm Site of Special Scientific Interest
Cleared places in the Inner Hebrides
Community buyouts in Scotland
National nature reserves in Scotland
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Rum and the Small Isles
Extinct volcanoes
Former biosphere reserves
Paleogene volcanism
Neolithic Scotland
Islands of Highland (council area)
Islands of the Inner Hebrides
Small Isles, Lochaber
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted%20Dexter
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Ted Dexter
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Edward Ralph Dexter, (15 May 1935 – 25 August 2021) was an England international cricketer.
An aggressive middle-order batsman of ferocious power and a right-arm medium bowler, he captained Sussex and England in the early 1960s. He captained England in 30 test matches out of his 62 test match appearances.
He was known by the nickname Lord Ted. He is credited for his instrumental role in the formation of the modern ICC Player Rankings system. In June 2021, he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame as one of the special inductees to mark the inaugural ICC World Test Championship final.
Biography
Dexter was born in Milan in Italy, where his father Ralph Dexter ran a successful underwriting agency. He along with his family moved to England when he was aged three just before the start of World War II.
Early career 1953–60
Few batsmen, or writers, announce themselves as Dexter did when batting for Sussex against Surrey at the Oval last summer. His first ball, from the pavilion end, was slightly over-pitched on middle and leg. Feet moved fractionally, head hardly at all, but the bat swung the ball for six over long leg and they fetched it back from the seats under the gasholder.
Wisden, 1961
Dexter was educated at Norfolk House, Beaconsfield, and Radley College, where he played in the first XI from 1950 to 1953, initially as a wicket-keeper and as captain in 1953, and was nicknamed "Lord Ted" by his coach Ivor Gilliat for his aloof self-confidence. His cricket coach at Radley was B H Smithson, father of England cricketer Gerald Smithson. While Dexter was head boy at Radley, Peter Cook, English comedian, satirist, writer and actor, was among those younger boys upon whom 'a big & strong' Dexter inflicted corporal punishment. He did his national service as a second lieutenant in the 11th Hussars during the Malayan Emergency in 1953–55 and was awarded the Malaya Campaign Medal. Dexter then entered Jesus College, Cambridge in October 1955, where he played golf and rugby in addition to winning his cricket Blue and playing in the University Match in 1956, 1957 and (as captain) 1958.
He first came to notice as a bowler taking 5/8 and 3/47 for the Gentlemen in 1957 and joined Sussex County Cricket Club in the same year. He made his Test debut in 1958 against New Zealand, made 52 and E. W. Swanton thought that he should have been picked for Peter May's MCC tour of Australia in 1958–59. In the end he was flown from Paris (where his wife was working as a model) to reinforce May's injury-struck team. Dexter arrived in the middle of the tour, did not have time to acclimatize and although he did well in the tour matches he failed in the Tests. Continuing on the tour to New Zealand he made 141, his maiden Test century. After an indifferent summer against India the decision to take him to the Caribbean in 1959–60 was much criticised, but "Lord Ted" made his name thrashing the fast bowlers Wes Hall and Charlie Griffith with his powerful drives. He hit 132 not out in the First Test, 110 in the Fourth Test, made 526 runs (65.75), topping the England batting averages, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1961.
Rising star 1960–61
Few hundreds have filled such a yawning gap...Dexter so dominated a stand with Barrington that more than two-thirds of the 161 runs came from his masterful bat before he was stumped trying to lift Simpson's leg-break on to some distant fairway.
Ray Robinson and Mike Coward
On his return Dexter was made captain of Sussex, which he held until he retired in 1965. He had a quiet home Test season against South Africa, but in the First Test at Edgbaston in the 1961 Ashes series England started their second innings needing 321 runs to avoid an innings defeat. Dexter made 180, the biggest century for England against Australia since the war and studded with 31 cracking boundaries, but typically he was stumped in the last minutes of the match trying to hit Bobby Simpson for six so he could make a double century. In the famous Fourth Test at Old Trafford he played a spectacular innings of 76 in 84 minutes to take England to 106 runs from victory with 9 wickets in hand and the Ashes in sight, but his dismissal set off an England collapse and the series was lost.
England captain 1961–62
Ted was a man of moods, often caught up in theories, keen when the action was hot, seemingly uninterested when the game was dull...a big-time player, one who responded to atmosphere, liked action and enjoyed the chase and gamble. Maybe this was the reason he was drawn to horse racing; a dull day stalking the covers might be enlivened for him by thoughts of how his money was faring on the 3:15 at Ascot or Goodwood.
John Snow
With Peter May and Colin Cowdrey declining to tour India and Pakistan in 1961–62 Dexter was chosen to lead the MCC team. With a weakened team (Fred Trueman and Brian Statham also refused to tour) Dexter beat Pakistan 1–0 but lost to India 2–0, their first series victory over England. He made 712 Test runs (71.20) on the tour, including his highest Test score of 205 at Karachi, and another 446 runs (89.20) when Pakistan toured England in 1962 and were beaten 4–0. Peter May finally declared his retirement in 1962 and the selectors had to choose who would captain the English cricket team in Australia in 1962–63. Dexter captained England in the First and Second Tests against Pakistan, winning two big victories, but Colin Cowdrey was put in charge for the Third Test. Cowdrey had been May's affable vice-captain, had a shrewd cricket brain and was seen as his natural successor, but had inherited his cautious tactics and the Marylebone Cricket Club was crusading for "brighter cricket". Cowdrey withdrew from the final Gentleman v Players match at Lord's because of kidney stones even though he had been appointed captain, which usually indicated the selectors' intentions. Dexter was put back in charge (and drew against Fred Trueman's Players), but found another rival in the old Sussex captain the Reverend David Sheppard, who was willing to take a sabbatical from his church mission in the East End in order to tour Australia. Sheppard made 112 for the Gentlemen and was chosen for the tour, but Dexter was confirmed as captain for the remainder of the home series and the forthcoming tour of Australia and New Zealand with Cowdrey as vice-captain. The general opinion was that England had a good batting side, but their bowling was unvaried, would struggle to dismiss Australia and that the tourists would be lucky to avoid another defeat.
Tour of Australia and New Zealand 1962–63
After his thunderous Melbourne display Dexter was a magnet; the first thing people wanted to know about a team selection was: "Is Dexter playing?"...Batting against South Australia, he lifted the ball onto the high roof of the members stand – a tremendous hit. Some of his drives along the ground just could not be stopped, even when they went straight to a fieldsman.
Tom Goodman
He made 481 runs (48.10), the most runs by an England captain in Australia, and this remains a record. The team manager was Bernard Fitzalan-Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk, KG, GCVO, PC, Earl Marshal and Chief Butler of England, and it was joked that "Lord Ted" could only be controlled by a duke. In fact, the Duke was the President of Sussex County Cricket Club, had been instrumental in Dexter's appointment as county captain, shared his interests in horse racing and golf and was very popular with the Australian public. In the tour match between the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and an Australian XI Dexter hit 102 in 110 minutes, including 2 sixes and 13 fours. John Woodcock of The Times wrote "I doubt if it is possible to hit a cricket ball any harder than Dexter did today. Melbourne is a huge ground and no one who hits a six here is likely to forget it. Against Veivers, an off-spinner, Dexter twice cleared the sight screen, once by a good 20 yards." At the Adelaide Oval Dexter included "a six from a gigantic hit onto the roof of the stand – one of the biggest hits ever seen at the ground." He was the main draw in the England team and over a million spectators came to see the tourists, the most since 1936–37. The tour returned a record profit for the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) of £24,000, beating the £17,000 of 1946–47. Dexter continued his good run of form to equal Patsy Hendren's England record of six consecutive Test 50s (85 and 172 against Pakistan and 70, 99, 93 and 52 against Australia), which he soon shared with Ken Barrington and more recently Alastair Cook. His powerful innings enlivened the First and Second Tests and gave England a 1–0 lead in the series. Australia came back to win the Third Test at Sydney, where Dexter had preferred to keep his fast bowling attack from the Second Test even when Fred Trueman volunteered to stand down in favour of a second spinner to Fred Titmus. In the end the unsupported Titmus took 7/79 in the first innings and Australia won by 8 wickets, E. W. Swanton and others thought that if either David Allen or Ray Illingworth had been in the team England would have won the Ashes. Even so, the match might have been saved if Dexter had not conceded 27 runs off 26 balls so that the teams would not have to return the next day to finish the game. The last few overs were played in the rain and it rained for most of the fifth day, so England might have won the Ashes. Dexter's negative field placings and lack of urgency failed to regain the Ashes and the painful draws in the Fourth and Fifth Tests particularly spoilt the atmosphere, as Richie Benaud was determined to hold onto the Ashes and Dexter was content to draw a series in Australia. In mitigation the Adelaide pitch was flat as a pancake. The Sydney ground was so saturated in the days before the match that mowing was impossible before the start. The "square" was like one large bunker and the outfield like a meadow. Barely a ball reached the boundary. Benaud was an advocate of "go ahead" captaincy and Dexter for "brighting up" cricket and their reputations were unfairly tarnished.
Home series 1963–64
Ted Dexter elected to lead from the front. We had a disastrous start, with Charlie Griffith blasting out both our openers very cheaply, and Ted unleashing one of his finest displays of controlled aggression I have ever witnessed. His 70 was electrifying. He stood up and hit the quick bowlers all over the show for an hour.
Fred Titmus
As captain against Frank Worrell's West Indian cricket team in England in 1963 Dexter was able to loosen up after the Ashes and they played an exciting Test series. After losing the First Test, in the Second Test at Lord's England's first innings rested heavily on Dexter's hard-hitting 70 off 75 balls when he took on the West Indian fast bowlers Charlie Griffith and Wes Hall in an innings that was remembered by all who saw it. In the second innings Colin Cowdrey came out to bat with a broken arm with victory, defeat or a tie still possible in the last two balls, but David Allen blocked them for a draw. England levelled the series in the Third Test thanks to Dexter (4/38 and 1/7) and Fred Trueman (5/75 and 7/44), but lost the last two Tests and the series. In 1964 Dexter was again in charge in the rain-soaked 1964 Ashes series. Famously in the decisive Third Test at Headingley he removed the off-spinner Fred Titmus after he had taken three wickets to reduce Australia to 187/7, still 81 runs behind England. Dexter took the new ball and gave it to Fred Trueman who bowled a series of bouncers which Peter Burge hooked and pulled to 160, hoisting Australia to 389 and a 7 wicket win. Although the change made sense as the new batsman Neil Hawke was fragile against fast bowling and Trueman, the greatest wicket-taker in the world at the time, was playing on his home ground Dexter was heavily criticised for a decision which obviously lost the series. In the Fourth Test Australia made 656/8, but thanks to a stand of 246 between Ken Barrington (256) and Dexter (174) England reached 611 and avoided defeat. It was the first time that two teams had made 600 runs in an innings in a Test, and their fortunes gripped the cricketing nation, but the inevitable draw meant that Australia retained the Ashes. As some consolation Dexter led Sussex to the finals of the Gillette Cup in 1963 and 1964, and won both, the first trophies in the county's history.
Later career 1965–72
Above all we had Dexter's captaincy. One-day cricket was his kind of game: it was instant and aggressive and its atmosphere brought out the best in him. He really became involved, more so than in county games. He even made a marked difference to our one day performances when he returned for a season of Sunday League games in the early 1970s.
John Snow
Dexter declared himself unavailable for the 1964–65 tour of South Africa as he contested Jim Callaghan's Cardiff South East seat for the Conservative Party in the 1964 General Election. Finding himself free to tour after his defeat he was made vice-captain to M. J. K. Smith, who won the series and continued as captain. His cricket career was virtually ended by an accident in 1965. His Jaguar car ran out of petrol in west London, and he was pushing it to safety when it pinned him to a warehouse door, breaking his leg. He left Sussex and played occasional Sunday games with the International Cavaliers, and made 104 when they defeated the 1966 West Indians by 7 wickets. He returned briefly in 1968, making 203 not out in his comeback match against Kent, but failing in the 1968 Ashes series. He played Sunday League games for Sussex in 1971 and 1972.
Administration 1989–2003
If you are going to lose, you might as well lose good and proper and try to sneak a win.
Ted Dexter
Dexter retired from cricket to concentrate on other interests in 1968, remaining a journalist, becoming a broadcaster and founding a PR company. In the late 1980s he joined Bob Willis to find new fast bowlers for English cricket. Sponsored by a brewery, application forms were sent to pubs to encourage young men, but most were filled in by jokers and drunks and only a few potential candidates were discovered. These were trained with javelin throwing and other exercises to strengthen their back and arm muscles, but the only bowler in the scheme who played first-class cricket had been signed up by Warwickshire before its inception. The plan therefore failed even though it generated much publicity and showed a certain amount of imagination and initiative.
In 1987, Dexter had the idea of developing a ranking system for Test cricketers. He developed the system with statisticians Gordon Vince and Rob Eastaway, and it was launched as the Deloittes Ratings. The Ratings steadily gained credibility, and were formally adopted by the International Cricket Council in 2003, and have become the official ICC Player Rankings. In an article in The Cricketer magazine in 2005, Dexter was quoted as saying: "The rankings idea was my biggest contribution to cricket. Much better than being known for hitting a couple of extra-cover drives." Former cricketer and analyst Simon Hughes in his bibliography titled And God Created Cricket noted that Dexter's ideas had shaped modern cricket.
In 1989 he succeeded Peter May as Chairman of the England Cricket Selectors, receiving a modest £18,000 pay to compensate for his lost newspaper contract, the first chairman to be paid. "Dexter was soon in action, initially by way of press conferences and then, as the season developed, by lightning visits to the county grounds. These he made, despite an operation to a heel that put him for a while on crutches, by motorbike and car, a demonstration of enthusiasm and interest that was impressive." After the chaos of 1988 – the so-called Summer of Four Captains – he wanted the tough Mike Gatting as captain, but was vetoed by Ossie Wheatley and his status was immediately undermined. Instead the more relaxed David Gower was appointed for the six-Test series. Dexter tackled the role with energy and enthusiasm, but the shine soon wore off as Allan Border's 1989 Australians beat England 4–0 to regain the Ashes, their first series victory in England since 1975. His cause was not helped by the announcement of the Mike Gatting's rebel tour of South Africa in the middle of the series, which removed more than fifteen England players from contention. Admittedly England were already 2–0 down in the series and none of these players had shown any talent so far in the summer, but it was an indication of the division and demoralisation of English cricket. In the First Test at Headingley Dexter selected four fast bowlers and no spinners for the team, advised Gower to put Australia in to bat, only to see them make 601/7 and win by 210 runs. For the Second Test he wrote an inspirational hymn for the England cricketers to sing called "Onward Gower's Soldiers" (to the tune of "Onward, Christian Soldiers") and appointed a team chaplain, but remained aloof from the players and seldom visited the dressing room. At the end of the summer he told the press that he couldn't think of any mistakes he had made and later joked that the "lines of Venus were in the wrong juxtaposition", which was incorrectly interpreted by the press as a genuine belief in New Age mysticism. The lackadaisical Gower was fired at the end of the summer and the more painstaking Graham Gooch was made captain until 1993, despite Dexter having called his previous appointment as captain as "being hit in the face by a dead fish".
Dexter's tenure as Chairman of Selectors coincided with a poor period in English cricket, but there were some successes; these included the first Test victory over the West Indies for 16 years in 1990, victories over New Zealand and India in the run-laden summer of 1990, and the 2–2 draw with the West Indies in 1991. Against this England suffered two further series defeats to Australia (3–0 in 1990–91 and 4–1 in 1993), and were heavily defeated 3–0 in India in 1992–93, after Gower was controversially dropped from the team. Dexter resigned under a cloud at the end of 1993, but his overhaul of the antiquated structure of English cricket and forward-looking reforms such as the change from three- to four-day county cricket had a significant impact. Richie Benaud commented that the structures he put in place "will be of great of benefit to English cricket in years to come. Equally, I'm in no doubt that others will take the credit for it." He also became president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), and was chairman of the MCC's cricket committee until 2003, when he was replaced by Tony Lewis. He was also Chairman of the MCC's "England Committee", which was an administrative role and was awarded the CBE in the 2001 New Year Honours.
Style
Dexter's power amazed everyone who had not had the joy of watching him in other innings in England and in Perth. He took chances – thank goodness for those who look on batting as a challenge! – but he made superb strokes, with his driving tremendous in power and placement. Sometimes, in fact, the placement didn't matter so much because the power sent the ball through men recognized as outstanding fielders. Once such stroke, a cover-drive, was through Thomas's legs just as he got his hands there. I felt glad that the ball went between his legs and that his hands were not behind it. Not even Jehu drove more furiously than Dexter, and a direct hit on the leg or hands might well have put this accomplished fieldsman out of action.
Johnnie Moyes
Ted Dexter was a cavalier batsman in the old amateur style and a ferocious strokemaker, but was known as being moody and mercurial. As a batsman he could leave the hands of the fielders team bruised and reddened with his powerful drives and cuts. To see "Lord Ted" thrashing the fast bowling was one of the most thrilling sights in cricket and he could make any run chase look possible. His great fault was that he seldom gave a bowling attack due respect and got himself out with rash strokes. Though more a batsman than a bowler he could seam and swing the ball, was a useful third paceman even at Test level and was an excellent fielder anywhere. Dexter was a natural one-day player, where his big hitting, tidy bowling, keen fielding and lively captaincy gave Sussex their first two trophies – the inaugural Gillette Cup in 1963 and again in 1964. He devised innovative field placings for limited overs games and his 'ideas changed the game forever. It is no exaggeration to say that Dexter was the man who shaped modern cricket'. In first-class matches he bored easily and his strokes of genius were in the end outweighed by his mistakes. As captain he had "more theories than Charles Darwin", sometimes shifting fielders on a whim and was hailed as a genius if a wicket fell as a result. He was dictatorial on the field, rarely consulting with his bowlers about field placings and pulling them off by saying "You've had enough now. Get down to third man"
Outside cricket
Ted Dexter's wife arrived in Australia. Ted's wife was a looker and a model. She is a very lovely lady, but on hearing of her arrival, when Ted faced the press, the majority of questions posed were about his wife...during an England cricket team press conference!
Fred Trueman
Dexter married Susan Longfield on 2 May 1959 . She was the daughter of a former Kent cricketer Tom Longfield, whom he met at a party at Cambridge University while still an undergraduate and decided to marry on sight.
She worked as a model and she joined her husband on the tour of Australia in 1962–63, where she generated considerable press interest and earned more than any of the cricketers. They had a son Thomas and a daughter Genevieve.
Dexter was a talented golfer, an amateur champion, and some believe could have achieved success in that sport if he had not chosen cricket.<ref>Gregory, Kenneth (1986), "Cricketers in Other Fields, p. 640 in E. W. Swanton ed. The Barclays World of Cricket, Collins</ref> In Australia in 1962–1963 he played a foursome with Norman Von Nida, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player (with Colin Cowdrey as his caddy) and they offered to take him to America to become a tournament golfer, but Dexter declined. He also went on to win the President's Putter three times in his career.
Dexter owned Jaguar cars, Norton motorbikes, greyhounds, race horses and in 1970 piloted his Aztec BPA-23 Pommies Progress to Australia with his family to cover the Ashes as a journalist, covering 12,000 miles and making 24 stops.
Dexter launched his own PR company, which ran for many years and briefly became a television cricket commentator, alongside Richie Benaud and Denis Compton. He wrote a weekly column on cricket for The Observer, and then, more lucratively, for the Sunday Mirror.
His fondness for horse racing exceeded even that of Gary Sobers and Brian Close. He carried a then rare portable television to watch races in cricket dressing rooms and once declared a Sussex innings from Brighton Racecourse.
He co-wrote with Clifford Makins the crime novel Testkill (1976) where an Australian bowler is murdered during play at a Test match against England at Lord's.
In December 2012, on BBC One's Antiques Roadshow, Dexter appeared with expert Paul Atterbury who confessed to having held Dexter as a personal hero since childhood. Dexter explained that his father, Major R. M. Dexter, had been an officer with the Royal Artillery's 84th Brigade Royal Field Artillery and had lived through the Battle of the Somme. He was the only serving officer who enlisted at the start of the war to have survived until the end, and had been awarded the Military Cross, a medal which had now been stolen.
Death
Dexter died on 25 August 2021 at the age of 86 in Wolverhampton due to an age-related illness. He left a widow Susan (whom he married in 1959), a son, daughter and several grandchildren. In a statement following his death, Marylebone Cricket Club described him as "one of England's greatest ever cricketers". England players wore black armbands as a tribute during the second day of the third test match of the series between India and England at Headingley.
See also
List of Test cricketers born in non-Test playing nations
References
Cited sources
Eager, Patrick and Ross, Alan (1989) Tour of Tours, Border's Victorious Australians of 1989, Hodder and Stoughton.
Moyes, Johnnie and Goodman, Tom (1965) With the M.C.C. in Australia 1962–63, A Critical Story of the Tour, The Sportsmans Book Club.
Snow, John (1976) Cricket rebel, an Autobiography. The Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. p. 25. .
Titmus, Fred (2005) My Life in Cricket, John Blake Publishing Ltd.
Trueman, Fred (2004) As It Was, The Memoirs of Fred Trueman, Pan Books.
Further reading
Trevor Bailey, Richie Benaud, Colin Cowdrey and Jim Laker The Lord's Taverners Fifty Greatest, Heinemann-Quixote, 1983
John Campbell Clark, Challenge renewed. The M.C.C. tour of Australia, 1962-3,
Ted Dexter, Ted Dexter's Cricket Book, Arthur Barker, 1963
Ted Dexter (Ed), Rothmans Book of Test Matches: England v. Australia, 1946–1963, Arthur Barker, 1964
Ted Dexter, Ted Dexter Declares – An Autobiography, Stanley Paul, 1966
Ted Dexter and Ian Wooldridge, The International Cavaliers' World of Cricket, Purnell, 1970
Ted Dexter and Michael McDonnell World of Golf, Littlehampton Book Services, 1970
Ted Dexter and Clifford Makins, Testkill, Allen & Unwin, 1976
Ted Dexter and Clifford Makins, Deadly Putter, Allen & Unwin, 1979
Ted Dexter, From Bradman to Boycott, The Master Batsmen, Queen Anne Press, 1981
Ted Dexter, My Golf, Arthur Barker, 1982
Ted Dexter, You Can Play Cricket, Severn House Publishers, 1982
Ted Dexter and David Lemmon, Walk to the Wicket, Allen and Unwin, 1984
Ted Dexter and Ralph Dellor, Ted Dexter's Little Cricket Book, A Collection of Inspirational Anecdotes, Bloomsbury Publishing, 1996
David Frith, England Versus Australia: An Illustrated History of Every Test Match Since 1877, Viking, 2007
Alan Lee, Lord Ted: The Dexter Enigma, Gollancz/Witherby, 1995
Derek Lodge, The Test Match Career of Ted Dexter, Spellmount Publishers, 1989
E. M. Wellings, Dexter v Benaud (MCC tour, Australia 1962–63)'', Bailey Brothers & Swinfen, 1963
External links
Cricketer of the Year, 1961
Ted Dexter's internet blog on current cricket issues
1935 births
2021 deaths
English cricketers of 1946 to 1968
England Test cricket captains
Sussex cricket captains
Cambridge University cricketers
International Cavaliers cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Gentlemen cricketers
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
English cricket administrators
Presidents of the Marylebone Cricket Club
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
English cricket commentators
Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge
People educated at Radley College
11th Hussars officers
British Army personnel of the Malayan Emergency
England cricket team selectors
Gentlemen of England cricketers
Conservative Party (UK) parliamentary candidates
British sportsperson-politicians
English cricketers
A. E. R. Gilligan's XI cricketers
T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers
Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team cricketers
England Test cricketers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space%20Seed
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Space Seed
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"Space Seed" is an episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek. It is the 22nd episode of the first season and was first broadcast by NBC on February 16, 1967. "Space Seed" was written by Gene L. Coon and Carey Wilber and directed by Marc Daniels. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. In this episode, the Enterprise crew encounter a sleeper ship holding genetically engineered superpeople from Earth's past. Their leader, Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), attempts to take control of Enterprise. The episode also guest stars Madlyn Rhue as Lt. Marla McGivers, who becomes romantically involved with Khan.
Wilbur conceived the general plot for a different series, Captain Video and His Video Rangers, which featured humans from Ancient Greece who were preserved in cryogenic suspension and revived. The script changed numerous times during preproduction as producer Bob Justman felt that it would be too expensive to film. Eventually Gene L. Coon and series creator Gene Roddenberry also made alterations. These revisions include the marooning of the criminals at the end of the episode and the change of the primary villain from a Nordic character to a Sikh. Roddenberry attempted to claim the primary writing credit for "Space Seed", a request turned down by the Writers Guild of America.
Montalbán was the casting director's first choice for Khan and described the role as "wonderful". Despite being planned as an inexpensive bottle episode, the special sets and shots using starship miniatures caused the episode to go over budget. On first broadcast, the episode held second place in the ratings for the first half-hour with 13.12 million viewers, but during the second half it was pushed into third place. "Space Seed" has been named one of the best episodes of the series by Cinefantastique, IGN, and other publications. The 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan serves as a sequel to this episode. Plot elements of the episode and The Wrath of Khan were also used in the 2013 film Star Trek Into Darkness, and references to it appear in episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Plot
The USS Enterprise finds the SS Botany Bay adrift in space. A landing party consisting of Captain Kirk, Doctor Leonard McCoy, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott, and historian Lieutenant Marla McGivers beams over to the derelict. The landing party finds a cargo of dozens of humans still alive in suspended animation after nearly 200 years. McGivers identifies the group's leader, who begins to revive and is taken back to Enterprise for medical examination.
Kirk has Botany Bay taken in tow by a tractor beam, and Enterprise sets course for Starbase 12. In sickbay, the group's leader awakens and introduces himself as "Khan". McGivers marvels over Khan, a living relic from the 20th century, her field of interest. First Officer Spock discovers that their guest is actually Khan Noonien Singh, who, along with his people, are products of 20th-century selective breeding designed to create perfect humans. The genetic superhumans instead became tyrants and conquered more than a third of the planet during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s.
Khan is placed under guard in quarters. McGivers is sent to brief him on current events. Taking advantage of McGivers' attraction towards him, Khan tells her he means to rule mankind again and needs her help to take over Enterprise. Reluctantly, she agrees, and Khan revives the rest of his people and take control of Enterprise. Khan throws Kirk into a decompression chamber, and threatens to slowly suffocate him unless Enterprises command crew agree to follow him. Having a change of heart, McGivers frees Kirk from the chamber. Kirk and Spock vent anesthetic gas throughout the entire ship to disable Khan and his people. Khan escapes the gas and goes to Engineering, where he attempts to destroy Enterprise, but Kirk confronts him. Kirk knocks Khan unconscious in the resulting fight.
Holding a hearing to decide the fate of Khan and his people. Kirk offers Khan exile to Ceti Alpha V, a harsh world that he believes would be a perfect place for Khan to "tame", rather than sending them to a penal colony. Khan accepts, citing Milton's Paradise Lost. Instead of a court-martial for McGivers, Kirk allows her to go with Khan. Spock notes that it would be interesting to see what Khan makes of Ceti Alpha V in 100 years.
Production
Writing
Carey Wilber was hired to write a script for an episode of Star Trek. His idea was based on an episode he wrote for the television series Captain Video and His Video Rangers (1949–1955). His work on that show featured Ancient Greek-era humans transported in suspended animation through space, with the people of the future finding that they have mythological powers. For "Space Seed", Wilber replaced these mythological powers with abilities that were enhanced due to genetic engineering. Wilber had briefly worked with Gene Roddenberry on the television series Harbormaster. His science fiction extended beyond Star Trek: he also wrote scripts for Lost in Space and The Time Tunnel around the same time.
In Wilber's first proposal for the story that became "Space Seed", dated August 29, 1966 (shortly before the first episode of Star Trek aired) the villain was Harold Erickson, an ordinary criminal exiled into space. He sought to free his gang from Botany Bay, seize Enterprise, and become a pirate. Parts of the story were inspired by the use of penal colonies in the 18th century, and characterizations were based on descriptions from the series' writer's bible. As a result, several elements of the draft differed from how the characters behaved in the series; for example, the draft includes a scene where Spock defeats Kirk at chess by cheating. Producer Gene L. Coon told Wilber that his work was the best outline he had seen during his time on Star Trek. Fellow producer Bob Justman was less enthusiastic; he compared it negatively to Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and felt the concept would be too expensive to film. There were also concerns that an unsolicited script submitted by science fiction author Philip José Farmer resembled the proposed plot which, as Roddenberry had corresponded with Farmer, might lead to litigation.
NBC executives reviewed the plot for "Space Seed" and approved it, but Justman reassessed the outline, saying that it needed to be heavily revised. In September, Wilber was given a list of suggested changes including asking him to remove any mention of the setting, as the producers did not want to say how far in the future Star Trek was set, and to remove the chess scene. Wilber submitted a second draft, but Roddenberry still had problems with basic elements of the script. He did not believe common criminals would be fired into space as a solution and strongly disliked the notion of space pirates. The second draft introduced the idea that Kirk marooned Erickson and his crew on a new planet; this remained in the final version. Wilber was not asked for a third draft; Coon was tasked with the re-write; he submitted it on December 7 and updated it twice over the following five days. Wilber accepted Coon's re-writes, and left the staff after the submission of his second draft as his contractual obligations were complete.
Coon proposed that Erickson should be a rival to Kirk, a genetic superman who had once ruled part of Earth. Roddenberry and Justman were still unhappy with the script, and Roddenberry revised it once more a week before filming was due to begin, after Montalbán had been cast. In this draft the blond Nordic character of Erickson became closer to the version seen on screen. In Roddenberry and Coon's script, the character was renamed Sibahl Khan Noonien. The name Govin Bahadur Singh was suggested by the DeForest Research company, who checked scripts for potential errors on behalf of the production company; the Singh name was suggested in part because it was closer to actual Sikh names. Coon and Roddenberry settled on Khan Noonien Singh; Roddenberry had an old Chinese friend named Noonien Wang that he had lost touch with, and hoped that Wang would see the episode and contact him. In the final draft, Roddenberry listed himself as the primary writer, Coon as co-writer and Wilber was absent, but the Writers Guild of America turned down Roddenberry's request to be credited; Coon received the main credit; Wilber was given co-writer and "story-by" credits. Wilber did not often watch his own work, and nearly thirty years later had never seen "Space Seed". Coon was later credited as Lee Cronin for his part in production of the script.
Casting
Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán was cast as the genetic superman Khan Noonian Singh, having been the first choice for the role. He had been suggested by casting director Joseph D'Agosta, who was not looking to cast an actor of a particular ethnic background due to Roddenberry's vision for the series; Roddenberry wanted to show his perceived 23rd century values by not requiring any specific ethnicities when casting actors in guest roles. Montalbán had previously appeared in a television movie created by Roddenberry, The Secret Weapon of 117 (also referred to as The Secret Defense of 117), which was the writer's first attempt to create science fiction on television and aired more than ten years before Star Trek. Montalbán called his role as Khan "wonderful", saying that "it was well-written, it had an interesting concept and I was delighted it was offered to me". The main cast were enthusiastic about working with Montalbán; DeForest Kelley later said "I enjoyed working with Ricardo the best. I was privileged. He is a marvelous actor."
Madlyn Rhue, who portrayed Lt. Marla McGivers, had previously worked with Montalbán in an episode of Bonanza in 1960 as his on-screen wife; she later appeared with him in a 1982 episode of Fantasy Island. Montalbán and Rhue also appeared in separate episodes of Roddenberry's previous NBC television series, The Lieutenant (1963–1964). Main cast member George Takei did not appear in "Space Seed"; the character of Hikaru Sulu was replaced by Blaisdell Makee as Lt. Spinelli. It was the first of two appearances in Star Trek for Makee, who returned in the episode "The Changeling" as Lt. Singh. John Winston appeared for the second time as Lt. Kyle, and went on to make nine further episodic appearances in that role. Following positive feedback from the producers and the network regarding James Doohan, "Space Seed" was the first episode to feature a more prominent role for his character, Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott.
Filming, costumes and post production
Filming of "Space Seed" began December 15, 1966, and concluded on December 22 after six days of shooting. Roddenberry, Coon and Wilber's rewrites resulted in a shooting script of nearly 60 pages and 120 scenes. Marc Daniels was hired to direct the episode; he had previously worked on The Lieutenant. The first day's filming coincided with the airing of the episode "Balance of Terror", and Daniels allowed the cast and crew to go home early to watch it. The other five days ran to schedule, to the extent that there was an early finish on the final day of filming, allowing cast and crew time to return home to watch a repeat of the episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" which had replaced "Arena" on that evening's schedule. A scene filmed but later cut from the episode depicted a discussion between McGivers and Angela Martine (Barbara Baldavin), intended to show that McGivers was looking for a forceful man. Further scenes were trimmed after filming following input from NBC. For example, scenes shot on the Botany Bay were cut as executives felt the costumes worn by the newly awakened crew were too revealing.
The character of Khan required five costumes, more than any other guest star in the entire series. This meant that the staff working on costumes had less time to devote to any one costume. Montalbán's athletic physique was such that when his measurements were passed to them, staff thought there had been a mistake. Costume designer William Ware Theiss found it challenging to produce the outfits in the time allotted, to make the materials seem suitably futuristic and to fit his own preferences in design. Two of Khan's outfits re-used previous costumes, while three were specifically created for Montalbán. The production built two new sets for the episode: the decompression chamber in sickbay, and the set on board Botany Bay. A doorframe from that set was later reused as an overhead unit in McCoy's research lab, which appeared later in the series.
Post-production on "Space Seed" began on December 23, 1966, and ran through February 5 the following year. The Westheimer Company produced the majority of effects in the episode, but the scenes of Enterprise and Botany Bay in space were produced by Film Effects of Hollywood who were not credited on screen for their work. Botany Bay utilized a design Matt Jefferies created prior to the USS Enterprise. It had been previously labeled "antique space freighter", and was built by Film Effects of Hollywood. The creation of the ship miniature caused the episode to go over budget by more than $12,000; "Space Seed" actually cost a total of $197,262 against a budget of $180,000. By this point, the series was nearly $80,000 over budget in total. The Botany Bay model was later re-purposed as a freighter for the episode "The Ultimate Computer".
The sound effects team borrowed effects and manipulated them in order to achieve the "painted sound" effect sought by Roddenberry. Although a number of sources were used, they attempted to avoid most science fiction television series as they wanted an authentic sound. The sound archive of the United States Air Force was used, although the photon torpedo sound was created from the 1953 film The War of the Worlds. "Space Seed" was awarded the Golden Reel for sound editing on television by the Motion Picture Sound Editors society.
Reception
Broadcast
"Space Seed" was first broadcast in the United States on February 16, 1967, on NBC. A 12-city overnight Trendex report compiled by Nielsen ratings showed that during the first half-hour, it held second place in the ratings behind Bewitched on ABC with 13.12 million viewers compared to Bewitcheds 14.44 million. The episode beat My Three Sons on CBS. During the second half-hour it was pushed into third place in the ratings by the start of the Thursday Night Movie on CBS, the Western film One-Eyed Jacks starring Marlon Brando, which received 35.5 percent of the audience share compared to 28 percent for "Space Seed".
A high-definition remastering of "Space Seed", which introduced new special effects and starship exteriors as well as enhanced music and audio, was shown for the first time on November 18, 2006, in broadcast syndication. It was the eleventh remastered episode to be shown. This meant that the episode was made available to over 200 local stations across the United States with the rights to broadcast Star Trek, and depending on the station it was broadcast either on November 18 or 19.
Critical reception
In 1967, The Indiana Gazette described "Space Seed" as "a good piece of science fiction". The Kokomo Tribune called it "imaginative", and also said that the episode was "particularly interesting" for "its commentary on the scientific know-how of the late 1990s".
Later reviewers watched the episodes several decades after broadcast. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club gave the episode an 'A' rating, noting its strong characters and the interplay between Kirk and Spock that emphasizes their friendship. Michelle Erica Green called the episode "legendary" in her review for TrekNation. She thought that Khan made the "perfect foil" for the trio of Kirk, Spock and McCoy and said that the episode was not dulled by later episodes and films based on "Space Seed". In Mark Pickavance's review at Den of Geek, he said that it remained an "obvious choice of great source material" to be followed up in a film.
The review by Eugene Myers and Torrie Atkinson on Tor.com criticized the attraction between McGivers and Khan, saying that it was "really uncomfortable to watch her immediate attraction to him and her easy acceptance of his abusive and controlling behavior". Both praised the episode, Myers giving it a five out of six, and Atkinson a six out of six rating. Tor.com also placed "Space Seed" at number three of Star Treks most underappreciated elements, saying that, "As an introductory story to what old school Star Trek was all about, 'Space Seed' is perfect. It presents an original science fiction concept, grapples with notions of human technology and ingenuity creating a monster, and features Captain Kirk beating the crap out of someone with a piece of Styrofoam. What more could you want?"
The episode appears in numerous publications’ lists of top Original Series episodes, including Newsweek, Forbes, Collider, TV Guide, Vulture, and Entertainment Weekly; IGN ranked "Space Seed" as the fourth best, praising the fist fight between Kirk and Khan. It appeared in the top ten episodes listed by Cinefantastique and was also included in a list of ten "must see" Star Trek episodes on The A.V. Club. Handlen said that it "features a terrific performance from guest star Montalbán, gives the franchise one of its greatest villains, and sets the stage for one of the best science-fiction adventure movies ever made".
Home media release and other adaptations
The first adaptation of "Space Seed" was as a re-working into a short story by author James Blish as part of the novelization Star Trek 2. This book contained seven short stories, each based on an episode of The Original Series and was published in 1968. The adaptation of "Space Seed" appeared as the final story in the book.
"Space Seed" was the first Star Trek episode to go on public sale, sold as a single-episode VHS cassette in June 1982 by Paramount Home Video. It was one of the episodes of The Original Series published on Capacitance Electronic Disc, alongside "The Changeling", released on November 1, 1982. A LaserDisc of the episode, alongside "Return of the Archons" was released in 1985. Further releases of all episodes of the series were made on VHS and Betamax. These releases reverted to a single episode tape as in the original 1982 version.
The episode was released on DVD paired with "A Taste of Armageddon" as part of the general release of the series in 2000. There were no additional extras added to that entire series of releases, except the DVD containing "Turnabout Intruder". "Space Seed" was later released within a DVD box set of the first season in 2004; all three seasons of The Original Series were released as full-season box sets that year. The episode was included in the remastered season one release on DVD and Blu-ray in 2009. This release featured CGI remodels of Enterprise and other space scenes, including the Botany Bay. The most recent release is as part of the Star Trek: Origins collection on Blu-ray, which was released in 2013.
Legacy
Khan
The events of "Space Seed" are followed up in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Harve Bennett was hired to produce a sequel to Star Trek: The Motion Picture having never seen the television series; he watched every episode in preparation and latched onto Khan from "Space Seed" as the compelling villain he considered to be lacking from the first film.
In reprising the role of Khan, Montalbán worried that fans would see him only as Mr. Roarke from Fantasy Island but felt that he managed to recapture the character after re-watching "Space Seed". The film set a record for the opening weekend gross of $14.3 million, and went on to take $78.9 million domestically within the United States, making it the sixth best-selling film of the year.
Khan recognizes Pavel Chekov although the character did not join Star Trek until season two, after this episode took place. This latter error was described in Deborah Cartmell and Imelda Whelehan's book, Adaptations: From Text to Screen, Screen to Text as the "gaffe notorious throughout Star Trek fandom". The novelization of The Wrath of Khan stated that Chekov was working on the night shift at the time. "Catspaw" with Chekov has an earlier Stardate than "Space Seed", confirming that he joined Enterprise before Khan's arrival.
A non-canonical novelization by Greg Cox was later released in 2005 to fill in the timeframe between "Space Seed" and the film, titled To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh. This book expanded on Khan's romance with McGivers, and the author wanted to "give her a spine" as he felt that she was not "the pride of Starfleet, and even less of a feminist role-model" in her appearance in "Space Seed".
Events of both "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan were also directly referenced in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness, in which Benedict Cumberbatch portrayed Khan. The film took $70.1 million on the opening weekend, and $467.3 million internationally throughout the cinematic release.
As part of their line of licensed Star Trek comic books, IDW Publishing launched a five-part mini-series titled Star Trek: Khan which described the early part of Khan's life and how the events in Star Trek Into Darkness diverged from those seen in "Space Seed". One of the film's writers, Roberto Orci, was the story consultant on the comic series. This series also explained how Khan changed physically in order to be represented by Cumberbatch in the film. A retro-style film poster for "Space Seed" was created by Juan Ortiz in 2013, released around the same as Star Trek Into Darkness.
The television series Star Trek: Enterprise makes several further references to the events first described in "Space Seed". In "Twilight", the survivors of the Xindi attack on Earth eventually resettle on Ceti Alpha V. The development of Khan and his followers were said to have been through selective breeding in "Space Seed". American sociologist William Sims Bainbridge said that this method would have been unable to create genetic supermen in such a short space of time and that today the less implausible method of genetic engineering (directly changing the DNA code) would be used. In fact, subsequent references to the creation of Khan and the other supermen, such as in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume", substituted genetic engineering.
Eugenics Wars
The Eugenics Wars, first mentioned in "Space Seed", are stated in the Star Trek Chronology by Michael and Denise Okuda as taking place between 1992 and 1996. They considered it fortunate that these events did not come to pass in the real world, and noted that the development of the Botany Bay in 1996 as an instance of where "Star Trek technological predictions have missed by a significant margin". The war itself has been referenced elsewhere in the Star Trek franchise. The first mention of the wars following "Space Seed" was in the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "The Infinite Vulcan", in which a cloned version of Dr. Stavos Keniclius, a scientist from that era, clones Spock. Later, during the production of "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", writer René Echevarria, seeking a secret past for Doctor Julian Bashir, noted that coverage of the issue of eugenics in Star Trek had been limited to Khan and his followers. Fellow writer Ronald D. Moore decided to link the background of Bashir to genetic engineering. "Encounter at Farpoint" and Star Trek First Contact confused matters by saying World War III (otherwise known as The Eugenics Wars) had occurred in the 2050s. When Echevarria wrote that the Eugenics Wars took place 200 years before the Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume?", he took the time interval directly from The Wrath of Khan, failing to factor in the additional century between the events of the original series (and its associated films).
Novelist Gary Cox first mentioned the events of the Eugenics Wars in his non-canonical novel Assignment: Eternity, which followed up on the events of the episode "Assignment: Earth" and included the characters of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln. In it, he mentioned that Seven and Lincoln were involved in overthrowing Khan during the Eugenics Wars. He had not intended to explore this any further, but he was prompted to do so by his editor at Pocket Books. He wrote a story, split into two books, about the specific events of the Eugenics Wars, entitled Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh. As the Eugenics Wars were already meant to have taken place, he described them as a secret history that was not discovered until generations had passed. He also felt that this approach would make the books consistent with the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Future's End" in which the crewmembers travel in time to the same period of Earth's history as the Eugenics Wars, but find no such wars taking place. A further version of the Eugenics Wars was presented in the Star Trek: Khan comic book mini-series.
The Enterprise season four episodes "Borderland", "Cold Station 12" and "The Augments" showed a further group of genetic superpeople produced from embryos produced in the same era as Khan and his crew. This was a deliberate link by the producers of Enterprise to both "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan, and was one of several plots during the fourth season of the show to include elements of Star Trek: The Original Series in the hope that this would boost ratings.
Annotations
Notes
References
External links
"Space Seed" Second revised final draft December 13, 1966; report & analysis by Dave Eversole
1967 American television episodes
Fiction about suspended animation
Television episodes about eugenics
Star Trek: The Original Series (season 1) episodes
Television episodes written by Gene L. Coon
Television episodes directed by Marc Daniels
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San%20Luis%20Potos%C3%AD
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San Luis Potosí
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San Luis Potosí (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosí (), is one of the 32 states which compose the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 58 municipalities and its capital city is San Luis Potosí City.
It is located in eastern and central Mexico and is bordered by seven other Mexican states: Nuevo León to the north; Tamaulipas to the north-east; Veracruz to the east; Hidalgo, Querétaro and Guanajuato to the south; and Zacatecas to north-west. In addition to the capital city, other major cities in the state include Ciudad Valles, Matehuala, Rioverde, and Tamazunchale.
History
In pre-Columbian times, the territory now occupied by the state of San Luis Potosí contained parts of the cultural areas of Mesoamerica and Aridoamerica. Its northern and western-central areas were inhabited by the Otomi and Chichimeca tribes. These indigenous groups were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Although many indigenous people died during Spanish colonization, Huasteco groups still live, along with Pame and Náhua peoples.
In 1592, gold and silver deposits were discovered, which triggered the establishment of the state. Spanish miners established the first town known as “San Luis de Mezquitique”, modern location of the capital San Luis Potosí. This led to Juan de Oñate being appointed as the first mayor.
The State was given the name "San Luis Rey", King Saint Louis, in honor of Louis IX of France, and "Potosí" because the wealth of the state compared to the rich silver mines in Potosí, Bolivia. Settlers had hopes of rivaling the Bolivian mine wealth, but this was never truly accomplished. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Franciscans, Augustinians, and Jesuits arrived in the area and settled, then began to build churches and buildings, many of which are still standing and have been turned into museums and universities.
In mid-1821, after the Independence of Mexico, General Jose Antonio Echavarri intimidated and threatened the Mayor and the City Council to surrender the city of San Luis to the Army of the Three Guarantees of Agustín de Iturbide (Ejercito de las Tres Garantias de Iturbide), who at the time was emperor of Mexico. They submitted to his demand, as there was no way to resist, and thus proclamation of Independence of San Luis Potosí was declared. The first Constitution of San Luis Potosí was then written on October 16, 1826, and this was in effect until 1835 when Congress proclaimed it centralist. At this point, local legislatures disappeared and state governors were appointed by the central government. This situation lasted until the promulgation of the 1857 Constitution.
The state participation in the Mexican–American War in the years of 1846-1847 gave it the name "San Luis de la Patria", which translates into English, Saint Louis of the Homeland, for having contributed important leaders and ideas during the struggle with the United States. During the Reform War, state involvement was very prominent, and during the French Intervention in 1863, the city of San Luis Potosí became the capital of the country under the order of President Benito Juárez.
During the regime of Maximilian, San Luis became an important location. The city was held by the Imperialists until late 1866. In that year, the telegraph line was opened between San Luis Potosí and Mexico City, which opened up communication lines and helped begin the industrialization of the state.
Geography
The state lies mostly on the Mexican Plateau, with the exception of the eastern part of the state, where the tableland breaks down into the tropical valley of the Tampaon River (which continues flowing northwestward until it becomes the Pánuco River, which divides San Luis Potosí from the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas). The surface of the plateau is comparatively level, with some low mountainous wooded ridges. The Sierra Madre Oriental runs north and south through the state, and separates the Mexican Plateau from the Gulf Coastal Plain to the east. The Sierra Madre Oriental is home to the Sierra Madre Oriental pine-oak forests. The easternmost portion of the state lies on the Gulf Coastal Plain, and covered by the Veracruz moist forests. The eastern part is included in the region commonly referred to as "La Huasteca".
The Tampaón river and its tributaries drain the southern and southeastern portion of the state. The northern and central portion of the state, including the capital, lie on an interior drainage basin which does not drain to the sea.
The mean elevation is about 6,000 ft ensuring a temperate climate for the most part. The state lies partly within the arid zone of the north, while the southern half receiving more rainfall through the influence of the Nortes, which deliver significant amounts of rain. The rainfall, however, is uncertain at the western and northern regions, and much of the state does not have major rivers. The soil is fertile and in favorable seasons large crops of wheat, maize, beans and cotton are grown on the uplands. In the low tropical valleys, sugar, coffee, tobacco, peppers and fruit are staple products. Livestock is an important industry and hides, tallow and wool are exported. Fine cabinet and construction woods are also made and exported to a limited extent.
Potosí (in Bolivia) was believed to have enough gold to build a bridge between Potosí and Spain. San Luis Potosí was compared to it upon the discovery of the mines and therefore named after it.
At one time San Luis Potosí ranked among the leading mining provinces of Mexico, but the revolts following independence resulted in a great decline in that industry. The area around Real de Catorce has some of the richest silver mines in the country. Other well-known silver mining districts are Peñón Blanco, Ramos and Guadalcázar. The development of Guadalcazar dates from 1620 and its ores yield gold, copper, zinc and bismuth, as well as silver. In the Ramos district, the Cocinera lode was said to have had a total yield of over $60,000,000 in the first decade of the 20th century.
Municipalities
The State of San Luis Potosí is divided into 58 municipalities (), each headed by a municipal president (mayor). These are similar in function to counties. Is it so divided into four zones municipalities Altiplano (Highlands), Centro (centre), Media and Huasteca zone
Major cities
San Luis Potosí, San Luis Potosí (state capital).
Soledad de Graciano Sánchez
Ciudad Valles
Matehuala
Rioverde
Tamazunchale
Cerritos
Villa De Pozos
Taquian de Escobedo
San Ciro de Acosta
Cárdenas. Ciudad del Maiz
Protected natural areas
The state has several protected elements included in the federal system of protected areas administered by the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP):
El Gogorrón National Park (declared in 1936, with , excluded from SINAP);
El Potosí National Park (declared in 1936, with , excluded from SINAP);
Sierra del Abra Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve (declared in 1994 with , SINAP 068).
Sierra de Álvarez Flora and Fauna Protection Area (declared in 1981, with , excluded from SINAP);
Sierra La Mojonera Flora and Fauna Protection Area (declared in 1981, with , excluded from SINAP);
It also has a declared place Ramsar site (n. Ref 1766, declared in 2008), Arrochas y Manantiales de Tanchachín.
In addition, it has 12 other natural areas protected by state competition managed by the SEGAM (Secretariat of Ecology and Environmental Management):
Natural Monument of "La Hoya de las Huahuas";
Natural Monument of "The Basement of the Swallows";
La Media Luna Spring State Park;
Palma Larga Manantial State Park;
Urban Park Paseo de la Presa de San José;
Ejido San Juan de Guadalupe Urban Park;
Sacred Natural Site «Caves of Wind and Fertility»;
Wirikuta Natural Sacred Site and the Huichol People's Historical Cultural Route;
"Real de Guadalcázar" State Reserve;
Sierra del Este and Sierra de En Medio State Reserve;
Spiny Forest Relic «Adolfo Roque Bautista Forest»;
Tancojol State Reserve.
Environmental issues
Mining
In 1996, Minera San Xavier (MSX), a subsidiary of Canadian company New Gold, announced plans to start open pit mining at Cerro San Pedro. There was major opposition to the project, but in 2007, the mine started operating, and was still both active and disputed as of 2016.
One of the mountains within the state's declared National Sacred Site, Wirikuta, is being purchased for silver mining by a Canadian company, First Majestic Silver . The mountain is an important site for the Huichol ceremonial migration, Peyote hunt, and deer dance. On October 27, 2000 United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) claimed this site as a protected area for its importance as a cultural route and endemic flora and fauna species. Later on June 9, 2001, it was declared as a National Sacred Site under the State of San Luis Potosí's Natural Protection act. Canada's First Majestic Silver Corp still decided to purchase mineral rights on November 13, 2009, with 80% of their interest within the protected land. The company's current methods includes open pit mining and leaching through cyanide, using two kilograms of NaCN per tonne of ore. While open pit mining itself removes entire habitats and landscapes, the addition of sodium cyanide (with a mean lethal dose of only 0.2 grams) is potentially lethal. In April 2010 the company also opened a new cyanidation plant in Coahila, Mexico where it has started producing 3500 tons of cyanide a day to help them expand their mining efforts. Currently the Huichol people are trying to find outside groups to help them in the conservation of their land and culture by protecting this mountain.
Coat of arms
The coat of arms of the state shows Louis IX of France, after whom the state was named, standing on a hill in the town of Cerro de San Pedro, where gold and silver were discovered. The state was well known for its gold and silver mines, so there are two gold bars on the left and two silver bars on the right. The blue and yellow backgrounds represent night and day, respectively.
Governors
The current governor is Ricardo Gallardo Cardona (2021–) of the Ecologist Green Party of Mexico.
Economy
The State has a unique position within the country, since it is located in between three major cities; Mexico City, Monterrey, and Guadalajara, and near four major ports; Tampico, Altamira, Manzanillo, and Mazatlán. Its varied climate patterns and territory along with extensive communications networks enabled it to maintain attractive business environments.
Traditionally, the Real de Minas potosino has driven the industrial engines in the state of San Luis Potosí, and as such, nowadays basic metallurgy still has the largest contribution within the gross domestic product of the entity. The main metals and products extracted across mines are zinc, copper, lead, gold, silver, mercury, manganese, and arsenic. Other major industries following the mining lead are in the sectors of chemicals, foods, beverages, tobacco, and textiles.
The services sector, also known as tertiary, is second regarding contribution to the state's income with a 21%, followed by commerce, hotels and restaurants with 18%.
These combined activities employ 51% of the economically active population or EAP.
Agriculture has been a traditional activity, sometimes still practiced in the Huasteca region. Currently, even if it contributes very little to the state GDP, it nevertheless employs as much as 20% of the EAP of the entity. The main agricultural products grown on Potosí soil are maize, beans, barley, sugar cane, oranges, coffee, sour lemon, prickly pear, and mango. Livestock activities are focused on raising sheep, cattle, and pigs.
The state is also a contributor to the large automotive industry of Mexico. General Motors now has a plant under construction, San Luis Potosí Assembly, to employ up to 1,800 people which will have the capacity to produce up to 160,000 vehicles per year, or about 440 cars per day.
The new plant in San Luis Potosí is an important pillar of the BMW Group's global production strategy who aim to achieve a balance in our production and sales in the different world regions. Its grand opening on June 7, 2019, created 1,500 jobs, eco friendly by being supplied with 100% of CO2 free electricity, and produce 150,000 (3 series model only) vehicles annually.
Cummins has also had a manufacturing presence in San Luis Potosí since 1980 and employs nearly 2,000 people there.
ABB Group multinational in Mexico moved its headquarters from Mexico City to San Luis Potosí in 2007.
Throughout the state, major industrial parks can be seen, especially in highly urbanized areas such as the capital, San Luis Potosí, and other major cities.
The minimum wage in the state is 66.45 pesos per day as of 2015
Demographics
The state of San Luis Potosí reports a population of 2,822,255 people. The population growth rate from 2010 to 2013 was about 3.6%.
The state's population is relatively young, 60% of its residents being under 30 years of age. The state reports a life expectancy rate similar to the national average, that is, 72 years for men, and 77 years of age for women.
Regarding cultural and ethnic diversity, 15% of the state population is indigenous, and the most representative language is Nahuatl, followed by Huasteco. The native people of the state include the Huastec and Pame peoples.
According to the 2020 Census, 44.8% of San Luis Potosí's population identified as Indigenous, 8.2% Afro-Mexican, and 39.1% Spanish descent and 7.9% mix/other.
Concerning immigrants and people of European ancestry, 63% of the population has some form of European roots, mostly from Spain. During the colonization and establishment of Mexico, there was a constant flow of Spanish immigrants. There have also been large influxes during instabilities in Spain, such as during the Spanish Civil War. Besides Spanish people, there is also a significant population of descendants of Italian immigrants, especially in cities such as Rio Verde and Cerritos. Most of the European peoples have arrived through the state of Veracruz to the East.
Nonetheless, due to its relative isolation, the state is one of the nine states in Mexico which report high rates of migration into the United States between the years of 2000 to 2008.
Education
The average schooling rate for those over 15 years of age lies at 7.7 years of education, considerably lower than the 8.1 found nationally. The same portion of those older than the age of 15 yield a 28% dropout rate of primary school. Children under the age of 14 years have a 4% school dropout rate. The literacy rate is about 90.8%, most of the illiterate being the older generation. There is only one major university in the state, Autonomous University of San Luis Potosí (UASLP).
Other higher education institutions include:
Instituto Tecnológico de San Luis Potosí (ITSLP).
Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Campus San Luis Potosí (ITESM).
Universidad del Valle de México, Campus San Luis Potosí (UVM).
Universidad Cuauhtémoc, Campus San Luis Potosí (UCSLP).
Universidad Tecnológica de San Luis Potosí (UTSLP).
Universidad Politécnica de San Luis Potosí (UPSLP).
College of San Luis Potosí (COLSAN).
Universidad del Centro de México (UCEM).
Media
Newspapers of San Luis Potosí include: Diario Regional El Mañana de Valles, El Sol de San Luis, Esto del Centro, Gran Diario Regional Zona Media El Mañana de Rioverde, La Jornada de San Luis, La Prensa del Centro, and Pulso Diario de San Luis.
Transportation
Ponciano Arriaga International Airport serves the capital of San Luis Potosí (named the same) with a variety of domestic and international daily flights. Other cities such as Matehuala, Tamuin and Rioverde also have airports but they only serve domestic flights.
Besides airports, the state has an extensive road network, like the rest of the country. Most of the roads are paved in urban areas and highways. Some small towns, however, have cobblestone streets.
Notable people and residents
Arts and sciences
Ana Bárbara – singer-songwriter
Cenobio Hernandez – composer
Julián Carrillo Trujillo – discovered the Thirteenth Sound theory of microtonal music.
Francisco González Bocanegra – author of the Mexican National Anthem
Manuel José Othón – poet
Eugenia Campbell Nowlin – American artist and artist administrator, born in San Luis Potosí.
Politics
Ponciano Arriaga
Miguel Barragán – President of Mexico
Carlos Jonguitud Barrios
Luis Ernesto Derbez
Alfonso Lastras Ramírez
Salvador Nava Martínez
Francisco Javier Salazar Sáenz
Enrique Márquez Jaramillo
Sports
Ivan Becerra – former professional football player
Jesús Cruz – Major League Baseball pitcher
Nery Castillo – former professional football player, was born in San Luis Potosí but moved away when he was 3 months old.
Alberto Del Rio – WWE wrestler
José Garfias – racing driver
Jorge Goeters – NASCAR driver
Mil Máscaras – professional wrestler
Luis Enrique Muñoz – professional football player
Juan Sánchez Purata – professional football player
Journalism
Jesús Blancornelas – a prize-winning journalist
See also
References
Sources
Ricketts, Taylor H., Eric Dinerstein, David M. Olson, Colby J. Loucks, et al. (1999). Terrestrial Ecoregions of North America: a Conservation Assessment. Island Press, Washington, D.C..
External links
San Luis Potosí state government
Events and entertainment in San Luis Potosí
Churches of San Luis Potosí
Tourism in San Luis Potosí
Administration of Justice
Art and Culture in San Luis Potosí
Interactive map of San Luis Potosí with the tourist points of interest
States of Mexico
Mexican Plateau states
States and territories established in 1823
1823 establishments in Mexico
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Societas%20Rosicruciana
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Societas Rosicruciana
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The Societas Rosicruciana (or Rosicrucian Society) is a Rosicrucian order which limits its membership to Christian Master Masons. The order was founded in Scotland, but now exists in England, Scotland, Canada, Portugal, and the United States. While a prospective member must be a Trinitarian Christian Master Mason in good standing with a Grand Lodge that is recognized by the Grand Lodge of the jurisdiction in which the Society meets, the various Societies have no other Masonic links, ties, or official recognition. Additionally, in some jurisdictions, membership is by invitation only. As the Society offers assistance to all its members in working out the great problems of nature and science, it functions in some respects as a research society.
History
The Societas Rosicruciana claims a link to the original Rosicrucian Brotherhood. It bases its teachings on those found in the Fama and Confessio Fraternitas texts published in Germany in the early 17th century, along with other similar publications from the same time.
There are a number of Societas Rosicrucianas throughout the world:
Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS; Scotland)
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA; England)
Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF; United States)
Societas Rosicruciana in Canada (SRIC; Canada)
Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania (SRIL; Portugal)
Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS)
The first Societas Rosicruciana was that of Scotland, known as the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS).
As at January 2014 there are seven Colleges in Scotland, three in Australia, one in Hong Kong and one in Finland.
The Colleges in Scotland are the Metropolitan College (Edinburgh), the East of Scotland College (Dundee), Abraxas College (Falkirk) the West of Scotland College (Glasgow), the Muse Coila College (Stewarton, Ayrshire) the Inverness College (Inverness) and the Semper Discens College (Aberdeen).
The Colleges in Australia are the Aurora Australis College (Petersham, NSW) and the Hunter Valley College (New Lambton, NSW)
The Huon Pine College is in Launceston, Tasmania. The Hong Kong College is in Hong Kong. The Aurora Borealis College is in Seinäjoki, Finland.
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was founded in 1867 and derived from the SRIS following the admission of William James Hughan and Robert Wentworth Little into that order. The two of them were advanced quickly in Scotland and granted a warrant to form a Society in England. The formation meeting took place on June 1, 1867 in Aldermanbury, London, with Robert Wentworth Little elected Supreme Magus.
Most Colleges in Australia belong to provinces within the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA).
Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis is a Rosicrucian Society based in the United States. Its history begins with the formation of a Grand High Council on April 21, 1880. Its official consecration occurred on September 21, 1880, by three Colleges chartered by the Societas Rosicruciana In Scotia. High Grade senior Christian Freemasons in the United States in search of the Classical Rosicrucian Society for Masons in the United Kingdom became interested in organizing a similar body in the United States. They did so under Scotland's authority (Societas Rosicruciana In Scotia) with the help of Most Worthy Charles Matier of the SRIS, as early as 1873. This effort died out two years later under the care of R.W. Frater George S. Blackie VIII and was then re-chartered by the SRIS later again in 1878. Dr. Jonathon J. French was a IX grade head of the Rosicrucian Society of the United States and opened the Matier Royal Provincial College with a charter from Lord Inverurie, Earl of Kintore and Supreme Magus of the SRIS. The college was named after Charles Fitzgerald Matier, the first Supreme Magus of SRIS who served in 1876. Harold Van Buren Voorhis insists that the Illinois College under Dr. French was never truly active, and it certainly was short-lived as Dr. French died an untimely death in 1879. Harold Voorhis also insisted that Frater Stodart Blackie's early charter in New York had been nothing more than an unsubstantiated rumor. It has since been established as historical fact.
In 1878, a group of senior U.S. Masons (Daniel Sutter, and Charles W. Parker) led by Charles E. Meyer (1839–1908) of Pennsylvania traveled to England and on July 25, 1878 were initiated into the grade of Zelator at Yorkshire College at Sheffield. They applied for a charter, but getting no response, turned to Scotland and received a charter from the college in Edinburgh in 1879. Scotland's Society is actually the oldest as Walter Spencer is recorded as having been initiated into the SRIS by Anthony Oneil Haye in 1857, and there are documents in the SRIA archives that show that both Robert Wentworth Little and William J. Hughan were initiated in 1866 and 1867 by Anthony O’Neal Haye, Magus Max, Ros. Soc. Scot. With H.H.M. Bairnfathur signing as Secretary. The Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia was formed in England in 1866 by Robert Wentworth Little. The SRIA later felt the need to charter the current SRIS on October 24, 1873.
A second charter was granted by the SRIS for a college in New York, and Fratres from Philadelphia and New York met in Philadelphia on April 21, 1880 and formed a High Council, then known as the SRRCA or the Societas Rosicrucianae Reipublica Confoedera America, was later changed to the Society of Rosicrucians in the USA by Most Worthy Frater Shryock in his capacity as Supreme Magus and then properly Latinized in 1934 by & at the suggestion of Dr. William Moseley Brown under the regime of Most Worthy Frater Hamilton. Brown composed the name (Societas Rosicruciana In Civitatibus Foederatis) himself and submitted it on January 17, 1934. The SRICF has operated continuously since its formation in the 19th Century, and is thriving today with an upsurge of young Masons being invited into its ranks with great enthusiasm and demonstrated scholarship.
Membership is by invitation only & predicated on regular mainstream Masonic affiliation as well as a profession of Christian faith. Membership was initially restricted to 36 members per College, but this was changed in 1908 by MW Thomas Shryock to 72 members per college. The See of the High Council is in Washington, D.C. The SRICF is in amity with the SRIS (Scotia) and the SRIA (Anglia) as well as the SRIC (Canada) and has helped the cause of Rosicruciana by empowering High Councils in their own sovereignty around the World. They are the SRIL in Lusitania (Portugal), SRIG in Gallia (France) and the SRIR (Romania).
The society issues an annual journal known as Ad Lucem composed of academic articles on things related to Rosicrucianism & esoteric streams of Christian Mysteries. There is also an annual report, The Rosicrucian Fama. Many of the Colleges have their own individual organs which are produced quarterly as well as annually. The governing body of the Society is known since 1911 (having dropped ‘Grand’ from its title) as The High Council which is composed of Fratres of the Third Order (IX and VIII), plus any College Celebrant not a member of the Third Order. The head of the Society is titled The Supreme Magus who was elected ad vitam up until circa 1991 when the constitution of the Society was changed to reflect that Supreme Magi are elected each triennium. Unlike the SRIA in England, a Chief Adept in the SRICF does not have regional powers, but rather is in charge of an individual College. Typically there is but one College per state, exceptions having been made for both New York and California due to their size and population.
List of Supreme Magi of the SRICF
Charles E. Meyer, 1880–1908
Thomas J. Shryock, 1908–1918
Eugene A. Holton, 1918–1927
Frederick W. Hamilton, 1927–1940
Arthur D. Prince, 1940–1950
Harold Van Buren Voorhis, 1950–1979
Laurence E. Eaton, 1979–1984
Henry Emerson, 1984–1986
William G. Peacher, 1986-1992
Joseph S. Lewis, 1992-1995
James M. Willson, Jr., 1995-1998
Thurman C. Pace, Jr., 1998-2007
William H. Koon, II, 2007–2019
Jeffrey N. Nelson, 2019–Present
Notes
KGC~ Knight Grand Crosses are awarded to IX grade Magi for exemplary effort in the work of the Society & Rosicrucianism in general.
Societas Rosicruciana in Canada (S.R.I.C.)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Canadiensis was first mentioned in a declaration dated May 31, 1876, but it was not formally constituted (by a Col. McLeod Moore, through his acquaintance with John Yarker) until September 19 of that year. Most of the membership came from the town of Maitland, Ontario. The society constituted a High Council exactly one year later, but the Society went into abeyance at some point after 1889.
In 1936, Ontario College was created via a charter from SRICF. Manly Palmer Hall's father, E.H.D. Hall, a member of Canada's first Rosicrucian Society, was voted a charter member of the Ontario College. Due to possible jurisdictional issues, rather than procure a charter from SRIA or SRIS, a Canadian High Council was formed on June 29, 1997, and the SRIC is now an independent body.
Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania (S.R.I.L.)
The Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania (SRIL) was constituted on October 5, 2002 in Portugal. Its High Council was empowered by the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitabus Foederatis (USA) and the first Supreme Magus, Pinto Coelho, was consecrated by the M.W. Supreme Magus Thurman Pace Jr (SRICF).
Membership is by invitation only and predicated on regular mainstream Masonic affiliation as well as a profession of Trinitarian Christian faith. Membership are restricted to 72 members per College, and they are called Fraters. The SRIL is in amity with all regular Rosicrucian Societas: Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia (SRIS), Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia (SRIA) and, Societas Rosicruciana in Civitas Foederatis (SRICF). The various Societies have no other Masonic links, ties, or official recognition.
The Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania has, through mutual help and fraternal encouragement, help to unravel the great problems of Life, to discover the Secrets of Nature, to study the system of Philosophy taught by the Fratres of the Rose-Cross since the year of 1440 and to seek the meaning and symbolism of all the heritage of Wisdom, Arts and Literature of the ancient world.
The governing body of the Society is The High Council which is composed of Fratres of the Third Order (IX and VIII), plus any College Celebrant not a member of the Third Order. The head of the Society is titled The Supreme Magus was elected ad vitam but according to the revised constitution of 2019 the SRIL Supreme Magus is now elected for 3 years renewable while having the support of the members of the High College. Fraters.
The basic structures of Rosicrucian Societies are called Colleges. At present, there are Colleges under SRIL's jurisdiction in the North and Central/South of Portugal Province and in the North, Central and South of Italy Province. There are currently petitions for the constitution of new College in the Center of Portugal. The Supreme Magus has his own College, called the Metropolitan College.
Cavaleiro Grande Cruz (CGC)- Knight Grand Crosses is the SRIL most important High Council award. It is awarded to Supreme Magus of brother jurisdictions and IX grade Magi members for outstanding services.
The SRIL bi-annual publication is called "Demanda"
Structure and governance
The Order is subdivided into three smaller orders, each with its own governance. The various orders confer a total of nine degrees, here called grades.
First Order
Members of the 1st Order (Frater (singular) Fratres (plural)) meet in a College, which is equivalent to a Lodge. A College is empowered to confer the first four degrees of the Society, also called the Learning Grades.
Grade I - Zelator
Grade II - Theoricus
Grade III - Practicus
Grade IV - Philosophus
A minimum of six months must elapse between the receipt of each grade. The emphasis on the work of the society is learning; therefore every member is encouraged to deliver a paper of their own work on some topic of interest in open college.
Second Order
This is equivalent to a Masonic Provincial Grand Lodge, and is headed by a Chief Adept and his deputy (Suffragan) who have jurisdiction over all of the first order Colleges within the Province.
The Chief Adept is empowered to confer three further Grades at this level to deserving Fratres of Grade IV who have been members of the Society for a minimum of four years.
Grade V - Adeptus Minor
Grade VI - Adeptus Major
Grade VII - Adeptus Exemptus
A minimum of one year must elapse between the receipt of grades at this level. A member can only serve as the Celebrant (Master) of a College of the First Order after receiving the Grade of Adeptus Exemptus.
Third Order
This is equivalent to a Grand Lodge, and is headed by a Supreme Magus, Senior Substitute Magus and Junior Substitute Magus.
Members of the second order who have given service to the society and been selected by the Supreme Magus for such advancement may be awarded a further two Grades.
Grade VIII - Magister
Grade IX - Magus
Influences
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
In 1888, three members of SRIA, William Robert Woodman, William Wynn Westcott, and Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, formed the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which removed the restriction on membership, allowing non-Christians, non-Freemasons, and women to join. A great deal of the SRIA structure survived in the new order, which went on to greatly influence the modern Western occult revival in the 20th century.
Societas Rosicruciana in America (SRIAm)
Due to the fragmentary nature of Rosicrucian orders, there are a number of historical Rosicrucian societies with similar names that either no longer have a Masonic connection, or have gone dormant: The SRIA (A for "America") was chartered by the SRIA (in England) in Philadelphia in 1878. It reformed in 1889 as Societas Rosicruciana in the United States (SRIUS), and reformed again as SRIA in 1912. In 1916 the order began admitting women, and its charter was revoked. It is in existence today, but has no Masonic connections whatsoever.
In 1879, a College was established in Philadelphia, Pa., under warrant from the High Council of Scotia (Scotland) by a number of Americans who visited England and received their degrees from York College of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia. Colleges were established soon after 1879 in New York, Boston, and Burlington, Vt., and were recognized in full by the S.R.I. Anglia; they organized their own High Council, and the body thus constituted became known as the Societatis Rosicrucianae in the United States, admitting only 32nd degree Masons.
A member of Massachusetts College, in Boston, having received the VIII Degree constituting him a Provincial Magus, engaged in special research work. He later received his IX Degree direct from Apponyi, a leading Rosicrucian in Hungary, constituting him a Prince Chief Adept and Magus. The American organization being largely inoperative at the time, he undertook the formation and institution of a branch of the Fraternity in the Western Hemisphere that would devote itself exclusively and assiduously to the true Rosicrucian Art and Operation, open to both sexes on a basis of true equality. The transition of this member, Illustrious Frater Sylvester Clarke Gould, late of Manchester, N. H., on July 19, 1909, prevented the fulfillment of his personal ambition, and the actual work of organization and institution devolved upon the Imperator and Supreme Magus of the Society, George Winslow Plummer, who had received full initiation and authority to begin the work in New York from Frater Gould before his passing.
See also
Ancient Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
Theosophy
References
External links
Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis (SRICF)
Societas Rosicruciana in Lusitania (SRIL)
Societas Rosicruciana in America
Rosicrucian Society in America
Societas Rosicruciana in Canada
Christian mysticism
Masonic organizations
Rosicrucian organizations
de:Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
fr:Rose-Croix#La Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham%20Gooch
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Graham Gooch
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Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning 1973 until 1997, he was the most prolific run scorer of all time, with 67,057 runs across first-a class and limited-overs games. His List A cricket tally of 22,211 runs is also a record. He is one of only 25 players to have scored over 100 first-class centuries.
Internationally, despite being banned for three years following a rebel tour to ostracized South Africa, Gooch is the third highest Test run scorer for England. His playing years spanned much of the period of domination by the West Indies, against whom his mid-forties batting average is regarded as extremely creditable. His score of 154 against them at Headingley in 1991 is regarded as one of the greatest centuries of all time by many critics and former players. His career-best score of 333 was against India at Lord's. In that match, he also scored a century in the second innings, 123, for a match total of 456, which remains the highest aggregate in a test match. He was the first player to make 20 Test
appearances at Lord's. As captain, Matthew Engel noted, "his fanatical fitness and work-ethic gave the team more purpose than it had shown in a decade."
After 118 Tests, aged 42, he retired into coaching and as team selector, before becoming a commentator. In 2009 he was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. He returned to coach Essex, before becoming England batting coach in 2012.
Overview
Gooch was born in Whipps Cross University Hospital, Leytonstone, London. He was educated at Norlington School for Boys and Leyton County High School for Boys, in Leyton.
Gooch played first-class cricket regularly between 1973 and 1997. Famous for his upright stance, a high bat-lift and heavy bat he became one of the most prolific run scorers top-class cricket has ever seen. On 8 November 2011, he received an honorary award from University of East London.
Test cricket
Early years
Gooch made his debut in Test cricket in 1975 at 21 against the touring Australia side captained by Ian Chappell. His debut was not a great success as Gooch got a pair, and England lost the first Test by an innings and 85 runs. In the second Ashes Test in the series he scored 6 and 31 and was then dropped from the side. He was not selected for the Test team again until 1978 (although making his one-day international debut in 1976), when his scoring rate for Essex meant that he could not be ignored and he became a mainstay in the England line-up. On his return to Test cricket he immediately had more success, making a first Test half-century, and 91 not out in his fifth Test, although it was his 22nd Test and five years after his debut before he made his first Test (or any international) century. In 1980 he was awarded the Wisden Cricketer of the Year. His first three Test centuries all came against the West Indies.
Gooch had a further hiatus in his career when he went on the controversial 1982 South African rebel tour, which resulted in all of the players concerned, including Geoff Boycott, Alan Knott and Bob Woolmer, being banned from Test cricket for three years. Geoffrey Boycott was generally perceived as the key player organising the tour party but it was Graham Gooch as captain of the team who gained the most media attention and in some cases vilification. Gooch was not handed the captaincy until the team arrived in South Africa at the beginning of March. It could be argued that more attention was on Gooch however as he was reaching his peak as a Test player, others were in the twilight years of their cricket careers and so the ban was arguably felt more acutely by the captain. Gooch claimed in the film "Out of the Wilderness" that 'others' decided he "had no place in England cricket", hence his decision to join the tour.
Later years
Upon the expiration of the ban, Gooch was restored to the England team in 1985. Opting to miss the 1986–87 tour of Australia for personal reasons, a severe loss of form resulted in failing to win back his England place for the 1987 summer and Test series against Pakistan – indeed at one stage he was even dropped to the Second XI at Essex, but his form returned at the end of the summer, with a superb century in the MCC Bicentennial match. He returned to the England team for the Cricket World Cup in India and Pakistan, and the subsequent winter tour of Pakistan. His career blossomed later after being appointed captain, a position he held twice: first briefly, at the end of the "summer of four captains" in 1988, as a replacement for the injured Chris Cowdrey (who never played another Test). In his first match (the fifth and last of the series against the West Indies), England at least showed some spirit, taking a first-innings lead for the only time in the series. Gooch's second-innings 84 stood alone as the rest of the batting collapsed, England losing the match (and with it the series 4–0). His second match, the one-off Test against Sri Lanka, was won, and all seemed fair for Gooch to remain as captain for the tour of India that winter. But that tour was cancelled over the Indian government's refusal to grant visas to the eight players who had sporting links with South Africa, including Gooch himself. David Gower returned as captain for the losing 1989 Ashes series – in which, for a second time, Gooch's loss of form with the bat resulted in his being dropped, by his own request this time.
Cricket World Cups
Graham Gooch played in 3 different world cups in 3 decades - the 1979 Cricket World Cup, the 1987 Cricket World Cup, and the 1992 Cricket World Cup. He has the distinction of featuring in the finals of all the three World Cups that he played in. He would probably be best remembered in the competition for the stupendous century in the 1987 semi-final against India at the Wankhede Stadium when he repeatedly swept the spinners to carry England into the final. England made the finals in 1979 in their home ground to take on the mighty West Indies. Gooch top scored with 71 in 83 balls (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_Cricket_World_Cup?wprov=sfla1), in the semi final win over New Zealand. The West Indies scored 286 for the loss of 9 wickets in 60 overs with Vivian Richards hammering an unbeaten 138. In reply, England had an impressive start with 129 for no loss. They lost openers Mike Brearley and Geoff Boycott in quick succession but Gooch and Derek Randall held it together. They added 48 runs for the third wicket and once Gooch was castled by Joel Garner on 32, the English side collapsed like a pack of cards. From 183 for 2, England were all out for 194, losing the final by 92 runs. In 1987 Cricket World Cup Final, Powered by David Boon's 75, Australia posted 253 for the loss of 5 wickets in 50 overs. The fateful reverse sweep by English skipper Mike Gatting at a crucial moment of the match saw his team losing the way after a good start and England fell short of Australia's score by just 7 runs. Gooch scored 35 off 57 balls as an opener in that match. Gooch was the leading run-scorer in the 1987 Cricket World Cup. In the 1992 Cricket World Cupfinal, Pakistani skipper Imran Khan won the toss and scored a 72 to propel his team to a formidable 249 for 6 wickets in 50 overs. Gooch had an ordinary outing this time, scoring 29 off 66 balls with just one boundary. They lost to Pakistan by 22 runs. Graham Gooch is the second highest run-scorer for England in World cups, with 897 runs in 21 innings at an average of 44.85 and strike rate of 63.25. He scored one century and eight fifties. His highest score of 115 was against India in Mumbai in 1987.
Full-time captain
After Gower's resignation following the 4–0 Ashes defeat of 1989, and the loss of a large number of players with Test experience to a second rebel tour of South Africa under Gatting, Gooch was re-appointed captain for the 1989–90 winter tour of the West Indies. England unexpectedly won the first Test, which was England's first victory over the Windies since 1973 and came close to winning the third Test. However, Gooch suffered a broken hand and missed the rest of the tour – England lost the two remaining matches and the series.
Returning for the summer of 1990, Gooch had a golden summer both as batsman and captain against India and New Zealand, scoring runs seemingly at will. Gooch scored a record 456 runs in the Lord's Test against India in 1990, 333 in the first innings and 123 in the second. Kumar Sangakkara of Sri Lanka is the only other player to score a triple century in the first innings and a century in the second innings. His aggregate of 456 for the match remains a world record for a Test match, as does his aggregate of 752 for the 3-match series. Both series were won, and in 1990 Gooch was awarded the Professional Cricketers' Association Player of the Year.
The winter tour of Australia did not, however, go according to plan, England losing 3–0 despite holding first-innings leads in the first two tests (both of which were lost), although Gooch scored a marvellous hundred chasing an improbable total in the drawn 4th test.
Gooch had a public falling-out with David Gower, the England batsman, particularly after Gower hired a vintage aircraft and 'buzzed' the ground where England was playing during the unsuccessful tour of Australia in 1990/91. Gooch contributed to the decision to omit Gower from England's tour of India in 1993, which proved so controversial that an extraordinary vote of no confidence in the selectors was passed at the MCC. Gower never played another Test, lending an ironic edge to Gooch's surpassing him as England's leading run scorer in the 1993 Ashes series. It is this relationship between the two men that perhaps highlights best the differences between their approaches to the game, as Gower himself identified in 1995 in an interview in The Independent "I was never destined to be on the ball 100 per cent of the time. I don't have the same ability that Graham Gooch has, to produce something very close to his best every time he plays.'
In 1991 at Headingley against the West Indies he scored a match-winning 154 not out, carrying his bat throughout England's second innings against a highly rated pace attack, in overcast conditions on an unpredictable pitch, while only two of his colleagues reached double figures in a total of 252. The veteran sportswriter Frank Keating rated this as the finest Test innings he had ever seen in England. This opinion was backed up by the ICC rankings, which listed it as the highest-ranking innings of all time at any venue. In the rest of the series (drawn 2–2), Gooch was one of England's most consistent run-scorers, although no further centuries followed.
Gooch made a habit of leading by example, his batting average as captain (58.6) being almost twice his average in the ranks (36). New Zealand were beaten in the winter tour of 1991–92, the decisive Second Test including another Gooch century (which he described as his worst ever, but his luckiest). He also led England to the World Cup final later that winter, and batted well during the 1992 series defeat by Pakistan – again, his runs contributing to England's series-levelling victory in the fourth Test.
After the fourth Test match of the 1993 Ashes series, and with England now 3–0 down in the series, he resigned as captain: the job being given to his fellow opening batsman, Mike Atherton. He continued playing for England for a couple of years, notably scoring another double century against New Zealand in 1994, and retired from test cricket as England's all-time highest run scorer. Over his 118 Test career, Gooch played with a record 113 different teammates.
First-class
Gooch made his debut for Essex in 1973 at the age of 19, and played for the county until his retirement as a player in 1997. For Essex, Gooch scored 120 in the 1979 Benson and Hedges Cup final against Surrey, a match which saw Essex win a major domestic trophy for the first time in their history. This heralded a highly successful period for the county, with Gooch a key member of a team that won the county championship six times in the years 1979–1992, and also won every other major domestic trophy at least once in the same period. Gooch holds numerous Essex batting records: in particular he scored the most first-class runs in a season (2559, scored in 1984 while banned from playing for England), and made more first-class centuries (94) for the county than any other player. The Essex record partnership for the second wicket was set by Gooch and Paul Prichard.
Gooch also bowled occasional medium pace, and took over 200 first-class wickets. He could be a prodigious swinger of the ball if conditions suited. In dead matches he could sometimes be seen doing impressions of fellow professionals' bowling styles.
Upon his retirement, Christopher Martin-Jenkins wrote an article in Wisden Cricketers' Almanack arguing that Gooch was the all-time highest run scorer in top level cricket. He scored 44,846 runs in all first-class cricket at an average of 49.01, including 128 centuries. (A number of players have scored more first-class runs.) Martin-Jenkins took into consideration Gooch's List A matches, in which he scored a further 22,211 runs, itself a world record.
Cricket coach
In October 2001, Gooch returned to his beloved Essex in the capacity of head coach, taking over from Keith Fletcher. Gooch held this role until stepping down in March 2005 to Paul Prichard, his long running opening partner. Gooch remains at the club, continuing as the squad's specialist batting coach whilst also assuming commercial duties for the county.
In November 2009 Gooch was selected as a "temporary" batting coach for the impending four test tour of South Africa and to support ex-Essex colleague, Head England Coach Andy Flower.
He has since remained as England's batting coach on a permanent basis, continuing this role for the 2010 series against Bangladesh and Pakistan, and the winter Ashes series against Australia in Australia. Double-centurion Alastair Cook (at the first test at the Gabba in Brisbane) hailed Gooch's influence on England's and his own batting prowess. Gooch subsequently has supervised England's batting (or 'run-scoring', as Ian Bell has noted Gooch refers to it) throughout their rise to number 1 in the Test cricket ICC Rankings. Prior to Gooch taking over, English batsmen had scored 6 test double-centuries in 15 years. 15 months after he became the batting coach, England had already beaten that total.
In March 2012 Gooch took the full-time role as England Batting coach which came in the wake of the disappointing three-match Test series against Pakistan, in which England were beaten 3–0, largely down to the failure of their batsmen. "I am delighted to be taking on the role of England batting coach on a full-time basis," said Gooch, "I will now have the opportunity to spend a lot more time with the players and other coaches both in the build-up to series and during the series themselves."
Outside cricket
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1990, when he was surprised by Michael Aspel at a gathering of the England Cricket Team in the Excelsior Hotel at Heathrow Airport.
In the mid-1990s Gooch began promoting hairpieces for a London-based clinic, as well as the Australian-based Advanced Hair Studio. Two licensed computer games were made by Audiogenic, Graham Gooch's Test Cricket in 1985 and Graham Gooch World Class Cricket in 1993.
He made a one-off return to first-class cricket in July 2000, just a few days before his 47th birthday, when he captained Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) against New Zealand A at The Parks. It was not a successful comeback: Gooch made only 0 and 5 in the game.
In 2007 he announced his intention to compete in a beach cricket competition against Courtney Walsh's Team and Allan Border's team.
In 2011 Gooch received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of East London.
Graham Gooch is a West Ham United supporter. In 2014, he was appointed patron of The Rob George Foundation.
England career performance
References
External links
The Final Word Podcast: Interview of Graham Gooch (recorded on 26 July 2022) – on Apple Podcasts, on Google Podcasts, on Spotify and on YouTube
1953 births
Living people
Sportspeople from Leytonstone
Cricketers from the London Borough of Waltham Forest
English cricketers
English cricketers of 1969 to 2000
Essex cricketers
Essex cricket captains
Marylebone Cricket Club cricketers
Western Province cricketers
England Test cricketers
England Test cricket captains
England One Day International cricketers
Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup
Coaches of the England cricket team
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
English cricket commentators
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Deputy Lieutenants of Essex
D. H. Robins' XI cricketers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oswald%20Pohl
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Oswald Pohl
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Oswald Ludwig Pohl (; 30 June 1892 – 7 June 1951) was a German SS functionary during the Nazi era. As the head of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office and the head administrator of the Nazi concentration camps, he was a key figure in the Final Solution, the genocide of the European Jews. After the war, Pohl went into hiding; he was apprehended in 1946. Pohl stood trial in 1947, was convicted of crimes against humanity, and sentenced to death. After repeatedly appealing his case, he was executed by hanging in 1951.
Early life and career
Oswald Pohl was born in Duisburg-Ruhrort on 30 June 1892 to blacksmith, Hermann Otto Emil Pohl, and his wife Auguste Pohl (née Seifert); he was the fifth of eight children. His parents were financially secure, and he attended a Realgymnasium where he studied classical Greek and Latin texts. From what Pohl claimed, he always wanted to study science but his father did not have the means to send him straight to university. In 1912, he became a sailor in the Imperial Navy. During World War I, he served in the Baltic Sea region and the coast of Flanders. Pohl attended a navy school, and became paymaster on 1 April 1918. On 30 October of the same year, he married.
After the end of the war, Pohl attended courses at a trade school, and began studying law and state theory at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel; he dropped out of university soon again though, and became paymaster for the Freikorps "Brigade Löwenfeld", working in Berlin, Upper Silesia and the Ruhr basin. In 1920, like many others involved in the Lüttwitz-Kapp Putsch, he was accepted into the Weimar Republic's new navy, the Reichsmarine. Pohl was transferred to Swinemünde in 1924.
SS career
One year later, in 1925, Pohl became a member of the SA, then finally joined the re-founded Nazi Party on 22 February 1926 as member #30842. Sometime during 1929, Pohl became a member of the SS. Pohl proclaimed in 1932, "I was a National Socialist before National Socialism came into being." He met Heinrich Himmler in 1933, coming to his attention at the behest of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris who described Pohl as an "energetic" officer and a "dedicated Nazi". Pohl quickly made himself available to the younger Himmler after their first meeting at a Kiel Biergarten. While he already presided over as many as 500 men in his role in the German Navy, as a dedicated Nazi, he jumped at the chance to be a commissioned officer in Himmler's SS. Pohl promised Himmler that he would serve him until he dropped and rose quickly due to his "ruthlessness" and his unwavering "loyalty".
Once an officer in the SS, Pohl furiously set to work, putting his 20-plus years of administrative experience into action; he managed to successfully standardize and professionalize the SS accounting operations, so much so that it was able to withstand a public audit, which garnered more respect from national agencies for Himmler's SS. Pohl was quickly promoted as a result. Capable administrative officers were recruited and assigned to the concentration camps due to Pohl's efforts. Eventually Pohl was appointed chief of the administration department in the staff of the Reichsführer-SS. His career continued to thrive when Himmler made him administrative chief over the SD Main Office and the Race and Settlement Office on 1 June 1935. Two of Pohl's predecessors, Paul Weickert and Gerhard Schneider, were dismissed from the SS for embezzlement. Pohl founded the "Gesellschaft zur Förderung und Pflege deutscher Kulturdenkmäler" ("Society for the preservation and fostering of German cultural monuments"), which was primarily dedicated to restoring Wewelsburg, an old castle that was supposed to be turned into a cultural and scientific headquarters of the SS at Himmler's request. The "society" soon became a part of Pohl's SS administration office. Pohl left the Roman Catholic Church in 1935.
Concentration camp administrator and WVHA chief
Over time, Pohl's orbit of responsibility began to include the concentration camp system since he lived near the camp at Dachau and inspected them from time to time. During the early establishment of the concentration camps in the mid-1930s, Pohl already recognized the economic potential of forced labor. Shortly after the Austrian Anschluss in March 1938, Pohl, who at this time was already administrative chief of the SS-Hauptamt, accompanied Himmler to the small town of Mauthausen where it was decided that the SS-operated German Earth and Stoneworks Corporation (DEST) would begin excavating granite, using concentration camp prisoners as slave laborers. Administrative and financial authority for the camps and the SS Death's Head troops were conveyed to Pohl by 1938, which pitted him against his contemporary and peer, Theodor Eicke, particularly on matters of administration, budget, and building projects.
In June 1939 Pohl became chief of both the Verwaltung und Wirtschaft Hauptamt (VuWHA) and the Hauptamt Haushalt und Bauten ("main bureau [for] budget and construction", part of the Reich's Ministry of the Interior). Himmler stated that: "The supervision of the economic matters of these institutions (concentration camps) and their application to work is the responsibility of SS Gruppenfuehrer Pohl". The day before the Wannsee Conference, 19 January 1942, Himmler consolidated all of the offices for which Pohl was responsible into one, creating the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (Wirtschafts- und Verwaltungshauptamt; WVHA). While already a significant figure in the regime, Pohl's appointment as chief of the WVHA strengthened his position greatly. Behind Heinrich Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich, he eventually became the third most powerful figure in the SS. Placing Pohl's position into perspective, historian Heinz Höhne wrote, "Four potent departments placed Pohl's hand firmly on the levers of power in the SS empire: he was in charge of the entire administration and supply of the Waffen-SS; he controlled the 20 concentration camps and 165 labor camps; he directed all SS and Police building projects; he was in charge of all SS economic enterprises."
As the head of the economics division of the SS, Pohl was appointed to run the Deutscher Wirtschaftsbetrieb (German Industrial Concern; GmbH), an organization he helped establish. It was designed to unify the massive business interests of Himmler's SS, taking in profits from the slave labour of concentration camp prisoners. Under Pohl's leadership, the WVHA turned its attention—once focused primarily on security and re-education—towards economic matters. To merge operations, Pohl announced the incorporation of the inspectorate of concentration camps into the WVHA on 13 March 1942. Expressing his sentiments regarding the use of prisoners for labor in a memo, Pohl wrote, "SS industries [Unternehmen] have the task ... to organize a more businesslike (more productive) execution of punishment and adjust it to the overall development of the Reich." Agreeing in general terms that many of the prisoners should be worked to death, Pohl paradoxically complained about the death of some 70,610 out of 136,870 new concentration camp inmates between June and November 1942, insisting that these deaths were impeding productive output at the camp's armament factories.
Expanding his power ever further over the economic realm, Pohl was named chairman of the board of directors for the Eastern Territories Industries Inc. (Ostindustrie GmbH) on 12 March 1943. Despite the seeming intention to use concentration camp prisoners for production in the expanding SS economics industry, Pohl's role was also framed by the ideological mandates of exploitation and racial extermination. For example, evidence indicates that Pohl refused to allow any increases in rations for starving prisoners toiling in the Granite Works of Gross-Rosen concentration camp, when there were administrative complaints in favor of providing more food to the inmates. According to historian Michael Thad Allen, "Pohl's men prided themselves as modern administrators" and often clashed with prison guards who "undermined productivity" by beating or killing prisoners. An irreconcilable duplicity emerged over the conflicting goals between the pragmatic economic interests of the SS under Pohl's purview and their fanatical racialist ideological imperatives. Fulfilling a call beyond mere economic interests but one based on communal concerns prompted Pohl's thinking when he informed the Reich's Interior Ministry in a letter that, "It is the will of the Reichsführer-SS that profits from lucrative corporations be diverted to cover the losses of others that must labor under the constraints of their non-capitalistic [nicht privatwirtschaftliche] end goals. At times these goals damn our corporations to years of future losses." In this manner, Pohl helped provide SS companies with their "ideological raison d’être." Along with other SS ideologues, Pohl wanted the SS to lead the Nazi revolution through the creation of an economic base that focused on communal industrial interests versus the despised principles of western style capitalism that served individuals; in the process he intended on employing concentration camp prisoners to serve the greater interests of the Reich. For Pohl, that also meant completely "exhausting forced labor."
Pohl oversaw the organization of the concentration camps, deciding on the distribution of detainees to the various camps and the "rental" of detainees for slave labour until 1944. The exploitation of the captives rested on the Nazi principle of "extermination through labor". Human material was to be efficiently and fully exploited in the process and as former Buchenwald political prisoner and historian Eugen Kogon points out, Pohl insisted on extracting the maximum financial worth from each and every camp laborer. Kogon asserts that Pohl even created evaluative tables that calculated their value as farmed-out wage earners (minus the depreciation of food and clothing), their profit intake from valuables (watches, clothing, money) remaining after their deaths (minus crematoria expenses), and any costs recovered from selling their bones and ashes; in total, the average concentration camp inmate had a life expectancy of nine months or less and was valued at 1,630 marks. Along these lines, Pohl supervised the macabre task of collecting Jewish people's gold fillings, hair, clothing, jewelry and other possessions. These "spoils", taken from the concentration camp inmates (mostly Jews) were carefully itemized and sold at prices set by the WVHA.
In keeping with Pohl's plan, concentration camps were to be constructed at Auschwitz, Lublin (Majdanek), and Stutthof to facilitate a "vertically integrated construction and building supply enterprise." The catalyst for the expansion of SS construction initiatives stemmed from Hitler's megalomania, namely, his plans to erect massive German cities and monuments (masterminded by the young architect Albert Speer) as the Reich expanded. Himmler was likewise inspired by these plans which would expand SS production and "boost the status of the SS". To accomplish the job of carrying out the Führer's vision, Pohl created the East German Building Supply Works (Ost-Deutsche Baustoffwerke GmbH; ODBS) along with the German Noble Furniture Corporation (Deutsche Edelmöbel GmbH) with the aid of Dr. Emil Meyer, an officer in the Allgemeine-SS and prominent figure within the Dresdner Bank.
Despite holding a "nominal" rank in the Waffen-SS, Pohl and the WVHA had "no direct connection" to the combat formations of the SS. Pohl nonetheless showed unwavering commitment to the cause and tenets of Nazism when performing his duties and stressed the importance in fulfilling the tasks outlined by the Reichsführer-SS. By those tasks he meant the policing duties related to the Reich's security, those concerning the concentration camp system and industry, those duties which promoted the Nazi world-view, and any undertaking related to the "Reinforcement of Germandom." Shortly before the invasion of the Soviet Union, Himmler wrote to Pohl about not needing to conceal any "hidden agendas" from him and emphasized the "essential" task of increasing "good and worthy" blood (Germans) through nutrition and SS settlements.
During the spring of 1942, Hitler and other Nazi elites looked to increase armaments production through the use of concentration camp inmates. This coincided with Pohl's control over the concentration camp system. Grandiose building plans for new SS facilities in the East were laid aside in favor of arms production, which Pohl thought prudent and necessary. While Himmler and Pohl foresaw an enormous SS-operated armaments industry, they encountered opposition from the newly appointed armaments minister, Albert Speer, who undermined their initial projects. Aside from the moderately successful aircraft parts manufacturing operation at Flossenbürg concentration camp and Himmler's boasting in October 1943 of a "giant" SS-run system of armament works, "the SS had failed to become a serious arms manufacturer". Pohl worked in tandem with Speer for arms production, despite the latter's lack of faith in the SS industrial complex. Satellite camps which leased out concentration camp labor spread as a result of the collaboration between the industrialists and the SS, due in part to both Pohl and Speer's arrangements. Concentration camp inmates were not supposed to be leased-out on orders from Himmler, a directive Pohl ignored for he considered it impractical given the inability of the SS to establish production processes in short order. An enterprise overseen by Pohl and one Speer was keen on as well, was the construction works at Dora-Mittelbau, the underground complex where the V2 rockets were assembled. This enormous subterranean facility near Nordhausen in the Harz Mountains was completed in a mere two months using camp labor supplied by Pohl. Work on the prestigious wonder-weapon V1 and V2 projects remained bitterly contested between the SS and Speer's ministry.
By the summer of 1944, control of the concentration camps was removed from Pohl's WVHA and executive power was instead given over to local HSSPF offices, which, according to Pohl, occurred for operational reasons. Speer's armaments ministry took over arms production without the intermediation of the WVHA in the application process for industrial firms seeking business with the Reich. Estimates provided by Pohl indicate that during the second half of 1944, there were upwards of 250,000 slaves working for private firms, another 170,000 working in underground factories and an additional 15,000 clearing rubble from the Allied bombing raids.
Trial, conviction and execution
After the end of World War II in 1945, Pohl first hid in Upper Bavaria, then near Bremen. Disguised as a farmhand, he was arrested by British troops in May 1946 and sentenced to death on 3 November 1947 by an American military tribunal in the eponymous Pohl Trial. Pohl was the chief defendant for the proceedings at the fourth Nuremberg trial; he and his co-conspirators were on trial for crimes committed in the concentration camps administered by the SS-WVHA while he was in charge. Without denying his knowledge of the mass killings of Jews, Pohl presented himself as a mere executive, accusing the prosecution of being guided by feelings of hatred and revenge. Pohl appealed his death sentence several times. During the Nuremberg trials, he started to see a Roman Catholic priest and recommitted himself to the Catholic faith. Officially, Pohl had never left the Catholic Church, although he stopped attending Mass in 1935. In 1950, his re-conversion resulted in the appearance of his book Credo. Mein Weg zu Gott ("Credo. My way to God"), which was published with permission of the Catholic Church. Pohl was hanged shortly after midnight on 7 June 1951 at Landsberg Prison in Landsberg am Lech. Pohl's last words were "I have spent more than 30 years as a military man. I have always carried out orders and remained true to my oath of allegiance. I am ready."
See also
Deutsche Wirtschaftsbetriebe
Ernst Lerch
Forced labor in Nazi concentration camps
References
Citations
Bibliography
1892 births
1951 deaths
20th-century Freikorps personnel
Executed German mass murderers
Executed people from North Rhine-Westphalia
Executions by the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals
German people convicted of crimes against humanity
German Roman Catholics
Holocaust perpetrators
Imperial German Navy personnel of World War I
Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany
Military personnel from Duisburg
Nazi concentration camps
People from the Rhine Province
Prisoners and detainees of the British military
Recipients of the Iron Cross (1914), 2nd class
Recipients of the Knights Cross of the War Merit Cross
Reichsmarine personnel
Romani genocide perpetrators
SS-Obergruppenführer
Sturmabteilung officers
Waffen-SS personnel
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imran%20Khan
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Imran Khan
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Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi (; born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician and former cricketer who served as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He is the founder and chairman of the political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).
Born to a Niazi Pashtun family in Lahore, Khan graduated from Keble College, Oxford. He began his international cricket career in a 1971 Test series against England. Khan played until 1992, served as the team's captain intermittently between 1982 and 1992, and won the 1992 Cricket World Cup, Pakistan's only victory in the competition. Considered one of cricket's greatest all-rounders, Khan was later inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame. Founding the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in 1996, Khan won a seat in the National Assembly in the 2002 general election, serving as an opposition member from Mianwali until 2007. PTI boycotted the 2008 general election and became the second-largest party by popular vote in the 2013 general election. In the 2018 general election, running on a populist platform, PTI became the largest party in the National Assembly, and formed a coalition government with independents with Khan as prime minister.
As prime minister, Khan addressed a balance of payments crisis with bailouts from the IMF. He presided over a shrinking current account deficit, and limited defence spending to curtail the fiscal deficit, leading to some general economic growth. He enacted policies that increased tax collection and investment. His government committed to a renewable energy transition, launched the Ehsaas Programme and the Plant for Pakistan initiative, and expanded the protected areas of Pakistan. He presided over the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused economic turmoil and rising inflation in the country, threatening his political position.
Amid a constitutional crisis, Khan became the first prime minister to be removed from office through a no-confidence motion in April 2022. In August, he was charged under anti-terror laws after accusing the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing an aide. In October, Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan from taking office for the current term of the National Assembly of Pakistan, regarding the Toshakhana reference case. In November, he survived an assassination attempt during a political rally in Wazirabad, Punjab.
On 9 May 2023, Khan was arrested on corruption charges at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary troops who smashed their way into the courthouse. Protests broke out throughout Pakistan resulting in the arrest of several thousands of Khan's supporters along with military installations being ransacked. After his release, he blamed the Chief of Army Staff Asim Munir for his arrest. The army responded by terming 9 May as "Black Day", with Minister of MoPD Ahsan Iqbal terming it as Pakistan's 9/11. He was sentenced to a three-year jail term on 5 August 2023 and was subsequently arrested for the second time.
Early life and family
Khan was born in Lahore on 5 October 1952. Earlier, some reports suggest he was born on 25 November 1952. It was reported that 5 October was wrongly mentioned by Pakistan Cricket Board officials on his passport. He is the only son of Ikramullah Khan Niazi, a civil engineer, and his wife Shaukat Khanum, and has four sisters. Long settled in Mianwali in northwestern Punjab, his paternal family are of Pashtun ethnicity and belong to the Niazi tribe, and one of his ancestors, Haibat Khan Niazi, in the 16th century, "was one of Sher Shah Suri's leading generals, as well as being the governor of Punjab." Like his father, Khan's mother was an ethnic Pashtun, who belonged to the Burki tribe and whose ancestors had been settled in the Jalandhar district of Punjab for centuries. Following the creation of Pakistan, she migrated to Lahore with the rest of Khan's maternal relatives. Khan's maternal family has produced a number of cricketers, including those who have represented Pakistan, such as his cousins Javed Burki and Majid Khan. Maternally, Khan is also a descendant of the Sufi warrior-poet and inventor of the Pashto alphabet, Pir Roshan, who hailed from his maternal family's ancestral Kaniguram town located in South Waziristan in the tribal areas of northwest Pakistan. His maternal family was based in Basti Danishmanda, Jalandhar, India for about 600 years.
A quiet and shy boy in his youth, Khan grew up with his sisters in relatively affluent, upper middle-class circumstances and received a privileged education. He was educated at the Aitchison College and Cathedral School in Lahore, and then the Royal Grammar School Worcester in England, where he excelled at cricket. In 1972, he enrolled in Keble College, Oxford where he studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics, graduating in 1975. An enthusiast for college cricket at Keble, Paul Hayes, was instrumental in securing the admission of Khan, after he had been turned down by Cambridge.
Personal life
He had numerous relationships during his bachelor life. He was then known as a hedonistic bachelor and a playboy who was active on the London nightclub circuit. Many girlfriends are unknown and were called "mysterious blondes" by British newspaper The Times. Some of the women he has been associated with include Zeenat Aman, Emma Sergeant, Susie Murray-Philipson, Sita White, Sarah Crawley, Stephanie Beacham, Goldie Hawn, Kristiane Backer, Susannah Constantine, Marie Helvin, Caroline Kellett, Liza Campbell, Anastasia Cooke, Hannah Mary Rothschild, and Lulu Blacker.
His first girlfriend, Emma Sergeant, an artist and the daughter of British investor Sir Patrick Sergeant, introduced him to socialites. They first met in 1982 and subsequently visited Pakistan. She accompanied him on various Pakistani cricket team tours including in Peshawar and Australian tour. After long separations, his relationship with Sergeant was broken in 1986. He then had a short relationship with Susie Murray-Philipson whom he invited to Pakistan and had dinner with in 1982. She also made various artistic portraits of Khan during their relationship.
In a book published in 2009, Christopher Sandford claimed that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and Imran Khan had a close relationship when both were students in Oxford. He wrote that Bhutto at the age of 21 first became close to Khan in 1975. They remained in a relationship for about two months. His mother also tried to have an arranged marriage between them. He further claimed that they had a "romantic relationship", which was refuted by Khan who said they were only friends.
Khan had a notable relationship with the heiress Sita White, daughter of the British industrialist Gordon White. They remained in the relationship for about six years having met in 1987–88. White claimed that Khan agreed to have a child with her in 1991; her daughter, Tyrian Jade, was born in June 1992 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. White claimed that Khan subsequently refused to accept Tyrian as his child because she was a girl, and had urged White to have an abortion. Tyrian was noted for her resemblance to Khan. A court in Los Angeles ruled that Khan was the girl's father in 1997. In 2004, after Sita White's death, Khan agreed to accept Tyrian as his child and welcomed her into his family.
Khan's former wife, Reham Khan, alleged in her book that he had told her that he had four other children out of wedlock in addition to Tyrian White. Allegedly, some of his children had Indian mothers and the eldest was aged 34 in 2018. Reham subsequently conceded that she did not know the identities of Khan's children or the veracity of his statements and that "you can never make out whether he tells the truth." Reham's book was published on 12 July 2018, 13 days before the 2018 Pakistani general election, leading to claims that its publication was intended to damage Imran Khan's electoral prospects.
On 16 May 1995, Khan married Jemima Goldsmith, in a two-minute ceremony conducted in Urdu in Paris. A month later, on 21 June, they were married again in a civil ceremony at the Richmond registry office in England. Jemima converted to Islam upon marriage. The couple have two sons, Sulaiman Isa and Kasim. On 22 June 2004, it was announced that the couple had divorced, ending the nine-year marriage because it was "difficult for Jemima to adapt to life in Pakistan."
In January 2015, it was announced that Khan married British-Pakistani journalist Reham Khan in a private Nikah ceremony at his residence in Islamabad. However, Reham Khan later states in her autobiography that they in fact got married in October 2014 but the announcement only came in January the year after. On 22 October, they announced their intention to file for divorce.
In mid-2016, late 2017 and early 2018, reports emerged that Khan had married his spiritual mentor (murshid), Bushra Bibi. Khan, PTI aides and members of the Manika family denied the rumour. Khan termed the media "unethical" for spreading the rumour, and PTI filed a complaint against the news channels that had aired it. On 7 January 2018, however, the PTI central secretariat issued a statement that said Khan had proposed to Manika, but she had not yet accepted his proposal. On 18 February 2018, PTI confirmed Khan has married Manika. According to Khan, his life has been influenced by Sufism for three decades, and this is what drew him closer to his wife. The Mufti who conducted the marriage later testified to a court that Khan's nikah had been conducted twice. The first nikah was conducted on 1 January 2018, while his to-be wife was still in her Iddat, as Khan believed he would become prime minister if he married her on that date.
Khan resides in his sprawling farmhouse at Bani Gala. In November 2009, Khan underwent emergency surgery at Lahore's Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital to remove an obstruction in his small intestine.
As of 2018, he owned five pet dogs, who resided in his estate.
Cricket career
Khan made his first debut at the age of 16 in Lahore. By the start of the 1970s, he was playing for his home teams of Lahore A (1969–70), Lahore B (1969–70), Lahore Greens (1970–71) and, eventually, Lahore (1970–71). Khan was part of the University of Oxford's Blues Cricket team during the 1973–1975 seasons.
He played English county cricket from 1971 to 1976 for Worcestershire. During this decade, other teams represented by Khan included Dawood Industries (1975–1976) and Pakistan International Airlines (1975–1976 to 1980–1981). From 1983 to 1988, he played for Sussex.
Khan made his Test cricket debut against England in June 1971 at Edgbaston. Three years later, in August 1974, he debuted in the One Day International (ODI) match, once again playing against England at Trent Bridge for the Prudential Trophy. After graduating from Oxford and finishing his tenure at Worcestershire, he returned to Pakistan in 1976 and secured a permanent place on his native national team starting from the 1976–1977 season, during which they faced New Zealand and Australia. Following the Australian series, he toured the West Indies, where he met Tony Greig, who signed him up for Kerry Packer's World Series Cricket. His credentials as one of the fastest bowlers in the world started to become established when he finished third at 139.7 km/h in a fast bowling contest at Perth in 1978, behind Jeff Thomson and Michael Holding, but ahead of Dennis Lillee, Garth Le Roux and Andy Roberts. During the late 1970s, Khan was one of the pioneers of the reverse swing bowling technique. He imparted this trick to the bowling duo of Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, who mastered and popularised this art in later years.
As a bowler, Khan initially bowled with a relatively chest-on action, at medium-pace. However he worked hard to remodel his action to a more classical type, and to strengthen his body, to enable fast bowling. Khan attained his prime as a fast bowler in January 1980 till 1988 when he became out and out fast bowler. During this span Imran picked 236 test wickets at 17.77 apiece with 18 five-wicket hauls and 5 10 wicket hauls. His bowling average and strike rate were better than Richard Hadlee (19.03), Malcolm Marshall (20.20), Dennis Lillee (24.07), Joel Garner (20.62) and Michael Holding (23.68). In January 1983, playing against India, he attained a Test bowling rating of 922 points. Although calculated retrospectively (International Cricket Council (ICC) player ratings did not exist at the time), Khan's form and performance during this period ranks third in the ICC's All-Time Test Bowling Rankings.
Khan achieved the all-rounder's triple (securing 3000 runs and 300 wickets) in 75 Tests, the second-fastest record behind Ian Botham's 72. He also has the second-highest all-time batting average of 61.86 for a Test batsman playing at position 6 in the batting order. He played his last Test match for Pakistan in January 1992, against Sri Lanka at Faisalabad. Khan retired permanently from cricket six months after his last ODI, the historic 1992 World Cup final against England in Melbourne, Australia. He ended his career with 88 Test matches, 126 innings and scored 3807 runs at an average of 37.69, including six centuries and 18 fifties. His highest score was 136. As a bowler, he took 362 wickets in Test cricket, which made him the first Pakistani and world's fourth bowler to do so. In ODIs, he played 175 matches and scored 3709 runs at an average of 33.41. His highest score was 102 not out. His best ODI bowling was 6 wickets for 14 runs, a record for the best bowling figures by any bowler in an ODI innings in a losing cause.
Captaincy
At the height of his career, in 1982, the thirty-year-old Khan took over the captaincy of the Pakistan cricket team from Javed Miandad. As a captain, Khan played 48 Test matches, of which 14 were won by Pakistan, 8 lost and the remaining 26 were drawn. He also played 139 ODIs, winning 77, losing 57 and ending one in a tie.
In the team's second match, Khan led them to their first Test win on English soil for 28 years at Lord's. Khan's first year as captain was the peak of his legacy as a fast bowler as well as an all-rounder. He recorded the best Test bowling of his career while taking 8 wickets for 58 runs against Sri Lanka at Lahore in 1981–1982. He also topped both the bowling and batting averages against England in three-Test series in 1982, taking 21 wickets and averaging 56 with the bat. Later the same year, he put up a highly acknowledged performance in a home series against the formidable Indian team by taking 40 wickets in six Tests at an average of 13.95. By the end of this series in 1982–1983, Khan had taken 88 wickets in 13 Test matches over a period of one year as captain. This same Test series against India, however, also resulted in a stress fracture in his shin that kept him out of cricket for more than two years. An experimental treatment funded by the Pakistani government helped him recover by the end of 1984 and he made a successful comeback to international cricket in the latter part of the 1984–1985 season.
In 1987 in India, Khan led Pakistan in its first-ever Test series win and this was followed by Pakistan's first series victory in England during the same year. During the 1980s, his team also recorded three creditable draws against the West Indies. India and Pakistan co-hosted the 1987 Cricket World Cup, but neither ventured beyond the semi-finals. Khan retired from international cricket at the end of the World Cup. In 1988, he was asked to return to the captaincy by the President of Pakistan, General Zia-Ul-Haq, and on 18 January, he announced his decision to rejoin the team. Soon after returning to the captaincy, Khan led Pakistan to another winning tour in the West Indies, which he has recounted as "the last time I really bowled well". He was declared Man of the Series against West Indies in 1988 when he took 23 wickets in 3 Tests. Khan's career-high as a captain and cricketer came when he led Pakistan to victory in the 1992 Cricket World Cup. Playing with a brittle batting line-up, Khan promoted himself as a batsman to play in the top order along with Javed Miandad, but his contribution as a bowler was minimal. At the age of 39, Khan took the winning last wicket himself.
Post-retirement from cricket
After retiring, Khan remarked that there was ball tampering during his early cricketing days when playing domestic cricket.
Khan had said that, during matches, he "occasionally scratched the side of the ball and lifted the seam." However, Khan defended his actions in the same interview, arguing his conduct was commonplace at the time, even that spin bowlers would lift the seam (i.e. mildly ball tamper); further Khan argued that as he did not lift the seam of the ball above the normal level he was not violating the rules and spirit of the game within the rules defined whilst he was a player. Further, Khan argued that umpires in his 21 years of cricket had not complained about his conduct; Khan remarked that "The sole judge of fair and unfair play on the cricket field is the umpire".
He had also added, "Only once did I use an object. When Sussex was playing Hampshire in 1981 the ball was not deviating at all. I got the 12th man to bring out a bottle top and it started to move around a lot." In 1996, Khan successfully defended himself in a libel action brought forth by former English captain and all-rounder Ian Botham and batsman Allan Lamb over comments they alleged were made by Khan in two articles about the above-mentioned ball-tampering and another article published in an Indian magazine, India Today. They claimed that, in the latter publication, Khan had called the two cricketers "racist, ill-educated and lacking in class." Khan protested that he had been misquoted, saying that he was defending himself after having admitted that he tampered with a ball in a county match 18 years ago. Khan won the libel case, which the judge labelled a "complete exercise in futility", with a 10–2 majority decision by the jury. Also, Khan had served as a domestic league coach.
Since retiring, Khan has written opinion pieces on cricket for various British and Asian newspapers, especially regarding the Pakistani national team. His contributions have been published in India's Outlook magazine, Guardian, The Independent, and Telegraph. Khan also sometimes appears as a cricket commentator on Asian and British sports networks, including BBC Urdu and the Star TV network. In 2004, when the Indian cricket team toured Pakistan after 14 years, he was a commentator on TEN Sports' special live show, Straight Drive, while he was also a columnist for sify.com for the 2005 India-Pakistan Test series. He has provided analysis for every cricket World Cup since 1992, which includes providing match summaries for the BBC during the 1999 World Cup.
He holds as a captain the world record for taking most wickets, best bowling strike rate and best bowling average in Test,
and best bowling figures (8 wickets for 60 runs) in a Test innings,
and also most five-wicket hauls (6) in a Test innings in wins.
On 23 November 2005, Khan was appointed as the chancellor of University of Bradford, succeeding Betty Lockwood. On 26 February 2014, University of Bradford Union floated a motion to remove Khan from the post over Khan's absence from every graduation ceremony since 2010. Khan, however, announced that he will step down on 30 November 2014, citing his "increasing political commitments". The university vice-chancellor Brian Cantor said Khan had been "a wonderful role model for our students".
Philanthropy
During the 1990s, Khan also served as UNICEF's Special Representative for Sports and promoted health and immunisation programmes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand. While in London, he also works with the Lord's Taverners, a cricket charity. Khan focused his efforts solely on social work. By 1991, he had founded the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Trust, a charity organisation bearing the name of his mother, Mrs. Shaukat Khanum. As the Trust's maiden endeavour, Khan established Pakistan's first and only cancer hospital, constructed using donations and funds exceeding $25 million, raised by Khan from all over the world.
On 27 April 2008, Khan established a technical college in the Mianwali District called Namal College. It was built by the Mianwali Development Trust (MDT), and is an associate college of the University of Bradford in December 2005. Imran Khan Foundation is another welfare work, which aims to assist needy people all over Pakistan. It has provided help to flood victims in Pakistan. Buksh Foundation has partnered with the Imran Khan Foundation to light up villages in Dera Ghazi Khan, Mianwali and Dera Ismail Khan under the project 'Lighting a Million Lives'. The campaign will establish several Solar Charging Stations in the selected off-grid villages and will provide villagers with solar lanterns, which can be regularly charged at the solar-charging stations.
Political ideology
Interior
Basing his wider paradigm on the poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal and the Iranian writer-sociologist Ali Shariati he came across in his youth, Khan is generally described as a nationalist and a populist. Khan's proclaimed political platform and declarations include: Islamic values, to which he rededicated himself in the 1990s; liberal economics, with the promise of deregulating the economy and creating a welfare state; decreased bureaucracy and the implementation of anti-corruption laws, to create and ensure a clean government; the establishment of an independent judiciary; overhaul of the country's police system; and an anti-militant vision for a democratic Pakistan.
After the result of 2018 Pakistani general election, Imran Khan said he would try to remake Pakistan based on the ideology of Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
During his government, Khan addressed a balance of payments crisis with a bailout from the International Monetary Fund. He presided over a shrinking current account deficit, and limited defence spending to curtail the fiscal deficit, leading to some general economic growth. He enacted policies which increased tax collection and investment, and reforms were made to the social safety net. His government committed to a renewable energy transition, launched a national reforestation initiative and expanded protected areas, and led the country during the COVID-19 pandemic. His government committed to a renewable energy transition, launched the Ehsaas Programme and the Plant for Pakistan initiative, and expanded the protected areas of Pakistan. He presided over the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused economic turmoil and rising inflation in the country, and threatened his political position. He enacted policies that increased tax collection and investment.
However, his failure to revive the economy and the rising inflation rate caused him political problems. Despite his promised anti-corruption campaign, the perception of corruption in Pakistan worsened during his rule. He was accused of political victimisation of opponents and clamping down on freedom of expression and dissent.
On 10 April 2022, Khan became the country's first prime minister to be ousted through a no-confidence motion vote in parliament. On 22 August 2022, Khan was charged by the Pakistani police under anti-terror laws after Khan accused the police and judiciary of detaining and torturing his close aide.
Foreign relations
In foreign relations, he dealt with border skirmishes against India, strengthened relations with China and Russia, while relations with the United States cooled.
In 2010, Khan said in an interview: "I grew up hating India because I grew up in Lahore and there were massacres of 1947, so much bloodshed and anger. But as I started touring India, I got such love and friendship there that all this disappeared."
Khan views the Kashmir issue as a humanitarian issue, as opposed to a territorial dispute between two countries (India and Pakistan). He also proposed secret talks to settle the issue as he thinks the vested interests on both sides will try to subvert them. He ruled out a military solution to the conflict and denied the possibility of a fourth war between India and Pakistan over the disputed mountainous region.
Khan publicly demanded a Pakistani apology towards the Bangladeshi people for the atrocities committed in 1971. He called the 1971 operation a "blunder" and likened it to today's treatment of Pashtuns in the war on terror. However, he repeatedly criticised the war crimes trials in Bangladesh in favour of the convicts.
In August 2012, the Pakistani Taliban issued death threats if he went ahead with his march to their tribal stronghold along the Afghan border to protest US drone attacks, because he calls himself a "liberal" – a term they associate with a lack of religious belief. On 1 October 2012, prior to his plan to address a rally in South Waziristan, senior commanders of Pakistani Taliban said after a meeting headed by the Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud that they now offered Khan security assistance for the rally because of Khan's opposition to drone attacks in Pakistan, reversing their previous stance.
His sympathetic position toward the Pakistani Taliban and Afghan Taliban, as well as his criticism of the US-led war on terror, has earned him the moniker "Taliban Khan" in Pakistani politics. He believes in negotiations with Taliban and the pull out of the Pakistan Army from Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). He is against US drone strikes and plans to disengage Pakistan from the US-led war on terror. Khan also opposes almost all military operations, including the Siege of Lal Masjid.
In 2014, when Pakistani Taliban announced armed struggle against Isma'ili Muslims (denouncing them as non-Muslims) and the Kalash people, Khan released a statement describing "forced conversions as un-Islamic". He has also condemned the incidents of forced conversion of Hindu girls in Sindh.
Following the Taliban takeover of Kabul in 2021, Khan congratulated the Taliban for their victory in the 2001–2021 war, and urged the international community to support their new government. He also said that his government was negotiating a peace deal with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) with the help of the Afghan Taliban.
On 8 January 2016, Khan visited the embassies of Iran and Saudi Arabia in Islamabad and met their head of commissions to understand their stances about the conflict that engulfed both nations after the execution of Sheikh Nimr by Saudi Arabia. He urged the Government of Pakistan to play a positive role to resolve the matter between both countries. After parliament passed a unanimous resolution keeping Pakistan out of the War in Yemen in April 2015, Khan claimed that his party was responsible for "many critical clauses" of the resolution. In July 2018, the Saudi-based Islamic Development Bank activated its $4.5 billion oil financing facility for Pakistan.
Khan's support for Pakistan's blasphemy laws carried over into relations with the West. In 2021 he called on "Muslim countries to pressure Western governments to make insulting" the Islamic Prophet Muhammad a crime, "likening this measure to laws against Holocaust denial". He urged Muslims to launch a boycott on products of countries that do not punish "insult" to "the honour of the prophet”. (Blasphemy is a "sensitive subject" in Pakistan -- at least 78 people have been murdered in mob violence and targeted attacks related to blasphemy accusations since 1990 -- and French president Emmanuel Macron became a lightening rod after defending a "publication’s right to republish caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad", which many Pakistanis consider blasphemous.)
Early political career
Initial years
Khan was offered political positions more than a few times during his cricketing career. In 1987, president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq offered him a political position in Pakistan Muslim League (PML) which he politely declined. Khan was also invited by Nawaz Sharif to join his political party.
In 1993, Khan was appointed as the ambassador for tourism in the caretaker government of Moeenuddin Ahmad Qureshi and held the portfolio for three months until the government dissolved. In 1994, Khan joined the Jamiat-e-Pasban, a breakaway faction of Jamaat-e-Islami, of Hamid Gul and Muhammad Ali Durrani.
On 25 April 1996, Khan founded a political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He ran for the seat of National Assembly of Pakistan in 1997 Pakistani general election as a candidate of PTI from two constituencies – NA-53, Mianwali and NA-94, Lahore – but was unsuccessful and lost both the seats to candidates of PML (N).
Khan supported General Pervez Musharraf's military coup in 1999, believing Musharraf would "end corruption, clear out the political mafias". According to Khan, he was Musharraf's choice for prime minister in 2002 but turned down the offer. Khan participated in the October 2002 Pakistani general election that took place across 272 constituencies and was prepared to form a coalition if his party did not get a majority of the vote. He was elected from Mianwali. In the 2002 referendum, Khan supported military dictator General Musharraf, while all mainstream democratic parties declared that referendum as unconstitutional. He has also served as a part of the Standing Committees on Kashmir and Public Accounts. On 6 May 2005, Khan was mentioned in The New Yorker as being the "most directly responsible" for drawing attention in the Muslim world to the Newsweek story about the alleged desecration of the Qur'an in a U.S. military prison at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. In June 2007, Khan faced political opponents in and outside the parliament.
On 2 October 2007, as part of the All Parties Democratic Movement, Khan joined 85 other MPs to resign from Parliament in protest of the presidential election scheduled for 6 October, which general Musharraf was contesting without resigning as army chief. On 3 November 2007, Khan was put under house arrest, after president Musharraf declared a state of emergency in Pakistan. Later Khan escaped and went into hiding. He eventually came out of hiding on 14 November to join a student protest at the University of the Punjab. At the rally, Khan was captured by student activists from the Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and roughly treated. He was arrested during the protest and was sent to the Dera Ghazi Khan jail in the Punjab province where he spent a few days before being released.
On 30 October 2011, Khan addressed more than 100,000 supporters in Lahore, challenging the policies of the government, calling that new change a "tsunami" against the ruling parties, Another successful public gathering of hundreds of thousands of supporters was held in Karachi on 25 December 2011. Since then Khan became a real threat to the ruling parties and a future political prospect in Pakistan. According to an International Republican Institute's survey, Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf tops the list of popular parties in Pakistan both at the national and provincial level.
On 6 October 2012, Khan joined a vehicle caravan of protesters from Islamabad to the village of Kotai in Pakistan's South Waziristan region against US drone missile strikes. On 23 March 2013, Khan introduced the Naya Pakistan Resolution (New Pakistan) at the start of his election campaign. On 29 April The Observer termed Khan and his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf as the main opposition to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. Between 2011 and 2013, Khan and Nawaz Sharif began to engage each other in a bitter feud. The rivalry between the two leaders grew in late 2011 when Khan addressed his largest crowd at Minar-e-Pakistan in Lahore. From 26 April 2013, in the run up to the elections, both the PML-N and the PTI started to criticise each other.
2013 elections campaign
On 21 April 2013, Khan launched his final public relations campaign for the 2013 elections from Lahore, where he addressed thousands of supporters at the Mall. Khan announced that he would pull Pakistan out of the U.S.-led war on terror and bring peace to the Pashtun tribal belt. He addressed different public meetings in various cities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of country, where he announced that PTI will introduce a uniform education system in which the children of rich and poor would have equal opportunities. Khan ended his south Punjab campaign by addressing rallies in various Seraiki belt cities.
Khan ended the campaign by addressing a rally of supporters in Islamabad via a video link while lying on a bed at a hospital in Lahore. The last survey before the elections by The Herald showed 24.98 percent of voters nationally planned to vote for his party, just a whisker behind former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's PML-N. On 7 May, just four days before the elections, Khan was rushed to Shaukat Khanum hospital in Lahore after he tumbled from a forklift at the edge of a stage and fell headfirst to the ground. Pakistan's 2013 elections were held on 11 May 2013 throughout the country. The elections resulted in a clear majority of Pakistan Muslim League (N). Khan's PTI emerged as the second-largest party by popular vote nationally, including in Karachi. Khan's party PTI won 30 directly elected parliamentary seats and became the third-largest party in National Assembly behind Pakistan People's Party, which was second.
In opposition
Khan led Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf became the opposition party in Punjab and Sindh. Khan became the parliamentary leader of his party. On 31 July 2013 Khan was issued a contempt of court notice for allegedly criticising the superior judiciary, and his use of the word shameful for the judiciary. The notice was discharged after Khan submitted before the Supreme Court that he criticised the lower judiciary for their actions during the May 2013 general election while those judicial officers were working as returning officers. Khan's party swooped the militancy-hit northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and formed the provincial government. PTI-led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government presented a balanced, tax-free budget for the fiscal year 2013–14. During his provincial government, Khan was criticised for his support for Sami-ul-Haq, the "Father of the Taliban," and giving funds to his seminary, Darul Uloom Haqqania.
Khan believed that terrorist activities by the Pakistani Taliban could be stopped through dialogue with them and even offered them to open an office in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He accused the United States of sabotaging peace efforts with the Pakistani Taliban by killing its leader Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike in 2013. He demanded the government to block NATO supply line in retaliation for the killing of the TTP leader.
On 13 November 2013, Khan, being party leader, ordered Pervez Khattak to dismiss ministers of Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) who were allegedly involved in corruption. Bakht Baidar and Ibrar Hussan Kamoli of Qaumi Watan Party, ministers for Manpower & Industry and Forest & Environment respectively, were dismissed. Khan ordered Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to end the alliance with QWP. The Chief Minister also dismissed Minister for Communication and Works of PTI Yousuf Ayub Khan due to a fake degree.
A year after elections, on 11 May 2014, Khan alleged that 2013 general elections were rigged in favour of the ruling PML (N). On 14 August 2014, Imran Khan led a rally of supporters from Lahore to Islamabad, demanding Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's resignation and investigation into alleged electoral fraud. On its way to the capital Khan's convoy was attacked by stones from PML (N) supporters in Gujranwala; however, there were no fatalities. Khan was reported to be attacked with guns which forced him to travel in a bullet-proof vehicle. On 15 August, Khan-led protesters entered the capital and a few days later marched into the high-security Red Zone; on 1 September 2014, according to Al Jazeera, protesters attempted to storm Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's official residence, which prompted the outbreak of violence. Three people died and more than 595 people were injured, including 115 police officers. Prior to the violence that resulted in deaths, Khan asked his followers to take law into their own hands.
By September 2014, Khan had entered into a de facto alliance with Canadian-Pakistani cleric Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri; both have aimed to mobilise their supporters for regime change. Khan entered into an agreement with the Sharif administration to establish a three-member high-powered judicial commission which would be formed under a presidential ordinance. The commission would make its final report public. If the commission found a country-wide pattern of rigging proved, the prime minister would dissolve the national and provincial assemblies in terms of the articles 58(1) and 112(1) of the Constitution – thereby meaning that the premier would also appoint the caretaker setup in consultation with the leader of the opposition and fresh elections would be held. He also met Syed Mustafa Kamal, when he was in the opposition.
2018 general election
2018 elections campaign
Imran Khan contested the general election from NA-35 (Bannu), NA-53 (Islamabad-II), NA-95 (Mianwali-I), NA-131 (Lahore-IX), and NA-243 (Karachi East-II). According to early, official results, Khan led the poll, although his opposition, mainly PML-N, alleged large-scale vote rigging and administrative malpractices. On 27 July, election officials declared that Khan's party had won 110 of the 269 seats, giving PTI a plurality in the National Assembly. At the conclusion of the count on 28 July, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) announced that the PTI had won a total of 116 of the 270 seats contested. Khan became the first person in the history of Pakistan general elections who contested and won in all five constituencies, surpassing Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who contested in four but won in three constituencies in 1970.
In May 2018, Khan's party announced a 100-day agenda for a possible future government. The agenda included sweeping reforms in almost all areas of government including creation of a new province in Southern Punjab, fast tracking of merger of Federally Administered Tribal Areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, betterment of law and order situation in Karachi, and betterment of relations with Baloch political leaders.
Post-2018 election reaction
A number of opposition parties have alleged "massive rigging" in Khan's favor amid allegations of military interference in the general elections. Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N party, in particular, claimed that a conspiracy between the judiciary and military had influenced the election in favour of Khan and PTI. The Election Commission, however, rejected allegations of rigging and Sharif and his PML-N later conceded victory to Khan, despite lingering 'reservations' regarding the result. Two days after the 2018 general elections were held, the chief observer of the European Union Election Observation Mission to Pakistan Michael Gahler confirmed that the overall situation of the general election was satisfactory.
Victory speech
During his victory speech, he laid out the policy outlines for his future government. Khan said his inspiration is to build Pakistan as a humanitarian state based on principles of the first Islamic state of Medina. He described that his future government will put the poor and commoners of the country first and all policies will be geared towards elevating the standards of living of the lesser fortunate. He promised an investigation into rigging allegations. He said that he wanted a united Pakistan and would refrain from victimizing his political opponents. Everyone would be equal under the law. He promised a simple and less costly government, devoid of showy pompousness in which the prime minister's house will be converted into an educational institute and governor houses will be used for public benefit.
On foreign policy, he praised China and hoped to have better relations with Afghanistan, United States, and India. On Middle East, he said his government will strive to have a balanced relationship with Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Nominations and appointments
On 6 August 2018, PTI officially nominated him as the candidate for prime minister. Delivering a speech during his nomination, he said that he will present himself for public accountability for an hour every week in which he will answer questions put forward by masses.
After the election, Khan made some appointments and nominations for national and provincial level public office holders as the head of the winning party. Asad Umar was designated finance minister in the future government of Khan in the center. Khan nominated Imran Ismail for Governor of Sindh, Mahmood Khan as future Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar as Governor of Punjab, Asad Qaiser as Speaker of the National Assembly of Pakistan, and Shah Farman as Governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In Balochistan, his party decided to support Balochistan Awami Party which nominated Jam Kamal Khan for chief minister and former chief minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo for speaker. His party nominated Pakistan Muslim League (Q) leader and former Deputy Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pervaiz Elahi for the slot of Speaker of the Punjab Assembly. Abdul Razak Dawood was nominated to be the advisor to prime minister on economic affairs. Qasim Khan Suri was nominated for deputy speaker of national assembly slot. Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani and Mehmood Jan were nominated as speaker and deputy speaker of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa assembly respectively. Dost Muhammad Mazari was nominated as Deputy Speaker for the Provincial Assembly of Punjab. Khan nominated Sardar Usman Buzdar for Chief Minister of Punjab. Announcing the nomination, Khan said that he chose Buzdar because he belongs to the most backward area of Punjab. According to some sources, Buzdar was nominated as a makeshift arrangement because it will be easier to remove a lesser-known individual when Shah Mahmood Qureshi is ready to become chief minister.
Prime Minister of Pakistan
First 100 days
On 17 August 2018, Khan secured 176 votes and became 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan and took oath of office on 18 August 2018. Khan ordered top level reshuffling in the country's bureaucracy, including the appointment of Sohail Mahmood as Foreign Secretary, Rizwan Ahmed as Maritime Secretary and Naveed Kamran Baloch as Finance Secretary. His first major appointment in the Pakistan Army was that of Lieutenant General Asim Munir to the key slot of Director-General of Inter-Services Intelligence.
Khan announced his cabinet soon after taking oath, choosing to keep the Ministry of Interior to himself. Though he later appointed Ijaz Ahmed Shah as interior minister. Many of his appointees were previously ministers during Musharraf era, although some were defectors from the left-wing People's Party. In 2019 Khan committed to a major cabinet reshuffle in the ministries of interior, finance, information and planning.
Khan stated that despite the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Pakistan must prioritize good relations with Saudi Arabia due to an economic crisis. He also added that U.S. sanctions against Iran are affecting neighboring Pakistan, stating "The last thing the Muslim World needs is another conflict. The Trump administration is moving towards that direction." Khan has prioritised close ties with China, saying he "did not know" much about concentration camps for China's Muslims. Though Khan confirmed he had raised the matter "privately" in discussions with China.
Khan was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People of 2019, in the section "Leaders".
Economic policy
In domestic economic policy, Khan inherited a twin balance of payments and debt crisis with a large current account deficit and fiscal deficit in 2018, Khan's government sought a bailout from the IMF. In exchange for the bailout, Khan's government slashed subsidy spending in the energy sector and unveiled an austerity budget to curb the fiscal deficit and limit government borrowing. Also, the IMF demanded that the Pakistani government depreciate the rupee, and improve tax collection. Khan's government decided to raise import tariffs to collect higher tax revenues and devalued the currency, this alongside the heavy import duty helped to curtail the current account deficit (see import substitution). Pakistan's overall balance of payment's position improved significantly following record-high remittances in 2020, which stabilised the central bank's foreign exchange reserves. The fiscal deficit narrowed to less than 1% of GDP by 2020 due to the government's austerity policies.
Thus the rate of debt accumulation had significantly slowed, but Pakistan's debt remained high due to the high borrowing of previous governments in which the current government had to allocate $24 billion to pay off loans taken during the tenure of previous governments.
Aside from IMF-mandated reforms, Khan's government introduced policies to improve the business operating climate. As a result, Pakistan climbed 28 places higher on the World Bank's ease of doing business index. Pakistan ranked amongst the top 10 most improved countries in 2019. Pakistan's tax collection also hit record highs in 2019. As the government raised more revenue from domestic taxes with no increase in tax revenue from import taxes (given import compression had lowered the quantity being imported so the government collected less tax revenue from imports). This trend continued into 2020, albeit at a slower pace. The fiscal deficit was also controlled to less than 1% of GDP in the second half of 2020, Pakistan recorded a primary surplus (excluding interest payment and principal repayment of previous debt), but was in deficit once the interest payment on debt was accounted for, albeit the deficit was smaller. Economists primarily pinned this reduction in the fiscal deficit on an increase in non-tax revenues rather than an increase in tax revenues. For example, from the higher prices, consumers paid for oil from state-owned oil companies. Nevertheless, tax revenues also went on an upward trajectory with Pakistan's tax agency (FBR) both exceeding its tax collection target and collecting a record amount for the first quarter of the fiscal year 2021 in the calendar year 2020.
In economic policy with respect to international trade, from January 2020 Khan's government implemented the second phase of the China–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement these renegotiations with China led to concessionary rates by China on Pakistani exports of goods and services to mainland China such as reduced tariffs or zero tariffs. The negotiations were termed a "significant milestone" in the country's foreign policy by expanding trade relations in a relationship traditionally dominated by defence and security matters.
In June 2018 (before Khan became Prime Minister), the FATF placed Pakistan onto its grey list and demanded a series of actions be taken by Pakistan to remedy terror financing laws. Khan's government had initially used constitutional provisions of Presidential power held by Arif Alvi to issue ordinances (temporary legislation via Presidential decree) and the country became compliant with 14 points on the FATF agenda. Subsequently, a series of bills were presented in Pakistan's Parliament to ensure the legislation would permanently remain in place beyond a temporary Presidential decree. Minor parts of the legislation passed both the lower house and upper house of Pakistan's parliament with the support of Khan's ruling coalition and part of the opposition parties too. However, the opposition-dominated Senate did not pass a significant portion of the FATF bills and walked out on crucial moments, creating hurdles for Khan's government.
Subsequently, Khan summoned a joint session of both upper and lower house of parliament in which the bills passed given the government held a majority and without the support of the opposition. By October 2020, Pakistan became successfully compliant on 21 out of 27 points on the FATF agenda, an increase from the 14 points in February 2020, with the remaining 6 points outstanding reviewed in February 2021. In FATF's February 2021 review, Khan's government had successfully implemented about 90% of the FATF agenda with 24 out of 27 points 'largely addressed' and the remaining 3 out of 27 points 'partially addressed'. The FATF President remarked that as Pakistan was progressing with its action plan so it "is not the time to put a country on the blacklist". In FATF's June 2021 review, the Khan government implemented more progress, the FATF found that Pakistan has now largely addressed 26 out of the 27 action items, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price praised Pakistan's progress but encouraged Pakistan to tackle its remaining action item saying "We do recognise and we support Pakistan's continued efforts to satisfy those (first action plan) obligations. Pakistan has made significant progress on its first action plan with 26 of 27 action items largely addressed — We encourage Pakistan to continue working with the FATF and the international community to swiftly complete the remaining action item by demonstrating that terrorism financing, investigations and prosecutions target senior leaders and commanders of UN-designated groups," he said. On 8 April 2022 the Khan government made progress on its remaining action plan by sentencing Hafiz Saeed a mastermind of the 2008 Mumbai attacks and a UN-designated terrorist to 31 years in prison.
Due to the efforts of Hammad Azhar, Pakistan eventually made it out of the FATF greylist in October 2022.
Security and terrorism
In national security policy, Khan's government presided over an improved overall security climate with foreign investors expressing greater confidence in the security of their investments in Pakistan.
On 5 March 2019, the Khan government formally banned the Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and its affiliate Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation under the Anti Terrorism Act 1997.
On 25 June 2020, Khan came under criticism, both in the international press and from the domestic opposition, for calling al-Qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden a martyr. Khan, on a previous occasion during a local television interview, had refused to call bin Laden a terrorist.
In October 2020, Imran Khan spoke out about the growing extremism and violence against Muslims, across the world. In a letter posted on Twitter, he urged Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg to ban Islamophobic content on its platform.
In July 2021, the Project Pegasus revealed a spyware surveillance list that included at least one number once used by Khan.
In 2019, Pakistan arrested Hafiz Saeed a mastermind of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks also a UN-designated terrorist, and on 8 April 2022 he was sentenced to 31 years in prison.
Social policy
In social policy, Khan's government has taken steps to restore religious sites belonging to religious minorities this included the Kartarpur Corridor. Khan's government took a significantly different position on the policy of minorities than the main opposition party, the PML-N, who had opposed the building of the corridor for Indian pilgrims.
Khan's government also instituted reforms to education and healthcare on a national and regional level respectively.
Khan's government introduced reforms to Pakistan's social safety net and the system of welfare in Pakistan more broadly. This included broadening welfare payments which was initially for widows only, to include the disabled as well as provide health insurance coverage.
In June 2021, Khan explained a surge of publicly known rape cases in Pakistan with what he called "common sense", namely that women who wear "very few clothes" will "have an impact on the men unless they are robots". His comments lead to outrage by female rights activists.
Environment and energy
Khan pushed for an increase in renewable energy production and halted coal power from future construction working toward an aim to make Pakistan mostly renewable by 2030. In 2020, Khan's government commenced building work for the Diamer-Bhasha Dam, as part of his government's investment in renewable energy projects. The World Bank loaned Pakistan $450mn for investment in renewable energy projects as part of the government's stated aim of making Pakistan a renewable-energy reliant economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change.
The government also introduced an electric vehicle (EV) policy, the first in South Asia.
Further efforts to combat climate change consisted of re-foresting Pakistan with over 10 billion trees under the Plant for Pakistan project with the government on course to plant 3.3 billion trees in the first three and a half years of Khan's government, the reforestation programme includes an agreement with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and others to independently monitor the projects in order to maintain transparency about funding. Khan also expanded national parks under a protected areas initiative.
Governance and anti-corruption
Khan's government introduced reforms to Pakistan's bloated public sector. The public sector consisted of state-owned enterprises that were consistently making losses and accumulating debt for decades, including national services such as railways, airlines, postal services as well as other state-owned companies such as Pakistan's state-owned steel company. In 2019, Pakistan International Airlines reached breakeven in operating profit however the halt in air travel in the following year due to COVID-19 meant further reforms had to be made. This led to a proposal to cut the airline's workforce almost by half in order to save costs and thus help the state-owned airline breakeven on a net profit level in addition to the operating profit level. The national airline confirmed it would layoff employees in phases as part of PIA's restructuring plan in line with the government's policy of reversing the losses at state-owned companies. Khan's government is set to axe many PIA workers due to the fact that those appointments were politically motivated to reward loyalty to previous governments.
In 2019, Khan's government launched an anti-corruption campaign which was premised on the basis that no amnesty (known as NRO or National Reconciliation Ordinance in Pakistani political parlance) would be given to politicians or relatives who benefitted from a politician's patronage. The campaign has been criticised for targeting Khan's political opponents. Nevertheless, Khan's supporters argue that the campaign is genuine, as senior members of Khan's own ruling party, including Jahangir Khan Tareen and Aleem Khan, have faced investigation or prosecution, with Khan going as far as rejecting the formation of a "judicial commission" demanded by supporters of Tareen.
Under Khan's premiership, the performance of Pakistan's anti-corruption agency, the National Accountability Bureau improved significantly when measured in terms of recovery of money in cases involving plea bargains and/or convictions. The recovery of the anti-corruption agency had risen to Rs. 487 billion over three years from the start of 2018 to the beginning of 2021. This recovery was significantly higher than the anti-corruption agency's 10-year performance from 2008 to 2018 prior to Khan's government taking office.
COVID-19 pandemic
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Khan's government rolled out the largest welfare programme in Pakistan's history, with a fund of almost $1 billion aimed at the country's poorest segment of the population. The PM's advisor Dr. Sania Nishtar confirmed that the programme would use pre-existing data of other welfare programmes under 'Ehsaas' system and the much smaller Benazir Income Support Programme which provided a more limited safety-net, while the Ehsaas programme targeted lower-income households more broadly. Following a drop in COVID-19 cases, declining positivity rates, and falling hospitalisations, Khan's government lifted lockdown restrictions. In a Gallup survey released in 2021, 7 out of 10 (or roughly 70%) of Pakistanis had a favourable view of the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Economically, a V-shaped recovery was observed in both business confidence and expected employment index. The current account was in surplus for 3 out of 4 months after June 2020 although this was due to higher remittances (which tend to be volatile) offsetting decrease in exports. Fiscal prudence meant Pakistan's debt-to-GDP ratio remained broadly unchanged in 2021 according to the IMF, Pakistan defied the trend of rising debt, as most emerging/developing economies had witnessed a substantial rise in the debt-to-GDP ratio in order to deal with the pandemic with other developing countries seeing a 10% rise in debt-to-GDP on average. Furthermore, credit rating agency Fitch forecasted a fall in Pakistan's public debt to GDP ratio, reflecting lower debt incurred by the incumbent government and higher GDP growth in 2021.
In economic policy, Khan's government presided over a recovery in Pakistan's textile sector, with demand measured by the number of orders pending hitting historic highs. Khan's government facilitated the textile sector by offering concessionary rates on utilities such as electricity as well as reducing the electricity tariff during peak hours. Furthermore, the Asian Development Bank stated that it sees an "economic recovery" in Pakistan. Also, signs of recovery emerged as exports reached pre-covid levels towards the end of 2020. Following the recovery in the textile sector, export growth was almost in double-digits by February 2021, with a 9% growth in exports – especially value-added textile exports. In early 2021, Pakistan's apparel exports to the US had surged upwards in value and volume outperforming India and Bangladesh, both of which are the nearest regional economies similar to Pakistan's in South Asia. Khan's government facilitated the textile sector by removing all import tariffs on cotton yarn, in order to address a shortfall in the main raw material input of textiles and apparel. This policy of tax concessions was codified at least in the short term when Khan's government unveiled its budget for 2021–22 which had reduced customs duty on imports of inputs (raw materials) for final manufactured goods.
Foreign affairs
In foreign policy, Khan voiced support for the 2019 Turkish offensive into north-eastern Syria against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. On 11 October 2019, Khan told the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan that "Pakistan fully understands Turkey's concerns relating to terrorism". Khan's foreign policy towards neighbouring Afghanistan consists primarily of support for the Afghan peace process and also inaugurated a 24/7 border crossing with Afghanistan to facilitate travel and trade. He said that Pakistan will never recognize Israel until a Palestinian state is created, a statement in line with the vision of Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, Khan's government had improved Pakistan's reputation abroad by stepping into its role as a 'world player'. In 2019, Khan was included in the Time 100, Time's annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Khan also pursued a reset in ties with Gulf Arab states such as the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, with the UAE agreeing to roll over Pakistan's debt on an interest-free loan. Subsequently, Khan embarked on a three-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in order to reset ties, where he was personally received at the airport by Mohammad bin Salman. The ties had become tense previously due to the unwillingness of Pakistan to contribute militarily to the Saudi Arabian–led intervention in Yemen. Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Pakistan confirmed that the Saudi government had approved a concessionary loan for building a hydroelectric dam, the Mohmand dam. Khan's government also improved ties with the Gulf state of Kuwait, as Kuwait confirmed it had lifted a ten-year visa ban on Pakistani nationals. Khan's government enhanced economic ties with Qatar which is expected to benefit Pakistan by US$3 billion over 10 years by renegotiating terms in an energy supply deal which saw a significant reduction in Pakistan's energy import bill compared to the previous deal. Khan was mediating between Iran and Saudi Arabia in an effort to end the war in Yemen, which is part of an Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict.
On 9 May 2021, Khan condemned the Israeli police actions at Al-Aqsa, stating that such actions violated "all norms of humanity and [international] law". Also, Khan has been vocal on the Kashmir issue, and his government adopted the foreign policy stance that no talks will be held with India on the Kashmir dispute until autonomy was restored in Indian-held Kashmir. Khan's national security adviser Moeed Yusuf confirmed that backdoor contacts with India (ostensibly brokered by the UAE) had broken down after India had refused to restore the region's autonomy.
In August 2021, Khan celebrated the departure of the United States from Afghanistan, describing it as Afghans breaking "the shackles of slavery".
Russia
After twenty-three years without a premiere of Pakistan visiting Moscow, Khan became the first such official of the century when he landed in the Russian capital on 23 February, for a two-day trip, where he planned to discuss "key issues of bilateral interest with top leadership," according to the Foreign Office of Pakistan. Nawaz Sharif, in March 1999, was the last to visit Moscow until then.
The meeting between the two heads of state was planned months in advance, and President Vladimir Putin met with Khan just hours after the Russian "special military operation" into the Donbas in an attack on neighboring Ukraine, during the second day of Khan's visit. Radio Pakistan reported the two discussed "economic and energy cooperation," namely, a several billion dollar Pakistan Stream Gas Pipeline project that Russian enterprise partnered in developing southward from Karachi to Punjab.
The pipeline, which was begun in 2020, is the result of a 2015 agreement for a 1,100 km pipeline with a designed capacity ranging from 12.4 to 16 billion cubic meters, with Russia financing 26% of costs, which ranged from US$1.5–3.5 billion. It was expected that even under sanctions against Russia Pakistan could still import up to 14 billion cubic meters of liquid natural gas (LNG) from the vast Russian reserves to the "energy-starved power plants" in Pakistan. The Eurasian Pipeline Consortium and pipeline supplier TMK were tasked with the completion of the pipeline.
Of the timing on the talks, Khan explained that he was invited by Putin months in advance, but furthermore that he was not interested in joining any "blocs" and welcomed neutrality, in hopes of "peace and harmony within and among societies."
Following the visit, Khan refused a request from Western nations to support a United Nations resolution condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine. During the UN General Assembly emergency meeting on the invasion he expressed regret for the situation while registering an abstention, and called for deescalation with adherence to international law as laid out in the UN Charter.
No-confidence motion and removal from office
According to a leaked classified Pakistani cypher, at a March 7, 2022 meeting, the U.S. State Department encouraged the Pakistani government to remove Khan from office because of his neutrality on the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
On 8 March 2022, the opposition parties submitted a motion of no confidence against Khan to the National Assembly's secretariat. On 27 March 2022, Khan waved a diplomatic cypher from US in the public, claiming that it demands to remove Khan's government in a coup. Though, later he changed his stance about the US conspiracy against his government. On 1 April 2022, Prime Minister Khan announced that in context of the no-confidence motion against him in the National Assembly, the three options were discussed with "establishment" to choose from viz: "resignation, no-confidence [vote] or elections". On 3 April 2022, President Arif Alvi dissolved the National Assembly of Pakistan on Khan's advice, after the Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly rejected and set-aside the motion of no confidence; this move would have required elections to the National Assembly to be held within 90 days. On 10 April, after a Supreme Court ruling that the no-confidence motion was illegally rejected, a no-confidence vote was conducted and he was ousted from office, becoming the first prime minister in Pakistan to be removed from office by a vote of no confidence. Khan claimed the US was behind his removal because he conducted an independent foreign policy and had friendly relations with China and Russia. His removal led to protests from his supporters across Pakistan.
Post-premiership
2022 Toshakhana reference case
The Pakistan Democratic Movement's MNAs brought the Toshakhana case against Imran Khan in August 2022 because he failed to disclose the specifics of the Toshakhana presents in his yearly asset report to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The investigation was started by the ECP, which then made its final determination on 21 October 2022, disqualifying Imran from holding public office for engaging in dishonest behavior, fabricating information, and making an inaccurate declaration in the reference under Article 63(1)(p) of the constitution of Pakistan. Following the verdict, Khan organized the Azadi March II to protest.
2023 arrests
First arrest and release
As a result of an arrest warrant issued by the district and sessions court in Islamabad, the Islamabad Police and Lahore Police started an operation to arrest the former prime minister Imran Khan on March 14, 2023. On May 9, Imran Khan was arrested at the Islamabad High Court by paramilitary forces over his alleged role in the Al-Qadir Trust case, after which PTI-party members had called for nationwide protests. His arrest led to widespread protests and the May 9 riots. The arrest was later declared illegal by the Supreme Court. Following the May 9 riots, many PTI members deserted Khan and founded the Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party under the leadership of Jahangir Tareen.
Bailout
On 12 May, the Islamabad High Court declared the arrest illegal and mandated Khan's immediate release. Khan was granted protected bail and released on the same day, meaning he could not be re-arrested on those charges for two weeks.
Conviction and second arrest
On 5 August 2023, Khan was arrested for the second time.
On 29 August 2023, a Pakistani appeals court suspended Khan's corruption conviction and three-year prison term, and granted bail.
Wealth
In 2003, Khan had a house in Zaman Park, Lahore worth . He was also an investor, investing more than in various businesses. He was owner of agriculture land of 39 kanals (5 acres) at Talhar, Islamabad, and 530 kanals (66 acres) at Khanewal and had a share in 363 kanals (44 acres) of other agricultural land which he had inherited. Khan paid to buy two apartments at Shahra-e-Dastoor in Islamabad. Other assets in 2017 included furniture worth and livestock valued at . However he then had no vehicle registered in his name.
In 2017 Khan owned a 300 kanal mansion in Bani Gala, Islamabad, worth , which he declared as a gift in his statement to the Election Commission of Pakistan. The mansion is located within a gated enclosure and is accessible through a private driveway.
In November 2019, using FBR statements, Pakistani media revealed how much tax Khan had paid in 37 years. Khan paid of tax in 2017, and over 37 years, he paid a total of in tax up to 2019. The documents released by the FBR also state that during this period he was exempted for some years from paying tax. On 3 January 2022, FBR released its 2019 tax directory for parliamentarians and it was revealed that Khan had paid in taxes in 2019.
Public profile
After the May 2013 elections, Mohammed Hanif writing for The Guardian termed Khan's support as appealing "to the educated middle classes but Pakistan's main problem is that there aren't enough educated urban middle-class citizens in the country". Pankaj Mishra writing for The New York Times in 2012, charactised Khan as a "cogent picture out of his—and Pakistan's—clashing identities" adding that "his identification with the suffering masses and his attacks on his affluent, English-speaking peers have long been mocked in the living rooms of Lahore and Karachi as the hypocritical ravings of "Im the Dim" and "Taliban Khan"—the two favored monikers for him." Mishra concluded with "like all populist politicians, Khan appears to offer something to everyone. Yet the great differences between his constituencies—socially liberal, upper-middle-class Pakistanis and the deeply conservative residents of Pakistan's tribal areas—seem irreconcilable." His critics have often called him "Fitna Khan" and "Zinayi Khan".
On 18 March 2012, Salman Rushdie criticised Khan for refusing to attend the India Today Conference because of Rushdie's attendance. Khan cited the "immeasurable hurt" that Rushdie's writings have caused Muslims around the world. Rushdie, in turn, suggested that Khan was a "dictator in waiting." In 2011, While writing for The Washington Post, Richard Leiby termed Khan as an underdog adding that he "often sounds like a pro-democracy liberal but is well known for his coziness with conservative Islamist parties." Ayesha Siddiqa, in September 2014, writing for The Express Tribune, claimed that "while we can all sympathise with Khan's right to change the political tone, it would be worthwhile for him to envision how he would, if he did become the prime minister of this country, put the genie back into the bottle." H. M. Naqvi termed Khan as a "sort of a Ron Paul figure", adding that "there is no taint of corruption and there is his anti-establishment message."
During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, Khan was a popular sex symbol. He became known as a socialite in English high society, and sported a playboy image amongst the British press and paparazzi due to his "non-stop partying" at London nightclubs such as Annabel's and Tramp, though he claims to have hated English pubs and never drank alcohol. British heiress Sita White, daughter of Gordon White, Baron White of Hull, became the mother of his alleged lovechild daughter, Tyrian Jade White. A judge in the US ruled him to be the father of Tyrian due to his failure to appear in court, but Khan has denied paternity and asked for the case to be open in Pakistani courts. Later in 2007, Election Commission of Pakistan ruled in favour of Khan and dismissed the ex parte judgment of the US court, on grounds that it was neither admissible in evidence before any court or tribunal in Pakistan nor executable against him. About his lifestyle as a bachelor, he has often said that, "I never claim to have led an angelic life."
Declan Walsh in The Guardian newspaper in England in 2005 described Khan as a "miserable politician", observing that, "Khan's ideas and affiliations since entering politics in 1996 have swerved and skidded like a rickshaw in a rainshower... He preaches democracy one day but gives a vote to reactionary mullahs the next." Khan has also been accused by some opponents and critics of hypocrisy and opportunism, including what has been called his life's "playboy to puritan U-turn." Political commentator Najam Sethi, stated that, "A lot of the Imran Khan story is about backtracking on a lot of things he said earlier, which is why this doesn't inspire people." Author Fatima Bhutto has criticised Khan for "incredible coziness not with the military but with dictatorship" as well as some of his political decisions. Nevertheless, Khan's approval rating since he became Prime Minister remained comparatively robust for an officeholder in Pakistani politics with a majority approving (51%), compared to 46% disapproval and 3% undecided. Other polls suggested his approval was as high as 57%.
In popular culture
During his cricketing days, Khan featured in many advertisements and television commercials as a celebrity brand endorser. These included Pepsi Pakistan, Brooke Bond, Thums Up (along with Sunil Gavaskar), and the Indian soap brand Cinthol, at a time when Bollywood legend Vinod Khanna was also endorsing the same product. His popularity in India was such that it was "unmatched in an era when there were no smartphones to take selfies. He was mobbed everywhere he went." The late veteran Bollywood actor Dev Anand even offered him a role in his sports action-thriller movie Awwal Number (1990), that of a cricket star in decline opposite an upcoming cricketer essayed by Aamir Khan, and as he refused, citing his lack of acting skills, the role eventually went to Aditya Pancholi. In 2010, a Pakistani production house produced a biographical film based on Khan's life, titled Kaptaan: The Making of a Legend. The title, which is Urdu for 'Captain', depicts Khan's captaincy and career with the Pakistan cricket team which led them to victory in the 1992 cricket world cup, as well as events which shaped his life; from being ridiculed in cricket to being labelled a playboy; from the death of his mother to his efforts and endeavours in building the first cancer hospital in Pakistan; from being the first Chancellor of the University of Bradford to the building of Namal University.
Canadian rock band Nickelback released a music video for its politically themed single Edge of a Revolution, featuring a short clip of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) rally among other protests. The brief clip from the PTI rally shows red and green party flags along with a poster of PTI Chairman Imran Khan who was the most popular opposition leader.
Views on the Pashtuns and Afghans
In his virtual address at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly on 24 September 2021, Khan remarked that many Pakistani Pashtuns "had strong sympathies with the Afghan Taliban, not because of their religious ideology, but because of Pashtun nationalism." His comments prompted outrage among many Pashtuns who called on him to apologise. Khan made similar comments also on 11 October, which triggered a protest in Peshawar the next day by the leftist Mazdoor Kisan Party (MKP). The Awami National Party (ANP) and the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) also condemned Khan for "linking the Pashtuns with terrorists."
During his keynote address at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's (OIC) Extraordinary Session of Foreign Ministers on 19 December 2021, which was held in Islamabad to discuss the humanitarian situation in Afghanistan, Khan said not allowing girls to study was part of Afghan culture, and that the world should respect that. His remarks were criticised by many people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, including former Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai also slammed Khan's remarks, saying "I nearly lost my life fighting against the Taliban's ban on girls' education."
Awards and honours
State honours
Literary work
Khan has published six works of non-fiction, including an autobiography co-written with Patrick Murphy. He has also written about the modern history of Pakistan in his book Main Aur Mera Pakistan published in 2014 in Urdu and Hindi. The book contains details about Pakistan's wars with India in 1965 and 1971, the impact of 1979 Iranian Revolution and capture of terrorist Osama bin Laden at Abbottabad in 2011. He periodically writes editorials on cricket and Pakistani politics in several leading Pakistani and British newspapers. It was revealed in 2008 that Khan's second book, Indus Journey: A Personal View of Pakistan, had required heavy editing from the publisher. The publisher Jeremy Lewis revealed in a memoir that when he asked Khan to show his writing for publication, "He handed me a leather-bound notebook or diary containing a few jottings and autobiographical snippets. It took me, at most, five minutes to read them; and that, it soon became apparent, was all we had to go on." Khan's most recent book was published in 2011, an autobiography about his transition from cricketer to politician, as well as the challenges he faced in his philanthropic work.
Khan has also penned op-eds in various media outlets, including CNN where he advocated for conversation and restoration of damaged natural ecosystems.
Bibliography
Assassination attempt
On 3 November 2022, Khan was shot in the leg or in the foot by a gunman while giving a speech to supporters at a rally in Wazirabad, Punjab, and leading a march to the capital Islamabad to demand snap elections after he was ousted. Automatic gunfire was heard in footage aired on local news channels which also showed Khan being carried away and put in a car, with a bandage visible on his leg. Khan's conditions were not described as critical. A PTI party's supporter was killed during the shooting, and eight other people were also wounded. The perpetrator was arrested at the scene and claimed that he wanted only to target Khan for "spreading hatred and misleading the people".
See also
Family of Imran Khan
Goldschmidt family
Pets of Imran Khan
List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Imran Khan
Player of the Match awards (cricket)
List of sportsperson-politicians
Project Imran Khan
References
Bibliography
External links
(English)
(Arabic)
Column archive at The Guardian
Imran Khan's journey from cricketing Playboy to Politician – Journeyman Pictures
1990s Interview, Cricketer Imran Khan at Home – thekinolibrary
1952 births
Living people
Prime Ministers of Pakistan
Pakistan International Airlines cricketers
Pakistan One Day International cricketers
Pakistani cricket captains
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MNAs
Pakistan Test cricket captains
Pakistan Test cricketers
Pakistani expatriates in England
Pakistani autobiographers
Pakistani cricket commentators
Pakistani Muslims
Pakistani nationalists
Pakistani pacifists
Pakistani philanthropists
Pakistani socialites
Pakistani sportsperson-politicians
Pakistani Sufis
Pakistani political party founders
Pakistani prisoners and detainees
Pakistani MNAs 2002–2007
Pakistani MNAs 2013–2018
Pakistani MNAs 2018–2023
Pakistani anti-corruption activists
Aitchison College alumni
Alumni of Keble College, Oxford
Articles containing video clips
British Universities cricketers
Chancellors of the University of Bradford
Charity fundraisers (people)
Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup
Dawood Industries cricketers
Fellows of Keble College, Oxford
Fellows of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
Goldsmith family
Lahore A cricketers
Lahore City cricketers
Lahore cricketers
Lahore Greens cricketers
Leaders of political parties in Pakistan
New South Wales cricketers
Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricketers
Oxford University cricketers
Pashtun politicians
People educated at the Royal Grammar School Worcester
People from Islamabad
People from Mianwali District
Politicians from Lahore
Recipients of Hilal-i-Imtiaz
Recipients of the Pride of Performance
Sussex cricketers
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Worcestershire cricketers
World Series Cricket players
M Parkinson's World XI cricketers
Pakistani cricket coaches
Niazi family
Cricketers from Mianwali
Pashtun cricketers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New%20Culture%20Movement
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New Culture Movement
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The New Culture Movement () was a progressivist movement in China in the 1910s and 1920s that criticized classical Chinese ideas and promoted a new Chinese culture based upon progressive, modern ideals like elections and science. Arising out of disillusionment with traditional Chinese culture following the failure of the Republic of China to address China's problems, it featured scholars such as Chen Duxiu, Cai Yuanpei, Chen Hengzhe, Li Dazhao, Lu Xun, Zhou Zuoren, He Dong, Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Bing Xin, and Hu Shih, many classically educated, who led a revolt against Confucianism. The movement was launched by the writers of New Youth magazine, where these intellectuals promoted a new society based on unconstrained individuals rather than the traditional Confucian system.
The New Culture Movement was the progenitor of the May Fourth Movement. On 4 May 1919, students in Beijing aligned with the movement protested the transfer of German rights over Jiaozhou Bay to Imperial Japan rather than China at the Paris Peace Conference (the meeting setting the terms of peace at the conclusion of World War I), transforming what had been a cultural movement into a political one.
Major positions
The movement promoted:
Vernacular literature (Hu Shih's saying "Speak in the language of the time in which you live")
An end to the patriarchal family in favor of individual freedom and women's liberation
The view that China is a nation among nations, not a uniquely Confucian culture
The re-examination of Confucian texts and ancient classics using modern textual and critical methods, known as the Doubting Antiquity School
Democratic and egalitarian values
An orientation to the future rather than the past
In the view of the New Culture Movement, Confucian morality repressed the universal and natural experience of sexuality. They believed that sexuality was best considered in scientific terms.
History
Two major centres of literature and intellectual activity were Beijing, home to Peking University and Tsinghua University, and Shanghai, with its flourishing publishing sector. The founders of the New Culture Movement clustered in Peking University, where they were recruited by Cai Yuanpei when he became chancellor. Chen Duxiu as dean, and Li Dazhao as librarian in turn recruited leading figures such as the philosopher Hu Shih, the scholar of Buddhism Liang Shuming, the historian Gu Jiegang, and many more. Chen founded the journal New Youth in 1915, which became the most prominent of hundreds of new publications for the new middle-class public. Xin wenhua yundong (New Culture Movement) emerged after Chen Duxiu published his recommendations of what cultural modernity should be in the 1920s. Some of the most influential manifestos to help instigate the movement were titled: "To Youth" ( 敬告青年 "jinggao qingnian"), "1916" (一九一六年 "yijiuyiliu nian"), and "Our Final Realization" (吾人最後之覺悟 "wuren zuihou zhi juewu").
Hu Shih had argued for the use of the modern written vernacular Chinese () in literature before and aspecially in his published by New Youth in January 1917 essay Preliminary Discussion on Literary Reform (文學改良芻議) with the guideline: "Do not imitate the ancients." On April 18, 1918, he published the followed landmark article Constructive Literary RevolutionA Literature of National Speech (建设的文学革命论).
The first vernacular Chinese fiction was the female author Chen Hengzhe's short story One Day (一日), published 1917 in an overseas student quarterly (《留美学生季报》). This was a year before the publication of Lu Xun's Diary of a Madman on April 2, 1918 and The True Story of Ah Q (second was not published until 1921), which has often been incorrectly credited as the first vernacular Chinese fiction.
Death of Yuan Shikai
Yuan Shikai, who inherited part of the Qing dynasty military after it collapsed in 1911, attempted to establish order and unity, but he failed to protect China against Japan, and also failed in an attempt to have himself declared emperor. When he died in 1916, the collapse of the traditional order seemed complete, and there was an intensified search for a replacement to go deeper than the changes of the previous generations, which brought new institutions and new political forms. Daring leaders called for a new culture.
Major figures
Chen Duxiu
A substantial literary establishment, publishing houses, journals, literary societies, and universities, provided a foundation for an active literary, and intellectual scene over the course of the following decades. The New Youth journal, which was a leading forum for debating the causes of China's weakness, as it laid the blame on Confucian culture. Chen Duxiu called for "Mr. Confucius" to be replaced by "Mr. Science" () and "Mr. Democracy" (). These two were regarded as the two symbols of the New Culture Movement and also its legacy.
Hu Shih
Another outcome was the promotion of written vernacular Chinese over literary or classical Chinese. The restructuring of national heritage first began when Hu Shih replaced traditional Confucian learning with a more modern construction of research on traditional culture. Hu Shih proclaimed that "a dead language cannot produce a living literature." In theory, the new format allowed people with little education to read texts, articles and books. He charged that literary, or Classical Chinese, which had been the written language prior to the movement, was understood by only scholars and officials (ironically, the new vernacular included many foreign words and Japanese neologisms (Wasei-kango), which made it difficult for many to read). Scholars, such as Y.R. Chao (Zhao Yuanren), began the study of the Chinese language and dialects using tools of foreign linguistics. Hu Shih was among the scholars who used the textual study of Dream of the Red Chamber and other vernacular fiction as the basis for the national language. Literary societies such as the Crescent Moon Society flourished. Hu Shih was not only one of the founders of the movement but also considered the leader of the vernacular faction with his promotion of scientific methods.
Hu was among the influential New Culture Movement reformers who welcomed Margaret Sanger's 1922 visit to China. He personally translated her speech delivered at Beijing National University which stressed the importance of birth control. Periodicals The Ladies' Journal and The Women's Review published Hu's translation, which contributed to the public debate regarding birth control.
Lu Xun
The literary output of this time was substantial, with many writers who later became famous (such as Mao Dun, Lao She, Lu Xun and Bing Xin) publishing their first works. For example, Lu Xun's essays and short fiction created a sensation with their condemnation of Confucian culture. "Diary of a Madman" directly implied that China's traditional culture was mentally cannibalistic, and The True Story of Ah Q showed typical Chinese people as weak and self-deceiving. Along with this musicians such as Yin Zizhong joined the movement through music.
Foreign influence
New Culture leaders and their followers now saw China as a nation among nations, not as culturally unique. A large number of foreign doctrines became fashionable, particularly those that reinforced the cultural criticism and nation-building impulses of the movement. Social Darwinism, which had been influential since the late nineteenth century, was especially shaping for Lu Xun, among many others, and was supplemented by almost every "ism" of the world. Cai Yuanpei, Li Shizeng, and Wu Zhihui developed a Chinese variety of anarchism. They argued that Chinese society had to undergo radical social change before political change would be meaningful. The pragmatism of John Dewey became popular, often through the work of Hu Shih, Chiang Monlin, and Tao Xingzhi. Dewey arrived in China in 1919, and spent the following year lecturing. Bertrand Russell also lectured widely to warm crowds. Lu Xun was associated with the ideas of Nietzsche, which were also propagated by Li Shicen, Mao Dun, and many other intellectuals of the time.
New Culture leaders, often under the influence of the anarchist program, promoted feminism, even free love, as an attack on the traditional family, changing the terms in which the following generations conceived society. More specifically, the movement replaced sexuality over the traditional Chinese idea of kinship positionality. The substitution is a staple of the emerging individualistic theories that occurred during the era. Among the feminist writers was Ding Ling.
Development and aftermath
When Cai Yuanpei, the principal of Beijing university, resigned on May 9, 1919, it had caused a huge uproar in the media across the country. This connected the academic discourse within the university with the political activism of the May Fourth demonstrations. The May Fourth Demonstrations of 1919 initially united the leaders but soon, there was a debate and falling out over the role of politics. Hu Shih, Cai Yuanpei, and other liberals urged the demonstrating students to return to the classroom, but Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao, frustrated with the inadequacy of cultural change, urged more radical political action. They used their roles as Peking University faculty to organize Marxist study groups and the first meeting of the Chinese Communist Party.
Li called for "fundamental solutions", but Hu criticized it as abstract, calling for "more study of questions, less study of isms." The younger followers who followed Li and Chen into organized politics included Mao Zedong.
Other students heeded Hu Shih's call to return to their studies. The new approaches shaped scholarship for the next generation. The historian Gu Jiegang, for instance, pioneered the application of the New History he studied at Columbia University to classical Chinese texts in the Doubting Antiquity Movement. Gu also inspired his students in the study of Chinese folk traditions which had been ignored or dismissed by Confucian scholars. Education was high on the New Culture agenda. Cai Yuanpei headed a New Education Society, and university students joined the Mass Education Movement of James Yen and Tao Xingzhi which promoted literacy as a foundation for wider political participation.
Many of the leaders of the Kuomintang, such as Liao Zhongkai, Hu Hanmin and Dai Jitao as well as Communist members of the Kuomintang such as Li Dazhao, participated in the New Culture Movement. These figures played a major role in the restructuring of the Kuomintang along Soviet lines in 1922–1924.
Journalism and public opinion
Chinese newspaper journalism was modernized in the 1920s according to international standards, thanks to the influence of the New Culture Movement. The roles of journalist and editor were professionalized and became prestigious careers. The business side gained importance and with a greater emphasis on advertising and commercial news, the main papers in Shanghai such as Shenbao, moved away from the advocacy journalism that characterized the 1911 revolutionary period. Much of what they reported shaped narratives and realities amongst those who were interested in what was becoming the New Culture Movement. Outside the main centers the nationalism promoted in metropolitan dailies was not as distinctive as localism and culturalism.
In 1924, Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore held numerous lectures in China. He argued that China could encounter trouble by integrating too much progressive and foreign thoughts into Chinese society. Liberal ideals were a major component of the New Culture Movement. Democracy became a vital tool for those frustrated with the unstable condition of China whereas science became a crucial instrument to discard the "darkness of ignorance and superstition".
New Culture intellectuals advocated and debated a wide range of cosmopolitan solutions that included science, technology, individualism, music and democracy, leaving to the future the question of what organization or political power could carry them out. The anti-imperialist and populist violence of the mid-1920s soon overwhelmed New Culture intellectual inquiry and culture.
Evaluations and changing views
Orthodox historians viewed the New Culture Movement as a revolutionary break with feudal thought and social practice and the seedbed of revolutionary leaders who created the Chinese Communist Party and went on to found the People's Republic of China in 1949. Mao Zedong wrote that the May 4th Movement "marked a new stage in China's bourgeois-democratic revolution against imperialism and feudalism" and argued that "a powerful camp made its appearance in the bourgeois-democratic revolution, a camp consisting of the working class, the student masses and the new national bourgeoisie."
Historians in the west also saw the movement as marking a break between tradition and modernity, but in recent decades, Chinese and foreign historians now commonly argue that the changes promoted by New Culture leaders had roots going back several generations and thus were not a sharp break with tradition, which, in any case, was quite varied, as much as an acceleration of earlier trends. Research over the last fifty years also suggests that while radical Marxists were important in the New Culture Movement, there were many other influential leaders, including anarchists, conservatives, Christians, and liberals.
The re-evaluation, while it does not challenge the high evaluation of the thinkers and writers of the period, does not accept their self-image as cultural revolutionaries.
Other historians further argue that Mao's communist revolution did not, as it claimed, fulfill the promise of New Culture and enlightenment but rather betrayed its spirit of independent expression and cosmopolitanism. Yu Yingshi, a student of the New Confucian Qian Mu, recently defended Confucian thought against the New Culture condemnation. He reasoned that late imperial China had not been stagnant, irrational and isolated, conditions that would justify radical revolution, but that late Qing thinkers were already taking advantage of the creative potential of Confucius.
Xu Jilin, a Shanghai intellectual who reflects liberal voices, agreed in effect with the orthodox view that the New Culture Movement was the root of the Chinese Revolution but valued the outcome differently. New Culture intellectuals, said Xu, saw a conflict between nationalism and cosmopolitanism in their struggle to find a "rational patriotism", but the cosmopolitan movement of the 1920s was replaced by a "new age of nationalism". Like a "wild horse", Xu continued, "jingoism, once unbridled, could no longer be restrained, thus laying the foundations for the eventual outcomes of the history of China during the first half of the twentieth century."
See also
New Life Movement (1934)
East-West Cultural Debate
Total Westernization
References
Bibliography
Alitto, Guy (1979). The Last Confucian: Liang Shu-Ming and the Chinese Dilemma of Modernity. Berkeley: University of California Press. Biography of a conservative New Culture figure.
Chow, Kai-wing, Beyond the May Fourth Paradigm: In Search of Chinese Modernity (Lanham: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefied, 2008). Essays on new aspects of the movement, including an Introduction which reviews recent re-thinking.
Revisionist study showing the influence of anarchist programs.
Doleželová-Velingerová, Milena; Oldřich Král; Graham Martin Sanders, eds. The Appropriation of Cultural Capital: China’s May Fourth Project. Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Asia Center: 2001. Revisionist study.
Grieder, Jerome B., Hu Shih and the Chinese Renaissance; Liberalism in the Chinese Revolution, 1917–1937 (Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 1970). Careful study of central figure.
Hayford, Charles W., To the People: James Yen and Village China. New York: Columbia University Press, 1990. Early chapters describe the role of popular education in the New Culture.
Lanza, Fabio, Behind the Gate: Inventing Students in Beijing. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. . Study of student culture and institutions during the New Culture period.
Leo Ou-fan Lee, Voices from the Iron House : A Study of Lu Xun (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1987). Biography and literary analysis.
Yusheng Lin, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness: Radical Antitraditionalism in the May Fourth Era (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1979). Early critique of the New Culture Movement as "iconoclastic."
Manela, Erez. The Wilsonian Moment: Self-Determination and the International Origins of Anticolonial Nationalism. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. Describes the global influences on Chinese youth.
Maurice J. Meisner, Li Ta-Chao and the Origins of Chinese Marxism (Cambridge, Ma: Harvard University Press, 1967). Intellectual biography of key leader and co-founder of Chinese Communist Party.
Rana Mitter, A Bitter Revolution: China's Struggle with the Modern World (Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004). Traces the fate of New Culture ideals through the rest of the century.
Schwartz, Benjamin. "Themes in Intellectual History: May Fourth and After." In Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12, pt. 1: Republican China, 1912–1949, pp. 406–504. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1983. Overview of intellectual and cultural history.
Shan, Patrick Fuliang. Yuan Shikai: A Reappraisal, UBC Press, 2018.
Spence, Jonathan D. The Gate of Heavenly Peace: The Chinese and Their Revolution, 1895–1980. Includes many New Culture leaders and their experience of revolution.
Zarrow, Peter. Anarchism and Chinese Political Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990).
External links
"The May Fourth Spirit, Now and Then", China Heritage Quarterly, 17 (March 2009) – selection of opinions and views on the May Fourth and New Culture Movements from the 1920s to the present.
Chinese literary movements
1910s in China
1920s in China
Lu Xun
Liberalism in China
Communism in China
Anti-Confucianism
History of Confucianism
Chinese Communist Revolution
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Self-hypnosis
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Self-hypnosis or auto-hypnosis (as distinct from hetero-hypnosis) is a form, a process, or the result of a self-induced hypnotic state.
Frequently, self-hypnosis is used as a vehicle to enhance the efficacy of self-suggestion; and, in such cases, the subject "plays the dual role of suggester and suggestee".
The nature of the auto-suggestive practice may be, at one extreme, "concentrative", wherein "all attention is so totally focused on (the words of the auto-suggestive formula, e.g. "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better") that everything else is kept out of awareness" and, at the other, "inclusive", wherein subjects "allow all kinds of thoughts, emotions, memories, and the like to drift into their consciousness".
Typological distinctions
From their extensive investigations, Erika Fromm and Stephen Kahn (1990) identified significant and distinctive differences between the application of the wide variety of practices that lie within the domain commonly, equivocally, and ambiguously identified as "self-hypnosis". Based upon their distinctions, "self-hypnosis" practices can be separated into, at least, thirteen different types:
Subject creating hypnotic source ex nihilo
In relation to the effects of the subject either creating their own self-hypnosis programme ex nihilo, or adapting the clinician's programme in some way in order to "improve" upon it, and in the spirit of the aphorism "he who represents himself has a fool for a client", Ainslie Meares (1978) reports on the case of a woman with an advanced cancer of both breasts (and spinal metastases), who went into full remission, using his "program of intensive meditation" (essentially a very deep self hypnosis, with no suggestion, and no imagery). At this stage, Meares went overseas for three and a half weeks, and she was instructed to continue using Meares' approach, entirely on her own, while he was away from Australia. In his absence, in a "burst of overconfidence she departed from the profound simplicity of the type of meditation she had been taught", and, she thought, "improved upon it" by using the sort of vivid visualization techniques promoted by the Simontons (viz., Simonton & Simonton, 1975). She (unilaterally) "changed the pattern of the meditation, and she almost immediately relapsed". On his return, Meares induced her to resume his "extremely simple and profound form of meditation in which she was originally instructed" and, once again, she went into full remission.
History
James Braid
The English term "hypnotism" was introduced in 1841 by the Scottish physician and surgeon James Braid. According to Braid, he first employed "self-hypnotism" (as he elsewhere refers to it) two years after discovering hypnotism, first teaching it to his clients before employing it on himself:
In a later work, Observations on Trance or Human Hybernation (1850), Braid provides probably the first account of self-hypnosis:
Émile Coué
Émile Coué was one of the most influential figures in the subsequent development of self-hypnosis. His method of "conscious autosuggestion" became an internationally renowned self-help system at the start of the 20th century. Although Coué distanced himself from the concept of "hypnosis", he sometimes referred to what he was doing as self-hypnosis, as did his followers such as Charles Baudouin. Modern hypnotherapists regard Coué as part of their own field.
Autogenic training
Autogenic training is a relaxation technique developed by the German psychiatrist Johannes Schultz and first published in 1932. Schultz based his approach on the work of the German hypnotist Oskar Vogt. The technique involves a step-by-step progression that begins from physiological conditioning, such as muscle relaxation, breathing control and heart rate control. Then it advances to psychic conditioning through mental imagery, acoustic therapy, etc.
Steps commonly used for self-hypnosis
Self-hypnosis requires four distinct steps.
Motivation. Without proper motivation, an individual will find it very difficult to practice self-hypnosis.
Relaxation. The individual must be thoroughly relaxed and must set aside time to perform this act. Additionally, distractions should be eliminated as full attention is needed.
Concentration. The individual needs to concentrate completely as progress is made each time the mind focuses on a single image.
Directing. This is an option used only when the individual wants to work on a specific goal. The individual must direct their concentration on visualizing the desired result.
Uses
Self-hypnosis is used extensively in modern hypnotherapy. It can take the form of hypnosis carried out by means of a learned routine.
Hypnosis may help pain management, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, obesity, asthma, and skin conditions. When this practice is mastered, it can improve concentration, recall, enhance problem solving, alleviate headaches and even improve one's control of emotions.
Pain
Fromm & Kaplan observe that the value, significance, and importance of self-hypnosis is not just that it promotes relaxation, relieves tension and anxiety, and reduces the level of physical pain and suffering, but also that, in teaching patients self-hypnosis, clinicians sensibly recognize that they can't be with their patients at all times—especially, at those times when they are in pain—and, through that process of teaching self-hypnosis, they actively provide their patients with a 24-hours-a-day-available "tool by means of which they can learn to control and master it, or at least be able to live with reduced pain".
Self-hypnosis and stress
Patients who are stressed and/or lack self-esteem can be taught self-hypnosis techniques which can induce relaxation and/or strengthen their self-esteem. Specifically, once the patient is in a self-hypnotic state the therapist can communicate messages to the patient, allowing the relaxation and strengthening process to occur.
Often, when teaching self-hypnosis, a subject is taught a specific "trigger word" (that will only induce self-hypnosis when the subject deliberately uses the word to hypnotize themselves) to facilitate the rapid induction of the hypnotic state. Also, a phrase (often termed an "autosuggestion") might be taught to the subject for them to repeat to themselves when in self-hypnosis.
In addition, since stress prevents well-functioning of the immune system, researchers from the Ohio State University came to a conclusion that self hypnosis to prevent stress can also help in protecting the immune system against the negative effects of it. They proved this by showing that students who performed self-hypnosis during stressful exam weeks showed a stronger immune system when compared to those who did not learn self-hypnosis.
Childbirth anesthesia
Self-hypnosis can help women who are in labor to alleviate their pain. Joseph DeLee, an obstetrician, stated in the early 20th century that hypnosis was the only risk-free childbirth anesthetic. Common self-hypnotic techniques include:
Glove anesthesia: Pretending the hand is numb and placing it upon a painful region to remove the sensation there.
Time distortion: Perceiving periods of time accompanied by pain as shorter in length and those free of pain as longer lasting.
Imaginative transformation: Viewing the pain as a non-threatening, acceptable sensation (perhaps merely pressure) that causes no trouble.
Other uses
Self-directed thought which is based in hypnosis can be used for many other issues and behavioral problems.
Research
Reviewing the findings of three previous studies in this area, John F. Kihlstrom concluded: "Comparisons of self-hypnosis with more traditional 'hetero'-hypnosis show that they are highly correlated." At the same time, Kihlstrom questioned the extent to which most self-hypnosis qualitatively resembled the experience of traditional hetero-hypnosis.
See also
Autosuggestion
Covert conditioning
Guided meditation
Footnotes
References
Alman, B.M. & Lambrou, P., Self-Hypnosis: The Complete Manual for Health and Self-Change (Second Edition), Souvenir Press, (London), 1983.
Araoz, D.L., "Negative Self-Hypnosis", Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, Vol.12, No.1, (Spring/Summer 1981), pp. 45–52.
Atkinson, W.W., Suggestion and Autosuggestion, The Progress Company, (Chicago), 1909.
Barber, T.X., "Changing “Unchangeable” Bodily Processes by (Hypnotic) Suggestions: A New Look at Hypnosis, Cognitions, Imagining, and the Mind-Body Problem", pp. 69–127 in A.A. Sheikh (ed.), Imagination and Healing, Baywood Publishing Company (Farmingdale), 1984.
Baudouin, C. (Paul, E & Paul, C. trans.), Suggestion and Autosuggestion: A Psychological and Pedagogical Study Based on the Investigations made by the New Nancy School, George Allen & Unwin, (London), 1920.
Braid, J., Neurypnology or the Rationale of Nervous Sleep Considered in Relation with Animal Magnetism Illustrated by Numerous Cases of its Successful Application in the Relief and Cure of Disease, John Churchill, (London), 1843.
N.B. Braid's Errata, detailing a number of important corrections that need to be made to the foregoing text, is on the un-numbered page following p.265.
Braid, J., Observations on Trance; or, Human Hybernation, John Churchill, (London), 1850.
Carpenter, W.B., "On the Influence of Suggestion in Modifying and directing Muscular Movement, independently of Volition", Royal Institution of Great Britain, (Proceedings), 1852, (12 March 1852), pp. 147–153.
Coué, E., & Orton, J.L., Conscious Auto-Suggestion, T. Fisher Unwin Limited, (London), 1924.
Fromm, E. & Kahn, S., Self-hypnosis: The Chicago Paradigm, The Guilford Press, (New York), 1990.
Gravitz, M.A., "The First Use of Self-Hypnosis: Mesmer Mesmerizes Mesmer", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.37, No.1, (July 1994), pp. 49–52.
Hartland, J., "The Value of “Ego-Strengthening” Procedures Prior to Direct Symptom-Removal Under Hypnosis", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.8, No.2, (October 1965), pp. 89–93.
Hartland, J., "The General Principles of Suggestion", The American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.9, No.3, January 1967, pp. 211–219.
Hartland, J. (1971a), "The Approach to Hypnotherapy — “Permissive” or Otherwise?", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.13, No.3, (January 1971), pp.153-154.
Hartland, J. (1971b), "Further Observations on the Use of “Ego-Strengthening” Techniques", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.14, No.1, (July 1971), pp. 1–8.
Hartland, J., "The General Principles and Construction of Therapeutic Suggestion", Terpnos Logos, the Australian Journal of Medical Sophrology and Hypnotherapy, Vol.2, No.3, August 1974, pp. 26–32.
Hollander, B., Methods and Uses of Hypnosis & Self-Hypnosis: A Treatise on the Powers of the Subconscious Mind, George Allen & Unwin, (London), 1928.
Johnson, L.S., "Self-Hypnosis: Behavioral And Phenomenological Comparisons With Heterohypnosis", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.27, No.3, (1979), pp. 240–264.
Johnson, L.S., "Current Research in Self-Hypnotic Phenomenology: The Chicago Paradigm", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.29, No.3, (1981), pp. 247–258.
Johnson, L.S., Dawson, S.L., Clark, J.L. & Sikorsky, C., "Self-Hypnosis Versus Heterohypnosis: Order Effects And Sex Differences In Behavioral And Experiential Impact", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.31, No.3, (1983), pp. 139–154.
Johnson, L.S. & Weight, D.G., "Self-hypnosis Versus Heterohypnosis: Experiential and Behavioral Comparisons", Journal of Abnormal Psychology, Vol.85, No.5, (1976), pp. 523–526.
Killeen, P.R. & Nash , M.R., "The Four Causes of Hypnosis", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.51, No.3, (July 2003), pp.195-231.
Kohen, D.P., Mahowald, M.W. & Rosen, G.M., "Sleep-Terror Disorder in Children: The Role of Self-Hypnosis in Management", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.34, No.4, (April 1992), pp. 233–244.
Lang, E.V., Joyce, J.S., Spiegel, D., Hamilton, D. & Lee, K.K., "Self-Hypnotic Relaxation During Interventional Radiological Procedures: Effects on Pain Perception and Intravenous Drug Use", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.44, No.2, (April 1996), pp. 106–119.
Madrid, A., Rostel, G., Pennington, D. & Murphy, D., "Subjective Assessment of Allergy Relief Following Group Hypnosis and Self-Hypnosis: A Preliminary Study", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.38, No.2, (October 1995), pp. 80–86.
Meares, A., "Vivid Visualization and Dim Visual Awareness in the Regression of Cancer in Meditation", Journal of the American Society of Psychosomatic Dentistry and Medicine, Vol.25, No.3, (1978), pp. 85–88.
Pally, R., "The Predicting Brain: Unconscious Repetition, Conscious Reflection and Therapeutic Change", The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, Vol.88, No.4, (August 2007), pp.861-881.
Paulhus, D.L. (1993). Bypassing the Will: The Automatization of Affirmations, in D.M. Wegner & J.W. Pennebaker (Eds.), Handbook of Mental Control (pp.573-587). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Pekala, R.J., Maurer, R., Kumar, V.K., Elliott, N.C., Maston, E., Moon, E. & Salinger, M., "Self-Hypnosis Relapse Prevention Training with Chronic Drug/Alcohol Users: Effects on Self-Esteem, Affect, and Relapse", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.46, No.4, (April 2004), pp. 281–297.
Rausch, V., "Cholecystectomy with Self-Hypnosis", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.22, No.3, (January 1980), pp. 124–129.
Ruch, J.C., "Self-Hypnosis: The Result Of Heterohypnosis Or Vice Versa?", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.23, No.4, (1975), pp. 282–304.
Shaw, H.L., "Hypnosis And Drama: A Note On A Novel Use Of Self-Hypnosis", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.26, No.3, (1978), pp. 154–157.
Simonton, O.C. & Simonton S.S., "Belief Systems and Management of the Emotional Aspects of Malignancy, The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology, Vol.7, No.1, (January 1975), pp.29-47.
Singer, J.L. & Pope, K.S., "Daydreaming And Imagery Skills As Predisposing Capacities For Self-Hypnosis", International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.29, No.3, (1981), pp. 271–281.
Soskis, D.A., Teaching Self-Hypnosis: An Introductory Guide for Clinicians, W.W. Norton & Co., (New York), 1986.
Sparks, L., Self-Hypnosis: A Conditioned-Response Technique, Grune & Stratton, (New York), 1962.
Spence, C., Hypnotherapy can subconsciously suggest changes to the circadian sleep patterns which govern our sleep and wake patterns.
Spiegel, D. & Chase, R.A., "The treatment of contractures of the hand using self-hypnosis", Journal of Hand Surgery, Vol.5, No.5, (September 1980), pp. 428–432.
Spiegel, H., "A Single-Treatment Method to Stop Smoking Using Ancillary Self-Hypnosis", The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, Vol.18, No.4, (October 1970), pp. 235–269.
Straus, R.A., Strategic Self-Hypnosis (Revised Edition), Prentice Hall, (New York), 1988.
Straus, R.A., Creative Self-Hypnosis, Prentice Hall, (New York), 1989.
Wark, D.M., "Teaching college students better learning skills using self-hypnosis", American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, Vol.38, No.4, (April 1996), pp. 277–287.
Yeates, L.B., "The "MORE TEST": A Mechanism for Increasing the Efficiency of Suggestion", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Vol.23, No.1, (March 2002), pp.1-17.
Yeates, L.B., James Braid: Surgeon, Gentleman Scientist, and Hypnotist, Ph.D. Dissertation, School of History and Philosophy of Science, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, University of New South Wales, January 2013.
Yeates, L.B. (2014a), "Hartland’s Legacy (I): The Ego-Strengthening Procedure", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Vol.36, No.1, (Autumn 2014), pp.4-18.
Yeates, L.B. (2014b), "Hartland’s Legacy (II): The Ego-Strengthening Monologue", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Vol.36, No.1, (Autumn 2014), pp.19-36.
Yeates, L.B. (2016a), "Émile Coué and his Method (I): The Chemist of Thought and Human Action", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Volume 38, No.1, (Autumn 2016), pp.3-27.
Yeates, L.B. (2016b), "Émile Coué and his Method (II): Hypnotism, Suggestion, Ego-Strengthening, and Autosuggestion", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Volume 38, No.1, (Autumn 2016), pp.28-54.
Yeates, L.B. (2016c), "Émile Coué and his Method (III): Every Day in Every Way", Australian Journal of Clinical Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis, Volume 38, No.1, (Autumn 2016), pp.55-79.
Young, P., Personal Change Through Self-Hypnosis, Vivid Publishing, (Fremantle), 2016.
Mind–body interventions
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred%20Trueman
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Fred Trueman
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Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster.
Acknowledged as one of the greatest bowlers in cricket's history, Trueman deployed a genuinely fast pace and was widely known as "Fiery Fred". He was the first bowler to take 300 wickets in a Test career. Together with Brian Statham, he opened the England bowling for many years and they formed one of the most famous bowling partnerships in Test cricket history. Trueman was an outstanding fielder, especially at leg slip, and a useful late order batsman who made three first-class centuries. He was awarded his Yorkshire county cap in 1951 and in 1952 was elected "Young Cricketer of the Year" by the Cricket Writers' Club. For his performances in the 1952 season, he was named one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in the 1953 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack.
His talent, skill and public profile were such that British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, himself from Yorkshire, jokingly described him as the "greatest living Yorkshireman". Even so, Trueman was omitted from numerous England teams because he was frequently in conflict with the cricket establishment, which he often criticised for its perceived "snobbishness" and hypocrisy. After he retired from playing, he became a media personality through his work in television and as an outspoken radio commentator for the BBC, mainly working on Test Match Special. He was awarded the OBE in the 1989 Birthday Honours for services to cricket. In 2009, Trueman was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
On the occasion of England's 1000th Test in August 2018, he was named in the country's greatest Test XI by the ECB.
Early life and career
Childhood
Fred Trueman was born at no. 5, Scotch Spring Lane, Stainton near Maltby, West Riding of Yorkshire. He said himself that he weighed at birth and was delivered by his maternal grandmother Mrs Stimpson. Her maiden name was Sewards and Trueman's parents decided to honour her by naming him Frederick Sewards Trueman. Not long before his death in 2006, Trueman appeared to discover that Mrs Stimpson was Jewish. He said that he was happy to be considered Jewish but joked that he would be very reluctant to give up on bacon sandwiches. Chris Waters' 2011 biography states this claim to be untrue and that Elizabeth Stimpson's natural parents were a couple from Lincolnshire with no Jewish connections.
His parents were Alan and Ethel Trueman and he was the middle one of seven children. They were a country family, their home being part of a terrace row called Scotch Springs (now demolished) that was surrounded by countryside but about a mile from Maltby Main Colliery and half a mile from Stainton village. Trueman's grandfather had been a horse dealer and his father worked primarily with horses too, though for a time he was a coalface worker at Maltby Main. His parents instilled into all the children a strong sense of discipline and the values of honesty and forthrightness.
Trueman's education began at the village school in Stainton where his teachers recognised his talent for cricket. Encouraged by his father, he had started bowling when he was four. His father was captain of the Stainton club and Trueman used to accompany him to matches, once playing for the club when he was only eight years old. When Trueman was twelve years old, the family moved to a larger house on Tennyson Road in nearby Maltby, where Trueman attended Maltby Secondary School.
Development as a cricketer
At Maltby Secondary School, Trueman had two teachers called Dickie Harrison and Tommy Stubbs who recognised his talent as a bowler and picked him for the school team, even though he was much younger than the other players. His school playing career was interrupted for two years after he was seriously injured by a cricket ball that hit him in the groin. He started playing again in 1945 when he was fourteen but left school that summer to start work, initially in a newsagent. He had several jobs before becoming a professional cricketer. Inhibited by his injury, Trueman might have given up on cricket at this time but instead, motivated by his family, he joined a nearby village club called Roche Abbey, playing regularly for them in 1946. He was successful at Roche Abbey and, before the 1947 season when he was sixteen, came to the notice of former Yorkshire player Cyril Turner who was coaching the Sheffield United Cricket Club which played at Bramall Lane, a ground then in regular use by Yorkshire for first-class cricket.
In his autobiography, Trueman acknowledged his debt to Cyril Turner, "a superb coach", who taught him how to "hold the ball properly", enable it to swing both ways and how to follow through properly to complete his bowling action. Trueman played some matches for Sheffield United's Second XI team in the 1947 season and was then promoted to the first team so that he could play in the Yorkshire Council League. The following winter, he received an invitation from Yorkshire to attend indoor coaching classes at Headingley, Leeds, under the supervision of Bill Bowes and Arthur Mitchell.
Before the 1948 season began, Trueman was selected by Yorkshire for the Yorkshire Federation team for players under eighteen, effectively the county's third team. The team toured the south of England and it was on this tour that Trueman met two of his future Yorkshire colleagues, Brian Close and Ray Illingworth. He enjoyed a successful season with Sheffield, saying that "the year 1948 proved a good one for me". He had already met a number of great Yorkshire players including George Hirst and he was delighted by an end of season newspaper report in which Herbert Sutcliffe predicted that Trueman would play for Yorkshire before he was nineteen and for England before he was twenty-one.
As the 1949 season began, Trueman was surprised to receive a telegram from Yorkshire which told him he had been chosen to play for the first team in the opening first-class matches against Cambridge University at Fenner's and Oxford University at the Parks.
First-class and international cricket career
Beginnings: 1949 to 1951
Trueman made his first-class debut on Wednesday, 11 May 1949 in the three-day match against Cambridge which Yorkshire won by 9 wickets. He was mistakenly described as a spin bowler in the Wisden match report. Opening the bowling in both innings with Brian Close, who was medium pace, Trueman took two for 72 and one for 22 as Cambridge were dismissed for 283 and 196 respectively. Yorkshire scored 317 for six declared and 164 for one so Trueman, who was number 11 in the order, did not bat. Trueman's first wicket was that of opening batsman Robert Morris, who was caught by Ellis Robinson for 19. In the second innings, Trueman bowled the future Sussex and England batsman Hubert Doggart for 23. Three other debutants that day who all became England players were Close and opening batsman Frank Lowson for Yorkshire; and Middlesex fast bowler John Warr for Cambridge. Many years later, Warr wrote the biographical piece about Trueman in Barclays World of Cricket. Trueman had match figures of six for 72 in his second match against Oxford, which Yorkshire lost by 69 runs. A month later, he took eight for 70 against the Minor Counties on his first appearance at Lord's, bowling unchanged through the second innings. Commenting on his first County Championship match, against Surrey at Park Avenue, Bradford, Wisden said that he bowled "fast and with effect".
As with most of their young players, Yorkshire intended to take their time over establishing Trueman and were prepared to set him aside for lengthy periods. The established pace bowlers in 1949 were Alec Coxon and Ron Aspinall, both fast-medium, while captain Norman Yardley was a "capable third seam bowler". History was against Trueman as the county rarely looked for fast bowlers with express speed, instead preferring "the medium or fast-medium bowler with his capacity for control, economy and long spells". Trueman, once he became established, was a clear breach of Yorkshire tradition.
The great Yorkshire team of the 1930s had been broken up by the Second World War and a rebuilding phase was underway by the late 1940s, although Yorkshire had won the first post-war County Championship in 1946. Norman Yardley succeeded Brian Sellers as captain in 1948 and his main team members that season were Len Hutton, Ted Lester, Harry Halliday, Vic Wilson, Willie Watson, Frank Smailes, Johnny Wardle, Don Brennan (wicket-keeper), Ellis Robinson, Ron Aspinall and Alex Coxon. Others in the picture were future captain Billy Sutcliffe and two more young fast-medium bowlers, Bill Foord and Johnny Whitehead. The main team changes in 1949 were the retirement of Frank Smailes; the immediate establishment of Close and Lowson, who played in 22 and 24 championship matches respectively while Trueman only played in four; and an injury to Aspinall who was restricted to just three games. Aspinall had taken thirty wickets in his three matches and had been picked for a Test Trial but, at the end of May, he ruptured an Achilles tendon and was out of action for the rest of the season; indeed, he was never an effective bowler again.
Yorkshire initially replaced Aspinall with Frank McHugh but then brought Trueman back in June before dropping him in July in order to try out Foord and Whitehead. Trueman was recalled to play against the New Zealand tourists at Bramall Lane later in July but his debut season ended there and then as he sustained a thigh injury and had to be carried off the field. He could only watch from the sidelines as Yorkshire took part in "a fine struggle" for the championship which, in the end, they shared with Middlesex, both teams earning 192 points. He played in eight first-class matches in 1949, all for Yorkshire; in five matches for the Second XI in the Minor Counties Championship; and in one other match for Yorkshire's first team against an Army XI which included another up and coming fast bowler, Frank Tyson.
The third issue of Playfair Cricket Annual in 1950 said that Trueman was "built for the job of a fast 'un, and with the spirit too" but added that "Yorkshire will not hasten his development or that of any other promising player". Trueman in his autobiography was highly critical of this policy and says that on at least one occasion he remonstrated fiercely with his captain about being left out of the first team. Having called him a "fast 'un" in its Yorkshire section, Playfair in its "Who's Who" section incorrectly described Trueman as "a promising RFM" (i.e., fast medium bowler). Trueman's oft-stated view of himself was "t'fastest bloody bowler that ever drew breath".
Trueman's first match in the 1950 season was for Yorkshire against the West Indies tourists at Park Avenue. He made twelve appearances in the County Championship and played for "The Rest" against England in a Test trial. He made only one appearance for the Second XI. On the face of it, and certainly in terms of his bowling figures to date, it was a surprise that Trueman was selected for the Test Trial. Wisden said that this was "a match immortalised by Jim Laker's eight for two". Trueman's inclusion was designed to give the England batsmen practice against fast bowling even though, at this period of his career, he was inaccurate in both length and direction. The selectors were driven by the repeated discomfiture of England batsmen against the great Australian bowlers Ray Lindwall and Keith Miller, but John Arlott suspected there was also a subconscious urge to "reflect public feeling, the national desire for a fast bowler, even an inexperienced one – anyone so long as he was fast".
1950 was a frustrating season for Trueman who was straining to establish himself in the Yorkshire team. The club committee, however, persisted in a policy of short-term usage followed by a period of discard while they looked at Whitehead. Trueman faced the added problem of trying to succeed in an atmosphere of prevailing "discontent in the dressing room" which amounted to much more than a typical "them and us" situation between players and committee. Trueman said that the team itself was "split into cliques", specifically the "gentlemen players" and one or two senior professionals like Hutton, who had social ambitions, on the one hand; and the younger professionals like himself, Close, Illingworth and Lowson on the other. The situation was exacerbated by bad feeling between some of the professionals, Wardle in particular being a difficult person to have in a team. Although he was fast, Trueman was often wayward and sometimes expensive. These "negatives assumed great importance" in such a dour and unforgiving atmosphere. On Trueman's debit side, some of his colleagues perceived him to be "loud-mouthed and seemingly insensitive".
Trueman was downhearted enough at this time to even think about joining Yorkshire's traditional rivals Lancashire. But at the end of the season, he went back to the winter nets where he listened to Bowes and Mitchell, practised, kept himself fit and looked forward with increasing determination to the future. Trueman was an "apt pupil" and Bowes said of him: "He had the three great assets for the job: a love of fast bowling, a powerful physique and a smooth cartwheel action".
Yorkshire finished third in the County Championship, twenty points adrift of the joint winners Lancashire and Surrey. For the most part, Yorkshire selected from fifteen players in 1950 although a few others made occasional appearances. Yardley captained the team in which Hutton and Lowson were the established openers although, with Hutton's Test calls, there were more opportunities for Halliday and Geoffrey Keighley. Lester, Watson, Wilson and Billy Sutcliffe were the other batsmen and Brennan was the wicket-keeper. The main bowlers were Wardle, Coxon and Eddie Leadbeater. Brian Close was doing his national service and could only make a single appearance, Ellis Robinson had departed and Ron Aspinall's career had been wrecked by his injury. So Trueman and Whitehead, who made 13 appearances, contested the fourth bowling place but one of the bit players was Bob Appleyard, who would make a major impact in 1951.
The next stage in Trueman's development was to harness his speed and exercise full control of the ball. This was what Bowes and Mitchell worked on in 1950–51 and "the improvement in his bowling was immediately noticeable". Whereas in 1949 and 1950 he had taken 31 wickets in both seasons, he took 90 in 1951 including five wickets in an innings six times. His best analysis of the season was eight for 53 against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge when he captured his first hat-trick by making the ball swing with devastating effect, Yorkshire winning by 9 wickets. His hat-trick victims were Reg Simpson, Alan Armitage and Peter Harvey.
All four of Trueman's career hat-tricks were taken for Yorkshire and this is a county record he shares with George Macaulay. The hat-trick match was the second time Trueman had destroyed the Nottinghamshire batting that season. A month earlier at Bramall Lane, he had taken three for 26 and eight for 68, enabling Yorkshire to win by an innings and 33 runs. According to Wisden, Trueman "bowled at very fast pace and frequently made the ball fly".
Trueman might have expected that eleven-wicket haul at Bramall Lane to firmly establish his place in the Yorkshire first-team but his immediate reward was to be rested and given twelfth man duties with the Second XI, who were playing against Lincolnshire at Cleethorpes Sports Ground. To be fair to Yorkshire, the teams for the subsequent first and second XI matches had already been chosen before he took his eight for 68. He quickly swallowed his disappointment and his eight for 53 at Trent Bridge was summarised by one of his biographers Don Mosey as "the start of the Trueman era".
Despite their internal problems and disharmony, Yorkshire finished second behind Warwickshire in the County Championship. One of the problem players, Alex Coxon, surprisingly resigned after the 1950 season and it was widely said that "his face did not fit", even though he was a top-class bowler who had played for England. Brian Close made only two appearances as he completed his national service; and Ray Illingworth made his debut but played in only the one match. With Johnny Whitehead playing only seven times, Yorkshire relied mainly on a squad of 13 players including Trueman, who played in 26 championship matches. The other twelve regulars were Yardley (captain), Hutton, Lowson, Lester, Watson, Wilson, Halliday, Sutcliffe, Brennan, Wardle, Leadbeater and Appleyard. On Monday, 13 August 1951, Trueman and Bob Appleyard were awarded their county caps by team captain Norman Yardley.
National service in the RAF: 1951 to 1953
Since his first involvement with Yorkshire in 1948, Trueman had been working a winter job at Maltby Main in the tally office (contrary to one of the urban legend about him, he was never actually a miner). Yorkshire had encouraged him to work for the National Coal Board so that he would be in a reserved occupation and so avoid national service. In the winter of 1950–51, he learned that his job was to be declassified and that he would be liable for call-up at some stage. He decided to volunteer after the 1951 season and, at the same time, take advantage of a new Yorkshire committee ruling that any capped players who were called up would be paid £5 a week, which was a good wage at the time.
Trueman undertook his national service in the Royal Air Force at RAF Hemswell in Lincolnshire. At that stage, according to Wisden, "the RAF was probably less hierarchical than Yorkshire County Cricket Club, and he coped with the vagaries of service life rather better than he did with the Yorkshire committee". He was there through the next two seasons until he was demobilised at the end of the 1953 season. During this time he made his Test debut for England against India in 1952 and took part in the 1953 Ashes series against Australia.
He was fortunate in having a station commander in Group Captain Jim Warfield who was a cricket enthusiast and was willing to grant him leave for Test and occasional county matches. In addition, Warfield decided to employ Trueman in the sports section, looking after the equipment and playing fields. Nevertheless, this relaxation of the usual rules caused questions to be raised in the House of Commons after the mother of another conscript complained to her local MP that her son had been refused leave to take part in a national banjo playing championship. Trueman claimed that he was the first person to be mentioned in Hansard in a cricketing connection. His identity in the RAF was AC2 F. S. Trueman 2549485. He was later promoted to AC1.
National service restricted Trueman to just nine first-class matches in 1952 but four of them were Tests. He made his debut for England on Thursday, 5 June in the first Test against India at Headingley. Len Hutton had been appointed England captain before the series as the first professional to hold the post in the 20th century and the first ever to hold it in a home series. The appointment was controversial, especially among the amateur establishment, but Hutton had "an easy initiation against a weak Indian side, who did not relish the tearaway bowling of the young Trueman". England, for whom Trueman opened the bowling with Alec Bedser, won the match in four days by 7 wickets. After taking three for 89 in the first innings when India scored 293, Trueman produced a sensational opening spell in the second innings and, after only 14 balls had been bowled, India were reduced to none for four, Trueman taking three of the wickets. He finished with four for 27 as India recovered to score 165. England had made 334 in the first innings and a second innings total of 128 for three secured the win. England won the second Test at Lord's by 8 wickets. Trueman, again opening the bowling with Bedser, took four for 72 and four for 110. In the third Test at Old Trafford, England won by an innings and 207 runs with Trueman taking eight for 31 and one for 9. The fourth and final Test at the Oval was ruined by rain and drawn after England scored 326 for six declared and India had been bowled out for only 98. Trueman with five for 48 and Bedser with five for 41 were almost unplayable. Trueman's tally of wickets in his debut series was therefore 29. He had a problem during the season in "a tendency to get stitch", which was diagnosed as "a lack of regular fast bowling exercise".
In the 1952 County Championship, Yorkshire made a strong challenge but ultimately finished as runners-up to Stuart Surridge's great Surrey team which began a remarkable run of seven consecutive titles to 1958. Trueman was restricted to five championship appearances but Yorkshire did get Brian Close back from his national service. Yardley was again the captain and the other mainstays were Hutton, Lowson, Lester, Halliday, Wilson, Watson, Sutcliffe, Brennan, Wardle, Leadbeater and the fast-medium bowler Bill Holdsworth who was effectively Trueman's stand-in. Holdsworth played 24 matches in 1952 and 1953 only; but never again after Trueman returned to full-time action in 1954.
As a result of his fine performances in 1952, mainly in Test cricket against India, Trueman was voted the Young Cricketer of the Year by the Cricket Writers' Club. The following spring, he was named as one of the Cricketers of the Year for 1952 by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack in its 1953 edition (the other four were Harold Gimblett, Tom Graveney, David Sheppard and Stuart Surridge). Wisden said of Trueman in its dedication that he "is 5 ft 10½ in. and weighs 13st 9lbs" and "gives promise of becoming a second Harold Larwood". Having mentioned his problem with "stitch", Wisden remarked that "it is doubtful whether Trueman has reached the stage of physical development to bowl the long spells which may be necessary against Test batsmen of the highest class". While Yorkshire thought Trueman would need two more seasons "before he can do everything asked", England certainly possess "the best fast bowling prospect in years" and Wisden followed this comment with a direct comparison of Trueman's attributes with those of Larwood.
Writing in 1999, Derek Birley said of Trueman at this pivotal moment in his career that he was "still learning his craft and, rather more slowly, how to behave". Birley viewed Trueman as "an early cricketing example of a post-war phenomenon, the brash and undisciplined youth tolerated for his talent – the anti-hero". Birley admitted that Trueman eventually became "an immensely popular public figure" thanks to his "rudimentary sense of humour, prodigious memory and forthright views", all of which made him a media favourite on the one hand but, on the other, the same qualities made him "less popular on the county cricket circuit", where he was "dreaded off the field like the Ancient Mariner".
Trueman played football for Lincoln City during his national service. He played for RAF Hemswell in the 1952–53 season and was spotted by Lincoln City manager Bill Anderson, who invited him to play for the Lincoln reserves. Trueman was a forward, playing either as a striker or on the wing. Given the publicity he had received after his performances in the 1952 Test series, there was a lot of public interest in his football and Lincoln's attendances increased considerably when he was playing. Eventually, Bill Anderson offered him professional terms but Trueman decided to concentrate on cricket and, aware of the risk to his Test and county career if he sustained a football injury, he declined.
The highlight of the 1953 season, for Trueman and all other England cricket followers, was the series victory over Australia that enabled England to win the Ashes for the first time since the bodyline series in 1932–33. Trueman missed the first four Tests, which were all drawn, and played in the last at the Oval which England won by 8 wickets, partly thanks to him taking four important wickets. "Erratic, yes; wild, most certainly; but full of fire and dynamite", wrote Jack Fingleton.
Yorkshire by contrast had a poor season, though it could partly be excused by the impact of Test calls, injuries and Trueman's national service. They dropped to twelfth place in the County Championship, which was then their lowest-ever position. Ray Illingworth, who had made only a handful of appearances previously, was an ever-present in Yorkshire's championship team in 1953 and other young prospects making progress were Mike Cowan, Doug Padgett, Bryan Stott and Ken Taylor. Otherwise, the mainstays were as before: Yardley, Hutton, Lowson, Lester, Halliday, Watson, Wilson, Sutcliffe, Brennan and Wardle. Close played in only two matches and Trueman in ten. Bill Holdsworth made 14 appearances and Bill Foord, in his last season before finally deciding to be a schoolteacher, made 22.
Clashes with authority: 1954 to 1956
Trueman's first overseas tour, to the West Indies, took place the following winter (1953–54) after he was demobilised by the RAF. He played in eight first-class matches, including three of the five Tests, and took 27 wickets at 33.66 with a best effort of five for 45. It was a controversial tour and its ramifications had an adverse impact on Trueman's international career during the next few years. MCC at the outset were "riddled with anxiety" about sending a team abroad under a professional captain but could hardly deny Hutton his right having just won the Ashes. England had a very strong team in which the main bowlers were Trevor Bailey, Jim Laker, Tony Lock, Johnny Wardle, Brian Statham and Trueman. On the other hand, there were some strong characters in the team coupled with weak management.
Hutton discouraged fraternisation with the West Indies players and this went decidedly against Trueman's grain, given that he was a gregarious character who liked nothing better than to fraternise. Trueman had made friends with Frank Worrell and other West Indian players when he met them in English league cricket and objected strongly to Hutton's policy, claiming that he was not alone in this and especially as Hutton gave no reason for it. Trueman suspected the MCC hierarchy (i.e., Allen, Brown, etc.) of instructing Hutton to make the demand. For his own part, he would not allow anyone to dictate to him with whom he should be friends. West Indian writer C. L. R. James commented on the 1953–54 English team that it was "actively disliked". He said that this was "not due merely to unsportsmanlike behaviour by individuals" but that there was "evidence to show" that the team was there primarily to "establish the prestige of Great Britain, and by that, of the local whites".
Trueman quickly alienated the West Indian crowds who disliked his belligerent style, especially when he followed instructions and did not show sympathy for batsmen he had hit with the ball. The West Indian fans nicknamed him ""Mr Bumper Man" and someone wrote a calypso about him that was based on the sea shanty Drunken Sailor. He fell foul of off-field incidents too, including one in which he and Tony Lock were blamed for something done by Denis Compton who, as the "golden boy" of English cricket, was effectively beyond reproach. It was while the team was in Barbados that one of the most repeated "Trueman stories" is said to have originated, although it is almost certainly apocryphal. At a dinner, Trueman is said to have ordered a local dignitary, apparently the Indian High Commissioner: "Pass t'salt, Gunga Din". At the end of the tour, to his outrage, Trueman had his good-conduct bonus docked. No reason was given and he tried without success to obtain one, but neither Hutton nor MCC would elaborate. Trueman never forgave Hutton and the two never played together for England again.
Trueman played in the first Test at Sabina Park but, with figures of two for 107 and none for 32, he proved expensive and West Indies won by 140 runs. He was omitted from the team for both the second and third Tests but then recalled for the fourth at Queen's Park Oval which was drawn; Trueman again struggled and had a return of one for 131 in the first innings as West Indies amassed 681 for eight declared, all of the famous "Three Ws" scoring centuries: Everton Weekes 206, Frank Worrell 167 and Clyde Walcott 124. Trueman was retained for the final Test at Sabina Park which England won by nine wickets to square the series two apiece. He opened the bowling with Bailey and returned figures of two for 39 and three for 88, while Bailey produced a match-winning seven for 34 in the first innings when West Indies were all out for only 139.
Back in England after the 1953–54 tour, Trueman in 1954 was able to play a full season for the first time since 1951. Jim Kilburn wrote that, at the age of 23, Trueman "had acquired a man's physique for fast bowling that questioned the courage as well as the technique of opposing batsmen". He played in 33 matches and, for the first time, exceeded 100 wickets in a season. His tally was 134 at 15.55 with a best return of eight for 28. Yorkshire probably should have won the County Championship in 1954 having won six of their first seven matches but were badly hit by wet weather in August and finished runners-up behind Surrey. Trueman and the medium-paced Appleyard formed an effective combination, backed up by Wardle's spin, and Yorkshire had a strong bowling side. The rest of the team mostly comprised Hutton, Lowson, Yardley, Lester, Watson, Vic Wilson, Close, Illingworth and wicket-keeper Roy Booth.
Arlott mentions the hard work put in by Trueman to improve his bowling, first by "smoothing out the last minor unevenness in his run-up" and then by achieving increased accuracy. Trueman said in his autobiography that Yorkshire in the early to mid-1950s were constantly let down by divisions in the team, blaming both Yardley and Hutton for the problems. Re the situation in 1954, he specifically mentions Yardley's inability to deal with the attitudes of Wardle and Appleyard.
Despite his excellent form for Yorkshire in 1954, there was no place for Trueman in any of the Test matches against Pakistan, nor was he selected for the tour of Australia and New Zealand the following winter. He became engaged to his first wife, Enid Chapman, in September 1954 and they married in March 1955. He worked as a furniture salesman through the winter months.
Trueman had a problem with so-called "drag" in 1955 when he was no-balled twice for not having his rear foot behind the bowling crease when he released the ball (i.e., he had dragged his back foot over the line before completing delivery). To remedy this, he reduced his run up by six yards, and with no apparent loss of pace. Yorkshire were involved in a two-horse race for the County Championship but were again let down by one poor spell, this time in June, and had to settle for second place as Surrey won a fourth consecutive title. With Appleyard ill, Trueman and Wardle shared the main weight of the bowling with support from Close. As Arlott points out, Yorkshire had a "serious weakness" in the lack of a regular fast bowling partner for Trueman. The situation was alleviated when Cowan was available, but his appearances were limited by national service and then by a back injury sustained on the MCC tour of Pakistan in 1955–56. There were some signs of change, most notably with the arrival of Jimmy Binks as wicket-keeper and, with more appearances by Doug Padgett and Ken Taylor, the 1960s team was beginning to take shape. Appleyard, Hutton and Lester were less active than before. Otherwise, the mainstays with Trueman were Close, Illingworth, Lowson, Billy Sutcliffe, Wardle, Watson, Vic Wilson and Yardley.
Trueman did force his way back into the England team for the second Test at Lord's in 1955, when England defeated South Africa by 71 runs. Opening the bowling with Statham, he took two for 73, which was expensive, and none for 39 while Statham won the match for England with two for 49 and a brilliant seven for 39. That was Trueman's only Test in 1955 as Frank Tyson was recalled for the third Test at Old Trafford. There was no Test tour in 1955–56 so Trueman had to wait a whole year for his next chance to play for England.
The Australians visited England in 1956 and, Peter May having succeeded Hutton as England captain, Trueman was recalled for two Tests. In the second at Lord's, which Australia won by 185 runs, he opened the bowling with Statham and took two for 54 and five for 90. During the second innings, he took his 50th wicket in Test cricket when he had Keith Miller caught behind, but Miller had the last laugh as his ten-wicket haul won the match for Australia. Trueman had done enough to retain his place for the third Test at Headingley where England won by an innings and 42 runs. It was a spinner's wicket and 18 of the Australian wickets fell to Laker and Lock. Trueman opened the bowling with Bailey and took one for 19 and one for 21, dismissing Colin McDonald in both innings. Brian Statham returned for the now legendary fourth Test at Old Trafford, taking Trueman's place and opening the bowling with Bailey, but no pace bowlers were needed here for this was "Laker's Match", the Surrey off-spinner taking an unparalleled 19 wickets in the match.
Trueman made 31 first-class appearances in 1956 but had difficulty with a persistent strain in his left side, exacerbated by occasional sciatica, and he reverted to his long run after more problems with drag at the start of the season. Yorkshire's team underwent change before the season began with the retirements of Hutton and Yardley. Yardley was succeeded as captain by Billy Sutcliffe, with whom Trueman had a good relationship. Rain badly affected the County Championship and Yorkshire managed only eight wins in their 28 matches to finish seventh. With Trueman largely ineffective due to his injury, the bowling was carried by Appleyard, Wardle and the emerging Ray Illingworth. Binks, Illingworth and Vic Wilson played in all of Yorkshire's 28 championship matches in 1956. The other essential players, besides Trueman when fit, were Appleyard, Close, Lowson, Padgett, Sutcliffe, Taylor, Wardle and Watson.
Trueman was not included in the 1956–57 tour of South Africa, in which England relied for pace on Bailey, Statham, Tyson and Peter Loader. To keep his name in the frame, Trueman accepted an invitation to make a short tour of India with C. G. Howard's XI, which played two matches between 30 December and 8 January. Howard's team included Alec Bedser, Tom Graveney, Bill Edrich, Reg Simpson, Willie Watson and the Australians Bruce Dooland and Colin McCool. The two matches, played in Calcutta and Bombay, were to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Cricket Association of Bengal, Trueman taking eight wickets and achieving top score in one innings when he struck a rapid 46 not out.
The great Test bowler: 1957 to 1964
In 1952, after Trueman's early success against India, Len Hutton had commented that he needed another five years to mature as a bowler; and it was in 1957 that Trueman returned to the fore and finally became an established England player. He overcame his side strain and recovered his form, taking 27 wickets in his first four matches. New regulations about time-wasting caused him to reconsider his run up which he limited to eighteen yards.
Trueman was selected for the first Test against West Indies and kept his place for the entire series. He was England's leading wicket-taker with 22 at 20.68. His great partnership with Statham began in earnest and for six years the pair were a formidable presence in international cricket, Statham noted for his accuracy and persistence, Trueman for his rhythm and dynamics. Trueman's selection in this series can be put into some perspective by the fact that his great rival Frank Tyson achieved 100 wickets in a season for the first time, yet Trueman was now clearly considered England's best option to partner Statham. As Arlott recounts, the third Test at Trent Bridge featured "one of the finest sustained bowling performances of Trueman's life". In a high-scoring match which was eventually drawn, Trueman and Statham took 15 wickets between them from a combined 135 overs, which is a considerable total for two pace bowlers. In the context of the match, they were both outstanding and their joint performance was acclaimed as the first major success in a partnership that the selectors now regarded as long-term. England did not have an overseas tour in the winter of 1957–58.
Trueman played in 32 first-class matches in 1957, taking 135 wickets. He had an outstanding time in his favoured leg slip position, holding 36 catches. There were more problems in the Yorkshire dressing room, principally a petition started by certain players for the club committee to sack Billy Sutcliffe from the captaincy. Trueman refused to sign it but, in August, Sutcliffe decided to resign. Despite this, Yorkshire still managed to finish third, though a long way behind champions Surrey. Yorkshire's main players in 1957 were Appleyard, Binks, Close, Illingworth, Lowson, Padgett, Sutcliffe, Taylor, Trueman, Wardle, Watson and Vic Wilson.
Ronnie Burnet was Yorkshire's new captain in 1958. Not an accomplished player, though he had previously captained the club's Second XI, he was a good man-manager and a firm disciplinarian who could get the best out of what was to be a new team in which Trueman was, apart from Brian Close and Vic Wilson, the most experienced player. Burnet made his mark in 1958 with the sacking of Wardle for disciplinary reasons. The other "trouble-maker", Appleyard, lost his ability as a result of his illnesses and Yorkshire dropped him for good mid-season. Although the team could only finish 11th in the County Championship, having lost 24 full days to the weather, it was a much happier dressing room than it had been since 1946. Regular team members now included Binks, Brian Bolus, Burnet, Close, Cowan, Trueman, Illingworth, Lowson, Padgett, David Pickles, Phil Sharpe, Stott, Taylor, Trueman, Don Wilson and Vic Wilson which meant that the great Yorkshire team of the 1960s was really beginning to take shape.
Trueman played in all five Tests against New Zealand in 1958, taking 15 wickets in the series at an average of 17.06. This was a wet summer and most of the bowling in the series was done by spinners, but he still managed five for 31 in the first Test at Edgbaston. He pulled off a remarkable anticipatory catch in the Lord's Test when he stepped forward from his short leg position to catch the ball off a defensive stroke with his hand on the batsman's boot. In the final Test at the Oval, he made the highest score of his whole Test career with 39* in twenty minutes, including three sixes off Alex Moir.
Despite sending what was, on paper, a very strong team on the 1958–59 tour of Australasia, England lost the Ashes to Richie Benaud's Australians, who won the series 4–0 with the third Test drawn. Tom Graveney recalled that "it was a miserable tour (and England) were never a team". Graveney agreed with Trueman that the biggest problem was the tour manager, Brown, who "did a very bad job". Graveney confirmed that Brown had been rude to several team members and "was a very stuck-up individual, at least when he was sober". Brown tried to make trouble for Trueman from the outset of the tour but Trueman had learned a lot from his West Indian experience five years earlier and made a formal complaint about Brown to the team captain, Peter May. Although May was a public school-educated amateur like Brown, he supported Trueman and reprimanded Brown, telling him to "act in a manner more befitting someone with managerial responsibility". For his part, Trueman described Brown as "a snob, bad-mannered, ignorant and a bigot".
Trueman was one of several players who suffered injury or illness on the tour and missed the first Test because of a back problem. He was fit in time for the second Test but was not selected. He took part in the last three Tests, taking nine wickets with a best analysis of four for 90. At the Sydney Cricket Ground, he established an excellent rapport with the Australian spectators. The fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval was the only one in which Statham, Trueman and Tyson played together for England. On the New Zealand leg of the tour, he played in all five first-class matches, including two Tests, and took 20 wickets.
For the first time in Trueman's career, Yorkshire won the County Championship outright in 1959. He made a major contribution to that success as he took 140 wickets. Arlott wrote of Trueman's deep commitment to the Yorkshire cause in 1959, the title win being the achievement of a career ambition. Trueman owed personal loyalty to Burnet and had developed affinity with his younger colleagues. The club's main players in 1959 were Binks, Bolus, Burnet, Close, Illingworth, Padgett, seamer Bob Platt, Sharpe, Stott, Taylor, Trueman and the Wilsons.
England played India in the 1959 Test series and Trueman, whose selection problems were by now behind him, played in all five Tests. He bowled the most overs and took the most wickets, 24 at 16.70. The series was a poor contest, England winning all five Tests as India had a very weak team at the time. The outcome of the series was evident in the first Test, which England won by an innings and 59 runs. Wisden records how England captain Peter May used his three pace bowlers Trueman, Statham and Alan Moss "in short relays to keep them fresh". The tactics gave India "no respite" and Trueman, the main destroyer, "always looked likely to tear through the whole side".
When MCC toured the West Indies in 1959–60, England had a largely rebuilt team and were not expected to do well but several batsmen scored Test centuries and England won the series 1–0 with four matches drawn. In direct contrast to his previous visit to the Caribbean, this tour was Trueman's happiest and most successful, largely because he had an excellent relationship with the manager Walter Robins and did not have to put up with the likes of Allen and Brown.
In 1960, Vic Wilson having succeeded the retired Burnet as captain, Yorkshire won the Championship again but Kilburn wrote that they did so "without laying any pretensions to being an outstanding side". Trueman's bowling by then contributed the team's main strength. He played in all five Tests that summer against South Africa yet still captured 150 wickets for Yorkshire, sometimes serving as a fast-medium bowler off a shortened run. His outstanding performance was taking seven in both innings against Surrey at the Oval. Trueman's value to the team was illustrated by them, in Kilburn's words, "having to wait for wickets when he was not in action". He made 32 first-class appearances and took 175 wickets, the highest season tally of his entire career, at the outstanding average of 13.98. Yorkshire's team in 1960 was mostly drawn from Binks, Jack Birkenshaw, Bolus, Close, Cowan, Illingworth, Padgett, Mel Ryan, Sharpe, Stott, Taylor, Trueman and the Wilsons.
The 1960 Test series against South Africa was the first time Trueman and Statham bowled together throughout and Arlott wrote that they "virtually won that Test rubber". England won the first three Tests and, in these, Trueman and Statham shared 39 wickets. Their final tallies were Statham 27 and Trueman 25. In its summary of the series, Wisden said that the South African batsmen did not come up to expectations because they could not handle Statham and Trueman.
Trueman played in the first four Tests against Australia in 1961 and, although he effectively won the third Test for England, they failed to regain the Ashes. Wisden said that the third Test, played at Headingley, should be remembered as "Trueman's Match" because "two devastating spells by him caused Australia to collapse". He took eleven wickets in the match for 88 runs, his best performance in Test cricket to date, and England won by eight wickets with two days to spare. Yorkshire finished second in the County Championship behind Hampshire, who won the title for the first time. Playfair said the Yorkshire team were looking distinctly jaded in the closing matches. Trueman and Illingworth were the outstanding bowlers for Yorkshire, both taking over 120 wickets in county matches.
In 1962, Yorkshire regained the County Championship title, but had to defeat Glamorgan on the final day of the season to secure the necessary points. Vic Wilson retired at the end of the season. The main players were Binks, Bolus, Close, Illingworth, Padgett, Ryan, Sharpe, Stott, Taylor, Trueman, Don Wilson and Vic Wilson. In another outstanding season of pace and swing, Trueman took 153 first-class wickets in 33 first-class appearances. He also scored 840 runs, which was the best season tally of his whole career but, because of inconsistency, he remained well short of the standard required if he was to be termed an all-rounder, though that is not something he ever pursued given his workload as a specialist bowler. In a five-Test series that year, England made short work of a Pakistan team that was weak in attack. As in 1961, Trueman played in the first four Tests but not the fifth Test at the Oval. He took 22 wickets in the series, his best match being the second Test at Lord's in which he took nine, the highlight being six for 31 in the first innings to bowl Pakistan out for only 100.
Trueman and Statham had taken 216 and 229 Test wickets respectively after the 1962 season so, when they toured Australia and New Zealand in 1962–63, both were poised to overtake the world record of 236 set by Alec Bedser, who was England's assistant-manager on the tour. Australian captain Richie Benaud was also in contention with 219 but, as expected, it was Statham who broke the record and he extended it to 242 wickets. Statham did not play in New Zealand and Trueman was then able to overtake him, extending the record to 250. The series was drawn, one win apiece, so Australia retained the Ashes. Trueman took three for 83 and five for 62 in England's victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when captain Ted Dexter used him in short bursts, setting defensive fields until he could return.
Although England were well beaten by Frank Worrell's outstanding West Indies team in 1963, Trueman had an outstanding series. After West Indies won the first Test at Old Trafford by ten wickets, many thought they would cruise to a series win but Trueman inspired an England fightback. The second Test at Lord's was a classic match in which all four results were possible until the last couple of balls but it ended in a draw. Trueman took eleven wickets in the match with six for 100 and five for 52. Richie Benaud, who had just joined BBC TV, said that Trueman "showed wonderful control of swing and length" in a "magnificent" performance. In the third Test at Edgbaston, Trueman went one better by routing West Indies for England to win by 217 runs. He took five for 75 and seven for 44. In the second innings, he took the last six West Indian wickets in only 24 balls at a cost of four runs. It was all to no avail, though, as West Indies won both the last two Tests to take the series by three Tests to one.
Yorkshire retained the County Championship title in 1963. Tony Nicholson reinforced Yorkshire's faster bowling and provided Trueman with an able accomplice. In addition, Yorkshire's batting was considerably enhanced by the emergence of Geoff Boycott and John Hampshire. Trueman took 76 wickets in the Championship, 34 in Tests and 129 in all matches. By this time firmly in the category of senior cricketers, Trueman was well aware of his position and its implied privileges but realised that both his energies and his resolve had to be nurtured. He captured five wickets in each innings when Yorkshire defeated West Indies at Acklam Park, eight for 45 against Gloucestershire at Bradford and, for England, had a match return of 12 for 119 at Edgbaston. He scored two centuries, the first of his career, one against Northamptonshire which Kilburn described as "timely in the context of the match" and the other at the Scarborough Festival where he hit six sixes and 11 fours in 67 minutes.
Trueman was selected for the first three Tests against Australia in 1964, was omitted from the fourth and then recalled for the fifth in which he became the first bowler to capture 300 Test wickets. England again failed to recover the Ashes in a generally disappointing 1964 series which is only memorable for Trueman's unprecedented feat. On 15 August 1964, he reached the milestone when he had Neil Hawke caught by Colin Cowdrey at slip in the fifth Test at the Oval. Hawke, a good friend of Trueman off the field, was the first to congratulate him. The occasion produced one of Trueman's few concessions to fatigue when he was asked if he thought his record would ever be broken and he quipped: "Aye, but whoever does it will be bloody tired". As Warr pointed out: "This comment reveals the essence of the man. A touch of belligerence, a hint of humility, a pinch of roughness and an over-riding sense of humour". Meanwhile, Yorkshire lost the County Championship title which was won for the first time by a very strong Worcestershire team which starred Tom Graveney and featured Basil D'Oliveira, Norman Gifford and fast bowlers Len Coldwell and Jack Flavell. Trueman's overall achievements in 1964 did not meet his own high standards and his tally of exactly 100 wickets was well down on his totals in recent seasons.
Final flourishes: 1965 to 1972
Trueman's Test career ended in 1965 after he had played in the first two of a three-match series against New Zealand. In Kilburn's view, Trueman's "decline" was "not from skilful and purposeful and beautiful bowling but from devastating fast bowling" and it may have been accelerated by the change in 1964 to the no-ball law which, he contends, impacted the rhythm of fast bowlers with long run-ups culminating in a long delivery stride. Trueman continued to play first-class cricket for Yorkshire till the end of the 1968 season when his retirement was by his own decision. He bowed out of Test cricket with a then world record of 307 wickets at an average of 21.54.
Although he was the first bowler to take 300 Test wickets, he had undergone numerous clashes and problems with the England cricketing hierarchy and was not involved in the tours of Australia (1954–55); South Africa (1956–57) and (1964–65); India and Pakistan (1961–62); or India (1963–64). From the beginning to the end of his international career, England played 118 Tests and he missed 51 of them. He recalled in his memoirs: "Irrespective of the fact I was at the top of my game for Yorkshire and frequently topped the county bowling averages, I was often overlooked for England. To my mind the reason for this was personal. Quite simply, some of the selection committee did not like my forthright attitude, which they misinterpreted as being "bolshy". Rather than pick the best eleven players for the job, the selection committee would often choose someone because he was, in their eyes, a gentleman and a decent chap. Such attributes often took precedence over someone's ability to play international cricket". He also wrote: "For this reason I was selected for far fewer Tests than I believe I should have been. To my mind, if I'd had the opportunity to play in those Tests, I'm sure I would have topped 400 wickets. But that was not to be, even though I was regularly taking 100-plus wickets a season for Yorkshire".
Trueman made 33 first-class appearances in 1966 and was able to focus on his county career, helping the team to win the first of three consecutive County Championships to 1968. He says he "grew old gracefully (in cricketing terms)". He took 111 wickets, the twelfth and final time that he achieved 100 in a season. He made 31 first-class appearances in 1967 but greatly reduced his workload as a bowler, operating mainly in short spells. He had recognised that he could no longer maintain fast pace for the same time as he had done formerly, though he did comment on encountering "any number of sluggish wickets that summer".
In 1968, with Brian Close injured for a long period, Trueman was Yorkshire's acting captain in several matches and ensured that the team completed their hat-trick of titles. An event that gave Trueman considerable satisfaction was to lead Yorkshire to victory, by an innings and 69 runs, against a Test-strength Australian team at Bramall Lane. Trueman showed great tactical awareness throughout the match with a timely declaration of Yorkshire's innings and then ensuring that Australia faced slow bowlers only during periods of poor light. He himself took key wickets and Yorkshire, always in control, "surged confidently to their victory". He followed his policy of the previous season by bowling in short spells.
Following Yorkshire's victory over the Australians, Trueman decided to take stock of his career and decided that it was a good time to retire, so that he could "bow out while still at the top". As it happened, Brian Statham had announced that he would retire at the end of the season and Trueman decided to delay his own announcement after seeing the emotion of Statham's last match at Old Trafford. Trueman admitted that he would be unable to cope with a similar display of emotion by Yorkshire followers and postponed his announcement until well after the season had ended. He then quietly delivered a polite letter to the Yorkshire committee and so happily "avoided a big farewell"
Although he had officially retired, Trueman made one final first-class appearance in 1969 when he agreed to appear at the Scarborough Festival and play for the International Cavaliers against the touring Barbados team. He surprisingly reappeared in 1972 when he joined Derbyshire and played in six limited overs matches.
Summary of career statistics
For the details of this, see Playfair in 1969 and 1970. Trueman's autobiography has an extensive career stats appendix starting on page 381.
In 603 first-class matches, Trueman scored 9,231 runs, including three centuries, with a highest score of 104 and held 439 catches. He took 2,304 wickets, including four hat-tricks, at an average of 18.27 with a best analysis of eight for 28. In 67 Test appearances, he scored 981 runs with a highest score of 39* and held 64 catches. He took a then world record 307 Test wickets with a best analysis of eight for 31. His tally of 1,745 wickets for Yorkshire is bettered only by Wilfred Rhodes, George Hirst, Schofield Haigh and George Macaulay. He achieved 100 wickets in a season on 12 occasions, with a best return of 175 wickets in 1960. He holds the record for most consecutive first-class matches played (67) in which he took a wicket. Trueman played in only 18 limited overs matches and took 28 wickets.
Style and technique
Approach to cricket
In his own words, Fred Trueman "didn't play cricket for social reasons like some of the fancy amateurs". It was his living and he "played to win". Conversely, he would try and do something each day to make the crowd laugh and "he breathed life and humour into any cricket match". He took his bowling very seriously indeed but he liked to entertain when he was batting or fielding. On the occasions when he captained his team, especially in 1968 when Brian Close was injured for a long time, he proved to be "a shrewd and intelligent exponent of the craft (of captaincy)".
According to David Frith, it was his "sense of fun and mischief" that prompted Trueman to make a habit of visiting the opposition dressing room and this was always "more than a social call". Sometimes he did genuinely want to see a "good mate" in the other team, such as Tony Lock or Brian Statham, but more often than not it was "a declaration of war, an acutely personal challenge, clothed in rollicking humour and self-caricature".
Trueman always maintained his hostility towards the perceived arrogance and "snobbishness" of some in the cricketing establishment, especially the likes of Allen (or "Sir", as he wished to be called). Trueman hated what he called "fancy caps" or "jazz 'ats", which specifically meant those of MCC and the universities, and was alleged to say on seeing the wearer of such a cap that he would "pin him to t'bloody sightscreen". On one occasion, a Cambridge University batsman, having just been dismissed, acknowledged him with the condescending compliment: "That was a very good ball, Mr Trueman". Trueman replied: "Aye, wasted on thee". In a similar vein, his view of the Gentlemen v Players fixture was that it was a "ludicrous business" that was "thankfully abolished" after the 1962 season.
Bowling
John Warr, with whom Trueman shared his first-class debut, wrote that from the beginning of his career, Trueman's run-up was "curving and long but nicely modulated". David Frith continued with Trueman reaching the wicket, where he turned his body side-on and cocked back his ball-carrying right arm, as the leading left arm was hoisted, before "an awesome cartwheel" sent him into a follow through which "resembled a Sea Fury finishing its mission along the runway of an aircraft carrier". Warr said Trueman's final stride had a "pronounced drag" which caused him some difficulties when the front-foot rule was introduced. His bowling arm was kept high through the delivery stride, to generate extra bounce and pace off the pitch, and the movement of the ball was "predominantly away from the bat" (i.e., the out-swinger). Trueman himself maintained that his ability to bowl outswingers consistently was "another new ingredient I brought to the county game". As Maurice Leyland said to him: "Keep bowling those outswingers, Fred, and you'll be all right. That's the one that gets the great batsmen out!" Trueman acknowledged that other great fast bowlers who could bowl the outswinger well were Ray Lindwall and Wes Hall; but Brian Statham and Frank Tyson could not.
In Jim Kilburn's view, "(Trueman's) place among the truly great bowlers of cricket history is beyond question". He had a "resilience of spirit (that was) as marked as the physical power that gave him such remarkable freedom from injury over the years". His name on the team-sheet was "an advertisement for any match". Trueman's method was a long, accelerating run-up ending in a wide delivery stride with a "cartwheel" swing of the arms and a balanced follow-through. Technically, he was "highly accomplished" as he had much more than mere speed at his command, for he learned in-swing, out-swing and variation of pace and length. Kilburn's final analysis of Trueman's contribution to Yorkshire cricket is: "In an XI representing all the county history he would be selected".
In his early days, Trueman had very fast pace but tended to be wayward and was liable to be punished accordingly. His natural hostility in that period earned him his famous nickname of "Fiery Fred". As time went by, much of the belligerence and raw pace faded being replaced by a growing mastery of the bowling arts. Strength, determination and stamina were always among Trueman's greatest attributes and with maturity came a control of both seam and swing. In Warr's view, Trueman learned that it was unwise to always follow a boundary with a bouncer and instead he cultivated the yorker as "a potent weapon". Trueman was one of the most charismatic cricketers of the post-war period and this charisma has been summarised by Mick Pope and Paul Dyson in "the rolling up of the flapping shirt sleeve on the walk back to his mark; the tossing back of the wayward locks of black hair before the smooth accelerated run to the wicket culminating with a high cartwheel action and drag of the back foot through the crease", the conclusion being that "Trueman is one of English cricket's icons".
Trueman's career lasted twenty seasons, an extremely long span for a fast bowler, and Arlott noted of him that he maintained his form and ability "much longer than the peak period (i.e., a decade) of even the best of the kind (and) he was, when the fire burned, as fine a fast bowler as any". When explaining his success as a fast bowler, Trueman always maintained that he was "blessed by two things from birth": the "Trueman tenacity" and the "perfect physique for a fast bowler". He said that the essentials for that perfect physique were having strong, thick legs – "always the first essentials" – with big shoulders and hips.
Wisden described Fred Trueman as "probably the greatest fast bowler England has produced". Trueman would have considered this to be an understatement as he believed himself to be "t'finest fast bowler that ever drew breath" and there were many who agreed with him.
Batting and fielding
Although he always saw himself as a specialist bowler, Trueman was an outstanding fielder and a useful late order batsman. He preferred to field close in, his favourite position being leg slip, and he was a fine and safe catcher. Warr says Trueman was a "brilliant ambidextrous thrower" and he "made life very easy for his captain to place him advantageously in the field". Though he had some talent as a batsman, Trueman never aspired to becoming a genuine all-rounder. He lacked the necessary consistency as he batted primarily to entertain but he had a good defensive technique with a range of attacking strokes which he would employ boldly. His batting consistency did improve in later years and he scored three first-class centuries.
Media work
Test Match Special
Trueman was an expert summariser for the BBC's Test Match Special radio cricket commentaries from 1974 to 1999, forming close friendships with commentators John Arlott and Brian Johnston. He was well known for his direct style of commentary and frequently used a catch phrase, "I don't know what's going off out there", to express his dismay that current England players lacked his knowledge of tactics. Trueman was noted for his dislike of many aspects of the modern game, especially one-day cricket and the frequency with which current fast bowlers sustained injury. He was criticised by some for being unduly negative about current players and for glorifying cricket "in my day". He once remarked, amusingly without any sense of irony: "We didn't have metaphors in my day. We didn't beat about the bush".
Trueman was nevertheless respected for his unsurpassed knowledge of the mechanics of fast bowling, and many feel he should have been used as a bowling coach for England's under-achieving teams of the 1980s and 1990s, a point once emphasised by his fellow-summariser Trevor Bailey on Test Match Special. A good example of Trueman's coaching ability had occurred in 1975 when he was approached by the Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee for help. Lillee was having trouble with both his run-up and bowling action, problems that Trueman had already observed and mentioned on the radio. Trueman gave Lillee the technical advice that provided the solution and Lillee was soon able to recover his form, though this was at the expense of England. Trueman received criticism from many people in the England camp for helping an Australian player, especially after Lillee publicly acknowledged his debt to Trueman. Bailey, on the other hand, completely rejected this criticism and said that the "prima donnas" of English cricket should also have the sense to consult experts like Trueman.
Television, journalism and other media work
In the 1970s Trueman presented the Yorkshire Television ITV programme Indoor League, which was broadcast at 5.15 pm on a Thursday evening, after the children's programmes. This show had a notably Northern, working class focus, and featured pub games such as darts, bar billiards, shove ha'penny, skittles and arm-wrestling. Trueman anchored the programme with a pint of bitter and his pipe to hand, and signed off each week with his catchphrase, "Ah'll sithee" (Yorkshire dialect for "I'll be seeing you").
He made guest appearances in many British television programmes of the 1970s. He played himself in an episode of Two in Clover (series 2, episode 6), where he appeared alongside Sid James and Victor Spinetti. Another notable appearance was as Earnest Egan in the Dad's Army episode "The Test" (series 4, episode 10), which centred on a cricket match. Trueman's character bowled one ball and then retired with a shoulder injury.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life on 5 December 1979. He wrote a column in the Sunday People newspaper for 43 years to provide coverage of cricket and rugby league. Soon after his retirement from cricket, he tried his hand at being a stand-up comedian but found after-dinner speaking to be a more congenial and lucrative occupation.
Personal and family life
Fred Trueman married Enid Chapman on 19 March 1955 at All Saints' Church, Scarborough, and had three children: Karen, Rebecca and Rodney. After divorce in 1972, Trueman remarried on 28 February 1973 at the register office in Skipton. His second wife was Veronica Wilson who had two children: Sheenagh and Patrick. They lived in the Craven village of Flasby in the Yorkshire Dales. Trueman was the titular proprietor of a company called Freddie Trueman Sports Ltd which operated a sporting goods shop in Skipton until it was dissolved.
In June 1991, his daughter Rebecca married Damon Welch, the son of film actress Raquel Welch, but the marriage ended in divorce two years later.
Politics
Trueman was a monarchist and long-time supporter of the Conservative Party.
Honours
Trueman was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1989 Birthday Honours for services to cricket. After his Test Match Special colleague Brian Johnston had nicknamed him "Sir Frederick", there were those who thought he had really been knighted and many, particularly in his native county, who could not understand why he had not.
Having been a pipe-smoker all of his adult life, Trueman was elected Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1974 by the British Pipesmokers' Council. This award was discontinued in 2004, two years before Trueman was diagnosed with lung cancer, because its organisers feared it fell foul of new laws on tobacco promotion.
Death
Trueman was diagnosed with small cell carcinoma of the lung in May 2006. He died of the disease on 1 July 2006 at Airedale General Hospital in Steeton with Eastburn, West Yorkshire. His funeral service was held at the Bolton Priory on 6 July, and was attended by former and current Yorkshire players, including Ray Illingworth and Brian Close. His body was then interred in the Priory's cemetery. A book of condolence was also opened at Headingley cricket ground and later presented to his widow.
Statue
On 18 March 2010, a bronze statue of Trueman (illustrated above) by Yorkshire-born sculptor Graham Ibbeson was unveiled by Veronica Trueman at the Leeds and Liverpool Canal basin in Skipton. Also in attendance were Trueman's brother Dennis and the former Test umpire Dickie Bird.
See also
List of international cricket five-wicket hauls by Fred Trueman
References
Bibliography
Specific
Article on Fred Trueman written by John Warr.
General
Playfair Cricket Annual (1950 to 1969). Playfair Books Ltd.
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (1950 to 1969). John Wisden & Co. Ltd.
External links
Information
Photographs
Fred Trueman, wearing his England sweater, celebrates a successful bowling spell
Fred Trueman's bowling action – his sideways-on style
Fred Trueman's bowling action – his follow-through
Fred Trueman (top right) and the 1954 Yorkshire team
Fred Trueman celebrates his 300th wicket in Test cricket with his England team mates
Fred Trueman on Test Match Special
Fred Trueman and the cast of Dad's Army
1931 births
2006 deaths
Men's association football forwards
British sports broadcasters
Combined Services cricketers
Conservative Party (UK) people
Deaths from lung cancer in England
Derbyshire cricketers
England Test cricketers
English cricket commentators
English cricketers of 1946 to 1968
English cricketers
English men's footballers
International Cavaliers cricketers
Lincoln City F.C. players
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Maltby, South Yorkshire
Players cricketers
Cricketers from South Yorkshire
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World
Yorkshire cricketers
T. N. Pearce's XI cricketers
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%20Gascoigne
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Paul Gascoigne
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Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and one of the best English footballers of all time, Gascoigne is described by the National Football Museum as "widely recognised as the most naturally talented English footballer of his generation". Gascoigne was immensely popular during his playing career, with television broadcaster Terry Wogan calling him “probably the most popular man in Britain today” in September 1990, and public interest in and adoration for him came to be known as “Gazzamania”.
Born and raised in Gateshead, Gascoigne signed schoolboy terms with Newcastle United, before turning professional with the club in 1984. Three years later, he was sold to Tottenham Hotspur for £2.2 million. He won the FA Cup with Spurs in 1991, before being sold to Italian club Lazio for £5.5 million. In 1995, he was transferred to Rangers for £4.3 million and helped the club to two league titles, a Scottish Cup and a Scottish League Cup. He returned to England in a £3.4 million move to Middlesbrough in 1998. He made his debut in the Premier League in the 1998–99 season, having already featured in the 1998 Football League Cup final. He switched to Everton in 2000, and later had spells with Burnley, Gansu Tianma and Boston United.
Gascoigne represented the England national team from 1988 to 1998, in which he was capped 57 times and scored ten goals. He was part of the England team that reached fourth place in the 1990 FIFA World Cup, where he famously cried after receiving a yellow card in the semi-final with West Germany, which meant he would have been suspended for the final had England won the game. He also helped the team to the semi-finals of Euro 96, which included scoring a goal against Scotland, described in 2013 as "one of the most iconic goals in the game's recent history". He has been involved in a number of high-profile goal celebrations at both club and international level, including the "dentist's chair" celebration from Euro 96, and mimicking playing the flute with Rangers in 1998, a reference to the Protestant Orange Order.
In the later part of his career, and especially following retirement, Gascoigne's life became dominated by severe mental and emotional problems, particularly alcoholism. He has been jailed or sectioned on numerous occasions and his struggles receive regular coverage in the British press. He has frequently attempted to live without alcohol, though rehabilitation programmes have provided only temporary relief. His personal issues ended his coaching career, and he has not worked in football since being dismissed as the manager of Kettering Town in 2005.
Early life
Gascoigne was born in Gateshead, County Durham, on 27 May 1967. His father, John (1946–2018), was a hod carrier, and his mother, Carol, worked in a factory. He was named Paul John Gascoigne in tribute to Paul McCartney and John Lennon of the Beatles. He is of Irish descent through his grandparents.
He attended Breckenbeds Junior High School, then the Heathfield Senior High School, both in the Low Fell area of Gateshead. He was noticed by football scouts while playing for Gateshead Boys, though failed to impress in a trial at Ipswich Town. Further trials at Middlesbrough and Southampton also proved unsuccessful, before the team he supported, Newcastle United, signed him as a schoolboy in 1980. Former Ipswich and Newcastle scout Charlie Woods has claimed Ipswich were keen on signing Gascoigne, but once Newcastle got wind they quickly signed up the youngster. Gascoigne frequently got into trouble with his friend, Jimmy "Five Bellies" Gardner. The pair were even taken to court and fined over a hit and run incident. Newcastle chairman Stan Seymour Jr. described Gascoigne as "George Best without brains".
While Gascoigne was successful on the football field, his childhood was marked by instability and tragedy. Initially, his family lived in a single upstairs room in a council house with a shared bathroom, and moved several times during his early life. When he was ten, Gascoigne witnessed the death of Steven Spraggon, the younger brother of a friend, who was killed in a traffic collision. Around this time, his father began to experience seizures. Gascoigne began developing obsessions and twitches, and was taken into therapy, but soon quit the therapy sessions after his father expressed doubts over the treatment methods.
Gascoigne developed an addiction to gaming machines, frequently spending all his money on them, and also began shoplifting to fund his addiction. He experienced further tragedy when a friend, whom he had encouraged to join Newcastle United from Middlesbrough, died whilst he was working for Gascoigne's uncle on a building site.
Brian Tinnion met Gascoigne for the first time at the age of 14 when Tinnion signed for Dunston Juniors, another side Gascoigne played for. Tinnion explained that though Gascoigne eventually became the stand out, by the age of 15, most felt that Ian Bogie would be the top player out of this particular Newcastle youth set up. Gascoigne decided to provide financially for his family – his parents and two sisters – as he saw professional football as a way of earning more money than the rest of the family were capable of. He enjoyed football, and later wrote that "I didn't have twitches or worry about death when I was playing football". He was signed on as an apprentice at Newcastle on his 16th birthday.
He was usually overweight whilst signed to the Newcastle youth side. Jack Charlton, the Newcastle manager, claimed Gascoigne was "a bit chubby" and looked anything but a footballer. Gascoigne ate Mars bars and other junk food. Charlton was not overly concerned as he believed this weight would give Gascoigne extra strength on the football pitch and did not seem to slow him down. He also noted that Gascoigne showed early signs of being gaffe-prone and a prankster. Charlton warned Gascoigne about his junk food diet and gave him two weeks to lose the extra weight. Gascoigne then trained for ten days wrapped in a black bag.
Club career
Newcastle United
1984–1985: Youth career
Gascoigne captained Newcastle United's youth team to the FA Youth Cup in the 1984–85 season, and scored twice in the 4–1 victory over Watford in the final at Vicarage Road. In the first leg of the final, they drew 0–0. Teammate Joe Allon stated that Newcastle were unusually poor in the first leg, but in the second leg, Gascoigne was instrumental in Newcastle's victory. After the match, Jack Charlton told Gascoigne he would be in the first-team the next day against Norwich City. Gascoigne did travel to Norwich, though Charlton chose not to pick him.
1985–1987: Constant success
Gascoigne made his first-team debut as a substitute for George Reilly in a 1–0 win over Queens Park Rangers on 13 April 1985 at St James' Park. Charlton later noted that Gascoigne's first-team appearances under him were too brief to suggest he was more than a useful talent. At the age of 18 Gascoigne signed a two-year £120 a week contract at Newcastle, with the club also having a further two-year option clause. Through noting Gascoigne's generous personality, Charlton arranged that around half of Gascoigne's wage be paid into a bank account for him to collect in a lump sum at the end of his first contract.
Willie McFaul took over as manager for the 1985–86 season, and named Gascoigne in his starting lineup from the opening game of the campaign; he took the place of Chris Waddle, who had been sold to Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. He scored his first goal at home to Oxford United in a 3–0 victory on 21 September 1985, and claimed a further eight goals in the 1985–86 campaign. Newcastle finished 11th in the First Division that season and, at the end of it, Gascoigne was featured on the front cover of the Rothmans Football Yearbook. He scored 5 goals in 24 league games in the 1986–87 season, as the "Magpies" slipped to 17th place, just three points above the relegation play-offs.
1987–1988: Maintained performances and transfer rumours
In 1988, on the BBC programme Football Focus, Newcastle's then all-time top scorer, Jackie Milburn, stated that Gascoigne was "the best player in the world". In a 0–0 draw with Wimbledon at Plough Lane in February 1988, hard-man Vinnie Jones singled him out for attention, and in an incident that would become a much-publicised photograph, Jones grabbed him by the genitals as Gascoigne screamed in agony. He was named as the PFA Young Player of the Year and listed on the PFA Team of the Year in the 1987–88 season. However his period at Newcastle coincided with a period of unrest and instability at the club, which left the club unable to hold on to such a talented young player. Gascoigne promised Alex Ferguson that he would sign for Manchester United. Ferguson duly went on holiday to Malta, expecting to sign Gascoigne. On his holiday, he received the news that Gascoigne had signed for Tottenham Hotspur, for a record British fee of £2.2 million. In his 1999 autobiography, Ferguson claimed that Gascoigne was wooed into signing for Spurs after they bought a house for his impoverished family. Gascoigne in his autobiography states that after he was given his £100,000 signing on fee, he spent £70,000 buying property for his mother and father.
Tottenham Hotspur
1988–1990: Impressive achievements
In his first season at White Hart Lane, Gascoigne helped Terry Venables's Tottenham Hotspur to sixth in the First Division, scoring 7 goals in 37 appearances. They rose to third place in 1989–90, but were still 16 points behind champions Liverpool. On 26 September, he scored four goals in a 5–0 victory against Hartlepool United in the second round of the 1990–91 Football League Cup. He was named as BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1990, and on accepting the award said: "I haven't won anything in the game as yet. But the World Cup did help to put England on the map". He was also named as the club's Player of the Year.
1990–1992: Maintained success, injuries and transfer rumours
Gascoigne was named on the PFA Team of the Year in the 1990–91 season as Tottenham reached the FA Cup Final, with victories over Blackpool, Oxford United, Portsmouth, Notts County and North London derby rivals Arsenal. He scored the opening goal of the 3–1 victory over Arsenal at Wembley with a free-kick, one of six goals he scored in the competition. Spurs at this juncture were also under significant financial strain with huge £10 million debt. With Spurs being tied to massive debt, they hired a financial advisor called Nat Solomon. Solomon strongly argued for selling Gascoigne to Lazio to keep the vultures at bay. Going into the final against Nottingham Forest, Spurs had readily accepted an offer from Lazio and Gascoigne had already agreed to the playing terms to join the Italian club. The deal would be worth £8.5 million to Tottenham. His final was to end in injury however as 15 minutes into the game he committed a dangerous knee-high foul on Gary Charles and ruptured his own cruciate ligaments in his right knee. England teammate Stuart Pearce scored from the resultant free-kick, and Gascoigne subsequently collapsed after the kick-off, forcing him to leave the match on a stretcher. Tottenham went on to win the Cup in extra-time.
He missed the entire 1991–92 season while he recovered, suffering a further knee injury in late 1991, when an incident at a nightclub on Tyneside kept him out for even longer. The saga over Gascoigne's proposed transfer to Lazio dominated the tabloid press throughout 1991, often overshadowing the key national news of that time – namely the recession and rise in unemployment that it sparked – although the broadsheet newspapers generally kept stories about Gascoigne confined to their back pages.
Lazio
1992–1993: Success in Italy
Gascoigne eventually joined Lazio for a fee of £5.5 million (equivalent to £ million in ); he received a £2 million signing-on fee and signed a contract worth £22,000 a week. He made his Serie A debut on 27 September 1992 in a match against Genoa, which was televised in Britain as well as Italy. He failed to fully settle in Italy and was beset by negative media interest which was not helped by the numerous occasions he punched reporters, and the time when he belched down a microphone on live television. He was well received by the club's fans, but not by the club's owner Sergio Cragnotti, who resented him after Gascoigne greeted him by saying "Tua figlia, grande tette" (roughly translated as "Your daughter, big tits"). His form was inconsistent in his first season at the Stadio Olimpico as he had previously spent a year out injured, but he endeared himself to Eagles fans when he scored in the 89th minute to equalise during the Rome derby against A.S. Roma. He broke his cheekbone whilst on international duty in April 1993, and had to play the remaining games of the season in a mask. Lazio ended the campaign in fifth place, which was considered a success as it meant qualification for European competition for the first time in 16 years.
1993–1995: Weight issues and fair performances
Gascoigne fell badly out of shape before the 1993–94 season and was told by manager Dino Zoff to lose two stone (13 kg) by the start of the campaign else he would lose his first-team place. Gascoigne went on an extreme weight loss diet and succeeded in shedding the excess fat. In one spell out injured Zoff told Gascoigne to go on holiday to recuperate. Gascoigne explained to Zoff he did not want to go on holiday. To the surprise of the Lazio fitness staff, Gascoigne arrived back from his holiday overweight. When he spoke to the coach about his weight, Gascoigne reportedly stated to Zoff, "I told you not to send me on holiday, Signor Zoff!" He captained the club against Cremonese when regular captain Roberto Cravero was substituted.
In 1994, Zdeněk Zeman arrived from Foggia to coach Lazio and Gascoigne. Zeman was a coach noted for his use of his whistle in training sessions. One session, Zeman misplaced his whistle and found it when a goose who frequented the Lazio training ground was seen wearing it. Pierluigi Casiraghi later reasoned Gascoigne was the culprit who placed Zeman's whistle on the goose. In April 1994, he broke his leg in training whilst attempting to tackle Alessandro Nesta. Upon his recovery, he was disgruntled with Zeman's stern fitness approach, and both club and player decided to part ways at the end of the 1994–95 season.
Rangers
1995–1996: Great influence and success
Rangers manager Walter Smith flew to visit Gascoigne at his home in the Rome countryside in the early summer of 1995. Smith explained: "He said, 'What are you doing here?' I said, 'I'm here to see you.' He said, 'What is it you're wanting?' I said, 'I'm here to see if you'll come and play for Rangers.' He said, 'Aye, alright.'"
Gascoigne signed for Rangers in July 1995 for a club record fee of £4.3 million, on wages of £15,000 a week. He made an immediate impact: in the fifth league game of the 1995–96 season, the Old Firm fixture at Celtic Park, he scored a goal after running almost the full length of the pitch to get on the end of a pass in a breakaway; it proved vital as this was the only match lost by title rivals Celtic during the campaign. On 30 December, Gascoigne was booked by referee Dougie Smith after picking Smith's yellow card up from the ground and jokingly 'booking' the referee during a match against Hibernian. Rangers went on to win the Scottish Premier Division, clinching the title in the penultimate game of the season against Aberdeen at Ibrox Stadium; Gascoigne scored a hat-trick including two solo efforts. Rangers won the double as they also won the Scottish Cup by knocking out Celtic before beating Heart of Midlothian 5–1 in the final at Hampden Park. He scored 19 goals in 42 appearances in all competitions, and was named as both PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year and SFWA Footballer of the Year.
1995–1996: Continued triumphs and decline in form
Rangers won the league title again in 1996–97, their ninth in succession. Gascoigne claimed hat-tricks against Kilmarnock and Motherwell, and ended the campaign with 17 goals in 34 games. However, during this season, manager Walter Smith and assistant Archie Knox became increasingly concerned over Gascoigne's reliance on alcohol. The Gers won another double by also winning the Scottish League Cup, beating Hearts 4–3 in the final at Celtic Park, with Gascoigne scoring twice and Ally McCoist claiming the other two goals.
In 1997, young Italian player Gennaro Gattuso joined Rangers. He was welcomed to Ibrox by Gascoigne, who defecated in Gattuso's sock as a prank. Gascoigne would also buy Gattuso his club suits under the pretence Rangers were paying for them; Gattuso found out many months later from other sources that it was Gascoigne who secretly paid the bill. In November 1997, Gascoigne received a five-match ban after being sent off for violent conduct during the Old Firm derby following an incident with Celtic midfielder Morten Wieghorst. In January 1998, Gascoigne courted serious controversy when he mimed playing a flute (symbolic of the flute-playing of Orange Order marchers) while warming up as a substitute during an Old Firm match at Celtic Park. Having already made the same gesture as a goal celebration shortly after joining the club in 1995, at that time claiming to have been ignorant of its meaning, his actions infuriated Celtic fans who had been taunting him and Gascoigne was fined £20,000 by Rangers after the incident. He also received a death threat from an IRA member. The 1997–98 season was less successful. Gascoigne scored just 3 goals in 28 games and was sold on, while Rangers failed to win any trophies after he had departed, losing the league title to Celtic and the Scottish Cup final to Hearts.
Middlesbrough
Gascoigne left Scotland to join Middlesbrough for £3.45 million in March 1998, where former England teammate Bryan Robson was manager. His first match was the 1998 Football League Cup Final defeat to Chelsea at Wembley, where he came on as a substitute. He played seven games in the First Division, helping "Boro" into the Premier League as runners-up to Nottingham Forest at the end of the 1997–98 season.
Before the 1998–99 campaign began, Gascoigne began having blackouts after blaming himself for the death of a friend, who died after Gascoigne and a group of friends went on a night out drinking. Despite his ongoing personal problems and his spell in rehab, Gascoigne started the season in good form and helped Middlesbrough into fourth place by Christmas. They ended the season in ninth place and having scored 3 goals in 26 top-flight games Gascoigne was linked with a recall to the England squad, who were now managed by former teammate Kevin Keegan and lacking a creative presence in midfield.
His career went into terminal decline during the 1999–2000 campaign, with Gascoigne breaking his arm after elbowing opposition midfield player George Boateng in the head during Middlesbrough's 4–0 defeat to Aston Villa at the Riverside Stadium. He subsequently received a three match ban and £5,000 fine from the Football Association.
Everton
Gascoigne signed a two-year contract with Everton, managed by former Rangers boss Walter Smith, after joining on a free transfer in July 2000. He started the 2000–01 season well despite not playing every game due to his lack of fitness, but a series of niggling injuries and his ongoing depression took him out of the first team picture by Christmas.
After spending time at an alcohol rehabilitation clinic in Arizona, Gascoigne was fit enough to play for the "Toffees" in the 2001–02 season, and he scored his first goal for the club – and last in English football – away to Bolton Wanderers on 3 November. Gascoigne then suffered a hernia injury, which kept him out of action for three months. Walter Smith left Goodison Park in March, and Gascoigne left the club shortly after his successor, David Moyes, took charge.
Later career
George Reynolds made an attempt to bring Gascoigne to Darlington, at that time playing in the Third Division, but talks broke down, and Gascoigne finished the 2001–02 season with Stan Ternent's Burnley. Gascoigne made only six First Division appearances for Burnley. The club narrowly missed out on the play-offs, and he left Turf Moor after only two months. In 2002, he was inducted to the National Football Museum, being described as "the most naturally gifted English midfielder of his generation". Fellow England midfielder Paul Ince said that Gascoigne was "the best player I've ever played with ... he had everything. He was amazing."
In the summer of 2002, Gascoigne went on trial with Major League Soccer club D.C. United, but rejected a contract. First Division club Gillingham also made enquiries and Gascoigne had an unsuccessful trial with the club. In February 2003, he signed a nine-month contract with China League One club Gansu Tianma in both a playing and coaching role. Gascoigne scored in his first match in China, and in total scored two goals in four league games but his mental state meant that he had to return to the United States for treatment against drink and depression in April, and he never returned despite the club ordering him to do so.
In October 2003, Gascoigne was offered an opportunity to train with Wolverhampton Wanderers. However a month later Wolves rejected the option on providing Gascoigne a contract.
In July 2004, Gascoigne was signed as player-coach by League Two side Boston United, and upon signing spoke of his coaching aspirations, saying that "I can become a great coach and a great manager". Gascoigne left Boston after he made five appearances in a three-month spell, citing professional reasons including his coaching career. Former Rangers teammate Graham Roberts made an unsuccessful attempt to sign Gascoigne as a player-coach at Clyde in 2005.
In August 2014 Gascoigne joined amateur club Abbey in the Bournemouth Sunday league
International career
Gascoigne was called up to the England under-21 side in the summer of 1987, and scored with a free-kick in his debut in a 2–0 win over Morocco. He went on to win 12 caps for the under-21s under Dave Sexton. The team were semi finalists at the UEFA U-21 Euros and finalists at the Toulon Tournament beaten on both occasions by France in 1988.
Gascoigne was first called up to the full England squad by Bobby Robson for a friendly against Denmark on 14 September 1988, and came on as a late substitute for Peter Beardsley in a 1–0 win. He scored his first goal for England in a 5–0 victory over Albania at Wembley on 26 April 1989. He made his first start in the following game against Chile, and kept his first team place for most matches in the run in to the 1990 FIFA World Cup. He also played four games for the England B team. He secured his place in the World Cup squad in a 4–2 win against Czechoslovakia when he scored one goal and was a key component in the other three.
Gascoigne went to the World Cup in Italy, having never started a competitive international. He played in all three of the group games and England topped Group F, Gascoigne providing the assist for Mark Wright's winner against Egypt. In the first knockout game against Belgium, he made another assist after chipping a free-kick into the penalty area, where David Platt volleyed the ball into the net. Gascoigne was at the centre of the action again in the quarter-final clash with Cameroon when he gave away a penalty, which Cameroon converted. In extra-time, he made a successful through-ball pass from which Gary Lineker won and subsequently scored a penalty, which proved to be the winning goal. Referring to the 1990 World Cup, Bryan Robson later commented that Gascoigne was the “best player” he had ever played with, saying that in 1990 he “was challenging Maradona as the best player in the world at that time."
On 4 July 1990, England played West Germany in a World Cup semi-final match at Juventus's Stadio delle Alpi in Turin. Gascoigne, having already received a yellow card during England's 1–0 victory over Belgium in the second round, was booked for a foul on Thomas Berthold, which meant that he would be suspended for the final if England won the match. Television cameras showed that he had tears in his eyes following the yellow card and made Gascoigne a highly popular figure with the sympathetic British public. The match culminated in a penalty shoot-out, which the Germans won after Stuart Pearce and Chris Waddle missed their penalties.
Robson quit the England job after the tournament, and his successor Graham Taylor dropped Gascoigne in favour of 32-year-old Gordon Cowans in a Euro '92 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland in November 1990, citing tactical reasons. He returned to the starting lineup for a friendly against Cameroon the following February, before an injury in the FA Cup final three months later caused him to miss the next twenty-one England fixtures, including all of UEFA Euro 1992, where England failed to progress beyond the group stages.
Gascoigne returned to fitness in time for the opening qualifying game against Norway in October 1992, and before playing in the 1–1 draw, he responded to a Norwegian television crew's request to say 'a few words to Norway', by saying "fuck off Norway". His message was broadcast on Norwegian television and he was forced to apologise for the remark. The following month he scored two goals in a 4–0 victory over Turkey. Qualification ended badly for England, as they ended in third place behind Norway and the Netherlands and missed out on a place in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
A broken leg in 1994 meant Gascoigne was unable to play for 15 months, but by the time he returned to fitness, Terry Venables – his former manager at Spurs – had been appointed as England manager. As England were hosting UEFA Euro 1996 they did not have to go through the qualification process, so they instead played numerous friendlies, most of which featured Gascoigne in the starting line-up. The last of these games was played in Hong Kong, after which numerous England players were photographed on a night out in which Gascoigne and several others having drinks poured into their mouths whilst sitting in the "dentist's chair". The tournament opened with a 1–1 draw with Switzerland, during which Gascoigne was substituted. He scored in England's second game of the tournament, against Scotland (where he was playing at club level at the time). Receiving the ball from Darren Anderton outside the Scotland penalty area, he flicked the ball over Colin Hendry with his left foot and changed direction; Hendry was completely wrong-footed and, as the ball dropped, Gascoigne volleyed it with his right foot past Andy Goram to seal a 2–0 victory. The goal was followed by the "dentist's chair" celebration referring to the incident before the tournament, where Gascoigne lay on the ground as if he were sitting in the dentist's chair, and teammates sprayed water from Lucozade bottles into his open mouth. Terry Venables later wrote that “Pelé at his best would not have bettered that movement and finish”, calling the goal “a goal of unimpeachable quality, world-class, extraordinary, a wonder to behold”.
England beat the Netherlands 4–1 to make it through to the knock-out stages. They then drew 0–0 with Spain before winning 4–2 on penalties, the last of which was converted by Gascoigne. England drew 1–1 with Germany in the semi-finals, and Gascoigne missed the chance to win the game in extra-time when he came inches away from connecting to an Alan Shearer cross yards in front of an unguarded German net. England lost to Germany in the resulting penalty shoot-out, with Gareth Southgate missing England's sudden death penalty. Referring to the 1996 European Championships, Xavi stated that he remembered “the European Championships in England with Gascoigne playing some great matches”, calling the experience “spectacular".
Under Glenn Hoddle, Gascoigne was picked regularly and helped England win the Tournoi de France in 1997 ahead of Brazil, France and Italy. Qualification for the 1998 FIFA World Cup went down to the last group game against Italy at the Stadio Olimpico, and Gascoigne put in a disciplined and mature performance to help England secure the 0–0 draw that was enough to take them through to the tournament. Following qualification, British tabloid newspapers would publish pictures of Gascoigne eating kebabs late at night with his DJ friend Chris Evans. These pictures were published only a week before the final squad was due to be chosen. The pictures disturbed Hoddle, who elected not to pick Gascoigne in the final squad. After hearing the news, Gascoigne wrecked Hoddle's room in a rage before being restrained. Gascoigne, who won 57 caps and scored ten goals, would never play for England again.
Managerial and coaching career
Having already gained some coaching experience in China, Gascoigne signed for Boston United on 30 July 2004. After being at the club for 11 games he left (partly as a result of the club refusing to let him participate in the reality television show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!) on 5 October, to begin a football coaching course. After leaving Boston, he stated that he was interested in taking over as manager of Scottish side Greenock Morton, but this came to nothing.
In mid-2005, he spent two months as player-coach at the recently founded Portuguese team Algarve United, but he returned to England after a proposed contract never materialised. He was appointed manager of Conference North club Kettering Town on 27 October 2005, and also planned to put in enough money to own one-third of the club to show his commitment. Previous manager Kevin Wilson was appointed as director of football, and Paul Davis was appointed as the club's assistant manager. Bookmakers put odds on Gascoigne being dismissed before Christmas, though he insisted that he was at the club "for the long haul". Attempts to get new sponsors on board were successful, though results on the pitch soon went against Kettering. His tenure lasted just 39 days, and he was dismissed by the club's board on 5 December. The club's owner, Imraan Ladak, blamed Gascoigne's alcohol problems, stating that he drank almost every day he worked. Gascoigne later claimed that the owner had interfered incessantly and harboured ambitions of being a manager himself, despite knowing little about football. He was never on a contract at the club, and was never paid for his six weeks work, nor was he given the chance to invest money in the club as he had first planned.
Gascoigne came close to being appointed manager of Garforth Town in October 2010, and after weeks of talks between his agent and the club, he decided to turn down the offer, though reiterated his desire to return to football management.
Other projects
At the height of "Gazzamania" following the 1990 World Cup, he reached number 2 in the UK Top 40 with "Fog on the Tyne", a collaborative cover with Lindisfarne that earned him a gold disc. He established Paul Gascoigne Promotions and hired a number of staff to handle the hundreds of requests from companies wishing to use his likeness and/or endorsement to promote their products. He signed an exclusive deal with The Sun, which did not prevent the newspaper from joining its rivals in sensationalising the various scandals he became embroiled in. He promoted two video games: Gazza's Superstar Soccer and Gazza II.
In August 2006, he visited Botswana on behalf of the Football Association's international outreach week and played football with the children from the SOS Children's Village there. On 25 July 2009, Gascoigne appeared on a Sporting Heroes edition of the BBC television quiz The Weakest Link, where he engaged in banter with host Anne Robinson. The next day, he played in an England versus Germany charity football match to help raise funds for the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. He took part in the first edition of Soccer Aid in 2006, playing for an England team captained by Robbie Williams.
In August 2014, Gascoigne began playing amateur football after signing for Bournemouth Sunday League Division Four team Abbey. In 2015, he was the subject of a documentary film called Gascoigne, and in 2022 he was the subject of a two-part documentary series Gazza.
Style of play
A creative and technically gifted playmaker who played as an attacking midfielder, Gascoigne was capable both of scoring and setting up goals, due to his passing accuracy, his powerful striking ability, and heading ability. He had pace, physical strength, balance and excellent dribbling skills, which allowed him to protect the ball, beat opponents and withstand physical challenges. He was also an accurate free kick and penalty kick taker. FourFourTwo stated: "A central midfielder with Glenn Hoddle's eye for a pass and Bryan Robson's love of a tackle, Gascoigne could be inconsistent and positionally suspect," but added: "Gascoigne was no smoke-and-mirrors showboater: his creativity was crucial in deciding deadlocked matches."
Gary Lineker described Gascoigne as "the most naturally gifted technical footballer that I played with," who possessed "a sort of impudence" and "great confidence." Lineker added: "You could see he played completely for the love of the game." Steven Gerrard named Gascoigne as his "hero". Gareth Southgate said: "You've got very good players and then there are top players. In my time in the England setup, Paul Gascoigne, Paul Scholes and Wayne Rooney just had that little bit more than all the others. And we are talking high‑level people there, players like Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and David Beckham." Former Newcastle United player Lee Clark added: "Gazza had everything. He could dribble, take on players, thread defence-splitting passes through the eye of a needle to the strikers and score incredible goals."
FourFourTwo described his performances in the 1990 World Cup as being "as close as the English ever got to the sort of bravura brilliance by which Diego Maradona had dragged the Albiceleste to World Cup glory four years earlier." Football writer Brian Glanville said that Gascoigne displayed "a flair, a superlative technique, a tactical sophistication, seldom matched by an England player since the war." Despite his talent, Gascoigne was also criticised for his erratic behaviour and aggression on the pitch. His turbulent and often unhealthy lifestyle off the pitch, and his tendency to pick up injuries, are thought to have affected his career.
Personal life
Gascoigne married his long-time girlfriend Sheryl Failes in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, in July 1996, after they had been together for around six years. He later admitted to violence towards Sheryl during their marriage. They divorced in early 1999. In 2009, Sheryl published a tell-all book entitled Stronger: My Life Surviving Gazza. Gascoigne had a son, Regan, with Sheryl and also adopted Sheryl's two children from her first marriage, Mason and Bianca. Bianca is a glamour model and television personality, and appeared on reality TV show Love Island.
During the 1990s, Gascoigne, Danny Baker and Chris Evans had a much publicised friendship, and Gascoigne frequently appeared on their radio and television shows on Talksport and TFI Friday.
In October 2004, Gascoigne announced that he wanted to be referred to as G8, a combination of the first letter of his surname and the number he wore on his football shirt, because it "stands for great".
In November 2008, Gascoigne was faced with a bankruptcy petition over a £200,000 tax bill, having not filed any tax returns for more than two years. On 25 May 2011, he avoided being declared bankrupt by the High Court in London, despite still owing £32,000.
Gascoigne has three autobiographies: Gazza: My Story (with Hunter Davies) published in 2004, Being Gazza: Tackling My Demons (with Hunter Davies and John McKeown), published in 2006, and Glorious: My World, Football and Me, published in 2011. In Gazza: My Story, and in Being Gazza: Tackling My Demons, he refers to treatment for bulimia, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and alcoholism. The books also describe his addictive personality, which has led him to develop addictions of varying severity to alcohol, cocaine, chain smoking, gambling, high-caffeine energy drinks, exercise, and junk food. He lives in Poole, Dorset.
Mental illness, alcoholism and legal troubles
Gascoigne first entered therapy sessions in October 1998 when he was admitted into Priory Hospital after a drinking session where he drank 32 shots of whisky which left him at "rock bottom"; then-manager Bryan Robson signed him into the clinic whilst Gascoigne was unconscious. He was released, at his own insistence, two weeks into the suggested minimum stay of 28 days. His subsequent visits to the Priory became more infrequent, and he eventually returned to drinking alcohol. In 2001, Gascoigne's then-chairman Bill Kenwright contacted Gascoigne's therapist at the Priory, John McKeown, who organised more treatment to help Gascoigne to control his drinking. As part of the treatment he was sent to the United States where he had a stay at a clinic in Cottonwood, Arizona. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He stayed at the clinic in 2003 after he suffered low points working in China, and again in 2004 after retiring from football.
In February 2008, he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act after an incident at the Malmaison Hotel in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was taken into protective custody to prevent self-harm. He was sectioned again in June, and in September he was hospitalised after he overdosed on alcohol and other drugs in an apparent suicide attempt.
Gascoigne was arrested for a disturbance outside a takeaway in February 2010. The following month he was charged with drink driving, driving without a licence, and driving without insurance. On 9 July 2010 Gascoigne appeared at the scene of the tense stand-off between the police and the fugitive Raoul Moat, claiming to be Moat's brother and stating that he had brought him "a can of lager, some chicken, a fishing rod, a Newcastle shirt and a dressing gown". He was denied access to Moat. In August 2011, Gascoigne sued The Sun, claiming that its coverage of him during the Raoul Moat incident interrupted his treatment for alcoholism.
In October 2010, Gascoigne was arrested for drink driving. He subsequently admitted being more than four times over the limit at Newcastle upon Tyne Magistrates Court. One day after being warned he could face a prison sentence for drink driving, Gascoigne was arrested for possession of cocaine. He should have appeared in court on 11 November to be sentenced for the drink driving offence, but instead he went into rehab on the south coast of England and was given an eight-week suspended sentence.
In February 2013, his agent, Terry Baker, told BBC Radio 5 Live that Gascoigne had relapsed again: "He won't thank me for saying it but he immediately needs to get help ... His life is always in danger because he is an alcoholic. Maybe no one can save him – I don't know. I really don't know". Gascoigne was placed in intensive care in a U.S. hospital while being treated for alcoholism in Arizona in a rehabilitation programme thanks to financial support provided by ex-cricketer Ronnie Irani and broadcaster Chris Evans. He was arrested for assaulting a railway security guard and being drunk and disorderly at Stevenage railway station on 4 July 2013; he was fined £1,000 after admitting the offence, and ordered to pay £100 compensation to the guard.
In January 2014, Gascoigne entered rehab for his alcohol addiction for a seventh time at a £6,000-a-month clinic in Southampton. In August, he was again admitted to hospital in relation to his problems following an incident outside his home. On 23 October 2014, police were called to his home in Poole after he was in a drink binge; he was sectioned under the Mental Health Act the next day and taken to a hospital for a three-day detox.
In October 2015, he was fined and made the subject of a restraining order for harassing an ex-girlfriend and assaulting a photographer. In September 2016, Gascoigne admitted using "threatening or abusive words or behaviour" and was fined £1,000 after telling a racist joke in November 2015 and racially abusing his black bodyguard. On 27 December 2016, Gascoigne was hospitalised with head injuries including broken teeth after being kicked in the back and falling down stairs in a London hotel. His assailant was jailed for 23 weeks and ordered to pay £7,800 compensation.
On 6 January 2017, a spokesman for Gascoigne confirmed that he had entered a rehabilitation centre in a serious effort to stay "alcohol-free" in 2017. On 20 August 2018, Gascoigne was arrested at Durham railway station by British Transport Police for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman on a train. In November 2018, he was charged with sexual assault. The case came to trial at Teesside Crown Court in October 2019, where he was cleared of sexual assault after he called the complainant a "fat lass" and told the court he had only given her a "peck on the lips" to "boost her confidence" and that there was no sexual intention.
Phone hacking by Mirror Group Newspapers
Gascoigne's mobile telephone was repeatedly hacked by Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publishers of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspapers. In a 2015 court appearance Gascoigne said that the hacking of his phone led to him developing severe paranoia and alcoholism. Gascoigne described the hacking as " ... just horrendous. And people can't understand why I became an alcoholic". At the time of the hacking Gascoigne's therapist had attributed his belief in the hacking to paranoia. Gascoigne said that " ... I'd like to trade my mobile in for a coffin because those guys have ruined my life. Left me in a state". From 2000 to 2010, 18 articles were published as a result of the hacking of his phone in the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and The People newspapers. Gascoigne had alcoholism during this period and contemplated suicide. Gascoigne received £188,250 in damages from Mirror Group Newspapers in 2015.
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gascoigne goal.
Honours
Newcastle United Youth
FA Youth Cup: 1984–85
Tottenham Hotspur
FA Cup: 1990–91
Rangers
Scottish Premier Division: 1995–96, 1996–97
Scottish Cup: 1995–96
Scottish League Cup: 1996–97
Middlesbrough
Football League Cup runner-up: 1997–98
England U21
Toulon Tournament runner-up: 1988
Individual
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1987–88
PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88 First Division, 1990–91 First Division
Newcastle United Player of the Year: 1987–88
BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 1990
BBC Goal of the Season: 1990–91
PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year: 1995–96
SFWA Footballer of the Year: 1995–96
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1996
English Football Hall of Fame Inductee: 2002
Rangers Hall of Fame Inductee: 2006
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy%20Keane
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Roy Keane
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Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, former coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during his time at English club Manchester United. Regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players in 2004. Noted for his hardened and brash demeanour, he was ranked at No. 11 on The Times list of the 50 "hardest" footballers in history in 2007. Keane was inducted into the Premier League Hall of Fame in 2021.
In his 18-year playing career, Keane played for Cobh Ramblers, Nottingham Forest, and Manchester United before ending his career at Celtic. He was a dominating box-to-box midfielder noted for his aggressive and highly competitive style of play, an attitude that helped him excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005. Keane helped United achieve sustained success during his 12 years at the club. He then signed for Celtic, where he won a domestic double before he retired as a player in 2006.
Keane played at the international level for the Republic of Ireland over 14 years, most of which he spent as captain. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he played in every Republic of Ireland game. He was sent home from the 2002 FIFA World Cup after a dispute with national coach Mick McCarthy over the team's training facilities.
Keane began his management career at Sunderland shortly after his retirement as a player and took the club from 23rd position in the Football League Championship, in late August, to win the division title and gain promotion to the Premier League. He resigned in December 2008, and from April 2009 to January 2011, he was manager of Championship club Ipswich Town. In November 2013, he was appointed assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland national team by manager Martin O'Neill, a role he held until 2018. He would also have short assistant manager spells at Aston Villa in 2014 and Nottingham Forest in 2019. Keane has also worked as a studio analyst for British channels ITV's and Sky Sports football coverage.
Early life
Roy Maurice Keane was born into a working class family in the Ballinderry Park area of Cork's Mayfield suburb on 10 August 1971. His father Maurice took work wherever he could find; this included jobs at a local knitwear company and at Murphy's Irish Stout brewery, among others. His family was keen on sport, especially football, and many of his relatives had played for junior Cork clubs such as Rockmount. Keane took up boxing at age nine and trained for several years, winning all of his four bouts in the novice league. During this period, he was developing as a much more promising footballer at Rockmount, and his potential was highlighted when he was voted "Player of the Year" in his first season. Many of his teammates were offered trials abroad with English football teams, but Keane was not. He supported Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur as a child, citing Liam Brady and Glenn Hoddle as his favourite players, but Manchester United player Bryan Robson later became the footballer he most admired.
Club career
Cobh Ramblers
Initially, Keane was turned down from the Ireland schoolboys squad after a trial in Dublin; one explanation from former Ireland coach and scout Ronan Scally was that the 14-year-old Keane was "just too small" to make it at the required level. Undeterred, he began applying for trials with English clubs, but he was turned down by each one. As his childhood years passed, he took up temporary jobs involving manual work while waiting for a breakthrough in his football prospects. In 1989, he eventually signed for the semi-professional Irish club Cobh Ramblers after persuasion from Ramblers' youth team manager Eddie O'Rourke. Keane was one of two Ramblers representatives in the inaugural FAI/FAS scheme in the Dublin suburb of Palmerstown, and it was through this initiative that he got his first taste of full-time training, facilitated by living in nearby Leixlip, County Kildare from Monday-Friday. His rapid progression into a promising footballer was reflected by the fact that he would regularly turn out for Ramblers' youth side as well as the actual first team, often playing twice in the same weekend as a result.
His Cobh senior debut came on August 13th 1989 in Buckley Park as the Rams went down 2-0 to Kilkenny City in the Opel League Cup. First team manager Liam McMahon gave Roy his League of Ireland debut on November 5th that year, in a 2-1 loss at Bray Wanderers. That season he would make 29 senior appearances as Cobh finished seventh. His two goals came against St Francis and Finn Harps.
In an FAI Youth Cup match against Belvedere in February 1990, Keane's performance attracted the attention of watching Nottingham Forest scout Noel McCabe, who asked him to travel over to England for a trial. Keane impressed Forest manager Brian Clough, and eventually, a deal for Keane worth £47,000 was struck with Cobh Ramblers in the summer of 1990.
Nottingham Forest
Keane initially found life in Nottingham difficult due to the long periods away from his family, and he would often ask the club for a few days' home leave to return to Cork. Keane expressed his gratitude at Clough's generosity when considering his requests, as it helped him get through his early days at the club. Keane's first games at Forest came in the Under-21s team during a pre-season tournament in the Netherlands. In the final against Haarlem, he scored the winning penalty in a shootout to decide the competition, and he was soon playing regularly for the reserve team. His professional league debut came against Liverpool at the start of the 1990–91 season, and the resulting performance encouraged Clough to use him more and more as the season progressed.
Keane eventually scored his first professional goal against Sheffield United, and by 1991 he was a regular starter in the side, displacing the England international Steve Hodge. Keane scored three goals during a run to the 1991 FA Cup Final, which Forest ultimately lost to Tottenham Hotspur. In the third round, however, he made a costly error against Crystal Palace, gifting a goal to the opposition and allowing them to draw the game. On returning to the dressing room after the game, Clough punched Keane in the chest in anger, knocking him to the floor. Despite this incident, Keane bore no hard feelings against his manager, later claiming that he sympathized with Clough due to the pressures of management and that he was too grateful to him for giving him his chance in English football. A year later, Keane returned to Wembley with Forest for the Football League Cup final but again finished on the losing side as Manchester United secured a 1–0 win.
Keane was beginning to attract attention from the top clubs in the Premier League, and in 1992, Blackburn Rovers manager Kenny Dalglish spoke to Keane about the possibility of a move to the Lancashire club at the end of the season. With Forest struggling in the league and looking increasingly likely to be relegated, Keane negotiated a new contract with a relegation escape clause. The lengthy negotiations had been much talked about in public, not least by Brian Clough, who described Keane as a "greedy child" due to the high wages demanded by the Irishman. "Keane is the hottest prospect in football right now, but he is not going to bankrupt this club", Clough stated. Despite the extended contract negotiations, Forest fans voted him the club's Player of the Season. Despite his best efforts, Keane could not save Forest from relegation, and the clause in his contract became activated. Blackburn agreed a £4 million fee for Keane, who soon after agreed to a contract with the club.
A mistake, however, prevented the move to the club: when the contract had been agreed upon, Dalglish realized they did not have the correct paperwork needed to complete the transfer. This was on a Friday afternoon, and the office had been locked up for the weekend. With a verbal agreement in place, they agreed to meet on Monday morning to complete the transfer officially. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson, hearing about the move, phoned Keane and asked whether he would like to join them instead of Blackburn. Ferguson ensured they had the paperwork ready and met up with Keane on Saturday and signed him for Manchester United for £3.75 million, a British transfer record at the time.
Manchester United
Early years: 1993–97
Despite the then-record transfer fee, there was no guarantee that Keane would go straight into the first team. Paul Ince and Bryan Robson had established a formidable partnership in the center of midfield, having just inspired Manchester United to their first league title since 1967. Robson, however, was 36 years old and in the final stages of his playing career, and a series of injuries kept him out of action for most of the 1992–93 season and into the 1993–94 season. As a result Keane had an extended run in the team, scoring twice on his home debut in a 3–0 win against Sheffield United, and grabbing the winner in the Manchester derby three months later when United overturned a 2–0 deficit at Maine Road to beat Manchester City 3–2.
Keane had soon established himself as a first-choice selection, and by the end of the season, he had won his first trophy as a professional as United retained their Premier League title. Two weeks later, Keane broke his Wembley losing streak by helping United to a 4–0 victory over Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, sealing the club's first-ever "double".
The following season was less successful, as United were beaten to the league title by Blackburn Rovers and beaten 1–0 in the FA Cup final by Everton. Keane received his first red card as a Manchester United player in a 2–0 FA Cup semi-final replay win against Crystal Palace, after stamping on Gareth Southgate, and was suspended for three matches and fined £5,000. This incident was the first of 11 red cards Keane would accumulate in his United career, and one of the first signs of his indiscipline on the field.
The summer of 1995 saw a period of change at United, with Ince leaving for Internazionale, Mark Hughes moving to Chelsea and Andrei Kanchelskis being sold to Everton. Younger players such as David Beckham, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes were brought into the team, which left Keane as the most experienced player in midfield. Despite a slow start to the 1995–96 campaign, United pegged back title challengers Newcastle United, who had built a commanding 12-point championship lead by Christmas, to secure another Premier League title. Keane's second double in three years was confirmed with a 1–0 win over Liverpool to win the FA Cup for a record ninth time.
The next season saw Keane in and out of the side due to a series of knee injuries and frequent suspensions. He picked up a costly yellow card in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final against Borussia Dortmund, which ruled him out of the return leg at Old Trafford. United lost both legs 1–0, but this was compensated for by winning another league title a few days later.
Captaincy: 1997–2001
After Eric Cantona's unexpected retirement, Keane took over as club captain, although he missed most of the 1997–98 season because of a cruciate ligament injury caused by an attempt to tackle Leeds United player Alfie Haaland in the ninth Premier League game of the season. As Keane lay prone on the ground, Haaland stood over Keane, accusing the injured United captain of having tried to hurt him and of feigning injury to escape punishment, an allegation which would lead to an infamous incident between the two players four years later.
Keane did not return to competitive football that campaign, and could only watch from the sidelines as United squandered an 11-point lead over Arsenal to miss out on the Premier League title. Many pundits cited Keane's absence as a crucial factor in the team's surrender of the league trophy.
Keane returned to captain the side the following season, and guided them to a treble of the FA Premier League, FA Cup, and UEFA Champions League. In an inspirational display against Juventus in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, he helped haul his team back from two goals down to win 3–2, scoring the first United goal. His performance in this game has been described as his finest hour as a footballer. Keane, however, received a yellow card after a trip on Zinedine Zidane that ruled him out of the final. United defeated Bayern Munich 2–1 in the final, but Keane had mixed emotions about the victory due to his suspension. Recalling his thoughts before the game, Keane said, "Although I was putting a brave face on it, this was just about the worst experience I'd had in football." Keane sustained an ankle injury during the 1999 FA Cup Final, four days before the Champions League Final, which ruled him out until the following season. Later that year, Keane scored the only goal in the final of the Intercontinental Cup, as United defeated Palmeiras in Tokyo.
The following season saw prolonged contract negotiations between Keane and Manchester United, with Keane turning down an initial £2 million-a-year offer amid rumors of a move to Italy. His higher demands were eventually met midway through the 1999–2000 season, committing him to United until 2004. Keane was angered when club officials explained an increase in season ticket prices was a result of his improved contract and asked for an apology from the club. Days after the contract was signed, Keane celebrated by scoring the winning goal against Valencia in the Champions League, although United's defence of the Champions League was ended by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals, partly due to an unfortunate Keane own goal in the second leg. He was voted PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year at the end of the season after leading United to their sixth Premier League title in eight years.
Keane caused controversy in November 2000, when he criticised sections of United supporters after the Champions League victory over Dynamo Kyiv at Old Trafford. He complained about the lack of vocal support given by some fans when Dynamo was dominating the game, stating, "Away from home our fans are fantastic, I'd call them the hardcore fans. But at home, they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches, and they don't realise what's going on out on the pitch. I don't think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell 'football', never mind understand it." Keane's comments started a debate in England about the changing atmosphere in football grounds, and the term "prawn sandwich brigade" is now part of the English football vocabulary, referring to people who attend football games or claim to be fans of football because it is fashionable rather than due to any genuine interest in the game.
Alfie Haaland incident
Keane made headlines again in the 2001 Manchester derby, when five minutes from the final whistle, he was sent off for a knee-high foul on Alfie Haaland in what was seen by many as an act of revenge. He initially received a three-match suspension and a £5,000 fine from The Football Association (FA), but further punishment was to follow after the release of Keane's autobiography in August 2002, in which he stated that he intended "to hurt" Haaland. Keane's account of the incident was as follows:
I'd waited long enough. I fucking hit him hard. The ball was there (I think). Take that you cunt. And don't ever stand over me sneering about fake injuries.
His admission that the tackle was a premeditated assault led the FA to charge him with bringing the game into disrepute. He was banned for a further five matches and fined £150,000 in the ensuing investigation. Despite widespread condemnation, he later maintained in an interview that he had no regrets about the incident: "My attitude was, fuck him. What goes around comes around. He got his just rewards. He fucked me over and my attitude is an eye for an eye", and said he would probably do the same thing again.
Haaland never played a full game afterwards. However, Haaland did complete the match and played 68 minutes of the following game. He also played a friendly for Norway in between both matches. It was, in fact, a long-standing injury to his left knee rather than his right, that ended his career.
Later career: 2001–2005
United finished the 2001–02 season trophyless for the first time in four years. Domestically, they were eliminated from the FA Cup by Middlesbrough in the fourth round and finished third in the Premier League, their lowest final position in the league since 1991. Progress was made in Europe, however, as United reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, their furthest advance since their successful campaign of 1999. They were eventually knocked out on away goals after a 3–3 aggregate draw with Bayer Leverkusen, despite Keane putting United 3–2 up.
After the defeat, Keane blamed United's loss of form on some of his teammates' fixation with wealth, claiming that they had "forgot about the game, lost the hunger that got you the Rolex, the cars, the mansion". Earlier in the season, Keane had publicly advocated the breakup of the treble-winning team as he believed the team-mates who had played in United's victorious 1999 Champions League final no longer had the motivation to work as hard.
In August 2002, Keane was fined £150,000 by Sir Alex Ferguson and suspended for three matches for elbowing Sunderland's Jason McAteer, and this was compounded by an added five-match suspension for the controversial comments about Haaland. Keane used the break to undergo an operation on his hip, which had caused him to take painkillers for a year beforehand. Despite early fears that the injury was career-threatening, and suggestions of a future hip-replacement from his surgeon, he was back in the United team by December.
During his period of rest after the operation, Keane reflected on the cause of his frequent injuries and suspensions. He decided that the cause of these problems was his reckless challenges and angry outbursts which had increasingly blighted his career. As a result, he became more restrained on the field and tended to avoid the disputes and confrontations with other players. Some observers felt that the "new" Keane had become less influential in midfield as a consequence of the change in his style of play, possibly brought about by decreased mobility after his hip operation. After his return, however, Keane displayed the tenacity of old, leading the team to another league title in May 2003.
Throughout the 2000s, Keane maintained a fierce rivalry with Arsenal captain Patrick Vieira. The most notable incident between the two took place at Highbury in 2005 at the height of an extreme period of bad blood between United and Arsenal. Vieira was seen confronting United defender Gary Neville in the tunnel before the game over his fouling of José Antonio Reyes in the previous encounter between the two sides, prompting Keane to verbally confront the Arsenal captain.
The incident was broadcast live on Sky Sports, with Keane heard telling match referee Graham Poll to, "Tell him [Vieira] to shut his fucking mouth!" After the game, which United won 4–2, Keane controversially criticised Vieira's decision to play internationally for France instead of his country of birth, Senegal. Vieira, however, later suggested that having walked out on his national team in the FIFA World Cup finals, Keane was not in a good position to comment on such matters. Referee Poll later revealed that he should have sent off both players before the match had begun, though was under pressure not to do so.
Overall, Keane led United to nine major honours, making him the most successful captain in the club's history. Keane scored his 50th goal for Manchester United on 5 February 2005 in a league game against Birmingham City. His appearance in the 2005 FA Cup final, which United lost to Arsenal in a penalty shoot-out, was his seventh such game, a record in English football at the time.
Keane also jointly holds the record for the most red cards received in English football, being dismissed a total of 13 times in his career. He was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2004 in recognition of his impact on the English game and became the only Irish player to be selected into the FIFA 100, a list of the greatest living footballers picked by Pelé.
Departure
Keane unexpectedly left Manchester United by mutual consent on 18 November 2005, during a protracted absence from the team due to an injury sustained in his last competitive game for the club, caused by a robust challenge from Luis García against Liverpool. His departure marked the climax of increasing tensions between Keane and the United management and players since the club's pre-season training camp in Portugal when he argued with Ferguson over the quality of the set-up at the resort. Ferguson was angered further by Keane's admission during an MUTV phone-in that he would be "prepared to play elsewhere" after the expiration of his current contract with United at the end of the season.
Another of Keane's appearances on MUTV provoked more controversy, when, after a 4–1 defeat at the hands of Middlesbrough in early November, he criticised the performances of John O'Shea, Alan Smith, Kieran Richardson and Darren Fletcher. Of the club's record signing Rio Ferdinand, he said, "Just because you are paid £120,000-a-week and play well for 20 minutes against Tottenham, you think you are a superstar." The outburst was deemed too damning by the United management and was subsequently pulled from transmission by the club's TV station. Keane's opinions were described by those present at the interview as "explosive even by his standards".
Keane scored 33 league goals for Manchester United and a total of 51 in all competitions. The first two of his goals for the club came in the 3–0 home win over Sheffield United in the Premier League on 18 August 1993, the last on 12 March 2005 in a 4–0 away win over Southampton in the FA Cup.
Two weeks later, after another row with Ferguson, Keane reached an agreement with Manchester United allowing him to leave the club immediately to sign a long-term deal with another club. He was offered a testimonial in recognition of his 12-and-a-half years at Old Trafford, with both Ferguson and United chief executive David Gill wishing him well for the future.
Keane, in an interview with the Irish media company, Off the Ball, in September 2019, stated that Manchester United were pushing to get him out of the club because he was getting old and his strained relationship with then assistant manager Carlos Queiroz and later on with Sir Alex Ferguson, rather than the mere MUTV incident.
Keane's testimonial took place at Old Trafford on 9 May 2006 between United and Celtic. The home side won the game 1–0, with Keane playing the first half for Celtic and the second half in his former role as Manchester United captain. The capacity crowd of 69,591 remains the largest crowd ever for a testimonial match in England. All of the revenue generated from the match was given to Keane's favourite charity, Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind.
Celtic
On 15 December 2005, Keane was announced as a Celtic player, the team he had supported as a child. Initial reports suggested Keane was offered a contract of around £40,000 per week; however, this was rejected by the player himself in his second autobiography, in which he claimed he was only paid £15,000 per week while a Celtic player.
Keane's Celtic career began in January 2006, when the Glasgow giants crashed to a 2–1 defeat to Scottish First Division side Clyde in the third round of the Scottish Cup. His abrasive style had not dwindled, as he was seen criticising some of his new team-mates during the match. Keane scored what turned out to be his only Celtic goal a month later, a shot from 20 yards in a 2–1 Scottish Premier League victory over Falkirk. He retained his place the following Sunday in his first Old Firm derby against Rangers, leading Celtic to victory. Celtic went on to complete a double of the Scottish Premier League title and Scottish League Cup, his last honour as a player.
On 12 June 2006, Keane announced his retirement from professional football on medical advice, only six months after joining Celtic. His announcement prompted glowing praise from many of his former colleagues and managers, not least from Sir Alex Ferguson, who opined, "Over the years when they start picking the best teams of all time, he will be in there."
International career
Keane was part of the squad that participated in the 1988 UEFA European Under-16 Football Championship although he did not play. He was man of the match for the Republic of Ireland national under-19 team when they beat hosts Hungary in the 1990 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship to qualify for the 1991 FIFA World Youth Championship.
When called up for his first game at the international level, an under-21s match against Turkey in 1991, Keane took an immediate dislike to the organisation and preparation surrounding the Irish team, later describing the set-up as "a bit of a joke". He would continue to hold this view throughout the remainder of his time spent with the national team, which led to numerous confrontations with the Irish management. Keane declared his unavailability to travel with the Irish squad to Algeria, but was surprised when manager Jack Charlton told him that he would never play for Ireland again if he refused to join up with his compatriots. Despite this threat, Keane chose to stay at home on the insistence of Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough, and was pleased when a year later he was called up to the Irish squad for a friendly at Lansdowne Road. After more appearances, he grew to disapprove of Charlton's style of football, which relied less on the players' skill and more on continuous pressing and direct play. Tensions between the two men peaked during a pre-season tournament in the United States when Charlton berated Keane for returning home late after a drinking session with Steve Staunton.
Keane was included in the Republic of Ireland senior squad for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the U.S. and played in every game, including a famous 1–0 victory over tournament favourites and eventual runners-up Italy. Despite a second-round exit at the hands of the Netherlands, the tournament was considered a success for the Irish team, and Keane was named the best player of Ireland's campaign. Keane, however, was reluctant to join the post-tournament celebrations, later claiming that, as far as he was concerned, Ireland's World Cup was a disappointment: "There was nothing to celebrate. We achieved little."
Keane missed crucial matches during the 1998 World Cup qualification matches due to a severe knee injury but came back to captain the team to within a whisker of qualification for UEFA Euro 2000, losing to Turkey in a play-off. Ireland secured qualification for the 2002 World Cup under new manager Mick McCarthy, greatly assisted by several match-winning performances from Keane. In the process of qualification, Ireland went undefeated, both home and away, against international football heavyweights Portugal and the Netherlands, famously beating the latter 1–0 at Lansdowne Road.
2002 FIFA World Cup incident
The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) selected the training base intended for use during Ireland's World Cup campaign. During the first training session, Keane expressed serious misgivings about the adequacy of the training facilities and the standard of preparation for the Irish team. He was angered by the late arrival of the squad's training equipment, which had disrupted the first training session on a pitch that he described as "like a car park".
After a row with goalkeeping coach Packie Bonner and Alan Kelly Jr. on the second day of training, Keane announced that he was quitting the squad and that he wished to return home to Manchester due to his dissatisfaction with Ireland's preparation. The FAI was unable to get Keane an immediate flight home at such short notice, meaning that he remained in Saipan for another night, but they called up Colin Healy as a replacement for him. The following day, however, McCarthy approached Keane and asked him to return to the training camp, and Keane was eventually persuaded to stay.
Despite a temporary cooling of tensions in the Irish camp after Keane's change of heart, things soon took a turn for the worse. Keane immediately gave an interview to leading sports journalist Tom Humphries, of the Irish Times newspaper, where he expressed his unhappiness with the facilities in Saipan and listed the events and concerns which had led him to leave the team temporarily. McCarthy took offence at Keane's interview and decided to confront Keane over the article in front of the entire squad and coaching staff. Keane refused to relent, saying that he had told the newspaper what he considered to be the truth and that the Irish fans deserved to know what was going on inside the camp. He then unleashed a stinging verbal tirade against McCarthy: "Mick, you're a liar... you're a fucking wanker. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You're a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks." Niall Quinn observed in his autobiography that "Roy Keane's 10-minute oration [against Mick McCarthy, above] ... was clinical, fierce, earth-shattering to the person on the end of it and it ultimately caused a huge controversy in Irish society." But at the same time, he was also critical of Keane's stance, saying that, "[He] left us in Saipan, not the other way round. And he punished himself more than any of us by not coming back."
None of Keane's teammates voiced support for him during the meeting, although some supported him in private afterwards. Veterans Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton backed McCarthy in a press conference after the event. It was here that McCarthy announced that he had dismissed Keane from the squad and sent him home. By this time, the FIFA deadline for naming the World Cup squads had passed, meaning that Colin Healy was unable to be named as Keane's replacement and could not play in the tournament.
Recall
Mick McCarthy resigned as Ireland manager in November 2002 after defeats to Russia and Switzerland in qualification for Euro 2004. The possibility of Keane returning to the squad for future qualifiers was raised, as Keane had not yet fully retired from international football, insisting that McCarthy's presence was the main incentive for staying away from the Irish squad. McCarthy's replacement, Brian Kerr, discussed with Keane the possibility of a recall, and in April 2004 he was brought back into the Irish team to face Romania on 27 May. Keane was not reinstated as captain, however, as Kerr decided to keep the armband with Kenny Cunningham. After the team's failure to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, he announced his retirement from international football to help prolong his club career.
Post-retirement
Keane has reiterated his displeasure with the attitude and selection policy of the FAI. In March 2007, Keane claimed that several Republic of Ireland players get picked solely based on their media exposure and that the organisation was biased towards players originating from Dublin or other regions of Leinster: "Once you keep playing them on the reputation they've built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, then it's wrong. There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity." Keane claimed that Sunderland player Liam Miller was not picked because he was from Cork and that players with significant potential were failing to get picked for the national team. He also alleged that the FAI were incompetent in the running of their affairs.
Keane was involved in further controversy in the wake of Ireland's defeat by France in the qualification 2010 World Cup play-off. During an Ipswich Town press conference on 20 November 2009, Keane was critical of the Irish reaction to the Thierry Henry handball incident. His response included criticisms of the Irish team's defence and the FAI authorities.
Coaching career
Keane's former manager Sir Alex Ferguson had previously said that he wanted Keane to succeed him as Manchester United coach when he retired. In the wake of Keane's acrimonious departure from the club, however, Ferguson became evasive regarding Keane's prospects as a manager: "Young managers come along and people say this one will be England manager or boss of this club, but two years later they're not there. It's not an easy environment to come into, I wouldn't forecast anything."
Sunderland
During his time at Celtic, Keane was suggested as a potential managerial successor to Gordon Strachan by former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas. However, it was Championship club Sunderland where Keane chose to launch his managerial career, reuniting him with the club's chairman and outgoing manager, Niall Quinn. The two men, publicly at least, were on opposing sides during the fall-out from the Saipan incident, but they were on good terms at the time of the managerial appointment, with Quinn urging Sunderland fans to "support and enjoy one of football's true greats".
Keane signed a three-year deal immediately after Sunderland's victory over West Bromwich Albion on 28 August, the Mackems' first win of the 2006–07 season after a dreadful run of four consecutive defeats under Quinn's temporary management. With his new club sitting in the relegation zone already, second bottom of the Championship table, Keane chose to enforce changes quickly. His first actions as manager were deciding to keep the existing assistant manager, Bobby Saxton, and to appoint his former Nottingham Forest colleague Tony Loughlan as head coach. He wasted no time in bringing in new additions to the squad, with a total of six players signing on the final day of the August transfer window. The most notable signings were Keane's former Manchester United teammates Dwight Yorke and Liam Miller, supported by former Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga,
as well as Wigan Athletic pair Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly.
Keane's first two games as manager could not have gone much better; first coming from behind to beat Derby County 2–1, followed by an easy 3–0 victory over Leeds United. Sunderland began to steadily creep up the league standings under Keane's management, and by the turn of the year, they had escaped the bottom half of the league. Five further players were signed during the January 2007 transfer window, three (Anthony Stokes, Carlos Edwards and Stern John) on permanent contracts and two (Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson) on loan from Manchester United, Keane's old club. Results continued to improve, and Keane was rewarded with the February and March Manager of the Month awards, while his team began to challenge for the automatic promotion places. Meanwhile, Keane tackled his players' non-professional approach with a firm hand. When three players were late for the team coach to a trip to Barnsley, in March 2007, he simply left them behind.
Sunderland secured promotion to the Premier League – along with Birmingham City – on 29 April when rivals Derby were beaten by Crystal Palace. A week later, the Championship title was sealed, and Sunderland's revival under Keane was complete. His achievements also earned him the Championship Manager of the Year award.
The lowest point of their next season came at Goodison Park, where they were beaten 7–1 by Everton, which Keane described as "one of the lowest points" of his career. In the second half of the season, however, the team's form was much improved (especially at home) and survival in the division was guaranteed with two games to go with a home win against Middlesbrough. Meanwhile, Keane carried on his trend of buying ex-Manchester United players with the addition of Kieran Richardson, Paul McShane, Danny Higginbotham and Phil Bardsley. He has also continued his strict disciplinary policy by putting Liam Miller (one of Sunderland's more consistent players) on the transfer list for being regularly late for training and other team meetings.
The beginning of the 2008–09 season would prove to be tumultuous. In September 2008 Keane became embroiled in a row with FIFA Vice-President Jack Warner over the withdrawal of Dwight Yorke from the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Warner accused Keane of being disrespectful towards small countries. Keane responded by calling Warner "a clown" and insisted that Yorke was retired from international football. That same month Keane experienced "one of the worst and longest nights" of his career when Sunderland had to come from 2–0 down at home in a League Cup tie against Northampton Town. The game ended 2–2, with Sunderland progressing narrowly on penalties.
Despite some positive performances, including the historic 2–1 home victory against local rivals Newcastle United on 25 October (the first time the club had accomplished this in 28 years), as well as good showings by recent signings like Djibril Cissé and Anton Ferdinand, the team's general form, remained inconsistent. By the end of November, Sunderland was 18th in the Premier League, having lost five of their six previous games. Keane stood down as manager on 4 December after bringing doubt on his future with comments made in the wake of the 4–1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers the previous weekend. Keane's harsh management style was not appreciated by the Sunderland players, who were reported to have celebrated when they heard he had resigned.
In an interview with The Irish Times on 21 February 2009, Keane cited differences with Sunderland 30% shareholder Ellis Short and strains with club chairman Niall Quinn as the factors in his decision to resign as Sunderland manager.
Keane was linked with a return to the club in 2022 following the sacking of Lee Johnson, but turned down the offer after over a week of negotiations.
Ipswich Town
On 23 April 2009, Keane was appointed as the new manager of Ipswich Town on a two-year contract, the day after the club had dismissed Jim Magilton. His first game in charge came the following Saturday with a 3–0 away win over Cardiff City, the final league match to be played at Ninian Park. The following week, Ipswich rounded off the season with a 2–1 win over Coventry City. In the 2009–10 season, Keane started to sign some players, some of them from his former club Sunderland. He signed goalkeeper Márton Fülöp, midfielders Carlos Edwards and Grant Leadbitter and brought in Jack Colback, David Healy and Daryl Murphy on loan to the club. Ipswich started without a win in their first 14 matches, making them the last team to record their first win in the whole league, finally winning on 31 October against Derby County and recording their first away win of the season on 29 November against Cardiff City. Their form gradually improved throughout the season, but Ipswich drew far too many games to come anywhere near the promotion race and they finished the season in 15th place. Many inconsistencies in the 2009–10 and the 2010–11 season meant that Keane's Ipswich side never really challenged for promotions and as a result of a poor run of form, ending up with his side dropping to as low as 21st in the Championship. Keane was dismissed as Ipswich manager on 7 January 2011.
National team
On 5 November 2013, the FAI announced that Martin O'Neill had been made the Republic of Ireland manager and that Keane had been made the assistant manager. Their first match was against Latvia at the Aviva Stadium in a 3–0 victory on 15 November 2013. After Neil Lennon left Celtic at the end of the 2013–14 season, Keane looked set to become the new manager of the Hoops. Martin O'Neill admitted he won't stand in his way of taking over the reins at Celtic Park. Keane, however, remained as assistant manager of Ireland and asked not to be considered for the job. Keane later stated that he was on the verge of taking the Celtic job and had met with the Celtic owner Dermot Desmond but felt "they didn't make him feel wanted enough" and rejected the offer.
Keane later became the new assistant manager of Aston Villa, combining his role with Villa and Ireland.
In October 2014, Keane caused controversy after his book was released before crucial Euro 2016 qualifiers against Gibraltar and Germany. Martin O'Neill, however, rejected the claims that it was a distraction.
A month later, before Ireland's crucial qualifier against Scotland, Keane was involved in an incident with a fan in the team hotel. An ambulance for the fan was called as well as the Garda Síochána, but no arrests or complaints were made. The FAI and Martin O'Neill came out in support of Keane after the incident. It later emerged that CCTV footage exonerated Keane of any wrongdoing. The man involved in the incident is Brendan Grace's son-in-law Frank Gillespie, who is believed to have asked Keane to sign a copy of Keane's autobiography The Second Half. Keane refused to do so, and Gillespie confronted Keane but then collapsed and an ambulance was called to the hotel. Grace stated that Gillespie and Keane were "old buddies".
After the Scotland game, Keane claimed that Everton were putting pressure on the Irish players like Séamus Coleman and James McCarthy (who missed the Scotland match through injury) to pull out of international squads; Everton chairman Bill Kenwright refuted this claim, saying Keane says "stupid things". Then-Everton manager Roberto Martínez also dismissed Keane's comments.
Again Keane was in the headlines after a heated press conference with journalists before the United States match. Keane got in a row with a journalist after he was questioned if he was becoming a distraction from the Republic of Ireland cause. Eamon Dunphy has called on the FAI and Martin O'Neill to stop Keane from giving interviews to end the circus of media attention around him.
In November 2018, Keane and O'Neill left their jobs by "mutual agreement".
Aston Villa
On 1 July 2014, Keane was confirmed as Aston Villa's new assistant manager, working alongside manager Paul Lambert. He combined this role with his assistant manager's role with the Republic of Ireland. On 28 November 2014, however, Keane quit his role as assistant manager at Aston Villa to concentrate on his assistant manager role with Ireland.
Nottingham Forest
In January 2019 he became assistant manager at Nottingham Forest, leaving the role in June 2019.
Style of play
A powerful, dominant, consistent, and highly competitive midfielder, in his prime, Keane was known for his work-rate, mobility, energy, physicality, and hard-tackling style of play, which earned him a reputation as one of the best players in the world in his position. His playing style also earned him a degree of notoriety, due to his temper, tendency to pick up cards, confront opponents, and commit rash challenges. Usually operating in either a holding or box-to-box role in the centre of the pitch, his most prominent traits were his stamina, intelligence, positional sense, tenacity, aggression, physical strength, and ball-winning abilities, although he was a complete midfielder, who possessed a wide range of skills; indeed, he was also capable of carrying the ball forward effectively after obtaining possession, and either distributing it to other players, controlling the game and dictating the tempo in midfield, starting attacking plays, or even creating chances for his teammates, courtesy of his composure on the ball, first touch, and precise, efficient passing. He could even score goals himself, due to his attacking drive, eye for goal, a powerful shot from range, and his ability to make late runs into the penalty area, in particular in his early career.
In his later career, however, he became more cautious in his play, and occupied a deeper role, in order to compensate for his physical decline. An influential presence on the pitch, in addition to his playing ability, Keane also stood out for his leadership and determination throughout his career, as well as his strong character. However, he also struggled out with injuries throughout his career. Despite his relatively small frame and short stature, he was also good in the air and an accurate header of the ball. Although he was usually fielded as a defensive midfielder, Keane was also deployed as a defender on occasion, functioning as a centre-back or as a sweeper.
Regarding his work-rate, mentality, and influence, his former teammate Gary Neville said of him: "His greatest gift was to create a standard of performance which demanded the very best from the team. You would look at him busting a gut and feel that you'd be betraying him if you didn't give everything yourself." Steve McClaren, who served as Alex Ferguson's assistant manager during Keane's time at Manchester United, between 1998 and 2001, instead said of the midfielder's competitive spirit: "He mirrors the manager on the pitch. They are winners." Regarding Keane's complex character, despite his intensity on the pitch, Sean O'Hagan of The Guardian wrote in 2002 that he is "...a committed and confident warrior on the field, a shy, socially awkward, and often lonely introvert off it."
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Keane goal
Managerial statistics
Honours
As a player
Nottingham Forest
Full Members' Cup: 1991–92
Manchester United
Premier League: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03
FA Cup: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99, 2003–04
FA Community Shield: 1993, 1996, 1997, 2003
UEFA Champions League: 1998–99
Intercontinental Cup: 1999
Celtic
Scottish Premier League: 2005–06
Scottish League Cup: 2005–06
Individual
PFA Team of the Year: 1992–93 Premier League, 1996–97 Premier League, 1999–2000 Premier League, 2000–01 Premier League, 2001–02 Premier League
PFA Team of the Century: (1907–2007)
Team of the Century 1997–2007
Overall Team of the Century
FAI Young International Player of the Year: 1993, 1994
FAI Senior International Player of the Year: 1997, 2001
Premier League Player of the Month: October 1998, December 1999
Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 1999, 2000
RTÉ Sports Person of the Year: 1999
FWA Footballer of the Year: 2000
PFA Players' Player of the Year: 2000
ESM Team of the Year: 1999–2000
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards: (1992–93 to 2001–02)
Overseas Team of the Decade
English Football Hall of Fame: 2004
FIFA 100
Premier League 20 Seasons Awards: (1992–93 to 2011–12):
Fantasy Teams of the 20 Seasons (Panel choice)
Premier League Hall of Fame: 2021
As a manager
Sunderland
Football League Championship: 2006–07
Individual
Football League Championship Manager of the Month: February 2007, March 2007
LMA Championship Manager of the Year: 2006–07
Orders and special awards
Cork Person of the Year: 2004
Honorary Doctorate of Law: 2002
Outside football
Media career
Keane has done media work but expressed his lack of enthusiasm to do so again in the future when he said, "I was asked last week by ITV to do the Celtic game. A couple of weeks before that I was asked to do the United game against Celtic at Old Trafford. I think I've done it once for Sky. Never again. I'd rather go to the dentist. You're sitting there with people like Richard Keys and they're trying to sell something that's not there. Any time I watch a game on television I have to turn the commentators off."
Keane later had a change of heart. Along with Harry Redknapp and Gareth Southgate (who had previously been stamped on by Keane during an FA Cup semi-final in 1995, leading to a red card), he was a pundit for ITV's coverage of the Champions League final between Manchester United and Barcelona. In the 2011–12 season, he became ITV chief football analyst, appearing on nearly every Live ITV match alongside presenter Adrian Chiles and Gareth Southgate. He appeared on ITV in the Champions League including Chelsea's victory in the final against Bayern Munich, nearly all FA Cup matches including the final between Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley, and England competitive internationals and friendlies. He was also involved in the ITV team for Euro 2012 alongside long-time rival Patrick Vieira and they appeared together as pundits in Ireland–Spain match and Czech Republic–Russia match, also appearing with Roberto Martínez and Gordon Strachan. Keane worked for ITV during his time as Republic of Ireland Assistant on UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League highlights shows between 2015-2018 but didn't appear on International Football apart from on the Final of UEFA Euro 2016, he covered 2018 FIFA World Cup & UEFA Euro 2020 for ITV Sport and appeared again on England Qualifiers from 2018, in 2021-2022 he became ITV chief analyst for FA Cup appearing alongside Ian Wright.
Keane joined Sky Sports to work on Super Sunday starting in September 2019.
Personal life
Keane married Theresa Doyle in 1997, and they have five children.
When Keane joined Manchester United, the family lived in a modern four-bedroom house in Bowdon, then moved to a mock Tudor mansion in Hale. His family then had a 1930s-built home bulldozed so they could build a new £2.5 million house near Hale.
On 6 June 2009, it was announced that Keane and his family would purchase a house in the Ipswich area, near to the training ground of Keane's new club, Ipswich Town. He eventually settled in the nearby market town of Woodbridge. They moved out of the property and offered it for sale in 2015.
In October 2014, Keane released the second part of his autobiography The Second Half, which was ghostwritten by Roddy Doyle. It is the follow-up to his first autobiography, released in 2002, which was ghost written by Eamon Dunphy.
Triggs
Keane had a Labrador Retriever named Triggs, who died in 2012. Speaking in Dublin at his annual visit to the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, he spoke on the loss affecting him, "Triggs was great and went through a lot with me... you will have me crying in a minute, so be careful. She had a good life." Triggs came to international attention in 2002 during the Saipan incident ahead of that year's FIFA World Cup, which saw Keane engage in a public quarrel and leave the squad. He said of Triggs, "Unlike humans, dogs don't talk shit."
The Daily Telegraphs Steve Wilson once described Triggs as "the most famous dog in football since Pickles, a mongrel who dug up the stolen Jules Rimet Trophy in 1966, or that dog that relieved itself on Jimmy Greaves at the 1962 World Cup". Henry Winter, writing in the same paper and noting Keane's tendency to go for long walks with his dog in the wake of controversial incidents, called Triggs "the fittest dog in Cheshire" and opined that "if Cruft's (sic) held an endurance event, Keane and Triggs would scoop gold".
Following her rise to fame, Triggs was mentioned by several sources on many occasions, with Keane followed by numerous canine references and dog puns for the remainder of his career. In 2006 when Keane moved house to Sunderland, his reunion with Triggs, who joined him later, came to the notice of the press. In 2007, Keane was reported to have heard of his team's promotion to the Premiership while walking Triggs. The following year, Keane was said to have acquired a German Shepherd Dog named Izac to accompany Triggs.
In later life, Triggs was involved in a police investigation when her behaviour caused an argument between Keane and a neighbour. She appeared in an Irish Guide Dogs advertisement in 2009, whereupon the Irish Examiner referred to her as "football's biggest canine celebrity", and also received her own profile on Facebook. Triggs was described as a "celebrity" and a "household name" upon erroneous reports of her death from cancer in September 2010. Keane was described as "inconsolable". The Irish Examiners obituary noted how "at critical moments when the nation's happiness seemed entwined with Roy's moods, he turned to his Labrador Triggs and took to the road".
See also
List of people on the postage stamps of Ireland
Notes
References
General
Roy Keane (2002), As I See It, [DVD]
Specific
External links
Career photos on BBC Online
BBC Wear – Roy Keane's first day on the job at SAFC
1971 births
1994 FIFA World Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
Men's association football midfielders
Association footballers from Cork (city)
Aston Villa F.C. non-playing staff
Celtic F.C. players
Cobh Ramblers F.C. players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English Football League managers
English Football League players
Expatriate football managers in England
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland
FIFA 100
Ipswich Town F.C. managers
Irish expatriate sportspeople in England
Irish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland
League of Ireland players
Living people
Manchester United F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Premier League Hall of Fame inductees
Premier League managers
Premier League players
Republic of Ireland men's association footballers
Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers
Republic of Ireland expatriate association football managers
Republic of Ireland association football managers
Republic of Ireland men's international footballers
Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers
RTÉ Sports Person of the Year winners
Scottish Premier League players
Sunderland A.F.C. managers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alf%20Ramsey
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Alf Ramsey
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Sir Alfred Ernest Ramsey (22 January 1920 – 28 April 1999) was an English football player and manager. As a player, he represented the England national team and captained the side, but he is best known for his time as England manager from 1963 to 1974, which included guiding them to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Knighted in 1967 in recognition of the World Cup win, Ramsey also managed his country to third place in the 1968 European Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship. As a player, Ramsey was a defender and a member of England's 1950 World Cup squad.
Ramsey was born and raised in a quiet Essex village. He showed sporting promise from an early age and, after serving in the British Army during the Second World War, embarked on a football career, primarily as a right-back. He was considered a rather slow but accomplished player with a tremendous grasp of the tactical side of the game. Nicknamed "The General", he played for England 32 times between 1948 and 1953, captaining the side three times, scoring three times and appearing in the 1950 World Cup. He played his club football for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur and was part of the Tottenham side that won the English League championship in the 1950–51 season.
Ramsey retired from playing aged 35 to become the manager of Ipswich Town, then in the third tier of English football. Ipswich rose through the divisions over the next six years, winning the Third Division South in 1956–57 and the Second Division in 1960–61. In the 1961–62 season, Ipswich's first-ever campaign in the top division, Ramsey's team defied expectations to become champions of England. Ramsey took charge of the England team a year later. In a distinct break with common practice of the day, he used a narrow formation that led to his England side being dubbed "The Wingless Wonders". England's World Cup victory at Wembley in 1966 made Ramsey a national hero, though he had his critics, both at the time and since. He lost the England job acrimoniously, following the team's failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup.
After managing England, Ramsey briefly held football-related roles at Birmingham City and Panathinaikos, before retiring in 1979–80. He led a somewhat reclusive life in Ipswich over the next two decades and died in 1999, aged 79. A statue of Ramsey was dedicated at the reconstructed Wembley Stadium in 2009, and various honours have been afforded to him in Ipswich. He is the first person to have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame twice: an inaugural inductee in 2002, in recognition of his achievements as a manager, and admitted again in 2010 for his achievements as a player. He remains widely regarded as one of British football’s great managers ever. In 2022, FourFourTwo ranked him at No. 26 on its special list of the Top 100 football managers of all time.
Early life
Dagenham
Alfred Ernest Ramsey was born on 22 January 1920 at 6 Parrish Cottages, Halbutt Street in Dagenham, which was then an agrarian village in Essex, about east of central London. He was the third of five children, four boys and a girl, born to Herbert Ramsey, a manual labourer who worked a smallholding, kept pigs and drove a horse-drawn dustcart, and his wife Florence (née Bixby). Parrish Cottages lacked hot running water and electricity, and the only toilet was outside. Such conditions were typical of Dagenham during this period, although Ramsey's street gradually became something of an anachronism as he grew up. From 1921, London County Council transformed the area into the Becontree estate, a vast urban community that by 1934 was home to 120,000 people and the Ford Dagenham automobile factory. Parrish Cottages remained largely untouched: electricity was not installed until the 1950s, and even then, only with the reluctant approval of Ramsey's mother, who, according to a neighbour, was frightened of it. In the recollection of a childhood contemporary, Phil Cairns, the Ramsey house was "little more than a wooden hut".
The young Alf Ramsey was described by his friend Fred Tibble as "a very quiet boy who really loved sport". In his 1952 autobiography Talking Football, Ramsey described "liv[ing] for the open air from the moment I could toddle", spending hours each day in the meadow behind the family cottage, playing ball games with his brothers. He learned skills such as ball control, kicking and heading with a tennis ball. From the age of five, Ramsey attended Becontree Heath School, which had a roll of about 200 pupils aged from four to fourteen. He and his brothers had to walk two hours from their house to get there, and passed a ball between each other on the way to break the monotony. Ramsey was not especially popular socially, nor particularly diligent as a student, but he excelled in sports. In addition to football, he played cricket to a high standard and represented the school in the high jump, the long jump, and both the 100-yard and 200-yard dash. Despite his diminutive stature, he also enjoyed boxing until an incident when he was 10 years old, when a much larger opponent—"as wide as I was tall" in Ramsey's recollection—gave him a severe beating in a school tournament. Ramsey carried a noticeable scar above his mouth, a memento of this fight, for the rest of his life.
"He was very withdrawn, almost surly", Cairns recalled, "but he became animated on the football field". Ramsey was selected to play for Becontree Heath School when he was only seven years old, playing at inside-left alongside boys as old as fourteen; his nine-year-old brother Len was at inside-right. Alf's selection for the school team prompted the purchase of his first pair of football boots. Two years later, aged nine, he became captain of the school team. By this point, he had switched to playing at centre-half—the key position of the "WM" formation then favoured in British football, between the full-backs and the forwards. His main strength was generally perceived to be his extremely accurate passing; his chief shortcoming was a lack of pace, for which Ramsey compensated by learning to read the game and position himself well. Ramsey played for teams representing the schools of Dagenham and Essex County, respectively, and trialled unsuccessfully for the London schools team while at Becontree. While he was at school, his brother Albert took him to see his first Football League match, watching their favourite team, West Ham United, play against Arsenal. This was the only senior match Alf would attend before playing in them himself. He later wrote that his main recollection of it was the performance of one of the Arsenal forwards, the Scotland international Alex James.
On leaving school in 1934, the 14-year-old Ramsey tried to get a job at the Ford plant, then told his family he intended to become a greengrocer. To that end he became an apprentice at a local branch of the Co-op, delivering groceries on a bicycle. The manual work helped to bulk up Ramsey's physique, but he found himself unable to play organised football because he had to work on Saturday afternoons. After a two-year hiatus, he returned to the game when he joined Five Elms, a newly formed amateur club whose matches on Thursdays fitted with his work schedule. About a year later, during the 1937–38 season, Ramsey was spotted by Ned Liddell, a scout from Portsmouth, then a well-established top-flight club. Liddell offered a contract as an amateur. Rather than signing on the spot, Ramsey asked to take the forms home to examine first; he signed them that night and sent them to Portsmouth by post. Much to Ramsey's disappointment, Portsmouth did not contact him again. He spent the next two years working at the Co-op while playing cricket in the summer and football in the winter.
Second World War
Military service
After the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Ramsey was conscripted into the British Army on 24 June 1940. He was assigned to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry and underwent his initial training in Truro, where he and other recruits were housed in a hotel commandeered by the army. Ramsey found the experience a thrilling adventure. "Until I travelled to Cornwall, the longest journey I had undertaken was a trip to Brighton by train", he recalled. "It was the first time I had ever been into a hotel! Even with us sleeping twelve to a room, on straw mattresses, could not end for me the awe of living in a swagger hotel." "That set the tone for Alf's war", Leo McKinstry suggests in his 2010 biography; attached to his regiment's 6th Battalion, Ramsey spent the entire war in Britain on home defence duties. The training was still physically demanding, and in Ramsey's words, made him "a fitter young fellow than when I reported for duty as a grocery apprentice from Dagenham."
Writing in 1952, Ramsey would call joining the army "one of the greatest things which ever happened to me", adding "I learnt, in a few weeks, more about life in general that I had picked up in years at home." Military life taught Ramsey about discipline and leadership, and strengthened his social skills: "I have never been very good at mixing with people but you have to in the army or else you are in trouble", the journalist Nigel Clarke recalled him saying. Ramsey rose to be a company quartermaster sergeant in an anti-aircraft unit.
Wartime football
Military service also allowed Ramsey to play football more regularly, and at a higher standard than before. In late 1940 he was posted to St Austell, on the south coast of Cornwall, where he manned beach defences and became captain of the battalion football team, playing at centre-half or centre-forward as circumstances dictated. After three years in various seaside postings, Ramsey was, in 1943, moved to Barton Stacey in Hampshire, where he came under the command of a Colonel Fletcher, himself an accomplished footballer. Ramsey's battalion team by this time featured players from a number of Football League clubs, including the Brentford forward Len Townsend and Arsenal's Cyril Hodges. Ramsey played at centre-half for his battalion team as Southampton defeated them 10–3 at the Dell in a pre-season friendly on 21 August 1943, and a week later played again as the battalion took on Southampton's reserve team. The soldiers won the second match 4–1.
On 8 October 1943, Colonel Fletcher called Ramsey to his office to inform him that Southampton needed a centre-half for their first-team match away to Luton Town the next day, and had enquired about the sergeant's availability. The 23-year-old Ramsey was cautious, saying he lacked experience, but said he would "give it a try" when the colonel suggested that playing might set him on the way to a professional football career. The next day, while en route to Luton by train, Ramsey signed for Southampton as an amateur, making his debut for the club at Luton's Kenilworth Road ground. Ramsey gave away a penalty kick late in the game with Southampton 2–1 ahead, allowing Luton to equalise, but Southampton managed to win 3–2. He played in three more matches for the team during the 1943–44 season before his battalion's posting to County Durham forced his absence. After his unit returned to the south coast at the start of the 1944–45 season, Ramsey played in a trial match at Southampton, and performed well enough that the club offered a professional contract on wages of £2 per match. Ramsey was still uncertain about pursuing a football career; he signed the contract only after Southampton assured him that he could leave at the end of the season if he wished.
Ramsey was injured during the 1944–45 pre-season, ironically while playing against Southampton for his battalion team, so he did not make his first appearance as a professional until December. During the match, against Arsenal at White Hart Lane, Ramsey played centre-half opposite the formidable Arsenal centre-forward Ted Drake and according to McKinstry "had the best game of his career to date." Drake scored twice, but Ramsey still felt that he had proven his ability to play league football. On 3 March 1945, against Luton Town at the Dell, Ramsey was switched to inside-left because of injuries elsewhere in the team; he scored four goals in a 12–3 Southampton win. The Southern Daily Echo reported, "he can certainly hammer a ball." Ramsey finished the season having made 11 League South appearances.
Ramsey remained in the army during 1945–46, the first football season after the war. Starting as a centre-forward, he scored two goals in each of Southampton's opening two games, then a hat-trick in a 6–2 victory at Newport County on 6 October 1945. He played in 13 League South matches before military commitments again intervened—in December 1945 he was deployed to Mandatory Palestine, where he accepted an invitation to captain a football team representing the British garrison. This side included Arthur Rowley, who later scored hundreds of goals for Leicester City and Shrewsbury Town, and the future Scotland international forward Jimmy Mason. Ramsey returned to England in June 1946 to find himself entertaining overtures from both the new Southampton manager Bill Dodgin and the Dagenham Co-op, the latter of which offered Ramsey his pre-war job back. Ramsey initially turned Southampton down, but accepted after the club offered better terms: £6 per week during the summer, £7 in winter and £8 if he was selected for the league team. He was formally discharged from the army soon after.
Playing career
Southampton
The regular Football League restarted in time for the 1946–47 season. Ramsey moved into club-owned lodgings in Southampton with a close friend from the army, Alf Freeman, an inside-forward who had also signed for the club. Ramsey started the season in the reserve team, selected at centre-forward, and scored in each of the first three games. After five matches, Dodgin and the club trainer Sydney Cann made a decision that changed the course of Ramsey's professional playing career: deciding that neither centre-half nor centre-forward truly suited him, they moved him to right-back. McKinstry calls this "exactly the right place for Alf", citing Ramsey's tactical knowledge and fine passing. A close master-and-pupil relationship developed between Ramsey and Cann, who had played at full-back for Torquay United, Manchester City and Charlton Athletic. During training sessions, the two had long discussions about tactics and individual techniques. wanted to learn about the game from top to bottom", Cann recalled; "I have never known anyone with the same quickness of learning as Alf Ramsey. He would never accept anything on its face value ... He was the type of player who was a manager's dream because you could talk about a decision and he would accept it and there it was, in his game."
Ramsey made his full league debut on 26 October 1946, in a Second Division match against Plymouth Argyle at the Dell, replacing the injured regular right-back Bill Ellerington. The nervous Ramsey was helped through the match by the calm reassurance and guidance of the experienced Southampton captain Bill Rochford, the team's other full-back. Southampton won 5–1, their joint-biggest win of the 1946–47 season, but Ramsey found the pace of the regular peacetime Football League a drastic step-up. "Their reactions to moves were so speedy they had completed a pass, for instance, when I was still thinking things over", he later wrote. After one more game, Ellerington was reinstated and Ramsey went back to the reserves. Ramsey was kept out of the first team until January 1947, when Ellerington was injured again shortly before an away match against Newcastle United. Southampton lost 3–1, but Ramsey was generally considered to have acquitted himself well. He kept his place for the rest of the season, gradually growing in confidence. Dodgin praised Ramsey in a February 1947 interview as a "player who thinks football, talks football and lives football".
A formative experience for Ramsey during his first peacetime season was playing for Southampton against Manchester City in April 1947. Playing at full-back for City was the 38-year-old Sam Barkas, a former England international, near the end of his last season. Ramsey was greatly impressed by Barkas's positional sense and accurate passing, and adopted him as a role model. The following season, 1947–48, Ramsey firmly established himself ahead of Ellerington in the Southampton team, and was the only player at the club to appear in all 42 League matches.
The consensus on Ramsey's playing style among his fellow professionals was that he was rather slow, but possessed an excellent positional sense, read the game better than most, and distributed the ball exceptionally well for a defender. Taking after his Southampton captain Bill Rochford, he preferred to play the ball out of defence rather than simply clearing it as quickly as possible. He became a specialist penalty taker due to his coolness and ability to anticipate the goalkeeper. Ted Bates, one of Ramsey's Southampton teammates, described him as "lacking both height and speed", but credited him with a "razor-sharp brain ... he would never get into a situation that exposed him."
Southampton failed to win promotion during the 1947–48 season, finishing third behind Birmingham City and Newcastle United, but it was still a successful campaign for them and by its end Ramsey had become one of the club's main players, taking on the captain's role occasionally. In May 1948, he was selected as part of a 16-man England squad to tour Switzerland and Italy; the flight to Geneva was his first time in an aeroplane. On his return from international duty, he flew to São Paulo to join the rest of the Southampton team on a club tour of Brazil. Southampton had lost every game in Brazil so far, and spirits were low. Ramsey restored morale and contributed to a new plan to counter the Brazilian tactics, which were much more fluid than those favoured by English teams of the time. Ramsey suggested that Southampton could use long diagonal passes to exploit the gaps the Brazilian defenders left behind them as they ran upfield to attack. McKinstry notes the similarity of this thinking to some of the tactics Ramsey later used as manager of Ipswich Town. Southampton beat Corinthians 2–1 in their next game before ending the tour with a draw and a defeat. Ramsey was impressed by the South Americans' footballing ability, but not by the conduct of their players, pressmen, administrators or fans; McKinstry considers the experience to have "fed Alf's nascent xenophobia".
By the middle of the 1948–49 season Ramsey had made his first appearance for the England national team and made a total of 90 league and 6 FA Cup appearances for Southampton, scoring eight goals. He made what turned out to be his final competitive appearance for Southampton on 8 January 1949, in a 2–1 away defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. In a friendly away at Plymouth Argyle a week later, he slipped as he went into a tackle and injured his knee. Dodgin brought Bill Ellerington back into the side to replace Ramsey while he recovered, and Ellerington performed strongly as Southampton won eight and drew two of the next 10 matches. Dodgin told Ramsey that, given Ellerington's good form, Ramsey was "going to find it very hard" to regain his place in the team. Ramsey, not yet in his 30s, was infuriated and considered this a direct insult by Dodgin: he subsequently asked Southampton to place him on the transfer list on 7 March 1949. He obsessed about Dodgin's comment. "The world did indeed appear a dark and unfriendly place", he later said; "... for one fleeting moment I seriously contemplated quitting football."
Ramsey's opinion that Dodgin had treated him unfairly was not shared by the other Southampton players, who respected Ellerington as a player of comparable ability. According to the wing-half Joe Mallett, Ramsey was also motivated to leave by a dressing-room row with his captain Bill Rochford at half-time during that final league match against Sheffield Wednesday: one of the Sheffield Wednesday goals was blamed on Ramsey's failure to play an opposing winger offside. The Southampton chairman and board tried to persuade Ramsey to stay, but his mind was made up—he told them that if he played in the reserve team, it would hinder his chances of playing internationally. Liverpool, Luton Town and Burnley were among the clubs who expressed interest in buying him, but by the time of the transfer deadline on 16 March, only Sheffield Wednesday had made an official bid. Tottenham Hotspur came in with a last-minute offer, but there was no time for the transfer to go through, and Ramsey was forced to stay at Southampton for the rest of the season. On 15 May 1949, the new Tottenham manager Arthur Rowe revived the offer, and signed Ramsey in a part-exchange deal for £4,500 and Wales international winger Ernie Jones—the transfer was widely reported as being worth £21,000, then a record for Tottenham.
Tottenham Hotspur
Push-and-run; champions of England
A good relationship quickly developed between Ramsey and his new manager, who found that they shared similar personalities and views on tactics. Like Ramsey, Rowe believed in a progressive, fast-moving style of play. These ideas evolved into "push-and-run", a playing style unlike anything previously attempted in British football, based around quick passing. Tottenham pioneered the style to good effect—a Spurs player moving forward would lay the ball off to a teammate, then run past the opposing defender to receive an immediate return pass. "Under Rowe, Alf became far more than a defender", comments McKinstry. Rowe tasked him with instigating attacks and based much of the Tottenham game plan around Ramsey's accurate passing.
Tottenham started the 1949–50 season strongly and soon topped the Second Division: between August 1949 and January 1950 they did not lose in 22 matches. Ramsey was an essential part of the team, having made the right-back position his own; he built effective partnerships with several players, including the wing-half Bill Nicholson, the goalkeeper Ted Ditchburn and the inside-right Sonny Walters. Ramsey greatly appreciated the licence Rowe gave him to move forward and attack and, in November 1949, in an away match against Grimsby Town, he scored what is generally considered the best goal of his career. Shortly after half-time, he intercepted a long pass near the half-way line and, after running 40 yards and dribbling past three Grimsby defenders, smashed the ball past the advancing goalkeeper. The reporter for The Enfield Gazette wrote that the goal would "never be forgotten by those privileged to be present". Tottenham went on to win the match 3–2.
Spurs won the 1949–50 Second Division title with seven games to spare, scoring more goals and conceding fewer than any of their rivals, and were promoted to the First Division for the following season. In August 1950, shortly before Tottenham embarked on their first top-flight season since they had been relegated at the end of the 1934–35 campaign, Rowe told the club's annual meeting: "As much as anything else, I would rate our good time last year to the acquisition of Alf Ramsey." After an uncertain start to the 1950–51 season, Spurs quickly recovered their form of the previous year and by Christmas were top of the table. Ramsey continued to play a key role, according to McKinstry playing "the best football of his life": "He was the master of strategy, the lynchpin of a side that built its attacks from the back, the scheming practitioner who put Rowe's plans into action." Ramsey's understanding of the game and authority on and off the field led to his teammates nicknaming him "The General". On 28 April 1951, with a 1–0 home victory over Sheffield Wednesday, Tottenham were crowned champions of England only a year after promotion. "I think fortune shone upon me very handsomely during the 1950–51 season", Ramsey remarked in Talking Football—"After all, I was a member of one of the finest club teams in years".
Semi-final error; club captain
Spurs followed their title win with a second-place finish in the 1951–52 season, but then went into a sharp decline, finishing 10th in 1952–53 and 16th in 1953–54. The slump was partly because the players who had formed the spine of the championship-winning side were losing their fitness—push-and-run required players of exceptional physical condition, and Ramsey, Ron Burgess, Nicholson, and others were all past 30. Ramsey was furthermore affected by a recurring abdominal injury. His preference for ball play rather than simply clearing it became unpopular among sections of Tottenham's support. A particularly low ebb came in the 1952–53 FA Cup semi-final, against Blackpool at Villa Park on 21 March 1953. Ramsey had played well, keeping the Blackpool left-winger Bill Perry quiet, and with only a minute to spare the game was finely balanced at 1–1. Ramsey then made a fatal error. Having easily beaten Perry to a cross-field pass from a free-kick, he set himself to slide the ball back to the goalkeeper Ditchburn in a situation when most defenders would have cleared it. The ball bounced off Ramsey's knee and ran away from him, allowing Blackpool forward Jackie Mudie to score. Blackpool won 2–1, and went on to win what is commonly referred to as the "Matthews Final".
Ramsey was vilified by the fans and press after the semi-final, with one Spurs director saying: "Ramsey stupidly gave the goal away. He could have easily kicked the ball out of play." Ramsey was publicly contrite—"I can only say I am terribly sorry", he told the Daily Express—but in the Tottenham dressing room he analysed the move that had led to Mudie's goal and attempted to identify others as being at fault. This notwithstanding, "for all his reluctance to accept the blame in front of his colleagues, Alf knew he had made a terrible error", McKinstry writes. The error haunted him profoundly. It began to be speculated during the 1953–54 season that he might return to Southampton, who had been relegated to the Third Division South, in a role combining playing duties with coaching. He was not yet finished as a Spurs player, though; indeed, in 1954, after Burgess left to join Swansea Town, he was appointed club captain.
Despite their successful collaboration on the pitch, a strong personal rivalry developed between Ramsey and Nicholson, partly because both liked the idea of staying on at Tottenham in a coaching role after retiring. Rowe made clear to Ramsey that he wanted him to do so, but unfortunately for him, Rowe stepped down in February 1955, citing health issues. Another challenge to Ramsey's position at Tottenham came in the form of Danny Blanchflower, a Northern Ireland international wing-half signed from Aston Villa to replace Nicholson. Blanchflower was a more attacking player than Nicholson and thus did not provide the necessary cover for Ramsey to advance upfield; Ramsey also resented the idea that Blanchflower might supplant him as Tottenham's main strategist.
Rowe's illness and Blanchflower's arrival together signalled the end of Ramsey's playing career. Ramsey missed matches during the 1954–55 season through injury, and in April 1955 suffered what he called "a terrible roasting" at the hands of the Leicester City winger Derek Hogg. After Tottenham ended the season in 16th place, Rowe retired permanently; his deputy Jimmy Anderson took over and appointed Nicholson to his coaching staff. When Ramsey was omitted from a post-season tour of Hungary, despite still being club captain, he realised that his time at Tottenham had come to an end. He had played a total of 250 competitive games for Tottenham in all competitions, across six seasons. "I was 35 years old and obviously concerned about my future", he later wrote. "I really didn't know what was going to happen to me. I knew my days as a player were numbered, and there was only one way things could go for me in this respect—downhill."
England international
Ramsey's first taste of playing as an international had come while he was at Southampton, when he played for England B against Switzerland B in May 1948. He made his full England debut in December that year, in a 6–0 win over Switzerland at Highbury. He briefly lost his England place to his Southampton teammate Bill Ellerington, but following strong performances for Tottenham, he returned in England's 2–0 home win over Italy on 30 November 1949. Ramsey's introduction to the England set-up coincided with the team's first ever World Cup campaign, the British Home Nations having rejoined football's world governing body FIFA in 1946 after two decades' absence, therefore being excluded from the first three World Cup tournaments in the 1930s. The Football Association (FA) in London had moved on little since the modern game's genesis in the late 19th century, yet remained convinced that English football and the England team were the finest in the world—so superior, indeed, that entering the World Cup was hardly necessary. The evidence presented for this was that England had never lost at home to any team from outside the British Isles. The team was picked by a panel of eight FA selectors, with the role of England manager, held by Walter Winterbottom, combined with that of FA director of coaching.
England's selection of Ramsey and three of his Tottenham teammates—Ditchburn, Nicholson and forward Eddie Baily—for the 1950 World Cup in Brazil made them the first Tottenham players ever at a World Cup. England were among the favourites to win the tournament, largely because of their reputation. The team had little preparation, arriving in Brazil only a week before their first game. Ramsey found the South American conditions difficult, noting that "at the conclusion of even an easy kick-around, I felt infinitely more tired than after a hectic league match at home." Despite this, an England team including Ramsey won their opening match in Rio de Janeiro, against Chile, 2–0.
England's next match pitted them against the United States—an opponent they were expected to easily overcome—at the Estádio Independência in Belo Horizonte, inland. The selectors again picked Ramsey, but left star winger Stanley Matthews out on the grounds that England could beat the Americans without him, ignoring Winterbottom's protests. England dominated the first half. "I'm not making excuses when I say that in the first 45 minutes we had a year's bad luck", Ramsey wrote in 1952. "Shots which appeared certain to score missed by the width of a coat of paint. The American goalkeeper, much to his astonishment, found himself stopping the ball with his body, and on occasions his face, without really knowing what it was all about." The US grabbed a shock lead on 37 minutes when a long shot towards England's penalty area flew into the net off the head of American forward Joe Gaetjens.
The score remained 1–0 at half-time, and it was the same story in the second half: England missed a multitude of easy chances, hit the woodwork numerous times and had one effort that appeared to cross the line not given. The England captain Billy Wright recalled that "even Alf Ramsey, who used to be expressionless throughout a game, threw up his arms and looked to the sky when a perfect free-kick was somehow saved by their unorthodox keeper". No England goal came—the United States won 1–0 in what entered English football history as the national team's most embarrassing upset. Ramsey, who was fiercely patriotic, took the result as an acute personal humiliation. One journalist recalled that on hearing the match mentioned years later, "his face creased and he looked like a man who had been jabbed in an unhealed wound". England could remain in the competition if they beat Spain in their last group game, but a 1–0 defeat saw them crash out.
Despite this indifferent performance, the English football establishment made no changes in policy, maintaining that England remained the best in the world and had simply fallen victim to bad luck in Brazil. Ramsey remained a central figure in the team, and captained his country against Wales on 15 November 1950 after Wright was left out due to poor form. Ramsey also captained England in a 2–2 draw against Yugoslavia a week later—the first time a team from outside the British Isles had played away against England and not lost. A year later, on 28 November 1951, England's unbeaten home record against overseas sides was challenged by Austria, then one of the most formidable attacking teams in Europe. The Austrians led 1–0 with 25 minutes to play, but were pegged back to 1–1 when Ramsey scored a penalty. The match finished 2–2—England's unbeaten home record survived. The Daily Mail dubbed Ramsey England's "ice-cool hero"; he himself identified the Austria match in Talking Football as "my greatest international".
Ramsey remained in the England team throughout 1952, including in England's 3–2 win over Austria in Vienna on 25 May. After 29 consecutive international appearances, he was left out of the squad for a match against Wales in October 1953 because of injury. He was reinstated for the following match later that month against a Rest of the World XI, and scored his second international goal to secure a 4–4 draw. His last appearance for England came on 25 November 1953, in what the British press dubbed the "Match of the Century"—England against the 1952 Olympic champions Hungary, the so-called "Golden Team" or "Magical Magyars", at Wembley Stadium.
What British observers had forecast as a clash between two of world football's greatest powers turned into a walkover, as England were beaten easily. The unbeaten home record was obliterated, along with any pretence that England had nothing to learn from overseas rivals—they were totally outplayed by the fluid, fast-paced game of the Hungarians, which McKinstry comments was not dissimilar to Tottenham's push-and-run. Ramsey scored a penalty, his third and final international goal, but Hungary, who had scored after less than a minute, won 6–3. He refused to accept that England had been outclassed, saying: "Four of those goals came from outside the penalty area. We should never have lost." Ramsey never played for England again, having won a total of 32 caps, scored three goals (all penalties), and captained his country three times.
Managerial career
Ipswich Town
Ramsey had made up his mind that he wanted to remain in football as a coach, but he had no relevant qualifications or managerial experience, bar a part-time coaching spell at London League club Eton Manor. While he spent the 1955 off-season coaching in Southern Rhodesia, Ipswich Town of the Third Division South received permission from Anderson to speak to Ramsey about signing him as player-manager. When Ramsey met the Ipswich hierarchy on his return from Africa, he refused to combine management with playing. "I told them I would only concentrate on one job", Ramsey later said; "it would be impossible to play with the players I would be coaching." This settled, Ipswich announced Ramsey's appointment as manager on 9 August 1955. Some of those who knew Ramsey had strong opinions about how he would manage. Wilf Grant, a former Southampton teammate of Ramsey's who was now on the training staff at Ipswich, commented: "He'll be good, but he will be the boss." Billy Wright, Ramsey's England teammate commented, "In appointing Alf to become their manager Ipswich Town paid a tremendous tribute to intelligent football—and footballers who think!"
Ramsey joined Ipswich just after the club's relegation from the Second Division at the end of the 1954–55 season, the team's only year above the third tier up to that point. To quote McKinstry, Ipswich had neither "glittering pedigree or status" nor "strong footballing tradition"—the club had joined the Football League only in 1938, and its home ground at Portman Road was small and basic. One of the team's advantages was the patronage of the aristocratic Cobbold brewing family, to which the chairman and much of the club hierarchy belonged. "I had no plan for Ipswich when I went there", Ramsey later said. "In fact the first thing I had to do was to forget my set ideas on how football ought to be played. My experience had been in the First Division. I soon found that what I faced at Ipswich was very different." Ramsey kept most of the training staff hired by his predecessor Scott Duncan, who had stepped down after 18 years as Ipswich manager. Duncan stayed on as club secretary, meaning that Ramsey could concentrate on playing matters, leaving administration to Duncan.
A relegated side with a number of players of "mature age", Ipswich were a tricky proposition for a new manager, especially as there was "no money" to improve the squad, so Ramsey worked to make the most of whatever talent he had inherited. He made tactical innovations, noticed by the local newspaper: as early as his first game in charge, he had his team taking three distinct styles of corner kick, in a game where the side put on "as poor a performance as one can recollect at Portman Road". In Ramsey's first season as manager, he guided the club to third place in the Third Division South, with Ipswich scoring 106 goals in the 46 league games. During Ramsey's second season in charge, he led the club to the division title, Ipswich again scoring in excess of 100 goals. It was Ipswich's second title at that level, and it meant promotion to the Second Division, and for the following three seasons, Ipswich managed to achieve mid-table finishes.
In the 1960–61 season, Ramsey guided Ipswich to the Second Division title and into the top flight for the first time in the club's history. The success was built upon the prowess of Ray Crawford, the division's top goalscorer with 39. The following season, Ramsey led his side to become champions of England in their debut season at the top level. The side had been tipped by many contemporary football pundits and journalists for relegation at the start of the season, making the achievement all the more remarkable. Ramsey created a strong side based on a resolute defence and two strikers, Ray Crawford and Ted Phillips who between them scored more than 60 goals. The key to the side was considered to be left-winger, Jimmy Leadbetter whom Ramsey moved into a deep-lying, left of centre midfielder.
The following season started poorly for the league champions: Ramsey's former teammate Bill Nicholson changed the formation of his Spurs team to counter Ipswich in the 1962 FA Charity Shield curtain-raiser to the 1962–63 season, a game which Tottenham won 5–1. The same season, Ramsey oversaw Ipswich's short-lived inaugural European campaign in the 1962–63 European Cup. Despite despatching Maltese club, Floriana, 14–1 on aggregate, Ipswich lost 4–2 on aggregate in the second round to the eventual winners A.C. Milan, although Ipswich had won the home leg 2–1. In the league, Ipswich finished 17th, just four points above the relegation zone, placing them among the worst-performing defending champions in the English top-flight. Not long into the season, on 25 October 1962, Ramsey agreed to take charge of the England national team, commencing 1 May 1963. He left Ipswich after eight seasons, having guided them from the Third Division South to the top of English football. After Ramsey's departure, Ipswich's performances declined and, two years after winning the league title, they dropped back into the Second Division.
England
England lost to Brazil in the quarter-final of the 1962 World Cup in Chile and, being under attack from the British press, manager Walter Winterbottom resigned five months later. Although Ramsey's position as England manager was confirmed in October 1962, he formally took charge in May 1963, because Ramsey felt it would be wrong to walk out on Ipswich, who were struggling at the time. The Times reported that Ramsey had taken on "a vulnerable position" out of duty, but that he had delayed taking up his role due to Ipswich being "engaged in the European Cup but also facing a struggle—through injuries and other factors—at the wrong end of the League table", with hope expressed that he would take up the reins "from the new year". When Ramsey took over as manager, he demanded complete control over squad selections: previously Winterbottom had been manager, but selections and other decisions were often carried out by board committees. Ramsey's appointment and his appropriation of all such responsibilities led to him being referred to as "England's first proper manager".
On appointment, Ramsey immediately caused a stir when he predicted "we will win the World Cup", which was to be hosted in England in 1966. One of Ramsey's first actions as England manager was to name the West Ham United captain Bobby Moore as captain of the national team. Moore came from working-class roots in the East End of London, similar to Ramsey. England had never had a captain so young—Moore was only 22 years and 47 days old when he captained the side for the first time, away against Czechoslovakia in a friendly on 29 May 1963. England won 4–2.
1964 European Championship
Ramsey's first competitive match as England coach was a preliminary qualification round for the 1964 European Nations' Cup. England, along with many other national teams, had declined to participate in the inaugural 1960 competition. They had been drawn against France for a two-legged knockout fixture to progress to the last sixteen qualifiers. The home leg, played under Winterbottom, had been drawn 1–1 at Hillsborough. Ramsey insisted that he pick the team himself and included seven players who would feature in the 1966 World Cup squad. He took charge for the away leg in Paris at the Parc des Princes, which they lost 5–2, eliminating England from the competition in Ramsey's first game in charge.
1966 World Cup
As hosts, England automatically qualified for the 1966 World Cup. The first group game, on 11 July 1966, was against Uruguay and despite attacking talent, including Jimmy Greaves and Roger Hunt, playing against a disciplined Uruguayan defence, England were held to a 0–0 draw. This was the first time England had failed to score at Wembley since 1945. Ramsey's statement made three years earlier looked doubtful, but he remained calm and continued experimenting when his side faced Mexico in the next game. Ramsey was using the 4–3–3 system and for each of the group games used a winger; John Connelly against Uruguay, Terry Paine against Mexico and Ian Callaghan against France.
Ramsey dropped Alan Ball and John Connelly and brought in Terry Paine and Martin Peters, whose advanced style of play as a midfielder matched the qualities Ramsey looked for in his system. England beat Mexico 2–0. Ramsey replaced Terry Paine with Ian Callaghan for their final group match, against France. England won 2–0, securing qualification to the knockout rounds. Two difficult situations arose from the final group match. After making a vicious tackle and being cautioned, midfielder Nobby Stiles came under fire from senior FIFA officials, who called for Ramsey to drop him from the side. Ramsey strongly disagreed, and told the FA to inform FIFA that either Stiles would remain in his team or Ramsey himself would resign. Another bad tackle was committed during that match, resulting in Tottenham striker (and one of England's most prolific goalscorers) Greaves being injured and sidelined for the next few matches. Despite having more experienced strikers in his squad, Ramsey selected young Geoff Hurst as Greaves's replacement, seeing potential in the young West Ham forward. The France match also marked Ramsey's final game with a winger. After it, he dropped Ian Callaghan from his side and brought back Alan Ball to strengthen the midfield.
For the knockout stages, England's first opponents were Argentina. Ramsey decided to switch from 4–3–3 to 4–3–1–2. With Ball and Peters operating on the flanks, the midfield now boasted Nobby Stiles and Bobby Charlton in the centre, indeed Ramsey refused a demand from the FA that he drop Stiles, making it a resignation issue. After a violent quarter-final (where the Argentinian captain Antonio Rattín refused to leave the field after being sent off), England won 1–0 thanks to Hurst latching onto a cross from Martin Peters and heading home a goal. Ramsey came under fire when he stopped his players from the traditional swapping of shirts with the Argentinians in protest at their play, and was then reported to have described Argentinian players as "animals"; "It seemed a pity so much Argentinian talent is wasted. Our best football will come against the right type of opposition—a team who come to play football, and not act as animals." Jimmy Greaves in his 2009 autobiography, Greavsie, claims that Ramsey had said "I've been a little disappointed that the behaviour of some players in this competition reminded me of animals". The belief that he had referred directly to the Argentinians as animals damaged Ramsey's reputation and made successive England teams unpopular abroad, particularly in South America. In the semi-final, England faced a fluent and skilful Portuguese side containing the tournament's top goalscorer Eusébio. However, England won a 2–1 victory in a memorable match which saw them concede their first goal of the competition from the penalty spot.
On 30 July 1966, Ramsey's promise was fulfilled as England became the World Champions by beating West Germany in the final. A lot of Ramsey's tactics and decisions proved their worth in this final. Ramsey came under pressure to restore the fit-again Jimmy Greaves to the side, but his philosophy was "never change a winning team". He stuck to his guns and kept faith with Greaves's replacement, Geoff Hurst, who vindicated Ramsey's judgement by scoring a hat-trick in a 4–2 win (after extra time, the game ending 2–2 in normal time) at Wembley. Filling his side with a good balance of experience and youth proved vital when the gruelling final went to extra time. The youth in the team powered England through extra time, in particular Alan Ball, who, at 21, was the youngest player in the England side. Even in extra time, he showed no signs of tiring and never stopped running—famously setting up Hurst's controversial second goal, as well as having a few chances himself. Even as the match ended with Hurst scoring England's fourth goal, Ball was still running down the pitch in case Hurst needed assistance. Rather than a cross from Hurst, Ball was greeted by a number of England fans running onto the pitch who, thinking that the game was already over, had already started celebrating England's victory.
Hurst recalled that at the end of 90 minutes, Ramsey forbade his players to lie down on the pitch to rest before extra time, as their opponents were doing. "Look at them", Ramsey told the England team, pointing towards the Germans; "They're finished. They're flat out on their backs." Ramsey said to his players: "You've won it once. Now you'll have to go out there and win it again."
Ramsey remained his usual self during the celebrations: not joining in, but rather opting to let his players soak up their achievement. He is the only England manager ever to have won the World Cup. Bobby Charlton praised Ramsey and his approach to managing the England team to World Cup victory: "He was professional to his fingertips and as popular with the players as any manager I've ever seen. He was a winner and without Alf Ramsey England would not have won the World Cup in 1966. He gave us our proudest moment." Nobby Stiles agreed: "You did it, Alf, we'd have been nothing without you."
1968 European Championship
In 1967, a year after England won the World Cup under his management, Ramsey received a knighthood—the first given to a football manager. England reached the last eight of the 1968 European Championships by amassing the best aggregate record of the four Home Nations over the 1966–67 and 1967–68 seasons (despite a loss to Scotland 3–2 at home in 1967). They subsequently defeated Spain home and away to become one of four teams to progress to the finals in Italy. There England suffered a 1–0 defeat by Yugoslavia in a bad-tempered semi-final: Alan Mullery was dismissed for kicking an opponent in the groin. Mullery subsequently reported that Ramsey had said to him "I'm glad somebody retaliated against those bastards" and paid Mullery's £50 fine levied by the Football Association. England had to settle for third place after beating the Soviet Union.
1970 World Cup
England qualified automatically as defending champions for the 1970 World Cup, held in Mexico. They entered the tournament as one of the favourites and many experts suspected that England and Brazil, due to meet in the opening round of matches, would meet again in the final. Ramsey's preparations for the tournament had been disrupted by the arrest of Bobby Moore in the Bogotá Bracelet incident with the England squad being labelled "thieves and drunks" by the Mexican press.
In the first round, two 1–0 victories over Romania and Czechoslovakia enabled England to progress, despite a loss by the same scoreline to ultimate champions Brazil (a match which also featured a famous save by Gordon Banks from Pelé's header). In the quarter-final they lost to West Germany 3–2, after having been in the lead 2–0 with twenty minutes remaining. At 2–1 Ramsey had substituted Bobby Charlton and Martin Peters, supposedly to rest them for the semi-final, in what was considered a tactical blunder. The blame for the defeat was partly placed on Ramsey's cautious tactics and substitutions in searing Mexican heat and partly on the stand-in goalkeeper, Chelsea's Peter Bonetti. At 2–0 up Bonetti, who was playing because regular keeper Gordon Banks had been taken ill, had let a seemingly innocuous shot by Franz Beckenbauer slip under his body and was then caught out of position by a looping header by Uwe Seeler. Gerd Müller scored a third in the 108th minute to knock England out. Ramsey blamed Bonetti and his mistakes, but his own tactics were not beyond reproach.
1972 European Championship
England reached the last eight of the 1972 European championship by topping their qualification group, which also contained Switzerland, Greece and Malta. They dropped only one point in the qualification, in a 1–1 home draw with Switzerland. England then faced West Germany again in a match to be played over two legs, to determine who would progress to the finals (which would feature only four teams). A 3–1 home defeat at Wembley, followed by a scoreless draw in Berlin, meant that England were eliminated. The football played by England against West Germany was described by the journalist Hugh McIlvanney as "cautious joyless football" and as an indicator that the England era under Ramsey had run its course. West Germany went on to win the competition by beating the Soviet Union 3–0 in the final.
1974 World Cup
England's qualification group for the 1974 World Cup, included just two other teams: Poland and Wales. However the Poles, who had not qualified for a World Cup finals since 1938, were an improved team who would go on to finish third in the tournament. A home draw with Wales, followed by a defeat in Chorzów, meant that England had to win their final match against Poland at Wembley in October 1973. Ramsey had asked for the Football League games to be postponed on the weekend before the game to assist England's preparations. This request was refused by Football League secretary, Alan Hardaker who said: "It is a football match, not a war".
Before the qualifier with Poland at Wembley Stadium, the Derby County manager Brian Clough described Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski as a "circus clown in gloves". Errors by Norman Hunter and goalkeeper Peter Shilton and an inspired goalkeeping performance by Tomaszewski, who made many crucial, and sometimes unorthodox saves, meant that the match finished 1–1. Ramsey, always uncomfortable with the substitute rule, was blamed for waiting until the 85th minute before bringing on forward Kevin Hector. The draw meant that England had tried and failed to qualify for a World Cup for the first time in the national team's history.
Sacking
England, having won the World Cup in 1966, were now perceived to have failed in three successive tournaments. The disappointments of quarter-final exits from major tournaments in 1970 and 1972, had been followed by failing even to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. A few months after the draw with Poland, which had meant failure to progress, Ramsey was sacked by the FA on 1 May 1974.
It is alleged that some of the FA's officials had long held grudges against Ramsey. The British journalist and author Leo McKinstry said, "England's most successful manager would have had a legacy fit for a hero had it not been for the malevolence of the FA chief Harold Thompson". Alan Ball described the treatment of Ramsey as "the most incredible thing that ever happened in English football".
After England
Feeling he needed "a period of rest", Ramsey returned to Ipswich to spend time with his wife. He became a director of sportswear manufacturer Gola Sports and of a local building firm, but kept out of the public eye for 18 months or so. He then began watching Ipswich Town, and often acted as a television pundit. Speaking on ITV's On the Ball in February 1977, he was sharply critical of England's performance against the Netherlands, describing the players as "poor individually" and the team as "completely disorganised". Asked if he had any sympathy for his successor, Don Revie, he said that Revie did not want sympathy: "Having accepted the post of England team manager he has to accept the responsibility of his position in exactly the same way as I did." His attitude to the media mellowed. Interviewed in June ahead of a five-a-side tournament between eight of the 1966 World Cup teams for a trophy named in his honour, Ramsey admitted that, having "met so many more people, I know so much more about the world, and I'm so much more relaxed than I was three or four years ago", and said he would consider a return to management.
He had joined the board of First Division club Birmingham City in January 1976. When Willie Bell was sacked as manager in September 1977, Ramsey refused the offer to take his place on a permanent basis, but did agree to act as caretaker until a successor could be found. By early November, he had changed his mind. He resigned his directorship to take on the role of consultant, with a remit that covered not only day-to-day team management but also a wide-ranging responsibility for club affairs, to include the selection of Birmingham's next manager. His tenure lasted just four months. In February 1978, star player Trevor Francis was fined for giving newspaper interviews about his desire to leave a club he saw as lacking ambition, and the board accepted Ramsey's recommendation to place him on the transfer list. Three days later, when the decision was reversed for fear of a backlash from supporters, Ramsey gave two weeks' notice to quit. The club announced his resignation before the notice period ended, and reports attributed his departure to the recent 4–0 defeat by Coventry City. Ramsey was quick to deny any such link, insisting that he had "never walked out on anyone". Francis was sold less than a year later to Nottingham Forest, in what became English football's first £1 million transfer.
The team won ten of the matches for which Ramsey was in charge, drew four and lost twelve. Among the ten was a 3–2 away victory at Anfield against the reigning league and European champions, Liverpool, on 21 January 1978, which featured in a Birmingham Mail series on Birmingham City's "30 great games". Aged 58 when he left Birmingham, this was Ramsey's last full managerial job, although he did also work as a technical adviser at Greek side Panathinaikos, during 1979–80, which was the first season of professional football in Greece.
Managerial style
During his time at Ipswich, Ramsey began experimenting with a new style of play that would eventually lead to success in the World Cup and led to his England team being styled, "The Wingless Wonders". As natural wingers were not always known for their defensive qualities, Ramsey started dropping them in favour of attacking midfielders who could also drop back into defensive roles. This system proved revolutionary as it often baffled opposing full-backs, who would naturally expect to see a winger coming down the flank at them once the ball was kicked off: instead, the attacking midfielders and strikers were taking the ball through the middle of the defence and scoring. This style of play proved successful at Ipswich, but really showed its worth when England travelled to Spain to play a friendly with them before the World Cup. As Bobby Charlton remarked, "The Spanish full-backs were just looking at each other while we were going in droves through the middle". To win in Spain, who were the reigning European Champions, was rare for an English team and was evidence that Ramsey's techniques were working.
Ramsey earned the respect of his players. He strongly supported Nobby Stiles when the FA leaned on Ramsey to drop Stiles from the 1966 World Cup quarter-final following a tackle on Frenchman Jacques Simon in the previous game. After the final, at the banquet, with the players in one room and their wives forced to sit in an adjoining room, he excused his players early from the banquet to allow the players to join their wives after nearly four weeks apart. In his manner with the players, he was "usually equable", but when his 1978 Birmingham City team produced a poor defensive display, "he blew his top"; the next game was a "historic victory".
Personal life
Ramsey was very sensitive about his personal background. He strove to mask his working-class Essex origins and to present himself as erudite and worldly, going so far as to adopt an accent that the journalist Brian Glanville called "sergeant-major posh". A widely held perception that Ramsey's accent had become more upper-class during his time as England manager fuelled speculation that he had received elocution lessons, and prompted constant joking from members of the England team who came from similar Essex or East London backgrounds, such as Bobby Moore and Jimmy Greaves. Rodney Marsh, a forward from the East End who played in Ramsey's England team from 1971 to 1973, later said:
Alf tended to speak in a very poncey plum-in-the-mouth way. It was all "Oh hello Rodney and how are you?". To me it was all complete bollocks.
It was rumoured that Ramsey had Romany (or "gypsy") ancestors. Ramsey was sensitive about the suggestion and, according to one anecdote, seethed with fury when Moore saw some Romany caravans and joked that the manager should "drop in to see his relatives". The football journalist Ken Jones related that on one occasion, when Ramsey perceived Moore and Greaves to be mocking his accent on the team bus, he said he would "win the World Cup without those two bastards".
Throughout his career as a professional footballer and for years afterwards, Ramsey claimed to be two years younger than he really was—including in his ghosted autobiography, Talking Football, published in 1952. This began when Ramsey first turned professional with Southampton during the Second World War. He told Southampton he was born in 1922 rather than 1920, reasoning that this might improve his career prospects and compensate for the years he had lost to the hostilities. He propagated this false age for over two decades, in press articles, his autobiography and Who's Who—but not on official documents such as his marriage papers, in which he listed his true date of birth. Only after his knighthood in 1967 did Ramsey reveal his true age, deciding that he could not lie to Debrett's, publisher of Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage.
Ramsey married Rita Norris (née Welch) at Southampton Register Office on 10 December 1951. The union had been delayed for some years because of Rita's marriage to another man, Arthur Norris—the law of the period dictated that she could not obtain a legal divorce from Arthur until three years after their separation in 1947, and could not remarry for another year after that. Ramsey kept the relationship secret, to the extent that Tottenham knew nothing of it until days before the wedding. Rita changed her name to Victoria and was generally called "Vic" by Ramsey, who McKinstry records was a good stepfather to her daughter from her first marriage, Tanaya (usually called Tanya). He was a Freemason of Waltham Abbey Lodge from 1953 until 1981 when he resigned.
Retirement and death
After Ramsey's retirement from football management, he continued to live in Ipswich. He was somewhat reclusive but wrote occasional columns for newspapers. According to his obituary in The Daily Telegraph, "he concentrated on his golf game and watching his Westerns." He made regular trips to Wembley, including a visit in 1991 where he and some members of the World Cup-winning team were reunited prior to that season's FA Cup Final.
Ramsey suffered a stroke on 9 June 1998, on the eve of the 1998 World Cup. Suffering from Alzheimer's disease and prostate cancer, Ramsey spent three months in a general ward in Ipswich Hospital. He died less than a year later, in a nursing home, on 28 April 1999, at the age of 79 from a heart attack. Ramsey's funeral was held in St. Mary-le-Tower Church in Ipswich, he was then cremated, and his ashes were interred in a private ceremony at Old Ipswich Cemetery on 7 May 1999. The location of the funeral in Ipswich rather than in London was regarded as a snub to the Football Association, whose members Ramsey had never forgiven for his sacking from the England manager post in 1974.
Lady Ramsey died in March 2018 and was interred alongside her husband.
Legacy
Ramsey was made an inaugural inductee of the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 in recognition of his impact on the English game as a manager. He became the first person to be inducted twice when, in 2010, he was included in the Hall of Fame as a player as well as a manager.
Sir Alf Ramsey Way, formerly Portman's Walk, is a street running along the north side of Ipswich's Portman Road stadium, that was named after Ramsey shortly after his death in honour of his achievements as Ipswich Town manager. In 2000, a statue of Ramsey was erected on the corner of the street named after him and Portman Road, at the North Stand/Cobbold Stand corner of the stadium. The statue was commissioned by the Ipswich Town Supporters' Club after an initial idea by local fan Seán Salter. On 31 March 2012, the South Stand at Portman Road was renamed to the Sir Alf Ramsey Stand. In 2009, Fabio Capello inaugurated a statue, sculpted by Philip Jackson, of Ramsey at Wembley. It is situated in the player's tunnel and, according to George Cohen, "it will remind every player to give their best out on the pitch."
Ramsey was listed in the ten best British managers ever in The Independent, and he is widely regarded as one of British football's all-time great managers. Another website ranks him at no. 26. Ramsay's managerial style was not universally admired, however. According to historian Frank McLynn, "he was a humourless bore and stifling tactician whose reputation rests on a single undeserved triumph."
Honours
As a player
Tottenham Hotspur
First Division: 1950–51
Second Division: 1949–50
As a manager
Ipswich Town
First Division: 1961–62
Second Division: 1960–61
Third Division South: 1956–57
FA Charity Shield runners-up: 1962
England
FIFA World Cup: 1966
UEFA European Championship third place: 1968
British Home Championship: 1964–65, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1970–71, 1972–73
Individual
English Football Hall of Fame Inductee: 2002
Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inductee: 2011
Berlin-Britz Manager of the Decade (1960s)
Career statistics
Club
International
Scores and results list England's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ramsey goal.
Managerial statistics
See also
List of English football championship-winning managers
Notes and references
Footnotes
References
Bibliography
External links
Alf Ramsey at England Football Online
Management career at England Football Online
1920 births
1999 deaths
Footballers from Dagenham
English men's footballers
Men's association football fullbacks
British Army personnel of World War II
Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry soldiers
Southampton F.C. players
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
English Football League players
English Football League representative players
England men's B international footballers
England men's international footballers
1950 FIFA World Cup players
English football managers
Ipswich Town F.C. managers
England national football team managers
Birmingham City F.C. managers
Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff
English Football League managers
1966 FIFA World Cup managers
UEFA Euro 1968 managers
1970 FIFA World Cup managers
FIFA World Cup-winning managers
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English expatriate sportspeople in Greece
Association football people awarded knighthoods
Knights Bachelor
Freemasons of the United Grand Lodge of England
English autobiographers
Association football coaches
Military personnel from Essex
Deaths from Alzheimer's disease
English knights
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian%20Rush
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Ian Rush
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Ian James Rush (born 20 October 1961) is a Welsh former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best Welsh players in the history of the sport. At club level Rush played for Liverpool from 1980–1987 and 1988–1996. Additionally, he is the club's all-time leading goalscorer, having scored a total of 346 goals in all competitions at the club. At international level, Rush made 73 appearances for the Wales national football team and remained the record goalscorer with 28 goals between 1980 and 1996, until the record was broken by Gareth Bale in 2018.
Regarded as one of Liverpool's greatest ever players, Rush came 3rd among Liverpool players in an official Liverpool fan poll, 100 Players Who Shook The Kop. He also had short spells with Chester City, Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Wrexham and Sydney Olympic. Since retiring as a player in 2000, Rush has had a stint as manager of Chester City (2004–05), and has worked as a television football pundit.
Rush was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 1996 New Year Honours for services to association football.
Club career
Born in St Asaph, Flintshire, Rush's reputation was enhanced by scoring for Chester City in a shock 2–0 FA Cup third round win at Second Division side Newcastle United in January 1980, with Chester City equalling their best run by reaching the last 16 where they narrowly lost to Ipswich Town. His last game for Chester City was a 2–1 win over Southend United at Sealand Road on 26 April 1980 in which he did not score.
Despite interest from Manchester United, and in spite of Rush being a boyhood Everton fan, Liverpool won the race to sign the 19-year-old in April 1980, though he had to remain at Chester until the end of the season as the transfer deadline (27 March 1980) had passed. Recommended by chief scout Geoff Twentyman, Liverpool paid a record fee for a teenager of £300,000. It remained Chester City's record sale until they went bankrupt in March 2010. Rush was managed throughout his time at Chester by Alan Oakes, although much of the credit for his development is given to youth manager Cliff Sear. Nearly 20 years later, Rush and Sear worked together on the coaching staff at Wrexham.
Liverpool: 1980–1987
Rush made his international début, in May 1980, just before he officially became a Liverpool player. His Liverpool début came on 13 December that year in a First Division fixture at Portman Road against Ipswich Town. He was standing in for his future strike-partner, Kenny Dalglish (out with an ankle injury but at the time one of the most highly rated strikers in the world), and wore his No 7 shirt. At this stage, Liverpool were defending the league title and also contending for the European Cup, while Ipswich were emerging as surprise title contenders. Liverpool finished fifth (with Aston Villa winning the title), but they did win the European Cup (for the third time) and the League Cup (for the first time).
During his first season at Liverpool the young Rush mostly played reserve team football, rather than the first team. His first goal for the club came on 30 September 1981 during a European Cup first round second leg tie at Anfield against Oulun Palloseura. Liverpool had already won the first leg at the Raatti Stadium 1–0. They won the second leg 7–0, with Rush scoring in the 67th minute after coming on three minutes earlier for David Johnson.
His first two league goals came on 10 October 1981 in a 3–0 home win over Leeds United, and a month later he scored in the Merseyside derby at Anfield in a 3–1 win. After Christmas, Rush and Liverpool moved from tenth up to the top of the league. He scored a hat-trick in the 4–0 away league win over Notts County on 26 January 1982, and scored in both of the next two games. He managed eight goals in the League Cup (one of them in the final win over Tottenham Hotspur) and three in the FA Cup campaign which ended in a fifth round defeat by Chelsea. He ended the season as the club's top scorer, scoring 30 times in 49 appearances in all competitions, a ratio of 1 goal every 1.6 games. 17 of these goals came in the League as he helped Liverpool reclaim the League championship from Aston Villa. He also scored a goal to help Liverpool win the 1982 Football League Cup Final against Tottenham Hotspur.
He was voted PFA Young Player of the Year in 1983 after helping Liverpool to a second successive First Division/League Cup double, though once again success eluded them in the European Cup. He scored 24 League goals as Liverpool finished 11 points clear of runners-up Watford. On 6 November 1982 Rush scored four goals against Everton in a 5–0 victory, a post-war record for goals by a single player in a Merseyside derby.
Liverpool's third successive League Cup triumph was added through a 2–1 win over Manchester United after extra time at Wembley. Rush was voted PFA Player of the Year and BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year in 1984 as Liverpool retained both the League and the League Cup and won the European Cup. Rush also added the Football Writers Footballer of the Year to the PFA award he had already claimed – the same feat that his strike partner Kenny Dalglish had achieved a year earlier.
He scored 47 goals in 65 games (making him the highest goalscorer in all competitions for any professional club that season), a goal every 1.4 matches, as Liverpool finished three points clear of closest rivals Southampton in the League. They beat rivals Everton 1–0 in the replayed final of the League Cup (after a 0–0 draw in the first ever all-Merseyside final). They also won their fourth European Cup by defeating AS Roma 4–2 on penalties (Rush made it 3–2 before Bruce Grobbelaar's famous 'jelly legs' antics) following a 1–1 draw after extra time.
The 1984–85 season was Liverpool's first trophyless season in ten years, though they did reach their fifth European Cup final against Juventus in the game of the Heysel Stadium disaster. Before the match kicked off rioting hooligans caused a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 Juventus supporters. The game ended in a 1–0 win for Juventus. Liverpool were beaten to the title by neighbours Everton, who were crowned champions with four matches to spare. The sequel to the Heysel disaster was an indefinite ban on all English clubs in European competition, with Liverpool set to serve an extra season once the ban was lifted on other English clubs. This meant that Rush and Liverpool were unable to compete in the 1985–86 UEFA Cup.
In the 1985–86 season Rush scored twice as Liverpool beat Southampton 2–0 in the FA Cup semi-final at White Hart Lane, booking a place at Wembley to face Everton in the first all-Merseyside FA Cup final. Liverpool had pipped their city rivals to the League title (which had also been contested with the likes of West Ham United and Manchester United) by beating Chelsea 1–0 at Stamford Bridge. Everton opened the scoring when Gary Lineker outpaced Alan Hansen to shoot past Grobbelaar at the second attempt and held this lead until half-time. In the second half Liverpool drew level in the 57th minute when Rush latched onto a pass from Jan Mølby to round Everton goalkeeper Bobby Mimms and slot the ball into an empty net. Six minutes later, Mølby was again at the heart of another attack. Picking the ball up inside the Everton penalty area, he drilled a cross for Craig Johnston to score. Liverpool were now 2–1 up, but the game was in the balance until the 84th minute, when Ronnie Whelan led another attack. Dalglish made a run across his path into space, but Whelan used it as a dummy and clipped a pass over three Everton defenders into the path of Rush who, from the angle of the six-yard area, scored past Mimms. Liverpool held on to win 3–1 and completed the first League and FA Cup double in the club's history. Rush added the Man of the Match award to his winner's medal.
Since Dalglish's appointment as player-manager in the 1985 close season, Rush had often found himself partnered with Paul Walsh in the Liverpool first team as Dalglish selected himself as a player less frequently.
Juventus: 1987–1988
After attracting much interest from top European sides, Rush accepted an offer to sign for Italian club Juventus on 2 July 1986 for a British record transfer fee of £3.2m. However, he continued to play at Liverpool for one season on loan before making his début for Juventus. He was the second highest goalscorer in the Football League for the 1986–87 season with 30 First Division goals, but failed to win any major trophies as Liverpool finished second to Everton in the league and were defeated by Arsenal in the League Cup final despite Rush's opening goal, a result that also ended a long sequence – Liverpool had not lost any of the previous 144 games in which he had scored.
However, it was viewed as a new challenge for Rush who would have the task of unlocking the much tighter defences in Serie A. His time at Juventus was less than successful, as he scored only eight times in 29 games; though this was partly explained by the Italian tradition at this time of tighter defences meaning that strikers tended to score fewer goals in Italy than they did in England.
It has been said that he had a hard time settling in Turin, and that once he remarked "It's like living in a foreign country." However, he has denied both the feeling and the quote, stating as "absolutely untrue" that he was homesick and did not enjoy his time in Turin. "I was homesick at times, but it is one of the best things I've done in my life". In his autobiography Rush says that the quote was a joke made up by Kenny Dalglish, then in an interview published in The Irish Times in 2008, claimed that the quote was fictional.
After just one season at the Stadio Comunale, he returned to Anfield, rejoining Liverpool for £2.7m on 18 August 1988 – a record signing for an English club at the time, which remained unbroken for three years. It was the third time that summer that the national transfer record had been broken.
Rush's departure from Liverpool had sparked the acquisition of new strikers John Aldridge (whose physical resemblance to Rush was often remarked upon) and Peter Beardsley, and on his return to the Liverpool side he was partnered alongside these players to form a 4–3–3 formation. Rush's former strike partner Kenny Dalglish (who had been appointed player-manager in 1985) was still registered as a player but by then he was in his 37th year and rarely played in the first team, retiring completely in 1990. Rush published a diary of his frustrating time in Italy titled My Italian Diary, 1989. In it, he reflected on his struggles to integrate himself in the dressing room at Juventus and adapt to the Italian style of play.
Liverpool (second spell): 1988–1996
On his return to Anfield, Rush had serious competition for a place in the new-look Liverpool attack, with John Aldridge having arrived at the club just before Rush's move to Juventus and Peter Beardsley having arrived shortly afterwards. It was deemed that Rush and Aldridge were too similar in style to be able to play together. Aldridge started the season in front of Rush and consistently scored goals, thus keeping the Welshman on the bench. As the season progressed, Rush came into some form. Rush again scored twice against Everton in a thrilling 3–2 win in the 1989 FA Cup Final. He came off the bench to replace Aldridge, who had opened the scoring for Liverpool in the fourth minute of the game. The sides were locked at 1–1 after 90 minutes, but Rush put Liverpool ahead in the fourth minute of extra time. Everton midfielder Stuart McCall then brought the scores level for a second time, but Rush scored again in the 103rd minute to win the Cup for Liverpool.
The 1989 FA Cup Final carried even greater significance because of the events of 15 April that year. In the semi-final, Liverpool had been drawn against Nottingham Forest at Hillsborough, home of Sheffield Wednesday. The game was brought to an abrupt end at 3.06 pm due to the unfolding disaster. 94 fans were crushed to death that day, with the final death toll eventually reaching 97. Rush, along with his teammates, attended many of the funerals.
Rush featured in the 1989 League title decider against Arsenal at Anfield. Arsenal needed to win by a two-goal margin to become champions, with a last-minute Michael Thomas goal famously giving them the title. Rush was injured during the first half of the game and had to be replaced by Peter Beardsley.
At the end of that season, UEFA voted for the ban on English teams in European competitions to continue for at least one more season, meaning that Rush and his teammates would be unable to challenge for the Cup Winners' Cup.
The 1989–90 season saw Rush win another League title, his fifth and last, as Liverpool finished nine points clear of Aston Villa, with Rush scoring 18 times in 36 games. However, another bid for the League–FA Cup double failed as Liverpool suffered a shock FA Cup semi-final defeat to Crystal Palace, even though Rush had given the Liverpool the lead with a goal in the 14th minute. The game ended in a 4–3 defeat, a surprising result considering that Liverpool had crushed the newly promoted South London club 9–0 in a league game earlier in the season.
Although the ban on English clubs in European competition was lifted for the 1990–91 season, Liverpool were unable to compete in the European Cup as UEFA ruled that they would have to serve an extra year's suspension.
1990–91 saw Rush continue to score regularly and Liverpool led the table from the start of the season until January, having won their opening eight league games, but they were then overhauled by Arsenal and on 22 February 1991 Dalglish announced his resignation as manager. He was replaced by Graeme Souness but the change of manager was not enough to prevent the league title from slipping away from Anfield. Shortly after Dalglish's resignation, Liverpool were eliminated from the FA Cup in the fifth round by neighbours Everton. Liverpool finished second and were finally readmitted to European competition, qualifying for the UEFA Cup and giving Rush and his teammates their first chance of European action since 1984–85.
In 1992, he picked up a third FA Cup winners' medal, scoring Liverpool's second goal, in the 67th minute, in the 2–0 win against Second Division Sunderland at Wembley. This gave Rush and his colleagues another chance of European football, this time in the Cup Winners' Cup. It was a successful end to a season where Rush had struggled with injuries, and Liverpool had finished sixth in the league. His third goal came in a crucial 2–0 home win over Manchester United on 26 April 1992 which denied their arch-rivals the championship, the title going instead to Leeds United – the conclusion to a campaign where the title challenge had been mostly a two-horse race in which Liverpool had merely been on the fringes. This was the first time he had scored against Manchester United. Liverpool managed only a sixth-place finish in the league that season, the first time since 1981 that they had not finished champions or runners-up.
1992–93 was perhaps Liverpool's hardest season since beginning their current top flight tenure in 1962. They failed to mount a challenge for the new Premier League title, and as late as March they stood 15th in the table. Dismal form in the league had seen Rush dropped from the starting line-up, having scoring only three league goals by the beginning of March, with Souness favouring the likes of Ronny Rosenthal and Paul Stewart, but Rush returned to his peak during the final weeks of the season with 11 goals during the final two months, and he finished the season as the club's top scorer with 14 league goals. He topped the goalscoring charts once again in 1993–94, beginning the season with Nigel Clough as his strike partner until the brilliant young Robbie Fowler broke into the first team. It was another disappointing season for Liverpool as they continued to perform unremarkably in the Premier League and Souness stepped down in late January following a shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Bristol City. Long-serving coach Roy Evans took over as manager. Liverpool finished eighth in the league, once again missing out on European competition.
Rush picked up his fifth League Cup winner's medal in 1995, when two goals from Steve McManaman saw off a spirited challenge from outsiders Bolton Wanderers, as Liverpool triumphed 2–1. Earlier in the competition Rush scored a hat-trick as Liverpool beat Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park, the team who would go on to win the Premier League that season. Liverpool themselves achieved their best league finish since 1991, as they finished fourth in the Premier League.
The 1995 close season saw Liverpool pay a national record fee of £8.4million for Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore, putting Rush's future at Anfield in doubt. He began the season as Liverpool's first choice striker alongside Collymore, only to be replaced by Robbie Fowler as Collymore's regular partner after a few games.
His loss of a regular place in the first team sparked rumours of a transfer during the season. Peter Reid made an offer to Liverpool to sign Rush on loan for Division One promotion challengers Sunderland in January 1996, but Liverpool manager Roy Evans rejected this offer, despite having not fielded Rush in his first eleven for two months, saying that he needed Rush as cover for Fowler and Collymore, as Liverpool began their quest for the FA Cup and were distant challengers in the league title race.
In late February 1996, it was announced that Rush would be leaving Anfield on a free transfer when his contract expired on 1 June. Numerous clubs were quick to express an interest in signing him. These included Everton, Sunderland, Oldham Athletic, Swansea City, Leeds United and Tranmere Rovers.
His long association with Liverpool ended with a substitute appearance in the 1996 FA Cup Final against Manchester United. A hugely disappointing game looked to be heading for extra time and even a replay until Eric Cantona scored a late winner to give Manchester United a 1–0 victory.
Later career: 1996–2000
Rush bid farewell to Anfield on 20 May 1996 when he agreed to sign for Leeds United. Rush spent a season with Leeds and scored three times in 36 Premier League games and was given a free transfer at the end of the 1996–97 campaign.
He had been brought to Elland Road by manager Howard Wilkinson, who was sacked only a month into the season to be replaced by George Graham.
He then linked up with Kenny Dalglish at Newcastle United on a one-year contract but lost his place in the side after Christmas, when Alan Shearer returned from a long-term injury. However, Rush did score an important goal in a 1–0 win over Everton in the 3rd round of the FA Cup, his 44th in the competition (a 20th-century record), helping Newcastle on their way to their first FA Cup Final in 24 years. He scored one other goal for Newcastle in a League Cup tie with Hull City.
He went on loan to Sheffield United later in the season, before leaving St James's Park in the summer of the year 1998 to sign, amid much fanfare, for Wrexham. The 37-year-old less athletic Rush failed to score in 17 Division Two starts for the North Wales club, and was moved into midfield near the end of the season. He made a brief playing comeback with Sydney Olympic in Australia, scoring one goal in three games, before finally retiring, aged 38, in 2000 ending an illustrious career.
International career
Rush made his Welsh debut before he had been handed his first start for Liverpool, playing his first match on 21 May 1980 against Scotland in Glasgow, a 0–1 loss. He played his last international match on 24 January 1996 – a friendly match against Italy in Terni which Wales lost 0–3. Rush played regularly for the Welsh national team for more than 15 years, scoring 28 goals in 73 games.
He scored in a friendly against Italy in Brescia on 4 June 1988, the only goal in a shock win. During his career the team never qualified for a major tournament, although in 1991 he scored the winning goal in a memorable Euro 1992 qualifier against Germany on 5 June 1991. On 9 October 1992, he netted a hat-trick in a 6–0 win over the Faroe Islands at Cardiff Arms Park in 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification, the first Welsh hat-trick in over 13 years, and one of only 14 in the nation's history. Rush was Wales' record goalscorer until 2018 when his record of 28 goals was surpassed by Gareth Bale.
Management and coaching
After working as a part-time striker's coach for Liverpool under Gerard Houllier in 2003, he was appointed manager of his first professional club, Chester City (by this time in Football League Two), in August 2004. Chester had made a dreadful start to their first season back in the Football League and Rush had a hard time at the helm. After losing 3–1 at Boston United in their first game in charge, they strung together a two-month unbeaten run and he led the club to the FA Cup third round. Rush seemed to be answering his critics, including former Liverpool teammate Mark Lawrenson, who doubted whether his tactical and coaching abilities could match his striking history.
But after Rush ruled himself out of the running for the vacant Welsh manager's job on 1 November 2004 things never seemed to go as well. Several heavy defeats were inflicted and Rush was criticised for long-ball tactics his managerial team opted to use. Despite pressure from chairman Stephen Vaughan, Rush refused to resign after a humiliating 5–0 loss to neighbours Shrewsbury Town in February 2005. But when Vaughan sacked Rush's assistant Mark Aizlewood in April, after a 1–0 defeat at Darlington, without his knowledge, Rush resigned on principle. By the point of his resignation, Chester were virtually safe from relegation. His spell in charge saw youngsters such as Robbie Booth, Michael Walsh and Shaun Whalley all given their Football League debuts, while players including Michael Brown, George Elokobi and Robbie Foy all spent time on loan at the club.
Rush was interviewed for the Peterborough United manager's job shortly after this but lost out to Mark Wright, who had played in the same Liverpool team as Rush from 1991 to 1996, and had preceded Rush as Chester manager.
Media career and other activities, 2005 to present
In 2005, at the age of 43, Rush considered coming out of retirement to play for TNS, after the Welsh side were drawn against Liverpool for their opening round Champions League qualifying match, but later decided against this.
Since November 2005, Rush has been involved in media work within the game, including a stint as an analyst with ESPN. He also appears as a pundit and reporter for Sky Sports and Sky Sports News. He has also done work on LFC TV.
On 27 April 2006, Rush was involved in the Marina Dalglish charity match, which pitted the 1986 FA Cup final teams of Liverpool and Everton against each other in aid of Breast Cancer Research, as Kenny Dalglish's wife Marina had been suffering from breast cancer and the proceeds from the match were being donated to the charity.
Rush was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006 due to his achievements in the game.
On 7 September 2007 it was announced that Rush had been appointed Elite Performance Director for the Welsh Football Trust, a part-time role in which he would help develop the next generation of players for Wales' national teams.
Rush released his autobiography on 21 August 2008, Rush: The Autobiography, through Ebury Press.
On 26 April 2010, it was announced that Rush had returned to work with Liverpool FC, becoming the Club's new Soccer Schools Ambassador and it was announced he would also work with the Club's commercial team to help develop and support partnerships with other global sponsors and brands. Rush can still be seen wearing the red of Liverpool as he is one of Liverpool's ambassadors on public relations tours for the club.
In summer 2010, as part of an outdoor installation in Chester that featured seventy life sized fibreglass rhinos each with unique artwork, one rhino was in honour of Ian Rush. The rhino was painted with a black moustache and wearing a Chester City football kit and boots.
In August 2014, Rush was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter to The Guardian opposing Scottish independence in the run-up to September's referendum on that issue.
Rush was one of the pundits in first season (2014) of Indian Super League.
In August 2016, Rush was named as ambassador for the 2017 UEFA Champions League Final, which took place in Cardiff, Wales.
In popular culture
Rush is referenced in the Milk Marketing Board television advert Accrington Stanley, Who Are They?, which ran in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Personal life
Ian Rush was the ninth of ten children born to Francis and Doris Rush, who lived in Flint, North Wales. Francis Rush, who worked in the steel industry for many years, died in July 2003 at the age of 78. Doris Rush died almost seven years later at the age of 82.
Rush married Tracy in 1987. The marriage ended in 2015. They had two sons together: Jonathan and Daniel.
He is the great-uncle of footballer Owen Beck, who made his debut for Liverpool in 2021 and is currently on loan at Dundee F.C..
Career statistics
Honours
Source:
Liverpool
Football League First Division: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1989–90
FA Cup: 1985–86, 1988–89, 1991–92
League Cup: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1994–95
Football League Super Cup: 1985–86
FA Charity Shield: 1982, 1986 (shared), 1989, 1990 (shared)
European Cup: 1980–81, 1983–84
Individual
PFA Young Player of the Year: 1983
PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1984
FWA Footballer of the Year: 1984
BBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year: 1984
PFA First Division Team of the Year: 1983, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991
PFA Team of the Century (1977-1996): 2007
European Golden Boot: 1984
First Division Golden Boot: 1984
Liverpool Top Goalscorer: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94
FAI International Football Awards – International Personality: 2010
Bibliography
Paperback (2009):
References
External links
Wales Goalscoring Record
LFC History Profile
60 Minutes with Ian Rush Interview
1961 births
Men's association football forwards
Chester City F.C. managers
Chester City F.C. players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English Football League managers
English Football League players
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy
Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia
First Division/Premier League top scorers
Juventus FC players
Leeds United F.C. players
Liverpool F.C. non-playing staff
Liverpool F.C. players
Living people
Members of the Order of the British Empire
National Soccer League (Australia) players
Newcastle United F.C. players
People educated at St Richard Gwyn Catholic High School, Flint
Footballers from Flintshire
Premier League players
Serie A players
Sheffield United F.C. players
Sportspeople from St Asaph
Footballers from Denbighshire
Sydney Olympic FC players
UEFA Champions League winning players
Wales men's international footballers
Welsh expatriate men's footballers
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Australia
Welsh expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Welsh football managers
Welsh men's footballers
Wrexham A.F.C. players
Welsh autobiographers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20Schmeichel
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Peter Schmeichel
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Peter Bolesław Schmeichel (born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he captained the club to victory in the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final to complete the Treble. He also played with the Danish national team, with whom he won the UEFA Euro 1992.
Born in Gladsaxe, Copenhagen, Schmeichel was tall and weighed close to during his playing days, and wore specially-made size XXXL football shirts. A fierce competitor, he often loudly criticised perceived mistakes by his defenders. Unusually for a goalkeeper, he scored 11 goals during his career, including one for the national team. He was also the most capped player for the Denmark national team, with 129 games between 1987 and 2001, until he was overtaken by Simon Kjaer in 2023. In addition to Euro 92, he played for his country at the 1998 FIFA World Cup and three additional European Championship tournaments. He captained the national team in 30 matches. He also represented Gladsaxe-Hero, Hvidovre, Brøndby, Sporting CP, Aston Villa and Manchester City in a career that lasted from 1981 until 2003 and yielded 24 trophies.
Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he was voted the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper in 1992 and 1993, the International Federation of Football History & Statistics also ranked Schmeichel among the top 10 goalkeepers of the 20th century. In 2001, Schmeichel won a public poll held by Reuters, in which the majority of the 200,000 participants voted him as the best goalkeeper ever, ahead of Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. In 2003, Schmeichel was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in recognition of his impact on the English game. In March 2004, he was named as one of the "125 greatest living footballers", at the FIFA 100 celebrations. Schmeichel's son, Kasper, is also a professional goalkeeper, currently playing for Belgian Pro League side Anderlecht and the Denmark national team.
Early life
Schmeichel was born in the Søborggård parish of Gladsaxe, Denmark, to Inger, a Danish nurse, and Antoni "Tolek" Schmeichel, a Polish jazz musician. He held Polish citizenship until November 1971 when he, his father, and his three sisters became Danish citizens.
Schmeichel inherited his middle name – Bolesław – from his great-grandfather. He spent his early years in the town of Buddinge, Copenhagen, and began his football career playing for a team in the adjacent suburb of Høje-Gladsaxe. His first match came on 7 August 1972 at the age of 8. After a two-and-a-half-year unbeaten run, Schmeichel was approached by BK Hero, a team from a few divisions above Høje-Gladsaxe and with one of the largest youth football schemes in Denmark. BK Hero merged with Gladsaxe BK in 1979 to form Gladsaxe-Hero BK, and Schmeichel was presented with the opportunity to play for the Zealand FA's junior representative team.
Before becoming a professional footballer, Schmeichel had to work a number of jobs to make ends meet. His first job came in the dyeing department of a textile factory, but safety concerns led to his resignation. He then spent 12 months as a cleaner at an old people's home, before taking up an office job with the World Wildlife Fund. He originally worked in the organisation's shops, but three weeks after he joined, the store manager left and Schmeichel was promoted to the position of sales manager. Soon after, Schmeichel was called upon to do his four months of compulsory military service. However, this coincided with Hvidovre's summer training camp in Portugal, which he was permitted to go on with the proviso that he completed his military service the following month. Nevertheless, the delicate organisational situation that arose between the WWF, the Danish defence department and Hvidovre prompted Schmeichel to give up working for the WWF. A job with his father-in-law's flooring firm came next, until he realised that his knees could not support his frame for eight hours a day, and he was offered a job with the advertising firm owned by Hvidovre's chairman, Niels Erik Madsen. This was to be his last job outside football, as he was offered a contract with Brøndby the following spring.
Club career
Early career
Eventually graduating to the Gladsaxe-Hero senior squad, Schmeichel met his first mentor in Svend Aage Hansen, the first team coach at the club, and later to become his father-in-law. With Gladsaxe-Hero already relegated from the Danish Third Division with three games to go, Hansen promoted Schmeichel and six others from the youth team for a match against IF Skjold Birkerød. The team lost 1–0, but Schmeichel received mentions in local newspapers for his personal performance. At the end of the season, Hansen explained to Schmeichel his plan for the future, which involved Schmeichel spending two more seasons with Gladsaxe-Hero BK before moving on to Hvidovre, playing for the Danish national team, and eventually having a successful career abroad. Schmeichel admits that he had received an offer to play for B 1903's youth team, but he turned it down as the club "seemed a bit boring".
The following season, Gladsaxe-Hero needed only to avoid defeat to Stubbekøbing to prevent relegation from the Danish National League. In the end, Schmeichel played one of the best games of his career and Gladsaxe-Hero won the match. At the end of the game, Hansen's daughter, Bente, ran onto the pitch and hugged Schmeichel. The two ended up going out as a couple, and they eventually got married.
Despite having the fifth best defence in the league, conceding 40 goals in 30 games, Schmeichel and Hvidovre finished in 14th place and were relegated in 1985. After only a single season, the club bounced right back to the 1st Division, but Schmeichel left the club to join Brøndby.
Brøndby
Before the 1987 season, Schmeichel joined Brøndby, who finished as runners-up the previous season. In the five seasons that Schmeichel played with Brøndby, they went on to win the 1st Division four times. The climax of his Brøndby career would come in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup, which saw Schmeichel as an important part of the team that reached the semi-finals, keeping seven clean sheets in the competition. The club was eliminated from the tournament following a 2–1 away defeat to Roma with a last-minute goal by Rudi Völler. Schmeichel was voted 10th in "The World's Best Goalkeeper 1991" poll by the IFFHS.
Manchester United
Following his showings on the international scene, Manchester United signed Schmeichel on 6 August 1991 for £505,000, a price described in 2000 by Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson as the "bargain of the century." Schmeichel was virtually unknown outside Denmark at the time, especially within the United squad members. Manchester United finished as runners-up in Schmeichel's first season. and they also won the Football League Cup for the first time in the club's history. For his performances throughout the season, he was elected "The World's Best Goalkeeper of 1992" by IFFHS.
In the 1992–93 season, 22 clean sheets from Schmeichel helped United win the Premier League championship, the first time the club had won England's top trophy in 26 years. Schmeichel was once again named "The World's Best Goalkeeper" in 1993. In January 1994, Schmeichel fell out with Ferguson, as United had squandered a 3–0 lead to draw 3–3 with Liverpool. The two had a row where Schmeichel "said the most horrible things", and Ferguson considered selling him as a result. A few days later, Schmeichel apologised to his teammates for losing his temper. Ferguson overheard, and decided to retain Schmeichel. Schmeichel and United repeated the Premier League championship win at the end of the season, also capturing the FA Cup. United were denied a domestic treble by losing the 1994 League Cup Final to Aston Villa, a game for which Schmeichel was suspended.
Following a match against Arsenal in November 1996, Schmeichel was accused of racism by Ian Wright. During the game, Schmeichel and Wright had a number of controversies, and at the end of the game, the two players confronted each other on their way off the pitch. After the game, news emerged of a police inquiry into the incident, where it was alleged that Schmeichel had made a racist remark. In March 1997, the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to press any charges.
Schmeichel ended his Manchester United career on a high note, when the club won the Treble (the FA Premier League title, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League in the same season). In that year's FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Schmeichel saved a penalty kick by Dennis Bergkamp in the last minutes of the game (which Schmeichel revealed he was unaware of time), to send the game into extra time. In the absence of the suspended Roy Keane, he captained United in the UEFA Champions League final in May 1999. German opponents Bayern Munich had a 1–0 lead until the dying minutes of the game, when United received a corner kick. Schmeichel ran into the attack attempting to cause confusion, and Teddy Sheringham scored the equalising goal. A few seconds later, Ole Gunnar Solskjær scored the winner for United to ensure that Schmeichel's United career ended with a trophy win. Schmeichel cartwheeled gleefully in his area after Solskjær's winning goal.
With his departure, Manchester United had trouble finding a replacement for him, going through several high-profile goalkeepers including Mark Bosnich, Massimo Taibi, Fabien Barthez, Tim Howard and Roy Carroll, before finally buying Edwin van der Sar, who Sir Alex Ferguson considered the best goalkeeper to have played for the club since Schmeichel.
Sporting CP
Schmeichel decided to leave English football at the end of the 1998–99 season, as the gruelling 60-game season, which came with playing with a successful club, was threatening to undermine his high standards at the age of 36. Seeking a slower pace of football, he moved to Sporting CP, where he signed a two-year contract. In his first season with the club, he won the 1999–2000 Primeira Liga title, putting an end to the team's 18 years without a championship. At the end of the 1999–2000 season, Schmeichel and Sporting CP agreed to terminate his contract with a free transfer back to Manchester United verbally agreed. However, Sir Alex Ferguson called the deal off due to turning an eye to the "future", Fabien Barthez. The contract issue with Sporting CP was quickly resolved and he continued for a second season in Portugal.
His second year with Sporting was the first time in 14 years, since his Hvidovre days, that Schmeichel's club had finished below second place in the league. Schmeichel stated his wish to activate a contract option of a further year at Sporting in January 2001, but eventually decided to leave the club when his contract expired in June 2001.
Aston Villa
Schmeichel returned to England with Aston Villa in July 2001, signing a one-year contract with the option to extend it by a further year. On 20 October 2001, Schmeichel became the first goalkeeper to score a Premier League goal, in a 3–2 defeat away to Everton; this feat has been repeated just five times since: by Blackburn Rovers' Brad Friedel on 21 February 2004, also from a corner kick; by Tottenham Hotspur's Paul Robinson from a free-kick on 17 March 2007; by Everton's Tim Howard on 4 January 2012; by Stoke City's Asmir Begović on 2 November 2013; and by Liverpool's Alisson Becker on 16 May 2021. Schmeichel left Aston Villa after one season after he fell behind Peter Enckelman in the club's pecking order under new manager Graham Taylor, who had replaced John Gregory in February 2002.
Manchester City
In 2002, Schmeichel moved to Manchester City on a free transfer. The move was described as a "shock" given his former allegiance to United, with manager Kevin Keegan stating he only needed 20 minutes to convince him to join City. During his only season with the club, City went unbeaten in the Manchester derby, meaning during his career he never was on the losing side; during his nine years with Manchester United, they were unbeaten against Manchester City, while in his single season with City, they won at Maine Road and drew at Old Trafford.
In the final derby to be played at Maine Road, caught live on television as the two teams were about to come out of the tunnel, United's Gary Neville refused to shake Schmeichel's hand before City went on to win the game 3–1. Speaking in 2018, Neville said "When you look back now and you're 43, like I am, there's two things about that. One, he left Man United at the age of whatever he was, 35, and he said he was retiring, basically to go abroad. At the time when he came back, he played for Manchester City. You can't play for Manchester City. I'm a United fan and I can't play for Manchester City, I can't play for Leeds and I can't play for Liverpool. That's just written in stone. You just don't play for those clubs, irrespective of what happens. He'd won the treble with United in '99, said that he was retiring...he should have carried on playing for United for the next two or three years if that was the case. We struggled for a keeper between Peter and Edwin."
Schmeichel announced his retirement from football in April 2003, with City replacing him with fellow veteran keeper David Seaman.
International career
Schmeichel made his debut for the Denmark national football team in May 1987, under national manager Sepp Piontek, and was selected for UEFA Euro 1988, where he eventually became Denmark's starting goalkeeper, after initially serving as a back-up to Troels Rasmussen in Denmark's opening 3–2 defeat to Spain; Denmark lost both of their remaining two matches 2–0 to West Germany and Italy, however, and were eliminated in the first round of the competition.
Under new national manager Richard Møller Nielsen, Schmeichel was Denmark's starting goalkeeper at the Euro 92 tournament which they went on to win. Although Denmark initially finished behind Yugoslavia in their qualification campaign for the final tournament, the latter nation were banned from the competition, while Denmark replaced them in the finals. Schmeichel made a string of important saves during the tournament, keeping a clean sheet in Denmark's opening 0–0 draw against England, and producing decisive stops against Eric Cantona and Jean-Pierre Papin in a 2–1 win over France to advance to the last four. In the semi-finals against defending champions the Netherlands, following a 2–2 draw after extra time, he stopped a penalty kick from Marco van Basten – the only miss of the shoot-out – which enabled Denmark to advance to the final in a 5–4 shootout victory. Schmeichel also made several decisive saves in the final, and even held a cross with one hand, keeping a clean sheet in his nation's 2–0 victory over Germany.
In November 1993, Schmeichel and Denmark failed to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as they were tied on points and goal difference with the Republic of Ireland, and went out on goals scored. Schmeichel played for Denmark at Euro 96, hosted by England. The defending European Champions went out in the preliminary group stage, despite delivering results equivalent to the Euro 92 tournament in the first round. Under national manager Bo Johansson, Schmeichel was a part of the Danish squad at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, during which he overtook Morten Olsen as the most-capped player for Denmark. He was one of the leading members of the Danish campaign, which ended in a 3–2 quarter-final defeat to Brazil.
He scored his only goal for the Danish national team, a penalty kick in a 2–2 draw against Belgium, in a June 2000 warm-up match for Euro 2000. He represented Denmark at Euro 2000, where the team was eliminated in the group stage. He announced his retirement from the national team in February 2001, and played his final match (his 129th international appearance) two months later, captaining the side in a 3–0 friendly win over Slovenia at Copenhagen's Parken Stadium; he was substituted in the 65th minute to a standing ovation, replaced by long-time back-up Peter Kjær. He kept a clean sheet in the match.
Style of play
Schmeichel is widely regarded by pundits, as well as both former and current goalkeeping colleagues, and Garth Crooks, as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, and also as Denmark's greatest goalkeeper ever, and has been described as a modern, talented, world-class, and complete goalkeeper, who also stood out for the longevity of his career. A tall, strong and physically imposing goalkeeper, with a large frame and long reach, as well as excellent reflexes, he was also extremely athletic and agile for a player of his size, and was known for his ability to cover the goal with his trademark "star jump" saves, a technique he reportedly developed from playing handball.
He was highly regarded for his goalkeeping technique, shot-stopping ability, and positioning between the posts, as well as his command of his area, handling, and ability to rush off his line both in one on one situations or when coming out to claim crosses. A courageous and fierce competitor, he was a vocal presence in goal, known for his strong character, mentality, ability to organise his defence, and leadership from the back, as well as for his criticism of his defenders whenever they made mistakes. He was also effective at stopping penalties. In addition to his goalkeeping ability, he was also known for his capacity to read the game, as well as his adeptness with the ball at his feet, and his distribution and ability to launch swift counter-attacks with his long and accurate throws and kicks. Unusually for a goalkeeper, he would often go up for corner kicks in the opposition's area when his team were trailing, and scored 11 goals in his career. An example of this was when he was playing for Manchester United in a UEFA Cup match against Rotor Volgograd at Old Trafford in September 1995. He scored in the last minutes of the game to tie the match 2–2, though United were eliminated from the tournament on the away goals rule.
Later career
In December 1999, Schmeichel became the owner of his childhood club Hvidovre IF, but withdrew from the club in June 2002.
Schmeichel worked as a pundit for the BBC after retiring, being a regular analyst on Match of the Day until 2005. He then began hosting live UEFA Champions League matches on Danish television channel TV3+, with Preben Elkjær and Brian Laudrup the studio pundits. However, he still works occasionally as a pundit for the BBC.
He also took part in Soccer Aid, and played for the Rest of the World team, who lost 2–1 after he was substituted at half-time. Schmeichel was a contestant on the 2006 series of the BBC's popular Saturday night TV programme Strictly Come Dancing, but was voted out by the public on his 43rd birthday. He also appeared on The Weakest Link in the UK, but he was voted off as the weakest link in the first round.
On 31 August 2007, an investor group including Schmeichel announced their intention to invest DKK 250 million (€33.5 million) in the football club Brøndby IF and make him sports director. This was announced in a press conference in Danish at a hotel in Copenhagen. The offer fell through when Brøndby failed to accept the offer within the group's deadline.
In February 2007, he became the host in a new quiz, on TV3 named 1 mod 100 (the Danish version of 1 vs. 100). In 2008, he became the host of the European version of the Discovery Channel programme, Dirty Jobs.
Personal life
Schmeichel was divorced from his wife Bente Schmeichel in 2013. He remarried again in 2019 to Playboy model Laura Von Lindholm.
Bente Schmeichel is the mother of his two children, Cecile Schmeichel and Kasper Schmeichel, a professional footballer who plays goalkeeper for the Belgian Pro League team Anderlecht and for the Denmark national team since 2013.
Schmeichel plays the piano as a hobby and joined Robbie Williams onstage during his 2006 Close Encounters Tour at Copenhagen’s Parken Stadium to play the keyboards during "Feel".
Criticism of sportswashing and FIFA support
In 2018, Schmeichel hosted a series of programmes produced by the state-owned Russian television station RT. They took the form of a mixture of football and travel reports, on the occasion of the World Cup in football in the country. He has been criticised for participating in sportswashing, by receiving money to promote World Cup hosts Russia and Qatar. In addition, he is a supporter of an unpopular FIFA proposal that the World Cup be held every two years.
Career statistics
Club
International
Score and result list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after Schmeichel goal.
Honours
Source:
Brøndby
Danish 1st Division/Danish Superliga: 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991
Danish Cup: 1988–89
Manchester United
Premier League: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99
FA Cup: 1993–94, 1995–96, 1998–99
Football League Cup: 1991–92
FA Charity Shield: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
UEFA Champions League: 1998–99
European Super Cup: 1991
Sporting CP
: 1999–2000
: 2000
Aston Villa
UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2001
Denmark
UEFA European Championship: 1992
Individual
Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE): 2001
(Goalkeeper of the Year in the Danish League): 1987, 1988, 1990, 1992
Danish Football Player of the Year: 1990, 1993, 1999
UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1992
UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year: 1992, 1993, 1998
IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: 1992, 1993
PFA Team of the Year: 1992–93 Premier League
Premier League Player of the Season: 1995–96
UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year: 1997–98
UEFA Champions League 10 Seasons Dream Team (1992 to 2002): 2002
English Football Hall of Fame: 2003
PFA England League Team of the Century (1907 to 2007): 2007
Most clean sheets in the Premier League: 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98
Premier League Hall of Fame: 2022
Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992–93 to 2001–02):
Overseas and overall Team of the Decade
Save of the Decade (vs. Newcastle, 21 December 1997)
Premier League 20 Seasons Awards (1992–93 to 2011–12):
Fantasy Teams of the 20 Seasons public and panel choice
FIFA 100
Danish Football Hall of Fame
World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time
Football League 100 Legends
Published works
See also
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
Notes
References
External links
1963 births
Living people
Danish people of Polish descent
People from Gladsaxe Municipality
Naturalised citizens of Denmark
Danish men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Hvidovre IF players
Brøndby IF players
Manchester United F.C. players
Sporting CP footballers
Aston Villa F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Danish 1st Division players
Danish 2nd Division players
Danish Superliga players
English Football League players
Premier League players
Primeira Liga players
UEFA Champions League winning players
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
Denmark men's under-21 international footballers
Denmark men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 1988 players
UEFA Euro 1992 players
UEFA Euro 1996 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 2000 players
UEFA European Championship-winning players
FIFA Men's Century Club
FIFA 100
Danish expatriate men's footballers
Danish expatriate sportspeople in England
Danish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal
Danish television presenters
Honorary Members of the Order of the British Empire
Premier League Hall of Fame inductees
Schmeichel family
Footballers from the Capital Region of Denmark
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter%20Shilton
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Peter Shilton
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Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
His 30-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the distinction of playing over 1,000 league games, including in excess of 100 for five different clubs. During his time at Nottingham Forest, Shilton won many honours, including two European Cups, a UEFA Super Cup, the First Division championship, and the Football League Cup.
Shilton represented England at the FIFA World Cup in 1982, 1986 (where Diego Maradona scored two famous goals against him) and 1990, and the UEFA European Championship in 1980 and 1988. Despite not making his World Cup finals debut until the age of 32, Shilton has played in 17 finals matches, and shares the record of 10 clean sheets in World Cup finals matches with French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
He holds the all-time record for the most competitive appearances in world football (1,390), and, with 125 caps, Shilton is also the England national team's most-capped player. The IFFHS ranked Shilton among the top ten goalkeepers of the 20th century in 2000.
Club career
Leicester City
Shilton was a 13-year-old pupil at King Richard III Boys School in Leicester, when he started training at schoolboy level with his local club Leicester City in 1963. He caught the eye of first-team goalkeeper Gordon Banks, who commented to the coach about how promising he was.
In May 1966, a 16-year-old Shilton made his debut for Leicester against Everton and his potential was quickly spotted to the extent that the Leicester City management sided with their teenage prodigy and soon sold World Cup winner Banks to Stoke City. Shilton settled into first team life thereafter, even managing to score a goal at The Dell against Southampton in October 1967 direct from a clearance at the opposite end of the pitch; the Southampton goalkeeper Campbell Forsyth misjudged Shilton's long punt upfield, which, instead of splashing harmlessly in the mud, spun off the pitch and flew over Forsyth's head into the goal. Leicester won the game 5–1.
The following season Leicester had a mixed season, suffering relegation from the First Division (they were promoted back to the top tier as champions two seasons later) but reaching the FA Cup Final at Wembley; 19-year-old Shilton became one of the event's youngest-ever goalkeepers. It did not go his way, however, as a single goal from Manchester City's Neil Young early in the match was enough to win the game. Despite the many honours and accolades which were to come Shilton's way, he would not appear in an FA Cup Final again. He reached the semi-finals with Leicester in 1974, but Liverpool won the match after a replay.
Stoke City
Shilton joined Stoke City in November 1974 for £325,000, a world record for a goalkeeper at that time. Shilton played in 26 matches for Stoke in 1974–75 as they narrowly missed out on the league title. He was an ever-present in 1975–76 playing in all of the club's 48 fixtures that season. However, in January 1976 a severe storm caused considerable damage to the Victoria Ground and to pay for the repair work Stoke had to sell off their playing staff. The summer of 1976 saw Manchester United lodge a bid for Shilton. Stoke agreed a fee of £275,000 for the goalkeeper, but they could not agree on Shilton's wage demands, which would have made him the highest paid player at the club. He remained with Stoke in 1976–77 and a young and inexperienced side suffered relegation to the Second Division. He was sold to Nottingham Forest in September 1977.
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest made an offer of £250,000 and Shilton signed a month into the new season. Forest had just been promoted to the First Division and were riding high under the management of Brian Clough. They won the League Cup in a replay after initially drawing with Liverpool at Wembley, though Shilton played no part as he was cup-tied, and then won the League title in their first season back in the First Division. Shilton made a save in the clinching 0–0 draw against Coventry City which critics regarded among his greatest ever – a vicious close-range header from Mick Ferguson seemed destined for the net with Shilton slightly out of position, but he got across to palm it over the bar. During the season as a whole, Shilton conceded just 18 goals in 37 league appearances. Shilton subsequently won the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, voted for by his fellow professionals.
Forest won the League Cup again in 1979 – this time Shilton played as they defeated Southampton 3–2 at Wembley – before reaching the European Cup final where a Trevor Francis goal was enough to beat Swedish side Malmö in Munich. Shilton had another eventful season with Forest, reaching a third consecutive League Cup final, with Wolverhampton Wanderers the opponents at Wembley. There was no third successive victory, however, a communication error between Shilton and defender David Needham resulted in a collision on the edge of the Forest penalty area, leaving Andy Gray free to tap the ball into the net for the game's only goal.
Forest then reached the European Cup final again in 1980 – as holders they were entitled to defend the trophy and faced SV Hamburg in Madrid. Like the 1979 final, the game was tight and one goal settled it from Forest winger John Robertson. Among the disappointed Hamburg players was Kevin Keegan, now Shilton's captain at international level.
Life began to decline for Shilton afterwards. Forest failed to continue their trophy-winning form while Shilton began what would be a long-standing gambling addiction which would cause considerable strain to his family. There were also stories of an extramarital affair and a conviction for drink-driving, with the player fined £350 for the offence. All of this contributed to Shilton's decision to leave Nottingham Forest in 1982 and start afresh.
Southampton
Shilton left Forest for Southampton, where his former international teammate Alan Ball was playing. Shilton suffered FA Cup semi final defeat again in 1984 when he was beaten by a last minute Adrian Heath header which gave Everton a place in the final; and again in 1986 when Liverpool beat Southampton 2-0. He joined Derby County in the summer of 1987.
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in March 1986 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at London Waterloo station.
Derby County
Shilton helped the Derby side of Mark Wright, Dean Saunders and Ted McMinn finish fifth in the league, and they only missed out on competing in the UEFA Cup due to the ban on English clubs in European competition (which ran from 1985 to 1990) arising from the Heysel disaster. In 1991, Derby were relegated and Shilton started to consider his playing future. He was 42 years old and was ready to become a coach or manager. In early 1991, he had rejected an offer to replace Stan Ternent as Hull City manager for geographical reasons.
Later career
Shilton finally left Derby in February 1992 on accepting an offer to become player-manager of Plymouth Argyle – a turbulent era that is documented in the 2009 book, Peter Shilton's Nearly Men. Plymouth were battling against relegation in the Football League Second Division but Shilton's efforts were unable to save Plymouth from the drop. His £300,000 record signing Peter Swan proved to be a disaster as the player had an awful relationship with both his teammates and the fans.
In 1994, he started to concentrate solely on management and Plymouth reached the Division Two play-offs, but lost in the semi-finals to Burnley. In January 1994, he had been linked with Southampton for a possible return as manager following the departure of Ian Branfoot, but the job went to Alan Ball instead. The following February, with Plymouth heading for relegation, he left the club and announced his intention to start playing again. He was now 45 years old.
He joined Wimbledon in the Premier League for a short period, as injury cover for the first choice goalkeeper Hans Segers, but did not play a first team game for them. He subsequently signed for Bolton Wanderers, making a couple of appearances, including the Division One play-off semi final against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux. Bolton lost 2–1, but eventually overcame Wolves in the second leg, Shilton however did not play in this game; Keith Branagan did instead. He then signed for Coventry City, where he failed to make a first-team appearance, before joining West Ham United, where again he never played a first-team game, although he was selected as a substitute on several occasions.
With 996 Football League matches to his name, Shilton was anxious to reach 1,000 and he did when he joined Leyton Orient in November 1996, in an exchange deal for 39-year-old Les Sealey. His thousandth League game came on 22 December 1996, against Brighton & Hove Albion, which was screened live on Sky Sports and was preceded by the presentation from the Football League of a special edition of the Guinness Book of Records to Shilton. He played five more matches before retiring on 1,005 league games at the age of 47 at the end of the 1996–97 season. By the time of his retirement, he was the fifth oldest player ever to have played in the Football League or Premier League. Shilton recovered from financial troubles caused by business decisions and gambling, and became a prolific after-dinner speaker.
International career
Early career
Despite playing at a lower level, Shilton impressed England manager Alf Ramsey sufficiently to give him his debut against East Germany in November 1970, which England won 3–1. Little more than six months later, Leicester were promoted back to the First Division. His second England cap came in a goalless draw against Wales at Wembley; and his first competitive match for his country was his third appearance as England drew 1–1 with Switzerland in a qualifying game for the 1972 European Championships. At this stage, Banks was still England's first choice keeper, but the remaining brace of back-ups from the 1970 World Cup, Peter Bonetti and Alex Stepney, had been cast aside by Ramsey so Shilton could begin to regard himself as his country's number two goalkeeper at the age of 22.
Shilton's fourth and fifth England caps came towards the end of 1972, before a tragic incident suddenly saw Shilton propelled into the limelight as England's number one keeper. In October 1972, Gordon Banks was involved in a car crash which resulted in the loss of the sight in one eye and thus ended his career. Liverpool goalkeeper Ray Clemence was called up to make his debut a month later for England's opening qualifier for the 1974 World Cup, (a 1–0 win over Wales). Shilton ended up with over 100 caps compared to Clemence's 61.
In the summer of 1973, Shilton kept three clean sheets as England defeated Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland. Against Scotland, Shilton made a right handed save diving to his left from Kenny Dalglish's shot that Shilton considered among his best saves. While drawing with Czechoslovakia earned Shilton his tenth cap – as a warm-up to a crucial World Cup qualifier against Poland in Chorzów a week later. This went badly for England, with Shilton unable to stop both goals in a 2–0 defeat and therefore making victory in the final qualifier, against the same opposition at Wembley four months later, a necessity if England were to make the finals. A perceived blunder by Shilton in this match led to a crucial goal by Jan Domarski for Poland, Shilton's night contrasting with the performance of Polish goalkeeper Jan Tomaszewski, who, though famously derided as "a clown" by Brian Clough (later Shilton's manager at Nottingham Forest), made a string of crucial saves as Poland got the draw they needed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup at England's expense.
This experience perhaps led incoming England manager Don Revie to favour Ray Clemence in his selections. In 1975, Clemence won eight of the nine caps available, though England failed to reach the 1976 European Championships during this period. From 1977 new manager Ron Greenwood started to select Shilton as regularly as Clemence, eventually reaching the stage where he made a point of alternating them, seemingly unable to choose. This indecision attracted some adverse comment, with some commentators questioning Greenwood's ability to manage at the highest level. Shilton then featured heavily as England qualified for the 1980 European Championships in Italy – their first tournament for a decade. Shilton had won his 30th England cap in a 2–0 win over Spain in March 1980; his 31st would not come until the European Championship. It was a 1–0 defeat to Italy, which proved crucial as England failed to get through to the knockout phase.
1982 FIFA World Cup
In the midst of Shilton's issues, he had the 1982 World Cup to consider. Shilton had played in half of the qualifying games in England's group, UEFA group four UEFA group four – home wins over Norway, and Switzerland, a goalless draw against Romania, and a vital 1–0 win over Hungary. The latter was the last game of the campaign, and in spite of England's previous away defeat against Norway, famously mocked by Norwegian commentator Bjørge Lillelien, results elsewhere meant that a draw would be sufficient for Shilton and England to avoid a repeat of the elimination at the qualification stage they had experienced eight years previously. The result went England's way this time and they qualified for their first World Cup for a dozen years, with Shilton appearing in the finals in Spain for the first time at the comparatively mature age of 32.
Clemence had played in the friendlies building up to the competition, but it was Shilton who was selected for the opening group game against France in Bilbao. England won 3–1 and Shilton stayed in goal for the two remaining group games, three wins meaning England advanced to the second phase as group winners.
UEFA Euro 1984 and 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifiers
With Bobby Robson now running the England team, Shilton's international career flourished, playing in Robson's first ten matches and even captaining the side in seven of them in the absence of Bryan Robson and Ray Wilkins. One game, a 2–0 win over Scotland, earned Shilton his 50th cap.
Clemence returned for a qualifier for the 1984 European Championships against Luxembourg, but this game, Clemence's 61st for his country, also proved to be his last.
England failed to qualify for the European Championships. However, he was now the established first pick goalkeeper for his country, and would remain so through to the end of his international career. Almost half his international caps (61 out of 125) were earned after his 35th birthday. It was 1985 before another goalkeeper was selected for an England game, when Robson could give a debut to the Manchester United goalkeeper Gary Bailey in a relatively unimportant friendly match. Shilton was still the keeper for the qualifying campaign for the 1986 World Cup, which thus far had seen three wins from three matches and no goals conceded.
A 70th cap came Shilton's way in a 1–0 defeat against Scotland at Hampden Park; he later saved a penalty from Andy Brehme as England beat West Germany 3–0 in a tour match in Mexico, a year before England were hoping to return there for the World Cup.
England accomplished going through the whole qualifying campaign undefeated. By the time they played Mexico in an acclimatisation match prior to the competition, Shilton was 80 games into his England career, having beaten Banks' record for a goalkeeper of 73 caps the previous year against Turkey.
1986 FIFA World Cup
At the World Cup itself, England started slowly, losing the opening group match to Portugal and then drawing against outsiders Morocco, during which time Robson was led off injured and Wilkins was sent off. In their absences, Shilton was handed the captaincy as England found their form to defeat Poland 3–0 in their final group game – Gary Lineker scored them all – and progress to the second round.
There they met Paraguay and though Shilton did have to make one fingertip save during the first half, England were rarely troubled. Lineker scored twice and Peter Beardsley once as England went through 3–0 and into a quarter final meeting with Argentina, a match which again would ultimately form part of the legend of Shilton's whole career.
Argentina captain Diego Maradona had been the man of the tournament thus far, but in a tight first half England managed to keep his creativity reasonably at bay. But early in the second half, Maradona changed the game, much to Shilton's anger.
Maradona began an attack which seemingly broke down on the edge of the England box as Steve Hodge got a foot to the ball. The ball was skewed back towards the penalty area and Maradona, continuing the run from his initial pass, went after it as Shilton came out to punch the ball clear. Maradona managed to punch the ball over Shilton and into the net. Shilton and his teammates signalled that Maradona had used his hand – a foul for any player except a goalkeeper – but the Tunisian referee Ali Bin Nasser allowed the goal. A photograph subsequently showed Maradona outjumping Shilton and his fist clearly making contact with the ball as Shilton was still midway through his own stretch, arm extended (having not anticipated Maradona's action). Maradona later said the goal was scored by the Hand of God. Nasser never refereed at such a high level again, having missed such a blatant infringement.
Shortly afterwards, Maradona scored a legitimate individual goal, taking on almost the whole England defence and Shilton before shooting into an empty net. In 2002, the goal was voted "Goal of the Century" as part of the buildup to the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament on the FIFA website. Lineker pulled one back and nearly equalised in the closing seconds, but England were out.
UEFA Euro 1988
However, Shilton continued to play for England, featuring in a straightforward and successful qualification campaign for the 1988 European Championships, which were to be held in West Germany.
Shilton had won his 90th cap for England in a 2–0 win over Northern Ireland in a European Championship qualifier.
Shilton's 99th cap came in England's first game in group 2 at the Championship finals. This game ended in a 1–0 defeat to the Republic of Ireland with Shilton beaten by an early Ray Houghton header. Shilton's 100th was against the Netherlands, who had also lost their first game at the finals. Marco van Basten eliminated England from the tournament with a hat-trick as England lost this match 3–1. Robson left Shilton out of the third and final group game as it was now meaningless, but England still lost it, also 3–1. Chris Woods, longtime understudy to Shilton (and his teenage understudy a decade earlier at Forest – he had played in the League Cup final when Shilton was cup-tied) was given a rare game.
1990 FIFA World Cup
Shilton played in all bar one of the England games over the next 18 months – the one he missed saw a debut for a future England goalkeeping first choice, David Seaman of Queens Park Rangers. In June 1989, Shilton broke his old England skipper Bobby Moore's record of 108 appearances for his country when he won his 109th cap in a friendly against Denmark in Copenhagen. Prior to the match he was handed a framed England goalkeeper's jersey with '109' on the front. He had, by this time, kept three clean sheets in three qualifying matches for the 1990 World Cup and would ultimately concede no goals at all as England qualified for the tournament, to be held in Italy.
His 119th appearance for his country saw England draw 1–1 with the Republic of Ireland in the opening group game; England got through the group, beat Belgium 1–0 in the second round match, and then edged past Cameroon 3–2 in the quarter-finals, thanks to two Lineker penalties after England went 2–1 down. Then came the West Germans in the semi-finals, Shilton's 124th England game.
It was goalless at half time, but shortly after the restart Shilton was beaten by Andreas Brehme's deflected free kick that looped off Paul Parker's shin and dropped into the net over Shilton's head, despite his back pedalling attempts to tip the ball over. Lineker's late equaliser salvaged a draw for England but Shilton could not get close enough to any of the penalties taken by the Germans in the deciding shoot out, while England missed two of theirs and went out of the tournament.
Shilton was the keeper for the third place play-off game, which ended in a 2–1 win for hosts Italy, Shilton suffering an embarrassing moment when he dithered over a back pass and was tackled by Roberto Baggio who scored as a result of Shilton's error. It was his 125th appearance for his country and, after the tournament ended, he announced it would be his last. His final appearance came just four months before the 20th anniversary of his international debut, making his full international career one of the longest on record. He was never booked or sent off at full international level.
Style of play
Considered by pundits to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world in his prime, as well as one of the best shot-stoppers of his generation, and as one of England's greatest players ever in his position, Shilton is even being described by some in the media as one of the greatest keepers of all time. Shilton was an intelligent and efficient goalkeeper, who was regarded above all for his physical presence, handling, positional sense, composure and consistency, as well as his ability to communicate with his teammates, organise his defence, and inspire confidence in his back-line. He possessed significant physical strength, which made him an imposing presence in the area, despite not being the tallest of goalkeepers. Furthermore, he was known for his agility, and also possessed excellent reflexes, and good shot-stopping abilities. Known for his work-rate, mentality, discipline in training, and physical conditioning. He also stood out for his exceptional longevity throughout his career, which spanned four decades. He retired at the age of 47, having competed in over 1,000 professional matches.
However, Shilton also drew criticism in the English media at times for his increasing lack of pace and agility with age in his later career, which along with his timing and relatively modest stature for a goalkeeper, is thought to have limited him when facing penalties, most noticeably in England's penalty shoot-out defeat to eventual champions West Germany in the 1990 World Cup semi-final; indeed, throughout his international career, his penalty–saving record was not particularly impressive, with his only save for England coming against Andreas Brehme of West Germany in 1985.
Personal life
Shilton married Sue Flitcroft in September 1970, and the couple have two sons, Michael and Sam, who later became a professional footballer.
In December 2011, it was announced that Shilton had split from his wife after 40 years of marriage.
Shilton was charged with drink driving in March 2013, he was banned for 20 months and ordered to pay £1,020 costs.
In March 2015, it was announced that Shilton was to marry his second wife, jazz singer Stephanie Hayward, the pair having got engaged in 2014. The couple were married at the Parish of St Peter and St Paul Church in West Mersea, on 10 December 2016.
Shilton has expressed support of Britain's withdrawal from the European Union.
In January 2020, Shilton said that he had overcome a 45-year gambling addiction with the help of his wife, Steph. Shilton has worked with the UK government to raise awareness of associated issues including mental health problems.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Leicester City
Second Division: 1970–71
FA Charity Shield: 1971
Nottingham Forest
First Division: 1977–78
League Cup: 1978–79
FA Charity Shield: 1978
European Cup: 1978–79, 1979–80
European Super Cup: 1979
Individual
IOC European Footballer of the Season: 1979–80
PFA First Division Team of the Year: 1974–75, 1977–78, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1985–86
PFA Team of the Century (1977–1996): 2007
PFA Players' Player of the Year: 1977–78
Nottingham Forest Player of the Season: 1981–82
Southampton Player of the Season: 1984–85, 1985–86
FWA Tribute Award: 1991
English Football Hall of Fame: Inducted 2002
Football League 100 Legends
See also
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
List of men's footballers with the most official appearances
References
External links
Profile at England Football Online
1949 births
Living people
Footballers from Leicester
English men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
Leicester City F.C. players
Stoke City F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Southampton F.C. players
Derby County F.C. players
Plymouth Argyle F.C. players
Wimbledon F.C. players
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Coventry City F.C. players
West Ham United F.C. players
Leyton Orient F.C. players
English Football League players
UEFA Champions League winning players
English Football League representative players
England men's under-23 international footballers
England men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 1980 players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
1986 FIFA World Cup players
UEFA Euro 1988 players
1990 FIFA World Cup players
FIFA Men's Century Club
English Football Hall of Fame inductees
English football managers
Plymouth Argyle F.C. managers
English Football League managers
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
British Eurosceptics
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrexham%20A.F.C.
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Wrexham A.F.C.
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Wrexham Association Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Wrexham, Wales. Formed in 1864, it is the oldest club in Wales and the third-oldest professional association football team in the world. They compete in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system.
The club initially participated in friendlies and cup competitions, and first entered a league by joining The Combination in 1890. It spent 13 seasons in the Combination and two seasons in the Welsh Senior League, winning four Combination titles and two Welsh Senior League titles. It entered the Birmingham & District League in 1905, where it would remain until becoming inaugural members of the Football League's Third Division North in 1921. It spent 37 years in the Northern section until it was placed in the re-organised Third Division in 1958 and then relegated two years later. Wrexham was promoted out of the Fourth Division in 1961–62, only to be relegated again two years later. Another promotion followed in 1969–70, and it reached the Second Division for the first time after winning the Third Division title in 1977–78. Two successive relegations saw it back in the fourth tier by 1983, and it saw no further promotion until 1992–93. Relegated once more in 2002, it gained immediate promotion in 2002–03, before worsening financial problems resulted in another relegation and then administration in December 2004. It took 18 months for the club to exit administration and the club's decline on the pitch continued, as it dropped out of the Football League in 2008. Wrexham subsequently had five unsuccessful play-off campaigns in the fifth tier of the English football league system, before being promoted as champions of the 2022–23 National League; they play in the EFL League Two.
Wrexham's honours include winning the Welsh Cup a record 23 times, the Football League Trophy in 2005 at the Millennium Stadium and the FA Trophy in 2013 at Wembley Stadium. The club are also record winners of the short-lived FAW Premier Cup, winning it five times out of the 11 years of its tenure, participating against fellow Welsh clubs such as Cardiff City, Swansea City and Newport County. However, their biggest rivalries are with English clubs, Chester and Shrewsbury Town, with games between the clubs known as the Cross-border derby. In 1992, Wrexham upset the reigning English Champions Arsenal in the FA Cup. They also scored a 1–0 victory over FC Porto in 1984 in the European Cup Winners' Cup. Wrexham were eligible for the European Cup Winners' Cup due to winning the Welsh Cup; their first European tie was against FC Zürich of Switzerland in 1972 and their last was played in Romania against Petrolul Ploiești in 1995. Wrexham's home stadium, the Racecourse Ground, is the world's oldest international stadium that still continues to host international games. The record attendance at the ground was set in 1957, when the club hosted a match against Manchester United in front of 34,445 spectators.
History
1864–1905: A club of pioneers
The club was formed in October 1864 by members of the Wrexham Cricket Club who wanted a sporting activity for the winter months. This makes them (after Sheffield, Cray, Hallam, and Notts County) the fifth oldest association football team, the third oldest professional club and the oldest in Wales. Their first game was played on 22 October 1864 at the Denbighshire County Cricket Ground (The Racecourse) against the Prince of Wales Fire Brigade.
As the rules of football were still somewhat fluid at the time, early matches featured teams with up to 17 players on each side (16 players when playing the Provincial Insurance Office and Chester College, 15 players against the Volunteer Fire Brigade). In these early years Wrexham were leaders of the campaign to restrict teams to having just 11 players on the pitch at any one time.
In 1876, the newly formed Football Association of Wales saw Wales play their first international match, against Scotland at The West of Scotland Cricket Club, Partick, featuring Edwin Cross and Alfred Davies as the first of many Wrexham F.C. players to play for Wales.
In the 1877–78 season the FAW inaugurated the Welsh Cup competition, to run on similar lines to the English FA Cup. The first Welsh Cup final was played at Acton Park. Wrexham got to the final of the inaugural competition, where they defeated Druids F.C. 1–0, with James Davies being credited with the goal. Because of a lack of money at the fledgling FAW, Wrexham did not receive their trophy until the next year. For their first decade, Wrexham mostly played friendly matches against both Welsh and English opposition, with the Welsh Cup providing most of their competitive football, Wrexham winning it again in 1883.
1883 also saw Wrexham's first appearance in the FA Cup, when after receiving a bye to the second round of the competition they were defeated 3–4 at home by Oswestry. Crowd trouble at the game led to the club being expelled from the Football Association, leading to the club being reformed in 1884 as Wrexham Olympic. Olympic was dropped from this club's name in 1888.
Thanks to a dispute with their landlords, who had raised the rent of the Racecourse Ground to £10 a year, Wrexham played their home games in the 1881–82 and 1882–83 seasons at Rhosddu Recreation Ground (changing the club's name to Wrexham Athletic for one season), before moving back to the Racecourse Ground for the 1883–84 season, where the club have played their home games ever since.
In 1890 Wrexham joined The Combination league, playing their first game against Gorton Villa on 6 September 1890, with Arthur Lea scoring Wrexham's only goal in a 5–1 defeat. Lea played for the club despite only having one arm as did playing colleague James Roberts. Wrexham finished the season second from bottom in eighth place in the first season.
Wrexham played in the Combination for four years before a rapid increase in costs resulted in the club joining the Welsh League in the 1894–95 season. Wrexham won the Welsh League both years that they were in it, but they then decided to return to the Combination League in 1896, as despite the reduced support they received, the savings made on their travelling expenses outweighed the reduction in gate revenue.
1905–1968: Into the Football League
The club remained in the Combination league until 1905, by which time they had managed to win the league four times. After several unsuccessful attempts Wrexham were finally elected to the Birmingham and District League in time for the beginning of the 1905–06 season. Wrexham's first ever match in this league was at home against Kidderminster Harriers at the Racecourse, and two thousand spectators witnessed Wrexham win the match 2–1. Wrexham finished sixth in their first season in this league.
During their time in the Birmingham and District League, Wrexham won the Welsh Cup six times, in 1908–09, 1909–10, 1910–11, 1913–14, 1914–15, and 1920–21. They also reached the First Round proper of the FA Cup for a second time in the 1908–09 season before losing a replay 1–2 to Exeter City after extra time.
In 1921 Wrexham were elected to the newly formed Third Division North of the Football League. Their first League game was against Hartlepools United at the Racecourse in front of 8,000 spectators. Playing in blue shirts, Wrexham were defeated 0–2. The week after this defeat Wrexham travelled north to play Hartlepools and managed to get their revenge by beating them 1–0 in a hard-earned victory.
It was during this particular season that Wrexham achieved many "firsts" in the club's history, such as when Ted Regan scored the club's first ever Football League hat-trick, and also Brian Simpson became the first Wrexham player to be sent off in a Football League game, against Southport in January 1922. Charlie Hewitt was the club's first ever manager during this period.
In the 1926–27 season the club got past the first round of the FA Cup only to be knocked out by Rhyl. The following season Wrexham fought their way to the fourth round before they lost 0–1 to Birmingham City. A record 32 league goals from Albert Mays helped Wrexham to get to third position in the division in the 1928–29 season. And later in that season Tommy Bamford made his first appearance for the club. He went on to score 201 League and Cup goals for the club during his time at the Racecourse. During the 1929–30 season the club recorded their best ever league win to date when they defeated Rochdale 8–0.
Wrexham enjoyed their best ever Third Division North season in 1932–33, when they finished runners-up to Hull City and won 18 of their 21 home games during the course of the season. This was the first season that the club appeared in their now-familiar red and white strip for the first time for the short-lived 1939–40 season.
During the Second World War years, when long cross-county trips were impossible due to the war, Wrexham played in the Regional League West against local teams from Merseyside and Manchester, amongst others in the north west region. Wrexham's position as a barracks town meant that the team could secure the services of many famous guest players such as Stanley Matthews, Stan Cullis, and others.
In the first post-war season Wrexham equalled their best ever position when they again finished third in the Third Division North. In the summer of 1949 the club made its first ever tour abroad when it played three games against the British army in Germany.
The club reached the fourth round of the FA Cup in 1956–57 where they played Manchester United's Busby Babes in front of a crowd of 34,445 people at the Racecourse, which still remains a club record. The 5–0 defeat did not spoil the occasion for the large home crowd, and later that season Wrexham managed to win the Welsh Cup for the first time in 26 years.
1960 saw the club relegated to a lower tier for the first time in their history, and they dropped into the newly created Fourth Division. But their performances improved following the appointment of Ken Barnes as player-manager. He led Wrexham to promotion to the third division in his first season in charge and oversaw the 10–1 trouncing of Hartlepool United, which is still the club's record league victory. Two years after their promotion, Wrexham were relegated to the Fourth Division again, and in 1966 they finished rock-bottom at 92nd in the Football League after an extremely disappointing season.
1968–1982: The glory years
John Neal was appointed manager of Wrexham in 1968, succeeding Alvan Williams who had brought Neal to the club as his assistant. He guided the club to a 9th place finish in 1969, before leading Wrexham to their second Football League promotion in 1970 with a second place finish and promotion to the Third Division. With Welsh clubs now able to qualify for the European Cup Winners' Cup by winning the Welsh Cup, Wrexham played their inaugural match in Europe against Swiss side FC Zurich in Switzerland on 13 September 1972, the game finishing 1–1. In the return leg Wrexham won 2–1, advancing to the second round with a 3–2 win on aggregate. The second round drew Wrexham against Yugoslav side Hajduk Split. Over the course of two games the score finished 3–3 on aggregate with Wrexham matching their more illustrious opponents, but they were knocked out of the competition due to the away goals rule.
The 1972–73 season saw the completion of the new Yale stand, with a capacity of up to 5,500. Including the terrace helped to comprise the bottom tier of the stand. The 1973–74 season saw Wrexham change their badge from the Maelor crest to a brand new badge that had a lot more resemblance to the Welsh roots of the club, with three feathers on the top of the badge and two dragons, one on either side of the badge and facing inwards. This is still the badge for today's team. This season also saw Wrexham reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in another cup run. After victories over Shrewsbury Town, Rotherham United, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Southampton, their cup run finally came to an end with a loss to first division side Burnley at Turf Moor, with 15,000 Wrexham fans present to watch the match. Also that season Wrexham just missed out on the promotion spots, finishing in 4th place at the end of the season.
1975–76 saw John Neal's starlets captained by Eddie May, again shocking the football world by reaching the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup after another sparkling cup run and defeats of several higher quality opponents. In the first round Wrexham beat Swedish team Djurgårdens IF 3–2 on aggregate. They then managed to knock out Polish side Stal Rzeszow 3–1 on aggregate. Wrexham played Belgian champions Anderlecht in the quarter-finals and narrowly lost 2–1 to the eventual winners of the competition.
The 1976–77 season saw Wrexham again beat First Division opposition in both Cup competitions as they went on another cup run, defeating Tottenham Hotspur in the Football League Cup and Sunderland in the FA Cup. However, the league season was a traumatic one as the club, on the verge of promotion to the second division with only four matches left to play, needing just three points to reach their goal, missed out after a poor run.
Arfon Griffiths took over as player-manager for the 1977–78 season. They reached both the League and FA Cup quarter-finals that season, and Wrexham finally clinched promotion to the second division when they beat Rotherham United 7–1 at a packed Racecourse, and Wrexham went on to win the Third Division Championship that year.
In the 1978–79 season Wrexham made it to the fourth round of the FA Cup, where they lost to Tottenham Hotspur 3–2 in the replay after the first game finished 3–3. The Spurs team had stars amongst their ranks such as Ossie Ardiles, Ricky Villa, and Glenn Hoddle, and Wrexham were bested in getting knocked out.
Following Arfon Griffiths' resignation from the manager's position in 1981, his assistant Mel Sutton was put in charge, with a third round FA Cup win over Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in another cup run, the highlight of the season.
1982–1991: Decline
The summer of 1982 saw Bobby Roberts appointed the club's new manager. Relegation meant the club had dire financial problems, resulting in the sale of many of the club's experienced and talented players. Frank Carrodus, Ian Edwards, Mick Vinter and Wayne Cegieski had already left during the summer, Steve Fox, Joey Jones, Dixie McNeil and Billy Ronson soon followed. Wrexham were again relegated to the Fourth Division after plummeting from apparent mid-table security. The club's slide continued into the following season, and only goal difference prevented Wrexham from being forced to apply for re-election to the League.
The 1984–85 season saw Wrexham take on FC Porto in European competition. Wrexham won the home leg with a 1–0 victory, but in the second leg Porto showed their class and were 3–0 up after 38 minutes. However, Wrexham pulled goals back and the game finished 4–3, making it 4-4 on aggregate with Wrexham advancing on away goals. The second round draw was to pair Wrexham with Italian side AS Roma, managed by Sven-Göran Eriksson. Wrexham lost 3–0 on aggregate over the two legs. Their league performance was even more dire than the previous year, and by the time Bobby Roberts was finally removed from his post, Wrexham were rock-bottom of the entire Football League.
Former Racecourse favourite Dixie McNeil was appointed caretaker manager, and immediately inspired a revival that saw Wrexham win 7 of their last 10 matches and comfortably finish clear of having to apply for re-election, which earned him the job on a permanent basis that summer. His first season in charge saw the team finish mid-table position in an average season, he led the team to a Welsh Cup final win over Kidderminster Harriers. 1986 saw Wrexham make a return to European football with a first round draw against Maltese side FC Zurrieq, whom they beat 7–0 on aggregate to earn a second round tie against Real Zaragoza which they drew 2–2 with on aggregate but they went out on away goals.
Following the Bradford City stadium fire in May 1985, legislation on ground safety at all football grounds was brought into effect. This eventually led to the closure of the Mold Road stand because it did not reach the necessary safety standards. Led by Dixie McNeil, Wrexham reached the Fourth Division play-offs in 1989, having finished seventh in the league. Wrexham beat Scunthorpe United in the semi-final 5–1 on aggregate, but narrowly lost to Leyton Orient 2–1 in the final. After Wrexham started the next season with just 3 wins from 13 league games, Dixie McNeil resigned before his inevitable sacking.
He was replaced, initially on a temporary basis, by Brian Flynn, but his appointment was made permanent a month later. However the club continued to struggle domestically, and Flynn was forced to make three important signings in Mark Sertori, Eddie Youds and Alan Kennedy which saw the team finish in twenty-first place, therefore avoiding relegation.
At the start of the 1990–91 season it was announced there would be no relegation to the Conference Premier as a team had already voluntarily left the league. That season Wrexham were to finish in ninety-second place. Wrexham were knocked-out of the European Cup Winners' Cup in the second round by Manchester United 5–0 on aggregate, who eventually went on to win the trophy.
1991–2001: Giant Killers
The 1991–92 season saw Wrexham still in a poor financial state, as they continued to struggle on the field. With the club knocked out of the League Cup and struggling in the league, it was left to the FA Cup to keep the season alive. Having beaten Telford United and Winsford United, they were drawn to play the previous season's First Division champions Arsenal. Wrexham produced one of their most memorable nights to beat the Gunners 2–1 after being behind, with a thunderous Mickey Thomas free kick and a Steve Watkin goal. They lost in the next round to West Ham United 1–0 in a replay after the first game had finished 2–2.
In an attempt to change the fortunes of the club after several seasons in the doldrums at the bottom of the football league pyramid, the 1992–93 season saw Wrexham manager Brian Flynn make a shrewd signing when he enlisted the services of Gary Bennett, who soon settled and helped Wrexham into the promotion race. Wrexham's season came to a head on 27 April 1993 when with two games left they travelled to Northampton Town requiring a win to gain promotion to the next tier of the English football. The game ended with a 2–0 victory to Wrexham and the 5,500 travelling "Reds" supporters there were jubilant when promotion had finally been achieved.
The 1994–95 season would see Wrexham achieve more success in cup competitions, this time going on a run through the FA Cup. Having beaten Stockport County and Rotherham United, they faced Premier League side Ipswich Town at the Racecourse, with Wrexham running out 2–1 winners thanks to goals from Gary Bennett and Kieron Durkan. In the next round, Wrexham were drawn away to Manchester United and despite taking the lead at Old Trafford, United went on to win 5–2.
The 1995–96 season once again saw Wrexham in European action, with their opposition this time coming in the form of Romanian team Petrolul Ploiești; the home leg ended in a 0–0 draw but Wrexham lost 1–0 in the away leg, with the Romanians scoring the only goal of the match, and Wrexham were subsequently knocked out of the tournament.
The 1996–97 season saw Wrexham set off on another amazing run in the FA Cup and beating more top flight opposition. Following wins at Colwyn Bay and Scunthorpe United, they were drawn to play West Ham United at home, the game ending in a 1–1 draw on a snow-covered pitch after a well earned draw. The replay at Upton Park ended in a shock 1–0 win to Wrexham as Kevin Russell scored in the dying minutes to send Wrexham into the fourth round. After also beating Peterborough United and Birmingham City in the following rounds, they played Chesterfield in an all-Division-2 FA Cup quarter final, Wrexham narrowly losing to the Spireites 1–0.
June 1997 was the date for the official opening of Colliers Park, which was Wrexham's new training ground and was situated just outside Gresford on Chester Road. It was built at a cost of £750,000 and is widely regarded to be one of the best training grounds outside of the top flight. It has been used for training by many visiting teams that play at a higher standard over the years.
The 1999–2000 season saw Wrexham again beat a top-flight team in the FA Cup, this time in the shape of Middlesbrough. The final score of the match was 2–1, with the second half goals coming from Robin Gibson and Darren Ferguson after being behind to the Premiership outfit. Wrexham went on to win the FAW Premier Cup in May 2001.
2001–2008: Administration and the slide into non-League football
At the start of the 21st century the club was dogged with many problems off the pitch, including then chairman Alex Hamilton, attempting to get the club evicted from the stadium so that he could use and sell it for his own development purposes – the saga involved the sale of the Racecourse Ground to a separate company owned by Hamilton immediately after he became the club's chairman. In the summer of 2004 Hamilton gave the club a year's notice to quit the ground.
The club's fans developed an affinity with the fans of fellow football league club Brighton & Hove Albion, who themselves had managed to successfully depose their chairman and keep control of their stadium after he had sold the ground for development purposes in almost the same circumstances. On 3 December 2004 the club was placed in financial administration by the High Court in Manchester as the club owed £2,600,000, including £800,000 which was owed to the Inland Revenue in unpaid taxes. Wrexham became the first League club to suffer a ten-point deduction under the new rule for being placed in administration, dropping them from the middle of the League One table to the relegation zone after the point deduction, and subsequently condemned Wrexham to relegation.
Despite their financial troubles, Wrexham went on to win the 2004–05 Football League Trophy by defeating Southend United 2–0 after extra time, in Wrexham's first appearance at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. The winning goals were scored by Juan Ugarte and Darren Ferguson as Wrexham ran out winners in front of nearly 20,000 Wrexham fans. Wrexham still retained an outside chance of escaping the drop in the 2004–05 season following an end-of-season winning streak; however, their faint hopes of staying up were ended with a 2–1 home loss to Brentford on 3 May 2005. The 10-point deduction proved decisive in determining Wrexham's fate, as the club finished with 43 points compared to 20th-placed Milton Keynes Dons' 51 – a net points tally of 53 after deduction, which had condemned them to relegation.
In October 2005, Birmingham High Court decided that Alex Hamilton's company CrucialMove had improperly acquired the freehold of the ground and the decision went against him. Hamilton then took this to the Appeal Court in London and it ruled on 14 March 2006 that the stadium must remain in the hands of the club's administrators. On 30 April 2006 the administrators reached an agreement with local car dealer Neville Dickens, subject to agreement by the shareholders and creditors (which was achieved on 30 May), for Dickens to take over control of the club and all its assets. Had the club still been in administration by 3 June then Wrexham would have automatically been expelled from the League because of their financial situation. Wrexham Football Club (2006) Ltd is the name of the "phoenix" company that took over the assets of the old Wrexham Association Football Club Limited – technically, the club is no longer known as Wrexham Association Football Club due to the takeover of the club by Neville Dickens and Geoff Moss and their associates; this is reflected on new merchandise, although most fans will still refer to it as "Wrexham AFC".
The 2006–07 season started well for Wrexham, as they went 8 games unbeaten. However, the club would then struggle with Denis Smith eventually being sacked in January 2007 with Wrexham in the bottom half of the division and after a poor run of results. He was replaced by coach Brian Carey. Wrexham finished 19th in League Two with 51 points after an impressive late run of form which saw them win 4 out of their last 5 games, which included defeating local rivals Shrewsbury in the last derby match at Gay Meadow. Wrexham's league status was saved on the last day of the season with a vital 3–1 victory on 5 May 2007 over Boston United at home which sent their opponents down to the Conference Premier and ensured that Wrexham would stay in the Football League.
Expectations were high for the 2007–08 season, with fans expecting a promotion push. However, the season started badly with the club in 24th by November 2007. Brian Carey was eventually sacked, and on 15 November 2007, Brian Little was named as Wrexham's new manager and the replacement to Carey, who took the role of assistant manager. After a promising start to his reign, Wrexham experienced a run of seven straight league defeats, prompting the club to bring in eleven new players during the January transfer window. Wrexham went six matches unbeaten before some poor form which saw defeats against some fellow strugglers. Wrexham were finally relegated to non-League following a 2–0 defeat away at Hereford United, ending the club's 87-year stay in the Football League.
2008–2020: The non-League years
The 2008–09 season started well, with a 5–0 home victory against Stevenage Borough. However a run of poor results followed, with Wrexham being left in the mid-table battle, only four points above the relegation zone and only keeping two clean sheets all season. Following a 3–0 home defeat against Rushden and Diamonds, and fans calling for his dismissal, Little left Wrexham by mutual consent. Little was replaced by Dean Saunders. Wrexham's first full season in the Conference Premier ended in a disappointing 10th place. The following year, 2009–10, ended in a similar fashion with Wrexham finishing in 11th position, well off the pace of the promotion battle.
In March 2011, the ownership of the club became subject to two bids: one from Wrexham Supporters' Trust and another from local businesswoman Stephanie Booth. Wrexham's MP and AM indicated that they would prefer Wrexham Supporters' Trust to secure the bid. A third bid later came in, but after WST and Booth came to an agreement, their bid was then re-accepted. In April 2011, the club were served with a winding up order from HMRC, with an unpaid tax bill of just under £200,000. The team finished the 2010–11 season in 4th place, qualifying for a play-off spot, but were beaten 5–1 on aggregate by Luton Town in the semi-final.
During the 2011–12 season, Wrexham were invited back into the Welsh Cup after 16 years, entering at the third round stage. New manager Andy Morrell guided Wrexham to a record tally of 98 points but this was not enough to gain automatic promotion, as they ended the season only 5 points adrift of Fleetwood Town, who gained the only automatic place. Wrexham lost in the play-offs to Luton Town again. Wrexham earned themselves places in both the FA Trophy final and the Conference Premier play-off final, their first two appearances at Wembley Stadium in the club's 150-year history to date, and within five weeks of one another. In the FA Trophy final, Wrexham won on penalties after a 1–1 draw with Grimsby Town. A 5–2 aggregate win over Kidderminster Harriers in the two-legged play-off semi-final saw Wrexham through to the final versus Newport County, the first play-off final to feature two Welsh teams; Newport defeated Wrexham 2–0.
In February 2014, Andy Morrell stepped down as manager. Billy Barr was appointed as interim manager before being replaced a few weeks later by Kevin Wilkin. Wrexham finished the 2013–14 season in 17th place. In 2018–19, Wrexham finished in 4th place but lost the play-off quarter-final to Eastleigh. In 2019–20, the club finished 19th on points per game after the season was ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lowest position in the club's 150-year history.
2020–present: New owners, return to EFL
In November 2020, Canadian-American actor Ryan Reynolds and American actor Rob McElhenney, through their RR McReynolds Company LLC, bought the club. The deal received the backing of 98.6% of the 2,000 members of the Wrexham Supporters Trust that voted and was completed in February 2021. They were included in FIFA 22 as part of the "Rest of World" section, becoming the first non-league team to be featured in the series. In 2021–22, Wrexham finished 2nd before losing the play-off semi-final 5–4 to Grimsby Town after extra time. Wrexham also reached the 2022 FA Trophy final which they lost 1–0 to Bromley.
Following the takeover, a docuseries called Welcome to Wrexham was announced to be in production for FX with Boardwalk Pictures. The series debuted on 24 August 2022 on FX and Hulu in the United States, followed by a release on Disney+ in the United Kingdom and Ireland the next day. The acquisition by Reynolds and McElhenney and the attendant publicity from Welcome to Wrexham had a significant impact on the club's visibility, leading to its acquiring a new global fanbase with no precedent for a team in the fifth division. The club's fortunes began to attract dedicated coverage from global sporting media that would not typically be afforded teams outside the Premier League. This in turn inspired debate about the potential replicability of this strategy for other lesser-known clubs and leagues, with The Guardian remarking that "everybody wants to ‘do a Wrexham’, but not everybody can."
During the 2022–23 season, the team progressed to the fourth round in the 2022–23 FA Cup, being the only National League team to do so, beating Coventry City in an upset in the third round, and eventually being knocked out by Sheffield United in a replay. The first game against Sheffield United, which ended in a 3–3 draw, was ESPN's most followed football game across its digital platforms. Wrexham vied with Notts County throughout the season to lead the league, trading the first spot back and forth, and both setting new National League records for wins, goals, and goal difference, while 20+ points ahead of the third place team by the end of the season. On 22 April 2023, Wrexham secured winning their first league title in 45 years, and were promoted to the EFL League Two after a 15 year absence, following a 3–1 win against Boreham Wood. The club amassed a tally of 111 points that season, a record for the top five divisions of English league football, beating Notts County to the championship and single automatic promotion spot.
On 5 August 2023, Wrexham played their first Football League match in 15 years, losing at home to MK Dons.
Sponsorship
Wrexham's home kit is red shirts, white shorts, and white socks. The club have played in a predominantly red kit with white features since the late 1930s. The away kit is white shirts, red shorts and red socks. In 2014–15, to celebrate the club's 150th anniversary, Wrexham wore a red and black hooped Nike home shirt as this was the club's first ever recorded home shirt. Macron have been the kit supplier of Wrexham AFC since 2016 and helped arrange a pre-season training camp for the first team in pre-season 2017 in Portugal where over 600 supporters travelled over to support the team in a 2–1 win over Louletano. They still visit Portugal each summer.
In April 2011, Wrexham signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Greene King brewery. This was cancelled in September after Glyndŵr University bought the Racecourse, as the university had an exclusive deal with another brewery. Starting with the kits for the 2021-22 seasons, the back neck of the shirt has the number "1934" embroidered in, in remembrance of the Gresford disaster. In May 2023, the team's training kit was announced to be sponsored by Betty Buzz, a beverage company owned by Ryan Reynolds' wife Blake Lively, for the 2023–24 season.
Kit manufacturers and sponsors
Source:
Stadium
Since 1864, Wrexham have played their home games at The Racecourse Ground, situated on the Mold Road, which is the main through road heading into Wrexham; it is opposite the residential area of Maesgwyn, situated between Glyndŵr University and Wrexham General railway station. In August 2011 Glyndŵr University purchased the stadium and the club training facilities in Gresford, adding their name to the stadium for it to become The Glyndŵr University Racecourse Stadium. Subsequently, in 2016, Wrexham Supporters Trust secured a 99-year lease on the ground, and the name reverted to the Racecourse Ground. The capacity is 10,500, which made it one of the largest stadiums in the National League.
In June 2022, Wrexham AFC purchased the Racecourse Ground freehold from the university and are planning renovations to the stadium.
Support
In August 2011, Wrexham were faced with being expelled from the Football Conference, fans rallied and raised £127,000 in one day to help pay a bond, so they could secure football for the forthcoming season. A month later the Wrexham Supporters' Trust (WST) took over day-to-day running of the club. Fan ownership of Wrexham was finally ratified on 12 December 2011. As of May 2015 the WST had 4,129 adult members and joint-owners of the club.
As well as the city of Wrexham, support is drawn from the surrounding towns and villages of the district, such as Gwersyllt and Rhos, the Flintshire towns of Mold, Buckley, Holywell and Deeside. For the 2013 FA Trophy final coaches of Wrexham fans came from many North Wales towns including; Bala, Bangor, Caernarfon, Colwyn Bay, Denbigh, Flint, Llandudno, Prestatyn, Rhyl and Ruthin. Additionally, many Wrexham fans reside in Shropshire. Exiled supporters clubs can be found in South Wales, Manchester and London. Over the past 15 years, even as a lower-league side, Wrexham have been able to attract gates of 11,000+ for big games at the Racecourse.
Famous Wrexham fans include Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Royal butler Paul Burrell, actor and television presenter Tim Vincent, actor Llŷr Ifans, actor and Comedian Ted Robbins, Sweet guitarist Andy Scott, Lloyd Roberts of rock band Neck Deep, 2012 Olympian weightlifter Gareth Evans, Sky Sports reporter Bryn Law, Rugby World Cup Referee Nigel Owens and former footballers Neil Roberts, Robbie Savage and Mark Hughes.
Rivalries
Wrexham has a fierce rivalry with Chester, the clubs are just 10 miles apart, but are Welsh and English respectively. The two contest the Cross-Border Derby, the first match was held in 1888 with Wrexham running out 3–2 winners at Faulkner Street, the former home of Chester City, the last derby, to date, was played at the Swansway Chester Stadium where Wrexham won 1–0 on 8 November 2017. Wrexham lead the head-to-head rivalry with 67 wins compared to Chester's 50. Games between the two are classed as "high risk" for potential of disorder and are generally moved to early kick-offs with a large police presence to prevent it, though arrests do still occur for various offences surrounding the fans of both clubs.
Former Chester City player Lee Dixon said of the derby "I'm telling you, Chester versus Wrexham was a real derby! It's difficult to compare if you've not played in each one but there's something special about any derby at any level. I played for Chester v Wrexham and that could get ferocious, It lost nothing in ferocity compared to Arsenal v Spurs". Former Wales and Liverpool striker Ian Rush who played for both clubs, said in 2013 the Cross-border derby between the two clubs is "as intense as they come" and "It is like Wales v England really, it is incredible".
Wrexham also have a fierce rivalry with Shrewsbury Town and Tranmere Rovers due to geographical proximity. The games are often moved to early kick-offs, in accordance with police wishes, to minimise the potential of trouble as has happened between clubs previously. In 2003, 32 hooligans were jailed after a Tranmere v Wrexham match at Prenton Park and trouble was again evident when the two clubs met in a 2013 friendly at the Racecourse Ground. Though not as intense as they once were, due to divisional differences, Crewe Alexandra and Port Vale, as well as fellow Welsh clubs Cardiff City, Newport County and Swansea City are also classed as rivals. Wrexham is represented by a hooligan firm known as the 'Front Line' that have been involved in major disorder around Britain since the early 1980s.
Team mascot
Wrex the Dragon is the official team mascot of Wrexham. The mascot, along with the team nickname "The Dragons", was introduced in 2001–02 by the Commercial manager following a ballot of fans to help increase sponsorship and promote the club's Welsh image whilst also providing a more original nickname as Bristol City, Swindon Town and Cheltenham Town also use the nickname of 'The Robins'. 'Wrex' wears a red face and Wrexham F.C. shirt wearing the number "1864".
Training ground
Wrexham's training ground was the purpose-built Colliers Park, in neighbouring Gresford. When the construction had been completed it was officially opened in June 1997, at a building cost of £750,000. It is widely regarded in British football as one of the best training grounds outside of the top flight and one of the best never to have been used by a top-flight team. The England national team, Barcelona, Rangers and the Wales national team have all used it for training purposes. Colliers Park continues to be improved; a running hill, as well as all-weather pitches and a small stand have been constructed since the facilities opened in 1997. Andy Rupp. Colliers Park is now owned by Glyndwr University as part of their purchase of the Racecourse Ground assets.
For the beginning of the 2016–17 season, Wrexham moved back to their former training ground at Stansty Park. This is also the home of Welsh National League side Lex Glyndwr. Wrexham did however retain the use of Colliers Park for Youth and Reserve fixtures. After one season training at Stansty Park, Wrexham announced they would be moving to a new training ground at Nine Acre for the beginning of the 2017–18 season based near the city centre. Wrexham occasionally train at their former site, Colliers Park.
Players
Squad
Out on loan
Notable former players
For all players with a Wikipedia article see Wrexham A.F.C. players
Hall of Fame
The following are members of the Wrexham A.F.C. Hall of Fame. Entry is not restricted to players; anyone who has made a great contribution to the club in any capacity can be considered.
Billy Ashcroft
Tommy Bamford
Tommy Bannan
Ken Barnes
Gary Bennett
Horace Blew
Brian Carey
Mark Carrington
Ron Chaloner
Carroll Clark
Karl Connolly
Dai Davies
Gareth Davies
Carlos Edwards
Johnny Edwards
Mickey Evans
Brian Flynn
Alan Fox
Bert Goode
Arfon Griffiths
Pryce Griffiths
Phil Hardy
Ron Hewitt
Alf Jones
Joey Jones
Albert Kinsey
Dennis Lawrence
Brian Lloyd
Cliff Lloyd
Andy Marriott
Tommy Matthias
Eddie May
Ally McGowan
Sammy McMillan
Dixie McNeil
Andy Morrell
John Neal
Gareth Owen
Ted Robinson
Kevin Russell
Bobby Shinton
George Showell
Denis Smith
Ray Smith
Mel Sutton
Mickey Thomas
Billy Tunnicliffe
Graham Whittle
Mike Williams
Wrexham Supporters Trust
Player of the Year
Player records
Most goals in a season in all competitions: Tommy Bamford – 51 (1933–34)
Most League goals in a season: Tommy Bamford – 44 (1933–34, Division Three North)
Most league goals in total: Tommy Bamford – 175
Most hat tricks: Tommy Bamford – 16
Most goals scored in a single game by one player: Andy Morrell – 7 (against Merthyr Tydfil, 16 February 2000)
Most league appearances: 592 – Arfon Griffiths (1959–61, 1962–79)
Most appearances in total: 713 - Arfon Griffiths (1959–61, 1962–79)
Most capped player: 146 - Daniel Bennett, Singapore
Most caps while at Wrexham: 49 – Dennis Lawrence, Trinidad & Tobago
Oldest player: Bobby Roberts – 43 years, 88 days (against Worcester City, 29 October 1983)
Youngest player: Ken Roberts – 15 years, 158 days (against Bradford PA, 1 September 1951)
Reserves
Between 1988 and 1995 the reserve team of Wrexham played in the Welsh football leagues.
On 2 August 2022, Wrexham announced their participation in the upcoming 2022–23 Central League season.
Team records
Attendance – 34,445 v Manchester United, FA Cup 4th round, 26 January 1957
League attendance – 29,261 v Chester City, Division Three, 26 December 1936
Average attendance – 11,651, 1977–78
Highest league win – 10–1 v Hartlepools United, 3 March 1962
Worst league defeat – 9–0 v Brentford, Division Three, 15 October 1963
Biggest cup win – 6–0 v Charlton Athletic, FA Cup 3rd round, 5 January 1980
Most games won in a row – 10, 5 April 2003 – 8 May 2003, 2002–03
Most league wins in a season – 34, 2022–23
Most goals in a season – 115, 2022–23
Longest unbeaten run – 28, October 2022 – 7 April 2023, 2022–23
Most consecutive league clean sheets – 7, 9 October – 26 November, 2011–12
Most clean sheets in a season – 26, 1973–74 and 2018–19
Highest transfer received – £800,000 for Bryan Hughes, Birmingham City, 1997
Highest transfer fee paid – £300,000 for Ollie Palmer, AFC Wimbledon, 2022
European record
European Cup Winners' Cup:
Club officials
Coaching staff
Board of Directors
Honorary
Managerial history
1925 Charlie Hewitt
1929 Jack Baynes
1932 Ernest Blackburn
1937 Jimmy Logan
1938 Tom Morgan
1940 Tom Williams
1949 Les McDowall
1950 Peter Jackson
1954 Cliff Lloyd
1957 John Love
1960 Billy Morris
1961 Ken Barnes
1965 Billy Morris
1966 Jack Rowley
1967 Alvan Williams
1968 John Neal
1977 Arfon Griffiths
1981 Mel Sutton
1982 Bobby Roberts
1985 Dixie McNeil
1989 Brian Flynn
2001 Denis Smith
2007 Brian Carey
2007 Brian Little
2008 Dean Saunders
2011 Andy Morrell
2014 Kevin Wilkin
2015 Gary Mills
2016 Dean Keates
2018 Sam Ricketts
2018 Graham Barrow
2019 Bryan Hughes
2019 Dean Keates
2021 Phil Parkinson
Honours
Wrexham AFC's honours include:
League
Third Division (level 3)
Champions: 1977–78
Fourth Division / Third Division (level 4)
Runners-up: 1969–70, 1992–93
Promoted: 1961–62, 2002–03
National League (level 5)
Champions: 2022–23
The Combination
Champions: 1900–01, 1901–02, 1902–03, 1904–05
Welsh Senior League
Champions: 1894–95, 1895–96
Cup
Football League Trophy
Winners: 2004–05
FA Trophy
Winners: 2012–13
Runners-up: 2014–15, 2021–22
Football League North Cup
Winners: 1943–44
FAW Premier Cup
Winners: 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04 (Record)
Welsh Cup
Winners (23): 1877–78, 1882–83, 1892–93, 1896–97, 1902–03, 1904–05, 1908–09, 1909–10, 1910–11, 1913–14, 1914–15, 1920–21, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1930–31, 1956–57, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1994–95 (Record)
Supporters Direct Cup
Winners: 2015–16 (Shared)
Literature
Wrexham related books
Wrexham FC 1872–1950 by Peter Jones and Gareth Davies
Wrexham FC 1950–2000 by Peter Jones and Gareth Davies
Wrexham – A Complete Record 1872 – 1992 by Peter Jones
Wrexham; The European era by Peter Jones
Wrexham; Through The Trap Door by Peter Jones
Wrexham FC, An A-Z history by Dean Hayes
The Racecourse Robins from Adams to Youds by Peter Jones and Gareth Davies
The Giant Killers; a Wrexham fan's view by Richard Partington
Wrexham Football Club Pen-Portraits by Don Meredith
Tinseltown: Hollywood and the Beautiful Game - A Match Made In Wrexham by Ian Herbert
The Wrexham football team plays a significant role in the 1994 Peter Davies book Twenty Two Foreigners in Funny Shorts which was written for the World Cup in the US. It also profiles the Robins' ongoing and ultimately successful promotion effort.
See also
Club of Pioneers
List of Wrexham A.F.C. seasons
List of Wrexham A.F.C. records and statistics
Welcome to Wrexham
Notes
References
External links
Sport in Wrexham
English Football League clubs
National League (English football) clubs
Association football clubs established in 1864
Welsh football clubs in English leagues
EFL Trophy winners
Sport in Wrexham County Borough
1864 establishments in Wales
Football clubs in Wrexham
Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian%20Socialist%20Party
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Bulgarian Socialist Party
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The Bulgarian Socialist Party (, BSP), also known as The Centenarian (), is a centre-left, social democratic political party in Bulgaria. The BSP is a member of the Socialist International, Party of European Socialists, and Progressive Alliance. Although founded in 1990 in its modern form, it traces its political heritage back to the founding of the BRDSP in 1891. It is also Bulgaria's largest party by membership numbers.
History
The Centenarian moniker comes from the fact that the BSP is recognized as the successor of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Party, which was founded on 2 August 1891 on Buzludzha peak by Dimitar Blagoev, designated in 1903 as the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party (Narrow Socialists), and later as the Bulgarian Communist Party. After the political changes brought by the Revolutions of 1989, it abandoned Marxism–Leninism and refounded itself as the BSP in April 1990.
The party formed a government after the 1990 Bulgarian Constitutional Assembly election but was forced to resign after a general strike that December. A non-partisan government led by Dimitar Iliev Popov took over until the 1991 Bulgarian parliamentary election later in October. In the aftermath, the party was confined to opposition. As part of the Democratic Left coalition, a forerunner of the BSP for Bulgaria, it helped form a new government in 1995, headed by BSP leader Zhan Videnov as the prime minister of Bulgaria. Large-scale demonstrations in the cities and a general strike prevented the formation of a new socialist government after its term ended at the end of 1996. The country had entered into a spiral of hyperinflation, the most serious economic and financial crisis in its recent history, after the shock therapy and privatization policies, also followed to various degrees by other post-Communist countries.
In the 2001 Bulgarian presidential election, party chairman Georgi Parvanov was elected the president of Bulgaria on the second round, defeating on the second ballot incumbent candidate Petar Stoyanov from the Union of Democratic Forces (SDS). Parvanov resigned as party chairman and was succeeded by Sergey Stanishev. It was a break of the two-party system between the BSP and the SDS.
After two full terms out of power (1997–2001), the BSP-led Coalition for Bulgaria won the 2005 Bulgarian parliamentary election with 31.0% of the vote but without a governing majority, and formed the Stanishev Government, headed by the prime minister and BSP chairman Stanishev, with the centrist and social-liberal parties National Movement Simeon II and the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (DPS), respectively. In the 2006 Bulgarian presidential election, Parvanov was re-elected in a landslide, becoming the first Bulgarian president to do so in direct elections. In 2007, Bulgaria joined the European Union. The governing BSP-led coalition lost millions of euros of financial aid in the wake of allegations of widespread political corruption. The cabinet was also unable to react to the encroaching global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and its term ended with a budget deficit after several successive surplus years.
In the 2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election, the BSP was defeated by the new conservative party GERB, obtaining 37 out of 240 parliamentary seats (18%), and went into opposition. GERB assumed power through an anti-communist and anti-Turkish platform, calling the previous BSP-led government communist even though, as written in Jacobin by sociologist Jana Tsoneva, that government "had introduced some of the most radical neoliberal policies." In the 2013 Bulgarian parliamentary election, the party took 26.6% of the votes, second behind GERB with 30.5%. Plamen Oresharski, the party's candidate for prime minister, and the Oresharski Government were elected with the parliament support of the BSP and the DPS. The appointment of the controversial media mogul Delyan Peevski as head of the state security agency DANS sparked large-scale protests on 14 June. Protests against the Oresharski cabinet continued until the government resigned in July 2014. In the 2017 Bulgarian parliamentary election, the BSP made big gains but not enough to govern, as GERB made smaller gains as well, and the party remained in opposition to the Third Borisov Government, which included the far right United Patriots.
The BSP supported the 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests and led the left-wing opposition for a failed non-confidence vote. The protests ended when the prime minister Boyko Borisov resigned, but results after the April 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election proved to be fragmented. After failed attempts from the BSP to form a government in the aftermath of an inconclusive July 2021 Bulgarian parliamentary election, the political crisis continued, as no government without the participation of Borissov could be formed, despite an anti-GERB majority. In addition, Korneliya Ninova, the party leader since 2016, has faced internal struggle, as the party has not been in government since 2013; the BSP has hesitated, depending on public opinion, between backing and rejecting There Is Such a People, the populist party created ahead of the anti-government protests and with the most seats. A third snap election for November 2021, this time also at the presidential level (2021 Bulgarian general election), ensued to solve the crisis. Following the election, Ninova decided to step down again although she will remain the chairman of BSP until the next party congress which will be held in January.
BSP agreed to be a part of the Petkov Government, together with PP, ITN and DB, receiving the ministries of social care, healthcare, agriculture and economy, with Chairwoman Korneliya Ninova also receiving the position of Deputy Prime Minister.
During the January Congress, Ninova's resignation was rejected, meaning that Ninova continued on as Chairwoman of the BSP, until the end of her mandate in 2024.
Ideology
Founded as the legal successor to the Bulgarian Communist Party, the BSP describes itself as a democratic socialist party, espousing socialist policies and values, while supporting a social market economy. It has also been described as a populist, and social-democratic party. The party's policies have oscillated during its existence from a customary understanding of socialism during the Videnov era, to a more social-liberal worldview under Stanishev, to a socially conservative strain of socialism under Ninova.
Like most Party of European Socialists (PES) member parties, the BSP has a pro-European stance, although it has taken some Eurosceptic positions and called for an end to sanctions against Russia. Some news outlets, such as Novinite, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, have described its orientation as soft Russophilia.
In recent times under the leadership of Korneliya Ninova and unlike the majority of PES parties, the BSP has been described as more conservative on social issues, and like European Union politics it is more divided, with some leaders, such as Ninova, opposing same-sex marriage in Bulgaria. Many party leaders opposed the Istanbul Convention because they were against educating children about sexuality if it also meant same-sex relationships, and after a long debate decided to vote against it, despite internal division about it. Former BSP leader and then-PES head Sergey Stanishev strongly supported the Istanbul Convention. Under her leadership, BSP additionally shifted to a more nationalist position.
Membership
The party is the largest in Bulgaria by number of members, having 105,000 members as of 2016, down from 130,000 in 2013, 150,000 in 2012, 210,000 in 2009, 250,000 in 1996, and around 1 million members during the late period of the People's Republic of Bulgaria. In 2020, it had 80,236 members.
List of chairmen
Videnov Era
During the chairmanship of Zhan Videnov, the party followed the customary line for socialist parties – it rejected the large-scale privatization efforts of the SDS and instead moved toward a "mass" or "social" privatization campaign, which was intended to allow working and middle-class individuals ("the masses") to obtain stocks in various enterprises earmarked for privatization, as opposed to those shares only being sold to private investors on the stock market. The party under Videnov opposed what was perceived as the strong political and economic over-reliance on the United States, and instead sought to foster more friendly relations with the neighbouring PASOK-ruled Greece and SPS-ruled FR Yugoslavia.
Parvanov Era
Parvanov, who had also been on the Bulgarian-Greek Parliamentary Friendship Committee, and was later elected as president of Bulgaria, chose to keep a degree of public distancing between party and state institutions and instead resigned his membership in the party following his elections. Though the Bulgarian constitution requires the President to resign any leadership positions within political parties, it does not require the officeholder to give up his party membership completely. He instead hand-picked Sergey Stanishev as his successor for the position. During his chairmanship, however, he opposed the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. He stated that this was not a position against NATO, but only against its military operation. He stated that he would support Bulgaria's entry into NATO, but insisted that such an accession should only happen after negotiations with Russia. Though he was considered a member of the party's liberal wing, Parvanov also reached out to its more left-wing members and restored the party membership of Todor Zhivkov, who ruled the country for over 30 years during the socialist period and who was still very popular among socialists.
After having successfully completed two presidential terms, he re-joined the socialist party and initially put himself forward for another mandate as chairman, but withdrew it before the party's congress in 2012. Two years later, he was expelled from the party for "damaging its prestige", which he condemned as an authoritarian decision by the party's authorities. He then became the first former chairman to found his own separate party - the Alternative for Bulgarian Revival.
Stanishev Era
Sergey Stanishev was noted in his policy shift away from the traditional understanding of the left, and toward a more pro-Western, pro-European and social-liberal worldview. Having formed what was dubbed a 'liberal' tripartite coalition, he signed the accords for Bulgaria's entry into the European Union and NATO, while also implementing economic reforms that were criticised as being neoliberal and contrary to socialism, such as the flat tax that replaced progressive taxation in the country. Because of this, he became highly polarizing within the socialist party, generating harsh internal opposition and leading to the defection of the party's leftmost wing, the 'Marxist platform'. Having decisively lost in the 2009 election, he was successful in managing to form a government after the 2013 election, however his approach backfired, as it required the parliamentary support of the pro-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms and nationalist Attack, both of which proved incredibly controversial. This led to protests, culminating in the resignations of both Stanishev and the government. Following the end of his chairmanship, the party adopted what was popularly dubbed the "anti-Stanishev amendment", which effectively barred him from returning to this position in the future. Stanishev then left Bulgarian politics and instead moved to the European level, where he was elected as the chairman for the Party of European Socialists.
Mikov Era
Mihail Mikov entered into his chairmanship under a promise to "consolidate and modernise" the party, as well as "protect its socialist and social democratic ideals", adding that the party's foremost responsibility was "the rehabilitation of the social state". However the unpopularity of the government led to a major decrease in support for the BSP, due to its association with the pro-Turkish Movement for Rights and Freedoms and nationalist Attack. In the 2014 Bulgarian parliamentary election the party obtained its worst result on record by that point. Mikov accepted responsibility for the result and chose to go into opposition. He nevertheless ran for re-election as Chairman of the Socialist Party, but lost to Korneliya Ninova, thus becoming the first incumbent socialist chairman to lose his bid for re-election. Ninova then became the first woman to be elected as the party's chairperson.
Ninova Era
Ninova's initial approach to managing the party was to present for election independent popular candidates, who nevertheless shared much of the socialists' worldview, as the party's candidates. This was exemplified by her decision to back Rumen Radev, previously the non-partisan head of the Bulgarian Air Force in the 2016 Bulgarian presidential election. Radev, though nominally running as an independent candidate, was still nominated by the socialists and ran with Iliana Iotova, a leading socialist, as Vice president. This proved to be a recipe for success, as Radev convincingly defeated GERB candidate Tsetska Tsacheva in the election and was elected as President of Bulgaria. Ninova then managed moderate improvements in the party's electoral performance during the 2019 European Parliament election in Bulgaria. Despite this, the socialists were not able to overtake GERB and Ninova handed in her resignation, only to withdraw it shortly before it was due to be voted. The party also improved its results in the 2019 Bulgarian local elections, increasing its support across the board in the Bulgarian local scene and even winning some districts of the capital Sofia, a city known as a bastion of centre-right and right-wing politics. The socialists even nearly managed to win the position of Mayor of Sofia, with the party's candidate Maya Manolova narrowly losing out to the incumbent Yordanka Fandakova.
However and much more controversially, around this time Ninova began to shift the party's orientation toward traditionalism and social conservatism, advocating against same-sex marriage and the Istanbul Convention, as well as taking a harsh stance against perceived 'gender ideology'.
These changes to the party's philosophy also proved very internally divisive, and many factions formed to oppose Ninova within her own party, further galvanized by the fact that Ninova had taken part in privatization deals during the 90s. This internal opposition also accused Ninova of acting in a very authoritarian manner in attempting to crush internal dissent, comparing her to SDS leader Ivan Kostov. Because of this, the party suffered numerous defections. Several party branches disassociated themselves from the party, Maya Manolova refused to renew her membership and instead went on to form her own party Stand Up.BG, a significant portion of the party's parliamentary caucus left to form the Bulgarian Progressive Line, while a portion of the party's old-school membership left to form the Left Union for a Clean and Holy Republic, a broad left-wing alliance led by former BSP Chairman Zhan Videnov. Tatyana Doncheva's Movement 21 also refused to align itself with its former mother party, the BSP, and instead chose to join Stand Up.BG in creating the Stand Up.BG! We are coming! alliance. A faction of those within the internal opposition that still remained in the party formed the 'Socialism of the 21st century platform', which stated that it would fight Ninova's 'usurpation' of the party and work to 'restore the public image of socialism as the path to a more just and secure society'. According to this internal platform, the party under Ninova had become a leaderist power broker party, separated from its 150-year history.
Due to these and other reasons, the BSP obtained poor results during three consecutive snap parliamentary elections held in 2021, with the party obtaining its worst electoral result in its history. Due to this bad electoral performance, Ninova was asked, but refused to resign from her post. However, many party organizations, including the BSP's own youth wing demanded that she resign, which she agreed to do the following day. However, Ninova later stated that her resignation was not yet valid and she would remain the party's chairperson until a congress approved it at an undefined later date. Nevertheless, the BSP's national council gave Ninova its approval for her to negotiate the BSP's support for a government led by We Continue the Change, the new pro-Radev party that had won the November election.
In late November 2021, BSP agreed to enter the Petkov Government.
In August 2023, BSP leader Korneliya Ninova highlighted her party's role in amending Bulgaria's Protection Against Domestic Violence Act, asserting that the changes uphold the Constitution. The revised "intimate relationship" definition specifies male and female, extending protection to relationships lasting over 60 days. The amendment, adopted during an extraordinary parliamentary session, sparked debate on gender inclusivity and was met with criticisms regarding the timeline of protection.
Electoral history
National Assembly
European Parliament
President
Symbols and logos
Notes
References
Bibliography
Further reading
External links
1990 establishments in Bulgaria
Political parties established in 1990
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitis%20vinifera
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Vitis vinifera
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Vitis vinifera, the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are currently between 5,000 and 10,000 varieties of Vitis vinifera grapes though only a few are of commercial significance for wine and table grape production.
The wild grape is often classified as Vitis vinifera sylvestris (in some classifications considered Vitis sylvestris), with Vitis vinifera vinifera restricted to cultivated forms. Domesticated vines have hermaphrodite flowers, but sylvestris is dioecious (male and female flowers on separate plants) and pollination is required for fruit to develop.
Grapes can be eaten fresh or dried to produce raisins, sultanas, and currants. Grape leaves are used in the cuisine of many cultures. The fresh grapes can also be processed into juice that is fermented to make wine and vinegar. Cultivars of Vitis vinifera form the basis of the majority of wines produced around the world. All of the familiar wine varieties belong to Vitis vinifera, which is cultivated on every continent except for Antarctica, and in all the major wine regions of the world.
History
Prehistory
Wild grapes were harvested by neolithic foragers and early farmers. For thousands of years, the fruit has been harvested for both medicinal and nutritional value; its history is intimately entwined with the history of wine.
Changes in pip (seed) shape (narrower in domesticated forms) and distribution point to domestication occurring about 3500–3000 BC, in southwest Asia, South Caucasus (Georgia), or the Western Black Sea shore region (Bulgaria, Romania). The earliest evidence of domesticated grapes has been found at Gadachrili Gora, near the village of Imiri, Marneuli Municipality, in southeastern Georgia; carbon-dating points to the date of about 6000 BC. Grape pips dating back to the 5th–4th millennium BC were also found in Shulaveri; others dating back to the 4th millennium BC were also found in Khizanaant Gora, all in the country of Georgia.
Antiquity
Cultivation of the domesticated grape spread to other parts of the Old World in pre-historic or early historic times. The first written accounts of grapes and wine can be found in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an ancient Sumerian text from the 3rd millennium BC. There are also numerous hieroglyphic references from ancient Egypt, according to which wine was reserved exclusively for priests, state functionaries and the pharaoh.
Hesiod in his Works and Days gives detailed descriptions of grape harvests and wine making techniques, and there are also many references in Homer. Greek colonists then introduced these practices in their colonies, especially in southern Italy (Magna Grecia), which was even known as Enotria due to its propitious climate.
The Etruscans improved wine making techniques and developed an export trade even beyond the Mediterranean basin. The ancient Romans further developed the techniques learnt from the Etruscans, as shown by numerous works of literature containing information that is still valid today: De Agri Cultura (around 160 BC) by Cato the Elder, De re rustica by Marcus Terentius Varro, the Georgics by Virgil and De re rustica by Columella. During the 3rd and 4th centuries AD, the long crisis of the Roman Empire generated instability in the countryside which led to a reduction of viticulture in general, which was mainly sustained only close to towns and cities and along coastlines.
Medieval era
Between the 5th and 10th centuries, viticulture was sustained almost exclusively by the different religious orders in monasteries. The Benedictines and others extended the grape growing limit northwards and also planted new vineyards at higher altitudes than was customary before. Apart from 'ecclesiastical' viticulture, there also developed, especially in France, a 'noble' viticulture, practiced by the aristocracy as a symbol of prestige. Grape growing was a significant economic activity in the Middle east up to the 7th century, when the expansion of Islam caused it to decline.
Early modern period
Between the Low Middle Ages and the Renaissance, viticulture began to flourish again. Demographic pressure, population concentration in towns and cities, and the increased spending power of artisans and merchants gave rise to increased investment in viticulture, which became economically feasible once more. Much was written during the Renaissance on grape growing and wine production, favouring a more scientific approach. This literature can be considered the origin of modern ampelography.
Grapes followed European colonies around the world, coming to North America around the 17th century, and to Africa, South America and Australia. In North America it formed hybrids with native species from the genus Vitis; some of these were intentional hybrids created to combat phylloxera, an insect pest which affected the European grapevine to a much greater extent than North American ones and in fact managed to devastate European wine production in a matter of years. Later, North American rootstocks became widely used to graft V. vinifera cultivars so as to withstand the presence of phylloxera.
Contemporary period
In the second half of the 20th century there was a shift in attitude in viticulture from traditional techniques to the scientific method based on fields such as microbiology, chemistry and ampelography. This change came about also due to changes in economic and cultural aspects and in the way of life and in the consumption habits of wide sectors of the population starting to demand quality products.
In 2007, Vitis vinifera was the fourth angiosperm species whose genome was completely sequenced. These data contributed significantly to understanding the evolution of plants and also how the aromatic characteristics of wine are determined in part by the plant's genes. This work was a collaboration between Italian researchers (Consorzio Interuniversitario Nazionale per la Biologia Molecolare delle Piante, Istituto di Genomica Applicata) and French researchers (Genoscope and Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique).
Also in 2007, scientists from Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), working in the Cooperative Research Centre for Viticulture, reported that their "research suggests that extremely rare and independent mutations in two genes [VvMYBA1 and VvMYBA2 of red grapes] produced a single white grapevine that was the parent of almost all of the world's white grape varieties. If only one gene had been mutated, most grapes would still be red and we would not have the more than 3000 white grape cultivars available today."
Description
It is a liana growing tall at a fast rate. Having a flaky bark, its leaves are alternate, palmately lobed, deciduous, with 3 to 5 pointed lobes, coarsely prickly-toothed leaf margins and a heart-shaped foot, long and broad. They are glossy dark green on top, light green below, usually hairless.
The vine attaches to supports by tendrils. The stems, called twigs, grow through their tip, the cauline apex. A branch consists of several internodes separated by knots, which grow the leaves, flowers, tendrils and between-core and where to train future buds. During their hardening, the twigs become woody branches that can reach a great length. Its roots usually sink to a depth of 2 to 5 meters and sometimes up to 12–15 meters or even more.
The species typically occurs in humid forests and streamsides.
Inflorescences
Their flowers, small and greenish to white, are grouped in inflorescences and their fruits, of different shapes depending on the subspecies, are berries grouped in clusters. The calyx is single-leaf with 5 short, deciduous teeth. The corolla consists of five petals, fused at the top and base, and then falls off in its entirety. Opposite the petals there are five stamens interspersed with glands. The upper ovary bears a very short style with a button-shaped stigma. The wild vine is a dioecious plant, the male and female flowers arise on different plants, but the cultivated forms are hermaphroditic, allowing self-pollination.
The fruit is a berry, known as a grape that is ovoid or globular, dark blue or greenish, usually 2-locular with 5 seeds; in the wild species it is diameter and ripens dark purple to blackish with a pale wax bloom; in cultivated plants it is usually much larger, up to long, and can be green, red, or purple (black).
Distribution
V. vinifera accounts for the majority of world wine production; all of the most familiar grape varieties used for wine production belong to V. vinifera.
In Europe, Vitis vinifera is concentrated in the central and southern regions; in Asia, in the western regions such as Anatolia, the Caucasus, the Middle East, and in China; in Africa, along the northern Mediterranean coast and in South Africa; in North America, in California and also other areas like Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Washington state, British Columbia, Ontario and Québec; in South America in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil; and in Oceania in Australia and New Zealand.
Cultivation
Use of grapes is known to date back to Neolithic times, following the discovery in 1996 of 7,000-year-old wine storage jars in present-day northern Iran. Further evidence shows the Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians had vine plantations and winemaking skills. Greek philosophers praised the healing powers of grapes both whole and in the form of wine. Vitis vinifera cultivation and winemaking in China began during the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century with the importation of the species from Ta-Yuan. However, wild vine "mountain grapes" like Vitis thunbergii were being used for wine making before that time. In traditional medicine of India V. vinifera is used in prescriptions for cough, respiratory tract catarrh, subacute cases of enlarged liver and spleen, as well as in alcohol-based tonics (Aasavs).
In the Mediterranean Basin, leaves and young stems are traditionally used to feed sheep and goats after grapevine pruning.
Using the sap of grapevines, European folk healers sought to cure skin and eye diseases. Other historical uses include the leaves being used to stop bleeding, pain and inflammation of hemorrhoids. Unripe grapes were used for treating sore throats, and raisins were given as treatments for consumption (tuberculosis), constipation and thirst. Ripe grapes were used for the treatment of cancer, cholera, smallpox, nausea, skin and eye infections as well as kidney and liver diseases.
Seedless grape varieties were developed to appeal to consumers, but researchers are now discovering that many of the healthful properties of grapes may actually come from the seeds themselves, thanks to their enriched phytochemical content.
Grapevine leaves are filled with minced meat (such as lamb, pork or beef), rice and onions in the making of Balkan traditional dolma.
A popular cultivar in Australia, Vitis 'Ornamental Grape', derived from Vitis vinifera x Vitis rupestris, is used in gardens for its impressive foliage that turn brilliant red, scarlet, purple and/or orange in autumn. Originally bred in France, it thrives in a range of climates from hot and dry, to cool moist and subtropical, with different soil types benefitting the plant.
Climate change
Grapevines are very responsive to their surrounding environment with a seasonal variation in yield of 32.5%. Climate is one of the key controlling factors in grape and wine production, affecting the suitability of certain grape varieties to a particular region as well as the type and quality of the wine produced. Wine composition is largely dependent on the mesoclimate and the microclimate and this means that for high quality wines to be produced, a climate-soil-variety equilibrium has to be maintained. The interaction between climate-soil-variety will in some cases come under threat from the effects of climate change. Identification of genes underlying phenological variation in grape may help to maintain consistent yield of particular varieties in future climatic conditions.
Of all environmental factors, temperature seems to have the most profound effect on viticulture as the temperature during the winter dormancy affects the budding for the following growing season. Prolonged high temperature can have a negative impact on the quality of the grapes as well as the wine as it affects the development of grape components that give colour, aroma, accumulation of sugar, the loss of acids through respiration as well as the presence of other flavour compounds that give grapes their distinctive traits. Sustained intermediate temperatures and minimal day-to-day variability during the growth and ripening periods are favourable. Grapevine annual growth cycles begin in spring with bud break initiated by consistent day time temperatures of 10 degrees Celsius. The unpredictable nature of climate change may also bring occurrences of frosts which may occur outside of the usual winter periods. Frosts cause lower yields and effects grape quality due to reduction of bud fruitfulness and therefore grapevine production benefits from frost free periods.
Organic acids are essential in wine quality. The phenolic compounds such as anthocyanins and tannins help give the wine its colour, bitterness, astringency and anti-oxidant capacity. Research has shown that grapevines exposed to temperature consistently around 30 degrees Celsius had significantly lower concentrations of anthocyanins compared to grapevines exposed to temperatures consistently around 20 degrees Celsius. Temperatures around or exceeding 35 degrees Celsius are found to stall anthocyanin production as well as degrade the anthocyanins that are produced. Furthermore, anthocyanins were found to be positively correlated to temperatures between 16 – 22 degrees Celsius from veraison (change of colour of the berries) to harvest. Tannins give wine astringency and a "drying in the mouth" taste and also bind onto anthocyanin to give more stable molecular molecules which are important in giving long term colour in aged red wines. As the presence of phenolic compounds in wine are affected heavily by temperature, an increase in average temperatures will affect their presence in wine regions and will therefore affect grape quality.
Altered precipitation patterns are also anticipated (both annually and seasonally) with rainfall occurrences varying in amount and frequency. Increases in the amount of rainfall have will likely cause an increase in soil erosion; while occasional lack of rainfall, in times when it usually occurs, may result in drought conditions causing stress on grapevines. Rainfall is critical at the beginning of the growing season for the budburst and inflorescence development while consistent dry periods are important for the flowering and ripening periods.
Increased CO2 levels will likely have an effect on the photosynthetic activity in grapevines as photosynthesis is stimulated by a rise in CO2 and has been known to also lead to an increase leaf area and vegetative dry weight. Raised atmospheric CO2 is also believed to result in partial stomatal closure which indirectly leads to increased leaf temperatures. A rise in leaf temperatures may alter ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) relationship with carbon dioxide and oxygen which will also affect the plants' photosynthesis capabilities. Raised atmospheric carbon dioxide is also known to decrease the stomatal density of some grapevine varieties.
Cultivation variations
The gradually increasing temperatures will lead to a shift in suitable growing regions. It is estimated that the northern boundary of European viticulture will shift north per decade up to 2020 with a doubling of this rate predicted between 2020 and 2050. This has positive and negative effects, as it opens doors to new cultivars being grown in certain regions but a loss of suitability of other cultivars and may also risk production quality and quantity in general.
Adapting wine production
Systems have been developed to manipulate the temperatures of vines. These include a chamber free system where air can be heated or cooled and then blown across grape bunches to get a differential. Mini chambers combined with shade cloth and reflective foils have also been used to manipulate the temperature and irradiance. Using polyethylene sleeves to cover cordons and canes were also found to increase maximum temperature by and decrease minimum temperature by .
Chemistry
Phenolics
V. vinifera contains many phenolic compounds. Anthocyanins can be found in the skin of the berries, hydroxycinnamic acids in the pulp and condensed tannins of the proanthocyanidins type in the seeds. Stilbenoids can be found in the skin and in wood.
Stilbenoids
Trans-resveratrol is a phytoalexin produced against the growth of fungal pathogens such as Botrytis cinerea and delta-viniferin is another grapevine phytoalexin produced following fungal infection by Plasmopara viticola.
Astringin
Anthocyanins
Vitis vinifera red cultivars are rich in anthocyanins that impart their colour to the berries (generally in the skin). The 5 most basic anthocyanins found in grape are:
Cyanidin-3-O-glucoside
Delphinidin-3-O-glucoside
Malvidin-3-O-glucoside
Petunidin-3-O-glucoside
Peonidin-3-O-glucoside
Cultivars like Graciano may also contain :
acetylated anthocyanins
Cyanidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
Delphinidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
Malvidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
Petunidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
Peonidin-3-(6-acetyl)-glucoside
coumaroylated anthocyanins
Cyanidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
Delphinidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
Malvidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside cis
Malvidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside trans
Petunidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
Peonidin-3-(6-p-coumaroyl)-glucoside
caffeoylated anthocyanins
Malvidin-3-(6-p-caffeoyl)-glucoside
Peonidin-3-(6-p-caffeoyl)-glucoside
Other chemicals
Isoprenoid monoterpenes are present in grape, above all acyclic linalool, geraniol, nerol, citronellol, homotrienol and monocyclic α-terpineol, mostly occurring as glycosides. Carotenoids accumulate in ripening grape berries. Oxidation of carotenoids produces volatile fragments, C13-norisoprenoids. These are strongly odoriferous compounds, such as β-ionone (aroma of viola), damascenone (aroma of exotic fruits), β-damascone (aroma of rose) and β-ionol (aroma of flowers and fruits). Melatonin, an alkaloid, has been identified in grape. In addition, seeds are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, which helps lowering levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol in the blood.
See also
List of grape varieties
Cru (wine)
International Grape Genome Program
List of sequenced plant genomes
List of sequenced plastomes
Areni-1 winery
References
Further reading
Manzi Luigi, La viticoltura e l'enologia al tempo dei romani, Er. Botta, Roma 1883.
Marescalchi Arturo, Dalmasso Giovanni, Storia della vite e del vino in Italia, 3 voll., Unione Italiana Vini, Milano 1931-33-37.
vinifera
Grape varieties
Flora of Europe
Flora of Asia
Berries
Viticulture
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Crops originating from Europe
Garden plants of Europe
Vines
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan%20Oort
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Jan Oort
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Jan Hendrik Oort ( or ; 28 April 1900 – 5 November 1992) was a Dutch astronomer who made significant contributions to the understanding of the Milky Way and who was a pioneer in the field of radio astronomy. The New York Times called him "one of the century's foremost explorers of the universe"; the European Space Agency website describes him as "one of the greatest astronomers of the 20th century" and states that he "revolutionised astronomy through his ground-breaking discoveries." In 1955, Oort's name appeared in Life magazine's list of the 100 most famous living people. He has been described as "putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy."
Oort determined that the Milky Way rotates and overturned the idea that the Sun was at its center. He also postulated the existence of the mysterious invisible dark matter in 1932, which is believed to make up roughly 84.5% of the total matter in the Universe and whose gravitational pull causes "the clustering of stars into galaxies and galaxies into connecting strings of galaxies". He discovered the galactic halo, a group of stars orbiting the Milky Way but outside the main disk. Additionally Oort is responsible for a number of important insights about comets, including the realization that their orbits "implied there was a lot more solar system than the region occupied by the planets."
The Oort cloud, the Oort constants, and the asteroid 1691 Oort were all named after him.
Early life and education
Oort was born in Franeker, a small town in the Dutch province of Friesland, on April 28, 1900. He was the second son of Abraham Hermanus Oort, a physician, who died on May 12, 1941, and Ruth Hannah Faber, who was the daughter of Jan Faber and Henrietta Sophia Susanna Schaaii, and who died on November 20, 1957. Both of his parents came from families of clergymen, with his paternal grandfather, a Protestant clergyman with liberal ideas, who "was one of the founders of the more liberal Church in Holland" and who "was one of the three people who made a new translation of the Bible into Dutch." The reference is to Henricus Oort (1836–1927), who was the grandson of a famous Rotterdam preacher and, through his mother, Dina Maria Blom, the grandson of theologian Abraham Hermanus Blom, a "pioneer of modern biblical research". Several of Oort's uncles were pastors, as was his maternal grandfather. "My mother kept up her interests in that, at least in the early years of her marriage", he recalled. "But my father was less interested in Church matters."
In 1903 Oort's parents moved to Oegstgeest, near Leiden, where his father took charge of the Endegeest Psychiatric Clinic. Oort's father, "was a medical director in a sanitorium for nervous illnesses. We lived in the director's house of the sanitorium, in a small forest which was very nice for the children, of course, to grow up in." Oort's younger brother, John, became a professor of plant diseases at the University of Wageningen. In addition to John, Oort had two younger sisters and an elder brother who died of diabetes when he was a student.
Oort attended primary school in Oegstgeest and secondary school in Leiden, and in 1917 went to Groningen University to study physics. He later said that he had become interested in science and astronomy during his high-school years, and conjectured that his interest was stimulated by reading Jules Verne. His one hesitation about studying pure science was the concern that it "might alienate one a bit from people in general", as a result of which "one might not develop the human factor sufficiently." But he overcame this concern and ended up discovering that his later academic positions, which involved considerable administrative responsibilities, afforded a good deal of opportunity for social contact.
Oort chose Groningen partly because a well known astronomer, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, was teaching there, although Oort was unsure whether he wanted to specialize in physics or astronomy. After studying with Kapteyn, Oort decided on astronomy. "It was the personality of Professor Kapteyn which decided me entirely", he later recalled. "He was quite an inspiring teacher and especially his elementary astronomy lectures were fascinating." Oort began working on research with Kapteyn early in his third year. According to Oort one professor at Groningen who had considerable influence on his education was physicist Frits Zernike.
After taking his final exam in 1921, Oort was appointed assistant at Groningen, but in September 1922, he went to the United States to do graduate work at Yale and to serve as an assistant to Frank Schlesinger of the Yale Observatory.
Career
At Yale, Oort was responsible for making observations with the Observatory's zenith telescope. "I worked on the problem of latitude variation", he later recalled, "which is quite far away from the subjects I had so far been studying." He later considered his experience at Yale useful as he became interested in "problems of fundamental astronomy that [he] felt was capitalized on later, and which certainly influenced [his] future lectures in Leiden." Personally, he "felt somewhat lonesome in Yale", but also said that "some of my very best friends were made in these years in New Haven."
Early discoveries
In 1924, Oort returned to the Netherlands to work at Leiden University, where he served as a research assistant, becoming Conservator in 1926, Lecturer in 1930, and Professor Extraordinary in 1935. In 1926, he received his doctorate from Groningen with a thesis on the properties of high-velocity stars. The next year, Swedish astronomer Bertil Lindblad proposed that the rate of rotation of stars in the outer part of the galaxy decreased with distance from the galactic core, and Oort, who later said that he believed it was his colleague Willem de Sitter who had first drawn his attention to Lindblad's work, realized that Lindblad was correct and that the truth of his proposition could be demonstrated observationally. Oort provided two formulae that described galactic rotation; the two constants that figured in these formulae are now known as "Oort's constants". Oort "argued that just as the outer planets appear to us to be overtaken and passed by the less distant ones in the solar system, so too with the stars if the Galaxy really rotated", according to the Oxford Dictionary of Scientists. He "was finally able to calculate, on the basis of the various stellar motions, that the Sun was some 30,000 light-years from the center of the Galaxy and took about 225 million years to complete its orbit. He also showed that stars lying in the outer regions of the galactic disk rotated more slowly than those nearer the center. The Galaxy does not therefore rotate as a uniform whole but exhibits what is known as 'differential rotation'."
These early discoveries by Oort about the Milky Way overthrew the Kapteyn system, named after his mentor, which had envisioned a galaxy that was symmetrical around the Sun. As Oort later noted, "Kapteyn and his co-workers had not realized that the absorption in the galactic plane was as bad as it turned out to be." Until Oort began his work, he later recalled, "the Leiden Observatory had been concentrating entirely on positional astronomy, meridian circle work and some proper motion work. But no astrophysics or anything that looked like that. No structure of the galaxy, no dynamics of the galaxy. There was no one else in Leiden who was interested in these problems in which I was principally interested, so the first years I worked more or less by myself in these projects. De Sitter was interested, but his main line of research was celestial mechanics; at that time the expanding universe had moved away from his direct interest." As the European Space Agency states, Oort "sh[ook] the scientific world by demonstrating that the Milky Way rotates like a giant 'Catherine Wheel'." He showed that all the stars in the galaxy were "travelling independently through space, with those nearer the center rotating much faster than those further away."
This breakthrough made Oort famous in the world of astronomy. In the early 1930s he received job offers from Harvard and Columbia University, but chose to stay at Leiden, although he did spend half of 1932 at the Perkins Observatory, in Delaware, Ohio.
In 1934, Oort became assistant to the director of Leiden Observatory; the next year he became General Secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a post he held until 1948; in 1937 he was elected to the Royal Academy. In 1939, he spent half a year in the U.S., and became interested in the Crab Nebula, concluding in a paper, written with American astronomer Nicholas Mayall, that it was the result of a supernova explosion.
Nazi invasion of Netherlands
In 1940, Nazi Germany invaded the Netherlands. Soon after, the occupying regime dismissed all Jewish professors from Leiden University and other universities. "Among the professors who were dismissed", Oort later recalled, "was a very famous … professor of law by the name of Meyers. On the day when he got the letter from the authorities that he could no longer teach his classes, the dean of the faculty of law went into his class … and delivered a speech in which he started by saying, 'I won't talk about his dismissal and I shall leave the people who did this, below us, but will concentrate on the greatness of the man dismissed by our aggressors.'"
This speech (26 November 1940) made such an impression on all his students that on leaving the auditorium they defiantly sang the anthem of the Netherlands and went on strike. Oort was present for the lecture and was greatly impressed. This occasion formed the beginning of the active resistance in Holland. The speech by Rudolph Cleveringa, the dean of the faculty of Law and former graduate student of professor Meijers, was widely circulated during the rest of the war by the resistance groups. Oort was in a little group of professors in Leiden who came together regularly and discussed the problems the university faced in view of the German occupation. Most of the members of this group were put in hostage camps soon after the speech by Cleveringa. Oort refused to collaborate with the occupiers, "and so we went down to live in the country for the rest of the war." Resigning from the Royal Academy, from his professorial post at Leiden, and from his position at the Observatory, Oort took his family to Hulshorst, a quiet village in the province of Gelderland, where they sat out the war. In Hulshorst, he began writing a book on stellar dynamics.
Oort's radio astronomy
Before the war was over, he initiated, in collaboration with a Utrecht University student, Hendrik van de Hulst, a project that eventually succeeded, in 1951, in detecting the 21-centimeter radio emission from interstellar hydrogen spectral line at radio frequencies. Oort and his colleagues also made the first investigation of the central region of the Galaxy, and discovered that "the 21-centimeter radio emission passed un-absorbed through the gas clouds that had hidden the center from optical observation. They found a huge concentration of mass there, later identified as mainly stars, and also discovered that much of the gas in the region was moving rapidly outward away from the center." In June 1945, after the end of the war, Oort returned to Leiden, took over as director of the Observatory, and became Full Professor of Astronomy. During this immediate postwar period, he led the Dutch group that built radio telescopes at Radio Kootwijk, Dwingeloo, and Westerbork and used the 21-centimeter line to map the Milky Way, including the large-scale spiral structure, the Galactic Center, and gas cloud motions. Oort was helped in this project by the Dutch telecommunications company, PTT, which, he later explained, "had under their care all the radar equipment that was left behind by the Germans on the coast of Holland. This radar equipment consisted in part of reflecting telescopes of 7 1/2 meter aperture.... Our radio astronomy was really started with the aid of one of these instruments… it was in Kootwijk that the first map of the Galaxy was made." For a brief period, before the completion of the Jodrell Bank telescope, the Dwingeloo instrument was the largest of its kind on Earth.
It has been written that "Oort was probably the first astronomer to realize the importance" of radio astronomy. "In the days before radio telescopes," one source notes, "Oort was one of the few scientists to realise the potential significance of using radio waves to search the heavens. His theoretical research suggested that vast clouds of hydrogen lingered in the spiral arms of the Galaxy. These molecular clouds, he predicted, were the birthplaces of stars." These predictions were confirmed by measurements made at the new radio observatories at Dwingeloo and Westerbork. Oort later said that "it was Grote Reber's work which first impressed me and convinced me of the unique importance of radio observations for surveying the galaxy." Just before the war, Reber had published a study of galactic radio emissions. Oort later commented, "The work of Grote Reber made it quite clear [radio astronomy] would be a very important tool for investigating the Galaxy, just because it could investigate the whole disc of the galactic system unimpeded by absorption." Oort's work in radio astronomy is credited by colleagues with putting the Netherlands in the forefront of postwar astronomy. Oort also investigated the source of the light from the Crab Nebula, finding that it was polarized, and probably produced by synchrotron radiation, confirming a hypothesis by Iosif Shklovsky.
Comet studies
Oort went on to study comets, which he formulated a number of revolutionary hypotheses. He hypothesized that the Solar System is surrounded by a massive cloud consisting of billions of comets, many of them "long-period" comets that originate in a cloud far beyond the orbits of Neptune and Pluto. This cloud is now known as the Oort Cloud. He also realized that these external comets, from beyond Pluto, can "become trapped into tighter orbits by Jupiter, and become periodic comets, like Halley's comet." According to one source, "Oort was one of the few people to have seen Comet Halley on two separate apparitions. At the age of 10, he was with his father on the shore at Noordwijk, Netherlands, when he first saw the comet. In 1986, 76 years later, he went up in a plane and was able to see the famous comet once more."
In 1951 Oort and his wife spent several months in Princeton and Pasadena, an interlude that led to a paper by Oort and Lyman Spitzer on the acceleration of interstellar clouds by O-type stars. He went on to study high-velocity clouds. Oort served as director of the Leiden Observatory until 1970. After his retirement, he wrote comprehensive articles on the galactic center and on superclusters and published several papers on the quasar absorption lines, supporting Yakov Zel'dovich's pancake model of the universe. He also continued researching the Milky Way and other galaxies and their distribution until shortly before his death at 92.
One of Oort's strengths, according to one source, was his ability to "translate abstruse mathematical papers into physical terms," as exemplified by his translation of the difficult mathematical terms of Lindblad's theory of differential galactic rotation into a physical model. Similarly, he "derived the existence of the comet cloud on the outskirts of the Solar System from the observations, using the mathematics needed in dynamics, but then deduced the origin of this cloud using general physical arguments and a minimum of mathematics."
Personal life
In 1927, Oort married Johanna Maria (Mieke) Graadt van Roggen (1906–1993). They had met at a university celebration at Utrecht, where Oort's brother was studying biology at the time. Oort and his wife had two sons, Coenraad (Coen) and Abraham, and a daughter, Marijke. Abraham became a professor of climatology at Princeton University.
According to the website of Leiden University, Oort was very interested in and knowledgeable about art. "[W]hen visiting another country he would always try to take some time off to visit the local museums and exhibitions…and in the fifties served for some years as chairman of the pictorial arts committee of the Leiden Academical Arts Centre, which had among other things the task of organizing expositions".
"Colleagues remembered him as a tall, lean and courtly man with a genial manner," reported his New York Times obituary.
Writings
An incomplete list:
Oort, J.H., "Some Peculiarities in the Motion of Stars of High Velocity," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 1, 133–37 (1922).
Oort, J.H., "The Stars of High Velocity," (Thesis, Groningen University) Publ. Kapteyn Astr. Lab, Groningen, 40, 1–75 (1926).
Oort, Jan H., "Asymmetry in the Distribution of Stellar Velocities," Observatory 49, 302–04 (1926).
Oort, J.H., "Non-Light-Emitting Matter in the Stellar System," public lecture of 1926, reprinted in The Legacy of J. C. Kapteyn, ed. by P. C. van der Kruit and K. van Berkel (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000) [abstract].
Oort, J.H., "Observational Evidence Confirming Lindblad's Hypothesis of a Rotation of the Galactic System," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 3, 275–82 (1927).
Oort, J.H., "Investigations Concerning the Rotational Motion of the Galactic System together with New Determinations of Secular Parallaxes, Precession and Motion of the Equinox (Errata: 4, 94)," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 4, 79–89 (1927).
Oort, J.H., "Dynamics of the Galactic System in the Vicinity of the Sun," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 4, 269–84 (1928).
Oort, J.H., "Some Problems Concerning the Distribution of Luminosities and Peculiar Velocities of Extragalactic Nebulae," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 6, 155–59 (1931).
Oort, J.H., "The Force Exerted by the Stellar System in the Direction Perpendicular to the Galactic Plane and Some Related Problems," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 6, 249–87 (1932).
Oort, J.H., "A Redetermination of the Constant of Precession, the Motion of the Equinox and the Rotation of the Galaxy from Faint Stars Observed at the McCormick Observatory," 4, 94)," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 8, 149–55 (1937).
Oort, J.H., "Absorption and Density Distribution in the Galactic System," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 8, 233–64 (1938).
Oort, J.H., "Stellar Motions," MNRAS 99, 369–84 (1939).
Oort, J.H. "Some Problems Concerning the Structure and Dynamics of the Galactic System and the Elliptical Nebulae NGC 3115 and 4494," Ap.J. 91, 273–306 (1940).
Mayall, N.U. & J.H. Oort, "Further Data Bearing on the Identification of the Crab Nebula with the Supernova of 1054 A.D. Part II: The Astronomical Aspects," PASP 54, 95–104 (1942).
Oort, J. H., & H.C. van de Hulst, "Gas and Smoke in Interstellar Space," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 10, 187–204 (1946).
Oort, J.H., "Some Phenomena Connected with Interstellar Matter (1946 George Darwin Lecture)," MNRAS 106, 159–79 (1946) [George Darwin]. Lecture.
Oort, J.H., "The Structure of the Cloud of Comets Surrounding the Solar System and a Hypothesis Concerning its Origin," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 91–110 (1950).
Oort, J.H., "Origin and Development of Comets (1951 Halley Lecture)," Observatory 71, 129–44 (1951) Halley Lecture.
Oort, J.H. & M. Schmidt, "Differences between New and Old Comets," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 259–70 (1951).
Westerhout, G. & J.H. Oort, "A Comparison of the Intensity Distribution of Radio-frequency Radiation with a Model of the Galactic System," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 323–33 (1951).
Morgan, H.R. & J.H. Oort, "A New Determination of the Precession and the Constants of Galactic Rotation," Bull. Astron. Inst. Neth. 11, 379–84 (1951).
Oort, J.H. "Problems of Galactic Structure," Ap.J. 116, 233–250 (1952) [Henry Norris Russell Lecture, 1951].
Oort, J. H., "Outline of a Theory on the Origin and Acceleration of Interstellar Clouds and O Associations," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 12, 177–86 (1954).
van de Hulst, H.C., C.A. Muller, & J.H. Oort, "The spiral structure of the outer part of the Galactic System derived from the hydrogen mission at 21 cm wavelength," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 12, 117–49 (1954).
van Houten, C.J., J.H. Oort, & W.A. Hiltner, "Photoelectric Measurements of Extragalactic Nebulae," Ap.J. 120, 439–53 (1954).
Oort, Jan H. & Lyman Spitzer, Jr., "Acceleration of Interstellar Clouds by O-Type Stars," Ap.J. 121, 6–23 (1955).
Oort, J.H., "Measures of the 21-cm Line Emitted by Interstellar Hydrogen," Vistas in Astronomy. 1, 607–16 (1955).
Oort, J.H., "A New Southern Hemisphere Observatory," Sky & Telescope 15, 163 (1956).
Oort, J. H. & Th. Walraven, "Polarization and Composition of the Crab Nebula," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 12, 285–308 (1956).
Oort, J.H., "Die Spiralstruktur des Milchstraßensystems," Mitt. Astr. Ges. 7, 83–87 (1956).
Oort, J.H., F.J. Kerr, & G. Westerhout, "The Galactic System as a Spiral Nebula," MNRAS 118, 379–89 (1958).
Oort, J.H., "Summary – From the Astronomical Point of View," in Ricerche Astronomiche, Vol. 5, Specola Vaticana, Proceedings of a Conference at Vatican Observatory, Castel Gandolfo, May 20–28, 1957, ed. by D.J.K. O'Connell (North Holland, Amsterdam & Interscience, NY, 1958), 507–29.
Oort, Jan H., "Radio-frequency Studies of Galactic Structure," Handbuch der Physik vol. 53, 100–28 (1959).
Oort, J.H., "A Summary and Assessment of Current 21-cm Results Concerning Spiral and Disk Structures in Our Galaxy," in Paris Symposium on Radio Astronomy, IAU Symposium no. 9 and URSI Symposium no. 1, held 30 July – 6 August 1958, ed. by R.N. Bracewell (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1959), 409–15.
Rougoor, G. W. & J.H. Oort, "Neutral Hydrogen in the Central Part of the Galactic System," in Paris Symposium on Radio Astronomy, IAU Symposium no. 9 and URSI Symposium no. 1, held 30 July – 6 August 1958, ed. by R.N. Bracewell (Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1959), pp. 416–22.
Oort, J. H. & G. van Herk, "Structure and dynamics of Messier 3," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 14, 299–321 (1960).
Oort, J. H., "Note on the Determination of Kz and on the Mass Density Near the Sun," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 15, 45–53 (1960).
Rougoor, G.W. & J.H. Oort, "Distribution and Motion of Interstellar Hydrogen in the Galactic System with Particular Reference to the Region within 3 Kiloparsecs of the Center," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 46, 1–13 (1960).
Oort, J.H. & G.W. Rougoor, "The Position of the Galactic Centre," MNRAS 121, 171–73 (1960).
Oort, J.H., "The Galaxy," IAU Symposium 20, 1–9 (1964).
Oort, J.H. "Stellar Dynamics," in A. Blaauw & M. Schmidt, eds., Galactic Structure (Univ. of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1965), pp. 455–512.
Oort, J. H., "Possible Interpretations of the High-Velocity Clouds," Bull. Astr. Inst. Neth. 18, 421–38 (1966).
Oort, J. H., "Infall of Gas from Intergalactic Space," Nature 224, 1158–63 (1969).
Oort, J.H., "The Formation of Galaxies and the Origin of the High-Velocity Hydrogen.," Astronomy & Astrophysics 7, 381–404 (1970).
Oort, J.H., "The Density of the Universe," Astronomy & Astrophysics 7, 405 (1970).
Oort, J.H., "Galaxies and the Universe," Science 170, 1363–70 (1970).
van der Kruit, P.C., J.H. Oort, & D.S. Mathewson, "The Radio Emission of NGC 4258 and the Possible Origin of Spiral Structure," Astronomy & Astrophysics 21, 169–84 (1972).
Oort, J.H., "The Development of our Insight into the Structure of the Galaxy between 1920 and 1940," Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 198, 255–66 (1972).
Oort, Jan H. "On the Problem of the Origin of Spiral Structure," Mitteilungen der AG 32, 15–31 (1973) [Karl Schwarzschild Lecture, 1972].
Oort, J.H. & L. Plaut, "The Distance to the Galactic Centre Derived from RR Lyrae Variables, the Distribution of these Variables in the Galaxy's Inner Region and Halo, and A Rediscussion of the Galactic Rotation Constants," Astronomy & Astrophysics 41, 71–86 (1975).
Strom, R. G., G.K. Miley, & J. Oort, "Giant Radio Galaxies," Sci. Amer. 233, 26 (1975).
Pels, G., J.H. Oort, & H.A. Pels-Kluyver, "New Members of the Hyades Cluster and a Discussion of its Structure," Astronomy & Astrophysics 43, 423–41 (1975).
Rubin, Vera C., W. Kent Ford, Jr., Charles J. Peterson, & J.H. Oort,"New Observations of the NGC 1275 Phenomenon," Ap.J. 211, 693–96 (1977).
Oort, J.H., "The Galactic Center," Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics 15, 295–362 (1977).
Oort, J.H., "Superclusters and Lyman α Absorption Lines in Quasars," Astronomy & Astrophysics 94, 359–64 (1981).
Oort, J.H., H. Arp, & H. de Ruiter, "Evidence for the Location of Quasars in Superclusters," Astronomy & Astrophysics 95, 7–13 (1981).
Oort, J.H., "Superclusters," Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics 21, 373–428 (1983).
Oort, J.H., "Structure of the Universe," in Early Evolution of the Universe and its Present Structure; Proceedings of the Symposium, Kolymbari, Greece, August 30 – September 2, 1982, (Reidel, Dordrecht & Boston, 1983), 1–6.
Oort, Jan H. "The Origin and Dissolution of Comets (1986 Halley Lecture)" Observatory 106, 186–93 (1986).
Oort, Jan H. "Origin of Structure in the Universe," Publ. Astron. Soc. Jpn. 40, 1–14 (1988).
Oort, J.H., "Questions Concerning the Large-scale Structure of the Universe," in Problems in Theoretical Physics and Astrophysics: Collection of Articles in Celebration of the 70th Birthday of V. L. Ginzburg (Izdatel'stvo Nauka, Moscow, 1989), pp. 325–37.
Oort, J.H., "Orbital Distribution of Comets," in W.F. Huebner, ed., Physics and Chemistry of Comets (Springer-Verlag, 1990), pp. 235–44 (1990).
Oort, J.H., "Exploring the Nuclei of Galaxies," Mercury 21, 57 (1992).
Oort, J.H., "Non-Light-Emitting Matter in the Stellar System," public lecture of 1926, reprinted in The Legacy of J. C. Kapteyn, ed. by P. C. van der Kruit and K. van Berkel (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000) [abstract].
A few of Oort's discoveries
In 1924, Oort discovered the galactic halo, a group of stars orbiting the Milky Way but outside the main disk.
In 1927, he calculated that the center of the Milky Way was 5,900 parsecs (19,200 light years) from the Earth in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius.
In 1932, by measuring the motions of stars in the Milky Way he was the first to find evidence for dark matter, when he found the mass of the galactic plane must be more than the mass of the material that can be seen.
He showed that the Milky Way had a mass 100 billion times that of the Sun.
In 1950, he suggested that comets came from a common region of the Solar System (now called the Oort cloud).
He found that the light from the Crab Nebula was polarized, and produced by synchrotron emission.
Honours
Awards
Bruce Medal of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific in 1942
Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1946
Janssen Medal from the French Academy of Sciences in 1946
Prix Jules Janssen, the highest award of the Société astronomique de France, the French astronomical society (1947)
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society in 1951
Gouden Ganzenveer in 1960
Vetlesen Prize in 1966
National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Jansky Prize, 1967
Karl Schwarzschild Medal of the Astronomische Gesellschaft in 1972
Association pour le Développement International de l'Observatoire de Nice, ADION medal, 1978
Balzan Prize for Astrophysics in 1984
Inamori Foundation, Kyoto Prize, 1987
Named after him
1691 Oort (asteroid)
Oort cloud (Öpik–Oort cloud)
Oort limit
Oort constants
Oort building, the current building of the Leiden Observatory
Memberships
Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (1937–1943, 1945–)
Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1946–)
Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences (1953–)
Member of the American Philosophical Society (1957–)
Upon his death, Nobel Prize winning astrophysicist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar remarked, "The great oak of Astronomy has been felled, and we are lost without its shadow."
References
Notes
Biographical materials
Blaauw, Adriaan, Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers (Springer, NY, 2007), pp. 853–55.
Chapman, David M.F., "Reflections: Jan Hendrik Oort – Swirling Galaxies and Clouds of Comets," JRASC 94, 53–54 (2000).
ESA Space Science, "Comet Pioneer: Jan Hendrik Oort," 27 February 2004.
Katgert-Merkelijn, J., University of Leiden, "Jan Oort, Astronomer".
Katgert-Merkelijn, J.K.: The letters and papers of Jan Hendrik Oort, as archived in the University Library, Leiden. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1997. .
Oort, J.H., "Some Notes on My Life as an Astronomer," Annual Review of Astronomy & Astrophysics 19, 1 (1981).
van de Hulst, H.C., Biographical Memoirs of the Royal Society of London 40, 320–26 (1994).
van der Kruit, Pieter C.: Jan Hendrik Oort. Master of the Galactic System. Springer Nature, 2019. .
van Woerden, Hugo, Willem N. Brouw, and Henk C. van de Hulst, eds., "Oort and the Universe: A Sketch of Oort's Research and Person" (D. Reidel, Dordrecht, 1980).
Obituaries
Blaauw, Adriaan, Zenit jaarg, 196–210 (1993).
Blaauw, Adriaan & Maarten Schmidt, PASP 105, 681 (1993).
Blaauw, Adriaan, "Oort im Memoriam," in Leo Blitz & Peter Teuben, eds., 169th IAU Symposium: Unsolved Problems of the
Milky Way, (Kluwer Acad. Publishers, 1996), pp. xv–xvi.
Pecker, J.-C., "La Vie et l'Oeuvre de Jan Hendrik Oort," Comptes Rendus de l'Acadèmie des Sciences: La Vie des Science 10, 5, 535–40 (1993).
van de Hulst, H.C., QJRAS 35, 237–42 (1994).
van den Bergh, Sidney, "An Astronomical Life: J.H. Oort (1900–1992)," JRASC 87, 73–76 (1993).
Woltjer, L., J. Astrophys. Astron. 14, 3–5 (1993).
Woltjer, Lodewijk, Physics Today 46, 11, 104–05 (1993).
Literature
External links
Oral history interview transcript with Jan Oort on 10 November 1977, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
Jan Oort, astronomer (Leiden University Library, April–May 2000)—Online exhibition
1900 births
1992 deaths
Academic staff of Leiden University
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Foreign Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences
Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences
Members of the American Philosophical Society
Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
People from Franekeradeel
Presidents of the International Astronomical Union
Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society
University of Groningen alumni
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake
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Mooncake
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A mooncake () is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). The festival is primarily about the harvest while a legend connects it to moon watching, and mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is widely regarded as one of the four most important Chinese festivals.
There are numerous varieties of mooncakes consumed within China and outside of China in overseas Chinese communities. The Cantonese mooncake is the most famous variety. A traditional Cantonese mooncake is a round pastry, measuring about in diameter and thick, with a rich thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste (other typical fillings include red bean paste or mixed nuts) surrounded by a thin, 2–3 mm (approximately 1/8 of an inch) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.
Mooncakes are usually eaten in small wedges, accompanied by tea. Today, it is customary for business people and families to present them to their clients or relatives as presents, helping to fuel a demand for high-end mooncakes.
Just as the Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated in various Asian localities due to the presence of Chinese communities throughout the region, mooncakes are enjoyed in other parts of Asia too. Mooncakes have also appeared in western countries as a form of delicacy.
General description
Most mooncakes consist of a thick, tender pastry skin enveloping a sweet, dense filling, and may contain one or more whole salted egg yolks in their center that symbolizes the full moon. Depending on the custom, mooncakes may also be steamed or fried.
Traditional mooncakes have an imprint on top consisting of the Chinese characters for "longevity" or "harmony", as well as the name of the bakery and the filling inside. Imprints of the Moon, the Chinese goddess of the Moon (Chang'e), flowers, vines, or a rabbit (symbol of the Moon) may surround the characters for additional decoration.
History
Mid-Autumn Festival
The festival is intricately linked to legends of Chang’e, the mythical Moon Goddess of Immortality.
According to the Liji, an ancient Chinese book recording customs and ceremonies, the Chinese Emperor should offer sacrifices to the Sun in spring and the Moon in autumn. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month is the day called "Mid-Autumn". The night on the 15th of the 8th lunar month is also called "Night of the Moon".
Because of its central role in the Mid-Autumn festival, mooncakes remained popular even in recent years. For many, they form a central part of the Mid-Autumn festival experience such that it is now commonly known as 'Mooncake Festival'.
Ming Revolution
There is a folk tale about the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty facilitated by messages smuggled in moon cakes.
Mooncakes were used by revolutionaries in their effort to overthrow the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty, eventually resulting in the establishment of the Ming dynasty. The idea is said to have been conceived by Zhu Yuanzhang and his advisor Liu Bowen, who circulated a rumor that a deadly plague was spreading and that the only way to prevent it was to eat special mooncakes, which would instantly revive and give special powers to the user. This prompted the quick distribution of mooncakes. The mooncakes contained a secret message: on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, kill the rulers.
Another method of hiding a message was to print it on the surfaces of mooncakes (which came in packages of four), as a simple puzzle or mosaic. To read the message, each of the four mooncakes was cut into four parts. The resulting 16 pieces were pieced together to reveal the message. The pieces of mooncake were then eaten to destroy the message.
Traditional styles
Fillings
Many types of fillings can be found in traditional mooncakes:
Lotus seed paste (蓮蓉, lían róng): Considered by some to be the original and most luxurious mooncake filling, lotus paste filling is found in all types of mooncakes. White lotus paste commands an even higher premium. Due to the high price of lotus paste, white kidney bean paste is sometimes used as a filler.
Sweet bean paste (豆沙, dòu shā): A number of pastes are common fillings found in Chinese desserts. Although red bean paste, made from azuki beans, is the most common worldwide, there are regional and original preferences for bean paste made from mung beans, as well as black beans.
Jujube paste (棗泥, zǎo ní): A sweet paste is made from the ripe fruits of the jujube (date) plant. The paste is dark red in color, a little fruity/smoky in flavor, and slightly sour in taste. Depending on the quality of the paste, jujube paste may be confused with red bean paste, which is sometimes used as a filler.
Five kernels (五仁, wǔ rén) or mixed nuts: A filling consisting of 5 types of nuts and seeds, coarsely chopped, is held together with maltose syrup. Recipes differ from region to region, but commonly used nuts and seeds include: walnuts, pumpkin seeds, watermelon seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, or almonds. The mixture for the filling also contains candied winter melon, jinhua ham, or pieces of rock sugar as additional flavoring.
Crusts
Traditional mooncakes vary widely depending on the region where they are produced. Most regions produce them with many types of fillings, but with only one type of crust. Although vegetarian mooncakes may use vegetable oil, many mooncakes use lard in their recipes. Three types of mooncake crust are used in Chinese cuisine:
Chewy: This crust has a reddish-brown tone and glossy sheen. It is the most common type of crust used on Cantonese-style mooncakes. It is also the most commonly seen type of mooncake in North America and many Western countries. Chewy mooncake crusts are made using a combination of thick sugar syrup, lye water (碱水, sodium carbonate (碱 [Na2CO3]), flour, and oil, thus giving this crust its rich taste and a chewy yet tender texture. Chewiness can be increased further by adding maltose syrup to the mixture.
The dough is also baked into fish or piglet shapes () and sold at bakeries as a chewy snack. They often come individually packaged in small plastic baskets, to symbolize fish being caught or piglets being bound for sale.
Flaky: Flaky crusts are most indicative of Suzhou- and Taiwan-style mooncakes. The dough is made by rolling together alternating layers of oily dough and flour that has been stir-fried in oil. This crust has a texture similar to puff pastry.
Tender: Mooncakes from certain provinces of China are often made to be tender rather than flaky or chewy. The texture of this type of mooncake crust is similar to the shortcrust pastry used in Western pie crusts or tart shells. Tender crusts are made mainly of a homogenous mix of sugar, oil, flour, and water. This type of crust is also commonly used in other type of Chinese pastries, such as the egg tart.
Crumbly: Yunnan-style mooncakes are made using a hot water crust pastry that combines different kinds of flour with oil, salt, and hot water to form a dense, crumbly pastry that's quite uncommon elsewhere.
Regional variations in China
There are many regional variants of the mooncake. Types of traditional mooncake include:
Beijing-style mooncake: This style has two variations. One, called di qiang, was influenced by the Suzhou-style mooncake. It has a light, foamy dough as opposed to a flaky one. The other variation, called "fan mao", has a flaky, white dough. The two most popular fillings are the mountain hawthorn and wisteria blossom flavors.
Cantonese-style mooncake: Originating from Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, the Cantonese mooncake has multiple variations and is the most famous regional style of the mooncake. The ingredients used for the fillings are various: lotus seed paste, melon seed paste, nuts, ham, chicken, duck, roast pork, mushrooms, egg yolks, etc. More elaborate versions contain four egg yolks, representing the four phases of the moon. Recent contemporary forms (albeit non-traditional) sold in Hong Kong are even made from chocolate, ice-cream or jelly.
Shanghai-style mooncake: This style is made from shortcrust pastry which is rich, crumbly and buttery crust like pie dough. The most popular fillings are similar to those sweet Cantonese-style mooncake such as sweetened red bean paste, lotus seed paste and taro paste with egg yolks in the middle of the filling.
Hong Kong-style mooncake: Hong Kong has gained its own style of mooncakes. While Hongkongers typically eat Cantonese-style mooncakes, local inventions such as snow skin mooncake have been appearing over the last few decades.
Teochew-style mooncake: This is another flaky crust variety, but is larger in size than the Suzhou variety. It is close in diameter to the Cantonese style, but thinner. A variety of fillings are used, but the aroma of lard after roasting is stressed. The Teochew also have a fried lotus cake (or lotus pastry) (), eaten on the Mid-Autumn Festival. This moon cake is deep-fried, not baked. The yam filling and flaky pastry crust are what set Teochew mooncakes apart from other mooncakes. These old-school confections are known as la bia in the Chaoshan region in the east of Guangdong, where the Teochews came from. La means lard or pork oil in Teochew, which is mixed with flour to make the pastry.
Ningbo-style mooncake: This style is also inspired by the Suzhou-style. It is prevalent in Zhejiang province, and has a compact covering. The fillings are either seaweed or ham; it is also known for its spicy and salty flavor.
Suzhou-style mooncake: This style began more than a thousand years ago, and is known for its layers of flaky dough and generous allotment of sugar and lard. Within this regional type, there are more than a dozen variations. It is also smaller than most other regional varieties. Suzhou-style mooncakes feature both sweet and savory types, the latter served hot and usually filled with pork mince. Filling made from salt and pepper (椒鹽, jiāoyán) are common in flaky Suzhou-style mooncakes.
Meizhou-style mooncake
Southern Min-style mooncake
Wenzhou-style mooncake
Yunnan-style mooncake: The distinctive feature is the combination of various flours for the dough, including rice flour, wheat flour, and buckwheat flour, and a filling that combines Xuanwei ham and sugar.
Contemporary styles
Over time, both the crusts and the composition of the fillings of mooncakes have diversified, in particular, due to a commercial need to drive up sales in the face of intense competition between producers and from other food types. Part of these trends are also to cater to changing taste preferences, and because people are more health-conscious. Therefore, most of these contemporary styles are especially prominent amongst the cosmopolitan and younger Chinese and amongst the overseas Chinese community. However, traditional mooncakes are often sold alongside contemporary ones to cater to individual preferences.
Some of the earliest forms of diversification were by changing the fillings with ingredients considered unusual then. Taro paste (芋泥, yù ní), pineapple and durian were amongst the first to be introduced, especially amongst the overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia. The crust itself also evolved, particularly with the introduction of "snow skin mooncake". It is different from the traditional mooncake - the snow skin mooncake needs to be stored inside a refrigerator and is white on the outside. Traditionally the colour white means something bad in China, for example, people will wear a white collar to a funeral. However, this kind of white coloured mooncake is popular with teenagers. Miniature mooncakes also appeared, in part to allow for easier individual consumption without the need to cut the large cakes.
To adapt to today's health-conscious lifestyle, fat-free mooncakes also appeared. Some are made of yogurt, jelly, and fat-free ice-cream. Customers pick and choose the size and filling of mooncakes that suits their taste and diet. For added hygiene, each cake is often wrapped in airtight plastic, accompanied by a tiny food preserver packet.
Contemporary-style mooncakes, while increasingly popular, have their detractors. Pricey ingredients have pushed up prices, causing worry of a "mooncake bubble" forming in China. Food critics sometimes point out that "chocolate mooncakes" are in reality just chocolate shaped into mooncakes, and not mooncakes made of chocolate, while others complain that food chains appear intent on coming up with exotic flavors to take advantage of the market, without much thought for how well the tastes fuse together.
Fillings
Fillings in contemporary style mooncakes have diversified to include just about anything which can be made into a paste. Mooncakes containing taro paste and pineapple, which were considered novelty items at their time of invention, have become commonplace in recent years. In addition, filling composed of ingredients such as coffee, chocolate, nuts (walnuts, mixed nuts, etc.), fruits (prunes, pineapples, melons, lychees, etc.), vegetables (sweet potatoes, etc.), and even ham have been added to give a modern twist to the traditional recipes.
Some other examples include
Traditional Chinese delicacies such as ginseng and bird's nest were soon followed by abalone and shark fin. Foreign food companies have also tried to cash in. Häagen-Dazs were one of the first to create an ice-cream mooncake, with a choice of either the "traditional," snow-skin, or Belgian/Swiss white, milk, and dark chocolate crusts. Other ice-cream and restaurant chains soon followed up with their own versions. Other Western ingredients, including champagne ganache, malt whisky, volcanic-salt caramel and even Black truffles, caviar and foie gras have made it into mooncakes.
Crusts
Snowy mooncakes first appeared on the market in the early 1980s. These non-baked, chilled mooncakes usually come with two types of crusts:
Glutinous rice: A crust with texture similar to that of a mochi. This is a snow skin mooncake. These moon cakes are known colloquially as "snowskin mooncakes", "ice-skin mooncakes" or "snowy mooncakes" (冰皮 or 冰皮月餅).
Jelly: A crust made of gelling mixtures such as agar, gelatin, or konjac and flavored with a wide variety of fruit flavorings.
Use in other countries and regions
Malaysia
There are three major cities that have diverse types of moon cakes. George Town, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah. Mooncakes are quite similar to the traditional Chinese. However, many prefer to add 100% pure Hunan lotus seed to maintain the quality of mooncake. The most popular types, especially in Kuala Lumpur, are White Lotus Seed Paste Cake, Snow Skins and Black Sesame With Yolk.
Indonesia
In Indonesia, there are several main types of mooncakes, from the traditional to the modern mooncakes. The very traditional mooncake has been there ever since the Chinese and Japanese entered Indonesia, they are circular like a moon, white and thinner than regular mooncake. Fillings may include pork, chocolate, cheese, milk, durian, jackfruit and many other exotic fruits made into a paste. This type of mooncake is widely available all year long while the regular modern mooncakes are usually only sold around the mid-autumn festival season.
Japan
Mooncakes in Japan are known as , a transliteration of the Chinese name. Their designs are based on the Cantonese mooncake, are associated with Chinese culture and are sold all year round, mainly in Japan's Chinatowns. Azuki (red bean) paste is the most popular filling for these mooncakes, but other sorts of beans, as well as chestnut, are also used.
Vietnam
In Vietnam, mooncakes are known as bánh trung thu (literally "mid-autumn cake"). Vietnamese mooncakes are usually sold either individually or in a set of four. There are two kinds of mooncake: bánh nướng (baked mooncake) and bánh dẻo (sticky rice mooncake).
It can be said that bánh nướng and bánh dẻo are two special kinds of cake in Vietnam. They are widely popular and are sold only during the Tết Trung Thu season. Vietnamese mooncakes are often in the shape of a circle (10 cm in diameter) or a square (a length of about 7–8 cm), and 4–5 cm thick. Larger sizes are not uncommon. Their designs largely resemble that of the Cantonese mooncake, though some other images, such as the sow with cub, fish, shrimp, etc can also be found.
Vietnamese mooncakes have two basic parts: crust and filling. The ingredients usually consist of: jam, dried sausage, mung bean paste, salt, sugar, cooking oil, sugared lard, lotus seed, watermelon seed, etc. Compared to other variants, Vietnamese mooncakes' flavor is more on the sweet side. Thus, to balance it, salted egg yolk is often added. They can be baked or eaten immediately.
Bánh nướng (baked mooncake) is made from wheat flour, cooking oil, and simple syrup boiled with malt. After being filled with various combinations of salted egg yolk, dried sausage, mung bean paste, salt, sugar, cooking oil, sugared pig fat, lotus seed, watermelon seed, it will be brushed with egg wash, then baked in the oven. The egg wash will protect the crust of the cake from drying out and create the aroma of the cake. The cakes have to be rotated constantly in the oven to prevent burning.
Bánh dẻo (sticky rice mooncake) is easier to make than bánh nướng. The crust and filling are pre-cooked. The crust is made from roasted glutinous rice flour, pomelo blossom water or vanilla and simple syrup. After malaxating rice flour, fillings similar to that of baked mooncake is stuffed inside the crust and then the cake is put into the mold dusted with a thin layer of flour to prevent sticking to fingers. The cake can be used immediately without any further steps. However, bánh dẻo is not as popular as bánh nướng.
Taiwan
The most traditional mooncake found within Taiwan resembles those from southern Fujian. Taiwanese mooncakes are filled with sweetened red bean paste, sometimes with mochi in the center. The most common traditional mooncakes coming from Taiwan are filled mung bean (lu dou) or taro paste, generally with a salted duck egg yolk in the mung bean mooncakes, and either salted duck egg or a savory treat in the taro mooncakes. They typically have a flaky crust and are spherical in shape. Instead of the imprinted pattern on top common in Cantonese versions, Taiwanese mooncakes have a red stamp typically in celebratory Chinese character. Modern, more trendy Taiwanese moon cakes are wide in variety that include low fat, lard free and ice cream versions. Popular modern flavors include green tea, chocolate, strawberry and tiramisu.
Thailand
In Thailand, mooncakes (in Thai, ขนมไหว้พระจันทร์) are sold in Thai-Chinese bakeries during festival season. In Bangkok, traditional and modern moon cakes are not limited to Chinatown on Yaowarat Road, but they are also found in stalls of large supermarkets.
Singapore
In Singapore, mooncakes are luxury gifts. They come in a wide variety of flavors ranging from the traditional baked ones, to the Teochew flaky ones filled with yam paste, to snowskin varieties filled with chilled fruit pastes. Traditional mooncakes feature base fillings of red lotus paste, white lotus paste or red bean paste, with 0-4 salted duck egg yolks embedded within. Variations include adding other ingredients such as macadamia nuts, osmanthus, orange peel and melon seeds.
Snowskin mooncakes in Singapore feature flavors ranging from Lychee Martini, Baileys, Matcha Red Bean, durian, and various fruit pastes.
Mooncakes are luxurious gifts in Singapore and are very popular as gifts to clients, friends and family. An average box of 4 mooncakes cost US$60. Many hotels and fine Chinese cuisine restaurants offer mooncakes packaged in elaborate boxes with multiple compartments and jeweled clasps. Mooncake boxes are commonly repurposed as jewelry boxes after the festival ends.
Gallery
See also
Bakpia (Hopia)
Bánh pía
Crystal cake
Lotus seed paste
List of Chinese desserts
Suncake (Taiwan)
Yueguangbing
References
External links
Chinatownology – Moon cakes and social solidarity
Origin and meaning of Vietnam mooncake
What is Mooncake?
Mid-Autumn Festival
Autumn traditions
Cakes
Chinese confectionery
Chinese pastries
Moon in culture
Stuffed desserts
Tea culture
Egg dishes
Legume dishes
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore%E2%80%93Washington%20Parkway
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Baltimore–Washington Parkway
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The Baltimore–Washington Parkway (also referred to as the B–W Parkway) is a limited-access highway in the U.S. state of Maryland, running southwest from Baltimore to Washington, D.C. The road begins at an interchange with U.S. Route 50 (US 50) near Cheverly in Prince George's County at the Washington, D.C. border, and continues northeast as a parkway maintained by the National Park Service (NPS) to MD 175 near Fort Meade, serving many federal institutions. This portion of the parkway is dedicated to Gladys Noon Spellman, a representative of Maryland's 5th congressional district, and has the unsigned Maryland Route 295 (MD 295) designation. Commercial vehicles, including trucks, are prohibited within this stretch. This section is administered by the NPS's Greenbelt Park unit. After leaving park service boundaries the highway is maintained by the state and signed with the MD 295 designation. This section of the parkway passes near Baltimore–Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Upon entering Baltimore, the Baltimore Department of Transportation takes over maintenance of the road and it continues north to an interchange with Interstate 95 (I-95). Here, the Baltimore–Washington Parkway ends and MD 295 continues north unsigned on Russell Street, which carries the route north into downtown Baltimore. In downtown Baltimore, MD 295 follows Paca Street northbound and Greene Street southbound before ending at US 40.
Plans for a parkway linking Baltimore and Washington date back to Pierre Charles L'Enfant's original layout for Washington, D.C. in the 18th century but did not fully develop until the 1920s. Major reasons surrounding the need for a parkway included high accident rates on adjacent US 1 and defense purposes before World War II. In the mid-1940s, plans for the design of the parkway were finalized and construction began in 1947 for the state-maintained portion and in 1950 for the NPS-maintained segment. The entire parkway opened to traffic in stages between 1950 and 1954.
Following completion of the B–W Parkway, suburban growth took place in both Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. In the 1960s and the 1970s, there were plans to give the segment of the parkway owned by the NPS to the state and make it a part of I-295 and possibly I-95; however, they never came through and the entire road is today designated as MD 295, despite only being signed on the state-maintained portion. Between the 1980s and the 2000s, the NPS portion of the road was modernized. MD 295 is in the process of being widened from four to six lanes, with more widening and a new interchange along this segment planned for the future.
Route description
NPS segment
The parkway begins at a large hybrid cloverleaf just outside the Washington, D.C. boundary at Tuxedo, Maryland that is maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration. Two routes converge at the southern and western ends of the interchange: US 50, which heads west into Washington, D.C. to become New York Avenue; and MD 201, which begins at the D.C. line along the northern end of the Kenilworth Avenue Freeway (which continues into the District of Columbia as D.C. Route 295). US 50 continues east from this interchange as the John Hanson Highway, a freeway, and MD 201 continues north on Kenilworth Avenue, a surface road that closely parallels the B–W Parkway to the east past the interchange.
The portion of the B–W Parkway between the southern terminus and MD 175 is maintained by the National Park Service (NPS). From its southern terminus, the road continues north as a six-lane limited-access parkway with the unsigned MD 295 designation, containing brown signs featuring the Clarendon typeface. Along this section of the parkway, commercial vehicles such as trucks are prohibited; however, buses and limousines are allowed. The parkway heads through wooded surroundings near industrial areas and passes over the Alexandria Extension of CSX's Capital Subdivision railroad line and MD 201, where there is a ramp from southbound MD 201 to the southbound B–W Parkway. It continues northeast, passing near Prince George's Hospital Center, to interchanges with MD 202 (Landover Road) in Cheverly and with MD 450 (Annapolis Road) in Bladensburg and Landover Hills and the former Capital Plaza Mall. Bladensburg itself is a historical waterfront town that consists of houses dating back to the mid-18th century.
It continues north as a four-lane road with a wide, tree-filled median, and passes through woodland, skirting residential neighborhoods hidden by the trees. The road has a junction with MD 410 (Riverdale Road) west of New Carrollton. This route provides access to the towns of Riverdale Park, which features an 1801 mansion named Riversdale surrounded by suburban development, and Hyattsville, which has buildings dating back to the railroad days of the 1870s and the streetcar and automobile days of the early 20th century. North of here, the route runs near more residences before entering Greenbelt, a suburban garden community built as a model "green town" during the New Deal program in the 1930s, and Greenbelt Park, a park under the jurisdiction of the NPS that has the nearest public camping area to Washington, D.C. In the northeastern corner of the park, the Baltimore–Washington Parkway comes to an interchange with I-95 and I-495 (the Capital Beltway). This interchange is the only place where the park service has used green signs compliant with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
Just past the Capital Beltway, the route heads into the heart of the city of Greenbelt, having an interchange with MD 193 (Greenbelt Road). The headquarters of the U.S. Park Police, which patrol this portion of the parkway, is located off this exit along MD 193. MD 193 provides access to College Park, which is home to the College Park Airport, a 1909 airport where the Wright Brothers taught the U.S. Army how to fly an airplane, and the University of Maryland, College Park, a public educational institution established in 1862. At the northern edge of the town, the route has employee-only access to the Goddard Space Flight Center, the first NASA space flight center opened in 1958 that has contributed to many space missions; from here, the route then enters the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the largest agricultural research center in the world, owned by the United States Department of Agriculture. The parkway's only interchange within the center is at Powder Mill Road, south of Capitol College.
Outside the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, the parkway comes to MD 197 (Laurel–Bowie Road) south of Laurel. Near this exit of the parkway is the Montpelier Mansion, a Georgian mansion built by Major Thomas Snowden in 1783. Past MD 197, the road passes through the western edge of the Patuxent National Wildlife Research Refuge, a wildlife center established in 1936 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, crossing the Patuxent River into Anne Arundel County. Here the parkway continues northeast through dense woodland and comes to the exit for MD 198 (Fort Meade Road) to the east of Laurel, which itself is a suburb that originated in the 1830s as a mill town that contains many historical sites such as the Laurel Railroad Station (still used today by MARC Train), an 1844 Queen Anne house, and an 1840s millworkers house that is home to the Laurel Museum.
Continuing north, the parkway encounters MD 32 (Savage Road) near Fort Meade. MD 32 offers northbound travelers direct access into the fort and to the National Security Agency, while the next interchange, another employee-only access road into Fort Meade, features only a southbound exit and northbound entrance. Fort Meade itself is a military installation opened in 1917 that trained 3.5 million troops during World War II and is still a major fort. To the west of the parkway off MD 32 is the Savage Mill, which was an operating cotton mill from 1822 to 1947 and is currently an antique mall, and the Bollman Truss Railroad Bridge, an 1869 cast and wrought iron bridge along the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which is now CSX's Capital Subdivision, line between Baltimore and Washington D.C. After this interchange, the road continues to a cloverleaf interchange with MD 175 (Jessup Road), where NPS maintenance of the parkway comes to an end at the south end of the interchange.
Maryland Route 295
Past the MD 175 junction, MD 295 signage begins and the road continues north as a four-lane grade-separated freeway maintained by the Maryland State Highway Administration, where the truck ban ends. This permits trucks to serve into Fort Meade from Baltimore and BWI Airport. This section of the road features standard MUTCD green signage. It heads through wooded areas and comes to a diverging diamond interchange with MD 713F (Arundel Mills Boulevard), which provides access to the Arundel Mills shopping mall and the Live! Casino & Hotel. Past this interchange, MD 295 comes to a cloverleaf interchange with MD 100. Continuing northeast, the route curves to the northwest of Baltimore–Washington International Airport (the largest airport in Maryland), passing near an industrial park before reaching I-195, the main access road to the airport. Within this interchange, before passing under I-195, the road crosses over Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. I-195 westbound provides access from the Baltimore–Washington Parkway to the Thomas Viaduct, which carries the B&O railroad line over the Patapsco River, and Patapsco Valley State Park, a state park that preserves the valley of the Patapsco River for recreational purposes.
Still on a northeast track, the route widens to six lanes and intersects West Nursery Road near Linthicum, adjacent to the BWI Hotel District. Past West Nursery Road, the road meets I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway) at a full cloverleaf interchange. Turning north, the route passes under MD 168 (Nursery Road) before crossing the Patapsco River into Baltimore County. Upon crossing into Baltimore County, MD 295 reaches a partial interchange with I-895 (Harbor Tunnel Thruway), with access from northbound MD 295 to northbound I-895 and from southbound I-895 to southbound MD 295. Past I-895, the road continues through wooded surrounding with residential developments behind the trees, before entering the city of Baltimore.
In Baltimore, MD 295 continues as a limited-access freeway maintained by the Baltimore Department of Transportation, still surrounded by trees with urban residential and industrial neighborhoods nearby, passing under the Curtis Bay Branch of CSX's Baltimore Terminal Subdivision railroad line and coming to an interchange with MD 648 (Annapolis Road) and Waterview Avenue just beyond the city line. Now running due north, the parkway heads over CSX's Hanover Subdivision railroad line before it reaches its northern terminus at I-95. At the I-95 interchange, there are also ramps connecting to Monroe Street. MD 295 downgrades from a limited-access freeway to a six-lane divided city street called Russell Street.
MD 295 continues northeast on Russell Street, where it is unsigned for the remainder of the route, through a mix of industrial and commercial areas, heading to the northwest of the Baltimore Greyhound Terminal at Haines Street and the Horseshoe Casino Baltimore. Farther north, the street passes over CSX's Baltimore Terminal Subdivision railroad line before it heads to the west of M&T Bank Stadium, where the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League play. Past here, the road features an interchange with Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, which becomes I-395 south of Russell Street. After this interchange, MD 295 runs west of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home to Major League Baseball's Baltimore Orioles, as a four-lane divided street. Immediately after Camden Yards, MD 295 splits into a one-way pair at the intersection with Washington Boulevard with northbound traffic following Eislen Street northeast briefly before heading north on Paca Street and southbound traffic following Greene Street. Along the one-way pair, the route intersects many major streets in downtown Baltimore, including Pratt Street, Lombard Street, Baltimore Street, Fayette Street, and Saratoga Street.
Greene Street passes the University of Maryland Medical Center between Lombard Street and Baltimore Street, the Baltimore VA Medical Center between Baltimore Street and Fayette Street, and Westminster Hall and Burying Ground at the corner of Fayette Street. Paca Street passes by the Sonneborn Building north of Pratt Street; the Heiser, Rosenfeld, and Strauss Buildings north of Lombard Street; the historic Paca Street Firehouse and Sanitary Laundry Company Building just north of the intersection with Fayette Street; and Lexington Market at the intersection with Lexington Street. MD 295 reaches its northern terminus at US 40, which follows Mulberry Street eastbound and Franklin Street westbound, in downtown Baltimore. MD 129 continues north from the northern terminus of MD 295, following Paca Street northbound and Pennsylvania Avenue southbound.
History
Planning
Plans for a parkway connecting Baltimore and Washington date back to the 1920s as a part of a system that was initially included in Pierre Charles L'Enfant's layout of Washington, D.C from the 18th century. In 1924, Harry W. Nice, who would later become Governor of Maryland, called for the parkway to be constructed.
Early proposals made by the National Capital Park and Planning Commission involved a route that followed US 1 north to MD 198, then east to Fort Meade, but lack of funding led to simpler plans to widen US 1 instead. During the 1930s, the New Deal programs promulgated by President Franklin Roosevelt led to a heightened awareness of the parkway proposals; a 1937 report by the Maryland State Planning Commission increased awareness further. Increasing accident levels on US 1 (which was called one of the deadliest roads in the world at the time) along with awareness of the need to mobilize national defense before World War II provided additional motivation for construction of the parkway.
In 1942, the Bureau of Public Roads began the process to start the construction design for the parkway. Federal and state officials commissioned the firm J. E. Greiner Company to create designs for the parkway, which included a large Y-junction at the southern terminus to connect with New York Avenue and the proposed Anacostia Freeway. Meanwhile, the northern end included a similar wye, with one end running to US 40 (Franklin Street) and the other end crossing the Inner Harbor, but this was modified in 1945 to the current configuration.
Construction
Construction on the northern portion of the highway began in 1947 by the state of Maryland, while construction on the NPS segment started in 1950. The land for the portion that was to be built by the NPS was acquired at the same time as Greenbelt Park, a park that is under the jurisdiction of the NPS. The state-maintained portion was completed in December 1950 between MD 46 (now I-195) and Hollins Ferry Road at the Baltimore city line and in 1952 from MD 175 to MD 46. The portion of the parkway within the city of Baltimore opened in 1951 while the NPS-maintained portion opened in October 1954. The portion of the road not maintained by the NPS was known as the Baltimore–Washington Expressway while the section maintained by the NPS was called the Baltimore–Washington Parkway.
Post-construction
Around the time the highway was completed, the federal government began to promote suburbanization by moving several federal agencies out of the capital in order to protect them against nuclear attack. As a result, suburban neighborhoods began to appear in Laurel, Severn, Bowie, and Greenbelt. In addition, the road became a prime commuting route into both Washington and Baltimore, leading to suburban growth that would eventually cause the two distinct cities to merge into one large metropolitan area.
In 1963, the State Roads Commission, the National Park Service, and the Bureau of Public Roads (the predecessor of the Federal Highway Administration) (FHWA) created tentative plans to transfer the NPS segment of the parkway to the state of Maryland, who would then rebuild it to modern freeway standards, with trucks and buses permitted throughout. The plan collapsed due to the state's reluctance to spend the money necessary to reconstruct the parkway, which was one of the most dangerous roads in the NPS road system.
In 1965, the Goddard Space Flight Center constructed the interchange for its employee entrance.
In 1968, the State Roads Commission proposed to the FHWA that the parkway be included in the Interstate Highway System and designated Interstate 295 (in anticipation of the completion of the parallel-running I-95 that occurred in 1971). The designation was granted in 1969, but later withdrawn from all except the current portion signed as I-295 due to lack of funds available to modernize the route. As a result of the withdrawal of the Interstate designation, the parkway remained an unnumbered road south of I-695 while the portion north of there became a part of MD 3 by 1975. Despite this setback, however, plans still existed to widen the parkway to six or even eight lanes. Even though the 1970 Federal Highway Act provided $65 million (equivalent to $ in ) for this purpose, funding was insufficient to execute these projects. The cancellation of the North Central Freeway and the Northeast Freeway (I-95's routing between New York Avenue and the College Park Interchange) offered a chance for modernization, as plans existed to route I-95 via the B–W Parkway; however, this did not happen and trucks were banned from the parkway again.
By 1973, MD 3 was designated along the Baltimore–Washington Expressway between I-695 and Monroe Street in Baltimore. MD 295 was designated along the state-maintained portions of the expressway, replacing the MD 3 designation between I-695 and Monroe Street, by 1981. By the 1990s, the portion of the road known as the Baltimore–Washington Expressway became known as the Baltimore–Washington Parkway.
In the mid-1980s, the National Park Service, along with the Federal Highway Administration, began a reconstruction of the NPS segment to modernize the road, including the improvement of several interchanges. Around 2002, the federal government completed the project with the reconstruction of the MD 197 interchange.
In 2004, Maryland Governor Robert L. Ehrlich announced plans to widen portions of MD 295 near Baltimore–Washington International Airport. The MDSHA widened the parkway from two lanes on each side to three lanes on each side from I-195 north to I-695. Construction on the $12.4 million project, which began in late 2008, was completed in late 2011. The widening made use of the median as the extra travel lanes were to be added inside of each carriageway.
The Maryland State Highway Administration closed the southbound ramps of the interchange between the Baltimore–Washington Parkway and Arundel Mills Boulevard starting Monday, May 7, 2012. The closure was for the expedited replacement of the existing dumbbell interchange with Maryland's first diverging diamond interchange. The new interchange was part of $5 million in road upgrades being funded by the Cordish Company ahead of the June 6 opening of the company's Maryland Live! development, which features a casino, near Arundel Mills. The new interchange opened on June 11.
Dedications
In 1983, the NPS-maintained section of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway was named in honor of Gladys Noon Spellman, a congresswoman who represented Maryland's 5th congressional district from January 3, 1975, to January 3, 1981, after a bill introduced into the United States Senate by Senator Paul Sarbanes was signed into law. Gladys Noon Spellman was an educator in Prince George's County and chairperson of the National Mental Health Study Center before becoming the first woman to serve on the county's Board of Commissioners. She suffered a heart attack that ended her congressional career on October 31, 1980, leaving her in a coma until her death on June 19, 1988. On May 9, 1991, the Baltimore–Washington Parkway was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Incidents
In 1989, an overpass being built at MD 198 over the B–W Parkway just east of Laurel collapsed during rush hour, injuring fourteen motorists and construction workers. The incident was blamed on faulty scaffolding used to support the uncompleted span. On July 9, 2005, a sinkhole opened beneath the parkway at a construction site, leading to the complete closure of the northbound roadway. The sinkhole was filled with concrete to shore up the roadbed and prevent further collapse; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers attempted to expedite repairs, but the route remained closed until the next day. On August 24, 2007, both directions of the parkway were closed when chunks of concrete fell from the overpass at MD 193 (Greenbelt Road) onto the northbound lanes.
Renovation
MD 295 is planned to be widened to six lanes between MD 100 and I-195, and a new interchange is planned to be constructed at Hanover Road. The type of interchange has not yet been decided upon with choices including a diamond interchange, a single-point urban interchange, and a modified cloverleaf interchange. Planning for the $24 million project concluded in 2012.
In September 2017, Governor Larry Hogan announced a plan to widen the Baltimore–Washington Parkway by four lanes, adding express toll lanes to the median, as part of a $9 billion proposal to widen roads in Maryland. The project would be a public-private partnership with private companies responsible for constructing, operating, and maintaining the lanes. As part of the proposal, the portion of the parkway owned by the National Park Service would be transferred to the Maryland Transportation Authority.
In 2019, portions of the National Park Service segment of the Baltimore–Washington Parkway experienced significant pavement deterioration, including several potholes. In March 2019, the speed limit was reduced on the section of the parkway between MD 197 and MD 32 due to poor road conditions. After pressure from Governor Hogan and the state's congressional delegation, the National Park Service announced that emergency pothole repairs will take place from MD 197 to MD 198 on the weekend of March 30–31, 2019, with a complete repave to begin in April 2019, several months ahead of schedule. Repaving of the section between MD 198 and MD 175 occurred later in the year.
Exit list
See also
National Register of Historic Places listings in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
National Register of Historic Places listings in Prince George's County, Maryland
National Register of Historic Places listings in Baltimore County, Maryland
National Register of Historic Places listings in Baltimore, Maryland
Notes
References
External links
MD 295 at MDRoads.com
MD 295 - Baltimore-Washington Parkway at AARoads.com
Maryland Roads - MD 295, Balto-Wash Pkwy.
National Park Service - Baltimore–Washington Parkway
Steve Anderson's DCroads.net: Baltimore–Washington Parkway (MD 295)
United States federal parkways
Roads in Prince George's County, Maryland
Roads in Anne Arundel County, Maryland
Roads in Baltimore County, Maryland
Roads in Baltimore
Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
Limited-access roads in Maryland
Freeways in the United States
National Park Service areas in Maryland
National Capital Parks-East
Historic American Engineering Record in Maryland
Articles containing video clips
National Register of Historic Places in Annapolis, Maryland
National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore County, Maryland
National Register of Historic Places in Prince George's County, Maryland
Parks on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narragansett%20people
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Narragansett people
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The Narragansett people are an Algonquian American Indian tribe from Rhode Island. Today, Narragansett people are enrolled in the federally recognized Narragansett Indian Tribe. They gained federal recognition in 1983.
The tribe was nearly landless for most of the 20th century but acquired land in 1991 in their lawsuit Carcieri v. Salazar, and they petitioned the Department of the Interior to take the land into trust on their behalf. This would have made the newly acquired land to be officially recognized as part of the Narragansett Indian reservation, taking it out from under Rhode Island's legal authority. In 2009, the United States Supreme Court ruled against the request, declaring that tribes which had achieved federal recognition since the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act did not have standing to have newly acquired lands taken into federal trust and removed from state control.
Reservation
The Narragansett tribe was recognized by the federal government in 1983 and controls the Narragansett Indian Reservation, of trust lands in Charlestown, Rhode Island. A small portion of the tribe resides on or near the reservation, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. Additionally, they own several hundred acres in Westerly.
In 1991, the Narragansetts purchased in Charlestown for development of elderly housing. In 1998, they requested that the Department of the Interior take the property into trust on behalf of the tribe, to remove it from state and local control. The case went to the United States Supreme Court, as the state challenged the removal of new lands from state oversight by a tribe recognized by the US after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act. Rhode Island was joined in its appeal by 21 other states.
In 2009, the US Supreme Court ruled that the Department of the Interior could not take land into trust, removing it from state control, if a tribe had achieved federal recognition after the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, and if the land in question was acquired after that federal recognition. Their determination was based on wording in the act which defines "Indian" as "all persons of Indian descent who are members of any recognized tribe now under federal jurisdiction."
Government
The tribe is led by an elected tribal council, a chief sachem, a medicine man, and a Christian leader. The entire tribal population must approve major decisions.
The administration in 2023 was:
Chief Sachem: Anthony Dean Stanton
Medicine Man: Mudjekewis John Brown
Tribal Council
Cassius Spears, Jr., 1st Councilman
Mike Monroe Sr, 2nd Councilman
Councilman: John Pompey
Councilman: Lonny Brown, Sr.
Councilwoman: Yvonne Lamphere
Councilman: Keith Sampson
Councilman: Shawn Perry
Councilman: John Mahoney
Councilman, Raymond Lamphere
Tribal Secretary, Monica Stanton
Assistant Tribal Secretary: Betty Johnson
Tribal Treasurer: Mary S. Brown
Assistant Tribal Treasurer: Walter K. Babcock
Name
Some present-day Narragansett people believe that their name means "people of the little points and bays". Pritzker's Native American Encyclopedia translates the name as "(People) of the Small Point".
The Narragansett language died out in the 19th century, so modern attempts to understand its words have to make use of written sources. The earliest such sources are the writings of English colonists in the 1600s, and at that time the name of the Narragansett people was spelled in a variety of different ways, perhaps attesting to different local pronunciations. The present spelling "Narragansett" was first used by Massachusetts governor John Winthrop in his History of New England (1646); but assistant governor Edward Winslow spelled it "Nanohigganset", while Rhode Island preacher Samuel Gorton preferred "Nanhyganset"; Roger Williams, who founded the city of Providence and came into closest contact with the Narragansett people, used a host of different spellings including "Nanhiggonsick", "Nanhigonset", "Nanihiggonsicks", "Nanhiggonsicks", "Narriganset", "Narrogonset", and "Nahigonsicks".
Underneath this diversity of spelling a common phonetic background can be discerned. Linguist James Hammond Trumbull explains that naiag or naiyag means a corner or angle in the Algonquian languages, so that the prefix nai is found in the names of many points of land on the sea coast and rivers of New England (e.g. Nayatt Point in Barrington, RI, and Noyack on Long Island). The word na-ig-an-set, according to Trumbull, signifies "the territory about the point", and na-ig-an-eog means "the people of the point".
Roger Williams spent much time learning and studying the Narragansett language, and he wrote a definitive study on it in 1643 entitled A Key Into the Language of America. He traced the source of the word Narragansett to a geographical location:
Being inquisitive of what root the title or denomination Nahigonset should come I heard that Nahigonsset was so named from a little island, between Puttaquomscut and Mishquomacuk on the sea and fresh water side. I went on purpose to see it, and about the place called Sugar Loaf Hill I saw it and was within a pole of it [i.e. a rod or feet ], but could not learn why it was called Nahigonset.
Berkeley anthropologist William Simmons, who specialized in the Narragansett people, explains the name as follows:
The name Narragansett, like the names of most tribes in this region, referred to both a place and the people who lived there. Roger Williams, the first English settler of Providence, wrote that the name came from that of a small island, which he did not locate precisely but which may have been in what is now Point Judith Pond. He went to the island but could not learn why the Indians called it Narragansett.
But in fact Roger Williams's statement does enable a fairly precise localization: He states that the place was "a little island, between Puttaquomscut and Mishquomacuk on the sea and fresh water side", and that it was near Sugar Loaf Hill. This means it was between the Pettaquamscutt (or Narrow) river to the east, and the present town of Westerly to the west (the "sea side" and "fresh water side" being with reference to the land on the eastern side of the Narrow river and Point Judith Pond), and to the north of Point Judith Pond (where Sugar Loaf Hill is located). This statement suggests that the original Narragansett homeland was identified by 17th-century natives as being a little island located near the northern edge of Point Judith Pond, possibly the currently unnamed island in Billington cove.
And in fact, in 1987, while conducting a survey for a development company, archaeologists from Rhode Island College discovered the remains of an Indian village on the northern edge of Point Judith Pond, near to the place which Roger Williams had indicated. The site is now known as the Salt Pond Archaeological Site or site RI 110. Excavations revealed the remains of a coastal village from the Late Woodland period, inhabited between about 1100 and 1300 A.D. Human burials were found, as well as evidence of houses and other structures, cooking and food storage places, and a range of artifacts. The find turned out to be an important one, because no other American Indian coastal village has ever been found in the Northeastern United States. A documentary film about the site was sponsored by the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, with support from the Federal Highway Administration, and aired on Rhode Island PBS in November 2015. Excerpts can be seen on Vimeo.
Language
Traditionally, the tribe spoke the Narragansett language, a member of the Algonquian languages family. The Narragansetts spoke a "Y-dialect", similar enough to the "N-dialects" of the Massachusett and Wampanoag to be mutually intelligible. Other Y-dialects include the Shinnecock and Pequot languages spoken historically by tribes on Long Island and in Connecticut, respectively.
The Narragansett language became almost entirely extinct during the 20th century. The tribe has begun language revival efforts, based on early 20th-century books and manuscripts, and new teaching programs.
In the 17th century, Roger Williams learned the tribe's language. He documented it in his 1643 work A Key Into the Language of America. In that book Williams gave the tribe's name as Nanhigganeuck though later he used the spelling Nahigonset.
American English has absorbed a number of loan words from Narragansett and other closely related languages, such as Wampanoag and Massachusett. Such words include quahog, moose, papoose, powwow, squash, and succotash.
History
The Narragansetts were one of the leading tribes of New England, controlling the west of Narragansett Bay in Rhode Island and portions of Connecticut and eastern Massachusetts, from the Providence River on the northeast to the Pawcatuck River on the southwest. The first European contact was in 1524 when explorer Giovanni de Verrazzano visited Narragansett Bay.
Between 1616 and 1619, infectious diseases killed thousands of Algonquians in coastal areas south of Rhode Island. The Narragansetts were the most powerful tribe in the southern area of the region when the English colonists arrived in 1620, and they had not been affected by the epidemics. Chief Massasoit of the Wampanoags to the east allied with the colonists at Plymouth Colony as a way to protect the Wampanoags from Narragansett attacks. In the fall of 1621, the Narragansetts sent a sheaf of arrows wrapped in a snakeskin to Plymouth Colony as a threatening challenge, but Plymouth governor William Bradford sent the snakeskin back filled with gunpowder and bullets. The Narragansetts understood the message and did not attack them.
European settlement in the Narragansett territory did not begin until 1635; in 1636, Roger Williams acquired land from Narragansett sachems Canonicus and Miantonomi and established Providence Plantations.
Pequot War
During the Pequot War of 1637, the Narragansetts allied with the New England colonists. However, the brutality of the colonists in the Mystic massacre shocked the Narragansetts, who returned home in disgust. After the Pequots were defeated, the colonists gave captives to their allies the Narragansetts and the Mohegans.
The Narragansetts later had conflict with the Mohegans over control of the conquered Pequot land. In 1643, Miantonomi led the Narragansetts in an invasion of eastern Connecticut where they planned to subdue the Mohegans and their leader Uncas. Miantonomi had an estimated 1,000 men under his command. The Narragansett forces fell apart, and Miantonomi was captured. The Mohegans then took Miantonomi to Massachusetts Bay to petition the colonists to permit his execution, to which they agreed. While travelling back in the forests of northern Connecticut, Uncas's brother slew Miantonomi by bludgeoning him on the head with a club. The following year, Narragansett war leader Pessicus renewed the war with the Mohegans, and the number of Narragansett allies grew.
The Mohegans were on the verge of defeat when the colonists came and saved them, sending troops to defend the Mohegan fort at Shantok. The colonists then threatened to invade Narragansett territory, so Canonicus and his son Mixanno signed a peace treaty. The peace lasted for the next 30 years.
King Philip's War
Christian missionaries began to convert tribal members and many Indians feared that they would lose their traditions by assimilating into colonial culture, and the colonists' push for religious conversion collided with Indian resistance. In 1675, John Sassamon, a converted "Praying Indian", was found bludgeoned to death in a pond. The facts were never settled concerning Sassamon's death, but historians accept that Wampanoag sachem Metacomet (known as Philip) may have ordered his execution because Sassamon cooperated with colonial authorities. Three Wampanoag men were arrested, convicted, and hanged for Sassamon's death.
Metacomet subsequently declared war on the colonists and started King Philip's War. He escaped an attempt to trap him in the Plymouth Colony, and the uprising spread throughout Massachusetts as other bands joined the fight, such as the Nipmuc. The Indians wanted to expel the colonists from New England. They waged successful attacks on settlements in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but Rhode Island was spared at the beginning, as the Narragansetts remained officially neutral.
However, the leaders of the United Colonies (Massachusetts, Plymouth, and Connecticut) accused the Narragansetts of harboring Wampanoag refugees. They made a preemptive attack on the Narragansett palisade fortress on December 19, 1675 in a battle that became known as the Great Swamp Fight. Hundreds of Narragansett non-combatants died in the attack and burning of the fort, including women and children, but nearly all of the warriors escaped. In January 1676, colonist Joshua Tefft was hanged, drawn, and quartered by colonial forces at Smith's Castle in Wickford, Rhode Island for having fought on the side of the Narragansetts during the Great Swamp Fight.
The Indians retaliated for the massacre in a widespread spring offensive beginning in February 1676 in which they destroyed all Colonial settlements on the western side of Narragansett Bay. The settlement of Providence Plantations was burned on March 27, 1676, destroying Roger Williams's house, among others. Other Indian groups destroyed many towns throughout New England, and even raided outlying settlements near Boston. However, disease, starvation, battle losses, and the lack of gunpowder caused the Indian effort to collapse by the end of March.
Troops from Connecticut composed of colonists and their Mohegan allies swept into Rhode Island and killed substantial numbers of the now-weakened Narragansetts. A force of Mohegans and Connecticut militia captured Narragansett sachem Canonchet a few days after the destruction of Providence Plantations, while a force of Plymouth militia and Wampanoags hunted down Metacomet. He was shot and killed, ending the war in southern New England, although it dragged on for another two year in Maine.
After the war, the colonists sold some surviving Narragansetts into slavery and shipped them to the Caribbean; others became indentured servants in Rhode Island. The surviving Narragansetts merged with local tribes, particularly the Eastern Niantics. During colonial and later times, tribe members intermarried with colonists and Africans. Their spouses and children were taken into the tribe, enabling them to keep a tribal and cultural identity.
18th century
Ninigret, the chief sachem of the Narragansetts during King Philip's War, died soon after the war. He left four children by two wives. His eldest child, a daughter, succeeded him, and upon her death her half-brother Ninigret succeeded her. He left a will dated 1716–17, and died about 1722. His sons Charles Augustus and George succeeded him as sachems. George's son Thomas, commonly known as King Tom, succeeded in 1746. While King Tom was sachem, much of the Narragansett land was sold, and a considerable part of the tribe emigrated to the State of New York, joining other Indians there who belonged to the same Algonquin language group.
Nevertheless, in the 1740s during the First Great Awakening, colonists founded the Narragansett Indian Church to convert Indians to Christianity. In the ensuing years, the tribe retained control and ownership of the church and its surrounding , the only land that it could keep. This continuous ownership was critical evidence of tribal continuity when the tribe applied for federal recognition in 1983.
19th century
In the 19th century, the tribe resisted repeated state efforts to declare that it was no longer an Indian tribe because its members were multiracial in ancestry. They contended that they absorbed other ethnicities into their tribe and continued to identify culturally as Narragansetts.
The tribal leaders resisted increasing legislative pressure after the American Civil War to "take up citizenship" in the United States, which would have required them to give up their treaty privileges and Indian nation status. The Narragansetts had a vision of themselves as "a nation rather than a race", and they insisted on their rights to Indian national status and its privileges by treaty.
While testifying about this issue in a meeting with a committee of the state legislature in 1876, a Narragansett delegation said that their people saw injustices under existing US citizenship. They noted Jim Crow laws that limited the rights of blacks despite their citizenship under constitutional amendments. They also resisted suggestions that multiracial members of the tribe could not qualify as full members of the tribe. The Narragansetts had a tradition of bringing other people into their tribe by marriage and having them assimilate as culturally Narragansett, especially as their children grew up in the tribe. According to a record of their statement, they said:
We are not negroes, we are the heirs of Ninagrit, and of the great chiefs and warriors of the Narragansetts. Because, when your ancestors stole the negro from Africa and brought him amongst us and made a slave of him, we extended him the hand of friendship, and permitted his blood to be mingled with ours, are we to be called negroes? And to be told that we may be made negro citizens? We claim that while one drop of Indian blood remains in our veins, we are entitled to the rights and privileges guaranteed by your ancestors to ours by solemn treaty, which without a breach of faith you cannot violate.
From 1880 to 1884, the state persisted in its efforts at "detribalization." The tribe had agreed to negotiations for sale of its land, but it quickly regretted the decision and worked to regain the land. In 1880, the state recognized 324 Narragansett tribal members as claimants to the land during negotiations. The state put tribal lands up for public sale in the 19th century, but the tribe did not disperse and its members continued to practice its culture.
20th century
The Naragansetts lost control of much of their tribal lands during the state's late 19th-century detribalization, but they kept a group identity. The tribe incorporated in 1900 and built their longhouse in 1940 as a traditional place for gatherings and ceremonies.
In the late 20th century, they took action to have more control over their future. They regained of their land in 1978, and gained federal recognition as a tribe in 1983. According to tribal rolls, there are approximately 2,400 members of the Narragansett Tribe today. Like most Americans, they have mixed ancestry, with descent from the Narragansetts and other tribes of the New England area, as well as Europeans and Africans.
21st century
A 2006 survey conducted in preparation for development of a new residential subdivision revealed what archaeologists consider the remains of a Narragansett Indian village dating from 1100 to 1300. It is located at the top of Point Judith Pond in Narragansett, Rhode Island. This area had been identified in a 1980s survey as historically sensitive, and the state had a conflict with the developer when more remains were found. The state intervened in order to prevent development and to buy the 25-acre site for preservation; it was part of 67 acres planned for development by the new owner.
Further archaeological excavation on the site quickly revealed that it was one of two villages on the Atlantic Coast to be found in such complete condition. The other pre-Columbian village (Otan in Narragansett Algonquin) is in Virginia. It has a high concentration of permanent structures.
Preliminary surveys of the Narragansett tract, known as RI 110, have revealed a village with perhaps as many 22 structures, as well as three known human burial sites. There is also evidence of granaries, ceremonial areas and storage pits that may shed new light on the importance of maize agriculture to woodland tribes.
Historians and archeologists knew that maize was cultivated by Algonquin tribes, but there has never been physical evidence before the discovery of this site. The tribe's method of grinding the kernels into a powder was not conducive to preservation. In the first week of excavation, 78 kernels of corn were found at this site, the first time that cultivation of maize could be confirmed this far north on the Atlantic Coast.
The current members of the Narragansett tribe have contributed through oral history to accounts about the ancient people who inhabited this site. They were members of the Turtle Clan, and the settlement was a conduit for trade in medicines. They used the surrounding pond and its many islands for hunting camps, resource collection, fishing, shellfish, burial sites, and herbal collections for medicine and ceremony.
Providence founder Roger Williams was brought to the top of Sugarloaf Hill in nearby Wakefield when treating with the Narragansett tribe. They pointed toward this large settlement and told him that it was called Nanihigonset. This site is now believed to be the center of the Narragansett geography, where they coalesced as a tribe and began to extend their dominion over the neighboring tribes at different points in history.
Land claim suit
In January 1975, the Narragansett Tribe filed suit in federal court to regain of land in southern Rhode Island which they claimed the state had illegally taken from them in 1880. The 1880 Act authorizing the state to negotiate with the tribe listed 324 Narragansetts approved by the Supreme Court as claimants to the land.
In 1978, the Narragansett Tribe signed a Joint Memorandum of Understanding (JMOU) with the state of Rhode Island, Town of Charlestown, and private property owners in settlement of their land claim. The state transferred a total of to a corporation formed to hold the land in trust for descendants of the 1880 Narragansett Roll. In exchange, the tribe agreed that the laws of Rhode Island would be in effect on those lands, except for hunting and fishing. The Narragansetts had not yet been federally recognized as a tribe.
Federal recognition
The tribe prepared extensive documentation of its genealogy and proof of continuity as descendants of the 324 tribal members of treaty status. In 1979 the tribe applied for federal recognition, which it finally regained in 1983 as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island (the official name used by the Bureau of Indian Affairs).
Current events
The state and tribe have disagreed on certain rights on the reservation. On July 14, 2003, Rhode Island state police raided a tribe-run smoke shop on the Charlestown reservation, the culmination of a dispute over the tribe's failure to pay state taxes on its sale of cigarettes. In 2005, the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals declared the police action a violation of the tribe's sovereignty. In 2006, an en banc decision of the First Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the prior decision, stating that the raid did not violate the tribe's sovereign immunity because of the 1978 Joint Memorandum of Agreement settling the land issues, in which the tribe agreed that state law would be observed on its land.
In a separate federal civil rights lawsuit, the tribe charged the police with the use of excessive force during the 2003 raid on the smoke shop. One Narragansett man suffered a broken leg in the confrontation. The case was being retried in the summer of 2008. Competing police experts testified on each side of the case.
The Narragansett Tribe is negotiating with the General Assembly for approval to build a casino in Rhode Island with their partner, currently Harrah's Entertainment. The Rhode Island Constitution declares to be illegal all non-state-run lotteries or gambling. A proposed constitutional amendment to allow the tribe to build the casino was voted down by state residents in November 2006.
The tribe has plans to upgrade the Longhouse that it constructed along RI Route 2 (South County Trail) to serve as a place of American Indian cuisine and cultural meeting house. These plans have been in the works for more than 15 years. The Longhouse was built in 1940 and has fallen into disrepair. Upgrades are also being planned for the Narragansett tribal medical, technological, and artistic systems.
The Narragansetts have undertaken efforts to review tribal rolls and reassess applications for membership, like numerous other tribes in the 21st century. They currently require tribal members to show direct descent from one or more of the 324 members listed on the 1880-84 Roll, which was established when Rhode Island negotiated land sales.
The current population numbers about 2,400 and the tribe has closed the rolls. They have dropped some people from the rolls and denied new applications for membership. Scholars and activists see this as a national trend among tribes, prompted by a variety of factors, including internal family rivalries and the issue of significant new revenues from Indian casinos. Many of the removed would later form and join the unrecognized Northern Narragansett Tribe.
The US Supreme Court agreed to hear Carcieri v. Salazar (2009) in the fall of 2008, a case determining American Indian land rights. The Court ruled in favor of Rhode Island in February 2009. The suit was brought by the state of Rhode Island against the Department of the Interior (DOI) over its authority to take land into trust on behalf of certain American Indians.
The authority was part of the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, but the state argued that the process could not hold for tribes that achieved federal recognition after 1934. The US Supreme Court upheld the state based on language in the act. At issue is of land in Charlestown which the Narragansetts purchased in 1991. The Narragansetts requested the DOI to take it into trust on their behalf in order to remove it from state and local control, after trying to develop it for elderly housing under state regulations in 1998.
Cultural institutions
The tribe hosts their annual meeting powwow on the second weekend of August on their reservation in Charlestown, Rhode Island. It is a gathering of thanksgiving and honor to the Narragansett people and is the oldest recorded powwow in North America, dating back to 1675's colonial documentation of the gathering (the powwow had been held long before European contact).
In August 2017, the tribe held the 342nd powwow with events including the traditional grand entry, a procession of military veterans, dancers, and honored tribal representatives, and the ceremonial lighting of a sacred fire. There was also a church service, food vendors, and arts and crafts.
Notable Narragansetts
The following are listed in alphabetical order by surname.
Ellison "Tarzan" Brown (1913–1975), two-time Boston Marathon winner (1936, 1939) and 1936 U.S. Olympian
Tiffany Cobb (1976–present), R&B singer who is of Narragansett, Cape Verdean, French, German, English, and Scots ancestry
Sonny Dove (1945–1983), basketball player
George Fayerweather (1802–1869), blacksmith in Kingston, Rhode Island of Narragansett-African descent who was host to anti-slavery activists; his wife Sarah Harris Fayerweather was particularly active in the movement
Robyn E. Hannigan, scientist whose mother was from the Narragansett nation and who is currently provost at Clarkson University
John Christian Hopkins (born 1960), journalist and published author
Nancy Elizabeth Prophet (1890–1960), sculptor of African-Narragansett descent
Princess Red Wing (1896–1987), historian, museum curator, and Squaw Sachem of the New England Council of Chiefs
Ella Sekatau (1928-2014), poet, historian, Ethnohistorian and Medicine Woman
Russell Spears (1917–2009), stonemason
Loren Spears, educator, writer
Rev. Harold Mars, preacher and prophet
List of Narragansett sachems
See also
Cautantowwit
Indian Burial Ground
Historic Village of the Narragansetts in Charlestown
List of early settlers of Rhode Island
The Narragansett Dawn, a Narragansett newspaper from the 1930s
Native American tribes in Massachusetts
Citations
General references
Pritzker, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. .
Simmons, William S. The Narragansett. Indians of North America series. New York: Chelsea House, 1989.
External links
Narragansett Indian Tribe Official Site
Reference book on Narragansett
Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum
Nuweetooun School
Narragansett Indian Records Collection from the Rhode Island State Archives
Fones Record from the Rhode Island State Archives
African–Native American relations
Algonquian ethnonyms
Eastern Algonquian peoples
Federally recognized tribes in the United States
King Philip's War
Narragansett Bay
Native American tribes in Connecticut
Native American tribes in Massachusetts
Native American tribes in Rhode Island
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puebla
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Puebla
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Puebla ( ), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla (), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is the city of Puebla.
It is located in east-central Mexico and is bordered by the states of Veracruz to the north and east, Hidalgo, México, Tlaxcala and Morelos to the west, and Guerrero and Oaxaca to the south. The origins of the state lie in the city of Puebla, which was founded by the Spanish in this valley in 1531 to secure the trade route between Mexico City and the port of Veracruz. By the end of the 18th century, the area had become a colonial province with its own governor, which would become the State of Puebla, after the Mexican War of Independence in the early 19th century. Since that time the area, especially around the capital city, has continued to grow economically, mostly through industry, despite being the scene of a number of battles, the most notable of which being the Battle of Puebla. Today, the state is one of the most industrialized in the country, but since most of its development is concentrated in Puebla and other cities, many of its rural areas are undeveloped.
Culturally, the state is home to the china poblana, mole poblano, active literary and arts scenes, and festivals such as Cinco de Mayo, Ritual of Quetzalcoatl, Day of the Dead celebrations (especially in Huaquechula) and Carnival (especially in Huejotzingo). It is home to five major indigenous groups: Nahuas, the Totonacs, the Mixtecs, the Popolocas and the Otomi, which can mostly be found in the far north and the far south of the state.
Geography
The state is in the central highlands of Mexico between the Sierra Nevada and the Sierra Madre Oriental. It has a triangular shape with its narrow part to the north. It borders the states of Veracruz, Oaxaca, Guerrero, Morelos, State of Mexico, Tlaxcala and Hidalgo. The state occupies 33,919 km2, ranking 20th of 31 states in size, and has
4,930 named communities.
Mountains
Most of the mountains of Puebla belong to the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The first is locally called the Sierra Norte del Puebla, entering the state from the northwest and then breaks up into the smaller chains of Sierra de Zacapoaxtla, Sierra de Huauchinango, Sierra de Teziutlán, Sierra de Tetela de Ocampo, Sierra de Chignahuapan and Sierra de Zacatlán, although these names may vary among localities. Some of the highest elevations include Apulco, Chichat, Chignahuapan, Soltepec and Tlatlaquitepec. The highest elevations are the volcanoes Pico de Orizaba or Citlaltepetl (5,747masl), Popocatépetl (5,452masl), Iztaccíhuatl (5,286masl) and Malinche (4,461masl) which are found on the state's borders with Veracruz, Mexico State and Tlaxcala respectively. In the south of the state, the major elevations are the Sierra de Atenahuacán, Zapotitlán, Lomerio al Suroeste and the Sierra de Tehuacán. Dividing much of the state from Veracruz is a small chain of mountains called the Sierra Madre del Golfo.
The natural geography of the state subdivides into the Huasteco Plateau, Llanuras y Lomeríos zone, Lagos y Volcanes del Anáhuac, Chiconquiaco, Llanuras y Sierras de Querétaro e Hidalgo, Cordillera Costera del Sur, Mixteca Alta, Sierras y Valles Guerrenses, Sierras Centrales de Oaxaca, Sierras Orientales and Sur de Puebla. The Huasteco Plateau and the Llanuras y Lomeríos zone are located in the north and northeast, with the Lagos y Volcanes del Anáhuc in the center and north. Together, they account for over 50% of the state. The east and northeast are occupies by the Chiconquiaco and Llanudras y Sierras de Querétaro e Hidalgo areas and account for about three percent of the state. The Cordillera del Sur and Mixteca Alta are located in the west and southwest covering less than 2.5% of the state. The Sur de Puebla is in the southwest and accounts for 26% of the state. Other southern subregions include the Sierras y Valles Guerrerenses, the Sierras Centrales de Oaxaca and the Sierras Orientales. Together, they account for about 15% of the state.
Hydrology
The hydrology of Puebla is formed by three major river systems. One is based on the Balsas River, also known as the Atoyac, which originates with the melting runoff of the Halos, Telapón and Papagayo mountains along with those from the Iztaccihuatl volcano and waters from the Zahuapan River, which enters from Tlaxcala. This river receives further water from tributaries such as the Acateno, Atila, Amacuzac, Molinos and Cohetzala. The river has one major dam called Valsequllo or Manuel Avila Camacho. This river eventually flows west to the Pacific Ocean. The next system empties into the Gulf of Mexico and consists of the Pantepec, Cazones, Necaxa, Laxaxalpan, San Pedro/Zun, Zempoala, Apulco, Cedro Viejo, Salteros, Martínez de la Torre and other rivers on the east side of the state. This system has two major dams called the Necaxa and Mazatepec. The third is the closed Oriental Basin, with a large number of small lakes fresh water springs as well as some volcanically heated springs. The best known of these include Chignahuapan, Agua Azúl, Amalucan, Cisnaqullas, Garcicrespo, Almoloya and Rancho Colorado. Lakes include Chapulco, San Bernardino, Lagunas Epatlán, Ayutla, Almoloyan, Alchichica, Pahuatlán, Las Minas, Aljojuca and Tecuitlapa.
Climate
Puebla has many different climates owing to its range of altitudes. It has an average temperature of but this varies greatly locally. There is a rainy season from May until October with an overall precipitation of . The state has eleven different climate zones, but five predominate. The centre and south of the state has a temperate and semi-moist climate, with an average temperature of and of rainfall. The southwest has a warm to hot and semi-moist climate with of precipitation and average temperature. The north is also warm and hot, and additionally very wet; it has a average temperature but with an average rainfall of . The southeast is semi-dry with warm and temperate temperatures, having an average temperature of and precipitation of . The high volcano peaks have a cold climate.
Ecosystems
The state has three main ecosystems, tropical rainforests, forests in temperate and cold areas, and arid and semi-arid zones.
Tropical forests are divided into moist, semi-moist and dry forests. These can be found in the Huasteca Plateau, Chiconguiaco, Lagos y Volcánes de Anahuac, Sur de Puebla, Cordillera Costera del Sur, Sierras y Valles Guerrerenses, Sierras Orientales, Sierras Centrales de Oaxaca and Mixteca Alta. The most common species include Ceiba parviflora, Bursera simaruba, Cedrela odorata, Swietenia macrophylla, Spondias mombin, Brosimum alicastrum, Coccoloba barbadensis, Pithecellobium arboreum, Lysiloma divaricatum, Phoebe tampicensis, Acacia coulteri and Ficus spp. These forests are also exploited for wood and other products, including traditional handcrafts. Low growing plants are used to feed livestock. Little is known about the ecosystems of these forests, but it is known that these areas are important to the regulation of water in area rivers. Human activity has severely damaged over 32,000 hectares.
Tropical forests are divided by altitude. Upper forests are characterized by dense vegetation in fairly humid climates. The tree canopy reaches an average height of 15 meters. Not all species are evergreen, with a number losing leaves during the dry season. During the same season, a number of species also flower. For this reason, these forests never completely lose their color. Common species include Cedrela sp., Brosimum alicastrum, Heliocarpus spp., Calophyllum brasiliense, Zuelania guidonia and Ficus spp. Most forests of this type are located near the borders with Veracruz and Hidalgo. Tropical forests at lower altitudes are found in areas with median temperatures of over 20 C, and annual rainfall of between 800 and . These areas often have a dry season of seven or eight months, and many of these forests will lose most or all of their leaves during this time. Common species include Bursera simaruba, Lysiloma divaricatum, Phoebe tampicensis, Acacia coulteri, Beaucarnea recurvata, Lysiloma acapulcensis and Zuelania guidonia.
Colder pine–oak forests can be found in the Huasteca Plateau, Sierra de Chiconquiaco, Lagos de Volcanos de Anáhuac, Sierras Orientales and Sierras Centrales de Oaxaca. These forests mostly consist of pines, oaks, oyamel fir and other conifers (Abies religiosa, Pinus pseudostrobus, Pinus attenuata, Pinus ayacahuite, Pinus leiophylla, Pinus patula, Pinus teocote, Quercus spp, Quercus rugosa, Alnus spp, Arbutus spp, Cupressus spp and Juniperus spp.). Much of these areas have been extensively logged and some areas are used to farm trees. These trees are used for wood, paper and other wood-derived products. Due to human activity over 107,000 hectares are considered to be severely damaged.
Temperate and cold area forests cover just under 22% of the surface of the state with various species of pine accounting for more than 80% of the trees. These are mostly found in the higher elevations of the mountains where the average temperature is around 15C and at heights of between 2,500 and 2,750masl. Above 3,000m Pinus hartwegii is dominant. Pine species which are the most economically valuable and include Pinus montezumae, Pinus pseudostrobus, Pinus ayacahuite, Pinus greggii, Pinus hartwegii, Pinus lawsonii, Pinus leiophylla, Pinus michoacana, Pinus oocarpa, Pinus patula and Pinus teocote. The second most common kind of forest is dominated by oyamel fir, often intermingling with pines and oaks. These forests are found at altitudes of between 2,500 and 3,600masl and with an average temperature of between 7 and 15C and annual precipitation of . Forests with trees such as Juniperus spp., Pseudotsuga spp., Pseudotsuga menziesii, and Cupressus lindleyi can also be found.
The arid and semi arid area can be found in the Lagos y Volcanes de Anáhuac, Sur de Puebla, Cordillera Costera del Sur, Sierras y Valles Guerrerenses, Sierras Orientales and Sierras Centrales de Oaxaca. Types of vegetation often found includes mesquite, huizachal and agave, with species such as Agave spp, Yuca spp, Opuntia spp, Aristida spp., and Stipa spp. There is no forestry here but a number of plants are used for fibers, waxes, resins, handcrafts, medicine and a number are edible to both humans and livestock. Many of these arid areas subdivide into microclimates depending on minor variations in temperature and precipitation. Some areas, especially dry grasslands, have suffered overgrazing and soil erosion.
In the south, near Puebla's borders with Oaxaca and Guerrero are dry mountainous areas, some of which are completely devoid of vegetation, similar to African deserts. Other are populated only by the occasional cactus, with those belonging to the Fouquieria genus standing out on the landscape. Where there are arroyos, the vegetation changes drastically to include a wide variety of plants packed along a narrow strip. Other areas in this part of the state are semi-arid, home to a variety of plant and bird species.
Natural attractions
Natural attractions in the state include the Bosque Mesófilos de la Sierra Madre Oriental in the north of the state, Piedras Encimadas Valley, Izta-Popo Zoquiapan National Park, La Malinche National Park, and the Pico de Orizaba National Park. The best known wilderness area is the Izta-Popo National park, which the state shares with neighboring State of Mexico. It is located only west of the state capital and the two often snow covered volcanoes are easily visible from this area, and important to the state culturally. The park is an area protected by the federal government because of its biological diversity and considered to be the "lungs" of the area due to its forests. Access to the park, especially to the volcanoes themselves is more restricted than in the past due to past ecological damage. Even further restrictions are put into place when the Popocatepetl volcano is active. However, the park has numerous hiking and horse paths in the forests that cover the lower elevations. On the slopes, there are many small caves, which in pre-Hispanic times were often used for ceremonies.
The Sierra Madre Oriental, locally called the Sierra Norte, is a series of rugged mountains covered in abundant vegetation, which has had an isolating effect on the people here over the centuries. The Valle de Piedras Encimadas (Valley of the Stacked Stones) is located near the town of Zacatlán. It is really a series of small valleys covering 400 hectares filled with conifer forest. The attraction here are the stone formations which resemble stones stacked one over the other which take on numerous forms. Some have been said to resemble objects such as dogs, elephants, human heads and monsters. Most of the area is only accessible by foot or horseback.
In the center of the state, just before the land rises to the north to form the Sierra Norte, there is an area called the Oriental Basin filled with lakes, both with water and dry. The dry lakebeds contain water only during the rainy season, which runs from summer through fall. The two largest are Salado and Totocingo Lakes. The first is seven km long and two km wide and the second is larger. The largest "wet" lakes are Laguna Preciosa, Laguna Quechulac, Laguna de Atexcac and Laguna de Aijojuca.
History
Pre-Hispanic period
The territory of the state was one of the first in modern Mexico to be inhabited by humans. Most of the earliest settlements have been found in the valley of Tehuacán, with the oldest near the Agujereado Mountain, which dates back to 10,000 BCE. At this site the oldest sample of corn ever found in the world has been found, which dates back to 1500 BCE. Along with Agujereado Mountain, there are more than 450 prehistoric sites in the Tehuacan Valley alone. Stone tools date to between 6500 and 4900 BCE, and evidence of agriculture to 3500 and 2000 BCE in areas such as Aljojuca, Totimiuacan, Cholula and Izucar. By 900 BCE, there is ample evidence of the cultivation of corn, beans, squash, chili peppers and cotton. The rise of city states was established by 700 BCE.
By the Mesoamerican period, the area was inhabited by a number of ethnicities. The regions of Acatlán and part of Chiautla were dominated by the Mixtecs. Tepexi was dominated by the Popolocas. The central part of the state was dominated by the Olmec-Xicalancas and Nahuas, with strong cultural links to the Toltec-based culture at Cholula. The north was populated by the Totonacs, the Mazatecs and the Otomi, whose cultural center was in El Tajín. In the 14th century, Nonoalca ruler Xelhua, came to dominate almost all of the territory of Puebla. In the 15th century, Aztec domination took over the same area and more. Initially, the center and south areas were under the control of Tenochtitlan with Texcoco dominant in the north. Aztec domination continued until the Spanish Conquest.
Viceroyalty of New Spain ( 1535 - 1821 )
Hernán Cortés entered Puebla state in 1519, along with his indigenous allies from Veracruz, on his way to Tlaxcala. The Spanish takeover of the Puebla area was relatively easy. Many of the peoples here were under Aztec domination and saw the foreigners as a way to escape. One notable exception was the city of Cholula. While negotiating with the city's leaders, Cortés was told of a plot to attack him and his men. Cortés ordered his army to commit the Massacre of Cholula on 12 October 1519. This act terrified those who opposed the Spanish and they submitted. In 1520, after his initial defeat in Tenochtitlan (La Noche Triste) Hernán Cortés founded a Spanish settlement at Tepeaca, and took areas such as Huaquechula and Itzocan. Many natives leaders then provided men and supplies for the conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521, and later to go with Pedro de Alvarado to Guatemala. Local indigenous governments survived in the very early colonial period, subject to the Spanish. These included Tuchpa, Tzicoac, Metztitlán, Tlapacoyan, Atotonilco, Tlatlaquitepec, Huaxtepec, Tepeaca, Tlacozautitlán, Quiauhteopan, Yoaltepec, Teotitlán del Camino, Cuautochco and Coixtlahuacan.
The origins of the modern state lie in the founding of the city of Puebla in the Cuetlaxcoapan Valley in 1531 by Toribio de Benavente and Juan de Salmerón. The city was laid out by Hernando de Elgueta, marking out residential areas, commercial areas etc. The city received its royal seal in 1532 but flooding forced the settlement to move across the San Francisco River and start over that same year. The city's (and now state's) seal was granted in 1538. The city of Puebla was created to secure the route between Mexico City and the port of Veracruz, and was initially populated by soldiers and those who made a living by providing shelter and supplies to travelers between the two cities. However, it soon became the economic and cultural center of the valley areas between the Valley of Mexico and the Gulf Coast, as it provided a starting point for Spanish settlement. The area's economy expanded rapidly as many Europeans and indigenous decided to settle permanently, with the settlement of Puebla reaching city status in 1532 with the name of Ciudad de los Angeles.
The Franciscans were in charge of the evangelization process in the state, starting from 1524, when they founded the monastery of Huejotzingo. Between 1540 and 1560, they founded others such as those in Tecamachalco, Quecholac, Tecali, Calpan, Cuautinchán, Zacatlán, Cholula, Huaquechula, Tepeaca, Tehuacán, Xalpa and Coatepec. The Augustinians arrived next, constructing monasteries in Chiautla, Chietla, Huatlatlauca, Tlapa, Xicotepec and Papaloticpac. The last of the evangelists were the Dominicans, who built monasteries at Izúcar de Matamoros, Tepapayeca, Huehuatlán and Tepexi. The bishopric was established in 1526. Initially, the seat was in the Yucatán, but it was eventually moved to Tlaxcala, then to Puebla by 1550. Eventually, its extension included the current states of Tlaxcala and Puebla during much of the colonial period.
In 1783, the royal government in Spain divided New Spain into "intendencias" or provinces, one of which was centered on the city of Puebla. The first governor of Puebla was Manuel de Flon, Count of La Cadena. Initially, this intendencia included Tlaxcala, but it was separated out in 1793. Other parts were eventually separated out into other provinces/states such as Mexico, Guerrero and Veracruz.
Post-independence
During the Mexican War of Independence, the city of Puebla remained loyal to the viceroy in Mexico City, sending troops to defend it at the Battle of Monte de las Cruces against Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. Ecclesiastical authorities in the Cathedral excommunicated insurgent priests and battles took place in Izúcar and Chiautla. Most of the south of the state, especially Izucar and the Sierra Mixteca were firmly in insurgent hands. Control then bypassed the capital and reached the more northern settlements of Tehuacan and Atlixco. After Independence, the first governor of the state was Carlos García Arriaga in 1821. The first state congress was seated in 1824, with the first state constitution adopted the same year. The new state was divided initially into 21 parts. The Spanish were expelled from the state in 1827. In 1849, the state was reorganized into eight departments and 162 municipalities and again in 1895 with 21 districts and 180 municipalities.
During the rest of the 19th century, the state developed economically through industry. The first mechanized textile mill was established in 1831, soon followed by 17 others in the city of Puebla. Progress was interrupted by Santa Anna's siege of the city in 1845 and two years later when the Americans under General Winfield Scott took the city on their way to Mexico City. The Americans left three years later at the end of the war.
Much of the rest of the century was occupied with civil strife such as the insurrection of Francisco Ortega against the federal government, the Reform War and the French Intervention. The last provoked the Battle of Puebla on 5 May 1862, when 6,000 French troops attacked the forts named Loreto and Guadalupe outside of the city of Puebla, but they were repelled by forces under Ignacio Zaragoza. Zaragoza died some months after this battle, and he would be later honored by having his name added to that of the city. However, less than a year later, the city would be taken and shortly after, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico would be installed. However, his rule would be brief and the French, along with their conservative Mexican allies, were expelled from the state in 1867.
From this time to the Mexican Revolution, a number of important infrastructure projects were undertaken. One was the Puebla-Veracruz rail line in 1873 and the Escuela Normal para Profesores (Teachers’ College) in 1879. In 1907, a hydroelectric plant was built in Necaxa. However, the economic policies of this area caused widespread unrest, beginning with workers’ strikes. Directly against the regime of Porfirio Díaz was the Club Antireeleccionista (Anti-reelection Club) headed by Aquiles Serdán in 1909. In November 1910, after long government surveillance, troops attacked the Serdán house in Puebla killing Aquiles and his brother Máximo. For this reason, the state claims one of the first battles of the Mexican Revolution.
Following the Mexican Revolution
In 1912, the Liberation Army of the South or Zapatistas took over a number of communities in the state. In 1914, they were challenged by forces loyal to Venustiano Carranza, which occupied the capital briefly. However, the Zapatistas would hold power for the rest of the war. Under the 1917 Constitution, the state was reestablished with 222 municipalities. One of the last skirmishes of the war occurred in Aljibes, Puebla in May 1920 when forces of Álvaro Obregón attacked those of Carranza as he was headed to Veracruz. Carranza was assassinated in Tlaxcalantongo in the Sierra Norte de Puebla soon thereafter.
The 1920s immediately after the war was marked by instability. The governorship changed hands frequently with resistance to whoever was in power from other parts of the state. Despite this, the Universidad de Puebla was established by Maximino Ávila Camacho during this decade. True political stability would not come until the governorship of Gustavo Díaz Ordaz in 1942.
Modern times
Since the Mexican Revolution, the city of Puebla and its suburbs are one of the most industrialized areas in Mexico, with the metropolitan area ranked fourth in size. Its position near both Mexico City and the Gulf coast continues to be an advantage. However, modern development of the city area has been restricted to outside the city center, in order to preserve its traditional look. This historic center was named a World Heritage Site in 1987, with the Biblioteca Palafoxiana named as part of the Memory of the World Programme in 2005. Today, Puebla's economic development is centered on its capital. This capital is part of the megalopolis centered on Mexico City.
In 1977, the center of the city of Puebla was named a "Zone of Historic Monuments". The same area was later named a World Heritage Site in 1987. In 1979, Puebla was the scene of one of Pope John Paul II's early papal visits outside Italy to Mexico for that year's CELAM conference over three months after his election and papal inauguration.
In 1998, the state was declared in a state of emergency due to 122 forest fires with affected 2,998 hectares of land over two weeks. Many of the fires were started by fires on agricultural lands and the extremely dry conditions made the fires out of control.
The 1999 Tehuacán earthquake did major damage to much of state, especially many of its colonial era churches, and the colonial buildings of the historic center of the city of Puebla. The state of Puebla was declared a disaster area.
In the 2000s, organizations such as Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF) have accused state governmental officials of restricting and suppressing the press. Some of the threats against reporters have included false arrests and death threats.
More than two years after the 2017 Puebla earthquake when 621 buildings—mostly 16th to 19th-century churches—were damaged in the state, 46 have been restored, 88 are in process, and 380 have not been restored at all.
Demographics
Largest cities
In 2005, the state had a population of 5,383,133 according to the INEGI census, ranking fifth in the country. Over 93% of the state's population identifies as Roman Catholic with 4.4% identifying as Protestant or Evangelical.
In 1921, Puebla had the second largest population, after Oaxaca, of purely indigenous people according to the national census. Since then, the official census has eliminated categories for race, counting only those who speak an indigenous language. In 2000, an attempt was made to count indigenous ethnicities, regardless of language spoken. This count ranked Puebla as fifth with a total population of 957,650. However, according to the 2005 census, there were 548,723 people who spoke an indigenous language. According to a 2000 census, Censo General de Población y Vivienda, Puebla has the highest number of Nahuatl speakers over 5 years of age. There are 416,968 speakers making up about 8.21% of the population of the state.
The state has five major indigenous ethnic groups: the Nahuas, the Totonacs, the Mixtecs, the Popolocas and the Otomi. The state has two well-defined areas in which indigenous peoples still maintain many ancient traditions, rites, and customs. These two regions are called the Sierra Norte in the north and the Sierra Negra in the south. In these areas, these traditions, and the agriculture they are dependent on, have survived because industrialization has not penetrated the rugged landscape.
The Sierra Norte, especially the municipalities of Cuetzalan, Pahuatlán, Huehuetlán el Grande and Teziutlán, are dominated by the Nahuas, Totonacas and Otomi. There is also a small region locally called the Sierra Negra in which there are communities of Popolocas, Nahuas and Mazatecos, especially in the municipality of Eloxochitlán, Tlacotepec and part of the city of Tehuacán.
The Mixtec people who live in the south of Puebla are part of an ethnic group which are still the dominant indigenous group in an area that stretches over Puebla, Oaxaca and the mountains of Guerrero. They are the fourth largest indigenous group in Mexico. The Sierra Mixteca region in Puebla is part of the Mixteca Baja region, which crosses into parts of Oaxaca as well. In the Mesoamerican period, the Mixtecs of Puebla dominated further north than they do now and archeologists classify "Mixteca-Puebla" art as distinct from other Mixtec arts and crafts. There are an estimated 6,700 Mixtecs living in Puebla, however, many have emigrated out of traditional Mixtec areas into other parts of the state, Mexico City and even the United States to work.
According to the 2020 Census, 1.73% of Puebla's population identified as Black, Afro-Mexican, or of African descent.
Economy
General economy
The state is divided into seven socioeconomic regions for planning purposes: Region I-Huauchinango, Region II – Teziutlán, Region III Ciudad Serdán, Region IV San Pedro Cholula, Region V – Puebla, Region VI Izúcar de Matamoros and Region VII Tehuacán.
The state was a diverse economic base supporting industries such as textiles, tourism, agribusiness, storage, medical services, furniture making and logistics services in clusters.(promotedor) In 2010, Standard & Poor's reconfirmed the state's ‘mxA+’ rating with a stable outlook due to the state's finances. The state's economy grew at a rate of 4.5% from 2003 to 2007, above the national average of 3.9%. Since then, economic growth has slowed but less than in other parts of Mexico. Its gross domestic product accounts for 3.4% of the country's total.
It is one of Mexico's most industrialized states.
However, almost all of the state's development has been centered on the capital city and the surrounding areas. This has caused a wide economic gap between rich and poor and between the city areas and the rural areas, with much of the state lacking investment by the government (infrastructure) or by private interests. This has led the United Nations to rank the state as the seventh most underdeveloped in the country, despite the industry in the Puebla city area in 2006–2007, with areas lacking basic services such as health, water and education along with high unemployment. The state is even ranked lower for these than Lebanon, Cuba and Bosnia. The UN blames poor government policies and corruption for much of the state's poverty.
According to several NGO’s, such as the Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social (Coneval), and Marcos Gutiérrez Barrón, professor of economics at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Puebla has the third highest level of poverty in the country. This ranking takes into account factors such as income per capita, housing, educational opportunities, food supply and family cohesion. As much as two-thirds of the state's population or about 3.5 million live under the poverty line. The state's Secretaria de Desarrollo Social (Secretariat of Social Development) increased its budget in 2008 to 757 million pesos. Ten of the state's municipalities are ranked among the poorest in the country.
Puebla is a state where migrant workers both head to and leave from. Most incoming workers are indigenous from the states of Oaxaca and Guerrero, according to a study done by the National Indigenous Institute and the United Nations. Most of these emigrants are Mixtecs from the south of the state, which head to areas such as Mexico City and the north of the country either seasonally or permanently. Many also head to the United States to work illegally. The migration situation has caused the population to drop in a number of areas in the state. The UN states that the main reason for emigration is the lack of local economic development especially in rural and indigenous areas.
Agriculture and forestry
Thirty seven percent of the population is employed in agriculture, livestock and fishing. Agricultural units cover 2,233,897 hectares in rural areas of the state. Just over fifty percent is dedicated to the growing of crops, 46.5% to pasture, 2.6% is forest and .8% is wild vegetation. Agriculture is the most important economic activity of the rural areas, but it is mostly limited to the rainy season from June to October, as there are few facilities for irrigation. This limits the sector's growth potential significantly. Due to lack of investment only 11% of the state's arable land is irrigated. Seventy two percent of farmland is privately own with the rest belonging to ejidos or other types of communal ownership. The municipalities with the most cultivated land are Chignahuapan, Chalchicomula de Sesma, Tlachichuca and Zacapoaxtla.
The most important activities include production of domestic fowl (eggs and meat), which accounts for 37%, cattle (dairy and meat) at 12%, grains (90% corn) and pork at 10% each, vegetables (tomatillos, onions, carrots, tomatoes, and squash) at 8% and fruit (oranges, limes, cactus pear, apples, avocados and peaches) at 4%. Other important crops include beans, animal feed, alfalfa and sugar cane. Most crops are grown in the municipalities of Hueytamalco, Francisco Z. Mena, Venustiano Carranza, Xicotepec and Jalpan. Most crops, especially corn, are grown on relatively small farms, communal fields and family plots, but perennial crops such as rubber trees, coffee and citrus from are mostly grown on large plantations. The most important livestock in the state are cattle, pigs and domestic fowl. Cattle are prevalent in the municipalities of Francisco Z. Mena, Venustiano Carranza, Jalpan, Hueytamalco and Chiautla de Tapia. Pigs are mostly found in Tehuacán, Ajalpan, Tepanco de López, Tecamachalco and Yehualtepec. The entire state ranks first in the production of domestic fowl with most being produced in the municipalities of Ajalpan, Tehuacán, Tecamachalco, Tepanco de López and Tochtepec. Other livestock raised include goats, sheep and horses.
Other production of primary materials includes forest products and fish. Over 93% of the tree species exploited in the state are conifers mostly cut for wood production. In 2007, the annual production of wood products had risen to . Most forestry occurs in the municipalities of Chignahuapan, Tetela de Ocampo, Vicente Guerrero, Zacatlán and Huauchinango. Fish are both caught wild and farmed and mostly concentrate on species such as carp, trout and mojarra. Most are harvested in the state's dams and lakes, which cover a surface area of 6,500 hectares.
Industry and mining
The state has been an important industrial center since colonial times, mostly known for the production of textiles and pottery, both of which continue to be made. Today, industries of various types, along with mining and construction employ about twenty five percent of the state's population. More than 150,000 small and medium-sized factories operate in the state, providing 60% of the state's GDP. Most industry in the state in concentrated in and around the capital. The most important industries are in metals, chemicals, electronic items and textiles. Textiles produced in the state mostly involve thread, machinery, knitted items and woven fabrics. Moreover, the first and one of the biggest textile factory in Mexico and in Latinamerica, The "La Constancia Mexicana Factory", was built in capital of Puebla. Two important employers are Hylsa and the Volkswagen plant, both in the Puebla area.
Two important industries are automotive and agribusiness. The automotive sector is important for the state as a leading manufacturer of both automobiles and automobile parts. Some of the businesses located in the state include Denso México, Arvin Meritor de México, Mabe, Leoni, Hyundai-Kia Motors, Coramex Company and Forteq. Industry related to agriculture consists of both producing products needed by farmers and processing agricultural produce. Some of these companies include Nestle de México, Pasan, Chocolatera Moctezuma, Sabormex, Big Cola, Bomba Energy, Ochoa Comercial, Grupo Pepsico, Compañía Topo Chico, Red Bull, Grupo Bimbo, Unifoods, Novamex, The Coca-Cola Company, Supermercados Gigante, Soriana, La Costeña and Jugos del Valle.
There are nine state and four federal programs targeting small and medium-sized producers, which provide training, consulting, trademarks and other services. Some programs target specific industries such as software. One focus of the state is to promote technology based industries which produced high-value products. There are eleven industrial parks and other special industry zones for this purpose. Another area identified for improvement is higher education, to produce graduates to work in these kinds of industries. Commercial events include the Exintex International Exhibition, which is held in the state each year and attracts textile manufacturers from states such as Morelos, Tlaxcala, Tamaulipas, Guanajuato, Querétaro and Aguascalientes as well as the cities of Guadalajara and Mexico City.
Mining produces calcite, marble, calcium oxide, onyx, and lime. The most important mining processing concerns are Calera Santa Ma. S.A, Marmiparquet S.A, Química Sumex S.A de C.V and Yacimientos de Travertino S.A., and the sector employs about 270,000 workers.
Handicrafts
Talavera pottery is the state's best known craft. This pottery is a type of maiolica, which was introduced into Spain by the Arabs, and into Mexico by the Spanish. Talavera is considered to be the finest of Mexico's pottery traditions, which is still made with the same techniques as in the colonial period. Talavera pottery began in the city of Puebla when the Spaniards brought over from Europe the techniques of making maiolica pottery, itself brought from China via the Arabs. The techniques and designs were based on the pottery made in Talavera, Spain. The high-quality clay and the formation of guilds to ensure quality soon made pottery made in Puebla a near-luxury item. The craft waned after Independence, but made a comeback in the latter 20th century. Today certified Talavera pottery in made only in a handful of workshops in the capital and other nearby communities. To be certified as genuine the same methods as used in the 16th century must be applied. True Talavera pottery is expensive and considered to be collectors’ items.
Other types of pottery in the state exist. One is the black clay figures made in Acatlán de Osorio. Most of these figures are animals and are almost always painted with white designs. Black clay is also used to make cups, plates and other utilitarian items in other communities. Another important clay craft are the Trees of Life, mostly made in the community of Izúcar de Matamoros and Acatlán de Osorio. Traditionally, these are sculptures depicting Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, but the craft has evolved to include other themes as well.
The making of textiles and embroidery dates back to pre-Hispanic times. Traditional clothing such as rebozos, sarapes, shirts and pants are still made in various parts of the state and reflect the different indigenous communities which are found here. Hueyapan is one of the better known artisanal textile producers, with clothing items and others richly and colorfully embroidered. Both the thread used to weave the cloth and embroider it are dyed with natural dyes such as those obtained from the cochineal insect. Another area known for its textiles is Zacapoaxtla in the north of the state.
The town of Amozoc is known for its silverwork. This tradition began when a number of metalworkers of various types settled here after the Conquest in the 16th century. These smiths made a variety of objects from the everyday such as knives, swords, stirrups and more, eventually branching into finer metals such as silver and gold, mother-of-pearl, ivory and more. However, it is silver smithing which has best survived to the present day.
There are two widely practice paper crafts in Puebla. The making of bark paper or amate was known in pre-Hispanic times when such was reserved for special ceremonies and the recording of important information. It had an almost magical quality to it and was used for spells, clothing of idols and other ceremonial purposes. Today, the paper is still made as an art form and often painted with elaborate designs. In Puebla, the paper is still made by hand and often it is hand-painted with pre-Hispanic designs. One area noted for this craft is San Salvador Huixcolotla. Another is San Pablito Pahuatlán in the Sierra Norte. One notable amate paper artist is curandero Alfonso García Téllez, who narrates stories and ceremonies in his works. Another paper craft is papel picado, or "chopped paper." This craft began with the introduction of crepe paper from Asia. This paper is elaborately cut to form figures and scenes which are then hung for decorative purposes for holidays such as Day of the Dead. This most traditional of these are laborious cut by hand, but most are done today by machine. Those native to Puebla feature a large figure with a detailed background and are considered to be part of the state's cultural heritage (Patrimonio Cultural del Estado de Puebla).
A relatively recent craft is the making of blown glass Christmas ornaments in Chignahuapan. This municipality has about 200 workshops which employ about 1,500 workers, which makes the spherical ornaments individually and many are shipped internationally to the United States and Latin America. This craft is still growing and represents one of the more stable small scale manufacturing endeavors in Puebla.
For many rural communities, the making of handcrafted furniture, both fine and rustic, is an important economic activity. One such community is Ciudad Serdán, which makes wooden utensils, decorative figures and banister work in addition to furniture. It has a strong reputation along with Chignahuapan. Areas outside of Ciudad Serdán are known for specializing in reproductions of Louis XV and Louis XVI furniture. The community of Trinidad Alonso Báez is known as the only place in Latin American where pianos are made purely by hand. They are also known for the repairing of musical instrument with many of the state's antique church organs fixed by craftsmen from here.
Onyx is a plentiful stone in the state and it is worked into figures and other items in various parts of the state. The most important deposit of the stone is in Tecali and many workshops fill the streets of this town. Most of the pieces made are decorative in nature but small utilitarian items such as plates and ashtrays are also made.
Amozoc has been known for silver smithing since colonial times, when European techniques were brought over by the Spanish. As back then, they still make items such as jewelry, silverware, and items for church rituals. These smiths’ work is considered to be quality, with the finest pieces encrusted with precious and semi-precious gems, gold, and ivory.
The first glass workshop in New Spain was established in Puebla by Spaniard Rodrigo Espinoza in 1542. It remained the only one in Spain's colonies for decades, exporting glass items to places such as Peru and Guatemala. In the 18th century, Pedro Antonio revitalized the craft with a new factory. This factory was the main producer until the establishment of the Compañia Empresarial para la Fabricacion del Vidrio Plano y Cristal in 1838. This company introduced French designs and techniques to Mexico. The next major glassmaker was Victor Martinez Filoteo, who established the Fabrica La Luz in 1935. This company is still the major producer of glass items in the state. Small workshops are prevalent in Huaquechula, where they specialize items made with black and smoke-colored glass.
Commerce and transportation
Thirty five percent are employed in commerce, tourism and transportation. The state has of highways and of rail line, as well as twenty three major malls. Outlet Puebla was opened in 2001 on the highway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla where it intersects with the Periferico Ecologico. It contains more than 80 outlet stores with major national and international brands such as Reebok, Guess and Pepe Jeans, located on a site of over 30,000m2. The enterprise is run by Asesores en Exposiciones y Calpro, S. A. de C. V. The mall targets traveling customers from the states of Puebla, Veracruz, Oaxaca and Tlaxcala as well as Mexico City.
The international airport in Huejotzingo is linked to the Mexico City airport by land transport. Efforts have been made to expand the airport in Huejotzingo to be an auxiliary to the overcrowded Mexico City airport. The airport has been chosen due to its relatively quiet airspace and proximity to the nation's capital. , the airport handles sixty operations per day, 40 of which are commercial flights serving 2.5 million passengers per year.
Tourism
The state has 2,600 historic buildings, antiques, bars and pottery workshops. The downtown of the capital is filled with churches, government buildings and large homes, built by indigenous hands for their Spanish overlords. This downtown was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.
The state promotes twelve tourist routes, seven in the city of Puebla and five in the rest of the state. These routes cover the most representative buildings of the history of the state up to modern attractions such as the Africam Safari zoo. The first tourist route in the city of Puebla passes by the Cathedral, the Palafoxiana Library, the Capilla del Rosario, Calle de Santa Clara, Palacio Municipal, Casa de los Muñecos and the Museo Amparo. The second route passes by the Casa del Alfeñique, the Mercado de Artesanias, the Barrio del Artista, the Teatro Principal and the San Francisco Church. The third route contains the Railroad Museum, the Museo y Pinacoteca Ex-Convento de Santa Monica, the Ex-Convento de Santa Rosa, the Museo de la No-Intervencion Fuerte de Guadalupe and the Mercado de Antiguedades. The fourth route contains the San Francisco Acatepec Church, the Santa Maria Tonatzintla Church, the Capilla Real, the Cholula archeological site, the Los Remedios Church and Huejotzingo. The fifth route includes Cuauhtinchan, Tecali and the Africam Safari Zoo.
Outside of the Puebla metropolitan area, the state promotes natural attractions such as the cacti of Zapotitlán, the 100-million-year-old fossils of Cantera Tlayùa in Tepexi de Rodríguez and smaller ones such as waterfalls, churches, caverns, archeological zones, former monasteries, traditional markets, fresh water springs, lakes and more. The tourist routes outside of the Puebla metro area are divided into the Sierra Mixteca area in the south and the Sierra Norte in the north. The Sierra Mixteca area includes the Ruta de Aguacate (Avocado Route), the Ruta del Ónix (Onyx Route), the Ruta del Maiz (Corn Route) and the Ruta Paleontológica (Palaeontology Route). The Avocado Route includes the municipalities of Atlixco, Tianguismanalco, Tochimilco, Huaquechula, Tlapanalá, Izúcar de Matamoros, San Juan Epatlán, Chietla, Chiautla de Tapia and Acatlán de Osorio. The Onyx Route includes the Africam Safari Zoo, Cuauhtinchan, San Salvador Huixcolotla, Tecali de Herrera, Tecamachalco and Tepeaca. The Corn Route includes Tehuacán, Santa María del Monte and Zapotitlán Salinas. The Paleontology Route includes Atoyatempan, Santa Clara Huitziltepec, Molcaxac, Huatlatlauca, Chigmecatitlán, Tepexi de Rodríguez and San Juan Ixcaquixtla.
The Sierra Norte contains a number of pre-Hispanic archeological sites and colonial architecture. Crafts to be found here include wool clothing, amate paper, clay figures, wood carvings, and embroidered blouses. This area of the state contains the Ruta de la Flor (Flower Route), Ruta Interserrana (Inter-Mountain Route), Ruta del Huipil y Café (Huipil and Coffee Route) and the Ruta Perla Norte (North Pearl Route). The Flower Route includes the municipalities of Chignahuapan, Zacatlán, Huauchinango, Juan Galindo, Pahuatlán, Tenango, Tetela de Ocampo and Xicotepec. The Inter-Mountain Route includes Ahuacatlán, Zapotitlán, Xochitlán, Tepango and Nauzontla. The Huipil and Coffee Route include Tenextatiloyan, Acajete, Cuetzalan, Jonotla, Libres, Nopalucan, Oriental, San José Chiapa, Tepeyahualco and Zacapoaxtla. The North Pearl Route includes Atempa, Chignautla, Hueyapan, San Juan Xiultetelco, Teziutlán, Tlatlauquitepec and Yaonahuac.
There are a number of former haciendas in the state, many of which have been converted into hotels, spas and other kinds of attractions. Some have also been used as movie and television sets for projects such as Alondra, Amor es Querer, Man on Fire, Vantage Point and Frida. These include the Chautla Hacienda in San Salvador el Verde, Las Calandrias in Atlixco, Micuautla in Puebla, Netxalpa in Atlixco, San Pedro de Ovando in Acatzingo, Ozumba in San José Chiapa, Rancho Jesús in Cuautinchan, San Agustín in Atlixco, San Mateo in Amalucan, San Roque in Atlixco, Santiago Texmelucan in Tepeyahualco de Hidalgo and Oriental Tenextepec in Atlixco.
Natural attractions in the state include Amacas in Cuetzalan, Bosque Chignahuapan Forest, the Quetzalapa Chignahuapan Waterfall, Zacatlán Waterfall, La Gloria Cuetzalán Waterfall, Las Brisas Cuetzalan Waterfall, Las Golondrinas Cuetzalan Waterfall, Nexcapa Hauachinango, Ocpaco Zacatlán Waterfall, the arid landscapes of Zapotitlan de Salinas, the Iztalcihual and Popocatepetl volcanos, the basalt columns of Huauchinango, the Valle de Piedras Encimadas in Zacatlán and the Nexcaxa Dam in Huauchinango, el Aguacate Waterfall in Huehuetlán el Grande, and los Ahuehuetes in Atlixco.(scenarios)
Puebla is working with neighboring Veracruz to promote the area's tourist attractions and develop them in an ecologically sustainable way. Both state governments are working with organizations of tour operators, hotels and restaurants to pool a fund for activities such as advertising campaigns, especially to Mexico City and the State of Mexico, which account for 80% of all the state's visitors. Another is the reimbursement of tolls for those who travel to certain attractions such as the Africam Safari park and two-for-one specials. Efforts have succeeded in raising hotel occupancy rates from 40% to 56% in a number of areas.
Archeological sites
Cantona is a archeological site, located in the north of the state between the municipalities of Tepehualco and Coyoaco. It is divided into three units, with work only done on the south unit, which is the best preserved. Here is found the "Acropolis," an area with temples, palaces and other seats of authority. The site was occupied between the 7th and 11th centuries CE and reached its height at the time many other Classic era urban centers were falling. It is thought that this city interrupted the flow of goods from the coast of Veracruz to Teotihuacan, one of the many causes of that city's downfall. The site is filled with a large number of patios which measure 50 x 40 meters or larger. Total number of patios found is 620, and 997 mounds have been found as well. In some areas, remains of obsidian and sandstone workshops have been found.
Cholula was once a major Mesoamerican city with a multicultural population that was bound by a common religion based on the worship of Quetzalcoatl. The city was a pilgrimage site for the worship of this deity. Its architecture was complex and shows various foreign influences. Its height was reached during the Classic period between 100 and 900 CE along with Tula and Teotihuacan. It was regionally influential for much of the Mesoamerican period, and its polychromic pottery has been found in a large number of sites, indicating trade. By the time the Spanish arrived, it was still a very large city, second only to Tenochtitlan, to which it was subject. Today, the site is known for its Great Pyramid.
Tepexi el Viejo is located southeast of the city of Puebla. It was founded as the seat of one of the most important Popoloca dominions and control much of what is now the south of the state from 1200 to 1500 CE. This area's light orange colored pottery has been found as far away as Teotihuacan. The site is naturally protected by mountains and canyons and is divided into five areas. Each has platforms, pyramidal mounds, residential areas and tombs. The most important pyramidal mound is located in the center of the site and other, smaller one is located to the extreme west. Residences are located in the northwest, many of which are L-shaped. There is only one natural opening to the area, which is in the south about outside the city's walls.
Unlike other sites in the state, Yohualichan was dominated by coastal groups, which eventually abandoned it in the face of incursions from peoples from the central highlands. The site was a ceremonial center which was probably dominant over other similar sites. Containing niched pyramids as well, it is related to the El Tajín site in Veracruz. There is also a residential area, but it has not been studied.
Tepatlaxco is located on the south side of the Totlqueme mountain. It is centered on a ceremonial center which has more than eight structures, surrounded by numerous smaller mounds. Much of the site was constructed into the mountain itself, causing it to blend in. In addition to the mountain, there are two large ravines to give the site added protection. The most important structure is named Mound A, which also shows the longest occupation. It measures nine meters high and 36 meters at its base.
Food
Other foods common to the state include atole with chili pepper (chileatole), spicy mole verde, barbacoa, chilate with chopped onion, cemitas, cecina, guacamole with lime, and mole de caderas or mole espinazo. Many of these are found in the Sierra Mixteca region. However, the state is best known for cemitas, mole poblano, chiles en nogada and chalupas.
The cemita is a kind of sandwich on a roll, related to the torta, particularly popular in Mexico City and the pambazo, which is of French origin and popular in several areas in central Mexico. The sandwich has its origin with two kinds of bread which were brought over from Spain during the colonial period: one called "bizcocho de sal," which was long and hard and a kind of hollow cracker. Both breads were developed for long storage and eventually were made in Puebla with grain from the Atlixco area. These two breads eventually fused into a unique type that became softer by the mid 19th century. The name is derived from a Jewish unleavened bread called "semita", which was brought over by Sephardi Jews to New Spain. These were also produced in Puebla state. The cemitas were prepared at home and filled with potatoes, beans and nopal cactus and eaten by the lower classes. Later, an establishment in the Mercado Victoria market began to sell them to the public filled with meat from bull's feet with a vinaigrette, herbs, onions and chili peppers. This new filling was a hit and eventually this and other variations became a staple in many markets and popular eateries. Today, a large number varieties exist but all are prepared using the same type of bread.
The best-known mole is named after the city of Puebla, mole poblano. The origin of this sauce is disputed and there are two versions of the legend that are most often cited. The first states that 16th century nuns from the Convent of Santa Rosa were worried because they had just found out that the archbishop was going to visit them and they had nothing to prepare for him except for an old turkey in the yard. Supposedly due to divine inspiration, they began to mix together many of the spices and flavorings they had on hand in the kitchen, including different types of chili peppers, other spices, day-old bread, chocolate and approximately twenty other ingredients. They let the sauce simmer for hours and poured it over the turkey meat. Fortunately, the archbishop was very pleased with the meal and the nuns were able to save face.
The other story states that the sauce is of pre-Hispanic times and this was served to Hernán Cortés and the other conquistadors by Moctezuma II. The Aztecs did have a preparation called "chilmulli," which in Nahuatl means "chili pepper sauce." However, there is no evidence that chocolate was ever used to flavor prepared foods or used in chilmulli. What has happened is that the sauce gained ingredients as it was reinterpreted over the colonial period.
Many food writers and gourmets nowadays consider one particular dish, the famous turkey in mole poblano, which contains chocolate, to represent the pinnacle of the Mexican cooking tradition.
According to the legend of chiles en nogada, there were three sisters from the city of Puebla who were in Mexico City. When the Army of the Three Guarantees entered the capital at the end of the Mexican War of Independence, they were feted by many. At one of these parties, the three sisters fell in love with three of the army's officers. Soon after, Agustín de Iturbide himself was set to visit the city of Puebla. Remembering the sisters, the soon-to-be emperor wanted to visit them. Wanting to impress Iturbide but not knowing how to cook, the sisters turned to the nuns of the Santa Monica convent who were famous for their food. The nuns decided to invent a dish for the sisters, which would represent the three colors of the new Mexican flag. On the appointed day, the banquet was prepared with the dish now called chiles en nogada, which pleased Iturbide. The dish contains poblano chile, walnuts, cream and pomegranate seeds, and offered seasonally (August–September) in local restaurants.
Chalupas are thick corn tortillas fried in lard then covered in red or green chili pepper sauce and topped with shredded meat and other things. According to legend, they were named after the barges that the Aztecs used to travel in areas such as Tenochtitlan (today Mexico City). Chalupas are popular in other areas of central Mexico but are considered a specialty of Puebla, where they are served from humble street carts to upscale restaurants.
Myths and legends
The legend of the founding of the city of Puebla attributes to the act of the vision of a friar Julián Garcés, who became the first bishop of Puebla. The legend states that while praying, the friar fell asleep, when he dreamed of a festival in honor the Archangel Michael happening in a place with leafy trees and a crystal clear river, flowing from springs. As they contemplated the scenery, angels descended from heaven and traced the outlines of the city to be built. When he awoke, he drew what he had seen, deciding he had had a divine vision. He communicated the dream to other Franciscans and found the place he saw five days later.
The story of the China Poblana is one of the most popular in the state. The girl was taken on the Manila Galleon, but she was sold to Puebla resident Miguel de Sosa for a price ten times what the viceroy offered. She was taken to the city and baptized with the name of Catarina de San Juan in 1620. She maintained her oriental dress which made her conspicuous and it became a fad to imitate some aspects of this dress.
When de Sosa and his wife died, Catherine entered a convent and began to see visions of the Virgin Mary and the Child Jesus. Some say that a number of miracles occurred while Catherine lived at the convent and this provoked a kind of veneration of her. When the China Poblana died in 1882, veneration of her as a saint began in earnest, but the practice was put to an end by the Mexican Inquisition. Today her remains are in a crypt in the Temple de La Compañia in the city of Puebla.
The Aztec myth of Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, a Romeo and Juliet type story, has equal significance in this state as it does in the Valley of Mexico as the two are equally visible from the city of Puebla, but only in reverse (with Popocatépetl on the left).
There is a popular saying "todo terminó como el Rosario de Amozoc, a golpes y farolazos" (it all ended like the Amozoc Rosary, with blows and drinks). The saying is derived from a legend from the community of Amozoc de Mota in the state. A silversmith apprentice by the name of Alberto was in love with a beautiful girl named Catalina, nicknamed La Culata. However, another apprentice from another shop named Enrique, was also in love with her. Alberto was accepted by la Culata and this made Enrique jealous. Festivities for the beginning of the year were supposed to be organized by the different silver workshops together but the rivalry caused a split in which ecclesiastical authorities needed to intervene. On the first day of the event, at Mass, Enrique saw Alberto and Catherine kiss briefly, which enraged him. During the rosary, while the choir sang "Mater Inmaculata," Enrique heard "mata a la Culata" (kill La Culata), took a knife from his clothing and attacked the couple, killing Catarina. Alberto took a machete from his belt and killed Enrique. A fight ensued which left many dead and wounded. It is said that one can still hear the cries of Catalina as she died.
The house at Avenida 3 Ote 201 in the city of Puebla belonged to Pedro de Carvajal, who was a wealthy and respected man. However, he lost his young wife as she gave birth to their second child, a boy. When his daughter turned 15, there were many interested suitors but she was not interested in them. One day a monster appeared at a party in the city provoking terror. The monster went to the Carvajal house and ate the younger son, who was playing out front of the house. Pedro offered a large reward for the capture of the beast. One young man, who wanted the hand of Pedro's daughter, appeared at another festival, bearing the head of the beast. It is said that this young man gained noble title and the hand of the daughter as a reward.
Culture
The two volcanos
The state of Puebla is located on the east side of the volcanoes of Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl, opposite of the Valley of Mexico and Mexico City. The two volcanoes have as much significance here as they do on the west side, with many communities nearby maintaining ritual specific to honoring the two. These arose as fertility rituals but today are called "birthdays" with 12 March reserved for Popocatepetl and 30 August for Iztaccíhuatl. On these events, special foods and gifts are prepared as offerings and left in certain places. These traditions have survived despite the evangelization efforts of the colonial period.
Festivals and holiday
The state is home to a number of festivals and traditions, from those with a purely pre-Hispanic background, to the far more numerous saints’ days to modern fairs located to regional economies. The largest important events include the Day of the Dead in Huaquechula, the Carnival of Huijotzingo, Spring Equinox in Cantona, Fiesta de Santo Entierro y Feria de las Flores, the Fería del Café y el Huipil, the Huey Atlixcáyotl Festival, the Quetzalcoatl Ritual and Cinco de Mayo, celebrated in the entire state.
Cinco de Mayo—or the fifth of May—is a holiday that celebrates the date of the Mexican army's 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War (1861-1867). A relatively minor holiday in Mexico, in the United States Cinco de Mayo has evolved into a commemoration of Mexican culture and heritage, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.
Many Americans mistakenly believe that Cinco de Mayo ("May 5th") is the Mexican equivalent of the United States’ Fourth of July holiday — a date marking the official casting off of colonial rule via the announcement of a new independent country. However, the Mexican version of Independence Day is celebrated on September 16, for it was on that date in 1810 that the commencement of the war for Mexican independence from Spanish rule was pronounced in the small town of Dolores by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (an event now referred to as the "Grito de Dolores" — "Cry of Dolores" — or "El Grito de la Independencia").
Cinco de Mayo is an important celebration in a number of places the United States, but it is a minor holiday or even unknown in much of Mexico proper. The only place where the holiday, which commemorates the Battle of Puebla during the French Intervention in Mexico, is important is in the state of Puebla. The French army invaded the country in 1862 and marched from Veracruz towards the city of Puebla. Just outside the city, inexperienced Mexican troops attacked the French who were camped. This resulted in victory, but the French were ultimately able to move on and take Mexico City, dominating the country until 1867. The annual celebration of the battle began in the state in areas of the country not occupied by the French as a symbol of Mexican pride. Today it is the most important state political commemoration. The most important observances take place at the Loreto and Guadalupe forts in the city of Puebla, where the battle occurred in 1862. The highlight is a reenactment of the event at the site.
Like the rest of Mexico, Day of the Dead is celebrated in the state. Two aspects which feature prominently on altars in this state are mole with turkey and large wax candles. Other items can include black candelabras, incense burners, candy skulls, decorative paper cutouts, oranges and other fruits in season. Leading to these altars often are a line of small candles to guide the returning spirits. One municipality which is particularly known for its events is Huaquechula. Here, altars constructed in homes can be of multiple levels and are usually covered in white paper. On the first level, food and drink are usually placed, with religious objects and objects related to the deceased on the second level.
In a number of communities in the state, Carnival is celebrated. The best known of these carnivals takes place in Huejotzingo, as it began as a synthesis of a celebration honoring Tlaloc and the Catholic tradition related to the days before Ash Wednesday. Today, this carnival includes many traditional activities such as music, masks and parades, but this one also includes a reenactment of the Battle of Puebla and local legends such as the kidnapping of a governor's daughter and the legend of Agustìn Lorenzo (called the Robin Hood of the 18th century). Locals attend in colorful costumes and masks representing the Conquistadors, demons or animals, adorned with palm fronds or feathers. The capital of Puebla also celebrates Carnival with its signature tradition of the Las Marias, where men disguise themselves as women and mischievous devils.
Another major time for religious observance is Holy Week or Semana Santa. In Puebla, there is the Procession del Silencio or Procession of Silence which occurs on Maundy Thursday, when the city observes a period of silence to mark the death of Jesus.
The spring equinox is the setting for rituals at some of Puebla's archeological sites such as Cantona and Cholula. Cantona is an archeological site located near the city of Puebla and was one of the largest cities in early Mesoamerica. Today, the site is popular gathering place on the spring equinox (much like Teotihuacan), where people sing, dance and greet the sunrise on this date. Another site where similar observances are held is the Great Pyramid of Cholula. Here indigenous dances and rituals are performed. The event culminates with the Ritual of Quetzalcoatl, which was an important part of the ancient Cholula culture. This event draws attendees from various parts of Mexico.
The is celebrated in the town of Atlixco to celebrate the area's local culture and identity. The name means "Atlixco tradition" in Nahuatl and is centered on the San Miguel Hill (called Popocatica in ancient times) located in the center of the town. It was locally sacred in the pre-Hispanic era, and in colonial times, a hermitage was built there. The event was named a Cultural Heritage of the State of Puebla in 1996. The purpose of the event is to celebrate the survival of indigenous culture after the Conquest.
In July, the Pueblo Mágico of Cuetzalan has the cultural festival of Festival Tradicional, which features traditional dancers who come from various parts of the state. Tetela de Ocampo celebrates its Peach Festival in August. On the last day of August, the Procession de los Faroles (Procession of the Lanterns) takes place in Cholula.
Puebla has a number of annual fairs meant to highlights the various regions’ products. In Huauchinango, an economic fair and a religious observance are conducted at the same time. The Feria de las Flores (Flower Festival) and the Santo Entierro (Holy Burial) occur in the second half of March. It consists of religious events such as processions and masses. Many cut flower and ornamental plant growers come to display their products and there is the coronation of the Queen of Flowers. Other events include agricultural displays, parades with floats, dances, crafts, cockfights, sporting events and more.
The Feria del Café y el Huipil (Coffee and Huipil Festival) takes place in Cuetzalan. The event promotes the area's locally grown coffee as well as traditionally made huipil dresses. There are also displays of pre-Hispanic dance, popular music, fireworks and more. The event began in 1949 as the National Festival of Coffee, which is economically important here. The event centered on the choosing of a Coffee Queen, much like other similar kinds of festivals. In 1962, the National Festival of the Huipil was established. Eventually, the two merged to the current event.
Other events to promote Puebla's products include the Feria de Café in Xicotpec in March and the Feria Nacional de Puebla. The latter is held in the state capital and brings together many of the state's agricultural, livestock, craft and industrial producers in an event very analogous to a state fair. The regional fair called the Piloto de Cholula occurs in September.
China Poblana
The China Poblana was a real person who lived during the colonial period. Her real name was Mirra. She was an Indian who was brought over from Manila in the 1620s on the Manila Galleon as a child to work as a slave for the viceroy Marques de Gélves. She was soon sold to ship captain Miguel de Sosa who lived in Puebla. According to legend, Mirra was originally a princess in her home country but her family was displaced by the Portuguese and she was kidnapped by pirates who sold her. Mirra was considered to be beautiful and exotic. She had been converted to the Catholic faith. Later in her life, she began to have visions of the child Jesus and angels. Her fame grew and she was eventually considered to be something of a prophet. When she died in 1688, people began to venerate her as a saint and many women copied her Asian/Mexican inspired dress.
This fashion led to the now-traditional china poblana dress. It consists of a red skirt heavily decorated with colored sequins that in one part form the image of the eagle found on the Mexican flag and a blouse embroidered with colored thread and beads around the bust area. It is often worn with a charro-type hat. The outfit is the amalgam of several cultures such as Spanish, especially in the skirt; Chinese, with its use of sequins and beads; and indigenous, with colorful embroidery.
Dance
Folk dance of both indigenous and mixed European and indigenous origin are most often seen at religious and cultural events in many parts of the state. Some of the most popular dances include "Moors and Christians," Dance of the Santiagos" and "Danza de los Arcos." The last is usually performed only by men who dress in white and with a scarf-like garment across the chest, dance in pairs which carry large arch portals covered in flowers and paper decorations. The dance has a number of variations which can include leaps into the air and complicated twirls.
The Dances of the Quetzales is most popular in the Sierra Norte, especially in Cuetzalan. It is a highly symbolic dance and usually performed in conjunction with rituals that relate to good harvests. The dancers form crosses, which signify the four cardinal directions and move in circles, which symbolize the rotation of time. The dancers wear large circular headdresses of quetzal feathers, which give the dance its name, and red suits. The Dance of the Voladores, which more common in Papantla, Veracruz, is also performed in a number of communities in the north of Puebla. This consists of five men who climb a tall pole and then four fall and spin from the pole while attached by ropes. The fifth dancer stays on top and plays music and dances as the other men fall. Another important dance in Puebla is the Doce pares de Francia, which recalls the events of the Battle of Puebla.
Architecture
The colonial architecture of the state is defined by its heavy use of ornamental tiles called Talavera. This is particularly true in the capital. This makes these buildings more colorful than most of their contemporaries in other parts of Mexico and was one of the reasons that the historic center of the capital was selected as a World Heritage Site.
A number of churches and other buildings in rural parts of the state are noted for their "folk baroque" architecture and decoration, especially in Atlixco and the southwest. Folk baroque consists of the use of tile and painted raised stucco based on more traditional Baroque designs, which was most popular in the 18th century. One well known church of this type is the church of Jolapan, which is modeled after the Tepalcingo Sanctuary in neighboring Morelos. The church of Jolalpan contains richly decorated pilasters, Solomonic columns and other elements in a design very similar to that of Tepalcingo. Between these there are a number of small churches which also show folk baroque influence such as those in Tlancualpican and Tzicatlán. The church in Tlancualpican is painted in bright blues, greens and red, with an ornate façade with sculpted leaves, tendrils and niches divided by spiral half-columns all done in stucco. Even more ornate is the church in Tzicatlán, which is a small rural farming village, with the entire surface of the main façade decorated with brightly colored images and sculptures.
In the modern era, architectural styles have evolved into new and sometimes eclectic forms. Skyscrapers, almost all of which are in the city of Puebla, include Edificio Vacas at 42 meters high, Torre Géminis at 50 meters high, Torre Nora at 69 meters high to the tallest, Torre Ejecutiva JVI and Torre Ejecutiva JVI at 100 meters high each. These last two have a triangular shape and are covered in blue tinged glass.
Literature
Literature is one of the better-developed arts in the state and includes works such as novels, essays, poetry and theatrical plays. One prominent name from the colonial period is that of José Mariano Beristáin de Souza who was a priest and writers in the 18th century. He is also known for amassing a large library of writings in Spanish over twenty years of his life, which resulted in the Biblioteca Hispanoamericana Septentrional. However, literature would not be a major cultural force in the state until the 20th century. One early prominent writer was poet Gregorio de Gante. In his early career, he was a professor but after the Mexican Revolution broke out the joined revolutionary forces under Antonio Medina. After the war, he began his career as a poet, eventually writing regularly for a newspaper called "El Nacional" and become one of Mexico's most popular writers by the 1930s.
Many modern works with themes of social injustice and sometimes about the culture and scenery of the state itself. Modern Puebla literature can be traced back to the work of poet Arturo Trejo, one of the "Generacion de los 50" or Generation of the 1950s.
Elena Garro was active during the mid and latter 20th century, whose writings were said to "grab" the reader. Most of her work was autobiographical in one sense or another. She was married to another Mexican writer Octavio Paz, from whom she divorced in 1959.
Born in Atlixco in 1930, Hector Azar is one of Mexico's most noted playwrights in the 20th century. Some of his works include Revista de Revistas, Revista de la Universidad and Jueves de Excelsior. He has also directed and produced plays in Mexico and Europe.
Sergio Pitol Demeneghi is a writer, translator and diplomat who was born in the city of Puebla in 1933. Most of his works relate to the theme of human rights. Much of his writing and translating work relates to his diplomatic functions. His best known works include No hay tal lugar, Infierno de todos and Los climas.
Born in Puebla in 1949, Ángeles Mastretta’s writings are known for their female characters which are prominent. She has found most of her popularity in Spain and Mexico publishing stories in magazines such as Ovaciones and La Jornada. Her books include El Mundo Ilumninado, Arrancame la vida and Mujeres de ojos grandes.
José Francisco Conde Ortega, also known simply as Paco Conde, was born in Atlixco in 1951. His writings include chronicles, essays and poetry. His works mostly reflect on everyday urban life with book titles such as Estudios para un cuerpo, Los lobos viven del viento and Práctica de lobo.
José Luis Zárate was born in Puebla in 1966. He is best known for novels such as Xanto: Novelucha libre, La ruta del hielo y la sal and Del cielo oscuro y del abismo, but he has published numerous short stories, essays and poems. He is known in the fantasy genre and has established organizations dedicated to this such as the Asociacion Mexicana de Cienca Ficcion y Fantasia and Circulo Puebla de Ciencia Ficcion y Divulgacion.
Other notable writers from the state include, Fritz Glockner, Pedro Ángel Palou Garcia, Miguel Maldonado, Eduardo Montagner Anguiano, Gabriel Wolfson Reyes, Jaime Mesa and Gabriela Puente.
Painting
Much of the historical painting in the state is found in its colonial churches and reflect the artistic styles of the 16 to 19th centuries. These consist of murals, portraits and biblical scenes done on canvas, wood and other mediums. José Joaquín Magón was born in Puebla in the 18th century is known for his portrait paintings but his other works have mostly religious and mythological themes. He also did a number of works related to New Spain’s caste system. Luis Berrueco is one of the major Pueblan painters from the 18th century. He was also prolific, painting images of religious martyrs and saints which can still be found today in many churches in the state. His style is considered to be unique, marked by delicate faces and profuse ornamentation. Some of his best work can be found at the Santa Clara Church in Atlixco. Gonzalo Carrasco was born in Otumba, Puebla in 1859. He was both and artist and a Jesuit who produced over 500 religious paintings that can be found all over Mexico and some murals including those in the Basilica de Guadalupe in Puebla and Fordham University in the U.S.
Much of Puebla’s art scene had disappeared before the 20th century but in the 1920s, a group of young artists from the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Puebla (School of Fine Arts of Puebla) began to band together for mutual support. These artists eventually caught the attention and patronage of artists such as Diego Rivera and Dr. Atl and received visitors such as David Alfaro Siquieros, Frida Kahlo, Francisco Cornejo and Alfredo Guati Rojo. This effort would become the Barrio del Artista.
The Barrio del Artista is a neighborhood in the city of Puebla which is home to artists from a number of disciplines. It contains 46 small workshops which permit visitors to observe the work and even chat with the artists. These workshops mostly surround a large plaza with a fountain near a building known as the Café del Artista, managed the Union de Artes Plasticas, A.C. "Barrio del Artista," which was founded in 1941.
Ignacio Dávila Tagle was born in the city of Puebla in 1898 into an artistic family, learning to paint from his father, Daniel Dávila Domínguez. One of his best-known works is his dreamlike mural called "El sueno de fray Julián Garcés" which depicts the legendary founding of the city.
Faustino Salazar Garcia was born in Puebla in 1912. He turned to painting as a child after he lost his mother. His works are known for their emotional qualityAs an established painter, he was one of the founding members of the Unión de Artes Plásticas.
Alejandro Honda was born in San Martin Texmelucan in 1952. This painter's works show his fascination for Mesoamerica, which began when he was young. They can also have a sensual edge to them, even his religious paintings such as the María de Magdalena.
Gustavo Cadena was born in Puebla in 1974 has been a noticed painter since he was a young child. Many of his works reflect daily life, customs and traditions of the state. Some of his better known works include Niño indígena mexicano, Catedral de Puebla, and Pensando en Puebla.
Music
Traditional music in Puebla has been influenced by the waltz, zarzuela and the Mexican version of trova. Although it waned in the 20th century, it has since experienced a revival.
Pelagio C. Manjarrez (1886–1952) was from Tochimilco. He is not only known for his musical ability but also as a fighter in the Mexican Revolution, professor, journalist and poet. Most of his musical composition relate to dance such as waltzes, marches, foxtrots and tangos. Best known titles include "Porque me has besado tu," "La mañana está de fiesta" and "Alma herida."
Vicente T. Mendoza (1894–1964) was from Cholula who dedicated himself to researching the folk music of the area, especially those traditions that told the history of many of the state's communities. He founded the Folclorología Musical Mexicana. He also composed a number of pieces including the polka "La hora del crepúsculo," the waltz "La molinera," and religious pieces such as "Villancicos alegres para la Navidad" and "Cánticos para Navidad."
Gerardo Pablo is one of the main Pueblan composers of modern trova Mexicana who was born in Puebla in 1977. Many of his lyrics deal with social problems in Mexico and his work has been compared to that of Guty Càrdenas. Some of his best known works include "Tres noches por semana," "Càntaro", "Reflejos acústicos", "Trago de Ron", "Delirio", "Los Numerosos Nadies" which is based on the work of Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano,"Escucha a Gerardo Pablo" and "Quesoy" his most recent work with a Jazz Trio. Other notable musicians include Carlos Espinosa de los Monteros (waltz composer), pianist Celia Valderrábano Andrew who has also composed waltzes. Zarzuela composers include Félix Maria Alcerreca who is a lawyer by profession and Ignacio León who is a priest.
Media
Newspapers of Puebla include: El Heraldo de Puebla, El Mundo de Tehuacán, El Sol de Puebla, Esto de Puebla, La Jornada de Oriente, La Opinión Universitaria, La Opinión, Diario de la Mañana, Metro de Puebla, Momento Diario, Puebla sin Fronteras, Síntesis de Bolsillo Puebla, and Síntesis, El Periódico de Puebla.
Education
Puebla is ranked second in higher education in Mexico with 57 technological colleges and 110 research centers. It ranks fourth in the number of universities and colleges in the nation. It is home to very prestigious institutions such as Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) is the oldest and largest university in Puebla founded on 15 April 1587, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Puebla, and Universidad de las Americas-Puebla, which has substantial ties to the United States, such as being accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and numerous student exchange programs. It has also received substantial economic assistance from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Much of the school's setup mimics that of U.S. universities, including student dormitories.
Instituto Tecnológico de Puebla was founded in 1972, Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla (UPAEP) was founded in 1973, and Universidad Iberoamericana Puebla founded in 1983. They were also created to fill a need for higher education of a growing local economy.
Puebla city has the highest education in the State, but the average of the rest of the population of the state over the age of 15 has finished the first year of middle school with an average number of years in school at 7.4. This is under the national average of 8.1. Of every 100 over age 15, 12 have not gone to school at all, 17 have left school before the end of primary, 21 finish primary, 3 start, but do not finish middle school, 19 finish middle school, 5 begin but do not finish high school, 8 obtain a bachelor's degree and 1 has an advanced degree. There are 441, 699 illiterate people, or 13%, according to INEGI, above the national average of eight percent.
Government
The current division of the territory was created in 1895, which is a system of 21 districts and 217 municipalities. This is down from a high of 222 because the municipalities of San Jerónimo Caleras, San Felipe Hueyotlipan, San Miguel Canoa, La Resurrección, and Totimehuacan were incorporated into the city of Puebla in 1962.
The state is headed by a governor who is directly elected. The executive branch of the government contains the following departments: Governing (Gobernación), Finance, Development, Evaluation and Control of the Public Administration, Economic Development, Tourism, Rural Development, Urban and Ecological Development, Communications and Transportation, Health, Public Education, Culture and Public Defender (Procuraduia General de Justicia). The legislative branch is unicameral with deputies or representatives elected from the various districts of the state. It also consists of a number of commissions dedicated to issues such as state heritage sites, education, agriculture and more. The judicial branch is headed by the Tribunal Superior de Justicia.
Major communities
Acatlán de Osorio
Amozoc de Mota
Atlixco
Cholula (Cholula de Rivadabia)
Cuetzalán
Huauchinango
Izúcar de Matamoros
Puebla, Puebla
San Martín Texmelucan de Labastida
Tehuacán
Teziutlán
Zacatlan, Puebla
Notable natives and residents
Ignacio Comonfort – President of Mexico 1855–1858
Juan N. Méndez – President of Mexico 1876–1877
Manuel Ávila Camacho – President of Mexico 1940–1946
Bernardo López de Mendizábal (1620 – 1664), governor of New Mexico between 1659–1660
Gustavo Díaz Ordaz – President of Mexico 1964–1970
Vicente Suárez – one of the Niños Héroes of the Battle of Chapultepec
Arturo Guzmán Decena, Mexican drug lord and the founder of Los Zetas
Sofía Lama Stamatiades, popular television actress
See also
Discalced Carmelite Convent of San José and Santa Teresa (Puebla)
Mendicant monasteries in Mexico
Earliest 16th-century monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl
References
Bibliography
Ramos, Frances L. Identity, Ritual, and Power in Colonial Puebla (University of Arizona Press; 2012) 288 pages; on the politics of public ceremony in the 18th-century city
External links
Detailed Puebla State Map @ Maps-of-Mexico.com
Government of the state of Puebla
Puebla Judicial Districts
1823 establishments in Mexico
States and territories established in 1823
States of Mexico
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early%20history%20of%20Uganda
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Early history of Uganda
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The early history of Uganda comprises the history of Uganda before the territory that is today Uganda was made into a British protectorate at the end of the 19th century. Prior to this, the region was divided between several closely related kingdoms.
Earliest history
Paleolithic evidence of human activity in Uganda goes back to at least 50,000 years, and perhaps as far as 100,000 years, as shown by the Acheulean stone tools recovered from the former environs of Lake Victoria, which were exposed along the Kagera River valley, chiefly around Nsonezi. Rock art in Uganda, particularly in the eastern part of the country, attests to occupation during the Later Stone Age as well.
Uganda's position along the central African Rift Valley, its favourable climate at an altitude of 1,200 meters and above, and reliable rainfall around the Lake Victoria Basin made it attractive to African cultivators and herders as early as the fourth century BCE. Core samples from the bottom of Lake Victoria have revealed that dense rainforest once covered the land around the lake. Centuries of cultivation removed almost all the original tree cover.
Central Sudanic peoples and Kuliak speakers were likely the first farmers and herders in Uganda. Central Sudanic peoples first entered Northern Uganda in the 3rd millennium BC and sometime later spread south along toward the mouth of Lake victoria. The Ancient Central Sudanic presence in uganda can be seen in Kansyore Pottery and ancient Pollen samples.
Bantu expansion
Bantu speaking farmers first arrived in Southern Uganda in the year 1,000BC. They also raised goats and chickens, and they probably kept some cattle by 400 BCE. Their knowledge of agriculture and use of iron-forging technology permitted them to clear the land and feed ever larger numbers of settlers. They displaced small bands of indigenous hunter-gatherers, who relocated to the less accessible mountains.
Meanwhile, by the fourth century BCE, the Bantu-speaking metallurgists were perfecting iron smelting to produce medium grade carbon steel in pre-heated forced-draft furnaces. Although most of these developments were taking place southwest of modern Ugandan boundaries, iron was mined and smelted in many parts of the country not long afterward.
Early political systems
As the Bantu-speaking agriculturists of the Uganda area spread and multiplied over the centuries, they evolved a form of government by clan chiefs. This kinship-organized system was useful for coordinating work projects, settling internal disputes, and carrying out religious observances to clan deities, but it could effectively govern only a limited number of people. Larger polities began to form states towards the end of the first millennium CE, some of which would ultimately govern over a million subjects each. More extensive and improved cultivation of Bananas (high-yield crops that allowed for permanent cultivation and settlements) by Bantu groups between 300 and 1200 CE helped this process.
Nilotic speaking pastoralists who lived in the more arid and less fertile North were mobile and ready to resort to arms in defence of their cattle or in raids to appropriate the cattle of others. But their political organization was less, based on kinship and decisions by kin-group elders. In the meeting of cultures, they may have acquired the ideas and symbols of political chiefship from the Bantu speakers, to whom they could offer military protection, and with whose elites they sometimes joined and intermarried. It is theorized a system of patron-client relationships developed, whereby a pastoral elite emerged, entrusting the care of cattle to subjects who used the manure to improve the fertility of their increasingly overworked gardens and fields.
In some regions, pastoral elites were of partly Nilotic descent, while in others they may have derived mainly from the Bantu population (so theorized by the linguist David L. Schoenbrun from certain of those relatives of wealthy banana cultivators who were not eligible for inheritance). The latter had gradually adopted specialist pastoralism as a source of wealth in the area's rich grasslands. The earliest states may have been established in the 15th century by a group of pastoral rulers called the Chwezi. Legends depicted the Chwezi as supernatural beings, but their material remains at the archaeological sites of Bigo and Mubende have shown that they were human and perhaps among the ancestors of the modern Hima and Tutsi pastoralists of Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. During the 15th century, the Chwezi were displaced by a new Nilotic-speaking pastoral group called the Bito. The Chwezi appear to have moved south of present-day Uganda to establish kingdoms in northwest Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi.
From this process of cultural contact and state formation, three different types of states emerged. The Hima type was later to be seen in Rwanda and Burundi. It preserved a caste system whereby the rulers and their pastoral relatives attempted to maintain strict separation from the agricultural subjects, called Hutu. The Hima rulers lost their Nilotic language and became Bantu speakers, but they preserved an ideology of superiority in political and social life and attempted to monopolise high status and wealth. In the 20th century, the Hutu revolt after independence led to the expulsion from Rwanda of the Hima elite, who became refugees in Uganda. A counter-revolution in Burundi secured power for the Hima through periodic massacres of the Hutu majority.
The Bito type of state, in contrast with that of the Hima, was established in Bunyoro, which for several centuries was the dominant political power in the region. Bito immigrants displaced the influential Hima and secured power for themselves as a royal clan, ruling over Hima pastoralists and Hutu agriculturalists alike. No rigid caste lines divided Bito society. The weakness of the Bito ideology was that, in theory, it granted every Bito clan member royal status and with it the eligibility to rule. Although some of these ambitions might be fulfilled by the Bunyoro omukama (ruler) granting his kin offices as governors of districts, there was always the danger of a coup d'état or secession by overambitious relatives. Thus, in Bunyoro, periods of political stability and expansion were interrupted by civil wars and secessions.
Buganda
The third type of state to emerge in Uganda was that of Buganda, on the northern shores of Lake Victoria. This area of swamp and hillside was not attractive to the rulers of pastoral states farther north and west. There, as in the nearby Haya kingdom of west Tanzania, the wealth of the ruling class continued to depend more on banana lands and groves than cattle, and no sharp caste-like distinction between farmers and herders formed. Buganda became a refuge area, however, for those who wished to escape rule by Bunyoro or for factions within Bunyoro who were defeated in contests for power.
One such group from Bunyoro, headed by Prince Kimera, arrived in Buganda early in the 15th century. Assimilation of refugee elements had already strained the ruling abilities of Buganda's various clan chiefs and a supraclan political organization was already emerging. Kimera seized the initiative in this trend and became the first effective Kabaka (ruler) of the fledgling Buganda state. Ganda oral traditions later sought to disguise this intrusion from Bunyoro by claiming earlier, shadowy, quasisupernatural kabakas.
Unlike the Hima caste system or the Bunyoro royal clan political monopoly, Buganda's kingship was made a kind of state lottery in which all clans could participate. Each new king was identified with the clan of his mother, rather than that of his father. All clans readily provided wives to the ruling kabaka, who had eligible sons by most of them. When the ruler died, his successor was chosen by clan elders from among the eligible princes, each of whom belonged to the clan of his mother. In this way, the throne was never the property of a single clan for more than one reign. Bunyoro's power began to ebb in the 18th century, with the separation of the Toro kingdom and more importantly the rise of Buganda.
Consolidating their efforts behind a centralised kingship, the Baganda (people of Buganda) shifted away from defensive strategies and toward expansion. By the mid-19th century, Buganda had doubled and redoubled its territory, conquering much of Bunyoro and becoming the dominant state in the region. Newly conquered lands were placed under chiefs nominated by the king. Buganda's armies and the royal tax collectors traveled swiftly to all parts of the kingdom along specially constructed roads which crossed streams and swamps by bridges and viaducts. On Lake Victoria (which the Baganda called Nnalubaale), a royal navy of outrigger canoes, commanded by an admiral who was chief of the Lungfish clan, could transport Baganda commandos to raid any shore of the lake. The journalist Henry Morton Stanley visited Buganda in 1875 and provided an estimate of Buganda troop strength. Stanley counted 125,000 troops marching off on a single campaign to the east, where a fleet of 230 war canoes waited to act as auxiliary naval support.
In Buganda's capital, Lubaga, Stanley found a well-ordered town of about 40,000 surrounding the king's palace, which was situated atop a commanding hill. A wall more than four kilometers in circumference surrounded the palace compound, which was filled with grass-roofed houses, meeting halls, and storage buildings. At the entrance to the court burned the royal fire, which would only be extinguished when the Kabaka died. Thronging the grounds were foreign ambassadors seeking audiences, chiefs going to the royal advisory council, messengers running errands, and a corps of young pages, who served the Kabaka while training to become future chiefs. For communication across the kingdom, the messengers were supplemented by drum signals.
Most communities in Uganda, however, were not organized on such a vast political scale. To the north, the Nilotic-speaking Acholi people adopted some of the ideas and regalia of kingship from Bunyoro in the 18th century. Rwots (chiefs) acquired royal drums, collected tribute from followers, and redistributed it to those who were most loyal. The mobilisation of larger numbers of subjects permitted successful hunts for meat. Extensive areas of bushland were surrounded by beaters, who forced the game to a central killing point in a hunting technique that was still practised in areas of central Africa as of 1990. But these Acholi chieftaincies remained relatively small in size, and within them the power of the clans remained strong enough to challenge that of the rwot.
Long-distance trade and foreign contact (1800s–)
Until the middle of the 19th century, Uganda remained relatively isolated from the outside world. The central African lake region was a world in miniature, with an internal trade system, a great power rivalry between Buganda and Bunyoro, and its own inland seas. When intrusion from the outside world finally came, it was in the form of long-distance trade for ivory.
Ivory had been a staple trade item from the coast of East Africa since before the Christian era. But growing world demand in the 19th century, together with the provision of increasingly efficient firearms to hunters, created a moving "ivory frontier" as elephant herds near the coast were nearly exterminated. Leading large caravans financed by Indian moneylenders, Arab traders based in Zanzibar reached Lake Victoria by 1844. One trader, Ahmad bin Ibrahim, introduced Buganda's kabaka to the advantages of foreign trade: the acquisition of imported cloth and, more important, guns and gunpowder. Ibrahim also introduced the religion of Islam, but the kabaka was more interested in guns.
By the 1860s, Buganda was the destination of ever more caravans, and the kabaka and his chiefs began to dress in cloth called "mericani" (derived from "American"), which was woven in Massachusetts and carried to Zanzibar by American traders. It was judged finer in quality than European or Indian cloth, and increasing numbers of ivory tusks were collected to pay for it. Bunyoro sought to attract foreign trade as well, in an effort to keep up with Buganda in the burgeoning arms race.
Bunyoro also found itself threatened from the north by Egyptian-sponsored agents who sought ivory and slaves but who, unlike the Arab traders from Zanzibar, were also promoting foreign conquest. In 1869, Khedive Ismail Pasha of Egypt, seeking to annex the territories north of the borders of Lake Victoria and east of Lake Albert and "south of Gondokoro," sent a British explorer, Samuel Baker, on a military expedition to the frontiers of Bunyoro, with the object of suppressing the slave-trade there and opening the way to commerce and civilisation. The khedive appointed Baker Governor-General of the new territory named Equatoria.
The Banyoro resisted Baker, and he had to fight a desperate battle to secure his retreat. Baker regarded the resistance as an act of treachery, and he denounced the Banyoro in a book (Ismailia – A Narrative Of The Expedition To Central Africa For The Suppression Of Slave Trade, Organised By Ismail, Khadive Of Egypt (1874)) that was widely read in Britain. Later British Empire builders arrived in Uganda with a predisposition against Bunyoro, which eventually would cost the kingdom half its territory until the "lost counties" were restored to Bunyoro after independence.
Farther north the Acholi responded more favourably to the Egyptian demand for ivory. They were already famous hunters and quickly acquired guns in return for tusks. The guns permitted the Acholi to retain their independence but altered the balance of power within Acholi territory, which for the first time experienced unequal distribution of wealth based on control of firearms.
Meanwhile, Buganda was receiving not only traded goods and guns but a stream of foreign visitors as well. The explorer John Hanning Speke passed through Buganda in 1862 and claimed he had discovered the source of the Nile. Both Speke and Stanley (based on his 1875 stay in Uganda) wrote books that praised the Baganda for their organisational skills and willingness to modernise. Stanley went further and attempted to convert the king to Christianity. Finding Kabaka Mutesa I apparently receptive, Stanley wrote to the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in London and persuaded it to send missionaries to Buganda in 1877.
Two years after the CMS established a mission, French Catholic White Fathers also arrived at the king's court, and the stage was set for a fierce religious and nationalist rivalry in which Zanzibar-based Muslim traders also participated. By the mid-1880s, all three parties had been successful in converting substantial numbers of Baganda, some of whom attained important positions at court. When a new young kabaka, Mwanga, attempted to halt the foreign ideologies that he saw threatening the state, he was deposed by the armed converts in 1888. A four-year civil war ensued in which the Muslims were initially successful and proclaimed an Islamic state. They were soon defeated, however, and were not able to renew their effort.
The region was greatly weakened by a series of epidemics that hit the region due to its increased exposure to the outside world. The first of these was the rinderpest outbreak of 1891 that devastated the region's cattle. This was followed by outbreaks of sleeping sickness and smallpox that would halve the population of some areas.
The victorious Protestant and Catholic converts then divided the Buganda kingdom, which they ruled through a figurehead kabaka dependent on their guns and goodwill. Thus, outside religion had disrupted and transformed the traditional state. Soon afterwards, the arrival of competing European imperialists — the German Karl Peters and the British captain Frederick Lugard broke the Christian alliance; the British Protestant missionaries urged acceptance of the British flag, while the French Catholic mission either supported the Germans (in the absence of French imperialists) or called for Buganda to retain its independence.
In January 1892, fighting broke out between the Protestant and Catholic Baganda converts. The Catholics quickly gained the upper hand, until Lugard intervened with a prototype machine gun, the Maxim (named after its American inventor, Hiram Maxim). The Maxim decided the issue in favour of the pro-British Protestants; the French Catholic mission was burned to the ground, and the French bishop fled. The resultant scandal was settled in Europe when the British government paid compensation to the French mission and agreed with the Germans who gave up Peter's claim to Uganda in the Anglo-German Agreement of 1890.
With Buganda secured by Lugard, and the Germans no longer contending for control, the British began to enlarge their claim to the "headwaters of the Nile" as they called the land north of Lake Victoria. Allying with the Protestant Baganda chiefs, the British set about conquering the rest of the country, aided by Nubian mercenary troops who had formerly served the khedive of Egypt. Bunyoro had been spared the religious civil wars of Buganda and was firmly united by its king, Kabarega, who had several regiments of troops armed with guns.
After five years of bloody conflict, the British occupied Bunyoro and conquered Acholi and the northern region, and the rough outlines of the Uganda Protectorate came into being. Other African polities, such as the Ankole kingdom to the southwest, signed treaties with the British, as did the chiefdoms of Busoga, but the kinship-based peoples of eastern and northeastern Uganda had to be overcome by military force.
A mutiny by Nubian mercenary troops in 1897 was only barely suppressed after two years of fighting, during which Baganda Christian allies of the British once again demonstrated their support for the colonial power. As a reward for this support, and in recognition of Buganda's formidable military presence, the British negotiated a separate treaty with Buganda, granting it a large measure of autonomy and self-government within the larger protectorate under indirect rule. One-half of Bunyoro's conquered territory was awarded to Buganda as well, including the historic heartland of the kingdom containing several Nyoro (Bunyoro) royal tombs. Buganda doubled in size from ten to twenty counties (), but the "lost counties" of Bunyoro remained a continuing grievance that would return to haunt Buganda in the 1960s.
See also
Empire of Kitara
History of Uganda
History of East Africa
References
Further reading
Tucker, Alfred R., Eighteen Years in Uganda and East Africa. London: Edward Arnold (1908).
Sources
History of Uganda by period
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian%20mafia
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Russian mafia
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The Russian mafia ( or ), otherwise referred to as Bratva ( , ), is a collective of various organized crime elements originating in the former Soviet Union (FSU). Any of the mafia's groups may be referred to as an "Organized Criminal Group" (OPG). This is sometimes modified to include a specific name, such as the Orekhovskaya OPG. The "P" in the initialism comes from the Russian word for criminal: . Sometimes, the Russian word is dropped in favour of a full translation, and OCG is used instead of OPG.
Today's Russian organized crime can be traced back to the Russian Empire, but it was not until after the establishment of the Soviet Union that certain () emerged as the leaders of prison groups throughout forced labour camps with a generally well-defined code of honour. In the aftermath of World War II in 1945, the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, more gangs emerged in a flourishing black market that exploited the unstable governments of the FSU. American attorney Louis Freeh, who headed the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) between 1993 and 2001, said that the Russian mafia posed the greatest threat to the United States in the mid-1990s.
In 2012, there were as many as 6,000 groups, with more than 200 of them having a global reach. Criminals of these various groups are either former prison members, corrupt officials and business leaders, people with ethnic ties, or people from the same region with shared criminal experiences and leaders. In December 2009, Timur Lakhonin, the head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol within Russia, stated "Certainly, there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad, but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad" on the topic of international Russian criminal gangs. In August 2010, Alain Bauer, a criminologist from France, said that the Russian mafia "is one of the best structured criminal organizations in Europe, with a quasi-military operation" in their international activities. Since the 1980s, the Russian mafia has been among the world's most powerful, dangerous, and feared criminal organizations. , it remains among the world's largest, deadliest, and most powerful crime syndicates. The collective Russian mafia groups have been referred to as a "criminal superpower" by the FBI.
The Russian mafia is similar to the Italian mafia in many ways, in that the groups' organizations and structures follow a similar model. The two groups also share a similar portfolio of criminal activity. The highly publicized Italian mafia is believed to have inspired early criminal groups in Russia to form mafia-like organizations, eventually spawning their own version. The Russian mafia, however, differed from the Italians due to their environment. The level of political corruption and arms sales in post-Soviet Russia allowed for their massive expansion, as well as the incorporation of many government officials into the crime syndicates. Russian mafia groups have also been involved in uranium trading, stolen from the Soviet nuclear program, and human trafficking, among other serious activities.
History
Origins
The Russian criminality can be traced back to Russia's imperial period, which began in the 1720s, in the form of banditry and thievery. Most of the population were peasants, in poverty at the time, and criminals who stole from government entities and divided profits among the people earned Robin Hood-like status, being viewed as protectors of the poor and becoming folk heroes. In time, the Vorovskoy Mir (Thieves' World) emerged as these criminals grouped and started their own code of conduct that was based on strict loyalty with one another and opposition against the government.
When the Bolshevik Revolution came around in 1917, the Thieves' World was alive and active. Vladimir Lenin attempted to wipe them out, but it failed, and the criminals survived into Joseph Stalin's reign.
1917–1991: Soviet era
During Stalin's reign as ruler, millions of people were sent to gulags (Soviet labor camps), where powerful criminals worked their way up to become vorami v zakone ("thieves-in-law"). These criminal elites often conveyed their status through complicated tattoos, symbols still used by Russian mobsters.
Before coming to power, Joseph Stalin himself was engaged in revolutionary criminal activity during the early 1900s.
After Hitler's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II, Stalin was recruiting more men to fight for the nation, offering prisoners freedom if they joined the army. Many flocked to help out in the war, but this act betrayed the codes of the Thieves' World that one must not ally with the government. Those who chose not to fight in the war referred to the traitors as suka ("bitch"), and the traitors landed at the bottom of the "hierarchy". Outcast, the suki separated from the others and formed their own groups and power bases by collaborating with prison officials, eventually gaining the luxury of comfortable positions. Bitterness between the groups erupted into a series of Bitch Wars from 1945 to 1953 with many killed every day. The prison officials encouraged the violence, seeing it as a way to rid the prisons of criminals.
While Hitler’s invasion of Russia during WWII caused countless casualties on the battlefield, it also led to one of the more violent periods in the history of Russian organized crime. In 1941, as the German army approached, Stalin desperately looked for ways to bolster the Russian army’s numbers. Turning to the seemingly endless supply of able-bodied men overflowing the gulags and prison system, Stalin promised the vor a chance to win back their freedom by defending Russia against the imminent attack. Joining the army to fight for Stalin (cooperating with the government) was a flagrant violation of the criminal code of honor, yet for many, this offer was too tempting to refuse. Thousands of prisoners signed up to defend against the Nazi threat and regain their freedom; that freedom, however, proved to be only momentary. Following the conclusion of the war in 1945, Stalin reneged on his initial promise, throwing the vor soldiers right back into the gulags that they had so desperately tried to escape. This marked the beginning of what would be known as the "Suki Wars." Though the prison system had never been a particularly safe haven to begin with, the return to the gulags was a death sentence for the vor who had fought in the Red Army. To the vory v zakone, cooperating with the government was tantamount to treason; therefore, the thieves who had remained in prison saw the actions of the thieves-turned-soldiers as the ultimate betrayal. These "traitors," called suki, were systematically slaughtered in the gulags as a punishment for their treachery and cowardice. The prison guards did nothing to stop the massacre, and in fact often encouraged the violence, as they viewed it was a quick and cost-effective method for thinning the criminal ranks within the prison system. It is unknown just how many suki were killed during this extermination process, but in 1953, eight million prisoners were finally released. By then, the culture of the Russian criminal underworld had been irreparably altered—no longer did a criminal need to abide by the antiquated rules of the old "Thieves’ World."
Then, in the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev loosened restrictions on private businesses, allowing them to grow legally, but by then, the Soviet Union was already beginning to collapse.
Also during the 1970s and 1980s, the United States expanded its immigration policies, allowing Soviet Jews, with most settling in a southern Brooklyn area known as Brighton Beach (sometimes nicknamed "Little Odessa"). Here is where Russian organized crime began in the US. The earliest known case of Russian crime in the area was in the mid-1970s by the "Potato Bag Gang," a group of con artists disguised as merchants that told customers that they were selling antique gold rubles for cheap, but in fact, gave them bags of potatoes when bought in thousands. By 1983, the head of Russian organized crime in Brighton Beach was Evsei Agron.
Pauol Mirzoyan was a prime target among other mobsters including rival Boris Goldberg and his organization, and in May 1985 Agron was assassinated. Boris "Biba" Nayfeld, his bodyguard, moved on to employ under Marat Balagula, who was believed to have succeeded Agron's authority. In the following year, Balagula fled the country after he was convicted in a fraud scheme of Merrill Lynch customers, and was found in Frankfurt, West Germany in 1989, where he was extradited back to the US and sentenced to eight years in prison.
Balagula would later be convicted on a separate $360,000 credit card fraud in 1992. Nayfield took Balagula's place, partnering with the "Polish Al Capone", Ricardo Fanchiniin, in an import-export business and setting up a heroin business. In 1990, his former friend, Monya Elson, back from a six-year prison sentence in Israel, returned to America and set up a rival heroin business, culminating in a mafia turf war.
1992–2000: Growth and internationalization
When the USSR collapsed and a free market economy emerged, organized criminal groups began to take over Russia's economy, with many ex-KGB agents and veterans of the Afghan war offering their skills to the crime bosses. Gangster summit meetings had taken place in hotels and restaurants shortly before the Soviet's dissolution, so that top vory v zakone could agree on who would rule what, and set plans on how to take over the post-communist states.
In the 1990s in Russia, as well as in other post-Soviet countries, vast deposits of natural resources and businesses that the state had owned for decades were privatised. Former Soviet bureaucrats, factory directors, aggressive businessmen and criminal organizations used insider deals, bribery and simple brute force in order to grab lucrative assets. Businesses began building their own private armies of security agents, bodyguards and commercial spies. They often simply bought the people and weapons of the former Soviet state, or even those of the current Russian police. Russia's new capitalists spent millions of dollars for protection, buying armor-plated cars, bomb sensors, hidden cameras, bulletproof vests, anti-wiretapping gear, weapons, recruiting veterans of the Afghan and Chechen wars as their bodyguards. However, almost every business in Russia, from curbside vendors to huge oil and gas companies, made payments to the organized crime for protection ("krysha"). Businessmen said that they needed the "krysha" because the laws and the court system were not functioning properly in Russia. The only way for them to enforce a contract was to turn to a criminal "krysha". They also used it to intimidate competitors, enforce contracts, collect debts or take over new markets. It was also becoming increasingly common for Russian businesses to turn to the "red krysha" (the corrupt police who doubled as a paid protection racket). Contract killings were common.
The discussion notes that Russian mobsters now operate in more than 50 countries around the world. Their background in a totalitarian country with widespread corruption has resulted in their development of a unique business acumen. Thirty Russian crime syndicates operate in at least 17 cities in the United States. In addition, both the Bush and the Clinton Administrations have unwittingly facilitated the Russian mob and the untrammeled corruption of Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union.
In early 1993, the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs reported there were over 5,000 organized crime groups operating in Russia. These groups had an estimated 100,000 members with a leadership of 18,000. Although Russian authorities have currently identified over 5,000 criminal groups in that country, Russian officials believe that only approximately 300 of those have some identifiable structure. 11 organized crime groups in Russia are not nearly as structured as those in the US, such as the LCN.
It was the period of internationalization of Russian organized crime. It was agreed that Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov would be sent to Brighton Beach in 1992, allegedly because he was killing too many people in Russia and also to take control of Russian organized crime in North America. Within a year, he built an international operation that included, but was not limited to, narcotics, money laundering, and prostitution and made ties with the American Mafia and Colombian drug cartels, eventually extending to Miami, Los Angeles, and Boston. Those who went against him were usually killed.
Prior to Ivankov's arrival, Balagula's downfall left a void for America's next vory v zakone. Monya Elson, leader of Monya's Brigada (a gang that similarly operated from Russia to Los Angeles to New York), was in a feud with Boris Nayfeld, with bodies dropping on both sides. Ivankov's arrival virtually ended the feud, although Elson would later challenge his power as well, and a number of attempts were made to end the former's life. Nayfield and Elson would eventually be arrested in January 1994 (released in 1998) and in Italy in 1995, respectively.
According to FBI reports, the crime boss Semion Mogilevich had alliances with the Camorra, in particular with Salvatore DeFalco, a lower-echelon member of the Giuliano clan. Mogilevich and DeFalco would have held meetings in Prague in 1993.Semion Mogilevich's net worth is estimated to be 10 billion dollar.
Ivankov's reign also ended in June 1995 when a $3.5 million extortion attempt on two Russian businessmen, Alexander Volkov and Vladimir Voloshin, ended in an FBI arrest that resulted in a ten-year maximum security prison sentence. Before his arrest and besides his operations in America, Ivankov regularly flew around Europe and Asia to maintain ties with his fellow mobsters (like members of the Solntsevskaya Bratva), as well as reinforce ties with others. This did not stop other people from denying his growing power. In one instance, Ivankov attempted to buy out Georgian boss Valeri "Globus" Glugech's drug importation business. When the latter refused the offer, he and his top associates were shot dead. A summit held in May 1994 in Vienna rewarded him with what was left of Glugech's business. Two months later, Ivankov got into another altercation with drug kingpin and head of the Orekhovskaya gang, Segei "Sylvester" Timofeyev, ending with the latter murdered a month later.
In 1995, the Camorra cooperated with the Russian mafia in a scheme in which the Camorra would bleach out US$1 bills and reprint them as $100s. These bills would then be transported to the Russian mafia for distribution in 29 post-Eastern Bloc countries and former Soviet republics. In return, the Russian mafia paid the Camorra with property (including a Russian bank) and firearms, smuggled into Eastern Europe and Italy.
A report by the United Nations in 1995 placed the number of individuals involved in organized crime in Russia at 3 million, employed in about 5,700 gangs.
Back in Eastern Europe in May 1995, Semion Mogilevich held a summit meeting of Russian mafia bosses in his U Holubu restaurant in Anděl, a neighborhood of Prague. The excuse to bring them together was that it was a birthday party for Victor Averin, the second-in-command of the Solntsevskaya Bratva. However, Major Tomas Machacek of the Czech police got wind of an anonymous tip-off that claimed that the Solntsevskaya were planning to assassinate Mogilevich at the location (it was rumored that Mogilevich and Solntsevskaya leader Sergei Mikhailov had a dispute over $5 million), and the police successfully raided the meeting. 200 guests were arrested, but no charges were put against them; only key Russian mafia members were banned from the country, most of whom moved to Hungary.
One person who was not there was Mogilevich himself. He claimed that "[b]y the time I arrived at U Holubu, everything was already in full swing, so I went into a neighboring hotel and sat in the bar there until about five or six in the morning." Mikhailov would later be arrested in Switzerland in October 1996 on numerous charges, including that he was the head of a powerful Russian mafia group, but was exonerated and released two years later after evidence was not enough to prove much.
The global extent of Russian organized crime was not realized until Ludwig "Tarzan" Fainberg was arrested in January 1997, primarily because of arms dealing. In 1990, Fainberg moved from Brighton Beach to Miami and opened up a strip club called Porky's, which soon became a popular hangout for underworld criminals. Fainberg himself gained a reputation as an ambassador among international crime groups, becoming especially close to Juan Almeida, a Colombian cocaine dealer. Planning to expand his cocaine business, Fainberg acted as an intermediary between Almeida and the corrupt Russian military. He helped him get six Russian military helicopters in 1993, and in the following year, helped arrange to buy a submarine for cocaine smuggling. Unfortunately for the two of them, federal agents had been keeping a close eye on Fainberg for months. Alexander Yasevich, an associate of the Russian military contact and an undercover DEA agent, was sent to verify the illegal dealing, and in 1997, Fainberg was finally arrested in Miami. Facing the possibility of life imprisonment, the latter agreed to testify against Almeida in exchange for a shorter sentence, which ended up being 33 months.
The published a website in 2000 containing Philipp Bobkov's MOST Group Security Database along with files from RUOP and other departments and special services.
Vanuatu was a preferred location for Russian mafia laundering money.
2001–present
As the 21st century dawned, the Russian mafia remained after the death of Aslan Usoyan. New mafia bosses sprang up, while imprisoned ones were released. Among the released were Marat Balagula and Vyacheslav Ivankov, both in 2004. The latter was extradited to Russia, but was jailed once more for his alleged murders of two Turks in a Moscow restaurant in 1992; he was cleared of all charges and released in 2005. Four years later, he was assassinated by a shot in the stomach from a sniper. Meanwhile, Monya Elson and Leonid Roytman were arrested in March 2006 for an unsuccessful murder plot against two Kyiv-based businessmen.
In 2009, FBI agents in Moscow targeted two suspected mafia leaders and two other corrupt businessmen. One of the leaders is Yevgeny Dvoskin, a criminal who had been in prison with Ivankov in 1995 and was deported in 2001 for breaking immigration regulations; the other is Konstantin "Gizya" Ginzburg, who was reportedly the current "big boss" of Russian organized crime in America before his reported assassination in 2009, it being suspected that Ivankov handed over control to him.
In the same year, Semion Mogilevich was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for his involvement in a complex multimillion-dollar scheme that defrauded investors in the stock of his company YBM Magnex International, swindling them out of $150 million. He was indicted in 2003 and arrested in 2008 in Russia on tax fraud charges, but because the US does not have an extradition treaty with Russia, he was released on bail. Monya Elson said, in 1998, that Mogilevich is the most powerful mobster in the world.
Around the world, Russian mafia groups have popped up as dominating particular areas. Russian organized crime has a rather large stronghold in the city of Atlanta where members are distinguished by their tattoos. Russian organized crime was reported to have a stronger grip in the French Riviera region and Spain in 2010; and Russia was branded as a virtual "mafia state" according to the WikiLeaks cables.
In 2009, Russian mafia groups had been said to reach over 50 countries and, in 2010, had up to 300,000 members. According to recordings released in 2015, Alexander Litvinenko, shortly before he was assassinated, claimed that Semion Mogilevich has had a "good relationship" with Vladimir Putin since the 1990s.
On 7 June 2017, 33 Russian mafia affiliates and members were arrested and charged by the FBI, US Customs and Border Protection and NYPD for extortion, racketeering, illegal gambling, firearm offenses, narcotics trafficking, wire fraud, credit card fraud, identity theft, fraud on casino slot machines using electronic hacking devices; based in Atlantic City and Philadelphia, murder-for-hire conspiracy and cigarette trafficking. They were also accused of operating secret and underground gambling dens based in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and using violence against those who owed gambling debts, establishing nightclubs to sell drugs, plotting to force women associates to rob male strangers by seducing and drugging them with chloroform, and trafficking over 10,000 pounds of stolen chocolate confectionery; the chocolate was stolen from shipment containers. It is believed that 27 of the arrested are connected to the Russian mafia Shulaya clan which are largely based in New York. According to the prosecution, the Shulaya also has operations in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Nevada. According to law enforcement and the prosecution, this is one of the first federal arrests against a Russian mafia boss and his underboss or co-leader.
On 26 September 2017, as part of a 4-year investigation, 100 Spanish Civil Guard officers carried out 18 searches in different areas of Malaga, Spain related to Russian mafia large scale money laundering. The raids resulted in the arrests of 11 members and associates of the Solntsevskaya and Izmailovskaya clans. Money, firearms and 23 high-end vehicles were also seized. The owner of Marbella FC, Alexander Grinberg, and manager of AFK Sistema, a Spanish football club in Malaga, were among those arrested.
On 19 February 2018, 18 defendants were accused of laundering over $62 million through real estate, including with the help of Vladislav Reznik, former chairman of Rosgosstrakh, one of Russia's largest insurance companies. The accused stood trial in Spain. The Tambov and Malyshev Russian mafia organisations were involved.
Aleksandr Torshin is allegedly a high ranking Russian mafia boss.
Structure and composition
Bratva structure
Note that these positions are not always official titles, but rather are understood names for roles that an individual performs.
Pakhan – also called Boss, Krestniy Otets ("Capo di tutti capi | Godfather"), Vor (вор, "Thief"), Papa, or Avtoritet ("Authority").The Pakhan is at the top of the groups organizational structure. The Pakhan controls four criminal cells in the working unit through an intermediary called a "Brigadier."
Two Spies – a security group who watches over the action of the Brigadiers to ensure loyalty and that none becomes too powerful. They are the Sovietnik ("Support Group") and Obshchak ("Security Group").
Derzhatel Obshchaka - the bookkeeper, collects money from Brigadiers and bribes the government with Obshchak (money mafia intended for use in the interests of the group). This could be Brigadier, Pakhan, Authoritet.
Brigadier – also called Avtoritet ("Authority"), is like a captain in charge of a small group of men (similar to a Caporegime in Italian-American Mafia crime families and Sicilian Mafia clans), He gives out jobs to Boyeviks ("Warriors") and pays tribute to Pakhan ("Boss"). He runs a crew which is called a "Brigade." A "Brigade" is made up of 5–6 Patsanov or Brodyag ("Soldiers").
Bratok – also called Patsan or Brodyaga, works for a Brigadier having a special criminal activity to run (similar to soldiers in Italian-American Mafia crime families and Sicilian Mafia clans). A Boyevik is in charge of recruiting new soldiers and associates, in addition to paying tribute to his Brigadier. Boyevik's also make up the main strike force of a brigade.
Shestyorka – an associate to the organization, also called the "six" (similar to associates in Italian-American Mafia crime families and Sicilian Mafia clans). He is an errand boy for the organization and is the lowest rank in the Russian mafia. The "Sixes" are assigned to "Avtorityet's" for support. They also provide intelligence for the upcoming "delo" ("Meeting") or on a certain target. They usually stay out of the main actions, although there might be exceptions depending on circumstances. During a "delo" Shestyorkas perform security functions standing on the look out (Shukher – literally: danger). It is a temporary position and an individual either makes it into the Vor-world or is cast aside. As they are earning their respect and trust in Bratva, they may be performing roles of the regular Boyeviks or Byki depending on the necessities and patronage of their Brigadier or Avtorityet. The etymology of the word 'shestyorka' comes from the lowest rank of a 36-playing-card deck – "sixes."
In the Russian mafia, "Vor" (plural: Vory) (literally, "Thief") is an honorary title analogous to a made man in the Italian-American and Sicilian mafia. The honor of becoming a Vor is given only when the recruit shows considerable leadership skills, personal ability, intellect, and charisma. A Pakhan or another high-ranking member of an organization can decide if the recruit will receive such title. When you become a member of the Vor-world you have to accept the code of the Vor v Zakone ("Thief in law").
Although Russian criminal groups vary in their structure, there have been attempts to devise a model of how they work. One such model (possibly outdated by now, as it is based on the old style of Soviet criminal enterprises) works out like this:
Elite group – led by a Pakhan ("Boss") who is involved in management, organization, and ideology. This is the highest group that controls both the support group and the security group.
Security group – led by one of Pakhan's spies. His job is to make sure the organization keeps running, keeps the peace between the organizations and other criminal groups, and paying off the right people. This group works with the Elite group and is equal in power with the Support groups. Is in charge of security and in intelligence.
Support group – led by one of Pakhan's spies. His job is to watch over the working unit, and collect money while supervising their criminal activities. This group works with the Elite group and is equal in power with the Security group. They plan a specific crime for a specialized group or choose who carries out the operation.
Working Unit – There are four Brigadiers running criminal activity in the working unit, each controlling a Brigade. This is the lowest group working with only the Support group. The group is involved in burglars, thieves, prostitution, extortion, street gangs, and other crimes.
Russian organized crime is also unique in that it does not possess a clearly defined, top-down hierarchy. Unlike the Italian mafias, with their capofamiglia, or the Chinese triads with their "mountain masters," the Russian mafia structural ranking does not include irreplaceable leaders. It would be impossible to take down a few "heads" of the Red Mafia in order to topple the entire organization because they simply do not exist. This gives ROC an invaluable strategic advantage over those attempting to dismantle it.
Notable individual groups
Groups based in and around the City of Moscow:
Solntsevskaya Bratva (): Led by Sergei "Mikhas" Mikhailov, it is Russia's largest criminal group with about 5,000 members, and is named after the Solntsevo District.
Lyuberetskaya Bratva () or Lyubery (): One of the largest criminal groups with around 3,000 members in late 1990s until today. Based in (and originating from) Lyubertsy district of Moscow. Led by Denis Sergin (Fraser) since the 2000s.
The : One of Russia's oldest modern gangs, it was started in the mid- to late-1980s by Oleg Ivanov; it has around 200–500 members in Moscow alone, and is named after the Izmaylovo District. Izmailovskaya has good relations with the Podolskaya gang. Anton Malevsky was the leader until his death in 2001. The Ismailovskaya mafia is closely associated with Oleg Deripaska, Matvey Yozhikov, , Michael Cherney, and Iskander Makhmudov through their Switzerland based "Blonde Investment Company" and is closely associated with Vladimir Putin's SP AG (). Liechtenstein police proved that Rudolf Ritter (brother to Michael Ritter, a Financial Minister) a Liechtenstein-based lawyer, jurist who practiced in offshore businesses (identification evasion), and financial manager for the accounts of both Putin's SPAG and the Ismailovskaya mafia and that Alexander Afanasyev ("Afonya") was connected to both SPAG and the Ismailovskaya mafia through his Panama registered Earl Holding AG. Also, Rudolf Ritter signed for Earl Holding, Berger International Holding, Repas Trading SA and Fox Consulting. The Colombia-based Cali KGB Cartel supplied cocaine to the Ismailovskaya mafia, too. Rudolf Ritter itself was arrested in May 2020 on money laundering charges.
The Stukalov gang
The Orekhovskaya gang: Founded by Sergei "Sylvester" Timofeyev, this group reached its height in Moscow in the 1990s. When Timofeyev died, Sergei Butorin took his place. However, he was sentenced to jail for life in 2011.
The : one of the richest with its common fund kept in the United States. Located in the Podolsky, Chekhovsky, and Serpukhovsky districts of the Moscow region and beyond including close relations with mafia in the United States and Belgium. Their focus is oil and extortion. They provided support to Anatoly Bykov.
Groups based in other parts of Russia and the former Soviet Union:
The Dolgoprudnenskaya gang: Russia's second largest criminal group. Originally from the City of Dolgoprudny. Led by billionaire oligarch Matvey Yozhikov.
The Tambov Gang of Saint Petersburg is very closely aligned with , who is the head of the Federal Drug Control Service; Alexander Bastrykin, who is the head of the Investigative Committee; Japanese Yakuza from Kobe and Osaka; and with the political rise of Vladimir Putin. Putin's long time personal body guard, Viktor Zolotov is very close to this group as well. the man most associated with them is Vladimir Kumarin.
The Komarovskaya organized criminal group: (leader - Komar) controls the St. Petersburg-Vyborg highway (A181) called Scandinavia or the Russia part of the European highway E18, which includes everything along the road (hotels, repair garages, cafes and restaurants, etc.) and the transportation process as well as St. Petersburg's trucking businesses. Komarovskaya OPG steal automobiles, commit robberies, provide protection racketeering, and receive strong support from the Usvyatsov-Putyrsky gang and its AOZT "Putus" to organize the supply of cocaine from South America into Russia, Finland, Scandinavia and Europe and the trade in counterfeit dollars.
The Usvyatsov-Putyrsky gang (AOZT "Putus") led by Vladimir Putyrsky (Vova-One-armed) and Leonid Ionovich Usvyatsov (Lenya-Sportsman) organizes both the supply of cocaine from South America into Russia, Finland, Scandinavia and Europe and the trade in counterfeit dollars and works closely with the Komarovskaya organized criminal group. Both Putyrsky and Usvyatsov have large estates in the Czech Republic where they enjoy hunting. During the 1980s, sambo coach "Trud" Usvyatsov, who was imprisoned for rape, robbery and theft, coached Vladimir Putin, Arkady Rotenberg, Boris Rotenberg and Nikolai Kononov.
The Uzbek criminals in Litvinenko's Uzbek file, including Michael Cherney, Gafur Rakhimov, Vyacheslav Ivankov, and Salim Abduvaliev (also spelled Salim Abdulaev); are Uzbek origin KGB and later FSB officers at Moscow including Colonel Evgeny Khokholkov; were organized by Vladimir Putin while Putin was Deputy Mayor for Economic Affairs of St Petersburg in the early 1990s; and control Afghanistan origin drug trade through St Petersburg, Russia, and then to Europe. Boris Berezovsky told Litvinenko to brief his Uzbek file about corrupt FSB officers to the future Head of the FSB Putin which Litvinenko did on 25 July 1998 and, later, Litvinenko was imprisoned. Robert Eringer, head of Monaco's Security Service, confirmed Litvinenko's file about Vladimir Putin as a kingpin in Europe's narcotics trade. The Colombia-based Cali KGB Cartel supplied cocaine to this network, too.
The Slonovskaya gang was one of the strongest and violent criminal groups in CIS in the 1990s. It was based in Ryazan city. It had a long-term bloody wars with other active criminal groups in the city (Ayrapetovskaya, Kochetkovskie, etc.) with which it initially coexisted peacefully. The gang virtually disappeared by 2000 as its members were getting hunted down and imprisoned by local Russian Police.
The Uralmash gang of Yekaterinburg.
The Chechen mafia is one of the largest ethnic organized crime groups operating in the former Soviet Union next to established Russian mafia groups.
The Georgian mafia is regarded as one of the biggest, powerful and influential criminal networks in Europe, which has produced the biggest number of "thieves in law" in all former USSR countries.
The Mkhedrioni was a paramilitary group involved in organised crime led by a Thief in law Jaba Ioseliani in Georgia in the 1990s.
The city of Kazan was known for its gang culture, which later progressed into more organised, mafiaesque groups. This was known as the Kazan phenomenon.
Groups based in and around The United States of America:
The Odessa Mafia: The most prominent and dominant Russian criminal group operating in the US; its headquarters is in Brighton Beach.
Armenian Power, or AP-13, is a California-based crime syndicate tied to Russian and Armenian organised crime.
Groups based in other areas:
The Brothers' Circle: Headed by Temuri Mirzoyev, this multi-ethnic transnational group is "composed of leaders and senior members of several Eurasian criminal groups largely based in countries of the former Soviet Union but operating in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America." In 2011, US President Barack Obama and his administration named it one of four transnational organized crime groups that posed the greatest threat to US national security, and sanctioned certain key members and froze their assets. A year later, he extended the national emergency against them for another year.
The Semion Mogilevich organization: Based in Budapest, Hungary and headed by the crime boss of the same name, this group numbered approximately 250 members as of 1996. Its business is often connected with that of the Solntsevskaya Bratva and the Vyacheslav Ivankov Organization. Aleksey Anatolyevich Lugovkov is the second-in-command, and Vitaly Borisovich Savalovsky is the "underboss" to Mogilevich.
See also
Anti-organized crime institutions in Russia
Corruption in Russia
Crime in Russia
List of post-Soviet mobsters
Mafia state
Russian oligarch
Thief in law
Triple 9
Russian mafia in popular culture
Russian mafia in Germany
Russian mafia in Israel
References
Sources
Further reading
Galeotti, Mark. 2018. The Vory. Yale University Press.
Varese, Federico. 2005. The Russian Mafia. Oxford University Press.
External links
Eurasian Transnational Organized Crime Groups
Mafia
Mafia
Crime in the Soviet Union
Mafia
Secret societies related to organized crime
Organized crime by ethnic or national origin
Transnational organized crime
Organized crime groups in Russia
Second economy of the Soviet Union
Russian-Australian culture
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protectorate%20of%20Uganda
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Protectorate of Uganda
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The Protectorate of Uganda was a protectorate of the British Empire from 1894 to 1962. In 1893 the Imperial British East Africa Company transferred its administration rights of territory consisting mainly of the Kingdom of Buganda to the British government.
In 1894 the Uganda Protectorate was established, and the territory was extended beyond the borders of Buganda to an area that roughly corresponds to that of present-day Uganda.
Background
In the mid-1880s, the Kingdom of Buganda was divided between four religious factions - Adherents of Uganda's Native Religion, Catholics, Protestants and Muslims - each vying for political control. In 1888, Mwanga II was ousted in a coup led by the Muslim faction, who installed Kalema as leader. The following year, a Protestant and Catholic coalition formed to remove Kalema and return Mwanga II to power. This coalition secured an alliance with the Imperial British East Africa Company, and succeeded in ousting Kalema and reinstating Mwanga in 1890.
The IBEAC sent Frederick Lugard to Uganda in 1890 as its chief representative and to help maintain the peace between the competing factions. In 1891, Mwanga concluded a treaty with Lugard whereby Mwanga would place his land and tributary states under the protection of the IBEAC.
In 1892, having subdued the Muslim faction, the Protestants and Catholics resumed their struggle for supremacy which led to civil war. That same year, the British government extended their support for the IBEAC to remain in Uganda until 1893. Despite strong opposition to getting involved in Uganda, the government felt that withdrawal of British influence would lead to war and the threat of a fellow European power encroaching on Britain's sphere of influence in East Africa it shared with Germany in 1890.
On 31 March 1893, the IBEAC formally ended its involvement in Uganda. Missionaries, led by Alfred Tucker, lobbied the British government to take over the administration of Uganda in place of the IBEAC, arguing that British withdrawal would lead to a continuance of the civil war between the different religious factions. Shortly after, Sir Gerald Portal, a representative of the British government on the ground in Uganda, proposed a plan of double chieftainships - whereby every chieftainship would have one Protestant and one Catholic chief. On 19 April 1893, the British government and the chiefs of Uganda signed a treaty giving effect to this plan.
On 18 June 1894, the British government declared that Uganda would come under British protection as a Protectorate.
1894–1901
The Uganda Agreement of 1900 solidified the power of the largely Protestant 'Bakungu' client-chiefs, led by Kagwa. London sent only a few officials to administer the country, relying primarily on the 'Bakungu' chiefs. For decades they were preferred because of their political skills, their Christianity, their friendly relations with the British, their ability to collect taxes, and the proximity of Entebbe (the Ugandan capital) to the Buganda capital. By the 1920s the British administrators were more confident and had less need for military or administrative support. Colonial officials taxed cash crops produced by the peasants. There was popular discontent among the Baganda rank-and-file, which weakened the position of their leaders. In 1912 Kagwa moved to solidify 'Bakungu' power by proposing a second 'Lukiko' for Buganda with himself as president and the 'Bakungu' as a sort of hereditary aristocracy. British officials vetoed the idea when they discovered widespread popular opposition. Instead, British officials began some reforms and attempted to make the 'Lukiko' a genuine representative assembly.
Although momentous change occurred during the colonial era in Uganda, some characteristics of late-nineteenth-century African society survived to reemerge at the time of independence. The status of Protectorate had significantly different consequences for Uganda than had the region been made a colony like neighbouring Kenya, insofar as Uganda retained a degree of self-government that would have otherwise been limited under a full colonial administration.
Colonial rule, however, affected local economic systems dramatically, in part because the first concern of the British was financial. Quelling the 1897 mutiny (see Uganda before 1900) had been costly—units of the British Indian Army had been transported to Uganda at considerable expense. The new commissioner of Uganda in 1900, Sir Harry H. Johnston, had orders to establish an efficient administration and to levy taxes as quickly as possible. Johnston approached the chiefs in Uganda with offers of jobs in the colonial administration in return for their collaboration.
The chiefs, were more interested in preserving Uganda as a self-governing entity, continuing the royal line of Kabakas, and securing private land tenure for themselves and their supporters. Hard bargaining ensued, but the chiefs ended up with everything they wanted, including one-half of all the land in Buganda. The half left to the British as "Crown Land" was later found to be largely swamp and scrub.
Johnston's Uganda Agreement of 1900 imposed a tax on huts and guns, designated the chiefs as tax collectors, and testified to the continued alliance of British and Baganda interests. The British signed much less generous treaties with the other kingdoms (Toro in 1900, Ankole in 1901, and Bunyoro in 1933) without the provision of large-scale private land tenure. The smaller chiefdoms of Busoga were ignored.
Buganda administrators
The Baganda immediately offered their services to the British as administrators over their recently conquered neighbours, an offer which was attractive to the economy-minded colonial administration. Baganda agents fanned out as local tax collectors and labour organizers in areas such as Kigezi, Mbale, and, significantly, Bunyoro. This subimperialism and Ganda cultural chauvinism were resented by the people being administered.
Wherever they went, Baganda insisted on the exclusive use of their language, Luganda, and they planted bananas as the only proper food worth eating. They regarded their traditional dress—long cotton gowns called kanzus—as civilized; all else was barbarian. They also encouraged and engaged in mission work, attempting to convert locals to their form of Christianity or Islam. In some areas, the resulting backlash aided the efforts of religious rivals — for example, Catholics won converts in areas where oppressive rule was identified with a Protestant Muganda chief.
The people of Bunyoro were particularly aggrieved, having fought the Baganda and the British; having a substantial section of their heartland annexed to Buganda as the "lost counties", and finally having "arrogant" Baganda administrators issuing orders, collecting taxes, and forcing unpaid labour. In 1907 the Banyoro rose in a rebellion called nyangire, or "refusing", and succeeded in having the Baganda subimperial agents withdrawn.
Meanwhile, in 1901 the completion of the Uganda Railway from the coast at Mombasa to the Lake Victoria port of Kisumu moved colonial authorities to encourage the growth of cash crops to help pay the railway's operating costs. Another result of the railway construction was the 1902 decision to transfer the eastern section of the Uganda Protectorate to the Kenya Colony, then called the East Africa Protectorate, to keep the entire line under one local colonial administration. Because the railway experienced cost overruns in Kenya, the British decided to justify its exceptional expense and pay its operating costs by introducing large-scale European settlement in a vast tract of land that became a centre of cash-crop agriculture known as the "White Highlands". A major part of the territory eventually left out of the "East Africa Protectorate" was the Uganda Scheme, in which the British Empire offered to create a Jewish nation-state. The offer was made to the Zionist movement which rejected it, refusing to accept anything other than the ancient Land of Israel.
In many areas of Uganda, by contrast, agricultural production was placed in the hands of Africans, if they responded to the opportunity. Cotton was the crop of choice, largely because of pressure by the British Cotton Growing Association, textile manufacturers who urged the colonies to provide raw materials for British mills. This was done by cash cropping the land. Even the CMS joined the effort by launching the Uganda Company (managed by a former missionary) to promote cotton planting and to buy and transport the produce.
Buganda, with its strategic location on the lakeside, reaped the benefits of cotton growing. The advantages of this crop were quickly recognized by the Baganda chiefs who had newly acquired freehold estates, which came to be known as mailo because they were measured in square miles. In 1905 the initial baled cotton export was valued at £200; in 1906, £1,000; in 1907; £11,000; and in 1908, £52,000. By 1915 the value of cotton exports had climbed to £369,000, and Britain was able to end its subsidy of colonial administration in Uganda, while in Kenya the white settlers required continuing subsidies by the home government.
The income generated by cotton sales made the Uganda kingdom relatively prosperous, compared with the rest of colonial Uganda, although before World War I cotton was also being grown in the eastern regions of Busoga, Lango, and Teso. Many Baganda spent their new earnings on imported clothing, bicycles, metal roofing, and even cars. They also invested in their children's education. The Christian missions emphasized literacy skills, and African converts quickly learned to read and write. By 1911 two popular journals, Ebifa (News) and Munno (Your Friend), were published monthly in Luganda.
Heavily supported by African funds, new schools were soon turning out graduating classes at Mengo High School, St. Mary's Kisubi, Namilyango, Gayaza, and King's College Budo — all in Buganda. The chief minister of the Buganda kingdom, Sir Apollo Kaggwa, personally awarded a bicycle to the top graduate at King's College Budo, together with the promise of a government job. The schools, in fact, had inherited the educational function formerly performed in the Kabaka's palace, where generations of young pages had been trained to become chiefs. Now the qualifications sought were literacy and skills, including typing and English translation.
Two important principles of precolonial political life carried over into the colonial era: clientage, whereby ambitious younger officeholders attached themselves to older high-ranking chiefs, and generational conflict, which resulted when the younger generation sought to expel their elders from office in order to replace them. After World War I, the younger aspirants to high office in Buganda became impatient with the seemingly perpetual tenure of Sir Apollo and his contemporaries, who lacked many of the skills that members of the younger generation had acquired through schooling. Calling themselves the Young Baganda Association, members of the new generation attached themselves to the young Kabaka, Daudi Chwa, who was the figurehead ruler of Buganda under indirect rule. But Kabaka Daudi never gained real political power, and after a short and frustrating reign, he died at the relatively young age of forty-three.
First World War era military forces
Early on in the Protectorate's history of occupation the British colonial government had recognised the need for a local defence force. In 1895 the British colonial armed force in the Protectorate was the Uganda Rifles, who were formed as an internal security force (i.e. keeping the peace in tribal areas rather than defending against external aggression). In the late nineteenth century the local defence force was largely composed of Sudanese troops brought in by the British, these troops were commanded by a mix of British and Sudanese officers, local tribes were not that evident in this force defending the interests of the Imperial British East Africa Company. Unfortunately the Sudanese grew resentful of their conditions of service and the Uganda Rifles mutinied in 1897. On 1 January 1902 the somewhat irregular armed force in Uganda was reformed (with far fewer Sudanese and more local tribes in its ranks) and re-titled the 4th Battalion the King's African Rifles (KAR). It was with this defensive structure that was in place at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, although there had been cuts in the KAR in 1911 stretching the force structure of the regiment even further. By the end of the Great War the Ugandan contingent in the KAR had grown considerably and they had become an effective fighting force built out of Ugandans rather than outsiders and had enjoyed success against the German forces in East Africa. The Protectorate also developed an emergency response for the intelligence collection on German activities and performing political-military liaison with allies in East Africa; according to UK National Archive records this organisation (known as the Uganda Intelligence Department) was about 20 strong and included European officers and African soldiers.
Most of this recruitment was done from the northern part of the protectorate especially the Acholi sub-region. The British colonial administration had also fought with the Lamogi clan of the Acholi people in what that culminated in to the Lamogi Rebellion.
1920 to 1961
Far more promising as a source of political support were the British colonial officers, who welcomed the typing and translation skills of school graduates and advanced the careers of their favourites. The contest was decided after World War I, when an influx of British ex-military officers, now serving as district commissioners, began to feel that self-government was an obstacle to good government. Specifically, they accused Sir Apollo and his generation of inefficiency, abuse of power, and failure to keep adequate financial accounts—charges that were not hard to document.
Sir Apollo resigned in 1926, at about the same time that a host of elderly Baganda chiefs were replaced by a new generation of officeholders. The Buganda treasury was also audited that year for the first time. Although it was not a nationalist organization, the Young Baganda Association claimed to represent popular African dissatisfaction with the old order. As soon as the younger Baganda had replaced the older generation in office, however, their objections to privilege accompanying power ceased. The pattern persisted in Ugandan politics up to and after independence.
The commoners, who had been labouring on the cotton estates of the chiefs before World War I, did not remain servile. As time passed, they bought small parcels of land from their erstwhile landlords. This land fragmentation was aided by the British, who in 1927 forced the chiefs to limit severely the rents and obligatory labour they could demand from their tenants. Thus the oligarchy of landed chiefs who had emerged with the Uganda Agreement of 1900 declined in importance, and agricultural production shifted to independent smallholders, who grew cotton, and later coffee, for the export market.
Unlike Tanganyika, which was devastated during the prolonged fighting between Britain and Germany in the East African Campaign of World War I, Uganda prospered from wartime agricultural production. After the population losses from disease during the era of conquest and at the turn of the century (particularly the devastating sleeping sickness epidemic of 1900- 1906), Uganda's population was growing again. Even the 1930s depression seemed to affect smallholder cash farmers in Uganda less severely than it did the white settler producers in Kenya. Ugandans simply grew their own food until rising prices made export crops attractive again.
Two issues continued to create grievance through the 1930s and 1940s. The colonial government strictly regulated the buying and processing of cash crops, setting prices and reserving the role of intermediary for Asians, who were thought to be more efficient. The British and Asians firmly repelled African attempts to break into cotton ginning. In addition, on the Asian-owned sugar plantations established in the 1920s, labour for sugar-cane and other cash crops was increasingly provided by migrants from peripheral areas of Uganda and even from outside Uganda.
Independence
In 1949 discontented Baganda rioted and burned down the houses of pro-government chiefs. The rioters had three demands: the right to bypass government price controls on the export sales of cotton, the removal of the Asian monopoly over cotton ginning, and the right to have their own representatives in local government replace chiefs appointed by the British. They were critical as well of the young Kabaka, Frederick Walugembe Mutesa II (also known as "King Freddie" or "Kabaka Freddie"), for his inattention to the needs of his people. The British governor, Sir John Hall, regarded the riots as the work of communist-inspired agitators and rejected the suggested reforms.
Far from leading the people into confrontation, Uganda's would-be agitators were slow to respond to popular discontent. Nevertheless, the Uganda African Farmers Union, founded by I.K. Musazi in 1947, was blamed for the riots and was banned by the British. Musazi's Uganda National Congress replaced the farmers union in 1952 when it was set up with Abu Mayanja as its first Secretary General, but because the Congress remained a casual discussion group more than an organized political party, it stagnated and came to an end just two years after its inception.
Meanwhile, the British began to move ahead of the Ugandans in preparing for independence. The effects of Britain's postwar withdrawal from India, the march of nationalism in West Africa, and a more liberal philosophy in the Colonial Office geared toward future self-rule all began to be felt in Uganda. The embodiment of these issues arrived in 1952 in the person of a new and energetic reformist governor, Sir Andrew Cohen (formerly undersecretary for African affairs in the Colonial Office).
Cohen set about preparing Uganda for independence. On the economic side, he removed obstacles to African cotton ginning, rescinded price discrimination against African-grown coffee, encouraged cooperatives, and established the Uganda Development Corporation to promote and finance new projects. On the political side, he reorganized the Legislative Council, which had consisted of an unrepresentative selection of interest groups heavily favouring the European community, to include African representatives elected from districts throughout Uganda. This system became a prototype for the future Parliament of Uganda.
Power politics in Buganda
The prospect of elections caused a sudden proliferation of new political parties. This development alarmed the old-guard leaders within the Ugandan kingdoms, because they realized that the centre of power would be at the national level. The spark that ignited wider opposition to Governor Cohen's reforms was a 1953 speech in London in which the secretary of state for colonies referred to the possibility of a federation of the three East African territories (Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika), similar to that established in Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
Many Ugandans were aware of the Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland (later Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi) and its domination by white settler interests. Ugandans deeply feared the prospect of an East African federation dominated by the settlers of Kenya, which was then in the midst of the bitter Mau Mau uprising. They had vigorously resisted a similar suggestion by the 1930 Hilton Young Commission. Confidence in Cohen vanished just as the Governor was preparing to urge Buganda to recognize that its special status would have to be sacrificed in the interests of a new and larger nation-state.
Kabaka Mutesa II, who had been regarded by his subjects as uninterested in their welfare, now refused to cooperate with Cohen's plan for an integrated Buganda. Instead, he demanded that Buganda be separated from the rest of the protectorate and transferred to Foreign Office jurisdiction. Cohen's response to this crisis was to deport the Kabaka to a comfortable exile in London. His forced departure made the Kabaka an instant martyr in the eyes of the Baganda, whose latent separatism and anticolonial sentiments set off a storm of protest. Cohen's action had backfired, and he could find no one among the Baganda prepared or able to mobilize support for his schemes. After two frustrating years of unrelenting Ganda hostility and obstruction, Cohen was forced to reinstate Kabaka Mutesa II.
The negotiations leading to the Kabaka's return had an outcome similar to the negotiations of Commissioner Johnston in 1900; although appearing to satisfy the British, they were a resounding victory for the Baganda. Cohen secured the Kabaka's agreement not to oppose independence within the larger Ugandan framework. Not only was the Kabaka reinstated in return, but for the first time since 1889, the monarch was given the power to appoint and dismiss his chiefs (Buganda government officials) instead of acting as a mere figurehead while they conducted the affairs of government.
The Kabaka's new power was cloaked in the misleading claim that he would be only a "constitutional monarch", while in fact he was a leading player in deciding how Uganda would be governed. A new grouping of Baganda calling themselves "the King's Friends" rallied to the Kabaka's defence. They were conservative, fiercely loyal to Buganda as a kingdom, and willing to entertain the prospect of participation in an independent Uganda only if it were headed by the Kabaka as head of state. Baganda politicians who did not share this vision or who were opposed to the "King's Friends" found themselves branded as the "King's Enemies", which meant political and social ostracism.
The major exception to this rule were the Roman Catholic Baganda who had formed their own party, the Democratic Party (DP), led by Benedicto Kiwanuka. Many Catholics had felt excluded from the Protestant-dominated establishment in Buganda ever since Lugard's Maxim had turned the tide in 1892. The Kabaka had to be Protestant, and he was invested in a coronation ceremony modelled on that of British monarchs (who are invested by the Church of England's Archbishop of Canterbury) that took place at the main Protestant church. Religion and politics were equally inseparable in the other kingdoms throughout Uganda. The DP had Catholic as well as other adherents and was probably the best organized of all the parties preparing for elections. It had printing presses and the backing of the popular newspaper, Munno, which was published at the St. Mary's Kisubi mission.
Elsewhere in Uganda, the emergence of the Kabaka as a political force provoked immediate hostility. Political parties and local interest groups were riddled with divisions and rivalries, but they shared one concern: they were determined not to be dominated by Buganda. In 1960 a political organizer from Lango, Milton Obote, seized the initiative and formed a new party, the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), as a coalition of all those outside the Roman Catholic-dominated DP who opposed Buganda hegemony.
The steps Cohen had initiated to bring about the independence of a unified Ugandan state had led to a polarization between factions from Buganda and those opposed to its domination. Buganda's population in 1959 was 2 million, out of Uganda's total of 6 million. Even discounting the many non-Baganda resident in Buganda, there were at least 1 million people who owed allegiance to the Kabaka — too many to be overlooked or shunted aside, but too few to dominate the country as a whole.
At the London Conference of 1960, it was obvious that Buganda autonomy and a strong unitary government were incompatible, but no compromise emerged, and the decision on the form of government was postponed. The British announced that elections would be held in March 1961 for "responsible government", the next-to-last stage of preparation before the formal granting of independence. It was assumed that those winning the election would gain valuable experience in office, preparing them for the probable responsibility of governing after independence.
In Buganda the "King's Friends" urged a total boycott of the election because their attempts to secure promises of future autonomy had been rebuffed. Consequently, when the voters went to the polls throughout Uganda to elect eighty-two National Assembly members, in Buganda only the Roman Catholic supporters of the DP braved severe public pressure and voted, capturing twenty of Buganda's twenty-one allotted seats. This artificial situation gave the DP a majority of seats, although they had a minority of 416,000 votes nationwide versus 495,000 for the UPC. Benedicto Kiwanuka became the new chief minister of Uganda.
Shocked by the results, the Baganda separatists, who formed a political party called Kabaka Yekka, had second thoughts about the wisdom of their election boycott. They quickly welcomed the recommendations of a British commission that proposed a future federal form of government. According to these recommendations, Buganda would enjoy a measure of internal autonomy if it participated fully in the national government.
For its part, the UPC was equally anxious to eject its DP rivals from government before they became entrenched. Obote reached an understanding with Kabaka Freddie and the KY, accepting Buganda's special federal relationship and even a provision by which the kabaka could appoint Buganda's representatives to the National Assembly, in return for a strategic alliance to defeat the DP. The Kabaka was also promised the largely ceremonial position of Head of state of Uganda, which was of great symbolic importance to the Baganda.
This marriage of convenience between the UPC and the KY made inevitable the defeat of the DP interim administration. In the aftermath of the April 1962 final election leading up to independence, Uganda's national assembly consisted of forty-three UPC members, twenty-four KY members, and twenty-four DP members. The new UPC-KY coalition led Uganda into independence in October 1962, with Obote as Prime Minister of Uganda, and the Kabaka becoming President of Uganda a year later.
References
- Uganda
Further reading
Amone, Charles, and Okullu Muura. "British Colonialism and the Creation of Acholi Ethnic Identity in Uganda, 1894 to 1962." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 42.2 (2014): 239–257.
Bennett, Alison. "Diplomatic Gifts: Rethinking Colonial Politics in Uganda through Objects." History in Africa 45 (2018): 193–220.
Martel, Gordon. "Cabinet politics and African partition: The Uganda debate reconsidered." Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 13.1 (1984): 5-24.
External links
Former British colonies and protectorates in Africa
History of Uganda
States and territories established in 1894
States and territories disestablished in 1962
1894 establishments in Uganda
1962 disestablishments in Uganda
1894 establishments in the British Empire
1962 disestablishments in the British Empire
East Africa Protectorate
19th century in Uganda
20th century in Uganda
Uganda and the Commonwealth of Nations
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second%20Republic%20of%20Uganda
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Second Republic of Uganda
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The Second Republic of Uganda existed from 1971 to 1979, when Uganda was ruled by Idi Amin's military dictatorship.
The Ugandan economy was devastated by Idi Amin's policies, including the expulsion of Asians, the nationalisation of businesses and industry, and the expansion of the public sector. The real value of salaries and wages collapsed by 90% in less than a decade. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is unknown; estimates from international observers and human rights groups range from 100,000 to 500,000.
Taking power
From Uganda's independence from Great Britain in 1962 to early 1971, Milton Obote's regime had terrorized, harassed, and tortured people. Frequent food shortages led to food prices experiencing hyper-inflation, with one contributing factor being Obote's persecution of Indian traders. During Obote's regime, flagrant and widespread corruption had emerged. The regime was disliked, particularly in Buganda where people had suffered the most.
By January 1971, Milton Obote, then President of Uganda, was prepared to rid himself of the potential threat posed by Idi Amin. Departing for the 1971 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Singapore, he relayed orders to loyal Langi officers that Amin and his supporters in the army were to be arrested. Various versions emerged of the way this news was leaked to Amin. Also, the role of the foreign powers in the coup had been debated after the fact. Documents declassified by the British Foreign Office reveal that, contrary to earlier speculations, it was not directly facilitated by Great Britain but benefited from covert support by Israel which saw Idi Amin as an agent to de-stabilise Islamic Sudan.
The documents however unveil an outrightly positive assessment of Amin's personality by the British authorities as well as recommendations of support and the sale of arms to the new regime.
In any case, Amin decided to forestall Obote and strike first. In the early morning hours of 25 January 1971, mechanized army units loyal to him attacked strategic targets in Kampala and the airport at Entebbe, where the first shell fired by a pro-Amin tank commander killed two Roman Catholic priests in the airport waiting room. Amin's troops easily overcame the disorganized opposition to the coup, and Amin almost immediately initiated mass executions of Acholi and Langi troops, whom he believed to be pro-Obote.
The Amin coup was warmly welcomed by most of the people of the Buganda kingdom, which Obote had attempted to dismantle. They seemed willing to forget that their new president, Idi Amin, had been the tool of that military suppression. Amin stated intentions about his government's intent to play a mere "caretaker role" until the country could recover sufficiently for civilian rule. Amin repudiated Obote's non-aligned foreign policy, and his government was quickly recognized by Israel, Britain, and the United States. By contrast, presidents Julius Nyerere of Tanzania, Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, and the Organization of African Unity (OAU) initially refused to accept the legitimacy of the new military government. Nyerere, in particular, opposed Amin's regime, and he offered hospitality to the exiled Obote, facilitating his attempts to raise a force and return to power.
Once in power
Amin's military experience, which was virtually his only experience, determined the character of his rule. He renamed Government House "the Command Post", instituted an advisory defence council composed of military commanders, placed military tribunals above the system of civil law, appointed soldiers to top government posts and parastatal agencies, and even informed the newly inducted civilian cabinet ministers that they would be subject to military discipline.
Uganda then became a military dictatorship which was, in effect, governed from a collection of military barracks scattered across the country, where battalion commanders, acting like local warlords, represented the coercive arm of the government. The Ugandan General Service Unit (GSU), an intelligence agency created by the previous government, was disbanded and replaced by the Ugandan State Research Bureau (SRB). SRB headquarters at Nakasero became the scene of torture and executions over the next couple of years.
Despite its outward display of a military chain of command, Amin's government was arguably more consumed with rivalries, regional divisions, and ethnic politics than the Uganda People's Congress (UPC) coalition that it had replaced. The army itself was an arena of lethal competition, in which losers were usually eliminated. Within the officer corps, those trained in Britain opposed those trained in Israel, and both stood against the untrained, who soon eliminated many of the army's most experienced officers. In 1966, well before the Amin era, northerners in the army had assaulted and harassed soldiers from the south. In 1971 and 1972, the Lugbara and Kakwa (Amin's ethnic group) from the West Nile were slaughtering northern Acholi and Langi, who were identified with Obote. Then the Kakwa fought the Lugbara. Amin came to rely on Nubians and on former Anyanya rebels from southern Sudan.
Amin recruited his followers from his own tribe, the Kakwas, along with Sudanese and Nubians. By 1977, these three groups formed 60% of the 22 top generals and 75% of the cabinet. Similarly, Muslims formed 80% and 87.5% of these groups even though they were only 5% of the population. This helps explain why Amin survived eight attempted coups.
The Ugandan army grew from 10,000 to over 25,000 by 1978. Amin's army was largely a mercenary force. Half the soldiers were Sudanese, 26% Congolese, only 24% were Ugandan, mostly Muslim and Kakwa.
On 7 August 1973, Idi Amin decreed Swahili was to be Uganda's official language. 12 out of the 20 districts had chosen this, the other 8 wanted Luganda.
The army, which had been progressively expanded under Obote, was further doubled and redoubled under Amin. Recruitment was largely, but not entirely, in the north. There were periodic purges, when various battalion commanders were viewed as potential problems or became real threats. Each purge provided new opportunities for promotions from the ranks. The commander of the Uganda Air Force, Smuts Guweddeko, had previously worked as a telephone operator; the unofficial executioner for the regime, Major Isaac Maliyamungu, had formerly been a nightwatch officer. By the mid-1970s, only the most trustworthy military units were allowed ammunition, although this prohibition did not prevent a series of mutinies and murders. An attempt by an American journalist, Nicholas Stroh, and his colleague, Robert Siedle, to investigate one of these barracks outbreaks in 1971 at the Simba battalion in Mbarara led to their disappearances and, later, deaths. Several army officers who were suspected of having been involved in the murder of Stroh and Siedle were later appointed to high-ranking positions: Among these were Military Tribunal chairman Juma Butabika, chief technical officer of the airforce Captain Taban, Minister of Transport Juma Sabuni, and Minister for Provincial Administration Ali Fadhul.
Muammar Gaddafi and the Soviet Union
Amin never forgot the source of his power. He spent much of his time rewarding, promoting, and manipulating the officers and soldiers of the Ugandan army. Financing his ever-increasing military expenditures was a continuing concern. Early in 1972, he reversed foreign policy — never a major issue for Amin — to secure financial and military aid from Muammar Gaddafi of Libya. Amin expelled the remaining Israeli advisers, to whom he was much indebted, and became anti-Israel. To induce foreign aid from Saudi Arabia, he rediscovered his previously neglected Islamic heritage. He also commissioned the construction of a great mosque on Kampala Hill in the capital city, but it was never completed during his rule because much of the money intended for it was embezzled. In 2008 Amin's dream of building one of Africa's largest mosques came true, and construction was finally completed more than 30 years after it initially began.
Following his foreign policy reversal in 1972, the Soviet Union became Amin's largest arms supplier.
East Germany helped to build Amin's secret police. During the Tanzanian invasion in 1979, East Germany attempted to remove evidence about its involvement.
Expulsion of Asians and nationalisations
In August 1972, Amin gave most of Uganda's 80,000 Asians, most of whom were the descendants of indentured servants and other laborers from India, 90 days to leave the country, and seized their property, homes and businesses. At the time of the expulsion, there were approximately 80,000 individuals of South Asian descent in Uganda, of whom 23,000 had had their applications for citizenship both processed and accepted. Although the latter were ultimately exempted from the expulsion, many chose to leave voluntarily. The expulsion took place against a backdrop of Indophobia in Uganda, with Amin accusing a minority of the Asian population of disloyalty, non-integration and commercial malpractice, claims Indian leaders disputed. Amin defended the expulsion by arguing that he was giving Uganda back to the ethnic Ugandan.
Many of the expellees were citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies and 27,200 subsequently emigrated to the United Kingdom. Of the other refugees who were accounted for, 6,000 went to Canada, 4,500 refugees ended up in India and 2,500 went to nearby Kenya. In total, some 5,655 firms, ranches, farms, and agricultural estates were reallocated, along with cars, homes and other household goods. Although Amin proclaimed that the "common man" was the beneficiary of this drastic act — which proved immensely popular in Uganda and most of Africa — it was actually the Ugandan army that emerged with the houses, cars, and businesses of the departing Asian minority. This expropriation of foreign property proved disastrous for the already declining economy. With the economy now run by Ugandan army officers and supporters (many of whom had no experience in how to run a business), all of the local businesses and stores were soon run into the ground from mismanagement and abuse of power, cement factories at Tororo and Fort Portal collapsed from lack of maintenance and neglect, and sugar production ground to a halt as unmaintained machinery jammed permanently.
Uganda's export crops were sold by government parastatals, but most of the foreign currency they earned went for purchasing weapons and imports for the army. The most famous example of this was the so-called "whisky runs" to Stansted Airport in England, where planeloads of expensive Scotch whisky, transistor radios, gold Rolex wristwatches, and other luxury items were purchased for Amin to distribute among his officers and soldiers. Amin later justified his rewarding and doting on the Ugandan army by quoting an old African proverb, which summed up to Amin's treatment of his army: "A dog with a bone in its mouth can't bite."
With the Ugandan economy faltering, the rural African producers and farmers, particularly of coffee, turned to smuggling, especially to Kenya. The smuggling problem became an obsession with Amin; toward the end of his rule, he appointed his mercenary and political adviser, the former British citizen Bob Astles, to take all necessary steps to eliminate the problem. These steps included orders to the Ugandan police and army to shoot smugglers on sight.
Terror
Another near-obsession for Amin was the threat of a counter-attack by former president Obote. Shortly after the expulsion of Asians in 1972, Obote did launch such an attempt across the Tanzanian border into south-western Uganda. His small army contingent in twenty-seven trucks set out to capture the southern Ugandan military post at Masaka but instead settled down to await a general uprising against Amin, which did not occur. A planned seizure of the airport at Entebbe by soldiers in an allegedly hijacked East African Airways passenger aircraft was aborted when Obote's pilot blew out the aircraft's tires and it remained in Tanzania. Amin was able to mobilize his more reliable Malire Mechanical Regiment and expel the invaders.
Although jubilant at his success, Amin realized that Obote, with Nyerere's aid, might try again. He had the SRB and the newly formed Public Safety Unit (PSU) redouble their efforts to uncover subversives and other imagined enemies of the state. General fear and insecurity became a way of life for the populace, as thousands of people disappeared. In an ominous twist, people sometimes learned by listening to the radio that they were "about to disappear."
State terrorism was evidenced in a series of spectacular incidents; for example, High Court Judge Benedicto Kiwanuka, former head of government and leader of the banned DP, was seized directly from his courtroom. Like many other victims, he was forced to remove his shoes and then bundled into the trunk of a car, never to be seen alive again. Whether calculated or not, the symbolism of a pair of shoes by the roadside to mark the passing of a human life was a bizarre yet piercing form of state terrorism.
Environment
During the eight years under Amin's rule, the Ugandan environment and ecological system was subjected to abuse and destruction by widespread poaching and deforesting committed by both smugglers and Uganda Army soldiers. Amin encouraged officers to engage in poaching and ivory trade, using these as benefits provided to troops in order to keep them loyal. Soldiers frequently engaged in poaching in national parks and game reserves. In course of the Uganda–Tanzania War, Uganda Army troops and Tanzanian soldiers hunted for food and profit across Uganda, causing further environmental damage. It is reported that Uganda lost 75% of its elephants, 98% of its rhinos, 80% of its crocodiles, 80% of its lions and leopards, in addition to numerous species of birds.
Palestinian hijackers of Air France Flight 139
Amin attempted to establish ties with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – External Operations in June 1976, when he offered the Palestinian hijackers of an Air France flight from Tel Aviv a protected base at the old airport at Entebbe, from which to press their demands in exchange for the release of Israeli hostages. The dramatic rescue of the hostages by Israeli commandos was a severe blow to Amin. Humiliated, he retaliated against an elderly hostage—75-year-old Dora Bloch— who was hospitalized in poor health at the time of the raid and was left behind. Bloch was kidnapped from her hospital bed and killed on Amin's orders, along with the entire civilian staff of Entebbe airport.
Government
Amin's government, conducted by often erratic personal proclamation, continued on. Because he was illiterate his entire life — a disability shared with most of his fellow military officers and soldiers — Amin relayed orders and policy decisions orally by telephone, over the radio, and in long rambling speeches to which civil servants were told to pay close attention. The bureaucracy soon became paralysed as government administrators feared to make what might prove to be a wrong decision that would displease or anger Amin in the slightest which would result in their immediate arrest and imprisonment or summary execution.
Shortly after Amin seized power, the Minister of Defence demanded, and was given, command of the Ministry of Education office building, but then the decision was reversed by Amin for no clear reason. Important education files were lost during their transfer back and forth by wheelbarrow. In many respects, Amin's government in the 1970s resembled the governments of nineteenth-century African monarchs, with the same problems of enforcing orders at a distance, controlling rival factions at court, and rewarding loyal followers with plunder. Indeed, Amin's regime was possibly less efficient than those of the pre-colonial monarchs.
Religious conflict was another characteristic of the Amin regime that had its origins in the nineteenth century. After rediscovering his Islamic allegiance in the effort to gain foreign aid from Libya and Saudi Arabia, Amin began to pay more attention to the formerly deprived Muslims in Uganda, a move which turned out to be a mixed blessing for them. Muslims began to do well in what economic opportunities yet remained, the more so if they had relatives in the army. Construction work began on Kibuli Hill, the site of Kampala's most prominent mosque. Many Ugandan Muslims with a sense of history believed that the Muslim defeat by Christians in 1889 was finally being redressed. Christians, in turn, perceived that they were under siege as a religious group; it was clear that Amin viewed the churches as potential centres of opposition. A number of priests and ministers disappeared in the course of the 1970s, but the matter reached a climax with the formal protest against army terrorism in 1977 by Church of Uganda ministers, led by Archbishop Janani Luwum. Although Luwum's body was subsequently recovered from a clumsily contrived "car accident", subsequent investigations revealed that Luwum had been shot dead.
This latest in a long line of atrocities was greeted with international condemnation, but apart from the continued trade boycott initiated by the United States in July 1978, verbal condemnation was not accompanied by action. In September 1978, Amin banned nearly all Christian Church activities for their subversiveness. By early 1978 Amin's circle of close associates had shrunk significantly — the result of defections and executions. Because of his violent temper as well as his erratic and unpredictable behaviour, it was increasingly risky to be too close to Amin, as his vice president and formerly trusted associate, General Mustafa Adrisi, discovered. When Adrisi was injured in a suspicious auto accident, troops loyal to him became restive. The once reliable Malire Mechanized Regiment mutinied, as did other units.
In October 1978, Amin sent troops still loyal to him against the mutineers, some of whom fled across the Tanzanian border. Amin then claimed that Tanzanian President Nyerere, his perennial enemy, had been at the root of his troubles. Amin accused Nyerere of waging war against Uganda, and, hoping to divert attention from his internal troubles and rally Uganda against the foreign adversary, Amin invaded Tanzanian territory and formally annexed a section across the Kagera River boundary on 1 November 1978.
Uganda–Tanzania War
Declaring a formal state of war against Uganda, Nyerere mobilized his citizen army reserves and counter-attacked, joined by Ugandan exiles united as the Uganda National Liberation Army (UNLA). The Ugandan Army retreated steadily, expending much of its energy by looting along the way. Libya's Gaddafi sent 3,000 troops to aid Amin, but the Libyans soon found themselves on the front line, while behind them Ugandan Army units were using supply trucks to carry their newly plundered wealth in the opposite direction. Tanzania and the UNLA took Kampala on 11 April 1979, and Amin fled by air, first to Libya and later to a permanent exile at Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Though pro-Amin forces were left scattered and disjointed by the seizure of the capital, combat operations in the country continued until 3 June, when Tanzanian forces reached the Sudanese border and eliminated the last resistance.
See also
Uganda–Tanzania War
The Last King of Scotland, a book and film about living close to Amin
References
Works cited
Further reading
Life Under Idi Amin: The Story of Theresa Nanziri Bukenya
- Uganda
Idi Amin
Totalitarian states
History of Uganda by period
Uganda, Amin
Uganda
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Uganda%20%281979%E2%80%931986%29
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History of Uganda (1979–1986)
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The History of Uganda from 1979 to 1986 comprises the history of Uganda since the end of the dictatorship of Idi Amin. This period has seen the second rule of Milton Obote and the presidency of Yoweri Museveni since 1986, in which Ugandan politics have been dominated by the National Resistance Movement.
Uganda after Amin (1979–1986)
Interim period
A month before the capture of Kampala during the Uganda-Tanzania War, representatives of twenty-two Ugandan civilian and military groups were hastily called together at Moshi, Tanzania, to try to agree on an interim civilian government once Amin was removed. Called the Unity Conference in the hope that unity might prevail, it managed to establish the Uganda National Liberation Front (UNLF) as political representative of the UNLA. Yusuf Lule, former principal of Makerere University, became head of the UNLF executive committee.
As an academic rather than a politician, Lule was not regarded as a threat to any of the contending factions. Shortly after Amin's departure, Lule and the UNLF moved to Kampala, where they established an interim government. Lule became president, advised by a temporary parliament, the National Consultative Council (NCC). The NCC, in turn, was composed of representatives from the Unity Conference.
Conflict surfaced immediately between Lule and some of the more radical of the council members who saw him as too conservative, too autocratic, and too willing as a Muganda to listen to advice from other Baganda. After only three months, with the apparent approval of Julius Nyerere, whose troops still controlled Kampala, Lule was forcibly removed from office and exiled. He was replaced by Godfrey Binaisa, a Muganda like Lule, but one who had previously served as a high-ranking member of Milton Obote's UPC.
It was not an auspicious start to the rebuilding of a new Uganda, which required political and economic stability. Indeed, the quarrels within the NCC, which Binaisa enlarged to 127 members, revealed that many rival and would-be politicians who had returned from exile were resuming their self-interested operating styles. Ugandans who endured the deprivations of the Amin era became even more disillusioned with their leaders. Binaisa managed to stay in office longer than Lule, but his inability to gain control over a burgeoning new military presence proved to be his downfall.
The armed forces numbered fewer than 1,000 troops who had fought alongside the Tanzania People's Defence Force (TPDF) to expel Amin. The army had shrunk to the size of the original King's African Rifles at independence in 1962. But in 1979, in an attempt to consolidate support for the future, leaders such as Yoweri Kaguta Museveni and Major General (later Chief of Staff) David Oyite Ojok began to enrol thousands of recruits grew to 8,000; Ojok's original 600 became 24,000. When Binaisa sought to curb the use of these militias, which were harassing and detaining political opponents, he was overthrown in a military coup on 10 May 1980.
The coup was engineered by Ojok, Museveni, and others acting under the general direction of Paulo Muwanga, Obote's right-hand man and chair of the Military Commission. The TPDF was still providing necessary security while Uganda's police force, which had been all but destroyed by Amin, was rebuilt, but Nyerere refused to help Binaisa retain power. Many Ugandans claimed that although Nyerere did not impose his own choice on Uganda, he indirectly facilitated the return to power of his old friend and ally, Milton Obote. In any case, the Military Commission headed by Muwanga effectively governed Uganda during the six months leading up to the national elections of December 1980.
Further evidence of the militarization of Ugandan politics was provided by the proposed expenditures of the newly empowered Military Commission. Security and defense were to be allotted more than 30 percent of the national revenues. For a country desperately seeking funds for economic recovery from the excesses of the previous military regime, this allocation seemed unreasonable to civilian leaders.
Shortly after Muwanga's 1980 coup, Obote made a triumphant return from Tanzania. In the months before the December elections, he began to rally his former UPC supporters. Ominously, in view of recent Ugandan history, he often appeared on the platform with General Oyite-Ojok, a fellow Lango. Obote also began to speak of the need to return to a UPC one-party state.
The national election on 10 December 1980 was a crucial turning point for Uganda. It was, after all, the first election in eighteen years. Several parties contested, the most important of which were Obote's UPC and the DP led by Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere. Most of Uganda's Roman Catholics were DP members, along with many others whose main concern was to prevent the return of another Obote regime. Because the Military Commission, as the acting government, was dominated by Obote supporters (notably chairman Paulo Muwanga), the DP and other contenders faced formidable obstacles. By election day, the UPC had achieved some exceptional advantages, summarized by Minority Rights Group Report Number 66 as follows: Seventeen UPC candidates were declared "unopposed" by the simple procedure of not allowing DP or other candidates to run against them.
Fourteen district commissioners, who were expected to supervise local polling, were replaced with UPC nominees. The chief justice of Uganda, to whom complaints of election irregularities would have to be made, was replaced with a UPC member. In a number of districts, non-UPC candidates were arrested, and one was murdered. Even before the election, the government press and Radio Uganda appeared to treat the UPC as the victor. Muwanga insisted that each party have a separate ballot box on election day, thus negating the right of secret ballot. There were a number of other moves to aid the UPC, including Muwanga's statement that the future parliament would also contain an unspecified number of unelected representatives of the army and other interest groups.
Polling appeared to be heavy on election day, and by the end of the voting, the DP, on the basis of its own estimates, declared victory in 81 of 126 constituencies. The British Broadcasting Corporation and Voice of America broadcast the news of the DP triumph, and Kampala's streets were filled with DP celebrants. At this point, Muwanga seized control of the Electoral Commission, along with the power to count the ballots, and declared that anyone disputing his count would be subject to a heavy fine and five years in jail. Eighteen hours later, Muwanga announced a UPC victory, with 72 seats. Some DP candidates claimed the ballot boxes were simply switched to give their own vote tally to the UPC runner-up.
Nevertheless, a small contingent of neutral election watchers, the Commonwealth Observer Group, declared itself satisfied with the validity of the election. Some Ugandans criticized the Commonwealth Observer Group, suggesting that members of the group measured African elections by different standards than those used elsewhere or that they feared civil war if the results were questioned. Indeed, popular perception of a stolen election actually helped bring about the civil war the Commonwealth Observer Group may have feared.
Three-months World Bank delegation to devastated Uganda
Due to their years working for the government before Idi Amin, and both speaking Swahili, David Hines (who in 1959 to 1965 had established Uganda farming co-operatives with some 400,000 farmers), and a British veterinary specialist were surprised to be telephoned by the World Bank to join a 1982 delegation to go to Uganda to "get it started again".
David Hines found that Kampala was appalling: nothing worked; there was no water, no electricity, no sanitation, no food, nothing in the shops. Lifts in a government building did not work: there was automatic gunfire in the street below.
Around the country we had an escort of soldiers. I met some people who I had known … they were delighted to see me. Everybody had lost relatives and friends, and many spoke of torture. On safari north and south, we lived on goats and bananas. Up north, I met an old man who recognised me: he flung himself on the ground and said "You've come back, you've come back". In all the fine hotels, everything had been removed – baths, basins, lavatories – and if you were lucky, someone brought you a tin of hot water to shave.
Following our recommendations, the World Bank brought in money, two accountants, and various agricultural officers and engineers.
Second Obote period (1981–1985)
In February 1981, shortly after the new Obote government took office, with Paulo Muwanga as vice president and minister of defense, a former Military Commission member, Yoweri Museveni, and his armed supporters declared themselves the National Resistance Army (NRA). Museveni vowed to overthrow Obote by means of a popular rebellion, and what became known as "the war in the bush" began. Several other underground groups also emerged to attempt to sabotage the new regime, but they were eventually crushed. Museveni, who had guerilla war experience with the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique (Frente de Libertaçâo de Moçambique—Frelimo), campaigned in rural areas hostile to Obote's government, especially central and western Buganda and the western regions of Ankole and Bunyoro.
The Obote government's four-year military effort to destroy its challengers resulted in vast areas of devastation and greater loss of life than during the eight years of Amin's rule. UNLA's many Acholi and Lango had been hastily enrolled with minimal training and little sense of discipline. Although they were survivors of Amin's genocidal purges of north-east Uganda, in the 1980s they were armed and in uniform, conducting similar actions against Bantu-speaking Ugandans in the south, with whom they appeared to feel no empathy or even pity.
In early 1983, to eliminate rural support for Museveni's guerrillas the area of Luwero District, north of Kampala, was targeted for a massive population removal affecting almost 750,000 people. These artificially created refugees were packed into several internment camps subject to military control, which in reality meant military abuse. Civilians outside the camps, in what came to be known as the "Luwero Triangle," were presumed to be guerrillas or guerilla sympathizers and were treated accordingly. The farms of this highly productive agricultural area were looted—roofs, doors, and even door frames were stolen by UNLA troops. Civilian loss of life was extensive, as evidenced some years later by piles of human skulls in bush clearings and alongside rural roads.
The army also concentrated on the north-western corner of Uganda, in what was then West Nile District. Bordering Sudan, West Nile had provided the ethnic base for much of Idi Amin's earlier support and had enjoyed relative prosperity under his rule. Having borne the brunt of Amin's anti-Acholi massacres in previous years, Acholi soldiers avenged themselves on inhabitants of Amin's home region, whom they blamed for their losses. In one famous incident in June 1981, Ugandan Army soldiers attacked a Catholic mission where local refugees had sought sanctuary. When the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reported a subsequent massacre, the government expelled it from Uganda.
Despite these activities, Obote's government, unlike Amin's regime, was sensitive to its international image and realized the importance of securing foreign aid for the nation's economic recovery. Obote had sought and followed the advice of the International Monetary Fund, even though the austerity measures ran counter to his own ideology. He devalued the Ugandan shilling by 100 percent, attempted to facilitate the export of cash crops, and postponed any plans he may once have entertained for re-establishing one-party rule. The continued sufferance of the DP, although much harried and abused by UPC stalwarts, became an important symbol to international donors. The government's inability to eliminate Museveni and win the civil war, however, sapped its economic strength, and the occupation of a large part of the country by an army hostile to the Ugandans living there furthered discontent with the regime.
Abductions by the police, as well as the detentions and disappearances so characteristic of the Amin period, recurred. In place of torture at the infamous State Research Bureau at Nakasero, victims met the same fate at so-called "Nile Mansions." Amnesty International, a human rights organization, issued a chilling report of routine torture of civilian detainees at military barracks scattered across southern Uganda. The overall death toll from 1981 to 1985 was estimated as high as 500,000. Obote, once seen by the donor community as the one man with the experience and will to restore Uganda's fortunes, now appeared to be a liability to recovery.
In this deteriorating military and economic situation, Obote subordinated other matters to a military victory over Museveni. North Korean military advisers were invited to take part against the NRA rebels in what was to be a final campaign that won neither British nor United States approval. But the army was warweary, and after the death of the highly capable General Oyite Ojok in a helicopter accident at the end of 1983, it began to split along ethnic lines. Acholi soldiers complained that they were given too much front-line action and too few rewards for their services.
Obote delayed appointing a successor to Oyite Ojok for as long as possible. In the end, he appointed a Lango to the post and attempted to counter the objection of Acholi officers by spying on them, reviving his old paramilitary counterweight, the mostly Langi Special Force Units, and thus repeating some of the actions that led to his overthrow by Amin. As if determined to replay the January 1971 events, Obote once again left the capital after giving orders for the arrest of a leading Acholi commander, Brigadier (later Lieutenant General) Bazilio Olara-Okello, who mobilized troops and entered Kampala on 27 July 1985. Obote, together with a large entourage, fled the country for Zambia. This time, unlike the last, Obote allegedly took much of the national treasury with him.
Return of military rule (1985–1986)
On 27 July 1985, together with Bazilio Olara-Okello, Tito Lutwa Okello staged the coup d'état that toppled President Milton Obote.
The military government of General Tito Okello ruled from July 1985 to January 1986 with no explicit policy except the natural goal of self-preservation—the motive for their defensive coup. To stiffen the flagging efforts of his army against the NRA, Okello invited former soldiers of Amin's army to re-enter Uganda from the Sudanese refugee camps and participate in the civil war on the government side. As mercenaries fresh to the scene, these units fought well, but they were equally interested in looting and did not discriminate between supporters and enemies of the government. The reintroduction of Amin's infamous cohorts was poor international public relations for the Okello government and helped create a new tolerance of Museveni and the NRM/A.
Okello could hardly expect to govern the entire country with only war-weary and disillusioned Acholi troops to back him. From August to December 1985, the Okello government attempted to negotiate a peace deal with Museveni, the Nairobi Agreement. The resulting ceasefire broke down almost immediately. With Okello and the remnants of the UNLA army thoroughly discouraged, Museveni had only to wait for the regime to disintegrate.
In January 1986, welcomed enthusiastically by the local civilian population, Museveni moved against Kampala. Okello and his soldiers fled northward to their ethnic base in Acholiland. Yoweri Museveni formally claimed the presidency on 29 January 1986. Immense problems of reconstruction awaited the new regime.
1986 to present
A referendum was held in March 2000 on whether Uganda should retain the Movement system or adopt multi-party politics. Although 70% of voters endorsed retention of the Movement system, the referendum was widely criticized for low voter turnout and unfair restrictions on Movement opponents. Museveni was reelected to a second five-year term in March 2001. Parliamentary elections were held in June 2001, and more than 50% of contested seats were won by newcomers. Movement supporters nevertheless remained in firm control of the legislative branch. Observers believed that the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections generally reflected the will of the electorate; however, both were marred by serious irregularities, particularly in the period leading up to the elections, such as restrictions on political party activities, incidents of violence, voter intimidation, and fraud.
In 2001 the Constitutional Review Commission (CRC) began soliciting opinions and holding public hearings on amending the 1995 Constitution. The CRC was set up to examine the constitutional provisions relating to sovereignty, political systems, democracy and good governance. Its report, scheduled for release by October 2003, has not yet been delivered to Cabinet or made public. The Cabinet, however, presented a list of its suggestions for constitutional change to the CRC in September. These changes included the introduction of a full multiparty system, an increase in executive authority vis-à-vis the other branches, and the lifting of presidential term limits. The elimination of term limits would clear the way for Museveni to run again in 2006, and there are increasing signs that he wishes to do so. However, this proposal has also produced significant controversy and it is not yet clear when or how the constitution will be changed.
The Christian rebel group named the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) continues to harass government forces and murder and kidnap civilians in the north and east. Although the LRA does not threaten the stability of the government, LRA violence has displaced 1.2 million people and created a humanitarian crisis. At least 20,000 children have also been abducted over the years. The Uganda Peoples Defense Force (UPDF) launched "Operation Iron Fist" against LRA rebels in northern Uganda in 2002 and conducted operations against LRA sanctuaries in southern Sudan with the permission of the Sudanese Government. Uganda and Sudan have resumed diplomatic relations and exchanged Ambassadors; however, Uganda continues to accuse Sudan of supporting the LRA. Sudan denies the allegations.
In 1998, Uganda deployed a sizable military force to eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), ostensibly to prevent attacks from Ugandan rebel groups operating there. There were widespread allegations that Ugandan military and civilian officials were involved in the illegal exploitation of DRC natural resources. After much international pressure, Uganda withdrew its troops from DRC in June 2003.
On 14 November 2004 it was reported that the President had declared a week-long truce with the rebels that was to begin the following day.
In August 2005, Parliament voted to change the constitution to lift presidential term limits, allowing Museveni to run for a third term. In a referendum in July 2005, 92.5% supported restoring multiparty politics, thereby scrapping the no-party or "movement system".
In October 2005 Kizza Besigye, Museveni's main political rival, returned from exile. The same month, another of Museveni's rivals, Milton Obote, died in South Africa, and was given a state funeral in Kampala.
The February 2006 elections, the first multiparty elections in 25 years, were held with Besigye's Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) as the main challenger to Museveni's National Resistance Movement (NRM). NRM won most seats in the National Assembly, and Museveni won the presidency.
On 20 August 2007, Uganda declared that it is seeking legal advice on establishing a war crimes court.
On 11 July 2010, jihadist al-Shabaab bombers killed 74 people in Kampala.
On 12 October 2011, US President Barack Obama authorized the deployment to Uganda of approximately 100 combat-equipped US forces to help regional forces "remove from the battlefield" – meaning capture or kill – Lord's Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony and senior leaders of the LRA.
In February 2016, Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni described the formation of an East African Federation uniting Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and South Sudan as "the number one target that we should aim at." In September 2018 a committee was formed to begin the process of drafting a regional constitution, and a draft constitution for a confederation is set to be written by 2021, with implementation of the confederacy by 2023.
President Yoweri Museveni has ruled the country since 1986 and he was re-elected again in January 2021 presidential elections. According to official results Museveni won the elections with 58% of the vote while popstar-turned-politician Bobi Wine had 35%. The opposition challenged the result because of allegations of widespread fraud and irregularities.
References and notes
– Uganda
U.S. State Department Background Note: Uganda
External links
In Pictures: Uganda Massacre, at BBC
"Uganda's atrocious war" at the BBC
Crisis briefing on Uganda's two decades of violence from Reuters AlertNet
Uganda
1979
Uganda
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elaine%20Paige
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Elaine Paige
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Elaine Jill Paige (; born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress, best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16. Her appearance in the 1968 production of Hair marked her West End debut.
Following a number of roles over the next decade, Paige was selected to play Eva Perón in the first production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita in 1978, which brought her to the attention of the broader public. For this role, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a musical. She originated the role of Grizabella in Cats and had a Top 10 hit with "Memory", a song from the show.
In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson from the musical Chess, which remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo. She then appeared in the original stage production of Chess, followed by a starring role in Anything Goes which she also co-produced. Paige made her Broadway debut in Sunset Boulevard in 1996, playing the lead role of Norma Desmond, to critical acclaim. She appeared in The King and I from 2000 to 2001, and six years later she returned to the West End stage in The Drowsy Chaperone. She has also worked sporadically in television.
In addition to being nominated for five Laurence Olivier Awards, Paige has won many other awards for her theatre roles and has been called the First Lady of British Musical Theatre due to her skill and longevity. She has released 22 solo albums, of which eight were consecutively certified gold and another four multi-platinum. Paige is also featured on seven cast albums and has sung in concerts across the world. Since 2004 she has hosted her own show on BBC Radio 2 called Elaine Paige on Sunday.
In 2014, Paige celebrated her 50 years in show business. Paige announced on her official website a "Farewell" concert tour and a new career-spanning album The Ultimate Collection to mark this milestone in her career. Outside of her work in musical theatre, Paige is a vice-president of The Children's Trust, a UK charity for children with brain injury.
Early life
Elaine Jill Bickerstaff was born and raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, where her father Eric worked as an estate agent and her mother Irene was a milliner. Her mother had been a singer in her youth, and her father was an amateur drummer. Paige stands at just under 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, which she says has caused her to lose out on leading roles. Her original ambition was to become a professional tennis player, at which point her headmistress pointed out to her "they'd never see you over the net", but Paige continued to play tennis and has referred to the sport as one of her passions.
At 14, Paige listened to the film soundtrack of West Side Story, which evoked the desire for a career in musical theatre. Paige's musical ability was encouraged by her school music teacher, Ann Hill, who was also the head of the music department. Paige was a member of Hill's choir, and her first role on stage was playing Susanna in a school production of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro, which was followed by parts in The Boy Mozart and solos in Handel's Messiah – "a difficult work for little children".
She attended Southaw Girls' School – a secondary modern in Oakleigh Park in Hertfordshire where she received two CSE qualifications.
Her father suggested that she should go to drama school, so she attended the Aida Foster Theatre School. Lacking confidence, she initially disliked stage school; her father encouraged her to persevere and she grew to enjoy her time there.
After graduating, her first job was modelling children's clothing at the Ideal Home Exhibition.
Career
1968–1980: West End debut, new name and Evita
Paige's first professional appearance happened when she was 16 years old, fresh from drama school. She was rejected in her first audition, singing "I Cain't Say No". Her drama school teacher encouraged her to change her name and audition again under the new name. Browsing through a phone book for inspiration, she became aware of the "page" she was observing and decided upon that name with the addition of an "i", becoming Elaine Paige. She was successful in the second audition as Elaine Paige, appearing on stage during the UK tour of the Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd in 1964, playing the role of a Chinese urchin. In 1968 she appeared on record as a member of the vocal group Colors of Love, who released three Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood-penned singles, most notably "I'm a Train", on Larry Page's Page One label under the supervision of Alan Moorhouse. She was also part of the band Sparrow with fellow West End singer Diane Langton, releasing the album Hatching Out in 1972.
At the age of 20, she made her West End debut in Hair on 27 September 1968, remaining in the cast until March 1970. While also being an understudy for the character of Sheila, she played a member of the tribe in the chorus, for which role she was required to be naked on stage in one scene. In 1971, she appeared in the ill-fated musical about premature ejaculation, Maybe That's Your Problem. She also appeared as an urchin in the film Oliver! Over the next decade, she played roles in various musicals, including Jesus Christ Superstar; Nuts; Grease, in which she played the lead role of Sandy from 1973 to 1974; Billy, from 1974 to 1975 playing Rita; and The Boyfriend, as Maisie (1975–1976). She had a minor role as a barmaid in the 1978 sex comedy film Adventures of a Plumber's Mate.
After months of acting and singing auditions, Hal Prince offered the still relatively unknown Paige the title role of Eva Perón in the first stage production of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, Evita. Her performance won her critical acclaim and brought her into public prominence at the age of 30. Julie Covington, who played the role on the original concept album, had turned down the opportunity of playing the role on stage leading to a long search for a new star. Paige eventually competed against Bonnie Schoen, an American initially favoured by Prince for the role. She later said, "Bonnie was already a big name on Broadway. In a way, she didn't have anything to prove. She was smoothly, silkily professional. But I saw this as my big chance and, like Eva when she clapped eyes on Peron, I grabbed with both hands. I wanted the role more than anything else in the whole world." For her performance in Evita, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Performance in a Musical, which at that time was called the Society of West End Theatre Award. She also won the Variety Club Award for Showbusiness Personality of the Year. She played the role for 20 months in total, from 1978 to 1980. She also released her first studio album in 1978, titled Sitting Pretty.
Just prior to her success in Evita, Paige had strongly considered becoming a nursery nurse, but after she sang for Dustin Hoffman, he made her promise that she would continue in theatre work. She admitted that she was "fed up with the whole thing" and that she could not even afford new clothing or to eat out; "Evita saved me" she stated. In the 1980 ITV drama series Lady Killers, Paige played convicted murderer Kate Webster.
1981–1993: Cats and Chess era
In 1981, in the Tales of the Unexpected episode "The Way to Do it", Paige plays Susie, a girl working in a small casino trying to keep guests happy and finally eloping with the main character.
Paige went on to portray some of Lloyd Webber's most notable female characters, creating the role of Grizabella in the original production of Cats from 11 May 1981 to 13 February 1982. She took on the role late in the rehearsal process when the actress Judi Dench had to withdraw due to a torn Achilles tendon. Paige's performance of the song "Memory" from Cats, with which she had a Top 10 hit, is her signature piece. The single reached number 6 in the UK charts and has since been recorded by a further 160 artists. She reprised the role of Grizabella for the video release of Cats in 1998, one of only two performers in the film from the original London cast; the other was Susan Jane Tanner as Jellylorum. Paige's website claims that the video soon became the bestselling music video in the UK and America.
The 1983 production of Abbacadabra, written by former ABBA members, Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, saw Paige star in the role of Carabosse. She then originated the role of Florence for the 1984 concept album of Chess, with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Ulvaeus and Andersson. Her albums, Stages (1983), and Cinema (1984), rejoined the cast recording of Chess in the UK top 40 chart, giving her three consecutive successful albums. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well", a duet from Chess, singing with Barbara Dickson. The single held the number 1 position in the British singles charts for four weeks, and still remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo, according to the Guinness Book of Records. From 1986 to 1987, Paige appeared as Florence in the stage production of Chess, a role that earned her a second Olivier Award nomination, this time in the category, Best Actress in a Musical. She next sang at the White House in 1988.
Paige then took on the part of Reno Sweeney in the musical production of Anything Goes, which she co-produced and starred in from 1989 to 1990. Patti LuPone was appearing in Anything Goes on Broadway around that time, so Paige sought to become the co-producer of the West End production as a way to secure the role there before LuPone could take it. Playing Reno Sweeney was Paige's first experience using an American accent on stage, and the role earned her a third Olivier Award nomination. Beyond her theatre roles, she appeared in the television programme Unexplained Laughter in 1989 alongside Diana Rigg.
In 1993, Paige signed up for a year as French chanteuse Édith Piaf in Pam Gems' musical play, Piaf, to critical acclaim. The Guardian wrote that Paige was "a magnificent, perfect Piaf". The demanding production required her to sing 15 songs, some in French, and to be on stage for 2 hours 40 minutes in total, and forced her to leave early due to exhaustion. Her portrayal of Piaf earned her an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical, her fourth nomination. She subsequently released an album, titled Piaf, containing Édith Piaf songs.
1994–2001: Sunset Boulevard and Broadway debut
In 1995, Paige was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II for her contributions to musical theatre.
Paige stepped briefly into the role of Norma Desmond in Lloyd Webber's West End production of Sunset Boulevard in 1994, when Betty Buckley was taken ill and had to undergo an emergency appendectomy. The nature of the situation meant that Paige only had two-and-a-half weeks in the rehearsal process before her first performance. She admitted feeling daunted by the prospect, having seen Glenn Close in the role on Broadway just prior to entering rehearsals. London critics were largely won over by Paige in a performance that "not only wrings out every ounce of dramatic action but delivers some unexpected humour as well" and she took over the part full-time the following year. She then won the Variety Club Award for Best Actress of the Year, and received her fifth Olivier Award nomination in 1996.
During the run of Sunset Boulevard at the West End's Adelphi Theatre in 1995, Paige discovered a lump in her breast, prompting her to consult her doctor, who at first reassured her there was nothing to be concerned about. She returned twice, and her doctor subsequently sent her for tests that confirmed the lump was cancerous, nine months after she discovered it. Continuing her role in the production Paige did not miss a show. Paige went in for day surgery on a Sunday due to her theatre commitments, had five years of medical treatment and completed a radiation programme. She has since described the period as "the most awful thing that's happened to me in my life".
Paige transferred to the New York production of Sunset Boulevard to make her Broadway debut at the Minskoff Theatre on 12 September 1996, staying with the show until it closed on 22 March 1997. On the Sunset Boulevard set in Broadway, the staircase steps had to be raised six inches (15 cm) in order to accommodate Paige's short stature, or it would have been hard to see her behind the banister. Paige was welcomed to the Broadway stage with a long standing ovation from the audience, and received largely positive reviews for her New York performance as Norma Desmond: "The lush sound and the sheer power of her voice are, to put it simply, incredible", wrote one critic, whilst another said "Her voice has great range, remarkable clarity and emotional force". Paige was the first Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard to sing one of the show's key songs, "With One Look", which she did first at Lloyd Webber's wedding to Madeleine Gurdon, although at the time the song was called "Just One Glance". Lloyd Webber noted, regarding Paige's performance of one of the show's other prominent songs, "As If We Never Said Goodbye", that it was "as good, if not the best, of anything I've ever heard of mine". Regarding the key lyric in the song, "This world's waited long enough. I've come home at last", Paige had sought to change the way the melody was sung, despite being fully aware of Lloyd-Webber's fastidious tendencies. To her, the moment was not exploited to its fullest potential, so she approached the show's musical director, David Caddick, and expressed her wish to hold the word "home", to which he agreed. Although she had been disappointed when she hoped to perform on Broadway in Evita, Cats and Chess, Paige stated of her debut there, "It was just the most perfect time to go with that particular show". After Sunset Boulevard finished, she developed depression, commenting that the show's closing "was the most terrible feeling. ... I'd felt I'd lost something so very important to me. I thought it had died and gone away."
Arts commentator Melvyn Bragg hosted a special edition of The South Bank Show about Paige's career in 1996, titled The Faces of Elaine Paige. The episode saw her visiting parts of the world where plays she had starred in had been set: the Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires, Argentina where Eva Perón had given speeches; the Parisian haunts of Edith Piaf including a meeting with her collaborator Charles Aznavour; and Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles.
In 1997, Paige made her United States concert debut when she opened the Boston Pops season, which was aired on WGBH in America. The following year, she made a guest appearance at Andrew Lloyd Webber's 50th birthday celebration at the Royal Albert Hall, performing "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" and "Memory" She then played Célimène in the non-musical play The Misanthrope in 1998, but she admitted that she missed the musical element and that the silence was slightly unsettling to her. A Lifetime Achievement Award from The National Operatic and Dramatic Association soon followed. She later performed alongside Bette Midler in a 1999 New York concert to raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
From 2000 to 2001, she starred as Anna Leonowens in a revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at the London Palladium. Paige had turned down an offer for the role the first time she was approached, but later accepted, admitting that she had "forgotten what a fantastic score it was", although she did question her own suitability for the role. Before the opening, the box office had already taken in excess of £7 million in ticket sales. The critic for The Independent commented, "It may well be impossible to be a success as Evita and a success as Anna" complaining that Paige was not refined enough for the role, whereas The Spectator asserted that the role further strengthened her title as the "First Lady of British Musical Theatre". During her time in The King and I, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. Despite Paige wanting to pull out of the show, her mother insisted that she should continue until her contract had finished, and Paige's sister, Marion Billings, admitted, "That was very hard for Elaine, having to go on stage night after night knowing she wanted to be with Mum".
2002–2013: Radio and return to West End and Broadway
Paige sang at the opening of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and then made her Los Angeles concert debut at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. In 2003, she played Angèle in Where There's a Will, directed by Peter Hall. She next sang the role of Mrs Lovett in the New York City Opera production of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd in March 2004, earning positive reviews from critics, and a nomination for a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. Paige then embarked upon a UK tour which was titled "No Strings Attached".
In September 2004, Paige began a weekly Sunday afternoon radio show, Elaine Paige on Sunday, between 1 and 3 pm on BBC Radio 2, featuring music from musical theatre and film. The 400th edition was broadcast on Sunday 29 July 2012. In an unfavourable review, the show was described by Elisabeth Mahoney of The Guardian as "a chilly, alienating listening experience" and a "rare wrong move" on the part of Radio 2. Lisa Martland of The Stage agreed that "it is by far the music that brings me back to the programme ... and not her lightweight presenting style". However, the show regularly attracts 3 million listeners, and interviews are also featured each week. Paige also focused on television appearances, playing Dora Bunner in the 2005 ITV adaptation of Agatha Christie's A Murder Is Announced in the Marple series, before performing a guest role as a post mistress in Where the Heart Is. The episode of Marple was watched by 7.78 million viewers.
The release of Paige's first full studio album of new recordings in 12 years was marked in 2006, titled Essential Musicals. The album included popular songs from musicals identified by a poll on her radio show, in which 400,000 listeners voted. At this point, Paige had recorded 20 solo albums in total, of which eight were consecutively certified gold and another four multi-platinum, and she had been featured on seven cast albums. Paige also appeared in concert in Scandinavia, Hong Kong, Europe, the Middle East, New Zealand, Australia and Singapore. On 20 and 21 December 2006, she performed in concert in Shanghai, extending her concert tour to two dates to satisfy demand. With a noticeable absence from musical theatre, having not taken a role for many years, she explained in 2006 that "there's been nothing that I've wanted to do, and if you're going to commit to a year at the theatre, six days a week, and have no life, then it's got to be something that you want to do with all your heart". She also affirmed that she believes for older actors it becomes harder to obtain theatre roles.
In 2007, Paige made a return to the West End stage for the first time in six years, as the Chaperone/Beatrice Stockwell in The Drowsy Chaperone at the Novello Theatre. The production ran for a disappointing 96 performances, although it had opened to a standing ovation from the audience and a generally optimistic reaction from critics. The Daily Telegraph wrote, "Elaine Paige is a good sport ... enduring jokes about her reputation for being 'difficult' with a grin that doesn't seem all that forced. ... Only the self-importantly serious and the chronically depressed will fail to enjoy this preposterously entertaining evening". Paul Taylor from The Independent was less impressed and wrote "a miscast Elaine Paige manages to be unfunny to an almost ingenious degree as the heroine's bibulous minder". For her performance, Paige was nominated for a What's On Stage Award in the category of Best Supporting Actress in a Musical. She next collaborated with the duo Secret Garden in recording the song "The Things You Are to Me" for their 2007 album, Inside I'm Singing.
To raise money for Sport Relief Paige danced the tango on Sport Relief does Strictly Come Dancing with Matt Dawson in March 2008, where they were voted second overall. In 2008, she opened the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod and performed concerts in China, America and Australia featuring songs from her 40-year career. To further celebrate 40 years since her first performance on a West End Stage, in October 2008 Paige released a picture-based autobiography titled Memories. The book took around eight months to compile; "Since Evita I suppose, I had kept a yearbook. My parents always kept cuttings and things like that for me. I did have quite a lot of reference material to work out," Paige commented.
An album titled Elaine Paige and Friends was produced by Phil Ramone in 2010. The album features duets with Paige and artists such as Johnny Mathis, Barry Manilow and Olivia Newton-John as well as a duet with Sinéad O'Connor of a new song "It's Only Life" penned by Tim Rice and Gary Barlow. Having entered the top 20 of UK Album Charts, it went on to achieve gold status.
Paige played the role of Carlotta Campion in the Kennedy Center production of Follies in May and June 2011 at the Eisenhower Theatre in Washington, DC, receiving favourable reviews for her performance of the showstopper, "I'm Still Here." The principal cast also comprised Bernadette Peters, Jan Maxwell, Ron Raines and Danny Burstein. She reprised this role in the Broadway transfer of the musical at the Marquis Theatre from August 2011 until the following January, before performing at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California in May and June 2012.
2014–present: 50th Anniversary, farewell tour
At the end of 2013 Paige announced a concert tour, Page by Page by Paige, which focused on her 50th anniversary in show business and was advertised as a farewell tour. The 40th anniversary tour in 2008 marked 40 years since her debut on the West End stage, and the 50th anniversary tour in 2014 marked 50 years since her first stage performance. The tour featured Gardar Thor Cortes performing a number of songs, both solo and duets with Paige, and was sold out at all venues. The tour ran from 9 to 20 October 2014, concluding at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Other stops included Cardiff, Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle (Gateshead), Glasgow, Birmingham and Bournemouth. Due to a throat infection, one concert in Brighton had to be cancelled. Dates in Ireland were postponed before being rescheduled, with Paige giving four sold-out concerts in Dublin (two evenings), Limerick and Cork between 10 and 16 February 2015.
In 2014, Paige presented and performed in a six episode television show for Sky Arts television called The Elaine Paige Show. The show featured songs performed by Paige, masterclasses with drama college students and interviews and performances by West End and Broadway performers and writers. The show was recorded in March and April at Riverside Studios, London. She released a new career-spanning album The Ultimate Collection in May 2014. In June, Paige made her debut at G-A-Y's Heaven nightclub in London and in November, she joined the inaugural Australian cruise of the performing arts on the .
In May 2015 Paige was part of VE Day 70: A Party to Remember, a special concert which took place at the Horse Guards Parade, and was broadcast live on BBC1 and BBC Radio 2. Later in 2015 she performed in concert at Scarborough Open Air Theatre, supported by Collabro and Rhydian, and then headlined the Glamis Prom 2015 at Glamis Castle, Scotland, with Susan Boyle as her guest. The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra accompanied at both concerts.
In April 2016, it was announced that Paige would perform a number of concerts – on successive weekends rather than intensive schedule of a regular tour – entitled "Stripped Back". The tour initially ran from October until December 2016 and featured music by Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, Leonard Cohen, Sting, Elton John and Lennon-McCartney.
Paige appeared in a new BBC adaptation of William Shakepeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream adapted by Russell T Davies as part of the Shakespeare 400 celebrations in 2016.
In 2017, she appeared in pantomime at the London Palladium as Queen Rat in Dick Whittington alongside Julian Clary, Nigel Havers, Paul Zerdin, Gary Wilmot, Charlie Stemp, Emma Williams, Ashley Banjo and Diversity. She returned for Pantoland at The Palladium in 2020, along with most of the 2017 cast as well as Beverley Knight.
In 2018, Paige played the part of Mercy Hackett in the BBC TV comedy Home from Home. In 2020, she appeared in the BBC drama series Life with Alison Steadman and Peter Davison.
Legacy
Having had so many starring roles in famous musicals, many to critical acclaim, Paige is often referred to as the First Lady of British Musical Theatre. In 2008, she celebrated the 40th anniversary of her professional debut on the West End stage. Paige has never married nor had children, although she had an 11-year relationship with the lyricist Tim Rice throughout the 1980s. She has said that she wanted to have children, but "it's a wonderful life I have, so I'm very fulfilled in other ways".
Paige's singing abilities have won her worldwide praise, as have her acting skills, with Andrew Gans of Playbill magazine writing that "Paige's gift is to dissect a role and determine what phrasing, gesture or emotion can bring a scene to its fullest dramatic potential". Mark Shenton also highlighted her voice in 2008 as "one of the most distinctive and impressive voices in the business". Lloyd-Webber insists that her rendition of "As If We Never Said Goodbye" is one of the best interpretations of a song by him.
Paige has been called "difficult". The Times''' Brian Logan wrote, "Paige is not exactly known for her humility. In newspaper profiles, that dread word 'difficult' is often applied". On one occasion, she told a male interviewer that she was going to stop giving interviews to female reporters because, in her own words, "I don't trust other women in these situations. They establish a sisterhood with you and then betray it every time". What has been seen as a cold side to her personality was also noted by Logan, but Paige has said that a common misconception of her is that she is confident and very serious. Another editor found her "refreshingly down-to-earth" and "very friendly".
Views on theatre
Though Paige has enjoyed a long career in musical theatre, she rarely goes to watch musicals, much preferring to watch films or plays. She considers herself primarily an actress, rather than a singer, stating, "I really prefer to be in character". Comparing the work of Rodgers and Hammerstein to that of Lloyd Webber, Paige has said that she finds Rodgers and Hammerstein songs more difficult to sing, and described them as challenging. She concluded, "it's a quieter kind of singing, more controlled, not belting it out".
In the light of the physical demands of performing in theatre Paige has said "Musical theatre is the hardest thing any actor will ever do. You become obsessive about sleeping, eating the right food, not speaking and giving yourself vocal rest and keeping exercised". Regarding the pressure of having to be in a fit condition to perform in theatre each night, she remarked "you wouldn't want to read the letters people write when you're off and they're disappointed – it's so awful, the guilt one feels for not being there". As part of a rigorous routine before musical roles to look after her voice, Paige stops eating dairy products and drinking alcohol and works hard on her fitness. After about three months into the production when her voice is tiring from performing, she withdraws from her normal social life, sometimes only communicating by notepad and fax. She never reads her reviews, finding that it is not helpful to hear too many opinions of her work.
In 2007, Paige named reality television series such as Any Dream Will Do'', which aim to find an unknown actor to play the lead role in a musical, as the greatest threat to theatre today, believing that "actors already striving in the theatre wouldn't dream of putting themselves on these shows". In a later interview, she questioned the seriousness of the actors auditioning for this type of show: "you wouldn't put yourself up for one of those shows in case you got bumped off the first week and all your colleagues saw it". She has also expressed a wish for more new musicals to be put into production, instead of frequent revivals.
Charity
Paige has been an Ambassador of The Children's Trust, the UK's leading charity for children with brain injury and neurodisabiity, for over 35 years, since the charity was created, when she first presented the charity with a minibus. She has hosted and performed at fundraising events for the charity including hosting 5 bi-annual Elaine Paige Clay Pigeon Shoots.
Theatre credits
Discography
Solo albums
Compilations
Cast recordings
Singles
Other albums and guest appearances
Videos and DVDs
Curated albums
Tying in with her weekly radio show, Paige has been involved in the compilation of two albums featuring selected tracks from musical theatre.
References
External links
Elaine Paige on Sunday (BBC Radio 2)
1948 births
People with lupus
Actresses from London
English women singers
English musical theatre actresses
English television actresses
Living people
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Laurence Olivier Award winners
People from Chipping Barnet
Singers from London
BBC Radio 2 presenters
Alumni of the Aida Foster Theatre School
Musicians from Hertfordshire
Actresses from Hertfordshire
British women radio presenters
British actors with disabilities
English people with disabilities
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dena%CA%BCina%20language
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Denaʼina language
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Denaʼina , also Tanaina, is the Athabaskan language of the region surrounding Cook Inlet. It is geographically unique in Alaska as the only Alaska Athabaskan language to include territory which borders salt water. Four dialects are usually distinguished:
Upper Inlet, spoken in Eklutna, Knik, Susitna, Tyonek
Outer Inlet, spoken in Kenai, Kustatan, Seldovia
Iliamna, spoken in Pedro Bay, Old Iliamna, Lake Iliamna area
Inland, spoken in Nondalton, Lime Village
Of the total Denaʼina population of about 900 people, only 75–95 members still speak Denaʼina. James Kari has done extensive work on the language since 1972, including his edition with Alan Boraas of the collected writings of Peter Kalifornsky in 1991. Joan M. Tenenbaum also conducted extensive field research on the language in the 1970s.
Ethnonym
The word is composed of the , meaning 'person' and the human plural suffix . While the apostrophe which joins the two parts of this word ordinarily indicates a glottal stop, most speakers pronounce this with a diphthong, so that the second syllable of the word rhymes with English 'nine' (as in the older spelling Tanaina).
Phonology
Denaʼina is one of seven Alaska Athabaskan languages which does not distinguish phonemic tone.
Consonants
The consonants of Denaʼina in practical orthography, with IPA equivalents.
Vowels
The 4 vowels of Denaʼina. Note that close vowels are more open in the environment of a uvular consonant.
Generally, the vowels i, a, and u are considered 'long' vowels and are fully pronounced in words, however the e is considered a reduced vowel similar to the English schwa.
Syllable structure
In the Inland dialect, syllables at the end of a semantic unit are often longer, lower in pitch, and have longer rhymes. The onset of a syllable has consonant clusters of up to three, such as CCCVC, though these are rare and more commonly, a syllable onset is one or two consonants.
Writing Systems
Dena'ina uses a variant of the Latin alphabet, though a Dena'ina artist, Argent Kvasnikoff, created a custom alphabet for the language.
Morphology
Denaʼina is a polysynthetic language where a single word can mean the entirety of an English sentence.
Verbs are the most elaborate part of speech in the Denaʼina language, which vary in verb paradigms which vary by subject, object, or aspect.
The following example is of -lan the verb "to be" in the imperfective aspect and in the Nondalton dialect.
Grammatical categories
Denaʼina indicates classification with obligatory verb prefixes, meaning the root verb appears at the end of the word. The verb will always specify a classification and often person, gender, or object prefixes that indicate aspects of the noun or object for transitive verbs, and aspects of the speaker for intransitive verbs. Person can also be indicated by suffixes on the noun; the singular person suffix on a noun is generally , whereas the plural suffix is generally or . Plurals for non-persons that are animate are indicated by the noun suffixes , , and . Inanimate plurals are unable to be indicated by a noun suffix, and instead attach to the verb.
For examples of person indication on the verb, see the chart under the morphology section above concerning the verb root . Denaʼina specifies between 1st person singular/plural, 2nd person singular/plural, 3rd person singular/plural, and areal.
Verbs fall into many categories that are broadly lumped into "active" and "neuter", where an active verb indicates movement, a state of being incomplete, something being made, or in the production of sound, and a neuter verb indicates a general state of being that is complete. Categories of classification that are affixed to a verb also can refer to certain characteristics of the object of that verb. Depending on the gender affix that follows the classificatory affix, the nature of the object can change, as indicated by the following chart:
However, there are other categories of classification or instrumentation that indicate how an action was done or aspects about the outcome of the action. Many instrumental affixes have become causative over time. Causality is expressed by changing a classifier in the verb to "ł". Instrumental affixes that indicate the manner or motion of an action include the following: "-aqʼa", which refers to clubbing an object or leaving a depression in the snow; "-dni", which refers to causing an object to leave, disappear, or die; "-du", which refers to affecting an object with the mouth; "-eł,-eła, and -ł", which all indicate that the object being referred to was used in an instrumental sense; "-iqu (uqu)", which refers to a pointing motion; "-kʼ", which refers to a wiping motion; and "-lu", which refers to the use of a hand.
Space relations
Postpositions
Denaʼina shows space relations through the addition of morphemes that are either independent or bound, known as postpositions.
Independent postpositions follow a noun. For example, "miłni det" (without water) is composed of the noun "miłni" (water) and the post position "det" (without).
Bound postpositions follow a pronoun or a noun, but are said and written as one word, and are often related to directionals.
Sheł ("with me") is composed of the pronoun sh ("me") and the postposition eł ("with").
Object + -ch' (towards the object, in the direction of the object)
= "He is walking towards us"
Object + -a (object spends time)
= "He spent the whole summer day"
Be = "him/her" (be + a = ba)
Postpositions can also be incorporated into a verb as a prefix.
Demonstratives
Space relations can also be marked by demonstratives pronouns, which indicate proximal/distal distinction.
- that
- that/these things, non-human and distant
- this/these things, non-human and close by
- there in the distance
- that person, human and distant
- here, nearby
- this person, human and close by
- those persons, human and distant
- these persons, human and close by
For example:
= "those mountains"
= "that person calls"
= "this woman"
Adverbs
Adverbs of location and direction can also convey space relations.
nes - out from center
nes yanił chet = "he shoved the boat out"
en - off or away from
ye'un = "away from it"
ye'un ti'ilgguk = "he went out the door"
Directionals
The directional system in Denaʼina is based upon river flows, and are used with directional prefixes, roots, and suffixes.
Prefixes:
ey - unmarked
yu - distant
du - near
Roots:
n'e or ni - upstream
du or t'e - downstream
Suffixes:
∅ - towards
-ch' - towards, form
-t - at, the place of
For example, yunit means "at a place far upstream", and is composed of the prefix "yu", root "ni", and suffix "t".
Time and tense
Temporal adverbs
Temporal adverbs convey information about when an action or intent of the verb occurred.
- always
- never
- all day
- still
For example:
= "I worked all day"
= "always fog"
Mode
Mode indicates when the action happens. Normal mode is also referred to as tense, and is given by mode/aspect prefix positions in the verbs. The tense modes are the imperfect (present), perfect (past) and the future represented by 4 types of imperfectives—∅, z, n, gh—and 4 types of perfectives—gh, z, n, ∅. There are also 4 modal variations: neuter, inceptive, optative-intentional, and negative.
Tense
Imperfective mode - action was started and is continuing at the present time
∅ imperfective and gh imperfective - generally means the action in moving toward completion
n imperfective - associated w/ motion verbs
z imperfective - generally means the action is static
Perfect mode - action was started and completed in the past
gh perfective - most common perfect structure in most aspects
n perfective - often used with motion verbs when action has reached terminal state
z perfective - generally means the actions have achieved a stable state
∅ perfective - used in transitional themes
Future mode - action has yet to happen. Used with a future stem, a "ghe" in the mode position, and a "t(e)" in the inceptive position
Modal variations
Optative-intentional mode - expresses an intent to act
Inceptive mode - "beginning to" in the imperfect and perfect modes
Imperfect inceptive
Perfective inceptive
Neuter - applicable to neuter verbs, and "to be" neuter
Aspect
Aspect conveys information about how the action happened, and works in conjunction with tense. The most common aspects are conclusive, momentaneous, neuter, onomatopoetic, and semelfactive. The morpheme attached to the root verb can also change depending on aspect.
Modality
Modality is most commonly and easily seen in evidentials which usually appear at the end of a sentence.
Evidentials - words that emphasize certainty
- then it is
ł - it is said, it seems, apparently
For example:
= "I am the one"
= "The Denaʼina, they say, had some beliefs about the animals"
Emphatics - words that add emphasis
- I am
For example:
= "I am Albert, this is who I am"
Predicates, arguments, and case
Predicate refers to the main verb and auxiliary verbs, while arguments usually refer to those words outside of the predicate.
Word order in the basic Denaʼina sentence is subject-object-verb (SOV). Because of this, there is a low danger of referential ambiguity. It is rare to have both the subject and the objects as nouns; instead, one or both usually occur as pronouns. Some sentences differ from the SOV structure. In subject-verb (SV), the object is embedded in the verb as a pronoun, or the sentence doesn't require an object. In object-verb (OV), the subject is a pronoun contained in the verb, and the object is a noun.
An example sentence structure: object pronoun (argument) + outer subject pronoun (argument) + (other prefixes) + inner subject pronoun (argument) + ... verb stem (predicate). This example shows multiple arguments attaching to a single predicate.
A full clause can be expressed in the verb. In the verb, the verb stem is last, and even when embedded in the verb, the object and subject necessarily come first. In Denaʼina, all verbs require a nominative (subject) and an accusative (object), which indicates a nominative-accusative case. This means the marked morphemes, or those that change to convey more specific meanings, are those that indicate the object. Distinction occurs between the nominative and accusative, and each would have its own core argument.
Obliques
Obliques indicate instrumentals, locatives, and other arguments outside of core arguments. Both core and oblique arguments attach to the verb via prefixes which must occur in a certain order. In Denaʼina, obliques are prefixes to the verb which occur between the object prefix and the inner subject pronoun prefix and/or the outer subject pronoun.
Possession
Inherent possession
Denaʼina has inherently possessed nouns and non-verbs. Inherently possessed words consist of a prefix and a stem which are abound morphemes. For example, "shunkda" means "my mother", where "sh-" is the possessive pronoun meaning "my", and "-unkda" is the possessed root meaning "mother".
The pronouns used with inherently possessed bound morphemes:
sh- = my
qu- = their
n- = your (singular)
k'e- = someone's
be- = his/her
de- = his/her own
na = our
deh- = their own
h- = your (plural)
nił- = each other's
Non-inherent possession
Non-inherent possession occurs with proper nouns as the possessor, shown by -a or -'a attached as a suffix to the possessed noun. Possessive pronouns are attached as a prefix to the possessed noun and the -'a is added at the end of the word.
Complement clauses
Complement clauses are clauses that act as the direct object of the verb, introduced by a complementizer (e.g.: in English, "that" or "which"). Complement clauses exist as subordinate clauses and bare clauses, as with other languages in the Athabaskan language family. Some complement clauses are marked by enclitics, and are always embedded as part of the sentence.
Relative suffixes are attached to nouns or verbs, and are one of the few suffixes on verbs. Common relative suffixes include:
-en = "the person that"
-t = "the place that"
-na = "the people that"
-h = "at, to a general area"
-i = "the thing that"
-hdi = "then, next"
Endangerment
The population of Denaʼina is 900. As of 2007, there are 75-90 speakers, and in 1970 there were only 10 speakers of the Kenai dialect.
Linguist Michael E. Krauss provides three levels of endangerment: safe; endangered, where the language is being learned by children but requires community effort to maintain it; and moribund, where the language is not being learned by children. According to this classification, the Denaʼina is a moribund language.
Revitalization efforts
There are various efforts to revitalize the language.
The Denaʼina Archiving, Training and Access grant (DATA) aims to archive and provide access to Denaʼina materials. It also attempts to train community members in technology.
Lake Clark National Park maintains a catalog of audio recordings of the language.
Some books are being published on Denaʼina language and culture, and there is a yearly Denaʼina festival, followed by a three-week intensive course led by elders.
At the Kenai Peninsula College, there is a language class on the Cook Inlet dialect. As of October 2014, there are only 15 students, all young adults, in the class, but this indicates momentum. The class's curriculum is formed from the collected grammars published by linguists.
Contributing factors to the endangerment include the policy of early territorial schools to not let native students speak their own language, especially in regards to the Kenai dialect. This policy was often enforced via corporal punishment; the trauma caused elders, all within one generation, to avoid speaking the language.
References
Bibliography
Balluta, Alex & Gladys Evanoff. 2004. Denaʼina Qenaga Duʼidnaghelnik (Denaʼina Words Sound Pretty). Denaʼina Phrases 1: Nondalton Dialect, ed. by Olga Müller. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center; Anchorage: Alaska Native Heritage Center.
Boraas, Alan. 2009. An Introduction to Denaʼina Grammar: The Kenai (Outer Inlet) Dialect. Kenai Peninsula College.
Chickalusion, Maxim, et al. 1980. Qʼudi Heyi Niłchʼdiluyi Sukduʼa: "This Years Collected Stories.(Denaʼina Stories from Tyonek and Illiamna Lake). Anchorage: National Bilingual Materials Development Center.
Ellanna, Linda & Andrew Balluta. 1992. Nuvendaltin Quhtʼana: The People of Nondalton. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Johnson, Walter. 2004. Sukdu Neł Nuhtghelnek: I'll Tell You A Story: Stories I Recall From Growing Up On Iliamna Lake. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
Kalifornsky, Peter. 1991 "Kʼtlʼeghʼi Sukdu, A Denaʼina Legacy: The Collected Writings of Peter Kalifornsky" edited by James Kari and Alan Boraas. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center.
Kari, James. 1975. A classification of the Tanaina dialects. Anthropological Papers of the University of Alaska 17:49-55.
Kari, James. 2007. Denaʼina Topical Dictionary. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. .
Kari, James, Priscilla Russell Kari and Jane McGary. 1983. Denaʼina Ełnena: Tanaina Country. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. Includes good bibliography and many photographs
Kari, Priscilla Russell. 1987. Tanaina Plantlore: Denaʼina Kʼetʼuna. 2nd ed. Anchorage: Alaska Park Service. Ethnobotany and much other cultural information.
Mithun, Marianne. 1999. The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. (hbk); .
Osgood, Cornelius. 1937. Contributions to the Ethnography of the Tanaina. Yale University Publications in Anthropology, 16.
Stephan, Sava. 2005. Upper Inlet Denaʼina Language Lessons, ed. by James Kari. Anchorage: Alaska Native Heritage Center.
Tenenbaum, Joan. 1978. Morphology and semantics of the Tanaina verb. (Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University).
Tenenbaum, Joan. 2006. Denaʼina Sukduʼa 3rd ed. Fairbanks: Alaska Native Language Center. .
Townsend, Joan B. 1981. "Tanaina." In June Helm, ed., Subarctic: Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 6. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution.
Wassillie, Albert. 1980. Nuvendaltun Htʼana Sukduʼa: Nondalton People's Stories. Anchorage: National Bilingual Materials Development Center.
External links
Alaska Native Language Center - Denaʼina
Denaʼina Language Guide
Denaʼina Qenaga Du'idnaghelnik (Denaʼina Phrasebook)
Denaʼina Qenaga Website
Dena'ina Language Home Page (Kenai/Outer Inlet dialect)
An introduction to Denaʼina
An Introduction to Dena'ina Grammar
Denaʼina basic lexicon at the Global Lexicostatistical Database
Wrangell's 1839 Comparative Word-List of Alaskan languages (includes Denaʼina)
Denaʼina
Northern Athabaskan languages
Indigenous languages of Alaska
Indigenous languages of the North American Subarctic
Endangered Dené–Yeniseian languages
Official languages of Alaska
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sari
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Sari
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A sari (sometimes also saree or shari is a women's garment from South Asia, that consists of an un-stitched stretch of woven fabric arranged over the body as a robe, with one end attached to the waist, while the other end rests over one shoulder as a stole (shawl), sometimes baring a part of the midriff. It may vary from in length, and in breadth, and is form of ethnic wear in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and India. There are various names and styles of sari manufacture and draping, the most common being the Nivi style. The sari is worn with a fitted bodice also called a choli ( or in southern India, and in Nepal) and a petticoat called , , or . It remains fashionable in the Indian Subcontinent today.
Etymology
The Hindustani word (, ), described in Sanskrit which means 'strip of cloth' and or in Pali, ಸೀರೆ or sīre in Kannada and which evolved to in modern Indian languages. The word is mentioned as describing women's dharmic attire in Sanskrit literature and Buddhist literature called Jatakas. This could be equivalent to the modern day sari. The term for female bodice, the evolved from ancient . Rajatarangini, a tenth-century literary work by Kalhana, states that the choli from the Deccan was introduced under the royal order in Kashmir.
The petticoat is called (, ) in Hindi-Urdu, () in Marathi, () in Tamil ( in other parts of South India: , , ), () in Bengali and eastern India, and () in Sinhalese. Apart from the standard "petticoat", it may also be called "inner skirt" or an inskirt.
Origins and history
The history of Sari-like drapery can be traced back to the Indus Valley civilisation, which flourished during 2800–1800 BCE around the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. Cotton was first cultivated and woven on the Indian subcontinent around the 5th millennium BCE. Dyes used during this period are still in use, particularly indigo, lac, red madder and turmeric. Silk was woven around 2450 BCE and 2000 BCE.
The word sari evolved from () mentioned in early Hindu literature as women's attire. The sari or evolved from a three-piece ensemble comprising the , the lower garment; the ; a veil worn over the shoulder or the head; and the , a chestband. This ensemble is mentioned in Sanskrit literature and Buddhist Pali literature during the 6th century BCE. Ancient antariya closely resembled the dhoti wrap in the "fishtail" version which was passed through the legs, covered the legs loosely and then flowed into long, decorative pleats at front of the legs. It further evolved into Bhairnivasani skirt, today known as ghagri and lehenga. Uttariya was a shawl-like veil worn over the shoulder or head. It evolved into what is known today known as dupatta and ghoonghat. Likewise, the evolved into the choli by the 1st century CE.
The ancient Sanskrit work Kadambari by Banabhatta and ancient Tamil poetry, such as the Silappadhikaram, describes women in exquisite drapery or sari. In ancient India, although women wore saris that bared the midriff, the Dharmasastra writers stated that women should be dressed such that the navel would never become visible, which may have led to a taboo on navel exposure at some times and places.
It is generally accepted that wrapped sari-like garments for lower body and sometimes shawls or scarf like garment called 'uttariya' for upper body, have been worn by Indian women for a long time, and that they have been worn in their current form for hundreds of years. In ancient couture the lower garment was called 'nivi' or 'nivi bandha', while the upper body was mostly left bare. The works of Kalidasa mention the , a form of tight fitting breast band that simply covered the breasts. It was also sometimes referred to as an or .
Poetic references from works like Silappadikaram indicate that during the Sangam period in ancient Tamil Nadu in southern India, a single piece of clothing served as both lower garment and head covering, leaving the midriff completely uncovered. Similar styles of the sari are recorded paintings by Raja Ravi Varma in Kerala. Numerous sources say that everyday costume in ancient India until recent times in Kerala consisted of a pleated dhoti or (sarong) wrap, combined with a breast band called or and occasionally a wrap called that could at times be used to cover the upper body or head. The two-piece Kerala mundum neryathum (mundu, a dhoti or sarong, neryath, a shawl, in Malayalam) is a survival of ancient clothing styles. The one-piece sari in Kerala is derived from neighbouring Tamil Nadu or Deccan during medieval period based on its appearance on various temple murals in medieval Kerala.
Early Sanskrit literature has a wide vocabulary of terms for the veiling used by women, such as Avagunthana (oguntheti/oguṇthikā), meaning cloak-veil, Uttariya meaning shoulder-veil, Mukha-pata meaning face-veil and Sirovas-tra meaning head-veil. In the Pratimānātaka, a play by Bhāsa describes in context of Avagunthana veil that "ladies may be seen without any blame (for the parties concerned) in a religious session, in marriage festivities, during a calamity and in a forest". The same sentiment is more generically expressed in later Sanskrit literature. Śūdraka, the author of Mṛcchakatika set in fifth century BCE says that the Avagaunthaha was not used by women everyday and at every time. He says that a married lady was expected to put on a veil while moving in the public. This may indicate that it was not necessary for unmarried females to put on a veil. This form of veiling by married women is still prevalent in Hindi-speaking areas, and is known as ghoonghat where the loose end of a sari is pulled over the head to act as a facial veil.
Based on sculptures and paintings, tight bodices or cholis are believed to have evolved between the 2nd century BCE to 6th century CE in various regional styles. Early cholis were front covering tied at the back; this style was more common in parts of ancient northern India. This ancient form of bodice or choli are still common in the state of Rajasthan today. Varies styles of decorative traditional embroidery like gota patti, mochi, pakko, kharak, suf, kathi, phulkari and gamthi are done on cholis. In Southern parts of India, choli is known as ravikie which is tied at the front instead of back, kasuti is traditional form of embroidery used for cholis in this region. In Nepal, choli is known as cholo or chaubandi cholo and is traditionally tied at the front.
Red is the most favoured colour for wedding saris, which are the traditional garment choice for brides in Hindu wedding. Women traditionally wore various types of regional handloom saris made of silk, cotton, ikkat, block-print, embroidery and tie-dye textiles. Most sought after brocade silk saris are Banasari, Kanchipuram, Gadwal, Paithani, Mysore, Uppada, Bagalpuri, Balchuri, Maheshwari, Chanderi, Mekhela, Ghicha, Narayan pet and Eri etc. are traditionally worn for festive and formal occasions. Silk Ikat and cotton saris known as Patola, Pochampally, Bomkai, Khandua, Sambalpuri, Gadwal, Berhampuri, Bargarh, Jamdani, Tant, Mangalagiri, Guntur, Narayan pet, Chanderi, Maheshwari, Nuapatn, Tussar, Ilkal, Kotpad and Manipuri were worn for both festive and everyday attire. Tie-dyed and block-print saris known as Bandhani, Leheria/Leheriya, Bagru, Ajrakh, Sungudi, Kota Dabu/Dabu print, Bagh and Kalamkari were traditionally worn during monsoon season. Gota Patti is popular form of traditional embroidery used on saris for formal occasions, various other types of traditional folk embroidery such mochi, pakko, kharak, suf, kathi, phulkari and gamthi are also commonly used for both informal and formal occasion. Today, modern fabrics like polyester, georgette and charmeuse are also commonly used.
Styles of draping
There are more than 80 recorded ways to wear a sari. The most common style is for the sari to be wrapped around the waist, with the loose end of the drape to be worn over the shoulder, baring the midriff. However, the sari can be draped in several different styles, though some styles do require a sari of a particular length or form. Ṛta Kapur Chishti, a sari historian and recognised textile scholar, has documented 108 ways of wearing a sari in her book, 'Saris: Tradition and Beyond'. The book documents the sari drapes across fourteen states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh. The French cultural anthropologist and sari researcher Chantal Boulanger categorised sari drapes in the following families:
The Sari Series, a non-profit project created in 2017 is a digital anthology documenting India's regional sari drapes providing over 80 short films on how-to-drape the various styles.
Nivi sari – style originally worn in Deccan region; besides the modern nivi, there is also the Nauvari, kaccha or kasta nivi, where the pleats are passed through the legs and tucked into at the back. This allows free movement while covering the legs.
Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarati, Rajasthani – It is worn similar to nivi style but with loose end of sari aanchal or pallu placed in the front, therefore this style is known as sidha anchal or sidha pallu. After tucking in the pleats similar to the nivi style, the loose end is taken from the back, draped across the right shoulder, and pulled across to be secured in the back. This style is also worn by Punjabi and Sindhi Hindus.
Bengali and Odia style is worn with single box-pleat. Traditionally the Bengali style is worn with single box pleat where the sari is wrapped around in an anti-clockwise direction around the waist and then a second time from the other direction. The loose end is a lot longer and that goes around the body over the left shoulder. There is enough cloth left to cover the head as well. The Brahmika sari was introduced to Bengal by Jnanadanandini Devi after her tour in Bombay in 1870. Jnanadanandini improvised upon the sari style worn by Parsi and Gujarati women, which came to be known as Brahmika style.
Himalayan - Kulluvi Pattu is traditional form of woolen sari worn in Himachal Pradesh, similar variation is also worn in Uttarakhand.
Nepali: Nepal has many different varieties of draping sari, today the most common is the Nivi drape. The traditional Newari sari drape is, folding the sari till it is below knee length and then wearing it like a nivi sari but the pallu is not worn across the chest and instead is tied around the waist and leaving it so it drops from waist to the knee, instead the pallu or a shawl is tied across the chest, by wrapping it from the right hip and back and is thrown over the shoulders. Saris are worn with blouse that are thicker and are tied several times across the front. The Bhojpuri and Awadhi speaking community wears the sari sedha pallu like the Gujrati drape. The Mithila community has its own traditional Maithili drapes like the madhubani and purniea drapes but today those are rare and most sari is worn with the pallu in the front or the nivi style. The women of the Rajbanshi communities traditionally wear their sari with no choli and tied below the neck like a towel but today only old women wear it in that style and the nivi and the Bengali drapes are more popular today. The Nivi drape was popularized in Nepal by the Shah royals and the Ranas.
Nauvari and Kasta: this drape is worn similar to ancient form of navi sari worn in "Kacche" style where pleats in the front are tucked in the back, though there are many regional and societal variations. The style worn by Brahmin women differs from that of the Marathas. The style also differs from community to community. This style is popular in Maharashtra and Goa.
Madisar – this drape is typical of Iyengar/Iyer Brahmin ladies from Tamil Nadu. Traditional Madisar is worn using 9 yards sari. The Parsi ‘gara’ is a quintessence of embroidery, art and history, and it has a Chinese link
Pin Kosuvam - this is the traditional Tamil Nadu style
Kodagu style – this drape is confined to ladies hailing from the Kodagu district of Karnataka. In this style, the pleats are created in the rear, instead of the front. The loose end of the sari is draped back-to-front over the right shoulder, and is pinned to the rest of the sari.
Gobbe Seere – This style is worn by women in the Malnad or Sahyadri and central region of Karnataka. It is worn with 18 molas sari with three-four rounds at the waist and a knot after crisscrossing over shoulders.
Karnataka – In Karnataka, apart from traditional Nivi sari, sari is also worn in "Karnataka Kacche" drape, kacche drape which shows nivi drape in front and kacche in back, there are Four kacche styles known in Karnataka - "Hora kacche", "Melgacche" ,"Vala kacche" or "Olagacche" and " Hale Kacche".
Kerala sari style – the two-piece sari, or Mundum Neryathum, worn in Kerala. Usually made of unbleached cotton and decorated with gold or coloured stripes and/or borders. Also the Kerala sari, a sort of mundum neryathum.
Kunbi style or denthli: Goan Kunbis and Gauda, and those of them who have migrated to other states use this way of draping sari or kappad, this form of draping is created by tying a knot in the fabric below the shoulder and a strip of cloth which crossed the left shoulder was fasten on the back.
Riha-Mekhela, Kokalmora, Chador/Murot Mora Gamusa - This style worn in Assam is a wrap around style cloth similar to other wrap-around from other parts of South-East Asia and is actually very different in origin from the Mainland Indian sari. It is originally a four-set of separate garments (quite dissimilar to the sari as it is a single cloth) known Riha-Mekhela, Kokalmora, Chador/Murot Mora Gamusa. The bottom portion, draped from the waist downwards is called Mekhela. The Riha or Methoni is wrapped and often secured by tying them firmly across the chest, covering the breasts originally but now it is sometimes replaced by the influence of immigrant Mainland Indian styles which is traditionally incorrect. The Kokalmora was used originally to tie the Mekhela around the waist and keep it firm.
Innaphi and Phanek - This style of clothing worn in Manipur is also worn with three-set garment known as Innaphi Viel, Phanek lower wrap and long sleeved choli. It is somewhat similar to the style of clothing worn in Assam.
Jainsem - It is a Khasi style of clothing worn in Khasi which is made up of several pieces of cloth, giving the body a cylindrical shape.
Historic photographs and regional styles
Nivi style
The Nivi is the most common style of sari worn today. It originated in the Deccan region. In the Deccan region, the Nivi existed in two styles, a style similar to modern Nivi and the second style worn with front pleats of Nivi tucked in the back.
The increased interactions during colonial era saw most women from royal families come out of purdah in the 1900s. This necessitated a change of dress. Maharani Indira Devi of Cooch Behar popularised the chiffon sari. She was widowed early in life and followed the convention of abandoning her richly woven Baroda shalus in favour of the unadorned mourning white as per tradition. Characteristically, she transformed her "mourning" clothes into high fashion. She had saris woven in France to her personal specifications, in white chiffon, and introduced the silk chiffon sari to the royal fashion repertoire.
Under colonial rule, petticoat was adopted, along with Victorian styles of puffed-sleeved blouses, which was commonly seen among the elites in Bombay presidency and Bengal presidency. Nivi drape starts with one end of the sari tucked into the waistband of the petticoat, usually a plain skirt. The cloth is wrapped around the lower body once, then hand-gathered into even pleats below the navel. The pleats are tucked into the waistband of the petticoat. They create a graceful, decorative effect which poets have likened to the petals of a flower. After one more turn around the waist, the loose end is draped over the shoulder. The loose end is called the aanchal, pallu, pallav, seragu, or paita depending on the language. It is draped diagonally in front of the torso. It is worn across the right hip to over the left shoulder, partly baring the midriff. The navel can be revealed or concealed by the wearer by adjusting the pallu, depending on the social setting. The long end of the pallu hanging from the back of the shoulder is often intricately decorated. The pallu may be hanging freely, tucked in at the waist, used to cover the head, or used to cover the neck, by draping it across the right shoulder as well. Some Nivi styles are worn with the pallu draped from the back towards the front, coming from the back over the right shoulder with one corner tucked by the left hip, covering the torso/waist. The Nivi sari was popularised through the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma. In one of his paintings, the Indian subcontinent was shown as a mother wearing a flowing Nivi sari. The ornaments sometimes worn in the midriff region on top of a sari are waist chains. They are sometimes worn as a part of bridal jewellery.
Professional style of draping
Because of the harsh extremes in temperature on the Indian subcontinent, the sari fills a practical role as well as a decorative one. It is not only warming in winter and cooling in summer, but its loose-fitting tailoring is preferred by women who must be free to move as their duties require. For this reason, it is the uniform of Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Air India uniform for air hostesses. An air hostess-style sari is draped in similar manner to a traditional sari, but most of the pleats are pinned to keep them in place. Bangladeshi female newsreaders and anchors also drape their sari in this particular style.
Saris are worn as uniforms by the female hotel staff of many five-star luxury hotels in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh as the symbol of Indian, Sri Lankan, and Bangladeshi culture, respectively.
Similarly, the female politicians of all three countries wear the sari in a professional manner. Bangladeshi politicians usually wear saris with long sleeve blouse while covering their midriff. Some politicians pair up saris with hijabs or shawls for more coverage.
The women of the Nehru–Gandhi family like Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi have worn a special blouse for the campaign trail which is longer than usual and is tucked in to prevent any midriff showing while waving to the crowds. Stylist Prasad Bidapa has to say, "I think Sonia Gandhi is the country's most stylish politician. But that's because she's inherited the best collection of saris from her mother-in-law. I'm also happy that she supports the Indian handloom industry with her selection."
Most female MPs in the Sri Lankan Parliament wear a Kandyan osari. This includes prominent women in politics, the first female premier in the world, Sirimavo Bandaranaike and President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga. Contemporary examples include Pavithra Wanniarachchi, the sitting health minister in Cabinet. The adoption of the sari is not exclusive to Sinhalese politicians; Muslim MP Ferial Ashraff combined a hijab with her sari while in Parliament.
Bangladesh
Sari is the national attire for women in Bangladesh, Although Dhakai Jamdani (hand made sari) is worldwide known and most famous to all women who wear sari but there are also many variety of saris in Bangladesh. There are many regional variations of them in both silk and cotton.
There are many regional variations of saris in both silk and cotton. e.g., Dhakai Banarasi sari, Rajshahi silk, Tangail sari, Tant sari, Tassar silk sari, Manipuri sari and Katan sari.
The sari is reserved as the dress of choice for important occasions and events.
In 2013, the traditional art of weaving jamdani was declared a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
In 2016, Bangladesh received geographical indication (GI) status for Jamdani sari.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lankan women wear saris in many styles. Two ways of draping the sari are popular and tend to dominate: the Indian style (classic nivi drape) and the Kandyan style (or in Sinhala). The Kandyan style is generally more popular in the hill country region of Kandy from which the style gets its name. Though local preferences play a role, most women decide on style depending on personal preference or what is perceived to be most flattering for their figure.
The traditional Kandyan (Osariya) style consists of a full blouse which covers the midriff completely and is partially tucked in at the front. However, the modern intermingling of styles has led to most wearers baring the midriff. The final tail of the sari is neatly pleated rather than free-flowing. This is rather similar to the pleated rosette used in the Pin Kosuvam style noted earlier in the article.
The Kandyan style is considered the national dress of Sinhalese women. It is the uniform of the air hostesses of SriLankan Airlines.
During the 1960s, the mini sari known as 'hipster' sari created a wrinkle in Sri Lankan fashion, since it was worn below the navel and barely above the line of prosecution for indecent exposure. The conservative people described the 'hipster' as "an absolute travesty of a beautiful costume almost a desecration" and "a hideous and purposeless garment".
Nepal
The sari is the most commonly worn women's clothing in Nepal where a special style of sari draping is called haku patasihh. The sari is draped around the waist and a shawl is worn covering the upper half of the sari, which is used in place of a pallu.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, the saris are still popular and worn on special occasions. The Shalwar kameez, however, is worn throughout the country on a daily basis. The sari nevertheless remains a popular garment among the middle and upper class for many formal functions. Saris can be seen worn commonly in metropolitan cities such as Karachi and Islamabad and are worn regularly for weddings and other business types of functions. Saris are also worn by many Muslim women in Sindh to show their status or to enhance their beauty. Phulkari, Kota doria, banarasi, Ajrak are the most worn.
The sari is worn as daily wear by Pakistani Hindus, by elderly Muslim women who were used to wearing it in pre-partition India and by some of the new generation who have reintroduced the interest in saris. Non-dharmic of Indian subcontinent are not the only ones who have normalized the cultural appropriatness of saris since it has been happening all over the world.
Black Sari Day, is an celebration of Iqbal Bano a woman who fought in a Black sari in Lahore against Zia. She sang Hum Dekhenge. Although this event is to bring family closer and to enjoy the day of Iqbal Bano.
Similarities with other Asian clothing
While the sari is typical traditional wear for women in South Asia, clothing worn by women in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos resemble it, where a long rectangular piece of cloth is draped around the body. These are different from the sari as they are wrapped around the lower-half of body as a skirt, worn with a shirt/blouse and resemble a sarong, as seen in the Burmese (; ), Filipino and , Laotian (; ), Laotian and Thai (; ) and (, ; , , ), Cambodian () and sampot (, , ) and Timorese . Saris, worn predominantly in the Indian subcontinent are usually draped with one end of the cloth fastened around the waist, and the other end placed over the shoulder baring the midriff.
Ornamentation and decorative accessories
Saris are woven with one plain end (the end that is concealed inside the wrap), two long decorative borders running the length of the sari, and a one to three-foot section at the other end which continues and elaborates the length-wise decoration. This end is called the pallu; it is the part thrown over the shoulder in the nivi style of draping.
In past times, saris were woven of silk or cotton. The rich could afford finely woven, diaphanous silk saris that, according to folklore, could be passed through a finger ring. The poor wore coarsely woven cotton saris. All saris were handwoven and represented a considerable investment of time or money.
Simple hand-woven villagers' saris are often decorated with checks or stripes woven into the cloth. Inexpensive saris were also decorated with block printing using carved wooden blocks and vegetable dyes, or tie-dyeing, known in India as bhandani work.
More expensive saris had elaborate geometric, floral, or figurative ornaments or brocades created on the loom, as part of the fabric. Sometimes warp and weft threads were tie-dyed and then woven, creating ikat patterns. Sometimes threads of different colours were woven into the base fabric in patterns; an ornamented border, an elaborate pallu, and often, small repeated accents in the cloth itself. These accents are called buttis or bhuttis (spellings vary). For fancy saris, these patterns could be woven with gold or silver thread, which is called zari work.
Sometimes the saris were further decorated, after weaving, with various sorts of embroidery. Resham work is embroidery done with coloured silk thread. Zardozi embroidery uses gold and silver thread, and sometimes pearls and precious stones. Cheap modern versions of zardozi use synthetic metallic thread and imitation stones, such as fake pearls and Swarovski crystals.
In modern times, saris are increasingly woven on mechanical looms and made of artificial fibres, such as polyester, nylon, or rayon, which do not require starching or ironing. They are printed by machine, or woven in simple patterns made with floats across the back of the sari. This can create an elaborate appearance on the front, while looking ugly on the back. The punchra work is imitated with inexpensive machine-made tassel trim. Fashion designer Aaditya Sharma declared, "I can drape a sari in 54 different styles".
Hand-woven, hand-decorated saris are naturally much more expensive than the machine imitations. While the overall market for handweaving has plummeted (leading to much distress among Indian handweavers), hand-woven saris are still popular for weddings and other grand social occasions.
Saris outside the Indian subcontinent
The traditional sari made an impact in the United States during the 1970s. Eugene Novack who ran the New York store, Royal Sari House commented that he had initially been selling mainly to Indian women in the New York area. However, many American business women and housewives soon became his customers, favouring styles resembling western attire such as gowns. He also said that men appeared intrigued by the fragility and the femininity it confers on the wearer. Newcomers to the sari report that it is comfortable to wear, requiring no girdles or stockings and that the flowing garb feels so feminine with unusual grace.
The sari has gained its popularity internationally because of the growth of Indian fashion trends globally. Many Bollywood celebrities, like Aishwarya Rai, have worn it at international events representing India's cultural heritage. In 2010, Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone wanted to represent her country at an international event, wearing the national costume. On her very first red carpet appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival, she stepped out on the red carpet in a Rohit Bal sari.
Many foreign celebrities have worn traditional sari attire designed by Indian fashion designers. American actress Pamela Anderson made a surprise guest appearance on Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, dressed in a sari that was specially designed for her by Mumbai-based fashion designer Ashley Rebello. Ashley Judd donned a purple sari at the YouthAIDS Benefit Gala in November 2007 at the Ritz Carlton in Mclean, Virginia. There was an Indian flavour to the red carpet at the annual Fashion Rocks concert in New York, with designer Rocky S walking the ramp along with Jessica, Ashley, Nicole, Kimberly and Melody – the Pussycat Dolls – dressed in saris. in 2014, American singer Selena Gomez was seen in a sari for an UNICEF charity event at Nepal.
In the United States, the sari has recently become politicised with the digital-movement, "Sari, Not Sorry". Tanya Rawal-Jindia, a gender studies professor at UC Riverside, initiated this anti-xenophobia fashion-campaign on Instagram.
While an international image of the modern style sari may have been popularised by airline flight attendants, each region in the Indian subcontinent has developed, over the centuries, its own unique sari style. Following are other well-known varieties, distinct on the basis of fabric, weaving style, or motif, in the Indian subcontinent
Handloom and textiles
Handloom sari weaving is one of India's cottage industries. The handloom weaving process requires several stages in order to produce the final product. Traditionally the processes of dyeing (during the yarn, fabric, or garment stage), warping, sizing, attaching the warp, weft winding and weaving were done by weavers and local specialists around weaving towns and villages.
Northern and Central styles
Banarasi – Uttar Pradesh
Shalu – Uttar Pradesh
Tanchoi – Uttar Pradesh
Pattu - Himachal Pradesh
Chanderi sari – Madhya Pradesh
Maheshwari – Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh
Kosa silk – Chhattisgarh
Dhokra silk – Madhya Pradesh
Eastern styles
Tant sari – throughout Bangladesh and West Bengal
Baluchari sari – Bishnupur, West Bengal
Kaantha sari – throughout Bengal
Garode / Korial – Murshidabad, West Bengal
Shantipuri cotton – Shantipur, Phulia, West Bengal
Jamdani / Dhakai – Dhaka, Bangladesh
Murshidabad silk – Murshidabad, West Bengal
Rajshahi silk / Eri – Rajshahi, Bangladesh
Dhakai Katan – Dhaka, Bangladesh
Georgette Saree- Bangladesh
Mooga silk – Assam
Mekhla Cotton – Assam
Sambalpuri Silk & Cotton sari – Sambalpur, Odisha
Ikkat Silk & Cotton sari – Bargarh, Odisha
Bomkai sari – Bomkai, Ganjam, Odisha
Khandua Silk & Cotton sari – Nuapatna, Cuttack, Odisha
Pasapali sari – Bargarh, Odisha
Sonepuri Silk & Cotton sari – Subarnapur, Odisha
Berhampuri silk – Behrampur, Odisha
Mattha Silk sari – Mayurbhanj, Odisha
Bapta Silk & Cotton sari – Koraput, Odisha
Kotpad Pata sari – Koraput, Odisha
Tanta Cotton sari – Balasore, Odisha
Manipuri Tant sari – Manipur
Moirang Phi sari – Manipur
Patt Silk sari – Assam
Kotki sari – Orissa
Kotpad sari – Orissa
Western styles
Paithanpattu - Maharashtra
Yeola sari - Maharashtra
Peshwai shalu - Maharashtra
Mahalsa sari - Maharashtra
Narayanpeth - Maharashtra
Khun fabric - Maharashtra
Karvati tussar sari - Maharashtra
Bandhani – Gujarat, Rajasthan, Pakistan, Sindh
Kota doria – Rajasthan, Pakistan, Sindh
Lugade – Maharashtra
Patola – Gujarat
Rogan art saree - Gujarat
Bandhani - Gujarat
Bagru – Rajasthan.
Phulkari - Punjab.
Ajrak - Sindh, Rajasthan, Gujarat
Bhujodi saree - Gujarat
Southern styles
Mysore silk – Karnataka
Kanchipuram Silk (locally called Kanjipuram pattu) – Tamil Nadu
Arani silk - Tamil Nadu
Ilkal sari – Karnataka
Molakalmuru sari – Karnataka
Sulebhavi sari – Sulebhavi, Karnataka
Venkatagiri – Andhra Pradesh
Mangalagiri Silk saris – Andhra Pradesh
Uppada Silk saris – Andhra Pradesh
Chirala saris – Andhra Pradesh
Bandar saris – Andhra Pradesh
Bandarulanka – Andhra Pradesh
Kuppadam saris – Andhra Pradesh
Dharmavaram silk sari – Andhra Pradesh
Chettinad saris – Tamil Nadu
Kumbakonam – Tamil Nadu
Thirubuvanam – Tamil Nadu
Coimbatore cotton – Tamil Nadu
Salem silk – Tamil Nadu
Chinnalampattu or Sungudi – Tamil Nadu
Kandangi – Tamil Nadu
Rasipuram silk saris – Tamil Nadu
Koorai – Tamil Nadu
Arni silk sari – Tamil Nadu
Chennai – Tamil Nadu
Karaikudi – Tamil Nadu
Madurai cotton saris – Tamil Nadu
Tiruchirappalli saris – Tamil Nadu
Nagercoil saris – Tamil Nadu
Thoothukudi – Tamil Nadu
Thanjavur saris – Tamil Nadu
Tiruppur – Tamil Nadu
Kerala sari silk and cotton – Kerala
Balarampuram – Kerala
Mundum Neriyathum – Kerala
Mayilati silk – Kerala
Kannur cotton – Kerala
Kalpathi silk saris – Kerala
Maradaka silk – Kerala
Samudrikapuram silk and cotton – Kerala
Kasargod – Kerala
Pochampally sari or Puttapaka sari – Telangana
Gadwal sari – Telangana
Narayanpet – Telangana
Images
See also
Ghagra choli
Clothing in India
Indian wedding clothes
Lehenga-style sari
Shalwar kameez
Sari cancer
Dhoti
Notes
References
Bibliography
Ambrose, Kay (1950) Classical Dances and Costumes of India. London: A. & C. Black.
Craddock, Norma (1994) Anthills, Split Mothers, and Sacrifice: Conceptions of Female Power in the Mariyamman Tradition. Dissertation, University of California, Berkeley.
External links
Sari vs. salwar kameez on the subcontinent
Indian sari falls from grace as urban women adopt Western styles
Dresses
Indian clothing
Nepalese clothing
Bangladeshi clothing
Pakistani clothing
History of Asian clothing
History of fashion
Sri Lankan clothing
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q%2Abert
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Q*bert
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Q*bert (; also known as Qbert) is an arcade video game developed and published for the North American market by Gottlieb in 1982. It is a 2D action game with puzzle elements that uses isometric graphics to create a pseudo-3D effect. The objective of each level in the game is to change every cube in a pyramid to a target color by making Q*bert, the on-screen character, hop on top of the cube while avoiding obstacles and enemies. Players use a joystick to control the character.
The game was conceived by Warren Davis and Jeff Lee. Lee designed the title character and original concept, which was further developed and implemented by Davis. Q*bert was developed under the project name Cubes.
Q*bert was well-received in arcades and among critics. The game was Gottlieb's most successful video game and is among the most recognized brands from the golden age of arcade games. It has been ported to numerous platforms. The game's success resulted in sequels and the use of the character's likeness in merchandising, such as appearances on lunch boxes, toys, and an animated television show. The Q*bert character became known for his "swearing" and "Q*bertese sound" – an incoherent phrase made of synthesized speech generated by the sound chip and a speech balloon containing a grawlix that appear when he collides with an enemy.
Because the game was developed during the period when Columbia Pictures owned Gottlieb, the intellectual rights to Q*bert remained with Columbia, even after they divested themselves of Gottlieb's assets in 1984. Therefore, the rights have been owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment since its parent, Sony, acquired Columbia in 1989. Q*bert appeared in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph franchise, under license from Sony, and later appeared in the film Pixels.
Gameplay
Q*bert is an action game with puzzle elements played from an axonometric third-person perspective to convey a three-dimensional look. The game is played using a single, diagonally mounted four-way joystick. The player controls Q*bert, who starts each game at the top of a pyramid made of 28 cubes, and moves by hopping diagonally from cube to cube. Landing on a cube causes it to change color, and changing every cube to the target color allows the player to progress to the next stage.
At the beginning, jumping on every cube once is enough to advance. In later stages, each cube must be hit twice to reach the target color. Other times, cubes change color every time Q*bert lands on them, instead of remaining on the target color once they reach it. Both elements are then combined in subsequent stages. Jumping off the pyramid results in the character's death.
The player is impeded by several enemies, introduced gradually to the game:
Coily – Coily first appears as a purple egg that bounces to the bottom of the pyramid and then transforms into a snake that chases Q*bert. He is often considered the main antagonist and Q*bert's arch-nemesis. Q*bert will die if he collides with Coily.
Ugg and Wrongway – Two purple creatures that hop along the sides of the cubes in an Escheresque manner. Starting at either the bottom left or bottom right corner, they keep moving toward the top right or top left side of the pyramid respectively and fall off the pyramid when they reach the end. Both are dangerous. Q*bert will also die if he collides with them.
Slick and Sam – Two green creatures that descend down the pyramid and revert cubes whose color has already been changed. They do not hurt Q*bert, but are usually irritating to the player since they change the color of the cube to the original or former color.
Contact with purple enemies results in a life lost, whereas the green ones are removed from the board upon contact. Colored balls occasionally appear at the second row of cubes and bounce downward; contact with a red ball also results in a life lost, while contact with a green one immobilizes the on-screen enemies for a limited time. Multicolored floating discs on either side of the pyramid serve as an escape from danger, particularly Coily. When Q*bert jumps on a disc, it transports him to the top of the pyramid. If Coily is in close pursuit of the character, he will jump after Q*bert and fall to his death, awarding bonus points. This causes all enemies and balls on the screen to disappear, though they start to return after a few seconds.
Points are awarded for each color change (15 or 25), defeating Coily with a flying disc (500), remaining discs at the end of a stage (at higher stages, 50 or 100) and catching green balls (100) or Slick and Sam (300 each). Bonus points are also awarded for completing a screen, starting at 1,000 points on the first screen of Level 1 and increasing by 250 on each subsequent completion, up to 5,000 after Level 4. Extra lives are granted for reaching certain scores, which are set by the machine operator.
Development
Concept
Programmer Warren Davis wrote that he was inspired by a pattern of hexagons implemented by fellow Gottlieb developer and Mad Planets designer Kan Yabumoto.
In a different telling, the initial concept began when artist Jeff Lee drew a pyramid of cubes inspired by M. C. Escher. Lee believed a game could be derived from the artwork, and created an orange, armless main character. The character jumped along the cubes and shot projectiles, called "mucus bombs", from a tubular nose at enemies. Enemies included a blue creature, later changed purple and named Wrong Way, and an orange creature, later changed green and named Sam. Lee had drawn similar characters since childhood, inspired by characters from comics, cartoons, Mad magazine and by artist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Q*bert's design later included a speech balloon with a string of nonsensical characters, "", which Lee originally presented as a joke.
Implementation
Warren Davis, who was hired to work on the game Protector, noticed Lee's ideas and asked if he could use them to practice programming randomness and gravity as game mechanics. Thus, he added balls that bounce from the pyramid's top to bottom. Because Davis was still learning how to program game mechanics, he wanted to keep the design simple. He also believed games with complex control schemes were frustrating and wanted something that could be played with one hand. To accomplish this, Davis removed the shooting and changed the objective of saving the protagonist from danger. As Davis worked on the game one night, Gottlieb's vice president of engineering, Ron Waxman, noticed him and suggested to change the color of the cubes after the game's character has landed on them. Davis implemented a unique control scheme; a four-way joystick was rotated 45° to match the directions of Q*bert's jumping. Staff members at Gottlieb urged for a more conventional orientation, but Davis stuck to his decision. Davis remembered to have started programming in April 1982, but the project was only put on the schedule as an actual product several months later.
Audio
A MOS Technology 6502 chip that operates at 894 kHz generates the sound effects, and a speech synthesizer by Votrax generates Q*bert's incoherent expressions. The audio system uses 128 B of RAM and 4 KB of EPROM to store the sound data and code to implement it. Like other Gottlieb games, the sound system was thoroughly tested to ensure it would handle daily usage. In retrospect, audio engineer David Thiel commented that such testing minimized time available for creative designing.
Thiel was tasked with using the synthesizer to produce English phrases for the game. However, he was unable to create coherent phrases and eventually chose to string together random phonemes instead. Thiel also believed the incoherent speech was a good fit for the "" in Q*bert's speech balloon. Following a suggestion from technician Rick Tighe, a pinball machine component known as a ‘knocker’ was included to make a loud sound when a character falls off the pyramid. This knocker consists of a solenoid with a plunger that strikes the mounting bracket (which in turn is firmly fastened to the cabinet). Foam padding was added to the area of contact on the bracket; the developers decided the softer sound better matched a fall rather than a loud knocking sound. The cost of installing foam, however, was too expensive and the padding was omitted.
Title
The Gottlieb staff had difficulty naming the game. Aside from the project name "Cubes", it was untitled for most of the development process. The staff agreed the game should be named after the main character, but disagreed on the name. Lee's title for the initial concept—Snots And Boogers—was rejected, as was a list of suggestions compiled from company employees. According to Davis, vice president of marketing Howie Rubin championed as the title. Although staff members argued it was silly and would be impossible to pronounce, a few early test models were produced with as the title on the units' artwork. During a meeting, "Hubert" was suggested, and a staff member thought of combining "Cubes" and "Hubert" into "Cubert". Art director Richard Tracy changed the name to "Q-bert", and the hyphen was later changed to an asterisk. In retrospect, Davis expressed regret for the asterisk, because it prevented the name from becoming a common crossword term and it is a wildcard character for search engines.
Testing
As development neared the production stage, Q*bert underwent location tests in local arcades under its preliminary title , before being widely distributed. According to Jeff Lee, his oldest written record attesting to the game being playable as in a public location, a Brunswick bowling alley, dates back to September 11, 1982. Gottlieb also conducted focus groups, in which the designers observed players through a one-way mirror. The control scheme received a mixed reaction during playtesting; some players adapted quickly while others found it frustrating. Initially, Davis was worried players would not adjust to the different controls; some players would unintentionally jump off the pyramid several times, reaching a game over in about ten seconds. Players, however, became accustomed to the controls after playing several rounds of the game. The different responses to the controls prompted Davis to reduce the game's level of difficulty, a decision that he would later regret.
Release
Q*bert is Gottlieb's fourth video game. A copyright claim registered with the United States Copyright Office by Gottlieb on February 10, 1983 cites the date of publication of Q*bert as October 18, 1982. Video Games reported that the game was sold directly to arcade operators at its public showing at the AMOA show held November 18–20, 1982. Gottlieb offered the machines for $2600 per unit.
Cash Box magazine listed the mass-market US release date as December 1982. The game was distributed in Japan by Konami and Sega in March 1983. It was also released in Europe in March 1983.
Reception
Q*bert is Gottlieb's only video game that earned considerable critical and commercial success, selling around 25,000 arcade cabinets. In the United States, it was among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983. Cabaret and cocktail versions of the game were later produced. The machines have since become collector's items; the rarest of them are the cocktail versions.
When the game was first introduced to a wider industry audience at the November 1982 AMOA show, it was immediately received favorably by the press. Video Games magazine placed Q*bert first in its list of Top Ten Hits, describing it as "the most unusual and exciting game of the show" and stating that "no operator dared to walk away without buying at least one". The Coin Slot reported "Gottlieb's game, Q*BERT, was one of the stars of the show", and predicted that "The game should do very well".
Contemporaneous reviews were equally enthusiastic, and focused on the uniqueness of the gameplay and audiovisual presentation. Roger C. Sharpe of Electronic Games considered it "a potential Arcade Award winner for coin-op game of the year", praising innovative gameplay and outstanding graphics. William Brohaugh of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games described the game as an "all-round winner" that had many strong points. He praised the variety of sound effects and the graphics, calling the colors vibrant. Brohaugh lauded Q*berts inventiveness and appeal, stating that the objective was interesting and unique. Michael Blanchet of Electronic Fun suggested the game might push Pac-Man out of the spotlight in 1983. Neil Tesser of Video Games also likened Q*bert to games released in the early 1980s in Japan, like Pac-Man and Donkey Kong, due to the focus on characters, animation and story lines, as well as the "absence of violence". Computer and Video Games magazine praised the game's graphics and colors.
Electronic Games awarded Q*bert "Most Innovative Coin-op Game" of the year. Video Games Player called it the "Funniest Game of the Year" among arcade games in 1983.
Q*bert continues to be recognized as a significant part of video game history. Author Steven Kent and GameSpy's William Cassidy considered Q*bert one of the more memorable games of its time. Author David Ellis echoed similar statements, calling it a "classic favorite". 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish and Kim Wild of Retro Gamer magazine described the game as difficult yet addictive. Author John Sellers also called Q*bert addictive, and praised the sound effects and three-dimensional appearance of the graphics. Cassidy called the game unique and challenging; he attributed the challenge in part to the control scheme. IGN's Jeremy Dunham believed the controls were poorly designed, describing them as "unresponsive" and "a struggle". He nonetheless considered the game addictive.
Edge magazine attributed the success of the game to the title character. They stated that players could easily relate to Q*bert, particularly because he swore. Computer and Video Games, however, considered the swearing a negative but the character appealing. Cassidy believed the game's appeal lay in the main character. He described Q*bert as cute and having a personality that made him stand out in comparison to other popular video game characters. The authors of High Score! referred to Q*bert as "ultra-endearing alien hopmeister", and the cutest game character of 1982.
Ports
At the 1982 AMOA Show, Parker Brothers secured the license to publish home conversions of the Q*bert arcade game. Parker Brothers first published a port to the Atari 2600, and by the end of 1983, the company also advertised versions for Atari 5200, Intellivision, ColecoVision, the Atari 8-bit computer family, VIC-20, TI-99/4A, and Commodore 64. The release of the Commodore 64 version was noted to lag behind the others but appeared in 1984. Parker Brothers also translated the game into a standalone tabletop electronic game. It uses a VFD screen, and has since become a rare collector's item. Q*bert was also published by Parker Brothers for the Philips Videopac in Europe, by Tsukuda Original for the Othello Multivision in Japan, and by Ultra Games for the NES in North America.
The initial home port for the Atari 2600, the most widespread system at the time, was met with mixed reactions. Video Games warned that buyers of the Atari 2600 version "may find themselves just a little disappointed." They criticized the lack of music, the removal of the characters Ugg and Wrongway, and the system's troubles handling the character sprites at a steady performance. Later, Mark Brownstein of the same magazine was more in favor of the game, but still cited the presence of fewer cubes in the game's pyramidal layout and "pretty poor control" as negatives. Will Richardson of Electronic Games noted a lack in audiovisual qualities and counter-intuitive controls, but commended the gameplay, stating that the game "comes much closer to its source of inspiration than a surface evaluation indicates." Randi Hacker of Electronic Fun with Computers & Games called it a "sterling adaption" Computer and Video Games scored the Atari VCS version 70% in 1989. In 2008, IGN's Levi Buchanan rated it the fourth-worst arcade port for the Atari 2600, mostly because of a lack of jumping animations for enemies, which instead appear instantly on the adjacent cube, making it impossible to know in which direction they are traveling before they land. Entertainment Weekly called Q*Bert one of the top ten games for the Atari 2600 in 2013, saying the port "lost the cool isometric perspective but none of the addictive gameplay."
Other home versions were well-received, with some exceptions. Of the ColecoVision version, Electronic Fun with Computers & Games noted that "Q*bert aficionados will not be disappointed." Brownstein called it one of the best of the authorized versions. Warren Davis also considered the ColecoVision version the most accurate port of the arcade. Computer and Video Games gave the ColecoVision version a 72% score. Brownstein judged the Atari 5200 version inferior to that for the ColecoVision because of the imprecision of the Atari 5200 controller, but noted that "it does tend to grow on you." Video Games identified the Intellivision version as the worst of the available ports, criticizing the system's controller as inadequate for the game. Antic magazine's David Duberman called the Atari 8-bit version "one of the finest translations of an arcade game for the home computer format", and Arthur Leyenberger of Creative Computing listed it as a runner-up for Best Arcade Adaptation to the system, praising its faithful graphics, sound, movement and playability. Softline was more critical, criticizing the Atari version's controls and lack of swearing. The magazine concluded that "the home computer game doesn't have the sense of style of the one in the arcades ... the execution just isn't there." In 1984, the magazine's readers named the game the fifth-worst Atari program of 1983. Computer Games called the C64 version an "absolutely terrific translation" that "almost totally duplicates the arcade game," aside from its lack of synthesized speech. The standalone tabletop was awarded Stand-Alone Game of the Year in Electronic Games. Electronic Gaming Monthly reviewed the NES version in 1989, with four critics scoring it 7, 3, 4 and 4 out of 10.
In 2003, a version for Java-based mobile phones was announced by Sony Pictures Mobile. Reviewers generally acknowledged it as a faithful port of the arcade original, but criticized the controls. Modojo's Robert Falcon stated that the diagonal controls take time to adapt to on a cell phone with traditional directions. Michael French of Pocket Gamer concluded: "You can't escape the fact it doesn't exactly fit on mobile. The graphics certainly do, and the spruced-up sound effects are timeless ... but really, it's a little too perfect a conversion." Airgamer criticized the gameplay as monotonous and the difficulty as frustrating. By contrast, Wireless Gaming Review called it "one of the best of mobile's retro roundup."
On February 22, 2007, Q*bert was released on the PlayStation 3's PlayStation Network. It features upscaled and filtered graphics, an online leaderboard for players to post high scores, and Sixaxis motion controls. The game received a mixed reception. IGN's Jeremy Dunham and GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann did not enjoy the motion controls and said that the game was a title only for nostalgic players. Eurogamer.net's Richard Leadbetter judged the game's elements "too simplistic and repetitive to make them worthwhile in 2007." In contrast, 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish considered the title worth purchasing, citing its addictive gameplay.
Legacy
According to Jeremy Parish, Q*bert is "one of the higher-profile titles of the classic era". In describing Q*berts legacy, Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot referred to the game as a "rare arcade success". In 2008, Guinness World Records ranked it behind 16 other arcade games in terms of their technical, creative and cultural impact. Though successful, the creators of the game did not receive royalties, as Gottlieb had no such program in place at the time. Davis and Lee nonetheless expressed pride about the game continuing to be remembered fondly.
Market impact
Q*bert became one of the most merchandised arcade games behind Pac-Man, although according to John Sellers it was not nearly as successful as that franchise or Donkey Kong. The character's likeness appears on various items including coloring books, sleeping bags, frisbees, board games, wind-up toys, and stuffed animals. In a flyer distributed in 1983, Gottlieb claimed over 125 licensed products. However, the video game crash of 1983 depressed the market, and the game's popularity began to decline by 1984.
In the years following its release, Q*bert inspired many other games with similar concepts. The magazines Video Games and Computer Games both commented on the trend with features about Q*bert-like games in 1984. They listed Mr. Cool by Sierra On-Line, Frostbite by Activision, Q-Bopper by Accelerated Software, Juice by Tronix, Quick Step by Imagic, Flip & Flop and Boing by First Star Software, Pharaoh's Pyramid by Master Control Software, Pogo Joe by Screenplay, Rabbit Transit by Starpath, as games which had been inspired by Q*bert. Further titles that have been identified as Q*bert-like games include Cubit by Micromax, J-bird by Orion Software, and in the UK Bouncer by Acornsoft, Hubert by Blaby Computer Games, Pogo by Ocean, Spellbound by Beyond and Vector Hopper by Kristof Tuts.
In other media
In 1983, Q*bert was adapted into an animated cartoon as part of Saturday Supercade on CBS, which features segments based on video game characters from the golden age of video arcade games. Saturday Supercade was produced by Ruby-Spears Productions, the Q*bert segments between 1983 and 1984. The show is set in a United States, 1950s era town called "Q-Burg", and stars Q*bert as a high school student, altered to include arms, hands, jacket, and sneakers. He shoots black projectiles from his nose, what he calls "Slippy Dew", to make his enemies slip. Characters frequently say puns that add the letter "Q" to words.
Q*bert is seen being played in the 1984 film Moscow on the Hudson starring Robin Williams.
The 1993 IBM PC role-playing game Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds has a segment where the player has to solve a pyramid puzzle as a homage to Q*bert. In the 2009 action-adventure game Ghostbusters: The Video Game, a Q*bert arcade cabinet can be seen in the Ghostbusters headquarters.
Q*bert characters appear in Disney's Wreck-It Ralph franchise.
Q*bert appears in the 2015 film Pixels. as a supporting character.
In 2014, Q*bert makes a cameo appearance in the RadioShack Super Bowl XLVIII commercial "The '80s Called".
The game has been referenced in several animated television series: Family Guy, Futurama, The Simpsons, Robot Chicken, Mad, and South Park.
High scores
On November 28, 1983, Rob Gerhardt reached a record score of 33,273,520 points in a Q*bert marathon. He held it for almost 30 years, until George Leutz from Brooklyn, New York played one game of Q*bert for eighty-four hours and forty-eight minutes on February 14–18, 2013 at Richie Knucklez' Arcade in Flemington, New Jersey. He scored 37,163,080 points.
Doris Self, credited by Guinness World Records as the "oldest competitive female gamer", set the tournament record score of 1,112,300 for Q*bert in 1984 at the age of 58. Her record was surpassed by Drew Goins on June 27, 1987 with a score of 2,222,220. Self continually attempted to regain the record until her death in 2006.
On November 18, 2012, George Leutz broke the Q*Bert tournament world record live at the Kong Off 2 event at The 1up Arcade and Bar in Denver, Colorado. Leutz scored 3,930,990 points in just under eight hours, earning 1.5 million points on his first life, beating Self's score using a single life. Leutz's score was verified by Twin Galaxies. The video ends at a score of 3.7 million points, 1,500,000 points over the previous record.
Updates, remakes, and sequels
Faster Harder More Challenging Q*bert
Believing that the original game was too easy, Davis initiated development of Faster Harder More Challenging Q*bert in 1983, which increases the difficulty, introduces Q*bertha, and adds a bonus round. The project was canceled. Davis released the ROM image onto the web in December 1996.
Q*bert's Quest
Gottlieb released the pinball game Q*berts Quest in 1983. It has two pairs of flippers in an "X" formation and uses audio from the arcade game. Gottlieb produced fewer than 900 units, but in Japan Game Machine listed Q*bert's Quest in their June 1, 1983 issue as being the second most-successful flipper unit of the year.
Q*bert's Qubes
Several video game sequels were released over the years, but did not reach the same level of success as the original. The first, titled Q*bert's Qubes, shows a copyright for 1983 on its title screen, whereas the instruction manual cites a 1984 copyright. It was manufactured by Mylstar Electronics and uses the same hardware as the original. The game features Q*bert, but introduces new enemies: Meltniks, Shoobops, and Rat-A-Tat-Tat. The player navigates the protagonist around a plane of cubes while avoiding enemies. Jumping on a cube causes it to rotate, changing the color of the visible sides of the cube. The goal is to match a line of cubes to a target sample; later levels require multiple rows to match. Though part of a popular franchise, the game's release was hardly noticed. Parker Brothers showcased home versions of Q*bert's Qubes at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in January 1985. Q*bert's Qubes was ported to the ColecoVision and Atari 2600. Version for Atari 8-bit computers and the Commodore 64 were referred to in the instructions of the released conversions. The Atari 8-bit version has not yet been found, but Games That Weren't tracked down a preview of the C64 version in 2017.
MSX Q*bert (1986)
Konami, who had distributed the original Q*bert to Japanese arcades in 1983, produced a different game, that kept the title Q*bert, released in Japan and Europe for MSX computers in 1986. The main character is a little dragon, and the mechanics are based on Q*bert's Qubes. Each of the 50 stages has a different pattern of cubes. The competitive 2-player mode assigns each side a different pattern, and the players score points either by completing their pattern first or by pushing the other off the board.
Q*bert for Game Boy
Developed by Realtime Associates and published by Jaleco in 1992, this version has 64 boards in different shapes.
Q*bert 3
Q*bert 3 for the Super NES was developed by Realtime Associates and published by NTVIC in 1992. Jeff Lee worked on the graphics. It has gameplay similar to the original, but like the Game Boy game, has larger levels of varying shapes. In addition to enemies from the first game, it introduces Frogg, Top Hat, and Derby.
Q*bert (1999)
Q*bert is a remake of the 1982 arcade game of the same name with 3D graphics. It was developed by Artech Studios and released by Hasbro Interactive on the PlayStation and Microsoft Windows in 1999 and on the Dreamcast in 2000.
Q*bert (2000) for Game Boy Color
Q*bert 2004
In 2004, Sony Pictures released a sequel for Adobe Flash titled Q*bert 2004, containing a faithful rendition of the original arcade game, along with 50 levels that use new board layouts and six new visual themes. Q*Bert Deluxe for iOS devices was initially released as a rendition of the arcade game, but later received updates with the themes and stages from Q*Bert 2004.
Q*bert 2005
In 2005, Sony Pictures released Q*bert 2005 as a download for Windows and as a Flash browser applet, featuring 50 different levels.
Q*bert Rebooted
On July 2, 2014, Gonzo Games and Sideline amusement announced Q*bert Rebooted to be released on Steam, iOS and Android. Versions for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita were released on February 17, 2015 in North America and February 18, 2015 in Europe. It was released on February 12, 2016 for the Xbox One. According to Mark Caplan, Vice President, Consumer Products, Worldwide Marketing & Distribution at Sony Pictures Entertainment, the release was motivated by "renewed interest in Q*bert, in part due to the cameo in the recent Wreck-It Ralph animated feature film".
Q*bert Rebooted contains a port of the classic arcade game alongside a new playing mode that uses hexagonal shapes, increasing the number of possible movement directions to six. Additionally, the 'Rebooted' mode features new enemy types, including a boxing glove that punches Q*bert off the levels and a treasure chest that tries to avoid him. The game has 5 different stage designs spread across 40 levels, which contain three rounds and a bonus round and have to be completed with 5 lives. Gems are collected to unlock different skins for the Q*bert character, and completing levels multiple times while reaching specific time and score goals is awarded with stars that enable access to more levels.
Q*bert (2019)
On October 11, 2019, an updated version of Q*bert developed by Lucky-Kat games in association with Sony Pictures was published via the iOS app store.
Notes
References
External links
Q*bert can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive.
1982 video games
Arcade video games
Atari 2600 games
Atari 5200 games
Atari 8-bit family games
Cancelled ZX Spectrum games
ColecoVision games
Commodore 64 games
VIC-20 games
Dreamcast games
Fictional humanoids
Game Boy games
Gottlieb video games
IOS games
Intellivision games
Mobile games
MSX games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
Q*bert
Parker Brothers video games
PlayStation 3 games
PlayStation 4 games
PlayStation Network games
PlayStation Vita games
Ultra Games video games
VAP (company) games
Video games scored by George Sanger
Video games scored by Jake Kaufman
Video games adapted into television shows
Video games developed in the United States
Video games inspired by M. C. Escher
Video games with isometric graphics
Magnavox Odyssey 2 games
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tlaxcala
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Tlaxcala
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Tlaxcala ( , , ; from ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala (), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 60 municipalities and the capital city is Tlaxcala de Xicohténcatl.
It is located in east-central Mexico, in the altiplano region, with the eastern portion dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is bordered by the states of Puebla to the north, east and south, México to the west and Hidalgo to the northwest. It is the smallest state of the republic, accounting for only 0.2% of the country's territory.
The state is named after its capital, Tlaxcala, which was also the name of the Pre-Columbian city and culture. The Tlaxcalans allied themselves with the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs, with concessions from the Spanish that allowed the territory to remain mostly intact throughout 300 years of colonial period. After Mexican Independence, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, until 1857 when it was admitted as a state of the federation.
Most of the state's economy is based on agriculture, light industry and tourism. The tourist industry is rooted in Tlaxcala's long history with major attractions being archeological sites such as Cacaxtla and colonial constructions in and around Tlaxcala city.
Name
The name Tlaxcala pre-dates the state by centuries; it derives from the name of the capital city, which was also used to denote the territory controlled by this city in pre-Hispanic times. According to some historians, the name comes from an ancient word (), which meant 'crag'; however, an alternative etymology stems from the Nahuatl word which means 'place of corn tortillas'. The Aztec glyph that referred to this place has both elements, two green hills and two hands holding a corn tortilla.
The letter 'x' in the name reflects the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative , a historical phoneme present in Nahuatl and in Old Spanish. The conquistadors transcribed this sound using that letter in the Spanish language at the time of colonization and also when codifying the alphabets of the indigenous languages in the Americas for the first time. Due to the evolution of the coronal fricatives that took place in Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries, transitioned into a voiceless velar fricative (similar to a strong 'H') at the beginning of a word or intervocalically, while it turned into a voiceless alveolar fricative at the end of a syllable. Thus, the pronunciation of Tlaxcala at the time of the sibilant shift transitioned from to . However, the realization is also present due to spelling pronunciation after the Spanish orthographic reform of 1815, which replaced the letter 'x' with 'j' in words that previously had that transitioned into velar , leaving the letter 'x' with the current pronunciation .
Coat-of-arms
The state's coat of arms is based on the coat of arms that was granted to the city in 1535. Its different elements have the following meanings: the red background represents courage; the castle symbolizes defensive power; the eagle with its open wings represents the spirit of vigilance; the border symbolizes protection and compensation; the green palms stand for victory, and the crowns are the symbol of royal authority.
The letter refers to Joanna of Castile, the mother of Charles I of Spain; the letter K (for Karl) represents the name of the king himself; and the letter F (for Felipe) belongs to Philip, later Philip II of Spain. The human skulls and cross-bones represent those who died during the Conquest.
Geography
Political geography
The state of Tlaxcala is located slightly east of center of Mexico between 97°37′07″ and 98°42′51″W and 19°05′43″ and 19°44′07″N. It is bordered by the states of Hidalgo, Puebla and Mexico. It is the smallest state in terms of territory with only about , representing about 0.2% of the entire country. The state is divided into 60 municipalities, the largest of which are Tlaxcala, Apizaco, Huamantla, Zacatelco, Calpulalpan, Chiautempan and Tlaxco.
The political heart of the state is its capital, Tlaxcala, even though it is not the state's largest city. Tlaxcala lies at the foot of the northwestern slope of La Malinche volcano in the Sierra Madre Oriental. It is one of the oldest cities in Mexico, founded as an organized civilization before the 15th century. The Spanish political entity was founded by Hernán Cortés between 1520 and 1525 and given the Spanish name of New City of Our Lady of the Assumption. Its economy is still based on the traditional enterprises of agriculture, textiles, and the commerce of products of native peoples such as the Otomí, especially on market days. Other important cities include Santa Ana Chiautempan, the most populous city in the state, Apizaco, noted for its textile production and Huamantla, a farming and cattle town.
Natural geography and climate
Tlaxcala is a land-locked state situated on the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt. The average altitude for the state is 2,230 meters above sea level, making it a bit higher than the Valley of Mexico just to the southwest. The western part of the state lies on the central plateau of Mexico while the east is dominated by the Sierra Madre Oriental, home of the 4,461 meter La Malinche volcano. Most of the state is rugged terrain dominated by ridges and deep valleys, along with protruding igneous rock formations. This ruggedness, along with large-scale weather phenomena such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone, gives the state a complex climate. Overall rain patterns for the state are about in the summer rainy season and in the winter. Locally, however, this varies dramatically between the drier plateaus and valleys and the wetter mountains. Variations in altitude produce sub-climates between semi-tropical to temperate, with frosts likely in the higher elevations during the winter. Temperate forests of pine, fir (Abies religiosa), evergreen oak (Quercus ilex) and junipers (Juniperus communis) dominate the mountain highlands while the flatlands, with their drier climate, are characterized by agaves and prickly pear cactus (Opuntia).
The state has no major lakes or large rivers. The principal water sources are the Atoyac-Zahuapan basin and the reservoir of the Atlangatepec dam.
Economy
Agriculture
Much of Tlaxcala's economy is based on agriculture, livestock and forestry. Principle crops for the state are maize and barley, along with important quantities of wheat, beans, animal feed and potatoes, using about 60% of the state's land. Although the state has 15 dams and 483 wells to provide water for agriculture, 88% of the state's agriculture is dependent on the summer rainy season, leaving it vulnerable to climatic phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña.
Most livestock raised in the state is beef cattle and dairy cows along with the renowned fighting bulls. Other important animals are pigs, sheep, horses, poultry and bees. About 35,842 hectares, or 6.7% of the state is dedicated to livestock. Due to the limited surface water, there is no commercial fishing or fish-farming here.
The state's forestry enterprises are located in the municipalities of Tlaxco, Terrenate, Altzayanca, Calpulalpan and Nanacamilpa, with about 35,842 hectares of land dedicated to this. However, the amount of land dedicated to forestry has been declining in recent years. To combat this, in 2007 2,484,687 trees were planted on about 2,477 hectares of land.
Industry and commerce
Light manufacturing has developed on a significant scale in the state, especially products produced for export outside the state. These products include clothing, foam and plastic products, paper products, publishing, textiles and automobile works. Organized industrial areas in the state include the Malinche Corridor, the Apizaco-Xalostoc-Huamantla Corridor, the Panzacola Corridor, the “industrial cities” of Xicohténcatli I, Xicohténcatli II and Xicohténcatli III, the industrial parks of Calpulalpan, Xiloxoxtla, Ixtacuixtla, and Nanacamilpa as well as the industrial areas of Velasco and Atlangatepec.
Most commercial activity in the state occurs in the municipalities of Apizaco, Chiautempan, Tlaxcala, Huamantla, San Pablo del Monte and Zacatelco. In the last economic census in 2003, INEGI registered 21,307 commercial establishments in the state, most of these being small individually or family-owned enterprises. There are also fifty-nine tianguis (tent markets which are movable), seventeen municipal markets, eleven malls, twenty-six department stores and fourteen commercial centers of other types.
In addition, the state is an important link between Mexico's major eastern port, Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico, and Mexico City, in the interior.
Tourism
Tourist attractions primarily consist of pre-Hispanic archaeological sites and colonial establishments, with examples of both religious and civil constructions. However, in comparison with the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala's archaeological and colonial sites are barely known. Tlaxcala's major attractions are the archaeological sites of Cacaxtla, Xochitécatl and Tizatlán, which were not fully investigated until the 20th century, unlike most sites within the state. When Hernán Cortés came, Mesoamerican civilization here was considered to be in the Post-Classic stage, and the kingdom was filled with temples, palaces and grand plazas that impressed the Spaniards.
Tlaxcala's two major archaeological sites are Xochitécatl and Cacaxtla. Xochitécatl was built between 300 and 400 A.D., and probably reached its peak between 600 and 800 A.D. There is evidence that occupation of the sites extends much further back in time than the early city’s known habitation. The ceremonial center is situated on a hill with four main structures called “The Spiral Building,” “The Volcano Base,” “The Serpent Pyramid” and “The Flower Pyramid.” The last is the most important, and is topped by two monolithic pillars. This pyramid is the fourth largest in Mexico (by base size), and the Spiral Pyramid is one of the few circular ones ever to be found.
Cacaxtla was built later than Xochitécatl, between 600 and 900 A.D., and is the far larger of the two. It was only re-discovered in 1975, by farmers from the nearby town of San Miguel del Milago, who began discovering archaeological artifacts in the fields. The main attractions here are the murals, painted with pigments sourced from local minerals. Some of the best works include the Scorpion Man at the Venus Temple, Cacaxtli with corn plant at the Red Temple, the Battle Mural (which is 22 meters long, portraying 48 human figures), and the Bird Man and the Jaguar Man found in “Porch A.”
Another interesting archeological site is called Tizatlán. This site does not contain pyramids; instead the buildings here are made of adobe brick, a very unusual construction material for this place and time. The site contains two stucco-covered altars with murals that follow the Borgia Group codex style with images of gods and important human figures, including gods such as Tezcatlipoca, Tlaloc and Mayahuel and were the scene of human sacrifices.
The state contains more than 1,000 archeological sites with only seven fully excavated and open to the public. The last of these is Ocotelulco, situated on a hill near the town of San Francisco Ocotelulco. It is a collection of dwellings with raised areas for ceremonial purposes. Its altar is similar to the one found at Tezcatlipoca, decorated with colorful frescos with images of Quetzalcoatl, Xolotl and Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli. These images are in the style of the Post-classic period and have been dated to about 1450.
Tlaxcala is home to some of the earliest colonial architecture and art. The oldest church in Mexico, built in 1521 and the first monasteries, built by the Franciscans, were built here in 1524. Many other churches and monasteries were built in the state in the 16th and early 17th centuries. Just about every municipality has colonial-era structures such as churches, municipal palaces and plazas but the best examples are in and around the city of Tlaxcala. The Temple and Ex-monastery of San Francisco, built in the early 16th century, is located about 14 km southeast of the capital city. Only the church retains its original function; the former monastery now houses a school. The State Government Palace is located in the city proper and was creating by conjoining the former mayor's house, the treasury and the state warehouse, which is architecturally held together with a Plateresque facade. The city's cathedral, called Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, built in the 16th century. Its main altar preserves a Baroque altarpiece with a depiction of the baptism of the Lord Maxixcatzin, with Hernán Cortés and Malinche as godparents. A bit later, the Basilica of Octolan was built in the 17th and 18th centuries to comply with a demand of the Virgin Mary who reportedly appeared before Juan Diego Bernardino here in 1541. It is considered be the culmination of the Baroque style in Tlaxcala. The state also contains 140 haciendas, which vary in their state of conservation but some are promoted for tourism.
Regional festivals here are known for dances featuring men in mustached masks (imitating Spaniards), large-plumed hats and colorful garb. This is especially apparent during Carnival, when over 4,000 folk dancers from different villages come to the capital to celebrate. In a village just north of the capital, in San Juan Totolac, every year they commemorate the departure of 400 families in 1591 who went north to colonize the land known as the Great Chichimeca, which primarily covers the northeast of modern Mexico. Streets in Huamantla are decorated with flowers in intricate designs on “La Noche que Nadie Duerme” (The Night No One Sleeps) in August. Many other festivals are in the state, many of which display the state's long tradition of bullfighting.
Ecotourism is relatively new here and much of it centers on La Malinche National Park, home to the La Malinche volcano, which is 4,461 m (14,636 ft) high. Here one can camp, mountain bike, horseback ride, rappel and climb the volcano itself. At the peak of La Malinche, it is possible to see the volcanos of Popocatépetl, Iztaccíhuatl (in Puebla/Mexico State) and Pico de Orizaba (Veracruz).
Ninety five percent of those visiting Tlaxcala are from Mexico and most of these are from neighboring Puebla state. Foreign visitors are mostly German, French and Swiss who are interested in Mexican history.
Sex trade and human trafficking
Tenancingo, a town in Tlaxcala, is the beginning of a pipeline in an illicit, international trafficking trade, and considered to be the center for sex trafficking in Mexico. Roots of the practice of sex trafficking date back to the 1960s. An unnamed Mexican charity told the BBC that it estimated of the 10,000 inhabitants of Tenancingo, 1,000 are sex traffickers. Sexual exploitation, human trafficking, and pimping are a major source of income for the town, although an exact dollar amount is not known. These practices have been denounced by three NGOs. Modern-day investigations (as well as the 2014 documentary “Pimp City: A Journey to the Center of the Sex Trade”) by the US Department of Justice have revealed Tenancingo to be a hub for providing female sex slaves to the United States. According to the documentary, the entire political structure and police force of the town are implicated in human trafficking and the sex trade.
Demographics
Tlaxcala is the smallest and one of the most densely populated of the states of Mexico. The state comprises only 0.2% of the nation's territory, but had a population of 1,068,207 in 2005. Population density ranges from 50 people/km2 in the rural municipality of Atlangatepec to 269 people/km2 in the city of Tlaxcala.
The largest population centers are Tlaxcala, Huamantla, Apizaco, San Pablo del Monte, Zacatelco and Chiautempan, whose 361,328 inhabitants represent over 33% of the state's population. However, the largest population increases are occurring in the municipalities of Tzompamtepec, Yauhquemecan, and Santa Isabel Xiloxoxtla. Of Tlaxcala's 60 municipalities, ten have a poverty index rating of “very low,” twenty-nine have a rating of “low,” seventeen have a ranking of “medium” and only four have a ranking of “high.”
According to data through the II Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) with census date of June 12, 2010, the state of Tlaxcala until this year had a total of 1,169,936 inhabitants; of that number, 565,775 were men and 604,161 were women. The annual growth rate for the entity during the period 2005-2010 was 1.8%.
The average size of households in the state is 4.3, while the national level is 3.9, according to the 2010 population census, however, by municipality varies from 3.8 to 5 persons per household.
In the same year (2010) on average in the state of Tlaxcala 293 people per square kilometer, while nationally there are 57 people per square kilometer. Until that year 78% of the population lives in urban areas and 22% in rural, data also the II Census of Population and Housing conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography (INEGI) in 2010.
History
The area known as Tlaxcala has officially been a number of different entities, from an indigenous kingdom during the Pre-Columbian era, a district of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain, a territory of the Republic of Mexico, and finally a “free and sovereign" state in Mexico. Tlaxcalans consider their fight to remain a distinct entity a hallmark of their history, resisting in turn the Aztecs, the Spanish colonial government, the various monarchies and republics of an independent Mexico, and even the claims on its territory by its neighboring state of Puebla.
Pre-Columbian
Evidence of human occupation in what is now the state of Tlaxcala extends back to 12,000 BCE, with the earliest identified cultures being Tzompantepec (1700–1200 BCE), Tlatempa (1200–800 BCE), and Texoloc (800–400 BCE). The Toltecs also had a presence, but the first major native culture here was the Olmec Xicalanca. This civilization fell into decline after 900 AD and was replaced by a sub-group of the Chichimecas. In the 14th century, the Chichimecas were driven out by the Tlaxcalans, a Nahua people and the indigenous ethnicity that still dominates the state. The Tlaxcalans founded the city of Tlaxcala and then began to subdue the surrounding peoples. Eventually, the Tlaxcalan nation would evolve into a confederation of four sub-states called Tepectipac, Ocotelulco, Tizatlán and Quiahuixtlán.
The pre-Columbian Tlaxcalan state developed roughly at the same time as another Nahua people, the Mexica, were building the vast Aztec Empire with its capital at Tenochtitlan. From the 14th century, these two nations were in near constant state of war. However, even though the Aztecs managed to build the largest empire in Mesoamerica, they never did conquer Tlaxcala. By the time the Spanish arrived in the 16th century, Tlaxcala was an independent enclave nearly completely surrounded by the Aztec Empire. This left Tlaxcala economically isolated, leaving it without goods such as cotton and salt. This and the constant warfare with the Mexica would give the Tlaxcalans reasons to ally with the Spanish.
Spanish era
Conquest
When Hernán Cortés and the Spanish landed on the Veracruz coast, they were greeted by the Totonacas, who were a subject people of the Aztecs and saw the Spanish as a way to free themselves of rule from Tenochtitlan. They allied with the Spanish, and when Cortés decided to go inland to Tenochtitlan, the Totonacas guided them to other subject peoples who would be willing to ally with them, including and especially the Tlaxcalans. However, after entering Tlaxcalan territory, the Spanish were met by a hostile Tlaxcalan force of 30,000. The Tlaxcalans fought the Spanish and their indigenous allies in a number of battles, with the Spanish inflicting heavy casualties on the Tlaxcalans despite their superior numbers. The Spaniards’ prowess in battle impressed the Tlaxcalan King Xīcohtēncatl Āxāyacatzin, who then not only allowed the Spanish to pass through his territory, but also invited them into the capital city of Tlaxcala.
Cortés stayed in the city of Tlaxcala for 20 days and forged an alliance with the Tlaxcalans to bring down Tenochtitlan. Cortes added 6,000 Tlaxcala warriors to his ranks and arrived to Tenochtitlan in November 1519. They were received by Emperor Moctezuma II, who understood the potential danger of a Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance. Despite initial friendliness, intrigue and siege of the capital followed, with the Aztec backlash sending Cortes’ very wounded army limping back to Tlaxcalan territory. The Tlaxcalan king gave the Spanish refuge but promised further assistance in the conquest of Tenochtitlan only under certain conditions including perpetual exemption from tribute of any sort, part of the spoils of war, and control of two provinces that bordered Tlaxcala. Cortés agreed. Cortes and the Tlaxcalans returned to Tenochtitlan in December 1520. After many battles, including street-by-street fighting in Tenochtitlan itself, the Aztec Empire fell in August 1521.
Colonial period
Historian Charles Gibson published (1952) a path breaking study of Tlaxcala, from the indigenous viewpoint. He particularly focused on ways that the Tlaxcalans shaped the polity's history for its own advantage, and how the four-part organization of the polity was maintained during the early colonial era. A particularly important source for the early colonial history of Tlaxcala is a set of records in the indigenous language of Nahuatl, now published as The Tlaxcalan Actas. These town council records are a type of indigenous language source used by scholars in the field known as the New Philology. James Lockhart drew on these materials in his study The Nahuas After the Conquest For the most part, the Spanish kept their promise to the Tlaxcalans. Unlike Tenochtitlan and other cities, Tlaxcala was not destroyed after the Conquest. They also allowed many Tlaxcalans to retain their indigenous names. The Tlaxcalans were mostly able to keep their traditional form of government. For 300 years of colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain rule, the Spanish mostly held true to the Tlaxcalans' conditions of 1520.
One of the major cultural interventions, however, was the evangelization of the region. Franciscan friars arrived in 1524. They built monasteries and churches and renamed the city of Tlaxcala “Nuestra Señora de la Asunción.” The first archbishopric of New Spain was established here. Most of the conversion work was done by 1530. In 1535, the city of Tlaxcala received its coat-of-arms from the Spanish king.
Unlike the rest of Mexico, Tlaxcala was under the direct protection of the Spanish crown, part of its reward for its support in the Conquest. This shielded the Tlaxcalans from the worst of the oppression of the native peoples, which reached its peak in the 1530s. In fact, Tlaxcalan allegiance to the Spaniards became an enduring partnership. Tlaxcalan forces joined Spanish forces to put down revolts such as the Mixtón Rebellion and accompanied them to conquer places such as Guatemala and northern Mexico.
In the late 16th century, Christianized and sedentary Tlaxcalans were recruited to settle and pacify the Chichimecas in what is now northeast Mexico. Tlaxcalans were used not only to fight but also to establish towns in villages in this nomadic people's territory, to be a kind of example to them. Over 400 Tlaxcalan families would move north, but not until they negotiated and won special concessions from the Spanish. They included orders called “mandamientos de amparo” to ensure that these families’ heirs would not lose the lands that were being granted to them. They also included freedom from tributes, taxes and personal service in perpetuity. These settlers were instrumental in pacifying this part of Mexico, and although these families eventually intermarried with the Chichimeca, they never completely lost their Tlaxcalan identity.
During the colonial period, the Tlaxcalans were successful in keeping the concessions granted to them by the Spanish crown. In 1585, when the territory of Tlaxcala was formally established, it roughly had the same borders as the old kingdom of Tlaxcala. While the neighboring territory of Puebla had some authority over this territory, the city of Tlaxcala remained independently governed until Mexican Independence in 1821.
However, the indigenous population who had been living in Tlaxcala were somehow reduced to a small minority. Tlaxcala in 1519 had a population estimated at 150,000 to 500,000, the larger estimate perhaps including allies, such as those in the adjacent Pueblo valley. According to Catholic Encyclopedia, in 1625 the formerly sizeable city of Tlaxcala had only 700 people. The decline in the population was due to epidemics, emigrations, and the construction of a canal which served the Mexican Valley.
Post-independence era
After victory in the Mexican War of Independence and the end of the First Mexican Empire with the 1824 Constitution of Mexico, on November 24, 1824, Tlaxcala was declared a federal territory, Tlaxcala Territory. Tlaxcala was finally admitted as a state of the federation on December 9, 1856. The state was subdivided into five provinces, but had roughly the same dimensions, but somewhat less than before. Later, the state was able to recover some of that lost territory when the region known as Calpulapan was reunited in the 1860s. The state was governed from 1885 to 1911 by Próspero Cahuantzi, one of the few Mexicans of indigenous origin to be a state governor.
Gastronomy
The cuisine of the state is similar to that of neighboring Hidalgo, Puebla and Federal District of Mexico City, featuring dishes such as barbacoa, mixiote, tamales, tacos, quesadillas and more. The state is known for the use of a number of ingredients in these dishes. One of these is the use of a number of edible insects, many of which are considered delicacies, such as escamoles (ant eggs) and maguey larvae, as well as others locally known as padrecitos, mecapales, toritos and tenanas. Vegetable items include a wide variety of mushrooms (often harvested from the wild), squash flowers, chilacayote, xoconostle (a kind of cactus fruit), nopal and epazote. Like neighboring Puebla, moles are an important element, especially for dishes made for special occasions. Two local versions include mole prieto and mole de ladrillo.
Education
The formal state educational system of the state accommodates only 53% of eligible schoolchildren. Almost all of the rest are schooled in pre-schools, indigenous educational systems and other centers. Primary and secondary education is mostly provided by the state Secretary of Education. Indigenous education is a system of preschools and primary schools which meet the cultural demands of indigenous populations of the state. These are largely located in the municipalities of Ixtenco, Contla de Juan C., San Pablo del Monte, Teolocholco, Tetlanohcan and la Magdalena.
High school and vocational education is provided by state school systems named CBTIS, CETIS, CECYTE, CBTA, COBAT, and CONALEP. Most of these schools are of the vocational type. Higher education is provided by both public and prívate institutions, with the most important of these being the Universidad Autónoma de Tlaxcala (UAT), which also offers the widest range of majors. Other public universities and colleges include the Instituto Tecnológico de Apizaco, Instituto Tecnológico Agropecuario de Xocoyucan, Escuela Normal Estatal Lic. Benito Juárez, and the Universidad Tecnológica de Tlaxcala. Private institutions include the Universidad del Valle, Universidad de Calpulalpan, Instituto Tecnológico de Tlaxcala and UPAEP Tlaxcala.
In addition to traditional centers of education there are state-run technical training centers, which are considered to be an educational priority for Tlaxcala. These centers train people with short courses with industrial or trade skills. Some of these centers include the Centro de Capacitación Tecnológica Industrial (CECATI) and the Instituto de capacitación para el Trabajo en Tlaxcala (ICATLAX).
The state also has a library system with 129 public libraries located in 59 municipalities, with a collection of 588,758 volumes.
Media
Newspapers of Tlaxcala include: El Sol de Tlaxcala, and Síntesis, El Periódico de Tlaxcala.
See also
Estado de México
References
External links
Government of the State of Tlaxcala
States of Mexico
Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt
1857 establishments in Mexico
States and territories established in 1857
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All Along the Watchtower
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"All Along the Watchtower" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan from his eighth studio album, John Wesley Harding (1967). The song was written by Dylan and produced by Bob Johnston. The song's lyrics, which in its original version contain twelve lines, feature a conversation between a joker and a thief. The song has been subject to various interpretations; some reviewers have noted that it echoes lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5–9. Dylan has released several different live performances, and versions of the song are included on some of his subsequent greatest hits compilations.
Covered by numerous artists, "All Along the Watchtower" is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded with the Jimi Hendrix Experience for their third studio album, Electric Ladyland (1968). The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylan's original recording, became a Top 20 single in 1968, received a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2001, and was ranked 48th in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004 (40th in the 2021 version). Dylan first played the song live in concert on the Bob Dylan and the Band 1974 Tour, his first tour since 1966. His live performances have been influenced by Hendrix's cover, to the extent that they have been called covers of a cover. The singer has performed the song live more than any of his other ones, with over 2,250 recitals.
Bob Dylan original version
Background and recording
Following a motorcycle accident in July 1966, Dylan spent the next 18 months recuperating at his home in Woodstock and writing songs. According to Dylan biographer Clinton Heylin, all the songs for John Wesley Harding, Dylan's eighth studio album, were written and recorded during a six-week period at the end of 1967. With one child born in early 1966 and another in mid-1967, Dylan had settled into family life. Dylan has claimed that he thought of the song during a thunderstorm. He recorded "All Along the Watchtower" on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Studio A in Nashville, Tennessee, the same studio where he had completed Blonde on Blonde the previous year. Accompanying Dylan, who played acoustic guitar and harmonica, were two Nashville veterans from the Blonde on Blonde sessions: Charlie McCoy on bass guitar and Kenneth Buttrey on drums. The producer was Bob Johnston, who produced Dylan's two previous albums, Highway 61 Revisited in 1965 and Blonde on Blonde in 1966, and the sound engineer was Charlie Bragg.
The final version of "All Along the Watchtower" resulted from two different takes during the second of three John Wesley Harding sessions. The session opened with five takes of the song, the third and fifth of which were spliced to create the album track. According to Gray, as with most of the album's selections, the song is a dark, sparse work that stands in stark contrast with Dylan's previous recordings of the mid-1960s.
Composition and lyrical interpretation
Music
Musicologist Wilfrid Mellers, noting the biblical references "All Along the Watchtower", wrote that the song "heroically confronts, in grandly swinging Aeolian melody, deeply oscillating bass and thrusting rhythm, the chaos of fallen man". Mellers considered that the sense of threat expressed in the lyrics was "not exterior to the tune which remains, in its noble arches over its gravely descending bass, unruffled".
Musicology scholar Albin Zak finds a strong blues influence in the song which Dylan developed from his affinity for the blues of Robert Johnson and quotes Dylan's dedication in Writings and Drawings by Bob Dylan: "To the magnificent Woody Guthrie and Robert Johnson who sparked it off and to the great wondrous melodies spirit which covereth the oneness of us all." Zak sees "All Along the Watchtower" as showing a combination of the influences of Guthrie's ballad writing and Johnson's blues influences on Dylan. Zak compares Dylan's lyrics in the song directly to Johnson's "Me and the Devil Blues" (1938), stating that: "Dylan probes such fearful fatalism (of Johnson's lyrics) by grafting a narrative of alienation and apprehension onto a musical frame of implacable stability."
The music of the song has been described by Zak, who wrote, "The song's entire harmonic substance consists of three chords repeated in an unchanging cyclic pattern over the course of its three verses and instrumental interludes. The melodic pitch collection, shared by voice and harmonica, consists almost entirely of the pentatonic C#, E, F#, G#, B, though each part is restricted to a four-note subset. And the declamatory vocal melody gravitates throughout to one of two pitches." Zak then summarizes the entire song as: "The song's musical elements, extraordinarily delimited in number and function, combine to create an impression of unrelenting circularity, which accumulates, in turn, to impart a sense not of musical progression, but of a hovering atmosphere."
Lyrics
The original lyrics are in twelve lines, which the Financial Times writer Dan Einac commented, make it "akin to a truncated sonnet". The lyrics feature a conversation between a joker and a thief, whilst they ride towards a watchtower. Scholar Timothy Hampton comments that the pair are "overwhelmed by circumstances". Reviewers have pointed out that the lyrics in "All Along the Watchtower" echo lines in the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 21, verses 5–9:
Other writers such as Keith Negus have indicated that Dylan also drew on verses from the Book of Revelation to write the song. Elliot Wolfson found that Dylan's lyrics also reflected his own response to a melancholy reading of his own approach to Jewish gnosis. The general theme of justice is commented upon by Lisa O'Neill-Sanders who states that Watchtower presents a "thief in the song... who consoles the victimized and exploited joker. The thief sympathizes but urges the joker to 'not talk falsely'".
Journalist David Stubbs interpreted the song as "obliquely allud[ing] to Bob Dylan's frustrations with his management and with CBS, whom he felt were offering him a royalty rate that was far from commensurate with his status". For Stubbs, the song "features a stand-off between the 'joker' and the 'thief', with the joker complaining of businessmen who drink his wine, feeding off him but refusing to give him his due". Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon suggest that Dylan is the joker and his manager Albert Grossman is the thief. In The New York Times, Robert Palmer expressed his opinion that as artists like Dylan "were finding that serving as the conscience of a generation exacted a heavy toll. Mr. Dylan, for one, felt the pressures becoming unbearable, and wrote about his predicament in songs like 'All Along the Watchtower'". Hampton also wrote that the song can be viewed as an "allegory of the entertainment business, with artists exploited by managers". Commenting on the songs on John Wesley Harding in an interview published in the folk music magazine Sing Out! in October 1968, Dylan told John Cohen and Happy Traum:
The unusual structure of the narrative was remarked on by English literature scholar Christopher Ricks, who commented that "All Along the Watchtower" is an example of Dylan's audacity at manipulating chronological time, noting "at the conclusion of the last verse, it is as if the song bizarrely begins at last, and as if the myth began again". Heylin described Dylan's narrative technique in the song as setting the listener up for an epic ballad with the first two verses, but then, after a brief instrumental passage, the singer cuts "to the end of the song, leaving the listener to fill in his or her own (doom-laden) blanks". Hampton remarks on how the "already allegorical characters change into something else" from the first verse to the third verse, and compares this change in perspective to the way that some of Arthur Rimbaud's prose poems in Arthur Rimbaud's Illuminations change their framing.
Andy Gill commented that "In Dylan's version of the song, it's the barrenness of the scenario which grips, the high haunting harmonica and simple forward motion of the riff carrying understated implications of cataclysm; as subsequently recorded by Jimi Hendrix... that cataclysm is rendered scarily palpable through the dervish whirls of guitar."
Dave Van Ronk, an early supporter and mentor of Dylan, made the following criticism:
Songwriter Eric Bogle said he was envious of Dylan's ability to write a song that is open to several interpretations. Michael Gray wrote that, unlike on Blonde on Blonde, "Dylan's surrealism is stripped down to a chilly minimum on John Wesley Harding", and described Dylan's use of language in songs like "All Along the Watchtower" as "impressionism revisited... reflecting wintertime in the psyche". In his 2021 book on Dylan, Larry Starr added that: "...'Watchtower' is a brief, compelling, and mysterious song. Its ominous character is captured memorably in the studio version, which utilizes for accompaniment just Dylan's guitar and harmonica... The singing is utterly straightforward, as if recounting a simple parable about the nameless joker and thief; Dylan is not about to disclose a hint of any deeper meaning...".
Release and reception
John Wesley Harding was released on December 27, 1967, less than two months after the recording sessions. Peter Johnson of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the track "brings out Dylan's talent for imagery", but felt the recording seems "fragmented and unfinished". It was regarded as the best track on the album by the reviewer for the Bucks Examiner. This sentiment was shared by Troy Irvine of The Arizona Republic, who felt that John Wesley Harding was better than any of Dylan's earlier albums.
Journalist Paul Williams regarded the song as "an extraordinarily successful interaction" between Dylan, McCoy, and Buttrey, featuring "some of the best cinematography in modern song-writing". In 2013, Jim Beviglia rated it as the 92nd-best of Dylan's songs, writing that Dylan "creates a stifling air of portent and tension with his three succinct verses". Author Nigel Williamson, in 2021, listed the song 31st in Dylan's oeuvre. In a 2020 article for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis ranked it the 28th-greatest of Dylan's songs, commenting that "there's a lot to be said for Dylan's humble original, its brevity and starkness capturing the same end-times intensity in a different way [to the Hendrix version]". The following year, The Guardian included the song on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know". Rapper Kanye West identified it as his "favorite song of all time" in a 2022 interview in which he also expressed a desire to work with and write with Dylan.
The track was released as the B-side to "Drifter's Escape" in Italy on March 1, 1968, and as an A-side, backed with "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight", in the Netherlands and Germany on November 22, 1968. In January 1969, the song was one of four John Wesley Harding songs included on an extended play release in Australia.
The Jimi Hendrix Experience version
The Jimi Hendrix Experience began to record their version of Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower" on January 21, 1968, at Olympic Studios in London. The song is strongly identified with the interpretation Jimi Hendrix recorded with the group for their third studio album Electric Ladyland. Hendrix was musically attracted to Dylan's songs several times in his career, according to engineer Andy Johns. Hendrix had been given a reel-to-reel tape of Dylan's unreleased recordings at that point by publicist Michael Goldstein, who worked for Dylan's manager Grossman. "(Hendrix) came in with these Dylan tapes and we all heard them for the first time in the studio", recalled Johns. He initially intended to record "I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine" but changed this to "All Along the Watchtower". Two years later he would also record "Drifter's Escape" from the John Wesley Harding album.
Stubbs writes that this was the second of Dylan's songs Hendrix had adapted to his own style, the first being "Like a Rolling Stone" played earlier at Monterey. A third song Hendrix adapted from Dylan is identified by Zak as "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window".
Music
Dogget described the interpretation of the song: "Hendrix used the sound of the studio to evoke the storms and the sense of dread, creating an echoed aural landscape." For Zak, the Hendrix version of the song is more than a simple transposition of Dylan's harmonica riffs into Hendrix playing riffs on his electric guitar, involving adding a tonal quality of a "self-proclaimed 'Voodoo Child,' raging and defiant in the guise of a lead guitar." The layering Hendrix introduces in his version is further intensified and, "unlike the sonic reserve of Dylan's recording, here the frequency space teems with dynamic activity. From the highs of the cymbals and tambourines to the lows of the bass guitar and kick drum, the ongoing agitation of the frequency space heightens the track's sense of tumult."
Zak summarizes the Hendrix adaptation of the Dylan song in three main points, stating: "There are three basic strategies apparent in this transformation (of Dylan's version): (1) the intensification of essential musical gestures and formal divisions; (2) the introduction of pitch material dissonant with the pentatonic collection of the original; and (3) the tracing of a long-range, goal-directed melodic line over the call-and-response structure of the arrangement. It is in the latter that Hendrix asserts most forcefully his protagonist claim."
Although Zak has written of both the Dylan and the Hendrix versions of the song as influenced by blues players such as Robert Johnson, he has stated that the Hendrix version is much closer in its blues style to the songs and style of Muddy Waters, stating: "If Dylan's crying blues is reminiscent of Robert Johnson, Hendrix's shout calls to mind Muddy Waters and his 'deep tone with a heavy beat'."
Recording
According to Hendrix's regular engineer Eddie Kramer, the guitarist cut a large number of takes on the first day of recording in January in London, shouting chord changes at Dave Mason who featured at the session and played an additional 12-string guitar. Halfway through the session, bass player Noel Redding became dissatisfied with the proceedings and left. He would later note that he disliked the song and preferred Dylan's version. Mason then took over on bass. According to Kramer, the final bass part was played by Hendrix himself. Hendrix's friend and Rolling Stones multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones contributed the dry rattles featured in the intro, played on a vibraslap. This sparse version without any overdubs would eventually appear on the South Saturn Delta compilation released in 1997.
Kramer and Chas Chandler mixed the first version of "All Along the Watchtower" on January 26 in 1968, but Hendrix was quickly dissatisfied with the result and went on re-recording and overdubbing guitar parts during June, July, and August at the Record Plant studio in New York City. Engineer Tony Bongiovi has described Hendrix becoming increasingly dissatisfied as the song progressed, overdubbing more and more guitar parts, moving the master tape from a four-track to a twelve-track to a sixteen-track machine. Bongiovi recalled, "Recording these new ideas meant he would have to erase something. In the weeks prior to the mixing, we had already recorded a number of overdubs, wiping track after track. [Hendrix] kept saying, 'I think I hear it a little bit differently.'" Apparently, Hendrix was trying to record what Zak has referred to in the song as a 'deep tone with a heavy beat' which was not highlighted in Dylan's version. By the end of the sessions, Kramer and Hendrix had 16 tracks to use for mixing the song that soon became the intended single of the album.
Release, charts, and certifications
In the US, Reprise Records issued the song as a single on September 2, 1968, with the B-side featuring "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", over a month prior to the album release on Electric Ladyland. Dylan gave it a glowing review in the Melody Maker magazine, which pleased Hendrix greatly. It reached number 20 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, Hendrix's highest ranking American single and only Top 40 hit to date. Track Records released the single on October 18 and it reached number five in the British charts, becoming the first UK stereo-only single to do so. Hendrix soon became reluctant about performing the song live, and after three months it disappeared from the setlist. One notable performance was at the Isle of Wight festival that appeared on the Blue Wild Angel live album in 2002.
Impact of the Hendrix recording on Dylan's performances
In 1995, Dylan described his reaction to hearing Hendrix's version: "It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn't think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day." In the booklet accompanying his 1985 Biograph album, Dylan said: "I liked Jimi Hendrix's record of this and ever since he died I've been doing it that way... Strange how when I sing it, I always feel it's a tribute to him in some kind of way." In 1974, Dylan, with the Band, embarked on his first concert tour since his 1966 world tour. From the first show of the Bob Dylan and the Band 1974 Tour on January 3, 1974, in Chicago, the shows featured what Heylin described as a "Hendrixized" version of "All Along the Watchtower". From the first live performance, Dylan has consistently performed the song closer to Hendrix's version than to his own original recording.
The 1974 album Before the Flood, compiled from concert performances on the tour, included the song. Stubbs contended that through the "more heavy-duty arrangement of it on [the album]", Dylan "practically conceded that Hendrix made the song his own". Academics Janet Gezari and Charles Hartman wrote: "In effect, [Dylan] covered a cover of his own song". They opined that as Dylan's vocal range has narrowed and his delivery of lyrics became more brusque, listening to the song in concert, audience members "must either take it as a painfully constricted, even dismissive reference to the song the album gave us in 1967, or hear in it a compendium of all the history, Dylan's own and others', musical and other, between then and now, or as much of that history as we can know".
The live recording from Before the Flood appeared as the B side of "Most Likely You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine" in 1974. The recordings came from separate concerts earlier that year at the Forum adjacent to Los Angeles, both with Dylan backed by the Band. In The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Gray noted that this is the most often performed of all of Dylan's songs. According to Dylan's own website, by November 2018 he had performed the song 2,268 times.
In recent years, Dylan has taken to singing the first verse again at the end of the song in live performances. As Gray notes in his Bob Dylan Encyclopedia: Scholar of English Sukanya Saha cites the original conclusion, "two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl" as an example of Dylan's talent for providing satisfying endings for songs. Saha goes on to say, "The end rhymes in his songs make his lines appealing as they reverberate in consciousness."
Legacy
The original recording of "All Along the Watchtower" appears on several of Dylan's subsequently released "greatest hits" albums, as well as his two box set compilations, Biograph, released in 1985, and Dylan, released in 2007. In addition, Dylan has released live recordings of the song on the following albums: Before the Flood (recorded February 1974); Bob Dylan at Budokan (recorded March 1978); Dylan & The Dead (recorded July 1987); and MTV Unplugged (recorded November 1994). The track has been covered by dozens of artists, including Bobby Womack on Facts of Life (1973), XTC on White Music (1978), and U2 on Rattle and Hum (1988). A dance music remix by Funkstar De Luxe was released in 2001.
Hendrix's recording of the song appears at number 40 on the 2021 Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (up from 48 in the 2004 version), and in 2000, British magazine Total Guitar named it top of the list of the greatest cover versions of all time. Hendrix's guitar solo was included at number five on Guitar Worlds list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. His version of "All Along The Watchtower" was listed by Billboard in 2015 as one of the "Most Overplayed Songs in Movies". In 2020, Far Out ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Hendrix songs, and in 2021, American Songwriter ranked it number one on their list of his 10 greatest songs. It has been used in dozens of films, including Forrest Gump, Rush, Watchmen, and A Bronx Tale.
Official releases on Bob Dylan albums
Versions of "All Along the Watchtower" have been included on the following official releases:
John Wesley Harding (1967)
Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume II (1971)
Before the Flood (1974)
Bob Dylan at Budokan (1979)
Biograph (1985)
Dylan & The Dead (1988)
The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration (1993) – performed by Neil Young
MTV Unplugged (1995)
The Essential Bob Dylan (2000)
The Best of Bob Dylan (2005)
Dylan (2007)
The Best of The Original Mono Recordings (2010)
The Original Mono Recordings (2010)
The 30th Anniversary Concert Celebration – Deluxe Edition (2014) – performed by Neil Young
Bob Dylan – The Rolling Thunder Revue: The 1975 Live Recordings (2019)
Official releases on Jimi Hendrix albums
Versions of "All Along the Watchtower" have been included on the following official releases:
Electric Ladyland (Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1968)
Smash Hits (Jimi Hendrix Experience, 1969)
Isle of Wight (Jimi Hendrix, 1971)
Stone Free (Jimi Hendrix, 1981)
Kiss the Sky (Jimi Hendrix, 1984)
Live & Unreleased: The Radio Show (Jimi Hendrix, 1989)
South Saturn Delta (Jimi Hendrix, 1997)
Blue Wild Angel: Live at the Isle of Wight (Jimi Hendrix, 2002)
The Singles Collection (Jimi Hendrix, 2002)
Fire: The Jimi Hendrix Collection (Jimi Hendrix, 2010)
Freedom: Atlanta Pop Festival (Jimi Hendrix, 2015)
References
Citations
Bibliography
Journal articles
Books
External links
Lyrics at Bob Dylan's official website
"All Along the Watchtower"Jimi Hendrix Experience (official audio) on Vevo
Songs written by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan songs
Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients
1968 singles
1967 songs
The Jimi Hendrix Experience songs
Dave Matthews Band songs
U2 songs
Grateful Dead songs
Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston
Columbia Records singles
Track Records singles
Reprise Records singles
Polydor Records singles
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Cook Inlet
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Cook Inlet (; Sugpiaq: Cungaaciq) stretches from the Gulf of Alaska to Anchorage in south-central Alaska. Cook Inlet branches into the Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm at its northern end, almost surrounding Anchorage. On its southern end, it merges with Shelikof Strait, Stevenson Entrance, Kennedy Entrance and Chugach Passage.
The Cook Inlet and both its arms are bodies of brackish water, containing a turbid mix of ocean salt-water and freshwater runoff from the various rivers and streams. The narrow channel of the inlet funnels the tides creating very fast-moving currents, rip tides, and occasional bore tides. Cook Inlet watershed is the most populated watershed in Alaska. The watershed covers about of southern Alaska, east of the Aleutian Range, south and east of the Alaska Range, receiving water from its tributaries, which include the Knik River, the Little Susitna River, the Susitna and Matanuska rivers, Eagle River, Ship Creek, Resurrection Creek, Portage Creek, Kenai River, and many others. The watershed includes the drainage areas of Denali (formerly named Mount McKinley) and is the collection point for the runoff from many surrounding glaciers, leading to the high turbidity and large silt deposits. Within the watershed there are several national parks and the active volcano Mount Redoubt, along with three other historically active volcanoes. Cook Inlet provides navigable access to the port of Anchorage at the northern end, and to the smaller Homer port further south. Before the growth of Anchorage, Knik was the destination for most marine traffic in upper Cook Inlet. Approximately 400,000 people live within the Cook Inlet watershed.
Geography
Cook inlet, along with the Kenai Peninsula, the Kenai Mountains, the Chugach Mountains, and Kodiak Island, formed approximately 65 million years ago, just after the extinction of the dinosaurs. Like most of Alaska's mountains, they consist mainly of sedimentary rock and metamorphic rock that were deposited on the ocean floor during the Cretaceous era. This area, where a corner of the Pacific Plate subducts under the North American Plate, uplifted the ocean floor and compressed it, causing the crust to thicken and scrunch. Tectonic forces lifted the mountains and peninsula out of the water, forming a valley that was cut off from the ocean to the north and the west. The rest of Alaska's mountains were formed in the same manner, in cyclic events, and the mountain ranges become progressively older the further north they lie. Thus, the Cook Inlet and its surrounding land masses are rather young compared to those of the Alaska Range, which formed around 126 million years ago, or the Brooks Range which formed around 256 million years ago. The valley left by this continental compaction remains open to the Gulf of Alaska to the south, forming the inlet as it exists today. The surrounding mountains were host the large ice sheets and glaciers during the Pleistocene epoch (the Ice Ages, around 2 million to 11,000 years ago) which scoured the land and formed vast plains and moraines surrounding much of the upper inlet from glacial till that was deposited.
Cook Inlet exists in a subsidence zone which contains many faults, and is frequently prone to earthquake activity. The primary fault, the Aleutian Fault, is found in the nearby Aleutian Trench in the Gulf of Alaska, where a corner of the Pacific Plate is forced underneath Alaska at a 45 degree angle. Thus, most of the uplift force occurs along a line from Kodiak Island and up the Kenai Mountains to the Chugach mountains. The inlet lies in a region where the crust is wrinkled under this force and the tectonic forces push the ground downward. In 1964, a megathrust earthquake occurred when over 600 miles of the Aleutian fault ruptured, uplifting the Kenai Mountains 60 feet (20 meters) in under 5 minutes. With a magnitude of 9.2, the earthquake was the fourth largest ever recorded. It devastated Anchorage where much of downtown dropped several stories, and the mountains surrounding the Turnagain Arm subsided 8 feet (2.4 meters), submerging the towns of Portage and Girdwood, as well as long stretches of the Seward Highway.
Because it lies along a subduction zone, the Cook Inlet region contains active volcanoes, including Augustine Volcano and Mount Redoubt, and is part of the Pacific Ring of Fire. Hot magma and steam from the subducting ocean floor build up within these volcanoes, which tend to erupt in fairly regular cycles with very explosive force, often spewing volcanic ash tens of thousands of feet (several kilometers) high. Volcanic eruptions in the region have been associated with earthquakes and tsunamis, and debris avalanches have resulted in tsunamis also. There was an earthquake of the magnitude of 7.1 on December 31, 1901 generated by an eruption that caused several tsunamis. In 2009 a lahar from Mt. Redoubt threatened the Drift River oil terminal.
Cook Inlet has the fourth largest tidal range in the world. The shape of the inlet and its orientation with respect to the lunar orbit causes the tide to come in and go out very rapidly. As the inlet narrows, the speed of the water increases, creating very powerful currents with speeds of up to 6 knots (7 miles per hour). While lined with large areas of silt, the central and upper inlet is filled with narrow troughs that may be 150 to 300 feet (50 to 100 meters) deep. These, along with the tides, provide a challenge to ships navigating through the waters. The strong tides create powerful rip tides and bore tides which are sometimes among the largest in the world. Tidal bores occur within the inlet, and especially Turnagain Arm, almost daily, but are usually too small to notice. Large bores tend to occur after extreme tidal lows, appearing as a wall of water sometimes over 10 feet high as the tide comes in all at once. Large bores are less frequent, and are typically formed during a new or full moon, especially when the moon is at perigee. Unlike areas around the Bering Sea where weather is largely affected by sea ice, the waters of the inlet are warmed by the Alaska Current in the Gulf of Alaska, part of the North-Pacific Subpolar Gyre, which affects the climate and keeps the temperatures in the Cook Inlet region fairly moderate compared to the extremes found in other parts of the state.
History
The inlet was first explored and settled by Alutiiq people, tribes of coastal-dwelling Pacific Eskimos, beginning around 6000 years ago. The Chugach arrived around the first century and were the last of the Alutiiq people to settle in the area, but abandoned it after tribes of Dena'ina people, an Athabaskan people from the interior of the state, arrived sometime between 500 and 1600 AD. In the 18th century, Russian fur hunters (promyshlenniki) were among the first European visitors. The Lebedev Lastochkin Company leader Stepan Zaikov established a post at the mouth of the Kenai River, Fort Nikolaev, in 1786. These fur trappers used Siberian Native and Alaska Native people, particularly Aleuts from the Aleutian Islands and Koniag natives from Kodiak, to hunt for sea otters and other marine mammal species for trade with China via Russia's then-exclusive inland port of trade at Kiakhta.
Other Europeans to visit Cook Inlet include the 1778 expedition of James Cook, its namesake, who sailed into it while searching for the Northwest Passage. Cook received maps of Alaska, the Aleutians, and Kamchatka during a visit with Russian fur trader Gerasim Izmailov in Unalaska, and combined these maps with those of his expedition to create the first Mercator projection of the North Pacific. The inlet was named after Cook in 1794 by George Vancouver, who had served under Cook in 1778. Turnagain Arm was named by Cook, "turnagain" being a moniker he had used before, at his annoyance at having to turn around after exploring another dead end.
Upon reaching the head of Cook Inlet, Cook was of the opinion that both Knik Arm and Turnagain Arm were the mouths of rivers and not the opening to the Northwest Passage. Under orders by the British Crown to ignore any such rivers and inlets, he had initially planned to pass it by, but at the insistence of John Gore and many others of his crew, he reluctantly agreed to explore the area. Cook anchored at Ship Creek and encountered the local Natives for the first time when two men approached in kayaks, invited them to come ashore. Under Cook's orders, William Bligh, of HMS Bounty fame, organized a party to travel up Knik Arm. Bligh served as Cook's Sailing Master on this, his 3rd and final voyage, the aim of which was discovery of the Northwest Passage. After meeting with some local Dena'ina, Bligh returned to report Knik Arm indeed led only to a couple of rivers.
Cook sailed up Turnagain Arm in his ship, the HMS Resolution, finding it impossible to navigate against the strong currents and mudflats, and got stuck on a sandbar when he tried to get back out, having to wait for the tide to come in and free his ship. He never actually confirmed it led to a river, which led to a decade of massive speculation until George Vancouver returned to finish the map. Having been in a bad mood since first agreeing to explore the area, and as a result of this frustration, the second body of water was given the disingenuous name "Turn Again". Early maps label Turnagain Arm as the "Turnagain River".
The S.S. Farallon was a wooden Alaskan Steamship Company liner that struck Black Reef in the Cook Inlet on January 5, 1910. All thirty-eight men on board survived, and were rescued twenty-nine days later. Few white people visited upper Cook Inlet until construction of the Alaska Railroad along the eastern shores of Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm of Cook Inlet around 1915. The natives of the Eklutna village are the descendants of the residents of eight native villages around upper Cook Inlet.
During the 1964 Alaska earthquake, areas around the head of Turnagain Arm near Girdwood and Portage dropped as much as by subsidence and subsequent tidal action. Both hamlets were destroyed. Girdwood was later relocated inland and Portage was abandoned. About of the Seward Highway sank below the high-water mark of Turnagain Arm; the highway and its bridges were raised and rebuilt in 1964–66.
Communities
Most of Alaska's population is in the Cook Inlet area, with highest concentration in Anchorage. Along the East side of the Cook Inlet, the Kenai Peninsula is host to many smaller fishing communities, such as Kenai, Soldotna, Ninilchick, Anchor Point and Homer. Many residents of the Kenai rely on income generated from fisheries in the Cook Inlet. The west side of the Inlet is not connected to any major road systems and is typically accessed by boat or plane, including the village of Tyonek, Alaska, some oil camps, and many seasonal fishing camps.
Resources
The Cook Inlet Basin contains large oil and gas deposits including several offshore fields. As of 2005 there were 16 platforms in Cook Inlet, the oldest of which is the XTO A platform first installed by Shell in 1964, and newest of which is the Osprey platform installed by Forest Oil in 2000. Most of the platforms are operated by Union Oil, which was acquired by Chevron in 2005. There are also numerous oil and gas pipelines running around and under the Cook Inlet. The main destinations of the gas pipelines are to Kenai where the gas is primarily used to fuel commercial fertilizer production and a liquified natural gas (LNG) plant and to Anchorage where the gas is consumed largely for domestic uses.
Alaska has approximately half the known coal reserves in the U.S. For decades, there has been a proposal to build a large coal mine (the Chuitna Coal Mine) on the west side of Cook Inlet near the Chuitna River, and the native village of Tyonek, Alaska. American Rivers placed the Chuitna River on its list of America's Ten Most Endangered Rivers of 2007, based on the threat of this mine.
Turnagain Arm is one of only about 60 bodies of water worldwide to exhibit a tidal bore. The bore may be more than six feet high and travel at 15 miles per hour on high spring tides and opposing winds. Turnagain Arm sees the largest tidal range in United States, with a mean of 30 feet (9.2 m), and the fourth highest in the world, behind Bay of Fundy (11.7m), Ungava Bay (9.75m), and Bristol Channel (9.6m). The ocean's natural 12-hour 25-minute tidal cycle is close to Turnagain Arm's natural resonance frequency, which then reinforces the tide similar to water sloshing in a bathtub. Tidal fluctuations in the main body of Cook Inlet, while not as extreme as the shallow and narrow Turnagain Arm, regularly reach or more and exhibit currents in excess of at full tidal flow. The inlet and its arms have been proposed as a potentially attractive site for the generation of tidal power.
Turnagain Arm and Knik Arm are known for large areas of silt. At low tide, much of this is exposed, making marine navigation difficult. Historically, ships and boats designed for the area had a relatively flat bottom with a modest centerboard and absence of a large keel because the boats would occasionally become beached at low tide either on purpose or by accident. This design allowed the craft to support its weight on land without sustaining any serious damage to its structure. An example of this design is the Nomad, a much photographed fishing boat once owned by Joe Reddington which has sat on a mudflat near Knik for several decades.
These mudflats can also be dangerous to walk on, exhibiting quicksand-like characteristics, and have claimed the life of at least four people who have wandered out on them, usually tourists, with many more being rescued every year.
Cruise ships dock at Seward on the Gulf of Alaska or Whittier in Prince William Sound and transport passengers via bus or train to Anchorage. However, over 95% of freight entering Alaska comes through the Port of Anchorage, which is served by major container ship companies and other carriers.
Conservation
The Cook Inlet beluga whale is a genetically distinct and geographically isolated stock. The population fell to 278 in 2005 and it is listed as critically endangered in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. This was perhaps due to local hunt, although a recent article in the Anchorage Daily News questioned this conclusion. Killer whales commonly feed on belugas in the Cook Inlet, driving them to the upper part of the inlet where they often seek refuge in the shallower waters of the arms.
In 2000, the US National Marine Fisheries Service listed the Cook Inlet beluga whale population as depleted and began development of a conservation plan. On October 22, 2008 the Cook Inlet beluga whale was put onto the endangered species list.
Cook Inlet activities include commercial fishing, oil and gas development, release of treated sewage, noise from aircraft and ships, shipping traffic, and tourism. However, it is not known what impact these activities had on the beluga whale population.
The Coastal Marine Institute at the University of Alaska Fairbanks's School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences working with the U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS), began a three-year project in 2003 focusing on the water circulation in Cook Inlet.
Cook Inletkeeper, a member of the Waterkeeper Alliance, began in 1994 when a group of Alaskans became concerned about the rapid ecological changes in the inlet. The group formally incorporated the following year using settlement proceeds from a Clean Water Act lawsuit against Cook Inlet oil and gas producers. Their stated mission is to "protect Alaska's Cook Inlet watershed and the life it sustains," with a focus on clean water, healthy habitat, local economies, and energy. They are based in Homer.
See also
Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center
Augustine Volcano
Kalgin Island
Knik Arm Bridge
Lake Clark National Park
Captain Cook State Recreation Area
Notes
External links
United States, Alaska South Coast, Barren Islands National Ocean Service
United States, Alaska South Coast, Cook Inlet, Anchor Point to Kalgin Island National Ocean Service
Map of Cook Inlet oil and gas activity Alaska Department of Natural Resources
Estuaries of Alaska
Bodies of water of Anchorage, Alaska
Bodies of water of Kenai Peninsula Borough, Alaska
Bodies of water of Matanuska-Susitna Borough, Alaska
Kenai Mountains-Turnagain Arm National Heritage Area
Monuments and memorials to James Cook
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20Israel
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Music of Israel
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The music of Israel is a combination of Jewish and non-Jewish music traditions that have come together over the course of a century to create a distinctive musical culture. For almost 150 years, musicians have sought original stylistic elements that would define the emerging national spirit. In addition to creating an Israeli style and sound, Israel's musicians have made significant contributions to classical, jazz, pop rock and other international music genres. Since the 1970s, there has been a flowering of musical diversity, with Israeli rock, folk and jazz musicians creating and performing extensively, both locally and abroad. Many of the world's top classical musicians are Israelis or Israeli expatriates. The works of Israeli classical composers have been performed by leading orchestras worldwide.
Music in Israel is an integral part of national identity. Beginning in the days of the pioneers, Hebrew songs and public singalongs (Shira beTsibur) were encouraged and supported by the establishment. "Public singalongs were a common pastime [of the early settlers], and were for them a force in defining their identity", wrote Nathan Shahar. This view of music as nation-building continues to this day. "We are in the midst of creating a culture", wrote Nahum Heyman, one of Israel's leading music composers and music historians. Jewish immigrants from Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere brought with them their musical traditions, melding and molding them into a new Israeli sound.
Global influences
Russian folk music
Many of the Zionist immigrants who arrived before 1935 came from Russia. They brought with them the folk tunes and musical style of Russia. Songs in the early days were often contrafacta – Russian folk tunes with translated or new lyrics in Hebrew. An example is Shir Hamitpachat, ("Song of the Kerchief") a Polish song by Jerzy Petersburski (Niebieska chusteczka, Sinij Platochek, синий платочек) with Hebrew lyrics by the Israeli poet and lyricist Nathan Alterman. These Russian-style tunes are generally in a minor key, and often accompanied by accordion, or by guitar imitating the sound of the balalaika.
Eastern European klezmer music
Klezmer music was also brought to the country by the immigrants of the early 20th century. Many Hassidic and klezmer melodies found their way into the canon of Israeli folk music, with lyrics translated from the Yiddish, or new Hebrew words. An example is Numi Numi (Sleep My Child), a song composed by Joel Engel based on a Hassidic lullaby, with lyrics by Yehiel Heilprin
Rock and pop music
Since the late 1960s, Israeli popular music has been deeply influenced by mainstream pop and rock music from the United Kingdom and the U.S. Iconic Israeli 1970s rock groups such as Kaveret and Tamouz and singer-songwriters such as Shalom Hanoch and Miki Gavrielov, laid the foundations for what is today the rich and varied scene of Israeli pop and rock. Mixing Western pop and rock with the original style of Israeli folk music and Oriental Jewish music, particularly Yemenite, Greek and Andalusian-Moroccan, creates together the original and unique sound of Israeli music today.
Among the leaders in Israeli music are singers and bands such as: Etti Ankri, David D'Or, Aviv Gefen, Rita, Shlomo Artzi, HaYehudim, Ivri Lider, and Dana International. Both Lider and International often sing songs dealing with their own sexual preferences – Lider's song "Jesse" is about unrequited homosexual love, and International, a transsexual, began her singing career as a drag queen. Other pop stars include Ninet Tayeb, Harel Skaat and Shiri Maimon – all winners of the Israeli talent search TV show Kokhav Nolad ("A Star is Born", the Israeli version of "Pop Idol"). Maimon represented Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, and reached top 4 out of over 25 countries, with her ballad "Hasheket Shenishar" ("The Silence That Remains").
In 2013, there were many collaborations between older Israeli singers and young artists. Corinne Elal, Arik Einstein, Chava Alberstein, Yehoram Gaon, Allon Olearchik and Shlomo Gronich all paired up with musicians of the younger generation. Most recently, Netta Barzilai won Eurovision's singing competition, showcasing her diverse approach to songwriting and performance.
Middle Eastern music
The earliest composers of Hebrew folk music were influenced by the sounds of the local Arab music. Later, Oriental musical traditions were brought by Jewish immigrants from other Middle Eastern countries – from Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, Egypt and elsewhere. These immigrants developed an eclectic Mediterranean style called "Muzika Mizrahit" (Oriental music), which became increasingly popular in the early 1960s and was later influenced by popular Greek music (Rembetiko), whilst at the same time, influencing Israeli pop and rock. Muzika Mizrahit combines eastern and western elements: the ensemble includes Middle Eastern instruments, such as the oud, the kanun, the Eastern violin, the darbouka and the Greek bouzouki, alongside electric and acoustic guitars, pianos and other western instruments. The singers add Arab-style melismatic ornamentation, (silsulim in Hebrew), and often sing in a nasal tone, similar to Arab music. The melodies are often modal, swinging between major and minor, and diction is guttural. While Arab music is traditionally homophonic, based on melodic patterns called maqamat, Muzika Mizrahit is closer to Greek music, has harmonic accompaniment and usually uses a western, 12-tone scale.
The distinctive east–west sonorities of Muzika Mizrahit have left their imprint on Israeli popular music. An example is Zohar Argov's HaPerach BeGani ("The flower in my garden"), with lyrics by Avihu Medina and music by Medina and Moshe Ben Mosh.
Jewish Yemenite music
The music of Yemenite Jews was particularly influential in the development of Israeli music because it was seen by early Zionists as a link to their biblical roots. The music of the ancient Hebrews, wrote the musicologist A.Z. Idelsohn, "is preserved in memory and practice in various Jewish centers ... Yemen, in South Arabia, [is] a community that lived practically in seclusion for thirteen hundred years..." There was a Yemenite Jewish community in Palestine before 1900, and the European settlers who came in the 1920s were enamored of the Yemenite style. Many of the early Zionist folk songs were westernized versions of Yemenite songs. In the 1930s and 1940s, Yemenite singer Bracha Zefira researched and recorded many Yemenite songs, and also sang original compositions in the Yemenite style. An example is the song "Shtu HaAdarim" (Drink, the Flock), with words by Alexander Penn and music by Nahum Nardi.
Following Operation On Wings of Eagles, Aharon Amram became "the first to record Yemenite music using instruments from outside its tradition," overcoming initial opposition by Israeli-Yemenite radio broadcasters who traditionally regarded authentic Yemenite music as being with nothing more than tin and didn't want to air his performances. Among the instruments he accompanied his traditional Yemenite singing with were "guitar, violin, qanoun [a kind of zither], trumpet, trombone and percussion instruments." Yemenite music reached a world audience in the 1980s as a result of the efforts of Israeli singer Ofra Haza, whose album Yemenite Songs became an international hit with world music fans. Haza grew up in a traditional Yemenite family who lived in Tel Aviv's poor Hatikva neighborhood. She became famous for singing pop music, but later in her career became something of a cultural ambassador for her community, both in Israel and internationally. Several of her most famous tracks, such as "Im Nin'alu", were reworkings of traditional Yemenite songs, many composed by Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, a medieval poet and mystic whose spiritual and artistic achievements are universally revered in the Yemenite community. Shabazi's poetry dealt with both religious and secular themes, giving Yemenite music a wider lyrical range than many other forms of traditional Jewish music, which tend to be liturgical in nature.
Greek, Latin American, Ethiopian and other influences
Greek-style bouzouki music became increasingly popular in the early 1960s. Aris San, a non-Jewish Greek singer who moved to Israel and became an Israeli citizen, was the driving spirit behind this trend. One of Aris San's hit songs was "Sigal" (lyrics by Yovav Katz). Aris San, who worked at the Zorba club in Jaffa, owned and opened by Shlomo Bachramov wrote songs for Aliza Azikri (Bahayim hakol over, Yesh ahava ata omer), that effectively broke down the barriers between Israeli song and the world of Greek and Mizrahi music. The songs of the iconic Greek singer Stelios Kazantzidis were translated into Hebrew and performed by the country's leading singers. Being Greek, Yehuda Poliker has many songs that use bouzouki.
A number of young musicians traveled to South America in the late 1960s, and brought back Latin rhythms and sonorities which became a force in popular music through the 1970s. An example is the song "Noah" by Matti Caspi.
The American folk movement of the 1960s and 1970s influenced the Israeli national style, and Israeli folksingers, among them Chava Alberstein – patterned themselves after Judy Collins and Joni Mitchell. In the 1960s, guitar duos such as the Dudaim and the Parvarim performed not only "canonical" Israeli songs, but also Hebrew versions of American and British folk songs.
The 1970s saw the growth of a new eclecticism in Israeli music. Rock, jazz and other genres began to strike roots, influenced by worldwide trends but also adding elements that were uniquely Israeli.
The Idan Raichel Project, a successful pop/ethnic group formed in the 2000s, merges Ethiopian and Western music. Raichel collaborated with Ethiopian Jewish immigrants to produce a unique sound, combining Electronic music sounds, classic piano, electric guitar, traditional drums and Ethiopian-style singing, with its complex quartertone scales and rhythms. The songs are sung in a combination of Hebrew and Amharic.
Land of Israel style
The "Shirei Eretz Yisrael" – "Songs of the Land of Israel" or "Zemer ivri". These songs were composed from 1920 to the mid-1970s.
The early Zionist settlers originated this eclectic style. Beginning in the early 1920s, the pioneers sought to create a new style of music that would strengthen ties with their Hebrew roots and distinguish them from Diaspora Jewry and its perceived weakness. Elements were borrowed a bit from Arabic music and, to a lesser extent, traditional Yemenite and eastern Jewish music. The songs were often homophonic, modal, and limited in range. Examples of this emerging style include "Shedemati" by Yedidia Admon, and "Shibbolet Basadeh" by Matityahu Shelem.
The songs have certain identifying musical characteristics:
Use of minor keys. The canonical songs are almost universally in minor. Songs based in the Russian or klezmer traditions normally use the harmonic minor (that is, with an elevated seventh), while songs in the New Hebrew style use natural minor, often with a diminished second leading to the tonic. Songs in this style are also sometimes modal, or semimodal, ending on the dominant rather than the tonic. An example is Moshe, by Emmanuel Zamir, sung by Yaffa Yarkoni.
Horah, Temani, Atari and other dance rhythms. These dance rhythms often have strong offbeats and asymmetric meters. They accompany popular Israeli folk dances. An example of a debka rhythm is At Adama, based on a Bedouin melody, and sung by Ran Eliran.
Use of the darbuka, the tambourine and other instruments associated with middle eastern music.
Lyrics that relate to the Israeli experience. As one might expect in a country that has faced major wars and military conflicts since its inception, army life and wars are common themes in Israeli songwriting. Very few of the war songs are marching songs, and none denigrate the Arab enemies. Most are melancholy, focusing on separation and loss during war, and the longing for peace. Many songs are about pioneering, building up the land, and love of hiking and nature. Others are based on biblical texts. A typical pioneer marching song is Anu Nihiyeh HaRishonim (We will be the first), with words by Yosef Haftman to a traditional melody.
A distinctive vocal style. Israeli singers – especially those of Yemenite origin or who specialize in more middle eastern style songs – tend to sing with a guttural, throaty enunciation. A folk legend contends that these singers would drink water from goatskin watersacks, and the hairs of the goat would stick in their throats. An example of this style can be heard in the song Ein Adir KeAdonai, (There is none so great as God), a traditional liturgical melody sung by Bracha Zefira.
Early history
The first efforts to create a corpus of music suitable for a new Jewish entity that would eventually become Israel were in 1882. This was the year of the First Aliyah, the first wave of Jewish immigrants seeking to create a national homeland in Palestine. As there were no songs yet written for this national movement, Zionist youth movements in Germany and elsewhere published songbooks, using traditional German and other folk melodies with new words written in Hebrew. An example of this is the song that became Israel's national anthem, "Hatikvah". The words, by the Hebrew poet Naftali Herz Imber, express the longing of the Jewish people to return to the land of Zion. The melody is a popular eastern European folk melody.
In 1895 settlers established the first Jewish orchestra in Palestine. The orchestra was a wind band, located in the town of Rishon LeZion, and played light classics and marches.
Avraham Zvi Idelsohn, a trained cantor from Russia and a musicologist, settled in Jerusalem in 1906, with the objective of studying and documenting the musics of the various Jewish communities there. At the time, there were a number of Jewish enclaves in Jerusalem, for Yemenites, Hassids, Syrians and other Jewish ethnic groups. Idelsohn meticulously documented the songs and musical idioms of these groups. He also made the first efforts to bring these songs to the attention of all Jewish settlers, with the aim of creating a new Jewish musical genre.
Idelsohn was joined in Palestine by a few more classically trained musicians and ethnomusicologists, including Gershon Ephros in 1909 and, later, Joel Engel in 1924. Like Idelsohn, Engel worked to disseminate traditional ethnic tunes and styles to the general Jewish public of Palestine.
The Second Aliyah, beginning in 1904, saw an increase in composition of original songs by Jewish settlers in Palestine. Among the earliest composers of folk songs were Hanina Karchevsky ("BeShadmot Beit Lehem"), and David Ma'aravi ("Shirat Hanoar").
Over the next 30 years, Jewish composers in Palestine began to seek new rhythmic and melodic modes that would distinguish their songs from the traditional European music they had been brought up on. Leaders of this musical movement were Matityahu Shelem ("VeDavid Yefe Eynaim", "Shibbolet Basadeh"), Yedidia Admon ("Shadmati"), and others. These composers sought to imitate the sounds of Arabic and other Middle Eastern music. They used simple harmonies, and preferred the natural minor to melodic and harmonic minors used by European music. They especially eschewed the interval of the augmented second, part of the "gypsy minor" scale used typically in klezmer music. "Its character is depressing and sentimental", wrote music critic and composer Menashe Ravina in 1943. "The healthy desire to free ourselves of this sentimentalism causes many to avoid this interval."
Some musicians of the period, like Marc Lavry ("Shir Ha-Emek", "Kitatenu Balayla Tzoedet"), wrote in both the new Hebrew style and the European style in which they were trained. For example, "Zemer" is a song in the new style; Dan HaShomer is an opera in the European classical tradition. Others, like Mordechai Zeira, lamented the fact that they did not write in the new Hebrew mold. Zeira, one of the most prolific and popular composers of the period ("Hayu Leylot", "Layla Layla", "Shney Shoshanim"), referred to his inability to write in the new style as "the Russian disease".
Emanuel Zamir worked in the 40s and 50s in a genre known as "shirei ro'im" (shepherd songs). He combined Bedouin music with Biblical-style lyrics, often accompanied by the recorder.
Music as a nation builder
The movement to create a repertoire of Hebrew songs, and specifically a distinctive musical style for those songs, was seen not merely as a creative outlet, but as a national imperative. This imperative – which influenced the literature, theater and graphic arts of the period as well as music – was to seek cultural roots of the new Israeli nation in the culture of the ancient Hebrews of the Bible. The characteristics of the new Hebrew style, contended composer Yitzhak Edel, are "remnants of ancient Hebrew music that have struggled to survive the years of diaspora... the primitive life of our settlers, who broke away from the European civilization, sought a musical expression that would suit their world view."
In light of the national importance of creating a new Hebrew repertoire, the effort received support of national institutions. The Histadrut Labor Union, which, prior to the founding of the state of Israel served many of the functions of a government, created the "Merkaz LeTarbut" (Cultural Center), which published many songbooks, and subsidized the composition of works by Hebrew composers. Public singalongs were actively encouraged. The kibbutz movements distributed songsters and established the singalong as a central daily event in kibbutz life. Public singalongs were also seen as a way of teaching Hebrew to new immigrants from Europe and, later, from Middle Eastern countries.
The state radio has also been a powerful force in promoting the Hebrew song. Until 1990, all radio and television stations were government owned and controlled. As such, they were leading arbiters of taste in Palestine and later in Israel. "... the stations perceived it their duty to initiate special projects for the preservation of the Israeli song heritage and to encourage the writing and recording of 'authentic' music."
According to Netiva Ben-Yehuda, linguist and music historian, youths carried notebooks to jot down the songs they would sing with their friends.
This view—that Israeli music is a defining element in the creation of Israeli culture—continues to this day, and influences artists in all musical genres—pop, rock, and classical.
Musical cabarets
Starting in the 1920s, café and cabaret music became popular in Palestine, and became an important formative force in Israeli music. Before the establishment of the state, there were three leading cabarets – HaKumkum (The Kettle), HaMetate (The Broom), and Li-La-Lo. These cabarets staged variety shows that combined political satire, drama and song.
The cabarets were launching pads for the careers of some of Israel's leading popular music stars: Shoshana Damari, who popularized Yemenite-style singing worldwide, started performing as a teenager at Li-La-Lo; Yafa Yarkoni also started as a cabaret singer. Composers Nahum Nardi ("Shtu HaAdarim", "Kahol Yam HaMayim"), Moshe Vilensky ("BeKhol Zot Yesh Ba Mashehu", "Hora Mamtera"), Daniel Sambursky ("Shir HaEmek", "Zemer HaPlugot"), and others created songs that became part of the canonical Israeli repertoire. Poet Nathan Alterman wrote many of the lyrics.
The cabarets also contributed to diversity in Israeli music. Many of the songs were in a popular, light style, distinct from the New Hebrew style or the Russian folk style that was prevalent. Many songs were in the major key rather than minor, had upbeat rhythms and included tangos, sambas and other Latin styles.
Cabarets and musical reviews continued after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Aliyah of musicians in the 1930s
The rise of Nazism in Europe forced many Jewish musicians to leave. Some of these musicians came to Israel. The immigration included some of the leading classical musicians of Europe, including Ödön Pártos, concertmaster of the Berlin Philharmonic, Paul Ben-Haim, composer and opera conductor, and composer Alexander Uriah Boskovich.
Just as writers of popular music sought a new Hebrew style, many classical composers sought new modes of composition that would give expression to their new national identity. "... One cannot continue in this country writing works which are based on purely western concepts", wrote music critic David Rosolio in 1946. "The landscape, the lifestyle, the environment, all require a change and fundamentally different approach." Boskovich in his "Semitic Suite" for piano (1945) writes in a homophonic style with a drone accompaniment and repeated notes, imitating the sound of the Arabic oud and kanun. Ben-Haim wrote "Sonata A Tre" for cembalo, mandolin and guitar (1968), which also has a distinctly Middle Eastern sound.
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
By 1935, Jewish musicians throughout Europe were faced with dismissal, persecution, and expulsion. To meet the pressing need to rescue these musicians, concert violinist Bronislaw Huberman decided to form an orchestra in Palestine – both as a safe haven and as a unique musical endeavor. Huberman recruited musicians from Europe's leading orchestras, and the Palestine Philharmonic made its debut in December 1936, under the baton of Arturo Toscanini. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra has been a leading force in Israeli music and culture. It has debuted many works by Israeli composers, and has helped launch the careers of many Israeli musicians. The orchestra has played a number of concerts that have had historic significance for Israel. In 1967, immediately after the 1967 war, conductor Leonard Bernstein led the orchestra on a tour to the Sinai desert, the site of fighting only days before. The symphony also performed on the Lebanese border in the 1980s, playing to an audience of mixed Israelis and Lebanese who gathered on both sides of the border fence to listen. Music director Zubin Mehta, though not himself an Israeli, speaks some Hebrew and is an important figure in the Israeli musical scene.
Music and the military
The military establishment in Israel, and the role of the military in Israeli culture, have been decisive influences on Israeli music.
In the wake of decades of conflict with the Arabs, the themes of war and peace have become an integral part of Israeli music. From pre-state times until the present day, many songs deal with war, sacrifice, loss, heroism, and the longing for peace. Extremely militaristic songs that glorify triumph over the enemy are not the standard in the Israeli repertoire. Rather, most songs dealing with war are melancholy in tone. An extreme example is the song "Eliphelet": to a halting melody in a minor key by Sasha Argov, the song (lyrics by Natan Alterman) tells of a boy "without a penny's worth of character", who is killed in combat for an unthinking error of judgment.
The influence of the military on Israeli music, however, goes far beyond its being a source of inspiration for songs. The military establishment has been an active promoter of music, through its corps of military performance groups, and through its army-run radio station, Galei Tsahal.
Since the 1950s, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has run performing groups called Lehakot Tsva'iyot (Army Ensembles). These groups, comprising enlisted soldiers with talent or performing experience, tour bases and field positions to entertain the troops. Performing original materials meticulously prepared and performed, these groups became leaders in the Israeli music and entertainment field. Many of Israel's most popular songs were written for the Lehakot Tsva'iyot – for example, "Dina Barzilai" (words: Haim Hefer, music: Sasha Argov), "Halleluya" (words and music: Yair Rosenblum), "Yeshnan Banot" (words: Yoram Tahar-Lev, music: Yair Rosenblum). Dubi Zeltzer, considered one of the founding fathers of Israeli pop music, wrote many of the songs for the Nahal Brigade entertainment troupe.
The Lehakot Tsva'iyot were incubators for performers and composers who, from the 1960s to the present, have become Israel's stars. Among the artists who began their careers in the Lehakot are Arik Einstein, Chava Alberstein, the members of Kaveret, Yehoram Gaon, Nehama Hendel, Yisrael Borochov, Yardena Arazi, Shlomo Artzi, Etti Ankri, and David D'Or. Composers and lyricists who made their names writing material for the Lehakot include Naomi Shemer, Yohanan Zarai, Yoni Rechter, Nurit Hirsh, and Yair Rosenblum.
Galey Tsahal, the IDF-run radio station, has been a force in promoting original Israeli music. Galey Tsahal began broadcasting in 1950. It devoted much of its broadcast time to popular music.
The music of the Lehakot and of Galey Tsahal was not specifically military music; most of the songs produced and broadcast were general songs. However, the IDF did see music as an important propaganda tool, and actually sponsored the composition of songs on subjects it deemed important. For example, lyricist Haim Hefer was invited to spend a week accompanying the elite commando group "Haruv", and to base a song on his experience. The result was "Yesh Li Ahuv BeSayeret Haruv" (I have a lover in the Haruv commando unit) (music: Yair Rosenblum).
One of these groups, From Israel with Love, went on a world tour. Performing for sold-out crowds all over the United States with a tour planned for Europe. Ultimately the 1972 group was broken up early due to Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics.
1967 as a turning point
The 1967 war marked an important turning point in Israeli culture. In the words of Amos Elon, "in the Six Day War of 1967, the Israeli people came of age... it marked the transition from adolescence to maturity." The period after the war saw a burgeoning of cultural activity – within a few years, the number of art galleries increased by a third, the number of theaters doubled, and a proliferation of restaurants, night clubs, and discothèques opened. Economic growth went from 1 percent per annum before the war to 13 percent the following year.
The Israeli music scene opened up to the rest of the world. Rock music, which prior to the war had almost no audience and was almost never played on the state radio, started drawing audiences. Muzika Mizrahit, the underground style of popular music enjoyed by Israelis of Sephardic origin, gradually gained legitimacy and recognition. Israeli musicians performed abroad with increasing frequency, and European and American musicians came to Israel to perform.
In this growth of diversification, much Israeli music lost its national flavor, and became largely inspired by international styles. The Israeli preoccupation with defining a national style faded. "I don't like the attempt to be ethnic very much", said rock musician Shalom Hanoch in an interview. "I don't search for roots [in my music], my roots are within me... I don't have to add oriental flavor for people to know that I am from the Middle East."
Nonetheless, many Israeli musicians, both popular and classical, continued to be concerned with defining a distinctly national identity in their music.
Evolution of the music industry
Starting in 1967, the productions of the Lehakot Tzva'iyot became much more elaborate, and for the next five years these groups played a defining role in Israeli music. However, in the 1980s the Lehakot started to decline, until they were discontinued altogether. Taking their place as a breeding ground for new musical talent were the two classical music academies in Israel – The Rubin Academy in Jerusalem and the Buchmann-Mehta School of Music in Tel Aviv – as well as two private schools that teach mostly jazz and popular music (The Rimon school in Ramat Hasharon and the Hed school in Tel Aviv).
Until the end of the 1980s, the Israeli government, primarily through its control of radio and television, continued to play a central role in shaping the musical tastes of Israelis. In 1965, a feud between rival concert promoters was behind conservative forces in the government that refused to allocate foreign currency to pay for the Beatles to play in Israel. Some rock and Muzika Mizrahit artists complained that the radio and television discriminated against their music, preventing the commercial success of these increasingly popular genres.
With the commercialization of Israeli radio and television in the 1990s, the hegemony of the state-run media as arbiters of musical taste declined. In their place, recording companies, impresarios and clubs became increasingly important in finding new talent and advancing careers, in a manner more typical of European and American industries.
Song contests
From 1960 to 1980, Israeli radio and television promoted music by running frequent song contests. Success in a song contest was often the key to success for an artist in those days.
Although geographically not in Europe, Israel is within the European Broadcasting Area and is a member of the European Broadcasting Union, and can thus participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Israel made its first appearance there in 1973 and quickly found success in 1978, when the Israeli song "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", sung by Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta, with words by Ehud Manor and music by Nurit Hirsh, won first place. Israel won first place again the following year with "Hallelujah" (lyrics: Shimrit Or, music: Kobi Oshrat), performed by Milk and Honey), in 1998 with "Diva" (lyrics: Yoav Ginai, music: Svika Pick), performed by Dana International, and for the fourth and last time in 2018, when Netta Barzilai sang "Toy" (lyrics and music: Doron Medalie and Stav Beger) and won with 529 points.
Popular genres
Early Israeli rock
From pre-1967 beginnings in marginal clubs in Tel Aviv, Israeli rock music has grown to a musical force worldwide. With hundreds of bands, dozens of clubs, and many star performers, Israeli rock has grown to be "the dominant music culture in Israel."
The first successful rock group in Israel was "The Churchills", formed in 1967 by guitarists Haim Romano and Yitzhak Klepter. Singer Arik Einstein, a graduate of the Lehakot Tzva'iyot and a rising star in the Israeli music world, chose them as his backup group in 1969, and together they were the first group to offer a publicly acceptable rock sound.
In the 1970s, the Israeli rock idiom was developed by:
Svika Pick, first Israeli rocker to appear in punk and glam-style outfits
Shmulik Kraus, Josie Katz and Arik Einstein who banded together to form the trio "Hahalonot Hagvohim" (the High Windows).
Kaveret, with singer Gidi Gov and guitarist and composer Danny Sanderson. Kaveret, formed in 1972, was instant success. Songs from their album "Sippurei Poogy" (Stories of Poogy) are still played on Israeli radio today.
Shalom Hanoch, composer, guitarist and singer. The album "Sof Onat Hatapuzim" (The end of the Orange Season), of his songs, was released in 1976. It had the hardest rock sound of any group yet, and is considered a landmark in Israeli rock history.
Progressive rock and folk
Alongside the development of Israeli rock music, the tradition of the folk style continued. Singers like Chava Alberstein, Yehoram Gaon and Naomi Shemer continued to write and perform songs in the canonical "Land of Israel" style. Naomi Shemer's songs, including "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav" (Jerusalem of Gold), "Hoy Artsi Moladeti" (Oh my Land My Homeland, lyrics Shaul Tchernichovsky), "Horshat HaEkaliptus" (The Eucalyptus Grove), have become icons in the patriotic repertoire. Much of her success, including "Yerushalaim Shel Zahav", was due to the song contests of the time.
Bridging the parallel developments of Israeli rock and the continuation of the Land of Israel tradition was a group of musicians who sought to create an authentic Israeli style that would incorporate elements of the new rock sound. These artists include Yehudit Ravitz, Yoni Rechter, Shlomo Gronich, Matti Caspi, as well as rock pioneers Gidi Gov, Danny Sanderson and Arik Einstein. Their style of progressive rock often adopted the lyrical ballad style of the canonical repertoire, and mixed traditional instruments—flute and recorder, darbuka, and acoustical guitar—with electric guitars, trap sets and synthesizers. Unlike typical hard rock, with its repetitive common-time rhythms and straightforward chord progressions, the songs of these artists were often complex rhythmically and harmonically. Matti Caspi's song "Noah", for example, has a Latin feel, with strong jazz-like offbeats, chromatic harmonic accompaniments, and words relating to the biblical story of Noah. David Broza made flamenco style music popular in the late 70s and 80s.
Rock was something of a musical revolution for Israel. However, unlike the rock music of America in the 1960s and 1970s, it was not always an expression of social revolution. Israeli rock, up until 1985, with the appearance of Aviv Gefen, almost never dealt with the themes of drugs, sex, youthful anger and alienation (though Arik Einstein's "Shuv Lo Shaket" is an exception), and revolution. Its stars, with the exception of Shalom Hanoch and Svika Pick, were clean-cut Israelis, mostly with neatly trimmed hair, who had served in the army and were exemplary citizens.
Aviv Gefen changed that. Starting his career at age 17, Gefen appeared on stage in drag and heavy makeup, bragged about his evasion of the draft, and sang about drugs, sex and alienation in a hard-rock style reminiscent of Punk Rock. His music struck a deep chord among Israeli youth. He also symbolised the break with the old traditions, though his Beatles and Pink Floyd influenced music was in no sharp contrast stylistically to that of his father, Yehonatan Geffen, one of the leading lyricists of the day.
Aviv Gefen is still considered as one of Israel's biggest selling contemporary male artist today, though his style and early provocative appearance has dramatically mellowed in recent years.
Israeli pop and dance music
Since 1980, the number of Israeli groups has multiplied, with hundreds of groups singing in all modern styles. Leading performers have included the internationally acclaimed singer Ofra Haza (singer of "Im Nin'Alu", from the album Shaday [1988]), Berry Sakharof, often referred to as "The Prince of Israeli Rock"; Rami Fortis, the groups "Efo HaYeled?" (Where is the Child?), "Ethnix", "Teapacks", "Tislam", "Mashina", "Zikney Tzfat" (The Elders of Safad), "Rockfour", "HaMakhshefot" (The Witches), "Mofa Ha'arnavot Shel Dr. Kasper" (Dr. Kasper's Rabbits Show), Monica Sex and Shimron Elit ("20:20").
Singers who mix rock and pop elements with the traditional songs of the Land of Israel are usually achieving tremendous popularity and considered as leading acts in Israeli music today, singers such as Rita, Shlomo Artzi, Achinoam Nini, Ivri Lider, Aviv Gefen, Dana Berger, Evyatar Banai, Harel Skaat, Ninet Tayeb, Shiri Maimon, Dana International, Sharon Haziz, Mika Karni Roni Duani, David D'or, Metropolin and many more. Most of these artists also like to mix some elements of electronic sounds of dance music, so you can find style influences of pop icons such as Madonna and Kylie Minogue in Israeli music as well.
Jazz
In 2012 and 2013, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers named Israeli musician Uri Gurvich as the best up-and-coming jazz composer.
Israeli world music
Yisrael Borochov works in the genres of world and Middle Eastern music in Israel, imbuing Israeli music with Arabic and Bedouin influences. He also runs the East West House, where some of the country's youngest talents come to play their esoteric ethnic music in the eclectic and mixed Jewish and Arabic environment of Jaffa.. The Idan Raichel Project is a collection of music from all around the world, such as Ethiopia, Germany, Portugal, as well as other Middle Eastern countries, in which songs are often sung in multiple languages.
Psychedelic trance, electronic and house music
Psychedelic trance is popular in Israel, and some Israeli trance (including Goa trance and nitzhonot) artists have gained international recognition, among them Alien Project, Astrix, Astral Projection, Maor Levi, Vini Vici, Zafrir and Infected Mushroom. Offer Nissim is one of the most internationally acclaimed contemporary house music producers.
Rap and hip hop
Israel has developed its own brand of rap and hip hop with groups such as Hadag Nahash, Subliminal, Sagol 59 and Kele 6 performing Israeli hip hop.
Heavy metal
Israel has a small underground metal scene, as shown in the documentary Global Metal. Though some heavy metal in Israel is seen as Satanic, Salem and Melechesh have overcome controversy and become well known in the extreme metal underground.
Classical music
After 1967, classical composers in Israel continued their quest for an Israeli identity in art music. Some Israeli composers have chosen explicitly Jewish or Middle Eastern materials for their compositions.
Leon Schidlowsky, was born in Chile and settled in Israel in 1969, when he was 38 years old. Many of his compositions are inspired by Jewish themes, including the Holocaust, without forgetting his Latin American origin. Several of his symphonic works have been premiered by the Israel Philharmonic. Schidlowsky was a professor at the Tel Aviv University.
Betty Olivero uses melodies and modes from her Sephardic Jewish background, building layers of overtones and pantonal harmonies on top of them, so the effect is at the same time very dissonant yet clearly familiar. Despite its modernity, her music has a distinctly Sephardic and tonal character. An example is "Achot Ketana", based on a 13th-century Sephardic prayer, and quoting from a Bach chaconne.
Tsippi Fleischer sets classical poetry in Arabic, Ugarith, and other languages to contemporary music. She uses many features of Arabic music in her compositions, including the use of maqamat, with complex microtonic intonation, combined with traditional Arabic, Western classical and modern instrumentation. An example is "The Goddess Anath", based on scripts in Ugarith, a composition in multimedia for woman's voice, violin, piano, percussion and dancer.
Andre Hajdu, an immigrant from Hungary, has arranged Hassidic tunes for jazz ensemble.
Mark Kopytman, a Russian immigrant, has composed symphonic and chamber works based on Jewish themes. An example is his composition "Memory" for string orchestra, which recalls the klezmer music of Eastern Europe.
Other Israeli composers of note, including Noam Sherif, Ami Maayani, Yehezkel Braun, and Zvi Avni, have also used Jewish and Israeli themes in their compositions. A new generation of composers includes Yitzhak Yedid, Lior Navok, Gilad Hochman.
In addition to the Israel Philharmonic, a number of other Israeli orchestras have achieved renown. These include the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, which is supported by the state radio and television authority; the Rishon LeZion Orchestra, and the Camerata Orchestra. One of the motivations for creating these orchestras was to provide employment for Russian immigrant musicians, who arrived in Israel with a high professional level but could not find jobs in their field.
The New Israel Opera Company was founded in 1985. This was the first successful attempt to establish a permanent repertory opera, after a series of failed attempts starting in the 1940s In 1995, the Opera moved into a permanent home in the Golda Center in Tel Aviv.
Israel has produced some of the world's leading performers and conductors. These include pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, conductor Eliahu Inbal and a large number of violinists, among them Itzhak Perlman, Pinchas Zukerman, Gil Shaham, Ivry Gitlis, Gil Shohat and Shlomo Mintz.
The Jerusalem Quartet is a string quartet that has achieved international acclaim. Other leading chamber groups include the Jerusalem Trio, the Tel Aviv Soloists, the Carmel Quartet and the Aviv Quartet.
Mizrahi music
Israeli immigrant communities from Arab countries have over the last 50 years created a blended musical style that combines Turkish, Greek, Arabic, and Israeli elements. As opposed to the New Hebrew Style, which was the conscious creation of Eastern European immigrants trying to define their new Israeli identity, the Muzika Mizrahit style is truly spontaneous and indigenous. Initially met with hostility by the mainstream cultural institutions of Israel, it has now become a major force in Israeli culture.
The Muzika Mizrahit movement started in the 1950s with homegrown performers in the ethnic neighborhoods of Israel – the predominantly Yemenite "Kerem Hatemanim" neighborhood of Tel Aviv, Moroccan neighborhoods and neighborhoods of Iranian and Iraqi immigrants – who played at weddings and other events. They performed songs in Hebrew, but in a predominantly Arabic style, on traditional instruments – the Oud, the Kanun, and the darbuka. Jo Amar and Filfel al-Masry, were two early proponents of Moroccan and Egyptian extraction. In the 1960s, they added acoustic guitar and electric guitar, and their sound became more eclectic. Vocalists typically decorated their singing with melisma and other oriental-style ornaments, and delivery was often nasal or guttural in character. Intonation was typically Western, however; singers did not use the quartertone scales typical of Arabic music.
Lyrics were originally texts taken from classic Hebrew literature, including liturgical texts and poems by medieval Hebrew poets. Later they added texts by Israeli poets, and began writing original lyrics as well. An example is the song "Hanale Hitbalbela" (Hannale was confused), sung by Izhar Cohen. The lyrics are by the modern Hebrew poet and lyricist Natan Alterman, to a traditional tune.
In the 1970s and early 1980s, a few of these performers began distributing their songs on cassette tapes. The tapes were an instant hit. They were sold in kiosks in the rundown shopping area around the Tel Aviv bus station, and the music became known derogatorily as "Muzikat Kassetot", cassette music, or "Bus station music". Performers during this period included Shimi Tavori, Zehava Ben and Zohar Argov, whose song "HaPerah BeGani" (the Flower in my Garden) became a major hit. Argov, a controversial character who died in 1987 by suicide while in jail, became known as the "King of Muzika Mizrahit"; he became a folk hero, and a movie was made of his life.
Despite the obvious popularity of this music, the state radio eschewed Muzika Mizrahit almost entirely. "The educational and cultural establishment made every effort to separate the second generation of eastern immigrants from this music, by intense socialization in schools and in the media", wrote the social researcher Sami Shalom Chetrit.
The penetration of Muzika Mizrahit into the Israeli establishment was the result of pressure by Mizrahi composers and producers such as Avihu Medina, the overwhelming, undeniable popularity of the style, and the gradual adoption of elements of Muzika Mizrahit by mainstream artists. Yardena Arazi, one of Israel's most popular stars, made a recording in 1989 called "Dimion Mizrahi" (Eastern Imagination), and included original materials and some canonic Israeli songs. Also, some performers started developing a fusion style of Muzika Mizrahit, Israeli, Greek, rock, and other styles. These included Ehud Banai, Yehuda Poliker, and Shlomo Bar, whose group "HaBrera HaTivit" (The Natural Choice, or the Natural Selection) incorporated Sitars, tabla, and other Indian instruments to create a new, "World" style.
The acceptance of Muzika Mizrahit, over the 1990s, parallels the social struggle of Israelis of Mizrahi origin to achieve social and cultural acceptance. "Today, the popular Muzika Mizrahit has begun to erase the differences from rock music, and we can see not a few artists turning into mainstream... This move to the mainstream culture includes cultural assimilation", writes literary researcher and critic Mati Shmuelof.
Hassidic and Orthodox Jewish music
The Orthodox Jewish community of Israel, and its parallel community in the United States, have developed a unique form of Hassidic rock, which has become popular throughout the young orthodox community. This musical form combines the sonorities, instrumentation and rhythms of rock music with melodies which are in a klezmer style, and words taken mostly from religious texts. This rather anomalous combination is produced, performed and broadcast in nearly complete segregation from secular Israeli music. It is never heard on secular radio stations, or in secular public performances. It is broadcast on religious radio stations and played at religious events.
One of the pioneers of Hassidic rock was the "singing rabbi," Shlomo Carlebach, who developed a large following in New York in the 1960s, singing religious songs in a folk style reminiscent of Peter, Paul and Mary. Israeli Hassidic rock performers include the group Reva L'Sheva and singers Adi Ran and Naftali Abramson. Because of an halakhic restriction on women singing to mixed audiences, there are no women in Hassidic rock groups. Concerts will usually be gender segregated.
While the style is embraced enthusiastically by the religious Zionist movement, including Gush Emunim, it is not without its opponents within the Haredi community. Some Haredi rabbis have "a hard time with someone screaming out 'Yes, there's the Holy One, blessed be He' at the top of his lungs all of a sudden", says Kobi Sela, religious music critic. Religious singer-songwriter Ishay Ribo, who pens original lyrics on themes such as spirituality, faith, and God, has built large fan bases among both religious and secular audiences due to the quality of his music and his artistic expression.
Israeli Arab music
The Arab community in Israel, comprising 20 percent of Israel's permanent population at the end of 2007, has developed its own unique forms of musical expression.
Until the early 1990s, little original music was produced by this community and the focus was on the great stars of the Arab world – Umm Kulthum, Fairuz, Farid al-Atrash, and others. Original local music did not achieve popularity or wide distribution among the local population until the 1980s. For the most part, local performers at weddings and other events played music written in Egypt, Lebanon, and Syria.
With the onset of the 21st century, local stars emerged, among them the internationally acclaimed oud and violin virtuoso Taiseer Elias, singer Amal Murkus, and brothers Samir and Wissam Joubran. Israeli Arab musicians have achieved fame beyond Israel's borders: Elias and Murkus frequently play to audiences in Europe and America, and oud player Darwish Darwish (Prof. Elias's student) was awarded first prize in the all-Arab oud contest in Egypt in 2003.
Living as an Arab minority within Israel has been an influence on Israeli Arabs, which is reflected in their music. Israeli Arab musicians are in the forefront of the quest to define their emerging identity. Lyrics deal with issues of identity, conflict, remembrance and peace. For example, Kamilya Jubran's song "Ghareeba", a setting of a poem by Khalil Gibran, deals with a sense of isolation and loneliness felt by the Arab Palestinian woman:
Several groups have emerged, such as Elias's Bustan Avraham, The Olive Leaves, and Shlomo Gronich's Israeli-Palestinian ensemble in which Jews and Palestinians perform together, creating a fusion style of music. Joint musical bands such as Zimrat Yah, Shams Tishrin, Blues Job, and Sahar, appear all over Israel, particularly in the Galilee.The Olive Leaves gave a successful concert tour in Jordan in 1995, with lead singer Shoham Eynav (Jewish) singing songs in both Hebrew and Arabic.
Israeli Arabs have also branched out into other musical styles. Palestinian hip-hop artist Tamer Nafar, founder of the rap group DAM, became an independent rap star after a politically charged dispute with Israeli rapper Subliminal. His music expresses the frustration and alienation that many Israeli-Palestinians feel. The rock music of Basam Beromi, singer of the group "Khalas" (Enough!), protests against the strictures of traditional Arab society. The song "What have we come to?", for example, tells the story of a young girl in love, whose family murders her for violating strict traditional codes of courtship. London-trained guitarist Michel Sajrawy combines jazz, rock, and gypsy with classical Arab music.
While music education for Israeli Arabs is less developed, there has been a steady growth of opportunities in this sector. The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance has an advanced degree program, headed by Taiseer Elias, in Arabic music. In 2007, the first precollege conservatory for the Arab-speaking population opened in Shfaram.
Iraqi Jewish music
The Iraqi Jews who immigrated to Israel in the early 1950s have preserved their own musical tradition. In the first half of the 20th century, almost all professional instrumental musicians in Iraq were Jewish. They played in the Imperial Orchestra, in the Baghdad radio orchestra, and in the nightclubs of Baghdad. Leading performers included composer and Oud player Ezra Aharon, violinist Salih Al-Kuwaiti and his brother, oud player Dawud Al-Kuwaiti, composer Salim Al'Nur, singer Salima Pasha, and others. Between 1949 and 1950, almost all these professional musicians fled Iraq for Israel. The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) Arabic Orchestra was instrumental in sustaining their musical traditions in Israel.
Many of these musicians were forced to seek employment outside the music business, but they continued to perform in the community. "Our musical tradition continues", said Suad Bazun, singer and daughter to a family of leading Iraqi musicians. "Today the grandchildren and the great-grandchildren continue to fill their homes with the songs of Iraq."
Yiddish and Ladino music
Yiddish and Ladino are enjoying a revival in Israel. A number of private language institutes and universities offer programs in these languages, which were the spoken languages of Jews of the Diaspora. A Yiddish theater group, the YiddishShpiel, in Tel Aviv, offers popular musical shows. Several leading Israeli artists have recorded songs in these languages, including an album in Ladino by Yehoram Gaon, and an album in Yiddish by Chava Alberstein.
Also, a number of new anthologies of Yiddish songs have been compiled, including a seven-volume anthology edited by Sinai Leichter, published by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Music of migrant workers
In 2006, there were an estimated 165,000 migrant workers in Israel. They come from the Philippines, Thailand, India, China, Africa, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. Each community of migrant workers has its own musical culture. A visitor to the neighborhood of the Central bus station in Tel Aviv will hear strains of popular music from Addis Ababa, Bangkok, and Manila. Foreign workers also have their local popular music groups, that perform at parties and on holidays.
Internationally acclaimed Israeli singers and musicians
Etti Ankri – a singer-songwriter, and former Female Singer of the Year in Israel, has also performed in the United States, England, and India. Ankri has been called a "rock genius", a "poet of Israeli spirituality," and "the contemporary voice of... Israel."
Keren Ann – performs in France.
Mike Brant
Daliah Lavi - performed mainly in Germany, where she became one of the most popular and successful female singers.
Hadag Nahash – As well as songs in Hebrew, Hadag Nahash has several songs in other languages, such as Arabic, French, and English. Hadag Nahash provided many songs for the Adam Sandler film, Don't Mess With The Zohan. Many of their songs are about peace, and "Zman Lehitorer (Time To Wake Up)" has been used as a memento song for movements.
Hedva and David - A singing duo, comprising Hedva Amrani and David Rosenthal. In 1970, they won first place at the Yamaha Song Festival in Tokyo, Japan, with the song "I Dream of Naomi", which sold more than a million copies in its Japanese version, ナオミの夢 "Naomi no Yume." It was awarded a gold disc.
David Broza - Recognized worldwide for his dynamic guitar performances and humanitarian efforts, Broza's signature sound brings together the influence of Spanish flamenco, American folk, rock and roll, and poetry. With over 40 albums released, many of which are multiplatinum, in English, Hebrew, and Spanish, Broza continues to tour globally both as a solo musician and with his various musical projects. He is also the founder of the non-profit One Million Guitars, which gives underprivileged schoolchildren around the world hand-crafted guitars and the foundation of a musical education.
David Serero – An internationally renowned French opera singer, baritone, born in France from Israeli parents. David Serero has won recognition for his versatile repertoire from Opera to Broadway and to popular songs. He has starred in several Broadway musicals such as Man of La Mancha for which he has won an award for best performance as Don Quixote. David has also recorded a duet with legendary pop singer Jermaine Jackson on Autumn Leaves. Very active in concerts, for which David has already performed more than 600, the French baritone often performs in benefit of charities and in hospitals in Israel.
David D'Or – A countertenor, he has been Israel's Singer of the Year, and Israel's representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. By February 2008, nine of his albums had gone platinum. D'Or performs a wide variety of music, including pop, rock, dance music, world music, Israeli folk songs, classical, opera, baroque arias in the original Italian, klezmer, holy music, ancient chants, and Yemenite prayers. He has performed throughout Europe, Asia, and the US.
Ofra Haza – Apart from her success in Israel, Haza was well known in Europe and North America in the 1980s and 1990s for her unique blend of Yemenite music and electronic dance sounds. She represented Israel in the 'Eurovision Song Contest' in 1983, and won second place with "Chai" (Alive). Haza collaborated with Iggy Pop, Paula Abdul, Sarah Brightman, and others. She played Yocheved in the Oscar-winning animation movie "The Prince of Egypt," and sang a song, "Deliver Us."
Yardena Arazi
Dana International – She achieved fame in Europe and North America, and became a gay icon after winning the "Eurovision Song Contest" in 1998 with her song "Diva".
Ishtar – (born Eti Zach), vocalist of the French dance music group Alabina.
Yael Naïm – Her song "New Soul" was used by the Apple computer company in an advertising campaign. She was the first Israeli solo artist to have a top 10 hit in the United States. The song peaked at # 7 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Achinoam Nini – Known outside of Israel as Noa, Nini sings in many languages and styles, but her signature sound is a mix of traditional Yemenite and modern Israeli music.
Gene Simmons of Kiss, the popular American band from the 1970s, was born in Haifa.
Asaf Avidan
Netta Barzilai - Netta is the winner of the 2018 edition of HaKochav Haba, the reality show that determines Israel's next representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. on March 11, 2018 the song "Toy" was released, becoming very popular among Eurovision fans and eventually won the 2018 Eurovision contest.
Dennis Lloyd
Lola Marsh
Infected Mushroom
Minimal Compact
Music education
Israel offers myriad opportunities to study music, from early childhood through adulthood. Music education in Israel enjoys government support, a vestige from the pre-state days when musicmaking was seen as a tool for teaching Hebrew to new immigrants and building a national ethos.
The Israel Ministry of Education supports 41 music conservatories throughout the country. Conservatories offer programs for all ages. One of the most notable of these is the Stricker Conservatory of Tel Aviv, which, besides offering lessons and courses, sponsors a number of concert series and master classes by visiting artists.
A number of institutions of higher education offer degrees in music and musicology. In addition to the two music academies in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, both Tel Aviv University and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem offer advanced degrees in musicology. The Hebrew University is also home to the Jewish Music Research Center. Bar-Ilan University has BA, MA and PhD programs in musicology and a program in music therapy; in 2007, its Safed College opened a three-year program in ethnic music including Klezmer, Hassidic, Western and Eastern music styles. Levinsky College offers a teaching certificate of a BA degree in music education.
The Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, founded in 1985, is Israel's only school for jazz, R&B, bebop, rock, and pop music. Many of its graduates have gone on to become well-known music professionals and performers.
Music education does not end with degree programs. Israel offers numerous opportunities for adult musicians to continue learning and performing, even if they do not pursue this as a career. There are two organizations for amateur chamber music players – The Israel Chamber Music Club, for string players, and Yanshuf for wind players. There are more than 20 community orchestras scattered throughout Israel for amateur musicians.
Music and politics
Israel is a country deeply riven by political differences, and music has often become associated with different political factions. Gush Emunim supporters have taken a repertoire of old religious songs and invested them with political meaning. An example is the song "Utsu Etsu VeTufar" (They gave counsel but their counsel was violated). The song signifies the ultimate rightness of those steadfast in their beliefs, suggesting the rightness of Gush Emunim's struggle against anti-settlement policy by the government.
In 1967 war, Israel annexed Arab neighborhoods surrounding Jerusalem, a move widely supported at the time, but which has engendered controversy since. A few weeks before the war, Naomi Shemer wrote Jerusalem of Gold, sung by Shuli Natan, extolling the beauties of Jerusalem. That song, and others by Naomi Shemer have become associated with those in Israel who believe that Israel has no obligation to forgo territories occupied in 1967.
In February 1994, Kach supporter Baruch Goldstein massacred 29 Arab worshipers in the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron. While the act was universally condemned by the Israeli establishment, some extremists praised it. See, for example, "HaTevach: Madrih Munahim", in Yediot Aharonot. After the massacre, members of the utra-right Kach movement adopted "Barukh HaGever", a song often played at Jewish weddings with its own line dance, because the Hebrew title can be interpreted as "Blessed be the Man" or "Baruch the Hero."
Minutes before Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was murdered at a political rally in November 1995, Israeli folk singer Miri Aloni sang the Israeli pop song Shir Lashalom (Song for Peace). This song, originally written in 1969 and performed extensively by the Lahaqot Tsvayiot at the time, has become one of the anthems of the Israeli peace camp.
During the Arab uprising known as the First Intifada, Israeli singer Si Heyman sang Yorim VeBokhim (Shoot and Weep) to protest Israeli policy in the territories. This song was banned briefly by the state-run radio, but later became popular.
Since the onset of the Oslo Process and, more recently, Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, protest songs became a major avenue for opposition activists to express sentiments. Songs protesting these policies were written and performed by Israeli musicians, such as Ariel Zilber, Shalom Flisser, Aharon Razel, Eli Bar-Yahalom, Yuri Lipmanovich, Ari Ben-Yam, and many others.
See also
Biblical music
Hatikvah
Jewish music
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra Foundation
List of Israeli musical artists
List of Jewish musicians
List of music festivals in Israel
List of songs about Jerusalem
Greek music in Israel
Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers in Israel
Bibliography
Badley, Bill and Zein al Jundi (2000) "Europe Meets Asia" In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 391–395. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
Ben Zeev, Noam, "Music from Two Worlds" (June 26, 2007), in Haaretz. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Ben Zeev, Noam, "Namal Musikali BeShefaram" (April 29, 2007), in Haaretz.
Brinner, Benjamin (2009) "Playing Across A Divide: Israeli-Palestinian Musical Collaborations" (New York: Oxford University Press)
Bin Nun, Sagi, "Kiss the Fat Woman Goodbye" (October 26, 2004), in Haaretz. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Bohlman, P.V. (1988) The Study of Folk Music in the Modern World (Indiana University Press).
Blacking, John (1995) Music, Culture, and Experience (Chicago).
Chetrit, Sami Shalom (2004) HaMaavak HaMizrahi BeYisrael 1948–2003 (Tel Aviv: Ofakim).
Dvori, Moshe (2006) "עמארה – עיר בין הדקלים" ("Amara: Ir Ben HaDekalim"; "Amara: City Among the Date Palms") (Tel Aviv: Ahital). Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Edel, Itzhak (1946) "HaShir HaEretz-Yisraeli" ("The Songs of the Land of Israel) (Tel Aviv: Monograph published by Merkaz HaTarbut, Histadrut).
Eliram, Talila, (1995) Shirei Eretz Israel (Songs of the Land of Israel) – the Creations and Meaning of a Popular Music Repertoire at the End of the 20th Century (Bar Ilan University, Thesis for MA).
Elon, Amos (1971) The Israelis: Founders and Sons (Great Britain: Weidenfeld and Nicolson).
Fleisher, Robert Twenty Israeli Composers (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1997).
Gluzman, D. (1987) Ehad BaPe veEhad BaTslil ("One by Word and One by Tune") (Tel Aviv University, Thesis for MA).
Hacohen, Eliahu (1998) Introduction to Layla Layla: The Songs of Mordechai Zeira, edited by Gil Aldema (Tel Aviv).
Heskes, Irene (1994) Passport to Jewish Music (New York: Tara Publications).
Heyman, Nahum (2007) radio interview on Galei Tsahal, 25 May.
Hirshberg, Jehoash (1995) Music in the Jewish Community of Palestine 1880–1948 (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Idelsohn, A.Z. (1948) Jewish Music in its Historical Development (New York: Tudor Publishing).
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics (2010), הירחון הסטטיסטי (Monthly Bulletin of Statistics) No. 6 / 2010. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cultural and Scientific Affairs Division, "Extending the Olive Branch" (September 1995), Panim: Faces of Art and Culture in Israel. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Kinneret Publishing, 1000 Zemer VeOd Zemer (in three volumes) (Tel Aviv: 1981).
Lynskey, Dorian "The Great Divide" (March 11, 2005) from The Guardian, London. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Kojaman, Yeheskel (1999) "Jewish Role in Iraqi Music" in The Scribe: Journal of Babylonian Jewry (Tel Aviv: The Exilarch Society), Volume 72, p 42. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Manasseh, Sara (2004) "An Iraqi samai of Salim Al-Nur" in Research Centre for Cross-Cultural Music and Dance Performance (London: Arts and Humanities Research Board), Newsletter 3, pp 7–8. Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Pasternak, Velvel compiler, editor and arranger, Israel in Song. Tara Publications,1974. .
Ravina, Menashe (1943), "Hashirim LeAm BeEretz Yisrael" (Tel Aviv: Monograph published by Mossad LeMusica Ltd.)
Regev Motti (1993), Oud and Guitar: The Musical Culture of the Arabs in Israel (Institute for Israeli Arab Studies, Beit Berl), .
Regev, Motti and Seroussi, Edwin (2004) Popular Music and National Culture in Israel (Berkeley: University of California Press).
Reuters, "Factbox: Migrant Workers in Israel" (March 11, 2007). Retrieved July 19, 2010.
Rosolio, David (1946), Review of the Semitic Suite by Alexander Uriah Boskovich, Ha'aretz, March 1.
Sela, Kobi (2007) "Hassidic Rock Around the Clock", Haaretz, March 5.
Seter, Ronit (2014). “Israelism: Nationalism, Orientalism, and the Israeli Five”. Musical Quarterly 97.2 (2014): 238–308. https://doi.org/10.1093/musqtl/gdu010
Seter, Ronit (2019). "Israeli Art Music". In Oxford Bibliographies Online. https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780199757824/obo-9780199757824-0264.xml (accessed 23 Sep. 2023)
Shahar, Natan (1999) "HaShir HaEretz-Yisraeli – Hithavuto, Tsmihato, VeHitPathuto BeShanim 1882–1948" in Zohar Shavit (editor), Bniata Shel Tarbut Ivrit BeEretz Yisrael
Shmuelof, Mati (2006) "Reflections on Muzika Mizrahit"
Solomon, Naomi, "HaBesora Al Pi Tel Aviv", (December 29, 2006) in Tel Aviv Magazine.
Tahar-Lev, Yoram and Naor, Mordecai (1992) Shiru Habitu Ur'u – The Stories Behind the Songs (Tel Aviv: Ministry of Defence).
Toeplitz, Uri Sippura Shel HaTizmoret HaPhilharmonit HaYisraelit (Tel Aviv: Sifriat HaPoalim, 1992) – history of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (in Hebrew)
The Marc Lavry Heritage Foundation
References
Sources for songs
External links
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Mount Tabor and the Sea of Galilee. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): The Dead Sea Festival and Sephardic song. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Nazareth, the oud, and Dalal Abu Amana. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Jerusalem International Oud Festival 2008 – Part 1. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): Jerusalem International Oud Festival 2008 – Part 2. Accessed November 25, 2010.
BBC Radio 3 Audio (60 minutes): In Jerusalem: Dalal Abu Amneh and The Yonah Ensemble. Accessed November 25, 2010.
TorahAndIsrael has links to well-known Israeli songs on YouTube, with links to their lyrics in Hebrew and English
The Israel Music Institute and the Israel Composers League are the two unions for Israeli composers. Sites offer musical biographies and sheet music.
The Leading Alternative Hebrew Music Portal
Tavim.net (Hebrew site) – Chords and Sheet Music for Israeli Songs
Nostalgia (Hebrew site) – history of Israeli song with downloads of historic recordings in the public domain
SongNet- lyrics of Israeli songs
YouTunes – lyrics and clips of Israeli songs
HebrewSongs.com
Punkrock.co.il- Web E-zine dedicated to Israeli Punk Rock.
Oded Zehavi,Wandering sands and roots, Eretz Acheret Magazine
An interview (1963) with Israeli folksinger Eliezer Adoram on influences on Israeli folk music, on Alan Wasser's "Folk Music Worldwide" radio program.
Free Israeli Music From YouTube (in French).
The Marc Lavry Heritage Foundation
Israeli culture
Israeli music
Middle Eastern music
Articles containing video clips
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music%20of%20Iran
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Music of Iran
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The music of Iran encompasses music that is produced by Iranian artists. In addition to the traditional folk and classical genres, it also includes pop and internationally celebrated styles such as jazz, rock, and hip hop.
Iranian music influenced other cultures in West Asia, building up much of the musical terminology of the neighboring Turkic and Arabic cultures, and reached India through the 16th-century Persianate Mughal Empire, whose court promoted new musical forms by bringing Iranian musicians.
History
Earliest records
Music in Iran, as evidenced by the "pre-Iranian" archaeological records of Elam, the oldest civilization in southwestern Iran, dates back thousands of years. Iran is the birthplace of the earliest complex instruments, which date back to the third millennium BC. A number of trumpets made of silver, gold, and copper were found in eastern Iran that are attributed to the Oxus civilization and date back between 2200 and 1750 BC. The use of both vertical and horizontal angular harps have been documented at the archaeological sites of Madaktu (650 BC) and Kul-e Fara (900–600 BC), with the largest collection of Elamite instruments documented at Kul-e Fara. Multiple depictions of horizontal harps were also sculpted in Assyrian palaces, dating back between 865 and 650 BC.
Classical antiquity
Not much is known on the music scene of the classical Iranian empires of the Medes, the Achaemenids, and the Parthians, other than a few archaeological remains and some notations from the writings of Greek historians. According to Herodotus, the magi, who were a priestly caste in ancient Iran, accompanied their sacrifice rituals with singing. Athenaeus of Naucratis, in his Deipnosophistae, mentions a court singer who had sung a warning to the king of the Median Empire of the plans of Cyrus the Great, who would later establish the Achaemenid dynasty on the throne. Athenaeus also points out to the capture of singing girls at the court of the last Achaemenid king Darius III (336–330 BC) by Macedonian general Parmenion. Xenophon's Cyropaedia also mentions a great number of singing women at the court of the Achaemenid Empire. Under the Parthian Empire, the gōsān (Parthian for "minstrel") had a prominent role in the society. They performed for their audiences at royal courts and in public theaters. According to Plutarch's Life of Crassus (32.3), they praised their national heroes and ridiculed their Roman rivals. Likewise, Strabo's Geographica reports that the Parthian youth were taught songs about "the deeds both of the gods and of the noblest men". Parthian songs were later absorbed into the Iranian national epic of Šāhnāme, composed by 10th-century Persian poet Ferdowsi. itself was based on (Khwaday-Namag), an earlier Middle Persian work, which was an important part of Persian folklore and that is now lost. It is also mentioned in Plutarch's Life of Crassus (23.7) that the Parthians used drums to prepare for battle.
Under the reign of the Sasanians, the Middle Persian term was used to refer to a minstrel. The history of Sasanian music is better documented than the earlier periods, and is especially more evident in Avestan texts. The recitation of the Sasanian Avestan text of Vendidād has been connected to the Oxus trumpet. The Zoroastrian paradise itself was known as the "House of Song" ( in Middle Persian), "where music induced perpetual joy". Musical instruments were not accompanied with formal Zoroastrian worship, but they were used in the festivals. Sasanian musical scenes are depicted especially on silver vessels and some wall reliefs.
The reign of Sasanian ruler Khosrow II is regarded as a "golden age" for Iranian music. He is shown among his musicians on a large relief at the archaeological site of Taq-e Bostan, holding a bow and arrows himself and standing in a boat amidst a group of harpists. The relief depicts two boats that are shown at "two successive moments within the same panel". The court of Khosrow II hosted a number of prominent musicians, including Azad, Bamshad, Barbad, Nagisa, Ramtin, and Sarkash. Among these attested names, Barbad is remembered in many documents and has been named as remarkably high skilled. He was a poet-musician who performed on occasions such as state banquets and the festivals of Nowruz and Mehrgan. He may have invented the lute and the musical tradition that was to transform into the forms of dastgah and maqam. He has been credited to have organized a musical system consisting of seven "royal modes" (), 30 derived modes (), and 360 melodies (). These numbers are in accordance with the number of days in a week, month, and year in the Sasanian calendar. The theories these modal systems were based on are not known. However, writers of later periods have left a list of these modes and melodies. Some of them are named after epic figures, such as ("Vengeance of Iraj"), ("Vengeance of Siavash"), and ("Throne of Ardashir"), some are named in honor of the Sasanian royal court, such as ("Garden of Shirin"), ("Garden of the Sovereign"), and ("Seven Treasures"), and some are named after nature, such as ("Bright Light").
Middle Ages
The academic classical music of Iran, in addition to preserving melody types that are often attributed to Sasanian musicians, is based on the theories of sonic aesthetics as expounded by the likes of Iranian musical theorists in the early centuries of after the Muslim conquest of the Sasanian Empire, most notably Avicenna, Farabi, Qotb-ed-Din Shirazi, and Safi-ed-Din Urmawi.
Two prominent Iranian musicians who lived under reign of the third Arab caliphate were Ebrahim Mawseli and his son Eshaq Mawseli. Zaryab of Baghdad, a student of Eshaq, is credited with having left remarkable influences on Spain's classical Andalusian music.
Following the revival of Iranian cultural influences through the arrival of a number of Muslim Iranian dynasties, music became once again "one of the signs of rule". 9th-century Persian poet Rudaki, who lived under the reign of the Samanids, was also a musician and composed songs to his own poems. At the court of the Persianate Ghaznavid dynasty, who ruled Iran between 977 and 1186, 10th-century Persian poet Farrokhi Sistani composed songs together with songster Andalib and tanbur player Buqi. Lute player Mohammad Barbati and songstress Setti Zarrin-kamar also entertained the Ghaznavid rulers at their court.
Modern era
In the post-medieval era, musical performances continued to be observed and promoted through especially princely courts, Sufi orders, and modernizing social forces. Under the reign of the 19th-century Qajar dynasty, Iranian music was renewed through the development of classical melody types (radif), that is the basic repertoire of Iran's classical music, and the introduction of modern technologies and principles that were introduced from the West. Mirza Abdollah, a prominent tar and setar master and one of the most respected musicians of the court of the late Qajar period, is considered a major influence on the teaching of classical Iranian music in Iran's contemporary conservatories and universities. Radif, the repertoire that he developed in the 19th century, is the oldest documented version of the seven dastgah system, and is regarded as a rearrangement of the older 12 maqam system.
Ali-Naqi Vaziri, a respected player of numerous Iranian and western instruments who studied western musical theory and composition in Europe, was one of the most prominent and influential musicians of the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods. He established a private music school in 1924, where he also created a school orchestra composed of his students, formed by a combination of the tar and some western instruments. Vaziri then founded an association named Music Club (), formed by a number of progressive-minded writers and scholars, where the school orchestra performed concerts that were conducted by himself. He was an extraordinary figure among the Iranian musicians of the 20th century, and his primary goal was to provide music for ordinary citizens through a public arena. The Tehran Symphony Orchestra () was founded by Gholamhossein Minbashian in 1933. It was reformed by Parviz Mahmoud in 1946, and is currently the oldest and largest symphony orchestra in Iran. Later, Ruhollah Khaleqi, a student of Vaziri, established the Society for National Music () in 1949. Numerous musical compositions were produced within the parameters of classical Iranian modes, and many involved western musical harmonies. Iranian folkloric songs and poems of both classical and contemporary Iranian poets were incorporated for the arrangement of orchestral pieces that would bear the new influences.
Prior to the 1950s, Iran's music industry was dominated by classical artists. New western influences were introduced into the popular music of Iran by the 1950s, with electric guitar and other imported characteristics accompanying the indigenous instruments and forms, and the popular music developed by the contributions of artists such as Viguen, who was known as the "Sultan" of Iranian pop and jazz music. Viguen was one of Iran's first musicians to perform with a guitar.
Following the 1979 Revolution, the music industry of Iran went under a strict supervision, and pop music was prohibited for almost two decades. Women got banned from singing as soloists for male audiences. In the 1990s, the new regime began to produce and promote pop music in a new standardized framework, in order to compete with the abroad and unsanctioned sources of Iranian music. Under the presidency of Reformist Khatami, as a result of easing cultural restrictions within Iran, a number of new pop singers emerged from within the country. Since the new administration took office, the Ministry of Ershad adopted a different policy, mainly to make it easier to monitor the industry. The newly adopted policy included loosening restrictions for a small number of artists, while tightening it for the rest. However, the number of album releases increased.
The emergence of Iranian hip hop in the 2000s also resulted in major movements and influences in the music of Iran.
Genres
Classical music
The classical music of Iran consists of melody types developed through the country's classical and medieval eras. Dastgah, a musical mode in Iran's classical music, despite its popularity, has always been the preserve of the elite. The influence of dastgah is seen as the reservoir of authenticity that other forms of musical genres derive melodic and performance inspiration from.
Folk music
Iran's folk, ceremonial, and popular songs might be considered "vernacular" in the sense that they are known and appreciated by a major part of the society (as opposed to the art music, which caters for the most part to more elite social classes). The variance of the folk music of Iran has often been stressed, in accordance to the cultural diversity of the country's local and ethnic groups.
Iranian folk songs are categorized in various themes, including those of historical, social, religious, and nostalgic contexts. There are also folk songs that apply to particular occasions, such as weddings and harvests, as well as lullabies, children's songs, and riddles.
There are several traditional specialists of folk music in Iran. Professional folk instrumentalists and vocalists perform at formal events such as weddings. Storytellers (; ) would recite epic poetry, such as that of the , using traditional melodic forms, interspersing with spoken commentary, which is a practice found also in Central Asian and Balkan traditions. The bakshy (), wandering minstrels who play the dotar, entertain their audiences at social gatherings with romantic ballads about warriors and warlords. There are also lament singers (), who recite verses that would commemorate the martyrdom of religious figures.
Iranian singers of both classical and folk music may improvise the lyric and the melody within the proper musical mode. Many Iranian folk songs have the potential of being adapted into major or minor tonalities, and therefore, a number of Iranian folk songs were arranged for orchestral accompaniment.
Many of Iran's old folkloric songs were revitalized through a project developed by the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, a cultural and educational institute that was founded under the patronage of Iran's former empress Farah Pahlavi in 1965. They were produced in a collection of quality recordings, performed by professional vocalists such as Pari Zanganeh, Monir Vakili, and Minu Javan, and were highly influential in Iran's both folk and pop music productions.
Symphonic music
Iran's symphonic music, as observed in the modern times, was developed by the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods. In addition to instrumental compositions, some of Iran's symphonic pieces are based on the country's folk songs, and some are based on poetry of both classical and contemporary Iranian poets.
Symphonische Dichtungen aus Persien ("Symphonic Poems from Persia"), a collection of Persian symphonic works, was performed by the German Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Iranian conductor Ali Rahbari in 1980.
Loris Tjeknavorian, an acclaimed Iranian Armenian composer and conductor, composed Rostam and Sohrab, an opera with Persian libretto that is based on the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab from Iran's long epic poem Šāhnāme, in over two decades. It was first performed by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra at Tehran's Roudaki Hall in December 2003.
In 2005, the Persepolis Orchestra (Melal Orchestra) played a piece that dates back 3000 years. The notes of this piece, which were discovered among some ancient inscriptions, were deciphered by archaeologists and are believed to have belonged to the Sumerians and the ancient Greeks. Renowned Iranian musician Peyman Soltani conducted the orchestra.
Pop music
Following the emergence of radio, under the reign of the Qajar dynasty, a form of popular music was formed and began to develop in Iran. Later, the arrival of new western influences, such as the use of the guitar and other western instruments, marked a turning point in Iran's popular music by the 1950s. Iranian pop music is commonly performed by vocalists who are accompanied with elaborate ensembles, often using a combination of both indigenous Iranian and European instruments.
The pop music of Iran is largely promoted through mass media, but it experienced some decade of prohibition after the 1979 Revolution. Public performances were also banned, but they have been occasionally permitted since 1990. The pop music of Iranian diasporan communities has also been significant.
Jazz and blues music
Jazz music was introduced into Iran's popular music by the emergence of artists such as Viguen, who was known as Iran's "Sultan of Jazz". Viguen's first song, Moonlight, which was released in 1954, was an instant hit on the radio and is considered highly influential.
Indigenous Iranian elements, such as classical musical forms and poetry, have also been incorporated into Iranian jazz. Rana Farhan, an Iranian jazz and blues singer living in New York, combines classical Persian poetry with modern jazz and blues. Her best-known work, Drunk With Love, is based on a poem by prominent 13th-century Persian poet Rumi. Jazz and blues artists who work in post-revolutionary Iran have also gained popularity.
Rock music
Rock music was introduced into Iran's popular music by the 1960s, together with the emergence of other Western European and American musical genres. It soon became popular among the young generation, especially at the nightclubs of Tehran. In post-revolutionary Iran, many rock music artists are not officially sanctioned and have to rely on the Internet and underground scenes.
In 2008, power metal band Angband signed with German record label Pure Steel Records as the first Iranian metal band to release internationally through a European label. They had collaborations with well-known producer Achim Köhler.
Hip hop
Iranian hip hop emerged by the 2000s, from the country's capital city, Tehran. It started with underground artists recording mixtapes influenced by the American hip hop culture, and was later combined with elements from the indigenous Iranian musical forms.
A cappella
Iranian A cappella (music without instruent) in 2011 with a new type was first introduced by Damour Vocal Band led by Faraz Khosravi Danesh. This genre of music has been performed as a choir in the past, but since 2011 it has become such that the human larynx has replaced musical instruments. Various groups, including the Tehran Vocal Ensemble, began to operate after that, and this style of music flowed in a creative and new way in the Iranian A cappella music.
International recognitions of Iranian music
The following are a number of notable internationally awarded Iranian musical works.
2013
Mohammad Motamedi: Radio France prize winner-2013
2008
Loris Tjeknavorian: Austria's Cross of Honor for Science and Art First Class (2008).
2007
Asia Society has awarded Shahram Nazeri by the prestigious Lifetime Cultural Heritage Award along with Secretary General of United Nations in November 2007.
Mozart Medal, Mohammad Reza Shajarian.
Légion d'honneur, Shahram Nazeri.
Grammy Award (nomination), Endless Vision, and Hossein Alizadeh.
2006
Grammy Award (nomination), Faryad album, Masters of Persian Music.
Grammy Award, Ali Shirazinia, Shahram Tayyebi, and Deep Dish.
Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance (nomination), Persian Trilogy by Behzad Ranjbaran.
"Best Middle Eastern Song" & "Best Middle Eastern Album", 2006 JPF Awards: Andy Madadian.
"2006 Best International Armenian Album Award", 2006 Armenian Music Awards: City of Angels by Andy Madadian.
3 tan band. J.F.K Awards 2006 For Best eastern rock song "A Drop Of Alcohol".
2005
Golden Lioness Award for Classical-Best Vocal Ability, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Akbar Golpa
Golden Lioness Award for Classical-Arrange & Pop, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Hassan Sattar
Golden Lioness Award for Best Instrumentalist, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Muhammad Heidari
Golden Lioness Award for Classic-pop, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Mahasti
Golden Lioness Award for Classical Performance, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Hooshmand Aghili
Golden Lioness Award for Classical Performance, The World Academy of Arts, Literature, and Media: Shakila.
UNESCO music award (Picasso award), nominee: Mohammad Reza Darvishi.
"Best Unsigned U.K. Hip Hop Artist, Riddla:
2003
Grand Prix du Disque for World Music, Dastan ensemble and Parisa.
BBC Awards for World Music, Kayhan Kalhor.
2001
NAV's best contemporary world music album: Axiom of Choice (band).
Best Recombinant World Music Ensemble in 2001 by the LA Weekly Music Awards. (nomination): Axiom of choice band.
2000
Orville H. Gibson Award, Lily Afshar.
1999
Picasso Medal, Mohammad Reza Shajarian.
Pikanes award, Thailand's most prestigious music award for an outstanding orchestral performance: Shahrdad Rohani.
1977
Prestigious Gold Medal at the Besançon International Conductors' Competition, Ali Rahbari.
Silver medal in Geneva International Conducting Competition, Ali Rahbari.
Others
Rudolf Nissim Award, Behzad Ranjbaran.
Grand Prize in the Aspen Music Festival Guitar Competition, Lily Afshar.
Top Prize in the Guitar Foundation of America Competition, Lily Afshar.
Loris Tjeknavorian, Homayoon Order and Medal for the composition of "Son et Lumiere Persepolis 2500"
See also
List of Iranian musicians
List of Iranian singers
List of Iranian composers
Shiraz Arts Festival
Religious music in Iran
References
Further reading
Azadehfar Mohammad Reza Azadehfar, M R. 2011. Rhythmic Structure in Iranian Music, Tehran: University of Arts, .
During, Jean and Mirabdolbaghi, Zia, "The Art of Persian Music", Mage Pub; 1st edition (Book & CD) June 1, 1991,
Nelly Caron and Dariush Safvate, "Iran: Traditions Musicales" (Paris, 1966).
Nooshin, Laudan. "The Art of Ornament". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 355–362. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. .
Nettl, Bruno (1989). Blackfoot Musical Thought: Comparative Perspectives. Ohio: The Kent State University Press. .
Youssefzadeh, Ameneh. "Iran's Regional Musical Traditions in the Twentieth Century: A Historical Overview." Iranian Studies, volume 38, number 3, September 2005. Metapress.com.
DVD of TOMBAK / Madjid Khaladj – Coproduction: Le Salon de Musique & Ecole de Tombak | Language: français, anglais, espagnol | 172 minutes | Booklet of 80 pages (French/English.)| EDV 937 CV. CD Infinite Breath / Madjid Khaladj, NAFAS / Bâ Music Records.
External links
Iranian/Persian Music - parstimes.com
Iranian culture
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emir%20Abdelkader
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Emir Abdelkader
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Abdelkader ibn Muhieddine (6 September 1808 – 26 May 1883; ), known as the Emir Abdelkader or Abdelkader El Hassani El Djazairi, was an Algerian religious and military leader who led a struggle against the French colonial invasion of Algiers in the early 19th century. As an Islamic scholar and Sufi who unexpectedly found himself leading a military campaign, he built up a collection of Algerian tribesmen that for many years successfully held out against one of the most advanced armies in Europe. His consistent regard for what would now be called human rights, especially as regards his Christian opponents, drew widespread admiration, and a crucial intervention to save the Christian community of Damascus from a massacre in 1860 brought honours and awards from around the world. Within Algeria, he was able to unite many Arab and Berber tribes to resist the spread of French colonization. His efforts to unite the country against French invaders led some French authors to describe him as a "modern Jugurtha", and his ability to combine religious and political authority has led to his being acclaimed as the "Saint among the Princes, the Prince among the Saints".
Name
The name "Abdelkader" is sometimes transliterated as "ʻAbd al-Qādir", "Abd al-Kader", "Abdul Kader" or other variants, and he is often referred to as simply the Emir Abdelkader (since El Jezairi just means "the Algerian"). "Ibn Muhieddine" is a patronymic meaning "son of Muhieddine".
Early years
Abdelkader was born in el Guetna, a town and commune in Mascara on September 6 1808, to a religious family. His father, Muhieddine (or "Muhyi al-Din") al-Hasani, was a muqaddam in a religious institution affiliated with the Qadiriyya tariqa and claimed descendence from Muhammad, through the Idrisid dynasty. Abdelkader was thus a sharif, and entitled to add the honorary patronymic al-Hasani ("descendant of Hasan ibn Ali") to his name.
He grew up in his father's zawiya, which by the early nineteenth century had become the centre of a thriving community on the banks of the Oued al-Hammam. Like other students, he received a traditional and common education in theology, jurisprudence and grammar; it was said that he could read and write by the age of five. A gifted student, Abdelkader succeeded in reciting the Qur'an by heart at the age of 14, thereby receiving the title of ḥāfiẓ; a year later, he went to Oran for further education. He was a good orator and could excite his peers with poetry and religious diatribes. He is noted for numerous published essays about adapting Islamic law to modern society.
As a young man In 1825, he set out on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, with his father. While there, he encountered Imam Shamil; the two spoke at length on different topics. He also traveled to Damascus and Baghdad, and visited the graves of noted Muslims, such as ibn Arabi and Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was also called al-Jilālī in Algeria. This experience cemented his religious enthusiasm. On his way back to Algeria, he was impressed by the reforms carried out by Muhammad Ali of Egypt. He returned to his homeland a few months before the arrival of the French under the July Monarchy.
French invasion and resistance
Early success (1830–1837)
In 1830, Algeria was invaded by France; French colonial domination over Algeria eventually supplanted domination by the Ottoman Empire and the Kouloughlis. There was a lot of pent-up resentment against the Ottomans when the French arrived, and due to numerous rebellions in the early 19th century, the Algerians could not oppose the French at all initially. When the French Africa Army reached Oran in January 1831, Abdelkader's father was asked to lead a resistance campaign against them; Muhieddine called for jihad and he and his son were among those involved in early attacks below the walls of the city.
It was at this point that Abdelkader came to the fore. At a meeting of the western tribes in the autumn of 1832, he was elected Amir al-Mu'minin (typically abbreviated to "Emir") following his father's refusal of the position on the grounds that he was too old. The appointment was confirmed five days later at the Great Mosque of Mascara. Within a year, through a combination of punitive raids and careful politics, Abdelkader had succeeded in uniting the tribes in the region and in reestablishing security – his area of influence now covered the entire Province of Oran. The local French commander-in-chief, General Louis Alexis Desmichels, saw Abdelkader as the principal representative of the area during peace negotiations, and in 1834 they signed the Desmichels Treaty, which ceded near-total control of Oran Province to Abdelkader. For the French, this was a way of establishing peace in the region while also confining Abdelkader to the west; but his status as a co-signatory also did much to elevate him in the eyes of the Berbers and of the French.
Using this treaty as a start, he imposed his rule on the tribes of the Chelif, Miliana, and Médéa. The French high command, unhappy with what they now saw as the unfavorable terms of the Desmichels Treaty, recalled General Desmichels and replaced him with General Camille Alphonse Trézel, which caused a resumption of hostilities. Abdelkader's tribal warriors met the French forces in July 1834 at the Battle of Macta, where the French suffered an unexpected defeat.
France's response was to step up its military campaign, and under new commanders the French won several important encounters including the 1836 Battle of Sikkak. But political opinion in France was becoming ambivalent towards Algeria, and when General Thomas Robert Bugeaud was deployed to the region in April 1837, he was "authorized to use all means to induce Abd el-Kader to make overtures of peace". The result, after protracted negotiations, was the Treaty of Tafna, signed on 30 May 1837. This treaty gave even more control of interior portions of Algeria to Abdelkader but with the recognition of France's right to imperial sovereignty. Abdelkader thus won control of all of Oran Province and extended his reach to the neighbouring province of Titteri and beyond.
New state
The period of peace following the Treaty of Tafna benefited both sides, and the Emir Abdelkader took the opportunity to consolidate a new functional state, with a capital in Tagdemt. he played down his political power, however, repeatedly declining the title of sultan and striving to concentrate on his spiritual authority. The state he created was broadly theocratic, and most positions of authority were held by members of the religious aristocracy; even the main unit of currency was named the muhammadiyya, after the Prophet.
His first military action was to move south into the Sahara and al-Tijani. Next, he moved east to the valley of the Chelif and Titteri, but was resisted by the Bey of Constantine Province, Hajj Ahmed. In other actions, he demanded punishment of the Kouloughlis of Zouatna for supporting the French. By the end of 1838, his rule extended east to Kabylie, and south to Biskra, and to the Moroccan border. He continued to fight al-Tijani and besieged his capital at Aïn Madhi for six months, eventually destroying it.
Another aspect of Abdelkader that helped him lead his fledgling nation was his ability to find and use good talent regardless of its nationality. He would employ Jews and Christians on his way to building his nation. One of these was Léon Roches. His approach to the military was to have a standing army of 2000 men supported by volunteers from the local tribes. He placed, in the interior towns, arsenals, warehouses, and workshops, where he stored items to be sold for arms purchases from England. Through his frugal living (he lived in a tent), he taught his people the need for austerity and through education he taught them concepts such as nationality and independence.
End of the nation
The peace ended when the Duc d'Orléans, ignoring the terms of the Treaty of Tafna, headed an expeditionary force that breached the Iron Gates. On 15 October 1839, Abd al-Qadir attacked the French as they were colonizing the Plains of Mitidja and routed the invaders. In response the French officially declared war on 18 November 1839. The fighting bogged down until General Thomas Robert Bugeaud returned to Algeria, this time as governor-general, in February 1841. Abdelkader was originally encouraged to hear that Bugeaud, the promoter of the Treaty of Tafna, was returning; but this time Bugeaud's tactics would be radically different. This time, his approach was one of annihilation, with the conquest of Algeria as the endgame:
Abdelkader was effective at using guerrilla warfare and for a decade, up until 1842, scored many victories. He often signed tactical truces with the French, but these did not last. His power base was in the western part of Algeria, where he was successful in uniting the tribes against the French. He was noted for his chivalry; on one occasion he released his French captives simply because he had insufficient food to feed them. Throughout this period, Abdelkader demonstrated political and military leadership and acted as a capable administrator and a persuasive orator. His fervent faith in the doctrines of Islam was unquestioned.
Until the beginning of 1842 the struggle went in his favor; however, the resistance was put down by Marshal Bugeaud, due to Bugeaud's adaptation to the guerilla tactics employed by Abdelkader. Abdelkader would strike fast and disappear into the terrain with light infantry; however the French increased their mobility. The French armies brutally suppressed the native population and practiced a scorched earth policy in the countryside to force the residents to starve so as to desert their leader. By 1841, his fortifications had all but been destroyed and he was forced to wander the interior of the Oran. In 1842, he had lost control of Tlemcen and his lines of communications with Morocco were not effective. He was able to cross the border into Morocco for a respite, but the French defeated the Moroccans at the Battle of Isly. He left Morocco, and was able to keep up the fight to the French by taking the Sidi Brahim at the Battle of Sidi-Brahim.
Surrender
Abdelkader was ultimately forced to surrender. His failure to get support from eastern tribes, apart from the Kabyles of western Kabylie, had contributed to the quelling of the rebellion, and a decree from Abd al-Rahman of Morocco following the 1844 Treaty of Tangiers had outlawed the Emir from his entire kingdom.
Abd al-Rahman of Morocco secretly sent soldiers to attack Abdelkader and destroy his supplies, six months after Abdelkader routed the Moroccans and imprisoned them. Following this failure by the Moroccans, an assassin was sent to kill Emir Abdelkader. While the Emir was reading he raised his head and witnessed a large powerful assassin armed with a dagger, however the assassin quickly threw the dagger to the ground and said: “I was going to strike you, but the sight of you disarmed me. I thought I saw the halo of the Prophet on your head.” The nephew of Abd al-Rahman, Moulay Hashem was sent along with the governor of the Rif, El Hamra in command of a Moroccan army to attack the Emir, however the Moroccans were severely defeated in battle, El Hamra was killed, Moulay Hashem had barely escaped with his life and Abd al-Rahman accepted this defeat. The Moroccans led another offensive in the Battle of Agueddin in which they were defeated by Abdelkader in all three military engagements, however Abdelkader soon made the choice to withdraw from Morocco and enter French territory for negotiations.
On 23 December 1847, Abdelkader surrendered to General Louis Juchault de Lamoricière in exchange for the promise that he would be allowed to go to Alexandria or Acre. He supposedly commented on his own surrender with the words, "And God undoes what my hand has done", although this is probably apocryphal. His request was granted, and two days later his surrender was made official to the French Governor-General of Algeria, Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, to whom Abdelkader symbolically handed his war-horse. Ultimately, however, the French government refused to honour Lamoricière's promise: Abdelkader was shipped to France and, instead of being allowed to carry on to the East, ended up being kept in captivity.
Imprisonment and exile
Abdelkader and his family and followers were detained in France, first at Fort Lamalgue in Toulon, then at Pau, and in November 1848 they were transferred to the château of Amboise. Damp conditions in the castle led to deteriorating health as well as morale in the Emir and his followers, and his fate became something of a cause célèbre in certain circles. Several high-profile figures, including Émile de Girardin and Victor Hugo, called for greater clarification over the Emir's situation; future prime minister Émile Ollivier carried out a public opinion campaign to raise awareness over his fate. There was also international pressure. Lord Londonderry visited Abdelkader in Amboise and subsequently wrote to then-President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (whom he had known during the latter's exile in England) to appeal for the Emir's release.
Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte (later the Emperor Napoleon III) was a relatively new president, having come to power in the Revolution of 1848 while Abdelkader was already imprisoned. He was keen to make a break with several policies of the previous regime, and Abdelkader's cause was one of them. Eventually, on 16 October 1852, Abdelkader was released by the President and given an annual pension of 100,000 francs on taking an oath never again to disturb Algeria. He then took up residence in Bursa, today's Turkey, moving in 1855 to Amara District in Damascus. He devoted himself anew to theology and philosophy, and composed a philosophical treatise, of which a French translation was published in 1858 under the title of Rappel à l'intelligent, avis à l'indifférent (Reminder to the intelligent, notice to the indifferent), and again in 1877 under the title of Lettre aux Français (Letter to the French). He also wrote a book on the Arabian horse.
During his stay in Syria, 'Abd al-Qadir became an active Freemason and was close to the French intellectual circles. He was a prominent member of the lodge of the 'Pyramides', which was directly under the patronage of the Grand Orient of France. While in Damascus, he also befriended Jane Digby as well as Richard and Isabel Burton. Abdelkader's knowledge of Sufism and skill with languages earned Burton's respect and friendship; his wife Isabel described him as follows:
Anti-Christian riots of 1860 in Damascus
In July 1860, conflict between the Druze and Maronites of Mount Lebanon spread to Damascus, and local Druze attacked the Christian quarter, killing over 3,000 people. Abdelkader had previously warned the French consul as well as the Council of Damascus that violence was imminent; when it finally broke out, he sheltered large numbers of Christians, including the heads of several foreign consulates as well as religious groups such as the Sisters of Mercy, in the safety of his house. His eldest sons were sent into the streets to offer any Christians under threat shelter under his protection, and Abdelkader himself was said by many survivors to have played an instrumental part in saving them.
Reports coming out of Syria as the rioting subsided stressed the prominent role of Abdelkader, and considerable international recognition followed. The French government increased his pension to 150,000 francs and bestowed on him the Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur; he also received the Grand Cross of the Redeemer from Greece, a Star of Magnificence from the Masonic Order of France, the Order of the Medjidie, First Class from Turkey, and the Order of Pope Pius IX from the Vatican. Abraham Lincoln sent him a pair of inlaid pistols (now on display in the Algiers museum) and Great Britain a gold-inlaid shotgun. In France, the episode represented the culmination of a remarkable turnaround, from being considered as an enemy of France during the first half of the 19th century, to becoming a "friend of France" after having intervened in favor of persecuted Christians.
In 1865 he visited Paris on the invitation of Napoleon III and was greeted with both official and popular respect. In 1871, during an insurrection in Algeria, he disowned one of his sons, who was arousing the tribes around Constantine.
Death and burial
Abdelkader died in Damascus on 26 May 1883 and was buried near the great Sufi ibn Arabi in Damascus.
His body was recovered in 1965 and is now in the El Alia Cemetery in Algiers. This transfer of his remains was controversial as Abd el-Kader had clearly wanted to be buried in Damascus with his master, ibn Arabi.
Image and legacy
From the beginning of his career, Abdelkader inspired admiration not only from within Algeria, but from Europeans as well, even while fighting against the French forces. "The generous concern, the tender sympathy" he showed to his prisoners-of-war was "almost without parallel in the annals of war", and he was careful to show respect for the private religion of any captives.
In 1843 Jean-de-Dieu Soult declared that Abd-el-Kader was one of the three great men then living; the two others, Shamil, 3rd Imam of Dagestan and Muhammad Ali of Egypt also being Muslims.
ʿAbd al-Qādir was involved in research that went into the Bulaq Press's 1911 third edition of Ibn Arabi's Meccan Revelations. This edition was based on the Konya Manuscript, Ibn Arabi's revised version of the text, and it subsequently became standard.
The town of Elkader, Iowa in the United States is named after Abdelkader. The town's founders, Timothy Davis, John Thompson and Chester Sage, were impressed by his fight against French colonial power and decided to pick his name as the name for their new settlement in 1846.
In 2013, the American film director Oliver Stone announced the pending production of a filmed biopic called The Emir Abd el-Kader, to be directed by Charles Burnett. To date the film has not been made.
The Abd el-Kader Fellowship is a postdoctoral fellowship of The Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia.
On 6 February 2022, a French sculpture of Abdelkader was reported vandalized on 5 February in Amboise, central France. The vandalism occurred amid the presidential election campaign, during which immigration and Islam have been significant issues for specific candidates.
See also
Invasion of Algiers in 1830
Emir Mustapha
Reghaïa attack (1837)
Expedition of the Col des Beni Aïcha (1837)
First Battle of Boudouaou (1837)
Mokrani Revolt
French Algeria
Citations
Bibliography and further reading
Ritter, Yusuf. Travels in Algeria, United Empire Loyalists. Tikhanov Library, 2023. "Travels in Algeria, United Empire Loyalists"
Bouyerdene, Ahmed Emir Abd el-Kader: Hero and Saint of Islam, trans. Gustavo Polit, World Wisdom 2012,
Churchill, Charles Henry Life of Abd el-Kader: Ex-Sultan of the Arabs of Algeria: written and compiled from his own dictation from other Authentic Sources, Nabu Press 2014, , Reprint from Chapman and Hall 1867
Danziger, Raphael. Abd al-Qadir and the Algerians: Resistance to the French and Internal Consolidation. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1977.
Dinesen, A. W. Abd el-Kader, 1840 (reprint 2006),
Étienne, Bruno. Abdelkader. Paris: Hachette Littérature, 2003.
Kiser, John W. Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd El-Kader, Archetype 2008,
Kiser, John W. Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abd el-Kader (1808–1883). Rhineburg: Monkfish, 2008.
Marston, Elsa. The Compassionate Warrior: Abd El-Kader of Algeria, Wisdom Tales 2013,
Pitts, Jennifer, trans. and ed. Writings on Empire and Slavery by Alexis de Tocqueville. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000.
Woerner-Powell, Tom. Another Road to Damascus: An integrative approach to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jazā'irī (1808–1883), De Gruyter 2017,
External links
Abd Al-Kadir's Struggle for Truth
Science sacrée, Revue d'études traditionnelles
When Americans Honored an Icon of Jihad - John Kiser's video on Emir Abdelkader al-Jazairi
Famous Quotes by Abd al-Qadir
1808 births
1883 deaths
19th-century Algerian people
Algerian guerrillas
Algerian resistance leaders
Algerian Sufis
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Hashemite people
Heads of state in Africa
History of Damascus
Algerian independence activists
People from Mascara Province
Supporters of Ibn Arabi
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood%20bank
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Blood bank
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A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laboratory where the storage of blood product occurs and where pre-transfusion and Blood compatibility testing is performed. However, it sometimes refers to a collection center, and some hospitals also perform collection. Blood banking includes tasks related to blood collection, processing, testing, separation, and storage.
For blood donation agencies in various countries, see list of blood donation agencies and list of blood donation agencies in the United States.
Types of blood transfused
Several types of blood transfusion exist:
Whole blood, which is blood transfused without separation.
Red blood cells or packed cells is transfused to patients with anemia/iron deficiency. It also helps to improve the oxygen saturation in blood. It can be stored at 2.0 °C-6.0 °C for 35–45 days.
Platelet transfusion is transfused to those with low platelet count. Platelets can be stored at room temperature for up to 5–7 days. Single donor platelets, which have a more platelet count but it is bit expensive than regular.
Plasma transfusion is indicated to patients with liver failure, severe infections or serious burns. Fresh frozen plasma can be stored at a very low temperature of -30 °C for up to 12 months. The separation of plasma from a donor's blood is called plasmapheresis.
History
While the first blood transfusions were made directly from donor to receiver before coagulation, it was discovered that by adding anticoagulant and refrigerating the blood it was possible to store it for some days, thus opening the way for the development of blood banks. John Braxton Hicks was the first to experiment with chemical methods to prevent the coagulation of blood at St Mary's Hospital, London, in the late 19th century. His attempts, using phosphate of soda, however, were unsuccessful.
The first non-direct transfusion was performed on March 27, 1914, by the Belgian doctor Albert Hustin, though this was a diluted solution of blood. The Argentine doctor Luis Agote used a much less diluted solution in November of the same year. Both used sodium citrate as an anticoagulant.
First World War
The First World War acted as a catalyst for the rapid development of blood banks and transfusion techniques. Inspired by the need to give blood to wounded soldiers in the absence of a donor, Francis Peyton Rous at the Rockefeller University (then The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research) wanted to solve the problems of blood transfusion. With a colleague, Joseph R. Turner, he made two critical discoveries: blood typing was necessary to avoid blood clumping (coagulation) and blood samples could be preserved using chemical treatment. Their report in March 1915 to identify possible blood preservative was of a failure. The experiments with gelatine, agar, blood serum extracts, starch and beef albumin proved useless.
In June 1915, they made the first important report in the Journal of the American Medical Association that agglutination could be avoided if the blood samples of the donor and recipient were tested before. They developed a rapid and simple method for testing blood compatibility in which coagulation and the suitability of the blood for transfusion could be easily determined. They used sodium citrate to dilute the blood samples, and after mixing the recipient's and donor's blood in 9:1 and 1:1 parts, blood would either clump or remain watery after 15 minutes. Their result with a medical advice was clear:[If] clumping is present in the 9: 1 mixture and to a less degree or not at all in the 1 : 1 mixture, it is certain that the blood of the patient agglu¬ tinates that of the donor and may perhaps hemolyze it. Transfusion in such cases is dangerous. Clumping in the 1 : 1 mixture with little or none in the 9: 1 indicates that the plasma of the prospective donor agglutinates the cells of the prospective recipient. The risk from transfusing is much less under such circumstances, but it may be doubted whether the blood is as useful as one which does not and is not agglutinated. A blood of the latter kind should always be chosen if possible.Rous was well aware that Austrian physician Karl Landsteiner had discovered blood types a decade earlier, but the practical usage was not yet developed, as he described: "The fate of Landsteiner's effort to call attention to the practical bearing of the group differences in human bloods provides an exquisite instance of knowledge marking time on technique. Transfusion was still not done because (until at least 1915), the risk of clotting was too great." In February 1916, they reported in the Journal of Experimental Medicine the key method for blood preservation. They replaced the additive, gelatine, with a mixture sodium citrate and glucose (dextrose) solution and found: "in a mixture of 3 parts of human blood, 2 parts of isotonic citrate solution (3.8 per cent sodium citrate in water), and 5 parts of isotonic dextrose solution (5.4 per cent dextrose in water), the cells remain intact for about 4 weeks." A separate report indicates the use of citrate-saccharose (sucrose) could maintain blood cells for two weeks. They noticed that the preserved bloods were just like fresh bloods and that they "function excellently when reintroduced into the body." The use of sodium citrate with sugar, sometimes known as Rous-Turner solution, was the main discovery that paved the way for the development of various blood preservation methods and blood bank.
Canadian Lieutenant Lawrence Bruce Robertson was instrumental in persuading the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) to adopt the use of blood transfusion at the Casualty Clearing Stations for the wounded. In October 1915, Robertson performed his first wartime transfusion with a syringe to a patient who had multiple shrapnel wounds. He followed this up with four subsequent transfusions in the following months, and his success was reported to Sir Walter Morley Fletcher, director of the Medical Research Committee.
Robertson published his findings in the British Medical Journal in 1916, and—with the help of a few like minded individuals (including the eminent physician Edward William Archibald)—was able to persuade the British authorities of the merits of blood transfusion. Robertson went on to establish the first blood transfusion apparatus at a Casualty Clearing Station on the Western Front in the spring of 1917.
Oswald Hope Robertson, a medical researcher and officer, worked with Rous at the Rockefeller between 1915 and 1917, and learned the blood matching and preservation methods. He was attached to the RAMC in 1917, where he was instrumental in establishing the first blood banks, with soldiers as donors, in preparation for the anticipated Third Battle of Ypres. He used sodium citrate as the anticoagulant, and the blood was extracted from punctures in the vein, and was stored in bottles at British and American Casualty Clearing Stations along the Front. He also experimented with preserving separated red blood cells in iced bottles. Geoffrey Keynes, a British surgeon, developed a portable machine that could store blood to enable transfusions to be carried out more easily.
Expansion
The world's first blood donor service was established in 1921 by the secretary of the British Red Cross, Percy Lane Oliver. Volunteers were subjected to a series of physical tests to establish their blood group. The London Blood Transfusion Service was free of charge and expanded rapidly. By 1925, it was providing services for almost 500 patients and it was incorporated into the structure of the British Red Cross in 1926. Similar systems were established in other cities including Sheffield, Manchester and Norwich, and the service's work began to attract international attention. Similar services were established in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Australia and Japan.
Vladimir Shamov and Sergei Yudin in the Soviet Union pioneered the transfusion of cadaveric blood from recently deceased donors. Yudin performed such a transfusion successfully for the first time on March 23, 1930, and reported his first seven clinical transfusions with cadaveric blood at the Fourth Congress of Ukrainian Surgeons at Kharkiv in September. Also in 1930, Yudin organized the world's first blood bank at the Nikolay Sklifosovsky Institute, which set an example for the establishment of further blood banks in different regions of the Soviet Union and in other countries. By the mid-1930s the Soviet Union had set up a system of at least 65 large blood centers and more than 500 subsidiary ones, all storing "canned" blood and shipping it to all corners of the country.
One of the earliest blood banks was established by Frederic Durán-Jordà during the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Duran joined the Transfusion Service at the Barcelona Hospital at the start of the conflict, but the hospital was soon overwhelmed by the demand for blood and the paucity of available donors. With support from the Department of Health of the Spanish Republican Army, Duran established a blood bank for the use of wounded soldiers and civilians. The 300–400 ml of extracted blood was mixed with 10% citrate solution in a modified Duran Erlenmeyer flask. The blood was stored in a sterile glass enclosed under pressure at 2 °C. During 30 months of work, the Transfusion Service of Barcelona registered almost 30,000 donors, and processed 9,000 liters of blood.
In 1937 Bernard Fantus, director of therapeutics at the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, established one of the first hospital blood banks in the United States. In creating a hospital laboratory that preserved, refrigerated and stored donor blood, Fantus originated the term "blood bank". Within a few years, hospital and community blood banks were established across the United States.
Frederic Durán-Jordà fled to Britain in 1938, and worked with Janet Vaughan at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School at Hammersmith Hospital to create a system of national blood banks in London. With the outbreak of war looking imminent in 1938, the War Office created the Army Blood Supply Depot (ABSD) in Bristol headed by Lionel Whitby and in control of four large blood depots around the country. British policy through the war was to supply military personnel with blood from centralized depots, in contrast to the approach taken by the Americans and Germans where troops at the front were bled to provide required blood. The British method proved to be more successful at adequately meeting all requirements and over 700,000 donors were bled over the course of the war. This system evolved into the National Blood Transfusion Service established in 1946, the first national service to be implemented.
Medical advances
A blood collection program was initiated in the US in 1940 and Edwin Cohn pioneered the process of blood fractionation. He worked out the techniques for isolating the serum albumin fraction of blood plasma, which is essential for maintaining the osmotic pressure in the blood vessels, preventing their collapse.
The use of blood plasma as a substitute for whole blood and for transfusion purposes was proposed as early as 1918, in the correspondence columns of the British Medical Journal, by Gordon R. Ward. At the onset of World War II, liquid plasma was used in Britain. A large project, known as 'Blood for Britain' began in August 1940 to collect blood in New York City hospitals for the export of plasma to Britain. A dried plasma package was developed, which reduced breakage and made the transportation, packaging, and storage much simpler.
The resulting dried plasma package came in two tin cans containing 400 cc bottles. One bottle contained enough distilled water to reconstitute the dried plasma contained within the other bottle. In about three minutes, the plasma would be ready to use and could stay fresh for around four hours. Charles R. Drew was appointed medical supervisor, and he was able to transform the test tube methods into the first successful mass production technique.
Another important breakthrough came in 1939–40 when Karl Landsteiner, Alex Wiener, Philip Levine, and R.E. Stetson discovered the Rh blood group system, which was found to be the cause of the majority of transfusion reactions up to that time. Three years later, the introduction by J.F. Loutit and Patrick L. Mollison of acid-citrate-dextrose (ACD) solution, which reduced the volume of anticoagulant, permitted transfusions of greater volumes of blood and allowed longer-term storage.
Carl Walter and W.P. Murphy Jr. introduced the plastic bag for blood collection in 1950. Replacing breakable glass bottles with durable plastic bags allowed for the evolution of a collection system capable of safe and easy preparation of multiple blood components from a single unit of whole blood.
Further extending the shelf life of stored blood up to 42 days was an anticoagulant preservative, CPDA-1, introduced in 1979, which increased the blood supply and facilitated resource-sharing among blood banks.
Collection and processing
In the U.S., certain standards are set for the collection and processing of each blood product. "Whole blood" (WB) is the proper name for one defined product, specifically unseparated venous blood with an approved preservative added. Most blood for transfusion is collected as whole blood. Autologous donations are sometimes transfused without further modification, however whole blood is typically separated (via centrifugation) into its components, with red blood cells (RBC) in solution being the most commonly used product. Units of WB and RBC are both kept refrigerated at , with maximum permitted storage periods (shelf lives) of 35 and 42 days respectively. RBC units can also be frozen when buffered with glycerol, but this is an expensive and time-consuming process, and is rarely done. Frozen red cells are given an expiration date of up to ten years and are stored at .
The less-dense blood plasma is made into a variety of frozen components, and is labeled differently based on when it was frozen and what the intended use of the product is. If the plasma is frozen promptly and is intended for transfusion, it is typically labeled as fresh frozen plasma. If it is intended to be made into other products, it is typically labeled as recovered plasma or plasma for fractionation. Cryoprecipitate can be made from other plasma components. These components must be stored at or colder, but are typically stored at . The layer between the red cells and the plasma is referred to as the buffy coat and is sometimes removed to make platelets for transfusion. Platelets are typically pooled before transfusion and have a shelf life of 5 to 7 days, or 3 days once the facility that collected them has completed their tests. Platelets are stored at room temperature () and must be rocked/agitated. Since they are stored at room temperature in nutritive solutions, they are at relatively high risk for growing bacteria.
Some blood banks also collect products by apheresis. The most common component collected is plasma via plasmapheresis, but red blood cells and platelets can be collected by similar methods. These products generally have the same shelf life and storage conditions as their conventionally-produced counterparts.
Donors are sometimes paid; in the U.S. and Europe, most blood for transfusion is collected from volunteers while plasma for other purposes may be from paid donors.
Most collection facilities as well as hospital blood banks also perform testing to determine the blood type of patients and to identify compatible blood products, along with a battery of tests (e.g. disease) and treatments (e.g. leukocyte filtration) to ensure or enhance quality. The increasingly recognized problem of inadequate efficacy of transfusion is also raising the profile of RBC viability and quality. Notably, U.S. hospitals spend more on dealing with the consequences of transfusion-related complications than on the combined costs of buying, testing/treating, and transfusing their blood.
Storage and management
Routine blood storage is 42 days or 6 weeks for stored packed red blood cells (also called "StRBC" or "pRBC"), by far the most commonly transfused blood product, and involves refrigeration but usually not freezing. There has been increasing controversy about whether a given product unit's age is a factor in transfusion efficacy, specifically on whether "older" blood directly or indirectly increases risks of complications. Studies have not been consistent on answering this question, with some showing that older blood is indeed less effective but with others showing no such difference; nevertheless, as storage time remains the only available way to estimate quality status or loss, a first-in-first-out inventory management approach is standard presently. It is also important to consider that there is large variability in storage results for different donors, which combined with limited available quality testing, poses challenges to clinicians and regulators seeking reliable indicators of quality for blood products and storage systems.
Transfusions of platelets are comparatively far less numerous, but they present unique storage/management issues. Platelets may only be stored for 7 days, due largely to their greater potential for contamination, which is in turn due largely to a higher storage temperature.
RBC storage lesion
Insufficient transfusion efficacy can result from red blood cell (RBC) blood product units damaged by so-called storage lesion—a set of biochemical and biomechanical changes which occur during storage. With red cells, this can decrease viability and ability for tissue oxygenation. Although some of the biochemical changes are reversible after the blood is transfused, the biomechanical changes are less so, and rejuvenation products are not yet able to adequately reverse this phenomenon.
Current regulatory measures are in place to minimize RBC storage lesion—including a maximum shelf life (currently 42 days), a maximum auto-hemolysis threshold (currently 1% in the US), and a minimum level of post-transfusion RBC survival in vivo (currently 75% after 24 hours). However, all of these criteria are applied in a universal manner that does not account for differences among units of product; for example, testing for the post-transfusion RBC survival in vivo is done on a sample of healthy volunteers, and then compliance is presumed for all RBC units based on universal (GMP) processing standards. RBC survival does not guarantee efficacy, but it is a necessary prerequisite for cell function, and hence serves as a regulatory proxy. Opinions vary as to the best way to determine transfusion efficacy in a patient in vivo. In general, there are not yet any in vitro tests to assess quality deterioration or preservation for specific units of RBC blood product prior to their transfusion, though there is exploration of potentially relevant tests based on RBC membrane properties such as erythrocyte deformability and erythrocyte fragility (mechanical).
Many physicians have adopted a so-called "restrictive protocol"—whereby transfusion is held to a minimum—due in part to the noted uncertainties surrounding storage lesion, in addition to the very high direct and indirect costs of transfusions, along with the increasing view that many transfusions are inappropriate or use too many RBC units.
Platelet storage lesion
Platelet storage lesion is a very different phenomenon from RBC storage lesion, due largely to the different functions of the products and purposes of the respective transfusions, along with different processing issues and inventory management considerations.
Alternative inventory and release practices
Although as noted the primary inventory-management approach is first in, first out (FIFO) to minimize product expiration, there are some deviations from this policy—both in current practice as well as under research. For example, exchange transfusion of RBC in neonates calls for use of blood product that is five days old or less, to "ensure" optimal cell function. Also, some hospital blood banks will attempt to accommodate physicians' requests to provide low-aged RBC product for certain kinds of patients (e.g. cardiac surgery).
More recently, novel approaches are being explored to complement or replace FIFO. One is to balance the desire to reduce average product age (at transfusion) with the need to maintain sufficient availability of non-outdated product, leading to a strategic blend of FIFO with last in, first out (LIFO).
Long-term storage
"Long-term" storage for all blood products is relatively uncommon, compared to routine/short-term storage. Cryopreservation of red blood cells is done to store rare units for up to ten years. The cells are incubated in a glycerol solution which acts as a cryoprotectant ("antifreeze") within the cells. The units are then placed in special sterile containers in a freezer at very low temperatures. The exact temperature depends on the glycerol concentration.
See also
Medical technologist
Phlebotomist
Blood transfusion
References
Further reading
Kara W. Swanson, Banking on the Body: The Market in Blood, Milk, and Sperm in Modern America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
External links
Animated Venipuncture tutorial
Transfusion medicine
Blood donation
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Meerut
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Meerut (, IAST: Meraṭh) is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital Lucknow.
, Meerut is the 33rd most populous urban agglomeration and the 26th most populous city in India.
The city is one of the largest producers of sports goods, the largest producer of musical instruments in India, and one of Asia's biggest gold markets. The city is also an education hub in western Uttar Pradesh, and is also known as the "Sports City Of India".
The city is famous for being the starting point of the 1857 rebellion against Company rule in India.
The city is also the proposed capital of Harit Pradesh, a new separate state. It has the 2nd highest per capita income in the state after Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida).
India's first Regional Rapid Transit System Delhi Meerut RRTS currently being constructed in Meerut. Which will be an inter-city high-speed metro corridor. It's also known as the expressway capital of Uttar Pradesh, having 3 different expressways.
Origin of the name
The city may have derived its name from 'Mayarashtra' (Sanskrit: मयराष्ट्र), the capital of the kingdom of Mayasura, Mandodari's father and Ravana's father-in-law. This name may have mutated to Mairashtra, Mai-dant-ka-khera, Mairaath and eventually Meerut.
According to another version, Maya(sura), being a distinguished architect, received from King Yudhishthira the land on which the city of Meerut now stands and he called this place Maharashtra, a name which in the course of time became shortened to Meerut. Tradition also has it that the city formed a part of the dominions of Mahipala, the king of Indraprastha, and the word Meerut is associated with his name.
The meaning of मय is alcohol. It is a production centre of alcohol with factories (sugar Mills) producing alcohol, hence the name मय is added from a alcohol production city. (Mawana Sugar Distillary). Maykhana is also a word which means Bar in Hindi. All alcohol was sent to capital Delhi and exported all over India. In India, cities are named on their popular produce. Hence Meerut as a production house of alcohol (मय) is called Meerut.
History
Ancient era
In Ramayana, It was known as 'Maydant Ka Kheda', the capital of May Danav. It was hometown of Mandodari, wife of Ravana.
After the archaeological excavations at Vidura-ka-tila, a collection of several mounds named after Vidura, in 1950–52, a site north-east of Meerut, it was concluded to be remains of the ancient city of Hastinapur, the capital of Kauravas and Pandavas of Mahabharata, which was washed away by Ganges floods.
Meerut also contained a Harappan settlement known as Alamgirpur. It was also the easternmost settlement of the Indus Valley civilisation. Meerut had been a centre of Buddhism in the period of Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (r. 273 BC to 232 BC.), and remains of Buddhist structures were found near the Jama Masjid in the present day city. The Ashoka Pillar, at Delhi ridge, next to the ‘Bara Hindu Rao Hospital’, near Delhi University, was carried to Delhi from Meerut, by Firuz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351–1388); it was later damaged in a 1713 explosion, and restored in 1867.
Muslim conquests
In the eleventh century AD, the region to the south-west of the city was ruled by Har Dat, the Dor Raja of Bulandshahr who built a fort, which was long known for its strength and finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari. He was later defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018, surrendering along with his forces to Mahmud. The prominent local landmark known as the Jama Masjid, dates from this period and is said to have been built by Mahmud's vizir. Shortly after its capture the city was regained by the local Hindu Raja and part of his fortifications, built for the city's defence, survived until recent times. Muhammad of Ghor's mamluk general Qutb-ud-din Aybak who went on to establish the Delhi Sultanate in 1206, attacked and captured Meerut in 1193.
Timur in 1399 attacked and sacked Meerut. It was held by Ilyas Afghan and his son Maula Muhammad Thaneswari who was assisted by non-Muslims led by Safi. Timur tried to negotiate a surrender, to which the inhabitants of the fort replied by stating that Tarmashirin had tried to capture it in the past but failed. Incensed, he set forth with 10,000 cavalry. The forces scaled the walls and Safi was killed in the battle. The inhabitants were killed and their wives and children enslaved. The fortifications and houses were razed to the ground with prisoners ordered to be flayed alive.
The city then came under the rule of the Mughal Empire and saw a period of relative tranquility. During the rule of Mughal Emperor, Akbar (r. 1556–1605), there was a mint for copper coins here. Also occurring during the reign of Akbar, Meerut was listed in the Ain-i-Akbari as a pargana under Delhi sarkar, producing a revenue of 4,391,996 dams for the imperial treasury and supplying a force of 300 infantry and 100 cavalry.
Major part of the Meerut was in the control of Sayyid Jagirdars of Abdullapur Meerut from 16th to late 18th century, Sayyed Mir Abdulla Naqvi Al Bukhari built Kot Fort in Abdullapur in 16th century, this place was his main residence. The descendants of Syed Sadarudin Shah Kabir Naqvi Al Kannauji Bukhari still present in this town, Sadarudin was a chief advisor of Sikandar Lodi and the father of great saint Shah Jewna. Famous Pakistani writer Syed Qudrat Naqvi Al Bukhari was born in Meerut.
Nawab Mansab Ali Khan was one of the most influential personality of this city, he built famous Karbala and Masjid known as Mansabiya in 1882.
The city saw Sikh and Maratha invasions in the 18th century, with interruptions by Jats and Rohillas. Walter Reinhardt, an English soldier, established himself at Sardhana and some parts of the district came under his rule. Upon his death, they came into the hands of Begum Samru. During this time, the southern part of the district had remained under Marathas rule.
Colonial era
In 1803, with the fall of Delhi, Daulat Rao Scindia of the Marathas ceded the territory to the British East India Company (EIC). The cantonment of Meerut was set up in 1806 with particular key interests including its closeness to Delhi and its area inside the rich Ganges – Yamuna doab. The city was made headquarters of the eponymous district in 1818.
Meerut is famously associated with the 1857 rebellion against Company rule in India. The famous slogan "Dilli Chalo" ("Let's march to Delhi!") was first spoken in the city, and the Meerut cantonment was the place where the rebellion started.
The revolt, which catapulted Meerut into international prominence, started in March 1857 at Barrackpore, Bengal. Indian sepoy Mangal Pandey shot at two of his commanding officers, missed, made an unsuccessful attempt to commit suicide and was executed. By April, the fire of Pandey's Uprising scorched north India and reached Meerut, the second-largest East India Company garrison. Here, Europeans and native sepoys were evenly balanced, with a little more than 2,000 on each side. The European cantonment was separated from the Indian one. Close by were Sadar Bazar and Lal Kurti Bazar, the latter named after the red uniforms worn by the Presidency armies. On 24 April 1857, Meerut's commander, Colonel Carmichael Smyth, paraded 90 Indian sepoys of the Bengal Cavalry, most of whom had come from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He ordered them to fire the new Enfield cartridges- 85 refused. The cartridges were covered with paper that had to be torn off; Muslim soldiers believed the paper was greased with pig fat and Hindus, with cow fat.
All 85 soldiers were stripped of their uniforms, court-martialed; they were all sentenced to a decade in prison. The prisoners, who were upper-class members of a cavalry regiment, were shocked at the harsh sentences handed down to them. On 10 May 1857, Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar opened the gates of the prison. These soldiers, along with the other imprisoned soldiers, escaped prison and declared themselves free, mutinied, attacked and killed several Company officials in the city in order to bring it under their control. This marked the beginning of a widespread revolt across northern India as these soldiers marched towards Delhi. 10 May is still celebrated as a local holiday in Meerut.
Meerut was also the venue of the Meerut Conspiracy Case in March 1929, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested by the colonial authorities for organising a railway strike action. The case quickly became the subject of attention in England, inspiring a 1932 play titled Meerut Prisoners by left-wing Manchester street theatre group the Red Megaphones, which highlighted the detrimental effects of capitalism and industrialisation. Electricity was first introduced to Meerut in 1931. In the 1940s, during the height of the Indian independence movement, cinema-goers in Meerut had an unofficial policy of refusing to stand up when God Save the Queen played before the film was shown. The last session of the Indian National Congress (INC) prior to the independence of India in 1947 was held at Victoria Park in Meerut on 26 November 1946. It was in this session that the Constitution-making committee was constituted.
Post-independence era
The city and district also suffered from communal (Hindu-Sikh) riots in 1984 and (Hindu-Muslim) riots in 1982 and in 1987, during which the Hashimpura massacre took place, in May 1987, when personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) shot dead 42 Muslims, the trial of the case is still pending. In 2006, a fire at a consumer electronics "Brand India" fair in Victoria Park Stadium killed at least 100 people, with authorities already confirming 45 fatalities, although a specific figure on a toll was difficult to put and was predicted to be much higher.
Geography
Meerut is the largest city in NCR after Delhi also known as sports city of India. Meerut lies between the plains of the Ganges and those of the Yamuna. In area Meerut district covers 2,522 km2 (974 sq mi), which is larger than Delhi (Delhi covers an area of 1,484 km2 [573 sq mi]).
Climate
Meerut has a monsoon influenced humid subtropical climate characterised by hot summers and cooler winters. Summers last from early April to late June during and are extremely hot, with temperatures reaching . The monsoon arrives in late June and continues till the middle of September. Temperatures drop slightly, with plenty of cloud cover but with higher humidity. Temperatures rise again in October and the city then has a mild, dry winter season from November to the middle of March The lowest temperature ever recorded is , recorded on Sunday, 6 January 2013. Rainfall is about per annum, which is suitable for growing crops. Most of the rainfall is received during the monsoon. Humidity varies from 30 to 100%.
Administration
General Administration
Meerut division which consists of six districts, and is headed by the Divisional Commissioner of Meerut, who is an IAS officer of high seniority, the Commissioner is the head of local government institutions (including Municipal Corporations) in the division, is in charge of infrastructural development in his division. The District Magistrate of Meerut reports to the Divisional Commissioner. The current Commissioner is Surendra Singh.
Meerut district administration is headed by the District Magistrate of Meerut, who is an IAS officer. The DM is in charge of property records and revenue collection for the central government and oversees the elections held in the city. The district is subdivided into three tehsils, namely Meerut, Mawana and Sardhana, each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate. The tehsils are further divided into 12 blocks. The current District Magistrate of Meerut is Depak Meena.
Police Administration
Meerut district comes under Meerut police zone and Meerut police range of Uttar Pradesh Police. Meerut zone is headed by an IPS officer in the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADG), whereas Meerut range is headed by an IPS officer in the rank of Inspector General of Police (IG). The Current ADG, Meerut Zone is Rajeev Sabharwal, whereas the current IG, Meerut Range is Praveen Kumar.
District Police of Meerut is headed by the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) who is an IPS officer. He is assisted by four Superintendents of Police (SP)/Additional Superintendent of Police (Addl. SP) (City, Rural Area, Traffic and Crime). The Meerut district is divided into numerous police circles, each headed by a Circle Officer in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. SP (Traffic) and SP (Crime) are assisted by one Circle Officer in the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police each. The current SSP is Rohit Singh Sajwan.
Infrastructure and Civic Administration
The development of infrastructure in the city is overseen by the Meerut Development Authority (MDA), which comes under the Housing Department of Uttar Pradesh government. The Divisional Commissioner of Meerut acts as the ex-officio Chairman of MDA, whereas a vice-chairman, a government-appointed IAS officer, looks after the daily matters of the authority. The current vice-chairman of Meerut Development Authority is Sita Ram Yadav.
The city is administered by Meerut Municipal Corporation, which is responsible for performing civic administrative functions administered by Municipal Commissioner (PCS Officer) whereas Mayor is ceremonial head of the corporation. The current Municipal Commissioner of Meerut Municipal Corporation is Manoj Kumar Chauhan.
Central Government Offices
The office of the Chief Commissioner, Customs & Central Excise, Meerut Zone, has jurisdiction over 13 districts of Uttrakhand and 14 districts of Uttar Pradesh. This jurisdiction was carved out of the Lucknow Zone. It comprises the erstwhile Customs & Central Excise Commissionerates of Meerut & Noida. The Meerut Commissionerate was bifurcated into two Commissionerates, namely, ‘Meerut-I and Ghaziabad’ and the Noida Commissionerate was bifurcated into ‘Noida and Meerut-II’. In addition, jurisdiction of Central Excise Division Bareilly was included in the jurisdiction of Meerut-II Commissionerate.
CGHS department of Meerut provides comprehensive health care facilities for the central govt employees and pensioners and their dependents residing in this city.
District management
The Janikhurd Block is established on 1 October 1962.
The Rohta block is established on 1 October 1959.
The Daurala block is established on 1 October 1962.
The Rajpura block is established on 1 October 1959.
The Kharkhoda block is established on 1 October 1959.
The Mawana block is established on 1 April 1957.
The Meerut block is established on 1 April 1957.
The Hastinapur block is established on 1 April 1963.
The Sardhana block is established on 26 January 1955.
The Saroorpur khurd block is established on 1 April 1959.
The Machchhara block is established on 1 October 1961.
The Parikshitgarh block is established on 1 April 1958.
Demand for High Court Bench in Meerut
Almost 54% of all cases reaching the High Court originate from the 22 districts of Western UP. Still western Uttar Pradesh does not have a High Court. People have to travel 700 kms away to Allahabad for hearings. Infact 6 high courts (Shimla, Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Nainital, Jammu) from other states are closer than Allahabad from western Uttar Pradesh.
Western Uttar Pradesh has been advocating to have a high court bench in Meerut so that western Uttar Pradesh can get justice. This important also as west UP accounts for 51.71% of state GDP.
The Bench in the western part of the state was first proposed by the government in 1955.
Meerut Cantonment
Meerut Cantonment was established by the British East India Company in 1803 after the Battle of Laswari. It is the one of the largest cantonment of India both in land area and population of 93684 (civil + military) people as per 2011 census. The Revolt of 1857 started from "Kali Paltan" in Meerut Cantonment and Indian soldiers stationed here actively participated in the rebellion. The cantonment surrounds the old city from 3 sides – from Pallavpuram to Sainik Vihar to Ganga Nagar. It is well connected with the rest of country by roads as well as by rail. The Delhi Niti Paas Road (State Highway No. 45) passes through Meerut Cantonment. Meerut cantonment was the divisional headquarters of the 7th (Meerut) Division of the British Indian Army from 1829 to 1920.
Economy
Development
Meerut is the 63rd-fastest-growing urban area in the world. It is the 14th fastest developing city in India. A June 2011 report by US financial services firm Morgan Stanley gave Meerut the 5th spot on the "vibrancy" index, ahead of Delhi and Mumbai. Meerut ranked second on both the financial penetration index, which measures things like the presence of ATMs and bank branches, and on the consumption index, indicating the city's transformation into an urban town.
While the city ranked in the bottom 10 in job creations, the report suggests that overall there are plenty of signs of "potential for urbanisation," including future employment opportunities. The infrastructure segment of Meerut is currently going through a boom phase with many new projects like Expessways, Metro, Freight corridors coming up in and around the city. The Upper Ganga Canal Expressway development has also been completed. On the India City Competitiveness Index, the city ranked 45th in 2010, 37th in 2011and 39th in 2012.
Meerut is one of the biggest industrial centers in India. It has largest sports and goods manufacturing in India. It is one of the largest gold markets in Asia. Scissors, metals and musical instruments manufacturing is also a big market. It is India's largest refined sugar producer.
Meerut is upcoming Logistic Hub in western Uttar Pradesh due to projects like Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor and expressway projects like - Delhi Meerut Expressway, Ganga Expressway, Delhi Meerut RRTS.
Industry
Meerut is one of the important industrial towns of western Uttar Pradesh with several traditional and modern industries. It is traditionally known for handloom works and scissors industry. Meerut was one of the first cities in northern India where publishing was set up during the 19th century. It was a major center of commercial publishing during the 1860s and 1870s.
Meerut is a rich agricultural area, being in the proximity of Delhi, it is ideal for industry. As of 2011, it is home to 520 micro, small and medium scale industries. , Meerut has about 23,471 industrial units, including 15,510 small-scale units and 7,922 cottage industries. Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) and BDM one of India's biggest sports goods manufacturers are based out of Meerut
Existing industries in the city include tyres, textile, transformer, sugar, distillery, chemical, engineering, paper, publishing, and sports goods manufacture. Prospective industries include IT and ITES, Logistics.
Uttar Pradesh State Industrial Development Corporation (UPSIDC) has two industrial estates in the city, namely Partapur and Udyog Puram.
Transport
Road
Meerut is well-connected by road to major cities like Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Haridwar, Bulandshahr, etc. A large number of people commute to Delhi, Noida, Greater Noida, Ghaziabad and Gurugram every day for work.
Three national highways (NH-58, NH-119 & NH-235) and two Expressways pass through Meerut. The Delhi–Meerut Expressway - a 90 km long controlled-access expressway connects Meerut with Delhi via Dasna in Ghaziabad district. Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the expressway on 31 December 2015, and the expressway was completed and opened for public on 1 April 2021, also an under construction Ganga Expressway.
There are 2 main bus terminals, namely Bhainsali bus terminal and Sohrab Gate bus terminal from where Uttar Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation (UPSRTC) buses ply to cities all over the state and all nearby cities. A JNNURM scheme was put in place. Low Floor City Buses (under JNNURM), Normal City Buses, auto rickshaws and rickshaws are convenient public transport options to commute within the city.
Many new transport infrastructure projects like the inner ring road, outer ring road and construction of new flyovers are proposed and being made as well. The under-construction Ganga Expressway will start from Meerut till Allahabad, and in the future, it will be extended from Meerut to Haridwar. Other expressways which will pass nearby Meerut are the Upper Ganga Canal Expressway, Delhi–Saharanpur–Dehradun Expressway and Gorakhpur–Shamli Expressway.
Railways
Meerut lies on the Delhi–Meerut–Saharanpur line, and has five railway stations: Meerut City, Meerut Cantt., Partapur, Mohiuddinpur and Pabli Khas. Meerut City railway station is the busiest. The railway line between Delhi and Meerut was constructed in 1864, and the Meerut Cantt. station, which serves as a secondary railway station, was founded in 1865.
About 20,000 passengers travel daily to Delhi and back. Around 27 pairs of trains run between Meerut and Delhi, and four between Meerut and Khurja. Two trains are available for Lucknow daily, namely Nauchandi Express and Rajya Rani Express. A weekly train goes to Chennai and Kochuveli. Daily trains connect Meerut to Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Rajkot and many cities in other states.
Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor
Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor or Eastern DFC is an broad gauge freight corridor in India. The railway will run between Ludhiana in Punjab and Dankuni (near Kolkata) in West Bengal via Meerut and Khurja in Uttar Pradesh.
Apart from this Delhi Meerut RRTS (RapidX) will also be used for inter city cargo movement. Vinay Kumar Singh, managing director, NCRTC, said, “During non-peak hours, the ridership would be low, so we can use the time to move cargo, including perishable goods.”
Uttar Pradesh government has allocated land for building a large logistic hub in Modipuram region of Uttar Pradesh.
Metro project
On 30 December 2014, the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet approved the proposed metro rail project in Meerut, to boost the urban mass transport infrastructure in the city. The state government nominated RITES Limited and Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) for preparing the respective detailed project report (DPR) and as a coordinator, respectively. The development authorities are nodal agencies for the DPR.
The metro project got approval from the divisional commissioner. It was decided in the meeting that the project would be along two corridors, by dividing the project into two phases–Phase I from Partapur to Pallavpuram, and Phase II from Rajban Market to Gokalpur village. The main stations on the first corridor in the first phase will be Partapur, Panchwati Enclave, Rithani, Rithani West, Shatabdi Nagar, Devlok, Madhavpuram, Meerut Railway Station Road, Lajpat Bazaar, Begampul, Gandhi Bagh, Lekha Nagar, Pallavpuram Dorli, Ansal City and Pallavpuram. While in the second phase, the corridor in the Partapur-Pallavpuram route will cover 20 km, and will have a total number of 18 stations in between, the 10 km-long route from Rajban Market to Gokalpur village will have nine stations.
Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS)
The NCR Transport Plan 2021 proposed a rail-based mass transit system, called the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi to Meerut, with the Shahdara-Ghaziabad section scheduled for construction during 2001-11, and the Ghaziabad-Meerut section scheduled for 2011–21.
In September 2010, the RRTS was reported to be proposed between Anand Vihar and Meerut with the project in its initial stages. The cost was projected to be around with the expected time of the journey being 45 minutes. In November 2010, the train speed was proposed to be between 130 and 160 kmph, with stations at Anand Vihar, Sahibabad, Mohan Nagar, Ghaziabad, Guldhar, Duhai, Moradnagar, Modinagar, Meerut South, Shatabdi Nagar, Meerut Centre, Begumpul, Meerut North, Pallavpuram being the stops.
On 14 December 2010, the NCR Planning Board, Meerut Development Authority (MDA) and Meerut Municipal Corporation approved the project. In August 2011, it was reported that the project tender had been awarded to Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS). The proposed system was to have dedicated trains between Anand Vihar and Meerut, with no stops in between, and trains which will stop at stations will be constructed after a gap of 4–5 km. The reported stations were Anand Vihar, Vaishali, Mohan Nagar, Meerut Road (Airtel Cut), Morta, Duhai, Muradnagar, Gang Nahar, Modinagar, Mohiuddinpur, Meerut Bypass Cut and Pallavpuram, with completion expected in 2017. The track between Anand Vihar to Dabur was proposed to be underground with the rest of the track overhead.
On 11 July 2013, the Union Cabinet of India approved the formation of the National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTCL), with a seed capital of . The corporation will take up the construction of the 90 km-long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut corridor on a priority basis (along with two other corridors) with planned completion in 2016. It was reported that the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the three corridors were under the process of finalisation.
In December 2013, problems were reported in the proposed alignment of the Delhi-Meerut corridor. In January 2014, it was reported that the proposed alignment had to be changed due to objections by NHAI and the feasibility report had to be prepared again. The new proposed alignment increased the length from 90 km to 106 km.
In March 2018, the project's construction was started after the foundation stone was laid by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. As of 2023, the alignment is long, and the 17-km first stretch, as the priority corridor, from Sahibabad to Duhai is almost completed, and will be opened by March 2023, while the next stretch till South Meerut will be completed by the first quarter of 2024. The entire corridor will be completed by March 2025.
Air
The nearest airport is Hindon Airport at Ghaziabad, located away, while the major airport, Indira Gandhi International Airport at Delhi is about away.
The Dr. Bhim Rao Ambedkar Airport is located at Partapur. It was proposed by the state government that the airstrip be converted to an international airport to reduce pressure on Delhi airport. However, plans to expand the Domestic airport were called off after protests against land acquisition started in other parts of the state. Following an accident in May 2012, the city administration barred private flights from using the airstrip.
The city has long demanded airport. But, the government has stalled the project multiple times due to land acquisition reasons and project cost. Even Ajit Singh, the minister of civil aviation announced the project but still the project was not completed.
BJP MP Rajendra Agarwal met Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia minister promised that the Ministry of Civil Aviation will begin running the airport as soon as the Uttar Pradesh government satisfied the demand for land.
As of October, 2023 the project is awaiting approval for land acquisition from Uttar Pradesh Government.
Expressways
Since, Meerut has very favourable location for industries and is suitable for being a logistics hub. It has many expressways like Delhi Meerut Expressway, Ganga Expressway. It also is in close proximity (within 30 miles) with other expressway like Delhi Mumbai Expressway, Yamuna Expressway, KMP Expressway and Eastern Peripheral Expressway.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, the Meerut Urban Agglomeration (Meerut UA) has a population of around 1.42 million, (comparable to kingdom of Bahrain or Trinidad and Tobago) with the municipality contributing roughly 1.31 million of it. The Meerut Urban Agglomeration consists of area falling under Meerut Municipal Corporation, Meerut Cantonment Board and 4 census towns of Sindhawali, Amehra Adipur, Aminagar Urf Bhurbaral and Mohiuddinpur. This makes Meerut the 33rd most populous urban agglomeration and the 28th most populous city in India. The sex ratio in Meerut UA is 887, lower than the state average of 908; while the child sex ratio is 845, lower than the state average of 899. 12.99% of the population is under 6 years of age. The overall literacy rate is 76.28%, higher than the state average of 69.72%. In Meerut Municipal Corporation, 83.78% of the population spoke Hindi and 15.25% Urdu as their first language.
, Meerut ranks 328 (based on population), 189 (based on population density), 648 (based on built-up area) among world's urban areas.
According to the 2001 census, the city ranked 2nd in terms of population in NCR and 25th in India.
Culture
Most traditional Indian festivals, including Holi, Dussehra, Diwali, Eid among others are celebrated with fervor in the city. Notably, a fair by the name of Nauchandi Fair is held two weeks after Holi every year. The fair, which started in 1672, continues for about 15 days and is attended by lakhs of people. It includes events such as poetry recitations in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi etc. Khariboli is the local dialect with official business conducted in either Hindi-Urdu or English.
Meerut is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Meerut Diocese, which covers the districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Dehradun, Haridwar, Moradabad, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Dhampur Tehsil of Bijnor district.
Nauchandi Mela (Fair)
The Nauchandi Mela is an annual fair held at Nauchandi Ground in Meerut. The fair stretches for about a month and is organized by the Municipal Corporation of Meerut. It generally starts from the second Sunday after Holi. The main exhibits are the artistic and religious rituals followed in rustic Uttar Pradesh. The fair witness more than 50,000 visitors every year. The Indian Railways' Nauchandi Express train is named after this fair.
The fair has a prominent history dating back several hundreds of years. It started in the year 1672 AD as a one-day cattle trading fair. The fair has been held every year, excluding 1858, the year after 1857 revolt, which started from Meerut.
Since then cattle trading has been replaced by a number of other activities. The fair feature shops for Lucknow's Chikan work, Moradabad's brassware, Varanasi's carpets, rugs and silk sarees, Agra's footwear, Meerut's leather items, etc. Meerut's own products like sports goods, scissors, gajaks, nan-khatai are also sold. Giant rides, wheels, circus and various other recreational arenas where artists perform stunts, remains a big attraction of the fair.
Film and television
Meerut is home to a film industry, which has a following in Western Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The films are usually folklore stories or comedies or localised versions of Bollywood hits. The films which have been shot here include Sonu Ke Titu Ki Sweety, Zero, and Rajma Chawal.
Notable people from Meerut in the film and television industry include Bharat Bhushan, Aziz Mian, Mandakini, Achint Kaur, Kailash Kher, Chitrangada Singh, Vishal Bhardwaj, Deepti Bhatnagar and Pravesh Rana.
Education
Meerut is an education hub of Western Uttar Pradesh with near about four or five universities, approximately 50 engineering colleges, 23 management colleges, seven pharmacy colleges, four colleges offering hotel management, one college offering fashion design, over 150 academic colleges and over 50 schools. The city is home to Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University, Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology and IIMT University. The city has one government-run engineering college, Sir Chhotu Ram Institute of Engineering and Technology, a constituent college of Chaudhary Charan Singh University. There are schools affiliated to recognized boards such as ICSE, CBSE, IB and the state board. One such school is the St. John's Sr. Sec School (established by Begum Samru) which is over 130 years old, also the first IB school in Uttar Pradesh was Vidya Global school.
Shobhit Institute of Engineering & Technology is the only Deemed-to-be University in Meerut district. It was notified in 2006 by Ministry of HRD, Government of India u/s 3 of UGC Act 1956.
Shri Venkateshwara University recognized by UGC, located in Amroha near Meerut.
IIMT Engineering College which is now called IIMT University is the oldest engineering institute of Meerut district. It was established in 1997.
Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU) is a public and state university which has many degree colleges affiliated to it. They fall in two divisions: Saharanpur and Meerut with nine districts including Saharanpur, Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Gautam Budh Nagar, Bagpat, Hapur, Bulandshahr and Ghaziabad administered by Vice-Chancellor and Registrar (PCS officer).
The Indian Film and Television Institute is located at the western bypass of the city. The city has three medical colleges: Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College, Subharti Medical College and Mulayam Singh Yadav Medical College & Hospital.
Notable Schools
St. Mary's Academy, Meerut
Media
Meerut is becoming a media centre, as journalists from all over Uttar Pradesh and other Indian states are working in Meerut. Radio stations shared with Delhi are Radio City 91.1 MHz, Big FM 92.7 MHz, Red FM 93.5 MHz, Radio One 94.3 MHz, Hit 95 (95 MHz), Radio Mirchi 98.3 MHz, AIR FM Rainbow 102.6 MHz, Meow FM 104.8 MHz, AIR FM Gold 106.4 MHz. Radio IIMT (90.4 MHz) is the only radio station located in the city. The Hindi-language daily newspapers Hindustan (newspaper), Rajasthan Patrika, Dainik Jagran, Amar Ujala, Dainik Janwani, The Hindu, Rashtrasewa, Dainik Jagran iNext are published from the city. The English daily Times of India, Meerut edition and the English language supplement HT City, Meerut with Hindustan Times is also published there. Moneymakers, an English daily is also published there. Asian Express, Hindi newspaper and news magazine Citizen of the World are also published there.
Sports Industries
Meerut is one of the prominent centre in the country besides Jalandhar for the manufacture of sports goods. There are numerous sports companies in the city especially for cricket namely SS, SF, SG, RM Sports, BDM, GEM etc. Players like MS Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Kieron Pollard, Virat Kohli, Kumar Sangakkara and many others have used bats made in Meerut. 40,000-capacity Kailash Prakash Stadium is located in Meerut.
Tourist destinations
Tourist destinations in and around Meerut include:
Digamber Jain Bada Mandir Hastinapur – Located on the banks of the old ravine of Ganges, Hastinapur NCR is considered one of the holiest places on earth by Jains. It is believed to be the birthplace of three Jain Tirthankaras. There are many ancient Jain temples in Hastinapur NCR. Shri Digamber Jain Mandir, Jambudweep, Kailash Parvat Rachna, Shwetambar Jain Temple are the main and famous temples in Hastinapur NCR. Apart from Jain temples, Pandeshwar temple, Historical Gurdwara and Hastinapur Sanctuary are worth being seen.
Government Freedom Struggle Museum and Shaheed Smarak - Government Freedom Struggle Museum, Meerut was established in 1997. It is located in the Shaheed Smarak compound on Delhi Road, about 6 km north-east from the city railway station and at a distance of about 200 meters from the Delhi Bus Station. Visitors can stay in various guesthouses, private lodges and hotels. The Museum’s main aim is the collection, preservation, documentation and exhibition of cultural property and to make it available for educational activities as well as for creation of awareness about our glorious past.Some postal stamps, pictures, post cards, memorial coins related to the events of 1857 and latter coins are also in the collection of the museum. The museum is in the developing stages and efforts are being made to collect more specimens. The museum organises educational programs such as lectures, seminars and competitions related to history, culture, philosophy, the freedom struggle and religion. It also aims at coordinating with other cultural and educational organizations for disseminating Indian culture and particularly the events related to the long drawn freedom struggle of India.
Shahi Jama Masjid – The Jama Masjid was built by Hasan Mahdi, Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi's Wazir (=Chief Minister) in 1019 AD (older than the Qutb Minar). It is considered the first Masjid in North India. Although it was restored by Humayun, it is one of the oldest mosques in India. Some believe that the first North Indian Mosque is Quwwat/Qubbat ul Islam in Delhi and then Adhai Din Ka Jhonpra in Ajmer.
St. John's Church – This church was established by Chaplain the Reverend Henry Fisher on behalf of the East India Company in 1819 in the cantonment area and was completed in 1822. It is considered one of the oldest churches in North India. The Church was dedicated to the people by Bishop Wilson. It has a seating capacity of 10,000 people. During the war of 1857, this church was the scene of heavy fighting between Indians and the British forces.
Augarnath Temple – This temple (also known as Kalipaltan Mandir locally) is located at the site where the soldiers of the war of 1857 planned their operations. The temple also houses a memorial built to honour the martyrs of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The old temple has been replaced by a modern version.
Mansabiya Karbala – Mansabiya's Mosque and Karbala was built by Nawab Mansab Ali Khan in 1882.
Martyr's Memorial (Shaheed Smarak): The memorial is a high pillar of marble situated at Bhainsali. Functions are organised at the memorial around the national holidays of India. The memorial complex also houses the Government Freedom Struggle Museum which is dedicated to the first war of Indian independence.
Shahpeer's Mausoleum (Shahpeer ki Dargah) – This is a Mughal mausoleum erected by the empress Nur Jahan in 1628 in honour of a local Muslim Hazrat Shahpeer. It is a red stone structure that was partly built and is incomplete till date. The tomb is adorned by intricate Nakkashi (stone painting). There is no roof on the main tomb. It is said that Shahpeer was the teacher of Mughal Emperor Jehangir. The tomb is listed by the Archaeological Survey of India as a national heritage monument.
Parikshitgarh Fort – The place is associated with and derives its name from King Parikshit of Hastinapur NCR (the grandson of Arjuna). The fort was built by Parikshit and restored by Gurjar Raja Nain Singh in the eighteenth century.
Dargah of Baley Miyan (Bale Miyan ki Dargah) – This dargah was built by Qutb-ud-din Aybak in 1194 in the memory of Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud (known locally as Baley Miyan). An urs is organised annually at the Dargah during the Nauchandi fair. It is adjacent to the Chandi Devi Mandir, which signifies the Hindu-Muslim unity.
Other places of interest include Mansa Devi Temple, Baleni, Basilica of Our Lady of Graces, Sardhana and the Chandi Devi Temple which was built by Holkar queen Devi Ahiliyabai Holkar.
Notable people
Indian Rebellion of 1857
Dhan Singh Gurjar
Kadam Singh, leader of a group of Gurjars who fought against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Films and music
Deepti Bhatnagar
Bharat Bhushan
Ayananka Bose
Arun Govil
Achint Kaur
Kailash Kher
Mitakshara Kumar
Popular Meeruthi
Chitrangada Singh
Sanjeev Tyagi
Kings and monarchs
*Nain Singh Nagar, king of Meerut district in the 18th century
Maharaja Surajmal, meerut was under his kingdom during 17th century.
Politics
Rajendra Agrawal, Member of Parliament, for Meerut
Mohammed Shahid Akhlaq
Dr. Laxmikant Bajpai, Former State President, BJP, Uttar Pradesh.
Ravindra Kumar Bhadana, politician
Hemlata Chaudhary, politician
Lakhi Ram Nagar, businessman and politician
Malook Nagar, businessman and politician
Rubab Sayda
Yashwant Singh
Somendra Tomar, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Meerut South
Vijaypal Singh Tomar
Seema Upadhyay
Sports
Vivek Agarwal, cricketer
Mohd Asab, shooter
Manu Attri, badminton player
Shapath Bharadwaj, shooter
Garima Chaudhary, judoka
Saurabh Chaudhary, shooter
Dharampal Singh Gudha, oldest Gurjar athlete
Praveen Gupta, cricketer
Romeo James, field hockey player
Paramjeet Kaur, athlete
Muzzaffaruddin Khalid, cricketer
Ashok Kumar, field hockey player
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, cricketer
Praveen Kumar, cricketer
Raman Lamba, cricketer
Shivam Mavi, cricketer
Arvind Panwar, cyclist
Annu Rani, athlete
Sameer Rizvi, cricketer
Shahzar Rizvi, shooter
Karn Sharma, cricketer
Umang Sharma, cricketer
Mohinder Pal Singh, field hockey player
Parvinder Singh, cricketer
Shardul Vihan, sport shooter
Scholars
Sir Ziauddin Ahmed, academic and parliamentarian
Satish Chandra, Indian historian
Anu Garg, educationist and author
K. P. S. Mahalwar, legal educationist and administrator
Zayn al-Abidin Sajjad Meerthi, Indian Islamic scholar and historian
Sheikh Abdul Aleem Siddiqui Qadri Meerathi, Islamic scholar and writer
Manu Prakash, scientist and MacArthur Fellowship awardee
See also
2006 Meerut fire
Meerut (Lok Sabha constituency)
Hapur (Assembly constituency)
Kithore (Assembly constituency)
Meerut (Assembly constituency)
Meerut Cantonment (Assembly constituency)
Meerut South (Assembly constituency)
References
Sources
Further reading
Service and Adventure with the Khakee Ressalah; Or, Meerut Volunteer Horse, During the Mutinies of 1857–58, by Robert Henry Wallace Dunlop, Pub. R. Bentley, 1858.
The Chaplain's Narrative of the Siege of Delhi: From the Outbreak at Meerut to the Capture of Delhi, by John Edward Wharton Rotton. Pub. Smith, Elder, 1858.
The Mutiny Outbreak at Meerut in 1857, by Julian Arthur Beaufort Palmer. Cambridge University Press, 1966. .
Mutiny in Meerut, by Vivian Stuart. Aidan Ellis Publishing, 1991. .
Flashman in the Great Game, by George MacDonald Fraser, 1975.
External links
Metropolitan cities in India
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2001
All articles containing potentially dated statements
Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2009
Cities and towns in Meerut district
Cities in Uttar Pradesh
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy%20metal%20genres
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Heavy metal genres
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A number of heavy metal genres have developed since the emergence of heavy metal (often shortened to metal) during the late 1960s and early 1970s. At times, heavy metal genres may overlap or are difficult to distinguish, but they can be identified by a number of traits. They may differ in terms of instrumentation, tempo, song structure, vocal style, lyrics, guitar playing style, drumming style, and so on.
Alternative metal
Alternative metal is a style of heavy metal and alternative rock which emerged in the mid-1980s and gained popularity in the early 1990s.
Alternative metal usually combines heavy metal with influences from genres like alternative rock, and in some cases, other genres not normally associated with metal as well. One of the main characteristics of alternative metal and its subgenres are heavily downtuned, mid-paced "chug"-like guitar riffs. Alternative metal bands are also often characterized by melodic vocals, unconventional sounds within other heavy metal genres, unconventional song structures, and sometimes experimental approaches to heavy music. Many of the early alternative metal bands originated from Los Angeles. Prominent bands in this genre include Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Helmet, Life of Agony, Rollins Band and Tool. More modern bands include Breaking Benjamin, Chevelle, Godsmack and System of a Down.
Subgenres of alternative metal
Funk metal
Funk metal is essentially a fusion of heavy metal and funk. It started off in the late eighties as a subgenre of alternative metal and was heavily influenced by bands such as Red Hot Chili Peppers and Fishbone. Funk metal bands often use a conventional riffing style influenced by 1980s thrash metal, unlike bands from other alternative metal genres. During the late-'90s, many bands which started out as funk metal branched out into more commercially viable genres, such as alternative rock and nu metal. Notable funk metal bands include Living Colour, Infectious Grooves, Mordred, Primus, and Rage Against the Machine. The biggest regional scene during funk metal's prime was San Francisco.
Nu metal
Nu metal is a fusion genre that blends alternative metal and groove metal elements with other styles, including grunge, industrial, funk and hip hop. The style is mostly syncopated and based on riffs, and is influenced by groove metal rhythm. Some nu metal bands use seven-string guitars, which are sometimes down-tuned to increase heaviness, resulting in bass guitarists using five and six-string instruments. Turntables, sequencers and samplers are sometimes included. Nu metal vocal styles range between melodic singing, rapping, screaming and death growling. The Bakersfield-based Korn became the first band to be labeled as "nu metal". MTV states that Korn "arrived in 1993 into the burgeoning alternative metal scene, which would morph into nü-metal the way college rock became alternative rock." Coal Chamber, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Kittie and Disturbed are prominent bands in this genre.
Rap metal
Rap metal bands institute the vocal and lyrical form of hip hop. Examples of rap metal include Crazy Town, Clawfinger, Stuck Mojo, Skindred and Rage Against the Machine. The thrash metal band Anthrax also helped pioneer the genre. Rap metal is often mislabeled as rapcore (a genre which fuses hardcore punk with hip hop) or nu metal, a genre which has similar elements in the music, rap metal usually does not include turntables or sampling into its sound, although keyboards are often used. Rap metal bands, unlike nu metal bands, are almost always fronted by rappers. Rap metal also lacks the melodic singing and growling commonly associated with nu metal.
Avant-garde metal
Avant-garde metal or avant-metal, also known as experimental metal, is a subgenre of heavy metal music loosely defined by use of experimentation, and characterized by the use of innovative, avant-garde elements, large-scale experimentation, and the use of non-standard and unconventional sounds, instruments, song structures, playing styles, and vocal techniques. It evolved out of progressive rock, jazz fusion, and extreme metal, particularly death metal. Some local scenes include Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area in the United States, Oslo in Norway, and Tokyo in Japan. Pioneers of experimental metal include Boris, Celtic Frost, Earth, Helmet, Maudlin of the Well, Neurosis, Sunn O))), and Voivod.
Black metal
Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structures.
During the 1980s, several thrash metal bands formed a prototype for black metal. This so-called "first wave" included bands such as Venom, Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. A "second wave" arose in the early 1990s, spearheaded by Norwegian bands such as Mayhem, Burzum, Darkthrone, Immortal, and Emperor. The music of the early Norwegian black metal scene became a distinct genre.
Initially considered a synonym for "Satanic metal", black metal has often been met with hostility from mainstream culture, mainly due to the misanthropic and anti-Christian standpoint of many artists. Moreover, several of the genre's pioneers have been linked with church burnings and murder. Some have also been linked to neo-Nazism; however, most black metal fans and most prominent black metal musicians reject Nazi ideology and oppose its influence on the black metal subculture.
Derivatives of black metal
National Socialist black metal
NSBM typically melds Neo-Nazi beliefs (such as fascism, white supremacy, white separatism, antisemitism, xenophobia, and homophobia) with hostility to "foreign" religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, etc.). Bands often promote ethnic European paganism, occultism, or Satanism. Hendrik Möbus of Absurd described Nazism as the "most perfect (and only realistic) synthesis of Satanic/Luciferian will to power, elitist Social Darwinism, connected to Aryan Germanic paganism". Members of the band Der Stürmer (named after the antisemitic newspaper edited by Julius Streicher) subscribe to esoteric Hitlerism, leaning on the works of Savitri Devi and Julius Evola.
Red and Anarchist black metal
Red and Anarchist black metal, often shortened to the acronym RABM, is black metal in which the artists espouse various far-left and environmentalist ideologies such as anarchism, Marxism, and green anarchism. It emerged as an amalgamation of black metal with anarchist crust punk, and typically eschews the traditional Satanic and nihilist lyrics of black metal. While some artists such as Iskra, Panopticon, Puna Terrori and Skagos overtly endorse political agendas and manifestos, others, such as Wolves in the Throne Room and some other Cascadian artists, would not explicitly associate with the red or anarchist label. Other RABM artists include Storm of Sedition, Not A Cost, Black Kronstadt, Crepehanger, Leper, Mutiny, Fauna, and Vidargangr.
Symphonic black metal
Symphonic black metal is a style of black metal that incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. This may include the usage of music workstation keyboards to conjure up "pseudo-orchestral" landscapes with default presets (e.g. strings, choirs, piano, organs, and pads), or full orchestral arrangements containing woodwind, brass, percussion, keyboards and strings. Bands like Carach Angren may feature solo instruments such as violins, in addition to virtual or live orchestral arrangements. Vocals can be "clean" or operatic in style, and song structures are more defined or are inspired by symphonies, albeit not adhering to forms found in Western music (e.g. sonata, rondo, theme and variations) and following a typical riff-based approach. Many of the characteristics of traditional black metal are retained, such as shrieked vocals, fast tempos, high treble gain and tremolo picked electric guitars. Examples of symphonic black metal include Emperor and Dimmu Borgir.
Viking metal
Viking metal is a subgenre of heavy metal music with origins in black metal and Nordic folk music, characterized by a common lyrical and thematic focus on Norse mythology, Norse paganism, and the Viking Age. Its musical style is typically manifested as Nordic folk-influenced black metal. Some common traits include a slow-paced and heavy riffing style, anthemic choruses, use of both clean and harsh vocals, a frequent use of folk instrumentation, and, often, the use of keyboards for atmospheric effect. Viking metal developed in the 1980s through the mid-1990s as a rejection of Satanism and the occult, instead embracing the Vikings and paganism as the leaders of opposition to Christianity. Most Viking metal bands originate from the Nordic countries, and nearly all bands claim that their members descend, directly or indirectly, from Vikings. Bathory, from Sweden, is generally credited with pioneering the genre with its albums Blood Fire Death (1988) and Hammerheart (1990). Enslaved, Burzum, Emperor, Storm and Falkenbach helped further develop the genre in the early through mid-1990s. The death metal bands Unleashed and Amon Amarth, which emerged during the early 1990s, also adopted Viking themes, broadening the genre from its primarily black metal origin. Other key bands in the genre include Darkwoods My Betrothed, Einherjer, Ensiferum, Moonsorrow, Thyrfing, and Windir.
War metal
War metal, also known as war black metal or bestial black metal, is an aggressive, cacophonous and chaotic black metal style, described by Rock Hard journalist Wolf-Rüdiger Mühlmann as "rabid" and "hammering". Important influences include first wave band Sodom and first wave/death metal band Possessed, as well as old grindcore, black, and death metal bands like Repulsion, Autopsy, Sarcófago and the first two Sepultura releases. War metal bands include Blasphemy, Archgoat, Impiety, In Battle, Zyklon-B.
Blackgaze
Blackgaze is a genre fusion of black metal and shoegaze that originated in the early 2000s. The genre often incorporates heavier elements common of black metal, including blast beat drumming and high-pitched screamed vocals with melodic elements, and heavily distorted "Wall of Sound" guitar styles typically associated with shoegazing. The French shoegazing band Alcest is often credited with having influenced and formed the genre, while American bands such as Deafheaven have become synonymous as to defining the genre's characteristics.
Post-black metal
Post-black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emphasizes more experimentation and creative expression than other forms, as well as molding different music genres into black metal. Bands such as Deafheaven, Alcest, Liturgy, Deathspell Omega, and Altar of Plagues are notable bands in this genre.
Christian metal
Christian metal, also known as white metal, is a form of heavy metal music usually defined by its message using song lyrics as well as the dedication of the band members to Christianity. Christian metal is typically performed by professed Christians, sometimes principally for Christians who listen to heavy metal music, and often produced and distributed through various Christian networks.
Christian metal artists exist in all the subgenres of heavy metal music, and the only common link among most Christian metal artists are the lyrics. The Christian themes are often melded with the subjects of the genre the band is rooted in, regularly providing a Christian take on the subject matter. It has been argued that the marginal yet transnational Christian metal subculture provides its core members an alternative religious expression and Christian identity, and that the music serves the purpose of offering a positive alternative or counterbalance to 'secular' metal music, which is known for its generally dark and negative message.
Christian metal emerged in the late 1970s as a means of evangelism to the wider heavy metal music scene and was pioneered by American bands Resurrection Band and Petra and Sweden's Jerusalem. Los Angeles's Stryper achieved wide success in the 1980s. California's Tourniquet and Australia's Mortification led the movement in the 1990s. Rap metal group P.O.D. and the metalcore groups Underoath, Demon Hunter, As I Lay Dying, and Norma Jean (dubbed by Revolver magazine as "The Holy Alliance") brought some mainstream attention to the movement in the first decade of the 21st century, achieving ranks in the Billboard 200. Saving Grace is another example of a Christian metalcore band.
Derivatives of Christian metal
Unblack metal
Unblack metal, sometimes called Christian black metal, is a genre of music that is stylistically black metal, but whose artists promote Christianity in their lyrics and imagery. Such artists are controversial, mainly because black metal's pioneers, especially those of the Second Wave, intended to encourage hostility towards Christianity. It is also suggested that Christianity contradicts black metal's dark nature, and the individualistic and misanthropic ideals of many bands.
The exact beginning of the Christian black metal movement is disputed. The Australian band Horde's 1994 album Hellig Usvart brought the concept and the term holy unblack metal (a word play on Darkthrone's slogan "unholy black metal" used on the albums A Blaze in the Northern Sky and Under a Funeral Moon) to media attention. The Norwegian band Antestor formed in 1990 as a death/doom act and released its demo The Defeat of Satan in 1991, before they began shifting towards black metal on their 1994 album Martyrium. Other examples of unblack metal bands include Crimson Moonlight, Admonish, and Frosthardr.
Crust punk
Crust punk, often simply called crust, is a form of music influenced by anarcho-punk, hardcore punk and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the mid-1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on political and social ills. The term "crust" was coined by Hellbastard on their 1986 Ripper Crust demo.
Crust is partly defined by its "bassy" and "dirty" sound. It is often played at a fast tempo with occasional slow sections. Vocals are usually guttural and may be growled or screamed. Crust punk takes cues from the anarcho-punk aspect of Crass and Discharge, and the extreme metal of bands like Venom and Celtic Frost. Notable crust punk bands include Amebix, Antisect and Doom.
Derivatives of crust punk
Blackened crust
Crust punk groups, such as Amebix, took some influence from early black metal bands like Venom, Hellhammer, and Celtic Frost. Similarly, Bathory was initially inspired by crust punk, as well as heavy metal. Crust punk was affected by a second wave of black metal in the 1990s, with some bands emphasizing these black metal elements. Iskra are probably the most obvious example of second wave black metal-influenced crust punk; Iskra coined their own phrase "blackened crust" to describe their new style. The Japanese group Gallhammer also fused crust punk with black metal while the English band Fukpig has been said to have elements of crust punk, black metal, and grindcore. In addition, Norwegian band Darkthrone have incorporated crust punk traits in their more recent material. As Daniel Ekeroth wrote in 2008:
Death metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes.
Building from the musical structure of thrash metal and early black metal, death metal emerged during the mid-1980s. Metal acts such as Slayer, Kreator, Celtic Frost, and Venom were very important influences to the crafting of the genre. Possessed and Death, along with bands such as Obituary, Carcass, Deicide and Morbid Angel are often considered pioneers of the genre. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, death metal gained more media attention as popular genre niche record labels like Combat, Earache and Roadrunner began to sign death metal bands at a rapid rate. Since then, death metal has diversified, spawning a variety of subgenres.
Derivatives of death metal
Blackened death metal
Blackened death metal is a style that combines death metal and black metal. Examples of blackened death metal bands are Belphegor, Behemoth, Akercocke, Dissection and Sacramentum.
Death 'n' roll
"Death 'n' roll" is a term for death metal bands that incorporate rock and roll elements to their overall sound. The term is a blend of death metal and rock 'n' roll. The achieved effect is that of death metal's trademark combination of growled vocals and highly distorted detuned guitar riffing with elements reminiscent of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal. Notable examples include Entombed, Six Feet Under, Gorefest, Helltrain, and Deuteronomium.
Melodic death metal
Melodic death metal, also referred to as melodeath or MDM, is a heavy metal music style that combines elements from the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) with elements of death metal. The style was developed during the early and mid-1990s, primarily in England and Scandinavia. The Swedish death metal scene in particular did much to popularize the style, which soon centered in the "Gothenburg metal" scene in Gothenburg, Sweden. Some prominent melodic death metal bands include Amon Amarth, At the Gates, Soilwork, Dark Tranquillity, Arch Enemy, In Flames, and Carcass.
Technical death metal
Technical death metal, often abbreviated to tech death, is characterized by fast, technically complex guitar and drum work, often including sweeping guitar solos. Vocals often adopt the guttural sound of death metal. Some of the first tech death bands include Death, Pestilence, Atheist, Nocturnus, Cynic, Origin and Cephalic Carnage. The music is often dark in nature.
Symphonic death metal
Bands described as symphonic death metal include Ex Deo, Necronomicon, Septicflesh, Children of Bodom, Epica, and Fleshgod Apocalypse. Haggard's 2000 album, Awaking the Centuries, has been described as death metal-styled symphonic metal.
Doom metal
Doom metal is an extreme form of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars, and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics intend to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal with songs such as "Black Sabbath", "Electric Funeral" and "Into the Void". During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands from England (Pagan Altar, Witchfinder General), the United States (Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble) and Sweden (Candlemass, Count Raven) defined doom metal as a distinct genre.
Derivatives of doom metal
Death/doom
Death/doom, sometimes written as death-doom or deathdoom, is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It combines the slow tempos and pessimistic or depressive mood of doom metal, with the deep growling vocals and double kick drumming of death metal. The genre emerged in the mid-1980s, and gained a certain amount of popularity during the 1990s, but had become less common by the turn of the 21st century. In turn, death/doom gave rise to the closely related genre of funeral doom, as well as to the more melodic and romantic gothic metal. The death/doom genre originated in the mid-1980s when the early progenitors like Dream Death began to mix traditional doom metal with the sounds of thrash and the nascent death metal scene. Early records by such bands as Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride and Anathema combined the sounds of mid-1980s Celtic Frost and Candlemass with the use of female vocals, keyboards and, in the case of My Dying Bride, violins.
Drone metal
Drone metal, also known as drone doom, began as a derivative of doom metal and it is largely defined by drones; notes or chords that are sustained and repeated throughout a piece of music. Typically, the electric guitar is performed with large amounts of reverb and feedback, while vocals, if present, are usually growled or screamed. Songs are often very long and lack beat or rhythm in the traditional sense. Drone doom is generally influenced by drone music, noise music and minimalist music. The style emerged in the early 1990s and was pioneered by Earth, Boris and Sunn O))).
Funeral doom
Funeral doom is a style of doom metal that crosses death-doom with funeral dirge music. It is played at a very slow tempo and places an emphasis on evoking a sense of emptiness and despair. Typically, electric guitars are heavily distorted, and dark ambient aspects such as keyboards or synthesizers are often used to create a "dreamlike" atmosphere. Vocals consist of mournful chants or growls and are often in the background. Funeral doom was pioneered by Mournful Congregation (Australia), Esoteric (United Kingdom), Evoken (United States), Funeral (Norway), Thergothon (Finland), Skepticism (Finland) and Corrupted (Japan).
Sludge metal
Sludge metal began in the early–to–mid–1980s when hardcore punk bands like Black Flag and Flipper began slowing their tempos and incorporating elements of doom metal. This style then spread to Washington, where the Melvins would go on to be described by publications such as Revolver as the band that "invented sludge". By the 1990s, Louisiana developed one of the largest and influential sludge metal scenes, with bands like Acid Bath, Crowbar, Down and Eyehategod. Many sludge bands compose slow and heavy songs that contain brief hardcore passages. However, some bands emphasize fast tempos throughout their music. The string instruments are heavily distorted and are often played with large amounts of feedback to produce an abrasive, sludgy sound. Drumming is often performed in typical doom metal fashion, but drummers may employ hardcore d-beat or double-kick drumming during faster passages. Vocals are usually shouted or screamed, and lyrics are generally pessimistic in nature. Suffering, drug abuse, politics, and anger towards society are common lyrical themes.
Stoner metal
Stoner rock or stoner metal is typically slow-to-mid tempo, low-tuned, and bass-heavy. It combines elements of psychedelic rock, blues rock and doom metal, often with melodic vocals and 'retro' production. The genre emerged during the early 1990s, and was pioneered foremost by the Californian bands Kyuss and Sleep. Other prominent stoner metal bands include Acid King and Electric Wizard.
Extreme metal
Extreme metal consists of a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s, usually characterized by a more abrasive, harsher, underground, non-commercialized style or sound nearly always associated with genres like black metal, death metal, doom metal, thrash metal, and sometimes speed metal.
Extreme metal is by definition a counterculture. Though many extreme sub-styles are not very well known to mainstream music fans, extreme metal has influenced an array of musical performers inside and outside of heavy metal.
Examples of extreme metal bands include Meshuggah, Cradle of Filth, Celtic Frost, Strapping Young Lad, Dissection, and the first two albums of Venom.
Folk metal
Folk metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that developed in Europe during the 1990s. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal with traditional folk music. This includes the widespread use of folk instruments and, to a lesser extent, traditional singing styles (for example, Dutch band Heidevolk, Danish band Sylvatica and Spanish band Stone of Erech).
The earliest example of folk metal was the English band Golgotha, whose 1984 EP Dangerous Games contained a mixture of new wave of British heavy metal and folk styles. The genre was not further developed, however, until the emergence of another English band, Skyclad. Their debut album The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth was released in 1990. It was not until 1994 and 1995 that other early contributors in the genre began to emerge from different regions of Europe as well as in Israel. Among these early groups, the Irish band Cruachan and the German band Subway to Sally each spearheaded a different regional variation that over time became known as Celtic metal and medieval metal respectively. Despite their contributions, folk metal remained little known with few representatives during the 1990s. It was not until the early 2000s when the genre exploded into prominence, particularly in Finland, with the efforts of such groups as Finntroll, Ensiferum, Korpiklaani, Turisas, and Moonsorrow.
The music of folk metal is characterized by its diversity, with bands known to perform different styles of both heavy metal music and folk music. A large variety of folk instruments are used in the genre with many bands consequently featuring six or more members in their regular line-ups. A few bands are also known to rely on keyboards to simulate the sound of folk instruments. Lyrics in the genre commonly deal with mythology, history, and nature.
Derivatives of folk metal
Celtic metal
Celtic metal is a subgenre of folk metal that developed in the 1990s in Ireland. As the name suggests, the genre is a fusion of heavy metal music and Celtic music. The early pioneers of the genre were the three Irish bands Cruachan, Primordial and Waylander. The genre has since expanded beyond Irish shores and is known to be performed today by bands from numerous other countries.
Pirate metal
Pirate metal is a subgenre of folk metal that blends heavy metal, thrash metal, and sometimes speed metal with pirate mythology, and, commonly, elements of sea shanties. The style was influenced heavily by German heavy metal band Running Wild and its third studio album, Under Jolly Roger. Popular Pirate metal bands include Alestorm, Swashbuckle, and Lagerstein.
Pagan metal
Pagan metal is heavy metal music which fuses extreme metal with "the pre-Christian traditions of a specific culture or region through thematic concept, rustic melodies, unusual instruments or archaic languages", usually referring to folk metal or black metal. The Norwegian band In the Woods... was one of the first bands commonly viewed as pagan metal. Metal Hammer author Marc Halupczok wrote that Primordial's song "To Enter Pagan" from the band's demo "Dark Romanticism" contributed to defining the genre. Pagan metal bands are often associated with Viking metal and folk metal. Bands such as Moonsorrow and Kampfar have been identified as fitting within all three of those genres.
Glam metal
Glam metal (also known as hair metal or pop metal) is the visual style of certain heavy metal bands that arose in the late 1970s and early 1980s in the United States, particularly on the Los Angeles Sunset Strip music scene. It was popular throughout the 1980s and briefly in the early 1990s, combining the flamboyant look of glam rock and playing a commercial hard rock/heavy metal musical style. The term Hair bands was popularized by MTV in the 1990s and derives from the tendency among glam metal acts to style their long hair in a teased-up fashion. Many of the bands donned make-up to achieve an androgynous look, similar to that of some 1970s glam rock acts. Mötley Crüe, Stryper, Bon Jovi, Poison and Ratt are examples of bands who adopted the glam metal look in their stage attire and their music video imagery. Newer bands include Black Veil Brides and Steel Panther.
Gothic metal
Gothic metal is characterized as a combination of the dark atmospheres of gothic rock and dark wave with the heaviness of doom metal. The genre originated during the mid-1990s in Europe as an outgrowth of death-doom, a fusion genre of doom metal and death metal. Examples of gothic metal bands include Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Tiamat, Type O Negative, Moonspell, Theatre of Tragedy, Lacrimosa and Lacuna Coil.
Grindcore
Grindcore is a fusion of crust punk, hardcore punk, and thrash metal or death metal. It is characterized by growling vocals, blast beats, and incredibly short songs with lyrics that are often focused on gore and violence, though sometimes the lyrics can be political. Grindcore, in contrast to death metal, is often very chaotic, and lacks the standard use of time signatures. The style was pioneered by the British band Napalm Death in the eighties. Other notable grindcore bands include Brutal Truth, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, and Pig Destroyer.
Derivatives of grindcore
Deathgrind
Deathgrind, sometimes written as death-grind or death/grind, is a musical genre that fuses death metal and grindcore. Deathgrind has been described as "grindcore and brutal death metal colliding head on." Danny Lilker described deathgrind as "combining the technicality of death metal with the intensity of grindcore." Death/grind emphasizes overall musical brutality with a specific focus on fast tempos and retains grindcore's traditional abruptness. Notable bands include Cattle Decapitation and Misery Index.
Goregrind
Goregrind is a subgenre of grindcore and death metal. Early examples of the genre include Repulsion's Horrified, Impetigo's Ultimo Mondo Cannibale, and the first two studio albums of Carcass, which defined the genre. In its Reek of Putrefaction-era, Carcass used pitch shifters, medical imagery, and, in a deviation from the frequently political or left-wing lyrics commonly used in the hardcore punk and grindcore scenes, gory, anatomical references in its lyrics.
Pornogrind
Pornogrind, also known as porno grind, porno-grind or porn grind, is a musical subgenre of grindcore and death metal, which lyrically deals with sexual themes. Natalie Purcell's book Death Metal Music: The Passion and Politics of a Subculture, suggests that pornogrind is defined solely on the basis of its lyrical content and unique imagery, its focus on pornographic content. Purcell notes that bands like Gut include "simpler, slower, and more rock-like songs". The artwork for pornogrind bands' albums is noted for its extreme and potentially offensive nature, which "would keep them out of most stores". an example of the genre is Cock and Ball Torture.
Electrogrind
The 21st century also saw the development of "electrogrind" (or "cybergrind"), practiced by The Berzerker, Body Hammer, Gigantic Brain and Genghis Tron which borrows from electronic music. These groups built on the work of Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Enemy Soil and The Locust, as well as industrial metal. The Berzerker also appropriated the distorted Roland TR-909 kick drums of gabber producers. Many later electrogrind groups were caricatured for their hipster connections.
Grunge
Grunge is a fusion genre of punk rock and heavy metal, with elements of alternative rock, garage rock, noise rock, hardcore punk, hard rock, sludge metal and thrash metal. Grunge typically is characterized by its distorted riffs and angst filled lyric themes such as apathy, social alienation, and freedom. Grunge grew out of the Pacific Northwest U.S. state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Prominent bands of this genre include Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.
Industrial metal
Industrial metal combines elements of industrial music and heavy metal. It is usually centered around repetitive metal guitar riffs, sampling, synthesizer or sequencer lines, and distorted vocals. Prominent industrial metal groups include Rammstein, Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Fear Factory, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie and Godflesh.
Industrial death metal
Some musicians emerging from the death metal scene, such as Fear Factory, Nailbomb, Autokrator and Meathook Seed, also began to experiment with industrial. Fear Factory, from Los Angeles, were initially influenced by the Earache roster (namely Godflesh, Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower). The German band Oomph!, after their second album Sperm, started to play industrial metal combined with elements of death metal and groove metal, until the album Plastik. Sepultura singer Max Cavalera's Nailbomb, a collaboration with Alex Newport, also practiced a combination of extreme metal and industrial production techniques. A lesser-known example of industrial death metal is Meathook Seed, made up of members of Napalm Death and the Florida death metal group Obituary. An industrial music fan, Obituary guitarist Trevor Peres suggested drum machines for The End Complete, Obituary's most successful album. The other band members' refusal led him to form Meathook Seed.
Industrial black metal
In the early years of the 21st century, groups from the black metal scene began to incorporate elements of industrial music. Mysticum, formed in 1991, was the first of these groups. DHG (Dødheimsgard), Thorns from Norway, and Blut Aus Nord, N.K.V.D. and Blacklodge from France, have been acclaimed for their incorporation of industrial elements.
Kawaii metal
At its core, Kawaii metal (also known as idol metal or cute metal) fuses aspects of heavy metal and J-pop, however usually uses elements of power metal mixed with industrial metal keyboards and synthesizers, japanese idol aesthetic and vocals, shredding guitar solos and flashing drums with occasional usage of melodic death metal and post-hardcore unclean vocals and traditional Japanese musical instruments. Kawaii metal grew out of the japanese idol in the late 2000s and early 2010s, being pioneered by bands like Dazzle Vision, Babymetal and Ladybaby.
Latin metal
Latin metal is a genre of metal music with Latin origins, influences, and instrumentation, such as Spanish vocals, Latin percussion and rhythm such as Salsa rhythm. Prominent bands in this genre include A.N.I.M.A.L., Ill Niño, Nonpoint, and Soulfly.
Metalcore
Metalcore combines heavy metal and hardcore punk. Generally, metalcore guitarists use heavy guitar riffs and solos, drummers frequently use hardcore blast beats and double bass drums, and vocalists use a vocal style which includes death growls and screaming. As with melodic metalcore, some later bands originating in the 21st century combine both harsh and clean vocals. A distinguishing characteristic is the "breakdown", whereby the song is slowed to half-time, and the guitarists play open strings to achieve the lowest-pitched sound. Prominent metalcore bands include Hatebreed, Bury Your Dead, Killswitch Engage, Architects, While She Sleeps, Bleeding Through, Integrity, Unearth, and Parkway Drive. Original metalcore bands from the 1990s included Earth Crisis, Hatebreed, Integrity and Converge. More modern bands include Killswitch Engage, Underoath, All That Remains, Trivium, As I Lay Dying, Bullet for My Valentine, Asking Alexandria, Shadows Fall, Unearth, Atreyu, and Bleeding Through.
Subgenres of metalcore
Melodic metalcore
Melodic metalcore is a fusion genre which combines sounds and traits from melodic death metal with hardcore punk, metalcore and occasionally emo. Melodic metalcore bands include Trivium, All That Remains, Atreyu, Bullet for My Valentine, Bury Tomorrow, Darkest Hour, Asking Alexandria, As I Lay Dying, August Burns Red and The Devil Wears Prada.
Melodic metalcore bands have big influences, guitar riffs, and writing styles from Swedish melodic death metal bands, such as At the Gates, Arch Enemy, In Flames and Soilwork. They tend to have strong use of instrumental melody. Many melodic metalcore vocalists use clean singing techniques, as well as growls and screaming. It also can feature harmonic guitar riffs, tremolo picking, double bass drums and metalcore-stylized breakdowns. Some bands also may feature guitar solos. A few of these groups, like Shadows Fall, have some appreciation for 1980s glam metal. Melodic metalcore groups have been described as "embrac[ing] '80s metal clichés", such as "inordinate amounts of smoke machines, rippin' solos, [and] three bass drums."
Deathcore
Deathcore combines elements of death metal with elements of metalcore or hardcore punk, or both. It is defined by an "excessive" use of death metal riffs, blast beats and use of hardcore punk breakdowns. Some prominent bands include the Acacia Strain, Carnifex, Despised Icon, Suicide Silence, Rings of Saturn, Thy Art is Murder, Lorna Shore and Whitechapel.
Mathcore
Mathcore is a rhythmically complex and dissonant style of heavy metal and hardcore punk, though many groups draw mainly from metalcore. It has its roots in bands such as Converge, Botch, and The Dillinger Escape Plan. The term mathcore is suggested by analogy with math rock. Both math rock and mathcore make use of unusual time signatures. Prominent mathcore groups have been associated with grindcore.
Electronicore
Electronicore (also known as synthcore or trancecore) is fusion genre of metalcore with elements of various electronic music genres, such as trance, electronica, and dubstep. The term electronicore is a portmanteau of electronic and metalcore. Notable artists of this genre have originated from the United Kingdom (Asking Alexandria), the United States (I See Stars, Sky Eats Airplane), Australia, Canada (Abandon All Ships), France, Ukraine (Make Me Famous), Hong Kong (BLAK, Soul Of Ears), Japan (Crossfaith), South Korea (In Your Face), and Malaysia (Sekumpulan Orang Gila).
Nu metalcore
Nu metalcore (sometimes referred to as nu metal revival or new nu metal) is the fusion genre of and metalcore that began in the 2000s, and gained popularity in the 2010s. Some of the notable groups have also taken influence from R&B, industrial metal, post-hardcore, and deathcore.
Progressive metalcore
Progressive metalcore (also called technical metalcore or ambient metalcore) is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore, characterized by highly technical lead guitar, "atmospheric" elements, and complex instrumentation.
Neoclassical metal
Neoclassical metal, also known as shred metal, is a subgenre that is heavily influenced by classical music in its style of composition. It uses a very technical style of guitar soloing called shred guitar, in which guitarists use crosspicking, sweep picking, and economy picking to play rapid scales and arpeggios. As well, it uses elements borrowed from classical music; including instruments, scales and melodies. Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Tony MacAlpine, and Vinnie Moore are prominent performers in this genre.
Neue Deutsche Härte
("New German Hardness") describes a crossover style that is influenced by New German Wave, alternative metal, and groove metal, combining it with elements from industrial, electronica, and techno. The lyrics are generally in German, and dance metal is the term most commonly used to describe songs sung in other languages. NDH uses the basic setup of instruments for metal: electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals, along with keyboard, synthesizers, samples, and occasionally, additional percussion. Emphasis is on a demonstration of predominance, by over-pronouncing certain syllables and letters (such as the uvular or alveolar trill). The vocals are thus dominantly presented in deep, male, and clean voice. Some bands use screaming and death growls, which is also common, being heard in certain songs by Oomph!, Rammstein, Stahlhammer, Samsas Traum and Megaherz. NDH imagery is often strongly masculine, and at times militaristic, depending on the group and the song. Guitars are tuned low, usually to drop D or C, and are generally heavily distorted.
Post-metal
This heavy metal movement takes influences from post-rock. While it is, in many aspects, similar to post-rock, post-metal tends to include lower-tuned guitars, distorted guitar(s), heavy atmospherics, gradual evolution of song structure, and a minimal emphasis on vocals. Post-metal stresses emotion, contrasting the ambiance of post-rock with the weight and bombast of metal. Vocals are deemphasized or non-existent, and lyrics tend to be equally abstract — often thematic or philosophical in nature. It is a largely American phenomenon, but also includes some Japanese bands. Bands like Neurosis, Isis, Cult of Luna and Pelican write lengthy songs (typically five or six per album), that can range from light and guitar-driven to heavy and drum and bass-driven.
Power metal
Power metal takes influence from heavy metal and speed metal, and often emphasizes clean, melodic, high-pitched vocals, and fast pacing that is mostly driven by double bass drumming and melodic lead guitar. The rhythm guitar is defined by straight power chord progressions. Occasionally, harsh vocals are used, but usually only as backing vocals. Power metal lyrics usually involve fantasy themes. The songs often have a theatrical, epic, and emotionally "powerful" sound. Power metal is generally more upbeat than other metal genres, seeking to empower the listener and inspire joy and courage.
The term was first used in the middle of the 1980s, and refers to two different but related styles: the first, pioneered and largely practiced in North America with a harder sound similar to speed metal, and a later, more widespread and popular style based in Europe (especially Germany, Finland, Italy and Scandinavia), Latin America (Argentina, Brazil) and Japan, with a lighter, more melodic sound and frequent use of keyboards. Examples of power metal bands include DragonForce, Blind Guardian, Helloween, Sonata Arctica, Angra, Sabaton, Stratovarius, Kamelot, Rhapsody of Fire, Powerwolf and HammerFall.
Progressive metal
Progressive metal is a fusion between progressive rock and heavy metal. It is one of heavy metal's more complex genres, due to its use of unusual and dynamic time signatures, long compositions, complex compositional structures, and skilled instrumental playing, where instrumental solos are detailed and extended. However, the latest age of progressive metal has favored rougher lyrics and lower-pitched riff sequences with high amounts of strumming. Vocals, if present, are melodic (though there are a few that use unclean vocals), and lyrics are often philosophical, spiritual, or political. Many bands of the genre were influenced by the progressive rock bands Rush and King Crimson, who would often incorporate elements of heavy metal into their music. Examples of the genre include Queensrÿche, Savatage, Dream Theater, Opeth, Tool, Fates Warning, Mastodon, Gojira and Pain of Salvation.
Derivatives of progressive metal
Djent
Djent, also known as djent metal, is a musical subgenre that emerged as a spin-off from progressive metal. The word "djent" is an onomatopoeia for a heavily palm-muted, distorted guitar chord. Typically, the word is used to refer to music that makes use of this sound, to the sound itself, or to the scene that revolves around it. Djent as a style has been described as featuring heavily palm-muted, distorted guitar chords alongside virtuoso soloing, and is characterized by rhythmic complexity and palm-muted riffing. Pioneering bands in the style are Born of Osiris, Meshuggah, Periphery, Animals As Leaders, Tesseract, and Textures.
Progressive metalcore
Progressive metalcore (also called technical metalcore or ambient metalcore) is a fusion of progressive metal and metalcore characterized by highly technical lead guitar, "atmospheric" elements, and complex instrumentation. Some notable practitioners take influence from djent.
Speed metal
Speed metal originated in the late 1970s and early 1980s out of the new wave of British heavy metal, and was the direct musical progenitor of thrash metal. When speed metal first emerged as a genre, it increased the tempos that had been used by early heavy metal bands, while retaining their melodic approaches. Influenced by hardcore punk, speed metal is very fast, abrasive, and technically demanding. Examples of speed metal include Dorsal Atlantica, Venom, Motörhead and Anvil.
Symphonic metal
Symphonic metal is a cross-generic style designation for the symphonic subsets of heavy metal music subgenres. It is used to denote any metal band that makes use of symphonic or orchestral elements. Symphonic metal bands can feature classically trained vocalists, in which case they can be attributed nicknames such as opera metal or operatic metal. Perhaps the most pioneering and prominent examples of symphonic metal bands are Swedish band Therion, Finnish band Nightwish, Italian band Rhapsody of Fire and Dutch bands Epica, Within Temptation and The Gathering.
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is often regarded as the first form of extreme metal. It is generally characterized by its fast tempos, complexity and aggression. Thrash metal guitar playing is most notable for the "chugging" sound it creates through low-pitched palm muted riffs, and high-pitched shred guitar solos. Drummers often use double-kick and double-bass drumming. Vocals are most often shouted or sung in an aggressive manner.
Thrash metal evolved from speed metal, NWOBHM and early hardcore punk at the beginning of the 1980s. Bands such as Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax spearheaded thrash metal, and are referred to as the genre's "Big Four", while on the European side, Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, and Tankard form the so-called "Big Teutonic Four".
Derivatives of thrash metal
Crossover thrash
Crossover thrash, often abbreviated to "crossover," and sometimes called also "punk metal," is a form of thrash metal that contains more hardcore punk elements than standard thrash. The genre lies on a continuum between heavy metal and punk rock. The genre is often confused with thrashcore, which is essentially a faster hardcore punk rather than a more punk-oriented form of metal. Corrosion of Conformity, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Stormtroopers of Death and Suicidal Tendencies are major bands in the genre.
Groove metal
Groove metal, also known as neo-thrash, post-thrash, or power groove, consists of slow or mid-tempo and down tuned thrash riffs, bluesy guitar solos, greatly emphasized drum work, and harsh vocals that generally consist of screaming, shouting, and raspy singing. Examples of groove metal include Pantera, Exhorder, Lamb of God, Machine Head, DevilDriver, Jinjer, Sepultura and A.N.I.M.A.L.
Traditional heavy metal
Traditional heavy metal, also known as classic metal or often simply heavy metal, is the group of bands and artists who play a metal music style similar to the style heard before the genre evolved and splintered into many different styles and subgenres. It is characterized by mid-to-fast-tempo riffs, by thumping basslines, crunchy riffs, extended lead guitar solos, and clean, often high-pitched vocals and anthemic choruses. It is not generally categorized as a subgenre of metal, but the main genre of it. Examples include Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Van Halen and Dio.
New wave of traditional heavy metal
More recently in the 2010s, the term "new wave of traditional heavy metal" (often abbreviated as NWOTHM) has been used to describe a new wave of bands with a newly found interest in the style, particularly the late 70s and early 80s new wave of British heavy metal variant that has influenced speed metal and power metal; some of these bands are indeed a mixture of these genres while combining more elements of the classical sound, or mimic the style at the time that would soon evolve into them.
Examples of NWOTHM bands include: Helvetets Port, Portrait, Enforcer, Cauldron, White Wizzard, Fury UK, Striker (Ca), Battle Beast, and more recently Seax, Visigoth, Blackslash (De), and Angel Sword.
See also
List of rock genres
List of heavy metal bands
List of heavy metal festivals
List of subcultures
Microgenres
References
Heavy metal
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Vernacular
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A vernacular or vernacular language contrasts with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is typically its speakers' native language, usually spoken informally rather than written, and seen as of lower status than more codified or institutional forms. It may vary from more prestigious speech varieties in different ways, in that the vernacular can be a distinct stylistic register, a regional dialect, a sociolect, or an independent language. Vernacular is a term for a type of speech variety, generally used to refer to a local language or dialect, as distinct from what is seen as a standard language. The vernacular is contrasted with higher-prestige forms of language, such as national, literary, liturgical or scientific idiom, or a lingua franca, used to facilitate communication across a large area.
According to another definition, a vernacular is a language that has not developed a standard variety, undergone codification, or established a literary tradition. In the context of language standardization, the terms "vernacular" and "vernacular dialect" are also used as alternative designations for "non-standard dialect".
Etymology
First usage of the word "vernacular" is not recent. In 1688, James Howell wrote:
Concerning Italy, doubtless there were divers before the Latin did spread all over that Country; the Calabrian, and Apulian spoke Greek, whereof some Relicks are to be found to this day; but it was an adventitious, no Mother-Language to them: 'tis confess'd that Latium it self, and all the Territories about Rome, had the Latin for its maternal and common first vernacular Tongue; but Tuscany and Liguria had others quite discrepant, viz. the Hetruscane and Mesapian, whereof though there be some Records yet extant; yet there are none alive that can understand them: The Oscan, the Sabin and Tusculan, are thought to be but Dialects to these.
Here, vernacular, mother language and dialect are already in use in a modern sense. According to Merriam-Webster, "vernacular" was brought into the English language as early as 1601 from the Latin vernaculus ("native") which had been in figurative use in Classical Latin as "national" and "domestic", having originally been derived from verna, a slave born in the house rather than abroad. The figurative meaning was broadened from the diminutive extended words vernaculus, vernacula. Varro, the classical Latin grammarian, used the term vocabula vernacula, "termes de la langue nationale" or "vocabulary of the national language" as opposed to foreign words.
Concepts of the vernacular
General linguistics
In contrast with lingua franca
In general linguistics, a vernacular is contrasted with a lingua franca, a third-party language in which persons speaking different vernaculars not understood by each other may communicate. For instance, in Western Europe until the 17th century, most scholarly works had been written in Latin, which was serving as a lingua franca. Works written in Romance languages are said to be in the vernacular. The Divina Commedia, the , and The Song of Roland are examples of early vernacular literature in Italian, Spanish, and French, respectively.
In Europe, Latin was used widely instead of vernacular languages in varying forms until , in its latter stage as Neo-Latin.
In religion, Protestantism was a driving force in the use of the vernacular in Christian Europe, the Bible having been translated from Latin into vernacular languages with such works as the Bible in Dutch: published in 1526 by Jacob van Liesvelt; Bible in French: published in 1528 by Jacques Lefevre d'Étaples (or Faber Stapulensis); German Luther Bible in 1534 (New Testament 1522); Bible in Spanish: published in Basel in 1569 by Casiodoro de Reina (Biblia del Oso); Bible in Czech: Bible of Kralice, printed between 1579 and 1593; Bible in English: King James Bible, published in 1611; Bible in Slovene, published in 1584 by Jurij Dalmatin. In Catholicism, vernacular bibles were later provided, but Latin was used at Tridentine Mass until the Second Vatican Council of 1965. Certain groups, notably Traditionalist Catholics, continue to practice Latin Mass. In Eastern Orthodox Church, four Gospels translated to vernacular Ukrainian language in 1561 are known as Peresopnytsia Gospel.
In India, the 12th century Bhakti movement led to the translation of Sanskrit texts to the vernacular.
In science, an early user of the vernacular was Galileo, writing in Italian , though some of his works remained in Latin. A later example is Isaac Newton, whose 1687 Principia was in Latin, but whose 1704 Opticks was in English. Latin continues to be used in certain fields of science, notably binomial nomenclature in biology, while other fields such as mathematics use vernacular; see scientific nomenclature for details.
In diplomacy, French displaced Latin in Europe in the 1710s, due to the military power of Louis XIV of France.
Certain languages have both a classical form and various vernacular forms, with two widely used examples being Arabic and Chinese: see Varieties of Arabic and Chinese language. In the 1920s, due to the May Fourth Movement, Classical Chinese was replaced by written vernacular Chinese.
As a low variant in diglossia
The vernacular is also often contrasted with a liturgical language, a specialized use of a former lingua franca. For example, until the 1960s, the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church was generally celebrated in Latin rather than in vernaculars. The Coptic Church still holds liturgies in Coptic, not Arabic. The Ethiopian Orthodox Church holds liturgies in Ge'ez, but parts of the Mass are read in Amharic.
Similarly, in Hindu culture, traditionally religious or scholarly works were written in Sanskrit (long after its use as a spoken language) or in Tamil in Tamil country. Sanskrit was a lingua franca among the non-Indo-European languages of the Indian subcontinent and became more of one as the spoken languages, or prakrits, began to diverge from it in different regions. With the rise of the bhakti movement from the 12th century onwards, religious works were created in other languages: Hindi, Kannada, Telugu and many others. For example, the Ramayana, one of Hinduism's sacred epics in Sanskrit, had vernacular versions such as Ranganadha Ramayanam composed in Telugu by Gona Buddha Reddy in the 15th century; and Ramacharitamanasa, a Awadhi version of the Ramayana by the 16th-century poet Tulsidas.
These circumstances are a contrast between a vernacular and language variant used by the same speakers. According to one school of linguistic thought, all such variants are examples of a linguistic phenomenon termed diglossia ("split tongue", on the model of the genetic anomaly). In it, the language is bifurcated: the speaker learns two forms of the language and ordinarily uses one but under special circumstances uses the other. The one most frequently used is the low (L) variant, equivalent to the vernacular, while the special variant is the high (H). The concept was introduced to linguistics by Charles A. Ferguson (1959), but Ferguson explicitly excluded variants as divergent as dialects or different languages or as similar as styles or registers. It must not be a conversational form; Ferguson had in mind a literary language. For example, a lecture is delivered in a different variety than ordinary conversation. Ferguson's own example was classical and spoken Arabic, but the analogy between Vulgar Latin and Classical Latin is of the same type. Excluding the upper-class and lower-class register aspects of the two variants, Classical Latin was a literary language; the people spoke Vulgar Latin as a vernacular.
Joshua Fishman redefined the concept in 1964 to include everything Ferguson had excluded. Fishman allowed both different languages and dialects and also different styles and registers as the H variants. The essential contrast between them was that they be "functionally differentiated"; that is, H must be used for special purposes, such as a liturgical or sacred language. Fasold expanded the concept still further by proposing that multiple H exist in society from which the users can select for various purposes. The definition of an H is intermediate between Ferguson's and Fishman's. Realizing the inappropriateness of the term diglossia (only two) to his concept, he proposes the term broad diglossia.
Sociolinguistics
Within sociolinguistics, the term "vernacular" has been applied to several concepts. Context, therefore, is crucial to determining its intended sense.
As an informal register
In variation theory, pioneered by William Labov, language is a large set of styles or registers from which the speaker selects according to the social setting of the moment. The vernacular is "the least self-conscious style of people in a relaxed conversation", or "the most basic style"; that is, casual varieties used spontaneously rather than self-consciously, informal talk used in intimate situations. In other contexts the speaker does conscious work to select the appropriate variations. The one they can use without this effort is the first form of speech acquired.
As a non-standard dialect
In another theory, the vernacular language is opposed to the standard language. The non-standard varieties thus defined are dialects, which are to be identified as complexes of factors: "social class, region, ethnicity, situation, and so forth". Both the standard and non-standard languages have dialects, but in contrast to the standard language, the non-standard language has "socially disfavored" structures. The standard language is primarily written (in traditional print media), whereas the non-standard language is spoken. An example of a vernacular dialect is African American Vernacular English.
As an idealisation
A vernacular is not a real language but is "an abstract set of norms".
First vernacular grammars
Vernaculars acquired the status of official languages through metalinguistic publications. Between 1437 and 1586, the first reference grammars of Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, German and English were written, though not always immediately published. It is to be understood that the first precursors of those languages preceded their standardization by up to several hundred years.
Dutch
In the 16th century, the "rederijkerskamers" (learned, literary societies founded throughout Flanders and Holland from the 1420s onward) attempted to impose a Latin structure on Dutch, on the presumption that Latin grammar had a "universal character". However, in 1559, John III van de Werve, Lord of Hovorst published his grammar Den schat der Duytsscher Talen in Dutch; Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert (Eenen nieuwen ABC of Materi-boeck) followed five years after, in 1564. The Latinizing tendency changed course, with a joint publication, in 1584 by De Eglantier and the rhetoric society of Amsterdam; this was to be the first comprehensive Dutch grammar, Twe-spraack vande Nederduitsche letterkunst/ ófte Vant spellen ende eyghenscap des Nederduitschen taals. Hendrick Laurenszoon Spieghel was a major contributor, with others contributing as well.
English
Modern English is considered to have begun at a conventional date of about 1550, most notably at the end of the Great Vowel Shift. It was created by the infusion of Old French into Old English, after the Norman conquest of 1066 AD, and of Latin at the instigation of the clerical administration. While present-day English speakers may be able to read Middle English authors (such as Geoffrey Chaucer), Old English is much more difficult.
Middle English is known for its alternative spellings and pronunciations. The British Isles, although geographically limited, have always supported populations of widely-varied dialects, as well as a few different languages; some examples of languages and regional accents (and/or dialects) within Great Britain include Scotland (Scottish Gaelic), Northumbria, Yorkshire, Wales (Welsh), the Isle of Man (Manx), Devon, and Cornwall (Cornish).
Being the language of a maritime power, English was (of necessity) formed from elements of many different languages. Standardisation has been an ongoing issue. Even in the age of modern communications and mass media, according to one study, "… although the Received Pronunciation of Standard English has been heard constantly on radio and then television for over 60 years, only 3 to 5% of the population of Britain actually speaks RP … new brands of English have been springing up even in recent times ...." What the vernacular would be in this case is a moot point: "… the standardisation of English has been in progress for many centuries."
Modern English came into being as the standard Middle English (i.e., as the preferred dialect of the monarch, court and administration). That dialect was of the East Midland, which had spread to London, where the king resided and from which he ruled. It contained Danish forms not often used in the north or south, as the Danes had settled heavily in the midlands. Chaucer wrote in an early East Midland style; John Wycliffe translated the New Testament into it, and William Caxton, the first English printer, wrote in it. Caxton is considered the first modern English author. The first printed book in England was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, published by Caxton in 1476.
The first English grammars were written in Latin, with some in French, after a general plea for mother-tongue education in England: The first part of the elementary, published in 1582, by Richard Mulcaster. In 1586, William Bullokar wrote the first English grammar to be written in English, the Pamphlet for Grammar. This was followed by Bref Grammar, in that same year. Previously he had written the Booke at Large for the Amendment of Orthography for English Speech (1580), but his orthography was not generally accepted and was soon supplanted, thus his grammar shared a similar fate. Other grammars in English followed rapidly; Paul Greaves' Grammatica Anglicana (1594), Alexander Hume's Orthographie and Congruitie of the Britain Tongue (1617), and many others. Over the succeeding decades, many literary figures turned a hand to grammar in English; Alexander Gill, Ben Jonson, Joshua Poole, John Wallis, Jeremiah Wharton, James Howell, Thomas Lye, Christopher Cooper, William Lily, John Colet and more, all leading to the massive dictionary of Samuel Johnson.
French
French (as Old French) emerged as a Gallo-Romance language from Colloquial Latin during late antiquity. The written language is known from at least as early as the 9th century. That language contained many forms still identifiable as Latin. Interest in standardizing French began in the 16th century. Because of the Norman conquest of England and the Anglo-Norman domains in both northwestern France and Britain, English scholars retained an interest in the fate of French as well as of English. Some of the numerous 16th-century surviving grammars are:
John Palsgrave, L'esclarcissement de la langue francoyse (1530; in English).
Louis Meigret, Tretté de la grammaire françoeze (1550).
Robert Stephanus: Traicté de la grammaire françoise (1557).
German
The development of a standard German was impeded by political disunity and strong local traditions until the invention of printing made possible a "High German-based book language". This literary language was not identical to any specific variety of German. The first grammar evolved from pedagogical works that also tried to create a uniform standard from the many regional dialects for various reasons. Religious leaders wished to create a sacred language for Protestantism that would be parallel to the use of Latin for the Roman Catholic Church. Various administrations wished to create a civil service, or chancery, language that would be useful in more than one locality. And finally, nationalists wished to counter the spread of the French national language into German-speaking territories assisted by the efforts of the French Academy.
With so many linguists moving in the same direction, a standard German (hochdeutsche Schriftsprache) did evolve without the assistance of a language academy. Its precise origin, the major constituents of its features, remains uncertainly known and debatable. Latin prevailed as a lingua franca until the 17th century, when grammarians began to debate the creation of an ideal language. Before 1550 as a conventional date, "supraregional compromises" were used in printed works, such as the one published by Valentin Ickelsamer (Ein Teutsche Grammatica) 1534. Books published in one of these artificial variants began to increase in frequency, replacing the Latin then in use. After 1550 the supraregional ideal broadened to a universal intent to create a national language from Early New High German by deliberately ignoring regional forms of speech, which practice was considered to be a form of purification parallel to the ideal of purifying religion in Protestantism.
In 1617, the Fruitbearing Society, a language club, was formed in Weimar in imitation of the in Italy. It was one of many such clubs; however, none became a national academy. In 1618–1619 Johannes Kromayer wrote the first all-German grammar. In 1641 Justin Georg Schottel in teutsche Sprachkunst presented the standard language as an artificial one. By the time of his work of 1663, ausführliche Arbeit von der teutschen Haubt-Sprache, the standard language was well established.
Irish
Auraicept na n-Éces is a grammar of the Irish language which is thought to date back as far as the 7th century: the earliest surviving manuscripts are 12th-century.
Italian
Italian appears before standardization as the lingua Italica of Isidore and the lingua vulgaris of subsequent medieval writers. Documents of mixed Latin and Italian are known from the 12th century, which appears to be the start of writing in Italian.
The first known grammar of a Romance language was a book written in manuscript form by Leon Battista Alberti between 1437 and 1441 and entitled Grammatica della lingua toscana, "Grammar of the Tuscan Language". In it Alberti sought to demonstrate that the vernacular – here Tuscan, known today as modern Italian – was every bit as structured as Latin. He did so by mapping vernacular structures onto Latin.
The book was never printed until 1908. It was not generally known, but it was known, as an inventory of the library of Lorenzo de'Medici lists it under the title Regule lingue florentine ("Rules of the Florentine language"). The only known manuscript copy, however, is included in the codex, Reginense Latino 1370, located at Rome in the Vatican library. It is therefore called the Grammatichetta vaticana.
More influential perhaps were the 1516 Regole grammaticali della volgar lingua of Giovanni Francesco Fortunio and the 1525 Prose della vulgar lingua of Pietro Bembo. In those works the authors strove to establish a dialect that would qualify for becoming the Italian national language.
Occitan
The first grammar in a vernacular language in western Europe was published in Toulouse in 1327. Known as the Leys d'amor and written by Guilhèm Molinièr, an advocate of Toulouse, it was published in order to codify the use of the Occitan language in poetry competitions organized by the company of the Gai Saber in both grammar and rhetorical ways.
Spanish
Chronologically, Spanish (more accurately, lengua castellana) has a development similar to that of Italian. There was some vocabulary in Isidore of Seville, with traces afterward, writing from about the 12th century; standardisation began in the 15th century, concurrent with the rise of Castile as an international power. The first Spanish grammar by Antonio de Nebrija (Tratado de gramática sobre la lengua Castellana, 1492) was divided into parts for native and nonnative speakers, pursuing a different purpose in each. Books 1–4 describe the Spanish language grammatically, in order to facilitate the study of Latin for its Spanish-speaking readers. Book 5 contains a phonetical and morphological overview of Spanish for nonnative speakers.
Welsh
The Grammar Books of the Master-poets () are considered to have been composed in the early fourteenth century, and are present in manuscripts from soon after. These tractates draw on the traditions of the Latin grammars of Donatus and Priscianus and also on the teaching of the professional Welsh poets. The tradition of grammars of the Welsh Language developed from these through the Middle Ages and to the Renaissance.
First vernacular dictionaries
A dictionary is to be distinguished from a glossary. Although numerous glossaries publishing vernacular words had long been in existence, such as the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville, which listed many Spanish words, the first vernacular dictionaries emerged together with vernacular grammars.
Dutch
Glossaries in Dutch began about 1470 AD leading eventually to two Dutch dictionaries:
Christophe Plantin: Thesaurus Theutonicae Linguae, 1573
Cornelis Kiliaan: Dictionarium Teutonico-Latinum, 1574 (becoming Etymologicum with the 1599 3rd edition)
Shortly after (1579) the Southern Netherlands came under the dominion of Spain, then of Austria (1713) and of France (1794). The Congress of Vienna created the United Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815 from which southern Netherlands (being Catholic) seceded in 1830 to form the Kingdom of Belgium, which was confirmed in 1839 by the Treaty of London. As a result of this political instability no standard Dutch was defined (even though much in demand and recommended as an ideal) until after World War II. Currently the Dutch Language Union, an international treaty organization founded in 1980, supports a standard Dutch in the Netherlands, while Afrikaans is regulated by Die Taalkommissie founded in 1909.
English
Standard English remains a quasi-fictional ideal, despite the numerous private organizations publishing prescriptive rules for it. No language academy was ever established or espoused by any government past or present in the English-speaking world. In practice the British monarchy and its administrations established an ideal of what good English should be considered to be, and this in turn was based on the teachings of the major universities, such as Cambridge University and Oxford University, which relied on the scholars whom they hired. There is a general but far from uniform consensus among the leading scholars about what should or should not be said in standard English; but for every rule, examples from famous English writers can be found that break it. Uniformity of spoken English never existed and does not exist now, but usages do exist, which must be learnt by the speakers, and do not conform to prescriptive rules.
Usages have been documented not by prescriptive grammars, which on the whole are less comprehensible to the general public, but by comprehensive dictionaries, often termed unabridged, which attempt to list all usages of words and the phrases in which they occur as well as the date of first use and the etymology where possible. These typically require many volumes, and yet not more so than the unabridged dictionaries of many languages.
Bilingual dictionaries and glossaries precede modern English and were in use in the earliest written English. The first monolingual dictionary was Robert Cawdrey's Table Alphabeticall (1604) which was followed by Edward Phillips's A New World of English Words (1658) and Nathaniel Bailey's An Universal Etymological English Dictionary (1721). These dictionaries whetted the interest of the English-speaking public in greater and more prescriptive dictionaries until Samuel Johnson published Plan of a Dictionary of the English Language (1747), which would imitate the dictionary being produced by the French Academy. He had no problem acquiring the funding, but not as a prescriptive dictionary. This was to be a grand comprehensive dictionary of all English words at any period, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755).
By 1858, the need for an update resulted in the first planning for a new comprehensive dictionary to document standard English, a term coined at that time by the planning committee. The dictionary, known as the Oxford English Dictionary, published its first fascicle in 1884. It attracted significant contributions from some singular minds, such as William Chester Minor, a former army surgeon who had become criminally insane and made most of his contributions while incarcerated. Whether the OED is the long-desired standard English Dictionary is debatable, but its authority is taken seriously by the entire English-speaking world. Its staff is currently working on a third edition.
French
Surviving dictionaries are a century earlier than their grammars. The Académie française founded in 1635 was given the obligation of producing a standard dictionary. Some early dictionaries are:
Louis Cruse, alias Garbin: Dictionaire latin-françois, 1487
Robert Estienne, alias Robertus Stephanus: Dictionnaire françois–latin, 1539
Maurice de la Porte: Epitheta, 1571
Jean Nicot: Thresor de la langue fracoyse, tant ancienne que moderne, 1606
Pierre Richelet: Dictionnaire françois contenant les mots et les choses, 1680
Académie française: Dictionnaire de l’Académie française, 1694 annis.
German
High German dictionaries began in the 16th century and were at first multi-lingual. They were preceded by glossaries of German words and phrases on various specialized topics. Finally interest in developing a vernacular German grew to the point where Maaler could publish a work called by Jacob Grimm "the first truly German dictionary", Joshua Maaler's Die Teutsche Spraach: Dictionarium Germanico-latinum novum (1561).
It was followed along similar lines by Georg Heinisch: Teütsche Sprache und Weißheit (1616). After numerous dictionaries and glossaries of a less-than-comprehensive nature came a thesaurus that attempted to include all German, Kaspar Stieler's Der Teutschen Sprache Stammbaum und Fortwachs oder Teutschen Sprachschatz (1691), and finally the first codification of written German, Johann Christoph Adelung's Versuch eines vollständigen grammatisch-kritischen Wörterbuches Der Hochdeutschen Mundart (1774–1786). Schiller called Adelung an Orakel and Wieland is said to have nailed a copy to his desk.
Italian
In the early 15th century a number of glossaries appeared, such as that of Lucillo Minerbi on Boccaccio in 1535, and those of Fabrizio Luna on Ariosto, Petrarca, Boccaccio and Dante in 1536. In the mid-16th the dictionaries began, as listed below. In 1582 the first language academy was formed, called Accademia della Crusca, "bran academy", which sifted language like grain. Once formed, its publications were standard-setting.
Monolingual
Alberto Accarisio: Vocabolario et grammatica con l'orthographia della lingua volgare, 1543
Francesco Alunno: Le richezze della lingua volgare, 1543
Francesco Alunno: La fabbrica del mondo, 1548
Giacomo Pergamini: Il memoriale della lingua italiana, 1602
: Vocabolario degli Accademici della Crusca, 1612
ItalianFrench
Nathanael Duez : Dittionario italiano e francese/Dictionnaire italien et François, Leiden, 1559–1560
Gabriel Pannonius: Petit vocabulaire en langue françoise et italienne, Lyon, 1578
Jean Antoine Fenice : Dictionnaire françois et italien, Paris, 1584
ItalianEnglish
John Florio: A Worlde of Words, London, 1598
John Florio: Queen Anna’s New World of Words, London, 1611
ItalianSpanish
Cristóbal de las Casas: Vocabulario de las dos lenguas toscana y castellana, Sevilla, 1570
Lorenzo Franciosini: Vocabulario italiano e spagnolo/ Vocabulario español e italiano, Roma, 1620.
Serbo-Croatian
The first vernacular Serbian dictionary was Srpski rječnik (Serbian dictionary) written by Vuk Karadžić and published in 1818.
Dictionary of Serbo-Croatian Literary and Vernacular Language was initiated in 1888 by Stojan Novaković, still in the making
Spanish
The first Spanish dictionaries in the 15th century were Latin-Spanish/Spanish-Latin, followed by monolingual Spanish. In 1713 the Real Academia Española, "Royal Spanish Academy", was founded to set standards. It published an official dictionary, 1726–1739.
Alonzo de Palencia: El universal vocabulario en latin y romance, 1490
Antonio de Nebrija: Lexicon latino-hispanicum et hispanico-latinum, 1492
Sebastián de Covarrubias Orozco: Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, 1611
Real Academia Española: Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 1726–1739
Metaphorical usage
The term "vernacular" may also be applied metaphorically to any cultural product of the lower, common orders of society that is relatively uninfluenced by the ideas and ideals of the educated élite. Hence, vernacular has had connotations of a coarseness and crudeness. "Vernacular architecture", for example, is a term applied to buildings designed in any style based on practical considerations and local traditions, in contrast to the "polite architecture" produced by professionally trained architects to nationally or internationally agreed aesthetic standards. The historian Guy Beiner has developed the study of "vernacular historiography" as a more sophisticated conceptualization of folk history.
See also
References
Sources
External links
Sociolinguistics
Language varieties and styles
Linguistics terminology
Folklore
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Javed%20Miandad
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Javed Miandad
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Mohammad Javed Miandad PP SI (Urdu: ; born 12 June 1957), popularly known as Javed Miandad (Urdu: ), is a Pakistani cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer known for his unconventional style of captaincy and batting. ESPNcricinfo described him as "the greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced" and his contemporary Ian Chappell extolled him as one of the finest batsmen in the history of cricket.
He played for Pakistan in Tests and One-Day Internationals between 1975 and 1996. Noted for his unique technique and impressive control, Miandad has won accolades and applause from cricket historians as well as contemporaries. Miandad was ranked 44th among the best cricketers of all time by the ESPN Legends of Cricket. He has served as a captain of the Pakistan team. He is widely known for his historic last ball six against India in 1986 at Sharjah, when 4 runs were required to win off the final ball, winning an international game in that fashion for the first time, and for his contribution with the bat in the 1992 ICC World Cup.
After his playing career, Miandad has held key positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board. He also had three coaching stints with the Pakistan national team.
In 2009, Miandad was inducted into the ICC Cricket Hall of Fame.
Early and personal life
Javed Miandad, an ethnic Muhajir, was born on 12 June 1957 in Karachi. His parents moved from Palanpur, Gujarat, India, where his father, Miandad Noor Mohammad, worked in the police department, posted in cities like Ahmedabad and Baroda, whilst at the same time he was also overseeing the sports clubs in the city for the Nawab.
One of seven children, he has three brothers who played first-class cricket in Pakistan: Anwar Miandad, Sohail Miandad and Bashir Miandad. His nephew, Faisal Iqbal, was also a Test cricketer.
Javed Miandad married Tahira Saigol, daughter of Khalid Saigol and Farida Hayat in 1981. He has two sons and a daughter. His son Junaid Miandad is married to Mahrukh Ibrahim, daughter of Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian born mafia kingpin. Miandad told the press that his son and Ibrahim's daughter met while studying together in the UK.
In 2011, Miandad recorded a na`at for Geo TV; his Sakoon Paya was well received by his fans but he did not subsequently read any more na`at.
Test career
Debut and early years
Pakistan's first Test captain, Abdul Hafeez Kardar, upon seeing Miandad during the 1970s, predicted famously about him: "the find of the decade". His inclusion in the Pakistan team was itself an achievement. A formidable batting line-up of Mushtaq Mohammad, Majid Khan, Sadiq Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal and Wasim Raja were hard to break into, but Miandad's raw talent made it possible and he became an integral part of Pakistan's strong batting lineup. He made his Test debut against New Zealand at the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore on 9 October 1976. He scored 163 and 25 not out in that match, and became the youngest batsman to score a century on debut, at the age of 19 years and 119 days; he also took a wicket in the match and Pakistan won the match by six wickets. In the third match of the same series, he scored a double century by scoring 206 runs at the National Stadium, Karachi. He broke George Headley's 47-year-old record, and became the youngest player—aged 19 years and 140 days—to score a double-century. He scored 85 runs in the second innings, failing to accomplish the unique feat of scoring a double-century and a century in a single match. Miandad was the highest run-scorer of the series, with 504 runs from five innings at an average of 126.00. His performance ensured Pakistan's victory in the three-match series by 2–0.
During Pakistan's tour to Australia in 1976–77, he played three Tests and scored 148 runs at the average of 29.60. He also took five wickets in the series, including three wickets for 85 runs at the Adelaide Oval. In the 1977–78 home series against England, Miandad scored 262 runs at the average of 131.00, including three half-centuries. His highest score in an innings in the series was 88 runs not out at the Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. Miandad scored a Test century in his first match against India at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, during the 1978–79 series between the teams. With 154 not out in the match, he completed his first 1,000 Test runs at the age of 21 years and 126 days; he took 23 innings and 14 matches to achieve the feat – the second youngest batsman after Kapil Dev to do so. In the same series, by scoring another century at the National Stadium, he accumulated 357 runs from five innings at the average of 178.50, and ensured Pakistan's victory 2–0. In the same season, Miandad played three matches in New Zealand, and accumulated 297 runs against them at the average of 99.00. Being the highest run-scorer of the series, he also scored 160 not out at the Lancaster Park, Christchurch. During the Pakistan's tour to Australia in the same season, he scored 183 runs at the average of 61.00, including 129 runs not out at the WACA Ground, Perth.
Success in the early 1980s
Under the captaincy of Asif Iqbal in 1979–80, Pakistan toured India and played a six-Test match series against them. Miandad was one of the most "consistent" batsmen, scoring 421 runs—behind Sunil Gavaskar's 529 and Wasim Raja's 450—with the help of four fifties, averaged 42.10. During the third series at the Wankhede Stadium, Bombay, he completed 2,000 Test runs of his career; he took 42 innings and 24 matches to achieve the feat, and became the fastest Pakistani to do so. In the same season, Miandad was appointed as Pakistan's captain for the first time, against the touring Australia. He scored 181 runs at the average over 60 in the series, including 106 runs not out at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, and Pakistan won the three-match series 1–0. In the solitary series of the 1980–81 at home, against the West Indies, Miandad scored 230 runs at the average of 32.85. He scored 60 of the 128 runs in the Pakistan's first innings of the third Test match, after they were 14 runs for four wickets. In the 1981–82, during the Pakistan's tour of Australia, Miandad captained the Pakistan team in three Test matches. During the first Test at Perth, he was involved in an unpleasant controversy with Dennis Lillee, where the two players came into contact after Lillee blocked Miandad's way while he was taking a single, with Lillee kicking Miandad, who responded by shaping to strike him with his bat. Pakistan lost the first two matches of the series, but they won the third Test at Malbourne by an innings and 82 runs, and finished the series 2–1. Miandad batted consistently throughout the series, but could not get support from his teammates as a captain. He scored 205 runs from five innings at the average of 41.00, including two half-centuries.
In the home series of the same season against Sri Lanka, he captained the team in three Tests, although the players refused to play under his captaincy following the Lillee-Miandad controversy. Pakistan won the series by 2–0, with Miadad scoring 176 at the average over 35, including 92 runs at the National Stadium. After the refusal of senior players to play under Miandad captaincy, Imran Khan was appointed as a new captain for the 1982 England tour; Khan was leading the team for the first time. Pakistan lost the three-Test match series 2–1, with Miandad scoring 178 runs at the average of 35.60. In his next series against the touring Australia, he scored his eighth century—138 runs—in the third Test at the Gaddafi Stadium, and ensured Pakistan's third successive win in the series. On his performance in the series, the cricket almanack Wisden noted that he "grew further in stature as an international batsman, his youthful audacity now being supplanted by a technical competence and insatiable appetite for runs."
In their home series against India in 1982–83, Pakistan played six Tests and defeated them by 3–0; Pakistan's victories at Karachi, Hyderabad and Faisalabad were gained by large margins. Miandad's consistency of scoring runs, along with Zaheer, Mudassar and Mohsin Khan, crushed the Indian bowling line. Miandad was the third highest run-scorer, with 594 runs – after Mudassar's 761 and Zaheer's 650 runs – at the average of 118.80; they made the record for the three top batsmen in any Test series. Miandad and Mudassar's partnership of 451 runs in the Hyderabad Test constituted a new world record for the third wicket, and equalled the all-time record for any Test wicket, made by Don Bradman and Bill Ponsford in 1938. They became the first two Pakistani batsmen to score double-centuries in an inning. Miandad scored his career best 280 not out, before the captain Imran Khan, decided to declare the innings, thus stopping him from "possibly breaking the individual Test world record of Sir Garfield Sobers". Cricket critics call this "one of the worst decisions by Imran as captain of Pakistan" as he "didn't even give him a particular time or the number of overs he could bat on for." Miandad, however never expressed displeasure on the decision. Pakistan won the match by an innings and 119 runs. Pakistan visited India in 1983–84 under the captaincy of Zaheer, and played a leveled three-Test match series. Miandad scored 225 runs in the series at the average of 75.00, including 99 runs at Bangalore. Miandad scored 131 runs against Australia at the Adelaide Oval, the third Test of the series between the teams. He could not perform consistently and finished the series with 302 runs at average of over 33, with Pakistan lost the five-match series 2–0.
During 1984–88
Miandad scored centuries in the each innings of the second Test of the 1984–85 series against New Zealand; he scored 104 and 103 not out at the Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad. In the second innings of the match, he established a partnership of 212 runs for third wicket with Mudassar, a Pakistani record at that time. This was the 1,000 match in the history of Test cricket. He was the highest run-scorer of the series, with 337 runs at the average over 84; Pakistan won the series 2–0. Miandad captained the Pakistan cricket team in the next series against the same team, which was played in New Zealand. He could not maintained his previous form against them, and only managed to score 138 runs, averaged below 28. During 1985–86 Sri Lankan tour to Pakistan, three Test matches were played between the teams. Miandad, who was captaining Pakistan, made his third double century in the first Test at Iqbal Stadium. During his innings of 203 not out, he made a partnership of 397 runs with Qasim Umar—who also made a double century in the innings—for third wicket, which was eighth highest overall and second highest for the third wicket at that time. Miandad's score of 306 runs from three innings were the most by any batsmen in the series, and his average for the score was 153.00. In the same season Pakistan visited Sri Lanka, and played three Tests against them. During the second Test, Two unpleasant incidents occurred: when an umpire started rubbing the new ball replaced with the older one on the ground, during Pakistan's second innings after sixteen overs to get the similar characteristics; Pakistan manager came to the umpire and showed him the 1985 Wisden's relevant Law; and Miandad's disagreement to the umpire's decision of lbw against him. Later on someone from the crowd threw a stone upon Miandad, and he went upstairs into the crowd to take revenge from the spectator.
Later career
In 1992, during the Pakistan tour to England, he scored 153 not out in the first Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham. From then to his retirement he scored 578 runs, without scoring a century, at the average of 32.11 in 11 Tests. He made only four half-centuries during that period.
Miandad played 124 Test matches, batting in 189 innings. His aggregate of 8,832 Test runs was a Pakistani record until Younis Khan broke it in 2015. Inzamam ul Haq also came close to breaking this record just falling short by 4 runs. Even though his test career spanned 17 years, he failed to make it into the top-most category of batsmen with test aggregates of over 10,000 runs. Miandad's 23 centuries and 43 fifties were Pakistani national records, until they were broken by Inzamam-ul-Haq. Miandad's Test career batting average of 52.57 is currently the highest for Pakistani batsmen. He scored six double centuries which is the most by a Pakistani and 6th overall. He became the first batsman in the history of cricket to score a century in both his 1st and 100th test (against New Zealand and India respectively). He made his highest score of 280 not out against India. Pakistan went on to win that match by an innings and 119 runs.
One Day International career
Miandad made his One Day International debut against the West Indies at Edgbaston, Birmingham in the 1975 Cricket World Cup. His last ODI was also a World Cup match, and Pakistan lost the match. More, he scored 2 fours and 0 sixes and his strike rate was below 100 in both of his, first and last ODI innings. His highest ODI score came against India at the Gaddafi Stadium in a match which Pakistan lost in 1982. He scored 119 not out off 77 balls with a strike rate of 154.54 in the match.
Pakistan recorded their first win at a major tournament in 1986's Austral-Asia Cup held in Sharjah and Miandad finished his innings with 116 not out in the final against India. This is still considered one of the most historic moments in the history of ODI cricket and he became a national hero.
Javed Miandad is the first (and one of the only two, other being Sachin Tendulkar) player to have played in six World Cups, the first six, from 1975 to 1996.
Captaincy
After Asif Iqbal's retirement following a series loss in the 1979–1980 tour of India, coupled with match fixing allegations for the very first time in Pakistan's history, a 22 year old Miandad was made the captain of Pakistan. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) preferred him over the senior cricketers like Zaheer Abbas, Sarfraz Nawaz, Majid Khan and Wasim Bari who were still playing. He faced a little opposition but his first two series as captain, in 1981/82, included a win against Australia, and a credible 0–1 loss to the West Indies. After a tough tour of Australia, opposition to his captaincy gained strength, and his first captaincy period ended during the following home series against Sri Lanka.
He captained Pakistan in six more tests in 1985, and thereafter broadly shared Test captaincy duties with Imran Khan until the end of his career. Pakistan won 14 and lost 6 of his 34 tests in charge. He captained them to home and away Test series victories against England in 1987-8 and 1992, and averaged just over 50 as a batsman when Pakistan's captain.
In one-day cricket he captained Pakistan in 62 one-day internationals of which they won 26 and lost 33. None of his one-day international hundreds came as captain.
Coaching and commentary
Miandad is one of the few individuals (others being Waqar Younis and Richard Pybus) to have coached the Pakistan Cricket Team over three or more separate occasions. He was first appointed coach in September 1998. Under his reign, Pakistan defeated India in India (once in the Test series which ended 1–1, and once in the Asian Test Championship), won the tri-series in India, won the Asian Test Championship and won the 1999 Sharjah Cup in April. Strangely, Miandad faxed his resignation to the PCB in late April 1999, just before the 1999 Cricket World Cup. The reason for his first resignation was unknown. Many cited hiring of Richard Pybus (technical coach) and Sarfaraz Nawaz (bowling coach) as a possible reason. Others suggested unrest with senior players.
In 2000, after Moin Khan took over captaincy from Saeed Anwar, Miandad was reappointed as the coach. During his second reign, Pakistan won the Sharjah Cup (March 2000), the Asia Cup (May–June 200), the West Indies tri-series and the Test series in Sri Lanka. Pakistan lost the ICC Champions Trophy semifinal under his reign. Miandad was removed along with Moin Khan in April 2001 after Pakistan lost the ODI series in New Zealand. There were also reports of match fixing during the preceding Test series which Pakistan drew after losing the third game.
After Pakistan's dismal show in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, another cleanup operation was undertaken by the PCB, naming Rashid Latif as captain and Javed Miandad as team coach in March 2003. During this reign, Miandad won Pakistan the Sharjah Cup (April 2003) bereft of big names like Inzamam and Yousaf. Pakistan won the home Test series against South Africa after losing 3–2 in the ODI series. Pakistan lost the home ODI series to India in 2004 and following the loss of the Test series, Miandad was shown the door in June 2004, being replaced by South African Bob Woolmer.
Following this he was offered broadcasting and coaching positions in India. Also in November 2010, it was being planned to give Miandad a role as a batting coach.
Miandad was again appointed as a batting consultant for the 2012 twenty20 World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Records and achievements
Miandad was amongst the six Pakistani players to have his name in the Hall of Fame at Lords.
In 1986, he had received the President's Pride of Performance Award.
Miandad is one of three cricketers (the other is Sachin Tendulkar and Mithali Raj) to appear in Six World Cup competitions.
In 1982, Wisden named him as one of the cricketers of the year.
Javed Miandad scored 1083 runs in 33 matches at 6 World Cup tournaments.
He was also declared the 44th best Cricketer of all time in ESPN Legend of Cricket.
He is the youngest player to hit a double-century. He broke George Headley's 47-year-old record. Now the record is old.
Miandad holds the world record for the maximum number of consecutive half centuries in One Day Internationals- 9
In 1992, Miandad was decorated by the President of Pakistan with the Sitara-i-Imtiaz, the third highest honor bestowed by Pakistan.
Performance
Test performance by opponent
ODI performance by opponent
Performance Graph
Autobiography
References
External links
1957 births
Living people
Coaches of the Pakistan national cricket team
Cricketers at the 1975 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1979 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1983 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1987 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1992 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers at the 1996 Cricket World Cup
Cricketers who made a century on Test debut
Glamorgan cricketers
Glamorgan cricket captains
Habib Bank Limited cricketers
Karachi Blues cricketers
Karachi Whites cricketers
Pakistani autobiographers
Pakistan Test cricket captains
Pakistani cricket coaches
Pakistani cricketers
Pakistan One Day International cricketers
Pakistan Test cricketers
Pakistani cricket captains
Recipients of the Pride of Performance
Sind A cricketers
Sindh cricketers
Sussex cricketers
Cricketers from Karachi
Wisden Cricketers of the Year
World Series Cricket players
Pakistani people of Gujarati descent
Recipients of Sitara-i-Imtiaz
D. B. Close's XI cricketers
People from Karachi
Muhajir people
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue%20cod
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Blue cod
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The New Zealand blue cod (Parapercis colias) is a temperate marine fish of the family Pinguipedidae. It is also known by its Māori names, rāwaru, pākirikiri and patutuki, and by its other names in English, Boston blue cod, New Zealand cod or sand perch.
It is exclusively found in New Zealand, in shallow waters around rocky coasts to a depth of 150 m, though it is far more common south of Cook Strait. It is bluish green to blue-black above with white toward the belly. Large examples are usually greenish blue in colour, while smaller ones are blotched in varying shades of brown. An adult may grow to 60 cm in length and weigh from 1.0 to 3.0 kg. It feeds mainly on small fish and crabs. Blue cod is territorial. Spawning takes place in southern spring. Blue cod can also change sex from female to male.
It is an important recreational species in the South Island and is commercially harvested. Blue cod populations are managed under New Zealand's fisheries quota management system, although they are becoming scarce in some small areas due to fishing pressure. Annual catch range is between 2,000 and 2,500 tonnes.
Identification
Parapercis colias are protogynous hermaphrodites, which means they have both female and male reproductive organs at the beginning and some females change sex to males later in their life. P. colias is a marine bottom dwelling fish that is found in coastal New Zealand waters. Their colouring varies on age and sex. Juveniles start off being generally pale in colour and have two long dark stripes along the sides which will turn brown and barely distinguishable when they become middle-sized fish. As they mature with a body length over 25 cm, both sexes would have a blueish-grey dorsal with a white underside. Females have a tinge of orange and there is a trend for them to become green when they grow larger. Brownish pigments can be found at the base of pectoral fin. On the other hand, adult males have distinctive blue-grey colour coat with greenish sides and a golden brown line can be found above each eye. Body length of P. colias is about 30–40 cm in general, but can up to 60 cm and their weight is 0.8–1.5 kg in general, but can up to 3 kg. Males tend to be larger than females. They can live up to 32 years old.
Heads of P. colias are prominent and rounded with scales. They have a plump shaped body covered with firm scales. Above their non expanded cheeks are two large lateral eyes which can rotate independently, this allows them to see almost everywhere around them. P. colias possess a terminal mouth with bulbous lips. Their pelvic fins are generally placed forward on the throat with brown dots appear underneath it. There is a single horizontal stripe where ten to twelve scales above across their side of the body. The anterior section of their dorsal fin is small and short, followed by fins with five short spines. In contrast their second dorsal is long. A key used in an article of Cantwell can distinguish P. colias from other parapercids. Key features are listed below:
The outer row of lower jaw has eight teeth
Dorsal spines longer to the posterior (rear end)
Soft dorsal fins have 20 rays and anal fins with 17
10 to 11 scales are present from lateral line to base of first soft dorsal ray
23 to 26 counts of gill rakers
Caudal (tail) fins have 15 branched rays that looks rounded but bi-lobed.
Other characters of detailed skeleton structures (osteology) of Parapercis species can be found in an article written by Gosline.
Swimming bladder is usually present in osteichthyids, it helps the fish to stay at a certain water pressure level (depth) without spending more energy. Swimming bladder in P. colias are absent. They will automatically sink to the sea floor if they stop swimming; therefore, they are called bottom-dwelling or sedentary bottom-hugging species. Their body shape of having a flattened abdomen indicates this as well. Normally, P. colias use their pectoral fin to swim, their body muscles and tails fin are only involved in swimming when a sudden burst or speed is needed, this type of swimming character is called labriform. As a result, their pelvic fins, used as props when they are resting on the seabed, are reduced and thicken. Due to their nature of being bottom-dwelling species, sand can clog their gills when they are resting. To remedy this, P. colias often hold their breath and open their mouths for a long interval like having a yawn to take good gulps of air every now and then. Speaking of having a yawn, if you look closely you will notice that P. colias do not have palatine teeth and only have small teeth; however, you would not want to feel their sharp and well developed pharyngeal teeth near their throat like their prey.
There are some other detailed morphological characteristics inside the body of P. colias that determine their taxonomy, such as the presence of a lentiform body (an ocular vascular structure) and others, are mentioned by Eastman.
Distribution
Natural global range
Pinguipedid fishes (Sandperches) are widely found in the southern Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions. However, P. colias is endemic to New Zealand.
New Zealand range
P. colias is found from the shore to the shelf edge around New Zealand's entire coastline, but there are no records in either the Kermadec Islands or the Snares Islands / Tini Heke. They are more abundant from south of Cook Strait and they are an iconic species for the South Island. They are most common around Southland and the Chatham Islands.
Habitat preferences
P. colias can be found at 150 m in depth occupying bedrock outcrops on gravel or sandy seabed. These habitats with macro algae or Sponges are even more preferred. Furthermore, their abundance in each habitat varies between age. Juvenile are found more frequently in sponge gardens (more than 16m deep) dominated by orange finger sponges (Raspalia topsenti & Raspalia flaccida), large black massive sponge (Ancorina alata) and the small bright yellow clumps of Polymastia granulosa that provide more shelters and safer refuges, whereas adults are mainly found on reef margins and deeper areas.
Since P. colias are generalists, which means that they prey on various species instead of depending on only one species, habitats that are rich in diversity of species are also favoured by them. An example of this is the kelp forest which is often established on rock beds where it is also desirable for P. colias. However, they can be also found in less species diverse habitats such as barren rock flats (4-12m deep) that are dominated by sea urchins grazing on algae.
As mentioned before, P. colias can be found at 150 m in depth and was reported to be caught at 350m below the surface, other important aspects such as temperature, salinity and oxygen content in the ocean are often influenced by water depth. 766 samples were taken to determine the water temperature and chemistry ranges of P. colias as listed below:
{||-
! scope="col" width="width: 1000em;" |
! scope="col" width="width: 20em;" |
! scope="col" width="width: 20em;" |
|-
|Temperature:
| 7.786 - 18.158
| (°C)
|-
|Nitrate:
| 0.205 - 18.689
| (µmol/L)
|-
|Salinity:
| 34.283 - 35.544
| (PPS)
|-
|Oxygen:
| 5.121 - 6.587
| (mL/L)
|-
|Phosphate:
| 0.258 - 1.333
| (µmol/L)
|-
|Silicate:
| 1.911 - 7.690
| (µmol/L)
|-
|}
Life cycle/phenology
Spawning and Hatching
Multiple spawning events of a female P. colias occur throughout late winter and spring in the centre to the outer continental shelf. Instead of a distinct spawning episode, their spawning is a continuous event that the eggs are released over time. One male can be spawning with different groups of female. Eggs could possibly drift 74 km away from the spawning site and hatch potentially after 116 hours. Young fish are found below 20 metres then move to shallow water in summer.
Age, Growth, Sex and Maturity
Growth of P. colias is measured by the relationship between age and their body length. P. colias are protogynous hermaphrodites, when the length of P. colias reaches 410mm, 50% of the females are transitional. Sex inversion occurs with the colour change from whitish with a brown band at both sides or an orange tinge to bluish colour with a blue green band. Though sex inversion found to occur across a wide range of age and size, the cause of activating the sex inversion has not been well understood. Studies have shown that the proportion of sex change decreases afterwards as the presence of males in the population would discourage sex change. Hence, it is regarded as a response to the demographic structure in the population instead of a response to their size. Another study indicated that blue cod is most fecund at the size which closes to the average size of the first maturity of males. It has been regarded as a sign of potential sex change by reducing egg production for saving the resource. Sex change is also not well described that the transitional gonads has different definitions.
Their growth rate can differ due to food supply, water temperature and habitat as other fish do. Sex can also influence the growth rate. Male grow faster and larger than female. P. colias have the potential to grow up to 50 cm in length and weight 4 kg. Growth ring interpretation shows that they can live about 10 to 15 years, but a study showed that the known maximum age of blue cod is 23 years old.
Maturity values are derived from the length of the fish. Their growth rate varies between locations. For example, male can reach maturity when their length reached 10–19 cm (which is about 2–3 years old) in Northland, but in Southland the male needs to reach 26–28 cm (which is about 4–6 years old). Besides, males generally have a faster growth rate compared to females. Both female and male P. colias are assumed to reach sexual maturity with the measuring of 28 cm. The maximum lifespan of P. colias is 32 years.
Behaviours
Similar to other Parapercis species, male P. colias hold territories and their home range increases as the individual grows. Mutch found that they tend to hold large territories rather than but loose territories with small social groups that contain three to five females. Though they hold stable territories, P. colias moves from time to time. In a study, P. colias can move with on average of 2.09±2.12 km, this could potentially be home range shifts. It is reported that P. colias emigrate from coastal to offshore waters in May of each year, this is thought to be a preparation for mating and spawning in early winter.
Thunder is known to agitate the fish. Reports since the 1950s have documented thunder activating blue cod's flight mechanisms, causing the fish to leap out of aquariums.
Migration
P. colias seem to be migratory at certain times in a year, but little is known about their migration. Other studies indicated that they are relatively sedentary, however, long-term dispersal has been suggested due to a record that one individual travelled 156 km over 20 months.
Diet and foraging
Many fish species are generalists; thus, they are not limited by the predator-prey cycle. P. colias is one of them. They have been recorded to have 52 taxa in their diet, where adults are found to be more selective than juveniles. It makes sense that when P. colias grows bigger, the variety of species in their diet also increases, this includes polychaetes, crustaceans, molluscs, Pisces, algae and even its own spawn! This means that P. colias are omnivores which "feeds on more one trophic level". In short, you can say that they consume anything that is abundant and available locally. Other than the development of the fish itself, what they consume differs from region to region and whether the area is fished or not plays an important role as well. One study showed that oyster dredged habitat can reduce their prey diversity and have a negative effect on fish size. They usually stalk, seize and swallow their prey. After being caught, they tend to regurgitate the stomach contents.
‘Our Big Blue Backyard’ is a documentary of New Zealand marine and shoreline species. In the Chatham Islands episode, blue cod (P. colias) waits to feed on pāua, an endemic sea-snail that attaches itself on hard surfaces such as rocks, at its most vulnerable phases – when they move or are grasped up by a starfish using hundreds of tube feet. They are also said to be voracious.
Predators, parasites, and diseases
Predators
Homo sapiens (humans) fish 2000 to 2500 tons of P. colias annually. Natural predators include:
Great white shark
Benthic feeders, such as:
Yellow-eyed penguins
Dolphins
Sea birds, such as mollymawks
As many marine predators are generalists there are many other potential predators not listed. P. colias are known to predate upon juveniles of their own species.
Parasites
Hewitt and Hine summarised the parasites found on blue cod including species in five main groups:
Blood sucking sea lice are also known to parasitise P. colias.
Disease and Injuries
No specific disease is found on P. colias, but some injuries have been recorded. Hooking injuries could cause tissue damage and possibly lead to mortality. Despite having greater risk for parasitic, bacterial, or fungal infections, mortality after having a hook injury is often caused by blood loss rather than disease. An article suggests that small hooks cause more blood loss problems than big hooks to P. colias.
Compared to other bony fish, swimming bladder in P. colias is absent, this means that they do not suffer from barotrauma – an injury due expansion or eruption of the swimming bladder in fish, it is often caused by rapid water pressure change when rising from deep water to water surface.
In a human context
Rāwaru was a valued traditional food for Māori who lived in the South Island, where the fish is more abundant. Heads of rāwaru (P. colias, blue cod) were often given back to the sea as offerings to the god Maru before Māori return from fishing.
The fish was an important species to early European settlers in New Zealand as a food source, and by the 1910s became even more popular in Australia, leading to the growth of the blue cod fishing industry in Southland.
History of the name
Blue cod (P. colias) is not a cod. The use of blue cod can date back to the time of Captain Cook. Some early writers listed them as coal-fish which derived from unrelated European fish. However, this name is so widely used in New Zealand that it is unlikely to be changed.
Economic and population management issue
Blue cod is well known by the public due to its commercial and recreational importance. As mentioned before, we fish 2000 to 2500 tones of P. colias per year. The value of P. colias as being the third popular recreational fishing species cannot be ignored, this includes using their flesh as rock lobster bait. It is estimated that the marginal willingness to pay for an additional P. colias is $1.61 per fish and the average willingness to pay is $24.46 per fish. It is estimated that in 1999, 1.2 million P. colias was harvested, of which 70% were from the South Island. Thus, Ministry for Primary Industries (New Zealand) has set minimum capture length and maximum capture limit of P. colias, which varies between areas mainly depending on abundance, to avoid depletion. For example, in the South-East area (of South Island from Clarence Point to Southland and extended to the Chatham Islands, New Zealand), no fish shorter than 30 cm can be taken and each fisher has a limit up to 30 fish per day.
To achieve sustainable fishing, it is crucial to persist healthy population structure with continuous monitoring and quotas set to date. However, as the largest fish in the population would be the male, males are often being caught and is thought to affect the females changing their sex earlier. This is an emerging issue to all hermaphrodites. Surprisingly, the sex ratio male to females of P. colias is about 5:1 which is biologically implausible. This suggests that sex changes might not purely depend on fish length, but we cannot ignore the fact that fishery has changed the natural population composition of "P. colias". To understand the direct impact on P. colias despite population decline further research is required.
In addition, the fundamental unit of concern of its management of population is the genetic structure that can lead to the reduction of the evolutionary potential for responding to environmental change, the increase of inbreeding risk and the force of selective genetic change. Since a number of evidence indicated that blue cod are relatively sedentary, the fishing pressure may lead to potential local depletion. Recent studies showed that the genetic differences were significant between mainland List of islands of New Zealand population and Chatham Island population. On the other hand, the differences within mainlandList of islands of New Zealand populations were limited while the pattern of the isolation by distance was detected. Further research using microsatellite DNA markers suggested that some significant genetic differences between mainland population exist which indicate the potential long-distance dispersal, but the dispersal rate is too low to have demographic effect in the population.
References
External links
Blue Cod Fishing and a link to the Blue Cod Fishing Regulations. Ministry of Fisheries.
blue cod
Endemic marine fish of New Zealand
Commercial fish
blue cod
Taxa named by Johann Reinhold Forster
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413896
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital%20punishment%20in%20California
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Capital punishment in California
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In the U.S. state of California, capital punishment is a legal penalty. However it is not allowed to be carried out because executions were halted by an official moratorium ordered by Governor Gavin Newsom. Prior to the moratorium, executions were frozen by a federal court order since 2006, and the litigation resulting in the court order has been on hold since the promulgation of the moratorium. Thus, there will be a court-ordered moratorium on executions after the termination of Newsom's moratorium if capital punishment remains a legal penalty in California by then.
The state carried out 709 executions from 1778 until 1972 when the California Supreme Court struck down California's capital punishment statute in the case People v. Anderson. California voters reinstated the death penalty a few months later, with Proposition 17 legalizing the death penalty in the state constitution and ending the Anderson ruling. Since that ruling, there have been just 13 executions, yet hundreds of inmates have been sentenced. The last execution that took place in California was in 2006. Two people condemned in California (Kelvin Malone and Alfredo Prieto) have also been executed in Missouri and Virginia.
, official California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) records show that there are 689 inmates awaiting execution in California, the lowest it has been since 2011, primarily due to suicide, death from other causes, fewer juries willing to sentence people to death, and resentencings by newly elected district attorneys, among other things. 21 of those on death row are females, held at the female death row in the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla, with the other 668 inmates awaiting execution being males that are housed throughout the state, although most males are housed in San Quentin State Prison.
California voters rejected two initiatives to repeal the death penalty by popular vote in 2012 and 2016, and they narrowly adopted in 2016 another proposal to expedite its appeal process. On August 26, 2021, the California Supreme Court upheld the state's death penalty rules.
History
Pre-Furman and pre-Anderson history
The first known death sentence in California was recorded in 1778. On April 6, 1778, four Kumeyaay chiefs from a Mission San Diego area ranchería were convicted of conspiring to kill Christians and were sentenced to death by José Francisco Ortega, Commandant of the Presidio of San Diego; the four were to be shot on April 11. However, there is some doubt whether the executions actually took place.
Four methods have been used historically for executions. Until slightly before California was admitted into the Union, executions were carried out by firing squad. Upon admission, the state adopted hanging as the method of choice.
The penal code was modified on February 14, 1872, to state that hangings were to take place inside the confines of the county jail or other private places. The only people allowed to be present were the county sheriff, a physician, and the county District Attorney, who would in addition select at least 12 "reputable citizens". No more than two "ministers of the gospel" and no more than five people selected by the condemned could also be present.
Executions were moved to the state level in 1889 when the law was updated so that hangings would occur in one of the state prisons—San Quentin State Prison and Folsom State Prison. According to the California Department of Corrections, although the law did not require the trial judge to choose a specific prison, it was customary for recidivists to be sent to Folsom. Under these new laws, the first execution at San Quentin was Jose Gabriel on March 3, 1893, for murder. The first hanging at Folsom was Chin Hane, also for murder, on December 13, 1895. A total of 215 inmates were hanged at San Quentin and a total of 93 were hanged at Folsom.California adopted the gas chamber as its sole method in 1937 (though two more hangings took place for people already sentenced). The first people to die in the San Quentin gas chamber (the only one in the state) were Albert Kessell and Robert Lee Cannon on December 2, 1938. Three more people had their death sentences carried out within two weeks. Up until 1967, 194 people were executed by lethal gas, including four women. The last person was Aaron Mitchell on April 12, 1967.
In previous eras the California Institution for Women housed the death row for women.
1972 abolition of capital punishment
On April 24, 1972, the Supreme Court of California ruled in People v. Anderson that the state's current death penalty laws were unconstitutional. Justice Marshall F. McComb was the lone dissenter, arguing that the death penalty deterred crime, noting numerous Supreme Court precedents upholding the death penalty's constitutionality, and stating that the legislative and initiative processes were the only appropriate avenues to determine whether the death penalty should be allowed. The majority's decision spared the lives of 105 death row inmates, including Sirhan Sirhan (assassin of Robert F. Kennedy) and serial killer Charles Manson. McComb was so outraged by the decision that he walked out of the courtroom during its reading.
Following the ruling, the Constitution of California was modified to reinstate capital punishment under an initiative called Proposition 17. In 1973 a new statute was subsequently enacted, making the death penalty mandatory for a number of crimes including first degree murder in specific instances, kidnapping during which a victim dies, train wrecking during which a victim dies, treason against the state, and assault by a life prisoner if the victim dies within a year.
The debate over capital punishment played out in a somewhat similar fashion on the national level. On June 29, 1972, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Furman v. Georgia, resulting in a de facto moratorium on executions in the United States. On July 2, 1976, the Supreme Court, in Gregg v. Georgia, reviewing capital punishment laws enacted in response to its Furman decision, found constitutional those statutes that allowed a jury to impose the death penalty after consideration of both aggravating and mitigating circumstances. On the same date, the Court held that statutes imposing a mandatory death penalty were unconstitutional.
In a later decision in 1976, the Supreme Court of California again held the state's death penalty statute was unconstitutional as it did not allow the defendant to enter mitigating evidence. A further 70 prisoners had their sentences commuted following this. The next year, the statute was updated to deal with these issues. Life imprisonment without possibility of parole was also added as a punishment for capital offenses. A later change to the statute occurred in 1978 after Proposition 7 was enacted. This gave an automatic appeal to the Supreme Court of California, which would directly affirm or reverse the sentence and conviction without going through an intermediate appeal to the California Courts of Appeal.
In 1983, The State Bar of California created The California Appellate Project as a legal resource center to implement the constitutional right to counsel for indigent persons facing execution. At around the time of its founding, Michael Millman became the director of CAP. Millman served as director of CAP for 30 years. CAP oversees the efforts to assist private lawyers representing the more than 700 people on California's death row.
1986 retention elections
On November 4, 1986, three members of the state supreme court were ousted from office by voters after a high-profile campaign that cited their categorical opposition to the death penalty.
This included chief justice Rose Bird, who was removed by a margin of 67 to 33 percent. She reviewed a total of 64 capital cases appealed to the court, in each instance issuing a decision overturning the death penalty that had been imposed at trial. She was joined in her decision to overturn by at least three other members of the court in 61 of those cases. This led Bird's critics to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the laws and precedents upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made.
Resumption of executions and introduction of lethal injection
On April 21, 1992, the state carried out its first execution since 1967 by putting to death Robert Alton Harris for the murders of two teenage boys in San Diego. A series of four stays of execution issued by the Ninth Circuit appeal court delayed the execution, causing the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene to vacate the stays and prohibit all other federal courts from any further intervention, ruling that the lower court decisions caused "abusive delays" and were "attempts to manipulate the judicial process".
The available methods were expanded to two in January 1993, with lethal gas as the standard but with lethal injection offered as a choice for the inmate. David Mason, the first inmate to have this choice, made no selection, so was executed by the lethal gas default in August 1993. Following a legal challenge and Ninth Circuit appeal court decision in 1996, lethal gas was suspended, with lethal injection becoming the only method. Serial killer William Bonin was the first person to be executed under these new laws, on February 23, 1996. Thirteen people have been executed in California since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977, though 166 other people have died on death row from other causes (30 of them from suicide) as of October 11, 2023.
Lethal injection litigation
During the term of Arnold Schwarzenegger as governor, the state carried out two prominent executions in less than five weeks, with Stanley Tookie Williams in December 2005 and Clarence Ray Allen in January 2006.
A month later, in February 2006, U.S. District Court Judge Jeremy D. Fogel blocked the execution of convicted murderer Michael Morales because of a lawsuit against the lethal injection protocol. It was argued that if the three-drug lethal injection procedure were administered incorrectly, it could lead to suffering for the condemned, potentially constituting cruel and unusual punishment. The issue arose from an injunction made by the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals which held that an execution could only be carried out by a medical technician legally authorized to administer intravenous medications. The case led to a de facto moratorium of capital punishment in California as the state was unable to obtain the services of a licensed medical professional to carry out the execution.
When the state planned the execution of Albert Greenwood Brown in late 2010, Judge Fogel declined to issue a stay, citing the efforts the state made to comply with his earlier ruling. Nonetheless, the Ninth Circuit disagreed and vacated the judgment, further delaying executions in the state.
Studies
The state supreme court proposed in 2007 that the state adopt a constitutional amendment allowing the assignment of capital appeals to the courts of appeal to alleviate the backlog of such cases.
Several victims' families testified to the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice in opposition to capital punishment, explaining that while they had suffered great losses, they did not view retribution as morally acceptable, and that the high cost of capital punishment was preventing the solving of cold cases.
But others who contest this argument said the greater cost of trials where the prosecution does seek the death penalty is offset by the savings from avoiding trial altogether in cases where the defendant pleads guilty to avoid the death penalty.
The California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice in 2008 concluded after an extensive review that under the current death penalty system, death sentences are unlikely ever to be carried out (with extremely rare exceptions) because of a process "plagued with excessive delay" in the appointment of post-conviction counsel and a "severe backlog" in the California Supreme Court's review of death judgments. According to CCFAJ's report, the lapse of time from sentence of death to execution constitutes the longest delay of any death penalty state, and the Commission urged reform to expedite the appeal process.
Another study released in 2011 found that since 1978 capital punishment has cost California about $4 billion. A 2011 article by Arthur Alarcon, long-time judge of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal, and law professor Paula Mitchell, concluded that "since reinstating the death penalty in 1978, California taxpayers have spent roughly $4 billion to fund a dysfunctional death penalty system that has carried out no more than 13 executions."
Proposition 34, the SAFE California Act
A coalition of death penalty opponents including law enforcement officials, murder victims' family members, and wrongly convicted people launched an initiative campaign for the "Savings, Accountability, and Full Enforcement for California Act," or SAFE California, in the 2011-2012 election cycle. The measure, which became Proposition 34, would replace the death penalty with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, require people sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole to work in order to pay restitution to victims' families, and allocate approximately $30 million per year for three years to police departments for the purpose of solving open murder and rape cases. Supporters of the measure raised $6.5 million, dwarfing the $1 million raised by opponents of Proposition 34.
The proposition was defeated with 52% against and 48% in favor.
July 2014 and November 2015 federal decisions
On July 16, 2014, federal judge Cormac J. Carney of the United States District Court ruled that California's death penalty system is unconstitutional because it is arbitrary and plagued with delay. The state has not executed a prisoner since 2006. The judge stated that the current system violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment by imposing a sentence that "no rational jury or legislature could ever impose: life in prison, with the remote possibility of death."
However, on November 12, 2015, a panel of the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court's ruling in a 3-0 published decision. The three judges held that the claim was not justiciable under federal habeas corpus.
2015 state lawsuit
In February 2015, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Shelleyanne Chang ruled that state law compelled the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to develop a way to execute inmates by lethal injection. Later that year a new protocol providing a single-drug execution method was developed to comply with the ruling.
This was the result of a lawsuit brought by family members of murder victims. Supporters of capital punishment blamed the nearly three-year wait for a new protocol on "lack of political will" and attempt to render the death penalty "impractical and then argue for repeal on the grounds of practicality".
Propositions 62 and 66
On November 8, 2016, California voted on two competing initiatives about capital punishment. Proposition 62 which, as Proposition 34, would have abolished the death penalty, was rejected by a 53-47 margin. The other initiative, Proposition 66, provides the streamlining of the capital appeal process, and also requires death-row offenders to work in jail and pay restitution to victims families, something they were previously exempted from. The measure passed 51–49. Its constitutionality was upheld 5-2 by the state supreme court on August 24, 2017, though the court held that one provision requiring it to decide direct appeals of capital cases within five years was directive rather than mandatory. The court ordered that Prop 66 take effect after this decision becomes final.
2019 moratorium on capital punishment
Governor Gavin Newsom promulgated Executive Order N-09-19 on March 13, 2019. Executive Order N-09-19 orders that:
The Executive Order granted everybody sentenced to death under California law a reprieve while also eliminating any mechanism that the state could use to execute an individual by repealing the lethal injection protocol adopted by the State of California. If the Executive Order was rescinded and all lawsuits challenging the use of capital punishment in the state are resolved executions would not resume immediately since the state would need to adopt a new execution protocol which requires time to do so. The Executive Order also closed the Death Chamber at San Quentin State Prison. The Death Chamber was subsequently dismantled by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Although some pro-death penalty advocates have stated otherwise, no person sentenced to death in California was released or had their conviction or sentenced altered due to the promulgation of the Executive Order.
People v. McDaniel and possible striking down of capital punishment
Donte McDaniel, a condemned inmate, was sentenced to death in 2004 and has challenged his death sentence by challenging California's sentencing statutes that only require convictions to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt and to be unanimous but not requiring either for sentencing decisions. Therefore, under current law, a defendant needs to be found guilty by all jurors beyond a reasonable doubt but the jury does not need to be unanimous to find true any aggravating circumstances that makes one eligible to be sentenced to death, nor does the jury have to find those circumstances to be true beyond a reasonable doubt. If the Supreme Court of California rules in McDaniel's favor, hundreds of death sentences would be overturned and the court may strike down capital punishment in the state in its entireity. McDaniel has received the support of Governor Gavin Newsom along with the county district attorneys of Contra Costa, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Joaquin, and Santa Clara counties, along with former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti in an amicus curiae brief filed with the court.
Proposed 2022 constitutional ban on capital punishment
On December 7, 2020, Assembly members Marc Levine (D-10) and David Chiu (D-17) introduced Assembly Constitutional Amendment 2 in the California State Legislature. The constitutional amendment would amend the constitution to prohibit the use of capital punishment as a punishment for any violations of law. The amendment is coauthored by Assembymembers Laura Friedman (D-43), Mike Gipson (D-64), and Mark Stone (D-29), along with state senator Scott Wiener (D-11). The resolution needs a 2/3 majority of each house of the Legislature before the resolution can be placed before the voters during the 2022 California elections. If more voters vote Yes than No on the question in 2022, the state constitution will be amended to prohibit the use of capital punishment in California as a punishment for any violations of law. The resolution failed to advance to the Assembly floor from the Assembly Committee on Public Safety.
2021 state Supreme Court ruling
On August 26, 2021, efforts to overhaul California's death penalty were weakened after the California State Supreme Court unanimously ruled that current state law provided little legal support for any overhaul in the case of People v McDaniel.
Current legislation
Legal process
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous. A death sentence is automatically considered to have been requested for reconsideration, and the judge must find that the "jury’s findings and verdicts that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances are contrary to law or the evidence presented."
A jury must unanimously find that one of the special circumstances outlined in the death penalty statute apply to the case. If the jury is not unanimous, the court will retry the question of whether the special circumstances that were not unanimously decided upon apply or not before a new jury. Subsequent retrials on issues not unanimously decided upon occur at the discretion of the court, which may alternatively impose a sentence of 25 years in prison.
In case of a hung jury during the penalty determination in the penalty phase of the trial, a retrial happens before another jury. If the second or any subsequent jury is also deadlocked, the judge has discretion to order another retrial or impose a life without parole sentence.
Under the state Constitution, the power of clemency belongs to the Governor of California. But if the offender was twice convicted of a felony, the governor can grant a commutation only on recommendation of the Supreme Court of California, with at least four judges concurring.
Executions are carried out by lethal injection, but an inmate sentenced before its adoption may elect to be executed by gas inhalation instead. If one of these two methods is held invalid, the state is required to use the other method.
Capital offenses
California has one of America's broadest lists of capital crimes and capital circumstances. The Penal Code provides for the possibility for a sentence of death for:
Of crimes against the person
first-degree murder with special circumstances
for financial gain (1)
the defendant had previously been convicted of first or second degree murder (2)
multiple murders (3)
committed using explosives (4); (6)
to avoid arrest or aiding in escaping custody (5)
the victim was an on-duty peace officer; federal law enforcement officer or agent; or firefighter (7); (8); (9)
the victim was a witness to a crime and the murder was committed to prevent them from testifying (10)
the victim was a prosecutor or assistant prosecutor; judge or former judge; elected or appointed official; juror; and the murder was in retaliation for the victim's official duties (11); (12); (13); (20)
the murder was "especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel, manifesting exceptional depravity" (14)
the murderer lay in wait for the victim (15)
the victim was intentionally killed because of their race, religion, nationality, or sexual orientation (a hate crime) (16)
the murder was committed during the committing of a robbery; kidnapping; rape; sodomy; performance of a lewd or lascivious act upon the person of a child under the age of 14 years; oral copulation; burglary; arson; train wrecking; mayhem; rape by instrument; carjacking; torture; poisoning (17)
the murder was intentional and involved the infliction of torture (18)
poisoning (19)
the murder was committed by discharging a firearm from a motor vehicle (21)
the defendant is an active member of a criminal street gang and was to further the activities of the gang (22)
train wrecking which leads to a person's death
fatal assault by a person under a life sentence, subject to the year and a day rule.
aiding, abetting, counseling, commanding, inducing, soliciting, requesting, or assisting in the commission of a felony enumerated in above in enhancement 17, with reckless indifference to human life and as a major participant, which results in a death, even if the defendant is not the actual killer.
Due to the amount of capital circumstances in California, almost every first-degree murder is punishable by death.
Of crimes against the state
treason against the state of California, defined as levying war against the state, adhering to its enemies, or giving them aid and comfort
perjury or subornation of perjury causing execution of an innocent person
Additionally, the Military and Veterans Code provides for possible capital punishment in either of the following if such act or acts, or failure to act, results in a death:
intentionally and maliciously destroying, impairing, injuring, interfering, or tampering with real or personal property with reasonable grounds to believe that such act will hinder, delay, or interfere with the preparation of the United States or any of the states from preparing for war, or any foreign nation which assistance by the United States is in connection with that nation's defense; or
intentionally and maliciously making or causing to be made or intentionally and maliciously omitting to note on inspection any defect in any article or thing with reasonable grounds to believe that such article or thing is intended to be used in connection with the preparation of the United States or any state for defense or for war, or for the prosecution of war by the United States, or with the rendering of assistance by the United States to any other nation in connection with that nation's defense, or that such article or thing is one of a number of similar articles or things, some of which are intended so to be used.
Death row and execution chamber
Typical procedure
Men condemned to death in California must (with some exceptions) be held at San Quentin State Prison, while condemned women are held at Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla. San Quentin also houses the state execution chamber. Women executed in California would be transported to San Quentin before being put to death.
Current statistics
, official California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) records show 697 inmates sentenced to death in California, the lowest it has been since 2011, primarily due to suicide, death from other causes, fewer juries willing to sentence people to death, and resentencing's by newly elected progressive district attorneys, among other things. 23 of those on death row are women, held at the female death row in the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) in Chowchilla.
Dismantling of death rows
On January 31, 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the current death row at San Quentin State Prison will be dismantled within two years and that the inmates housed at said facility will be transferred to other maximum security state prisons. In that time, the death row at San Quentin will be repurposed "into something innovative and anchored in rehabilitation,” according to corrections’ spokeswoman Vicky Waters. Inmates transferred will be required to work paid prison jobs, albeit that 70% of their wages will be withheld and designated as restitution to the families of the relevant victims. A pilot program that began in early 2020 has already removed 116 condemned men to other facilities. The women incarcerated at Chowchilla State Prison will also have the opportunity to move to less restrictive housing and work programs, with 8 of the 21 inmates there having done so already.
Racial makeup of death row
, Black people constitute a plurality of inmates sentenced to death, with 35.58% of inmates sentenced to death being Black. The second largest group of people sentenced to death are White (31.85%), while Hispanics/Mexicans are the third largest group of people sentenced to death (25.04%).
Criticisms
In 2008, the California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice criticized the high number of aggravating factors as giving to local prosecutors too much discretion in picking cases where they believe capital punishment is warranted. The Commission proposed to reduce them to only five (multiple murders, torture murder, murder of a police officer, murder committed in jail, and murder related to another felony). Columnist Charles Lane went further, and proposed that murder related to a felony other than rape should no longer be a capital crime when there is only one victim killed.<ref>Charles Lane (2010), Stay of Execution: Saving the Death Penalty from Itself, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, p.110-111</ref>
In 2021, the California Committee on Revision of Penal Code unanimously voted to recommend that the Legislature to abolish capital punishment in the state. A staff justified the vote by issuing a memorandum that states that "[e]liminating the death penalty is a critical step towards creating a fair and equitable justice system for all in California, as the ultimate punishment is plagued by legal, racial, bureaucratic, financial, geographic, and moral problems that have proven intractable."
In 2003, the Los Angeles Police Department arrested a young man Juan Catalan after a 16-year-old girl was shot dead. Catalan was sentenced to death after a witness stated that he looked like the killer. Catalan was exonerated when a documentary used footage from the taping of the HBO sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm showing him seated at a Dodgers game at the time of the murder, thus confirming his alibi.
Public opinion
The Field Research Corporation found in February 2004 that when asked how they personally felt about capital punishment, 68% supported it and 31% opposed it (6% offered no opinion). This was a decrease from 72% support two years previous, and an increase from 63% in 2000. This poll was asked about the time that Kevin Cooper had his execution stayed hours before his scheduled death after 20 years on death row. When asked if they thought the death penalty was generally fair and free of error in California, 58% agreed and 32% disagreed (11% offered no opinion). When the results were broken down along ethnicity, of the people who identified themselves as African American, 57% disagreed that the death penalty was fair and free of error.
A poll in March 2012 found that "61% of registered voters from the state of California say they would vote to keep the death penalty, should a death penalty initiative appear on the November 2012 ballot" An August 2012 poll found that "support for Prop 34, which would repeal California's death penalty, fell from 45.5% to 35.9%."
A PPIC poll from September 2012 showed that 55% of all adults and 50% of likely voters prefer life in prison without the possibility of parole over the death penalty when given the choice.
A Field Poll in September 2014 showed that 56% support the death penalty, down from 69% three years earlier. Support for the death penalty in California had not been at this low a level since the mid-1960s.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in 2019 found that 61% of California's registered voters supported the death penalty, with 39% opposed. However, this polls did not have an "undecided" option.
A UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll in April 2021 found that 44% of California's registered voters supported a proposed 2022 constitutional amendment to abolish the death penalty, with 35% opposed and 21% undecided. 48% supported Governor Gavin Newsom's death penalty moratorium executive order, with 35% opposed. The poll found sharp racial and partisan divides on support for the death penalty in the state, with Democrats opposing it 63%-37% and Republicans supporting it 68%-32%. No party preference voters opposed it 43%-31%. Among registered voters, 54% of African-Americans, 46% of whites, 41% of Latinos, and 38% of Asian and Pacific Islanders supported abolition.
Statistics
Sentencing numbers by county
Number of death sentences per county . There are 703 inmates awaiting execution but there are 711 death sentences since some inmates have received multiple death sentences.
Ethnicity
Number of condemned per ethnicity .
Age range
Number of condemned per age .
Year received
List of the year when each one of the people currently on death row were received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation .
See also
List of people executed in California
List of death row inmates in California
Crime in California
Law of California
Capital punishment in the United StatesProcedure 769, witness to an executionLast Day of Freedom''
References
External links
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
List of death row inmates
Inmates Executed, 1893 to Present
Capital Punishment Information
California execution chamber photos.
Executions in California 1778–1967
1778 establishments in Alta California
1972 disestablishments in California
1973 establishments in California
California law
California law-related lists
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital%20punishment%20in%20Ohio
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Capital punishment in Ohio
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Capital punishment is a legal penalty in the U.S. state of Ohio, although all executions have been suspended indefinitely by Governor Mike DeWine until a replacement for lethal injection is chosen by the Ohio General Assembly. The last execution in the state was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder.
History
, there have been 393 executions in Ohio's history.
Before 1885, executions were carried out by hanging in the county where the crime was committed. The Northwest Territory's first criminal statutes, also known as Marietta Code, date from 1788, 15 years before Ohio's statehood in 1803. These statutes did not ensure yet any uniform means of execution, nor did they designate where the executions were to take place. The statutory change from 1815 had executions as to be carried out locally and required the local sheriff to be also the local executioner, and in his absence or in any case of him being impeded, the local coroner would have to substitute him. That ordeal appears to be the first statewide attempt to ensure uniform means of execution and to designate where such executions were to take place, however, it also appears to just turn into protocol and procedure by law a practice which had institutionalized even before Ohio's statehood in 1803.
In 1885, the legislature enacted a law that required executions to be carried out at the Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus by hanging, and law handed the executioner's job to the penitentiary's warden. This practice of naming the State Prison's warden executioner seems to have penetrated deeply into the 20th Century, as we can learn from the 1938 death sentence against Anna Marie Hahn.
In 1897 the gallows were replaced by electrocution, which was considered to be a more technologically advanced and humane method of execution. Ohio also became the second state to use the electric chair. 28 hangings and 315 electrocutions were carried out at the now-defunct Ohio Penitentiary in Columbus from 1885 to 1963. On October 27, 1911, 43 years old Charles Justice was electrocuted for the murder of John Shoup, a farmer from Xenia who, on September 26, 1910, had caught Justice while he tried to steal from the Shoups' chicken house and was subsequently shot three times. Ironically, Justice had previously been an inmate of the Ohio Penitentiary and he had worked in the prison tin shop, where he built iron clamps to replace the leather straps that Ohio's electric chair was originally fitted with. He was therefore executed in the very same chair he had helped improve.
On July 1, 2011, Lundbeck, the Danish pharmaceutical company that holds the sole license to manufacture pentobarbital in the United States, announced that its distributors would deny distribution of pentobarbital to U.S. prisons that carry out the death penalty by lethal injection. Ohio used up its supply of pentobarbital on September 25, 2013, with the execution of Harry Mitts Jr. On January 16, 2014, Ohio executed Dennis McGuire who was convicted of raping and then murdering 22-year-old Joy Stewart who was 30 weeks pregnant, becoming the first U.S. inmate to be executed with a combination of the drugs midazolam and hydromorphone. The effects of this combination of drugs on the body are controversial and not well understood. McGuire took 25 minutes to die, an unusually long time for an execution, being among the longest since Ohio resumed capital punishment in 1999.
In January 2015, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction announced that all executions scheduled for the remainder of that year would be postponed due to the lack of availability of required drugs. In October 2015, the department further announced that Governor John Kasich had granted additional reprieves to all inmates due to be executed in 2016 for the same reason. Executions resumed in Ohio on July 26, 2017, when the state executed murderer Ronald Phillips.
The last execution in Ohio was in July 2018, when Robert J. Van Hook was executed via lethal injection for murder. The execution was carried out at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility in unincorporated Scioto County, just outside the community of Lucasville. Since January 2012, death row for the majority of male inmates is located at the Chillicothe Correctional Institution (CCI) in unincorporated Ross County, just outside of Chillicothe. A few high-security male death row inmates are held at the Ohio State Penitentiary (OSP) in Youngstown. Condemned female inmates are housed at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville and death row inmates with serious medical conditions are held at the Franklin Medical Center in Columbus. Before this, most male death row inmates were held at OSP with a few being held at the Mansfield Correctional Institution in Mansfield. The move to CCI allows the units at OSP and Mansfield to be used to separate violent inmates from the general population and will provide increased security and reduce transportation costs to both the execution chamber at SOCF and the Franklin Medical Center for inmates medical treatment.
On December 8, 2020, Governor Mike DeWine placed what he called an “unofficial moratorium” on capital punishment in the state, as a result of the impossibility to acquire drugs needed to carry out a lethal injection. DeWine indicated no executions would be carried out until the Ohio General Assembly approves another method, as lethal injection is the only currently approved method.
, Ohio has 130 inmates on death row. Notable inmates on Ohio's death row include serial killers: Shawn Grate, Anthony Kirkland, and Michael Madison. The only woman on Ohio's death row is Donna Roberts, who murdered her ex-husband in order to collect his life insurance.
Methods
Hanging
Only 28 people were ever executed by the state of Ohio via hanging before the state switched to the electric chair in 1893.
"That the mode of inflicting the punishment of death in all cases under this act, shall be by hanging by the neck, until the person so to be punished shall be dead; & the sheriff, or the coroner in the case of the death, inability or absence of the sheriff of the proper county, in which the sentence of death shall be pronounced by force of this act, shall be the executioner".
Electric chair
Ohio switched its method of execution from hanging to electrocution in 1897.
Thomas Edison, a resident of Akron, Ohio, as well as New York, New Jersey, and Michigan, directed his employees to develop the electric chair. Edison felt that the electric chair would be less cruel than hanging. Unfortunately, a prisoner's bones were set on fire during Edison's prison demonstration.
"[O]n the 10th day of March 1938, the said Warden shall cause a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death to pass through the body of the said defendant, the application of such current to be continued until the said defendant is dead, and may God have mercy on your soul".
Ohio executed 315 people via electrocution until 1963 before it switched over to lethal injection in the 1990s.
Lethal injection
Lethal injection was the most recent method of execution in Ohio.
Over the years, the state of Ohio has used several methods of lethal injection, culminating in the two-drug combination of midazolam and hydromorphone.
The dose of midazolam starts at triple the dose used for sedation for office procedures, and the hydromorphone dose is a 150-to-500-fold overdose for parenteral analgesia in opioid-naïve patients.
Legal process
When the prosecution seeks the death penalty, the sentence is decided by the jury and must be unanimous.
In the case of a hung jury during the penalty phase of the trial, a life sentence is issued, even if a single juror opposed death (there is no retrial).
The power of clemency belongs to the governor of Ohio, after receiving a non-binding recommendation from the Ohio Parole Board.
Capital crimes
A charge of aggravated murder with death penalty specifications may occur with at least one of the following special circumstances:
The murder was the assassination of the president of the United States or person in the line of succession to the presidency, or of the governor or lieutenant governor of Ohio, or of the president-elect or vice president-elect of the United States, or of the governor-elect of Ohio, or of a candidate for any of the foregoing offices.
The murder was committed for hire.
The murder was committed for the purpose of escaping detection, apprehension, trial, or punishment for another offense committed by the offender.
The murder was committed while the offender was under detention or while the offender was at large after having broken detention.
Prior to the murder, the offender was convicted of a previous offense having as an essential element the purposeful killing of or attempt to kill another, or the current offense was part of a course of conduct involving the offender's purposeful killing of or attempt to kill two or more persons.
The victim was a law enforcement officer, and the offender knew or reasonably should have known that fact, and the officer was either performing duties or the offender acted with the specific purpose of killing such officer.
The murder was committed while the offender was committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, rape, aggravated arson, aggravated robbery, or aggravated burglary, and either the offender was the principal offender in the commission of the aggravated murder or, if not the principal offender, committed the aggravated murder with prior planning.
The victim was a witness who was purposely killed by the offender either to prevent the victim from testifying, or in retaliation for prior testimony.
The offender, in the commission of the murder, purposefully caused the death of another who was under 13 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense, and either the offender was the principal offender in the commission of the offense or, if not the principal offender, committed the offense with prior planning.
The offense was committed while the offender was committing, attempting to commit, or fleeing immediately after committing or attempting to commit terrorism.
Opposition and controversy
There is a movement in the state to end the death penalty. According to the Associated Press, Republicans such as former Ohio Governor Bob Taft, great-grandson of President William Howard Taft, and former Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro have publicly opposed the death penalty. Taft questioned the effectiveness of the death penalty as well as geographic and racial disparities. The former Speaker of the House in Ohio, also Republican, Larry Householder, wants the legislature to reconsider the law because of the cost of executions and the failure of the state to obtain drugs.
The BBC reported that The European Commission - the executive arm of the European Union - wished to ensure that no drugs were being exported from the Union for use in "capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". The EU is part of a worldwide movement against the death penalty. Amnesty International's annual report found that only 20 countries of the world's 195 executed prisoners in 2019.
Members of many religious faiths in Ohio have also officially opposed the death penalty.
Botched executions
The Los Angeles Times noted in October 2009 that Ohio had three botched executions by lethal injection since 2006: Joseph Lewis Clark, Christopher Newton and Romell Broom. In November 2009, Ohio announced that it would only use a single drug for lethal injections, consisting of a single dose of sodium thiopental, the first state to do so. The first single drug execution was that of Kenneth Biros, 51, on Tuesday, December 8, 2009. Biros was convicted of murdering 22-year-old Tami Engstrom near Masury, Ohio in 1991. Biros' counsel indicated to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that Biros' execution, given that it is the first of its kind, may amount to "human experimentation." Various appeals for clemency were ultimately denied. Ohio announced in January 2011 that it will change the drug used from sodium thiopental to pentobarbital, as the availability of sodium thiopental had become quite scarce. The first execution using pentobarbital, was that of Johnnie Baston, on March 10, 2011.
The Atlantic magazine wrote that on January 14, 2014, Dennis McGuire took over 11 minutes to die and was unable to breathe, during a lethal injection in Ohio's death chamber. "Over those 11 minutes or more he was fighting for breath, and I could see both of his fists were clenched the entire time," recounted Father Lawrence Hummer, an execution witness. "There is no question in my mind that Dennis McGuire suffered greatly over many minutes."
Failed executions
Ohio has failed twice in its efforts to execute an inmate by lethal injection. Romell Broom and Alva Campbell had their executions aborted due to the execution teams not being able to find a usable vein. Both later died on death row while awaiting new execution dates.
See also
List of people executed in Ohio
List of death row inmates in Ohio
Crime in Ohio
Law of Ohio
References
Bibliography
Laws Passed in the Territory of the United States North-West of the River Ohio. Philadelphia, PA: Printed by F. Childs and J. Swaine, 1788.; microfiche Buffalo, NY: Hein, 1986.
Davis, Harry: Death by Law. Columbus, OH: Federal Printing, 1922. (Reprinted from Outlook Magazine).
DeBeck, William: Murder Will Out: The Murders and Executions of Cincinnati. Cincinnati, OH: 1867.
DiSalle, Michael: The Power of Life or Death. New York, NY: Random House, 1965.
Wanger, Eugene G.: "Capital Punishment in Ohio: A Brief History", Ohio Lawyer, November–December 2002, 8, 11, 30.
Fogle, H. M.: The Palace of Death, or, The Ohio Penitentiary Annex. Columbus, OH: 1908.
Fornshell, Marvin E.: The Historical and Illustrated Ohio Penitentiary Annex. Columbus, OH: Arthur, W. McGraw, 1997 (reprint of the 1903 original)
Hixon, Mary, and Frances Hixon: The Last Hangings: Jackson, Ohio 1883-1884. Mary Hixon and Frances Hixon, 1989
Maynard, Rosina: Ohio's Other Lottery System: The Death Penalty. Columbus, OH: Rosina Maynard, 1980.
Morgan, Dan: Historical Lights and Shadows of the Ohio State Penitentiary. Columbus, OH: Ohio Penitentiary Printing, 1893.
Welsh-Huggins, Andrew: No Winners Here Tonight: Race, Politics, and Geography in One of the Country's Busiest Death Penalty States. Columbus, OH: Ohio University Press, 2008
Streib, Victor L.: The Fairer Death: Executing Women in Ohio. Columbus, OH: Ohio University Press, 2006
External links
These links are to official State of Ohio records regarding executions in the state and Ohio administrative rules and statutes pertaining to capital punishment in Ohio
Ohio Executions 1999 to Present from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
Capital Crimes Annual Reports 2007-2013 from the Ohio Attorney General's Office
Ohio Administrative Code 5120-9-12 Department of Rehabilitation and Correction -- Inmates sentenced to death (contains institutional rules for death row)
Ohio Revised Code § 2903.01 Aggravated murder
Ohio Revised Code §§ 2949.21-2949.31 Execution of sentence
Ohio Revised Code § 2929.02 Murder penalties
All Ohio death row inmates
Southern Ohio Correctional Facility (Location of execution chamber).
Ohio State Penitentiary (Location of death row for male inmates)
Ohio Reformatory for Women (Location of death row for female inmates)
Laws of the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio : including the laws of the governor and judges, the Maxwell Code, and the laws of the three sessions of the Territorial Legislature, 1791-1802 : with a sketch of the State of Ohio, the Ordinance of 1787, etc. (The Marietta Code up to one year before Ohio's statehood)
The statutes of Ohio and of the Northwestern territory, adopted or enacted from 1788 to 1833 inclusive: together with the Ordinance of 1787; the constitutions of Ohio and of the United States, and various public instruments and acts of Congress: illustrated by a preliminary sketch of the history of Ohio; numerous references and notes and copious indexes ... (The Marietta Code updated until 1833)
Death House tour on YouTube
Ohio
Crime in Ohio
Ohio law
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill%20Mazeroski
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Bill Mazeroski
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William Stanley Mazeroski (born September 5, 1936), nicknamed "Maz" and "the Glove", is an American former second baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) who played his entire career for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1956 to 1972. A seven-time All-Star known during his career primarily for his spectacular defensive play, he has come to be better known for perhaps the most memorable home run in baseball history, a dramatic ninth-inning drive in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series that beat the favored New York Yankees. It was the first time that the major league season ended with a home run, and remains the only walk-off home run to clinch a World Series championship in Game 7. ESPN ranked the World Series winner at the top of its list of the 100 Greatest Home Runs of All Time, while Sports Illustrated had it eighth in its compilation of the 100 Greatest Moments in Sports History. Mazeroski received the Babe Ruth Award for his play in the Series, during which he batted .320.
An eight-time Gold Glove Award winner, Mazeroski was particularly noted for his ability to make the pivot in turning double plays. His 1,706 career double plays remain a major league record for a second baseman, and were the most by any non-first baseman in history until shortstop Omar Vizquel passed him in 2009. Mazeroski led the National League (NL) in double plays eight consecutive years, and recorded over 100 double plays eleven times, both also major league records. His 161 double plays in 1966 remain the major league record for second basemen; when he retired, he held the top three marks in NL history. He led the major leagues in assists a record nine times, and led the NL in putouts five times and in fielding percentage three times. Mazeroski set NL records for career games (2,094), putouts (4,974), assists (6,685) and total chances (11,863) by a second baseman, all of which were later broken by Joe Morgan; his career fielding percentage of .983 ranked second in NL history when he retired, less than a quarter of a point behind Red Schoendienst.
Mazeroski also provided contributions on offense which were not typical for his position; his 138 career home runs and 853 runs batted in (RBI) were the most by any second baseman during the period between 1944 and 1974, with his home run total putting him behind only Rogers Hornsby among NL second basemen when his career ended. His home run production was particularly impressive due to the Pirates playing in cavernous Forbes Field, where the distant reaches in left and center field made it typically the league's most difficult home run stadium until the mid-1960s; Mazeroski hit more than twice as many homers on the road (93) than at home (45) in his career. He closed out his career by helping the Pirates to three consecutive division titles; he and Roberto Clemente were the only members of the 1960 champions who were on the team when they picked up another title in , beating the favored Baltimore Orioles in seven games. Mazeroski later became a coach for the Pirates and the Seattle Mariners. The Pirates organization retired his uniform number in 1987; he is now the only living person so honored. Mazeroski was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
Formative years
Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, West Virginia to a Polish-American family. His parents were Mayme and Louis Mazeroski who resided in nearby Witch Hazel, Ohio. Louis had been a highly regarded baseball prospect himself—he once had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians—but a severed foot suffered in a coal mine accident ruined his dream as well as his livelihood. Along with his parents and sister Mary, Mazeroski grew up in a small one-room house that was devoid of electricity and indoor plumbing. He often went by the name of Catfish because of a penchant for fishing, not because of any real passion for the sport but to put food on the table.
Louis became prone to alcohol, but he wasn't about to let his son follow a similar path to the coal mines. The two played catch and talked ball regularly. Their favorite drill was played with a tennis ball, which Louis threw against a brick wall and his son fielded with a glove that had been purchased with money earned from digging an outhouse, as family legend had it. The exercise was designed to sharpen hand-eye coordination and ability to quickly adjust to bad bounces, areas in which young Bill excelled as early as elementary school.
As a child, Mazeroski was a fan of the Cleveland Indians and counted Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Ken Keltner and Joe Gordon as his heroes.
Mazeroski attended Warren Consolidated High School in Tiltonsville, Ohio, where he was a multi-sports star, most notably in baseball and basketball. He was a four-year starter with the varsity baseball team, normally as a shortstop or pitcher. In his senior year, he was named Class A 2nd team All-Ohio in basketball.
Mazeroski turned down college scholarship offers from Duquesne, Ohio State and West Virginia to pursue a professional baseball career. In 1954, after several major league teams had courted the infielder, the Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies among them, the 17-year-old finally chose the Pirates, largely because they agreed to accelerate his start in Class-A ball unlike the others. Originally a shortstop, Mazeroski was moved to second base after one season in the minors and made his first big league appearance on July 7, 1956, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York. His first hit was a single off Johnny Antonelli in his first at bat.
Early struggles and rapid ascent
Success at the pro level did not come easily for Mazeroski at the outset. In 1955, the 17-year-old made his debut with the Class A Williamsport Grays, where he hit .235 in 93 games. He played exclusively at shortstop, where he was charged with 31 errors. The next spring, Pirates general manager Branch Rickey noticed how well he turned the double play as a second baseman, which prompted his move to the right side of the diamond. Mazeroski moved up to the Triple A Hollywood Stars farm club to begin the 1956 season. While he played 20 errorless games at his new position, the two-level jump proved to be too much at the plate. He was sent back to Williamsport, where he got back on track with a .293 batting average and 11 homers in 114 games.
Mazeroski returned to Hollywood at the outset of the 1956 campaign, only this time things were noticeably different. He hit .305 with an .823 OPS (on-base plus slugging) to earn a promotion to the major leagues midway through the season. At a time when the vast majority of young athletes were required to hone their skills in the minors for several years, Mazeroski got the call at 19 years of age. As expected, the transition was not a seamless one. He made his major league debut on July 7 at the Polo Grounds against the Giants, and singled in his first at bat in the third inning off Johnny Antonelli for his first hit. But for most of the next five weeks, his batting average tumbled below the .200 mark; he hit his first home run on August 16, a 2-run shot off Robin Roberts in the fourth inning, to lead the Pirates to a 4-1 road win over the Phillies. But a few days later, Pirates manager Bobby Bragan dropped him behind the pitcher in the batting order for 10 games. Mazeroski regrouped to hit .243 in 81 games, but later conceded that the drop in the lineup had an adverse effect on his confidence at the plate early in his career.
After Danny Murtaugh replaced Bragan at the helm in early August 1957, Mazeroski and the Pirates showed immediate and steady improvement. "Baseball men are saying that Mazeroski, with his great hands and range and arm, is perhaps the finest young infielder in the business," Sports Illustrated reported in its 1958 preseason analysis. The young Bucs promptly stunned the baseball world with a second-place finish, while Mazeroski blossomed into an All-Star for the first time in his career. His 19 home runs and 69 RBI each ranked second at his position in the major leagues. He also was selected for his first Gold Glove Award. His father Louis died of lung cancer early the next year, but not before he had witnessed his son achieve stardom.
Second to none
Soon Pirates broadcaster Bob Prince began referring to Mazeroski as simply "The Glove", as the perennial Gold Glove candidate set the bar for defense at his position that would still be in place decades later. Houston Astros and future Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan called him "the gold standard" for infield defense.
Mazeroski turned the double play into an art form with Gene Kelly-like footwork, magical hands, sure arm and exceptionally strong legs that survived countless attempts by baserunners to break up the play. Coupled with acute baseball instincts, he displayed unparalleled range in the field, as evidenced by the nine seasons that he led the league in assists per nine innings; recent analytics credit him similarly in total zone runs at the position. Remarkably, Mazeroski was able to accomplish this even though he played nearly half of his games at Forbes Field, whose infield was widely thought to be the worst in the majors because of its alabaster-like surface and many errant hops.
What also made Mazeroski unique was his trademark glove, which wasn't much larger than his right hand. Its compactness allowed for a quicker grip, ball transfer and release, especially on double play attempts. Once broken in, the piece of equipment would see action for several years at a time.
"Maz never really caught the ball, never really closed his glove over it turning the double play," said Pirates shortstop Gene Alley, who assisted Mazeroski on many of his 161 double plays in the 1966 season, still a major league record. "He could tilt his glove at an angle and hold his hand just so. It was a wonder the ball stayed in there. Then it would slide out in his hand just like that. He was the only one I ever saw do it like that."
Five decades after Mazeroski played his final game, he still holds the major league records for second basemen for most double plays in a season (161), most double plays in a career (1,706), most years leading the league in twin killings (eight) and most seasons leading in assists (nine). His 543 assists in 1964 were the most by any second baseman between 1938 and 1983.
Said Dick Groat, Mazeroski's first double-play partner in the big leagues, "He had marvelous range, great instincts and never threw to the wrong base. His release on the double play was phenomenal. When Maz was a kid, I had a couple of years' experience on him. If I would move Maz and tell him to play here or play there, I never had to tell him a second time. Ever."
Mazeroski also was known for extraordinary durability, especially given the physical demands of the second base position and chronic lower body issues later in his career. In a span of 12 seasons (1957-1968), he started 150 or more games seven times and at least 129 in each one. In 1966 and 1967, the iron man was in the field for all except 32 of a possible innings.
In 1961, Mazeroski recorded 144 double plays, breaking the NL record of 137 shared by Jackie Robinson and Red Schoendienst. On April 28, 1966, Mazeroski became the second NL player to hit 100 home runs as a second baseman when he took Chicago Cubs starter Ferguson Jenkins deep in a 9-6, 10-inning road win. Later that year, he shattered Jerry Priddy's single-season major league record of 150 double plays at second base, which was set with the Detroit Tigers in the 1950 campaign. In 1967, Mazeroski broke Schoendienst's NL record of 1,368 career double plays. On August 19, 1968, in an 8-3 road loss to the Cincinnati Reds, he broke Schoendienst's league record of 1,834 games at second base. In 1969, he broke Frankie Frisch's NL record of 6,026 assists and Billy Herman's league record of 10,815 total chances; in 1970, he broke Nellie Fox's major league record of 1,619 double plays, and Herman's NL record of 4,780 putouts.
In the second game of a doubleheader on June 28, 1970, in the final game played at Forbes Field, Mazeroski fielded a Don Kessinger ground ball near second base and stepped on the bag to force out Willie Smith for the final out in a 4-1 victory over the Cubs. On July 16, he fielded the first batted ball in the history of Three Rivers Stadium, a ground ball off the bat of Ty Cline that opened a 3-2 loss to the Reds. On August 17, 1971, Mazeroski doubled in the second inning of a 6-5 loss to the Houston Astros for his 2,000th career hit. On July 23, 1972 against the Reds, he singled in the first inning of a 3-2 win; it was the last regular-season hit of his career, as he went hitless in his final 30 at bats as his playing time was gradually reduced to occasional pinch hitting.
At the end of his career, Mazeroski ranked fourth in Pirates history in games played (2,163), fifth in home runs (138) and at bats (7,755), sixth in RBI (853) and doubles (294), and seventh in hits (2,016) and total bases (2,848). Modern sabermetrics credit him with 27.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR) in the 1960s, the most of any major leaguer at his position. Joe Morgan broke Mazeroski's NL record for games at second base on September 28, 1980, his record for putouts in 1981, his record for total chances in 1982 and his record for assists in 1983.
The home run of all home runs
On the heels of a subpar season for Mazeroski and his fourth-place team, the 1960 campaign exceeded the wildest dreams of Pittsburgh sports fans. The Battlin' Bucs, as they would become known, dominated the National League virtually from the start to claim their first pennant since the 1927 season. Meanwhile, Mazeroski was an NL starter in both All-Star Games.
The Pirates seized control of the pennant race in August, when they won 21 of 31 games with Mazeroski in a lead role. He hit .373, drove in 16 runs and had a 26-game errorless streak in the month. The team was rewarded with a trip to the 1960 World Series, where the second baseman forged his legacy against the New York Yankees with a pair of game-winning home runs. The second came on October 13 off reliever Ralph Terry at Forbes Field, the only homer to end a World Series in major league history until 1993.
One of the wildest games in baseball history got wilder yet in the top of the ninth inning, when the Yankees plated two runs to forge a 9-9 deadlock. At that point, Mazeroski admittedly got caught up in the sudden turn of events. It seemed the second baseman had forgotten that he was to lead off the bottom half of the inning, and it wasn't until first base coach Lenny Levy reminded him of the fact that he hurriedly picked up a bat.
At precisely 3:36 p.m. local time, on a 1-0 count, Mazeroski slammed Terry's high fastball just to the left of the 406-foot marker in distant left-center field. "Here's a swing and a high fly ball going deep to left! This may do it!" NBC Radio broadcaster Chuck Thompson told the national audience. "Back to the wall goes (Yogi) Berra ... It is over the fence -- home run! The Pirates win! ... Ladies and gentlemen, Mazeroski has hit a one-nothing pitch over the left field fence at Forbes Field to win the 1960 World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates!"
"I thought it would go over (the wall). I was hoping it would," Mazeroski told reporters in the jubilant home team clubhouse afterward. "But I was too happy to think. All year we've been a fighting, come-from-behind ballclub. We always felt we could pull it out even after the Yankees tied it in the ninth, but I didn't think I'd be the guy to do it." The legendary homer gave the Pirates their first World Series championship in 35 years and set off a raucous celebration in the Steel City that lasted for days.
"I was almost at second base when (the ball) finally went over," Mazeroski said. "I was running so hard, just trying to make sure I'd get to third. Then it took a moment or two to realize what happened -- it was gone." At that point, Mazeroski finished his sprint around the bases like a giddy schoolboy before he was mobbed at home plate. "You know, all I could think about was, "We beat the Yankeesǃ We beat themǃ We beat the damn Yankeesǃ" he said.
Fourteen-year-old schoolboy Andy Jerpe retrieved the ball amid the cherry trees in Schenley Park, which was adjacent to the ballpark. Mazeroski signed the ball for him in the clubhouse, but the keepsake was lost during a neighborhood game a short time later.
The Game 7 homer marked the third game-winning hit for Mazeroski in the series. In the fourth inning of Game 1, with Don Hoak on base, he hit a two-run homer off reliever Jim Coates that cleared the large scoreboard in straight-away left field. The blow extended Pittsburgh's lead to 5–2 and proved to be the difference in a 6–4 victory. In Game 5, Mazeroski rapped a two-run double to left field off Art Ditmar that scored Hoak and Gino Cimoli in the fourth inning. The hit gave his team a 3-0 advantage that held up in a 5-2 triumph. Even though Mazeroski hit .320 with team highs of five RBI, four runs scored and two home runs, Yankees counterpart Bobby Richardson was selected the Most Valuable Player of the series.
A portion of the brick center field wall from Forbes Field still stands as a memorial on the University of Pittsburgh campus in the Oakland District. Locally, the barrier is commonly referred to as "Mazeroski's Wall." Although not the actual section of wall that his famous home run cleared, a nearby plaque in the sidewalk of Roberto Clemente Drive does mark the spot where the ball went over the wall. A Little League Softball field dedicated to Mazeroski lies on the other side.
In September 2010, a statue of Mazeroski was unveiled outside PNC Park in Pittsburgh, depicting his legendary home run celebration — a runner pose with both arms extended, ball cap in right hand.
The home run was ranked number 2 on The Sporting News list of "Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments.
Triple plays in film and reality
Mazeroski was the focus of a staged game-ending triple play as part of a cameo appearance in the 1968 hit film The Odd Couple. In the scene, Oscar Madison is distracted from witnessing the play by an annoying phone call from Felix Ungar (immediately after sarcastically predicting to fellow sportswriter Heywood Hale Broun that the Mets still have a chance to win if Mazeroski hits into a triple play). Reportedly, the scene was actually filmed just prior to the start of a regular game at Shea Stadium on June 27, 1967. Maz reported that he was given only 10 minutes to get it done:
"They had a guy out there pitching and he was throwing fastballs. I knew I had to hit a liner to the third baseman. It only took two takes. The first pitch, I hit a line drive that went just foul. The second one, I hit a one-hopper right to third. He caught it, stepped on third, threw to second, threw to first, a triple play. Now that took talent!"
Jack Fisher was the pitcher for the Mets in that scene. In reality, Mazeroski never suffered such an inglorious moment during his playing days, but he did record two triple plays as a fielder, both against the Cincinnati Reds. On April 18, 1966, in the seventh inning of a home game, Vada Pinson struck out during a double steal attempt. Catcher Jesse Gonder threw to third baseman Bob Bailey, who then threw to Mazeroski to retire Tommy Harper off second base, and Mazeroski then threw to first baseman Donn Clendenon to retire Pete Rose off first base; the Pirates went on to win 4-3. And on July 31, 1968, in the second game of a doubleheader, Tommy Helms lined out to shortstop Gene Alley in the fourth inning of a 10-1 Pirates victory; Alley threw to Mazeroski, who then threw to Clendenon, retiring Lee May and Tony Pérez before they could return to their bases.
Hall of Fame selection
Mazeroski became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1978, but initially drew little support before gradually gaining in the voting nearly every year; he ran out of initial eligibility in 1992, having never received 50% of the vote. Skeptics pointed to his shortcomings as a hitter; his .299 on-base percentage remains the lowest of any non-pitcher in the Hall, though his power at the plate brings his on-base plus slugging figure more in line with other defensive stars elected previously, including Rabbit Maranville, Ray Schalk and Luis Aparicio. Newsweek columnist George Will remarked in 1995, "The exclusion of Mazeroski from Cooperstown is a case of simple discrimination against defensive skills." Mazeroski was finally elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.
On induction day in Cooperstown, Mazeroski only made it as far into his prepared remarks as thanking the Veterans Committee voters for choosing a player based largely on defensive skills (a rarity) before getting so overcome with emotion that he had to stop. Apologizing to those who "had to come all the way up here to hear this crap," he then sat down to a long and loud standing ovation from the audience and his fellow Hall of Famers.
Other honors
In 1979, Mazeroski was inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.
In 1995, Harrison Central High School in Cadiz, Ohio had a field donated by Mazeroski which later became known as Mazeroski Field. In 2003, Buckeye Local High School in Rayland (which had since absorbed Warren Consolidated) honored him by naming their new baseball field after him, placing a monument behind home plate in recognition.
In 2004, the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference saluted Mazeroski by electing him among the inaugural members of their Hall of Fame, alongside Boston Celtic great John Havlicek and Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas.
Mazeroski was recognized by Major League Baseball by being selected to throw out the first pitch of the Home Run Derby that preceded the 2006 All Star Game at Pittsburgh's PNC Park, receiving a long standing ovation. He also was picked to manage the National League during the All-Star Legends and Celebrity Softball Game during the All-Star week celebrations.
In 2022, Mazeroski was inducted as an inaugural member of the Pirates Hall of Fame.
Life after baseball
In 1987, Mazeroski ran for the Democratic nomination for County Commissioner in his home of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania but his bid was unsuccessful.
Mazeroski resides in Panama City, Florida and serves as special infield instructor for the Pirates in spring training. He has two sons; Darren is a retired junior college baseball coach, while Dave is an atmospheric scientist.
In 2010, the 50th anniversary of the 1960 World Series, Mazeroski was to be the guest of honor at the first showing of the original television broadcast of Game 7; it was thought to be lost before it was discovered at the home of Bing Crosby, who had been co-owner of the Pirates throughout Mazeroski's career. However, he was unable to attend due to an undisclosed illness that left him hospitalized for several days.
The annual The Bill Mazeroski Golf Tournament is held each spring. Proceeds from the event go to a baseball scholarship that is awarded to a senior graduate of Buckeye Local High School in Warren Township, which is located near his former high school.
Mazeroski was featured in an FSN Pittsburgh commercial that featured former Pirates first baseman Sean Casey.
See also
List of Gold Glove middle infield duos
List of Major League Baseball career hits leaders
List of Major League Baseball career assists as a second baseman leaders
List of Major League Baseball career double plays as a second baseman leaders
List of Major League Baseball career putouts as a second baseman leaders
List of Major League Baseball players who spent their entire career with one franchise
References
External links
Living people
1936 births
Águilas Cibaeñas players
American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic
American people of Polish descent
Baseball players from Ohio
Baseball players from West Virginia
Gold Glove Award winners
Hollywood Stars players
Major League Baseball third base coaches
Major League Baseball second basemen
Major League Baseball players with retired numbers
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees
National League All-Stars
People from Jefferson County, Ohio
People from Wheeling, West Virginia
Pennsylvania Democrats
Pittsburgh Pirates players
Pittsburgh Pirates coaches
Seattle Mariners coaches
Williamsport Grays players
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peeping%20Tom%20%281960%20film%29
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Peeping Tom (1960 film)
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Peeping Tom is a 1960 British psychological horror-thriller film directed by Michael Powell, written by Leo Marks, and starring Carl Boehm, Anna Massey, and Moira Shearer. The film revolves around a serial killer who murders women while using a portable film camera to record their dying expressions of terror, putting his footage together into a snuff film used for his own self pleasure. Its title derives from the expression "peeping Tom", which describes a voyeur.
The film's controversial subject matter and its extremely harsh reception by critics had a severely negative impact on Powell's career as a director in the United Kingdom. However, it attracted a cult following, and in later years, it has been re-evaluated and is now widely considered a masterpiece, and a progenitor of the contemporary slasher film. The British Film Institute named it the 78th greatest British film of all time, and in 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine saw it ranked the 27th best British film ever.
The music score was written by Brian Easdale and performed by Australian pianist Gordon Watson.
Plot
In London, Mark Lewis meets Dora, a prostitute, covertly filming her with a camera hidden under his coat. Shown from the point of view of the camera viewfinder, he follows the woman into her flat, murders her, and later watches the film in his personal darkroom, a backroom he has converted so as to be able to develop his films without getting caught. The following morning, Lewis films the police's removal of Dora's corpse from her home, posing as a reporter.
Lewis is a member of a film crew who aspires to become a filmmaker himself. He also works part-time photographing soft-porn pin-up pictures of women, sold under the counter. He is a shy, reclusive young man who hardly socializes outside of his workplace. He lives in the house of his late father, renting most of it via an agent while posing as a tenant himself. Helen Stephens, a sweet-natured young woman who lives with her blind mother in the flat below his, befriends him out of curiosity after he has been discovered spying on her 21st birthday party.
Mark reveals to Helen through home films taken by his father that, as a child, he was used as a guinea pig for his father's psychological experiments on fear and the nervous system. Mark's father would study his son's reaction to various stimuli, such as lizards he put on his bed and would film the boy in all sorts of situations, even going as far as recording his son's reactions as he sat with his mother on her deathbed. He kept his son under constant watch and even wired all the rooms so that he could spy on him. Mark's father's studies enhanced his reputation as a renowned psychologist.
Mark arranges with Vivian, a stand-in at the studio, to make a film after the set is closed; he then kills her and stuffs her into a prop trunk. The body is discovered later during shooting by Diane, a female cast member who has already antagonized the director by fainting for real at points which are not in the script. The police link the two murders and notice that each victim died with a look of utter terror on her face. They interview everyone on the set, including Mark, who always keeps his camera running, claiming that he is making a documentary.
Helen goes out to dinner with Mark, even persuading him to leave his camera behind for once, and briefly kisses him once they return. Her mother, Mrs. Stephens, finds his behavior peculiar, being aware, despite her blindness, that Mark often looks through Helen's window. Mrs. Stephens is waiting inside Mark's flat after his evening out with her daughter. Unable to wait until she leaves due to his compulsion, he begins screening his latest snuff film with her still in the room. She senses how emotionally disturbed he is and threatens to move, but Mark reassures her that he will never photograph or film Helen.
A psychiatrist is called to the set to console Diane. He chats with Mark and is familiar with his father's work. The psychiatrist relates the details of the conversation to the police, noting that Mark has "his father's eyes". Mark is tailed by the police to the newsagents, where he takes photographs of the pin-up model Milly. Slightly later, it emerges that Mark has killed Milly before returning home.
Helen, who is curious about Mark's films, finally runs one of them. She becomes visibly upset and then frightened when he catches her. Mark reveals that he makes the films so that he can capture the fear of his victims. He has mounted a round mirror atop his camera so that he can capture the reactions of his victims as they see their impending deaths. He points the tripod's knife towards Helen's throat but refuses to kill her.
The police arrive and Mark realizes he is cornered. As he planned from the very beginning, he impales himself on the knife with the camera running, providing the finale for his documentary. Helen cries over Mark's dead body as the police enter the room.
Cast
Themes
Peeping Tom has been praised for its psychological complexity, which incorporates the "self-reflexive camera" as a plot device, as well as the themes of child abuse, sadomasochism, and scopophilic fetishism. On the surface, the film is about the Freudian relationships between the protagonist and, respectively, his father, and his victims. However, several critics argue that the film is as much about the voyeurism of the audience as they watch the protagonist's actions. Roger Ebert, in his 1999 review of the film for his "Great Films" series, states that "the movies make us into voyeurs. We sit in the dark, watching other people's lives. It is the bargain the cinema strikes with us, although most films are too well-behaved to mention it".
Martin Scorsese, who has long been an admirer of Powell's works, has stated that this film, along with Federico Fellini's 8½, contains all that can be said about directing:
According to Paul Wells, the film deals with the anxieties of British culture in regarding sexual repression, patriarchal obsession, voyeuristic pleasure and perverse violence. The impossible task in the film is the quest to photograph fear itself.
In the opinion of Peter Keough, the death scenes of the film would provide a field day to Freudian psychoanalysis and deconstructionists. Cinema here is equated to sexual aggression and a death wish, the camera to the phallus, photography to violation, and film to ritualized voyeurism. The emphasis of the film lies on morbidity, not on eroticism. In a memorable sequence, an attractive, semi-nude female character turns to the camera and reveals a disfiguring facial scar. This peeping tom is turned on not by naked bodies, but naked fear. And as Mark laments, whatever he photographs is lost to him. Mark is a loner whose only companion is his film camera. He is also the victim of his father's studies in the phenomenon of fear in children, a human guinea pig subjected to sadistic experiments. His love interest Helen has her own fascination with a morbid gaze. She is a children's writer whose book concerns a magic camera and what it photographs.
Relationship with Hitchcock's films
The themes of voyeurism in Peeping Tom are also explored in several films by Alfred Hitchcock. In his book on Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo, film historian Charles Barr points out that the film's title sequence and several shots seem to have inspired moments in Peeping Tom.
Chris Rodley's documentary A Very British Psycho (1997) draws comparisons between Peeping Tom and Hitchcock's Psycho; the latter film was given its New York premiere in June 1960, two months after Peeping Toms premiere in London. Both films feature as protagonists atypically mild-mannered serial killers who are obsessed with their parents. However, despite containing material similar to Peeping Tom, Psycho became a box-office success and only increased the popularity and fame of its director (although the film was widely criticized in the English press). One reason suggested in the documentary is that Hitchcock, seeing the negative press reaction to Peeping Tom, decided to release Psycho without a press screening.
In his early career, Powell worked as a stills photographer and in other positions on Hitchcock's films, and the two were friends throughout their careers. A variant of Peeping Toms main conceit, The Blind Man, was one of Hitchcock's unproduced films around this time. Here, a blind pianist receives the eyes of a murder victim, but their retinas retain the image of the murder.
According to Isabelle McNeill, the film fits well within the slasher film subgenre, which was influenced by Psycho. She lists a number of elements which it shares with both Psycho and the genre in general:
a recognizably human killer, who stands as the psychotic product of a sick family
the victim being a beautiful and sexually active woman
the location of the murder being not within a home, but within some other "terrible place"
the weapon being something other than a gun
the attack registered from the victim's point of view and coming with shocking suddenness
She finds that the film actually goes further than Psycho into slasher territory through introducing a series of female victims, and with Helen Stephens functioning as the bright and sympathetic final girl.
Production
Writing
Screenwriter Leo Marks based portions of the film on his experience growing up as the son of Benjamin Marks, who owned the Marks & Co book store in London; elements of Peeping Tom is based on his observations of inner-city residents who frequented his father's store. The prostitute, Dora, who is murdered in the film's opening scene, was based on a real-life prostitute who was a regular patron of the Marks & Co book store. Additionally, Marks stated he was inspired to write a horror story and to become a codebreaker after reading "The Gold-Bug" by American writer Edgar Allan Poe. While writing the script, Marks believed the motivations behind Lewis' murder to be entirely sexual, though he would state in retrospect that he felt the psychological compulsion of the character was less sexual than it was unconscious. Prior to writing the screenplay for Peeping Tom, Marks, a polymath, had worked as cryptographer during World War II.
Casting and filming
Cohen originally wanted a star to play the lead role and suggested Dirk Bogarde but the Rank Organisation, who had him under contract, refused to loan him out. Laurence Harvey was attached for a while but pulled out during pre-production and Powell ended up casting German-Austrian actor Karlheinz Böhm (billed as Carl Boehm). Böhm, who was a friend of Powell's, noted that their prior acquaintance helped him psychoanalyze and "go into very, very special details" of the character. Böhm saw Lewis as a sympathetic character, whom he felt "great pity" for. In a 2008 interview, Böhm stated that he could identify with the character because he also stood for a long time in the shadow of his famous father, conductor Karl Böhm, and had a difficult relationship with him. Böhm also stated that he interpreted his character as being traumatized by growing up under the Nazi Regime.
Pamela Green, then a well-known glamour model in London, was cast in the role of Milly, one of Lewis's victims, who appears nude onscreen in the moments leading up to her murder scene. Her appearance marked the first scene in British cinema to feature frontal nudity.
Filming took six weeks beginning in October 1959. The film was financed by Nat Cohen at Anglo-Amalgamated with other funds from the National Film Finance Corporation.
Release
Peeping Tom was first released in the United Kingdom by Anglo-Amalgamated, premiering in London on 7 April 1960. It is often considered part of a Sadean trilogy with Horrors of the Black Museum (1959) and Circus of Horrors (1960). The three films had different production companies but the same distributor. They are connected through their themes of voyeurism, disfigurement, and sadistic figures. Anglo-Amalgamated films were typically released in the United States by American International Pictures through a deal between the two companies. But AIP was not interested in releasing Peeping Tom, apparently skeptical of its ability to satisfy audiences.
In the United States, the film was released by importer and distributor Astor Pictures in 1962. It was released simultaneously to the markets for genre horror films, art films, and exploitation films. It failed to find an audience and was one of the least successful releases by Astor. The film received a B rating from the National Legion of Decency, signifying "morally objectionable in part" content. The organization identified voyeurism and sadism as key elements of the film in its rating.
Censorship
When Peeping Tom was first released in Italy in 1960 the Committee for the Theatrical Review of the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities rated it as VM16: not suitable for children under 16. The reason for the age restriction, cited in the official documents, is: the storyline is shocking and several scenes are not suitable for minors. In order for the film to be screened publicly, the Committee imposed the removal of the following scenes: 1) two scenes taking place in the photographer's studio, in particular, those in which Milly is shown alone, fully dressed and half-undressed, in front of the mirror because she is indecent; 2) two other scenes showing a woman lying on the bed excessively half-undressed, because she is indecent.
The official document number is: 32987, it was signed on 21 October 1960 by Minister Renzo Helfer. It was banned in Finland until 1981.
Home media
Peeping Tom has received several DVD releases. In the United Kingdom, it was released by Studio Canal and Warner Bros., and later in a six-DVD box set which also includes the films I Know Where I'm Going! and A Canterbury Tale. In 2007, it received a new DVD release from Optimum Releasing in the United Kingdom, followed by a 50th Anniversary Blu-ray release in 2010.
The film was released in the United States by The Criterion Collection on LaserDisc on 23 March 1994 and on DVD on 16 November 1999. The Criterion release of the film has been out of print since at least 2010.
Reception
Contemporaneous
Peeping Toms depiction of violence and its lurid sexual content made it a controversial film on initial release and the critical backlash heaped on the film was a major factor in finishing Powell's career as a director in the United Kingdom. Karlheinz Böhm later remembered that after the film's premiere, nobody from the audience went to shake the hand of him or Michael Powell. A contemporary assessment of the film published in The Telegraph noted that the film effectively "killed" Powell's career. British reviews tended towards the hyperbolic in negativity, an example being a review published in The Monthly Film Bulletin which likened Powell to the Marquis de Sade.
Derek Hill, reviewer of the Tribune suggested that "the only really satisfactory way to dispose of Peeping Tom would be to shovel it up and flush it swiftly down the nearest sewer". Len Mosley writing for the Daily Express said that the film was more nauseating and depressing than the leper colonies of East Pakistan, the back streets of Bombay, and the gutters of Calcutta. Caroline Lejeune of The Observer wrote: "It's a long time since a film disgusted me as much as Peeping Tom", ultimately deeming it a "beastly film".
Critical reappraisal
Peeping Tom earned a cult following in the years after its initial release, and since the 1970s has received a critical reappraisal. Powell noted ruefully in his autobiography: "I make a film that nobody wants to see and then, thirty years later, everybody has either seen it or wants to see it". An account of the film's steady reappraisal can be found in Scorsese on Scorsese, edited by Ian Christie and David Thompson. Martin Scorsese mentions that he first heard of the film as a film student in the early 1960s, when Peeping Tom opened in only one theatre in Alphabet City, which, Scorsese notes, was a seedy district of New York. The film was released in a cut black-and-white print but immediately became a cult fascination among Scorsese's generation. Scorsese states that the film, in this mutilated form, influenced Jim McBride's David Holzman's Diary. Scorsese himself first saw the film in 1970 through a friend who owned an uncut 35mm colour print. In 1978, Scorsese was approached by a New York distributor, Corinth Films, which asked for $5,000 for a wider re-release. Scorsese gladly complied with their request, which allowed the film to reach a wider audience than its initial cult following. Vincent Canby wrote of the film in The New York Times in 1979:
Film theorist Laura Mulvey echoed a similar sentiment, writing: "Peeping Tom is a film of many layers and masks; its first reviewers were unable even to see it at face value. Entrenched in the traditions of English realism, these early critics saw an immoral film set in real life whose ironic comment on the mechanics of film spectatorship and identification confused them as viewers. But Peeping Tom offers realistic cinematic images that relate to the cinema and nothing more. It creates a magic space for its fiction somewhere between the camera’s lens and the projector’s beam of light on the screen".
Before his death in 1990, Powell saw the reputation of Peeping Tom rise and rise. Contemporarily, the film is considered a masterpiece and among the best horror films of all time. In 2004, the magazine Total Film named Peeping Tom the 24th greatest British film of all time, and in 2005, the same magazine listed it as the 18th greatest horror film of all time. The film contains the 38th of Bravo Channel's 100 Scariest Movie Moments. The Guardian named it the 10th best horror film of all time in 2010, and a 2017 review in The Telegraph of the best British films ever made, states, "contemporary critics in 1960 may have overlooked that voyeurism was its central theme. But who is the voyeur?"
Film aggregate Rotten Tomatoes has awarded the film a 95% rating, based on 56 reviews and an average score of 8.7/10. The website's consensus is: "Peeping Tom is a chilling, methodical look at the psychology of a killer, and a classic work of voyeuristic cinema".
Cultural references
Mike Patton's band Peeping Tom, and its self-titled album, are named in tribute to this film.
During a reminiscence in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest, Dr. James O. Incandenza, the man who went on to make a film that literally kills its audience, refers to having "still-posters from Powell's Peeping Tom" in his childhood bedroom.
A dialog of the film has been sampled for the beginning of Railway Jam on the So Tough album (1993) by Saint Etienne.
A campaign video for the 2014 spring/summer Alexander McQueen collection was based on the opening scene of the film. The video features Kate Moss in the role of the killer's victim.
Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho (2021) is heavily inspired, both thematically and in use of film language, by the film.
See also
BFI Top 100 British films
List of films featuring surveillance
References
Works cited
Further reading
External links
. Full synopsis and film stills (and clips viewable from UK libraries).
Reviews and articles at Powell & Pressburger Pages.
Martin Scorsese on Peeping Tom and Michael Powell
They made the critics scream, but now these films are classics
Peeping Tom in The Numbers
1960 films
1960 horror films
1960s horror thriller films
1960s psychological thriller films
1960s serial killer films
1960s slasher films
British horror thriller films
British serial killer films
British slasher films
1960s English-language films
Films about blind people
Films about filmmaking
Films about security and surveillance
Films by Powell and Pressburger
Films directed by Michael Powell
Films set in London
Films shot at Pinewood Studios
Films shot in London
Films about snuff films
Censored films
Films about photographers
1960s British films
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David%20Amess
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David Amess
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Sir David Anthony Andrew Amess ( ; 26 March 1952 – 15 October 2021) was a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Southend West from 1997 until his murder in 2021. He previously served as MP for Basildon from 1983 to 1997. A member of the Conservative Party, he was a Catholic with socially conservative political views, and was in favour of Britain leaving the European Union.
Born and raised in Essex, Amess studied economics and government at Bournemouth University and then had short careers as a primary school teacher, underwriter and recruitment consultant. He was elected a Conservative councillor for Redbridge in 1982 and MP for Basildon at the 1983 general election. His position was seen as a bellwether seat, exemplifying the enthusiasm of the "Essex man" for the government of Margaret Thatcher. He held the seat in the election of 1992, but when boundary changes made it untenable, he became MP for Southend West at the 1997 general election and served the constituency until his death.
In government, his highest position was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Portillo for twelve years. He was more prominent as a backbencher, serving on many select committees and sponsoring several pieces of legislation, including the and the . The causes for which he campaigned included animal welfare, awarding city status to Southend-on-Sea, the honouring of Raoul Wallenberg, and support for those suffering from endometriosis.
On 15 October 2021, Amess was stabbed multiple times at a constituency surgery in Leigh-on-Sea and later died at the scene from his injuries. Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old man, was arrested at the scene and was charged with murder and preparing terrorist acts. In April 2022, Ali was found guilty on both counts and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a whole life order.
Early life and career
David Anthony Andrew Amess was born on 26 March 1952 in Plaistow, Essex (now part of Newham, London). From a working-class background, he was the son of James Amess, an electrician, and his wife Maud Martin, a dressmaker. Amess was raised Catholic, like his mother. Maud died on 12 October 2016 at the age of 104.
Amess attended St Anthony's Junior and Infant School, then St Bonaventure's Grammar School (now St Bonaventure's Catholic School), a private school on Boleyn Road in Forest Gate. He said later in life that his political interests stemmed from his time at St Bonaventure's, where he stood for the Revolutionist Party, whose key demands were for minimum pocket money and the abolition of homework; by the time he became an adult, he was a Conservative. As a child he had a stammer, and speech therapy to correct this resulted in the loss of his natural Cockney accent. Amess went on to Bournemouth College of Technology (now Faculty of Science and Technology of Bournemouth University), where he earned a bachelor's degree (BSc Econ Hons 2.2) in economics and government. Amess taught disabled children at St John the Baptist Primary School in Bethnal Green for a year (1970–71), and then spent a short time as an underwriter (1974–76) before becoming a recruitment consultant.
Political career
He unsuccessfully stood as the Conservative candidate for Newham North West in the 1977 Greater London Council election. He contested the safe Labour Party seat of Newham North West at the 1979 general election. The seat was retained by Labour's MP Arthur Lewis. In 1982, Amess was elected as a Conservative councillor to the London Borough of Redbridge's Mayfield ward, with his party forming the majority administration. He served as vice chairman of the Housing Committee from 1982 until 1985 and stood down for the 1986 local elections.
The incumbent Conservative MP for Basildon, Harvey Proctor, moved to Billericay in the 1983 general election; Amess was selected to replace him and was elected Member of Parliament for Basildon on 9 June 1983. He exemplified the new demographic of "Essex man" who supported Margaret Thatcher enthusiastically. Campaign described him as "representative of new Essex man, working class, father electrician, right wing, keen hanger, noisily rambunctious, no subtlety".
Amess continued serving as an MP and a local councillor until 1986, when he stood down from Redbridge Borough Council to concentrate on his Westminster seat. He held his Basildon seat narrowly at the 1987 general election, partly by developing a significant personal following. After the election, Amess was appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Michael Portillo, a position he held for ten years throughout Portillo's ministerial career. Amess held his seat again at the 1992 general election, which was the first sign that the Conservatives would unexpectedly win that election; the Basildon constituency was viewed as the make-or-break milestone.
Prior to the 1997 general election, there was a boundary review which divided the Basildon seat into two parts, which were added into two neighbouring seats. At the time, Amess remarked that the Boundary Commission "had raped the town of Basildon" by adding an extra seat there. Given his small majority, the new Basildon constituency was almost certainly going to be gained by Labour. Amess thus decided to seek re-election elsewhere. In June 1995, Amess was selected for Southend West after the retirement of former Cabinet minister Paul Channon. He was consequently returned to Westminster again in the 1997 general election. Angela Evans Smith won the newly-drawn Basildon seat for Labour in 1997 by over 13,000 votes.
Southend city status
Amess was known for being at the centre of a long-running campaign to make Southend-on-Sea, the main town of his constituency, a city. On 18 October 2021, it was announced that Queen Elizabeth II had agreed to grant Southend city status in his honour. On 1 March 2022, Charles, Prince of Wales, presented the letters patent on behalf of the Queen in the council chamber at Southend Civic Centre, officially granting the town city status.
Involvement in legislation
Amess sponsored many bills in Parliament, including the Protection against Cruel Tethering Act 1988, and the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000.
In 2014, he helped to pass the Security Printing (Specialist) Materials Bill. This bill ended a loophole which allowed companies who supplied specialist printing equipment to counterfeiters to evade prosecution.
In 2016, he helped to pass the Driving Instructors (Registration) Bill. This statute streamlined the process whereby instructors whose registration has lapsed can apply to return to the register. It also allowed instructors who wish to leave the register for personal reasons to do so without being penalised. Driving school owners and motoring organisations supported the bill.
Protection against Cruel Tethering Act 1988
The Protection against Cruel Tethering Act came about as a result of Amess's long-standing concern for animal welfare, supported by the National Farmers' Union. Amess stated in the House of Commons that the Ten Minute Rule Bill was "inspired by the Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society". The bill stated:In section 1 of the Protection of Animals Act 1911 there shall be added in subsection (1) the following words after paragraph (e) "or (f) shall tether any horse, ass or mule under such conditions or in such manner as to cause that animal unnecessary suffering …
Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000
Amess's most publicised legislative success came in 2000 with the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act. According to a speech in the House of Commons made by Amess, the Act came to fruition after he was drawn out of the Private Members Ballot. He met with Martyn Williams, a campaigner from Friends of the Earth, who convinced him of the need for the Act following on from the death of a constituent in a cold house.
The Act required the Secretary of State to "publish and implement a strategy for reducing fuel poverty".
This Act was widely credited with a significant change in both attitude and policy towards fuel poverty within the UK. The scale of fuel poverty in England fell from 5.1 million households to 1.2 million households between 1996 and 2004, indicating the impact of the Act.
Parliamentary committees
Health Select Committee
Amess served on the Health Select Committee from 1998 until 2007. Due to his role on the Health Select Committee, he became Chair of the Conservative Party Backbench Committee for Health in 1999. He campaigned on various health issues since. While a member of the Committee, Amess played a prominent role in holding an inquiry into the state of obesity in the UK, leading to the publication of a report in 2004. The report found that two-thirds of the population of England are overweight or obese and went on to discuss the causes of obesity, as well as making various recommendations to combat the problem. He maintained an interest in the issue, tabling a series of Parliamentary Questions in July 2013.
Panel of Chairs
Amess was also a member of the Panel of Chairs, which comprises the chairman and two deputy chairmen of Ways and Means, as well as ten members nominated at the start of each session by the Speaker of the House of Commons. Amess was last appointed on 26 May 2010, but had been on the Panel since 2001. As a member of the Panel, Amess was responsible for chairing public bill committees, chairing Westminster Hall debates, and at times, for chairing committees of the whole House.
Backbench Business Committee
Amess was elected onto the newly formed Backbench Business Committee in 2010; he stood down in 2015.
Administration Committee
Amess became a member of the Administration Committee in 2015. This committee is responsible for overseeing the running of the Parliamentary Estate and its services. He stepped down from the committee following the 2019 general election.
Raoul Wallenberg
Amess campaigned for many years to have a statue erected in honour of Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Nazi-occupied Hungary, an endeavour for which Wallenberg eventually lost his life. Amess began asking parliamentary questions in the late 1980s regarding Wallenberg, campaigning for him to be awarded honorary British nationality. Amess had previously attempted to push through a Raoul Wallenberg (Memorial) Bill in the 1989–90 session. He held an adjournment debate in Wallenberg's honour in 1996. The resultant memorial created by sculptor Philip Jackson was installed in London, at Great Cumberland Place, outside the Western Marble Arch Synagogue and unveiled in 1997.
All-party parliamentary group on endometriosis
In March 2018, Amess launched an all-party parliamentary group on endometriosis to raise awareness of the condition and to investigate how those who have endometriosis can get the support that they need. Amess chaired the group, with Emma Hardy, Jackie Doyle-Price and Hannah Bardell as vice-chairs.
Industry and Parliament Trust
Amess became a Fellow of the Industry and Parliament Trust in 1994. Amess completed an IPT Post-Graduate Fellowship I in 2012, specialising in the Cultural and Creative Industries at BRIT School, ITN and the Royal Opera House. Amess became chairman of the board of trustees in 2014 and stood down at the end of his term in 2017.
Comments about Weinstein scandal
In October 2017, following the Harvey Weinstein sexual misconduct allegations, a statement was issued in the name of Amess which described the allegations against Weinstein as "dubious to say the least" and quoted Amess as having said that the "sudden flurry of alleged inappropriate advances beggars belief". Amess later retracted the statement and apologised "for any upset", saying that his staff had issued the statement without his authorisation.
Media and publications
Publications
Amess wrote a pamphlet about his 1992 re-election to the Basildon constituency, Basildon—Against all Odds (2012). It was launched in the House of Commons at an event to mark the 20th anniversary of the election and was attended by Prime Minister David Cameron and Conservative Party activists.
Amess compiled a pamphlet titled Party of Opportunity with the Renewal Group, containing thirteen short biographical accounts of Conservative MPs who identify as working class or from a working-class background. The pamphlet, which was launched in the House of Commons in April 2014, included contributions from four government ministers, including Sajid Javid, Mark Francois, Patrick McLoughlin, and Mike Penning. The second edition of Party of Opportunity was launched in January 2015, sponsored by the Association of Conservative Clubs and included contributions from 29 Conservative MPs.
Ayes & Ears: A Survivor's Guide to Westminster was published by Luath Press in December 2020. The book includes sketches of colleagues, memorable speeches, scandals, and descriptions of major events in Parliament from an insider's viewpoint. In February 2021, it was announced that the book had been shortlisted for the Parliamentary Book Awards in the Memoir/Biography category.
Brass Eye
Amess appeared in the February 1997 "Drugs" episode of the spoof current affairs television programme Brass Eye, and was fooled into filming an elaborate warning against the dangers of a fictional Eastern European drug called "cake". Amess later asked a question about "cake" in Parliament, alongside real substances khat and GHB. In response, the Home Office minister incorrectly replied that "cake" was a name "we understand refers to 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-benzylamphetamine", a real drug. In 2001, when Brass Eye was repeated and released on DVD, a disclaimer was added to the "Drugs" episode at Amess's request reiterating his disapproval of recreational drug use.
Political views
Amess normally adhered to Conservative party policy when voting in the Commons. He voted for the 2003 invasion of Iraq but was afterwards critical of the Labour government's failure to find the weapons of mass destruction with which they justified the action at the time. On foreign policy, he was also a leading member of Conservative Friends of Israel (CFI). He was one of the few Conservative MPs to support the campaign to impeach Tony Blair.
Amess was one of 30 Conservatives who voted against military action in Syria in August 2013. He later commented that he felt the way he and his colleagues voted "made a difference" and if he had previously voted against the war in Iraq "things might be different" there as well. Amess supported the reintroduction of capital punishment. He was a critic of the government of Iran, and advocated for the National Council of Resistance of Iran; he publicly endorsed Maryam Rajavi's 10-point manifesto. Amess was supportive of refugees and asylum seekers.
Amess opposed abortion. In June 2005, Amess supported the Prohibition of Abortion (England and Wales) Bill introduced by Laurence Robertson that sought to almost entirely ban abortion. After entering the House of Commons, Amess generally opposed bills furthering LGBT rights, including equal age of consent and same-sex marriage.
Amess campaigned for improvements in animal welfare and husbandry. He consistently voted to ban foxhunting and hare coursing. He was a patron of the Conservative Animal Welfare Foundation. Amess supported many campaigns, including banning cages for game birds, animal testing, puppy farming and smuggling, and ending the transport of live animals for export.
In September 2011, Amess accused the BBC of being biased regarding its reporting of events in Israel, which he said was covered in a "highly disproportionate manner", showing the state in a "poor light".
Amess was a Eurosceptic and came out in support of Brexit prior to the EU referendum, in which he said it was "dangerous" and a "huge mistake" to vote "remain". He described the loss of parliamentary sovereignty and supremacy of EU law as the main negatives of UK–EU relations. Amess criticised then United States president Barack Obama's intervention in the EU referendum campaign when he met with David Cameron, stating that he had "absolutely no right whatsoever getting involved".
Awards
Amess was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours for political and public service.
At the Dods Charity Champion Awards 2011, Amess won the Animal Welfare and Environment Champion award, in which he was recognised formally for his leading role in and commitment to animal welfare, and was presented with the award by John Bercow, Speaker of the House of Commons, in the State Rooms of the Speaker's House. The award is given to the parliamentarian who has done the most to tackle issues concerning the welfare of animals and the natural environment.
Amess received the "Outstanding Achievement Award" at the Charity Champion Parliamentary reception hosted by Dods in 2012 in recognition of his lifetime commitment to charitable work.
He was nominated for the Policy Driver for Animal Rights Protection award at the Grassroot Diplomat Awards 2014 for his longstanding dedication to animal rights.
Personal life
He and his wife Julia Arnold had one son and four daughters. Arnold was a part-time caseworker for her husband. Their eldest daughter is actress Katie Amess. Amess was a lifelong supporter of Premier League team West Ham United and attended their final game at the Boleyn Ground in May 2016.
As an animal lover, his family had several pets. In 2016, these included a rescue dog; a pug called Lily. Lily was succeeded by a French Bulldog called Vivienne who, shortly after Amess's murder in 2021, won the Westminster Dog of the Year Show.
Amess was the president of The Music Man Project, a local charity that provides musical opportunities to people with learning disabilities. He appeared with the group in performances at the Royal Albert Hall and the London Palladium.
Murder
On 15 October 2021, Amess was stabbed multiple times at his constituency surgery at Belfairs Methodist Church Hall in Leigh-on-Sea. He received treatment at the scene, but died from his injuries soon after the attack. He was pronounced dead at the scene at 1:13 pm.
Amess's murder was later declared a "terrorist incident" by the Metropolitan Police. The investigation, led by Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command, is exploring "a potential motivation linked to Islamist extremism". The suspect, Ali Harbi Ali, a 25-year-old British citizen of Somali descent, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and later detained under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act 2000. On 21 October, he was charged with murder and preparing terrorist acts under the Terrorism Act 2006. His trial was scheduled for March 2022.
On 27 October, an inquest was opened into Amess's death but was immediately suspended "pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings". The suspension would be reviewed in April 2022. Coroner's officer Paul Donaghy told the inquest that, the day after Amess's death, a Home Office pathologist carried out a post-mortem examination which found that Amess had died from multiple stab wounds to the chest.
A procession and memorial service took place in Southend on 22 November. The private service, attended by family, was held at St Mary's Church, the Church of England parish church in Prittlewell. The Reverend Paul Mackay and Monsignor Kevin William Hale led the service. A family statement was read by the former Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe. Afterwards, his casket processed through the streets in a horse-drawn hearse. The following day a funeral service was held at Westminster Cathedral. Prime Minister Boris Johnson joined former prime ministers, the Speaker of the House Lindsay Hoyle and the Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer at the service. A message from Pope Francis was delivered by Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, the Apostolic Nuncio to Great Britain.
On 6 April 2022, Ali revealed that the motive behind the murder was due to Amess supporting airstrikes on Islamic State in Syria. He stated: "If I thought I did anything wrong, I wouldn't have done it... He voted previously in Parliament, not just him... I decided if I couldn't make hijrah, if I couldn't help the Muslims, I would do something here." When asked what difference killing Amess made, he replied: "For one, he can't vote again... If he had previous for doing votes like that he won't do it in the future, and perhaps send a message to his colleagues... So hopefully, he won't be able to harm Muslims in that regard." Furthermore, Amess's membership of the CFI was confirmed to be another motive. Under cross-examination by Tom Little , Ali said: "I wouldn't use the word 'shameless', but I don't have any shame." He has denied allegations of terrorism, expressing, "If I used that word [terrorist] on myself, I would expect the British politicians who bombed Syria to use that word on themselves... I am a moderate Muslim". He told the court he expected to die a martyr and be shot dead but decided to drop his weapon after being confronted by unarmed police.
Ali also confessed he wanted to kill Michael Gove: "I believe he was someone who was a harm to Muslims. I thought if I couldn't go join Islamic State, I should try and do something here to help Muslims here[.]" He revealed he deeply regretted not being able to join the terrorist group: "As a Muslim, I was obligated to do something during that period." He hoped the murder would "cease hostilities with Muslims". On 11 April 2022, Ali was found guilty of murdering Amess, and two days later received a whole life term of imprisonment.
One year on from his death, politicians paid tribute to Amess and a tree was planted in his memory in Southend.
A shield of arms bearing the motto "His Light Remains" was posthumously granted to him. It was unveiled in the chamber of the House of Commons by his widow in October 2023, two years after the murder.
See also
List of British MPs killed in office
References
External links
David Amess MP Conservative Party profile
David Amess profile at New Statesman
1952 births
2021 deaths
Alumni of Bournemouth University
Assassinated British MPs
Assassinated English politicians
Male murder victims
British Eurosceptics
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Councillors in the London Borough of Redbridge
Deaths by stabbing in England
English animal rights activists
English anti-abortion activists
English environmentalists
English Roman Catholics
Knights Bachelor
People educated at St Bonaventure's Catholic School
People from Plaistow, Newham
People murdered in England
English terrorism victims
Terrorism deaths in England
Politicians from Essex
Politics of the Borough of Basildon
UK MPs 1983–1987
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian%20Manhunter
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Martian Manhunter
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The Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Joseph Samachson and artist Joe Certa, the character first appeared in the story "The Manhunter from Mars" in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955). Martian Manhunter is one of the seven original members of the Justice League of America and one of the most powerful beings in the DC Universe.
He has also been featured in other DC Comics products, such as video games, television series, animated films and merchandise like action figures. In live action, the character first appeared in the television pilot Justice League of America, played by David Ogden Stiers. He also appeared in the series Smallville, played by Phil Morris, and in the Arrowverse series Supergirl, played by David Harewood, also appearing on other Arrowverse shows. Harry Lennix played the character in the DC Extended Universe, under the guise of General Calvin Swanwick, in the films Man of Steel (2013) and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), and appeared in his Martian form in Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021).
Publication history
Silver Age (1950s–1960s)
Martian Manhunter aka John (J'onn J'onzz) debuted in the back-up story "The Strange Experiment of Dr. Erdel" in Detective Comics #225 (November 1955), written by Joseph Samachson and illustrated by Joe Certa. The character is a green-skinned humanoid from Mars, who is pulled to Earth by an experimental teleportation beam constructed by Dr. Saul Erdel. The Martian tells Erdel where he is from, and Erdel tells him that to send him back will require the teleportation beam's robot brain to be recalibrated, and that this may take years. J'onzz changes into the shape of a human to blend in until he can return to Mars. The shock of seeing this kills Dr. Erdel and leaves J'onzz with no way of returning home. The character decides to fight crime while waiting for Martian technology to advance to a stage that will enable his rescue. To that end, he adopts the identity of John Jones, a detective in the fictional Middletown, USA.
During this period, the character and his backstory differ in some minor and some significant ways from modern treatments. Firstly, as with his counterpart, the Silver Age Superman, J'onzz's power range is poorly defined, and his powers expand over time as the plot demands. The addition of precognitive abilities (Detective Comics #226) is quickly followed by telepathy and flight, "atomic vision", super-hearing, and many other powers. In addition, his customary weakness to fire is only manifested when he is in his native Martian form.
A more significant difference is that in this version of him, there is no suggestion that Mars is a dead planet or that the character is the last of his kind. Many of the tales of the time feature either Martian technology or the appearance of other Martian characters such as his elder brother T'omm J'onzz. Detective Comics #236 (October 1956), for example, features the character making contact with the planet Mars and his parents.
J'onzz eventually reveals his existence to the world, after which he operates openly as a superhero and becomes a charter member of the Justice League. During the character's initial few years as a member of the Justice League, he is often used as a substitute for Superman in stories (just as Green Arrow was for Batman) as DC Comics were worried about using their flagship characters too often in Justice League stories, fearing overexposure. The Martian and the archer inaugurated the team-up format of The Brave and the Bold. J'onzz appears there one other time, working with the Flash. In some stories he is shown travelling through space at near-light speed or to other planets.
The detective John Jones is ostensibly killed in action by the Idol Head of Diabolu, an artifact which generates supernatural monsters. J'onzz abandons the civilian identity as he decides fighting this new menace will take a great deal of his time. At this point his feature moves to The House of Mystery, where J'onzz spends the next few years in battle against the Idol Head. Shortly after its defeat, he takes the persona of Marco Xavier to infiltrate the international crime cartel VULTURE, which he defeats in the final installment of his original series.
As Superman was allowed by DC to become a fully active member of the Justice League, J'onzz's appearances there dwindled. He last participated in a mission in his original tenure in #61 (March 1968), shortly before his solo series was discontinued (The House of Mystery #173, May–June 1968). In #71, his people finally came to Earth for him and he left with them to found and become leader of New Mars. Over the next 15 years, J'onzz appeared sporadically in various DC titles.
Bronze Age (1970s–mid-1980s)
In 1972, Superman was teleported to New Mars. J'onzz briefly returned to Earth via spaceship in 1975. J'onzz made another trip to Earth shortly thereafter, leading to Superman and Batman fighting alongside him on New Mars. Three years later, he was discovered playing cosmic-level chess with Despero, using JLA-ers as the pieces. The Martian again encountered Superman in outer space. He permanently resurfaced in the DC Universe in 1984. Shortly thereafter, the League had several members resign (among many other changes), leaving an opening for the Manhunter. While staying on Earth, he decided to revive his John Jones identity, this time as a private detective, but had to explain his 20-year "disappearance".
Post-Crisis (mid-1980s–mid-1990s)
In early 1987, DC revamped its struggling Justice League of America series by re-launching the title as Justice League. This new series, written by Keith Giffen and J.M. DeMatteis with art by Kevin Maguire (and later Adam Hughes), added quirky humor to the team's stories. J'onzz is present from the first issue and within the stories is used as a straight man for other characters in comical situations. The series also added a number of elements to his back story that have remained to the present (such as J'onzz's obsession with Chocos cookies, due to Shazam's influence).
The 1988 four-issue miniseries Martian Manhunter by J.M. DeMatteis and Mark Badger further redefined the character and changed a number of important aspects of both his character and his origin story. It is revealed that Dr. Erdel did not die and that the character's humanoid appearance was due to physiological trauma and attempts to block out the death of his race, his familiar appearance a "compromise" between his true form and a human appearance based upon Erdel's mental concept of what a Martian should look like. Later series use retroactive continuity (retcon) to establish that his real form is private and that, even on Mars, his "public" appearance was the familiar version. The native name for Mars is said to be "Ma'aleca'andra" in his native language (a nod to "Malacandra", the name used by the inhabitants of Mars in C. S. Lewis' novel Out of the Silent Planet). The series also adds to canon the idea that J'onzz was not only displaced in space but in time and the Martian race, including J'onzz's wife and daughter, has been dead for thousands of years.
The 1990s saw the character continue to serve in many different versions of the Justice League of America. In addition to serving in the League under his own identity, he also joins (under duress) disguised as "Bloodwynd," a mysterious and powerful necromancer. J'onzz assumed the physical form, stand-offish mannerisms and magical powers of Bloodwynd, while Bloodwynd himself was transported and trapped inside of his "blood gem". It was during this time the JLA engaged Doomsday in The Death of Superman series. After being hurled by Doomsday into a burning building, Blue Beetle discovers the merged identity of the two heroes. Soon after, it is revealed that J'onzz had accidentally bonded with Bloodwynd prior to his joining the League. The two are eventually separated and both continue their associations with the League.
The 1992 miniseries American Secrets is set in the character's past, exploring a previously unknown adventure against the backdrop of a changing America during the 1950s. Written by Gerard Jones and with art by Eduardo Barreto, the series finds the Manhunter drawn into a murder mystery that rapidly escalates into paranoia and alien invasion.
Post-Zero Hour (mid-1990s–mid-2000s)
In 1997, J'onn J'onzz became a founding member of Grant Morrison and Howard Porter's new JLA where the team fought a group of White Martians, the Hyperclan.
Martian Manhunter began as an ongoing series in 1998, written by John Ostrander and illustrated by Tom Mandrake (with fill-in art provided by Bryan Hitch among others). The series lasted 38 issues before being canceled due to low sales. Ostrander established that Martian Manhunter is the most recognized hero in the Southern Hemisphere and that he maintains a number of different secret identities, many of them outside the United States. However, following two incidents later in the series in which John Jones separates from Martian Manhunter, he decides to focus on his original human identity and retire the others.
The series establishes that J'onzz has a disturbed brother, Ma'alefa'ak, who uses his shapeshifting abilities to pose as J'onzz, capturing and torturing Jemm, Son of Saturn, and terraforming part of Earth to resemble Mars (areoforming). This is all part of a grand plan designed to convince the rest of the Justice League that J'onzz has turned into a sociopath. However, J'onzz is able to clear his name and defeat Ma'alefa'ak despite having most of his body destroyed in an exploding spaceship (he is able to regenerate his body from his severed hand after 'transplanting' his soul into his hand and sending it back to his home fortress so that it can regenerate).
The series also further established the history of both the Manhunter and the Saturnian race. The first issue revealed that there was a "real" human John Jones, a police detective who is murdered by corrupt colleagues, and that J'onzz subsequently assumed his identity to complete an important court case.
In issues of JLA written by Joe Kelly, J'onzz attempts to conquer his fear of fire and makes a deal with a flame-wielding villainess named Scorch, who wants J'onzz's telepathic help in dealing with her own mental issues, the two falling in love in the process. This effort results in J'onzz briefly transforming into the Burning Martian, Fernus, an ancient version of the Martian race that were modified by the Guardians of the Universe; the Guardians had recognized the danger that the Burning Martians posed to civilized life as they 'reproduced' through the psychic energy generated by suffering and grief, but had simply engineered the Martians into their new state rather than destroy them. As part of this engineering, the Martians had been 'programmed' with a new vulnerability to fire, with J'onzz breaking the genetic blocks against fire, also giving him access to race memories of the Burning Martians. Despite Fernus' power, the League were able to help J'onzz reassert himself over Fernus, Manitou Raven helping key League members access J'onzz's mind and draw out his true self while Plastic Man battled Fernus directly, allowing the true J'onzz to manifest when Fernus attempted to spawn using the psychic grief caused by the destruction of the city of Chongjin, the sorrow enough for at least one spawning even if the Flash had saved the city's residents. With Fernus' physical form defeated, J'onzz's traditional aversion to fire was redefined, as he is now invulnerable to flames unless they are "flames of passion" or of some other "psychic significance". This change is forgotten about in later series and adventures .
Crisis era (mid-2000s–early-2010s)
Several weeks before World War III, Martian Manhunter disguises himself as a young girl and tries to defeat Black Adam telepathically in Bialya. He is defeated by being exposed to Adam's darkest memories and flees Earth. The miniseries World War III is told from his perspective. Using these events as a catalyst, DC Comics redesigned the appearance of the character, changing his costume and giving him an appearance that more closely resembles that of his Martian form. Those changes were further explored during a Martian Manhunter miniseries that spun out of the DCU: Brave New World one-shot. Written by A.J. Lieberman with art from Al Barrionuevo and Bit, the series portrayed a Manhunter more mistrustful of humanity and their actions towards each other. The miniseries focuses on J'onzz's search for other survivors of Mars.
During the lead-up to the Infinite Crisis miniseries, the character is feared to have been killed in an attack on the Justice League's HQ. He is later revealed to be alive and a captive of Alexander Luthor, Jr. After Infinite Crisis, most of DC's series jumped ahead one year, having the weekly series 52 fill in the missing time. In 52 #24, it is revealed that the character has been working behind the scenes in an unsuccessful attempt to destroy Checkmate for its role in the death of Ted Kord.
Following this miniseries, J'onzz was intended to be in Outsiders . He appeared in the third issue of the Outsiders: Five of a Kind series with Thunder, and joined the team afterward. Due to the change of writers, he was quickly written out within the last two issues . He was next seen working undercover during the events of the limited series Salvation Run. At the end of the series, J'onzz is left captured and alone on an alien planet.
In Final Crisis #1 (2008), written by Grant Morrison the character is killed, with the death being further developed in the one-shot Final Crisis: Requiem. The character next appears in the Blackest Night storyline as a Black Lantern At the end of the miniseries, the character is resurrected. Following this, the character is featured in the weekly Brightest Day series. During the series, J'onzz encounters another surviving Green Martian, D'kay D'razz, a scarred and warped psychopath who wants J'onzz to be her mate.
In Brightest Day, he is a very prominent character, finding a water source on Mars and meeting and talking with the daughter of Dr. Erdel, Melissa. J'onzz is depicted tucking her into bed in a retirement home, in the form of her father. He later appears at Erdel's old lab. However, plant life starts to die every time he gets near. Later still, J'onzz goes to see M'gann M'orzz in Australia during her mediation search, but finds her beaten and tied up. While tending to her, he is contacted by the Entity, who instructs him to burn down the newly formed forest. When J'onzz asks M'gann who did this to her, M'gann says she was attacked by a female Green Martian. After this, J'onzz senses something in Star City. J'onzz arrives in Star City's new forest and attempts to complete his task; however, he is stopped from doing that by the Entity. The Entity reveals to him that the newly formed forest J'onzz is to burn down is on Mars. After J'onzz lashes out at Star City's forest, he returns home. During this same time period, J'onzz is found by Green Arrow, who attacks J'onzz after mistaking him for some sort of monster. After being knocked unconscious and dragged out of the forest by Green Arrow, J'onzz explains that the forest somehow tampered with his Martian shape-shifting abilities and temporarily drove him mad. When J'onzz arrives home, he sees his planet covered in a newly formed forest on Mars.
When J'onzz enters his home, he is confronted by a female Green Martian named D'kay D'razz, the same Green Martian who attacked M'gann. D'kay explains her origins and wants to be J'onzz's mate. J'onzz refuses and learns that she is a psychopath when D'kay angrily lashes out to attack and enters his mind. J'onzz tries to resist influence from D'kay's mind, but her control over his mind tempts him with visions of a fantasy world where all the Martians and J'onzz's family are resurrected by the Entity. While reunited with his lost family, J'onzz discovers that they are false and realizes that they are a ruse and the death corpse is carved of Martian symbols of love and hate from D'kay's influence. J'onzz arrives vengeful and wrings D'kay's neck in disgust. J'onzz defeats D'kay by forcing her into the Sun, saved from the same fate by the White Lantern Entity, who informs him that his mission has been accomplished, and returns his life to him. The Entity then tells J'onzz to choose between Mars and Earth. J'onzz chooses Earth and returns to his adopted homeworld only to be absorbed into the earth by the Entity as "part of the plan".
When the "Dark Avatar" makes his presence known, J'onzz is revealed to be one of the Elementals. Martian Manhunter is transformed by the Entity to become the element of Earth to protect the Star City forest from the "Dark Avatar", which appears to be the Black Lantern version of the Swamp Thing. The Elementals are then fused with the body of Alec Holland in order for Holland to be transformed by the Entity into the new Swamp Thing and battle against the Dark Avatar. After the Dark Avatar is defeated, Swamp Thing restores J'onzz to normal. Afterward, J'onzz helps Melissa (daughter of Dr. Erdel) remove the piece from her head after she loses her mind.
The New 52 (2011–2016)
In 2011, DC relaunched its continuity following its Flashpoint company-wide crossover as part of its The New 52 publishing event, which saw the cancellation and relaunch of all DC titles. In the new continuity, J'onzz is reintroduced as a member of the covert Stormwatch organization, which had previously appeared exclusively in comics set in DC's Wildstorm Comics imprint. J'onzz is initially stated as being an ex-Justice League member in Stormwatch #1, before the phrase "with the Justice League" is retconned as shorthand for being a public superhero, with J'onzz saying he never tried to join the League due to his commitments to Stormwatch. This same position is stated by J'onzz again in Legion Lost (vol. 2) #6. However, later Justice League comics show that J'onzz was indeed a member of the League for a time. Later, DC chose to move Martian Manhunter to its Justice League of America title, a spin-off from Justice League. In Stormwatch (vol. 3) #12, J'onzz quits the team and uses his telepathy to erase his existence from the minds of his Stormwatch teammates.
In Justice League of America, Martian Manhunter is a member of the U.S. government-sponsored Justice League, taking orders from Amanda Waller and Steve Trevor. Like other members of the team, he has been selected as a counterpart for a member of the independent Justice League, should they ever go rogue; J'onzz is Superman's counterpart. He also appears in Justice League; when Despero assaults the Watchtower, he is mentioned by Firestorm as having been a member of the Justice League when it initially fought with Despero. When Despero incapacitates Firestorm, Element Woman, and the Atom, Martian Manhunter appears and defeats him with a telepathic assault. Working with his JLA colleagues in Justice League of America, he investigates the activities of the Secret Society of Super Villains, led by the Outsider. Later, the two Leagues meet, along with the supernaturally-powered Justice League Dark in the "Trinity War" crossover storyline because of a diplomatic crisis in Kahndaq triggered by the young superhero Shazam. The three Leagues are gathered together when the Outsider reveals himself to be an evil counterpart of Batman's butler Alfred Pennyworth from Earth-Three, and witnesses the arrival of Earth-Three's evil Justice League's counterparts, the Crime Syndicate. The three Leagues are soundly defeated, and Martian Manhunter is trapped inside the Firestorm matrix along with his colleagues by Firestorm's evil counterpart Deathstorm. While inside Firestorm, for the duration of the Forever Evil-themed issues of the Justice League of America title, Manhunter and Stargirl shared a close adventure interlinked with one another's memories as Despero assisted the Syndicate with keeping the JLA imprisoned. After being freed in Forever Evil #7, the two remain close friends, and along with Green Arrow go on to form the core of a new successor Justice League based out of Canada, in Justice League United.
J'onn's new origin is revealed in vol. 4 of Martian Manhunter (2015–2016). When he lived there, Mars was originally a living, thriving world millions of years ago. After received a psychic warning, a young J'onn was recruited along with others by the Martian government to investigate a potential threat. He was eventually betrayed by fellow again Ma'alefa'ak, who murdered all of the subjects except J'onn. He was then subjected to a magic blood ritual that gave him his powers. After escaping, he began to hunt down Ma'alefa'ak, only to discover a monster which was the cause of the psychic warning. The monster, taking the shape of J'onn J'onzz's son, revealed that it was the physical manifestation of Mars, saying that it needed help, only to believe that the Martians were unworthy of life. As a result, Mars and all of its inhabitants died and J'onn was sent to Earth. Before he landed, he split himself into multiply identities that would not reunite until millions of years later but with no memories of his origins.
Martian Manhunter seemingly died while trying to stop a series of bombings. However, it was revealed that there were still pieces of him that lived on after he landed on Earth, and they began to bring him back together. After being teleported to an alternate Mars, Ma'alefa'ak, revealed to be another construct of J'onn's memories, plans to use them in another ritual to bring back the actual Mars with himself as its ruler. After this plan was foiled, J'onn was later revived with all of the remaining constructs merging back with him, finally coming to accept that he truly is the last Martian.
DC Rebirth (2016–present)
Prior to the events of Dark Nights: Metal, J’onn had left for Thanagar looking for Nth metal. After freeing an imprisoned Mister Terrific, Green Lantern, and Plastic Man, three Dark Knights appeared and used Thanagar's Phoenix Cannon to fire Plastic Man at Earth's core, causing a chain reaction that will drag everything into the Dark Multiverse. He was imprisoned by the Dark Knights along with other heroes but was rescued by Wonder Woman to help battle the forces of Barbatos. The heroes won, but at the cost of the destruction of the Source Wall. Following the conclusion of No Justice, he rejoins the Justice League as its new chairman.
Powers and abilities
J'onzz possesses a wide variety of abilities native to the Green Martian race such as super-strength, nigh-invulnerability, superspeed, flight, regeneration, shapeshifting, intangibility, invisibility, telepathy, telekinesis, and heat vision.
Physical
The Martian Manhunter has shapeshifting abilities. He often takes the human disguise of Detective John Jones. He has often been shown to grow an extra pair of arms to supplement his fighting abilities and his strength, such as when he helped move 1/3 of the Earth with Superman and Wonder Woman, knocked out Shazam once, stopping a ship many times larger than the planet from colliding with Earth in tandem with Superman, and destroying the Moon whose gravity was increased a billionfold to the point it was tearing off the Earth's crust and ejecting every continent into the atmosphere. He can become stiff or malleable, as well as alter the size and length of limbs. He has elongated parts of himself into bladed weapons during combat. His density is also variable and changes as he wills it. He can use this ability to become intangible and move through objects or allow attacks to fly harmlessly through him or to become extremely dense and increase his invulnerability. J'onzz can also become invisible. In addition to these powers, he can fly and possesses super strength.
Psionic/mental/psychic and extrasensory
J'onn J'onzz is the most powerful telepath on Earth, being able to control and affect even the Spectre and Doctor Fate with his telepathy. Aquaman has stated that Martian Manhunter's telepathy exceeds even the telepathy of other members of the Martian race. He said that with J'onzz's great telepathic power, his own telepathy just "pings" off of him while, when Aquaman was in the presence of J'onzz's brother, Ma'alefa'ak, there was no such effect. J'onzz is capable of linking the minds of all superheroes at once from a distance of the Moon to all corners of Earth, even once scanning the entire galaxy to see if anyone was not experiencing a brief moment of transcendent bliss. He is also capable of reading the minds of all inhabitants of Earth at once. His telepathic abilities also allow him to create realistic illusions; telepathically trace and locate people; shut down people's minds; brain blast; mental shield; influence thoughts; mind control people; manipulate memory; astral projection; possession; induce sleep; reprogram or reorder minds; and transfer information directly into people's brains. Martian Manhunter's mind control capabilities have allowed him to mind control the Joker and make him temporarily sane, as well as mind controlling several White Martians at once. He is also capable of mentally shielding those around him from telepathic assault. His own mental defenses are so strong that he is able to telepathically shield himself from the combined might of several White Martians and from the Mageddon machinery. He has at times also demonstrated limited telekinetic abilities, though such showings are rare and often forgotten.
Enhanced Martian senses
J'onzz possesses "Martian vision" allowing his eyes to see across the electromagnetic spectrum, including X-ray vision. He can also project energy beams, known as "Martian beams", the exact effects of which have varied in different decades from incendiary effects to concussive impacts to disintegration. J'onzz also has nine senses compared to humans, giving him clearer and more numerous perceptions.
Natural skills and talents
Aside from his superpowered abilities as a Martian, J'onzz is also a very capable detective and sleuth. Due to his training as a Manhunter in Mars, he is also an expert tracker and hand-to-hand combatant, far above the average Martian, as he has been shown able to defeat many White Martians at once. As Batman mentions in his file, "in many ways, Martian Manhunter is like an amalgam of Superman and the Dark Knight himself".
Weakness and limitations
One of J'onzz's signature traits is his vulnerability to fire. Although it has been an element of the character since his earliest appearances, it has been depicted differently by writers throughout the character's long career.
In his earliest appearances, he was shown as having a weakness to fire while in his native Martian form. Over time, this was developed into pyrophobia, with fire being the Martian's "Achilles heel", equivalent to Superman's weakness to kryptonite. Exposure to fire typically causes J'onzz to lose his ability to maintain his physical form, so that he "melts" into a pool of writhing green plasma. One portrayal explained that the flame weakness was tied into Martian telepathy, with fire causing so much chaos in Martian minds that they collapse. It was revealed during the Trial By Fire storyline that the Martian weakness to fire is a built-in psychosomatic effect, placed in the Martian race long ago by the Guardians of the Universe to prevent them from reverting to a previous evolutionary state in which they were highly aggressive, on the verge of interstellar conquest, and in need of flames and the psychic suffering of others to reproduce. At the end of the arc, this weakness to mundane fire was removed, with J'onzz explaining that now only fires of "psychic significance" could harm him, such as flames of a magical or pyrokinetic nature, or even flames created by an arsonist.
During the Fernus storyline, Batman noted that Martian shapeshifting was an instantaneous reflex based around the psychic study of others, allowing J'onzz to adapt rapidly to any opponent's physiology or fighting style. Curiously, this aspect of his power puts him at a slight disadvantage when faced with Plastic Man, who is immune to telepathy and who has no set fighting style, but is instead described as "inspiration given form", a completely spontaneous and unpredictable being.
In The New 52, the weakness to fire is pyrophobia that is unique to him as a crippling anxiety, due to the trauma of witnessing the fiery death of his race, an explanation previously established in the 1988 Martian Manhunter miniseries. J'onzz himself notes that it is ridiculous that he is one of the most powerful beings alive and has such a simple weakness.
List of enemies
The following are enemies of Martian Manhunter:
Imperium – An alien who led an unnamed species responsible for wiping out almost all of the Martian race in the Justice League television series.
Bel Juz – A Green Martian who survived the fate of Mars and used her womanly wiles and devious mind to manipulate those around her. After her home world of Mars was rendered uninhabitable, Bel Juz fled to the planet Vonn with the remnants of her fellow Green Martians. Bel betrayed her people to the Thythen, invaders who had driven out all the known natives of Vonn. The Thythen employed cybernetics to enslave the Green Martians, then used their life-force to drive their Robo-Chargers. Only Bel Juz remained free among her group.
B'enn B'urnzz – A Martian criminal who was hiding on Earth in 2062 and then came back to the present time to wreak havoc.
Bette Noir – A hideous genetically engineered clone with telepathic powers. She often projects the illusion of being a beautiful woman.
B'rett – A Yellow Martian convict who escaped captivity to Earth by stowing away in an experimental missile that overshot its mark. He landed in Middletown, USA, where he immediately went on a destructive rampage. He carries a Martian Ray Gun that destroys most things it hits.
Cay'an – One of the few surviving Green Martians, Cay'an brainwashed a group of White Martians to attack Martian Manhunter.
Commander Blanx – The leader of the polar-dwelling White Martians, enemies of the desert-dwelling Green Martians. In Pre-Crisis continuity he caused the destruction of the Martian race.
Despero – A Justice League of America villain who murdered the parents of J'onzz's protégé Gypsy and his teammate Steel. J'onzz in turn is responsible for some of Despero's most humiliating defeats, leading to a strong mutual enmity between the two characters.
D'kay D'razz – A female Green Martian, D'kay was imprisoned on Mars by her fellow Green Martians because she conducted experiments on members of her kind whose minds were not open to the communal Martian telepathic mind. After the death of the Green Martians, she no longer had even the company of those who imprisoned her. D'kay goes insane as a result of the complete isolation until she was beamed to Earth by Dr. Erdel. Once on Earth, the assault of thoughts thrusts her into greater depths of insanity, and she attacks Dr. Erdel and his daughter, leaving her permanently scarred as D'kay escaped. In desperation, D'kay stole the identity of a human and completely erased all memory of her previous identity. J'onzz's death in Final Crisis put cracks in these telepathic memory blocks, but she did not regain her memories until J'onzz was resurrected in Blackest Night. D'kay is desperate to recreate the Martian race with J'onzz to the point where she even attempted to kill Miss Martian because she perceived a threat to her claim to J'onzz. D'Kay's body is distorted and includes an extra mouth at her torso which manifests from her broken mind. She has carved the Martian symbols of love and hate onto her body.
The Getaway King – a.k.a. the Getaway Mastermind; Monty Moran, a criminal scientist, uses futuristic gimmicks of his own design to help his gang make safe and spectacular getaways from crimes he has them commit. Martian Manhunter helps nab several members of his gang in two incidents. Then he trails a third unit of the gang to Moran's hideout, where he learns of the Getaway King's ultimate gimmick: a force-field. Using his powers invisibly, J’onzz herds Moran and the rest of his gang into the hands of the police.
The Headmaster – Real name: Thaddeus Romero Hoskins, an arrogant elitist born to a rich family, Hoskins graduated M.I.T. at the age of 15. However, Hoskins' social skills never developed properly, and he felt alienated by all around him. He feared mankind will die out if they stayed on Earth, becoming extinct like the dinosaurs. Hoskins was inspired to develop a robotic model for military application that consisted of an inhuman head attached to spidery legs. Dubbed a "Headman", it could decapitate enemy soldiers in the field and reanimate their bodies to act as cannon fodder for its controllers. Those in scientific circles, including John Henry Irons, were unaware of the robot moving beyond the theoretical stage. Later, Hoskins' body was discovered, his head detached by a laser, and his brain missing entirely. In a powerful new bipedal shell, Hoskins renamed himself the Headmaster, and set his master plan into motion. He re-purposed a former NORAD installation, dubbed the Ark, and designed as a nuclear bomb shelter. From here, the Headmaster set to work on a massive spaceship that could carry the finest examples of humanity off their home planet. In need of a work force to carry out the task, the Headmaster created an army of Headmen. He then sent them out to kill and commandeer the bodies of homeless people to construct his craft. The murders of two police officers, who stumbled upon one of Headmaster's victims under the control of a Headman, attracted the attention of Private Investigator John Jones—secretly Martian Manhunter. Using his shapeshifting abilities to assume the visage of a derelict, J'onzz staked out an alley until he was attacked by a Headman. After being wounded in a struggle with the device, Martian Manhunter took its remains to the JLA Watchtower for further study. With the aid of Steel and Oracle, the Manhunter located the Ark and its contents. The Headmaster met with J'Onzz, hoping to convince him of the merits of his plan, so that he would not lose precious time by abandoning the base. Dedicated to the preservation of all life, equally treasured, Martian Manhunter declared himself the Headmaster's implacable foe. A scuffle ensued, which ended with Martian Manhunter burying the Headmaster under his own spaceship. The damage Headmaster took deactivated his Headman, and pieces of his robotic armor were uncovered after an explosion leveled the Ark. It is unclear whether Hoskins' brain was still within the Headmaster body, or if he is perhaps still at large.
The Headmen – A robotic military group led by the Headmaster. The Headmen were spider-like robots created by Hoskins to do his bidding, with heads resembling the Headmaster's. Standing at roughly two feet tall, with long arachnid legs tipped with blades, the Headmen were controlled by human brains wiped clean and "reprogrammed". The Headmen were often assigned the task of decapitating derelicts, dipping their spiked limbs into their victim's chest cavity, and replacing their headspace with its own. The Headmen could then animated the deceased bodies to perform most motor functions. To facilitate this act, the Headmen were armed spectacularly. A laser beam emitted from their right ocular cavity could kill most people on contact, and were capable of momentarily blinding one of the most powerful superbeings on Earth. Their electronic eyes were further enhanced with thermal and radar imaging. The Headman robots were physically resistant to incredible amounts of damage, and were both quick and agile.
The Prophet – The ancient holy man K'rkzar traveled the known universe, to sit with instructors of every religion in his pursuit of the one spiritual truth. Long ago, he paid a visit to Mars, learning of their gods, such as H'ronmeer. Eventually, K'rkzar went into a centuries-long seclusion to process all he had absorbed from his quest. When his intended emergence to discuss his findings was announced, this causes the leaders of many organized religions in the universe to scream for his head. As luck would have it, J'onzz decided on that very moment in time to seek out K'rkzar in hopes he might have information about other survivors from Mars. He instead found himself one of K'rkzar's few defenders in the midst of a holy war. It was widely believed that K'rkzar's trusted disciple, fellow priest Bruaka, was the only being aware of K'rkzar's whereabouts. Martian Manhunter joined a small group of agents in taking Bruaka into protective custody, with legions of bloodthirsty zealots in pursuit. The reptilian church head Paral was a central figure in organizing "an unprecedented alliance of faiths... All for the sole purpose of destroying K'rkzar before he can spread his blasphemy across the universe!" As the Manhunter and his group consistently evaded these forces, Paral chose to unleash the power—and the wrath—of the Prophet! The Prophet spoke almost entirely in the scripture of his deity, Grud, as he matched Martian Manhunter blow for blow in battle upon asteroids in the vacuum of deep space. The Prophet was distracted when the ship he had been pursuing exploded in a kamikaze-style collision with the vessel of the fundamentalist's aides. This gave J'onzz both the hostility and the opportunity needed to overtake the Prophet, busting his scepter and throttling him unconscious. K'rkzar delivered his simple message of peace, and the Prophet has yet to reemerge.
The Human Flame – A villain who wore a special suit that allowed him to project fire. He was the first actual supervillain Martian Manhunter faced.
Kanto – Darkseid's master assassin, he fought J'onzz during the attack on Mars. The two have been bitter rivals ever since.
Ma'alefa'ak (also called Malefic) – The twin brother and archenemy of Martian Manhunter. He was created by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake. The character first appeared in Martian Manhunter vol. 2 #0 (October 1998). The twin brother of J'onzz, Ma'alefa'ak was the only member of the Martian race born without telepathy and a weakness to fire. Feeling ostracized because of his genetic differences, Ma'alefa'ak was the architect of an extinction-level event. This event was known as H’ronmeer's Curse. H’ronmeer's Curse was a plague of fire; this curse attacked Martians via their telepathic abilities. Whenever a Martian attempted to use their telepathic gifts or commune with the Great Mind, they would fall victim to the Curse, and ultimately burn to death. With the exception of Ma'alefa'ak's brother, J'onzz, and himself, nearly all Green Martians on the planet died as a result of Ma'alefa'ak's handiwork. For centuries, Ma'alefa'ak continued to live in the ruins of Mars, unaware that his brother had survived the plague, and had been transported through space and time to the planet Earth. Several years ago, Ma'alefa'ak learned of J'onzz's existence, and followed him back to Earth in an effort to complete the genocide of the Martian race, by destroying its last surviving son. Ma'alefa'ak has tried many times to finish his work and kill his brother J'onzz, but has not succeeded. Ma'alefa'ak has all the same powers as other Martians except for telepathy. Ma'alefa'ak also does not have the weakness to fire like other Martians do. He worships Darkseid as his god, in turn undermining the independence of Martian history, and helped to inspire the Anti-Life Equation that has cost countless lives.
The Marshal – Genetically altered to be the perfect Martian warrior, the Marshal towered over his soldiers. He tried to invade Earth.
The Master Gardener – The Master Gardener and his shapeshifting assistant the Lizard Man came to Earth during World War II, and took advantage of the terror and confusion of the time to infiltrate governments and communications cartels. They grew plants bearing fungus that bonded to the human nervous system, allowing them to control the very words they spoke under threat of spontaneous combustion.
Mister V – a.k.a. Faceless; leader of VULTURE.
Professor Arnold Hugo – An evil genius. Originally a Batman enemy, in his second appearance he fought J'onzz and went on to become his first recurring foe.
Robo-Chargers – Colossal, robotic beings who were designed for war, powered by the life force of living beings, and employed by the Thythen to police the planet Vonn. They are very strong, capable of moving at high speeds, and are covered in turrets called projectors, which fire disintegrating blasts.
Thythen – The Thythen were warmongers, "engaged in a cosmic struggle with their neighbors". According to writing found on a tablet and translated by J'onzz within the Alien Arsenal, the Thythen invaded the planet Vonn, and preyed upon the native people there. To escape the Thythen, this people abandoned their world and "broadcast" themselves to a distant solar system. Three members of the Thythen, an "unholy trinity", remained on Vonn to "charge their Robo-Chargers" with the remaining inhabitants life-force. These victims included a group of Green Martians, who had survived Mars' devastation and found their way to Vonn. The Thythen camp was located in the west, where their domed headquarters and the girders that held the Robo-Chargers' "batteries" could be seen from afar. The Thythen seemed to have no compunctions about exploiting the life energies of their prisoners while treating them inhumanely. They also encouraged the traitorous Bel Juz to lure others into a trap to expand their herd. Of the three Thythen on Vonn, two were disintegrated by their own Robo-Chargers after they were taken over by the minds of the Martians. The third traveled from Vonn in the Alien Arsenal before being defeated by Superman. How this Thythen was managed afterward is unknown.
TOR – The ghost of a robot criminal from Mars. Martian scientists, among them J'onzz, constructed a nigh indestructible robot of vast strength and intellect to serve their planet "forever". J'onzz was apprehensive about the result, and rightly so, when a fellow scientist accidentally fed a master criminal thought-control card into the TOR control board. TOR's mechanical brain quickly absorbed its crime facts via a remote electronic connection, and the robot began to function as a violent criminal. TOR proceeded to ravage Mars, its appetite for material possessions and the general rule implacable. Unable to reason with TOR or damage it with Martian weapons, J'onzz devised a plan to use the robot's greed against it. TOR was lured onto a rocket ship with the false rumor of riches within, and blasted off to the dead planet of Turas. There it discovered that the solar dust on the planet would slowly destroy even its impressive being. Through unknown means, TOR eventually learned of J'onzz's own exile to Earth. TOR spent months developing machines that would allow it to mentally control an Earthling, as well as somehow make the host immune to harm. TOR succeeded in taking control of the gangster Marty Kirk, just 24 hours before TOR's fated destruction, and set upon a campaign of revenge. Despite TOR's best efforts in Kirk's body, J'onzz managed to elude the robot until its remaining 24 hours were nearly up. TOR made a last-ditch effort to ruin J'onzz by revealing his presence to his adopted world, but J'onzz set a fire that led to TOR's exorcism from Kirk.
VULTURE – An international crime syndicate whom J'onzz infiltrated for some time before finally destroying them.
The White Martians – A warlike offshoot of the Martian race. They are a polar-dwelling race, and enemies of the desert-dwelling Green Martians.
The Yellow Martians – Another offshoot of the Martian race about which nothing is currently known.
Other versions
Within the publications of DC Comics, many alternate versions of the characters have appeared. Some of those have appeared in stories that set within the shared fictional DC Universe and others in self-contained stories.
Those alternative versions have appeared in a range of genres and time periods and many appear in Elseworlds stories featuring a Justice League, including JLA: The Nail, JLA: Act of God, Justice Riders, the fantasy-themed League of Justice, the World War II-set JSA: The Liberty Files, and John Arcudi's dark JLA: Destiny which features a world without Superman or Batman. Other notable stories provide a more pessimistic future for the character.
Earth-22: "Kingdom Come"
Kingdom Come features a J'onzz mentally shattered from his attempts to understand humanity by attempting to open his mind to all human thoughts at once. He is now apparently stuck in his human form, demonstrating no flight or superhuman strength and possesses no apparent control over his phasing abilities; requiring Batman to hold up his coffee cup as his hands pass through it. He is shown to still possess some limited control over his remaining telepathy and at Batman's request makes a mind scan of Captain Marvel, the effort of which is shown to very nearly overwhelm him. Despite showing a willingness to stay and continue aiding Batman in his cause, Batman tells him to go and rest, saying he has earned it more than any other of the original Justice League members.
DC One Million
In the (Grant Morrison-penned series), (DC One Million), a version of the character is shown merging with Mars and turning it into a home for humanity and other races, with J'onn surviving into the 853rd century while merged with the planet's dust.
Earth-3
On Earth-3, the Crime Society of America exists, with a monstrous version of J'onzz showcased.
When it came to The New 52 during the "Forever Evil" storyline, Pandora was transported to Earth 3 upon the Crime Syndicate arriving on Prime-Earth. She has an encounter with Earth 3's Martian Manhunter who is badly injured and begs to know whether the rest of the Crime Syndicate made it through the portal. The Crime Syndicate had left him behind so that his wounds wouldn't slow them down. They were seeking another world after their world was destroyed. They knew there was another universe waiting to be conquered. Horrified, Pandora demands to know how she can get back to prevent that conquest, but the Earth 3 Martian Manhunter dies in her arms.
Antimatter Universe
In the Antimatter Universe where that universe's version of the Crime Syndicate resided as seen in JLA: Earth-2, Martian Manhunter's antimatter reality counterpart is a White Martian and was Ultraman's chief rival until Ultraman killed him.
Earth-10: "The Martian"
In Grant Morrison's Multiversity series, there is an alternate Martian Manhunter visible within the "New Reichsmen", the "Justice League" analogues on this Nazi-dominated alternate Earth. Although "the Martian" is mentioned in passing and appears in several ensemble scenes, he has no dialogue. It is uncertain whether this is therefore J'onzz, or another Green Martian. Moreover, Nazi Germany has colonized the Moon and Mars in this alternate universe.
Earth-17: Post-Apocalyptic
Similarly to the above, on the current New 52 Earth-17, ravaged by nuclear war in 1963, an angular bodied radiation-suited character with the same coloration and original elongated cranium has appeared, apparently analogous to Martian Manhunter, but again, this character has no dialogue.
Earth-21: New Frontier
In the alternate New 52 Earth known as Earth-21, an idyllic Silver Age version of the 1960s prevails, where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was not assassinated in 1963, and an analogue Justice League exists, with a Martian Manhunter as one of its members, although troubled by US anti-communism and xenophobia in this Cold War historical context.
Earth-29: Bizarro Universe
Although this New 52 alternate universe centers on Earth-29 (the cuboid Htrae), there is also an overpopulated Sram in this universe. Therefore, its Bizarro-J'onzz is known as the "Sramian Snitch".
Earth-32: Super-Martian
On this alternate Earth, Super-Martian contains attributes of Superman and Martian Manhunter both. He is a member of the Justice Titans of America, alongside other amalgamated metahumans.
Earth-42: Little League
In this New 52 universe, the "Little League" are diminutive robotic analogues of Earth-0's Justice League, including a miniature replica of J'onzz.
Earth-50: Justice Lords
On this penultimate New 52 alternate Earth, Martian Manhunter is a member of Superman's repressive authoritarian Justice League global tyrants, the "Justice Lords".
Countdown to Adventure
Countdown to Adventure #1 depicts the Forerunner planet, in an alternate universe (Earth-48) where the races of the planets and dwarf planets in the universe conquer Earth; the leader of the Martian army and populace is General J'onzz. Given the re-calibration of Earth-48 within the New 52 DC Multiverse, it is unclear whether that alternate Martian Manhunter still exists.
The Dark Knight Strikes Again
Frank Miller's dystopian The Dark Knight Strikes Again has a powerless alcoholic J'onzz, his powers lost due to nanites in his brain hindering his abilities, murdered by Joker/Dick Grayson using fire.
Flashpoint
In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, J'onzz was teleported to Earth and held captive in one of the Outsider's research facilities. After studying and torturing J'onzz, the Outsider then sold him to the Russian government, after which J'onzz attacked them and took over the country. He disguises himself as Blackout for undercover work against the Outsider. After a confrontation with the Outsider, J'onzz's cover was blown when the Outsider tells him that Blackout has no skill. During the battle, Outsider used the recovered teleportation technology device to trap J'onzz. The Outsider then threatened J'onzz to tell him about any future assassins; when J'onzz refuses, the Outsider closed the teleport, cutting J'onzz in half and killing him.
Homages, pastiches and parodies
The Martian Anteater – a member of the Just'a Lotta Animals
Jack from Jupiter – a member of the Seven in the Garth Ennis series, The Boys
Mr. Martian / CH'kk Kk'xx / Chuck Cox from Big Bang Comics
Martian Man of the Guardians of the Globe and Shapesmith, both from the Invincible series.
Vigilante from Venus – a female character from Top Ten
Skrullian Skymaster of the Squadron Supreme from Marvel Comics
Pseudo, a shapeshifting alien telepath and member of the Freedom League from Mutants & Masterminds
Stalker of Stormwatch
Mark Markz from Jeff Lemire's Black Hammer
In other media
Television
Live-action
J'onn J'onzz appears in Justice League of America, portrayed by David Ogden Stiers. This version only displays shapeshifting capabilities, which he experiences difficulty with, being able to impersonate others for a short period of time.
Martian Manhunter appears in Smallville, portrayed by Phil Morris. This version is an old friend of Jor-El who came to Earth to monitor Kal-El and assist him when necessary. After losing his powers in the eighth season, Manhunter joins the Metropolis Police Department before Doctor Fate helps him restore his powers in the ninth season.
Martian Manhunter appears in media set in the Arrowverse, portrayed by David Harewood.
First appearing in the TV series Supergirl, this version lived on Earth for 50 years as an alien refugee, operates under the guise of Hank Henshaw, who seemingly died in a failed attempt to kill him, and became the director of the Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO). Despite eventually being forced to reveal his identity, J'onzz continues to use Henshaw's form to facilitate human interactions.
Manhunter also appears in the TV series The Flash episode "Duet" and the crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths".
Animation
J'onn J'onzz appears in series set in the DC Animated Universe (DCAU), voiced by Carl Lumbly. This version has a South African accent and was rendered the last surviving Martian after the species was killed in an extended war with the alien Imperium.
J'onzz first appears in Justice League as a founding member of the eponymous team.
J'onzz appears in the Static Shock two-part episode "A League of Their Own".
J'onzz appears in Justice League Unlimited, in which he serves as the expanded League's mission coordinator before temporarily leaving them in the third season to explore Earth. As of the series finale "Destroyer", he settled down in China and married a human woman, whom he told his secret identity, before rejoining the League to repel Darkseid's invasion of Earth.
Martian Manhunter appears in The Batman, voiced by Dorian Harewood. This version personally recruited Batman into the Justice League.
Martian Manhunter appears in Young Justice, voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson. This version is not the last of his kind, a member of the Justice League, and uncle of Miss Martian.
Martian Manhunter appears in Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced by Nicholas Guest. This version is a member of Justice League International.
Martian Manhunter appears in Mad, voiced by Gary Anthony Williams.
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League Action, voiced by Crispin Freeman.
Film
Live-action
Martian Manhunter was meant to appear in George Miller's unproduced film Justice League: Mortal, portrayed by Hugh Keays-Byrne.
Martian Manhunter appears in films set in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), portrayed by Harry Lennix.
In a series of comments made by director Zack Snyder on his social media page, he responded to a fan theory that Lennix's character from Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, General, later Secretary of Defense, Calvin Swanwick, was actually J'onn J'onzz / Martian Manhunter; stating that it is a theory that he would consider. Lennix himself later stated that though he was not playing the character as Martian Manhunter, "someone else" had wanted him to be the character in a future film.
Snyder later stated on Vero that Swanwick was going to be Martian Manhunter in the original cut of Justice League, but the scene was not completed before he left the project.
Lennix reprised his role as Swanwick / Martian Manhunter in Zack Snyder's Justice League.
Animation
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League: The New Frontier, voiced by Miguel Ferrer. This version is teleported to Earth from Mars during the 1950s and adopted a human disguise to avoid detection from the U.S. government. While accomplishing the latter, he became a detective for the Gotham City Police Department.
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths, voiced by Jonathan Adams. This version is a member of the Justice League. Additionally, an alternate universe version named J'edd J'arkus makes a cameo appearance as a boss of the Crime Syndicate.
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League: Doom, voiced again by Carl Lumbly. This version is a member of the Justice League.
Martian Manhunter appears in Lego Batman: The Movie - DC Super Heroes Unite, voiced by Cam Clarke.
Martian Manhunter appears in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Attack of the Legion of Doom, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker.
Martian Manhunter makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Justice League: Cosmic Clash.
Martian Manhunter appears in films set in the DC Animated Movie Universe (DCAMU):
He makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in Justice League Dark as a member of the Justice League.
Manhunter appears in The Death of Superman and Reign of the Supermen, voiced by Nyambi Nyambi.
Manhunter makes a non-speaking appearance in Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.
Martian Manhunter appears in The Lego Batman Movie.
Martian Manhunter appears in Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold, voiced again by Nicholas Guest.
Martian Manhunter makes a cameo appearance in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
Martian Manhunter makes a non-speaking appearance in Batman and Superman: Battle of the Super Sons.
Martian Manhunter appears in films set in the Tomorrowverse, voiced by Ike Amadi:
In Superman: Man of Tomorrow, Manhunter is introduced as an initially mysterious figure who knows of Superman's Kryptonian history and helps him fight Parasite and Lobo.
Manhunter appears in Green Lantern: Beware My Power as a member of the Justice League.
Manhunter appears in Justice League: Warworld, where he is captured by Mongul and used to create psychic illusions to keep the latter's captors in line. Eventually, he escapes and destroys Warworld using a bomb created by the alien Largas, seemingly dying in the process.
Video games
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in Justice League Heroes, voiced by Daniel Riordan.
Martian Manhunter appears as a non-playable character (NPC) in Justice League Heroes: The Flash.
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League: Injustice for All.
Martian Manhunter appears in Justice League: Chronicles.
Martian Manhunter appears as a NPC in DC Universe Online, voiced by Dwight Schultz.
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in Infinite Crisis, voiced again by Carl Lumbly.
Martian Manhunter appears in Injustice: Gods Among Us, voiced again by Carl Lumbly. He initially appears as a background NPC in the Watchtower stage and a support card in the mobile version before appearing as a playable character in the main version via DLC. Additionally, an alternate universe version appears in the story mode disguised as an Atlantean and Aquaman's royal archivist (voiced by Alan Tudyk).
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in DC Unchained.
Lego
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, voiced by Cam Clarke. This version is a member of the Justice League.
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, voiced again by Ike Amadi.
Martian Manhunter appears as a playable character in Lego DC Super-Villains, voiced again by Ike Amadi.
Merchandise
The Arrowverse and Young Justice incarnations of Martian Manhunter received figures in Mattel's "DC Multiverse" line.
Miscellaneous
J'onn J'onzz appears in the novel The Last Days of Krypton, by Kevin Anderson.
J'onn J'onzz appears in the novel DC Universe: Last Sons, by Alan Grant. He joins forces with Superman and Lobo to survive a group of hunters seeking to destroy all life while preserving one last specimen of each species.
Martian Manhunter appears in Legion of Super Heroes in the 31st Century #11.
The Injustice incarnation of Martian Manhunter appears in the Injustice: Gods Among Us prequel comic. After the Joker destroys Metropolis and Superman murders him, among other supervillains, Manhunter joins Batman's Insurgency and assumes the captured Hawkgirl's place in Superman's growing Regime to serve as a mole until he is eventually forced to expose himself and release Hawkgirl to help Batman escape the Regime find him. Confronting Superman, Manhunter questions his actions, comparing him to the White Martians who took over Mars. Wonder Woman intervenes, but J'onzz uses his shapeshifting powers to attack her from the inside until Superman uses his heat vision to burn him out of Wonder Woman, seemingly killing him.
Reception
IGN ranked Martian Manhunter as the 43rd greatest comic book hero of all time.
Collected editions
See also
Miss Martian
Jemm
Faceless Hunters
One Year Later
White Martian
Yellow Martian
John Carter of Mars
Notes
References
External links
Martian Manhunter at the DC Database Project
Martian Manhunter's secret origin on dccomics.com
J'onn J'onzz, Manhunter from Mars at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. Archived from the original on February 13, 2016.
Characters created by Joseph Samachson
Comics characters introduced in 1955
Comics by John Ostrander
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DC Comics characters who have mental powers
DC Comics characters with accelerated healing
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan%20Clark
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Alan Clark
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Alan Kenneth Mackenzie Clark (13 April 1928 – 5 September 1999) was a British Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), author and diarist. He served as a junior minister in Margaret Thatcher's governments at the Departments of Employment, Trade and Defence. He became a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 1991.
He was the author of several books of military history, including his controversial work The Donkeys (1961), which inspired the musical satire Oh, What a Lovely War!
Clark became known for his flamboyance, wit, irreverence and keen support of animal rights. Norman Lamont called him "the most politically incorrect, outspoken, iconoclastic and reckless politician of our times". His three-volume Alan Clark Diaries contains a candid account of political life under Thatcher and a moving description of the weeks preceding his death, which he continued to write until he could no longer focus on the page.
Early life
Alan Clark was born at 55 Lancaster Gate, London, the elder son of art historian Kenneth Clark (later Lord Clark), who was of Scottish parentage, and his wife Elizabeth Winifred Clark (née Martin), who was Irish. His sister and brother, fraternal twins Colette (known as Celly) and Colin, were born in 1932. At the age of six he began as a day boy at Egerton House, a preparatory school in Marylebone, and from there at the age of nine went on as a boarder to St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne. Clark was one of the seventy boys rescued when the school building was destroyed by fire in May 1939. He was relocated with the school to Midhurst.
In September 1940, with the Luftwaffe threatening south-east England, the Clarks moved their son to a safer location at Cheltenham College Junior School. From there he went to Eton in January 1942. In February 1946 while at Eton he joined the Territorial training regiment of the Household Cavalry based at Windsor, but was discharged in August when he had left Eton. He then went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he read Modern History under Hugh Trevor-Roper, obtaining a third-class honours degree. As an undergrate he was a member of the Bullingdon Club a private all-male dining club known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club selects its members not only on the grounds of wealth and willingness to participate but also by means of education. After Oxford he wrote articles for the motoring press before he went on to read for the bar. He was called to the bar in 1955 but did not practise law. Instead, he began privately studying military history with a view to professional writing on the topic.
Military history
Clark's first book, The Donkeys (1961), was a revisionist history of the British Expeditionary Force's (BEF) campaigns at the beginning of the First World War. The book covers Western Front operations during 1915, including the offensives at Neuve Chapelle, Aubers Ridge and Loos, and ending with the enforced resignation of Sir John French as commander-in-chief of the BEF, and his replacement by Douglas Haig. Clark describes the battle scenes, and criticises the actions of several of the generals involved in the heavy loss of life that occurred. Much of the book is based on the political manoeuvres behind the scenes as commanders jostled for influence, and John French's difficulties dealing with his French allies and with Lord Kitchener. Haig's own diaries are used to demonstrate how Haig positioned himself to take over command. The publication sold well, and is still in print 50 years after its first print run, being regarded as an important work on the British experience of the World War.
The book's title was drawn from the expression "Lions led by donkeys" which has been widely used to compare British soldiers with their commanders. In 1921 Princess Evelyn Blücher published her memoirs, which attributed the phrase to OHL (the German GHQ) in 1918. Clark was unable to find the origin of the expression. He prefaced the book with a supposed dialogue between two generals and attributed the dialogue to the memoirs of German general Erich von Falkenhayn. Clark was equivocal about the source for the dialogue for many years, but in 2007, his friend Euan Graham recalled a conversation in the mid-1960s when Clark, on being challenged as to the dialogue's provenance, looked sheepish and said, "Well I invented it." This supposed invention emboldened critics of The Donkeys to condemn the work.
Clark's choice of subject was strongly influenced by Lord Lee of Fareham, a family friend who had never forgotten what he saw as the shambles of the BEF. In developing his work, Clark became close friends with historian Basil Liddell Hart, who acted as his mentor. Liddell Hart read the drafts and was concerned by Clark's "intermittent carelessness". He produced several lists of corrections, which were incorporated, and wrote "It is a fine piece of writing, and often brilliantly penetrating."
Even before publication, Clark's work came under attack from supporters of Haig, including the field marshal's son and historians John Terraine, Robert Blake and Hugh Trevor-Roper, former tutor to Clark, who was married to Haig's daughter. On publication, The Donkeys received very supportive comments from Lord Beaverbrook, who recommended the work to Winston Churchill, and The Times printed a positive review. However, John Terraine and A. J. P. Taylor wrote damning reviews and historian Michael Howard wrote "As history, it is worthless", criticising its "slovenly scholarship". Howard nonetheless commended its readability and noted that descriptions of battles and battlefields are "sometimes masterly". Field Marshal Montgomery later told Clark it was "A Dreadful Tale: You have done a good job in exposing the total failure of the generalship".
In more recent years, the work has been criticised by some historians for being one-sided in its treatment of World War One generals. Brian Bond, in editing a 1991 collection of essays on First World War history, expressed the collective desire of the authors to move beyond "popular stereotypes of The Donkeys" while also acknowledging that serious leadership mistakes were made and that the authors would do little to rehabilitate the reputations of, for instance, the senior commanders on The Somme.
The historian Peter Simkins complained that it was frustratingly difficult to counter Clark's prevailing view. Professor Richard Holmes made a similar complaint, writing that "Alan Clark's The Donkeys, for all its verve and amusing narrative, added a streak of pure deception to the writings of the First World War. Its title is based on 'Lions led by Donkeys'. Sadly for historical accuracy, there is no evidence whatever for this; none. Not a jot or scintilla. The real problem is that such histories have sold well and continue to do so. They reinforce historical myth by delivering to the reader exactly what they expect to read". Clark's work was described as "contemptible" by Henry Paget, 7th Marquess of Anglesey who regarded Clark as the most arrogant and least respectable writer on the War, but the impartiality of this view may have been overshadowed by the fact that Anglesey's own history of the British Cavalry had been reviewed by Clark with the comments "cavalry are nearly always a disaster, a waste of space and resources." Graham Stewart, Clark's researcher for a later political history that he would write entitled The Tories, noted: "Alan wasn't beyond quoting people selectively to make them look bad".
Clark went on to publish several more works of military history through the 1960s, including Barbarossa in 1965 examining the Operation Barbarossa offensive of the Second World War; he also tried his hand at novel writing, but none of the subsequent books were as commercially successful or drew the same attention as The Donkeys had achieved, and he abandoned the path of military history in the mid-1970s to pursue a professional career in national politics.
Political career
Completely opposed to the Common Market, Clark joined the Conservative Monday Club in 1968 and was soon Chairman of its Wiltshire branch. In 1971 he was blacklisted by Conservative Party Central Office for being too right-wing, but after representations by him, and others, he was removed from the blacklist.
He unsuccessfully sought the Conservative selection for Weston super-Mare in 1970, missing out to Jerry Wiggin. He subsequently became MP for Plymouth Sutton at the February 1974 general election with a majority of 8,104, when Harold Wilson took over from Edward Heath as prime minister of a minority Labour government. At the General Election in October 1974, when Labour gained a small overall majority, Clark's vote fell by 1,192 votes, but he still had a comfortable majority with 5,188. His first five years in parliament were spent on the Conservative opposition benches. He was still a member of the Monday Club in May 1975. It is unclear when he let his membership of the club lapse, but possibly it was upon becoming a government minister. He continued to address Club events until 1992.
During the subsequent Party leadership contest he was urged by Airey Neave to vote for Margaret Thatcher, but he is thought to have favoured Willie Whitelaw. The following year came the free vote on the Common Market and Clark, praising Enoch Powell's speech, voted against. The next day he told the socialist MP Dennis Skinner that "I'd rather live in a socialist Britain than one ruled by a lot of foreigners." Although he was personally liked by Margaret Thatcher, for whom he had great admiration, and the columnist George Hutchinson (who, writing in The Times, tipped him for inclusion in the Shadow Cabinet), Clark was never promoted to the cabinet, remaining in mid-ranking ministerial positions during the 1980s.
Clark received his first ministerial posting as a Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department of Employment in 1983, where he was responsible for moving the approval of regulations relating to equal pay in the House of Commons. His speech in 1983 followed a wine-tasting dinner with his friend of many years standing, Christopher Selmes. Irritated by what he regarded as a bureaucratically written civil-service speech, he galloped through the script, skipping over pages of text. The then-opposition MP Clare Short stood up on a point of order and, after acknowledging that MPs cannot formally accuse each other of being drunk in the House of Commons, accused him of being "incapable", a euphemism for drunk. Although the Government benches were furious at the accusation, Clark later admitted in his diaries that the wine-tasting had affected him. To date, he is the only Member of Parliament to have been accused in the House of Commons of being drunk at the despatch box.
In 1986, Clark was promoted to Minister for Trade at the Department of Trade and Industry. It was during this time that he became involved with the issue of export licences to Iraq, the Matrix-Churchill affair. In 1989, he became Minister for Defence Procurement at the Ministry of Defence.
Clark left Parliament in 1992 following Margaret Thatcher's fall from power. His admission during the Matrix Churchill trial that he had been "economical with the actualité" in answer to parliamentary questions about what he knew with regard to arms export licences to Iraq, caused the collapse of the trial and the establishment of the Scott Inquiry, which helped undermine John Major's government.
Clark became bored with life outside politics and returned to Parliament as member for Kensington and Chelsea in the election of 1997, becoming critical of NATO's campaign in the Balkans.
Clark held strong views on British unionism, racial difference, social class, and was in support of animal rights, nationalist protectionism and Euroscepticism. He referred to Enoch Powell as "The Prophet". Clark once declared: "It is natural to be proud of your race and your country", and in a departmental meeting, allegedly referred to Africa as "Bongo Bongo Land". When called to account, however, Clark denied the comment had any racist overtones, claiming it had simply been a reference to the President of Gabon, Omar Bongo.
Clark argued that the media and the government failed to pick out the racism towards white people and ignored any racist attacks on white people. He also, however, described the National Front chairman, John Tyndall, as "a bit of a blockhead" and disavowed his ideas.
When Clark was Minister for Trade, responsible for overseeing arms sales to foreign governments, he was interviewed by journalist John Pilger who asked him:
JP "Did it bother you personally that this British equipment was causing such mayhem and human suffering (by supplying arms for Indonesia's war in East Timor)?"
AC "No, not in the slightest, it never entered my head. You tell me that this was happening, I didn't hear about it or know about it."
JP "Well, even if I hadn't told you it was happening, the fact that we supply highly effective equipment to a regime like that is not a consideration, as far as you're concerned. It's not a personal consideration. I ask the question because I read you are a vegetarian and you are quite seriously concerned about the way animals are killed."
AC "Yeah."
JP "Doesn’t that concern extend to the way humans, albeit foreigners, are killed?"
AC "Curiously not. No."
Clark was a passionate supporter of animal rights, joining activists in demonstrations at Dover against live export, and outside the House of Commons in support of Animal Liberation Front hunger-striker Barry Horne.
Diaries
Clark published the first volume of his political and personal diaries in 1993, which caused a minor embarrassment at the time with their descriptions of senior Conservative politicians such as Michael Heseltine, Douglas Hurd, and Kenneth Clarke. He quoted Michael Jopling – referring to Heseltine, deputy PM at the time – as saying "The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy all his furniture" and judged it "Snobby, but cutting". Two subsequent volumes of his diaries cover the earlier and later parts of Clark's parliamentary career. The diaries reveal recurring worries about Japanese militarism but his real views are often not clear because he enjoyed making "tongue in cheek" remarks to the discomfiture of those he believed to be fools, as in his sympathy for a British version of National Socialism.
Personal life
In 1958, Clark, aged 30, married 16-year-old (Caroline) Jane, daughter of Colonel Leslie Brindley Bream Beuttler OBE of the Duke of Wellington's Regiment and a descendant on her mother's side of the Scottish ornithologist William Robert Ogilvie-Grant, grandson of the 6th Earl of Seafield. They were married for 41 years and had two sons:
James Alasdair Kenneth Clark (born 1960, died 15 August 2019)
Andrew McKenzie Clark (born 1962)
His elder son James (who lived in Eriboll, a Scottish estate) died of a brain tumour on 15 August 2019, aged 59.
While involved in the Matrix Churchill trial he was cited in a divorce case in South Africa, in which it was revealed he had had affairs with Valerie Harkess, the wife of a South African barrister, and her daughters, Josephine and Alison. After sensationalist tabloid headlines, Clark's wife Jane remarked upon what Clark had called "the coven" with the line: "Well, what do you expect when you sleep with below-stairs types?" She referred to her husband as an "S, H, one, T".
Death
Clark died at Saltwood Castle on 5 September 1999, aged 71, after suffering from a brain tumour. His body was buried in the grounds of the castle. Upon his death, his family said Clark wanted it to be stated that he had "gone to join Tom and the other dogs."
Media
In 1993 Clark gave a half-hour Opinions lecture, televised by Channel 4, of which he said in his diary: "It was good. Clear, assured, moving. I looked compos and in my 'prime'. Many people saw it. All were enthusiastic. Today acres of coverage in The Times." In 1997 Clark presented a four-part series for the BBC entitled Alan Clark's History of the Tory Party.
In 2004, John Hurt portrayed Clark (and Jenny Agutter his wife Jane) in the BBC's The Alan Clark Diaries, reigniting some of the controversies surrounding their original publication and once again brought his name into the British press and media. An authorised biography of Alan Clark by Ion Trewin, the editor of his diaries, was published in September 2009.
See also
List of animal rights advocates
Publications
Bargains at Special Prices (1960).
Summer Season (1961).
The Donkeys: A History of the British Expeditionary Force in 1915 (1961).
The Fall of Crete (1963).
Barbarossa: The Russian-German Conflict, 1941–1945 (1965).
The Lion Heart: A Tale of the War in Vietnam (1969).
Suicide of the Empires (1971).
Aces High: The War in the Air over the Western Front 1914–1918 (1973).
Diaries (three volumes, 1972–1999):
Volume 1 Diaries: In Power 1983–1992 (1993).
Volume 2 Diaries: Into Politics 1972–1982 (2000).
Volume 3 Diaries: The Last Diaries 1993–1999 (2002).
The Tories: Conservatives and the Nation State 1922–1997 (1998).
Backfire: A Passion for Cars and Motoring (2001).
Notes
References
External links
Alan Clark (Daily Telegraph obituary).
BBC: The Alan Clark I knew
BBC Drama: The Alan Clark Diaries
Guardian obituary
Channel 4 biography
Appearance on Desert Island Discs 25 August 1995
1928 births
1999 deaths
20th-century English diarists
20th-century English historians
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford
British military historians
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Deaths from brain cancer in England
English animal rights activists
English people of Irish descent
English people of Scottish descent
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at Eton College
People educated at St Cyprian's School
UK MPs 1974
UK MPs 1974–1979
UK MPs 1979–1983
UK MPs 1983–1987
UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1997–2001
Sons of life peers
Writers from London
People from the City of Westminster
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas%20Alexander
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Douglas Alexander
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Douglas Garven Alexander (born 26 October 1967) is a Labour politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley and Renfrewshire South, previously Paisley South, from 1997 until his defeat in 2015. During this time, he served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Scottish Secretary, Transport Secretary and International Development Secretary in the Cabinet under Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. He subsequently served in Ed Miliband's Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions and Shadow Foreign Secretary.
Alexander was first elected to Parliament in the Paisley South by-election in 1997. In 2001, he was appointed by Tony Blair as Minister of State for and Competitiveness in the Department of Trade and Industry. He was Minister of State for the Cabinet Office from 2002 to 2003. In 2003, he was promoted to Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. In 2004, he was appointed Minister of State for Trade, serving jointly in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) and in the Department of Trade and Industry.
At the 2005 general election, the Paisley South constituency was abolished and Alexander was elected to represent its successor seat of Paisley and Renfrewshire South. Following the election, Alexander was appointed Minister of State for Europe. During this period, Alexander attended Cabinet and was made a member of the Privy council. In 2006, Alexander was appointed to serve jointly as both Secretary of State for Scotland and Secretary of State for Transport. In 2007, when Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, he appointed Alexander as Secretary of State for International Development.
After Labour lost the 2010 general election Alexander co-chaired David Miliband's leadership campaign. When Ed Miliband became the party's leader, Alexander was elected to the Shadow cabinet and was made the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He held this position until a 2011 reshuffle, when he was appointed Shadow Foreign Secretary. In October 2013, he was appointed by Miliband as the party's Chair of General Election Strategy. In 2015, his was among the 40 seats lost by Labour in Scotland.
In December 2022, Alexander sought out a return to parliament by applying to be Labour’s parliamentary candidate for East Lothian in the next general election, the party’s #1 target seat in Scotland, which is currently held by the Alba Party’s Kenny MacAskill, who was elected for the SNP. He won the selection to stand for Labour in the constituency in February 2023.
Early life and career
Alexander was born in Glasgow, the son of Joyce O. Alexander and Douglas N. Alexander, a Church of Scotland minister. Much of his childhood was spent in Bishopton in Renfrewshire. Alexander attended his local comprehensive school Park Mains High School in Erskine, also in Renfrewshire, from where he joined the Labour Party as a schoolboy in 1982.
In 1984 he won a Scottish scholarship to attend Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific in Canada, where he gained the International Baccalaureate Diploma, returning to Scotland to study politics and modern history at the University of Edinburgh. He spent 1988/89, the third of his four undergraduate years, at the University of Pennsylvania as part of the exchange scheme between the two universities. When studying in America, he worked for Michael Dukakis during the 1988 American presidential election campaign, and also worked for a Democratic senator in Washington DC. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with a first-class degree in 1990.
In 1990, Douglas worked as a speech writer and parliamentary researcher for Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary Gordon Brown. He returned to Edinburgh to study for an LLB at the University of Edinburgh, where he won the Novice Moot Trophy and graduated with distinction in 1993. He then qualified as a Scottish solicitor. On qualifying as a solicitor he worked for a firm of solicitors in Edinburgh that provided legal services to Trade Union members and specialised in industrial injury cases.
Political career
Perth and Kinross
Whilst still studying in 1995 and with friends in the local Constituency Labour Party and the backing of his mentor shadow chancellor Gordon Brown, he was selected to be The Labour Party in Scotland candidate at the Perth and Kinross by-election caused by the death of the Conservative MP Nicholas Fairbairn. The by-election in the highly volatile Tory seat of Perth and Kinross came in the middle of the John Major government and was won by Roseanna Cunningham of the Scottish National Party, but Alexander received enough votes to push the Conservative candidate into third place. It was a seat where Labour had never previously done particularly well, and the result, which saw Labour overtake the Conservatives and move up to second place, broke several post war election records. This brought him to the attention of party leader Tony Blair, and shortly after his defeat by the SNP he was welcomed at The Labour Party in Scotland Conference in the Eden Court Theatre in Inverness where he spoke immediately before Blair in the critical debate on abolition of Clause 4.4 of the Labour Party Constitution.
When the Perth and Kinross constituency was abolished, Alexander was chosen to be the Labour candidate in the newly drawn Perth constituency at the 1997 general election. Once again Labour achieved a further swing with Alexander securing 24.8% share of the vote compared to 22.9% achieved during the by election, though pushed into third place.
Member of Parliament
On 28 July 1997, Gordon McMaster, the Labour Member of Parliament for Paisley South, committed suicide. Alexander, who grew up in Renfrewshire, was chosen to contest the by-election and he was duly elected to serve as the Member of Parliament for Paisley South on 6 November 1997. In June 2001 he was returned to Westminster with an increased majority. Following the General Election in May 2005 Douglas was re-elected, becoming MP for the new constituency of Paisley and Renfrewshire South, as well as promoted to Minister of State for Europe attending Cabinet at the Foreign Office. At the 2010 General Election Alexander was successfully re-elected as MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South with a majority of 13,232 votes. He lost his seat to 20-year-old Mhairi Black of the Scottish National Party at the General Election on 8 May 2015 with a swing against him of 26.9%.
Minister of state
Alexander took a successful co-ordinating role in his party's campaign for the 2001 general election. He was rewarded by Tony Blair and was appointed Minister of State for and Competitiveness at the Department of Trade and Industry in June 2001. In May 2002, Alexander was transferred to the Cabinet Office as Minister of State. As Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Alexander oversaw the work of the government's Strategy Unit, the Central Office of Information, and the Civil Service.
In June 2003 Alexander was promoted to Minister for the Cabinet Office and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and in September 2004 was moved to Minister of State for Trade at both the Department of Trade and Industry and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Cabinet minister
Following the 2005 general election, he was given the role of Minister of State for Europe, part of the Foreign Office, with special provision to attend Cabinet. During the United Kingdom’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union, he contributed directly to successful negotiations on agreement of the Multiannual Financial Framework. On 7 June 2005, he was made a Member of the Privy Council.
On 5 May 2006, he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport and, simultaneously, Secretary of State for Scotland, replacing Alistair Darling. On 10 August 2006, Alexander was helicoptered by the Royal Air Force from Scotland to London to join Home Secretary John Reid, in leading the UK Government’s response to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot and attend meetings of COBRA, the government emergencies committee. He worked with police, Intelligence Agencies, the Airlines and the US Department of Homeland Security.
During his time as Scottish Secretary, Alexander oversaw the running of the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. Following Gordon Brown's appointment as Prime Minister on 27 June 2007, he appointed Douglas Alexander as Secretary of State for International Development. During this time Alexander served as a governor of the World Bank, the African Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank the Caribbean Development Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
Election campaign roles
Alexander took a central role in the first Scottish Parliament elections in 1999 which saw Donald Dewar elected as the first First Minister of Scotland. Alexander is credited with devising the strategy for the campaign, including the successful 'Divorce is an Expensive Business' messaging unveiled at the Labour Party in Scotland Conference in Glasgow (March 1999). Labour secured 56 seats under the Proportional Representation system, nine short of an overall majority, and agreed to enter a coalition with the 17-strong Liberal Democrats to form the first Government in the newly established Scottish Parliament. Alexander also coordinated Labour’s successful 2001 General Election Campaign which resulted in another Labour landslide and the Party winning 413 of the 659 seats available: securing a 167-seat majority in the House of Commons. Alexander was appointed by Tony Blair to Labour’s National Executive Committee in 2003 and was appointed by Gordon Brown to be Labour’s General Election Coordinator for the 2010 general election campaign. This campaign saw the first televised Leaders' debates, and Alexander was part of the core team preparing Gordon Brown for each debate, as well as devising the strategy and messaging for the campaign across the UK which would ultimately deny David Cameron's Conservatives a Majority in May 2010. Later in that year Alexander accepted the role as co-chair of David Miliband's campaign for the leadership of the Labour party. He subsequently was Ed Miliband's chair of general election strategy for the Labour 2015 general election campaign.
Opposition to antisemitism
In September 2012 Alexander gave an interview to the Evening Standard newspaper criticising Ken Livingstone's election campaign and calling out anti-Semitic comments made by the former London Mayor. He said Livingstone paid the "deserved price" when he lost the London mayoral election. Alexander said: "Ken’s campaign too often looked like the past rather than the future and when I saw his remarks about the Jewish community in London in particular, I didn’t just think it was ill-advised, I thought it was wrong". Livingstone hit back on Twitter, saying the Shadow Foreign Secretary "represents a failed New Labour project that lost millions of votes". He also invited him to discuss the issue on his radio show.
Alexander has been a vocal critic of anti-Semitism within the Labour Party and is a supporting member of one of the oldest socialist societies affiliated to the Party: the Jewish Labour Movement. In 2011, Alexander was among the first to publicly condemn Paul Flynn, the Labour MP for Newport West for his comments regarding the religion of Britain's first Jewish ambassador to Israel. Alexander, who at the time was serving as Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary, said in response to Flynn's comments about Ambassador Matthew Gould that: "The faith of any British diplomat is irrelevant to their capability to their job. To make suggestions otherwise is wrong and offensive".
Public speeches
On 29 June 2010, five years after the Make Poverty History March in Edinburgh, Alexander gave a speech to the Labour Campaign for International Development about the progress made towards achieving the Gleneagles Summit Goals and on the future of International Development.
On 12 October 2011, Alexander delivered the Andrew John Williamson Memorial Lecture, at Stirling University. In his lecture entitled: "A Better Nation?" A Personal Reflection on Scotland's Future. Alexander explored the difference between the political ideologies of nationalism and socialism and outlined a strategy for Scottish Labour to reclaim the mantel of devolution and successfully defeat the campaign for Scottish separation.
On 17 January 2013 in a speech to the foreign policy think-tank Chatham House, Alexander outlined his support for the UK to remain a full member state of the European Union but would not support a federal United States of Europe.
On 3 May 2013, Alexander delivered the 4th Judith Hart Memorial Lecture for which he received a lot of media attention for addressing the issue of Scottish Independence ahead of the referendum to be held the following year. Alexander paid tribute to Judith Hart’s "strong sense of solidarity" advocating for Scotland to vote to remain part of the United Kingdom, saying: "Walking away from others has never been our way – walking with others has been our heritage and to my mind should be our future".
Expenses controversy
During the 2009 MP expenses scandal, Alexander was one of three Labour ministers who "quietly repaid more £50,000 in expenses". It emerged he had repaid more than £12,000 that he had previously claimed in expenses on his taxpayer funded second home while also receiving income from a tenant at the same second home. This represented double funding for his second home and was against the expenses rules.
Post-parliamentary career
After leaving public office, Alexander became a Fisher Family Fellow at Harvard University where he served as a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs (2016-2022). He has served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago (2015) and is currently a visiting professor at New York University (Abu Dhabi). He is also currently a visiting professor at King’s College London's Policy Institute. In November 2015 Alexander started working as a senior advisor to Bono, helping secure investment to tackle global poverty. In March 2016 Alexander joined the Pinsent Masons law firm as a "strategic advisor". He remains a Member of the UK Privy Council, a Council Member on the European Council of Foreign Relations, and a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute.
He is a Council Member of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a Trustee of the Royal United Services Institute, and Chair of the Programme Committee at The Ditchley Foundation
Broadcasting
Alexander has written and presented programmes for BBC Radio 4 including: the documentary: "A Culture of Encounter" (2017), in which Alexander brought together experts and community organisations to explore the cultural, economic, and political polarising forces in society. He also authored and presented the three part "Belonging" series (2018) comprising these episodes: 'Old Ties', 'New Bonds', and 'Tomorrow’s Stories'. This series, in which Alexander explored the erosion of class, religion and security in society to explain why the ties that previously gave so many a shared sense of belonging have weakened, was nominated by BBC Radio 4 for the International URTI Radio Grand Prix (31st edition) Prize for Public Service Media and Social Networks.
At the end of 2019 Alexander authored and presented a programme called: A Guide to Disagreeing Better. This programme was broadcast in January 2020 and explores why public discourse has become so ill-tempered and lacking in respect. Alexander interviews a range of contributors with personal tales about how to disagree better. The programme received widespread news coverage.
Ahead of COP26 in 2021, Alexander authored and presented a further BBC Radio 4 programme called 'Glasgow: Our Last Best Hope', an essential guide to COP26, its hope of success and what the transition to net zero could mean for Glaswegians and all of us, with contributions from John Kerry, Christian Figueres, Mark Carney and Alok Sharma.
In May 2022, Alexander authored and presented 'Connections' which examined whether recent crises - from Covid to the Ukraine war - have helped bring people together or driven them apart.
Bullying claims while chair of UNICEF UK
Douglas Alexander served as chair of the board of trustees for UNICEF UK from June 2018 to September 2020. Alexander stepped down as chair in September 2020 following accusations of bullying by then-executive director Sasha Deshmukh, although he had the support of the board. A review by Morgan, Lewis & Bockius which reported in January 2021 described the bullying allegations made by Deshmukh as "unsubstantiated", and in respect of complaints made by three other employees, said that although Alexander's manner "did cause some discomfort and upset to the three employees", that "when viewed objectively, it did not amount to bullying".
University of Edinburgh
In August 2021, Alexander was appointed a General Court Assessor at the University of Edinburgh Court, his alma mater. Alexander is a member of the University of Edinburgh Court, the university's highest governing body, and the General Council Business Committee and the Policy and Resources Committee.
Return to politics
In February 2023, Alexander was selected as the Labour candidate for the parliamentary seat of East Lothian for the next general election, which is one of the Labour Party's top target seats in Scotland.
Publications
Alexander has written numerous pieces for publication in national newspapers in the UK and the USA including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, and The Boston Globe.
He has contributed to, authored and edited several books: "New Scotland New Britain" (1999), "Europe in a Global Age" (2005), "Serving a Cause, Serving a Community" (2006), "Renewing our offer not retracing our steps", The Purple Book (2011), "Influencing Tomorrow: Future Challenges for British Foreign Policy (2013), and "Britain in a complex world", Why Vote Labour 2015: The Essential Guide (2014) and "Rethink: How We Can Make A Better World" (2021), a collection of essays focused on a global 'reset moment' with leading international figures giving glimpses of a better future after the pandemic including contributions from Pope Francis, Niall Ferguson, Samantha Power and Paul Krugman.
Personal life
Douglas married Jacqueline Christian in 2000, and together they have a daughter and a son. His sister, Wendy Alexander, was also involved in politics as an MSP until 2011 and briefly as the Leader of the Labour Party in the Scottish Parliament until she resigned in 2008. His father, a Church of Scotland minister, conducted the funeral of the inaugural First Minister of Scotland, Donald Dewar at Glasgow Cathedral in 2000. He is the great-nephew of Cecil Frances Alexander.
References
Bibliography
Torrance, David, The Scottish Secretaries (Birlinn 2006)
External links
Douglas Alexander MP official site
Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP at the Foreign Office
Douglas Alexander at the Department of Trade and Industry
Douglas Alexander at Dfid
Steering safely down the middle, Gillian Bowditch interview in The Sunday Times Scotland, 24 September 2006
Douglas Alexander profile in The New Statesman
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1967 births
Living people
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Law
Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Paisley constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
People educated at a United World College
People educated at Park Mains High School
People from Bishopton
Politicians from Glasgow
Scottish Labour MPs
Scottish solicitors
Secretaries of State for Scotland
Secretaries of State for Transport (UK)
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank%20Field%20%28British%20politician%29
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Frank Field (British politician)
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Frank Ernest Field, Baron Field of Birkenhead, (born 16 July 1942) is a British politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birkenhead for 40 years, from 1979 to 2019, serving as a Labour MP until August 2018 and thereafter as an Independent. In 2019, he formed the Birkenhead Social Justice Party and stood unsuccessfully as its sole candidate in the 2019 election. After leaving the House of Commons he was awarded a life peerage in 2020 and sits in the House of Lords as a crossbencher.
From 1997 to 1998, Field served as the Minister of Welfare Reform in Tony Blair's government. Field resigned following differences with the Prime Minister; as a backbencher he soon became one of the Labour government's most vocal critics.
Field was elected Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee in June 2015. Following the 2017 general election he was re-elected unopposed.
In August 2018, Field resigned the Labour whip citing antisemitism in the party, as well as a "culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation" in parts of the party, including in his own constituency. Field lost a confidence vote in his constituency party a month before his resignation, after siding with the government in Brexit votes. His resignation of the whip also led to his departure from the wider membership of the Labour Party, according to the Labour National Executive Committee, although Field disputes this.
Early life
Field was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, on 16 July 1942, the second of three sons. His father was a labourer at the Morgan Crucible Company's factory in Battersea, and his mother a primary school welfare worker at Belmont Primary School in Chiswick. His parents were Conservatives "who believed in character and pulling oneself up by one's own bootstraps".
Field was educated at St Clement Danes Grammar School, then in Hammersmith, before studying economics at the University of Hull. In his youth he was a member of the Conservative Party, but left in 1960 because of his opposition to apartheid in South Africa and joined the Labour Party. In 1964, he became a further education teacher in Southwark and Hammersmith.
Field served as a Labour councillor for Turnham Green on Hounslow London Borough Council from 1964 until 1968, when he lost his seat. He was Director of the Child Poverty Action Group from 1969 to 1979, employing Virginia Bottomley on longterm research into income and expenditure for families below the poverty line, and the Low Pay Unit from 1974 to 1980.
Political career
Field unsuccessfully contested the constituency of South Buckinghamshire at the 1966 general election, where he was defeated by the sitting Conservative MP Ronald Bell. He was selected to contest the safe Labour seat of Birkenhead at the 1979 general election on the retirement of the sitting MP Edmund Dell. Field held the seat with a majority of 5,909 and remained the constituency's MP until November 2019.
In Parliament, Field was made a member of the Opposition frontbench by the Labour leader Michael Foot as a spokesman on education in 1980, but was dropped a year later. Following the appointment of Neil Kinnock as the Labour leader in 1983, Field was appointed as a spokesman on health and social security for a year. He was appointed the chairman of the social services select committee in 1987, becoming the chairman of the new social security select committee in 1990, a position he held until the 1997 election.
Two nights before the Conservative Party leadership election in November 1990, he visited Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher at 10 Downing Street. He advised her that her time as Prime Minister was drawing to a close and that she should back John Major to take over the role. His reason for doing so was that he felt that her Conservative colleagues would not tell her straight that she could not win a leadership contest. Following this meeting, he was smuggled out of Downing Street's back door. Two days later Margaret Thatcher supported John Major for the post, and Major went on to become Prime Minister.
Minister for Welfare Reform
Following the 1997 election, with Labour now in power, Field joined the government led by Tony Blair as its Minister for Welfare Reform, working in the Department of Social Security (DSS). Blair has said Field's mission was to "think the unthinkable".
Field thought that the state should only play a small direct role in the provision of welfare and he disliked means-testing and non-contributory entitlement to benefits, which he believed should only be received after claimants had joined Continental-style social insurance schemes or mutual organisations such as friendly societies. There were clashes with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and the Secretary of State for Social Security, Harriet Harman – the Treasury was concerned about costs, while Brown himself was in favour of the poor being entitled to working-age benefits without having first paid National Insurance contributions, later established as the Working Families Tax Credit. According to The Guardian, Field resigned his ministerial position in July 1998 rather than accept a move away from the DSS as part of a wider reshuffle; the newspaper suggested at the time that Blair had been "disappointed" by Field's ideas for welfare reform. Harriet Harman also returned to the backbenches. In his autobiography, Blair wrote about Field:
The following year, Downing Street briefed the press that "harsh and authoritarian" measures were in store for welfare recipients and plans were made to abolish the DSS.
At the end of Blair's second term of office, the BBC reviewed his record on welfare reform up to that point:
The welfare reform most closely associated with Blair was not introduced for a further three years: the replacement of Incapacity Benefit (IB) by Employment and Support Allowance (ESA). The think-tank Reform, on whose advisory board Field used to sit, said in its 2016 report on changes to out-of-work sickness benefits that ESA had "replicated many of the problems of IB" and had therefore "failed to achieve its objective".
Return to the backbenches
After leaving ministerial office, Field continued with his duties as an MP and joined the ecclesiastical and the public accounts select committees in the House of Commons.
From the backbenches, he was a vocal critic of the government, criticising in 1999 the new Working Families Tax Credit as an approach which could not survive in the long term, voting against Foundation Hospitals in November 2003. In May 2008, he was a significant critic of the abolition of the 10p tax rate and this led to Field describing Prime Minister Gordon Brown as "unhappy inside his own body". He later apologised in parliament for the personal attack. In June 2008, Field joined calls for the establishment of a devolved parliament for England.
On 8 June 2009, Field wrote in his blog that he believed that the Labour Party would not win the next election with Gordon Brown as leader. On 6 January 2010, Field was one of the few Labour MPs to back Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt's calls for a secret ballot of the Parliamentary Labour Party on the leadership of Gordon Brown. The ballot could have led to a leadership contest.
In May 2009, Field announced his candidature for Speaker of the House of Commons, but later withdrew his candidature, citing lack of support from within his own party. John Bercow was elected as the new Speaker.
In the 2010 general election Field retained his Birkenhead seat with an increased majority. In June 2010 he was appointed by David Cameron's coalition government to head an independent review into poverty, which proposed adopting a new measure centred around life-chance indicators and increasing funding for early years education. In an interview in September 2012, Field considered the government to have ignored his report, saying "nothing had been done about it" and that it was "very disappointing".
In October 2013, along with Laura Sandys, Field established the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Hunger and Food Poverty, which he went on to chair. He also chaired a parliamentary inquiry into hunger commissioned by the APPG which reported in December 2014. Field became the chair of trustees of Feeding Britain, a charitable organisation set up in October 2015 to implement the recommendations made by the APPG.
Following the 2015 general election, it was announced in June 2015 that he had been elected to the chairmanship of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. He was re-elected unopposed to the role following the 2017 general election.
Field nominated Jeremy Corbyn as a candidate in the Labour leadership election of 2015, stating that while he did not think Corbyn could win a general election, he hoped his candidature would force the party to confront its 'deficit denial'.
In June 2016, Field wrote in The Guardian that he supported Brexit, emphasising the need to control immigration due to it creating excessive demands on public services, roads and housing stock. He argued the EU model suited big businesses who wanted cheap labour, and supported agricultural interests creating high prices for food, rather than families. The Liverpool Echo has reported that Field is "a long-time Brexiteer".
In December 2017, during a debate on Universal Credit, Field described the impact that Universal Credit changes had had on his constituents. His observations moved Work and Pensions Select Committee member Heidi Allen to tears. Field spoke of how he had talked a man out of suicide and how one claimant felt "lucky" his family was invited to eat food leftovers from a funeral.
Resignation of the Labour whip
On 17 July 2018, a vote was held on a rebel amendment to a trade bill, which aimed to force the British government to join a customs union with the EU in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Field, Kate Hoey, John Mann, and Graham Stringer were the only Labour MPs to oppose the amendment, which was lost by 307 votes to 301. Field lost a confidence vote in his constituency, after siding with the government in these Brexit votes. On 30 August 2018, Field resigned the Labour whip because, he said, Labour was "increasingly seen as a racist party" and due to the "culture of intolerance, nastiness and intimidation" in parts of the party, including his own constituency. Some commentators suggested that he had "jumped before he was pushed."
He described himself as an "independent Labour MP". Field said that he would not trigger a by-election and would remain an MP. However, on 2 August 2019 he announced that he was forming a new party, the Birkenhead Social Justice Party.
Field voted for Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal in the "meaningful vote" on 15 January 2019, which May lost. Subsequently, Field voted for the Conservative party-supported Brady amendment calling on the Government to renegotiate the Northern Ireland backstop part of the deal, and abstained on the Labour party-supported Cooper-Boles amendment to prevent a no-deal Brexit.
Birkenhead Social Justice Party
In August 2019, Field stated that he would stand in the next general election as a candidate for a newly-formed Birkenhead Social Justice Party. The party stated that it would stand on a social justice, localist, and pro-Brexit platform.
In the December 2019 general election, he was beaten by the Labour Party candidate Mick Whitley who polled 24,990 votes, compared to Field's 7,285, a winning margin of 17,705 votes.
The Party was de-registered with the Electoral Commission on 17 February 2020.
Awards and honours
He was sworn in as a member of Privy Council in 1997. This gave him the honorific prefix "The Right Honorable" and, after ennoblement, the post nominal letters "PC" for life.
He was appointed as a deputy lieutenant for the county of Merseyside in October 2011. At the age of 75 he was moved to the retired list. This gave him the Post Nominal Letters "DL" for Life.
In March 2015, Field was awarded the Grassroot Diplomat initiative honour for the co-founding of environmental organisation Cool Earth, a charity that works alongside indigenous villages to halt rainforest destruction as a bottom-up solution to an ageing problem.
He was awarded an honorary fellowship by Liverpool John Moores University on 12 July 2016.
In 2017, he was awarded the Langton Award for Community Service by the Archbishop of Canterbury "for sustained and outstanding commitment to social welfare".
Field was nominated for a life peerage in the 2019 Dissolution Honours. He was created Baron Field of Birkenhead, of Birkenhead in the County of Merseyside, on 11 September 2020.
Field was appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2022 New Year Honours for political and public service.
Field was awarded the freedom of the Borough of Wirral on 16 February 2022. He is also a Companion of the Guild of St George.
Personal beliefs
Field has had a reputation for being an intellectual, a free-thinker and a maverick in the Parliamentary Labour Party. Inspired by his Christianity, he has taken a much more socially conservative stance on various issues particularly on the family, antisocial behaviour, immigration and welfare reform. He has also embraced calls for an English Parliament and called for a renegotiation of Britain's relationship with European Union, including changes to free movement of labour. He has voted for gay marriage and in favour of liberal legislation on gay rights since 1997. He is a member of the advisory board of Reform and of the generally conservative but also "broad church" magazine Standpoint. In May 2008, he said that Margaret Thatcher "is certainly a hero" and that "I still see Mrs T from time to time – I always call her 'Mrs T', when I talk to her." He regarded Thatcher as a friend, and believed in her self-help market philosophy.
In 1999, based on his belief that Britain should find a sustainable non-political way to fund retirement, Field helped set up the Pension Reform Group, which promotes the Universal Protected Pension as the best means to reform pensions.
Although there have been attempts to get him to defect to the Conservatives, they have been without success. In 2008, Field was named as the 100th-most-influential right-winger in the United Kingdom by The Daily Telegraph. Field supports the return of national service to tackle growing unemployment and instil "a sense of order and patriotism" in Britain's young men and women. In May 2010, Field endorsed Ed Miliband to become leader of the Labour Party to replace Gordon Brown.
Field believes strongly in fighting climate change. He co-founded the charity Cool Earth with Johan Eliasch. Cool Earth protects endangered rainforest and works with the local communities to combat climate change. Field was the instigator of the idea of a global Commonwealth network of protected forests, though he failed to raise political interest for a number of years; according to Field, when Queen Elizabeth II was told about the idea, she supported it enthusiastically, and the initiative was launched as the Queen's Commonwealth Canopy in 2015.
In 2010 he chaired the Liverpool City Region Poverty and Life Chances Commission to create a new strategy for the Government in order to abolish child poverty.
Field believes in reducing the time-limit within which women can have an abortion, and in stripping abortion providers such as Marie Stopes of their counselling role and handing it to organisations not linked to abortion clinics. With the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, he has been vocal in two defeated attempts to legislate for such a reform in Parliament. He was a prominent Eurosceptic within the Labour Party, and declared on 20 February 2016 that he would campaign to leave the EU. In January 2019, the supporters page of the Labour Leave website listed only two MPs, Labour's Kate Hoey and Field.
Personal life
Field is an active member of the Church of England, a former chairman of the Churches Conservation Trust and a member of the Church of England General Synod. Field's political and religious views are most clearly expressed in his book Neighbours From Hell where he discusses what might replace the "largely beneficial effect" of evangelical Christianity. Between 2005 and 2015, Field was chairman of the Cathedral Fabrics Commission for England – the national body that controls the care, conservation and repair or development of cathedrals. In 2007 he was appointed as chairman of the 2011 King James Bible Trust, which was established to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible.
In an 2006 article in The Observer, the critic Jay Rayner noted that Field's unmarried status had led him to describe himself as "incomplete" but that those in his social circle suggested he enjoyed "a full life outside politics". Since 1979 he lived in a postwar block half a mile from the House of Commons. In February 2023, his book Politics, Poverty and Belief was published, co-written with Brian Griffiths, Thatcher's former chief policy adviser, and Rachel Griffiths.
Health
Field was admitted to hospital after collapsing during a meeting in March 2015.
On 22 October 2021, Field announced that he was terminally ill and had spent time in a hospice. Baroness Meacher read out a statement from him in the House of Lords during a debate on the Assisted Dying Bill.
In a January 2023 interview with The Guardian, Field revealed he had been suffering from prostate cancer for 10 years, by the time of the interview, the cancer had spread to his jaw, remarking “It’s a strange experience taking so long to die.”
Publications
Twentieth Century State Education: Readings for General Studies by Frank Field and Patricia Haikin, 1971, Oxford University Press,
Black Britons: Readings for General Studies by Frank Field and Patricia Haikin, 1971, Oxford University Press,
One Nation: The Conservatives Record since 1970 by Frank Field, 1972, Child Poverty Action Group, ISBN B0000E9CMI
Abuse and the Abused by Frank Field, 1972, Child Poverty Action Group,
Low Pay by Frank Field, 1973, Arrow Books,
Incomes Policy for Families by Frank Field, Child Poverty Action Group,
Unequal Britain by Frank Field, 1974, Arrow Books,
Housing and Poverty by Frank Field, 1974, Catholic Housing Aid Society,
Poor Families and Inflation by Michael Brown and Frank Field, 1974, Child Poverty Action Group,
The Stigma of Free School Meals: Welfare in Action by Frank Field, 1974, Child Poverty Action Group,
Low Wages Councils by Frank Field and Steve Winyard, 1975, Spokesman Books,
Social Contract for Families: Memorandum to the Chancellor of the Exchequer by Frank Field and Peter Townsend, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group,
Unemployment: The Facts by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group,
Poverty: The Facts by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group,
Back to the Thirties for the Poor?: A Report on the Living Standards of the Poor in 1975 by Frank Field, 1975, Child Poverty Action Group,
Education and the Urban Crisis Edited by Frank Field, 1976, Routledge,
To Him who Hath by Frank Field, 1976, Penguin Books Ltd,
The new Corporate Interest by Frank Field, 1976, Child Poverty Action Group,
Conscript Army: Study of Britain's Unemployed by Frank Field, 1977, Routledge,
Are Low Wages Inevitable? by Frank Field, 1977, Spokesman Books,
Wasted Labour: Call for Action on Unemployment by Frank Field, 1978, Child Poverty Action Group,
Rising Tide of Poverty: A Challenge for Political Parties by Frank Field, 1978, Low Pay Unit, ISBN B0000EDRIP
The Wealth Report by Frank Field, 1979, Routledge,
Fair Shares for Families: Need for a Family Impact Statement by Frank Field, 1980, Study Commission on the Family,
Inequality in Britain: Freedom, Welfare and the State by Frank Field, 1981, Fontana,
Poverty and Politics by Frank Field, 1982, Heinemann Education,
The Wealth Report 2 by Frank Field, 1983, Routledge,
Policies Against Low Pay by Frank Field, 1984, Policy Studies Institute
The Minimum Wage by Frank Field, 1984, Ashgate,
What Price a Child?: A Historical Review of the Relative Costs of Dependants by Frank Field, 1985, Policy Studies Institute,
Freedom and Wealth in a Socialist Future by Frank Field, 1987, Constable,
The Politics of Paradise: A Christian Approach to the Kingdom by Frank Field, 1987, Fount,
Losing Out: Emergence of Britain's Underclass by Frank Field, 1989, Blackwell Publishers,
An Agenda for Britain by Frank Field, 1993, Harper Collins,
Making Sense of Pensions by Matthew Owen and Frank Field, 1993, Fabian Society,
Private Pensions for All by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1993, Fabian Society,
Europe Isn't Working by Frank Field, 1994, Institute of Community Studies,
Beyond Punishment by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1994, Institute of Community Studies
National Pensions Savings Plan by Frank Field and Matthew Owen, 1994, Fabian Society,
Making Welfare Work: Reconstructing Welfare for the Millennium by Frank Field, 1995, Institute of Community Studies,
The Measurement of Poverty and Low Income at the Millennium by Frank Field, 1995, Manchester Statistical Society,
Who Gets What, How and for How Long? by Frank Field and Paul Gregg, Fabian Society,
How to Pay for the Future by Frank Field, 1996
The Operation of the Child Support Agency by Frank Field, 1996, The Stationery Office Books,
Reflections of Welfare (Discussion Paper) by Frank Field, 1998, The Social Market Foundation,
Stakeholder Welfare by Frank Field, Alan Deacon, Pete Alcock, David G. Green, Melanie Phillips, 2000, Civitas
The State of Dependency: Welfare Under Labour by Frank Field, 2000, The Social Market Foundation,
Capitalism, Morality and Markets by Brian Griffiths, Robert A Siciro, Norman Berry and Frank Field, 2001, Institute of Economic Affairs
William Temple: A Calling to Prophecy by Stephen Spencer and foreword by Frank Field, 2001, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge,
Debating Pensions: Self-Interest, Citizenship and the Common Good by Frank Field and Alan Deacon, 2002, Civitas
Welfare Titans by Frank Field, 2002, Civitas,
Neighbours from Hell: The Politics of Behaviour by Frank Field, 2003, Politico's Publishing,
Working Welfare: Contributory Benefits, the Moral Economy and the New Politics by Frank Field, 2013, Politeia,
References
External links
Frank Field MP official site
ePolitix.com – Frank Field MP
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Frank Field MP
Frank Field MP, Grassroot Diplomat
BBC News – Frank Field MP profile 14 February 2005
Cool Earth
BBC Radio 4 Profile
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People from Edmonton, London
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History%20of%20Connecticut
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History of Connecticut
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The U.S. state of Connecticut began as three distinct settlements of Puritans from Massachusetts and England; they combined under a single royal charter in 1663. Known as the "land of steady habits" for its political, social and religious conservatism, the colony prospered from the trade and farming of its ethnic English Protestant population. The Congregational and Unitarian churches became prominent here. Connecticut played an active role in the American Revolution, and became a bastion of the conservative, business-oriented, Constitutionalism Federalist Party.
The word "Connecticut" is a French corruption of the Algonkian word quinetucket, which means "beside the long, tidal river".
Reverend Thomas Hooker and the Rev. Samuel Stone led a group of about 100 who, in 1636, founded the settlement of Hartford, named for Stone's place of birth: Hertford, in England. Called today "the Father of Connecticut," Thomas Hooker was a towering figure in the early development of colonial New England. He was one of the great preachers of his time, an erudite writer on Christian subjects, the first minister of Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the first settlers and founders of both the city of Hartford and the state of Connecticut, and cited by many as the inspiration for the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut," cited by some as the world's first written democratic constitution that established a representative government.
The state took a leading role in the industrial revolution of the United States, with its many factories establishing a worldwide reputation for advanced machinery. The educational and intellectual establishment was strongly led by Yale College, by scholars such as Noah Webster and by writers such as Mark Twain, who lived in Connecticut after establishing his association with the Mississippi River. Many Yankees left the farms to migrate west to New York and the Midwest in the early nineteenth century. Meanwhile, the heavy demand for labor in the nineteenth century attracted Irish, English and Italian immigrants, among many others, to the medium and small industrial cities. In the early 20th century, immigrants came from eastern and southern Europe. While the state produced few nationally prominent political leaders, Connecticut has usually been a swing state closely balanced between the parties. In the 21st century, the state is known for production of jet engines, nuclear submarines, and advanced pharmaceuticals.
First People
The name Connecticut is derived from the Mohegan-Pequot word that has been translated as "long tidal river" and "upon the long river", referring to the Connecticut River. Evidence of human presence in the Connecticut region dates to as much as 10,000 years ago. Stone tools were used for hunting, fishing, and woodworking. Semi-nomadic in lifestyle, these peoples moved seasonally to take advantage of various resources in the area. They shared languages based on Algonquian. The Connecticut region was inhabited by multiple Indian tribes which can be grouped into the Nipmuc, the Sequin or "River Indians" (which included the Tunxis, Schaghticoke, Podunk, Wangunk, Hammonassett, and Quinnipiac), the Mattabesec or "Wappinger Confederacy" and the Pequot-Mohegan. Some of these groups continue to abide in Connecticut, including the Mohegans, the Pequots, and the Paugusetts.
Colonies in Connecticut
Various Algonquian tribes long inhabited the area prior to European settlement. The Dutch were the first Europeans in Connecticut. In 1614 Adriaen Block explored the coast of Long Island Sound, and sailed up the Connecticut River at least as far as the confluence of the Park River, site of modern Hartford. By 1623, the new Dutch West India Company regularly traded for furs there and ten years later they fortified it for protection from the Pequot Indians, as well as from the expanding English colonies. The site was named "House of Hope" (also identified as "Fort Hoop", "Good Hope" and "Hope"), but encroaching English colonists made them agree to withdraw in the 1650 Treaty of Hartford. By 1654 they were gone, before the English took over New Netherland in 1664.
The first English colonists came from the Bay Colony and Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Original Connecticut Colony settlements were at Windsor in 1633; at Wethersfield in 1634; and in 1636, at Hartford and Springfield, (the latter was administered by Connecticut until defecting in 1640.) The Hartford settlement was led by Reverend Thomas Hooker.
In 1631, the Earl of Warwick granted a patent to a company of investors headed by William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele, and Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke. They funded the establishment of the Saybrook Colony (named for the two lords) at the mouth of the Connecticut River, where Fort Saybrook, was erected in 1636. Another Puritan group left Massachusetts and started the New Haven Colony farther west on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in 1637. The Massachusetts colonies did not seek to govern their progeny in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Communication and travel were too difficult, and it was also convenient to have a place for nonconformists to go.
The English settlement and trading post at Windsor especially threatened the Dutch trade, since it was upriver and more accessible to Native people from the interior. That fall and winter the Dutch sent a party upriver as far as modern Springfield, Massachusetts, spreading gifts to convince the indigenous inhabitants in the area to bring their trade to the Dutch post at Hartford. They also spread smallpox and, by the end of the 1633–34 winter, the Native population of the entire valley was reduced from over 8,000 to less than 2,000. Europeans took advantage of this decimation by further settling the fertile valley.
The Pequot War
The Pequot War was the first serious armed conflict between the indigenous peoples and the European settlers in New England. The ravages of disease, coupled with trade pressures, invited the Pequots to tighten their hold on the river tribes. Additional incidents began to involve the colonists in the area in 1635, and next spring their raid on Wethersfield prompted the three towns to meet. Following the raid on Wethersfield, the war climaxed when 300 Pequot men, women, and children were burned out of their village, in Mystic.
On May 1, 1637, leaders of Connecticut Colony's river towns each sent delegates to the first General Court held at the meeting house in Hartford. This was the start of self-government in Connecticut. They pooled their militia under the command of John Mason of Windsor, and declared war on the Pequots. When the war was over, the Pequots had been destroyed as a tribe. In the Treaty of Hartford in 1638, the various New England colonies and their Native allies divided the lands of the Pequots, along with surviving Pequots, taken captive by the various tribes, amongst themselves.
New Haven Colony, 1638-1664
In 1637 a group of London merchants and their families, disgusted with the high Church Anglicanism around them, moved to Boston with the intention of creating a new settlement. The leaders were John Davenport, a Puritan minister, and Theophilus Eaton, a wealthy merchant who brought £3000 to the venture. They understood theology, business and trade, but had no farming experience. The good port locations in Massachusetts had been taken, but with the removal of the Pequot Indians, there were good harbors available on Long Island Sound. Eaton found a good location in spring 1638 which he named New Haven. The site seemed ideal for trade, with a good port lying between Boston and the Dutch city of New Amsterdam (New York City), and good access to the furs of the Connecticut River valley settlements of Hartford and Springfield. The settlers had no official charter or permissions, and did not purchase any land rights from the local Indians. Legally, they were squatters. Minister Davenport was an Oxford-educated intellectual, and he set up a grammar school and wanted to establish a college, but failed to do so. The leaders attempted numerous merchandising enterprises, but they all failed. Much of their money went into a great ship sent to London in 1646, with £5000 in cargo of grain and beaver pelts. It never arrived.
The history of the New Haven colony was a series of disappointments and failures. The most serious problem was that it never had a legal title to exist, that is a charter, though the same can be said for Connecticut for most of this period. The larger, stronger colony of Connecticut to the north did obtain Royal charter in 1662, and it was aggressive in using its military superiority to force a takeover. New Haven had other weaknesses as well. The leaders were businessmen and traders, but they were never able to build up a large or profitable trade, because their agricultural base was poor, and the location was isolated. Farming on the poor soil of the colony was a formula for poverty and discouragement. New Haven's political system was confined to church members only, and the refusal to widen it alienated many people. More and more it was realized that the New Haven colony was a hopeless endeavor. Oliver Cromwell recommended that they all migrate to Ireland, or to Spanish territories that he planned to conquer. After Cromwell died three regicides who (with Cromwell) had voted to execute King Charles I escaped from England and hid in New Haven. The colony had a very negative standing in London, and plans were afoot to merge it with New York. But the Puritans of New Haven were too conservative, and too wedded to their new land to leave or join the Anglicans in New York. One by one in 1662-64 the towns joined Connecticut until only three were left and they too submitted to the Connecticut Colony in 1664. They gave up their theocracy but became well integrated, with numerous important leaders and (after Yale opened in 1701), influential academics.
Under the Fundamental Orders
The three River Towns, Wethersfield, Windsor and Hartford, had created a general government when faced with the demands of a war. On January 14, 1639, freemen from these three settlements ratified the "Fundamental Orders of Connecticut" in what John Fiske called "the first written constitution known to history that created a government. It marked the beginnings of American democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves more than any other man to be called the father. The government of the United States today is in lineal descent more nearly related to that of Connecticut than to that of any of the other thirteen colonies." Rapid growth and expansion grew under this new regime.
On April 22, 1662, the Connecticut Colony succeeded in gaining a Royal Charter that embodied and confirmed the self-government that they had created with the Fundamental Orders. The only significant change was that it called for a single Connecticut government with a southern limit at the Long Island Sound, including today Suffolk County on Long Island, and a western limit of the Pacific Ocean, which meant that this charter was still in conflict with the New Netherland colony.
Indian pressures were relieved for some time by success in the ferocious Pequot War. While the Pequots themselves gathered again along the Thames River, other tribes, especially the Mohegans, grew more powerful, though they had a rivalry with the Narragansetts located in Western Rhode Island and Eastern Connecticut, and this rivalry shaped in a large part diplomatic matters between both Indian tribes and colonial affairs. King Philip's War (1675–1676) spilled over from Plymouth Colony; Connecticut provided troops and supplies. Connecticut's contribution to the war also included the large number of Indian allies they brought into the war, including the Mohegans, led by Uncas and the Pequots, of which a small population had reformed from runaway slaves taken at the end of the Pequot War. The participation of Native Allies is in a large part responsible for the Colonial Victory, and this participation was largely due to Connecticut's involvement, as they generally had the best relationships with their local Native tribes, in particular the Mohegans. The colonists had seen some Indians as a potential deadly threat, and mobilized during both the Pequot war and King Philip's War to eliminate them. More than three-fourths of all adult men provided some form of military service. Given the numbers of Native troops fighting with the colonists, along with estimates of Native populations, it is likely that an even larger proportion of Native troops served with Connecticut.
The Dominion of New England
In 1686, Sir Edmund Andros was commissioned as the Royal Governor of the Dominion of New England. Andros maintained that his commission superseded Connecticut's 1662 charter. At first, Connecticut ignored this situation. But in late October 1687, Andros arrived with troops and naval support. Governor Robert Treat had no choice but to convene the assembly. Andros met with the governor and General Court on the evening of October 31, 1687.
Governor Andros praised their industry and government, but after he read them his commission, he demanded their charter. As they placed it on the table, people blew out all the candles. When the light was restored, the charter was missing. According to legend, it was hidden in the Charter Oak. Sir Edmund named four members to his Council for the Government of New England and proceeded to his capital at Boston.
Since Andros viewed New York and Massachusetts as the important parts of his Dominion, he mostly ignored Connecticut. Aside from some taxes demanded and sent to Boston, Connecticut also mostly ignored the new government. When word arrived that the Glorious Revolution had placed William and Mary on the throne, the citizens of Boston arrested Andros and sent him back to England in chains. The Connecticut court met and voted on May 9, 1689, to restore the old charter. They also reelected Robert Treat as governor each year until 1698.
Territorial disputes
According to the 1650 Treaty of Hartford with the Dutch, the western boundary of Connecticut ran north from the west side of Greenwich Bay "provided the said line come not within of Hudson River." On the other hand, Connecticut's original charter in 1662 granted it all the land to the "South Sea" (i.e. the Pacific Ocean).
ALL that parte of our dominions in Newe England in America bounded on the East by Norrogancett River, commonly called Norrogancett Bay, where the said River falleth into the Sea, and on the North by the lyne of the Massachusetts Plantacon, and on the south by the Sea, and in longitude as the lyne of the Massachusetts Colony, runinge from East to West, (that is to say) from the Said Norrogancett Bay on the East to the South Sea on the West parte, with the Islands thervnto adioyneinge, Together with all firme lands ... TO HAVE AND TO HOLD ... for ever....
Dispute with New York
Needless to say, this brought it into territorial conflict with those states which then lay between Connecticut and the Pacific. A patent issued on March 12, 1664, granted the Duke of York (later James II & VII) "all the land from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." In October 1664, Connecticut and New York agreed to grant Long Island to New York, and establish the boundary between Connecticut and New York as a line from the Mamaroneck River "north-northwest to the line of the Massachusetts", crossing the Hudson River near Peekskill and the boundary of Massachusetts near the northwest corner of the current Ulster County, New York. This agreement was never really accepted, however, and boundary disputes continued. The Governor of New York issued arrest warrants for residents of Greenwich, Rye, and Stamford, and founded a settlement north of Tarrytown in what Connecticut considered part of its territory in May 1682. In 1675, with King Philip's War posing significant pressure on Connecticut, New York attempted to land a force at Saybrook, in an attempt to take hold of the Connecticut River, and to assert their claim over all lands west of the Connecticut River itself, though these forces were repelled by Connecticut Colonial forces without a fight. Finally, on November 28, 1683, the states negotiated a new agreement establishing the border as east of the Hudson River, north to Massachusetts. In recognition of the wishes of the residents, the east of the Byram River making up the Connecticut Panhandle were granted to Connecticut. In exchange, Rye was granted to New York, along with a strip of land running north from Ridgefield to Massachusetts alongside Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester Counties, New York, known as the "Oblong".
Dispute with Pennsylvania
In the 1750s, the western frontier remained on the other side of New York. In 1754 the Susquehannah Company of Windham, Connecticut, obtained from a group of Native Americans a deed to a tract of land along the Susquehanna River which covered about one-third of present-day Pennsylvania. This venture met with the disapproval of not only Pennsylvania, but also of many in Connecticut including the Deputy Governor, who opposed Governor Jonathan Trumbull's support for the company, fearing that pressing these claims would endanger the charter of the colony. In 1769, Wilkes-Barre was founded by John Durkee and a group of 240 Connecticut settlers. The British government finally ruled "that no Connecticut settlements could be made until the royal pleasure was known". In 1773 the issue was settled in favor of Connecticut and Westmoreland, Connecticut, was established as a town and later a county.
Pennsylvania did not accede to the ruling, however, and open warfare broke out between them and Connecticut, ending with an attack in July 1778, which killed approximately 150 of the settlers and forced thousands to flee. While they periodically attempted to regain their land, they were continuously repulsed, until, in December 1783, a commission ruled in favor of Pennsylvania. After complex litigation, in 1786, Connecticut dropped its claims by a deed of cession to Congress, in exchange for freedom for war debt and confirmation of the rights to land further west in present-day Ohio, which became known as the Western Reserve. Pennsylvania granted the individual settlers from Connecticut the titles to their land claims. Although the region had been called Westmoreland County, Connecticut, it has no relationship with the current Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
The Western Reserve, which Connecticut received in recompense for giving up all claims to any Pennsylvania land in 1786, constituted a strip of land in what is currently northeast Ohio, wide from east to west bordering Lake Erie and Pennsylvania. Connecticut owned this territory until selling it to the Connecticut Land Company in 1795 for $1,200,000, which resold parcels of land to settlers. In 1796, the first settlers, led by Moses Cleaveland, began a community which was to become Cleveland, Ohio; in a short time, the area became known as "New Connecticut".
An area wide at the western end of the Western Reserve, set aside by Connecticut in 1792 to compensate those from Danbury, New Haven, Fairfield, Norwalk, and New London who had suffered heavy losses when they were burnt out by fires set by British raids during the War of Independence, became known as the Firelands. By this time, however, most of those granted the relief by the state were either dead or too old to actually move there. The Firelands now constitutes Erie and Huron Counties, as well as part of Ashland County, Ohio.
Conservatism
Connecticut was the land of steady habits, with a conservative elite that dominated colonial affairs. The forces of liberalism and democracy emerged slowly, encouraged by the entrepreneurship of the business community, and the new religious freedom stimulated by the First Great Awakening.
Yale College was founded in 1701 to educate ministers and civil leaders. After moving about it settled in New Haven. Just as Yale College dominated Connecticut's intellectual life, the Congregational church dominated religion in the colony. It was officially established until 1818, and the residents of each town were all required to attend Sunday services and to pay taxes to support it (or else prove they supported a Baptist or some other Protestant church).
Centralizing forces made the Congregational church even more powerful and more conservative. The Saybrook Platform was a new constitution for the Congregational church in 1708. Religious and civic leaders in Connecticut around 1700 were distressed by the colony-wide decline in personal religious piety and in church discipline. The colonial legislature sponsored a meeting in Saybrook comprising eight Yale trustees and other colonial worthies. It drafted articles which rejected extreme localism or Congregationalism that had been inherited from England, and replaced it with a system similar to what the Presbyterians had. The Congregational church was now to be led by local ministerial associations and consociations comprising ministers and lay leaders from a specific geographical area. Instead of the congregation from each local church selecting its minister, the associations now had the responsibility to examine candidates for the ministry, and to oversee a behavior of the ministers. The consociations (where laymen were powerless) could impose discipline on specific churches and judge disputes that arose. The result was a centralization of power that bothered many local church activists. However, the official associations responded by disfellowshipping churches that refuse to comply. The system survived to the mid-nineteenth century, well after Congregationalism was officially this disestablished in the state of Connecticut.
The Platform marked a conservative counter-revolution against a non-conformist tide which had begun with the Halfway Covenant and would later culminate in the Great Awakening in the 1740s. The Great Awakening bitterly divided Congregationalists between the "New Lights" who welcomed the revivals, and the "Old Lights" who used governmental authority to suppress revivals.
The legislature, controlled by the Old Lights, in 1742 passed an "Act for regulating abuses and correcting disorder in ecclesiastical affairs" that sharply restricted ministers from leading revivals. Another law was passed to prevent the opening of a New Light seminary. Numerous New Light evangelicals were imprisoned or fined. The New Lights responded by their own political organization, fighting it out town by town. Although the religious issues decline somewhat after 1748, the New Light versus Old Light factionalism spilled into other issues, such as disputes over currency, and Imperial issues. However, the divisions involved did not play a role in the coming of the American Revolution, which both sides supported.
The career of a soldier was not held in high prestige in Connecticut. However, London demanded some assistance in its numerous wars against France, so the colony sent soldiers into Canada, 1709–1711, during Queen Anne's War. Silesky argues that Connecticut followed the same procedure for the rest of the century. Elites in control of the government used cash bounties to encourage poor men to volunteer to serve temporarily.
Governor Jonathan Trumbull was elected every year from 1769 to 1784. Connecticut's political system was practically unaffected by the Revolution.
The American Revolution (1775–1789)
The conservative elite strongly supported the American revolution, and the forces of Loyalism were weak. Connecticut designated four delegates to the Second Continental Congress who would sign the Declaration of Independence: Samuel Huntington, Roger Sherman, William Williams, and Oliver Wolcott.
In 1775, in the wake of the clashes between British regulars and Massachusetts militia at Lexington and Concord, Connecticut's legislature authorized the outfitting of six new regiments, with some 1,200 Connecticut troops on hand at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775.
Getting word in 1777 of Continental Army supplies in Danbury, the British landed an expeditionary force of some 2,000 troops in Westport, who marched to Danbury and destroyed much of the depot along with homes in Danbury. On the return march, Continental Army troops and militia led by General David Wooster and General Benedict Arnold engaged the British at Ridgefield in 1777, which would deter future strategic landing attempts by the British for the remainder of the war.
For the winter of 1778–79, General George Washington decided to split the Continental Army into three divisions encircling New York City, where British General Sir Henry Clinton had taken up winter quarters. Major General Israel Putnam chose Redding as the winter encampment quarters for some 3,000 regulars and militia under his command. The Redding encampment allowed Putnam's soldiers to guard the replenished supply depot in Danbury and support any operations along Long Island Sound and the Hudson River Valley. Some of the men were veterans of the winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the previous winter. Soldiers at the Redding camp endured supply shortages, cold temperatures and significant snow, with some historians dubbing the encampment "Connecticut's Valley Forge."
The state was also the launching site for a number of raids against Long Island orchestrated by Samuel Holden Parsons and Benjamin Tallmadge, and provided soldiers and material for the war effort, especially to Washington's army outside New York City. General William Tryon raided the Connecticut coast in July 1779, focusing on New Haven, Norwalk, and Fairfield. The French General the Comte de Rochambeau celebrated the first Catholic Mass in Connecticut at Lebanon in summer 1781 while marching through the state from Rhode Island to rendezvous with General George Washington in Dobbs Ferry, New York. Rochambeau and Washington also planned in Wethersfield the Battle of Yorktown and the British surrender. New London and Groton Heights were raided in September 1781 by Connecticut native and turncoat Benedict Arnold.
Early National Period (1789–1818)
New England was the stronghold of the Federalist party. One historian explains how well organized it was in Connecticut:
It was only necessary to perfect the working methods of the organized body of office-holders who made up the nucleus of the party. There were the state officers, the assistants, and a large majority of the Assembly. In every county there was a sheriff with his deputies. All of the state, county, and town judges were potential and generally active workers. Every town had several justices of the peace, school directors and, in Federalist towns, all the town officers who were ready to carry on the party's work. Every parish had a "standing agent," whose anathemas were said to convince at least ten voting deacons. Militia officers, state's attorneys, lawyers, professors and schoolteachers were in the van of this "conscript army." In all, about a thousand or eleven hundred dependent officer-holders were described as the inner ring which could always be depended upon for their own and enough more votes within their control to decide an election. This was the Federalist machine.
Given the power of the Federalists, the Republicans had to work harder to win. In 1806, the state leadership sent town leaders instructions for the forthcoming elections. Every town manager was told by state leaders "to appoint a district manager in each district or section of his town, obtaining from each an assurance that he will faithfully do his duty." Then, the town manager was instructed to compile lists and total up the number of taxpayers, the number of eligible voters, how many were "decided republicans," "decided federalists," or "doubtful," and finally to count the number of supporters who were not currently eligible to vote but who might qualify (by age or taxes) at the next election. These highly detailed returns were to be sent to the county manager. They, in turn, were to compile county-wide statistics and send it on to the state manager. Using the newly compiled lists of potential voters, the managers were told to get all the eligibles to the town meetings, and help the young men qualify to vote. At the annual official town meeting, the managers were told to, "notice what republicans are present, and see that each stays and votes till the whole business is ended. And each District-Manager shall report to the Town-Manager the names of all republicans absent, and the cause of absence, if known to him." Of utmost importance, the managers had to nominate candidates for local elections, and to print and distribute the party ticket. The state manager was responsible for supplying party newspapers to each town for distribution by town and district managers. This highly coordinated "get-out-the-vote" drive would be familiar to modern political campaigners, but was the first of its kind in world history.
Connecticut prospered during the era, as the seaports were busy and the first textile factories were built. The American Embargo and the British blockade during the War of 1812 severely hurt the export business, and bolstered the Federalists who strongly opposed the Embargo and the War of 1812. The cutoff of imports from Britain did stimulate the rapid growth of factories to replace the textiles and machinery. Eli Whitney of New Haven was a leader of the engineers and inventors who made the state a world leader in machine tools and industrial technology generally. The state was known for its political conservatism, typified by its Federalist party and the Yale College of Timothy Dwight. The foremost intellectuals were Dwight and Noah Webster, who compiled his great dictionary in New Haven. Religious tensions polarized the state, as the established Congregational Church, in alliance with the Federalists, tried to maintain its grip on power. The failure of the Hartford Convention in 1814 wounded the Federalists, who were finally upended by the Republicans in 1817.
Modernization and industry
Up until this time, Connecticut had adhered to the 1662 Charter, and with the independence of the American colonies over forty years prior, much of what the Charter stood for was no longer relevant. In 1818, a new constitution was adopted that was the first piece of written legislation to separate church and state in Connecticut, and give equality to all religions. Gubernatorial powers were also expanded as well as increased independence for courts by allowing their judges to serve life terms.
Connecticut started off with the raw materials of abundant running water and navigable waterways, and using the Yankee work ethic quickly became an industrial leader. Between the birth of the U.S. patent system in 1790 and 1930, Connecticut had more patents issued per capita than any other state; in the 1800s, when the U.S. as a whole was issued one patent per three thousand population, Connecticut inventors were issued one patent for every 700–1000 residents. Connecticut's first recorded invention was a lapidary machine, by Abel Buell of Killingworth, in 1765.
Abolition and integration
Starting in the 1830s, and accelerating when Connecticut abolished slavery entirely in 1848, African Americans from in- and out-of-state began relocating to urban centers for employment and opportunity, forming new neighborhoods such as Bridgeport's Little Liberia.
In 1832, Quaker schoolteacher Prudence Crandall created the first integrated schoolhouse in the United States by admitting Sarah Harris, the daughter of a free African-American farmer in the local community, to her Canterbury Female Boarding School in Canterbury. Many prominent townspeople objected and pressured to have Harris dismissed from the school, but Crandall refused. Families of the current students removed their daughters. Consequently, Crandall ceased teaching white girls altogether and opened up her school strictly to African American girls. In 1995, the Connecticut General Assembly designated Prudence Crandall as the state's official heroine.
Civil War era
Connecticut manufacturers played a leading role in supplying the Union forces with rifles, cannon, ammunition, and military materiel during the Civil War. The state furnished 55,000 soldiers. They were formed into thirty full regiments of infantry, including two in the U.S. Colored Troops made up of black men and white officers. Two regiments of heavy artillery served as infantry toward the end of the war. Connecticut also supplied three batteries of light artillery and one regiment of cavalry. The Navy attracted 250 officers and 2,100 sailors. A number of Connecticut men became Union generals; Gideon Welles was a moderate whom Lincoln made Secretary of the Navy. Casualties were high: 2088 were killed in combat, 2801 died from disease, and 689 died in Confederate prison camps.
Politics became red hot during the war. A surge of national unity in 1861 brought thousands flocking to the colors from every town and city. However, as the war became a crusade to end slavery, many Democrats (especially Irish Catholics) pulled back. The Democrats took a peace position and included many Copperheads willing to let the South secede. The intensely fought 1863 election for governor was narrowly won by the Republicans.
Connecticut's extensive industry, its dense population, its flat terrain, its proximity to metropolitan centers, and the wealth of its residents made it favorable grounds for railroad building, starting in 1839. By 1840, 102 miles of line were in operation, growing to 402 in 1850 and 601 in 1860. The main development after the Civil War was the consolidation of many small local lines into the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad – popularly called "the Consolidated." It sought a monopoly of all transportation, including urban streetcar lines, inter-urban trolleys, and freighters and passenger steamers on Long Island Sound. It was a highly profitable enterprise, until it was bought out in 1903 and suffered serious mismanagement.
Twentieth century
Railroads
The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, commonly called the New Haven, dominated Connecticut travel after 1872. New York's leading banker, J. P. Morgan, had grown up in Hartford and had a strong interest in the New England economy. Starting in the 1890s Morgan began financing the major New England railroads, and dividing territory so they would not compete. In 1903 he brought in Charles Mellen as president (1903-1913). The goal, richly supported by Morgan's financing, was to purchase and consolidate the main railway lines of New England, merge their operations, lower their costs, electrify the heavily used routes, and modernize the system. With less competition and lower costs, there supposedly would be higher profits. The New Haven purchased 50 smaller companies, including steamship lines, and built a network of light rails (electrified trolleys) that provided inter-urban transportation for all of southern New England. By 1912, the New Haven operated over 2000 miles of track, and 120,000 employees. It practically monopolized traffic in a wide swath from Boston to New York City.
Morgan's quest for monopoly angered reformers during the Progressive Era, most notably Boston lawyer Louis Brandeis, who fought the New Haven for years. Mellen's abrasive tactics alienated public opinion, led to high prices for acquisitions and to costly construction. The accident rate rose when efforts were made to save on maintenance costs. Debt soared from $14 million in 1903 to $242 million in 1913. Also in 1913 it was hit by an anti-trust lawsuit by the federal government and was forced to give up its trolley systems. The advent of automobiles, trucks and buses after 1910 slashed the profits of the New Haven. The line went bankrupt in 1935, was reorganized and reduced in scope, went bankrupt again in 1961, and in 1969 was merged into the Penn Central system, which itself went bankrupt. The remnants of the system are now part of Conrail.
The automotive revolution came much faster than anyone expected, especially the railroads. In 1915 Connecticut had 40,000 automobiles; five years later it had 120,000. There was even faster growth in trucks from 7,000 to 24,000. Local government started upgrading the roads, while entrepreneurs opened dealerships, gasoline stations, repair shops and motels.
Politics
The Republicans dominated state politics after 1896, and had a lock on the legislature where the one-town, one representative rule guaranteed that small rural towns could easily outvote the growing cities. While the Republicans developed factions over personalities, they drew together for elections. The Democrats had more internal dissension over issues, particularly the liberalism of William Jennings Bryan, and they were weakened in general elections. The rural Yankee Democrats battled the urban Irish for control of the state party. Most of the factory workers voted Republican (except the Irish Catholics, who were generally Democrats), so most of the industrial cities voted Republican.
In 1910, the Democrats elected their gubernatorial candidate Simeon Baldwin, a prominent professor at the Yale Law School. As the Republican vote was split between President William Taft and ex-president Theodore Roosevelt, the Democrats flourished in 1912, carrying the state for president, reelecting Baldwin, sweeping all five congressional districts with ethnic Irish candidates, and taking the state Senate. Only the malapportioned House remained in Republican hands and dominated by rural areas. The state did not participate much in the "progressive era," and the Democrats passed only one piece of liberal legislation, which set up a system of workman's compensation. In 1914, the Republicans consolidated again and restored their control of state politics. J. Henry Roraback was the Republican state leader from 1912 to his death in 1937. His machine, says Lockard, was "efficient, conservative, penurious, and in absolute control." Until the New Deal coalition of the 1930s pulled ethnic voters solidly into the Democratic Party, Roraback was unbeatable with his strong rural organization, funding from the business community, conservative policies, and a hierarchical party organization. Connecticut was the last state (in 1955) to adopt the party primary system, and it was used only if a loser wanted to challenge the choice of the state convention.
World War I
When World War I broke out in 1914, Connecticut's large machine industry received major contracts from British, Canadian, and French interests, as well as the U.S. forces. The largest munitions firms were Remington in Bridgeport, Winchester in New Haven, and Colt in Hartford, as well as the large federal arsenal in Bridgeport.
The state enthusiastically supported the American war effort in 1917–1918, with large purchases of war bonds and a further expansion of war industry, and emphasis on increasing food production in the farms. Thousands of state, local and volunteer groups mobilized for the war effort, and were coordinated by the Connecticut State Council of Defense.
As the war ended the worldwide epidemic of "Spanish Flu" hit the state. Fatalities were high because the state was a travel hub, was heavily urbanized so germs spread faster, and had many recent immigrants in densely settled areas. An estimated 8500-9000 people died, about one percent of the population, and about one-quarter contracted the disease.
Early 20th-century immigrants and ethnicity
Connecticut factories in Bridgeport, New Haven, Waterbury and Hartford were magnets for European immigrants. The largest groups were Italian, and Polish and other Eastern Europeans. They brought Catholic unskilled labor to a historically Protestant state. A significant number of Jewish immigrants also arrived in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Connecticut's population was almost 30% foreign-born by 1910.
These ethnic groups supported the World War (the small numbers of German Americans tried to keep a low profile, encountering hostility and suspicion after the US entered the war.) Ethnic organizations supported an Americanization program for the many recent immigrants. Since transatlantic civilian travel was almost impossible in 1914–20, the flow of new immigrants ended. Recently arrived Italians, Poles and others had to cancel plans to return to their home villages. They moved up as higher-paying jobs opened in the munitions industry. They deepened their roots in American society, and became permanent residents. Instead of identifying with their former ancestral villages, the Italians developed a new pride in being both Americans and Italians. Their children, born in the U.S. and bilingual, flourished economically in the prosperous 1920s. The Poles enlisted in large numbers, and generously supported war bond efforts. They were motivated in part by the government's commitment to a process to support an independent Poland, which was achieved after the end of the war.
Nativists in the 1920s opposed the new immigrants as a threat to the state's traditional social and political values. The Ku Klux Klan had a small anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant following in Connecticut in the 1920s, reaching about 15,000 members before its collapse nationwide in 1926 following scandals involving top leaders.
Depression and War years
With rising unemployment in urban and rural areas producing disaffection with Republican leaders, Connecticut Democrats saw a chance to return to power. The hero of the movement was Yale English professor Governor Wilbur Lucius Cross (1931–1939), who emulated much of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies by creating new public services, contributing to infrastructure projects, and instituting a minimum wage. The Merritt Parkway was constructed in this period as part of the investment in infrastructure.
In 1938, the state Democratic Party was wracked by controversy, and the Republicans elected Governor Raymond E. Baldwin. Connecticut became a highly competitive, two-party state.
On September 21, 1938, the most destructive storm in New England history struck eastern Connecticut, killing hundreds of people. The eye of the "Long Island Express" hurricane passed just west of New Haven and devastated the Connecticut shoreline between Old Saybrook and Stonington, which lacked the partial protection from the full force of wind and waves provided to the western coast by the barrier of Long Island, New York. The hurricane caused extensive damage to infrastructure, homes and businesses. In New London, a 500-foot sailing ship was driven into a warehouse complex, causing a major fire. Heavy rainfall caused the Connecticut River to flood downtown Hartford and East Hartford. An estimated 50,000 trees fell onto roadways.
The lingering Depression soon gave way to an economic buildup as the United States invested in its defense industry before and during World War II (1941–1945). Roosevelt's call for America to be the Arsenal of Democracy led to remarkable growth in munition-related industries, such as airplane engines, radio, radar, proximity fuzes, rifles, and a thousand other products. Pratt & Whitney manufactured airplane engines, Cheney sewed silk parachutes, and Electric Boat built submarines. This was coupled with traditional manufacturing including guns, ships, uniforms, munitions, and artillery. Connecticut manufactured 4.1 percent of total United States military armaments produced during World War II, ranking ninth among the 48 states. Ken Burns focused on Waterbury's munitions production in his 2007 miniseries The War. Although most munitions production ended in 1945, new industries had resulted from the war, and manufacturing of high tech electronics and airplane parts continued.
Postwar prosperity
Connecticut's suburbs thrived as people moved to newer housing via subsidized highways, while its cities peaked in the 1950s and then began a slow downhill slide as population spread into widely dispersed regions. Connecticut built the first nuclear-powered submarine, the and other essential weapons for The Pentagon. At the beginning of the 1960s, the increased job market gave the state the highest per capita income in the nation. The increased standard of living could be seen in the various suburban neighborhoods that began to develop outside major cities. Construction of major highways such as the Connecticut Turnpike, subsidized by federal investment, resulted in former small towns becoming sites for large-scale residential and retail development, a trend that continues to this day, with offices also moving to new locations.
Fairfield County, Connecticut's Gold Coast, was a favorite residence of many executives who worked in New York City. It attracted scores of corporate headquarters from New York, especially in the 1970s, when Connecticut had no state income tax. Connecticut offered ample inexpensive office space, high quality of life to people who did not want to live in New York City, and excellent public schools. The state did not offer any tax incentives for corporations to move their headquarters.
Connecticut industrial workers were very well-paid, many of them in defense industries building nuclear submarines at Electric Boat shipyards, helicopters at Sikorsky, and jet engines at Pratt & Whitney. Labor unions were very powerful after the war, peaking in clout in the early 1970s. Since then the private sector labor unions have dramatically declined in size and influence with the decline in industry as factories closed and jobs were moved out of state and offshore. The public-sector unions, covering teachers, police, and city and state employees, have become more powerful, with influence in the Democratic Party.
Deindustrialization left many industrial centers with empty factories and mills and high unemployment. As wealthier whites moved to suburbs, African American and Latino made up a higher proportion of urban populations, reflecting their later arrival in the Great Migration and immigration, and relative inability to find and move to other jobs. They had gained middle-class status through good-paying industrial jobs and became stranded. African Americans and Latinos inherited aging urban spaces that were no longer a high priority for the state or private industry. By the 1980s crime and urban blight were major issues. The poor conditions were catalysts for militant movements pushing to gentrify ghettos and desegregate the urban school systems, which were surrounded by majority-white suburbs. In 1987, Hartford became the first United States city to elect an African-American woman as mayor, Carrie Saxon Perry.
Politics
Connecticut had very strong state parties, with the GOP led by leaders, such as A. Searle Pinney. John Bailey was the state chairman of the Democrats from 1946 to his death in 1975; he was also the party's national chairman, 1961 until 1968. These party leaders controlled their legislative delegations and ran the state conventions that selected nominees for the top offices. The old WASP element was still a factor in rural Connecticut, but Catholics comprised 44% of the state's population and dominated all of the industrial cities. With the ethnics loyal to the Democratic Party, and labor unions at their peak, the Democratic Party strongly endorsed the New Deal coalition and its liberalism. The Republican Party was mildly liberal, typified by Senator Prescott Bush, a wealthy Yankee whose son and grandson were later each elected as president from their new conservative base in Texas. Connecticut had some difficulty in projecting its identity, with no big-league sports teams and its media markets dominated by outside television stations in New York, Providence, Rhode Island, and Springfield, Massachusetts. Bailey's contact with the liberal element that dominated the Democratic Party was Ella Grasso. He promoted her from the legislature, to Secretary of State, to Congress, and finally to the governorship.
Bailey's usual success in dictating the state ticket was upset in 1970, when the Republican gubernatorial candidate, Congressman Thomas Meskill, defeated a lackluster Democrat. More complex was the situation of Senator Thomas Dodd, a Democrat who had been censured by the Senate for his misuse of campaign funds. Dodd lost the Democratic primary, but ran as an independent and split the vote. The result was that liberal Republican Lowell Weicker won the Senate seat with 42% of the vote. Bailey had an easier time in 1974 gaining re-election of Senator Abe Ribicoff. In 1950 Ribicoff was elected as the first Jewish and non-WASP governor in the state's history. Weicker was repeatedly reelected until being narrowly defeated in 1988. He was elected governor in 1990 as an independent.
In 1974 Democrats elected as governor Ella T. Grasso, the daughter of Italian immigrants. She was the first woman of any state to be elected governor in her own right. She was reelected in 1978. She faced a major crisis in 1978 when "The Blizzard of 78" dropped 30 inches of snow across the state, crippling highways and making virtually all roads impassible. She "Closed the State" by proclamation, and forbade all use of public roads by businesses and citizens, closing all businesses. Effectively residents were restricted to their homes. This relieved the rescue and cleanup authorities from the need to help the mounting number of stuck cars, and allowed clean-up and emergency services for shut-ins to proceed. The crisis ended on the third day, and Grasso won accolades from all state sectors for her leadership and strength.
The late 20th century
Connecticut's dependence on the defense industry posed an economic challenge at the end of the Cold War. The resulting budget crisis helped elect Lowell Weicker as Governor on a third party ticket in 1990. Despite campaigning against a state income tax, Weicker's remedy to the budget crisis, a state income tax, proved effective in balancing the budget but was politically unpopular. Weicker retired after a single term.
Until the late nineteenth century Connecticut agriculture included tobacco farms. This brought in immigrants from the West Indies, Puerto Rico, and the black South. In the off-season they turned to the cities for temporary apartments, schooling and services, but with the decline of tobacco they moved there permanently.
With newly "reconquered" land, the Pequots initiated plans for the construction of a multimillion-dollar casino complex to be built on reservation land. The Foxwoods Casino was completed in 1992 and the enormous revenue it received made the Mashantucket Pequot Reservation one of the wealthiest in the country. With the newfound money, great educational and cultural initiatives were carried out, including the construction of the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center. The Mohegan Reservation gained political recognition shortly thereafter and, in 1994, opened another successful casino (Mohegan Sun) near the town of Uncasville. The economic recession that began in 2007 took a heavy toll of receipts, and by 2012 both the Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods were deeply in debt.
Casinos provide an example of the shift in the economy away from manufacturing to entertainment, such as ESPN, financial services, including hedge funds and pharmaceutical firms such as Pfizer.
21st century
In the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, 65 state residents were killed. The vast majority were Fairfield County residents who were working in the World Trade Center. Greenwich lost 12 residents, Stamford and Norwalk each lost nine and Darien lost six. A state memorial was later set up at Sherwood Island State Park in Westport. The New York City skyline can be seen from the park.
A number of political scandals rocked Connecticut in the early 21st century. These included the 2003 removal from office of the mayors of Bridgeport, Joseph P. Ganim on 16 corruption charges, as well as Waterbury mayor Philip A. Giordano, who was charged with 18 counts of sexual abuse of two girls.
In 2004, Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation. Rowland later pleads guilty to federal charges, and his successor M. Jodi Rell, focused her administration on reforms in the wake of the Rowland scandal.
In April 2005, Connecticut passed a law that grants all rights of marriage to same-sex couples. However, the law required that such unions be called "civil unions", and that the title of marriage be limited to those unions whose parties are of the opposite sex. The state was the first to pass a law permitting civil unions without a prior court proceeding. In October 2008, the Supreme Court of Connecticut ordered same-sex marriage legalized.
In July 2009, the Connecticut legislature overrode a veto by Governor M. Jodi Rell to pass SustiNet, the first significant public-option health care reform legislation in the nation.
The state's criminal justice system also dealt with the first execution in the state since 1960, the 2005 execution of serial killer Michael Ross and was rocked by the July 2007 home invasion murders in Cheshire. As the accused perpetrators of the Petit murders were out on parole, Governor M. Jodi Rell promised a full investigation into the state's criminal justice policies.
On April 11, 2012, the State House of Representatives voted to end the state's rarely enforced death penalty; the State Senate having previously passed the measure on April 5. Governor Dannel Malloy announced that "when it gets to my desk I will sign it". Eleven inmates were on death row at that time, including the two men convicted of the July 2007 Cheshire, Connecticut, home invasion murders. Controversy exists both in that the legislation is not retroactive and does not commute their sentences and that the repeal is against the majority view of the state's citizens, as 62% are for retaining it.
In 2011 and 2012, Connecticut was hit by three major storms in the space of just over 14 months, with all three causing extensive property damage and electric outages. Hurricane Irene struck Connecticut on August 28 with the storm blamed for the deaths of three residents. Damage totaled $235 million, including 20 houses that were destroyed in East Haven. Two months later in late October, the so-called "Halloween nor'easter" dropped extensive snow onto trees in northern Connecticut that still had foliage, resulting in a significant number of snapped branches and trunks that damaged property and power lines, with some areas not seeing electricity restored for 11 days. Hurricane Sandy had tropical-storm-force winds when it reached Connecticut October 29, 2012, with four deaths blamed on the storm. Sandy's winds drove storm surges into coastal streets, toppled trees and power lines, and cut power to 98 percent of homes and businesses en route to more than $360 million in damage. Some sections along the southeast coast of Connecticut had no power for more than 16 days.
On December 14, 2012, Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children and 6 staff, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the Sandy Hook village of Newtown, Connecticut, and then killed himself.
See also
History of the Connecticut Constitution
List of newspapers in Connecticut in the 18th-century
Timeline of Hartford, Connecticut
Notes
Further reading
Surveys
Andersen, Ruth O. M. From Yankee to American: Connecticut, 1865-1914 (Series in Connecticut history) (1975) 96pp
Andrews, Charles M. The Colonial Period of American History: The Settlements, volume 2 (1936) pp 67–194, by leading scholar
to 1664
Burpee, Charles W. The story of Connecticut (4 vol 1939); detailed narrative in vol 1-2
Clark, George Larkin. A History of Connecticut: Its People and Institutions (1914) 608 pp; based on solid scholarship online
Federal Writers' Project. Connecticut: A Guide to its Roads, Lore, and People (1940) famous WPA guide to history and to all the towns online
Fraser, Bruce. Land of Steady Habits: A Brief History of Connecticut (1988), 80 pp, from state historical society
, vol. 1 to 1740s
Janick, Herbert F. A diverse people: Connecticut, 1914 to the present (Series in Connecticut history) (1975) 124pp
Jones, Mary Jeanne Anderson. Congregational Commonwealth: Connecticut, 1636-1662 1968
Morse, Jarvis. Under the Constitution of 1818: The First Decade (1939) online 24pp
Peirce, Neal R. The New England States: People, Politics, and Power in the Six New England States (1976) pp 182–231; updated in Neal R. Peirce and Jerry Hagstrom, The Book of America: Inside the Fifty States Today (1983) pp 153–75
Peters, Samuel. General History of Connecticut (1989)
Purcell, Richard J. Connecticut in Transition: 1775–1818 (1963); standard scholarly history online
Roth, David M. and Freeman Meyer. From Revolution to Constitution: Connecticut, 1763-1818 (Series in Connecticut history) (1975) 111pp
; very old textbook; strongest on military history, and schools
Taylor, Robert Joseph. Colonial Connecticut: A History (1979); standard scholarly history
very old history; to 1764
Trecker, Janice Law. Preachers, rebels, and traders: Connecticut, 1818-1865 (Series in Connecticut history) (1975) 95pp
Van Dusen, Albert E. Connecticut A Fully Illustrated History of the State from the Seventeenth Century to the Present (1961) 470pp the standard survey to 1960, by a leading scholar
Van Dusen, Albert E. Puritans against the wilderness: Connecticut history to 1763 (Series in Connecticut history) 150pp (1975)
Warshauer, Matthew. Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival (Wesleyan University Press, 2011) 309 pages;
Zeichner, Oscar. Connecticut's Years of Controversy, 1750-1776 (1949)
Specialized studies
BOMHOFF, CARL BOWKER. "THE DEVELOPMENT OF STATE SUPPORT OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN CONNECTICUT'S SCHOOL-REFORM MOVEMENT, 1825-1850. (VOLUMES I-III)" (PhD dissertation, New York University;ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1952. 7308440).
Buell, Richard Jr. Dear Liberty: Connecticut's Mobilization for the Revolutionary War (1980), major scholarly study
Collier, Christopher. Roger Sherman's Connecticut: Yankee Politics and the American Revolution (1971)
Daniels, Bruce C. "Economic Development in Colonial and Revolutionary Connecticut: An Overview," William and Mary Quarterly (1980) 37#3 pp. 429–450 in JSTOR
Daniels, Bruce Colin. The Connecticut town: Growth and development, 1635-1790 (Wesleyan University Press, 1979)
Daniels, Bruce C. "Democracy and Oligarchy in Connecticut Towns-General Assembly Officeholding, 1701-1790" Social Science Quarterly (1975) 56#3 pp: 460–475.
Fennelly, Catherine. Connecticut women in the Revolutionary era (Connecticut bicentennial series) (1975) 60pp
Grant, Charles S. Democracy in the Connecticut Frontier Town of Kent (1970)
Hooker, Roland Mather. The Colonial Trade of Connecticut (1936) online; 44pp
Jeffries, John W. Testing the Roosevelt Coalition: Connecticut Society and Politics in the Era of World War II (1979), voters & politics
Lockard, Duane. New England State Politics (1959) pp 228–304; covers 1932-1958
Main, Jackson Turner. Connecticut Society in the Era of the American Revolution (pamphlet in the Connecticut bicentennial series) (1977)
Morse, Jarvis M. The Rise of Liberalism in Connecticut, 1828–1850 (1933) online
Pierson, George Wilson. History of Yale College (2 vol 1952) scholarly history to 1937
PRATTE, RICHARD NORMAN. "A HISTORY OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN CONNECTICUT FROM 1639 TO 1939" (PhD dissertation, University of Connecticut; ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 1967. 6801396).
Selesky Harold E. War and Society in Colonial Connecticut (1990) 278 pp.
Steiner, Bernard C. History of Slavery in Connecticut (1893)
Taylor, John M. The Witchcraft Delusion in Colonial Connecticut, 1647-1697 (1969) online
, vol. 1 is online; 700pp; comprehensive coverage; vol 2 not online is biographies of civil leaders in 1880s
Warren, Jason W. Connecticut Unscathed: Victory in the Great Narragansett War, 1675–1676 (U of Oklahoma Press, 2014). xiv, 249 pp.
Williams, Stanley Thomas. The Literature of Connecticut (1936), short pamphlet online
Regional studies with coverage of Connecticut
Adams, James Truslow. The Founding of New England (1921); Revolutionary New England, 1691–1776 (1923) online; New England in the Republic, 1776–1850 (1926) online
Andrews, Charles M. The Fathers of New England: A Chronicle of the Puritan Commonwealths (1919) online
Axtell, James, ed. The American People in Colonial New England (1973)
Black, John D. The rural economy of New England: a regional study (1950) online
Brewer, Daniel Chauncey. Conquest of New England by the Immigrant (1926)
Conforti, Joseph A. Imagining New England: Explorations of Regional Identity from the Pilgrims to the Mid-Twentieth Century (2001)
Cumbler, John T. Reasonable Use: The People, the Environment, and the State, New England, 1790-1930 (2001) online
Hall, Donald, ed. Encyclopedia of New England (2005)
Karlsen, Carol F. The Devil in the Shape of a Woman: Witchcraft in Colonial New England (1998)
Kirkland, Edward Chase. Men, Cities and Transportation, A Study of New England History 1820-1900 (2 vol. 1948)
McSeveney, Samuel T. Politics of Depression: Political Behavior in the Northeast, 1893-1896 (1972) voting behavior in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey
Palfrey, John Gorham. History of New England (5 vol 1859–90) online
vol 1 online
Zimmerman, Joseph F. New England Town Meeting: Democracy in Action (1999)
Historiography
Daniels, Bruce C. "Antiquarians and Professionals: The Historians of Colonial Connecticut", Connecticut History (1982), 23#1, pp 81–97.
Meyer, Freeman W. "The Evolution of the Interpretation of Economic Life in Colonial Connecticut", Connecticut History (1985) 26#1 pp 33–43.
Primary sources
Dwight, Timothy. Travels Through New England and New York (circa 1800) 4 vol. (1969) Online at: vol 1; vol 2; vol 3; vol 4
McPhetres, S. A. A political manual for the campaign of 1868, for use in the New England states, containing the population and latest election returns of every town (1868)
External links
Connecticut: State Resource Guide, from the Library of Congress
Connecticut Historical Society
ConnecticutHistory.org
Changing Connecticut, 1634 – 1980 - Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute
Connecticut
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxair%20Flight%209642
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Luxair Flight 9642
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Luxair Flight 9642 (LG9642/LGL9642) was a scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin Tempelhof Airport, Germany, to Luxembourg Findel Airport, Luxembourg, operated by Luxembourg national airline Luxair. On 6 November 2002, the aircraft operating the flight, a Fokker 50 registered as LX-LGB, lost control and crashed onto a field during an attempted landing at the airport. Out of 22 passengers and crew members on board, only two people survived. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in Luxembourg.
Luxembourg's Administration for Technical Investigations (AET) concluded that the crash was caused by pilot error. The crew decided to accept the approach clearance that had been given by the ATC even though they had not conducted enough preparation for the landing, leading the crew to conduct a series of improvised actions. Their actions led to the override of a certain safety features that would have prevented the propellers from entering the reverse angle, enabling the propellers to enter the reverse angle in flight and led to the lost control situation.
The result of the investigation highlighted the possible safety risk regarding the protection system against an accidental deployment of reverse angle in turboprops during mid-flight, prompting Fokker to issue a mandatory modification on the safety feature.
Aircraft and crew
The aircraft involved in the crash was a Fokker F50, manufactured in 1991 with a serial number of 20221. The aircraft was delivered to Luxair on the same year with a registration of LX-LGB. Equipped with PW125B engines and two Dowty propellers, it had accumulated a total of 24,068 flight cycles. According to Luxair, the aircraft had been maintained properly. The last service was conducted on 4 May. The maintenance logbook indicated that the last defect, an inoperative anti-skid system on the aircraft, had been rectified on 5 November, one day before the accident.
The Captain was 26-year-old Claude Poeckes, who had a total flying experience of 4,242 flight hours and 2,864 hours on type. The First Officer was 32-year-old John Arendt with a total flight hours of 1,156 and 443 hours on type.
Accident
Flight 9642 was a regularly scheduled international passenger flight from Berlin-Tempelhof Airport to Luxembourg Findel Airport. On 6 November, the aircraft was scheduled to take off from Tempelhof and would be piloted by Captain Claude Poeckes and his co-pilot First Officer John Arendt. It took off from Berlin at around 07:40 a.m local time with 19 passengers and 3 crew members on board.
While the aircraft was flying at its cruising altitude, at around 08:55 a.m, the pilots checked the Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) for the weather information in Luxembourg. They discovered that the runway visual range was at , lower than the minimum amount of that was required for the Fokker 50 to obtain before landing. The visibility in the area had deteriorated due to the presence of heavy fog. With such low visibility, the crew realised that there would be delay for the landing. They either had to wait until the weather condition began to improve by entering the holding pattern or diverting their aircraft to the alternate airport.
Feeling impatient, the crew decided to continue their flight to Luxembourg as planned. After several minutes, the crew checked the ATIS information again, only to discover that the visibility had not improved. They then discussed on the possible strategies for a landing during bad weather condition but failed to reach conclusion on the matter. As no decision was taken, the approach briefing was not conducted.
While First Officer Arendt was giving an address to the passengers, Captain Poeckes tried to contact Luxair officials on whether the weather had improved as a departing Cargolux jet might have cleared some of the fog in the area. To his disappointment, the airport was still covered with heavy fog. Due to the constant foggy condition, the crew were told to enter the Diekrich VOR, Findel's holding pattern. Co-pilot Arendt then announced to the passengers that the flight would enter a holding pattern first and that they would wait until the weather began to improve.
As they were heading towards the pattern, the ATC suddenly radioed the crew and instructed them to descend to and to change their heading. The transmission caught them off guard. First Officer Arendt was initially confused by the transmission and asked Captain Poeckes:"Is that for us?", to which the captain responded with "yes". The crew accepted the instruction, but First Officer Arendt was still surprised by the transmission as he could be heard saying "What kind of shit is that?"
Approach
The crew still didn't understand the reasons for the descent that had been requested by the controller. Fearing that they had been asked to prepare for an approach, they repeatedly checked the RVR (Runway Visual Range) value with Luxair Dispatch, but the weather in Findel Airport was still below the minimum amount for the landing. They were initially feeling uncertain about whether the controller had sent such transmission for holding or for an approach.
Afterwards, the controller sent a message that cleared the crew's confusion. The controller specifically asked Flight 9642 to conduct an approach to Findel Airport. The crew were perplexed as the weather conditions had not met the minimum criteria for a landing. Meanwhile, the ATC didn't know about the required RVR information as the crew had not informed the ATC about the matter. Despite being confused, the crew accepted the controller's request anyway and started to fly their aircraft as per the controller's instructions. The crew now realized that they had been chosen as the first aircraft that would land at Findel, increasing their workload pressure. Following the transmission, the crew frantically prepared their aircraft for an approach.
The flight eventually levelled off at and was approaching the radio beacon ELU, the point for final approach fix. During the approach to the beacon, Captain Poeckes told First Officer Arendt that they would conduct a missed approach if the weather was still below . After successfully capturing the airport's ILS, the crew checked on the RVR again, only to discover that the weather had deteriorated even further. The RVR had dropped to . With the minimums now clearly too low, the crew finally told ATC that they would need an RVR of for a landing.
After rushing through the approach checklist, the aircraft finally reached ELU. They checked the RVR again and the report didn't indicate any improvements. Captain Poeckes then told First Officer Arendt that they would execute a missed approach, but the aircraft kept continuing to Findel. First Officer Arendt kept checking the approach checklist and then put the ground idle stop in the off position, as it was the last action that the crew were required to do on the checklist.
Captain Poeckes was not satisfied with the weather report and eventually called for a go-around at 09:04 local time. Just 10 seconds later, however, the ATC reported that the RVR had improved to 300 metres, the exact minimum amount for the landing of the Fokker 50. Immediately after this announcement, Captain Poeckes changed his mind and First Officer Arendt prepared the aircraft for landing.
Crash
As they had been levelling off for quite some time after passing point ELU, the aircraft was flying a bit higher than the glideslope. To reduce their altitude faster, Captain Poeckes stated that he would try to reduce the power lever to flight idle, claiming that by doing so the aircraft would quickly descend to the required altitude. However, First Officer Arendt voiced his concern and told Captain Poeckes that such action wouldn't be enough to slow down the aircraft.
First Officer Arendt reported to the ATC that they would continue the approach to Findel. Flight 9642 was eventually cleared to land and the crew extended the landing gear.
After extending the landing gear, the propeller speed began to increase, startling the crew due to the audible noise. The aircraft's speed and altitude then rapidly dropped. The crew realised that the reverse thrust had been deployed in mid-flight and tried to save the aircraft. In an attempt to regain lift, First Officer Arendt immediately retracted the flaps and Captain Poeckes moved the thrust lever fully forward. The aircraft, however, continued to plummet towards the ground.
As a last resort, the crew decided to shut down both engines. It didn't stop the aircraft's rapid descent. Faced with imminent crash, the crew tried to flare as much as possible to prevent a destructive impact.
The aircraft slammed onto terrain with its belly, crossing the Route Nationale 1 and scraped the road with its left wing. It then struck an embankment, inflicting major damage to the airframe. The aircraft bounced and both wheels and blades came off of the aircraft. The empennage and part of the right wing broke away. The aft fuselage detached and rested on its right side. The aircraft eventually came to a halt further away. After coming to a stop, a fire began to erupt on the central portion of the crushed fuselage.
Immediate aftermath
Flight 9642 suddenly ceased all contact with Findel Airport. Its blip had disappeared from the radar screen, prompting the controller to call the crew multiple times to confirm their condition. As there was no response, the airport emergency services were alerted to a possible crash. A telephone call from a witness eventually confirmed that the aircraft had crashed near the airport. Meanwhile, at the crash site, taxi driver Guillaume Wainachter was the first to arrive. He attempted to save the passengers in the fuselage as survivors could be heard screaming loudly inside the wreckage. While trying to save the survivors, he heard a noise from the aircraft, and it immediately went up in flames in a matter of seconds.
It was immediately found that the aircraft had crashed in a field to the north of runway centreline. The wreckage was located between the village of Niederanven and Roodt-Syr. Rescue services found several passengers had been ejected from the aircraft. One survivor had been ejected from the aircraft during the crash and was found outside. Three survivors were extricated alive from the fuselage and immediately rushed to the hospital, all of whom later succumbed to their injuries. Captain Poeckes was found trapped inside the cockpit, but he survived as the cockpit didn't catch fire. Rescuers had to cut a hole to evacuate him from the wreckage.
The fog was so thick that some nearby residents were unaware of the crash. Most of them claimed not to have seen or even heard anything when the crash occurred, and only realized that something had happened nearby when ambulances and emergency services arrived at the crash site.
Due to the crash, Findel Airport was closed for more than three hours. Several flights had to be diverted to Germany and Belgium.
Victims
Most of the passengers were business officials from Germany. Seventeen were found dead at the crash site with five survivors, three of whom died in the hospital. By nightfall, 18 bodies out of the 20 dead were found, while the other two remained missing. The bodies were thought to be buried under the smoldering fuselage. Rescue workers were using a crane to disentangle the charred remains. Amongst the passengers killed on the flight was artist Michel Majerus.
Nationalities of passengers and crew
Response
Following the crash, a hospital in Belgium was put on alert. A total of 300 police officers were dispatched to the crash site. Government of Luxembourg requested additional help from the Belgian government, which deployed three helicopters to the crash site and a military hospital was put on standby.
Incumbent Prime Minister of Luxembourg Jean-Claude Juncker visited the site of the accident on the same day of the crash, accompanied by Luxembourgish Interior Minister Michel Wolter, Transport Minister Henri Grethen and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg Maria Teresa. An emergency meeting was eventually convened by the prime minister to investigate the crash. German Transport Minister Manfred Stolpe visited the country to meet with officials regarding the crash of Flight 9642.
Relatives of the victims were ushered to a special morgue to see the victims. Psychological counseling would be provided by the state for affected family members. State flags were ordered to be lowered at half-mast across the country until 10 November. A ceremonial service was held on 7 November, followed by another service which was held on 10 November on the capital's Notre-Dame cathedral.
Investigation
Officials could not theorize on the possible causes of the accident during the initial aftermath of the crash. They did note that the flight's destination airport was covered by autumnal fog. Nearby residents of Niederanven stated that the fog at the time of the accident was very thick, so much that nearby residents couldn't realize that a crash had just occurred, even though Niederanven was in close proximity to the crash site.
The maintenance logbook was also clean. The aircraft was inspected by a maintenance crew on the evening before the flight. The only recurring defect was the inoperative anti-skid system, which was rectified a day before the accident.
Lack of preparation
At 07:53 a.m local time, the crew of the flight established their first contact with the approach controller. While approaching the airport, the crew sought information about the visibility at the airport, to which the controller replied with the available data on the RVR. The crew were worried with the discovery as it was under the minimum amount for Fokker F50 and decided to wait within the holding pattern until the weather began to improve. This crucial information regarding the minimum visibility was not relayed to the controller and caused the controller to consider the crew of being capable to conduct an approach regardless of the RVR value. Meanwhile, the crew thought that it was going to be awhile before they managed to get a landing clearance and therefore no landing preparation was conducted.
While Flight 9642 was approaching the holding pattern, the controller realized that the holding pattern had become nearly full of traffic as there were three other Luxair flights in it. The controller wanted to clear the holding pattern from being jam-packed by asking one of the flights to immediately conduct an approach. Coincidentally, Flight 9642 was the most suitable for such decision as they had not reached the holding pattern yet and by asking the crew to conduct an approach there would be lesser delay for the other aircraft. The controller then instructed the crew to start executing an approach to Findel.
After a bit of confusion and another confirmation from the controller, the unprepared crew were taken aback by the order. They were initially certain that they were going to wait within the holding pattern, but the sudden transmission from the controller effectively cut their remaining time until landing. They quickly checked their checklist and hastily briefed the approach, in which during the course they accidentally missed some of the per procedure actions due to their time constraint.
Feeling uncertain with the approach, Captain Poeckes told First Officer Arendt that they would perform a go-around if the RVR was still below the minima. First Officer Arendt, however, chose to ignore him and continued with the approach checklist, a hint of a possible crew breakdown due to the lack of preparation for the approach. Captain Poeckes eventually called for a go-around, but after an updated RVR report informed him that the weather had met the exact minimum for a landing, he immediately changed his mind and decided to continue the approach.
The sudden decision from the crew to continue the approach pressed the crew to immediately capture the glide slope as the aircraft had been levelling off at 3,000 ft and they had overflown the final approach point for the airport, the exact point where pilots should start descending for the final approach. There was no known procedure for the crew to intercept the glideslope after passing the final approach point. The crew should have executed a missed approach, but instead they kept their mind to land in Findel as quickly as possible.
Knowing that they were flying quite high above the glideslope, Captain Poeckes reduced the engine thrust. Eager to quickly capture the glideslope, he decided to improvise, using a skill that he had learned previously.
Reverse range
To gain the intended speed, Captain Poeckes tried to make the engines to enter the ground range by lifting the ground range selector. By doing so, the airspeed would decrease further and, as per Poeckes's understanding, their aim to get the glideslope quickly would be attained. While this technique could be used by pilots to slow down their aircraft, it was prohibited if they were still in the air. Beyond the ground range was the reverse range, which would change the propeller pitch to reverse. The reverse pitch was usually used while the aircraft was rolling on the runway during landing. Entering this range in the air would produce massive drag forces on the aircraft and would endanger the flight. To prevent an accidental deployment of the reverse range, the aircraft was equipped with a secondary stop, a specific safety feature which was regulated by the flight idle solenoid.
However, said specific feature could be overridden by a design flaw within the flight system of the Fokker F50. Fokker acknowledged that the extension of the landing gear could produce an electromagnetic interference within the aircraft's anti-skid units, causing the aircraft to think that the wheels were spinning, indicating that it was already on the ground, for a period of 30 microseconds. The brief glitch powered up the flight idle solenoids and tricked them into thinking that the aircraft was rolling on the runway, causing them to temporarily open the secondary stop feature for 16 seconds.
In Flight 9642, as the aircraft was about to land, the crew extended the landing gear and configured the aircraft accordingly. The electromagnetic interference occurred and this in turn energized the flight idle solenoids, opening the secondary stop. Captain Poeckes presumably was concerned about the limited time and their current altitude and pulled the lever back even further from the ground range to the reverse range in order to capture the glideslope faster. Normally, the secondary stop would've had prohibited the thrust from entering the reverse range, but as the 16 seconds activation was still in effect, the reverse thrust was engaged.
The activation of the reverse thrust in mid-air caused difficulties in controlling the aircraft. The propeller speed suddenly jumped and produced sound loud enough for the pilots to be startled. The airspeed then dropped and the aircraft quickly lost lift, losing altitude rapidly. The crew attempted to save their aircraft by cutting off the fuel flows to the engines, but the aircraft continued to plunge. In a last attempt, they tried to flare as much as possible to prevent a violent impact. They knew that the reverse thrust had been deployed in mid-air, but couldn't rectify the problem.
Design flaw
Fokker knew about the possible aircraft-induced reset of the secondary stop as early as 1988. The cause of the glitch was identified during maintenance activities in which the power-up effect of the aircraft's anti-skid system was found to be the culprit. However, due to the low probability of such incidence to occur, Fokker thought that no immediate corrective actions were required. For the reset to occur, these conditions had to be met:
Landing gear must be lowered
Anti-skid units must be powered and opened locks of the secondary stop for 16 seconds
The lever must be below the flight idle position and the crew had to lift the ground range selector (considered to be not normal)
Within the 16 seconds timeframe, the crew must continue to pull the thrust lever down.
In December 1994, Fokker disseminated the findings to all operators of the aircraft, including Luxair.
The company had attempted to modify their anti-skid units. In 1992, a non-binding service bulletin was issued, telling operators to transport their Fokker F50 fleets for a voluntary modification on their anti-skid units, which would prevent such failure from occurring. Multiple Fokker F50 had been turned in to Fokker to undergo modifications, but the involved Luxair aircraft was not among those sent as it was not mandatory for operators to send their aircraft for an updated design.
Conclusion
In December 2003, Luxembourgish AET published the final report. It concluded the cause of the crash as follow:
Contributing to the accident were errors concerning the implementation of a safety recommendation which had been made by the manufacturer to Fokker 50 operators.
The crash significantly affected all Fokker F50 aircraft that were being operated in Luxembourg. Nearly two weeks after the crash, following the discovery of the failure of the secondary stop safety feature to prevent the thrust from entering the reverse range, authorities decided to change the issued service bulletins regarding the anti-skid units from voluntary to mandatory. In May 2003, Dutch authorities announced that the modifications would be made mandatory. Every Fokker 50 in Luxembourg were subjected to compulsory modification on the anti-skid control system and should be changed accordingly after November 2003. AET also recommended Fokker to conduct review on the aircraft's current design as flaw within the aircraft could threaten the safety of flights by overriding the aircraft's safety feature.
Aftermath
A criminal prosecution was launched but was delayed until 10 October 2011. Captain Poecks, three former Luxair executives, and three mechanics (one of whom was formally a technical director) were all charged with involuntary manslaughter and negligence. The executives were later acquitted. On 27 March 2012, the remaining defendants were all found guilty. Captain Poecks was sentenced to 42 months (3.5 years) of probation and to pay a fine of 4,000 euros. The three mechanics were sentenced to 18 months, two years, and four years of probation respectively, and to pay fines of 2,000 to 2,500 euros. In January 2014, the families of four of the victims received 21,000 to 130,000 euros in compensation. In February the same year, the attorneys of the convicted appealed the court's verdict. In May 2015, a court paid 310,000 euros in compensation to the families of three German victims.
See also
Air Caraïbes Flight 1501, a similar crash in Guadeloupe in which the pilots accidentally changed the aircraft's propeller switch into reverse pitch while still in mid-air
Airlines PNG Flight 1600, a similar crash in Papua New Guinea involving a Dash 8 in which the pilots accidentally changed the aircraft's propeller switch into reverse pitch while still in mid-air
Kish Air Flight 7170, a similar crash in United Arab Emirates in which the pilots accidentally changed the aircraft's propeller switch into reverse pitch while still in mid-air
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Flight 6517, a similar crash in Indonesia involving a Xian MA60 in which the pilots accidentally changed the aircraft's propeller switch into reverse pitch while still in mid-air
List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
References
Further reading
"Jugement dans l'affaire dite Luxair" [Judgment in the so-called Luxair case] (Archive). Government of Luxembourg. 27 March 2012.
External links
Administration for Technical Investigations
Final Report (Archive) – Translation of French report
Final Report." (Archive) – Original report
Preliminary Report (Archive, Alternate) – Translation of French Report
Preliminary Report (Archive, Alternate) – Original report
"AIRCRAFT ACCIDENT LG9642/LH2420" (Archive). Luxair.
Government of Luxembourg
Accident aérien au Luxembourg (6 novembre 2002) (Archive)
Communiqué Déroulement de l'accident d'un avion Luxair." (Archive) – 6 Nov 2002
Communiqué du parquet du Luxembourg (2003) (Archive)
Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary
Pictures of the crash
2002 disasters in Europe
Aviation accidents and incidents in Luxembourg
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2002
2002 in Luxembourg
Airliner accidents and incidents involving fog
Accidents and incidents involving the Fokker 50
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
November 2002 events in Europe
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zermatt
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Zermatt
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Zermatt (, ) is a municipality in the district of Visp in the German-speaking section of the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a year-round population of about 5,800 and is classified as a town by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office (FSO).
It lies at the upper end of Mattertal at an elevation of , at the foot of Switzerland's highest peaks. It lies about from the over high Theodul Pass bordering Italy. Zermatt is the southernmost commune of the German Sprachraum.
Zermatt is famed as a mountaineering and ski resort of the Swiss Alps. Until the mid-19th century, it was predominantly an agricultural community; the first and tragic ascent of the Matterhorn in 1865 was followed by a rush on the mountains surrounding the village, leading to the construction of many tourist facilities. The year-round population () is , though there may be several times as many tourists in Zermatt at any one time. Much of the local economy is based on tourism, with about half of the jobs in town in hotels or restaurants and just under half of all apartments are vacation apartments. Just over one-third of the permanent population was born in the town, while another third moved to Zermatt from outside Switzerland.
Etymology
The name of Zermatt, as well as that of the Matterhorn itself, derives from the alpine meadows, or matten (in German), in the valley. The name appeared first as Zur Matte ("at the meadow") and became later Zermatt. It does not appear until 1495 on a map or 1546 in a text, but may have been employed long before.
Praborno or Prato Borno (Prato also means meadow) are the older names of Zermatt; they appear in the ancient maps as early as the thirteenth century. The Romand-speaking people from the Aosta Valley and from the Romand-speaking part of canton Wallis (Valais) used this name until about 1860 in the form of Praborne, or Praborgne. The reason of this change from Praborno to Zermatt is attributed to the gradual replacement of the Romance-speaking people by German-speaking colony.
Geography
The town of Zermatt lies at the southern end of the Matter Valley (German: Mattertal), which is one of the lateral branches of the grand Valley of the Rhône. Zermatt is almost completely surrounded by the high mountains of the Pennine Alps including Monte Rosa (specifically its tallest peak, named Dufourspitze), Switzerland's highest peak at above sea level. It is followed by the Dom (), Liskamm (), Weisshorn () and the Matterhorn (). Most of the Alpine four-thousanders are located around Zermatt or in the neighbouring valleys.
Zermatt is traversed by the main river of the valley: the Matter Vispa, which rises at the glaciers at the feet of the highest peaks: the Gorner Glacier on the east side near Monte Rosa and the Zmutt Glacier on the west side between Dent d'Hérens and Dent Blanche.
The town of Zermatt, while dense, is geographically small. There are three main streets which run along the banks of the Matter Vispa, and numerous cross-streets, especially around the station and the church which forms the centre of Zermatt. In general anything is at most a thirty-minute walk away. There are several "suburbs" within Zermatt. Winkelmatten/Moos, which was once a separate hamlet, lies on a hill () on the southern side. Steinmatten is located on the eastern bank of the main river.
Many hamlets are located in the valleys above Zermatt, however they are not usually inhabited all year round. Zum See () lies south of Zermatt on the west bank of the Gorner gorge, near Furi where a cable car station is located (). On the side of Zmutt valley (west of Zermatt) lies the hamlet of Zmutt (), north of the creek Zmuttbach. Findeln () is located in the eastern valley above the creek Findelbach. It lies below the Sunnegga station (). Located near a train station of the Gornergratbahn, Riffelalp () is one of the highest hamlets with a chapel.
Zermatt had an area, (as of the 2004/09 survey) of . Of this area, about 9.4% is used for agricultural purposes, while 4.6% is forested. Of the rest of the land, 0.8% is settled (buildings or roads) and 85.2% is unproductive land. Over the past two decades (1979/85-2004/09) the amount of land that is settled has increased by and the agricultural land has decreased by .
Climate
Zermatt has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc). Summertime is cool in Zermatt, with mild days and cool nights, while winter is cold and snowy, with highs around freezing and annual snowfall averaging .
Tourism
The village was "discovered" by mid-nineteenth-century British mountaineers, most notably Edward Whymper, whose summit of the Matterhorn made the village famous. The Matterhorn was one of the last alpine mountains to be summitted (in 1865), and the first expedition that reached the top ended dramatically with only 3 of the 7 climbers surviving the descent. The story is related in the Matterhorn Museum.
Zermatt is a starting point for hikes into the mountains, including the Haute Route that leads to Chamonix in France and the Patrouille des Glaciers. Cable cars and chair lifts carry skiers in the winter and hikers in the summer; the highest of them leads to the Klein Matterhorn at , a peak on the ridge between Breithorn and Matterhorn that offers extensive views in all directions. It is possible to cross into Italy via the Cervinia cable car station. A rack railway line (the Gornergratbahn, the highest open-air railway in Europe) runs up to the summit of the Gornergrat at . Zermatt is also the western terminus for the Glacier Express rail service connecting to St. Moritz and the MGB (Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn).
Together with eleven other towns Zermatt is a member of the community Best of the Alps.
Transport
To prevent air pollution that could obscure the town's view of the Matterhorn, the entire town is a combustion-engine car-free zone. Almost all vehicles in Zermatt are battery driven and almost completely silent. Electric vehicles are allowed for local commerce. The Cantonal police can issue a permit which allows residents to drive and park at the northern outskirts and for the permission to bring combustion-engine vehicles in to the town such as construction vehicles. Emergency and municipal vehicles, (fire trucks, ambulances, police etc.) generally use combustion engines, although even some of these are non-combustion (garbage trucks, etc.).
Passenger vehicles operating within Zermatt include small electric shuttles provided by hotels to carry visitors from the main train station (or the taxi transfer point just outside town) to the hotel properties, "electro" taxis operated by four major Zermatt families, and "electro" buses, which serve two routes: one between the major hotel areas and the stations of the various ski-lifts, and the other following a similar route but also serving the more rural "suburb" of Winkelmatten. Horse-drawn carriages can also be found; some are operated by hotels and others are available for hire.
Most visitors reach Zermatt by the rack-assisted railway train from the nearby town of Täsch (Zermatt shuttle). Trains also depart for Zermatt from farther down the valley at Visp and Brig, which are on the main Swiss rail network. The town also has a heliport (ICAO: LSEZ) and a local helicopter operator, Air Zermatt, which also provides alpine rescue services.
In 2007, a project group was formed to evaluate options for development of the local transportation network (as the "electro" buses do not have enough capacity). The results of this study are published in the December 2007 edition of Zermatt Inside. The six options explored are a coaster, a funicular, a metro, moving sidewalks, a gondola and more "electro" buses.
In 2019 work started to improve access on the Kirchbrücke – one of the most popular places to photograph the Matterhorn. The viewing area will be widened to keep tourists off the road and away from electric vehicles. The project should be complete by autumn 2019.
Skiing in Zermatt
Zermatt is known throughout the world for its skiing, especially Triftji for its moguls. The high altitude results in consistent skiing continuously throughout the summer.
Skiing in Zermatt is split up into four areas: Sunnegga, Gornergrat, Klein Matterhorn and Schwarzsee. There is also a connection to Cervinia and Valtournenche in Italy through the Plateau Rosa glacier.
In 2008, Zermatt hosted an "Infinity Downhill Race". The race took place on 13 and 14 December and comprised a course descending from the Matterhorn Glacier Paradise () and finished in Zermatt itself (). The course was long and featured a descent.
Sunnegga
The Sunnegga Paradise is accessed via the SunneggaExpress funicular railway, followed by a gondola to Blauherd and finally a cable car onwards to the Rothorn (3,103 m) above. The topography of the mountain and the valley tends to keep the Rothorn clear and sunny, even when Zermatt is submerged in cloud.
From Blauherd there is a gondola down to Gant, and from there a connecting cablecar goes to Hohtälli. This cable car and the newer 4-seat chairlift Sunnegga-Findeln-Breitboden provide connections between Sunnegga and Gornergrat. With few steep slopes, this mountain is often used to train younger skiers.
Gornergrat
The Gornergrat is served by the Gornergrat railway, a 29-minute ride to the Gornergrat peak (3,089 m), via Riffelalp, Rotenboden and Riffelberg, (with limited stops at Findelbach and Landtunnel just above Zermatt). At the summit, the hotel and restaurant have been refurbished and accommodate a shopping centre. Riffelalp station is linked to Riffelalp Resort by a short tramway line named Riffelalptram.
A cable car heads up from Hohtälli to the Rote Nase (3,247 m). This final lift serves a freeride area but can be unreliable as this mountainside requires good snow cover to be skiable. The lifts in this area generally open for the season in late February or early March – cablecar is now permanently closed, with no replacement lift planned. A new slope leading back from Hohtälli to Kellensee just under the Gornergrat replaced this lift to maintain the link from the Rothorn to Gornergrat.
Klein Matterhorn / Schwarzsee
Near the southern end of Zermatt, the Matterhorn Express gondola transports passengers up to the interchange station at Furi. From here there is access to Schwarzsee via a gondola to the right, a cable car that leads on to the Trockener Steg midstation (and then on to the Klein Matterhorn); and a new gondola, opened on 18 December 2006, links Furi to Riffelberg on the Gornergrat mountain. This lift addresses one of the most persistent criticisms of Zermatt: that it is very difficult to ski the two sides of the valley without a tiresome trek through Zermatt between the Gornergratbahn and the Matterhorn Express at opposite ends of the town.
Testa Grigia at the top of the Theodul Pass serves as a connection to the Italian ski-resorts of Cervinia and Valtournenche. From the Swiss side it is reachable by skilift only, but from the Italian side by a chairlift and by a cablecar. In March 2019 it was announced that a new lift – the 'Alpine Crossing' – will connect Testa Grigia and Klein Matterhorn from spring 2021. There are customs offices here as well as a small alpine museum.
Zermatt is marketed as an all-year skiing resort, with summer skiing limited to the Theodul Glacier behind the Klein Matterhorn. Whilst strictly true, during the off season in May and June there will tend to be only one or two runs open, and the main glacier area does not open until July.
In operation since 25 October 2003, the Furggsattel six-seater chairlift has twelve (of eighteen) masts that stand directly on the glacial ice of the Theodul Glacier – a first for Switzerland.
The new CHF52 million 3S Glacier Ride Cable Car from the resort to Klein Matterhorn was opened on 29 September 2018. It has an uplift capacity of 2000 people per hour and takes just 9 minutes to reach the top using 25 cabins, each with 28 seats.
History of the lift system
1898 Start of summer operation of Gornergratbahn.
1928 Gornergrat Bahn introduces a twice-daily winter sports service to Riffelalp.
1939 Development of Theodul area from Breuil Cervinia to Testa Grigia.
1942 Zermatt-Sunnegga skilift (summer: foot lift, replaced by chairlift in 1967).
1946 Weisti trainer skilift (moved to Riffelberg in 1969). Zermatt-Sunnegga sideways-facing chairlift (replaced by funicular in 1980).
1947 Sunnegga-Blauherd skilift (replaced by cable car in 1967).
1955 Cableway Plan Maison-Furgghorn (discontinued 1992).
1956 Suspension lift Gornergrat-Hohtälli (Discontinued in the summer of 2007). Skilift Riffelberg (replaced by chairlift in 2003). Skilift Furi (discontinued 1960). Chairlift Findeln-Sunegga (due to be replaced in the summer of 2007).
1957 Suspension lift Zermatt-Furi.
1958 Suspension lift Hohtälli-Stockhorn (due to be discontinued in the summer of 2007). Furi-Schwarzsee suspension lift (replaced by cable car lift 2002).
1960 Skilift Garten (discontinued 2003).
1962 Suspension lift Furgg-Schwarzsee (replaced by group turnaround lift in 1991).
1963 Skilift Hornli.
1964 Suspension lift Furi-Furgg (replaced by Matterhorn Express in 2002). Theodullift (replaced by extension of Gandegglift 2003). Skilift Triftji-RoteNase
1965 Furgg-Trockener Steg suspension lift. Skilift National (replaced by chairlift Patrullarve 1989).
1967 Cable car lift Sunnegga-Blauherd (replaced by combi system in 2005). Suspension lift Blauherd-Rothorn (replaced in 1996). Skilift Furggsattel (replaced by a chairlift in 2003). Skilift Eisfluh (replaced by chairlift in 2001). Passlift (replaced by extension to Gandegglift 2003).
1968 Platform skilift Kumme (replaced by chairlift 1982). Skilift Gandegg (extended and renovated in 2003).
1971 Cable Car Gant-Blauherd. Skilift Gant-Platte (discontinued 2002). Skilift Riffelberg-Gifthittli (replaced by chairlift in 2003). Skilift Testa Grigia I.
1979 Cable Car Trockener Steg-Klein Matterhorn.
1980 Funicular Zermatt-Sunnegga. Skilift Testa Grigia II (moved to Plateau Rosa III 2005). Border skilift (Gobba di Rollin/Plateau Breithorn). Skilift Plateau Rosa I.
1982 Built: Suspension lift Furi-Trockener Steg. Cable car Zermatt-Furi. Chairlift Kumme-Rothorn.
1984 Joint skipass in Zermatt.
1986 Suspension lift Hohtälli-Rote Nase.
1989 Chairlift Patrullarve-Blauherd.
1991 Chairlift Furgg-Sandiger Boden-Theodul Glacier. Skilift Plateau Rosa II. Group turnaround lift Furgg-Schwazsee.
1995 Joint skipass Zermatt-Cervinia.
1996 Suspension lift Blauherd-Rothorn.
1997 T-bar Grenzlift built at Klein Matterhorn; highest lift in Europe. (Still in service)
1998 Suspension lift Gant-Hohtälli.
1999 Electronic ticketing system introduced.
2001 Chairlift Eisfluh-Sunnegga (replacing tow lift).
2002 Merger of Zermatt Bergbahnen. Cable car lifts Matterhorn Express (Zermatt-Furi-Schwarzsee).
2003 Chairlift Furggsattel Gletscherbahn (Trockener Steg – Furggsattel). Chairlift Gifthittli (Rifelberg – Gifthittli).
2005 Combi system (gondola/chairlift) Sunnegga-Blauherd. Passenger lift funicular-Riedweg (discontinued 2007).
2006 Suspension lift Furi-Schweigmatten-Riffelberg (Riffelberg Express).
2007 End of operations of the Gornergrat – Hohtälli Cable Car.
2007 End of operations of the Hohtälli – Stockhorn cable car, replaced by a 2 t-bar lifts (Stockhorn and Triftji) in 2008.
2007 Clearing of the skitunnel at Riffelberg, next to Gifthittli lift, increasing the capacity of this slope.
2007 Four-seat chairlift Sunnegga-Findeln/Eja and Findeln/Eja-Breitboden opened after construction.
2015 Bubble-Chairlift S.B. Hirli opens. (Stafel/Joscht- Hirli)
2016 Hublot-Express service Gant-Blauherd opens.
2017-2018 Blauherd-Rothorn Cable car temporarily out of service due to unstable ground foundations around Tower 1.
2018 Kumme-Rothorn chairlift destroyed by avalanche.
2018 Avalanche destroys T-bar Triftji-Rote Nase.
2018 Stockhorn T-bar destroyed in Avalanche.
2018 The world highest 3S cableway is inaugurated
2019 Blauherd – Rothorn Cable Car back in service after summer construction work.
2020 Kumme Gondola (replacing chairlift 1982)
Developments
The Zermatt Bergbahnen's website mentions a few projects for the following years:
c. 2024 Breitboden – Rosenritz high speed chairlift (new)
Unknown ETA new Cable Car Zermatt – Furi (replacing current cable car)
c.2022 New Gondola system Hohtalli – Rote Nase – Stockhorn (putting Stockhorn in service for the first time in 8 years)
Unknown ETA High-Speed Furgg-Garten Chairlift (replacing very slow current lift Furgg-Sandiger Boden)
In March 2019 Zermatt Bergbahnen announced plans for a new 3S 'Alpine Crossing' between Cervinia and Zermatt. It is planned to open in Spring 2021.
As well as several changes to the slopes, and the placement of new snowmaking installations.
Coat of arms
The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is Gules a lion rampant Or langued of the first on a trimount Vert between two mullets of five Argent in chief.
Demographics
Zermatt has a population () of . , 39.0% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 3 years (2010-2013) the population has changed at a rate of 0.54%. The birth rate in the municipality, in 2013, was 9.5 while the death rate was 4.9 per thousand residents.
Most of the population () speaks German (4,093 or 68.4%) as their first language, Portuguese is the second most common (719 or 12.0%) and Italian is the third (474 or 7.9%). There are 226 people who speak French and 1 person who speaks Romansh.
, the population was 51.6% male and 48.4% female. The population was made up of 1,840 Swiss men (31.6% of the population) and 1,166 (20.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,837 Swiss women (31.5%) and 985 (16.9%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 2,214 or about 37.0% were born in Zermatt and lived there in 2000. There were 720 or 12.0% who were born in the same canton, while 774 or 12.9% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 2,039 or 34.1% were born outside of Switzerland.
, children and teenagers (0–19 years old) make up 18.5% of the population, while adults (20–64 years old) are 69.5% and seniors (over 64 years old) make up 12.0%.
, there were 2,763 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 2,830 married individuals, 207 widows or widowers and 188 individuals who are divorced.
, there were 2,441 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.2 persons per household. There were 921 households that consist of only one person and 128 households with five or more people. , a total of 2,167 apartments (52.1% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 1,890 apartments (45.4%) were seasonally occupied and 103 apartments (2.5%) were empty. Of the 977 inhabited buildings in the municipality, in 2000, about 22.8% were single family homes and 45.5% were multiple family buildings. Additionally, about 10.8% of the buildings were built before 1919, while 14.4% were built between 1991 and 2000. In 2012 the rate of construction of new housing units per 1000 residents was 13.65. The vacancy rate for the municipality, , was 0.28%.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Notable people
John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry (1844–1900), Scottish nobleman, eponym of the Queensberry Rules, linked with Oscar Wilde, wrote The Spirit of the Matterhorn in Zermatt in 1873
Douglas Robert Hadow (1846–1865), a British novice mountaineer who died on the descent after the first ascent of the Matterhorn, buried in Zermatt
Ulrich Inderbinen (1900–2004), Swiss mountain climber.
Otto Furrer (1903 in Zermatt – 1951), a Swiss alpine skier and cross-country skier and world champion
Beate Hermelin (1919–2007), a German-born experimental psychologist, pioneer in the experimental study of autism, took annual holidays in Zermatt
Bernhard Perren (1928 in Zermatt – 1960), a Swiss alpine skier and mountain guide
Anni-Frid Lyngstad (born 1945), Norwegian-Swedish singer-songwriter, lead singer of ABBA, lived in Zermatt between 2008 and 2019.
Martin Schenkel (1968 – 2003 in Zermatt), a Swiss television actor and musician, starred in Swiss German TV productions
Fränzi Aufdenblatten (born 1981 in Zermatt), a retired Swiss World Cup alpine ski racer
Martin Anthamatten (born 1984 in Zermatt), a Swiss ski mountaineer and mountain runner
Andreas Steindl (born 1989 in Zermatt), a Swiss mountain climber, ski mountaineer and mountain guide
Heritage sites of national significance
The petroglyphs and prehistoric grinding stone at Hubelwäng is listed as a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
Politics
In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the CVP with 43.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (33.3%), the FDP (14.1%) and the SP (4.1%). In the federal election, a total of 1378 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 48.1%.
In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 68.98% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (19.61%), the SP (6.3%) and the FDP (3.51%). In the federal election, a total of 1,326 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 46.0%.
In the 2009 Conseil d'État/Staatsrat election a total of 1,009 votes were cast, of which 66 or about 6.5% were invalid. The voter participation was 34.4%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 1,289 votes were cast, of which 105 or about 8.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 45.4%, which is much less than the cantonal average of 59.88%.
Economy
About half of the jobs in Zermatt are in the hotel and restaurant industry.
, there were a total of 6,370 people employed in the municipality. Of these, a total of 42 people worked in 19 businesses in the primary economic sector. The secondary sector employed 521 workers in 68 separate businesses. Finally, the tertiary sector provided 5,807 jobs in 736 businesses. In 2013 a total of 13.7% of the population received social assistance.
the total number of full-time equivalent jobs was 4,261. The number of jobs in the primary sector was 20, all of which were in agriculture. The number of jobs in the secondary sector was 538 of which 83 or (15.4%) were in manufacturing and 385 (71.6%) were in construction. The number of jobs in the tertiary sector was 3,703. In the tertiary sector, 531 or 14.3% were in wholesale or retail sales or the repair of motor vehicles, 477 or 12.9% were in the movement and storage of goods, 2,178 or 58.8% were in a hotel or restaurant, 38 or 1.0% were in the information industry, 54 or 1.5% were the insurance or financial industry, 116 or 3.1% were technical professionals or scientists, 56 or 1.5% were in education and 87 or 2.3% were in health care.
, there were 744 workers who commuted into the municipality and 89 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 8.4 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 7.1% used public transportation to get to work, and 2.6% used a private car.
Religion
From the , 4,458 or 74.4% were Roman Catholic, while 458 or 7.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 131 members of an Orthodox church (or about 2.19% of the population), there were 2 individuals (or about 0.03% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 59 individuals (or about 0.99% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 4 individuals (or about 0.07% of the population) who were Jewish, and 82 (or about 1.37% of the population) who were Muslim. There were 6 individuals who were Buddhist and 4 individuals who belonged to another church. 205 (or about 3.42% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostics or atheists, and 602 individuals (or about 10.05% of the population) did not answer the question. There is an English Church in Zermatt that was founded in 1870. The Intercontinental Church Society (ICS) provide Anglican chaplains for the English Church for English speakers who work, study or travel overseas.
Education
In Zermatt about 1,988 or (33.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 470 or (7.8%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a Fachhochschule). Of the 470 who completed tertiary schooling, 51.1% were Swiss men, 21.1% were Swiss women, 14.0% were non-Swiss men and 13.8% were non-Swiss women.
During the 2010-2011 school year there were a total of 677 students in the Zermatt school system. The education system in the Canton of Valais allows young children to attend one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten. During that school year, there 6 kindergarten classes (KG1 or KG2) and 106 kindergarten students. The canton's school system requires students to attend six years of primary school. In Zermatt there were a total of 24 classes and 458 students in the primary school. The secondary school program consists of three lower, obligatory years of schooling (orientation classes), followed by three to five years of optional, advanced schools. There were 219 lower secondary students who attended school in Zermatt. All the upper secondary students attended school in another municipality.
, there were 98 students in Zermatt who came from another municipality, while 23 residents attended schools outside the municipality.
Crime
In 2014 the crime rate, of the over 200 crimes listed in the Swiss Criminal Code (running from murder, robbery and assault to accepting bribes and election fraud), in Zermatt was 56.3 per thousand residents. This rate is only 68.7% of the cantonal rate. During the same period, the rate of drug crimes was 7 per thousand residents. This rate is about one and a half times greater than the rate in the district, but is only 68.0% of the rate in the canton and is only 70.7% of the national rate. The rate of violations of immigration, visa and work permit laws was 0.5 per thousand residents. This rate is lower than average, only 71.4% of the low rate in the district and is only 14.3% of the rate in the canton and 10.2% of the rate for the entire country.
See also
Matterhorn Museum
List of ski areas and resorts in Switzerland
Swiss Alps
Tourism in Switzerland
References
Swisstopo maps
External links
Burgergemeinde Zermatt
Zermatt.ch Touristic information
Air Zermatt website
Municipality of Zermatt
Live Webcam Zermatt
Car-free villages in Switzerland
Cultural property of national significance in Valais
Ski areas and resorts in Switzerland
Road-inaccessible communities of Europe
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre%20du%20Calvet
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Pierre du Calvet
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Pierre du Calvet (1735 – March 28, 1786) was a Montreal trader, justice of the peace, political prisoner and epistle writer of French Huguenot origin.
Biography
Family
Pierre du Calvet was born in the Summer of 1735 in Caussade in the French province of Guyenne (today the Tarn-et-Garonne département). He was the oldest of a family of five children. His father, Pierre Calvet, of Calvinist confession, had his children baptized as Catholics. He however passed on his Protestant faith to them. His mother was Anne Boudet. His family is said to be of noble origin and owned a domain at Montalzat, north of Toulouse.
An ancestor, François Calvet, was hanged on June 23, 1563 for introducing the Reform in Montauban.
Education
He received a Catholic education without renouncing his Calvinism. Judging from his writings, he certainly studied the Humanities, French law, the Law of Nations and the philosophy of his time, that of the Enlightenment. In the main epistle of his Appel à la Justice de l'État, he quotes long excerpts from Pufendorf, Gratian, Grotius, Locke and Machiavelli.
Emigration to New France
A cousin-in-law, Mr. Guireaud, provided him with the capital needed to purchase the goods he intended to trade in New France. Du Calvet thus embarked for Quebec City on board the merchant ship Le Lion, which left Bordeaux in April 1758. His boat was shipwrecked about 100 miles from Quebec. His cargo lost, he was forced to find employment on his arrival in the capital of Canada towards mid-June.
On behalf of the government of New France, he was store keeper at Miramichi and Restigouche in Acadia. He was responsible to provide for the needs of three to four thousand Acadians deported by the British government in 1755. He remained there until autumn 1759.
In the summer of 1759, he took part to a mission to transfer British war prisoners to Halifax under officer Jean-François Bourdon de Dombourg. Lieutenant William Caesar McCormick, who was a prisoner captured in the Petitcodiac River Campaign, wrote him a letter of appreciation dated August 28 for the good care given to all the prisoners. On September 10, he was also given a certificate recognizing the humane treatment of the said prisoners.
Du Calvet thereafter left for Montreal after having learned, while passing through Quebec City, that the Vaudreuil government had removed there following the city's capitulation. He remained in Montreal until January 1760.
He was again charged with a mission in Acadia, this time to perform a population census on the Acadians and determine ways to provide assistance to them. He left Montreal on January 18, at the head of a group of some 60 Acadians and a few Amerindian guides. With him was the commander in chief of French Acadia, Mr. Boishébert. Upon his return, he was almost immediately sent to Sainte-Foy for the last important battle between the French and British Armies before the capitulation and surrender of Montreal on September 8. He left for Quebec City on April 20, accompanying the expedition commanded by de Lévis. In a letter to his father date June 28, du Cavet recites the historic battle and the subsequent siege. The siege was lift up on May 16, and du Calvet returned to Montreal with everyone else still alive.
Following the capitulation of the government of New France on September 8, 1760, he remained in Montreal. During the winter, he met with William Caesar McCormick again and was recommended to General Jeffery Amherst by him. Du Calvet, was determined to return to Europe and consequently was in need to get to Quebec to obtain a passport from governor James Murray, not without first obtaining another passport from governor Thomas Gage to be authorized to leave the district of Montreal. Governor Murray however requested that du Calvet delays his departure to go on yet another mission in Acadia. His task was to count the number of Acadians still left in Acadia and offer them to be transported safely to Quebec. This last humanitarian mission, which he accepted, kept him busy from July to October 1761. It seems he abandoned his project to return to Europe afterward because in January 1762, he was in Montreal.
Trader and Justice of the Peace
In January 1762, he settled in Montreal where he finally started his import-export business. He exported corn and peltries which he loaded aboard the trading vessels of the Watson & Rashleigh company (Brook Watson and Robert Rashleigh) bound for England and Spain. In return he imported various goods from Europe such as spirits and products for domestic use. His trade was prosperous. Between 1772 and 1776, he exported approximately 35,000 minots of corn, 800 pea minots plus some peltries, and imported great quantities of goods which he sold off in the district of Montreal. On March 3, 1774, he purchased the seigniory of Rivière-David, close to Sorel.
In 1763, he learned of the death of one of his uncles living in South Carolina and two months later that of his father in France.
In the summer of 1764, he left the province of Quebec for London from where he dealt with the succession of his uncle. He then passed to France to sell the family domain of Montalzat. He only came back to Montreal in June 1766. During his absence, Jean Dumas-Saint-Martin and Pierre Jusseaume dit Saint-Pierre conducted his private affairs in America. During this long voyage in Europe, he made several contacts in the English-speaking world. Even if his English was defective, he was well received a little everywhere, helped as he was with invaluable letters of introductions from governor Murray. Amongst others, he met the governor's brother, Lord Elibank, who resided at Greenock in Scotland. In London, he met with George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, British Secretary of State for the Southern Department.
In Paris, he landed with letters of introductions for Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford, the British Ambassador to France and his secretary, David Hume, the already famous philosopher, who both interceded in his favour before the Comte de Saint-Florentin. All this support was necessary for him to ensure the liquidation of his succession because he was Protestant and the French laws were then unfavourable to non-Catholics. In January 1766, after a year-long sojourn, the business was over with and he went back to London. In the Spring, he embarked for Quebec on board a vessel named the General Conway.
On June 23, 1766, governor Murray appointed him Justice of the Peace at the new Court of Common Pleas for the district of Montreal. Hardly just returned, he again left Canada, in November, to deal with trade matters in England, and only returned home in April 1767, called by his duty of Justice of the Peace.
Du Calvet seemed to have put a great zeal in the exercise of his public duties and was soon praised by the Chief Justice the province, William Hey. He handled a very great number of causes and did not ask for any fees at all.
Marriage
On October 3, 1771, at 36 years of age, he married Marie-Louise Jusseaume. 20 years old, she was the daughter of his friend Pierre Jusseaume and Marie-Louise Boulay-dit-Boulet. The new couple settled in a city house at the corner of Saint-Paul and Bonsecours streets. A first child, a boy, was born July 7, 1772. The small Jean-Pierre died in early age on the coming August 31. On November 8, 1773, Marie-Louise gave birth to a second boy, whom they name Jean Dumas, in honour of the child's godfather Jean Dumas Saint-Pierre. The couple had a third boy on October 16, 1774. He was named Guy, in honour of governor Guy Carleton. Sadly, this last child died on May 11, having had one too difficult winter. The mother joined her first and her last in the tomb in December of the same year.
Du Calvet found a nurse, dame La Prise, to take care of Jean Dumas, his second son.
Political engagement
In 1769, he submitted a reform plan to the new governor Guy Carleton which aimed for the uniformisation of the administration of justice in the Province of Quebec. The new administrative measures promulgated on February 1 did not satisfy him and he continued to voice for reform thereafter. He wrote a few open letters which he published in the Quebec Gazette/Gazette de Québec, the only newspaper in the colony at the time.
On October 28, 1770, he submitted the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Wills Hill, Earl of Hillsborough, a memoir entitled Mémoire sur la forme judiciaire actuelle de la Province de Québec.
His public denunciation of the abuses of justice by certain judges among his colleagues attracted him both friends and enemies. His actions for the improvement of the system and administration of justice were praised by Governor Carleton, attorney general Francis Maseres and Chief Justice William Hey. He however was placed at odds with a few fellow-members in the magistracy, including his neighbour John Fraser, as well as Edward Southouse and René-Ovide Hertel de Rouville.
John Fraser, captain of 60th British Royal Regiment, became Justice of the Peace in 1765, shortly after being released, for lack of evidence, in a case of violence involving him and merchant Thomas Walker, friend of du Calvet, who on September 6, 1764 lost an ear during an assault on his person. According to du Calvet, John Fraser entertained animosity towards him from this period. On June 29, 1771, Fraser and du Calvet engaged in a fist fight in front of du Calvet's house, that is opposite that of Fraser.
American Revolutionary War
On October 26, the first Continental Congress addressed a letter to the inhabitants of the province in which the form of government given to the people by the Quebec Act was severely criticized. The people were invited to give themselves the provincial representation the Quebec Act did not provide for, and have this representative body send delegates to the upcoming continental Congress, to be held in Philadelphia on May 10, 1775.
In the climate of high suspicion that precedes the entry of the Congress's army on the territory of the Province of Quebec, many citizens were arrested and among them was du Calvet. Joseph Simon Léonard, officer of militia at Pointe-aux-Trembles, accused du Calvet of collaboration with the "rebels". On October 6, his case was heard before the court and on October 9 a jury rejected the accusation as unfounded.
On November 13, Montreal was taken by the army of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery without a fight. Du Calvet was part of a committee of citizens who greeted the representatives of the Continental Congress with an address, written by Valentin Jautard on November 14. During the 6-month long occupation of Montreal by the Congress' armies, du Calvet's stores were under requisition for the service of the army.
On May 6, British reinforcements commanded by John Burgoyne arrived at Quebec. The Congress' troops were defeated at Trois-Rivières on June 8, and on June 15, Benedict Arnold withdrew his men from the province of Quebec. Before leaving the country, the army of the Congress had delivered du Calvet promissory notes of reimbursement which he later used to claim back 56,394 pounds to the Congress.
Frederick Haldimand was appointed to replace Guy Carleton in the spring of 1777 and landed in the province's capital on June 26, 1778. A month before, Fleury Mesplet had founded the first newspaper of Montreal and the first French-only one in the history of Quebec as well. Pierre du Calvet continued his public denunciation of the administration of justice by publishing open letters in it.
On May 26, he published an open denunciation of his colleagues Edward Southouse and René-Ovide Hertel de Rouville. James Monk, the attorney general, sued du Calvet for libel. He was defended by lawyer William Dummer Powell and acquitted by a jury declaring no grounds for the accusation.
Political prisoner
On September 27, 1780, brigadier general Allan Maclean proceeded to arrest du Calvet. He was incarcerated during three years, from September 27, 1780 to May 2, 1783. From the first day of his arrest, he never ceased to claim his innocence and requested that a legal trial be given to him.
On December 6, 1780, a little over a month after his arrest, governor Haldimand accepted the request for the release of du Calvet which legislative councillor François Lévesque had submitted him. The Governor however changed his mind the day after.
On May 2, 1783, he was finally released from prison.
Appel à la Justice de l'État and death
Out of prison, du Calvet left the continent for London where he intended to put governor Haldimand to trial for violating the British constitution.
In March 1784, he published The Case of Peter du Calvet to let his cause be known to the English public. Not conversant in the English language, he received the help of Francis Maseres and Petier Livius to write the document, which contains a detailed account of his confrontation with judge Fraser, his arrest, sequestration, his numerous letters asking to be trialled before a jury of his peers, etc.
In July, he published Appel à la Justice de l'État, a collection of letters to British officials and to the people of Quebec, intended to inform them of his actions to obtain both justice in his personal cause and a new constitution for the province.
The same year, Félix de Berey, mocked by du Calvet in one of his open letters, published Réplique par le P. de Berey aux calomnies de Pierre du Calvet.
To finance his lawsuit against Haldimand, he needed money. While in London he decided to cross the Atlantic to reach Philadelphia and recover the money owed to him by the American Congress. He presented himself before the Congressmen to claim the amount he believed was his, but was paid back only parts of it. On March 3, the Spanish ship transporting him to Paris left the port of New York. On March 15, the Spanish ship was declared lost in sea.
Political heritage
While the trial of Haldimand never took place, the actions taken by du Calvet had a decisive influence on the course of Quebec's history. He undoubtedly contributed to the involvement of citizens, French-speaking and English-speaking, Catholic and Protestant, in a common effort to obtain a House of Assembly for the Province of Quebec. Indeed, a few months after the probable arrival of the first copies of his collection of letters, numerous persons were signing the Petition of Ancient and New Subjects for a House of Assembly dated November 24, 1784.
Louis-Joseph Papineau evoked his memory in his last public speech at the Institut canadien de Montréal in December 1867. Like numerous others of his generation, he knew the story of du Calvet.
In 1877, Louis Fréchette dedicated a poem entitled Du Calvet in his collection of poems La Légende d'un peuple. Relating in verse the story of his fight, he made him a national hero, the "first champion of our civic battles".
Éva Circé-Côté dedicated chapter V of her book Papineau - Son influence sur la pensée canadienne to "the one who inaugurated the most glorious period of our annals".
Works
Mémoire sur la forme judiciaire actuelle de la Province de Québec, Quebec City, 1770
Province de Québec, district de Montréal, Cour des plaidoyers communs, Brook Watson & Robert Rashleigh, négociants de Londres, stipulant pour eux, Pierre Panet, écuyer, fondé de leur procuration, demandeurs contre Pierre du calvet, de Montréal, écuyer, défendeur : défenses, 1778
Mémoire en réponse à l'écrit public, de Me Panet, fondé de procuration de Watson & Rasleigh de Londres, demandeurs, contre Pierre du Calvet de Montréal, écuyer, défendeur [...], Quebec City, 1779
The Case of Peter Du Calvet, Esq., of Montreal in the Province of Quebeck, containing, amongst other things worth notice, an account of the long and severe imprisonment he suffered in the said province [...], London, March 1784 (in collaboration with Francis Maseres and Peter Livius)
Appel à la justice de l’État; ou recueil de lettres au roi, au prince de Galles, et aux ministres; avec une lettre à messieurs les Canadiens, ..., London, July 1784
See also
Frederick Haldimand
Fleury Mesplet
Valentin Jautard
Michel Bastarache dit Basque
References
Bibliography
Further reading
Blanchet, Renée (2007). Pierre du Calvet. 1735-1786, Montréal: Éditions Maxime, 193 pages
Saint-Germain, Annie (2000). L'héroïsation dans le discours épistolaire et l'autobiographie : le cas de Pierre du Calvet (1735–1786), Master's Thesis, département d'études littéraires, UQUAM, Montréal, 302 p.
Andrès, Bernard. "La passion du combat dans les lettres de Pierre du Calvet", in Manon Brunet (dir.) Érudition et passion dans les écritures intimes, Québec: Éditions Nota bene, 1990, p. 17-27
de Lagrave, Jean-Paul and Ruelland, Jacques G. (1986). Pierre du Calvet, Appel à la Justice de l'État, (Excerpts), Sainte-Foy: Le Griffon d'argile, 64 pages
Légaré, Michel (1976). Pierre du Calvet, l'homme et l'oeuvre, Master's Thesis, Université de Montréal
Gascon, Adélard (1947). Pierre du Calvet, monographie, Doctoral thesis in philosophy, Université d'Ottawa, 280 pages
Sulte, Benjamin. "Monographie de Pierre du Calvet", in Mélanges historiques, Montréal: G. Ducharme Libraire-éditeur, vol. 7, 1921, p. 76-98
Chapais, Thomas. "Pierre du Calvet", in La Presse, July 15, August 26, and September 9, 1905
Ville de Montréal. "Pierre Du Calvet en 1785", in the official Web site of the Vieux-Montréal, February 3, 2002
Du Calvet, Pierre. "Correspondence between Pierre du Calvet and Benjamin Franklin", in The Papers of Benjamin Franklin (four letters from Pierre du Calvet to Benjamin Franklin)
External links
Pierre du Calvet House, Montreal, tableau by Nancy Macina, Ward-Nasse Art Gallery
Haldimand Collection
1735 births
1786 deaths
Pre-Confederation Canadian businesspeople
Pre-Confederation Quebec people
French Quebecers
Huguenot participants in the American Revolution
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church%20of%20the%20United%20Brethren%20in%20Christ
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Church of the United Brethren in Christ
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The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is an evangelical Christian denomination with churches in 17 countries. It is Protestant, with an episcopal structure and Arminian theology, with roots in the Mennonite and German Reformed communities of 18th-century Pennsylvania, as well as close ties to Methodism. It was organized in 1800 by Martin Boehm and Philip William Otterbein and is the first American denomination that was not transplanted from Europe. It emerged from United Brethren churches that were at first unorganized, and not all of which joined this church when it was formally organized in 1800, following a 1789 conference at the Otterbein Church (Baltimore, Maryland).
In 1889, a controversy over membership in secret societies such as the Freemasons, the proper way to modify the church's constitution, and other issues split the United Brethren into majority liberal and minority conservative blocs, the latter of which was led by Bishop Milton Wright (father of the Wright Brothers). Both groups continued to use the name Church of the United Brethren in Christ.
The majority faction, known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New Constitution), merged with the Evangelical Church in 1946 to form a new denomination known as the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). This in turn merged in 1968 with The Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (UMC).
The Wright-led faction, The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Old Constitution, continues today as the denomination of about 550 congregations, with 47,300 members in fifteen countries. The US National Conference consists of about 200 churches and 25,000 members in the United States, plus mission districts in Haiti and India. The United States national office is located in Huntington, Indiana, as is the denomination's only college, Huntington University.
History
Though the church was not organized until 1800, its roots reach back to 1767. In May of that year, a Great Meeting (part of the interdenominational revival movement the First Great Awakening) was held at a barn belonging to Isaac Long in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Martin Boehm (1725–1812), a Mennonite preacher, spoke of his becoming a Christian through crying out to God while plowing in the field. Philip William Otterbein (1726–1813), a Reformed pastor at York, Pennsylvania, left his seat, embraced Boehm and said to him, "Wir sind Brüder (we are brethren)."
The followers of Boehm and Otterbein formed a loose movement for many years. It spread to include German-speaking churches in Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, and Ohio. In 1800, they began a yearly conference. Thirteen ministers attended the first conference at the home of Peter Kemp in Frederick, Maryland. At that conference in 1800, they adopted a name, the United Brethren in Christ. Boehm and Otterbein, now in their 70s, were elected as bishops. The United Brethren Church claims to be the first denomination to actually begin in the United States, rather than be transplanted from Europe. A Confession of Faith was adopted in 1815 (similar to one written by Otterbein in 1789), and it has remained the statement of church doctrine to the present. In 1841, they adopted a Constitution. It has remained mostly intact, being changed perhaps a dozen times.
William Otterbein retained a connection with the Reformed Church, pastoring a Reformed Church in Baltimore, Maryland from 1774 until his death in 1813. Martin Boehm was excluded by the Mennonites in 1775. He joined the Methodist Church in 1802, while remaining bishop of the United Brethren until his death in 1812. Francis Asbury, bishop of the Methodist Church in America, spoke at the memorial services of both of these United Brethren bishops. Otterbein had assisted in Asbury's ordination.
The United Brethren took a strong stand against slavery in 1821. After 1837, slave owners were no longer allowed to remain as members of the United Brethren Church. In 1847, the United Brethren founded Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, which continues today. In 1853, the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society was organized. Expansion occurred into the western United States, but the church's stance against slavery limited expansion to the south.
Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution)
By 1889, the United Brethren had grown to over 200,000 members with six bishops. In that same year they experienced a division. Denominational leaders desired to make three changes: to give local conferences proportional representation at the General Conference; to allow laymen to serve as delegates to General Conference; and to allow United Brethren members to hold membership in secret societies. However, the consensus process for amending the Constitution at the time made it difficult to amend; amendments required a 2/3 majority of all church members. However, the denomination believed these changes were necessary for the good of the church, and chose to enact them without this near consensus at the 1889 General Conference, held in York, Pennsylvania. They also adopted a new Confession of Faith.
A minority, mostly conservative faction felt the changes violated the Constitution because they were not made by a 2/3 majority of all church members. Milton Wright (the father of aviation pioneers Wilbur Wright and Orville Wright) was the only one of the church's six bishops to side with the minority. He and 13 other conference delegates left the meeting and resumed the session at the York Opera House. Arguing that based upon church constitution requirements the majority faction had effectively withdrawn from the denomination, they declared themselves to be the true United Brethren Church.
US Legal Courts saw it differently. Most of the congregations that sided with Wright lost their property. Wright led this group— comprising from 10,000 to 15,000 constituents— in those early years as they reorganized. A new headquarters began taking shape in 1897 in Huntington, Indiana, with the establishment of a publishing house, national offices, and Huntington College. Wright served as bishop until 1905.
Until 1946 two groups operated under the name Church of the United Brethren in Christ, distinguished by whether they were the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution) or the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New Constitution). Both claimed 1800 as their founding date, with heritage dating to 1767, and the same history up to 1889.
In 1946, the larger New Constitution United Brethren church merged with the Evangelical Association to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church. That body in turn merged with The Methodist Church (USA) in 1968 to form the United Methodist Church. The present United Brethren Church is descended from the Old Constitution faction. This group eventually adopted two of the changes that led to the division of 1889 – local conferences have proportional representation at General Conference, and half of the delegates are laypersons. The present church contends that unlike in 1889, these changes were adopted constitutionally, by near consensus.
Theology
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ is a conservative Trinitarian body of Christians that hold the deity, humanity, and atonement of Jesus; that the Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments, is the inspired Word of God; and that salvation is through faith, repentance and following after Christ. The church holds two ordinances: baptism and the Lord's supper. The church takes a neutral position on the observance of feet washing, stating, "the example of washing feet is left to the judgment of every one to practice or not...".
Branches and connections
For the first several decades the Church of the United Brethren in Christ was loosely organized, and known simply as the United Brethren Church. When they officially organized into a denomination they adopted the name "Church of the United Brethren in Christ" in order to avoid confusion with the Unitas Fratrum (Unity of the Brethren), or as it more commonly was called in English, the United Brethren (also known as the Moravian Church.) Although there was influence by Pietism and the Moravians on the founders of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, there is no direct organizational link.
Likewise, there are no organizational connections with the Brethren denominations coming out of the German Brethren and Swiss Brethren movements, nor are there any connections with various Latter Day Saint groups that use "United Brethren" in their name.
Brethren in Christ
Known branches of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ include several congregations led by United Brethren founder Martin Boehm. Initially known as River Brethren, they developed into several denominations, including the Brethren in Christ Church, Calvary Holiness Church, Old Order River Brethren/Yorker Brethren, and United Zion Church. While they were associated with the United Brethren during the early decades, they never joined when the movement formalized into a denomination.
Missionary Church
During the 19th century, John Swank and a small number of supporters left the United Brethren Church. They joined with a small faction that had broken from the larger Brethren in Christ Church. Led by John Wegner, this group was also known by the name "Brethren in Christ". Part of this group, led by John Swank, later broke off and merged to become part of the Mennonite Brethren in Christ. The Mennonite Brethren in Christ eventually contributed to the convergence of denominations of what is now the Missionary Church, USA, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The remainder of the Wegner/Swank Brethren in Christ became the Pentecostal Brethren in Christ before becoming part of the Pilgrim Holiness Church, which merged to become part of the Wesleyan Church.
United Christian Church
In addition a small group of members withdrew (primarily over a desire for a stronger stand on pacifism) to form one of the denominations known as the United Christian Church around the middle of the 19th century.
Christian Union / Churches of Christ in Christian Union Church
In 1848 a small group withdrew to form the Republican United Brethren Church. They later merged with another small splinter group called the Reformed United Brethren Church to create the Evangelical United Brethren Association.
The Evangelical United Brethren Association is believed to have united with several other groups to form the Christian Union in 1864. In 1909 the Christian Union split into the Christian Union and the Churches of Christ in Christian Union.
They are not to be confused with the Evangelical Association that later was known as the Evangelical Church, before merging to become The Evangelical United Brethren Church.
United Methodist Church & United Church of Canada
The largest "branching" came in 1889 when the main body divided into two groups. The larger group embraced a new constitution while the smaller group retained the original constitution. The larger group was known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ or, later, The United Brethren Church (UB). In 1946 the United Brethren Church merged with the Evangelical Church to form the Evangelical United Brethren Church (EUB). In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren Church merged with the Methodist Church to form the United Methodist Church (UMC).
In Canada the more liberal United Brethren group after 1889 joined with the Congregationalists in 1906. The Congregationalists then joined with the Methodist Church and most of the Presbyterian Churches in Canada in 1925 to form the United Church of Canada. The more conservative United Brethren Church after 1889 continues to this day as the United Brethren Church in Canada. When EUB churches in the United States entered the UMC in 1968, congregations in Central Canada merged with the United Church of Canada.
Evangelical Church of North America & Evangelical Missionary Church of Canada
In 1968, a number of the Evangelical United Brethren Churches in the US and Canada left the Evangelical United Brethren Church/United Methodist Church. Some rejoined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, other denominations, or remained independent. Most joined together to form the Evangelical Church of North America. Later, because of international laws and legal requirements by Revenue Canada, the Canadian branch of the Evangelical Church of North America withdrew to form its own denomination. The Evangelical Church in Canada then merged with the Missionary Church of Canada to form the Evangelical Missionary Church in Canada. Fraternal ties between the Evangelical Church and the Evangelical Missionary Church have been maintained.
The Association of Evangelical Churches
In 1981 a group of former Evangelical United Brethren churches in Pennsylvania separated from the Evangelical Church of North America over concerns regarding the ownership of congregational property. They established the Association of Evangelical Churches. The Association began an annual slate of ministry events with Family Camp in August 1982, and has since added Men's Retreat, Ministers' Retreat, Youth Retreat, and Ladies Retreat. In addition, its Board of Ministry trains, licenses, and ordains workers for ministry. The Association was a member of the Christian Holiness Partnership. Four chairmen have served the Association since its inception: Rev. Evans Mitchell 1982-1986; Rev. Gary Lyons 1986-1998; Rev. James Nelson 1998-2006; and Rev. Allen Young since 2006.
United Believers in Christ
All but one of the churches of California Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA, withdrew from the denomination during the fall of 2005 and started their own group, called United Believers in Christ. The denomination had just gone through a two-year effort to merge into the Missionary Church USA denomination. Although the California churches had strongly supported the initiatives of UBHope, a group which opposed joining with the Missionary Church, USA, and although many of the ideas ultimately adopted originated from UBHope, the California churches continued to disagree with the direction of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution)
The smaller group of churches resulting from the 1889 division became known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Old Constitution). Later, after the other Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New Constitution) changed names with its 1946 merger with the Evangelical Church, "Old Constitution" was dropped from the name. Today, they are often casually referred to as United Brethren (UB) or the United Brethren Church (UBC).
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International
In the late 1980s through the early 21st century, a need to comply with changing international laws resulted in the creation of a number of self-governing United Brethren "national conferences," organized by country. These independent national denominations covenanted together to create an interdependent body called the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International. They must all agree to follow the Confession of Faith of 1815, as well as a set of seven Core Values adopted in 2001. The other international governing documents include a Constitution and By-Laws.
The General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International, meets every three years. It is the highest governing body of the church, and is composed of representatives from the ten national conferences. Each national conference can send two delegates, usually its Bishop or General Superintendent and its Missions Director. The national conference of each country elects its own highest official (often called the bishop). These national conference officials make up an international Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets annually, usually electronically, to take care of business between sessions of the General Conference. Canadian Bishop Brian Magnus is the current chair of the United Brethren International Executive Committee.
National conferences
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International currently consists of ten self-governing national conferences. Seven of them existed when the international structure was adopted in 2001. Two more conferences, Mexico and the Philippines, were accepted as part of the denomination in 2005, and the U.B. churches in Guatemala became the tenth national conference in 2010. The Philippines National Conference was removed from membership by the 2017 General Conference. A group of nearly 30 churches in Haiti, which had affiliated with the United Brethren in 2000 as a mission district, and operated under the supervision of the Canadian national conference, organized as a national conference in 2019. Here is the total list of national conferences:
The United Brethren Church in Canada
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Honduras
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Hong Kong
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Jamaica
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Mexico
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Nicaragua
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Sierra Leone
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Guatemala
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Haiti
Mission districts
In addition there are various mission districts. A mission district is a collection of churches in a country which are not yet organized into a national conference. Instead, those churches are under the supervision of a national conference. For example, UB Global, the joint mission organization of the United Brethren churches in the United States and Canada, currently oversees a mission district in India and the two churches in Macau, while the Hong Kong Conference oversees the work in Thailand. Any mission district can seek status as a national conference if it meets and maintains the following criteria:
It consists of at least five churches within that country.
It is a legally recognized entity within that country.
No other United Brethren national conference exists in that country.
It is organized with a constitution and other governing documents.
Its governing documents, teachings, and practices do not conflict with the Confession of Faith, Core Values, Constitution, and Bylaws of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.
If a mission district meets those requirements, it can apply for national conference status through this procedure:
The churches in the mission district vote to seek membership in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.
They develop their governing documents and submit them to the international Executive Committee for review.
The General Conference approves, by a two-thirds vote, the request for membership.
These are the current mission districts:
Costa Rica (oversight by Nicaragua)
El Salvador (oversight by Honduras)
Germany (oversight by Sierra Leone)
India (oversight by UB Global [USA])
Macau (oversight by UB Global [USA])
Thailand (oversight by Hong Kong)
Liberia (oversight by Sierra Leone)
France (oversight by UB Global [USA]))
(see also: other Protestant missionary societies in China during the 19th century)
Organization
The General Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International, meets every three years. It is the highest governing body of the church, and is composed of representatives from the various national conferences. Each national conference can send two delegates. The national conference of each country elects its own highest official (often called the bishop). These national conference officials make up an international Executive Committee. The Executive Committee meets annually to take care of business between sessions of the General Conference.
Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA
Organization
The Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA is the United Brethren national conference for the United States. Its national offices are located in Huntington, Indiana. Led by an elected bishop, it is composed of clergy and lay representatives from US congregations and US-sponsored mission fields. The national conference meets every two years.
On October 14, 2003, the Executive Leadership Team of the United Brethren Church, USA voted to pursue joining with the Missionary Church. The joining was tentatively scheduled to occur in 2005 but was defeated by a vote of the membership in 2004. This action, had it received a favorable vote, would have combined the United Brethren churches in the United States into the Missionary Church USA, so that all of those congregations would have become Missionary Church congregations.
At the 2005 National Conference of the United Brethren Church, USA significant changes were passed that initiated a major restructuring and refocusing of the denomination. The new organizational structure eliminated the multiple geographical "annual conferences" which had existed since 1810, and replaced them with smaller groupings, called "clusters", consisting of 5-10 churches and their senior pastors. Clusters were designed to better equip congregations and their leadership while building stronger relationships and accountability.
The new structure did the following:
Moved the National Conference from a four-year cycle to a two-year cycle.
Required each United Brethren church in the United States to affirm its continued support for a covenant agreement. The covenant agreement lays out the minimum expectations to be a United Brethren church.
Required that all pastors and their congregations work together with other pastors and congregations in groups of 5-10 churches called "clusters." The new structure allowed flexibility in the formation and focus of a cluster. Each cluster receives ongoing training to equip the pastors in the cluster to equip their churches. All cluster leaders are appointed by the United States bishop.
Allowed for a variety of mission-focused networks and associations to be created. These groups could revolve around world evangelism, camps, church planting, or any number of other affinities.
Required a "partnership fee" of 3.5% of a church's income. Before 2005, most churches paid around 12% of their income toward conference and denominational interests. The elimination of the annual conferences, a mid-level geographic entity with its own leaders and programs, enabled the fee to be drastically reduced and thereby keep more finances at the local church level.
The covenant must be signed by each church and reciprocally signed by the bishop. If a church chooses not to sign the covenant, they are basically withdrawing from the denomination. The covenant, as most recently revised, includes these points:
We commit to the Confession of Faith and Core Values of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, International.
We agree to abide by the Constitution and Discipline of the US National Conference.
We will prioritize our assets, energies, and ministries toward fulfilling the Great Commission.
We will support the broader ministry and mission of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA, through prayer, promotion of its interests, and the annual partnership fee.
Affiliated ministries
UB Global (formerly Global Ministries), located in Huntington, Indiana, is the official agency of the Church of the United Brethren Church, USA, for worldwide evangelism and discipleship. Areas of responsibility include overseeing mission conferences, certifying missionaries, and promoting connections between US and non-US congregations. The United States and Canadian national conferences work together under a joint ministry agreement; two representatives from the Canadian church serve on the UB Global Leadership Team.
Huntington University is owned and operated by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. The successor of Hartsville Seminary, Huntington University was founded in 1897 as Central College. In 1917, the name was changed to Huntington College, and it became Huntington University on July 1, 2005.
Laurel Mission is a holistic ministry meeting physical, social, and spiritual needs in rural Kentucky.
Rhodes Grove Camp is a campground located near Chambersburg, Pa. It was the campground of the Mid-Atlantic Conference until 2005, when Rhodes Grove became an independent entity with its own board of directors. The camp's strong connections with United Brethren churches continue.
Camp Living Waters is a United Brethren campground in Luther, Mich. In 2005, Camp Living Waters became an independent entity, while retaining strong connections with the founding United Brethren churches.
Camp Cotubic, located in Bellefontaine, Ohio, was the campground of the former Central Conference of the US National Conference. It became an independent entity, with its own board of directors, in 2006, though the historic connections with United Brethren churches in Ohio and Indiana continue.
Key national leader
Rev. Todd Fetters, Bishop
Publications
UB.org is the official website of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
UBGlobal.org is the official website of UB Global.
UBCentral.org is the official news portal for the United Brethren church.
"Worldview" is the official publication of UB Global and is published quarterly.
Status
The total number of United Brethren churches is 600, with a membership of 47,300. In 2017, membership in the United States was around 20,000 in 180 congregations. The majority of United Brethren churches are located in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan. Outside the United States, there are churches in Canada, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Liberia, Macau, Mexico, Nicaragua, Sierra Leone, France, and Thailand.
Higher education
Since its beginning in the 18th century, the Church of the United Brethren in Christ founded 34 colleges, seminaries, and academies in the United States. Only Huntington University is part of the current Church of the United Brethren in Christ. The complete list of colleges surviving as independent entities, include:
Huntington University, Huntington, Indiana (UBC)
Lebanon Valley College, Annville, Pennsylvania (associated with the UMC)
Otterbein University Westerville, Ohio (UMC)
United Theological Seminary, Dayton, Ohio (UMC)
University of Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana (UMC)
Shenandoah University, Winchester, Virginia (UMC)
Notable United Brethren people
Clarence E. Coe, pioneer of Palms, California, and member of the Los Angeles City Council, 1931–33
James M. Cox, 1920 Democratic presidential candidate, twice governor of Ohio, and founder of Cox Enterprises.
Francis Scott Key, who wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner", was a Sunday school teacher for the United Brethren.
Benjamin Hanby, a United Brethren bishop's son who wrote the songs "Darling Nelly Gray," "Up on the Housetop," and "Jolly Old St. Nicholas."
Lillian Resler Keister Harford (1851–1935), church organizer and editor.
Orville D. Merillat, founder of Merillat Industries and a noted philanthropist, was a United Brethren member.
J. Edward Roush, who represented Indiana's 4th Congressional District 1959–1977, and was instrumental in establishing the nationwide 911 emergency system.
Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented the airplane, were the sons of United Brethren bishop Milton Wright.
References
Further reading
Drury, Augustus Waldo. History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Otterbein Press, 1924) online; covers The majority faction, known as the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (New Constitution) (now UMC),.
Berger, Daniel. History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (United Brethren Publishing House, 1897) online.
Handbook of Denominations in the United States, by Frank S. Mead, Samuel S. Hill, and Craig D. Atwood
Trials and Triumphs, Paul R. Fetters, editor. A history of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ up to 1981.
"Theological Perspectives", Paul R. Fetters, editor.
"All for Christ," volumes 1 and 2, written by Steve Dennie and published in June 2017. A history of the United Brethren in Christ with a focus on 1981 to the present.
External links
Church of the United Brethren in Christ
UB Global
Huntington University
United Brethren Historical Center
Religious organizations established in 1889
River Brethren
Evangelical denominations in North America
Anabaptist organizations established in the 19th century
Evangelical denominations established in the 19th century
Protestantism in Ohio
Members of the National Association of Evangelicals
Arminian denominations
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-pop
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J-pop
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J-pop (, jeipoppu; often stylized in all caps; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in traditional music of Japan, and significantly in 1960s pop and rock music. J-pop replaced kayōkyoku ("Lyric Singing Music", a term for Japanese popular music from the 1920s to the 1980s) in the Japanese music scene.
J-rock bands such as Happy End fused the Beatles and Beach Boys-style rock with Japanese music in the 1960s1970s. J-country had popularity during the international popularity of Westerns in the 1960s1970s as well, and it still has appeal due to the work of musicians like Charlie Nagatani, Tomi Fujiyama, along with venues like Little Texas in Tokyo. J-rap became mainstream with producer Nujabes and his work on Samurai Champloo, Japanese pop culture is often seen with anime in hip hop. Other trends in Japanese music include J-Euro in the early 1990s, namely Namie Amuro, as well, Latin music, CCM, and gospel music have scenes within J-pop.
J-pop is further defined by new wave and crossover fusion acts of the late 1970s such as Yellow Magic Orchestra and Southern All Stars. Popular styles of Japanese pop music include technopop during the 1970s1980s, city pop in the 1980s, and Shibuya-kei in the 1990s.
Form and definition
The origin of modern J-pop is said to be Japanese-language rock music inspired by the likes of The Beatles. Unlike the Japanese music genre called kayōkyoku, J-pop uses a special kind of pronunciation, which is similar to that of English. One notable singer to do so is Keisuke Kuwata, who pronounced the Japanese word karada ("body") as kyerada. Additionally, unlike Western music, the major second (sol and la) was usually not used in Japanese music, except art music, before rock music became popular in Japan. When the Group Sounds genre, which was inspired by Western rock, became popular, Japanese pop music adopted the major second, which was used in the final sounds of The Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and The Rolling Stones' song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Although Japanese pop music changed from music based on Japanese pentatonic scale and distortional tetrachord to the more occidental music over time, music that drew from the traditional Japanese singing style remained popular (such as that of Ringo Shiina).
At first, the term J-pop was used only for Western-style musicians in Japan, such as Pizzicato Five and Flipper's Guitar, just after Japanese radio station J-Wave was established. On the other hand, Mitsuhiro Hidaka of AAA from Avex Trax said that J-pop was originally derived from the Eurobeat genre. However, the term became a blanket term, covering other music genres—such as the majority of Japanese rock music of the 1990s.
In 1990, the Japanese subsidiary of Tower Records defined J-pop as all Japanese music belonging to the Recording Industry Association of Japan except Japanese independent music (which they term "J-indie"); their stores began to use additional classifications, such as J-club, J-punk, J-hip-hop, J-reggae, J-anime, and Visual kei by 2008, after independent musicians started to release works via major labels. Ito Music City, a Japanese record store, adopted expanded classifications including Group Sounds, idol of the 1970s–1980s, enka, folk and established musicians of the 1970s–1980s, in addition to the main J-pop genres.
Whereas rock musicians in Japan usually hate the term "pop", Taro Kato, a member of pop punk band Beat Crusaders, pointed out that the encoded pop music, like pop art, was catchier than "J-pop" and he also said that J-pop was the music, memorable for its frequency of airplay, in an interview when the band completed their first full-length studio album under a major label, P.O.A.: Pop on Arrival, in 2005. Because the band did not want to perform J-pop music, their album featured the 1980s Pop of MTV. According to his fellow band member Toru Hidaka, the 1990s music that influenced him (such as Nirvana, Hi-Standard, and Flipper's Guitar) was not listened to by fans of other music in Japan at that time.
In contrast to this, although many Japanese rock musicians until the late 1980s disrespected the kayōkyoku music, many of Japanese rock bands of the 1990s—such as Glay—assimilated kayōkyoku into their music. After the late 1980s, breakbeat and samplers also changed the Japanese music scene, where expert drummers had played good rhythm because traditional Japanese music did not have the rhythm based on rock or blues.
Hide of Greeeen openly described their music genre as J-pop. He said, "I also love rock, hip hop and breakbeats, but my field is consistently J-pop. For example, hip hop musicians learn 'the culture of hip hop' when they begin their career. We are not like those musicians and we love the music as sounds very much. Those professional people may say 'What are you doing?' but I think that our musical style is cool after all. The good thing is good."
One term recently coined in relation to "J-pop" is coming from the industry's association with other popular cultures within Japan that has gained international attention like city pop, anisong, Vocaloids and VTubing.
History
1920s–1960s: Ryūkōka
Japanese popular music, called ryūkōka before being split into enka and poppusu,
has origins in the Meiji period, but most Japanese scholars consider the Taishō period to be the actual starting point of ryūkōka, as it is the era in which the genre first gained nationwide popularity. By the Taishō period, Western musical techniques and instruments, which had been introduced to Japan in the Meiji period, were widely used. Influenced by Western genres such as jazz and blues, ryūkōka incorporated Western instruments such as the violin, harmonica, and guitar. However, the melodies were often written according to the traditional Japanese pentatonic scale. In the 1930s, Ichiro Fujiyama released popular songs with his tenor voice. Fujiyama sang songs with a lower volume than opera through the microphone (the technique is sometimes called crooning).
Jazz musician Ryoichi Hattori attempted to produce Japanese native music which had a "flavor" of blues.
He composed Noriko Awaya's hit song "Wakare no Blues" (lit. "Farewell Blues"). Awaya became a famous popular singer and was called "Queen of Blues" in Japan. Due to pressure from the Imperial Army during the war, the performance of jazz music was temporarily halted in Japan. Hattori, who stayed in Shanghai at the end of the war, produced hit songs such as Shizuko Kasagi's "Tokyo Boogie-Woogie" and Ichiro Fujiyama's "Aoi Sanmyaku" (lit. "Blue Mountain Range"). Hattori later became known as the "Father of Japanese poppusu". The United States soldiers—who were occupying Japan at the time—and the Far East Network introduced a number of new musical styles to the country. Boogie-woogie, Mambo, Blues, and Country music were performed by Japanese musicians for the American troops. Chiemi Eri's cover song "Tennessee Waltz" (1952), Hibari Misora's "Omatsuri Mambo" (1952), and Izumi Yukimura's cover song "Till I Waltz Again with You" (1953) also became popular. Foreign musicians and groups, including JATP and Louis Armstrong, visited Japan to perform. In the mid-1950s, became a popular venue for live jazz music. Jazz had a large impact on Japanese poppusu, though "authentic" jazz did not become the mainstream genre of music in Japan. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Japanese pop was polarized between urban kayō and modern enka.
Modern J-pop is also sometimes believed to have had its roots with Chinese immigrant jazz musicians who had fled Shanghai during the communist takeover, and were collaborating with the U.S.-occupied forces to help introduce s variety of new genres to the Japanese public. In 1949, when the communists took over and established the People's Republic of China on the mainland, one of the first actions taken by the government was to denounce popular music (specifically both Chinese pop music, known as Mandopop, and Western pop music) as decadent music, and for decades afterwards the Communist Party would promote Chinese revolutionary songs while suppressing Chinese folk songs, Chinese pop songs and Western pop songs. Dissatisfied with Chairman Mao Zedong's new music policies, a number of Shanghainese jazz musicians fled to the British colony of Hong Kong and established Cantopop, which is pop music sung in the Cantonese dialect of Chinese. However, a few musicians instead settled in Japan, where they became members of the Far East Network and collaborated with the American soldiers to help expose the Japanese public to a wide variety of western genres. This eventually lead to the establishment of modern Japanese pop music, known as kayōkyoku.
1960s: Origin of modern style
Rokabirī Boom and Wasei pops
During the 1950s and 60s, many Kayōkyoku groups and singers gained experience performing on US military bases in Japan. Around the same time, Yakuza manager Kazuo Taoka reorganized the concert touring industry by treating the performers as professionals. Many of these performers later became key participants in the J-pop genre.
In 1956, Japan's rock and roll craze began, due to the country music group known as Kosaka Kazuya and the Wagon Masters; their rendition of Elvis Presley's song "Heartbreak Hotel" helped to fuel the trend. The music was called "rockabilly" (or rokabirī) by the Japanese media. Performers learned to play the music and translate the lyrics of popular American songs, resulting in the birth of . The rockabilly movement would reach its peak when 45,000 people saw the performances by Japanese singers at the first Nichigeki Western Carnival in one week of February 1958.
Kyu Sakamoto, a fan of Elvis, made his stage début as a member of the band The Drifters at the Nichigeki Western Carnival in 1958. His 1961 song "Ue wo Muite Arukō" ("Let's Look Up and Walk"), known in other parts of the world as "Sukiyaki", was released to the United States in 1963. It was the first Japanese song to reach the Number One position in the United States, spending four weeks in Cash Box and three weeks in Billboard. It also received a gold record for selling one million copies. During this period, female duo The Peanuts also became popular, singing a song in the movie Mothra. Their songs, such as "Furimukanaide" ("Don't Turn Around") were later covered by Candies on their album Candy Label. Artists like Kyu Sakamoto and The Peanuts were called .
After frequently changing members, Chosuke Ikariya re-formed The Drifters in 1964 under the same name. At a Beatles concert in 1966, they acted as curtain raisers, but the audience generally objected. Eventually, The Drifters became popular in Japan, releasing "Zundoko-Bushi" ("Echoic word tune") in 1969. Along with enka singer Keiko Fuji, they won "the award for mass popularity" at the 12th Japan Record Awards in 1970. Keiko Fuji's 1970 album Shinjuku no Onna/'Enka no Hoshi' Fuji Keiko no Subete ("Woman in Shinjuku/'Star of Enka All of Keiko Fuji") established an all-time record in the history of the Japanese Oricon chart by staying in the Number One spot for 20 consecutive weeks. The Drifters later came to be known as television personalities and invited idols such as Momoe Yamaguchi and Candies to their television program.
Ereki boom and group sounds
The Ventures visited Japan in 1962, causing the widespread embrace of the electric guitar called the "Ereki boom". Yūzō Kayama and Takeshi Terauchi became famous players of electric guitar. In 1966, the Beatles came to Japan and sang their songs at the Nippon Budokan, becoming the first rock music band to perform a concert there. The public believed that the Beatles would cause juvenile delinquency. The Japanese government deployed riot police against young rock fans at the Nippon Budokan. John Lennon felt that they were not well regarded in Japan, but Beatlemania has never really died there. The Beatles inspired Japanese bands, creating the group sounds genre in Japan.
Most Japanese musicians felt that they could not sing rock in Japanese, so the popularity of Japanese rock gradually declined. As a result, there were debates such as "Should we sing rock music in Japanese?" and "Should we sing in English?" between Happy End and Yuya Uchida about Japanese rock music. This confrontation was called . Happy End proved that rock music could be sung in Japanese, and one theory holds that their music became one of the origins of modern J-pop. The Beatles also inspired Eikichi Yazawa, who grew up in an underprivileged family, his father dying when he was a child. Keisuke Kuwata, who grew up in a dual-income family, was influenced by the Beatles through his older sister, then an avid fan. Yōsui Inoue was also a fan of The Beatles, but he said that his music style was not particularly related to them. After Happy End disbanded in 1973, Haruomi Hosono, a former member, began a solo career and later formed Yellow Magic Orchestra.
1970s: Development of "new music"
Fōku and new music
In the early 1960s, some Japanese music became influenced by the American folk music revival; this was called , although the genre of music was mostly covers of original songs. In the late 1960s, the Folk Crusaders became famous and the underground music around that time became called fōku. As with enka, Japanese fōku singers Wataru Takada performed social satires.
In the early 1970s, the emphasis shifted from fōkus simple songs with a single guitar accompaniment to more complex musical arrangements known as . Instead of social messages, the songs focused on more personal messages, such as love. In 1972, singer-songwriter Takuro Yoshida produced a hit song "Kekkon Shiyouyo" ("Let's marry") without decent television promotion, though fans of fōku music became very angry because his music seemed to be a mersh music. The highest-selling single of the year was the enka song by Shiro Miya and the Pinkara Trio, "Onna no Michi". The song eventually sold over 3.25 million copies. On December 1, 1973, Yōsui Inoue released the album Kōri no Sekai, which topped the Oricon charts and remained in Top 10 for 113 weeks. It spent 13 consecutive weeks in the number-one spot, and eventually established a still-standing record of a total 35 weeks at the number-one position on the Oricon charts. Yumi Matsutoya, formerly known by her maiden name Yumi Arai, also became a notable singer-songwriter during this period In October 1975, she released a single "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai" ("I want to return to that day"), making it her first number-one single on the Oricon charts. Miyuki Nakajima, Amii Ozaki, and Junko Yagami were also popular singer-songwriters during this period. At first, only Yumi Matsutoya was commonly called a new music artist, but the concept of Japanese fōku music changed around that time. In 1979, Chage and Aska made their debut, and folk band Off Course (with singer Kazumasa Oda) released a hit song "Sayonara" ("Good-bye").
Emergence of Japanese rock and electronic music
Rock music remained a relatively underground music genre in the early 1970s in Japan, though Happy End managed to gain mainstream success fusing rock with traditional Japanese music. Several Japanese musicians began experimenting with electronic music, including electronic rock. The most notable was the internationally renowned Isao Tomita, whose 1972 album Electric Samurai: Switched on Rock featured electronic synthesizer renditions of contemporary rock and pop songs. Other early examples of electronic rock records include Inoue Yousui's folk rock and pop rock album Ice World (1973) and Osamu Kitajima's progressive psychedelic rock album Benzaiten (1974), both of which involved contributions from Haruomi Hosono, who later started the electronic music group "Yellow Magic Band" (later known as Yellow Magic Orchestra) in 1977.
In 1978, Eikichi Yazawa's rock single "Jikan yo Tomare" ("Time, Stop") became a smash hit that sold over 639,000 copies. He is regarded as one of the pioneers of Japanese rock. He sought worldwide success, and in 1980 he signed a contract with the Warner Pioneer record company and moved to the West Coast of the United States. He recorded the albums Yazawa, It's Just Rock n' Roll, and Flash in Japan, all of which were released worldwide, but were not very commercially successful. Keisuke Kuwata formed the rock band Southern All Stars (SAS), which made their debut in 1978. Southern All Stars remains very popular in Japan today.
In the same year, Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) also made their official debut with their self-titled album. The band, whose members were Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi and Ryuichi Sakamoto, developed electropop, or technopop as it is known in Japan, in addition to pioneering synthpop and electro music. Their 1979 album Solid State Survivor reached number one on the Oricon charts in July 1980, and went on to sell two million records worldwide. At around the same time, the YMO albums Solid State Survivor and X∞Multiplies held both the top two spots on the Oricon charts for seven consecutive weeks, making YMO the only band in Japanese chart history to achieve this feat. Young fans of their music during this period became known as the . YMO had a significant impact on Japanese pop music, which started becoming increasingly dominated by electronic music due to their influence, and they had an equally large impact on electronic music across the world. Southern All Stars and Yellow Magic Orchestra symbolized the end of New Music and paved the way for the emergence of the J-pop genre in the 1980s. Both bands, SAS and YMO, would later be ranked at the top of HMV Japan's list of top 100 Japanese musicians of all time.
1980s: Fusion with "kayōkyoku"
City pop
In the early 1980s, with the spread of car stereos, the term came to describe a type of popular music that had a big city theme. Tokyo in particular inspired many songs of this form. During this time, music fans and artists in Japan were influenced by album-oriented rock (especially adult contemporary) and crossover (especially jazz fusion). City pop was affected by new music, though its origins have been traced back to the mid-1970s, with the work of the Japanese rock band Happy End and its former member Haruomi Hosono, as well as Tatsuro Yamashita.
The popularity of city pop plummeted when the Japanese asset price bubble burst in 1990. Its musical characteristics (except its "cultural background") were inherited by 1990s Shibuya-kei musicians such as Pizzicato Five and Flipper's Guitar.
Growth of the Japanese rock industry
Throughout the 1980s, rock bands such as Southern All Stars, RC Succession, Anzen Chitai, The Checkers, The Alfee, and The Blue Hearts became popular. Anzen Chitai came from Yosui Inoue's backup band. On December 1, 1983, rock singer Yutaka Ozaki debuted at the age of 18. In 1986, The Alfee became the first artists to play a concert in front of an audience of 100,000 people in Japan. Some Japanese musicians, such as Boøwy, TM Network, and Buck-Tick, were influenced by New Romanticism.
Boøwy became an especially influential rock band, whose members included singer Kyosuke Himuro and guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei. Their three albums reached number one in 1988, making them the first male artists to have three number-ones within a single year. Subsequent Japanese rock bands were modeled on this band. Guitarist Tak Matsumoto, who supported TM Network's concerts, formed rock duo B'z with singer Koshi Inaba in 1988.
In the late 1980s, girl band Princess Princess became a successful pop-rock band. Their singles "Diamonds" and "Sekai de Ichiban Atsui Natsu" ("World's Hottest Summer") were ranked at the number-one and number-two spots, respectively, on the 1989 Oricon Yearly Single Charts.
In the late 1980s, a new trend also emerged in Japanese rock music: the visual kei, a movement notable by male bands who wore makeup, extravagant hair styles, and androgynous costumes. The most successful representatives of the movement are X Japan (formerly known as "X") and Buck-Tick. X Japan released their first album Vanishing Vision on the indie label Extasy Records in 1988; their album Blue Blood was released on CBS Sony in 1989. Blue Blood sold 712,000 copies, and their 1991 album Jealousy sold over 1.11 million copies. Surprisingly, X Japan were a heavy metal band, but guitarist hide later came under the influence of alternative rock, releasing his first solo album Hide Your Face in 1994 and launching his successful solo career.
Golden age, decline and transfiguration of Idols
In the 1970s, the popularity of female idol singers such as Mari Amachi, Saori Minami, Momoe Yamaguchi, and Candies increased. Momoe Yamaguchi was one of the first kayōkyoku singers to use the special pronunciation characteristic of J-pop. In 1972, Hiromi Go made his debut with the song "Otokonoko Onnanoko" ("Boy and Girl"). Hiromi Go originally came from Johnny & Associates.
In 1976, female duo Pink Lady made their debut with the single "Pepper Keibu". They released a record nine consecutive number-one singles.
In the 1980s, Japanese idols inherited New Music, though the term fell out of usage. Seiko Matsuda especially adopted song producers of previous generations. In 1980, her third single "Kaze wa Aki Iro" ("Wind is autumn color") reached the number-one spot on the Oricon charts. Haruomi Hosono also joined the production of her music. She eventually became the first artist to make 24 consecutive number-one singles, breaking Pink Lady's record.
Other female idol singers achieved significant popularity in the 1980s, such as Akina Nakamori, Yukiko Okada, Kyōko Koizumi, Yoko Minamino, Momoko Kikuchi, Yōko Oginome, Miho Nakayama, Minako Honda, and Chisato Moritaka. Okada received the Best New Artist award from the Japan Record Awards in 1984. Nakamori won the Grand Prix award for two consecutive years (1985 and 1986), also at the Japan Record Awards.
Japanese idol band Onyanko Club made their debut in 1985, and produced popular singer Shizuka Kudō. They changed the image of Japanese idols.
Around 1985, however, people began to be disenchanted with the system for creating idols. In 1986, idol singer Yukiko Okada's song "Kuchibiru Network" ("Lips' Network"), written by Seiko Matsuda and composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto, became a hit song, but she committed suicide immediately after that.
Hikaru Genji, one of the Johnny & Associates bands, made their debut in 1987. They became a highly influential rollerskating boy band, with some of their members gaining their own fame as they got older. Their song "Paradise Ginga", written by Aska, won the Grand Prix award at the 30th Japan Record Awards in 1988. Some of the group's backing dancers later formed SMAP.
The late 1980s also saw the rise of the female duo Wink. They did not laugh, unlike Japanese idols of former eras. Wink debuted in 1988, surpassing the popularity of the then-most popular female duo, BaBe. Wink's song "Samishii Nettaigyo" won the grand prix award at the 31st Japan Record Awards in 1989.
Popular singer Hibari Misora died in 1989, and many kayōkyoku programs, such as The Best Ten, were closed.
CoCo made their hit debut with the 1989 single "Equal Romance" for the hit anime series Ranma ½. Tetsuya Komuro, a member of TM Network, broke Seiko Matsuda's streak of 25 consecutive number-ones by making his single "Gravity of Love" to debut at number-one in November 1989.
1990s: Coining of the term "J-pop"
1990–1997: Growing market
In the 1990s, the term J-pop came to refer to all Japanese popular songs except enka.
During this period, the Japanese music industry sought marketing effectiveness. Notable examples of commercial music from the era were the tie-in music from the agency Being and the follow-on, Tetsuya Komuro's disco music.
The period between around 1990 and 1993 was dominated by artists from the Being agency, including B'z, Tube, B.B.Queens, T-Bolan, Zard, Wands, Maki Ohguro, Deen, and Field of View. They were called the . Many of those artists topped the charts and established new records, notably B'z, which eventually established a new record for consecutive number-one singles, surpassing Seiko Matsuda's record. B'z is the Japanese biggest selling artist of all time, according to Oricon charts and RIAJ certifications. On the other hand, Wands, regarded as a pioneer of the "J-pop Boom" of the 1990s, had trouble because member Show Wesugi wanted to play alternative rock/grunge.
Many artists surpassed the two-million-copy mark in the 1990s. Kazumasa Oda's 1991 single "Oh! Yeah!/Love Story wa Totsuzen ni", Chage and Aska's 1991 single "Say Yes" and 1993 single "Yah Yah Yah", Kome Kome Club's 1992 single "Kimi ga Iru Dake de", Mr. Children's 1994 single "Tomorrow Never Knows" and 1996 single "Namonaki Uta", and Globe's 1996 single "Departures" are examples of songs that sold more than 2 million copies. Dreams Come True's 1992 album The Swinging Star became the first album to sell over 3 million copies in Japan. Mr. Children's 1994 album Atomic Heart established a new record, selling 3.43 million copies on Oricon charts.
The duo Chage and Aska, who started recording in late 1979, became very popular during this period. They released a string of consecutive hits throughout the early 1990s; in 1996, they took part in MTV Unplugged, making them the first Asian group to do so.
After TM Network disbanded in 1994, Tetsuya Komuro became a serious song producer. The period between 1994 and 1997 was dominated by dance and techno acts from the , such as TRF, Ryoko Shinohara, Yuki Uchida, Namie Amuro, Hitomi, Globe, Tomomi Kahala, and Ami Suzuki. In that time, Komuro was responsible for 20 hit songs, each selling more than a million copies. While Globe's 1996 album Globe sold 4.13 million copies, establishing a record at the time, Namie Amuro's 1997 song "Can You Celebrate?" sold 2.29 million copies, is the best selling single of all time by the female solo artist in the history of Jpop. His total sales as a song producer reached 170 million copies. By 1998, Komuro's songs had become less popular. By the middle part of the first decade of the 21st century, Komuro's debt lead him to attempt the sale of his song catalog—which he did not actually own—to an investor. When the investor found out and sued, Komuro tried to sell the catalog to another investor in order to pay the judgement he owed the first investor.
Namie Amuro, who was arguably the most popular solo singer in the period, came from the "Okinawa Actors School", which also incubated the bands MAX and Speed. At first, while still a part of the Komuro Family, Amuro remained in the dance music genre, but she slowly changed her music style to contemporary R&B and ended her partnership with Tetsuya Komuro.
Komuro's band Globe became a trance band after their 2001 album Outernet.
1997–1999: Commercial peak
The sales in the Japanese music market continued to increase. In October 1997, Glay released their album Review -The Best of Glay, which sold 4.87 million copies, breaking Globe's earlier record. However, it was surpassed in the next year by B'z's album B'z The Best "Pleasure", which sold 5.12 million copies. The Japanese market for physical music sales peaked in 1998, recording sales of . In March 1999, Hikaru Utada released her first Japanese album, First Love, which sold 7.65 million copies, making it the best-selling album in Oricon history.
The late 1990s saw the popularity of rock bands, such as Glay, Luna Sea, and L'Arc-en-Ciel, most of them related to the visual kei movement, though they later changed their style. At the time, rock musicians in Japan were absorbing kayōkyoku music after the genre vanished. Glay became especially successful, with massive exposure in the media, comparable to that of the most popular pop singers produced by Tetsuya Komuro. In July 1999, Glay played a concert to a record audience of 200,000 people at the Makuhari Messe, certified by Guinness World Records as the biggest solo concert in Japan. In July 1999, L'Arc-en-Ciel released two albums, Arc and Ray, at the same time; they sold over 3.02 million combined copies in the first week of release.
X Japan announced their disbandment in September 1997 and their guitarist hide died in May 1998. His funeral had a record attendance of 50,000 people, breaking the record of Hibari Misora, whose funeral was attended by 42,000 people. After his death, his single "Pink Spider" and album Ja, Zoo were certified million-sellers by the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Johnny & Associates produced many all-male groups: SMAP, Tokio, V6, KinKi Kids and Arashi. SMAP hit the J-pop scene in a major way in the 1990s through a combination of TV "Tarento" shows and singles, with one of its singers, Takuya Kimura, becoming a popular actor commonly known as "Kimutaku" in later years.
By the late 1990s, the girl group Speed was very popular; they announced their disbandment in 1999. The group returned to the music scene in 2008. Another all-female band, Morning Musume, produced by Tsunku, former leader of band Sharam Q became very popular, with a string of releases that were sales hits before even being released. The group's popularity gave origin to the Hello! Project. Following the pattern set a decade before by the 1980s all-female Onyanko Club, Morning Musume spawned several splinter bands.
In the late 1990s and early 21st century, female singers such as Hikaru Utada, Ayumi Hamasaki, Misia, Mai Kuraki, and Ringo Shiina became chart-toppers who write their own songs or their own lyrics. Hikaru Utada is the daughter of Keiko Fuji, a popular singer of the 1970s. Ayumi Hamasaki was made Utada's contemporary rival, though both women claimed the "competition" was merely a creation of their record companies and the media.
Zeebra introduced hip hop music to Japanese mainstream music. In 1999, was featured by Dragon Ash in their song titled "Grateful Days", which topped the Oricon charts.
2000s: Diversification
Avex group
Ayumi Hamasaki won Grand Prix awards for three consecutive years—the first time in Japan Record Award history—between 2001 and 2003. Although Hamasaki became very famous, Tom Yoda, then-chairman of her record company Avex Group, argued that her tactics were risky, because Avex disregarded the modern portfolio theory. This concern disappeared when the company's other singers (such as Ai Otsuka, Kumi Koda, and Exile) also reached a certain level of popularity in the mid-2000s under Yoda's management policy. BoA, a Korean singer also a part of Avex group, also achieved high levels of success although being Korean in Japan. She opened the Hallyu door to other Korean artists so that they may achieve varying levels of success in Japan as well.
Chaku-uta
In December 2002, the digital-download market for was created by mobile-phone company au. The market for digital downloads grew rapidly, and Hikaru Utada's 2007 song "Flavor of Life" sold over 7 million downloaded copies. In October 2007, EMI Music Japan announced that Utada was the world's first artist to have 10 million digital sales in one year. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's 2009 digital music report, Thelma Aoyama's digital single "Soba ni Iru ne" and Greeeen's digital single "Kiseki" sold 8.2 million copies and 6.2 million copies, respectively, in the 2008 download rankings.
Japanese hip hop and urban pop
In the first decade of the 21st century, hip hop music and contemporary R&B influences in Japanese music started to gain attention in popular mainstream music. In November 2001, R&B duo Chemistry's debut album The Way We Are sold over 1.14 million copies in the first week, and debuted at the number-one position on the Oricon weekly album charts. Hip hop bands such as Rip Slyme and Ketsumeishi were also at the top of the Oricon charts.
Rock band Orange Range featured several elements of hip hop in their music. Orange Range's album musiQ sold over 2.6 million copies, making it the number one album of 2005 on the Oricon charts.
Pop/R&B singer Ken Hirai topped the Oricon yearly album chart in 2006 with the release of his greatest hits album 10th Anniversary Complete Single Collection '95-'05 Utabaka, selling over 2 million copies.
The pop/hip-hop duo, Halcali, have the honor of being the first Japanese female hip-hop artists to break the Oricon top 10 charts. They have also performed overseas two times in 2008, once at the Anime Central festival in Chicago, and once more at Central Park, NYC on Japan Day.
Exile, the dance-vocal group under Avex's sublabel Rhythm Zone, had several million-seller albums. Their album Exile Love topped the Oricon yearly album chart in 2008.
Veteran rapper Dohzi-T collaborated with popular singers such as Shota Shimizu, Hiromi Go, Miliyah Kato, and Thelma Aoyama in his successful 2008 album 12 Love Stories.
Although there were only 132 new artists in Japan in 2001, according to the Recording Industry Association of Japan, the number increased to 512 in 2008. In 2008, 14 new artists, such as Thelma Aoyama, attended the NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen for the first time.
Popularity of live performances and veteran musicians
Rock musicians such as Mr. Children, B'z, Southern All Stars, L'Arc-en-Ciel, and Glay still topped the charts in the first decade of the 21st century. Mr. Children's song "Sign" won the Grand Prix award at the 46th Japan Record Awards in 2004. When the group released their album Home in 2007, they passed 50 million albums and singles sold, making them the second-highest selling artist of all time in Japan since the origin of Oricon—just behind B'z, who held the number-one position with more than 75 million records sold until then. Home topped the 2007 Oricon yearly album charts.
The sales of physical CDs declined, but audiences to see live performances increased. Eikichi Yazawa took part in rock festivals, and, in 2007, he became the first artist to have performed 100 concerts at the Nippon Budokan.
Other artists, such as Namie Amuro, also continued their long-running careers with successful releases in this period. Her live tour, Namie Amuro Best Fiction tour 2008-2009, not only became the biggest live tour by a Japanese solo female artist—attended by 450,000 fans in Japan—but was also attended by 50,000 fans in Taiwan and Shanghai. While Kazumasa Oda's 2005 album Sōkana topped the Oricon weekly album charts, his 2007 single "Kokoro" reached the weekly single charts, breaking Yujiro Ishihara's record and making him the then-oldest singer to top the single charts. Mariya Takeuchi's greatest hits album Expressions topped the Oricon album chart in 2008, making her the oldest female singer with the longest active career to reach the number-one position.
Johnny & Associates
Johnny & Associates's all-male groups remained well-known. In 2001, SMAP released their greatest-hits album SMAP Vest, which sold over a million copies in the first week. In November 2001, Johnny & Associates established the label J Storm for their band Arashi. SMAP's 2003 single "Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana" sold more than two million copies, being the number-one single in the Oricon yearly single charts for that year. In 2007, Guinness World Records honored KinKi Kids for holding a world record for the number of singles debuting at the number-one position since their debut: 25. SMAP was said to fight a lonely battle at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen, as seen from the viewpoint of its audience share. In 2008, male musicians established a record of four consecutive wins at the Kōhaku Uta Gassen. Arashi's greatest hits album All the Best! 1999–2009 topped the 2009 Oricon yearly album charts.
Johnny & Associates also produced new groups such as Hey! Say! JUMP, Tackey & Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani Eight, and KAT-TUN. In 2006, KAT-TUN's debut single "Real Face", written by Shikao Suga and composed by Tak Matsumoto, sold over one million copies and topped the Oricon Yearly Charts. In 2007, temporary Johnny's Jr. group Hey! Say! 7 broke a record as the youngest male group to ever top Oricon charts, with an average age of 14.8 years. Later that year, Hey! Say! JUMP broke a record as the largest group to debut in Johnny's history, with ten members. They also became the youngest group ever to perform in Tokyo Dome with the average age of 15.7 years old. On the 2008 yearly singles charts, only one single ranked in the top 30 was sung by a female (Namie Amuro's single "60s 70s 80s") except gender-mixed groups, partly because the boy bands enjoyed an advantage in physical single sales. In 2009, Johnny's Jr. artist Yuma Nakayama w/B.I.Shadow became the youngest artist to have their first single to debut at the number-one spot, as the band had an average age of 14.6 years, breaking the former record set by female group Minimoni, 14.8 years.
Cover versions and classical pop
In February 2001, Ulfuls released their cover version of Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 song "Ashita Ga Arusa". Their cover version debuted at the number-five position, behind Utada, Kinki Kids, Hamasaki and Hirai. In March, Yoshimoto Kogyo's special band "Re: Japan" also released their cover version of "Ashita Ga Arusa". When Ulfuls's cover version of this song remained at number eight, Re: Japan's version topped the Oricon weekly single charts.
In 2003, Man Arai released the single "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" ("As A Thousand Winds") based on the Western poem "Do not stand at my grave and weep". In Japan, the poem was known for Rokusuke Ei's reading at the funeral of Kyu Sakamoto in 1985. Japanese tenor singer Masafumi Akikawa covered the song in 2006. Akikawa's cover version of the song became the first classical music single to top the Oricon charts, and sold over one million copies. On the 2007 Oricon Yearly Charts, the single became the best-selling physical single, scoring a victory over Utada's "Flavor of Life". Oricon claimed that the song was not J-pop. On the other hand, sheet music from the Zen-On Music Company Ltd classified the song as J-pop.
Hideaki Tokunaga covered many female songs on his cover album series, Vocalist. He released Vocalist, Vocalist 2, Vocalist 3, Vocalist 4 and Vocalist Vintage (Vocalist 5) in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2010, and 2012 respectively. In August 2007, Vocalist 3 became Oricon weekly number-one cover album with 2 weeks (tied the record in Japan), and in May 2010, Vocalist 4 became the Japan first Oricon monthly number-one cover album.
In 2010, other singers also released cover albums of Japanese songs such as Juju's Request and Kumi Koda's Eternity: Love & Songs. Superfly released a single that came with a cover album of Western rock songs, titled Wildflower & Cover Songs: Complete Best 'Track 3', ultimately becoming the band's third consecutive album to debut at number one on the Oricon weekly album charts.
Influence from neofolk and neo Shibuya-kei
Folk duos, such as 19, Yuzu and Kobukuro, became popular during the period. Their music was called "neofolk". In October 2007, Kobukuro's double-album All Singles Best became the first male album to ship three million copies in the 21st century in Japan. In January 2008, their album 5296 beat out Ayumi Hamasaki's album Guilty on the Oricon charts, though she previously had eight consecutive number-one studio albums.
Electronic music bands such as Plus-Tech Squeeze Box and Capsule were called "neo Shibuya-kei". Yasutaka Nakata, a member of Capsule, became the song producer for girl group Perfume. In April 2008, for the first time as a technopop band in 25 years since Yellow Magic Orchestra's 1983 album Naughty Boys, Perfume achieved a number-one album Game on the Oricon charts. In July 2008, their single "Love the World" debuted at number one, making it the first technopop song to reach number one in Oricon history. Other Japanese female technopop artists soon followed, including Aira Mitsuki, immi, Mizca, SAWA, Saoriiiii, and Sweet Vacation.
Anime music, image song and Vocaloid
During the late 2000s and the early 2010s, the anime music industry, such as voice actors and image songs, added weight to Japanese music. Though anime music was formerly influenced by J-pop and visual kei music, Japanese indie music apparently influenced the genre at the 2006 FanimeCon. In 2007, after sampling voice actress Saki Fujita's voice to develop it, Vocaloid Hatsune Miku was released, and many songs featuring Hatsune Miku were shown on the Nico Nico Douga. Some of the musicians featuring Hatsune Miku, such as Livetune and Supercell, joined large record companies in Japan. Livetune released Re: Package on Victor Entertainment on August 27, 2008, and Supercell released Supercell on Sony Music on March 4, 2009. The albums Re: Package and Supercell were not brought under the control of the copyright system of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC), breaking the tradition that the musicians under the major labels affiliated with the system.
In June 2009, voice actress Nana Mizuki's album Ultimate Diamond became the first voice actor album to reach number one on the Oricon weekly charts. The fictional all female band Hōka-go Tea Time, from the anime series K-On!, released the mini-album Hōka-go Tea Time on July 22, 2009. The mini-album debuted at number one on the Oricon weekly album charts, becoming the first album by anime characters to reach number one. In May 2010, Exit Tunes Presents Vocalogenesis feat. Hatsune Miku became the first album featuring Vocaloids to reach number one on the Oricon weekly charts, replacing Hideaki Tokunaga's Vocalist 4, which had topped the charts for four consecutive weeks.
2010s: Popularity of idol groups
Since the end of the 2000s, more and more idol groups have emerged. The high number of idol groups in the Japanese entertainment industry is sometimes called the "Warring Idols Period" (アイドル戦国時代, aidoru sengoku jidai), an allusion to the Sengoku-jidai. Some of the most successful groups during the 2010s include Hey! Say! JUMP, AKB48, Arashi, Kanjani Eight, Morning Musume, and Momoiro Clover Z.
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, a Harajuku-based fashion model, made her musical debut in 2011 and gained international popularity with her debut single "Pon Pon Pon", recognized by some Western celebrities such as Katy Perry and Ariana Grande. She is produced by Yasutaka Nakata, who also produces the group Perfume. She subsequently gained success through her songs "Ninja Re Bang Bang" and "Fashion Monster". During 2014, about 486,000 people attended Momoiro Clover Z's live concerts, which was the highest recorded concert attendance for any female musician in Japan.
In 2019, AKB48 announced the postponement of its general election, and Arashi announced the group's hiatus.
Artists
Some Japanese pop artists are extremely popular in Japan, and some also have fanbases in other countries—especially in Asia, but also in Western countries. They influence not only music, but also fashion. As of 2016, the top five best-selling artists in the Japanese Oricon charts history are B'z, Mr. Children, Ayumi Hamasaki, Southern All Stars, and DREAMS COME TRUE. Among the five, Hamasaki holds the record for being the only solo artist.
See also
Cool Japan
Culture of Japan
Japanese hardcore
Japanese ska
List of J-pop concerts held outside Asia
City pop
Shibuya-kei
Music industry of East Asia
Voice acting in Japan
K-pop (South Korea)
C-pop (China)
T-POP (Taiwan)
Indi-Pop (India)
P-pop (Philippines)
References
Bibliography
External links
Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ)
J-Pop at SKY.FM - A free J-Pop radio channel
A concise history of Japan's City-Pop
Warner Music Japan | Mariya Takeuchi
1960s in music
1970s in music
1980s in music
1990s in music
2000s in music
2010s in music
Popular music by country
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20Lord%20of%20the%20Rings%20%28film%20series%29
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The Lord of the Rings (film series)
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The Lord of the Rings is a series of three epic fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson, based on the novel The Lord of the Rings by British author J. R. R. Tolkien. The films are subtitled The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), and The Return of the King (2003). Produced and distributed by New Line Cinema with the co-production of WingNut Films. The films feature an ensemble cast including Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Liv Tyler, Viggo Mortensen, Sean Astin, Cate Blanchett, John Rhys-Davies, Christopher Lee, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis and Sean Bean.
Set in the fictional world of Middle-earth, the films follow the hobbit Frodo Baggins as he and the Fellowship embark on a quest to destroy the One Ring, to ensure the destruction of its maker, the Dark Lord Sauron. The Fellowship eventually splits up and Frodo continues the quest with his loyal companion Sam and the treacherous Gollum. Meanwhile, Aragorn, heir in exile to the throne of Gondor, along with the elf Legolas, the dwarf Gimli, Merry, Pippin, and the wizard Gandalf, unite to save the Free Peoples of Middle-earth from the forces of Sauron and rally them in the War of the Ring to aid Frodo by distracting Sauron's attention.
The three films were shot simultaneously in Jackson's native New Zealand from 11 October 1999 until 22 December 2000, with pick-up shots done from 2001 to 2003. It was one of the biggest and most ambitious film projects ever undertaken, with a budget of $281 million (equivalent to $ million in ). The first film in the series premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square in London on 10 December 2001; the second film premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City on 5 December 2002; the third film premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Wellington on 1 December 2003. An extended edition of each film was released on home video a year after its release in cinemas.
The Lord of the Rings is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential film series ever made. It was a major financial success and is among the highest-grossing film series of all time with $2.991 billion in worldwide receipts. All three films received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences, who lauded the acting, direction, writing, production values, score, ambition, emotional depth, special effects. Their faithfulness to the source material was the subject of discussion. The series received numerous accolades, winning 17 Academy Awards out of 30 total nominations, including Best Picture for The Return of the King. In 2021, The Fellowship of the Ring was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Films
The Fellowship of the Ring
The Two Towers
The Return of the King
Cast and crew
Casting
Jackson began abstract discussions on casting during the development of the scripts with Miramax. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens compiled a casting wishlist, which included Cate Blanchett for Galadriel and Ian Holm for Bilbo. Wondering whether Patrick Stewart would be right for the part of Gandalf, Philippa Boyens drew a tape of him performing opposite Ian McKellen, only to suggest the latter to Jackson. McKellen became Jackson's first choice for Gandalf. Christopher Lee sent Jackson a photograph of himself in a wizard's costume, wanting to play Gandalf, but Jackson decided Lee would instead be better as Saruman.
Miramax wanted a recognisable name for Gandalf, and suggested Max von Sydow or Paul Scofield and, wanting an American star, even mentioned Morgan Freeman. When New Line took over, they suggested Christopher Plummer or Sean Connery for the part (both declined), and put a veto against Richard Harris when his name came up. When von Sydow inquired for the part later, his agent told him they were looking for an English actor.
While casting, Jackson looked for backup options for the various parts, including Lucy Lawless and Nicole Kidman for Galadriel; Anthony Hopkins or Sylvester McCoy (eventually cast as Radagast in The Hobbit trilogy) for Bilbo; Paul Scofield, Jeremy Irons, Malcolm McDowell or Tim Curry for Saruman. For Gandalf, they looked into Tom Baker, Tom Wilkinson, Sam Neill, Bernard Hill (who was instead cast as Théoden) and Peter O'Toole, and into several older actors who auditioned for other parts, such as Patrick McGoohan and Anthony Hopkins.
Miramax and Jackson discussed Sir Daniel Day-Lewis for Aragorn, starting "fanciful internet speculation" that Day-Lewis was approached for the part numerous times, although Jackson eventually inquired about him. Jackson cast Stuart Townsend, whom the studio deemed too young. After shooting began, Jackson agreed and decided to recast the role. They approached Viggo Mortensen, but also spoke to Russell Crowe (who auditioned for Boromir previously), as a backup choice.
Patrick McGoohan, their first choice for Denethor, proved "quite grumpy" when they met, and they instead looked into Donald Sutherland and John Rhys-Davies, and ultimately cast John Noble. Davies was recast as Gimli, instead of Billy Connolly (later cast as Dáin in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies), Robert Trebor and Timothy Spall. In conversations with Miramax, Liam Neeson's name came up for Boromir, but he declined. New Line suggested Nicolas Cage, but the filmmakers declined and cast Sean Bean.
Cast
The following are the cast members who voiced or portrayed characters appearing in the extended version of the films.
Crew
Development
Previous attempts
Previous attempts to film Tolkien's works were made by William Snyder, Peter Shaffer and John Boorman. These attempts resulted in a couple of unproduced scripts, concept art and an animated short. Other filmmakers and producers to have had an interest in adapting Tolkien are said to include Walt Disney, Al Brodax, Forrest Ackerman, Denis O'Dell (who considered Richard Lester to direct, but instead approached David Lean, Stanley Kubrick and Michelangelo Antonioni) and George Lucas. The rights to adapt Tolkien's works passed through the hands of several studios, having been briefly leased to Rembrandt Films before being sold perpetually to United Artists. In 1976, UA passed the rights to The Lord of the Rings (and a part of the rights to The Hobbit) to Fantasy Films.
In 1977, an animated adaptation of The Hobbit was produced as a TV special by Rankin and Bass, and in 1978 Ralph Bakshi made an animated feature of the first half of The Lord of the Rings. While profitable, the film did not make enough money to automatically warrant the sequel which would close the story, and an argument with producer Saul Zaentz led Bakshi to abandon the project. Rankin/Bass then followed in 1980 with an animated TV adaptation of The Return of the King. Several other Tolkienesque fantasy films were produced at the time, including Jim Henson and Frank Oz's The Dark Crystal and Lucas's Willow.
At the time of the release of Bakshi's film, a teenaged Peter Jackson had not read the book, but "heard the name", and went to see the film: "I liked the early part—it had some quaint sequences in Hobbiton, a creepy encounter with the Black Rider on the road, and a few quite good battle scenes—but then, about half way through, the storytelling became very disjointed and disorientating and I really didn't understand what was going on. However, what it did do was to make me want to read the book—if only to find out what happened!" Jackson bought a tie-in paperback edition. He later read The Hobbit and The Silmarillion, and listened to the 1981 BBC radio adaptation. Assuming someone would one day adapt it to a live-action film, Jackson read up on some previous attempts to bring the piece to the screen. He had not watched the Rankin and Bass TV specials.
Pitch to Miramax
In 1995, while completing post-production on The Frighteners, Jackson and Fran Walsh discussed making an original fantasy film, but could not think of a scenario that was not Tolkien-esque, and eventually decided to look up the film rights. They went to Harvey Weinstein from Miramax, who got the rights from Saul Zaentz. Jackson knew it would take multiple films to do Tolkien justice, but initially pitched a single trilogy: one film based on The Hobbit and, if that would prove successful, two Lord of the Rings films shot back-to-back. Jackson began rereading The Hobbit, looking at illustrations and commissioning concept art from the book, but the rights eventually proved unattainable, having been split between Zaentz and United Artists. Weinstein tried to buy the studio's share of the rights, but was unsuccessful.
With The Hobbit postponed for a later prequel, Jackson proceeded with making two or more Lord of the Rings films: "We pitched the idea of three films and Miramax didn't really want to take that risk, but we agreed on two." He began writing the scripts with Walsh and Stephen Sinclair, storyboarding with Christian Rivers and discussing casting ideas with the Weinsteins. Meanwhile, Weta Digital began software development for the digital effects required, and WETA Workshop were producing props and concept art. Sinclair later dropped out of the project, but Jackson felt that some of his contributions survived into the finished scripts, particularly the middle film, The Two Towers, for which he is credited.
Move to New Line
As the scripts took shape, it became clear that the budget required would exceed Miramax's capabilities. The Weinsteins suggested cutting the project to one film. Jackson inquired whether it could be around four hours in duration, but Miramax insisted on two hours, suggesting major cuts to the story, which Jackson refused. Harvey Weinstein threatened to replace Jackson with screenwriter Hossein Amini and directors John Madden or Quentin Tarantino. Jackson believed this was an empty threat to get him to concede to making a one-film version himself.
Harvey Weinstein eventually relented to putting the project on a turnaround, but the onerous conditions were meant to prevent the project from being taken up by another studio. Jackson got an audience with New Line CEO Robert Shaye, who accepted the project, but requested that it be expanded into a trilogy. New Line had many promising reasons that the trilogy would be successful, which led them to sign on. Final cut rights were shared contractually between Jackson and Bob Shaye, but there was never any interference in Jackson's cut. Initially, each film had a production budget of $60 million, but New Line accepted Jackson's request for an increased budget after a 26-minute preview of The Fellowship of the Ring was presented at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival.
Production
Jackson began storyboarding and screenwriting the series with Christian Rivers, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens in 1997 and assigned his crew to begin designing Middle-earth at the same time. Jackson, Walsh and Boyens did not write each film to correspond exactly to its respective book, opting instead to write a three-part adaptation with some sequences missing, some sequences created from scratch, and some sequences moved from one area to another regardless of its placement in the books. To allow the story to be clearer for viewers, Jackson takes a more chronological approach to the story than Tolkien's complex interlacing of storylines. During shooting, the screenplays continued to evolve, in part due to contributions from cast members looking to further explore their characters.
Earlier versions of the script included additional characters like Fatty Bolger, Glorfindel, Elladan, Elrohir, Erkenbrand, Imrahil and Forlong. At one point, Jackson even considered reintroducing Tom Bombadil in a cameo. Gimli was going to swear throughout the films, and Arwen would join the Fellowship in Rohan and share a nude scene with Aragorn in the pools of the Glittering Caves.
Jackson hired long-time collaborator Richard Taylor to lead Weta Workshop on five major design elements: armour, weapons, prosthetic makeup, creatures and miniatures. At New Line's request, animation supervisor Jim Rygiel replaced Weta Digital's Mark Stetson. In November 1997, famed Tolkien illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe joined the project; most of the imagery in the films is based on their various illustrations, but Jackson also relied on the work of Ted Nasmith, who later had to turn down an offer to join Alan and John. Jackson wanted realistic designs in the style of historical epics rather than fantasy films, citing Braveheart as an inspiration:
"It might be clearer if I described it as an historical film. Something very different to Dark Crystal or Labyrinth. Imagine something like Braveheart, but with a little of the visual magic of Legend. [...] It should have the historical authority of Braveheart, rather than the meaningless fantasy mumbo-jumbo of Willow.
Production designer Grant Major was charged with the task of converting Lee and Howe's designs into architecture, creating models of the sets, while Dan Hennah worked as art director, scouting locations and organizing the building of sets. Ngila Dickson collaborated with Richard Taylor on producing costumes, while Peter King and Peter Owen designed makeup and hair. Most of these crew members (and others) returned to work on The Hobbit.
Jackson and cinematographer Andrew Lesnie considered shooting in large format like 65 mm film and/or to master the films at 4K, but both were cost-prohibitive and couldn't be done on New Zealand soil. They decided to shoot on fine-grain Super 35 mm film and subject the films to rigorous digital grading.
Principal photography for all three films was conducted concurrently in many locations within New Zealand's conservation areas and national parks. Filming took place between 11 October 1999 and 22 December 2000. Pick-up shoots were conducted annually from 2001 to 2004. The series was shot at over 150 different locations, with seven different units shooting, as well as soundstages around Wellington and Queenstown. Along with Jackson directing the whole production, other unit directors included John Mahaffie, Geoff Murphy, Fran Walsh, Barrie M. Osborne, Rick Porras and any other assistant director, producer, or writer available. Miniature Photography took place throughout the entire period, amounting to over 1,000 shooting days.
Weta Digital developed new technologies to allow for the groundbreaking digital effects required for the trilogy, including the development of the MASSIVE software to generate intelligent crowds for battle scenes, and advancing the art of motion capture, which was used on bipedal creatures like the Cave Troll or Gollum. With Jackson's future films, motion-capture technology came to be pushed so far that it became referred to as "digital makeup", although it was later clarified that during The Lord of the Rings period, it was still fairly reliant on the CG animators.
Each film had the benefit of a full year of post-production time before its respective December release, often finishing in October–November, with the crew immediately going to work on the next film. Jackson originally wanted to edit all three films with Jamie Selkirk, but this proved too much work. The next idea was to have John Gilbert, Michael Horton and Selkirk, respectively, editing the three films simultaneously, but after a month that proved too difficult for Jackson, and the films were edited in consecutive years, although Selkirk continued to act as "Supervising Editor" on the first two entries. Daily rushes would often last up to four hours, and by the time The Fellowship of the Ring had been released, assembly cuts of the other two films (4 hours each) were already prepared. In total, 1,828 km (six million feet) of film was edited down to the 11 hours and 26 minutes (686 minutes) of extended running time.
Music
Howard Shore composed, orchestrated, conducted and produced the trilogy's music. Shore visited the set in 1999, and composed a version of the Shire theme and Frodo's Theme before Jackson began shooting. In August 2000 he visited the set again, and watched the assembly cuts of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King. In the music, Shore included many (85 to 110) leitmotifs to represent various characters, cultures and places—the largest catalogue of leitmotifs in the history of cinema, surpassing, for comparison, that of the entire Star Wars film series. For example, there are multiple leitmotifs just for the hobbits and the Shire. Although the first film had some of its score recorded in Wellington, virtually all of the trilogy's score was recorded in Watford Town Hall and mixed at Abbey Road Studios. Jackson planned to advise the score for six weeks each year in London, though for The Two Towers he stayed for twelve.
The score is primarily played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, ranging from 93 to 120 players throughout the recording. London Voices, the London Oratory School Schola boy choir, and many artists such as Ben Del Maestro, Sheila Chandra, Enya, Renée Fleming, James Galway, Annie Lennox and Emilíana Torrini contributed. Even actors Billy Boyd, Viggo Mortensen, Liv Tyler, Miranda Otto (extended cuts only for the latter two) and Peter Jackson (for a single gong sound in the second film) contributed to the score. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens served as librettists, writing lyrics to various music and songs, which David Salo translated into Tolkien's languages. The third film's end song, "Into the West", was a tribute to a young filmmaker Jackson and Walsh befriended named Cameron Duncan, who died of cancer in 2003.
Shore composed a main theme for the Fellowship rather than many different character themes, and its strength and weaknesses in volume are depicted at different points in the series. On top of that, individual themes were composed to represent different cultures. Infamously, the amount of music Shore had to write every day for the third film increased dramatically to around seven minutes. The music for the series has been voted best movie soundtrack of all time for the six years running, passing Schindler's List (1993), Gladiator (2000), Star Wars (1977) and Out of Africa (1985), respectively.
Soundtracks
Reception
Box office
The trilogy's online promotional trailer was first released on 27 April 2000, and set a new record for download hits, registering 1.7 million hits in the first 24 hours of its release. The trailer used a selection from the soundtrack for Braveheart and The Shawshank Redemption among other cuts. In 2001, 24 minutes of footage from the series, primarily the Moria sequence, was shown at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, and was very well received. The showing also included an area designed to look like Middle-earth.
The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 19 December 2001. It grossed $47.2 million in its U.S. opening weekend and made over $897 million worldwide. A preview of The Two Towers was inserted just before the end credits near the end of the film's theatrical run. A promotional trailer was later released, containing music re-scored from the film Requiem for a Dream. The Two Towers was released 18 December 2002. It grossed $62 million in its first U.S. weekend and out-grossed its predecessor with over $947 million worldwide. The promotional trailer for The Return of the King was debuted exclusively before the New Line Cinema film Secondhand Lions on 23 September 2003. Released 17 December 2003, its first U.S. weekend gross was $72.6 million, and became the second film, after Titanic (1997), to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
Critical and public response
The Lord of the Rings trilogy received widespread acclaim and is ranked among the greatest film trilogies ever made. Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "the trilogy will not soon, if ever, find its equal", while Todd McCarthy of Variety described the films as "one of the most ambitious and phenomenally successful dream projects of all time". The Fellowship of the Ring was voted the greatest fantasy movie of all time in a reader's poll conducted by American magazine Wired in 2012, while The Two Towers and The Return of the King placed fourth and third respectively. The Independent ranked The Lord of the Rings trilogy at No. 2 on its list of "10 greatest movie trilogies of all time". The Lord of the Rings trilogy is ranked at No. 2 in /Film'''s list of "The 15 Greatest Trilogies Of All Time", while Empire ranked it at No. 1 in its list of "The 33 Greatest Movie Trilogies".
The series appears in the Dallas–Fort Worth Film Critics Association: Top 10 Films, Times All-Time 100 Movies, and James Berardinelli's Top 100. In 2007, USA Today named the series as the most important films of the past 25 years. Entertainment Weekly put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "Bringing a cherished book to the big screen? No sweat. Peter Jackson's trilogy — or, as we like to call it, our preciousssss — exerted its irresistible pull, on advanced Elvish speakers and neophytes alike." Paste named it one of the 50 Best Movies of the Decade (2000–2009), ranking it at No. 4.
In another Time magazine list, the series ranks second in "Best Movies of the Decade". In addition, six characters and their respective actors made the list of 'The 100 Greatest Movie Characters', also compiled by Empire, with Viggo Mortensen's portrayal of Aragorn ranking No. 15, Ian McKellen's portrayal of Gandalf ranking No. 30, Ian Holm's portrayal of Bilbo Baggins (shared with Martin Freeman for his portrayal of the same character in The Hobbit films) ranking No. 61, Andy Serkis' portrayal of Gollum ranking No. 66, Sean Astin's portrayal of Samwise Gamgee ranking No. 77, and Orlando Bloom's portrayal of Legolas ranking No. 94.
Industry response
The series drew acclaim from within the industry, including from the film directors Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and George Lucas. John Boorman, who once wrote a script for a Lord of the Rings film, said he was happy his own version was unmade as Jackson's film trilogy was "of such scope and magnitude that it can only be compared to the building of the great Gothic cathedrals." Forrest J. Ackerman, who once presented a film treatment to Tolkien, and appeared on Jackson's Bad Taste said his pitch "could never have been given the grand treatment that Peter Jackson afforded it." Arthur Rankin said Jackson was making "marvellous films."
However, some filmmakers were more critical. Heinz Edelmann, who pitched the idea of an animated feature when United Artists considered shooting the films with the Beatles, thought it was "badly directed." Ralph Bakshi, who made an animated film based on the first half of the trilogy, didn't watch the films, but was told that Jackson's film was derivative of his. Ahead of the films' release, he said he did not "understand it" but that he does "wish it to be a good movie." Later, he begruged Saul Zaentz for not notifying him of the live-action film, and said that Jackson had his film to study and therefore had "a little easier time than I did." Afterwards, he grumbled that Jackson "didn't understand" Tolkien and created "special effects garbage" to sell toys, as well as being derivative of his own film. Bakshi further blamed Jackson for not acknowledging the influence that the animated film had on him, saying (falsely) that he denied having seen Bakshi's film at all until being forced to mention him, at which point (according to Bakshi) he mentioned Bakshi's influence "only once" as "PR bolony." However, he did praise Jackson's special effects and, in 2015, even apologized for some of his remarks. Bakshi's animator Mike Ploog and writer Peter Beagle both praised the live-action film.
Accolades
The three films together were nominated for a total of 30 Academy Awards, of which they won 17, both records for any movie trilogy. The Fellowship of the Ring earned 13 nominations, the most of any film at the 74th Academy Awards, winning four; The Two Towers won two awards from six nominations at the 75th Academy Awards; The Return of the King won in every category in which it was nominated at the 76th Academy Awards, setting the current Oscar record for the highest clean sweep, and its 11 Academy Awards wins ties the record held by Ben-Hur (1959) and Titanic (1997). The Return of the King also became only the second sequel to win the Oscar for Best Picture after The Godfather Part II (1974).
Additionally, members of the production crew won the Academy Award for Technical Achievement for the rendering of skin textures on creatures on The Return of the King, and Stephen Regelous won the Academy Award for Scientific and Engineering Award for the design and development of MASSIVE, "the autonomous agent animation system used for the battle sequences in The Lord of the Rings trilogy."
Each film in the series won the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation, the MTV Movie Award for Movie of the Year, and the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film. The first and third films also won the BAFTA Award for Best Film. The New York Film Critics Circle awarded The Return of the King its Best Picture Award at the 2003 Awards Ceremony, hosted by Andrew Johnston, chair of the organization at that time, who called it "a masterful piece of filmmaking."
Comparisons with the written work
Commentators have compared Jackson's film trilogy with Tolkien's written work, remarking that while both have been extremely successful commercially, they differ in many respects. Critics have admired Jackson's ability to film the long and complex work at all; the beauty of the cinematography, sets and costumes; and the epic scale of his version of Tolkien's story. They have however found the characters and the story greatly weakened by Jackson's emphasis on action and violence at the expense of psychological depth; the loss of Tolkien's emphasis on free will and individual responsibility; and the replacement of Frodo's inner journey by an American monomyth with Aragorn as the hero.
As for whether the film trilogy is faithful to the novel, opinions range from Verlyn Flieger's feeling that a film adaptation is not even worth attempting, Wayne G. Hammond's opinion that the film sacrifices the book's richness of characterization and narrative for violence, thrills and cheap humour, or Christopher Tolkien's view that Jackson's interpretation is unacceptable, to granting, with Jackson and Boyens, that the film version is inevitably different. From that standpoint, critics such as Brian Rosebury and Tom Shippey have described the films as a partial success, giving some of the feeling and capturing some of the key themes of the novel. Yvette Kisor considers that Jackson was unfaithful to many of Tolkien's details, but succeeded in achieving something of the same impact and feelings of providence, eucatastrophe and interconnectedness. Dimitra Fimi suggests that Jackson was continuing Tolkien's tradition of adapting folklore, incorporating both the fans' views on that folklore and cinematic traditions such as the zombie in the film trilogy to produce its own modern folklore.
Home media
The first two films were released on two-disc standard edition DVDs containing previews of the following film. The success of the theatrical cuts brought about four-disc extended editions, with new editing, added special effects and music. Jackson came up with the idea of an extended cut for LaserDisc and DVD formats while in preproduction. He could insert some of the violence that he thought he would have to trim to get a PG-13 rating for the theatre, and he could tailor the pacing to the demands of the small screen, which he said were "completely different". Jackson has stated that he considers the theatrical cuts to be the "definitive versions" of the films due to their deliberate pacing, but also that he believes the extended cuts will be "ultimately seen as the more definitive versions of the films".
The extended cuts of the films and the supplemental special features (dubbed "appendices") were spread over two discs each in a four-disc box set for each film. A limited collector's edition was also released featuring sculpted bookends. The Fellowship of the Ring was released on 12 November 2002, containing 30 minutes of extra footage. The Two Towers, released on 18 November 2003, contains 44 minutes of extra footage. The Return of the King was released on 14 December 2004, with 51 minutes more footage. The extended cuts have also played at cinemas, most notably the first two for a 16 December 2003 marathon screening (dubbed "Trilogy Tuesday") culminating in a screening of the third film. In 2006, both versions of each film were released together in a limited edition, which includes a new feature-length documentary for each film (but not the extras from the previous releases).
Warner Bros. released a box set of the trilogy's theatrical versions on Blu-ray on 6 April 2010. The four-disc extended sets were released on Blu-ray in a box set on 28 June 2011, with an additional disc including the feature-length documentary. In 2014, Blu-ray steelbook editions of the five-disc extended editions were released. In 2016, a six-disc Blu-ray was released containing only the theatrical films of both The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, as well as a 30-disc bookshelf-themed set of the extended versions of both trilogies and all the special features from previous releases. The Blu-ray releases were criticized for colour-timing issues which degraded the look of the films.
In 2020, both trilogies were released on Ultra HD Blu-ray, featuring both the theatrical and extended editions. All six films were remastered to give them a more consistent colour treatment. Jackson explained that visual effects shots were improved for this release by and [painting] out any imperfections," but that they had not been or An audio remastering was made as well, with the films receiving a new Dolby Atmos mix. A 31-disc collector's set including both versions of all six films in 4K and Blu-ray formats, was released in 2021 for the 20-year anniversary of the first film; this, however, does not include the appendices.
, The Lord of the Rings films had a home-media revenue of more than $2.4 billion.
Legacy
The release of the films saw a surge of interest in The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien's other works, vastly increasing his impact on popular culture. The success of the films spawned numerous video games and many other kinds of merchandise.
The Hobbit trilogy
From 2012 to 2014 Peter Jackson and his studio Wingnut Films made The Hobbit trilogy consisting of the films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The trilogy works as a prequel to The Lord of the Rings films.
The War of the Rohirrim
In 2024, a stand-alone animated prequel film to Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films, titled The War of the Rohirrim, is scheduled to be released. It is directed by Kenji Kamiyama, with Miranda Otto reprising her role from live-action, serving as the film's narrator.
Reunion
On 31 May 2020, through his YouTube channel, actor Josh Gad aired a virtual cast reunion via Zoom as the fourth episode of the web series Reunited Apart, a charity fundraising effort during the COVID-19 pandemic, with The Lord of the Rings reunion supporting Share Our Strength's campaign called "No Kid Hungry". A large part of the original cast participated, including Sean Astin, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, Billy Boyd, Bernard Hill, Ian McKellen, Dominic Monaghan, Viggo Mortensen, Miranda Otto, John Rhys-Davies, Andy Serkis, Liv Tyler, Karl Urban and Elijah Wood. The director Peter Jackson, screenwriter Philippa Boyens and composer Howard Shore were present. On 2 June 2020, Josh Gad announced that the charity had raised over $100,000.
Effects on the film industry and tourism
As a result of the series' success, Peter Jackson has become a major figure in the film industry in the mould of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, in the process befriending some industry heavyweights like Bryan Singer and Frank Darabont. Jackson has since founded his own film production company, Wingnut Films, as well as Wingnut Interactive, a video game company. He was also finally given a chance to remake King Kong in 2005. The film was a critical and box office success, although not as successful as The Lord of the Rings series. Jackson has been called a "favourite son" of New Zealand. In 2004, Howard Shore toured with The Lord of the Rings Symphony, playing two hours of the score. Along with the Harry Potter films, the series has renewed interest in the fantasy film genre. Tourism in New Zealand is up, possibly due to its exposure in the series, with the country's tourism industry waking up to an audience's familiarity.
In 2002 the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in Wellington created a travelling exhibition of the film trilogy, The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy: The Exhibition. It visited cities around the world including Boston, London, Sydney, Singapore and Houston.
Legal disputes The Lord of the Rings left a legacy of court cases over profits from the trilogy. Sixteen cast members (Noel Appleby, Jed Brophy, Mark Ferguson, Ray Henwood, Bruce Hopkins, William Johnson, Nathaniel Lees, Sarah McLeod, Ian Mune, Paul Norell, Craig Parker, Robert Pollock, Martyn Sanderson, Peter Tait and Stephen Ure) sued over the lack of revenue from merchandise bearing their appearance. The case was resolved out of court in 2008. The settlement came too late for Appleby, who died of cancer in 2007. Saul Zaentz also filed a lawsuit in 2004 claiming he had not been paid all of his royalties.
The next year, Jackson himself sued the studio over profits from the first film, slowing development of The Hobbit prequels until late 2007. The Tolkien Trust filed a lawsuit in February 2008, for violating Tolkien's original deal over the rights that they would earn 7.5% of the gross from any films based on his works. The Trust sought compensation of $150 million. A judge denied them this option, but allowed them to win compensation from the act of the studio ignoring the contract itself. On 8 September 2009, the dispute was settled.
Video games
Numerous video games were released to supplement the film series. The Two Towers and The Return of the King are direct adaptations of the films. Other games include The Third Age and its Game Boy Advance version, Tactics, The Battle for Middle-earth, The Battle for Middle-earth II and its expansion The Rise of the Witch-king, Conquest, Aragorn's Quest, War in the North, Lego The Lord of the Rings, Guardians of Middle-earth, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, and Middle-earth: Shadow of War''.
Notes
References
Sources cited
External links
Adventure film series
Film series introduced in 2001
New Line Cinema franchises
Films based on The Lord of the Rings
Fantasy film series
American film series
New Zealand film series
Film series based on fantasy novels
Film series based on British novels
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobiography%20of%20a%20Brown%20Buffalo
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Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo
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Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo is the first novel by Oscar Zeta Acosta and it focuses on his own self-discovery in a fictionalized manner. An autobiography, the plot presents an alienated lawyer of Mexican descent, who works in an Oakland, California antipoverty agency, without any sense of purpose or identity.
Plot summary
The main character survives on drugs, alcohol, and counseling sessions until he becomes a Chicano activist. At the end of the work, the protagonist takes the middle name "Zeta," a symbol that represents his Chicano and Mexican culture and roots. After traveling to his birthplace, the lost character discovers himself and learns lessons on the road as he reflects on his life.
On the back of some copies of the book, it says "Oscar Zeta Acosta was famous as a Robin Hood Chicano lawyer and notorious as the real-life model for Hunter S. Thompson's "Dr. Gonzo"", a character in the book and movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Chapters 1-5
The first five chapters take place on July 1, 1967; the narrative, however, is frequently broken up by flashbacks that explain the narrator’s relationship with various characters. The story begins in the morning as the narrator is preparing to go to work. Standing naked in front of the mirror, he reflects on his large brown body and his general health. He is both constipated and suffers from ulcers, which cause him to vomit. While looking in the mirror, he seeks advice from his “three favorite men”: Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, and Edward G. Robinson. He also hears the voice of Dr. Serbin, his psychiatrist, who seems to be following him and who appears throughout the novel. The narrator masturbates in the shower while fantasizing about a friend's wife.
The narrator leaves his apartment in San Francisco and drives to Oakland where he works as a legal aid lawyer. He has worked in the office since he passed the bar exam 12 months before. To get through the tedium of filing countless restraining orders for battered women and to deal with his inability to help the clients in a system that favors those with the money to pay high-priced lawyers, the narrator has spent the past year watching television, taking tranquilizers, and drinking.
When he arrives at work he avoids going into his office, unable to face the five women sitting in the waiting room. He assumes they have all been beaten by their husbands over the weekend. When he finally goes into his office, he learns that his secretary Pauline has died from cancer. Pauline has supported him in his job and has helped him negotiate the bureaucracy. The narrator did not know she was seriously ill. He decides that without Pauline's support he cannot continue in the job.
He leaves the office and heads back to San Francisco. On the drive, he talks to himself and Dr. Serbin. He remembers the time three years before when he was sick for months with mononucleosis. During this time he met a neighbor in his apartment building, Cynthia, who was the sister of his friend Charlie Fisher. Cynthia introduced the narrator to marijuana and LSD. Through Cynthia, he also met a couple, Alice and Ted Casey, a sailor. While he was bedridden, Alice and Cynthia cared for the narrator by bringing him soup. Later he became friends with Ted and Alice, regularly visiting their apartment. The friendship ended when the narrator tested Ted's liberal views on relationships by broaching the subject of his sleeping with Alice while Ted was away on one of his trips. Ted acted as though he was indifferent and that it was Alice's decision but later, through a friend, threatened to cut off the narrator's balls. This ended the friendship.
Returning to the central focus of the narrative, the narrator arrives at Ted Casey's house and rings the bell. No one is home. He then goes to the office of his psychiatrist. Although the psychiatrist is meeting with a patient the narrator bangs on the door. When the psychiatrist opens the door, the narrator tells him he is leaving. The psychiatrist patiently asks him to wait, but the narrator leaves.
Having stopped off to pick up some scotch and now already drunk, the narrator goes to Trader JJ's, a San Francisco bar he frequents. He has packed his belongings and plans to store them in the bar's basement. Inside the bar, he talks with a mixed group of misfits who are his friends and form a community. They include Maria, a Jewish bisexual hustler, and Jose, a struggling homosexual artist. The patrons of the bar function by insulting each other. Maria teases the narrator about a former girlfriend, June MacAdoo. The two had dated for three months two years before. Shortly after June unexpectedly dumped the narrator, the narrator found out he failed the bar exam. He studied for three months and retook the exam. This time he passed. He was still heartbroken, however, and was no longer particularly interested in the law.
After leaving some of his belongings at the bar the narrator visits Maryjane and Bertha, two friends. He regards the women as friends, having found he could not sleep with them because of impotence brought on by his broken heart. At their apartment, the narrator finds not only the two women but Ted Casey. Ted is dressed in flashy clothes and is bossing the two, normally strong-willed, women, around. No longer a seaman, he has become a successful drug dealer. The narrator drinks most of a bottle of champagne that has been spiked with mescaline. The four drive-in Ted's Cadillac to an expensive Italian restaurant to eat. At the restaurant, Ted shows off his wealth and his power. The group eats and snorts coke.
After dinner the four drive to Trader JJ's. Maryjane and Ted leave the car but Bertha and the narrator stay behind. The narrator initiates a brief sexual encounter that ends when he quickly cums. Bertha is sympathetic. The two then join the others in the bar. In the bar, the narrator calls June, his ex-girlfriend. At first, she seems interested in seeing him but then tells him she is engaged. The narrator hangs up. More drinking and drunken revelry take place in the bar. The narrator eventually passes out, bringing an end to the day.
Chapters 6-11
This section of the story takes place over the course of three days as the narrator drives away from San Francisco. Taking drugs and drinking while he drives, the narrator's thoughts focus on his childhood. He was born in El Paso but grew up from the age of five in Riverbank, a town of fewer than 4,000 people in California's Central Valley. His parents were both Mexican: his father was an “Indio” from Durango and his mother was from a poor family in Juarez. Together they crossed the border illegally to El Paso. His father was drafted into the Navy during WWII and on his discharge was granted citizenship. The family lived in a two-room shack. The father imposed strict discipline and order based on the regulations of the Navy's The Seabee Manual.
In the small town of Riverbank, the narrator and his only brother, Bob, were outsiders. As Mexicans, they were picked on by the Okies (folks from Oklahoma ), the poor whites. Other Mexicans also picked on the brothers because they were more recent immigrants. In addition to the Okies and the Mexicans, the third group in the town was the Americans, the relatively wealthy white families. Among the incidents from childhood, the narrator remembers is a childhood crush. Jane Addison was a new classmate and the daughter of the owner of the factory where the narrator's mom worked. He scratched her initials on the back of his hand as a loving gesture. He was deeply hurt when he showed her the nearly illegible lines, she laughed. Later she told the teacher in front of the class that the narrator stunk.
After driving for two days, the narrator sees a beautiful blond hitchhiker. Karin Wilmington is a rich hippie, on her way from Mexico to Colorado. The narrator recounts his life story to Karin, although he says he is Samoan and that his name is Henry Hawk. This is one of several times in the story where the narrator assumes different identities, one of which is an Indian chief. The narrator and Karin find they have a friend in common, Turk, a crazy biker. The narrator splits up from Karin in Ketchum, Idaho but she leaves him a note inviting him to meet her at her brother's house in nearby Wilmington. In Ketchum, the narrator visits Hemingway's grave.
The narrator continues reflecting on his childhood. In high school, he played clarinet in the school band, was a starter on the variety football team, and was Class President. Yet he never studied and spent most of his time drinking with a group of four friends. The friends also went to a whore house regularly. For over a year the narrator never went with any of the girls. Finally, his friends tricked him into sleeping with Ruby, the very attractive Portuguese madam.
During his Junior year in high school, the narrator fell in love with a Freshman named Alice Brown. Although she walked with a slight limp caused by polio, she was incredibly beautiful and the narrator was instantly attracted to her. The two began seeing each other but when her parents found out about the relationship they made her write the narrator a note saying she could not see him anymore. Alice tells the narrator that her stepfather, a Baptist minister, threatened to divorce Alice's mother if she allowed them to date. This was primarily because her stepfather hated Mexicans.
The narrator and Alice continued seeing each other discreetly. During his senior year, the narrator worked to have Alice crowned school queen. He was successful. At the winter dance where she was crowned, he danced with her; unfortunately, this led to her stepfather finding out about their relationship. When the narrator took her home from the dance the town sheriff was waiting at her house. He had brought the narrator's parents as well. Pressure from the sheriff forces the narrator to agree not to see Alice. However, Alice and the narrator did continue to see each other at school. Occasionally the narrator would have one of his white friends pick up Alice so they could attend a school dance together.
After graduation the narrator, not knowing what else to do and having to wait for Alice to finish high school so they could marry, joined the Air Force. He played in the Air Force band and was stationed at nearby locations in California. For a while, the two continued to see each other whenever the narrator had to leave but eventually he received a Dear John letter from her. During this time, a friend convinced the narrator to convert from Catholicism to the Baptist faith. The narrator adopted the religion enthusiastically. He began leading prayer groups and he impressed members of the local congregation with his ability to testify to sin.
Shortly thereafter, he was transferred to a post in Panama. In his free time, which was considerable, he worked as a missionary to an Indian tribe in a rural village. Gradually, however, his faith waned. He went through the gospels and wrote out a list in favor and a list against what he read. The con list was far longer and the narrator gave up his belief. Afraid of confusing the Indians if he went back on his preaching, he continued giving them sermons on general themes such as brother lovely. After two years in Panama, the narrator was honorably discharged from the Air Force. He went to New Orleans where drank and smoke and briefly considered committing suicide but decided that jumping from a window would be too painful.
In Wilmington, the narrator attends a Fourth of July party at a mansion with the rich friends of Karen. The party features peyote-spiked guacamole. The peyote and the drinking cause the narrator's ulcers to act up. He throws up and is comforted by Karin. She recommends that he continue what she calls “his search” by looking for Bobby Miller at the Daisy Duck bar in Alpine. The narrator says that what he really needs is a doctor to help him with his ulcers. The next day the narrator wakes up on Hemingway's grave. He does not remember how he got there. The section ends with him behind the wheel of his car heading to Alpine.
Chapters 12-15
The events of chapters 12-15 take place over, approximately, a week in Alpine. The narrator arrives in Alpine filled with self-pity. He finds that he has no one to blame and that by some measures he has been successful for someone who started where he did. Nonetheless, he is deeply dissatisfied.
The first thing the narrator does in Alpine is going to a motel and sleep for twenty-four hours. When he wakes up he heads to the Daisy Duck bar to look for Bobby Miller. At the bar, he finds Bobbi, a waitress, who is Bobby's girlfriend. The narrator talks and dances with her. Bobbi then introduces the narrator to Bobby and a man called the King, who has just come into the bar. The narrator is struck by Bobby's calm and gentle disposition. King on the other hand is a rough biker, who makes threatening remarks about running greasers out of town. Miller invites the narrator to crash at his place but the narrator decides to stay in the motel.
The narrator continues describing his life story. After his discharge from the Air Force, the narrator returned to Riverbank. He discovered that his brother had stolen all of his savings from a joint bank account. The narrator decided to attend a local community college. There he was influenced deeply by a creative writing professor, Doc Jennings. Doc Jennings encouraged the students to think for themselves and not to blindly accept conventional wisdom. At one point, the teacher called the narrator to his office to encourage him to leave school if he wants to be a writer. After a year of classes, the narrator finally took Doc Jennings's advice and left school. He went to Los Angeles and took the exam to enter the police department.
While driving in Los Angeles, the narrator was pulled over by an unmarked police car. The narrator, who was drunk, tried to drive away. Eventually, he was stopped by a roadblock. When the case came to court the narrator refused the public defender and decided to represent himself. Several judges tried to talk him out of going to trial. The narrator went ahead with the case and was able to convince the jury that he was not guilty because the police car was unmarked, and, therefore, it was natural for someone who grew up in a rough area to try to flee.
Immediately after the trial, the narrator went looking for his friend Al. He learned from the landlord that Al had been on a drinking binge for a full month. The narrator found Al passed out in his apartment. The floor was covered with eggshells; apparently, the only type of food Al had been eating. The narrator took Al to the county hospital but they would not admit him because he was drunk. Then the narrator took to Al to a psychiatric hospital next door. There the narrator had to convince the admitting doctor that Al was insane in order to have him admitted. During the observation period, Al's sister visited but she sneaked past the nurse when she came in. This caused the doctors to think Al was imagining he had visitors. As a result, Al had to serve two months in a criminal psychiatric hospital. The incident with Al and his arrest convinced the narrator to leave Los Angeles. The narrator went to San Francisco and enrolled at San Francisco State to study math and creative writing.
The narrator wrote a manuscript about his relationship with Alice and the fights between Mexicans and Oakies in his hometown. The narrator showed the manuscript to a supportive creative writing professor. The professor thought highly of the work but said that no one would publish a book about Mexicans. Giving up on writing, the narrator decided to go to law school. He attended night classes at San Francisco Law School and worked during the day as a copy boy at a newspaper. After five years he graduated from law school.
Shortly after arriving in Alpine, the narrator crashed his car. He had been smoking marijuana that Scott, a friend of Bobby, had brought from India. He had also mistakenly taken two tabs of acid that were in an aspirin bottle. When the narrator comes off his trip, he finds he is in King's basement. Exploring the basement, he finds some recording equipment and drugs. He takes the drugs and listens to music. When he comes to, he is sitting with King on the porch. King tells him the sheriff is looking for him. The narrator and King strike up a friendship. Both are serious about drinking. After talking and drinking for a while, the two head to town for more beer in spite of the risk of being spotted by the sheriff.
After picking up more beer at the local grocery store, they head to a park where a group of hippies are gathering after a protest at the house of Gene McNamara. At the gathering, the narrator gets into an altercation because the hippies think he is hassling a pair of nuns. Although the narrator does not know it, someone has written: “Fuck the Pope” on his back.
King takes the narrator to the bus station. While waiting for the bus to leave, King and the narrator continue talking. They have become friends and exchange symbolic gifts. Just before the bus leaves and King gives the narrator his phone number.
Chapter 16
The final section, while comprising relatively few pages, covers a longer period than the other sections. The section is also different in that for the most part it does not contain flashbacks to previous events in the narrator's life. The section begins with the narrator stepping off the bus in Vail. Broke, he works in a series of low-paying jobs, repeatedly getting fired. In his free time he drinks, reads Dylan Thomas, reads Konrad Lorenz, and listens to Bob Dylan.
After several months in Vail, he decides to return to El Paso, where he was born, “to see if I could find the object of my quest.” In El Paso, he visits his old house and walks around his old neighborhood. Overcome by memories and sadness, he decides to go across the border to Juarez. In Juarez, he is moved to see so many Mexicans with their brown skin and, most of all, people speaking Spanish openly in public. He remembers an incident in elementary school when the principal told him and his brother they could not speak Spanish at school. For the first time in his life, he is attracted to Mexican women. His earlier loves fade to distant memories in the presence of so many beautiful brown-skinned women.
The narrator goes to a bar, which he observes is the same as any bar in any city in the United States. In the bar, he meets two prostitutes and spends a week with them, eating, drinking, and having sex, until his money runs out. The narrator gets into an argument with a clerk at the hotel after complaining about the lack of heat in his room. He winds up in jail. When he is brought before the judge he tries to explain in his broken Spanish that he is an attorney from the United States. The female judge lectures him on the behavior of Americans coming across the border to sleep with prostitutes and on his inability to speak proper Spanish. He accepts a fine and is allowed to leave. Feeling neither Mexican nor American the narrator heads back across the border. He does not have any papers but manages to convince the border guard that he is an American citizen.
Across the border, he pawns his few belongings and calls his brother. His brother tells him about the La Raza movement that is taking shape in East L.A. In a flash, the narrator sees this as his destiny. He immediately decides to head for Los Angeles. He imagines that he will call a meeting and becomes an organizer; he will start a movement of Brown Buffalos. After years of searching for an identity, he feels he has finally found his place. The story ends with the narrator arriving in Los Angeles, ready to become a revolutionary activist.
References
1972 American novels
American autobiographical novels
Novels by Oscar Zeta Acosta
Hispanic and Latino American novels
Novels set in San Francisco
Straight Arrow Press books
1972 debut novels
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sterilization%20%28microbiology%29
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Sterilization (microbiology)
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Sterilization (or sterilisation) refers to any process that removes, kills, or deactivates all forms of life (particularly microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, spores, and unicellular eukaryotic organisms) and other biological agents such as prions present in or on a specific surface, object, or fluid. Sterilization can be achieved through various means, including heat, chemicals, irradiation, high pressure, and filtration. Sterilization is distinct from disinfection, sanitization, and pasteurization, in that those methods reduce rather than eliminate all forms of life and biological agents present. After sterilization, an object is referred to as being sterile or aseptic.
Applications
Foods
One of the first steps toward modernized sterilization was made by Nicolas Appert, who discovered that application of heat over a suitable period slowed the decay of foods and various liquids, preserving them for safe consumption for a longer time than was typical. Canning of foods is an extension of the same principle and has helped to reduce food borne illness ("food poisoning"). Other methods of sterilizing foods include food irradiation and high pressure (pascalization).
Medicine and surgery
In general, surgical instruments and medications that enter an already aseptic part of the body (such as the bloodstream, or penetrating the skin) must be sterile. Examples of such instruments include scalpels, hypodermic needles, and artificial pacemakers. This is also essential in the manufacture of parenteral pharmaceuticals.
Preparation of injectable medications and intravenous solutions for fluid replacement therapy requires not only sterility but also well-designed containers to prevent entry of adventitious agents after initial product sterilization.
Most medical and surgical devices used in healthcare facilities are made of materials that are able to go under steam sterilization. However, since 1950, there has been an increase in medical devices and instruments made of materials (e.g., plastics) that require low-temperature sterilization. Ethylene oxide gas has been used since the 1950s for heat- and moisture-sensitive medical devices. Within the past 15 years, a number of new, low-temperature sterilization systems (e.g., vaporized hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid immersion, ozone) have been developed and are being used to sterilize medical devices.
Spacecraft
There are strict international rules to protect the contamination of Solar System bodies from biological material from Earth. Standards vary depending on both the type of mission and its destination; the more likely a planet is considered to be habitable, the stricter the requirements are.
Many components of instruments used on spacecraft cannot withstand very high temperatures, so techniques not requiring excessive temperatures are used as tolerated, including heating to at least , chemical sterilization, oxidization, ultraviolet, and irradiation.
Quantification
The aim of sterilization is the reduction of initially present microorganisms or other potential pathogens. The degree of sterilization is commonly expressed by multiples of the decimal reduction time, or D-value, denoting the time needed to reduce the initial number to one tenth () of its original value. Then the number of microorganisms after sterilization time is given by:
.
The D-value is a function of sterilization conditions and varies with the type of microorganism, temperature, water activity, pH etc.. For steam sterilization (see below) typically the temperature, in degrees Celsius, is given as an index.
Theoretically, the likelihood of the survival of an individual microorganism is never zero. To compensate for this, the overkill method is often used. Using the overkill method, sterilization is performed by sterilizing for longer than is required to kill the bioburden present on or in the item being sterilized. This provides a sterility assurance level (SAL) equal to the probability of a non-sterile unit.
For high-risk applications, such as medical devices and injections, a sterility assurance level of at least 10−6 is required by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Heat
Steam
Steam sterilization, also known as moist heat sterilization, uses heated saturated steam under pressure to inactivate or kill microorganisms via denaturation of macromolecules, primarily proteins. This method is a faster process than dry heat sterilization. Steam sterilization is performed using an autoclave, sometimes called a converter or steam sterilizer. The article is placed in the autoclave chamber, which is then sealed and heated using pressurized steam to a temperature set point for a defined period of time. Steam sterilization cycles can be categorized as either pre-vacuum or gravity displacement. Gravity displacement cycles rely on the lower density of the injected steam to force cooler, denser air out of the chamber drain.Steam Sterilization | Disinfection & Sterilization Guidelines | Guidelines Library | Infection Control | CDC In comparison, pre-vacuum cycles draw a vacuum in the chamber to remove cool dry air prior to injecting saturated steam, resulting in faster heating and shorter cycle times. Typical steam sterilization cycles are between 3 and 30 minutes at at , but adjustments may be made depending on the bioburden of the article being sterilized, its resistance (D-value) to steam sterilization, the article's heat tolerance, and the required sterility assurance level. Following the completion of a cycle, liquids in a pressurized autoclave must be cooled slowly to avoid boiling over when the pressure is released. This may be achieved by gradually depressurizing the sterilization chamber and allowing liquids to evaporate under a negative pressure, while cooling the contents.
Proper autoclave treatment will inactivate all resistant bacterial spores in addition to fungi, bacteria, and viruses, but is not expected to eliminate all prions, which vary in their resistance. For prion elimination, various recommendations state for 60 minutes or for at least 18 minutes. The 263K scrapie prion is inactivated relatively quickly by such sterilization procedures; however, other strains of scrapie, and strains of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CKD) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) are more resistant. Using mice as test animals, one experiment showed that heating BSE positive brain tissue at for 18 minutes resulted in only a 2.5 log decrease in prion infectivity.
Most autoclaves have meters and charts that record or display information, particularly temperature and pressure as a function of time. The information is checked to ensure that the conditions required for sterilization have been met. Indicator tape is often placed on the packages of products prior to autoclaving, and some packaging incorporates indicators. The indicator changes color when exposed to steam, providing a visual confirmation.
Biological indicators can also be used to independently confirm autoclave performance. Simple biological indicator devices are commercially available, based on microbial spores. Most contain spores of the heat-resistant microbe Geobacillus stearothermophilus (formerly Bacillus stearothermophilus), which is extremely resistant to steam sterilization. Biological indicators may take the form of glass vials of spores and liquid media, or as spores on strips of paper inside glassine envelopes. These indicators are placed in locations where it is difficult for steam to reach to verify that steam is penetrating there.
For autoclaving, cleaning is critical. Extraneous biological matter or grime may shield organisms from steam penetration. Proper cleaning can be achieved through physical scrubbing, sonication, ultrasound, or pulsed air.
Pressure cooking and canning is analogous to autoclaving, and when performed correctly renders food sterile.
To sterilize waste materials that are chiefly composed of liquid, a purpose-built effluent decontamination system can be utilized. These devices can function using a variety of sterilants, although using heat via steam is most common.
Dry
Dry heat was the first method of sterilization and is a longer process than moist heat sterilization. The destruction of microorganisms through the use of dry heat is a gradual phenomenon. With longer exposure to lethal temperatures, the number of killed microorganisms increases. Forced ventilation of hot air can be used to increase the rate at which heat is transferred to an organism and reduce the temperature and amount of time needed to achieve sterility. At higher temperatures, shorter exposure times are required to kill organisms. This can reduce heat-induced damage to food products.
The standard setting for a hot air oven is at least two hours at . A rapid method heats air to for 6 minutes for unwrapped objects and 12 minutes for wrapped objects. Dry heat has the advantage that it can be used on powders and other heat-stable items that are adversely affected by steam (e.g. it does not cause rusting of steel objects).
Flaming
Flaming is done to inoculation loops and straight-wires in microbiology labs for streaking. Leaving the loop in the flame of a Bunsen burner or alcohol burner until it glows red ensures that any infectious agent is inactivated. This is commonly used for small metal or glass objects, but not for large objects (see Incineration below). However, during the initial heating, infectious material may be sprayed from the wire surface before it is killed, contaminating nearby surfaces and objects. Therefore, special heaters have been developed that surround the inoculating loop with a heated cage, ensuring that such sprayed material does not further contaminate the area. Another problem is that gas flames may leave carbon or other residues on the object if the object is not heated enough. A variation on flaming is to dip the object in a 70% or more concentrated solution of ethanol, then briefly touch the object to a Bunsen burner flame. The ethanol will ignite and burn off rapidly, leaving less residue than a gas flame
Incineration
Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of organic substances contained in waste materials. This method also burns any organism to ash. It is used to sterilize medical and other biohazardous waste before it is discarded with non-hazardous waste. Bacteria incinerators are mini furnaces that incinerate and kill off any microorganisms that may be on an inoculating loop or wire.
Tyndallization
Named after John Tyndall, Tyndallization is an obsolete and lengthy process designed to reduce the level of activity of sporulating bacteria that are left by a simple boiling water method. The process involves boiling for a period (typically 20 minutes) at atmospheric pressure, cooling, incubating for a day, and then repeating the process a total of three to four times. The incubation periods are to allow heat-resistant spores surviving the previous boiling period to germinate to form the heat-sensitive vegetative (growing) stage, which can be killed by the next boiling step. This is effective because many spores are stimulated to grow by the heat shock. The procedure only works for media that can support bacterial growth, and will not sterilize non-nutritive substrates like water. Tyndallization is also ineffective against prions.
Glass bead sterilizers
Glass bead sterilizers work by heating glass beads to . Instruments are then quickly doused in these glass beads, which heat the object while physically scraping contaminants off their surface. Glass bead sterilizers were once a common sterilization method employed in dental offices as well as biological laboratories, but are not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to be used as a sterilizers since 1997. They are still popular in European and Israeli dental practices, although there are no current evidence-based guidelines for using this sterilizer.
Chemical sterilization
Chemicals are also used for sterilization. Heating provides a reliable way to rid objects of all transmissible agents, but it is not always appropriate if it will damage heat-sensitive materials such as biological materials, fiber optics, electronics, and many plastics. In these situations chemicals, either in a gaseous or liquid form, can be used as sterilants. While the use of gas and liquid chemical sterilants avoids the problem of heat damage, users must ensure that the article to be sterilized is chemically compatible with the sterilant being used and that the sterilant is able to reach all surfaces that must be sterilized (typically cannot penetrate packaging). In addition, the use of chemical sterilants poses new challenges for workplace safety, as the properties that make chemicals effective sterilants usually make them harmful to humans. The procedure for removing sterilant residue from the sterilized materials varies depending on the chemical and process that is used.
Ethylene oxide
Ethylene oxide (EO, EtO) gas treatment is one of the common methods used to sterilize, pasteurize, or disinfect items because of its wide range of material compatibility. It is also used to process items that are sensitive to processing with other methods, such as radiation (gamma, electron beam, X-ray), heat (moist or dry), or other chemicals. Ethylene oxide treatment is the most common chemical sterilization method, used for approximately 70% of total sterilizations, and for over 50% of all disposable medical devices.
Ethylene oxide treatment is generally carried out between with relative humidity above 30% and a gas concentration between 200 and 800 mg/L. Typically, the process lasts for several hours. Ethylene oxide is highly effective, as it penetrates all porous materials, and it can penetrate through some plastic materials and films. Ethylene oxide kills all known microorganisms, such as bacteria (including spores), viruses, and fungi (including yeasts and moulds), and is compatible with almost all materials even when repeatedly applied. It is flammable, toxic, and carcinogenic; however, only with a reported potential for some adverse health effects when not used in compliance with published requirements. Ethylene oxide sterilizers and processes require biological validation after sterilizer installation, significant repairs or process changes.
The traditional process consists of a preconditioning phase (in a separate room or cell), a processing phase (more commonly in a vacuum vessel and sometimes in a pressure rated vessel), and an aeration phase (in a separate room or cell) to remove EO residues and lower by-products such as ethylene chlorohydrin (EC or ECH) and, of lesser importance, ethylene glycol (EG). An alternative process, known as all-in-one processing, also exists for some products whereby all three phases are performed in the vacuum or pressure rated vessel. This latter option can facilitate faster overall processing time and residue dissipation.
The most common EO processing method is the gas chamber method. To benefit from economies of scale, EO has traditionally been delivered by filling a large chamber with a combination of gaseous EO either as pure EO, or with other gases used as diluents; diluents include chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs), and carbon dioxide.
Ethylene oxide is still widely used by medical device manufacturers. Since EO is explosive at concentrations above 3%, EO was traditionally supplied with an inert carrier gas, such as a CFC or HCFC. The use of CFCs or HCFCs as the carrier gas was banned because of concerns of ozone depletion. These halogenated hydrocarbons are being replaced by systems using 100% EO, because of regulations and the high cost of the blends. In hospitals, most EO sterilizers use single-use cartridges because of the convenience and ease of use compared to the former plumbed gas cylinders of EO blends.
It is important to adhere to patient and healthcare personnel government specified limits of EO residues in and/or on processed products, operator exposure after processing, during storage and handling of EO gas cylinders, and environmental emissions produced when using EO.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set the permissible exposure limit (PEL) at 1 ppm – calculated as an eight-hour time-weighted average (TWA) – and 5 ppm as a 15-minute excursion limit (EL). The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's (NIOSH) immediately dangerous to life and health limit (IDLH) for EO is 800 ppm. The odor threshold is around 500 ppm, so EO is imperceptible until concentrations are well above the OSHA PEL. Therefore, OSHA recommends that continuous gas monitoring systems be used to protect workers using EO for processing.
Nitrogen dioxide
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) gas is a rapid and effective sterilant for use against a wide range of microorganisms, including common bacteria, viruses, and spores. The unique physical properties of NO2 gas allow for sterilant dispersion in an enclosed environment at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. The mechanism for lethality is the degradation of DNA in the spore core through nitration of the phosphate backbone, which kills the exposed organism as it absorbs NO2. This degradations occurs at even very low concentrations of the gas. NO2 has a boiling point of at sea level, which results in a relatively highly saturated vapour pressure at ambient temperature. Because of this, liquid NO2 may be used as a convenient source for the sterilant gas. Liquid NO2 is often referred to by the name of its dimer, dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4). Additionally, the low levels of concentration required, coupled with the high vapour pressure, assures that no condensation occurs on the devices being sterilized. This means that no aeration of the devices is required immediately following the sterilization cycle. NO2 is also less corrosive than other sterilant gases, and is compatible with most medical materials and adhesives.
The most-resistant organism (MRO) to sterilization with NO2 gas is the spore of Geobacillus stearothermophilus, which is the same MRO for both steam and hydrogen peroxide sterilization processes. The spore form of G. stearothermophilus has been well characterized over the years as a biological indicator in sterilization applications. Microbial inactivation of G. stearothermophilus with NO2 gas proceeds rapidly in a log-linear fashion, as is typical of other sterilization processes. Noxilizer, Inc. has commercialized this technology to offer contract sterilization services for medical devices at its Baltimore, Maryland (U.S.) facility. This has been demonstrated in Noxilizer’s lab in multiple studies and is supported by published reports from other labs. These same properties also allow for quicker removal of the sterilant and residual gases through aeration of the enclosed environment. The combination of rapid lethality and easy removal of the gas allows for shorter overall cycle times during the sterilization (or decontamination) process and a lower level of sterilant residuals than are found with other sterilization methods.
Eniware, LLC has developed a portable, power-free sterilizer that uses no electricity, heat or water. The 25 liter unit makes sterilization of surgical instruments possible for austere forward surgical teams, in health centers throughout the world with intermittent or no electricity and in disaster relief and humanitarian crisis situations. The four hour cycle uses a single use gas generation ampoule and a disposable scrubber to remove nitrogen dioxide gas.
Ozone
Ozone is used in industrial settings to sterilize water and air, as well as a disinfectant for surfaces. It has the benefit of being able to oxidize most organic matter. On the other hand, it is a toxic and unstable gas that must be produced on-site, so it is not practical to use in many settings.
Ozone offers many advantages as a sterilant gas; ozone is a very efficient sterilant because of its strong oxidizing properties (E=2.076 vs SHE) capable of destroying a wide range of pathogens, including prions, without the need for handling hazardous chemicals since the ozone is generated within the sterilizer from medical-grade oxygen. The high reactivity of ozone means that waste ozone can be destroyed by passing over a simple catalyst that reverts it to oxygen and ensures that the cycle time is relatively short. The disadvantage of using ozone is that the gas is very reactive and very hazardous. The NIOSH's immediately dangerous to life and health limit (IDLH) for ozone is smaller than the IDLH for ethylene oxide. NIOSH and OSHA has set the PEL for ozone at , calculated as an time-weighted average. The sterilant gas manufacturers include many safety features in their products but prudent practice is to provide continuous monitoring of exposure to ozone, in order to provide a rapid warning in the event of a leak. Monitors for determining workplace exposure to ozone are commercially available.
Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde
Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde solutions (also used as fixatives) are accepted liquid sterilizing agents, provided that the immersion time is sufficiently long. To kill all spores in a clear liquid can take up to 22 hours with glutaraldehyde and even longer with formaldehyde. The presence of solid particles may lengthen the required period or render the treatment ineffective. Sterilization of blocks of tissue can take much longer, due to the time required for the fixative to penetrate. Glutaraldehyde and formaldehyde are volatile, and toxic by both skin contact and inhalation. Glutaraldehyde has a short shelf-life (<2 weeks), and is expensive. Formaldehyde is less expensive and has a much longer shelf-life if some methanol is added to inhibit polymerization to paraformaldehyde, but is much more volatile. Formaldehyde is also used as a gaseous sterilizing agent; in this case, it is prepared on-site by depolymerization of solid paraformaldehyde. Many vaccines, such as the original Salk polio vaccine, are sterilized with formaldehyde.
Hydrogen peroxide
Hydrogen peroxide, in both liquid and as vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP), is another chemical sterilizing agent. Hydrogen peroxide is a strong oxidant, which allows it to destroy a wide range of pathogens. Hydrogen peroxide is used to sterilize heat- or temperature-sensitive articles, such as rigid endoscopes. In medical sterilization, hydrogen peroxide is used at higher concentrations, ranging from around 35% up to 90%. The biggest advantage of hydrogen peroxide as a sterilant is the short cycle time. Whereas the cycle time for ethylene oxide may be 10 to 15 hours, some modern hydrogen peroxide sterilizers have a cycle time as short as 28 minutes.
Drawbacks of hydrogen peroxide include material compatibility, a lower capability for penetration and operator health risks. Products containing cellulose, such as paper, cannot be sterilized using VHP and products containing nylon may become brittle. The penetrating ability of hydrogen peroxide is not as good as ethylene oxide and so there are limitations on the length and diameter of the lumen of objects that can be effectively sterilized. Hydrogen peroxide is a primary irritant and the contact of the liquid solution with skin will cause bleaching or ulceration depending on the concentration and contact time. It is relatively non-toxic when diluted to low concentrations, but is a dangerous oxidizer at high concentrations (> 10% w/w). The vapour is also hazardous, primarily affecting the eyes and respiratory system. Even short term exposures can be hazardous and NIOSH has set the IDLH at 75 ppm, less than one tenth the IDLH for ethylene oxide (800 ppm). Prolonged exposure to lower concentrations can cause permanent lung damage and consequently, OSHA has set the permissible exposure limit to 1.0 ppm, calculated as an eight-hour time-weighted average. Sterilizer manufacturers go to great lengths to make their products safe through careful design and incorporation of many safety features, though there are still workplace exposures of hydrogen peroxide from gas sterilizers documented in the FDA MAUDE database. When using any type of gas sterilizer, prudent work practices should include good ventilation, a continuous gas monitor for hydrogen peroxide and good work practices and training.
Vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP) is used to sterilize large enclosed and sealed areas, such as entire rooms and aircraft interiors.
Although toxic, VHP breaks down in a short time to water and oxygen.
Peracetic acid
Peracetic acid (0.2%) is a recognized sterilant by the FDA for use in sterilizing medical devices such as endoscopes. Peracetic acid which is also known as peroxyacetic acid is a chemical compound often used in disinfectants such as sanitizers. It is most commonly produced by the reaction of acetic acid and hydrogen peroxide with each other by using an acid catalyst. Peracetic acid is never sold in unstabilized solutions which is why it is considered to be environmentally friendly. Peracetic acid is a colorless liquid and the molecular formula of peracetic acid is C2H4O3 or CH3COOOH. More recently, peracetic acid is being used throughout the world as more people are using fumigation to decontaminate surfaces to reduce the risk of Covid-19 and other diseases.
Potential for chemical sterilization of prions
Prions are highly resistant to chemical sterilization. Treatment with aldehydes, such as formaldehyde, have actually been shown to increase prion resistance. Hydrogen peroxide (3%) for one hour was shown to be ineffective, providing less than 3 logs (10−3) reduction in contamination. Iodine, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, and peracetic acid also fail this test (one hour treatment). Only chlorine, phenolic compounds, guanidinium thiocyanate, and sodium hydroxide reduce prion levels by more than 4 logs; chlorine (too corrosive to use on certain objects) and sodium hydroxide are the most consistent. Many studies have shown the effectiveness of sodium hydroxide.
Radiation sterilization
Sterilization can be achieved using electromagnetic radiation, such as ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma rays, or irradiation by subatomic particles such as by electron beams. Electromagnetic or particulate radiation can be energetic enough to ionize atoms or molecules (ionizing radiation), or less energetic (non-ionizing radiation).
Non-ionizing radiation sterilization
Ultraviolet light irradiation (UV, from a germicidal lamp) is useful for sterilization of surfaces and some transparent objects. Many objects that are transparent to visible light absorb UV. UV irradiation is routinely used to sterilize the interiors of biological safety cabinets between uses, but is ineffective in shaded areas, including areas under dirt (which may become polymerized after prolonged irradiation, so that it is very difficult to remove). It also damages some plastics, such as polystyrene foam if exposed for prolonged periods of time.
Ionizing radiation sterilization
The safety of irradiation facilities is regulated by the International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations and monitored by the different national Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC). The radiation exposure accidents that have occurred in the past are documented by the agency and thoroughly analyzed to determine the cause and improvement potential. Such improvements are then mandated to retrofit existing facilities and future design.
Gamma radiation is very penetrating, and is commonly used for sterilization of disposable medical equipment, such as syringes, needles, cannulas and IV sets, and food. It is emitted by a radioisotope, usually cobalt-60 (60Co) or caesium-137 (137Cs), which have photon energies of up to 1.3 and 0.66 MeV, respectively.
Use of a radioisotope requires shielding for the safety of the operators while in use and in storage. With most designs, the radioisotope is lowered into a water-filled source storage pool, which absorbs radiation and allows maintenance personnel to enter the radiation shield. One variant keeps the radioisotope under water at all times and lowers the product to be irradiated in the water in hermetically-sealed bells; no further shielding is required for such designs. Other uncommonly used designs use dry storage, providing movable shields that reduce radiation levels in areas of the irradiation chamber. An incident in Decatur, Georgia, US, where water-soluble caesium-137 leaked into the source storage pool, requiring NRC intervention has led to use of this radioisotope being almost entirely discontinued in favour of the more costly, non-water-soluble cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 gamma photons have about twice the energy, and hence greater penetrating range, of caesium-137-produced radiation.
Electron beam processing is also commonly used for sterilization. Electron beams use an on-off technology and provide a much higher dosing rate than gamma or X-rays. Due to the higher dose rate, less exposure time is needed and thereby any potential degradation to polymers is reduced. Because electrons carry a charge, electron beams are less penetrating than both gamma and X-rays. Facilities rely on substantial concrete shields to protect workers and the environment from radiation exposure.
High-energy X-rays (produced by bremsstrahlung) allow irradiation of large packages and pallet loads of medical devices. They are sufficiently penetrating to treat multiple pallet loads of low-density packages with very good dose uniformity ratios. X-ray sterilization does not require chemical or radioactive material: high-energy X-rays are generated at high intensity by an X-ray generator that does not require shielding when not in use. X-rays are generated by bombarding a dense material (target) such as tantalum or tungsten with high-energy electrons, in a process known as bremsstrahlung conversion. These systems are energy-inefficient, requiring much more electrical energy than other systems for the same result.
Irradiation with X-rays, gamma rays, or electrons does not make materials radioactive, because the energy used is too low. Generally an energy of at least 10 MeV is needed to induce radioactivity in a material. Neutrons and very high-energy particles can make materials radioactive, but have good penetration, whereas lower energy particles (other than neutrons) cannot make materials radioactive, but have poorer penetration.
Sterilization by irradiation with gamma rays may however affect material properties.
Irradiation is used by the United States Postal Service to sterilize mail in the Washington, D.C. area. Some foods (e.g. spices and ground meats) are sterilized by irradiation.
Subatomic particles may be more or less penetrating and may be generated by a radioisotope or a device, depending upon the type of particle.
Sterile filtration
Fluids that would be damaged by heat, irradiation or chemical sterilization, such as drug solution, can be sterilized by microfiltration using membrane filters. This method is commonly used for heat labile pharmaceuticals and protein solutions in medicinal drug processing. A microfilter with pore size of usually 0.22 µm will effectively remove microorganisms. Some staphylococcal species have, however, been shown to be flexible enough to pass through 0.22 µm filters. In the processing of biologics, viruses must be removed or inactivated, requiring the use of nanofilters with a smaller pore size (20–50 nm). Smaller pore sizes lower the flow rate, so in order to achieve higher total throughput or to avoid premature blockage, pre-filters might be used to protect small pore membrane filters. Tangential flow filtration (TFF) and alternating tangential flow (ATF) systems also reduce particulate accumulation and blockage.
Membrane filters used in production processes are commonly made from materials such as mixed cellulose ester or polyethersulfone (PES). The filtration equipment and the filters themselves may be purchased as pre-sterilized disposable units in sealed packaging or must be sterilized by the user, generally by autoclaving at a temperature that does not damage the fragile filter membranes. To ensure proper functioning of the filter, the membrane filters are integrity tested post-use and sometimes before use. The nondestructive integrity test assures the filter is undamaged and is a regulatory requirement. Typically, terminal pharmaceutical sterile filtration is performed inside of a cleanroom to prevent contamination.
Preservation of sterility
Instruments that have undergone sterilization can be maintained in such condition by containment in sealed packaging until use.
Aseptic technique is the act of maintaining sterility during procedures.
See also
Antibacterial soap
Asepsis
Aseptic processing
Contamination control
Electron irradiation
Food packaging
Food preservation
Food safety
Spaulding classification
Sterilant gas monitoring
References
Sources
WHO - Infection Control Guidelines for Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies. Retrieved Jul 10, 2010
Control of microbes
Innovative Technologies for the Biofunctionalisation and Terminal Sterilisation of Medical Devices
Sterilization of liquids, solids, waste in disposal bags and hazardous biological substances
Pharmaceutical Filtration - The Management of Organism Removal, Meltzer TH, Jornitz MW, PDA/DHI 1998
"Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation ANSI/AAMI ST41-Ehylene Oxyde Sterilization in Healthcare facilities: Safety and Effectiveness. Arlington, VA: Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation; 2000."
“US Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration.29 CFR 1910.1020. Access to Employee Medical Records.". October 26, 2007.
Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices, AORN 2013,
Biocides
Electron beam
Hygiene
Microbiology
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic%20Church%20in%20Argentina
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Catholic Church in Argentina
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The Argentine Catholic Church, or Catholic Church in Argentina, is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the pope, the Curia in Rome, and the Argentine Episcopal Conference.
According to the CIA World Factbook (July 2014), 92% of the country are nominally Catholic, but less than 20% practice their faith regularly (i.e., attend weekly Mass). Later studies in 2019 suggest that between 62.9% and 63.3% of Argentinians are Catholic. No study has yet determined whether Catholics with higher levels of traditional religious observance are more likely than those with lower levels to participate in any cultural Catholic activities such as participating in online conversations about Catholicism's customs, beliefs, etc., sharing Catholic holidays with family, or engaging in political and social activism as an expression of Catholicism. In 2020, such a study was made of American Jews, comparing and contrasting nominally Jewish adherents with those who practice their faith weekly.
Today, the church in Argentina is divided into administrative territorial units called dioceses and archdioceses. Buenos Aires, for example, is a metropolitan archdiocese owing to its size and historical significance as the capital of the nation.
An archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), SJ, was elected as pope on 13 March 2013. Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, the seat of the archbishop, also houses the remains of General José de San Martín in a mausoleum.
There are eight Catholic universities in Argentina: Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina (Buenos Aires), the Universidad Católica de Córdoba, the Universidad Católica de La Plata, the Universidad Católica de Salta, the Universidad Católica de Santa Fe, the Universidad Católica de Cuyo, the Universidad Católica de las Misiones, and the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero.
History
Colonial Era and Independence
During the Spanish colonial period, the Catholic Church became the main provider of Christian presence and religious social services in the different Spanish viceroyalties in South America, including the territory that would later become the current Argentine Republic.
After the May Revolution in 1810 first, and then with the independence of Spain in 1816 there were disagreements within the national ruling elite about the degree of influence of the church in the country. Without wanting to offend Spain, the papacy condemned the revolutions sweeping South America in time and creating a contentious relationship with the budding Argentina Nation that will finally be resolved in 1966 with the concordat between the Argentine Republic and the Holy See.
Ecclesiastical reform of Rivadavia
Between 1820 and 1824, Martín Rodríguez governed, whose minister Bernardino Rivadavia promoted an ecclesiastical reform by modernizing a sector of society that had not changed since the time before the May Revolution. This reform included the suppression of tithes, the transfer to the State of some of the assets of the religious orders, such as those of the Sanctuary of Luján, of the Brotherhood of Charity, of the Hospital of Santa Catalina and others. 5 In opposition to the reform on March 19, 1823, the "Revolution of the Apostolics" broke out led by Gregorio García de Tagle in which illustrious citizens such as Domingo Achega, Mariano Benito Rolón, Ambrosio de Lezica (father) participated among others but failed after several hours of struggle.
The arbitrary and unilateral spoils of the Rivadavian administration together with the role of the Catholic Church in the genesis of Argentine nationality are the cause of the historical reparation that underlies the current support of Catholic worship in Argentina, regulated by Law 21.540 on the "Assignment to certain dignitaries belonging to the Roman Apostolic Catholic Cult." 6
Relationship from the National Organization
In any case, it was established in the first Argentine Constitution, (unitary) promulgated in 1819 – in its article 1 -, in that of 1826 (also unitary) – in its article 3 – and then in the federal Constitution of 1853, in its article 2, – still in force with modifications -, which reserves a special place for the Catholic Church, the majority religion among the population.
During the wars for independence, the State confiscated many temple assets to support the armies. For this reason, after the fall of the tyranny of Juan Manuel de Rosas, in the battle of Caseros, when the Constitution of 1853 was drafted, this debt is recognized in the aforementioned article 2.
Church–state relations in the nineteenth century were characterized by a series of conflicts between the Argentine government and the church over the issues of compulsory secular education, civil marriage and the governmental appointment of religious authorities. Argentina and the Holy See broke diplomatic relations in the 1880s on these issues and it took almost 20 years to restore them.
First half of the 20th century
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Buenos Aires was the second largest Catholic city in the world after Paris. The XXXII International Eucharistic Congress of 1934 was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina between October 9 and 14, 1934 with the presence of Eugenio Pacelli, future Pope Pius XII. It was the first to be held in Latin America and the third in the Americas after those held in Montreal and Chicago.
On the same day that the martyr Hector Valdivielso Sáez – the first Argentine saint – gave his life on October 9, the International Eucharistic Congress of 1934 began that marked a revival of Argentine Catholicism, a milestone from which a new life of the Church in Argentina, the dioceses increased, vocations grew, new parishes were built, and the laity became aware of their importance in the Church. Because of the magnitude of the crowds that attended public events, never before seen, it was the most important mass event in the country to date and, for some historians, the largest mobilization that has occurred in Argentina to date. 7
Relations improved in the early twentieth century, with several conservative administrations working with the Holy See to lay the foundations for a mutually acceptable relationship, which involved, among other things, state permissiveness towards religious education in public schools.
Mid-20th Century
The government of the Infamous Decade, the subsequent dictatorship and the first eight years of the government of Juan Perón overthrew the continuity of the fluid relationship between the State and the Catholic Church. In 1954, President Perón broke off relations with the Catholic Church and began a confrontation with it. The Perón regime abolished non-working days for Catholic Holidays, legalized Divorce and Prostitution, prohibited religious displays in public places, and Creches were banned in Buenos Aires. On June 11, 1955, approximately 200 thousand people attended a Corpus Christi procession in Buenos Aires, despite it being illegal. The Peronist regime reacted by accusing the attendees of vandalism and burning the Flag of Argentina. The next day, Peronists attempted to set fire to Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral, but were prevented by members of Catholic Action and the UNES. During a Peronist rally in the Plaza de Mayo on June 16, the Plaza was bombed as a part of a failed coup attempt by Anti-Peronists, which killed more than 300 civilians. In response, Peronists destroyed several churches and hundreds of Anti-Peronists and Priests were arrested.
The 1960s served as a decade of significant change for the Catholic Church in Argentina. The severed relationship caused by the Peron dictatorship coincided with major political shifts in Latin America. Following the Second Vatican Council's conclusion in 1965, the Catholic Church experienced a renewal of morals, with a greater focus on interaction in the social sphere. Increased interaction between the church and the poor living in slums/rural areas of Latin America created stronger connections between classes and political movements. Following the overthrow of Peron in 1955, many sectors of Argentinian society struggled to create and construct new projects. A widespread ban on the Peronist Party removed a majority of the population out of the political system. The ban created a power struggle amongst labor unionist groups, as well as economic and political groups. The struggle for power between groups was halted by a lack of long term legitimacy, resulting in political groups unable to enforce their ideas on others. Support for the Church and its civil power increased as a result.
In the military government of the post-Peron era, young people were led towards political involvement through working with the church. The radicalization of the Catholic Church as a result of the Second Vatican Council paved the way for increasing revolutionary thought, with the pressure of injustice and an incapable infrastructure being presented to the young people of society. In direct response to the council, the Movement of Priests for the Third World was created. With a focus on supporting work force conflicts, the priests outwardly supported socialist revolutionary beliefs from 1967 to 1976. Within this era of revolutionary growth, there became different ways of interpreting the future of the Catholic Church in response to the concern's of state terrorism. Scholar Gustavo Morello has argued that the church fractured into 3 categories, each based on the relationship between the Catholic Church and the state. National Catholics held the belief that the church and the state were to be closely aligned, and that "only a Catholic State could guarantee a Catholic society". Official Catholics understood the importance of the relationship between the state and the Church, however keeping most powers separate. Popular Catholics, which used their links of the past with the state in order to protect human lives in the present. Finally, a fourth form of Catholicism, one in which threats towards human lives were to be seen as a call for Catholics to stand in harm's way.
The relations of the Catholic Church and the Argentine Government improved after the overthrow of Peron. In 1966, a Concordat between Argentina and the Holy See was signed that governs to today the relations between the two, and explicitly states that it is the Pope who exclusively controls the appointment of Bishops. The radicalization of both the Catholic Church and of Argentina's politics resulted in violence by religiously motivated leftist groups. The growing violence and revolutionary thought in the public sphere was linked to the fracturing occurring within the church. Ideas of implementing concepts discussed at the Second Vatican Council faced backlash from those committed to the conservative, national-Catholicism of the pre-Peron Argentina.
Rise of Leftist Violence
The relationship between the church and the state have been characterized by conflicts with leftist guerrilla organizations, conflicts over human rights abuses, and economic injustices. During this period, Liberation theology became popular in the Church after the Second Vatican Council, which coincided with the rise of leftist armed groups, to which some priests and numerous lay Catholics were attached to.The clashing that occurred through political and theological changes led to the rise of a Christian militant group, the Montoneros. Beginning with the abduction of former president Pedro Aramburu on May 29, 1970, the Montoneros incited political violence, combined with the pressure coming form labor strikes and protests resulted in a loss of trust in the left. With the increase in political violence during the return of the Peronist regime (1973–1976), the influence of conservatives in the Church increased, and even more so after the 1976 coup d'état by the military, which gave way to a right wing military junta, which became infamous for the Dirty War.Over the course of the Dirty War, tens of thousands of Argentinians were abducted or went missing through these operations incorporated by the state, raising further concerns over the issue of human rights in the country. The rise in state-sanctioned violence had a direct impact on the growth of human rights activism, especially in organizations created by the public.
The positions adopted by the Church authorities during the Dirty War varied. Depending on each case, they went from the open support of some bishops and priests to the armed groups of the left; to the explicit support the junta and its actions. The vast majority of the clergy remained on the sidelines, either because they ignored the events produced, or because they chose not to get involved. A number of those who disappeared during the Dirty War were priests. The role of the church as human rights activists was received by the state as Marxist/Communists, especially because the poor were perceived as most likely to organize. Whilst political beliefs varied, the Liberation Theology movement in Argentina built itself out of long term injustices that had been ignored by the church. In the face of scrutiny or death, the religious commitment of the Catholics was the same commitment to the cause as the poor.
During its peak, the human rights activists in Argentina caught the attention of the United States, whose attention to activism surrounding foreign nations was significantly heightened by the Cold War and concerns of communism. The result came in 1977, in the form of the senate's military aid authorization bill, which cut off all US military and commercial sales to Argentina. With a lack of foreign support, the military junta accepted a visit from the Inter-American Human Rights Commission (IAHRC) in 1978.
The first ever visit of a Pope to Argentina took place in 1982, after the end of the disastrous Falklands War. John Paul II had planned a pastoral visit to the United Kingdom, which was important for ecumenical relations with the Anglican Church, but he didn't want to rebuff Argentine Catholics. He sent a letter to the Argentine people and carried out a brief visit to the country.
Post-Junta
With the return to democracy in 1983, there was a return to previous debates, including the situation of children born out of wedlock, marriage, and divorce. The controversy on these issues were especially significant during the administration of President Raúl Alfonsín.
In 1987, Pope John Paul II paid a visit to Argentina for a second time for the first World Youth Day in Buenos Aires, an initiative led by the Pope and Argentine Cardinal Eduardo Pironio.
During the administration of President Carlos Menem (1989–1999), the "day of the unborn child" that Menem himself promoted in support of the defense of the Unborn was declared on March 25. Menem was recognized by Pope John Paul II for his dedication to this cause. However, several prominent Bishops condemned Menem's economic policies because they increased the poverty rate.
21st Century
Relations between church and state became bitter during the presidency of Nestor Carlos Kirchner. Relations with Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio (now Pope Francis), Archbishop of Buenos Aires, were very strained. Before which the government avoided participation in the traditional Te Deum prayer celebrations at the Buenos Aires Cathedral, including those corresponding to the anniversaries of the May Revolution.
Conflicts, such as the displacement of the Military Bishop Antonio Baseotto, who opposed the policies of the Minister of Health, Ginés González García who promoted the decriminalization of abortion and the distribution of condoms to young people; by viewing his appointment that was interpreted as incitement to violence. Communicators linked to the government, such as Horacio Verbitsky, disseminated notes and books dedicated to accusing many clerics of collaboration with human rights violations during the Dirty War.
Nestor Carlos Kirchner was succeeded in 2007 by his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who identifies as Catholic. During her term, Same-sex marriages became legal, which kept relations between the Government and the Church strained. The Catholic Church, together with Protestant denominations organized protests against the proposed law. Cardinal Bergoglio issued a statement to lawmakers who opposed the bill, calling the effort "a movement by the father of lies to confuse and deceive the children of God." And during a meeting of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, in a rare political statement, he urged Catholics to oppose the politicians who supported the bill. However it was still legalized in Argentina regardless, becoming the first country in Latin America to do so. Despite these divergent points, President Kirchner expressed several times her opposition to the legalization of abortion during her two terms. Shortly after assuming her second term, the president reaffirmed this position in a meeting of more than 45 minutes that she held with the Episcopal Conference; and blocked debate in the Chamber of Deputies regarding it.
In 2013, Cardinal Bergoglio was elected Pope and this led to an improvement in relations between the Catholic Church and the government.
In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.
Demographics
Pastoral regions
Región Noroeste (NOA) (Argentine Northwest Region)
Región Noreste (NEA) (Northeast Region)
Región de Cuyo (Cuyo Region)
Región Centro (Central Region)
Región Litoral (Littoral Region)
Región Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires Region)
Región Platense (Platense Region)
Región Patagonia-Comahue (Patagonia–Comahue Region)
Divisions by region
Northwest – 10 dioceses: Añatuya, Cafayate, Catamarca, Concepción, Humahuaca, Jujuy, Orán, Salta, Santiago del Estero, and Tucumán
Northeast – 9 dioceses: Corrientes, Formosa, Goya, Posadas, Puerto Iguazú, Reconquista, Resistencia, Santo Tomé, San Roque
Cuyo – 5 dioceses: La Rioja, Mendoza, San Rafael, San Juan de Cuyo, San Luis
Central – 6 dioceses: Córdoba, Cruz del Eje, Deán Funes, San Francisco, Villa de la Concepción del Río Cuarto, Villa María; Greek Melkite Exarchate
Littoral – 7 dioceses: Concordia, Gualeguaychú, Paraná, Rafaela, Rosario, Santa Fe de la Vera Cruz, Venado Tuerto
Buenos Aires – 11 dioceses: Avellaneda–Lanús, Buenos Aires, Gregorio de Laferrere, Lomas de Zamora, Merlo-Moreno, Morón, Quilmes, San Isidro, San Martín, San Miguel, San Justo; Military Bishopric; Oriental Ordinariate; 3 eparchies: Armenian Eparchy, Maronite Eparchy, Ukrainian Eparchy
Platense – 10 dioceses: Azul, Bahía Blanca, Chascomús, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Mercedes–Luján, San Nicolás, Santa Rosa, Zárate-Campana
Patagonia-Comahue – 6 dioceses: Alto Valle del Río Negro, Comodoro Rivadavia, Neuquén, Río Gallegos, San Carlos de Bariloche, Viedma
See also
Catholic Church by country
Church-state relations in Argentina
List of Catholic dioceses in Argentina
Religion in Argentina
Freedom of religion in Argentina
List of South American Saints
Notes
References
Pastoral Regions (Adobe flash SWF file) of the Catholic Church in Argentina. Website of the Argentine Episcopal Conference.
Catedral de Buenos Aires – Autoridades
Argentina
Argentina–Holy See relations
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refusal%20to%20serve%20in%20the%20IDF
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Refusal to serve in the IDF
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Citizens of Israel have refused to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) or have disobeyed orders on the grounds of pacifism, antimilitarism, religious philosophy, or political disagreement with Israeli policy such as its occupation of the West Bank. Conscientious objectors in Israel are known as sarvanim (in Hebrew סרבנים) which is sometimes translated as "refuseniks", or mishtamtim (evaders, dodgers).
Aspects
Causes
Some distinguish between refusal to serve in the military because of a pacifist worldview that rejects any manifestation of violence and encompasses a refusal to submit to compulsory military service in any form, and partial refusal to serve, such as the Courage to Refuse group who "do their reserve duty wherever and whenever they are summoned, but refuse to serve in the occupied territories." The diverse range of opinions regarding the refusal to serve is the reason why there is no single umbrella organization that encompasses all groups of refusers. While most instances of refusal to serve have historically been found among left-leaning Israelis, there is a rapidly expanding willingness among right-wing soldiers to refuse orders to evict Jews from settlements in the West Bank (and formerly in the Gaza Strip).
Religious exemption
Since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, Haredi Jews have refused to serve in the Israeli military for religious reasons. Typically, they study Torah in Yeshivas, and as such are legally exempt from military service. Also refusing any Israeli military service are people affiliated with various Hasidic anti-Zionist groups (most notably Satmar), the Brisk Yeshivas, and the Neturei Karta. Most of these groups are followers of the Edah HaCharedis. Haredi Jews who avoid military service yet are only part-time yeshiva students, have received criticism from within the Orthodox community.
Draft evasion among celebrities
Some Israeli celebrities have evaded military service national service to further their careers. A 2007 incident that garnered international headlines focused on revelations in the press that Israeli Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model Bar Refaeli had married a family friend in 2004 and divorced him soon after in order to avoid military service. Refaeli received widespread criticism, including from the Israeli Forum for the Promotion of Equal Share, to which she responded, "I really wanted to serve in the IDF, but I don't regret not enlisting, because it paid off big time. That's just the way it is, celebrities have other needs. I hope my case has influenced the army." In a compromise to avoid potential boycotts of companies Refaeli works with, she agreed to visit injured IDF soldiers on visits to Israel and encourage enlistment in the army. The incident made headlines again in October 2009 when fellow Israeli model Esti Ginzburg criticized Refaeli in an interview with Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth, reigniting arguments over the ease with which conscription can be dodged.
Response to draft evasion
Almost all the political factions in Israel have condemned refusal to serve on ideological grounds, using terms such as dangerous and undemocratic. The conscientious objectors, or refuseniks as they call themselves, found support within left-wing and the Arab parties, Hadash, Balad, Raam and parts of Meretz (Zehava Galon, Roman Bronfman and Shulamit Aloni). The Israeli Labor Party and other Meretz members have condemned the refuseniks and said that although their protests against the occupation are justified and understandable, the means they are taking to manifest it are wrong. Some major left-wing politicians expressed the fear that left-oriented refusal to serve in the territories will lend legitimacy to right-oriented refusal to remove settlements. Right wing politicians have claimed that the refuseniks' actions are helping the enemies of Israel in their anti-Israeli incitement. Some have even accused the refuseniks of treason during wartime. This viewpoint was given some support when the book The Seventh War, by Avi Yisacharov and Amos Harel was published in 2004; it contains extensive interviews with Hamas leaders, at least one of whom explicitly stated that the actions of the commandos' and pilots' letters encouraged to promote and continue the use of suicide bombers.
The Israeli High Court of Justice ruled in 2002 that refusal to serve was legal on the grounds of unqualified pacifism, but "selective refusal" which accepted some duties and not others was illegal. The court said that allowing selective refusal would "weaken the ties that bind us as a nation". The court also said that the refusal to serve in the territories is selective refusal and not conscientious objection.
From 1998 to 2000, 9.5% of applicants who filed for an exemption from service for conscientious reasons were granted it.
On January 4, 2004, a military tribunal imposed one-year prison terms on five young activists who refused to enlist in the IDF. The court accepted that the five acted in accordance with their conscience but "ruled that they did not refuse to serve as individuals, but rather as a group, with the explicit goal of bringing about a change in Israeli policy in the territories. As such, the court ruled, their action strayed from the norms of classic conscientious objection into the realm of civil disobedience" (Haaretz).
History
Origins
In Mandatory Palestine during World War II, when many military-age Jews from the Yishuv were joining the British military, a few conscientious objectors refused, and wrote to the headquarters of War Resisters' International in London about the social pressure they faced. A Palestine branch of War Resisters' International was founded in 1946 by one such conscientious objector, David Engel, who in 1943 had been expelled from Kfar Ruppin for refusing to enlist in the British Army. He reported that his group initially had about 40 members. In 1948, the year of Israel's declaration of independence, another member of the group, Joseph Abileah, was the first conscientious objector to be put on trial before a military court for refusing to serve in the IDF. He was excused from service in the army on the grounds of ill health, which according to him was a face-saving measure. A 1954 report in Haaretz judged the size of the group to be about 100. The group's greatest failure was to not have conscientious objection recognised in law. In general, persons who made their objections known before being called up were treated more leniently than those to objected after receiving their call-up notice. Members of the group held a variety of political opinions beside their common pacifism; while some were anti-Zionist most were not.
Although Israel has mandatory conscription, some Israelis do not serve in the military. Israeli Arabs are not drafted, though they may enlist, and increasing numbers serve voluntarily including at very senior level. Haredi Jews were exempt, so long as they did study in yeshivas (up to a maximum of 62,500 individuals), based on an arrangement worked out with David Ben-Gurion in 1948 and the Tal Law, though small numbers volunteer to serve in the IDF, especially in the Netzah Yehuda Battalion. The exemption lapsed on August 1, 2012, after being struck down by the Israeli Supreme Court in April 2012. Orthodox women can avoid service on the basis of their religion upon filing certain paperwork. After becoming officially exempt, religious women may choose to do national service work instead, although this is not compulsory. Many people who are "unfit" or "unqualified", either mentally or physically, are also exempt. Military service can often be postponed for further education—either college or university, or technical studies. Finally, a number of people refuse to serve because of pacifist views, because they believe the IDF is not an army of defense, or refuse certain orders based on their disagreement with government policy.
In February 2004, Israeli Chief of Personnel Major-General Gil Regev told a Knesset committee that the number of soldiers refusing to serve in the territories had dramatically decreased in 2003 despite the increase in the number of high-profile refusals. He said that eighteen reserve soldiers and eight officers had been imprisoned for refusal in 2003 compared to 100 reservists and 29 officers in 2002, a decrease of 80%. Members of the refusers' organization Yesh Gvul claimed in reply that actually 76 people, including eleven officers, had been jailed for refusal in 2003. They also said that 79 soldiers and eighteen officers had added their names to the Courage to Refuse letter in 2003, and that the number of high-school refuseniks had risen to 500.
The first well-known instance of an individual refusing to serve in the IDF occurred in 1954 when Amnon Zichroni, a lawyer, asked to be released from military service as a pacifist. Initially, then Minister of Defense Pinhas Lavon refused to release Zichroni, though he was eventually discharged from the army reserves.
Shministim movement
On April 28, 1970, a group of high school seniors about to be drafted sent a letter to Prime Minister Golda Meir expressing their reservation about the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, the War of Attrition and the government's failure to take steps to avoid conflict. In 1987, a new group was formed, also made up of high school students intent on refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. They gave themselves the name that the press used to dub the previous effort – 'Shministim' (Hebrew: שמיניסטים, "twelfth graders"). In 2001, a high-school refusers movement – also called Shministim followed in their stead. Over 3,000 Israeli high school students are currently members of Shministim. . A smaller number of them have also signed a public letter in which they state their intent to refuse any service in the army. Such a behaviour has usually resulted in repeated jail sentences of several weeks. One of the most prominent Shiministim that went to jail is Omer Goldman. Her case received special attention since her father used to be one of the highest ranking Mossad officers.
On December 18, 2008, a worldwide campaign was launched in order to request the freedom of Shministim, including the delivery of more than forty thousand letters, to Israeli embassies, appealing for her cause.
Yesh Gvul movement
Yesh Gvul (Hebrew: יש גבול, can be translated as "there is a limit" or "the border exists") is a movement founded in 1982 at the outbreak of the Lebanon War by reservists who refused to serve in Lebanon. A petition, delivered to Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ariel Sharon was signed by 3,000 reservists, some of whom were court martialed and served time in military prison for refusing to obey orders. Currently, it sees its main role as "backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature." It also engages in human rights activities, such as petitioning British courts to issue arrest warrants for IDF officers accused of human rights abuses and war crimes.
In the Adam Keller Court Martial in April–May 1988, Reserve Corporal Adam Keller was charged with insubordination and spreading propaganda harmful to military discipline. While on active military duty he had written on 117 tanks and other military vehicles graffiti with the text: "Soldiers of the IDF, refuse to be occupiers and oppressors, refuse to serve in the occupied territories!" as well as placing on electricity pylons in the military camp where he was serving—and on inside doors of the stalls in the officers' toilet—stickers with the slogans "Down with the occupation!". Keller was sentenced to three months imprisonment although the maximum penalty could have been six years, three for each of the charges. Keller was an active member of Yesh Gvul, but declared that he had operated on his own. For its part, the movement did not take responsibility for his act, but did provide his wife with the monetary support given to the families of refusers.
Courage to Refuse group
In January 2002, 51 reserve soldiers and officers signed a "Combat Troops' Letter" or "Combatants' Letter" in which they declared their refusal "to fight beyond the 1967 borders in order to dominate, expel, starve and humiliate an entire people." They established the group, Ometz LeSarev, which distinguishes itself by using conspicuously Zionist discourse: "Refusal to serve in the Territories is Zionism." 633 combatants from all units of the IDF and from all sectors of the Israeli society have since signed the letter.
Pilots' letter incident
"The pilots' letter," published on September 24, 2003, was signed by 27 reserve and active duty pilots. One of the signatories was the famous pilot Brigadier General (res.) Yiftah Spector. The letter was precipitated by the targeted killing of Salah Shehade, leader of Hamas's militant wing, who was killed, along with 14 others, by a one-ton bomb dropped on his residential building. Pilots decried the large number of civilian casualties caused by Israel's targeted killings as violating the military's ethics code. In their letter, the pilots stated:
We, veteran and active pilots alike, who served and still serve the state of Israel for long weeks every year, are opposed to carrying out attack orders that are illegal and immoral of the type the state of Israel has been conducting in the territories. We, who were raised to love the state of Israel and contribute to the Zionist enterprise, refuse to take part in Air Force attacks on civilian population centers. We, for whom the Israel Defense Forces and the Air Force are an inalienable part of ourselves, refuse to continue to harm innocent civilians. These actions are illegal and immoral, and are a direct result of the ongoing occupation which is corrupting all of Israeli society. Perpetuation of the occupation is fatally harming the security of the state of Israel and its moral strength.
The signatories clarified that they do not reject military service in the IDF, only targeted killings of individuals, declaring: "We ... shall continue to serve in the Israel Defense Forces and the Air Force for every mission in defense of the state of Israel."
In response, the Chief of Staff announced that the pilots would be grounded and will no longer be allowed to train cadets in the country's flight school. In response to their letter, hundreds of IAF pilots signed a petition denouncing the pilots' letter and their refusal to serve. Because of the harsh response, several of the pilots who originally signed the letter reneged and removed their signatures; after more than 30 signed, four later recanted. One, an El Al pilot, was threatened with dismissal and another lost his civilian job.
Commandos' letter incident
This letter, dated December 2003, was signed by 13 reservists of Sayeret Matkal, an elite commando unit, serving in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (nine commandos in Sayeret Matkal, 2 soldiers who had been removed from reserve duty because of prior refusals to serve there, and 2 additional combatant soldiers). Their letter, addressed to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, stated:We shall no longer lend a hand in the occupation of the territories. We shall no longer take part in the deprivation of basic human rights from millions of Palestinians. We shall no longer serve as a shield in the crusade of the settlements. We shall no longer corrupt our moral character in missions of oppression. We shall no longer deny our responsibility as soldiers of the Israeli DEFENSE force.
Mateh Chomat Magen group
There are some Israeli rabbis, former generals and public figures who call on soldiers to refuse orders to dismantle Israeli settlements and remove their residents. One of those who call soldiers to refuse removal order is Uri Elitzur, a publicist and former civil servant. Eliztur claims that settlers-removal order is an illegal order, and therefore soldiers must refuse to obey it. He used the Hebrew term פקודה בלתי חוקית בעליל (literally, a clearly illegal order), which is a judicial term for an order that a soldier must refuse, coined in relation to the Kafr Qasim massacre. He used a Yossi Sarid (a left-wing politician from Meretz) quotation that an order to transfer Palestinians should be resisted by any means, as a legitimation to a total and even semi-violent resistance against transfer of settlers. In June 2004, MKs Effi Eitam and Aryeh Eldad (National Union) initiated a law bill called "Unity of the Military Law". The law says that only Israeli police (including Border Police) officers could engage in the removal of Jewish settlements, and soldiers could not. In 2005, as a reaction to the Israel's unilateral disengagement plan, a group called "Mateh Chomat Magen" (the name referring to Operation Defensive Shield) published a letter with 10,000 signatures of soldiers who signed a petition saying that they would refuse to uproot and remove Israeli settlements.
September 2014 Unit 8200 letter
In what The New York Times called, 'the first public collective refusal by intelligence officers rather than combat troops' to serve, on September 12, 43 veteran reserve army mid-ranking officers and soldiers (33 soldiers and 10 officers, including a major and two captains, mostly in their late 20s and 30s) in the IDF's top intelligence electronic surveillance corps, Unit 8200, Israel's equivalent to the NSA, published a letter in Israel's most widely read newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, directed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, Moshe Ya'alon and Aviv Kochavi, the head of Military Intelligence, in which they registered their refusal to participate, on the grounds of conscience, in any action designed to "harm the Palestinian population in the West Bank." It took roughly a year to gather all of the signatures. and its publication was delayed by the war in Gaza until hostilities ceased in order not to be seen as attacking the army in wartime. According to the highest-ranking signatory, many other members of Unit 8200 support their stand, but did not add their names for fear of reactions and the personal price their involvement would exact. 10 of the 43 belonged to the "circle of control" in the unit.
The 43 decried the use of espionage to set up airstrikes that have inflicted casualties among civilians. The letter, originally written before the recent 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict, was initially reported to be unrelated to it, but does mention 'the collective punishment of residents in Gaza,', that war being, according to one of the group, 'just another chapter in this cycle of violence,' and calls on the Israeli public to speak up against injustices. While the incidents they allude to have no relation to Operation Protective Edge, in which none participated, several avoided service during the 2014 war in Gaza by refusing to answer a call to do reserve duty, employing a variety of excuses. In the light of that war, the refuseniks said they would refuse to enlist if called upon to serve in the reserve, and none had served during the July–August Gaza war.
In their view, espionage that probed for information of sexual preferences or health problems that might prove useful in turning people into informants for Israel, invaded the privacy of a people under occupation, sought to exercise control over innocent Palestinian civilians, turn people into collaborators and stir divisiveness and dissension among Palestinians in the West Bank. One of the undersigned said that, while affirming their commitment to continue gathering intelligence on enemy states, they found themselves morally obliged not engage in intelligence gathering whose 'main objective is to maintain the military rule in the West Bank'. The soldiers also alleged that cases existed where IDF intelligence hindered just trials for defendants, from whom evidence in the prosecution's hands was withheld, in military courts. According to the undersigned trainees for the unit are led to believe that there is no such thing as a clearly illegal order within Unit 8200.
Shortly after, 200 other reservists signed a counter protests stating; "We are veterans of Unit 8200, soldiers and reserve soldiers, past and present, who wish to express shock, disgust and total renouncement of the letter written by our fellow soldiers, who chose political refusal over our unit,...We regret that our friends make cynical use of politics in their legal and moral duty to serve in the reserve unit, which in our eyes constitutes the highest honor, and seek [instead] to undermine the activities and achievements in the unit's defense of the country and its people"
Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon criticized the letter by saying "I know Unit 8200 from my time as head of Military Intelligence and know the massive extent which their efforts play in Israel's security. They soldiers and officers there are doing God's work, night and day. 8200 preserves Israel's existence. The attempt to harm it and its work, through calls to refuse to report for duty, based on claims that are incongruent with the unit's ways and the values of its soldiers, is a base and distasteful attempt to aid the hateful and dishonest anti-legitimization campaign being led around the world against Israel and the IDF." Opposition leader and head of the Labor Party Isaac Herzog, who served as a major in the 8200 unit, also hailed its work and said he was opposed to, and repulsed by, so-called "conscientious objectors." He said that "this unit and its activities are essential not just in time of war, but especially in times of peace," adding that he believed the way in which the members went about voicing their objections was harmful and that Israeli citizens would ultimately pay the price. Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein said that the signatories had "done a great service to haters of Israel. This is a clear political statement against the IDF and published just as harsh criticisms with no basis or understanding of our situation are being thrown at us." Labor MK Shelly Yachimovich called them "cowards."
One refusnik said his decision arose from a gradual realization that he was engaged in the kind of work that usually makes people shudder and is associated with what intelligence services do in non-democratic regimes. A captain in the group stated that a good deal of what the IDF is not about 'defense', but consists in military rule over another people in the Occupied Palestinian territories. A further witness said that Palestinians lacked 'legal protections from harassment, extortion and injury.' One testified that "any information that might enable extortion of an individual is considered relevant information". A captain said his outlook was changed after viewing The Lives of Others, dealing with the way the East German Stasi unit pried into the private lives of citizens. Another said a turning point occurred when he watched at the unit's headquarters as a figure in an orchard was blown up in an airstrike, and, when the smoke cleared they could see his mother running to the body of what was evidently then just a small boy. Another officer spoke of an incident at the outset of Operation Cast Lead where 89 young policeman at their graduation ceremony were killed in a bomb strike, which he complained to his superior was both 'morally unsound and problematic', time being lost killing police on parade instead of attacking rocket sites and arsenals. His remark was passed on, but no reply received. The witness also mentioned the targeted assassination of Nizar Rayan, which killed 18 members of his family, and successive attempts to kill Hamas leaders. In the operational room disappointment was expressed not at civilians being killed arbitrarily, but that they had missed their targets. The source further asserted that Israel let people requiring medical treatment die unless they were forthcoming about a relative who was on the wanted list. Another incident related concerns an operation where it was surmised that a person on their wanted list appeared to be standing by a weapons warehouse in Gaza, the time and location suggested it would be him, and he was assassinated. The victim turned out to be a child. Another witness said that booty taken during arrest operations was stacked in a storeroom, photos, flags, weapon parts, books, Qurans, jewellery, and soldiers were told they could take whatever they liked out of this Palestinian memorabilia, the idea being to 'poison the students'.
Testimonies concerning specific incidents were also listed in the letter, which, IDF spokesman Michael Lerner said, would be examined. One particular allegation, made by a captain, was that during the Al-Aqsa Intifada, in 2003, the IDF routinely bombed buildings at night as a response to terrorist attacks. On the occasion of the Neve Shaanan Street bombing by Islamic Jihad, a harsher response was decided on, involving the bombing of a Fatah building, though Fatah was known to be unconnected to the terroristic incident. In addition that Fatah target had no military function, but was a welfare centre where paychecks were doled out. Breaking precedent with the past, the operation was designed to hit the building, not when it was empty, but when people were inside to ensure that deaths would occur. Signalling that people were inside the building would give a green light for executing the bombing. In what became known as the Lieutenant A. Affair, a lieutenant of the unit refused on principle to give the green light for the attack. The media misrepresented the proposed action as a targeted killing. The officer was described within the unit as 'confused' - he was kicked out of his job, and given administrative duties and the message was that there was no such thing as an illegal order in that unit. One of the 43 said he had access to the inquiry, and that it was faked, making out that the lieutenant had been ordered to ensure the targeted building was empty, which, he stated, was the opposite of the truth. Another interviewee contrasted the huge outcry caused by the 14 collateral civilian casualties in the targeted assassination of Salah Shehade in 2002 with the insouciance that met the continual bombing of buildings, with hundreds of innocent deaths, during the summer conflict with Gaza. One refusnik's father had suffered at the hands of Argentina's military junta under its Dirty War and drew a comparison, which he said was only partial, between intelligence gathering for the army and its consequences there, and what Palestinians can face under Israeli military rule. A number of signatories expressed regret for their collaboration in providing input for airstrikes prior to the 2014 Israel-Gaza conflict that, while targeting Hamas military commanders, also killed innocent bystanders. Working in Unit 8200 is a 'coveted pipeline' to career advancement in Israeli's high-technology industries.
The gesture has been interpreted as 'an unprecedented rebuke to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security policies.' Three signatories clarified that the letter was not just related to the recent Israel–Gaza conflict, but referred to the 'normal' circumstances of Israel's occupation. The letter, according to Elior Levy, has tapped into wider concerns regarding the ethics of state surveillance, in the wake of Edward Snowden's NSA leaks.
The IDF dismissed the letter as a 'publicity stunt by a small fringe', and a defense spokesman stated that those who work for Unit 8200 personnel were required to observe ethical standards "without rival in the intelligence community in Israel or the world", and that the group's going public when internal mechanisms existed to handle complaints undermined the seriousness of their assertions. All 43 are expected to be dishonorably discharged from the IDF.
Former head of 8200, Brigadier General Hanan Gefen, commented:
"If I was the unit's commander I would have terminated their [protesters] service, court-marshalled them, and ask for severe punishment. They used confidential information, which they privy to during their service, to promote their political agenda."
An IDF spokesperson said that the 43 will be disciplined with 'the utmost severity' for 'there is no place for refusal in the IDF.'
Over 200 other reservists in the Unit denounced the letter as shameful, and that they had revealed matters taking place within a top secret unit for political reasons. Everything there is done, they aver, in conformity with international and IDF ethics.
In an op-ed, Gideon Levy praised the 'courage' and ethics of an elite group which, he claimed, when interviewed on radio and television, was dismissed by commentators in unison with descriptive language ranging from "trippy," "scandalous," "negligible," to "spoiled brats," "politicos" and "lefties".
2023 "Youth Against Dictatorship" letter
In September 2023, over 200 Israeli youth released an open letter entitled Youth Against Dictatorship announcing that they would refuse to serve.
See also
Israeli peace camp
Sayeret Matkal
Breaking the Silence
Non-recruitment in Israel
References
External links
Omer Goldman Shministim and Daughter of Deputy Director of Mossad Official Website:"People who use violence are wrong!" - www.omergoldman.com (In English with video and radio interviews including kidnapping/torture of Palestinian children and IDF )
IDF Soldiers Unite For Peace and explain the nature of their missions (In English)
Tayasim (Pilots: in Hebrew)
Yesh Gvul (There is a Limit/Border)
Seruv (Courage to Refuse)
New Profile
Refuser Solidarity
Amnesty International article on Israeli conscientious objectors
Supreme Court of Israel's ruling in the case of the refuseniks: Full text in Hebrew.
The refusal movement during the second Lebanon war
"An Israeli Refusenik's Good Fight", by Robert Hirschfield
"Why I refuse to fight in Gaza", by Yitzchak Ben Mocha
Israeli conscientious objector speaks out in the Harvard Law Record
december18th.org
whywerefuse.org
Israeli Teenagers Take a Stand Against Military Service – Interview on GRITtv by Laura Flanders with Maya Wind and Netta Mishly on GRITtv (video)
Conscientious objection
Conscription in Israel
Draft evasion
Judaism and peace
Israel Defense Forces
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim%20Gibbons%20%28American%20politician%29
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Jim Gibbons (American politician)
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James Arthur Gibbons (born December 16, 1944) is an American attorney, aviator, geologist, hydrologist and politician who was the 28th Governor of Nevada from 2007 to 2011. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the U.S. representative for Nevada's 2nd congressional district from 1997 to 2006.
Following his service in the United States Air Force, Gibbons served as vice commander of the Nevada National Guard from 1990 to 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for governor of Nevada in 1994, losing to incumbent Bob Miller. Two years later he successfully ran for the House of Representatives, where he represented Nevada's 2nd congressional district from 1997 to 2006. Gibbons again ran for governor in 2006, defeating Democratic nominee Dina Titus in the election.
Gibbons' term as governor was dominated by the Great Recession, which hit Nevada particularly hard. In response he cut funding for state services by 5%, but this ended up causing a budget crisis. Nevada experienced an economic slowdown, steep budget cuts, and high taxes during Gibbons's governorship. Afterwards he ranked among the worst governors in the United States. Gibbons attempted to run for reelection in 2010, losing the Republican nomination to federal judge Brian Sandoval, who later won the election.
Early life and education
Gibbons was born in Sparks, Nevada. He was raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Gibbons interrupted his studies at the University of Nevada, Reno, during the Vietnam War to serve in the United States Air Force (1967–1971). During his time in college he was a member of Sigma Nu Fraternity. He also attended Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, California and the University of Southern California for post-graduate studies. A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College, he joined the Nevada Air National Guard in 1975 and served as its vice commander from 1990 to 1996, participating in the first Gulf War. During his military career, Gibbons earned nineteen service medals, including the Legion of Merit and Distinguished Flying Cross. In civilian life, he has worked as a lawyer in private practice, an airline pilot for both Western Airlines and Delta Air Lines, and as a hydrologist and a geologist.
Career
Gibbons represented District 23, later renumbered as District 25 (Washoe County), in the Nevada Assembly from 1988 to 1994 (with a short intermission due to military service in 1991). Gibbons won his first election with approximately 64% of the vote and thereafter faced no opposition due to the heavy Republican lean of the district. During this time he and his Nevada Air National Guard unit was called to active service in the U.S. Air Force for the Gulf War. During this period, he served as a pilot and Flight Leader flying the RF-4C Phantom II reconnaissance aircraft. During the conflict, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for extraordinary achievement while participating in a mission in which he flew his unarmed aircraft on a reconnaissance mission to acquire politically sensitive imagery of enemy targets in Kuwait.
1994 gubernatorial election
While working as a pilot for Delta Air Lines and serving in the Nevada Assembly, Gibbons ran for Nevada governor in 1994. As the Republican nominee, he lost to Democratic incumbent Bob Miller, having received 156,875 votes to Miller's 200,026.
United States Congress
In 1996, Barbara Vucanovich, the only representative that the 2nd District had known since Nevada was split into districts in 1983, announced her retirement. Gibbons won the Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—and breezed to victory in November. He was reelected four times with no substantive opposition, including a 1998 run in which he faced no major-party opposition.
Gibbons served as vice chairman of the House Resources Committee, and he was a member of the Armed Services Committee, the Homeland Security Committee and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. His long-time congressional Chief of Staff, Michael Dayton, was replaced in 2002 by legislative director Robert Uithoven. Uithoven served on Gibbons' staff for many years, including four years as chief of staff. He later served as campaign manager for Gibbons' successful 2006 Gubernatorial campaign. Uithoven was not given a gubernatorial position. His predecessor, Michael Dayton, was named as the governor's top aide.
2006 gubernatorial election
Gibbons announced in late 2004 that he would not run for a sixth term in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2006, instead opting to run for Governor of Nevada. Gibbons won the August 15, 2006, Republican primary handily, defeating state senator Bob Beers and Lieutenant Governor Lorraine Hunt.
Employing illegal immigrant housekeeper/nanny
As Gibbons was campaigning for governor in October 2006, it was brought to light that more than ten years earlier, his wife Dawn had employed Martha Patricia Pastor Sandoval, a then-illegal immigrant from Peru, as a housekeeper and babysitter. Since the Nannygate matter of 1993, politicians have been deeply concerned about the impact of such revelations on their careers.
Dawn, who had become a member of the Nevada Assembly in 1998, denied the allegations in 2006, claiming that Sandoval had merely been a friend who had helped out around the house and was given clothing and household goods, but was not an employee. An employment contract between Dawn Gibbons and Sandoval, however, appeared to disprove that assertion, as it clearly laid out the terms and conditions of Sandoval's hiring. Documents filed during Sandoval's 1988 application for working papers also contradicted earlier statements by Dawn Gibbons that the family had not known that the woman was in the United States illegally.
Sandoval stated that she was employed from approximately 1987 to 1993, four years before Gibbons left for Washington in 1997, after his 1996 election as a Congressman and five years before Dawn Gibbons became a state legislator. Sandoval also stated that she was asked to hide in the basement and refrain from answering doors at certain times in order to ensure that her illegal status did not become public knowledge and jeopardize Gibbons' political career.
In 1995, Dawn Gibbons filed a police complaint against Sandoval, alleging that she was attempting to extort money by threatening to go to the media with a story involving her illegal employment. Jim and Dawn Gibbons did not pursue the matter further.
In response to the 2006 revelations, Jim Gibbons' campaign issued a statement accusing Democratic candidate Dina Titus of fomenting the controversy to distract from the real issues of the race, but did not issue a denial of Sandoval's claims.
Sexual assault civil suit
In October 2006, near the conclusion of his successful campaign for governor, a woman accused Gibbons of attempted sexual assault in a parking garage. Gibbons claimed he was helping her to her car. They both admitted to drinking alcohol at McCormick and Schmick's restaurant in Las Vegas.
In the initial aftermath of the event, Clark County Sheriff Bill Young, a Republican and long time supporter and donor of Gibbons' gubernatorial campaign, cited lack of evidence in the case and refused to bring evidence of the attack to the District Attorney. The accuser did not initially want to pursue pressing charges, saying she just wanted "to be left alone." But the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was forced to open the case after inquiries by the Las Vegas media, the Las Vegas Review-Journal and the Las Vegas Sun which also drew controversy by releasing the woman's name and thrust her into the public eye.
She later said she was being pressured to not talk to the police about the incident by people close to Gibbons. In fact, the Gibbons campaign hired a private investigator to talk to the woman shortly after the incident occurred.
The evidence was given to Clark County District Attorney David Roger, a Republican, who had also donated to the Gibbons campaign. Criminal charges were never filed in the case.
Gibbons' gubernatorial campaign manager, Robert Uithoven, speculated in an e-mail to Gibbons' supporters that Dina Titus, Gibbons' opponent, hired the woman to entice Gibbons. Titus retorted that to do this she would have had to control where Gibbons went, who he was with, and even the weather (Gibbons claimed he was helping the woman to her car in part because of the weather).
By 2009, the alleged victim had filed a civil suit against Jim Gibbons, specifically alleging battery, false imprisonment and second-degree kidnapping as well as deceit about the episode. The lawsuit was settled in July 2013 for $50,000.
Federal bribery investigation
On November 1, 2006, The Wall Street Journal published a story stating that Gibbons had earmarked several millions of dollars to a company owned by Warren Trepp, the former chief bond trader for Michael Milken at the height of his junk bond trading period at Drexel Burnham Lambert. The Journal also said that Gibbons had directed additional funds to a pre-existing government contract with Trepp's startup company. The report noted that Trepp had paid for a $10,000 cruise for Gibbons and his wife, which Gibbons failed to report in his U.S. House of Representatives ethics filings, and $100,000 in campaign contributions. Dennis L. Montgomery, a former Trepp business partner, claimed that Gibbons was also given gambling chipsconvertible into cashand cash directly.
On February 15, 2007, the Journal reported that Gibbons was under federal investigation for allegedly accepting unreported gifts and/or payments from Trepp in exchange for official acts while he served in Congress (1997–2007).
According to reports, on March 22, 2005, days before Trepp and his wife left for the Caribbean cruise with Gibbons and his family, Jalé Trepp, Warren's wife, sent a reminder to her husband. It said, "Please don't forget to bring the money you promised Jim and Dawn (Gibbons)." Minutes later, Trepp responded, "Don't you ever send this kind of message to me! Erase this message from your computer right now!"
The ethics probe into Gibbons expanded to include another company that paid Gibbons' wife Dawn $35,000 in consulting fees in 2004, while Gibbons helped the company receive a no-bid federal contract.
The U.S. Attorney for Nevada at time of the investigation was Republican Daniel Bogden, who had been appointed by Republican President George W. Bush in 2001. Bogdan was one of seven federal prosecutors dismissed by the Bush in December 2006 without explanation.
2006 gubernatorial election results
In the general election he faced Democratic nominee Dina Titus, who was the Minority Leader in the Nevada State Senate. Gibbons received 278,984 votes to Titus's 255,675. Titus won Clark County, Nevada's most populous, but Gibbons won every other county. Gibbons called Titus "an admirable opponent", although Titus declined to echo his sentiments, saying "We disagree on basic policies, and neither one of us is going to change our minds for the other".
Gibbons resigned his House seat on New Year's Eve, and was sworn in as governor just after midnight on New Year's Day.
2010 gubernatorial election
Gibbons was the subject of numerous controversies, both professional and personal, causing speculation that he would not seek re-election for a second term as governor. However, Gibbons did file as a candidate for re-election in March 2010. On June 9, 2010, he lost his bid for nomination in the Republican primary to former federal judge Brian Sandoval—who went on to win the general election and become the 29th governor of Nevada.
Gubernatorial initiatives
Support for the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository
In July 2007, Gibbons approved a plan to let the U.S. Department of Energy use the state's water to explore the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site. According to the Las Vegas Sun, "Neither Gibbons nor his aides have offered public explanations for the governor's perplexing moves. In particular, they have not explained how giving federal authorities more time to build a case for Yucca Mountain or appointing a Yucca advocate to the nuclear projects board could possibly be interpreted as being in line with the state's opposition to the plan." Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) said "this amounts to surrendering in Nevada's decades-long fight against the project". Rep. Shelley Berkley (D-NV) said "This demonstrates to me that he either doesn't know what he's doing or he's reversed his position."
During an April 23, 2010, debate for the Republican gubernatorial primary, Gibbons further confused his actual stance on Yucca Mountain by taking positions both favoring and opposing the federal waste dump over a two-minute period of time. "Gibbons then said he believed nuclear waste can be transported safely and that 'I can tell you, you can store it safely.'" However, when questioned by the moderator, Gibbons said he supported shutting down the Yucca Mountain facility.
Attempt for health care reimbursement from Mexico
In August 2007, Gibbons unsuccessfully attempted to obtain reimbursement from the Mexican government for the health care expenses of Mexican nationals.
State budget
In October 2007, Gibbons proposed cutting funding for state services by 5% and ordered state agencies to submit lists of the services to be cut. Among the state agencies that were ordered to cut their budgets were the Nevada System of Higher Education, Nevada Department of Taxation, child welfare agencies and the juvenile justice agency. Gibbons expected an 80 million dollar cut to come directly from the Health and Human services agency alone. Most of these agencies refused to submit revised budgets to Governor Gibbons, citing already "threadbare" budgets. The Nevada Department of Taxation closed the Elko, Nevada tax office in June 2010 in response to the requested cuts.
On November 21, 2007, Gibbons revised his proposal upward for cutting state budgets. Nevada agencies were then told to plan for 8% cuts.
In 2008, Gibbons suggested that the Nevada legislature cut the state budget for elementary, secondary and higher education by 14%.,<ref name="ReferenceA">As troubles mount, Gibbons disengages Las Vegas Sun'</ref>Gibbons tax breaks run smack into reality, Las Vegas Sun, April 3, 2007. Jim Rogers, Nevada Chancellor for Education, said of the budget cuts, "We're talking about something that is going to cripple us financially and competitively. The effects will be felt on our economy for the next 50 to 100 years.". The Nevada Policy Research Institute criticized the governor's office for the budget, when the administration claimed that the state was facing a crisis, despite a 1% decrease in state spending.
Criticism while governor
Undeclared donations
Gibbons set up a legal defense fund just before the November, 2006 gubernatorial election to help pay for legal expenses incurred after a woman accused him of attempted sexual assault. Gibbons neither reported the legal defense fund to the appropriate U.S. House of Representatives committee (even though he was a sitting congressman at the time and was required by House rules to do so), nor did he report donations to his legal defense fund as contributions to his gubernatorial campaign, citing the money was for "personal use" and not for "political purposes".
In January 2008, it was reported that Gibbons raised $256,000 for his legal defense fund during 2007, including a $61,000 personal loan Gibbons gave to his own fund, as well as $10,000 from the Palms Casino Resort, and $40,000 from various companies connected to Las Vegas Sands Corporation Chief Executive Sheldon Adelson. The defense fund has spent money to defend Gibbons in cases which include:
Investigations into the allegations that Gibbons secured defense contracts for his friend Warren Trepp in exchange for gifts and money during his time in Congress, 1997–2006.
A nepotism scandal regarding Sierra Nevada Corporation's hire of Nevada first lady Dawn Gibbons as a consultant. Sierra Nevada paid Dawn Gibbons $35,000 at the same time Jim Gibbons helped the company get a no-bid federal contract.
Gibbons' alleged attempted sexual assault of a Las Vegas woman in 2006.
Questions about Gibbons' employment of an illegal immigrant as a nanny.
Interference with an ongoing investigation
On August 3, 2007, the Las Vegas Review-Journal printed the following:
A newly available document states that Gov. Jim Gibbons "has admitted" that he urged federal authorities to pursue criminal action against a software developer whose business dispute with a friend of Gibbons has prompted a federal investigation. The statement is made in a legal motion filed last year, but kept secret until Tuesday, when it was unsealed at a judge's order.
The United States investigated Dennis Montgomery, the subject of the complaint by Governor Gibbons, was convicted and sent to Federal Prison for fraud.
Lamoille land deal
In 2007, Gibbons and his wife Dawn purchased of land in the ranch country near Lamoille, Nevada, approximately 20 miles South of Elko, Nevada. The land belonged to former Nevada Judge Jerry Carr Whitehead. The Elko County Assessor said he felt pressure from the governor, governor's lawyer and a member of the Nevada Tax Commission to lower the tax liability. Under state law, such an agricultural tax break goes only to legitimate farm and ranch operations, and must generate at least $5,000 a year in income. If such a land is developed by million-dollar homes, property taxes would go up. "To say I was put in an awkward position I think is an understatement", Joe Aguirre, a Republican, told The Associated Press in 2008. The opinion page of the Las Vegas Review-Journal said on the allegations that the deal might constitute fraud. Aguirre later admitted that his previous statements were made up on the Las Vegas Sun saying that he wasn't pressured into Gibbons tax break by Gibbons himself. The land deal was given to Gibbons himself after he finalized the divorce from his wife.
Dedication to office
While the state faced an economic slowdown and steep budget cuts, Gibbons faced criticism from officials for spending less time at his office. The Las Vegas Sun reviewed Gibbons' attendance and discovered that he was only in his Capitol office five days in August 2008 and never for a full eight hours. In September, he was in his office a total of seven days.
In an interview with Las Vegas Sun reporters, Gibbons said "I never knew this job had a time frame on it that requires me to be sitting behind a desk at a certain hour." He also said that he works about 60 hours a week for the state. Previous Nevada governors were also interviewed and they said that they felt it was necessary that they spent most of their time in the office.
Gibbons' dedication to his office was called into question again six months later. On April 2, 2009, while appearing before a legislative panel to promote his renewable energy bill, Gibbons pulled out his cellphone and began texting. News stories used this incident to revisit the 860 messages he sent to his alleged paramour, and a 37-second video of him introducing himself to the panel, with a 17-second break in order to send the text message and refocus on the hearing was posted on YouTube.
Approval rating
Polling conducted in June 2008 indicated an all-time low 10% approval rating, with 59% disapproving by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Broken tax pledge
Prior to running for Governor of Nevada, Gibbons signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge (tax pledge) that is promoted at the national level by Americans for Tax Reform and at the state level by Citizen Outreach PAC—whose CEO is Chuck Muth. On at least three separate occasions, Americans for Tax Reform and/or Muth took Gibbons to task for breaking the tax pledge. Each time, in addition to the actual violation of the pledge, they had to correct the record about Gibbons' "misinformation", "fibs", "falsehoods" and "doublespeak".
Muth even went as far to say "the non-stop parsing and telling of falsehoods about breaking the Pledge are worse than breaking the Pledge itself".
Ethics group named Gibbons one of America's worst governors
In its April 2010 report, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a left-of-center organization, named Gibbons one of 11 "worst governors" in the United States because of various ethics issues throughout Gibbons term as governor and his time in Congress. Some of Gibbons' ethics lapses cited by CREW include:
Violated campaign finance law by accepting illegal corporate donations
Overlooked ethical lapses of his appointee
Endangered his state's economy by threatening to reject federal stimulus funds.
Has been investigated for his conduct as a member of Congress
Beliefs and ideologies
Civil liberties
Voted YES on Constitutionally defining marriage as one-man-one-woman. (Jul 2006)
Voted YES on constitutional amendment prohibiting flag desecration. (Jun 2003)
Rated 7% by the ACLU, indicating what the group considers an "anti-civil liberties" voting record. (Dec 2002)
Voted YES on making the PATRIOT Act permanent. (Dec 2005)
Education
As governor
In January 2007, Gibbons asked Nevada lawmakers to approve his budget that cut the percentage of education funding in Nevada to increase the percentage for public safety and human services programs.
In 2008, Gibbons suggested that the Nevada legislature cut the state general fund budget for elementary, secondary and higher education by 14% (this does not include federal or local revenues, or funds for construction or teacher pensions). Jim Rogers, former attorney, Nevada System of Higher Education interim chancellor, founder of the Intermountain West Communications Company and station owner of NBC affiliate KVBC (now KSNV), said of the budget cuts, "We're talking about something that is going to cripple us financially and competitively. The effects will be felt on our economy for the next 50 to 100 years.".
As representative
Rated 10% by the NEA, indicating what the group considers "anti-public education spending" votes.
Voted YES on allowing prayer in public schools during the War on Terror.
Voted YES on letting public schools display the words "God Bless America".
Supports a Constitutional Amendment for prayer in public schools.
Gibbons supports No Child Left Behind.
Taxes
As governor
Gibbons pledged during his 1994 campaign for governor to not impose new taxes on businesses or individuals in Nevada. Gibbons broke his tax pledge on several occasions. The state's Business Tax on employer's payrolls which was initiated in 1992 was increased under Gibbon's term and renamed the "Modified Business Tax". Various mandatory fees and licenses administered by the Nevada Department of Taxation were also significantly increased under Gibbon's term. Most particularly was the State of Nevada's yearly business license fee. This license fee was doubled from $100.00 to $200.00. Due to the additional tax burden of the increased Modified Business Tax on Nevada's small businesses during a downward business cycle, this tax was readjusted to a lesser rate by the 2011 Nevada legislative session during the leadership of Governor Brian Sandoval who later broke his promises on not raising fees and taxes in 2015.
It was also discovered during the 2011 Nevada Legislative hearings that the Nevada Department of Taxation's director, Dino DiCianno, never had the Tax Department under Gibbon's leadership conduct Net Proceeds of Minerals (NPM) tax audits of mining operations within Nevada. DiCianno's claim was that the Tax Department did not have qualified auditors capable of performing NPM audits. During Gibbon's term market prices of precious minerals were at historical and significant high levels. The market selling price of Gold was in the $1,300 to $1,500+ per ounce range during Gibbon's term. Gibbons was also a geologist and lawyer.
During Gibbons term Nevada lead North America in Gold and Silver production. Also Nevada was ranked No. 3 in the world for Gold production. After Mr. DiCianno's testimony to the Nevada legislature that no NPM audits were conducted while Gibbon's was governor he resigned the following day. Governor Sandoval latter appointed William Chissel, a CPA with an auditing background as the replacement director of the Nevada Tax Department.
In the release of the Nevada's Department of Taxation's annual report in January 2012 which represented the fiscal year of July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2011, it was presented that the audit penetration rate (percentage of Nevada taxpayers audited of the total population of registered Nevada businesses) was the lowest amount in 6 years. The Tax Department during this 6-year period in the years 2006 and 2007, made a significant investment in new tax administration and audit software along with employee training to provide increased efficiency and audit performance. Accenture Consulting Services formerly a unit of Arthur Anderson & Co. was selected to design and implement the tax administration software. Revenue Solutions Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was selected as a subcontractor by Accenture to design and implement the tax auditing software system.
Approximately $40,000,000.00 was invested in new tax administration and audit software. The results of this investment after implementation of this system as shown in Tax Department's annual reports (2008, 2009, 2010) have been abysmal.
During the first full year of leadership under the new director William Chissel, the Tax Department was fraught with turmoil and discontent. Chissel exited the director's position and was replaced by a former deputy attorney general assigned to the department, Christopher G. Nielsen. Nielsen assumed the executive director's duties on July 1, 2012. Mr. Nielsen was previously a deputy director of the Tax Department and was also an acting director after the termination of Dino DiCianno. Nielsen was in the position of acting director for several months prior to the appointment of William Chissel as executive director.
As congressman
Voted YES on replacing illegal export tax breaks with $140B in new breaks. (Jun 2004)
Voted YES on Bankruptcy Overhaul requiring partial debt repayment. (Mar 2001)
Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years. (May 2001)
Voted YES on eliminating the federal estate tax. (Apr 2001)
Voted YES on eliminating the marriage penalty. (Jul 2000)
Rated 67% by NTU, indicating Satisfactory on tax votes. (Dec 2003)
Electoral history
Personal life
He married Dawn Gibbons in 1985; they have a son, born in 1987. Dawn Gibbons did not move to Washington to live with her husband while he served in Congress, saying she preferred to raise their son in Nevada. She herself was elected to the Nevada State Assembly in 1998, two years after Jim Gibbons was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. On May 2, 2008, Gibbons filed for divorce,Nev. Gov.'s house move raises legal questions. Usatoday.Com (April 28, 2008). Retrieved on 2011-01-09. citing grounds of incompatibility stemming from an undisclosed event in Reno, Nevada and requesting the court to determine whether Gibbons or his wife would live at the governor's mansion.
In April 2009, Gibbons was living in Reno; his wife, Dawn, remained in the governor's mansion in Carson City. An 1866 state law requires that governor must "keep his office and reside at the seat of government". A spokesman for Gibbons described the move by the governor back to the couple's Reno home, which they had owned since 1989, as a temporary situation and said there was no violation of the law.
In January 2010, the couple negotiated and completed an out-of-court divorce agreement. The divorce was finalized on July 21, 2010.
References
External links
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons official state site''
. April 2, 2009
"Gov. Gibbons Responds to I-Team Investigation and Apologizes" , Feb 23, 2010
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renal%20cell%20carcinoma
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Renal cell carcinoma
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Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a kidney cancer that originates in the lining of the proximal convoluted tubule, a part of the very small tubes in the kidney that transport primary urine. RCC is the most common type of kidney cancer in adults, responsible for approximately 90–95% of cases. RCC occurrence shows a male predominance over women with a ratio of 1.5:1. RCC most commonly occurs between 6th and 7th decade of life.
Initial treatment is most commonly either partial or complete removal of the affected kidney(s). Where the cancer has not metastasised (spread to other organs) or burrowed deeper into the tissues of the kidney, the five-year survival rate is 65–90%, but this is lowered considerably when the cancer has spread.
The body is remarkably good at hiding the symptoms and as a result people with RCC often have advanced disease by the time it is discovered. The initial symptoms of RCC often include blood in the urine (occurring in 40% of affected persons at the time they first seek medical attention), flank pain (40%), a mass in the abdomen or flank (25%), weight loss (33%), fever (20%), high blood pressure (20%), night sweats and generally feeling unwell. When RCC metastasises, it most commonly spreads to the lymph nodes, lungs, liver, adrenal glands, brain or bones. Immunotherapy and targeted therapy have improved the outlook for metastatic RCC.
RCC is also associated with a number of paraneoplastic syndromes (PNS) which are conditions caused by either the hormones produced by the tumour or by the body's attack on the tumour and are present in about 20% of those with RCC. These syndromes most commonly affect tissues which have not been invaded by the cancer. The most common PNSs seen in people with RCC are: high blood calcium levels, high red blood cell count, high platelet count and secondary amyloidosis.
Signs and symptoms
Historically, medical practitioners expected a person to present with three findings. This classic triad is 1: haematuria, which is when there is blood present in the urine, 2: flank pain, which is pain on the side of the body between the hip and ribs, and 3: an abdominal mass, similar to bloating but larger. It is now known that this classic triad of symptoms only occurs in 10–15% of cases, and is usually indicative that the renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is in an advanced stage. Today, RCC is often asymptomatic (meaning few to no symptoms) and is generally detected incidentally when a person is being examined for other ailments.
Other signs and symptom may include haematuria; loin pain; abdominal mass; malaise, which is a general feeling of unwellness; weight loss and/or loss of appetite; anaemia resulting from depression of erythropoietin; erythrocytosis (increased production of red blood cells) due to increased erythropoietin secretion; varicocele, which is seen in males as an enlargement of the pampiniform plexus of veins draining the testis (more often the left testis) hypertension (high blood pressure) resulting from secretion of renin by the tumour; hypercalcemia, which is elevation of calcium levels in the blood; sleep disturbance or night sweats; recurrent fevers; and chronic fatigue.
Risk factors
Lifestyle
The greatest risk factors for RCC are lifestyle-related; smoking, obesity and hypertension (high blood pressure) have been estimated to account for up to 50% of cases.
Occupational exposure to some chemicals such as asbestos, cadmium, lead, chlorinated solvents, petrochemicals and PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon) has been examined by multiple studies with inconclusive results.
Another suspected risk factor is the long term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).
Finally, studies have found that women who have had a hysterectomy are at more than double the risk of developing RCC than those who have not. Moderate alcohol consumption, on the other hand, has been shown to have a protective effect.
Genetics
Hereditary factors have a minor impact on individual susceptibility with immediate relatives of people with RCC having a two to fourfold increased risk of developing the condition. Other genetically linked conditions also increase the risk of RCC, including hereditary papillary renal carcinoma, hereditary leiomyomatosis, Birt–Hogg–Dube syndrome, hyperparathyroidism-jaw tumor syndrome, familial papillary thyroid carcinoma, von Hippel–Lindau disease and sickle cell disease.
The most significant disease affecting risk however is not genetically linked – patients with acquired cystic disease of the kidney requiring dialysis are 30 times more likely than the general population to develop RCC.
Pathophysiology
The tumour arises from the cells of the proximal renal tubular epithelium. It is considered an adenocarcinoma. There are two subtypes: sporadic (that is, non-hereditary) and hereditary. Both such subtypes are associated with mutations in the short-arm of chromosome 3, with the implicated genes being either tumour suppressor genes (VHL and TSC) or oncogenes (like c-Met).
Diagnosis
The first steps taken to diagnose this condition are consideration of the signs and symptoms, and a medical history (the detailed medical review of past health state) to evaluate any risk factors. Based on the symptoms presented, a range of biochemical tests (using blood and/or urine samples) may also be considered as part of the screening process to provide sufficient quantitative analysis of any differences in electrolytes, kidney and liver function, and blood clotting times. Upon physical examination, palpation of the abdomen may reveal the presence of a mass or an organ enlargement.
Although this disease lacks characterization in the early stages of tumor development, considerations based on diverse clinical manifestations, as well as resistance to radiation and chemotherapy are important. The main diagnostic tools for detecting renal cell carcinoma are ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) scanning and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the kidneys.
Classification
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is not a single entity, but rather a collection of different types of tumours, each derived from the various parts of the nephron (epithelium or renal tubules) and possessing distinct genetic characteristics, histological features, and, to some extent, clinical phenotypes.
Array-based karyotyping can be used to identify characteristic chromosomal aberrations in renal tumors with challenging morphology. Array-based karyotyping performs well on paraffin embedded tumours and is amenable to routine clinical use. See also Virtual Karyotype for CLIA certified laboratories offering array-based karyotyping of solid tumours.
The 2004 World Health Organization (WHO) classification of genitourinary tumours recognizes over 40 subtypes of renal neoplasms. Since the publication of the latest iteration of the WHO classification in 2004, several novel renal tumour subtypes have been described:
Clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma and clear cell renal cell carcinoma with smooth muscle stroma
Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma (MTSCC)
Multilocular cystic clear cell renal cell carcinoma
Tubulocystic renal cell carcinoma
Thyroid-like follicular renal cell carcinoma
Acquired cystic kidney disease-associated renal cell carcinoma
Renal cell carcinoma with t(6;11) translocation (TFEB)
Hybrid oncocytoma/chromophobe renal cell carcinoma
Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell carcinoma (HLRCC)
Laboratory tests
Laboratory tests are generally conducted when the patient presents with signs and symptoms that may be characteristic of kidney impairment. They are not primarily used to diagnose kidney cancer, due to its asymptomatic nature and are generally found incidentally during tests for other illnesses such as gallbladder disease. In other words, these cancers are not detected usually because they do not cause pain or discomfort when they are discovered. Laboratory analysis can provide an assessment on the overall health of the patient and can provide information in determining the staging and degree of metastasis to other parts of the body (if a renal lesion has been identified) before treatment is given.
Urine analysis
The presence of blood in urine is a common presumptive sign of renal cell carcinoma. The haemoglobin of the blood causes the urine to be rusty, brown or red in colour. Alternatively, urinalysis can test for sugar, protein and bacteria which can also serve as indicators for cancer. A complete blood cell count can also provide additional information regarding the severity and spreading of the cancer.
Complete blood cell count
The CBC provides a quantified measure of the different cells in the whole blood sample from the patient. Such cells examined for in this test include red blood cells (erythrocytes), white blood cells (leukocytes) and platelets (thrombocytes). A common sign of renal cell carcinoma is anaemia whereby the patient exhibits deficiency in red blood cells. CBC tests are vital as a screening tool for examination the health of patient prior to surgery. Inconsistencies with platelet counts are also common amongst these cancer patients and further coagulation tests, including erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) should be considered.
Blood chemistry
Blood chemistry tests are conducted if renal cell carcinoma is suspected as cancer has the potential to elevate levels of particular chemicals in blood. For example, liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) are found to be at abnormally high levels. The staging of the cancer can also be determined by abnormal elevated levels of calcium, which suggests that the cancer may have metastasised to the bones. In this case, a doctor should be prompted for a CT scan. Blood chemistry tests also assess the overall function of the kidneys and can allow the doctor to decide upon further radiological tests.
Radiology
The characteristic appearance of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) is a solid renal lesion which disturbs the renal contour. It will frequently have an irregular or lobulated margin and may be seen as a lump on the lower pelvic or abdomen region. Traditionally, 85 to 90% of solid renal masses will turn out to be RCC but cystic renal masses may also be due to RCC. However, the advances of diagnostic modalities are able to incidentally diagnose a great proportion of patients with renal lesions that may appear to be small in size and of benign state. Ten percent of RCC will contain calcifications, and some contain macroscopic fat (likely due to invasion and encasement of the perirenal fat).
Deciding on the benign or malignant nature of the renal mass on the basis of its localized size is an issue as renal cell carcinoma may also be cystic. As there are several benign cystic renal lesions (simple renal cyst, haemorrhagic renal cyst, multilocular cystic nephroma, polycystic kidney disease), it may occasionally be difficult for the radiologist to differentiate a benign cystic lesion from a malignant one. The Bosniak classification system for cystic renal lesions classifies them into groups that are benign and those that need surgical resection, based on specific imaging features.
The main imaging tests performed in order to identify renal cell carcinoma are pelvic and abdominal CT scans, ultrasound tests of the kidneys (ultrasonography), MRI scans, intravenous pyelogram (IVP) or renal angiography. Among these main diagnostic tests, other radiologic tests such as excretory urography, positron-emission tomography (PET) scanning, ultrasonography, arteriography, venography, and bone scanning can also be used to aid in the evaluation of staging renal masses and to differentiate non-malignant tumours from malignant tumours.
Computed tomography
Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scanning is routinely used to determine the stage of the renal cell carcinoma in the abdominal and pelvic regions. CT scans have the potential to distinguish solid masses from cystic masses and may provide information on the localization, stage or spread of the cancer to other organs of the patient. Key parts of the human body which are examined for metastatic involvement of renal cell carcinoma may include the renal vein, lymph node and the involvement of the inferior vena cava. According to a study conducted by Sauk et al., multidetector CT imaging characteristics have applications in diagnosing patients with clear renal cell carcinoma by depicting the differences of these cells at the cytogenic level.
Ultrasound
Ultrasonographic examination can be useful in evaluating questionable asymptomatic kidney tumours and cystic renal lesions if computed tomography imaging is inconclusive. This safe and non-invasive radiologic procedure uses high frequency sound waves to generate an interior image of the body on a computer monitor. The image generated by the ultrasound can help diagnose renal cell carcinoma based on the differences of sound reflections on the surface of organs and the abnormal tissue masses. Essentially, ultrasound tests can determine whether the composition of the kidney mass is mainly solid or filled with fluid.
A percutaneous biopsy can be performed by a radiologist using ultrasound or computed tomography to guide sampling of the tumour for the purpose of diagnosis by pathology. However this is not routinely performed because when the typical imaging features of renal cell carcinoma are present, the possibility of an incorrectly negative result together with the risk of a medical complication to the patient may make it unfavourable from a risk-benefit perspective. However, biopsy tests for molecular analysis to distinguish benign from malignant renal tumours is of investigative interest.
Magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans provide an image of the soft tissues in the body using radio waves and strong magnets. MRI can be used instead of CT if the patient exhibits an allergy to the contrast media administered for the test. Sometimes prior to the MRI scan, an intravenous injection of a contrasting material called gadolinium is given to allow for a more detailed image. Patients on dialysis or those who have renal insufficiency should avoid this contrasting material as it may induce a rare, yet severe, side effect known as nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. A bone scan or brain imaging is not routinely performed unless signs or symptoms suggest potential metastatic involvement of these areas.
MRI scans should also be considered to evaluate tumour extension which has grown in major blood vessels, including the vena cava, in the abdomen. MRI can be used to observe the possible spread of cancer to the brain or spinal cord should the patient present symptoms that suggest this might be the case.
Intravenous pyelogram
Intravenous pyelogram (IVP) is a useful procedure in detecting the presence of abnormal renal mass in the urinary tract. This procedure involves the injection of a contrasting dye into the arm of the patient. The dye travels from the blood stream and into the kidneys which in time, passes into the kidneys and bladder. This test is not necessary if a CT or MRI scan has been conducted.
Renal angiography
Renal angiography uses the same principle as IVP, as this type of X-ray also uses a contrasting dye. This radiologic test is important in diagnosing renal cell carcinoma as an aid for examining blood vessels in the kidneys. This diagnostic test relies on the contrasting agent which is injected in the renal artery to be absorbed by the cancerous cells. The contrasting dye provides a clearer outline of abnormally-oriented blood vessels believed to be involved with the tumour. This is imperative for surgeons as it allows the patient's blood vessels to be mapped prior to operation.
Staging
The staging of renal cell carcinoma is the most important factor in predicting its prognosis. Staging can follow the TNM staging system, where the size and extent of the tumour (T), involvement of lymph nodes (N) and metastases (M) are classified separately. Also, it can use overall stage grouping into stage I–IV, with the 1997 revision of AJCC described below:
At diagnosis, 30% of renal cell carcinomas have spread to the ipsilateral renal vein, and 5–10% have continued into the inferior vena cava.
Histopathology
The gross and microscopic appearance of renal cell carcinomas is highly variable. The renal cell carcinoma may present reddened areas where blood vessels have bled, and cysts containing watery fluids. The body of the tumour shows large blood vessels that have walls composed of cancerous cells.
Gross examination often shows a yellowish, multilobulated tumor in the renal cortex, which frequently contains zones of necrosis, haemorrhage and scarring. In a microscopic context, there are four major histologic subtypes of renal cell cancer: clear cell (conventional RCC, 75%), papillary (15%), chromophobic (5%), and collecting duct (2%). Sarcomatoid changes (morphology and patterns of IHC that mimic sarcoma, spindle cells) can be observed within any RCC subtype and are associated with more aggressive clinical course and worse prognosis. Under light microscopy, these tumour cells can exhibit papillae, tubules or nests, and are quite large, atypical, and polygonal.
Recent studies have brought attention to the close association of the type of cancerous cells to the aggressiveness of the condition. Some studies suggest that these cancerous cells accumulate glycogen and lipids, their cytoplasm appear "clear", the nuclei remain in the middle of the cells, and the cellular membrane is evident. Some cells may be smaller, with eosinophilic cytoplasm, resembling normal tubular cells. The stroma is reduced, but well vascularised. The tumour compresses the surrounding parenchyma, producing a pseudocapsule.
The most common cell type exhibited by renal cell carcinoma is the clear cell, which is named by the dissolving of the cells' high lipid content in the cytoplasm. The clear cells are thought to be the least likely to spread and usually respond more favourably to treatment. However, most of the tumours contain a mixture of cells. The most aggressive stage of renal cancer is believed to be the one in which the tumour is mixed, containing both clear and granular cells.
The recommended histologic grading schema for RCC is the Fuhrman system (1982), which is an assessment based on the microscopic morphology of a neoplasm with haematoxylin and eosin (H&E staining). This system categorises renal cell carcinoma with grades 1, 2, 3, 4 based on nuclear characteristics. The details of the Fuhrman grading system for RCC are shown below:
Nuclear grade is believed to be one of the most imperative prognostic factors in patients with renal cell carcinoma. However, a study by Delahunt et al. (2007) has shown that the Fuhrman grading is ideal for clear cell carcinoma but may not be appropriate for chromophobe renal cell carcinomas and that the staging of cancer (accomplished by CT scan) is a more favourable predictor of the prognosis of this disease. In relation to renal cancer staging, the Heidelberg classification system of renal tumours was introduced in 1976 as a means of more completely correlating the histopathological features with the identified genetic defects.
Prevention
The risk of renal cell carcinoma can be reduced by maintaining a normal body weight.
Management
The type of treatment depends on multiple factors and the individual, some of which include the stage of renal cell carcinoma (organs and parts of the body affected/unaffected), type of renal cell carcinoma, pre-existing or comorbid conditions and overall health and age of the person.
Every form of treatment has both risks and benefits; a health care professional will provide the best options that suit the individual circumstances.
If it has spread outside of the kidneys, often into the lymph nodes, the lungs or the main vein of the kidney, then multiple therapies are used including surgery and medications. RCC is resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy in most cases but does respond well to immunotherapy with interleukin-2 or interferon-alpha, biologic, or targeted therapy. In early-stage cases, cryotherapy and surgery are the preferred options.
Active surveillance
Active surveillance or "watchful waiting" is becoming more common as small renal masses or tumours are being detected and also within the older generation when surgery is not always suitable. Active surveillance involves completing various diagnostic procedures, tests and imaging to monitor the progression of the RCC before embarking on a more high risk treatment option like surgery. In the elderly, patients with co-morbidities, and in poor surgical candidates, this is especially useful.
Surgery
Different procedures may be most appropriate, depending on circumstances.
The recommended treatment for renal cell cancer may be nephrectomy or partial nephrectomy, surgical removal of all or part of the kidney. This may include some of the surrounding organs or tissues or lymph nodes. If cancer is only in the kidneys, which is about 60% of cases, it can be cured roughly 90% of the time with surgery.
Small renal tumors (< 4 cm) are treated increasingly by partial nephrectomy when possible. Most of these small renal masses manifest indolent biological behavior with excellent prognosis. Nephron-sparing partial nephrectomy is used when the tumor is small (less than 4 cm in diameter) or when the patient has other medical concerns such as diabetes or hypertension. The partial nephrectomy involves the removal of the affected tissue only, sparing the rest of the kidney, Gerota's fascia and the regional lymph nodes. This allows for more renal preservation as compared to the radical nephrectomy, and this can have positive long-term health benefits. Larger and more complex tumors can also be treated with partial nephrectomy by surgeons with a lot of kidney surgery experience.
Surgical nephrectomy may be "radical" if the procedure removes the entire affected kidney including Gerota's fascia, the adrenal gland which is on the same side as the affected kidney, and the regional retroperitoneal lymph nodes, all at the same time. This method, although severe, is effective. But it is not always appropriate, as it is a major surgery that contains the risk of complication both during and after the surgery and can have a longer recovery time. It is important to note that the other kidney must be fully functional, and this technique is most often used when there is a large tumour present in only one kidney.
In cases where the tumor has spread into the renal vein, inferior vena cava, and possibly the right atrium, this portion of the tumor can be surgically removed, as well. When the tumor involved the inferior vena cava, it is important to classify which parts of the vena cava are involved and to plan accordingly, as sometimes complete resection will involve an incision into the chest with increased morbidity. For this reason, Dr. Gaetano Ciancio adapted liver mobilization techniques from liver transplant to address retrohepatic or even suprahepatic inferior vena caval thrombus associated with renal tumors. With this technique, the whole abdominal inferior vena cava is able to be mobilized. This facilitates milking of the tumor down below the major hepatic veins by the surgeon's fingers, bypassing the need for a thoracoabdominal incision or cardiopulmonary bypass. In cases of known metastases, surgical resection of the kidney ("cytoreductive nephrectomy") may improve survival, as well as resection of a solitary metastatic lesion. Kidneys are sometimes embolized prior to surgery to minimize blood loss.
Surgery is increasingly performed via laparoscopic techniques. Commonly referred to as key hole surgery, this surgery does not have the large incisions seen in a classically performed radical or partial nephrectomy, but still successfully removes either all or part of the kidney. Laparoscopic surgery is associated with shorter stays in the hospital and quicker recovery time but there are still risks associated with the surgical procedure. These have the advantage of being less of a burden for the patient and the disease-free survival is comparable to that of open surgery. For small exophytic lesions that do not extensively involve the major vessels or urinary collecting system, a partial nephrectomy (also referred to as "nephron sparing surgery") can be performed. This may involve temporarily stopping blood flow to the kidney while the mass is removed as well as renal cooling with an ice slush. Mannitol can also be administered to help limit damage to the kidney. This is usually done through an open incision although smaller lesions can be done laparoscopically with or without robotic assistance.
Laparoscopic cryotherapy can also be done on smaller lesions. Typically a biopsy is taken at the time of treatment. Intraoperative ultrasound may be used to help guide placement of the freezing probes. Two freeze/thaw cycles are then performed to kill the tumor cells. As the tumor is not removed followup is more complicated (see below) and overall disease-free rates are not as good as those obtained with surgical removal.
Surgery for metastatic disease: If metastatic disease is present surgical treatment may still a viable option. Radical and partial nephrectomy can still occur, and in some cases, if the metastasis is small this can also be surgically removed. This depends on what stage of growth and how far the disease has spread.
Percutaneous ablative therapies
Percutaneous ablation therapies use image-guidance by radiologists to treat localized tumors if a surgical procedure is not a good option. Although the use of laparoscopic surgical techniques for complete nephrectomies has reduced some of the risks associated with surgery, surgery of any sort in some cases will still not be feasible. For example, the elderly, people who already have severe renal dysfunction, or people who have several comorbidities, surgery of any sort is not warranted.
A probe is placed through the skin and into the tumor using real-time imaging of both the probe tip and the tumor by computed tomography, ultrasound, or even magnetic resonance imaging guidance, and then destroying the tumor with heat (radiofrequency ablation) or cold (cryotherapy). These modalities are at a disadvantage compared to traditional surgery in that pathologic confirmation of complete tumor destruction is not possible. Therefore, long-term follow-up is crucial to assess completeness of tumour ablation. Ideally, percutaneous ablation is restricted to tumours smaller than 3.5 cm and to guide the treatment. However, there are some cases where ablation can be used on tumors that are larger.
The two main types of ablation techniques that are used for renal cell carcinoma are radio frequency ablation and cryoablation.
Radio frequency ablation uses an electrode probe which is inserted into the affected tissue, to send radio frequencies to the tissue to generate heat through the friction of water molecules. The heat destroys the tumor tissue. Cell death will generally occur within minutes of being exposed to temperatures above 50 °C.
Cryoablation also involves the insertion of a probe into the affected area, however, cold is used to kill the tumor instead of heat. The probe is cooled with chemical fluids which are very cold. The freezing temperatures cause the tumor cells to die by causing osmotic dehydration, which pulls the water out of the cell destroying the enzyme, organelles, cell membrane and freezing the cytoplasm.
Targeted drugs
Cancers often grow in an unbridled fashion because they are able to evade the immune system. Immunotherapy is a method that activates the person's immune system and uses it to their own advantage. It was developed after observing that in some cases there was spontaneous regression. Immunotherapy capitalises on this phenomenon and aims to build up a person's immune response to cancer cells.
Other targeted therapy medications inhibit growth factors that have been shown to promote the growth and spread of tumours. Most of these medications were approved within the past ten years. These treatments are:
Nivolumab
Axitinib
Sunitinib
Cabozantinib
Everolimus
Lenvatinib
Pazopanib
Bevacizumab
Sorafenib
Tivozanib
Temsirolimus
Interleukin-2 (IL-2) has produced "durable remissions" in a small number of patients, but with substantial toxicity.
Interferon-α
For patients with metastatic cancer, sunitinib probably results in more progression of the cancer than pembrolizumab, axitinib and avelumab. In comparison to pembrolizumab and axitinib, it probably results in more death, but it may slightly reduce serious unwanted effects. When compared with combinations of immunotherapy (nivolumab and ipilimumab), sunitinib may lead to more progression and serious effects. There may be little to no difference in progression, survival and serious effects between pazopanib and sunitib.
Activity has also been reported for ipilimumab but it is not an approved medication for renal cancer.
More medications are expected to become available in the near future as several clinical trials are currently being conducted for new targeted treatments, including: atezolizumab, varlilumab, durvalumab, avelumab, LAG525, MBG453, TRC105, and savolitinib.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are not as successful in the case of RCC. RCC is resistant in most cases but there is about a 4–5% success rate, but this is often short-lived with more tumours and growths developing later.
Adjuvant and neoadjuvant therapy
Adjuvant therapy, which refers to therapy given after a primary surgery, had for a long time not been found to be beneficial in renal cell cancer. However in 2021 Pembrolizumab was approved for adjuvant treatment after showing promising disease-free survival improvements.
Conversely, neoadjuvant therapy is administered before the intended primary or main treatment. In some cases neoadjuvant therapy has been shown to decrease the size and stage of the RCC to then allow it to be surgically removed. This is a new form of treatment and the effectiveness of this approach is still being assessed in clinical trials.
Metastasis
Metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) is the spread of the primary renal cell carcinoma from the kidney to other organs. Approximately 25–30% of people have this metastatic spread by the time they are diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma. This high proportion is explained by the fact that clinical signs are generally mild until the disease progresses to a more severe state. The most common sites for metastasis are the lymph nodes, lung, bones, liver and brain. How this spread affects the staging of the disease and hence prognosis is discussed in the "Diagnosis" and "Prognosis" sections.
MRCC has a poor prognosis compared to other cancers, although average survival times have increased in the last few years due to treatment advances. Average survival time in 2008 for the metastatic form of the disease was under a year, and by 2013 this improved to an average of 22 months. Despite this improvement the five-year survival rate for mRCC remains under 10% and 20–25% of patients remain unresponsive to all treatments and in these cases, the disease has a rapid progression.
The available treatments for RCC discussed in the "Treatment" section are also relevant for the metastatic form of the disease. Options include interleukin-2, which is a standard therapy for advanced renal cell carcinoma. From 2007 to 2013, seven new treatments have been approved specifically for mRCC (sunitinib, temsirolimus, bevacizumab, sorafenib, everolimus, pazopanib and axitinib). These new treatments are based on the fact that renal cell carcinomas are very vascular tumours – they contain a large number of blood vessels. The drugs aim to inhibit the growth of new blood vessels in the tumours, hence slowing growth and in some cases, reducing the size of the tumours.
Side effects unfortunately are quite common with these treatments and include:
Gastrointestinal effects – nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia
Respiratory effects – coughing, dyspnea (difficulty breathing)
Cardiovascular effects – hypertension (high blood pressure)
Neurological effects – intracranial hemorrhage (bleeding into the brain), thrombosis (blood clots) in the brain
Effects on the skin and mucous membranes – rashes, hand-foot syndrome, stomatitis
Bone marrow suppression – resulting in reduced white blood cells, increasing the risk of infections plus anemia and reduced platelets
Renal effects – impaired kidney function
Fatigue
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy are more commonly used in the metastatic form of RCC to target the secondary tumours in the bones, liver, brain and other organs. While not curative, these treatments do provide relief for symptoms associated with the spread of tumours.
Prognosis
The prognosis is influenced by several factors, including tumour size, degree of invasion and metastasis, histologic type, and nuclear grade. Staging is the most important factor in the outcome of renal cell cancer. The following numbers are based on patients first diagnosed in 2001 and 2002 by the National Cancer Data Base:
A Korean study estimated a disease-specific overall five-year survival rate of 85%. Taken as a whole, if the disease is limited to the kidney, only 20–30% develop metastatic disease after nephrectomy. More specific subsets show a five-year survival rate of around 90–95% for tumors less than 4 cm. For larger tumors confined to the kidney without venous invasion, survival is still relatively good at 80–85%. For tumors that extend through the renal capsule and out of the local fascial investments, the survivability reduces to near 60%. Factors as general health and fitness or the severity of their symptoms impact the survival rates. For instance, younger people (among 20–40 years old) have a better outcome despite having more symptoms at presentation, possibly due to lower rates spread of cancer to the lymph nodes (stage III).
Histological grade is related to the aggressiveness of the cancer, and it is classified in 4 grades, with 1 having the best prognosis (five-year survival over 89%), and 4 with the worst prognosis (46% of five-year survival).
Some people have the renal cell cancer detected before they have symptoms (incidentally) because of the CT scan (Computed Tomography Imaging) or ultrasound. Incidentally diagnosed renal cell cancer (no symptoms) differs in outlook from those diagnosed after presenting symptoms of renal cell carcinoma or metastasis. The five-year survival rate was higher for incidental than for symptomatic tumours: 85.3% versus 62.5%. Incidental lesions were significantly lower stage than those that cause symptoms, since 62.1% patients with incidental renal cell carcinoma were observed with Stage I lesions, against 23% were found with symptomatic renal cell carcinoma.
If it has metastasized to the lymph nodes, the five-year survival is around 5% to 15%. For metastatic renal cell carcinoma, factors which may present a poor prognosis include a low Karnofsky performance-status score (a standard way of measuring functional impairment in patients with cancer), a low haemoglobin level, a high level of serum lactate dehydrogenase, and a high corrected level of serum calcium. For non-metastatic cases, the Leibovich scoring algorithm may be used to predict post-operative disease progression.
Renal cell carcinoma is one of the cancers most strongly associated with paraneoplastic syndromes, most often due to ectopic hormone production by the tumour. The treatment for these complications of RCC is generally limited beyond treating the underlying cancer.
Epidemiology
The incidence of the disease varies according to geographic, demographic and, to a lesser extent, hereditary factors. There are some known risk factors, however the significance of other potential risk factors remains more controversial. The incidence of the cancer has been increasing in frequency worldwide at a rate of approximately 2–3% per decade until the last few years where the number of new cases has stabilised.
The incidence of RCC varies between sexes, ages, races and geographic location around the world. Men have a higher incidence than women (approximately 1.6:1) and the vast majority are diagnosed after 65 years of age. Asians reportedly have a significantly lower incidence of RCC than whites and while African countries have the lowest reported incidences, African Americans have the highest incidence of the population in the United States. Developed countries have a higher incidence than developing countries, with the highest rates found in North America, Europe and Australia / New Zealand.
History
Daniel Sennert made the first reference suggesting a tumour arising in the kidney in his text Practicae Medicinae, first published in 1613.
Miril published the earliest unequivocal case of renal carcinoma in 1810. He described the case of Françoise Levelly, a 35-year-old woman, who presented to Brest Civic Hospital on April 6, 1809, supposedly in the late stages of pregnancy.
Koenig published the first classification of renal tumours based on macroscopic morphology in 1826. Koenig divided the tumors into scirrhous, steatomatous, fungoid and medullary forms.
Hypernephroma controversy
Following the classification of the tumour, researchers attempted to identify the tissue of origin for renal carcinoma.
The pathogenesis of renal epithelial tumours was debated for decades. The debate was initiated by Paul Grawitz when in 1883, he published his observations on the morphology of small, yellow renal tumours. Grawitz concluded that only alveolar tumours were of adrenal origin, whereas papillary tumours were derived from renal tissue.
In 1893, Paul Sudeck challenged the theory postulated by Grawitz by publishing descriptions of renal tumours in which he identified atypical features within renal tubules and noted a gradation of these atypical features between the tubules and neighboring malignant tumour. In 1894, Otto Lubarsch, who supported the theory postulated by Grawitz coined the term hypernephroid tumor, which was amended to hypernephroma by Felix Victor Birch-Hirschfeld to describe these tumours.
Vigorous criticism of Grawitz was provided by Oskar Stoerk in 1908, who considered the adrenal origin of renal tumours to be unproved. Despite the compelling arguments against the theory postulated by Grawitz, the term hypernephroma, with its associated adrenal connotation, persisted in the literature.
Foot and Humphreys, and Foote et al. introduced the term Renal Celled Carcinoma to emphasize a renal tubular origin for these tumours. Their designation was slightly altered by Fetter to the now widely accepted term Renal Cell Carcinoma.
Convincing evidence to settle the debate was offered by Oberling et al. in 1959 who studied the ultrastructure of clear cells from eight renal carcinomas. They found that the tumour cell cytoplasm contained numerous mitochondria and deposits of glycogen and fat. They identified cytoplasmic membranes inserted perpendicularly onto the basement membrane with occasional cells containing microvilli along the free borders. They concluded that these features indicated that the tumours arose from the epithelial cells of the renal convoluted tubule, thus finally settling one of the most debated issues in tumour pathology.
See also
Dysuria
Interferon
Interleukin-2
Kidney cancer
Knudson hypothesis
Rapamycin
Stauffer syndrome
Vinblastine
References
External links
Kidney cancer
Medical triads
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Kidney cancer
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Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include spread to the lungs or brain.
The main types of kidney cancer are renal cell cancer (RCC), transitional cell cancer (TCC), and Wilms' tumor. RCC makes up approximately 80% of kidney cancers, and TCC accounts for most of the rest. Risk factors for RCC and TCC include smoking, certain pain medications, previous bladder cancer, being overweight, high blood pressure, certain chemicals, and a family history. Risk factors for Wilms' tumor include a family history and certain genetic disorders such as WAGR syndrome. Diagnosis may be suspected based on symptoms, urine testing, and medical imaging. It is confirmed by tissue biopsy.
Treatment may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy. Kidney cancer newly affected about 403,300 people and resulted in 175,000 deaths globally in 2018. Onset is usually after the age of 45. Males are affected more often than females. The overall five-year survival rate is 75% in the United States, 71% in Canada, 70% in China, and 60% in Europe. For cancers that are confined to the kidney, the five-year survival rate is 93%, if it has spread to the surrounding lymph nodes it is 70%, and if it has spread widely, it is 12%. Kidney cancer has been identified as the 13th most common form of cancer, and is responsible for 2% of the world's cancer cases and deaths. The incidence of kidney cancer has continued to increase since 1930. Renal cancer is more commonly found in populations of urban areas than rural areas.
Signs and symptoms
Early on, kidney masses do not typically cause any symptoms and are undetectable on physical examination. As kidney cancer becomes more advanced it classically results in blood in the urine, flank or back pain, and a mass. Other symptoms that are consistent with advanced disease include weight loss, fever, night sweats, palpable swollen lymph nodes in the neck, non-reducing varicocele, bone pain, continuous cough, and bilateral lower leg swelling.
The classic triad of visible blood in the urine (hematuria), flank pain and palpable abdominal mass occurs in less than 15% of the cases. RCC may present with signs and symptoms caused by the substances the cancer cell produce (i.e. paraneoplastic syndromes).
Paraneoplastic syndromes caused by kidney cancer can be broadly classified as endocrine and non-endocrine. Endocrine dysfunctions include increase in blood calcium levels (hypercalcemia), high blood pressure (hypertension), increased red bloods (polycythemia), liver dysfunction, milky nipple discharge unrelated normal breast-feeding (galactorrhea), and Cushing's syndrome. Non-endocrine dysfunctions include deposition of protein in tissue (amyloidosis), decrease in hemoglobin or red blood cells (anemia), disorders of nerves, muscles (neuromyopathies), blood vessels (vasculopathy) and blood clotting mechanisms (coagulopathy).
Causes
Factors that increase the risk of kidney cancer include smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, faulty genes, a family history of kidney cancer, having kidney disease that needs dialysis, being infected with hepatitis C, and previous treatment for testicular cancer or cervical cancer.
There are also other possible risk factors such as kidney stones being investigated.
About 25-30% of kidney cancer is attributed to smoking. Smokers have a 1.3 times higher risk of developing kidney cancer compared to non-smokers. Moreover, there is a dose-dependent increased risk of cancer development. Men who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day have twice the risk. Likewise, women who smoke more than 20 cigarettes per day have 1.5 times the risk of non-smokers. After 10 years of smoking cessation a substantial reduction is seen in the risk of developing kidney cancer.
Diagnosis
Due to the increase in ultrasound and CT imaging for nonspecific abdominal complaints, kidney masses are frequently incidentally diagnosed on medical imaging. More than 60% of renal cell carcinoma (the most common type of kidney cancer), are diagnosed incidentally by abdominal imaging for nonspecific abdominal complaints.
Kidney masses can be classified by the nature of the cells in the growth, or by its appearance on radiography. The term cancer refers to a malignant tumor, which is an uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells. However, kidney masses can be due to growth of normal tissue (benign), inflammatory (a reaction of the immune system), or vascular (cells of the blood vessels).
Medical imaging
Since there is a large differential diagnosis for a kidney tumor, the first step is to characterize the mass with medical imaging to assess its likelihood of being benign or malignant. Ultrasonography is sometimes used to evaluate a suspected kidney mass, as it can characterize cystic and solid kidney masses without radiation exposure and at relative low cost. Radiologically tumors are grouped based on appearance into simple cystic, complex cystic, or solid. The most important differentiating feature of a cancerous and non-cancerous tumor on imaging is enhancement. Simple cysts, which are defined by strict criteria are safe to be monitored if the person does not have any symptoms. However, all masses that are not clearly simple cysts should be further evaluated and confirmed by alternate imaging techniques.
Computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen administered with and without IV contrast is the ideal imaging to diagnose and stage kidney cancer. There is tentative evidence that iodinated contrast agents may cause worsening of kidney function in people with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with a glomerular filtration rate (GFR) less than 45ml/min/1.73m2 and should therefore be given cautiously in this group.
Abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an alternative imaging method that can be used to characterize and stage a kidney mass. It may be suggested if contrast material cannot be given. MRI can also evaluate the inferior vena cava if the mass is suspected to extend outside the kidney.
Since the lungs are the most common organ for kidney cancer to spread to, a chest X-ray or CT scan may be ordered based on the person's risk for metastatic disease.
Histopathologic classification
The most common type of kidney malignancy is renal cell carcinoma, which is thought to originate from cells in the proximal convoluted tubule of the nephron. Another type of kidney cancer although less common, is transitional cell cancer (TCC) or urothelial carcinoma of the renal pelvis. The renal pelvis is the part of the kidney that collects urine and drains it into a tube called the ureter. The cells that line the renal pelvis are called transitional cells, and are also sometimes called urothelial cells. The transitional/urothelial cells in the renal pelvis are the same type of cells that line the ureter and bladder. For this reason TCC of the renal pelvis is distinct from RCC and is thought to behave more like bladder cancer. Other rare types of kidney cancers that can arise from the urothelial cells of the renal pelvis are squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma.
Other causes of kidney cancer include the following:
Sarcoma- for example leiomyosarcoma, liposarcoma, angiosarcoma, clear-cell sarcoma and rhabdomyosarcoma are types of sarcomas that have occurred in the kidney
Metastatic tumor from distant organ
Lymphoma
Wilms tumor- an embryonic tumor that is the most common type of kidney cancer in children
Carcinoid tumor of the renal pelvis
Carcinosarcoma
Inverted urothelial papilloma- was traditionally regarded as a benign growth. However, there may be an increased risk for recurrence and transformation to TCC.
In children, Wilms tumor is the most common type of kidney cancer. Mesoblastic nephroma, although rare, also typically presents in childhood.
Renal cell carcinoma has been further divided into sub-types based on histological features and genetic abnormalities. The 2004 WHO Classification of the Renal Tumors of the Adults describes these categories:
Clear cell RCC
Multilocular clear cell RCC
Papillary RCC
Chromophobe RCC
Carcinoma of the collecting ducts of Bellini
Renal medullary carcinoma
Xp11 translocation carcinomas
Carcinoma associated with neuroblastoma
Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma
Mixed epithelial stromal tumor
Tumors that are considered benign include angiomyolipoma, oncocytoma, reninoma (juxtaglomerular cell tumor), and renal adenoma.
Immunohistochemistry
Laboratory studies
People with suspected kidney cancer should also have their kidney function evaluated to help determine treatment options. Blood tests to determine kidney function include a comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP), a complete blood count (CBC). In addition, these tests help understand the overall health of the person, which can be affected by metastatic disease (disease that is outside of the kidney). For example, liver or bone involvement could result in abnormal liver enzymes, electrolyte abnormalities, or anemia. A urine sample should also be collected for urinalysis.
Biopsy
The utility of renal mass biopsy (RMB) lies in that it can confirm malignancy with reliability, can direct therapy based on diagnosis, and can provide drainage.
Once imaging has been completed, renal mass biopsy should be considered if there is a high likelihood that the mass is hematologic, metastatic, inflammatory, or infectious. These types of lesions would not be managed surgically, differing from cancer originating from the kidney. Cancer originating outside the kidney and lymphoma are managed systemically.
RMB can accurately diagnose malignancy, however, it cannot reliably diagnose benign disease. In other words, if the biopsy shows cancer, there is a 99.8% chance that kidney cancer is present (Positive Predictive Value= 99.8%). A negative biopsy does not rule out a diagnosis of cancer.
Staging
Staging is the process that helps determine the extent and spread of the disease. Renal cell carcinoma is the only type of kidney cancer that can be staged. The first step of staging follows the TNM staging system proposed by the Union International Contre le Cancer that is widely used among cancers in other organs. The TNM staging system classifies the primary tumor (T), lymph nodes (N) and distant metastasis (M) of the disease. The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) published a Cancer Staging Manual revision in 2010 that describes the values of TMN for renal cell carcinoma.
Lymph node involvement is classified as either regional lymph node metastasis (N1), or no involvement (N0). Similarly, M1 describes distant metastasis, while M0 describes no distant metastasis.
The primary tumor of renal cell carcinoma is categorized in the table below, as according to the AJCC 8th Edition Cancer Staging Manual:
The lungs are the most common site for metastasis, with other common sites including bone, brain, liver, adrenal gland and distant lymph nodes.
Treatment
Treatment for kidney cancer depends on the type and stage of the disease. Surgery is the most common treatment as kidney cancer does not often respond to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Surgical complexity can be estimated by the RENAL Nephrometry Scoring System. If the cancer has not spread it will usually be removed by surgery. In some cases this involves removing the whole kidney however most tumors are amenable to partial removal to eradicate the tumor and preserve the remaining normal portion of the kidney. Surgery is not always possible – for example, the patient may have other medical conditions that prevent it, or the cancer may have spread around the body and doctors may not be able to remove it. If the cancer cannot be treated with surgery other techniques such as freezing the tumour or treating it with high temperatures may be used. However, these are not yet used as standard treatments for kidney cancer. Recently, evidence stemming from the KEYNOTE-564 study has shed light on the potential use of systemic therapy in the adjuvant setting, with promising results. Patients exhibiting specific clear cell RCC tumor characteristics and having undergone treatment with Pembrolizumab for 17 cycles (around 1 year) had significant improvement in disease-free survival. However, the study has yet to yield conclusive findings in relation to overall survival.
Other treatment options include biological therapies such as everolimus, torisel, nexavar, sutent, and axitinib, the use of immunotherapy including interferon and interleukin-2. Immunotherapy is successful in 10 to 15% of people. Sunitinib is the current standard of care in the adjuvant setting along with pazopanib; these treatments are often followed by everolimus, axitinib, and sorafenib. Immune checkpoint inhibitors are also in trials for kidney cancer, and some have gained approval for medical use.
In the second line setting, nivolumab demonstrated an overall survival advantage in advanced clear renal cell carcinoma over everolimus in 2015 and was approved by the FDA. Cabozantinib also demonstrated an overall survival benefit over everolimus and was approved by the FDA as a second-line treatment in 2016. Lenvatinib in combination with everolimus was approved in 2016 for patients who have had exactly one prior line of angiogenic therapy.
In Wilms' tumor, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery are the accepted treatments, depending on the stage of the disease when it is diagnosed.
Children
The majority of kidney cancers reported in children are Wilms' tumors. These tumors can begin to grow when a fetus is still developing in the uterus, and may not cause problems until the child is a few years old. Wilms' tumor is most common in children under the age of 5, but can rarely be diagnosed in older children or in adults. It is still not clear what causes most Wilms' tumors. The most common symptoms are swelling of the abdomen and blood in the urine.
Epidemiology
Around 208,500 new cases of kidney cancer are diagnosed in the world each year, accounting for just under 2% of all cancers. The highest rates are recorded in North America and the lowest rates in Asia and Africa.
Lifestyle risk factors
Certain lifestyle factors have been associated with the development of renal cancer, although not all of them can be considered definitive causes. These include smoking, chemical carcinogens, radiation, viruses, diet and obesity, hypertension, diuretics, and alcohol consumption. Only a small percentage of kidney cancer cases have been linked to genetic factors. With obesity listed as one of the risk factors, daily physical activity and engaging in a healthy diet is proven to lower the rates of developing kidney cancer in the future.
Age
The incidence rate of renal cancer increases with the age of an individual, with 75 being the approximate age of the peak incidence rate, as of 2018. However, nearly one half of all cases are diagnosed before the age of 65. In both male and female children, renal tumors represent 2% to 6% of kidney cancer, with Wilms' tumor being the most common.
Sex
The incidence of kidney cancer is two times greater in men than in women, and this is thought to be due to biological differences. Mortality rates typically decrease more rapidly in women compared to men.
International variations
Incidence rates of kidney cancer can vary throughout the world. As of 2018, Czech Republic and Lithuania have the highest incidence rate of kidney cancer worldwide, with an age-standardized rate of 21.9/100,000 in males (Czech Republic) and 18.7/100,000 in males (Lithuania.) China, Thailand, and African countries (low-risk countries) have an incidence rate that is less than 2/100,000.
Since the early 2000s, Austria and Poland have been the only countries to report a decrease in kidney cancer rates.
Diagnosis access bias plays a large role in the epidemiology of kidney cancer. Differences in kidney cancer diagnosis across regions are likely due to differences in healthcare access, rather than a population's biological factors. Discrepancies in kidney cancer diagnosis has most likely led to the underrepresentation of mortality and incidence in low income countries.
Race
Race and ethnicity may be a factor in the distribution of kidney cancer around the United States. There are higher incidence rates in Black men and Hispanics, an average rate for American Indians, and low rates in Asians in the United States. Black people with kidney cancer have lower mortality rates than Caucasians in the United States.
Screening
Accessibility for cancer screening is not very common due to high expenses. Improving cancer registries can improve care to those who have kidney cancer as well as decreasing the incidence and death rates. Safe and dependable treatment is key with the screening and treatment, which is not always the case in many developing nations.
United States
The United States' NIH estimates for 2013 around 64,770 new cases of kidney cancer and 13,570 deaths from the disease.
The incidence of kidney cancer is also increasing in the United States. This is thought to be a real increase, not only due to changes in the way the disease is diagnosed.
Europe
The most recent estimates of incidence of kidney cancer suggest that there are 63,300 new cases annually in the EU25. In Europe, kidney cancer accounts for nearly 3% of all cancer cases.
Kidney cancer is the eighth most common cancer in the UK (around 10,100 people were diagnosed with the disease in 2011), and it is the fourteenth most common cause of cancer death (around 4,300 people died in 2012).
References
External links
Kidney diseases
Rare cancers
Hereditary cancers
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oral%20cancer
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Oral cancer
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Oral cancer, also known as mouth cancer, is a cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat. In the mouth, it most commonly starts as a painless white patch, that thickens, develops red patches, an ulcer, and continues to grow. When on the lips, it commonly looks like a persistent crusting ulcer that does not heal, and slowly grows. Other symptoms may include difficult or painful swallowing, new lumps or bumps in the neck, a swelling in the mouth, or a feeling of numbness in the mouth or lips.
Risk factors include tobacco and alcohol use. Those who use both alcohol and tobacco have a 15 times greater risk of oral cancer than those who use neither. Other risk factors include HPV infection, chewing paan, and sun exposure on the lower lip. Oral cancer is a subgroup of head and neck cancers. Diagnosis is made by biopsy of the concerning area, followed by investigation with CT scan, MRI, PET scan, and examination to determine if it has spread to distant parts of the body.
Oral cancer can be prevented by avoiding tobacco products, limiting alcohol use, sun protection on the lower lip, HPV vaccination, and avoidance of paan. Treatments used for oral cancer can include a combination of surgery (to remove the tumor and regional lymph nodes), radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or targeted therapy. The types of treatments will depend on the size, locations, and spread of the cancer taken into consideration with the general health of the person.
In 2018, oral cancer occurred globally in about 355,000 people, and resulted in 177,000 deaths. Between 1999 and 2015 in the United States, the rate of oral cancer increased 6% (from 10.9 to 11.6 per 100,000). Deaths from oral cancer during this time decreased 7% (from 2.7 to 2.5 per 100,000). Oral cancer has an overall 5 year survival rate of 65% in the United States as of 2015. This varies from 84% if diagnosed when localized, compared to 66% if it has spread to the lymph nodes in the neck, and 39% if it has spread to distant parts of the body. Survival rates also are dependent on the location of the disease in the mouth.
Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of oral cancer depend on the location of the tumor but are generally thin, irregular, white patches in the mouth. They can also be a mix of red and white patches (mixed red and white patches are much more likely to be cancerous when biopsied). The classic warning sign is a persistent rough patch with ulceration, and a raised border that is minimally painful. On the lip, the ulcer is more commonly crusting and dry, and in the pharynx it is more commonly a mass. It can also be associated with a white patch, loose teeth, bleeding gums, persistent ear ache, a feeling of numbness in the lip and chin, or swelling.
When the cancer extends to the throat, there can also be difficulty swallowing (usually a base of tongue HPV16+ cancer) or a visibly enlarged tonsil unilaterally, also from the same etiology, painful swallowing, and an altered voice. Typically, the lesions have very little pain until they become larger and then are associated with a burning sensation. As the lesion spreads to the lymph nodes of the neck, a painless, hard mass will develop. If it spreads elsewhere in the body, general aches can develop, most often due to bone metastasis.
Causes
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a disease of environmental factors, the greatest of which is tobacco. Like all environmental factors, the rate at which cancer will develop is dependent on the dose, frequency and method of application of the carcinogen (the substance that is causing the cancer). Aside from cigarette smoking, other carcinogens for oral cancer include alcohol, viruses (particularly HPV 16 and 18), radiation, and UV light.
Tobacco
Tobacco is the greatest single cause of oral and pharyngeal cancer. It is a known multi-organ carcinogen, that has a synergistic interaction with alcohol to cause cancers of the mouth and pharynx by directly damaging cellular DNA. Tobacco is estimated to increase the risk of oral cancer by 3.4–6.8 and is responsible for approximately 40% of all oral cancers.
Alcohol
Epidemiological evidence indicates that alcohol consumption is strongly associated with oral cancer, accounting for 20.2% of global oral cancer cases in 2020. The relative risk for oral cavity and pharynx cancer is 1.13 for light, 1.83 for moderate, and 5.13 for heavy drinking. There is a greater than multiplicative joint effect between alcohol and tobacco. The full causal relation between alcohol consumption and the elevated risk of cancer remains unclear, but acetaldehyde plays a major role. Immediately after alcohol consumption, there are elevated levels of acetaldehyde in saliva, peaking after about 2 minutes. Acetaldehyde is produced by the oral microbiome, and also by enzymes in the oral mucosa, saliva glands, and liver. It is also naturally present in alcoholic beverages. Of these, the microbiome is the major contributor, accounting for at least half of the acetaldehyde present. Poor oral hygiene, smoking, and heavy drinking induce an increase in acetaldehyde-producing bacteria in the mouth. Many species of bacteria contribute to acetaldehyde production and their epidemiological significance is not known. The acetaldehyde reacts with oral epithelial cells, inducing DNA modifications, which can lead to mutations and cancer development. The ability to metabolize acetaldehyde in the mouth is limited, so it may remain in the saliva for hours. L-cysteine tablets may be used to decrease acetaldehyde exposure in the oral cavity.
It has been controversial if the use of alcohol-based mouthwashes increases oral cancer risk. The available evidence is suggestive but as of 2023 remains inconclusive. Alcohol-based mouthwashes do increase salivary acetaldehyde levels after use, similarly to an alcoholic beverage. However, mouthwashes are designed for bacterial elimination, and therefore kill the microbes that metabolize ethanol to acetaldehyde, potentially reducing overall exposure to acetaldehyde and providing a protective effect. In a 2021 meta-analysis, use of alcohol-based mouthwash more than once per day was associated with a 4% elevated risk of oral cancer, but the result was barely significant. The same analysis found that using an alcohol-based mouthwash once per day or less minimally affected oral cancer risk and was not statistically significant. A 2020 systematic review suggested that the effect may be limited to aggravating the risks in certain populations, such as smokers, heavy drinkers, and those with poor oral health. These populations were all found to have significantly increased risks from using alcohol-based mouthwash. One large pooled analysis found a 36% increase in incidence of oral cancer among never-smokers never-drinkers who used mouthwashes for more than 35 years. The study did not determine use of alcohol-based mouthwashes but merely the use of mouthwash, although data for a subset of participants suggested most mouthwashes used were alcohol-based.
Human papillomavirus
Infection with human papillomavirus (HPV), particularly type 16 (there are over 180 types), is a known risk factor and independent causative factor for oral cancer. A fast-growing segment of those diagnosed does not present with the historic stereotypical demographics. Historically that has been people over 50, blacks over whites 2 to 1, males over females 3 to 1, and 75% of the time people who have used tobacco products or are heavy users of alcohol. This new and rapidly growing subpopulation between 30 and 50 years old, is predominantly nonsmoking, white, and males slightly outnumber females. Recent research from multiple peer-reviewed journal articles indicates that HPV16 is the primary risk factor in this new population of people with oral cancer. HPV16 (along with HPV18) is the same virus responsible for the vast majority of all cervical cancers and is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the US. Oral cancer in this group tends to favor the tonsil and tonsillar pillars, base of the tongue, and the oropharynx. Recent data suggest that individuals who develop the disease from this particular cause have a significant survival advantage, as the disease responds better to radiation treatments than tobacco caused disease.
Betel nut
Chewing betel, paan and Areca is known to be a strong risk factor for developing oral cancer even in the absence of tobacco. It increases the rate of oral cancer 2.1 times, through a variety of genetic and related effects through local irritation of the mucous membrane cells, particularly from the areca nut and slaked lime. In India where such practices are common, oral cancer represents up to 40% of all cancers, compared to just 4% in the UK.
Stem cell transplantation
People after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are at a higher risk for oral squamous cell carcinoma. Post-HSCT oral cancer may have more aggressive behavior with poorer prognosis, when compared to oral cancer in people not treated with HSCT. This effect is supposed to be owing to the continuous lifelong immune suppression and chronic oral graft-versus-host disease.
Premalignant lesions
A premalignant (or precancerous) lesion is defined as "a benign, morphologically altered tissue that has a greater than normal risk of malignant transformation." There are several different types of premalignant lesion that occur in the mouth. Some oral cancers begin as white patches (leukoplakia), red patches (erythroplakia) or mixed red and white patches (erythroleukoplakia or "speckled leukoplakia"). Other common premalignant lesions include oral submucous fibrosis and actinic cheilitis. In the Indian subcontinent oral submucous fibrosis is very common due to betel nut chewing. This condition is characterized by limited opening of mouth and burning sensation on eating of spicy food. This is a progressive lesion in which the opening of the mouth becomes progressively limited, and later on even normal eating becomes difficult.
Pathophysiology
Oral squamous cell carcinoma is the end product of an unregulated proliferation of mucous basal cells. A single precursor cell is transformed into a clone consisting of many daughter cells with an accumulation of altered genes called oncogenes. What characterizes a malignant tumor over a benign one is its ability to metastasize. This ability is independent of the size or grade of the tumor (often seemingly slow growing cancers like the adenoid cystic carcinoma can metastasis widely). It is not just rapid growth that characterizes a cancer, but their ability to secrete enzymes, angiogeneic factors, invasion factors, growth factors and many other factors that allow it to spread.
Diagnosis
Diagnosis of oral cancer is completed for (1) initial diagnosis, (2) staging, and (3) treatment planning. A complete history, and clinical examination is first completed, then a wedge of tissue is cut from the suspicious lesion for tissue diagnosis. This might be done with scalpel biopsy, punch biopsy, fine or core needle biopsy. In this procedure, the surgeon cuts all, or a piece of the tissue, to have it examined under a microscope by a pathologist. Brush biopsies are not considered accurate for the diagnosis of oral cancer. Salivary biomarkers are also being under investigation with emerging outcomes and could potentially be used as a non-invasive diagnostic tool in the future.
With the first biopsy, the pathologist will provide a tissue diagnosis (e.g. squamous cell carcinoma), and classify the cell structure. They may add additional information that can be used in staging, and treatment planning, such as the mitotic rate, the depth of invasion, and the HPV status of the tissue.
After the tissue is confirmed cancerous, other tests will be completed to:
better assess the size of the lesion (CT scan, MRI or PET scan with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)),
look for other cancers in the upper aerodigestive tract (which may include endoscopy of the nasal cavity/pharynx, larynx, bronchus, and esophagus called panendoscopy or quadoscopy),
spread to the lymph nodes (CT scan) or
spread to other parts of the body (chest X-ray, nuclear medicine).
Other, more invasive tests, may also be completed such as fine needle aspiration, biopsy of lymph nodes, and sentinel node biopsy. When the cancer has spread to lymph nodes, their exact location, size, and spread beyond the capsule (of the lymph nodes) needs to be determined, as each can have a significant impact on treatment and prognosis. Small differences in the pattern of lymph node spread, can have a significant impact on treatment and prognosis. Panendoscopy may be recommended, because the tissues of the entire upper aerodigestive tract are generally affected by the same carcinogens, so other primary cancers are a common occurrence.
From these collective findings, taken in consideration with the health and desires of the person, the cancer team develops a plan for treatment. Since most oral cancers require surgical removal, a second set of histopathologic tests will be completed on any tumor removed to determine the prognosis, need for additional surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy, or other interventions.
Classification
Oral cancer is a subgroup of head and neck cancers which includes those of the oropharynx, larynx, nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses, salivary glands, and thyroid gland. Oral melanoma, while part of head and neck cancers is considered separately. Other cancers can occur in the mouth (such as bone cancer, lymphoma, or metastatic cancers from distant sites) but are also considered separately from oral cancers.
Staging
Oral cancer staging is an assessment of the degree of spread of the cancer from its original source. It is one of the factors affecting both the prognosis and the potential treatment of oral cancer.
The evaluation of squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth and pharynx staging uses the TNM classification (tumor, node, metastasis). This is based on the size of the primary tumor, lymph node involvement, and distant metastasis.
TMN evaluation allows the person to be classified into a prognostic staging group;
Screening
The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) in 2013 stated evidence was insufficient to determine the balance of benefits and harms of screening for oral cancer in adults without symptoms by primary care providers. The American Academy of Family Physicians comes to similar conclusions while the American Cancer Society recommends that adults over 20 years who have periodic health examinations should have the oral cavity examined for cancer. The American Dental Association recommends that providers remain alert for signs of cancer during routine examinations.
There are a variety of screening devices such as toluidine blue, brush biopsy, or fluorescence imaging, however, there is no evidence that routine use of these devices in general dental practice is helpful. Potential risks of using screening devices include false positives, unnecessary surgical biopsies, and a financial burden. Micronuclei assays can help in early detection of pre-malignant and malignant lesions, thereby improving survival and reducing morbidity associated with treatment.
There has also been research showing potential in using oral cytology as a diagnostic test for oral cancer instead of traditional biopsy techniques. In oral cytology, a brush is used to take some cells from the suspected lesion/area and these are sent to a laboratory for examination. This can be much less invasive and painful than a scalpel biopsy for the patient, however, there needs to be further research before oral cytology can be considered as an effective routine screening tool when compared to biopsies.
Management
Oral cancer (squamous cell carcinoma) is usually treated with surgery alone, or in combination with adjunctive therapy, including radiation, with or without chemotherapy. With small lesions (T1), surgery or radiation have similar control rates, so the decision about which to use is based on functional outcome, and complication rates.
Surgery
In most centres, removal of squamous cell carcinoma from the oral cavity and neck is achieved primarily through surgery. This also allows a detailed examination of the tissue for histopathologic characteristics, such as depth, and spread to lymph nodes that might require radiation or chemotherapy. For small lesions (T1–2), access to the oral cavity is through the mouth. When the lesion is larger, involves the bone of the maxilla or mandible, or access is limited due to mouth opening, the upper or lower lip is split, and the cheek pulled back to give greater access to the mouth. When the tumor involves the jaw bone, or when surgery or radiation will cause severe limited mouth opening, part of the bone is also removed with the tumor.
Management of the neck
Spread of cancer from the oral cavity to the lymph nodes of the neck has a significant effect on survival. Between 60 and 70% of people with early stage oral cancer will have no lymph node involvement of the neck clinically, but 20–30% of those people (or up to 20% of all those affected) will have clinically undetectable spread of cancer to the lymph nodes of the neck (called occult disease).
The management of the neck is crucial, since spread to it reduces the chance of survival by 50%. If there is evidence of lymph node involvement of the neck, during the diagnostic phase, then a modified radical neck dissection is generally performed. Where the neck lymph nodes have no evidence of involvement clinically, but the oral cavity lesion is high risk for spread (e.g. T2 or above lesions), then a neck dissection of the lymph nodes above the level of the omohyoid muscle may be completed. T1 lesions that are 4 mm or greater in thickness have a significant risk of spread to neck nodes. When disease if found in the nodes after removal (but not seen clinically) the recurrence rates is 10–24%. If post-operative radiation is added, the failure rate is 0–15%. When lymph nodes are clinically found during the diagnosis phase, and radiation is added post-operative, disease control is >80%.
Radiotherapy and chemotherapy
Chemotherapy and radiotherapy are most often used, as an adjunct to surgery, to control oral cancer that is greater than stage 1, or has spread to either regional lymph nodes or other parts of the body. Radiotherapy alone can be used instead of surgery, for very small lesions, but is generally used as an adjunct when lesions are large, cannot be completely removed, or have spread to the lymph nodes of the neck. Chemotherapy is useful in oral cancers when used in combination with other treatment modalities such as radiation therapy but it is not used alone as a monotherapy. When a cure is unlikely, it can also be used to extend life and can be considered palliative but not curative care.
Monoclonal antibody therapy (with agents such as cetuximab) have been shown to be effective in the treatment of squamous cell head and neck cancers, and are likely to have an increasing role in the future management of this condition when used in conjunction with other established treatment modalities, although it is not a replacement for chemotherapy in head and neck cancers. Likewise, molecularly targeted therapies and immunotherapies maybe be effective for the treatment of oral and oropharyngeal cancers. Adding epidermal growth factor receptor monoclonal antibody (EGFR mAb) to standard treatment may increase survival, keeping the cancer limited to that area of the body and may decrease reappearance of the cancer.
Rehabilitation
Following treatment, rehabilitation may be necessary to improve movement, chewing, swallowing, and speech. Speech and language pathologists may be involved at this stage. Treatment of oral cancer will usually be by a multidisciplinary team, with treatment professionals from the realms of radiation, surgery, chemotherapy, nutrition, dentistry, and even psychology all possibly involved with diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, and care. Due to the location of oral cancer, there may be a period where the person requires a tracheotomy and feeding tube.
Prognosis
Survival rates for oral cancer depend on the precise site and the stage of the cancer at diagnosis. Overall, 2011 data from the SEER database shows that survival is around 57% at five years when all stages of initial diagnosis, all genders, all ethnicities, all age groups, and all treatment modalities are considered. Survival rates for stage 1 cancers are approximately 90%, hence the emphasis on early detection to increase survival outcome for people. Similar survival rates are reported from other countries, such as Germany.
Epidemiology
Globally, it newly occurred in about 355,000 people and resulted in 177,000 deaths in 2018. Of these 355,000, about 246,000 are males and 108,000 are females.
In 2013, oral cancer resulted in 135,000 deaths, up from 84,000 deaths in 1990. Oral cancer occurs more often in people from lower and middle income countries.
Europe
Europe places second-highest after Southeast Asia among all continents for age-standardised rate (ASR) specific to oral and oropharyngeal cancer. It is estimated that there were 61,400 cases of oral and lip cancer within Europe in 2012. Hungary recorded the highest number of mortality and morbidity due to oral and pharyngeal cancer among all European countries while Cyprus reported the lowest numbers
United Kingdom
British Cancer Research found 2,386 deaths due to oral cancer in 2014; while most oral cancer cases are diagnosed in older adults between 50 and 74 years old, this condition can affect the young as well; 6% of people affected by oral cancer are under 45 years of age. The UK is 16th-lowest for males and 11th-highest for females for oral cancer incidence among Europe. Additionally, there is a regional variability within the UK, with Scotland and northern England having higher rates than southern England. The same analysis applies to lifetime risk of developing oral cancer, as in Scotland it is 1.84% in males and 0.74% in females, higher than the rest of the UK, being 1.06% and 0.48%, respectively.
Oral cancer is the sixteenth most common cancer in the UK (around 6,800 people were diagnosed with oral cancer in the UK in 2011), and it is the nineteenth-most -common cause of cancer death (around 2,100 people died from the disease in 2012).
Northern Europe
The highest incidence of oral and pharyngeal cancer was recorded in Denmark, with age-standardised rates per 100,000 of 13.0, followed by Lithuania (9.9) and the United Kingdom (9.8). Lithuania reported the highest incidence in men while Denmark reported the highest in women. The highest rates for mortality in 2012 were reported in Lithuania (7.5), Estonia (6.0), and Latvia (5.4). Incidence of oral cancer in young adults (ages 20–39 years old) in Scandinavia has reportedly risen approximately 6-fold between 1960 and 1994 The high incidence rate of oral and pharyngeal cancer in Denmark could be attributed to their higher alcohol intake than citizens of other Scandinavian countries and low intake of fruits and vegetables in general.
Eastern Europe
Hungary (23.3), Slovakia (16.4), and Romania (15.5) reported the highest incidences of oral and pharyngeal cancer. Hungary also recorded the highest incidence in both genders as well as the highest mortality rates in Europe. It is ranked third globally for cancer mortality rates. Cigarette smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, inequalities in the care received by people with cancer, and gender-specific systemic risk factors have been determined as the leading causes for the high morbidity and mortality rates in Hungary.
Western Europe
The incidence rates of oral cancer in western Europe found France, Germany and Belgium to be highest. The ASRs (per 100,000) were 15.0, 14.6, and 14.1, respectively. When filtered by gender category, the same countries rank top 3 for male, however, in different order of Belgium (21.9), Germany (23.1), and France (23.1). France, Belgium, and the Netherlands ranks highest for females, with ASRs 7.6, 7.0, and 7.0, respectively.
Southern Europe
Incidence of oral and oropharyngeal cancers were recorded, finding Portugal, Croatia and Serbia to have highest rates (ASR per 100,000). These values are 15.4, 12, and 11.7, respectively.
United States
In 2022, close to 54,000 Americans are projected to be diagnosed with oral or oropharyngeal cancer. 66% of the time, these will be found as late stage three and four disease. It will cause over 8,000 deaths. Of those newly diagnosed, only slightly more than half will be alive in five years. Similar survival estimates are reported from other countries. For example, five-year relative survival for oral cavity cancer in Germany is about 55%. In the US oral cancer accounts for about 8 percent of all malignant growths.
Oral cancers overall risk higher in black males opposed to white males, however specific oral cancers-such as of the lip, have a higher risk in white males opposed to black males. Overall, rates of oral cancer between gender groups (male and female) seem to be decreasing, according to data from 3 studies.
Of all the cancers, oral cancer attributes to 3% in males, opposed to 2% in women. New cases of oral cancer in US as of 2013, approximated almost 66,000 with almost 14000 attributed from tongue cancer, and nearly 12000 from the mouth, and the remainder from the oral cavity and pharynx. In the previous year, 1.6% of lip and oral cavity cancers were diagnosed, where the age-standardised incidence rate (ASIR) across all geographic regions of United States of America estimates at 5.2 per 100,000 population. It is the eleventh-most-common cancer in the United States among males while in Canada and Mexico it is the twelfth and thirteenth-most-common cancer respectively. The ASIR for lip and oral cavity cancer among men in Canada and Mexico is 4.2 and 3.1, respectively.
South America
The ASIR across all geographic regions of South America as of 2012 sits at 3.8 per 100,000 population where approximately 6,046 deaths have occurred due to lip and oral cavity cancer, where the age-standardized mortality rate remains at 1.4.
In Brazil, however, lip and oral cavity cancer is the 7th most common cancer, with an estimated 6,930 new cases diagnosed in the year 2012. This number is rising and has an overall higher ASIR at 7.2 per 100,000 population whereby an approx 3000 deaths have occurred
Rates are increasing across both males and females. As of 2017, almost 50000 new cases of oropharyngeal cancers will be diagnosed, with incidence rates being more than twice as high in men than women.
Asia
Oral cancer is one of the most-common types of cancer in Asia due to its association with smoking (tobacco, bidi), betel quid and alcohol consumption. Regionally incidence varies with highest rates in South Asia, particularly India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. In South East Asia and Arab countries, although the prevalence is not as high, estimated incidences of oral cancer ranged from 1.6 to 8.6/ 100,000 and 1.8 to 2.13/ 100,000 respectively. According to GLOBOCAN 2012, the estimated age-standardised rates of cancer incidence and mortality was higher in males than females. However, in some areas, specifically South East Asia, similar rates were recorded for both genders. The average age of those diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma is approximately 51–55. In 2012, there were 97,400 deaths recorded due to oral cancer.
India
Oral cancer is the third-most-common form of cancer in India with over 77 000 new cases diagnosed in 2012 (2.3:1 male to female ratio). Studies estimate over five deaths per hour. One of the reasons behind such high incidence might be popularity of betel and areca nuts, which are considered to be risk factors for development of oral cavity cancers.
Africa
There is limited data for the prevalence of oral cancer in Africa. The following rates describe the number of new cases (for incidence rates) or deaths (for mortality rates) per 100 000 individuals per year.
The incidence rate of oral cancer is 2.6 for both sexes. The rate is higher in males at 3.3 and lower in females at 2.0.
The mortality rate is lower than the incidence rate at 1.6 for both sexes. The rate is again higher for males at 2.1 and lower for females at 1.3.
Australia
The following rates describe the number of new cases or deaths per 100 000 individuals per year. The incidence rate of oral cancer is 6.3 for both sexes; this is higher in males at 6.8–8.8 and lower in females at 3.7–3.9. The mortality rate is significantly lower than the incidence rate at 1.0 for both sexes. The rate is higher in males at 1.4 and lower in females at 0.6. Table 1 provides age-standardised incidence and mortality rates for oral cancer based on the location in the mouth. The location 'other mouth' refers to the buccal mucosa, the vestibule and other unspecified parts of the mouth. The data suggests lip cancer has the highest incidence rate while gingival cancer has the lowest rate overall. In terms of mortality rates, oropharyngeal cancer has the highest rate in males and tongue cancer has the highest rate in females. Lip, palatal and gingival cancer have the lowest mortality rates overall.
Other animals
Oral cancers are the fourth most common type seen in other animals in veterinary medicine, with older animals having higher chances of developing it.
Dogs that are a breed that is at higher risk of developing oral cancer are more susceptible. Tumors that are found early in development can be removed by surgery, however some cases involve removing a part of the jaw. Chemotherapy is used following surgeries or to remove a tumor that cannot be accessed. Tumors that are caught when the cancer has already spread to other places of the body will result in the dog living for only 6-12 more months.
The most common type of oral cancer seen in cats is squamous cell carcinoma. Due to tumors developing in hidden spots such as beneath the tongue, when the tumors in the cats mouth are caught it is often untreatable. Risk factors include secondhand smoke, as the smoke settles on the fur which is ingested when cats groom, and potentially the over consumption of canned food and use of flea collars.
References
External links
A digital manual for the early diagnosis of oral neoplasia (IARC Screening Group)
Health effects of tobacco
Oral neoplasia
Otorhinolaryngology
Oral and maxillofacial surgery
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovarian%20cancer
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Ovarian cancer
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Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different cell types including epithelial cells, germ cells, and stromal cells. When these cells become abnormal, they have the ability to divide and form tumors. These cells can also invade or spread to other parts of the body. When this process begins, there may be no or only vague symptoms. Symptoms become more noticeable as the cancer progresses. These symptoms may include bloating, vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, abdominal swelling, constipation, and loss of appetite, among others. Common areas to which the cancer may spread include the lining of the abdomen, lymph nodes, lungs, and liver.
The risk of ovarian cancer increases with age. Most cases of ovarian cancer develop after menopause. It is also more common in women who have ovulated more over their lifetime. This includes those who have never had children, those who began ovulation at a younger age and those who reach menopause at an older age. Other risk factors include hormone therapy after menopause, fertility medication, and obesity. Factors that decrease risk include hormonal birth control, tubal ligation, pregnancy, and breast feeding. About 10% of cases are related to inherited genetic risk; women with mutations in the genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 have about a 50% chance of developing the disease. Some family cancer syndromes such as hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer and Peutz-Jeghers syndrome also increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer. Epithelial ovarian carcinoma is the most common type of ovarian cancer, comprising more than 95% of cases. There are five main subtypes of ovarian carcinoma, of which high-grade serous carcinoma (HGSC) is the most common. Less common types of ovarian cancer include germ cell tumors and sex cord stromal tumors. A diagnosis of ovarian cancer is confirmed through a biopsy of tissue, usually removed during surgery.
Screening is not recommended in women who are at average risk, as evidence does not support a reduction in death and the high rate of false positive tests may lead to unneeded surgery, which is accompanied by its own risks. Those at very high risk may have their ovaries removed as a preventive measure. If caught and treated in an early stage, ovarian cancer is often curable. Treatment usually includes some combination of surgery, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy. Outcomes depend on the extent of the disease, the subtype of cancer present, and other medical conditions. The overall five-year survival rate in the United States is 49%. Outcomes are worse in the developing world.
In 2020, new cases occurred in approximately 313,000 women. In 2019 it resulted in 13,445 deaths in the United States. Death from ovarian cancer increased globally between 1990 and 2017 by 84.2%. Ovarian cancer is the second-most common gynecologic cancer in the United States. It causes more deaths than any other cancer of the female reproductive system. Among women it ranks fifth in cancer-related deaths. The typical age of diagnosis is 63. Death from ovarian cancer is more common in North America and Europe than in Africa and Asia. In the United States, it is more common in White and Hispanic women than Black or American Indian women.
Signs and symptoms
Early symptoms
Early signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer may be absent or subtle. In most cases, symptoms exist for several months before being recognized and diagnosed. Symptoms can often be misdiagnosed as irritable bowel syndrome. The early stages of ovarian cancer tend to be painless which makes it difficult to detect it early on. Symptoms can vary based on the subtype. Ovarian borderline tumors, also known as low malignant potential (LMP) ovarian tumors, do not cause an increase in CA125 levels and are not identifiable with an ultrasound. The typical symptoms of an LMP tumor can include abdominal distension or pelvic pain. Particularly large masses tend to be benign or borderline.
The most typical symptoms of ovarian cancer include bloating, abdominal or pelvic pain or discomfort, back pain, irregular menstruation or postmenopausal vaginal bleeding, pain or bleeding after or during sexual intercourse, loss of appetite, fatigue, diarrhea, indigestion, heartburn, constipation, nausea, feeling full, and possibly urinary symptoms (including frequent urination and urgent urination).
Later symptoms
Later symptoms of ovarian cancer are due to the growing mass causing pain by pressing on other abdominopelvic organs or from metastases. Because of the anatomic location of the ovaries deep in the pelvis, most masses are large and advanced at the time of diagnosis. The growing mass may cause pain if ovarian torsion develops. If these symptoms start to occur more often or more severely than usual, especially after no significant history of such symptoms, ovarian cancer is considered. Metastases may cause a Sister Mary Joseph nodule. Rarely, teratomas can cause growing teratoma syndrome or peritoneal gliomatosis. Some experience menometrorrhagia and abnormal vaginal bleeding after menopause in most cases. Other common symptoms include hirsutism, abdominal pain, virilization, and an adnexal mass.
Children
In adolescents or children with ovarian tumors, symptoms can include severe abdominal pain, irritation of the peritoneum, or bleeding. Sex cord stromal tumors produce hormones which can lead to the premature development of secondary sex characteristics. Sex cord-stromal tumors in prepubertal children may be manifested by signs of early puberty; abdominal pain and distension are also common. Adolescents with sex cord-stromal tumors may experience amenorrhea. As the cancer becomes more advanced, it can cause an accumulation of fluid in the abdomen and lead to distension. If the malignancy has not been diagnosed by the time it causes ascites, it is typically diagnosed shortly thereafter. Advanced cancers can also cause abdominal masses, lymph node masses, or pleural effusion.
Risk factors
There are many known risk factors that may increase a woman's risk of developing ovarian cancer. The risk of developing ovarian cancer is related to the amount of time a woman spends ovulating. Factors that increase the number of ovulatory cycles a woman undergoes may increase the risk of developing ovarian cancer. During ovulation, cells are stimulated to divide. If this division is abnormally regulated, tumors may form which can be malignant. Early menarche and late menopause increase the number of ovulatory cycles a woman undergoes in her lifetime and so increases the risk of developing ovarian cancer. Since ovulation is suppressed during pregnancy, not having children also increases the risk of ovarian cancer. Therefore, women who have not borne children are at twice the risk of ovarian cancer than those who have. Both obesity and hormone replacement therapy also raise the risk.
The risk of developing ovarian cancer is less for women who have fewer menstrual cycles, no menstrual cycles, breast feeding, take oral contraceptives, have multiple pregnancies, and have a pregnancy at an early age. The risk of developing ovarian cancer is reduced in women who have had tubal ligation (colloquially known as having one's "tubes tied"), both ovaries removed, or hysterectomy (an operation in which the uterus is removed). Age is also a risk factor. Non-genetic factors such as diabetes mellitus, high body mass index, tobacco, and alcohol use are also risk factors for ovarian cancer.
Hormones
The use of fertility medication may contribute to ovarian borderline tumor formation, but the link between the two is disputed and difficult to study. Fertility drugs may be associated with a higher risk of borderline tumors. Those who have been treated for infertility but remain nulliparous are at higher risk for epithelial ovarian cancer due to hormonal exposure that may lead to proliferation of cells. However, those who are successfully treated for infertility and subsequently give birth are at no higher risk. This may be due to shedding of precancerous cells during pregnancy, but the cause remains unclear. The risk factor may instead be infertility itself, not the treatment.
Hormonal conditions such as polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis are associated with ovarian cancer, but the link is not completely confirmed. Postmenopausal hormone replacement therapy (HRT) with estrogen likely increases the risk of ovarian cancer. The association has not been confirmed in a large-scale study, but notable studies including the Million Women Study have supported this link. Postmenopausal HRT with combined estrogen and progesterone may increase contemporaneous risk if used for over 5 years, but this risk returns to normal after cessation of therapy. Estrogen HRT with or without progestins increases the risk of endometrioid and serous tumors but lowers the risk of mucinous tumors. Higher doses of estrogen increase this risk. Endometriosis is another risk factor for ovarian cancer, as is pain with menstruation. Endometriosis is associated with clear-cell and endometrioid subtypes, low-grade serous tumors, stage I and II tumors, grade 1 tumors, and lower mortality.
Before menopause, obesity can increase a person's risk of ovarian cancer, but this risk is not present after menopause. This risk is also relevant in those who are both obese and have never used HRT. A similar association with ovarian cancer appears in taller women.
Genetics
A family history of ovarian cancer is a risk factor for ovarian cancer. Women with hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer (Lynch syndrome), and those with BRCA-1 and BRCA-2 genetic abnormalities are at increased risk.
The major genetic risk factor for ovarian cancer is a mutation in BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes, or in DNA mismatch repair genes, which is present in 10% of ovarian cancer cases. Only one allele needs to be mutated to place a person at high risk. The gene can be inherited through either the maternal or paternal line, but has variable penetrance. Though mutations in these genes are usually associated with increased risk of breast cancer, they also carry a substantial lifetime risk of ovarian cancer, a risk that peaks in a person's 40s and 50s. The lowest risk cited is 30% and the highest 60%. Mutations in BRCA1 have a lifetime risk of developing ovarian cancer of 15–45%. Mutations in BRCA2 are less risky than those with BRCA1, with a lifetime risk of 10% (lowest risk cited) to 40% (highest risk cited). On average, BRCA-associated cancers develop 15 years before their sporadic counterparts because people who inherit the mutations on one copy of their gene only need one mutation to start the process of carcinogenesis, whereas people with two normal genes would need to acquire two mutations.
In the United States, five of 100 women with a first-degree relative with ovarian cancer will eventually get ovarian cancer themselves, placing those with affected family members at triple the risk of women with unaffected family members. Seven of 100 women with two or more relatives with ovarian cancer will eventually get ovarian cancer. In general, 5–10% of ovarian cancer cases have a genetic cause. BRCA mutations are associated with high-grade serous nonmucinous epithelial ovarian cancer.
A strong family history of endometrial cancer, colon cancer, or other gastrointestinal cancers may indicate the presence of a syndrome known as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (also known as Lynch syndrome), which confers a higher risk for developing a number of cancers, including ovarian cancer. Lynch syndrome is caused by mutations in mismatch repair genes, including MSH2, MLH1, MLH6, PMS1, and PMS2. The risk of ovarian cancer for an individual with Lynch syndrome is between 10 and 12 percent. Women of Icelandic descent, European Jewish descent/Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and Hungarian descent are at higher risk for epithelial ovarian cancer. Estrogen receptor beta gene (ESR2) seems to be a key to pathogenesis and response to therapy. Other genes that have been associated with ovarian cancer are BRIP1, MSH6, RAD51C and RAD51D. CDH1, CHEK2, PALB2 and RAD50 have also been associated with ovarian cancer.
Several rare genetic disorders are associated with specific subtypes of ovarian cancer. Peutz–Jeghers syndrome, a rare genetic disorder, also predisposes women to sex cord tumour with annular tubules. Ollier disease and Maffucci syndrome are associated with granulosa cell tumors in children and may also be associated with Sertoli-Leydig tumors. Benign fibromas are associated with nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome.
Diet
Alcohol consumption does not appear to be related to ovarian cancer.
The American Cancer Society recommends a healthy eating pattern that includes plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and a diet that avoids or limits red and processed meats and processed sugar. High consumption of total, saturated and trans-fats increases ovarian cancer risk. A 2021 umbrella review found that coffee, egg, and fat intake significantly increases the risk of ovarian cancer. There is mixed evidence from studies on ovarian cancer risk and consumption of dairy products.
Environmental factors
Industrialized nations, with the exception of Japan, have high rates of epithelial ovarian cancer, which may be due to diet in those countries. White women are at a 30–40% higher risk for ovarian cancer when compared to Black women and Hispanic women, likely due to socioeconomic factors; white women tend to have fewer children and different rates of gynecologic surgeries that affect risk for ovarian cancer.
Tentative evidence suggests that talc, pesticides, and herbicides increase the risk of ovarian cancer. The American Cancer Society notes that as of now, no study has been able to accurately link any single chemical in the environment, or in the human diet, directly to mutations that cause ovarian cancer.
Other
Other factors that have been investigated, such as smoking, low levels of vitamin D in the blood, presence of inclusion ovarian cysts, and infection with human papilloma virus (the cause of some cases of cervical cancer), have been disproven as risk factors for ovarian cancer. The carcinogenicity of perineal talc is controversial, because it can act as an irritant if it travels through the reproductive tract to the ovaries. Case-control studies have shown that use of perineal talc does increase the risk of ovarian cancer, but using talc more often does not create a greater risk. Use of talc elsewhere on the body is unrelated to ovarian cancer. Sitting regularly for prolonged periods is associated with higher mortality from epithelial ovarian cancer. The risk is not negated by regular exercise, though it is lowered.
Increased age (up to the 70s) is a risk factor for epithelial ovarian cancer because more mutations in cells can accumulate and eventually cause cancer. Those over 80 are at slightly lower risk.
Smoking tobacco is associated with a higher risk of mucinous ovarian cancer; after smoking cessation, the risk eventually returns to normal. Higher levels of C-reactive protein are associated with a higher risk of developing ovarian cancer.
Protective factors
Suppression of ovulation, which would otherwise cause damage to the ovarian epithelium and, consequently, inflammation, is generally protective. This effect can be achieved by having children, taking combined oral contraceptives, and breast feeding, all of which are protective factors. A longer period of breastfeeding correlates with a larger decrease in the risk of ovarian cancer. Each birth decreases risk of ovarian cancer more, and this effect is seen with up to five births. Combined oral contraceptives reduce the risk of ovarian cancer by up to 50%, and the protective effect of combined oral contraceptives can last 25–30 years after they are discontinued. Regular use of aspirin or acetaminophen (paracetamol) may be associated with a lower risk of ovarian cancer; other NSAIDs do not seem to have a similar protective effect.
Tubal ligation is protective because carcinogens are unable to reach the ovary and fimbriae via the vagina, uterus, and Fallopian tubes. Tubal ligation is also protective in women with the BRCA1 mutation, but not the BRCA2 mutation. Hysterectomy reduces the risk, and removal of both Fallopian tubes and ovaries (bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy) dramatically reduces the risk of not only ovarian cancer but breast cancer as well. This is still a topic of research, as the link between hysterectomy and lower ovarian cancer risk is controversial. The reasons that hysterectomy may be protective have not been elucidated as of 2015.
A diet that includes large amounts of carotene, fiber, and vitamins with low amounts of fat—specifically, a diet with non-starchy vegetables (e.g. broccoli and onions) may be protective. Dietary fiber is associated with a significant reduced risk of ovarian cancer. A 2021 review found that green leafy vegetables, allium vegetables, fiber, flavanoids and green tea intake can significantly reduce ovarian cancer risk.
Pathophysiology
Ovarian cancer forms when errors in normal ovarian cell growth occur. Usually, when cells grow old or get damaged, they die, and new cells take their place. Cancer starts when new cells form unneeded, and old or damaged cells do not die as they should. The buildup of extra cells often forms a mass of tissue called an ovarian tumor or growth. These abnormal cancer cells have many genetic abnormalities that cause them to grow excessively. When an ovary releases an egg, the egg follicle bursts open and becomes the corpus luteum. This structure needs to be repaired by dividing cells in the ovary. Continuous ovulation for a long time means more repair of the ovary by dividing cells, which can acquire mutations in each division.
Overall, the most common gene mutations in ovarian cancer occur in NF1, BRCA1, BRCA2, and CDK12. Type I ovarian cancers, which tend to be less aggressive, tend to have microsatellite instability in several genes, including both oncogenes (most notably BRAF and KRAS) and tumor suppressors (most notably PTEN). The most common mutations in Type I cancers are KRAS, BRAF, ERBB2, PTEN, PIK3CA, and ARID1A. Type II cancers, the more aggressive type, have different genes mutated, including p53, BRCA1, and BRCA2. Low-grade cancers tend to have mutations in KRAS, whereas cancers of any grade that develop from low malignant potential tumors tend to have mutations in p53. Type I cancers tend to develop from precursor lesions, whereas Type II cancers can develop from a serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma. Serous cancers that have BRCA mutations also inevitably have p53 mutations, indicating that the removal of both functional genes is important for cancer to develop.
In 50% of high-grade serous cancers, homologous recombination DNA repair is dysfunctional, as are the notch and FOXM1 signaling pathways. They also almost always have p53 mutations. Other than this, mutations in high-grade serous carcinoma are hard to characterize beyond their high degree of genomic instability. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are essential for homologous recombination DNA repair, and germline mutations in these genes are found in about 15% of women with ovarian cancer. The most common mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 are the frameshift mutations that originated in a small founding population of Ashkenazi Jews.
Almost 100% of rare mucinous carcinomas have mutations in KRAS and amplifications of ERBB2 (also known as Her2/neu). Overall, 20% of ovarian cancers have mutations in Her2/neu.
Serous carcinomas may develop from serous tubal intraepithelial carcinoma, rather than developing spontaneously from ovarian tissue. Other carcinomas develop from cortical inclusion cysts, which are groups of epithelial ovarian cells inside the stroma.
Diagnosis
Examination
Diagnosis of ovarian cancer starts with a physical examination (including a pelvic examination), a blood test (for CA-125 and sometimes other markers), and transvaginal ultrasound. Sometimes a rectovaginal examination is used to help plan a surgery. The diagnosis must be confirmed with surgery to inspect the abdominal cavity, take biopsies (tissue samples for microscopic analysis), and look for cancer cells in the abdominal fluid. This helps to determine if an ovarian mass is benign or malignant.
Ovarian cancer's early stages (I/II) are difficult to diagnose because most symptoms are nonspecific and thus of little use in diagnosis; as a result, it is rarely diagnosed until it spreads and advances to later stages (III/IV). Additionally, symptoms of ovarian cancer may appear similar to irritable bowel syndrome. In women in whom pregnancy is a possibility, BHCG level can be measured during the diagnosis process. Serum alpha-fetoprotein, neuron-specific enolase, and lactate dehydrogenase can be measured in young girls and adolescents with suspected ovarian tumors as younger women with ovarian cancer are more likely to have malignant germ cell tumors.
A physical examination, including a pelvic examination, and a pelvic ultrasound (transvaginal or otherwise) are both essential for diagnosis: physical examination may reveal increased abdominal girth and/or ascites (fluid within the abdominal cavity), while pelvic examination may reveal an ovarian or abdominal mass. An adnexal mass is a significant finding that often indicates ovarian cancer, especially if it is fixed, nodular, irregular, solid, and/or bilateral. 13–21% of adnexal masses are caused by malignancy; however, there are other benign causes of adnexal masses, including ovarian follicular cyst, leiomyoma, endometriosis, ectopic pregnancy, hydrosalpinx, tuboovarian abscess, ovarian torsion, dermoid cyst, cystadenoma (serous or mucinous), diverticular or appendiceal abscess, nerve sheath tumor, pelvic kidney, ureteral or bladder diverticulum, benign cystic mesothelioma of the peritoneum, peritoneal tuberculosis, or paraovarian cyst. Ovaries that can be felt are also a sign of ovarian cancer in postmenopausal women. Other parts of a physical examination for suspected ovarian cancer can include a breast examination and a digital rectal exam. Palpation of the supraclavicular, axillary, and inguinal lymph nodes may reveal lymphadenopathy, which can be indicative of metastasis. Another indicator may be the presence of a pleural effusion, which can be noted on auscultation.
When an ovarian malignancy is included in a list of diagnostic possibilities, a limited number of laboratory tests are indicated. A complete blood count and serum electrolyte test is usually obtained; when an ovarian cancer is present, these tests often show a high number of platelets (20–25% of patients) and low blood sodium levels due to chemical signals secreted by the tumor. A positive test for inhibin A and inhibin B can indicate a granulosa cell tumor.
A blood test for a marker molecule called CA-125 is useful in differential diagnosis and in follow up of the disease, but it by itself has not been shown to be an effective method to screen for early-stage ovarian cancer due to its unacceptable low sensitivity and specificity. CA-125 levels in premenopausal women over 200 U/mL may indicate ovarian cancer, as may any elevation in CA-125 above 35 U/mL in post-menopausal women. CA-125 levels are not accurate in early stage ovarian cancer, as half of stage I ovarian cancer patients have a normal CA-125 level. CA-125 may also be elevated in benign (non-cancerous) conditions, including endometriosis, pregnancy, uterine fibroids, menstruation, ovarian cysts, systemic lupus erythematosus, liver disease, inflammatory bowel disease, pelvic inflammatory disease, and leiomyoma. HE4 is another candidate for ovarian cancer testing, though it has not been extensively tested. Other tumor markers for ovarian cancer include CA19-9, CA72-4, CA15-3, immunosuppressive acidic protein, haptoglobin-alpha, OVX1, mesothelin, lysophosphatidic acid, osteopontin, and fibroblast growth factor 23.
Use of blood test panels may help in diagnosis. The OVA1 panel includes CA-125, beta-2 microglobulin, transferrin, apolipoprotein A1, and transthyretin. OVA1 above 5.0 in premenopausal women and 4.4 in postmenopausal women indicates a high risk for cancer. A different set of laboratory tests is used for detecting sex cord-stromal tumors. High levels of testosterone or dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate, combined with other symptoms and high levels of inhibin A and inhibin B can be indicative of an SCST of any type.
Current research is looking at ways to consider tumor marker proteomics in combination with other indicators of disease (i.e. radiology and/or symptoms) to improve diagnostic accuracy. The challenge in such an approach is that the disparate prevalence of ovarian cancer means that even testing with very high sensitivity and specificity will still lead to a number of false positive results, which in turn may lead to issues such as performing surgical procedures in which cancer is not found intraoperatively. Genomics approaches have not yet been developed for ovarian cancer.
CT scanning is preferred to assess the extent of the tumor in the abdominopelvic cavity, though magnetic resonance imaging can also be used. CT scanning can also be useful for finding omental caking or differentiating fluid from solid tumor in the abdomen, especially in low malignant potential tumors. However, it may not detect smaller tumors. Sometimes, a chest x-ray is used to detect metastases in the chest or pleural effusion. Another test for metastatic disease, though it is infrequently used, is a barium enema, which can show if the rectosigmoid colon is involved in the disease. Positron emission tomography, bone scans, and paracentesis are of limited use; in fact, paracentesis can cause metastases to form at the needle insertion site and may not provide useful results. However, paracentesis can be used in cases where there is no pelvic mass and ascites is still present. A physician suspecting ovarian cancer may also perform mammography or an endometrial biopsy (in the case of abnormal bleeding) to assess the possibility of breast malignancies and endometrial malignancy, respectively. Vaginal ultrasonography is often the first-line imaging study performed when an adnexal mass is found. Several characteristics of an adnexal mass indicate ovarian malignancy; they usually are solid, irregular, multilocular, and/or large; and they typically have papillary features, central vessels, and/or irregular internal septations. However, SCST has no definitive characteristics on radiographic study.
To definitively diagnose ovarian cancer, a surgical procedure to inspect the abdomen is required. This can be an open procedure (laparotomy, incision through the abdominal wall) or keyhole surgery (laparoscopy). During this procedure, suspicious tissue is removed and sent for microscopic analysis. Usually, this includes a unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, removal of a single affected ovary and Fallopian tube. Fluid from the abdominal cavity can also be analyzed for cancerous cells. If cancer is found, this procedure can also be used to determine the extent of its spread (which is a form of tumor staging).
Pafolacianine is indicated for use in adults with ovarian cancer to help identify cancerous lesions during surgery. It is a diagnostic agent that is administered in the form of an intravenous injection prior to surgery.
Risk scoring
A widely recognized method of estimating the risk of malignant ovarian cancer is the risk of malignancy index (RMI), calculated based on an initial workup. An RMI score of over 200 or 250 is generally felt to indicate high risk for ovarian cancer.
The RMI is calculated as:
RMI = ultrasound score × menopausal score x CA-125 level in U/ml.
Two methods can be used to determine the ultrasound score and menopausal score, with the resultant scores being referred to as RMI 1 and RMI 2, respectively, depending on what method is used.
Another method for quantifying risk of ovarian cancer is the Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm (ROCA), which observes levels over time and determines if they are increasing rapidly enough to warrant transvaginal ultrasound. The Risk of Ovarian Malignancy algorithm uses CA-125 levels and HE4 levels to calculate the risk of ovarian cancer; it may be more effective than RMI. The IOTA models can be used to estimate the probability that an adnexal tumor is malignant. They include LR2 risk model, The Simple Rules risk (SRrisk) calculation and Assessment of Different Neoplasias in the Adnexa (ADNEX) model that can be used to assess risk of malignancy in an adnexal mass, based on its characteristics and risk factors. The QCancer (Ovary) algorithm is used to predict likelihood of ovarian cancer from risk factors.
Pathology
Ovarian cancers are classified according to the microscopic appearance of their structures (histology or histopathology). Histology dictates many aspects of clinical treatment, management, and prognosis. The gross pathology of ovarian cancers is very similar regardless of histologic type: ovarian tumors have solid and cystic masses. According to SEER, the types of ovarian cancers in women age 20 and over are:
Ovarian cancers are histologically and genetically divided into type I or type II. Type I cancers are of low histological grade and include endometrioid, mucinous, and clear-cell carcinomas. Type II cancers are of higher histological grade and include serous carcinoma and carcinosarcoma.
Epithelial carcinoma
Epithelial ovarian cancer typically presents at an advanced stage and is derived from the malignant transformation of the epithelium of the ovarian surface, peritoneum, or fallopian tube. It is the most common cause of gynecologic cancer death. There are various types of epithelial ovarian cancer, including serous tumor, endometrioid tumor, clear-cell tumor, mucinous tumor, and undifferentiated or unclassified tumors. Annually worldwide, 230,000 women will be diagnosed and 150,000 will die. It has a 46% 5 year survival rate after diagnosis because of the advanced stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis. Typically, around 75% of patients are diagnosed as having an advanced stage of the disease because of the asymptomatic nature of its presentation. There is a genomic predisposition to epithelial ovarian cancer and the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes have been found to be the causative genes in 65-75% of hereditary epithelial ovarian cancer.
Serous carcinoma
Serous ovarian cancer is the most common type of epithelial ovarian cancer and it accounts for about two-thirds of cases of epithelial ovarian cancer. Low-grade serous carcinoma is less aggressive than high-grade serous carcinomas, though it does not typically respond well to chemotherapy or hormonal treatments. Serous carcinomas are thought to begin in the Fallopian tube. High grade serous carcinoma accounts for 75% of all epithelial ovarian cancer. About 15–20% of high grade serous carcinoma have germline BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations. Histologically, the growth pattern of high grade serous carcinoma is heterogenous and has some papillary or solid growth patterns. The tumor cells are atypical with large, irregular nuclei. It has a high proliferation rate. 50% of the time, serous carcinomas are bilateral, and in 85% of cases, they have spread beyond the ovary at the time of diagnosis.
Serous Tubal Intraepithelial Carcinoma (STIC) is now recognized to be the precursor lesion of most so-called ovarian high-grade serous carcinomas.
STIC is characterised by
Abnormal p53 staining
Ki67 proliferation index in excess of 10%
Positive WT1 (to exclude metastases)
Small-cell carcinoma
Small-cell ovarian carcinoma is rare and aggressive, with two main subtypes: hypercalcemic and pulmonary. This rare malignancy most commonly affects young women under the age of 40 years old with a range between 14 months and 58 years. The mean age of diagnosis of 24 years. Approximately two-thirds of patients will present with paraneoplastic hypercalcemia meaning they have high blood calcium levels for an unknown reason. The tumor secretes Parathyroid hormone related protein which acts similarly to PTH and binds PTH receptors in the bone and kidney causing hypercalcemia. Recent research has found an inactivating germline and somatic mutation of SMARCA4 gene. The hypercalcemic subtype is very aggressive and has an overall survival rate of 16% with a recurrence rate of 65% in patients who receive treatment. Patients who have spread of the disease to other parts of the body tend to die 2 years after the diagnosis. Extra-ovarian spread is involved in 50% of cases and lymph node spread is present in 55% of cases. The most common initial presentation is a rapidly growing unilateral pelvic mass with a mean size of 15 cm. Histologically, it is characterized by many sheets of small, round, tightly packed cells with clusters, nests, and cords. Immunohistochemistry is typically positive for vimentin, cytokeratin, CD10, p53, and WT-1.
Small cell ovarian carcinoma of the pulmonary subtype presents differently from the hypercalcemic subtype. Typically, pulmonary small cell ovarian cancer usually affects both ovaries of older women and looks like oat-cell carcinoma of the lung. The average age of disease onset is 59 years old and approximately 45% of cases are bilateral for the pulmonary subtype. Additionally, several hormones can be elevated in the pulmonary subtype including serotonin, somatostatin, insulin, gastrin, and calcitonin.
Primary peritoneal carcinoma
Primary peritoneal carcinomas develop from the peritoneum, a membrane that covers the abdominal cavity that has the same embryonic origin as the ovary. They are often discussed and classified with ovarian cancers when they affect the ovary. They can develop even after the ovaries have been removed and may appear similar to mesothelioma.
Clear-cell carcinoma
Ovarian clear-cell carcinoma is a rare subtype of epithelial ovarian cancer. Those diagnosed with ovarian clear-cell carcinoma are typically younger at the age of diagnosis and diagnosed at earlier stages than other subtypes of epithelial ovarian cancer. The highest incidence of clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary have been observed among young Asian women, especially those of Korean, Taiwanese, and Japanese background. Endometriosis has been linked to being the main risk factor for the development of clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary and has been found to be present in 50% of women diagnosed with clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary. The development of clots in the legs such as deep vein thromboembolism or in the lungs with pulmonary embolism is reported to be 40% higher in patients with clear-cell carcinoma than other epithelial ovarian cancer subtypes. Mutations in molecular pathways such as ARID1A, PIK3, and PIK3CA have been found to be linked to clear-cell carcinoma. They typically present as a large, unilateral mass, with a mean size between 13 and 15 cm. 90% of cases are unilateral. Ovarian clear-cell carcinoma does not typically respond well to chemotherapy due to intrinsic chemoresistance, therefore treatment is typically with aggressive cytoreductive surgery and platinum-based chemotherapy.
Clear-cell adenocarcinoma
Clear-cell adenocarcinomas are histopathologically similar to other clear-cell carcinomas, with clear cells and hobnail cells. They represent approximately 5–10% of epithelial ovarian cancers and are associated with endometriosis in the pelvic cavity. They are typically early-stage and therefore curable by surgery, but advanced clear-cell adenocarcinomas (approximately 20%) have a poor prognosis and are often resistant to platinum chemotherapy.
Endometrioid
Endometrioid adenocarcinomas make up approximately 13-15% of all ovarian cancers. Because they are typically low-grade, endometrioid adenocarcinomas have a good prognosis. The median age of diagnosis is around 53 years of age. These tumors frequently co-occur with endometriosis or endometrial cancer. Cancer antigen 125 levels are typically elevated and a family history of a first degree relative with endometrioid ovarian cancer is associated with increased risk of developing endometrioid ovarian cancer. The average tumor size is larger than 10 cm.
Malignant mixed müllerian tumor (carcinosarcoma)
Mixed müllerian tumors make up less than 1% of ovarian cancer. They have epithelial and mesenchymal cells visible and tend to have a poor prognosis.
Mucinous
Mucinous tumors include mucinous adenocarcinoma and mucinous cystadenocarcinoma.
Mucinous adenocarcinoma
Mucinous adenocarcinomas make up 5–10% of epithelial ovarian cancers. Histologically, they are similar to intestinal or cervical adenocarcinomas and are often actually metastases of appendiceal or colon cancers. Advanced mucinous adenocarcinomas have a poor prognosis, generally worse than serous tumors, and are often resistant to platinum chemotherapy, though they are rare.
Pseudomyxoma peritonei
Pseudomyxoma peritonei refers to a collection of encapsulated mucous or gelatinous material in the abdominopelvic cavity, which is very rarely caused by a primary mucinous ovarian tumor. More commonly, it is associated with ovarian metastases of intestinal cancer.
Undifferentiated epithelial
Undifferentiated cancers - those where the cell type cannot be determined - make up about 10% of epithelial ovarian cancers and have a comparatively poor prognosis. When examined under the microscope, these tumors have very abnormal cells that are arranged in clumps or sheets. Usually there are recognizable clumps of serous cells inside the tumor.
Malignant Brenner tumor
Malignant Brenner tumors are rare. Histologically, they have dense fibrous stroma with areas of transitional epithelium and some squamous differentiation. To be classified as a malignant Brenner tumor, it must have Brenner tumor foci and transitional cell carcinoma. The transitional cell carcinoma component is typically poorly differentiated and resembles urinary tract cancer.
Transitional cell carcinoma
Transitional cell carcinomas represent less than 5% of ovarian cancers. Histologically, they appear similar to bladder carcinoma. The prognosis is intermediate - better than most epithelial cancers but worse than malignant Brenner tumors.
Sex cord-stromal tumor
Sex cord-stromal tumor, including estrogen-producing granulosa cell tumor, the benign thecoma, and virilizing Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor or arrhenoblastoma, accounts for 7% of ovarian cancers. They occur most frequently in women between 50 and 69 years of age but can occur in women of any age, including young girls. They are not typically aggressive and are usually unilateral; they are therefore usually treated with surgery alone. Sex cord-stromal tumors are the main hormone-producing ovarian tumors.
Several different cells from the mesenchyme can give rise to sex-cord or stromal tumors. These include fibroblasts and endocrine cells. The symptoms of a sex-cord or stromal ovarian tumor can differ from other types of ovarian cancer. Common signs and symptoms include ovarian torsion, hemorrhage from or rupture of the tumor, an abdominal mass, and hormonal disruption. In children, isosexual precocious pseudopuberty may occur with granulosa cell tumors since they produce estrogen. These tumors cause abnormalities in menstruation (excessive bleeding, infrequent menstruation, or no menstruation) or postmenopausal bleeding. Because these tumors produce estrogen, they can cause or occur at the same time as endometrial cancer or breast cancer. Other sex-cord/stromal tumors present with distinct symptoms. Sertoli-Leydig cell tumors cause virilization and excessive hair growth due to the production of testosterone and androstenedione, which can also cause Cushing's syndrome in rare cases. Also, sex-cord stromal tumors occur that do not cause a hormonal imbalance, including benign fibromas, which cause ascites and hydrothorax. With germ cell tumors, sex cord-stromal tumors are the most common ovarian cancer diagnosed in women under 20.
Granulosa cell tumor
Granulosa cell tumors are the most common sex-cord stromal tumors, making up 70% of cases, and are divided into two histologic subtypes: adult granulosa cell tumors, which develop in women over 50, and juvenile granulosa tumors, which develop before puberty or before the age of 30. Both develop in the ovarian follicle from a population of cells that surrounds germinal cells.
Adult granulosa cell tumor
Adult granulosa cell tumors are characterized by later onset (30+ years, 50 on average). These tumors produce high levels of estrogen, which causes its characteristic symptoms: menometrorrhagia; endometrial hyperplasia; tender, enlarged breasts; postmenopausal bleeding; and secondary amenorrhea. The mass of the tumor can cause other symptoms, including abdominal pain and distension, or symptoms similar to an ectopic pregnancy if the tumor bleeds and ruptures.
Juvenile granulosa cell tumor
Sertoli-Leydig cell tumor
Sertoli-Leydig tumors are most common in women before the age of 30, and particularly common before puberty.
Sclerosing stromal tumors
Sclerosing stromal tumors typically occur in girls before puberty or women before the age of 30.
Germ cell tumor
Germ cell tumors of the ovary develop from the ovarian germ cells. Germ cell tumor accounts for about 30% of ovarian tumors, but only 5% of ovarian cancers, because most germ-cell tumors are teratomas and most teratomas are benign. Malignant teratomas tend to occur in older women, when one of the germ layers in the tumor develops into a squamous cell carcinoma. Germ-cell tumors tend to occur in young women (20s–30s) and girls, making up 70% of the ovarian cancer seen in that age group. Germ-cell tumors can include dysgerminomas, teratomas, yolk sac tumors/endodermal sinus tumors, and choriocarcinomas, when they arise in the ovary. Some germ-cell tumors have an isochromosome 12, where one arm of chromosome 12 is deleted and replaced with a duplicate of the other. Most germ-cell cancers have a better prognosis than other subtypes and are more sensitive to chemotherapy. They are more likely to be stage I at diagnosis. Overall, they metastasize more frequently than epithelial ovarian cancers. In addition, the cancer markers used vary with tumor type: choriocarcinomas are monitored with beta-HCG and endodermal sinus tumors with alpha-fetoprotein.
Germ-cell tumors are typically discovered when they become large, palpable masses. However, like sex cord tumors, they can cause ovarian torsion or hemorrhage and, in children, isosexual precocious puberty. They frequently metastasize to nearby lymph nodes, especially para-aortic and pelvic lymph nodes. The most common symptom of germ cell tumors is subacute abdominal pain caused by the tumor bleeding, necrotizing, or stretching the ovarian capsule. If the tumor ruptures, causes significant bleeding, or torses the ovary, it can cause acute abdominal pain, which occurs in less than 10% of those with germ-cell tumors. They can also secrete hormones which change the menstrual cycle. In 25% of germ-cell tumors, the cancer is discovered during a routine examination and does not cause symptoms.
Diagnosing germ cell tumors may be difficult because the normal menstrual cycle and puberty can cause pain and pelvic symptoms, and a young woman may even believe these symptoms to be those of pregnancy, and not seek treatment due to the stigma of teen pregnancy. Blood tests for alpha-fetoprotein, karyotype, human chorionic gonadotropin, and liver function are used to diagnose germ cell tumor and potential co-occurring gonadal dysgenesis. A germ cell tumor may be initially mistaken for a benign ovarian cyst.
Dysgerminoma
Dysgerminoma accounts for 35% of ovarian cancer in young women and is the most likely germ cell tumor to metastasize to the lymph nodes; nodal metastases occur in 25–30% of cases. These tumors may have mutations in the KIT gene, a mutation known for its role in gastrointestinal stromal tumor. People with an XY karyotype and ovaries (gonadal dysgenesis) or an X,0 karyotype and ovaries (Turner syndrome) who develop a unilateral dysgerminoma are at risk for a gonadoblastoma in the other ovary, and in this case, both ovaries are usually removed when a unilateral dysgerminoma is discovered to avoid the risk of another malignant tumor. Gonadoblastomas in people with Swyer or Turner syndrome become malignant in approximately 40% of cases. However, in general, dysgerminomas are bilateral 10–20% of the time.
They are composed of cells that cannot differentiate further and develop directly from germ cells or from gonadoblastomas. Dysgerminomas contain syncytiotrophoblasts in approximately 5% of cases, and can therefore cause elevated hCG levels. On gross appearance, dysgerminomas are typically pink to tan-colored, have multiple lobes, and are solid. Microscopically, they appear identical to seminomas and very close to embryonic primordial germ cells, having large, polyhedral, rounded clear cells. The nuclei are uniform and round or square with prominent nucleoli and the cytoplasm has high levels of glycogen. Inflammation is another prominent histologic feature of dysgerminomas.
Choriocarcinoma
Choriocarcinoma can occur as a primary ovarian tumor developing from a germ cell, though it is usually a gestational disease that metastasizes to the ovary. Primary ovarian choriocarcinoma has a poor prognosis and can occur without a pregnancy. They produce high levels of hCG and can cause early puberty in children or menometrorrhagia (irregular, heavy menstruation) after menarche.
Immature (solid) teratoma
Immature, or solid, teratomas are the most common type of ovarian germ cell tumor, making up 40–50% of cases. Teratomas are characterized by the presence of disorganized tissues arising from all three embryonic germ layers: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm; immature teratomas also have undifferentiated stem cells that make them more malignant than mature teratomas (dermoid cysts). The different tissues are visible on gross pathology and often include bone, cartilage, hair, mucus, or sebum, but these tissues are not visible from the outside, which appears to be a solid mass with lobes and cysts. Histologically, they have large amounts of neuroectoderm organized into sheets and tubules along with glia; the amount of neural tissue determines the histologic grade. Immature teratomas usually only affect one ovary (10% co-occur with dermoid cysts) and usually metastasize throughout the peritoneum. They can also cause mature teratoma implants to grow throughout the abdomen in a disease called growing teratoma syndrome; these are usually benign but will continue to grow during chemotherapy, and often necessitate further surgery. Unlike mature teratomas, immature teratomas form many adhesions, making them less likely to cause ovarian torsion. There is no specific marker for immature teratomas, but carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), CA-125, CA19-9, or AFP can sometimes indicate an immature teratoma.
Stage I teratomas make up the majority (75%) of cases and have the best prognosis, with 98% of patients surviving 5 years; if a Stage I tumor is also grade 1, it can be treated with unilateral surgery only. Stage II though IV tumors make up the remaining quarter of cases and have a worse prognosis, with 73–88% of patients surviving 5 years.
Mature teratoma (dermoid cyst)
Mature teratomas, or dermoid cysts, are rare tumors consisting of mostly benign tissue that develop after menopause. The tumors consist of disorganized tissue with nodules of malignant tissue, which can be of various types. The most common malignancy is squamous cell carcinoma, but adenocarcinoma, basal-cell carcinoma, carcinoid tumor, neuroectodermal tumor, malignant melanoma, sarcoma, sebaceous tumor, and struma ovarii can also be part of the dermoid cyst. They are treated with surgery and adjuvant platinum chemotherapy or radiation.
Yolk sac tumor/endodermal sinus tumor
Yolk sac tumors, formerly called endodermal sinus tumors, make up approximately 10–20% of ovarian germ cell malignancies, and have the worst prognosis of all ovarian germ cell tumors. They occur both before menarche (in one-third of cases) and after menarche (the remaining two-thirds of cases). Half of the people with yolk sac tumors are diagnosed in stage I. Typically, they are unilateral until metastasis, which occurs within the peritoneal cavity and via the bloodstream to the lungs. Yolk sac tumors grow quickly and recur easily, and are not easily treatable once they have recurred. Stage I yolk sac tumors are highly treatable, with a 5-year disease-free survival rate of 93%, but stage II-IV tumors are less treatable, with survival rates of 64–91%.
Their gross appearance is solid, friable, and yellow, with necrotic and hemorrhagic areas. They also often contain cysts that can degenerate or rupture. Histologically, yolk sac tumors are characterized by the presence of Schiller-Duval bodies (which are pathognomonic for yolk sac tumors) and a reticular pattern. Yolk sac tumors commonly secrete alpha-fetoprotein and can be immunohistochemically stained for its presence; the level of alpha-fetoprotein in the blood is a useful marker of recurrence.
Embryonal carcinoma
Embryonal carcinomas, a rare tumor type usually found in mixed tumors, develop directly from germ cells but are not terminally differentiated; in rare cases, they may develop in dysgenetic gonads. They can develop further into a variety of other neoplasms, including choriocarcinoma, yolk sac tumor, and teratoma. They occur in younger people, with an average age at diagnosis of 14, and secrete both alpha-fetoprotein (in 75% of cases) and hCG.
Histologically, embryonal carcinoma appears similar to the embryonic disc, made up of epithelial, anaplastic cells in disorganized sheets, with gland-like spaces and papillary structures.
Polyembryoma
Polyembryomas, the most immature form of teratoma and very rare ovarian tumors, are histologically characterized by having several embryo-like bodies with structures resembling a germ disk, yolk sac, and amniotic sac. Syncytiotrophoblast giant cells also occur in polyembryomas.
Squamous cell carcinoma
Primary ovarian squamous cell carcinomas are rare and have a poor prognosis when advanced. More typically, ovarian squamous cell carcinomas are cervical metastases, areas of differentiation in an endometrioid tumor, or derived from a mature teratoma.
Mixed tumors
Mixed tumors contain elements of more than one of the above classes of tumor histology. To be classed as a mixed tumor, the minor type must make up more than 10% of the tumor. Though mixed carcinomas can have any combination of cell types, mixed ovarian cancers are typically serous/endometrioid or clear-cell/endometrioid. Mixed germ cell tumors make up approximately 25–30% of all germ cell ovarian cancers, with combinations of dysgerminoma, yolk sac tumor, and/or immature teratoma. The prognosis and treatment vary based on the component cell types.
Secondary ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer can also be a secondary cancer, the result of metastasis from a primary cancer elsewhere in the body. About 5-30% of ovarian cancers are due to metastases, while the rest are primary cancers. Common primary cancers are breast cancer, colon cancer, appendiceal cancer, and stomach cancer (primary gastric cancers that metastasize to the ovary are called Krukenberg tumors). Krukenberg tumors have signet ring cells and mucinous cells. Endometrial cancer and lymphomas can also metastasize to the ovary.
Borderline tumors
Ovarian borderline tumors, sometimes called low malignant potential (LMP) ovarian tumors, have some benign and some malignant features. LMP tumors make up approximately 10%-15% of all ovarian tumors. They develop earlier than epithelial ovarian cancer, around the age of 40–49. They typically do not have extensive invasion; 10% of LMP tumors have areas of stromal microinvasion (<3mm, <5% of tumor). LMP tumors have other abnormal features, including increased mitosis, changes in cell size or nucleus size, abnormal nuclei, cell stratification, and small projections on cells (papillary projections). Serous and/or mucinous characteristics can be seen on histological examination, and serous histology makes up the overwhelming majority of advanced LMP tumors. More than 80% of LMP tumors are Stage I; 15% are stage II and III and less than 5% are stage IV. Implants of LMP tumors are often non-invasive.
Staging
Ovarian cancer is staged using the FIGO staging system and uses information obtained after surgery, which can include a total abdominal hysterectomy via midline laparotomy, removal of (usually) both ovaries and Fallopian tubes, (usually) the omentum, pelvic (peritoneal) washings, assessment of retroperitoneal lymph nodes (including the pelvic and para-aortic lymph nodes), appendectomy in suspected mucinous tumors, and pelvic/peritoneal biopsies for cytopathology. Around 30% of ovarian cancers that appear confined to the ovary have metastasized microscopically, which is why even stage-I cancers must be staged completely. 22% of cancers presumed to be stage I are observed to have lymphatic metastases. The AJCC stage is the same as the FIGO stage. The AJCC staging system describes the extent of the primary tumor (T), the absence or presence of metastasis to nearby lymph nodes (N), and the absence or presence of distant metastasis (M). The most common stage at diagnosis is stage IIIc, with over 70% of diagnoses.
FIGO
AJCC/TNM
The AJCC/TNM staging system indicates where the tumor has developed, spread to lymph nodes, and metastasis.
The AJCC/TNM stages can be correlated with the FIGO stages:
Grading
Grade 1 tumors have well differentiated cells (look very similar to the normal tissue) and are the ones with the best prognosis. Grade 2 tumors are also called moderately well-differentiated and they are made up of cells that resemble the normal tissue. Grade 3 tumors have the worst prognosis and their cells are abnormal, referred to as poorly differentiated.
Metastasis in ovarian cancer is very common in the abdomen and occurs via exfoliation, where cancer cells burst through the ovarian capsule and are able to move freely throughout the peritoneal cavity. Ovarian cancer metastases usually grow on the surface of organs rather than the inside; they are also common on the omentum and the peritoneal lining. Cancer cells can also travel through the lymphatic system and metastasize to lymph nodes connected to the ovaries via blood vessels; i.e. the lymph nodes along the infundibulopelvic ligament, the broad ligament, and the round ligament. The most commonly affected groups include the paraaortic, hypogastric, external iliac, obturator, and inguinal lymph nodes. Usually, ovarian cancer does not metastasize to the liver, lung, brain, or kidneys unless it is a recurrent disease; this differentiates ovarian cancer from many other forms of cancer.
Prevention
Women with strong genetic risk for ovarian cancer may consider the surgical removal of their ovaries as a preventive measure. This is often done after completion of childbearing years. This reduces the chances of developing both breast cancer (by around 50%) and ovarian cancer (by about 96%) in women at high risk. Women with BRCA gene mutations usually also have their Fallopian tubes removed at the same time (salpingo-oophorectomy), since they also have an increased risk of Fallopian tube cancer. However, these statistics may overestimate the risk reduction because of how they have been studied.
Women with a significant family history for ovarian cancer are often referred to a genetic counselor to see if testing for BRCA mutations would be beneficial. The use of oral contraceptives, the absence of 'periods' during the menstrual cycle, and tubal ligation reduce the risk.
There may an association of developing ovarian cancer and ovarian stimulation during infertility treatments. Endometriosis has been linked to ovarian cancers. Human papillomavirus infection, smoking, and talc have not been identified as increasing the risk for developing ovarian cancer.
Screening
There is no simple and reliable way to test for ovarian cancer in women who do not have any signs or symptoms. Screening is not recommended in women who are at average risk, as evidence does not support a reduction in death and the high rate of false positive tests may lead to unneeded surgery, which is accompanied by its own risks. Women with high risk of ovarian cancer that are currently identified based on family history and genetic testing may benefit from screening. The Pap test does not screen for ovarian cancer.
Ovarian cancer is usually only palpable in advanced stages. This high risk group has benefited with earlier detection. Screening is not recommended using CA-125 measurements, HE4 levels, ultrasound, or adnexal palpation in women who are at average risk. Currently there is no national screening programme in the UK for ovarian cancer. CA125 and transvaginal ultrasound can be utilised but there is minimal evidence to suggest this decreases mortality . More recently, the Risk of Ovarian Cancer Algorithm (ROMA) has been shown to detect earlier cancers using CA125 and age but again does not provide a robust measure to decrease mortality at present.
Ovarian cancer has low prevalence, even in the high-risk group of women from the ages of 50 to 60 (about one in 2000), and screening of women with average risk is more likely to give ambiguous results than detect a problem that requires treatment. Because ambiguous results are more likely than detection of a treatable problem, and because the usual response to ambiguous results is invasive interventions, in women of average risk, the potential harms of having screening without an indication outweigh the potential benefits. The purpose of screening is to diagnose ovarian cancer at an early stage when it is more likely to be treated successfully.
Screening with transvaginal ultrasound, pelvic examination, and CA-125 levels can be used instead of preventive surgery in women who have BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations. This strategy has shown some success.
Screening for CA125, a chemical released by ovarian tumours, with follow-up using ultrasound, was shown to be ineffective in reducing mortality in a large-scale UK study.
There have been some screening trials that have used age, family history of ovarian cancer, and mutation status to identify target populations for screening.
Management
Once it is determined that ovarian, fallopian tube or primary peritoneal cancer is present, treatment is scheduled by a gynecologic oncologist (a physician trained to treat cancers of a woman's reproductive system). Gynecologic oncologists can perform surgery on and give chemotherapy to women with ovarian cancer. A treatment plan is developed.
Treatment usually involves surgery and chemotherapy, and sometimes radiotherapy, regardless of the subtype of ovarian cancer. Surgical treatment may be sufficient for well-differentiated malignant tumors and confined to the ovary. Addition of chemotherapy may be required for more aggressive tumors confined to the ovary. For patients with advanced disease, a combination of surgical reduction with a combination chemotherapy regimen is standard. Since 1980, platinum-based drugs have had an important role in treating ovarian cancer. Borderline tumors, even following spread outside of the ovary, are managed well with surgery, and chemotherapy is not seen as useful. Second-look surgery and maintenance chemotherapy have not been shown to provide benefit.
Surgery
Surgery has been the standard of care for decades and may be necessary for obtaining a specimen for diagnosis. The surgery depends upon the extent of nearby invasion of other tissues by the cancer when it is diagnosed. This extent of the cancer is described by assigning it a stage, the presumed type, and the grade of cancer. The gynecological surgeon may remove one (unilateral oophorectomy) or both ovaries (bilateral oophorectomy). The Fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), uterus (hysterectomy), and the omentum (omentectomy) may also be removed. Typically, all of these organs are removed.
For those who test positive for faulty BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes having a risk-reducing surgery is an option. An increasing number of women choose this. At the same time the average waiting time for undergoing the procedure is two-years which is much longer than recommended.
For low-grade, unilateral stage-IA cancers, only the involved ovary (which must be unruptured) and Fallopian tube will be removed. This can be done especially in young people who wish to preserve their fertility. However, a risk of microscopic metastases exists and staging must be completed. If any metastases are found, a second surgery to remove the remaining ovary and uterus is needed. Tranexamic acid can be administered prior to surgery to reduce the need for blood transfusions due to blood loss during the surgery.
If a tumor in a premenopausal woman is determined to be a low malignant potential tumor during surgery, and it is clearly stage I cancer, only the affected ovary is removed. For postmenopausal women with low malignant potential tumors, hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy is still the preferred option. During staging, the appendix can be examined or removed. This is particularly important with mucinous tumors. In children or adolescents with ovarian cancer, surgeons typically attempt to preserve one ovary to allow for the completion of puberty, but if the cancer has spread, this is not always possible. Dysgerminomas, in particular, tend to affect both ovaries: 8–15% of dysgerminomas are present in both ovaries. People with low-grade (well-differentiated) tumors are typically treated only with surgery, which is often curative. In general, germ cell tumors can be treated with unilateral surgery unless the cancer is widespread or fertility is not a factor. In women with surgically staged advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (stages III and IV), studies suggest all attempts should be made to reach complete cytoreduction (surgical efforts to remove the bulk of the tumor).
In advanced cancers, where complete removal is not an option, as much tumor as possible is removed in a procedure called debulking surgery. This surgery is not always successful, and is less likely to be successful in women with extensive metastases in the peritoneum, stage- IV disease, cancer in the transverse fissure of the liver, mesentery, or diaphragm, and large areas of ascites. Debulking surgery has usually only been done once but a recent study has shown a longer overall survival in recurrent ovarian cancer when surgery combined with chemotherapy was performed compared to treatment with chemotherapy alone. Computed tomography (abdominal CT) is often used to assess if primary debulking surgery is possible, but low certainty evidence also suggests fluorodeoxyglucose‐18 (FDG) PET/CT and MRI may be useful as an addition for assessing macroscopic incomplete debulking. More complete debulking is associated with better outcomes: women with no macroscopic evidence of disease after debulking have a median survival of 39 months, as opposed to 17 months with less complete surgery. By removing metastases, many cells that are resistant to chemotherapy are removed, and any clumps of cells that have died are also removed. This allows chemotherapy to better reach the remaining cancer cells, which are more likely to be fast-growing and therefore chemosensitive.
Interval debulking surgery is another protocol used, where neoadjuvant chemotherapy is given, debulking surgery is performed, and chemotherapy is finished after debulking. Though no definitive studies have been completed, it is shown to be approximately equivalent to primary debulking surgery in terms of survival and shows slightly lower morbidity. Previous studies have shown different results from primary debulking versus interval debulking. The ongoing TRUST study may clarify selection criteria for each surgical approach.
There are several different surgical procedures that can be employed to treat ovarian cancer. For stage I and II cancer, laparoscopic (keyhole) surgery can be used, but metastases may not be found. For advanced cancer, laparoscopy is not used, since debulking metastases requires access to the entire peritoneal cavity. Depending on the extent of the cancer, procedures may include a bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, biopsies throughout the peritoneum and abdominal lymphatic system, omentectomy, splenectomy, bowel resection, diaphragm stripping or resection, appendectomy, or even a posterior pelvic exenteration.
To fully stage ovarian cancer, lymphadenectomy can be included in the surgery, but a significant survival benefit to this practice may not happen. This is particularly important in germ cell tumors because they frequently metastasize to nearby lymph nodes.
If ovarian cancer recurs, secondary surgery is sometimes a treatment option. This depends on how easily the tumor can be removed, how much fluid has accumulated in the abdomen, and overall health. Effectivenes of this surgery depends on surgical technique, completeness of cytoreduction, and extent of disease. It also can be helpful in people who had their first surgery done by a generalist and in epithelial ovarian cancer. Secondary surgery can be effective in dysgerminomas and immature teratomas. Evidence suggests surgery in recurrent epithelial ovarian cancer may be associated with prolonging life in some women with platinum-sensitive disease.
The major side effect of oophorectomy in younger women is early menopause, which can cause osteoporosis. After surgery, hormone replacement therapy can be considered, especially in younger women. This therapy can consist of a combination of estrogen and progesterone, or estrogen alone. Estrogen alone is safe after hysterectomy; when the uterus is still present, unopposed estrogen dramatically raises the risk of endometrial cancer. Estrogen therapy after surgery does not change survival rates. People having ovarian cancer surgery are typically hospitalized afterwards for 3–4 days and spend around a month recovering at home. Surgery outcomes are best at hospitals that do a large number of ovarian cancer surgeries.
It is unclear if laparoscopy or laparotomy is better or worse for FIGO stage I ovarian cancer. There is also no apparent difference between total abdominal hysterectomy and supracervical hysterectomy for advanced cancers. Approximately 2.8% of people having a first surgery for advanced ovarian cancer die within two weeks of the surgery (2.8% perioperative mortality rate). More aggressive surgeries are associated with better outcomes in advanced (stage III or IV) ovarian cancer.
Chemotherapy
Chemotherapy has been a general standard of care for ovarian cancer for decades, although with variable protocols. Chemotherapy is used after surgery to treat any residual disease, if appropriate. In some cases, there may be reason to perform chemotherapy first, followed by surgery. This is called "neoadjuvant chemotherapy", and is common when a tumor cannot be completely removed or optimally debulked via surgery. Though it has not been shown to increase survival, it can reduce the risk of complications after surgery. If a unilateral salpingo-oophorectomy or other surgery is performed, additional chemotherapy, called "adjuvant chemotherapy", can be given. Adjuvant chemotherapy is used in stage 1 cancer typically if the tumor is of a high histologic grade (grade 3) or the highest substage (stage 1c), provided the cancer has been optimally staged during surgery. Bevacizumab may be used as an adjuvant chemotherapy if the tumor is not completely removed during surgery or if the cancer is stage IV; it can extend progression-free survival but has not been shown to extend overall survival. Chemotherapy is curative in approximately 20% of advanced ovarian cancers; it is more often curative with malignant germ cell tumors than epithelial tumors. Adjuvant chemotherapy has been found to improve survival and reduce the risk of ovarian cancer recurring compared to no adjuvant therapy in women with early stage epithelial ovarian cancer.
Chemotherapy in ovarian cancer typically consists of platins, a group of platinum-based drugs, combined with non-platins. Platinum-based drugs have been used since 1980. Common therapies can include paclitaxel, cisplatin, topotecan, doxorubicin, epirubicin, and gemcitabine. Carboplatin is typically given in combination with either paclitaxel or docetaxel; the typical combination is carboplatin with paclitaxel. Carboplatin is superior to cisplatin in that it is less toxic and has fewer side effects, generally allowing for an improved quality of life in comparison, though both are similarly effective. Three-drug regimens have not been found to be more effective, and platins alone or nonplatins alone are less effective than platins and nonplatins in combination. There is a small benefit in platinum‐based chemotherapy compared with non‐platinum therapy. Platinum combinations can offer improved survival over single platinum. In people with relapsed ovarian cancer, evidence suggests topotecan has a similar effect on overall survival as paclitaxel and topotecan plus thalidomide, whilst it is superior to treosulfan and not as effective as pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in platinum-sensitive people.
Chemotherapy can be given intravenously or in the peritoneal cavity. Though intraperitoneal chemotherapy is associated with longer progression-free survival and overall survival, it also causes more adverse side effects than intravenous chemotherapy. It is mainly used when the cancer has been optimally debulked. Intraperitoneal chemotherapy can be highly effective because ovarian cancer mainly spreads inside the peritoneal cavity, and higher doses of the drugs can reach the tumors this way.
Chemotherapy can cause anemia; intravenous iron has been found to be more effective than oral iron supplements in reducing the need for blood transfusions. Typical cycles of treatment involve one treatment every 3 weeks, repeated for 6 weeks or more. Fewer than 6 weeks (cycles) of treatment is less effective than 6 weeks or more. Germ-cell malignancies are treated differently than other ovarian cancers — a regimen of bleomycin, etoposide, and cisplatin (BEP) is used with 5 days of chemotherapy administered every 3 weeks for 3 to 4 cycles. Chemotherapy for germ cell tumors has not been shown to cause amenorrhea, infertility, birth defects, or miscarriage. Maintenance chemotherapy has not been shown to be effective.
In people with BRCA mutations, platinum chemotherapy is more effective. Germ-cell tumors and malignant sex-cord/stromal tumors are treated with chemotherapy, though dysgerminomas and sex-cord tumors are not typically very responsive.
Platinum-sensitive or platinum-resistant
If ovarian cancer recurs, it is considered partially platinum-sensitive or platinum-resistant, based on the time since the last recurrence treated with platins: partially platinum-sensitive cancers recurred 6–12 months after last treatment, and platinum-resistant cancers have an interval of less than 6 months. Second-line chemotherapy can be given after the cancer becomes symptomatic because no difference in survival is seen between treating asymptomatic (elevated CA-125) and symptomatic recurrences.
For platinum-sensitive tumors, platins are the drugs of choice for second-line chemotherapy, in combination with other cytotoxic agents. Regimens include carboplatin combined with pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, gemcitabine, or paclitaxel. Carboplatin-doublet therapy can be combined with paclitaxel for increased efficacy in some cases. Another potential adjuvant therapy for platinum-sensitive recurrences is olaparib, which may improve progression-free survival but has not been shown to improve overall survival. (Olaparib, a PARP inhibitor, was approved by the US FDA for use in BRCA-associated ovarian cancer that had previously been treated with chemotherapy.) For recurrent germ cell tumors, an additional 4 cycles of BEP chemotherapy is the first-line treatment for those who have been treated with surgery or platins.
If the tumor is determined to be platinum-resistant, vincristine, dactinomycin, and cyclophosphamide (VAC) or some combination of paclitaxel, gemcitabine, and oxaliplatin may be used as a second-line therapy.
For platinum-resistant tumors, there are no high-efficacy chemotherapy options. Single-drug regimens (doxorubicin or topotecan) do not have high response rates, but single-drug regimens of topotecan, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin, or gemcitabine are used in some cases. Topotecan cannot be used in people with an intestinal blockage. Paclitaxel used alone is another possible regimen, or it may be combined with liposomal doxorubicin, gemcitabine, cisplatin, topotecan, etoposide, or cyclophosphamide. ( See also Palliative care below.)
Novel agents are being developed to inhibit the development of new blood vessels (angiogenesis) for women with ovarian cancer who develop resistance to chemotherapy drugs. As of 2023 there would appear to be a role for these treatments but due to the additional treatment burden and cost of maintenance treatments the risk versus benefits require careful consideration.
Novocure sponsored a phase-2 trial proving efficacy of tumor treating fields in recurrent platinum-resistant ovarian carcinoma, in conjunction with weekly paclitaxel chemotherapy.
Radiation therapy
Dysgerminomas are most effectively treated with radiation, though this can cause infertility and is being phased out in favor of chemotherapy. Radiation therapy does not improve survival in people with well-differentiated tumors.
In stage 1c and 2 cancers, radiation therapy is used after surgery if there is the possibility of residual disease in the pelvis but the abdomen is cancer-free. Radiotherapy can also be used in palliative care of advanced cancers. A typical course of radiotherapy for ovarian cancer is 5 days a week for 3–4 weeks. Common side effects of radiotherapy include diarrhea, constipation, and frequent urination.
Hormonal therapy
Despite the fact that 60% of ovarian tumors have estrogen receptors, ovarian cancer is only rarely responsive to hormonal treatments. A Cochrane review found a lack of evidence about the effects of tamoxifen in people with relapsed ovarian cancer. Estrogen alone does not have an effect on the cancer, and tamoxifen and letrozole are rarely effective. "Some women with borderline malignancy ovarian cancer and stromal ovarian cancer may receive hormonal therapy."
Immunotherapy
Immunotherapy is a topic of current research in ovarian cancer. In some cases, the antibody drug bevacizumab, though still a topic of active research, is used to treat advanced cancer along with chemotherapy. It has been approved for this use in the European Union.
Follow-up
Specific follow-up depends on, for example, the type and stage of ovarian cancer, the treatment, and the presence of any symptoms. Usually, a check-up appointment is made about every 2 to 3 months initially, followed by twice per year for up to 5 years. For epithelial ovarian cancers, the most common test upon follow-up is CA-125 level. However, treatment based only on elevated CA-125 levels and not any symptoms can increase side effects without any prolongation of life, so the implication of the outcome of a CA-125 test can be discussed before taking it. The recommendation as of 2014 is recurrent cancer may be present if the CA-125 level is twice normal. Treating a recurrence detected by CA-125 does not improve survival.
For women with germ-cell tumors, follow-up tests generally include alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and/or human chorionic gonadotropin. For women with stromal cancers, tests for hormones like estrogen, testosterone, and inhibin are sometimes helpful. Inhibin can also be useful for monitoring the progress of sex-cord tumors, along with mullerian inhibiting substance. AFP can also be used to monitor Sertoli-Leydig tumors. In dysgerminomas, lactate dehydrogenase and its two isozymes (LDH-1 and LDH-2) are used to test for recurrence.
Women with ovarian cancer may not need routine surveillance imaging to monitor the cancer unless new symptoms appear or tumor markers begin rising. Imaging without these indications is discouraged because it is unlikely to detect a recurrence, improve survival, and because it has its own costs and side effects. However, CT imaging can be used if desired, though this is not common. If a tumor is easily imaged, imaging may be used to monitor the progress of treatment.
Palliative care
Palliative care focuses on relieving symptoms and increasing or maintaining quality of life. This type of treatment's purpose is not to cure the cancer but to make the woman more comfortable while living with cancer that can not be cured. It has been recommended as part of the treatment plan for any person with advanced ovarian cancer or patients with significant symptoms. In platinum-refractory and platinum-resistant cases, other palliative chemotherapy is the main treatment.
Palliative care can entail treatment of symptoms and complications of the cancer, including pain, nausea, constipation, ascites, bowel obstruction, edema, pleural effusion, and mucositis. Especially if the cancer advances and becomes incurable, treatment of symptoms becomes one of the main goals of therapy. Palliative care can also entail helping with decision-making such as if or when hospice care is appropriate, and the preferred place for the patient at end of life care.
Bowel obstruction can be treated with palliative surgery (colostomy, ileostomy, or internal bypass) or medicine, but surgery has been shown to increase survival time. Palliative surgery may result in short bowel syndrome, enterocutaneous fistula, or re-obstruction; or may not be possible due to the extent of obstruction. Other treatments of complications can include total parenteral nutrition, a low-residue diet, palliative gastrostomy, and adequate pain control. Bowel obstruction can also be treated with octreotide when palliative surgery is not an option. Cancer can also block the ureters, which can be relieved by a nephrostomy or a ureteric stent. Ascites can be relieved by repeated paracentesis or placement of a drain to increase comfort. Pleural effusions can be treated in a similar manner, with repeated thoracentesis, pleurodesis, or placement of a drain.
Radiation therapy can be used as part of the palliative care of advanced ovarian cancer, since it can help to shrink tumors that are causing symptoms. Palliative radiotherapy typically lasts for only a few treatments, a much shorter course of therapy than non-palliative radiotherapy. It is also used for palliation of chemotherapy-resistant germ cell tumors.
Psychosocial care
Ovarian cancer has a significant effect on quality of life, psychological health and well-being. Interventions are available to help with the needs and social support. Many ovarian cancer survivors report a good quality of life and optimism. Others reported a "spiritual change" that helped them find meaning during their experience. Others have described their loss of faith after their diagnosis with ovarian cancer. Those who have gone through treatment sometimes experience social isolation but benefit from having relationships with other survivors. Frustration and guilt have been described by some who have expressed their inability to care for their family.
Self-esteem and body image changes can occur due to hair loss, removal of ovaries and other reproductive structures, and scars. There is some improvement after hair grows in. Sexual issues can develop. The removal of ovaries results in surgically induced menopause that can result in painful intercourse, vaginal dryness, loss of sexual desire and being tired. Though prognosis is better for younger survivors, the impact on sexuality can still be substantial.
Anxiety, depression and distress is present in those surviving ovarian cancer at higher rates than in the general population. The same psychosocial problems can develop in family members. Emotional effects can include a fear of death, sadness, memory problems and difficulty in concentrating. When optimism was adopted by those at the beginning of their treatment, they were less likely to develop distress. Those who have fear of the cancer recurring may have difficulty in expressing joy even when disease-free. The more treatments that a woman undergoes, the more likely the loss of hope is expressed. Women often can cope and reduce negative psychosocial effects by a number of strategies. Activities such as traveling, spending additional time with family and friends, ignoring statistics, journaling and increasing involvement in spiritually-based events are adaptive.
Women with ovarian cancer may also experience difficulties with their diet and are at risk of malnutrition.
Prognosis
Ovarian cancer usually has a relatively poor prognosis. It is disproportionately deadly because it lacks any clear early detection or screening test, meaning most cases are not diagnosed until they have reached advanced stages.
Ovarian cancer metastasizes early in its development, often before it has been diagnosed. High-grade tumors metastasize more readily than low-grade tumors. Typically, tumor cells begin to metastasize by growing in the peritoneal cavity. More than 60% of women presenting with ovarian cancer have stage-III or stage-IV cancer, when it has already spread beyond the ovaries. Ovarian cancers shed cells into the naturally occurring fluid within the abdominal cavity. These cells can then implant on other abdominal (peritoneal) structures, including the uterus, urinary bladder, bowel, lining of the bowel wall, and omentum, forming new tumor growths before cancer is even suspected.
The five-year survival rate for all stages of ovarian cancer is 46%; the one-year survival rate is 72% and the ten-year survival rate is 35%. For cases where a diagnosis is made early in the disease, when the cancer is still confined to the primary site, the five-year survival rate is 92.7%. About 70% of women with advanced disease respond to initial treatment, most of whom attain complete remission, but half of these women experience a recurrence 1–4 years after treatment. Brain metastasis is more common in stage III/IV cancer but can still occur in cancers staged at I/II. People with brain metastases survive a median of 8.2 months, though surgery, chemotherapy, and whole brain radiation therapy can improve survival.
Ovarian cancer survival varies significantly with subtype. Dysgerminomas have a very favorable prognosis. In early stages, they have a five-year survival rate of 96.9%. Around two-thirds of dysgerminomas are diagnosed at stage I. Stage-III dysgerminomas have a five-year survival of 61%; when treated with BEP chemotherapy after incomplete surgical removal, dysgerminomas have a 95% two-year survival rate. Sex-cord-stromal malignancies also have a favorable prognosis; because they are slow-growing, even those with metastatic disease can survive a decade or more. Low malignant potential tumors usually only have a bad prognosis when there are invasive tumor implants found in the peritoneal cavity.
Complications of ovarian cancer can include spread of the cancer to other organs, progressive function loss of various organs, ascites, and intestinal obstructions, which can be fatal. Intestinal obstructions in multiple sites are the most common proximate cause of death. Intestinal obstruction in ovarian cancer can either be a true obstruction, where tumor blocks the intestinal lumen, or a pseudo-obstruction, when tumor prevents normal peristalsis. Continuous accumulation of ascites can be treated by placing a drain that can be self-drained.
Prognostic factors
There are a number of prognostic factors in ovarian cancer. Positive prognostic factors – those indicating better chances of survival – include no residual disease after surgery (stage III/IV), complete macroscopic resection (stage IV), BRCA2 mutations, young age (under 45 years), nonserous type, low histologic grade, early stage, co-occurrence with endometrial cancer, and low CA-125 levels. There is conflicting evidence for BRCA1 as a prognostic factor. Conversely, negative prognostic factors – those that indicate a worse chance of survival – include rupture of the ovarian capsule during surgery, older age (over 45 years), mucinous type, stage IV, high histologic grade, clear-cell type, upper abdominal involvement, high CA-125 levels, the presence of tumor cells in the blood, and elevated cyclooxygenase-2.
Expression of various mRNAs can also be prognostic for ovarian cancer. High levels of Drosha and Dicer are associated with improved survival, whereas high levels of let-7b, HIF1A, EphA1, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase are associated with worse survival. Cancers that are positive for WT1 carry a worse prognosis; estrogen-receptor positive cancers have a better prognosis.
Survival rates
Overall five-year survival rates for all types of ovarian cancer are presented below by stage and histologic grade:
The survival rates given below are for the different types of ovarian cancer, according to American Cancer Society. They come from the National Cancer Institute, SEER, and are based on patients diagnosed from 2004 to 2010.
Recurrence rates
Ovarian cancer frequently recurs after treatment. Overall, in a 5-year period, 20% of stage I and II cancers recur. Most recurrences are in the abdomen. If a recurrence occurs in advanced disease, it typically occurs within 18 months of initial treatment (18 months progression-free survival). Recurrences can be treated, but the disease-free interval tends to shorten and chemoresistance increases with each recurrence. When a dysgerminoma recurs, it is most likely to recur within a year of diagnosis, and other malignant germ cell tumors recur within 2 years 90% of the time. Germ cell tumors other than dysgerminomas have a poor prognosis when they relapse, with a 10% long-term survival rate. Low malignant potential tumors rarely relapse, even when fertility-sparing surgery is the treatment of choice. 15% of LMP tumors relapse after unilateral surgery in the previously unaffected ovary, and they are typically easily treated with surgery. More advanced tumors may take up to 20 years to relapse, if they relapse at all, and are only treated with surgery unless the tumor has changed its histological characteristics or grown very quickly. In these cases, and when there is significant ascites, chemotherapy may also be used. Relapse is usually indicated by rising CA-125 levels and then progresses to symptomatic relapse within 2–6 months. Recurrent sex cord-stromal tumors are typically unresponsive to treatment but not aggressive.
It is the most deadly gynecologic cancer.
Epidemiology
Globally, in 2018, the incidence of ovarian cancer was 6.6 per 100,000 and mortality was 3.9. Globally, about 160,000 people died from ovarian cancer in 2010. This was an increase from 113,000 in 1990. The number of new cases per year in Europe is approximately 5–15 per 100,000 women. In Europe, Lithuania, Latvia, Ireland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have the highest incidences of ovarian cancer, whereas Portugal and Cyprus have the lowest incidences. In 2008, the five-year survival rate was 44%. This has increased since 1977 when the survival rate was 36%.
United States
In 2022, in the United States, an estimated 19,880 new cases were diagnosed and 12,810 women died of ovarian cancer. The 5-year relative survival rate is 49.7%. Around 57% cases have metastasized at the time of diagnosis.
In 2014, over 220,000 diagnoses of epithelial ovarian cancer were made yearly. The overall lifetime risk in the US is around 1.6% In the US, ovarian cancer affects 1.3–1.4% and is the cause of death of about 1% of women. In the United States, it is also the fifth-most common cancer in women but the fourth-most common cause of cancer death. This decrease made it the ninth-most common cancer in women.
The risks from developing specific types of ovarian cancer varies. Germ cell tumors and sex cord-stromal tumors are less common than epithelial tumors. The number of new cases a year in the US is 0.4 per 100,000 women and 0.2 per 100,000 women, respectively. In young people, sex-cord stromal tumors and germ cell tumors total 1% of overall ovarian cancer. Ovarian cancer represents approximately 4% of cancers diagnosed in women.
United Kingdom
It is the 5th-most common cancer in UK women (around 7,100 were diagnosed in 2011) and the 5th-most common cause of cancer death in women (around 4,300 died in 2012). The incidence rate over the whole UK population is 21.6 per 100,000.
As of 2014, the UK saw approximately 7,000–7,100 yearly diagnoses with 4,200 deaths. A 2022 article from The Times put the estimate at 7,500 new cases yearly in Britain. Early symptoms are often mistaken for common conditions such as cystitis or irritable bowel syndrome, and about 40 per cent of UK women wrongly believe that cervical screening detects ovarian cancer, an increase from 30 per cent in 2016. Ashkenazi Jewish women carry mutated BRCA alleles five times more often than the rest of the population, giving them a higher risk developing ovarian cancer.
Ethnicity
Black women have twice the risk for sex cord-stromal tumors compared to non-Black women. The highest prevalence is in Caucasian and Hispanic women, followed by African-American and Asian women. The highest mortality from ovarian cancer is in African-American women.
Older women
In the US, the incidence rate in women over 50 is approximately 33 per 100,000. The rate of ovarian cancer between 1993 and 2008 decreased in women of the 40–49 age cohort and in the 50–64 age cohort. Ovarian cancer is most commonly diagnosed after menopause, between the ages of 60 and 64. Ninety percent of ovarian cancer occurs in women over the age of 45 and 80% in women over 50. Older women are more likely to present with advanced ovarian cancer.
In pregnancy
Malignant germ cell tumors are the type of ovarian cancer most likely to occur during pregnancy. They are typically diagnosed when an adnexal mass is found on examination (in 1–2% of all pregnancies), a tumor is seen on ultrasound, or the parent's level of alpha-fetoprotein is elevated. Dermoid cysts and dysgerminomas are the most common germ cell tumors during pregnancy. Germ cell tumors diagnosed during pregnancy are unlikely to have metastasized and can be treated by surgery and, in some cases, chemotherapy, which carries the risk of birth defects. Yolk sac tumors and immature teratomas grow particularly quickly and are usually treated with chemotherapy even during pregnancy; however, dysgerminomas that have been optimally debulked may be treated after childbirth.
Other animals
Ovarian tumors have been reported in equine mares. Reported tumor types include teratoma, cystadenocarcinoma, and particularly granulosa cell tumor.
Research
Screening
Screening by hysteroscopy to obtain cell samples obtained for histological examination is being developed. This is similar to the current pap smear that is used to detect cervical cancer. The UK Collaborative Trial of Ovarian Cancer Screening is testing a screening technique that combines CA-125 blood tests with transvaginal ultrasound. Other studies suggest that this screening procedure may be effective. Although results published in 2015 were not conclusive, there was some evidence that screening may save lives in the long-term. As a result, the trial has been extended and will publish definitive results at the end of 2019. One major problem with screening is no clear progression of the disease from stage I (noninvasive) to stage III (invasive) is seen, and it may not be possible to find cancers before they reach stage III. Another problem is that screening methods tend to find too many suspicious lesions, most of which are not cancer, but malignancy can only be assessed with surgery. The ROCA method combined with transvaginal ultrasonography is being researched in high-risk women to determine if it is a viable screening method. It is also being investigated in normal-risk women as it has shown promise in the wider population. Studies are also in progress to determine if screening helps detect cancer earlier in people with BRCA mutations.
Prognosis research
Research into various prognostic factors for ovarian cancer is also going on. Recent research shows that thrombocytosis predicts lower survival and higher stage cancer. Ongoing research is also investigating the benefits of surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer.
Immunotherapy
While an active area of research, as of 2018 there is no good evidence that immunotherapy is effective for ovarian cancer. However, trials of the antibody and VEGF inhibitor bevacizumab, which can slow the growth of new blood vessels in the cancer, have shown promising results, especially in combination with pazopanib, which also slows the process of blood vessel growth. Bevacizumab has been particularly effective in preliminary studies on stage-III and -IV cancer and has been cited as having at least a 15% response rate. It is being investigated particularly in mucinous ovarian cancers.
Pharmacology
mTOR inhibitors were a highly investigated potential treatment in the 2000s and 2010s, but the side effects of these drugs (particularly hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia) were not well tolerated and the survival benefit not confirmed. PI3 kinase inhibitors have been of interest, but they tend to be highly toxic and cause diarrhea. Another investigated drug is selumetinib, a MAPK inhibitor. It improved survival, but did not correlate with any mutations found in tumors.
Bevacizumab can also be combined with platinum chemotherapy, a combination that has had positive preliminary results in PFS, but equivocal results regarding overall survival. One disadvantage to these treatments is the side effect profile, which includes high blood pressure and proteinuria. The drug can also exacerbate bowel disease, leading to fistulae or bowel perforation. Vintafolide, which consists of an antifolate conjugated with vinblastine, is also in clinical trials; it may prove beneficial because folate receptors are overexpressed in many ovarian cancers. Another potential immunotherapy is trastuzumab, which is active against tumors positive for Her2/neu mutations. Other angiogenesis inhibitors are also being investigated as potential ovarian cancer treatments. Combretastatin and pazopanib are being researched in combination for recurrent ovarian cancer. Trebananib and tasquinimod are other angiogenesis inhibitors being investigated. The monoclonal antibody farletuzumab is being researched as an adjuvant to traditional chemotherapy. Another type of immunotherapy involves vaccines, including TroVax.
An alternative to BEP chemotherapy, a regimen of 3 cycles of carboplatin and etoposide, is a current topic of research for germ cell malignancies.
Intraperitoneal chemotherapy has also been under investigation during the 2000s and 2010s for its potential to deliver higher doses of cytotoxic agent to tumors. Preliminary trials with cisplatin and paclitaxel have shown it is not well tolerated, but does improve survival, and more tolerable regimens are being researched. Cisplatin and paclitaxel are both being researched as intraperitoneal chemotherapy agents. A specific chemotherapy regimen for rare clear-cell cancers is also under investigation: irinotecan combined with cisplatin.
PARP inhibitors have also shown promise in early trials, particularly in people with BRCA gene mutations, since the BRCA protein interacts with the PARP pathway. It is also being studied in recurrent ovarian cancer in general, where preliminary studies have shown longer PFS. Specifically, olaparib has shown greater survival compared to doxorubicin, though this treatment is still being investigated. It is not clear yet which biomarkers are predictive of responsiveness to PARP inhibitors. Rucaparib is another PARP inhibitor being researched in BRCA-positive and BRCA-negative recurrent advanced ovarian cancer. Niraparib is a PARP inhibitor being tested in BRCA-positive recurrent ovarian cancer.
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors are another investigational drug class that may have applications in ovarian cancer. Angiogenesis inhibitors in the receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor group, including pazopanib, cediranib, and nintedanib, have also been shown to increase progression free survival (PFS), but their benefit for overall survival has not been investigated as of 2015. Preliminary research showed that cediranib combined with platins in recurrent ovarian cancer increased the time to second recurrence by 3–4 months and increased survival by 3 months. MK-1775 is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor that is being used in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in platinum-sensitive cancers with p53 mutations. Nintedanib is being researched as a potential therapy in combination with cyclophosphamide for people with recurrences.
Histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) are another area of research.
Hormones and radiation
Hormone therapies are a topic of current research in ovarian cancer, particularly, the value of certain medications used to treat breast cancer. These include tamoxifen, letrozole, and anastrozole. Preliminary studies have showed a benefit for tamoxifen in a small number of people with advanced ovarian cancer. Letrozole may help to slow or stop growth of estrogen receptor positive ovarian cancer. Anastrozole is being investigated in postmenopausal people with estrogen receptor-positive cancer.
Research into mitigating side effects of ovarian cancer treatment is also ongoing. Radiation fibrosis, the formation of scar tissue in an area treated with radiation, may be relieved with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, but research has not been completed in this area. Treatment of ovarian cancer may also cause people to experience psychiatric difficulties, including depression. Research is ongoing to determine how counseling and psychotherapy can help people who have ovarian cancer during treatment.
Inflammation
There are some indications that pelvic inflammatory disease may be associated with ovarian cancer, especially in non-western countries. It may be due to the inflammatory process present with pelvic inflammatory disease.
Clinical trials
Clinical trials are monitored and funded by US governmental organizations to test treatment options to see if they are safe and effective. These include NIH Clinical Research Trials and You (National Institutes of Health), Learn About Clinical Trials (National Cancer Institute), Search for Clinical Trials (National Cancer Institute), ClinicalTrials.gov (National Institutes of Health). Clinical trials are also conducted in Canada.
References
Further reading
External links
What is Ovarian Cancer Infographic, information on ovarian cancer - Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
Gynaecological cancer
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul%20Tillich
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Paul Tillich
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Paul Johannes Tillich (August 20, 1886 – October 22, 1965) was a German-American Christian existentialist philosopher, religious socialist, and Lutheran theologian who was one of the most influential theologians of the twentieth century. Tillich taught at German universities before immigrating to the United States in 1933, where he taught at Union Theological Seminary, Harvard University, and the University of Chicago.
For the general public, Tillich wrote the well-received The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957). His major three-volume Systematic Theology (1951–1963) was for theologians; in many points it was an answer to existentialist critique of Christianity.
Tillich's work attracted scholarship from other influential thinkers like Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, H. Richard Niebuhr, George Lindbeck, Erich Przywara, James Luther Adams, Avery Cardinal Dulles, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Sallie McFague, Richard John Neuhaus, David Novak, Thomas Merton, Michael Novak, and Martin Luther King Jr. According to H. Richard Niebuhr, reading of Systematic Theology can be a great voyage of discovery into a rich and deep, and inclusive and yet elaborated, vision and understanding of human life in the presence of the mystery of God." John Herman Randall Jr. lauded the Systematic Theology as "beyond doubt the richest, most suggestive, and most challenging philosophical theology our day has produced."
Tillich also authored many works in ethics, the philosophy of history, and comparative religion. His ideas continue to be studied and discussed at international conferences and seminars.
Biography
Tillich was born on August 20, 1886, in the small village of Starzeddel (Starosiedle), Province of Brandenburg, which was then part of Germany. He was the oldest of three children; his siblings were both girls. Tillich's Prussian father Johannes Tillich was a conservative Lutheran pastor of the Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces; his mother Mathilde Dürselen was from the Rhineland and more liberal.
When Tillich was four, his father was assigned to Bad Schönfliess (now Trzcińsko-Zdrój, Poland), a town of three thousand, where Tillich began primary school. In 1898, Tillich was sent to Königsberg in der Neumark (now Chojna, Poland) to begin his gymnasium schooling. He was billeted in a boarding house and lonely, so he read the Bible. At school, he discovered humanist ideas.
In 1900, Tillich's father was transferred to Berlin. Tillich switched to a Berlin school in 1901 and graduated in 1904. Before his graduation, his mother died of cancer in September 1903: Tillich was 17. He attended several universities — the University of Berlin beginning in 1904, the University of Tübingen in 1905, and the University of Halle-Wittenberg from 1905 to 1907. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree at the University of Breslau in 1911 and his Licentiate of Theology at Halle-Wittenberg in 1912. His PhD dissertation at Breslau was on Schelling and the history of religion.
During his time at university, he became a member of the Wingolf Christian fraternity in Berlin, Tübingen, and Halle.
In 1912, Tillich was ordained as a Lutheran minister in the Province of Brandenburg. On 28 September 1914 he married Margarethe ("Grethi") Wever (1888–1968), and in October he joined the Imperial German Army as a chaplain during World War I. Grethi deserted Tillich in 1919 after an affair that produced a child not fathered by Tillich; the two then divorced. During the war, Tillich served as a chaplain in the trenches, burying his closest friend and numerous soldiers in the mud of France. He was hospitalized three times for combat trauma, and was awarded the Iron Cross for bravery under fire. He came home from the war shattered. Tillich's academic career began after the war; he became a Privatdozent of Theology at the University of Berlin, a post he held from 1919 to 1924. On his return from the war he had met Hannah Werner-Gottschow, then married and pregnant. In March 1924 they married; it was the second marriage for both. She later wrote a book entitled From Time to Time about their life together, which included their commitment to open marriage, upsetting to some; despite this, they remained together into old age.
From 1924 to 1925, Tillich served as an Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Marburg, where he began to develop his systematic theology, teaching a course on it during the last of his three terms. While at Marburg, Tillich developed a professional relationship with both Rudolf Bultmann and Martin Heidegger. From 1925 until 1929, Tillich was a Professor of Theology at the Dresden University of Technology and the University of Leipzig. Then, succeeding Max Scheler (who had died suddenly in 1928), Tillich held the post of "Professor of Philosophy and Sociology" at the University of Frankfurt from 1929 to 1933. While at Frankfurt Tillich's two assistants (both completing their doctorates under him) were Harald Poelchau and Theodor Adorno (in 1931 Leo Strauss had applied for the same position but was rejected). During that period Tillich also "was instrumental in hiring Max Horkheimer as the Director of the Institut fr Sozialforschung and to a professorship in sociology at the University of Frankfurt." In Winter Term 1930-31 Tillich and Horkheimer together team-taught a course on John Locke; and during the several terms to immediately follow Tillich and Adorno together led seminars on Georg Simmel, Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Along the way Tillich also remained in conversation with Erich Przywara.
While at the University of Frankfurt, Tillich traveled throughout Germany giving public lectures and speeches that brought him into conflict with the Nazi movement. Ten weeks after Adolf Hitler became German Chancellor, on 13 April 1933 Tillich, along with Karl Mannheim and Max Horkheimer, were among the "first batch" of prominent German academic "enemies of the Reich" to be summarily dismissed from their tenured positions for solely ideological and/or racial reasons. Reinhold Niebuhr visited Germany in the summer of 1933 and, already impressed with Tillich's writings (they had known one another since 1919), contacted Tillich upon learning of his dismissal. Niebuhr urged Tillich to join the faculty at New York City's Union Theological Seminary; Tillich accepted.
At the age of 47, Tillich moved with his family to the United States. This meant learning English, the language in which he would eventually publish works such as the Systematic Theology. From 1933 until 1955 he taught at Union Theological Seminary in New York, where he began as a Visiting Professor of Philosophy of Religion. During 1933–34 he was also a Visiting Lecturer in Philosophy at Columbia University. Remarkably, "the faculty of Union [had] agreed to a 5% pay cut, at the height of the Great Depression, to bring the 47-year old Tillich and his family to the U.S."
Tillich acquired tenure at the Union Theological Seminary in 1937, and in 1940 he was promoted to Professor of Philosophical Theology and became an American citizen.
At Union, Tillich earned his reputation, publishing a series of books that outlined his idiosyncratic synthesis of Protestant Christian theology and existential philosophy. He published On the Boundary in 1936; The Protestant Era, a collection of his essays, in 1948; and The Shaking of the Foundations, the first of three volumes of his sermons, also in 1948. His collections of sermons gave him a broader audience than he had yet experienced.
Tillich's most heralded achievements, though, were the 1951 publication of volume one of the Systematic Theology (University of Chicago Press), and the 1952 publication of The Courage to Be (Yale University Press). The first volume of the systematic theology examines the inner tensions in the structure of reason and being, primarily through a study in ontology. These tensions, Tillich contends, show that the quest for revelation is implied in finite reason, and that the quest for the ground of being is implied in finite being. The publication of Systematic Theology, Vol. 1 brought Tillich international academic acclaim, prompting an invitation to give the prestigious Gifford Lectures in 1953–54 at the University of Aberdeen. The Courage to Be, which examines ontic, moral, and spiritual anxieties across history and in modernity, was based on Tillich's 1950 Dwight H. Terry Lectureship and reached a wide general readership.
These works led to an appointment at Harvard Divinity School in 1955, where he was University Professor, among the (at the time) five highest ranking professors at Harvard. He was primarily a professor of undergraduates, because Harvard did not have a department of religion for them, but was thereby more exposed to the wider university and "most fully embodied the ideal of a University Professor." In 1959, Tillich was featured on the cover of Time magazine.
In 1961, Tillich became one of the founding members of the Society for the Arts, Religion and Contemporary Culture, an organization with which he maintained ties for the remainder of his life. During this period, he published volume two of the Systematic Theology, as well as the popular book Dynamics of Faith, both in 1957. Tillich's career at Harvard lasted until 1962, when he was appointed John Nuveen Professor of Theology at the University of Chicago. He remained at Chicago until his death in 1965.
Volume three of Tillich's Systematic Theology was published in 1963. In 1964, Tillich became the first theologian to be honored in Kegley and Bretall's Library of Living Theology: "The adjective 'great,' in our opinion, can be applied to very few thinkers of our time, but Tillich, we are far from alone in believing, stands unquestionably amongst these few." A widely quoted critical assessment of his importance was Georgia Harkness' comment: "What Whitehead was to American philosophy, Tillich has been to American theology."
Tillich died on October 22, 1965, ten days after having a heart attack. In 1966, his ashes were interred in the Paul Tillich Park in New Harmony, Indiana. His gravestone inscription reads: "And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit for his season, his leaf also shall not wither. And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." (Psalm 1:3)
Philosophy and theology
Being
Tillich used the concept of being (Sein) throughout his philosophical and theological work. Some of his work engaged with the fundamental ontology of Martin Heidegger.
Tillich's preliminary analysis of being ascends from the human subject's asking of the ontological question ("What is being itself?"), upwards to the highest categories of metaphysics. He distinguishes among four levels of ontological analysis: self-world; dynamics and form, freedom and destiny, and individualization and participation; essential being and existential being; and time, space, causality, and substance.
Being plays a key role throughout Tillich's Systematic Theology. In the opening to the second volume, Tillich writes:
God as the ground of being
Throughout most of his work Tillich provides an ontological view of God as being-itself, the ground of being, and the power of being, one in which God is beyond essence and existence. He was critical of conceptions of God as a being (e.g., the highest being), as well as of pantheistic conceptions of God as universal essence. Traditional medieval philosophical theology in the work of figures such as St. Anselm, Duns Scotus, and William of Ockham tended to understand God as the highest existing being, to which predicates such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, goodness, righteousness, holiness, etc. may be ascribed. Arguments for and against the existence of God presuppose such an understanding of God. Tillich is critical of this mode of discourse, which he refers to as "theological theism," and argues that if God is a being, even if the highest being, God cannot be properly called the source of all being. With respect to both God's existence and essence, moreover, Tillich shows how difficulties beset Thomas Aquinas' attempt to "maintain the truth that God is beyond essence and existence while simultaneously arguing for the existence of God."
Though Tillich is critical of propositional arguments for the existence of God as found in natural theology, as he considers them objectifying of God, he nonetheless affirms the reality of God as the ground of being. A similar line of thought is found in the work of Eric Voegelin. Tillich's concept of God can be drawn out from his analysis of being. In Tillich's analysis of being, all of being experiences the threat of nonbeing. Yet, following Heidegger, Tillich claims that it is human beings alone who can raise the question of being and therefore of being-itself. This is because, he contends, human beings' "infinite self-transcendence is an expression of [their] belonging to that which is beyond nonbeing, namely, to being-itself ... Being-itself manifests itself to finite being in the infinite drive of the finite beyond itself."
Tillich addresses questions both ontological and personalist concerning God. One issue deals with whether and in what way personal language about the nature of God and humanity's relationship to God is appropriate. In distinction to "theological theism", Tillich refers to another kind of theism as that of the "divine-human encounter". Such is the theism of the encounter with the "Wholly Other" ("Das ganz Andere"), as in the work of Karl Barth and Rudolf Otto. It implies a personalism with regard to God's self-revelation. Tillich is quite clear that this is both appropriate and necessary, as it is the basis of the personalism of biblical religion altogether and of the concept of the "Word of God", but can become falsified if the theologian tries to turn such encounters with God as the Wholly Other into an understanding of God as a being. In other words, God is both personal and transpersonal.
Tillich's ontological view of God has precedent in Christian theology. In addition to affinities with the concept of God as being-itself in classical theism, it shares similarities with Hellenistic and Patristic conceptions of God as the "unoriginate source" (agennetos) of all being. This view was espoused in particular by Origen, one of a number of early theologians whose thought influenced Tillich's. Their views in turn had pre-Christian precedents in middle Platonism. Aside from classical and Christian influences in Tillich's concept of God, there is a dynamism in Tillich's notion of "the living God," reflecting some influence from Spinoza.
Tillich combines his ontological conception of God with a largely existential and phenomenological understanding of faith in God, remarking that God is "the answer to the question implied in man's finitude ... the name for that which concerns man ultimately." This is notably manifest in his understanding of faith as ultimate concern. Following his existential analysis, Tillich further argues that theological theism is not only logically problematic, but is unable to speak into the situation of radical doubt and despair about meaning in life. This issue, he said, was of primary concern in the modern age, as opposed to anxiety about fate, guilt, death and condemnation. This is because the state of finitude entails by necessity anxiety, and that it is our finitude as human beings, our being a mixture of being and nonbeing, that is at the ultimate basis of anxiety. If God is not the ground of being, then God cannot provide an answer to the question of finitude; God would also be finite in some sense. The term "God Above God," then, means to indicate the God who appears, who is the ground of being, when the "God" of theological theism has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt. While on the one hand this God goes beyond the God of theism as usually defined, it finds expression in many religious symbols of the Christian faith, particularly that of the crucified Christ. The possibility thus exists, says Tillich, that religious symbols may be recovered which would otherwise have been rendered ineffective by contemporary society.
Tillich argues that the God of theological theism is at the root of much revolt against theism and religious faith in the modern period. Tillich states, sympathetically, that the God of theological theism
Another reason Tillich criticized theological theism was because it placed God into the subject-object dichotomy. The subject-object dichotomy is the basic distinction made in epistemology. Epistemologically, God cannot be made into an object, that is, an object of the knowing subject. Tillich deals with this question under the rubric of the relationality of God. The question is "whether there are external relations between God and the creature". Traditionally Christian theology has always understood the doctrine of creation to mean precisely this external relationality between God, the Creator, and the creature as separate and not identical realities. Tillich reminds us of the point, which can be found in Luther, that "there is no place to which man can withdraw from the divine thou, because it includes the ego and is nearer to the ego than the ego to itself".
Tillich goes further to say that the desire to draw God into the subject–object dichotomy is an "insult" to the divine holiness. Similarly, if God were made into the subject rather than the object of knowledge (The Ultimate Subject), then the rest of existing entities then become subjected to the absolute knowledge and scrutiny of God, and the human being is "reified," or made into a mere object. It would deprive the person of his or her own subjectivity and creativity. According to Tillich, theological theism has provoked the rebellions found in atheism and Existentialism, although other social factors such as the industrial revolution have also contributed to the "reification" of the human being. The modern man could no longer tolerate the idea of being an "object" completely subjected to the absolute knowledge of God. Tillich argued, as mentioned, that theological theism is "bad theology".
Alternatively, Tillich presents the above-mentioned ontological view of God as Being-Itself, Ground of Being, Power of Being, and occasionally as Abyss or God's "Abysmal Being". What makes Tillich's ontological view of God different from theological theism is that it transcends it by being the foundation or ultimate reality that "precedes" all beings. Just as Being for Heidegger is ontologically prior to conception, Tillich views God to be beyond being. God is not a supernatural entity among other entities. Instead, God is the inexhaustible ground which empowers the existence of beings. We cannot perceive God as an object which is related to a subject because God precedes the subject–object dichotomy.
Thus Tillich dismisses a literalistic Biblicism. Instead of rejecting the notion of personal God, however, Tillich sees it as a symbol that points directly to the Ground of Being. Since the Ground of Being ontologically precedes reason, it cannot be comprehended since comprehension presupposes the subject–object dichotomy. Tillich disagreed with any literal philosophical and religious statements that can be made about God. Such literal statements attempt to define God and lead not only to anthropomorphism but also to a philosophical mistake that Immanuel Kant warned against, that setting limits against the transcendent inevitably leads to contradictions. Any statements about God are simply symbolic, but these symbols are sacred in the sense that they function to participate or point to the Ground of Being.
Tillich also further elaborated the thesis of the God above the God of theism in his Systematic Theology.
Method of correlation
The key to understanding Tillich's theology is what he calls the "method of correlation." It is an approach that correlates insights from Christian revelation with the issues raised by existential, psychological, and philosophical analyses.
Tillich states in the introduction to the Systematic Theology:
For Tillich, the existential questions of human existence are associated with the field of philosophy and, more specifically, ontology (the study of being). This is because, according to Tillich, a lifelong pursuit of philosophy reveals that the central question of every philosophical inquiry always comes back to the question of being, or what it means to be, and, consequently, what it means to be a finite human being within being. To be correlated with existential questions are theological answers, themselves derived from Christian revelation. The task of the philosopher primarily involves developing the questions, whereas the task of the theologian primarily involves developing the answers to these questions. However, it should be remembered that the two tasks overlap and include one another: the theologian must be somewhat of a philosopher and vice versa, for Tillich's notion of faith as "ultimate concern" necessitates that the theological answer be correlated with, compatible with, and in response to the general ontological question which must be developed independently from the answers. Thus, on one side of the correlation lies an ontological analysis of the human situation, whereas on the other is a presentation of the Christian message as a response to this existential dilemma. For Tillich, no formulation of the question can contradict the theological answer. This is because the Christian message claims, a priori, that the logos "who became flesh" is also the universal logos of the Greeks.
In addition to the intimate relationship between philosophy and theology, another important aspect of the method of correlation is Tillich's distinction between form and content in the theological answers. While the nature of revelation determines the actual content of the theological answers, the character of the questions determines the form of these answers. This is because, for Tillich, theology must be an answering theology, or apologetic theology. God is called the "ground of being" in part because God is the answer to the ontological threat of non-being, and this characterization of the theological answer in philosophical terms means that the answer has been conditioned (insofar as its form is considered) by the question. Throughout the Systematic Theology, Tillich is careful to maintain this distinction between form and content without allowing one to be inadvertently conditioned by the other. Many criticisms of Tillich's methodology revolve around this issue of whether the integrity of the Christian message is really maintained when its form is conditioned by philosophy.
The theological answer is also determined by the sources of theology, our experience, and the norm of theology. Though the form of the theological answers are determined by the character of the question, these answers (which "are contained in the revelatory events on which Christianity is based") are also "taken by systematic theology from the sources, through the medium, under the norm." There are three main sources of systematic theology: the Bible, Church history, and the history of religion and culture. Experience is not a source but a medium through which the sources speak. And the norm of theology is that by which both sources and experience are judged with regard to the content of the Christian faith. Thus, we have the following as elements of the method and structure of systematic theology:
Sources of theology
Bible
Church history
History of religion and culture
Medium of the sources
Collective experience of the Church
Norm of theology (determines use of sources)
Content of which is the biblical message itself, for example:
Justification through faith
New Being in Jesus as the Christ
The Protestant principle
The criterion of the cross
As McKelway explains, the sources of theology contribute to the formation of the norm, which then becomes the criterion through which the sources and experience are judged. The relationship is circular, as it is the present situation which conditions the norm in the interaction between church and biblical message. The norm is then subject to change, but Tillich insists that its basic content remains the same: that of the biblical message. It is tempting to conflate revelation with the norm, but we must keep in mind that revelation (whether original or dependent) is not an element of the structure of systematic theology per se, but an event. For Tillich, the present-day norm is the "New Being in Jesus as the Christ as our Ultimate Concern". This is because the present question is one of estrangement, and the overcoming of this estrangement is what Tillich calls the "New Being". But since Christianity answers the question of estrangement with "Jesus as the Christ", the norm tells us that we find the New Being in Jesus as the Christ.
There is also the question of the validity of the method of correlation. Certainly one could reject the method on the grounds that there is no a priori reason for its adoption. But Tillich claims that the method of any theology and its system are interdependent. That is, an absolute methodological approach cannot be adopted because the method is continually being determined by the system and the objects of theology.
Life and the Spirit
This is part four of Tillich's Systematic Theology. In this part, Tillich talks about life and the divine Spirit.
Absolute faith
Tillich stated the courage to take meaninglessness into oneself presupposes a relation to the ground of being: absolute faith. Absolute faith can transcend the theistic idea of God, and has three elements.
Faith as ultimate concern
According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Tillich believes the essence of religious attitudes is what he calls "ultimate concern". Separate from all profane and ordinary realities, the object of the concern is understood as sacred, numinous or holy. The perception of its reality is felt as so overwhelming and valuable that all else seems insignificant, and for this reason requires total surrender. In 1957, Tillich defined his conception of faith more explicitly in his work, Dynamics of Faith.
Tillich further refined his conception of faith by stating that, "Faith as ultimate concern is an act of the total personality. It is the most centered act of the human mind ... it participates in the dynamics of personal life."
An arguably central component of Tillich's concept of faith is his notion that faith is "ecstatic". That is to say:
In short, for Tillich, faith does not stand opposed to rational or nonrational elements (reason and emotion respectively), as some philosophers would maintain. Rather, it transcends them in an ecstatic passion for the ultimate.
It should also be noted that Tillich does not exclude atheists in his exposition of faith. Everyone has an ultimate concern, and this concern can be in an act of faith, "even if the act of faith includes the denial of God. Where there is ultimate concern, God can be denied only in the name of God"
Tillich's ontology of courage
In Paul Tillich's work The Courage to Be he defines courage as the self-affirmation of one's being in spite of a threat of nonbeing. He relates courage to anxiety, anxiety being the threat of non-being and the courage to be what we use to combat that threat. For Tillich, he outlines three types of anxiety and thus three ways to display the courage to be.
1) The Anxiety of Fate and Death
a. The Anxiety of Fate and Death is the most basic and universal form of anxiety for Tillich. It relates quite simply to the recognition of our mortality. This troubles us humans. We become anxious when we are unsure whether our actions create a causal damnation which leads to a very real and quite unavoidable death (42-44). "Nonbeing threatens man's ontic self-affirmation, relatively in terms of fate, absolutely in terms of death" (41).
b. We display courage when we cease to rely on others to tell us what will come of us, (what will happen when we die etc.) and begin seeking those answers out for ourselves. Called the "courage of confidence" (162-63).
2) The Anxiety of Guilt and Condemnation
a. This anxiety afflicts our moral self-affirmation. We as humans are responsible for our moral being, and when asked by our judge (whoever that may be) what we have made of ourselves we must answer. The anxiety is produced when we realize our being is unsatisfactory. "It [Nonbeing] threatens man's moral self-affirmation, relatively in terms of guilt, absolutely in terms of condemnation" (41).
b. We display courage when we first identify our sin; despair or whatever is causing us guilt or afflicting condemnation. We then rely on the idea that we are accepted regardless. "The courage to be is the courage to accept oneself as accepted in spite of being unacceptable" (164).
3) The Anxiety of Meaninglessness and Emptiness
a. The Anxiety of Meaninglessness and Emptiness attacks our being as a whole. We worry about the loss of an ultimate concern or goal. This anxiety is also brought on by a loss of spirituality. We as beings feel the threat of non-being when we feel we have no place or purpose in the world. "It [Nonbeing] threatens man's spiritual self-affirmation, relatively in terms of emptiness, absolutely in terms of meaninglessness" (41).
b. We display the courage to be when facing this anxiety by displaying true faith, and by again, self-affirming oneself. We draw from the "power of being" which is God for Tillich and use that faith to in turn affirm ourselves and negate the non-being. We can find our meaning and purpose through the "power of being" (172-73).
Tillich writes that the ultimate source of the courage to be is the "God above God," which transcends the theistic idea of God and is the content of absolute faith (defined as "the accepting of the acceptance without somebody or something that accepts") (185).
Political views
Tillich espoused socialist politics, and became involved in religious socialist circles after World War I. He co-wrote a pamphlet in 1919 which advocated that Christian leaders with socialist leanings should "enter into the socialist movement in order to pave the way for a future union of Christianity and the socialist social order". The Fellowship of Socialist Christians was organized in the early 1930s by Reinhold Niebuhr and others with similar views.
Later it changed its name to Frontier Fellowship and then to Christian Action.
The main supporters of the Fellowship in the early days included Tillich, Eduard Heimann, Sherwood Eddy and Rose Terlin.
In its early days the group thought capitalist individualism was incompatible with Christian ethics.
Although not Communist, the group acknowledged Karl Marx's social philosophy. Tillich was sympathetic towards the young Marx's theory of alienation as well as his idea of historical materialism, but was opposed to rigid understandings of historical determinism that claimed the victory of socialism was inevitable, as espoused by many vulgar Marxists.
Tillich's book The Socialist Decision was published in the early 1930s, during the rise of Nazism, and it was immediately censored by the Nazi regime. In the book, Tillich characterised Nazism as a form of political romanticism, which he defined as an attachment to a "myth of origin (that) envisions the beginnings of humankind in elemental, superhuman figures of various kinds" that he contended formed the basis for right-wing politics more generally. Tillich identified three basic origin myths in romantic politics: blood, soil and social group. He argued that these origin myths served to legitimate established social hierarchies by idealising the past and promoting a cyclical view of history that denied the possibility of progress and enlightened reform: "the origin (myth) embodies the law of cyclical motion: whatever proceeds from it must return to it. Wherever the origin is in control, nothing new can happen". He also contended that whilst political romanticism could be critical of capitalism and industrial society, it could still be used by the capitalist class to advance their interests. Tillich more precisely described Nazism as form of revolutionary romanticism, which he counterposed to conservative romanticism. He stated that whilst the latter "defend(s) the spiritual and social residues of the bond of origin... and whenever possible (seeks) to restore past forms", the former "tries to gain a basis for new ties to the origin by a devastating attack on the rational system".
Tillich viewed liberalism as intertwined with capitalism, arguing that it granted freedom to the capitalist class without liberating the masses, and believing it had a key role in dismantling traditional social bonds, including religious ones, as well as advancing colonialism and slavery. However, he was positive about liberalism's individualism, rationalism and egalitarianism, and believed that it was inseparable from democracy, despite tensions between the two. He considered that the connection between liberalism and capitalism needed to be severed in order for liberalism's aspirations for freedom to be realised, advocating for an embrace of democratic socialism as an alternative.
Popular works
Two of Tillich's works, The Courage to Be (1952) and Dynamics of Faith (1957), were read widely, including by people who would not normally read religious books. In The Courage to Be, he lists three basic anxieties: anxiety about our biological finitude, i.e. that arising from the knowledge that we will eventually die; anxiety about our moral finitude, linked to guilt; and anxiety about our existential finitude, a sense of aimlessness in life. Tillich related these to three different historical eras: the early centuries of the Christian era; the Reformation; and the 20th century. Tillich's popular works have influenced psychology as well as theology, having had an influence on Rollo May, whose "The Courage to Create" was inspired by "The Courage to Be".
Reception
Tillich's most enduring legacy may be his spiritually-oriented public instruction. Tillich's chapel sermons (especially at Union) were enthusiastically received. He was the only faculty member at Union willing to attend the revivals of Billy Graham. Tillich's students commented on his approachability and interaction with them. Tillich along with his student, psychologist Rollo May, was an early leader at the Esalen Institute. New Age catchphrases describing God spatially as the "Ground of Being" and temporally as the "Eternal Now," in tandem with the view that God is not an entity among entities but rather is "Being-Itself"—ideas which Eckhart Tolle invoked repeatedly throughout his career—were renovated by Tillich, although these ideas derive from Christian mystics and early theologians such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas.
A consideration of Tillich's traumatic experiences as an active duty chaplain during World War I has led some to view his theology as "Post-traumatic." The book Post-Traumatic God: How the Church Cares for People Who Have Been to Hell and Back explores Tillich's experiences and theology to offer people afflicted with post-traumatic stress an understanding of God aimed at helping them heal.
Criticism
Martin Buber's disciple Malcolm Diamond claims Tillich's approach indicates a "transtheistic position that Buber seeks to avoid", reducing God to the impersonal "necessary being" of Thomas Aquinas.
Tillich has been criticized from the Barthian wing of Protestantism for what is alleged to be correlation theory's tendency to reduce God and his relationship to man to anthropocentric terms. Tillich countered that Barth's approach to theology denies the "possibility of understanding God's relation to man in any other way than heteronomously or extrinsically". Defenders of Tillich claim that the critics misunderstood the distinction Tillich made between God's unknowable essence as the unconditional "Ground of Being", and how God reveals himself to mankind in existence. Tillich established the distinction in the first chapter of Systematic Theology Volume One: "But though God in his abysmal nature [footnote: 'Calvin: in his essence' ] is in no way dependent on man, God in his self manifestation to man is dependent on the way man receives his manifestation."
Some conservative forms of evangelical Christianity believe Tillich's thought is too unorthodox to qualify as Christianity at all, but rather is a form of pantheism or atheism. The Evangelical Dictionary of Theology states, "At best Tillich was a pantheist, but his thought borders on atheism." Defenders of Tillich counter such claims by pointing to clear monotheistic expressions from a classical Christian viewpoint, of the relationship between God and man, such as his description of the experience of grace in his sermon "You Are Accepted".
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(edited from his lectures and published posthumously).
A History of Christian Thought (1968), Harper & Row, contains the first part of the two part 1972 edition (comprising the 38 New York lectures).
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See also
Philosophical theology
Christian existentialism
Systematic theology
List of American philosophers
Neo-orthodoxy
Panentheism
Postmodern Christianity
Theistic Personalism
Existential Thomism
References
Further reading
Adams, James Luther. 1965. Paul Tillich's Philosophy of Culture, Science, and Religion. New York: New York University Press
Armbruster, Carl J. 1967. The Vision of Paul Tillich. New York: Sheed and Ward
Breisach, Ernst. 1962. Introduction to Modern Existentialism. New York: Grove Press
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Bulman, Raymond F. and Frederick J. Parrella, eds. 1994. Paul Tillich: A New Catholic Assessment. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press
Carey, Patrick W., and Lienhard, Joseph. 2002. "Biographical Dictionary of Christian Theologians". Mass: Hendrickson
Chul-Ho Youn, God's Relation to the World and Human Existence in the Theologies of Paul Tillich and John B. Cobb, Jr (1990)
Dourley, John P. 2008. Paul Tillich, Carl Jung, and the Recovery of Religion. London: Routledge
Ford, Lewis S. 1966. "Tillich and Thomas: The Analogy of Being." Journal of Religion 46:2 (April)
Freeman, David H. 1962. Tillich. Philadelphia: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Co.
Gilkey, Langdon. 1990. Gilkey on Tillich. New York: Crossroad
Grenz, Stanley, and Olson, Roger E. 1997. 20th Century Theology God & the World in a Transitional Age
Hamilton, Kenneth. 1963. The System and the Gospel: A Critique of Paul Tillich. New York: Macmillan
Hammond, Guyton B. 1965. Estrangement: A Comparison of the Thought of Paul Tillich and Erich Fromm. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press.
Hegel, G. W. F. 1967. The Phenomenology of Mind, trans. With intro. J. B. Baillie, Torchbook intro. by George Lichtheim. New York: Harper Torchbooks
Hook, Sidney, ed. 1961 Religious Experience and Truth: A Symposium (New York: New York University Press)
Hopper, David. 1968. Tillich: A Theological Portrait. Philadelphia: Lippincott
Howlett, Duncan. 1964. The Fourth American Faith. New York: Harper & Row
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Keefe, Donald J., S.J. 1971. Thomism and the Ontological Theology of Paul Tillich. Leiden: E.J. Brill
Kelsey, David H. 1967 The Fabric of Paul Tillich's Theology. New Haven: Yale University Press
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MacIntyre, Alasdair. 1963. "God and the Theologians," Encounter 21:3 (September)
Martin, Bernard. 1963. The Existentialist Theology of Paul Tillich. New Haven: College and University Press
Marx, Karl. n.d. Capital. Ed. Frederick Engels. trans. from 3rd German ed. by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling. New York: The Modern Library
May, Rollo. 1973. Paulus: Reminiscences of a Friendship. New York: Harper & Row
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Modras, Ronald. 1976. Paul Tillich 's Theology of the Church: A Catholic Appraisal. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1976.
O'Meara, Thomas F., O.P. and Donald M. Weisser, O.P., eds. 1969. Paul Tillich in Catholic Thought. Garden City: Image Books
Palmer, Michael. 1984. Paul Tillich's Philosophy of Art. New York: Walter de Gruyter
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Re Manning, Russell, ed. 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Paul Tillich. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Re Manning, Russell, ed. 2015. Retrieving the Radical Tillich. His Legacy and Contemporary Importance. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
Rowe, William L. 1968. Religious Symbols and God: A Philosophical Study of Tillich's Theology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Scharlemann, Robert P. 1969. Reflection and Doubt in the Thought of Paul Tillich. New Haven: Yale University Press
Schweitzer, Albert. 1961. The Quest of the Historical Jesus, trans. W. Montgomery. New York: Macmillan
Soper, David Wesley. 1952. Major Voices in American Theology: Six Contemporary Leaders Philadelphia: Westminster
Tavard, George H. 1962. Paul Tillich and the Christian Message. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons
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Tillich, Hannah. 1973. From Time to Time. New York: Stein and Day
Vîrtop Sorin-Avram: "Integrating the symbol approach in education " in Conference Proceedings 2, Economic, Social and Administrative Approaches to the knowledge based organisation, « Nicolae Bălcescu » Land Forces Academy Publishing House, Sibiu, Romania, 2013. ISSN 1843-6722 pp. 454–459, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318724749_1_Virtop_Sorin-Avram_Integrating_the_symbol_approach_in_education_in_Conference_Procedings_2_Economic_Social_and_Administrative_Approaches_to_the_knowledge_based_organisation_Nicolae_Balcescu_Land_Forces
Tucker, Robert. 1961. Philosophy and Myth in Karl Marx. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Wheat, Leonard F. 1970. Paul Tillich's Dialectical Humanism: Unmasking the God above God. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press
Woodson, Hue. 2018. Heideggerian Theologies: The Pathmarks of John Macquarrie, Rudolf Bultmann, Paul Tillich, and Karl Rahner. Eugene: Wipf and Stock
External links
The Harvard Divinity School Library at Harvard Divinity School holds the papers of Paul Tillich and Hannah Tillich.
"A Conversation With Dr. Paul Tillich and Werner Rode, Graduate Student in Theology." Film reel, 1956.
Tillich, Paul, 1886–1965. Audiocassettes, 1955–1965
Tillich, Paul, 1886–1965. Papers, 1894–1974
Tillich, Paul, 1886–1965, collector. Literature about Paul Tillich, 1911–1994
Tillich, Hannah. Papers, 1896–1976
James Rosati's sculpture of Tillich's head in the Paul Tillich Park in New Harmony, Indiana.
North American Paul Tillich Society.
Reverend Bill Ressl Tillich Park in New Harmony, Indiana.
Tillich profile, and synopsis of Gifford Lectures
Paul Tillich Resources. Wesley Wildman.
Reader's Guide to Tillich's Systematic Theology. Archived from the Original in 2021 on the Wayback Machine.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy%20Davidman
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Joy Davidman
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Helen Joy Davidman (18 April 1915 – 13 July 1960) was an American poet and writer. Often referred to as a child prodigy, she earned a master's degree from Columbia University in English literature at age twenty in 1935. For her book of poems, Letter to a Comrade, she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1938 and the Russell Loines Award for Poetry in 1939. She was the author of several books, including two novels.
While an atheist and after becoming a member of the American Communist Party, she met and married her first husband and father of her two sons, William Lindsay Gresham, in 1942. After a troubled marriage, and following her conversion to Christianity, they divorced and she left America to travel to England with her sons.
Davidman published her best-known work, Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments, in 1954 with a preface by C. S. Lewis. Lewis influenced her work and conversion and became her second husband after her permanent relocation to England in 1956. She died from metastatic carcinoma involving the bones in 1960.
The relationship that developed between Davidman and Lewis has been featured in a television BBC film, a stage play, and a theatrical film named Shadowlands. Lewis published A Grief Observed under a pseudonym in 1961, from notebooks he kept after his wife's death revealing his immense grief and a period of questioning God.
Early life
Helen Joy Davidman was born on 18 April 1915 into a secular middle-class Jewish family in New York City of Polish-Jewish and Ukrainian-Jewish descent. Her parents, Joseph Davidman and Jeanette Spivack (married 1909), arrived in America in the late 19th century. Davidman grew up in the Bronx with her younger brother, Howard, and with both parents employed, even during the Great Depression. She was provided with a good education, piano lessons and family vacation trips. Davidman wrote in 1951: "I was a well-brought-up, right-thinking child of materialism... I was an atheist and the daughter of an atheist".
Davidman was a child prodigy, who scored above 150 on IQ testing, with exceptional critical, analytical and musical skills. She read H. G. Wells's The Outline of History at the age of eight and was able to play a score of Chopin on the piano after having read it once and not looking at it again. At an early age, she read George MacDonald's children's books and his adult fantasy book, Phantastes. She wrote about the influence of these stories: "They developed in me a lifelong taste for fantasy, which led me years later to C. S. Lewis, who in turn led me to religion." A sickly child, suffering from a crooked spine, scarlet fever and anemia throughout her school years, and attending classes with much older classmates, she later referred to herself at this time as being "bookish, over-precocious and arrogant".
After finishing high school at Evander Childs High School at fourteen years old, she read books at home until she entered Hunter College in the Bronx at the age of fifteen, earning a BA degree at nineteen. In 1935, she received a master's degree in English literature from Columbia University in three semesters, while also teaching at Roosevelt High School. In 1936, after several of Davidman's poems were published in Poetry, editor Harriet Monroe asked her to work for the magazine as reader and editor. Davidman resigned her teaching position to work full-time in writing and editing.
During the Great Depression, several incidents, including witnessing the suicide of a hungry orphan jumping off a roof at Hunter College, are said to have caused her to question the fairness of capitalism and the American economic system. She joined the American Communist Party in 1938.
For her collection of poems, Letter to a Comrade, she won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition in 1938. She was chosen by Stephen Vincent Benét, who commended Davidman for her "varied command of forms and a bold power." In 1939, she won the Russell Loines Award for Poetry for this same book of poems. Although much of her work during this period reflected her politics as a member of the American Communist Party, this volume of poetry was much more than implied by the title, and contained forty-five poems written in traditional and free verse that were related to serious topics of the time such as the Spanish Civil War, the inequalities of class structure and male-female relationship issues. Davidman's style in these revealed the influence of Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.
She was employed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1939 for a six-month stay in Hollywood writing movie scripts. She wrote at least four, but they were not used and she returned to New York City to work for The New Masses, where she wrote a controversial movie column, reviewing Hollywood movies in a manner described as "merciless in her criticisms." Her acclaimed first novel, Anya was published in 1940. Between 1941 and 1943, she was employed as a book reviewer and poetry editor for The New Masses with publications in many of the issues.
Life with William Lindsay Gresham
She married her first husband, author William Lindsay Gresham, on 24 August 1942 after becoming acquainted with him through their mutual interest in communism. They had two sons, David Lindsay Gresham (born 27 March 1944) and Douglas Howard Gresham (born 10 November 1945). Bill Gresham had become disillusioned with the Communist Party while volunteering in Spain during the Spanish Civil War to fight fascism and influenced Davidman to leave the party after the birth of their sons. During the marriage, Gresham wrote his most famous work Nightmare Alley in 1946, while Davidman did freelance work and cared for the house and children.
The marriage was marked by difficulties that included financial problems, as well as her husband's alcoholism and infidelities. Gresham sometimes had drunken outbursts, once smashing his guitar on a chair. Davidman wrote that her husband had telephoned her one day in spring 1946 telling her that he was having a nervous breakdown and did not know when he would return home Afterwards, she suffered from a defeated emotional state. She had an experience that she described as: "for the first time my pride was forced to admit that I was not, after all, 'the master of my fate'... All my defenses – all the walls of arrogance and cocksureness and self-love behind which I had hid from God – went down momentarily – and God came in." When Gresham did return home, the couple began to look to religion for answers. Davidman at first studied Judaism, but decided to study all religions and concluded that "the Redeemer who had made himself known, whose personality I would have recognized among ten thousand—He was Jesus." Through their religious studies, the couple, in particular, began to read and be influenced by the books of C.S. Lewis.
When Gresham received a large sum for the movie rights to Nightmare Alley, the family moved to an old mansion with acreage in the New York countryside, where Davidman began to write her second novel, Weeping Bay and Gresham also started his second novel, Limbo Tower. In 1948, they became members of the Pleasant Plains Presbyterian Church. Gresham had at first similar Christian convictions as Joy, but soon rejected them; he continued to have extramarital affairs and developed an interest in tarot cards and the I Ching. Both experimented with L. Ron Hubbard's theories of Dianetics and "audited" each other and friends. The couple became estranged, even though they continued to live together. After an introduction by a fellow American writer, Chad Walsh, Davidman began a correspondence with C. S. Lewis in 1950.
Life with C. S. Lewis
Davidman first met Lewis in August 1952 when she made a trip to the United Kingdom. She planned to finish her book on the Ten Commandments, which showed influences of Lewis's style of apologetics. After several lunch meetings and walks accompanying Lewis and Davidman, Lewis's brother, Warren Lewis, wrote in his diary that "a rapid friendship" had developed between his younger brother and Davidman, whom he described as "a Christian convert of Jewish race, medium height, good figure, horn rimmed specs, quite extraordinarily uninhibited." She spent Christmas and a fortnight at The Kilns with the brothers. Though Davidman was deeply in love with Lewis, there was no reciprocation on his side.
She returned home in January 1953, having received a letter from Gresham that he and her cousin were having an affair and he wanted a divorce. Her cousin Renée Rodriguez had moved into the Gresham home and was keeping house for the family while she was away. Davidman intended to try to save the marriage, but she agreed to a divorce after a violent encounter with Gresham, who had resumed drinking. He married Rodriguez when the divorce became final in August 1954.
Confessing to be a "complete Anglomaniac", Davidman returned to England with her sons in November 1953. Cynthia Haven speculates that the activities of HUAC might have been a factor in her decision to emigrate and not return, given her political affiliations in the past. Davidman found a flat in London and enrolled David and Douglas at Dane Court Preparatory School, but she soon ran into financial difficulties when Gresham stopped sending money for support. Lewis paid the school fees and found Davidman and her sons a house in Oxford close to The Kilns. Lewis originally regarded her only as an agreeable intellectual companion and personal friend. Warren Lewis wrote: "For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met... who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun."
She was my daughter and my mother, my pupil and my teacher, my subject and my sovereign; and always, holding all these in solution, my trusty comrade, friend, shipmate, fellow-soldier. My mistress; but at the same time all that any man friend (and I have good ones) has ever been to me. Perhaps more. – C. S. Lewis
Lewis began to ask for Davidman's opinion and criticism when he was writing and she served as the inspiration for Orual, the central character in Till We Have Faces (1956). Other works that she influenced or helped with include Reflections on the Psalms (1958) and The Four Loves (1960). Davidman's book Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments was published in 1955 in England with a preface by C. S. Lewis. It sold 3,000 copies, double that of US sales.
In 1956, Davidman's visitor's visa was not renewed by the Home Office, requiring that she and her sons return to America. Lewis agreed to enter into a civil marriage contract with her so that she could continue to live in the UK, telling a friend that "the marriage was a pure matter of friendship and expediency". The civil marriage took place at the register office, 42 St Giles', Oxford, on 23 April 1956.
The couple continued to live separately after the civil marriage. In March 1957, Davidman was walking across her kitchen when she tripped over the telephone wire and fell to the floor, thereby breaking her left upper leg. At the Churchill Hospital, Oxford, she was diagnosed with incurable cancer, with bone metastases from breast carcinoma. It was at this time that Lewis recognised that he had fallen in love with her, realising how despondent he would feel to lose her. He wrote to a friend: "new beauty and new tragedy have entered my life. You would be surprised (or perhaps you would not?) to know how much of a strange sort of happiness and even gaiety there is between us." Davidman underwent several operations and radiation treatment for the cancer. In March 1957, Warren Lewis wrote in his diary: "One of the most painful days of my life. Sentence of death has been passed on Joy, and the end is only a matter of time."
The relationship between Davidman and C. S. Lewis had developed to the point that they sought a Christian marriage. This was not straightforward in the Church of England at the time, because she was divorced, but a friend and Anglican priest, the Reverend Peter Bide, performed the ceremony at Davidman's hospital bed on 21 March 1957. The marriage did not win wide approval among Lewis's social circle, and some of his friends and colleagues avoided the new couple.
Upon leaving the hospital a week later, she was taken to The Kilns and soon enjoyed a remission from the cancer. She helped Lewis with his writing, organised his financial records and wardrobe, and had the house renovated and redecorated. The couple went on a belated honeymoon to Wales and then by air to Ireland. In October 1959, a check-up revealed that the cancer had returned, and as of March 1960, was not responding to radiation therapy, as before. In April 1960, Lewis took Davidman on a holiday to Greece to fulfil her lifelong wish to visit there, but her condition worsened quickly upon return from the trip, and she died on 13 July 1960.
As a widower, Lewis wrote A Grief Observed which he published under the pseudonym of N. W. Clerk, describing his feelings and paying tribute to his wife. In the book, he recounts his wavering faith due to the overwhelming grief which he suffered after Davidman's death, and his struggle to regain that faith. Lewis developed a heart condition two years later and went into a coma, from which he recovered, but he died a year later—three years after his wife.
Shadowlands
Shadowlands is a dramatised version of Davidman's life with C. S. Lewis by William Nicholson which has been filmed twice. In 1985, a television version was made by the BBC One, starring Joss Ackland as Lewis and Claire Bloom as Davidman. The BBC production won BAFTA awards for best play and best actress in 1986. Nicholson's work drew in part from Douglas Gresham's book Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and CS Lewis. It was also performed in London as an award-winning stage play in 1989–90. The play was transferred successfully to Broadway in 1990–91 with Nigel Hawthorne and Jane Alexander starring, and was also revived in London in 2007. A cinema film version was released in 1993, with Anthony Hopkins as Jack (C. S. Lewis) and Debra Winger (in an Academy Award-nominated performance) as Joy Davidman.
Epitaph
C. S. Lewis wrote an epitaph originally on the death of Charles Williams; he adapted it to place on his wife's grave.
Here the whole world (stars, water, air,
And field, and forest, as they were
Reflected in a single mind)
Like cast off clothes was left behind
In ashes, yet with hopes that she,
Re-born from holy poverty,
In lenten lands, hereafter may
Resume them on her Easter Day.
Works
Letter to a Comrade. Yale University Press, 1938. Foreword by Stephen Vincent Benét.
Anya. The Macmillan Company, 1940. ASIN B0006AOXFW
War Poems of the United Nations: The Songs and Battle Cries of a World at War: Three Hundred Poems. One Hundred and Fifty Poets from Twenty Countries. Dial Press, 1943, ASIN B000BWFYL2
Weeping Bay. The Macmillan Company, 1950. ASIN B0006ASAIS
Smoke on the Mountain: An Interpretation of the Ten Commandments in Terms of Today. Foreword by C. S. Lewis. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1954.
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References
Citations
Bibliography
Bide, Peter (2015). "Marrying C. S. Lewis", in C. S. Lewis and His Circle: Essays and Memoirs from the Oxford C. S. Lewis Society, edited by Roger White, Judith Wolfe & Brendan N. Wolfe, Oxford University Press, pp. 187–191, .
Further reading
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin%20American%20music%20in%20the%20United%20States
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Latin American music in the United States
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Latin American music has long influenced popular music in the United States. Within the industry, "Latin music" has influenced jazz, rhythm and blues, and country music, even giving rise to unique US styles of music, including salsa, New Mexico, Tejano, and Western. Fusion genres such as Chicano rock, Nuyorican rap, and Chicano rap have emerged from Latin communities within the United States.
The genre of Latin American music includes music from Spanish, Portuguese, and, sometimes, French-speaking countries and territories in Latin America. While Latin American music has also been referred to as "Latin music," the American music industry defines Latin music as any release with lyrics mostly in Spanish, regardless of whether the artist or music originates from Latin America or not.
History
For example, in the bridge of "St. Louis Blues" (1914) with the lyrics "Saint Louis woman, with her diamond rings," a habanera beat is evident, leading Jelly Roll Morton to comment, 'You've got to have that Spanish tinge.' To capture this essence, many American bands have incorporated a conga player, maracas, or other Latin percussion instruments into their music.
The Argentine tango was a worldwide success in the 1930s. Tango dancers and records could be found from Los Angeles to Beijing. It was common in dance halls in the late 1930s and 1940s for a Latin orchestra, such as that of Vincent López, to alternate with a big band because dancers insisted on it. Latin American music was extremely popular with dancers, encompassing not only the samba, pasodoble, rhumba, and mambo but also the conga, adapted for the ballroom.
The song Amapola (Pretty Little Poppy), written in 1920 by Spanish American composer José María Lacalle García (later known as Joseph Lacalle), featured original lyrics in Spanish. It became popular, and a recorded version was later made by the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with vocalists Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly.
The term Latin music originated in the United States due to the increasing influence of Latino Americans in the American music market. Notable pioneers of this genre include Xavier Cugat (1940s) and Tito Puente (1950s), and its popularity accelerated in later decades. As one author explained the rising popularity from the 1940s: "Latin America, the one part of the world not engulfed in World War II, became a favorite topic for songs and films for Americans who wanted momentarily to forget about the conflagration." Wartime propaganda for America's "Good Neighbor Policy" further enhanced the cultural impact. Pérez Prado, known as "The Mambo King," composed famous pieces like "Mambo No. 5" and "Mambo No. 8." At the height of the mambo movement in 1955, Pérez topped the American charts with a cha-cha-chá version of "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White." In the 1950s, Perez Prado popularized the mambo, and the Afro-Cuban jazz of Dizzy Gillespie introduced many to the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic possibilities of Latin American music, which continues to influence the genre of salsa.
Artists like Carmen Miranda and Desi Arnaz were popular with audiences of all cultures. Judy Garland's first hit, as a member of the "Gumm Sisters," was "La Cucaracha."
During the 1940s, music from Latin America was introduced to large audiences throughout the United States via international radio networks such as CBS. Programs like Viva America showcased leading musicians from both North and South America, featuring performances of Mexican boleros. These programs included collaborations by notable musicians, vocalists, and composers, including Alfredo Antonini, Juan Arvizu, Nestor Mesta Chayres, Eva Garza, Elsa Miranda, John Serry Sr., Miguel Sandoval, and Terig Tucci.
Latin American music imported from Cuba (such as chachachá, mambo, and rhumba) and Mexico (including ranchera and mariachi) had brief periods of popularity during the 1950s. The earliest popular Latin American music in the United States came with the rhumba in the early 1930s, followed by calypso in the mid-1940s, mambo in the late 1940s and early 1950s, chachachá and charanga in the mid-1950s, bolero in the late 1950s, and finally boogaloo in the mid-1960s. During the same period, Latin American music mixed with jazz, resulting in Latin jazz and the fusion of cool jazz with bossa nova.
The first Mexican-Texan pop star was Lydia Mendoza, who started recording music in 1934. However, it wasn't until the 1940s that música norteña was popularized by female duets like Carmen y Laura and Las Hermanas Mendoza, who had a series of regional hits. The following decade witnessed the ascent of Chelo Silva, known as the "Queen of the (Mexican) Bolero," who sang romantic pop songs.
In the 1950s, further innovation took place in the Mexican-Texan community, with the addition of electric guitars, drums, and elements of rock and jazz to conjunto music. Valerio Longoria was the first major performer of conjunto, known for introducing Colombian cumbia and Mexican ranchera to conjunto bands. Later, Tony de la Rosa modernized conjunto big bands by adding electric guitars, an amplified bajo sexto, and a drum kit, while slowing down the frenetic dance rhythms of the style. In the mid-1950s, bandleader Isidro Lopez incorporated an accordion into his band, marking the beginning of the evolution of Tejano music. The rock-influenced Little Joe was the first major star of this scene.
The "Spanish tinge" was also a common feature in rhythm and blues in the 1950s. The monster hit "Little Darling" was driven by the clave beat, and Chuck Berry's "Havana Moon" achieved great success. Ritchie Valens, born Ricardo Valenzuela, soared to the top of the hit parade with 'La Bamba,' originally a Mexican wedding song. In 1954, Andy Russell relocated to Mexico, where he became a star in radio, television, motion pictures, records, and nightclubs. The Argentinian band Los Cinco Latinos released their first album, "Maravilloso Maravilloso," which found success in Latin America and the United States.
In 1963, Trini Lopez burst onto the scene with his chart-topping album, "Trini Lopez at PJ's." While performing at a popular Los Angeles nightclub frequented by Hollywood stars, Frank Sinatra noticed Trini and signed him to his own record label, Reprise Records. Trini was the first rock act on Reprise Records, which later signed Jimi Hendrix.
Trini Lopez, the son of immigrant Mexican parents, was born in Houston, Texas. He was chosen to replace Buddy Holly in the Crickets after Holly's tragic death. Growing up in a Mexican and Black neighborhood in Houston, his father bought him a guitar to keep him engaged in a hobby that wasn't associated with gangs. He began his career as a rockabilly artist in Texas.
After relocating to Los Angeles with the goal of meeting his idol, Frank Sinatra, he found himself at PJ's nightclub, where he played solo guitar and sang for a year and a half. He performed popular tunes during 4 or 5 sets every night. At the time, the folk music scene was thriving, and he incorporated well-known folk songs into his sets, along with rock standards ranging from Ray Charles to show tunes from "West Side Story." His infectious energy and ability to captivate an audience and get them in the party spirit were captured live on the two albums recorded at PJ's, with the addition of drums and bass guitar.
The result was international stardom, marked by several folk-rock hits, including "Lemon Tree" and "If I Had a Hammer," along with a sensational remake of "La Bamba," all recorded live in front of the PJ's crowd. Trini Lopez not only pioneered the folk-rock genre but also paved the way for future generations of Latin stars by refusing to change his last name when early record executives doubted that a Lopez could make a name in the predominantly Anglo radio and TV world.
He later ventured into film acting and became associated with Frank Sinatra's Rat Pack. He was co-billed with the Beatles in Paris just two weeks before they made their iconic appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Similarly, the Tex-Mex and Tejano styles incorporated the conjunto sound, giving rise to important music such as 'Tequila' by The Champs, '96 Tears' by Question Mark and the Mysterians, Sam the Sham & the Pharaohs, Thee Midniters, and the various groups led by Doug Sahm, including the Sir Douglas Quintet and the Texas Tornados. The Texas Tornados included Freddy Fender, who infused Latin soul into country music. Flaco Jiménez, a member of the Tornados, is a genuine conjunto hero, a third-generation accordionist whose grandfather learned the instrument from German settlers in Texas. Johnny Rodriguez is another Latin country star.
In the modern rock and roll era, Carlos Santana featured a full-blown Latin approach. Joe King Carrasco y las Coronas play punk rock in a Tex-Mex style.
Herman Santiago wrote the lyrics to the iconic rock and roll song "Why Do Fools Fall in Love." Another song that became popular in the United States, especially during the holiday season, is "Feliz Navidad" by José Feliciano.
1980s crossover acts
Starting in the mid-1980s, Billboard introduced the Top Latin Albums and Hot Latin Tracks charts for Latin music albums and singles. In 1980, Angélica María recorded for the first time in a U. K. studio, making an album of ballads and a single record with two pop songs in English, seeking some kind of crossover. Her singing career spans through 2013, being her most recent album "With Your Love", produced by R. Levaron, and launched by Universal Music. Jose Feliciano was the very first to become known as a "Crossover Artist" and, along with Gloria Estefan, is among the most successful crossover performers in Latin music to date. Puerto Rico's boy band Menudo had several Latin Hits and English songs including 1985's Hold Me #62 on Billboard Hot 100 and #61 on Billboard Hot R&B. Gloria began crossing over to English music in 1984. Estefan at the time was with the Miami Sound Machine. Their more successful follow-up album, Primitive Love, was released in 1985, launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get in the Way" (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow–up hits in the U.S. and around the world. "Words Get in the Way" reached No. 1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the blockbuster movie Top Gun. Since then Estefan has bridged between both the English and Latin world for the mid to late 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.
1990s Latin explosion
In the mid-1990s, Selena was gaining prominence within the Latin American music world. Primarily marketed as a Tejano music artist, Selena's success was met with rhythmic Cumbia recordings. After bypassing several barriers within the Tejano industry, she quickly superseded other Latin artist acts and earned the title "Queen of Tejano Music". After being presented with a Grammy for Selena Live!, Selena became the first Latin artist to release four number–one singles in 1994. With a meteoric rise in popularity, Selena was presented with the opportunity to record an English-crossover album.
Months before the release of her English album, Selena was murdered by her fan club president on March 31, 1995, in Corpus Christi, Texas. Selena's incomplete album, titled Dreaming of You, was released in July 1995, topping the Billboard 200. Selena's songs "Dreaming of You" and "I Could Fall In Love" quickly became mainstream hits, and the album became among the top ten best-selling debuts of all time along with being among the best-selling debuts for a female artist. Selena became the first Latin artist, male or female, to have ever debuted with a No. 1 album, partially in Spanish.
Despite, and perhaps fueled by, Selena's death and crossover success, the "Latin explosion" continued in the late 1990s. At that time, a handful of rising stars who shared a Latin heritage were touted as proof that sounds from Latin countries were infiltrating the pop mainstream. These included Ricky Martin, Thalía, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias and Jennifer Lopez, who rendered a Golden Globe performance as Selena on film.
Like Estefan and Selena, many of these artists, including some who recorded in English after gaining fame singing in Spanish, had been influenced at least as much by American music and culture.
In 1994, Frank Sinatra personally invited Luis Miguel to participate on a duet in the album Duets II. Luis Miguel has been dubbed several times by the press and the media as the "Latin Frank Sinatra". "Come Fly with Me" was the song of the duet with Luis Miguel.
Ricky Martin gained success with "La Copa de la Vida", which Martin made a major hit in an English version when he was chosen to sing the anthem of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. "The Cup of Life" reached number one on the charts in 60 countries and the English version became No. 45 on the Hot 100 charts. The song went Platinum in France, Sweden and in Australia, where it ultimately became the number one single of the year. The song was awarded "Pop Song of the Year" at the 1999 Lo Nuestro Awards.
Martin at the Grammy Awards was booked to sing on the show's live TV broadcast. The now-legendary performance of "The Cup of Life" stopped the show, earning Martin an unexpected standing ovation and introducing the star to the mainstream American audience. Martin capped off the evening by winning the award for Best Latin Pop Performance. Vuelve became Martin's first Top 40 album on Billboard Top 200 Albums chart in the U.S., where it was certified Platinum by the RIAA. The album notably went to No. 1 in Norway for three weeks, going on to sell eight million copies worldwide.
Martin prepared his first English album in 1999, as the first and most prominent single was "Livin' la Vida Loca", which reached number one in many countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, France, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, and South Africa. He followed up with the hit "She's All I Ever Had" which peaked at No. 2 on The Billboard Hot 100. This album became one of the top-selling albums of 1999, and was certified seven times platinum, selling over 22 million copies worldwide to date.
Also in 1999, attempting to emulate the crossover success of Gloria Estefan, Selena, and Ricky Martin in the anglophone market, Marc Anthony released an English-language Latin Pop self-titled album with the US Top 5 hit single "I Need to Know" and the Spanish version "Dímelo". Other hits include "When I Dream At Night" and "My Baby You". His song "You Sang To Me" was featured in Runaway Bride. The successful dance version was re-mixed by Dutch producer Rene Van Verseveld. The foray was considered a mixed success, partly because it alienated his traditional salsa fans, though "Da La Vuelta" (not a Spanish version of any of the songs) was a salsa song and was a hit.
Enrique Iglesias had begun a successful crossover career into the English language music market. Thanks to other successful crossover acts, Latino artists and music had a great surge in popularity in mainstream music. Iglesias's contribution to the soundtrack of Will Smith's movie Wild Wild West, "Bailamos", became a number–one hit in the US. After the success of "Bailamos", several mainstream record labels were eager to sign Enrique. Signing a multi-album deal after weeks of negotiations with Interscope, Iglesias recorded and released his first full CD in English, Enrique. The pop album, with some Latin influences, took two months to complete and contained a duet with Whitney Houston called "Could I Have This Kiss Forever" and a cover of the Bruce Springsteen song "Sad Eyes". The album's third single, "Be With You", became his second number one.
Jennifer Lopez's debut album On the 6, a reference to the subway line she used to take growing up in Castle Hill, was released on June 1, 1999, and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one lead single, "If You Had My Love", as well as the top ten hit "Waiting for Tonight", and even the Spanish version of the song "Una Noche Mas" became a hit as well. The album also featured a Spanish language, Latin-flavored duet "No Me Ames" with Marc Anthony, who later would become her husband. Although "No Me Ames" never had a commercial release, it reached number one on the U.S. Hot Latin Tracks.
By the mid-nineties, sales of Spanish language albums in the US by such acts as Luis Miguel, Enrique Iglesias and Ricky Martin had increased to compete with English language acts. To reflect the growing interest in Latin acts the American Music Awards instituted a category for Latin recording artists.
Martin was seen as the forerunner of a trend in pop music of using Latin tropes which the press dubbed a "Latin Pop explosion" or "Latin invasion".
2000s Latin pop boom
After the 1990s, there were very few crossover acts that became successful in the 2000s. The only ones who proved successful were Shakira, Thalía, Paulina Rubio, Jennifer Lopez and Christina Aguilera, although the latter started at first in English and then turned to Spanish. Both Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias retained their roles as one of the most successful crossover artists this decade.
Colombian singer Shakira, who had been successful in the Latin world in the late 1990s, began working on an English crossover album in 2001. Thanks to other successful crossover acts in the 1990s, the crossover of Spanish artists to the English market had a great surge of popularity in mainstream music and it was the next logical step to Shakira and her label for her career, and Shakira worked for over a year on new material for the album. "Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte" in Spanish countries) was released as the first and lead single from Shakira's first English album and third studio album throughout the period of August 2001 and February 2002. The song took heavy influence from Andean music, including the charango and panpipes in its instrumentation. Produced by Shakira, the track was internationally successful, reaching number one in most countries. It was also her first success in the U.S., reaching No. 6 on the Hot 100.
Shakira's third studio album and first English language album, Laundry Service (Servicio De Lavandería, in Latin America and Spain) was released on November 13, 2001. The album debuted at number three on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling over 200,000 records in its first week. Laundry Service was later certified triple platinum by the RIAA in May 2002 (six months after the album released) as well and thus helped to establish Shakira's musical presence in the mainstream North American market. Seven songs from the album became international singles and hit mainstream as well: "Whenever, Wherever" ("Suerte"), "Underneath Your Clothes", "Objection (Tango)" ("Te Aviso, Te Anuncio (Tango)"), "The One", "Te Dejo Madrid", "Que Me Quedes Tú", and "Poem to a Horse", with four of the singles becoming largely successful.
Because the album was created for the English language market, the rock and Spanish dance-influenced album gained mild critical success, while some critics claimed that her English skills were too weak for her to write songs for it. Rolling Stone stated "She sounds downright silly", and "Shakira's magic is lost in translation." Shakira's Latin fans also criticized her for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favor of contemporary American pop music. Despite this fact, the album became the best-selling album of 2002, selling 13 million copies worldwide and becoming the most successful album of her career to date.
After that success, Shakira's second English studio album, Oral Fixation Vol. 2, was released on November 29, 2005. The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200, selling 128,000 copies in its first week. The album has gone on to sell 1.8 million records in the U.S., earning a Platinum certification from the RIAA. Oddly enough, the Spanish counterpart was practically equally successful snatching more than 1.5 million copies to date according to RIAA. Oral Fixation Vol. 2 has also gone on to sell over 8 million copies worldwide. The album, went on to spawn two more singles. "Hips Don't Lie", featuring Wyclef Jean, was released as the album's second single in February 2006. The song went on to become the highest–selling single of the 21st century and became Shakira's first number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100, in addition to reaching number one in over 50 countries. Shakira and Wyclef Jean also recorded a bamboo version of the song to serve as the official theme of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
In early 2007, Shakira worked with American R&B singer Beyoncé for the track "Beautiful Liar" which was released as the second single from the deluxe edition of Knowles' B'Day. In April 2007, the single jumped ninety-one positions, from ninety-four to three, on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, setting the record for the largest upward movement in the history of the chart at the time.
After that success, She Wolf was released in October 2009 internationally and then on November 23, 2009, in the U.S. The album received mainly positive reviews from critics, but only managed to sell 89,000 copies in its first week in the U.S., earning the number–15 spot on the Billboard 200. It has gone on to sell only 300,000 records in the U.S., becoming her least successful album there. However, the album has been moderately successful worldwide, having been certified Gold in Russia, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland, France, Argentina, Greece, and Hungary, Platinum in Spain, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East, 2× Platinum in Colombia and Mexico, and 3× Platinum in Taiwan. To date, the album has sold 3 million copies worldwide, becoming Shakira's least commercially successful studio album so far. The lead single, "She Wolf" and "Loba" were successful worldwide, reaching number one in Latin America, number two in Germany, Ireland, Italy, Estonia and Spain, number three in Switzerland and Austria, number four in the UK, France and Greece, number five in Canada and Belgium, number six in Finland, number nine in Japan, and number 11 in the U.S.
Christina Aguilera had been very successful in English, as in 2000, Aguilera began recording her first Spanish-language album with producer Rudy Pérez in Miami. Later in 2000, Aguilera first emphasized her Latin heritage by releasing her first Spanish album, Mi Reflejo, on 12 September 2000. This album contained Spanish versions of songs from her English debut as well as new Spanish tracks. However, some criticized Aguilera for trying to cash in on the Latin American music boom at the time. According to Pérez, Aguilera was only semi-fluent while recording, but she understood the language, having grown up with her father, a native of Ecuador. He added, "Her Latin roots are undeniable." The album peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 and went number one on the Billboard Latin Charts for a record 20 weeks. In 2001, it won Aguilera a Latin Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. The album went Gold in the U.S. She also won the World Music Award as the best selling Latin artist that year.
Jennifer Lopez officially released her first full Spanish-language album, Como Ama una Mujer, in March 2007. Her husband, singer Marc Anthony, produced the album with Estefano, except for "Qué Hiciste", which Anthony co-produced with Julio Reyes. The album peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200 and number one on the U.S. Top Latin Albums for four straight weeks, and on the U.S. Latin Pop Albums for seven straight weeks. The album did well in Europe, peaking at number three on the albums chart, mainly due to the big success in countries such as Switzerland, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Greece, Germany, Austria, and Portugal.
On 24 July 2007, Billboard magazine reported that Lopez and husband Marc Anthony would co-headline a worldwide tour called "Juntos en Concierto" starting in New Jersey on 29 September. Tickets went on sale on August 10. The tour was a mix of her current music, older tunes, and Spanish music. In a later press release, Lopez announced a detailed itinerary. The tour launched 28 September 2007 at the Mark G. Etess Arena and ended on 7 November 2007 at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida. The lead single, "Qué Hiciste", was officially released to radio stations in January 2007. Since then, it has peaked at 86 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the Hot Latin Songs and the Hot Dance Club Play. It also went top ten on the European chart. The video for the song was the first Spanish-language video to peak at number one on MTV's Total Request Live daily countdown.
Lopez won an American Music Award as the Favorite Latin Artist in 2007. With Como Ama Una Mujer, Jennifer Lopez is one of the few performers to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with a Spanish album.
This century also saw the crossover of some of Mexican recording artist like Paulina Rubio and Thalía into the English music industry, with bilingual albums that included hit songs in English and Spanish, and the first solo English-language albums by this Mexican Pop artist. The best recording crossover artist has been Paulina Rubio with her first English-language album being Border Girl released on June 18, 2002. The album's lead single "Don't Say Goodbye" would become her most successful song in English until her second bilingual album Brava! Two of its three singles, "Me Gustas Tanto" (English: I Like You So Much) and "Boys Will Be Boys", became hits for Rubio with "Boys Will Be Boys" being Rubio's most successful English song to date. The other singles released from the Border Girl album were "Casanova" and "I'll Be Right Here (Sexual Lover)". Each of the main single releases, as well as other English songs on the album, have Spanish-language counterparts that became big hits on Billboard's Hot Latin Songs chart and vice versa for songs like "Casanova", which has an English-language counterpart of the same name. The Spanish-language counterpart for the song "I'll Be Right Here (Sexual Lover)" is "Y Yo Sigo Aquí" (English: "And I'm Still Right Here"), the Spanish version of the song by Rubio, taken from her fifth studio album Paulina. Selena Gomez was recognized as the Billboard Woman of the Year in 2017.
In addition to collaborations with English recording artists like Paulina's song "Nada Puede Cambiarme" (English: Nothing Can Change Me), the music video, like the song itself, wouldn't have been complete without presence of the legendary former Guns N' Roses' guitarist, Slash. Thalia collaborated with legendary American pop singer Tony Bennett in the duet "The Way You Look Tonight", which featured on Bennett's album Viva Duets, released in October 2012. Thalía's first English-language album, released in 2003, shares a title with her 1990 and 2002 Spanish-language albums.
"I Want You" was the album's most popular song, peaking at number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number seven in the Mainstream chart. It is her only song to date that has charted within the Billboard Hot 100. In Greece, the song peaked number twenty-six in Top 50 singles sales. The Spanish version of the song, "Me Pones Sexy", was released for the Spanish-language audience and also performed quite well on the Latin charts, peaking within the top ten of the Hot Latin Tracks at number nine. The album's music incorporated Latin pop styles with rock, R&B, dance, and mariachi elements. Vicente Fernandez, Mexican singer of traditional pop ranchera standards and cultural icon, also collaborated with singer Tony Bennett in a duet for Viva Duets with "Return To Me" ("Regresa a Mí").
Shakira collaborated with the South African group Freshlyground to create the official song of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)", which is based on a traditional Cameroonian soldiers' Fang song named "Zangalewa" by the group Zangalewa or Golden Sounds. The song was made popular in her native Colombia in 1987 through west African DJs in Colombia. The single later reached the top 20 in Europe, South America and Africa and the top 40 in the U.S., and was performed by Shakira at the World Cup kick-off and closing. The Spanish version was successful as well.
Sale el Sol was released as Shakira's seventh studio album on 19 October 2010. It has both English and Spanish songs. Shakira and Enrique Iglesias have retained their roles as some of the most successful crossover artists this decade.
In May 2013 Christina Aguilera appeared on Mexican singer Alejandro Fernández's cover of "Hoy Tengo Ganas de Ti" from his album Confidencias.
2010s continued success
Today, Latin American music has become a term for music performed by Latinos regardless of whether it has a Latin element or not. Acts such as Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias, and Pitbull are prominent on the pop charts. Iglesias, who holds the record for most No. 1s on Billboard's Hot Latin Tracks, released a bilingual album inspired by urban acts, and he frequently releases two completely different songs to Latin and pop formats at the same time. Mainstream artists and producers tend to feature more on songs from Latin artists and it has also become more likely that English language songs crossover to Spanish radio and vice versa.
Viva Duets is a studio album by Tony Bennett, released in October 2012. The album is sung in English, Spanish and Portuguese, and features Latin American singers. Album's adaptations were written by Andres Castro, Edgar Barrera, Miguel Bose, Ricardo Arjona, Kany Garcia, Thalia, Franco De Vita, Dani Martin, and Mario Molina Montez.
The 2014 FIFA World Cup opening ceremony had performers that were dressed as several types of trees and flowers. The entire ensemble performed three separate acts leading up to the finale where the ball opened up to reveal Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, who sang alone for a few minutes before being joined by Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull, with whom she performed the tournament's official song "We Are One (Ole Ola)", which was co-written and recorded by the three artists. Both the Cuban-American rapper and Mexican-American pop star Pitbull and Becky G were invited to perform at the closing ceremony of the Copa América Centenario soccer tournament at the MetLife Stadium in 2016. After having done English music, with only one song having mainstream success, ever since 2016, Gomez herself has released several Spanish singles: "Sola", "Mangú", "Todo Cambio", and "Mayores". Gomez has confirmed that her debut album will be completely in Spanish. Three-time Grammy nominated Miguel del Aguila has represented the cross-over between Latin and classical with his 45 CDs released and over 125 works.
Plácido Domingo Jr. is the son of Plácido Domingo who released his first album, Latidos, in Spanish in April 2017, followed with the English version, Heartbeat, in the third quarter of 2017.
In 2018, Latin music became the fifth most popular and successful music genre in the U.S., surpassing country and EDM. Nearly 11 percent of song consumption (including streams and digital sales) and 9.4 percent of album consumption (streams, physical and digital sales) in 2018 was from Latin music.
91 percent of the $135 million produced by the Latin music market last year came from either paid subscription platforms such as Spotify, or ad revenue from streaming services like YouTube.
In 2017, Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee's "Despacito" (which also became the most viewed video in the site's history), was the most viewed music video on YouTube that year. In 2018, that accolade was passed on to the remix of Nio García, Casper Mágico and Darrell's "Te Boté" featuring Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny, and Ozuna, which currently has 1.8 billion views. Of the top 10 most viewed music videos on YouTube in 2018, eight were from Latin music artists. The Latin pop song "Havana" by Camila Cabello featuring Young Thug reached No. 1 on the Hot 100.
Perhaps the biggest subgenre of Latin American Music, Latin Trap has emerged to be one of the most popular genres of music to this day. Latin Trap, also known as Spanish Trap or trapeton, is a style of trap music that is infused and influenced by Latin Hip Hop and Reggaeton.
Paving the way for Latin trap artists all over the world is Puerto Rico's own Bad Bunny. Bursting into the music scene in 2016, Bad Bunny is a chart-topping Latin trap artist based in San Juan. With hit songs like "I Like It" with Cardi B and J Balvin, which became the first Latin trap song to reach No. 1 the Billboard Hot 100, and "MIA" featuring Drake, which debuted at No. 5 on the Hot 100 in October 2018, Bad Bunny is one of the most successful Latin artists of his generation.
The 2018 Top Latin Artist Billboard award was won by Dominican-Puerto Rican reggaeton and Latin trap singer, Ozuna. Ozuna's infectious music has put him on top of Latin song charts and was even named YouTube's most watched artist of 2018.
Ozuna released his first studio album titled Odisea on August 25, 2017. His song, "Me Niego", alongside Reik and Wisin, peaked at number 6 and his song "El Farsante", featuring Romeo Santos, peaked at number 2. In his second studio album, Aura, he took part in one of the most anticipated collaborations of the year with Cardi B, and their song, "La Modelo", debuted at number 3 on the Hot Latin charts. Ozuna's most recent collaboration was with American singer Selena Gomez, Cardi B, and DJ Snake. Their song, "Taki Taki", took the U.S by storm. It debuted at number 1 and then led the Hot Latin chart for 13 weeks.
The popularity of Latin music has increased over the years. While Latin music has always had a place in the American music industry, there's certainly been a rise of the music and has become mainstream. Its high demand has helped many Spanish speaking artists. It is reaching a greater audience in the United States and outside the Spanish speaking world. The growth of Latin music has resulted for the opportunity for female Latin artists to dominate in the music industry as well.
2018 was a breakthrough year for women in Latin music. Female artists like Dominican singer and songwriter Natti Natasha and singer and actress Becky G are a few of the young Latinas who climbed the male dominated reggaeton music charts in 2018. This was especially true after Becky G and Natti Natasha's song, “Sin Pajamas”, ranked in the top ten most viewed music uploads worldwide, according to Rolling Stone.
Latin pop growth has helped non-Latin recording artist as they pair with popular Latin stars, thus increasing collaborations. The collaborative efforts between Spanish speaking and English speaking artist is a testament to how big the genre has gotten. In 2018, Latin pop appears to have been more traction than it did in the 1990s Latin boom. With that being said, it is a dominant force in the music industry with no signs of slowing down.
Latin pop and other Latin music genres such as reggaeton continued to be successful in the 2020s. The Super Bowl LIV halftime show was co-headlined by Jennifer Lopez and Shakira, with guest appearances by J Balvin, Bad Bunny, and Lopez's daughter, Emme Muñiz in 2020. Bad Bunny's YHLQMDLG (2020) achieved the biggest streaming week ever for a Latin album in the United States. Carrie Underwood teamed up with Spanish singer David Bisbal in 2020 for a new single, “Tears of Gold.” The song marks Underwood's first-ever bilingual single, with both vocalists singing in English and in Spanish.
Selena Gomez released her first Spanish-language project, Revelación, in March 2021. It incorporated urbano influences. Anitta's Envolver song became the first song by a Latin female act to reach the number one on Spotify Global Daily chart, reaching the number two on the Billboard Global 200 and the number one in Billboard Global Excl. U.S. The soundtrack of Encanto, Disney's 2021 animated fantasy film, written and produced by American playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda, was a viral phenomenon, enjoying widespread popularity on the internet. It has spent multiple weeks atop the Billboard 200 chart. Far Out called the phenomenon "Encanto-mania". The TikTok videos tagged with the hashtag "#encanto" have received more than 11.5 billion views in total, as of January 23, 2022. The most popular song of the soundtrack was "We Don't Talk About Bruno", a salsa tune which experienced widespread commercial success in 2022. "Dos Oruguitas" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 94th Academy Awards.
Awards
The Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, awards Latin performers in four categories as of 2018: The Grammy for Best Latin Pop Album, Best Latin Rock, Urban or Alternative Album, Best Regional Mexican Music Album (including Tejano), and Best Tropical Latin Album. The ALMA Award, also highlighting the best American Latino contributions to music, promote fair and accurate portrayals of Latinos and was first awarded in 1995.
The most prestigious Latin American music awards in Spanish in the United States are broadcast by the two biggest Spanish networks Univision and Telemundo. Univision is the broadcaster of the Latin Grammy Awards and Premios Lo Nuestro ("Our Thing Awards"). Before the Latin Grammy Awards inception in 2000, the Lo Nuestro Awards were considered as the Grammy Award equivalent for Latin music. Therefore, the Lo Nuestro ceremony was advanced from May to February since the first Latin Grammy Awards were held in September 2000.
Premios Lo Nuestro was first awarded in 1989 by the network to honor the previous year's top artists in Latin music with nominees initially selected by Univision and Billboard and winners decided by viewers. After Billboard created its own Latin Awards ceremony in 1994, the nominees and winners were selected by a poll conducted among program directors of Spanish-language radio stations throughout the United States, with results were tabulated and certified by Arthur Andersen.
In 2004, the network launched Premios Juventud ("Youth Awards"), a viewer-decided awards show (similar in format and identical in target audience to the Teen Choice Awards), honoring Latinos in film, music, sports, fashion and pop culture. On August 24, 2005, Univision acquired the rights to broadcast the Latin Grammy Awards (which aired on the network for the first time exclusively in Spanish on November 3 of that year), after organizers with the Latin Recording Academy chose to end its four-year relationship with CBS, having canceled the 2001 broadcast following the September 11 attacks, were rebuffed by executives with that network in efforts to retool the show to better cater to a Latino audience. The Latin Recording Academy extended its agreement with Univision to televise the Latin Grammys for six years on June 26, 2012.
Telemundo is the broadcaster of the Billboard magazine with the Billboard Latin Music Awards first awarded in 1994. In October 2015, through a licensing agreement with Dick Clark Productions signed in July 2014, Telemundo became the originating broadcaster of the Latin American Music Awards (Premios de la Música Latinoamericana), a Latin music-focused version of the American Music Awards. For the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards, the academy announced several changes for different categories and rules: The category Best Latin Pop Album has been renamed Best Latin Pop Or Urban Album, and Latin Rock, Urban Or Alternative Album has been renamed Best Latin Rock Or Alternative Album
See also
Hot Latin Tracks
Latin music (genre)
Latin Pop
Chicano rock
Music of Puerto Rico
Latin American culture
References
Further reading
Ethnic music in the United States
Hispanic American music
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananga%20Ranga
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Ananga Ranga
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The Ananga Ranga () or Kamaledhiplava () is an ancient Indian Sanskrit text written by Kalyana malla in the 15th or 16th century. The translators of the manuscript describes the objective of the manuscript in their book is not to encourage chambering and wantonness, but simply and in all sincerity to prevent the separation of husband and wife.
The poet wrote the work for the amusement of Lad Khan, son of Ahmed Khan Lodi. He was related to the Lodi dynasty, which from 1451 to 1526 ruled from Delhi. Later commentators have said it is aimed specifically at preventing the separation of a husband and wife. This work is often compared to the Kama Sutra, on which it draws.
Overview
Ananga Ranga was translated and published into English under Kama Shastra Society in the year 1885 under the editorship of Sir Richard Francis Burton and after his death, the manuscript of the translation with notes were burnt by his wife Isabel Burton in the weeks following his death.
The translators describe the objective of the manuscript as - "It is true that no joy in the world of mortals can compare with that derived from the knowledge of the creator. Second, however, and subordinate only, to this are the satisfaction and pleasure arising from the possession of a beautiful woman. Men, it is true, marry for the sake of undisturbed congress, as well as for love and comfort, and often they obtain handsome and attractive wives. But they do not give them plenary contentment, nor do they themselves thoroughly enjoy their charms.
The reason of which is, that they are purely ignorant of the Kama Shastra; and despising the difference between the several kinds of women, they regard them only in an animal point of view. Such men must be looked upon as foolish and unintelligent; and this book is composed with the object of preventing lives and loves being wasted in similar manner, and the benefits to be derived from its study are set forth in the following verses:
Chapters
The contents of the chapters of Burton's translation of the Ananga Ranga are as follows:
Chapter I
The chapter I covers four sections describing classes of Women.
Section I: Of the Four Orders of Women
Divided into classes of temperament and the same correspond with the four different phases of Moksha, or Release from further Transmigration.
Section II: Personal Peculiarities of the Four Classes
This section describes the signs, symptoms and bodily features of the four classes/orders of the Women.
Section III: The days of greatest enjoyment for the Four Classes
The arch-poet proceeds in this section with a table of the days of greatest enjoyment of the four classes/orders of the Women.
Section IV: Of the Hours which Give the Highest Enjoyment
The arch-poet explains in this section with a table of the hours of greatest enjoyment of the four classes/orders of the Women. The following tables, then, show the Pahar, or watch of the night and day, during which the four classes of women derive the greatest pleasure.
- The Padmini, for instance, takes no satisfaction in night congress; indeed, she is thoroughly averse to it. She is like Surya Kamala (day-lotus) which opens its eyes to the sunlight, so she is satisfied even by a boy-husband in the bright hours.
- The Chitrini and the Shankhini are like the Chandra Kamala, or night-lotus, that expands to the rays of the moon. The Chitrini and the Shankhini derive no satisfaction from day congress.
- The Hastini, who is the coarsest, ignores all these delicate distinctions.
- the Ditto or Iteration Mark: used by the poet & translators - Burton Richard F., Arbuthnot F. F. is confusing as there is no above row value to copy.
- There are a few Indian, Hindi translations, and interpretations of these Ditto-Marks. These interpretations may be controversial not inline to the original script/text.
Chapter II: the Various Seats of Passion in Women
Kalyanamalla describes that the passion resides in different parts and members of the woman's person, and that by applying to these the necessary Chandrakala, or preparatory attouchements, great comfort and pleasure are experienced by both husband and wife.
Passion resides in the woman's right side during the Shuklapksha, the first or light fortnight of the lunar month, from new moon to full, including the fifteenth day. The reverse is the case on the dark fortnight, including its first day, and lasting from the full to the new moon.
The shifting is supposed to take place by the action of light and darkness, otherwise the site of passion would be one and the same. The husband must continue his action till he sees the body-hair bristle, and hears the Sitkara. Thus he will know that the paroxysm has taken place, and the beloved one is thoroughly satisfied.
- Kalyana malla describes the manipulation of the places of various kinds and types of Women more specifically on the fortnight for highest pleasure and satisfaction.
Section I: Manipulations of the Padmini
Following are the lunar day based manipulation for the Padmini woman.
Section II: Manipulation of the Chitrini
Following are the lunar day based manipulation for the Chitrini woman.
- Kalyana malla describes the manipulation of the places of Chitrini Women however the various translators have been confused about what process on the nates to be followed.
Section III: Manipulation of the Shankhini
Following are the lunar day based manipulation for the Shankhini woman.
- Kalyana malla describes the manipulation of the places of various kinds for Shankhini Women however the translators Sir Richard Francis Burton, have been concerned about the process / action specified and hence marked question mark (?) for the limbs like biting arm, applying linga with force below head, scratch roughly lower edge of yoni till marks are left.
Section IV: Manipulation of the Hastini
Following are the lunar day based manipulation for the Hastini woman.
Chapter III: Of the Different Kinds of Men and Women
This chapter covers overall 4 sections describing the different kinds of Men & Women.
Section I: Men
There are three kinds of men, namely, the Shasha or the Hare-man; the Vrishabha or Bull-man, and the Ashwa or Horse-Man. These are based on the length of the erected linga of the men:
Section II: Women
The four orders of women, Padmini, Chitrini, Shankhini, and Hastini, may be subdivided into three kinds, according to the depth and extent of the Yoni. These are the Mrigi, also called Harini, the Deer-woman ;the Vadava or Ashvini, Mare-woman ; and the Karini, or Elephant-woman.
Section III: Of Congress
Men and women, being, according to the above measurements, of three several divisions, it results that there are nine conditions under which congress takes place. The arch-poet describes these nines into Samana, Uchha , Nichha, Ati-uchha, and Anti-nichh, categorised as, respectively, entitled Uttama, the best ; Madhyama, the middling ; and Kanishtha, the worst.
The Poet describes that the proportion of enjoyment arises from the exact adaptation of the Linga, especially when the diameter agrees with the extension, and when the vigour of tension enables the husband to turn his mind towards the usual arts which bring women under subjection; rather than the length of the Linga.
Section IV: Of other minor distinctions in Congress
The Poet further explains various distinctions in the congress as follows.
There are three forms of Vissrishti, or the emission of Kama Salila, both in men and women, viewed with respect to length or shortness of time:
Chirasambhava-vissrishti – occupies great length of time.
Madhyasambhava-vissrishti - accomplished within moderate period.
Shighrasambhava-vissrishti - takes short time to finish.
Then, Kalyana malla further describes that there are three degrees of Vega, that is to say,
force of carnal desire, resulting from mental or vital energy and acting upon men and women.
Chanda-vega - furious appetite or impulse; the highest capacity.
Madhyama-vega - or moderate desires.
Manda-vega - slow or cold concupiscence the lowest capacity.
Then there are three Kriyas, acts or processes which brings on the orgasm in men and women these are:
Chirodaya-kriya - is applied to the efforts which continue long before they bear any result.
Madhyodaya-kriya - those which act in moderate time.
Laghudaya-kriya - the shortest.
Altogether we have twenty-seven kinds of congress, which, by multiplying the nine species (women & men) give grand total of two hundred and forty-three (9x3x9=243).
Chapter IV: Description of the General Qualities, Characteristics, Temperaments, Etc., of Women
The arch-poet Kalyana malla in this chapter describes the peculiarities of the Women by various periods/phases known as four Avasthas of life; three types of Remperments; nine types based on their previous state (life) existence known as the Satvas; three routinely behaviors, and many characteristics, qualities.
Section I: Qualities attached to the Age
This section describes the qualities attached to various age groups.
The following table will show the peculiarities of women according to the four periods of life during which she is open to love.
It may be premised that she is called Kanyá from birth to the age of eight years, which is the time of Balyavastha, or childhood; and Gaurí, after the white goddess Parvati, from that period to her eleventh year; Taru̐nyavastha, when she becomes marriageable then follow Yavavastha, young-womanhood, and Vreuddhavastha, old-womanhood.
- It is very interesting that the original author has marked a question mark “?” against the age group 30–55 years, despite it being the fertile period of the Women. None of the several international and Indian translations have so far been able to describe any point of view on this question mark.
- In the Indian Society, generally the Women were married during early twenties, and would have given birth to few Children.
The upbringing of Children requires a good amount of energy, effort and attention.
This may be one of the reason that the Poet has marked a ‘question mark'.
Section II: Women by Temperaments
Further observe that there are three temperaments of women, as shown by the following characteristics:
Section III: Women by Sattva or Guna
Furthermore, women require to be considered in connection with the previous state of their existence; the Satva known as Guna, or disposition inherited from former life, and which influences their worldly natures.
Shastras mention that Women are born with inherent qualities of mind and character, based on their previous birth. Following table describes brief Sattvas:
- The subject of the Satvas is one requiring careful study, for the characteristics are ever varying, and only experience can determine the class to which women be longed in the former life, and which has coloured their bodies and minds in this state of existence.
Section IV: Women by Routinely Behaviors
Further, the women are of three types based on bodies and mind:
Hard & Fleshy bosomed: The woman whose bosom is hard and fleshy, who appears short from the fullness of her frame, and looks bright and light-coloured, such an one is known to enjoy daily congress with her husband.
Thin & Tall: The woman who, being thin, appears very tall and somewhat dark, whose limbs and body are unenergetic and languid, the effect of involuntary chastity, such an one is "Virahini," who suffers from long separation from her husband and from the want of conjugal embraces.
Gluttony: The woman who eats twice as much as man, is four times more reckless and wicked, six times more resolute and obstinate, and eight times more violent in carnal desire. She can hardly control her lust of congress, despite the shame which is natural to the sex.
Section V: Characteristics of Women
The author Kalyana malla, in this section describes various characteristics of Women.
Fifteen signs and symptoms of the amorous woman:
She rubs and repeatedly smoothes her hair (so that it may look well).
She scratches her head (that notice may be drawn to it)
She strokes her own cheeks (so as to entice her husband).
She draws her dress over her bosom, apparently to readjust it, but leaves her breasts partly exposed.
She bites her lower lip, chewing it, as it were.
At times she looks ashamed without cause (the result of her own warm fancies)
She sits quietly in the corner (engrossed by concupiscence).
She embraces her female friends, laughing loudly and speaking sweet words, with jokes and jests, to which she desires return in kind. She kisses and hugs young children, especially boys.
She smiles with one cheek, loiters in her gait,
Unnecessarily stretches herself under some pretense or other.
At times she looks at her shoulders and under her arms.
She stammers, and does not speak clearly and distinctly.
She sighs and sobs without reason.
She yawns whenever she wants tobacco, food, or sleep.
She even throws herself in her husband's way and will not readily get out of his path.
Eight signs of indifference to be noted in womankind:
When the wife is already weaned from conjugal desires; then she does not look straight between her husband's eyes.
If anything be asked of her, she shows unwillingness to reply.
If the man draw near her, and looks happy, she feels pained.
If the man departs from her she shows symptoms of satisfaction.
When seated upon the bedstead, she avoids amatory blandishments and lies down quietly to sleep.
When kissed or toyed with she jerks away her face or her form.
She cherishes malicious feelings towards her husband's friends.
Finally, she has no respect nor reverence for his family.
Six principal causes deviation from the right way by woman, and to fall into the society of profligates:
Remaining, when grown up, in her Maher, or mother's house, as opposed to that of her husband's parents.
Evil communication with the depraved of her own sex.
The prolonged absence of her husband.
Living in the society of vile and licentious men.
Poverty and the want of good food and dress.
Mental trouble, affliction, and unhappiness, causing her to become discontented and reckless.
Fifteen principal causes which make women unhappy:
The parsimony of parents and husbands, because the youth are naturally generous.
Receiving too much respect or reverence when they are light-hearted; also being kept in awe by those with whom they would be familiar, and too strict restraint as regards orderly and guarded deportment.
Trouble of disease and sickness.
Separation from the husband and the want of natural enjoyment.
Being made to work too hard.
Violence, inhumanity, and cruelty, such as beating.
Rough language and abuse.
Suspicion that they are inclined to evil.
Intimidation and threats of punishment for going astray.
Calumny, accusing of ill deeds, and using evil words about them.
Want of cleanliness in person or dress.
Poverty.
Grief and sorrow.
Impotence of the husband.
Disregard of time and place in the act of love.
Twelve periods of the greatest desire for congress, and at the same time are most easily satisfied:
When tired by walking and exhausted with bodily exercise.
After long want of intercourse with the husband, such as in the case of the Virahini.
When month after childbirth has elapsed.
During the earlier stages of pregnancy.
When dull, idle and sleepy.
If recently cured of fever.
When showing signs of wantoness or bashfulness.
When feeling unusually merry and happy.
The Ritu-snata, immediately before and after the monthly ailment.
Maidens enjoyed for the first time.
Throughout the spring season.
During thunder, lightning and rain.
- At such times women are easily subjected to men.
Section VI: Kinds of Príti
The arch-poet furthermore requests to learn that there are four kinds of the Prít or love-tie connecting men and women:
Naisargikí-príti is that natural affection by which husband and wife cleave to each other like the links of an iron chain. It is friendship amongst the good of both sexes.
Vishaya-príti is the fondness born in the woman, and increased by means of gifts, such as sweetmeats and delicacies, flowers, perfumery, and preparations of sandal wood, musk, saffron, and so forth. It partakes, therefore, of gluttony, sensuality and luxury.
Sama-príti is also so far sensual, as it arises from the equally urgent desires of both husband and wife.
Abhyásiki-priti is the habitual love bred by mutual society it is shown by walking in fields, gardens and similar places; by attending together at worship, penances and self-imposed religious observances and by frequenting sportive assemblies, plays and dances, where music and similar arts are practiced.
Moreover, the Poet tell that being Colder desires and slower to rouse than Man, woman is not easily satisfied by a single act of congress; needs prolonged embraces, and if denied to her, she feels aggrieved. At the second act, however, her passion is thoroughly aroused, she finds orgasm more violent and thoroughly contented. This is exactly reverse to the Man. First being violent, second languid and disinclined for the third act.
The woman, as long as she is young and strong, are not the full as real and urgent as those of the man. The custom of society and the shame of the sex may compel her to conceal them and even to boast that they do not exist; yet the man who has studied the Art of Love is never deceived by this cunning.
Section VII: Kinds of Yoni
The poet, feels it necessary to understand description of the Yoni; it being of four kinds.
Not Good : That which is rough as the cow's tongue.
Good : That whose surface is studded with tender flesh-knots and similar rises.
Better : That which abounds in rolls, wrinkles, and corrugations.
Best : That which is soft inside as the filaments of the lotus-flower.
Kalyana mall describes the internal organs of the Yoní as below:
The Saspanda artery which corresponds with that of the linga, and which, when excited by the presence and energetic action of the latter, causes Káma-salila to flow. It is inside and towards the navel, and it is attached to certain rough nesses (thorns), which are peculiarly liable to induce the paroxysm when subjected to friction.
The Madana-Chatra (the clitoris) in the upper part of the Yoní, is that portion which projects like the plantain-shoot sprouting from the ground; it is connected with the Mada-Váhi (sperm-flowing) artery, and causes the latter to overflow.
The Pu̐rna-Chandra artery, which is full of the Káma-Salila, and to this the learned men of old attribute the monthly ailment.
Chapter V: Characteristics of the Women of Various Lands
After dividing the women into many different classes, the poet points out that one should consider the women with references to the dwelling lands.
The lands described in this chapter are from the lands during 11th and 12th AD from the Rati-Rahasya of the kokkoka Pandit, which is known as Arya-varttá, which is “the tract between the Himalaya and the Vindhya ranges, from the Eastern Sea (Bay of Bengal) to the Western Sea (Arabian Sea)".
Madhya-desha: the country between the Konkan and the Desha proper, whose chief cities are Puna ([[Pune]]), Nasik and Kolhapur. The woman of the Middle Region has red nails, but her body is still redder. She dresses well and in various sorts of apparel. She is an excellent housekeeper, perfectly broken to manual labour and other works, and much given to religious ceremonies. Though wonderfully fond of, and skillful in, amatory dalliance, she is averse to the tricks of teeth and nails (biting and scratching).
Maru (Malwa): The woman from Malwa (now western Madhya Pradesh and Southern Rajasthan) likes to be enjoyed every day and is well fitted for those who prefer the act of congress when long protracted. She is satisfied only by enduring embraces, which she greatly covets and desires, and the paroxysm must sometimes be induced by the touch of the fingers.
Mathrá or Abhira-Desha: , Krishná's country, or the Cow-herds' Land, placed in today’s norther Gujrat, is fascinated by various forms of kissing. She delights in the closest embraces, and even in attouchments but she has no tricks of tooth and nail.
Latá -desha: Lar or Larice of the Gassics, the south-eastern Gujarat and northern part of the Dakhan (Deccan), is delicate and handsome. She will dance with joy at the prospect of congress, and during the act, her movements of pleasure are frequent and violent. She is prompt in her embraces, and the venereal orgasm may readily be introduced by gentle insertion, by striking with the hand, and by softly biting her lips.
Andhra-desha: The Women are so fascinating that she charms the stranger at first sight, and she is sweet in voice as she is beautiful of body. She delights in jests and dalliance, yet she is an utter stranger to shame, and she is one of the most wicked of her sex.
Koshalarashtra-desha: The Audh or Oude region Woman is very clever in the art of congress. She suffers much from prurience and titillation of the Yoní, and she desires lengthened embraces, which satisfy her only when the Linga is of unusual vigour.
Maharashtra (the Maratha country) & Patalaputa-desha (Patna / Bihar): Woman is fond of giving amorous side-glances, of dress and ornaments, of junketing and garden trips. Ever smiling gently, airy and gay, full of jest and sport and amorous dalliance, she is yet somewhat destitute of shame. Affectionate and coquettish, she is proficient in the toying of love.
Vanga (Bengal) and Gaura: The region of Western Champaran (Bihar), Malda (West Bengal) and Nawabganj (Bangladesh) has body soft and delicate as flower; she is coquettish and volatile; she delights in kissing and embracing, at the same time that she hates being roughly or cruelly handled, and she has little desire for congress.
Utkala-desha (Orissa): The Woman is so beautiful that man is attracted to her at first sight, and her voice is soft as her body is delicate. She is loose and licentious, caring very little for decency in her devotion to love, at which time she becomes violent, disquieted and excessively inflamed she delights in different postures to vary enjoyment, especially in the contrary form, that is, when the lover is under the beloved, and she is easily satisfied, even by passing the fingers over her breasts.
Kámaru̐pa-desha (Western Assam): The woman has soft body and sweet voice her affections are warm, and she is well skilled in all the arts of love. During congress she abounds in the Kama-salila.
Vana-strí, or forest woman (of the Bhills and other hill tribes): have stout bodies and healthy constitutions. They delight, while concealing their own defects and blemishes, their faults and follies, in exposing those of others.
Gurjara-desha (Gujrat): is wise and sensible. She has beautiful features, and eyes proportioned as they ought to be. She delights in handsome dresses and ornaments, and though warm and devoted to the pleasures of love, she is easily satisfied by short congress.
Sindhu-desha (Sind), of Avanti-desha (Panjab or Oujein), and of Balhika-desha (Bahawalpur): The woman has lively eyes, casting sidelong and amorous glances. She is volatile, irascible, and wicked, and the fierceness, violence, and heat of her desires are very hard to be satisfied.
Tirotpatna (or Tira-desha, Tirhoot, in Central India): This woman has eyes blooming like the flowers of the lake; she loves her husband fondly and her passion is inflamed by single look; she is especially skilful in congress;, she enjoys various ways and postures; and, by reason of her delicacy, she cannot endure rough or protracted embraces.
Pushpapura, of Madda-desha (the north-western part of India) and Tailanga-desha (Southern India): The woman are though, proficient in the art of love, is modest, and enjoys only her husband. Her form of passion is the Chanda-vega, and her amorousness is excessive; she communicates delight by "Nakhara," scratching, biting, and other signs of hot desire.
Dravia-desha (the Coromandel Coast), of Sauvira (Sind Pakistan), and Malaya-desha (Malayalim): The woman is well-proportioned in body and limbs, soft and delicate in make, and sweet of voice she delights in clean raiment and fine dresses, and she is satisfied with short congress, although fearless, shameless, and headlong in wickedness.
Kamboj (Suth-eastern Iranian in Kandhar region) and Paundra-desha (Bogra district, Bangladesh): The women are tall, robust, and gross in body, and of wicked disposition she is ignorant of the acts of congress accompanied by tricks of nail and tooth, and she is satisfied only by the violent application of solid Linga.
Mlenchchhas (mixed races, or those not speaking Sanskrit like the Hindus), of Parvata, of Gandhara and of Kashmir: The women are distinguished by evil savour of body. They are wholly ignorant of toying and dalliance, of kissing and embracing, they care little for congress, and they are easily satisfied by short embraces.
Kalyana malla explains that only by study and experience of women in different countries that the wise man learns to classify them according to their characteristics to discern the Chandrakalas, or preparatory attouchments, which best suit races as well as individuals, and thus to endear himself to womankind.
Chapter VI: Useful Medicines
On useful Medicines, Prayogas (external applications), Prescriptions, Recipes, Remedies, Cosmetics, Charms, Magic, Unguents and Spells.
Kalyana malla explains that the most useful drugs and simples, the receipts and prescriptions which have been handed down by learned men for the comfort of the married, and for the benefit of the world.
Section I : Paroxysmal Excitement
To induce paroxysmal excitement the manuscript covers two methods in conjunction induce excitement in woman and to delay orgasm in men.
One of man's chief duties in this life is to learn to withhold himself as much as possible, and, at the same time, to hasten the enjoyment of his partner.
Hastening the paroxysm of the woman
The book has 7 prescriptions for hastening the paroxysm of the woman which includes various herbs and ingredients as:
Black pepper-corns, thorn-apple (Dhatura or Dhotara, datura stramonium) seeds, long pepper pod (Pinpalli, the Piper longum), Lodhora bark (the symplocos racemosa, the morinda citrifolia),
white honey, old Gur (jaggery), Tamarind-pod bean, Aniseed powder, ghee, brute borax, Agasta-tree leaves, camphor, purified quicksilver, Sindura (red lead, minium, cinnabar, or red sulphuret of mercury), Rui seeds, and Jai tree leaves (Jasminum auriculatum).
Some of these could be toxic and poisonous in nature. One should understand these with an expert ayurvedic consultant before applying the ointments / Lepas prepared from these ingredients. One should be careful before following these prescriptions today.
Delay the orgasm of the man
The book describes 8 prescriptions for delaying orgasm of the man from the learned, wise men which includes various herbs and ingredients as:
Lajjalu or sensitive plant (mimosa pudica), cow-milk, Panjadhari-nivarung juice (5 leaves cactus), root of Rui (gigantic swallow root), safflower-seed oil (Kardai Carthamus tinctorius), Kang or white panic (P. italicum), lotus flower filaments, Sishu bark (the blackwood tree, dalbergia sissoo), camphor, purified quicksilver, White Tal-makhana (barleria longifolia), Saptaparna (echides scholaris), white Anvalli (emblic myrobalan), Banyan tree (ficus indica), and Karanj (galedupa arborea).
Section II : Vajikarana or aphrodisiacs
To increase libido, sexual desire, sexual attraction, sexual pleasure, or sexual behavior.
Kalyana Malla explains that the wise discovered aphrodisiacs with the view of restoring physical strength and vigor. The old wise recorded that it is evident that the recipes given above are of no use to an impotent or to very weak person it is, therefore, necessary also to know the remedies which comfort the heart and excite desire, at the same time giving power of satisfying them. The author describes eight prescriptions of Vajikarana / aphrodisiac describing the following ingredients:
Loha-bhasma, liquorice juice, clarified butter, honey, Kante-shevati juice (rosa glandulifera), milk, sugar, White Tal-makhana seeds, Deva-bhat seed (wild rice, growing near tanks and swamps), Moh tree inner bark (bassia latifolia), Urid (Mung or phaseolus radiata or P. mungo), Kuili (Cow-itch, or dolichos pruriens), Kanta-gokhru (Caltrops, the Tribulus lanuginosus), Kakri, or cucumber, Chikana hedysarum lagopodioides, Lechi, Laghu-shatavari (asparagus racemosus), bark of the Anvali (the emblic myrobalm, an astringent nut; phyllanthus emblica), and Bhiiya-Kohali juice (the solanum Jacquini, prickly plant).
Section III : Genitals Rejuvenation
This section covers methods for enlargement & hardening of the Linga along with narrowing & tightening of Yoni for greater extent of the pleasure from the congress.
Prescriptions for thickening & enlarging the member:
The poet says that when the Linga is soft or small, it is quite incapable of satisfying the wife, and of inducing her to love and to be subject to the husband. Hence it is necessary to offer recipes for thickening and enlarging that member, making it sound and strong, hard and lusty. The poet prescribes six prescriptions containing below ingredients for application of Lepa:
Chikana (hedysarum lago podioides), Lechi, Kosht (costus specicosus or Arabicus), Vekhand (orris root), Gajapimpali (pothos officinalis), Askhand (physalis flexuosa), Kanher-root (oleander, nerium odorum), Rakta-bol (myrrh), Manashil (red sulphurate of arsenic), Costus arabicus, aniseed, borax, sesamum oil, Saindhava (rock salt), pepper, costus, Ringani-root (prickly nightshade), Aghara-filaments (achyranthes aspera), Askhand (physalisflexuosa), barley, Urid (phaselus mungo), long pepper, white Shiras (a kind of mustard), Til (Jingilee or sesamum), Bibva or marking nuts (semicarpus anacardium), black salt,1 and lotus-flower leaves, Lodra-bark (symplocos racemose/ morinda citri folia) Hirakas (copperas, green vitrol or sulphate of iron), Dorli fruit (solanum macrorrhizon), pomegranate, and bitter oil (of the mustard, sinapis dichotoma).
Prescriptions for narrowing, contracting and hardening the Yoni
As women advance in years, and especially after childbirth, certain enlargement takes place, followed by softness and flaccidity of the part. Hence it is necessary to give prescriptions for rendering it small and hard, thereby increasing the enjoyment of the husband, especially when he is in the flower of life. Here are the ingredients of the seven prescriptions for narrowing and closing the Yoni:
Lotus, stalk as well as blossom, milk, fir bark (pinus deodaru), turmeric, Daru-halad, (zedoary), Tal-makhana seeds & juice, Triphala, Dhavati-flower, (grislea tomentosa), Jambhuli (rose-apple tree), Sanvari-tree (silk cotton-tree, bombax heptaphyllum), honey, Karu-bhonpali (bitter white pompion, or pumpkin, curcubita lagenaria), 'Askhand-shoots, Chikana, Onva (or Ajvini, kind of dill or bishop's weed), blue lotus, Vala, or Khaskhas (andropogon muricata), and Moh-tree (bassia latifolia) bark.
Section IV : Genital Cleansing & Body Pile Removal
This section describes recipes for cleansing & perfuming the genitals of man and woman, and hair-removal around the house of Smara/Love. One recipe in fact claims that the hair will not grow ever.
Perfuming the member
To remove certain inconveniences, and to supply their place with good qualities. perfuming the member, which will be given in two recipes containing following ingredients:
Shiras (a kind of mustard) and the extract from the Jai, or Jasmine flower, pine (pinus deodaru), sesamum oil, Shegwa, or tree horse-radish (guilandina moringa), pomegranate bark, bitter Nim-tree bark (melia azadiracht indica), and yellow Champak flowers (michelia champaca).
Removing and destroying the body-pile
The poet describes three Recipes for removing and destroying the body-pile (poil amatoire) containing highly toxic compounds. An ointment / Lepa prepared from these toxic compounds is supposed to be applied to the house of Smara / house of love so that the hairs around will fall:
Lead Oxide, Bitter Oil, calcined conch-shell powder, banana juice, Harital (orpiment, yellow arsenic, or sulphuret of arsenic), Palasha wood (butea frondosa), and plantain-tree juice.
Section V : Menses’ Management
This section addresses the abortion, suddenly stopped Menses and Abnormal uterine bleeding.
Remedies for regularizing menses
Kalyana malla explains two recipes which are essentially prepared by old wise men for the monthly ailment, which is suddenly arrested, either by accident or disease, great evils result:
Pingavi, or Karad-kangoni Leaves (a scandent shrub, the heart-pea, celastrus panicolata), Jasvad (shoe-flower,) Tandul (rice), Durva (Doob-grass, bent grass, or agrestis linearis), and pine-wood (P. deodaru).
- Note: these can cause an abortion in case of pregnant woman.
Remedies for Controlling Abnormal uterine bleeding
The poet describes that it is judged necessary to abate the immoderate appearance of the menses (Abnormal uterine bleeding), the two remedies containing following will be found efficacious:
Hirada-dal (bark of yellow, or chebulic myrobalans), bitter Nim-bark, Anwal-katbi bark (dried myrobalans), Kapitya-fruit, (the elephant-apple, wood-apple or feroni), Chiva (small bamboo).
Section VI : Family Planning
This section addresses the complete life cycle of Family Planning from Preparation to conceive till voluntarily avoiding pregnancy.
The manuscript explains the family planning in greater detail and prescribes the recipes/prescriptions for helping manage the family plan. The phases of the family planning explained in the manuscript are as follows:
Purifying the Womb - First the field (womb) must be duly purified with iron oxide, calcined gold, calcined copper, and honey. This prescription purifies the field/womb and makes it ready for conceiving a healthy progeny.
Conceiving – For conceiving, the manuscript describes six prescriptions consisting of: Naga-kesar buds (a small Cassia, mesua ferrea) powder, clarified butter, 'Askhand (physalis flexuosa) decoction, Gulvel (menispermum glabrum/ cocculus cordifoliusi), resin called Laghu-Ral, Jatwand root (shoe flower), honey, Maha lung (common citron) root, white Chikana, liquorice root, sugar candy, cow milk, prickly nightshade (solatium lacquinia), dry ginger powdered, pepper, long pepper, and cassia buds.
Protection from miscarriage - it is not enough that the woman become gravid, she must also be protected from miscarriage and other accidents. Overall three prescriptions are explained containing: fine clay, goat milk, liquorice powder, Lodhara-bark, dried emblic myrobalans, cow milk, clarified butter, honey, and red lotus-flower root. These medicines obviate miscarriage and accidents during pregnancy.
Easy labor & deliverance – prescriptions for easy labor and deliverance containing: citron powder, Bassia latifolia bark, clarified butter, honey, fireplace soot, cold water, Gunj or Chanoti-tree (the abrus precatorius), and recite over water a mantra
- जय मन्मथ मथमथ बहि: लिंबालकखोदरं मुंचमुंचलघुलघु
Limiting the family member (sterilization) - It may be held desirable to limit the members of the family, and four prescriptions will be found useful containing: three year old jaggery, Chitraka (Ceylon lead wort, plumbago zeylonica) decoction, boiled rice water, Kallambha-plant (nauclea cadamba or parvifolia), jungle-flies feet, marking-nut (semicarpus anacardium), and Dhun/rice water.
Section VII : Cosmetics
This section covers the cosmetics recommendations for looking good so that there is greater attraction between the Man and Woman.
Cosmetics therapies are prescribed for beatification of the Man and Woman. These are classified into:
Hair-Beautification
Skin Cleaning & De-Tanning
Breast Enlargement & Hardening
Hair-Beautification
Thickening & beautifying hair: four therapies are prescribed for the hair beautification which are to be applied to the hairs. It is assumed that these are to be followed till the results/outcome are achieved unless specified, and may require these to be periodically followed. Some of these medications may result into violation of laws such as Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act:
First Recipe: Take sesamum flowers (the grain), and the fruit of caltrops (Tribulus lanuginosus ) levigate in cow's milk and apply to the hair for seven days however thin it may have been, it will become thick and long.
Second Recipe: Levigate croton seeds (c. tiglium) and Sambhar or elk-horn, boil in sesamum oil and apply to the hair, which will change its tawny colour for lamp black and however weak and inclined to drop off it may be, it will lose all its infirmity.
Third Recipe: Rub down finely powdered Gunj-beans (abrus pre-catorius) with honey and apply to the head this medicament will remove the disease called "Indra-lupta-roga," or baldness of the crown.
Fourth Recipe: Burn ivory, pound it well, and apply it mixed with water to the head the latter will recover hair.
Obtaining Good Black Colour: four therapies are prescribed for the hair beautification to get good black colour which are to be applied to the hairs. It is assumed that these are to be followed till the results/outcome are achieved unless specified and may require these to be periodically followed.
First Recipe: Take blossoms of the Mango-tree: the fruits of the three myrobalans, the bark of Arjuna-vriksha (Arjuna tree, or pentaptera arjund), and the rind of the pendure shrub; grind them well and boil them in sesamum oil, which now gets the name of Nila-tel, oil of indigo i. e., of dark colour. This medicament is by far the most potent for dyeing hairwhat need say more, except that if the wing of the Hansa (wild white goose) be dipped into it, the hue will at once take the color of night!
Second Recipe: Mix the powder of Persian gall-nut, long pepper, indigo leaves, and rock salt (the mordant) with sweet gruel of wheat, and the result will be brilliant dark dye.
Third Recipe: Let man drink every day for month forty Mashas of Nim (Melim)-tree oil;2 his hair will gradually change colour and become glaring black as the Bhramara's wing (the "bumble-bee" of India).
Fourth Recipe: Pound together Gorochana (Bezoar stones), black sesamum seed, Kata-jangha (the heart pea, literally "crow's thigh") and Shatavari (asparagus racemosus) and apply to the hair it will soon turn black.
Whitening & Bleaching the Hair: at times white colored hairs looks beautiful for certain personalities exhibiting various other characteristics. For bleaching to white color, there is a recipe to achieve it.
Recipe: Wet the grain of sesamum with the juice of the Nivarung (euphorbia pentagonia) dry in the sun and extract the oil whatever part of the body is touched by tnis, the hair there growing will be white and bright as crystal.
Renewing the hair of the head:
Recipe: Steep dried myrobolans in juice of the euphorbia (pentagonia), sun dry, pound, and apply to the hair.
Skin Cleaning & De-Tanning
It often happens that eruptions break out and leave black spots upon the face, greatly marring its comeliness.
Skin Cleansing:
The following, therefore, are valuable prescriptions for clearing the skin:
First Recipe: Vekhand (orris-root), elk horn, and coriander-seed be pounded together and applied to the face for three days, the exanthemata which break out upon the skin of young people of both sexes, disappear.
Second Recipe: Reduce to powder the thorns of the silk-cotton-tree (bombax heptaphyllum) levigate it in milk, and apply it to the man’s face: the effect will be all that he can desire.
Third recipe: Take Lodhra, rock salt, white Shiras (mustard), and Vekhand, knead with water, and rub upon the skin.
Skin De-tanning:
The following two recipes of de-tanning will remove the black colour of the epidermis and restore it to its original lighter tint:
First Recipe: Levigate in milk, sesamum seed, coriander, Shaha-jire, (cummin; others say nigella indica), and Shiras-seed; if this be applied to the body for seven days it will make the aspect clean and brilliant as the moon.
Second Recipe: Take red Sanders (or sandal) wood, Tetvi (the yellow wood of the bignonia chelonoides), root-bulbs of the sweet-smelling grass (cyperus juncifolius), liquorice, Tandulja (atnaranthus oleraceus), turmeric, and zedoary; levigate with the sap drawn from crushed banana or plantain-stems, and apply to the body for seven days.
Breast Enlargement & Hardening
It often happens that the breast turns flaccid, soft/tender, and lumpy causing discomfort and unattractiveness in women.
Breast Enlargement:
The two following are useful recipes for enlarging the breasts of women:
First Recipe: Take shoots of 'Askhand, Vekhand, Kosht, black cum min-seed (bitter fennel?) oleander-root and cloves; pound, levigate in mortar with water and butter; and, lastly, apply to the breasts, which will rise firm and hard.
Second Recipe: Take equal parts of the kernels of the Badri (Ber, or jujube fruit, zizyphus), oleander-root, snake fat (oil), Kankol (myrtus pimento), and the heart of Jahad wood (the China cubeb tree?) pound, levigate, and use as the former prescription.
Raising and Hardening Pendulous Bosoms:
The following three recipes are invaluable for raising and hardening pendulous bosoms.
First Recipe: Boil the juice of the Narvel plant (narwelia zeylonica) in sesamum oil, and apply to the breasts it will be efficacious, however flaccid they may have been.
Second Recipe: Boil powder of the pomegranate fruit-rind in mustard oil, and apply to the breasts of any woman even though she be old, they will soon become fat, fair and round.
Third Recipe: Take equal parts of Rui juice (gigantic swallow-wort, asclepias or callotropis gigantea), levigate with Chikana Tridhar (leaves of the indigo tree), Onva (dry ginger?), sensitive-plant, turmeric, and zedoary; and boil in sesamum oil, or in clarified butter of the cow, with great care, so that the contents of the pot may not remain raw nor be overboiled. If this ointment be placed in woman's nostrils, the breasts will at once be drawn up. Moreover, if the same be mixed with water in which rice has been washed, and be drunk by girl not older than sixteen, her breasts, will be enlarged and drawn up, and will never become pendulous in after-life.
Chapter VII: Treating of Vashikaran
This chapter describes the technique used for Vashikaran.
Vashikarana is the art by which man or woman is rendered submissive and obedient to the fascinator, who for that purpose uses certain drugs and charms. And first the magic "Talaka". The translators note that the reader will find this chapter interesting on account of the various abominations which it contains. The underlying idea appears to be that if any secretion of the body, the fouler the better, can be secretly administered to person of either sex, the result is the subjection of the patient to the adhibitor.
Vátsyáyana rishi has described an extensive commentary on the Vashikaran or the science of seduction and possession.
Referring Vátsyáyana, the poet explains 3 prescriptions of Tilak to be applied on forehead for attracting women, and 4 prescription of Anjana for attracting men. In addition to this, the chapter describes three (3) more powerful prescriptions to reduce other persons to submission.
Then the author describes 5 charms (2 processes and 3 prescriptions) to master a woman or man. The chapter describes 2 incense to make the world submissive. One of the most important Chinta-Mani-Dhupa.
Kameshwara, Chamunda mantra for subjecting woman, Kameshwara mantra for subduing Padmini woman, Madanastra for subduing Chitrini woman, 2 mantras for subduing Shankhini woman. There are specific ingredients and rituals specified along with the mantras to be chanted for various sets of repetition.
Chapter VIII: Of Different Signs in Men and Women
This chapter describes characteristics, attributes, guna of bridge, bridegroom, and their family/social behavior for considering a suitable match for the marriage.
Section I: Characteristics of a Suitable Bride
Characteristics of a woman
The characteristics of woman whom we should take to wife, are as follows.
She should come from a family of equal rank with that of her husband.
Her family should be known to be valiant and chaste, wise and learned, prudent and patient, correct and becomingly behaved,
Her family should be known to be famed for acting according to its religion, and for discharging its social duties.
She should be free from vices, and endowed with all good qualities, possess a fair face and be a fine person.
She should have brothers and kinsfolk.
She should be great proficient in the Kama-shastra, or Science of Love.
Such girl is truly fitted for marriage; and let sensible man hasten to take her, by performing the ceremonies which are commanded in the Holy Law.
Marks & distinguished body features
The poet insists that one needs to be learned the marks whereby beauty and good shape of body are distinguished.
The maiden whose face is soft and pleasing as the moon.
Whose eyes are bright and liquid as the fawn's,
Whose nose is delicate as the sesamum flowers.
Whose teeth are clean as diamonds and clear as pearls.
Whose ears are small and rounded.
Whose neck is like seashell, with three delicate lines or tracings behind
Whose lower lip is red as the ripe fruit of the bryony.
Whose hair is black as the Bhramara's wing.
Whose skin is brilliant as the flower of the dark-blue lotus, or light as the surface of polished gold.
Whose feet and hands are red, being marked with the circular Chakra or discus.
Whose stomach is small, whilst the umbilical region is drawn in.
Whose shape below the hips is large whose thighs, being well-proportioned and pleasing as the plantain-tree, make her walk like the elephant, neither too fast nor too slow.
Whose voice is sweet as the Kokila-bird’s.
Such girl, especially if her temper be good, her nature kindly, her sleep short, and her mind and body not inclined to laziness, should at once be married by the wise man.
Following are the signs of Woman
The woman of inauspicious signs will be, or become an orphan, widow, destitute of brothers and sisters, and without connections, as well as relations, so that her life ends, as it began, in bitterness. Her characteristics, therefore, should be carefully examined before marriage with her is contracted.
The woman who bears on the sole of her left foot the signs of the Chakra (quoit, peculiar to Vishnu), the Padma (lotus), the Dhvaja (flag), the Chatra (umbrella), the mystical Svastika, and the Kamala, that is circular lines, and not conch-shaped on her fingertips, that woman will be Rani (queen). If, however, one or more of these figures is wanting, she will enjoy all the happiness of a crowned head.
The woman who bears on the sole of her left foot line extending from the “mount” or cushion of the little toe to the ball of the big toe, that woman will readily obtain good husband, and will find great happiness in his love.
The woman whose two little toes do not touch the ground whilst walking, will certainly lose her husband and during her widowhood, she will not be able to keep herself chaste.
The woman whose Tarjani or second toe is the longest of all the toes, will be unchaste even before marriage.
The woman whose breasts are fleshy, firm, and handsome, whose bosom is without hair, and whose thighs are like the trunk of an elephant, will enjoy life of happiness.
The girl who has black moles upon her left breast, throat and ears, will marry and bear son having auspicious marks; and by her means, all the family will be called blessed.
The maiden whose neck is very long, will be of wicked and cruel disposition. The maiden whose neck is very short, will be wretchedly poor. The maiden whose neck has three lines or wrinkles, will be of good disposition, and her lot will be ever fortunate.
The maiden who bears in the palm of her hand lines resembling enclosing walls, and "Toran" or garlands of flowers, and twigs of trees bent into circles, will become the wife of King, although she have been born in servant's house.
The maiden whose palms have lines in the shape of an Ankush (spiked hook for guiding elephants), Kuntala (or spur), and Chakra (quoit or discus), will inter marry royal house, and bear son who shows the most fortunate signs.
Not suitable body features for a girl
Following are the signs if one observes should consider not suitable:
The girl who comes from bad family
Whose body is either very short or very tall, very fat, or very thin.
Whose skin is ever rough and hard.
Whose hair and eyes are yellowish, the latter like cat’s.
Whose teeth are long or are wholly wanting.
Whose mouth and lips are wide and projecting, with the lower lip of dark colour, and tremulous when speaking.
Who allows her tongue to loll out.
Whose eyebrows are straight; whose temples are depressed who shows signs of beard, mustachios, and dense body-pile.
Whose neck is thick, who has some limbs shorter and others longer than the usual proportion.
Whose one breast is large or high, and the other low or small.
Whose ears are triangular, like sifting or winnowing fan.
Whose second toe is larger and longer than the big toe.
Whose third toe is blunt, without tip or point, and whose little toes do not touch the ground; whose voice is harsh, and laugh is loud who walks quickly and with uncertain gait.
Who is full grown, who is disposed to be sickly,
Who bears the name of mountain (as Govardhan), of tree (as Anbi), of river (as Tarangini), of bird (as Chimani), or of constellation (as Revati, the 27th lunar mansion)
Such girl, especially if her disposition be irascible and temper violent if she eats and sleep much if she be always vexed, troubled and distressed; if her disposition be restless and fidgety, if she has little understanding in worldly matters if she be destitute of shame and if her natural disposition be wicked, should be carefully avoided, under all circumstances, by the wise.
Some of these are still followed as superstitious traditions in many societies in India and marrying with a woman of such features has not found to be unfortunate or the couple lived the long, cordial life. No data points put this true from fortune/life/fidelity aspect.
One should apply mind while interpreting such descriptions which are contradictory in their nature. E.g., the manuscript already has given recipes for body-pile/facial, arm-pit hairs permanent removal so if a woman follows that, then this sign turns non-applicable. Take it as an amusement/pinch of salt.
This section also describes eleven (11) types of go-between women who may be helpful for pursuing maidens.
Woman which may be subdued easily
Whose deportment shows signs of immodesty. Widow. Highly accomplished in singing, in playing musical instruments, and in similar pleasant arts. Fond of conversation. Woman steeped in poverty.
Wife of an imbecile or an impotent person. Wife of fat and tun-bellied man. Wife of cruel and wicked man. Wife of one who is shorter than herself. Wife of an old man. Wife of very ugly man. Woman accustomed to stand in the doorway and to stare at passersby. Women of variable disposition. Barren woman, especially if she and her husband desire the blessing of issue. Woman who brags and boasts. The woman who has long been separated from her husband and deprived of her natural refreshment. The woman who has never learned the real delight of carnal copulation; and the woman whose mind remains girlish.
Signs of Enamored Woman
The signs and symptoms by which we are to know when women are enamored are as follows:
The woman loves man when she is not ashamed of looking at him and of boldly and without fear or deference keeping her eyes fixed upon his.
When she moves her foot to and from whilst standing up, and draws, as it were, lines upon the ground.
When she scratches diver’s limbs without sufficient reason.
When she leers, looks obliquely, and casts side-glances.
When she laughs causelessly at the sight of man.
And furthermore, the woman who exhibit flirting, makes friends with our friend, sings sweet air who passes her hands frequently over her breasts and her arms who cracks her fingers who yawns and sighs though we call and summon her, unless in her most becoming dress; who throws flowers and similar articles upon us who pretexting various things, often goes into and comes forth from the house and finally, whose face, hands and feet break into perspiration when she casually sees us that woman showing any such signs and symptoms, is enamored of us.
The author hints that if such a maiden found to an unmarried man it is strongly excited by passion all we have to do, if versed in the art of love, is to send an able go-between/messenger.
Section II: Characteristics of a suitable Man
Kalyana malla says that the man should be tried and tested as if Gold is tested in four ways.
Rub with Touchstone (learning)
By Cutting (disposition)
By Heating (qualities)
By Hammering (actions / achievements)
Characteristics of a Man
Following Characteristics should be evaluated in a Man.
Courage, with endurance if a man attempts any deed, great or small, he should do it with the spirit of lion.
Prudence, time and place must be determined, and opportunity devised, like the Bak-heron, that stands intently eyeing its prey in the pool below.
Rising early and causing others to do the same.
Hardihood in war.
Generous distribution and division of food and property amongst family and friends.
Duly bound to the wants of the wife.
Circumspection in love matters.
Secrecy and privacy in the venereal act.
Patience and perseverance in all the business of life.
Judgment in collecting and in storing up what may be necessary.
Not to allow wealth and worldly success to engender pride and vanity, magnificence, and ostentation.
Never aspiring to the unattainable.
Contentment with what the man has if he can get no more.
Plainness of diet.
Avoids oversleeping.
Diligent in the service of employers.
Not to fly when attacked by robbers and villains.
Working willingly; for instance, not taking into consideration the sun and shade. if the labourer is obliged to carry a parcel.
Patient endurance of trouble.
Keep the eye fixed upon great business.
Studious for the means properest for success.
Now, any person who combines these twenty-one qualities is deservedly reputed an excellent man.
In addition to this, the father of the bridge should consider the following characteristics in the prospective Son-in-Law:
From a large family, which has never known sin and poverty.
Young, handsome, wealthy, brave and influential diligent in business,
Moderate in enjoying riches, sweet of speech,
Well versed in discharging his own duties, known to the world as mine of virtues, steadfast in mind, and treasury of mercy.
Gives alms and makes charities as far as his means permit.
Such man is described by celebrated poets as fit person to whom the daughter should be given in marriage.
Following defects/blemishes should be looked upon in the man:
Born in low family,
Vicious, libertine, pitiless,
Ever sickly with dangerous disease, sinful and very wicked,
Poor and miserly,
Impotent,
Prone to conceal the virtues and to divulge the vices of others,
Constant traveller, an absentee, one ever away from his home and residing abroad.
Debtor, beggar,
Man, who has no friendship with the good, or who, if he has it, breaks into quarrel upon trifling things such person the wise will not accept as son-in-law.
Following are the characteristics of a man based on body features
The man whose eye is red, whose body is fair and of good complexion like gold; whose trunk is fleshy and whose arms reach his knees,3 the same will always remain rich and enjoy grandeur, opulence, lordship, and supremacy.
The man whose thighs are large, will win great wealth.
The man whose waist is broad, will be blessed in his wife and many children.
the man whose feet are long.
The man whose hands are very delicate, will always enjoy happiness.
and the man whose head is large and lengthy, will rise to be prince.
The man whose Linga is very long, will be wretchedly poor.
The man whose Linga is very thick, will ever be very lucky
The man whose Linga is short, will be Rajah.
Section III: Sámudrika-lakshana
This chapter also explains the Sámudrika-lakshana or chiromantic signs / palmistry for identifying bride or groom having longer life and hard-working. The bridegroom’s palmistry should be considered first.
Every perfect hand and foot consist of five members, namely the Angushtha (thumb), the Tarjani (forefinger), the Madhyama (middle-finger), the Anamika (ring-finger), and the Kanishthika (little finger).
This section describes the lifeline and karma-line. However, these lines are contradictory to the palmistry followed today in India and around.
Section V: Social Behavior
This section describes and warns the readers that there are severe consequences of immoral relationships. It is recommended to adhere to holy and social guidelines.
Relationship with wife of others
There are seven kinds of troubles which result from having intercourse with the wife of another man. This section narrates stories from various scriptures to place an emphasis on acceptable social behavior. This section describes various issues and troubles arising from immoral relationships.
Adultery shortens or lessens the period of life.
Body becomes spiritless and vigourless;
The world derides and reproaches the lover.
Despises himself.
Wealth greatly decreases; in thought how to woo and win the woman in question.
Suffers much in this world, to come.
Prohibited relationships:
The author of this book strongly warns and commands his readers to avoid thinking of sexual relations with following types of women as deadly sins.
Wife of Guru/Brahman, instructor, teacher, King/Prince, student, disciple
Wife of a friend or a relative, own family.
Virgin without marrying her or an older woman than man.
Widow, Woman living chastely or virtuously with her husband.
Wife of our foe/enemy.
Woman afflicted with any serious complaint or sickness or a mad woman.
Woman who has been defiled, or sinful.
Places where sexual enjoyment should be avoided
The following are the places where woman should not be enjoyed. These more appear from religious faith such as places of worship, in front of elderly/guru/powerful men, avoiding public places, roads, highways, near river, in castle, in prison, forest, in relatives/someone else house, cremation ground. Etc.
The following are the times when women are not to be enjoyed
By day, unless their class and temperament require coition during the light hours. during or at the Sankranti-parvani, that is to say, when the sun or planet passes from one side of the zodiac to another. During the Sharad, or cold season, (October to November.). During the Grishma, or hot season1 (June to July). In the Amavasya (the last, the thirtieth, or the new moon day of the Hindu month), unless the Love-shastra specify the contrary. During the periods when the man's body suffers from fever. During the time of "Vrata," any self-imposed religious observance, with obligation to carry it out. In the evening time, and, when wearied with wayfarer. The consequences of congress at such epochs are as disastrous as if the act took place in prohibited spot.
The following is the situation have described as being best fitted for sexual acts
Choose the largest, and finest, and the airiest room in the house, purify it thoroughly with whitewash, and decorate its spacious and beautiful walls with pictures and other objects upon which the eye may dwell with delight. Place musical instruments, especially the pipe and the lute; with refreshments, as cocoanut, betel-leaf, and milk, useful for retaining and restoring vigour; bottles of rose water and various essences, fans and chauris for cooling the air, and books containing amorous songs, and gladdening the glance with illustrations of love-postures.
Splendid Divalgiri, or wall lights, should gleam around the hall, reflected by hundred mirrors, whilst both man and woman should contend against any reserve, or false shame, giving themselves up in complete nakedness to unrestrained voluptuousness, upon high and handsome bedstead, raised on tall legs, furnished with many pillows, and covered by rich chatra, or canopy the sheets being besprinkled with flowers and the coverlet scented by burning luscious incense, such as aloes and other fragrant woods. In such place, let the man, ascending the throne of love, enjoy the woman in ease and comfort, gratifying his and her every wish and every whim.
Lakshanas of Premroga in Men & Women
When he/she is in state of Dhyasa (desxdenum) at loss to do anything except to see particular woman/man
When he/she finds his/her mind wandering, as if he/she were about to lose his/her senses.
When he/she is ever losing himself/herself
When he/she passes restless nights without the refreshment of sleep.
When his/her looks become haggard, and his/her body emaciated.
When he/she feels himself/herself growing shameless and departing from all sense of decency and decorum
When his/her riches take to themselves wings and fly.
When the state of mental intoxication verges upon madness.
When fainting fits come on and
When he/she finds himself/herself at the door of death.
This section narrates the stories of Pururavas and Urvashi, Ravana etc. and recommends that when man has allowed himself to be carried away captive of desire, he must consult physician, and the books of medicine which treat upon the subject.
Chapter IX: Treating of External Enjoyments
Chapter X: Treating of Internal Enjoyments in Its Various Forms
Appendix I: Astrology in Connection With Marriage
This section describes the use of astrology for matchmaking of the bride and bridegroom; for a very long sustainable, happy, and joyful marriage. The effect resulting from the consonance and dissonance, amity, and hospitality, between the stars (and destinies) of couple proposed to be bride and bridegroom shall be understood.
Having ascertained that the houses (kula), the family names (gotra), and the individual dispositions (Svabhava), of the postulants are free from inherent blemish. Their Gunas (qualities or requisites) must be determined from the zodiacal signs and the asterisms presiding over their birth. The Gunas, number in total thirty-six, of which at least nineteen are requisite for prosperous match and thence upwards, the fruit resulting from their influence is proportioned to their number.
Section I: Zodiacal Structure
When the zodiacal sign of a person’s birth-time and place is known, then presiding planet, the vashyas / genus (or nature) and the caste (in theory not in practice) by zodiacal characteristics are known.
The Planet Lords – In Indian astrology, for each zodiac sign, there is a lord defined and the person born under the sign exhibits the characteristics associated with the planet.
Vashya: Vashya / genus exhibits the instinct of animal which may be present in the person. It defines the power-equation between the individuals.
Varna / Caste: In horoscope, astrological structure, varna/caste defines the ego aspect of the individual.
Section II: Nakshatra & Characteristics
This section describes the group and class to which a person belongs when the asterism (Nakshatra, or lunar mansion) of his/her birth-time is known, together with his/her Nadi, or hour of twenty-four minutes. The twenty-seven asterisms are classed under three heads of gods of men and of demons (Rakshasas), and the asterism determines to which the querent belongs. Moreover, each asterism is divided into four quarters, and of these nine make one zodiacal sign. The name-letter used in that quarter stands for that quarter.
Nakshtras: defines the Tattva (Akasha – Sky, Vayu – Air, Tejas – Fire, Apas – Water, Prithvi - Earth) and the behavior.
Yoni / Class: this defines the sexual characteristics of an individual based on the animal yoni.
Gana / Group: this defines the temperament class of the individual.
Nadi: defines the health, genetical aspects of the individual. Adi Nadi describes the soul is under influence of Vaata (Air), Madhya Nadi describes the soul is under Pitta (Bile) while Antya Nadi describes the soul under the influence of Kapha (phlegmatic).
Section III Guna / Characteristics Structure
The astrological method of Guna Milan follows a Ashta-Kuta i.e. eight heads forming total 36 Guna, these are as:
Varna / Caste Koota: This represents the spiritual compatibility of the bride and bridegroom. It exhibits the ego level and personalities of both. It holds one (1) Guna.
Vashya Koota: The Vashya indicates our physical behaviors or physical comfortability. This holds a total of two Guna.
Tara / Nakshatra Koota: Tara or Dina Koota indicates the wellbeing and longevity of the prospective couple. Its compatibility ensures that the couple shall remain disease-free and have a long life thereby will be able to enjoy the comforts of a happy conjugal life. It holds 3 Guna.
Yoni Koota: Yoni Koota measures the intimacy levels, sexual compatibility, and mutual love of the prospective couple. It matches the sensuous nature and characteristics of both. It holds 4 Guna.
Graha Maitri / Planetary Friendship: This reflects the mental compatibility, affection, and natural friendship between the partners. It denotes how inimical the bride and bridegroom are to each other. This has a total of five Guna.
Gana Koota: Gana indicates the mutual behaviors, mental compatibility, and temperaments of the prospective bride and bridegroom. This is a vital factor that impacts on the compatibility levels of the Partners. This has a total of six Guna.
Bhakoota: This represents the emotional compatibility of the couple. It shows the relative influence of one partner on the other and their capability of realizing mutual understanding and mental acceptance. It describes the cooperation between couples.
Nadi Koota: Nadi measures the comparative levels of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha between the couple. This shows the impact upon progeny and child-birth issues; it also addresses the health matters and metabolism of the partners. he Nadi matching has allotted 8 points and is associated with child-birth.
Section IV Guna / Characteristics Rules & Exceptions
Following are the rules, and exceptions associated with the Ashta-Koota matchmaking.
Varna Matching
When bridegroom is of a Superior or same varna than the bride, 1 Guna is allotted. The Varna superiority is as follows:
Brahman (Studious)
Kshtriya (Firesome)
Vaishya (Collaborator)
Shudra (Hardworking)
- this has nothing to do with the cast based classification of the society.
Vashya Matching
If the bride and bridegroom belong to the same group the full two Guna are allotted. Where bride’s Vashya is controllable to bridegroom’s Vashya, one point is given. Where bride’s vashya is Bhakshya (eatable) to bridegroom’s vashya, 1⁄2 point is given. For example human or Dwipad signs can control all other signs except Leo, and for them Jalachar signs are Bhakshya (eatable). Refer below table:
Tara / Nakshatra Matching
The Tara matching is done by counting the Nakshatras from each other.
Count from bridegroom’s Nakshatra to bride’s Nakshatra and divide it by 9, if the remainder is 3, 5 or 7 then Tara is malefic, otherwise benefic. 1 1⁄2 point is given for benefic Tara and nil point for malefic Tara.
Similarly count from bride’s Nakshatra to bridegroom’s Nakshatra and divide it by 9, find out the remainder. If it is 3, 5 or 7 no point is given otherwise 1 1⁄2 point is given.
If on both counting, a beneficial Tara is obtained, full 3 points are given. For one benefic Tara 1 1⁄2 point is given and for both malefic Tara, no point is given.
Yoni Matching
There are 14 yonis based upon 27 Nakshatras. There is an extra nakshtra not counted in general; its name is Abhijit. The translator didn’t highlight this aspect. Two Nakshatra represent one Yoni. Yonis of bride and bridegroom should not be inimical to each other. Refer below table:
Graha Maitri koota
This is very important because if the Moon rashis and the rashi lords are same or they are friends then there are good chances for a successful marriage between two unknown persons. Table for Natural Friendship of Planets:
Gana Koota
The three Gana are important for the match. A zero Guna for Gana Koota is not considered suitable for marraige. The Deva Gana represents Satvta; Manushya Gana represents Rajas and Rakshasha Gana represents Tamas guna.
Following table describes the Guna for Gana Koota:
Bhatoota
In Bhakoota matching, Guna are allocated based on the zodiac sign of bride and bridegroom. Bhakoota has 0 and maximum 7 Guna. A high Bhakoota Guna indicates a good match and the helps the couple avoid health, financial, conception related problems.
Nadi Koota
Nadi is very essential for the Ashta-Koota or Guna-Melan. Nadi defines the health aspect and the procreation by the couple. The basis of marriage is procreation. Hence, any dosha or non-recommended matches are strictly prohibited. The Nadi Koota has eight (8) Guna. If bride & bridegroom nadis are different, then full eight Guna are allotted else none. The astrology doesn’t recommend marriage with same nadis other than prescribed exceptions. Following are the types of Nadis doshas:
Aadi Nadi Dosh: If the couple confronts this Dosha, they shall confront divorce and arguments. There are even possibilities that people might see issues related to children.
Madhya Nadi Dosh: With this Dosh, the couple would face mishappenings and divorce. Also, their kid might inherit health issues and make his/her childhood full of ailments.
Antya Nadi Dosh: Having this Dosha might lead to the death of a partner. Marital life would be cold, and there shall be early age health issues too.
Exceptions in the Nadi Dosha: following are the exceptions with the nadi-dosha:
It is pretty evident that people shall possess the same Nadi. Thus, there are some exceptions that come with the Nadi Dosha in Kundli matching:
When both the partners possess the same Rashis, but their Nakshatras are different, the Nadi Dosh gets nullified.
Moreover, if both the partners have the same Nakshatra but their Rashi is different, Nadi dosh gets canceled.
There are some pairs that act as an exception from the Nadi Dosha:
If a male and female have the following pairs of Nakshatra, their Dosha gets canceled:
Rohini and Purva Bhadrapada
Magha and Rohini
Punarvasu and Ashwini
Uttara Ashadha and Swati
Appendix II: (considers a variety of alchemical recipes, either potentially lethal, or completely ineffective, or both)
This section describes how to prepare the metals for Rasayana or Medicinal purposes. This covers overall six recipes.
First Recipe: Antidote therapy for disease caused by QuickSilver = Take sixty-four Tolas (each three drachms) of the juice of betel-plant (piper betel) mix with equal quantities of the juice of Bhringaraja (eclipta prostrata), juice of the Tulsi (ocymum basilicum=herb basil) and goat's milk; and rub the mixture into all parts of the body for two days, each day two pahars (six hours) followed by cold bath.
Second Recipe: Preparing Mercury Bhasma - Take of purified quicksilver and sulphur equal parts, and levigate with the sap of the Banyan-tree (ficusindica) place the preparation in an earthern pot over slow fire and stir with stick of the Banyan-tree for whole day. If two Gunjas (0.25 grams) of this medicine be eaten at early morning in betel leaf digestion is improved and the powers of copulation are increased.
Third Recipe: preparing Hemagarbha, the Elixir Vitae of Gold - Take three parts of purified quicksilver; one part and half of sulphur one part of gold two parts of the ashes (metallic oxide) of copper and calx of pearls and coral, each one-tenth of part. Levigate in mortar for seven days with the juice of the Kumari (aloe per foliate,) make into ball, cover well with piece of cotton cloth and place in an earthen vessel, containing little sulphur: the mouth must be well closed, leaving for the escape of smoke small hole which must be kept open with needle if necessary. Set the vessel over Valuka-yantra (bain marie, or sand-bath) under which slow fire is kindled. After about half Ghataka (= 12 minutes) the fire must be diminished and allowed to extinguish. Remove the ball and use it as the doctor directs.
Fourth Recipe: Reducing Harital to ashes -Take Haital (Sansk, hartalaka, sulphuret of arsenic, yellow orpiment) to ashes, or metallic oxide. Levigate yellow orpiment and knead it with the juice of the plant Nagar-juni (a Cyperus-grass.) Levigate again with the juice of the Pinpalli (piper longum) and the Piper betel for two days. Make balls of the preparation dry in shade then set in earthen vessel in bain marie. hot fire must be kept up till the orpiment is thoroughly "cooked," and allow the fire to diminish and extinguish. Remove the balls from the vessel and use in every disease.
Fifth Recipe: absorbing all other metals by purified mercury- Thoroughly levigate quicksilver with the juice of the "seven minor poisons," viz., Arka (Calotropis gigantea) Sehunda (Euphorbia), Dhatura (Stramonium, white thorn-apple), Langali (Jussioea repens), Karavira (olean der or Soma1) and opium. By this means mercury loses its wings and cannot fly, while it gets mouth and eats up every metal with speed
Sixth Recipe: Sovereign Remedy against All Diseases and Death - Take Abhraka (tale) and levigate with the milky sap of the Arka for the space of day. Then wrap up the preparation in Arka-leaves and boil in heap of Gobar (cow dung) cakes about two feet thick. Repeat this boiling with fresh leaves for seven times, then infuse the preparation three times in decoction of Parambi Marathi, the fibrous roots of the Banyan-tree. In this way the mineral is "killed;" its impurities are removed and it becomes nishchandra talc. Boil equal parts of this and Ghi (clarified butter) in an iron vessel till the butter is absorbed, and it is ready for use it cures every complaint, including old age and death.
- These recipes may sound interesting and tempting however may be lethal and deadly. One should exercise caution.
References
External links
Text of the Burton translation of the Ananga Ranga
Burton's translation of the Ananga Ranga in pdf format
Kamashastra
Sex manuals
Sexuality in India
15th-century books
16th-century books
Indian non-fiction books
Delhi Sultanate
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad%20breath
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Bad breath
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Bad breath, also known as halitosis, is a symptom in which a noticeably unpleasant breath odour is present. It can result in anxiety among those affected. It is also associated with depression and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder.
The concerns of bad breath may be divided into genuine and non-genuine cases. Of those who have genuine bad breath, about 85% of cases come from inside the mouth. The remaining cases are believed to be due to disorders in the nose, sinuses, throat, lungs, esophagus, or stomach. Rarely, bad breath can be due to an underlying medical condition such as liver failure or ketoacidosis. Non-genuine cases occur when someone complains of having bad breath but other people cannot detect it. This is estimated to make up between 5% and 72% of cases.
The treatment depends on the underlying cause. Initial efforts may include tongue cleaning, mouthwash, and flossing. Tentative evidence supports the use of mouthwash containing chlorhexidine or cetylpyridinium chloride. While there is tentative evidence of benefit from the use of a tongue cleaner it is insufficient to draw clear conclusions. Treating underlying disease such as gum disease, tooth decay, tonsil stones, or gastroesophageal reflux disease may help. Counselling may be useful in those who falsely believe that they have bad breath.
Estimated rates of bad breath vary from 6% to 50% of the population. Concern about bad breath is the third most common reason people seek dental care, after tooth decay and gum disease. It is believed to become more common as people age. Bad breath is viewed as a social taboo and those affected may be stigmatized. People in the United States spend more than $1 billion per year on mouthwash to treat it.
Signs and symptoms
Bad breath is when a noticeably unpleasant odour is believed to be present on the breath. It can result in anxiety among those affected. It is also associated with depression and symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Causes
Mouth
In about 90% of genuine halitosis cases, the origin of the odour is in the mouth itself. This is known as intra-oral halitosis, oral malodour or oral halitosis.
The most common causes are odour producing biofilm on the back of the tongue or other areas of the mouth due to poor oral hygiene. This biofilm results in the production of high levels of foul odours. The odours are produced mainly due to the breakdown of proteins into individual amino acids, followed by the further breakdown of certain amino acids to produce detectable foul gases. Volatile sulfur compounds are associated with oral malodour levels, and usually decrease following successful treatment. Other parts of the mouth may also contribute to the overall odour, but are not as common as the back of the tongue. These locations are, in order of descending prevalence, inter-dental and sub-gingival niches, faulty dental work, food-impaction areas in between the teeth, abscesses, and unclean dentures. Oral based lesions caused by viral infections like herpes simplex and HPV may also contribute to bad breath.
The intensity of bad breath may differ during the day, due to eating certain foods (such as garlic, onions, meat, fish, and cheese), smoking, and alcohol consumption. Since the mouth is exposed to less oxygen and is inactive during the night, the odour is usually worse upon awakening ("morning breath"). Bad breath may be transient, often disappearing following eating, drinking, tooth brushing, flossing, or rinsing with specialized mouthwash. Bad breath may also be persistent (chronic bad breath), which affects some 25% of the population in varying degrees.
Tongue
The most common location for mouth-related halitosis is the tongue. Tongue bacteria produce malodourous compounds and fatty acids, and account for 80 to 90% of all cases of mouth-related bad breath. Large quantities of naturally occurring bacteria are often found on the posterior dorsum of the tongue, where they are relatively undisturbed by normal activity. This part of the tongue is relatively dry and poorly cleansed, and the convoluted microbial structure of the tongue dorsum provides an ideal habitat for anaerobic bacteria, which flourish under a continually-forming tongue coating of food debris, dead epithelial cells, postnasal drip and overlying bacteria, living and dead. When left on the tongue, the anaerobic respiration of such bacteria can yield either the putrescent smell of indole, skatole, polyamines, or the "rotten egg" smell of volatile sulfur compounds (VSCs) such as hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, allyl methyl sulfide, and dimethyl sulfide. The presence of halitosis-producing bacteria on the back of the tongue is not to be confused with tongue coating. Bacteria are invisible to the naked eye, and degrees of white tongue coating are present in most people with and without halitosis. A visible white tongue coating does not always equal the back of the tongue as an origin of halitosis, however a "white tongue" is thought to be a sign of halitosis. In oral medicine generally, a white tongue is considered a sign of several medical conditions. Patients with periodontal disease were shown to have sixfold prevalence of tongue coating compared with normal subjects. Halitosis patients were also shown to have significantly higher bacterial loads in this region compared to individuals without halitosis.
Gums
Gingival crevices are the small grooves between teeth and gums, and they are present in health, although they may become inflamed when gingivitis is present. The difference between a gingival crevice and periodontal pocket is that former is <3mm in depth and the latter is >3mm. Periodontal pockets usually accompany periodontal disease (gum disease). There is some controversy over the role of periodontal diseases in causing bad breath. However, advanced periodontal disease is a common cause of severe halitosis. People with uncontrolled diabetes are more prone to have multiple gingival and periodontal abscess. Their gums are evident with large pockets, where pus accumulation occurs. This nidus of infection can be a potential source for bad breath. Removal of the subgingival calculus (i.e. tartar or hard plaque) and friable tissue has been shown to improve mouth odour considerably. This is accomplished by subgingival scaling and root planing and irrigation with an antibiotic mouth rinse. The bacteria that cause gingivitis and periodontal disease (periodontopathogens) are invariably gram negative and capable of producing VSC. Methyl mercaptan is known to be the greatest contributing VSC in halitosis that is caused by periodontal disease and gingivitis. The level of VSC on breath has been shown to positively correlate with the depth of periodontal pocketing, the number of pockets, and whether the pockets bleed when examined with a dental probe. Indeed, VSC may themselves have been shown to contribute to the inflammation and tissue damage that is characteristic of periodontal disease. However, not all patients with periodontal disease have halitosis, and not all patients with halitosis have periodontal disease. Although patients with periodontal disease are more likely to develop halitosis than the general population, the halitosis symptom was shown to be more strongly associated with degree of tongue coating than with the severity of periodontal disease. Another possible symptom of periodontal disease is a bad taste, which does not necessarily accompany a malodour that is detectable by others.
Other causes
Other less common reported causes from within the mouth include:
Deep carious lesions (dental decay) – which cause localized food impaction and stagnation
Recent dental extraction sockets – fill with blood clot, and provide an ideal habitat for bacterial proliferation
Interdental food packing – (food getting pushed down between teeth) - this can be caused by missing teeth, tilted, spaced or crowded teeth, or poorly contoured approximal dental fillings. Food debris becomes trapped, undergoes slow bacterial putrefaction and release of malodourous volatiles. Food packing can also cause a localized periodontal reaction, characterized by dental pain that is relieved by cleaning the area of food packing with interdental brush or floss.
Acrylic dentures (plastic false teeth) – inadequate denture hygiene practises such as failing to clean and remove the prosthesis each night, may cause a malodour from the plastic itself or from the mouth as microbiota responds to the altered environment. The plastic is actually porous, and the fitting surface is usually irregular, sculpted to fit the edentulous oral anatomy. These factors predispose to bacterial and yeast retention, which is accompanied by a typical smell.
Oral infections
Oral ulceration
Fasting
Stress or anxiety
Menstrual cycle – At mid cycle and during menstruation, increased breath VSC were reported in women.
Smoking – Smoking is linked with periodontal disease, which is the second most common cause of oral malodour. Smoking also has many other negative effects on the mouth, from increased rates of dental decay to premalignant lesions and even oral cancer.
Alcohol
Volatile foods – e.g. onion, garlic, durian, cabbage, cauliflower and radish. Volatile foodstuffs may leave malodourous residues in the mouth, which are the subject to bacterial putrefaction and VSC release. However, volatile foodstuffs may also cause halitosis via the blood borne halitosis mechanism.
Medication – often medications can cause xerostomia (dry mouth) which results in increased microbial growth in the mouth.
Nose and sinuses
In this occurrence, the air exiting the nostrils has a pungent odour that differs from the oral odour. Nasal odour may be due to sinus infections or foreign bodies.
Halitosis is often stated to be a symptom of chronic rhinosinusitis, however gold standard breath analysis techniques have not been applied. Theoretically, there are several possible mechanisms of both objective and subjective halitosis that may be involved.
Tonsils
There is disagreement as to the proportion of halitosis cases that are caused by conditions of the tonsils. Some claim that the tonsils are the most significant cause of halitosis after the mouth. According to one report, approximately 3% of halitosis cases were related to the tonsils. Conditions of the tonsils that may be associated with halitosis include chronic caseous tonsillitis (cheese-like material can be exuded from the tonsillar crypt orifi), tonsillolithiasis (tonsil stones), and less commonly peritonsillar abscess, actinomycosis, fungating malignancies, chondroid choristoma, and inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor.
Esophagus
The lower esophageal sphincter, which is the valve between the stomach and the esophagus, may not close properly due to a hiatal hernia or GERD, allowing acid to enter the esophagus and gases to escape to the mouth. A Zenker's diverticulum may also result in halitosis due to aging food retained in the esophagus.
Stomach
The stomach is considered by most researchers as a very uncommon source of bad breath. The esophagus is a closed and collapsed tube, and continuous flow of gas or putrid substances from the stomach indicates a health problem—such as reflux serious enough to be bringing up stomach contents or a fistula between the stomach and the esophagus—which will demonstrate more serious manifestations than just foul odour.
In the case of allyl methyl sulfide (the byproduct of garlic's digestion), odour does not come from the stomach, since it does not get metabolized there.
Systemic diseases
There are a few systemic (non-oral) medical conditions that may cause foul breath odour, but these are infrequent in the general population. Such conditions are:
Fetor hepaticus: an example of a rare type of bad breath caused by chronic liver failure.
Lower respiratory tract infections (bronchial and lung infections).
Kidney infections and kidney failure.
Carcinoma.
Trimethylaminuria ("fish odour syndrome").
Diabetes mellitus.
Metabolic conditions, e.g. resulting in elevated blood dimethyl sulfide.
Individuals affected by the above conditions often show additional, more diagnostically conclusive symptoms than bad breath alone.
Delusional halitosis
One quarter of the people seeking professional advice on bad breath have an exaggerated concern of having bad breath, known as halitophobia, delusional halitosis, or as a manifestation of the olfactory reference syndrome. They are sure that they have bad breath, although many have not asked anyone for an objective opinion. Bad breath may severely affect the lives of some 0.5–1.0% of the adult population.
Diagnosis
Self diagnosis
Scientists have long thought that smelling one's own breath odour is often difficult due to acclimatization, although many people with bad breath are able to detect it in others. Research has suggested that self-evaluation of halitosis is not easy because of preconceived notions of how bad we think it should be. Some people assume that they have bad breath because of bad taste (metallic, sour, fecal, etc.), however bad taste is considered a poor indicator.
Patients often self-diagnose by asking a close friend.
One popular home method to determine the presence of bad breath is to lick the back of the wrist, let the saliva dry for a minute or two, and smell the result. This test results in overestimation, as concluded from research, and should be avoided. A better way would be to lightly scrape the posterior back of the tongue with a plastic disposable spoon and to smell the drying residue. Home tests that use a chemical reaction to test for the presence of polyamines and sulfur compounds on tongue swabs are now available, but there are few studies showing how well they actually detect the odour. Furthermore, since breath odour changes in intensity throughout the day depending on many factors, multiple testing sessions may be necessary.
Testing
If bad breath is persistent, and all other medical and dental factors have been ruled out, specialized testing and treatment is required. Hundreds of dental offices and commercial breath clinics now claim to diagnose and treat bad breath. They often use some of several laboratory methods for diagnosis of bad breath:
Halimeter: a portable sulfide monitor used to test for levels of sulfur emissions (to be specific, hydrogen sulfide) in the mouth air. When used properly, this device can be very effective at determining levels of certain VSC-producing bacteria. However, it has drawbacks in clinical applications. For example, other common sulfides (such as mercaptan) are not recorded as easily and can be misrepresented in test results. Certain foods such as garlic and onions produce sulfur in the breath for as long as 48 hours and can result in false readings. The Halimeter is also very sensitive to alcohol, so one should avoid drinking alcohol or using alcohol-containing mouthwashes for at least 12 hours prior to being tested. This analog machine loses sensitivity over time and requires periodic recalibration to remain accurate.
Gas chromatography: portable machines are being studied. This technology is designed to digitally measure molecular levels of major VSCs in a sample of mouth air (such as hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, and dimethyl sulfide). It is accurate in measuring the sulfur components of the breath and produces visual results in graph form via computer interface.
BANA test: this test is directed to find the salivary levels of an enzyme indicating the presence of certain halitosis-related bacteria.
β-galactosidase test: salivary levels of this enzyme were found to be correlated with oral malodour.
Although such instrumentation and examinations are widely used in breath clinics, the most important measurement of bad breath (the gold standard) is the actual sniffing and scoring of the level and type of the odour carried out by trained experts ("organoleptic measurements"). The level of odour is usually assessed on a six-point intensity scale.
Classification
Several classification schemes have been proposed to define halitosis.
Miyazaki et al.
The Miyazaki et al. classification was originally described in 1999 in a Japanese scientific publication, and has since been adapted to reflect North American society, especially with regards halitophobia. The classification assumes three primary divisions of the halitosis symptom, namely genuine halitosis, pseudohalitosis and halitophobia.
Genuine halitosis
A. Physiologic halitosis
B. Pathologic halitosis
(i) Oral
(ii) Extra-oral
Pseudohalitosis
Halitophobia
This classification has been criticized for being inflexible, and that the pseudohalitosis and halitophbia categories contain psychopathologic connotations.
Tangerman and Winkel
The Tangerman and Winkel classification was suggested in Europe in 2002. This classification focuses only on those cases where there is genuine halitosis, and has therefore been criticized for being less clinically useful for dentistry when compared to the Miyazaki et al. classification.
Intra-oral halitosis
Extra-oral halitosis
A. Blood borne halitosis
(i) Systemic diseases
(ii) Metabolic diseases
(iii) Food
(iv) Medication
B. Non-blood borne halitosis
(i) Upper respiratory tract
(ii) Lower respiratory tract
The same authors also suggested that halitosis can be divided according to the character of the odour into 3 groups:
"Sulfurous or fecal" caused by volatile sulfur compounds (VSC), most notably methyl mercaptan, hydrogen sulfide and dimethyl sulfide.
"Fruity" caused by acetone, present in diabetes.
"Urine-like or ammoniacal" caused by ammonia, dimethyl amine and trimethylamine (TMA), present in trimethylaminuria and uremia.
Aydin and Harvey-Woodworth
Based on the strengths and weaknesses of previous attempts at classification, Aydin and Harvey-Woodworth proposed a cause-based classification.
Type 0 (physiologic)
Type 1 (oral)
Type 2 (airway)
Type 3 (gastroesophageal)
Type 4 (blood-borne)
Type 5 (subjective)
Any halitosis symptom is potentially the sum of these types in any combination, superimposed on the physiologic odour present in all healthy individuals.
Management
Approaches to improve bad breath may include physical or chemical means to decrease bacteria in the mouth, products to mask the smell, or chemicals to alter the odour creating molecules. Many different interventions have been suggested and trialed such as toothpastes, mouthwashes, lasers, tongue scraping, and mouth rinses. There is no strong evidence to indicate which interventions work and which are more effective. It is recommended that in those who use tobacco products stop. Evidence does not support the benefit of dietary changes or chewing gum.
Mechanical measures
Brushing the teeth may help. While there is evidence of tentative benefit from tongue cleaning it is insufficient to draw clear conclusions. Flossing may be useful.
Mouthwashes
Mouthwashes often contain antibacterial agents including cetylpyridinium chloride, chlorhexidine, zinc gluconate, zinc chloride, zinc lactate, hydrogen peroxide, chlorine dioxide, amine fluorides, stannous fluoride, hinokitiol, and essential oils. Listerine is one of the well-known mouthwash products composed of different essential oils. Other formulations containing herbal products and probiotics have also been proposed. Cetylpyridinium chloride and chlorhexidine can temporarily stain teeth.
Underlying disease
If gum disease and cavities are present, it is recommended that these be treated.
If diseases outside of the mouth are believed to be contributing to the problem, treatment may result in improvements.
Counselling may be useful in those who falsely believe that they have bad breath.
Epidemiology
It is difficult for researchers to make estimates of the prevalence of halitosis in the general population for several reasons. Firstly, halitosis is subject to societal taboo and stigma, which may impact individual's willingness to take part in such studies or to report accurately their experience of the condition. Secondly, there is no universal agreement about what diagnostic criteria and what detection methods should be used to define which individuals have halitosis and which do not. Some studies rely on self reported estimation of halitosis, and there is contention as to whether this is a reliable predictor of actual halitosis or not. In reflection of these problems, reported epidemiological data are widely variable.
History, society and culture
The earliest known mention of bad breath occurs in ancient Egypt, where detailed recipes for toothpaste are made before the Pyramids are built. The 1550 BC Ebers Papyrus describes tablets to cure bad breath based on incense, cinnamon, myrrh and honey. Hippocratic medicine advocated a mouthwash of red wine and spices to cure bad breath. Alcohol-containing mouthwashes are now thought to exacerbate bad breath as they dry the mouth, leading to increased microbial growth. The Hippocratic Corpus also describes a recipe based on marble powder for females with bad breath. The Ancient Roman physician Pliny wrote about methods to sweeten the breath.
Ancient Chinese emperors required visitors to chew clove before an audience. The Talmud describes bad breath as a disability, which could be grounds for legal breaking of a marriage license. Early Islamic theology stressed that the teeth and tongue should be cleaned with a siwak, a stick from the plant Salvadora persica tree. This traditional chewing stick is also called a Miswak, especially used in Saudi Arabia, an essentially is like a natural toothbrush made from twigs. During the Renaissance era, Laurent Joubert, doctor to King Henry III of France states bad breath is "caused by dangerous miasma that falls into the lungs and through the heart, causing severe damages".
In B. G. Jefferis and J. L. Nichols' "Searchlights on Health" (1919), the following recipe is offered: "[One] teaspoonful of the following mixture after each meal: One ounce chloride of soda, one ounce liquor of potassa, one and one-half ounces phosphate of soda, and three ounces of water."
In the present day, bad breath is one of the biggest social taboos. The general population places great importance on the avoidance of bad breath, illustrated by the annual $1 billion that consumers in the United States spend on deodorant-type mouth (oral) rinses, mints, and related over-the-counter products. Many of these practices are merely short term attempts at masking the odour. Some authors have suggested that there is an evolutionary basis to concern over bad breath. An instinctive aversion to unpleasant odours may function to detect spoiled food sources and other potentially invective or harmful substances. Body odours in general are thought to play an important role in mate selection in humans, and unpleasant odour may signal disease, and hence a potentially unwise choice of mate. Although reports of bad breath are found in the earliest medical writings known, the social stigma has likely changed over time, possibly partly due to sociocultural factors involving advertising pressures. As a result, the negative psychosocial aspects of halitosis may have worsened, and psychiatric conditions such as halitophobia are probably more common than historically. There have been rare reports of people committing suicide because of halitosis, whether there is genuine halitosis or not.
Etymology
The word halitosis is derived from the Latin word halitus, meaning 'breath', and the Greek suffix -osis meaning 'diseased' or 'a condition of'. With modern consumerism, there has been a complex interplay of advertising pressures and the existing evolutionary aversion to malodour. Contrary to the popular belief that Listerine coined the term halitosis, its origins date to before the product's existence, being coined by physician Joseph William Howe in his 1874 book The Breath, and the Diseases Which Give It a Fetid Odor, although it only became commonly used in the 1920s when a marketing campaign promoted Listerine as a solution for "chronic halitosis". The company was the first to manufacture mouth washes in the United States. According to Freakonomics:
Alternative medicine
According to traditional Ayurvedic medicine, chewing areca nut and betel leaf is a remedy for bad breath. In South Asia, it was a custom to chew areca or betel nut and betel leaf among lovers because of the breath-freshening and stimulant drug properties of the mixture. Both the nut and the leaf are mild stimulants and can be addictive with repeated use. The betel nut will also cause dental decay and red or black staining of teeth when chewed. Both areca nut and betel leaf chewing, however, can cause premalignant lesions such as leukoplakia and submucous fibrosis, and are recognized risk factors for oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (oral cancer).
Practitioners and purveyors of alternative medicine sell a vast range of products that claim to be beneficial in treating halitosis, including dietary supplements, vitamins, and oral probiotics. Halitosis is often claimed to be a symptom of "candida hypersensitivity syndrome" or related diseases, and is claimed to be treatable with antifungal medications or alternative medications to treat fungal infections.
Research
In 1996, the International Society for Breath Odor Research (ISBOR) was formed to promote multidisciplinary research on all aspects of breath odours.
References
External links
Symptoms and signs: Digestive system and abdomen
Oral hygiene
Body odor
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt%20Warner
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Kurt Warner
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Kurtis Eugene Warner (born June 22, 1971) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons, primarily with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals. His career, which saw him ascend from an undrafted free agent to a two-time Most Valuable Player and Super Bowl MVP, is regarded as one of the greatest Cinderella stories in NFL history.
After playing college football at Northern Iowa from 1990 to 1993, Warner spent four years without being named to an NFL roster. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers in 1994, but released before the regular season and instead played three seasons for the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League (AFL). Warner landed his first NFL roster spot in 1998 with the Rams, holding a backup position until he was thrust into becoming St. Louis's starter the following season. During his first season as an NFL starting quarterback, Warner led The Greatest Show on Turf offense to the Rams' first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XXXIV, earning him league and Super Bowl MVP honors. He won his second league MVP award in 2001, en route to a Super Bowl XXXVI appearance, and also appeared in Super Bowl XLIII with the Cardinals.
Considered the NFL's greatest undrafted player, Warner is the only undrafted player to be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, as well as the only undrafted quarterback to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. He was also the first quarterback to win a Super Bowl during his first season as the primary starter. Warner was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only player inducted to both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
High school and college
Born in Burlington, Iowa, Warner played football at Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, graduating in 1989. After graduation from high school, he attended the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 1993. At UNI, Warner was third on the Panthers' depth chart until his senior year. When Warner was finally given the chance to start, he was named the Gateway Conference's Offensive Player of the Year and first-team all-conference.
College statistics
Professional career
Green Bay Packers
Following his college career, Warner went undrafted in the 1994 NFL Draft. He was invited to try out for the Green Bay Packers' training camp in 1994, but was released before the regular season began. Warner was competing for a spot against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and former Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer. While Warner was with the Packers, the head coach was Mike Holmgren, the quarterback coach was Steve Mariucci, and Andy Reid was the offensive assistant.
After his release, Warner stocked shelves at a Hy-Vee grocery store in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. Warner often cites this starting point when telling of his rise to NFL stardom in 1999. He also mentions that his deepened dedication to Christianity occurred around 1997. Warner returned to Northern Iowa and worked as a graduate assistant coach with the football team, while still hoping to get another tryout with an NFL team.
Iowa Barnstormers
With no NFL teams willing to give him a chance, Warner turned to the Arena Football League (AFL) in 1995, and signed with the Iowa Barnstormers. He was named to the AFL's First-team All-Arena in both 1996 and 1997 after he led the Barnstormers to ArenaBowl appearances in both seasons. Warner's performance was so impressive that he was later named twelfth out of the 20 Best Arena Football Players of all time.
Before the 1997 NFL season, Warner requested and got a tryout with the Chicago Bears, but an injury to his throwing elbow caused by a spider bite sustained during his honeymoon prevented him from attending.
In 2000, after Warner's breakout NFL season, the AFL used his new fame for the name of its first widely available video game, Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed. Years later, on August 12, 2011, he would be named as an inductee into the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
St. Louis Rams
Amsterdam Admirals
In December 1997 after the St. Louis Rams' season ended, Warner signed a futures contract with the team. In February 1998, he was allocated to NFL Europe to play for the Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in touchdowns and passing yards. His backup at the time was future Carolina Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme. Returning to the United States, Warner spent the 1998 season as St. Louis's third-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He ended his season completing only 4 of 11 pass attempts for 39 yards and a 47.2 QB rating.
1999 season
Prior to the 1999 free-agency period, the Rams chose Warner to be one of the team's five unprotected players in the 1999 NFL expansion draft. Warner went unselected by the Cleveland Browns, who chose no Rams and whose only quarterback selection was Scott Milanovich.
The Rams let Bono leave in free agency and signed Trent Green to be the starter. Banks was traded to the Ravens, and Warner now found himself second on the depth chart. After Green suffered a torn ACL via a low hit by Rodney Harrison in a preseason game, Rams coach Dick Vermeil named Warner as the Rams' starter. In an emotional press conference, Vermeil—who hadn't seen Warner work with the first-string offense—said, "We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we'll play good football." With the support of running back Marshall Faulk and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, Az-Zahir Hakim, and Ricky Proehl, Warner put together one of the top seasons by a quarterback in NFL history, throwing for 4,353 yards with 41 touchdown passes and a completion rate of 65.1%. The Rams' high-powered offense, run by offensive coordinator Mike Martz, was nicknamed "The Greatest Show on Turf" and registered the first in a string of three consecutive 500-point seasons, an NFL record.
Warner threw three touchdown passes in each of his first three NFL starts, an NFL record until it was surpassed by Patrick Mahomes in 2018. Warner drew more attention in the Rams' fourth game of the season, a home game against the San Francisco 49ers (who had been NFC West division champions for 12 of the previous 13 seasons). The Rams lost their last 17 meetings with the 49ers, but Warner proceeded to throw a touchdown pass on each of the Rams' first three possessions of the game, and four touchdowns in the first half alone, to propel the Rams to a 28–10 halftime lead on the way to a 42–20 victory. Warner finished the game with five touchdown passes, giving him 14 in four games and the Rams a 4–0 record. Warner's breakout season from a career in anonymity was so unexpected that Sports Illustrated featured him on their October 18 cover with the caption "Who Is This Guy?" He was named the 1999 NFL MVP at the season's end for leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989 (when they were still in Los Angeles) and their first division title since 1985.
In the NFL playoffs, Warner ultimately led the Rams to a victory in Super Bowl XXXIV against the Tennessee Titans. In the game, he threw for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl-record 414 passing yards, including a 73-yard touchdown to Isaac Bruce when the game was tied with just over two minutes to play, which proved to be the game-winning score. Warner also set a Super Bowl record by attempting 45 passes without a single interception. For his performance, Warner was awarded the Super Bowl MVP award. Warner was the last player to win both the NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same year until Patrick Mahomes did so in Super Bowl LVII in the 2022 NFL season.
2000 season
On July 21, Warner signed a seven-year contract worth $47 million. He started the 2000 season where he had left off in his record-setting 1999 season, racking up 300 or more passing yards in each of his first six games (tying Steve Young's record) and posting 19 touchdown passes in that stretch. Warner broke his hand and missed the middle of the season, but Trent Green filled in ably and the Warner/Green duo led the Rams to the highest team passing yard total in NFL history, with 5,232 net yards. Warner and Green's combined gross passing yards total was 5,492. In contrast to his previous season, however, Warner's turnover rate drastically increased in 2000, as he threw an interception in 5.2% of his attempts (compared to just 2.6% in 1999). Despite one of the most productive offensive years by an NFL team, the Rams won only ten games and lost in the wild card round to the New Orleans Saints. In response to the disappointing season, the Rams cut nine of their eleven defensive starters during the offseason, and Trent Green was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.
2001 season
Warner returned to MVP form in 2001. Although his performance lagged behind his 1999 performance, he amassed a league-high 36 touchdown passes and 4,830 passing yards, and another league high mark in passer rating (101.4). Warner's tendency for turnovers carried over from 2000, as he tossed a career-high 22 interceptions (despite completing a career-high 68.7% of his passes), but he still led "The Greatest Show on Turf" to its third consecutive 6–0 start (becoming the first NFL team to do so, later equaled by the 2005–2007 Indianapolis Colts), an NFL-best 14–2 record, and an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVI. Warner was also named the NFL MVP for the second time in three seasons, giving the Rams their third winner in as many years (running back Marshall Faulk won in 2000).
In Super Bowl XXXVI, Warner threw for 365 yards (then the second-highest, now the sixth-highest total in Super Bowl history) and a passing touchdown along with a rushing touchdown, but his rhythm was disrupted by New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick's defensive game plan and he tossed two costly interceptions which helped stake the heavy-underdog Patriots to a two-touchdown lead. After falling behind to the Patriots 17–3, though, the Rams rallied to tie the game late in the fourth quarter on a one-yard Warner quarterback sneak touchdown run and a 26-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Ricky Proehl. The game ended in a 20–17 loss for Warner and the Rams when Patriots kicker Adam Vinatieri kicked a game-winning field goal as time expired, giving the Patriots the first of three Super Bowl wins in four years.
2002–2003 seasons
Warner began the 2002 season as the Rams' starter, but he played poorly, throwing seven interceptions against only one touchdown as the team went 0–3. In the Rams' Week 4 game against the Dallas Cowboys, Warner broke a finger on his throwing hand. Warner attempted to come back later in the season, but his injury allowed him to play only two more games (both losses). In contrast to his 103.0 career passer rating entering the season, Warner posted a minuscule 67.4 rating in 2002.
The following season, Warner was replaced as the Rams' starting quarterback for good after fumbling six times in the team's opening-day game against the New York Giants. Warner later revealed that he had previously broken his hand and that it had not fully healed, making it more difficult to grip the football. His successor as the Rams' starting quarterback, Marc Bulger (another relatively unheralded quarterback coming out of college), stepped into the breach and played reasonably well upon replacing Warner.
The Rams signed veteran Chris Chandler as Bulger's backup. The Rams released Warner on June 1, 2004, with three years left on his contract.
New York Giants
Two days after his release from the Rams, he signed a one-year, $3 million deal with the New York Giants, with a second year player option worth $6 million. Warner started the 2004 season as the Giants' starting quarterback, winning five of his first seven games, but following a two-game losing streak, highly touted rookie quarterback Eli Manning was given the starting job. The Giants had a 5–4 win–loss record at the time of Warner's benching, finishing at 6–10 overall (going only 1–6 under Manning). Following the season, Warner chose to void the second year of his contract, and thus became a free agent.
Arizona Cardinals
2005 season
In early 2005, Warner signed a one-year, $4-million contract with the Arizona Cardinals, and was quickly named the starter by coach Dennis Green. Warner posted three relatively mediocre performances before injuring his groin and being replaced by former starter Josh McCown. McCown performed well enough in the two games Warner missed that McCown remained the starter.
After McCown struggled in two straight games, Green re-inserted Warner into the starting line-up. After playing fairly well in two consecutive losses (passing for a total of nearly 700 yards), Warner defeated his former team, the Rams, by a score of 38–28. He passed for 285 yards and three touchdowns while posting a quarterback rating of 115.9. Warner's season ended in week 15 when he partially tore his MCL.
Warner signed a new three-year extension with the Cardinals on February 14, 2006. The deal had a base salary of $18 million and, with performance incentives, could have been worth as much as $24 million.
2006 season
In Week 1 of the 2006 NFL season, Warner won the NFC Offensive Player of the Week award, throwing for 301 yards and three touchdowns in a win over San Francisco. Two weeks later, Warner passed the 20,000-yard passing milestone in his 76th game, the second-quickest of any player in NFL history (Warner accomplished the feat in one game more than it took record-holder Dan Marino).
After three subpar games in Weeks 2–4, Warner was replaced as quarterback by rookie Matt Leinart in the fourth quarter of week 4. Coach Dennis Green stated that Warner would be the backup quarterback for the remainder of the season. In week 16, Leinart went down with a shoulder injury against the 49ers, forcing Warner to see his first action since week 4. Warner filled in nicely, as he was able to hang on for the Cardinals win. In week 17 against the San Diego Chargers, Warner started again in place of the injured Leinart, throwing for 365 yards (which led the NFL for that week) and a touchdown, though the Chargers were able to hold on for a 27–20 win.
2007 season
Leinart was given the starting quarterback job at the start of the 2007 season. However, in the third game of the season, against the Baltimore Ravens, Warner came off the bench to relieve an ineffective Leinart during the 4th quarter with the Ravens leading 23–6 at the beginning of the quarter. Warner led a furious comeback, as he completed 15 of 20 passes for 258 yards and 2 touchdowns. This brought Arizona to a tie game (23–23), though Arizona would go on to lose the game 26–23 after Baltimore kicked a last-second field goal.
On September 30, 2007, during the week four game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Warner relieved Leinart again, following another ineffective start. Warner finished with 14 completed of 21 attempts for 132 yards with one touchdown pass and no interceptions, while Leinart re-entered the game in the 4th quarter and led the Cardinals to their final touchdown. After Leinart was placed on injured reserve, Warner was named starter for the remainder of the 2007 season.
Warner passed for a career-high 484 yards against the 49ers in a 37–31 loss on November 25, but had a fumble in the end zone in overtime that was recovered by Tully Banta-Cain, and the Cardinals lost. However, the following week Warner improved; and the Cardinals earned a victory over the Browns that brought the Cardinals to 6–6 and kept them in the chase for the NFC Wild Card playoff spot. Warner finished the 2007 season with 27 passing touchdowns, just one shy of the Cardinals franchise record.
2008 season
Leinart was named the Cardinals' starting quarterback going into the 2008 off-season, but Ken Whisenhunt stated that it would be very possible for Warner to be the starter before week one of the regular season. Indeed, Warner was named the starter on August 30, 2008. That season, Warner had 4,583 passing yards, 30 touchdowns, and a completion percentage of 67.1%. He was the top ranked passer in the National Football Conference for the third time, and only trailed Philip Rivers and Chad Pennington of the AFC in NFL passer rating for the season. Warner also received FedEx Air Player of the Week honors for his performance during weeks 9 and 11 of the season. He had his struggles during the season, as in week 3 of the season vs. the New York Jets, his team turned the ball over 7 times. This included an interception for a touchdown, and 2 picks resulting in a touchdown and a field goal in just the second quarter. Warner still managed to get his team to score 35 points in a 56–35 loss.
On December 7, 2008, Warner led the Cardinals to a 34–10 win over his former team, the Rams, securing for the Cardinals the NFC West Division title and their first playoff berth since 1998. It was the Cardinals' first division title since 1975 and third of the post-merger era. As a result, the Cardinals earned a home playoff game, only their second ever, and their first in Arizona. (Despite winning division titles in the 1974 and 1975 seasons in St. Louis, the Cardinals played on the road in the playoffs as a result of the playoff structure in those days.) On December 16, 2008, Warner was named the starting quarterback for the NFC team in the 2009 Pro Bowl.
2008 postseason
On January 3, 2009, Warner led the Cardinals in their victory over the Atlanta Falcons 30–24 at home in the first round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 19 for 32 passing, a completion percentage of 59.4%, for 271 yards. He threw two touchdowns and one interception.
On January 10, Warner helped the Cardinals defeat the Carolina Panthers 33–13 in Charlotte, North Carolina in the second round of the playoffs. During the game Warner went 21 for 32 passing, for 220 yards, a completion percentage of 65.6%, with two touchdowns and one interception. This win was the first time the Cardinals had won a game on the East Coast the entire 2008 season, after having lost away games to the Panthers, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, and the New England Patriots.
On January 18, Warner threw for 279 yards, four touchdowns, and no interceptions against the Philadelphia Eagles to lead the Cardinals to their first Super Bowl appearance in history. Warner is one of four quarterbacks who made Super Bowl starts with two teams (alongside Craig Morton, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady).
In Warner's third career Super Bowl appearance on February 1, the Cardinals lost Super Bowl XLIII 27–23 to the Pittsburgh Steelers, leaving him with a career 1–2 record in Super Bowls. Despite losing, Warner still managed to throw for 377 yards (the fourth-highest total in Super Bowl history). He completed 72.1% of his passes, and had a quarterback rating of 112.3. Warner had now recorded the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in the history of the Super Bowl, and joined Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, John Elway, and Tom Brady as the only quarterbacks to throw a touchdown pass in three Super Bowls. Warner took his team to the Super Bowl every year that he played as the starting quarterback during all regular and post season games.
2009 season
Warner announced his desire to return to the Cardinals for the 2009 season. The Cardinals offered him a two-year contract worth around $20 million but Warner was looking for a contract that would pay him about $14 million a year and the two sides could not come to an agreement. On February 27, 2009, Warner became a free agent and went on to have talks with the San Francisco 49ers. The 49ers offered Warner a contract worth more than that offered by the Cardinals. On March 4, Warner re-signed with the Cardinals to a two-year deal worth $23 million total, $4 million for each of the next two years, with a $15 million signing bonus, and $19 million guaranteed. Warner underwent arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum on March 17, 2009. On September 20, 2009, Warner broke the NFL's single-game record for completion percentage in the regular season, completing 24 of 26 passing for 243 yards and two touchdowns. Warner's 92.3 percent completion rate broke the previous NFL record set by Vinny Testaverde in 1993.
On November 1, 2009, Warner threw a career-high-equaling five interceptions during a loss to the Carolina Panthers. During the same game Warner became the first quarterback in the NFL to throw for over 14,000 yards with two teams. On November 8, Warner equaled his career-high of five touchdown passes in a single game during a 41–21 victory over the Chicago Bears. This performance led to Warner being named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week. On November 15, 2009, Warner reached a career milestone with his 200th touchdown pass during a 31–20 win against the Seattle Seahawks.
On November 22, 2009, during a 21–13 victory over the St. Louis Rams, Warner left the game after suffering a concussion. Warner continued to suffer from post-concussion symptoms and on November 29, 2009, he was deactivated against the Tennessee Titans, breaking his consecutive starts streak at 41 games. On December 6, 2009, Warner returned to action as the Cardinals defeated the Minnesota Vikings 30–17. Warner registered his fourth consecutive game with a passer rating of 120 or better, making him only the second quarterback in NFL history to accomplish the feat. After his three-touchdown performance, Warner was named both the NFC Offensive Player of the Week and the FedEx Air NFL Player of the Week.
On December 27, 2009, Warner became only the second quarterback in NFL history to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Hall of Famer Fran Tarkenton is the other), in the Cardinals' 31–10 win over the St. Louis Rams. On December 29, 2009, Warner was named an alternate quarterback for the NFC team in the 2010 Pro Bowl.
2009 postseason
On January 10, 2010, Warner threw five touchdowns and completed 29 of 33 passes for 379 yards in a 51–45 victory over the Green Bay Packers. The game had the highest combined total score in NFL playoff history. Warner became one of the very few quarterbacks in NFL history to throw more touchdowns (5) than incompletions (4) in a playoff game. Warner finished the game with the second highest quarterback rating in NFL playoff history with a rating of 154.1. He also became the second quarterback to throw for five touchdown passes in a playoff game twice, and the first to do so since the merger of the leagues. He is also the oldest player to have thrown that many touchdown passes in a playoff game (38 years, 202 days). Warner also tied the NFL record for consecutive playoff games with at least three touchdown passes (three games). Since the playoff game was his last at home in the playoffs during his career, he finished a perfect 7–0 in home contests (4–0 with St. Louis; 3–0 with Arizona).
On January 16, Warner was injured in the first half trying to tackle the ball carrier after an interception on the way to a 45–14 loss at New Orleans in the NFC Divisional Round. He returned for the second half, but yielded to understudy Matt Leinart midway through the fourth quarter. In 2012, the NFL discovered the Saints had placed a bounty on Warner. Warner never accused the Saints of making an illegal hit or ending his career, saying "It was a violent hit, no question. But I also believe it was a legal hit."
Retirement
Warner officially announced his retirement from the NFL in January 2010. He said he was looking forward to finally being a true father to his seven kids, and that he wanted to spend time with his wife. He spoke on the impact and influence of his family, former teammates, and God. He became eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2014 season. In December 2014, Warner admitted he briefly considered coming out of retirement and returning to the Cardinals following the team losing Carson Palmer and Drew Stanton due to injuries.
Post-retirement career
Warner became an Iowa Barnstormers broadcaster for the 2011 Arena Football League season. In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Iowa Barnstormers Hall of Fame.
Warner was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame in 2014.
Warner was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2017. He was inducted on August 5, 2017, alongside Morten Andersen, Terrell Davis, Kenny Easley, Jerry Jones, Jason Taylor, and LaDainian Tomlinson. Warner is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.
From 2015 to 2018, Warner was a coach at Desert Mountain High School in Scottsdale, Arizona. Notably, Kedon Slovis played under Warner before being recruited by the USC Trojans for the 2019 college football season.
Since 2019, Warner has been the quarterbacks coach at Brophy College Preparatory.
Career statistics and records
AFL career statistics
NFL Europe career statistics
NFL statistics
Regular season
Postseason
NFL records
Most passing yards per game in playoff career (minimum 150 attempts) – 304.0
First quarterback to throw 400+ yards in a Super Bowl game – 414 yards against Tennessee in Super Bowl XXXIV
Was the most passing yards in a Super Bowl game until surpassed by Tom Brady in Super Bowl LI
Most touchdown passes in a single postseason – 11 touchdowns (in 2009, tied with Joe Montana in 1990, Joe Flacco in 2013, and Patrick Mahomes in 2021)
Highest rate of games with 300+ yards passing (min. 100 games played) – 41.9% (52/124)
First quarterback to throw 40 touchdowns and win a Super Bowl in the same season (in 1999; Tom Brady accomplished the same feat in 2020 when he threw 40 touchdowns and won Super Bowl LV.)
Most yards passing in the first five games of a season – 1947 yards (2000)
Most yards passing in the first six games of a season – 2260 yards (2000)
Highest average passing yards per game on Monday Night Football – 329.4 yards (min 7 games)
Most wins in the NFC Championship Game without a loss (3–0; 1999, 2001, 2008).
Warner shares several records:
One of three quarterbacks to throw 100 touchdown passes with two teams (Fran Tarkenton and Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks tied to throw five touchdown passes in two playoff games – (following Daryle Lamonica)
One of two quarterbacks to complete 80% of his passes in two playoff games (tied with Peyton Manning)
One of two quarterbacks with four consecutive games with a passer rating over 120 (in 2009, tied with Johnny Unitas)
One of four quarterbacks to make Super Bowl starts with two teams (with Craig Morton – Dallas Cowboys (in 1970) and Denver Broncos (in 1977), Peyton Manning – Indianapolis Colts (in 2006 and 2009) and Denver Broncos (in 2013 and 2015), and Tom Brady – New England Patriots (in 2002, 2004–2005, 2008, 2012, 2015, and 2017–2019) and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (in 2021))
One of five quarterbacks to win a Conference championship with two teams (with Craig Morton and Earl Morrall and Peyton Manning and Tom Brady)
Rams franchise records
Most touchdown passes in a single season (41, 1999) (tied with Matthew Stafford, 2021)
Single season leader in passer rating (109.2, 1999)
Cardinal records
Most pass completions in a single game – 40 (September 28, 2008)
Highest pass completion percentage with at least 11 passes – 92.3% (September 20, 2009)
Fourth Cardinal to post a perfect passer rating
Most passes completed in a single season – 401 (2008)
Most passes attempted in a single season – 598 (2008)
Personal life
Childhood
Kurt Warner was born to Gene and Sue Warner. Warner's parents divorced when he was six. Kurt and his brother, Matt, lived with their mother, including through another short marriage and divorce.
Kurt's father, Gene Warner, remarried a year after divorcing Kurt's mother. Warner's stepmother, Mimi Warner, also had a son named Matt (Post). The three boys formed a close relationship soon thereafter. Kurt graduated in 1989 from Regis High School, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he was quarterback of the school's Class 3A football team.
College
Warner graduated from University of Northern Iowa with a degree in communications.
Marriage
During college, Warner met his future wife, Brenda Carney Meoni; they married on October 11, 1997. Brenda is a former United States Marine Corps corporal. She was divorced with two children, one of whom was left brain damaged and blind after being accidentally dropped by Brenda's ex-husband, leading to her hardship discharge from the Marines in 1990.
After Warner was cut from the Packers' training camp in 1994, he got a job working the night shift as a night stock clerk at a local Hy-Vee grocery store, in addition to his work as an assistant coach at Northern Iowa. While Warner was working as an assistant coach, the couple were living in Kurt's parents' basement in Cedar Falls. Brenda's parents were killed in 1996 when their Mountain View, Arkansas, home was destroyed by a tornado. Warner and Brenda married on October 11, 1997, at the St. John American Lutheran Church, the same place where the service for Brenda's parents was held. Warner was still hoping to get an NFL tryout, but with that possibility appearing dim and the long hours at Hy-Vee for minimum wage taking their toll, Warner began his Arena League career.
After marrying Brenda, Warner officially adopted her two children from her first marriage; they have since added five children of their own. His son E.J. is the starting quarterback for the Temple Owls. Another son, Kade, played for the Kansas State Wildcats and signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in April 2023.
Christian faith and testimony
Kurt and Brenda Warner are devout evangelical Christians. His faith first emerged on the national stage following the Rams' Super Bowl victory, where he was named the game's MVP:
Nine years later, upon leading the Cardinals to the franchise's first-ever Super Bowl, Warner's response was similar:
Warner has usually attended charismatic churches, and believes that God healed him from a concussion he suffered in 2000. However, he eschews the term "charismatic." In 2001, he told Charisma, "I'm just a Christian."
Broadcasting
In 2010, Warner joined NFL Network as an analyst. He can be seen regularly on NFL Total Access, as well as in-studio on NFL Network's Thursday Night Football pregame show, Thursday Night Kickoff Presented by Sears. Warner also served as an analyst for the NFL Network's coverage of the 2010 Arena Football League playoffs. Warner tested positive for COVID-19 in January 2021, and was unable to serve on the studio panel for NFL GameDay Morning for the wild card playoff round.
In August 2010, Fox Sports announced that Warner would be serving as a color analyst on the network's NFL coverage in the 2010 season. He teamed with play-by-play announcers Chris Rose or Chris Myers to call regional games.
In 2014, Westwood One radio hired Warner as a substitute analyst on Monday Night Football games when regular analyst Boomer Esiason is unavailable. In 2018, Warner became the full-time radio analyst.
Television appearances
On January 27, 2009, Warner made a special appearance on the NBC reality show The Biggest Loser.
Warner made a guest appearance on Disney's The Suite Life on Deck as himself, in the episode "Any Given Fantasy" which aired on January 18, 2010.
On February 9, 2010, Warner was a surprise guest on the final episode of The Jay Leno Show.
On August 30, 2010, it was announced on live television that Warner would be appearing as a contestant on Dancing with the Stars. His professional dance partner was Anna Trebunskaya; the couple was eliminated in week 8, the Instant Choreography Week.
Warner appeared as the host of The Moment, a reality series on USA Network, in 2013.
Film and video
In 2003, GoodTimes Entertainment released the direct-to-home video Kurt Warner's Good Sports Gang, a film featuring Warner as the "coach" of a group of animated sports balls. The series was sponsored by Warner, and focused on religious faith and moral values. A portion of the proceeds went to Warner's First Things First Foundation. Although it was originally planned as a series, Episode 1: Elliot the Invincible, was the only release along with Together, We're Better (Episode 2) and a few shorts featuring Warner and his adopted daughter, Jesse Warner.
In February 2020, it was announced that the Erwin Brothers were creating, and releasing a theatrical film about Kurt's life titled American Underdog, with Zachary Levi as Warner. The film was produced by Kingdom Story Company, and distributed by Lionsgate on December 25, 2021, to generally favorable reviews.
Other cultural depictions
Warner was one of three Iowa college athletes, each from one of the state's three public four-year universities, to be the subjects of butter sculptures at the 2023 Iowa State Fair. Warner was joined by Caitlin Clark (Iowa basketball) and Jack Trice (Iowa State football).
Endorsements
On December 3, 2010, Warner's first multi-year post-retirement endorsement agreement was announced. Amway North America announced that it had signed Warner to a multi-year endorsement agreement to represent the Nutrilite brand. Amway reportedly agreed to make a $50,000 donation to Kurt Warner's First Things First Foundation.
In addition to his post-retirement endorsements and charity work, Warner has invested in the Elite Football League of India, a South Asian professional football league. Other prominent American backers include former Chicago Bears head coach Mike Ditka, former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin, sports analyst and former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski, and actor Mark Wahlberg. Warner's total investment amount remains undisclosed, although $50,000 of it will go towards a donation of footballs to schools and underprivileged children throughout India.
Public service
Warner has also appeared in several public service announcements for Civitan International, promoting his and Brenda's volunteer efforts and their work with the developmentally disabled. This issue is personally close to Warner, as Zachary, his adopted son from Brenda's first marriage, suffered major brain damage as an infant when his biological father accidentally dropped him.
Warner has devoted time and money to his First Things First Foundation, the name of which was derived from his interview after winning the Super Bowl in 1999. The foundation is dedicated to impacting lives by promoting Christian values, sharing experiences and providing opportunities to encourage everyone that all things are possible when people seek to put 'first things first.' The foundation has been involved with numerous projects for causes such as children's hospitals, people with developmental disabilities and assisting single parents. Warner's work both on and off the field resulted in him being awarded the NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Award 2008, which was presented to him at the start of Super Bowl XLIII. In March 2009, Warner was honored with the Muhammad Ali Sports Leadership Award. Warner was selected by USA Weekend as the winner of its annual Most Caring Athlete Award for 2009. In December 2009, Warner topped a Sports Illustrated poll of NFL players to name the best role model on and off the field in the NFL.
In February 2010, Warner received the annual Bart Starr Award, given for outstanding character and leadership in the home, on the field and in the community. At the award presentation, Bart Starr said of Warner: "We have never given this award to anyone who is more deserving".
See also
List of NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
List of Arena Football League and National Football League players
NFL starting quarterback playoff records
References
Further reading
Warner, Kurt & Silver, Michael, (2000). All Things Possible. San Francisco: HarperCollins. (cloth) (paper back).
Warner, Kurt & Brenda, (2009). First Things First. Carol Stream, Illinois: Tyndale House Publishers Inc. (Hardcover)
External links
1971 births
Alliance of American Football announcers
American Christians
American football quarterbacks
American philanthropists
Amsterdam Admirals players
Arena football announcers
Arizona Cardinals players
Green Bay Packers players
Iowa Barnstormers players
Living people
National Conference Pro Bowl players
National Football League announcers
National Football League Most Valuable Player Award winners
New York Giants players
NFL Network people
Northern Iowa Panthers football coaches
Northern Iowa Panthers football players
People from Burlington, Iowa
Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees
Players of American football from Cedar Rapids, Iowa
St. Louis Rams players
Super Bowl MVPs
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20operas%20by%20title
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List of operas by title
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The following is a list of operas and operettas with entries in Wikipedia. The entries are sorted alphabetically by title, with the name of the composer and the year of the first performance also given.
For a list of operas sorted by name of composer, see List of operas by composer.
Alphabetical listing
0–9
1000 Airplanes on the Roof, Philip Glass, 1988
1492 epopea lirica d'America, Antonio Braga, 1992
1984, Lorin Maazel, 2005
Le 66, Jacques Offenbach, 1856
A
L'abandon d'Ariane, Darius Milhaud, 1928
Abu Hassan, Carl Maria von Weber, 1811
Acante et Céphise, Jean-Philippe Rameau, 1751
Achille et Polyxène, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Pascal Collasse, 1687
Acis and Galatea, George Frideric Handel, 1718
Acis et Galatée, Jean-Baptiste Lully, 1686
Actéon, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, 1683–1685
Adelaide, Antonio Sartorio, 1672
Adelaide di Borgogna, Gioachino Rossini, 1817
Adelia, Gaetano Donizetti, 1841
Adelson e Salvini, Vincenzo Bellini, 1825
Admeto, Handel, 1727
Adriana Lecouvreur, Francesco Cilea, 1902
Adriana Mater, Kaija Saariaho, 2008
The Adventures of Pinocchio, Jonathan Dove, 2007
L'Africaine, Giacomo Meyerbeer, 1865
After All!, Alfred Cellier, 1878
Ages Ago, Frederic Clay, 1869
Agrippina, Handel, 1709
Die ägyptische Helena, Richard Strauss, 1928
Aida, Giuseppe Verdi, 1871
Ainadamar, Osvaldo Golijov, 2003
Akhnaten, Philip Glass, 1984
Alahor in Granata, Gaetano Donizetti, 1826
Albert Herring, Britten, 1947
Alceste, Gluck, 1767
Alceste, Handel, 1750
Alceste, Lully, 1674
Alcina, Handel, 1735
Alessandro, Handel, 1726
Alessandro nelle Indie, Pacini, 1824
Alexander Twice, Martinů, 1964
Alzira, Verdi, 1845
Amadis, Lully, 1684
Amadis, Massenet, 1922
Amahl and the Night Visitors, Menotti, 1951
An American Tragedy, Picker, 2005
Amelia, Hagen, 2010
L'amico Fritz, Pietro Mascagni, 1891
L'Amour de loin, Kaija Saariaho, 2000
Andrea Chénier, Giordano, 1896
L'Ange de Nisida, Donizetti, 1839
Angelo, Cui, 1876
Aniara, Blomdahl, 1959
Anna Bolena, Donizetti, 1830
Anna Nicole, Mark-Anthony Turnage, 2011
Antigonae, Orff, 1949
Apollo et Hyacinthus, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1767
Aquarius, Karel Goeyvaerts, 2009
Arabella, Richard Strauss, 1933
Ariadne auf Naxos, R. Strauss, 1912
Ariodante, Handel, 1734
Arizona Lady, Emmerich Kálmán, 1954
L'arlesiana, Cilea, 1897
Armida, Dvořák, 1904
Armida, Rossini, 1817
Armide, Gluck, 1777
Armide, Lully, 1686
Aroldo, Verdi, 1857
Artamene, Tomaso Albinoni, 1741
Les arts florissants, Charpentier, 1685
Ascanio in Alba, Mozart, 1771
Assassinio nella cattedrale, Pizzetti, 1958
Atmen gibt das Leben, Stockhausen, 1977
Attila, Verdi, 1846
Atys, Lully, 1676
Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Weill, 1930
B
Babes in Toyland, Herbert, 1903
Babylon, Widmann, 2012
Die Bajadere, Kálmán, 1921
Un ballo in maschera, Verdi, 1859
Bandanna, Hagen, 1998
Bang!, Rutter, 1975
Der Barbier von Bagdad, Cornelius, 1858
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Rossini, 1816
The Bartered Bride, Smetana, 1866
Beatrix Cenci, Ginastera, 1971
Béatrice et Bénédict, Berlioz, 1862
The Beggar's Opera, Gay, 1728
Belisario, Donizetti, 1836
La belle au bois dormant, Carafa, 1825
La belle au bois dormant, Lecocq, 1900
La belle Hélène, Offenbach, 1864
Il Bellerofonte, Mysliveček, 1767
Benvenuto Cellini, Berlioz, 1838
Bertha, Rorem, 1973
Betrothal in a Monastery, Prokofiev, 1946
Billy Budd, Britten, 1951
Bitter Sweet, Coward, 1929
Blue Monday/135th Street, Gershwin, 1929
Bluebeard's Castle, Bartók, 1918
La bohème, Puccini, 1896
La bohème, Leoncavallo, 1897
Bomarzo, Ginastera, 1967
Les Boréades, Rameau, 1770
Boris Godunov, Mussorgsky, 1874
The Brandenburgers in Bohemia, Smetana, 1866
The Bravest Hussar, Jacobi, 1905
Brundibár, Krása, 1943
C
Ça Ira, Waters, 2005
Candide, Bernstein, 1956
La canterina, Haydn, 1766
Capriccio, Richard Strauss, 1942
The Captain's Daughter, Cui, 1911
Cardillac, Paul Hindemith, 1926
Carmen, Bizet, 1875
Casanova's Homecoming, Argento, 1985
Cavalleria rusticana, Mascagni, 1890
The Cave, Reich, 1994
Cendrillon, Massenet, 1899
La Cenerentola, Rossini, 1817
La Cenicienta, Hen, 1966
Champion, Terence Blanchard, 2013
Charles VI, Halévy, 1843
Charlotte Corday, Lorenzo Ferrero, 1989
Chopin, Giacomo Orefice, 1901
Le Cid, Massenet, 1885
La clemenza di Tito, Mozart, 1791
Cold Mountain, Jennifer Higdon, 2015
Comedy on the Bridge, Martinů, 1937
Le comte Ory, Rossini, 1828
La Conquista, Ferrero, 2005
Les contes d'Hoffmann, Offenbach, 1881
Der Corregidor, Wolf, 1896
Così fan tutte, Mozart, 1790
Confessions of a Justified Sinner, Thomas Wilson, 1976 Scottish Opera
The Countess, Moniuszko, 1860
The Crucible, Ward, 1961
Die Csárdásfürstin, Kálmán, 1915
The Cunning Little Vixen, Janáček, 1924
La Curandera, Robert Xavier Rodriguez, 2006
Curlew River, Britten, 1964
Cyrano de Bergerac, Alfano, 1936
D
Dafne, Peri, 1597
Dalibor, Smetana, 1868
La damnation de Faust, Berlioz, 1893
The Dangerous Liaisons, Susa, 1994
Dantons Tod, Einem, 1947
Daphne, Strauss, 1938
Dardanus, Rameau, 1739
Dardanus, Sacchini, 1784
Dead Man Walking, Heggie, 2000
Death in Venice, Britten, 1973
The Death of Klinghoffer, Adams, 1991
The Desert Song, Romberg, 1926
Destiny, Leoš Janáček, 1934
The Devil and Kate, Dvořák, 1899
The Devil Take Her, Benjamin, 1931
Dialogues des Carmélites, Poulenc, 1957
Dido and Aeneas, Purcell, 1689
Dienstag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 1993
Djamileh, Bizet, 1872
Doctor Atomic, John Adams, 2005
Dolores Claiborne, Picker, 2013
Don Carlos, Verdi, 1867
Don Giovanni, Mozart, 1787
Don Pasquale, Donizetti, 1843
Don Rodrigo, Ginastera, 1964
Don Sanche, ou le Château d'Amour, Liszt, 1825
La donna del lago, Rossini, 1819
Le donne curiose, Wolf-Ferrari, 1903
Donnerstag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 1981
Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Huang Ruo, 2014
I due Foscari, Verdi, 1844
E
Edgar, Puccini, 1899
The Eighth Wonder, John, 1995
Einstein on the Beach, Glass, 1976
Elektra, R. Strauss, 1909
L'elisir d'amore, Donizetti, 1832
Emmeline, Picker, 1996
L'enfant et les sortilèges, Ravel, 1925
The English Cat, Henze, 1983
Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart, 1782
Ernani, Verdi, 1844
Ero s onoga svijeta, Gotovac, 1935
Esclarmonde, Massenet, 1888
L'étoile, Chabrier, 1877
Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky, 1879
Euridice, Peri, 1600
Euryanthe, Weber, 1823
Evangeline, Luening, 1986
Everest, Talbot, 2015
The Excursions of Mr. Broucek, Janáček, 1920
F
Facing Goya, Nyman, 2000
The Fair at Sorochyntsi, Mussorgsky, 1913
Falstaff, Verdi, 1893
La fanciulla del West, Puccini, 1910
Fantastic Mr. Fox, Picker, 1998
Die Faschingsfee, Kálmán, 1917
Faust, Gounod, 1859
La favorite, Donizetti, 1840
A Feast in Time of Plague, Cui, 1901
A Feast in the Time of Plague, Alex Woolf, 2020
Fedora, Giordano, 1898
Die Feen, Wagner, 1833
Feuersnot, Richard Strauss, 1901
Fidelio, Beethoven, 1805
The Fiery Angel, Prokofiev, 1955
La figlia del mago, Ferrero, 1981
La fille du régiment, Donizetti, 1840
The Finnish Prisoner, Orlando Gough, 2007
Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Terence Blanchard, 2019
Die Fledermaus, J. Strauss, 1874
Le Flibustier, Cui, 1894
Der fliegende Holländer, Wagner, 1843
Florencia en el Amazonas, Catán, 1996
La forza del destino, Verdi, 1862
Four Saints in Three Acts, Thomson, 1934
Francesca da Rimini, Zandonai, 1914
Francesca da Rimini, Rachmaninoff, 1906
Der Freischütz, Weber, 1821
Freitag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 1996
From the House of the Dead, Janáček, 1930
G
Galileo Galilei, Glass, 2002
The Gambler Prokofiev, 1929
La gazza ladra Rossini, 1817
Geneviève de Brabant, Offenbach, 1859
Genoveva Schumann, 1850
Das Gesicht im Spiegel, Widmann, 2003
The Ghosts of Versailles, Corigliano, 1991
Gianni Schicchi, Puccini, 1918
Gilgamesh, Brucci, 1986
La Gioconda, Ponchielli, 1876
Un giorno di regno, Verdi, 1840
Giovanna d'Arco, Verdi, 1845
Giulio Cesare, Handel, 1724
Gloriana, Britten, 1953
The Golden Cockerel, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1907
The Gondoliers, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1889
Götterdämmerung, Wagner, 1876
Goyescas, Granados, 1916
The Grand Duke, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1896
Le Grand Macabre, Ligeti, 1978
The Greater Good, or the Passion of Boule de Suif, Hartke, 2006
The Great Friendship, Muradeli, 1947
The Greek Passion, Martinů, 1961
Il Guarany, Carlos Gomes 1870
Guillaume Tell, Rossini, 1829
H
Hagith, Karol Szymanowski, 1922
Halka, Moniuszko, 1854
The Handmaid's Tale, Poul Ruders, 2000
Hänsel und Gretel, Humperdinck, 1893
Háry János, Kodály, 1926
The Haughty Princess, Jacobi, 1904
The Haunted Manor, Moniuszko, 1865
Die heilige Ente, Gál, 1923
Helvellyn, Macfarren, 1864
Die Herzogin von Chicago, Kálmán, 1928
L'heure espagnole, Ravel, 1911
HMS Pinafore, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1878
Die Hochzeit, Wagner, not performed
Hugh the Drover, Vaughan Williams, 1924
Les Huguenots, Meyerbeer, 1836
I
The Ice Break, Tippett, 1977
Idomeneo, Mozart 1781
L'incoronazione di Poppea, Monteverdi, 1642
Les Indes galantes, Rameau, 1735
Iolanta, Tchaikovsky, 1892
Iolanthe, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1882
Iphigénie en Tauride, Gluck, 1779
Iris, Mascagni, 1899
The Island of Tulipatan, Offenbach, 1868
L'italiana in Algeri, Rossini, 1813
Ivan the Fool, Cui (first performance undetermined)J
The Jacobin, Dvořák, 1889
Jenůfa, Janáček, 1904
Jérusalem, Giuseppe Verdi, 1847
The Jewels of the Madonna, Wolf-Ferrari, 1911
Judith, Serov, 1863
Juha, Aarre Merikanto, 1922/63
La Juive, Halévy, 1835
Julie, Boesmans, 2005
K
Der Kaiser von Atlantis, Ullmann, 1975
Kaiserin Josephine, Kálmán, 1936
Die Kalewainen in Pochjola, K. Müller-Berghaus, 1890/2017
Káťa Kabanová, Janáček, 1921
The Khovansky Affair, Modest Mussorgsky, 1886
King Roger, Karol Szymanowski, 1926
King Priam, Michael Tippett, 1962
Koanga, Frederick Delius, 1935
The Knot Garden, Michael Tippett, 1970
Krútňava, Eugen Suchoň, 1949
L
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, Shostakovich, 1934
Lakmé, Delibes, 1883
Das Land des Lächelns, Lehár, 1929
The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1912
Leo, the Royal Cadet, Oscar Ferdinand Telgmann, George Frederick Cameron, 1889
The Letter, Paul Moravec, 2009
La liberazione di Ruggiero, Caccini, 1625
Das Liebesverbot, Wagner, 1836
Life is a Dream, Lewis Spratlan, 2010
The Little Prince, Portman, 2003
Little Red Riding Hood, Cui, (1921?)
Little Women (opera), Mark Adamo, 1999
Lohengrin, Wagner, 1850
I Lombardi alla prima crociata, Verdi, 1843
Lord Byron, Thomson, 1972
Loreley, Catalani, 1890
Louise, Charpentier, 1900
Louis Riel, Somers, 1967
The Love for Three Oranges, Prokofiev, 1921Le loup-garou, Bertin, 1827
Lucia di Lammermoor, Donizetti, 1835
Lucio Silla, Mozart, 1772
Lucrezia Borgia, Donizetti, 1834
Luisa Miller, Verdi, 1849
Lulu, Berg, 1937
Die lustige Witwe, Lehár, 1905
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Nicolai, 1849
M
Macbeth, Verdi, 1844
Madama Butterfly, Puccini, 1904
Mademoiselle Fifi, Cui, 1903
The Maid of Orleans, Tchaikovsky 1881
The Makropulos Affair, Janáček, 1926
Les mamelles de Tirésias Poulenc 1947
The Man and Men, Joshua Goodman, 2010
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Nyman 1986
The Mandarin's Son Cui, 1878
Manon, Massenet, 1884
Manon Lescaut, Puccini, 1893
Maometto II, Gioachino Rossini, 1820
Mare nostro, Lorenzo Ferrero, 1985
Margaret Garner, Danielpour, 2005
María de Buenos Aires, Piazzolla, 1968
Maria Golovin, Menotti 1958
Maria Stuarda Donizetti, 1835
Marilyn, Ferrero, 1980
The Marriage Market, Jacobi, 1911
Martha, Flotow, 1847
Les martyrs, Donizetti, 1840
The Mask of Orpheus, Birtwistle, 1968
I masnadieri, Verdi, 1847
Masquerade, Nielsen, 1906
Mateo Falcone, Cui, 1907
Mathis der Maler, Hindemith 1938
Il matrimonio segreto, Cimarosa, 1792
Mavra, Stravinsky, 1922
May Night, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1880
Mazepa (or Mazeppa), Tchaikovsky, 1884
Médée, Cherubini, 1797
Médée, Charpentier, 1693
The Medium, Menotti, 1946
Mefistofele, Boito, 1868
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner, 1868
The Merchant Kalashnikov, Anton Rubinstein, 1880
La Merope, Giacomelli, 1734
The Midsummer Marriage, Michael Tippett, 1955
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Britten, 1960
Mignon, Thomas, 1866
The Mikado, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1885
The Mines of Sulphur, Bennett, 1963
The Miserly Knight, Rachmaninoff, 1906
Miss Julie, Rorem, 1965
Mittwoch aus Licht, Stockhausen, 2012
Mlada, Cui, Borodin, Mussorgsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov (collaborative work of 1872, never staged)
Mlada, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1890
Montag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 1988
Moses und Aron, Schoenberg, 1957
The Most Important Man, 1957
Motezuma, Vivaldi, 1733
Mozart and Salieri, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1898
N
Nabucco, Verdi, 1842
Eine Nacht in Venedig, J. Strauss, 1883
Nędza uszczęśliwiona, Maciej Kamieński, 1778
The New Moon, Romberg, 1928
Nicholas and Alexandra, Drattell, 2003
The Nightingale, Stravinsky, 1914
Nina, Paisiello, 1789
El Niño, John Adams, 2000
Nixon in China, Adams, 1987
Norma, Bellini, 1831
The Nose, Shostakovich, 1930
Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart, 1786
O
Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio, Verdi, 1839
L'oca del Cairo, Mozart, 1783
Oédipe, George Enescu 1936
Oedipus Rex, Igor Stravinsky 1927
The Old Maid and the Thief, Menotti, 1939
Operation Orfeo, Bo Holten, 1993
Das Opfer, Winfried Zillig, 1937
L'Oracolo, Franco Leoni, 1905
Oresteia, Taneyev, 1895
L'Orfeo, Monteverdi, 1607
Orfeo ed Euridice, Gluck, 1762
Orlando furioso, Vivaldi, 1727
Orphée aux enfers, Offenbach, 1858
Orphée et Eurydice, Gluck, 1774
Oscar, Theodore Morrison, 2013
Otello, Verdi 1887
Otello, Rossini, 1816
Owen Wingrave, Britten, 1971
P
Pagliacci, Leoncavallo, 1892
Paradise Lost, Penderecki, 1978
Parsifal, Wagner, 1882
Patience, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1881
Le Pays, Ropartz, 1912
Les pêcheurs de perles, Bizet, 1863
Pelléas et Mélisande, Debussy, 1902
Peter Grimes, Britten, 1945
Le piccole storie, Ferrero, 2007
The Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1879
Polyphème, Cras, 1945
Porgy and Bess, Gershwin, 1935
Porin, Lisinski, 1851
Powder Her Face, Thomas Adès, 1995
The Power of the Fiend, Serov, 1871
Prince Igor, Borodin, 1890
Princess Ida, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1884
Prisoner of the Caucasus, Cui, 1883
I puritani, Bellini, 1835
Puss in Boots, Cui, 1915
Q
I quattro rusteghi, Wolf-Ferrari, 1906
The Queen of Spades, Tchaikovsky, 1890
A Quiet Place, Bernstein, 1983
R
Radamisto, Handel, 1720
The Rake's Progress, Stravinsky, 1951
The Rape of Lucretia, Britten, 1946
Il rè pastore, Mozart, 1775
El retablo de Maese Pedro, de Falla, 1923
Das Rheingold, Wagner, 1869
Rienzi, Wagner, 1842
Rigoletto, Verdi, 1851
Rinaldo, Handel, 1711
Der Ring des Nibelungen, Wagner, 1876
Río de Sangre, Don Davis, 2010
Risorgimento!, Lorenzo Ferrero, 2011
Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Monteverdi, 1640
Roberto Devereux, Donizetti, 1837
Rodelinda, Handel, 1725
Rogneda, Serov, 1865
Le Roi Arthus, Ernest Chausson, 1903
Le roi de Lahore, Massenet, 1877
Roméo et Juliette, Gounod, 1867
La rondine, Puccini, 1917
Der Rosenkavalier, R. Strauss, 1911
The Rose of Castille, Michael Balfe, 1857
Ruddigore, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1887
Rusalka, Dargomyzhsky, 1856
Rusalka, Dvořák, 1901
Ruslan and Lyudmila, Glinka, 1842
S
Sadko, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1898
Saint-François d'Assise, Messiaen, 1983
The Saint of Bleecker Street, Menotti, 1954
Salammbô, Reyer, 1890
Salome, R. Strauss, 1905
Salvatore Giuliano, Lorenzo Ferrero, 1986
Samson, Handel, 1743
Samstag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 1984
Samson et Dalila, Saint-Saëns, 1877
Il Sant'Alessio, Landi, 1632
The Saracen, Cui, 1899
Šárka, Janáček, 1925
Satyagraha, Glass, 1980
The Scarecrow, Turrin, 2006
The Scarlet Letter, Laitman, 2008, rev. 2016
Der Schauspieldirektor, Mozart, 1786
Der Schmied von Gent, Schreker, 1932
Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots, Mozart, 1767
Schwanda the Bagpiper, Weinberger, 1927
Semele, Eccles, written 1707
Semele, Handel, 1744
Semiramide, Rossini, 1823
Serse, Handel, 1738
Shell Shock, Nicholas Lens, 2014
Le siège de Corinthe, Rossini, 1826
Shining Brow, Hagen, 1992
Siegfried, Wagner, 1876
Simon Boccanegra, Verdi, 1857
Simplicius, J. Strauss, 1887
The Skating Rink, Sawer, 2018
Slow Man, Nicholas Lens, 2012
The Snow Bogatyr, Cui, 1906
The Snow Maiden, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1882
Il sogno di Scipione, Mozart, 1772
La sonnambula, Bellini, 1831
Sonntag aus Licht, Stockhausen, 2011
The Sorcerer, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1877
Sorochintsy Fair — see The Fair at Sorochyntsi
Lo sposo deluso, Mozart, 1783
Stiffelio, Giuseppe Verdi, 1850
The Stone Guest, Dargomyzhsky, 1872
Street Scene, Weill, 1947
Suor Angelica, Puccini, 1918
Susannah, Floyd, 1955
Svätopluk, Suchoň, 1960
Szibill, Jacobi, 1914
T
Il tabarro, Puccini, 1918
The Tale of Tsar Saltan, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1900
Tancredi, Rossini, 1813
Tannhäuser und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg, Wagner, 1845
Tartuffe, Mechem, 1980
Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Tan Dun, 2007
De temporum fine comoedia, Orff, 1973
The Tempest, Thomas Adès, 2004
The Tender Land, Copland, 1954
Thérèse Raquin, Picker, 2001
The Three Feathers, Laitman, 2014
Thaïs (opera), Massenet, 1894
The Threepenny Opera, Weill, 1928
Three Tales, Reich, 2002
Tiefland, Eugen d'Albert, 1911
Tosca, Puccini 1900
La traviata, Verdi, 1853
Treemonisha, Joplin, 1911
Trial by Jury, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1875
Tristan und Isolde, Wagner, 1865
Trouble in Tahiti, Bernstein, 1952
Il trovatore, Verdi, 1853
Troy, Bujor Hoinic 2018
Les Troyens, Berlioz 1863
The Tsar's Bride, Rimsky-Korsakov, 1899
Turandot, Puccini, 1926
Il turco in Italia, Rossini, 1814
The Turn of the Screw, Britten, 1954
U
’u’, Eef van Breen, 2010
Utopia Limited, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1893
V
Vanessa, Barber, 1958
Veinticinco de agosto, 1983, Solare, 1992
Verbum nobile, Moniuszko, 1861
La vestale, Spontini, 1807
Il viaggio a Reims, Rossini, 1825
La vida breve, de Falla, 1913
Le Villi, Puccini, 1884
Violanta, Korngold, 1916
Violet, Roger Scruton, 2005
Volo di notte, Dallapiccola, 1940
Les vêpres siciliennes, Verdi, 1855
Venus and Adonis, Blow, c.1683
Vera of Las Vegas, Hagen, 1996
W
Die Walküre, Wagner, 1870
La Wally, Catalani, 1892
War and Peace, Prokofiev, 1946
A Wedding, Bolcom, 2004
Weiße Rose by Udo Zimmermann; 1st version 1967; 2nd version 1986
Werther, Massenet, 1892
What Men Live By, Martinů, 1953
Written on Skin, George Benjamin, 2012
William Ratcliff, Cui, 1869
Wozzeck, Berg, 1925
Wuthering Heights, Floyd, 1958
Wuthering Heights, Herrmann, 1982
X
X, The Life and Times of Malcolm X, Davis, 1986
Y
The Yeomen of the Guard, Gilbert and Sullivan, 1888
Yerma, Villa-Lobos, 1971
Z
Zaide, Mozart, 1866 (written 1780)
Die Zauberflöte, Mozart, 1791
See also
List of important operas
List of operas by composer
Operas
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tooth%20decay
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Tooth decay
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Tooth decay, also known as cavities or caries, is the breakdown of teeth due to acids produced by bacteria. The cavities may be a number of different colors from yellow to black. Symptoms may include pain and difficulty with eating. Complications may include inflammation of the tissue around the tooth, tooth loss and infection or abscess formation.
The cause of cavities is acid from bacteria dissolving the hard tissues of the teeth (enamel, dentin and cementum). The acid is produced by the bacteria when they break down food debris or sugar on the tooth surface. Simple sugars in food are these bacteria's primary energy source and thus a diet high in simple sugar is a risk factor. If mineral breakdown is greater than build up from sources such as saliva, caries results. Risk factors include conditions that result in less saliva such as: diabetes mellitus, Sjögren syndrome and some medications. Medications that decrease saliva production include antihistamines and antidepressants. Dental caries are also associated with poverty, poor cleaning of the mouth, and receding gums resulting in exposure of the roots of the teeth.
Prevention of dental caries includes regular cleaning of the teeth, a diet low in sugar, and small amounts of fluoride. Brushing one's teeth twice per day and flossing between the teeth once a day is recommended. Fluoride may be acquired from water, salt or toothpaste among other sources. Treating a mother's dental caries may decrease the risk in her children by decreasing the number of certain bacteria she may spread to them. Screening can result in earlier detection. Depending on the extent of destruction, various treatments can be used to restore the tooth to proper function or the tooth may be removed. There is no known method to grow back large amounts of tooth. The availability of treatment is often poor in the developing world. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) or ibuprofen may be taken for pain.
Worldwide, approximately 3.6 billion people (48% of the population) have dental caries in their permanent teeth as of 2016. The World Health Organization estimates that nearly all adults have dental caries at some point in time. In baby teeth it affects about 620 million people or 9% of the population. They have become more common in both children and adults in recent years. The disease is most common in the developed world due to greater simple sugar consumption and less common in the developing world. Caries is Latin for "rottenness".
Signs and symptoms
A person experiencing caries may not be aware of the disease. The earliest sign of a new carious lesion is the appearance of a chalky white spot on the surface of the tooth, indicating an area of demineralization of enamel. This is referred to as a white spot lesion, an incipient carious lesion or a "micro-cavity". As the lesion continues to demineralize, it can turn brown but will eventually turn into a cavitation ("cavity"). Before the cavity forms, the process is reversible, but once a cavity forms, the lost tooth structure cannot be regenerated.
A lesion that appears dark brown and shiny suggests dental caries were once present but the demineralization process has stopped, leaving a stain. Active decay is lighter in color and dull in appearance.
As the enamel and dentin are destroyed, the cavity becomes more noticeable. The affected areas of the tooth change color and become soft to the touch. Once the decay passes through the enamel, the dentinal tubules, which have passages to the nerve of the tooth, become exposed, resulting in pain that can be transient, temporarily worsening with exposure to heat, cold, or sweet foods and drinks. A tooth weakened by extensive internal decay can sometimes suddenly fracture under normal chewing forces. When the decay has progressed enough to allow the bacteria to overwhelm the pulp tissue in the center of the tooth, a toothache can result and the pain will become more constant. Death of the pulp tissue and infection are common consequences. The tooth will no longer be sensitive to hot or cold but can be very tender to pressure.
Dental caries can also cause bad breath and foul tastes. In highly progressed cases, an infection can spread from the tooth to the surrounding soft tissues. Complications such as cavernous sinus thrombosis and Ludwig angina can be life-threatening.
Cause
Four things are required for caries to form: a tooth surface (enamel or dentin), caries-causing bacteria, fermentable carbohydrates (such as sucrose), and time. This involves adherence of food to the teeth and acid creation by the bacteria that makes up the dental plaque. However, these four criteria are not always enough to cause the disease and a sheltered environment promoting development of a cariogenic biofilm is required. The caries disease process does not have an inevitable outcome, and different individuals will be susceptible to different degrees depending on the shape of their teeth, oral hygiene habits, and the buffering capacity of their saliva. Dental caries can occur on any surface of a tooth that is exposed to the oral cavity, but not the structures that are retained within the bone.
Tooth decay is caused by biofilm (dental plaque) lying on the teeth and maturing to become cariogenic (causing decay). Certain bacteria in the biofilm produce acid in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates such as sucrose, fructose, and glucose.
Caries occur more often in people from the lower end of the socio-economic scale than people from the upper end of the socio-economic scale, due to lack of education about dental care, and lack of access to professional dental care which may be expensive.
Bacteria
The most common bacteria associated with dental cavities are the mutans streptococci, most prominently Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, and lactobacilli. However, cariogenic bacteria (the ones that can cause the disease) are present in dental plaque, but they are usually in too low concentrations to cause problems unless there is a shift in the balance. This is driven by local environmental change, such as frequent sugar intake or inadequate biofilm removal (toothbrushing). If left untreated, the disease can lead to pain, tooth loss and infection.
The mouth contains a wide variety of oral bacteria, but only a few specific species of bacteria are believed to cause dental caries: Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus species among them. Streptococcus mutans are gram-positive bacteria which constitute biofilms on the surface of teeth. These organisms can produce high levels of lactic acid following fermentation of dietary sugars and are resistant to the adverse effects of low pH, properties essential for cariogenic bacteria. As the cementum of root surfaces is more easily demineralized than enamel surfaces, a wider variety of bacteria can cause root caries, including Lactobacillus acidophilus, Actinomyces spp., Nocardia spp., and Streptococcus mutans. Bacteria collect around the teeth and gums in a sticky, creamy-coloured mass called plaque, which serves as a biofilm. Some sites collect plaque more commonly than others, for example, sites with a low rate of salivary flow (molar fissures). Grooves on the occlusal surfaces of molar and premolar teeth provide microscopic retention sites for plaque bacteria, as do the interproximal sites. Plaque may also collect above or below the gingiva, where it is referred to as supra- or sub-gingival plaque, respectively.
These bacterial strains, most notably S. mutans, can be inherited by a child from a caretaker's kiss or through feeding pre-masticated food.
Dietary sugars
Bacteria in a person's mouth convert glucose, fructose, and most commonly sucrose (table sugar) into acids such as lactic acid through a glycolytic process called fermentation. If left in contact with the tooth, these acids may cause demineralization, which is the dissolution of its mineral content. The process is dynamic, however, as remineralization can also occur if the acid is neutralized by saliva or mouthwash. Fluoride toothpaste or dental varnish may aid remineralization. If demineralization continues over time, enough mineral content may be lost so that the soft organic material left behind disintegrates, forming a cavity or hole. The impact such sugars have on the progress of dental caries is called cariogenicity. Sucrose, although a bound glucose and fructose unit, is in fact more cariogenic than a mixture of equal parts of glucose and fructose. This is due to the bacteria using the energy in the saccharide bond between the glucose and fructose subunits. S.mutans adheres to the biofilm on the tooth by converting sucrose into an extremely adhesive substance called dextran polysaccharide by the enzyme dextran sucranase.
Exposure
The frequency with which teeth are exposed to cariogenic (acidic) environments affects the likelihood of caries development. After meals or snacks, the bacteria in the mouth metabolize sugar, resulting in an acidic by-product that decreases pH. As time progresses, the pH returns to normal due to the buffering capacity of saliva and the dissolved mineral content of tooth surfaces. During every exposure to the acidic environment, portions of the inorganic mineral content at the surface of teeth dissolve and can remain dissolved for two hours. Since teeth are vulnerable during these acidic periods, the development of dental caries relies heavily on the frequency of acid exposure.
The carious process can begin within days of a tooth's erupting into the mouth if the diet is sufficiently rich in suitable carbohydrates. Evidence suggests that the introduction of fluoride treatments has slowed the process. Proximal caries take an average of four years to pass through enamel in permanent teeth. Because the cementum enveloping the root surface is not nearly as durable as the enamel encasing the crown, root caries tend to progress much more rapidly than decay on other surfaces. The progression and loss of mineralization on the root surface is 2.5 times faster than caries in enamel. In very severe cases where oral hygiene is very poor and where the diet is very rich in fermentable carbohydrates, caries may cause cavities within months of tooth eruption. This can occur, for example, when children continuously drink sugary drinks from baby bottles (see later discussion).
Teeth
There are certain diseases and disorders affecting teeth that may leave an individual at a greater risk for cavities.
Molar incisor hypo-mineralization, which seems to be increasingly common. While the cause is unknown it is thought to be a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Possible contributing factors that have been investigated include systemic factors such as high levels of dioxins or polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) in the mother's milk, premature birth and oxygen deprivation at birth, and certain disorders during the child's first 3 years such as mumps, diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, hypoparathyroidism, malnutrition, malabsorption, hypo-vitaminosis D, chronic respiratory diseases, or undiagnosed and untreated coeliac disease, which usually presents with mild or absent gastrointestinal symptoms.
Amelogenesis imperfecta, which occurs in between 1 in 718 and 1 in 14,000 individuals, is a disease in which the enamel does not fully form or forms in insufficient amounts and can fall off a tooth. In both cases, teeth may be left more vulnerable to decay because the enamel is not able to protect the tooth.
In most people, disorders or diseases affecting teeth are not the primary cause of dental caries. Approximately 96% of tooth enamel is composed of minerals. These minerals, especially hydroxyapatite, will become soluble when exposed to acidic environments. Enamel begins to demineralize at a pH of 5.5. Dentin and cementum are more susceptible to caries than enamel because they have lower mineral content. Thus, when root surfaces of teeth are exposed from gingival recession or periodontal disease, caries can develop more readily. Even in a healthy oral environment, however, the tooth is susceptible to dental caries.
The evidence for linking malocclusion and/or crowding to dental caries is weak; however, the anatomy of teeth may affect the likelihood of caries formation. Where the deep developmental grooves of teeth are more numerous and exaggerated, pit and fissure caries is more likely to develop (see next section). Also, caries is more likely to develop when food is trapped between teeth.
Other factors
Reduced salivary flow rate is associated with increased caries since the buffering capability of saliva is not present to counterbalance the acidic environment created by certain foods. As a result, medical conditions that reduce the amount of saliva produced by salivary glands, in particular the submandibular gland and parotid gland, are likely to lead to dry mouth and thus to widespread tooth decay. Examples include Sjögren syndrome, diabetes mellitus, diabetes insipidus, and sarcoidosis. Medications, such as antihistamines and antidepressants, can also impair salivary flow. Stimulants, most notoriously methylamphetamine, also occlude the flow of saliva to an extreme degree. This is known as meth mouth. Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active chemical substance in cannabis, also causes a nearly complete occlusion of salivation, known in colloquial terms as "cotton mouth". Moreover, 63% of the most commonly prescribed medications in the United States list dry mouth as a known side-effect. Radiation therapy of the head and neck may also damage the cells in salivary glands, somewhat increasing the likelihood of caries formation.
Susceptibility to caries can be related to altered metabolism in the tooth, in particular to fluid flow in the dentin. Experiments on rats have shown that a high-sucrose, cariogenic diet "significantly suppresses the rate of fluid motion" in dentin.
The use of tobacco may also increase the risk for caries formation. Some brands of smokeless tobacco contain high sugar content, increasing susceptibility to caries. Tobacco use is a significant risk factor for periodontal disease, which can cause the gingiva to recede. As the gingiva loses attachment to the teeth due to gingival recession, the root surface becomes more visible in the mouth. If this occurs, root caries is a concern since the cementum covering the roots of teeth is more easily demineralized by acids than enamel. Currently, there is not enough evidence to support a causal relationship between smoking and coronal caries, but evidence does suggest a relationship between smoking and root-surface caries.
Exposure of children to secondhand tobacco smoke is associated with tooth decay.
Intrauterine and neonatal lead exposure promote tooth decay. Besides lead, all atoms with electrical charge and ionic radius similar to bivalent calcium,
such as cadmium, mimic the calcium ion and therefore exposure to them may promote tooth decay.
Poverty is also a significant social determinant for oral health. Dental caries have been linked with lower socio-economic status and can be considered a disease of poverty.
Forms are available for risk assessment for caries when treating dental cases; this system using the evidence-based Caries Management by Risk Assessment (CAMBRA). It is still unknown if the identification of high-risk individuals can lead to more effective long-term patient management that prevents caries initiation and arrests or reverses the progression of lesions.
Saliva also contains iodine and EGF. EGF results effective in cellular proliferation, differentiation and survival. Salivary EGF, which seems also regulated by dietary inorganic iodine, plays an important physiological role in the maintenance of oral (and gastro-oesophageal) tissue integrity, and, on the other hand, iodine is effective in prevention of dental caries and oral health.
Pathophysiology
Teeth are bathed in saliva and have a coating of bacteria on them (biofilm) that continually forms. The development of biofilm begins with pellicle formation. Pellicle is an acellular proteinaceous film which covers the teeth. Bacteria colonize on the teeth by adhering to the pellicle-coated surface. Over time, a mature biofilm is formed, creating a cariogenic environment on the tooth surface. The minerals in the hard tissues of the teeth enamel, dentin and cementum are constantly undergoing demineralization and remineralization. Dental caries result when the demineralization rate is faster than the remineralization, producing net mineral loss, which occurs when there is an ecologic shift within the dental biofilm from a balanced population of microorganisms to a population that produces acids and can survive in an acid environment.
Enamel
Tooth enamel is a highly mineralized acellular tissue, and caries act upon it through a chemical process brought on by the acidic environment produced by bacteria. As the bacteria consume the sugar and use it for their own energy, they produce lactic acid. The effects of this process include the demineralization of crystals in the enamel, caused by acids, over time until the bacteria physically penetrate the dentin. Enamel rods, which are the basic unit of the enamel structure, run perpendicularly from the surface of the tooth to the dentin. Since demineralization of enamel by caries follows the direction of the enamel rods, the different triangular patterns between pit and fissure and smooth-surface caries develop in the enamel because the orientation of enamel rods are different in the two areas of the tooth.
As the enamel loses minerals, and dental caries progresses, the enamel develops several distinct zones, visible under a light microscope. From the deepest layer of the enamel to the enamel surface, the identified areas are the: translucent zone, dark zones, body of the lesion, and surface zone. The translucent zone is the first visible sign of caries and coincides with a one to two percent loss of minerals. A slight remineralization of enamel occurs in the dark zone, which serves as an example of how the development of dental caries is an active process with alternating changes. The area of greatest demineralization and destruction is in the body of the lesion itself. The surface zone remains relatively mineralized and is present until the loss of tooth structure results in a cavitation.
Dentin
Unlike enamel, the dentin reacts to the progression of dental caries. After tooth formation, the ameloblasts, which produce enamel, are destroyed once enamel formation is complete and thus cannot later regenerate enamel after its destruction. On the other hand, dentin is produced continuously throughout life by odontoblasts, which reside at the border between the pulp and dentin. Since odontoblasts are present, a stimulus, such as caries, can trigger a biologic response. These defense mechanisms include the formation of sclerotic and tertiary dentin.
In dentin from the deepest layer to the enamel, the distinct areas affected by caries are the advancing front, the zone of bacterial penetration, and the zone of destruction. The advancing front represents a zone of demineralized dentin due to acid and has no bacteria present. The zones of bacterial penetration and destruction are the locations of invading bacteria and ultimately the decomposition of dentin. The zone of destruction has a more mixed bacterial population where proteolytic enzymes have destroyed the organic matrix. The innermost dentin caries has been reversibly attacked because the collagen matrix is not severely damaged, giving it potential for repair.
Sclerotic dentin
The structure of dentin is an arrangement of microscopic channels, called dentinal tubules, which radiate outward from the pulp chamber to the exterior cementum or enamel border. The diameter of the dentinal tubules is largest near the pulp (about 2.5 μm) and smallest (about 900 nm) at the junction of dentin and enamel. The carious process continues through the dentinal tubules, which are responsible for the triangular patterns resulting from the progression of caries deep into the tooth. The tubules also allow caries to progress faster.
In response, the fluid inside the tubules brings immunoglobulins from the immune system to fight the bacterial infection. At the same time, there is an increase of mineralization of the surrounding tubules. This results in a constriction of the tubules, which is an attempt to slow the bacterial progression. In addition, as the acid from the bacteria demineralizes the hydroxyapatite crystals, calcium and phosphorus are released, allowing for the precipitation of more crystals which fall deeper into the dentinal tubule. These crystals form a barrier and slow the advancement of caries. After these protective responses, the dentin is considered sclerotic.
According to hydrodynamic theory, fluids within dentinal tubules are believed to be the mechanism by which pain receptors are triggered within the pulp of the tooth. Since sclerotic dentin prevents the passage of such fluids, pain that would otherwise serve as a warning of the invading bacteria may not develop at first.
Tertiary dentin
In response to dental caries, there may be production of more dentin toward the direction of the pulp. This new dentin is referred to as tertiary dentin. Tertiary dentin is produced to protect the pulp for as long as possible from the advancing bacteria. As more tertiary dentin is produced, the size of the pulp decreases. This type of dentin has been subdivided according to the presence or absence of the original odontoblasts. If the odontoblasts survive long enough to react to the dental caries, then the dentin produced is called "reactionary" dentin. If the odontoblasts are killed, the dentin produced is called "reparative" dentin.
In the case of reparative dentin, other cells are needed to assume the role of the destroyed odontoblasts. Growth factors, especially TGF-β, are thought to initiate the production of reparative dentin by fibroblasts and mesenchymal cells of the pulp. Reparative dentin is produced at an average of 1.5 μm/day, but can be increased to 3.5 μm/day. The resulting dentin contains irregularly shaped dentinal tubules that may not line up with existing dentinal tubules. This diminishes the ability for dental caries to progress within the dentinal tubules.
Cementum
The incidence of cemental caries increases in older adults as gingival recession occurs from either trauma or periodontal disease. It is a chronic condition that forms a large, shallow lesion and slowly invades first the root's cementum and then dentin to cause a chronic infection of the pulp (see further discussion under classification by affected hard tissue). Because dental pain is a late finding, many lesions are not detected early, resulting in restorative challenges and increased tooth loss.
Diagnosis
The presentation of caries is highly variable. However, the risk factors and stages of development are similar. Initially, it may appear as a small chalky area (smooth surface caries), which may eventually develop into a large cavitation. Sometimes caries may be directly visible. However other methods of detection such as X-rays are used for less visible areas of teeth and to judge the extent of destruction. Lasers for detecting caries allow detection without ionizing radiation and are now used for detection of interproximal decay (between the teeth).
Primary diagnosis involves inspection of all visible tooth surfaces using a good light source, dental mirror and explorer. Dental radiographs (X-rays) may show dental caries before it is otherwise visible, in particular caries between the teeth. Large areas of dental caries are often apparent to the naked eye, but smaller lesions can be difficult to identify. Visual and tactile inspection along with radiographs are employed frequently among dentists, in particular to diagnose pit and fissure caries. Early, uncavitated caries is often diagnosed by blowing air across the suspect surface, which removes moisture and changes the optical properties of the unmineralized enamel.
Some dental researchers have cautioned against the use of dental explorers to find caries, in particular sharp ended explorers. In cases where a small area of tooth has begun demineralizing but has not yet cavitated, the pressure from the dental explorer could cause a cavity. Since the carious process is reversible before a cavity is present, it may be possible to arrest caries with fluoride and remineralize the tooth surface. When a cavity is present, a restoration will be needed to replace the lost tooth structure.
At times, pit and fissure caries may be difficult to detect. Bacteria can penetrate the enamel to reach dentin, but then the outer surface may remineralize, especially if fluoride is present. These caries, sometimes referred to as "hidden caries", will still be visible on X-ray radiographs, but visual examination of the tooth would show the enamel intact or minimally perforated.
The differential diagnosis for dental caries includes dental fluorosis and developmental defects of the tooth including hypomineralization of the tooth and hypoplasia of the tooth.
The early carious lesion is characterized by demineralization of the tooth surface, altering the tooth's optical properties. Technology using laser speckle image (LSI) techniques may provide a diagnostic aid to detect early carious lesions.
Classification
Caries can be classified by location, etiology, rate of progression, and affected hard tissues. These forms of classification can be used to characterize a particular case of tooth decay to more accurately represent the condition to others and also indicate the severity of tooth destruction. In some instances, caries is described in other ways that might indicate the cause. The G. V. Black classification is as follows:
Class I: occlusal surfaces of posterior teeth, buccal or lingual pits on molars, lingual pit near cingulum of maxillary incisors
Class II: proximal surfaces of posterior teeth
Class III: interproximal surfaces of anterior teeth without incisal edge involvement
Class IV: interproximal surfaces of anterior teeth with incisal edge involvement
Class V: cervical third of facial or lingual surface of tooth
Class VI: incisal or occlusal edge is worn away due to attrition
Early childhood caries
Early childhood caries (ECC), also known as "baby bottle caries," "baby bottle tooth decay" or "bottle rot," is a pattern of decay found in young children with their deciduous (baby) teeth. This must include the presence of at least one carious lesion on a primary tooth in a child under the age of 6 years. The teeth most likely affected are the maxillary anterior teeth, but all teeth can be affected. The name for this type of caries comes from the fact that the decay usually is a result of allowing children to fall asleep with sweetened liquids in their bottles or feeding children sweetened liquids multiple times during the day.
Another pattern of decay is "rampant caries", which signifies advanced or severe decay on multiple surfaces of many teeth. Rampant caries may be seen in individuals with xerostomia, poor oral hygiene, stimulant use (due to drug-induced dry mouth), and/or large sugar intake. If rampant caries is a result of previous radiation to the head and neck, it may be described as radiation-induced caries. Problems can also be caused by the self-destruction of roots and whole tooth resorption when new teeth erupt or later from unknown causes.
Children at 6–12 months are at increased risk of developing dental caries. For other children aged 12–18 months, dental caries develop on primary teeth and approximately twice yearly for permanent teeth.
A range of studies have reported that there is a correlation between caries in primary teeth and caries in permanent teeth.
Rate of progression
Temporal descriptions can be applied to caries to indicate the progression rate and previous history. "Acute" signifies a quickly developing condition, whereas "chronic" describes a condition that has taken an extended time to develop, in which thousands of meals and snacks, many causing some acid demineralization that is not remineralized, eventually result in cavities.
Recurrent caries, also described as secondary, are caries that appear at a location with a previous history of caries. This is frequently found on the margins of fillings and other dental restorations. On the other hand, incipient caries describes decay at a location that has not experienced previous decay. Arrested caries describes a lesion on a tooth that was previously demineralized but was remineralized before causing a cavitation. Fluoride treatment can help recalcification of tooth enamel as well as the use of amorphous calcium phosphate.
Micro-invasive interventions (such as dental sealant or resin infiltration) have been shown to slow down the progression of proximal decay.
Affected hard tissue
Depending on which hard tissues are affected, it is possible to describe caries as involving enamel, dentin, or cementum. Early in its development, caries may affect only enamel. Once the extent of decay reaches the deeper layer of dentin, the term "dentinal caries" is used. Since cementum is the hard tissue that covers the roots of teeth, it is not often affected by decay unless the roots of teeth are exposed to the mouth. Although the term "cementum caries" may be used to describe the decay on roots of teeth, very rarely does caries affect the cementum alone.
Prevention
Oral hygiene
The primary approach to dental hygiene care consists of tooth-brushing and flossing. The purpose of oral hygiene is to remove and prevent the formation of plaque or dental biofilm, although studies have shown this effect on caries is limited. While there is no evidence that flossing prevents tooth decay, the practice is still generally recommended.
A toothbrush can be used to remove plaque on accessible surfaces, but not between teeth or inside pits and fissures on chewing surfaces. When used correctly, dental floss removes plaque from areas that could otherwise develop proximal caries but only if the depth of sulcus has not been compromised. Additional aids include interdental brushes, water picks, and mouthwashes. The use of rotational electric toothbrushes might reduce the risk of plaque and gingivitis, though it is unclear whether they are of clinical importance.
However, oral hygiene is effective at preventing gum disease (gingivitis / periodontal disease). Food is forced inside pits and fissures under chewing pressure, leading to carbohydrate-fuelled acid demineralisation where the brush, fluoride toothpaste, and saliva have no access to remove trapped food, neutralise acid, or remineralise tooth enamel. (Occlusal caries accounts for between 80 and 90% of caries in children (Weintraub, 2001).) Unlike brushing, fluoride leads to proven reduction in caries incidence by approximately 25%; higher concentrations of fluoride (>1,000 ppm) in toothpaste also helps prevents tooth decay, with the effect increasing with concentration up to a plateau. A randomized clinical trial demonstrated that toothpastes that contain arginine have greater protection against tooth cavitation than the regular fluoride toothpastes containing 1450 ppm alone. A Cochrane review has confirmed that the use of fluoride gels, normally applied by a dental professional from once to several times a year, assists in the prevention of tooth decay in children and adolescents, reiterating the importance of fluoride as the principal means of caries prevention. Another review concluded that the supervised regular use of a fluoride mouthwash greatly reduced the onset of decay in the permanent teeth of children.
Professional hygiene care consists of regular dental examinations and professional prophylaxis (cleaning). Sometimes, complete plaque removal is difficult, and a dentist or dental hygienist may be needed. Along with oral hygiene, radiographs may be taken at dental visits to detect possible dental caries development in high-risk areas of the mouth (e.g. "bitewing" X-rays which visualize the crowns of the back teeth).
Alternative methods of oral hygiene also exist around the world, such as the use of teeth cleaning twigs such as miswaks in some Middle Eastern and African cultures. There is some limited evidence demonstrating the efficacy of these alternative methods of oral hygiene.
Dietary modification
People who eat more free sugars get more cavities, with cavities increasing exponentially with increasing sugar intake. Populations with less sugar intake have fewer cavities. In one population, in Nigeria, where sugar consumption was about 2g/day, only two percent of the population, of any age, had had a cavity.
Chewy and sticky foods (such as candy, cookies, potato chips, and crackers) tend to adhere to teeth longer. However, dried fruits such as raisins and fresh fruit such as apples and bananas disappear from the mouth quickly, and do not appear to be a risk factor. Consumers are not good at guessing which foods stick around in the mouth.
For children, the American Dental Association and the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry recommend limiting the frequency of consumption of drinks with sugar, and not giving baby bottles to infants during sleep (see earlier discussion). Parents are also recommended to avoid sharing utensils and cups with their infants to prevent transferring bacteria from the parent's mouth.
Xylitol is a naturally occurring sugar alcohol that is used in different products as an alternative to sucrose (table sugar). As of 2015 the evidence concerning the use of xylitol in chewing gum was insufficient to determine if it is effective at preventing caries.
Other measures
The use of dental sealants is a means of prevention. A sealant is a thin plastic-like coating applied to the chewing surfaces of the molars to prevent food from being trapped inside pits and fissures. This deprives resident plaque bacteria of carbohydrate, preventing the formation of pit and fissure caries. Sealants are usually applied on the teeth of children, as soon as the teeth erupt but adults are receiving them if not previously performed. Sealants can wear out and fail to prevent access of food and plaque bacteria inside pits and fissures and need to be replaced so they must be checked regularly by dental professionals. Dental sealants have been shown to be more effective at preventing occlusal decay when compared to fluoride varnish applications.
Calcium, as found in food such as milk and green vegetables, is often recommended to protect against dental caries. Fluoride helps prevent decay of a tooth by binding to the hydroxyapatite crystals in enamel. Streptococcus mutans is the leading cause of tooth decay. Low concentration fluoride ions act as bacteriostatic therapeutic agent and high concentration fluoride ions are bactericidal. The incorporated fluorine makes enamel more resistant to demineralization and, thus, resistant to decay. Fluoride can be found in either topical or systemic form. Topical fluoride is more highly recommended than systemic intake to protect the surface of the teeth. Topical fluoride is used in toothpaste, mouthwash and fluoride varnish. Standard fluoride toothpaste (1,000–1,500 ppm) is more effective than low fluoride toothpaste (< 600ppm) to prevent dental caries. It is recommended that all adult patients to use fluoridated toothpaste with at least 1350ppm fluoride content, brushing at least 2 times per day and brush right before bed. For children and young adults, use fluoridated toothpaste with 1350ppm to 1500ppm fluoride content, brushing 2 times per day and also brush right before bed. American Dental Association Council suggest that for children <3 years old, caregivers should begin brushing their teeth by using fluoridated toothpaste with an amount no more than a smear. Supervised toothbrushing must also be done to children below 8 years of age to prevent swallowing of toothpaste. After brushing with fluoride toothpaste, rinsing should be avoided and the excess spat out. Many dental professionals include application of topical fluoride solutions as part of routine visits and recommend the use of xylitol and amorphous calcium phosphate products. Silver diamine fluoride may work better than fluoride varnish to prevent cavities. Systemic fluoride is found as lozenges, tablets, drops and water fluoridation. These are ingested orally to provide fluoride systemically. Water fluoridation has been shown to be beneficial to prevent tooth decay, especially in low social economical areas, where other forms of fluoride is not available. However, a Cochrane systematic review found no evidence to suggest that taking fluoride systemically daily in pregnant women was effective in preventing dental decay in their offspring. While some products containing chlorhexidine have been shown to limit the progression of existing tooth decay; there is currently no evidence suggesting that chlorhexidine gels and varnishes can prevent dental caries or reduce the population of Streptococcus mutans in the mouth.
An oral health assessment carried out before a child reaches the age of one may help with management of caries. The oral health assessment should include checking the child's history, a clinical examination, checking the risk of caries in the child including the state of their occlusion and assessing how well equipped the child's parent or carer is to help the child prevent caries. To further increase a child's cooperation in caries management, good communication by the dentist and the rest of the staff of a dental practice should be used. This communication can be improved by calling the child by their name, using eye contact and including them in any conversation about their treatment.
Vaccines are also under development.
Treatment
Most importantly, whether the carious lesion is cavitated or non-cavitated dictates the management. Clinical assessment of whether the lesion is active or arrested is also important. Noncavitated lesions can be arrested and remineralization can occur under the right conditions. However, this may require extensive changes to the diet (reduction in frequency of refined sugars), improved oral hygiene (toothbrushing twice per day with fluoride toothpaste and daily flossing), and regular application of topical fluoride. More recently, Immunoglobulin Y specific to Streptococcus mutans has been used to suppress growth of S. mutans. Such management of a carious lesion is termed "non-operative" since no drilling is carried out on the tooth. Non-operative treatment requires excellent understanding and motivation from the individual, otherwise the decay will continue.
Once a lesion has cavitated, especially if dentin is involved, remineralization is much more difficult and a dental restoration is usually indicated ("operative treatment"). Before a restoration can be placed, all of the decay must be removed otherwise it will continue to progress underneath the filling. Sometimes a small amount of decay can be left if it is entombed and there is a seal which isolates the bacteria from their substrate. This can be likened to placing a glass container over a candle, which burns itself out once the oxygen is used up. Techniques such as stepwise caries removal are designed to avoid exposure of the dental pulp and overall reduction of the amount of tooth substance which requires removal before the final filling is placed. Often enamel which overlies decayed dentin must also be removed as it is unsupported and susceptible to fracture. The modern decision-making process with regards the activity of the lesion, and whether it is cavitated, is summarized in the table.
Destroyed tooth structure does not fully regenerate, although remineralization of very small carious lesions may occur if dental hygiene is kept at optimal level. For the small lesions, topical fluoride is sometimes used to encourage remineralization. For larger lesions, the progression of dental caries can be stopped by treatment. The goal of treatment is to preserve tooth structures and prevent further destruction of the tooth. Aggressive treatment, by filling, of incipient carious lesions, places where there is superficial damage to the enamel, is controversial as they may heal themselves, while once a filling is performed it will eventually have to be redone and the site serves as a vulnerable site for further decay.
In general, early treatment is quicker and less expensive than treatment of extensive decay. Local anesthetics, nitrous oxide ("laughing gas"), or other prescription medications may be required in some cases to relieve pain during or following treatment or to relieve anxiety during treatment. A dental handpiece ("drill") is used to remove large portions of decayed material from a tooth. A spoon, a dental instrument used to carefully remove decay, is sometimes employed when the decay in dentin reaches near the pulp. Some dentists remove dental caries using a laser rather than the traditional dental drill. A Cochrane review of this technique looked at Er:YAG (erbium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet), Er,Cr:YSGG (erbium, chromium: yttrium-scandium-gallium-garnet) and Nd:YAG (neodymium-doped yttrium aluminium garnet) lasers and found that although people treated with lasers (compared to a conventional dental "drill") experienced less pain and had a lesser need for dental anaesthesia, that overall there was little difference in caries removal. Another alternative to drilling or lasers for small caries is the use of air abrasion, in which small abrasive particles are blasted at decay using pressurized air (similar to sand blasting). Once the cary is removed, the missing tooth structure requires a dental restoration of some sort to return the tooth to function and aesthetic condition.
Restorative materials include dental amalgam, composite resin, glass ionomer cement, porcelain, and gold. Composite resin and porcelain can be made to match the color of a patient's natural teeth and are thus used more frequently when aesthetics are a concern. Composite restorations are not as strong as dental amalgam and gold; some dentists consider the latter as the only advisable restoration for posterior areas where chewing forces are great. When the decay is too extensive, there may not be enough tooth structure remaining to allow a restorative material to be placed within the tooth. Thus, a crown may be needed. This restoration appears similar to a cap and is fitted over the remainder of the natural crown of the tooth. Crowns are often made of gold, porcelain, or porcelain fused to metal.
For children, preformed crowns are available to place over the tooth. These are usually made of metal (usually stainless steel but increasingly there are aesthetic materials). Traditionally teeth are shaved down to make room for the crown but, more recently, stainless steel crowns have been used to seal decay into the tooth and stop it progressing. This is known as the Hall Technique and works by depriving the bacteria in the decay of nutrients and making their environment less favorable for them. It is a minimally invasive method of managing decay in children and does not require local anesthetic injections in the mouth.
In certain cases, endodontic therapy may be necessary for the restoration of a tooth. Endodontic therapy, also known as a "root canal", is recommended if the pulp in a tooth dies from infection by decay-causing bacteria or from trauma. In root canal therapy, the pulp of the tooth, including the nerve and vascular tissues, is removed along with decayed portions of the tooth. The canals are instrumented with endodontic files to clean and shape them, and they are then usually filled with a rubber-like material called gutta percha. The tooth is filled and a crown can be placed. Upon completion of root canal therapy, the tooth is non-vital, as it is devoid of any living tissue.
An extraction can also serve as treatment for dental caries. The removal of the decayed tooth is performed if the tooth is too far destroyed from the decay process to effectively restore the tooth. Extractions are sometimes considered if the tooth lacks an opposing tooth or will probably cause further problems in the future, as may be the case for wisdom teeth. Extractions may also be preferred by people unable or unwilling to undergo the expense or difficulties in restoring the tooth.
Epidemiology
Worldwide, approximately 3.6 billion people have dental caries in their permanent teeth. In baby teeth it affects about 620 million people or 9% of the population. The disease is most common in Latin American countries, countries in the Middle East, and South Asia, and least prevalent in China. In the United States, dental caries is the most common chronic childhood disease, being at least five times more common than asthma. It is the primary pathological cause of tooth loss in children. Between 29% and 59% of adults over the age of 50 experience caries.
Treating dental cavities costs 5–10% of health-care budgets in industrialized countries, and can easily exceed budgets in lower-income countries.
The number of cases has decreased in some developed countries, and this decline is usually attributed to increasingly better oral hygiene practices and preventive measures such as fluoride treatment. Nonetheless, countries that have experienced an overall decrease in cases of tooth decay continue to have a disparity in the distribution of the disease. Among children in the United States and Europe, twenty percent of the population endures sixty to eighty percent of cases of dental caries. A similarly skewed distribution of the disease is found throughout the world with some children having none or very few caries and others having a high number. Australia, Nepal, and Sweden (where children receive dental care paid for by the government) have a low incidence of cases of dental caries among children, whereas cases are more numerous in Costa Rica and Slovakia.
The classic DMF (decay/missing/filled) index is one of the most common methods for assessing caries prevalence as well as dental treatment needs among populations. This index is based on in-field clinical examination of individuals by using a probe, mirror and cotton rolls. Because the DMF index is done without X-ray imaging, it underestimates real caries prevalence and treatment needs.
Bacteria typically associated with dental caries have been isolated from vaginal samples from females who have bacterial vaginosis.
History
There is a long history of dental caries. Over a million years ago, hominins such as Paranthropus had cavities. The largest increases in the prevalence of caries have been associated with dietary changes.
Archaeological evidence shows that tooth decay is an ancient disease dating far into prehistory. Skulls dating from a million years ago through the Neolithic period show signs of caries, including those from the Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages. The increase of caries during the Neolithic period may be attributed to the increased consumption of plant foods containing carbohydrates. The beginning of rice cultivation in South Asia is also believed to have caused an increase in caries especially for women, although there is also some evidence from sites in Thailand, such as Khok Phanom Di, that shows a decrease in overall percentage of dental caries with the increase in dependence on rice agriculture.
A Sumerian text from 5000 BC describes a "tooth worm" as the cause of caries. Evidence of this belief has also been found in India, Egypt, Japan, and China. Unearthed ancient skulls show evidence of primitive dental work. In Pakistan, teeth dating from around 5500 BC to 7000 BC show nearly perfect holes from primitive dental drills. The Ebers Papyrus, an Egyptian text from 1550 BC, mentions diseases of teeth. During the Sargonid dynasty of Assyria during 668 to 626 BC, writings from the king's physician specify the need to extract a tooth due to spreading inflammation. In the Roman Empire, wider consumption of cooked foods led to a small increase in caries prevalence. The Greco-Roman civilization, in addition to the Egyptian civilization, had treatments for pain resulting from caries.
The rate of caries remained low through the Bronze Age and Iron Age, but sharply increased during the Middle Ages. Periodic increases in caries prevalence had been small in comparison to the 1000 AD increase, when sugar cane became more accessible to the Western world. Treatment consisted mainly of herbal remedies and charms, but sometimes also included bloodletting. The barber surgeons of the time provided services that included tooth extractions. Learning their training from apprenticeships, these health providers were quite successful in ending tooth pain and likely prevented systemic spread of infections in many cases. Among Roman Catholics, prayers to Saint Apollonia, the patroness of dentistry, were meant to heal pain derived from tooth infection.
There is also evidence of caries increase when Indigenous people in North America changed from a strictly hunter-gatherer diet to a diet with maize. Rates also increased after contact with colonizing Europeans, implying an even greater dependence on maize.
During the European Age of Enlightenment, the belief that a "tooth worm" caused caries was also no longer accepted in the European medical community. Pierre Fauchard, known as the father of modern dentistry, was one of the first to reject the idea that worms caused tooth decay and noted that sugar was detrimental to the teeth and gingiva. In 1850, another sharp increase in the prevalence of caries occurred and is believed to be a result of widespread diet changes. Prior to this time, cervical caries was the most frequent type of caries, but increased availability of sugar cane, refined flour, bread, and sweetened tea corresponded with a greater number of pit and fissure caries.
In the 1890s, W. D. Miller conducted a series of studies that led him to propose an explanation for dental caries that was influential for current theories. He found that bacteria inhabited the mouth and that they produced acids that dissolved tooth structures when in the presence of fermentable carbohydrates. This explanation is known as the chemoparasitic caries theory. Miller's contribution, along with the research on plaque by G. V. Black and J. L. Williams, served as the foundation for the current explanation of the etiology of caries. Several of the specific strains of lactobacilli were identified in 1921 by Fernando E. Rodríguez Vargas.
In 1924 in London, Killian Clarke described a spherical bacterium in chains isolated from carious lesions which he called Streptococcus mutans. Although Clarke proposed that this organism was the cause of caries, the discovery was not followed up. Later, in 1954 in the US, Frank Orland working with hamsters showed that caries was transmissible and caused by acid-producing Streptococcus thus ending the debate whether dental caries were resultant from bacteria. It was not until the late 1960s that it became generally accepted that the Streptococcus isolated from hamster caries was the same as S. mutans.
Tooth decay has been present throughout human history, from early hominids millions of years ago, to modern humans. The prevalence of caries increased dramatically in the 19th century, as the Industrial Revolution made certain items, such as refined sugar and flour, readily available. The diet of the "newly industrialized English working class" then became centered on bread, jam, and sweetened tea, greatly increasing both sugar consumption and caries.
Etymology and usage
Naturalized from Latin into English (a loanword), caries in its English form originated as a mass noun that means 'rottenness', that is, 'decay'. The word is an uncountable noun.
Cariesology or cariology is the study of dental caries.
Society and culture
It is estimated that untreated dental caries results in worldwide productivity losses in the size of about US$27 billion yearly.
Other animals
Dental caries are uncommon among companion animals.
See also
Cariogram
References
General and cited sources
External links
Centers for Disease Control: Dental Caries
Acute pain
Acquired tooth disorders
Wikipedia medicine articles ready to translate
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American%20President%20Lines
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American President Lines
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APL, formerly called American President Lines Ltd., is an American container shipping company that is a subsidiary of French shipping company CMA CGM. It operates an all-container ship fleet, including nine U.S. flagged container vessels.
In 1938, the U.S. government took over the management of the Dollar Steamship Co., which was in financial difficulties and transferred their assets to the newly formed American President Lines. In 1997, Singaporean shipping company Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) acquired APL, eventually moving APL's headquarters to Singapore. In 2016, CMA CGM acquired NOL, including APL.
History
Pacific Mail Steamship Company
Following the end of the Mexican–American War in 1848, the West Coast of the United States now extended from Puget Sound to San Diego. When the 29th United States Congress passed the Mail Steamer Bill (1847), mail delivery was authorized to be routed by ship from the East Coast of the United States to the Pacific Coast via the Isthmus of Panama, with two steamship routes operating: New York City to Chagres, Colombia on the Eastern side of the isthmus, and then a second route from Panama City, Colombia to Astoria, Oregon. That same year, William Henry Aspinwall secured a 10-year government contract through Arnold Harris, with the New York State Senate incorporating the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with a capital of $400,000, of which Aspinwall was elected the first president. This company was to move the mail from Panama to the West Coast, being paid $199,000 per annum by the U.S. government. In January 1848, the company ordered three mail steamers from the shipyard of William Henry Webb: the SS California, SS Panama and SS Oregon. On October 5 or October 6, 1848 the Pacific Mail's first of these steamers, the SS California, departed from New York City to run service from Panama to the West Coast, traveling around Cape Horn to San Francisco—coincidentally, the California Gold Rush began in January of that year, and the steamer—and its sisters, Oregon and Panama—took on many hopeful miners en route.
Prior to founding Pacific Mail, Aspinwall had extensive experience in the shipping business as a partner in Howland & Aspinwall. Howland & Aspinwall operated some of the most famous clipper ships ever built. In 1845, while it already owned the Ann McKim, which was regarded as the fastest ship afloat, the firm built the Rainbow, which was even faster. The Rainbow is considered to be the first of the extreme clippers, which were the racehorses of the sea. The next year, the company had the Sea Witch built, which set a speed record from China to New York that still stands.
Clipper ships sacrificed cargo capacity for speed, but in some markets, the fast service allowed their owners to charge premium rates (e.g. tea from China tasted better if it was fresh, so the cargo on the first ship of the season to arrive in New York was worth more). Also, faster speed meant that the vessel could complete more voyages in a given time period, which compensated for the diminished cargo capacity.
When in 1850, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company established a competing line to the U.S. Mail Steamship Company between New York City and Chagres, George Law placed an opposition Pacific Line of steamers (SS Antelope, SS Columbus, SS Isthmus, SS Republic) in the Pacific running from Panama City to San Francisco. In April 1851 the rivalry was ended when an agreement was made between the companies, the U.S. Mail Steamship Company purchased the Pacific Mail steamers on the Atlantic side (SS Crescent City, SS Empire City, SS Philadelphia), and George Law sold his ships and new line to the Pacific Mail.
By 1850 Pacific Mail maintained a monopoly over the Panama-Oregon trade, helped by the purchase of two steamers from Empire City Line. Large numbers of prospective gold miners paying for passage to California had meant that by 1850, the capital of Pacific Mail had increased from $400,000 to over $2 million. Pacific Mail also ordered four new ships, designed to meet the needs of trade to and from California, and opened ship depots at Panama City and Benicia, California. Aspinwall invested in the Panama Railroad Company, which would replace old wagon trails across the Isthmus, cutting travel time from four days to four hours. In 1852 George Law went into partnership with Aspinwall and developed its eastern terminal next to the wharf at Aspinwall, Columbia, then sold his interest in 1853. This line was completed in 1855, and coordination between steamships and this line meant the travel time from San Francisco to New York was cut to 21 days.
In 1856, Aspinwall retired from the position of president of the Pacific Mail Company, with the former secretary, William H. Davidge, taking the presidency. Under his control, the company's capital doubled, to $4 million, but the major turning point of his presidency of the company was in 1858, when Pacific Mail's contract with the government expired. At the same time, the contract of the U.S. Mail Steamship Company also expired. This company had been providing the ships for the New York to Panama route and went out of business in 1859. A through service was deemed necessary (and profitable), and the company bought three new ships: the SS Adriatic, SS Atlantic and SS Baltic, all of which had formerly belonged to Collins Line. Competition from the other Atlantic steamship lines was fierce, however, and within a few years, the route on the Atlantic side was pulled.
During the American Civil War (1861–65), Pacific Mail used its steamers to transport gold to the East Coast to support the Northern cause. The company also received the SS Colorado, launched from the same shipyard as the SS California. By the end of the war (1865), under the new presidency, Pacific Mail purchased its competitor, Atlantic Mail Steamship Company, which at this point was providing service from New York to the Isthmus. This in turn meant that, at last, Pacific Mail was able to provide complete service from New York to the West Coast via the Isthmus, without competition.
In 1866, the Federal government of the United States awarded the first mail contract of $500,000 per annum between San Francisco and the Far East — namely Hong Kong via Japan and the Sandwich Islands (later known as the Hawaiian Islands)—to Pacific Mail. The SS Colorado was pulled from the original New York–San Francisco route to be used on the new route from San Francisco to China and Japan. The Colorado was outfitted with a mizzen mast and more coal storage for the voyage, and in 1867, became the first steamship to run a regular service across the Pacific Ocean, running from San Francisco to Yokohama, Japan and onward to Hong Kong. Pacific Mail also ordered four new ships to run on this route: the SS China, SS Japan, SS Great Republic and SS America. These ships were ordered at a cost of $1 million, and the capital of the company was increased to $20 million to cover this cost.
By 1867, the company was running four different lines:
The Atlantic Line, between New York and Aspinwall, Panama. This ran thrice monthly.
The Pacific Line, which linked with the Atlantic Line, which ran between Panama and San Francisco, stopping at Acapulco and Manzanillo. This route also ran thrice monthly, except for the latter, which ran once monthly.
The China Line, between San Francisco and Hong Kong, stopping at Yokohama. This ran once monthly. This linked with the Pacific Line.
The Shanghai Line, which ran between Yokohama and Shanghai, via Nagasaki. This also ran once monthly, linking with the China Line.
Through these links, freight could be moved from New York to Yokohama in 42 days, to Shanghai in 47 days and Hong Kong in 50 days, including all detentions. In this same year, the company owned 25 ships, with a combined tonnage of 61,474 tons.
In 1869, the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad meant that the passenger traffic on the Panama route declined. In 1872, the U.S. government doubled the subsidy on mail transported by Pacific Mail, although it required the doubling of service and the modernization of the fleet. Therefore, in 1873, Pacific Mail took delivery of the first of 11 iron–hulled, screw-powered steamships, the City of Peking. In 1875, William Henry Aspinwall, died on January 18 at the age of 68, but Pacific Mail continued on, and soon began service to Australia and New Zealand.
During the 1880s Pacific Mail modernized its ships with steel hulls, replacing the old iron vessels, and installed electric lighting by Thomas Edison on the SS Columbia, making it the first ship to have electrical power in the world. In 1893, the Southern Pacific Co. acquired control over the Pacific Mail. In 1902, Pacific Mail launched the SS Korea and SS Siberia, which were its first steel-hulled ships, followed by SS Manchuria and SS Mongolia in 1904. These ships were the largest and fastest passenger-freight ships in the Pacific, the latter two measuring more than 13,600 gross tons, larger than any other ship the company owned at the time.
In 1912, Congress banned ships owned by railroads from using the Panama Canal, and so Pacific Mail was sold to W. R. Grace and Company, where it operated as a subsidiary from 1916 till 1925, when the company's trans-Pacific fleet was bought over by the Dollar Shipping Company for $5,625,000 in cash.
Dollar Shipping Company
Meanwhile, Captain Robert Dollar purchased his first ship, marking the beginning of his shipping empire. Dollar was born in Falkirk, Scotland in 1844, moving to Canada at the age of 11, where he worked in a lumber camp. Following this, in 1893, he purchased his own sawmill on the Pacific Coast. Due to unreliable shipping timetables, he found it hard to ship his lumber from the Pacific Northwest down the coast towards California. Hence, in 1893 Dollar bought a steam schooner called Newsboy. This led to the establishment of the Dollar Steamship Company (commonly known as "Dollar Line") on August 12, 1900, which soon grew to have a large fleet of schooners transporting lumber to market.
In 1902, Dollar sailed to Asia for the first time on a Pacific Mail ship, SS China, to prospect potential lumber markets on the other side of the Pacific. He began to acquire a number of ships, and began his trans-Pacific shipping with a chartered voyage to Yokohama, Japan and the Philippines, marking his entry into international shipping. During World War I, Dollar ordered the construction of $30 million worth of ships in China, and in 1923 bought seven "502 President Type" liners from the U.S. Shipping Board, pioneering his round-the-world service, marked by the departure of on January 5, 1924. These were all named after U.S. presidents, a tradition that Dollar Shipping continued until its end.
This was followed up in 1925 by the purchase of eight more "535 President Type" liners from the Shipping Board, which had previously been run by Pacific Mail. Dollar Shipping bid much lower than Pacific Mail for the ships—on the order of $1 million—but Pacific Mail's offer included stocks as well as cash. Thus, the Shipping Board declared that Pacific Mail was unable to meet the terms of tender, and awarded $30 million worth of ships to Dollar Shipping. This naturally caused troubles for Pacific Mail, and it was taken over by Dollar Shipping the same year, although Dollar had ordered his sons to begin buying stock of the company in 1920. In 1922 the Dollar Line also acquired the Admiral Oriental Line and renamed it the American Mail Line, making Dollar one of the most profitable shipping companies in the world.
Dollar Line continued expanding its business in the late 1920s, buying five more "535 President Type" ships in 1926. In that year, Dollar Line carried over 45,000 passengers and had a gross revenue of $6 million. Dollar encouraged others to invest in Asia with his booklet, "Have You Investigated the Oriental Market for Your Product?", helping to open up Asia to 20th-century industry. The Merchant Marine Act of 1928 (also known as the Jones–White act) also helped Dollar Line, allowing it to sign a lucrative new mail contract and requiring it to build new ships to meet demand.
On October 26, 1929, just as the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was beginning, Dollar Steamship Line (renamed that same year) ordered two steam turbo-electric ocean liners—the largest yet built for a US shipping company. was completed in 1930 and was completed in 1931. They were state-of-the-art, luxurious sister ships rivaling the best hotels of the era, but by then the Great Depression had deepened and the ships carried only half their capacity on their maiden voyages.
On May 16, 1932, Robert Dollar died at the age of 88 and was succeeded by his son, Robert Stanley Dollar. The company began a steady decline. The faltering Dollar companies were now faced with sharply increased operating costs. In December 1937 President Hoover ran aground off the east coast of Taiwan, and was written off as a constructive total loss. By 1938 The company was $7 million in debt, with interest increasing this by $80,000 per day. In June 1938 President Coolidge was arrested (seized under admiralty law) in San Francisco for a £35,000 unpaid debt.
American President Lines
In August 1938, the United States Maritime Commission judged the Dollar Shipping Company unsound and assumed control over it, appointing William Gibbs McAdoo to succeed R. Stanley Dollar and Joseph R. Sheehan as the new president of the line. The first item of business was an amendment to the corporate charter, renaming the line as "American President Lines". American Mail Line was also sold to tobacco magnate Richard J. Reynolds and reorganized as an independent company. With that the Dollar Steamship, a long potent force in American shipping, became part of maritime history.
By 1940, the U.S. government had commissioned 16 new ships for APL, continuing the "president" naming of ships, one of these examples being SS President Jackson, a C-3 class merchant vessel. In 1941, the U.S. entered World War II, and in 1942 the War Shipping Administration was created, of which APL was an agent. APL worked on the management of some of the Administration's ships, maintaining and overhauling them as well as crewing them and being responsible for the handling of cargo and passengers. APL's own ships were used, in addition to the many Liberty and Victory ships that were built. In 1944, an additional 16 ships were built specifically for APL, including SS President Buchanan, a Victory class vessel. At the end of the war in 1945, the company's assets were valued at $40 million.
One of the APL ships in World War II still survives. is a Victory ship that is preserved as a museum ship in the San Pedro area of Los Angeles, California. As a rare surviving Victory ship, she is a U.S. National Historic Landmark. The Lane Victory was built by the California Shipbuilding Corporation in Los Angeles, California and launched on 31 May 1945.
In 1945, R. Stanley Dollar, son of Robert Dollar, initiated court proceedings in the form of the Dollar case, in an attempt to force the return of the company from the government to his family. This case would last seven years, with the government continuing the operation of APL in the meantime. APL restarted its round-the-world passenger service, and launched the and the next year, which were advertised as "your American hotel abroad." In the 1950s, the company again expanded, building more ships; 11 were built between 1952 and 1954. These included C-4 class cargo ships. Also, a settlement was finally reached in the Dollar case. Rather than the Dollar family taking back the company, it was sold to a group of investors led by Ralph K. Davies for $18.3 million. At this time Davies also acquired control of American Mail Line with the aim of reintegrating it into APL.
In 1958, the company began investigating the possibility of containerization, and sent research teams into 28 major ports. Following their reports, Davies began integrating containers into the company's business. By 1961, the company had begun launching ships capable of container transport, the first two of these being the combination break-bulk - container vessels SS President Tyler and SS President Lincoln. Ports also began adapting to the new container-based system, although many potential customers were still wary. By the end of the decade, the company was still launching combination ships rather than fully cellular container ships as already employed by several U.S., British, European and Japanese lines, yet by 1969, 23% of the company's business moved via container.
The increasing use of air travel meant that the company's passenger services had steadily been declining throughout the 1960s, and by 1973, the last APL liner, the SS President Wilson, completed her final round-the-world trip and was sold off. Also in 1973, American Mail Line was fully absorbed into APL, and its ships were subsequently given traditional "President" names. By 1971, the use of containers had again increased; 58% of the company's business moved via container. During the early 1970s, the company converted many of its traditional break-bulk freight and combination ships into more efficient container-only ships, and ordered four new-built container ships. In 1977, however, the line pulled back from worldwide freight service to focus on purely trans-Pacific routes. In 1978, the company began work on the concept of seamless integrated intermodal service in the U.S. market: the idea of moving containerized goods via ship, train and truck under one company identity. By 1979, APL started the LinerTrain, a direct rail land-bridge service transporting containers from Los Angeles to New York using its own rail cars, leading to the most reliable delivery of containers of the time. At the same time, the company built its three largest vessels to date: three C-9 class diesel-powered container ships, the first of which was the President Lincoln.
In 1984, the company started StackTrain service, an idea following on from the successful LinerTrain venture. This involved using double-stack rail cars that could carry containers stacked one on top of another rather than carrying just a single level of containers. Each rail car had a well that held the bottom container, thereby lowering the two stacked containers to reduce their combined height to fit within rail line clearances, hence the common name for double stack cars: "well cars." Double-stacking containers in well cars was developed in the late 1970s and first deployed in 1981, but APL was the first shipping line to fully embrace and exploit the concept. APL's cars were developed and manufactured by Thrall Car, while line-haul rail service was initially provided by the Union Pacific Railroad and Chicago and North Western Railway, and eventually by Conrail once track clearances were enlarged.
Double-stacking containers greatly improved operating efficiency by reducing train length and the number of axles per container, thus saving fuel per ton-mile. Another benefit was created by permanently joining five cars in a set. This reduced the number of couplers, which reduced slack action. Slack is created in any train by the couplers between the cars being stretched and compressed, and in long, heavy trains this can be quite a powerful force. By reducing slack action, the damage caused to the freight transported in containers is also reduced.
At the same time, the company continued to modernize its fleet, with ever-larger and faster ships, all of which were outfitted for container transport. APL also started a door-to-door service, known as the Red Eagle service. Another initiative was to introduce larger container sizes: containers in 1982, containers in 1985 and containers in 1988. Also in 1988, the company developed post-Panamax vessels, those too large to transit the Panama Canal. These ships were long and wide, with the ability to carry 4,300 TEUs, a TEU being an arbitrary container unit long. All these developments led APL to be declared an industry leader in 1989, with the award of the "Admiral of the Ocean Sea Award" by the United Seamen's Service to the president, W. Bruce Seaton.
The 1990s were a period of continued growth for APL. It still clung to the tradition of naming ships after U.S. presidents, and it had a fleet of 20 fully containerized ships at this point with a combined capacity of 20,000 TEUs. In 1990, APL had a special request for Union Pacific 3985 to pull a 143-car doublestack train between Cheyenne, Wyoming and North Platte, Nebraska. In 1991, APL started stack train service from Chicago to Mexico, serving Chrysler auto plants, as well as providing general service. The company also invested heavily in information technology, using this to keep track of its ever-growing fleet of trains, containers and ships. This has been continually upgraded ever since.
In 1993, the company continued to increase its revenues, and entered a 30-year agreement with the Port of Los Angeles to open a new terminal, at a cost of $70 million. The next year, it almost doubled the size of its Seattle terminal as well, increasing it from to 160. The company became the first shipper to open a website in 1995, and offered online shipment transactions. In 1997, the company was bought by Neptune Orient Lines for $285 million, at a cost of $33.50 per share. In 1998, the APL vessel APL CHINA encountered a storm south of the Aleutian Islands. The losses to the cargo, with 388 containers going overboard and many others damaged as well as damage to the ship, initiated $50 million in lawsuit claims against APL. This may have been the largest maritime shipping loss in history.
In 1999, the stack train franchise was sold off to Pacer, and is now known as Pacer Stacktrain. In the new millennium, the company's business began to falter. In 2001, parent company NOL reported losses of $57 million, followed by an amazing loss of $330 million in 2002. At this same time, APL's sales dropped from $3.8 billion in 2000 to $3.4 billion in 2002. Acting CEO Ron Widdows began a campaign of cost cutting and sped up decision making, and since 2003, the company has been making money again. In 2005, the company introduced the "Real-Time Locating System" using RFID tags, which accurately recorded the position of every container within the system, reducing delays and lost containers—APL's Global Gateway South terminal in Los Angeles now moves 1.65 million TEUs annually.
In 2009, APL and other Neptune Orient business moved to a new headquarters in Singapore. Previously, APL had been based in Oakland, California.
On June 10, 2016, APL and NOL became subsidiaries of CMA-CGM when over 90% of Singapore stocks were purchased by the container line. Later that year, CMA CGM subsidiary U.S. Lines as well as the transpacific business of ANL was consolidated into APL.
In November 2016, the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department seized a shipment of nine Terrex APC vehicles, along with other equipment, belonging to the Singapore Armed Forces at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal (formerly Kwai Chung Container Terminal). The shipment was seized because APL, which had been engaged by the Singapore military to handle the shipment, did not have the appropriate permits for the vehicles and equipment. In January 2017, it was announced that Hong Kong Customs would be returning the military equipment to Singapore, and that APL would be working with the Hong Kong authorities to ship the vehicles and related equipment back to Singapore. Commissioner of the Customs and Excise Department, Roy Tang Yun-kwong, added that APL would likely face criminal charges for breaching Hong Kong Law in this incident.
In January 2017, container ship APL Denver collided with Wan Hai 301, a ship belonging to Singapore, off Pasir Gudang Port in Johor, Malaysia. The accident occurred because APL Denver had crossed the path of Wan Hai 301 while it was moving through the separation scheme. APL Denver was heavily damaged, with at least 300 tonnes of oil spilled into the water near Pasir Gudang Port.
Since October 2020, APL has focused exclusively on U.S. Government business - leaving CMA CGM as the sole brand in the transpacific.
Terminals
APL operates marine terminals at ten strategic points around the world.
Americas – Dutch Harbor (Alaska)
Asia – Kaohsiung (Taiwan), Kobe (Japan), Yokohama (Japan), Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam), Laem Chabang (Thailand), Qingdao (China), Nhava Sheva (India)
Fleet
See also
List of largest container shipping companies
References
External links
NOL Group website (includes reports and financial information)
SS Jeremiah O'Brien - Liberty Ship website
SS Lane Victory - Victory Ship website
Guide to the American President Lines Records, 1871–1995
American Mail Line History and Ephemera GG Archives
Dollar Steamship Line History and Ephemera GG Archives
Container shipping companies
Defunct cruise lines
Temasek Holdings
2016 mergers and acquisitions
1997 mergers and acquisitions
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UTA%20Flight%20141
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UTA Flight 141
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UTA Flight 141 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by Guinean regional airline Union des Transports Africains de Guinée, flying from Conakry to Dubai with stopovers in Benin, Libya and Lebanon. On 25 December 2003, the Boeing 727–223 operating the flight struck a building and crashed into the Bight of Benin while rolling for take off from Cotonou, killing 141 people. The crash of Flight 141 was the deadliest crash in Benin's aviation history.
The investigation concluded that the crash was primarily caused by overloading. However, it also subsequently revealed massive incompetence within the airline, particularly on its dangerous safety culture. The issue had gone unnoticed following lapses between authorities and further incompetence in management oversight led to the aircraft's overloaded state. Multiple factors, including the short runway at Cotonou and the high demand of passengers for the route, had also contributed to the crash.
In regards to the result of the investigation, the Guinean government was urged to create reforms and regulations on the civil aviation authorities in the country. The BEA, the commission responsible for the investigation, had also urged ICAO to examine provisions related to safety oversight and the FAA and the European EASA were asked to support the creation of an autonomous weight and balance calculation system on board every airliner.
Background
In the 20th century, most countries in West Africa did not have the capability to create and maintain a national airline. For decades, flight routes in West Africa were mainly served by Air Afrique, a transnational airline for Francophone West and Central Africa. It was once considered as one of the largest airlines in Africa and one of the most reputable. However, after reports of mismanagement, corruption and the fallout of the aviation industry following the September 11 attacks, Air Afrique declared bankruptcy in 2002.
In the aftermath of Air Afrique's demise, there were no more routes connecting major cities in West Africa and to other regions. The bankruptcy of Air Afrique caused isolation between the countries, despite their close geographical location. While Air Afrique's routes were immediately taken over by Air France, most of the flights were perceived as inconvenient. Such an example was a flight from Conakry to Cotonou, in which passengers had to fly to Paris first before they could continue to Cotonou. Immediately, there were high demands for new airlines to open more direct routes.
As an attempt to fill the void that had been left by Air Afrique, multiple existing small airlines began to offer services to these major routes. Among them was Union des Transports Africains de Guinée (also known as UTA), a regional airliner that was operated by Lebanese people in Guinea.
For years, the Lebanese diaspora was part of the backbone of the economic activity in multiple West African countries. Many Lebanese businessmen had forged robust relationship with government officials to sign contracts within West Africa's public infrastructure sectors. An example was cited on a CIA document from 1988, with the following quote explaining the economic situation in one of the country:
However, the lack of direct flights to Lebanon caused dozens of Lebanese to board transit flights between multiple cities in West Africa. The country's flag carrier, Middle East Airlines, previously had operated flight routes in West Africa and later decided to terminate the service.
On 23 July 2003, the government of Benin granted temporary authorization for UTA to operate charter flights for Conakry – Cotonou – Beirut – Cotonou – Conakry route. The airline later requested clearance to operate another extension flight to Dubai, known for its duty-free shopping, possibly to amplify profitability. The request was later granted in November 2003.
Aircraft
The aircraft was a Boeing 727-223. Manufactured in 1977 with a serial number of 21370, it was equipped with three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A engines. The aircraft was registered as N865AA and was delivered to American Airlines.
Throughout its operational history, the aircraft had been operated by multiple operators. From June 1977 to January 2003, the aircraft was owned by American Airlines. However, in October 2001 the aircraft was stored in California's Mojave Desert. It subsequently became the property of Wells Fargo Bank Northwest in October 2002.
In January 2003, the aircraft was sold to a Miami-based leasing company Financial Advisory Group (FAG). The aircraft was then delivered to Ariana Afghan Airlines following FAA authorization to operate a ferry flight to Kabul under a new registration of YA-FAK. The first leasing contract was signed by Swaziland's Alpha and Omega Airways and the aircraft subsequently changed its registration to 3D-FAK in June 2003. In October 2003, the aircraft was subleased by Alpha and Omega Airways to UTA and the aircraft was registered under Guinean registration of 3X-GDO.
The aircraft had undergone a total of 40,452 flight cycles. The last major C check, the highest category for an aircraft maintenance, was carried out in January 2001 by American Airlines. There were insufficient documents on modifications that had been made on the aircraft. It was described as "materially impossible" to obtain the appropriate documents of the aircraft during its operation with UTA.
Flight
Flight 141 was a chartered passenger flight from the Guinean capital of Conakry, Benin's largest city of Cotonou and the Lebanese capital of Beirut with a final destination in Dubai. A stopover was included in the flight plan with the Libyan town of Kufra as a refueling stop. It was a weekly scheduled flight with one round of trip per week.
The aircraft had been chartered by 2 Lebanese men. Many of those on board were Lebanese diaspora who had been living in multiple West African countries for years. As it was Christmas Day, many of those on board were travelling home to spend the holidays with families. Dozens of passengers could be seen carrying hand baggage filled with Christmas gifts. The situation was chaotic as the check-in staff at the airport had not allocated seats for the passengers. A boarding pass was also not needed in the airport. Passengers could sell their respective seats at last-minute to someone else who were not booked on the flight as their names were not written on the boarding pass.
The aircraft was full with passengers. A total of 86 people had boarded the aircraft in Conakry and 9 people had disembarked in Cotonou. The aircraft had also received another 10 passengers from an aircraft that had flown from Togo. The boarding was disorderly. Many passengers tried to sit beside their friends and even occupied the cabin jump seats and the cabin crew were overwhelmed. Meanwhile, the flight crew were involved in an argument inside the cockpit as they had not received the basic information on the aircraft's load.
While the cockpit crew were engaged in an argument on the weight and balance, the ground baggage handler was loading the baggage at the aft of the aircraft. One of UTA's agents then asked the handler to load the baggage at the forward hold, which was already filled with baggage. Subsequently, the forward hold was full with baggage. Back in the cockpit, the crew continued to discuss on the weight of the baggage. They became more frustrated as there were no information regarding the number of passengers that had boarded the aircraft in Cotonou. It was a tense situation as all the flight crew were unable to determine the exact weight of the baggage of each passengers.
As the Captain decided to discuss the matter with the flight engineer, the First Officer became angry and yelled at the Directorate General of UTA, who was sitting at the cockpit jump seat across him, due to the absence of information. The UTA executive, however, tried to reason with the First Officer on the matter.
The UTA executive immediately apologized to the crew. He stated that he would tell the management off as soon as the aircraft arrive in Beirut, later added that he would send messages to not allow anymore baggage or luggage weighing more than 30 kilograms. By this time, all passengers had already boarded the aircraft. Fuel was added to both tanks and the flight plan had been filed by the captain. The Captain then configured the aircraft with flaps at 25 degrees. The elevator was set at 6 and full power with brakes on would be applied for the take-off, followed by a three-degree maximum for take-off climb. The First Officer was the pilot flying.
The air conditioner was shut down. The weather was hot and dry. Weather report stated that there were cirrus clouds covering the sky and that there were some stratocumulus at an altitude of . The visibility was about and the humidity was at 75%.
As everything was set, the crew began the take-off roll. However, several passengers were still reluctant to sit down and decided to stand near their friends. This led the chief flight attendant to inform the cockpit crew on the situation. Order was finally restored after the Directorate General of UTA had called for order and the passengers finally decided to sit down on the floor.
At 13:58 local time, the flight crew applied take-off thrust. Few seconds later, the brakes were released. The First Officer was pushing the nose down and the captain was observing the airspeed. The aircraft then reached V1 and subsequently reached its VR speed. An input from 5-degree nose down to 10-degree nose up was made by the First Officer in a span of two seconds. The nose of the aircraft, however, remained constant and the speed continued to increase.
The Captain became anxious as the aircraft's wheel had not lifted off the runway. He then called for rotation at least twice. The First Officer then pulled the yoke even harder so the aircraft could take-off. The angle of attack then changed from −1.2-degree to a maximum of +9-degree, at a speed of 1 degree per second.
The aircraft finally managed to lift off at 13:59:07 for a negligible altitude. Realizing that they were going to run out of runway, the captain urged the first officer to pull harder.
At 13:59:11, the aircraft struck the localizer antennas at the end of the runway. The aircraft's main landing gears then impacted the localizer building, causing the roof to fly for approximately 9 meters from the point of impact. The right main landing gear then detached. The impact subsequently caused small parts of the tail and the aircraft's stair to detach as well. The aircraft then impacted the airport's concrete boundary fence, scraping the lower part of the fuselage and caused some parts of the flaps to separate from the wings.
The aircraft then slid and struck a rainwater drainage canal located right after the perimeter fence. The collision damaged the aircraft's landing gears and parts of its wings. The leading edge and the outer aileron from the right wing then separated from the airframe. A survivor who was seated at the rear of the aircraft stated that people flew off their seats and, at the moment of impact, "fly around the cabin". According to testimonies, some passengers had not attached their seatbelts.
After it had struck the drainage canal, the aircraft broke up into three parts; the cockpit section, the fuselage, and the tail of the aircraft, all of which ended up in the sea. Majority of the fuselage managed to stay intact. However, the fuselage became upside down due to the impact, drowning the occupants inside. Those who were seated near the breaks were able to get out of the sinking wreckage.
Search and rescue
The crash was loud enough to be noticed by the two controllers in the tower. The fire brigade immediately arrived at the destroyed localizer building and later confirmed that a technician inside the building was seriously injured by the collision. Members of the fire brigade then went down to the beach and found that the situation was already chaotic. Nearby beachgoers and residents had immediately flocked to the site. While some passengers managed to escape from the sinking wreckage, several others were still trapped inside the fuselage. According to CNN, several onlookers screamed as dead bodies washed on the beach. Several relatives of those on board even tried to recover the bodies of their next of kin by jumping onto the sea.
The first hour of the rescue operation was difficult as the situation was hampered by thousands of onlookers on the crash site. Emergency crew could not execute their duties effectively. Some emergency vehicles even became stuck in the sand. Lack of coordination between rescue organizations further aggravated the situation. The police had to use belts to push back onlookers.
Benin's Health Minister Celine Segnon stated that at least 90 people had died due to the crash, while 18 people had survived. Among them were the cockpit occupants. All except one of the people who were in the cockpit had managed to survive the crash. The First Officer was killed after his head had struck the right side of the cockpit during the impact. The search and rescue operation continued through the night as rescuers tried to recover more bodies and survivors. The nation's navy divers, army and Red Cross had been dispatched to assist in the rescue operation. Beninese President Mathieu Kérékou personally visited the crash site to observe the rescue operation.
On 26 December, a Middle East Airlines carrying Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid and five army divers had arrived in Benin to assist with the rescue operation. Rescuers, however, stated that it was unlikely to find anymore survivors from the crash site. Rescuers attempted to recover the wreckage by using chains that were tied onto tractors. Meanwhile, both black boxes were recovered from the wreckage on 27 December.
A total of 141 bodies had been recovered by the rescuers, 12 of whom could not be identified. Initially, there were 27 survivors at the crash site but 5 people later succumbed to their injuries. Additionally, the report listed 7 missing people.
Passengers and crews
According to Lebanese Foreign Minister Jean Obeid, over a hundred of those on board were Lebanese. There were also people from Togo, Guinea, Kenya, Libya, Sierra Leone, Palestine, Peru, Syria, Nigeria, and also a youth wrestler from Iran. Among the passengers were 15 Bangladeshi UN peacekeepers returning from their duties in Sierra Leone and Liberia. A congressional report from the United States Senate indicated that there were officials related to Hezbollah's West Africa operation on board Flight 141.
The manifest indicated that a total of 86 people, including 4 children and 3 babies, boarded the aircraft while it was in Conakry. Among the 86 passengers were 45 passengers from Sierra Leone, including the Bangladeshi peacekeepers who had boarded without transit checks. In Cotonou, a total of 9 passengers disembarked from the aircraft and 63 people, including 3 children and 2 babies, boarded the aircraft. The aircraft also received 10 passengers, including a child and a baby, from a transit flight that had originated from Togo. Based on the written manifest, the total number of passengers were 150, consisted of 138 adults, 8 children and 6 babies. The exact number of passengers on board, however, were impossible to determine, as more passengers were thought to be aboard than were listed on the manifest.
At the time of the accident, the aircraft was configured with 12 first-class seats, 138 economy seats, and 6 seats for flight attendants. There were five seats in the cockpit and 4 jump seats for the cabin crew.
All three flight crew members had previously flown for Libyan Arab Airlines, and had their first flight with the airline on 8 December 2003. All of the crew members were provided by Financial Advisory Group (FAG) as the owner of the aircraft. The captain was 49-year-old Najib Soleiman Al-Barouni with 11,000 flight hours, including 8,000 hours on the Boeing 727. His commercial pilot license was issued by the United Kingdom in 1977. He later obtained the Boeing 727 flying license in 1988 and joined FAG in March 2003. Prior to his work with UTA, he had flown for Royal Jordanian Airlines for 3 months and Trans Air Benin for 6 months. The first officer was an unnamed 49-year-old male whose flight information was not stated in the accident report. He had obtained his commercial pilot license in 1979, issued by the United Kingdom. The flight engineer was an unnamed 45-year-old male who had 14,000 flight hours, all on the Boeing 727.
There were 7 other crew members on board the aircraft, consisted of four flight attendants, two ground mechanics and one transporter. There were also two UTA executives, including the Director General of UTA, aboard the aircraft. They were both seated at the cabin crew jump seats.
Investigation
The crash was the deadliest civil airliner crash in the history of Benin. It was also the first major aircraft accident in the country. Thus, the country didn't have the experience to investigate the crash. While the government had set up a special commission to investigate the cause of the crash, the government requested the French BEA to carry out the probe. The investigation also invited representatives from Boeing and the FAA.
According to the final report, the investigation team faced great difficulties during their attempts to obtain adequate data and documentations from UTA.
The team had to rely to direct testimonies from the surviving crew members, reasonings, and calculations made from the available recorded parameters.
Weight and balance
Testimonies gathered from surviving passengers and crew members revealed that the crash might have been caused by the presence of a weight and balance problem. While investigators tried to examine this theory, they couldn't retrieve the supposed weight and balance data from UTA. There were no documents on the weight of the aircraft and the loading plan for the flight between Conakry and Cotonou. Investigators could only retrieve the passenger manifest and the weight of the hold baggage. The weight and balance sheets, all of which were from the previous owner Alpha Omega Airlines, were later provided by the Lebanese investigators.
The basic operating weight of the aircraft, the actual weight of the aircraft and its equipment without the weight of the fuel, was determined to be at around , with the latter being the most likely. The real weight of the passengers, however, was unknown. The weight of the baggage was also difficult to determine as UTA's check-in staffs had never limited the weight of the baggage to a specific weight. UTA's standard allowed weight per adult passenger was , although prior flights revealed weight variations between . The weight of the passengers and the baggage was later determined to be between .
Calculation made by BEA, in addition with the aircraft's fuel and other loads, concluded that the take-off weight of Flight 141 was somewhere between . A simulation was then conducted, with an aircraft setting of flaps at 25-degree, stabilizer at 6 and a declared weight of . The simulation revealed that the aircraft's centre of gravity was still stable and balanced as the allowed centre of gravity was 19%. According to investigators, the aircraft would have managed to fly safely from the airport and shouldn't have crashed onto the localizer building at the end of the runway.
Failure to take-off
The calculation was inconsistent with testimonies that had been gathered from survivors of the crash, in which overloading had caused the crash of Flight 141. Further confirmation based on the recorded parameter was later conducted by Boeing and investigators. The calculation later revealed that the aircraft was actually with a centre of gravity at 14%, much forward than the previous calculation. According to Boeing, with said calculation the aircraft would have required a much more rigorous and rapid input from the crew to pass the localizer building at the end of the runway.
The centre of gravity had significantly shifted to the front due to the improper loading by the baggage handler, later revealed that he never had a formal training, who had decided to load the already baggage-filled forward hold with more baggage rather than distributing the weight of the load properly. This was consistent with the recorded parameter, which showed the very slow response of the nose when the crew had tried to apply nose up input to the elevator.
With the centre of gravity value of 14%, the aircraft would have also required a greater setting of the stabilizer, which was at 7 rather than 6, for a much more effective take-off. By selecting the latter configuration, the aircraft would have taken off from the runway at a slower pace. The decision to select such configuration was caused by the crew's reliance over their past experience. As UTA had not provided the required data for the crew, they had to rely to the configuration that they had used in prior flights and thus assumed that the configuration of 6 for the stabilizer was sufficient enough for take-off, as it was usual to use the declared weight of 78 ton and the centre of gravity of 19% for the take-off calculation.
As the crew selected the configuration, the aircraft would have needed a longer distance to take-off from Cotonou. The situation was worsened by the fact that the scheduled time for take-off was at noon, in which temperature was at its peak. Available weather data showed that the temperature at the time was at . The hot temperature at the time would have caused air density to decrease, inhibiting the aircraft's ability to take-off. The shifted centre of gravity to the forward hold, combined with the insufficient configuration, the short runway and the hot temperature at the airport, caused the aircraft's failure to take-off from Cotonou.
The operator
Prior to the operation of the Cotonou – Beirut route, UTA had been operating smaller routes in West Africa for years. The airline itself was a small regional airliner that was based in Guinea. It had relocated from its previous base in Sierra Leone from 1995 under the name West Coast. Before UTA managed to obtain Boeing 727, the airline had operated a Let L-410 Turbolet and an Antonov An-24 through a leasing contract. The Let L-410 was used for routes between multiple West African cities such as Freetown, Banjul and Abidjan, while the Antonov An-24 was used for mining companies and air ambulance.
The investigation revealed that all management posts in the airline had been filled with members of the same family with no knowledge whatsoever in aviation. The only non-family members in the airline was the technical director, who was responsible for the training, and the chief pilot, who was tasked on quality control, the latter was not competent enough for high capacity aircraft as he had not obtained the aircraft rating for Boeing 727.
UTA didn't possess sufficient documents of its own fleet. The first Boeing 727 that had been acquired by the airline was lacking in proper documentations which prompted the Lebanese investigators to not allow the aircraft to be operated under Lebanese registration as its essential documents somehow belonged to other foreign airlines. To rectify the problem, UTA bought another Boeing 727, the accident aircraft, from Alpha and Omega Airways. UTA also could not provide the maintenance and inspection manual to investigators. They also could not provide the operation manual. The manual had to be provided by the Guinean authorities. Further examination revealed that the manual had been copy-pasted from numerous foreign airlines. For example, some of the wordings had been copy-pasted from aircraft activities in Jordan and Gaza.
The following findings were also noted: the absence of work time limit for the flight crew, absence of details relating to loading, weight and balance of an aircraft, non-existent structure of the airline and even non-existent departments within the airline. UTA was also not able to provide, according to the final report, the slightest data on the flights that had been performed, flying hours and periods of service of the crew.
Investigator also noted the following declaration, found within UTA's document:
Oversight failure
Guinean authorities should have prevented the creation of UTA following the airline's blatant disregard to the required regulations that it should have followed. The decision to let UTA to operate flights in the region raised questions on the oversight. Furthermore, Guinean authorities somehow managed to immediately pass multiple controversial decisions made by UTA, such as the copy-pasted manual and the extension flight to Dubai, without proper examinations. The same issue could be applied to authorities in Swaziland.
Failing in oversights could be attributed to the environment of the country, in which adherence to regulations was often overlooked. The final report, however, stressed that multiple factors should also be considered, such as economic reasons and other variety of reasons, rather than blaming the authorities in Swaziland and Guinea. West Africa had been suffering endless conflicts and political instability for years. An immediate punishment on the struggling region over its non-compliance with the supposed regulations would have caused a negative feedback. Even though Guinean authorities had ratified the Chicago Convention, the implementation of it basically didn't exist. The international body that supervised the convention, ICAO, even stated in its 2001 report that Guinea had not established a regulatory mechanism on the country's aviation industry.
The final report revealed the unequal ability of countries to conduct evaluation on another country's adherence to the Chicago Convention. In response, ICAO was asked to actively help countries that were incapable of implementing aviation safety regulations to eventually develop a working system. A better transparency between countries that had ratified the convention was also ordered.
Conclusion
The final report was published in 2004. The crash was mainly caused by overloading and the improper baggage loading of the Boeing 727. However, the investigation team also listed the structural causes that eventually enabled the overloading condition of the aircraft. The BEA listed the cause as the following:
Following the accident, BEA issued recommendations to multiple international aviation bodies for better oversight of airliners within their scope of operation. The report also asked the United States FAA and Europe EASA to create an autonomous system for measuring weight and balance. Subsequently, all aircraft should be retrofitted with said system.
Aftermath
In response to the crash, the government of Benin declared three-days of national mourning. The then United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed his condolences to the relatives of the crash, particularly to the families of the 15 UN peacekeepers. United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) later sent 11 members of a coordination team to Cotonou for the repatriation. On 28 December, a repatriation ceremony was held in Cotonou for 77 Lebanese victims and 2 Iranians. A French military aircraft had been ordered to carry the coffins to Beirut. The aircraft arrived in Beirut on the next day and another repatriation ceremony was held, attended by Lebanese President Émile Lahoud, Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Speaker of the House Nabih Berri and Muslim clerics.
The crash of Flight 141 revealed another source of influx of cash for Hezbollah, a prominent Lebanese Shiite militant group, from countries in West Africa. Among the passengers was a Hezbollah official carrying US$2 million that had been raised by supporters of Hezbollah in West Africa. A report made by United States Congress revealed a vast network of wealthy Lebanese nationals in multiple West African countries who had supported Hezbollah campaigns and provided funds to the organization. The report further accused Hezbollah of blood diamond trade and other illicit activities with local drug traffickers in the region, which was already known for its notorious drug trafficking alliances.
In October 2010, a Lebanese court sentenced the captain of the flight, Najib al-Barouni, to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of neglect. The court also sentenced Imad Saba, a Palestinian-American owner of the aircraft, UTA general manager Ahmed Khazem and UTA operations chief Mohammed Khazem to prison with serving time ranging from 3 months to 3 years. All of them were ordered to provide compensations with a total of US$930,000 to the relatives of the victims.
Notes
See also
Arrow Air Flight 1285
Air Midwest Flight 5481
References
External links
(Summary of the French accident investigation)
Cockpit Voice Recorder transcript and accident summary
Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety
"Accident d'un Boeing 727 à Cotonou le 25 décembre 2003." (Archive)
Summary of the English translation of investigation (Archive)
Full English report (Archive)
Original French report (HTML) (Archive)
PDF version of the French report (Archive)
Pictures of the crash by BBC
Photo of the accident aircraft by Aviation Safety Network
2003 disasters in Benin
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error
Aviation accidents and incidents in Benin
Aviation accidents and incidents in 2003
2003 in Benin
2003 in Guinea
Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727
December 2003 events in Africa
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporation%20%28business%29
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Incorporation (business)
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Incorporation is the formation of a new corporation. The corporation may be a business, a nonprofit organization, sports club, or a local government of a new city or town.
In the United States
Specific incorporation requirements in the United States differ on a state by state basis. However, there are common pieces of information that states require to be included in the certificate of incorporation.
Business purpose
Corporation name
Registered agent
Inc.
Share par value
Number of authorized shares of stock
Directors
Preferred shares
Officers
Legal address
A business purpose describes the incorporated tasks a company has to do or provide. The purpose can be general, indicating that the budding company has been formed to carry out "all lawful business" in the region. Alternatively, the purpose can be specific, furnishing a more detailed explanation of the products and/or services to be offered by their company.
The chosen name should be followed with a corporate identifier such as "Corp.", "Inc.", or "Co.". A preliminary name availability search is advisable prior to the submission of the Articles of Incorporation. In the case of online incorporation, the state will have the final say with regards to the name chosen for the company. The name should not deceive or mislead consumers.
Registered agents are responsible for receiving all legal and tax documentation on behalf of the corporation.
Share per value refers to the stated minimum value and generally doesn't correspond to the actual share value. In reality, the value of a share is based on its fair market value or the amount a buyer is willing to pay. An Inc. stipulates the exact number of shares the corporation is willing to authorize. It is mandatory for every corporation to have stock. If the corporation is willing to permit both preferred as well as common shares of stock, then this should have a mention in the articles of incorporation, along with the voting rights information. Generally, preferred shares provide its shareholders preferential payments of distribution of assets or dividends, in case the company shuts down its operations. A lot of small business owners only allow shares of common stock.
Legal benefits
There are a number of legal benefits that come with incorporation.
One significant legal benefit is the protection of personal assets against the claims of creditors and lawsuits. Sole proprietors and general partners in a partnership are personally and jointly responsible for all the legal liability (LL) of a business such as loans, accounts payable, and legal judgments. In a corporation, however, shareholders, directors and officers typically are not liable for the company's debts and obligations. They are limited in liability to the amount they have invested in the corporation. For example, if a shareholder purchased $100 in stock, no more than $100 can be lost. On the other hand, a corporation (Corp.) or a limited liability company (LLC) may hold assets such as real estate, cars or boats. If a shareholder of a corporation is personally involved in a lawsuit or bankruptcy, these assets may be protected. A creditor of a shareholder of a Corp. or LLC cannot seize the assets of the company. However, the creditor may be able to seize ownership shares in the corporation, as they are considered a personal asset.
In the United States, corporations can sometimes be taxed at a lower rate than individuals. Also, corporations can own shares in other corporations and receive corporate dividends 80% tax-free. There are no limits on the amount of losses a corporation may carry forward to subsequent tax years. A sole proprietorship, on the other hand, cannot claim a capital loss greater than $3,000 unless the owner has offsetting capital gains.
A corporation is capable of continuing indefinitely. Its existence is not affected by the death of shareholders, directors, or officers of the corporation. Ownership in a Corp. or LLC is easily transferable to others, either in whole or in part. Some state laws are particularly corporate-friendly. For example, the transfer of ownership in a corporation incorporated in US-DE is not required to be filed or recorded.
Legal history of incorporation in the United States
Legal opinion on corporations has evolved significantly throughout history, and Supreme Court cases provide a means to observe this evolution. While these cases may seem arbitrary and decontextualized when examined individually, when viewed successively and within historical context, a narrative emerges that offers an explanation for why such views are upheld.
Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, 1819
In 1816, the New Hampshire state legislature passed a bill intended to turn privately owned Dartmouth College into a publicly owned university with a board of trustees appointed by the governor. The board filed a suit challenging the constitutionality of the legislation. The suit alleged that the college enjoyed the right to contract and the government changing that contract was not allowed. Chief Justice John Marshall delivered the majority opinion and affirmed that the right to contract exists between owners of private property rather than between a government and its citizens. The case was the first case in US history that asked fundamental questions about corporate entities and the protections they enjoy; it also was a precedent-setting case in extending "individual rights" to corporations.
Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad, 1886
The railroad was an expensive multi-year project that greatly changed and altered both the physical and commercial landscape of the country. As with most new technology developments that have a broad impact, there are disputes about how those technologies and the businesses they thrive in fit under the umbrella of laws that govern regulations and taxation. In 1886 one such taxation dispute arose between Santa Clara County and Southern Pacific Railroad. The railroad thought the tax code was misapplied to some of their property and assets. In deciding the case, a unanimous court ruled that governments must abide by the same tax code enforcement for individuals that it did for corporations. While not explicitly stated in the case, it was implied that this case extended equal protection rights to corporations under the 14th amendment.
Liggett v. Lee, 1933
The booming economy the railroad corporations helped build from the late 19th into the early 20th centuries came to a screeching halt in 1929. The Great Depression, as it came to be known, helped a view of corporations emerge that put them at odds with the normal working man. The election of Franklin D. Roosevelt was a manifestation of many populist sentiments the country might have felt. In 1933 a Florida case came before the court, again disputing taxation. In Liggett v. Lee the court ruled that there could be a corporate tax, essentially saying the structure of business was a justifiably discriminatory criterion for governments to consider when writing tax legislation. This was a unique ruling handed down during a unique time in US history that denied a corporation freedom it sought in the courtroom.
First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 1978
From 1940 to 1990 the percent of total GDP made up by financial service professionals increased by 300%. Along with that growth there was a growth in the profits this industry experienced as well. As the disposable income of banks and other financial institutions rose, they sought a way to use it to influence politics and policy. In response, Massachusetts passed a law limiting corporate donations strictly to issues related to their industry. The First National Bank of Boston challenged the law on First Amendment grounds and won. First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti allowed business to use financial speech in political causes of any nature.
Citizens United v. FEC, 2010
In 2010 amidst an outpouring of frustration and blame directed at Wall Street the issue of corporate contributions came before the court again. In Citizens United v. FEC the court said there was virtually no distinction between monetary contributions and political speech, and because we do not limit political speech unless it is tantamount to bribery, corporations have the right as people to donate unlimited amounts of money to any political cause so long as it is not to a direct campaign.
Steps required for incorporation
The articles of incorporation (also called a charter, certificate of incorporation or letters patent) are filed with the appropriate state office, listing the purpose of the corporation, its principal place of business and the number and type of shares of stock. A registration fee is due, which is usually between $25 and $1,000, depending on the state.
A corporate name is generally made up of three parts: "distinctive element", "descriptive element", and a legal ending. All corporations must have a distinctive element, and in most filing jurisdictions, a legal ending to their names. Some corporations choose not to have a descriptive element. In the name "Tiger Computers, Inc.", the word "Tiger" is the distinctive element; the word "Computers" is the descriptive element; and the "Inc." is the legal ending. The legal ending indicates that it is in fact a legal corporation and not just a business registration or partnership. Incorporated, limited, and corporation, or their respective abbreviations (Inc., Ltd., Corp.) are the possible legal endings in the US.
Usually, there are also corporate bylaws which must be filed with the state. Bylaws outline a number of important administrative details such as when annual shareholder meetings will be held, who can vote and the manner in which shareholders will be notified if there is need for an additional "special" meeting.
Taxation
Corporations can only deduct net operating losses going back two years and forward 20 years.
Reporting after incorporation
Assuming a corporation has not sold stock to the public, conducting corporate business is straightforward. Often, it amounts to recording key corporate decisions (for example, borrowing money or buying real estate) and holding an annual meeting. These formalities can often be supplanted by written agreement and do not usually need a face-to-face meeting.
Incorporation in the United Kingdom
In the UK, the process of incorporation is generally called company formation. The United Kingdom is one of the quickest locations to incorporate, with a fully electronic process and a very fast turnaround by the national registrar of companies, the Companies House. The current Companies House record is five minutes to vet and issue a certificate of incorporation for an electronic application.
Types of companies
There are many different types of UK companies:
Public limited company (PLC)
Private company limited by shares (Ltd.)
Company limited by guarantee
Unlimited company (Unltd.)
Limited liability partnership (LLP)
Community interest company
Industrial and provident society (IPS)
Royal charter (RC)
Europe
In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the GmbH ("Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung", meaning "limited liability business association"), as well as the AG ("Aktiengesellschaft", meaning "business association with shares"), are the entities most similar to the corporations in the US.
In the United Kingdom, with the exception of an unlimited company or corporation which requires no designation as part of its legal company name, the titles Ltd. (limited company), CIC, CIO, or plc (public limited company) are used for corporations (or their Welsh equivalents in Wales).
In France, Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, the term "SARL (, company with limited liability)" or SA (, anonymous corporation) or SAS (, simplified anonymous joint-stock corporation) is used.
Spain, Portugal, Romania and Latin America use the title SA (anonymous partnership) for stock corporations or Ltda (limitada or limited liability) for limited companies. (Ltda is denoted SL in Spain, for "Sociedad Limitada", and SRL in Argentina, for "Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada").
In Poland there is the title SA (standing for Spółka Akcyjna, Polish for stock partnership) for stock corporations or Sp. z o.o. (Spółka z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością, a partnership with limited liability) for limited companies. There is also Spółka komandytowa (Sp. K.), a partnership where at least one partner is fully liable and other one has limited liability, and Spółka komandytowo-akcyjna (Sp. K. A.) a partnership where at least one partner is fully liable and other one is a stock shareholder not being liable.
Denmark and Norway use the title A/S for stock corporations (, ), while Sweden uses the similar AB (). Finland uses Oy (), Oyj for stock corporations (Osakeyhtiö, julkinen) and Ay (Avoin yhtiö) or Ky (Kommandiittiyhtiö) for private enterprises.
Italy uses "Srl" or "Società a Responsabilità Limitata" (limited liability company), and "SpA" or "Società Per Azioni" (stock corporation).
Slovakia and the Czech Republic use s.r.o. (, meaning "business with limited liability") and a.s. (, meaning "business with shares").
In Latvia, the most commonly used title of a corporation is "S.I.A." () for "limited liability company", or "LLC", and "A/S" () for "joint stock company", or "JSC". The title "S.I.A." and "A/S" are put before the name of the corporation. Lithuania uses "UAB" () for "limited liability company" and "AB" () for "joint stock company", and, like in Latvia, they also appear before the corporation's name.
Bulgaria, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Slovenia uses: "D.O.O." or "Д.О.О." (in Cyrillic) (Serbian and Croatian: Društvo sa Ograničenom Odgovornošću / Друштво са Ограниченом Одговорношћу, Macedonian: Друштво со ограничена одговорност). The only difference is in Bulgaria, where it is reversed: "ООД" (OOD) (Bulgarian: Дружество с ограничена отговорност, romanization: Druzhestvo s ogranichena otgovornost). It also can be used for Ltd. (UK)
Albania uses "Sh.p.k" () for "limited liability company", "Sh.a." (), meaning "anonymous partnership", for stock corporations. Pursuant to the Albanian legislation, the possible business structures are:
Sole proprietorship (person fizik) – A business owned and managed by one individual who is personally liable for all business debts and obligations.
Limited liability company (LLC) – A hybrid legal structure that provides the limited liability features of a corporation and the tax efficiencies and operational flexibility of a partnership.
Corporation – A legal entity owned by shareholders.
Non-profit – An organization engaged in activities of public or private interest where making a profit is not a primary mission. Some non-profits are exempt from federal taxes.
In the Netherlands, N.V. (Naamloze Vennootschap) and B.V. (Besloten Vennootschap met beperkte aansprakelijkheid) are used. In Belgium, the abbreviations NV and Bvba (or BV, resulting the new Belgian Code of Companies and Associations) are used for similar types of entity.
Asia
In India, the term Pvt Ltd is used for a company that is private, an entity similar to an LLC in the United States. Ltd is used for publicly listed companies (shares of a listed company are traded on the stock market) or a public corporation, a similar entity to a corporation in the US.
Indonesia uses PT (), meaning "private limited", which is the equivalent of an incorporated entity in the US. This legal title is stated in front of the corporation name. If the shares become publicly listed for trading in stock exchange, it is called Tbk. (), appended after the corporation name.
China uses WFOE (or WOFE), to refer to a Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise (WFOE). This is the most popular form of business entity for foreign investors wanting to set up a company in China; it is a limited liability company.
Malaysia uses Sdn. Bhd. (), meaning "private limited", which is the equivalent of an incorporated entity in the US.
Singapore uses Pte. Ltd., meaning "private limited", which is the equivalent of an incorporated entity in the US.
Dubai uses "LLC" to denote a limited liability company. Listed companies use "PJSC" to denote a public joint stock company.
In Turkey, there are two types of companies: Joint Stock Company (JSC) and Limited Liability Company (LLC). 100% foreign ownership of a JSC is legally permitted under the Turkish Law. A foreigner who has never been to Turkey can become a shareholder of a Turkish JSC by way of a power of attorney. Ltd. Şti. (which stands for Limited Şirketi) is a common form to denote limited liability companies.
In the Philippines, it uses the terms, Corporation & Incorporated (Inc.). similar entity to a corporation in the US.
Canada
In Canada, the process of incorporation can be done either at the federal or provincial level. Companies which incorporate with the federal government will generally need to register extra-provincially in the province that they elect to do business. Similarly, a provincial corporation may need to register extra-provincially if they are to have offices outside of their home province. Incorporated Canadian companies can generally use either Corp., Corporation, Inc., Incorporated, Incorporée, Limited, Limitée, Ltd., Ltée, Société par actions de régime fédéral, and S.A.R.F in their name, but this may vary from province to province. Note that there are two government structures operating within Canada. French system is prevalent in Quebec, while the English system is operating in 9 provinces/territories.
See also
Articles of incorporation
BVBA
Delaware corporation
General incorporation law
Limited liability company
List of company registers
Types of business entity
References
External links
How to Incorporate Your New Business a wikiHow article
What is an incorporated business – smallbusiness.chron.com
Corporate law
Corporations
Organization
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUPS
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CUPS
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CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a host that can accept print jobs from client computers, process them, and send them to the appropriate printer.
CUPS consists of a print spooler and scheduler, a filter system that converts the print data to a format that the printer will understand, and a backend system that sends this data to the print device. CUPS uses the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) as the basis for managing print jobs and queues. It also provides the traditional command line interfaces for the System V and Berkeley print systems, and provides support for the Berkeley print system's Line Printer Daemon protocol and limited support for the Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. System administrators can configure the device drivers which CUPS supplies by editing text files in Adobe's PostScript Printer Description (PPD) format. There are a number of user interfaces for different platforms that can configure CUPS, and it has a built-in web-based interface. CUPS is free software, provided under the Apache License.
History
Michael Sweet, who owned Easy Software Products, started developing CUPS in 1997 and the first public betas appeared in 1999. The original design of CUPS used the Line Printer Daemon protocol (LPD), but due to limitations in LPD and vendor incompatibilities, the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) was chosen instead. CUPS was initially called "The Common UNIX Printing System". This name was shortened to just "CUPS" beginning with CUPS 1.4 due to legal concerns with the UNIX trademark. CUPS was quickly adopted as the default printing system for most Linux distributions. In March 2002, Apple Inc. adopted CUPS as the printing system for Mac OS X 10.2. In February 2007, Apple Inc. hired chief developer Michael Sweet and purchased the CUPS source code. On December 20, 2019, Michael Sweet announced on his blog that he had left Apple. In 2020, the OpenPrinting organization forked the project, with Michael Sweet continuing work on it.
Overview
CUPS provides a mechanism that allows print jobs to be sent to printers in a standard fashion. The print data goes to a scheduler which sends jobs to a filter system that converts the print job into a format the printer will understand. The filter system then passes the data on to a backend—a special filter that sends print data to a device or network connection. The system makes extensive use of PostScript and rasterization of data to convert the data into a format suitable for the destination printer.
CUPS offers a standard and modularised printing system that can process numerous data formats on the print server. Before CUPS, it was difficult to find a standard printer management system that would accommodate the very wide variety of printers on the market using their own printer languages and formats. For instance, the System V and Berkeley printing systems were largely incompatible with each other, and they required complicated scripts and workarounds to convert the program's data format to a printable format. They often could not detect the file format that was being sent to the printer and thus could not automatically and correctly convert the data stream. Additionally, data conversion was performed on individual workstations rather than a central server.
CUPS allows printer manufacturers and printer-driver developers to more easily create drivers that work natively on the print server. Processing occurs on the server, allowing for easier network-based printing than with other Unix printing systems. With Samba installed, users can address printers on remote Windows computers, and generic PostScript drivers can be used for printing across the network.
Scheduler
The CUPS scheduler implements Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) over HTTP/1.1. A helper application (cups-lpd) converts Line Printer Daemon protocol (LPD) requests to IPP. The scheduler also provides a web-based interface for managing print jobs, the configuration of the server, and for documentation about CUPS itself.
An authorization module controls which IPP and HTTP messages can pass through the system. Once the IPP/HTTP packets are authorized they are sent to the client module, which listens for and processes incoming connections. The client module is also responsible for executing external CGI programs as needed to support web-based printers, classes, and job status monitoring and administration. Once this module has processed its requests, it sends them to the IPP module which performs Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) validation to prevent a client from sidestepping any access controls or authentication on the HTTP server. The URI is a text string that indicates a name or address that can be used to refer to an abstract or physical resource on a network.
The scheduler allows for classes of printers. Applications can send requests to groups of printers in a class, allowing the scheduler to direct the job to the first available printer in that class. A jobs module manages print jobs, sending them to the filter and backend processes for final conversion and printing, and monitoring the status messages from those processes.
The CUPS scheduler utilizes a configuration module, which parses configuration files, initializes CUPS data structures, and starts and stops the CUPS program. The configuration module will stop CUPS services during configuration file processing and then restart the service when processing is complete.
A logging module handles the logging of scheduler events for access, error, and page log files. The main module handles timeouts and dispatch of I/O requests for client connections, watching for signals, handling child process errors and exits, and reloading the server configuration files as needed.
Other modules used by the scheduler include:
the MIME module, which handles a Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) type and conversion database used in the filtering process that converts print data to a format suitable for a print device;
a PPD module that handles a list of Postscript Printer Description (PPD) files;
a devices module that manages a list of devices that are available in the system;
a printers module that handles printers and PPDs within CUPS.
Filter system
CUPS can process a variety of data formats on the print server. It converts the print-job data into the final language/format of the printer via a series of filters. It uses MIME types for identifying file formats.
MIME databases
After the CUPS system has assigned the print job to the scheduler, it is passed to the CUPS filter system. This converts the data to a format suitable for the printer. During start-up, the CUPS daemon loads two MIME databases: mime.types that defines the known file types that CUPS can accept data for, and mime.convs that defines the programs that process each particular MIME type.
The mime.types file has the syntax:
mimetype { [file-extensions] | [pattern-match] }
For example, to detect an HTML file, the following entry would be applicable:
text/html html htm \
printable(0,1024) + (string(0,"<HTML>") string(0,"<!DOCTYPE"))
The second line matches the file contents to the specified MIME type by determining that the first kilobyte of text in the file holds printable characters and that those characters include HTML markup. If the pattern above matches, then the filter system would mark the file as the MIME type text/html.
The mime.convs file has the syntax:
source destination cost program
The source field designates the MIME type that is determined by looking up the mime.types file, while the destination field lists the type of output requested and determines what program should be used. This is also retrieved from mime.types. The cost field assists in the selection of sets of filters when converting a file. The last field, program, determines which filter program to use to perform the data conversion.
Some examples:
text/plain application/postscript 50 texttops
application/vnd.cups-postscript application/vnd.cups-raster 50 pstoraster
image/* application/vnd.cups-postscript 50 imagetops
image/* application/vnd.cups-raster 50 imagetoraster
Filtering process
The filtering process works by taking input data pre-formatted with six arguments:
the job ID of the print job
the user name
the job name
the number of copies to print
any print options
the filename (though this is unnecessary if it has been redirected from standard input).
It then determines the type of data that is being input and the filter to be used through the use of the MIME databases; for instance, image data will be detected and processed through a particular filter, and HTML data detected and processed through another filter.
CUPS can convert supplied data either into PostScript data or directly into raster data. If it is converted into PostScript data an additional filter is applied called a prefilter, which runs the PostScript data through another PostScript converter so that it can add printer-specific options like selecting page ranges to print, setting n-up mode and other device-specific things. After the pre-filtering is done, the data can either be sent directly to a CUPS backend if using a PostScript printer, or it can be passed to another filter like Foomatic by linuxprinting.org. Alternatively, it can be passed to Ghostscript, which converts the PostScript into an intermediary CUPS-raster format. The intermediary raster format is then passed onto a final filter which converts the raster data to a printer-specific format. The default filters included with CUPS include:
raster to PCL
raster to ESC/P or ESC/P2 (an Epson printer language, now largely superseded by their new ESC/P-Raster format)
raster to Dymo (another printer company).
raster to Zebra Programming Language or ZPL (a Zebra Technologies printer language)
other proprietary languages like GDI or SPL (Samsung Printer Language) are supported by Splix, a raster to SPL translator.
However, several other alternatives can integrate with CUPS. HPLIP (previously known as HP-IJS) provides Linux+CUPS drivers for HP printers, Gutenprint (previously known as Gimp-Print) is a range of high-quality printer drivers for (mostly) inkjet printers, and TurboPrint for Linux has another range of quality printer drivers for a wide range of printers.
Backends
The backends are the ways in which CUPS sends data to printers. There are several backends available for CUPS: parallel, serial, and USB ports, cups-pdf PDF Virtual Printing, as well as network backends that operate via the IPP, JetDirect (AppSocket), Line Printer Daemon ("LPD"), and SMB protocols.
A new mdns backend in CUPS 1.4 provides Bonjour (DNS-SD) based printer discovery. In CUPS 1.6, Bonjour printer discovery and sharing using Avahi is also supported.
Compatibility
CUPS provides both the System V and Berkeley printing commands, so users can continue with traditional commands for printing via CUPS. CUPS uses port 631 (TCP and UDP), which is the standard IPP port, and optionally on port 515 by inetd, launchd, the Solaris Service Management Facility, or xinetd which use the cups-lpd helper program to support LPD printing. When CUPS is installed the lp System V printing system command and the lpr Berkeley printing system commands are installed as compatible programs. This allows a standard interface to CUPS and allows maximum compatibility with existing applications that rely on these printing systems.
User interface tools
Several tools exist to help set up CUPS.
CUPS web-based administration interface
On all platforms, CUPS has a web-based administration interface that runs on port 631. It particularly helps organisations that need to monitor print jobs and add print queues and printers remotely.
CUPS 1.0 provided a simple class, job, and printer-monitoring interface for web browsers.
CUPS 1.1 replaced this interface with an enhanced administration interface that allows users to add, modify, delete, configure, and control classes, jobs, and printers.
CUPS 1.2 and later provide a revamped web interface which features improved readability and design, support for automatically discovered printers, and better access to system logs and advanced settings.
GNOME
In GNOME starting from GNOME 3, CUPS printing has been handled in the Settings application, which is part of the GNOME Core Applications. The GUI can add CUPS printers and manage CUPS printers and queues. Before GNOME 3, the GNOME Print Settings (formerly called CUPS Manager) were used to perform these tasks.
GNOME's widget toolkit GTK+ included integrated printing support based on CUPS in its version 2.10, released in 2006.
KDE
The KDEPrint framework for KDE contains various GUI tools that act as CUPS front ends and allows the administration of classes, print queues and print jobs; it includes a printer wizard to assist with adding new printers amongst other features. KDEPrint first appeared in KDE 2.2.
KDEPrint supports several different printing platforms, with CUPS one of the best supported. It replaced a previous version of printing support in KDE, qtcups and is backwards compatible with this module of KDE. kprinter, a dialogue-box program, serves as the main tool for sending jobs to the print device; it can also be started from the command line. KDEPrint includes a system to pre-filter any jobs before they are handed over to CUPS, or to handle jobs all on its own, such as converting files to PDF. These filters are described by a pair of Desktop/XML files.
KDEPrint's main components include:
a Print Dialog box, which allows printer properties to be modified
a Print Manager, which allows management of printers, such as adding and removing printers, through an Add Printer Wizard
a Job Viewer/Manager, which manages printer jobs, such as hold/release, cancel and move to another printer
a CUPS configuration module (integrated into KDE)
Mac OS X
In Mac OS X 10.5, printers are configured in the Print & Fax panel in System Preferences, and in printer proxy applications which display the print queues and allow additional configuration after printers are set up. Earlier versions of Mac OS X also included a Printer Setup Utility, which supplied configuration options missing from earlier versions of the Print & Fax preference pane.
PrinterSetup
The PrinterSetup system can manage CUPS queues. It takes the approach of assigning a text file to describe each print queue. These 'PrinterSetupFiles' may then be added to other text files called 'PrinterSetupLists'. This allows logical grouping of printers. the PrinterSetup project remains in its infancy.
Red Hat Linux/Fedora
Starting with Red Hat Linux 9, Red Hat provided an integrated print manager based on CUPS and integrated into GNOME. This allowed adding printers via a user interface similar to the one Microsoft Windows uses, where a new printer could be added using an add new printer wizard, along with changing default printer properties in a window containing a list of installed printers. Jobs could also be started and stopped using a print manager, and the printer could be paused using a context menu that pops up when the printer icon is right-clicked.
Eric Raymond criticised this system in his piece The Luxury of Ignorance. Raymond had attempted to install CUPS using the Fedora Core 1 print manager but found it non-intuitive; he criticised the interface designers for not designing with the user's point of view in mind. He found the idea of printer queues not obvious because users create queues on their local computer but these queues are actually created on the CUPS server.
He also found the plethora of queue-type options confusing as he could choose from between networked CUPS (IPP), networked Unix (LPD), networked Windows (SMB), networked Novell (NCP) or networked JetDirect. He found the help file singularly unhelpful and largely irrelevant to a user's needs. Raymond used CUPS as a general topic to show that user-interface design on Linux desktops needs rethinking and more careful design. He stated:
The meta-problem here is that the configuration wizard does all the approved rituals (GUI with standardized clicky buttons, help popping up in a browser, etc. etc.) but doesn't have the central attribute these are supposed to achieve: discoverability. That is, the quality that every point in the interface has prompts and actions attached to it from which you can learn what to do next. Does your project have this quality?
ESP Print Pro
Easy Software Products, the original creators of CUPS, created a GUI, provided support for many printers and implemented a PostScript RIP. ESP Print Pro ran on Windows, UNIX and Linux, but is no longer available and support for this product ended on December 31, 2007.
See also
Foomatic
Gutenprint
HP Linux Imaging and Printing
Lp (Unix)
LPRng
Scanner Access Now Easy
Spooling
Xprint
References
Further reading
Design of CUPS Filtering System — including the context for Mac OS X ("Jaguar"). LinuxPrinting.org. Retrieved January 5, 2005.
KDE. KDEPrint information. KDE-printing website. Retrieved January 14, 2005.
How to Manage Printers in Linux, Linux.com, 2015-04-27.
External links
OpenPrinting
Universal Plug and Play – Printer Device V 1.0 and Printer Basic Service V 1.0
1999 software
Apple Inc. acquisitions
Apple Inc. software
Computer printing
Device drivers
Free PDF software
Free software programmed in C
Unix network-related software
Software using the Apache license
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%20Riddle
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Nelson Riddle
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Nelson Smock Riddle Jr. (June 1, 1921 – October 6, 1985) was an American arranger, composer, bandleader and orchestrator whose career stretched from the late 1940s to the mid-1980s. He worked with many vocalists at Capitol Records, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, Johnny Mathis, Rosemary Clooney and Keely Smith. He scored and arranged music for many films and television shows, earning an Academy Award and three Grammy Awards. He found commercial and critical success with a new generation in the 1980s, in a trio of Platinum albums with Linda Ronstadt.
Early years
Riddle was born in Oradell, New Jersey, the only surviving child of Marie Albertine Riddle (a native of Mulhouse, France, whose father was Spanish) and Nelson Smock Riddle, who was of English-Irish and Dutch descent. His mother had suffered six miscarriages and one stillbirth in her lifetime. It was his mother's second marriage. The family later moved to nearby Ridgewood.
Following his father's interest in music, he began taking piano lessons at age eight and trombone lessons at age fourteen. He was encouraged to continue his musical pursuits at Ridgewood High School.
A formative experience was hearing Serge Koussevitsky and the Boston Symphony Orchestra playing Maurice Ravel's Boléro. Riddle said later: "... I've never forgotten it. It's almost as if the orchestra leaped from the stage and smacked you in the face ..."
By his teenage years, Riddle had decided to become a professional musician; "... I wanted to be a jazz trombone player, but I didn't have the coordination." So he began to turn to composing and arranging.
The Riddle family had a summer house in Rumson, New Jersey. Riddle enjoyed Rumson so much that he convinced his parents to allow him to attend his senior year in high school there (1938).
In Rumson while playing for trumpeter Charlie Briggs' band, the Briggadiers, he met one of the most important influences on his later arranging style: Bill Finegan, with whom he began arranging lessons. Despite being only four years older than Riddle, Finegan was considerably more musically sophisticated, and within a few years Riddle was creating not only some of the most popular arrangements from the swing era, such as Glenn Miller's "Little Brown Jug", but also great jazz arrangements such as Tommy Dorsey's "Chloe" and "At Sundown" from the mid-1940s.
After his graduation from Rumson High School, Riddle spent his late teens and early 20s playing trombone in and occasionally arranging for various local dance bands, culminating in his association with the Charlie Spivak Orchestra. In 1943, Riddle joined the Merchant Marine, serving at Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York for about two years while continuing to work for the Charlie Spivak Orchestra.
Riddle studied orchestration under his fellow merchant mariner, composer Alan Shulman. After his enlistment term ended, Riddle traveled to Chicago to join Tommy Dorsey's orchestra in 1944, where he remained the orchestra's third trombone for eleven months until drafted by the Army in April 1945, shortly before the end of World War II. He was discharged in June 1946, after fifteen months of active duty. He moved shortly thereafter to Hollywood to pursue a career as an arranger, and spent the next several years writing arrangements for multiple radio and record projects. In May 1949, Doris Day had a #2 hit, "Again", backed by Riddle.
Capitol years
In 1950, Riddle was hired by composer Les Baxter to write arrangements for a recording session with Nat King Cole; this was one of Riddle's first associations with Capitol Records. Although one of the songs Riddle had arranged, "Mona Lisa," soon became the biggest selling single of Cole's career, the work was credited to Baxter. However, once Cole learned the identity of the arrangement's creator, he sought out Riddle's work for other sessions, and thus began a fruitful partnership that furthered the careers of both men at Capitol.
During the same year, Riddle also formed a friendship with Vern Yocum (born George Vernon Yocum), a big band jazz musician (and brother of Pied Piper Clark Yocum) who would transition into music preparation for Frank Sinatra and other entertainers at Capitol Records. A collaboration followed, with Vern becoming Riddle's "right hand" as copyist and librarian for the next thirty years.
In 1953, Capitol Records executives viewed the up-and-coming Riddle as a prime choice to arrange for Frank Sinatra. Sinatra was reluctant however, preferring instead to remain with Axel Stordahl, his long-time collaborator from his Columbia Records years. When success of the first few Capitol sides with Stordahl proved disappointing, Sinatra eventually relented and Riddle was called in to arrange his first session for Sinatra, held on April 30, 1953. Riddle drew on Sinatra's rhythm section, led by drummer/percussionist Irving Cottler (who was the featured drummer on Nat King Cole's "Mona Lisa"). The first product of the Riddle-Sinatra partnership, "I've Got the World on a String" became a runaway hit and is often credited with relaunching the singer's slumping career. Riddle's personal favorite was a Sinatra ballad album, one of his most successful recordings, Only the Lonely.
For the next decade, Riddle continued to arrange for Sinatra and Cole, in addition to such Capitol artists as Kate Smith, Judy Garland, Dean Martin, Keely Smith, Sue Raney, and Ed Townsend. He also found time to record his own instrumental discs, released on Capitol in both 45 RPM single, and LP album format. Riddle's most successful tune was "Lisbon Antigua", released in November 1955, which reached and remained at the #1 position for four weeks in 1956. Riddle's most notable LPs were Hey ... Let Yourself Go (1957) and C'mon ... Get Happy (1958), both of which peaked at a respectable number twenty on the Billboard charts. In 1959, he won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Composition First Recorded and Released in 1958 (over 5 minutes duration) at the inaugural award ceremony for Cross Country Suite, which was composed for former bandmate Buddy DeFranco.
While at Capitol, Riddle continued his successful career arranging music for film, most notably with MGM's Conrad Salinger on the first onscreen duet between Bing Crosby and Sinatra in High Society (1956), and the 1957 film version of Pal Joey directed by George Sidney for Columbia Pictures.
Later years
In 1957, Riddle and his orchestra were featured on The Rosemary Clooney Show, a 30-minute syndicated program.
In 1962, Riddle orchestrated two albums for Ella Fitzgerald, Ella Swings Brightly with Nelson, and Ella Swings Gently with Nelson, their first work together since 1959's Ella Fitzgerald Sings the George and Ira Gershwin Song Book. The mid-1960s would also see Fitzgerald and Riddle collaborate on the last of Ella's Songbooks, devoted to the songs of Jerome Kern (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Jerome Kern Song Book) and Johnny Mercer (Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Johnny Mercer Song Book).
In 1963, Riddle joined Sinatra's newly established label Reprise Records, under the musical direction of Morris Stoloff.
In 1964, Riddle partnered with Tom Jobim, who is considered to be one of the great exponents of Brazilian music and one of the main founders of the Bossa Nova movement. The record, titled The Wonderful World of Antonio Carlos Jobim, was released in 1965.
In 1966, Riddle was hired by television producer William Dozier to create the music for the Batman television series starring Adam West. (Neal Hefti had written the Batman theme song and was originally hired for the series, but became unavailable.) Riddle did the first two seasons of Batman (sans two episodes scored by Warren Barker), along with the theatrically released Batman: The Movie. Billy May did the third season's music. Re-recordings of Riddle's music from Batman were issued on one soundtrack LP and a 45 RPM single. There was a "Batmanesque" tone in the soundtrack for Howard Hawks' John Wayne film El Dorado, also scored by Riddle in 1966, due to his continued heavy use of brass.
Riddle was the musical director for 16 episodes of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour between 1967 and 1969.
Riddle's television work in the 60s included his hit theme song and incidental music for Route 66, The Untouchables, and The Rogues. His film work in the 60s included the scores for the Rat Pack motion pictures Robin and the 7 Hoods and the original Ocean's 11. In 1969, he arranged and conducted the music to the film Paint Your Wagon, which starred a trio of non-singers, Lee Marvin, Clint Eastwood, and Jean Seberg.
In the latter half of the 1960s, the partnership between Riddle and Frank Sinatra grew more distant as Sinatra began increasingly to turn to Don Costa, Billy May and an assortment of other arrangers for his album projects. Although Riddle would write various arrangements for Sinatra until the late 1970s, Strangers In The Night, released in 1966, was the last full album project the pair completed together. The collection of Riddle-arranged songs was intended to expand on the success of the title track, which had been a number one hit single for Sinatra arranged by Ernie Freeman.
During the 1970s, Riddle's film and television efforts included the score for the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby, which earned him his first Academy Award, after some five nominations. In 1973, he served as musical director for the Emmy Award winning The Julie Andrews Hour. He wrote the theme songs for the 1972 television series Emergency! and the 1975 television series Caribe, and scored the 1977 miniseries Seventh Avenue. The Nelson Riddle Orchestra also made numerous concert appearances throughout the 1970s, some of which were led and contracted by his good friend, Tommy Shepard.
On March 14, 1977, Riddle conducted his last three arrangements for Sinatra. "Linda", "Sweet Lorraine", and "Barbara", were intended for an album of songs with women's names. The album was never completed. "Sweet Lorraine" was released in 1990 and the other two were included in The Complete Reprise Studio Recordings, released in 1995.
In 1978 Riddle was Musical Director for the 50th Academy Awards ceremony, the only occasion on which he performed the task.
In December 1979, Riddle conducted and arranged "Something" for Sinatra's 1980 album "Trilogy". And in 1981, he also arranged and conducted the medley of "The Gal That Got Away" and "It Never Entered My Mind" for Sinatra's album "She Shot Me Down", which was the final time he worked for Frank.
1982 saw Riddle work for the last time with Ella Fitzgerald, on her last orchestral Pablo album, The Best Is Yet to Come.
Riddle had composed most of the incidental music for Newhart, and the show's 71st episode was dedicated to his memory.
Career revival
In the spring of 1982, Riddle was approached by Linda Ronstadt — via telephone through her manager and producer, Peter Asher — to write arrangements for an album of jazz standards that Ronstadt had been contemplating since her stint in The Pirates of Penzance. The agreement between the two resulted in a three-album contract which included what were to be the last arrangements of Riddle's career, with the exception of an album of twelve Great American Songbook standards he arranged and conducted for his old friend, opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa, in April 1985, six months before his death that October. Ronstadt recalls that when she initially approached Riddle, she did not know if he was even familiar with her music. He knew her name, but basically hated rock 'n' roll. However, his daughter was a big Linda Ronstadt fan and told her father, "Don't worry, Dad. Her checks won't bounce."
When Riddle learned of Ronstadt's desire to learn more about traditional pop music and agreed to record with her, he insisted on a complete album or nothing. He explained to Ronstadt that he had once turned down Paul McCartney, who had sought him out to write an arrangement for one of McCartney's albums, "I just couldn't do it. You can't put something like that in the middle of a bunch of other things. The mood comes and then it changes. It's like putting a picture in a bad frame." Riddle was at first skeptical of Ronstadt's proposed project, but once he agreed, his career turned around immediately. For her to do "elevator music", as she called it, was a great surprise to the young audience. Joe Smith, the president of Elektra, was terrified that the albums would turn off the rock audience. The three albums together sold over seven million copies and brought Riddle back to a young audience during the last three years of his life. Arrangements for Linda Ronstadt's What's New (1983) and Lush Life (1984) won Riddle his second and third Grammy Awards.
On January 19, 1985, Riddle conducted at the nationally televised 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala, the day before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. The program was hosted by Frank Sinatra, who sang "Fly Me to the Moon" and "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" (backed by a solo dance routine by Mikhail Baryshnikov).
Working with Ronstadt, Riddle brought his career back into focus in the last three years of his life. Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote, What's New "isn't the first album by a rock singer to pay tribute to the golden age of pop, but is ... the best and most serious attempt to rehabilitate an idea of pop that Beatlemania and the mass marketing of rock LPs for teen-agers undid in the mid-60s ... In the decade prior to Beatlemania, most of the great band singers and crooners of the 40s and 50s codified a half-century of American pop standards on dozens of albums ... many of them now long out-of-print." What's New is the first album by a rock singer to have major commercial success in rehabilitating the Great American Songbook.
Riddle's third and final Grammy was awarded posthumously—and accepted on his behalf by Linda Ronstadt just prior to airtime—in early 1986. Ronstadt subsequently presented the evening's first on-air award, at which time she narrated a tribute to the departed maestro.
Personal life
Riddle married his first wife, Doreen Moran, in 1945, while in the Army. The couple had six children. Riddle had an extra-marital affair with singer Rosemary Clooney in the 1960s, which contributed to the breakup of their respective marriages.
In 1968, Riddle separated from his wife Doreen; their divorce became official in 1970. A few months later he married Naomi Tenenholtz, then his secretary, with whom he would remain for the rest of his life. Riddle's eldest son Nelson Jr. resides in London, England, and is married to British actress Paula Wilcox. Riddle's eldest daughter, Rosemary, is the trustee of the Nelson Riddle Trust.
Riddle was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the national fraternity for men in music.
In a 1982 radio interview on WNEW with Jonathan Schwartz, Riddle cited Stan Kenton's "23 Degrees North, 82 Degrees West" arranged by Bill Russo as inspiration for his signature trombone interplay crescendos.
In 1985, Riddle died in Los Angeles, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, at age 64 of cardiac and kidney failure as a result of cirrhosis, with which he had been diagnosed five years earlier. His cremated remains are inurned at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California in the Hall of David Mausoleum.
Legacy
Following Riddle's death, his last three arrangements for Ronstadt's For Sentimental Reasons album were conducted by Terry Woodson; the album was released in 1986. In February 1986, Riddle's youngest son Christopher, himself an accomplished bass trombonist, assumed the leadership of his father's orchestra.
Following the death of Riddle's second wife Naomi in 1998, proceeds from the sale of the Riddle home in Bel Air were used to establish a Nelson Riddle Endowed Chair and library at the University of Arizona, which officially opened in 2001. The opening showcased a gala concert of Riddle's works, with Ronstadt as a featured guest performer.
In 2000, Erich Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops released a Nelson Riddle tribute album on Telarc Records titled Route 66: That Nelson Riddle Sound. The album showcased expanded orchestral adaptations of the original arrangements provided by the Nelson Riddle Archives, and was presented in a state-of-the-art digital recording that was among the first titles to be released on multi-channel SACD.
Selected filmography
Flame of the Islands (1956)
Lisbon (1956)
Johnny Concho (1956)
A Hole in the Head (1959)
Li'l Abner (1959)
Ocean's 11 (1960)
Lolita (1962)
Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
4 for Texas (1963)
Paris When It Sizzles (1964)
What a Way to Go! (1964)
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
Harlow (1965)
Marriage on the Rocks (1965)
A Rage to Live (1965)
Red Line 7000 (1965)
Batman (1966)
El Dorado (1966)
The Spy in the Green Hat (1966)
The Maltese Bippy (1969)
The Great Bank Robbery (1969)
The Blue Knight (series) (1975)
The Great Gatsby (1974)
How to Break Up a Happy Divorce (1976)
Harper Valley PTA (1978)
Goin' Coconuts (1978)
Rough Cut (1980)
Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984)
Discography
Bibliography
References
External links
Nelson Riddle Collection at the University of Arizona
1921 births
1985 deaths
20th-century American composers
American bandleaders
American film score composers
American music arrangers
American sailors
Big band bandleaders
Best Original Music Score Academy Award winners
Burials at Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Capitol Records artists
Deaths from cirrhosis
Deaths from kidney failure
Grammy Award winners
MPS Records artists
People from Oradell, New Jersey
Musicians from Ridgewood, New Jersey
People from Rumson, New Jersey
Ridgewood High School (New Jersey) alumni
Rumson-Fair Haven Regional High School alumni
United States Merchant Mariners
United States Army soldiers
American male film score composers
20th-century American male musicians
Traditional pop music singers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vera%20Baird
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Vera Baird
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Dame Vera Baird ( Thomas; born 13 February 1950) is a British barrister and politician who has held roles as a government minister, police and crime commissioner, and Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales.
A Labour Party Member of Parliament for Redcar from 2001 to 2010, Baird was a government minister from 2006 to 2010 and the Solicitor General for England and Wales from 2007 to 2010. She served as the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria Police from November 2012 to June 2019. She was appointed as Victim's Commissioner in June 2019 and resigned in September 2022, accusing government ministers of downgrading victims' interests.
Baird was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to women and equality.
Education
Baird attended Yew Tree County Primary School and the local authority-run Chadderton Grammar School for Girls. She then studied law at Newcastle Polytechnic where she gained an LLB. While at Newcastle Polytechnic she founded and edited a student newspaper, 'Polygon', and a year later was elected Vice President of the Polytechnic Union.
In 1983 she gained a BA in Literature and Modern History at the Open University. In 1983 she became a legal associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute. She completed the first year of an MA in modern history at London Guildhall University from 1999 before transferring to the University of Teesside on being selected for Redcar. She is currently studying for an MPhil (History) at the University of Teesside.
She is an honorary fellow of St Hilda's College, Oxford and of Teesside University and an honorary professor of London South Bank University. In November 2017 Baird was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Durham University Law School.
Legal career
Baird was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1975 and first practised in the North East, setting up Collingwood Chambers in Newcastle upon Tyne, with other young barristers, shortly after she finished her pupilage and becoming its Head of Chambers for some years.
In 1983 she was retained to act for Billingham Against Nuclear Dumping (BAND) when the then nuclear waste disposal agency NIREX planned to store intermediate-level nuclear waste in a disused anhydrite mine under Billingham, though the plans were abandoned in 1985 when the owners of the mine, ICI, refused to co-operate. At the conclusion of the campaign her fees were, at her direction, donated by BAND to the Druridge Bay Campaign. She subsequently represented similar groups opposed to nuclear-waste dumping threatened at Fulbeck in Lincolnshire (Lincolnshire Against Nuclear Dumping- LAND), at North Killingholme on Humberside (HAND) and at Bradwell (BAND) in a lengthy High Court action in 1986 before the plans were abandoned by the Conservative government shortly before the 1987 general election.
Baird represented a dismissed mother-to-be in an early pregnancy discrimination case (Brown v Stockton on Tees Borough Council) in the House of Lords. In the late 1980s she represented a mother who was alleged to have killed her three sons, an early example of a parent allegedly suffering from Münchausen syndrome by proxy. She acted for many political protesters, at Greenham Common and other peace camps and on anti-Apartheid marches and demonstrations, and defended women who damaged shops in protest against 'top-shelf' magazines. She represented local objectors in compulsory purchase and planning inquiries.
During the 1984–85 miners' strike she represented striking miners, most notably in North East England, charged with offences arising from picketing, demonstrations and the alleged intimidation of miners seeking to break the strike. On Saturdays during the strike Baird was regularly seen outside a supermarket in Jesmond with a wheelbarrow collecting food for miners' families.
Baird met the 6th Lord Gifford while working on the Orgreave trial where her questioning of the police proved crucial to the outcome. The Orgreave trial concerned allegations of riot and violent disorder against 95 miners, 15 of whom were in the first trial, which was abandoned by the prosecution after 16 weeks. She joined Gifford's chambers before moving to the Chambers of Michael Mansfield QC in 1988.
As a member of Mansfield's Chambers Baird was involved in many high-profile cases at the bar. She defended in murder cases, robberies, drug cases, fraud and bribery cases at the Old Bailey and on appeal to the Court of Appeal and House of Lords. She also prosecuted in environmental cases for Greenpeace.
In 1994 she represented the defendant in R v Carol Peters (the appeal and retrial), in which the Court of Appeal quashed Peters' murder conviction (alleged temazepam poisoning and the inflicting of 39 stab wounds on her husband) and ordered a retrial. At the retrial Peters was acquitted of murder, the defence being that she was suffering from battered woman syndrome, at the time an undeveloped and area of law and fact. She also represented Emma Humphreys on appeal, a disadvantaged young woman convicted of murdering her violent pimp when she was 17 years old. The case drew attention to battered women who kill their violent partners and underpinned legislative changes subsequently made by the Labour Government when Baird was a Minister. Baird acted for many other abused women following the Humphreys case and the legal changes that it brought about.
Other high-profile cases Baird has been involved in include the representation of murderer Jane Andrews in an appeal. She defended prisoners accused of rioting at Risley Remand Centre and at Strangeways Prison and continued to represent campaigners in many kinds of protest case.
In 2000 Baird took silk, 25 years after becoming a barrister.
Parliamentary career
At the 1983 general election, Baird contested the constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed, finishing in third place behind the victor Alan Beith. Despite the party's landslide defeat nationally, she received an increase in the Labour vote. At the 2001 general election she was selected to contest Labour's then ultra-safe seat of Redcar, following the retirement of the sitting MP and former Cabinet minister, Mo Mowlam. Baird won with 7% smaller vote than Mowlam, taking the seat with a large majority.
In 2004 Baird served on a number of select committees between 2001 and 2005 including Joint Select Committee on Human Rights 2001–2003 and the Select Committee on Work and Pensions between 2003 and 2005.
Baird was re-elected at the 2005 general election with a reduction in her majority. She then became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Home Secretary, Charles Clarke.
On 8 May 2006, she was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the Department for Constitutional Affairs – which was renamed the Ministry of Justice in May 2007, following the reorganisation of the Home Office. In June 2007, newly appointed Prime Minister Gordon Brown appointed Baird Solicitor General for England and Wales.
In 2006 Baird commented that in calculating the sentence of a sex offender the judge had been too lenient; she retracted the comments after her boss Lord Falconer supported the judge saying the fault lay not with the judiciary but with sentencing guidelines. Judge Keith Cutler later suggested that criticism from ministers including Baird and Home Secretary John Reid could force judges to break their tradition of silence when criticised.
In 2009 Baird helped establish the Stern Review on the way rape cases are handled, an independent report by Baroness Stern, it was published in March 2010 concluding that there needed to be a greater focus on victims.
In the recession beginning in mid-2008 the worldwide price of steel halved over a period of 6 months, steel production worldwide reduced and in the UK the blast furnace at Teesside Steelworks Corus was eventually shut down on 19 February 2010. The whole plant was then mothballed following the withdrawal of an international consortium that had been considering the purchase of the plant. There were over a thousand redundancies and the future of Redcar, as a steel town was undermined. A major regional campaign to save the steelworks was operating but, despite receiving praise for her own personal efforts in the campaign which had included a trip to Italy in an attempt to persuade Marcegaglia, the leading consortium business to keep to the contract, the view was that the Labour Government had failed to save the steelworks. Baird lost her seat in the House of Commons on 7 May 2010 at the 2010 general election, with a 21.8% swing, the largest against Labour in the general election and the first time in the short history of the constituency the Labour Party had ever lost the seat in Redcar.
Backbencher
Baird was a frequent backbench speaker, winning adjournment debates on diverse national and local issues and in 2004 she was awarded The Spectator Backbencher of the Year Award. During her time as an MP Baird was a member of both the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association and the Inter-Parliamentary Union. She delivered lectures at conferences on democracy, gender and human rights in many locations around the world and carried out election monitoring duties on nine occasions.
She was a notable figure in several Parliamentary campaigns including that to remove the rule where pensioners going into hospital had to surrender their pension and reapply on discharge and in another campaign that sought, successfully, to amend National Insurance and other rules – the amendments meaning that the number of women who qualified for the Basic State Pension was greatly increased.
Higher profile campaigns included her involvement in a Commons revolt against derogation from Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights in which Baird often took the lead in Parliament and the blocking of the partial abolition of jury trial proposed in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 through the proposal of amendments in the Commons. Bob Marshall-Andrews, another MP opposed to the abolition of jury trials, gave credit to Baird's efforts by stating "Saving jury trial was a singular victory and the one of which, in thirteen years at Westminster, I remain most proud. Without Vera's voice we would probably have lost and that remains, as they say, big medicine."
During her time as a backbencher Baird was involved in various activities and work outside of Parliament. She designed and delivered courses, in consecutive years, for the British Council on aspects of criminal, civil and family law firstly for Ethiopian judiciary and secondly to the Ethiopian Police Service. She was a Fellow of the Norfolk Trust in Summer 2004, visiting New Zealand, South America and East Africa to study her own topic of violence against women and, as is the obligation to the Trust, to study the chosen topics of her 3 Co-Fellows, which were HIV/AIDs, environmental issues in connection with mineral extraction and Health Service delivery.
Baird was a Patron of the Jubilee Debt Campaign of EVA-Women's Aid of FOCAS (autistic charity) and ROC (disabled charity). She was Chair of the Fawcett Commission on Women and Criminal Justice 2002 – 2006. This latter was a seminal review of women as defendant, as victims & witnesses and as workers in the criminal justice system which triggered a number of major legislative and non-legislative changes including the Corston Review on Women with Vulnerabilities in Prison. Baroness Corston succeeded Baird as Commission Chair when Baird became a Minister. Baird worked with MIND on strategies to make the criminal courts more responsive to people with mental illness or learning difficulties and was Secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party Women's Committee.
During her time as MP and before she became a PPS, Baird was active in the Parliamentary Committee system. She was a member of the Commons Work and Pensions Select Committee 2003–2005 : scrutinising the work of the DWP. Influential Reports included on Women and Pensions and Child Support Agency, the latter bringing the demise this failed organisation; a member of the Joint Select Committee on Human Rights 2001–2003 : joint Lords-Commons Committee scrutinising legislation for compliance with European Convention on Human Rights. Influential reports include recommending the establishment of the Equality and Human Rights Commission; a member of the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Committee on various constitution and democracy proposals including the Corruption Bill 2003 (With others on the committee, Baird was instrumental in ensuring the rejection of the Corruption Bill, which would not have complied with international obligations); a member of the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny Committee of the Armed Forces Bill 2005–2006:
The Committee approved the Bill with modifications, in particular about reform to the Court Martial system; elected onto a large number of House of Commons Standing Committees (now (2012) known as General Committees, they conduct detailed scrutiny of proposed legislation) including: Export Control Bill 2002, Proceeds of Crime Bill 2002, Criminal Justice Bill 2003, Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Bill 2004, Sexual Offences Bill 2003, Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill 2005, Pensions Bill 2004, Housing Bill 2004; the Chair of All Party Parliamentary Groups on: Burma (jointly with John Bercow MP), On Equalities, for Citizens Advice, on Steel Industry, on Domestic and Sexual Violence; a member of All Party Parliamentary Groups on Ethiopia, Botswana, Tanzania, Great Lakes Region, India, the Falklands, Seaside Towns, Town Centre Management, Cancer Research, Cardiac Arrest in the Young and Animal Welfare.
Solicitor General for England and Wales: 2007–2010
In June 2007 Baird became the Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Senior Law Officer in the House of Commons and the Government's Chief Legal Adviser and Criminal Justice Minister, a position she held jointly with the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland.
As Senior Law Officer Baird was responsible, together with the Attorney General, for the Law Office budget and for setting the strategic direction for the Crown Prosecution Service, Serious Fraud Office, Service Prosecuting Authority (covering the Armed Forces) Treasury Solicitor's Department, Government Legal Service and Her Majesty's Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate as well as giving lead ministerial sponsorship to the National Fraud Authority. At this time the Law Officers also oversaw the Director of Public Prosecutions for Northern Ireland. A further aspect of the role of Solicitor General for England and Wales is the requirement for close liaison with various police bodies including the strategic level Association of Chief Police Officers (APCO).
As a Senior Law Officer, Baird held the responsibility, together with the Attorney General, for protecting the independence of Prosecutors; for providing legal advice to over 20 Whitehall departments and for taking action on contempt of court, (typically when press reporting of criminal cases may inappropriately influence their outcome). She represented the Government in court, in particular in the Court of Appeal Criminal Division on Unduly Lenient Sentence appeals, asking the Appeal Court to increase too lenient Crown Court sentences. She advised on charities law where there were disputes in which the State had an interest. The law officers advise on whether Bills are compatible with the Human Rights Act 1998.
As Solicitor General, Baird – together with the Attorney General – developed a pro bono committee to focus and streamline the availability of free legal advice. They set up the Access to Justice Foundation, to hold costs from pro bono cases and changed the law to allow lawyers who have acted on a for free basis to apply for costs to be put into the fund to support the organisation for future free legal work.
Baird and Scotland oversaw the introduction of Associate Prosecutors, extending the powers of less qualified prosecutors to present cases in the magistrates' courts, to save fully qualified solicitors from the need to conduct small case, so freeing them to prepare serious work for the Crown Court. They also developed and oversaw the introduction of CPS Online, a phone line for police charging advice.
With the Attorney General, Baird, as sponsor Minister, deployed a budget of £28 million to implement the recommendations of the 2006 Fraud Review and established the National Fraud Authority (NFA), which became an executive agency of the Law Officers Departments (LODs) in 2008 with Dr Bernard Herdan as its Chief Executive.
Baird was a senior member of the Inter-Ministerial Group which oversaw the NFA and the co-ordination of the UK's first National Fraud Strategy in partnership with over 28 public private and trade bodies. In April 2008, the City of London Police was established as the Lead Force on fraud, to take over complex investigations and strengthen skills and expertise in the police nationwide. In its first year took on 71 major cases involving losses to victims estimated at £1 billion. The National Fraud Intelligence Bureau was established and Baird spoke at key events, such as the Fraud Advisory Panel's Conference to promote co-ordinated action against fraud and in particular present a new focus on prevention and protection of what had historically and wrongly been seen as a victimless crime.
In June 2007 the Law Officers approved the enhanced Digital Forensic Unit, a £1 million facility expanding the ability of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) to retrieve information from computers and other devices seized in investigations.
In April 2008 Richard Alderman was appointed to transform the Serious Fraud Office following the highly critical De Grazia Report.
Baird and Scotland launched the Prosecutors' Convention to streamline the operations of over 40 prosecuting bodies such as the Civil Aviation Authority, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Financial Services Authority and the Office of Fair Trading.
Baird launched the Homophobic Hate Crime strategy and a Race and Religious Hate Crime strategy, with Sir Ken Macdonald and in 2008 with the CPS launched the first public policy on cases of crime against older people.
The CPS launched its first ever violence against women strategy in 2007, the first in Government and this resulted in policies on the prosecution or rape and domestic violence being updated and publicly launched.
Baird attended the Victims' Advisory Panel where victims informed of Government policy. She visited several joint CPS and Police Witness Care Unit s to develop the information and support for witnesses. She supported the roll-out of the Witness Intermediaries' Scheme, which provides support for witnesses with communication difficulties and the introduction of new offences to support those at risk of intimidation. Sara Payne was appointed as the first independent Victims' Champion with a role to listen to the views and concerns of victims and witnesses, and to challenge criminal justice agencies to improve their practices..
Baird was a member of the National Criminal Justice Board which co-ordinates the agencies which collectively make up the Criminal Justice system. Here she worked with the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, the Chair of the Association of Police Authorities, the Judiciary, Probation and other agencies.
Baird was Ministerial sponsor of the Cleveland Local Criminal Justice Board and of the West Yorkshire LCJB.
Parliamentary Expenses Scandal
Baird was the subject of claims in newspapers at the time of the expenses scandal but, along with those of other MPs, her claims were investigated by Sir Paul Kennedy who found that she had claimed only for payments she was entitled to receive.
Police and Crime Commissioner
First term
Baird was elected to the post of Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner on 15 November 2012.
Despite it being Labour Party policy throughout the first years of Baird's tenure to do away with PCCs, Baird, a Labour Party member and former Labour Solicitor General, continued to promote the role. In 2016 the Labour Party changed its policy towards PCCs, the party leader describing the role as being "vital in a changing world".
Baird placed responses to domestic and sexual violence at the core of her PCC role and sought to integrate police work into a multi-agency strategic hub (MASH) where the focus is on the care for the victim.
In response to a 2014 report from Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reviewing the police response to domestic abuse, the Home Secretary, Theresa May, set up a National Oversight Group to drive delivery against the eleven national recommendations given in the HMIC report. Baird became a member of the Oversight Group representing Labour PCCs. The first update on the National Oversight Group was published in December 2014.
After considering the circumstances of a rape incident in Newcastle in 2012, Baird promoted the development of new national training requirements for all door staff. These new requirements were instituted by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) in November 2013.
Together with two other North East region PCCs Baird launched the first regional Violence Against Women And Girls Strategy (VAWG) in November 2013. The strategy detailed a 20-point plan to tackle domestic and sexual abuse, trafficking and sex work, forced marriage, "honour crimes", harassment, stalking and female genital mutilation.
As a part of Northumbria's PCC VAWG strategy in February 2015:
a Court Observer Panel was established. Consisting of volunteers, this panel monitors rape and sexual abuse court cases and reports back to the criminal justice agencies on possible improvements that may be made in the support of victims.
a Rape Scrutiny Panel was established. This panel consists of ten specially-trained volunteers from the voluntary and community sectors with expertise in the subject. Their task is to examine case files where it's judged that no crime has been committed, or where it is said that a case has not achieved the required threshold of evidence to be sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. The Panel also examines failed prosecutions, to look for ways to improve the process for future occasions.
Baird's office founded a network of Workplace Domestic Violence Champions. Trained by the PCC Office and given ongoing support by the PCC Office, these "Champions" – employees nominated by their companies – are intended to provide a safe haven for anyone suffering domestic violence in the workplace. By 2016, some 600 such "Champions" had been created.
Leading on from the above work, in August 2018 Baird asked the North of England Soroptimists International and her Court Observers Panel to focus their attention on the work of Special Domestic Violence Courts (SDVC). These courts were rolled out across the country in 2005 and 2006 as part of a three-pronged initiative to provide more informed and safer hearings for Domestic Violence cases.
Specialist Volunteer Court Observers trained by the CPS observed 170 cases from July to September 2017 which resulted in the production of the "Specialist Domestic Violence Courts – How Special are they?" report. The report found significant gaps in the system and stated that if funding was improved, SDVCs would work as was originally intended. The report also makes a number of recommendations for how the SDVC's can be improved to deliver for victims.
Second term
Baird was re-elected to the post of Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner in May 2016 with a majority of 121,766.
In May 2016 Baird was elected to the position of Chair by the Board of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners.
In August 2016 Baird called for personal, social and health education (PSHE) to be a compulsory part of the national curriculum to assist in combating child abuse.
In December 2016 Baird, together with Northumbria Police, launched the "Words Leave Scars Too" campaign which sought to raise awareness of emotional abuse and its impact.
In 2017 Baird became a Patron for the charity Operation Encompass.
Victims' Commissioner
Baird was appointed as Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales in May 2019, taking up the position in mid-June of that year. The role of the Commissioner is set out in the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Her resignation letter in September 2022 accused the government of downgrading victims' interests and side-lining the role, at the same time as the criminal justice system was "in chaos".
Baird later said that in her opinion Dominic Raab wanted a "puppet on a string" and his proposed bill of rights would undermine the rights of victims. The bill of rights tries to make it clear UK courts are not bound by rulings from the European court of human rights and would, in Baird's opinion destroy "any positive impact from the victims' bill". Baird said that women and girls, who were victims of violence would be less able to push the police to perform better. Baird maintained the case of Sarah Everard and what happened since then showed victims rights should not be weakened now.
Personal life
Baird married David Taylor-Gooby in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1972. They divorced in 1978 and she married Robert Brian Baird (born July 1928) in the same year in County Durham. A year later, in 1979, Brian Baird died from complications following open heart surgery. She has two stepsons from him. Her interests outside politics include sport and reading. She lives in South Gosforth, Newcastle.
Publications
Headlines from the First Three Years – 2015
References
External links
Vera Baird Q.C. official site
ePolitix – Vera Baird official site
Guardian Unlimited Politics – Ask Aristotle: Vera Baird MP
TheyWorkForYou.com – Vera Baird MP
The Public Whip – Vera Baird MP voting record
Solicitor General page
BBC Politics – Vera Baird
Eaves for Women Governance
English barristers
Solicitors General for England and Wales
1951 births
Living people
British women lawyers
21st-century King's Counsel
English King's Counsel
Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
Members of Gray's Inn
Police and crime commissioners in England
Alumni of Northumbria University
Alumni of the Open University
Alumni of London Guildhall University
Alumni of Teesside University
People educated at the Radclyffe School
People from Chadderton
Labour Party police and crime commissioners
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
21st-century British women politicians
Women Law Officers of the Crown in the United Kingdom
Members of the Fabian Society
21st-century English women
21st-century English people
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hal%20Rogers
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Hal Rogers
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Harold Dallas Rogers (born December 31, 1937) is an American lawyer and politician serving his 22nd term as the U.S. representative for , having served since 1981. He is a member of the Republican Party. Upon Don Young's death in 2022, Rogers became the dean of the House of Representatives.
Early life and education
Rogers was born in Barrier, Kentucky. After attending Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, he earned a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws from the University of Kentucky. Rogers served in the Kentucky Army National Guard and North Carolina Army National Guard.
Early career
As a lawyer Rogers was in private practice and was elected to serve as commonwealth's attorney for Pulaski and Rockcastle counties in Kentucky, an office he held from 1969 to his election to Congress in 1980.
Rogers was the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor of Kentucky in 1979. He was on the ballot with former Governor Louie B. Nunn. He lost to Democratic nominee John Y. Brown Jr. 59%–41%. The following year, Rogers won election to Congress.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
In 1980, incumbent Republican U.S. Congressman Tim Lee Carter of Kentucky's 5th congressional district decided to retire. Rogers won the Republican primary with a plurality of 23 percent. The losing candidates included the 1971 gubernatorial nominee, Tom Emberton. He won the general election with 67% of the vote. He has won reelection with at least 65% of the vote since then, except in 1992, when he defeated Democratic state Senator John Doug Hays 55%-45%.
Tenure
Rogers is the longest-serving Kentucky Republican ever elected to federal office. He represents one of the few ancestrally Republican districts south of the Ohio River. South-central Kentucky, historically the heart of the district, is very similar demographically to East Tennessee. Its voters identified with the Republicans after the Civil War and have supported the GOP ever since. Rogers served as a delegate to nine Republican National Conventions from 1976 to 2008.
The Center for Rural Development––a 501c(3) nonprofit organization established in Somerset, Kentucky, in March 1996––was Rogers's idea.
In 2001 the City of Williamsburg, Kentucky named their new water park and miniature golf facility the Hal Rogers Family Entertainment Center as a "thank-you for the federal money he has brought back to Whitley County, the City of Williamsburg, and the other 40 counties he represents".
On the House/Senate conference decision to bolster the Department of Commerce and support the Clinton Administration priorities, President Clinton remarked, "I commend the congressional leadership, Senator Ernest Hollings, Senator Pete Domenici, Congressman Neal Smith, and Congressman Harold Rogers, for their foresight and support in revitalizing this country through these programs. It is a dramatic step forward for the United States toward a solid economic future."
Kentucky state biographer Amy Witherbee commented: "Rogers's multiple roles on the Appropriations Committee have honed his skills as a bipartisan negotiator, and his economically challenged district often prompts him to stray from hard-line conservative stances. Although voting with his party against raising environmental standards on sports utility vehicles and against a controversial amendment that would have prohibited oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Rogers has been the creator and leading proponent of large environmental protection and clean-up programs throughout the Appalachian region.... [His] reluctance to involve the federal government in local issues has not deterred him from supporting a multitude of economic development programs aimed at creating new job bases in economically disadvantaged areas, and particularly in Appalachia. In 1993, Rogers was one of only three Republicans to vote for then-President Bill Clinton's economic stimulus package. In March 2003, Rogers's ability to work through the bipartisan tangles of the Appropriations Committee won him the chairmanship on the subcommittee designated to control funding for the new Department of Homeland Security."
Ready evidence is found on March 20, 2008, when the invitation to testify in support of environmental legislation by Democratic House Majority Leader Rocky Adkins, and, on the same day, a rare invitation to speak from the Senate floor was afforded by Republican Senate Majority Leader Senator David L. Williams of Cumberland County as part of the Senate's unanimously passed bipartisan resolution honoring Rogers for his service.
Rogers called a bill to reduce funding for law enforcement "the result of this new Republican majority's commitment to bring about real change in the way Washington spends the people's money".
In 2011 Rogers voted for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012, which included a controversial provision that allowed the government and the military to indefinitely detain American citizens and others without trial.
In December 2017 Rogers voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Rogers, along with all other congressional Republicans, voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
Criticism
Rogers has been widely criticized by both liberal and conservative pundits for his priorities when it comes to national security. National Review called him "a national disgrace" and Rolling Stone named him one of America's "Ten Worst Congressmen", calling him "Bin Laden's Best Friend" for steering federal homeland security money away from large cities to his home district, which critics claim is one of the least likely terrorist targets in America because of its lack of any notable monuments or population centers. In 2007 Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington named Rogers to its list of the Most Corrupt Members of Congress.
On May 14, 2006, the New York Times reported that Rogers had used his legislative position, as chair of the House subcommittee that controls the Homeland Security budget, to create "jobs in his home district and profits for companies that are donors to his political causes".
The Lexington Herald-Leader in 2005 called Rogers the "Prince of Pork". The Times article reported that Rogers had inserted language ("existing government card issuance centers") into appropriations bills that effectively pushed the federal government into testingat a cost of $4millionolder, inappropriate technology for a new fraud-resistant green card for permanent legal immigrants, at a production plant in Corbin, Kentucky, within Rogers's district. The study concluded that the smart card approach was far superior. The New York Times found that Rogers had received about $100,000 in contributions from parties with at least some ties to the identification card effort.
In response to these critics, Rogers said, "It should surprise no one that this article from Rolling Stone regarding my activity in connection with the Transportation Worker Identity Card (TWIC) is grossly incorrect, and highly slanderous ... A true and honest analysis would reveal that my sole interest in TWIC is simply to protect America's seaports, airports, and other transportation facilities from terrorist penetration. To purport that my actions have compromised national security in an effort to bring jobs to Kentucky or for personal gain is an absolute lie."
After Iran objected to the interim deployment of an Afloat Forward Staging Base to counter their threats to close the Persian Gulf, Rogers cut the funding for the project.
Rogers faced some criticism after he reportedly poked his colleague and Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty in the back and told her to "kiss my ass" after she asked him to put on a mask, as required on the United States Capitol subway system where the incident occurred. Rogers soon issued an apology to Beatty.
MilCon/VA Bill
On June 12, 2013, the White House threatened to veto the MilCon/VA spending bill because Republicans did not agree with the Senate's number of $1.058trillion intended for military operations and research, after the MilCon/VA bill received 421 bipartisan votes in House. "We're marking up to $967billion, the top line under current law," said Rogers, as chair of United States House Committee on Appropriations.
Legislation
On January 15, 2013, Rogers introduced H.R. 298, officially titled "To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the significance of the Mill Springs Battlefield located in Pulaski and Wayne Counties, Kentucky, and the feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System, and for other purposes". The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resource study to evaluate the significance of the Mill Springs Battlefield in Kentucky (relating to the Battle of Mill Springs fought on January 19, 1862, in Pulaski and Wayne Counties during the Civil War) and the feasibility of its inclusion in the National Park System (NPS). Rogers said, "the Battle of Mill Springs is a source of great pride and interest to the people I serve." Rogers argued that the Battlefield was a "jewel" and would be "an excellent addition to the National Park Service".
On March 5, 2014, Rogers introduced the To provide for the costs of loan guarantees for Ukraine (H.R. 4152; 113th Congress) into the House. The bill would provide loan guarantees to Ukraine of up to $1billion, part of the American response to the 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine. The bill passed in the House on March 6, 2014.
In 2014 Rogers's committee called for cuts in the National Nuclear Security Administration budget that cast doubt on the Navy's ability to provide an Ohio Replacement Submarine class.
On July 29, 2014, Rogers introduced the Making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2014 (H.R. 5230; 113th Congress), a bill that would provide supplemental FY2014 appropriations to several federal agencies for expenses related to the rise in unaccompanied alien children and alien adults accompanied by an alien minor at the southwest border. The bill would also change the procedures for screening and processing unaccompanied alien children who arrive at the border from certain countries. The bill would provide $659million in supplemental funding. Rogers urged members to pass the bill, arguing that "more and more immigrants will continue to flood across the border if you fail to act" because resources were running out.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (Chair)
Subcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Caucus memberships
Congressional Coal Caucus
Congressional Prescription Drug Abuse Caucus (co-chair)
United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
Sportsmen's Caucus
Tennessee Valley Authority Caucus
House Republican Steering Committee
Political positions
Budget and economy
Rogers is in favor of dismantling the Home Affordable Modification Program. He opposed the GM and Chrysler bailout in 2009. He opposes regulating the subprime mortgage industry. He supports a balanced budget amendment.
Domestic issues
Gun control
In 2018, Rogers co-sponsored a bill to "strengthen school safety and security", which required a two-thirds vote for passage, given it was brought up under an expedited process. The House voted 407–10 to approve the bill, which would "provide $50million a year for a new federal grant program to train students, teachers and law enforcement on how to spot and report signs of gun violence". Named STOP (Students, Teachers, and Officers Preventing) School Violence Act, it would "develop anonymous telephone and online systems where people could report threats of violence". At the same time, it would authorize $25 million for schools to improve and harden their security, such as installing new locks, lights, metal detectors and panic buttons. A separate spending bill would be required to provide money for the grant program.
Crime
Rogers supports expanding the juvenile justice system, including renovating and hiring additional prosecutors. Rogers supports the death penalty.
Environment
Rogers has a 13 percent rating from the Humane Society for his anti-animal welfare voting record.
Technology
Rogers is in favor of ending federal funding for National Public Radio. He opposes net neutrality.
International issues
Immigration
Rogers supports efforts to make the English language the official language of the US. He supports building a fence along the Mexico-US border.
Russian interference
In July 2018, while serving temporarily as chair of the House Rules committee, Rogers rejected requests to increase federal funding for election security. The U.S. intelligence community had concluded that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and that it was continuing to interfere in election systems as of July 2018.
Social issues
Abortion
Rogers is anti-abortion. He has a 100 percent rating from the National Right to Life Committee and a zero percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America for his abortion-related voting record. He is in favor of banning federal funding from supporting organizations that provide abortions, as well as federal health insurance covering abortions, unless the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or threatens the mother's life. He opposes embryonic stem cell research. He opposes human cloning.
Cannabis
Rogers has a "D" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes. Rogers opposes veterans having access to medical marijuana if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor and if it is legal for medicinal purposes in their state of residence.
Civil rights
Rogers has a 28 percent rating from the NAACP for his civil rights voting record. He opposes affirmative action.
LGBT, families and children
Rogers has a 92 percent rating from the Christian Coalition for his socially conservative voting record. He has a zero percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign regarding his voting record on LGBT rights. Rogers opposes same-sex marriage. He opposes prohibiting job discrimination based on sexual orientation. He opposes single people and same-sex couples being allowed to adopt children. Rogers opposes classifying crimes motivated by the victim's sexual orientation as hate crimes.
Personal life
Rogers had three children with his first wife, Shirley Rogers. She died of cancer in 1995. Rogers remarried. His current wife is Cynthia Doyle.
Electoral history
|+ : Results 1980–2022
! Year
!
! Republican
! Votes
! %
!
! Democratic
! Votes
! %
!
! Third Party
! Party
! Votes
! %
|-
|1980
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |112,093
| |67%
|
| |Ted Marcum
| |54,027
| |33%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1982
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |52,928
| |65%
|
| |Doye Davenport
| |28,285
| |35%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1984
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |125,164
| |76%
|
| |Sherman McIntosh
| |39,783
| |24%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1986
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |56,760
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1988
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |104,467
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1990
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |64,660
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1992
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |115,255
| |55%
|
| |John Hays
| |95,760
| |45%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1994
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |82,291
| |79%
|
| |Walter Blevins
| |21,318
| |21%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |117,842
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1998
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |142,215
| |78%
|
| |Sidney Jane Bailey
| |39,585
| |22%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |145,980
| |74%
|
| |Sidney Jane Bailey
| |52,495
| |26%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2002
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |137,986
| |78%
|
| |Sidney Jane Bailey
| |38,254
| |22%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2004
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |177,579
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2006
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |147,201
| |74%
|
| |Kenneth Stepp
| |52,367
| |26%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2008
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |177,024
| |84%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
| |Jim Holbert
| |Independent
| |33,444
| |16%
|-
|2010
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |151,019
| |77%
|
| |Jim Holbert
| |44,034
| |23%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2012
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |195,408
| |78%
|
| |Kenneth Stepp
| |55,447
| |22%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2014
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |171,350
| |78%
|
| |Kenneth Stepp
| |47,617
| |22%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2016
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |221,242
| |100%
|
| |No candidate
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2018
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |172,093
| |78%
|
| |Kenneth Stepp
| |45,890
| |21%
|
| |Billy Ray Wilson
| |Independent
| |34
| |1%
|-
|2020
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |250,914
| |84%
|
| |Matthew Best
| |47,056
| |16%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2022
||
| |Hal Rogers
| |177,714
| |82%
|
| |Conor Halbleib
| |38,549
| |18%
|
|
|
|
|
|-
References
External links
Congressman Hal Rogers official U.S. House website
Biography at Our States: Kentucky, 2007
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
1937 births
21st-century American politicians
American prosecutors
Baptists from Kentucky
Baptists from the United States
Kentucky Commonwealth's Attorneys
Kentucky lawyers
Living people
People from Somerset, Kentucky
People from Wayne County, Kentucky
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky
United States Army soldiers
|
414459
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David%20Vitter
|
David Vitter
|
David Bruce Vitter (born May 3, 1961) is an American politician, attorney, and lobbyist who represented Louisiana in the United States Senate from 2005 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, Vitter served in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999 and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
Vitter was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004. He was the first Republican to represent Louisiana in the Senate since the Reconstruction Era, and the first ever Republican to be popularly elected. In 2007, Vitter admitted to and apologized for past involvement with prostitution as part of a Washington, D.C. escort service which gained much notoriety and while not affecting his 2010 election, is believed to have played a part in his loss of the 2015 gubernatorial election. In 2010, Vitter won a second Senate term by defeating Democratic U.S. Representative Charlie Melançon.
Vitter unsuccessfully ran for governor to succeed the term-limited Bobby Jindal in the 2015 gubernatorial election. He lost the general election to Democrat John Bel Edwards. While conceding defeat to Edwards, Vitter announced that he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat in 2016 and would retire from office at the completion of his term. Following the conclusion of his second Senate term, Vitter became a lobbyist.
Early life and education
David Bruce Vitter was born on May 3, 1961 in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the son of Audrey Malvina (née St. Raymond) and Albert Leopold Vitter. Vitter graduated in 1979 from De La Salle High School in New Orleans. While a student at De La Salle, Vitter participated in the Close Up Washington civic education program. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard College in 1983; a second B.A. from Magdalen College, Oxford in 1985, as a Rhodes Scholar; and a Juris Doctor degree in 1988 from the Tulane University Law School in New Orleans. He was a practicing lawyer, and adjunct law professor at Tulane and Loyola University New Orleans.
Vitter and his wife Wendy, a former prosecutor, have four children. Vitter's brother Jeffrey is a computer scientist who has served as chancellor of the University of Mississippi from January 2016 to January 2019.
Early political career
Louisiana House of Representatives
Vitter was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1992 to 1999.
Vitter has argued for ethics reform and term limits since he was in the Louisiana Legislature in the early 1990s. As a Louisiana state legislator, Vitter successfully pushed through a term limits amendment to the state constitution to oust the largely Democratic legislature. The first election legislators affected by the reform occurred in 2007. In order to leverage the term limits advantage in that election, Vitter formed a Political Action Committee with the goal of winning a legislative Republican majority. While the Republicans saw gains, the Democrats maintained majority control.
Vitter opposed gambling during his tenure in the Louisiana House.
United States House of Representatives
Vitter won a special election to Louisiana's 1st congressional district in 1999, succeeding Republican U.S. Representative Bob Livingston, who resigned after disclosure that he had committed adultery. In the initial vote on May 1, 1999, former Congressman and Governor David C. Treen finished first with 36,719 votes (25 percent). Vitter was second, with 31,741 (22 percent), and white nationalist David Duke finished third with 28,055 votes (19 percent). Monica L. Monica, a Republican ophthalmologist, had 16 percent; State Representative Bill Strain, a conservative Democrat, finished fifth with 11 percent; and Rob Couhig, a Republican lawyer and the owner of New Orleans's minor league baseball team, garnered 6 percent. In the runoff, Vitter defeated Treen 51–49 percent.
In 2000 and 2002, Vitter was re-elected with more than 80 percent of the vote in what had become a safe Republican district.
In 2001, Vitter co-authored legislation to restrict the number of physicians allowed to prescribe RU-486, a drug used in medical abortions. The bill died in committee.
In 2003, Vitter proposed to amend the U.S. Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. In 2004, he said, "This is a real outrage. The Hollywood left is redefining the most basic institution in human history...We need a U.S. Senator who will stand up for Louisiana values, not Massachusetts values."
2003 gubernatorial election
In 2002, Vitter was preparing to run for governor in 2003, with the incumbent, Republican Mike Foster, prevented by term limits from running again. But in June 2002, shortly before the Louisiana Weekly reported on a claim from Vincent Bruno, a campaign worker for Treen in 1999, about Vitter's alleged relationship with a prostitute, Vitter dropped out of the governor's race, saying he and his wife were dealing with marital problems.
Bruno said on a New Orleans-based radio show that he had been told by a prostitute that she had interactions with Vitter. However, Treen and his campaign decided to not publicize this information during the election.
United States Senate
2004 election
In 2004, Vitter ran to replace Democrat John Breaux in the U.S. Senate.
During the campaign, Vitter was accused by a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee of having had a lengthy affair with a prostitute in New Orleans. Vitter responded that the allegation was "absolutely and completely untrue" and that it was "just crass Louisiana politics."
On November 2, 2004, Vitter won the jungle primary, garnering a majority of the vote, while the rest of the vote was mostly split among the Democratic contenders.
Vitter was the first Republican in Louisiana to be popularly elected as a U.S. Senator. The previous Republican Senator, William Pitt Kellogg, was chosen by the state legislature in 1876, in accordance with the process used before the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution went into effect in 1914.
2010 election
Vitter began fundraising for his 2010 reelection run in December 2008. He raised $731,000 in the first quarter of 2009 and $2.5 million for his 2010 campaign. He had wide leads against potential Democratic opponents in aggregate general election polling. He faced intraparty opposition from Chet D. Traylor of Monroe, a former associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, in the August 28 Republican primary election and defeated him.
He faced the Democratic U.S. Representative Charlie Melançon of Napoleonville in the November 2 general election. State Representative Ernest Wooton of Belle Chasse in Plaquemines Parish, an Independent, also ran. On November 4, 2010, Vitter was re-elected as Louisiana Senator, defeating his Democratic rival, Melancon. Vitter got 715,304 votes while Melancon got 476,423 votes. Vitter received about 57% of the total vote while Melancon got 38%. The Independent candidate Wooton finished with 8,167 votes, or 1 percent of the total cast.
Tenure
Vitter has identified himself as a political conservative throughout his political career. His legislative agenda includes positions ranging from anti-abortion to pro-gun rights while legislating against gambling, same-sex marriage, civil unions, federal funding for abortion providers, increases in the State Children's Health Insurance Program, the United Nations, and amnesty for America's illegal immigrants. Vitter's stated positions include a balanced budget constitutional amendment, abolishing the federal and state estate tax, increasing local police forces, and an assortment of health care, tax and national defense reforms.
After conceding defeat to John Bel Edwards in the 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election, Vitter announced that he would not seek reelection to his Senate seat in 2016 and would retire from office at the completion of his term.
Abortion
In October 2007, Vitter introduced an amendment barring all federal public funds to health care providers and Planned Parenthood that provide services that include abortion. Federal law bars any funding to directly finance elective abortions in accordance with the Hyde amendment. Vitter argued that the funds are used for overhead costs that benefit the abortion services. The amendment failed to pass. Following the rejection, Vitter and others urged
the Senate to pass a similar bill introduced by Vitter in
January 2007. The bill failed to pass.
In January 2008, Vitter proposed an amendment to prohibit the funding of abortions with Indian Health Service funds except in the case of rape, incest, or when the life of the woman is at risk. The amendment would have held future presidential administrations to an executive principle first crafted in 1982 by the Ronald Reagan White House. Vitter's amendment passed the Senate but later was stalled in the House.
Later that year, Vitter co-sponsored the Pregnant Women Health and Safety Act which – along with other oversight regulations – required doctors performing abortions to have the authority granted by a nearby hospital to admit patients. The bill was never reported to committee.
Abstinence education
Vitter advocated abstinence-only sex education, emphasizing abstinence over sex education that includes information about birth control, drawing criticism from Planned Parenthood. He said, "Abstinence education is a public health strategy focused on risk avoidance that aims to help young people avoid exposure to harm...by teaching teenagers that saving sex until marriage and remaining faithful afterwards is the best choice for health and happiness."
Automotive industry bailout
Vitter was one of 35 Senators to vote against the Big 3 Bailout bill. The financial bailout package was for GM, Chrysler, and Ford, but failed to pass on December 11, 2008. During the Senate debate Vitter referred to the approach of giving the automotive industry a financial package before they restructured as "ass-backwards". He soon apologized for the phrasing of the comment, which did not appear in the Congressional Record.
BP Horizon oil spill
In response to the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill at an offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico threatening the coast of Louisiana, Vitter introduced legislation along with Jeff Sessions of Alabama to increase the liability cap of an oil company from $75 million to its most recent annual profits (or $150 million if greater). In the case of BP, the owner of the oil lease, its liability would be $20 billion. Vitter later introduced an amendment that would remove the cap entirely for this particular spill. Competing Democratic proposals would have raised the liability to $10 billion regardless of profits or removed the cap altogether. Sessions argued that large caps unrelated to company profits would harm smaller companies.
Chemical safety
In May 2013, Vitter introduced the Chemical Safety Improvement Act, a bipartisan bill to reform the Toxic Substances Control Act, which would have regulated the introduction of new or already existing chemicals. The bill would have given additional authority to the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate chemicals and streamline the patchwork of state laws on chemicals under federal authority.
Child protection
In April 2008, Vitter introduced an amendment to continue funding the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act which was excluded from the 2008/2009 budget. The federal program maintains a national sex offender registry, provides resources for tracking down unregistered sex offenders and increases penalties for the sexual assault of children. His amendment received bipartisan support.
Children's health insurance program
In September 2007, Vitter opposed an increase of $35 billion for the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the national program to provide health care for children from families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but cannot afford private health insurance. He said he preferred that private health insurance provide the needed care and deemed the bill as "Hillarycare", a reference to the 1993 Clinton health care plan created by Hillary Clinton which proposed universal health care.
Ethics and term limits
Vitter refused to pledge to a voluntary term limit when running for the U.S. Congress in 1999. His opponent characterized this stance as hypocritical, and Vitter countered that unless it were universally applied, the loss of seniority would disadvantage his district. As a Senator, he has proposed term limit constitutional amendments for members of Congress three times. Vitter eventually decided to retire from the Senate in 2016 after serving two terms.
In 2007, in response to lobbying scandals involving, among others, Jack Abramoff and Duke Cunningham, Congress passed a lobbying and ethics reform package to which Vitter proposed a package of five amendments. The Senate approved three that limited which legislators' spouses could lobby the Senate, created criminal penalties for legislators and executive branch officials who falsify financial reports, and doubled the penalties for lobbyists who failed to comply with disclosure requirements. The Senate rejected prohibiting legislators from paying their families with campaign funds with some saying it was unrelated to the current legislation and others that the payments were not a problem. Additionally, they tabled his proposal to define Indian tribes as corporations and its members as shareholders so that they are required to contribute to candidates through political action committees instead of their tribal treasury. Senators objected saying that they are already subjected to campaign laws for unincorporated entities and individuals and that the proposal was singling them out unfairly. The reform package became law in September 2007.
In 2009, Vitter and Democratic former Senator Russ Feingold announced an effort to end automatic pay raises for members of Congress.
Franken Amendment
In October 2009, the Senate passed Democratic Senator Al Franken's amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would forbid federal contractors from forcing victims of sexual assault, battery and discrimination to submit to binding arbitration (where a third-party typically chosen by the contractor adjudicates) and thereby prohibiting them from going to court. The impetus for the amendment came from the story of Jamie Leigh Jones who alleged that she was drugged and gang-raped by employees of Halliburton/KBR, a federal contractor.
The amendment passed 68 to 30 with all opposition coming from Republicans including Vitter (all four female Republicans, six other Republicans and all present Democrats voted for passage). Vitter's 2010 Democratic Senatorial opponent Charlie Melancon criticized Vitter for his vote saying, "David Vitter has refused to explain why he voted to allow taxpayer-funded companies to sweep rape charges under the rug. We can only guess what his reasons were." However, The Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker argued that the 30 senators were being "unfairly smeared for doing the harder thing, maybe even for the right reasons."
Republican senators said they voted against it because it was unenforceable, a position also taken by the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Obama administration. However, the DOD and the White House stated they agreed with the intent of the legislation and suggested it would be better if it was broadened to prohibit the use of arbitration in cases of sexual assault for any business contract, not just federal contractors. Senators explained their vote against the legislation by saying it was a political attack on Halliburton and that the Senate shouldn't regulate contracts. The latter argument is countered with many examples of similar restrictions on contractors such as discrimination, bonuses and health care. Others felt it was unconstitutional and that arbitration is useful in resolving disputes, often faster, privately and cheaper.
Later, a Baton Rouge rape survivor confronted Vitter at a town hall meeting saying, "[it] meant everything to me that I was able to put the person who attacked me behind bars ... How can you support a law that tells a rape victim that she does not have the right to defend herself?" Vitter replied, "The language in question did not say that in any way shape or form."
Gambling
Vitter opposed a bid by the Jena Band of Choctaw Indians to build a casino in Louisiana, arguing that the build site was not historically part of their tribal lands. He lobbied the Interior Department and included language in an appropriations bill to stop the casino. Although the Interior Department gave its approval, the casino has not yet been approved by the state. The Jena chief accused Vitter of ties with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who simultaneously lobbied against the casino. The chairman of the Senate committee investigating the lobbyist said, "The committee has seen absolutely no evidence whatsoever that Senator Vitter's opposition to (the proposed casino) had to do with anything other than his long-standing opposition to gambling." In 2007 and 2008, Vitter introduced a bill to prohibit Indian casinos such as Jena's. Neither bill became law.
Gun rights
Rated "A" by the NRA Political Victory Fund, Vitter has been a consistent defender of gun rights. In April 2006, in response to firearm confiscations in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Vitter was the Senate sponsor of the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act, to prohibit federal funding for the confiscation of legally held firearms during a disaster. Later, Vitter included the provisions of the act in an amendment to an appropriation bill for the Department Of Homeland Security. The bill became law in September 2006, with the amendment modified to allow for the temporary surrender of a firearm as a condition for entering a rescue or evacuation vehicle.
On April 17, 2013, Vitter voted against the Toomey-Manchin Gun Control Amendment. The amendment failed to reach the sixty senatorial votes necessary to overcome a Republican-led filibuster. The Toomey-Manchin Gun Control Amendment is a bipartisan deal on gun background checks. Under the proposal, federal background checks would be expanded to include gun shows and online sales. All such sales would be channeled through licensed firearm dealers who would be charged for keeping record of transactions. The proposal does not require background checks for private sales between individuals.
In February 2008, Vitter – along with Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo of Idaho – blocked the confirmation of Michael J. Sullivan as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) saying Sullivan supports "burdensome regulations" on gun owners and dealers and is "overly aggressive" enforcing gun laws. An editorial writer for The Boston Globe wrote that Vitter's position was "unreasonable" because the guns Sullivan sought to control are those commonly used in crimes: those stolen or purchased on the black market. On the other hand, gun rights advocates say that many gun dealers have lost their licenses for harmless bureaucratic errors. Sullivan stayed on as acting head of the ATF until January 2009 to make way for President Barack Obama to name his own nominee.
Hurricane Katrina
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Vitter and the rest of the Louisiana congressional delegation worked to bring aid to the Gulf Coast region to rebuild broken levees, schools and hospitals, restore coastal wetlands, and provide assistance for its many victims.
In early September, Vitter said that he would give "the entire big government organized relief effort a failing grade, across the board." He said that state and local governments shared in the blame as well. Vitter's actions during Hurricane Katrina are described in historian Douglas Brinkley's May 2006 book, The Great Deluge.
In September 2007, Vitter announced that he got "a critical concession" from the White House that decreased Louisiana's obligations for hurricane recovery by $1 billion. However, the White House said that was false.
Immigration
Vitter has been actively involved with legislation concerning illegal immigrants. In June 2007, he led a group of conservative Senators in blocking the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, a piece of federal legislation that would have granted a pathway to legal residence to 12 million illegal immigrants coupled with increased border enforcement. The bill's defeat won Vitter national attention as the bill was supported by President George W. Bush, John McCain, and Ted Kennedy, among others. Vitter characterized the bill as amnesty, which supporters denied. Bush accused the bill's opponents of fear mongering.
In October 2007, Vitter introduced an amendment withholding Community Oriented Policing Services funds from any sanctuary city which bans city employees and police officers from asking people about their immigration status in violation of the Illegal Immigration Act. Democratic Senator Dick Durbin, in opposition to the amendment, said these cities do not want to inquire about someone's status if they report a crime, are a victim of domestic violence or get vaccinations for their children. The amendment was defeated.
In November 2007, Vitter introduced a bill requiring banks to verify that no customer was an illegal immigrant before issuing banking or credit cards. The bill never made it out of committee.
In March 2008, Vitter reintroduced the latter two proposals and cosponsored ten of eleven other bills in a Republican package of tough immigration enforcement measures including jail time for illegal border crossing; deportation for any immigrant (legal or illegal) for a single driving while intoxicated; declaration of English as the official language (thereby terminating language assistance at voting booths and federal agencies); additional construction of a border fence; permission for local and state police to enforce immigration laws and penalties for states who issue drivers licenses to illegals. None of these proposals passed, partially because the Democratic-controlled Senate preferred a comprehensive approach which would include a guest-worker program and a path to citizenship for the current population more akin to the package defeated by Vitter in 2007.
In April 2008, Vitter introduced a joint resolution proposing a constitutional amendment that a child born in the United States is not a citizen unless a parent is a citizen, lawful permanent resident, or alien serving in the military. Currently the Constitution grants citizenship to children born within the U.S. regardless of the legal status of the parents. The bill never made it out of the Democratic-led committee.
Louisiana Family Forum earmark
In September 2007, Vitter earmarked $100,000 in federal money for a Christian group, the Louisiana Family Forum, known for challenging evolution by means of "teaching the controversy" which promotes intelligent design. According to Vitter, the earmark was "to develop a plan to promote better science education". The Times-Picayune alleged the group had close ties with Vitter. However, they have criticized Vitter for his support of Rudy Giuliani.
On October 17, 2007, the liberal organization People For the American Way, along with several other groups asked the Senate to remove the earmark. Vitter later withdrew it.
Military
In May 2008, Vitter voted with the majority, despite the opposition of Bush and other Republicans, for the passage of the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 to expand educational benefits for veterans similar to the level provided for returning World War II veterans in the G.I. Bill.
Network neutrality
Vitter was one of six senate Republicans to propose an amendment to a bill which would stop the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from enforcing network neutrality which they allege is a violation of the First Amendment.
New Orleans public housing
In September 2007, The Times-Picayune reported that Vitter and the Bush administration opposed a provision of The Gulf Coast Housing Recovery bill which required that every public housing apartment torn down be replaced with another form of low-income housing on a one-for-one basis. The administration testified that there was not sufficient demand for public housing units, a position contested by several senators. Vitter stated it would recreate "housing projects exactly as they were", isolated and riddled with crime. However, Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Democratic Senator, said the intent was to make certain there were affordable places for working-class people who returned. The bill requires that demolished housing projects be replaced with mixed income communities which local housing advocates say is different from the massive public housing developments that Vitter is referring to. However, the bill does not include a ban on large-scale projects. The city housing authority is planning on replacing 4,000 low-income units with mixed-income projects providing a smaller inventory of low-income units. In December 2007, Vitter prevented the bill from leaving the committee.
Obama nominations
Vitter and Jim DeMint were the only two Senators that voted against Hillary Clinton's confirmation for the position of Secretary of State under the new Obama administration, on January 21, 2009.
He blocked President Obama's nominee for the new Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) administrator until he received a written commitment on flood control issues from the nominee and FEMA. The New York Times, along with some Republican Senators, criticized Vitter for what it characterized as political posturing, given that the hurricane season was quickly approaching. He lifted his hold on May 12, 2009.
Affordable Care Act
Vitter opposed President Barack Obama's health reform legislation; he voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in December 2009, and he voted against the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.
Same-sex marriage
Vitter opposes both same-sex marriage and civil unions. In June 2006, he said "I don't believe there's any issue that's more important than this one ... I think this debate is very healthy, and it's winning a lot of hearts and minds. I think we're going to show real progress." In 2006, he told The Times-Picayune, "I'm a conservative who opposes radically redefining marriage, the most important social institution in human history."
In October 2005, at a Lafayette Parish Republican Executive Committee luncheon, Vitter compared gay marriage to hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which came through the same geographical areas. Vitter said "It's the crossroads where Katrina meets Rita. I always knew I was against same-sex unions."
School board prayer
In 2005 Vitter introduced a resolution supporting prayer at school board meetings in response to an earlier district court decision that the Louisiana's Tangipahoa Parish practice of opening meetings with Christian prayers was unconstitutional. The bill died in committee after receiving little support from colleagues on both sides of the aisle. Vitter later reintroduced the resolution in January 2007 after a panel of the Fifth Circuit Court concluded that Christian prayers were unconstitutional but was undecided whether nonsectarian prayers were allowed. In July 2007, the full Fifth Circuit dismissed the case because of a lack of standing. The school board subsequently resumed prayer evocations but opened it to diverse community religions. Vitter's bill died in committee.
Tea Party movement
In recognition of the Tea Party protests opposing President Barack Obama's policies, Vitter proposed Senate Resolution 98, which would designate April 15 in years both 2009 and 2010 as "National TEA Party Day". As of April 2009, the bill has no cosponsors and has been referred to the Committee on the Judiciary with no scheduled action.
In September 2010, Vitter signed a candidate pledge from the North Central Louisiana TEA Party Patriots. It included a promise to "Conduct myself personally and professionally in a moral and socially appropriate manner."
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea
In September 2007, during hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Vitter expressed serious doubts about the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea treaty concerning issues of U.S. sovereignty echoing an array of conservative groups against the treaty including the National Center for Public Policy Research, The Heritage Foundation and the Center for Security Policy. The treaty, which sets up countries' jurisdiction over their coasts and ocean including exploration and navigation rights, was supported by the Bush administration, a majority of the United States Senate, the Pentagon, the State Department and Navy as do a coalition of business and environmental groups. The committee approved the treaty 17–4, with Vitter voting no.
Water Resources and Development Act
Vitter helped write the Water Resources and Development Act for flood-control, hurricane-protection and coastal-restoration projects including $3.6 billion for Louisiana. He called it the "single most important" legislation for assisting Louisiana with its recovery from hurricane Katrina. President George W. Bush vetoed the act, objecting to its cost. Congress overrode his veto, enacting the bill.
Committee assignments
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
Committee on Environment and Public Works
Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
Subcommittee on Oversight
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure (Chairman)
Committee on the Judiciary
Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism
Subcommittee on Immigration and The National Interest
Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts
Subcommittee on the Constitution
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (Chairman)
2007 prostitution scandal
In early July 2007, Vitter's phone number was included in a published list of phone records of Pamela Martin and Associates, a company owned and run by Deborah Jeane Palfrey, also known as the "D.C. Madam", who was convicted by the U.S. government for running a prostitution service. Hustler identified the phone number and contacted Vitter's office to ask about his connection to Palfrey. The following day, Vitter issued a written statement in which he took responsibility for his "sin" and asked for forgiveness. On July 16, 2007, after a week of self-imposed seclusion, Vitter emerged and called a news conference. As his wife stood next to him, Vitter asked the public for forgiveness. Following Vitter's remarks, his wife Wendy Vitter spoke, but both refused to answer any questions. In 2004, Vitter had denied allegations that he had patronized prostitutes.
While the Louisiana state Republican Party offered guarded support, national Republicans offered forgiveness. The Nation predicted that the Republican Party would be in a "forgiving mood", because if he were to resign, Governor of Louisiana Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, would likely appoint a Democrat to take Vitter's place until a special election could be held, thus increasing Democratic control over the US Senate.
On September 8, 2015, reporter Derek Myers was fired from WVLA-TV after asking Vitter, who was running for governor, about allegations that the senator had frequented prostitutes. After Myers' question, Myers said an unnamed coworker overheard a conversation about the Vitter campaign's ad dollars at the station, possibly with a threat from the campaign to pull the ads. Democrat John Bel Edwards released an ad about the prostitution scandal two weeks before the run-off election and won by more than 12%.
2015 gubernatorial election
Vitter announced on January 21, 2014, that he would run for governor of Louisiana in the 2015 election. Then-Governor Bobby Jindal was ineligible to seek re-election due to term limits. Vitter was the first sitting or ex-U.S. Senator to launch a gubernatorial bid in Louisiana since 1904, when Democrat Newton Blanchard was elected. Vitter's major opponents were Republicans Scott Angelle, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner and former lieutenant governor, and Jay Dardenne, the current lieutenant governor; and Democrat John Bel Edwards, Minority Leader of the Louisiana House of Representatives.
In the November 21 runoff election, Edwards defeated Vitter by 56% to 44%.
Other political involvement
In 2016, Vitter succeeded after a five-year battle in passing through the Senate landmark legislation to reform the country's chemical safety laws. Vitter called the legislation a "big accomplishment. This is an area of federal law that everybody, every stakeholder, every group, whether it's some far-left environmental group or industry, said needed to be updated. The trick was getting agreement on doing that." Democratic colleague Richard Durbin of Illinois, a frequent critic of Vitter, said that if the bill is enacted with President Obama's signature "it's quite an accomplishment for him and for Congress to pass historic legislation."
Post-Senate career
After his Senate term ended, Vitter joined the Washington, D.C. lobbying firm, Mercury LLC. As of October 2019, Vitter had lobbied for sanctioned Chinese surveillance company Hikvision as well as for the Libyan Government of National Accord and the Zimbabwean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. He also lobbied for the sanctioned Russian bank Sovcombank.
Electoral history
2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election
2010 Louisiana United States Senatorial Election
2004 Louisiana United States Senatorial Election
1999 Louisiana 1st District United States Congressional Election
1995 Louisiana 81st District State House of Representatives Election
1991 Louisiana 81st District State House of Representatives Election
See also
List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
Footnotes
External links
United States Senator David Vitter official U.S. Senate website
Senator Vitter at BR Press Club
Vitter.org Vitter family website maintained by brother Jeffrey Vitter
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1961 births
20th-century American lawyers
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford
American gun rights activists
American Rhodes Scholars
American legal scholars
American lobbyists
Candidates in the 2015 United States elections
De La Salle High School (New Orleans, Louisiana) alumni
Harvard College alumni
Lawyers from New Orleans
Living people
Republican Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
People from Jefferson Parish, Louisiana
Politicians from New Orleans
Republican Party United States senators from Louisiana
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
Tea Party movement activists
Tulane University Law School alumni
Tulane University Law School faculty
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan%20Duncan
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Alan Duncan
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Sir Alan James Carter Duncan (born 31 March 1957) is a British former politician who served as Minister of State for International Development from 2010 to 2014 and Minister of State for Europe and the Americas from 2016 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rutland and Melton from 1992 to 2019.
He began his career in the oil industry with Royal Dutch Shell, and was first elected to the House of Commons in the 1992 general election. After gaining several minor positions in the government of John Major, he played a key role in William Hague's successful bid for the Conservative leadership in 1997. Duncan received several promotions to the Conservative front bench, and eventually joined the Shadow Cabinet after the 2005 general election. He stood for the Conservative leadership in 2005, but withdrew early on because of a lack of support. Eventual winner David Cameron appointed him Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in December 2005; the name of the department he shadowed was changed to Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform in July 2007.
Following the 2010 general election, the new Conservative Prime Minister Cameron appointed Duncan as Minister of State for International Development. He left this post following the government reshuffle in July 2014, and was subsequently appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George in September 2014, for services to international development and to UK–Middle East relations. While on the backbenches, Duncan served on the Intelligence and Security Committee between 2015 and 2016.
After two years out of government, he returned to frontline politics when new Prime Minister Theresa May appointed him as Minister for Europe and the Americas, and effective deputy to then-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, in July 2016. Duncan resigned as Minister of State on 22 July 2019 citing Johnson's election to the Tory leadership and, hence, the UK's premiership.
He became the first openly gay Conservative Member of Parliament, publicly coming out in 2002.
Early life
Duncan was born in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, the second son of James Grant Duncan, an RAF wing commander, and his wife Anne Duncan (née Carter), a teacher. The family travelled much, following Duncan's father on NATO postings, including in Gibraltar, Italy, and Norway.
Education
Duncan was educated at two independent schools: Beechwood Park School in Markyate, and Merchant Taylors' School in Northwood, at both of which he was 'Head Monitor' (head boy). He had two brothers, who also attended Beechwood Park School. Their family supported the Liberal Party, and Duncan ran (and lost) as a Liberal at a school mock election in 1970; two years later he joined the Young Conservatives.
He then attended St John's College, Oxford, where he coxed the college first eight, and was elected President of the Oxford Union in 1979. Whilst there, he formed a friendship with Benazir Bhutto, and ran her successful campaign to become the President of the Oxford Union. He gained a Kennedy Scholarship to study at Harvard University between 1981 and 1982.
Business career
After graduating from Oxford, Duncan worked as a trader of oil and refined products, first with Royal Dutch Shell (1979–81) and then for Marc Rich from 1982 to 1988 (Rich became a fugitive from justice in 1983). He worked for Rich in London and Singapore. Duncan used the connections he had built up to be self-employed from 1988 to 1992, acting as a consultant and adviser to foreign governments on oil supplies, shipping and refining.
In 1989, Duncan set up the independent Harcourt Consultants, which advises on oil and gas matters. He made over £1 million after helping fill the need to supply oil to Pakistan after supplies from Kuwait had been disrupted in the Gulf War.
Political career
Duncan was an active member of the Battersea Conservative Association from 1979 until 1984, when he moved to live in Singapore, from which he returned in 1986. After Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigned in November 1990, he offered his home in Westminster as the headquarters of John Major's leadership campaign.
Member of Parliament
Duncan first stood for Parliament as a Conservative candidate in the 1987 general election, unsuccessfully contesting the safe Labour seat of Barnsley West and Penistone. For the 1992 general election he was selected as the Conservative candidate for Rutland and Melton, a safe Conservative seat, which he retained with a 59% share of the votes cast. In the Labour landslide of 1997, his proportion of the vote was reduced to 46% but increased at subsequent elections to a high of 62.8% in 2017.
From 1993 to 1995, Duncan was a member of the Social Security Select Committee. His first governmental position was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Health, a position he obtained in December 1993. He resigned from the position within a month, after it emerged that he had used the Right to Buy programme to make profits on property deals. It emerged that he had lent his elderly next-door neighbour money to buy his home under the Right to Buy legislation. The neighbour bought an 18th-century council house at a significant discount and sold it to Duncan just over three years later. Gyles Brandreth describes this event in his diary as "little Alan Duncan has fallen on his sword. He did it swiftly and with good grace."
After returning to the backbenches, he became Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Constitutional Affairs Committee. He returned to government in July 1995, when he was again appointed a Parliamentary Private Secretary, this time to the Chairman of the Conservative Party, Brian Mawhinney. In November 1995, Duncan performed a citizen's arrest on an Asylum Bill protester who threw paint and flour at Mawhinney on College Green.
Duncan was involved in the 1997 leadership contest, being the right-hand man of William Hague, the eventual winner. In this capacity, he was called "the closest thing [the Conservatives] have to Peter Mandelson". Duncan and Hague had both been at Oxford, both been Presidents of the Oxford Union, and had been close friends since at least the early 1980s.
Front-bench career
As a reward for his loyalty to Hague during the leadership contest, in June 1997, Duncan was entrusted with the positions of Vice Chairman of the Conservative Party and Parliamentary Political Secretary to the Party Leader. He became Shadow Health Minister in June 1998. A year later he was made Shadow Trade and Industry spokesman, and he was appointed a front-bench spokesman on Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in September 2001.
When Michael Howard became Conservative Party leader in November 2003, Duncan became Shadow Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, but as Howard had significantly reduced the size of the Shadow Cabinet, Duncan was not promoted to the top table. This continued to be the case when he was moved to become Shadow Secretary of State for International Development in September 2004. However, following the 2005 general election, the Shadow Cabinet was expanded to its original size once more, and Duncan joined it as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport.
He held this position for just seven months, becoming Shadow Secretary of State for Trade and Industry on 7 December 2005, after David Cameron's election to the party leadership the previous day. On 2 July 2007, he was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, as new prime minister Gordon Brown had abolished the Department of Trade and Industry the previous week, replacing it with the aforementioned new department. In January 2009, Duncan became Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.
Failed leadership bid
Before the 2005 general election, he was rumoured to be planning a leadership campaign in the event that then-leader Michael Howard stepped down after a (then-likely and later actual) election defeat. On 10 June 2005, Duncan publicly declared his intention of standing in the 2005 leadership election. However, on 18 July 2005, he withdrew from the race, admitting in The Guardian that his withdrawal was due to a lack of 'active lieutenants', and urged the party to abandon those that he dubbed the 'Tory Taliban':
MPs' expenses 2009
On 15 May 2009, the satirical BBC programme Have I Got News for You showed footage of Duncan's previous appearance on the show in which he boasted about his second home allowance, denied that he should pay any of the money back and stated it was "a great system". The show then cut to footage of David Cameron announcing that Duncan would return money to the fees office, followed by Duncan's personal apology, in which he called for the system to be changed.
On 14 August, Duncan said (whilst being filmed without his knowledge by Don't Panic), that MPs, who were at the time paid around £64,000 a year, were having "to live on rations and are treated like shit. I spend my money on my garden and claim a tiny fraction on what is proper. And I could claim the whole lot, but I don't." These remarks attracted the attention of the press, and were criticised by commentators from all sides. Duncan apologised once more, and Cameron, though critical of Duncan's comments, denied that he would sack him from the Shadow Cabinet. Despite these assurances, on 7 September 2009, Duncan was "demoted" from the Shadow Cabinet, to become Shadow Minister for Prisons, after he and Cameron came to an agreement that his position was untenable.
Political funding
The Rutland and Melton Constituency Association has received £12,166.66 in donations since 2006. Duncan has received corporate donations from The Biz Club (£6,000, 2006–09), Midland Software Holdings (£8,000, 2007–09), and ABM Holdings (£1,500, 2009). Duncan has also had tens of thousands of pounds from private individual donors.
WikiLeaks 2010
According to The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian, to assess the possible policies of a future Conservative government, American Intelligence drew up a dossier on several members of that party, including Duncan. It compiled details of his political associations with leading Conservatives, including William Hague. The cable called for further intelligence on "Duncan's relationship with Conservative party leader David Cameron and William Hague", and asked: "What role would Duncan play if the Conservatives form a government? What are Duncan's political ambitions?"
Nuclear power
As shadow business secretary in 2008, Duncan stated, referring to the Hinkley Point C project, that "on no account should there be any kind of subsidy for nuclear power."
Middle East
In August 2011 he found himself under pressure to remove a video of himself accusing Israel of a "land grab" in the occupied territories. In an October 2014 speech to the Royal United Services Institute Duncan said: "Indeed just as we rightly judge someone as unfit for public office if they refuse to recognise Israel, so we should shun anyone who refuses to recognise settlements are illegal. No settlement endorsers should be regarded as fit to stand for public office, remain a member of a mainstream political party or sit in a parliament. How can we accept lawmakers in our country or any other country when they support lawbreakers in another?" In a BBC Radio interview linked to that speech and another given during a House of Commons debate on Palestinian statehood he said: "All know that the United States is in hock to a very powerful financial lobby which dominates its politics." Commenting on Duncan's statements, a spokesman for the Board of Deputies of British Jews called him "breathtakingly one-sided".
Libyan oil cell
In August 2011, it was reported that Duncan had played an instrumental role in blocking fuel supplies to Tripoli, Libya, during the Libyan conflict. In April 2011, the former oil trader convinced the UK prime minister to establish the so-called 'Libyan oil cell' which was run out of the Foreign Office.
The cell advised NATO to blockade the port of Zawiya to stifle Gaddafi's war effort. They also helped identify other passages the smugglers were using to get fuel into Libya via Tunisia and Algeria.
London-based oil traders were encouraged to sell fuel to rebels in Benghazi, with communication being established between traders and the rebels to route the fuel.
One Whitehall source commented: 'The energy noose tightened around Tripoli's neck. It was much more effective and easier to repair than bombs. It is like taking the key of the car away. You can't move. The great thing is you can switch it all back on again if Gaddafi goes. It is not the same as if you have bombed the whole city to bits.
Appointment to Privy Council
On 28 May 2010, he was appointed to the Privy Council, upon the formation of the Coalition government.
Comments by Israeli embassy official
In January 2017, Al Jazeera aired a series entitled The Lobby. The last episode showed Shai Masot, an official at the Israeli embassy in London, proposing an attempt to "take down" British "pro-Palestinian" politicians, including Duncan. The leader of the opposition Jeremy Corbyn wrote an open letter to Theresa May objecting to what he called an "improper interference in this country's democratic process" and urging the prime minister to launch an inquiry on the basis that "[t]his is clearly a national security issue". The Israeli ambassador Mark Regev apologised to Duncan for the "completely unacceptable" comments made in the video. A Foreign Office spokesman, effectively rejecting Corbyn's comments, said it "is clear these comments do not reflect the views of the embassy or government of Israel". Masot resigned shortly after the recordings were made public. Pro-Israel British activists and a former Israel embassy employee complained to Ofcom, but Ofcom dismissed all charges.
Political views
Duncan is a right-wing libertarian. The Guardian has variously described him as 'economically libertarian' and 'socially libertarian'. He has been described as the 'liberal, urbane face of the Conservative Party'. He was a moderniser within the Conservative Party.
One of the chapters in his book Saturn's Children is devoted to an explanation of his support for the legalisation of all drugs. This chapter was removed when the paperback edition was published to prevent embarrassment to the Party leadership; however, Duncan had, at one time, posted the chapter on his website, "for the benefit of the enquiring student". Duncan believes in minimising the size of government, and in Saturn's Children advocated limiting government responsibility to essential services such as defence, policing and health.
In 2002, Duncan was described by the BBC as a "staunch" Eurosceptic. However, he declared for the 'Remain' camp in the run-up to the UK's referendum on EU membership. On 2 October 2017, Duncan spoke at the Chicago Council of Global Affairs. In his speech he attributed Britain's majority vote to leave the EU to a "blue-collar tantrum against immigration".
He is on the council of the Conservative Way Forward (CWF) group. He is one of the leading British members of Le Cercle, a secretive foreign policy discussion forum. In contrast to most members of both CWF and Le Cercle, who hold pro-Republican Atlanticist views, he actively supported John Kerry in the US 2004 presidential election. This surprised some, but Duncan is a friend of Kerry, having met him while at Harvard.
Following the release of the Panama Papers, which contained revelations about David Cameron's income from overseas funds set up by his father, Duncan defended the Prime Minister. He urged Cameron's critics, especially MPs, to "admit that their real point is that they hate anyone who has got a hint of wealth in them" from whose viewpoint it followed that "we risk seeing a House of Commons which is stuffed full of low-achievers". Michael Deacon wrote in The Daily Telegraph: "There are two inferences to draw from Sir Alan's outburst. One is that he thinks the Commons should only be 'stuffed with' the rich. The second is that he thinks the vast majority of his constituents, not being rich, are 'low-achievers'. Probably not a view to advertise in his next election leaflet".
Personal life
Duncan was the first sitting Conservative MP voluntarily to acknowledge that he is gay; he did this in an interview with The Times on 29 July 2002, although he has said that this came as no surprise to friends. Indeed, in an editorial published on the news of Duncan's coming out, The Daily Telegraph reported, "The news that Alan Duncan is gay will come as a surprise only to those who have never met him. The bantam Tory frontbencher can hardly be accused of having hidden his homosexuality."
On 3 March 2008, it was announced in the Court & Social page of The Daily Telegraph that Duncan would be entering into a civil partnership with his partner James Dunseath, which would make him the first member of either the Cabinet or the Shadow Cabinet to enter into a civil partnership. The two were joined as civil partners on 24 July 2008 at Merchant Taylors' Hall in the City of London.
Duncan has a committed following in the gay community and is active in speaking up for gay rights. He was responsible for formulating the Conservatives' policy response to the introduction of civil partnership legislation in 2004, which he considered his proudest achievement of the Parliament between 2001 and 2005. He was among those who rebelled against his party by voting for an equal age of consent between heterosexuals and homosexuals on numerous occasions between 1998 and 2000. However, he voted against same-sex adoption in 2001.
Works and appearances
Books
Duncan is the author of three published nonfiction books:
(economics)
(political science)
(political memoir of 2016–2020)
His pamphlet An End to Illusions proposed an independent Bank of England, the break-up of clearing banks, reduction of implicit tax subsidies given to owner-occupiers, curtailment of pension fund tax privileges, and new forms of corporate ownership.
Saturn's Children presents a detailed case regarding the history and consequences of government control over institutions and activities which were historically private, to the extent that many citizens assume that privately or communally developed municipal facilities and universities are creations of the state, and that prohibitions on drug use, sex, and personal defence have always existed.
In the Thick of It is Duncan's diary from the eve of the Brexit referendum in 2016 to the UK's eventual exit from the EU.
Television and radio
Duncan has appeared four times on the satirical news quiz Have I Got News for You: first appearing on 28 October 2005,
then 20 October 2006,
and again on 2 May 2008
and 24 April 2009.
His 2009 appearance featured a badly received ironic joke about murdering the latest Miss California, who stated that she opposed same-sex marriages.
He has appeared on many occasions as a panellist on BBC TV's Question Time and BBC Radio 4's Any Questions? In 2006, he took part in a documentary entitled How to beat Jeremy Paxman.
References
External links
Alan Duncan MP Official constituency website
Alan Duncan Appearances C-SPAN
Alan Duncan Profile at New Statesman Your Democracy
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1957 births
Living people
Alumni of St John's College, Oxford
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Coxswains (rowing)
British drug policy reform activists
English libertarians
English people of Scottish descent
Gay politicians
Harvard University alumni
Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George
LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
English LGBT politicians
British LGBT rights activists
People educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood
People from Rickmansworth
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William%20Jefferson%20%28politician%29
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William Jefferson (politician)
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William Jennings Jefferson (born March 14, 1947) is an American former politician from Louisiana whose career ended after his corruption scandal and conviction. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for nine terms from 1991 to 2009 as a member of the Democratic Party. He represented , which includes much of the greater New Orleans area. He was elected as the state's first black congressman since the end of Reconstruction.
On November 13, 2009, Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years in federal prison for bribery after a corruption investigation, the longest sentence ever given to a congressman. He began serving that sentence in May 2012 at a Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) facility in Beaumont, Texas.
He appealed his case after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on similar issues. In light of these findings, on October 5, 2017, Jefferson was ordered released, pending sentencing or other action, after a U.S. District judge threw out 7 of 10 charges against him. On December 1, 2017, Judge T. S. Ellis III accepted his plea deal and sentenced Jefferson to time served.
Early life and family
Jefferson was born on March 14, 1947, in Lake Providence, the parish seat of East Carroll Parish in northeastern Louisiana. He and his eight brothers and sisters worked alongside their father on their farm, and Jefferson was also a heavy-equipment operator for the United States Army Corps of Engineers. The Jeffersons were among the few African-American families in the area who in the mid-20th century owned their land (as opposed to sharecropping). They were regarded with respect, but the family struggled in poverty.
In 1969, Jefferson received a bachelor's degree from Southern University, a historically black college in Baton Rouge, where he had participated in Army ROTC. In 1969 he led a protest against substandard campus facilities and negotiated a resolution of the complaint with then-Governor John J. McKeithen. On graduation from Southern University, Jefferson was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army; he served in a reserve capacity until 1975. In 1972, he earned a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School. In 1996, he received a LLM in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C.
In 1972 and 1973 Jefferson began the practice of law, having initially served as a clerk for Judge Alvin Benjamin Rubin of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Jefferson is the brother of Betty Jefferson, who became assessor for New Orleans and a Democratic field operative; Mose Jefferson, Archie Jefferson, and Brenda Jefferson Foster. He is the uncle of Angela Coleman.
Jefferson and his wife, Andrea Jefferson, have five daughters: Jamila Jefferson-Jones, Jalila Jefferson-Bullock (a former Louisiana State Representative), Jelani Jefferson Exum (a professor of law at the University of Toledo), Nailah Jefferson (a documentary filmmaker), and Akilah Jefferson. Jamila, Jalila, and Jelani are all graduates of Harvard College and Harvard Law School. Nailah is a graduate of Boston University and Emerson College. Akilah, a graduate of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, attends the Tulane University School of Medicine.
Political career in New Orleans
From 1973 to 1975, Jefferson was a legislative assistant to Democratic U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana. Jefferson moved to New Orleans in 1976 and was elected to the Louisiana Senate in 1979, where he served until 1990. He twice unsuccessfully ran for New Orleans mayor, having, along with Ron Faucheux, first challenged Dutch Morial in the election of 1982. He was defeated by Sidney Barthelemy in the mayoral runoff of 1986. During the 1982 mayoral race, Morial attacked Jefferson by calling him "Dollar Bill". Jefferson was considered a rising star in Louisiana politics, with some suggesting he would be his state's second African-American governor.
In 1990, midway through his third term in the state senate, Jefferson ran in the nonpartisan blanket primary for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district seat after 10-term incumbent Lindy Boggs announced her retirement. He finished first in the seven-candidate field with 24 percent of the vote. In the runoff, he defeated Marc Morial, the son of Dutch Morial, with 52 percent of the vote. He was reelected seven times.
In the House, Jefferson joined the Congressional Black Caucus. He considered running for governor in 1995 but did not do so.
Jefferson ran for governor of Louisiana in the 1999 Louisiana gubernatorial election, and was the de facto "official" Democratic candidate. However, he lost badly to incumbent Republican Mike Foster, having tallied 29.5 percent of the vote and carrying only New Orleans (coextensive with Orleans Parish) and his native East Carroll Parish, whose seat is Lake Providence.
Local influence
Jefferson and his family controlled one of the most sophisticated and effective get-out-the-vote organizations in South Louisiana – the Progressive Democrats. Journalist Laura Maggi has described Mose Jefferson, a brother of William, as "the man responsible for running the Progressive Democrats street operation" in New Orleans.
His opponents, Ken Carter and Jim Singleton, founded the Black Organization for Leadership Development as an alternative group. In 2002, the Progressive Democrats' support helped elect Jefferson's protégée Renée Gill Pratt to the New Orleans City Council. Jefferson's daughter Jalila was defeated by Rosalind Peychaud in a special election for Gill Pratt's District 91 seat in the Louisiana State House. She defeated Peychaud in the next regular election. Jefferson's Progressive Democrats organization also contributed to the election of Jefferson's sister Betty, as a municipal assessor, in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
New Orleans politics substantially changed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, as many former residents have never returned to the city, changing the demographics of voters. A few days after Hurricane Katrina, Jefferson was reported to have used a Louisiana National Guard detachment to recover personal effects and belongings from his home. After the truck in which he and the detachment traveled became stuck, the Guard helicopter aided Jefferson's party while rescue operations in the city were still underway.
2006 election
In the ensuing 2006 election cycle for Louisiana's 2nd congressional district, eight Democrats, three Republicans, and one Libertarian challengers stood for election against Jefferson. Jefferson had been named as a subject in a corruption probe.
None of the candidates obtained more than 50% of the vote on the first ballot (November 7, 2006), forcing a runoff. The two candidates who survived the first ballot were both African-American Democrats: Jefferson got 30% of the vote, and State Representative Karen Carter, who enjoyed support from the Louisiana Democratic Party’s establishment, picked up nearly all endorsements from local politicians and the local press; she gathered 22% of the vote. Carter was Jefferson's first credible challenger since his initial run for Congress.
Political commentators predicted an easy victory for Carter on the second ballot (to be held on December 9, 2006). In the last week of campaign, however, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Harry Lee, a law and order Democrat, urged voters against Carter. She had criticized the conduct of Gretna police officers and Jefferson Parish deputies in the aftermath of Katrina, as they had prevented evacuees from fleeing New Orleans. Lee mailed out 25,000 fliers and made public statements attacking Carter. The campaign generated much controversy, highlighting racial differences between the parishes.
Voter turnout dwindled from 24.15% to 16.25%. While residents of the city of New Orleans gave Jefferson a slight majority over Carter, (51% to 49%); the Jefferson Parish share of the district voted for Jefferson by a staggering 71% to 29%, clearly swinging the election in his favor.
Following Jefferson's reelection, Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi announced that Jefferson would not regain his seat on the Ways and Means Committee as long as he is not "cleared of wrongdoing in an ongoing federal corruption probe".
2008 campaign
In 2008, Jefferson sought re-election while under indictment for bribery. Six Democrats challenged him for the seat in the Democratic primary. The voting was delayed due to Hurricane Gustav.
In the October 4, 2008 Democratic primary, opposition to Jefferson was split among seven contenders. Some of the challengers made strong showings in their base neighborhoods but failed to garner much support in other parts of the district. Jefferson ran second, third, or even fourth in many precincts, but his 25% total was enough to give him a plurality and to send him into the runoff primary, where he faced Helena Moreno, a former TV newscaster, on November 4. Aided by overwhelming support from African-American voters on the same date as the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama drew them to the polls in unprecedented numbers, Jefferson won the Democratic nomination in the congressional party primary, which barred the district's 41,000 Republicans and many of its 84,000 other voters not registered as Democrats. Jefferson won the November 4 Democratic runoff.
The general election round occurred on December 6, 2008. Jefferson faced Republican candidate Anh "Joseph" Cao, Green Party candidate Malik Rahim, and Libertarian Party candidate Gregory Kahn. An earlier candidate, independent Jerry Jacobs, withdrew.
Jefferson was defeated in the general election on December 6, 2008 in a major upset by Republican nominee Cao, who had endorsements from several prominent Democrats including Moreno and City Councilwomen Jacquelyn Brechtel Clarkson and Stacy Head. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin endorsed Jefferson. Cao won by three percentage points. Jefferson was the third Democratic incumbent since the end of Reconstruction to lose to a Republican at the federal level in Louisiana. (But in Louisiana as in other parts of the South, many conservative whites left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party, and alliances have shifted.)
Jefferson's loss evoked a sensation because of the overwhelmingly Democratic nature of the district; with a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+28, it is the third-most Democratic district in the South. Democrats usually win local and state races in landslides. Barack Obama carried the district with 72 percent of the vote in the 2008 presidential election.
Jefferson became the third African-American incumbent Congressman to be unseated in a general election.
Corruption case
In mid-2005, an investor in the Louisville, Kentucky-based IT firm iGate pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery and the payment of $400,000 in bribes to a public official — a then-unnamed member of the U.S. House of Representatives later alleged to be Jefferson. In return for these bribes, the public official was alleged to have agreed to persuading the U.S. Army to test iGate's broadband two-way technology and other iGate products; influencing high-ranking officials in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cameroon; and meeting with personnel of the Export-Import Bank of the United States in order to facilitate potential financing for iGate business deals in those countries.
Based on these allegations, the FBI raided Jefferson's Congressional offices in May 2006. On June 4, 2007, a federal grand jury indicted Jefferson on sixteen felony charges related to corruption, including bribery, racketeering, conspiracy, money laundering, obstruction of justice and other offenses. Jefferson was defeated by Republican Joseph Cao on December 6, 2008, and became the most senior Democrat to lose re-election that year.
In 2009, he was tried in Virginia on federal corruption charges. On August 5, 2009, he was found guilty of eleven of the sixteen corruption counts. On November 13, 2009, Jefferson was sentenced to thirteen years, the longest sentence given to a congressman for bribery or any other crime.
On March 26, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed Jefferson's conviction and sentence on ten of the eleven counts on which he was convicted. The Court of Appeals vacated and remanded the conviction on one count of the indictment, involving alleged wire fraud, holding that venue on that count was improper in the federal court in Virginia.
On April 20, 2012, U.S. District Court judge T. S. Ellis III revoked Jefferson's bail and ordered that he report to prison by May 4, 2012 to begin serving his thirteen-year sentence. He reported as ordered at the BOP facility in Beaumont, Texas. He was scheduled for release on August 30, 2023.
Jefferson owed $5 million in legal fees and filed for bankruptcy. On May 1, 2015, Jefferson was permanently disbarred by the Supreme Court of Louisiana.
In the 2016 US Supreme Court case of McDonnell v. United States, the Court remanded the case to the lower court based on issues with the corruption charges against former Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell. The Justice Department has since dropped the case and will not prosecute again. Jefferson appealed and U.S. District Judge T. S. Ellis of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia threw out 7 of the most substantive of 10 charges against him on October 5, 2017: dropping convictions for "two counts of soliciting bribes, two counts of wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering."
The judge ordered him released while the government determined the sentence or plans for a retrial. On December 1, the government and Jefferson agreed that (1) given Judge Ellis' ruling dismissing some of the counts, one of the three remaining counts also had to be dismissed; and (2) given the time Jefferson already served in prison as well as the expense involved in continued litigation, the parties agreed that if on resentencing Judge Ellis imposed a sentence of time-served, neither party would take any further appeals from Judge Ellis' decision in which he dismissed most, but not all, of the counts against Jefferson. Judge Ellis subsequently sentenced the former congressman to time served, having spent five and a half years of his initial thirteen-year sentence in federal prison.
Charges against relatives
On May 22, 2009, Betty Jefferson, Mose Jefferson, Angela Coleman, and Mose's longtime companion, former New Orleans City Councilwoman Renée Gill Pratt, were indicted for violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. On June 5, 2009, all the defendants pleaded not guilty. Their sister Brenda Jefferson Foster was serving as a witness in the government's case against them. Mose Jefferson is also facing a separate trial on charges of bribing Orleans Parish School Board president Ellenese Brooks-Simms. On July 28, 2009, United States federal judge Ivan L. R. Lemelle delayed the start of the racketeering trial to January 25, 2010.
On January 10, 2010, Mose Jefferson was convicted of bribery and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment. On February 26, 2010, Betty Jefferson and Angela Coleman pleaded guilty to a single charge of conspiracy. They were expected to testify for the government in the fraud and corruption trial against Mose Jefferson and Pratt.
Electoral history
Mayor of New Orleans, 1982
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, February 6, 1982
Second Ballot, March 20, 1982
Mayor of New Orleans, 1986
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First Ballot, February 1, 1986
Second Ballot, March 1, 1986
State Senator, 1987
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First Ballot, October 24, 1987
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 1990
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First Ballot, October 6, 1990
Second Ballot, November 6, 1990
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 1992
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First Ballot, October 3, 1992
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 1994
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First Ballot, October 1, 1994
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 1996
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First Ballot, September 21, 1996
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 1998
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First Ballot, November 3, 1998
Governor of Louisiana, 1999
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First Ballot, October 23, 1999
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2000
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First Ballot, November 7, 2000
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2002
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First Ballot, November 5, 2002
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2004
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First Ballot, November 2, 2004
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2006
Threshold > 50%
First Ballot, November 7, 2006
Second Ballot, December 9, 2006
U. S. Representative, 2nd Congressional District, 2008
See also
List of African-American United States representatives
List of American federal politicians convicted of crimes
List of federal political scandals in the United States
Footnotes
External links
Jefferson Indictment, June 4, 2007, U.S. v. Jefferson, District Court for Eastern District of Virginia
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1947 births
Living people
20th-century African-American people
20th-century American criminals
21st-century African-American politicians
21st-century American criminals
21st-century American politicians
African-American members of the United States House of Representatives
African-American United States Army personnel
African-American state legislators in Louisiana
American prisoners and detainees
Baptists from Louisiana
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana
Disbarred Louisiana lawyers
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Harvard Law School alumni
Lawyers from New Orleans
Louisiana politicians convicted of crimes
Democratic Party Louisiana state senators
Members of the United States Congress stripped of committee assignment
People from Lake Providence, Louisiana
Politicians convicted of bribery under 18 U.S.C. § 201
Politicians convicted of racketeering
Politicians from New Orleans
Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government
Southern University alumni
United States Army officers
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alun%20Michael
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Alun Michael
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Alun Edward Michael (born 22 August 1943) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician serving as South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner since 2012. He served as Secretary of State for Wales from 1998 to 1999 and then as the first First Secretary of Wales (later known as First Minister) and Leader of Welsh Labour from 1999 to 2000.
Born on the island of Anglesey, Michael attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and graduated from the University of Keele in 1966 with a degree in Philosophy and English. He worked as a reporter for the South Wales Echo until 1971 and then as a youth and community worker until 1987. He became a Justice of the Peace in 1972 and served on the Cardiff City Council from 1973 to 1989. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1987, succeeding former Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan for the constituency of Cardiff South and Penarth.
In opposition, he was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister and then when Labour came to power in 1997 he served as a Minister of State for Home Affairs until 1998. In October of that year, Ron Davies resigned as Secretary of State for Wales following a personal controversy and Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Michael to succeed him. In May 1999, following the first elections to the National Assembly for Wales, Michael defeated Rhodri Morgan to become the Leader of Welsh Labour and thus the First Secretary of Wales. The position was later renamed First Minister of Wales under the tenure of his successor.
Michael resigned as Leader of Welsh Labour and First Secretary nine months later to avoid a vote of no confidence. He resigned from the Welsh Assembly shortly after and served in various junior ministerial positions in the Labour government at Westminster. He resigned from the House of Commons in October 2012 to stand for the newly created position of Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales, to which he was elected in November 2012 and again in 2016 and 2021.
Background and family life
Michael was born at Bryngwran, Anglesey, the son of Leslie and Betty Michael. He attended Colwyn Bay Grammar School and studied at Keele University for four years from 1962 to 1966 obtaining a BA degree in Philosophy and English.
Professional career
He was a reporter for the South Wales Echo, a Cardiff-based evening newspaper, where he was a contemporary of Michael Buerk (later to become a distinguished BBC correspondent) and of Sue Lawley (later to become presenter of the BBC magazine programme Nationwide). In his autobiography Michael Buerk wrote "Alun Michael with his ginger toothbrush-moustache and battered corduroy jacket, was a rather Pooterish character for the Sixties. He did not stay in journalism, which was no surprise, but went into politics, which certainly was". Michael in fact left journalism in 1971 and spent 16 years until 1987 as a "youth and community worker" before entering Parliament. In 1972 he was appointed a justice of the peace, chairing the Cardiff Juvenile Bench.
Political career
Michael was a member of Cardiff City Council for the Rumney ward, subsequently the Trowbridge ward from 1973 until 1989.
He became an MP at the 1987 general election, inheriting a safe Labour seat from former prime minister James Callaghan. Michael retained this seat in 1992, 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010 although with declining majorities at each election from 1997 onwards.
Home Office
Michael was a Shadow Home Affairs Minister while in opposition, prior to becoming a Minister of State in the Home Office (he likes to describe himself as having been "Deputy Home Secretary") following Labour's landslide victory in the 1997 general election. His rhetoric when coming to office differed from the eventual delivery. As Home Office minister, he pledged there would be "no hiding place for paedophiles" as there would "be cases where the public will have to be told directly that a paedophile is in their area. Several frightening cases in recent months have hammered it home that we must act." This policy was not realised, and following the case of eight-year-old Sarah Payne and calls for his original policy to be introduced, Michael agreed with the approach being taken by then Dyfed Powys Chief Constable Terence Grange, who said such a plan would drive paedophiles underground. He said "(Grange) warned of the dangers of having open access leading to paedophiles disappearing and therefore posing an even greater risk". Michael defended his decision not to introduce "Sarah's Law" saying, "These are extremely difficult issues and people are understandably very upset, but there is a danger of serious mistakes being made and this has been shown on a number occasions.".
Michael was however responsible for steering the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 through the House of Commons. Amongst other things, this Act introduced ASBOs or Anti-social Behaviour Orders and statutory crime reduction partnerships. He was also responsible for the Government policy on the voluntary and community sector, and introduced the "compact" process to achieve partnership between Government and that sector. Michael later became a member of the Justice Select Committee from November 2007 to May 2010. While on the committee he took part in enquiries into restorative justice, devolution ten years on, the role of the prison officer, and the work of the Crown Prosecution Service.
Wales career
In May 1997 Ron Davies was appointed by Tony Blair to the cabinet position of Secretary of State for Wales and then, in September 1998, narrowly defeated Rhodri Morgan in an internal contest for the Labour leadership in Wales. The first election for the National Assembly of Wales was due to be held in May 1999. Should Labour form a government, the Welsh Labour leader would then become what was to be called "First Secretary" – potentially giving Ron Davies a role in both the UK and Welsh legislatures.
However, on 27 October 1998, Ron Davies abruptly resigned as Secretary of State for Wales after adverse publicity about his personal life. Tony Blair overlooked Rhodri Morgan (then MP for Cardiff West) and controversially appointed Alun Michael as the new Secretary of State for Wales.
Two days later, on 29 October 1998, Ron Davies also resigned the Labour Leadership in Wales, thus relinquishing his ambition to become First Secretary and initiating another leadership contest. Blair again overlooked Morgan and opted to back Alun Michael as putative First Secretary. According to Neath MP Peter Hain "Rhodri was the party’s favourite and feelings ran very high" but nevertheless, in a volte-face, Hain agreed to run the campaign for Michael who he described as "the establishment candidate". Although Morgan had the overwhelming support of individual Labour Party members, Alun Michael, backed by Blair and by the trade unions, duly won. This episode led to Michael being described as a "famously tetchy Millbank-backed candidate". The affair was described by Peter Kellner as "another fix" in order "to ensure Alun Michael became Labour's leader in Wales" which Kellner said "offended so many voters that it lost some of its safest seats, including Rhondda, to Plaid Cymru". Tony Blair's favourable treatment of Michael was later described by Kellner as a "determination to foist Alun Michael on the people of Wales", which "produced a spectacular collapse of support". Michael stressed his Welsh credentials, as someone who had grown up in North Wales, lived for 30 years in South Wales and was a speaker of Welsh. He had approached Blair at a very early stage to suggest he stood for the Welsh Assembly elections.
The first Assembly election resulted in the Welsh Labour Party winning less than half of the available seats. In the first plenary on 12 May 1999 Michael was elected First Secretary.
Rather than form a coalition, Michael took the unconventional route of forming a minority government, believing that this offered the potential for a more collaborative and democratic approach to the work of the Assembly.
However, this was to lead to the very outcome Tony Blair had wanted to prevent, the election of Rhodri Morgan as leader of the Welsh Assembly. On 9 February 2000, after less than nine months in office, Michael resigned in an attempt to avoid a vote of "no confidence" over the availability of Objective 1 funding from the European Union. Blair was in the House of Commons taking Prime Minister's Questions when Michael resigned; his PPS had not been notified of this yet, and moments later Conservative leader William Hague asked: “Will the Prime Minister comment on the fact that within moments of his expressing full confidence in the First Secretary in Wales five or 10 minutes ago, news came through to the House that the First Secretary had resigned, before the vote of confidence had taken place?“ This led to an exchange that proved humiliating for Blair as he had not been given any notice of Michael's impending resignation. In his resignation Michael also expressed a desire to avoid a debacle resulting from his inevitable re-appointment (and potential repeated removal, ad infinitum) arising from an inconsistency in the Assembly's brand-new rules.
Michael sat on the Welsh Affairs Select Committee from November 2007 to May 2010 and resigned as an MP on 22 October 2012.
Environment career
In 2001, he was appointed Minister of State for Rural Affairs and Local Environmental Quality, a post within DEFRA. He was the minister most closely connected with a ban on hunting with dogs, for which he attracted much criticism from hunt supporters. Michael was criticised for citing the research of Sir Patrick Bateson as "incontrovertible proof" of the need for a total ban. Sir Patrick said, "Only somebody who was scientifically illiterate could argue that evidence from a new area of research was 'incontrovertible'" but Michael claimed that Bateson had misunderstood the way his work had been cited.
Hunting Act
In 2004, he presided over the enactment of the Hunting Act which banned hare coursing, beagling, fox hunting, mink and stag hunting in the UK from February 2005. At the time this law was being debated, and immediately after it was passed, Michael maintained his visits to rural areas despite threats and protest, but withdrew from the event to launch the "Right to Roam" stating that access to the countryside was too important to be interrupted by pro-hunt protestors whose plans could put the public at risk. Michael maintained that hunting was a "peripheral issue" citing social and economic issues in rural areas as "the day job". In 2004, he formally approved the order designating the New Forest as a National Park.
Trade and Business
In 2005 Michael was moved to a ministerial post in the Department of Trade and Industry as Minister of State for Industry and the Regions, where he served only one year before he was returned to the backbenches in the Cabinet reshuffle of May 2006.
In 2005 the Freedom of Information Act came into force allowing members of the public to request disclosure of information from public bodies. On 18 May 2007 Alun Michael was among the majority of MPs who voted in favour of exempting MPs from having to disclose information under the act.
Votes for 14-year-olds
In his newspaper column in the Penarth Times of 10 May 2010, Michael proposed giving the vote to 14-year-olds as a way of improving turn-out at UK elections. He said: "My first suggestion is to reduce the voting age to 14 – an age which I find young people far better informed and sensibly engaged than was the case in the past – so that everybody takes place in the voting process once before leaving full-time education. They will then know how to vote when they come to engage with political issues later in life". This was going much further than official Labour Party policy. Labour's 2010 Manifesto only promised a free vote in Parliament on reducing the voting age to 16.
Controversies
Parliamentary expenses claims
Michael was one of the MPs who was investigated by The Daily Telegraph in its probe into MPs Expenses Claims in 2009. The Telegraph reported that "Alun Michael claims £4,800 for food in one year, and £2,600 for repairs to his roof at his constituency home in Penarth. Claims for £1,250 cost of repairing a wall and building a 13ft chain link fence." Subsequently, it was reported he was among 390 MPs required by Sir Thomas Legg to repay taxpayers' money which allegedly they had wrongly-claimed. An audit of claims dating back to 2004 revealed that Michael should repay £18,889.56 for mortgage interest on additional loans "not shown to have been for an eligible purpose". He had also been paid £280 more than he was entitled to claim for council tax in the year 2004/05 – claiming expenses for 12 installments when he had only had to pay 10 to the local authority. Michael blamed a "clerical error" for the inflated claim. He said "The council tax payment came at a time when I was under a lot of stress politically". Michael repaid £19,169.56 although later in a 2010 Election Hustings meeting in Splott he said press reports of his having been forced to pay back £20,000 were "untrue" and asserted he had "voluntarily" paid back the money.
Investigated by IPSA
In 2011, Michael was investigated by the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority (IPSA) over his website. IPSA found he had contravened the rules of the MPs' Expenses Scheme which prohibit MPs from claiming parliamentary expenses for websites which include party logos. Michael had claimed – and been paid – £346.71 which he was not entitled to. He was given 20 days to amend his website but was not required to pay back the money he had been paid.
Police and Crime Commissioner
On 18 June 2012, Michael was chosen as the Labour Party candidate for the inaugural election for Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales.
On 13 July 2012 the Western Mail reported that Michael had been "interfering inappropriately" in the selection process for his replacement in Cardiff South and Penarth, to ensure his preferred candidate (Stephen Doughty) was included on the shortlist. Michael responded that he did speak to Ed Miliband, to the party's general secretary Iain McNicol and members of the National Executive Committee, with the purpose to stop a candidate from outside being imposed on the local party.
Having stood down as an MP, Michael was declared the winner of the first-ever election for Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales on 16 November 2012 (the election having taken place the previous day). The PCC elections used the supplementary vote system. In the first round Michael failed to gain an outright majority against two Independents and a Conservative candidate. In the second-round however Michael garnered 72,751 votes beating the runner-up, Independent candidate and former lawyer Michael Barker, by 11,967 votes.
In a Parliamentary written answer on 11 December 2012, Damian Green, Minister of State for Police and Criminal Justice, reported that Michael's salary as PCC for South Wales is £85,000 per annum.
On 9 November 2017 Michael asked Carwyn Jones to define the allegations made against Carl Sargeant, the former Welsh assembly member who apparently took his own life.
On 23 May 2023, and in reference to the deaths of two boys in a collision in Cardiff, Michael said "It would appear that there were rumours, and those rumours became rife, of a police chase, which wasn't the case and I think it illustrates the speed with which rumours can run around with the activity that goes on social media nowadays, and that events can get out of hand." Later the same day this was apparently contradicted by the emergence of household CCTV footage of a police van closely following two people on an electric bike 900 metres from the crash site. In response, Jane Dodds, the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said, "This footage raises serious questions over the version of events provided by South Wales Police and PCC Alun Michael. We now need an immediate, impartial investigation. Should Alun Michael be found to have misled the public he should resign."
Bibliography
Dragon on Our Doorstep: New Politics for a New Millennium in Wales by Alun Michael (University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 2000)
Labour in Action: Tough on Crime, Tough on the Causes of Crime – a Collection of Essays edited by Alun Michael (Fabian Society, 1997)
Building the Future Together (Labour Party, 1997)
See also
List of Welsh AMs/MSs with the shortest service
References
External links
Alun Michael website official constituency website
Alun Michael MP Welsh Labour Party profile
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1943 births
Alumni of Keele University
British Secretaries of State
Converts to Anglicanism
Councillors in Cardiff
First Ministers of Wales
Labour Co-operative MPs for Welsh constituencies
Leaders of political parties in Wales
Living people
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Cardiff constituencies
Members of the Welsh Government
People from Anglesey
Police and crime commissioners in Wales
Secretaries of State for Wales
Wales AMs 1999–2003
Welsh Anglicans
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UK MPs 1987–1992
UK MPs 1992–1997
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
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Bryngwran
Welsh-speaking politicians
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben%20Cardin
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Ben Cardin
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Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the U.S. representative for from 1987 to 2007. Cardin served in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1967 to 1987 and as its speaker from 1979 to 1987, the youngest person to ever hold the position. In his half-century career as an elected official, he had never lost an election.
Cardin was elected as U.S. Senator to succeed Paul Sarbanes in 2006, defeating Republican Michael Steele, the Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, by a margin of 54% to 44%. He was reelected in 2012 taking 56% of the vote. He became Maryland's senior U.S. senator on January 3, 2017, upon Barbara Mikulski's retirement. Cardin won reelection to a third term in 2018, taking 65% of the vote. On May 1, 2023, he announced that he would retire and not seek re-election in 2024.
Early life and career
Benjamin Louis Cardin was born in Baltimore, Maryland. The family name was originally "Kardonsky", before it was changed to "Cardin". Cardin's grandparents were Russian Jewish immigrants. His maternal grandfather, Benjamin Green, operated a neighborhood grocery store that later turned into a wholesale food distribution company. His mother Dora was a schoolteacher and his father, Meyer Cardin, served in the Maryland House of Delegates (1935–1937) and later sat on the Baltimore City Supreme Bench (1961–1977).
Cardin and his family attended the Modern Orthodox Beth Tfiloh Congregation near their home, with which the family had been affiliated for three generations. Cardin attended City College High School, graduating in 1961. In 1964, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity. He earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Maryland School of Law in 1967, graduating first in his class. Cardin was admitted to the Maryland Bar that same year, and joined the private practice of Rosen and Esterson until 1978.
Early political career
Maryland House of Delegates
While still in law school, Cardin was elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in November 1966. He held the seat once held by his uncle, Maurice Cardin, who had decided to not run for re-election so that his nephew could instead pursue the seat. He was chairman of the Ways & Means Committee from 1974 to 1979, then served as the 103rd Speaker of the House until he left office. At age 35, he was the youngest Speaker in Maryland history at the time. As Speaker, he was involved with reform efforts involving Maryland's property tax system, school financing formula, and ethical standards for elected officials.
U.S. House of Representatives
In 1986, with Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski mounting what would be a successful bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by retiring Senator Charles Mathias, Cardin ran for Mikulski's seat representing the 3rd congressional district, which covered a large slice of inner Baltimore, as well as several close-in suburbs. Cardin won the Democratic nomination with 82 percent of the vote—the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. He won the general election with 79 percent of the vote against a perennial candidate, Republican Ross Z. Pierpont.
Cardin served as one of the House impeachment managers that successfully prosecuted the case in the 1989 impeachment trial of Judge Walter Nixon.
Cardin was reelected nine times, rarely facing serious opposition and even running unopposed in 1992. In the 2000 round of redistricting, his district was redrawn to add significant portions of Anne Arundel County, including the state capital of Annapolis. His last two opponents hailed from Anne Arundel and nearly carried the district's portion of that county.
In the House, Cardin was involved with fiscal issues, pension reform, and health care. His legislation to increase the amount individuals can store in their 401k plans and IRAs was passed in 2001. His bill to expand Medicare to include preventive benefits such as colorectal, prostate, mammogram, and osteoporosis screening was also enacted. He also authored legislation to provide a Medicare prescription drug benefit for chronic illnesses; fund graduate medical education; and guarantee coverage for emergency services.
Cardin has also advocated, via proposed legislation, welfare reform. His bill to increase education and support services for foster children between ages 18 and 21 was signed into law in 1999. He authored bills to expand child support, improve the welfare-to-work program, and increase the child care tax credit.
In 1998, Cardin was appointed Chairman of the Special Study Commission on Maryland Public Ethics Law by the Maryland General Assembly. In 1997, he co-chaired the Bipartisan Ethics Task Force in an effort to reform ethics procedures in the House of Representatives. He also held leadership positions on the Organization, Study and Review Committee and the Steering Committee of the House Democratic Caucus, and served as Senior Democratic Whip.
Cardin has been commended for his work with fiscal policy. He has been honored by Worth magazine and by Treasury and Risk Management for his work protecting retirement plans and government-supported medical care for the elderly. He has also received scores of 100 percent from the League of Conservation Voters and the NAACP, indicating stances that are in favor of environmental protection and civil rights. Cardin was also one of 133 members of Congress to vote against the 2002 Iraq Resolution.
House committee assignments
, Cardin served on the following House committees:
Member of the Ways and Means Committee.
Ranking member of the Trade Subcommittee.
Member of the Human Resources Subcommittee.
Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
U.S. Senate
Elections
2006
On April 26, 2005, Cardin announced that he would seek the U.S. Senate seat of long-standing senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), following the announcement by Sarbanes that he would not be running for re-election in 2006. On September 12, 2006, Cardin faced a challenging primary battle with other Maryland Democrats, including Allan Lichtman, Josh Rales, Dennis F. Rasmussen, and his former House colleague Kweisi Mfume. Cardin won, however, with 44 percent of the vote, compared to 40 percent for Mfume, five percent for Rales, and two percent for Rasmussen.
Cardin won election on November 7, 2006, defeating Republican challenger Michael Steele 54 percent to 44 percent. Cardin became the third consecutive Representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district to be elected Senator (following Sarbanes and Mikulski). John Sarbanes, Paul's son, succeeded Cardin in the 3rd district.
2012
Cardin ran for re-election to a second term in 2012. He turned back a primary challenge from State Senator C. Anthony Muse, defeating him 74% to 16%, with seven other candidates taking the remaining 10%.
In the general election, he faced Republican Dan Bongino, a former United States Secret Service agent, Independent Rob Sobhani, an economist and businessman, and Libertarian Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, President of the Minaret of Freedom Institute. Cardin easily won the election, taking 56% of the vote to Bongino's 26.3%, Sobhani's 16.4% and Ahmad's 1%.
2018
Cardin was re-elected for a third term in 2018.
Tenure
Cardin was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when the January 6 United States Capitol attack happened. Cardin was on the Senate chamber floor when the rioters breached the Capitol. He was "ushered quickly — and I do mean quickly — away from the Capitol" after Vice President Mike Pence was removed from the chambers. During the attack, while Cardin hid with other senators in a safe location, he tweeted, blaming President Donald Trump for encouraging the rioters. He called for Trump to stop the protestors so the event would end "peacefully." Cardin also compared the police involvement during the attack to that seen during Black Lives Matter protests, calling it a "stark contrast." After the Capitol was secure, Cardin joined Congress to certify the count. After, he said that Trump should be held accountable for the insurrection and called for Republican leaders to tell Trump that he needs to resign. Two days later, on January 8, Cardin called for the invocation of the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution or impeachment to remove Trump.
Senate committee assignments
Source:
Committee on Environment and Public Works
Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
Subcommittee on Fisheries, Water, and Wildlife
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee on Finance
Subcommittee on Health Care (Chair)
Subcommittee on International Trade, Customs, and Global Competitiveness
Subcommittee on Taxation and IRS Oversight
Committee on Foreign Relations
Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation
Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism
Subcommittee on State Department and USAID Management, International Operations, and Bilateral International Development (Chair)
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights and Global Women's Issues
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship (chairman)
Cardin was selected by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to fill in for Dianne Feinstein on the Judiciary Committee until she returned. Senator Feinstein is recovering at home from shingles.
In 2015, Cardin became the ranking Democratic member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee after the departure of Senator Robert Menendez as ranking Democrat and Chairman. Two weeks after Menendez departure, Cardin was credited with facilitating achievement of a unanimous committee vote in favor of the markup for the bill on the USA's involvement in the negotiations with Iran on nuclear technology.
Senator Menendez returned to chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 2021.
Caucus membership
Senate Oceans Caucus
Senate Military Family Caucus
Senate Ukraine Caucus
Legislation sponsored
The following is an incomplete list of legislation that Cardin has sponsored:
Affordable College Textbook Act (S. 1864; 115th Congress)
International experience
Cardin has been a Commissioner on the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (the U.S. Helsinki Commission) since 1993, serving as Ranking Member from 2003 to 2006. He subsequently served two terms as co-chair of the commission, from 2007 to 2008, and 2011 to 2012; and also two terms as chair, from 2009 to 2010, and 2013 to 2014. From 2015 to 2016 he was again ranking member. In 2006 he was elected vice president of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly, and served through 2014.
Honors
Cardin holds honorary degrees from several institutions, including the University of Baltimore School of Law (1990); University of Maryland, Baltimore (1993); Baltimore Hebrew University (1994); Goucher College (1996); and Villa Julie College (2007).
Cardin sits on the Board of Visitors of the University of Maryland School of Law, his law school alma mater.
From 1988 to 1995, he chaired the Maryland Legal Services Corp. Through much of his political career, he has continued to work with law policy.
From 1988 to 1999, Cardin served on the St. Mary's College of Maryland Board of Trustees, and in 2002, he was appointed to the St. Mary's Advisory Board for the Study of Democracy. In 1999, he was appointed to the Goucher College Board of Trustees.
Cardin has been awarded the following foreign honor:
Commander of the Order of the Star of Romania, Romania (June 8, 2017)
Political positions
On a list by Congressional Quarterly of the members of Congress who were most supportive of President Barack Obama's legislative agenda in 2009, Cardin was tied for fifth most supportive senator with five other senators. In 2013, National Journal rated him as tied with six other Democratic senators for fifth most liberal Senator. The American Conservative Union gave him a 4% lifetime conservative rating in 2020.
Agriculture
In June 2019, Cardin and eighteen other Democratic senators sent a letter to USDA Inspector General (IG) Phyllis K. Fong with the request that the IG investigate USDA instances of retaliation and political decision-making and asserted that not conducting an investigation would mean these "actions could be perceived as a part of this administration's broader pattern of not only discounting the value of federal employees, but suppressing, undermining, discounting, and wholesale ignoring scientific data produced by their own qualified scientists."
Death penalty
Senator Cardin is a supporter of the death penalty but says it should only be applied to the "worst of the worst".
Economy
In March 2019, Cardin was one of six senators to sign a letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting it "use its rulemaking authority, along with other tools, in order to combat the scourge of non-compete clauses rigging our economy against workers" and espousing the view that such provisions "harm employees by limiting their ability to find alternate work, which leaves them with little leverage to bargain for better wages or working conditions with their immediate employer." The senators furthered that the FTC had the responsibility of protecting both consumers and workers and needed to "act decisively" to address their concerns over "serious anti-competitive harms from the proliferation of non-competes in the economy."
Education
In 2007, Cardin supported the United States Public Service Academy Act. The Act would serve to create "an undergraduate institution devoted to developing civilian leaders." Like the Military Academies, this would give students 4 years of tuition-free education in exchange for 5 years of public service upon graduation.
Environment
Liberal environmentalists criticized Cardin for compromising too much while working with conservative James Inhofe on an amendment to Cardin's Chesapeake Bay legislation. Josh Saks, senior legislative representative for water resources campaigns with the National Wildlife Federation, praised Cardin as "the lead voice for clean water and the restoration of America's great waters in Congress."
In November 2018, Cardin was one of twenty-five Democratic senators to cosponsor a resolution specifying key findings of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change report and National Climate Assessment. The resolution affirmed the senators' acceptance of the findings and their support for bold action toward addressing climate change.
In March 2019, Cardin was one of eleven senators to sponsor the Climate Security Act of 2019, legislation forming a new group within the State Department that would have the responsibility for developing strategies to integrate climate science and data into operations of national security as well as restoring the post of special envoy for the Arctic, which had been dismantled by President Trump in 2017. The proposed envoy would advise the president and the administration on the potential effects of climate on national security and be responsible for facilitating all interagency communication between federal science and security agencies.
Elections
In October 2018, Cardin cosponsored, together with Chris Van Hollen and Susan Collins, a bipartisan bill that if passed would block "any persons from foreign adversaries from owning or having control over vendors administering U.S. elections." Protect Our Elections Act would make companies involved in administering elections reveal foreign owners, and informing local, state and federal authorities if said ownership changes. Companies failing to comply would face fines of $100,000.
Equal Rights Amendment
Cardin has sponsored legislation in support of the Equal Rights Amendment.
Gun control
Cardin has an "F" rating from the NRA Political Victory Fund.
In 2013, he co-sponsored the Large Capacity Ammunition Feeding Device Act in an effort to ban large-capacity ammunition.
In response to the Orlando nightclub shooting, Cardin questioned the legality of military style assault weapons stating that "in my observations in Maryland, I don't know too many people who need to have that type of weapon in order to do hunting in my state or to keep themselves safe."
Cardin opposed the 2016 sale of approximately 26,000 assault rifles to the national police of the Philippines. His opposition led to the U.S. State Department halting the sale.
In the wake of the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Cardin stated that thoughts and prayers were not going to save more people from dying in mass shootings. He also made a call for action to change gun laws, stating on Twitter that "Automatic weapons aren't needed to hunt deer or ducks; they're meant to kill people." In response to the shooting, Cardin sponsored Dianne Feinstein's proposal to ban bump stocks, which were used by the shooter to kill 58 individuals and injure over 500.
Journalism
In July 2019, Cardin and Rob Portman introduced the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, a bill that would create a new memorial that would be privately funded and constructed on federal lands within Washington, D.C. in order to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters that have died in the line of duty.
Healthcare
In the 111th Congress, Cardin helped secure dental benefits in the State Children's Health Insurance Plan.
In August 2019, Cardin was one of nineteen senators to sign a letter to United States Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin and United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar requesting data from the Trump administration in order to aid in the comprehension of states and Congress on potential consequences in the event that the Texas v. United States Affordable Care Act (ACA) lawsuit prevailed in courts, citing that an overhaul of the present health care system would form "an enormous hole in the pocketbooks of the people we serve as well as wreck state budgets".
In October 2019, Cardin was one of twenty-seven senators to sign a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer advocating for the passage of the Community Health Investment, Modernization, and Excellence (CHIME) Act, which was set to expire the following month. The senators warned that if the funding for the Community Health Center Fund (CHCF) was allowed to expire, it "would cause an estimated 2,400 site closures, 47,000 lost jobs, and threaten the health care of approximately 9 million Americans."
Housing
In April 2019, Cardin was one of forty-one senators to sign a bipartisan letter to the housing subcommittee praising the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development's Section 4 Capacity Building program as authorizing "HUD to partner with national nonprofit community development organizations to provide education, training, and financial support to local community development corporations (CDCs) across the country" and expressing disappointment that President Trump's budget "has slated this program for elimination after decades of successful economic and community development." The senators wrote of their hope that the subcommittee would support continued funding for Section 4 in Fiscal Year 2020.
International policy
On October 31, 2011, Cardin endorsed the proposal for the United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA). He is one of only six persons who served as members of the United States Congress ever to do so and is the only one who did so while in office.
Cardin has often supported positions that aim to strengthen America's relationship with Israel. In 2017, Cardin sponsored a bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act (S. 720), that would penalize commercial businesses that wanted to aid International NGOs and/or organizations in boycotting Israel.
He supported civilian nuclear cooperation with India.
Weeks after the 2014 Hong Kong class boycott campaign and Umbrella Movement broke out which demands genuine universal suffrage among other goals, Cardin among bipartisan colleagues joined U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown and Rep. Chris Smith's effort to introduce Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act which would update the United States–Hong Kong Policy Act of 1992 and U.S. commitment to Hong Kong's freedom and democracy. "Civil society and democratic freedoms are under attack around the world and Hong Kong is on the front lines. The United States has a responsibility to protect human rights and defend against these threats," Cardin, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations East Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee said.
In July 2017, Cardin voted in favor of the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act that placed sanctions on Iran together with Russia and North Korea. On October 11, 2017, in a joint statement, Cardin and Senator John McCain questioned the Trump administration's commitment to the sanctions bill.
In October 2017, Cardin condemned the genocide of the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar and called for a stronger response to the crisis.
In August 2018, Cardin and 16 other lawmakers urged the Trump administration to impose sanctions under the Global Magnitsky Act against Chinese officials who are responsible for human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority in western China's Xinjiang region. They wrote: "The detention of as many as a million or more Uyghurs and other predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities in 'political reeducation' centers or camps requires a tough, targeted, and global response."
Cardin condemned President Erdoğan's wide-ranging crackdown on dissent following a failed July 2016 coup in America's NATO ally Turkey.
In April 2019, Cardin was one of thirty-four senators to sign a letter to President Trump encouraging him "to listen to members of your own Administration and reverse a decision that will damage our national security and aggravate conditions inside Central America", asserting that Trump had "consistently expressed a flawed understanding of U.S. foreign assistance" since becoming president and that he was "personally undermining efforts to promote U.S. national security and economic prosperity" through preventing the use of Fiscal Year 2018 national security funding. The senators argued that foreign assistance to Central American countries created less migration to the U.S., citing the funding's helping to improve conditions in those countries.
Online privacy
Cardin supports Net Neutrality, as shown by his vote during the 109th Congress in favor of the Markey Amendment to H.R. 5252 which would add Net Neutrality provisions to the federal telecommunications code. Cardin also supports Combating Online Infringement and Counterfeits Act, which gives DOJ the tools to target those site owners who are engaged in illegal digital piracy.
Taxes
Cardin is opposed to eliminating the tax deduction for charitable donations and supports raising taxes on higher-income earners. During a December 20, 2012, interview with Maria Bartiromo on CNBC, Cardin stated, "We're now a few days away from Christmas. The easiest way to get the revenues is to get the rates from the higher income, uh, taxpayers." In response to the question, "Are you prepared to vote to limit the loophole of charitable deductions?" Cardin responded, "No."
Cardin has, on multiple occasions, introduced a bill to adopt a "Progressive Consumption Tax", which is a variation of Michael J. Graetz's Competitive Tax Plan. This tax reform would abolish income tax for a large portion of American taxpayers, replacing the lost revenue with a 10% value-added tax. As of 2022, the Progressive Consumption Tax has not made it out of committee.
Cardin spoke out after the Pandora Papers were revealed in 2021. Cardin said, "The Pandora Papers are a wake-up call to all who care about the future of democracy. Thirty years after the end of the Cold War, it is time for democracies to band together and demand an end to the unprecedented corruption that has come to be the defining feature of the global order. We must purge the dirty money from our systems and deny kleptocrats safe haven."
Whistleblowers
In November 2011, Cardin's intended update of the 1917 Espionage Act upset some public disclosure advocates. They complained that it "would make it harder for federal employees to expose government fraud and abuse."
Israel
Cardin is a co-sponsor of a Senate resolution expressing objection to the UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories as a violation of international law. Cardin said that "Congress will take action against efforts at the UN, or beyond, that use Resolution 2334 to target Israel."
Cardin supported President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. He stated: "Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel and the location of the US Embassy should reflect this fact."
Cardin and Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) proposed the Israel Anti-Boycott Act in late 2018 which would make it illegal for companies to engage in boycotts against Israel and Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories. The bill would expand the Export Administration Act (EAA) to foreign boycotts imposed by international organizations like the European Union, Arab League and the United Nations. Cardin and Portman were strongly in promotion of the bill, and worked to integrate it into larger spending legislation to be signed by then-President Trump.
Personal life
Cardin married high school sweetheart Myrna Edelman, a teacher, on November 24, 1964. They have a daughter, Deborah. Their son Michael (Born ) died of suicide on March 24, 1998, at age 30.
In 2002, Cardin's 32-year-old nephew, Jon S. Cardin, was elected as a Delegate representing the 11th district of western Baltimore County. With the 11th legislative district overlapping the 3rd congressional district, there were two Cardins on the ticket in this area in 2002. Present at Jon's swearing in was the oldest living former member of the House of Delegates at 95 years of age, Meyer Cardin, Jon's grandfather and Ben's father. Also in attendance was Cardin, who remarked, "The next generation's taking over."
Volunteer service
For many years Cardin served on the board of trustees for St. Mary's College of Maryland. He was very active on the board and also played key roles in the establishment of the Center for the Study of Democracy at the college, where he also served on the advisory board.
Electoral history
Notes and references
Notes
References
See also
List of Jewish members of the United States Congress
Further reading
External links
Senator Ben Cardin official U.S. Senate website
Ben Cardin for Senate
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1943 births
20th-century American politicians
21st-century American politicians
American Orthodox Jews
American Jews from Maryland
American people of Russian-Jewish descent
American Zionists
Baltimore City College alumni
Cardin family
Chairmen of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
Democratic Party United States senators from Maryland
Equal Rights Amendment
Jewish American state legislators in Maryland
Jewish members of the United States House of Representatives
Jewish United States senators
Living people
Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
Politicians from Baltimore
Commanders of the Order of the Star of Romania
Speakers of the Maryland House of Delegates
St. Mary's College of Maryland
University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law alumni
University of Pittsburgh alumni
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steny%20Hoyer
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Steny Hoyer
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Steny Hamilton Hoyer ( ; born June 14, 1939) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the U.S. representative for since 1981. He was also a House Majority Leader from 2007 to 2011 and again from 2019 to 2023. Hoyer first attained office through a special election on 19 May 1981. As of 2023, he is in his 22nd House term. His district includes a large swath of rural and suburban territory southeast of Washington, D.C. Hoyer is the dean of the Maryland congressional delegation and the most senior Democrat in the House.
From 2003 to 2023, Hoyer was the second-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives behind Nancy Pelosi. He is a two-time House majority leader, having served in the post from 2007 to 2011 under Speaker Pelosi. During two periods of Republican House control (2003–2007 and 2011–2019), Hoyer served as House minority whip, both times under Minority Leader Pelosi. Following the 2018 midterm elections in which the Democrats took control of the House, Hoyer was reelected majority leader in 2019 for the 116th Congress; he remained the number two House Democrat behind Speaker Pelosi. He announced on November 17, 2022, that he, along with Pelosi, would not seek a leadership position in the 118th Congress, though he would remain a member of the House.
Early life and education
Hoyer was born in New York City but grew up in Mitchellville, Maryland, the son of Jean (née Baldwin) and Steen Theilgaard Høyer. His father was Danish and a native of Copenhagen; "Steny" is a variant of his father's name, "Steen". His mother was an American with Scottish, German, and English ancestry and a descendant of John Hart, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Steny Hoyer graduated from Suitland High School in Suitland, Maryland. In his early college years at the University of Maryland College Park, Hoyer held a 1.9 grade point average. In 1963, Hoyer received his B.A. degree magna cum laude and graduated Omicron Delta Kappa from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He earned his J.D. degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 1966.
Early political career
From 1962 to 1966, Hoyer was a member of the staff of U.S. Senator Daniel Brewster; also on Brewster's staff at that time was Nancy Pelosi.
In 1966, Hoyer won a newly created seat in the Maryland State Senate, representing Prince George's County–based Senate district 4C. The district, created in the aftermath of Reynolds v. Sims, was renumbered as the 26th in 1975, the same year that Hoyer was elected president of the Maryland State Senate, the youngest in state history.
From 1969 to 1971, Hoyer served as the first vice president of the Young Democrats of America.
In 1978, Hoyer sought the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor of Maryland as the running mate of then acting Governor Blair Lee III, but lost to Samuel Bogley, 37%–34%. The same year, Hoyer was appointed to the Maryland Board of Higher Education, a position he held until 1981.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
Fifth district Congresswoman Gladys Spellman fell into a coma shortly before the 1980 election. She was reelected, but it soon became apparent that she would never regain consciousness, and Congress declared her seat vacant by resolution in February 1981. Hoyer narrowly won a crowded seven-way Democratic primary, beating Spellman's husband, Reuben, by only 1,600 votes. He defeated a better-funded Republican, Audrey Scott, in the May 19 special election. 56%–44%, earning himself the nickname "boy wonder". In the 1982 general election, Hoyer was reelected to a full term with 80% of the vote. He has faced only one relatively close contest since then, when he defeated future Governor of Maryland Larry Hogan with 53% of the vote in 1992. His second-lowest margin of victory was his 1996 race against Republican State Delegate John Morgan, when he received 57% of the vote. Hoyer has been reelected 14 times with no substantive opposition and is the longest-serving House member ever from southern Maryland.
Tenure
Domestic issues
Hoyer supports and has led the Make It In America plan linking the domestic manufacturing industry and overall U.S. economic success.
Hoyer is pro-choice on abortion rights. He voted against the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2003. (However, at the height of national polarization after the Supreme Court's intention to overturn Roe v. Wade leaked, Hoyer controversially endorsed an anti-abortion incumbent House member over his pro-choice primary challenger.) Hoyer supports affirmative action and LGBT rights. He is rated "F" by the NRA Political Victory Fund, indicating a pro-gun-control voting record.
In 2008, Hoyer said he opposed providing immunity to telecom companies, but then negotiated a bill, which Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold called a "capitulation", that would provide immunity to any telecom company that had been told by the George W. Bush administration that its actions were legal. "No matter how they spin it, this is still immunity", said Kevin Bankston, a senior lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy rights group that sued over Bush's wiretapping program. "It's not compromise, it's pure theater."
In June 2010, Hoyer brought up the idea that Congress could temporarily extend middle-class tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, suggesting that making them permanent would cost too much. President Obama wanted to extend them permanently for people making less than $200,000 a year and families making less than $250,000.
Hoyer voted against the impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1999. In 2019 and 2021, Hoyer voted to impeach President Donald Trump.
In February 2021, Hoyer made a speech in Congress that has been viewed online more than two million times, criticizing a Facebook post by U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene. The post featured a gun-toting Greene next to three members of the "Squad"—Representatives Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib—with the caption "Democrats' Worst Nightmare". In his speech, Hoyer compared Greene's words with those of Representative Steve King, who was removed from the Judiciary and Agriculture Committees in 2019 after comments he made to The New York Times questioning why white supremacy was considered offensive. Hoyer said that, in both posts, Greene had promoted baseless conspiracy theories far more offensive and incendiary than the comment that led Republicans to strip King of his committee roles. He asked his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to "do the decent thing" and strip Greene of her committee roles. The vote succeeded, with 11 Republicans joining Democrats to pass the motion to remove.
Foreign issues
Hoyer supports civilian nuclear cooperation with India.
Hoyer initially supported the Iraq War and was recognized by the DLC for his vocal leadership on this issue. After the war became publicly unpopular, he said he favored a "responsible redeployment". But he repeatedly supported legislation to continue funding the war without deadlines for troop withdrawal, most recently in return for increased funding of domestic projects.
Hoyer is a supporter of Israel, and has often been allied with American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). In September 2007, he criticized Representative Jim Moran for suggesting that AIPAC "has pushed [the Iraq] war from the beginning", calling the comment "factually inaccurate". In January 2017, he voted for a House resolution condemning UN Security Council Resolution 2334, which called Israeli settlement building in the occupied Palestinian territories a flagrant violation of international law and a major obstacle to peace.
Hoyer supported President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. In 2023, he voted with an overwhelming bipartisan majority to provide Israel with whatever support is necessary in the "barbaric war" in Gaza started by Hamas and other terrorists following the 2023 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 7.
Hoyer has said that a nuclear Iran is "unacceptable" and that the use of force remains an option.
In January 2019, Hoyer opposed Trump's planned withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan as "impulsive, irresponsible, and dangerous". He supports former President Obama's call for authorizing limited but decisive military action in response to the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons.
Hoyer is a former chair of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Legislation
On February 28, 2014, Hoyer introduced the bill to amend the National Law Enforcement Museum Act to extend the termination date (H.R. 4120; 113th Congress). The bill would extend until November 9, 2016, the authority of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization, to construct a museum on federal lands in the District of Columbia honoring law enforcement officers.
Fundraising
Hoyer is a prolific fundraiser for House Democrats. He has been the top giver to fellow party members in the House. In the 2008 election cycle, he contributed more than $1 million to the party and individual candidates as of July 14, 2008.
Party leadership
Hoyer served as chair of the Democratic Caucus, the fourth-ranking position among House Democrats, from 1989 to 1994; the former co-chair (and a current member) of the Democratic Steering Committee; and as the chief candidate recruiter for House Democrats from 1995 to 2000. He also served as Deputy Majority Whip from 1987 to 1989.
When David E. Bonior resigned as minority whip in early 2002, Hoyer ran but lost to Nancy Pelosi. After the 2002 midterm elections, Pelosi ran to succeed Dick Gephardt as minority leader, leaving the minority whip post open again. On November 14, 2002, Hoyer's colleagues in the Democratic Caucus unanimously elected him minority whip, the second-highest-ranking position among House Democrats.
Pelosi became the Speaker of the House in January 2007. Hoyer was elected by his colleagues to be House Majority Leader for the 110th Congress, defeating John Murtha of Pennsylvania by a vote of 149–86 within the caucus, despite Pelosi endorsing Murtha. Hoyer is the first Marylander to become Majority Leader and became the highest-ranking federal lawmaker in Maryland history. In this post, Hoyer was the House Democrats' floor leader and ranked second in the leadership, after the Speaker.
The day after the 2010 midterm elections, in which the Democrats lost control of the House, Hoyer had a private conversation with Pelosi and said he would not challenge her for minority leader. He ran for minority whip, but was challenged by outgoing Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (the top House Democrats wanted to remain in the leadership, but the minority party in the House has one less position). Hoyer is moderate while Pelosi and Clyburn are more liberal, and a significant number of Hoyer's would-be supporters in the House who were moderate and conservative Democrats had been defeated for reelection. The Congressional Black Caucus backed Clyburn, while 30 House Democrats have supported Hoyer. Hoyer received further support from outgoing Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard L. Berman, Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, and outgoing Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman Pelosi intervened in the contest by supporting Hoyer as Minority Whip, while creating an "Assistant Leader" position for Clyburn, which would keep him as the third-ranking Democrat in the House behind Pelosi and Hoyer (the existing "Assistant to the Leader" post formerly held by Chris Van Hollen is not officially part of the House leadership and was directly appointed by the Minority Leader).
Hoyer and the DCCC have been criticized for picking their preferred candidates through an undemocratic process. In 2018, it was reported that Hoyer sought to influence the primary race in Colorado's 6th congressional district. He was recorded urging progressive candidate Levi Tillemann to drop out of the race. Hoyer acknowledged that the DCCC had already identified its preferred candidate and discouraged a candid discussion about his weaknesses. On November 28, 2018, Hoyer was selected to return as House Majority Leader.
Electoral history
! Year
! Office
! Election
!
! Subject
! Party
! Votes
! %
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! Opponent
! Party
! Votes
! %
!
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|-
|1981
|Congress, 5th district
|Special
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |42,573
| |55.81
|
| |Audrey Scott
| |Republican
| |33,708
| |44.19
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|-
|1982
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |83,937
| |79.58
|
| |William Guthrie
| |Republican
| |21,533
| |20.42
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
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|-
|1984
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |116,310
| |72.18
|
| |John Ritchie
| |Republican
| |44,839
| |27.82
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1986
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |82,098
| |81.93
|
| |John Sellner
| |Republican
| |18,102
| |18.07
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1988
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |128,437
| |78.63
|
| |John Sellner
| |Republican
| |34,909
| |21.37
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1990
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |84,747
| |80.66
|
| |Lee Breuer
| |Republican
| |20,314
| |19.34
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1992
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |113,280
| |55.0
|
| |Larry J. Hogan, Jr.
| |Republican
| |92,636
| |45.0
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1994
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |98,821
| |58.81
|
| |Donald Devine
| |Republican
| |69,211
| |41.19
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1996
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |121,288
| |56.92
|
| |John S. Morgan
| |Republican
| |91,806
| |43.08
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|1998
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |126,792
| |65.37
|
| |Robert Ostrom
| |Republican
| |67,176
| |34.36
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2000
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |166,231
| |65.09
|
| |Thomas Hutchins
| |Republican
| |89,019
| |34.86
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2002
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |137,903
| |69.27
|
| |Joseph Crawford
| |Republican
| |60,758
| |30.52
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2004
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |204,867
| |68.67
|
| |Brad Jewitt
| |Republican
| |87,189
| |29.93
|
| |Bob Auerbach
| |Green
| |4,224
| |1.42
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2006
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |168,114
| |82.69
|
| |Steve Warner
| |Green
| |33,464
| |16.46
|
|Write Ins: P.Kuhnert and Other
|| 635
||1,110
||0.86
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2008
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |253,854
| |73.6
|
| |Collins Bailey
| |Republican
| |82,631
| |24.0
|
| |Darlene Nicholas
| |Libertarian
| |7,829
| |2.3
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2010
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |143,620
| |64.3
|
| |Charles Lollar
| |Republican
| |79,122
| |35.6
|
| |H. Gavin Shickle
| |Libertarian
| |2,399
| |1.1
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2012
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |238,618
| |69.4
|
| |Tony O'Donnell
| |Republican
| |95,271
| |27.7
|
| |Bob Auerbach
| |Green
| |5,040
| |1.5
|
| |Arvin Vohra
| |Libertarian
| |4,503
| |1.3
|-
|2014
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |144,725
| |64.0
|
| |Chris Chafee
| |Republican
| |80,752
| |35.7
|
|Write-ins
|
|563
|0.2
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2016
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |242,989
| |67.4
|
| |Mark Arness
| |Republican
| |105,931
| |29.4
|
| |Jason Summers
| |Libertarian
| |11,078
| |3.1
|
|Write-ins
|
|606
|0.2
|-
|2018
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |213,796
| |70.3
|
| |William Devine III
| |Republican
| |82,361
| |27.1
|
| |Patrick Elder
| |Green
| |4,082
| |1.3
|
|Write-ins
|
|279
|0.1
|-
|2020
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |274,210
| |68.8
|
| |Chris Palombi
| |Republican
| |123,525
| |31.0
|
|write-ins
|
|1,104
|0.3
|
|
|
|
|
|-
|2022
|Congress, 5th district
|General
||
| |Steny Hoyer
| |Democratic
| |182,478
| |65.9
|
| |Chris Palombi
| |Republican
| |94,000
| |33.9
|
|write-ins
|
|442
|0.2
|
|
|
|
|
Personal life
Hoyer has three daughters from his marriage to Judy Pickett Hoyer, who died of cancer in February 1997. In June 2012, after Hoyer announced his support of same-sex marriage, his daughter Stefany Hoyer Hemmer came out as a lesbian in an interview with the Washington Blade. A widower for 26 years, Hoyer married Elaine Kamarck, a Clinton administration official and the director of the Center for Effective Public Management at the Brookings Institution, in June 2023.
Judy Hoyer was an advocate of early childhood education, and child development learning centers in Maryland have been named in her honor ("Judy Centers"). She also suffered from epilepsy, and the Epilepsy Foundation of America sponsors an annual public lecture in her name. Steny Hoyer, too, has been an advocate for research in this area, and in 2002 the Epilepsy Foundation gave him its Congressional Leadership Award.
Hoyer serves on the board of trustees for St. Mary's College of Maryland and is a member of the board of the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, a nonprofit that supports international elections. He is also an Advisory Board Member for the Center for the Study of Democracy.
Hoyer is a member of a Baptist church.
References
External links
Congressman Steny Hoyer official U.S. House website
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1939 births
21st-century American politicians
American people of Danish descent
American people of English descent
American people of German descent
American people of Scottish descent
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
Majority leaders of the United States House of Representatives
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Living people
Maryland lawyers
Democratic Party Maryland state senators
People from Mitchellville, Maryland
People from St. Mary's County, Maryland
Politicians from New York City
Presidents of the Maryland Senate
St. Mary's College of Maryland
University of Maryland, College Park alumni
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick%20Adams%20%28actor%2C%20born%201931%29
|
Nick Adams (actor, born 1931)
|
Nick Adams (born Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock; July 10, 1931 – February 7, 1968) was an American film and television actor and screenwriter. He was noted for his roles in several Hollywood films during the 1950s and 1960s including Rebel Without a Cause and Giant along with his starring role in the ABC television series The Rebel (1959–1961). He also led the cast of several Japanese productions, including Frankenstein Conquers the World, (Godzilla vs.) Monster Zero, and The Killing Bottle.
Decades after his death from a prescription drug overdose at the age of 36, his widely publicized friendships with James Dean and Elvis Presley would stir speculation about both his private life and the circumstances of his death. In an AllMovie synopsis for Adams's last film, reviewer Dan Pavlides wrote, "Plagued by personal excesses, he will be remembered just as much for what he could have done in cinema as what he left behind."
Early life and career
Adams was born as Nicholas Aloysius Adamshock in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania to Catherine (Kutz) and Peter Adamshock, an anthracite coal miner. His parents were both Ukrainian. In 1958, he told columnist Hedda Hopper, "We lived in those little company houses – they were terrible. We had to buy from the company store and were always in debt and could never leave."
Adams was a successful athlete at Henry Snyder High School but failed to get a part in the school play when he was a senior.
Adams's friends teased him about his acting ambitions. "Everybody thought I was crazy," he recalled. "My father said, 'Nick, get a trade, be a barber or something.' I said, 'But, Pop, I want to do something where I can make lots of money. You can't make lots of money with just a trade.'" After a year of unpaid acting in New York, Adams hitchhiked to Los Angeles.
Hollywood career
Struggling actor
Adams's earliest reported paid acting job in Los Angeles was a stage role at the Las Palmas Theater in a comedy called Mr. Big Shot. Although he was paid about $60 a week, Adams had to pay $175 for membership in Actors' Equity Association. He also earned $25 one night at the Mocambo nightclub, filling in for Pearl Bailey who had fallen ill. Eight years later, Hedda Hopper told Adams she recalled writing about him at the time; and he replied by reciting back to her, "Nick Adams, gas station attendant from New Jersey, did an impersonation of Jimmy Cagney and a scene from Glass Menagerie."
After three years of struggle and optimistic self-promotion, his first film role came in 1951, an uncredited one-liner as a Western Union delivery boy in George Seaton's Somebody Loves Me (1952). This allowed him to join the Screen Actors Guild, but he was unable to find steady acting work, even when "creatively" claiming he had appeared with Palance in The Silver Tassie in New York. Undaunted, Adams joined a theater workshop run by Arthur Kennedy. In January 1952, Adams enlisted in the United States Coast Guard.
Supporting actor
About two years later, in June 1954, his ship docked in Long Beach harbor and, after a brash audition for director John Ford during which Adams did impressions of James Cagney and other celebrities while dressed in his Coast Guard uniform, he took his accumulated leave and appeared as Seaman Reber in the 1955 film version of Mister Roberts. Adams then completed his military service, returned to Los Angeles and, at the age of 23, based on his work in Mister Roberts, secured a powerful agent, and signed with Warner Bros.
Adams had a small role (as Chick) in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). Also that year Adams played the role of "Bomber" the paper boy in the widely popular film adaptation of Picnic (1955), which was mostly filmed on location in Kansas, and starred William Holden, Kim Novak, and Susan Strasberg. He was not perceived by casting directors as tall or handsome enough for leading roles, but during the late 1950s, Adams had supporting roles in several successful television productions, including one episode of Wanted Dead or Alive (1958) starring Steve McQueen, and films such as Our Miss Brooks (1956), No Time for Sergeants (1958), Teacher's Pet (1958), and Pillow Talk (1959).
James Dean
Adams initially may have met James Dean in December 1950 while jitterbugging for a soft drink commercial filmed at Griffith Park. Adams spent three years in the Coast Guard between the time this commercial was shot in late 1950 and the start of filming for Rebel Without a Cause in March 1955. Actor Jack Grinnage, who played Moose, recalled, "Off the set, Nick, Dennis (Hopper), and the others would go out together — almost like the gang we portrayed — but Jimmy and Corey Allen ... were not a part of that." When production was wrapped, Dean said in another press release, "I now regard Natalie (Wood), Nick, and Sal (Mineo) as co-workers; I regard them as friends ... about the only friends I have in this town. And I hope we all work together again soon." Following Dean's 1955 death in an automobile accident, Adams overdubbed some of Dean's lines for the film Giant (these are in Jett Rink's speech at the hotel) and dated co-star Natalie Wood. Adams tried to capitalize on Dean's fame through various publicity stunts, including a claim he was being stalked by a crazed female Dean fan, allowing himself to be photographed at Dean's grave in a contemplative pose, holding flowers, and surrounded by mourning, teenaged female fans along with writing articles and doing interviews about Dean for fan magazines. He also claimed to have developed Dean's affection for fast cars, later telling a reporter, "I became a highway delinquent. I was arrested nine times in one year. They put me on probation, but I kept on racing ... nowhere."
Elvis Presley
Adams's widely publicized friendship with Elvis Presley began in 1956 on the set of Presley's film Love Me Tender during the second day of shooting. Presley had admired James Dean, and when the singer arrived in Hollywood, he was encouraged by studio executives to be seen with some of the "hip" new young actors there. Meanwhile, his manager Colonel Tom Parker was worried that Elvis's new Hollywood acquaintances might influence Presley and even tell him what they were paying their managers and agents (a fraction of what Parker was being paid by Presley). Elaine Dundy called Parker a "master manipulator" who used Nick Adams and others in the entourage (including Parker's own brother-in-law Bitsy Mott) to counter possible subversion against him and control Elvis's movements. She later wrote a scathing characterization of Adams:
... Brash struggling young actor whose main scheme to further his career was to hitch his wagon to a star, the first being James Dean, about whose friendship he was noisily boastful ... this made it easy for Parker to suggest that Nick be invited to join Elvis' growing entourage of paid companions, and for Nick to accept ... following Adams' hiring, there appeared a newspaper item stating that Nick and Parker were writing a book on Elvis together.
Dundy also wrote, "Of all Elvis' new friends, Nick Adams, by background and temperament the most insecure, was also his closest." Adams was Dennis Hopper's roommate during this period, and the three reportedly socialized together, with Presley "hanging out more and more with Nick and his friends" and glad his manager "liked Nick". Decades later, Kathleen Tracy recalled Adams often met Presley backstage or at Graceland, where Elvis often asked Adams "to stay over on nights": "He and Elvis would go motorcycle riding late at night and stay up until all hours talking about the pain of celebrity" and enjoying prescription drugs.
Almost 40 years later, writer Peter Guralnick wrote that Presley found it "good running around with Nick ... there was always something happening, and the hotel suite was like a private clubhouse where you needed to know the secret password to get in and he got to change the password every day." Presley's girlfriend June Juanico complained the singer was always talking about his friend Adams and James Dean. She also was upset that Adams had started inviting himself to see Elvis, and Juanico felt that she was trying to compete for Elvis' attention. Adams would talk often about Natalie Wood to Elvis, constantly discussing her figure and her beauty, something else that caused Juanico to feel that she would soon lose Elvis to the glitz of Hollywood. Presley's own mother even commented about Adams, "He sure is a pushy little fellow".
As with Dean, Adams capitalized on his association with Presley, publishing an account of their friendship in May 1957. In August 1958, after the death of Elvis's mother Gladys, Parker wrote in a letter, "Nicky came out to be with Elvis last Week was so very kind of him to be there with his friend."
"The Rebel and the King" by Nick Adams is a first-person account written by Adams about his friendship with Presley. The manuscript was written in 1956 by Nick during Presley's eight days in Memphis when the singer returned home for his big Tupelo homecoming. The manuscript was discovered 45 years later by Adams's daughter and initially published in 2012.
The Rebel
In 1959 Adams starred in the ABC series The Rebel playing the character Johnny Yuma, a wandering, ex-Confederate, journal-keeping, sawed-off shotgun toting "trouble-shooter" in the old American west. He is credited as a co-creator of The Rebel, but he had no role in writing the pilot or any of the series' episodes. Adams had asked his friend Andrew J. Fenady to write the pilot as a starring vehicle for him. The series' only recurring character, publicized as a "Reconstruction beatnik", was played by Adams. He reportedly consulted with John Wayne for tips on how to play the role. Adams wanted Presley to sing the theme song for The Rebel, but the show's producer wanted Johnny Cash. Guest stars appearing on the series during its two-year run included Dan Blocker, Johnny Cash, Leonard Nimoy, Tex Ritter, and Robert Vaughn. A total of 76 half-hour episodes were filmed before the series was cancelled in 1961. Reruns were syndicated for several years. Adams went back to TV and film work, along with a role in the short-lived but critically successful television series Saints and Sinners.
Twilight of Honor
Adams was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as an unlikable murder suspect in the film Twilight of Honor (1963), which featured the film debuts of both Linda Evans and Joey Heatherton. He campaigned heavily for the award, spending over $8,000 on ads in trade magazines, but many of his strongest scenes had been cut from the movie, and he lost to Melvyn Douglas.
Toho Studios and career decline
In 1964, Adams had a leading role opposite Nancy Malone in an episode ("Fun and Games") of The Outer Limits. A review of this episode written over three decades later would characterize him as an "underrated actor". By this time Adams's career was stalling. He had high hopes his co-starring performance with Robert Conrad in Young Dillinger (1964) would be critically acclaimed, but the project had low production values, and both critics and audiences rejected the film. Also that year, Adams guest-starred in an episode of the short-lived CBS drama The Reporter.
In 1965, after publicly insisting he would never work in films produced outside the U.S., Adams began accepting parts in Japanese science fiction monster movies (kaiju eiga). He landed major roles in two science fiction epics from Toho Studios in Chiyoda, Tokyo. His first Japanese movie was Frankenstein vs. Baragon, in which he played Dr. James Bowen, a radiologist working in Hiroshima who encounters a new incarnation of the Frankenstein monster. Adams next starred in the sixth Godzilla film, Invasion of Astro-Monster (known in the U.S. as Monster Zero), in which he played Astronaut Glenn, journeying to the newly discovered Planet X. In both films, his character had a love interest with characters portrayed by actress Kumi Mizuno. On the set of Monster Zero, Adams and co-star Yoshio Tsuchiya (who played the villainous Controller of Planet X) reportedly got along well and played jokes on each other. Adams made three films in Japan between 1965 and 1966. Adams' final film for Toho was the final film in the "International Secret Police" Series, which began with the film "Key of Keys" Kokusai himitsu keisatsu: Kagi no kagi (国際秘密警察 鍵の鍵, International Secret Police: Key of Keys), which was the basis for the Woody Allen scripted spoof What's Up, Tiger Lily? (1966). The English title for this final film was "The Killing Bottle", Toho shot the film in Japanese with Adams doing his lines in English as in the previous films. An English dub was commissioned by Henry G. Saperstein, and produced by Titra Studios. This English version was never released in the U.S., but there were rumors of the English dub being released in Yugoslavia. The most interesting aspect of this film, is that Adams actually performed his own fights scenes using Kenpo, a style he had been learning under Senior Grand Master Ed Parker in the States. Previous to this time, he also co-starred with Boris Karloff in Die, Monster, Die! (1965), a Gothic horror–sci fi movie filmed in England.
1967: TV episodes and low-budget films
In early 1967, Disney released Mosby's Marauders, a Civil War drama told from a southern perspective with Adams in the role of a cruel Union army sergeant. Adams guest-starred in five episodes of four TV series that year, including an installment of his friend Robert Conrad's The Wild Wild West, an appearance in Combat! and two episodes of Hondo (a short-lived western which also had an ex-Confederate theme). Throughout 1967 and early 1968, he also worked in three low-budget films. One of these was Mission Mars (1968) which has been described as "rarely seen, and utterly dreadful." Adams's costume for this movie included an off-the-shelf motorcycle helmet. Reacting to Mission Mars over 30 years later, SciFi reviewer Gary Westfahl wrote, "The only quality that Adams could persuasively project on film was a desperate desire to be popular, to be liked ... which helps to explain why Adams got his foot in many doors." Adams's last U.S. production was a movie filmed in Iowa called Fever Heat. His last film appearance was in the little-seen Spanish-language western Los Asesinos, filmed in Mexico City, Mexico.
Marriage and children
Adams married former child actress Carol Nugent in 1959. Nugent had appeared in an episode of The Rebel. They had two children, Allyson and Jeb Stuart Adams. Jeb was a child actor, then gave up acting, and is now a successful realtor in Ventura County, California. Allyson was a film director, but is now a costume designer and activist.
Sometimes acrimonious marital problems reportedly interfered with his ability to get lucrative acting parts after 1963. While promoting Young Dillinger during a television appearance on The Les Crane Show in early 1965, Adams "shocked" the viewing audience with an announcement that he was leaving his wife, seemingly without telling her first. The couple publicly announced a reconciliation a week later, but his career and personal life following this episode have been characterized as a "tragic freefall".
Adams and actress Kumi Mizuno may have had a short affair while he was working in Japan. "That's one of the reasons my parents were divorced," his daughter, playwright Allyson Lee Adams, later said. "My dad had a penchant for becoming infatuated with his leading ladies. It was a way for him to take on the role he was playing at the time." Rumors of a romance between the two were common occurrence until Mizuno denied it during an interview in 1996.
By July 1965, Adams and Nugent were legally separated; Nugent filed for divorce in September. The following month, while Adams was in Japan, Nugent was granted a divorce and custody of the children. In January 1966, Adams and Nugent announced another reconciliation on Bill John's Hollywood Star Notebook, a local television show. However, in November 1966, Nugent resumed the divorce proceedings and obtained a restraining order against him, alleging Adams was "prone to fits of temper", and in an affidavit, charged he had "choked her, struck her and threatened to kill her during the past few weeks." On January 20, 1967, Adams was waiting for a court hearing to start when he was served with a $110,000 defamation suit by Nugent's boyfriend, Paul Rapp, who later married Nugent. Nevertheless, nine days later he was granted temporary custody of the children. His son Jeb Adams later recalled, "He saw it as a competition, basically, more than anything of getting custody of us. But, a matter of a week or two later, he gave us back to my mom." Nugent later regained legal custody of the children.
Death
After finishing Los Asesinos (1968), produced by Luis Enrique Vergara and filmed in Mexico, Adams bought a plane ticket with his own money and flew to Rome, Italy, to co-star with Aldo Ray in a science fiction/horror movie called Murder in the Third Dimension, but when he got there, he found the project had been dropped. Susan Strasberg, who had worked with him 13 years earlier on the hit film Picnic and was living in Italy, encountered a thoroughly demoralized Adams in a Rome bar.
On the night of February 7, 1968, his lawyer and friend, ex-LAPD officer Ervin Roeder, drove to the actor's house at 2126 El Roble Lane in Beverly Hills to check on him after a missed dinner appointment. Seeing a light on and his car in the garage, Roeder broke through a window and discovered Adams in his upstairs bedroom, slumped dead against a wall.
During the autopsy Dr. Thomas Noguchi found enough paraldehyde, sedatives and other drugs in the body "to cause instant unconsciousness." The death certificate lists "paraldehyde and promazine intoxication" as the immediate cause of death, along with the notation "accident; suicide; undetermined." During the 1960s, drug interaction warnings were not so prominent as they later would be, and the American Medical Association has subsequently warned these two types of drugs should never be taken together.
The death of Nick Adams has been cited in articles and books about Hollywood's unsolved mysteries along with speculation by a few of his acquaintances that he was murdered (according to author David Kulczyk, Adams was apparently planning to write a tell-all book revealing many sexual secrets of Hollywood names) and claims no trace of paraldehyde (a liquid sedative often given to alcoholics at the time and one of two drugs attributed to his death) was ever found in his home. However, Adams's brother Andrew had become a medical doctor and prescribed the sedative to him. Moreover, a story in the Los Angeles Times reported stoppered bottles with prescription labels were found in the medicine cabinet near the upstairs bedroom where Adams's body was discovered. Through the years, his children offered speculation ranging from murder to accidental death, the latter perhaps caused by Roeder while trying to calm the actor's nerves with an unintentionally lethal combination of alcohol and prescription drugs (although the autopsy found no alcohol in Adams's blood). Actor Robert Conrad, Adams's best friend, consistently maintained that the death was accidental.
Carol Adams is listed as Adams's spouse on his death certificate, evidence the divorce had not become final when the actor died. She and the children were living only a few blocks from his recently-rented house on El Roble Lane.
Adams's remains were interred at Saints Cyril and Methodius Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Berwick, Pennsylvania. The backside of his gravestone, which bears a silhouette of Adams wearing the Civil War-era cap from his television series, is inscribed Nick Adams — The Rebel — Actor of Hollywood Screens.
Later published speculation
Sexuality
Decades later, Adams's highly publicized life and death at a young age, his friendships with cultural icons such as James Dean and Elvis Presley, and his reported drug consumption made his private life the subject of many reports and assertions by some writers who have claimed Adams may have been gay or bisexual. One of the earliest published mentions on this overall topic was made by gossip columnist Rona Barrett in her 1974 autobiography, in which she made no assertion Adams was homosexual or bisexual but claimed Adams had told her, along with a "whole roomful of people," that he wasn't making it because no one in Hollywood's upper stratosphere would accept his wife. Barrett called it "untrue. She was one of the most refreshing wives in the entire community" and went on to say Adams "had become the companion to a group of salacious homosexuals" who flattered the actor, which affected his judgment and caused him to blame Carol. Hollywood biographer Lawrence J. Quirk claimed Mike Connolly (a gay gossip columnist for The Hollywood Reporter from 1951 to 1966) "would put the make on the most prominent young actors, including Robert Francis, Guy Madison, Anthony Perkins, Nick Adams, and James Dean." According to American Film (1986), "Nick Adams, who was ...gay, was the butt of anti-gay humor in Pillow Talk".
Some writers later called Adams a "Hollywood hustler" or a "street hustler". One journalist also refers to Adams as a "pool hustler" who made money in pool halls when he was a teenager in New Jersey and later while struggling to make ends meet during his early years in Hollywood.
Friendship with Dean and Presley
It is uncertain whether James Dean and Adams met before his service in the United States Coast Guard (1952–1955) and subsequent role in Rebel Without a Cause (1955). In his 1986 gossip book about gay Hollywood, Conversations with My Elders, Boze Hadleigh claimed actor Sal Mineo told him in 1972, "I didn't hear it from Jimmy (James Dean), who was sort of awesome to me when we did Rebel, but Nick told me they had a big affair." According to Presley biographer Albert Goldman, "Nick Adams ingratiated himself with James Dean precisely as he would do a year or so later with Elvis. He offered himself to the shy, emotionally contorted and rebellious Dean, as a friend, a guide, a boon companion, a homosexual lover – whatever role or service Dean required." Journalist, screenwriter and author of books about Hollywood, John Gregory Dunne wrote that "James Dean was bisexual, as were Nick Adams and Sal Mineo." According to Eric Braun, "Elvis was attracted by Adams' outgoing personality and the young actors caused quite a stir, cruising round Los Angeles with Natalie Wood, Russ Tamblyn and others on their Hondas." In 2005, Byron Raphael and Presley biographer Alanna Nash wrote that Adams may have "swung both ways" like "Adams's good pal (and Elvis's idol) James Dean. Tongues wagged that Elvis and Adams were getting it on."
Studio-arranged dates
Adams regularly dated actresses with whom he made movies. During the mid-1950s, photographs of him with actress Natalie Wood were widely publicized in fan magazines. Modern Screen wrote at the time "their relationship has been mostly for fun" and they shared "a tendency toward moodiness and unpredictability." The magazine also reported they had given joint interviews "in which they admitted they adored each other" and "they even came terribly close to getting married" in Las Vegas. The same article also remarked that on one of their trips they "posed for innumerable publicity photographs — that was the real reason for the trip — " and "Right now, both Nick and Natalie are inclined to deny the whole Las Vegas episode." In his 2004 biography Natalie Wood: A Life biographer and screenwriter Gavin Lambert wrote in passing, Wood's "first studio-arranged date with a gay or bisexual actor had been with Nick Adams." In his biography of gay Hollywood agent Henry Willson, Robert Hofler deals with the rise of the studio star system, in which several actors spent time on the homosexual casting couch and dated girls or even entered into sham marriages in order to cover their homosexuality. "In the Henry Willson date pool," the author says, "Nick Adams was one client, among many, who glommed on to Natalie Wood to get his picture taken." Suzanne Finstad cites actor Jack Grinnage, one of the gang members in Rebel Without a Cause, about Nick Adams's and Dennis Hopper's reasons "for getting close to Natalie. 'I remember being in Dennis' dressing room with Nick and Natalie ... I don't know which one of them said this — it was Nick or Dennis — but he said, "We're gonna hang on to her bra straps." Meaning up the career ladder.' Natalie's tutor, who knew Hopper and Adams off set, said, 'Both of those two guys were all over her ... because they could see that this movie was going to be a big thing for Natalie ... they were game for anything in order to be noticed and to get ahead in the business.' "
Actress Olive Sturgess relates: "When Nick and I went out, it was a casual thing —no great love or anything like that ... I thought he was very troubled ... You could feel he was troubled. It was the manner he had —that was the way he was in real life, always brooding ... When we went out, it was never on his motorcycle! That's one trick he couldn't pull on me. We always went in a car!"
Lack of confirmation
Because of morality clauses in studio contracts, along with practical marketing concerns, most homosexual actors during the 1950s and 1960s were forced to be discreet about their sexuality. However, Adams was known in Hollywood for embellishing and inventing stories about his show business experiences and long tried to capitalize on his associations with James Dean and Elvis Presley. In a brief biographical article, journalist Bill Kelly wrote Adams "became James Dean's closest pal, although Nick was straight and Dean was bisexual." Moreover, there are neither court documents (such as from the long and drawn-out divorce and child custody proceedings between him and his wife), nor personal letters from Adams, nor directly attributable statements by any alleged male lovers, to support the assertions.
Filmography
Notes and references
External links
Peter L. Winkler, "Nick Adams: His Hollywood Life and Death", Crime Magazine, August 15, 2003.
1931 births
1968 deaths
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American male writers
20th-century American screenwriters
American male film actors
American male screenwriters
American male television actors
American male television writers
American people of Ukrainian descent
Burials in Pennsylvania
Drug-related deaths in California
Henry Snyder High School alumni
Male actors from Los Angeles
Male actors from New Jersey
Male actors from Pennsylvania
Military personnel from Pennsylvania
Actors from Jersey City, New Jersey
Writers from Jersey City, New Jersey
People from Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
RCA Victor artists
Screenwriters from California
Screenwriters from Pennsylvania
United States Coast Guard enlisted
Western (genre) television actors
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414579
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris%20Van%20Hollen
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Chris Van Hollen
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Christopher Van Hollen Jr. ( ; born January 10, 1959) is an American attorney and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Maryland since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Van Hollen served as the U.S. representative for Maryland's 8th congressional district from 2003 to 2017.
In 2007, Van Hollen became the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). In this post, he was responsible for leading efforts to defend vulnerable Democrats and get more Democrats elected to Congress in 2008, which he did. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created a new leadership post, Assistant to the Speaker, in 2006 so that Van Hollen could be present at all leadership meetings. He was elected ranking member on the Budget Committee on November 17, 2010. Pelosi appointed Van Hollen to the 12-member bipartisan Committee on Deficit Reduction with a mandate for finding major budget reductions by late 2011. On October 17, 2013, Pelosi appointed Van Hollen to serve on the bicameral conference committee.
Van Hollen ran for the United States Senate in 2016 to replace retiring Senator Barbara Mikulski. He defeated U.S. Representative Donna Edwards in the Democratic primary and won the general election with 61% of the vote to Republican nominee Kathy Szeliga's 36%. He was reelected in 2022 with nearly 66% of the vote to Republican nominee Chris Chaffee's 34%. Van Hollen chaired the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) from 2017 to 2019.
Early life, education, and career
Van Hollen was born in Karachi, Pakistan, the eldest of three children of American parents, Edith Eliza (née Farnsworth) and Christopher Van Hollen. His father was a Foreign Service officer who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs (1969–1972) and U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives (1972–1976); his mother worked in the Central Intelligence Agency and the State Department, where she served as chief of the intelligence bureau for South Asia. He spent parts of his early life in Pakistan, Turkey, India, and Sri Lanka. He returned to the United States for his junior year of high school, and attended Middlesex School in Concord, Massachusetts, where his grandfather once taught.
He is an alumnus of the Kodaikanal International School (in Dindigul district, Tamil Nadu, India). In 1982, Van Hollen graduated from Swarthmore College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He continued his studies at Harvard University, where he earned a Master of Public Policy degree, concentrating in national security studies, from the John F. Kennedy School of Government in 1985. He earned a Juris Doctor from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1990.
Early political career
Van Hollen worked as a legislative assistant for defense and foreign policy to U.S. Senator Charles Mathias, a Republican from Maryland, from 1985 to 1987. He was also a staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (1987–1989), and a legislative advisor for federal affairs to Maryland Governor William Donald Schaefer (1989–1991). He was admitted to the Maryland bar in 1990, and joined the law firm of Arent Fox.
Maryland State Legislature
Van Hollen served in the Maryland General Assembly from 1991 to 2003, first in the House of Delegates (1991–1995) and then in the State Senate (1995–2003). In the Senate, he served on the Budget and Taxation Committee and the Health and Human Services Subcommittee. He led successful efforts to raise the tobacco tax, prohibit oil drilling in the Chesapeake Bay, mandate trigger locks for guns, and increase funding for education and healthcare. In 2002, The Washington Post called Van Hollen "one of the most accomplished members of the General Assembly."
U.S. House of Representatives (2003–2017)
Elections
Before Van Hollen's election, incumbent Connie Morella had won eight elections in the district, despite being a Republican in a district that had swung heavily Democratic. Morella's success was largely attributed to her political independence and relatively liberal voting record, including support for abortion rights, gay rights, gun control and increased environmental protections.
After Morella's reelection in 2000, Democratic Maryland Senate President Thomas V. Miller, Jr. made no secret that he wanted to draw the 8th out from under Morella. Indeed, one redistricting plan after the 2000 census divided the 8th in two, giving one district to Van Hollen and forcing Morella to run against popular State Delegate Mark Kennedy Shriver. The final plan was far less ambitious, but made the district even more Democratic than its predecessor. It absorbed nine heavily Democratic precincts from neighboring Prince George's County, an area Morella had never represented. It also restored a heavily Democratic spur in eastern Montgomery County that had been cut out in the last round of redistricting. Van Hollen defeated Morella in the 2002 general election in part, according to some analysts, because of this redistricting.
In 2002, Van Hollen entered a competitive Democratic primary against Shriver and former Clinton administration aide Ira Shapiro. Though Shriver had the most money, Van Hollen launched a grassroots effort that mobilized Democratic voters. After receiving the endorsement of The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, and other local papers, Van Hollen defeated Shriver, 43.5% to 40.6%.
During the campaign, Van Hollen emphasized that even when Morella voted with the district, her partisan affiliation kept Tom DeLay and the rest of her party's more conservative leadership in power. Van Hollen also touted his leadership in the State Senate on issues such as education funding, HMO reform, trigger locks for handguns, and protecting the Chesapeake Bay from oil drilling. Van Hollen defeated Morella, 51.7% to 48.2%. He crushed Morella in Prince George's County while narrowly winning Montgomery County. Morella won most of the precincts she had previously represented.
Van Hollen was reelected four times from this district with over 70% of the vote.
After the 2010 census, Van Hollen's district was made slightly less Democratic. He lost a heavily Democratic spur of Montgomery County to the neighboring 6th district, and lost his share of Prince George's County to the 4th district. In their place, the 8th absorbed a strongly Republican spur of Frederick County, as well as the southern part of even more Republican Carroll County. Nonetheless, his share of Montgomery County has more than double the population of his shares of Carroll and Frederick Counties combined, and Van Hollen won a sixth term over Republican Ken Timmerman with 63% of the vote. He lost in Carroll and Frederick, but swamped Timmerman in Montgomery by 113,500 votes.
Tenure
In 2003, the Committee for Education Funding, a nonpartisan education coalition founded in 1969, named Van Hollen its Outstanding New Member of the Year. The first bill Van Hollen introduces every session is the Keep Our Promise to America's Children and Teachers (Keep Our PACT) Act, which would fully fund No Child Left Behind and Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. He introduced an amendment, which passed, that repealed a 9.5 percent loophole in student loans that had allowed lenders to pocket billions of taxpayer dollars. Now, that money is available for additional student loans.
Because many federal employees live in his district, Van Hollen has worked on a number of issues relating to them. He supported pay parity in pay raises for civilian employees and introduced an amendment, which passed, to block attempts to outsource federal jobs.
Van Hollen has secured federal funding for a number of local-interest projects, including transportation initiatives, local homeland security efforts, education programs and community development projects. He and Adam Schiff (D-CA) often discuss issues of National Security on the floor of the House in tandem, with particular commentary on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
In May 2006, Van Hollen formed a congressional caucus on the Netherlands with Dutch-born Republican U.S. Representative Pete Hoekstra from Michigan. The goal of the caucus is to promote the U.S. relationship with the Netherlands and remember the Dutch role in establishing the State of New York and the United States.
In July 2006, Van Hollen urged the Bush administration to support a ceasefire supported by a peacekeeping force that would end the 2006 Lebanon War. He was criticized by elements of the Jewish and pro-Israel community, a large part of his constituency, for criticizing U.S. and Israeli policy in the Lebanon conflict. In follow-up comments, Van Hollen indicated that his original comments were meant as a critique of Bush administration policy but did not retract his position, and other members of the local Jewish and pro-Israel community defended him.
In 2006, Van Hollen opted out of the race to succeed the retiring Senator Paul Sarbanes, saying he would rather spend time with his family and help elect more Democrats to Congress. In keeping with that, Van Hollen was appointed to Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
In 2009, Van Hollen introduced a bill which establishes a green bank to catalyze the financing of clean energy and energy efficiency projects. He reintroduced the same bill again in 2014.
In March 2010, when Charles Rangel was forced to resign as Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means over ethics charges, Van Hollen played a key role in having Sander Levin succeed to the Chairmanship over Pete Stark. Stark was the second-most experienced member of the committee while Levin was third, and party tradition would have made Stark chairman due to seniority. However, Van Hollen and other younger members saw Stark's past intemperate comments as a liability to the Democrats in an election year.
On April 29, 2010, Van Hollen introduced the campaign finance DISCLOSE Act. He reintroduced the bill for the 113th Congress on February 9, 2012.
In April 2011, Van Hollen sued the Federal Election Commission, charging it with regulatory capture and the creation of a loophole that allowed unlimited and undisclosed financing in the 2010 election season. According to Van Hollen, had it not been for the loophole, "much of the more than $135 million in secret contributions that funded expenditures would have been disclosed."
During the 2012 Obama reelection campaign, Van Hollen participated in one-on-one debate prep with vice president Joe Biden, impersonating the Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan.
Committee assignments
Committee on the Budget (Ranking Member)
Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction
Party leadership and caucus memberships
Ranking Member on the House Budget Committee
Vice Chairman of the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus
Co-chairman of the Congressional Soccer Caucus
Co-chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Task Force
Co-chairman of the Congressional Caucus on Global Road Safety
Vice Chairman of the Democratic Task Force on Budget and Tax Policy
Member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
Member of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition
International Conservation Caucus
Congressional Chesapeake Bay Watershed Caucus
Chairman, Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus
Afterschool Caucuses
U.S. Senate (2017–present)
Elections
2016
Van Hollen defeated Republican Kathy Szeliga in the general election, 61% to 36%. He replaced Democrat Barbara Mikulski, who had retired from the Senate after serving for 30 years.
2022
Van Hollen was reelected to a second term in 2022, defeating Republican Chris Chaffee with 65.8% of the vote to Chaffee's 34.1%.
Tenure
115th Congress (2017–2019)
Shortly after the 2016 elections, Van Hollen was selected as the Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) for the 2018 cycle.
117th Congress (2021–present)
Van Hollen was walking to the Senate chambers to speak during the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when he was stopped by U.S. Capitol Police telling him that the building was on lockdown due to the attack on the Capitol. He returned to his office, where he remained for the duration of the attack. In the immediate wake of the insurrection, Van Hollen called Trump a "political arsonist" and said "I never thought we would live to see the day that violent mobs seized control of the Capitol. I cry for our country." As Van Hollen waited for the Capitol to be secured, he said he wanted an immediate investigation, calling the perpetrators "a violent mob." He also contrasted the police's treatment of the rioters with events that led to the use of tear gas on peaceful demonstrators, such as Black Lives Matter protests. After Congress returned to session to count the electoral votes, he voted against objections raised by some Republican senators. Van Hollen also called for Trump's "immediate removal" via the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution and said, "we should have looked at that option much earlier."
Committee assignments
Current
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government (Chair)
Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development
Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment
Committee on Foreign Relations
Committee on the Budget
Previous
Committee on Environment and Public Works (2017–2021)
Caucus memberships
Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
Expand Social Security Caucus
Political positions
Economy
According to his campaign website, Van Hollen supports an increase in the minimum wage, paid sick leave, an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit, equal pay for women, an increase in the child care tax credit, and a financial transactions tax.
Elections
In October 2018, Van Hollen and Susan Collins cosponsored the Protect Our Elections Act, legislation that would block "any persons from foreign adversaries from owning or having control over vendors administering U.S. elections" and would make companies involved in administering elections reveal foreign owners and inform local, state and federal authorities if said ownership changes. Companies failing to comply would face fines of $100,000.
Foreign policy
In May 2020, Van Hollen voiced his opposition to Israel's plan to annex parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Gun control
Van Hollen has been endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, a group that lobbies for more regulation of guns. In September 2008, he voted against repealing parts of the Washington, D.C., firearm ban. He supports a national assault weapon ban.
In 2015, Van Hollen introduced legislation for increased handgun licensing, specifically the requirement for permit-to-purchase licenses. The proposal was based on a similar law in Maryland. Of his proposal, Van Hollen said, "States require licenses to drive a car or even to fish in local rivers, so requiring a license to buy a deadly handgun is a commonsense step that could save countless lives."
In response to the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, Van Hollen co-sponsored a bill to ban bump stocks.
Health
Van Hollen supports Obamacare and has defended it many times. He is also pro-choice and he was an original co-sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act of 2021.
Journalism
In July 2019 Van Hollen cosponsored the Fallen Journalists Memorial Act, a bill introduced by Ben Cardin and Rob Portman that would create a privately funded memorial to be constructed on federal lands in Washington, D.C. to honor journalists, photographers, and broadcasters who died in the line of duty.
LGBTQIA+ rights
Van Hollen supports transgender rights, having signed a letter in July 2017 in opposition to an announced military ban.
Taxes
Van Hollen received a 0% rating for the Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), and the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), in 2010. Both these organizations advocate for lower taxes for everyone including the wealthy. In 2006, Van Hollen received a 100% rating from Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ), a group that calls for higher taxes on the wealthy. Van Hollen opposes eliminating the federal estate tax.
Personal life
Van Hollen and his wife Katherine have three children: Anna, Nicholas, and Alexander. Van Hollen is of Dutch descent and is Episcopalian.
Health
On May 15, 2022, Van Hollen announced that he had a minor stroke over that weekend and would stay at George Washington University Hospital for a few days. He further said he was expected to make a full recovery with no long-term effects and would return to his work in the Senate later in the week.
Electoral history
See also
List of United States senators born outside the United States
Trump–Ukraine scandal
References
Further reading
Barone, Michael, and Chuck McCutcheon. The Almanac of American Politics 2012 (2011) pp 762–5
External links
Senator Van Hollen official U.S. Senate website
Chris Van Hollen for Senate campaign website
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1959 births
21st-century American politicians
American Episcopalians
American expatriates in Pakistan
American gun control activists
American people of Dutch descent
Democratic Party Maryland state senators
Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Maryland
Democratic Party United States senators from Maryland
Georgetown University Law Center alumni
Harvard Kennedy School alumni
Kodaikanal International School alumni
Living people
Middlesex School alumni
People from Kensington, Maryland
Politicians from Karachi
Swarthmore College alumni
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erich%20von%20dem%20Bach-Zelewski
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Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski
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Erich Julius Eberhard von dem Bach-Zelewski (born Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski; 1 March 1899 – 8 March 1972) was a high-ranking SS commander of Nazi Germany of Kashubian-Polish origin. During World War II, he was in charge of the Nazi security warfare against those designated by the regime as ideological enemies and any other persons deemed to present danger to the Nazi rule or Wehrmachts rear security in the occupied territories of Eastern Europe. It mostly involved atrocities against the civilian population. In 1944 he led the brutal suppression of the Warsaw Uprising. At the end of 1941 the forces under von dem Bach numbered 14,953 Germans, mostly officers and unteroffiziere, and 238,105 local "volunteers" (most war crime victims were murdered by local collaborators under German command.)
Despite his responsibility for numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity, Bach-Zelewski did not stand trial in the Nuremberg trials, and instead appeared as a witness for the prosecution. He was later convicted for politically motivated murders committed before the war and died in prison in 1972.
Biography
Origins and family
Erich Julius Eberhard von dem Bach-Zelewski was born as Erich Julius Eberhard von Zelewski in Lauenburg on 1 March 1899 to Kashubian parents, Otto Johannes von Zelewski (1859–1911) and Amalia Maria Eveline Schimanski (born 1862). His father, an officer and farmer, was of an impoverished Kashubian family of landed gentry with roots in Seelau. His uncle, Emil von Zelewski, died in 1891 as commanding officer of the Schutztruppe of German East Africa, in fighting the Hehe. The Zelewski family had originally spoken Kashubian and Polish at home and for generations was connected with the Roman Catholic church in Linde, but as an adult Zelewski joined a Protestant church. Since his father had to pay off several siblings, he sold the manor he inherited and became a traveling salesman. Zelewski and his six siblings therefore grew up in relative poverty in Bialla in East Prussia, where he attended an elementary school. When he was twelve, his father died, and the children were placed in foster families. Zelewski was taken in as the foster son of a landowner named Schickfuss in Trebnig. Zelewski attended several high schools, in Neustadt, Strasburg, and Konitz.
First World War
The outbreak of the First World War came during the school summer holidays of 1914, while Zelewski was staying with his mother in Bialla. He was only fifteen, but in December 1914 he succeeded in enlisting in the Prussian Army, gaining some notoriety as its youngest volunteer. He served throughout the First World War. In 1915, he was wounded by a bullet in the shoulder and in 1918 suffered a poison gas attack. He was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class, and later First Class. By the end of the war he had been promoted to Leutnant.
Between the Wars
Following the armistice of November 1918, Zelewski remained in the Reichswehr and fought against the Polish Silesian Uprisings. In 1924, he resigned his army commission (or was discharged) and returned to his farm in Düringshof (now Bogdaniec in the Gorzów Wielkopolski county of Poland). He became a member of the German veterans' organization Der Stahlhelm and also joined the Deutschvölkischer Schutz- und Trutzbund, the largest, most active and most influential anti-Semitic organization in the Weimar Republic. Zelewski enrolled with the border guards (Grenzschutz) the same year.
Zelewski legally added "von dem Bach" to his family name on 23 October 1925. On 28 November 1940, he removed the "Zelewski" part of his surname because of its Polish-sounding origin. Bach-Zelewski manipulated his genealogy numerous times in his career to impress his superiors.
In July 1930, Bach-Zelewski left the Grenzschutz, and joined the Nazi Party. Bach-Zelewski joined the SS on 15 February 1931. He achieved the rank of SS-Brigadeführer on 15 December 1933. During this period he reportedly quarreled with his staff officer, Anton von Hohberg und Buchwald, and allegedly had him killed during the Röhm Putsch in 1934.
A source of considerable embarrassment for him was the fact that all three of his sisters had married Jewish men. After the war, he claimed under interrogation that this had ruined his reputation in the army, forcing him to leave the Reichswehr.
A Nazi Party member of the Reichstag from 1932–44, Bach-Zelewski participated in the Night of the Long Knives in 1934, using the opportunity to have his rival Buchwald murdered. From 1934 on he served as leader of SS main districts (SS-Oberabschnitten), initially in East Prussia and after 1936 in Silesia. In 1937, he was named Senior SS and Police Leader (HSSPF) in Silesia, and also served as Commander of SS main district South East (SS-Oberabschnitt Südost).
World War II
In November 1939, SS chief Heinrich Himmler offered Bach-Zelewski the post of "Commissioner for the Strengthening of Germandom" in East-Silesia (the Polish territories incorporated into Silesia in 1939). His duties included mass resettlement and the confiscation of Polish private property. By August 1940, some 18,000–20,000 Poles from Żywiec County were forced to leave their homes in what became known as the Action Saybusch (German name for Żywiec).
Bach-Zelewski provided the initial impetus for the building of Auschwitz concentration camp at the former Austrian and later Polish military barracks in the Zasole suburb of Oświęcim due to overcrowding of prisons. The location was scouted by his subordinate Oberführer Arpad Wigand. The first transport arrived at KL Auschwitz on 14 June 1940, and two weeks later Bach-Zelewski personally visited the camp. In June 1941, he resumed his duties as HSSPF in Silesia.
Occupied Soviet Union
During Operation Barbarossa, Bach-Zelewski served as HSSPF in the territory of Belarus. From July to September 1941, he oversaw the murder of Jews in Riga and Minsk by the Einsatzgruppe B, led by Arthur Nebe, also visiting other sites of mass killings such as Bialystok, Grodno, Baranovichi, Mogilev, and Pinsk. Bach-Zelewski regularly cabled to headquarters on the extermination progress; for example, the 22 August message stated: "Thus the figure in my area now exceeds the thirty thousand mark".
In February 1942, he was hospitalized in Berlin for treatment of "intestinal ailments" stemming from opium abuse, and was described as suffering from "hallucinations connected with the shooting of Jews". Before resuming his post in July, Bach-Zelewski petitioned Himmler for reassignment to anti-partisan warfare duty. Von dem Bach was promoted to SS-Obergruppenführer and General of Police on 9 November 1941.
In June 1942, Reinhard Heydrich, acting Reich-Protector of Bohemia and Moravia, was assassinated in Prague. Hitler chose Bach-Zelewski as his replacement, but Himmler protested that he could not be spared due to the prevailing military situation. Hitler relented and appointed Kurt Daluege to the position. Through 1943, Bach-Zelewski remained in command of "anti-partisan" units on the central front, a special command created by Hitler. He was the only HSSPF in the occupied Soviet territories to retain genuine authority over the police after Hans-Adolf Prützmann and Jeckeln lost theirs to the civil administration.
Genocidal tactics
At some time in June 1943, Himmler issued the Bandenbekämpfung (bandit fighting) order, simultaneously announcing the existence of the Bandenkampfverbände (bandit fighting formations), with Bach-Zelewski as its chief. Employing troops primarily from the SS police and Waffen-SS, the Bandenkampfverbände had four principal operational components: propaganda, centralized control and coordination of security operations, training of troops, and battle operations. Once the Wehrmacht had secured territorial objectives, the Bandenkampfverbände first secured communications facilities, roads, railways, and waterways. Thereafter, they secured rural communities and economic installations such as factories and administrative buildings. An additional priority was securing agricultural and forestry resources. The SS oversaw the collection of the harvest, which was deemed critical to strategic operations. Any Jews in the area were rounded up and murdered. Communists and people of Asian descent were murdered presumptively under the assumption that they were Soviet agents. Under Bach-Zelewski, the formations were responsible for the mass murder of 35,000 civilians in Riga and more than 200,000 in Belarus and eastern Poland.
Bach-Zelewski's methods produced a high civilian death toll and relatively minor military gains. In fighting irregular battles with the partisans, his units slaughtered civilians in order to inflate the figures of "enemy losses"; indeed, far more fatalities were usually reported than weapons captured. The German troops would encircle areas controlled by the partisans in a time-consuming manner, allowing real partisans to slip away. After an operation was completed, no permanent military presence was maintained, which gave the partisans a chance to resume where they had left off. Even when successful in pacification actions, Bach-Zelewski usually accomplished little more than to force the real enemy to relocate and multiply their numbers with civilians enraged by the massacres.
Bach-Zelewski told Leo Alexander:
In July 1943, Bach-Zelewski received command of all anti-partisan actions in Belgium, Belarus, France, the General Government, the Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, Yugoslavia, and parts of the Bezirk Bialystok. In practice, his activities remained confined to Belarus and contiguous parts of Russia.
In early 1944, he took part in front-line fighting in the Kovel area, but in March he had to return to Germany for medical treatment. Himmler assumed all his posts.
Warsaw Uprising
On 2 August 1944, Bach-Zelewski took command of all German troops fighting Bor-Komorowski's Home Army that had staged the Warsaw Uprising. The German forces were made up of 17,000 men arranged in two battle groups: under , and under Heinz Reinefarth – the latter included the Dirlewanger Brigade of convicted criminals. This command group was named after Bach-Zelewski, as Korpsgruppe Bach. Units under his command murdered approximately 200,000 civilians (more than 65,000 in mass executions) and an unknown number of prisoners of war, in numerous atrocities throughout the city.
After more than two months of heavy fighting and the total destruction of Warsaw, Bach-Zelewski managed to take control of the city, committing atrocities in the process, notably the Wola massacre. Bach-Zelewski was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1944. On 4 October 1944, he accepted the surrender of General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski. Incidentally, during the slaughter and razing of Warsaw, he is alleged to have personally saved Fryderyk Chopin's heart, by taking it for his own collection of curiosities. The recovered heart is held at a Warsaw church.
Last months of the War
In October 1944, he was sent by Hitler to the Hungarian capital Budapest, where he participated in the fall of Regent Miklós Horthy and his government, and its replacement by the fascist and highly anti-Semitic Arrow Cross Party with their leader Ferenc Szálasi. In particular, he was involved in the persecution of the Hungarian Jews.
In December 1944 he became commander of the XIV SS Corps in the Baden-Baden region and between 26 January and 10 February 1945 of the X SS Corps in Pomerania, where his unit was annihilated after less than two weeks. He then commanded from 17 February 1945, the Oder Corps under Army Group Vistula.
After the war
After the war in Europe ended, Bach-Zelewski went into hiding and tried to leave the country. US military police arrested him on 1 August 1945. In exchange for his testimony against his former superiors at the Nuremberg trials, Bach-Zelewski never faced trial for any war crimes. Similarly, he never faced extradition to Poland or to the USSR. During his testimony at the Nuremberg trials, Bach-Zelewski stated that he disapproved of Himmler's aim to exterminate 30 million Slavs, but explained it thus: "when, for years, for decades, the doctrine is preached that the Slav is a member of an inferior race and that the Jew is not even human, then such an explosion is inevitable." In saying so, Bach-Zelewski effectively linked the facts of mass murder on the ground to Nazi ideology, and established the connection between the Wehrmacht and the actions of the Einsatzgruppen in the Soviet Union, which turned out to be of great value to interrogators and prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials.
Bach-Zelewski left prison in 1949. In 1951, Bach-Zelewski claimed that he helped Hermann Göring commit suicide in 1946. As evidence, he produced cyanide capsules to the authorities with serial numbers not far removed from the one used by Göring. The authorities never verified Bach-Zelewski's claim, and did not charge him with aiding Göring's death. Most modern historians dismiss Bach-Zelewski's claim and agree that a U.S. Army contact within the Palace of Justice's prison at Nuremberg most likely aided Göring in his suicide.
Trials and convictions
In 1951, Bach-Zelewski was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp for the murder of political opponents in the early 1930s; however, he did not serve prison time until February 1961, when he was convicted of the manslaughter of Anton von Hohberg und Buchwald, an SS officer, during the Night of the Long Knives. He was sentenced to 4 years and 6 months imprisonment. In November 1961, he was additionally sentenced to 6 months for perjury.
In 1962, Bach-Zelewski was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of seven German Communists in the early 1930s. None of the sentences referred to his role in Poland, in the Soviet Union, or his participation in the Holocaust, although he openly denounced himself as a mass murderer. He had at the same time "denounced Himmler’s racism in strong terms, as well as incitement to ‘exterminate "inferior races", possibly to curry favor with prosecutors. Bach-Zelewski died in Harlaching Hospital after transfer from Stadelheim Prison due to illness in Munich on 8 March 1972, a week after his 73rd birthday.
Bach-Zelewski gave evidence for the defence at the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel in May 1961. His evidence was to the effect that operations in Russia and parts of Poland were conducted by Operations Units of the Security Police and were not subject to the orders of Eichmann's office, nor was Eichmann able to give orders to the officers in charge of these units, who were responsible for the murder of Jews and Gypsies. The evidence was provided at a hearing in Nuremberg in May 1961.
Family life
He married Ruth Apfeld in 1922, had three daughters (Giesele, Ines, Ilse) and three sons (Heinrich, Ludolf, Eberhard). In 1947, while being a prisoner in Nuremberg, he took a Catholic church wedding with his wife. In 1957, Erich's two sons - Heinrich and Eberhard - emigrated to the United States. Eberhard von dem Bach joined the US Army, worked in the army as an organizational commissioner.
References
Notes
Bibliography
Norman Davies, (2004). Rising '44. The Battle for Warsaw, (1st U.S. ed.), New York: Viking; .
Lifton, Robert Jay, The Nazi Doctors (New York: Basic Books 1986), .
External links
Warsaw Uprising in civilians testimonies from "Chronicles of Terror" database
1899 births
1972 deaths
People from Lębork
People from the Province of Pomerania
German people of Polish descent
German Protestants
Members of the Reichstag 1932
Members of the Reichstag 1933
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres%2C%20Celestial%20Legend
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Ceres, Celestial Legend
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Ceres, Celestial Legend, known in Japan as , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuu Watase. It was originally serialized in Shōgakukan's magazine Shōjo Comic from May 1996 to March 2000, with its chapters collected in 14 tankōbon volumes. The manga was licensed for English release in North America by Viz Media. The series focuses on Aya Mikage, who learns on her sixteenth birthday that she is the reincarnation of an ancient and supremely powerful celestial maiden or angel (tennyo) named Ceres, and her twin brother Aki the reincarnation of Ceres' former husband, Mikagi, the progenitor of the Mikage family, who had stolen Ceres' robe. Ceres' spirit begins manifesting in Aya, and to save her brother she must find Ceres' long-lost celestial robe, while avoiding being killed or captured by family members who want to use Ceres's supreme celestial abilities for their own personal gain.
Pierrot adapted the series into a 24-episode anime television series, broadcast on WOWOW from April to September 2000. The anime series was also licensed by Viz, but has since been re-licensed by Discotek Media.
In 1998, Ceres, Celestial Legend won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category.
Plot
Aya Mikage and her twin brother, Aki, are forced to go to their grandfather's home for their sixteenth birthday, unaware that it's actually a test to see if they have angel or celestial maiden blood. Aya learns she is one of many reincarnations of a vengeful and supremely powerful celestial maiden named Ceres who takes over her mind and body only under intense stress or fury.
When she transforms into Ceres, Aya obtains supernatural abilities of flight, teleportation, telepathy, powerful telekinesis, premonition, and superhuman speed; she can also project destructive pink energy blasts from her hands, and create impenetrable shields of bright pink-colored celestial energy. According to myth, Ceres will ultimately exterminate the entire Mikage family in retaliation for stealing her hagoromo (celestial robe), thus preventing her returning home to Heaven. Because of this, Aya's paternal grandfather and his party attempt to kill her, but she is saved by Suzumi Aogiri, another descendant of a heavenly maiden with incredibly strong celestial and mental abilities of her, and Suzumi's brother-in-law, Yūhi. Aya struggles to control Ceres' influence over her and appease her spirit once and for all. Her brother Aki is eventually completely taken over by the vengeful spirit of "Mikagi", the original ancestor/progenitor of the entire Mikage family who stole Ceres' celestial robe (or "mana"), forcing her to stay with him on Earth. Aya promises Ceres that she will help find the celestial robe in exchange for not killing those who hunt her, especially Aki, since Aya still loves them as family. It's revealed-(in Episode 7, "Celestial Awakening") that "The Hagoromo Legend" not only exists in Japan, but in other countries around the world such as Europe, Africa, all three regions of Oceania, Germany, China, Korea, Russia, and even the United States.
Aya also wrestles with her strong romantic feelings for Toya, a former servant of the Mikage. Toya is trying to kill her as well, and has lost his memory of his past. However, he begins to reciprocate Aya's feelings, and they conceive a child together. Toya regains his memory and learns that he was the immortal humanoid organism, also known as "the manna," that the celestial robe created to help it reunite with Ceres and enable her to reach the full evolution as a celestial maiden. In the end, Aki, having resisted Mikage's spirit, sacrifices himself to save Aya, and Toya sacrifices his own manna and immortality to save Aya and their unborn child. Months later, Aya and Toya await the birth of their child, knowing that Toya may have limited time left to live, although Toya did claim that he will live longer, for his new family's sake.
Characters
Aya is a sixteen-year-old high school girl. She is a direct descendant and reincarnation of a Tennin named Ceres, who uses her as a medium for existence. The Mikage family considers Ceres a threat and continuously tries to take Aya's life. Aya is horrified but determined to right the past wrongs of her family and recover Ceres' hagoromo so that her family will no longer suffer in fear of her. She falls in love with Toya, and they conceive a child together. In the sequel Episode of Miku, Aya gives birth to a girl named Miku and, three years later, a boy named Aki-(Miku's younger brother), who is the look-alike reincarnation of her late twin brother. She initially has long blonde hair, light blue eyes and wears a small pair of red earrings that she had given to her brother. During her depression and her confrontation with Miori, her long hair is cut short but later grows into shoulder-length until the end of the anime; her last name-(Mikage) stands for "honorable shadow".
Ceres is a powerful Tennyo (celestial maiden or "angel") from myth who had hesitantly married Mikagi, the founder of the Mikage family. While she is supremely powerful and volatile, she needs her hagoromo (celestial robe) to recover her true form and full abilities. She has repeatedly attempted to manifest herself through certain female descendants of her bloodline when they reach the age of sixteen. Because her tragic past was misinterpreted by her descendants, her female reincarnations are relentlessly killed by the Mikage family.
Toya is Aya's main love interest in the series. He is a mysterious young man who has absolutely no memory of his past or his true nature; his only clues are two names: "Toya" ("ten nights", his name), and "Mikage"-(which according to episode 8 means "honorable shadow"). He originally works for Mikage International until he fell in love with Aya, rebelling against them to protect her. It is later revealed that he met Aya when she was a six-year-old child. Toya is the embodiment/offspring of the hagoromo of Ceres. He sacrifices the manna bestowed upon him by the celestial robe to give him immortality, saving Aya and protecting their two young children, Miku and Aki. He has pale white skin, brownish red hair, green eyes and is often seen wearing clip-on earrings on both his ears. His fighting outfit is a long forest green coat with a navy blue crop top, along with matching pants and black monk strap shoes; his weapon of choice is a gold and silver Victorian styled dagger capable of shooting out a power red beam that can destroy anything in his path, and a small MP5K machine gun. Towards in the end of the anime after being revived by the celestial robe and protecting Aya from Mikagi, Toya wears the same button shirt and jeans when he meets Aya as a child but is black and gray.
Aki is Aya's twin brother, a gentle and caring person who becomes a medium for the spirit of Mikagi, the founder of the Mikage family. Mikagi in Aki's body aggressively pursues Aya and Ceres, and almost rapes Aya. In the end Aki sacrifices his life to destroy the violent and hateful spirit. In the sequel Episode of Miku, he is reborn as Aya and Toya's second child Aki, and Miku's younger brother. The uniform at his and Aya's previous school-(Sarashina High School) was a white polo shirt with an aqua marine vest and a grey skirt/pants.
A widow and a C-Genomer (Tennin descendant) from the Kansai region, Suzumi is the head of a branch of one of the Aogiri family's schools of Japanese dance. She welcomes Aya into her household when she discovers Aya has become Ceres' latest medium. Suzumi cannot become a Tennin like Aya, though she does possess some psychic/psionic abilities, such as clairvoyance, premonition, and powerful telekinesis. She is capable of making protective celestial amulets that possess enormous power.
Yūhi is the adopted younger brother of Suzumi's deceased husband Kazuma. Early in the series, he wears a red colored headband enhanced with strong Tennin magic made by Suzumi, designating him Aya's bodyguard. He has a strong unrequited love for Aya. Though attracted to Yūhi, Aya ultimately comes to see him as a close friend on a strictly platonic level, and Yūhi is able to accept the fact that Aya only loves Toya. Later, he begins to care deeply for Chidori Kuruma. A notable martial arts expert, he is also an extraordinary cook which had learned from his mother. His two main outfits are a grey and yellow gakuran school uniform, and a grayish blue judogi, his main weapon is a pair of silver combat chopsticks.
The Aogiri's household help, "Mrs. Q" is a gnome-like woman known for her reckless driving and ridiculously ugly appearance, despite her consistent claims that she is a beautiful woman. She's convinced that she and Toya are made for each other.
A C-Genomer from Tochigi Prefecture, Chidori is a cheerful high school girl who looks and acts childlike until she transforms into a Tennin. She cares very deeply for her younger brother, Shota, who was hospitalized upon her introduction into the story. She can transform into a Tennin at will or whenever she gets mad or upset. She seems to have developed deep romantic feelings for her crush Yūhi, and later dies for his sake just as she is about to confess that she had always cared for him. The Mikage scientists identify Chidori's Tennin type as Pallas. She has wavy salmon pink hair that is often worn in two pigtails; her school uniform is a periwinkle colored blazer with a red tie, a navy blue skirt, and wears black socks with brown shoes.
Yuki is a high school girl and a C-Genomer who goes the same school as Yūhi and Aya. She is quiet and has a weak constitution, so she can't transform into a Tennin, but she can manifest pyrokinesis. She has a relationship with her teacher Mr. Hayama, who is actually an agent sent by Mikage International to capture and eliminate Aya and Ceres. In the end, Urakawa burns the agent with her powers and hugs him, causing the fire to kill her as well. She wears a sailor styled school uniform that is red and yellow, complete with a grey bow tie, white socks and black shoes.
Miori is Aya's distant cousin and a C-Genomer from Shizuoka Prefecture. She was Toya's lover in a fake past that Kagami implanted in him who was mostly known as . She is an ordinary high school student of the co-ed Kaisei High School living a normal, happy life with her mother, until her mother was summoned by the Mikages and killed at the main house when Aya first transformed into Ceres. She pretends to become friends with Aya when Aya transfers to her school, then transforms into a Tennin to take on Aya (as Ceres) and avenge her mother's death. She later commits suicide-(in front of a huge crowd) as her final act of "revenge" against Aya, to which Toya witnesses. Miori is identified by the Mikage scientists as possessing the same Tennin type as Aya. Here school uniform is a silver colored blazer with a black skirt, and a red ribbon.
An Okinawan C-Genomer, Shuro was raised as a man by her family out of a fear that she would one day take away the family's heirloom, Ceres' hagoromo, and ascend to heaven. She is GeSANG's famous pop star alongside her cousin Kei Tsukasa, who she is in love with. She dies near the end of the series during her "farewell" concert while attempting to free the C-Genomes. Shuro has the ability to magnify her voice to an amplitude that can rupture a person's heart when she transforms into a Tennin. Mikage scientists identify her as Tennin type Juno.
Kagami is Aya's distant cousin and director of the C-Project (Celestial Project) conducted by Mikage International. He is one of the few members of the Mikage family who wants to meet Ceres and does not fear her. At times he seems in love with her. Kagami wants to capture Ceres and study her, to harness the ability of the Tennin and learn their true nature. He aims to better humanity by creating a perfect human race, though his methods are less than moral. His personality developed from a tragic childhood, where his mother beat him for not being the best at things-(such as getting good grades in school) until he was taken out of his mother's custody after she was sent to a mental institution for her abusive and perfectionist ways. He wears glasses, has dark grey hair, and wears a dark blue blazer, with a turquoise shirt and yellow tie underneath. Near the end of the series, it's revealed that he's engaged to a fiancée, but was forced to put their wedding on hold due to his work with the Mikage.
Alec is a Scottish scientist who studied in the U.S. and speaks Japanese with a thick accent. He is a certified genius with a very high IQ and a complete otaku. He works for Mikage International and provides advanced technology for the development of C-Project. As the project progresses, Alec finds that the situation is not what he expected, and tries to back out because of his own moral convictions. He has yellow colored hair with his bangs parted to the side, a pair of spectacles over his nose, and wears a red shirt with blue jeans and a lab coat.
Gladys is an American colleague of Alec who also works for the C-Project at Mikage International. She's responsible for the C-Genomer's power growth and development. She dies when she puts herself between Mikagi and a pregnant Ceres. She has white hair that is worn in a bun and wears a magenta colored blazer with an orange dress underneath.
Wei is a young, skilled martial artist from China hired by Mikage International. Wielding a vicious chain whip and various tiny throwing blades, he is often sent out to capture C-Genomers or perform other covert tasks. When Toya tries to leave the headquarters together with Aki, Wei is sent stop them, and Toya takes out his left eye and wear a white bandage to cover it up. Wei is Aki's and Shiso's caretaker and bodyguard, and Toya's replacement. He seems to be calm most of the time and does not complain, but he harbors a grudge against Toya for his injury. He has dark green hair, brown skin, and grey eyes; his fighting outfit consists of a light purple Chinese styled coat with blue high heeled boots.
The founder of the Mikage family, Mikagi, first lived during the Jōmon period of Japan. He began as a gentle, kind young man. Ceres falls in love with him, and when their family is attacked and he is ashamed of his inability to protect them, she grants him power. His growing strength drives him mad, and his love becomes an obsession that drives him to hide the hagoromo, causing Ceres to fear for her children's safety. When she leaves, he chases her and kills their first child, so Ceres kills him, covering his body with lacerations that remain when he manifests in Aki. He will stop at nothing to make Ceres his again.
Assam
Assam is a young assassin from Indonesia hired by Kagami to replace and kill Toya. He wants the C-Project to stop using children as objects of war.
Voiced by : Kae Araki (Japanese); Mariette Sluyter (English)
A 9-10 year old elementary school student and is Chidori's younger brother, after getting involved in a terrible bus accident two years ago that claimed the lives of his parents, he was (temporarily) paralyzed from the waist down causing him to use a wheelchair for mobility. When he met Toya at the hospital he was staying at, he began to see him as a close friend; he stood up for the first time in episode 11 and he can also be seen walking in episodes 19 and 20, he has peach colored skin, hazel eyes, and chestnut brown hair. His dream career is to become a pilot and enjoys looking at the sky.
Aya and Toya's daughter who turns 3 year old in Episode of Miku. Because of her young age, she has a tendency to mispronounce words even ones that are simple; on the manga covers she has red hair just like her father Toya, but in a bob cut. She is the big sister of Aki, a younger version of Aya's brother; it is hinted that Miku is the key to ending the Ceres virus. Her name means "future".
Voiced by: Unknown (Japanese); Michelle Armeneau (English)
Aya and Aki's mother. After witnessing her daughter Aya transforming into Ceres, she ends up in a coma throughout the rest of the series due to psychological shock.
Voiced by: Kunihiko Yasui (Japanese); Steve Olson (English)
Aya and Aki's father. He died at the beginning of the series when he tried to protect Aya from being killed by her evil grandfather; he later appears in flashbacks.
A bespectacled teenage girl and student at an all-girls school called Tsukashima High School. In the manga she met Aya after getting attacked by a strange dog; her picture is only shown once in the anime-(in episode 17).
Voiced by: Unshou Ishizuka (Japanese); Steve Olson (English)
A male doctor who runs a clinic in Niigata. After Toya was found unconscious at a nearby beach by a group of kids, Kurotsuka took care of him and nursed him back to health, until Toya escaped from the hospital in order to regain his memories. Despite his tough-looking appearance, he's very friendly, has a sense of humor and was even kind enough to lend Toya his motorcycle to rescue Aya. He has sanpaku-styled eyes, a tan complexion, and dark brown hair.
Voiced by: Kazusa Murai (Japanese); Elizabeth Stepkowski (English)
Production
Ceres, Celestial Legend is the third manga series written by Yuu Watase. She based it on the legend of the tennin Ceres and her stolen hagoromo. This legend is also the basis for one of the most performed Japanese Noh plays, Hagoromo. It is the Japanese version of the Swan Maiden legend; versions from other cultures are mentioned throughout the series. As with most of her serials, Watase planned the basic story line of Ceres through to the end before beginning work. She notes that it is easier to work this way, but that even with planning sometimes the characters will "move on their own" and refuse to follow her original plans. When she reaches the end of the work, though, she can understand why they did so. Watase noted that one of the hardest parts of writing a serial manga was having to plan for a cliffhanger at the end of each chapter. She wanted each one to make the reader want to know what happened next, so they would want to keep reading.
To accurately depict the many locations used within the series, Watase traveled to Miyagi, Okinawa, and Tochigi to visit the locations where legends say Tennin landed. She was able to negotiate entry into some areas normally closed to the public. The characters in Ceres are not based on real people, but Watase notes that each one reflects some part of herself, as does the story as a whole. For example, Watase incorporated her thoughts on genetic engineering and other new technologies through the character of Kagami, who shows cruel disregard for the lives of the celestial beings he creates. While she feels such technologies can be useful to society, they should not be abused. Watase purposefully left Ceres' true nature ambiguous in the end, never clearly stating whether Ceres is an alien or truly a being descended from heaven. She notes, however, that part of the reason for this was that it wasn't something she'd thought about. On reflection, she felt Ceres was a symbol. In Japan, men are considered the dominant sex, and Watase notes that as a woman there are things about the system that anger her, such as men saying she is "just a woman." Ceres became a story about the relationship between men and women. She also wanted to show that while the Tennin and the humans in the story may have come from different origins, and evolved differently, they were still the same living creature in the end, with similar feelings and thoughts.
Media
Manga
Written by Yuu Watase, Ceres, The Celestial Legend premiered in the May 1996 issue of Shogakukan's Shōjo Comic, and ran through the March 2000 issue. The chapters were later published in fourteen collected volumes, with the first volume released on December 11, 1996. Starting October 15, 2005, Shogakukan began re-releasing the series in six special edition volumes, with the final volume released December 15, 2005.
In 2001, Viz Media licensed the manga for an English language release in North America. The series was originally released in a flipped trade paperback format. Viz stopped publication after four volumes. In 2003, Viz re-released the first four volumes in unflipped standard manga-size volumes, along with the remaining ten volumes. In the table below, the dates and ISBN numbers given for the first four volumes are for their second edition re-releases.
Volume list
Anime
Directed by Hajime Kamegaki and produced by Studio Pierrot, the Ceres, Celestial Legend anime adaptation premiered in Japan on WOWOW on April 20, 2000. It ran for 24 episodes until its conclusion on September 28, 2000. It was released to VHS and DVD by Bandai Visual in twelve volumes, with each volume containing two episodes.
Ceres, Celestial Legend was licensed for Region 1 release by Viz Media, which also owns the North American license for the source manga. Viz released the series to VHS and DVD in eight three-episode volumes, with the first volume released on July 24, 2001. The VHS editions were dubbed in English, while the DVD volumes offered a choice between the dubbed English audio track and the original Japanese audio, with optional English subtitles. The DVD version also offers extra features, including art galleries, character profiles, and interviews with Yu Watase. In 2003, Viz re-released the series in two-volume collector's edition sets that contained twelve episodes on each disc, and all of the on-disc extras from earlier releases.
The English dubbed version of the series was broadcast in Southeast Asia by AXN-Asia. In 2014, Discotek Media announced their license for the series, and re-released the series in 2015.
Novel
The Ceres, Celestial Legend novels were written by Nishizaki Megumi and illustrated by Watase Yuu, with storylines created by both. The first three novels each tell a side story of one of the characters; the last novels contain a three-part sequel to the main story.
Reception
Ceres, Celestial Legend won the 43rd Shogakukan Manga Award in the shōjo category in 1998.
References
External links
Official PIERROT anime website
Official Viz Media Ceres: Celestial Legend manga website
1996 manga
2000 anime television series debuts
Anime series based on manga
Discotek Media
Japanese mythology in anime and manga
Pierrot (company)
Shogakukan manga
Shōjo manga
Supernatural anime and manga
Viz Media anime
Viz Media manga
Winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for shōjo manga
Wowow original programming
Yuu Watase
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