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51,410,346 | Sierra Leone at the 2016 Summer Paralympics | 1,137,381,920 | null | [
"2016 in Sierra Leonean sport",
"Nations at the 2016 Summer Paralympics",
"Sierra Leone at the Paralympics"
]
| Sierra Leone sent a delegation to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016. This was the nation's third time competing at the Summer Paralympic Games after it made its debut twenty years prior at the 1996 Summer Paralympics. The delegation consisted of a single athlete, table tennis player George Wyndham, who lost both of his preliminary round matches to Zhang Yan of China and Thailand's Wanchai Chaiwut in the men's singles class 4 tournament and advanced no further in the competition.
## Background
Sierra Leone made its Paralympic debut at the 1996 Summer Paralympics in Atlanta, United States. The country did not participate in another Summer Paralympic Games until the 2012 London Paralympics. This made the Rio de Janeiro Summer Games Sierra Leone's third appearance at a Summer Paralympiad. The 2016 Summer Paralympics were held from 7–18 September 2016 with a total of 4,328 athletes representing 159 National Paralympic Committees (NPCs) taking part. Sierra Leone sent one athlete to Rio de Janeiro: table tennis player George Wyndham. He received financial assistance from the United Nations Development Programme. Wyndham was accompanied by executive secretary of the Association of Sports for the Disabled (the Sierra Leonean NPC) Alexander Thullah, director of sports Ibrahim Bangura, deputy minister of sports Ishmael Al Sankoh Conteh and coaches Emmanuel Lebbie and Alhassan Kamara. He was chosen as the flag bearer during the parade of nations for the opening ceremony.
## Disability classifications
Every participant at the Paralympics has their disability grouped into one of five disability categories; amputation, the condition may be congenital or sustained through injury or illness; cerebral palsy; wheelchair athletes, there is often overlap between this and other categories; visual impairment, including blindness; Les autres, any physical disability that does not fall strictly under one of the other categories, for example dwarfism or multiple sclerosis. Each Paralympic sport then has its own classifications, dependent upon the specific physical demands of competition. Events are given a code, made of numbers and letters, describing the type of event and classification of the athletes competing. Some sports, such as athletics, divide athletes by both the category and severity of their disabilities, other sports, for example swimming, group competitors from different categories together, the only separation being based on the severity of the disability.
## Table tennis
Paralympic debutant George Wyndman contracted polio at the age of five and he has used a wheelchair since. He began athletics at the age of eleven before switching to table tennis after a coach convinced him to take up the sport. Wyndham was 26 years old at the time of the Rio Summer Paralympics and was living in an office at the Siaka Stevens Stadium. He qualified for the men's singles class 4 tournament after receiving a wildcard from the Tripartite Commission. Before the Games, Wyndham said he wanted to become a catalyst of change for disability sports in Sierra Leone, "My dream is to see a delegation of 30 or 40 athletes going to a Games from Sierra Leone. I want more facilities and more equipment to incorporate other people with impairments in Sierra Leone." His first match was against Zhang Yan of China in the group round on 8 September. Wyndham lost the eighteen-minute match three sets to one with scores of 11–2, 11–6, 9–11 and 11–5. He lost his second match to Thailand's Wanchai Chaiwut three sets to zero (11–2, 11–9, 11–9) the following day and therefore that was the end of his competition because he was third and last in Group F and only the top two in each group could advance to the round of 16.
### Men
## See also
- Sierra Leone at the 2016 Summer Olympics |
16,733,548 | The Hurt Locker | 1,172,750,659 | 2008 film by Kathryn Bigelow | [
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"National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Film winners",
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| The Hurt Locker is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follows an Iraq War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are targeted by insurgents and shows their psychological reactions to the stress of combat. Boal drew on his experience during embedded access to write the screenplay.
The Hurt Locker premiered at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival before it was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, by Summit Entertainment. The film earned acclaim from critics, who praised Bigelow's directing, Renner's performance, Boal's screenplay, editing, musical score, cinematography, sound design and action sequences. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. It was the first Best Picture winner to have been directed by a woman. The film grossed \$49.2 million worldwide.
It is now considered to be one of the best war films of the 2000s and the 21st century. In 2020, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
## Plot
During the second year of the Iraq War, a U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal team with Bravo Company identifies and attempts to destroy an improvised explosive device with a robot, but the wagon carrying the trigger charge breaks. Team leader Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson places the charge by hand, but is killed when a man with a cell phone detonates the charge. Squad mate Specialist Owen Eldridge feels guilty for failing to kill the man with the phone.
Sergeant First Class William James replaces Staff Sergeant Thompson. He is often at odds with Sergeant J. T. Sanborn because he prefers to defuse devices by hand and does not communicate his plans. He blocks Sanborn's view with smoke grenades as he approaches an IED and defuses it only moments before a man attempts to detonate it with a 9-volt battery. In another incident, James insists on disarming a complex car bomb despite Sanborn's protests that it is taking too long; James responds by taking off his headset and "flipping off" Sanborn. Sanborn is so worried by his conduct that he openly suggests fragging James to Owen while they are exploding unused ordnance outside of base.
On their return to base, they encounter five armed men in Arab garb by an SUV which has a flat tire. After a tense encounter, James learns they are friendly British PMCs. While fixing the tire, they come under sniper fire. Three of the British are killed before James and Sanborn take over counter-sniping, killing three insurgents. Eldridge kills the fourth who attempts to flank their position.
During a raid on a warehouse, James discovers a "body bomb" he believes is Beckham, an Iraqi boy who sells DVDs and plays soccer outside of base. During the evacuation, Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge, the camp's psychiatrist and Eldridge's counselor, is killed in an explosion; Eldridge is further traumatized. James sneaks off base with Beckham's apparent associate at gunpoint, telling him to take him to Beckham's home. He is left at the home of an unrelated Iraqi professor, and James flees.
Called to a petrol tanker detonation, James decides to hunt for the insurgents responsible nearby. Sanborn protests, but when James begins a pursuit, he and Eldridge follow. After they split up, insurgents capture Eldridge. James and Sanborn rescue him, and James accidentally hits Eldridge. The following morning, James is approached by Beckham, alive and well, whom James ignores and walks by silently. Before being airlifted for surgery, Eldridge angrily blames James for his injury.
The day before their deployment ends, they are called to disarm a suicide bomb strapped to a man against his will. James cannot cut the locks off before the timer expires, and they are forced to abandon the man. Sanborn is distraught and tells James he must leave Iraq to raise his son.
After Bravo Company's rotation ends, James returns to his ex-wife Connie and their infant son. However, he is bored by routine civilian life at home. James confesses to his son there is only one thing he knows he loves. He starts another year-long tour of duty with Delta Company.
## Cast
- Jeremy Renner as Sergeant First Class William James
- Anthony Mackie as Sergeant J. T. Sanborn
- Brian Geraghty as Specialist Owen Eldridge
- Guy Pearce as Staff Sergeant Matthew Thompson
- Christian Camargo as Lieutenant Colonel John Cambridge
- David Morse as Colonel Reed
- Ralph Fiennes as the leader of a Private Military Company unit
- Evangeline Lilly as Connie James
- Christopher Sayegh as Beckham
- Malcolm Barrett as Sergeant Foster
- Sam Spruell as Contractor Charlie
- Suhail Dabbach as a black-suit suicide bomber
## Production
The small-budget film was independently produced and directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The screenplay was written by Mark Boal, a freelance writer who was embedded as a journalist in 2004 with a U.S. Army EOD team in Iraq.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in Italy during 2008. After being shown at the Toronto International Film Festival, it was picked up for distribution in the United States by Summit Entertainment. In May 2009, it was the Closing Night selection for Maryland Film Festival. The film was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, but received a more widespread theatrical release on July 24, 2009.
The film was nominated for nine Oscars at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2010, although the film had not yet recovered its budget by the time of the ceremony. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Bigelow (the first woman to win this award), and Best Original Screenplay for Boal.
### Writing
The Hurt Locker is based on accounts of Mark Boal, a freelance journalist who was embedded with an American bomb squad in the war in Iraq for two weeks in 2004. Director Bigelow was familiar with Boal's work before his experiences, having adapted one of his Playboy articles as the short-lived television series The Inside in 2002. When Boal was embedded with the squad, he accompanied its members 10 to 15 times a day to watch their tasks, and kept in touch with Bigelow via email about his experiences. Boal used his experiences as the basis of a fictional drama based on real events.
He said of the film's goal, "The idea is that it's the first movie about the Iraq War that purports to show the experience of the soldiers. We wanted to show the kinds of things that soldiers go through that you can't see on CNN, and I don't mean that in a censorship-conspiracy way. I just mean the news doesn't actually put photographers in with units that are this elite." Bigelow was fascinated with exploring "the psychology behind the type of soldier who volunteers for this particular conflict and then, because of [their] aptitude, is chosen and given the opportunity to go into bomb disarmament and goes toward what everybody else is running from."
While working with Boal in 2005 on the script, originally titled The Something Jacket, Bigelow began to do some preliminary, rough storyboards to get an idea of the specific location needed. Bomb disarmament protocol requires a containment area. She wanted to make the film as authentic as possible and "put the audience into the Humvee, into a boots-on-the-ground experience."
### Casting
For the main characters, Bigelow made a point of casting relatively unknown actors: "it underscored the tension because with the lack of familiarity also comes a sense of unpredictability." Renner's character, Sergeant First Class William James, is a composite character, with qualities based on individuals whom screenwriter Boal knew when embedded with the bomb squad. Bigelow cast Renner based on his work in Dahmer, a film about Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer whose victims were boys. To prepare for the film, Renner spent a week living and training at Fort Irwin, a U.S. military reservation in the Mojave Desert in California. He was taught to use C4 explosives, learned how to render safe improvised explosive devices, and how to wear a bomb suit.
Mackie plays Sergeant J. T. Sanborn. Describing the experience of filming in Jordan in the summer, he said, "It was so desperately hot, and we were so easily agitated. But that movie was like doing a play. We really looked out for each other, and it was a great experience. It made me believe in film."
Several hundred thousand Iraqi refugees live in Jordan. Bigelow cast refugees who had theatrical backgrounds, such as Suhail Dabbach who plays the innocent man used as a suicide bomber at the film's end.
### Filming
The film was shot in Jordan, within miles of the Iraqi border, to achieve Bigelow's goal of authenticity. Iraqi refugees were used for extras and the cast worked in the intense heat of the Middle East. The filmmakers had scouted for locations in Morocco, but Bigelow felt its cities did not resemble Baghdad. In addition, she wanted to get as close to the war zone as possible. Some of the locations were less than three miles from the Iraqi border. Bigelow had wanted to film in Iraq, but the production security team could not guarantee their safety from snipers.
Principal photography began in July 2007 in Jordan and Kuwait. Temperatures averaged 120 °F (49 °C) over the 44 days of shooting. Often four or more camera crews filmed simultaneously, which resulted in nearly 200 hours of footage. The producer Greg Shapiro spoke about security concerns of filming in Jordan, "It was interesting telling people we were going to make the movie in Jordan because the first question everybody asked was about the security situation here."
Bigelow's choice to film in Jordan met some resistance. In discussion, she found that her cast and crew shared stereotypes of the region from American culture. "Sadly people in America and Los Angeles have these perceptions", she said. "But once you get off the plane you realize it's like Manhattan without the trees", she continued. As Iraq dominated discourse in America and around the world, Bigelow believed that filmmakers would continue to explore the conflict, making Jordan the natural place to film.
According to producer Tony Mark, the blood, sweat and heat captured on-camera in the production was mirrored behind the scenes.
> "It's a tough, tough movie about a tough, tough subject", Mark said in an interview, "There was a palpable tension throughout on the set. It was just like the onscreen story of three guys who fight with each other, but when the time comes to do the work, they come together to get the job done."
Renner remembered, "I got food bugs. Then I got food poisoning: lost 15 lbs in three days". In addition to the burden of the heat, the bomb suit he had to wear all day weighed 80–100 lb (36–45 kg). In a scene in which his character carries a dead Iraqi boy, Renner fell down some stairs and twisted his ankle, which delayed filming because he could not walk. At that point, "people wanted to quit. All the departments were struggling to get their job done, none of them were communicating". A week later, filming resumed.
Tony Mark recalled the armorer David Fencl's finishing a 12-hour day. He found he had to stay up all night to make proper ammunition for a sniper rifle, as the supplies did not clear Jordanian customs in time for the scheduled shoot. Due to import restrictions on military props, the film's special effects artist Richard Stutsman used Chinese fireworks for gunpowder. One day, he was assembling a prop, and the heat and friction caused the fireworks to blow up in his face. Two days later, he returned to work. The film shoot had few of the normal Hollywood perks; nobody on the set got an air-conditioned trailer or a private bathroom. Renner said that great care was taken to ensure the film's authenticity. According to Renner, shooting the film in the Middle East contributed to this. "There were two-by-fours with nails being dropped from two-story buildings that hit me in the helmet, and they were throwing rocks.... We got shot at a few times while we were filming", Renner said. "When you see it, you're gonna feel like you've been in war."
> "You can't fake that amount of heat", Mackie says, adding, "When you are on set and all of the extras are Iraqi refugees, it really informs the movie that you're making. When you start hearing the stories from a true perspective ... of people who were actually there, it gives you a clear viewpoint of where you are as an artist and the story you would like to tell. It was a great experience to be there."
### Cinematography
For the film, director Bigelow sought to immerse audiences "into something that was raw, immediate and visceral". Impressed with cinematographer Barry Ackroyd's work on United 93 and The Wind That Shakes the Barley, Bigelow invited him to work on her film. While the film was independently produced and filmed on a low budget, Bigelow used four Super 16 mm cameras to capture multiple perspectives, saying,
> "That's how we experience reality, by looking at the microcosm and the macrocosm simultaneously. The eye sees differently than the lens, but with multiple focal lengths and a muscular editorial style, the lens can give you that microcosm/macrocosm perspective and that contributes to the feeling of total immersion."
In staging the film's action sequences, Bigelow did not want to lose a sense of the geography and used multiple cameras to allow her to "look at any particular set-piece from every possible perspective."
### Editing
The Hurt Locker was edited by Chris Innis and Bob Murawski. The two editors worked with almost 200 hours of footage from the multiple hand-held cameras in use during the shoot. Adding to the challenge, Boal's screenplay had a non-traditional, asymmetrical, episodic structure. There was no traditional "villain", and tension was derived from the characters' internal conflicts and the suspense from the explosives and snipers.
> "This movie is kind of like a horror film where you're unable to see the killer," says Innis. "You know a bomb could go off at any minute, but you never know just when it's going to happen, so the ideas of [Alfred] Hitchcock—about making your audience anxious—were influential for us when we did the editing."
The raw footage was described as a "hodge-podge of disconnected, nausea-inducing motion that was constantly crossing the 180-degree line".
Innis spent the first eight weeks editing the film on location in Jordan, before returning to Los Angeles, where Murawski joined her. The process took over eight months to complete. The goal was to edit a brutally realistic portrayal of the realities of war, using minimal special effects or technical enhancement. Innis stated that they "really wanted the film to retain that 'newsreel' documentary quality... Too many stage-y effects would have been distracting. The editing in this film was all about restraint".
Editing on location led to additional complications in post-production. The production was unwilling to risk sending undeveloped film through high-security airports where the cans could be opened, X-rayed, or damaged. Accordingly, film was hand-carried on a flight by a production assistant from Amman to London. After the Super 16mm film was transferred to DVcam at a lab in London, the video dailies were transported by plane back to the Middle East to be imported into the editing system. The whole journey would take anywhere from three days to a week and was described by Innis as the "modern-day equivalent of shipping via donkey cart." The low production budget and the lack of a developed film infrastructure in the area hampered the process, according to Innis. "We were working with grainy Super 16mm film, editing in standard definition. We tried doing FTP downloads, but at the time, the facilities in Jordan simply couldn't handle it." Producer Tony Mark later negotiated the use of a local radio station late at night to receive low-grade QuickTime clips over the Internet so the crew would not be shooting blindly.
### Musical score and sound
Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders composed the score. Bigelow wanted Beltrami to score for the film, as she liked his critically acclaimed work in 3:10 to Yuma (2007). Paul N. J. Ottosson worked on the film's sound design. The score was released in June 2009 through Lakeshore Records.
## Release
### Festival screenings
The Hurt Locker had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Festival on September 4, 2008, and the film received a 10-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening. At the festival, the film won the SIGNIS award, the Arca Cinemagiovani Award (Arca Young Cinema Award) for "Best Film Venezia 65" (chosen by an international youth jury); the Human Rights Film Network Award; and the Venezia Cinema Award known as the "Navicella". The film also screened at the 33rd Annual Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, where it generated "keen interest", though distributors were reluctant to buy it since previous films about the Iraq War performed poorly at the box office. Summit Entertainment purchased the film for distribution in the United States in what was perceived as "a skittish climate for pic sales".
In the rest of 2008, The Hurt Locker screened at the 3rd Zurich Film Festival, the 37th Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, the 21st Mar del Plata Film Festival, the 5th Dubai International Film Festival, and the 12th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. In 2009, The Hurt Locker screened at the Göteborg International Film Festival, the 10th Film Comment Selects festival, and the South by Southwest film festival. It was the closing night film at Maryland Film Festival 2009, with Bigelow presenting. It had a centerpiece screening at the 3rd AFI Dallas International Film Festival, where director Kathryn Bigelow received the Dallas Star Award. Other 2009 festivals included the Human Rights Nights International Film Festival, the Seattle International Film Festival, and the Philadelphia Film Festival.
### Theatrical run
The Hurt Locker was first publicly released in Italy by Warner Bros. on October 10, 2008. Summit Entertainment picked the film up for distribution in the United States for \$1.5 million after it was shown at the Toronto International Film Festival. The Hurt Locker was released in the United States on June 26, 2009, with a limited release at four theaters in Los Angeles and New York City. Over its first weekend the film grossed \$145,352, averaging \$36,338 per theater. The following weekend, beginning July 3, the film grossed \$131,202 at nine theaters, averaging \$14,578 per theater. It held the highest per-screen average of any film playing theatrically in the United States for the first two weeks of its release, gradually moving into the top 20 chart with much wider-released, bigger budget studio films. It held around number 13 or number 14 on box office charts for an additional four weeks. Summit Entertainment took The Hurt Locker wider to more than 200 screens on July 24, 2009, and more than 500 screens on July 31, 2009.
The film's final gross was \$17,017,811 in the United States and Canada, and \$32,212,961 in other countries, bringing its worldwide total to \$49,230,772. It was a success against its budget of \$15 million.
According to the Los Angeles Times, The Hurt Locker performed better than most recent dramas about Middle East conflict. The film outperformed all other Iraq-war-themed films such as In the Valley of Elah (2007), Stop-Loss (2008) and Afghanistan-themed Lions for Lambs (2007).
In the United States, The Hurt Locker is one of only five Best Picture winners (The English Patient, Amadeus, The Artist, and The Shape of Water being the other four) to never enter the weekend box office top 5 since top 10 rankings were first recorded in 1982. It is also one of the only two Best Picture winners on record never to have entered the weekend box office top 10 (The Artist being the other).
The Hurt Locker opened in the top ten in the United Kingdom in 103 theaters, scoring the fourth-highest per-screen average of \$3,607, ranking between G-Force and G.I. Joe in overall grosses. The film garnered half a million dollars in its opening weekend in the United Kingdom of August 28 through August 30, 2009, and grossed over a million dollars in the UK, Japan, Spain, and France through March.
### Distribution: Independent film print shortage
According to an article in the Springfield, Illinois State Journal-Register, as of August 2009, there was a shortage of film prints of The Hurt Locker, as well as other hit independent films such as Food, Inc. Distributors told theater owners that they would have to wait weeks or months past the initial U.S. release date to get the few available prints that were already in distribution. "Sometimes the distributors goof up," said a film buyer for one theater. "They misjudge how wide they should go." One theory is that the independent films have a hard time competing for screen space during the summer against blockbuster tent-pole films that take up as much as half the screens in any given city, flooding the United States market with thousands of prints. Theater owners have also complained about distributors "bunching too many movies too close together". It is also thought that independent film distributors are trying to cut their losses on prints by recycling them. Given the popularity of some of the films that are "hard to come by", this strategy may be leaving box office money on the table.
### Home media
The Hurt Locker was released on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on January 12, 2010. This disc includes an added audio commentary featuring director Kathryn Bigelow, writer Mark Boal, and other members of the production crew; an image gallery of photos from shooting; and a 15-minute EPK featurette highlighting the filming experience in Jordan and the film's production. The UK DVD and Blu-ray have no commentary.
On February 22, 2022, two years after getting a digital 4K release, Lionsgate and Best Buy released a steelbook of the movie, marking the first time it came to 4K resolution. U.S. sales of the DVD topped \$30 million by mid-August 2010.
## Reception
### Critical response
The Hurt Locker received widespread acclaim, with Renner's performance receiving praise from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of , based on reviews, with a weighted average rating of . It was the second highest-rated film of 2009, behind Pixar's Up. The critics' consensus reads, "A well-acted, intensely shot, action filled war epic, Kathryn Bigelow's The Hurt Locker is thus far the best of the recent dramatizations of the Iraq War." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score, gave the film an average score of 95 out of 100, based on 37 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun Times rated the film as the best of 2009, writing, "The Hurt Locker is a great film, an intelligent film, a film shot clearly so that we know exactly who everybody is and where they are and what they're doing and why." He applauded how the suspense was built, calling the film "spellbinding". Ebert considered Renner "a leading contender for Academy Awards", writing, "His performance is not built on complex speeches but on a visceral projection of who this man is and what he feels. He is not a hero in a conventional sense." He eventually ranked it the second-best film of the decade, behind only Synecdoche, New York.
Richard Corliss of Time magazine also spoke highly of Renner's performance, calling it a highlight of the film. Corliss wrote,
> "He's ordinary, pudgy-faced, quiet, and at first seems to lack the screen charisma to carry a film. That supposition vanishes in a few minutes, as Renner slowly reveals the strength, confidence and unpredictability of a young Russell Crowe. The merging of actor and character is one of the big things to love about this movie... It's a creepy marvel to watch James in action. He has the cool aplomb, analytical acumen and attention to detail of a great athlete, or a master psychopath, maybe both."
Corliss praised the film's "steely calm" tone, reflective of its main character. Corliss summarized, "The Hurt Locker is a near-perfect movie about men in war, men at work. Through sturdy imagery and violent action, it says that even Hell needs heroes."
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called The Hurt Locker the best American feature film yet made about the war in Iraq:
> "You may emerge from The Hurt Locker shaken, exhilarated and drained, but you will also be thinking ... The movie is a viscerally exciting, adrenaline-soaked tour de force of suspense and surprise, full of explosions and hectic scenes of combat, but it blows a hole in the condescending assumption that such effects are just empty spectacle or mindless noise."
Scott noticed that the film reserved criticism of the war but wrote of how the director handled the film's limits, "Ms. Bigelow, practicing a kind of hyperbolic realism, distills the psychological essence and moral complications of modern warfare into a series of brilliant, agonizing set pieces." He also applauded the convergence of the characters in the film, saying that it "focuses on three men whose contrasting temperaments knit this episodic exploration of peril and bravery into a coherent and satisfying story." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that the performances of Renner, Mackie, and Geraghty would raise their profiles considerably, and said their characters reveal their "unlooked-for aspects," such as Renner's character being playful with an Iraqi boy. Turan applauded Boal's "lean and compelling" script and said of Bigelow's direction, "Bigelow and her team bring an awesome ferocity to re-creating the unhinged mania of bomb removal in an alien, culturally unfathomable atmosphere."
Guy Westwell of Sight & Sound wrote that the cinematographer Barry Ackroyd provided "sharp handheld coverage" and that Paul N.J. Ottosson's sound design "uses the barely perceptible ringing of tinnitus to amp up the tension." Westwell praised the director's skill:
> "The careful mapping of the subtle differences between each bomb, the play with point of view ... and the attenuation of key action sequences ... lends the film a distinctive quality that can only be attributed to Bigelow's clever, confident direction."
The critic noted the film's different take on the Iraq War, writing that "it confronts the fact that men often take great pleasure in war." He concluded,
> "This unapologetic celebration of a testosterone-fuelled lust for war may gall. Yet there is something original and distinctive about the film's willingness to admit that for some men (and many moviegoers) war carries an intrinsic dramatic charge."
Amy Taubin of Film Comment described The Hurt Locker as "a structuralist war movie" and "a totally immersive, off-the-charts high-anxiety experience from beginning to end." Taubin praised Ackroyd's "brilliant" cinematography with multiple viewpoints. She said of the film's editing, "Bob Murawski and Chris Innis's editing is similarly quick and nervous; the rapid changes in POV as they cut from one camera's coverage to another's, makes you feel as if you, like the characters, are under threat from all sides."
Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal called it "A first-rate action thriller, a vivid evocation of urban warfare in Iraq, a penetrating study of heroism and a showcase for austere technique, terse writing and a trio of brilliant performances." The Toronto Star critic Peter Howell said, "Just when you think the battle of Iraq war dramas has been fought and lost, along comes one that demands to be seen... If you can sit through The Hurt Locker without your heart nearly pounding through your chest, you must be made of granite." Entertainment Weekly'''s film critic Lisa Schwarzbaum gave the film the rare "A" rating, calling it, "an intense, action-driven war pic, a muscular, efficient standout that simultaneously conveys the feeling of combat from within as well as what it looks like on the ground. This ain't no war videogame."
Derek Elley of Variety found The Hurt Locker to be "gripping" as a thriller but felt that the film was weakened by, "its fuzzy (and hardly original) psychology." Elley wrote that it was unclear to know where the drama lay: "These guys get by on old-fashioned guts and instinct rather than sissy hardware—but it's not a pure men-under-stress drama either." The critic also felt that the script showed "signs of artificially straining for character depth." Anne Thompson, also writing for Variety, believed The Hurt Locker to be a contender for Best Picture, particularly based on the unique subject matter pursued by a female director and on being an exception to other films about the Iraq War, which had performed poorly.
Tara McKelvey from The American Prospect wrote that the film is pro-U.S. Army propaganda, although it suggests it is anti-war with the opening statement: "War is a drug." She continues,
> "You feel empathy for the soldiers when they shoot. And in this way, the full impact of the Iraq war—at least as it was fought in 2004—becomes clear: American soldiers shot at Iraqi civilians even when, for example, they just happened to be holding a cell phone and standing near an IED." She concludes, "For all the graphic violence, bloody explosions and, literally, human butchery that is shown in the film, The Hurt Locker is one of the most effective recruiting vehicles for the U.S. Army that I have seen."
John Pilger, journalist and documentarian, criticized the film in the New Statesman, writing that it "offers a vicarious thrill via yet another standard-issue psychopath high on violence in somebody else's country where the deaths of a million people are consigned to cinematic oblivion."
In 2010, the Independent Film & Television Alliance selected the film as one of the 30 Most Significant Independent Films of the last 30 years.
The Hurt Locker was named the tenth "Best Film of the 21st Century So Far" in 2017 by The New York Times chief film critics A. O. Scott and Manohla Dargis.
### Response among veterans
The film was criticized by some Iraq veterans and embedded reporters for inaccurately portraying wartime conditions. Writing for The Huffington Post, Iraq veteran Kate Hoit said that The Hurt Locker is "Hollywood's version of the Iraq war and of the soldiers who fight it, and their version is inaccurate." She described the film as being "better than a lot of the recent war movies that have been released" but expressed concerns that several errors—among them wrong uniforms, lack of radio communication, or misbehavior of the soldiers—would alienate service members from enjoying the film.
Author Brandon Friedman, also a combat veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, shared a similar view at VetVoice: "The Hurt Locker is a high-tension, well-made, action movie that will certainly keep most viewers on the edges of their seats. But if you know anything about the Army, or about operations or life in Iraq, you'll be so distracted by the nonsensical sequences and plot twists that it will ruin the movie for you. It certainly did for me." Friedman criticized the inaccuracy of the film's representation of combat, saying, "in real life, EOD techs don't conduct dangerous missions as autonomous three-man teams without communications gear ... Another thing you'll rarely hear in combat is an EOD E-7 suggesting to two or three of his guys that they leave the scene of an explosion in an Iraqi city by saying: 'C'mon, let's split up. We can cover more ground that way.'"
At the blog Army of Dude, infantryman and Iraq veteran Alex Horton noted that "the way the team goes about their missions is completely absurd." He still generally enjoyed it and called it "the best Iraq movie to date."
Troy Steward, another combat veteran, wrote on the blog Bouhammer that while the film accurately depicted the scale of bomb violence and the relations between Iraqis and troops, "just about everything else wasn't realistic." Steward went on to say: "I was amazed that a movie so bad could get any kind of accolades from anyone."
A review published March 8, 2010, in the Air Force Times cited overall negative reviews from bomb experts in Iraq attached to the 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division, quoting a bomb disposal team leader who called the film's portrayal of a bomb expert "grossly exaggerated and not appropriate," and describing the lead character as "more of a run and gun cowboy type ... exactly the kind of person that we're not looking for." Another bomb disposal team member said that the lead character's "swagger would put a whole team at risk. Our team leaders don't have that kind of invincibility complex, and if they do, they aren't allowed to operate. A team leader's first priority is getting his team home in one piece."
On the embedded side, former correspondent for The Politico and Military Times Christian Lowe (who embedded with U.S. military units each year from 2002 to 2005) explained at DefenseTech: "Some of the scenes are so disconnected with reality to be almost parody."
Former British bomb disposal officer Guy Marot said, "James makes us look like hot-headed, irrational adrenaline junkies with no self-discipline. It’s immensely disrespectful to the many officers who have lost their lives."
On the other hand, Henry Engelhardt, an adjutant with the National Explosive Ordnance Disposal Association having twenty years' experience in bomb defusal, complimented the film's atmosphere and depiction of the difficulties of the job, saying, "Of course, no film is realistic in all its details, but the important things were done very well."
### Top ten lists
The Hurt Locker was listed on many critics' top ten lists.
- 1st – David Ansen, Newsweek
- 1st – J. Hoberman, The Village Voice
- 1st – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
- 1st – Claudia Puig, USA Today
- 1st – Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
- 1st – Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
- 1st – Ella Taylor, L.A. Weekly
- 1st – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
- 1st – Mike Scott, The Times-Picayune
- 1st – Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News
- 1st – Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal
- 1st – Andrea Gronvall, Chicago Reader
- 1st – David Germain, Associated Press
- 1st – David Denby, The New Yorker
- 1st – Bob Mondello, NPR
- 2nd – A.O. Scott, The New York Times
- 2nd – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
- 2nd – Tasha Robinson, The A.V. Club
- 2nd – Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun
- 2nd – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 2nd – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
- 2nd – J.R. Jones, Chicago Reader
- 2nd – Michael Rechtshaffen, Ray Bennett, & Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
- 3rd – Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times
- 3rd – Christy Lemire, Associated Press
- 3rd – V.A. Musetto, New York Post
- 3rd – David Fear, Time Out New York
- 3rd – Richard Roeper
- 3rd – Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
- 3rd – Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly
- 4th – Richard Corliss, Time
- 4th – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
- 4th – Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer
- 4th – Liam Lacey, The Globe and Mail
- 4th – Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter
- 5th – Nathan Rabin, The A.V. Club
- 5th – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
- 5th – Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
- 5th – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
- 5th – Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
- 5th – Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- 6th – Stephen Holden, The New York Times
- 6th – Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
- 7th – Ty Burr, Boston Globe
- 7th – Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
- 9th – Kimberly Jones, Austin Chronicle
- 9th – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly
- 10th – Keith Phipps & Scott Tobias, The A.V. Club
- 10th – David Edelstein, New York Magazine
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Bob Mondello, NPR
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – David Denby, The New Yorker
- Top 10 (listed alphabetically) – Dana Stevens, Slate
### Accolades
Starting with its initial screening at the 2008 Venice International Film Festival, The Hurt Locker has earned many awards and honors. It also ranked on more film critics' top 10 lists than any other film of 2009. It was nominated in nine categories at the 82nd Academy Awards and won in six: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Film Editing. It lost the award for Best Actor to Crazy Heart, Best Original Score to Up, and Best Cinematography to Avatar. Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director.
Kathryn Bigelow was awarded the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Achievement in Feature Film for the film, being only one of three women to do so along with Chloe Zhao for Nomadland and Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog. The film won six awards at the BAFTAs held on February 21, 2010, including Best Film and Best Director for Bigelow. The Hurt Locker was nominated for three Golden Globe Awards.
The Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association Award for Best Director was given to Kathryn Bigelow, the first time the honor has gone to a woman. The film swept most critics groups awards for Best Director and Best Picture, including Chicago, Boston, and Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York' film critics group associations. The Hurt Locker is one of only six films that have won all three major U.S. critics group prizes (LA, NY, NSFC), together with Goodfellas, Schindler's List, L.A. Confidential, The Social Network, and Drive My Car; and also the second to win Best Picture after Schindler's List.
The five awards from the Boston Society of Film Critics were the most by that organization to a single film in the group's 30-year history.
In February 2010, the film's producer Nicolas Chartier emailed a group of Academy Award voters in an attempt to sway them to vote for The Hurt Locker instead of "a \$500M film" (referring to Avatar) for the Best Picture award. He later issued a public apology, saying that it was "out of line and not in the spirit of the celebration of cinema that this acknowledgment is". The Academy banned him from attending the award ceremony, the first time the academy has ever banned an individual nominee.
## Lawsuits
### Sarver lawsuit
In early March 2010, U.S. Army bomb disposal expert Master Sergeant Jeffrey Sarver filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against The Hurt Locker. Sarver's lawsuit claimed he used the term "hurt locker" and the phrase "war is a drug" around Boal, that his likeness was used to create the character William James, and that the portrayal of James defames Sarver. Sarver said he felt "just a little bit hurt, a little bit felt left out" and cheated out of "financial participation" in the film. Sarver claimed he originated the title of the film; however, according to the film's website, the title is a decades-old colloquialism for being injured, as in "they sent him to the hurt locker." It dates back to the Vietnam War where it was one of several phrases meaning "in trouble or at a disadvantage; in bad shape."
Boal defended himself to the press, saying "the film is a work of fiction inspired by many people's stories." He said he talked to more than 100 soldiers during his research. Jody Simon, a Los Angeles-based entertainment lawyer, noted that "soldiers don't have privacy," and that when the military embedded Boal they gave him full permission to use his observations as he saw fit. Summit Entertainment, the producers of the film, said in early March that they hoped for a quick resolution to the suit. In the December 8, 2011, issue of The Hollywood Reporter, it was announced that the court threw out Sarver's lawsuit. A federal judge ordered him to pay more than \$180,000 in attorney fees.
### Copyright infringement lawsuit
On May 12, 2010, Voltage Pictures, the production company behind The Hurt Locker, announced that it would attempt to sue "potentially tens of thousands" of online computer users who downloaded unlicensed copies of the film using the BitTorrent and P2P networks. It would be the largest lawsuit of its kind. On May 28, 2010, it filed a complaint against 5,000 unidentified BitTorrent users in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; Voltage announced its intention to demand \$1,500 from each defendant to release him or her from the suit. Several people, however, refused to settle with the studio. The US Copyright Group (USCG) has since dropped all cases against the alleged Hurt Locker'' downloaders.
On August 29, 2011, the Federal Court of Canada ordered three Canadian ISPs—Bell Canada, Cogeco, and Vidéotron—to disclose the names and addresses of the subscribers whose IP addresses were suspected of having downloaded a copy of the film. The ISPs were given two weeks to comply with the order. |
406,287 | Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness | 1,173,900,553 | Wilderness area in Minnesota, United States | [
"Canoeing and kayaking venues in the United States",
"Protected areas established in 1964",
"Protected areas of Cook County, Minnesota",
"Protected areas of Lake County, Minnesota",
"Protected areas of St. Louis County, Minnesota",
"Superior National Forest",
"Wilderness areas of Minnesota"
]
| The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW or BWCA) is a 1,090,000-acre (4,400 km<sup>2</sup>) wilderness area within the Superior National Forest in the northeastern part of the US state of Minnesota under the administration of the U.S. Forest Service. A mixture of forests, glacial lakes, and streams, the BWCAW's preservation as a primitive wilderness began in the 1900s and culminated in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act of 1978. It is a popular destination for canoeing, hiking, and fishing, and is the most visited wilderness in the United States.
## Geography
The BWCAW extends along 150 miles (240 km) of the U.S.–Canada border in the Arrowhead Region of Minnesota. The combined region of the BWCAW, Superior National Forest, Voyageurs National Park, and Ontario's Quetico and La Verendrye Provincial Parks make up a large area of contiguous wilderness lakes and forests called the "Quetico-Superior country", or simply the Boundary Waters. Lake Superior lies to the south and east of the Boundary Waters.
190,000 acres (770 km<sup>2</sup>), nearly 20% of the BWCAW's total area, is water. Within the borders of the area are over 1,100 lakes and hundreds of miles of rivers and streams. Much of the other 80% of the area is forest. The BWCAW contains the largest remaining area of uncut forest in the eastern portion of the United States.
The Laurentian Divide between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay watersheds runs northeast–southwest through the east side of the BWCAW, following the crest of the Superior Upland and Gunflint Range. The crossing of the divide at Height of Land Portage was an occasion for ceremony and initiation rites for the fur-trading Voyageurs of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The wilderness also includes the highest peak in Minnesota, Eagle Mountain (2,301 feet (701 m)), part of the Misquah Hills.
Located around the perimeter of the BWCAW are six ranger stations: in Cook, Aurora, Ely, Isabella, Tofte and Grand Marais. The two nearby communities with most visitor services are Ely and Grand Marais. Several historic roads such as the Gunflint Trail, Echo Trail (County Road 116) and Fernberg Road (County Road 18) allow access to many wilderness entry points.
## Natural history
### Geology
The lakes of the BWCAW are located in depressions formed by differential erosion of the tilted layers of the Canadian Shield. For the past two million years, massive sheets of ice have repeatedly scoured the landscape. The last glacial period ended with the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet from the Boundary Waters about 17,000 years ago. The resulting depressions in the landscape later filled with water, becoming the lakes of today.
Many varieties of Precambrian bedrock are exposed including: granite, basalt, greenstone, gneiss, as well as metamorphic rocks derived from volcanic and sedimentary rocks. Greenstone of the Superior craton located near Ely, Minnesota, is up to 2.7 billion years old. Igneous rocks of the Duluth Complex comprise the bedrock of the eastern Boundary Waters. Ancient microfossils have been found in the banded iron formations of the Gunflint Chert.
### Forest ecology
The Boundary Waters area is near the border of the true boreal forest and the Laurentian Mixed Forest Province (commonly called the "North Woods"), a transitional zone between the boreal forest to the north and the temperate hardwood forest to the south that contains characteristics of each. Trees found within the wilderness area include conifers such as red pine, eastern white pine, jack pine, balsam fir, white spruce, black spruce, and white-cedar, as well as deciduous birch, aspen, ash, and maple. Blueberries and raspberries can be found in cleared areas. The BWCAW is estimated to contain 455,000 acres (1,840 km<sup>2</sup>) of old growth forest, woods that may have burned but have never been logged. Before fire suppression efforts began during the 20th century, forest fires were a natural part of the Boundary Waters ecosystem, with recurrence intervals of 30 to 300 years in most areas.
On July 4, 1999, a powerful wind storm, or derecho, swept across Minnesota, central Ontario, and southern Quebec. Winds as high as 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) knocked down millions of trees, affecting about 370,000 acres (1,500 km<sup>2</sup>) within the BWCAW and injuring 60 people. This event became known officially as the Boundary Waters – Canadian derecho, commonly referred to as "the Boundary Waters blowdown". Although campsites and portages were quickly cleared after the storm, an increased risk of wildfire due to the large number of downed trees became a concern. The U.S. Forest Service undertook a schedule of prescribed burns to reduce the forest fuel load in the event of a wildfire.
The first major wildfire within the blowdown area occurred in August 2005, burning 1,335 acres (5.40 km<sup>2</sup>) between Alpine Lake and Seagull Lake in the northeastern BWCAW. In 2006, two fires at Cavity Lake and Turtle Lake burned more than 30,000 acres (120 km<sup>2</sup>). In May 2007, the Ham Lake Fire started near the location of the Cavity Lake fire, eventually covering 76,000 acres (310 km<sup>2</sup>) in Minnesota and Ontario and becoming the most extensive wildfire in Minnesota in 90 years. In 2011, the Pagami Creek Fire ultimately grew to over 92,000 acres (370 km<sup>2</sup>), spreading beyond the wilderness boundary to threaten homes and businesses. Smoke from the Pagami Creek Fire drifted east and south as far as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Ontario, Chicago, Poland, Ukraine, and Russia. In 2021, it was closed due to wildfire for the first time since the 1970s, as the Greenwood Fire threatened access and spread rapidly to the south of its origin, and other smaller fires were burning within the wilderness.
### Wildlife
Animals found in the BWCAW include deer, moose, beaver, timber wolves, black bears, bobcats, bald eagles, peregrine falcons, and loons. It is within the range of the largest population of wolves in the contiguous United States, as well as an unknown number of Canada lynx. It has also been identified by the American Bird Conservancy as a globally important bird habitat.
Woodland caribou once inhabited the region but have disappeared due to encroachment by deer, and the effects of a brainworm parasite carried by deer which is harmful to both caribou and moose populations. Very rare sightings have been reported in nearby areas as recently as the 1980s.
## Human history
### Native Americans
The north country was inhabited by the Paleo Indian culture circa 8000 BC. Limited artifacts have been found in the BWCAW from that era and the subsequent Archaic period circa 6000 years ago. Artifacts from the Early Woodland Era (circa 1300 years ago) have not been found there, but pottery and clay pipes from the Later Woodland Indians have been found there.
The area was then sparsely populated by the Sioux. Then the Ojibwe arrived and the Sioux migrated westward. The area then became a part of the homeland of the Ojibwe people, who traveled the waterways in canoes made of birch bark. Within the BWCAW are hundreds of prehistoric pictographs and petroglyphs on rock ledges and cliffs. It is thought that the Hegman Lake Pictograph located on a large overlooking rock wall on North Hegman Lake was most likely created by the Ojibwe. The pictograph appears to represent Ojibwe meridian constellations visible in winter during the early evening, knowledge of which may have been useful for navigating in the deep woods during the winter hunting season. The Grand Portage Indian Reservation, just east of the BWCAW at the community of Grand Portage, is home to a number of Ojibwe to this day.
### European exploration and development
In 1688 the French explorer Jacques de Noyon became the first European known to have traveled through the BWCAW area. Later, during the 1730s, La Vérendrye and others opened the region to trade, mainly in beaver pelts. By the end of the 18th century, the fur trade had been organized into groups of canoe-paddling voyageurs working for the competing North West and Hudson's Bay Companies, with a North West Company fort located at the Grand Portage on Lake Superior. The final rendezvous was held at Grand Portage in 1803, after which the North West Company moved its operations further north to Fort William (now Thunder Bay). In 1821 the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company and the center of the fur trade moved even further north to the posts around Hudson Bay.
During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the area's legal and political status was disputed. The Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783, had defined the northern border between the United States and Canada based on the inaccurate Mitchell Map. Ownership of the area between Lake of the Woods and Lake Superior was unclear, with the United States claiming the border was further north at the Kaministiquia River and Canada claiming it was further south beginning at the Saint Louis River. In 1842, the Webster–Ashburton Treaty clarified the border between the United States and Canada using the old trading route running along the Pigeon River and Rainy River (today the BWCAW's northern border).
The BWCAW area remained largely undeveloped until gold, silver and iron were found in the surrounding area during the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s. Logging in the area began around the same time to supply lumber to support the mining industries, with production peaking in the late 1910s and gradually trailing off during the 1920s and 1930s.
### Protection
In 1902, Minnesota's Forest Commissioner Christopher C. Andrews persuaded the state to reserve 500,000 acres (2,000 km<sup>2</sup>) of land near the BWCAW from being sold to loggers. In 1905 he visited the area on a canoe trip and was impressed by the area's natural beauty. He was able to save another 141,000 acres (570 km<sup>2</sup>) from being sold for development. He soon reached out to the Ontario government to encourage them to preserve some of the area's land on their side of the border, noting that the area could be "an international forest reserve and park of very great beauty and interest". This collaboration led to the creation of the Superior National Forest and the Quetico Provincial Park in 1909.
The BWCAW itself was formed gradually through a series of actions. By the early 1920s, roads had begun to be built through the Superior National Forest to promote public access to the area for recreation. In 1926 a section of 640,000 acres (2,600 km<sup>2</sup>) within the Superior National Forest was set aside as a roadless wilderness area by Secretary of Agriculture William Marion Jardine. This area became the nucleus of the BWCAW. In 1930, Congress passed the Shipstead-Newton-Nolan Act, which prohibited logging and dams within the area to preserve its natural water levels. Through additional land purchases and shifts in boundaries, the amount of protected land owned by the government in the area grew even further. In 1938, the area's borders were expanded and altered (roughly matching those of the present day BWCAW), and it was renamed the Superior Roadless Primitive Area.
Additional laws focused on protecting the area's rustic and undeveloped character. In 1948, the Thye-Blatnik Bill authorized the government to purchase the few remaining privately owned homes and resorts within the area. In 1949, President Harry Truman signed Executive Order 10092 which prohibited aircraft from flying over the area below 4,000 feet. The area was officially named the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in 1958. The Wilderness Act of 1964 organized it as a unit of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The 1978 Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act established the Boundary Waters regulations much as they are today, with limitations on motorboats and snowmobiles, a permit-based quota system for recreational access, and restrictions on logging and mining within the area. That same year the Forest Service began referring to it as "BWCAW" to recognize its wilderness character.
### Land use disputes
Some aspects of the BWCAW's management and conservation have been controversial. A 1971 rule limiting visitors to "designated campsites" on heavy-use routes is instituted by the U.S. Forest Service. Cans and glass bottles are prohibited from the Boundary Waters. According to the U.S. Forest Service, the measure is expected to reduce refuse by 360,000 pounds (160 t), saving \$90,000 per year on cleanup.
October 1975, Eighth District Representative James Oberstar (D-MN) introduced a bill that if passed would have established a Boundary Waters Wilderness Area of 625,000 acres (253,000 ha) and a Boundary Waters National Recreation Area (NRA) of 527,000 acres (213,000 ha), permitting logging and mechanized travel in the latter area and removing from wilderness designation a number of large scenic lakes such as La Croix, Basswood, Saganaga, and Seagull. The bill was strongly opposed by environmentalists.
October 21, 1978, Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness Act, U.S. Public Law 95-495, was signed by President Jimmy Carter. The act added 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) to the Boundary Waters, to then encompasses 1,098,057 acres (444,368 ha), and extended greater wilderness protection to the area. The name was changed from the Boundary Waters Canoe Area to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. The Act banned logging, mineral prospecting, and mining, and all but bans snowmobile use (two snowmobile routes remain to access Canada). The act limited motorboat use to about two dozen lakes, limited the size of motors, and regulated the number of motorboats and long established motorized portages. It called for limiting the number of motorized lakes to 16 in 1984, and 14 in 1999, totaling about 24% of the area's water acreage.
1989 Truck portage testing. According to the 1978 BWCAW Act: Nothing in this Act shall be deemed to require the termination of the existing operation of motor vehicles to assist in the transport of boats across the portages from Sucker Lake to Basswood Lake, from Fall Lake to Basswood Lake, and from Lake Vermilion to Trout Lake, during the period ending January 1, 1984. Following said date, unless the Secretary determines that there is no feasible non-motorized means of transporting boats across the portages to reach the lakes previously served by the portages listed above, he shall terminate all such motorized use of each portage listed above.
1989 – U S Forest Service with the University of MN conduct feasibility tests on the three truck portages. It is determined that trucks should remain.
1990 – Friends of the Boundary Waters, Sierra Club and six other environmental groups sue to have trucks removed; CWCS joins the U S Forest Service as intervenors.
1992 – Appeals court sides with U S Forest Service that trucks should remain. Friends of the Boundary Waters and coalition appeal to 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. Trucks are removed from the three truck portages.
1994 – As a result of the Friends of the Boundary Waters lawsuit against the 1992 BWCAW Management Plan, canoe rests, pontoon boats and sailboats are banned from the Boundary Waters.
1999 – As a result of the Friends of the Boundary Waters lawsuit against the 1992 BWCAW Management Plan, the courts redefined the phrase ‘that particular lake’ and exempt permits were eliminated for property owners, resorts and outfitters on the Moose, Farm and Seagull Chain of Lakes.
1999 – Trucks return to two of the three truck portages, Prairie and Trout Lake portages, as a result of Congressman Oberstar including this provision in his 1998 Transportation Bill.
A snowmobile trail located 400 feet (120 m) from the border provoked a lawsuit in 2006. In 2015, a judge ruled that the snowmobile trail did not violate the Wilderness Act.
#### Proposed Twin Metals Mine
It has been known for decades that there are about four billion tons of copper and nickel ore, "one of the world's largest undeveloped mineral deposits", in the Duluth Complex, which underlies part of northeastern Minnesota. Resource companies have proposed mines south and west of the BWCAW upstream of the wilderness and within its watershed, leading to concerns that surface runoff could damage the wilderness. In December 2016 the federal government proposed banning mining for 20 years while the subject was studied. The Trump Administration cancelled the study in September 2018, clearing the way for mining leases in the national forest. The Antofagasta PLC subsidiary Twin Metals Minnesota would operate a proposed mine. In October 2021, the Biden administration filed an application for a "mineral withdrawal" that will put a hold on the development of the mine proposal while the environmental impacts are studied. The completed study could lead to a 20-year ban on mining upstream from the BWCAW.
## Recreation
The BWCAW attracts over 150,000 visitors per year. It contains more than 2,000 backcountry campsites, 1,200 miles (1,900 km) of canoe routes, and 12 different hiking trails and is popular for canoeing, canoe touring, fishing, backpacking, dog sledding, and enjoying the area's remote wilderness character.
Permits are required for all overnight visits to the BWCAW. Quota permits are required for groups taking an overnight paddle, motor, or hiking trip, or a motorized day-use trip into the BWCAW from May 1 through September 30. These permits must be reserved in advance. Day use paddle and hiking permits do not require advance reservation and can be filled out at BWCAW entry points. From October 1 through April 30, permit reservations are not necessary, but a permit must be filled out at the permit stations located at each entry point. Each permit must specify the trip leader, the specific entry point and the day of entry. The permits are for an indefinite length, although visitors are only allowed one entry into the wilderness and cannot stay in one campsite for more than 14 nights.
### Hiking
The BWCAW contains a variety of hiking trails. Shorter hikes include the trail to Eagle Mountain (7 miles (11 km)). Loop trails include the Pow Wow Trail, the Snowbank Trail, and the Sioux-Hustler Trail. The Border Route Trail and Kekekabic Trail are the two longest trails running through the BWCAW. The Border Route Trail runs east–west for over 65 miles (105 km) through the eastern BWCAW, beginning at the northern end of the Superior Hiking Trail and following ridges and cliffs west until it connects with the Kekekabic Trail. The Kekekabic Trail continues for another 41 miles (66 km), beginning near the Gunflint Trail and passing through the center of the BWCAW before exiting it near Snowbank Lake. Both the Border Route and the Kekekabic Trail are part of the longer North Country National Scenic Trail.
### Canoeing
Canoeing or other non-motorized boating is the most popular method of exploring the BWCAW. A 2007 study found more than 94% of overnight visitors used a non-motorized boat to travel through the park. The BWCAW's size and abundance of campsites, lakes, rivers and portage trails allow for almost countless options for different routes. Many online maps and guidebooks offer suggested routes based on entry point, duration and difficulty.
### Fishing
Fishing is a popular activity in the BWCAW. Game species include northern pike, walleye, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, and occasional panfish. Trout including brook trout, lake trout, rainbow trout and splake are also found. White sucker, burbot, and whitefish also occur. Limited stocking of walleye and lake trout is done on some lakes where natural recruitment is limited. The wilderness contains one of the largest concentrations of native lake trout lakes in the lower 48 states.
### Night sky viewing
In 2020 the BWCA became a designated Dark Sky Sanctuary, one of 15 in the world. "It differs from other Dark Sky designations in that sanctuaries are the most remote and often darkest places in the world whose conservation state is 'most fragile'." The U.S. Forest Service had been working towards gaining this status for the BWCAW since 2008. According to the US forest service "This designation confirms what people in the area have enjoyed for thousands of years. Dark skies, starry nights, and astonishing northern lights displays have been part of the experience long before the area was designated wilderness..."
## Notable people associated with the BWCAW
- Benny Ambrose, one of the last two residents of BWCAW
- Justine Kerfoot, local author and renowned outdoorswoman who moved to the Boundary Waters in 1928 and helped establish the Gunflint Lodge.
- Dorothy Molter, known as the "Rootbeer Lady", lived in the BWCAW for 56 years (alone after 1948) until her death in 1986, and was the last resident of the BWCA.
- Ernest Oberholtzer, is recognized today as a leading advocate for the preservation of the Quetico-Superior lake area and what would become the BWCA.
- Sigurd Olson, Minnesota author and conservationist, wrote extensively about the Boundary Waters and worked to ensure preservation of the wilderness. |
43,170,524 | Canberra MRT station | 1,165,952,864 | Mass Rapid Transit station in Singapore | [
"Mass Rapid Transit (Singapore) stations",
"Railway stations in Singapore opened in 2019",
"Sembawang"
]
| Canberra MRT station is an elevated Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the North South line, located along Canberra Link at the junction with Canberra Way in Sembawang, Singapore. It is the second infill station on the MRT network (after Dover MRT station), and the first in Singapore with a platform linked directly to an overhead bridge at the same level. With several green features included in the station during construction, it was also the first MRT station to be awarded Platinum for the Building and Construction Authority's Green Mark for Transit Stations, as a result of the construction team's efforts to integrate landscaping and using eco-friendly materials in the construction of the station.
The station was announced following a successful feasibility study conducted by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) after the idea of a new MRT station between the Sembawang and Yishun MRT stations was raised in the 2013 Land Transport Master Plan. Construction started in April 2015, and it opened on 2 November 2019. The mall opposite the station, Canberra Plaza, opened on 18 December 2020.
## History
### Planning
The North South line, Singapore's first MRT line, opened in stages in 1987. The stations from Yew Tee to Sembawang were later opened in 1996 as part of the Woodlands Extension, with missing station codes NS6 and NS12 reserved for future stations along the line.
Both the Land Transport Master Plan 2013 (launched by then-Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew in October) and the Draft Master Plan 2013 (unveiled by the Urban Redevelopment Authority during a public exhibition in November) mentioned the possible addition of a new MRT station between Sembawang and Yishun stations. After a year of review, the Draft Master Plan 2013 was officially gazetted to become the Master Plan 2014 in June of that year.
Between January 2013 and June 2014, in response to these master plans, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) started feasibility studies for a new station between Sembawang and Yishun stations in tandem with developments in the northern part of Singapore. Minister Lui concluded that the station could be built, and on 1 August that year, Canberra station was officially announced by the LTA.
### Construction
The estimated cost for the entire station was . On 27 April 2015, LTA awarded Contract 158 to China State Construction Engineering Corporation (Singapore Branch) for the design and construction of Canberra Station at a contract sum of S\$90 million (US\$ million).
Heavy construction work began on 26 March 2016, following the fatal Pasir Ris rail accident on 22 March where two SMRT maintenance workers were killed by an incoming train while performing maintenance on the tracks. This tragedy shined a spotlight on the need for safety for all rail operations involving workers working close to an operational line. As a result of the accident, LTA and SMRT implemented several measures to improve safety such as limiting major work to non-service hours, sheltering the tracks with a temporary enclosure during the roof's construction and creating a full-scale mock-up of the station structure and roof to determine the safest method of construction.
By September 2017, the station was 40% complete, with its deep foundation works in place and construction proceeding to the next stage where platform slabs were cast. By May 2018, the station was 55% complete, with most of its roof structure in place. Between 18 and 20 May 2019, a 72-metre long (236 ft) rail crossover track was constructed at the northern end of Canberra station to connect the two tracks. The crossover track was built partly to reduce the impact of future rail disruption, such as the power outage that occurred on 7 July 2015, by allowing trains to switch to the unaffected track using the crossover.
During a visit to the station's construction site on 20 May 2019, Minister for Transport Khaw Boon Wan announced that the station would open on 2 November that year. A day before its opening, the station has an official opening ceremony by Khaw.
## Station details
Canberra station is located in the eastern part of Sembawang, next to the residential town of Yishun and near Sungei Simpang Kiri river. An estimated 17,000 households are expected to benefit from the station. The station takes its name from Canberra Link, the road beside which it is located. This road is named after Canberra, the capital of Australia. The station serves the North South line, and is situated between the Sembawang and Yishun stations. The official station code is NS12.
The station is linked to Canberra Plaza, a three-story shopping mall project by the HDB as part of a mixed-use transit-oriented development, via an elevated sheltered footbridge built across Canberra Link.
DP Architects and KTP Consultants (the latter of which is now a subsidiary of Surbana Jurong) designed the station with a nautical theme; thus, the station is shaped like a ship when viewed from the outside. This design was inspired by Sembawang's historical role as a British naval base. The station's roof is modelled after wind blades to convey the speed of Singapore's public transportation. The sides of the station were constructed using glass rather than concrete to allow natural light to enter. Louvers were installed to provide ventilation. For the construction team's efforts to integrate landscaping and the use of eco-friendly materials, the station was awarded a Platinum certification under the Building and Construction Authority's new Green Mark scheme for transit stations. Canberra station is the first MRT station to attain such a rating.
The artwork in the station, Symbiosis, was painted by Singaporean artist Tan Zi Xi. It aims to emphasise the symbiotic relationship between flora and fauna. Residents and stakeholders from the nearby Sembawang Group Representation Constituency contributed to the artwork by drawing imaginative plants and animals after a workshop that involved a nature walk. Tan developed her drawings further to suit the lively design of the station.
The station has five entrances. Four of these are connected by covered pathways to a pair of bus stops, two passenger drop off and pick-up points and parking for over 500 bicycles. The fifth is a sheltered footbridge built across Canberra Link which allows passengers to bypass the concourse level and access the Marina South Pier-bound (city-bound) platform directly. |
16,156,179 | I Will Possess Your Heart | 1,158,304,317 | null | [
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| "I Will Possess Your Heart" is an alternative rock song recorded by the American band Death Cab for Cutie. The song depicts a one-sided obsessive relationship, which led Paste to name it one of the 25 creepiest songs about love. It is notable for its five-minute instrumental introduction as well as its music video which required location shooting across four continents. The song was the lead single from their sixth studio album, Narrow Stairs (2008).
The music is dominated by a repetitive bass guitar riff interspersed with piano chords and Ben Gibbard's vocals. It was released on March 18, 2008 in two versions: a full eight-minute album version, and a four-minute radio edit that omitted most of the instrumental introduction. The song was critically acclaimed and nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.
The music video, released on April 11, 2008, features scenes of a young woman traveling alone to various places around the world, interspersed with the band performing in an industrial freezer room. The shoot involved the actress, director, and a crew of two traveling 27,977 miles in 13 days, and was shot on consumer-grade camcorders to achieve a sense of total realism and so that the film crew would blend in as tourists. The video won the 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing and was nominated for the Best Cinematography award.
## Writing and composition
The song's lyrics depict a one-sided obsessive relationship from the point of view of the pursuer, who implores the object of his affection that she needs to "spend some time" with him so that he might "possess [her] heart." Songwriter and lead vocalist Ben Gibbard noted that, although fictional, the song was inspired by the experiences of some of his friends. He added:
> The song is basically about a stalker. It’s about this nice guy who wants this girl he can’t have, and he believes they’ll be together once she realizes how great he is—he just has to wait it out. That’s the part that makes the song really creepy, the delusion of thinking that they were meant to be together. It’s a really dark song. A lot of the material is about the inevitable disappointment people feel as they move through life, and things don’t feel the way they expect. No experience will ever match up to the idealized version in your mind.
The song is written in the key of D, but the main motif continually switches modes from major to minor as the chord goes from D to F with a moderate tempo of 134 beats per minute. The music is dominated by a distinctive 4-bar bass guitar riff that is repeated through nearly all of the song. This is interspersed with piano chords that generally follow a D–D/C–F–G progression. The lead vocals have a range of D3–G4. The instrumentation also includes multiple guitar parts, drums, and backup vocals. Gibbard characterized the song as "five minutes of build and then a three-minute song", referring to the lengthy instrumental introduction that takes up more than half the song. Like the other songs on Narrow Stairs, it was recorded with all band members playing together in the studio, directly to tape without any overdubs.
Gibbard credited Nick Harmer's bass line with being integral to the song, noting inspiration from bassists Eric Avery and Simon Gallup. Harmer said of the bass line, "I immediately gravitated to the creepy, stalker-ish theme that Ben created with the lyrics and the piano chords.... I liked the idea that once a stalker gets obsessed with an idea, it just keeps repeating in his head, so I wanted the bass line to have a repetitive, incessant theme."
The song was released on March 18, 2008, initially as a "surprise stream" on the band's website, and soon after was picked up by radio stations. It was released in two versions: the album version of the song is over eight minutes long, while the radio edit largely removes the instrumental introduction, shortening the song to four minutes.
## Reception
The song received acclaim from critics. James Montgomery of MTV News said of the song, "there are moments on Stairs that stop you dead in your tracks, send shivers up your spine and make you go 'Whoa'... like the first four-and-a-half minutes of 'I Will Possess Your Heart,' a propulsive whirl of stalking bass line, spindly guitars and stabbing piano." Will Hermes noted in Rolling Stone that the sense of menace in the song was "playing against type for a guy with one of rock's purest voices—a vibrato-less, bell-clear high tenor whose choirboy quality only throws the darkness here into relief." Blender's Jonah Weiner concurred, stating "it's a pleasant surprise to hear Gibbard inhabit such a self-consciously creepy role, rather than play the occasionally errant, essentially good-hearted boyfriend who soft-shoes through so many of his tales." In 2011, Tyler Kane of Paste included the song in a list of "the 25 creepiest songs about love".
"I Will Possess Your Heart" was named the iTunes UK song of the year 2008 and was ranked \#36 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2008 in Australia. The song was nominated for the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song, but lost to "Girls in Their Summer Clothes" by Bruce Springsteen.
## Music video
### Synopsis
The music video features scenes of a young woman traveling alone to various places around the world, interspersed with the band performing in an industrial freezer room. Throughout her journey, the woman keeps a neutral expression and barely reacts to the sights around her. The video was shot in New York City, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Hokkaido, Tunis, Carthage, Bangkok, Siem Reap, and Phnom Penh.
### Filming
Aaron Stewart-Ahn was selected to direct the video based on his previous work directing the video for Death Cab For Cutie's "Stable Song", as well as work documenting the band's live performances. Stewart-Ahn said that the theme of travel had been inspired by Death Cab for Cutie's earlier song "Transatlanticism", as well as his own extensive experience traveling solo, adding that "I’ve always felt that travel is a defining human experience that changes you forever, and hope that this depiction of wanderlust, obsessiveness, repetition, and loneliness conveys some of that.” He also said "The idea is that the band is performing in an incredibly cold environment while this woman is traveling around the world, moving toward progressively warmer climes. The farther she gets from the song's obsessive protagonist, the more her world opens up, and the less reliable his memories of her become."
The shoot involved the actress, director, and a crew of two traveling 27,977 miles in 13 days. The young woman was portrayed by Lindsay Burdge, who would years later become known for lead roles in several independent films such as A Teacher and The Sideways Light. On his directing, Stewart-Ahn said "The goal was absolute realism; nothing was staged." Much of the film was shot on camcorder, including a Panasonic AG-HVX200 and a consumer-grade Canon HV30, so as to blend in by looking like tourists. He noted that the trip to Hokkaido was taken on a whim, and during the trip the team realized that daylight would be gone by the time they would reach their intended destination, so they exited the train at Asari and took what would become the final shot of the video there.
Stewart-Ahn selected Shawn Kim to direct the shots of the band, and although they never met in person they established visual motifs to unite their respective parts of the video. The scenes of the band were shot in a food storage facility in Los Angeles at temperatures below 12 °F. Unlike Stewart-Ahn's section of the video, Kim used a professional Arriflex 435 camera and Panavision E-Series lenses, which he felt added to the coldness of the image. The two sets used were at different temperatures, and since bringing the large anamorphic lenses from a colder to a warmer temperature would result in condensation, a separate set of lenses needed to be used for each set.
### Release and reception
The music video for "I Will Possess Your Heart" was released on MTV.com and VH1.com on April 11, 2008, and immediately added to those channels' rotations. Two versions of the video were released, a full-length version running 8:31 which features the album version of the song, and a shorter 4:22 version which features the radio edit, omitting most of the instrumental introduction. The video won the 2008 MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing for editors Aaron Stewart-Ahn and Jeff Buchanan. It was also nominated for the Best Cinematography award, but lost to Wyatt Troll for The White Stripes’ "Conquest".
## Track listing
US CD:
1. "I Will Possess Your Heart" (7" edit)
2. "I Will Possess Your Heart" (10" edit)
3. "I Will Possess Your Heart" (album version)
US 7" vinyl:
1. "I Will Possess Your Heart" (radio edit)
2. "The Ice Is Getting Thinner" (demo)
## Credits and personnel
- Words by Benjamin Gibbard
- Song by Benjamin Gibbard, Nicholas Harmer, Jason McGerr, and Christopher Walla
- Produced by Christopher Walla
- Recorded by Christopher Walla and Will Markwell at Two Sticks Audio, Seattle, Washington
- Mixed by Christopher Walla at The Alberta Court, Portland, Oregon
- Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE Mastering, Phoenix, Arizona
- Artwork and layout by EE Storey
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications |
335,195 | Stephen Colbert | 1,173,227,445 | American comedian and TV host (born 1964) | [
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| Stephen Tyrone Colbert (/koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014 and the CBS talk program The Late Show with Stephen Colbert since September 2015.
Colbert originally studied to be a dramatic actor, but became interested in improvisational theater while attending Northwestern University, where he met Second City director Del Close. Colbert first performed professionally as an understudy for Steve Carell at Second City Chicago, where his troupemates included Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris, comedians with whom he developed the sketch comedy series Exit 57. He wrote and performed on The Dana Carvey Show before collaborating with Sedaris and Dinello again on the television series Strangers with Candy. He gained attention for his role on the latter as closeted gay history teacher Chuck Noblet.
Colbert's work as a correspondent on Comedy Central's news-parody series The Daily Show gained him wide recognition. In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show's news-parody concept, The Colbert Report was a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows including The O'Reilly Factor, in which he portrayed a caricatured version of conservative political pundits, earning Colbert an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in 2006, which he did in character. This event led to the series becoming one of Comedy Central's highest-rated series. After ending The Colbert Report, he was hired in 2015 to succeed retiring David Letterman as host of the Late Show on CBS. He hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2017.
Colbert has won nine Primetime Emmy Awards, two Grammy Awards, and three Peabody Awards. Colbert was named one of Time's 100 Most Influential People in 2006 and 2012. His book I Am America (And So Can You!) was listed No. 1 on The New York Times Best Seller list in 2007.
## Early life
Colbert was born in Washington, D.C., the youngest of eleven children in a Catholic family. He spent his early years in Bethesda, Maryland. He grew up in the Charleston suburb of James Island, South Carolina. Colbert and his siblings, in descending order by age, are James III, Edward, Mary, William, Margo, Thomas, Jay, Elizabeth, Paul, Peter, and Stephen. His father, James William Colbert Jr., was an immunologist and medical school dean at Yale University, Saint Louis University, and finally at the Medical University of South Carolina, where, from 1969, he served as the school's first vice president of academic affairs. Stephen's mother, Lorna Elizabeth Colbert (née Tuck), was a homemaker.
In interviews, Colbert has described his parents as devout people who also strongly valued intellectualism, and taught their children it was possible to question the church, and still be Catholic. In an interview, Lorna has described Stephen as rambunctious. As a child, he observed that Southerners were often depicted as being less intelligent than other characters on scripted television; to avoid that stereotype, he taught himself to imitate the speech of American news anchors.
While Colbert sometimes comedically claims his surname is French, he is of 15/16ths Irish ancestry; one of his paternal great-great-grandmothers was of German and English descent. Many of his ancestors emigrated from Ireland to North America in the 19th century before and during the Great Famine. Originally, his surname was pronounced /ˈkoʊlbərt/ KOHL-bərt in English; Stephen Colbert's father, James, wanted to pronounce the name /koʊlˈbɛər/ kohl-BAIR, but maintained the pronunciation out of respect for his own father. He offered his children the option to pronounce the name whichever way they preferred. Stephen started using later in life when he transferred to Northwestern University, taking advantage of the opportunity to reinvent himself in a new place where no one knew him. Stephen's brother Edward, an intellectual property attorney, retained ; this was shown in a February 12, 2009, appearance on The Colbert Report, when his second oldest brother asked him, " or ?" Ed responded "", to which Stephen jokingly replied, "See you in Hell".
On September 11, 1974, when Colbert was ten years old, his father and his two brothers nearest in age, Peter and Paul, died in the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 while it was attempting to land in Charlotte, North Carolina. They were en route to enroll the two boys at Canterbury School in New Milford, Connecticut. He has discussed the impact on him and his philosophy of grief and suffering. Lorna Colbert relocated the family from James Island to the George Chisolm House, in downtown Charleston and ran the carriage house as a bed and breakfast. Colbert found the transition difficult and did not easily make friends in his new neighborhood. Colbert later described himself during this time as detached, lacking a sense of importance regarding the things with which other children concerned themselves.
He developed a love of science fiction and fantasy novels, especially the works of J. R. R. Tolkien, of which he remains an avid fan. During his adolescence, he also developed an intense interest in fantasy role-playing games, especially Dungeons & Dragons, a pastime which he later characterized as an early experience in acting and improvisation.
Colbert attended Charleston's Episcopal Porter-Gaud School, where he participated in several school plays and contributed to the school newspaper but was not highly motivated academically. During his adolescence, he briefly fronted A Shot in the Dark, a Rolling Stones cover band. When he was younger, he had hoped to study marine biology, but surgery intended to repair a severely perforated eardrum caused him inner ear damage severe enough to preclude a career involving scuba diving, and leaving him deaf in his right ear.
For a while, he was uncertain whether he would attend college, but ultimately he applied and was accepted to Hampden–Sydney College in Virginia, where a friend had also enrolled. Arriving in 1982, he majored in philosophy and continued to participate in plays. He found the curriculum rigorous, but was more focused than he had been in high school and was able to apply himself to his studies. Despite the lack of a significant theater community at Hampden–Sydney, Colbert's interest in acting escalated during this time. After two years, he transferred in 1984 to Northwestern University as a theater major to study performance, emboldened by the realization that he loved performing, even when no one was coming to shows. He graduated from Northwestern's School of Communication in 1986.
## Early career in comedy
While at Northwestern, Colbert studied with the intent of becoming a dramatic actor; mostly he performed in experimental plays and was uninterested in comedy. He began performing improvisation while in college, both in the campus improv team No Fun Mud Piranhas and at the Annoyance Theatre in Chicago as a part of Del Close's ImprovOlympic at a time when the project was focused on competitive, long-form improvisation, rather than improvisational comedy. "I wasn't gonna do Second City", Colbert later recalled, "because those Annoyance people looked down on Second City because they thought it wasn't pure improv – there was a slightly snobby, mystical quality to the Annoyance people". After Colbert graduated in 1986, however, he was in need of a job. A friend who was employed at Second City's box office offered him work answering phones and selling souvenirs. Colbert accepted and discovered that Second City employees were entitled to take classes at their training center free of charge. Despite his earlier aversion to the comedy group, he signed up for improvisation classes and enjoyed the experience greatly.
Shortly thereafter, he was hired to perform with Second City's touring company, initially as an understudy for Steve Carell. It was there he met Amy Sedaris and Paul Dinello, with whom he often collaborated later in his career. By their retelling, the three comedians did not get along at first – Dinello thought Colbert was uptight, pretentious and cold, while Colbert thought of Dinello as "an illiterate thug" – but the trio became close friends while touring together, discovering that they shared a similar comic sensibility.
When Sedaris and Dinello were offered the opportunity to create a television series for HBO Downtown Productions, Colbert left Second City and relocated to New York to work with them on the sketch comedy show Exit 57. The series debuted on Comedy Central in 1995 and aired through 1996. Although it lasted only 12 episodes, the show received favorable reviews and was nominated for five CableACE Awards in 1995, in categories including best writing, performance, and comedy series.
## Television career
### The Dana Carvey Show (1996)
Following the cancelation of Exit 57, Colbert worked for six months as a cast member and writer on The Dana Carvey Show, alongside former Second City castmate Steve Carell, and also Robert Smigel, Charlie Kaufman, Louis C.K., and Dino Stamatopoulos, among others. The series, described by one reviewer as "kamikaze satire" in "borderline-questionable taste", had sponsors pull out after its first episode aired and was canceled after seven episodes. Colbert then worked briefly as a freelance writer for Saturday Night Live with Robert Smigel. Smigel brought his animated sketch, The Ambiguously Gay Duo, to SNL from The Dana Carvey Show; Colbert provided the voice of Ace on both series, opposite Steve Carell as Gary. Needing money, he also worked as a script consultant for VH1 and MTV, before taking a job filming humorous correspondent segments for Good Morning America. Only two of the segments he proposed were ever produced and only one aired, but the job led his agent to refer him to The Daily Show's producer, Madeline Smithberg, who hired Colbert on a trial basis in 1997.
### Strangers with Candy (1999–2000)
During the same period, Colbert worked again with Sedaris and Dinello to develop a new comedy series for Comedy Central, Strangers with Candy. Comedy Central picked up the series in 1998 after Colbert had already begun working on The Daily Show. As a result, he accepted a reduced role, filming only around 20 Daily Show segments a year while he worked on the new series.
Strangers with Candy was conceived of as a parody of after school specials, following the life of Jerri Blank, a 46-year-old dropout who returns to finish high school after 32 years of life on the street. Most noted by critics for its use of offensive humor, it concluded each episode by delivering to the audience a skewed, politically incorrect moral lesson. Colbert served as a main writer alongside Sedaris and Dinello, and portrayed Jerri's strict but uninformed history teacher, Chuck Noblet, seen throughout the series dispensing inaccurate information to his classes. Colbert has likened this to the character he played on The Daily Show and later The Colbert Report, claiming that he has a very specific niche in portraying "poorly informed, high-status idiot" characters. Another running joke throughout the series was that Noblet, a closeted homosexual, was having a "secret" affair with fellow teacher Geoffrey Jellineck, despite the fact that their relationship was apparent to everyone around them. This obliviousness also appears in Colbert's Daily Show and Colbert Report character.
Thirty episodes of Strangers with Candy were made, which aired on Comedy Central in 1999 and 2000. Though its ratings were not remarkable during its initial run, it has been characterized as a cult show with a small but dedicated audience. Colbert reprised his role for a film adaptation which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and had a limited release in 2006. The film received mixed reviews. Colbert also co-wrote the screenplay with Sedaris and Dinello.
### The Daily Show (1997–2005)
Colbert joined the cast of Comedy Central's parody-news series The Daily Show in 1997, when the show was in its second season. Originally one of four correspondents who filmed segments from remote locations in the style of network news field reporters, Colbert was referred to as "the new guy" on-air for his first two years on the show, during which time Craig Kilborn served as host. When Kilborn left the show prior to the 1999 season, Jon Stewart took over hosting duties, also serving as a writer and co-executive producer. From this point, the series gradually began to take on a more political tone and increase in popularity, particularly in the latter part of the 2000 U.S. presidential election season. The roles of the show's correspondents were expanded to include more in-studio segments and international reports, which were almost always done in the studio with the aid of a greenscreen.
Unlike Stewart, who essentially hosted The Daily Show as himself, Colbert developed a correspondent character for his pieces on the series that was a parody of conservative political pundits such as Bill O'Reilly. Colbert has described his correspondent character as "a well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot" and "a fool who has spent a lot of his life playing not the fool – one who is able to cover it at least well enough to deal with the subjects that he deals with". Colbert was frequently pitted against knowledgeable interview subjects, or against Stewart in scripted exchanges, with the resultant dialogue demonstrating the character's lack of knowledge of whatever subject he is discussing. Colbert also made generous use of humorous fallacies of logic in explaining his point of view on any topic. Other Daily Show correspondents have adopted a similar style; former correspondent Rob Corddry recalls that when he and Ed Helms first joined the show's cast in 2002, they "just imitated Stephen Colbert for a year or two". Correspondent Aasif Mandvi has stated "I just decided I was going to do my best Stephen Colbert impression".
Colbert appeared in several recurring segments for The Daily Show, including "Even Stevphen" with Steve Carell, in which both characters were expected to debate a selected topic but instead would unleash their anger at one another. Colbert commonly hosted "This Week in God", a report on topics in the news pertaining to religion, presented with the help of the "God Machine". Colbert filed reports from the floor of the Democratic National Convention and the Republican National Convention as a part of The Daily Show's award-winning coverage of the 2000 and 2004 U.S. presidential elections; many from the latter were included as part of their The Daily Show: Indecision 2004 DVD release. Other pieces that have been named as his signature segments include "Grouse Hunting in Shropshire", in which he reported on the "gayness" of British aristocracy, his mock lionization of a smoking-rights activist and apparent chain-smoker, and his cameo appearances during his faux campaign for president. In several episodes of The Daily Show, Colbert filled in as anchor in the absence of Jon Stewart, including the full week of March 3, 2002, when Stewart was scheduled to host Saturday Night Live. After Colbert left the show, Rob Corddry took over "This Week in God" segments, although a recorded sample of Colbert's voice was still used as the sound effect for the God Machine. Later episodes of The Daily Show have reused older Colbert segments under the label "Klassic Kolbert". Colbert won three Emmys as a writer of The Daily Show in 2004, 2005, and 2006.
### The Colbert Report (2005–2014)
Colbert hosted his own television show, The Colbert Report, from October 17, 2005, through December 18, 2014. The Colbert Report was a Daily Show spin-off that parodied the conventions of television news broadcasting, particularly cable-personality political talk shows like The O'Reilly Factor, Hannity, and Glenn Beck. Colbert hosted the show in-character as a blustery right-wing pundit, generally considered to be an extension of his character on The Daily Show. Conceived by co-creators Stewart, Colbert, and Ben Karlin in part as an opportunity to explore "the character-driven news", the series focused less on the day-to-day news style of the Daily Show, instead frequently concentrating on the foibles of the host-character himself.
The concept for The Report was first seen in a series of Daily Show segments which advertised the then-fictional series as a joke. It was later developed by Stewart's Busboy Productions and pitched to Comedy Central, which green-lighted the program; Comedy Central had already been searching for a way to extend the successful Daily Show franchise beyond a half-hour. The series opened to strong ratings, averaging 1.2 million viewers nightly during its first week on the air. Comedy Central signed a long-term contract for The Colbert Report within its first month on the air, when it immediately established itself among the network's highest-rated shows.
Much of Colbert's personal life was reflected in his character on The Colbert Report. With the extended exposure of the character on the show, he often referenced his interest in and knowledge of Catholicism, science fiction, and The Lord of the Rings, as well as using real facts to create his character's history. His alternate persona was also raised in South Carolina, is the youngest of 11 siblings and is married. However, Colbert's actual career history in acting and comedy was often downplayed or even denied outright, and he frequently referred to having attended Dartmouth College (which was at the forefront of the conservative campus movement in the 1980s) rather than his actual alma mater, Northwestern. In July 2012, Colbert added two years to his contract with Comedy Central, extending the run of The Colbert Report until the end of 2014.
The final episode on December 18, 2014, featured a rendition of "We'll Meet Again" and appearances from former guests of the show, including Jon Stewart, Randy Newman, Bryan Cranston, Willie Nelson, Yo-Yo Ma, Mandy Patinkin, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Tom Brokaw, David Gregory, J. J. Abrams, Big Bird, Gloria Steinem, Ken Burns, James Franco, Barry Manilow, Bob Costas, Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston, Bill de Blasio, Katie Couric, Patrick Stewart, George Lucas, Henry Kissinger, Cookie Monster, Alan Alda, Eliot Spitzer, Vince Gilligan, Paul Krugman, and a text from Bill Clinton, and appearances by Alex Trebek, U.S. and coalition Afghanistan forces, and further characters (a space station astronaut, Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln, etc.).
### The Late Show (since 2015)
On April 10, 2014, CBS announced in a press release that Colbert "will succeed David Letterman as the host of The Late Show, effective when Mr. Letterman retires from the broadcast." On January 12, 2015, CBS announced that Colbert would premiere as the Late Show host on Tuesday, September 8, 2015. The first guest of the new Late Show was George Clooney. The show has a much more political focus than David Letterman's Late Show.
During his tenure as the host of The Late Show, Colbert hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards, broadcast on CBS on September 17, 2017. More recently, he and his Spartina Productions company had signed a deal with CBS Studios, through which programs such as Tooning Out the News and Fairview are produced. Colbert is also an executive producer on Comedy Central's Tha God's Honest Truth.
## Politics
Although, by his own account, he was not particularly political before joining the cast of The Daily Show, Colbert has described himself as a Democrat according to a 2004 interview. In an interview at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard Institute of Politics, he said he has "no problems with Republicans, just Republican policies". During the 2016 election, Colbert was critical of democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, describing her as someone who has "been around for a long time, but actually represents [...] what you would think of as the common systemic corruption of Washington, D.C." adding "I think people's hesitancy about Hillary Clinton is completely reasonable. [...] I can imagine that Trump might be the only person she could beat because she's not a great candidate. And she's got a lot of flaws and a lot of baggage that she can't shake off, however historic or even prepared for the job she is in this case."
Colbert supports the implementation of the Medicare for All plan introduced by Bernie Sanders, considering it "a sensible fix to Obamacare". When asked about his views on abortion, Colbert positioned himself as pro-choice. On the intersection of faith and politics, Colbert has pointed out that his views are in line with those of Cesar Chávez. Colbert has been critical of Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians. During the 2023 writers strike he showed his support to the writers, saying: "I'm a member of the guild. I support collective bargaining. This nation owes so much to unions." In May, 2023, Colbert was permanently banned from entering Russia alongside 500 other Americans, due to being “involved in the spread of Russophobic attitudes and fakes.” These bans were made in response to U.S. imposed sanctions on the country.
### 2006 White House Correspondents' Dinner
On Saturday, April 29, 2006, Colbert was the featured entertainer for the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. Standing a few yards from U.S. President George W. Bush – in front of an audience the Associated Press called a "Who's Who of power and celebrity" – Colbert delivered a searing routine targeting the president and the media. In his politically conservative character from The Colbert Report, Colbert satirized the George W. Bush Administration and the White House Press Corps with such lines as:
> I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound – with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.
Colbert received a chilly response from the audience. His jokes were often met with silence and muttering, apart from the enthusiastic laughter of a few in the audience. The major media outlets paid little attention to it initially. Washington Post columnist Dan Froomkin and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism professor Todd Gitlin claimed that this was because Colbert's routine was as critical of the media as it was of Bush. Richard Cohen, also writing for The Washington Post, responded that the routine was not funny. The video of Colbert's performance became an internet and media sensation, while in the week following the speech, ratings for The Colbert Report rose by 37% to average just under 1.5 million total viewers per episode. In Time magazine, James Poniewozik called it "the political-cultural touchstone issue of 2006". Writing six months later, New York Times columnist Frank Rich referred to Colbert's speech as a "cultural primary" and called it the "defining moment" of the 2006 midterm elections.
### 2008 presidential bid
Under his fictional persona in The Colbert Report, Colbert dropped hints of a potential presidential run throughout 2007, with speculation intensifying following the release of his book, I Am America (And So Can You!), which was rumored to be a sign that he was indeed testing the waters for a future bid for the White House. On October 16, 2007, he announced his candidacy on his show, stating his intention to run on both the Republican and Democratic platforms, but only as a "favorite son" in his native South Carolina. He later abandoned plans to run as a Republican due to the \$35,000 fee required to file for the South Carolina primary; however, he continued to seek a place on the Democratic ballot and on October 28, 2007, campaigned in the South Carolina state capital of Columbia, where he was presented with the key to the city by Mayor Bob Coble.
After announcing his presidential ticket, he asked his viewers to cast their votes by donating to Donorschoose.org, an online charity connecting individuals to classrooms in need. Colbert's promotion inspired \$68,000 in donations to South Carolina classrooms, which benefited over 14,000 low-income students. Colbert teamed up with Donorschoose.org again in 2008 by asking supporters of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton to do the same. As a lead-up to the Pennsylvania primary, he created a "straw poll that makes a difference" by which people could donate to Pennsylvania classroom projects in honor of their favorite candidate. Colbert viewers donated \$185,000 to projects reaching 43,000 students in Pennsylvania public schools.
On November 1, 2007, the South Carolina Democratic Party executive council voted 13–3 to refuse Colbert's application onto the ballot. "The general sense of the council was that he wasn't a serious candidate and that was why he wasn't selected to be on the ballot", stated John Werner, the party's director. Several days later he announced that he was dropping out of the race, saying he did not wish to put the country through an agonizing Supreme Court battle (referencing the 2000 election, wherein a tight recount in Florida was settled in a landmark Supreme Court decision). CNN has reported that Obama supporters pressured the South Carolina Democratic Executive Council to keep Colbert off the ballot. One anonymous member of the council told CNN that former State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum had placed pressure on them to refuse Colbert's application despite his steady rise in polls.
Though Colbert's real-life presidential campaign had ended, Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Joe Quesada established in an interview on The Colbert Report that Colbert's campaign was still going strong in the fictional Marvel Universe, citing the cover art of a then-recent issue of The Amazing Spider-Man which featured a Colbert campaign billboard in the background. Background appearances of Colbert campaign ads continued to appear in Marvel Comics publications, as late as August 2008's Secret Invasion No. 5 (which also features a cameo of an alien Skrull posing as Colbert). In October 2008, Colbert made an extended 8-page appearance webslinging with Spider-Man in The Amazing Spider-Man issue No. 573. Colbert voiced the president of the U.S. in the 2009 film Monsters vs. Aliens.
### 2009 solidarity with U.S. troops in Iraq War
Colbert arrived in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 5, 2009, to film a week of shows called "Operation Iraqi Stephen: Going Commando" sponsored by the USO (United Service Organizations). Colbert had a suit tailored for him in the Army Combat Uniform pattern. During the first episode (which featured a cameo appearance from U.S. president Barack Obama), Colbert had his hair cropped in a military style to show his solidarity with the troops. One Army major said that "shaving of the hair is an amazing show of support" that was "very touching." USO Senior Vice President John Hanson said the shows are an important diversion for the troops.
### 2010 Congressional testimony
On September 24, 2010, Colbert testified in character before the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, and Border Security. He was invited by committee chairwoman Zoe Lofgren to describe his experience participating in the United Farm Workers' "Take Our Jobs" program, where he spent a day working alongside migrant workers in upstate New York. At the end of his often-humorous testimony, Colbert broke character in responding to a question from Rep. Judy Chu, D-CA, and explained his purpose for being at the hearing:
> I like talking about people who don't have any power, and this seems like one of the least powerful people in the United States are migrant workers who come and do our work, but don't have any rights as a result. And yet we still invite them to come here and at the same time ask them to leave. And that's an interesting contradiction to me. And, you know, 'Whatsoever you do for the least of my brothers,' and these seem like the least of our brothers right now ... Migrant workers suffer and have no rights.
Democratic committee member John Conyers questioned whether it was appropriate for the comedian to appear before Congress and asked him to leave the hearing. Though Colbert offered to depart at the direction of the committee chairwoman, Lofgren requested that he stay at least until all opening testimony had been completed, whereupon Conyers withdrew his request.
Conservative pundits took aim at Colbert's Congress testimony not long after.
> 'Painfully awkward and pointless, it made the committee's majority members look ridiculous. Colbert can be very funny, but his kind of sarcasm only works in some contexts, and a House committee hearing room does not appear to be one of them.' – Yuval Levin, The Corner
>
> 'As John Conyers notes, the media and spectators turned out to see whether Colbert would address the panel seriously as an expert on immigration and make the panel a joke, or stay in character and make the panel a bigger joke,' – Ed Morrissey, Hot Air.
### 2010 Washington, D.C. rallies
In September 2010, following Glenn Beck's Restoring Honor rally, a campaign developed that called for Colbert to hold his own rally at the Lincoln Memorial. On the September 10, 2010, episode of the Daily Show and The Colbert Report, Stewart and Colbert made preannouncements of a future event. On September 16, 2010, Stewart and Colbert announced competing rallies on the Washington, D.C., Mall on October 30, 2010, Stewart's "Rally to Restore Sanity", and Colbert's "March to Keep Fear Alive". Both were eventually merged into the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.
### 2011 Political Super PAC
In May 2011, Colbert filed a request with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) asking for a media exemption for coverage of his political action committee, ColbertPAC, on The Colbert Report.
In June 2011, during a public meeting, the FEC voted 5–1 to grant The Colbert Report a limited media exemption. The exemption allows unlimited donations of airtime and show resources to promote the Colbert Super PAC without requiring disclosure to the FEC, but only for ads appearing on The Colbert Report. Following the hearing, Colbert formally filed paperwork for the creation of his Super PAC with the FEC secretary.
### 2012 South Carolina GOP primary
After the 2012 New Hampshire primary, a poll for the subsequent South Carolina primary taken by Public Policy Polling (of 1,112 likely GOP voters, Jan 5–7, 2012) was reported to place Colbert at 5%, one point ahead of Jon Huntsman polling at 4%, in spite of the fact that Colbert was not on the ballot. This poll showed Colbert to be closely behind Rick Perry's 7% and Ron Paul's 8% (with Romney at 27%, Gingrich 23% and Santorum at 18%). On the January 11 episode of The Colbert Report, Colbert asked his audience if he should run for president in South Carolina, to which he received strong applause. He then stated that he would be making a "Major Announcement" during the next day's show. On January 12, Colbert started his show by discussing his role in the presidential campaign, then addressed the law preventing him from being a presidential candidate while running his Super PAC. With the help of his lawyer Trevor Potter, he then signed over control of his Super PAC to Jon Stewart, with the organization title then being referred to as "The Definitely Not Coordinating With Stephen Colbert Super PAC". Immediately after this legal block was out of the way, Colbert announced, "I am forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the President of the United States of South Carolina. I'm doin' it!" He reiterated in the interview portion of that show that "I'm still in the exploratory phase" of his presidential campaign.
On the January 16, 2012, episode, Colbert satirically encouraged his viewers to vote for Herman Cain in the South Carolina primary. As Cain was still on the ballot, despite having recently dropped out of the race, Colbert announced that he would consider any votes cast for Cain to be in direct support of his own possible candidacy.
## Other work
Colbert is co-author of the satirical text-and-picture novel Wigfield: The Can Do Town That Just May Not, which was published in 2003 by Hyperion Books. The novel was a collaboration between Colbert, Amy Sedaris, and Paul Dinello, and tells the story of a small town threatened by the impending destruction of a massive dam. The narrative is presented as a series of fictional interviews with the town's residents, accompanied by photos. The three authors toured performing an adaptation of Wigfield on stage the same year the book was released.
Colbert appeared in a small supporting role in the 2005 film adaptation of Bewitched. He has made guest appearances on the television series Curb Your Enthusiasm, Spin City, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and on the first season of the US improvisational comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He voiced the characters of Reducto and Phil Ken Sebben in the Adult Swim's Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, but left the show in 2005 to work on The Colbert Report. His characters were both killed, though he returned to voice Phil for the series finale. Colbert also has provided voices for Cartoon Network's The Venture Bros., Comedy Central's Crank Yankers, and American Dad!, and for Canadian animated comedy series The Wrong Coast. He appeared as Homer Simpson's life coach, Colby Krause, in The Simpsons episode "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs".
Colbert filled in for Sam Seder on the second episode of The Majority Report on Air America Radio, and has also done reports for The Al Franken Show. He appeared on a track on Wig in a Box, a tribute album for Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Colbert read the part of Leopold Bloom in Bloomsday on Broadway XXIV: Love Literature Language Lust: Leopold's Women Bloom on June 16, 2005, at Symphony Space in New York City. He appeared in a series of TV commercials for General Motors, as a not-too-bright investigator searching for the elusive (and non-existent in real life) "Mr. Goodwrench". He also portrayed the letter Z in Sesame Street: All-Star Alphabet, a 2005 video release.
Colbert is a producer of The 1 Second Film, the world's largest nonprofit collaborative art film. His video request that IMDb list his credit for The 1 Second Film ("it is as valid as most of my credits") enabled thousands of the film's producers to be listed in the massive movie database until they were removed in early 2007.
Colbert has released one book associated with The Colbert Report, I Am America (And So Can You!). It was released on October 7, 2007, by Grand Central Publishing. Grand Central Publishing is the successor to Warner Books, which published America (The Book), written by The Daily Show staff. The book contains similar political satire, but was written primarily by Colbert himself rather than as a collaboration with his Colbert Report writing staff.
On November 23, 2008, his Christmas special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!, aired on Comedy Central. It was released on DVD in November 2008.
In January 2010, Colbert was named the assistant sports psychologist for the US Olympic speed skating team at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was also invited to be part of NBC's 2010 Winter Olympics coverage team by Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports. In April 2011, Colbert performed as Harry in the concert-style revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical Company, presented by the New York Philharmonic at the Lincoln Center. The show, featuring Neil Patrick Harris in the starring role, ran for four nights and was filmed for later showings in movie theaters, which began June 15. In May 2011, Colbert joined the Charleston to Bermuda Race yachting race, as captain of the ship "the Spirit of Juno". He finished second, five miles behind leaders "Tucana".
Since 2012, Colbert has collaborated with the Montclair Film Festival, of which his wife is a founder and current president of its board. Every year since its foundation, Colbert has participated by hosting an annual fundraising event and leading Q&As and conversations with directors, writers, journalists, and actors such as: Jon Stewart, Rob Reiner, Steve Carell, J. J. Abrams, David Itzkoff, Ethan Hawke, Rachel Weisz, and Meryl Streep. He is also part of the Montclair Film advisory board.
After the resignation of South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint to run Heritage Foundation, Colbert was named a possible candidate for appointment to the seat being vacated by DeMint, which would have triggered a special election in 2014 to finish out DeMint's term. Although Governor Nikki Haley announced promptly that she had no intention to nominate Colbert to the Senate, a poll showed Colbert as a favorite among South Carolina voters.
Colbert guest-hosted Only in Monroe, a public access television show in Monroe, Michigan, for an episode that aired July 1, 2015. He interviewed the program's regular hosts, and also the rapper Eminem (whom he pretended never to have heard of), and put a humorous slant on the local news and community calendar.
On July 17, 2016, Colbert hijacked the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, while dressed as Caesar Flickerman from The Hunger Games series. After he was taken down from the stage, he commented, "Look, I know I am not supposed to be up here but let's be honest, neither is Donald Trump." Colbert also dressed as Flickerman on his show, prior to the stunt, to announce the candidates who had ended their runs in the 2016 election.
Aside from hosting his talk shows, Colbert has gone on to host other types of shows. Since 2014, Colbert has hosted the Kennedy Center Honors for three consecutive years. In 2017, Colbert hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 2018 it was reported that Showtime was developing Hello Nancy, a biopic based on the nonfiction book On Her Trail, My Mother, Nancy Dickerson, TV News' First Woman Star by John Dickerson, with Colbert and his wife Evelyn serving as executive producers. The couple also served as executive producers for In & Of Itself, a film version of Derek DelGaudio's off-Broadway show of the same name.
In 2018, Stephen Colbert used a fake children's book Whose Boat is this Boat?, incorporating unedited quotes from President Trump during his tour of North Carolina after Hurricane Florence, as a joke against Trump and raised over \$1 million for relief funds.
On August 30, 2023, Colbert began hosting the comedy podcast Strike Force Five with Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel, and John Oliver to support their staff members out of work due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
## Influences
Colbert has said his comedy influences include: Don Novello, Phil Silvers, Alec Guinness, Bill Cosby, George Carlin, Dean Martin, Jon Stewart, Monty Python, Steve Martin, and David Letterman. In 2017, Colbert said due to the sexual assault allegations made against Cosby, he can no longer listen to his comedy.
Colbert has also cited Jim Gaffigan, Maria Bamford, Joe Pera, John Mulaney, and Eric Andre, as some of his favorite contemporary comedians.
Among comedians who say they were influenced by Colbert are Nathan Fielder, James Corden, Mindy Kaling, Hasan Minhaj, Jordan Klepper, Ziwe Fumudoh, Sara Benincasa, John Mulaney, Derrick Beckles, Julie Klausner, and Billy Eichner.
## Personal life
Colbert is a practicing Roman Catholic and used to teach Sunday school. He is an ordained minister with the Universal Life Church Monastery. Colbert is an avid reader and his favorite authors include: J.R.R. Tolkien, J.D. Salinger, Robertson Davies, George Saunders, Larry Niven, Henry Kuttner, and Isaac Asimov.
Colbert has been married to Evelyn "Evie" McGee-Colbert since 1993. She is the daughter of prominent Charleston civil litigator Joseph McGee, of the firm Buist Moore Smythe McGee. His wife appeared with him in an episode of Strangers with Candy as his mother. She also had an uncredited cameo as a nurse in the series pilot and a credited one (as his wife Clair) in the film. McGee-Colbert actually met Jon Stewart before she met her future husband in 1990. They met at the world premiere of Hydrogen Jukebox at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston. Colbert later described the first moment he met Evie as being a love at first sight encounter; however, moments after they met, they both realized they had grown up together in Charleston and had many mutual friends. The couple have three children, and live in Montclair, New Jersey.
During his college and Second City years, Colbert suffered from bouts of depression and anxiety, for which he had to be medicated. In a 2018 interview, Colbert told Rolling Stone:
> I needed to be medicated when I was younger to deal with my anxiety that I had thrown my life away by attempting to do something that so few people actually get away with, or succeed at ... Xanax was just lovely. Y'know, for a while. And then I realized that the gears were still smoking. I just couldn't hear them anymore. But I could feel them, I could feel the gearbox heating up and smoke pouring out of me ... I stopped the Xanax after, like, nine days. I went, 'This isn't helping.' So I just suffered through it. I'd sometimes hold the bottle, to go like, 'I could stop this feeling if I wanted, but I'm not going to. Because I know if I stop the feeling, somehow I'm not working through it, like I have got to go through the tunnel with the spiders in it.'
>
>
>
> And then one morning I woke up and my skin wasn't on fire, and it took me a while to figure out what it was. I wake up the next morning, I'm perfectly fine, to the point where my body's still humming. I'm a bell that's been rung so hard that I can still feel myself vibrating. But the actual sound was gone [because] I was starting rehearsal that day to create a new show. And then I went, 'Oh, my God, I can never stop performing.' Creating something is what helped me from just spinning apart like an unweighted flywheel. And I haven't stopped since.
Colbert used the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator during a segment of The Late Show, which identified him as an INFP.
## Awards and honors
In 2000, Colbert and the other Daily Show writers were the recipients of three Emmy Awards as writers for The Daily Show and again in 2005 and 2006. In 2005 he was nominated for a Satellite Award for his performance on The Colbert Report and again in 2006. He was also nominated for three Emmys for The Colbert Report in 2006, including Best Performance in a Variety, Musical Program or Special, which he lost to Barry Manilow. Manilow and Colbert would go on to jokingly sign and notarize a revolving biannual custody agreement for the Emmy on The Colbert Report episode aired on October 30, 2006. He lost the same category to Tony Bennett in 2007 and Don Rickles in 2008.
In January 2006, the American Dialect Society named truthiness, which Colbert coined on the premiere episode of The Colbert Report, as its 2005 Word of the Year. Colbert devoted time on five successive episodes to bemoaning the failure of the Associated Press to mention his role in popularizing the word truthiness in its news coverage of the Word of the Year. On December 9, 2006, Merriam-Webster also announced that it selected truthiness as its Word of the Year for 2006. Votes were accepted on their website, and according to poll results, "truthiness" won by a five-to-one margin.
In June 2006, after speaking at the school's commencement ceremony, Colbert received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree from Knox College. Time named Stephen Colbert as one of the 100 most influential people in 2006 and 2012 and in May 2006, New York magazine listed Colbert (and Jon Stewart) as one of its top dozen influential persons in media. Colbert was named Person of the Year by the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado on March 3, 2007, and was also given the Speaker of the Year Award by The Cross Examination Debate Association (CEDA) on March 24, 2007, for his "drive to expose the rhetorical shortcomings of contemporary political discourse".
Colbert was named the 2nd Sexiest TV News Anchor in September 2006 by Maxim, next to Mélissa Theuriau of France and was the only man featured on the list. In November 2006, he was named a "sexy surprise" by People in the Sexiest Man Alive honors and in the December 2006 issue of GQ he was named one of GQ's "Men of the Year". In 2012, he was listed as No. 69 on Maxim Magazine's Hot 100, becoming the first man to be included on the list.
Colbert has received three Peabody Awards, in 2007, 2011, and 2020. He was nominated for five TCA Awards for The Colbert Report by the Television Critics Association.
After the Saginaw Spirit defeated the Oshawa Generals in Ontario Junior League Hockey, Oshawa Mayor John Gray declared March 20, 2007 (the mayor's own birthday), Stephen Colbert Day, honoring a previous bet with Stephen. At the event, Mayor Gray referred to the publicity the bet brought the city, remarking, "This is the way to lose a bet".
Colbert was honored for the Gutsiest Move on the Spike TV Guys' Choice Awards on June 13, 2007, for his performance at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner. In August 2007, Virgin America named an airplane, "Air Colbert", in his honor. On October 28, 2007, Colbert received the key to the city of Columbia, South Carolina, from Mayor Bob Coble.
On December 20, 2007, Colbert was named Celebrity of the Year by The Associated Press. On April 2, 2008, he received a Peabody Award for The Colbert Report, saying in response, "I proudly accept this award and begrudgingly forgive the Peabody Committee for taking three years to recognize greatness".
In 2008, Colbert won the Emmy Award for writing again, this time as a writer for The Colbert Report. Colbert delivered the Class Day address to the graduating class of Princeton University on June 2, 2008, and accepted the Class of 2008 Understandable Vanity Award, consisting of a sketch of Colbert and a mirror. He also has been announced as the Person of the Year for the 12th annual Webby Awards.
In January 2010, Colbert received the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for his album A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All!. He also announced the nominees for Song of the Year while toting a pre-released Apple iPad. Colbert was the 2011 commencement speaker for Northwestern University, and received an honorary degree. In 2013, Colbert again won the Emmy award for writing for The Colbert Report. In 2014, Colbert won the 2014 Best Spoken Word Album for his audiobook America Again: Re-becoming The Greatness We Never Weren't.
In January 2013, Rolling Stone placed him at number 2 in their "The 50 Funniest People Now" list. In December 2014, Paste named his Twitter one of "The 75 Best Twitter Accounts of 2014" ranking it at number 7. Colbert received an honorary degree from Wake Forest University as the 2015 commencement speaker.
In 2015, Colbert was awarded the third highest honor within the Department of the Army Civilian Awards, the Outstanding Civilian Service Award, for substantial contributions to the U.S. Army community.
In 2017 and 2018, Colbert was named one of "The 35 Most Powerful People in New York Media" by The Hollywood Reporter. He was chosen as one of GQ's "Men of the Year" for its December 2017 issue. Colbert was placed at number 32 in Vanity Fair's "2018 New Establishment List". Other placements in earlier lists include number 40 in 2017 and number 28 in 2011.
In May 2021, Colbert received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Yale University.
### Ben & Jerry's AmeriCone Dream ice cream
In February 2007, Ben & Jerry's unveiled a new ice cream flavor in honor of Colbert, named Stephen Colbert's AmeriCone Dream. Colbert waited until Easter to sample the ice cream because he "gave up sweets for Lent". Colbert donated all proceeds to charity through the new Stephen Colbert AmeriCone Dream Fund, which distributes the money to various causes.
### Species named in honor
At least five species have been given scientific names honoring Colbert. In 2008 a species of California trapdoor spider was named Aptostichus stephencolberti. The spider was named for Colbert after he reported on his television series that Jason Bond, a professor of biology at East Carolina University, had named a different species of spider Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi after the Canadian rock star Neil Young, and began to appeal for a species of animal to be named after him. On a later edition of The Colbert Report, Colbert revealed that Bond would name a spider after him, with Colbert claiming, "And all I had to do was shamelessly beg on national television." Other species named for Colbert include a species of Venezuelan diving beetle named Agaporomorphus colberti and a Chilean stonefly named Diamphipnoa colberti, both formally described in 2008. On his 45th birthday, Colbert was sent a framed print of his eponymous beetle by the biologists who named it. In 2014, a species of parasitic wasp from Ecuador, Aleiodes colberti, was named for Colbert, along with newly described species named for celebrities Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Ellen DeGeneres, and Shakira, and in 2016 a rove beetle, Sonoma colberti, was named after Colbert's on-screen persona.
### COLBERT Treadmill
In 2009, NASA engineered a new treadmill for the International Space Station. It was taken to the ISS by the Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-128 mission in August 2009. The complex machine is now used eight hours daily by astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the space station in order to maintain their muscle mass and bone density while spending long periods of time in a zero-gravity environment. While engineers at NASA were constructing this treadmill, it was simply called T-2 for more than two years. However, on April 14, 2009, NASA renamed it the "Combined Operational Load-Bearing External Resistance Treadmill", or COLBERT. NASA named the treadmill after Colbert, who took an interest during the Node 3 naming census for the ISS module, Tranquility.
Colbert urged his followers to post the name "Colbert", which upon completion of the census received the most entries totaling 230,539, some 40,000 votes more than the second-place choice, Serenity. The COLBERT is expected to last the life of the ISS and will have seen about 38,000 miles of running when the Space Station is retired in 2024 or later, but it was also built with a 150,000-mile lifespan (if needed until 2028 or beyond). Colbert realized he was the recipient of an extremely rare honor—the COLBERT (a backronym) is the only piece of NASA-engineered equipment in space that is named after a living human being—when astronaut Sunita Williams came on The Colbert Report to announce that NASA had named the treadmill after him.
## Filmography
### Film
### Television
### Video games
### Theatre
## See also
- New Yorkers in journalism
- Political satire |
418,997 | Coming of Age (Star Trek: The Next Generation) | 1,163,109,161 | null | [
"1988 American television episodes",
"Star Trek: The Next Generation (season 1) episodes"
]
| "Coming of Age" is the nineteenth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. It first aired in broadcast syndication on March 14, 1988. Sandy Fries originally wrote the episode, but Hannah Louise Shearer performed an uncredited re-write. It is the only episode of the series directed by Mike Vejar, who went on to direct episodes of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise.
Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet crew of the Federation starship Enterprise-D. In the episode, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) takes a Starfleet Academy entrance exam while Adm. Gregory Quinn (Ward Costello) and Lt. Cdr. Dexter Remmick (Robert Schenkkan) investigate the senior staff of the Enterprise.
The episode marked the first appearance of a shuttlecraft in the series and the first speaking role for a Vulcan. The events of the episode continued in "Conspiracy" and "Samaritan Snare". 10.1 million viewers watched the episode during the first broadcast, with mixed responses from critics.
## Plot
Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) greets his friend Admiral Gregory Quinn (Ward Costello) and his assistant Lt. Commander Dexter Remmick (Robert Schenkkan) aboard the Enterprise. For classified reasons, Quinn has ordered Remmick to perform an investigation of the Enterprise and its crew and expects Picard to fully co-operate. Remmick's inquiry causes tension in the crew, particularly when he questions the trustworthiness of the senior staff based on their personal logs and past actions. A young cadet, having failed the Starfleet Academy entrance examination, attempts to run away in a shuttlecraft but ends up drifting. Picard is able to direct the cadet to pilot the shuttle away from a planet by bouncing off the atmosphere.
The investigation is completed, and Remmick informs both Picard and Quinn that there is no sign of wrongdoing, and expresses his interest in joining its crew in the future. Quinn tells Picard that he feels there is an unknown force that has infiltrated Starfleet, and he was seeking to assure himself of his trust in Picard and the Enterprise crew. To help combat this threat, Quinn offers Picard a promotion to Admiral and a job overseeing Starfleet Academy which would place Picard near Quinn at all times. Picard mulls the offer for some time, but eventually declines.
Meanwhile, Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) prepares to take the Academy entrance exam himself. He succeeds in passing several parts of the exam, and helps Mordock (John Putch), a highly talented Benzite and fellow competitor, to solve a difficult test problem so that they may both advance. Wesley is worried about the psychological part of the exam, and he is directed to a room to wait for the test to start.
While waiting, he hears an explosion nearby, and leaves the room to investigate. He finds two men trapped by fallen components in a fire-engulfed room. Wesley helps to release one man wounded under a heavy pipe, and tries to coax the other man to leave the burning room, but the man is frozen with fear. Wesley is forced to abandon him and drags the other man to safety. Outside the room, he discovers the explosion was fake and this was the psychological test: to see whether he could make a difficult decision in circumstances reminiscent of those that killed his father. (Rescuing either man would pass the test.)
Eventually, the cadets are told of the results, and Mordock is granted admission into Starfleet Academy, while Wesley is encouraged to try again next year. Mordock thanks Wesley for his help and wishes him future success. After Wesley returns to the Enterprise, Picard confides in him that he also failed the examination the first time.
## Production
Although Mike Vejar directed only this single episode of The Next Generation, he later directed several episodes of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise. Hannah Louise Shearer conducted an uncredited script re-write and left the details of the conspiracy deliberately open as plans were already underway for a follow-up story. "Coming of Age" featured several firsts for The Next Generation, including the first appearance of a shuttlecraft in the series and the first appearance of a Vulcan in a speaking role within the series.
Only a quarter of the shuttlecraft set was built for "Coming of Age" with the set expanded gradually according to the scene requirements in season two. Due to construction errors with the full-scale model, it failed to match the miniature. A smaller shuttlepod with a new shuttle design was later used, first appearing in "Darmok". Several previous episodes are referenced during Remmick's investigation, including "Where No One Has Gone Before", "The Battle", "Angel One" and "Justice". In a scene cut from the episode, the crew celebrate Wesley's 16th birthday early on the presumption that he would be away on the day, due to joining the Academy.
Guest stars included Robert Schenkkan as Remmick, who had been a fan of The Original Series. Robert Ito had previously been a main cast member on Quincy, M.E.. Guest stars Daniel Riordan and John Putch later appeared in the franchise in different roles. Riordan appeared as a Bajoran in the Deep Space Nine episode "Progress". Putch returned as a different Benzite later in The Next Generation episode "A Matter of Honor" and in the film Star Trek Generations. The events of the episode are followed up in "Conspiracy" which also features the return of Costello and Schenkkan as Quinn and Remmick. Wesley would re-take his Starfleet Academy exam in "Samaritan Snare".
## Reception
The episode first aired on March 14, 1988. It received Nielsen ratings of 10.1 million on the first broadcast, which was an increase of over a million viewers from the previous episode "Home Soil", which was watched by 9 million viewers some three weeks prior. The following week's episode, "Heart of Glory", was watched by 10.7 million viewers.
Several reviewers re-watched the episode after the end of the series. Writing for Tor.com, Keith DeCandido questioned why the shuttle bay was not guarded, comparing it to a similar situation in The Original Series episode, "The Doomsday Machine". He also felt that the sequence where the shuttle is bounced off an atmosphere resembled the "Premiere" episode of Farscape. DeCandido said that the exam made no sense, did not present any genuine suspense for the viewer because it was obvious that Wesley and Picard were not due to leave the series. Despite Remmick representing "the ultimate cliché of the jackass interrogator", DeCandido liked the episode. He credited the strong performance by the cast and called Wheaton's performance the best of the first season. DeCandido gave the episode a score of five out of ten. Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club, thought the episode was like "getting a two-parter with no 'To Be Continued...' in the end credits" and felt the episode was "clunky". He felt that the Wesley storyline was clichéd, and that having two unconnected storylines would never have happened in The Original Series. Handlen gave the episode a grade of C.
James Hunt of Den of Geek said that it was a "very good episode" despite being "Wesley-heavy". He recommended that readers watch the episode and described the Remmick interviews and the shuttlecraft sequence as "fantastic". Michelle Erica Green, writing for TrekNation, described the episode as "craptastic" and Wesley as "intolerable". She said that knowing about the "insane" alien parasite conspiracy in "Conspiracy" ahead of time made her look negatively on the episode.
## Home media release
"Coming of Age" was first released on VHS cassette in the United States and Canada on November 11, 1992. The episode was included on the Star Trek: The Next Generation season one DVD box set, released in March 2002. The season one Blu-ray set was released on July 24, 2012. |
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| Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945.
A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, Göring was a recipient of the Pour le Mérite ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG I), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. An early member of the Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934.
Following the establishment of the Nazi state, Göring amassed power and political capital to become the second most powerful man in Germany. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. Upon being named Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan in 1936, Göring was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sectors of the economy for war, an assignment which brought numerous government agencies under his control. In September 1939, Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag designating him as his successor. After the Fall of France in 1940, he was bestowed the specially created rank of Reichsmarschall, which gave him seniority over all officers in Germany's armed forces.
By 1941, Göring was at the peak of his power and influence. As the Second World War progressed, Göring's standing with Hitler and with the German public declined after the Luftwaffe proved incapable of preventing the Allied bombing of Germany's cities and resupplying surrounded Axis forces in Stalingrad. Around that time, Göring increasingly withdrew from military and political affairs to devote his attention to collecting property and artwork, much of which was stolen from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting his permission to assume leadership of the Reich. Considering his request an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest. After the war, Göring was convicted of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He was sentenced to death by hanging but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide hours before the sentence was to be carried out.
## Early life and education
Göring was born on 12 January 1893 at the Marienbad Sanatorium in Rosenheim, Bavaria. His father, Heinrich Ernst Göring (31 October 1839 – 7 December 1913), a former cavalry officer, had been the first governor-general of German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia). Heinrich had three children from a previous marriage. Göring was the fourth of five children by Heinrich's second wife, Franziska Tiefenbrunn (1859–15 July 1943), a Bavarian peasant. Göring's elder siblings were Karl, Olga, and Paula; his younger brother was Albert. At the time that Göring was born, his father was serving as consul general in Haiti, and his mother had returned home briefly to give birth. She left the six-week-old baby with a friend in Bavaria and did not see the child again for three years, when she and Heinrich returned to Germany.
Göring's godfather was Hermann Epenstein [Wikidata], a wealthy Jewish physician and businessman his father had met in Africa. Epenstein provided the Göring family, who were surviving on Heinrich's pension, first with a family home in Berlin-Friedenau, and then a small castle called Veldenstein, near Nuremberg. Göring's mother became Epenstein's mistress around this time, and remained so for some fifteen years. Epenstein acquired the minor title of Ritter (knight) von Epenstein through service and donations to the Crown.
Interested in a career as a soldier from a very early age, Göring enjoyed playing with toy soldiers and dressing up in a Boer uniform his father had given him. He was sent to boarding school at age eleven, where the food was poor and discipline was harsh. He sold a violin to pay for his train ticket home, and then took to his bed, feigning illness, until he was told he would not have to return. He continued to enjoy war games, pretending to lay siege to the castle Veldenstein and studying Teutonic legends and sagas. He became a mountain climber, scaling peaks in Germany, at the Mont Blanc massif, and in the Austrian Alps. At age 16, he was sent to a military academy at Berlin Lichterfelde, from which he graduated with distinction.
Göring joined the Prince Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry, Garrison: Mülhausen) of the Prussian Army in 1912. The next year his mother had a falling-out with Epenstein. The family was forced to leave Veldenstein and moved to Munich; Göring's father died shortly afterwards. It was in Bavaria where Göring developed his "romantic sense of Germanness" that further evolved under National Socialism. When World War I began in August 1914, Göring was stationed at Mülhausen with his regiment.
## World War I
During the first year of World War I, Göring served with his infantry regiment in the area of Mülhausen, a garrison town less than 2 km from the French frontier. He was hospitalized with rheumatism, a result of the damp of trench warfare. While he was recovering, his friend Bruno Loerzer convinced him to transfer to what would become, by October 1916, the Luftstreitkräfte () of the German army, but his request was turned down. Later that year, Göring flew as Loerzer's observer in Feldflieger Abteilung 25 (FFA 25); Göring had informally transferred himself. He was discovered and sentenced to three weeks' confinement to barracks, but the sentence was never carried out. By the time it was supposed to be imposed, Göring's association with Loerzer had been made official. They were assigned as a team to FFA 25 in the Crown Prince's Fifth Army. They flew reconnaissance and bombing missions, for which the Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the Iron Cross, first class.
After completing the pilot's training course, Göring was assigned to Jagdstaffel 5. Seriously wounded in the hip in aerial combat, he took nearly a year to recover. He then was transferred to Jagdstaffel 26, commanded by Loerzer, in February 1917. He steadily scored air victories until May, when he was assigned to command Jagdstaffel 27. Serving with Jastas 5, 26 and 27, he continued to win victories. In addition to his Iron Crosses (1st and 2nd Class), he received the Zähringer Lion with swords, the Friedrich Order, the House Order of Hohenzollern with swords third class, and finally, in May 1918, the coveted Pour le Mérite. According to Hermann Dahlmann, who knew both men, Göring had Loerzer lobby for the award. He finished the war with 22 victories. A thorough post-war examination of Allied loss records showed that only two of his awarded victories were doubtful. Three were possible and 17 were certain, or highly likely.
On 7 July 1918, following the death of Wilhelm Reinhard, successor to Manfred von Richthofen, Göring was made commander of the "Flying Circus", Jagdgeschwader 1. His arrogance made him unpopular with the men of his squadron.
In the last days of the war, Göring was repeatedly ordered to withdraw his squadron, first to Tellancourt airdrome, then to Darmstadt. At one point, he was ordered to surrender the aircraft to the Allies; he refused. Many of his pilots intentionally crash-landed their planes to keep them from falling into enemy hands.
Like many other German veterans, Göring was a proponent of the stab-in-the-back myth, the belief which held that the German Army had not really lost the war, but instead was betrayed by the civilian leadership: Marxists, Jews, and especially the republicans, who had overthrown the German monarchy. Atop the frustration of military defeat, Göring also experienced the personal disappointment of being snubbed by his fiancée's upper-class family, who broke off the engagement when he returned penniless from the front.
## After World War I
Göring remained in aviation after the war. He tried barnstorming and briefly worked at Fokker. After spending most of 1919 living in Denmark, he moved to Sweden and joined Svensk Lufttrafik, a Swedish airline. Göring was often hired for private flights. During the winter of 1920–1921, he was hired by Count Eric von Rosen to fly him to his castle from Stockholm. Invited to spend the night, Göring may at this time have first seen the swastika emblem, which Rosen had set in the chimney piece as a family badge.
This was also the first time that Göring saw his future wife; the count introduced his sister-in-law, Baroness Carin von Kantzow (née Freiin von Fock). Estranged from her husband of 10 years, she had an eight-year-old son. Göring was immediately infatuated and asked her to meet him in Stockholm. They arranged a visit at the home of her parents and spent much time together through 1921, when Göring left to study political science at the University of Munich. Carin obtained a divorce, followed Göring to Munich, and married him on 3 February 1922. Their first home together was a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps, near Bayrischzell, some 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Munich. After Göring met Adolf Hitler and joined the Nazi Party in 1922, they moved to Obermenzing [de], a suburb of Munich.
## Early Nazi career
Göring joined the Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing a speech by Hitler. He was given command of the Sturmabteilung (SA) as the Oberster SA-Führer in 1923. He was later appointed an SA-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant general) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. At this time, Carin—who liked Hitler—often played hostess to meetings of leading Nazis, including her husband, Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Alfred Rosenberg, and Ernst Röhm. Hitler later recalled his early association with Göring:
> I liked him. I made him the head of my SA. He is the only one of its heads that ran the SA properly. I gave him a dishevelled rabble. In a very short time he had organised a division of 11,000 men.
Hitler and the Nazi Party held mass meetings and rallies in Munich and elsewhere during the early 1920s, attempting to gain supporters in a bid for political power. Inspired by Benito Mussolini's March on Rome, the Nazis attempted to seize power on 8–9 November 1923 in a failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch. Göring, who was with Hitler leading the march to the War Ministry, was shot in the groin. Fourteen Nazis and four policemen were killed; many top Nazis, including Hitler, were arrested. With Carin's help, Göring was smuggled to Innsbruck, where he received surgery and was given morphine for the pain. He remained in hospital until 24 December. This was the beginning of his morphine addiction, which lasted until his imprisonment at Nuremberg. Meanwhile, the authorities in Munich declared Göring a wanted man. The Görings—acutely short of funds and reliant on the good will of Nazi sympathizers abroad—moved from Austria to Venice. In May 1924 they visited Rome, via Florence and Siena. Sometime in 1924, Göring met Mussolini through his contacts with members of Italy's Fascist Party; Mussolini had also expressed an interest in meeting Hitler, who was by then in prison. Hitler penned his infamous tome Mein Kampf while incarcerated, before being released in December 1924.
Meanwhile, personal problems continued to multiply for Göring. By 1925, Carin's mother was ill. The Görings—with difficulty—raised the money in the spring of 1925 for a journey to Sweden via Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Danzig (now Gdańsk). Göring had become a violent morphine addict; Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration. Carin, who was ill with epilepsy and a weak heart, had to allow the doctors to take charge of Göring; her son was taken by his father. Göring was certified a dangerous drug addict and was placed in Långbro Asylum on 1 September 1925. He was violent to the point where he had to be confined in a straitjacket, but his psychiatrist felt he was sane; the condition was caused solely by the morphine. Weaned off the drug, he left the facility briefly, but had to return for further treatment. He returned to Germany when an amnesty was declared in 1927 and resumed working in the aircraft industry. Carin Göring, ill with epilepsy and tuberculosis, died of heart failure on 17 October 1931.
Meanwhile, the Nazi Party was in a period of rebuilding and waiting. The economy had recovered, which meant fewer opportunities for the Nazis to agitate. The SA was reorganised, but with Franz Pfeffer von Salomon as its head rather than Göring, and the Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded in 1925, initially as a bodyguard for Hitler. Membership in the party increased from 27,000 in 1925 to 108,000 in 1928 and 178,000 in 1929. In the May 1928 elections the Nazi Party only obtained 12 seats out of an available 491 in the Reichstag. Göring was elected as a representative from Bavaria. Having secured a seat in the Reichstag, Göring gained a more prominent place in the Nazi movement, since Hitler saw him as a public relations officer for Nazism in this capacity. Göring continued to be elected to the Reichstag in all subsequent elections during the Weimar and Nazi regimes. Electoral success also afforded Göring with access to powerful sympathizers to the Nazi cause, such as Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia and the conservative-minded businessmen, Fritz Thyssen and Hjalmar Schacht. The Great Depression led to a disastrous downturn in the German economy, and in the 1930 election, the Nazi Party won 6,409,600 votes and 107 seats. In May 1931, Hitler sent Göring on a mission to the Vatican, where he met the future Pope Pius XII.
In the July 1932 election, the Nazis won 230 seats to become far and away the largest party in the Reichstag. By longstanding tradition, the Nazis were thus entitled to select the President of the Reichstag, and elected Göring to the post. He would retain this position until 23 April 1945.
## Reichstag fire
The Reichstag fire occurred on the night of 27 February 1933. Göring was one of the first to arrive on the scene. Marinus van der Lubbe, a Communist radical, was arrested and claimed sole responsibility for the fire. Göring immediately called for a crackdown on Communists.
The Nazis took advantage of the fire to advance their own political aims. The Reichstag Fire Decree, passed the next day on Hitler's urging, suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. Activities of the German Communist Party were suppressed, and some 4,000 Party members were arrested. Göring demanded that the prisoners should be shot, but Rudolf Diels, head of the Prussian political police, ignored the order. Some researchers, including William L. Shirer and Alan Bullock, are of the opinion that the Nazi Party itself was responsible for starting the fire.
At the Nuremberg trials, General Franz Halder testified that Göring admitted responsibility for starting the fire. He said that, at a luncheon held on Hitler's birthday in 1942, Göring said, "The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set it on fire!" In his own Nuremberg testimony, Göring denied this story.
## Second marriage
During the early 1930s, Göring was often in the company of Emmy Sonnemann, an actress from Hamburg. They were married on 10 April 1935, in Berlin. The wedding was celebrated on a huge scale. A large reception was held the night before at the Berlin Opera House. Fighter aircraft flew overhead on the night of the reception and the day of the ceremony, at which Hitler was best man. Göring's daughter, Edda, was born on 2 June 1938.
## Nazi potentate
When Hitler was named chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Göring was appointed as Reichsminister without portfolio and Reichskommissar of Aviation. This was followed on 11 April 1933 by his appointment as Minister-President of Prussia, Prussian interior minister and chief of the Prussian police. On 25 April 1933, Hitler also delegated his powers as Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Prussia to Göring. On 18 May 1933, Göring secured passage of an enabling act through the Landtag of Prussia that conferred all legislative powers on the cabinet. Utilizing this authority, on 8 July 1933 Göring enacted a law abolishing the Prussian State Council, the second chamber of the Prussian legislature that represented the interests of the Prussian provinces. In its place, he created a revised non-legislative Prussian State Council to serve merely as a body of advisors to him. Göring would serve as President of the Council. It would consist, ex officio, of the Prussian cabinet ministers and state secretaries, as well as hand-picked Nazi Party officials and other industry and society leaders selected solely by Göring. In October 1933, Göring was made a member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law at its inaugural meeting. In July 1934, he was appointed Reichforstmeister, with the rank of a Reichsminister, as the head of the newly created Reich Forestry Office.
Wilhelm Frick, the Reich interior minister, and the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler, hoped to create a unified police force for all of Germany, but Göring on 26 April 1933 established a special Prussian police force, with Rudolf Diels at its head. The force was called the Geheime Staatspolizei (), or Gestapo. Göring, thinking that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the SA, handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. By this time, the SA numbered over two million men.
Hitler was deeply concerned that Ernst Röhm, the chief of the SA, was planning a coup. Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich plotted with Göring to use the Gestapo and SS to crush the SA. Members of the SA got wind of the proposed action and thousands of them took to the streets in violent demonstrations on the night of 29 June 1934. Enraged, Hitler ordered the arrest of the SA leadership. Röhm was shot dead in his cell when he refused to commit suicide; Göring personally went over the lists of prisoners—numbering in the thousands—and determined who else should be shot. At least 85 people were killed in the period of 30 June to 2 July, which is now known as the Night of the Long Knives. Hitler admitted in the Reichstag on 13 July that the killings had been entirely illegal, but claimed a plot had been under way to overthrow the Reich. A retroactive law was passed making the action legal. Any criticism was met with arrests.
One of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which had been in place since the end of World War I, stated that Germany was not allowed to maintain an air force. After the 1928 signing of the Kellogg–Briand Pact, police aircraft were permitted. Göring was appointed Air Traffic Minister in May 1933. Germany began to accumulate aircraft in violation of the Treaty, and in 1935 the existence of the Luftwaffe was formally acknowledged, with Göring as Reich Aviation Minister.
During a cabinet meeting in September 1936, Göring and Hitler announced that the German rearmament programme must be sped up. On 18 October, Hitler named Göring as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan to undertake this task. Göring created a new organisation to administer the Plan and drew the ministries of labour and agriculture under its umbrella. He bypassed the Economics Ministry in his policy-making decisions, to the chagrin of Hjalmar Schacht, the minister in charge. Huge expenditures were made on rearmament, in spite of growing deficits. Schacht resigned on 26 November 1937, and Göring took over the Economics Ministry on an interim basis until January 1938. He then managed to install Walther Funk in the position, who also took control of the Reichsbank when Schacht was forced out of that post as well in January 1939. In this way, both of these institutions effectively were brought under Göring's control under the auspices of the Four Year Plan. In July 1937, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring was established under state ownership – though led by Göring – with the aim of boosting steel production beyond the level which private enterprise could economically provide.
In 1938, Göring was involved in the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair, which led to the resignations of the War Minister, Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg, and the army commander, General Werner von Fritsch. Göring had acted as witness at Blomberg's wedding to Margarethe Gruhn, a 26-year-old typist, on 12 January 1938. Information received from the police showed that the young bride was a prostitute. Göring felt obligated to tell Hitler, but also saw this event as an opportunity to dispose of Blomberg. Blomberg was forced to resign. Göring did not want Fritsch to be appointed to that position and thus be his superior. Several days later, Heydrich revealed a file on Fritsch that contained allegations of homosexual activity and blackmail. The charges were later proven to be false, but Fritsch had lost Hitler's trust and was forced to resign. Hitler used the dismissals as an opportunity to reshuffle the leadership of the military. Göring asked for the post of War Minister, but was turned down; he was appointed to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall. Hitler took over as supreme commander of the armed forces and created subordinate posts to head the three main branches of service.
As minister in charge of the Four Year Plan, Göring became concerned with the lack of natural resources in Germany, and began pushing for Austria to be incorporated into the Reich. The province of Styria had rich iron ore deposits, and the country as a whole was home to many skilled labourers that would also be useful. Hitler had always been in favour of a takeover of Austria, his native country. He met the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg on 12 February 1938, threatening invasion if peaceful unification was not forthcoming. The Nazi Party was made legal in Austria to gain a power base, and a referendum on reunification was scheduled for March. When Hitler did not approve of the wording of the plebiscite, Göring telephoned Schuschnigg and Austrian head of state Wilhelm Miklas to demand Schuschnigg's resignation, threatening invasion by German troops and civil unrest by the Austrian Nazi Party members. Schuschnigg resigned on 11 March and the plebiscite was cancelled. By 5:30 the next morning, German troops that had been massing on the border marched into Austria, meeting no resistance.
Although Joachim von Ribbentrop had been named Foreign Minister in February 1938, Göring continued to involve himself in foreign affairs. That July, he contacted the British government with the idea that he should make an official visit to discuss Germany's intentions for Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain was in favour of a meeting, and there was talk of a pact being signed between Britain and Germany. In February 1938, Göring visited Warsaw to quell rumours about the upcoming invasion of Poland. He had conversations with the Hungarian government that summer as well, discussing their potential role in an invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the Nuremberg Rally that September, Göring and other speakers denounced the Czechs as an inferior race that must be conquered. Chamberlain and Hitler had a series of meetings that led to the signing of the Munich Agreement (29 September 1938), which turned over control of the Sudetenland to Germany. In March 1939, Göring threatened Czechoslovak president Emil Hácha with the bombing of Prague. Hácha then agreed to sign a communique accepting the German occupation of the remainder of Bohemia and Moravia.
Although many in the party disliked him, before the war Göring enjoyed widespread personal popularity among the German public because of his perceived sociability, colour and humour. As the Nazi leader most responsible for economic matters, he presented himself as a champion of national interests over allegedly corrupt big business and the old German elite. The Nazi press was on Göring's side. Other leaders, such as Hess and Ribbentrop, were envious of his popularity. In Britain and the United States, some viewed Göring as more acceptable than the other Nazis and as a possible mediator between the western democracies and Hitler.
## World War II
### Success on all fronts
Göring and other senior officers were concerned that Germany was not yet ready for war, but Hitler insisted on pushing ahead as soon as possible. On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Hitler appointed Göring as the chairman of a new six-person Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich which was set up to operate as a war cabinet. The invasion of Poland, the opening action of World War II, began at dawn on 1 September 1939. Later in the day, speaking to the Reichstag, Hitler designated Göring as his successor as Führer of all Germany, "If anything should befall me", with Hess as the second alternate. Big German victories followed one after the other in quick succession. With the help of the Luftwaffe, the Polish Air Force was defeated within a week. The Fallschirmjäger seized vital airfields in Norway (Operation Weserübung) and captured Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium on 10 May 1940, the first day of the Battle of France. Göring's Luftwaffe played critical roles in the Battles of the Netherlands, of Belgium and of France in May 1940.
After the Fall of France, Hitler awarded Göring the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for his successful leadership. During the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony, Hitler promoted Göring to the rank of Reichsmarschall des Grossdeutschen Reiches (), a specially-created rank which made him senior to all field marshals in the military. As a result of this promotion, he was the highest-ranking soldier in Germany until the end of the war. Göring had already received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939 as Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.
The UK had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, the third day of the invasion of Poland. In July 1940, Hitler began preparations for an invasion of Britain. As part of the plan, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had to be neutralized. Bombing raids commenced on British air installations and on cities and centres of industry. Göring had by then already announced in a radio speech, "If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil, my name is Meier!", something that would return to haunt him, when the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940. Though he was confident the Luftwaffe could defeat the RAF within days, Göring, like Admiral Erich Raeder, commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine (navy), was pessimistic about the chance of success of the planned invasion (codenamed Operation Sea Lion). Göring hoped that a victory in the air would be enough to force peace without an invasion. The campaign failed, and Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940. After their defeat in the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe attempted to defeat Britain via strategic bombing. On 12 October 1940 Hitler cancelled Sea Lion due to the onset of winter. By the end of the year, it was clear that British morale was not being shaken by the Blitz, though the bombings continued through May 1941.
### Defeat on all fronts
In spite of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, signed in 1939, Nazi Germany began Operation Barbarossa—the invasion of the Soviet Union—on 22 June 1941. Initially, the Luftwaffe was at an advantage, destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft in the first month of fighting. Hitler and his top staff were sure that the campaign would be over by Christmas, and no provisions were made for reserves of men or equipment. But, by July, the Germans had only 1,000 planes remaining in operation, and their troop losses were over 213,000 men. The choice was made to concentrate the attack on only one part of the vast front; efforts would be directed at capturing Moscow. After the long, but successful, Battle of Smolensk, Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily diverted its Panzer groups north and south to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kiev. The pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilize fresh reserves; historian Russel Stolfi considers it to be one of the major factors that caused the failure of the Moscow offensive, which was resumed in October 1941 with the Battle of Moscow. Poor weather conditions, fuel shortages, a delay in building aircraft bases in Eastern Europe, and overstretched supply lines were also factors. Hitler did not give permission for even a partial retreat until mid-January 1942; by this time the losses were comparable to those of the French invasion of Russia in 1812.
In late October or early November 1941, Hitler and Göring decided on the mass deportation of Soviet prisoners of war—and a larger number of Soviet civilians—to Germany for forced labor, but epidemics soon caused the halting of prisoner-of-war transports. Those who were deported to Germany faced conditions not necessarily any better than existed in the occupied Soviet Union. By the end of the war, at least 1.3 million Soviet prisoners of war had been deported to Germany or its annexed territories. Of these, 400,000 did not survive and most of these deaths occurred in the winter of 1941/1942.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Göring, along with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Admiral Erich Raeder, urged Hitler to immediately declare war on the United States.
Hitler decided that the summer 1942 campaign would be concentrated in the south; efforts would be made to capture the oilfields in the Caucasus. The Battle of Stalingrad, a major turning point of the war, began on 23 August 1942 with a bombing campaign by the Luftwaffe. The German Sixth Army entered the city, but because of its location on the front line, it was still possible for the Soviets to encircle and trap it there without reinforcements or supplies. When the Sixth Army was surrounded by the end of November in Operation Uranus, Göring promised that the Luftwaffe would be able to deliver a minimum of 300 tons of supplies to the trapped men every day. On the basis of these assurances, Hitler demanded that there be no retreat; they were to fight to the last man. Though some airlifts were able to get through, the amount of supplies delivered never exceeded 120 tons per day. The remnants of the Sixth Army—some 91,000 men out of an army of 285,000—surrendered in early February 1943; only 5,000 of these captives survived the Soviet prisoner of war camps to see Germany again.
### War over Germany
Meanwhile, the strength of the US and British bomber fleets had increased. Based in Britain, they began operations against German targets. The first thousand-bomber raid was staged on Cologne on 30 May 1942. Air raids continued on targets farther from England after auxiliary fuel tanks were installed on US fighter aircraft. Göring refused to believe reports that American fighters had been shot down as far east as Aachen in winter 1942–1943. His reputation began to decline.
The American P-51 Mustang, with a combat radius of over 1,800 miles (2,900 km) when using underwing drop tanks, began to escort the bombers in large formations to and from the target area in early 1944. From that point onwards, the Luftwaffe began to suffer casualties in aircrews it could not sufficiently replace. By targeting oil refineries and rail communications, Allied bombers crippled the German war effort by late 1944. German civilians blamed Göring for his failure to protect the homeland. Hitler began excluding him from conferences, but retained him in his positions at the head of the Luftwaffe and as plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan. As he lost Hitler's trust, Göring began to spend more time at his various residences. On D-Day (6 June 1944), the Luftwaffe only had some 300 fighters and a small number of bombers in the area of the landings; the Allies had a total strength of 11,000 aircraft.
### End of the war
As the Soviets approached Berlin, Hitler's efforts to organise the defence of the city became ever more meaningless and futile. His last birthday, celebrated at the Führerbunker in Berlin on 20 April 1945, was the occasion for leave-taking by many top Nazis, Göring included. By this time, Göring's hunting lodge Carinhall had been evacuated, the building destroyed, and its art treasures moved to Berchtesgaden and elsewhere. Göring arrived at his estate at Obersalzberg on 22 April, the same day that Hitler, in a lengthy diatribe against his generals, first publicly admitted that the war was lost and that he intended to remain in Berlin to the end and then commit suicide. He also stated that Göring was in a better position to negotiate a peace settlement.
OKW operations chief Alfred Jodl was present for Hitler's rant, and notified Göring's chief of staff, Karl Koller, at a meeting a few hours later. Sensing its implications, Koller immediately flew to Berchtesgaden to notify Göring of this development. A week after the start of the Soviet invasion, Hitler had issued a decree naming Göring his successor in the event of his death, thus codifying the declaration he had made soon after the beginning of the war. The decree also gave Göring full authority to act as Hitler's deputy if Hitler ever lost his freedom of action.
Göring feared being branded a traitor if he tried to take power, but also feared being accused of dereliction of duty if he did nothing. After some hesitation, Göring reviewed his copy of the 1941 decree naming him Hitler's successor. After conferring with Koller and Hans Lammers (the state secretary of the Reich Chancellery), Göring concluded that by remaining in Berlin to face certain death, Hitler had incapacitated himself from governing. All agreed that under the terms of the decree, it was incumbent upon Göring to take power in Hitler's stead. He was also motivated by fears that his rival, Martin Bormann, would seize power upon Hitler's death and would have him killed as a traitor. With this in mind, Göring sent a carefully worded telegram asking Hitler for permission to take over as the leader of Germany, stressing that he would be acting as Hitler's deputy. He added that, if Hitler did not reply by 22:00 that night (23 April), he would assume that Hitler had indeed lost his freedom of action, and would assume leadership of the Reich.
The telegram was intercepted by Bormann, who convinced Hitler that Göring was a traitor. Bormann argued that Göring's telegram was not a request for permission to act as Hitler's deputy, but a demand to resign or be overthrown. Bormann also intercepted another telegram in which Göring directed Ribbentrop to report to him if there was no further communication from Hitler or Göring before midnight. Hitler sent a reply to Göring—prepared with Bormann's help—rescinding the 1941 decree and threatening him with execution for high treason unless he immediately resigned from all of his offices. Göring duly resigned. Afterwards, Hitler (or Bormann, depending on the source) ordered the SS to place Göring, his staff, and Lammers under house arrest at Obersalzberg. Bormann made an announcement over the radio that Göring had resigned for health reasons.
By 26 April, the complex at Obersalzberg was under attack by the Allies, so Göring was moved to his castle at Mauterndorf. In his last will and testament, Hitler expelled Göring from the party, formally rescinded the decree making him his successor, and upbraided Göring for "illegally attempting to seize control of the state". He then appointed Karl Dönitz, the Navy's commander-in-chief, as president of the Reich and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide on 30 April 1945, a few hours after a hastily arranged wedding. Göring was freed on 5 May by a passing Luftwaffe unit, and he made his way to the U.S. lines in hopes of surrendering to them rather than to the Soviets. He was taken into custody near Radstadt on 6 May by elements of the 36th Infantry Division of the US Army. This move likely saved Göring's life; Bormann had ordered him executed if Berlin had fallen.
## Trial and death
Göring was flown to Camp Ashcan, a temporary prisoner-of-war camp housed in the Palace Hotel at Mondorf-les-Bains, Luxembourg. Here he was weaned off dihydrocodeine (a mild morphine derivative)—he had been taking the equivalent of three or four grains (260 to 320 mg) of morphine a day—and was put on a strict diet; he lost 60 pounds (27 kg). His IQ was tested while in custody and found to be 138. Top Nazi officials were transferred in September to Nuremberg, which was to be the location of a series of military tribunals beginning in November.
Göring was the second-highest-ranking official tried at Nuremberg, behind Reich President (former Admiral) Karl Dönitz. The prosecution levelled an indictment of four charges, including a charge of conspiracy; waging a war of aggression; war crimes, including the plundering and removal to Germany of works of art and other property; and crimes against humanity, including the disappearance of political and other opponents under the Nacht und Nebel () decree; the torture and ill treatment of prisoners of war; and the murder and enslavement of civilians, including what was at the time estimated to be 5,700,000 Jews. Not permitted to present a lengthy statement, Göring declared himself to be "in the sense of the indictment not guilty".
The trial lasted 218 days. The prosecution presented its case from November through March, and Göring's defence—the first to be presented—lasted from 8 to 22 March. The sentences were read on 30 September 1946. Göring, forced to remain silent while seated in the dock, communicated his opinions about the proceedings using gestures, shaking his head, or laughing. He constantly took notes and whispered with the other defendants, and tried to control the erratic behaviour of Hess, who was seated beside him. During breaks in the proceedings, Göring tried to dominate the other defendants, and he was eventually placed in solitary confinement when he attempted to influence their testimony. Göring told American psychiatrist Leon Goldensohn that the court was "stupid" to try "little fellows" like Funk and Kaltenbrunner instead of letting Göring take all the blame on himself. He also claimed that he had never heard of most of the other defendants before the trial.
On several occasions over the course of the trial, the prosecution showed films of the concentration camps and other atrocities. Everyone present, including Göring, found the contents of the films shocking; he said that the films must have been faked. Witnesses, including Paul Körner and Erhard Milch, tried to portray Göring as a peaceful moderate. Milch stated that it had been impossible to oppose Hitler or disobey his orders; to do so would likely have meant death for oneself and one's family. When testifying on his own behalf, Göring emphasised his loyalty to Hitler, and claimed to know nothing about what had happened in the concentration camps, which were under Himmler's control. He provided evasive, convoluted answers to direct questions and had plausible excuses for all of his actions during the war. He used the witness stand as a venue to expound at great length on his own role in the Reich, attempting to present himself as a peacemaker and diplomat before the outbreak of the war. During cross-examination, chief prosecutor Robert H. Jackson read the minutes of a meeting that had been held shortly after Kristallnacht, a major pogrom in November 1938. At the meeting, Göring had plotted to confiscate Jewish property in the wake of the pogrom. Later, David Maxwell-Fyfe proved that Göring must have known about the killing of 50 airmen who had been recaptured after escaping from Stalag Luft III in time to have saved them. He also presented clear evidence that Göring knew about the extermination of the Hungarian Jews.
Göring was found guilty on all four counts and was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgment stated:
> There is nothing to be said in mitigation. For Göring was often, indeed almost always, the moving force, second only to his leader. He was the leading war aggressor, both as political and as military leader; he was the director of the slave labour programme and the creator of the oppressive programme against the Jews and other races, at home and abroad. All of these crimes he has frankly admitted. On some specific cases there may be conflict of testimony, but in terms of the broad outline, his own admissions are more than sufficiently wide to be conclusive of his guilt. His guilt is unique in its enormity. The record discloses no excuses for this man.
Göring made an appeal asking to be shot as a soldier instead of hanged as a common criminal, but the court refused. He committed suicide with a potassium cyanide capsule the night before he was to be hanged.
Speculation as to how Göring obtained the poison holds that US Army lieutenant Jack G. Wheelis, who was stationed at the trials, retrieved the capsules from their hiding place among Göring's confiscated personal effects and passed them to Göring, who had earlier presented Wheelis with his gold watch, pen, and cigarette case. In 2005, former US Army private Herbert Lee Stivers, who served in the 1st Infantry Division's 26th Infantry Regiment—the honour guard for the Nuremberg Trials—claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a fountain pen that a German woman had asked him to smuggle into the prison. Stivers later said that he did not know what was in the pill until after Göring's suicide.
Göring's body, as with those of the men who were executed, was displayed at the execution ground for witnesses. The bodies were cremated at Ostfriedhof, Munich, and the ashes were scattered in the Isar River.
## Personal properties
Göring's name is closely associated with the Nazi plunder of Jewish property. His name appears 135 times on the OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Red Flag Names List compiled by US Army intelligence in 1945-6 and declassified in 1997.
The confiscation of Jewish property gave Göring the opportunity to amass a personal fortune. Some properties he seized himself or acquired for a nominal price. In other cases, he collected bribes for allowing others to steal Jewish property. He took kickbacks from industrialists for favourable decisions as Four Year Plan director, and money for supplying arms to the Spanish Republicans in the Spanish Civil War via Pyrkal in Greece (although Germany was supporting Franco and the Nationalists).
Göring was appointed Reich Master of the Hunt in 1933 and Master of the German Forests in 1934. He instituted reforms to the forestry laws and acted to protect endangered species. Around this time he became interested in Schorfheide Forest, where he set aside 100,000 acres (400 km<sup>2</sup>) as a state park, which is still extant. There he built an elaborate hunting lodge, Carinhall, in memory of his first wife, Carin. By 1934, her body had been transported to the site and placed in a vault on the estate. Through most of the 1930s, Göring kept pet lion cubs, borrowed from the Berlin Zoo, both at Carinhall and at his house at Obersalzberg. The main lodge at Carinhall had a large art gallery where Göring displayed works that had been plundered from private collections and museums around Europe from 1939 onward. Göring worked closely with the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (), an organisation tasked with the looting of artwork and cultural material from Jewish collections, libraries, and museums throughout Europe. Headed by Alfred Rosenberg, the task force set up a collection centre and headquarters in Paris. Some 26,000 railroad cars full of art treasures, furniture, and other looted items were sent to Germany from France alone. Göring repeatedly visited the Paris headquarters to review the incoming stolen goods and to select items to be sent on a special train to Carinhall and his other homes. The estimated value of his collection, which numbered some 1,500 pieces, was \$200 million.
Göring was known for his extravagant tastes and garish clothing. He had various special uniforms made for the many posts he held; his Reichsmarschall uniform included a jewel-encrusted baton. Hans-Ulrich Rudel, the top Stuka pilot of the war, recalled twice meeting Göring dressed in outlandish costumes: first, a medieval hunting costume, practicing archery with his doctor; and second, dressed in a red toga fastened with a golden clasp, smoking an unusually large pipe. Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano once noted Göring wearing a fur coat that looked like what "a high-grade prostitute wears to the opera". He threw lavish housewarming parties each time a round of construction was completed at Carinhall, and changed costumes several times throughout the evenings.
Göring was noted for his patronage of music, especially opera. He entertained frequently and sumptuously, and hosted elaborate birthday parties for himself. Armaments minister Albert Speer recalled that guests brought expensive gifts such as gold bars, Dutch cigars, and valuable artwork. For his birthday in 1944, Speer gave Göring an oversized marble bust of Hitler. As a member of the Prussian Council of State, Speer was required to donate a considerable portion of his salary towards the council's birthday gift to Göring without even being asked. Generalfeldmarschall Erhard Milch told Speer that similar donations were required out of the Air Ministry's general fund. For his birthday in 1940, Ciano decorated Göring with the coveted Collar of Annunziata. The award reduced him to tears.
The design of the Reichsmarschall standard, on a light blue field, featured a gold German eagle grasping a wreath surmounted by two batons overlaid with a swastika. The reverse side of the flag had the Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes () surrounded by a wreath between four Luftwaffe eagles. The flag was carried by a personal standard-bearer at all public occasions.
Though he liked to be called "der Eiserne" (), the once-dashing and muscular fighter pilot had become corpulent. He was one of the few Nazi leaders who did not take offence at hearing jokes about himself, "no matter how rude", taking them as a sign of popularity. Germans joked about his ego, saying that he would wear an admiral's uniform with rubber medals to take a bath, and his obesity, joking that "he sits down on his stomach". One joke claimed that he had sent a wire to Hitler after his visit to the Vatican: "Mission accomplished. Pope unfrocked. Tiara and pontifical vestments are a perfect fit."
## Role in the Holocaust
Joseph Goebbels and Himmler were far more antisemitic than Göring, who mainly adopted that attitude because party politics required him to do so. His deputy, Erhard Milch, had a Jewish parent. However, Göring supported the Nuremberg Laws of 1935, and later initiated economic measures unfavourable to Jews. He required the registration of all Jewish property as part of the Four Year Plan, and at a meeting held after Kristallnacht was livid that the financial burden for the Jewish losses would have to be made good by German-owned insurance companies. He proposed that the Jews be fined one billion marks.
At the same meeting, options for the disposition of the Jews and their property were discussed. Jews would be segregated into ghettos or encouraged to emigrate, and their property would be seized in a programme of Aryanization. Compensation for seized property would be low, if any was given at all. Detailed minutes of this meeting and other documents were read out at the Nuremberg trial, proving his knowledge of and complicity with the persecution of the Jews.
On 24 January 1939, Göring established in Berlin the head office of the Central Office for Jewish Emigration, modelled on the similar organization established in Vienna in August 1938. Under the direction of Heydrich, it was tasked with using any means necessary to prompt Jews to leave the Reich, and creating a Jewish organization that would co-ordinate emigration from the Jewish side.
In July 1941, Göring issued a memo to Heydrich ordering him to organise the practical details of the Final Solution to the "Jewish Question". By the time that this letter was written, many Jews and others had already been killed in Poland, Russia, and elsewhere. At the Wannsee Conference, held six months later, Heydrich formally announced that genocide of the Jews was now official Reich policy. Göring did not attend the conference, but he was present at other meetings where the number of people killed was discussed.
Göring directed anti-partisan operations by Luftwaffe security battalions in the Białowieża Forest between 1942 and 1944 that resulted in the murder of thousands of Jews and Polish civilians.
At the Nuremberg trial Göring told first lieutenant and U.S. Army psychologist Gustave Gilbert that he would never have supported the anti-Jewish measures if he had known what was going to happen. "I only thought we would eliminate Jews from positions in big business and government", he claimed.
## Decorations and awards
### German
- Iron Cross
- 2nd Class on 15 September 1914
- 1st Class on 22 March 1915
- Pour le Mérite (2 June 1918)
- Blood Order (Commemorative Medal of 9 November 1923)
- Clasp to the Iron Cross
- 2nd Class on 30 September 1939
- 1st Class on 30 September 1939
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939
- Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for "the victories of the Luftwaffe in 1940 during the French campaign" (the only award of this decoration during World War II – 19 August 1940)
- Order from the Grand Duke of Baden Orden vom Zähringer Löwen (de) Knights Cross 2nd Class with Swords
- Golden Party Badge
- Knights Cross with Swords of the House Order of Hohenzollern
- Knights Cross of the Military Karl-Friedrich Merit Order
- Danzig Cross, 1st and 2nd class
### Foreign
- Knight of the Order of Saints Cyril and Methodius (Kingdom of Bulgaria)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog, with Breast Star in Diamonds (Kingdom of Denmark) (25 July 1938)
- Grand Cross of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (6 March 1935)
- Grand Cross with Collar of the Order of the White Rose of Finland (21 April 1941)
- Grand Cross with Swords of the Order of the Cross of Liberty (Finland) (25 March 1942)
- Grand Cross of the Order of St Stephen (Kingdom of Hungary)
- Knight of the Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation (Kingdom of Italy) (12 January 1940)
- Commander Grand Cross of the Order of the Sword, with Collar (Kingdom of Sweden) (1939)
- Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun, with Paulownia Flowers (Empire of Japan) (4 October 1943)
## See also
- Aerial victory standards of World War I
- Air warfare of World War II
- Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- Glossary of German military terms
- Göring's Green Folder
- List of Nazi Party leaders and officials |
9,050,204 | Kingsland station | 1,156,050,356 | NJ Transit rail station | [
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| Kingsland is a railroad station on New Jersey Transit's Main Line. It is located under Ridge Road (Route 17) between New York and Valley Brook Avenues in Lyndhurst, New Jersey, and is one of two stations in Lyndhurst. The station is not staffed, and passengers use ticket vending machines (TVMs) located at street level to purchase tickets. The station is not handicapped-accessible. Originally part of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad's Boonton Branch, the current Kingsland station was built in 1918.
## History
### Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad
The Boonton Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad was first constructed as a freight bypass of the Morris & Essex Railroad in 1868. This was constructed due to the lack of freight along its passenger lines and stretched from the Denville station to Hoboken Terminal via Boonton and Paterson. The line had shops at Kingsland, built in 1868 for the purpose of repairing, restoring and re-erecting train cars and locomotives for the line. In 1875, shop equipment from Hoboken was moved over to Kingsland. However, just seven years later, the machine shop, also the main building of the shops, caught fire and was completely destroyed. Despite the fire, the structure was immediately reconstructed for use. During this time, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western used a small house as a station depot.
When the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western expanded the Kingsland Shops in 1903, a new station depot was constructed of brick along with a cut and cover tunnel. The tunnel itself cost \$71,500 (1903 USD) and permitted the local street, Schuyler Avenue to cross over the rail line. The new station depot was built on Ridge Road over the tracks, with platforms crossing over the new bridge. The design of the station depot located above the tracks was later replicated by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's Montclair Branch for its Watsessing Avenue station in Bloomfield, New Jersey.
In 1917, the railroad was brought before the New Jersey Board of Public Utility Commissioners due to an accident on November 28, 1916, at Kingsland station. Passenger train No. 582, a special train for employees of the Canadian Car Company, had near stopped at Kingsland station. The train never left at any defined time, although averaged around 6:30 in the evening. However, around 6:30 that evening, Train No. 479 came in twelve minutes late at a high speed, and as a result could not slow down fast enough to avoid hitting passengers. At that time, the station had no inter-track fencing to prevent crossing of both Boonton Branch tracks, and because of this, people could board trains from either platform. That day the engineer of Train No. 479 was unable to see the platform or the special train, and due to the lack of signals, had no information until the train left the west portal of Kingsland Tunnel. However, signals were set for west-bound trains if problems were to occur. After the accident, the Board requested the Lackawanna to install a westbound signal to prevent further accidents, while the Canadian Car Company moved its boarding to the company's rail siding.
### Erie–Lackawanna Railroad and the Passaic Plan
After several years of sharing railroad facilities, the Erie Railroad and Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad merged on October 17, 1960, replaced by the Erie-Lackawanna Railway. Since 1949 the Erie Railroad had been dealing with the city of Passaic, New Jersey about its double track mainline through the city via Rutherford. Due to the high cost of removing the main line with no back-up service, it was unable to progress forward, and as a result, the Erie built some new stations to replace old wooden ones in 1952. With the railroad merger in 1960, the Erie–Lackawanna had the Boonton Branch that also served Passaic, and on August 23, 1960, with pressure from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to go ahead with it, a deal was struck between the city of Passaic and the railroad. A new connection was to be made via the Erie's old Newark Branch to connect the Boonton Branch to the old Erie main at South Paterson. The old Erie main line through Passaic was abandoned at a ceremony on April 2, 1963, when service was terminated. Trains were re-routed via a "new" main line, using the Boonton Branch from Kingsland to Athenia.
The remainder of the Boonton Branch was steadily decommissioned through 1963, as the New Jersey Department of Transportation requested the Boonton Branch's alignment through Paterson as part of Interstate 80 and New Jersey Route 21 through Passaic near BE Drawbridge and the Passaic Park station. This was turned over to the Department of Transportation on October 27, 1963, after a connection was constructed at Mountain View to the Erie's former New York and Greenwood Lake Railroad. The stretch from Paterson Junction to Totowa, including the Paterson High Bridge built in 1902, was abandoned and soon dismantled. However, despite the changes, the Erie–Lackawanna continued to lose strength and in 1975, agreed to become part of the Consolidated Rail Corporation, dubbed Conrail, effective April 1, 1976.
### New Jersey Transit
In January 1983, Consolidated Rail Corporation handed over operation of the commuter railroads to New Jersey Transit Rail Operations. On September 20, 2002, as part of the Montclair Connection, merging the Montclair Branch and Boonton Line, the Arlington station in Kearny was closed, resulting in the lack of a station in Kearny. As a result, a rail shuttle bus was created by the town of Kearny to bus passengers from Arlington station north to Kingsland (parallelling NJ Transit's bus route \#76, giving rail passenger service to New York Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal. Shuttle buses were aligned at that time with the 5:02 AM, 6:03 PM and 7:08 PM. Services were adjusted for the timetable services on September 30, 2002.
On June 22, 2010, the town of Lyndhurst put forward a proposal to buy the station depots at both Kingsland and Lyndhurst stations. The mayor of Lyndhurst, Richard DiLascio, said that the stations have seen better days and New Jersey Transit has no interest in renovating both buildings. Design plans for Kingsland station look towards a new coffee shop, after repairing and renovating the building. The station would also be converted from its old subway tile to a newer retro look for the building, paid for by leasing the building. Because an average of 440 to over 1,000 people use the Kingsland station daily, it would look better for the town of Lyndhurst to make a good impression on the riders. As of 2012, the station house is unoccupied. The town of Lyndhurst has requested that NJT lease the building to the municipality so that it might be renovated and brought into use as a way to revitalize the immediate vicinity.
In 2021, it was revealed that once the new Lyndhurst train station was complete, Kingsland station would be closed.
## Station layout and services
Kingsland station has two tracks, each with a low-level side platform. The over-track train station house is located on a bridge over the Main Line on Route 17 (Ridge Road) crossing over the tracks. A short tunnel leads downstairs to the two side platforms. The station platform on the Hoboken Terminal-bound side has a third track that heads through the platform, the western leg of a wye used for the Harrison Cut-Off, built by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. Above ground, the station is provided with just nineteen parking spaces, none designated for the handicapped. There is no fee for parking. Short-term parking is also provided by New Jersey Transit on Route 17.
The station has a connection to Route 76 run by New Jersey Transit Bus Operations. |
1,564,810 | Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom | 1,169,284,792 | 1991 video game | [
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"Atari Lynx games",
"MidNite Software games",
"Ninja Gaiden games",
"Nintendo Entertainment System games",
"Platform games",
"Retrofuturistic video games",
"Side-scrolling video games",
"Single-player video games",
"Video game sequels",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games scored by Hiroshi Miyazaki",
"Video games set in 1988",
"Video games set in the 1980s",
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"Virtual Console games for Wii U"
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- NES'Atari Lynx'Virtual Console (Wii)'Virtual Console (3DS)[^1]
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Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom' is a side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Tecmo. It was released in Japan on June 26, 1991 (1991-06-26) for the Famicom and in North America in August for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The NES version was not released in Europe. It was later ported to the Atari Lynx by Atari Corporation and released in 1993 in North America and Europe, the European version retaining the North American Ninja Gaiden III title. It was also re-released as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES compilation in 1995 in Japan and North America. Long after, it was released for the Virtual Console service in North America on February 18, 2008 (2008-02-18) for the Wii and in North America and Europe on November 28, 2013 (2013-11-28) and January 23, 2014 (2014-01-23) respectively for the Nintendo 3DS. It was designed by Masato Kato, who took over for Hideo Yoshizawa—designer of the first two games in the NES series.
The game is the third installment of the Ninja Gaiden trilogy, set between the first two games in the series, Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos. The player controls Ryu Hayabusa as he is framed for the murder of Irene Lew and investigates the circumstances behind her death. He eventually discovers a plan by CIA agent Foster and another person named Clancy to utilize an interdimensional rift to create and control a race of energy-infused superhuman mutants. The game features similar gameplay to its previous two Ninja Gaiden titles and includes some new features such as the ability to hang overhead from pipes and sword power-ups.
As with the previous titles, Ninja Gaiden III received mostly positive reviews from critics. Early reviews praised the game for its plot, gameplay, and difficulty; later reviews criticized the plot, level designs, and the game's difficulty level, in which the North American version was intentionally made harder than the Japanese version through limited continues, stronger enemies, and omission of a password system. The Atari Lynx port, while receiving general praise for graphics and controls, received poor reception for its sound and for the inability for players to see characters and items, attributing it to the Lynx's small screen.
## Plot
Between the events of the original Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, CIA agent Irene Lew is chased by a man who looks like Ryu Hayabusa to a cliff edge, where she falls to her apparent death. In an effort to clear his name, Ryu investigates the laboratory where Irene was killed. A mysterious man appears there and tells Ryu to go to the Castle Rock fortress, where he will give Ryu more information about Irene.
On his way to the outer limits of Castle Rock, Ryu encounters A. Foster via a video image. Ryu inquires about Irene, to which Foster replies: "I don't know what you're talking about". Ryu encounters his look-alike who killed Irene. The look-alike flees, saying that Foster has ordered him not to eliminate Ryu quite yet.
Ryu encounters the stranger from the laboratory, who reveals his name as Clancy. Clancy reveals that he and Foster were working together until Foster began to design creatures called "bio-noids" – transformed superhumans that are infused with "life energy" from an interdimensional rift that appeared after the demon from Ninja Gaiden was defeated. Clancy pleas to Ryu to stop Foster. When confronted by Ryu, Foster reveals his plan to kill him and make a powerful bio-noid from his corpse. Irene appears to the surprise of both Ryu and Foster. Ryu's look-alike transmutes into a bio-noid, which Ryu defeats.
A door to the interdimensional rift opens. Clancy appears, telling Ryu, Irene, and Foster that they were all used as pawns in his plan to take over the ruins and claim the life energy as his. Foster tries to follow Clancy through the door, but the energy destroys him utterly. Ryu goes through the rift into the subspace while Irene stays behind. Inside the subspace, Ryu encounters his resurrected and strengthened look-alike, and kills him once and for all. Ryu is teleported from the subspace into a room where he meets Clancy once again. Clancy explains the truth behind Castle Rock: the ruins are a dimensional warship called the "Ancient Ship of Doom". He says that "these super-dimensional ruins are the foundation upon which a new world will be created", and that it will be where all new life will originate from. The ship reappears in the real world, and Clancy fires a test shot to demonstrate its power while Irene watches in horror.
Ryu fights his way back through the ship and confronts Clancy, who has turned himself into a bio-noid. Clancy gives Ryu the offer to join him and work to wipe out the human race and usher a new age, but Ryu refuses and kills him after a lengthy battle. Ryu is transported outside the warship and back to Irene. Both watch as the Ancient Ship of Doom is brought down and explodes, and Castle Rock crumbles. The two watch the sunrise as a new day begins.
## Gameplay
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom is a side-scrolling platform game in which the player controls the player character Ryu Hayabusa as he investigates the events behind Irene Lew's death. In the game, Ryu can jump, hang, and climb up and down walls with the control pad; pressing the jump button while holding the control pad the direction away from the wall causes Ryu to spring off the wall. Ryu is also able to attack enemies with secondary weapons while on a wall by pressing the attack button. A new feature introduced in Ninja Gaiden III is the ability for Ryu to hang overhead from pipes or ivy; he can swing up on top or drop from them, and as with walls, he can only attack enemies while hanging with secondary weapons.
As with the previous Ninja Gaiden games, Ryu's physical strength is represented by a life meter on the top of the screen; it decreases when Ryu gets hit by enemies or other dangerous objects. Throughout the levels, the player can find "Recovery Medicine" bottles that partially replenish Ryu's physical strength; as with all other items in the game, they are located in crystal balls that Ryu must slash to open. The player loses a "life" when Ryu's life meter runs out, he falls into a pit, or if the timer runs out. The game ends when players lose all their lives, but they can continue and resume play at the beginning of the Act in which they have lost all their lives. However, in the US version of Ninja Gaiden III, players only get five continues total before being required to restart the game from the beginning.
Ryu can defeat enemies by attacking with his Dragon Sword or by using secondary weapons which consume Ryu's "ninja power"; such weapons include the following: "Windmill Throwing Stars" which move back and forth like boomerangs, "Fire Dragon Balls" which launch fireballs downward at an angle, the "Fire Wheel Art" which launches fireballs upward at an angle, the "Invincible Fire Wheel" that forms a series of rotating of fireballs around Ryu and destroys any enemy who comes into contact, and a new weapon in this series called the "Vacuum Wave Art" which hurls vacuum blades above and below Ryu simultaneously. Players can collect red and blue capsules to refill Ryu's ninja power, and they can also collect "Scrolls of the spirit of the Dragon" to increase Ryu's maximum ninja power level. Another new item in Ninja Gaiden III is the "Dragon Spirit Sword" that increases Ryu range of his sword. At the end of each Act is a boss which has its own life meter that decreases when damaged; Ryu can defeat the boss by completely depleting its life meter. Ninja Gaiden III's first four bosses consist of the "bio-noids" – super-human creatures created and controlled by Foster to take over the world; they each represent the four elementals: earth, wind, fire, and water.
### Tiger Handheld version
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom was ported by Tiger Electronics as an LCD handheld game. This port features five levels in which Ryu must reach the end of each level by defeating various robots with his Dragon Sword and a "ninja weapon ball". At the end of each level, Ryu fights a boss; the first four levels' bosses are the same bio-noids from the NES version, while the fifth level's final enemy is the "Giant Boss", which must be defeated to beat the game. Gameplay is similar to the NES version, in that Ryu and the bosses have life meters and that they feature similar items. Features included built-in sound which could be muted, battery backup high score, and an automatic switch-off feature in which the device shuts off after three minutes of inactivity.
## Development
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom was designed by Masato Kato, who took over Hideo Yoshizawa's main role in the game's development from the previous two titles. In an interview with Kato, he said that Ninja Gaiden III needed "to go into a new direction". The game was given more of a science-fiction motif as opposed to the Cthulhu Mythos motif in the previous two titles; the enemies changed to look more robotic than in the previous games. The original intent from the developers was to make the game easier than the previous titles, "to create a game a normal player can enjoy". However, Tecmo released the game for the NES with a much higher difficulty level than the Japanese version by doubling the amount of damage the player took from 1 health bar per hit to 2 health bars per hit. They also decided to place the events of Ninja Gaiden III between the events of the first two titles in order to maintain continuity; they figured that it was too difficult to continue the story after Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, so they developed the plot sometime before the events of Ninja Gaiden II that revolved around the game's main antagonist, Foster.
## Release and reception
Ninja Gaiden III: The Ancient Ship of Doom received preview coverage in video gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly, where it was displayed at the Consumer Software Group trade show in Tokyo on March 24–25, 1991. They said that Ninja Gaiden III was the best Famicom game in display there, that it "easily walked away with the best for this system!" The game was also previewed in the July 1991 issue of Nintendo Power. They said that the game contained all the old features of previous Ninja Gaiden games which included ninja arts (but they lamented at the lack of the "jump and slash", absent from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos) and similar usage of cinematic cutscenes that made the original Ninja Gaiden game popular. They also particularly praised the new moves Ryu had as well as an excellent plot. GamePro magazine previewed the game in August. They said that the game's visuals were good and on par with the previous titles and that the scrolling was great. The game was released in Japan on June 26, 1991 (1991-06-26) for the Famicom under the title Ninja Ryūkenden III: Yomi no Hakobune; it was released in North America for the NES in August. It was ported to the Atari Lynx in 1993 by Atari, and then Tecmo re-released the game as part of its Ninja Gaiden Trilogy Super NES compilation in 1995. It was released for the Wii's Virtual Console service in North America on February 18, 2008 (2008-02-18).
The game was featured in Electronic Gaming Monthly's July 1991 issue as an "EGM Exclusive". They praised the game, saying that "Ninja Gaiden gets better every time!" It was also one of the featured games in the August issue of Nintendo Power, where it received 11 pages of coverage, which included a full walkthrough of the first four Acts plus a brief plot overview of the entire game. It was in this issue where Ninja Gaiden III was purported to be the final Ninja Gaiden game by Tecmo. As in their preview, they gave praise to the action, gameplay, elaborate plot, and difficulty. GamePro reviewed the game in its September issue. The magazine gave the game top ratings in all categories except sound. They noted the difficulty level as being dictated by the enemies' strategic placements in the various environments; they added that while Act 1 is easy, the remainder of the game is very difficult. The review praised the usage and usefulness of the secondary weapons, Ryu's new ability to hang overhead, and the new addition of the sword power-up, which it said bore resemblance to the game Strider. They slightly criticized the game for leaving out the "cloning" power-up from Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos as well as the limited continues and lack of passwords. In March 1992, Ninja Gaiden III received three nominations in the "Nintendo Power Awards '91" in the following NES-related categories: "Best Graphics and Sound", "Best Challenge", and "Best Overall". It won in the "Best Challenge" category; the magazine commented that "the game-playing public knows a challenging game when they see one!" It placed second in the "Best Graphics and Sound" category, finishing behind Battletoads for the top spot. It was the ranked as the third "Best Overall" NES title for 1991, finishing close behind Tecmo Super Bowl.
The Atari Lynx version of Ninja Gaiden III also received coverage in various magazines in 1994. In GamePro magazine, they criticized the fact that the Lynx's small screen makes it difficult for players to see the various power-ups and enemies and to use secondary weapons. However, they praised the good controls, and they said the sound was fine though "weird and spacy". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment praised the game for being better than the arcade version that was previously ported to the Lynx, but they were disappointed that Tecmo did not port the first two NES Ninja Gaiden titles to the handheld, as well. Electronic Gaming Monthly praised Tecmo for a good translation of the game from the NES to the Lynx – complete with good graphics, controls, and varied gameplay – while saying that "Ninja Gaiden [III] is a game that the Atari Lynx has been longing for". Despite that, the reviewers noted that the Lynx's small screen made all the sprites too small for most players to see well, and the screen's blurring makes it frustrating for players to track character movements. Retrospectively, Allgame gave a mostly negative review, saying that the background makes it difficult to see foreground elements, that players cannot see their character or what power-ups they are collecting, and that sound is very poor, saying "thirteen banshees all wailing different, off-key songs would only begin to approach just how bad the music is".
A few modern video gaming websites reviewed Ninja Gaiden III upon its release to the Virtual Console in 2008. Nintendo Life's Damien McFerran gave lackluster ratings, saying that the game "passed under the radar of many a videogame enthusiast". He added that while the presentation was great, he pointed out flaws in the "silly" plot, the inconsistently laid-out level designs, and frustrating difficulty in addition to the five-continue limit. He said that many gamers would prefer the previous two Ninja Gaiden titles over this one. IGN's Lucas Thomas appreciated the improvement in Ryu's ability to scale and climb on top of walls, his ability to hang overhead. His chief criticism was the game's difficulty, saying that it's not the "rewarding kind of difficult" but instead "the cheap, annoying kind of difficult that makes you want to throw your controller at the TV screen and just go read a book". As with the Nintendo Life review, Thomas similarly criticized the inconsistent level design as well as a storyline which "begins [...] compellingly" but progressively becomes more bizarre, including "weird science-fiction themes about bionics and clones".
In a retrospective of the Ninja Gaiden series, Eurogamer said that Ninja Gaiden III was the only game in the NES trilogy not to make it to Europe. They made similar criticisms about the difficulty level, saying that the North American version was made more difficult than the Japanese version by utilizing limited continues, making the enemies much more powerful, and removing the password system present in the Japanese version. They said the story was too outlandish, calling the plot, of which a short-lived anime Ninja Gaiden series would loosely be based, "a glorious load of old bollocks". While the version from Ninja Gaiden Trilogy for the Super NES remedied most of their criticisms, they said that the game added new frustrations which included slower framerates, lower-quality controls, and the omission and shuffling around of several tracks, which they said "is precisely the sort of thing that makes die-hard videogame fans apoplectic with rage".
## Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack, composed by Hiroshi Miyazaki, Kaori Nakabai and Rika Shigeno was not released commercially at the time of the game's release. A formal soundtrack release was unavailable until Brave Wave Productions' 2017 vinyl box set, Ninja Gaiden- the Definitive Soundtrack''. The set was mastered by Keiji Yamagishi, and featured the soundtrack of the entire original trilogy.
[^1]: |
54,265,848 | An End to al-Qaeda | 1,163,010,704 | Book by Malcolm Nance | [
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| An End to al-Qaeda: Destroying Bin Laden's Jihad and Restoring America's Honor is a non-fiction book about counterterrorism strategies towards al-Qaeda, written by U.S. Navy retired cryptology analyst Malcolm Nance. The book describes how the September 11 attacks changed the traditional Muslim community around the globe. Nance criticizes the approach of the George W. Bush administration, including the verbiage and public presentations used in the War on Terror. The author argues al-Qaeda is not part of Islam but is instead a dangerous religious cult. Nance writes the United States should commit to better education with a public relations campaign to encourage traditional believers in Islam around the world to denounce al-Qaeda.
Nance's work received a favorable book review from Journal of Strategic Security, which recommended it for new counterterrorism analysts, including those "developing their understanding of information operations and understanding the role of religion in the battle". ShadowProof praised the author's expertise in the subject matter of counterterrorism, observing Nance sharply criticized the manner in which the United States was losing the psychological warfare battle against al-Qaeda. The work received a critical book review from Publishers Weekly, which called it a "polemic". Additionally, a book review by Kirkus Reviews criticized it for "repetition and vitriol".
## Background
Malcolm Nance is a retired U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer in naval cryptology. He garnered expertise within the fields of intelligence and counterterrorism. He served in the U.S. Navy for 20 years, from 1981 to 2001. Nance was an interpreter for Russian, and began working in the intelligence field through research into the history of the Soviet Union and its spying agency, the KGB. He devoted years of research to analyzing Middle East terrorism and sovereign nations with ties to Russia. He graduated from New York's Excelsior College with a degree in Arabic. Nance took part in combat operations which occurred after the 1983 Beirut barracks bombings, was involved with the 1986 United States bombing of Libya, served on the USS Wainwright during Operation Praying Mantis and participated in the sinking of Iranian missile boat Joshan, served on the USS Tripoli during the Gulf War, and assisted during a Banja Luka, Bosnia air strike.
After retiring from military service, Nance founded a consulting company based in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. where he provided advising services to United States Special Operations Command. During the September 11 attacks, Nance personally witnessed American Airlines Flight 77 crash into The Pentagon and he assisted in rescue operations at the impact site. He created a training center called the Advanced Terrorism, Abduction and Hostage Survival School. Nance manages a think tank analyzing counterterrorism called "Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies", consisting of Central Intelligence Agency and military intelligence officers with direct prior field experience. Nance is a member of the board of directors for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. Nance's books on counter-terrorism include: The Terrorists of Iraq, Terrorist Recognition Handbook, The Plot to Hack America, Defeating ISIS, and Hacking ISIS.
## Summary
An End to al-Qaeda describes how Nance believes al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden can be defeated. Nance argues that al-Qaeda's true objective is to conquer Muslims and bring them to their extremist ideology, and that al-Qaeda wishes to bring Muslims into an extremist global kingdom not seen since before the time of Kemal Atatürk of Turkey. According to Nance, al-Qaeda wishes to revert Muslim society further back in time than Atatürk, to a version of culture at a time before 12-century Muslim history; the group believes Islam was perverted subsequent to interactions with the Mongol Empire and the Crusades.
The author asserts the United States government must attempt to break the ties between the traditional Islamic population and the extremism offered by al-Qaeda, so that al-Qaeda's source of human resources and influence will be removed. According to Nance, al-Qaeda is attempting to capitalize on decreasing United States influence within the region, and utilize information technology to spread its message.
An End to al-Qaeda grounds the reader within a background of how the Muslim people globally have greatly changed subsequent to the September 11 attacks. Nance is critical of the public presentation of the War on Terror declared by the George W. Bush administration. He asserts the Muslim people have a wide range of spiritual practices, and it should be the goal of the United States to appeal to their humanistic values. Nance describes al-Qaeda's psychological warfare towards the United States as only enhanced if the U.S. continues to frame the battle as a war against Islam.
The book characterizes al-Qaeda not as an offshoot of Islam but as a destructive religious cult. Nance suggests American federal officials create a position to coordinate actions against al-Qaeda, put together academic gatherings to discuss the matter, and use public relations to counter extremist ideology. Nance praises Barack Obama's oratorical skills, and characterizes the president as a formidable public relations tool to use in achieving these objectives. He emphasizes traditional Muslim people share the same goals and aspirations for their families as U.S. citizens.
Nance puts forth specific suggestions on how to turn the tide against al-Qaeda's psychological warfare strategies. He backs up his thesis with case studies from his past expertise garnered as an intelligence officer fluent in the Arabic language. There is great emphasis on how much difference can be made by taking great care to use specific verbiage in communication with the Muslim community. Nance calls for a cultural widespread climate of denouncement of al-Qaeda by the Muslim community, through educating believers in Islam about the harms of al-Qaeda's goals to create an extremist Islamic empire.
## Release and reception
The book was first published in hardcover format in 2010 by St. Martin's Press. Its first printing was for 100,000 copies. The work was released in audiobook format in 2010 and 2015. St. Martin's Press released an e-book edition in 2013.
Journal of Strategic Security published a book review of Nance's work written by Keely M. Fahoum of Henley-Putnam University. Fahoum wrote, "An End to Al-Qaeda presents a thought-provoking discussion about Al-Qaeda (AQ), its leadership, intentions, and attempts to recruit members in the ideological battlefield." The review noted Nance's expertise in the subject matter, "The book draws on the author's expertise as a counterterrorism (CT) officer and Arabic linguist, and his experience studying AQ in the field, including in combat." Fahoum concluded, "An End to Al-Qaeda is a good read for those analysts in the CT community still developing their understanding of information operations and understanding the role of religion in the battle between AQ and the rest of the world's Muslims".
ShadowProof journalist Matt Duss pointed out Nance's expertise in the subject matter, "Few Americans can claim the knowledge of radical terrorist ideologies that Malcolm Nance can." He wrote that An End to al-Qaeda, "describes the nature and extent of the Al Qaeda threat, and suggests that the key to ending Al Qaeda is to vigorously challenge them in the realm of ideology." Duss observed, "Nance goes ... hard at the incompetence with which the U.S. has thus far waged the ideological battle against Al Qaeda."
Publishers Weekly gave the work a negative review, writing: "Intelligence veteran Nance offers a problematic prescription for defeating al-Qaeda in this disappointing polemic." The review criticized the writing style, calling it, "melodramatic", "preachy", and "pedantic". Kirkus Reviews was critical of the way Nance presented his arguments in the book, concluding, "An often cogent argument weakened by unnecessary repetition and vitriol—reads like a hybrid of a counterinsurgency manual and a consultant's business plan."
## See also
- Iraq War
- Islamic extremism
- Islamic fundamentalism
- Islamic terrorism
- War in Afghanistan (2001–present) |
23,652,649 | Jiggs Parrott | 1,169,414,388 | American baseball player (1871–1898) | [
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| Walter Edward "Jiggs" Parrott (July 14, 1871 – April 14, 1898) was an American professional baseball player whose career spanned eight seasons, four of which were spent with the Major League Baseball (MLB) Chicago Colts (1892–95). Parrott, an infielder, compiled a career batting average of .235 with 174 runs scored, 309 hits, 35 doubles, 23 triples, six home runs, and 152 runs batted in (RBIs) in 317 games played. Although the majority of his career was spent in the major leagues, Parrott also played minor league baseball. He got his start playing amateur baseball with the East Portland Willamettes. His professional baseball debut came in 1890 as a member of the Portland Webfeet. Parrott was the first MLB player from Oregon. He stood at 5 feet 11 inches (180 cm) and weighed 160 pounds (73 kg). His brother, Tom Parrott, was also an MLB player and a teammate of his on the Chicago Colts.
## Early life
Walter Edward "Jiggs" Parrott was born on the east side of Portland, Oregon on July 14, 1871, to Thomas H. Parrott and the former Eliza Ann Rhodes. Thomas H. Parrott was born in England but moved outside of Sherwood, Oregon in 1857 which used to be a part of Yamhill County . Although he was training to be a shoemaker in England, when Thomas H. Parrott moved to Portland, he opened a music business. He organized the East Portland Brass Band. Jiggs Parrott had seven siblings: six brothers and one sister. Several of his siblings went on to play professional baseball and worked in music. Parrott played sandlot ball in Portland during his youth. He would also play with his classmates while attending Portland Public Schools. Eventually, Parrott and his brothers, Dode and Tom, signed with the East Portland Willamettes, an amateur baseball team.
## Professional career
### Early minor league career (1890–92)
In 1890, Parrott began his professional baseball career with the Portland Webfeet of the Pacific Northwest League. His brother, Tom Parrott, was his teammate on the Portland club. On the season, Jiggs Parrott batted .268 with 71 runs scored, 104 hits, 24 doubles, six triples, five home runs, and 26 stolen bases in 94 games played. He was second in the league in home runs, third in hits and fourth in doubles. Defensively that season, he played third base. Parrott continued to play with the Portland club in 1891, who were now renamed the Gladiators. During the season, the Spokane Daily Chronicle stated that, "'Jiggs' [Parrott] was as much at home at third [base] as ever, and his throws to first [base] continue to excite the admiration of all the bleachers." At the start of the 1892 season, Parrott joined the Minneapolis Minnies of the Class-A Western League. Before the start of the season, The Sporting News said that Parrott "has the build of a successful third baseman. He is tall and spare in flesh. He has been in a gymnasium all winter." With Minneapolis that season, he batted .317 with 31 runs scored, 53 hits, 13 doubles, and six home runs in 41 games played. He was tied for second in the league with James Graham, Joseph Katz and Billy O'Brien in home runs.
### Chicago Colts (1892–95)
During the 1892 season, Cap Anson, the manager of the Chicago Colts, offered Parrott a Major League Baseball (MLB) contract to play with his club. Parrott made his MLB debut on July 11, 1892. During that game, he stuck out twice and made two errors. He was the first player from the State of Oregon to appear in an MLB game. Parrott hit second in the Colts' batting order for most of the season. In his first MLB season, Parrott batted .201 with 38 runs scored, 67 hits, eight doubles, five triples, two home runs, 22 runs batted in (RBIs), and seven stolen bases in 78 games played. He finished the season third in fielding percentage amongst National League third basemen (.891), behind Billy Nash and George Davis. Before the start of the 1893 season, The Sporting Life wrote that Parrott "is somewhat of an erratic player. There are times when he plays good ball, but just when good steady play is necessary, he is very liable to get a case of 'rattles.'" However, in June, The Sporting Life changed its tune and called Parrott's work at third base a "little less than brilliant". It was reported that Anson was impressed by Parrott as a person, calling him a "well-behaved young man" despite some criticism he was getting from the media and fans. During the 1893 season, the Colts signed pitcher Tom Parrott, Jiggs Parrott's brother. The Washington Post reported that Tom Parrott bought out his contract with his former team so he could play with his brother in Chicago. The two Parrott brothers were the only two players from Oregon to play in the MLB during the 19th century. Jiggs Parrott was moved to seventh in Chicago's batting order during the year. In his second season, Parrott batted .244 with 54 runs scored, 111 hits, 10 doubles, nine triples, one home run, 65 RBIs, and 25 stolen bases in 110 games played. His fielding percentage at third base was the fifth highest in the National League (.904), behind Jack Crooks, Denny Lyons, George Pinkney and Billy Nash.
At the start of the 1894 season, Parrott was converted to a second baseman, making way for Charlie Irwin at third base. Manager Cap Anson was criticized by The Sporting Life for continuing to play Parrott. The publication stated, "It is true that [Anson] holds Parrot in high esteem and insists that 'Jiggs' is a great infielder, hence a suffering public may confidently expect to witness still further attempts of 'Jiggs' to hold down the second base bag." On the season, Parrott batted .248 with 82 runs scored, 130 hits, 17 doubles, nine triples, three home runs, 65 RBIs, and 30 stolen bases in 126 games played. In 1895, Anson signed a new second baseman, Ace Stewart from Sioux City, Iowa, which demoted Parrott to the role of utility player. Anson responded to the criticism he had been taking for keeping Parrott by stating, "I realize that 'Jiggs' is not popular with the Chicago crowds, so we will play him in games abroad only." However, The Sporting Life responded by saying, "The local scribes and fans thought we had buried the lanky 'Jigglets,' so far as Chicago was concerned, but he bobs up serenely." Parrott's final MLB game came on June 6, 1895. He played just three games with Chicago that season. In those games, he batted .250 with one hit in four at-bats. He was released early in the season.
### Later career (1895–97)
After being released by the MLB Chicago Colts, Parrott returned to the minor leagues with the Class-B Rockford Forest Citys/Reds of the Western Association. On the season with Rockford, he batted .351 with 18 runs scored, 40 hits, five doubles and two triples in 26 games played. In 1896, he started the season with the Grand Rapids Rippers/Gold Bugs of the Class-A Western League as their starting third baseman. On June 22, he was released by the Grand Rapids club. Parrott then signed with the Columbus Buckeyes/Senators, also of the Western League. Combined between the two clubs that year, he batted .306 in 86 games played. In 1897, he re-signed with the Columbus Senators. As a member of the Columbus club, The Milwaukee Journal noted in September that Parrott had "been playing a great fielding game". However, he appeared in just one game with the Senators, getting one hit in four at-bats. He then signed with the Dubuque, Iowa club of the Class-B Western Association. In 15 games, he batted .213 with six runs scored and 13 hits.
## Death
After the 1897 baseball season, he returned to his home in Portland, Oregon with his health deteriorating. In December, Parrott traveled to New Mexico in hopes of re-gaining his health. When in New Mexico, he reported that the weather was too cold and that he was planning to move to Arizona where the climate is more mild. On April 14, 1898, while in a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, Parrott died of tuberculosis. Earlier that day, Parrott had telegraphed his father, Thomas H. Parrott, back in Portland alerting him that it was not likely he would live two more days. Upon receiving the telegram, Thomas H. Parrott sent his son, Archie Parrott, on a train to Arizona to be with the dying Jiggs Parrott. However, after the train left the station in Portland, the Parrott family got word that Jiggs Parrott had died. Archie Parrott continued to Arizona to retrieve his brother's remains. His remains were returned on April 23. Parrott's funeral was held on April 25, at his home in East Portland. His pall-bearers were several former teammates from the Portland Willamettes: Joseph Beveridge, Charles Neale, Frank Buchtel, William Kern, Fred Bailey, and John Rankin. According to The Oregonian hundreds attended his funeral and 500 people attended his burial at Lone Fir Cemetery in Portland.
## See also
- List of baseball players who died during their careers |
11,852,624 | Pennsylvania Route 332 | 1,145,755,909 | State highway in Pennsylvania, US | [
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"Transportation in Bucks County, Pennsylvania",
"Transportation in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania"
]
| Pennsylvania Route 332 (PA 332) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route runs 17.5 miles (28.2 km) from PA 263 in Hatboro, Montgomery County, east to PA 32 in Yardley, Bucks County. PA 332 runs through suburban areas to the north of Philadelphia, serving Warminster, Ivyland, Richboro, and Newtown. The route is two lanes wide most of its length, with the bypass around Newtown a four-lane divided highway. PA 332 intersects PA 132 in Warminster, PA 232 in Richboro, PA 413 and PA 532 in Newtown (all three run concurrently on the Newtown Bypass), and Interstate 295 (I-295) in Lower Makefield Township.
What would become PA 332 between Newtown and Yardley was designated part of Legislative Route 252 in 1911. PA 332 was created in 1928 to run from PA 263 in Hatboro east to Ivyland with the road between Newtown and Yardley designated as part of PA 532. In 1937, PA 332 was extended to PA 113 in Newtown. The route was extended to Yardley in 1946, replacing PA 532. PA 332 was rerouted to bypass Newtown in 1991 when the eastern portion of the Newtown Bypass was completed.
## Route description
PA 332 begins at an intersection with PA 263 (North York Road) in the borough of Hatboro in Montgomery County, heading east on East Montgomery Avenue, a two-lane undivided roadway. The road passes through residential areas, crossing SEPTA's Warminster Line at-grade. Immediately after crossing the railroad tracks, the route turns northeast onto Jacksonville Road and runs through industrial areas with some homes and businesses.
PA 332 intersects East County Line Road and it enters Warminster Township in Bucks County, gaining a center left-turn lane. The road passes between the Warminster station that serves as the terminus of SEPTA's Warminster Line to the west and the neighborhood of Warminster Heights to the east. The route loses the center turn lane before it widens to four lanes and crosses PA 132 near businesses as it continues near industrial parks. The road narrows back to two lanes past the Johnsville Boulevard intersection and enters the borough of Ivyland, heading past homes. The route becomes the border between Ivyland to the northwest and Warminster Township to the southeast prior to crossing Bristol Road into Northampton Township. PA 332 continues between industrial areas to the northwest and residential areas to the southeast, reaching an intersection with Almshouse Road in the community of Jacksonville.
PA 332 turns southeast onto Almshouse Road and runs through a mix of farm fields and residences. Past the Hatboro Road intersection, the road curves to the east and gains a center left-turn lane, heading into the community of Richboro. In Richboro, the route passes through business areas and intersects PA 232. Upon crossing PA 232, PA 332 changes its name to Newtown Richboro Road and continues past more homes as a two-lane road. The road forms the southern boundary of Tyler State Park, running between areas of fields and woods in the park to the north and residential subdivisions to the south and intersecting Holland Road. The route curves northeast and then east before crossing the Neshaminy Creek into Newtown Township, where the name changes to Richboro Road. In this area, the road briefly widens into a divided highway before it comes to an intersection with PA 413/PA 532 at the Newtown Bypass, a road that provides a bypass of the borough of Newtown.
At this point, PA 332 turns south onto the four-lane divided Newtown Bypass, forming a concurrency with PA 413/PA 532. The road heads through wooded areas with nearby residential development, with PA 532 splitting southwest onto Buck Road toward Holland. PA 332/PA 413 curve east, passing over Newtown Creek and coming to a bridge over Freedom Drive and the abandoned Fox Chase/Newtown railroad line. The road enters Middletown Township before PA 413 splits from the bypass by turning south onto Newtown Langhorne Road toward the borough of Langhorne. PA 332 continues east near residential and commercial development as it crosses back into Newtown Township and runs a short distance to the north of the border between Newtown Township and Middletown Township, passing north of a shopping center that is served by an eastbound ramp. The road curves to the northeast at the Penns Trail/Woodbourne Road junction before turning east past the intersection with Newtown Yardley Road.
Upon intersecting Lindenhurst Road/Campus Drive north of the Newtown Campus of Holy Family University, the route enters Lower Makefield Township and becomes Newtown Yardley Road. The road passes through farmland before heading north of an office park and reaching a partial cloverleaf interchange with I-295. Following this interchange, PA 332 becomes a two-lane undivided road and intersects Mirror Lake Road before it enters residential areas and crosses Buck Creek. The route reaches a junction with Yardley Langhorne Road and turns northeast onto Afton Avenue. PA 332 enters the borough of Yardley, where it is known as West Afton Avenue. The road heads into the downtown area and crosses Main Street, where the road name changes to East Afton Avenue, and the Delaware Canal. PA 332 comes to its eastern terminus at an intersection with PA 32, which runs along the west bank of the Delaware River.
## History
What would become PA 332 between Newtown and Yardley was designated as part of Legislative Route 252 in 1911, which continued southeast from Yardley to Morrisville. In 1928, PA 332 was designated to run from PA 263 in Hatboro east to Ivyland, with the portion of road between Newtown and Yardley designated as part of PA 532. Between Ivyland and Newtown, the road remained an unnumbered road that was paved with the exception of a portion west of Newtown. PA 332 was extended from Ivyland east to end at PA 113 (State Street) in Newtown in 1937, with the entire route paved by 1940. PA 332 entered Newtown from the west on Richboro Road. In 1943, PA 332 within Warminster Township was widened as part of a military access road to Naval Air Development Center, Johnsville, costing \$93,789.
In 1946, PA 332 was extended east to Yardley, replacing that portion of PA 532. The route continued north from its previous eastern terminus on PA 413 (former PA 113, State Street) before turning east on Washington Street and leaving Newtown on Newtown Yardley Road. The portion of the Newtown Bypass carrying PA 332 west of PA 413 (Newtown Langhorne Road) was completed as part of a western bypass of Newtown for PA 413 in 1977. In September 1989, construction began to extend the Newtown Bypass east to the interchange between PA 332 and I-95 (now I-295). Construction on this bypass was completed in November 1991 at a cost of \$16.6 million. With the completion of this bypass, PA 332 was rerouted to bypass Newtown. On April 22, 2014, the portion of PA 332 along the Newtown Bypass west of the PA 413 split at Newtown Langhorne Road was renamed the Officer Gregg Memorial Bypass in honor of Brian S. Gregg, a borough of Newtown police officer who was killed in the line of duty on September 29, 2005.
## Major intersections
## See also |
146,077 | Empire of the Sun (film) | 1,172,843,210 | 1987 film by Steven Spielberg | [
"1980s American films",
"1980s war films",
"1987 drama films",
"1987 films",
"American aviation films",
"American coming-of-age films",
"American war drama films",
"American war epic films",
"Films based on British novels",
"Films based on works by J. G. Ballard",
"Films directed by Steven Spielberg",
"Films produced by Frank Marshall",
"Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy",
"Films produced by Steven Spielberg",
"Films scored by John Williams",
"Films set in Shanghai",
"Films set in the 1940s",
"Films shot at EMI-Elstree Studios",
"Films shot in Bedfordshire",
"Films shot in Berkshire",
"Films shot in Cheshire",
"Films shot in Hertfordshire",
"Films shot in Shanghai",
"Films shot in Spain",
"Films with screenplays by Tom Stoppard",
"Japan in non-Japanese culture",
"Pacific War films",
"Second Sino-Japanese War films",
"Shanghai International Settlement",
"Warner Bros. films",
"World War II prisoner of war films"
]
| Empire of the Sun is a 1987 American epic coming-of-age war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tom Stoppard, based on J. G. Ballard's semi-autobiographical 1984 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of Jamie "Jim" Graham (Christian Bale), a young boy who goes from living with his wealthy British family in Shanghai to becoming a prisoner of war in an internment camp operated by the Japanese during World War II.
Harold Becker and David Lean were originally to direct before Spielberg came on board, initially as a producer for Lean. Spielberg was attracted to directing the film because of a personal connection to Lean's films and World War II topics. He considers it to be his most profound work on "the loss of innocence". The film received positive reviews, with praise towards Bale's performance, the cinematography, the visuals, Williams' score and Spielberg's direction. However, the film was not initially a commercial success, earning only \$22 million at the US box office, although it eventually more than recouped its budget through revenues in foreign markets, home video, and television.
## Plot
Amid Japan's invasion of China during World War II, Jamie "Jim" Graham is a British upper middle class schoolboy enjoying a privileged life in the Shanghai International Settlement. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan begins occupying the settlement. As the Graham family evacuate the city, Jamie is separated from his parents in the ensuing chaos. Jamie makes his way back to their house, assuming they will return. After a length of time alone and having eaten the little remaining food, he ventures back into the city.
Hungry, Jamie tries surrendering to Japanese soldiers, who ignore him. After being chased by a street urchin, he is taken in by two American expatriates and hustlers, Basie and Frank. Unable to sell Jamie for money, they intend to abandon him in the streets, but Jamie offers to lead them to his neighbourhood to loot the empty houses there. Jamie is surprised to see lights on in his family home and thinks his parents have returned, only to discover it is occupied by Japanese troops. The trio are taken prisoner, transported to the Lunghua Civilian Assembly Centre in Shanghai for processing, and ultimately sent to an internment camp in Suzhou.
It is now 1945, nearing the end of the Pacific War and WW2. Despite the terror and poor living conditions of the camp, Jim survives by establishing a successful trading network—which even involves the camp's commander, Sergeant Nagata. Dr Rawlins, the camp's British doctor, becomes a father figure and teacher to Jim. Jim also visits Basie in the American POW barracks, where he idolises the Americans and their culture. One night after a bombing raid, Nagata orders the destruction of the prisoners' infirmary as a reprisal, but stops when Jim eloquently begs forgiveness. Through the barbed wire fencing Jim befriends a Japanese teenager who is a trainee pilot.
One morning, at dawn, the base is suddenly attacked by a group of American P-51 Mustang fighter aircraft. Jim is overjoyed and climbs the ruins of a nearby pagoda to better watch the action.
Dr Rawlins chases Jim up the pagoda to save him, whereupon the boy breaks down in tears—saying he cannot remember what his parents look like. Dr. Rawlins comforts Jim and carries him down from the pagoda. As a result of the attack the Japanese decide to evacuate the camp. Basie escapes during the confusion. As they leave, Jim's trainee pilot friend goes through the ritual kamikaze preparation and attempts to take off in a Japanese attack plane. The trainee is devastated when the engine sputters and dies.
The camp prisoners march through the wilderness, where many die from fatigue, starvation and disease. Arriving at a football stadium near Nantao, where many of the Shanghai inhabitants' possessions have been stored by the Japanese, Jim recognises his parents' Packard car. He spends the night there with Mrs. Victor, a fellow prisoner who dies shortly thereafter, and later witnesses flashes from the atomic bombing of Nagasaki hundreds of miles away.
Jim wanders back to the Suzhou camp. Along the way he hears news of Japan's surrender and the war's end. He is reunited with the now-disillusioned Japanese teenager, who remembers Jim and offers him a mango, drawing his guntō to cut it. Basie re-appears with a group of armed Americans to loot the Red Cross containers being airdropped over the area. One of the Americans, thinking Jim is in danger, shoots and kills the Japanese youth. Basie offers to help Jim find his parents but Jim—infuriated over his friend's death—chooses to stay behind.
Jim is eventually found by American soldiers and placed in an orphanage, where he is reunited with his mother and father, though he does not recognise them at first.
## Cast
Author J. G. Ballard makes a cameo appearance as a house party guest.
## Production
### Development
Warner Bros. purchased the film rights, intending Harold Becker to direct and Robert Shapiro to produce. Tom Stoppard wrote the first draft of the screenplay, on which Ballard briefly collaborated. Becker dropped out, and David Lean came to direct with Spielberg as producer. Lean explained, "I worked on it for about a year and in the end I gave it up because I thought it was too similar to a diary. It was well-written and interesting, but I gave it to Steve." Spielberg felt "from the moment I read J. G. Ballard's novel I secretly wanted to direct myself." Spielberg found the project to be very personal. As a child, his favourite film was Lean's The Bridge on the River Kwai, which similarly takes place in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Spielberg's fascination with World War II and the aircraft of that era was stimulated by his father's stories of his experience as a radio operator on North American B-25 Mitchell bombers in the China-Burma Theater. Spielberg hired Menno Meyjes to do an uncredited re-write before Stoppard was brought back to write the shooting script.
### Casting
J.G. Ballard felt Bale had a physical resemblance to himself at the same age. The actor was 12 years old when he was cast. Amy Irving, Bale's co-star in the television movie Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, recommended Bale to her then-husband, Steven Spielberg, for the role. More than 4,000 child actors auditioned. Jim's singing voice was provided by English performer James Rainbird.
### Filming
Empire of the Sun was filmed at Elstree Studios in the United Kingdom, and on location in Shanghai and Spain. Principal photography began on 1 March 1987, and lasted for 16 weeks. The filmmakers searched across Asia in an attempt to find locations that resembled 1941 Shanghai. They entered negotiations with Shanghai Film Studios and China Film Co-Production Corporation in 1985. After a year of negotiations, permission was granted for a three-week shoot in early March 1987. It was the first American film shot in Shanghai since the 1940s. The Chinese authorities allowed the crew to alter signs to traditional Chinese characters, as well as closing down city blocks for filming. Over 5,000 local extras were used, some old enough to remember the Japanese occupation of Shanghai 40 years earlier. Members of the People's Liberation Army played Japanese soldiers. Other locations included Trebujena in Andalusia, Knutsford in Cheshire and Sunningdale in Berkshire. Lean often visited the set during the England shoot.
Spielberg attempted to portray the era accurately, using period vehicles and aircraft. Four Harvard SNJ aircraft were lightly modified in France to resemble Mitsubishi A6M Zero aircraft. Two additional non-flying replicas were used. Three restored P-51D Mustangs, two from 'The Fighter Collection' of England, and one from the 'Old Flying Machine Company', were flown in the film. These P-51s were flown by Ray Hanna (who was featured in the film flying at low-level past the child star with the canopy back, waving), his son Mark and "Hoof" Proudfoot and took over 10 days of filming to complete due to the complexity of the planned aerial sequences, which included the P-51s actually dropping plaster-filled replica 500 lb bombs at low level, with simulated bomb blasts. A number of large scale remote control flying models were also used, including an 18-foot wingspan B-29, but Spielberg felt the results were disappointing, so he extended the film contract with the full-size examples and pilots on set in Trebujena, Spain. J.G. Ballard makes a cameo appearance at the costume party scene.
Spielberg had wanted to film in Super Panavision 70 but did not want to work with the old camera equipment that was only available at the time.
### Special effects
Industrial Light & Magic designed the visual effects sequences with some computer-generated imagery also used for the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Norman Reynolds was hired as the production designer while Vic Armstrong served as the stunt co-ordinator.
## Reception
Empire of the Sun was given a limited release on 11 December 1987 before being widely released on Christmas Day, 1987. The film earned \$22.24 million in North America, and \$44.46 million in other countries, accumulating a worldwide total of \$66.7 million, earning more than its budget but still considered a box office disappointment by Spielberg.
### Critical response
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 77% based on reviews from 61 critics, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "One of Steven Spielberg's most ambitious efforts of the 1980s, Empire of the Sun remains an under-rated gem in the director's distinguished filmography." Metacritic calculated an average score of 62 out of 100 based on 22 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
J. G. Ballard gave positive feedback, and was especially impressed with Christian Bale's performance. Critical reaction was not universally affirmative, but Richard Corliss of Time stated that Spielberg "has energized each frame with allusive legerdemain and an intelligent density of images and emotions". Janet Maslin from The New York Times said Spielberg's movie-conscious spirit gave it "a visual splendor, a heroic adventurousness and an immense scope that make it unforgettable". Julie Salamon of The Wall Street Journal wrote that the film was "an edgy, intelligent script by playwright Tom Stoppard, Spielberg has made an extraordinary film out of Mr. Ballard's extraordinary war experience." J. Hoberman from The Village Voice decried that the serious subject was undermined by Spielberg's "shamelessly kiddiecentric" approach. Roger Ebert gave a mixed reaction, "Despite the emotional potential in the story, it didn't much move me. Maybe, like the kid, I decided that no world where you can play with airplanes can be all that bad." On his TV show with Gene Siskel, Ebert said that the film "is basically a good idea for a film that never gets off the ground". Siskel added, "I don't know what the film is about. It's so totally confused and taking things from different parts. On one hand, if it wants to say something about a child's-eye view of war, you got a movie made by John Boorman called Hope and Glory that was just released that is much better, and much more daring in showing the whimsy that children's view of war is. On the other hand, this film wants to hedge its bet and make it like an adventure film, so you've got like Indiana Jones with the John Malkovich character helping the little kid through all the fun of war. I don't know what Spielberg wanted to do."
### Awards
The film won awards from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures for Best Film and Best Director, and Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor, the first National Board award bestowed on a child actor. At the 60th Academy Awards, Empire of the Sun was nominated for Art Direction, Cinematography, Costume Design (Bob Ringwood), Film Editing, Original Music Score, and Sound (Robert Knudson, Don Digirolamo, John Boyd and Tony Dawe). It did not convert any of the nominations into awards. Allen Daviau, who was nominated as cinematographer, publicly complained, "I can't second-guess the Academy, but I feel very sorry that I get nominations and Steven doesn't. It's his vision that makes it all come together, and if Steven wasn't making these films, none of us would be here." The film won awards for cinematography, sound design, and music score at the 42nd British Academy Film Awards. The nominations included production design, costume design, and adapted screenplay. Spielberg was honored for this work by the Directors Guild of America, while the American Society of Cinematographers honored Allen Daviau. Empire of the Sun was nominated for Best Motion Picture (Drama) and Original Score at the 45th Golden Globe Awards. John Williams earned a Grammy Award nomination.
## Themes
Jim's growing alienation from his pre-war self and society is reflected in his hero-worship of the Japanese aviators based at the airfield adjoining the camp. "I think it's true that the Japanese were pretty brutal with the Chinese, so I don't have any particularly sentimental view of them," Ballard recalled. "But small boys tend to find their heroes where they can. One thing there was no doubt about, and that was that the Japanese were extremely brave. One had very complicated views about patriotism [and] loyalty to one's own nation. Jim is constantly identifying himself, first with the Japanese; then, when the Americans start flying over in their Mustangs and B-29s, he's very drawn to the American."
The apocalyptic wartime setting and the climactic moment when Jim sees the distant white flash of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki gave Spielberg powerful visual metaphors "to draw a parallel story between the death of this boy's innocence and the death of the innocence of the entire world". Spielberg reflected he "was attracted to the idea that this was a death of innocence, not an attenuation of childhood, which by my own admission and everybody's impression of me is what my life has been. This was the opposite of Peter Pan. This was a boy who had grown up too quickly." Other topics that Spielberg previously dealt with, and are presented in Empire of the Sun, include a child being separated from his parents (The Sugarland Express, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Color Purple, and Poltergeist) and World War II (1941, and Raiders of the Lost Ark). Spielberg explained "My parents got a divorce when I was 14, 15. The whole thing about separation is something that runs very deep in anyone exposed to divorce."
## In popular culture
The dramatic attack on the Japanese prisoner of war camp carried out by P-51 Mustangs is accompanied by Jim's whoops of "...the Cadillac of the skies!", a phrase believed to be first used in Ballard's text as "Cadillac of air combat". Steven Bull quotes the catchwords in the Encyclopedia of Military Technology and Innovation (2004) as originating in 1941. John Williams' soundtrack includes "Cadillac of the Skies" as an individual score cue.
Ben Stiller conceived the idea for Tropic Thunder while performing in Empire of the Sun.
## See also
- Empire of the Sun (soundtrack) |
3,076,847 | Philostrate | 1,141,906,234 | Fictional character in A Midsummer Night's Dream | [
"Characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream",
"Fictional Greek people",
"Fictional nobility",
"Literary characters introduced in 1596",
"Male Shakespearean characters"
]
| Philostrate (/ˈfɪləstreɪt/; meaning "lover of battle") is a fictional character in a number of literary works, including William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (1596). In that play, he is the Master of the Revels at Theseus' court, meaning he is in charge of his lord's entertainments, making recommendations to Theseus, as well as altering the text of some of the plays performed in his court. Shakespeare may have used this character to poke fun at play censorship in London at the time. In early performances of the play, the actor who played this character probably also played the part of Egeus, Hermia's strict father. There is only one scene in act V where both Egeus and Philostrate are present, and in this scene Egeus' character would have taken all of Philostrate's lines as his own.
## Role in the play
As Theseus's head guard, Philostrate is asked to defend his Lord and also makes recommendations for plays to help while away the time. He is also the one who chooses plays for Theseus. Theseus rejects all of the plays except "Pyramus and Thisbe", which Philostrate has given a particularly bad review. He advises the betrothed king not to choose "The Mechanicals'" (the workers') play because it is badly rehearsed:
> I have heard it over, And it is nothing, nothing in the world, Unless you can find sport in their [The Mechanicals'] intents, Extremely stretched, & conned [learnt] with cruel pain, To do you service.
Theseus, eager to please his fiancée, Hippolyta, and the rest of his court, chooses Pyramus and Thisbe despite Philostrate's efforts. Because of its amateurishness, the play turns out to be humorous.
## Context
Shakespeare is known for borrowing plots and characters from other stories, but the source of A Midsummer Night's Dream has proved difficult to trace. There is no clear parallel to its plot in the literature of his time. However, many of its characters' names and relationships are borrowed from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Philostrate is no exception. His name is the pseudonym adopted by Arcite upon covertly returning to Athens in The Knight's Tale to work for Theseus. (A Knight's Tale was dramatised nearly twenty years later by Shakespeare and Fletcher as The Two Noble Kinsmen.) Chaucer himself took the name Philostrate from Boccaccio's poem Il Filostrato, a story about Troilus and Criseyde. Because Chaucer's Arcite adopts this identity to become a servant at Theseus' court, it is possible that the Midsummer Night's Dream character is meant to be the same person in a continuation of the story. However, the two characters have little else in common. Another candidate for the source of Philostrate's character is Philostratus the Elder, the author of Comus, a play which has similarities to Midsummer Night's Dream.
Philostrate's duty in Theseus' court is to examine the play that Nick Bottom and the others are about to perform and to make suggestions for improvement. It is also his duty to advise Theseus on matters of entertainment. Theseus calls him "our usual manager of mirth". The official term for Philostrate's position in the court is the Master of the Revels.
In Shakespeare's day, the queen of England had her own Master of the Revels—appointed to oversee all entertainment in London. Before a play could be performed, its script had to go through him, and whenever the Queen wanted to see a play, he would make recommendations. By 1581 (over a decade before the writing of Dream), all plays had to be approved by the Master of Revels prior to being performed. Shakespeare seems to be poking fun at the profession through Philostrate. At one point, when Theseus asks Philostrate to recommend a play to help pass the time, he lists several which sound ridiculous, such as "the battle with the centaurs to be sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp". These names are humorous examples of the types of plays that were actually being performed around the time of Dream. They were becoming old however, and, like Theseus, monarchs were searching for something new, refreshing, and sophisticated.
## Performances
In original performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actor who played Egeus and the actor who played Philostrate were probably one and the same. This can be gathered through discrepancies between the First Folio and earlier quarto versions of the play. In act V, scene 1, for example, the quartos say "Call Philostrate" in several places where the 1623 Folio says "Call Egeus". This would be an easy mistake to make if one actor had spoken both parts in this scene. One actor filling both roles explains the jumbled dialogue in this scene. Howard Furness, editor of several Shakespeare editions, interprets this a little differently, saying that Shakespeare may not have originally intended both roles to be played by the same person, but that directors combined the roles to save money. In any case, act V, scene 1, is the only scene in which both men are present at the same time. In cases where one actor was playing both roles, Egeus' character would probably have filled both roles in this scene, absorbing Philostrate's lines into his own.
However, during act V, there is no mention of Egeus, nor does he have a speaking role. It is logical, however, that he would have been in attendance since it is also his daughter Hermia's wedding that the group if there to celebrate. |
22,497,811 | Lafayette Park Historic District | 1,169,233,328 | Neighborhood in central Albany, New York, where state capitol, city hall and courthouse are located | [
"Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)",
"National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York",
"Neighborhoods in Albany, New York"
]
| The Lafayette Park Historic District is located in central Albany, New York, United States. It includes the park and the combination of large government buildings and small rowhouses on the neighboring streets. In 1978 it was recognized as a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Many of its contributing properties are themselves listed on the National Register. One of them, the New York State Capitol, is a National Historic Landmark as well. Other government buildings include City Hall, the building housing Albany County government, the state's highest court and the offices of its Education Department along with the offices of the City School District of Albany. The Episcopal Diocese of Albany's cathedral is at one corner of the district.
While the state capitol building has always been located on its present site, for most of the 19th century the neighborhood was best known for the townhouses on Elk Street, then one of the most desirable addresses in the city. Many politicians, including some of the state's governors and presidents Martin Van Buren and Franklin D. Roosevelt, lived there at different times. Henry James would recall the neighborhood from his childhood visits to his aunt as "vaguely portentous, like beasts of the forest not wholly exorcised." Two significant technological accomplishments—the development of the first working electromagnet and the construction of the first cantilevered arch bridge—also took place within it. Henry Hobson Richardson, Philip Hooker and Marcus T. Reynolds are among the architects with buildings in the district.
The park that gives the district its name was not actually built until the early 20th century, after larger government buildings had begun to dominate the area. In it and the other three parks are statues commemorating George Washington and Albany natives like Civil War general Phillip Sheridan and electromagnet discoverer Joseph Henry. John Quincy Adams Ward and J. Massey Rhind are among the sculptors represented. Although the district has been affected by modern trends—most of the Elk Street houses are now offices for various organizations that lobby the state government—it has remained mostly intact. It remains a vital part of Albany's public sphere, with the parks having hosted everything from benefit sales for soldiers' medical care during the Civil War to Occupy Albany's tent encampments and protests during the 2010s.
## Geography
The 36-acre (15 ha; 150,000 m<sup>2</sup>) district is rectangular, extending a block to the north and south of Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5), with an irregularly shaped projection at its northeast corner. From its southeast corner, at the intersection of State and Eagle streets, it runs west along State, between the state capitol and the Empire State Plaza office complex to the south. At South Swan Street, it turns north, with the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building and other contributing properties of the adjacent Center Square/Hudson–Park Historic District on the west.
It continues north two blocks, now bordering the Washington Avenue Corridor Historic District, to the Elk Street intersection. Here it runs past Cathedral of All Saints and the back of the State Education Department building to the South Hawk Street intersection. The boundary turns north along the continuation of South Hawk and then turns east again to Columbia Street at the entrance to the top deck of a large parking garage in nearby Sheridan Hollow.
At the Eagle Street junction, it turns north to the rear lot line of a building on that side of the street, then along its east line to the rear lines of the rowhouses along Columbia Street all the way to Chapel Street. It follows that street south back to Columbia, and turns east again all the way to Lodge Street, again sharing a boundary, this time with the Downtown Albany Historic District.
Just before reaching St. Mary's Church, at Steuben Street, the line turns west again, then south, between the New York State Court of Appeals Building and the parking lot behind it. Crossing Pine Street it jogs slightly westward, then turns south and west to Eagle Street, around the back of City Hall. From there it turns south in the middle of Eagle Street and returns to the southeast corner.
The terrain slopes gently eastward, toward the nearby Hudson River, becoming slightly steeper in the eastern portion of the district. On the north it drops off more abruptly into Sheridan Hollow.
Much of the southern portion of the district is open space. East and West Capitol parks flank that building. To its northeast, on the block between Elk, Eagle, Hawk and Washington, is one large park that is actually two: Lafayette Park, owned by the state, on the west and city-owned Academy Park on the east. In between them on the north side is the former Albany Academy building, now the main offices of the Albany City School District.
The large government buildings around the park were, like the state capitol, built in the late 19th century. Their architectural styles vary from the capitol's mix of Second Empire and French Renaissance Revival to the Classical Revival stylings of the Court of Appeals and Education Department building. The cathedral adds some Gothic Revival to the mix. The residential areas in the north primarily have two-story brick townhouses dating to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are 35 buildings in the district; all but three are contributing properties
## History
The district has an early period corresponding roughly to the 19th century, in which it was noted for the residences of socially prominent residents and politicians. After the completion of the current capitol building at century's end, it began to be dominated by large government buildings, with the open space, including the park that gives the district its name, coming into place in the early decades of the new century.
### 1809–1899: Elk Street and residences
The neighborhood has been home to the centers of power since it was established. In 1809, 12 years after Albany was permanently designated New York's state capital at the end of the 18th century, the first state capitol building in the city was erected on a site adjacent to the location of the current building. The city government used the building as well for meetings and office space. Philip Hooker's original Albany Academy building, the oldest extant building in the district, was built 1815–17.
In the academy building, a dozen years later, one of the school's professors, Joseph Henry, conducted experiments with electricity that proved the existence of inductance and created the first functional electromagnet. For several years in the early 1830s he demonstrated the practical effects of this discovery to his classes by using a magnet to ring a bell at the end of a wire run around the room. Not only was this the prototype for the electric doorbell, it has been considered an important step on the road to the invention of the telegraph two decades later.
In 1832, the city government decided it needed its own city hall, and Hooker provided a domed marble Greek Revival building on the present site, which had already been designated for future development as a public square. The next year, the two acres (8,100 m<sup>2</sup>) on the east of the Academy building were formally laid out as Academy Park. It was encircled by an iron fence similar to that which Hooker had designed for nearby Capitol Park. Elk and Columbia streets were the center of development, primarily residential, in the district during this era. On the former, the houses closest to the park, Nos. 2 through 7, were built between 1827 and 1833, among them some considered Albany's finest Greek Revival houses. Columbia Street, where Henry made his home at 107, was developed more modestly.
Because of its proximity to the capitol, Elk Street was often a preferred residence of the state's governors during this era, since New York did not erect its governor's mansion until later in the 19th century. William L. Marcy lived at 2 Elk Street during his first term, and Hamilton Fish made 21 Elk his home after he was elected in 1848. Daniel Barnard, a congressman and later ambassador to Germany, lived at 25 Elk Street and may have owned 1 Elk Street (since demolished). Three governors—Enos T. Throop, Washington Hunt and Horatio Seymour—rented the building from him during their tenure in office.
Martin van Buren, a state senator and New York's Attorney General before he became U.S. President, owned 4 Elk Street and lived there for some of the time he was not serving in the latter post. While he was, it was occupied by his son Smith Thompson and his wife, Ellen King James. Among the visitors who came to the house in the later years was Ellen's young nephew Henry. Later in his life, when he had become an accomplished novelist, he wrote that Elk Street had always seemed to him "vaguely portentous, as though beasts of the forests not fully exorcised."
The first of the large buildings, mostly governmental edifices, that dominate the district today, the New York State Court of Appeals Building, was designed in 1835 and opened in 1842. Originally "State Hall", housing a number of other state offices before the court moved in following its 1847 creation, Henry Rector's neoclassical structure used all three orders in its design. It was considered one of the finest government buildings of its era. Four years later, 17 Elk Street, the grandest house yet built on that street, was sold to John V. L. Pruyn, an industrialist who later served in the state senate and U.S. House. It was expanded to the east in 1858.
After the Civil War, during which a temporary structure was set up in Academy Park as the Army Relief Bazaar to raise money for medical supplies, this change accelerated further with the beginning of construction of the new capitol. Marcus T. Reynolds, an architect who worked in the city through the 1930s, was born at 98 Columbia Street in 1869 and lived there both as a child and an old man. In 1880, Hooker's 1832 City Hall burned down. Henry Hobson Richardson, then in Albany working on the state capitol, designed the current building to replace it, and it was soon completed, in part because the budget and cost overruns did not allow for an interior to match Richardson's ornate Romanesque exterior.
In the decade after the war, Elk Street continued to be a residential neighborhood. Reflecting the Gilded Age, most of those who made their homes there were not politicians but some of the city's newly wealthy industrialists. The park was neglected during this time—Huybertie Pruyn, who lived in the area as a child during the 1870s and '80s, recalls it as a "wretchedly kept place". It had only one light in the center, was locked at 10 p.m. every night, and even so children were warned not to go into it after dark.
The Rev. William Croswell Doane had been appointed bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany in 1867. He lived at 29 Elk Street, and presided over the construction of Cathedral of All Saints, completed in 1888. The young architect Robert W. Gibson won the commission over Richardson with his Gothic Revival design. Doane's original plan was for the block on which the cathedral was located to be an entire campus with a school, hospital and convent, a "mother church" for the diocese, similar to some Anglican cathedrals in England. He was unable to persuade the church's trustees to spend the additional money, which would have an effect on the building later.
The same year, the thousand-foot (300 m) Hawk Street Viaduct was built, connecting the neighborhoods north of Sheridan Hollow, now home to many of the workers in the industrialized city, with the Lafayette Park area. Since dismantled, it is believed to have been the first cantilevered arch bridge in the world, designed by former state engineer Elnathan Sweet. A segment of the iron railing and its south abutment remain, as contributing properties.
Elk Street remained an address known for its high style. In 1897, newly elected Lieutenant Governor Timothy L. Woodruff, who would serve three governors in that position, moved into 5 Elk Street. Albany society took immediate notice of his penchant for the latest clothing, his fine horses, and his English coachman, who had most recently worked for Lilly Langtry, Prince Edward's mistress.
In 1899, the new state capitol was finally finished. With government so firmly established in the area, some of the old houses nearby began to be adapted into office space for institutions that desired the proximity to the state's elected officials, or subdivided into smaller living spaces. A fire insurers' organization converted 1–2 Columbia Place, including one of the buildings that had served as sculptor Erastus Dow Palmer's studio in the middle of the century, into its offices. Similarly, 105–107 Columbia Street became an apartment building.
### 1900–present: New Capitol, government buildings and parks
The early 20th century significantly transformed the district. First, two more large government buildings were added. In 1906 Andrew Sloan Draper, first commissioner of the state's State Education Department (SED), wanted to move his agency into space of its own near the capitol along with the state library and museum. He considered the block on which Cathedral of All Saints stood to be the ideal location; however, the cathedral still owned some of the land and his approaches to the Doane, who had not abandoned his mother church plan, led to animosity between the two. While the bishop was traveling overseas, Draper used his political influence to have the state buy all the remaining land on the block. Doane, forced to abandon his longtime plan, succeeded in getting the legislature to limit the SED building to two stories, but Draper retaliated by making sure that those two stories, on Henry Hornbostel's colonnaded marble Beaux-Arts structure were as tall as possible, blocking the cathedral off from the rest of the city.
While it was being built, the district would be home for two years to another resident later to become prominent, future president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He lived in 4 Elk Street from 1910 to 1912 while serving as a state senator. Other houses nearby, and on Columbia, were being renovated, usually by Marcus T. Reynolds. In 1912, the Education Department building was completed, followed four years later by Albany County's new courthouse and office building next to the Court of Appeals.
During the time the district was preparing to receive its distinguishing feature. Starting in 1908, the block between Academy Park and Hawk Street was cleared to create Lafayette Park, named for the Marquis de Lafayette, who had stayed in Albany during 1778 and visited the city in the 1820s. In the process more than 30 houses were demolished, including those of Palmer and writer Leonard Kip. With the space opening up, more public statuary was erected. Daniel Chester French arranged for John Quincy Adams Ward's memorial sculpture to Union Army General Phillip Sheridan, an Albany native, to be posthumously placed on a pedestal east of the capitol designed by Lincoln Memorial architect Henry Bacon. In 1925, a J. Massey Rhind statue of another Albany military man, Revolutionary War General Phillip Schuyler, went up in front of City Hall. It was followed two years later by one of Joseph Henry, sculpted by John Flanagan, in front of the Albany Academy.
West Capitol Park was expanded threefold from a modest plan submitted by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted in 1898. In keeping with the ideals of the contemporary City Beautiful movement, it was reimagined as a "court of honor", surrounded by the Capitol, SED building and the newer Alfred E. Smith Building, towering over the older ones at the park's west side. Ideas by former state architects Franklin B. Ware and Lewis Pilcher were also incorporated. When it opened in 1930 it framed the capitol's west facade with a tree-lined entrance mall. A replica of Jean-Antoine Houdon's statue of George Washington, displayed in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol, was installed in the park in 1932 to commemorate the first president's bicentennial.
The changes in the neighborhood were reflected in its building use. In 1930, the academy moved out of the building it had outgrown; after the city bought it eventually became the offices of the Albany City School District. Reynolds, in one of his final projects, supervised the renovation of the interior, a New Deal project funded by the Public Works Administration. The Pruyns had moved out of 17 Elk Street around 1910; their house eventually became the state headquarters of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. They were followed by most of the other socially prominent families who had called Elk home. The house at 4, where the young Henry James had visited his aunt almost a century before, likewise became home to another fraternal organization, the Moose International.
Through the middle of the century the district remained stable, with no significant new buildings, demolitions or other changes. That began to change in the late 1960s as urban renewal touched Albany, and the modernist towers of Empire State Plaza rose to the south, dwarfing the older government buildings in the district. Preservation efforts grew. Daniel Barnard's old house at 1 Elk Street was demolished in 1969. At the corner of Elk and Eagle, activists were able to save the facades of three townhouses which were otherwise to have been demolished for another modernist building, James Stewart Polshek's New York Law Center, which they serve to screen from the street.
The following year, 1970, the Hawk Street viaduct was dismantled. Only its south abutment and a portion of its handrail were left. As Empire State Plaza neared completion in the late 1970s, the state library and museum left the SED building for larger, dedicated space of their own built within the new complex.
In 1986, a memorial to Albany County's dead and missing from the Vietnam War was commissioned for Lafayette Park. Sculptor Merlin Szosz produced a stele in the classical Greek mode, made of pink Brazilian granite and adorned with the names of those casualties, plus a relief of a soldier holding his fallen comrade amid Southeast Asian vegetation. It is set amid four gas lanterns shaped like lotuses and a circle of bronze benches. It was installed and dedicated in 1992.
Two decades later, the social turmoil that accompanied the Vietnam War on the home front echoed through the park anew. In October 2011, protesters inspired by Occupy Wall Street in Manhattan set up Occupy Albany, a tent encampment in the parks, to call attention to rising socioeconomic inequality during the Great Recession as their fellow activists downstate had. The state originally instituted a curfew of 11 p.m. for Lafayette Park in order to force them to leave, and police cited several of them for violating it. These plans failed when David Soares, the county district attorney, dropped the charges and city officials issued the group a permit to stay in Academy Park, which was under its jurisdiction and not the state's, in return for its cleanup efforts and limitations on its presence. Occupy Albany stayed in the park for another 15 days before the city evicted it as winter came on. The group continues to hold rallies and events in the parks.
## Significant contributing properties
Six buildings in the district are individually listed on the National Register in addition to being contributing properties to the district. They include the cathedral and all government buildings save the county courthouse. One of those government buildings, the state capitol, is further designated a National Historic Landmark. There are still others that are noteworthy within the context of the district.
### National Historic Landmark
- New York State Capitol, State Street: One of the last state capitol buildings in the nation to be located in an urban center when it was finished in 1899 after a 32-year construction period plagued by delays, it is also one of 11 that are not domed. Original architect Thomas Fuller had, in fact, designed a domed Renaissance Revival building, but he was forced off the project due to cost overruns in building the first three stories, and it was later left to various other architects, including Henry Hobson Richardson, to finish the 220-foot (67 m) structure in the Romanesque Revival mode, and as a result of this discontinuity it is often referred to as "a building at war with itself."
### National Register of Historic Places
- Albany City Hall, 24 Eagle Street: Henry Hobson Richardson designed the fourth building to house Albany's government in 1880 when its 1832 predecessor was destroyed by fire. The granite building is considered one of his finest works, although he left the interior to later architects, including Marcus T. Reynolds. In 1927 its 202-foot (62 m) tower was equipped with the first municipal carillon in America.
- Cathedral of All Saints, 62 South Swan Street: Richardson lost the contest to design this 1884 structure to the then relatively unknown Robert W. Gibson, who had, unlike Richardson, followed the design specifications. The Gothic Revival stone and brick structure was completed four years later. William Croswell Doane, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany, had meant it to be the center of a "mother church" complex similar to those in some English diocesan seats, but the completion of the SED building two decades later made those plans impossible. Even the cathedral itself remains incomplete, with two foundations for higher rear spires in its rear.
- Old Albany Academy Building, Academy Park: Philip Hooker's 1815 stone neoclassical design for the school is the oldest civic building in the city, and the less altered of his two remaining non-residential buildings. Joseph Henry would later demonstrate the existence of electromagnetism in experiments there, and the building was named for him. It has been home to the Albany City School District since 1930.
- New York Court of Appeals Building, 20 Eagle Street: Built originally in 1842 as State Hall, this late Greek Revival structure with thick load-bearing walls housed several other government offices in addition to the state's highest court. Its decoration features all three classical orders.
- New York State Education Department Building, 89 Washington Avenue: This monumental 1912 Classical Revival stone building, with its colonnade running the length of the block, was the first building in America to house a state government's education agency. Commissioner Andrew Sloan Draper made sure the two stories Doane had persuaded the legislature to limit the building to were nevertheless high enough to obstruct the view of All Saints from the rest of the city. Originally it also housed the state library and museum until they moved to separate quarters in the 1970s.
### Others
- 83 and 85 Columbia Street: These two pre-Civil War townhouses have unusual bowed facades.
- 98 Columbia Street: The residence of architect Marcus T. Reynolds during his earliest and latest years. He grew up here, raised by his father and aunt after his mother died while he was very young. After his professional success, he bought the house and remodeled it.
- 99 Columbia Street: Local cabinetmaker John Meads built what is probably another Hooker design in 1829. While its original concave entrance has been moved to the Albany Institute of History & Art, Meads' interior carvings remain.
- 107 Columbia Street: Joseph Henry lived here while he was teaching and experimenting at the Albany Academy. His house was actually one of the two Federal style buildings that have since been combined.
- 2 Elk Street: Several years after this 1827 townhouse was completed, Governor William L. Marcy made it his official residence. It is believed to have been designed by Hooker, since it complements the Academy building across the street. Congressman Rufus H. King lived there later in the 19th century.
- 4 Elk Street: Built around the same time as its neighbor, this townhouse was owned by, and at times home to, Martin van Buren; his son and daughter-in-law lived there after his presidency. It was visited by her nephew, the young Henry James; later it was the home of Franklin D. Roosevelt for one of his terms in the State Senate.
- 6 Elk Street: When this red brick house was built in 1834, it was one of the largest on the street and one of Albany's best Greek Revival houses. William Patterson Van Rensselaer, a descendant of one of colonial Albany's wealthiest and most prominent families, built it upon his marriage. Later it would serve as the deanery for the cathedral.
- 17 Elk Street: This ornate Gothic Revival townhouse displaced 6 and 7 Elk as the grandest on the block when it was finished in 1845. Builder John V. L. Pruyn was a consolidator of the New York Central Railroad and later a state senator, U.S. Representative, regent of the University of the State of New York.
- 21 Elk Street: Orr and Cunningham, the builders of Pruyn's house, are considered to have surpassed it with this one, built in 1845 for John Adams Dix. It is unlikely however that he lived there for any length of time since he was elected to the U.S. Senate by the legislature later that year in a special election. Pruyn lived there for a while instead, and Hamilton Fish made it his residence during his term as governor.
- 25 Elk Street: Daniel D. Barnard, an assemblyman, Congressman, and later ambassador to Prussia lived here between the 1830s and 1850s. He also owned the now-demolished 1 Elk Street, which he rented to several other politicians, including three governors.
- 29 Elk Street: A striking house of brick laid in Flemish bond, with marble Doric columns on the first floor topped by ionic ones on the second, this was the residence of Episcopal bishop William Croswell Doane from his appointment in 1869 to his death four decades later. It continued to be the residence of subsequent bishops through the 1960s.
- Albany County Courthouse, 16 Eagle Street: The last of the large government buildings in the district to be erected, this 1910s granite and limestone Classical Revival design was meant to be sympathetic with the Court of Appeals building next door, featuring the same combination of Doric columns at the lower levels and Ionic columns above. Its intricate ornamentation extends to its bronze doors and cast iron exterior lamps with an acanthus motif. Inside it is centered around a two-story light court with marble Doric and Ionic columns and a vaulted ceiling of stained glass.
- Hawk Street Viaduct Abutment and Railing, North Hawk Street: These are all that remains of the Hawk Street Viaduct, believed to have been the first cantilevered arch bridge when it was built in 1888 to carry pedestrians over Sheridan Hollow to and from the working-class neighborhoods north of downtown. It was dismantled in 1970.
## Parks
- Academy Park: The first park in the district was created in 1833 and named for the nearby school. In its two acres (8,100 m<sup>2</sup>) is a statute of Joseph Henry, commemorating his discovery of electromagnetism in the nearby building.
- East Capitol Park: A statute of Civil War general Phillip Sheridan, who lived in Albany as a boy, stands between Eagle Street and the main steps of the state capitol building. Daniel Chester French lobbied to have it placed here after sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward's death.
- Lafayette Park: The larger portion of land west of the Academy building was a developed block until the 1920s. The resulting park was named in honor of the Marquis de Lafayette, who lived in the city during 1778 and returned during his 1824 visit.
- West Capitol Park: A modest 1898 design by the sons of legendary park designer Frederick Law Olmsted was eventually expanded to its present size in the 1930s by several other architects in an attempt to create one of the "courts of honor" favored by the City Beautiful movement. Its statue is a replica of Jean-Antoine Houdon's George Washington, facing the capitol, placed to commemorate the bicentennial of his birth.
## See also
- Architecture of Albany, New York
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York |
42,654,254 | Tuvalu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee | 1,143,338,088 | National Olympic Committee | [
"2007 establishments in Tuvalu",
"Commonwealth Games Associations",
"National Olympic Committees",
"Sports governing bodies in Tuvalu",
"Sports organizations established in 2007",
"Tuvalu at the Olympics"
]
| The Tuvalu Association of Sports and National Olympic Committee (TASNOC) is the Tuvaluan organization recognized as a National Olympic Committee (NOC) by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 2006, Tuvalu satisfied the IOC's criterion of a minimum five national sports federations recognized by their international sports federations, which included basketball, volleyball, weightlifting, boxing and table tennis.
TASNOC is a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Code published by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
## History
TASNOC came into existence when the Tuvalu Amateur Sport Association or Tuvalu Association of Sports (TAS) was recognized as the Tuvalu National Olympic Committee on 16 July 2007. Robert Laupula managed the Tuvalu Sports Association and the application for membership of the Olympic movement, which was co-ordinated by the Oceania National Olympic Committees.
Geoffrey Ludbrook, who represented Tuvalu at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in the men's 50m Rifle Prone event, worked with the Oceania Shooting Federation so that the Tuvalu Shooting Association obtained full membership of the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) in 2007.
In 2013, Tuvalu was granted Associate status in the Oceania Continent Handball Federation by the International Handball Federation.
## Facilities and management
Tuvalu has one sporting field close to the airport. Athletes also train on the airport tarmac, the beach, or on a road. TASNOC's Secretary General said the following about the biggest challenges the committee faces: "I think it's finance and facilities, sporting facilities."
The athletes do not have access to nutritionists, physiotherapists, and sports psychologists. They talk with the pastors of the church for guidance.
In 2007, the Secretary General of the Tuvalu National Olympic Committee was Nakibae Kitiseni. The Secretary General in 2012 was Teake Esene Manatu, who was succeeded by Isala T. Isala on April 3, 2014. The Secretary General is responsible for the logistics of the Tuvalu Games, as well as the logistics when athletes participate in regional and international competitions. They are also in charge of talent acquisition and recruiting.
Kausea Natano was TASNOC's President in 2007. Ampelosa Tehulu, from the Tuvalu Basketball Sports Federation, was elected President of TASNOC on 5 March 2015. Eselealofa Apinelu was the immediate past President. Iakopo Molotii was elected President of TASNOC on September 9, 2016.
The annual budget of TASNOC is 10,000 Australian dollars.
## Events
### Olympics
Tuvalu participates in the Olympic Games in the Summer Olympics and have not competed at the Winter Games. Tuvalu entered the Olympic Games for the first time at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, with a weightlifter and two athletes in the men's and women's 100-metre sprints. A team with athletes in the same events represented Tuvalu at the 2012 Summer Olympics, in London, United Kingdom.
Etimoni Timuani represented Tuvalu at 2016 Summer Olympics in the 100 metre event. Tuvalu was the only country to send one competitor to the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Tuvalu was represented in athletic events at the 2020 Summer Olympics by Karalo Maibuca in the men’s 100 metres, and Matie Stanley in the women’s 100 metres.
### Pacific Games
TASNOC organizes Tuvalu's participation in the Pacific Games, and they have participated in six Games. The association is responsible for training the athletes and preparation for the Games. Tuvalu arrived at the 2015 Pacific Games two hours before the Opening Ceremony due to a cyclone that affected the team's travel. They earned their first ever gold medal at the games when Telupe Iosefa won the powerlifting competition.
## Tuvalu Commonwealth Games Association
TASNOC is also responsible for organising Tuvalu's participation in the Commonwealth Games and the Commonwealth Youth Games. Tuvalu joined the Commonwealth Games Federation and first participated in the Commonwealth Games in 1998, when a weightlifter attended the games held at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Tuvalu has subsequently sent teams to compete in every Commonwealth Games since 2002. They have participated in table tennis, athletics, shooting, weightlifting, boxing and beach volleyball.
## Affiliations
- Tuvalu Athletics Association (TAA)
- Oceania National Olympic Committees
- Commonwealth Games Federation
## See also
- Tuvalu at the Olympics
- Tuvalu at the Commonwealth Games
- Tuvalu at the Pacific Games
- Tuvaluan records in athletics |
27,396,005 | 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen | 1,168,851,319 | null | [
"2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series",
"2010 in sports in New York (state)",
"NASCAR races at Watkins Glen International"
]
| The 2010 Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race that was held on August 8, 2010, at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York. Contested over 90 laps, it was the twenty-second race of the 2010 Sprint Cup Series season and the second of two road course competitions on the schedule. The race was won by Juan Pablo Montoya, for the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team. Kurt Busch finished second, and Marcos Ambrose, who started eleventh, clinched third.
Conditions were sunny at the start of the race. Pole position driver Carl Edwards maintained his lead on the first lap, but Jamie McMurray, who had started in the second position on the grid, took the lead before the fifth lap was over. Afterward, Montoya became the leader and would eventually lead a total of 74 laps, more than any other driver. During the final twenty laps, Montoya maintained the lead after multiple cautions. During the final lap, Kurt Busch was gaining on Montoya, but Montoya maintained his position to win his first race of the season.
There were five cautions and ten lead changes among five different drivers throughout the course of the race. Montoya's win was his first of the season and the second of his career. The result moved him up two spots to nineteenth in the Drivers' Championship, 774 points behind of leader Kevin Harvick and 35 ahead of Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet maintained its lead in the Manufacturers' Championship, twenty-seven points ahead of Toyota and fifty-six ahead of Ford, with fourteen races remaining in the season.
## Race report
### Background
Watkins Glen International is one of two road courses to hold NASCAR races, the other being Infineon Raceway. The standard short road course at Watkins Glen International is an 11-turn course that is 2.45 miles (3.94 km) long; the track was modified in 1992, adding the Inner Loop, which lengthened the long course to 3.4 miles (5.5 km) and the short course to the current length of 2.45 miles (3.94 km).
Before the race, Kevin Harvick led the Drivers' Championship with 3,080 points, and Jeff Gordon stood in second with 2,891. Denny Hamlin was third in the Drivers' Championship with 2,820 points, Jimmie Johnson was fourth with 2,803, and Jeff Burton was in fifth with 2,757. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet was leading with 149 points, 22 points ahead of their rival Toyota. Ford, with 99 points, was 12 points ahead of Dodge in the battle for third.
### Practice and qualifying
Two practice sessions were held before the Sunday race—both on Friday. The first session lasted 110 minutes, and the Friday afternoon session ran for 80 minutes. During the first practice session, Greg Biffle was the quickest with a time of 1:12.205. Hamlin and Paul Menard followed in the second and third positions, but were ahead of Burton and Kurt Busch in fourth and fifth. In the Friday afternoon practice session, Biffle remained the quickest with a fastest lap time of 1:11.092. Juan Pablo Montoya followed in the second position, less than a second faster than Marcos Ambrose and Kurt Busch in third and fourth. Harvick placed fifth with a fastest lap time three-tenths of a second off Biffle's pace. Tony Stewart, who won this race in 2009, only managed sixth.
During qualifying, forty-six cars were entered, but only forty-three were able to race because of NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Carl Edwards clinched his fifth career pole position, with a time of 1:10.882. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Jamie McMurray. Montoya qualified third, A. J. Allmendinger took fourth, and Kurt Busch started fifth, after being scored fourth in the practice sessions. The three drivers that did not qualify were J. J. Yeley, Dave Blaney, and Tony Ave.
### Race summary
The race, the twenty-second out of a total of thirty-six in the season, began at 1 p.m. EDT and was televised live in the United States on ESPN. Conditions were sunny with a high of 80 °F (27 °C), making the track potentially slippery. Dan Fife, of Bentley Creek Wesleyan Church, began pre-race ceremonies, by giving the invocation. Next, American Idol runner-up, Bo Bice performed the national anthem, and Heluva Good! senior vice president of operations, Scott Blake gave the command for drivers to start their engines. During the pace laps, Kyle Busch had to go to pit lane because of problems with his race car.
Edwards held the lead going through the first corner with McMurray behind him. Going through the esses McMurray ran Edwards off track, but Edwards remained the leader. Edwards vacated the first position was filled by McMurray after Edwards reported that his car was tight. On lap 5, Biffle moved into the fourth position, as Elliott Sadler made a scheduled pit stop for fuel. One lap later, Montoya passed McMurray for the first position. On lap 9, Allmendinger passed McMurray for the second position. Afterward, Ambrose passed Edwards for fourth.
On the 24, Ambrose emerged in second, and would end up right behind Montoya six laps later. On the same lap, the first full course caution was given because P. J. Jones stalled on the track.
On lap 41, Ambrose emerged in the first position, after passing Montoya. Two laps later, the second caution was given because Bobby Labonte and Joe Nemechek were involved in an accident in the Inner Loop. On the restart, Ambrose led, but going through turn one, Ambrose fell to the fourth position, as Montoya became the leader. Afterward, Ambrose passed Allmendinger for the third position. On lap 49, Martin Truex Jr. had a tire rubbing against the car, which caused him to spin as the race resumed. Ambrose moved into the second position, after passing Kurt Busch. By lap 56, Montoya's lead had dropped under one second ahead of Ambrose. Green flag pit stops began on lap 57, as Clint Bowyer drove to pit lane. Next, Harvick and Hamlin had their pit stops. On lap 60, Montoya and Ambrose made pit stops, as Ryan Newman became the leader. One lap later, Bowyer drove to the garage, as the third caution waved because of debris from his car.
On lap 65, Montoya led to the green flag. Two laps later, Boris Said spun and collided with the guardrail, which prompted the fourth caution to come out. The green flag waved on lap 70 with Montoya the leader, but the fifth caution came out two laps later, as Johnson spun sideways, and collided with the wall. The accident also involved Hamlin, who collided with Johnson. The green flag waved on lap 75 with Montoya leading the field back up to speed. On lap 77, Ambrose emerged in second, after passing Kurt Busch. Montoya, however, maintained the lead all the way to take his second win of his NASCAR career. Kurt Busch followed in second, ahead Ambrose in third, Allmendinger in fourth, and Edwards in fifth. The race had a total of five cautions and ten lead changes among five different drivers.
### Post-race
Montoya appeared in Victory Lane after his victory lap to start celebrating his first win of the season, and his second in his career. His win broke a 113 race losing streak, which started in 2007. Following his win, he added, "The last few weeks have been really frustrating for the whole team because we’ve been so close to victory. (It) seemed to keep slipping away."
Following the race, Kurt Busch stated, "To come up short just to Montoya, to beat Ambrose, racing with those two world-class guys, it was fun. I learned quite a bit." In the subsequent press conference, Montoya said, "Last year, we were so hung up on making the Chase that it was all about numbers, it wasn't about being fast or slow." After his third-place finish, Ambrose stated: "We tried hard all day. Juan drove a heck of a race. He wasn't giving me anything. I just wore out everything trying to pass him. He's really hard to pass. It's going to be a big battle. I'm going to see if I can force him into a mistake. I just want to be clean until the end."
After expressing his win, Montoya said, "I think from Day One we worked so hard to bring the performance of the cars to where they are now. I think that really has helped. It’s been frustrating because you could see the performance get better and better. Even last year in the Chase, (I) finished second, finished third, finished second, finished third. That freaking win would never come, so it was getting frustrating." The race result left Harvick leading the Drivers' Championship with 3,210 points. Jeff Gordon, who finished tenth, was second on 3,025, 130 points ahead of Burton and 133 ahead of Kurt Busch. In the Manufacturers' Championship, Chevrolet maintained their lead with 158 points. Toyota remained second with 131 points. Ford followed with 102 points, nine points ahead of Dodge in fourth. A total of 90,000 people attended the race, while 4.931 million watched it on television.
## Results
### Qualifying
### Race results
## Standings after the race
- Note: Only the top twelve positions are included for the Drivers' Championship standings. |
28,168,725 | Jörg Widmann | 1,173,375,618 | German composer, conductor and clarinetist (born 1973) | [
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| Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freiburg, he is composition professor at the Barenboim–Said Akademie. His most important compositions are the two operas Babylon and Das Gesicht im Spiegel, an oratorio Arche, Kantate and the concert overture Con brio. Widmann has written musical tributes to Classical and Romantic composers. He was awarded the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art in 2018 and the Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg in 2023. His sister is the German classical violinist Carolin Widmann.
## Education and career
Widmann was born on 19 June 1973 in Munich, the son of a physicist and a teacher. He first took clarinet lessons in 1980. Four years later he became a composition student of Kay Westermann. Widmann attended the secondary school Pestalozzi Gymnasium [de] in Munich. He later studied composition with Hans Werner Henze, Wilfried Hiller, Heiner Goebbels and Wolfgang Rihm. He studied as a clarinetist at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München with Gerhard Starke (1986–1997, Meisterklassendiplom 1997) and at the Juilliard School in New York City with Charles Neidich (1994–1995, Advanced Certificate 1995). He furthered his studies at the Hochschule für Musik Karlsruhe (1997–1999). From 2001 to 2015, he taught clarinet as a professor at the University of Music Freiburg. From 2009 to 2016 Widmann was a part-time Professor of Composition, succeeding Mathias Spahlinger, at the Institute for New Music at the University of Music Freiburg. From 2011 to 2017, Widmann was Principal Guest Conductor and from 2017 to 2022, Principal Conductor and Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Since 2017, Widmann has held the Edward-Said-Chair as Professor of Composition at the Barenboim–Said Akademie, Berlin. Since 2022, he has been Associated Conductor of the Munich Chamber Orchestra for three years. He is guest conductor of the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg. From the 2023–2024 season, Widmann will be principal guest conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie for three years.
He lives and works in Berlin and Munich.
## Musical works and performances
Widmann has achieved success both as a clarinetist and as a composer.
### Clarinet career
As a soloist, Widmann has performed with major orchestras in Germany and abroad, including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, under conductors like Valery Gergiev, Christoph von Dohnányi, Sylvain Cambreling and Kent Nagano. He has premiered several clarinet concerti dedicated to him: in 1999 through "musica viva", he played Music for Clarinet and Orchestra by Wolfgang Rihm; in 2006 with the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Cantus by Aribert Reimann; and in 2015 "über" by Mark Andre at the Donaueschingen Festival. Widmann's core repertoire as clarinetist includes Pierre Boulez's Dialogue de l'ombre double, which he performed on Boulez's 85th birthday in Paris.
Widmann mostly plays a Herbert Wurlitzer clarinet from his student time.
### Career as composer
Widmann's compositions draw on different musical genres. For example, he has written a trilogy for orchestra examining the projection of vocal forms of instrumental ensembles. The trilogy consists of Lied (premiered in 2003 and recorded on CD by the Bamberg Symphony with Jonathan Nott), Chor (premiered in 2004 by the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Kent Nagano) and Messe (premiered in June 2005 by the Munich Philharmonic under Christian Thielemann). In 2007, Pierre Boulez and the Vienna Philharmonic premiered his orchestral work Armonica.
His early string quartets are of particular note among his chamber music: the First Quartet was written in 1997, followed by the Chorale Quartet and the Hunting Quartet, the latter premiered in 2003 by the Arditti Quartet. 2005 saw the first performances of the Fourth Quartet and Experiment on a Fugue (Fifth Quartet, with soprano), with Juliane Banse and the Artemis Quartet. These five one-movement quartets form a cycle.
Widmann was Composer in Residence at the Salzburg Festival and at the chamber music festival Spannungen, Heimbach in 2004. Octet was premiered on 4 June 2004 at the power plant Kraftwerk Heimbach. In 2008, Siemens Arts Program sent Widmann to Dubai. Widmann premiered Am Anfang by Anselm Kiefer in July 2009 as part of the 20th anniversary of the Opéra Bastille, in which he acted as composer, clarinetist and made his debut as conductor. He was Composer in Residence at the Lucerne Festival in 2009, where on 13 August 2009, Heinz Holliger performed Widmann's oboe concerto, commissioned by the festival. On 5 September Widmann premiered Holliger's Rechant for solo clarinet. Widmann's Free Pieces for Ensemble: Number X is used in Sophie Fiennes's documentary Over Your Cities Grass Will Grow (2010), about the postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer. His sister Carolin Widmann premiered his études IV-VI for violin (2004–2010) at the Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik on 23 April 2010. From 2009 to 2011 he was the Daniel R. Lewis Young Composer Fellow at the Cleveland Orchestra. He performed his Fantasie for Solo Clarinet (1993) to celebrate Walter Fink's 80th birthday at the Rheingau Musik Festival on 16 August 2010 and in 2014 was the festival's Composer and Artist in Residence. Widmann was the Tonhalle Orchester Zürich's Creative Chair in the 2015–16 season.
On 9 September 2015, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra announced they were commissioning a work from Widmann as part of a planned collaboration by the two organizations beginning in the fall of 2017. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra announced Widmann's appointment as its first-ever Gewandhauskomponist (Gewandhaus composer) for the 2017–18 season.
Widmann's oratorio ARCHE had its world premiere on 13 January 2017 on the occasion of the opening festivities of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. The Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Kent Nagano performed it. A concert by Widmann, Daniel Barenboim, and Anna Prohaska opened the Pierre Boulez Saal on 4 March 2017.
On 27 January 2018 Widmann and the Hagen Quartet performed his Clarinet Quintet, as part of a European tour, at Amsterdam's Muziekgebouw aan het IJ. Partita, five reminiscences for large orchestra, commissioned by the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was premiered in Leipzig on 8 March 2018 with Andris Nelsons conducting.
After the world premiere in 2012 at the Bavarian State Opera, in 2019 a new Berlin version of his opera Babylon was performed at the Berlin State Opera on Unter den Linden under the musical direction of Christopher Ward.
Anne-Sophie Mutter is the dedicatee of String Quartet No. 6 (Study on Beethoven, 2019). With this piece, Widmann began a new series of works in the genre.
Widmann held the 2019–20 Richard and Barbara Debs Composer's Chair at Carnegie Hall. During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, he contributed to the online Festival of New Music with his composition empty space. Barenboim and Emanuel Pahud curated the festival in the empty Pierre Boulez Saal.
Another commission from Leipzig and Boston is the lyrical trumpet concerto Toward Paradise. It was premiered on 23 September 2021 at Gewandhaus with Håkan Hardenberger playing trumpet and Andris Nelsons conducting the Gewandhausorchester. This work refers to Miles Davis.
On 8 June 2023, Kantate for soli, choir, organ and orchestra was premiered by Andreas Reize conducting Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Thomanerchor in Leipzig, Thomaskirche, on occasion of the 300th anniversary of Johann Sebastian Bach taking office as Thomaskantor.
In the 2023/24 season, Widmann will be Berliner Philharmoniker's Composer in Residence.
## Musical style
In his experimental, absurd breathtaking and technically extreme early work, Widmann integrates serialism and noise in traditional sources. Sounds, not tones, have been in the focus of his thinking. Widmann has written pieces without pitches and also purely tonal pieces with exaggerated familiar gestures. In many of his compositions, Widmann is in a musical "dialogue" with Classical and Romantic composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert and Brahms. He wrote musical tributes to these composers. The scores show extremely precise, well-considered structures and instructions. A common instruction is, that the soloist moves around the stage, for example in Viola Concerto, Towards Paradise and Kantate. He uses extended techniques in many compositions, such as Con brio. Beside his musical idols, Widmann finds inspiration in literature, poems, paintings and sculptures and frequently uses literary sources for his compositions, like Matthias Claudius, Klabund, Heinrich Heine, Peter Sloterdijk, Clemens Brentano and Friedrich Schiller in his oratorio ARCHE. In his 2023 Bach-homage Kantate (called: "Friedenskantate", peace cantata), he used texts by Matthias Claudius, Jean Paul, Bertolt Brecht, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Paul Gerhardt and from the Bible.
According to Bachtrack, Widmann was in 2018 the third most performed contemporary composer in the world, behind Arvo Pärt and John Williams.
## Awards
- 1996 Förderpreis Musik der Landeshauptstadt München [de]
- 1997 Bayerischer Staatspreis für junge Künstler
- 1999 Belmont Prize for Contemporary Music from the Forberg-Schneider Foundation
- 2002 Hindemith Prize of the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival
- 2002 Schneider-Schott Music Prize
- 2003 Ernst von Siemens Composers' Prize
- 2003–2004 award of the magazine Opernwelt: "most important premiere of the season: Das Gesicht im Spiegel"
- 2004 Arnold Schönberg Prize
- 2006 Kompositionspreis of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg for Second Labyrinth
- 2006 Claudio-Abbado-Kompositionspreis of the Orchester-Akademie of the Berlin Philharmonic for Quintet for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and piano
- 2007 Prize of the Christoph and Stephan Kaske Foundation
- 2009 Stoeger Prize of the New York Chamber Music Society
- 2010 Marsilius Medal of the Heidelberg University
- 2013 Heidelberger Frühling Music Award
- 2013 German Music Authors' Prize (Composition Symphonic)
- 2018 Robert Schumann Prize for Poetry and Music Mainz
- 2018 Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
- 2019 Opus Klassik [de], "Composer of the year" for ARCHE
- 2021 Musikpreis der Landeshauptstadt München
- 2021 Würth Prize of Jeunesses Musicales Germany
- 2023 Bach Prize of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
### Honorary doctorates
- 2023 Honorary doctorate University of Limerick
## Memberships
- 2003 Fellow of the Berlin Institute for Advanced Study
- 2005 Member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste
- 2007 Member of the Freie Akademie der Künste Hamburg
- 2007 Member of the Deutsche Akademie der Darstellenden Künste
- 2016 Member of the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz
## Works
### Writings
## Films
- Deutscher Kamerapreis [de] (German Camera Prize) 2023 |
54,255,803 | Melodrama World Tour | 1,165,628,684 | 2017–18 concert tour by Lorde | [
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"2018 concert tours",
"Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions",
"Lorde concert tours",
"Music controversies"
]
| The Melodrama World Tour was the second concert tour by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, undertaken in support of her second studio album, Melodrama (2017). Lorde headlined several music festivals before commencing the tour, and went on to communicate frequently with stage designer Es Devlin to plan the show's design. European shows began in September 2017, followed by dates in Oceania and a solo trek through North America. Dates in other European cities soon followed along with various festival performances.
The show consisted of three segments and two costume changes. The first featured Lorde in a dark outfit, while during the second segment she wore a lighter costume. The set list consisted of songs from her debut and second studio albums. She also performed one of several cover versions of songs at each show and premiered an unreleased song titled "Precious Metals". An alternate set list with several video interludes was performed during the first European leg of her tour. The show received critical acclaim, with critics complimenting her stage design and her presence.
## Background and development
Lorde announced dates for the Europe and Oceania legs of her tour via Twitter on 8 June 2017. Her tweet was accompanied by the release of a new song titled "Sober" (2017) and the announcement of the opening act for her tour, Khalid. The following week, a North American leg was announced. Lorde revealed her opening acts would be Mitski, Tove Styrke, and Run the Jewels on 4 October 2017. Shortly after the 60th Annual Grammy Awards, Lorde tweeted, "If you're debating whether or not I can murder a stage ... come see it for [yourself]" after it was reported that she was the only Album of the Year nominee not to be offered a solo performance at the ceremony.
Prior to starting her tour, Lorde made several festival appearances as a headliner to promote her album Melodrama. She appeared at Glastonbury in the United Kingdom, where her set was widely praised by critics. A month later, she performed at Osheaga in Montreal, with Tove Lo serving as a special guest, performing a duet of "Homemade Dynamite" with Lorde. She also headlined Lollapalooza in Chicago; however, her set was cut short due to inclement weather. Lorde made other appearances including at Roskilde in Denmark, Fuji Rock in Japan, Bumbershoot in Seattle, and Life is Beautiful in Nevada.
### Equipment
After performing "Green Light" and "Liability" on the 11 March 2017 episode of Saturday Night Live, Lorde met with stage designer Es Devlin to outline a set design for her tour. The pair communicated frequently during the recording sessions for Melodrama. For her Coachella set they collaborated with Tait Towers, a live event engineering firm, to create a 20 ft (6 m)-long "see-through container"; after a successful show, she opted to employ the container for her tour.
Several modifications were made to the container to suit the size of each dancer who would occupy the vessel. Four hoists, four hatch doors and a rope ladder were added although its size was not altered. The container could support seven performers and tilt at a 10 degree angle when occupied; unoccupied, it could tilt at a 30 degree angle. Richard Young, the tour's production director, said the purpose of the container was to mirror the album's storyline, saying:
> We reveal the tank a third of the way in; it goes up and down and dancers get into it. At the end, the dancers ride the tank into the grid, and the party floats away. [Lorde] walks away, leaving the party going on behind her.
Shannon Nickerson, Tait Towers' project manager, considered two factors for the container's design: its ability to be disassembled and shipped with "minimal square footage" and to provide movement around the stage. The container measured 21 ft (6 m) wide, 7 ft (2 m) deep, and 8 ft (2 m) high with a maximum trim height of 48 ft (15 m). It was sealed underneath a slip stage, allowing the container to ascend from downstage when the slip opens. Lorde collaborated with lighting designer Martin Phillips on stage lighting. They created an outline of the container with 16 Martin by Harman VDO Sceptrons. The interior featured eight Solaris Flare Q+ units while its exterior was illuminated with four Robe Robin BMFL Blades. Philips and Lorde also worked on the tour's color palette. Due to her synesthesia, she provided him with "broad color palettes" for each song to mirror her feelings associated with them.
### Sound technology
In 2017, Lorde's production team collaborated with Firehouse Productions and L-Acoustics on a technical partnership. According to Scott Sugden, head of applications for L-Acoustics, Lorde utilized the "frontal" system, where the public address system is located on the stage forefront. Her set also used "five arrays directly above the stage", four extension arrays, nine speakers as well as 16 KS-28 subwoofers. Upstaging, Inc. distributed lighting and video supplies and operated as a rigging vendor for the tour. Chris Russo, director of touring for Firehouse, commented that rigging the stage was a challenge, saying:
> The Lorde tour was more of everything. Usually, you hang a left/right P.A. plus the sides, you get your angles and lasers sighted-in on four hangs, and you're done. With 360, you add two more. With this show, those guys are sighting-in 11 hangs, and that's not even including the (flown) subs — and that's at least two-and-a-half times as many motors as in a typical rock show.
Philip Harvey, a mixing engineer, utilized the Solid State Logic L500 Plus keypad that detects each instrument and displays it as small circle on the "L-ISA Controller screen" with a map locating each speaker. Harvey operated at a range of 102-107db. The L-ISA Processor stabilized sound variances; Sugden compared its sound to watching a jazz performer in a cabaret show. For Lorde's vocal layering and texture, Harvey used two reverberation systems, a MultiRack: the Waves Abbey Road Reverb Plates and IR-Live Convolution Reverb, with the latter using the "Sydney Opera House impulse response" to create a deeper and augmented effect.
## Concert synopsis
The show was divided into three segments and an encore. The main show began with a dark stage for "Sober". Six dancers were onstage in different poses as lights faded in and out; they moved downstage as Lorde began to sing. She was concealed from the audience until the second verse when a pair of lights revealed her. After concluding "Homemade Dynamite", she greeted the crowd with, "Hello and welcome to the Melodrama World Tour!". During "Tennis Court", one dancer stood on top of a transparent container box, facing the audience with a spotlight shining on her. The next song, "Magnets", was performed with three dancers behind Lorde; three spotlights illuminated the stage in pink and purple colours. A video played in the background showing four women in a car sharing a flask and smoking a joint as they apply their makeup. The song ended with Lorde performing a synchronized dance routine with her dancers.
Two female dancers mimed each other's actions during "Buzzcut Season". Lorde opened the left door of the container and walked inside as the lights shifted from yellow to pink and left momentarily. She introduced "400 Lux" saying, "This is for the kids from the suburbs." A video played in the background showing a woman resting her head near a car window as it drives through city streets at night. During "Ribs", all six dancers returned to perform while a blue and green video played. Lorde stepped inside the container as an interlude played towards the end of the song. A dim blue spotlight shone on her and then faded as she changed into a bright-coloured outfit. During "The Louvre", two dancers performed an interpretative dance to the song. A video played showing monarch butterflies pollinating flowers, a woman graciously falling into a pool and two lovers kissing. During the song's outro, all six dancers lifted Lorde horizontally as she concluded the song. Each dancer mimed one another's movements during "Hard Feelings". One dancer remained inside the container as it ascended.
The dancer from the previous song remained in the container during "Yellow Flicker Beat". A video of Lorde spray-painting a car in an abandoned parking lot played in the background; the container tilted sideways several times during the performance. After completing the song, she spoke to the crowd about the previous year of her life; her dancers placed fluorescent light tubes around the stage before she sang "Writer in the Dark". She sang a cover of Frank Ocean's 2016 song "Solo" in an identical setting. Lorde introduced "Liability" saying, "This is another song about being alone". During "Sober II (Melodrama)", the container ascended and tilted sideways to show all the dancers reenacting a fight in slow motion lit with red and violet hues. As the outro played, Lorde left the stage to change her outfit. Quotes from American journalist Joan Didion's 1968 essay collection book Slouching Towards Bethlehem were shown on a screen during an interlude.
Lorde was shown in silhouette form inside the container with a male dancer as the song "Supercut" played. The container was illuminated in purple and pink hues. She laid down in the opposite direction of the dancer during the outro. During "Royals", the box pulsated white flashing lights. Lorde performed "Perfect Places" by herself as a video of a burning house played in the background. During "Green Light", two green and blue spotlights shone on her during the start of the performance while green lights strobed before the chorus. Rope ladders descended from the container for each dancer to use. The song slowed before the final chorus began as Lorde told the crowd, "I need you to dance. I need you to sing. I need you to give me everything. Can you do that?". Star-shaped confetti shot out into the audience. For the encore, Lorde used a drum pad (MPD24 MIDI controller) for "Loveless"; she also performed an unreleased song titled "Precious Metals". During the last song "Team", Lorde stepped outside the stage to sing an extended verse of the song while greeting fans. She concluded her performance by taking a bow and leaving the stage.
## Reception
### Critical response
The Melodrama World Tour received critical acclaim. Jon Caramanica of The New York Times praised her stage presence, saying: "She smiles and sighs as easily as she loses herself in reverie when the song demands it". Caramanica also noted how the "most striking moments were the most bare". Echoing similar thoughts, Jim Harrington of The Mercury News lauded Lorde for her personality, saying she "dominated our attention and fascination during each and every moment of the concert". Los Angeles Times' writer Mikael Wood complimented Lorde for being able to create a "sense of intimacy" in such an "expansive space". The Independent's Daniel Wright gave the London show a four out of five star rating, complimenting her self-aware attitude but felt her cover of Phil Collins' 1981 song "In the Air Tonight" was "out of place".
Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune called her show "stark, personal, a little weird — and more engaging and relatable because of it". Uproxx writer Philip Cosores praised Lorde's versatility as a performer on stage and called her music and spirit "vital", while Preston Jones of the Dallas Observer praised her for delivering a "polished, confident and emotionally charged set". Exclaim! writer Anna Elger awarded the Vancouver show an eight out of ten, calling it an "ambitious and confidently executed production that showed the New Zealand pop star embracing performing on the biggest stages of her career thus far". Ed Masley of The Arizona Republic described the Glendale show as an "artful blend of modern dance, performance art and classical ballet". The Seattle Times writer Michael Rietmulder said that while the start of the show was "lukewarm", it progressed as the set continued. Stereogum's Chris DeVille was critical of her "basic arena banter" but said that "she's her own kind of pop star, one with a different skill set and point of view than we’ve come to expect from people with this job".
### Accolades
#### Year-end lists
#### Awards
### Commercial performance
Several sources reported below-average tour sales. The Guardian reported that an estimated 6,000 concertgoers attended the Milwaukee tour date. Ticketmaster offered a discount code, reducing the price of premium seats from \$99 (NZ\$137) to \$39 (NZ\$53). However, it was reported that New Zealand tour dates sold out in minutes, with half of those tickets sold during pre-sales. Anschutz Entertainment Group, a promoter for the tour, also offered free upgrades to lower seats and closed off venue's upper tiers. Pollstar placed Lorde at number 21 on their Global Concert Pulse list with an average gross of \$477,931 and 7,191 average ticket sales based on data taken from 11 cities. The average ticket price was \$66.45. At the end of 2018, Lorde ranked number 122 on the site's Top 200 North American Tours with an average gross of \$509,357, 7,803 in average ticket sales and an average ticket price of \$65.28. It was reported that tour dates in the United Kingdom, Australia (Perth and Sydney) as well as US locations in Washington, D.C., and Brooklyn were sold out.
## Opening acts
- George Maple (Australia)
- Milk & Bone (Canada)
- Khalid (Europe)
- Yumi Zouma (New Zealand)
- Tapz (New Zealand)
- David Dallas (New Zealand)
- Drax Project (New Zealand)
- Matthew Young (New Zealand)
- French for Rabbits (New Zealand)
- Mermaidens (New Zealand)
- Run the Jewels (North America)
- Mitski (North America)
- Tove Styrke (North America)
- Anna of the North (Scotland)
- Malbec (Russia)
- Suzanne (Russia)
- Liza Gromova (Russia)
- Cats Park (Russia)
## Set list
This set list is from the show on March 1, 2018, in Milwaukee. It does not represent all concerts for the duration of the tour. Lorde changed the covers as the tour progressed.
1. "Sober"
2. "Homemade Dynamite"
3. "Tennis Court"
4. "Magnets"
5. "Buzzcut Season”
6. "400 Lux"
7. "Ribs"
8. "The Louvre"
9. "Hard Feelings"
10. "Yellow Flicker Beat"
11. "Writer in the Dark"
12. "Solo" (Frank Ocean cover)
13. "Liability"
14. "Sober II (Melodrama)"
15. "Supercut"
16. "Royals"
17. "Perfect Places"
18. "Green Light"
Encore
1. <li value="19">
"Loveless"
2. "Precious Metals" (unreleased song)
3. "Team"
## Controversies
### Israel controversy
In December 2017, Lorde cancelled her scheduled June concert in Israel following an online campaign by Palestinian solidarity activists supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign. The online campaign included an open letter published on The Spinoff New Zealand online magazine by a Jewish New Zealander activist and a Palestinian New Zealander activist. It urged Lorde to cancel her Israel tour, saying that the "Israeli government's policies of oppression, ethnic cleansing, human rights violations, occupation and apartheid". Lorde issued a statement on Twitter thanking her fans for educating her about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict saying, "I'm not too proud to admit I didn't make the right call [by booking this tour]".
Boycott activists and supporters including the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel welcomed Lorde's cancellation of her Israeli tour. In contrast, pro-Israel groups and supporters including the actress Roseanne Barr criticised Lorde's action. Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev and the Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand Itzhak Gerbeg also issued statements urging Lorde to reconsider her cancellation; Gerbeg invited Lorde to meet with him.
American Orthodox Rabbi and author Shmuley Boteach's organization "The World Values Network" placed a full-page advertisement in the Washington Post, with the headline "Lorde and New Zealand ignore Syria to attack Israel", and called her a "bigot", saying that there was what they called a double standard in that she would at the same time be touring Russia, despite Putin's support for the Syrian regime and its killings in Syria. The criticism was one of several angry denunciations from well-known Israelis and Jewish leaders of her cancellation, and the Zionist Federation of New Zealand and the Jewish Council of New Zealand were also critical of her, though the ad itself was met with a distancing by the Jewish Council. In response to Boteach's poster, one hundred actors, writers, directors, and musicians including Roger Waters, John Cusack, Angela Davis, Mark Ruffalo, and Viggo Mortensen published a joint letter in The Guardian defending Lorde's stand. On 31 January 2018, three Israeli teenagers sued the activists who wrote the open letter for "emotional damage" resulting from the concert's cancellation. An Israeli court ruled the two activists had to pay \$18,000 in damages, however the judgement was not automatically enforceable under New Zealand law. The activists responded to the ruling by saying they had no intention to pay the fine, instead opening a crowdfunding campaign to support the Gaza Mental Health Foundation.
Lorde was scheduled to perform in Miami and Tampa Bay in April 2018. Based on anti-Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions legislation in Florida which bars companies that receive state funds from doing business over \$1 million with organizations associated with the campaign, Member of the Florida House of Representatives Randy Fine called for the cancellation of Lorde's April 2018 concerts in Florida saying that Lorde's cancellation in Israel made her subject to the law and as such she shouldn't be able to perform. Lorde performed as scheduled.
### Stage design controversy
On 12 November 2018, Lorde uploaded several Instagram Stories comparing the stage design used on her tour to Kanye West and Kid Cudi's Kids See Ghosts show at the Camp Flog Gnaw festival. On the last upload, she wrote: "I'm proud of the work I do and it's flattering when other artists are inspired by it, to the extent that they choose to try it on for themselves. But don't steal — not from women or anyone else — not in 2018 or ever". John McGuire, owner of Trask House, the company that designed West's stage, sent an email to The New York Times stating that Lorde was not the first artist to implement the idea, saying, "Cubes and floating aren't new to Kanye West, stage design or architecture. A quick google of floating glass box brings up many instances of suspended glass cubes". Devlin, Lorde's stage designer said that the container's design was "not in any way new and the geometry precedes all of us". She later posted an image of a similar design she made for the English National Opera’s rendition of Carmen in 2007.
## Shows
### Cancelled shows
### Revenue |
91,084 | Guy Ritchie | 1,173,743,458 | English filmmaker (born 1968) | [
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| Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchie left school at age 15 and worked entry-level jobs in the film industry before going on to direct television commercials. In 1995, he directed a short film, The Hard Case, followed by the crime comedy Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), his feature-length directorial debut. He gained recognition with his second film, Snatch (2000), which found critical and commercial success. Following Snatch, Ritchie directed Swept Away (2002), a critically panned box-office bomb starring Madonna, to whom Ritchie was married between 2000 and 2008. He went on to direct Revolver (2005) and RocknRolla (2008), which were less successful and received mixed reviews. In 2009 and 2011, he directed the box-office hits Sherlock Holmes and its sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. The former was nominated for Academy Awards in Best Original Score and Best Art Direction.
His other directed films include The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (2015), based on the 1960s television series, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) and Disney's Aladdin (2019), a live-action adaptation of their 1992 animated film, which grossed over \$1 billion worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films in 2019 and the highest-grossing film of Ritchie's career. In 2019, he returned to crime comedy with The Gentlemen (2019), which was mostly well received and a commercial success. He subsequently reteamed with Jason Statham on the action films Wrath of Man (2021) and Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (2023). His second film of 2023, The Covenant, received generally positive reviews.
## Life and career
### 1968–1997: Early life and career beginnings
Ritchie was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, the second of two children of Amber (' Parkinson) and Captain John Vivian Ritchie (b. 1928), former Seaforth Highlanders officer and advertising executive. He has an older sister, Tabitha, and a half-brother, Kevin, who was born to Amber Parkinson and put up for adoption.
Both of Ritchie's parents remarried. His father's second marriage was to Shireen Ritchie, Baroness Ritchie of Brompton, a former model and later Conservative politician and life peer. Between 1973 and 1980, Ritchie's mother was married to Sir Michael Leighton, 11th Baronet of Loton Park. As a divorcée, she is styled as Amber, Lady Leighton.
Ritchie is dyslexic, and attended Windlesham House School in West Sussex and Stanbridge Earls School in Hampshire. He was expelled from school at aged 15. He has claimed that drug use was the reason for expulsion, although Ritchie's father said he was "cutting class and entertaining a girl in his room".
### 1998–2002: Breakthrough
After his first project on a short film, The Hard Case (1995), in 1998, Ritchie met Matthew Vaughn, godson of Peter Morton, co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain. Vaughn had been working in Los Angeles and expressed interest in producing Ritchie's directorial debut, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998). It took 15 months to secure financial backing. Trudie Styler served as an executive producer—she said "I've always liked bad-boy movies".
The production of comedy heist film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was completed in about eight months. Starring Nick Moran, Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng and Dexter Fletcher, the film exposed them to worldwide audiences, and launched the acting career of former footballer Vinnie Jones. It was released in the United Kingdom on 28 August 1998 to critical and commercial success, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times praising Ritchie's "brash, ebullient direction" and "punchy little flourishes that load this English gangster film". The feature earned \$28.1 million at the worldwide box office. At the 1999 British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs), Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was nominated for three awards: Outstanding British Film, Best Editing and Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer for Vaughn. The film won a BAFTA for Film of the Year. In response to the film's success, Ritchie created a spin-off television series called Lock, Stock.... in 2000.
Ritchie's next film was Snatch (2000), another crime-comedy about a group of criminals searching for a stolen diamond. Starring an ensemble cast including Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina, Jason Flemyng, Vinnie Jones, Brad Pitt, Rade Šerbedžija and Jason Statham. Similar to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, the film depicted events from different characters' perspectives; a narrative device which he would use in later films. Snatch was released on 23 August 2000 to a commercial success at the box office, grossing more than \$83 million worldwide. Mick LaSalle, writing for San Francisco Chronicle, was impressed with Ritchie's directing and "sequences that discharge with energy", but felt the writing could have been better. Film critic Roger Ebert describes Ritchie as a "zany, high-energy director" but felt the film's plot "doesn't build and it doesn't arrive anywhere".
In 2001, Ritchie directed a music video for "What It Feels Like for a Girl", a song performed by Madonna, to whom Ritchie was married at the time. In the video, she commits criminal and violent acts towards men; music channels MTV and VH1 banned the video from their rotation, opting to play it only once on the release date. Ritchie directed a short film starring Madonna and Clive Owen, titled Star for season one of The Hire, a 2001 online series to promote BMW automobiles. Ritchie's next film, starring Madonna and Adriano Giannini, was Swept Away (2002), a remake of Lina Wertmüller's 1974 Italian film of the same name. It is a romantic comedy about a wealthy socialite who is shipwrecked on a deserted island with a Communist sailor. The film was a critical and commercial failure, with an average rating of 5% on film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Almar Haflidason of the BBC was critical of the lead actors, writing, "[Madonna] has neither good comedic sense nor any warmth [...] as for Giannini, he spends the first half of the movie endlessly complaining like some old fishwife". The feature won five awards at the 2002 Golden Raspberry Awards for Worst Picture, Worst Actress, Worst Screen Couple, Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Director.
In 2002, Ritchie conceived a prank show titled Swag, for Channel 5 in the United Kingdom.
### 2003–2015: Critical disappointments and Sherlock Holmes
After a two-year hiatus, Ritchie returned to directing his next heist film. Revolver (2005), starred Jason Statham, it was their third collaboration. Also cast were Ray Liotta, Vincent Pastore and André Benjamin. The story is about a gambler called Jake Green (Statham), who is released from prison and seeks revenge on those who stole his money. Filming was completed in late 2004 and the film premiered at the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival. Revolver was released in the United Kingdom on 22 September 2005; the film was critically panned and a commercial failure. Simon Guerrier of FilmFocus, gave Revolver 1 out of 5 stars, calling it, "tedious, humourless, pretentious and nasty". Adrian Hennigan from the BBC wrote, "the cheeky charm [of his previous films] has been replaced by plodding pretentiousness in a film that's illuminated by great action set-pieces and some powerful performances, but not redeemed". Ritchie responded to the criticism by stating, "I don't think anything went wrong with Revolver. By its very nature it's an esoteric movie. It's not designed for the masses". Budgeted at \$27 million, the film earned \$7.1 million at the worldwide box office. In 2007, Revolver was re-edited and released for the United States.
In 2008, Ritchie directed RocknRolla, for which he also wrote the screenplay. Set in London, it tells the story of a crew of gangsters, a rock star and some powerful players, all connected to each other throughout the film. It stars Gerard Butler, Tom Wilkinson, Thandie Newton, Mark Strong, Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, and Toby Kebbell. RocknRolla was released on 5 September 2008 in the United Kingdom, reaching number one at the UK box office in its first week of release. It was generally well received; Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 60% rating, stating, "Mixed reviews for Guy Ritchie's return to his London-based cockney wideboy gangster movie roots, but most agree, it's a step in the right direction following two major turkeys". In that same year, Ritchie directed a television commercial for Nike called "Take It To The Next Level", about a young Dutch footballer who signs for Arsenal, showing the progression of his career from the beginning, through to his debut for the Netherlands. The commercial includes appearances from Cristiano Ronaldo, Cesc Fàbregas, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney, and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Ritchie's next directorial effort was Sherlock Holmes (2009), based on the character of the same name created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, the film was released on 25 and 26 December 2009 in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. Sherlock Holmes was a box-office hit, taking more than \$520 million worldwide, and garnered mixed to favourable reviews from critics and general viewers. The feature received multiple accolades, including two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Score and Best Art Direction, and Downey won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. In 2011, Ritchie directed the sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Released on 16 December, the film was a commercial success, grossing more than \$545 million worldwide. A. O. Scott of The New York Times praised Ritchie for "taking liberties" with the characters, and writes that both films depict "a smoky, overcast Victorian world, infuses it with an air of jocular, hairy laddishness and stages a lot of fights in fussy and tiresome slow motion".
In 2012, Ritchie produced a trailer for the video game Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In 2013, he directed a commercial for H&M featuring David Beckham. A year later, he directed a commercial for whisky brand Haig, which also stars Beckham. He made a return to film in 2015, with The Man From U.N.C.L.E., a remake of the 1960s spy series of the same name. The screenplay, written by Ritchie and collaborator Lionel Wigram, tells the story of a CIA and a KGB agent who work together to stop a criminal organisation from constructing a nuclear weapon. A number of actors were considered for the lead roles, with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer eventually being cast. Principal photography commenced in 2013 in London and Italy, with rewrites to the script during filming. The film was released on 14 August 2015 by Warner Bros. to a mixed critical reception from critics. Glenn Kenny, writing for RogerEbert.com opined, "[the film] is only intermittently engaging and amusing, and those portions of the movie that succeed are also frustrating. Because they're cushioned by enervated, conceptually befuddled, and sometimes outright indifferent stuff". However, he praised Hugh Grant's performance which "saves the movie".
### 2016–present: Disney collaboration and crime films
In January 2014, Warner Bros. hired Ritchie to direct the first of six films in a franchise, fantasy adventure King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) with Charlie Hunnam portraying King Arthur. The feature was released in 2D and 3D on 12 May 2017 in the United States, and a week later in the United Kingdom. Despite high expectations from the film studio, it was a box-office failure, causing large financial losses for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow Pictures. King Arthur: Legend of the Sword received mixed reviews from critics and the subsequent sequels were cancelled.
In August 2017, Ritchie received the Raindance Auteur Award for his contributions to the British film industry. Next, Ritchie directed Disney's live-action adaptation of Aladdin (2019), based on the 1992 animated film of the same name. The plot follows Aladdin, a street urchin, as he falls in love with Princess Jasmine, befriends a Genie, and battles the wicked Jafar. Released on 24 May 2019 in the United States, the film was a commercial success despite mixed reviews; Aladdin earned more than \$1 billion worldwide, becoming one of the highest-grossing films in 2019, and the 34th highest-grossing film of all-time during its theatrical run. Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, praising Will Smith, Naomi Scott, and Mena Massoud's performances. On Metacritic, Aladdin has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100 based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews", and on Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 57% based on 372 reviews with an average rating of 5.88/10.
In 2020, Ritchie returned to crime comedy with The Gentlemen. The story is about an American expat who tries to sell his marijuana business, which triggers a chain reaction response from various criminals. Released on 1 January in the United Kingdom, and a few weeks later in other countries, the film was generally well received. Anton Bitel of Sight & Sound wrote that it "returns to the sense and sensibilities of his earliest features". Film critic James Berardinelli gave the film 3+1⁄2 out of four stars, writing, "The Gentlemen takes Ritchie back to his roots" although "the screenplay is too clever by half, with some of the quirkiness being awkward and intrusive." On Rotten Tomatoes, the film gained an approval rating of 74% based on 260 reviews, and earned \$115 million worldwide.
Ritchie next directed the action thriller Wrath of Man, a remake of the 2004 film Cash Truck, starring Jason Statham, which was released in theatres in the United States on May 7, 2021. It was initially set for theatrical release in the United Kingdom by Lionsgate UK, but was instead released straight to streaming on Amazon Prime Video on December 10, 2021.
Ritchie followed up Wrath of Man with the spy thriller Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre, again starring Statham. It was scheduled for release in theatres on March 18, 2022, but was pulled from the schedule a month prior without an explanation. In February 2021, Ritchie signed on to direct and write the World War II film The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, based on the book by Damien Lewis, for producer Jerry Bruckheimer and Paramount Pictures. In October 2022, Henry Cavill and Eiza González were cast in the lead roles, with Paramount no longer involved.
Ritchie began filming his next film, a war drama titled The Covenant starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Dar Salim, Antony Starr and Emily Beecham, in February 2022 in Alicante, Spain. The film was released in theatres in the United States on April 21, 2023. In June of that year, it was announced that Ritchie had signed on to direct a live-action film adaptation of Disney's Hercules. In May 2023, a few weeks after production wrapped on The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, it was announced Ritchie would next direct an as-yet untitled action film starring Cavill, Gyllenhaal and González, set to shoot in Spain in the summer of 2023.
## Filmmaking
### Influences and style
Ritchie has cited Quentin Tarantino and Sergio Leone as influences on his work. However, he has stated "just about every film — any good film — that's ever been made has had an influence on me. But then how much of it, I have no idea". He has complimented several films including The Long Good Friday (1980), The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Seven Samurai (1954) and Once Upon a Time in the West (1968). When asked about the influence of criminals Ronald and Reginald Kray, Ritchie states "It's inevitable ... everything, more or less, of the old-school villainy related back to the Krays at some point. And the Krays were a lot worse than everyone thinks they are. ... And I know what those boys were doing was a hundred times worse than what everyone thought was going on. So it's inevitable that anything that is genuine, and old, and British will somehow have something to do with the Krays".
Ritchie's films often incorporate memorable and "colourful" characters, for instance, Irish boxer Mickey O'Neil in Snatch, and crime boss "Hatchet" Harry in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. In his crime films, there is also fragmented dialogue, with many characters behaving menacingly and using cockney slang. The portrayal of the British class system has also been explored. Costume designer for The Gentlemen, Michael Wilkinson, said "Each character has an iconic, memorable look — a little larger than life".
Fast-paced and energetic action scenes serve as cinematic choices, as well as placing his characters in combat or violent situations. Ritchie has used fast-cutting and slow motion to build momentum in the story, and to create a high-impact viewing experience, respectively. He is also known to use interweaving stories and a non-linear narrative such as a circular plot in his films; this is found in the case of Snatch, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels and Sherlock Holmes.
Ritchie has said this on his creative process:
> My creative process has never been something I can put into words. It's very random, very scattered and can sometimes lead down dark alleyways and dead ends. What I will say is I think any director needs to immerse himself in both real life and in history to fully open up creative processes. And you must be prepared for the reality that any creative process worth its salt needs to be revised, reworked and, on occasion, thrown out the window entirely.
Ritchie has worked multiple times with Vinnie Jones, Jason Statham, Jason Flemyng, Alan Ford, Geoff Bell, Mark Strong, Jude Law, Eddie Marsan, Jared Harris, Charlie Hunnam, Josh Hartnett, Hugh Grant, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Henry Cavill.
## Personal life
Ritchie started training in Shotokan karate at the age of seven at the Budokwai in London, where he later achieved a black belt in both Shotokan and Judo. He also has a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie.
In an interview, Ritchie revealed that he can speak Hebrew.
On 18 May 2000, Ritchie was arrested by police for allegedly assaulting a 20-year-old man outside the Kensington home he shared with American singer-songwriter Madonna. On 22 December 2000, Ritchie married Madonna at Skibo Castle in Scotland. Madonna gave birth to their son, Rocco (born 11 August 2000 in Los Angeles) and adopted a Malawian baby in 2006, David (born 24 September 2005).
Madonna filed for divorce in October 2008, citing irreconcilable differences. On 15 December 2008, Madonna's spokeswoman announced that she had agreed to a divorce settlement with Ritchie, the terms of which grant him £50–60 million, which includes the value of the couple's London pub and Wiltshire estate in England. The couple issued a joint statement calling reports of the amount of the settlement "misleading and inaccurate", and that it remains private. At the Central Family Court in Holborn, district judge Caroline Reid pronounced the decree nisi, which dissolved the marriage within six weeks. Madonna and Ritchie entered a custody agreement for their children.
In February 2011, his £6 million London home was briefly occupied by members of The Really Free School, a squatter organisation. In 2010, Ritchie met model Jacqui Ainsley and they married on 30 July 2015. The couple have three children: Rafael, Rivka and Levi, born in 2011, 2012 and 2014, respectively. In July 2020, Ritchie was given a six-month driving ban after he was caught by CyclingMikey using a mobile device while operating a motor vehicle.
## Other business ventures
Ritchie owns a pub, The Lore of the Land, in London, and co-owns another, The Walmer Castle with David Beckham. Ritchie owns a small brewing company, Gritchie Brewing Company which brews beer on his Ashcombe Estate in Wiltshire. He also owns The Wild Kitchen, a firm producing outdoor cooking equipment and tents, which launched at Chelsea Flower Show in 2021.
In October 2022 it was announced that Compton Abbas Airfield was being sold by the owners, the Hughes family, to Ritchie, who owns the neighbouring Ashcombe Estate. Ritchie took over running of the airfield on 1 February 2023. Some of the Gritchie Brewing Company's storage facilities will be relocated to the airfield.
Ritchie became a comic writer from 2007 to 2008 with the release of the Virgin Comics series Guy Ritchie's Gamekeeper.
## Filmography
### Short film
### Feature film
Cameo appearance'''
### Television |
51,080,904 | 1926 Nova Scotia hurricane | 1,170,502,182 | Category 3 Atlantic hurricane in 1926 | [
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| The 1926 Nova Scotia hurricane (also known as the 1926 Great August Gale) was one of the deadliest Canadian hurricanes in the 20th century. The second tropical cyclone and second hurricane of the season, the storm developed from a trough situated well east of the Leeward Islands on July 29. Over the next few days, it moved west-northwest, becoming a tropical storm by July 31. The cyclone turned to the northwest on August 1 and began strengthening rapidly, reaching hurricane intensity by the early afternoon. The next day, it became a major hurricane—equivalent to Category 3 intensity on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Over the next few days, the storm's track varied between north-northwest and northwest. Early on August 5, it peaked with winds of 120 mph (190 km/h). The hurricane then began weakening as it curved northward. The storm began losing tropical characteristics while approaching Atlantic Canada, transitioning into an extratropical cyclone on August 8. The remnants soon made landfall near Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, with winds of 75 mph (121 km/h), before being last noted over Newfoundland later that day.
The hurricane produced sustained winds of 54 mph (87 km/h) on Bermuda while passing about 80 mi (130 km) west of the island, but left minimal impact. In Atlantic Canada, the cyclone sank several ships and boats offshore Nova Scotia, including the schooners Sylvia Mosher and Sadie Knickle. A total of 55–58 deaths occurred, including at least 49 from those two ships crashing ashore Sable Island. On land, the storm downed trees and electrical poles in Nova Scotia, damaging some homes and leaving telephone service outages. Crops and fruit trees were also damaged. High winds interrupted telegraph communications in Newfoundland. Despite the number of fatalities, little was done to mitigate for a tropical cyclone prior to the hurricane in August 1927, which caused more than three times as many deaths.
## Meteorological history
According to the Atlantic hurricane database, a trough situated more than 1,200 mi (1,930 km) east of the Leeward Islands developed into a tropical depression around 12:00 UTC on July 29. The cyclone initially moved west-northwestward and strengthened, becoming a tropical storm by 00:00 UTC on July 31. On August 1, the cyclone turned northwestward and began strengthening rapidly. Based on ship reports of hurricane force and near-hurricane-force winds, it estimated the storm intensified into a Category 1 hurricane by 18:00 UTC. Early on August 2, the system intensified into a Category 2 hurricane. At 12:00 UTC, the cyclone became a major hurricane—with winds of at least 115 mph (185 km/h)—equivalent to Category 3 intensity on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson scale. Around that time, a ship recorded a barometric pressure of 968 mbar (28.6 inHg) – the lowest known pressure in association with the storm. However, no ships entered the eye of the hurricane and sampled the lowest pressure in the storm.
Over the next few days, the track of the hurricane varied between north-northwest and northwest. After becoming a Category 3 hurricane on August 2, the hurricane may have maintained sustained winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) for about three days, before wind increased slightly further to 120 mph (190 km/h), an estimate made based on the pressure–wind relationship. It curved to the north and weakened to a Category 2 before passing about 80 mi (129 km) west of Bermuda on August 6. Around 00:00 UTC on August 8, the storm weakened into a Category 1 hurricane and transitioned into an extratropical cyclone about six hours later. Shortly before 12:00 UTC, the extratropical remnants of the hurricane made landfall near Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, with winds of 75 mph (121 km/h), and continued northeastward until being last noted over southwestern Newfoundland around 18:00 UTC.
## Preparations
Due to the possibility of gale-force winds occurring just offshore Maine, storm warnings were issued between Portland and Eastport. Shipping ahead of the hurricane received repeated warnings broadcast by both American and Canadian weather officials. However, the majority of fishing vessels in Atlantic Canada in this period did not have radios, leaving the large fishing fleet on the offshore banks unaware of the approaching disaster.
## Impact
The system produced winds of 54 mph (87 km/h) on Bermuda as it passed very close to that island. About this time, five ocean liners near each other encountered the storm; some portholes on the Orca were damaged and 15 passengers were treated for cuts, bruises, and contusions. Off Nova Scotia, the cyclone produced an unspecified number of casualties, including the sinking of the schooners Sylvia Mosher and Sadie Knickle. Five people died and one other person was injured after the Norwegian steamer Ringhord capsized near Scatarie Island. One person also drowned after the Edith Newhall sank. Many other boats and ships in and near Nova Scotia capsized or ran aground, including 11 ships at New Harbour, 2 motorboats at Mosher's Head, another motorboat at Spectacle Island, and several at the Chester harbor. Additionally, at least nine small boats, four schooners, a skiff, and several other vessels were wrecked in Newfoundland and Labrador. Overall, between 55 and 58 deaths occurred at sea, including 49 from the Sylvia Mosher and the Sadie Knickle crashing ashore Sable Island.
On land, the storm extensively damaged fruit trees and crops in some areas of Nova Scotia, especially in Truro. Several homes were left without telephone service in Chester after lightning struck several poles. A few homes were damaged by lightning in the town, while a home and a shed were destroyed by lightning in Kemptville. High winds in Newfoundland also interrupted telegraph communications. In New Brunswick, 3.9 in (99 mm) of rainfall was observed Fredericton, the highest precipitation total recorded from the hurricane.
With at least 55 fatalities, the hurricane was the deadliest in Canada since a hurricane in 1900. The system also ranks as the third deadliest Canadian tropical cyclone of the 20th century, behind only a hurricane in 1927 and the remnants of Hurricane Hazel in 1954. After the storm, Lunenburg Progress Enterprise publisher William Duff was one of few people calling for schooners to be supplied with transmission and receiving radio equipment, while there were a few requests for a rescue ship to be stationed at the fishing banks on standby should other ships become distressed. However, little was done to improve mitigation prior to the hurricane in August 1927. In Nova Scotia, the families of the victims of the storm received monetary compensation via the Workplace Safety & Insurance Board. The agency became severely depleted of funds, leading the board to announce a 5% increase in insurance rates for the fishing industry. Captains and vessel owners responded by threatening to go on strike, forcing the board to reverse their decision.
## See also
- List of Canada hurricanes
- 1927 Nova Scotia hurricane
- Hurricane Bill (2009)
- Hurricane Earl (2010) |
63,954,563 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 | 1,170,372,663 | 2020 video game | [
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| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a 2020 skateboarding video game developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. It was released for PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One on September 4, 2020, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 26, 2021, and Nintendo Switch on June 25, 2021. It is a remaster of the first two games in the Tony Hawk's series: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (1999) and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000), which were originally developed by Neversoft. It is the first major console game in the series since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (2015) and is Vicarious Visions' final work as a subsidiary of Activision before it was merged into Blizzard Entertainment on January 22, 2021.
The game received very positive reviews from critics who praised the graphics, diverse roster, nostalgic soundtrack, and gameplay, though some criticized the multiplayer mode and limited amount of levels. The game has become the fastest-selling game in the franchise, selling one million copies within the first two weeks.
## Gameplay
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a skateboarding video game played in a third-person view with its gameplay oriented towards classic arcade games. The goal of most modes of the game is to achieve a high score or collect certain objects. The player must complete objectives to unlock levels to progress through the game. To score points, the player has to successfully perform and combine aerials, flips, grinds, lips, and manuals, with successful executions adding to the player's score. The point value of the trick is based on time maintained, degrees rotated, number of tricks performed in sequence, performing tricks on specific landmarks on the map, and the number of times the tricks have been used. Successful tricks add to the player's special meter, which, once full, allows for the execution of special tricks which are worth a great deal more than normal tricks. Bails (falling off the skateboard due to poor landing) attain no points for the attempted trick sequence and reset the special bar to empty.
Even though the game is a remaster of only the first two entries, Pro Skater 1 + 2 features tricks introduced in later games up to Tony Hawk's Underground such as reverts, spine transfers, wall plants, as well as the abilities to perform enhanced tricks such as double flips and to switch between certain trick types such as grinds, lips and manuals in one sequence. It is possible to set the controls back to only featuring maneuvers possible in the original games. The player can create their own skater and skate park with the Create-A-Skater and Create-A-Park modes. The game includes both local split screen and online multiplayer. The game offers a progression system which allows players to complete specific challenges to reach a higher level and unlock new items in the game's store.
### Featured pro skaters and characters
The game features 21 professional skateboarders, as well as three original characters. All of the pro skateboarders from the first two games have returned for the remaster, appearing as their current age; the "Digital Deluxe Edition" offers 1980s-skins for some skaters. The remaster includes several new and younger pro skateboarders, some of which, such as Nyjah Huston, Riley Hawk, and Lizzie Armanto, had already appeared in the later Tony Hawk games. When putting together the roster, specific attention was paid to represent ethnic and gender diversity, leading to the inclusion of transgender skater Leo Baker, as well as several other skaters of different ethnicities and sexual orientation. Jack Black provides his likeness and voice as "Officer Dick", a playable secret character who was also in the original games. Additional secret characters include an alien as well as the skeleton Ripper, the mascot of Powell Peralta. Pro Skater 2's original secret character, Spider-Man, did not return due to licensing issues. Skaters marked with "^" are new to the series, while skaters marked with "†" originally featured in different games of the series.
## Development
Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a remaster of the first two games of the Tony Hawk's series: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Trying to capitalize on the growing popularity of skateboarding as a sport, the Tony Hawk's series of video games started in 1999 with Pro Skater, which was followed by Pro Skater 2 in 2000. Both games, especially Pro Skater 2, were extremely well received critically and commercially, spawning one of the most commercially successful video game franchises of the 2000s, releasing games on a yearly basis for over a decade. However, the original licensing deal between Tony Hawk and Activision expired in 2015 after the release of the poorly reviewed Pro Skater 5, abandoning the franchise for almost five years. Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the first game released by Activision since the deal ended, while Hawk partnered with Maple Media to release the independent mobile game Tony Hawk's Skate Jam in 2018.
In May 2020, Activision announced Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 which was developed by Vicarious Visions, who had previously worked on ports for several Tony Hawk games, using Unreal Engine 4. According to Vicarious Visions' chief operating officer Simon Ebejer, the studio obtained Neversoft's original handling code and layered it to modernize the handling, as well as consulting with former employees. The team worked on the level geometry to make sure the player's skating lines were the same from the original games. Further, the team had redone all the art assets for the game's 19 levels to prepare it for 4K resolution but otherwise keep the game familiar to players. Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal confirmed that most of the licensed songs from the first two games would return. Three tracks from the original two games are not present, while 37 new tracks have been added.
The game is noted to be Vicarious Visions' final work as a subsidiary of Activision before being merged into Blizzard Entertainment in on January 22, 2021. According to both Tony Hawk and former Vicarious developer Andy Gentile, there were plans to remaster the third and fourth game in the Tony Hawk series. However, when Vicarious was merged under Blizzard, Activision looked for other third-party developers to pursue the remasters, but found no one else was skilled as the Vicarous team, so these remasters were dropped.
The game was released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on March 26, 2021, while a Nintendo Switch version was released on June 25 of that year.
The game changes the name of the "mute grab" aerial trick to the "Weddle grab" so as to honor its original creator, Chris Weddle, according to Hawk.
## Marketing
Since its announcement trailer on May 12, 2020, the game was extensively marketed by Activision. To achieve this, Activision opened several social media accounts for the game on Instagram and YouTube, among others, where additional trailers and endorsement videos by the featured skaters were published until and after the game's release. Reminiscent of the first entry in the series, a new "Warehouse Demo" was released on August 14 for all people who had pre-ordered the game.
The game was made available with several special editions, including the "Digital Deluxe Edition", which included additional skins, skateboards, clothing options, as well as an additional secret character, Ripper; whereas the "Collector's Edition" also offered an actual skateboard as well as other physical merchandise.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 received "generally favorable" reviews, except for the PlayStation 5 version, which received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic. IGN called it a "tremendous turnaround" from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, and stated that it was "difficult to believe that they share even a shred of DNA", while Game Informer noted that the newest entry ensured the series had a "bright future" once again.
In his review for Destructoid, Chris Carter lauded Vicarious Visions for their attention to detail and named the game the most accomplished HD release of the series yet, calling it "genius" to introduce all the mechanics from later games all at once and incorporate them into the level, thus far surpassing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, also citing the vastly improved graphics and visual updates to the levels when compared to the latter. Writing for Game Informer, Brian Shea had the same feelings towards the game, claiming that, "by masterfully blending old with new, [the game] lands on a sweet spot", listing its truthfulness to the originals while at the same time adding new content, such as new skaters, songs, and improved controls, as the game's biggest strength. In a detailed comparison of the old games to the remaster, GameSpot also noted the new challenge system, immense amount of unlockable cosmetics, and the omission of unnecessary maneuvers introduced in later games as factors that added immense replay value. Furthermore, the game's soundtrack received universal acclaim for its nostalgic value while at the same time incorporating well-chosen new additions. The diverse roster was also lauded, in which Sports Illustrated called the game "a beacon of diversity and representation".
Several reviews were critical of the multiplayer, citing a lack of options and gameplay modes. Shea noted that the multiplayer "wears thin fast due to repetitive objectives and an inability to play some of the local multiplayer offerings", claiming that due to this he was unable to play more than a few rounds at a time. Carter also named the limited amount of levels as a point of critique, claiming that adding stages from Pro Skater 3 would have added significantly more variety and replay value. Another repeatedly criticized aspect was the long loading times when entering or restarting a level.
### Sales
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 has become the fastest-selling game in the franchise, selling 1 million copies in the first two weeks. In the United Kingdom, the game was the biggest launch for the franchise since 2003's Tony Hawk's Underground and was the second biggest launch in the franchise overall.
### Accolades
The game won the Best Sports/Racing award at the 2020 Gamescom Awards and the 2020 The Game Awards, while at the 2021 D.I.C.E. Awards, the game won Sports Game of the Year. It was also nominated for Best Multiplayer Game and Xbox Game of the Year at the 2020 Golden Joystick Awards. The game was nominated for the remake categories "Outstanding Game, Classic Revival" and "Refreshing Revive" at the 2021 NAVGTR Awards, and the 2021 Dreamies, respectively. Furthermore, it was nominated for "Excellence in Audio Design" at the 2021 SXSW Gaming Awards.
## See also
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x, a 2001 Xbox-exclusive enhanced re-release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and Pro Skater 2 by Treyarch
- Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, a 2012 remake of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Pro Skater 2 and (via downloadable content) Pro Skater 3 by Robomodo |
6,474,865 | Len Davies | 1,164,401,741 | Welsh footballer | [
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| Leonard Stephen Davies (28 April 1899 – 1945) was a Welsh professional footballer. Born in Cardiff, he trained as a marine engineer before becoming a footballer, making his senior debut for his hometown club Cardiff City in 1919 in the Southern Football League. Cardiff joined the Football League the following year but Davies remained a reserve until establishing himself in the first team in late 1922. He scored Cardiff's first hat-trick in the Football League in January 1922 and was the club's top scorer in all competitions during the campaign.
In the 1923–24 season, Cardiff went into their final game of the campaign needing a win to become the first Welsh side to win the Football League First Division title. During the match, Davies missed a penalty kick as his side were held to a goalless draw, missing out on the title via goal average. He also helped the club reach the 1925 FA Cup Final but missed the game due to injury. He played in a final two years later, in the 1927 FA Cup Final, helping the side become the only Welsh side to win the competition as they defeated Arsenal 1–0.
He remains the record goalscorer for Cardiff City in both league and all competitions having scored 179 goals for the club between 1919 and 1931. He later played a single season for Thames before finishing his career with Bangor City. He also represented Wales at international level 23 times during his career, scoring 6 goals
## Early life
Born in the Splott district of Cardiff, Davies attended Gladatone Road School. He trained as a marine engineer in his teens and spent time at sea. He also played cricket at youth level for Glamorgan County Cricket Club.
## Club career
### Early years
Davies began his football career with local youth side Victoria Athletic and represented Wales at youth level in 1913 against England at Penydarren Park. He joined Cardiff City in 1919 and made his senior debut in the 1919–20 season, replacing George Beare for a 2–2 draw with Luton Town on 13 September 1919 in the Southern Football League. However, this proved to be his only first team appearance for more than a year. Cardiff joined the Second Division of the Football League in 1920, but Davies played only three times during the league season. His only other appearance during the 1920–21 season came in the Welsh Cup. With Cardiff meeting Bristol City in the Football League on the same day, they were forced to field a reserve side for their match against Pontypridd. Although Cardiff went on to lose the game, Davies scored the first senior goal of his career.
Davies remained a reserve at the start of the 1921–22 season, during which the club initially struggled in the top tier. With Fred Pagnam having failed to score in 13 appearances, Davies was brought into the side in November and scored a brace during a 2–1 victory over Everton. He scored in his next two appearances and remained a regular in the first team for the remainder of the campaign. In December 1921, Cardiff rejected a £3,000 (around £140,000 in 2021) offer for Davies from a rival First Division club. He scored Cardiff's first hat-trick in the Football League on 21 January 1922 during a 6–3 victory over Bradford City. He was also prolific in the Welsh Cup, scoring four times against Newport County in the third round and adding a hat-trick against Merthyr Town in the fourth. In the final, Davies scored Cardiff's second goal as they defeated Ton Pentre 2–0. He finished the season as Cardiff's second highest scorer in the First Division with 17, 3 short of Jimmy Gill, but his scoring exploits in the FA Cup and Welsh Cup saw him out score Gill in all competitions.
Gill and Davies remained a prolific partnership for the club in the 1922–23 season, with Davies scoring 19 league goals, two more than his teammate. Davies' tally included a hat-trick during a 6–1 victory over Chelsea in March 1923. He also scored six times in four matches as Cardiff retained their Welsh Cup title, including a hat-trick in a 10–0 win over Oswestry in the fourth round and the winning goal in the final during a 3–2 victory over Aberdare Athletic.
### Near title miss and FA Cup finals
Davies began the 1923–24 season slowly, scoring once in his first five appearances although Cardiff scored ten times in the games. From 15 September to 27 October, he embarked on a scoring run, netting in six of the seven matches his side played, which included winning goals in two matches. On 10 November, he scored all of Cardiff's goals in a 4–2 victory over West Bromwich Albion. He went on to finish the campaign as the club's top goalscorer having scored 23 times in the league, a career high tally. However, his campaign was overshadowed by a missed penalty on the final day of the season. In their last game, Cardiff met Birmingham. If they won the game Cardiff would be guaranteed the First Division title. The match was goalless after 70 minutes, when a goal-bound shot from Gill was blocked by the hand of a Birmingham defender resulting in a penalty being given. The club's usual penalty taker Jack Evans had missed recent attempts, while Gill was reluctant to take it. Davies instead stepped in to take the first penalty of his senior career. His teammate Fred Keenor later described the attempt, noting "There is no doubt that the excitement and the knowledge that so much depended on the shot unnerved Len a little. Under ordinary circumstances it would have been a gift goal, but Len Davies muffed the kick and the ball rolled gently to the goalkeeper, who calmly gathered and made an easy clearance." The game eventually ended goalless while their nearest rivals Huddersfield Town won 3–0 and secured the title courtesy of goal average. The difference between the two sides, 0.024 of a goal remains the closest margin of victory ever recorded in the top tier of English football. Davies was said to be inconsolable following the miss.
He was again Cardiff's highest goalscorer the following year, netting 20 times despite suffering several injury problems that restricted him to 30 league appearances. However, his injury issues cost him a place in the squad for 1925 FA Cup final with Joe Nicholson starting in his place. His side went on to suffer defeat against Sheffield United. The signing of Hughie Ferguson in 1925 led to Davies being moved to an inside forward role and his scoring record fell as a result. He scored eight times during the 1925–26 season and seven the following year. In 1927, he was part of the Cardiff side that beat Arsenal to win the FA Cup Final, becoming the only side from outside England to have won the competition. The only goal of the game came as the opposition goalkeeper was unable to control a shot from Hughie Ferguson as Davies advanced on him. Two weeks after the final, Davies scored the opening goal in Cardiff's 2–0 win over Rhyl in the Welsh Cup final.
Davies remained with Cardiff until 1931, one year after finishing as the club's top scorer for the fifth time in the Football League. He missed the majority of his final season after undergoing surgery for appendicitis, before being released alongside Keenor. The pair both made their final appearance for the club in a goalless draw with Tottenham Hotspur on 6 April 1931. The club had suffered relegation to the Third Division South by the time of his departure. He remains the club's highest scorer with 179 goals in all competitions and also holds the club record for the most hat-tricks, scoring eight during his time in Cardiff.
### Later career
He instead joined fellow Third Division South Side Thames. During only season with the club, they played his former side Cardiff which resulted in a clash of kit colours. Thames instead played in 11 of Davies' Welsh shirts which he had obtained on international duty. The match ended in a 9–2 defeat for his Thames side, a record league victory that still stands as of 2021 for his former club Cardiff. Thames finished bottom of the Third Division South in the 1931–32 season and the club was wound up at the end of the season. Davies instead joined Bangor City for the 1932–33 season, staying with the club until 1935 when he finished his playing career.
## International career
Davies made a goalscoring debut for Wales on 4 February 1922 in a 2–1 win over Scotland and was ever present for the side for a further three year, playing in every international fixture until 1925. In 1929, Davies was named in a Football Association of Wales XI that toured Canada. He was a prolific scorer during the tour, including scoring seven times in a single game during a match against a Lower Mainland XI. In total, Davies played 23 times for the Welsh national side, scoring six times and helping Wales to Home Championship titles in 1924 and 1928. His last game for Wales came on 20 November 1929 against England.
## Personal life
Davies met his future wife, Gwendoline Stroud, through his playing career as she was a fervent supporter of Cardiff. The pair married on 1 January 1923. After retiring from playing, Davies became a school sports coach at Mostyn House School, Parkgate, and later worked on an aircraft production line during World War II. He died of pneumonia in Prescot in 1945.
## Career statistics
### International goals
Results list Wales' goal tally first.
## Honours
### As a player
Cardiff City
- FA Cup winner – 1927
- FA Community Shield winner – 1927
- Welsh Cup winner – 1922, 1923, 1927, 1928, 1930
- Division One runner-up – 1924
- Welsh Cup finalist – 1929 |
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| 12 Monkeys is a 1995 American science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam, inspired by Chris Marker's 1962 short film La Jetée, starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt, with Christopher Plummer and David Morse in supporting roles. Set in a post-apocalyptic future devastated by an unknown disease, a convict (Willis) is sent back in time to investigate its origin.
After Universal Studios acquired the rights to remake La Jetée as a full-length film, David and Janet Peoples were hired to write the script. Under Gilliam's direction, Universal granted the filmmakers a \$29.5 million budget, and filming lasted from February to May 1995. The film was shot mostly in Philadelphia and Baltimore, the settings of the events in the story.
The film was released to critical praise and grossed \$168.8 million worldwide. Pitt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he won a Golden Globe Award for his performance. The film also won and was nominated for various categories at the Saturn Awards.
## Plot
A deadly virus, released in 1996, wipes out almost all of humanity, forcing survivors to live underground. A group known as the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is believed to have released the virus.
In 2035, James Cole is a prisoner living in an underground compound beneath Philadelphia. Cole is selected to be sent back in time to find the original virus to help scientists develop a cure in exchange for a reduced sentence. Meanwhile, Cole is troubled by dreams involving a foot chase and shooting at an airport.
Cole arrives in Baltimore, in 1990, not 1996 as planned; he is arrested and incarcerated at a mental hospital on the diagnosis of Dr. Kathryn Railly. There he encounters Jeffrey Goines, a mental patient with extreme environmentalist and anti-corporatist views. Cole is interviewed by a panel of doctors where he tries to explain that the virus outbreak has already happened.
After an escape attempt, Cole is sedated and locked in a cell, but he disappears, waking up back in 2035. Cole is interrogated by the scientists who play a distorted voicemail message that asserts the association of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys with the virus. He is also shown photos of numerous people suspected of being involved, including Goines. The scientists offer Cole another chance to complete his mission and send him back in time. Cole accidentally arrives at a battlefield during World War I, where he sees one of his compatriots named Jose also sent back. Wounded, Jose claims he found a spider that carries antibodies and entrusts him with it. Cole is shot in the leg, then gets transported to 1996.
In 1996, Railly gives a lecture about the Cassandra complex to a group of scientists. At the post-lecture book signing, Railly meets Dr. Peters who tells her that apocalypse alarmists represent the sane vision while humanity's gradual destruction of the environment is the real lunacy.
Cole arrives at the venue after seeing flyers publicizing it and, when Railly departs, he kidnaps her and forces her to take him to Philadelphia. They learn that Goines is the founder of the Army of the Twelve Monkeys before they set out in search of him. When Cole confronts Goines, he denies any involvement with the group and says that, in 1990, Cole originated the idea of wiping out humanity with a virus stolen from Goines' virologist father, Dr. Leland Goines.
Cole is transported back to 2035 where he reaffirms to the scientists his commitment to his mission. But when he finds Railly again in 1996, he tells her he now believes himself crazy as she had suggested. Meanwhile, Railly has discovered evidence of his time travel which she shows him, believing he is sane. They decide to depart for the Florida Keys before the onset of the plague.
They learn that the Army of the Twelve Monkeys was not the source of the epidemic; the group's major act of protest is releasing animals from a zoo and placing Goines' father in an animal cage. At the airport, Cole leaves a message telling the scientists that following the Army of the Twelve Monkeys is the wrong track and he will not return. Cole is confronted by Jose, who gives Cole a handgun and instructs him to follow orders.
Railly spots Dr. Peters at the airport and recognizes him from a newspaper as an assistant of Goines' father. Peters is about to embark on a tour of several cities that match the locations of the viral outbreaks.
Cole forces his way through a security checkpoint in pursuit of Peters. After drawing his gun, Cole is shot by police. As Cole lies dying in Railly's arms, Railly suddenly begins to scan the crowd around her. Railly finally makes eye contact with a small boy—the young James Cole witnessing the scene of his own death, which will replay in his dreams for years to come. Peters, aboard the plane with the virus, sits down next to Jones, one of the scientists from the future, who comments that her job is "insurance". The young Cole watches the plane take off from the ground outside the airport.
## Cast
## Production
### Development
The genesis of 12 Monkeys came from executive producer Robert Kosberg, who had been a fan of the French short film La Jetée (1962). Kosberg persuaded that film's director, Chris Marker, to let him pitch the project to Universal Pictures, seeing it as a perfect basis for a full-length science fiction film. Universal agreed to purchase the remake rights and hired David and Janet Peoples to write the screenplay. Producer Charles Roven chose Terry Gilliam to direct, because he believed the filmmaker's style was perfect for 12 Monkeys' nonlinear storyline and time travel subplot. Gilliam had just abandoned a film adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities when he signed to direct 12 Monkeys. The film also represents the second film for which Gilliam did not write or co-write the screenplay. Although he prefers to direct his own scripts, he was captivated by Peoples' "intriguing and intelligent script. The story is disconcerting. It deals with time, madness and a perception of what the world is or isn't. It is a study of madness and dreams, of death and re-birth, set in a world coming apart."
Universal took longer than expected to approve 12 Monkeys, although Gilliam had two stars (Willis and Pitt) and a firm budget of \$29.5 million (low for a Hollywood science fiction film). Universal's production of Waterworld (1995) had resulted in various cost overruns. To get 12 Monkeys approved for production, Gilliam persuaded Willis to lower his normal asking price. Because of Universal's strict production incentives and his history with the studio on Brazil, Gilliam received final cut privilege. The Writers Guild of America was skeptical of the "inspired by" credit for La Jetée and Chris Marker.
### Casting
Gilliam's initial casting choices were Nick Nolte as James Cole and Jeff Bridges as Jeffrey Goines, but Universal objected. Gilliam, who first met Bruce Willis while casting Jeff Bridges' role in The Fisher King (1991), believed Willis evoked Cole's characterization as being "somebody who is strong and dangerous but also vulnerable".
Gilliam cast Madeleine Stowe as Dr. Kathryn Railly because he was impressed by her performance in Blink (1994). The director first met Stowe when he was casting his abandoned film adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities. "She has this incredible ethereal beauty and she's incredibly intelligent", Gilliam said of Stowe. "Those two things rest very easily with her, and the film needed those elements because it has to be romantic."
Gilliam originally believed that Pitt was not right for the role of Jeffrey Goines, but the casting director convinced him otherwise. Pitt was cast for a comparatively small salary, as he was still relatively unknown at the time. By the time of 12 Monkeys' release, Interview with the Vampire (1994), Legends of the Fall (1994), and Se7en (1995) had been released, making Pitt an A-list actor, which drew greater attention to the film and boosted its box-office standing. In Philadelphia, months before filming, Pitt spent weeks at Temple University's hospital, visiting and studying the psychiatric ward to prepare for his role.
### Filming
Principal photography lasted from February 8 to May 6, 1995. Shooting on location in Philadelphia and Baltimore (including the Senator Theatre) in winter was fraught with weather problems. There were also technical glitches with the futuristic mechanical props. Because the film has a nonlinear storyline, continuity errors occurred, and some scenes had to be reshot. Gilliam also injured himself when he went horseback riding. Despite setbacks, the director managed to stay within the budget and was only a week behind his shooting schedule. "It was a tough shoot", acknowledged Jeffrey Beecroft (Mr. Brooks, Dances with Wolves), the production designer. "There wasn't a lot of money or enough time. Terry is a perfectionist, but he was really adamant about not going over budget. He got crucified for Munchausen, and that still haunts him."
The filmmakers were not allowed access to sound stages; thus, they had to find abandoned buildings or landmarks to use. The exteriors of the climactic airport scene were shot at the Baltimore–Washington International Airport, while the interior scenes were shot at the Pennsylvania Convention Center (formerly Reading Terminal). Filming at the psychiatric hospital was done at the Eastern State Penitentiary and Girard College. Some shots took place in abandoned motels in Camden, New Jersey.
### Design
Gilliam used the same filmmaking style as he had in Brazil (1985), including the art direction and cinematography (specifically using fresnel lenses). The appearance of the interrogation room where Cole is being interviewed by the scientists was based on the work of Lebbeus Woods; these scenes were shot at three different power stations (two in Philadelphia and one in Baltimore). Gilliam intended to show Cole being interviewed through a multi-screen interrogation TV set because he felt the machinery evoked a "nightmarish intervention of technology. You try to see the faces on the screens in front of you, but the real faces and voices are down there and you have these tiny voices in your ear. To me that's the world we live in, the way we communicate these days, through technical devices that pretend to be about communication but may not be."
The art department made sure that the 2035 underground world only used pre-1996 technology as a means to depict the bleakness of the future. Gilliam, Beecroft, and Crispian Sallis (set decorator) went to several flea markets and salvage warehouses looking for materials to decorate the sets. The majority of visual effects sequences were created by Peerless Camera, the London-based effects studio that Gilliam founded in the late 1970s with visual effects supervisor Kent Houston (The Golden Compass, Casino Royale). Additional digital compositing was done by The Mill, while Cinesite provided film scanning services.
Janet Maslin wrote in The New York Times, "Since 12 Monkeys has the junk heap aesthetic that Mr. Gilliam favors, nothing in the film is sleek or foolproof, certainly not its time-travel apparatus."
## Music
The film's score was composed, arranged, and conducted by English musician Paul Buckmaster. The main theme is based on Argentine tango musician/composer Astor Piazzolla's Suite Punta del Este.
## Themes
### Memory, time, and technology
12 Monkeys studies the subjective nature of memories and their effect on perceptions of reality. Examples of false memories include Cole's recollection of the airport shooting, altered each time he has the dream, and a "mentally divergent" man at the asylum who has false memories.
References to time, time travel, and monkeys are scattered throughout the film, including the Woody Woodpecker cartoon "Time Tunnel" playing on the TV in a hotel room, the Marx Brothers film Monkey Business (1931) on TV in the asylum, and the subplots involving monkeys (drug testing, news stories and animal rights). The film is also intended to be a study of people's declining ability to communicate in modern civilization due to the interference of technology.
### Allusions to other films and media
12 Monkeys is inspired by the French short film La Jetée (1962); as in La Jetée, characters are haunted by the images of their own deaths. Like La Jetée, 12 Monkeys contains references to Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Toward the end of the film, Cole and Railly hide in a theater showing a 24-hour Hitchcock marathon and watch scenes from Vertigo and The Birds. Railly then transforms herself with a blonde wig, as Judy (Kim Novak) transforms herself into blonde Madeleine in Vertigo; Cole sees her emerge within a red light, as Scottie (James Stewart) saw Judy emerge within a green light. Brief notes of Bernard Herrmann's film score can also be heard. Railly also wears the same coat Novak wore in the first part of Vertigo. The scene at Muir Woods National Monument, where Judy (as Madeleine) looks at the growth rings of a felled redwood and traces back events in her past life, resonates with larger themes in 12 Monkeys. Cole and Railly later have a similar conversation while the same music from Vertigo is repeated. The Muir Woods scene in Vertigo is also reenacted in La Jetée. In a previous scene in the film, Cole wakes up in a hospital bed with the scientists talking to him in chorus. This is a direct homage to the "Dry Bones" scene in Dennis Potter's The Singing Detective.
James Cole is a notable Christ figure in the film. The film is significant in the genre of science-fiction film noir, and it alludes to various "canonical noir" films.
## Release
### Home media
Universal Pictures released 12 Monkeys on VHS on January 28, 1997. It was also released on a "Signature Collection" LaserDisc of the film on February 18, 1997, containing an audio commentary by director Terry Gilliam and producer Charles Roven, The Hamster Factor and Other Tales of Twelve Monkeys (a making-of documentary), an archive of production art, and production notes. It was first released on DVD on March 31, 1998, containing the same extras as the LaserDisc. It was re-released as a Special Edition DVD on May 10, 2005, with a new transfer of the film and identical extras. It was also released on HD DVD on March 4, 2008, with the same extras. It was released on Blu-ray Disc on July 28, 2009, with the same extras. Arrow Films released a new Blu-ray of the film on October 15, 2018, containing a new transfer of the film, remastered in 4K from the original negative, all of the previous extras, as well as a vintage 1996 interview with Terry Gilliam, and an interview with Gilliam scholar Ian Christie.
### Lebbeus Woods lawsuit
In the beginning of the film, Cole is brought into the interrogation room and told to sit in a chair attached to a vertical rail on the wall. A sphere supported by a metal armature is suspended directly in front of him, probing for weaknesses as the inquisitors interrogate him. Architect Lebbeus Woods filed a lawsuit against Universal in February 1996, claiming that his work "Neomechanical Tower (Upper) Chamber" was used without permission. Woods won his lawsuit, requiring Universal to remove the scenes, but he ultimately allowed their inclusion in exchange for a "high six-figure cash settlement" from Universal.
### Trilogy claims
After the release of The Zero Theorem in 2013, claims were made that Gilliam had meant it as part of a trilogy. A 2013 review for The Guardian said, "Calling it [The Zero Theorem] the third part of a trilogy formed by earlier dystopian satires Brazil and Twelve Monkeys [sic]"; but in an interview with Alex Suskind for Indiewire in late 2014, Gilliam said, "Well, it's funny, this trilogy was never something I ever said, but it's been repeated so often it's clearly true [laughs]. I don't know who started it but once it started it never stopped".
## Reception
### Box office
12 Monkeys was given a limited release in the United States on December 29, 1995. When the 1,629-theater wide release came on January 5, 1996, the film earned \$13.84 million in its opening weekend. 12 Monkeys eventually grossed \$57.1 million in the US and \$111.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of \$168.8 million. The film held the No. 1 spot on box office charts for two weeks in January, before dropping due to competition from From Dusk till Dawn, Mr. Holland's Opus and Black Sheep.
### Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 88% based on 74 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "The plot's a bit of a jumble, but excellent performances and mind-blowing plot twists make 12 Monkeys a kooky, effective experience." Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.
Roger Ebert found 12 Monkeys' depiction of the future similar to Blade Runner (1982; also scripted by David Peoples) and Brazil (1985; also directed by Terry Gilliam). "The film is a celebration of madness and doom, with a hero who tries to prevail against the chaos of his condition, and is inadequate", Ebert wrote. "This vision is a cold, dark, damp one, and even the romance between Willis and Stowe feels desperate rather than joyous. All of this is done very well, and the more you know about movies (especially the technical side), the more you're likely to admire it. [...] And as entertainment, it appeals more to the mind than to the senses."
Desson Thomson of The Washington Post praised the art direction and set design. "Willis and Pitt's performances, Gilliam's atmospherics and an exhilarating momentum easily outweigh such trifling flaws in the script", Thomson wrote. Peter Travers from Rolling Stone magazine attributes the film's success to Gilliam's direction and Willis' performance. Internet reviewer James Berardinelli believed the filmmakers had an intelligent and creative motive for the time-travel subplot. Rather than being sent to change the past, James Cole is instead observing it to make a better future. Richard Corliss of Time magazine felt the film's time-travel aspect and apocalyptic depiction of a bleak future were clichés. "In its frantic mix of chaos, carnage and zoo animals, 12 Monkeys is Jumanji for adults", Corliss wrote.
### Accolades
Brad Pitt was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, but lost out to Kevin Spacey for his performance in The Usual Suspects. Costume designer Julie Weiss was also nominated for her work, but lost out to James Acheson of Restoration. However, Pitt won the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. Terry Gilliam was honored for his direction at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.
The film also received positive notices from the science fiction community. It was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films awarded it the Saturn Award for Best Science Fiction Film at the 22nd Saturn Awards. Pitt and Weiss won awards at the ceremony as well; Gilliam, Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and writers David and Janet Peoples also received nominations.
## Television series
On August 26, 2013, Entertainment Weekly announced that Syfy was developing a 12 Monkeys television series based on the film. Production began in November 2013. The pilot was written by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett, who had written for the series Terra Nova. Due to the series being labeled as "cast contingent", the series did not move forward until the roles of Cole and Goines were cast. In April 2014, Syfy green-lighted the first season, which consisted of 13 episodes, including the pilot filmed in 2013. The series premiered on January 16, 2015. On March 12, 2015, the series was renewed for a second season that began airing in April 2016. On June 29, 2016, the series was renewed for a 10-episode third season, set to premiere in 2017. The third season aired over three consecutive nights, from May 19 to May 21, 2017. A fourth and final season was announced on March 16, 2017. The eleven-episode fourth season ran from June 15 to July 6, 2018. |
67,281,982 | Liv Flaherty | 1,173,781,202 | Fictional character from Emmerdale | [
"British female characters in television",
"Dingle family",
"Emmerdale characters",
"Fictional LGBT characters in television",
"Fictional alcohol abusers",
"Fictional asexuals",
"Fictional criminals in soap operas",
"Fictional victims of crime",
"Television characters introduced in 2016"
]
| Liv Dingle (also Flaherty) is a fictional character from the ITV soap opera Emmerdale, played by Isobel Steele. The character made her first on-screen appearance on 25 February 2016. Liv was introduced as part of her half-brother Aaron Livesy's (Danny Miller) sex abuse storyline, which would see her realise that her father is a sex offender. Liv was initially characterised as a troublemaker, but her depth was explored following the decision to move in with Aaron. Steele has noted that similar aspects of her character are similar to herself, and appreciates that Emmerdale wrote her as a teenage with authority since she felt that this is rarely seen on television. Liv became the first asexual character to be featured in a soap opera, and Steele has been praised by viewers and critics for her role in the storyline. Asexual people felt that the character was an accurate portrayal of themselves and Steele has expressed her gratitude at being able to represent them on-screen.
As well as her asexuality, Liv's storylines have seen her become an alcoholic, be imprisoned for spiking Lisa Dingle's (Jane Cox) drink with ketamine, form relationships with Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant) and Vinny Dingle (Bradley Johnson), be diagnosed with epilepsy, expose numerous criminals for their behaviour and be wrongly imprisoned for the murder of Ben Tucker (Simon Lennon). Within months of her debut appearance, Steele was nominated for the British Soap Award for Best Newcomer. She was then nominated for three further Newcomer awards, winning one at the TVTimes Awards. Steele has also been awarded two awards for Best Young Actor. Claire Lindsay of Metro labelled Steele "an Emmerdale stalwart in the making", with Chloe Timms of Digital Spy stating that Liv has forged a meaningful place on the soap, accrediting this to Steele's "vulnerable performances" in her issue-led storylines.
The character was killed-off on 19 October 2022 after being crushed by a caravan during a storm to celebrate Emmerdale's 50th anniversary.
## Casting and characterisation
Steele's casting was announced on 16 February 2016, and it was confirmed that her first appearance would air on 25 February 2016. Emmerdale producers made the decision to introduce "teenage troublemaker" Liv as part of her half-brother Aaron Livesy's (Danny Miller) sex abuse storyline. Steele said that she likes her character and that she sees several aspects of herself in Liv. She described Liv as "very strong willed and quite powerful", and liked that Liv is a difficult character to intimidate. Steele felt that having a teenage character with authority is good for Emmerdale to show, since teenagers are usually portrayed as "timid and easy to intimidate". She felt that over her tenure, Liv has become "a character in her own right", and expressed her gratitude at having the role. As well as showing strong tendencies, Liv's "softness and vulnerability" has also been explored by the soap.
## Development
### Introduction
Liv first appears when Aaron hunts for evidence on Gordon Livesy (Gary Mavers), Liv and Aaron's father, since he sexually abused Aaron. Aaron and his boyfriend Robert Sugden (Ryan Hawley) arrive at Liv's house to confront her mother Sandra Flaherty (Joanne Mitchell), and while they are standing outside, Liv steals Aaron's wallet. Miller stated that his character's introduction to Liv "isn't a great start", but noted that viewers would be able to see an instant bond form between the pair. He described Liv as "cheeky and a bit naughty", and likened the character to his own at his age. Aaron does not tell Sandra about Liv stealing his wallet, as he "instantly loves her" and wants to protect her. Liv sees Aaron confronting Sandra and pinning her against a wall, which "breaks her heart". Sandra refuses to stand in court for Aaron, and although Liv does not initially believe Aaron, she soon realises that Gordon is lying. Sandra states that she will be moving to Dublin with Liv. It becomes "increasingly clear" that Liv wants to stay in Emmerdale, Aaron offers to become her full-time guardian. Sandra accepts and allows Liv to live with Aaron. Executive producer Iain MacLeod stated that Liv will challenge Aaron and Robert's relationship, accrediting this to Liv not getting on with Robert and wanting Aaron's attention.
### Asexuality
In October 2017, Liv begins to struggle with her sexuality. Gabby Thomas (Rosie Bentham) makes a remark that Liv is not into boys, so in retaliation, she kisses Gerry Roberts (Shaun Thomas). She then opens up to Belle Dingle (Eden Taylor-Draper) and tells her that she is not into boys or girls. She tells Belle that it would be easier if she liked Gerry, but that she "has nothing" romantically. This led viewers to believe that Liv is asexual, and Digital Spy confirmed that if she is asexual, it would "mark new ground" for Emmerdale due to never having had an asexual character prior to this. Producers announced their plans for Liv to have a "big storyline", and in January 2018, Daniel Kilkelly of Digital Spy wrote that they are "taking their time delivering it". Kilkelly also suspected that the storyline would be based around Liv's asexuality hints from October. Later in January, Miller confirmed in an interview with Kilkelly that they were filming the aforementioned storyline at that point in time. He revealed that there would be a point in the storyline where his character advises Liv, as Aaron had been through something similar. However, he noted that Liv may not "allow him in to talk to her about that kind of stuff." Miller opined that Liv is similar to Aaron, and that both he and Steele worked hard on making their mannerisms similar for the purpose of the storyline.
In March 2018, it was announced by Digital Spy that Emmerdale would be revisiting Liv's asexuality storyline. Scenes continue to show Liv struggling to put a label on her sexuality, as she becomes concerned when she feels no sexual attraction to males nor females. Liv sets Gabby up on a date with classmate Jacob Gallagher (Joe-Warren Plant), but Jacob assumes that Liv is the person who likes him. Liv opens up to Gabby about her lack of attraction to people, and despite supporting her, Gabby assumes she is just picky. Speaking on the storyline, Steele stated that she enjoyed being involved in the storyline since it had never been done on a soap opera before. She felt that it was important to portray asexuality particularly due to its rarity on television. Steele noted that she was well informed on asexuality prior to filming the storyline, but confirmed that she looked into real people's stories to gauge their opinions on certain topics. Eventually, she opens up to Aaron, who tells Liv that there is no rush to label herself, and that it is normal to not know since she is young. Steele noted that this was not easy for her character to do, and that it takes a "bit of goading". The actress noted that despite usually being open with Aaron, it was understandable for Liv to not want to talk about her asexuality with Aaron since it is a personal topic. Steele added that Liv invested herself in Aaron's relationship with Robert as a way to not focus on her own problems.
### Alcoholism and imprisonment
In March 2018, it was announced that Liv would be seen "getting into trouble" after a prank involving Gabby becomes "out of control". MacLeod described Steele as "super-talented and a rare find", and stated that the production team conjured the "quite big and dark" storyline to explore Steele's acting talents. Liv and Gabby steal a vial of ketamine from vet Vanessa Woodfield (Michelle Hardwick) with intentions of spiking Daz Spencer's (Mark Jordon) drink. However, Liv accidentally spikes Lisa Dingle's (Jane Cox) drink, who collapses and goes into cardiac arrest. Speaking on the storyline, Steele explained that her character has a "better perspective of how things can go wrong" unlike Gabby, who she described as "very immature". She opined that Liv did not want to carry out the prank, but Gabby's "nasty streak" makes her character feel pressured to please Gabby and fit in. Since Gabby feels guilty for Liv's involvement, she takes the blame, which Steele noted has "quite the effect" on Liv. Liv's struggle with guilt causes her to drink more alcohol than usual, as she feels responsible for a "massive betrayal". A member of the Dingle family informs the police of Liv's involvement, and she is questioned by the police, and Liv then admits to spiking Lisa's drink. Miller explained that Aaron becomes terrified that Liv will be imprisoned, especially due to her asexuality. Since Aaron's homosexuality was a target for him in prison, he "knows what it's like to be inside and the possibilities of drugs". Liv is then charged with theft and administering a noxious substance, which "adds to the fears that she could end up behind bars". The backlash Liv faces from almost everybody around her causes her to turn to alcohol on several occasions, and Kilkelly wrote that her drinking could become a problem. At her court hearing, Liv's representative is swapped at the last minute, and she is given a man who has not prepared. Liv hopes that Lisa will be able to speak for her, but her new lawyer does not bother to phone her. Due to her anxiety, Liv is not able to make an apology; since Gabby has apologised, it "paints Liv in a bad light". Duncan Lindsay, writing for the Metro, stated that since Liv is secretly battling with an alcohol dependency, it would be difficult for her to cope in prison.
Liv is sentenced to four months in a youth detention centre. Following her sentencing, "viewers' worst fears were finally confirmed" when it was revealed that Joe Tate (Ned Porteous) is responsible for her lawyer being swapped. This was due to Joe wanting to make Aaron vulnerable for a business deal. Liv repeatedly affirms to Aaron that she is fine in the unit, but when he visits her, she opens up about her alcohol problem. Aaron vows to be supportive of Liv, but Lindsay wrote that it "may prove easier said than done" due to being in prison. When Liv is in prison, Gerry is killed, which leads her to be "overcome with sadness over her loss". Following her release from prison, Aaron becomes worried that she will not be able to cope. Liv gives Terry (Daniel Casey) a comic strip drawn by Gerry, and Lachlan White (Thomas Atkinson), who murdered Gerry, realises that it incriminates him. Liv begins a cat and mouse situation with Lachlan when she notices that he is hiding something. She texts him threatening messages anonymously, and Atkinson stated that although his character is initially unaware of who is sending the messages, Liv is in danger. He explained that Liv "doesn't really know what Lachlan is capable of", as Liv believes he is only responsible for a robbery rather than Gerry's murder. Lachlan realises that Liv is responsible for the text messages when he sees her acting suspiciously with a phone. Emmerdale then listed Liv as a potential victim of Lachlan, who becomes "grimly satisfied" when he believes that he has killed her by breaking the carbon monoxide detector at her house and deliberately causing a gas leak. Liv survives and blames Lachlan for her potential death, but nobody believes her. As a result, Liv begins drinking again in a "heartbreaking twist".
### Relationship with Jacob Gallagher
In October 2018, Steele told the Daily Mirror that Liv would be getting a love interest. She confirmed that the asexuality storyline would be revisited as part of Liv's new connection, when she "fancies someone and she wants to spend time with this person but she has to explain that she's not sexually interested in them". She expressed her interest in the story since "for some boys [sex is] all it's about!" Steele explained that the storyline results in Liv "reiterate how she feels towards relationships and sex and explain it all again to people she thought understood". She added that it was interesting since Liv's asexuality was last mentioned six months prior to that point in time, and viewers were afraid that it would not be revisited. The love interest was later confirmed to be Jacob. Maya Stepney (Louisa Clein) is grooming Jacob, and he tries to pressure Liv into having sex so that he can lose his virginity to impress Maya. The pair reconcile and go on a date, where the pair share a "poignant moment" when Jacob assures Liv that he understands that their relationship will have a lack of sex. Their date is ruined by Aaron when he embarrasses Liv, assuming that the pair are about to have sex, which leads Liv to open up to Aaron about her asexuality again. Jacob later learns that Maya is responsible for telling Aaron about their date. As part of Jacob being groomed by Maya, she "drags Liv Flaherty into her games" by telling him to form a relationship with Liv that acts as a cover for their secret and illegal bond. Maya sees Jacob ignore a call from Liv, and tells him to "keep up appearances", so he arranges a date for the pair of them. Liv becomes excited about their growing relationship, unaware that she is being used. Maya tells Jacob that they can be together after he has finished school, so he dumps Liv in retaliation. Jacob goes home, and a confused Liv follows him to question him. She hears a female voice from inside his bedroom, and Liv's "worst fears were confirmed" when he leaves the room half-naked. She pushes past him into his bedroom, where she sees Maya. Liv then rushes off in shock.
Maya confronts Liv, who tries to explain that Jacob has an obsessive crush on her. However, Liv likens Maya to her father Gordon, who she labels a "sick perv". Maya tells her that she will use Liv's history of alcoholism against her if she speaks out, but Liv demands £5000 for her silence. Liv gets "cast-iron proof" of Maya's grooming in the form of an audio recording of the pair, which leaves Maya worried that she will expose her. When Maya is unable to raise the money, Liv doubles it, asking for £10,000. Despite wanting the money for Aaron and Robert's surrogacy plan, Liv fears the person she is becoming and admits everything to Gabby. Liv later tells David Metcalfe (Matthew Wolfenden) and Leyla Harding (Roxy Shahidi), who "rebuke" her for not telling them sooner. Aaron later discovers her "ruthless behaviour", but forgives her due to her good intentions. Following Maya being exposed, Steele hinted that her character may be the only one that is able to comfort Jacob. She explained that due to their "special relationship", Liv would be able to show him the understanding and empathy that he requires to "piece his life back together". Steele expressed her joy in being involved in the storyline, and enjoyed working closely with Clein and Plant.
### Epilepsy and involvement with the Ashdales
In August 2019, Liv suffers from a "scary seizure". Due to Robert being imprisoned, Aaron runs away, and knowing his history of self harm and depression, she tries to find him. She retraces his steps to the woods, and "an unexpected twist which casts a shadow on Liv's fate" occurs when she has a seizure. Metro wrote that since Steele had not announced her departure from the soap, Liv would likely survive the seizure. She is found by Wendy Posner (Susan Cookson) who rushes her to hospital, where she has an "emotional conversation" with Aaron about his mental health. The doctors are unable to diagnose her formally, but state that if her seizures continue, her life may be impacted largely, which finds difficult to come to terms with. Entertainment Daily described the storyline as a "horrifying ordeal" for Liv since she becomes worried that she will have more seizures. Emmerdale worked with the British charity Young Epilepsy for the storyline, who advised them how epilepsy affects young people. Chief executive Mark Devlin found it fantastic to work with the soap, and appreciated that the storyline could highlight the various symptoms of epilepsy.
In June 2020, scenes suggested that Vinny Ashdale (Bradley Johnson) has formed an attraction to Liv. Vinny tells his father Paul Ashdale (Reece Dinsdale) that he has a crush on Liv, and he sets up a dinner date for the pair. Johnson stated that Vinny sees a similarity to himself in Liv, since both of their guardians have made the teens mature and wise. When asked if there is potential of them forming a relationship, Johnson replied that it's possible if his mother Mandy Dingle (Lisa Riley) "can keep her nose out and lets them have a chance together!" After Mandy attempts to matchmake the pair but "gets her wires crossed in regards to Liv's asexuality", Liv is "destroyed" by her comments. Vinny apologises on her behalf, and he arranges a date with her. However, he is forced to stand Liv up when he learns that Paul, a recovering gambling addict, has been gambling again. Reassured that Paul has stopped gambling, Vinny moves in with Liv to ensure his father's recovery process runs smoothly. However, Liv discovers that Paul is still gambling. Afraid that Mandy and Vinny will discover his gambling, Paul threatens Liv to stay quiet. However, Liv has a sudden seizure. With Liv wanting to keep her epilepsy a secret and Paul determined to hide his gambling, the two agree to keep each others' secrets.
Liv accuses Paul of being a bad father due to making Vinny lie for him. He follows her home, and Liv becomes "terrified" when he locks her inside her house with him. She has a seizure due to the stress Paul causes her, and when she regains consciousness, he tells Liv that he will inform Aaron of her two recent seizures. Liv responds with a threat, telling him that she will reveal his gambling if he informs Aaron. Steele noted that she was interested to see their relationship "put to the test" with the secret, but hoped that they would continue to develop. Paul learns that Liv is adamant on learning to drive, and informs Aaron of her seizures due to the risk they may pose when driving. As a result, Liv informs Vinny of his gambling. After suffering from another "deadly" seizure, Liv is diagnosed with epilepsy. Steele was excited to see Liv's change in confidence following her diagnosis. Due to his heavy gambling debts, Paul forms a "sickening plan against Liv" when he learns that she owns her own property. He pretends to have been kidnapped by Connor Cooper (Danny Cunningham) so that Liv will pay the ransom for his debts.
Liv becomes suspicious of Paul's behaviour following the successful fake kidnapping, and Dinsdale hinted that Liv is in danger by being suspicious of his character. He described Liv as "the thorn in Paul's side" since she is unhappy with the relationship he has with Vinny. Steele opined that Liv is talented at knowing when somebody is acting strangely, but admitted that she is not great at knowing the exact issue. As a result, Liv knows that "something's off with the relationships" but does not know what exactly is happening. Liv is unaware that Vinny is being physically abused by Paul, and Steele said that the reality has not "even crossed Liv’s mind". After Vinny is hospitalised, Liv suspects that Paul is involved. However, Vinny defensively turns it around on Liv. Steele explained that Vinny does this because he is smart, and that "Liv looks like someone who's lost her mind" due to the accusations she makes. This "drives a wedge" between Liv and Vinny, but Steele clarified that Vinny does love her and is manipulating her to protect her. Paul tells Vinny to end his relationship with Liv and he obeys out of fear. Steele noted that it leaves her character devastated, since she finds it difficult to trust people which makes it especially hard to understand. However, despite her upset, Steele said that Liv knows there is more to his behaviour than a breakup, and that Paul is involved. This leads Liv to figure out the truth rather than "wallowing in the heartbreak". She hinted that Liv digging to find out the truth would leave her in danger, specifically with Paul. Liv confronts Paul in a barn on his wedding day to Mandy and openly accuses him of abusing Vinny. He lashes out at Liv, throwing her into a glass table and kicking her repeatedly. Whilst beating her, Jimmy King (Nick Miles) drives a lorry into the barn which causes it to collapse on the pair. Liv tries to help Paul get out from under a beam, but when the barn sets on fire, she leaves him. The barn explodes just as Liv makes it outside, and she collapses from the impact. After she learns that Paul has died in the barn, a "battered and bruised" Liv informs Mandy of his gambling and abuse of Vinny.
### Departure
In October 2022, it was announced that Steele had made the decision to leave Emmerdale after six years to focus on her music career. The Metro said that Liv is set to die in the soap's 50th anniversary week, the premise of which focuses on a deadly storm. Liv was killed off during the episode broadcast on 19 October 2022 to celebrate Emmerdale's 50th anniversary.
## Reception
In 2016, Steele was nominated for four awards in the Newcomer category; the British Soap Awards, the TV Choice Awards, the Inside Soap Awards, and the TVTimes Awards, the latter of which she won. In 2017, she was nominated for Best Young Actor at the British Soap Awards. A year later, she was nominated again and won the award. She then won Best Young Actor at the 2018 Inside Soap Awards.
Liv's asexuality has been widely praised by viewers of the soap. When hints that she could be asexual aired in October 2017, Digital Spy wrote that viewers were happy to see Emmerdale "tackling an under-explored subject", and they expressed their hope that she would be confirmed as asexual. When the storyline was revisited, viewers continued to praise the soap for its portrayal of asexuality, since it "is rarely covered on television". Viewers appreciated that Emmerdale continued to visit her identity and praised them for "highlighting an LGBTQIA character". Asexual people have expressed their joy with Liv, since they felt that they could relate to her. Steele stated that she had received a lot of feedback on the storyline on Twitter. She recalled having numerous people tell her that Liv's asexuality being represented on television was important to them. Steele said that she had received comments from both asexual and unlabelled individuals, which she appreciated since Liv's experience showed "someone who's not in an A or B category". Steele has also earned praise for her acting capabilities when her character has seizures, with Digital Spy noting that viewers were concerned for Liv during her first seizure.
Following Liv's role in exposing Maya as a groomer, Chloe Timms of Digital Spy wrote a piece praising both the character and Steele. Timms acknowledged that upon her introduction, Liv "seemed every bit your troublesome teenager", but that immediately, there was a lot to explore with her character. She noted that at the beginning of Liv's tenure, she was embroiled in a powerful issue-led storyline with Gordon's grooming, but that Liv "managed to hold her own alongside huge fan-favourite characters". Timms liked that despite the storyline being largely centred on Aaron, viewers could also see the impact that the revelations of her father's crimes had on Liv too. Due to this introductory storyline, Timms labelled Liv as "multi-layered and conflicted" from the start, and was impressed by Steele's "emotionally-charged performances". Timms stated that due to being connected to a popular character such as Aaron, she could have struggled to be a highlight, and opined that writers initially "were set on moulding Liv into a mini-Aaron". However, she wrote that Liv has "forged her own personality" after her years on the soap. She accredited this to Liv's numerous issue-led storylines which showcased Steele's "vulnerable performances" as Liv. Timms liked that Liv has been shown to be a versatile character who has matured over her tenure, and that she has formed enduring connections with various characters including Douglas Potts (Duncan Preston), Gabby, Aaron and Robert. Contrasting to this, Timms appreciated that Liv is "not afraid" to make enemies in the village, noting her rivalries with Lachlan and Maya. Timms loved Liv's role in Maya's grooming storyline. She felt that since Liv showed both "tentative and relatable teenage worries about dating" and a "massive moral dilemma", it was a surprising arc for the character. Timms wrote that the story proved that Liv is "more than capable of leading a storyline", and noted that Emmerdale have "set a precedent for her involvement" in big storylines. She also liked seeing her in scenes with characters that she would not typically interact with. Timms billed Liv "a rising star for the future", and expressed her excitement to see how the character is utilised in the future.
In a Metro piece on the "12 female soap stars of the future", Claire Lindsay listed Steele. She wrote that from her introduction, Liv had her "forced to sit up and take notice of the screen". Lindsay appreciated Liv's depth, referring to storylines such as learning about her father's crimes and forming relationships with other characters on Emmerdale. She also highlighted Liv for being the first asexual character on a soap. Lindsay concluded with a nod to Steele's diverse acting capabilities, and billed her as "an Emmerdale stalwart in the making".
## See also
- List of Emmerdale characters (2016)
- List of LGBT characters in soap operas
- Media portrayal of asexuality |
2,566,521 | The End of the Road | 1,160,619,544 | Book by John Barth | [
"1958 American novels",
"American novels adapted into films",
"American philosophical novels",
"Doubleday (publisher) books",
"Existentialist novels",
"Novels about abortion",
"Novels by John Barth",
"Novels set in Maryland",
"Wicomico County, Maryland"
]
| The End of the Road is the second novel by American writer John Barth, published first in 1958, and then in a revised edition in 1967. The irony-laden black comedy's protagonist Jacob Horner suffers from a nihilistic paralysis he calls "cosmopsis"—an inability to choose a course of action from all possibilities. As part of a schedule of unorthodox therapies, Horner's nameless Doctor has him take a teaching job at a local teachers' college. There Horner befriends the super-rational Joe Morgan and his wife Rennie. The trio become entangled in a love triangle, with tragic results. The story deals with issues controversial at the time, such as sexuality, racial segregation, and abortion.
Barth and his critics often pair the novel with its predecessor, The Floating Opera (1956); both were written in 1955, and they are available together in a one-volume edition. Both are philosophical novels; The End of the Road continues with the conclusions about absolute values made by the protagonist of The Floating Opera, and takes these ideas "to the end of the road". Barth wrote both novels in a realistic mode, in contrast to Barth's better-known metafictional, fabulist, and postmodern works from the 1960s and later, such as Lost in the Funhouse (1968) and LETTERS (1979).
Critics have been divided over whether Barth identified with the book's protagonist, who retreats from emotion and human relations through language and intellectual analysis; Jake prefers to keep even his sexual relations impersonal. Language is presented as a distortion of experience, yet nevertheless unavoidable. In his later novels Barth forefronted the artifice in his writing, beginning with The Sot-Weed Factor (1960), a work Barth conceived as the last of a "loose trilogy of novels".
A 1970 film loosely based on the novel stars James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach and Harris Yulin in their earliest feature roles. It was rated X, in part because of a graphic abortion scene.
## Publishing history
While teaching at Penn State, Barth embarked on a cycle of 100 stories he called Dorchester Tales; he abandoned it halfway through to begin his first two published novels. He completed both The Floating Opera and The End of the Road in 1955. Appleton-Century-Crofts published The Floating Opera in 1956, but sales were not strong enough to encourage the publisher to pick up Barth's next offering, which was felt to be too similar to the first book. Doubleday published The End of the Road in 1958; it received only marginally more attention than The Floating Opera. A revised edition in 1967 restored material cut from the first edition, and had a new introduction by Barth. Anchor Books collected these two novels in a single-volume edition in 1988; in his foreword to it Barth states he originally titled the book What To Do Until the Doctor Comes, but Doubleday editor Edward Aswell persuaded him to change it, as he "feared the novel would be mistaken for a treatise on first aid".
## Background
The story narrates the first-person confession of Jacob Horner in the form of a therapeutic psychodrama. Horner writes on October 4, 1955, of events in 1951–53.
Barth spent most of his adult life teaching at universities. As in many of Barth's novels, the setting and characters of The End of the Road have an academic background; most of the story takes place on a university campus. The novel tackles controversial contemporary issues such as abortion (which had yet to achieve wide social acceptance) and racial segregation.
The End of the Road can be viewed with The Floating Opera (1956) as forming the early, existentialist or nihilist phase of Barth's writing career. This phase was realistic in a modernist sense; it lacked the fantastic elements that manifested themselves in Barth's experimental phase that began with The Sot-Weed Factor (1960). Both novels, while displaying a distinctive style, followed conventions readers expected from a novel, and were part of a realist trend in American novels during the 1940s and 1950s. As The Floating Opera closes, its protagonist, Todd Andrews, concludes that life has no absolute values but that there are relative values that are "no less 'real', for ... being relative". Barth has said he wrote The End of the Road to refute this worldview by carrying "all non-mystical value-thinking to the end of the road", and that the second novel was a "nihilistic tragedy" paired with the "nihilistic comedy" of the first. Barth also sees the book as the second of a "loose trilogy of novels" that concludes with The Sot-Weed Factor, after which he embarked on the fabulist Giles Goat-Boy (1966).
## Plot
> In a sense, I am Jacob Horner.
Jacob "Jake" Horner suffers from "cosmopsis"—an inability to choose from among all possible choices he can imagine. Having abandoned his graduate studies at Johns Hopkins University, he becomes completely paralyzed in the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Baltimore just after his 28th birthday, An unnamed African-American doctor who claims to specialize in such conditions takes him under his care at his private therapy center, the Remobilization Farm.
As part of his schedule of therapies, Jake takes a job teaching at Wicomico State Teachers College, where he becomes friends with history teacher Joe Morgan and his wife Rennie. Joe and Jake enjoy intellectual sparring in a "duel of articulations". The philosophical Morgans have a marriage in which everything must be articulated, and in which "the parties involved are able to take each other seriously"—and to Joe "seriously" means sometimes beating his wife. The Doctor prescribes Jake "mythotherapy", in which he is to read Sartre and to assign himself "masks" to abolish the ego, inducing action through the adoption of symbolic roles. Jake seeks out a woman, Peggy Rankin, whom he had earlier picked up; when she rebuffs him, he succeeds in seducing her again by striking her, in imitation of Joe.
While Joe busies himself with his Ph.D. dissertation, he encourages Rennie to teach Jake horseback riding. During their rides, Rennie and Jake talk at length about the Morgans' unusual relationship. After returning from one such outing, Jake encourages a resistant Rennie to spy on her husband. She is convinced that "real people" like Joe are not "any different when they are alone"; such people have "o mask. What you see of them is authentic." What Rennie sees of Joe while spying disorients her and her vision of him—he masturbates, picks his nose, makes faces, and sputters gibberish syllables to himself.
Unmoored from the anchor that Joe has been for her, Rennie commits adultery with Jake; when Joe discovers it, he insists they maintain the affair, in an effort to discover the reasons for his wife's unfaithfulness. Rennie discovers she is pregnant, but cannot be sure whether Joe or Jake is the father. The Morgans visit Jake, Joe with Colt .45 in hand. Rennie insists on having an abortion, or she will commit suicide. Under an assumed name, Jake hunts for an abortionist; when Peggy refuses to help him find one, he strikes her. Unable to find a physician who will agree to the procedure, Jake turns to the Doctor. Rennie dies from the botched abortion. His relativist "cosmopsis" confirmed, Jake reverts to his paralysis. Two years later, as part of his Scriptotherapy on the relocated Remobilization Farm, he writes of his Wicomico experience.
## Themes and motifs
The End of the Road is rich in recurring metaphor. In the opening chapter, while in the Doctor's Progress and Advice Room, Jake finds himself in the awkward position of having to choose the manner in which he will sit, with his choices restricted. Jake notes that Rennie has made the same sort of choice-that-is-not-a-choice by remaining married to Joe, and that Joe, in opposition to his philosophies, has to make a "choice" about Rennie's adultery and pregnancy.
On his mantel Jake keeps a bust of Laocoön sculpted by a dead uncle. As Laocoön was bound by serpents, Jake feels himself bound into inaction "by the serpents Knowledge and Imagination, which ... no longer tempt but annihilate". This is reflected in Laocoön's grimace, which Jake frequently consults and interprets according to his mood—with admiration, frustration, or indifference. After the disaster of Rennie's abortion, Jake tells the bust, "We've come too far", and abandons it along with his job, car and apartment.
Barth coined the term "cosmopsis" in The End of the Road for a sense of seeing and comprehending all available paths of action and the futility of choosing among them. Jake expands on Jean-Paul Sartre's famous existentialist line "existence precedes essence", saying "existence not only precedes essence: in the case of human beings it rather defies essence." The Doctor tells Jake, "Choosing is existence: to the extent that you don't choose, you don't exist." To cope with inability to make decisions, the Doctor prescribes three therapies: the arbitrary principles of Sinistrality ("If the alternatives are side by side, choose the one on the left"), Antecedence ("if they're consecutive in time, choose the earlier") and Alphabetic Priority ("choose the alternative whose name begins with the earlier letter of the alphabet").
The Doctor prescribes "Mythotherapy" to move Jake beyond his paralysis by giving him arbitrary decision-making principles and having him take on identities by wearing "masks"—assuming roles. He tells Jake "fiction isn't a lie at all, but a true representation of the distortion that everyone makes of life". These distortions—an approach Jake calls "mythoplastic"—people employ to with the arbitrary conditions life thrusts upon them. According to Jake, it is the imagination that enables one to cope, and its lack in the Morgans was to lead to their destruction.
Both Jake and Joe use their intellects to distance themselves from their emotions; both see others as specimens to be observed rather than as peers to relate to. Only when overcome with emotion does Jake briefly shed his self-consciousness, which he makes sure to quickly regain.
Jake is uncomfortable "with women who took their sexual transports too seriously", and prefers his sexual relations to be impersonal; the Doctor recommends he take up masturbation and avoid the complications of marriage or girlfriends. Jake's attitude toward sex is paralleled by his impersonal attitude to human relations in general.
Horse symbols permeate the text. Rennie, an accomplished rider, and her husband whip their heads back and forth horse-like when they laugh. Joe is fond of the epithet horseshit when pointing out nonsense. His surname, Morgan, is the name of an American breed of horse. Joe's consistent sureness, his "rationality and absence of 'craft or guile'", according to Thomas Schaub, seem to echo the Houyhnhnms, the race of rational horses in Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.
The novel's opening line recalls the "Call me Ishmael" opening of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Choices of wording such as "inscrutable" and "wrinkled brow" appear to Thomas H. Schaub to be deliberate echoes from Melville's novel.
## Style
A virtuoso stylist, Barth concerns himself with deflating the pretensions of his characters. He displays an attitude toward sexuality that is free from taboo. Irony and black comedy are plentiful, but come to a sudden emotional halt with the crisis in the abortion room.
The End of the Road is in a realistic style that may come as a surprise to those familiar only with Barth's later books. The narrator avoids naturalistic descriptions of his surroundings, and most other details, and describes the physical aspects of life (especially of women) with disgust or contempt. He indulges in occasional bursts of eloquence: "A turning down of dinner damped, in ways subtle past knowing, manic keys on the flute of me, least pressed of all, which for a moment had shrilled me rarely". The realism is not a conventional everyday realism: the situations themselves are fantastic, though plausible.
Naturalism makes a significant appearance in the 12th chapter, in which Jake witnesses Rennie's botched abortion and finds himself unable to conquer his emotions with reason. Jac Tharpe saw this change of style as evidence that the chapter had originated as a separate story that was integrated into the novel; Charles B. Harris sees the "sudden use of naturalistic details" as taking on an "integral function" in the book, one prepared by the previous chapter with the subtle introduction of some passing naturalistic detail.
Though he shows concern for verisimilitude—particularly in the immediacy of the abortion scene—Barth at times draws attention to the artifice of the writing. Jake recounts long conversations with Rennie or Joe that he points out never occurred as written—he has ordered and condensed their content. Jake also expresses a belief that was to manifest itself in Barth's later approach to writing: "To turn experience into speech, that is, to classify, to conceptualize, to grammarize, to syntactify it—is always a betrayal of it, a falsification of it".
## Primary characters
## Reception and legacy
A 1958 Time magazine review called The End of the Road "that rarity of U.S. letters—a true novel of ideas". In the Chicago Review in 1959, reviewer David Kerner called it an "ideological farce", a genre he considered a "special type" with few contemporary examples. George Bluestone in 1960 used the term "serious farce", calling it an emerging new genre. Kerner praised Barth's "coherence of ... allegory", "depth of ... feeling for ideology", and "excellence of intention", but argues that the work's realistic style is at odds with the farcical, two-dimensional characters, who lack a "human and social setting" to give them roundedness and credibility. To Thomas LeClair in 1973, the novel was Barth's "purest presentation of the comedy of intellectual abstraction".
As part of a cast that includes characters from each of Barth's first six books the characters Jake and Joe resurface in Barth's 1979 novel LETTERS on the Doctor's Remobilization Farm, relocated to Fort Erie, Ontario. The End of the Road is presented in that book as a discarded manuscript Jake had titled What I Did Until the Doctor Came. Barth's fictitious version of himself in LETTERS uses the manuscript as the basis for The End of the Road; decades later he writes to Jake of his appropriation, and of the film based on the book, calling the latter "as false to the novel as was the novel to your Account and your Account to the actual Horner–Morgan–Morgan triangle".
Jonathan Lethem wrote of the influence The End of the Road had on his novel As She Climbed Across the Table (1997), which also involves a love triangle in an academic setting. In Lethem's novel, the narrator, in a position similar to Joe Morgan's, experiences the dilemma of "losing a woman to a rival who", like Jake Horner, "refuses to provide any fixed identity to hate, compete with, or understand".
### Critical views
As The Floating Opera and The End of the Road make little display of the metafictional formal prowess of Barth's later works, critics often overlook them. Some consider these first two novels little more than apprentice works, while others see them in light of the later works, removed from their historical and social context.
Critics have been divided on whether Barth identified with the narrator's beliefs; this appeared probable to John Gardner, Richard W. Noland, and Tony Tanner, while Beverly Gross and Campbell Tatham believed the tragic ending demonstrates the contrary. Philosopher Robert C. Solomon included excerpts from the book in a collection on existentialism. Gardner objected to the book's absurdist philosophy, "vulgarities of style", and a "touch of life-hate which reveals itself in the author's fascination with the ugly, the disgusting"; Gardner found this "fascination" perplexing, as "in other respects Barth seems all sunshine and good cheer". Christopher Conti saw a "moral-satiric design" also found in Nabokov's Lolita (1955) and Gardner's Grendel (1971), in which the reader is meant to see through the moral failings of the novels' "monstrous narrators".
Charles B. Harris sees Jake's and Joe's intellectualism as a Freudian obsessional neurosis. To Freud, he writes, the source of such a condition lies in "the chronic existence of love and hatred, both directed towards the same person and both of the highest degree of intensity". Rennie expresses this overtly when she tells Jake, "f I love you at all, I don't just love you. I swear, along with it I honestly and truly hate your God-damned guts!"
To Dirk Vanderbeke, the "masks" the Doctor prescribes mask the "essential emptiness" of egoless existential philosophy. He writes that, anticipating Michel Foucault's theories of the self in The Archaeology of Knowledge (1974), all the characters wear self-defining masks that they at some point let slip, and that Jake's paralysis stems from an inability to choose a role with which to participate in society. Vanderbeke writes, "Mythotherapy is not simply the cure for Jacob's state of mind but the general mode of human existence."
Cynthia Davis sees the women in Barth's early works as lacking the choice-making, identity-forming dynamism of the men; Rennie has no viewpoint of her own, only ones formed by Joe or Jake. Davis states, "Only as bodies do Barth's women defy male control: in sex, in pregnancy, in death." To Judith Wilt, Rennie appears to assert herself in a seeming determination to die on the abortion table, cutting herself with the curette and inhaling her own vomit; there is no evidence in the book beyond her own assertion that Rennie had ever been pregnant. Barth returned to the subject of abortion in Sabbatical in 1982.
To literary theorist Michael LeMahieu, Barth's first two novels confront a logical positivist "separation of facts and values" common in postwar American fiction. The End of the Road displays "aesthetic resistance to the philosophical realism it desires results in a state of narrative, logical, affective, and ethical exhaustion at the end of the book". The narrative conflict echoes an ethical conflict between the characters' value systems that Joe insists is inevitable.
## Adaptations
The End of the Road is the only work of Barth's to have been adapted to film. Director Aram Avakian's loose adaptation End of the Road (1970) stars James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach and Harris Yulin in their earliest feature roles. Graphic scenes earned the film an X rating, such as those of the botched abortion and of what Barth calls a "man rapes chicken" scene not found in the book. Barth and critics widely panned the movie; Barth wrote disdainfully about it in the introduction to the 1988 single-volume edition of The Floating Opera and The End of the Road. Academics Ken Pellow and Rita Hug opined that the linguistic, literary and philosophical aspects of the book made it difficult to adapt; they argued that Jake Horner's frequent speaking to the reader is key to the book's effectiveness but does not lend itself to film.
Director Paul Edwards made a stage adaptation of the novel for Roadworks Productions in 1993, with John Mozes as Jake, Kate Fry as Rennie, and Patrick McNulty as Joe. Edwards makes Jake's immobility central to the play; it opens with him seated and writing, and closes with him doing the same until the audience has left. The production won a Joseph Jefferson Award in 1993. |
8,202,535 | I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me) | 1,166,127,656 | null | [
"1998 songs",
"1999 singles",
"Glam rock songs",
"Interscope Records singles",
"Marilyn Manson (band) songs",
"Music videos directed by Paul Hunter (director)",
"Nothing Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Michael Beinhorn",
"Songs about drugs",
"Songs about television",
"Songs critical of religion",
"Songs written by Jeordie White",
"Songs written by Marilyn Manson"
]
| "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" is a song by American rock band Marilyn Manson. It was released as the second single from their third studio album, Mechanical Animals (1998). It was written by the band's eponymous frontman, along with bassist Twiggy Ramirez and then-guitarist Zim Zum, and was produced by Manson and Michael Beinhorn. A glam rock song inspired by drugs, television, and religion, the track features a gospel choir and a guitar solo by Dave Navarro of Jane's Addiction.
The song garnered a mostly positive response from music critics, who complimented its catchiness and memorability. Critics noted similarities between "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and the music of David Bowie, particularly his song "Fame" (1975), as well as the work of Manson's contemporaries. The song's stance on drugs garnered differing interpretations; some critics felt it glamorized drug use, while others saw it as anti-drug. Its music video was directed by Paul Hunter, and features an androgynous Manson attached to a cross made of television sets and a series of vignettes. Critics praised the video's imagery and found it critical of both capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry. Commercially, the single peaked within the top 40 of Billboard's Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock charts, as well as the national charts of New Zealand and Spain.
## Background
After the release of Antichrist Superstar (1996), an album which sparked controversy among Christian fundamentalists, Marilyn Manson didn't want to resume playing the role of a bogeyman. He feared that this would cause him to be "consigned to the one-note rock theatricality" of Kiss and Alice Cooper. He desired to convince casual rock and pop fans who had previously dismissed him that he was "more than a cartoon". For his next album, Mechanical Animals (1998), he took inspiration from the glam rock music that David Bowie made in the 1970s, and adopted a wardrobe and hairstyle similar to Bowie's.
The album featured numerous references to drugs, some of them positive. Manson told the Los Angeles Times in 1998 that "I advocate the use of drugs, but have always looked down on the abuse of drugs. The people who misuse them give the rest of us a bad name, and I'm not only talking about street drugs. There are a lot of references in the album to the prescripted lifestyle that a lot people have followed and numbed out their emotions and become mechanical." According to Manson, "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" was inspired by literal drugs as well as television and religion, both of which Manson deemed "metaphorical" drugs. Manson described it as "the most hollow anthem on the record".
He recruited Dave Navarro of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Jane's Addiction to play the guitar solo at the end of the track, and a trio of black gospel singers to sing the song's refrain. Navarro was rumored to be struggling with drug addiction at the time; Manson refused to confirm whether this was true or not. When Navarro recorded the guitar solo, he was shirtless. During a session with Manson, Navarro and the gospel singers, 1970s teen idol Leif Garrett unexpectedly entered the room. Manson deemed this session "one of the more memorable moments in rock'n'roll history" and compared it to a work of pop art. Manson said "What took place after [Garrett arrived] can't be said; the music can only make you feel it."
## Musical and lyrical composition
"I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" is a glam rock song with a length of five minutes and three seconds. The song was written by Manson with the band's bassist Twiggy Ramirez, and its then-guitarist Zim Zum, and produced by Manson with Michael Beinhorn; it also features elements of electronic rock, funk, and soul music. Lorraine Ali of Rolling Stone contrasted the song with some of the band's earlier work, saying that on the track, "Manson sings his lines rather than hissing or shrieking them".
Manson repeats the song's title during its chorus, while the verses find him imagining "a life where not all the sex has to be missionary." The verses recall the music of Stevie Wonder, and feature Hammond organ flourishes and muted, wah-wah guitar. The bridge of the song features guitar playing characteristic of Europop. The track's final chorus showcases the gospel choir, who sing the song's refrain. Team Rock, Billboard, and NME each noted similarities between "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "Fame" (1975) by David Bowie, while Exclaim!'s Liisa Ladouceur felt that the song sounds like Rob Zombie covering Bowie's "Fashion" (1980). NME found the track's electronic rock elements reminiscent of both Garbage and the late 1990s recordings of The Smashing Pumpkins. Paul Carr of PopMatters felt that "Kill4Me", a song recorded later by the band for their 2017 album Heaven Upside Down, had a "vibe" identical to that of "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)".
In "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)", Manson sings "There's a hole in our soul that we fill with dope", which found several commentators offering conflicting interpretations of the song's stance on drugs. PluggedIn's Bob Waliszewski viewed "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" as one of several tracks on Mechanical Animals that glamorizes drug use, contrasting it with the anti-drug sentiments present in another song on the album, "Coma White". According to Kenneth Partridge of Billboard, "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" portrays "Illicit substances...[as] the antidote to living the white-bread life available to most Americans." Conversely, The New York Times' Jon Pareles viewed the song as anti-drug.
## Critical reception
Kenneth Partridge of Billboard included "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" on his list of the "15 Best Songs About Drugs", alongside tracks like Bob Dylan's "Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35" (1966), Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" (1967), and The Weeknd's "Can't Feel My Face" (2015). Partridge described the track's message as "a conservative parent’s worst nightmare." Stereogum's Joseph Shafer rated the track fourth on his list of the ten best Marilyn Manson songs, calling it "the most humorous and infectious" of Mechanical Animals' "choice cuts". Exclaim!'s Liisa Ladouceur praised the song's "shiny production and sleazy swagger," saying that it remained memorable years after its release. Robert Christgau deemed "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "The Dope Show" the catchiest songs on Mechanical Animals.
Sputnikmusic's Simon K. described "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" and "Rock Is Dead" as album highlights that "you’ll find yourself humming...for days." Chad Childers of Loudwire praised Navarro's "slick" guitar solo and wrote "the song has remained a favorite among Manson fans over the years." Similarly, Brad Miska of Bloody Disgusting said that "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" is one of the songs from Mechanical Animals that Manson's fans find the most memorable. MTV's Gil Kaufman saw the song as part of a revival of glam rock that took place in the 1990s. According to Kaufman, other examples of this revival included Spacehog's "In the Meantime" (1995), the title track of Hole's Celebrity Skin (1998), and Todd Haynes' Velvet Goldmine (1998), a film about an Iggy Pop-esque rock singer.
Writing for the Houston Press, Kristy Loye deemed "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" one of Manson's greatest hit songs. Lorainne Ali of Rolling Stone called it a "cacophony of voices chanting the title on top of guitar work by Dave Navarro". Ali went on to praise Manson's vocal performance, saying "surprisingly, he sounds pretty good." Entertainment Weekly's David Browne panned the title of the song for attempting to be shocking. Annalee Newitz of Salon said that the track was one of the album's "bad judgment blips", writing that "'I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me),' with its misplaced soul backing vocals and Billy Squire-esque [sic] sound, made it onto the album for entirely mysterious reasons."
## Music video
The music video for "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" was directed by Paul Hunter, who had previously directed the video for "The Dope Show". Like Mechanical Animals, the video was inspired by the work of David Bowie. Discussing the video's concept in 1999, Manson said "In the video I suggest TV and religion together as being the drug I'm talking about the most." The video features constant contrasts between a saturated light color palette and a saturated dark color palette. In the clip, Manson is shown attached to a cross made out of television sets. He wears white, androgynous clothing similar to Bowie's fashion, and appears to lack melanin. His hair is fair and reminiscent of Marilyn Monroe's; alongside Charles Manson, Monroe served as the band's namesake. Vignettes in the video depict a family with abnormally large eyes who are implied to be abusing drugs, Manson being chased by headless policemen, and a reality television program similar to The Jerry Springer Show. On the program, a woman is shown pregnant with a television set.
### Reception and analysis
In Against and Beyond: Subversion and Transgression in Mass Media, Popular Culture and Performance, Emilia Borowska writes that "In [the video's] nightmarish vision, the individuals fall prey to the homogenized, banalised and stupefying culture of contemporary capitalism." Borowska also said that the clip depicts "the media and Christianity as sources of repression, control, and imprisonment." Chris Ford of Noisecreep ranked the video for "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" fourth on his list of the ten best Marilyn Manson videos, saying that it's "full to the brim with strange, sometimes confusing visuals". Ford said that the video's aesthetic was suitable for a glam rock song. AXS TV's Nicole Cormier felt that the video was critical of the pharmaceutical industry, and praised the video for making "morbidity look beautiful", adding: "Although [it's] less dark than previous [Marilyn Manson] videos, the deep message and interpretive expression makes this one just as captivating." Writing for Bloody Disgusting, Jonathan Barkan commended the clip's "rather fascinating" visuals but said that its use of color makes it "difficult...to watch without getting a headache."
## Track listing
UK CD single 1
1. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – 5:03
2. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Every Day) – 5:22
3. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Absinth Makes the Heart Grow Fonder) – 5:29
UK CD single 2
1. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Infected by the Scourge of the Earth) – 5:41
2. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Danny Saber Remix) – 5:16
3. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – 5:03
4. Drugs Screen Saver
UK 10" vinyl single (remixes)
1. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Infected by the Scourge of the Earth) – 5:41
2. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Danny Saber Remix) – 5:16
3. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Every Day) – 5:41
4. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Absinth Makes the Heart Grow Fonder) – 5:29
Australian CD single
1. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – 5:03
2. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Radio Edit) – 4:16
3. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Danny Saber Remix) – 5:16
4. "The Beautiful People" (Live) – 4:33
Japanese CD single
1. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Infected by the Scourge of the Earth) – 5:41
2. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Danny Saber Remix) – 5:16
3. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Every Day) – 5:22
4. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" (Absinth Makes the Heart Grow Fonder) – 5:29
5. "I Don't Like the Drugs (But the Drugs Like Me)" – 5:03
## Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Mechanical Animals.
Marilyn Manson
- Marilyn Manson – lyrics, vocals, producer
- Twiggy Ramirez – music, bass, rhythm guitar
- Zim Zum – music, additional lead guitar
- Madonna Wayne Gacy – keyboards
- Ginger Fish – drums
Additional musicians and technical personnel
- Tom Lord-Alge – mixing
- Sean Beavan – engineering, additional production
- Michael Beinhorn – producer
- Alexandra Brown – background vocals
- Lynn Davis – background vocals
- Niki Haris – background vocals
- Dave Navarro – outro guitar solo
- Danny Saber – clavinet, synthesizer string and programming
- John West – background vocals
## Charts
## See also
- List of songs recorded by Marilyn Manson |
2,449,105 | Plasmodium knowlesi | 1,172,715,946 | Species of single-celled organism | [
"Parasites of primates",
"Plasmodium"
]
| Plasmodium knowlesi is a parasite that causes malaria in humans and other primates. It is found throughout Southeast Asia, and is the most common cause of human malaria in Malaysia. Like other Plasmodium species, P. knowlesi has a life cycle that requires infection of both a mosquito and a warm-blooded host. While the natural warm-blooded hosts of P. knowlesi are likely various Old World monkeys, humans can be infected by P. knowlesi if they are fed upon by infected mosquitoes. P. knowlesi is a eukaryote in the phylum Apicomplexa, genus Plasmodium, and subgenus Plasmodium. It is most closely related to the human parasite Plasmodium vivax as well as other Plasmodium species that infect non-human primates.
Humans infected with P. knowlesi can develop uncomplicated or severe malaria similar to that caused by Plasmodium falciparum. Diagnosis of P. knowlesi infection is challenging as P. knowlesi very closely resembles other species that infect humans. Treatment is similar to other types of malaria, with chloroquine or artemisinin combination therapy typically recommended. P. knowlesi malaria is an emerging disease previously thought to be rare in humans, but increasingly recognized as a major health burden in Southeast Asia.
P. knowlesi was first described as a distinct species and as a potential cause of human malaria in 1932. It was briefly used in the early 20th century to cause fever as a treatment for neurosyphilis. In the mid-20th century, P. knowlesi became popular as a tool for studying Plasmodium biology and was used for basic research, vaccine research, and drug development. P. knowlesi is still used as a laboratory model for malaria, as it readily infects the model primate the rhesus macaque, and can be grown in cell culture in human or macaque blood.
## Life cycle
Like other Plasmodium parasites, P. knowlesi has a life cycle that requires it be passed back and forth between mammalian hosts and insect hosts. Primates are infected through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito which carries a parasite stage called the sporozoite in its salivary glands. Sporozoites follow the blood stream to the primate liver where they develop and replicate over five to six days before bursting, releasing thousands of daughter cells called merozoites into the blood (unlike the related P. vivax, P. knowlesi does not make latent hypnozoites in the liver). The merozoites in the blood attach to and invade the primate's red blood cells. Inside the red blood cell, the parasite progresses through several morphologically distinguishable stages, called the ring stage, the trophozoite, and the schizont. The schizont-infected red blood cells eventually burst, releasing up to 16 new merozoites into the blood stream that infect new red blood cells and continue the cycle. P. knowlesi completes this red blood cell cycle every 24 hours, making it uniquely rapid among primate-infecting Plasmodium species (which generally take 48 or 72 hours). Occasionally, parasites that invade red blood cells instead enter a sexual cycle, developing over approximately 48 hours into distinct sexual forms called microgametocytes or macrogametocytes. These gametocytes remain in the blood to be ingested by mosquitoes.
A mosquito ingests gametocytes when it takes a blood meal from an infected primate host. Once inside the mosquito gut, the gametocytes develop into gametes and then fuse to form a diploid zygote. The zygote matures into an ookinete, which migrates through the wall of the mosquito gut and develops into an oocyst. The oocyst then releases thousands of sporozoites, which migrate through the mosquito to the salivary glands. This entire process in the mosquito takes 12 to 15 days.
## Cell biology
P. knowlesi largely resembles other Plasmodium species in its cell biology. Its genome consists of 23.5 megabases of DNA separated into 14 chromosomes. It contains approximately 5200 protein-coding genes, 80% of which have orthologs present in P. falciparum and P. vivax. The genome contains two large gene families that are unique to P. knowlesi: the SICAvar (schizont-infected cell agglutination variant) family, which is involved in displaying different antigens on the parasite surface to evade the immune system, and the Kir (knowlesi interspersed repeat) family, involved in adhering parasitized red blood cells to blood vessel walls.
As an apicomplexan, P. knowlesi has several distinctive structures at its apical end that are specialized for invading host cells. These include the large bulbous rhoptries, smaller micronemes, and dispersed dense granules, each of which secretes effectors to enter and modify the host cell. Like other apicomplexans, P. knowlesi also has two organelles of endosymbiotic origin: a single large mitochondrion and the apicoplast, both of which are involved in the parasite's metabolism.
## Evolution and taxonomy
Despite its morphological similarity to P. malariae, P. knowlesi is most closely related to P. vivax as well as other Plasmodium species that infect non-human primates. The last common ancestor of all modern P. knowlesi strains lived an estimated 98,000 to 478,000 years ago. Among human parasites, P. knowlesi is most closely related to P. vivax, from which it diverged between 18 million and 34 million years ago. A phylogenetic tree comparing the Plasmodium species that infect humans is shown below:
The population of P. knowlesi parasites is more genetically diverse than that of P. falciparum or P. vivax. Within P. knowlesi there are three genetically distinct subpopulations. Two are present in the same areas of Malaysian Borneo and may infect different mosquitoes. The third has been found only in laboratory isolates originating from other parts of Southeast Asia. Populations of P. knowlesi isolated from macaques are genetically indistinguishable from those isolated from human infections, suggesting the same parasite populations can infect humans and macaques interchangeably.
Three subspecies of P. knowlesi have been described based on differences in their appearance in stained blood films: P. knowlesi edesoni, P. knowlesi sintoni, and P. knowlesi arimai, which were isolated from Malaysia, Java, and Taiwan respectively. The relationship between these described subspecies and the populations described in the modern literature is not clear.
## Distribution
Plasmodium knowlesi is found throughout Southeast Asia, where it primarily infects the long-tailed macaque, pig-tailed macaque, and Sumatran surili as well as the mosquito vectors Anopheles hackeri in peninsular Malaysia and Anopheles latens in Sarawak. Long-tailed macaques in the wild can be infected with P. knowlesi without any apparent disease, even when they are simultaneously infected with various other Plasmodium species. P. knowlesi is rarely found outside of Southeast Asia, likely because the mosquitoes it infects are restricted to that region.
## Role in human disease
P. knowlesi can cause both uncomplicated and severe malaria in humans. Those infected nearly always experience fever and chills. People with uncomplicated P. knowlesi malaria often also experience headaches, joint pain, malaise, and loss of appetite. Less commonly, people report coughing, abdominal pain, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting. Laboratory tests of infected people nearly always show a low platelet count, although this rarely leads to bleeding problems. Unlike other human malarias, P. knowlesi malaria tends to have fevers that spike every 24 hours, and is therefore often called daily or "quotidian" malaria. Uncomplicated P. knowlesi malaria can be treated with antimalarial drugs.
At least 10% of people infected with P. knowlesi develop severe malaria. Severe P. knowlesi malaria resembles severe malaria caused by P. falciparum. Those with severe disease may experience shortness of breath, abdominal pain, and vomiting. As disease progresses, parasites replicate to very high levels in the blood likely causing acute kidney injury, jaundice, shock, and respiratory distress. Metabolic acidosis is uncommon, but can occur in particularly severe cases. Unlike P. falciparum malaria, severe P. knowlesi malaria rarely causes coma or severe anemia. Approximately 1-2% of cases are fatal.
### Diagnosis
Malaria is traditionally diagnosed by examining Giemsa-stained blood films under a microscope; however, differentiating P. knowlesi from other Plasmodium species in this way is challenging due to their similar appearance. P. knowlesi ring-stage parasites stained with Giemsa resemble P. falciparum ring stages, appearing as a circle with one or two dark dots of chromatin. Older trophozoites appear more dispersed, forming a rectangular-shape spread across the host cell called a "band-form" that resembles the similar stage in P. malariae. During this stage, dots sometimes appear across the host red blood cell, called "Sinton and Mulligans' stippling". Schizonts appear, similarly to other Plasmodium species, as clusters of purple merozoites surrounding a central dark-colored pigment.
Due to the morphological similarity among Plasmodium species, misdiagnosis of P. knowlesi infection as P. falciparum, P. malariae, or P. vivax is common. While some rapid diagnostic tests can detect P. knowlesi, they tend to have poor sensitivity and specificity and are therefore not always reliable. Detection of nucleic acid by PCR or real-time PCR is the most reliable method for detecting P. knowlesi, and differentiating it from other Plasmodium species infection. However, due to the relatively slow and expensive nature of PCR, this is not available in many endemic areas. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification methods of P. knowlesi detection have also been developed, but are not yet widely used.
### Treatment
Because P. knowlesi takes only 24 hours to complete its erythrocytic cycle, it can rapidly result in very high levels of parasitemia with fatal consequences. For those with uncomplicated malaria, the World Health Organization recommends treatment with artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) or chloroquine. For those with severe malaria, the World Health Organization recommends administration of intravenous artesunate for at least 24 hours, followed by ACT treatment. Additionally, early drug trials have suggested that combinations of chloroquine and primaquine, artesunate and mefloquine, artemether and lumefantrine, and chloroquine alone could be effective treatments for uncomplicated P. knowlesi malaria. There is no evidence of P. knowlesi developing resistance to current antimalarials.
### Epidemiology
P. knowlesi is the most common cause of malaria in Malaysia, and cases of P. knowlesi malaria have been reported in most countries of Southeast Asia as well as travelers from the region.
Infection with P. knowlesi is associated with socioeconomic and lifestyle factors that bring people into the dense forests where the mosquito hosts are commonly found. In particular, those who work in the forest or at its margin such as farmers, hunters, and loggers are at increased risk for infection. Likely for this reason, males are infected more frequently than females, and adults are infected more frequently than children.
## Research
P. knowlesi has long been used as a research model for studying the interaction between parasite and host, and developing antimalarial vaccines and drugs. Its utility as a research model is partly due to its ability to infect rhesus macaques, a common laboratory model primate. Rhesus macaques are highly susceptible to P. knowlesi and can be infected by mosquito bite, injection of sporozoites, or injection of blood-stage parasites. Infected monkeys develop some hallmarks of human malaria including anemia and enlargement of the spleen and liver. Infection is typically fatal if untreated, with the cause of death seemingly circulatory failure characterized by adhesion of infected red blood cells to the blood vessel walls. Monkeys can be cured of infection by treatment with antimalarials; repeated infection followed by cure results in the monkeys developing some immunity to infection, a topic that has also been the subject of substantial research.
P. knowlesi is also used for in vitro research into Plasmodium cell biology. Isolated sporozoites can infect primary rhesus hepatocytes, allowing the in vitro study of the parasite liver stage. Additionally, P. knowlesi and P. falciparum are the only Plasmodium species that can be maintained continuously in cultured red blood cells, both rhesus and human. Facilitating molecular biology research, the P. knowlesi genome has been sequenced and is available on PlasmoDB and other online repositories. P. knowlesi can be genetically modified in the lab by transfection either in the rhesus macaque model system, or in blood cell culture. Blood-infecting stages and sporozoites can be stored long-term by freezing with glycerolyte, allowing the preservation of strains of interest.
## History
The Italian physician Giuseppe Franchini first described what may have been P. knowlesi in 1927 when he noted a parasite distinct from P. cynomolgi and P. inui in the blood of a long-tailed macaque. In 1931, the parasite was again seen in a long-tailed macaque by H. G. M. Campbell during his work on kala azar (visceral leishmaniasis) in Calcutta; Campbell's colleague Lionel Everard Napier drew blood from the affected monkey and inoculated three laboratory monkeys, one of which was a rhesus macaque that developed a severe infection. Campbell and Napier gave the infected monkey to Biraj Mohan Das Gupta who was able to maintain the parasite by serial passage through monkeys. In 1932, Das Gupta and his supervisor Robert Knowles described the morphology of the parasite in macaque blood, and demonstrated that it could infect three human patients (in each case it was used to induce fever with the hope of treating another infection). Also in 1932, John Sinton and H. W. Mulligan further described the morphology of the parasite in blood cells, determined it to be a distinct species from others described, and named it Plasmodium knowlesi in honor of Robert Knowles.
Soon thereafter, in 1935 C. E. Van Rooyen and George R. Pile reported using P. knowlesi infection to treat general paralysis in psychiatric patients. P. knowlesi would go on to be used as a general pyretic agent for various diseases, particularly neurosyphilis for which it was used until at least 1955. While Cyril Garnham had suggested in 1957 that P. knowlesi might naturally infect humans, the first documented case of a human naturally infected with P. knowlesi was in 1965 in a U.S. Army surveyor who developed chills and fever after a five-day deployment in Malaysia. Based on this finding, a team at the Institute for Medical Research in Peninsular Malaysia undertook a survey of people living in proximity to macaques, but failed to find evidence that simian malaria was being transmitted to humans.
Through the 1960s and 1970s, scientific research groups used P. knowlesi as a research model to make seminal discoveries in malaria. In 1965 and 1972, several groups characterized how P. knowlesi antigenic variation contributed to immune evasion and chronic infection. In 1975, Louis H. Miller and others showed that P. knowlesi required Duffy factor on the surface of red blood cells in order to invade them (they would go on to show the same requirement for P. vivax a year later).
Work on P. knowlesi as a human malaria parasite was revitalized in 2004, when Balbir Singh and others used PCR to show that over half of a group of humans diagnosed with P. malariae malaria in Malaysian Borneo were actually infected with P. knowlesi. Over the following decade, several investigators used molecular detection methods capable of distinguishing P. knowlesi from morphologically similar parasites to attribute an increasing proportion of malaria cases to P. knowlesi throughout Southeast Asia. Work with archival samples has shown that infection with this parasite has occurred in Malaysia at least since the 1990s. |
26,397,469 | Siege of Port Royal (1707) | 1,144,532,142 | Part of Queen Anne's War | [
"1707 in North America",
"Battles of the War of the Spanish Succession",
"Conflicts in 1707",
"Conflicts in Nova Scotia",
"Military history of Acadia",
"Military history of New England",
"Military history of Nova Scotia",
"Pre-statehood history of Massachusetts",
"Queen Anne's War",
"Sieges involving France",
"Sieges involving Great Britain",
"Sieges of the War of the Spanish Succession"
]
| The siege of Port Royal in 1707 included two separate attempts by English colonists from New England to conquer Acadia (roughly the present-day Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) by capturing its capital Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) during Queen Anne's War. Both attempts were made by colonial militia, and were led by men inexperienced in siege warfare. Led by Acadian Governor Daniel d'Auger de Subercase, the French troops at Port Royal easily withstood both attempts, assisted by irregular Acadians and the Wabanaki Confederacy outside the fort.
The first siege began on June 6, 1707, and lasted 11 days. The English colonel, John March, was able to establish positions near Port Royal's fort, but his engineer claimed the necessary cannons could not be landed, and the force withdrew amid disagreements in the war council. The second siege began August 22, and was never able to establish secure camps, owing to spirited defensive sorties organized by Acadian Governor Daniel d'Auger de Subercase.
The siege attempts were viewed as a debacle in Boston, and the expedition's leaders were jeered upon their return. Port Royal was captured in 1710 by a larger force that included British Army troops; that capture marked the end of French rule in peninsular Acadia.
## Background
Port Royal (Habitation) was the capital of the French colony of Acadia until its destruction in 1613 by English raiders led by Samuel Argall. A new Port Royal was established in the 1630s on the site the Scottish Charlesfort at what is today Annapolis Royal. The settlement was attacked several times by the English, including the 1690 capture by forces from the Province of Massachusetts Bay, although it was restored to France by the 1697 Treaty of Ryswick. It fell for the last time to the British in 1710.
### French preparations
With the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702, colonists on both sides again prepared for conflict. Acadia's governor, Jacques-François de Monbeton de Brouillan, had, in anticipation of war, already begun construction of a stone and earth fort in 1701, which was largely completed by 1704. Following a French raid on Deerfield on the Massachusetts frontier in February 1704, the English in Boston organized a raid against Acadia the following May. Led by Benjamin Church, they raided Grand Pré and other Acadian communities. English and French accounts differ on whether Church's expedition mounted an attack on Port Royal. Church's account indicates that they anchored in the harbour and considered making an attack, but ultimately decided against the idea; French accounts claim that a minor attack was made.
When Daniel d'Auger de Subercase became governor of Acadia in 1706, he went on the offensive, encouraging Indian raids against English targets in New England. He also encouraged privateering from Port Royal against English colonial shipping. The privateers were highly effective; the English fishing fleet on the Grand Banks was reduced by 80 percent between 1702 and 1707, and some English coastal communities were raided.
### New England preparations
English merchants in Boston had long traded with Port Royal, and some of this activity had continued even after the war began. Some of these merchants, notably Samuel Vetch, were closely associated with Massachusetts Bay's Governor Joseph Dudley, and by 1706 outrage began growing in the colonial assembly over the matter. Vetch chose to deal with these allegations by going to London to press a case for a military expedition against New France, while Dudley, who had previously requested such support without response, chose to demonstrate his anti-French sentiment by organizing an expedition against Port Royal using mostly colonial resources. In March 1707 he revived an idea he had first developed in 1702 that called for provincial militia to man an expedition supported by resources of the Royal Navy that were locally available. His proposal was approved by the assembly on 21 March. Colonial popular opinion was divided on the need for the expedition: some ministers argued in its favour from the pulpit, while Cotton Mather "Pray'd God not to carry his people hence."
Massachusetts raised two full regiments, totalling nearly 1,000 men; New Hampshire provided 60 men, Rhode Island provided 80, and a company of Indians from Cape Cod was also recruited. Recruiting was difficult in Massachusetts due to the lack of enthusiasm for the endeavour, and authorities were forced to draft men to fill the ranks. Connecticut was also asked to contribute to the expedition, but declined, citing bad feeling over the return of Port Royal by treaty after its capture in 1690. The force, which was placed under the command of Massachusetts Colonel John March, totalled 1,150 soldiers and 450 sailors, and was carried by a fleet of 24 ships, including the 50 gun man of war Deptford under the command of Captain Charles Stuckley, and the 24 gun colonial Province Galley of Cyprian Southack. (March took a former prisoner of the Maliseet, John Gyles as his translator.)
## First siege
The English fleet arrived outside the channel of the Port Royal harbour on June 6, and troops were landed the next day. Governor Subercase's defence force at the time consisted of 100 troupes de la marine that had fortuitously been reinforced by the recent arrival of another 60 who were due to take command of a recently built frigate. Just hours before the English arrival he had also welcomed about 100 Abenaki Indians led by the young Bernard-Anselme d'Abbadie de Saint-Castin. As soon as the English ships were spotted, Subercase also called out the local militia, mustering about 60 men.
Colonel March landed with about 700 men to the north of the fort, and another 300 to its south under the command of Colonel Samuel Appleton, with the goal of establishing a siege line around the fort. Both forces were landed too far from the fort and spent the rest of the day marching toward it. Subercase sent a small force to the south on the morning of the 8th, who were driven back toward the fort by Appleton. Subercase himself led a larger contingent to the north, where he established an ambush at a river March's force would have to cross. After a sharp battle in which Subercase's horse was shot out from under him, the defenders were pushed back into the fort.
The New Englanders established camps about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the fort. Subercase sent parties out of the fort to harass English foraging parties, giving rise to rumors that additional militia forces were en route from northern Acadia. The English managed to advance their lines closer to the fort, but their engineer, Colonel John Redknap, did not believe the expedition's heavy cannons could be landed safely, because they "must pass within command of the fort". This led to disagreements between March, Redknap, and Stuckley which spelled the end of the expedition. After a final assault on June 16, which French accounts describe as a failed attempt to take the fort, and English accounts say was merely an attempt to destroy some buildings outside the fort, the expedition embarked on its ships and sailed off on the 17th. March directed the fleet to sail for Casco Bay (near present-day Portland, Maine).
## Interlude
From Casco Bay Colonel March sent a letter to Boston, in which he laid the blame for the expedition's failure on Stuckley and Redknap. News of the failure preceded his messengers, and they were met upon their arrival by a jeering crowd of women and children. Colonel Redknap, one of the messengers, was able to convince Governor Dudley that he had acted within his orders, and blame was generally attached to March for the failure. Dudley issued orders to March that the fleet should stay put, with all men remaining aboard under penalty of death, while his council considered the next step. Dudley eventually sent reinforcements and a three-man commission (including two militia colonels and John Leverett, a lawyer with no military experience) to oversee affairs, and ordered the expedition to make a second attack. Despite the orders, desertion from the fleet was high, and the force was reduced to about 850 when it sailed for Port Royal in late August. Colonel March resigned the expedition command and was replaced by Colonel Francis Wainwright.
Governor Subercase was forewarned of the second attempt, and had erected additional defenses to impede the attackers' approaches. He was also reinforced by the fortuitous arrival of the Intrepide, a French frigate under the command of Pierre Morpain. His crew was added to the defences, and captured prize ships he brought with him provided needed provisions for the fort.
## Second siege
The English fleet arrived near Port Royal on August 21, and Wainwright landed his troops about 2 miles (3.2 km) below (south of) the fort the next day and marched them to a position about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the fort. This area, where March had previously camped, was one of the areas near which Subercase had thrown up additional defensive earthworks. On August 23 Wainwright sent a detachment of 300 to clear a path for the heavy cannon; this attempt was repulsed by forces sent out by Subercase to harass them. Using guerrilla-style tactics and fire from the fort's cannons, they forced the English to retreat to their camp. This defeat apparently had a significant effect on English morale; Wainwright wrote that his camp was "surrounded with enemies and judging it unsafe to proceed on any service without a company of at least one hundred men." In what was probably the most serious clash, an English party cutting brush was ambushed by a French and Indian force, and nine of the party were killed. The situation got so bad in the English camp that on the 27th they withdrew to a camp protected by their ships' guns. The camp was not properly fortified, and the Englishmen were constantly subjected to sniping and attacks from swarming French and Indians. When Wainwright made a second landing at another point on August 31, Subercase himself led 120 soldiers out of the fort. About 70 men engaged the New Englanders in hand-to-hand combat, which was fought with axes and musket butts. Saint-Castin and almost 20 of his men were wounded while five others were killed. The next day, September 1, the English reembarked on their ships, and sailed back to Boston. The French in their reports claimed to have killed as many as 200 men, but English sources claim only about 16 killed and 16 wounded in the siege.
## Aftermath
The expedition's return to Boston was also met with jeers. Dudley's commissioners were sarcastically called "the three Port Royal worthies" and "the three champions". Dudley's reports of the affair minimized its failings, pointing out that many plantations around Port Royal had been destroyed during the two sieges. Dudley also refused to make inquiries into the expedition's failure, fearing the blame would be placed on him.
Subercase, concerned that the British might return the following year, worked to strengthen the fortifications at Port Royal. He also built a small warship to assist in the colony's defenses, and convinced Morpain to raid New England shipping. The privateer was so successful that by the end of 1708 Port Royal was overcrowded with prisoners from the captured prizes.
None of this helped save Port Royal from the next attack, since France failed to send any significant support, while the British mobilized larger and better-organized forces. Samuel Vetch, with support from Dudley, Boston merchants, and the New England fishing community, successfully lobbied Queen Anne for military support for an expedition to conquer all of New France in 1709. This prompted the colonists to mobilize in the expectation that troops would arrive from England; their efforts were aborted when the promised military support failed to materialize. Vetch and Francis Nicholson returned to England in its aftermath, and again secured promises of military support for an attempt on Port Royal in 1710. In the summer of 1710, a fleet arrived in Boston carrying 400 marines. Augmented by colonial regiments, this force captured Port Royal after a third siege in 1710.
## See also
- Military history of Nova Scotia |
1,609,504 | Viète's formula | 1,164,183,772 | Infinite product converging to 2/π | [
"Articles containing proofs",
"Infinite products",
"Pi algorithms"
]
| In mathematics, Viète's formula is the following infinite product of nested radicals representing twice the reciprocal of the mathematical constant π: $\frac2\pi = \frac{\sqrt 2}2 \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2+\sqrt 2}}2 \cdot \frac{\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2+\sqrt 2}}}2 \cdots$ It can also be represented as: $\frac2\pi = \prod_{n=1}^{\infty} \cos \frac{\pi}{2^{n+1}}$
The formula is named after François Viète, who published it in 1593. As the first formula of European mathematics to represent an infinite process, it can be given a rigorous meaning as a limit expression, and marks the beginning of mathematical analysis. It has linear convergence, and can be used for calculations of π, but other methods before and since have led to greater accuracy. It has also been used in calculations of the behavior of systems of springs and masses, and as a motivating example for the concept of statistical independence.
The formula can be derived as a telescoping product of either the areas or perimeters of nested polygons converging to a circle. Alternatively, repeated use of the half-angle formula from trigonometry leads to a generalized formula, discovered by Leonhard Euler, that has Viète's formula as a special case. Many similar formulas involving nested roots or infinite products are now known.
## Significance
François Viète (1540–1603) was a French lawyer, privy councillor to two French kings, and amateur mathematician. He published this formula in 1593 in his work Variorum de rebus mathematicis responsorum, liber VIII. At this time, methods for approximating π to (in principle) arbitrary accuracy had long been known. Viète's own method can be interpreted as a variation of an idea of Archimedes of approximating the circumference of a circle by the perimeter of a many-sided polygon, used by Archimedes to find the approximation
$\frac{223}{71} < \pi < \frac{22}{7}.$
By publishing his method as a mathematical formula, Viète formulated the first instance of an infinite product known in mathematics, and the first example of an explicit formula for the exact value of π. As the first representation in European mathematics of a number as the result of an infinite process rather than of a finite calculation, Eli Maor highlights Viète's formula as marking the beginning of mathematical analysis and Jonathan Borwein calls its appearance "the dawn of modern mathematics".
Using his formula, Viète calculated π to an accuracy of nine decimal digits. However, this was not the most accurate approximation to π known at the time, as the Persian mathematician Jamshīd al-Kāshī had calculated π to an accuracy of nine sexagesimal digits and 16 decimal digits in 1424. Not long after Viète published his formula, Ludolph van Ceulen used a method closely related to Viète's to calculate 35 digits of π, which were published only after van Ceulen's death in 1610.
Beyond its mathematical and historical significance, Viète's formula can be used to explain the different speeds of waves of different frequencies in an infinite chain of springs and masses, and the appearance of π in the limiting behavior of these speeds. Additionally, a derivation of this formula as a product of integrals involving the Rademacher system, equal to the integral of products of the same functions, provides a motivating example for the concept of statistical independence.
## Interpretation and convergence
Viète's formula may be rewritten and understood as a limit expression
$\lim_{n \rightarrow \infty} \prod_{i=1}^n \frac{a_i}{2} = \frac2\pi$
where
$\begin{align} a_1 &= \sqrt{2} \\ a_n &= \sqrt{2+a_{n-1}}. \end{align}$
For each choice of $n$, the expression in the limit is a finite product, and as $n$ gets arbitrarily large these finite products have values that approach the value of Viète's formula arbitrarily closely. Viète did his work long before the concepts of limits and rigorous proofs of convergence were developed in mathematics; the first proof that this limit exists was not given until the work of Ferdinand Rudio in 1891.
The rate of convergence of a limit governs the number of terms of the expression needed to achieve a given number of digits of accuracy. In Viète's formula, the numbers of terms and digits are proportional to each other: the product of the first n terms in the limit gives an expression for π that is accurate to approximately 0.6n digits. This convergence rate compares very favorably with the Wallis product, a later infinite product formula for π. Although Viète himself used his formula to calculate π only with nine-digit accuracy, an accelerated version of his formula has been used to calculate π to hundreds of thousands of digits.
## Related formulas
Viète's formula may be obtained as a special case of a formula for the sinc function that has often been attributed to Leonhard Euler, more than a century later:
$\frac{\sin x}{x} = \cos\frac{x}{2} \cdot \cos\frac{x}{4} \cdot \cos\frac{x}{8} \cdots$
Substituting x = π/2 in this formula yields:
$\frac{2}{\pi} = \cos\frac{\pi}{4} \cdot \cos\frac{\pi}{8} \cdot \cos\frac{\pi}{16} \cdots$
Then, expressing each term of the product on the right as a function of earlier terms using the half-angle formula:
$\cos\frac{x}{2} = \sqrt\frac{1+\cos x}{2}$
gives Viète's formula.
It is also possible to derive from Viète's formula a related formula for π that still involves nested square roots of two, but uses only one multiplication:
$\pi = \lim_{k\to\infty} 2^{k} \underbrace{\sqrt{2-\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2+\sqrt{2+\cdots+\sqrt{2}}}}}}}_{k\text{ square roots}},$
which can be rewritten compactly as
$\begin{align} \pi &= \lim_{k\to\infty}2^k\sqrt{2-a_k} \[5px] a_1&=0 \\ a_k&=\sqrt{2+a_{k-1}}. \end{align}$
Many formulae for π and other constants such as the golden ratio are now known, similar to Viète's in their use of either nested radicals or infinite products of trigonometric functions.
## Derivation
Viète obtained his formula by comparing the areas of regular polygons with 2<sup>n</sup> and 2<sup>n + 1</sup> sides inscribed in a circle. The first term in the product, √2/2, is the ratio of areas of a square and an octagon, the second term is the ratio of areas of an octagon and a hexadecagon, etc. Thus, the product telescopes to give the ratio of areas of a square (the initial polygon in the sequence) to a circle (the limiting case of a 2<sup>n</sup>-gon). Alternatively, the terms in the product may be instead interpreted as ratios of perimeters of the same sequence of polygons, starting with the ratio of perimeters of a digon (the diameter of the circle, counted twice) and a square, the ratio of perimeters of a square and an octagon, etc.
Another derivation is possible based on trigonometric identities and Euler's formula. Repeatedly applying the double-angle formula
$\sin x = 2\sin\frac{x}{2}\cos\frac{x}{2},$
leads to a proof by mathematical induction that, for all positive integers n,
$\sin x = 2^n \sin\frac{x}{2^n}\left(\prod_{i=1}^n \cos\frac{x}{2^i}\right).$
The term 2<sup>n</sup> sin x/2<sup>n</sup> goes to x in the limit as n goes to infinity, from which Euler's formula follows. Viète's formula may be obtained from this formula by the substitution x = π/2. |
9,408,928 | Angels with Dirty Faces (Sugababes song) | 1,167,815,945 | 2002 single by Sugababes | [
"2002 singles",
"Animated music videos",
"Song recordings produced by Xenomania",
"Songs written by Brian Higgins (producer)",
"Songs written by Heidi Range",
"Songs written by Keisha Buchanan",
"Songs written by Miranda Cooper",
"Songs written by Mutya Buena",
"Sugababes songs",
"The Powerpuff Girls mass media"
]
| "Angels with Dirty Faces" is a song by British girl group Sugababes from their second studio album of the same name. It was written by the Sugababes in collaboration with the Xenomania members Brian Higgins, Bob Bradley, Tim Powell and Matthew Del Gray. Higgins, Bradley, Powell and Gifford Noel produced the song. An uptempo pop and R&B record with dance influences, it was released on 11 November 2002 as a double A-side with "Stronger", as the album's third single. The song received generally favourable reviews from critics, who praised its composition and highlighted it as one of the album's better tracks.
Upon release as a double A-side, the song peaked at number seven on the UK Singles Chart and inside the top forty on the Australian and New Zealand charts. "Angels with Dirty Faces" was heavily promoted through Cartoon Network's animated television series The Powerpuff Girls. Merchandise was created to promote the release of the theatrical film based on the series, while Cartoon Network Studios produced the song's music video, a reworking of the episode "Nano of the North" from the original series' fourth season. The Sugababes performed the song at London's Scala, and Liverpool's Royal Court Theatre and King's Dock.
## Development and composition
"Angels with Dirty Faces" is the title track of the Sugababes' second studio album. The group began working on the album soon after the departure of original member Siobhán Donaghy, who was replaced by former Atomic Kitten member Heidi Range in September 2001. Within seven months, they composed forty tracks for the album, ten of which made the final cut. "Angels with Dirty Faces" was written by the Sugababes in collaboration with members of the British songwriting and production team Xenomania, including Brian Higgins, Bob Bradley, Tim Powell and Matthew Del Gray. Higgins, Bradley, Powell and Gifford Noel produced the song.
"Angels with Dirty Faces" is an uptempo fusion of pop and R&B. It is backed by a dance beat and contains elements of hip hop. According to the digital sheet music published by EMI Music Publishing, the song was composed in common time at a tempo of 110 beats per minute. "Angels with Dirty Faces" features a girl power theme, and according to the Sugababes, is about being naughty. Phil Udell from Hot Press magazine compared the song to American girl group Destiny Child's music, specifically their 2001 single "Bootylicious".
## Release and reception
"Angels with Dirty Faces" was released as the album's third single as part of a double A-side with "Stronger". The double A-side was made available as a CD single, cassette tape and 12-inch single on 11 November 2002. An Audio Drive remix of the song appears on the 12-inch and CD releases, the latter of which features the music video. According to Julie Macaskill of Daily Record, the version which appears on the single release is "grittier" compared to the album version.
### Critical response
The song received generally positive reviews from critics. NME critic Barry Nicholson suggested it was the better track from the double A-side and commended its "sleek garage sexiness". He additionally praised the song as smooth and tantalising. A critic from the Daily Mirror described "Angels with Dirty Faces", as well as the album track "Virgin Sexy", as "alive with wry palpitations". Julie Macaskill of Daily Record commended the song's pop and R&B mixture, which she noted as "proof that there is nothing sweeter than the Sugababes". Phil Udell from Hot Press admitted that although it is reminiscent of Destiny's Child's music, the song "lacks the American's sense of style". The Village Voice'''s Jess Harvell criticised "Angels with Dirty Faces" as "generic in the post-swingbeat sense".
### Commercial performance
"Angels with Dirty Faces" appeared on singles charts as part of its double A-side release with "Stronger". In the 23 November 2002 issue of the UK Singles Chart, the single debuted and peaked at number seven, granting the band their third consecutive top ten hit from the album. It appeared in the chart for thirteen weeks, and by April 2010, sold 125,000 copies in the UK, placing it twelfth on the group's best-selling songs list. The double A-side peaked at number thirty-four on the Australian Singles Chart, where it charted for nine weeks. On the New Zealand Singles Chart, it debuted on 23 February 2003 at number forty-three and peaked at number twenty-four sixteen weeks later. The single spent a total of eighteen weeks on the chart, and gave the Sugababes their third consecutive top forty hit in the country.
## Promotion
### Products
The Sugababes' record label, Universal Island, heavily promoted "Angels with Dirty Faces" through Cartoon Network's animated television series The Powerpuff Girls, and its 2002 film of the same name. 250,000 posters which feature the Sugababes and the Powerpuff Girls were distributed throughout cinemas, while an additional 500,000 posters were delivered to stores of the supermarket chain Asda. In total, Universal Island obtained the equivalent of an estimated £1.5 million worth of media coverage. The label's stint with the series resulted in an animated music video for the song, produced by Cartoon Network Studios. It was played before all screenings of the film during its cinema release as a support feature. The video was also included on the PlayStation 2 video game The Powerpuff Girls: Relish Rampage. The Sugababes' cartoon characters from the video were featured on the desktops of custom computers that were promoted by the group.
### Music video
The video channels "Nano of the North", an episode from the fourth season of The Powerpuff Girls, in which each Sugababes member portrays a Powerpuff Girl. The video opens with a clip of Professor Utonium driving in his car. Meanwhile, a dark cloud hovers over Townsville and it soon begins to rain and dissolves the town. When Professor Utonium arrives home, The Powerpuff Girls are shown watching the Sugababes on television, although the clip is interrupted with a News Flash that reads "Robot Rain Terrorises Townsville". Professor Utonium manages to retrieve the Sugababes and infuses them with Chemical X. He shrinks them to a microscopic size, places them in a glass jar and drives off in the car with them. He exits the car but trips over, causing the jar to drop and break. The Sugababes, playing the roles of The Powerpuff Girls, fight off the Nanobots with their superpowers. However, a gigantic Nanobot soon appears, and subsequently defeats the Sugababes through superior strength. Professor Utonium witnesses the incident and crushes the Nanobot with his foot. The rain subsequently stops and the sun appears, in which the people of the town start to celebrate. When the Sugababes were questioned about their reaction to the video and its animation, group member Keisha Buchanan responded: "It was so funny seeing us like that and the Powerpuff Girls cartoon itself. The video so much resembled our personalities with these three characters so it was very funny to watch actually."
### Live performances
The Sugababes performed "Angels with Dirty Faces" at the Scala in London on 11 November 2002. The Guardians Betty Clarke described the group's vocals during the performance as "clean and pristine", and noted the presence of change in the group's sound and image. The band performed it at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool on 27 March 2003 as the first show of their UK tour. It was the opening song of the show, which contained a crowd of one thousand people. "Angels with Dirty Faces" was also the first song they performed during their eighty-minute set on 11 July 2003 at the King's Dock, Port of Liverpool, as part of the Liverpool Summer Pops music festival.
## Track listings and formats
- CD1 single
1. "Stronger" (New Single Version)
2. "Angels with Dirty Faces" (Audio Drive Remix)
3. "Stronger" (Almighty Club Mix)
4. "Stronger" (Video)
- CD2 single
1. "Angels with Dirty Faces" (Album Version)
2. "Stronger" (Antoine909 Remix)
3. "Stronger" (Live Remix at Leeds University, 5 October 2002)
4. "Angels with Dirty Faces" (Video)
- Cassette tape
1. "Stronger" (New Single Version)
2. "Angels with Dirty Faces" (Album Version)
3. "Stronger" (Almighty Club Mix)
- 12-inch single'''
1. "Stronger" (Almighty Club Mix)
2. "Stronger" (Antoine909 Remix)
3. "Angels with Dirty Faces" (Audio Drive Remix)
## Charts
All entries charted as part of the double A-side release with "Stronger".
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts |
1,364,303 | Gaussberg | 1,151,475,355 | Volcanic cone in Antarctica | [
"Extinct volcanoes",
"Landforms of Kaiser Wilhelm II Land",
"Mountains of Antarctica",
"Pleistocene volcanoes",
"Subglacial volcanoes",
"Volcanic cones",
"Volcanoes of Antarctica"
]
| Gaussberg (or Schwarzen Berg, Mount Gauss) is an extinct, 370-metre-high (1,210-foot) high volcanic cone in East Antarctica fronting on Davis Sea immediately west of Posadowsky Glacier. It is ice-free and conical in nature, having formed subglacially about 55,000 years ago. The current edifice is thought to be the remains of a once-larger mountain that has been reduced by glacial and subaerial erosion. The volcano has produced lamproite magmas, and is the youngest volcano to have produced such magmas on Earth.
## Research history
Discovered in February 1902 by the German Antarctic Expedition under Erich von Drygalski, who named it after his expedition ship which in 1902 remained stuck in ice for a year. The ship in turn was named in honour of the German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Drygalski observed the volcano with the help of a tethered balloon.
Owing to its peculiar composition, Gaussberg has been intensively researched. The mountain was investigated in 1912 by the 1911-1914 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, by the Soviet Antarctic Expedition in 1956–1957, by Australian expeditions in 1977 and 1981 and by an expedition linked to an entity "K.D.C" in 1997. Regional krill stocks in turn were named after the mountain. Owing to its peculiar composition and isolated location, the volcano has an importance out of proportion to its actual size. The mineral gaussbergite is named after the volcano.
## Geography and geomorphology
The volcano lies in Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, Antarctica, close to the West Ice Shelf and between the Australian Davis Station and Russian Mirny Station. It lies on the Davis Sea immediately west of Posadowsky Glacier. Gaussberg is within the Antarctic territory claimed by Australia, and the only ice-free outcrop between Mirny Station and the Vestfold Hills.
It consists of a 370-metre-high (1,210-foot), 1.5-kilometre-wide (0.93-mile) cone located between the East Antarctic Ice Sheet on three sides and the sea on the fourth. It is the only exposure of rock in the region, with rocky outcrops at the summit and on the northern flank. The edifice covers an area of about 10 square kilometres (3.9 sq mi) and has a volume of 1 cubic kilometre (0.24 cu mi). Most of the edifice is made out of pillow lavas with radii of 0.5–2 metres (1 ft 8 in – 6 ft 7 in) and 3–5 centimetres (1.2–2.0 in) thick crusts. The volcano is covered with lava fragments resembling lapilli which may have formed through erosion. Gaussberg has no volcanic crater, rather having a ridge at the summit. The volcano has several terraces of undetermined origin and may have formed as a shield volcano with multiple vents. The rocks were probably emplaced subglacially, although the occurrence of pahoehoe lava is possible. There are moraines on the southern, northwestern and northeastern foot of the volcano, and erratic blocks and glacial striations are evidence that the volcano was formerly glaciated.
## Geology
Gaussberg is an extremely isolated volcano although an ice rise a few kilometres southwest of Gaussberg and aeromagnetic surveys suggest that within 30 kilometres (19 mi) there are other small volcanoes in the area. It is the only Antarctic volcano situated on the Antarctic Shield, where the thickest crust of Antarctica is found. Why it formed about 50,000 years ago on a stable continental margin is unclear; either a mantle plume, an instability of the East Antarctic continent or lateral flow of mantle plume material are possible. The basement underneath Gaussberg is formed by gneisses of Archean to Proterozoic age. The lithosphere under Gaussberg is over 150 kilometres (93 mi) thick and has an unusually high heat flow.
Its activity has been related to the Kerguelen Plateau, but the Kerguelen volcanoes have yielded different magma compositions and there is no major geological structure linking the two other than the so-called "Kerguelen-Gaussberg Ridge", thus a connection between the two is unproven. A graben system in the region, which may have formed in Gondwana and may be correlated to tectonic structures on the Indian Peninsula, has been christened the "Gaussberg Rift"; the volcano rises on a horst on the rift but its relation to the rift is unclear. Finally, the 90° E Fault that separates regional tectonic structures may have influenced volcanism at Gaussberg.
### Composition
The volcano has a uniform chemical composition consisting of lamproite (originally identified as leucitite), which defines a potassium-rich mafic rock suite. The rocks are almost free of visible crystals but contain numerous vesicles. Phenocrysts include clinopyroxene, leucite and olivine. The Gaussberg suite is the youngest lamproite known on Earth. The rocks are rich in volatiles including carbon dioxide and water. There are xenoliths, mostly granites coming from the Precambrian basement, and zircons recovered from the rocks are up to several billion years old. Palagonite, salt and native sulfur deposits have been found.
The source of the Gaussberg lamproites is unclear, as the processes usually proposed for the formation of such magmas do not easily apply to the Gaussberg rocks. The magma may have formed through the incomplete melting of phlogopite-rich mantle and further chemical processes such as crystal fractionation that raised the potassium/aluminium ratio above 1. Deep mantle structures that formed through subduction billions of years ago and remained isolated since then have been proposed as the source of Gaussberg lamproites. The Kerguelen plume may or may not have played a role.
## Eruption history
Drastically different age estimates have been obtained on Gaussberg. Early research suggested a Pliocene or Miocene age based on a presumed history of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and comparisons between the appearance of Gaussberg with Kerguelen volcanoes. Potassium-argon dating has yielded ages of 20 and 9 million years, with younger dating efforts producing an age of 56,000±5,000 years. Fission track dating produced ages of 25,000±12,000 years and geomorphologic considerations support a late Pleistocene age. These disagreements between potassium-argon dating and other dating methods may indicate either contamination with older rocks or the presence of non-outgassed argon. The 56,000±5,000 years age is considered to be more probable than the 20 and 9 million years ones.
Gaussberg was probably constructed in a single eruptive episode but there is evidence that the present-day edifice formed on an older, eroded volcano. Gaussberg formed under much thicker ice than there is today in the area, and the ice deposited moraines on its summit. There are different views on how erosion affected Gaussberg; some think that it was largely spared and others that erosion wore down the initially much larger edifice to its current size; the latter theory is the preferred view of the Global Volcanism Program and is supported by aeromagnetic data which suggest an initial size of 10 kilometres (6.2 mi). Dust layers in the Siple Dome ice core may come from wind-driven erosion of Gaussberg rocks.
## Biology
Several moss species were identified at Gaussberg, as well as a protozoan fauna such as rotifers inhabiting them. Nematodes and tardigrades have been found at Gaussberg. It was the first place on the Antarctic mainland where lichens were reported. Emperor penguin rookeries occur at the mountain and snow petrels were observed to breed there, but overall there is not much fauna at Gaussberg.
## See also
- List of volcanoes in Antarctica |
198,726 | St Mary Redcliffe | 1,172,704,894 | null | [
"12th-century church buildings in England",
"15th-century church buildings in England",
"Church of England church buildings in Bristol",
"Churches completed in 1872",
"Diocese of Bristol",
"Grade I listed churches in Bristol",
"Music venues in Bristol",
"Tourist attractions in Bristol"
]
| The Church of St Mary the Virgin, widely known as St Mary Redcliffe, is the main Church of England parish church for the Redcliffe district of the city of Bristol, England. The first reference to a church on the site appears in 1158, with the present building dating from 1185 to 1872. The church is considered one of the country's finest and largest parish churches as well as an outstanding example of English Gothic architecture. The church is so large it is sometimes mistaken for Bristol Cathedral by tourists. The building has Grade I listed status, the highest possible category, by Historic England.
The church is notable for its many large stained glass windows, decorative stone vaults, flying buttresses, rare hexagonal porch and massive Gothic spire. With a height of 274 feet (84 m) to the top of the weathervane, St Mary Redcliffe is the second-tallest structure in Bristol and the sixth-tallest parish church in the country. The church spire is a major Bristol landmark, visible from across the city and until the completion of Castle Park View in 2020, it was the tallest structure ever to have been erected in Bristol.
St Mary Redcliffe has received widespread critical acclaim from various architects, historians, poets, writers and monarchs. Queen Elizabeth I, on a visit to the church in 1574, described St Mary Redcliffe as "The fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England"; Simon Jenkins gives St Mary Redcliffe the maximum five-star rating in his book 'England's Thousand Best Churches', one of only eighteen to receive such a rating, describing it as a "masterpiece of English Gothic"; and Nikolaus Pevsner says that "St Mary Redcliffe need not fear comparison with any other English parish church".
## History
### Name and origins
Though some sources claim a church has been on the site since Saxon times, no such church is recorded in the Domesday Book, meaning that if a church existed, it had been demolished by 1086. The first recorded mention of a church in present-day Redcliffe is a charter signed by Henry II in 1158, confirming the endowments of the churches at Redcliffe and Bedminster to Old Sarum Cathedral. This charter implies therefore that a church already existed in Redcliffe during 1158, likely constructed sometime between 1086 and 1158.
The modern-day name of Redcliffe, now a district of Bristol, refers to the position of the church on its prominent red sandstone cliff above the River Avon, which at the time, was the location of the Port of Bristol. The original church was built and funded by the city's wealthy merchants, some of whom may have reached present-day North America before Christopher Columbus, sailing from the Port of Bristol. Though the modern Port of Bristol is located further downstream, the original quayside still survives near the church, called Redcliffe Quay, where fragments of the red cliff can still be seen.
### Gothic rebuilding
In 1185, a new north porch was constructed in the Early English Gothic style of the Purbeck subtype, similar to the new east end of Canterbury Cathedral, making this one of the earliest Gothic constructions in England, Canterbury being the earliest. Though repairs are recorded in the churchwardens' accounts in 1207, 1229 and 1230, the next major construction would not be undertaken until the end of the 13th century.
In 1292, Simon de Burton, Mayor of Bristol, founded the present church and began an ambitious programme of rebuilding. This began in 1294 with the construction of the massive northwest tower base and part of the present west wall. Construction paused until 1320 when the rest of the church was rebuilt into the Decorated Gothic style. The earliest work from this phase of construction is the exceptionally rare hexagonal north porch, which was built adjacent to the 1185 Early English porch in 1325, thus forming an inner (1185) and outer (1325) north porch.
The design influence for the unusual hexagonal shape of the north porch is unknown, with historians offering various suggestions. These include the Chapter House and Lady Chapel of nearby Wells Cathedral, constructed from 1310 onwards, which are the nearest example of similar work. Pevsner also suggests influences from Chinese and Islamic art and architecture, since frequent voyages were made in this period to the east in this period. Islamic architecture contains frequent polygons and it is possible that given the Port of Bristol being amongst the largest and most important in England at the time, inspiration was sought from further afield.
From c. 1330, the south porch and nave aisle began to be rebuilt in the Decorated style, though with notable markings of the future Perpendicular style, which was soon to become the dominant style from the late 14th century onwards. Influences from Wells Cathedral can again be found here, most notably in the south porch, constructed in 1335. Construction continued with the completion of the tower and spire in the first half of the 14th century, followed by the south transept and then the Lady Chapel, the latter completed in 1385.
Though historians do not agree on precisely when it took place, there is a notable change in architectural style when comparing the north and south transepts with the choir and nave. The choir was most likely complete by the time of the Black Death in 1348 and though the north transept is built on a similar plan to the south transept, its internal features indicate a time when the Perpendicular style had succeeded the Decorated as the dominant style of architecture, most notably in the clerestory.
### 15th century
The completion of the nave was the major task left at the beginning of the 15th century. The elevation of the nave walls is of a similar design to that of the choir but the interior vaulting is different, implying it is of a later date. Work continued on the nave and crossing during the first half of the 15th century until it was interrupted in 1445 or 1446 by the fall of the spire.
Though the exact year is uncertain, the top of the spire is recorded to have been struck by lightning in one of these two years. Meteorological records kept at the University of East Anglia make reference to storms with thunder and lightning in November and December 1446. This strike caused the top two-thirds of the spire to collapse, leaving St Mary Redcliffe with a stump-like spire, similar to the present-day appearance of St Mary's Church in nearby Yatton.
It is unknown whether any damage was caused by the fall of the spire, though it is reported. If the wind had been from the southwest, the spire would have fallen onto the north porches, which show no sign of damage or alteration. If the wind had been from the northwest, the spire would have fallen onto the south porch, which does show signs of later alteration, with a vault of later design than the exterior elevation. Surviving evidence in the tower roof shows the spire did not fall down vertically, for the tower roof beams supporting the spire have been dated to the 14th century and they would not have survived such a collapse. William Worcestre's 1480 inventory states: "the height of the tower of Redcliffe contains 300 feet, of which 100 feet have been thrown down by lightning". The spire was not rebuilt following the strike; work instead continued to the nave and crossing, completed in c. 1480. The crossing vault bears similarities to that at Salisbury Cathedral, dated to 1479, which given the close relationship between the two churches, likely inspired that at Redcliffe. The work to complete the nave at Redcliffe was largely financed by the Canynges family, who had worked to rebuild the church since the early 14th century.
The final major alteration to the church in the Gothic period was the extension of the Lady Chapel in 1494 by Sir John Juyn, a wealthy barrister. Though the extension took place over 100 years after the initial completion of the chapel, the extension work is harmonious in design with the original.
### 16th and 17th centuries
Like many churches in England, substantial damage was done to the internal fittings in the 16th and 17th centuries. During 1547, the chantry chapels were dissolved, including those founded at the end of the 15th century by William Canynges. The crown confiscated plates, lamps, vestments and service books. The rood screen was destroyed in 1548.
Sometime in 1574, Queen Elizabeth I made the first of several visits to St Mary Redcliffe, reputedly describing it as "the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England", though whether she actually said this is a matter of some debate. Elizabeth would make several more visits during her reign, most notably in 1588 and 1591 when she restored some of the funds confiscated by her predecessors; this she did by issuing Letters Patent.
More serious damage would come to the church during the 17th century. From 1649 to 1660, during the time of Oliver Cromwell as Lord Protector, the pinnacles were removed, ornaments destroyed, the organ broken and much of the stained glass smashed by artillery fire. Similar damage was done to many churches across the country. The removal of the pinnacles destabilised parts of the building; as the flying buttresses are not just decorative, but support the vaulting and the upper walls. The east window was bricked up to try to stop the collapse of the quire walls, as were some of the flying buttresses.
### Modern history
#### 18th and 19th centuries
In 1763, the chapel of the Holy Spirit, as well as the Churchyard Cross, were both demolished. The chapel of the Holy Spirit was a freestanding building constructed in the mid-13th century by Henry Tussun, who was Prebendary at nearby Bedminster. The chapel stood a short distance southwest of the present tower, and was used as the parish church whilst the present building was under construction. Queen Elizabeth later gave it to the parishioners for use as a grammar school but it fell into disuse. Demolition lasted until 1766.
The church was heavily restored again during the latter half of the 19th century. Concerned for the state of the building, which had suffered with decades of decay and misuse, a committee was formed in 1842 under the name of the Canynges Society to restore the building and return it to its original appearance. As part of the restoration, the east window was unblocked and reglazed, the high box pews and galleries of the Georgian era removed and the stonework generally restored. The final step in this restoration was the rebuilding of the spire, which had stood in truncated form above the tower since it was struck by lightning in 1445 or 1446. The spire was rebuilt and the remaining 'stump' restored back to its former height; the Mayor of Bristol completing the work by placing the capstone on May 9, 1872, over 260 feet (79 m) above the ground. This work which cost over £40,000 (equivalent to £3.4 million in 2022) was designed and overseen by architect George Godwin.
#### 20th century
In 1912, the present highly-acclaimed organ by Durham-based Harrison and Harrison was constructed and installed in the church, replacing several earlier instruments by Bristolian organ builders (see Organ, below). From 1939 to 1941, a new undercroft in the Gothic-style was constructed by George Oatley underneath the north porch, originally intended to be used as the treasury.
During the Second World War, the church, despite its size and height making it an easy target for the Luftwaffe, was mostly spared from destruction, unlike many of Bristol's churches. Nevertheless, a team of watchmen were stationed on the church roof at night to put out incendiary bombs. The church's bells and other treasures were stored under the floor in sandbags to protect them from 1941 to 1944 and minor damage was sustained on a small number of occasions, mostly to the organs and roofs, though the upper (inner) north porch room was burnt out.
The church did however come very close to more significant destruction on Good Friday in 1941, when a bomb dropped on a nearby street threw shrapnel, including a large chunk of tram rail, into the churchyard. The tram rail, which has been left there to this day, is partially embedded in the ground with the force of the explosion and serves to remind local residents of how close the church came to destruction.
In the 1960s, the present vivid stained glass windows in the Lady Chapel were installed and designed by Harry Stammers, and at the same time, £150,000 was spent between 1960 and 1965 on cleaning the external stonework.
#### 21st century
The 21st century has seen much restoration to the exterior stonework, much of it being cleaned, 150 years of pollution had made the stonework dark. The organ has undergone a significant restoration by its original builders, Harrison and Harrison, and some stained glass commemorating the Royal African Company was removed in June 2020 following the removal of the Statue of Edward Colston on June 7. The south nave aisle and lady chapel roofs have been renewed.
A project to celebrate the 450th anniversary in 2024 of the visit of Elizabeth I is underway to make the church more suitable for hosting tourists, events and supporting the community. In 2016, an architectural competition was run by the church to design a new welcome centre with fresh and modern facilities; the contest was won by Purcell who received the contract to design the work. Part of the work includes the pedestrianisation of Redcliffe Way, the dual carriageway which runs past the north side of the church. As of 2023, Purcell have departed ways with the church, with Northern Irish architects Hall McKnight taking over the project. No construction work has so far taken place.
## Architecture
### Plan
The church has a traditional cruciform plan, with northwest tower, nave, transepts and chancel, as is common with many parish churches in England. However, more unusually, the form it takes is more akin to that of a cathedral than a parish church, with aisles on all four arms of the church, as well as a lady chapel to the east and two porches. Other parish churches with such an arrangement can be found at Beverley Minster in East Riding of Yorkshire, Christchurch Priory in Dorset and Selby Abbey in North Yorkshire. However, St Mary Redcliffe is unique for its double north porch, with both an inner and outer room, the latter taking a rare polygonal form.
The scale of the building makes it not only one of the primary landmarks for the city of Bristol but also one of the largest parish churches in the country. The church building is 250 feet (76 m) long from east to west and 117 feet (36 m) across the transepts from north to south, giving it an area of 1,916 square metres (20,620 sq ft). The footprint of the church is amongst the largest of any church in England when cathedrals and other former monastic structures such as Bath Abbey are excluded, after only Great Yarmouth Minster (2,752 sq m), Hull Minster (2,473 sq m), Boston Stump (2,417 sq m) and Newark-on-Trent (2,010 sq m).
### Exterior
#### Tower
The dominant feature of the church's exterior is the highly decorative and imposing northwest tower, capped by an extremely tall and slender spire. The earliest parts of the tower which comprise the lowest stage date from circa 1294, built in the Late Geometrical style. This part of the tower was an addition to the incarnation of the building begun in c. 1185, and was constructed on a massive scale, with walls 7 feet (2.1 m) thick and 35 feet (11 m) long. The lower stage, which reaches a height of 34 feet (10 m), contains a seven-bay niche-filled arcade containing fourteen statues by William Rice in the 19th century restoration. Below this arcade are two large windows, one each on the north and west sides, formed of three and four lights respectively, framed by massive buttresses complete with filleted angle shafts. This lowest stage of the tower partially juts into the north porch, with the 1325 hexagonal outer porch built around one of the tower buttresses.
The second stage of the tower is highly ornate and is almost as tall as the older stage below it, being some 33 feet (10 m) high from the bottom of the lower stage to the top of the second. This second stage was not begun until the early 14th century and subsequently shows a later period of architecture than the stage beneath it. This stage of the tower, containing the ringing room, has a large blind arcade that runs all the way around the tower, formed of 3 arches with y-shaped tracery in gabled hoods containing 19th century statues of the Apostles. Each arch has elaborate mouldings punctured with cabbage roses and daisy-like florets on the gables. The central arch on the east, north and west sides contain large glazed window, that of the south side blocked by the nave.
The third and highest stage of the tower contains the belfry and is similar in age to the second, being constructed in the Perpendicular Gothic style. This stage, being some 44 feet (13 m) high contains triplets of huge louvred belfry openings which take up nearly the entire width and height of each wall, showing the verticality common in the late Gothic period. These louvred windows have cinque-foil headed lights separated by slender blind arches, all heavily crocketed. The buttresses which started on the lowest stage also terminate here with crocketed pyramids. The third stage is topped by a pierced stone parapet formed of open triangles and gargoyles, with octagonal pinnacles rising from it. The parapet of the tower is 111 feet (34 m) above the ground; the octagonal corner pinnacles reach 139 feet (42 m) above the ground.
#### Spire
The first spire on the tower at Redcliffe was completed by circa 1335, and stood for just over 110 years until it was severely damaged by a storm in either 1445 or 1446, toppling the upper part of it. To what extent the spire was damaged is unknown, for conflicting accounts appear from its destruction as to how much of it was left. William Worcestre recorded in a visit to the church in 1478 that "the height of the tower at Redcliffe measures 300 feet, of which 100 feet have been thrown down by lightning". However, this contradicts the images and paintings of the church in the 19th century, which show the tower capped by a short stump, implying it was either taken down or further reduced in height. The tallest medieval work in the present spire is 139 feet (42 m) above the ground, the position of which matches the appearance of the church in the 19th century.
As part of the 19th century restoration of the church by George Godwin, the rebuilding of the spire was undertaken as the final part of the work, from 1870 to 1872. Godwin's design was more restrained than previous architects' drawings for its rebuilding, taking its inspiration from that at Salisbury Cathedral; perhaps ironic, as the original spire may have directly inspired Salisbury's, given the close link between the two churches. The spire stands 152 feet (46 m) tall on top of the roof of the tower, giving a total height to the capstone of 262 feet (80 m), and when the weathervane is included, 274 feet (84 m). The spire's height is commonly misquoted as 292 feet (89 m), which comes from an appendix attached to the book 'Notes on the Church of St Mary Redcliffe' by Revd J. P. Norris in 1878. This figure includes the deep foundations as well as the weathervane which has led to St Mary Redcliffe frequently being called the third tallest parish church in England.
Whilst the spire is very large, the church is not the third tallest parish church in England. It ranks as the 15th-tallest church in the United Kingdom, and the 6th-tallest parish church, surpassed in the respect of the latter by the churches of St Walburge in Preston, St James in Louth, St Wulfram in Grantham, St Elphin in Warrington and St Mary Abbots in Kensington. It is also the second tallest church in South West England, surpassed only by Salisbury Cathedral.
#### North porch
The north porch at St Mary Redcliffe is formed of two parts, an earlier 12th century inner porch and a much more elaborate 14th century outer porch. The outer porch is the only one visible from the exterior and dates from circa 1325. The outer porch is the most celebrated part of the current building as well as one of its greatest treasures, being one of only three medieval hexagonal porches in existence in England. The exterior is dominated by massive pentagonal turret buttresses with square pinnacles rising the full height of the porch.
The outer porch has three stages of unequal height: the lowest stage contains the main doorway which has a seven-pointed double-chamfered entrance arch, a feature author Simon Jenkins calls "astonishing". The arch is inspired by Oriental architecture and features exceptionally intricate decoration of seaweed foliage. The second stage has a large row of four blind arcades filled with niches containing 19th century replicas of the original statues, above which are large four-light windows. The upper stage contains the Chatterton Room, and is a low room lit by rows of mullion windows. The parapet has open quatrefoils and is reached by an octagonal stair turret in the southeast corner.
#### Nave, transepts and chancel
The main body of the church generally dates from the late Decorated and early Perpendicular Gothic periods of the mid-14th century and thus presents a unified and consistent style throughout. The aisles all have blind quatrefoil parapets divided by buttresses, from which rise crocketed pinnacles and 4-light Decorated windows. The clerestory of the main body is supported by massive flying buttresses which spring from the aisle buttresses. Between each buttress are very large 6-light windows filling almost the entire space of the clerestory wall, of the alternating tracery type. The upper walls also have an open parapet but formed of open-cusped triangles, above which rise thin, crocketed pinnacles.
The south and north transepts are unusually double-aisled, an arrangement scarcely seen outside of cathedral buildings and each one is three bays in length. The two transepts differ slightly in design due to the north transept being a slightly later imitation of the 1335 south transept. The south transept has gabled buttresses to the aisles and flying buttresses to the clerestory, which unlike that of the nave or chancel, is unpanelled. The clerestory windows are smaller than their counterparts in the main body and have a different design to the rest of the church, featuring a central arch of three lights surrounded by a band of glazed quatrefoils. The north transept more closely resembles the nave and chancel, with the same design of clerestory window.
The chancel continues the same design as the nave but the north aisle is partially blocked by the two bay organ chamber, which has mullioned windows with trefoiled heads and a wide chimney breast. East of the chancel is the two bay lady chapel, built in two sections, firstly at the end of the 14th century from circa 1385 and then extended at the end of the 15th century in 1494. The chapel has a large five-light window in its westernmost bay, corresponding with the earlier period of building, and a smaller four-light window in the eastern bay. The eastern gable of the chapel has a wide but low six-light Perpendicular window.
All four arms of the church have large or very large windows in their gable ends. The west window is a tall five-light construction, divided into two tiers by transoms, featuring cinquefoil-headed crosses. The north and south transept gable ends have "immensely tall" four-light windows divided into three tiers by two rows of transoms featuring Y-tracery and reticulated tracery in the arch heads. The chancel gable is filled almost entirely by a substantial seven-light window of the alternate tracery design.
### Interior
#### Vaults
One of the rare qualities of St Mary Redcliffe is that it is vaulted entirely in stone, which makes it unique; there is no other parish church in England to feature a medieval stone vault throughout. The earliest vault in the church is that of the inner north porch dating back to circa 1185, taking the form of a simple ribbed vault, similar to that at Durham Cathedral, in the Transitional/Early English style. The outer porch, built from circa 1325, has a much more elaborate hexagonal vault in the form of a six-sided star.
The main body of the church is vaulted nearly entirely in the lierne form, with varying rib designs, including lozenges in the nave, hexagons in the south aisle, squares in the transepts and rectangles in the choir. These are formed by various combinations of ribs intersecting one another, in a pattern that Simon Jenkins calls "an astonishing maze". The nave vaulting contains over a thousand carved and gilded bosses, either 1,100 or 1,200 in number depending on the source. These bosses depict various scenes and objects, including saints, biblical scenes and people associated with the building of the church.
There are two other notable vaults in the church, including the star vault of the Lady Chapel dating from the late 14th century and the five-sided star vault underneath the tower, which an archaeological survey has dated to the late 1460s or early 1470s. Most of the vaults were repainted in the 1980's and 1990's and have bright shades of green, gold, blue and red.
#### Stained glass
The church lost the majority of its medieval stained glass during the damage done by Parliamentary forces in the 17th century, with fragments confined to the north transept, St John's chapel and lower tower windows. In 1842, the committee responsible for the restoration of the church were mostly concerned with the condition of the stonework which was estimated to cost some £40,000 to repair, but were determined to have the large east window, which at the time was bricked up, filled with glass. In 1847, the committee awarded the contract for its design and implementation to William Wailes of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, one of the most prolific stained glass designers of the 19th century, who estimated the cost at £330. This window was replaced in 1904 by a design by Clayton & Bell; Wailes' window being destroyed. Clayton and Bell provided much of the stained glass for the church following the 1842 decision to restore it, along with works by Ninian Comper and Joseph Bell of Bristol.
A notable medieval window to survive is in the lowest stage of the tower, featuring eight large figures, including depictions of Archbishop Thomas Becket and the saints Lawrence, Michael, Matthias, John the Baptist and Elizabeth. This window was reset and restored by Joseph Bell in the restoration. In the Second World War, incendiary bombs irrevocably damaged the windows of the Lady Chapel, which were replaced by 5 vivid windows designed by Harry Stammers from 1960 to 1965. In 2020, following the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, the church took the decision to remove the lower four panels in the main window of the north transept which paid tribute to him, temporarily replacing them with clear glass. A competition to design new panels to replace these removed windows was launched in May 2022. The winner was announced in September 2022 as being Ealish Swift, a junior doctor in one of the city's hospitals, who designed panels depicting the Montgomery bus boycott; consequently, the window now contains figures such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.
As of 2023, the church has a mixture of stained glass and clear glass, with mostly Victorian work in the east end, and clear glass in the clerestory windows of the nave.
#### Fittings, memorials and monuments
The church building has numerous monuments and memorials due to its long association with the city of Bristol, its port and Queen Elizabeth I. Notable fittings include the fine ironwork screen designed by William Edney in 1710 intended to divide the chancel and nave, but moved in the restoration to sit under the tower; and the Victorian reredos below the east window. Other fittings of note include the 19th century pews; the 15th century St John's font, the only relic of St John's Church in Bedminster to survive the Blitz and the 15th century choir stalls.
The church also has many memorials, most notably to William Canynges who is buried in a brightly coloured tomb in the south transept, but also to Queen Elizabeth I. Monuments include a model of one of the ships that would sail from the Port of Bristol, and a wall memorial in the memory of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. His helm and half-armour are hung on the wall, together with the tattered banners of the Dutch ships that he captured in battle. The church also displays a rib of a whale brought back from one of his voyages by John Cabot. There is also a carved medieval cope chest, a wineglass-shaped pulpit and multiple misericords.
## Music
### Organ
The earliest record of an organ at St Mary Redcliffe is when a new instrument by John Harris and John Byfield was installed in the church in 1726. This organ was one of the largest of its time, featuring three manuals and 26 stops, located on a new western gallery in the nave. This organ was rebuilt by John Smith of Bristol in 1829 and then completely altered by W. G. Vowles, also of Bristol, in 1867, when it was enlarged, rebuilt and reinstalled in the chancel. The 1867 organ kept the three manuals, but had an increased number of stops, 33 in number.
From 1910 to 1912, organ builders Harrison & Harrison of Durham built and installed a brand new organ for the church, incorporating a small amount of the old pipework. The new organ was much larger and due to space constraints, had to be split between the north and south walls of the chancel. A new stone chamber for the Swell Organ was built in the angle between the north transept and north chancel aisle. The Great Organ was placed on the north side of the chancel with the remaining parts on the south; the console being placed to the west, near the north transept. This organ had more than twice as many stops as the previous organs, a total of 68 as installed.
In 1941, the Swell Organ was affected by fire and bomb damage and had to be rebuilt in 1947 by Harrison & Harrison with additional pipes. The organ was cleaned and overhauled in 1974 and 1990 with tonal alterations, new equipment and additional stops; two stops were also removed. The 1990 work was never completely satisfactory, and so when the organ approached its next restoration in the early 2000s, a part of the project involved correcting errors from the 1990 overhaul.
The project to restore the organ in time for its 100th birthday was launched in 2007, with a fundraising goal of some £800,000. Half of the money was donated by the Canynges Society and the remaining half raised by the congregation, incorporating an anonymous £100,000 cheque left in the church for the restoration of the organ. The organ was dismantled in 2009 and returned in 2010, with four new blowers and new layout for the swell and new actions for the various keyboards as well as being cleaned and tuned. The organ as it stands today has 71 stops and 4,327 pipes, making it amongst the largest organs in Southern England. The organ is very well thought of for the quality of its tone, ranking amongst the finest organs in the country.
### Bells
#### Early bells
The earliest record of bells at Redcliffe is in 1480, where a very large peal of six are recorded. The founders were not known, as only the number of bells was recorded by William Worcestre. It is known from the churchwarden’s accounts, that the 4th bell was recast by William Jeffers in 1572, and the 5th and 6th by Roger Purdue in 1622. The Purdue family were one of the most prolific medieval bellfounders in England and were based in Somerset and Bristol; 531 of their bells still survive today. Purdue’s tenor was recorded as weighing 42 long cwt 0 qrs 27 lbs (2,150 kg or 4,731 lb). In 1626, the bells were rehung in a massive oak frame which was inscribed with "T. Roome, Anno Domini 1626", who was presumably the frame's maker.
In 1698, Abel Rudhall of Gloucester augmented the ring of six to eight with two new treble bells. No further work is recorded until 1763, when Thomas Bilbie recast the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of the eight. The Bilbie family, like the Purdue family, were a prolific West Country foundry; 734 of their bells survive today. Curiously, Bilbie had to guarantee the recast bells were at least as heavy as the bells they replaced; if they were not, he had to pay 1 shilling per pound of reduced metal. The first peal in the tower was a few years later, being 5,040 changes of Grandsire Triples on 29 May 1768.
#### 19th century augmentation
In 1823, the bells were augmented to ten with two trebles cast by Thomas Mears II of Whitechapel, though the first peal on the ten would not follow until 1835. The bells were augmented to twelve in 1872 by Mears’ successors, Mears & Stainbank. The augmented bells were the third ring of twelve in the West Country, following Cirencester in 1722 and Painswick in 1821, and the 25th ring of twelve in the country.
By the late 1880s, the ease at which the bells could be rung was deteriorating, and so John Taylor & Co of Loughborough were asked to inspect the bells. They reported that the fittings of the 10th and tenor bells were in a bad state, and should be renewed or replaced. They also reported that these 2 bells should be turned so that the clappers would not strike the same point of the bell, to avoid the risk of cracking. They inspected the frame, reporting that the frame timbers were sound, but not massive enough to support such a heavy ring of bells, and thus recommended bolting some cast iron brackets to the corners to make it more rigid. The frame housing the three smallest bells they described as badly designed and too weak; these bells were hung above the other nine. They also recommended the fitting of iron girders across the tower walls from east to west. The cost of all this work was £149, though the fitting of the iron girders is not recorded.
The first peal on the ring twelve was on New Year's Eve 1899, being 5,007 changes of Stedman Cinques in rung 3h 28m, with two men on the tenor. There was a fierce debate in the Bell News magazine for several months afterwards, with some claiming the peal cannot have been rung successfully because the speed of the peal was “impossibly fast" given the weight of the tenor, which was often recorded at anywhere between 48 and 52 long cwt (5,376 kg - 5,824 kg) in ringing magazines.
#### 20th century restoration
In 1902, Taylor’s were asked to come again, and this time they found things considerably worse than on their previous visit fourteen years earlier. Some of the frame was no longer sound, with rotten or decaying timbers, and various wedges had been installed in the frame corners to try and give it rigidity. These wedges transferred the forces into the walls of the tower, and whilst it was not currently damaging it, it had the potential to do so. Taylor's advised that the bells should be rehung in a new metal frame, with all twelve bells on one level (unlike the existing frame), and the clock weights being reorganised to pass through one corner of the bell chamber instead of being suspended from the centre of the ringing chamber. They also recommended new fittings throughout. The estimate that the church received from Taylor's for new fittings and a new frame would cost £709. The architect was consulted and following talks with Taylor's, it was agreed to recast the lightest seven bells and the tenor, retuning the other four.
The bells, the frame and the fittings left Bristol for Loughborough in the early months of 1903. The bells were all weighed upon their arrival, where the tenor was found to be only 39 long cwt (4,368 kg), over half a tonne lighter than reputed, which then explained how the peal in 1899 was faster than many thought possible. The lightest seven and the tenor bell were broken up and recast with additional metal, and the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th bells had their canons (ornamental loops of bell metal previously used for attaching bells to their headstocks) removed. The bells were also retuned, the combined action of both removing the canons and retuning reducing the weight of each of these four bells by approximately 2 long cwt (225 kg).
The 9th bell, however, for a reason that is unknown was recast later in the same year; according to legend this is because the railway company dropped the 9th on the return to Bristol, and it had to be recast. The logbook housed in the archives at John Taylor & Co's Loughborough foundry shows the arrival weight and post-tuning weights of the former 9th crossed through and a new, heavier weight recorded underneath. The bells were provided with all new fittings throughout, including Taylor's standard cast iron headstocks, Hasting stays, timber wheels, wrought iron clappers and plain bearings. They were hung in a massive new cast iron frame for 12 bells which had been installed in the closing months of 1903, with room left for an additional 13th bell later if required.
When the bells were installed, the new heavier tenor, which weighed 50 long cwt 2 qrs 21 lbs (5,677 lb or 2,575 kg), made the bells the fourth heaviest in the world hung for change ringing, after Exeter Cathedral, St Paul's Cathedral and Wells Cathedral; but the second heaviest ring of twelve, as Exeter and Wells were both rings of ten. Exeter would later be augmented to 12 in 1922, also by Taylor's. The first peal on the new bells was on New Year's Day in 1904, being 5,085 changes of Stedman Cinques in 4 hours exactly. The bells would later be relegated to the 5th heaviest ring of bells and the 4th heaviest twelve by the casting of the bells of York Minster in 1925, also by Taylor's, and then relegated again by the ring of twelve at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, cast by Mears & Stainbank in 1939; they have remained the sixth heaviest ring of bells in the world since.
#### Modern history
With the introduction of ball bearings to church bells in 1920, Taylor's rehung the bells on ball bearings in 1933. These new ball bearings no longer required regular greasing, unlike the old plain type of bearings and were also self-aligning. In the spring of 1941, following the reports of aerial damage to many towers in London, including the destruction of the ring of twelve at St Mary-le-Bow, the church took the decision to remove the bells from the tower and keep them in the undercroft underneath sandbags. The bells were returned to the tower and rehung in November 1944, also by Taylor's.
In 1951, the 13th bell that Taylor's had left the space for in 1903 was ordered, being cast at Loughborough as with the other bells. This bell, called a flat sixth, occupied the position in the frame between the sixth and seventh bells and was used to provide a lighter ring of eight, when bells two to nine are rung with the flat sixth replacing the normal sixth. The ninth weighs 19 long cwt 3 qrs 1 lb (2,213 lb or 1,004 kg), less than half that of the tenor bell, which makes teaching new ringers easier. To fit this extra bell in, Taylor's provided an additional section of frame. The new bell was provided with all new fittings, identical to those of the other bells.
In 1967, St John's Church in Bedminster, which had been in ruins since sustaining heavy damage in the Bristol Blitz, was demolished. The font was brought to Redcliffe (see fittings, above), and the only surviving bell was donated to Redcliffe to increase its number of bells to fourteen. This bell, which weighed 8 and a half long cwt (950 lb or 430 kg) was cast by Bristol founder Llewellins and James in 1907. The bell was recast in 1969 by Taylor's to make it better suit the bells at Redcliffe. This fourteenth bell, called an 'extra treble' was provided with fittings to complement the Redcliffe bells and was hung in a new cast iron frame above the existing thirteen bells; its purpose was to augment the light eight to a light ring of ten, utilising the extra treble, the treble bell and bells two to nine with the flat sixth.
Following the bells hundredth birthday in 2003, the bells have received attention several times on both a minor and major basis. In 2009, the 9th bell was rehung on a new and larger wheel to make it easier to ring; the wheel it had been provided with in 1903 appeared to suit better the weight of the old ninth rather than the one that was recast. The frame containing the extra treble was moved slightly to improve the place the rope falls in the circle, and it too was given a new wheel. In 2012, the 8th bell, which had been cast in 1763 by Thomas Bilbie, was retired, being both underweight and poor in tone to the more modern Taylor bells around it. John Taylor & Co were selected to cast a new bell to replace it, and had to scan the surrounding bells with a laser to get an accurate shape, as the 1903 shape Taylor's had used at the time of their recasting was no longer in use.
The new bell was cast to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and following its tuning, it weighed some 15 and a half long cwt (790 kg), over 250 kg heavier than its predecessor and was hung in the spring of 2013. At the same time, the wheels of the sixth, seventh and eighth were rejigged: the sixth received the wheel that had been on the seventh, the seventh received that of the old eighth and the new eighth received the wheel formerly on the ninth prior to 2009. The old eighth bell was hung on steel girders above the ringing peal, for chiming. The last major piece of work to the bells in recent times was when in 2017, the fittings were dismantled and together with the frame, were repainted into Taylor's standard red livery. The bells remain the sixth heaviest ring of bells (but fifth heaviest ring of twelve) in the world. They are also the heaviest ring of bells in a parish church.
The bells are considered one of the finest rings of bells in existence, with visiting bands of ringers coming from across the British Isles and beyond to ring them. There have been more than 300 full peals rung on the bells since the first in 1768; the St Mary Redcliffe Guild of Ringers attempts several full peals on the bells a year, normally to mark national events, most recently, the State Funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.
## Location and precincts
Since the construction of Redcliffe Way in the 1960's, the church has sat next to a busy dual carriageway on its north side, whose construction resulted in the demolition of many of the historic buildings that originally faced the church, as well as a gradual blackening of the stone from pollution. The church has, however, kept its historic south churchyard, which has been described as a "cathedral close in miniature", with a small group of listed buildings sat around a south-facing lawn. These buildings are a row of terraced houses on Colston Parade, approximately half of those built in the Stucco style from 1760 to 1762, augmented with four Victorian terraces; all are Grade II listed.
The south churchyard contains the Redcliffe War Memorial, formed of a large, tapering stone shaft surmounted by a cross, designed by George Oatley in 1921. The memorial was originally designed and constructed to commemorate the fallen of Redcliffe in the First World War, but it was altered following further loss of life in the Second World War. The memorial is Grade II listed. There are two other parts of the churchyard to achieve listed status, these are the walls on Colston Parade which date to the 18th century, and the balustrade surrounding the west front; both are Grade II listed.
The churchyard also contains the Redcliffe Pipe; a conduit originally given by Robert de Berkeley in 1190 to supply fresh water to the church. Berkeley was Lord of Bedminster Manor and he granted the construction of a 2,514 metres (8,248 ft) long pipe from Knowle Hill to St Mary Redcliffe. A yearly walk along the route of the pipe continues to this day. Damaged in the Bristol Blitz, the present pipe terminates near the balustrade in front of the west front, featuring a brass drinking fountain from 1823, though the water from the pipe does not actually enter the fountain.
## See also
- Churches in Bristol
- Grade I listed buildings in Bristol
- List of tallest buildings and structures in Bristol
- List of tallest church buildings in the United Kingdom |
57,454,117 | Tet offensive attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base | 1,162,068,369 | Battle in Vietnam involving the United States in early 1968 | [
"1968 in Vietnam",
"Attacks on military installations in the 1960s",
"Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968",
"Battles involving Vietnam",
"Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States",
"History of Ho Chi Minh City",
"January 1968 events in Asia"
]
| The attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base, headquarters of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) and the United States Air Force (USAF) 7th Air Force, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968. Tan Son Nhut Air Base was one of the major air bases used for offensive air operations within South Vietnam and for the support of United States Army and Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) ground operations. The attack by Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces was one of several major attacks on Saigon in the first days of the Tet offensive. The attack was repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses; only superficial damage was done to the base.
## Background
The United States had been providing material support to South Vietnam since its foundation in 1954. The Vietnam War effectively began with the start of the North Vietnamese backed VC insurgency in 1959/60 and the U.S. increased its military aid and advisory support to South Vietnam in response. With the worsening military and political situation in South Vietnam, the U.S. increasingly became directly involved in the conflict. U.S. ground troops were first deployed to South Vietnam in March 1965 and by the end of that year almost 200,000 U.S. military personnel were deployed and were engaging in combat with the PAVN/VC. The growing U.S. presence was matched by North Vietnam and the U.S. and its allies increasingly took over fighting the PAVN/VC main force units from the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), relegating them to pacification; fighting the war in the villages with the VC. The U.S. strategy was one of attrition warfare and they conducted hundreds of search and destroy operations to engage the PAVN/VC, but the PAVN/VC were usually able to control the location and timing of engagements to offset U.S. tactical advantages. A number of large, but essentially inconclusive, battles took place throughout 1966 and 1967. By late 1967 Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) claimed that every statistical indicator of progress showed that its strategy was succeeding.
With the buildup of U.S. ground forces in South Vietnam came massive infrastructure projects to support the logistical requirements of the war. Tan Son Nhut was eclipsed as the country's major air base by other large jet capable airfields, but it remained the primary international civilian airport and the Tan Son Nhut complex hosted a range of important military sites. On the west was the Tan Son Nhut Air Base the headquarters of the RVNAF and the USAF 7th Air Force, then there was the civilian air terminal and Air America terminal, to the east was the MACV headquarters and then the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff (JGS) compound.
## Defenses and plans
Despite the 4 December 1966 VC sapper attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base, base security was little improved by 1968. The attitude within MACV was that any large-scale VC attack would be detected and defeated before the force reached the base and so the only threat came from small-scale guerilla attacks of fewer than 200 men. The most vulnerable areas of the base were the sparsely populated western and northern perimeters where VC forces could assemble unnoticed and these were protected by old, largely ineffective, Japanese and French minefields, then three layers of concertina wire and a perimeter fence. Within the base, the 1,000 man USAF 377th Security Police Squadron (377th SPS) was responsible for base defense. They divided the base into six sectors and manned more than 50 observation towers and bunkers around the 20 km long inner perimeter of the base. Each sector had two machine gun armed jeeps and there were 14 13-man quick reactions teams ready to reach any point on the perimeter within 12 minutes. In an emergency the 377th SPS would also take operational control of Task Force 35 (TF 35), an ad hoc three-platoon collection of men from U.S. Army support units on the base. In addition the RVNAF 2nd Service Battalion also shared responsibility for the defense of the base.
With its dual use as a civilian/military airfield and large numbers of Vietnamese workers on the base, it was easy for the VC to gain intelligence as to the base defenses. An old cemetery on the western perimeter was accessible to Vietnamese and an increase in visits and burials there was noted in the leadup to the attack. The 377th SPS regarded the western perimeter, designated Echo Sector, as the most vulnerable sector of the base as it was closest to the Delta Sector flightline, whereas any attack from the north would have to cross 4 km of open ground, including both runways, before reaching the flightline.
Central Office for South Vietnam gave responsibility for the attack to the 9th Division commanded by Colonel Nam Truyen. While nominally a VC division, combat losses had been replaced by North Vietnamese soldiers, so more than half the 2,665-man attacking force were from the PAVN. Colonel Truyen's plan called for the D-16 Battalion to occupy the new Vinatexco textile mill () on Highway 1 (now Route 22/Trường Chinh), which ran along the west perimeter of the base, approximately 1 km north of the 051 Gate (), the planned entry point. The Vinatexco Mill would form the headquarters for the attack. The 269th Main Force Battalion would lead the attack on the 051 Gate, followed by the 267th Main Force Battalion which would exploit the opening and then the 1st Battalion, 271st Regiment would attack the flightline and base facilities.
The Tết ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks on II Corps and at 17:30 the 7th Air Force commander General William W. Momyer ordered all air bases in South Vietnam to security condition red. On the night of 30/31 January, Truyen's forces marched into their attack positions, undetected by the ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion responsible for security outside the perimeter north and west of the base.
## Battle
### Attack
At approximately 03:20 on 31 January, the VC launched a series of diversionary attacks by fire on the north-eastern perimeter of the base with tracer rounds aimed at the petroleum, oil and lubricants storage tanks northeast of the north runway. The VC also fired on Gate 1, the main gate of the base. At approximately 03:30, an observer in the Tango 4 tower 15m from the 051 Gate at the western end of the base reported mortar fire on the western perimeter fence with VC forces assembling in the village west of the fence. The "mortar rounds" were actually Bangalore torpedoes and satchel charges used to blow holes in the concertina wire and perimeter fence and the VC were soon entering the base.
At the 051 Bunker () 200m south of the 051 Gate, the five-man team poured flanking fire onto the VC/PAVN with their M60 machine gun on the sandbagged rooftop and with their rifles, but the VC soon responded with a barrage of RPG-2 and mortar fire, forcing the Security Policemen inside the bunker and to call for help. A gun jeep was sent to assess the situation in Echo Sector, but was stopped by heavy fire near the northeast corner of the base and reported large numbers of VC coming through the 051 Gate. By 03:45, the VC had overrun the 051 Bunker, killing four of the five men inside and severely wounding the survivor. A patrol from the ARVN 53rd Regional Forces reported that a further one or two battalions were waiting near the Vinatexco Mill to join the assault.
Several Echo Sector quick reaction teams were sent to the 051 Gate and the 051 Bunker while four UH-1C Huey gunships of the U.S. Army's 4th Platoon, 120th Assault Helicopter Company, 1st Aviation Brigade arrived over Echo Sector and began dropping flares and engaging the VC with rocket and machine-gun fire. At the Central Security Control (CSC) there was limited information as to the size of the VC attack, but the situation at the 051 Gate was seen as critical and 377th SPS Operations Officer Major Carl Bender ordered a platoon from TF 35 (composed mostly of men from the 1st Signal Brigade) to reinforce the quick reaction teams that had formed a skirmish line 250m east of the gate on the east side of the Whiskey 8 north-south taxiway. Not being trained infantry, the TF 35 troops were inexperienced and nervous, with a two-man machine gun team being killed when they advanced towards the VC and others almost firing on friendly troops. A second platoon from TF 35 soon arrived to join the skirmish line. Further south, VC forces had reached the flightline and placed satchel charges under RVNAF C-47s, damaging 14 of them before being forced back by the Delta Sector quick reaction team.
The VC were unable to cross the exposed Whiskey 8 taxiway and the U.S. forces there were now being constantly reinforced and resupplied. A composite group of RVNAF and ARVN forces joined on the south of the line together with three M41 light tanks and the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces then formed a horseshoe defence, pouring fire on the VC from multiple directions. Two of the M41s were knocked out by RPGs, and the RVNAF commander Colonel Cuong was shot in the leg but remained in command of his forces. A ten-man VC squad tried to outflank the line but was stalked by Bender, who progressively shot the last VC in line, killing eight and breaking up the flanking manoeuvre. Meanwhile, the ARVN 8th Airborne Battalion that was at the base waiting for transport north to Khe Sanh Combat Base were committed to the battle, arriving in Echo Sector to begin a counterattack following a preparatory artillery bombardment.
### Counter-attack
At dawn, the VC began to withdraw through holes in the perimeter fence near the 051 Bunker. The ARVN Airborne began their advance towards the perimeter in a skirmish line, but as they did so they were fired on from behind by VC who were lying in the long grass or sheltering in the cemetery, killing or wounding 18 ARVN soldiers. The Airborne then regrouped and began engaging the VC.
When the base perimeter had originally been breached, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Garred, the senior advisor to the South Vietnamese Tan Son Nhut Security Forces, requested a U.S. Army Brigade to secure the western flank of the base. II Field Force, Vietnam ordered the 25th Infantry Division at Củ Chi Base Camp, 24 km north of Tan Son Nhut, to send an armored cavalry troop to Hóc Môn District to cut off the anticipated VC route of withdrawal from Tan Son Nhut. At 04:15, the mission was assigned to Lieutenant Colonel Glenn K. Otis's 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment. Otis assigned the mission to his only available forces at Củ Chi, two platoons of Troop C commanded by Captain Leo Virant with a strength of three M48 tanks and ten M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles (ACAVs). As Troop C left their base at 05:03, the mission was changed from securing Hóc Môn to counterattacking the VC at Tan Son Nhut. Virant left the base by a side entrance to avoid Củ Chi village, which was under attack by the VC, and followed secondary roads rather than Highway 1 to avoid mines and ambushes, while Otis flew overhead in a UH-1 which dropped flares along the route. At dawn Otis's UH-1 returned to Củ Chi to refuel and after crossing the Hóc Môn Bridge the unit came under the control of the Capital Military District and Virant contacted Garred at the base who sent an ARVN officer to meet Troop C and guide them to the battle area. However, the ARVN officer was unable to provide any useful tactical information. Garred ordered Virant to move down the west perimeter of the base and fire on anything west of the base, but was unable to provide any information on VC strength or dispositions. Placing an M48 at the head of the column, Virant followed directly behind in his command ACAV.
As Troop C passed the Vinatexco Mill they received light fire from the VC/PAVN in the Mill and continued south. At 07:08, the lead M48 was just abreast of the 051 Gate when it was hit by several RPG-2s from the village to the west of the Highway. The four-man crew were all killed by RPGs or automatic weapons fire, and the driver of Virant's command ACAV was also shot in the head and killed. Virant radioed to his unit to form a right herringbone formation, allowing all guns to fire on the VC to the west. All of Virant's crew were soon killed or wounded and he himself was knocked unconscious by a metal fragment to the head. The next two ACAVs were hit by RPGs before they could turn to engage the VC, while the fifth ACAV was protected by a roadside advertising sign. The remaining tanks and ACAVs were stretched out along the highway and began firing on the numerous VC in the village and areas west of the highway and were met by a constant volley of RPGs and machine gun and AK-47 fire. The tanks fired canister shot while the other crewmen fired off their M60s and 0.50 Calibres until they burnt out the barrels and exhausted their ammunition. The surviving crewmen of vehicles that had been hit continued to fire from a drainage ditch between the highway and the base perimeter fence. The arrival of Troop C cut off the VC inside the base from withdrawal or reinforcement.
When he landed back at Củ Chi, Otis was informed that Troop C had radioed that it was under attack and calling for assistance. The squadron operations officer had already ordered the remaining 1st Platoon of Troop C at Hóc Môn Bridge to proceed to Tan Son Nhut. Otis ordered Troop A at Gò Dầu Hạ and Troop B at Trảng Bàng District to also move to assist Troop C. Otis then took off for Tan Son Nhut in another UH-1 together with gunships from his Troop D air cavalry unit. Otis arrived over the column and his helicopter began taking fire from VC DShK heavy machine guns. His helicopter landed at the western end of the base and Otis made contact with Staff Sergeant Gary Brewer, who had taken command of Troop C and asked for more machine gun ammunition. Otis ordered his UH-1 lift helicopters to load up with ammunition, while Brewer ordered the last M48 in the column to flatten the concertina wire and perimeter fence to create an access route into the base for resupply and medical evacuation. When the lift helicopters landed Brewer and others carried ammunition along the column and drainage ditch and brought back the wounded.
Otis ordered his gunships to make north–south firing runs on the village, with two being severely damaged by anti-aircraft fire and having to make emergency landings in the base. When the 1st Platoon of Troop C approached the area at 07:30, Otis ordered them to deploy east along a side road and into a gate where they would support the Security Police and ARVN fighting inside the base. The VC/PAVN inside the 051 Bunker were continuing to fire on the Security Police and ARVN; with the arrival of the 1st Platoon it was decided to neutralise it. An M48 fired its 90mm main gun on the bunker until it was disabled by RPG fire; the crew evacuated except for Specialist 4 Robert Crowell who remained in the tank and fired a further 18 rounds until he was killed.
Troop B arrived at the scene at 08:00, having driven the 39 km from Trảng Bàng in one hour, avoiding or driving through several VC roadblocks. At Củ Chi, they had joined up with Battery C, 6th Battalion, 77th Artillery equipped with towed 105 mm howitzers. Otis ordered them to head west from Highway 1 after passing the Vinatexco Mill and they deployed along a northeast–southwest axis against the VC-held village. The headquarters platoon was to engage the Vinatexco Mill while the other two platoons attacked south through the village, the artillery and helicopter gunships would prevent any escape to the south or southwest. The subsequent assault was described as a "turkey shoot" as any fleeing VC/PAVN had to run a gauntlet of fire. However, many VC stayed to fight, putting up a steady stream of RPG and AK-47 fire and were systematically killed in their fighting positions. Otis was shot down three times while overseeing the battle.
Late that morning, RVNAF A-1 Skyraiders and USAF F-100 Super Sabres began airstrikes on the Vinatexco Mill dropping napalm and 500 lb bombs on the VC/PAVN headquarters.
At midday, the VC still holding out inside the 051 Bunker released the surviving wounded security policeman, but did not surrender themselves; they were soon killed or wounded by grenades thrown inside. At 12:19, the four surviving VC surrendered, ending the battle inside the west perimeter.
By 13:00, the 1st Battalion, 18th Infantry Regiment had been landed by CH-47s from Dĩ An Base Camp and leaving one company to defend the MACV Compound east of the base, they moved southeast from the air base to clear out VC/PAVN in the urban areas south of the base. They fought small groups of VC until dusk when the VC disengaged. The fighting in the village continued until 16:30 and at dusk the 3/4th Cavalry withdrew into the base perimeter. The U.S. forces shot all the VC/PAVN bodies to ensure they were dead, but the following morning two VC emerged from the bodies to surrender.
## Aftermath
U.S. losses in the attack were 22 killed (377th SPS 4; TF35 2; Troop B 3/4th Cavalry 3; Troop C 3/4th Cavalry 12; 1/18th Infantry 1) and 82 wounded. South Vietnamese losses were 29 killed and 15 wounded. VC/PAVN losses were more than 669 killed (157 inside the base, 162 inside the Vinatexco Mill and more than 350 in the village) and 26 captured. A group of 5 or 6 VC/PAVN prisoners were executed by members of Troop C, 3/4th Cavalry.
After the battle Otis, Brewer and Crowell (posthumously) were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Bender was awarded the Silver Star. In July 2022 former Specialist Five Dwight W. Birdwell of Troop C, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in the battle.
The attacks on Tan Son Nhut and at Bien Hoa Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars and, at Tan Son Nhut, two truck-mounted M45 Quadmounts. The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. However, the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery.
The Tet offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" hardened aircraft shelters at the major air bases. In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. |
145,542 | Barry Zito | 1,170,725,142 | American baseball player (born 1978) | [
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| Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. His pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball (his strikeout pitch), a four-seam fastball, a two-seam fastball, a circle changeup, and a cutter–slider.
Zito attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles Pierce College, and the University of Southern California. Drafted three times while in college, Zito signed with the Athletics when they chose him in the first round of the 1999 MLB draft. A year later, he was in the major leagues, finishing sixth in American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award voting. He struggled to begin the 2001 season but improved greatly down the stretch, finishing the year with an 11–1 win–loss record over his final two months. He won 23 games (while only losing five) in 2002 and won the Cy Young Award. His record was only 14–12 in 2003, but he still made the All-Star team for the second year in a row. In 2004, he had his worst season at the time, going 11–11 with a career-high 4.48 earned run average. He became Oakland's Opening Day starter in 2005 and finished fifth in the AL with 171 strikeouts. In 2006, he made the All-Star team and posted a 15–1 record when receiving two or more runs of support.
Following his seventh season with the Athletics, Zito signed a seven-year deal with the Giants in December 2006. At the time, it was the largest contract ever given to a pitcher. He posted double-digit wins in his first three seasons, and in 2010 he helped San Francisco win their first championship since 1954. However, he struggled the last month of the season and he was left off the postseason roster. After sitting out much of the 2011 season with a foot and ankle injury, he came back in 2012 and flourished, finishing with a 15–8 record, his best season in a Giants uniform. The same October, Zito helped lead the Giants to their second World Series title in San Francisco history over the Detroit Tigers by going 2–0 with a 1.69 ERA in three postseason starts. In his first career World Series start, he outdueled Tigers' ace Justin Verlander in Game 1, setting the stage for San Francisco's sweep to their seventh World Series title in franchise history. Zito struggled in 2013 but received a standing ovation from the fans in his final appearance as a Giant. Following the year, he became a free agent. Zito, a philanthropist, founded Strikeouts For Troops, a national non-profit that provides comforts of home and lifts the spirits and morale of injured troops as well as offering support to military families.
## Early life
Zito was born May 13, 1978, in Las Vegas, Nevada, to Roberta (née Rosser; 1943-2008) and Joe Zito (1928-2013). He is of Italian descent. His parents were a show-business couple working for singer and pianist Nat King Cole and he had two sisters who were 9 and 13 years older than Barry. His family moved to San Diego, California, to help him concentrate on his baseball career, after he showed signs of promise from a very young age. His father, not knowing much about baseball, began reading books about pitching strategy and even stopped working to help coach his son. At the age of 12, Randy Jones, a former Cy Young Award winner, was hired by his father to give him lessons at \$50 an hour. He transferred from El Cajon's Grossmont High School, where he was the star pitcher, to University of San Diego High School, a Roman Catholic private school for his senior year. Zito received many league honors there, posting an 8-4 record with a 2.92 ERA, while racking up 105 strikeouts in just 85 innings.
## College career
Zito then attended UC Santa Barbara where he earned Freshman All-America Honors with 125 strikeouts in 85+1⁄3 innings. In his sophomore season, Zito transferred to Los Angeles Pierce College so that he could be eligible for the Major League Baseball draft. At Pierce, he posted a 2.62 earned run average (ERA), went 9–2 with 135 strikeouts in 103 innings, and was named to the all-state and all-conference teams. He then transferred to the University of Southern California (USC), where he was a first-team All-America selected by USA Today Baseball Weekly, Collegiate Baseball, and Baseball America. With a 12–3 record, a 3.28 ERA, and 154 strikeouts in 113+2⁄3 innings, Zito was named Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year.
Zito also played in the Cape Cod Baseball League, a summer wooden bat league which showcases the nation's top amateur prospects. He led the Wareham Gatemen to the league championship in 1997, and was named a league all-star and led the team to a runner-up finish in 1998.
## Professional career
### Drafts and minor leagues
Zito was taken by the Seattle Mariners in the 59th round (1,586th overall) of the 1996 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft, and in the third round (83rd overall) by the Texas Rangers in 1998, but did not sign with either team. In the 1999 draft, he was selected by the Oakland Athletics with the ninth pick of the first round, and signed for a \$1.59 million bonus.
In 1999, Zito began his professional career with the Visalia Oaks, Oakland's A team. He went 3–0 with a 2.45 ERA in eight starts. He struck out 62 in 40+1⁄3 innings. Zito was promoted to the Midland RockHounds, and went 2–1 with a 4.91 ERA to finish the AA schedule. He then got one start for the AAA Vancouver Canadians (PCL), allowing a lone run with six strikeouts in six innings.
Zito began the 2000 season in AAA with the Sacramento River Cats (the Canadians franchise had moved to Sacramento). He pitched 101+2⁄3 innings in 18 starts, going 8–5 with a 3.19 ERA, 91 strikeouts, and 41 walks.
### Oakland Athletics (2000–2006)
#### 2000
Zito made his major league debut on July 22, 2000, against the Anaheim Angels wearing \#53. He allowed one run in five innings, and got the win. In his next start, Zito went seven innings while giving up three runs to the Boston Red Sox. Zito continued to have great success early in his rookie season. In his third career start, he went seven innings and gave up one run against the Toronto Blue Jays. On September 10, Zito pitched his first complete game shutout against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. He threw 110 pitches, struck out eight, and allowed five hits. During the month of September, he went 5–1 with a 1.73 ERA. Zito finished with a 7–4 record and a 2.72 earned run average in 14 starts. Despite his late start to the season, Zito still received a vote for the American League (AL) Rookie of the Year Award voting, finishing in a 4-way tie for sixth place with Steve Cox, Adam Kennedy and Mark Redman.
Zito made his postseason debut in Game 4 of the AL Division Series (ALDS) against the New York Yankees. He went 5.2 innings, struck out 5, walked 2, and allowed an earned run. Zito earned the win, outpitching Roger Clemens. However, the Yankees would win the series, 3–2, and would go on to win their third straight World Series.
#### 2001
In 2001, Zito Switched his uniform number to 75 (which he would wear throughout the rest of his career) finished third in the American League (AL) in strikeouts per nine innings (8.61), fourth in strikeouts (205), sixth in wins (17), eighth in ERA (3.49), and tenth in winning percentage (.680). Zito became the sixth lefty aged 23 or younger since 1902 to strike out at least 200 batters in a season. After a great rookie season, Zito struggled through the early part of the 2001 season, posting a 6–7 record with a 5.01 ERA in his first 22 starts. However, he rebounded nicely and by August, he was putting up good pitching numbers. Zito was named Pitcher of the Month in August, going 5–1 with a 1.02 ERA. Zito won Pitcher of the Month again in September, going 6–0 with a 1.89 ERA. During those last two months of the season, Zito went a combined 11–1 with a 1.32 ERA, best in baseball.
The Athletics made the postseason and again played the Yankees in the ALDS. Zito pitched in Game 3 against Mike Mussina. He went eight innings, striking out six, walking one, and allowing an earned run. But Zito took the loss as the Yankees won the game, 1–0. The Yankees would end up taking the series, 3–2.
#### 2002
In 2002, Zito became one of the best pitchers in baseball. On May 8, Zito signed a 4-year, \$9.3 million contract extension, keeping him in Oakland through at least the 2005 season, with a club option for the 2006 season. On June 22, Zito won his 10th game of the season. It was the earliest that an A's pitcher had reached the 10-win mark since Bob Welch got there on June 15, 1990. Zito was named to the All-Star team for the first time in his career. On July 18, he went 7.1 innings while giving up no runs against the Angels. That win gave Zito a team-record 16th straight win at home. Zito again faced the Angels in his next start and produced similar results. He went 6.1 innings and gave up just one run. That win gave Zito the most wins by an AL pitcher (14). Zito would become the AL's first 15-game winner when he beat the Rangers. On August 23, Zito recorded his 18th win of the season, giving him one more than his previous career-high of 17, in a game against the Detroit Tigers.
On August 28, Zito earned his 19th win of the season against the Kansas City Royals. However, he lost his bid for a perfect game in the sixth inning when Neifi Pérez singled with one out. Zito gave credit to Pérez. "I wasn't pitching to maintain a no-hitter or something", Zito said. "I left the ball up over the middle to Pérez, and he hit it up the middle. It was a good piece of hitting."
On September 8, Zito became the first pitcher in the AL to win 20 games when he pitched seven innings and allowed no earned runs against the Minnesota Twins. "I'm not pitching for the Cy Young", Zito said. "I'm pitching to get the Oakland A's into the playoffs and to the World Series." In his next start, against the Seattle Mariners, Zito took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before John Olerud singled to leadoff the inning. Seattle manager Lou Piniella said if he could vote for the Cy Young Award winner, "It would go to that young man who pitched for the Oakland team. There are other deserving pitchers, but [Zito] has won 21 games and he competes well."
In his last start of the season, Zito went six innings and allowed just a run against the Texas Rangers. In his last 10 starts, Zito went 8–0, boosting his chances of winning the AL Cy Young Award. "Barry pitched another gem", said Oakland manager Art Howe. "He's certainly had a Cy Young-type season. He's just been steady all season long."
In Game 3 of the ALDS, Zito went six innings and gave up three earned runs against the Twins, earning the win. However, the Twins defeated the Athletics in five games, making the Athletics the first team to lose the deciding game of a series three years in a row.
Zito would go on to win the AL Cy Young Award with a 23–5 record, narrowly defeating Pedro Martínez in the voting. He led the league with 23 wins, was second in winning percentage (.821), and third in both ERA (2.75) and strikeouts (182). Zito's 23 wins were the most by an AL left-hander since Frank Viola had 24 wins for Minnesota in 1988. Zito also allowed a .185 average to opposing hitters, the lowest in the AL. Martínez, who had led the AL in ERA (2.26), strikeouts (239), and winning percentage (.833), became the first pitcher since the introduction of the award to lead his league in each of the three categories and not win the award. Zito became the first A's pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Dennis Eckersley did it in 1992. Zito was also named AL TSN Pitcher of the Year.
#### 2003
In 2003, Zito started off with a win against the Mariners. He went 6 innings and allowed an earned run, an RBI single by Olerud in the first inning. In his next start, Zito went 7 innings, struck out 7, walked 4, and allowed one run against Texas. In the process, he became only the fifth A's pitcher to win 10 straight games, the first since Welch in 1990. On April 18, Zito went nine innings, allowing six hits and no runs in a start against the Rangers. Zito improved to 9–0 in his career against Texas. After the game, Texas manager Buck Showalter said, "I got the feeling he made it look pretty easy. When he has that kind of command, you can see what happens." Zito struggled in his second-to-last start before the All-Star Break on July 8. He allowed seven earned runs and 15 hits against the Devil Rays. The 15 hits allowed were a career-high. Devil Rays manager Piniella was stunned by Zito's bad start. He said, "If you'd have told me we'd get 15 hits off Zito in five or six innings, I would have looked at you a little funny." Nevertheless, Zito bounced back in his next start. He went eight innings without surrendering a run against the Baltimore Orioles. Zito was again named to the All Star team, the second time he has been named to the team.
In 2003, Zito was seventh in the AL in ERA (3.30). He had a 14–12 record and 146 strikeouts over a career-high 231+2⁄3 innings pitched.
In Game 2 of the ALDS against the Red Sox, Zito went seven innings, striking out nine, walking two, allowing one earned run, and earning the win in Oakland's 5–1 triumph. In Game 5, Zito went six innings and allowed four earned runs, taking the loss as the Red Sox won the game and the series.
#### 2004
In 2004, Zito struggled and posted the worst numbers of his career at the time. Zito went 2–3 with a 6.83 ERA in the month of April. On May 28, facing Cliff Lee, he threw eight shutout innings but received a no-decision in a 1–0 loss to the Cleveland Indians. He threw eight shutout innings of four-hit ball in a 5–0 victory over the Devil Rays on August 21. Oakland manager Ken Macha would have let him throw a complete game, but Zito said, "I was worrying about being fresh for the next game. I didn't want to end up [throwing] 115–120 [pitches], so I took advantage of the situation and shut it down." On September 12, he threw seven shutout innings and had 10 strikeouts, earning the win in a 1–0 victory over the Indians. For the season, he went 11–11 with a 4.48 ERA. That was his only year with the Athletics that his ERA was more than 4.00. He still finished 10th in the league in strikeouts with 163.
#### 2005
Following the departure of Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder, Zito was given his first Opening Day assignment in 2005. He allowed four runs over six innings in a 4–0 loss to the Orioles on April 4. In 2005, Zito again struggled in the month of April, going 0–4 with a 6.60 ERA. In his first 16 starts of the campaign, he was 3–8 with a 4.41 ERA. However, Zito pitched better the rest of the season. He had a streak of 14 consecutive starts from May 17 through July 25 (and 20 out of 21 through August 30) in which he gave up fewer hits than innings pitched. From June 28 through August 4, he earned the win in eight consecutive starts. On June 6, Zito allowed two runs in six innings in a 2–1 loss to the Washington Nationals. During the game, he collected his first major league hit, against Tony Armas Jr. Zito was named Pitcher of the Month in July, going 6–0 with a 2.51 ERA. In 35 starts, Zito went 14–13 with a 3.86 ERA. Zito's 35 starts were the most in Major League Baseball that season, demonstrating his durability as a pitcher. He also had 171 strikeouts, good for fifth in the league.
#### 2006
In 2006, Zito went 1.1 innings and allowed seven earned runs on Opening Day (April 3) against the Yankees. It was the shortest outing of his career. However, Zito quickly rebounded from that bad start. On June 1, he allowed four hits over seven innings in a 4–0 victory over the Twins. During the game, he recorded his 1,000th career strikeout by punching out Lew Ford. On July 2, Zito and Brandon Webb both allowed one run through eight innings before Zito gave up two unearned runs while only getting two outs in the ninth; Webb threw a complete game as the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Athletics 3–1. When the All-Star Break rolled around, Zito was 8–6 with a 3.29 earned run average. He was named to the 2006 All-Star Game. On August 25, Zito earned his 100th career win when he defeated the Rangers 9–3. He had a no-hitter going into the eighth inning, but Mark DeRosa singled to lead it off. In 35 starts (first in the league again), he had a 16–10 record, a 3.83 ERA, and 151 strikeouts. Zito was tied for eighth in the league in wins, he ranked tenth in ERA, and he was third in innings pitched (221). He had the eighth-lowest run support of AL pitchers (4.97) but had a 15–1 record if he received at least two runs of support.
Zito helped the Athletics reach the postseason. In Game 1 of the ALDS, he allowed one run and four hits over eight innings, outdueling Johan Santana and earning the win in a 3–2 victory over the Twins and setting the stage for an Oakland sweep. Zito did not fare as well in Game 1 of the AL Championship Series (ALCS) against the Tigers, allowing five runs over 3+2⁄3 innings in a 5–1 defeat. The Tigers went on to sweep the Athletics in four games.
Zito replaced his agent Arn Tellem with Scott Boras in July 2006. Zito was a focal point of the 2006 trade deadline, and was widely rumored to be headed to the Mets in a potential deal for prospect Lastings Milledge. Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote that if the Mets were unwilling to trade Milledge, the Athletics might be interested in Aaron Heilman and John Maine. However, Athletics' general manager Billy Beane decided to keep Zito for the rest of the season.
### San Francisco Giants (2007–2013)
#### 2007
Following his seventh season with the Athletics, Zito signed a seven-year deal with the San Francisco Giants worth \$126 million, plus \$18 million option for 2014 with a \$7 million buyout. Zito's contract on December 29, 2006, became the highest for any pitcher in Major League history at the time.
During spring training in 2007, he and Barry Bonds made shirts that read "Don't ask me, ask Barry" with an arrow pointing to the other Barry. By all accounts, Zito and Bonds got along well during their short time as teammates, and Zito made a point of saying he would stand by Bonds through onslaughts from the media.
In his first start as a member of the Giants, Opening Day (April 3), Zito went five innings and allowed two earned runs against the San Diego Padres. He would take the loss. In his next start, Zito struggled. He went six innings but allowed eight earned runs against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Zito would earn his first win as a member of the Giants in his next start on April 16 when he went six innings, gave up three hits, and allowed no runs to the Colorado Rockies. "I've been trying to have a good game", Zito said. "You can't try to do anything. You either do or you don't. I tried to get too fine with my pitches. I wasn't aggressive."
On May 18, Zito made his return to Oakland as a Giant. He lasted only four innings as he gave up seven runs while walking seven, including two bases-loaded walks. The A's beat the Giants, 15–3. He faced his old team again on June 9, this time in San Francisco. Zito pitched four innings while giving up three earned runs on nine hits in a 6–0 defeat.
Zito made his first Major League relief appearance on August 5 against the Padres due to an early exit by starter Noah Lowry and an overworked bullpen. He pitched a scoreless seventh inning. He recorded his first career run batted in (RBI) two days later against the Nationals' Mike Bacsik, in the same game that Barry Bonds hit his record-breaking 756th career home run.
After Zito's start on August 12, his ERA was 5.13. Over his final nine starts, he posted the fifth-best ERA in the NL, at 3.10. He also had a 3–2 record. He admitted that he had put pressure on himself to perform because of the large contract and was learning that he just needed to be himself. Zito also said that it had been difficult for him to adjust to a new league, team, and ballpark. On the final day of the season, in Los Angeles against the Dodgers, Zito allowed two runs on five hits and had four strikeouts in an 11–2 win. For the first time in his career, Zito had a losing record, as he finished the season at 11–13. He failed to reach 200 innings (196+2⁄3) for the first time since 2000 and posted a career-high 4.53 ERA.
#### 2008
Zito began the 2008 season as the oldest starter and the veteran presence in the Giants' starting rotation. In April, Zito went 0–6 with a 7.53 ERA and 11 strikeouts. He was the third pitcher in the last 52 years to go 0–6 before May 1. On April 28, the Giants moved him to the bullpen. Zito did not make an appearance out of the bullpen and returned to the rotation on May 7 against the Pittsburgh Pirates. In that game, Zito allowed five hits and two earned runs over five innings and took the loss, his seventh of the season. On May 23, Zito collected his first win of the 2008 season against the Florida Marlins. On June 13, Zito became the first pitcher to record 10 losses in the Major Leagues following a 5–1 loss to Oakland. His 5.1 walks per nine innings pitched for the season, 51.5% first-pitch-strike percentage, and 14 sacrifice flies allowed, were all the worst in the majors. Beginning June 25, Zito saw some improvement, as he posted an 8–6 record for the rest of the season to go along with a 4.33 ERA. He finished the year 10–17 with a career-high 5.15 ERA and 120 strikeouts. His 17 losses led the National League and were the second-worst total in San Francisco history (Ray Sadecki lost 18 games in 1968).
#### 2009
The 2009 season seemed to mark a rebound in Zito's pitching performance. Though starting the season 0–2 with an ERA of 10, Zito ended the season with an ERA of 4.03. His ERA would have been 3.74 had it not been for his first two starts. Though going only 10–13 in the season, Zito's record was much more the fault of his spotty run support (the second-lowest in the major leagues) than his performance on the mound. On June 21, Zito pitched a no-hitter through six innings against Texas before giving up a home run to Andruw Jones in the seventh inning. He won the game, his fourth win of the season. On July 7, Zito pitched what could be considered his best game of the season. He pitched 82⁄3 innings against the Florida Marlins, allowing one run on four hits, striking out six, and walking one. He won the game, his fifth win of the season.
#### 2010
Zito started the 2010 season by pitching six shutout innings against the Houston Astros to earn a win; it was the first time he had won his season-opening start since 2003. On April 24, Zito stifled the St. Louis Cardinals, throwing eight shutout innings with ten strikeouts for his third victory of the season, en route to starting the season 5–0 for the first time in his career. It was the best start by a Giants' pitcher since 2004, when Lowry started 6–0. On June 12, 2010, Zito earned his first win against his former team, the Athletics, which gave him victories against every MLB team. Zito is one of eighteen pitchers to record a win against all 30 MLB teams, and the first pitcher to accomplish the feat while only with two clubs.
Through June 12, Zito was 7–2 with a 3.10 ERA. After a strong start to the season, Zito regressed down the stretch, going 2–12 with a 4.97 ERA the rest of the way. He finished the season 9–14 with a 4.15 ERA, snapping a streak of nine straight seasons in which he had 10 or more wins. In a rotation featuring Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sánchez, and Madison Bumgarner, Zito was the odd man out for the playoffs. In fact, he was left completely off the Giants' 25-man active roster for the postseason. Zito worked out throughout the playoffs so that he would be ready to join the roster in case of an injury, but he was never needed and remained on the secondary squad. The Giants won the 2010 World Series in five games over Texas, and he received his first World Series ring.
#### 2011
Early in the 2011 season Zito experienced his first trip to the disabled list after an injury to his right foot during a fielding play. His replacement, Ryan Vogelsong, excelled, but Zito was able to rejoin the rotation when he returned in June because Sánchez was placed on the disabled list with left biceps tendinitis. Zito pitched well in his first few starts back, pitching well against the Tigers, Chicago Cubs, and Padres en route to three Giants wins, but later resumed his struggle, going 0–3 with a 10.91 ERA over his next three starts. He returned to the disabled list after aggravating his right foot injury; ironically, his trip to the DL made room for Sánchez to return to the rotation. On August 13, Zito injured his right ankle on another fielding play in a Triple-A rehab start, sidelining him for another month. Zito returned from the DL on September 11 but was used out of the bullpen for the rest of the year; he posted a 9.00 ERA over his final four games. In a career-low 13 games (nine starts), he had a 3–4 record, a career-high 5.87 ERA, 32 strikeouts, and 24 walks in a career-low 53+2⁄3 innings.
#### 2012
After struggling mightily during spring training in which he threw with a new crouched delivery, Zito began the 2012 season with a start against the Rockies on April 9. He threw arguably one of the best games of his career, throwing a complete-game shutout while giving up just 4 hits in the 7–0 Giants victory. It was his first shutout since 2003 when he was a member of the Oakland Athletics. In a June 3 home game matchup with the Cubs, Zito pitched four-hit shutout ball into the ninth inning for a 2–0 Giants win and brought his season ERA below 3.00. In earning the win, Zito earned his 150th career win, becoming the 246th pitcher to hit the mark. Zito had a hand in the Giants' second road shutout win of the season when he pitched seven innings, allowing three hits and recording four strikeouts, in a July 17 game versus the Atlanta Braves. The win pushed his season record to 8–6. Zito would go on to finish the season with a 15–8 record, his most wins in a season with the Giants, while sporting a 4.15 ERA.
Zito faced off against the Reds in Game 4 of the National League Division Series (NLDS) on October 10 and struggled, being pulled in the third inning after allowing two runs. However, the Giants went on to win 8–3. The Giants, after losing the first two games of the series, became the first team to rally from a 2–0 deficit with both losses at home in an NLDS, winning 3 straight road games to win the series in five games. On October 19, 2012, Zito rebounded and pitched arguably the best game of his career, tossing 72⁄3 shutout innings against the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS), earning the win. It was his first postseason win since 2006 and according to Zito himself, was the biggest win of his career. That same day, Zito inspired the Twitter hashtag \#rallyzito, which, behind the efforts of Giants fans, was trending worldwide on the social networking site. The Giants, after trailing 3–1 in the series, prevailed in seven games.
On October 24, 2012, Zito pitched in the first World Series of his career. As the Game 1 starter, Zito earned the win, outpitching Detroit's Justin Verlander by tossing 5+2⁄3 innings of one-run ball. Zito also added an RBI single en route to an 8–3 Giants win. The Giants went on to sweep the Tigers in the World Series, and Zito went 2–0 with a 1.69 earned run average in the postseason. Zito did not lose a single game after August 2 against the Mets, and San Francisco won his last 14 starts.
#### 2013
On April 5, 2013, during the Giants' home opener, Zito held the Cardinals scoreless over seven shutout innings, earning the 1–0 win. He followed this performance with seven more shutout innings and some personal offensive contribution at the plate against the Rockies in a 10–0 win to complete a 3-game series sweep. It was the Giants' 16th straight victory in a row in games started by Zito (including the 2012 regular season and postseason), the longest such streak by a Giants pitcher since 1936 by Hall of Fame left-handed pitcher Carl Hubbell. However, Zito struggled for the rest of the season, going 2–10 with a 6.24 ERA after April 21 and losing his rotation spot a couple times late in the year.
On September 25, manager Bruce Bochy decided to give Zito one final start with the Giants as a tribute to his tenure with the team. Zito responded by allowing two runs (one earned) over five innings and earning the win in a 7–4 victory over the Dodgers. However, because Zito was removed between innings during the Dodger game, Bochy sent him in to pitch in relief in the final game of the year so that Giants' fans could give him a standing ovation. Zito entered with two outs in the eighth inning on September 29 and struck out Mark Kotsay (playing his final game) as the Giants beat the Padres 7–6. He finished the 2013 season at 5–11 with a 5.74 ERA in 30 games, 25 of which were starts. Following the season, Zito took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle thanking Giants fans for their support. The Giants declined Zito's 2014 option, buying it out for \$7 million.
### Second stint with the Athletics (2015)
After taking a year off from baseball, Zito signed a minor league contract to return to the Athletics on February 16, 2015. In spring training, Zito competed for a role on the Athletics' 25-man roster, possibly as a long reliever. On April 4, 2015, Zito accepted an assignment to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Zito's Nashville teammates lauded him for embracing the Triple-A lifestyle and for his commitment to the team: charting pitches between starts, coaching first base, and even buying dinner for the entire team on his birthday. Zito spent the entire season with Nashville, including about a month on the disabled list with left shoulder tendinitis. He was activated on the next-to-last day of the season on which he pitched one scoreless inning of relief. In a total of 24 appearances (22 starts), he accrued an 8–7 record with a 3.46 ERA and 91 strikeouts.
Zito revealed in an interview that he had learned the Athletics would not be bringing him up to the major league club in September. However, following a season-ending injury to Jesse Chavez, Oakland purchased Zito's contract from Triple-A on September 16, placing him on the major league roster. Zito made his first major league appearance of the season on September 20, pitching an inning in relief. On September 26, 2015, Zito started for the Athletics against Hudson and the Giants in a matchup that was arranged as a tribute to the A's "Big Three" of the early 2000s. Both pitchers received lengthy standing ovations from the sold-out Coliseum crowd (which included the third Big Three member, Mulder) upon leaving the game.
On October 19, 2015, Zito announced his retirement from baseball in an article for The Players' Tribune.
## Pitching style
Zito's fastball hovered between 84 miles per hour (135 km/h) and 88 miles per hour (142 km/h). He augmented it with a circle changeup and a curveball that he used as a strikeout pitch. His curveball was voted the best in the Major Leagues in a player poll conducted by Sports Illustrated in 2005. Alex Rodriguez once stated that he had never seen anything like Zito's curveball, commenting: "It's such a high one, and it drops three to four feet. You might as well not even look for it because you're not going to hit it."
In mid-2004, Zito added a two-seam fastball and a cutter–slider hybrid to his arsenal. In the 2009 season, this cutter-slider became a prominent part of his repertoire, being used more frequently than his changeup. Zito's diminished velocity at the start of the 2007 season (his fastball velocity slowed to 83–85 miles per hour (134–137 km/h)) and loss of command were the key mechanical reasons for his struggles that year, as he more often got behind in the count and had to rely more on his fastball. During the 2009 season, Zito made changes to his delivery, lowering his arm slot from an over the top angle to a three-quarters delivery. This change helped his fastball velocity go back up to the 86–89 miles per hour (138–143 km/h) range as well as sharpening the break of his curveball. However, in 2011, he was once again in the 84–87 miles per hour (135–140 km/h) range with his fastball. In 2012, Zito relied mostly on his two-seam fastball and cutter, and reduced his reliance on the four-seamer, which was the slowest four-seamer in MLB among starting pitchers that year, at 84.6 miles per hour (136.2 km/h).
Addressing his finesse pitching style, Zito said, "My fastball is set up by my offspeed, that's no secret. So if I can command my fastball to both sides of the plate and throw most of my offspeed for strikes, I'll get them to miss the barrel. That's what I'm going for."
## Legacy
From 2000 through 2004 with the Athletics, Zito, Hudson, and Mulder were known as the "Big Three." Of the three, Zito had the highest single-season win total and was the only one to win the Cy Young Award. Zito's .618 winning percentage is 10th all-time in Athletics history. His 6.896 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched ranks seventh, his 1,096 strikeouts rank eighth, and his 222 games started rank 10th. Zito also holds a couple more dubious positions on Oakland's list: his 148 home runs allowed rank fifth, and his 65 hit by pitches rank fourth (although he trails Eddie Plank, Chief Bender, and Rube Waddell in that category). Zito's .821 winning percentage in 2002 is tied with Bender's in 1910 for 10th among Athletics' single-season totals. His 8.608 strikeouts per 9 innings pitched in 2001 rank seventh, and his 205 strikeouts in 2001 are tied for 10th (with Dave Stewart's 1987 total and Todd Stottlemyre's 1995 total).
Zito's regular-season performance with the Giants was less successful; he went 63–80 with a 4.62 ERA. However, he had significantly more playoff success with them. Aided by his contributions in 2010, the team won its first World Series since 1954. Zito did not pitch in the playoffs that year, but did pitch in the 2012 postseason, saving the Giants' season by pitching them to a Game 5 victory in the NLCS against the Cardinals, and then outdueling Tigers' ace Justin Verlander in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series. The Giants went on to win their second World Series in three years.
As a hitter, Zito batted .102 with 11 RBI. His 35 career hits were all singles, putting him 2nd on the all-time list of most plate appearances (418) without an extra-base hit.
## Awards
- 1999 – Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year
- 1999 – First-Team College All-American
- 1999 – Pac-10 Conference All-Star
- 2000 – Triple-A All-Star
- 2002 – Baseball America First-Team Major League All-Star
- 2002 – Cy Young Award (AL)
- 2002 – Sporting News AL Pitcher of the Year
- 2002 – All-Star (AL)
- 2003 – All-Star (AL)
- 2006 – All-Star (AL)
- 2012 – ML Hutch Award
- 2012 – ML Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
## Music career
Zito started playing guitar in 1999 as a way to pass time on road trips. He had not considered music as a profession until his sister, Sally Zito, asked him to play guitar in her band with which he played during the offseason from 2000 to 2007. It was then that he began writing songs in preparation for a career after baseball. His 2015 comeback bid found him playing the majority of the season in Nashville, Tennessee, the home of country music. He used his time off to learn from the city's music industry professionals and to pursue songwriting. Zito released his first EP, titled No Secrets, on January 27, 2017. The collection contains six songs either written or co-written by Zito. He later co-wrote and sang vocals for a theme song for the Nashville Sounds, titled "That Sound".
Zito was revealed to have competed as "Rhino" in season 3 of The Masked Singer.
## Personal life
Zito became engaged to former Miss Missouri Amber Seyer in April 2011, and they were married on December 3, 2011. His father, Joe Zito, who died June 19, 2013, at the age of 84, composed and arranged music for Nat King Cole in the early 1960s (ca.1961–64) and arranged for the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra. Zito's mother Roberta was a musician who sang in a choral group known as The Merry Young Souls and with Nat King Cole and his band. Zito is also a musician. He plays guitar, and he co-wrote the song "Butterflies" that was used in the Eddie Murphy film A Thousand Words. Zito's maternal aunt was married to television actor Patrick Duffy.
Zito and wife Amber gave birth to their first child, a son named Mars, in July 2014. They adopted their second child, a son named Mercer Joseph Zito, in May 2017. A third child, a son named Rome, was born February 2020.
Zito is known for his idiosyncrasies and his offbeat personality. Early in his career, Zito dyed his hair blue. He earned the nicknames "Planet Zito" and "Captain Quirk" when with Oakland. Zito says he likes the way his uniform number 75 looks because the 7 and the 5 are like a "shelf" to hold the name "Zito" up. He surfs and practices yoga. He has done yoga poses in the outfield, and meditated before games. Zito practices Transcendental Meditation and supports the David Lynch Foundation. Zito has said, however, that he believes terms such as "flaky" or "hippie" have been applied to him by people who do not know him well enough to know better.
Zito was raised in a "spiritual, metaphysical type church" that was founded by his grandmother and that his mother, Roberta, who died in 2008, formerly preached at. In 2001, Zito espoused a universal life force that he credited with his midseason turnaround. He said that he discovered this force by reading Creative Mind by Ernest Holmes.
However, in August 2011, Zito became a Christian, saying he "committed to Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior." Zito explained that God got his attention through his being left off the 2010 Giants postseason roster and a car accident and freak foot injury in early 2011. He got a tattoo (his only one) of a golden calf on the inside of his right bicep as a reminder for him to "not worship false idols" and to remember that God comes first. Zito said that his wife is a Christian as well. In 2019, Zito wrote Curveball: How I Discovered True Fulfillment After Chasing Fortune and Fame, a memoir book about his life and his conversion to Christianity. Zito has said, “Having placed my full identity into my baseball career for most of my life, only to have it stripped away during the 2010 World Series run is what led me to discover my true identity. Not in a game, but in Jesus Christ.”
Zito founded the charity Strikeouts For Troops. The charity provides comforts of home and works to lift the spirits and morale of injured US troops and offers support to military families. In 2010, Zito announced that he would donate \$1,500 for every strikeout in the Giants–Padres game on September 11. There were a total of 14 strikeouts in the game.
In 2003, Zito portrayed a United States Navy petty officer in an episode of JAG on CBS. Zito's character, a pitcher, faced assault charges after hitting a Marine with a ball during the annual Navy-Marine all-star baseball game.
## Publications
## See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual wins leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career strikeout leaders
- 2021 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting |
13,564,397 | West Concord station | 1,173,040,381 | MBTA rail station in Massachusetts | [
"Buildings and structures in Concord, Massachusetts",
"Former Old Colony Railroad stations",
"MBTA Commuter Rail stations in Middlesex County, Massachusetts",
"National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts",
"Queen Anne architecture in Massachusetts",
"Railway stations in the United States opened in 1894",
"Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts",
"Stations along Boston and Maine Railroad lines",
"Union stations in the United States"
]
| West Concord station is an MBTA Commuter Rail station located in West Concord, Massachusetts. It is served by the Fitchburg Line. The station has two side platforms serving the line's two tracks, with mini-high platforms for accessibility. The adjacent station building, now a restaurant, is not used for railroad purposes.
Concord Junction station opened in 1871 at the junction of the Fitchburg Railroad and the Framingham and Lowell Railroad, replacing an earlier station at Damon Mill to the west. It soon became an important railroad junction, and a new union station was built in 1894. Passenger service declined during the 20th century, though commuter service to Boston was retained. The station and surrounding village were renamed as West Concord in 1927. The interior of the station building was restored in the 1980s; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 as Union Station. The exterior was restored with the original tri-color paint scheme in the 2000s. Since 1990, the building has been used as a restaurant, Club Car Cafe.
## History
### Union Station
The Fitchburg Railroad opened through Concord in 1844; a station was located at Damon Mill west of the modern station location. When the Framingham and Lowell Railroad (F&L) opened in 1871, Concord Junction station was established where the two lines crossed in the Warnerville section of Concord. The small station was soon joined by a freight house, engine house, and turntable. The Nashua, Acton and Boston Railroad opened in 1873, with trackage rights over the F&L to Concord Junction. The railroad offered Concord Junction–Nashua service timed to meet Fitchburg Railroad trains, making Concord Junction an important transfer point.
Industrial activity in Concord soon clustered around the three railroad lines; by the 1890s, Concord Junction was a busier village center than Concord itself, with 125 trains stopping per day. The new Union Station opened in January 1894; the older wooden station was reused as a boardinghouse on Derby Street. The single-story L-shaped Queen Anne style structure incorporated a passenger waiting room, freight office, and a baggage room in three separate buildings under one roof. A bay window protruded from the right angle of the station to give the stationmaster views down the rail lines. The asymmetrical design, slate roof, eyelid dormers, stained glass windows, and bright three-color paint scheme were unusual for the area. Among the regular passengers at the station was John F. Fitzgerald, who frequently used it between 1897 and 1903.
### Decline
The Nashua, Acton and Boston became part of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1895, followed by the Fitchburg Railroad in 1900. The F&L went through several ownership changes; it was acquired by the Old Colony Railroad in 1879, which was leased by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1893. Passenger service declined in the 20th century; service to Nashua ended in 1924, and the line was abandoned the next year. Passenger service on the F&L ended in 1933, though north-south freight service through Concord Junction continued. At that time, the freight office (the northwest part of the station) and part of the roof were demolished. With passenger service only remaining on the Fitchburg mainline, in 1927 the station and village became known as West Concord. Intercity service past Fitchburg ended in 1960, leaving only commuter service to West Concord.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) was formed in 1964 to subsidize suburban commuter rail operations. This public funding stabilized remaining service on the Boston and Maine system in 1965. The station building was reused as a restaurant by 1968. The MBTA bought the Boston and Maine commuter assets in 1976. In 1982, a faux-brick exterior was added to the building and the space between the waiting room and baggage room was enclosed. Freight service on the ex-F&L from West Concord south to South Sudbury ended that year. The diamond crossing was soon removed and moved slightly south, where it was put on display in a small park.
### Preservation
The station building fell into private ownership and hosted a pizza restaurant for a time; when the restaurant closed, the building was locked and did not provide passenger accommodations. In 1987, MBTA riders urged the town to purchase the building, which would help to restore access to the waiting room and restrooms, and the MBTA indicated that they would enforce a 1964 deed that required public access regardless of ownership. Representatives visited other stations nearby, including Hartford, Connecticut, to consult on how a station like West Concord could be renovated. Following successful appeals, a group of residents renovated the interior of the station. In 1989, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Union Station. The Club Car Cafe opened in the building in 1990; it provides a waiting room for passengers during weekday commute hours.
Freight service north of West Concord ended in 1993; the north-south line has since been converted to the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail. Mini-high platforms were installed shortly after the 1990 passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, making West Concord one of the first MBTA Commuter Rail stations to become accessible. The Friends of the West Concord Depot group formed in 2006 to support renovations of the deteriorated station building. The town and the MBTA split the cost of exterior renovations, which restored the original tri-color exterior design. The renovations were completed around 2009.
## See also
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Concord, Massachusetts |
36,204,789 | South Africa at the 2012 Summer Paralympics | 1,168,891,266 | South Africa competing at the 2012 Summer Paralympics | [
"2012 in South African sport",
"Nations at the 2012 Summer Paralympics",
"South Africa at the Paralympics"
]
| South Africa competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London with a team of 62 athletes and finished 18th on the medal table.
The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC), which is the National Paralympic Committee of South Africa, announced a team of 62 competitors for the 2012 Paralympics on 20 June 2012. The team of 45 men and 17 women were accompanied by 45 managers, coaches and other support staff. SASCOC released the team's schedule on 17 August 2012.
In a surprise announcement in London on 8 September the South African Minister of Sport and Recreation Fikile Mbalula said that Paralympic medal winners and their coaches would receive the same performance bonuses that their Olympic counterparts were promised. The amounts initially promised were significantly lower. The minister said the original plan was discriminatory.
## Medalists
The following South African competitors won medals at the games.
\| style="text-align:left; width:78%; vertical-align:top;"\|
\| style="text-align:left; width:22%; vertical-align:top;"\|
## Athletics
South African track and field athletes won a combined 17 medals at the Games, four gold, seven silver and six bronze. Sprinter Oscar Pistorius, who carried the nation's flag at the opening ceremony, was the most successful South African athlete winning individual gold in the T44 400 metres, gold in the 4 × 100 metres relay T42–46, setting world records in both, and individual silver in the T44 200 metres. In the 200 metres event Pistorius set a new world record in his heat, but he was defeated in the final by Brazilian Alan Oliveira. After the race Pistorius raised an issue about the length of Oliveira's blades, he later apologised for the timing of his remarks, but not the content of his complaint. The IPC confirmed the length of Oliveira's blades were proportional to his body and legal, but expressed willingness to engage with Pistorius about the issue.
Men—track
Men—field
Women—track
Women—field
Management Team
- Manager: Dion Bishop
- Coaches: Suzanne Ferreira, Zelda Hansen, Hennie Koekemoer, Karin le Roux, Ampie Louw
- Team assistant: Neels Matthyser
- Helper: Illse du Preez.
## Cycling
### Road
### Track
Management team
- Manager: Mike Burns
- Coach: Ricky Kulsen
- Mechanic: Pieter Jansen.
## Equestrian
A team of four represented South Africa in the equestrian competition, one man and three women, although Paralympic equestrian competition is not divided by gender. The competition consists of three dressage events, a championship test, a freestyle test and a team test. There are five competitor classes: Ia, Ib, II, III and IV, with Ia being the most and IV the least impaired.
Individual
Team
- Indicates the three best individual scores that count towards the team total.
Management team
- Manager: Tracey Cumming
- Coach: Chris Haazen
- Vet: Sheelagh Higgerty
- Grooms: Enoch Cele, Anton Chimbuanda, Elizabeth Newsome, Teri Smith
## Rowing
Qualification Key: FA=Final A (medal); FB=Final B (non-medal); R=Repechage
Management
- Manager/coach: Marco Galeone
## Swimming
Natalie du Toit, a veteran of three Paralympics and one Olympics, announced her retirement from competitive swimming after this event. South Africa's first gold medal came from du Toit winning gold in the women's 100 m butterfly S9.
Men
Women
Management team
- Manager: Queeneth Ndlovu
- Coach: Karoly Toros
- Coach/tapper: Karin Hugo
- Tapper/helper: Eeden Meyer
## Wheelchair basketball
South Africa's men's wheelchair basketball team were in Group A with Australia, Italy, Spain, Turkey and the United States. Competing athletes are given an eight-level-score specific to wheelchair basketball, ranging from 0.5 to 4.5 with lower scores representing a higher degree of disability. The sum score of all players on the court cannot exceed 14.
### Men's tournament
Group stage
11th/12th place match
Management team
- Manager: Willie Riechert
- Coach: Patrick Fick
- Assistant coach: Shadrack Moepeng
- Technical coach: Franck Belen
## Wheelchair tennis
Management team
- Manager/coach: Holger Losch
- Assistant coach: Khotso Matshego.
## General team management
The following people made-up the team's senior management:
- Chef de Mission: Pieter Badenhorst
- Project manager: Vinesh Maharaj
- Manager (logistics): Clifford Cobers
- Logistics: Madira Sehlapelo
- Manager (athletes services): Chantelle Jardim
- Athlete services: Dumisani Mtwa
- Chief medical officer: Wayne Derman
- Chief physiotherapist: Grace Hughes
- Doctor: Paul Maphoto
- Physiotherapists: Given Baloyi, Edwin Bodha, Greshne Davids, Shantal Edwards, Dan Ntseke, Evah Ramashala
- Classifier: Tarina van der Stockt
## See also
- South Africa at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- South Africa at the Paralympics |
2,932,602 | State of the World (song) | 1,173,150,664 | 1991 single by Janet Jackson | [
"1989 singles",
"1989 songs",
"1990 singles",
"1991 singles",
"A&M Records singles",
"Janet Jackson songs",
"New jack swing songs",
"Protest songs",
"Song recordings produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis",
"Songs written by Janet Jackson",
"Songs written by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis"
]
| "State of the World" is a song recorded by American singer Janet Jackson for her fourth studio album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989). It was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, with additional writing by Jackson. While recording the album, Jackson and the producers watched television, especially news channels, and created the song inspired by that. "State of the World" focuses lyrically on homeless people. It was released as the eighth and final single from the album on February 6, 1991, by A&M Records.
The song was not released commercially in the United States, making it ineligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 or the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, but it reached number five on Billboards Hot 100 Airplay chart. No music video was made to accompany the song.
## Background and release
Following the commercial and critical success of her 1986 album, Control, Jackson was motivated to continue songwriting and took a larger role in the creative production of her new album. Executives at A&M requested that she expand on the ideas presented on Control, suggesting a concept album entitled Scandal that would have been about the Jackson family. She wrote a song titled "You Need Me" which was directed at her father Joseph, but was unwilling to devote an entire album to the subject and substituted her own concept for theirs. She commented that "[a] lot of people wanted me to do another album like Control and that's what I didn't want to do. I wanted to do something that I really believed in and that I really felt strong about." The concept of Rhythm Nation emerged as Jackson was a TV watcher, "We would watch BET, MTV ... then switched over to CNN, and there'd always be something messed-up happening. It was never good news, always bad news", producer James "Jimmy Jam" Harris recalled. "State of the World" was one of these songs, influenced by TV and news. Jam recalled that with the song, they were trying to do something like Marvin Gaye's song "What's Going On" although we never could hope to achieve that, but still wanted to make people aware of what was happening in a way they could dance to it. Released on February 6, 1991, "State of the World" was the eighth and the final single of Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814. The record label reckoned that they would boost album sales with a radio-only promotion.
## Composition
On the album, "State of the World" is preceded by "T.V.", a 22-second interlude which features the sound of a viewer switching cable channels and hearing such phrases as "the homeless problem", "good looks", "Tiananmen Square", "tempting", "violent crimes are on the rise", and "so frustrating". The track focuses lyrically on homeless people, with such lines as "Drugs and crime spreadin' on the streets/ People can't find enough to eat/ Now our kids can't go out and play/ That's the state of the world today". According to Jon Pareles of The New York Times, Jackson tries to stay optimistic with the world's state: "Let's weather the storm together", and compared the song musically to the music by Prince. In the book Born in the U.S.A.: The Myth of America in Popular Music from Colonial Times to the Present by Timothy E. Scheurer, the author noted that she "attempts to deliver a message of hope". According to him, the song is like a "medical diagnosis in which Jackson proposes education as the key to settling problems". Pace magazine described the song as an "aggressive dance assault". Eric Henderson from Slant Magazine noted that the producers "loosened their rigid backbeats in acquiescence with new jack's standard three-on-one swing" as noted in the song.
## Critical reception
Jon Pareles of The New York Times considered that "despite its platitudinous message, [the song] has stark edges and angles". Sputnikmusic's Zachary Powell commented that "'State of the World' keeps the upbeat motion that Rhythm Nation begins, but with more of a socially conscious twist. It shares with the preceding track a groovy beat and danceability, but takes it to another direction lyrically and shows the caring side of Janet Jackson". Dennis Hunt of Los Angeles Times commented positively saying that the move to social commentary was a rocky decision. However, he felt that "State of the World" was not interesting enough musically to carry the messages.
On the book Michael Jackson A Life In Music: A Life in Music, by writer Geoff Brown focusing on Jackson's brother Michael, he noted that like her brother, she can focus on problems as shown on the song, but she offers no solutions to them. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide commented that "heartfelt pleas for racial unity and cloudy musings on the 'State of the World' don't obscure the pulsating beat of other songs" from the album. Jonathan Van Meter from Spin was critical of the song, saying that "State of the World", "Rhythm Nation" and "The Knowledge" formed "a Spike Lee-esque trilogy made even less convincing by a tiresome house music back-beat and that unfortunate, outdated beat on every fourth count". AllMusic's editor Alex Henderson called the song "disturbing".
## Chart performance and live performance
In the US the song was released as a radio-only single, and was therefore ineligible to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. However, it peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and number nine on the Hot Dance Club Songs charts. Author Fred Bronson noted it likely would have been the album's eighth top ten hit if a commercial product had been distributed. In Australia, the song received a commercial release in June 1991, and peaked at number 94 on the ARIA Singles Chart in July 1991. Jackson has performed the song on two of her tours, the Rhythm Nation World Tour and on her State of the World Tour in 2017, with it being the last number of the show in its 2018 leg. Jackson also included the song on her 2019 Las Vegas Residency Janet Jackson: Metamorphosis.
## Track listings
## Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 album booklet.
Locations
- Recorded and mixed at the Flyte Tyme Studios (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Personnel'
- Janet Jackson – lead vocals, background vocals, songwriter, co-producer, keyboards, rhythm and vocal arranger
- Jimmy Jam – producer, songwriter, keyboards and drum programming, percussion, rhythm and vocal arranger
- Terry Lewis – producer, songwriter, percussion, background vocals, rhythm and vocal arranger
- René Elizondo Jr. – background vocals
- Steve Hodge – background vocals, recording and mixing engineer
- Brian Gardner – mastering
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Release history |
73,446,779 | Ana Amado | 1,171,406,286 | Argentine journalist and academic (1946–2016) | [
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| Ana Amado (11 May 1946 – 9 November 2016) was an Argentine journalist, filmmaker, academic and feminist. In Mexico while in exile, she produced films under the name Cristina Benítez. Amado grew up in rural Argentina and, after training to be a teacher, earned a degree in political science from the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero. During her schooling, she began to work as a television news producer and print journalist. Orphaned when she was young, she moved to Buenos Aires after her graduation and worked for several different television news stations. Traveling abroad with her job, she interviewed subjects like Fidel Castro and Muammar Gaddafi. Because of her support for the leftist Montoneros radicals, she became a target of the Triple A terrorist squads in 1974. Her boyfriend Nicolás Casullo [es] was also targeted, causing the couple to marry and go into exile.
Amado went to Caracas, Venezuela, where she made films and commercials for the Ministry of Culture for two years. In 1976, the couple moved to Mexico City, where she wrote for various newspapers, contributed to several magazines as a film critic, presented news for multiple television stations, and created documentary films. She also worked as a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM, Autonomous Metropolitan University) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico), while continuing her graduate courses. Coming into contact with feminists, she conducted research on indigenous women at the Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Transnacionales (ILET, Latin American Institute for Transnational Studies) and prepared her thesis. The potential for the election of 1983 to result in a return to democracy in Argentina led the couple to return home that year.
On her return, Amado submitted her thesis to the University of Buenos Aires, but its approval was delayed until her advisor returned from exile. Initially she worked as a journalist but was hired to head ILET's women and society department between 1987 and 1990. Employed as an assistant professor in the faculty of philosophy and letters at the University of Buenos Aires in 1990, she later served three terms as chair of film analysis and film criticism in the arts department. In 1992, she joined with other women academics to found a women's studies curriculum and the journal Mora. Five years later, the program became the Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género (Interdisciplinary Institute of Gender Studies) at the University of Buenos Aires. In 2008, she earned her PhD from Leiden University and continued to teach in Argentina and abroad until 2015. Amado died in 2016 and is remembered for her works analyzing Argentine history and as one of the founders of the field of gender studies in Argentina.
## Early life and education
Ana María Amado was born on 11 May 1946, in Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina. Her father was engaged in manufacturing wooden products, and her mother was a teacher. Her mother's family came to Argentina from Italy in the nineteenth century and her paternal grandparents were from Syria. The oldest of four siblings, Amado attended school in Lugones until the sixth grade, when her family moved to Santiago del Estero. She graduated in 1961 with teaching credentials from the Colegio Belén (Belén College), a private Catholic school. Continuing her studies, she enrolled in political science courses at the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero. Her parents were killed in an accident in 1964, and she and her brothers went to live with an aunt.
During her schooling, Amado was assisted by the Fundación Juan Alberto Harriet (Juan Alberto Harriet [es] Foundation), which sent her to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1969. She took courses at Harvard University with Marshall McLuhan, before returning to complete her degree from the Catholic University of Santiago del Estero in 1972. While studying, she went to work at the local television station as a news producer. In 1970, she created Nuestra tarde (Our Evening), a program she produced and aired on weekends through 1971. Simultaneously she wrote for the local newspaper, publishing articles on women's issues such as abortion and adoption.
## Career
### Early career (1972–1974)
Amado moved to Buenos Aires after graduating in 1972. She began airing a music program, Música en libertad (Music in Freedom) on Channel 9, but quickly moved to Channel 13 reporting on the popular newscast Telenoche. She supported the Montoneros, a Trotskyist group of radical, urban guerillas, joining their youth corps. Amado began working as an on-air journalist, reporting for the state-owned Channel 7, from 1973. She covered politics and produced stories on third world countries traveling to Romania; Cuba, where she interviewed Fidel Castro; and Libya, where she interviewed Muammar Gaddafi. She also produced a two-hour show with Norman Briski which aired daily on Radio Belgrano [es].
In 1974, Amado was invited to meet with the Ministry of Education to discuss setting up Channel 4 for educational programs. She met Nicolás Casullo [es], an advisor to Jorge Taiana in the Departamento de Cultura y Comunicación (Department of Culture and Communication). Although the project fell apart, she continued meeting with Casullo in regard to her radio program, and they began dating. When Isabel Perón succeeded her husband as President of Argentina, she allowed José López Rega to become the de facto Prime Minister. He implemented a terrorist campaign against leftists, which resulted in Amado's boss warning her not to come to work at Channel 7. Casullo also quit going to the Ministry of Education because he had been placed on the "death list" of the Triple A. The couple secretly married in November 1974, and a few days later, Casullo left for Cuba. Shortly thereafter, Amado left for Caracas, Venezuela.
### Exile (1974–1983)
After arriving in Caracas, Amado first worked for an advertising agency and then began making films and commercials for the Ministry of Culture. Among her films were a production about the nationalization of the oil industry and another about the Barí people and their traditional way of life. On meeting a fellow Argentine who had collected decades of political magazines, she filmed his entire collection. Her documentary film, Ruidos en la cabeza (Noises in the Head) created for Productora Creativos Audiovisuales (Creative Audiovisual Productions), aired in 1976. Casullo eventually joined her in Venezuela, but as he was legally unable to work, the couple decided to move to Mexico City that year, when they were offered paid employment at El Universal.
In addition to working as a journalist, Amado was hired as a professor at the Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM, Autonomous Metropolitan University) and worked in the film library at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM, National Autonomous University of Mexico). Her work at the library focused on producing a film about the Montoneros. Using the magazines she had filmed in Caracas, Amado produced a one-hour documentary Montoneros, crónica de una guerra de liberación (Montoneros: Chronicle of a Liberation War), which she directed under the pseudonym Cristina Benítez with a script on the history of Peronism written by Casullo, who used the name Hernán Castillo. While she was making the film, she gave birth to her oldest daughter Mariana, followed in 1981 by another daughter, Liza. The documentary was released in 1977. She was hired by UNAM to teach and as a director for the Grupo Cine de la Resistencia (Resistance Film Group) in the department of cinematography.
Between 1977 and 1983, Amado wrote film reviews for the newspaper Unomásuno and worked as an editor for the journal Comunicación y Cultura (Communication and Culture). She took post-graduate courses at UAM and taught semiology classes at both UAM and UNAM. At the same time, she conducted research at Instituto Latinoamericano de Estudios Transnacionales (ILET, Latin American Institute for Transnational Studies) focusing on indigenous women. The research brought her in contact for the first time with feminists from Mexico and Chile, changing her view of the women's movement. She began preparing her graduate thesis based on interviews with women from indigenous communities. With the election of 1983 promising a return to democracy in Argentina, the couple decided to take their family home.
### Later career (1983–2015)
Settling in Once de Septiembre at the beginning of 1983, Amado had a difficult time locating adequate schooling for her daughters because during the dictatorship the school system had declined. Schooling for her daughters and submitting her thesis, El discurso femenino como comunicación alternativa (The Female Discourse as Alternative Communication), were her first priorities. The thesis had been completed with the advisor Héctor Schmucler [es], a former faculty member of the philosophy and letters department at the University of Buenos Aires, whom she had known in Mexico while working at his magazine Comunicación y Cultura. Schmucler returned to Argentina in 1986, and her thesis was accepted in 1987.
Initially Amado found work as a journalist working at Perfil and as a editorial secretary for the magazine Somos [es] in the politics section and later women's section. In late 1983, she began working at Revista Vivir (Live Magazine) for Alicia Entel [es], whom she had met through ILET. At that time, Casullo became co-director of ILET with Alcira Argumedo, and Amado headed ILET's women and society department between 1987 and 1990. In 1989, Chilean feminists she had known in Mexico returned home and founded Red alternativa de Prensa femenina en América Latina (FEMPRES, Alternative Network of Women's Press in Latin America), and she began working as its Argentine correspondent. The magazine survived until 1990 and focused on publishing information about women's issues, evaluating the position of women in society throughout Latin America. When the magazine folded, she contributed to publications such as Clarín and Página 12.
In 1990, Amado was employed as an assistant professor in the faculty of philosophy and letters at the University of Buenos Aires. She became chair of film analysis and film criticism in the arts department, and was elected as the departmental director three times, serving through 1996. In 1992, she was also elected to the Board of Directors of the university. That year, representing the arts, she began working with other women academics, including anthropologist Mirta Ana Barbieri; educationalist Nora Domínguez; historians Mirta Zaida Lobato, Susana Murphy, and Marcela Nari; and philosopher Margarita Roulet to create an interdisciplinary women's studies curriculum. Initially known as the Área Interdisciplinaria de Estudios de la Mujer (AIEM, Interdisciplinary Area of Women's Studies), and from 1997 as the Instituto Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Género (IIEGE, Interdisciplinary Institute of Gender Studies), they introduced gender as a field of academic study at the University of Buenos Aires and founded the journal Mora. She and Domínguez created a course, "Construcciones y narraciones de género en cine, literatura y prensa escrita" ("Gender Constructions and Narratives in Cinema, Literature and the Written Press"), which they offered through 1998.
In addition to her teaching at the University of Buenos Aires, Amado taught as a visiting professor at National University of Rosario, UNAM, and Princeton University, as well as Duke University in 2001. Together with Domínguez, in 2004 she published a book examining the way families were portrayed in literature. In 2008, Amada was awarded a PhD in Humanities from Leiden University, where she completed her doctoral thesis, La imagen justa: cine argentino y política, 1980–2007 (The Just Image: Argentine Cinema and Politics, 1980–2007) under the direction of Luz Rodríguez Carranza, an Argentine exile who remained abroad. The name of the work was a play on the duality of the word "just" – in other words, did films portray just an image, or was it the just (correct or right) image. The following year, her thesis was published as a book under the same title. It analyzed the way politics changed films over the period, first creating the myths of the regime, then completely ignoring the terror and repression, and finally questioning and demanding answers for the lack of portrayals. In 2010, she was awarded a two-year Guggenheim Fellowship to continue her evaluation of political insurgency and public perception as depicted in Argentine visual arts. She continued to lecture at the University of Buenos Aires and at the Instituto de Iberoamérica (Ibero-American Institute) of the University of Salamanca through the end of 2015.
## Death and legacy
Amado died on 9 or 10 November 2016 in Buenos Aires after an illness of several weeks. She is remembered as a mentor by colleagues and as a founder of the field of gender studies in Argentina. In addition to founding the journal Mora and her own publishing, she contributed chapters to several anthologies and was the editor of Ediciones Colihue's book series on cinema.
## Selected works |
23,912,001 | Ape Escape (video game) | 1,171,484,651 | 1999 video game | [
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| Ape Escape is a platform video game, developed by Japan Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation in June 1999 in North America and Japan, and July 1999 in Europe. The first in the Ape Escape series, the game tells the story of an ape named Specter who gains enhanced intelligence and a malevolent streak through the use of an experimental helmet. Specter produces an army of apes, which he sends through time in an attempt to rewrite history. Spike, the player character, sets out to capture the apes with the aid of special gadgets.
Ape Escape is played from a third-person perspective. Players use a variety of gadgets to pursue and capture the apes, traversing across several environments. The game's controls are heavily centred around the analog sticks, being the first game to require the use of the PlayStation's DualShock. Development of Ape Escape lasted over two years, and was generally focused on adapting to the use of the controller, which was a significant challenge for the development team.
Ape Escape was met with critical acclaim from critics, with praise particularly directed at the innovative use of the dual analog controls, as well as the graphics and music; the voice acting received minor criticism. The game is widely considered to be one of the greatest on the PlayStation console, and received several re-releases. The game also spawned numerous sequels and spin-offs, beginning with Ape Escape 2 in 2002. A remake, Ape Escape: On the Loose, was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2005 to mixed reviews.
## Gameplay
Ape Escape is a platform game that is viewed from a third-person perspective. Players traverse several different environments to advance through the game. For most of the game, players control Spike—a boy tasked with pursuing and capturing the apes across time, preventing them from rewriting history. Players use various gadgets to pursue and capture the apes, such as the Stun Club, used as an offensive measure against enemies, and the Time Net, used to capture apes and transport them to present day. More gadgets become available as players progress through the game. Players also control vehicles throughout the game, including a rubber raft, which allows travel over water, and the water net, which assists in traversing underwater. The game's controls are heavily centered around the analog sticks: the left stick is used to move players, while the right stick manipulates the various gadgets.
The apes are equipped with helmets, which feature a siren representing their alarm level: blue means relaxed, and unaware of the player characters' presence; yellow is alert; and red indicates fully alarmed, resulting in attempting to escape or becoming hostile. An ape's personality can also be determined by the colour of shorts: yellow is standard, light blue means timid, and red represents aggressive. Some apes are equipped with weaponry, allowing them to attack players, or binoculars that allow them to identify players from long distances. Players are required to capture a specific number of apes to clear a level; remaining apes can be captured upon revisiting the level.
Should players take damage, they lose a life. Players can recharge their health by collecting cookies. Throughout the game, players can gather Specter Coins, which can be found in hidden locations in each stage. Collecting enough Specter Coins unlocks three bonus mini-games: Ski Kidz Racing, a skiing game in which players race against opponents; Galaxy Monkey, a shoot 'em up where players fight against aliens; and Specter Boxing, a boxing game where players dodge and punch using the analog sticks.
## Plot
The story begins when Specter, a white-haired monkey who is well known at his home in a monkey-themed amusement park, puts on a Monkey/Peak Point Helmet created by a Professor, which increases his intelligence beyond that of a regular monkey but, due to it being a prototype version, also twists his mind, turning him evil. Imbued with this new power, Specter gives Monkey Helmets to all the monkeys in the park and sets them loose, having them take over the local laboratory where the Professor and his assistant Natalie (Katie/Natsumi) are currently building a time machine. As Spike (Kakeru) and his best friend Jake (Buzz/Hiroki) arrive at the laboratory, they find themselves transported by Specter, along with all the other monkeys, to the various reaches of time. Realizing that leaving the monkeys to their own devices could rewrite history in disastrous ways, the Professor tasks Spike with finding all of the monkeys scattered across time and sending them back to the present.
Spike must also face off against Specter, who has not only built himself an advanced Monkey Helmet further increasing his own intelligence but has also brainwashed Jake to his side. After a lengthy series of captures and battles in segments of history ranging from the age of the dinosaurs, medieval times, and the present day, Spike is eventually able to capture all of the apes. Spike chases Specter to his deranged theme park, where he is holding a recently captured Professor, Natalie, and his friend Jake. Spike frees Jake of his mind control, and releases both the professor and Natalie, and goes on to find Specter in an alternative universe he calls the "Peak Point Matrix". Spike defeats Specter after a final battle, and he is captured and sent back to the zoo.
## Development
The development of Ape Escape lasted approximately two-and-a-half years. Shortly after the development team began conceiving the design and concept for Ape Escape, they attended a meeting regarding the development of the DualShock. Intrigued by the potential of the controller, the team implemented its use in Ape Escape, making it the first video game to require the use of the DualShock for gameplay. Conceptualizing the controls for the controller's analog sticks was the greatest challenge for the team, and the controls underwent great testing prior to finalization.
The game's music was composed by Soichi Terada. After a game director listened to Terada's track "Sumo Jungle", he was given the opportunity to compose the music for Ape Escape. The music changes in-game depending on the situation and level; for example, should players act stealthily, the music alters slightly to give a mellow atmosphere. Music from the game was included in Ape Escape Originape Soundtracks, published on November 18, 2011, by Terada's label Far East Recording. The gameplay sound effects were designed by Masaaki Kaneko, while the sound effects in the cutscenes were provided by Masatoshi Mizumachi. The English voice acting was recorded at Dubey Tunes Studios in San Francisco, California, with Sara Holihan and Hunter A. Pipes III serving as voice-over director and producer, respectively.
Ape Escape was officially announced in the April 1999 issue of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. A playable demonstration was integrated into the Jampack Summer '99 compilation CD released by PlayStation Underground. A second playable demonstration was included on a promotional compilation disc released by Pizza Hut on November 14. Promotions for the game were held on Cartoon Network during Sony's winter holiday marketing campaign of 1999. The game was released in North America on June 22, 1999. A remake, titled Ape Escape: On the Loose, was announced on May 11, 2004, during Sony's press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It was released as a launch title for the PlayStation Portable (PSP) on March 24, 2005. The remake features altered controls, due to the lack of a right analog stick on the PSP, as well as some slightly different graphics and mini-games.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Ape Escape received "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic, based on 19 reviews. Japanese publication Famitsu gave it 32 out of 40, based on four reviews. Reviewers praised the game's use of analog controls, as well as its graphics and music, with minor criticism directed towards the voice acting.
GameRevolution's Johnny Liu considered the innovative controls were one of the game's standout features. GameSpot's Peter Bartholow declared the controls "beautifully executed", praising the ease of use. Doug Perry of IGN felt that, while the controls are initially difficult, using the analog sticks became "new and refreshing". AllGame's Scott Alan Marriott similarly found controls improved over time and praised the raft controls. Edge credited the distinct stages and original weapons, concluding that Ape Escape "offers enough novelty to make it worth serious consideration for anyone tired of the many me-too platformers". Next Generation felt the game's "general light-hearted cuteness makes it ideal for younger players, but its originality and challenge will also appeal to the most jaded hardcore players".
GameSpot's Bartholow praised the visuals, naming the game "a sight to behold" and commending the use of colour and detail. IGN's Perry wrote the textures "aren't terribly stunning" and found the character design "rather fundamental", but felt the game's lighting and camera blended to create "a fantastic and gratifying effect". GameRevolution's Liu named the graphics "good, but not the best", noting frame rate slowdown. AllGame's Marriott similarly mentioned pop-up issues and other glitches, but ultimately commended the graphics, noting the "distinct Japanese style".
AllGame's Marriott praised the appropriateness of the music to the setting, and GameSpot's Bartholow applauded the soundtrack's interactivity. GameRevolution's Liu felt the music improves as the game progresses, similarly commending its use with gameplay. IGN's Perry described the soundtrack as "a weird concoction of J-pop and techno-synth" and found the "poppy tunes" catchier than the "techno tunes". Criticism was directed at the voice acting; GameSpot's Bartholow described it as "uniformly atrocious", while IGN's Perry referred to Spike's voice as "nothing special". The game's other sound effects, such as the ape noises, were met with positive reactions.
#### PlayStation Portable version
Ape Escape: On the Loose received "mixed or average reviews" according to Metacritic, based on 35 critics. Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot lamented the loss of the "finely tuned control" of the original, but felt that the game "still has considerable charm". GameSpy's David Chapman felt that, despite the noticeable flaws of the game, particularly the controls, it still remains "a lot of fun to play". Juan Castro of IGN praised the game's use of colour, noting its enhancement on the PlayStation Portable screen. Castro also warned that "fans of the series will probably miss the second analog stick", but felt that the gadgets mapped to the PSP's face buttons would suffice. 1Up.com's Jeremy Parish criticised the porting of the game for being outdated, declaring it "a game that was better in another time, on another system, ported simply for cynical convenience". Parish felt that On the Loose served "to blemish the PSP's reputation ... as a dumping ground for warmed over 32-bit offerings far beyond their sell-by date".
## Legacy
Ape Escape is considered one of the most significant titles on the PlayStation console. Douglass C. Perry of IGN declared it "the best 3D platform game on the PlayStation", and GameSpot's Peter Bartholow named it "one of the best 3D platformers to date". Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame described the game as "one of the most enjoyable 3D platform games" on the PlayStation. IGN included Ape Escape in an article documenting the greatest PlayStation 3D platform games, and later named it the eighth greatest game on the console. In March 2004, Official UK PlayStation Magazine named it the ninth greatest game of all time. Game Informer ranked it 100 on its list of best games in 2001, praising its gameplay and innovation.
Ape Escape spawned a series of games, including sequels and spin-offs. A direct sequel, Ape Escape 2, was released for the PlayStation 2 (PS2) in July 2001, followed by Ape Escape 3 for PS2 in July 2005. Several spin-off titles were released exclusively in Japan: Pipo Saru 2001 in July 2001 and Saru! Get You! Million Monkeys in July 2006 for the PS2, followed by Saru Get You: Pip Saru Racer in December 2006 and Saru! Get You! SaruSaru Big Mission in July 2007 for the PSP. Another spin-off, Ape Quest, was also released worldwide for PSP in January 2008. A series of party games has also been released: Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed in July 2004 and EyeToy: Monkey Mania in August 2004 for PS2, as well as Ape Academy 2 for PSP in December 2005, and PlayStation Move Ape Escape for the PlayStation 3 in December 2010. The character of Spike is available as a playable character in PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale (2012), and an ape costume is available as a downloadable outfit in some of the LittleBigPlanet games (2008–12). A mini-game featuring an ape from Ape Escape is included in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004).
Ape Escape was added to the Deluxe tier of the PlayStation Plus lineup in May 2022, playable on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 with full Trophy support. On the Loose was added in August 2023. |
9,250,363 | Andrew Crofts (footballer) | 1,173,863,482 | Wales international footballer | [
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| Andrew Lawrence Crofts (born 29 May 1984) is a former professional footballer who is currently a first team coach for Brighton & Hove Albion. He made 29 appearances for Wales at international level.
He started his career with Gillingham, for whom he made his Football League debut at the age of 16, and made over 190 appearances for the Kent-based club. He had loans at Peterborough United and Wrexham during the 2008–09 season and joined Brighton & Hove Albion in 2009. After a successful season at Brighton he transferred to Norwich City in 2010, before moving back to the South Coast club in 2012.
A tough-tackling midfielder, Crofts represented Wales, where one of his grandparents was born, at under-19 and under-21 level and won his first senior cap in 2005. In 2008, he won his 12th cap, breaking the record for the most international caps received by a Gillingham player.
He became the head coach for Brighton U23s in June 2021 after spending a year as a player-coach of the academy. In September 2022, Crofts was made the interim head coach of the first team after the departure of Graham Potter. After the appointment of the new head coach Roberto De Zerbi, Crofts stayed on the first team as a coach.
## Early life
Crofts was born in Chatham, Kent, and began playing competitive football at the age of six for a club in nearby Rainham. Between the ages of 10 and 15 he attended weekly training sessions organised by Premier League club Chelsea. He also tried out on two occasions for the English Schools Football Association's national schoolboy team, but was unsuccessful.
## Club career
### Gillingham
In September 2000, Crofts joined Gillingham as a trainee and was a regular in the club's youth and reserve teams during the 2000–01 season. At the end of the season, shortly before his 17th birthday, he was a surprise inclusion in the first team squad for a match at home to Watford, and made his Football League debut as a late substitute, replacing Marlon King. The following season, he suffered a broken leg during a reserve team match and missed several months of the season. Although he returned to action in early 2002, his next appearance for the first team did not come until October, when he came on as a substitute in a League Cup match against Stockport County. This was to be his only senior appearance of the 2002–03 season. He finally secured a regular first team place towards the end of the following season, featuring regularly during March and April 2004.
Crofts was a first team regular in the 2004–05 season, making 27 Football League appearances, and scoring his first senior goal for the club in a defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion on 26 December. In January 2005, he signed a new contract designed to keep him at the club until 2009. He was omitted from the team for most of March and April, but was recalled for the last match of the season, in which a draw with Nottingham Forest led to the "Gills" being relegated from the Football League Championship, the second tier of English football, to Football League One, the third tier. In the 2005–06 season, he made the most appearances of any player in the Gillingham squad, missing only one of the team's 46 matches in League One. Although the team struggled in the league, finishing in the lower half of the table, they defeated Premier League team Portsmouth in the League Cup, with Crofts scoring the winning goal. The following season, he again made over 40 appearances and also scored eight goals, his best total for an individual season, but Gillingham again finished the season in the bottom half of the table. He made his 100th start for the club on 18 December 2006 in a match against AFC Bournemouth, and marked the occasion with a goal. At the end of the season, he won four awards at the club's Player of the Year event and was dubbed Mr Gillingham by then-manager Ronnie Jepson. He took over as team captain in the 2007–08 season, but it was an unsuccessful season for the team, who were relegated from League One. The following October he was stripped of the captaincy, which was instead given to Barry Fuller. Manager Mark Stimson stated that he felt that the captaincy might have been too much of a burden for Crofts, and had a negative effect on his form. Soon afterwards, the club made Crofts available for transfer.
#### Peterborough United and Wrexham (loans)
In November 2008, he joined Peterborough United on loan. Shortly after returning to Gillingham the following January, he went on a second loan period, this time to Wrexham until the end of the season. He made his debut on the same day in a 2–1 defeat to Burton Albion. Upon his return to Gillingham from his loan spell, he was released from his contract.
### Brighton & Hove Albion
On 29 June 2009, Crofts agreed to join League One club Brighton & Hove Albion on a two-year contract. He made his debut for Brighton during the 1–0 home defeat to Walsall on 8 August 2009 and scored his first goal for Brighton during the 2–2 draw at Yeovil Town on 10 October 2009. Crofts was given the role of captain by new manager Gus Poyet before the 3–1 away victory at Southampton. Crofts was later confirmed as permanent captain at the beginning of January 2010.
### Norwich City
On 21 May 2010, Norwich City announced the acquisition of Crofts from Brighton, for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £300,000. He became the club's first signing of the summer transfer window, signing a three-year deal at Carrow Road. On 6 August 2010, he scored a goal on his debut against Watford. He subsequently gained promotion to the Premier League with the "Canaries" in his first season at the club. He initially kept his place as a regular starter for Norwich in the top tier, but in the second half of the 2011–12 season he gradually fell out of favour at the club.
### Return to Brighton & Hove Albion
Crofts was transferred back to Brighton for an undisclosed fee in August 2012.
#### Loan return to Gillingham
On 19 March 2016, Crofts re-joined Gillingham on loan until the end of the season.
### Charlton Athletic
On 22 July 2016, Crofts signed a one-year contract with Charlton Athletic. He scored his first goal for Charlton in a 1–1 draw with Southend United on 31 December 2016. On 1 September 2017 the club announced that he had ended his contract by mutual agreement.
### Scunthorpe United
Crofts signed for Scunthorpe United on 31 August 2017, signing a one-year contract with the North Lincolnshire-based club. On 18 May 2018, he was not offered a new contract,
### Newport County
On 26 June 2018 Crofts signed for Newport County on a one-year contract. He made his Newport debut in a 3–0 defeat at Mansfield Town on 4 August. Crofts was a 90th minute substitute for Newport in the League Two playoff final at Wembley Stadium on 25 May 2019. He was released by Newport at the end of the 2018–19 season.
### Yeovil Town and second return to Brighton & Hove Albion
In June 2019 Crofts joined Yeovil Town as a player-coach. On 27 July 2019, however, he left the club to rejoin Brighton & Hove Albion as a player-coach with the club's under-23 side. He played for Brighton U21s in the 2–0 away win over AFC Wimbledon in the EFL Trophy on 3 September 2019.
## International career
One of his grandparents were born in Wales so he was eligible to play in the Welsh national team, and after representing the country at under-19 and under-21 levels he won his first senior cap, in 2005. In 2008, he won his twelfth cap, breaking the record for the most international caps received by a Gillingham player. Crofts was selected for the Welsh national U-19 team in 2002. He made his debut team appearance in the Milk Cup tournament in Northern Ireland, but was forced to return home after suffering an ankle injury in the first match. In total he made eight appearances at under-19 level, including appearing in a second Milk Cup in 2003.
After moving up to the under-21 level Crofts was selected for the national U-21 team for the first time in a match against Germany in February 2005. He went on to gain 12 caps at this level, scoring one goal.
He made his debut in the Welsh national team against Azerbaijan on 12 October 2005, coming on as a substitute for Carl Fletcher. At the end of the 2005–06 season, as part of manager John Toshack's policy of introducing young players to the team, Crofts gained two further caps, both as a substitute, against Paraguay and Trinidad & Tobago, and also played in an unofficial international match against a Basque Country XI.
He was included in the starting line-up for an international for the first time in August 2007 when he played the full 90 minutes of a match against Bulgaria, but was back on the substitutes' bench for the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match against Germany the following month. He became established as a regular member of the Welsh squad during the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying tournament.
## Coaching career
### Brighton & Hove Albion under-23's
On 5 June 2021, Crofts became the head coach of the Brighton academy after spending the previous season as a player-coach of the academy, thus ending his playing career. His first professional match as a manager came on 14 September, in a 1–0 away loss to Walsall in the EFL Trophy group stage. Crofts earned his first competitive victory as a manager on 2 November, in a 2–1 away win at Northampton in the EFL Trophy.
On 8 September 2022, he was appointed interim head coach of the Brighton first team after the departure of Graham Potter. After Roberto De Zerbi was appointed to replace Potter as manager, Crofts was appointed to the first team coaching staff.
## Personal life
Crofts is a fan of Chelsea and at one time shared a flat with the club's future captain John Terry. During his time as captain of Gillingham, he was involved with a number of charity events, including acting as a celebrity waiter at a Gillingham pub and presenting a signed shirt to a brain damaged teenage fan. In January 2005, he dedicated a match-winning goal to his grandmother Lily, who had died several months earlier.
## Career statistics
### Club
### International
## Managerial statistics
## Honours
### Individual
- Brighton Player of the Season: 2009–10
- Gillingham Player of the Season: 2006–07 |
36,550,442 | Broken Home (Body of Proof) | 1,126,890,094 | null | [
"2011 American television episodes",
"Body of Proof episodes"
]
| "Broken Home" is the ninth and final episode of the first season of the American medical drama Body of Proof. It was originally broadcast in the United States on ABC on 17 May 2011. The episode was directed by Nelson McCormick and written by Andrew Dettman.
In this episode, Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) stops the funeral of Nikki Parkson (Mary Fegreus) after seeing irregularities in her death. Nikki's mother Lillian (Jill Eikenberry), and siblings Sara (Jo Armeniox) and Bill (Eric Sheffer Stevens), all say that Nikki was suicidal, with evidence at the scene suggesting this, but when Megan and Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop) do an autopsy, the evidence suggests otherwise. Meanwhile, Megan finds out from daughter Lacey (Mary Mouser) that her ex-husband Todd (Jeffrey Nordling) is in a relationship with her boss Kate Murphy (Jeri Ryan).
The episode received mixed to positive reviews, and was watched by 10.33 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings, on the Sunday night it aired in the United States. Christine Orlando of TV Fanatic was unsure whether the episode was good enough to be the season finale, however she did praise this "solid" episode, saying it had an "intriguing murder, lots of suspects, and an interesting personal twist for Megan". This episode was nominated at the 21st Annual Environmental Media Awards, however lost out to the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Fracked".
## Plot
Megan Hunt (Dana Delany) and Todd Fleming (Jeffrey Nordling) are called to Lacey's (Mary Mouser) school when she is seen looking at photos of a young woman, Nikki Parkson (Mary Fegreus) who died, after battling a terminal illness. When Megan looks at a photo, she sees irregularities and without permission from Kate Murphy (Jeri Ryan), Megan and Peter Dunlop (Nicholas Bishop) stop Nikki being buried, so they can look at her body, much to the horror of Nikki's mother Lillian (Jill Eikenberry). Although Nikki's family say that she committed suicide, Megan finds evidence to suggest otherwise; Nikki's neck has bruising on the bottom, showing that she was strangled. Nikki was being given pills to help her illness by Lillian, but it turns out they were placebos, making sure her worsening disease keeps Lillian in the social limelight, getting sympathy from friends; however Lillian did not kill her. Samantha Baker (Sonja Sohn), Megan, Ethan Gross (Geoffrey Arend) and Curtis Brumfield (Windell Middlebrooks) find out that Nikki's boyfriend Shane (Charlie Semine) was actually working together with Nikki's sister Sara (Jo Armeniox). It is revealed that Shane and Sara killed Nikki, as in Nikki's will she was giving all her money to a fake wildlife foundation which Sara had set up. However, Nikki wanted to switch charities, so Sara killed her to stop her from doing this, with Shane helping her to stage it as suicide, so they could both get the money.
The two are arrested, and Nikki's funeral takes place. However, Samantha arrives to arrest Lillian, as Nikki's brother Billy (Eric Sheffer Stevens) found the pills Lillian wasn't giving Nikki, and Lillian is charged with interfering with her daughter's medical care. Bill assures Megan that Nikki's money, in her will, will be put to a good use and thanks her and the team for investigating. Throughout the investigation Lacey thinks that Megan and Todd are getting back together, as Todd has made many calls to Megan's work. Lacey is shocked to find out that Todd is not phoning Megan, but Kate, and the two are in a relationship. Megan is angry at Kate, but tells Lacey to respect her, even if she does not like her yet.
## Production
"Broken Home" was written by Andrew Dettman and directed by Nelson McCormick, this being his third episode he directed, having directed the season premiere "Pilot" and the subsequent episode "Letting Go". McCormick has directed many television series such as Third Watch, Nip/Tuck, ER and more recently, Criminal Minds. Daniel Licht, who has worked on the series since its inception, returned to compose the music for the episode. Actress Jill Eikenberry – best known for her role in L.A. Law – and actor Eric Sheffer Stevens – best known for his role in As the World Turns – both guest starred in this episode, as Lillian and Bill Parkson, respectively. Sheffer Stevens later reprised his role as Bill in season two's fifth episode "Point of Origin". Recurring cast members Jeffrey Nordling and Mary Mouser returned in this episode, with this being both Mouser's and Nordling's first appearance since seasons one's seventh episode, "All in the Family". Regular cast member John Carroll Lynch who plays Detective Bud Morris, did not appear in this episode, although he was credited.
"Broken Home", along with the eight episodes from Body of Proof's first season, were released on a two-disc DVD set in the United States on September 20, 2011. The sets included brief audio commentaries from various crew and cast members for several episode's, a preview of season 2 and a 10-minute "featurette" on the making of the show, with commentaries from the medical consultants who helped with the script, as well as a "Contaminated Evidence" blooper reel.
## Reception
### Ratings
In its original American broadcast on May 17, 2011, "Broken Home" was seen by 10.33 million viewers, according to Nielsen ratings. Among viewers between ages 18 and 49, it received a 2.1 rating/9 share. This means that it was seen by 2.1 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds, and 9 percent of all 18- to 49-year-olds watching television at the time of the broadcast. This episode achieved a much higher number of viewers than the previous episode, "Buried Secrets", and a significant higher number than subsequent episode "Love Thy Neighbor", which is season two's premiere. Body of Proof came fifth in the ratings on Tuesday night, being outperformed by the season finales of CBS's NCIS and of The Good Wife as well as two airings of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. "Broken Home" was watched by 1.75 million viewers upon its airing on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom.
### Critical response
This episode received mixed to positive reviews. Christine Orlando of TV Fanatic said that the plot of the episode had a "nice story arc when the cause of death ranged from disease, to suicide, and finally murder". She added that Nikki's family was a "nightmare". She was surprised that Bill was not involved in killing Nikki, saying that he "came across as a bit of a jerk for most of the episode", adding that Nikki had a "short, sad life". Orlando praised the detail of Nikki's neck, noticing the bruising to show she was strangled. She said, "I generally hate gore yet I found myself fascinated by the autopsy of the girl's neck. Maybe it was the detail of the muscle and the lack of blood but I've never seen such a procedure portrayed with that level of specificity". Orlando carried on saying, "Is there some rule that we can't have both detectives every week? Detective Baker's definitely growing on me but I missed Bud. He and Megan had some great chemistry and I was hoping for more of that by the end of the season". Orlando understood Megan's reaction to the fact that Kate was dating Todd, calling it "justified", saying it was an "odd position to be in", but summarized; "she'll just have to get over it". Orlando was worried whether Todd deserved Kate saying that; "the jury is still out on Todd". She praised how this storyline turned out to be a "great bonding moment" between Megan and Lacey, saying she "liked" that Megan was honest with Lacey adding, "I like it when adults actually act like adults".
This episode was nominated at the 21st Annual Environmental Media Awards, an "organization dedicated to harnessing the power of the entertainment industry and the media to educate the global public on environmental issues and motivate sustainable lifestyles". Under the category "Television Episodic Drama", "Broken Home" was nominated alongside The Good Wife episode "Real Deal" and the winner, the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Fracked". |
71,882,254 | 1839 Marion riot | 1,140,761,413 | Anti-slavery riot in Marion, Ohio | [
"1839 in Ohio",
"1839 riots",
"African-American history of Ohio",
"July 1839 events",
"Marion, Ohio",
"Pro-fugitive slave riots and civil disorder in the United States"
]
| In Marion, Ohio, in July 1839, William Mitchell ( William Anderson) was seized by a group of men from Virginia, who alleged that he was an escaped slave. Mitchell, who had been living in Marion for at least a year, was placed on trial under Ohio's 1839 Fugitive Slave Act in the Court of Common Pleas, headed by Ozias Bowen. On August 27, in front of a packed courthouse, Bowen ruled against the Virginians and declared Mitchell to be free. After his ruling, the Virginians attempted to kidnap Mitchell. The crowd reacted in an effort to protect Mitchell, throwing projectiles at the Virginians while they were in the streets, and breaking into the town's armory and distributing weapons. Mitchell was soon freed and escaped to Canada.
## Background
Tensions between anti- and pro-slavery groups in Ohio came to a head with the February 1839 passage of the Ohio Fugitive Slave Act after sixteen years of deliberation, a law which created a process for the return of escaped slaves. The Kentucky General Assembly had sent two commissioners to the state who advocated for the law.
In the interest of remaining on good terms with Kentucky, most of Ohio’s newspapers had spoken out in favor of the law, which had in turn coalesced abolitionist opposition. Some Ohio citizens were outraged and interpreted the law as permitting anyone from the south to take any Black person they wanted from the state. The act was so unpopular that public protests had forced its repeal by 1843. However, the law also held the potential to impede kidnapping efforts by establishing procedure for formal trial of accused fugitive slaves, including permitting them legal defense and up to sixty days to provide evidence. The fugitive slave law stirred up widespread resistance in the state and was never widely enforced.
## Riot
A free Black man, known as William “Bill” Mitchell, had lived in Marion since at least 1838. Historian David Grimsted writes that he had been there for a year, while the 1907 History of Marion County placed his arrival in fall 1838. Grimsted and historian Stanley Harrold describe Mitchell as a fugitive slave. The Marion Visitor described him as "well known by our citizens", having worked odd jobs as a butcher, barber, and fiddler. In mid-July 1839, several men from Virginia seized him, alleging that he had escaped enslavement under Adna Van Bibber living in Kanawha County, Virginia. He was arrested under the terms of the Ohio Fugitive Slave Act; the warrant was written by the town's justice of the peace, John Batram.
Mitchell was taken to the county jail to await a hearing before the Court of Common Pleas that would determine his fate. Ozias Bowen headed the court and his associate justices were Thomas J. Anderson and George Gray. Mitchell appeared in court on July 18, 1839, and Bowen granted him forty days to prove that he was, in fact, a free man. The Virginians presented what they described as an authentic bill of sale from Mr. John Lewis to Van Bibber relating to Mitchell.
### Trial
The case, Adnah Van Bibber vs. Mitchell (a colored man), was heard on August 26 to a full courtroom. Mitchell was defended by Cooper K. Watson, Marion County's prosecuting attorney, and James H. Goodman. In his memoirs, Justice Thomas J. Anderson described the case as putting the county in the greatest state of excitement in its history, writing that the courtroom was "crowded to suffocation." Throughout the day witnesses were questioned and lawyers on both sides spoke. The vast majority, if not all, of the witnesses spoke against Mitchell’s claim of freedom. Mitchell himself was not allowed to testify.
Though arguments in the case were ended that day, the court did not read the decision until the following day; Harrold writes that this choice was to avoid unrest. Bowen did not begin until 10 in the morning and reportedly spent around forty minutes reading the decision, while the crowd remained calm. The court held that Mitchell was not owned by Van Bibber and had, in fact, been owned by John Lewis. and held the bill of sale to be fraudulent. While Bowen wrote that even upon "the most mature reflection" he was convinced that the decision was legally correct, Anderson later alleged that Bowen had reached the decision to free Mitchell before the trial was held.
### Attempted kidnapping and aftermath
As soon as Bowen finished speaking, the eight Virginians who had claimed Mitchell was an escaped slave ran and took Mitchell by force. "Confusion, riot and disorder" broke out as most of the crowd leapt to Mitchell’s defense. The Virginians used force to carry out their kidnapping; The Marion Visitor described the brandishing of "pistols, bowie knives, dirks" and threats made against the lives of whoever attempted to resist. The men from Virginia managed to escape the courthouse and forced Mitchell through the town's main street. The crowd began throwing assorted projectiles at the kidnappers, namely broken limestone from the main street, which had recently been re-done. The would-be kidnappers took refuge in the office of John Batram, the town justice, where they demanded a retrial. The mob congregated outside it. A newspaper account estimated the mob’s size to be 200 people. The crowd remained even as the town sheriff attempted to disperse them and soon became more aggressive in their efforts to free Mitchell. The town arsenal was broken into and weapons were distributed among the mob.
Judge Anderson eventually forced his way through the barred doors, and, followed by others, broke Mitchell out of confinement. They fled, followed by two of the kidnappers who threatened Mitchell with force, but the kidnappers were beaten by the mob. Mitchell escaped in the ensuing confusion. According to an article published several weeks later, the arrested Virginians were placed in jail under a \$600 bail, which they paid. After a trial on charges of contempt of court, they were fined \$15, a cost that was remitted. Another grand jury indicted the Virginians on charges of rioting, but it is not clear what resulted from the charges.
Mitchell quickly left Marion, stopping at the home of Reuben Benedict before reaching Canada. American newspapers widely covered Marion’s "abolitionist riot"; many criticized the actions of Bowen and Anderson. Abolitionist newspapers attacked the Virginians; for instance, the Ohio Philanthropist described their actions as "audacious", asking "what more will these slaveholders have? They demanded the Black Law, and it was passed; and now because in a single instance it works unfavorably to their claims, they denounce our citizens as mobocrats, charge our judges with corruption, and with brazen audacity justify the violation of the sanctity of our courts of justice." In early 1840 anti- and pro-abolitionist rallies were held in Marion.
## Later recognition
Historian David Grimsted, in his survey of mob-action events across the US, notes that, as in Marion, many mob rescues of slaves began with a group of people not in active opposition to slavery; yet, when it confronted them in a way they could not ignore, they were willing to act.
In the early 2000s, a two markers commemorating the event were erected in Marion, one in a rest stop along U.S. Route 23 and the other at the town's city hall. The city hall marker was renovated and rededicated in 2016. |
29,848 | Marge Simpson | 1,171,570,775 | Character from The Simpsons franchise | [
"American female characters in television",
"Animated human characters",
"Characters created by Matt Groening",
"Comedy film characters",
"Female characters in animated series",
"Female characters in film",
"Fictional artists",
"Fictional gamblers",
"Fictional housewives",
"Fictional pacifists",
"Television characters introduced in 1987",
"The Simpsons characters"
]
| Marjorie Jacqueline "Marge" Simpson () is a character in the American animated sitcom The Simpsons and part of the eponymous family. Voiced by Julie Kavner, she first appeared on television in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night" on April 19, 1987. Marge was created and designed by cartoonist Matt Groening while he was waiting in the lobby of James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of shorts based on Life in Hell but instead decided to create a new set of characters. He based the character on his mother Margaret Groening. After appearing on The Tracey Ullman Show for three seasons, the Simpson family received their own series on Fox, which debuted December 17, 1989.
Marge is the matriarch of the Simpson family. With her husband Homer, she has three children: Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. Marge is the moralistic force in her family and often provides a grounding voice in the midst of her family's antics by trying to maintain order in the Simpson household. She is often portrayed as a stereotypical television mother and is often included on lists of top "TV moms". She has appeared in other media relating to The Simpsons—including video games, The Simpsons Movie, The Simpsons Ride, commercials, and comic books—and inspired an entire line of merchandise.
Marge's distinctive blue beehive hairstyle was inspired by a combination of the Bride's in Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore in the 1960s. Julie Kavner, who was a member of the original cast of The Tracey Ullman Show, was asked to voice Marge so that more voice actors would not be needed. Kavner has won several awards for voicing Marge, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance in 1992. She was also nominated for an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature for her performance in The Simpsons Movie. In 2000, Marge, along with the rest of her family, was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
## Role in The Simpsons
The Simpsons uses a floating timeline (the characters do not physically age), and as such the show is generally assumed to be set in the current year. In several episodes, events have been linked to specific time periods, although this timeline has been contradicted in subsequent episodes. Marge Simpson is married to Homer and mother of Bart, Lisa and Maggie Simpson. She was raised by her parents, Jacqueline and Clancy Bouvier. She has a pair of sisters, the joyless Patty and Selma, both of whom vocally disapprove of Homer. In "The Way We Was" (season two, 1991), it is revealed via flashback that Marge attended Springfield High School, and in her final year met Homer, after they both were sent to detention—Homer for smoking in the bathroom with Barney, and Marge for burning her bra in a feminist protest. She was at first wary of Homer, but agreed to go to the prom with him, although she ended up going with Artie Ziff after Homer received tutoring lessons as a means to get to know her better, while knowing that she needed to sleep for a school meet. However, she regretted going with Artie when he started to pressure her to have sex after prom. At the end of the evening, while Artie drove her home after receiving a slap, she spied Homer walking along the side of the road with the corsage meant for her. After hearing her parents voicing their negative opinions about Homer, she took her own car and went back to give him a ride. She then told Homer she should've gone to the prom with him and he fixes her snapped shoulder strap with the corsage. During the ride, he tells her he will hug her and kiss her and never be able to let her go. After the two had been dating for several years, Marge discovered she was pregnant with Bart, and she and Homer were married in a small wedding chapel across the state line. Bart was born soon after, and the couple bought their first house. The episode "That '90s Show" (season 19, 2008) contradicted much of the established back-story; for example, it was revealed that Marge and Homer were childless in the early 1990s although past episodes had suggested Bart and Lisa were born in the 1980s.
As with many Simpsons characters, Marge's age and birthday changes to serve the story. In season one (1990) episodes "Life on the Fast Lane" and "Some Enchanted Evening", Marge was said to be 34. In "Homer's Paternity Coot" (season 17, 2006), Marge states that Emerald would have been her birthstone if she had been born three months later, placing her birthday sometime in February. In "Regarding Margie" (season 17, 2006), Homer mentioned that Marge was his age, meaning she could have been anywhere between 36 and 40. During this episode (Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore), Lisa questions Homer's memory of Marge's birthday. When he cannot remember, Marge yells that it is in May. In the season eighteen episode "Marge Gamer" she states that she and actor Randy Quaid share the same birthdate (October 1).
Marge has been nonworking for most of the series, choosing to be a homemaker and take care of her family. However, she has held several one-episode jobs in the course of the series. These include working as a nuclear technician alongside Homer at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant in "Marge Gets a Job" (season four, 1992); selling houses in "Realty Bites" (season nine, 1997); owning her own pretzel business in "The Twisted World of Marge Simpson" (season eight, 1997), and working at an erotic bakery in "Sex, Pies and Idiot Scrapes" (season 20, 2008). While Marge has never expressed discontent with her role as a homemaker, she has become bored with it. In "The Springfield Connection" (season six, 1995), Marge decided that she needed more excitement in her life and became a police officer. However, by the end of the episode, she became upset with the corruption in the force and quit.
## Character
### Creation
Matt Groening first conceived Marge and the rest of the Simpson family in 1987 in the lobby of producer James L. Brooks' office. Groening had been called to pitch a series of animated shorts for The Tracey Ullman Show, and had intended to present an adaptation of his Life in Hell comic strip. When he realized that animating Life in Hell would require him to rescind publication rights, Groening decided to go in another direction and hurriedly sketched out his version of a dysfunctional family, naming the characters after members of his own family. Marge was named after Groening's mother Margaret "Marge" Groening, who has said she bears little similarity to the character, stating, "It's really weird to have people think you're a cartoon." Marge's beehive hairstyle was inspired by the titular Bride in Bride of Frankenstein and the style that Margaret Groening wore during the 1960s, although her hair was never blue.
Marge debuted with the rest of the Simpson family on April 19, 1987, in The Tracey Ullman Show short "Good Night". In 1989, the shorts were adapted into The Simpsons, a half-hour series airing on the Fox Network. Marge and the Simpson family remained the main characters on this new show.
Matt Groening believes that episodes featuring Marge are among the most difficult episodes to write. Bill Oakley believes that the "junior" writers are usually given Marge episodes because he and writing partner Josh Weinstein were given several to write during their first season. During the third season of the show, most of the writers focused on Bart and Homer, so David M. Stern decided to write a Marge episode, which became "Homer Alone" (season three, 1992). He felt that they could achieve a "deeper vein" of comedy in an episode where Marge has a nervous breakdown, and James L. Brooks quickly approved.
### Design
The entire Simpson family was designed so that they would be recognizable in silhouette. The family was crudely drawn, because Groening had submitted basic sketches to the animators, assuming they would clean them up; instead, they just traced over his drawings. To draw Marge, the animators generally start off with a sphere, similar to the way Lisa and Maggie are drawn. The eyes are then drawn, with one roughly in the middle of the sphere, and the other to the front side of the head. Then, the nose and lip are drawn. Her hair is then drawn on top as a long tube coming out of the sphere. An original idea the animators had for when Marge walked through doorways was that her hair would be forced down as she walked through, then once clear of the door, it would spring back and forth. This was never used. Groening's original plan for Marge's hair was that it would conceal large, Life in Hell-esque rabbit ears. The gag was intended to be revealed in the final episode of the series, but was scrapped early on due to inconsistencies, and also to the fact that rabbit ears would be too fictitious even for The Simpsons.
### Voice
Marge's voice is performed by Julie Kavner, who also does the voices of Marge's mother Jacqueline and her sisters Patty and Selma. Kavner had been part of the regular cast of The Tracey Ullman Show. Voices were needed for the shorts, so the producers decided to ask Kavner and fellow cast member Dan Castellaneta to voice Marge and Homer rather than hire more actors. Part of Kavner's contract says that she will never have to promote The Simpsons on video and she rarely performs Marge's voice in public because she believes it "destroys the illusion. People feel these are real people." Kavner takes recording sessions seriously and feels that voice acting is "a little more limiting than live acting. And I have nothing to do with my character's movement."
Marge's raspy voice is only slightly different from Kavner's, who has a "honeyed gravel voice" which she says is due to "a bump on [her] vocal cords." While Marge is her most famous character, Kavner's favorite characters to voice are Patty and Selma because "they're really funny and sad at the same time." In The Simpsons Movie, some scenes, such as Marge's video message to Homer, were recorded over one hundred times, leaving Kavner exhausted. Kristen Bell provided Marge's singing voice in "The Star of the Backstage".
Until 1998, Kavner was paid \$30,000 per episode. During a pay dispute in 1998, Fox threatened to replace the six main voice actors with new actors, going as far as preparing to cast new voices. However, the dispute was soon resolved and she received \$125,000 per episode until 2004 when the voice actors demanded that they be paid \$360,000 an episode. The issue was resolved a month later, and Kavner earned \$250,000 per episode. After salary re-negotiations in 2008, the voice actors receive approximately \$400,000 per episode. Three years later, with Fox threatening to cancel the series unless production costs were cut, Kavner and the other cast members accepted a 30 percent pay cut, down to just over \$300,000 per episode.
### Personality
Marge is generally a stereotypical sitcom mother, and she also plays the "long-suffering wife" who puts up with the antics of her children and her oafish husband. While she usually takes her family's problems with good humor, in "Homer Alone" (season three, 1992), her workload and resultant stress caused her to have a mental breakdown. After spending time at "Rancho Relaxo", during which her family barely coped with her absence, she returned refreshed and everyone promised to help out more often.
Marge often provides a grounding opinion for Homer and their marriage has often been shaky. Marge admits that she "put[s] up with a lot in [their] marriage," and has left Homer or thrown him out of the house on several occasions. One of the first such episodes to depict this is "Secrets of a Successful Marriage" (season five, 1994), where Homer starts teaching an education class on how to build a successful marriage. He is at first unsuccessful, but gains the interest of the class when he starts giving away family secrets, many of which concern Marge. Upon finding this out, Marge is incensed and throws him out of the house. The next day, Homer is dirty and disheveled, and begs Marge to take him back, saying the one thing he can offer her that nobody else can is "complete and utter dependence." At first, Marge does not see that as a benefit, but eventually admits that he "really [does] make a gal feel needed." Episodes that depict marital problems have become more frequent in recent seasons of the show.
Through it all, Marge has remained faithful to Homer, despite temptations to the contrary such as the one in "Life on the Fast Lane" (season one, 1990), where she resists the charming Frenchman Jacques and instead chooses to remain with Homer.
Marge is more caring, understanding, and nurturing toward Bart than Homer, but she refers to him as "a handful" and is often embarrassed by his antics. In "Marge Be Not Proud" (season seven, 1995), she felt she was mothering Bart too much and started acting more distant towards him after he was caught shoplifting. In the beginning of the episode, Bart protested her "over-mothering", but as she started acting more distant towards him, he felt guilty about it and made up with her. Marge has expressed understanding for her "special little guy" and has defended him on many occasions. She once said "I know Bart can be a handful, but I also know what he's like inside. He's got a spark. It's not a bad thing ... Of course, it makes him do bad things."
Marge has a good relationship with Lisa and the two are shown to get along quite well. Marge over-mothers Maggie, which causes her to become too clingy and dependent on Marge. Marge maintains a good relationship with her mother Jacqueline and her sisters Patty and Selma, though they disapprove of Homer and are vocal about it. Marge has tolerated their criticism, but has occasionally lost patience with them, once referring to them as "ghouls".
Marge's late father Clancy is rarely referred to in the series and has had speaking parts in only two episodes. It was revealed in "Fear of Flying" (season six, 1994) that Clancy told Marge that he was a pilot, but in reality, he was a flight attendant. Marge discovered this one day and developed aerophobia. In "Jazzy and the Pussycats" (season 18, 2006), Homer casually mentions that they once attended his funeral. It was finally revealed that Clancy died of lung cancer in season 27 episode "Puffless".
Marge believes she has higher morals than most other characters, once leading a family values crusade against the violent The Itchy & Scratchy Show and being a prominent member of the "Citizens' Committee on Moral Hygiene". She often provides a voice of reason for the town itself, but many of the townspeople are frustrated or contemptuous of her failure to recognize or react correctly to breaches of social norms.
Marge is the only member of the family who encourages, and often forces, church attendance. In "Homer the Heretic" (season four, 1992), Homer starts skipping church and Marge tells him "don't make me choose between my man and my God, because you just can't win." Yet, in some episodes, Marge's stereotypical attitude seems to affect her relationship with Lisa, who is a feminist. In "Lisa the Skeptic" (season nine, 1997), an "angel skeleton" is discovered, much to the skepticism of Lisa. As Lisa rants about the people who believe it is an angel, Marge informs her that she also believes it is an angel. She tells Lisa, "There has to be more to life than just what we see, everyone needs something to believe in."
In spite of her highly debatable moral stances, Marge struggles with vices, such as a gambling addiction. While Marge has learned to cope with her addiction, it has never completely disappeared and remains an underlying problem that is referenced occasionally on the show. Marge is also known to suffer OCD as shown when she won a house cleaning but she then cleaned the whole house herself and it thus led to her accidentally causing her to suffer Amnesia. Another time is when the family had to house sit for Mr. Burns, she forced Lisa and herself to clean the entire mansion.
Politically, Marge generally aligns with the Democratic Party, having supported the candidacy of her state's progressive governor Mary Bailey, and voted for Jimmy Carter in both of his presidential elections. She was also deeply affected by the death of Lyndon B. Johnson, to the point where she wanted him to be alive so badly that she kept seeing him everywhere she looked.
## Reception
At the 44th Primetime Emmy Awards, Kavner received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance for voicing Marge in the season three episode "I Married Marge". In 2004, Kavner and Dan Castellaneta (the voice of Homer) won a Young Artist Award for "Most Popular Mom & Dad in a TV Series". For her performance in The Simpsons Movie, Kavner was nominated for "Best Voice Acting in an Animated Feature" at the 2007 Annie Awards, but lost to Ian Holm from Ratatouille. Kavner's emotional performance in the movie got positive reviews and one critic said she "gave what must be the most heartfelt performance ever." Various episodes in which Marge is prominently featured have been nominated for Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program, including "The Way We Weren't" in 2004 and "Life on the Fast Lane", which won the award in 1990. In 2000, Marge and the rest of the Simpson family were awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard.
Marge has been ranked highly in lists of the top television mothers of all time. She was ranked first on Entertainment Weekly's list in 1994; first on Fox News' list in 2005; eighth on CityNews' list in 2008; and was included in Time's list of the "10 Best Moms Ever". In a 2004 poll in the United Kingdom, Marge was named the "most respected mother" by respondents. Still in 2004, Marge was ranked third in a poll conducted by the Opinion Research Company. In May 2012, Marge was one of the 12 moms chosen by users of iVillage on their list of "Mommy Dearest: The TV Moms You Love". AOL has named Marge the 24th "Most Memorable Female TV Character". Her relationship with Homer was included in TV Guide's list of "The Best TV Couples of All Time".
Religious writer Kenneth Briggs has written that "Marge is my candidate for sainthood ... She lives in the real world, she lives with crises, with flawed people. She forgives and she makes her own mistakes. She is a forgiving, loving person ... absolutely saintly."
## Cultural influence
The edition of October 1, 1990, of People included an interview with then-First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush. The article included the following passage: "She loves America's Funniest Home Videos but remains baffled after sampling The Simpsons. "It was the dumbest thing I had ever seen," she says, "but it's a family thing, and I guess it's clean." The writers decided to respond by privately sending a polite letter on September 28 to Bush where they posed as Marge Simpson. On October 9, Bush sent a reply: "Dear Marge, How kind of you to write. I'm glad you spoke your mind ... I foolishly didn't know you had one. I am looking at a picture of you ... depicted on a plastic cup ... with your blue hair filled with pink birds peeking out all over. Evidently, you and your charming family — Lisa, Homer, Bart and Maggie — are camping out. It's a nice family scene. Clearly you are setting a good example for the rest of the country. Please forgive a loose tongue."
In 2002, opponents of the Seattle Monorail Project planned on showing the episode "Marge vs. the Monorail" at a protest event. Following complaints, 20th Century Fox sent a letter to the event organizers ordering that the episode not be shown due to copyright laws. In 2004, Marge appeared on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom for the Alternative Christmas message, which is annually broadcast at the same time that Queen Elizabeth II gives her Christmas message.
On April 9, 2009, the United States Postal Service unveiled a series of five 44-cent stamps featuring Marge and the four other members of the Simpson family. They are the first characters from a television series to receive this recognition while the show is still in production. The stamps, designed by Matt Groening, were made available for purchase on May 7, 2009.
### Merchandising
Marge is depicted in much The Simpsons-related merchandise, including T-shirts, baseball caps, bumper stickers, cardboard stand-ups, refrigerator magnets, key rings, buttons, dolls, posters and figurines. She has appeared in each of The Simpsons video games. Besides the television series, Marge regularly appears in issues of Simpsons Comics, which were published from 1993 to 2018. Marge also plays a role in The Simpsons Ride, launched in 2008 at Universal Studios Florida and Hollywood.
Marge appeared in a 2005 advertisement for Dove Styling, where her normal beehive hair was exchanged for a more stylish look for a series of ads featuring several popular cartoon women.
In April 2004, Marge appeared on the cover of Maxim. She also appeared on the cover of the November 2009 issue of Playboy, becoming the first cartoon character to appear on the cover. The cover and a three-page picture spread, as well as a story inside entitled The Devil in Marge Simpson, commemorated the 20th anniversary of The Simpsons, but as also part of a plan to appeal to younger readers, a decision which has been criticized due to a page in which the character is depicted nude. Darine Stern's picture on the October 1971 cover served as the inspiration for Playboy's November 2009 cover. |
43,143,515 | SNCASO SO.8000 Narval | 1,126,749,644 | French carrier-based strike fighter designed by Sud-Ouest in the late 1940s | [
"1940s French fighter aircraft",
"Aircraft first flown in 1949",
"Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers",
"Low-wing aircraft",
"Single-engined pusher aircraft",
"Sud-Ouest aircraft",
"Twin-boom aircraft"
]
| The SNCASO SO.8000 Narval (English: Narwhal) was a French carrier-based strike fighter designed by Sud-Ouest in the late 1940s. The French Navy (Marine nationale) ordered two prototypes in 1946 and they made their maiden flights three years later. They were plagued by aerodynamic problems and unreliability issues with their piston engines. The aircraft proved to be slow, lacking in lateral and longitudinal stability and unsuitable for carrier operations; it did not enter production.
## Design and development
The French Navy ordered two prototype SO.8000 strike fighters on 31 May 1946 to equip its aircraft carriers. If the prototypes were successful, it planned to order five pre-production models and sixty-five production aircraft. Designer Jean Dupuy developed a twin-boom pusher configuration design with a crescent wing and tricycle landing gear. The horizontal stabilizer was connected at the tops of the vertical stabilizers at the ends of the booms to avoid turbulence from the contra-rotating propeller. The pilot was provided with an ejection seat and the aircraft was intended to be fitted with six 20-millimeter (0.8 in) MG 151 autocannon in the nose and to be able to carry 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) of ordnance under the wings. A radar system was planned to be fitted in the lower front portion of the booms while the fuel was stowed between the cockpit and the engine. Dupuy wanted to use a British Rolls-Royce Griffon engine, but it proved to be too difficult to obtain. He planned to substitute a Hispano-Suiza 12Z instead, but the engine was still too immature to be used and he had to settle for an Arsenal 12H (a copy of the Junkers Jumo 213) driving the contra-rotating propeller. Ducts on the sides of the fuselage provided air for the engine radiator while the engine's air was provided by a prominent scoop on the left side of the fuselage.
Only the first prototype was intended to be fitted with the nose guns, so the second prototype was completed first, beginning taxiing tests in December 1948. Test pilot Jacques Guignard attempted to make the first flight on 13 January 1949, but he was unable to take off despite achieving a speed of 200 kilometers per hour (124 mph). Despite some modifications made to alleviate the problem, the second prototype still failed to take off on 25 January. The design team resorted to cutting V-shapes into the booms to give it an angle of 2°15' which would allow the aircraft to be trimmed nose-upwards to facilitate a takeoff. Further high-speed taxiing trials were made in February with promising results, but the elevator had to be enlarged from an area of 1.75 to 2.6 m<sup>2</sup> (18.8 to 28.0 sq ft), extending it past the vertical stabilizers, before it could make its maiden flight on 1 April. After modifications to its spoiler, elevator and landing gear doors, the aircraft made its next flight on 21 April.
The Narval was exhibited in that year's Paris Air Show in May and resumed flight testing. On 24 May it reached a speed of 500 km/h (311 mph) at which time it began pitching oscillations and the controls became harder to move. The aircraft's airframe and engine were modified in August and the engine's crankshaft broke during a flight on 7 September. The Chauvière propeller proved to be a disappointment and plans were made to replace with a Rotol model although this was never implemented. During a speed run with the engine limited to 3,000 rpm on 3 November, the Narval only reached 560 km/h (348 mph) at 5,800 m (19,000 ft). A week later the aircraft was flown to the Air Force's flight-test center at Brétigny for the service evaluation. The report was damning, judging its performance and stability inadequate, which meant that it would not be a good gun platform. The test pilots noted that the Narval tended to go into a dive when engine power was reduced, something that would make carrier landings very difficult, and that it demonstrated poor flying characteristics whenever the flap were retracted or extended.
The first prototype finally made its first flight on 9 December, the test pilot, Roger Carpentier, complaining that he had to struggle to keep the wings level in flight. During a flight on the second prototype on 16 December, Carpentier confirmed most of the official observations, commenting that he found it impossible to perform an aileron roll at a speed of 460 km/h (290 mph). Another pilot discovered that the first prototype behaved differently from the second one when the flaps were retracted, it banked to the right instead of diving. Flight testing ended on 7 January after the first prototype had only flown twice and the second one forty-four times for a total of 25 hours and 50 minutes of flight time. The aircraft were scrapped after the Narval program was cancelled in April. Contributing factors to the decision was the American delivery of Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair carrier fighters and that other French fighter projects used turbojets for power, which rendered the Narval fundamentally obsolete, despite a proposal by SNCASO in October 1948 to replace the Arsenal 12H with the British Rolls-Royce Nene turbojet as the SO.8010.
## Specifications |
36,359,577 | Glik v. Cunniffe | 1,160,770,983 | 2011 court case regarding private citizen's action | [
"2011 in United States case law",
"Constitutional case law",
"Freedom of speech in the United States",
"Freedom of the press",
"Police misconduct in the United States",
"United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit cases",
"United States Free Speech Clause case law"
]
| Glik v. Cunniffe, 655 F.3d 78 (1st Cir. 2011) is a case in which the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that a private citizen has the right to record video and audio of police carrying out their duties in a public place, and that the arrest of the citizen for a wiretapping violation violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The case arose when Simon Glik filmed Boston, Massachusetts, police officers from the bicycle unit making an arrest in a public park. When the officers observed that Glik was recording the arrest, they arrested him and Glik was subsequently charged with wiretapping, disturbing the peace, and aiding in the escape of a prisoner. Glik then sued the City of Boston and the arresting officers, claiming that they violated his constitutional rights.
In a unanimous decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the officers violated Glik's constitutional rights and that the officers were not entitled to qualified immunity. The Court ruled that the right to film the police carrying out their duties in public was "clearly established," and that Glik's actions did not violate state law. However, the court also noted that the right to film public officials was subject to reasonable limitations with respect to the time, place and manner in which the recording was conducted. After losing the appeal, Boston reached a settlement with Glik in which they agreed to pay him \$170,000 in damages and attorney's fees. This was the first case in which a United States Circuit Court of Appeals explicitly ruled that private citizens have a right to film police officers in public spaces. The case drew media attention across the United States, and was also cited favorably by other United States Circuit Courts of Appeals that reached similar conclusions in other cases.
## Background
On October 1, 2007 while walking in Boston Common, Simon Glik saw an arrest by Boston Bicycle Unit police officers John Cunniffe, Peter Savalis, and Jerome Hall-Brewster. Glik began recording the arrest after he heard a bystander say "[y]ou are hurting him, stop". Because Glik was concerned that the officers were using excessive force, he filmed the encounter with his cell phone. Although Glik was 10 feet away and was not interfering with the arrest, one of the officers turned to him after placing handcuffs on the suspect and said "I think you have taken enough pictures". Glik replied that he was recording the incident; he said, "I am recording this. I saw you punch him". When the officer determined that this included audio, he placed Glik under arrest for violating the Massachusetts wiretapping law.
Glik was charged with wiretapping, disturbing the peace, and aiding in the escape of a prisoner. He was taken to the South Boston police station and his cell phone and a computer flash drive were held as evidence. The Commonwealth dropped the charge of aiding in escape prior to trial. The Boston Municipal Court dismissed the other two counts in February 2008, noting that there was no probable cause for the wiretapping arrest and that the officers were unhappy about being recorded.
Glik then filed a complaint with the Internal Affairs section of the Boston Police Department. After the department refused to investigate that legitimate complaint, Glik, represented by Sarah Wunsch of the American Civil Liberties Union and attorneys David Milton and Howard Friedman, filed a civil rights lawsuit against the officers and the city, alleging violations of his First and Fourth Amendment rights. The officers moved for dismissal, based in part on qualified immunity. The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts denied the motion, noting that "this First Amendment right publicly to record the activities of police officers on public business is established."
The officers then made an interlocutory appeal of the denial to the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
## Opinion of the court
In a unanimous decision written by Judge Kermit Lipez, the First Circuit Court of Appeals held that the officers violated Glik's constitutional rights. The court noted the principle of qualified immunity balanced the need to hold public officials accountable with the need to shield such officials from harassment on account of their public duties. The court therefore applied a two-part test: first, did the facts alleged by the plaintiff show a violation of a constitutional right, and second, was the right clearly established at the time of the violation.
The court first addressed the question of whether Glik's First Amendment rights had been violated. It noted that "we have previously recognized that the videotaping of public officials is an exercise of First Amendment liberties" and held that Glik had a constitutional right to videotape a public official in a public place. The court noted that this was not limited to reporters and journalists, but a right of all citizens, subject to reasonable limitations of time, place and manner. The First Circuit concluded that in the current case, none of those limitations applied.
Second, the court looked at whether the right to videotape was clearly established at the time of the arrest. The court had "no trouble concluding that 'the state of the law at the time of the alleged violation gave the defendant[s] fair warning that [their] particular conduct was unconstitutional.'" The court noted that some constitution violations are "self-evident" and the right to film police carrying out their duties in public was clearly established a decade prior to Glik's arrest.
Next, the court determined if Glik's Fourth Amendment rights had been violated. The court noted that an arrest must be based upon probable cause. Glik argued that the officers lacked probable cause when they made the arrest, while the officers argued that the allegations in the complaint established that they had probable cause to arrest Glik for violating the wiretap statute. The court looked to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court for the determination of state law. The Massachusetts court required that the recording be made secretly to be a violation, and that when a camera was in plain sight, a recording from that camera cannot be considered "secret" under state law. In Glik's case, the criminal complaint stated that he had "openly record[ed] the police officers", the recording was not made in secret, and that therefore the officers had no probable cause to arrest Glik. Since there was no probable cause, Glik's Fourth Amendment rights were violated.
Finally, the court determined that the absence of probable cause as a constitutional violation was clearly established in law. The court therefore held that the district court's denial of the officers of qualified immunity was proper, affirming the decision.
## Subsequent developments
Despite his victory in court, the case had negative repercussions for Glik, an attorney, who had difficulty obtaining employment as a prosecutor while criminal charges were pending against him. He is now a criminal defense lawyer. After losing the appeal, Boston settled the lawsuit for \$170,000, paying Glik for damages and legal fees. Additionally, the city reversed its earlier opinion that the officers had done nothing wrong, stating that the officers had shown "unreasonable judgement" by arresting Glik. In 2012, a Boston Police Department spokesperson stated that the officers involved in the case stood to face "discipline ranging from an oral reprimand to suspension". The Boston Police Department now trains its officers not to arrest people for openly recording them in public.
## Similar cases in other courts of appeals
Some scholars have identified Glik as the first case in which a United States Circuit Court of Appeals explicitly held that a citizen had the same rights as a journalist to record public officials in a public place, while other scholars have identified earlier rulings by circuit courts that have upheld a right of "publicly gathering information" while filming the police. Nevertheless, scholars generally consider Glik to be the first case to "tackle the issue of police recording in the smartphone era". Following the First Circuit's ruling, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals granted an injunction prohibiting the State of Illinois from enforcing its wiretapping law against citizens openly recording public officials in public places. Citing Glik, the Seventh Circuit stated that "applying the statute in the circumstances alleged here is likely unconstitutional."
In addition to the First and the Seventh Circuits, both the Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals have held that the public has a First Amendment right to record public officials. In 2000, in Smith v. City of Cumming, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit held that the First Amendment protects the right of citizens to film the police. Likewise, in 1995, in Fordyce v. City of Seattle, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a private citizen could film police conduct at a protest because the First Amendment protects the "right to film matters of public interest". However, both the Third Circuit in Kelly v. Borough of Carlisle (2010) and the Fourth Circuit in Szymecki v. Houck (2009) have held that even if the constitution protects the right to film the police, such a right was "not clearly established for the purposes of qualified immunity in those cases’ factual contexts". Additionally, the Fifth Circuit ruled in Turner v. Driver (2017) that while the officers were entitled to qualified immunity in that case, the First Amendment protects the right to record police, subject only to reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions. Some scholars suggest these various rulings present the potential for a circuit split in cases that involve the filming of police conduct, while others have described the different rulings among circuit courts as " an artificial split—not on the merits of the First Amendment right violated, but on technical qualified immunity ground".
### District court opinions
In February 2016, Judge Mark A. Kearney of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled in Fields v. City of Philadelphia that "observing and recording" police is not expressive conduct under the First Amendment and is therefore not protected by the constitution. Commentators have noted that this opinion "breaks with consensus among federal courts", and that the case marked "the first time a federal court has not found that recording cops while on duty and in a public setting is protected by the First Amendment". Eugene Volokh also stated that the case is inconsistent with precedent from other federal circuit courts. Following the publication of the court's opinion, the American Civil Liberties Union announced that it would appeal the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. On July 7, 2017, the third circuit ruled that the First Amendment protects citizens right to use electronic devices to record on-duty police officers and that right is clearly established.
## Commentary and analysis
The case drew national media attention, prompting editorials from the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, amongst others. The case has also drawn notice in the legal community, with articles in the American Bar Association Journal and the Volokh Conspiracy. In addition, the United States Department of Justice cited the Glik case extensively in a letter to the Baltimore Police Department expressing concerns over policies dealing with officer interactions with citizen photographers and videographers. Commentary from law journals also discussed the lasting impact of the case. In an article for the Case Western Reserve Law Review, Gregory T. Frohman wrote that the court's ruling "seemingly laid down a nearly unfettered right for nonthreatening third-party recorders in public places". In an article for the Northern Illinois University Law Review, Jesse Harlan Alderman wrote that "[t]hough Glik and Alvarez hold sway only within their respective jurisdictions, it seems likely that the right to record public police activity will be treated as universal". Matt Giffin, writing for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, observed that the case "could play a significant role in solidifying the emerging consensus that citizens have a constitutional interest in monitoring the activities of police officers". Likewise, in an article for the Cardozo Law Review, Travis S. Triano noted that the Court's ruling emphasized that "Glik’s filming was found to fall well within the bounds of constitutional protections".
However, other analysts have questioned whether the First Circuit's ruling would, in fact, have a widespread impact in the future. For example, an article in the Harvard Law Review noted that the First Circuit's ruling in Glik was evidence of the court's willingness to protect a "vital First Amendment right", but that "the proliferation of body cameras may make civilians feel as if they no longer need to record officers in the field". Writing for the Florida Law Review, Caycee Hampton criticized the First Circuit for providing "no guidance for determining what situations constitute a 'public space' in which a citizen’s right to film government officials is safeguarded by the First Amendment", and absent such guidance, "citizens who choose to record law enforcement officials risk inviting the same Fourth Amendment violation confirmed in Glik". Additionally, in an article in the St. Louis University Law Journal, Justin Welply argued that the right to film the police is not absolute, and that "an individual has a First Amendment right to openly record police conduct in a public park, but does not have an established First Amendment right to openly record officers in the discharge of their duties during a traffic stop" because filming the police during a traffic stop may interfere with their ability to work effectively. |
1,808,403 | Boston and Skegness (UK Parliament constituency) | 1,162,864,005 | Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom | [
"Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom established in 1997",
"Parliamentary constituencies in Lincolnshire"
]
| Boston and Skegness is a county constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. It is located in Lincolnshire, England. Like all British constituencies, Boston and Skegness elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election. The seat has been represented by the Conservative MP Matt Warman since the 2015 general election, and is usually considered a safe seat for the party.
The constituency was created in 1997, from parts of the former constituencies of Holland with Boston and East Lindsey. The constituency has always elected a Conservative MP. In the 1997 and 2001 general elections, the seat was very marginal, with majorities of less than 1,000 votes for the Conservative candidate over the Labour candidate. The next two general elections, in 2005 and 2010, saw large swings towards the Conservatives. In the 2015 general election, the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party (UKIP) overtook Labour to take second place in the constituency; the party won 33.8% of the vote in the seat, which was UKIP's second-highest vote share in any constituency in that election (after Clacton). The seat had been one of UKIP's top target seats in that election, as they had also performed strongly in the constituency at the two previous general elections.
The constituency is estimated to have had the highest vote share in favour of leaving the European Union (EU) in the 2016 EU membership referendum, at 75.6%. For this reason, the leader of UKIP, Paul Nuttall, stood as the party's candidate in the seat in the 2017 general election. UKIP's vote share fell nationally that election, and they dropped to third place (behind Labour) with 7.7% of the vote, the party's third largest percentage drop in vote share. In the 2019 general election, the Conservatives increased their majority further, winning 76.7% of the vote. This was their second-highest vote share in the election (after Castle Point). The seat was also the second-safest Conservative seat in that election (measured by swing needed for the second-place party to gain the seat), after the neighbouring seat of South Holland and the Deepings.
## Boundaries
In England, constituency boundaries are determined by the Boundary Commission for England, an independent body which periodically reviews the size of each constituency based on demographic data; these changes must be approved by the UK Parliament. The constituency of Boston and Skegness was created as a county constituency, by a statutory instrument in 1994, as part of the Fourth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, and was first contested in the 1997 general election. When formed, it consisted of the Borough of Boston and the wards of Burgh le Marsh, Friskney, Frithville, Ingoldmells, St Clement's, Scarbrough, Seacroft, Sibsey, Wainfleet, and Winthorpe in the District of East Lindsey. The constituency was largely created from parts of the former Holland with Boston constituency, with the remainder previously part of the former seat of East Lindsey.
The constituency boundaries changed at the 2010 general election as part of the Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, bringing in the two wards of Stickney and Croft from the neighbouring constituency of Louth and Horncastle. The constituency then consisted of the Borough of Boston, and the District of East Lindsey wards of Burgh le Marsh, Croft, Frithville, Ingoldmells, St Clement's, Scarbrough, Seacroft, Sibsey, Stickney, Wainfleet and Friskney, and Winthorpe. The original proposal from the Boundary Commission had been to only transfer the Croft ward, but it was then decided to also include the ward of Stickney because of its ties with the town of Boston.
The Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies was carried out between 2011 and 2018, but has not been implemented because the proposed boundary changes need to be approved by the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The review recommended that the two wards – Heckington Rural, and Kirkby la Thorpe and South Kyme – be transferred to Boston and Skegness from the constituency of Sleaford and North Hykeham. This recommendation was made because Boston and Skegness was below the permitted electorate range, and Sleaford and North Hykeham was above it; "electorate range" refers to the range (normally within 5% of the median British electorate) of allowed electorate size in each constituency, since legally all unprotected constituencies must be within this limit. The proposed constituency boundaries mostly received support, though some local residents argued that the wards should remain in the same constituency as Sleaford. The new constituency has an electorate of 71,989 (calculated in 2018).
Boston and Skegness is bordered by the constituencies of Louth and Horncastle to the north, Sleaford and North Hykeham to the west, and South Holland and The Deepings to the south; all three of these constituencies are in the county of Lincolnshire and are all considered safe Conservative seats, and have been represented by MPs from the party since the formation of the constituencies in 1997. Indeed, as of the 2019 general election, all seven Parliamentary constituencies in Lincolnshire have a Conservative MP.
## Constituency profile
> The market town of Boston is an important administrative centre for rural Lincolnshire, and its modernised port, which brings thousands of tonnes of steel, timber and paper into the constituency, a key employer. Light industry and food processing are the other major industries in the town and surrounding villages, but elsewhere agriculture remains dominant. The resort of Skegness has recovered from a damaging dip in trade caused by pit closures in the East Midlands during the 1980s, and following regeneration through millions of pounds in EU grants, is now one of Britain’s most popular resorts, particularly among the elderly during the winter months.
Boston, Lincolnshire, is a historic town, famous for the tower of St Botolph's Church, known by locals as the "Stump". Skegness is a seaside town and holiday destination; the first Butlins resort opened in Skegness in 1936.
The constituency has a lower level of qualifications (measured by National Vocational Qualifications) than the East Midlands average and the average for Great Britain; in 2018, 19.7% of the adult population had a Higher National Diploma or degree-level qualification, compared to the British average of 39.3%. The 2015 data also found that the median house price in the constituency was £125 000. In 2019, the average gross weekly pay for people working full-time was £462, lower the average for Great Britain, which was £587. The most common jobs are process plant and machine operatives and sales and customer service occupations. Around 40% of workers work in one of these areas, more than twice the national average. The constituency also has a lower employment rate and a higher level of people on unemployment benefits than the averages for the region and the country.
According to the 2011 UK Census, Boston was "home to a higher proportion of Eastern European immigrants than anywhere else in England and Wales". People born in other EU countries, most of whom came from Eastern Europe after the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, made up 13% of the town's population. The BBC described the town as "one of the most extreme examples in Britain of a town affected by recent EU immigration". In 2015, 11.3% of people living in the constituency were born outside the UK. The average age in the constituency was 32 at the time.
## History
Like all UK Parliament constituencies, Boston and Skegness elects one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.
### 1997–2001: Marginal seat between Conservatives and Labour
The constituency was created in 1997 from parts of the former constituencies of Holland with Boston and East Lindsey. The in part predecessor area's veteran MP Richard Body, who had been MP for Holland with Boston between 1966 and 1997, held the seat at the 1997 general election with a 1.4% majority (647 votes). The seat had been formed from two constituencies held by the Conservatives with large majorities, and a Conservative victory was seen as very likely. However, the election result nationally was a landslide victory for the Labour Party, and Body only narrowly remained in Parliament; the seat was the tenth most marginal Conservative-held seat at the election by percentage majority and the ninth most marginal by absolute majority (number of votes). The academics Robert Waller and Byron Criddle attributed his victory to the Referendum Party's decision not to stand, which they did because of Body's Eurosceptic views.
After retiring from Parliament, Body left the Conservatives and joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP), a party that supported British withdrawal from the European Union (EU), though he encouraged people to vote Conservative at the 2005 general election. His membership later lapsed and he defected to the English Democrats, a small far-right party.
Body's successor, the Conservative Mark Simmonds, won an even smaller majority of 1.3% over Labour in the 2001 general election (515 votes). The seat was described by Waller and Criddle as "an exceptionally tight two-way marginal". The seat was the fourth most marginal Conservative seat at that election (by both percentage and absolute majority) and the most marginal Conservative seat with Labour in second place.
### 2001–2010: Labour support falls, UKIP perform strongly
In the 2005 general election, Simmonds increased his majority over Labour to 14.1%. The seat had the 139th largest absolute majority and the 131st largest percentage majority out of the 198 Conservative seats. Richard Horsnell, the candidate for the anti-European Union party UKIP (United Kingdom Independence Party) came third with 9.6%. This was UKIP's highest vote share in any seat in the 2005 general election, with the exception of South Staffordshire, where UKIP won 10.4% after the election was delayed due to the death of a candidate. UKIP also performed strongly in several local council elections in Boston on the same day, winning more than 20% of the vote in some wards. Overall, UKIP won 2.2% of the national vote and won an average of 2.8% in the seats they stood candidates in. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats fell from third to fourth place with just 8.7% of the vote; this was the party's seventh-lowest vote share in any seat, and third-lowest vote share in a constituency in England, in the election. Waller and Criddle said that the constituency "now looks like a fairly safe Tory [Conservative] seat", though Labour had hoped to win the seat in the election.
After his re-election, Simmonds was appointed Shadow Minister for International Development in May 2005, before being moved to be a Shadow Health Minister in July 2007.
In the 2010 general election, Simmonds increased his majority over Labour further, winning almost half the vote compared to Labour's 20.6%. The Liberal Democrats came third, while UKIP achieved fourth place; their candidate Christopher Pain won 9.5% of the vote. This share of the vote was similar to the result in the previous election, and was UKIP's second-highest in 2010, after the special case of Buckingham. The far-right British National Party (BNP) also performed strongly in the constituency, winning 5.3% of the vote; since this was more than 5%, the party saved their deposit.
### 2010–2015: Conservatives challenged by UKIP
Following the 2010 general election, Simmonds became Parliamentary Private Secretary to Caroline Spelman, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs. Following the 2012 cabinet reshuffle, he became the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a junior role in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The polling company Survation analysed the results of the 2013 local elections and estimated that if UKIP were to perform equally well in a general election, then they would gain the constituency with an 11% majority. Of the ten constituencies that Survation predicted UKIP would win, Boston and Skegness had the largest predicted UKIP majority. UKIP performed strongly in and near the town of Boston, which was historically a safe Conservative area; this was seen as a surprise and was attributed to voters being concerned about immigration and feeling ignored by politicians. Afterwards, there was some media speculation that Nigel Farage, the leader of UKIP, might stand in the constituency at the next general election; Simmonds said he "would be delighted" if Farage did, as it would give issues in the constituency more attention.
In the 2014 European Parliament election, which UKIP won ahead of Labour and the Conservatives, the Borough of Boston had the highest UKIP vote share in the country. The party gained 52% of votes in the borough, followed by the Conservatives and then Labour. This led to the constituency being seen as a top target for UKIP in the next general election.
On 11 August 2014, Simmonds resigned as a minister and announced that he would step down as the Member of Parliament for Boston and Skegness at the 2015 general election. Explaining his decision, he said that his salary and expenses of over £100,000 were not enough to maintain a home in London, which he said caused "intolerable" pressure in his family life. This attracted some criticism, as Simmonds' salary was several times larger than the average salary in his constituency. There was also media speculation that he stood down due to the threat of UKIP gaining the seat.
After Simmonds announced that he would not stand at the 2015 general election, the local Conservatives decided to select their candidate using the open primary system. Interviews were used to narrow down the number of applicants to four, with the winner then being chosen at a public meeting that all voters in the constituency could attend and vote in. Several rounds of voting were used; the first two rounds, with 81 votes cast in each, both eliminated one candidate; the first candidate eliminated was Paul Bristow, who was later won the seat of Peterborough in 2019. The third round saw 80 votes cast with a tie between the journalist Matt Warman and the headteacher Tim Clark. Another vote between the two was held, which was won by Warman, then the head of technology at The Daily Telegraph. Warman, who was 33 at the time of the primary, argued that UKIP's support in the area was partly due to "a real disconnect between voters and politicians"; his wife's family lived in the constituency.
The seat had been one of UKIP's top target seats in that election. The journalist and commentator Iain Dale predicted in February 2015 that UKIP would gain the seat, writing "[if] UKIP are to make a breakthrough, it might well be here"; overall, Dale predicted that UKIP would make five gains at the election. Two opinion polls of the constituency were carried out prior to the 2015 general election. A poll in September 2014 predicted a UKIP majority of 19%, while a 2015 poll forecast a narrow Conservative majority of 3%. However, an internal poll conducted by UKIP (not released to the public) close to the election found a Conservative lead of seven points.
On the day of the election, 8 May 2015, Warman was duly elected as the Member of Parliament; the Conservative majority shrunk to 10% with the UKIP candidate Robin Hunter-Clarke, a councillor on the Lincolnshire County Council, coming in second place. Warman won 43.8% of the vote in the seat, while Hunter-Clarke achieved 33.8%, which was UKIP's second-highest vote share in any constituency in that election (after Clacton, the only constituency the party won). UKIP increased their vote share by 24.3% compared to the previous general election, while the Conservative share of the vote fell by 5.7%; this was the seventh-largest increase in vote share achieved by UKIP at the election. Out of the 650 constituencies in the United Kingdom, the seat was the 126th most marginal in terms of percentage majority and 115th most marginal when measured by number of votes.
### 2015–present: Brexit vote, becoming a safe Conservative seat
Warman's maiden speech discussed the positive and negative effects of immigration on Boston and Skegness, saying that the pressures on public services "allowed divisive, single-issue political campaigns to flourish". Warman supported remaining in the European Union in the 2016 EU membership referendum. Nevertheless, the constituency is estimated to have had the highest vote share in favour of leaving the European Union (EU) in the EU referendum, at 75.6%.
On 29 April 2017, Paul Nuttall, the leader of UKIP at the time, announced that he was standing in Boston and Skegness, noting that the constituency had the highest Leave vote in the country. Shortly before the election, the BBC described Boston as "Britain's unofficial Brexit capital". Liberal Democrats and Labour also planned to contest the seat, with the Green Party intending to if they could find the funds for a deposit. (The Green Party did stand a candidate, as did a minor party called A Blue Revolution that only had one parliamentary candidate in the election.)
Nutall came in third place (with Labour second), winning just 7.7% of the vote; this was a decrease of 26.1% compared to 2015, and the third-largest percentage fall in UKIP vote share in that election. UKIP's share of the vote fell nationally in that election, and the result was still their seventh-highest vote share of any seat. The election saw UKIP achieve their worst result in the constituency since the 2001 general election. The Conservative majority increased to an all-time high in the seat, while Labour had their best result since 2005, achieving 25% of the votes cast. The Green Party and Liberal Democrats lost their deposits, mirroring the 2015 election results for both parties. Of the 46 constituencies in the East Midlands region, Boston and Skegness had the third lowest turnout at the election, at 62.7%.
Based on estimates produced by Professor Chris Hanretty of Royal Holloway, University of London, Boston and Skegness had the third-highest vote share for the Brexit Party in the 2019 European Parliament election. According to Hanretty, 56.4% of votes cast in the constituency were for the new anti-EU party, which was led by Farage, behind only Castle Point and Clacton. Hanretty also estimated that the Conservatives came second in the seat, with 12.5% of the vote, followed by UKIP, who won 7.7%, their tenth strongest performance of the election. UKIP were closely followed by the Liberal Democrats and Labour, who came fourth and fifth with 7.5% and 7.4% of the vote respectively.
Due to the high level of support for leaving the European Union in the constituency, the seat was discussed in 2019 as a potential target for the Brexit Party in the next general election; The Brexit Party achieved high levels of support in general election polls in June and July, and one estimate, by the website Electoral Calculus, suggested that the Brexit Party would gain Boston and Skegness. However, the Brexit Party support decreased over time, and in the run-up to the 2019 general election, which took place in December, some analysts thought that the large Conservative majority made victory there unlikely. Farage later announced that the Brexit Party would not stand in any constituency won by the Conservatives in 2017; the Brexit Party candidate was going to be Jonathan Bullock, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East Midlands constituency. UKIP did not stand in the constituency; they only stood in 44 out of the 650 British seats at the election. In the election, held on 12 December, the Conservatives increased their majority further, winning 76.7% of the vote. This was the Conservatives' second-highest vote share in the election (after Castle Point). The seat was also the fifteenth-safest seat in the election (measured by percentage majority), and the second-safest Conservative seat after neighbouring South Holland and the Deepings.
## Members of Parliament
Holland with Boston and East Lindsey prior to 1997
## Elections
### Elections in the 2010s
### Elections in the 2000s
### Elections in the 1990s |
1,250,878 | Colonel Sun | 1,173,358,880 | Novel by Kingsley Amis | [
"1968 British novels",
"Fiction about the People's Liberation Army",
"Fiction set in 1965",
"James Bond books",
"Jonathan Cape books",
"Novels by Kingsley Amis",
"Novels first published in serial form",
"Novels set in Greece",
"Novels set in the 1960s",
"Novels set in the Mediterranean Sea",
"Novels set on islands",
"Works about Chinese military personnel",
"Works originally published in the Daily Express",
"Works published under a pseudonym"
]
| Colonel Sun is a novel by Kingsley Amis published by Jonathan Cape on 28 March 1968 under the pseudonym "Robert Markham". Colonel Sun is the first James Bond continuation novel published after Ian Fleming's 1964 death. Before writing the novel, Amis wrote two other Bond related works, the literary study The James Bond Dossier and the humorous The Book of Bond. Colonel Sun centres on the fictional British Secret Service operative James Bond and his mission to track down the kidnappers of M, his superior at the Secret Service. During the mission he discovers a communist Chinese plot to cause an international incident. Bond, assisted by a Greek spy working for the Russians, finds M on a small Aegean island, rescues him and kills the two main plotters: Colonel Sun Liang-tan and a former Nazi commander, Von Richter.
Amis drew upon a holiday he had taken in the Greek islands to create a realistic Greek setting and characters. He emphasised political intrigue in the plot more than Fleming had done in the canonical Bond novels, also adding revenge to Bond's motivations by including M's kidnapping. Despite keeping a format and structure similar to Fleming's Bond novels, Colonel Sun was given mixed reviews.
Colonel Sun was serialised in the Daily Express newspaper from 18 March 1968 to 30 March 1968 and adapted as a comic strip in the same newspaper in 1969–1970. Elements from the story have been used in the Eon Productions Bond series: The 1999 film The World Is Not Enough used M's kidnapping, whilst the villain of the 2002 film Die Another Day, Colonel Tan-Sun Moon, owes his name to Colonel Sun Liang-tan. Chapter 19 ('The Theory and Practice of Torture') was adapted for the torture scene in Spectre (2015). Though Blofeld replaced Sun as Bond's tormentor, much of Blofeld's dialogue in the scene was written by Amis for Sun, resulting in an acknowledgement to Amis' estate in the end title credits, though no mention of the book itself.
## Plot
Kidnappers violently take the Secret Service chief M from his house and almost capture James Bond, who is visiting. Intent on rescuing M, Bond follows the clues to Vrakonisi, one of the Aegean Islands. In the process, Bond discovers the complex military-political plans of Colonel Sun of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. Sun had been sent to sabotage a Middle East détente conference which the Soviet Union is hosting. He intends to attack the conference venue and use M and Bond's bodies to blame Great Britain for the disaster, leading to a world war. Bond meets Soviet agents in Athens and they realise that not only is a third country behind the kidnap, but that there is a traitor in the organisation. An attack on the Soviet headquarters kills all the agents except Ariadne Alexandrou, a Greek Communist. As he is dying, the Soviet leader encourages Bond and Ariadne to work together to prevent an international incident.
Ariadne persuades Litsas, a former Second World War resistance fighter and friend of her late father, to help them by telling him about the involvement in the plot of former Nazi, Von Richter. Trying to find M and Colonel Sun, Bond is nearly captured by the Russians, but is saved by Litsas. Finally, Bond finds Sun's headquarters, but is knocked out by one of Sun's men; Bond learns that Von Richter will use a mortar to destroy the conference venue and that Bond will be tortured by Sun, before his inevitable demise. Sun tortures him brutally, until one of the girls at the house is ordered by Sun to caress Bond fondly. In the process she cuts one of Bond's hands free and provides him with a knife. She tells Sun that Bond is dead: when examined Bond stabs Sun. He then frees other captives who help Bond stop Von Richter. However Sun survives the stab wound and kills several of the other escapees. Bond tracks down Sun and kills him in the confrontation. The Soviets thank Bond for saving their conference, offering him the Order of the Red Banner for his work, which he politely turns down.
## Characters and themes
The main character of the novel is James Bond. Continuation Bond author Raymond Benson described Amis's Bond as a humourless interpretation of the character that Fleming used in his earlier novels. Benson describes this personality as a natural continuation of the Bond developed in the final three Fleming novels. In all three novels, the events take a toll on Bond: he loses his wife in On Her Majesty's Secret Service; he loses his memory in Japan in You Only Live Twice; and he is brainwashed in Russia, is de-programmed by MI6 and almost dies from Francisco Scaramanga's poisoned bullet in The Man with the Golden Gun. Benson identifies Bond's desire for revenge as a central theme of the novel. The plot centres on Bond's need to avenge the death of the Hammonds and M's kidnapping. Benson describes this as particularly striking: "Bond is particularly brutal in achieving his goal ... The revenge is very satisfying. This is Bond at his toughest."
Benson considered that M's character evokes an emotional response from the reader because of the change from his usual, business-like manner to a semi-catatonic state upon being kidnapped. However, Amis envisaged something different for the character: he did not like M and, as one reviewer pointed out, in The James Bond Dossier, he had "spent a chapter running him down." The main villain of the novel is Colonel Sun Liang-tan (Chinese: 孙良坦; pinyin: Sūn Liángtǎn). Sun is a member of the Special Activities Committee of the Chinese People's Liberation Army as well as a sadist and skilled torturer. Raymond Benson called him "very worthy of inclusion in the Bond saga".
Benson notes increased political intrigue in the novel compared to earlier Bond novels. In Colonel Sun, Bond acts in concert with the Russians against the Chinese, which demonstrates one of the main themes of the book: a peacekeeping between nations. Military historian Jeremy Black describes the novel reflecting a shift in the balance of world power away from two-party Cold War politics. To accentuate this idea of Oriental threat, the novel demonstrates a disregard by the Chinese for human life, a position similar to the treatment of the East in Fleming's Dr. No. Black also notes an emotional and social sadness throughout Colonel Sun. The social sadness is a reaction to the culture of modernity and mourning what was being lost in its place. This treatment by Amis is similar to Fleming's nostalgia in describing Paris in "From a View to a Kill".
## Background
The original creator of James Bond, Ian Fleming, died in the early morning of 12 August 1964, eight months before the publication of The Man with the Golden Gun. After his death, Glidrose Productions (now Ian Fleming Publications) held the rights to Fleming's works. The company decided to publish two short stories, "Octopussy" and "The Living Daylights", on 23 June 1966.
As the Bond character could not be copyrighted, and to retain rights in the Bond product, Glidrose decided to commission a sequel. Initially the company approached author James Leasor to write a continuation novel, but he declined. Glidrose then commissioned Amis, who wrote Colonel Sun. Critic and future novelist Sally Beauman noted that it was "unusual, not to say unprecedented, for an established author to pick up the torch in this way," though she admits that "Bond [is] too big, and too profitable, a property to be placed in the hands of an unknown."
Fleming's wife, Ann, did not endorse any further Bond works and disliked Amis, saying that he would create "a petit bourgeois red brick Bond".
In 1965, Amis produced The James Bond Dossier—a critical analysis of the Bond books under his own name—and The Book of Bond, a tongue-in-cheek manual for prospective agents, using the pseudonym Lt.-Col. William ("Bill") Tanner. Amis followed these books with the 1966 novel, The Anti-Death League, which had a plot filled with popular fiction elements and helped Amis prepare for Colonel Sun.
Amis and his wife Jane spent September 1965 holidaying on the Greek island of Spetses and Amis used his experiences as the background to the novel. Amis followed a tradition set by Fleming of using the names of people he knew or had met during the researches for his book and Amis drew on the names of people he met in Greece for Colonel Sun. The boat Bond uses—The Altair—was the name of the boat Amis and his wife used on holiday, whilst the Bond girl's fictitious colleagues, "Legakis" and "Papadogonas" were friends who helped Amis in Greece, whilst the doctor who treats Bond in Chapter two was named after Amis and Jane's own doctor.
In a 21 May 1967 letter to Philip Larkin, Amis mentioned that he had already finished writing the Bond novel.
## Release and reception
Jonathan Cape published Colonel Sun on 28 March 1968; the book was 255 pages long and priced at a guinea. The novel sold well – journalist and author Eric Hiscock claims that by 1980 it had sold over 500,000 copies worldwide – and was listed second best seller in the "Books in demand" list of the Financial Times for March and April 1968. Harper & Row published the novel in the US on 1 May 1968; the United States edition ran to 244 pages.
### Reviews
Colonel Sun was broadly welcomed by the critics, although a number noted that despite Amis's abilities as a writer, Fleming's own persona was missing from the novel. Roger Baker, writing in The Times, noted that from one angle Colonel Sun is a "neat, not over-inventive thriller, low on sex, high on violence and more than usually improbable"; however, he noted that once the elements of the re-incarnation of Bond and the writing of Kingsley Amis were taken into account, things were different. Baker thought that with Amis writing the story, "one might, justifiably, have expected a joyous rejuvenation or at least a devastating detour from the Fleming pattern. We get neither. It is a pale copy." D. J. Enright, writing in The Listener, considered that, in literary terms, Fleming's "inheritance has been well and aptly bestowed." He said that "Colonel Sun offers apt literary pabulum for Bond's fish-and-chip culture, for his neurotics, alcoholics and suicides. Good dirty fun, once read and soon forgotten".
Writing in The Times Literary Supplement, Simon Gray, unimpressed with the novel, called the Bond in Colonel Sun "a chuckle-headed imposter whose arthritic thought processes would be a liability in a 'physical tussle' down at the pub." He went on to comment that the novel only "offers the frustrated Bond addict ... a small academic problem, of swiftly passing interest." The Daily Mirror's reviewer, Alexander Muir, considered the book to be "an exciting, violent, sadistic and sexy piece of reading matter", although, partly because of Amis' abilities as a writer, Colonel Sun "is altogether too meticulous and well written – Fleming was a hypnotic but slapdash writer. And, at times, I sensed parody. This could be fatal."
Writing in The Guardian, Malcolm Bradbury called the novel "a reasonable read but no more: neither vintage Fleming nor vintage Amis." Bradbury also noted that "it lacks a convincing rhetoric ... and the traditional Fleming frissons emerge only in muted form." Maurice Richardson, reviewing Colonel Sun for The Observer, wrote that when being judged as a thriller, the novel "is vigorous, quite exciting, rather disorderly, a bit laboured". He went on to say that "Some of the action is quite well done and little more preposterous than in the later Flemings. The real trouble is the absence of spontaneous élan".
The reviewer for the Los Angeles Times, Charles Champlin, noted that the novel "lacks the garish, outrageous, ridiculous, symbol-witted touch of the original article"; despite that, he still enjoyed the novel, commenting that it left "intact the reputations of both Messrs. Amis and Fleming." Donald Stanley, writing in Life magazine praised the villain Sun, saying he "is the kind of villain to make a Bondophile salivate." In general Stanley praised Amis for emulating "the celebrated Fleming Effect". Stanley was less convinced by Bond, observing that his "essential swinishness is being replaced by some kind of dilute humanism".
The reviewer for The New York Times noted the reduced numbers of gadgets employed in the book, when compared with the films, that they felt had "overshadowed the personality of the secret agent"; overall the reviewer felt that "Mr. Amis has now given Bond back to the readers." Oberbeck commented that Bond "has become a sensitive man-of-ethics who suffers pangs of doubt and remorse over the 'senseless' violence of his profession". Oberbeck went on to say that Amis "never quite captures the bizarre beat of a Fleming pace"; most telling, according to Oberbeck, was that "the greatest flaw in Amis' conception of Bond is that he has attempted to transform the consummate spy-hero into something he was never meant to have been: a man with a job".
Sally Beauman, writing for New York, believed that "Amis has all the obvious ingredients for success", including "an exotic troubled international setting, a beautiful girl, frequent imbibings, and even more frequent killings; and, most imperative, a villain. Yet the book drags and becomes a bore." Beauman complains that the story lacks suspense and that Bond is far too gloomy: he's more like Ingmar Bergman's creations than Ian Fleming's hero. Beauman attributes the novel's failure to the "differing characters of the authors."
A fiftieth anniversary review in The Guardian called Col. Sun "the most repellant racial caricature of all, a descendant of Fu Manchu and other fiendish orientals, noting that "Amis channels Fleming . . . as a connoisseur of ethnicities." The review notes that "Amis, by March 1968, had already made public his Damascene conversion from left to right, and signed a group letter to the Times titled Backing for US Policies in Vietnam."
## Adaptations
Serialisation (1968)
Colonel Sun was serialised on a daily basis in the Daily Express newspaper from 18 March 1968 to 30 March 1968.
Comic strip (1969–1970)
Colonel Sun is the only non-Fleming Bond novel adapted as a comic strip by the Daily Express newspaper. It was adapted by Jim Lawrence and drawn by Yaroslav Horak and published in the Daily Express from 1 December 1969 to 20 August 1970 and was subsequently syndicated worldwide. In December 2005, Titan Books reprinted Colonel Sun and included River of Death, another original James Bond comic strip story published before the Colonel Sun strip in 1969.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
The kidnap of M was borrowed from Colonel Sun and used as a plot device in the 1999 Bond film The World Is Not Enough.
Die Another Day (2002)
For the 2002 film Die Another Day, Eon Productions wanted to use the name Colonel Sun Liang-tan for the main villain, but when the Fleming estate insisted on royalties for the use of the name, they changed the name to Colonel Tan-Sun Moon.
Spectre (2015)
The 2015 film Spectre features a torture scene which was lifted from Colonel Sun.
## See also
- Outline of James Bond |
39,063,935 | Nitro (Imagicaa) | 1,133,901,052 | Floorless coaster at Imagicaa in India | [
"Floorless Coaster roller coasters manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard",
"Roller coasters in India",
"Roller coasters introduced in 2013",
"Tourist attractions in Maharashtra"
]
| Nitro (Hindi: नाइट्रो, romanized: Naitro) is a steel Floorless Coaster at Imagicaa amusement park in Khopoli, Maharashtra, India. Manufactured by Bolliger & Mabillard, the roller coaster reaches a maximum height of 132 feet (40 m) and a maximum speed of 65.2 miles per hour (104.9 km/h). The coaster also features five inversions. Nitro opened to the public in October 2013.
## History
As construction progressed with the theme park in early 2013, the owners of the park gave no details about the roller coaster other than that it would be the largest roller coaster in India. Even after the Roller Coaster Database reported that a Bolliger & Mabillard Floorless Coaster would be built at the park, the owners still released no details. In April 2013, the first pieces of the roller coaster were erected. By the end of August, all of the coaster's track was installed. Then in the third quarter of 2013, Adlabs Imagica released the details of Nitro.
Nitro was originally scheduled to open in May 2013; however, it did not open until October.
## Ride experience
Once the train is loaded and secured, the steel floor is retracted and the gate in front of the train opens. After being dispatched, the train immediately begins to climb the 132-foot (40 m) chain lift hill. At the top, the train drops down a small straight section before finishing the drop with a sharp turn to the right. When the train reaches the bottom of the drop, it reaches its maximum speed of 65.2 miles per hour (104.9 km/h) and enters a vertical loop, followed by a dive loop. After making a slight turn to the right, the train makes a banked right turn through the loop it passes through before. Then, the train passes through a trim brake (to slow the train down) before entering a zero-gravity roll. The train then makes a banked turn to the left leading into the first of the interlocking corkscrews. After a banked turn to the right and a slight turn to the left, the train goes through the second corkscrew. The train then enters an approximate 180-degree downward banked turn to the left before making a final right turn into the brake run which leads directly back to the station. When the train arrives back to the station, the floors come back up, with the front gate closes, and the next riders board. One cycle of the ride lasts about 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
## Characteristics
### Track
Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard, the steel track of Nitro is approximately 2,800 feet (850 m) long, and the height of the lift is 132-foot (40 m) high. The roller coaster also features five inversions. The track is painted red with yellow rails and blue supports.
### Trains
Nitro operates with two steel and fiberglass trains. Each train has six cars that can seat four rides in a single row, for a total of 24 riders per train; each seat has its own individual over the shoulder restraint. The structure of the trains are coloured blue, red, and yellow; the seats are black and the restraints are yellow. Also, unlike traditional steel roller coasters, Nitro does not have a floor on its trains.
With the trains reaching a top speed of 65.2 miles per hour (104.9 km/h), Nitro is the second fastest Bolliger & Mabillard Floorless Coaster.
## Reception
Neha Borkar from the Indiatimes said, "[The roller coaster] almost kills you, because it twirls, twists, and turns at a rapid speed, which reminds you of speed from the movies like 'Final Destination' and 'The Fast and the Furious'. |
4,705,248 | Ring of Pietroassa | 1,144,604,772 | A Roman-era necklace found in Romania | [
"Archaeological discoveries in Romania",
"Buzău County",
"Elder Futhark inscriptions",
"Germanic archaeological artifacts",
"Germanic paganism",
"Gold objects",
"Goths",
"Individual necklaces",
"Torcs"
]
| The Ring of Pietroassa or Buzău torc is a gold torc-like necklace found in a ring barrow in Pietroassa (now Pietroasele), Buzău County, southern Romania (formerly Wallachia), in 1837. It formed part of a large gold hoard (the Pietroasele treasure) dated to between 250 and 400 CE. The ring itself is generally assumed to be of Roman-Mediterranean origin, and features a Gothic language inscription in the Elder Futhark runic alphabet.
The inscribed ring remains the subject of considerable academic interest, and a number of theories regarding its origin, the reason for its burial and its date have been proposed. The inscription, which sustained irreparable damage shortly after its discovery, can no longer be read with certainty, and has been subjected to various attempts at reconstruction and interpretation. Recently, however, it has become possible to reconstruct the damaged portion with the aid of rediscovered depictions of the ring in its original state. Taken as a whole, the inscribed ring may offer insight into the nature of the pre-Christian pagan religion of the Goths.
## History
### Origin
The original hoard, discovered within a large ring barrow known as Istriţa Hill near Pietroasele, Romania, consisted of 22 pieces, comprising a wide assortment of gold vessels, plates and cups as well as jewellery, including two rings with inscriptions. When first uncovered, the objects were found stuck together by an unidentifiable black mass, leading to the assumption that the hoard might have been covered in some kind of organic material (e.g. cloth or leather) prior to being interred. The total weight of the find was approximately 20 kg (44 lb.).
Ten objects, among them one of the inscribed rings, were stolen shortly after the find was made, and when the remaining objects were recovered, it was discovered that the other ring had been cut into at least four pieces by a Bucharest goldsmith, whereby one of the inscribed characters had become damaged to the point of illegibility. Fortunately, detailed drawings, a cast, and a photograph made by London's Arundel Society of the ring before it was damaged survive, and the nature of the lost character can be established with relative certainty.
The remaining objects in the collection display a high quality of craftsmanship such that scholars doubt an indigenous origin. Taylor (1879), in one of the earliest works discussing the find, speculates that the objects could represent a part of the plunder acquired by Goths in the raids made on the Roman provinces of Moesia and Thrace (238 - 251). Another early theory, probably first proposed by Odobescu (1889) and picked up again by Giurascu (1976), identifies Athanaric, pagan king of the Gothic Thervingi, as the likely owner of the hoard, presumably acquired through the conflict with the Roman Emperor Valens in 369. The Goldhelm catalogue (1994) suggests that the objects could also be viewed as having been gifts made by Roman leaders to allied Germanic princes.
Recent mineralogical studies performed on the objects indicate at least three geographically disparate origins for the gold ore itself: the Southern Ural Mountains, Nubia (Sudan), and Persia. An indigenous Dacian origin for the ore has been ruled out. Though Cojocaru (1999) rejects the possibility of Roman imperial coins having been melted down and used for some of the objects, Constantinescu (2003) comes to the opposite conclusion.
A comparison of mineralogical composition, smelting and forging techniques, and earlier typological analysis indicates that the gold used to make the inscribed ring, classified as Celto-Germanic, is neither as pure as that of the Graeco-Roman, nor as alloyed as that found in the Polychrome Germanic objects. These results seem to indicate that at least part of the hoard — including the inscribed ring — was composed of gold ore mined far north of Dacia, and could therefore represent objects that had been in Gothic possession prior to their southward migration (see Wielbark culture, Chernyakhov culture). While this may cast some doubt on the traditional theory regarding a Roman-Mediterranean origin for the ring, further research is necessary before the origin of the material used in its manufacture can be identified conclusively.
### Burial
As with most finds of this type, it remains unclear as to why the objects were placed within the barrow, though several plausible reasons have been proposed. Taylor argues that the ring-barrow in which the objects were found was likely the site of a pagan temple, and that, based on an analysis of the surviving inscription (see below), they were part of a votive hoard indicative of a still-active paganism. Though this theory has been largely ignored, later research, notably that of Looijenga (1997), has observed that all of the remaining objects in the hoard possess a "definite ceremonial character". Particularly noteworthy in this connection is the Patera, or libation dish, which is decorated with depictions of (probably Germanic) deities.
Those in favour of viewing the objects as the personal hoard of Athanaric suggest that the gold was buried in an attempt to hide it from the Huns, who had defeated the Gothic Greuthungi north of the Black Sea and began moving down into Thervingian Dacia around 375. However, it remains unclear why the gold would have remained buried, as Athanaric's treaty with Theodosius I (380) enabled him to bring his tribesmen under the protection of Roman rule prior to his death in 381. Other researchers have suggested that the hoard was that of an Ostrogothic king, with Rusu (1984) specifically identifying Gainnas, a Gothic general in the Roman army who was killed by the Huns around 400, as the owner of the hoard. Although this would help explain why the hoard remained buried, it fails to account for the conspicuous ring-barrow having been chosen as the site to hide such a large and valuable treasure.
### Date
Various dates for the burial of the hoard have been proposed, largely derived from considerations regarding the origin of the objects themselves and their manner of burial, though the inscription has also been an important factor (see below). Taylor suggests a range from 210 to 250. In more recent studies, scholars have proposed slightly later dates, with supporters of the Athanaric theory suggesting the end of the 4th century, the date also proposed by Constantinescu, and Tomescu suggesting the early 5th century.
## Inscription
### Reconstruction and interpretation
The gold ring bears an Elder Futhark runic inscription of 15 characters, with the 7th (probably ᛟ /o/) having been mostly destroyed when the ring was cut in half by thieves. The damaged rune has been the object of some scholarly debate, and is variously interpreted as indicating ᛃ /j/ (Reichert 1993, Nedoma 1993) or possibly ᛋ /s/ (Looijenga 1997). If the photograph of the Arundel Society is to be taken as a guide, then the inscription originally read as follows:
gutaniowi hailag
This reading was followed by early scholars, notably Taylor, who translates "dedicated to the temple of the Goths", and Diculescu (1923), who translates "sacred (hailag) to the Jove (iowī, i.e. Thor) of the Goths". Düwel (2001), commenting upon the same reading, suggests interpreting ᛟ as indicative of ō[þal] thus:
gutanī ō[þal] wī[h] hailag
This, following Krause (1966), translates as "sacred (and) inviolable inheritance of the Goths". Other scholars have interpreted the ᛟ as indicative of a feminine ending: Johnsen (1971) translates "the holy relic (= the [altar] ring) of Gutaniō"; Krogmann (1978), reading ᛗ /m/ for ᚹᛁ /wi/, translates "dedicated to the Gothic Mothers (= female guardian spirits of the Goths)"; Antonsen (2002) translates "Sacrosanct of Gothic women/female warriors". Construing the damaged rune as ᛋ /s/, Looijenga (1997) reads:
gutanīs wī[h] hailag
She comments that gutanīs should be understood as an early form of Gothic gutaneis, "Gothic", and wī[h] as early Gothic weih, "sanctuary". Following this reading, she translates the whole inscription "Gothic (object). Sacrosanct." Reichert (1993) suggests that it is also possible to read the damaged rune as ᛃ /j/, and interprets it as representative of j[ēra], thus:
gutanī j[era] wī[h] hailag
Reichert translates this as "(good) year of the Goths, sacred (and) inviolable hailag". Though Düwel (2001) has expressed doubts regarding the meaning of such a statement, Nordgren (2004) supports Reichert's reading, viewing the ring as connected to a sacral king in his role of ensuring an abundant harvest (represented by ᛃ jera). Pieper (2003) reads the damaged rune as ᛝ /ŋ/, thus:
gutanī [i(ng)]wi[n] hailag
He translates this "[to] Ingwin of the Goths. Holy."
### Meaning
Despite the lack of consensus regarding the exact import of the inscription, scholars seem to agree that its language is some form of Gothic and that the intent behind it was religious. Taylor interprets the inscription as being clearly pagan in nature and indicative of the existence of a temple to which the ring was a votive offering. He derives his date for the burial (210 to 250) from the fact that the Christianizing of the Goths along the Danube is generally considered to have been almost complete within a few generations after their having arrived there in 238. Though paganism among the Goths did survive the initial conversion phase of 250 to 300 – as the martyring of the converted Christian Goths Wereka, Batwin (370) and Sabbas (372) at the hands of the indigenously pagan Goths (in the latter case Athanaric) shows – it was weakened considerably in the following years, and the likelihood of such a deposit being made would have been greatly diminished.
MacLeod and Mees (2006), following Mees (2004), interpret the ring as possibly representing either a "temple-ring" or a "sacred oath-ring", the existence of which in pagan times is documented in Old Norse literature and archaeological finds. Furthermore, they suggest that the inscription could be proof of the existence of "mother goddess" worship among the Goths – echoing the well-documented worship of "mother goddesses" in other parts of the Germanic North. MacLeod and Mees also propose that the appearance of both of the Common Germanic terms denoting "holiness" (wīh and hailag) may help to clarify the distinction between the two concepts in the Gothic language, implying that the ring was considered holy, not only for its being connected to one or more divinities, but also in and of itself.
## See also
- Almáttki áss
- Elder Futhark
- Gothic runic inscriptions
- Pietroasele Treasure
- Treasure of Osztrópataka
- Pietroasele |
1,937,673 | Divergence (Star Trek: Enterprise) | 1,172,115,415 | null | [
"2005 American television episodes",
"Star Trek: Enterprise (season 4) episodes"
]
| "Divergence" is the sixteenth episode of the fourth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise. It originally aired on February 25, 2005 in the United States on UPN. It was the fourth episode of Enterprise to be written by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens, and was the first episode of a Star Trek series directed by David Barrett. "Divergence" is the second part of a two part story, following on from "Affliction".
Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise, registration NX-01. In this episode, Columbia arrives so that Commander Tucker can be transferred to conduct repairs on Enterprise's warp engine before it overloads. The two ships then pursue a lead to a Klingon research outpost where Phlox is under pressure to cure the virus that the Klingons created from augmented human DNA.
Filming took eight days, with a two-week seasonal hiatus towards the end of December. In addition to the guest stars who appeared in "Affliction", they were joined by Wayne Grace as Admiral Krell. The episode received Nielsen ratings of 1.7/3 percent, which were lower than the previous week's episode. The critical response was mixed, the concept was praised but there was criticism over the plot holes and characterisation. The two part story has been named as one of the best storylines seen in Enterprise.
## Plot
With the ship unable to decrease speed below warp 5, and the warp core reaching dangerous levels, Columbia and Commander Tucker rendezvous to provide assistance. However the crew realise that the transporter cannot be used at warp, so the ships will need to maneuver in close proximity in order for Tucker to be transferred. Captain Archer releases Lieutenant Reed from the brig to perform the transfer. Once on Enterprise, Tucker successfully performs a rapid non-standard cold boot on the warp engine, which purges the Klingon subroutines. Tucker then agrees to remain onboard temporarily to assist with repairs.
Meanwhile, physician Antaak and a badly beaten Doctor Phlox update General K'Vagh on their progress. K'Vagh contacts Admiral Krell, who tells him that if a cure is not completed soon, the facility will be eradicated in order to contain the disease. Back on Enterprise, Archer questions Reed about his recent actions, and is contacted by Harris from Section 31, a secretive agency within Starfleet. Harris reveals that Phlox is on an important mission and little else, but Reed reveals his location as Qu'Vat; Harris contacts Krell, to inform him that Enterprise is on the way, and Krell reveals that he used Harris. Enterprise arrives at the colony, and Archer beams down to the base with Marab to confront the Klingons and Phlox.
Krell's Klingon battlecruiser and two Birds of Prey arrive in orbit and Krell orders the ships to destroy the colony. Enterprise attempts to intervene but is engaged by the Birds of Prey. Columbia arrives and joins combat with the two Birds of Prey, while Enterprise impedes the battlecruiser. Meanwhile, Phlox infects a voluntarily restrained Archer, as he needs human antibodies for the cure. Antaak then transports a canister of the virus onto the battlecruiser which infects the crew, including Krell. Needing the cure from Phlox, Krell stands down the attack and the Klingon High Council soon agrees to distribute the cure throughout the Empire.
Harris contacts Reed, thanking him and confirming that the plan proceeded as per Section 31's projections, stabilizing the leadership of the Klingon Empire while scaring it off from augment experimentation. Reed makes it clear that his loyalty lies with Archer and Enterprise rather than Harris and Section 31.
## Production
Filming began on December 14, 2004 and ran for four days before the cast and crew went on a two-week break over the holiday period. The production overlapped on December 16, with second-unit filming on the episode "United", which required most of the main cast with the exception of Billingsley as Phlox. The opportunity was taken to film the majority of the sequences with Phlox, K'Vagh and Antaak at the same time on a different sound stage so as to not delay the production. After the break, production resumed on January 3, 2005. Minimal shooting was conducted on the first day for "Divergence", as further second-unit filming took place in the afternoon for "United" and for "Babel One". On the second day, Eric Pierpoint and Wayne Grace filmed their scenes as they both appeared on only one set each. Whilst filming was scheduled for seven days, the second-unit filming for "Divergence" pushed into an eighth day on January 6, which overlapped with the production of "Bound".
Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens joined the staff as writers during season four. Prior to "Divergence" they had already written the episodes "The Forge", "Observer Effect" and "United". The Reeves-Stevens said of "Divergence", "we've written a multiple-starship action sequence that's never been seen before, and that everyone's very excited to bring to the screen." "Divergence" was the first Star Trek credit for director David Barrett. Several guest cast members resume their roles from "Affliction", including James Avery as K'Vagh, John Schuck as Antaak, Terrell Tilford as Marab and Eric Pierpoint as Harris. They were joined in "Divergence" by Wayne Grace as Krell. Grace had previously appeared across the franchise including in a voice role in the computer game Star Trek: Klingon Academy, a Cardassian in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night" and as the Klingon Governor Torak in Star Trek: The Next Generation's "Aquiel". Kristin Bauer made her franchise debut as Laneth. She later became better known in her appearances as Pam in HBO's True Blood.
## Reception
"Divergence" originally aired on UPN, on February 25, 2005. According to Nielsen Media Research, the episode received a 1.7/3 percent share. This means that it was seen by 1.7 percent of the population, and three percent of all viewers watching television at the time of the broadcast. This was less than the ratings received by the previous episode, "Affliction", which scored ratings of 1.8/3 percent. It finished behind programs on NBC, ABC, CBS and Fox as well as What I Like About You and a repeat of Reba during the second half-hour on The WB.
IGN gave the episode four out of five, and wrote: "Enterprise continues its transformation into a watchable, entertaining television series and, more importantly, a good Star Trek series." Jason Davis of Cinescape gave the episode a grade B+, and praised the writers for taking the limitations of the original series and using it as the starting point for a solid story. He said the episode "Divergence" does double duty as a drama-filled adventure story boasting scenes of tension and quality moral conflicts while simultaneously adding to the overall canvas of Trek-lore with continuity that will satisfy long-standing followers of the franchise without getting in the way of occasional viewers."
Michelle Erica Green, in her review for TrekNation, said that it wasn't as good as the previous episode, and thought that there were plot holes. She felt that some of the episode featured bad science, such as when Tucker was transferred between the two ships. She also criticised Archer going down to the Klingon base on his own, calling him a "putz" and said of the Klingon attack, "since when do Klingons destroy ships with deadly subroutines rather than, you know, BOMBS?" She thought the characterisation was forced, and wanted a better resolution to the events in "Affliction" which she had called "one of the greatest hours of Star Trek ever". Jamahl Epsicokhan on his website Jammer's Reviews, gave the episode a score of two out of four, saying that the battle scenes were "painfully routine" and that where the episode "runs off the rails is in these final 10 minutes". He felt that it was a pattern of the final episodes in story arcs not having a "satisfying finish" and that "Divergence" followed in this pattern set by "The Augments" and "The Aenar". The two part story in "Affliction" and "Divergence" were subsequently ranked the fifth best story of Enterprise by Den of Geek writer James Hunt.
In a 2015 interview with some of the show's cast with SyFy, this episode was a recommended favorite of theirs.
## Home media release
The first home media release of the episode was on DVD as part of the season four box set. This was released in the UK on October 31, 2005, and on November 1, 2005 in the United States. The Blu-ray edition was released on April 1, 2014. |
5,669,847 | Rainy Day Women ♯12 & 35 | 1,173,910,827 | Song by Bob Dylan | [
"1966 singles",
"1966 songs",
"Bob Dylan songs",
"Columbia Records singles",
"Song recordings produced by Bob Johnston",
"Songs written by Bob Dylan",
"The Selecter songs"
]
| "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" (sometimes referred to erroneously as "Everybody Must Get Stoned") is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Columbia Records first released an edited version as a single in March 1966, which reached numbers two and seven in the US and UK charts respectively. A longer version appears as the opening track of Dylan's seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde (1966), and has been included on several compilation albums.
"Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" was recorded in one take in Columbia's Nashville, Tennessee, studio with session musicians. The track was produced by Bob Johnston and features a raucous brass band accompaniment. There has been much debate over both the meaning of the title and of the recurrent chorus, "Everybody must get stoned". Consequently, it became controversial, with some commentators labeling it as "a drug song". The song received acclaim from music critics, several of whom highlighted the playful nature of the track. Over the years, it became one of Dylan's most performed concert pieces, sometimes with variations in the arrangement.
## Background and recording
A few weeks after the release of his sixth studio album Highway 61 Revisited (1965), Bob Dylan began to record his next album on October 5, 1965, at Columbia Studio A, New York City. The producer was Bob Johnston who had supervised all the later recording sessions for Highway 61 Revisited in the same studio. Following unproductive sessions in November 1965 and January 1966, Johnston suggested that Dylan move the location for his next recording session to Nashville, Tennessee. Johnston hired experienced session musicians, including Charlie McCoy, Wayne Moss, Kenneth Buttrey and Joe South, to play with Dylan. They were joined by Robbie Robertson and Al Kooper who had both played at earlier sessions.
Paul Williams described "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" as "a sound, a set of sounds, created on the spot, shaped by the moment just as Dylan's songwriting method is reshaped at each separate moment in his career." The song is notable for its brass band arrangement and the controversial chorus "Everybody must get stoned". Kooper, who played keyboards on Blonde on Blonde, recalled that when Dylan initially demoed the song to the backing musicians in Columbia's Nashville studio, Johnston suggested that "it would sound great Salvation Army style". When Dylan queried how they would find horn players in the middle of the night, McCoy, who played trumpet, made a phone call and summoned a trombone player.
The track was recorded in Columbia Music Row Studios in Nashville in the early hours of March 10, 1966. In the account by Dylan biographer Howard Sounes, the chaotic musical atmosphere of the track was attained by the musicians playing in unorthodox ways and on unfamiliar instruments. McCoy switched from bass to trumpet. Drummer Kenny Buttrey set up his bass drum on two chairs and played it using a timpani mallet. Moss played bass, while Strzelecki played Kooper's organ. Kooper played a tambourine. Producer Bob Johnston recalled, "all of us walking around, yelling, playing and singing." Following one rehearsal, the song was recorded in a single take. Guitarist Robertson missed the recording as he had left the studio to buy cigarettes.
Sean Wilentz, who listened to the complete studio tapes to research his book on Dylan, wrote that the chatter before the take is "if not seriously whacked, certainly jacked up and high-spirited." Before the take, producer Bob Johnston asked Dylan for the song's title and Dylan replied, "A Long-Haired Mule and a Porcupine Here." Johnston said, "It's the only one time that I ever heard Dylan really laugh, really belly-laugh ... going around the studio, marching in that thing."
Sounes quoted Moss recalling that in order to record "Rainy Day Women", Dylan insisted the backing musicians must be intoxicated. A studio employee was sent to an Irish bar to obtain "Leprechaun cocktails". In Sounes's account, Moss, Hargus "Pig" Robbins, and Henry Strzelecki claimed they also smoked a "huge amount" of marijuana and "got pretty wiped out". Sounes stated that some musicians, including McCoy, remained unintoxicated. This version of events has been challenged by Wilentz's and Sanders's studies of the making of Blonde on Blonde. According to Wilentz, both McCoy and Kooper insisted that all the musicians were sober and that Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, would not have permitted pot or drink in the studio. In support of this account, Wilentz pointed out that three other tracks were recorded that night in the Nashville studio, all of which appeared on the final album. McCoy recalled the "Leprechaun cocktails" incident as relating to a different recording session several years later.
## Composition and lyrical interpretation
Dylan biographer Robert Shelton writes that he was told by Phil Spector that the inspiration for the song came when Spector and Dylan heard Ray Charles on a Los Angeles jukebox sing "Let's Go Get Stoned", written by husband and wife songwriting team Ashford & Simpson. Spector said "they were surprised to hear a song that free, that explicit", referring to its chorus of "getting stoned" as an invitation to indulge in alcohol or narcotics. In fact, the Charles song was released in April 1966, after "Rainy Day Women" was recorded. Both the Coasters and Ronnie Milsap released versions in 1965; the Coasters version was a B-side and commercially unsuccessful, and journalist Daryl Sanders suggested that it may have been Milsap's version, the B-side of "Never Had It So Good", which Dylan heard.
The song is recorded as a twelve-bar blues, although the lyrics are not typical of the blues genre. However, the pattern of a repeated introduction ("They'll stone ya when ...") and conclusion "I would not feel so all alone / Everybody must get stoned") to each stanza recalls a blues format. Musicologist Wilfrid Mellers described the song as "musically corny: a parody of a New Orleans marching or Yankee Revivalist band". According to music scholar Timothy Koozin, Dylan "exaggerates the musical vulgarity with a descending chromatic figure" that is out of place in a twelve-bar blues, and serves to "form a mimetic representation of sinking into a 'stoned' stupor".
After recording Blonde on Blonde, Dylan embarked on his 1966 world tour. At a press conference in Stockholm on April 28, 1966, Dylan was asked about the meaning of his new hit single, "Rainy Day Women". Dylan replied the song was about "cripples and orientals and the world in which they live ... It's a sort of Mexican thing, very protest ... and one of the protestiest of all things I've protested against in my protest years."
Shelton states that, as the song rose up the charts, it became controversial as a "drug song"; consequently the song was banned by some American and British radio stations. He mentions that Time magazine, on July 1, 1966, wrote: "In the shifting multi-level jargon of teenagers, 'to get stoned' does not mean to get drunk but to get high on drugs ... a 'rainy-day woman', as any junkie [sic] knows, is a marijuana cigarette." Dylan responded to the controversy by announcing, during his May 27, 1966, performance at the Royal Albert Hall, London, "I never have and never will write a drug song."
According to Dylan critic Clinton Heylin, Dylan was determined to use a "fairly lame pun"—the idea of being physically stoned for committing a sin, as opposed to being stoned on "powerful medicine"—to avoid being banned on the radio. Given its Old Testament connotations, Heylin argued that the Salvation Army band backing becomes more appropriate. Heylin further suggested that the song's title is a Biblical reference, taken from the Book of Proverbs, "which contains a huge number of edicts for which one could genuinely get stoned". He suggested that the title "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" refers to Proverbs chapter 27, verse 15 (in the King James Bible): "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike."
Dylan critic Andrew Muir suggested that the mood of paranoia conjured up by the recurrent phrase "they'll stone you" is a reference to the hostile reaction of Dylan's audience to his new sound. "Dylan was 'being stoned' by audiences around the world for moving to Rock from Folk," wrote Muir, who also suggested the seemingly nonsensical verses of "Rainy Day Women" can be heard as echoes of social and political conflicts in the U.S. For Muir, "They'll stone ya when you're tryin’ to keep your seat" evokes the refusal of black people to move to the back of the bus during the civil rights struggle. For Muir, "They'll stone you and then say you are brave / They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave" reminds listeners that Dylan also wrote "Masters of War" and other "anti-militarism songs that mourned the waste of young men being sent off to be maimed or killed". Koozin interprets the song as aimed at the media and "every other authoriative force in society that opresses and clouds the individual's mind with untruths". He comments that there is a disconnect between the jovial atmosphere of the track and the "seriousness of the subject matter". David Yaffe felt that it was "the equation between toking up and a public stoning that made it Dylanesque".
According to Heylin, Dylan "finally explained" the song when speaking to New York radio host Bob Fass in 1986: "'Everybody must get stoned' is like when you go against the tide ... you might in different times find yourself in an unfortunate situation and so to do what you believe in sometimes ... some people they just take offence to that. You can look through history and find that people have taken offence to people who come out with a different viewpoint on things."
In a 2012 interview in Rolling Stone, Mikal Gilmore asked Dylan if he worried about "misguided" interpretations of his songs, adding: "For example, some people still see 'Rainy Day Women' as coded about getting high." Dylan responded: "It doesn't surprise me that some people would see it that way. But these are people that aren't familiar with the Book of Acts."
## Releases
An edited version of "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35", lasting 2 minutes and 26 seconds, was released as a single on March 22, 1966, with "Pledging My Time" as the B-side. The third and fifth verses were omitted, to make the duration more suitable for radio play. The single entered the Billboard Hot 100 charts on April 23 and remained on the chart for nine weeks, pleaking at number two. On May 12, the single entered the UK Singles Chart for the start of an eight-week run, where its highest placing was seventh. It also appeared at number three in Canada, and ninth in the Netherlands. Blonde on Blonde, Dylan's seventh studio album, was issued as a double album on June 20, with "Rainy Day Women" and "Pledging My Time" as its first two tracks. The album track has a duration of 4 minutes and 36 seconds.
The song has been included on several of Dylan's compilation and live albums. A short rehearsal, lasting around 1:41, was included with the finished track on the collector's edition of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 (2015); this has a total duration of 6:17.
## Critical comments
Cash Box described the single version as a "rollicking, honky-tonk-ish blueser essayed in a contagious good-natured style by the songster." Record World said that the "happytime sound with bitter lyric sounds as if it were recorded at a fun party." Sandy Gardiner of The Ottawa Journal wrote that the song was "good for a laugh ... crazy title and the song is even cornier" and felt that it could be commercially successful despite being "nonsense".
Reviewing the album version, Ralph Gleason of the San Francisco Examiner welcomed the song as "comic, satirical ... with its Ma Rainey traditional blues feeling, its wild lyrics." London Life reviewer Deirdre Leigh enjoyed the song as "jolly, uncomplicated and so blatantly meaningless", In Crawdaddy!, Williams opined that the song was "brilliant in its simplicity: in a way, it's Dylan's answer to the uptight cats who are searching for messages." Craig McGregor of The Sydney Morning Herald felt that, like some other tracks from the album, the song was forgettable, and wrote that "stripped of its drug implications, [the song] is a banal piece of musical hokum".
In his 1990 book Bob Dylan, Performing Artist, Williams wrote that the "combination drunk party/revival meeting sound of the song is wonderful", and resulted from the "unique musical chemistry" between Dylan, the musicians and the producer. Mike Marqusee enjoyed the track as a "marvelous one-off, even in Dylan's catalogue". Similarly, John Nogowski regarded it as "a delightful stroke of lunacy ... refreshing". Neil Spencer gave the song a rating of 4/5 stars in an Uncut magazine Dylan supplement in 2015.
In 2013, readers of Rolling Stone voted "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" the third-worst of Dylan's songs. The magazine's Andy Green wrote that "today many fans feel it's the only weak moment on the otherwise flawless Blonde on Blonde". The same year, Jim Beviglia included the song in his ranking of Dylan's "finest"; suggesting that attempting to analyse the meaning behind the track in depth was pointless, and that "the song just wants listeners to enjoy themselves for the duration of it. In 2015, the song was ranked 72nd on Rolling Stones "100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs".
## Live performances and cover versions
According to his official website, Dylan has performed "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" live 963 times, more than any other track on Blonde on Blonde. It is the eleventh-most performed number from over 700 different songs that he has played live. The first performance was at the Isle of Wight Festival on August 31, 1969, and the most recent was at Desert Trip in Indio, California on October 14, 2016. A day before the Indio show, in Las Vegas, it became the first song he performed in concert after the announcement that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. During Dylans' 1978 world tour, the song was performed as an instrumental, and in the early 2000s it was performed in what Oliver Trager described as a "roadhouse blues" style. Yaffe believed that while Dylan deliberately sounded "stoned" in the original studio recording, his live performances several decades later were performed in a voice "more like a grizzled bluesman than a druggie".
The first cover version of "Rainy Day Women \#12 & 35" was recorded soon after the original by Blonde on Blonde producer Johnston, using the pseudonym Colonel Jubilation B. Johnson, and several musicians from the Dylan recording session. According to Mark Deming, Johnston "became so enamored of the shambolic sound of 'Rainy Day Women' that he and the Nashville session crew who played on Blonde on Blonde used it as the basis for an entire album". The album including the song, Moldy Goldies: Colonel Jubilation B. Johnston and His Mystic Knights Band and Street Singers, was released in 1966 by Columbia records.
## Personnel
Musicians
- Bob Dylan – vocals, harmonica
- Charlie McCoy – trumpet
- Wayne Moss – electric bass
- Henry Strzelecki – organ
- Hargus "Pig" Robbins – piano
- Al Kooper – tambourine
- Kenneth Buttrey – drums
- Wayne Butler – trombone
Technical'''
- Bob Johnston – record producer
## Charts performance
The song reached number two on the Billboard'' Hot 100 in the week of May 21, 1966. The Mamas and the Papas' "Monday, Monday" prevented it from reaching the top of the chart. "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965) had also reached number two; they were Dylan's highest-charting singles until "Murder Most Foul" in 2020.
### Weekly singles charts
### Year-end charts |
70,808,638 | HMS Onslaught (1915) | 1,092,489,987 | British M-Class destroyer | [
"1915 ships",
"Admiralty M-class destroyers",
"Ships built on the River Clyde",
"World War I destroyers of the United Kingdom"
]
| HMS Onslaught was a Admiralty M-class destroyer which served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. The M class were an improvement on the previous L-class, capable of higher speed. The vessel, launched in 1915, joined the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla under the flotilla leader Faulknor. The ship saw action during the Battle of Jutland in May 1916, jointly sinking the German torpedo boat SMS V48 and launching the torpedo that sank the pre-dreadnought battleship Pommern, the only German battleship to be lost in the battle. Subsequently, the destroyer acted as an escort to other naval ships during the Action of 19 August 1916 and took part in anti-submarine operations. At the end of the war, Onslaught was withdrawn from service and, in 1921, sold to be broken up.
## Design and development
Onslaught was one of twenty-two Admiralty M-class destroyer destroyers ordered by the British Admiralty in November 1914 as part of the Third War Construction Programme. The M-class was an improved version of the earlier L-class destroyers, required to reach a higher speed in order to counter rumoured German fast destroyers. The remit was to have a maximum speed of 36 knots (67 km/h; 41 mph), and although the eventual design did not achieve this, the greater performance was appreciated by the navy. It transpired that the German ships did not exist.
The destroyer was 265 feet (80.77 m) long between perpendiculars, with a beam of 26 feet 9 inches (8.15 m) and a draught of 16 feet 3 inches (4.95 m). Displacement was 950 long tons (970 t) normal and 1,021 long tons (1,037 t) deep load. Power was provided by three Yarrow boilers feeding two Brown-Curtis steam turbines rated at 25,000 shaft horsepower (19,000 kW) and driving two shafts, to give a design speed of 34 knots (63 km/h; 39 mph). Three funnels were fitted and 296 long tons (301 t) of oil was carried, giving a design range of 3,450 nautical miles (6,390 km; 3,970 mi) at 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph).
Armament consisted of three single QF 4-inch (102 mm) Mk IV guns on the ship's centreline, with one on the forecastle, one aft on a raised platform and one between the middle and aft funnels. A single 2-pounder (40 mm) Mk II pom-pom anti-aircraft gun was carried, while torpedo armament consisted of two twin mounts for 21 in (533 mm) torpedoes. The ship had a complement of 76 officers and ratings.
## Construction and career
Onslaught was launched by Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company at their shipyard in Govan on the River Clyde on 4 December 1915 and completed on 3 March the following year. This was the first time the name had been used in the Royal Navy. The vessel was deployed as part of the Grand Fleet, joining the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla under the flotilla leader Faulknor. On 22 April, the destroyer operated with the light cruisers of the Grand Fleet off the Skegerrak.
On 30 May 1916, the destroyer sailed with the Grand Fleet to confront the German High Seas Fleet in what would be the Battle of Jutland. The destroyer formed part of the First Division of the Flotilla, led by Faulknor and also including sister ships Marvel, Mindful and Obedient. The destroyer was deployed in action against the German light cruisers. Shortly afterwards, the division saw the approaching line of the German Third Torpedo Boat Flotilla and attacked. The destroyer, along with the rest of the flotilla, sank the torpedo boat V48, previously disabled by the destroyer Shark. As the battle closed, the flotilla spotted the retreating German line. The First Division was ordered to attack and use their superior speed to speed ahead of the German ships. The destroyer attacked the German fleet, unleashing four torpedoes, at least one of which struck the pre-dreadnought battleship Pommern. The torpedoes caused the 17 cm (6.7 in) magazines to detonate, sinking the ship with all hands. This was the only battleship sunk during the battle. During the attack, a German shell had struck the destroyer's bridge, killing five crew.
The destroyer subsequently participated in the Action of 19 August 1916 as an escort for the light cruiser Royalist. While escorting the cruiser to rendezvous with a major part of the Grand Fleet, the vessel was attacked by the German submarine UB-27, but the torpedo missed. Onslaught subsequently also escorted the dreadnought battleship Iron Duke. In 1917, the Twelfth Destroyer Flotilla was involved in anti-submarine operations, and for nine days from 15 June the destroyer was stationed off the north of Scotland. The operation did not lead to the destruction of any submarines and the Admiralty increasingly redeployed the destroyers of the Grand Fleet to escorting convoys. During 1918, Onslaught was transferred to the Third Destroyer Flotilla.
After the Armistice, the Royal Navy returned to a peacetime level of strength and both the number of ships and the amount of staff needed to be reduced to save money. Onslaught was reduced to reserve on 17 October 1919. However, the harsh conditions of wartime service, exacerbated by the fact that the hull was not galvanised and operations often required high speed in high seas, meant that the destroyer was worn out and ready for retirement. On 30 October 1921, the vessel was sold to W. & A.T. Burden and broken up.
## Pennant numbers |
34,846,840 | Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul | 1,169,016,425 | null | [
"1966 albums",
"Albums produced by Jim Stewart (record producer)",
"Atco Records albums",
"Otis Redding albums",
"Volt Records albums"
]
| Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul, or simply Dictionary of Soul, is the fifth studio album by American soul singer-songwriter Otis Redding and his last solo studio album released before his death. The successful Otis Blue and the following performance at Whisky a Go Go led to his rising fame across the United States. The first side of the album mainly contains cover versions, and the second songs mainly written by Redding.
The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul was released in October 1966 on the Stax label and peaked at number 73 and at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and the R&B LP charts respectively. The album produced two singles, "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" and "Try a Little Tenderness". In 2000 it was voted number 488 in Colin Larkin's All Time Top 1000 Albums. In 2012, the album was ranked number 254 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. An expanded version, which includes stereo and mono mixes of the original album, as well as additional tracks, was released in 2016.
## Background
The success of Redding's third album, Otis Blue, saw a rearrangement of the Stax company. Producer and co-founder of the American label Stax Records, Phil Walden, signed musicians including Percy Sledge, Johnnie Taylor, Clarence Carter, and Eddie Floyd, and together with Redding they founded the production companies "Jotis Records" (derived from Joe Galkin and Otis), on which only four recordings were released, two by Arthur Conley and one by Billy Young and Loretta Williams, and Redwal Music (derived from Redding and Walden).
Redding decided to perform at the nightclub Whisky a Go Go on the Sunset Strip in front of a predominantly white audience, becoming one of the first soul artists to play in the western United States. His performance received critical acclaim by the press, and musician Bob Dylan offered an alternative track of his hit song "Just Like a Woman" to him, but he declined his proposal. After his performance there he went back to the Stax studios to continue recording new songs. This would be his final solo studio album.
## Recording
Dictionary of Soul features the Booker T. & the M.G.'s—organist Booker T. Jones, pianist/guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, drummer Al Jackson, Jr.—pianist Isaac Hayes, and the Memphis Horns, consisting of tenor saxophonist Joe Arnold, trumpeter Wayne Jackson, tenor saxophonist Andrew Love and baritone saxophonist Floyd Newman.
The album opens with "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)". Derived from the theme of The \$64,000 Question, the song was written by Redding and Cropper and its lyrics are about Redding's habit to hum or sing the horn lines. David Porter served as the background singer, singing the "fa-fa-fa-fa-fa" part alongside Redding.
The second single on this album, "Try a Little Tenderness", was written by English songwriter duo Jimmy Campbell, Reg Connelly, and American Tin Pan Alley songwriter Harry M. Woods in the early 30s, but it was not until February 1933 when bandleader and clarinetist Ted Lewis' version became a hit. The first version by a black artist was by Aretha Franklin, who recorded it in 1962 for her The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin. Two years later, Sam Cooke recorded it as a part of a medley alongside Tin Pan Alley standard "For Sentimental Reasons" and "You Send Me" on his At The Copa. According to Cropper, Redding listened to the latter two songs but rearranged it with the help of pianist Hayes. Examples of what the latter arranged and introduced were the tree-part, contrapuntal horn line in the first seconds, which was inspired by Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come" strings, and the cymbal break in the peak, which Hayes later featured on his "Theme from Shaft". The song was recorded on September 13 and released on November 14, 1966, charting at number 25 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number 4 on the Hot R&B chart. Parts of the song were later mixed in the Grammy Award-winning "Otis" by hip-hop artists Jay-Z and Kanye West. Side one features mainly cover versions, including country standard "Tennessee Waltz" and The Beatles' "Day Tripper", the latter of which was praised for turning "into a swaggering stomper" as opposed to the original.
Side two is mainly composed of Redding songs, the exception being Chuck Willis' "You're Still My Baby" and "Love Have Mercy", co-written by David Porter and Hayes. The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul was released on October 15, 1966 on the Stax label and peaked at number 73 and at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and the R&B LP charts respectively.
## Reception
The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul received positive critical reception. In a retrospective review Mark Deming of Allmusic gave the album 5 out of 5 stars, stating that it "found the rugged-voiced deep soul singer continuing to expand the boundaries of his style while staying true to his rough and passionate signature sound." He liked "My Lover's Prayer" and "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)", asserting that they were worthy of an Academy Award. The backing bands were for him "thoroughly distinctive and remarkably adaptable, fitting to the nooks and crannies of Redding's voice with their supple but muscular performances." Magazine Rolling Stone rated the album 4 out of 5 stars, stating that Redding "delivers one of his most mature performances, smoky and at times almost langorous" in "Try a Little Tenderness", and the second single is "hard and precise but swinging." In 2009, Daryl Easlea of BBC music gave the album a positive review and stated that Redding was at the "peak of his powers" when he recorded it. One song from the album, "Try a Little Tenderness", was said by Easlea to be Redding's most remembered song after only "(Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay", which was released posthumously shortly after his death. The album was ranked at number 251 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, 254 in a 2012 revised list, and 448 in a 2020 revised list. It was also included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981). Critic Jon Landau called it "The finest record ever to come out of Memphis and certainly the best example of modern soul ever recorded."
Cash Box said of the single "Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song)" that it is "a pulsing, contagious wailer packed with 'soul.'" Cash Box described "My Lover's Prayer" as a "tender, slow-shufflin’ romancer about a head-over-heels in love fella who tells his gal that he will always be there when she needs him."
## Track listing
Track listing adapted from Allmusic.
## Personnel
Credits adapted from Allmusic.
- Otis Redding – vocals
- Booker T. Jones – bass guitar, keyboards, vibraphone
- Isaac Hayes – keyboards, piano
- Steve Cropper – guitar
- Donald Dunn – bass guitar
- Al Jackson Jr. – drums
- Wayne Jackson – trumpet
- Gil Caple – tenor saxophone (on "Try a Little Tenderness")
- Andrew Love, Joe Arnold – tenor saxophone
- Floyd Newman – baritone saxophone
## Charts
### Album
### Singles |
25,167,742 | Gilbert Thomas Carter | 1,090,269,795 | British naval officer and colonial administrator | [
"1848 births",
"1927 deaths",
"British governors of the Bahamas",
"British military personnel of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War",
"Governors of Barbados",
"Governors of the Gambia",
"Governors of the Lagos Colony",
"History of Ghana",
"Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George",
"Royal Navy logistics officers",
"Royal Navy officers"
]
| Sir Gilbert Thomas Carter (Sir Thomas Gilbert-Carter) (14 January 1848 – 18 January 1927) was an administrative officer in the Royal Navy and a colonial official for the British Empire.
Starting as a Collector of Customs for the Gold Coast, he then became a Treasurer of the Gold Coast and the Gambia. Moving on to colonial administration, he started as the Administrator for the Gambia, where he dealt with the aggression of the native king of Gambia.
His next post was as Governor for the Lagos Colony where he negotiated treaties with the local chiefs which protected Christian missionaries and ending human sacrifies. He later served as the Governor for The Bahamas and Barbados and finally as the Governor for Trinidad and Tobago.
## Early life and Naval career
Carter was born in Topsham, Devon in 1848. He was the only son of Commander Thomas Gilbert Carter (R.N.). He was educated at the Royal Hospital School in Greenwich. Carter joined the Royal Navy in 1864, serving as an Assistant Clerk on HMS Frederick William, being transferred in 1866 to HMS Malacca. On 5 July 1866, Carter was promoted to Clerk, while still serving on HMS Malacca. Between 1867 and 1869, he served on a variety of ships as a clerk, until 1 December 1869 (while serving on HMS Pembroke), when he was promoted to Assistant Paymaster (being added to the Navy List).
Following a posting to HMS Royal Adelaide for the first nine months of 1870, Carter's final posting was to the Colonial steamer Sherbro from August 1870. During his time on Sherbro, he was involved with the Third Anglo–Ashanto War on the Gold Coast. When Elmina was sold to the British by the Dutch Government, he was a commissioner, responsible for valuing the stores and ordnance left behind by the Dutch. He married Susan Laura Hocker, daughter of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Hocker, in 1874 (later having 3 sons and 2 daughters — his second son Humphrey 1884–1969 was the first Director of the Cambridge University Botanic Garden). Lady Carter died in 1895. He retired from the Navy on 21 July 1875.
## Leeward Islands, the Gold Coast and the Gambia
Carter became the private secretary to Sir George Berkeley, Governor of the Leeward Islands, in 1875. In August 1879, he was appointed Collector of Customs and Treasurer of the Gold Coast, an appointment he kept until 1882. From 1882 until December 1888, Carter administered the Settlement on the Gambia as a Treasurer and Postmaster. From 1886, he was acting Administrator of the Colony of the Gambia, and on 1 December 1888 he was appointed Administrator on that colony's separation from Sierra Leone. While working in the Gambia, he was appointed Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) on 1 January 1890.
In 1891, the native King of Gambia had been organising abusive acts towards the British colonists. Carter (from his official residence in Bathurst) sent an envoy with a message that if the abuses continued, "he might expect a visit of a disciplinary nature from the marine forces of the Queen of England [sic]." The King sent the envoy back mutilated, with a message: "This is the King's answer." In response, Carter sent three British gunboats to avenge the outrage upon the envoy.
## Lagos (Nigeria)
Carter was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Colony of Lagos on 3 February 1891. Carter ordered an attack on the Ijebu "in the interest of civilization" in 1892. Afterwards, he continued to justify this attack as a war to end slavery and promote civilization.
Carter travelled to various parts of Yorubaland, accompanied by soldiers, in an attempt to demonstrate the might of the British. Carter was not well received at Oyo, and the Egba chiefs advised him not to interfere with slavery, while the Ibadan chiefs said they were afraid that their slaves would "assert their freedom by running to the Resident" – and they refused to sign a treaty with Carter that would impose a Resident on the city.
However, in January 1893 the Egba chiefs signed a Treaty of Independence with the British Government. It was agreed that freedom of trade between the Egba Nation and Lagos was to be guaranteed by the British Government, in return for which no road would be closed without the approval of the Governor. They further agreed that complete protection and "every assistance and encouragement" would be afforded to all Christian ministers. The Crown agreed that "no annexation on any portion of Egba Nation shall be made by her Majesty's Government without the consent of the lawful authorities of the nation, no aggressive action shall be taken against the said nation and its independence shall be fully recognized." The Egba chiefs further promised to abolish human sacrifices.
He was promoted Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) on 3 June 1893, "in recognition of his services in conducting a mission to the Yoruba country which resulted in the negotiation of important treaties and brought to an end a long-standing war."
Carter was given Ife works of art in 1896 by the recently crowned King of Ife, Adelekan, in the hopes that a decision in his favour would be made about the resettlement of Modakeke residents outside the city. These works (including three known as the Ife marbles), were sent by Carter to Europe.
While serving in Lagos, Lady Carter, his first wife, died on 13 January 1895, shortly after arriving in Lagos.
The Carter Bridge, first built in 1901 and linking Lagos Island with Iddo Island, was named after him.
## Later life, retirement and death
Carter was transferred to Bahamas as Governor and Commander-in-Chief in 1898, and after a temporary transfer to Trinidad, in July 1904 he was transferred to the Barbados as Governor and Commander-in-Chief.
Carter met an American artist (see Stamp) from Boston, Gertrude Codman Parker (6 February 1875 – 12 November 1953, Boston), in the spring of 1903 when she was travelling in the Bahamas with her parents, Francis Vose Parker and his wife. She became his second wife on 25 August 1903, when they were married in the Church of the Advent in Boston and had a son, John Codman Carter.
Carter continued working in senior colonial positions — being appointed the Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Island of Barbados and its Dependencies in 1904, and as Administrator of the Government of the Colony of Trinidad and Tobago, and its Dependencies in the absence of the Governor from 1907 until 1910, whereupon he retired.
In 1919, he changed his surname to Gilbert-Carter. In the early 1920s, he moved back to Barbados, and lived at Ilaro Court, which had been designed and built by Lady Gilbert Carter. He died there on 18 January 1927. When his will was probated on 22 March of that year, the total value of his effects was £6859 9s 11d. |
52,356,029 | Cannabis in Japan | 1,138,998,717 | Use of cannabis in Japan | [
"Cannabis in Japan"
]
| Cannabis has been cultivated in Japan since the Jōmon period of Japanese prehistory approximately six to ten thousand years ago. As one of the earliest cultivated plants in Japan, cannabis hemp was an important source of plant fiber used to produce clothing, cordage, and items for Shinto rituals, among numerous other uses. Hemp remained ubiquitous for its fabric and as a foodstuff for much of Japanese history, before cotton emerged as the country's primary fiber crop amid industrialization during the Meiji period. Following the conclusion of the Second World War and subsequent occupation of Japan, a prohibition on cannabis possession and production was enacted with the passing of the Cannabis Control Law.
As of 2023, cannabis remains illegal in Japan for both recreational and medicinal use. While other East Asian and industrialized nations have generally moved to relax laws that criminalize cannabis in recent decades, Japan has maintained and strengthened laws that prohibit the use, possession, and cultivation of cannabis. The proportion of the Japanese population that has used cannabis at least once was 1.8 percent in 2019, making it the second most popular illicit drug in the country behind methamphetamine.
## History
### Prehistoric and ancient Japan
Though it is possible that cannabis is native to the Japanese archipelago, it most likely spread to what is now modern Japan from Korea and China; the common term for "hemp" in Japanese is taima (大麻), derived from the Chinese dà má. Cannabis was likely introduced roughly 18,000 years ago via a land bridge that connected the Asian continent to the Japanese archipelago. Cultivation of cannabis began during the Jōmon period at least 6,000 to 7,000 years ago and possibly as early as 10,000 years ago, making cannabis one of the earliest cultivated plants in Japan. The plant was grown as a food source and for its fibers, which were used to create clothing, rope, nets, and later washi (paper). Owing to the plant's association with purity, cannabis hemp fibers were also used by Shinto priests for ritual cleansing and to exorcise evil spirits, a practice that continues to the present day. Artifacts made from hemp have been recovered from the Torihama shell mound, an early Jōmon settlement.
Hemp production continued into the Yayoi period, with Chinese historian Chen Shou noting in his Records of the Three Kingdoms that the Japanese cultivated hemp along with rice and mulberry; Shou's claims are supported by the recovery of hemp cloth from the Yayoi cemetery at the Yoshinogari site in Kyushu. The growth of the Yayoi population combined with the introduction of loom weaving from the Asian continent led to an increased need for weaving fiber, and subsequently an expansion of hemp cultivation. By the 3rd century, hemp clothing was widely available in Japan. The indigenous Ainu of Hokkaido may have also used hemp fiber for cordage and as weaving for clothing, though it was not used in their shamanic rituals.
It is unclear how extensively cannabis was used for its psychoactive properties during this period. There is circumstantial evidence that cannabis resin may have been ingested for ritualistic or shamanic purposes: shamanism was central to Jōmon culture, and the mind-altering properties of cannabis were used for divination and communication with deceased ancestors in China as recently as the third millennium BCE. Regardless, any ritualistic use of cannabis for psychoactive purposes was suppressed in Japan following the arrival of Confucianism in the 3rd century.
### Classical and feudal Japan
Cannabis use and production continued as Japan unified under a centralized government. References to cannabis appear in Man'yōshū, the oldest extant collection of Japanese waka (poetry), and in haiku poetry; bundles of cannabis were also traditionally burned during Bon to welcome the spirits of the deceased. By 645 CE, hemp was among the goods taxed by the ruling Yamato court, which also paid corvée laborers in hemp cloth and other items collected from commoners as exemption revenue. The ascendance of the feudal daimyo led to the further cultivation of commodity crops like hemp, which provided them an additional source of revenue through both sale and taxation. While the wealthy classes typically wore silk clothing during this period, hemp was the main fiber used to make clothing among commoners; hemp was also used to make uniforms and leisure kimonos for samurai, training clothes for martial arts, and military uniforms. As Japan pursued a policy of economic isolationism during the Edo period, agricultural plots in the south of the country were used to grow cotton, which was highly valued at the time, while hemp was grown on a smaller and more irregular scale in the north.
As in the prehistoric and ancient periods, it is unclear how extensively cannabis was used for its psychoactive properties during this time. Historians have speculated that the wide availability of cannabis may have made it the intoxicant of choice for commoners, contrasting the monopolization of sake extracted from rice by the upper classes.
### Early modern and post-war Japan
As a result of higher agricultural yields prompted by industrialization during the Meiji period, cotton came to gradually replace hemp as Japan's primary fiber crop. Though cotton clothing became readily available among the urban working class, hemp clothing remained common among the rural peasantry, who would often combine hemp fabric and cotton rags to create patchwork garments. Contemporaneously, specialized fine hemp clothing produced using modern weaving techniques began to emerge, though the high labor costs associated with creating these garments meant they were purchased and worn exclusively by the wealthy. By the end of the twentieth century, cotton clothing had become ubiquitous in Japan across economic classes, while only the upper classes continued to wear traditional fine hemp clothing – a reversal from hemp's previous role as the fabric of commoners.
By the early 20th century, cannabis-based cures for insomnia and muscle pain could be purchased in Japanese drug stores. Its ritual use also continued, with early 20th century American historian George Foot Moore observing that Japanese travelers would present cannabis leaves as offerings at roadside shrines to ensure safe trips. Hemp was a strategic war crop for Japan during the Second World War, as it was for the United States and Europe, and was used to make rope and parachute cords. Following the conclusion of the war and subsequent occupation of Japan, a prohibition on cannabis production was enacted by the passing of the Cannabis Control Law (see Legal status below). While the ostensible purpose of the law was to protect Japanese society from narcotics, historians have speculated that American petrochemical interests may have sought to restrict the hemp fiber industry in order to open Japan to foreign-made polyester and nylon, noting that the sale of amphetamines was permitted until 1951. In any case, the opening of the Japanese economy under the occupied government saw the country flooded with foreign synthetic products that replaced many traditional Japanese goods, and effectively eliminated hemp cultivation in Japan in all but the most remote regions of the country. Spontaneous wild cannabis growth in urban areas (particularly in open environments along railway tracks) persisted until at least the mid-1950s, while wild cannabis growth persists in parts of Hokkaido; in 2003, Hokkaido's health and welfare bureau cut down 1.47 million wild cannabis plants, amounting to roughly 80 percent of the total wild cannabis in Japan.
In the months prior to the cultivation ban, Emperor Hirohito offered assurances that farms cultivating hemp for industrial use would be permitted to continue operating in defiance of the Cannabis Control Law. In 1950 there were approximately 25,000 cannabis farms in Japan, a number that would decline significantly in the subsequent decades due to a reduction in demand for hemp fiber and the cost of newly required hemp cultivation licenses. A 1968 United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report noted that the majority of the violators of the country's cannabis laws were foreigners, principally foreign sailors and soldiers on leave from the Vietnam War. Cannabis gained some popularity as a recreational drug among Japanese domestics during the 1970s as disposable incomes rose, but remained generally less popular than solvents and amphetamines. In 1972, 853 violations of the Cannabis Control Law were recorded. Synthetic cannabinoids, referred to in Japan as dappo habu (literally "loophole herb"), gained popularity in the 2010s, but faced police crackdowns after two separate incidents in which drivers under the influence of synthetic cannabinoids struck pedestrians.
## Legal status
### Legislation and policy
The Cannabis Control Law is Japan's national law banning the import, export, cultivation, sale, purchase, and research of cannabis buds and leaves. Originally passed in July 1948, the law has subsequently been modified multiple times, with each revision adding stricter penalties for violations. Japan has also ratified the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances.
Industrial hemp is legal under Japanese law, though its cultivation is strictly regulated (see Modern use below). Cannabidiol (CBD) and certain cannabis derivatives such as THC-O are legal due to a regulatory loophole that permits the importation of products made from cannabis stems and stalks that do not contain THC, though certain derivatives and synthetic cannabinoids such as HHC and CUMYL-CBMICA have been made illegal. The possession, sale, and cultivation of cannabis for both recreational and medicinal purposes is illegal. Personal consumption of cannabis is legal, a legacy of an original provision of the Cannabis Control Law that does not punish consumption in order to shield hemp farmers who may unintentionally inhale the crop's psychoactive substances; in 2021, a Ministry of Health panel formally recommended that the Cannabis Control Law be revised to criminalize cannabis consumption (see Reform below).
### Penalties and violations
Penalties for violations of Japan's cannabis laws are among the strictest in the world. Possession of cannabis carries a penalty of up to five years imprisonment, while possession for the purpose of trafficking carries a penalty of up to seven years imprisonment and a fine of . Cultivation and importation carry a penalty of up to seven years imprisonment, while cultivation and importation for the purpose of trafficking carries a penalty of up to ten years imprisonment and a fine of .
A report by the Ministry of Justice found that there were 2,423 violations to the Cannabis Control Law in 2006, an increase from 2,063 in 2005. The same report found that a total of 421 kg of marijuana was confiscated in 2006, compared with 972 kg in 2005 and 1,055 kg in 2004, a trend cited as possible evidence that casual marijuana use was on the rise among the broader population. In 2019 there were 4,570 violations – the sixth consecutive year of year-over-year increases – with nearly 60 percent of those arrested being aged 30 or younger.
In 2020, 5,034 people in Japan were convicted for cannabis-related crimes, compared to 8,471 convictions for crimes related to amphetamines, 201 for synthetic drugs, and 188 for cocaine. Of these 5,034 cannabis cases, 4,121 were for possession, 274 were for delivery, and 232 were for cultivation. 17.6 percent of cannabis offenders were between 14 and 19 years old, while 50.4 percent were between 20 and 29 years old. The majority of offenders reported that they began to use cannabis when they were 20 or younger and that they began using cannabis "after being invited to do so, citing curiosity as a reason for accepting such an invitation".
There have been several high-profile arrests and scandals relating to the possession or use of cannabis by public figures. In 1980, English musician Paul McCartney was detained in a Japanese prison for nine days after cannabis was found in his luggage at Tokyo's Narita International Airport. The 2008 sumo cannabis scandal resulted in the expulsion of four professional sumo wrestlers from the sport, and was described by The Japan Times as the largest drug-related sporting scandal in Japanese history. In 2009, professional rugby player Christian Loamanu of Toshiba Brave Lupus Tokyo was indefinitely suspended from the Japan Rugby Football Union after testing positive for cannabis in a random drug test. In 2017, actress Saya Takagi was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence for possession of cannabis; she subsequently retired from acting to become a cannabis legalization activist. Actor and idol Junnosuke Taguchi was sentenced to a two-year suspended sentence for possession of cannabis in 2019, while actor Yusuke Iseya was sentenced to a three-year suspended sentence for possession of cannabis in 2020.
## Modern use
### As hemp
Hemp fibers and nongerminated hemp seeds are used in a variety of Japanese commercial products and religious items, such as shichimi spices, traditional shimenawa straw festoons, and noren curtain room dividers. Most hemp products in Japan are imported, though cannabis for use as hemp is cultivated domestically on a small scale. Permits to cultivate hemp are granted under a strictly regulated licensing system; in 2016, there were 37 licensed cannabis farms in Japan. The majority of these farms are in Tochigi Prefecture, a region that cultivates approximately 90 percent of Japan's commercial hemp, though these farms rarely exceed 10 hectares in size. Japanese hemp cultivators are required to grow Tochigishiro, a low THC strain with little euphoric potency that was developed after World War II and which is distributed to farmers as seeds by the government. Less than one hundred total licenses are granted to Shinto shrines, which grow and process small amounts of cannabis for ritual use.
### As a drug
Marijuana is the second most commonly-used illicit drug in Japan behind methamphetamine. A 2019 survey found that 1.8 percent of people in Japan had used marijuana at least once in their lifetime, compared to 44.2 percent of Americans and 41.5 percent of Canadians. A 2018 survey by the National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry [ja] found that 1.4 percent of people in Japan aged 15 to 64 (or 1.33 million people) had used marijuana.
Recreational cannabis usage in Japan has steadily increased since the 2000s, particularly among young people (see Penalties and violations above). Potential causes for this trend include the reduced availability of kiken (quasi-legal designer drugs) as a result of police crackdowns, and the ubiquity of positive information about cannabis available on the internet. Despite this, cannabis use continues to carry a strong social stigma in Japan, and individuals who are arrested or prosecuted for cannabis possession typically face social and professional consequences in addition to legal prosecution. For example, when actress turned cannabis activist Saya Takagi was arrested for cannabis possession in 2016, media companies removed her films and television episodes featuring her from circulation, and damaging stories about her personal life and marriage were published in the mainstream press.
While clandestine marijuana grow operations do operate in Japan, they are generally small in scale, and most cannabis in the country is imported. Per a UNODC survey, in 2010 a gram of ground cannabis sold at retail in Japan for an average of US\$68.40, while a gram of hashish retailed for an average of US\$91.10. A 2018 global cannabis price index based on UNODC data found that Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world to purchase cannabis, with a gram costing an average of US\$32.66.
CBD, which is legal in Japan, has been sold in the country since 2013 and is projected to become an \$800 million industry by 2024. CBD-infused products such as oils, drinks, and edible gummies are readily available at both specialty shops and major retailers. Many Japanese CBD manufacturers intentionally dissociate their products from marijuana, for example, by avoiding packaging featuring marijuana leaf designs. The New York Times reported in 2021 that while Japanese authorities "haven't exactly encouraged the CBD industry, they largely view it as benign".
## Reform
The Japan Times reported in 2021 that "political momentum for legalizing cannabis" in Japan "is essentially nonexistent". While several industrialized nations have moved to relax laws concerning cannabis in recent decades, Japan has maintained and strengthened laws that prohibit the use, possession, and cultivation of cannabis. The Cannabis Control Law was upheld by the Supreme Court of Japan in a 1985 challenge, while the Japanese Drug Abuse Prevention Center (an organization under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and the National Police Agency) maintains a policy that cannabis is harmful to the immune and respiratory systems, and can induce manic-depression.
A 2012 projection by author and businessman Funai Yukio [ja] estimated that legalizing recreational cannabis in Japan could generate up to in revenue. Multiple pro-legalization organizations have formed since the 1990s: in 1999, the Japanese Medical Marijuana Association was formed to advocate for the legalization of medical cannabis. In 2001, the Cannabis Museum was opened by hemp rights advocate Junichi Takayasu, which "works to elevate the degraded standing of cannabis by educating the public about the history of hemp in Japan". Japanese legalization activists have emulated tactics used by activists in the United States by publicizing reports on the effectiveness of cannabis in treating pediatric epilepsy and other ailments, with the goal of shifting public opinion in order to provoke legal changes. Few politicians have indicated support for reformist policies; in 2017, the now-defunct New Renaissance Party was the first Japanese political party to endorse the legalization of medical cannabis. Akie Abe, wife of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, has advocated for greater investment in Japanese industrial hemp farming, and has indicated support for the legalization of medical cannabis.
In 2021, the Ministry of Health convened a panel of experts to make recommendations on potential revisions to the Cannabis Control Law. The panel was instructed to examine laws that permit the personal consumption of cannabis, which authorities have argued "has instilled in the public, especially among youths, the confidence that they can smoke pot with impunity", as well as laws concerning medical cannabis. In its report the panel recommended that cannabis consumption be formally criminalized, noting that as cannabinoids did not present in urine tests from hemp farmers submitted to the panel, "there are no reasonable grounds for not imposing penalties on [cannabis] use". It further recommended that cannabis regulations shift from the current system of regulating leaves and buds to regulating cannabis' chemical compounds, which could potentially relax importation bans on cannabis products that contain only trace amounts of THC. The panel also recommended permitting clinical trials of cannabis-derived pharmaceuticals such as Epidiolex, but did not specifically recommend the legalization of medical cannabis.
## See also
- Cannabist Kansai
- Kyoto Hemp Forum |
22,275,302 | Paul Wurtsmith | 1,132,042,659 | United States Army Air Forces general (1906–1946) | [
"1906 births",
"1946 deaths",
"Burials at Arlington National Cemetery",
"Honorary Commanders of the Order of the British Empire",
"Military personnel from Detroit",
"Recipients of the Air Medal",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)",
"Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army)",
"Recipients of the Silver Star",
"United States Army Air Forces generals",
"United States Army Air Forces generals of World War II",
"University of Detroit Mercy alumni",
"Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in the United States"
]
| Paul Bernard Wurtsmith (9 August 1906 – 13 September 1946) was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II.
Enlisting in the United States Army Air Corps as a flying cadet in 1927, Wurtsmith was commissioned in 1928. Over the next 13 years, he served in instructional and command positions. He took over command of the 49th Pursuit Group in December 1941 and between March 1942 and January 1943, his fighters downed 78 enemy aircraft in the defense of Darwin in northern Australia, against Japanese air attacks. In 1943 he assumed command of the V Fighter Command, part of Major General George Kenney's Fifth Air Force. In 1945, he commanded the Thirteenth Air Force in the Southern Philippines and Borneo campaigns. After the war Wurtsmith served with the Strategic Air Command.
Wurtsmith was killed when his North American B-25 Mitchell medium bomber crashed near the summit of Cold Mountain near Asheville, North Carolina, on 13 September 1946. In February 1953, the United States Air Force named Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda Township, Michigan, in his honor.
## Early life
Paul Bernard Wurtsmith was born in Detroit, Michigan, on 9 August 1906, the eldest of three sons of Fred Bernard Wurtsmith, a railroad engineer on the Pere Marquette Railroad, and his wife Ella. Paul was educated at Holy Redeemer Grammar School and Cass Technical High School in Detroit. In his teenage years he earned some money working as a copy boy at The Detroit News and in his spare time he worked on a Ford Model-T hot rod. He attended the University of Detroit, where he earned a degree in aeronautical engineering.
He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps as a flying cadet on 4 August 1927. On earning his wings through the successful completion of flight training at Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas, he was directly commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Air Reserve on 23 June 1928. On 2 February 1929, he received a regular commission in the Army Air Corps. He married Irene Gillespie. The couple had no children. Wurtsmith joined the 94th Pursuit Squadron, the famed World War I "Hat in the Ring" Squadron, at Selfridge Field, Michigan. Over the next 13 years, he served in instructional and command positions. He won the Mitchell Trophy Air Race in 1930. On 1 October 1934, he was promoted to first lieutenant and was temporary captain from 7 August 1935 to 16 June 1936 before being promoted substantively on 2 February 1939. He graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1939.
## World War II
### Defense of Australia
Wurtsmith commanded the 17th Pursuit Squadron at Selfridge Field from September 1939 to July 1940, then the 41st Pursuit Squadron until January 1941. Still at Selfridge Field, he served with the 50th Pursuit Group until December 1941, when he assumed command of the 49th Pursuit Group at Key Field, Mississippi, shortly after the United States entered the war following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The 49th Pursuit Group was soon on its way to fight the Japanese in the South West Pacific. Arriving in Australia in February 1942, the 49th Pursuit Group moved to the Darwin area in March and April 1942. By this time, Darwin had been bombed several times. The 49th Pursuit Group became its principal defense. Conditions in the area were still primitive, and spare parts and equipment were scarce. Lacking adequate logistical support, the Americans were heavily dependent on their Australian allies. Morale in Darwin was low, but the sight of Wurtsmith's aircraft patrolling the skies provided an important boost.
Between December 1941 and March 1942, over 300 P-40 Kittyhawks, 100 P-400 and 90 P-39 Airacobras had been sent to Australia; of these, around 125 had been lost to enemy action in the Dutch East Indies campaign, 75 had been transferred to the RAAF, 74 were under or awaiting repair and perhaps another 100 had yet to be completely assembled. On 18 March, 33 P-39s, 92 P-40s and 52 P-400s were on hand. There were three USAAF pursuit groups in Australia, the 8th, 35th and 49th, but Wurtsmith's was the only one considered combat ready. Of the 102 pilots in his group, only Wurtsmith, with 4,800 hours of pursuit time, and his executive officer, Major Donald R. Hutchinson, with 2,600 hours, were veteran pilots. Five others had more than 600 hours and nine had about 15 hours. The remaining 89 pilots had no pursuit time at all.
The P-40s were better armored and faster in level flight than the Japanese fighters they were up against, mostly Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes, and could outdive them. On the other hand, the Japanese fighters had greater range, could outclimb the P-40, and were far more maneuverable. For an American P-40 pilot, risking a dogfight with a Japanese fighter was practically suicidal. Wurtsmith attempted to develop tactics that would exploit the strengths of the P-40 and minimize its weaknesses. The two-plane element was fixed as the chief unit of combat, and individual dogfighting was strictly prohibited. The P-40s would attempt to dive into a Japanese formation, attack, and then continue diving at a speed the Japanese fighters could not match. Above all, Wurtsmith attempted to make sure that he had enough P-40s in commission to outnumber the Japanese. The efforts of the ground crews and service troops made this possible. By May 1942, he had lost seven P-40s and three pilots while claiming the destruction of 38 Japanese aircraft. The heaviest Japanese attack had been by nine fighters and 24 bombers, which Wurtsmith had met with 50 P-40s; the P-40 pilots claimed 11 Japanese aircraft shot down. May was the first month that passed without a raid since January but the Japanese returned on four consecutive days in June, three of these raids consisting of 18 to 20 fighters and 27 bombers. That month nine P-40s and 13 Japanese aircraft were lost. Wurtsmith was promoted to colonel on 6 July 1942. Between March 1942 and January 1943, his fighters claimed to have downed 78 enemy aircraft.
### New Guinea
In August 1942, Major General George Kenney assumed command of the Allied Air Forces in the South West Pacific Area, becoming the senior Allied air officer under the theater commander, General Douglas MacArthur. Kenney split the Allied Air Forces into Australian and American components, the American part becoming the re-formed Fifth Air Force in September 1942. Kenney concurrently commanded the Fifth Air Force, with Brigadier General Ennis Whitehead as his deputy. The major commands of the Fifth Air Force were the V Service Command under Major General Rush B. Lincoln, V Bomber Command under Brigadier General Kenneth Walker, and the V Fighter Command. Activated at Fort George Wright in April 1942 as V Interceptor Command, it was redesignated V Fighter Command in August. Wurtsmith assumed command on 11 November, with his headquarters at Port Moresby. Kenney told him that if he "made good", he would be promoted to brigadier general. If not, he would be sent home on a slow boat.
By early 1943, Kenney was convinced that Wurtsmith had "made good" in the Papuan Campaign, and he took the papers recommending Wurtsmith's promotion to MacArthur, who promised to approve it and sent it in to Washington, DC. One of MacArthur's staff quipped that he hoped Wurtsmith was over 21. Wurtsmith was actually 36; but MacArthur, who had been promoted to the rank of brigadier general at age 37, icily replied, "We promote them out here for efficiency, not age." Wurtsmith was duly promoted on 8 February 1943. He also became one of a handful of American officers to be decorated by the Australian government, being awarded the Commander of the Order of the British Empire for "excellence of training and direction of fighter operations in New Guinea". The award was eventually presented by General Sir Thomas Blamey on Leyte in March 1945.
The first long-range American fighter was the twin-engined P-38 Lightning but none reached the South West Pacific Area until October 1942 and, beset with a host of mechanical difficulties, it was not until December 1942 that they flew their first major combat mission over New Guinea. Deliveries were suspended in January 1943 owing to the requirements of the North African Campaign, forcing Kenney to accept the P-47 Thunderbolt, the first of which arrived in Australia in July 1943. Early model P-47s had less range than P-40 Kittyhawks until 200-imperial-gallon (910 L) fuel tanks could be manufactured for them in Australia. These enabled the 348th Fighter Group to become operational in August 1943. Though the tanks were very successful on the P-38s and P-40s, overloading the P-47s caused several crashes, and the pilots were reluctant to fly with more than 505 US gallons (1,910 L) of fuel. In 1945, the P-47s were replaced by P-51 Mustangs. By September 1943, Wurtsmith's five fighter groups had 598 aircraft but this included 70 P-39s, 30 P-400s and 118 P-40s, half of which were in the depots. The technical representative of Bell Aircraft reported that the P-39s and P-40s averaged 300 combat hours. That of Curtiss-Wright similarly reported that the P-40s had from 300 to 500 combat hours, which was equivalent to about 2,000 normal hours. General Kenney wrote to General Henry H. Arnold that "With the possible exception of Chennault, I do not believe that anyone else is flying stuff as old and worn out as these youngsters out here."
In New Guinea, the main role of the fighters was escort—something not foreseen before the war. Early losses of bombers made fighter protection the rule rather than the exception, and if fighter cover was not available, the bombers flew by night. During the last half of 1943, V Fighter Command flew 6,607 sorties in support of bombers and 10,215 to protect transports, out of 24,397 sorties for the period in total. These missions often depended upon securing forward fighter fields, particularly for long missions. Wurtsmith made what he claimed was the "shortest landing ever made in a P-40" at Marilinan to see if it could serve as a forward fighter strip. He proved that it could, although a better site was subsequently located at nearby Tsili Tsili. This base allowed Wurtsmith's fighters to support the bombing of Wewak and the landing at Nadzab. The range of the fighters was increased by the addition of external 200-gallon fuel tanks. Then, in July 1944, Charles Lindbergh, who was visiting the South West Pacific area as civilian observer, taught Wurtsmith's pilots how to obtain greater range by economical operation of their engines. The new technique increased the combat radius of the P-38s to 600 miles (970 km), a gain of some 30 percent. Combining three external droppable tanks with new techniques increased the range of the P-40s to 650 miles (1,050 km).
On 30 January 1945, Wurtsmith replaced Major General St. Clair Streett as commander of the Thirteenth Air Force. He was promoted to the rank of major general on 19 March 1945. The Thirteenth Air Force was tasked with the support of Lieutenant General Robert L. Eichelberger's Eighth United States Army in the Victor series of operations to clear the Southern Philippines that included the Invasion of Palawan, Battle of the Visayas, and the Battle of Mindanao. Operating under Air Vice Marshal William Bostock's RAAF Command, the Thirteenth Air Force also supported Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead's Australian I Corps in the Oboe series of operations against Japanese forces in Borneo.
## Post-war years
Wurtsmith relinquished command of the Thirteenth Air Force in July 1946 and returned to the United States, where he was assigned to the headquarters of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) at Washington, DC's Bolling Field. Though perhaps an unusual posting for a fighter expert, SAC was then commanded by Kenney. Wurtsmith attended the 1946 Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons tests on Bikini Atoll as an observer, and in September 1946, he was appointed commander of the Eighth Air Force, one of SAC's three numbered air forces. On 12 September 1946, he took off from MacDill Field, Florida, in a B-25 Mitchell. He first flew to Bolling Field, where he had some business, then on to Selfridge Field. He paid a visit to his family, whom he had not seen for three years, including his mother Ella, whose 77th birthday was on 14 September. On 13 September, with Wurtsmith at the controls, the Mitchell, 44-30227, set out for MacDill Field in bad weather, flying at 6,000 feet (1,800 m)—below the safe altitude for the area. At around 11:20 all on board were killed when the aircraft crashed into Cold Mountain, about 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Asheville, North Carolina. The official report listed the cause of the crash as "miscalculation of altitude".
Wurtsmith's remains were recovered from Cold Mountain and were interred in Arlington National Cemetery on 18 September 1946. In February 1953, the United States Air Force named Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Oscoda, Michigan, in his honor. Special guests at the dedication ceremony included his mother Ella, his widow Irene, his nephews Paul D. Wurtsmith and Fred Wurtsmith, and George Kenney. General Thomas D. White told the crowd that the base was being named after a man who was "probably the best fighter pilot and fighter tactician in all of World War II". In 1954, Ella Wurtsmith was named Michigan Mother of the Year. Among the letters recommending her for the honor was one from General MacArthur. |
34,874,370 | Racha (film) | 1,167,614,325 | 2012 film by Sampath Nandi | [
"2010s Telugu-language films",
"2012 action films",
"2012 films",
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"Films shot in Kerala",
"Films shot in Munnar",
"Films shot in Sri Lanka",
"Films shot in Tamil Nadu",
"Indian action films",
"Super Good Films films"
]
| Racha (), also spelt Rachcha, is a 2012 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by Sampath Nandi and co-written by the Paruchuri Brothers. Produced by R. B. Choudary in association with N. V. Prasad and Paras Jain under their banner Megaa Super Good Films, it stars Ram Charan and Tamannaah, with Ajmal Ameer, Mukesh Rishi, Dev Gill and Kota Srinivasa Rao. The film marks the Telugu debuts of Ajmal Ameer and R. Parthiban, who makes a cameo appearance.
The film was edited by Gautham Raju; Sameer Reddy provided the cinematography; Mani Sharma composed the film's score and soundtrack. Principal photography commenced in June 2011 and was shot in various locations throughout Asia, mainly in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu of India apart from Sri Lanka and Bangkok. It was also shot in the Anji County of China making it the first Telugu film to do so.
Racha was released worldwide on 5 April 2012. The film received four nominations at the 60th Filmfare Awards South where it won the award for best choreography. It also received five nominations at 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards. The climax action sequences was inspired from Thai film Tom-Yum-Goong.
## Plot
Raj is a Hyderabad-based successful gambler, living with his adopted parents who support his means of living. Tragedy strikes the family when his adopted father is diagnosed with Liver cirrhosis as a result of alcoholism. Raj needs ₹20 lakhs for his father's liver transplantation, which must be done within a month. As he is on the lookout for money, he is approached by his friend James, with a betting challenge. James gives a task to Raj to make Chaitra, a dental student and the daughter of a dreaded don named Bellary, fall in love with him. If he is able to complete the task before 31 December 2011, James will give him the money needed for his father's operation; if not, he has to give up betting forever. Desperate for the money, Raj takes up the challenge and begins wooing Chaitra. Chaitra soon reciprocates his advances. Bellary finds out about their relationship and sends his henchmen to kill the couple on the night of 31 December. Raj and Chaitra successfully dodge the henchmen and escape to Srisailam. Bellary, with the help of his corrupt minister-friend Baireddanna and Baireddanna's Dubai-based son, begins a search for them. At Srisailam, James rescues the couple from Bellary's henchmen but gets stabbed by Baireddanna's son who also kidnaps Chaitra. An injured James reveals that he was sent by his father to protect them and reveals about Raj's past.
Raj's father Suryanarayana was a respected landlord in Rayadurga and his best friend Raghupathy, a business tycoon, who was the actual father of Chaitra. Chaitra and Raj were childhood lovers. Bellary, who is Raghypathy's brother-in-law, found out about the presence of iron ore under Raghupathy's land, and along with Baireddanna, decided to exploit the ore for their own benefit. When Suryanarayana and Raghupathy objected, they and their families, except Raj and Chaitra, were killed by Bellary and Baireddanna. Chaitra was adopted by Bellary, who planned to kill her when she becomes an adult so he could acquire Raghupathy's land. James's father (Bellary's PA) had revealed her past to Chitra, who decide to avenge her father's death had learnt about Raj and his love for making bets from James. She and James's father tells him to trap Raj by placing the bet so that Bellary and Baireddanna can be destroyed using him. Raj decides to avenge his father's death and kills Bellary, Baireddanna and his son at Rayadurg. He rescues Chaitra (who would have died if not rescued in 10 minutes) and they distributes Raghupathy's and Suryanarayana's land to the villagers
## Cast
- Ram Charan as Raj “Cherry”
- Tamannaah as Chaitra "Ammu"
- Ajmal Ameer as James
- Mukesh Rishi as Ballari
- Dev Gill as Naga Reddy, Baireddy's son
- Kota Srinivasa Rao as Baireddy
- Nassar as Raghupathi, Chaitra's father
- R. Parthiban as Suryanarayana, Raj's father
- Brahmanandam as Dr. Rangeela
- Ali as Papa Rao
- Diksha Panth as Basanthi, Papa Rao's girlfriend
- Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao as James's father
- Jaya Prakash Reddy as Sub-inspector J. P. D. Souza
- Geetha as Bellary's wife
- Venu Madhav as Raj's friend
- Srinivasa Reddy as Raj's friend
- Thagubothu Ramesh as Bobby, Raj's friend
- M. S. Narayana as Raj's adoptive father
- Sudha as Raj's adoptive mother
- Ravi Babu as Chaitra's bodyguard
- Mukhtar Khan as Police Officer
- Dharmavarapu Subramanyam as Raj's uncle
- Krishna Bhagavaan as KP
- Fish Venkat as Venkat
- Jhansi as Slum Member
- Chatrapathi Sekhar as Villager
- Duvvasi Mohan as Waiter
- Uttej
- L. B. Sriram as Villager
- Shriya Sharma as Chaitra's sister
- Geetha Singh as KP's sister
- Pragathi as Raj's biological mother
- Hema as Raj's aunt
- Satya Krishnan as Slum Member
- Vennela Kishore as Raj's friend
- Junior Relangi as Religious Man
- Lisa Haydon in a special appearance in the film's title song
## Production
### Development
R. B. Choudary, in association with N. V. Prasad and Paras Jain, produced a film titled Merupu directed by Dharani starring Ram Charan and Kajal Aggarwal whose production began on 30 April 2010. There was no proper script except a vague one-line for the film then and a song was shot on Charan. After the release of Orange (2010), Charan and the producers asked Dharani to come up with its bound script. He narrated it to both Charan and his father Chiranjeevi. When Dharani quoted a high budget, Chiranjeevi and the producers suggested a reduction.
After completing a schedule, Merupu was shelved and later, N. V. Prasad approved a script narrated by Sampath Nandi and announced in late February 2011. The film's official launch ceremony was conducted on 12 June 2011 at Ramanaidu Studios in Hyderabad where the film's working title was announced as Racha. Mani Sharma was signed to compose the film's music. Sameer Reddy was recruited as the film's cinematographer while Raju Sundaram and Shobi choreographed the songs along with Prem Rakshith. The film's Telugu logo was unveiled on 14 February 2012 and the title was confirmed as Racha where the first two letters were taken from Ram and the other three letters were taken from Charan. The first look poster featuring Charan was unveiled on 18 February 2012.
### Casting
Charan left for an abroad trip for a complete make-over of his attire and practised different dancing steps as part of his homework for the film. He also underwent training in strict physical exercise for about 45 days in David Barton's gym. Reports in early March 2011 suggested that Tamannaah would be signed in as the female lead, who was finalised for the same in mid May 2011. She was confirmed to play the role of a rich woman who falls in love with a poor man. She later revealed in an interview that her character is integral to the film's main plot and its layers get revealed as the film progresses.
R. Parthiepan made a cameo appearance as Charan's father in the film marking his Telugu debut who accepted it after Nandi explained the role's importance. Ajmal Ameer's inclusion in the film's cast was confirmed in late July 2011. He revealed later that every character in the film would be introduced through his role which would be a cameo appearance, adding that it would be an impactful one bringing twists in the story. He could not dub for his role since he was shooting for a Tamil film in France. Brahmanandam and Krishna Bhagavaan were included in the film's cast in early October 2011. Dev Gill was signed to play one of the antagonists. He revealed that all his action sequences will be with Charan only. Lisa Haydon performed an item number in the film.
### Filming
Principal photography commenced in June 2011 at Hyderabad. The next schedule began at Sri Lanka in early July 2011. Tamannaah joined the film's sets on 7 July 2011 and she revealed that the film would be shot in the jungles of Sri Lanka in a long schedule. A song featuring Charan and Tamannaah was shot in Sri Lanka in late July 2011 on whose completion the schedule was wrapped up. Filming continued at Bangkok till 15 August 2011. Later, a dance academy set was erected in the outskirts of Hyderabad where few comedy scenes were shot.
Few scenes were shot in a set erected near the Aluminium factory at Gachibowli. Tamannaah and Brahmanandam participated in the film's shoot at Hyderabad till 6 October 2011 after which the makers planned to shoot the film in China. After much silent shoot in Hyderabad, filming continued at Goa. During the shoot of Charan's introduction scene, the cables fixed to the train failed and Charan, who was sitting in a car on the railway track, jumped from the car and was injured. After the schedule's completion, Charan visited Sabarimala to end his Aiyyappa Deeksha.
The song Vaana Vaana Velluvaye was shot on Charan and Tamannaah in early November 2011. A special set in Annapurna Studios was erected where the song was shot for four days after which the film's China schedule commenced from 12 November 2011. A song and a fight sequence was shot at a Bamboo forest in Anji County of Zhejiang province till the end of November 2011. Racha became the first Telugu film to be shot in the dense forest of interior China. On its completion, Charan took a break for ten days. The film's shoot resumed at Rayalacheruvu near Tirupathi in December 2011. After a brief shoot at Ramoji Film City, the last schedule began in Chennai on 17 January 2012. The shooting of the title song choreographed by Prem Rakshith was wrapped up at Buddha Statue of Hyderabad on 23 January 2012.
The film's shoot continued at Periyar National Park of Kerala in February 2012. Charan and Tamannaah were filming for a song sequence on a boat when the park's deputy director Sanjay Kumar insisted that the duo should use life jackets as they were entering a risky spot. After few disagreements, the film's shoot was temporarily halted and some long shots were shot when the duo used the jackets. The forest officials also restricted the entry of about 20 vehicles and 100 members into the park due to which the shoot was limited to a small portion of a song.
After spraining his leg during the song shoot at Annapurna Studios, Charan was advised to take a bed rest for three to four weeks. He rejoined the shoot on 25 March 2012 to complete the remaining two songs. After completing the shoot for the song Dillaku Dillaku at Annapurna Studios in Hyderabad, the last song Singarenundi was shot at Anaimalai Hills and Siruvani Waterfalls near Pollachi on Charan and Tamannaah. On its completion, the film's team returned to Hyderabad and the principal photography came to an end on 1 April 2012.
## Music
Mani Sharma composed the film's soundtrack and background score. The soundtrack consists of 5 songs. The song Vaana Vaana Velluvaye from the film Gang Leader was remixed for this film. Aditya Music and Star Music marketed the soundtrack albums of the Telugu and Tamil versions respectively. The soundtrack was released by hosting a promotional event at People's Plaza near Necklace road on 20 February 2012.
## Release
The film was initially scheduled for a release in March 2012. After Charan suffered a muscle tear in his leg, the film's shoot was delayed due to which the film's release was postponed to 5 April 2012. The film's Tamil dubbed version titled Ragalai was announced in mid March 2012 after the release of Maaveeran. Racha was awarded an 'U/A' certificate by Central Board of Film Certification on 3 April 2012.
After Competition Commission of India imposed a fine on Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce for restricting free trade, Racha released in Karnataka in more than 120 screens. Ragalai was released on 6 April 2012. The Malayalam dubbed version Raksha released on 13 April 2012 though it was planned for a simultaneous release with Ragalai. Racha's Television broadcasting rights were sold to Gemini TV. Both the Indian and overseas DVDs and Blu-rays of the Telugu version were marketed by Aditya Videos.
Racha was dubbed into Tamil as Ragalai and into Malayalam as Raksha. The former was released on 6 April 2012 while the latter was released a week later. The film was dubbed into Hindi as Betting Raja in 2014 and this film was remade in Bangladesh as Honeymoon starring Bappy Chowdhury and Mahiya Mahi.
## Reception
### Critical reception
Sify called the film a "paisa vasool" one and stated "Both, actor Ram Charan and his director Sampath Nandi play a safe game by following the same pattern of earlier mass-masala movies. Rachcha offers nothing new but has enough elements that entertain the mass audiences and mega fans." Sangeetha Devi Dundoo of The Hindu stated "Within the framework of pleasing the actor's fan clubs, the film works. But the sense of déjà vu in the tale of revenge is palpable. Even when you tune yourself into watching a mass entertainer and don't expect anything intellectually stimulating, you do miss the ingenuity and spark that were the hallmark of mass entertainer blockbusters like Singam, Pokiri or Kick. Go without expectations and you will be entertained."
Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India gave the film 3 out of 5 stars and felt that the film is designed for the "hardcore Mega Fans and it makes no bones about it". He added "Clearly there are a lot of prospective hooting opportunities for the die hard Ram Charan fans. As for the other kind of audience, well, you'll have to ask them. We suspect they might just be feeling a little unattended". Praising the screenplay written by Sampath Nandi, Ramchander of Oneindia Entertainment stated "Finally, Sampath Nandi has come out with a good film. Though, the story is not that great and is quite predictable one, the ability of the director made it quite interesting."
Rating the film 2.5 out of 5 stars, CNN-IBN felt that the film was technically brilliant but lacked a credible storyline. They termed the film's presentation as a "lacklustre and ordinary" one. Radhika Rajamani of Rediff.com gave 2 out of 5 stars and criticised the film for its predictability and stereotypical pattern and stated that Racha is a potboiler meant for the masses and not for a discerning audience. Praising the lead pair's performances by calling them as one of the reasons to watch this film, IndiaGlitz opined that at the end, Racha means "telling an old story with lot's [sic] of bells and whistles — over the top dialogues, destructive fights, falling back on the poor, etc."
### Box office
Racha debuted with an average occupancy of 90% and collected ₹8.54 crore (US\$1.1 million) at the AP/Nizam box office setting first day record. The film collected a total of ₹15 crore (US\$1.9 million) by the end of its first weekend and by then, Ragalai had a successful theatrical run. In its first week, the film collected ₹24.42 crore (US\$3.1 million) at AP/Nizam box office out of which ₹7.5 crore (US\$940,000) was from Nizam region. The film collected ₹2.5 crore (US\$310,000) in Karnataka, taking its first week Indian box office total to ₹26.92 crore (US\$3.4 million). By late April 2012, the film collected ₹15 crore (US\$1.9 million) nett in Karnataka.
In four weeks, Racha grossed ₹53.48 crore (US\$6.7 million) at the global box office including the collections of the dubbed versions with a distributor share of ₹37.48 crore (US\$4.7 million) at the AP/Nizam box office. The film completed a 50-day run in 127 direct centres across the AP/Nizam region out of which 38 screens were from Ceded region and 16 screens were from Nizam region. By then, the film was declared a blockbuster. The film completed a 100-day run in 38 centres across Andhra Pradesh on 13 July 2012. Racha's final share for its distributors was ₹45 crore (US\$5.6 million)
## Awards and nominations
## In popular culture
The specially designed axe used by Ram Charan in the film's climax was auctioned by Movie Artist Association. In a press meet, Tammanaah showcased the axe to the media and the proceeds of its sale were announced to be used to educate poor children in Telugu cinema. In Aagadu (2014), Brahmanandam performed a spoof on this film along with two other 2014 Telugu films Legend and Race Gurram. |
23,794,182 | Battle of Muong Khoua | 1,155,431,034 | Battle of the First Indochina War | [
"1953 in French Indochina",
"1953 in Laos",
"1953 in Vietnam",
"April 1953 events in Asia",
"Battles and operations of the First Indochina War",
"Battles involving France",
"Battles involving Vietnam",
"Conflicts in 1953",
"May 1953 events in Asia",
"Vietnamese independence movement"
]
| The Battle of Muong Khoua took place between April 13 and May 18, 1953, in northern Laos during the First Upper Laos Campaign in the French Indochina War. A garrison of a dozen French and 300 Laotian troops occupied a fortified outpost in the hills above the village of Muong Khoua, across the border from Điện Biên Phủ. Muong Khoua was among the last French outposts in northern Laos following the decision of the French High Command to string several isolated garrisons through the region in order to buy time to fortify the major Laotian cities against Việt Minh attack.
Many of these garrisons were given orders by radio to dig in and fight the approaching Việt Minh forces. Following the fall of a satellite strong point at Sop-Nao, the troops at Muong Khoua under Captain Teullier resisted a Việt Minh siege force for thirty-six days while supported by air-dropped supplies and air strikes. The small French force repelled several direct attacks and endured a series of artillery bombardments. Two of the three strong points of the outpost eventually fell in the early morning of May 18, and by midday the French force lay defeated.
Four soldiers—two French and two Laotian—reached another French position 50 miles (80 km) away after six days of travel through the jungle, however, no one else escaped. The resistance of the French garrison became a popular rallying cry for French troops in Indochina as well serving as a precursor to French and Việt Minh strategies at the decisive Battle of Điện Biên Phủ the following year.
## Prelude
### Việt Minh in Laos
In early 1953, the Việt Minh under Võ Nguyên Giáp commenced an invasion of Laos to exert additional pressure on Paris and on the French forces stationed in Indochina. In the area of Muong Khoua were the Việt Minh 308th, 312th and 316th divisions, whose long supply lines were maintained by a veritable army of 200,000 porters. The French command—headed then by Raoul Salan—ordered the establishment of a series of French outposts in northern Laos to resist the Việt Minh invading forces for as long as possible to buy time for the fortification of Luang Prabang and Vientiane, the capital cities of Laos. The King of Laos, Sisavang Vong, remained in Luang Prabang, which added greater impetus to French efforts. The terrain of northern Laos, and the local climate, isolated many of the outposts with a night-time fog known as crachin, thick jungle, a lack of roads, and steep terrain. Each outpost was given a certain number of days to withstand Việt Minh forces, including Muong Khoua which was issued orders on April 13 to hold for fourteen days—until April 27.
Muong Khoua, together with its satellite outpost Sop-Nao, was under the command of Captain Teullier, with the satellite outpost being overseen by Lieutenant Grézy. Muong Khoua was situated at the confluence of the rivers Nam Pak and Nam Hou, 40 miles (64 km) from Điện Biên Phủ, and approximately 100 miles (160 km) to the south-west of the Black River in Vietnam. The outpost itself consisted of three separate strongholds, referred to as the Mousetrap, Pi and Alpha, situated on three hills to the west, south-south-east, and south-south-west of the confluence of the Nam Hou and Nam Pak. Each was roughly 220 yards (200 m) from the other, forming a triangle. The village of Muong Khoua itself lay at the western foot of the Mousetrap, protected from the river by a large sandbank, and straddling the road to Phong Saly, another French outpost 50 miles (80 km) to the north.
### Sop-Nao
Sop-Nao lay 30 miles (48 km) to the east of Muong Khoua, along the path of the Việt Minh advance, roughly 20 miles (32 km) south-west of Điện Biên Phủ and only a few miles from the Vietnam-Laos border, 75 miles (121 km) south of the T'ai Highlands. Grézy, in command of the Sop-Nao garrison, led a reinforced platoon. On the evening of April 3, a Việt Minh battalion entered Laos near Điện Biên Phủ and Nà Sản and reached Sap-Nao.
Finding themselves surrounded by the Việt Minh, the French at Sop-Nao stood for six days while in radio contact with Teullier at the main strong point. The survivors, following authorisation from the French captain, retreated during the night of April 9/10 along a round-about route following the assumption by Grézy that the Việt Minh had laid ambushes along the most direct path. The French hacked a new path through the jungle until they reached Laotian tribesmen on April 11, who warned them of Việt Minh units following them. The French attempted to turn for Phong-Saly to the north and met an allied convoy travelling down the Nam Hou in canoes. The two forces combined and sailed down the river towards Muong Khoua.
On April 12, the convoy ran into a Việt Minh ambush 600 yards (550 m) from the Muong Khoua strong point. Using a barrier of floating tree trunks, the Việt Minh attacked the convoy with machine guns and mortars, destroying the first canoe. The remaining French and Laotian troops returned fire and, with the assistance of forces from Muong Khoua who had heard the firing, routed the Việt Minh troops, who left behind 13 dead and four wounded. The French themselves suffered seven missing, one dead, and one wounded. The remainder joined the French at Muong Khoua, with the canoes and the convoy's equipment incorporated into the defence. Meanwhile, the Việt Minh's 910th Battalion of the 148th Regional Regiment of the 312th Division and a heavy mortar company from the 316th Division drew near.
## Battle
### Siege
While the French troops from Sop-Nao were making their way via canoe to the mother strong point, Teullier and his forces were feeling what one chronicler referred to as l'asphyxie par le vide ("choking-off by creating a void"), the result of a Việt Minh presence in the area. The local villagers no longer spoke to the French, when they had previously been communicative, and the population began leaving; both the farms and the markets were deserted. The French viewed this as an indicator of an imminent enemy attack. Furthermore, the thick jungle and steep slopes isolated the French strong points from all but river and airborne supply. The Việt Minh, on the other hand, were adequately supplied by over 200,000 porters, or coolies. Referred to officially as a "relatively small" force, the 300 Chasseurs Laotiens and "handful" of French NCOs and two officers were equipped with three 81-mm and two 60-mm mortars and two machine guns. They were ordered on April 13 to hold for fourteen days by Colonel Boucher de Crévecoeur, who promised air support.
At 23:00 hours that evening, April 13, mortar shells began landing on the slopes of position Alpha. These bombardments would take place every night, and the Việt Minh launched their first direct assault, which failed and left Việt Minh 22 dead. This defeat prompted a reversion to previous tactics of slowly "gnawing away" at the French outpost, and Giap ordered the 312th to leave some forces behind to continue a siege while the remainder of the division moved on. Meanwhile, overhead, French B-26s bombed Việt Minh positions, and cargo planes dropped supplies, Luciole (firefly) flares, and ammunition on the French positions. This "air bridge" enabled the garrison to survive, and fourteen days later on April 27 it was still intact; the French High Command dropped a Legion of Honor for Teullier and several Croix de Guerres for his men. Teullier and a small group left the Mousetrap to deliver the relevant decorations to Pi and Alpha, although movement between the positions was extremely difficult.
What was possible, however, was a small patrol through the village of Muong Khoua, which had been by now deserted. These French patrols served as an early warning system and an ambush for Việt Minh assaults during the crachin-dominated night. This pattern continued into May. Meanwhile, other French forces had liberated Xieng Khouang and reached a position 40 miles (64 km) from Muong Khoua. On May 17, the French patrol deployed to the Muong Khoua village overheard barking dogs—one of which yelped—alerting the French to an impending Việt Minh attack. By 23:00, the Việt Minh were visible in the fog, and the patrol returned to the Mousetrap. Teullier issued an alert via radio.
A bombardment from Soviet Russian 120-mm mortars, 57-mm recoilless rifles, and phosphorus grenades began at 00:30 on May 18. Teullier instructed his radio operator, Sergeant René Novak, to request air-dropped flares and air support, while mortar fire landed on Alpha and the Mousetrap, but not Pi, where Grézy was in command. Pi continued to support the other two areas of the outpost with its own mortar fire.
By 01:10 hours, the western flank of the Mousetrap had fallen to Việt Minh bombardment. By 01:30, the garrison was informed that weather conditions prevented air support, and by 02:30 the Việt Minh forces launched successive assault waves which overran Teullier and his men, including attacks which flanked the position using the nearby sandbanks. At the same time, Alpha was overrun by Việt Minh forces, and by 03:50 no more firing was heard from the Mousetrap. Alpha survived the remainder of the night and was seen fighting by French aircraft at 09:00 that morning. C-47 transport aircraft returned to resume supply drops, however by 12:00 the Tricolor and the Laotian flag had been removed from Pi's command bunker.
### Survivors
On May 22, four days after the fall of the Muong Khoua garrison, three of its soldiers—the garrison radio operator Novak and two Laotians—reached the only remaining French outpost in northern Laos, Phong Saly. Bernard Fall recorded in Street Without Joy: "he was only twenty-five years old, but he looked fifty; he kept on walking like an automaton to the centre of the post before he was stopped by some of the men staring at him as at a ghost." Novak and the two other soldiers had spent the four days moving through the jungle of Laos following the defeat of their unit. Two days later, Sergeant Pierre Blondeau also arrived at the outpost. His account detailed 57 hours spent hiding from the Việt Minh before a three-day march without food or navigational aids and then encountering native tribesmen who provided food and a pony, with which he reached the French forces.
## Aftermath
The Vietnamese and French media had awarded considerable attention to the conflict, and newspapers worldwide had covered the battle. Bernard Fall made note of the significance of the battle as "epic" in both his 1961 Street Without Joy and 1967 Hell in a Very Small Place. The British newspaper The Times began covering the conflict on April 23, reporting the retreat from Sop Nao to Muong Khoua. However, despite correctly identifying half of the Việt Minh attacking force, it rated the garrison at the mother strong point as numbering 1,000. The battle received scant attention before the garrison fell, however after that garrison was defeated the coverage remained positive at the thought of French survivors and speculative on the future of the French military presence and new commander, Henri Navarre. The French High Command released an assessment of the defeat at Muong Khoua in Communique No. 14, stating "During the night of May 17 to 18, the post of Muong Khoua, which had victoriously resisted since the beginning of the Việt Minh offensive, succumbed under the overwhelming mass of assailants."
In January 1954, Muong Khoua was re-occupied by Laotian forces, which were subsequently overrun once more by the 316th Division of the Việt Minh. The Laotian commander, who lived in the village itself with his wife, was killed in his home before the attack. Battalions of the French Foreign Legion and Laotian forces suffered losses covering the retreat of garrison survivors. The area of Muong Khoua later became a critical supply route across Dien Bien Phu for the Việt Minh and by 1963 was the site of a construction project for the proposed Route 19.
The French would use the lessons learned at Muong Khoua and those of the 1952 Battle of Nà Sản in their defence plans at Điện Biên Phủ, while the Việt Minh in turn would employ similar tactics of encirclement and strangulation there. The importance of an air bridge to maintain supply lines, strong artillery support to stave off human-wave Việt Minh attacks, and the need for isolated emplacements to mutually support each other, were also important tactics taken on board by the French from both conflicts. The disappearance of local civilian populations previously friendly towards the French, which served as a precursor to Việt Minh attack, was also remembered by the Điện Biên Phủ troops. For the Việt Minh, their abilities to isolated and smother individual strongpoints while maintaining hidden artillery and support weapon emplacements out of the reach of French airstrikes and artillery were honed at both battles, as were their practices of using human-wave attacks. |
4,401,278 | Lyric Theatre (New York City, 1998) | 1,171,189,940 | Broadway theater in Manhattan, New York | [
"1998 establishments in New York City",
"Broadway theatres",
"Theater District, Manhattan",
"Theatres completed in 1998"
]
| The Lyric Theatre (previously known as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, the Hilton Theatre, and the Foxwoods Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 214 West 43rd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1998, the theater was designed by Richard Lewis Blinder of Beyer Blinder Belle, in collaboration with Peter Kofman, for Garth Drabinsky and his company Livent. The Lyric Theatre was built using parts of two former theaters on the site: the Apollo Theatre, built in 1920 to a design by Eugene De Rosa, and the old Lyric Theatre, built in 1903 to a design by Victor Hugo Koehler. The theater contains 1,622 seats across three levels and is operated by Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG). The theater building is owned by the city and state governments of New York and was developed by New 42nd Street.
Despite having the same name as one of its predecessor theaters, the current Lyric Theatre was built almost entirely from scratch, though many parts of the old theaters were preserved to comply with government regulations. The current theater retains the original Lyric facade on 43rd Street, as well as a smaller arched facade on 42nd Street. The auditorium and stage house are placed within an entirely new structure covered with concrete and brick panels. The lobby contains a domed rotunda, with a basement lounge underneath it. The auditorium contains elements from the old Lyric's and the Apollo's interiors, including a ceiling dome, boxes, and a proscenium arch, which were modified to fit the new theater's dimensions. The large stage and the accompanying stage house were designed to accommodate major musicals.
The old Lyric and Apollo theaters had been proposed for redevelopment since the 1970s, and New 42nd Street took over the theaters in 1990. Livent leased the theaters in 1995, razing them to make way for an 1,821-seat facility named after sponsor Ford Motor Company. The Ford Center was dedicated in December 1997 and officially opened the next month. Livent filed for bankruptcy in late 1998, and the theater subsequently passed to SFX Entertainment and then Clear Channel Entertainment, which renamed it for sponsor Hilton Hotels & Resorts in 2005. The venue was renamed after Foxwoods Resort Casino in 2010 as part of a partnership with Live Nation. ATG acquired the theater in 2013 and renamed it the Lyric the following year. The Lyric's capacity was reduced in a 2017 renovation because of complaints about the theater's excessive size, which had caused several of the theater's productions to lose money.
## Site
The Lyric Theatre is at 214 West 43rd Street, on the southern sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The land lot has an area of 24,176 sq ft (2,246.0 m<sup>2</sup>) and a frontage of 219 ft 4 in (66.85 m) on 43rd Street. Most of the theater is on a 100 ft-deep (30 m) site on 43rd Street, but the theater has wings extending to 42nd Street, making the total depth of the site 200 ft (61 m). The two wings on 42nd Street flank the 94-foot-wide (29 m) Times Square Theater; the western wing is 11 feet 5 inches (3.48 m) wide, while the eastern wing is 20 feet (6.1 m) wide.
The Lyric Theatre is adjacent to the American Airlines Theatre to the west, the Times Square and New Victory theaters to the south, and 3 Times Square to the east. Other nearby buildings include the St. James Theatre and Hayes Theater to the northwest; 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north; 1500 Broadway to the northeast; One Times Square to the east; the Times Square Tower and 5 Times Square to the southeast, and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the south.
### Previous theaters
The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues for Legitimate theatre were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them had been relegated to showing pornography by the 1970s. The current Lyric Theatre occupies the sites of the Lyric Theatre, built on the eastern half of the site in 1903, and the Apollo Theatre, built to the west in 1920. The Lyric was designed in the Beaux-Arts style, while the Apollo had decorations in the Adam style. Both theaters had entrances from 42nd Street, flanking the Times Square Theater, although their auditoriums were on 43rd Street. When the theaters were built, 42nd Street was generally considered an upscale address.
The old Lyric was designed by Victor Hugo Koehler and constructed by the Shubert brothers for composer Reginald De Koven. It featured performers such as Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers, and Douglas Fairbanks until it was converted to a movie theater in 1934. The exterior of the old Lyric still largely survives within the current theater. The interior decorative scheme was relatively plain. The old Lyric contained three levels of seating, topped by a ceiling dome that was surrounded by moldings of lyres and Greek masks. This theater also had 18 boxes.
The Apollo, constructed by the Selwyn brothers to a design by Eugene De Rosa, was originally a film and vaudeville theater. The Apollo was briefly a burlesque venue in the mid-1930s before turning into a movie theater in the late 1930s. The Apollo's facade on 42nd Street was built as part of the Times Square Theater's facade. The old Apollo, decorated in a rose, tan, and blue color scheme with flat decorations, contained 1,194 seats on two levels. There were also four boxes, placed within ornate Palladian arches, as well as an Adam-style proscenium arch that measured 41 feet (12 m) wide and 25 feet (7.6 m) high. Both the Lyric and the Apollo were owned by the Brandt Theatres chain by the 1970s; the Brandts renovated both venues as part of a plan to reopen both as legitimate houses. Only the Apollo ultimately reopened, in 1979; it reverted to movies in 1983. The Apollo was then renamed the Academy Theatre and became a nightclub.
## Design
The current Lyric Theatre was designed by Beyer Blinder Belle (BBB) and Peter H. Kofman for Garth Drabinsky; it opened as the Ford Center in 1998. According to Richard Blinder of BBB, the current theater's design had to conform with preservation guidelines because it was part of a city-owned district controlled by New 42nd Street. As such, the theater incorporates major architectural elements and structures from both the old Lyric's facade and the Apollo's interior. The interior of the old Lyric was too badly deteriorated for most of the individual elements to be restored. Both of the old theaters' interiors were dismantled to make way for the current theater, but an office wing on 42nd Street was preserved.
### Facade
The new Lyric Theatre retains the ornate facades of Koehler's original Lyric Theatre on 42nd and 43rd Street. The 43rd Street facade is divided vertically into five bays. At the center of the facade are three arched doorways topped by corbels. These are flanked by two additional doorways, which are topped by panels with the words "Music" and "Drama". On the second floor, the center of the facade contains a balustrade and three arched windows, which are flanked by banded columns. Above these windows are busts of W. S. Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, and Reginald De Koven. There are three oculi above the arched windows, which are surrounded by floral wreaths and topped by keystones that depict lions' heads. The oculi contain heads of the ancient gods Apollo, Athena, and Hermes. Lampposts, topped by spheres, flank the oculi. On the second story, the outer bays contain rectangular windows flanked by pilasters, above which are entablatures with carved masks of comedy and tragedy. The top of the facade has a copper cornice with medallions. There is also a wrought-iron balustrade with decorations of lyres. The original theater had a sloped tile roof on 43rd Street, as well as a marquee in front of the entrance.
The old Lyric's narrow three-story facade, an arch on 42nd Street, was preserved in the new theater's construction. The first story of this arch contained a portico with a column on either side, above which was a frieze with the words "The Lyric". The second story contained the actual archway, which was decorated with terracotta. The narrowness of the 42nd Street entrance arises from the fact that, when the original theater was built, there were brownstone houses next to the theater, and land values on 42nd Street were high.
The auditorium and stage house facades, built in 1997, are to the west of the old Lyric Theatre's facade. The auditorium structure, measuring 94 ft (29 m) long and 70 ft (21 m) tall, is just west of the entrance. There is also a stage house at the far west end of the site, measuring 100 ft (30 m) tall. Originally, a sign measuring 40 ft (12 m) tall was placed atop the stage house. Both the auditorium and the stage house contain prefabricated concrete panels on their exteriors, each measuring 12 by 20 ft (3.7 by 6.1 m). The panels used on the auditorium are covered in brick, while those in front of the stage house are left exposed. These panels do not contain any windows and are mounted directly onto the theater's steel superstructure. Behind the panels are noise-reducing rubber pads.
### Interior
Roger Morgan Studio was responsible for the interior design of the new Lyric Theatre. The modern theater's new design elements blend with its historical elements; the design of the lobby was inspired by the old Lyric, while the auditorium was inspired by the old Apollo. BBB initially planned to use a modern decorative scheme that contrasted with the historical design elements, but Richard Blinder said this proposal was "too diagrammatic". Lyres are used as decorative motifs throughout the interior of the new Lyric Theatre. The auditorium also includes furnishings that were constructed specifically for the new theater but were inspired by early-20th-century theaters' decorations. Drabinsky involved himself in many aspects of the new Lyric's design when it was built.
#### Lobby and adjoining areas
The lobby of the new Lyric Theatre is on the east side of the theater, extending from 42nd to 43rd Street, with an elliptical rotunda on 43rd Street. The floor, dome, columns, and staircases of the rotunda were brand-new elements constructed for the Ford Center. The Italian-marble staircase rises from one side of the rotunda and splits into two flights, wrapping around to the mezzanine. At the top of the stair is a medallion of the Greek god Zeus. The rotunda's walls are covered with canvas panels, designed to imitate the look of cut stone. Mariuca Brancoveanu designed the rotunda's mosaic floor, which contains depictions of the masks on the original Lyric's facade, surrounded by a mosaic border. The mosaic decoration is composed of 172,800 marble pieces covering 650 sq ft (60 m<sup>2</sup>). The capitals of the rotunda's columns are decorated with gilded guilloche reliefs that depict light bulbs. The dome of the rotunda was taken from the Apollo Theatre and measures 39 by 28 ft (11.9 by 8.5 m). The mezzanine level, overlooking the lobby, contains wrought-iron railings with depictions of lyres.
The lobby and auditorium are separated by vestibules with doors at each end, with 2 in-thick (5.1 cm) fabric panels. This was intended to minimize disruption from guests who left early or arrived late. In venues where the lobbies and auditoriums are directly connected, light and noise from the lobby could disrupt ongoing performances. The old Lyric's lobby connected both of the entrances, on 42nd and 43rd Streets. The old Apollo's lobby from 42nd Street was divided into two sections: an outer portion with rose-and-red marble walls and an Adam style plaster ceiling, and an inner portion with black-and-white marble walls. Both of the former theaters' lobbies to 42nd Street were retained when the Ford Center was built. While the Apollo's lobby to the west kept its bas-relief sculptures and black-and-white marble decorations, the old Lyric's lobby to the east had lost all of its decoration.
Under the lobby is a lounge intended for premium-ticket holders. The lounge, covering 850 sq ft (79 m<sup>2</sup>), was originally monitored by three attendants and could be used before a performance and during intermission. The lounge also contained coat and parcel checks, dedicated restrooms and telephones, and a snack area. When the theater opened in 1998, architectural critic Herbert Muschamp wrote of the lounge: "Bad paintings hang on walls covered with tasteful vanilla moire". Above the lobby is a 1,200 sq ft (110 m<sup>2</sup>) space for choreography and a 3,000 sq ft (280 m<sup>2</sup>) space for rehearsals. There are also three box offices.
#### Auditorium
The new Lyric Theatre contains an orchestra level and two balconies; the lower balcony is labeled the dress circle. The orchestra level is slightly raked and is composed of concrete over a corrugated metal deck. Both of the balconies are eight rows deep and are slightly raked. The Lyric's seats are larger and deeper than in typical Broadway theaters; each seat is up to 22 in (560 mm) wide and the rows are spaced 34.5 in (880 mm) apart. The rear wall is 94 ft (29 m) from the proscenium at the front of the auditorium. The side walls are slightly curved to disperse the sound throughout the auditorium, and the rear wall is built as a concave curve for a similar reason. Two box seats on either side are taken from the original Apollo Theatre.
Generally, the color scheme is in gold and red. The ends of each row of seating are decorated in a gold color, while the seats themselves contain crimson-velour upholstery. Axminster designed lattice-patterned carpets for the auditorium's aisles. Damask wall coverings on the side walls were originally colored blue-and-green. The upper sections of the walls are decorated with 50 ft-wide (15 m) murals painted by EverGreene Architectural Arts. EverGreene also painted multicolored, glazed Adam-style decorations onto the plaster. The ceiling contains the Apollo Theatre's original dome, which is surrounded by a newer plaster ring to make it appear larger. The ceiling contains six chandeliers, four over the orchestra and two over the boxes; their design is inspired by the old Apollo's chandeliers. Above the second balcony are three smaller domes, salvaged from the old Apollo Theatre and painted in gold leaf.
The new Lyric's interior retains the proscenium arch from the Apollo, which was expanded significantly when the new theater was built. The proscenium opening in the new theater is 50 ft (15 m) wide, compared to 30 ft (9.1 m) in the old Apollo. The new theater's proscenium measures around 31 ft (9 m) high. To accommodate this, the top of the proscenium arch was widened by about 8 ft (2.4 m), while its sides were lengthened by 4 to 5 ft (1.2 to 1.5 m). New steel armatures were built for the lengthened proscenium, as well as for damaged sections of plasterwork throughout the theater; plaster was then poured over the armatures. Thirty-six holes were drilled into the ceiling so trusses could be hung for productions. The rigging system consists of 90 line sets perpendicular to the proscenium.
The stage is designed to accommodate large musicals, measuring about 55 ft (17 m) deep and about 100 ft (30 m) wide. When the theater was built, Drabinsky specified that the fly loft had to be 100 ft (30 m) high, and the stage house was to contain dressing rooms for 75 performers. To maximize space within the stage house, its support columns are embedded into the western wall, adjoining the Selwyn (American Airlines) Theatre. Such columns are typically freestanding, but this design added 8 in (200 mm) of depth to the stage house. The dressing rooms, as well as various backstage areas, are placed in the basement to free up space for the stage.
## History
### Planning
#### Preservation attempts
The City at 42nd Street plan was announced in December 1979 as part of a proposal to restore West 42nd Street around Times Square. Under the plan, the old Apollo Theatre would continue to be used as a legitimate theater, operated by Brandt Theatres. The Lyric Theatre's facade would be restored, but the interior would be modified. Mayor Ed Koch wavered in his support of the plan, criticizing it as a "Disneyland on 42nd Street". Subsequently, Hugh Hardy conducted a report on 42nd Street's theaters in 1980. His report, in conjunction with a movement opposing the demolition of the nearby Helen Hayes and Morosco theaters, motivated the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to survey fifty of Midtown Manhattan's extant theaters in the early 1980s.
The LPC started to consider protecting theaters, including the Apollo and Lyric theaters, as landmarks in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC granted landmark status to many Broadway theaters starting in 1987, it deferred decisions on the exterior and interior of the Lyric Theatre, as well as the interior of the Apollo Theatre. Further discussion of the landmark designations was delayed for several decades. In late 2015, the LPC hosted public hearings on whether to designate the Apollo, the Lyric, and five other theaters as landmarks. The LPC rejected the designations in February 2016 because the theaters were already subject to historic-preservation regulations set by the state government.
#### Redevelopment proposals
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, then proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. The plan centered around four towers that were to be built at 42nd Street's intersections with Broadway and Seventh Avenue, developed by Park Tower Realty and the Prudential Insurance Company of America. It was delayed for several years due to lawsuits and disputes concerning the towers.
From 1987 to 1989, Park Tower and Prudential hired Robert A. M. Stern to conduct a study on the Apollo, Lyric, Selwyn (later American Airlines), Times Square, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street. Stern devised three alternatives for the five theaters. City and state officials announced plans for the five theaters, along with the Liberty Theatre on the south side of 42nd Street, in September 1988. Stern presented a model of his plan the next month. The plan called for restoring the Apollo Theatre as a legitimate venue and converting the Lyric Theatre's heavily modified interior to a 2,500-seat auditorium. The UDC opened a request for proposals for six of the theaters that October. The Liberty and Victory were to be converted into performing-arts venues for nonprofit organizations, while the Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square were to be converted to commercial use. By the end of the year, the plans were threatened by a lack of money.
In early 1989, several dozen nonprofit theater companies submitted plans to the UDC for the takeover of six theaters. Most of the bids were for the Liberty and Victory, but the Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters received 13 bids between them. That year, The Durst Organization acquired the leases to eight theaters in Times Square, including the Apollo and Lyric. It subsequently announced plans to renovate the eight theaters in February 1990. The New York state government acquired the theater sites that April via eminent domain. The city had planned to buy out the theaters' leases but withdrew after the 42nd Street Company indicated it would lease the theaters to another developer. Although Durst protested the move, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the sites could be acquired by condemnation. A nonprofit organization, New 42nd Street, was formed in September 1990 to restore six of the theaters and find uses for them. Government officials hoped that development of the theaters would finally allow the construction of the four towers around 42nd Street, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue. In 1992, New 42nd Street received a \$18.2 million grant for restoring the six theaters. By the next year, there were proposals to open an information center in either the Apollo or the Lyric. After Disney committed to restoring the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1994, most of the other theaters around 42nd Street were quickly leased.
### Lease and construction
Garth Drabinsky, president of Canadian company Livent, toured the Apollo and Lyric in January 1994. At the time, he was looking for a new Broadway theater for his company. That September, MTV took an option on the Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters, which it planned to convert into a production studio. However, the negotiations with MTV fell through. Livent signed a long-term lease for the Apollo and Lyric theaters in July 1995. Livent planned to combine the theaters into a single 1,850-seat house for large musicals, using architectural elements of both theaters. The proposed large theater, a continuation of Stern's late-1980s plan for the site, would be the second-largest Broadway venue behind the Gershwin Theatre. The combined sites provided a large amount of space, with entrances from both 42nd and 43rd Streets. Ron Delsener, who was leasing the Apollo for rock concerts, objected that Livent could "kick us out when they feel like it" after New 42nd Street refused to renew his lease. Meanwhile, the original Lyric Theatre's marquee on 42nd Street was removed in 1995 during the reconstruction of the New Victory Theater. Even though the LPC had not designated the Apollo or Lyric theaters as landmarks, parts of the buildings were still subject to preservation guidelines. In conformance with these guidelines, Drabinsky and architect Peter H. Kofman presented their proposal for the new theater in December 1995. The plans called for preserving much more of the theaters' original detail than was required. The next month, Drabinsky announced further details of the project, which was to cost \$22.5 million. Livent's new theater would not require public subsidies, If it was completed before December 1997, the theater would qualify for a tax credit given to new developments in Times Square, which would be worth \$4–5 million. In addition, Livent would not pay any real-estate taxes on the theater.
While the combined theater was initially advertised as a restoration of the two existing theaters, the former venues were ultimately completely demolished. Beyer Blinder Belle and Peter Kofman were hired to design the new, larger theater, construction of which began in June 1996. About 190 short tons (170 long tons; 170 t) of plaster decorations inside the two former theaters were removed for restoration, including the Apollo's proscenium arch, box seats, and ceiling dome. The architects also preserved a medallion of Zeus from the Lyric's proscenium and three small domes from the Apollo, though they were not required to do so. The larger decorations were cut into several sections using masonry blades, while the smaller decorations were removed intact. These decorations were stored in New Jersey. A team led by Jean-Francois Furieri then restored and cleaned the plaster decorations off-site.
By December 1996, the four-story facade of the old Lyric Theatre was the only portion of the two old theaters that was left in place. The facade was shored up using scaffolding and a steel framework. The next month, the Ford Motor Company announced it would sponsor the theater, which would become the Ford Center for the Performing Arts. According to the New York Daily News, this was the first corporate sponsorship of a Broadway theater "in most theatergoers' memory", as Broadway theaters were typically named for actors or theater operators rather than companies. Work progressed quickly so the theater could be finished by the end of 1997. The steel skeleton was being erected by February 1997 and the prefabricated facade panels were shipped from Canada after the roof was installed in June. The decorative details from the previous theaters were being installed by that August. Upon its completion, the Ford Center had 1,821 seats, making it Broadway's second-largest venue after the Gershwin Theatre.
### Operation
#### Opening and Livent's bankruptcy
Drabinsky, New York governor George Pataki, mayor Rudy Giuliani, and several theatrical personalities dedicated the Ford Center for the Performing Arts on December 12, 1997. Summarizing the reactions from architectural and theatrical critics, The New York Times characterized the Ford Center as "a nearly universally praised building that, with musical theater houses in short supply, Broadway and New York City needed". The editorial board of Architecture magazine said the Ford Center was one of several "glorious recent examples of preservation's virtues". A critic for The Journal News wrote that the Ford Center "shows that you can not only open a new theater, but you can also open a new theater that looks as good as an old one". Conversely, Herbert Muschamp of the Times said the Ford Center "offers an architectural glimpse through the rearview mirror".
The theater's first performance was on December 26, 1997, when previews opened for the musical version of E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime. The musical officially opened on January 26, 1998. By that November, less than a year after the Ford Center opened, Livent had filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Broadway producers attributed the bankruptcy proceedings in part to the costs of the Ford Center's construction and of Livent's frequent full-page advertisements in The New York Times. As a result of the bankruptcy proceedings, Livent faced the prospect of selling its assets, such as the Ford Center; subsequently, several firms sought to buy Livent or its theaters. In August 1999, SFX Entertainment bought Livent's assets, including the Ford Center. The theater also hosted events such as a 52nd-birthday fundraiser for Hillary Clinton, then the First Lady of the United States, in 1999. Ragtime closed in early 2000, after 861 performances, due to extremely high operating costs.
#### 2000s
SFX, and with it the Ford Center, was subsequently acquired by Clear Channel Entertainment in 2000. The Ford Center's first new production of the 2000s was a revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, which opened in April 2000. Superstar ran for 161 performances through that September. Despite the high demand for Broadway theaters, the Ford Center was not immediately booked after Superstar closed; the theater had been scheduled to host a revival of Oklahoma!, which was canceled. The problem was in part due to the Ford's large size, which made it unsuitable for small musicals, as well as the Ford's high operating costs and its difficulty in obtaining additional corporate sponsorships. Ultimately, the musical 42nd Street was revived at the Ford in May 2001. Though 42nd Street was profitable during its run at the Ford, the show's producers announced in October 2004 that the show would close due a lack of money. The musical ended at the beginning of 2005 with 1,524 performances.
In November 2004, Clear Channel announced that it had made a ten-year sponsorship agreement with Hilton Hotels & Resorts, with the Ford Center being renamed the Hilton Theatre. The name change happened in advance of the U.S. premiere of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which opened in April 2005. Chitty only lasted through the end of the year, with 285 performances; its director Frederick Zollo cited the Hilton's poor sight lines as a reason for his show's failure. The musical Hot Feet next opened at the Hilton in April 2006, but it closed after three months, losing money in the process. That November, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! had a limited engagement at the Hilton. It was followed by the musical The Pirate Queen, which opened in April 2007 and ran for only 85 performances. While How the Grinch Stole Christmas! was profitable during its short run, both Hot Feet and The Pirate Queen closed at a net loss, leading theatrical executives to label the theater as "cursed". Among the complaints were that the costs of renting the theater, as well as its large size, which some producers characterized as "barnlike".
Young Frankenstein opened at the Hilton in November 2007; it was one of the few shows to continue operating through the 2007 Broadway stagehand strike, which occurred shortly after the opening. The musical, which ran for 485 performances through January 2009, was shuttered amid the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark was booked for the theater shortly afterward, although previews were not expected to start until early 2010, leaving the Hilton unused for an entire year. This delay was because the Hilton required extensive renovations for Spider-Man. Further issues arose in August 2009 when Spider-Man ran out of money, causing work at the Hilton to be halted, though construction quickly resumed. The opening of Spider-Man was postponed further by financing and technical issues, as well as the need to rewrite the show. The Hilton Theatre ultimately remained dark for nearly two years due to continued complications with Spider-Man.
#### 2010s to present
In August 2010, under an agreement with Foxwoods Resort Casino and Live Nation, the theater was renamed the Foxwoods Theatre for three years. According to the casino's chief marketing officer, the casino had been especially interested in the theater because of the upcoming show. Previews commenced in December 2010, and Spider-Man officially opened on June 14, 2011, after seven months of previews. The New York Times called the two-year delay between the closure of Young Frankenstein and the first previews of Spider-Man "an eon in a Broadway timetable"; the preview period was itself the longest in Broadway history. In May 2013, during the run of Spider-Man, British theater operator Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG) paid \$60 million to lease the Foxwoods from New 42nd Street for up to 60 years. The transaction marked ATG's first United States acquisition. That November, Spider-Man announced it would close at a net loss; the musical ended at the beginning of 2014 with 1,066 performances.
In March 2014, ATG renamed the venue the Lyric Theatre. The musical King Kong had been slated to open at the Lyric, but On the Town was booked there instead after the name change was announced. The theater reopened that October with a revival of the musical On the Town, which only ran at the theater through September 2015. After On the Town's closure was announced, circus producer Cirque du Soleil announced that it would bring the Paramour musical-theater show to the Lyric in mid-2016. The dance-and-musical production Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games had a limited run during late 2015, after which Paramour opened in May 2016. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was booked for the Lyric in December 2016, and ATG asked Cirque du Soleil to relocate so the theater could be renovated. When Paramour closed in April 2017, it had run for 366 performances.
During 2017 and early 2018, in preparation for Cursed Child's opening, the theater was renovated for \$33 million. The changes included the relocation of the main entrance from 42nd to 43rd Street. A large black wing was added on the 43rd Street facade, while a depiction of a child in a nest was added on 42nd Street. The Lyric was decorated with motifs from the Harry Potter franchise and was reduced to 1,622 seats, bringing the theater's capacity closer to that of other large Broadway theaters such as the Majestic, St. James, and Broadway. Cursed Child opened on April 22, 2018, and it ran until the theater closed temporarily on March 12, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lyric reopened on November 12, 2021, with performances of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the run time of which was shortened during the theater's closure. ATG and Jujamcyn Theaters agreed to merge in early 2023; the combined company would operate seven Broadway theaters, including the Lyric.
## Productions
Productions are listed by the year of their first performance.
- 1998: Ragtime
- 2000: Jesus Christ Superstar
- 2001: 42nd Street
- 2005: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
- 2006: Hot Feet
- 2006: Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- 2007: The Pirate Queen
- 2007: Young Frankenstein
- 2011: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark
- 2014: On the Town
- 2015: Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games
- 2016: Paramour
- 2018: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
## Box office records
In 2012, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark achieved the box office record for the Foxwoods Theatre (and the record for the highest single-week gross of any show in Broadway history, at that time). The production grossed \$2,941,794 over nine performances at 100.03% capacity for the week ending January 1, 2012. This record was broken by Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. On its third week of previews, Cursed Child had the highest single-week gross reported by a straight play in Broadway history, grossing \$2,138,859 over eight performances for the week ending April 8, 2018. Cursed Child's largest single gross is \$2,525,850 over eight performances for the week ending December 30, 2018.
## See also
- List of Broadway theaters |
7,919,201 | Nadia Ali (singer) | 1,173,518,410 | American singer-songwriter (born 1980) | [
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"21st-century American singers",
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"Pakistani electronic musicians",
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"Pakistani singer-songwriters",
"Pakistani women singer-songwriters",
"Singer-songwriters from New York (state)",
"Singers from New York City",
"Trance singers"
]
| Nadia Ali ([] Error: : no text (help); born August 3, 1980) is an American singer-songwriter based in New York City. Ali gained prominence in 2001 as the frontwoman and songwriter of the band iiO after their debut single "Rapture" gained significant success in Europe, most notably the United Kingdom, where the song peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart in November 2001. Their 2006 single, "Is It Love?", reached the top of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart.
After embarking on a solo career in 2005, Ali became a vocalist in electronic dance music. She released her debut album Embers in 2009. Three singles from the album reached the top-ten of the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, including the No. 1 hit, "Love Story".
In 2010, Ali released a remix album series titled "Queen of Clubs Trilogy" to mark her decade-long career as a singer. "Rapture" was re-released as the only single from the trilogy and the song was once again a chart success in Europe. Ali released the single "Pressure" with Starkillers and Alex Kenji in 2011, which became a club and festival anthem and received an International Dance Music Award. In 2012, she collaborated with BT and Arty on the single "Must Be the Love". She released the song "Almost Home" with Sultan + Shepard in 2017, which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay and received a Juno Award nomination.
In 2018, she debuted a new direction and sound under the experimental project titled HYLLS, which saw her departing from electronic dance music toward the indie pop genre.
In 2022, she collaborated with Michael Calfan and released a song titled 3, 2, 1.
## Life and career
### 1980–2005: Early life and iiO
Nadia Ali was born in Tripoli, Libya to Pakistani parents on August 3, 1980. The family relocated when she was five years old and she was subsequently raised in Queens, New York City.
Ali started working in the New York offices of Versace when she was 17. A colleague from Versace introduced her to producer Markus Moser, who was looking for a female-singer (or "chanteuse") to collaborate on some of his original productions for a girl group in Germany. The two teamed up with Moser working on production, while Ali wrote the lyrics and vocals for the songs. Her first song was the single "Rapture", which she wrote in 30 minutes based on an encounter with an Australian nightclub patron. A demo of the song was first played at the New York club Twilo in 2001 and received early support from influential DJ Pete Tong who played the demo on his show on BBC Radio 1. The song eventually became an Ibiza favourite after support from prominent D.J.s such as Sasha, Danny Tenaglia and Sander Kleinenberg during the summer season. Released in late 2001 by Ministry of Sound, the single became a commercial success peaking at No. 2 on UK Singles Chart and Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart, while charting in several countries in Europe. The success of "Rapture", Ali said, caused the formation of iiO as the music they were initially working on was quite different from dance music and were asked to come up with a project name to promote the single. They originally named themselves Vaiio after the Sony VAIO laptop Ali used to write the lyrics on. The duo toured internationally and released several more singles, including "At the End", "Runaway", "Smooth", and "Kiss You". Their first studio album, Poetica followed in 2005.
Ali left the group in 2005 to pursue a solo career, while Moser continued to release iiO material featuring her on vocals. Most notably, these releases include the 2006 single "Is It Love?", which reached No. 1 in America on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart, the 2007 remix album Reconstruction Time: The Best Of iiO Remixed and the 2011 studio album Exit 110.
### 2006–2009: Embers
Ali started working on her debut solo album soon after leaving iiO, a process which took her four years. Her first solo release was the 2006 single, "Who is Watching?", a collaboration with Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren, which appeared on his album Shivers. This was followed by "Something to Lose" in 2006, a duet with singer Rosko, produced by John Creamer & Stephane K and released by Ultra Records. The track was licensed to Roger Sanchez's Release Yourself, Vol. 5, as well as Sharam Tayebi of Deep Dish for his Global Underground debut Dubai.
In June 2008, she released "Crash and Burn", the first single from her solo album. The single became a club success peaking at No. 6 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart. She released the second single, "Love Story" from the as-yet untitled album in February 2009. It topped Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart in April 2009 and was nominated for the Best Progressive/House Track at the 2010 International Dance Music Awards at the Winter Music Conference. Ali was featured on MTV Iggy in March 2009, where she recorded three live acoustic videos, performing "Rapture", "Crash and Burn" and "Love Story".
The third single "Fine Print" was released in July 2009. Ali announced that the single preceded the release of her debut solo album Embers. The single peaked at No. 4 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart. Embers was released in September 2009. Co-produced by Sultan & Shepard, Alex Sayz and Scott Fritz, Ali self-released the album on her own label, Smile in Bed Records. Embers generally received positive reviews, Chase Gran from About.com called it a "well rounded, gourmet album with impressive songs". Gail Navarro from Racket magazine complimented Ali on her songwriting saying, "It wasn't just her sultry sound mixed in together with that enchanting singing voice; her songwriting got me hook, line and sinker". Speaking about the self-release of the album, she has cited her creative independence and the pressure of deadlines as the main reasons why she created her own record label.
Ali released two collaborations in 2009, the first "Better Run" with Tocadisco was released on his album TOCA 128.0 FM and "12 Wives in Tehran" with Serge Devant was released on his album Wanderer.
### 2010–2011: Queen of Clubs Trilogy
Ali's first release in 2010 was the track "Try", a collaboration with German producer Schiller, chosen as the lead single from his album Atemlos, the music video premiered on YouTube in February 2010. In April 2010, Ali released "Fantasy", the fourth single from Embers. The track was chosen as a single by her fans after a poll conducted by Ali on her Facebook page. The music video for "Fantasy" was set to the Morgan Page remix, which served as a prologue to Ali's next project; Queen of Clubs Trilogy: The Best of Nadia Ali Remixed. The package consisted of three releases: Ruby Edition (August 2010), Onyx Edition (October 2010) and Diamond Edition (December 2010). It featured collaborations with, and remixes by Armin van Buuren, Avicii and Gareth Emery among several other prominent DJs and producers.
> I think the fact that it (electronic dance music) is mostly male dominated makes females stand out that much more if they are driven enough. I believe anything is possible with hard work.
>
> – Nadia Ali
With a decade-long career, MTV described Ali as one of the "enduring empresses" of electronic dance music and Queen of Clubs Trilogy as "aptly titled". Noted for being the "definitive" and "unmistakable" voice of dance music, she is said to have "enriched" and "invigorated" the genre. Ali has gone on to become an oft-requested collaborator by DJs and producers. She was praised for acquiring notability in a male and DJ-dominated genre where vocalists serve as supporting acts. She said this was a double-edged sword as she was also treated as competition by DJs. In December 2010, she received her first Grammy nomination when the Morgan Page remix of "Fantasy" was nominated in the Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category.
Her first track with iiO, "Rapture" was re-released as a single from Queen of Clubs Trilogy with remixes by Tristan Garner, Gareth Emery and Avicii. A new music video for the track was shot based on the "Queen of Clubs" theme and released on January 24, 2011. The song peaked at No. 3 on the Romanian Top 100 chart, while charting in other European countries.
Throughout 2010, Ali's collaborations with DJs and producers were released. These included "That Day" with Dresden and Johnston, which was featured on various compilation albums. Follow-up release "The Notice" with Swiss duo Chris Reece was released on July 13. Ali was featured on the track "Feels So Good" on Armin van Buuren's fourth album Mirage. Released as the fifth single from the album, the song was voted as the Best Trance Track at the 27th International Dance Music Awards.
During 2011, Ali announced the release of collaborations with several DJs and producers. The first of these was "Call My Name" with the duo Sultan & Ned Shepard, released by Harem Records on February 9. "Call My Name" was a club success, charting at No. 5 on Billboard Hot Dance Club Play Chart. The second track "Pressure", a collaboration with Starkillers and Alex Kenji was released on February 15 by Spinnin' Records. The Alesso remix of "Pressure" became a club and festival anthem and received support from notable DJs such as Armin van Buuren, Tiesto, Swedish House Mafia and Calvin Harris and was voted the Best Progressive House Track at the 27th International Dance Music Awards.
In April, iiO released the studio album Exit 110, which featured Ali on vocals. On May 23, her next collaboration, "Free To Go" with Alex Sayz was released by Zouk Recordings. She was featured on Sander van Doorn's second studio album Eleve11 on the track "Rolling the Dice", a collaboration between van Doorn, Sidney Samson and her. Her next release was the single "Believe It" with the German duo Spencer & Hill, which was released on October 3 by Wall Recordings. She collaborated once again with Starkillers on the single "Keep It Coming", which was released on December 26 by Spinnin' Records which reached No 1 in Beatport.
### 2012–2017
As of February 2010, Ali had begun working on her second studio album. A music video for the lead single from the album, "When It Rains", was released on her YouTube channel in August 2011.
In May 2012, Ali announced her move to Los Angeles citing the need for a change after spending 26 years in New York City.
Her first release in 2012 was "This Is Your Life", the fourth single from Swiss DJ EDX's album On the Edge. That was followed by "Carry Me", a collaboration with Morgan Page, the fourth single from his third studio album, In the Air. Her next release was "Must Be the Love", the lead single from BT's ninth studio album A Song Across Wires, which was a collaboration between him, Arty and Ali. In 2012, she also pre-announced her album "Phoenix", which, as of September 2015, had not shipped.
In December 2012, Ali announced her engagement to her fiancé, whom she married in October 2013.
In January 2014, Ali released an acoustic cover of The Police song "Roxanne" as a free download. In September 2015, Ali released the single "All In My Head", a collaboration with PANG!. The release was her first single as a lead artist since 2011.
In July 2017, after a hiatus of two years, Ali was featured on "Almost Home", a collaboration with Sultan & Shepard and IRO, which peaked at No.4 on Billboard Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. The song was nominated for the Dance Recording of the Year at the 2018 Juno Awards.
### 2018–present: HYLLS
Ali announced the launch of a new project titled HYLLS, with a new sound and direction, while releasing one song a month during 2018. With the project, Ali has transitioned from electronic music to an indie pop sound. Ali stated that this project was experimental and completely different from her previous work, which is why she chose to release it under a different name. She has collaborated with several Grammy-nominated producers for the project, who have chosen to remain anonymous. The first single "All Over The Place" was released in January. The second single "Linger", a cover of The Cranberries song was released on February 16. The project culminated in a studio album Once released in March 2019.
In August 2018, Ali gave birth to a son and revealed she suffered from postpartum depression for 5 months following his birth.
## Musical style and influences
Ali is perhaps best known for her characteristic voice and vocal abilities. Reema Kumari Jadeja from MOBO described her work as "masterfully encapsulating euphoric and melancholic, Ali's signature music style sees Eastern mystique caressed with intelligent electronica and fortified with soul". The songs on Embers were likened to Madonna's work in her prime and a "modern re-interpretation" of Stevie Nicks. Billboard praised her voice for having "too much life on its own". Ali has been influenced by an eclectic mix of artists, which she credits to her Eastern background and upbringing in Queens. She listed alternative, folk, and Pakistani music as her biggest influences. Some of her vocal and songwriting influences, she said, were Stevie Nicks, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Madonna, Sade, and Bono.
Her debut album was noted for a blend of electronica, acoustic, and Middle Eastern melodies. She has been praised for her songwriting, describing personal experiences with people, which "hit a powerful and striking chord" with the listener. After a hiatus of several years, she released new music under the title HYLLS, where while retaining her characteristic lyrical style, she chose to move toward a more indie sound, which has been compared to The xx.
## Discography
Studio albums
- Embers (2009)
- Once (2019) (as HYLLS)
Compilation albums
- Queen of Clubs Trilogy: Ruby Edition (2010)
- Queen of Clubs Trilogy: Onyx Edition (2010)
- Queen of Clubs Trilogy: Diamond Edition (2010)
## Awards
\|- \|rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|2011 \| rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|"Love Story (Sultan and Ned Shepard Remix)" \| Best Progressive/House Track at 25th International Dance Music Awards \| \|- \|rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|2011 \| rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|"Fantasy (Morgan Page Remix)" \| Best Remixed Recording at 53rd Grammy Awards \| \|- \|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"\|2012 \| rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|"Feels So Good" \| Best Trance Track at 27th International Dance Music Awards \| \|- \| rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|"Pressure (Alesso Remix)" \| Best Progressive Track at 27th International Dance Music Awards \| \|- \|rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|2018 \| rowspan="1" style="text-align:center;"\|"Almost Home" \| Dance Recording of the Year at Juno Awards \| |
36,639,464 | Slender Man | 1,172,855,492 | Fictional supernatural character | [
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| The Slender Man (also spelled Slenderman) is a fictional supernatural character that originated as a creepypasta Internet meme created by Something Awful forum user Eric Knudsen (also known as "Victor Surge") in 2009. He is depicted as a thin, unnaturally tall humanoid with a featureless white head and face, wearing a black suit.
Stories of the Slender Man commonly feature his stalking, abducting, or traumatizing people, particularly children. The Slender Man has become a pop culture icon, although he is not confined to a single narrative but appears in many disparate works of fiction, typically composed online. Fiction relating to the Slender Man encompasses many media, including literature, art and video series such as Marble Hornets (2009–2014), wherein he is known as The Operator. The character has appeared in the video game Slender: The Eight Pages (2012) and its successor Slender: The Arrival (2013), as well as inspiring the Enderman in Minecraft. He has also appeared in a 2015 film adaptation of Marble Hornets, where he was portrayed by Doug Jones, and an eponymous 2018 film, where he was portrayed by Javier Botet.
Beginning in 2014, a moral panic occurred over the Slender Man after readers of his fiction were connected to several violent acts, particularly a near-fatal stabbing of a 12-year-old girl in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The stabbing inspired the documentary Beware the Slenderman, which was released in 2016.
## History
### Origin
The Slender Man was created on June 10, 2009, on a thread in the Something Awful Internet forum. The thread was a Photoshop contest in which users were challenged to "create paranormal images." Forum poster Eric Knudsen, under the pseudonym "Victor Surge", contributed two black-and-white images of groups of children to which he added a tall, thin, spectral figure wearing a black suit. Although previous entries had consisted solely of photographs, Surge supplemented his submission with snatches of text—supposedly from witnesses—describing the abductions of the groups of children and giving the character the name "The Slender Man":
The quote under the first photograph read:
> We didn't want to go, we didn't want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time...
The quote under the second photograph read:
> One of two recovered photographs from the Stirling City Library blaze. Notable for being taken the day which fourteen children vanished and for what is referred to as "The Slender Man". Deformities cited as film defects by officials. Fire at library occurred one week later. Actual photograph confiscated as evidence.
These additions effectively transformed the photographs into a work of fiction. Subsequent posters expanded upon the character, adding their own visual or textual contributions.
Knudsen was inspired to create the Slender Man primarily by Zack Parsons' "That Insidious Beast", Stephen King's The Mist, reports of shadow people, Mothman and the Mad Gasser of Mattoon. Other inspirations for the character were the Tall Man from the 1979 film Phantasm, H. P. Lovecraft, the surrealist work of William S. Burroughs, and the survival horror video games Silent Hill and Resident Evil. Knudsen's intention was "to formulate something whose motivations can barely be comprehended, and [which caused] unease and terror in a general population." Other pre-existing fictional or legendary creatures which are similar to the Slender Man include: the Gentlemen, black-suited, pale, bald demons from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer episode "Hush"; men in black, many accounts of which grant them an uncanny appearance with an unnatural walk and "oriental" features; and The Question, a DC Comics superhero with a blank face, whose secret identity is "Victor Sage", a name similar to Knudsen's alias "Victor Surge".
In her book, Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology, Professor Shira Chess of the University of Georgia connected the Slender Man to ancient folklore about fairies. Like fairies, the Slender Man is otherworldly, with motives that are often difficult to grasp; like fairies, his appearance is vague and often shifts to reflect what the viewer wants or fears to see, and, like fairies, the Slender Man lives in the woods and wild places and kidnaps children.
### Early development
The Slender Man soon went viral, spawning numerous works of fanart, cosplay, and online fiction known as "creepypasta"—horror stories told in short snatches of easily copyable text that spread from site to site. Divorced from its original creator, the Slender Man became the subject of myriad stories by multiple authors within an overarching mythos.
Many aspects of the Slender Man mythos first appeared on the original Something Awful thread. One of the earliest additions was added by a forum user named "Thoreau-Up", who created a folklore story set in 16th-century Germany involving a character called Der Großman, which was implied to be an early reference to the Slender Man. The first video series involving the Slender Man evolved from a post on the Something Awful thread by user "ce gars". It tells of a fictional film school friend named Alex Kralie, who had stumbled upon something troubling while shooting his first feature-length project, Marble Hornets. The video series, published in found footage style on YouTube, forms an alternate reality game describing the filmers' fictional experiences with the Slender Man. The ARG also incorporates a Twitter feed and an alternate YouTube channel created by a user named "totheark". As of 2013, Marble Hornets had over 250,000 subscribers around the world and had received 55 million views. Other Slender Man-themed YouTube serials followed, including EverymanHYBRID and TribeTwelve.
In 2012, the Slender Man was adapted into a video game titled Slender: The Eight Pages; within its first month of release, the game was downloaded over 2 million times. Several popular variants of the game followed, including Slenderman's Shadow and Slender Man for iOS, which became the second most-popular app download. The sequel to Slender: The Eight Pages, Slender: The Arrival, was released in 2013. Several independent films about the Slender Man have been released or are in development, including Entity and The Slender Man, released free online after a \$10,000 Kickstarter campaign. In 2013, it was announced that Marble Hornets would become a feature film.
### Description
Because the Slender Man's fictional "mythology" has evolved without an official "canon" for reference, his appearance, motives, habits, and abilities are not fixed but change depending on the storyteller. He is most commonly described as very tall and thin with unnaturally long, tentacle-like arms (or mere tentacles), which he can extend to intimidate or capture prey. In most stories, his face is white and featureless, but occasionally his face appears differently to anyone who sees it. He appears to be wearing a dark suit and tie. The Slender Man is often associated with the forest and/or abandoned locations and has the ability to teleport. Proximity to the Slender Man is often said to trigger a "Slender sickness"; a rapid onset of paranoia, nightmares and delusions accompanied by nosebleeds.
Early stories featured him targeting children or young adults. Some featured young adults driven insane or to act on his behalf, while others did not, and others claim that investigating the Slender Man will draw his attention. The web series Marble Hornets established the idea of proxies (humans who fall under the Slender Man's influence) though initially, they were simply violently insane, rather than puppets of the Slender Man. Marble Hornets also introduced the idea that the Slender Man could interfere with video and audio recordings, as well as the "Slender Man symbol", ⦻, which became a common trope of Slender fiction. Graphic violence and body horror are uncommon in the Slender Man mythos, with many narratives choosing to leave the fate of his victims obscure. Shira Chess notes that "It is important to note that few of the retellings identify exactly what kind of monster the Slender Man might be, and what his specific intentions are- these points all remain mysteriously and usefully vague."
### Reasons for popularity
Media scholar and folklorist Andrew Peck attributes the success of the Slender Man to its highly collaborative nature. Because the character and its motives are shrouded in mystery, users can easily adapt existing Slender Man tropes and imagery to create new stories. This ability for users to tap into the ideas of others while also supplying their own helped inspire the collaborative culture that arose surrounding the Slender Man. Instead of privileging the choices of certain creators as canonical, this collaborative culture informally locates ownership of the creature across the community. In these respects, the Slender Man is similar to campfire stories or urban legends, and the character's success comes from enabling both social interaction and personal acts of creative expression.
Although nearly all users understand that the Slender Man is not real, they suspend that disbelief in order to become more engrossed when telling or listening to stories. This adds a sense of authenticity to Slender Man legend performances and blurs the lines between legend and reality, keeping the creature as an object of legend dialectic. This ambiguity has led some to some confusion over the character's origin and purpose. Only five months after his creation, George Noory's Coast to Coast AM, a radio call-in show devoted to the paranormal and conspiracy theories, began receiving callers asking about the Slender Man. Two years later, an article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune described his origins as "difficult to pinpoint." Eric Knudsen has commented that many people, despite understanding that the Slender Man was created on the Something Awful forums, still entertain the possibility that he might be real.
Shira Chess describes the Slender Man as a metaphor for "helplessness, power differentials, and anonymous forces." Peck sees parallels between the Slender Man and common anxieties about the digital age, such as feelings of constant connectedness and unknown third-party observation. Similarly, Tye Van Horn, a writer for The Elm, has suggested that the Slender Man represents modern fear of the unknown; in an age flooded with information, people have become so unaccustomed to ignorance that they now fear what they cannot understand. Troy Wagner, the creator of Marble Hornets, ascribes the terror of the Slender Man to its malleability; people can shape it into whatever frightens them most. Tina Marie Boyer noted that "The Slender man is a prohibitive monster, but the cultural boundaries he guards are not clear. Victims do not know when they have violated or crossed them."
### Waukesha stabbing
On May 31, 2014, two 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin held down and stabbed a 12-year-old classmate 19 times. When questioned later by authorities, they reportedly claimed that they wished to commit a murder as a first step to becoming proxies for the Slender Man, having read about it online. They also stated that they were afraid that Slender Man would kill their families if they did not commit the murder. After the perpetrators left the scene, the victim crawled out of the woods to a roadway. A passing cyclist alerted authorities, and the victim survived the attack. Both attackers have been diagnosed with mental illnesses but have also been charged as adults and are each facing up to 65 years in prison. One of the girls reportedly said Slender Man watches her, can read minds and could teleport.
Experts testified in court that she also said she conversed with Lord Voldemort and one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. On August 1, 2014, she was found incompetent to stand trial and her prosecution was suspended until her condition improved. On November 12, 2014, a doctor judged that her condition had improved enough for her to stand trial, and on December 19, 2014, the judge ruled that both girls were competent to stand trial. In August 2015, the presiding judge ruled that the girls would be tried as adults. They were tried separately. On August 21, 2017, one of the girls, now 15, pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree homicide, but claimed she was not responsible for her actions on grounds of insanity. Although prosecutors alleged that she knew what she was doing was wrong, the jury determined that she was mentally ill during the attack. On December 21, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren sentenced Weier, then 16 years old, to be hospitalized for 25 years from the date of the crime, which would keep her institutionalized until age 37.
In a statement to the media on June 4, 2014, Eric Knudsen said, "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act." He stated he would not be giving interviews on the matter.
On September 25, 2017, it was reported that Morgan Geyser, then 15, had agreed to plead guilty to attempting to commit first-degree homicide in an arrangement that would allow her to avoid jail time. On February 1, 2018, the Associated Press reported that Geyser had been sentenced to 40 years in the Wisconsin mental hospital, the maximum sentence allowed.
### Moral panic and other incidents
The stabbing in Waukesha spawned a nationwide moral panic over Slender Man across the United States. Parents across the nation became worried about the potential dangers that stories about Slender Man might pose to their children's safety. Russell Jack, the police chief of Waukesha, warned that the Slender Man stabbing "should be a wake-up call for all parents" that "the internet is full of dark and wicked things"—a warning which numerous media outlets publicized.
After hearing the story, an unidentified woman from Cincinnati, Ohio, told a WLWT TV reporter in June 2014 that her 13-year-old daughter had attacked her with a knife, and had written macabre fiction, some involving the Slender Man, who the mother said motivated the attack.
On September 4, 2014, a 14-year-old girl in Port Richey, Florida, allegedly set her family's house on fire while her mother and nine-year-old brother were inside. Police reported that the teenager had been reading online stories about Slender Man as well as Atsushi Ōkubo's manga Soul Eater. Eddie Daniels of the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said the girl "had visited the website that contains a lot of the Slender Man information and stories [...] It would be safe to say there is a connection to that."
During an early 2015 epidemic of suicide attempts by young people ages 12 to 24 on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Slender Man was cited as an influence; the Oglala Sioux tribe president noted that many Native Americans traditionally believe in a "suicide spirit" similar to the Slender Man. Other Sioux describe the "Big Man" as a messenger or sign, warning that society is developing in a dangerous direction.
A documentary film on the incident called Beware the Slenderman, directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky, was released by HBO Films in March 2016, and was broadcast on HBO on January 23, 2017.
### After the Waukesha stabbing
The Waukesha stabbing and the negative media attention it generated irreversibly altered the Slender Man legend and the online community surrounding it. What had previously just been a creepy horror meme to most people suddenly acquired a new level of reality that most fans of Slender Man found horrifying. Meanwhile, by around the same time, the Slender Man character had lost much of his original popularity. Most of the original blogs that had once been devoted to Slender Man either shut down completely or became less popular. Slender Man's presence in mainstream popular culture also contributed to a decline in how frightening he seemed to many people.
The late 2010s also saw an increase in benevolent portrayals of Slender Man, with many depictions of him from this period portraying him as an antihero who protects victimized children from bullies, although often by violent means. In some portrayals of Slender Man from the late 2010s, he has a daughter named Skinny Sally, who is portrayed as a young girl covered in cuts and bruises. Slender Man sometimes is portrayed carrying Skinny Sally on his shoulders protectively. Lynn McNeill, assistant professor of folklore at Utah State University, observes that the increase in benevolent portrayals of Slender Man seems to have begun shortly after the stabbing in Waukesha and states that this trend towards a benevolent Slender Man may be a reaction by fans of the character to the violence of the stabbing.
Despite the decline in popular interest in Slender Man, commercial adaptations of the character continued. In 2015, the film adaptation of Marble Hornets, titled Always Watching: A Marble Hornets Story, was released on VOD, where the character was portrayed by Doug Jones. In 2016, Sony Pictures subsidiary Screen Gems partnered with Mythology Entertainment to bring a Slender Man film into theatres, with the title character portrayed by Javier Botet.
The film generated considerable controversy soon after it was announced, with many accusing the filmmakers of trying to capitalize off the Waukesha stabbing. Bill Weier, the father of Anissa Weier, stated, "It's absurd they want to make a movie like this... All we're doing is extending the pain all three of these families have gone through." The progressive advocacy group Care2 created an online petition, which received over 19,000 signatures, demanding that the film not be released, labelling the film "crass commercialism at its worst" and "a naked cash grab built on the exploitation of a deeply traumatic event and the people who lived it." Sony representatives insisted that the film was based on the fictional character that had become popular online and not on the Waukesha stabbing.
Upon its release in August 2018, the film Slender Man, despite being declared a box-office bomb and receiving both little marketing and overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics, went on to gross several times its \$10 million budget worldwide. David Ehrlich of IndieWire gave the film a D, writing "a tasteless and inedibly undercooked serving of the Internet's stalest creepypasta, Slender Man aspires to be for the YouTube era what The Ring was to the last gasps of the VHS generation. But... there's one fundamental difference that sets the two movies apart: The Ring is good, and Slender Man is terrible." Writing for The Verge, Carli Velocci called the Slender Man movie "a nail in the coffin of a dying fandom".
## Folkloric qualities
Several scholars have argued that, despite being a fictional work with an identifiable origin point, the Slender Man represents a form of digital folklore. Shira Chess argues that the Slender Man exemplifies the similarities between traditional folklore and the open source ethos of the Internet, and that, unlike those of traditional monsters such as vampires and werewolves, the fact that the Slender Man's mythos can be tracked and signposted offers a powerful insight into how myth and folklore form. Chess identifies three aspects of the Slender Man mythos that tie it to folklore: collectivity (meaning that it is created by a collective, rather than a single individual), variability (meaning that the story changes depending on the teller), and performance (meaning that the storyteller's narrative changes to reflect the audience's response).
Andrew Peck also considers the Slender Man to be an authentic form of folklore and notes its similarity to emergent forms of offline legend performance. Peck suggests that digital folklore performance extends the dynamics of face-to-face performance in several notable ways, such as by occurring asynchronously, encouraging imitation and personalization while also allowing perfect replication, combining elements of oral, written, and visual communication, and generating shared expectations for performance that enact group identity despite the lack of a physically present group. He concludes that the Slender Man represents a digital legend cycle that combines the generic conventions and emergent qualities of oral and visual performance with the collaborative potential of networked communication.
Jeff Tolbert also accepts the Slender Man as folkloric and suggests it represents a process he calls "reverse ostension". Ostension in folkloristics is the process of acting out a folk narrative. According to Tolbert, the Slender Man does the opposite by creating a set of folklore-like narratives where none existed before. It is an iconic figure produced through a collective effort and deliberately modeled after an existing and familiar folklore genre. According to Tolbert, this represents two processes in one: it involves the creation of new objects and new disconnected examples of experience, and it involves the combination of these elements into a body of "traditional" narratives, modeled on existing folklore (but not wholly indebted to any specific tradition).
Professor Thomas Pettitt of the University of Southern Denmark has described the Slender Man as being an exemplar of the modern age's closing of the "Gutenberg Parenthesis"; the time period from the invention of the printing press to the spread of the web in which stories and information were codified in discrete media, to a return to the older, more primal forms of storytelling, exemplified by oral tradition and campfire tales, in which the same story can be retold, reinterpreted and recast by different tellers, allowing the lore to expand and evolve with time.
## Copyright
Despite his folkloric qualities, the Slender Man is not in the public domain. Several for-profit ventures involving the Slender Man have unequivocally acknowledged Knudsen as the creator of this fictional character, while others were civilly blocked from distribution (including the Kickstarter-funded film) after legal complaints from Knudsen and other sources. Though Knudsen himself has given his personal blessing to a number of Slender Man-related projects, the issue is complicated by the fact that, while he is the character's creator, a third party holds the options to any adaptations into other media, including film and television. The identity of this option holder has not been made public. Knudsen himself has argued that his enforcement of copyright has less to do with money than with artistic integrity: "I just want something amazing to come off it... something that's scary and disturbing and kinda different. I would hate for something to come out and just be kinda conventional." In May 2016, the media rights to Slender Man were sold to production company Mythology Entertainment, but the company split up in 2019, leaving the ownership of the character's rights in question.
## References in media
- In 2011, Markus "Notch" Persson, creator of the sandbox indie game Minecraft, added a new hostile mob to the game, which he named the "Enderman" when multiple users on Reddit and Google+ commented on the similarity to the Slender Man.
- The Slender Man was the antagonist of the season 3 Lost Girl episode "SubterrFaenean", in which the Slender Man was said to be the basis for the Pied Piper legend.
- In early 2013 a song and animated video called "Sympathy For Slender Man" from the Fox late night animated block Animation Domination High-Def aired in between programs, known as ADHD Shorts.
- In the 2014 episode "Pinkie Apple Pie" of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, a pony version of the character appears in a brief cameo.
- The TV series Supernatural parodied Slender Man as "Thinman" in the Season 9 episode of the same name.
- In 2016, American horror punk band Haunted Garage released an EP entitled Slenderman and Other Strange Tales, featuring a song and accompanying music video based on both the character and the 2014 stabbing case.
- The sixteenth season of the crime drama TV series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit featured an episode, "Glasgowman's Wrath", inspired by the Slender Man stabbings.
- The board game Kingdom Death: Monster features an expansion pack based on Slender Man.
- AdventureQuest Worlds has featured numerous armors and pets that are based on Slender Man.
- Slender Man appears in the episode "The Planned Parenthood Show" in Big Mouth.
- The Slender Man was mentioned by Ben Chang in the episode "Ladders" of Community.
- Slender Man and his clones appear in the campaign level "Slender Forest" in video game Pixel Gun 3D.
## See also
- Kunekune – Another message board urban legend with wriggly appendages
- Pope Lick Monster – Another urban legend of a compulsive being with real consequences
- The Silbón – A Colombian/Venezuelan legendary figure, who shares some traits with Slender Man |
152,995 | Kenny McCormick | 1,172,676,186 | Fictional character in South Park | [
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| Kenneth "Kenny" McCormick is a fictional character and one of the four main protagonists in the adult animated sitcom South Park, alongside Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, and Eric Cartman. His often muffled and incomprehensible speech—the result of his parka hood covering his mouth—is provided by co-creator Matt Stone. After early appearances in The Spirit of Christmas shorts in 1992 and 1995, Kenny appeared in South Park television episodes beginning August 13, 1997, as well as the 1999 feature film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where his uncovered face and voice were first revealed.
Kenny was a third, later fourth-grade student who commonly has extraordinary experiences not typical of conventional small-town life in his hometown of South Park, Colorado, where he lives with his poverty-stricken family. Kenny is animated by computer to look as he did in the show's original method of cutout animation.
The character gained popularity thanks to a running gag during the first five seasons of the series, whereby Kenny would routinely suffer an excruciating death before returning alive and well in the next episode with little or no explanation. Stan would frequently use the catchphrase "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!", followed by Kyle exclaiming "You bastard(s)!". Since the sixth season in 2002, the practice of killing Kenny has been seldom used by the show's creators. Various episodes have set up the gag, sometimes presenting alternate explanations for Kenny's unacknowledged reappearances.
## Role in South Park
Kenny attends South Park Elementary as part of Mr. Garrison's fourth-grade class. During the first 58 episodes, Kenny and the other main child characters were in the third grade. Kenny comes from a poor household, presided over by his alcoholic, unemployed father, Stuart McCormick. His mother Carol McCormick has a job washing dishes at the Olive Garden. Kenny has an older brother named Kevin. He also has a younger sister who is shown with his family in the season nine episode "Best Friends Forever", but does not reappear until the 15th season episode "The Poor Kid", where her name is revealed to be Karen, whom he loves unconditionally. Kenny is friends with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Butters. Kenny is regularly teased for living in poverty, particularly by Cartman.
Kenny's superhero alter ego, Mysterion, first appeared in the Season 13 episode "The Coon", as a rival to Eric Cartman's eponymous supervillain alter ego. He unmasks himself at the end of the episode, but his identity is left intentionally ambiguous to the viewer. He is not revealed to be Kenny until the Season 14 episode "Mysterion Rises", the character's third appearance as part of a story arc.
## Deaths
Prior to season six, Kenny died in almost every episode. The nature of the deaths was often gruesome and portrayed in a comically absurd fashion, and usually followed by Stan (or Kyle) respectively yelling "Oh, my God! They killed Kenny!" with Kyle (or Stan) yelling "You bastard(s)!" Shortly afterward, rats would commonly appear and begin picking at his corpse. In a following episode, Kenny would reappear alive and well, usually without any explanation. Most characters appear oblivious or indifferent to the phenomenon, although occasionally one will acknowledge awareness of it. In "Cherokee Hair Tampons", Kenny gets irritated and offended when Stan laments Kyle's critical condition while utterly ignoring Kenny's past demises. Eric Cartman commented on Kenny's deaths in the episode "Cartmanland" when he is being sued for unsafe rides insisting to attorneys representing his family that "Kenny? He dies all the time!" In "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", as the episode is about to end, the kids point out that "something feels unfinished", and Kenny celebrates as "The End" sign appears; it is the first episode in the series he survives.
Near the end of the production run of the show's fifth season, Parker and Stone contemplated having an episode in which Kenny was killed off permanently. The reasoning behind the idea was to genuinely surprise fans, and to allow an opportunity to provide a major role for Butters Stotch, a breakout character whose popularity was growing with the viewers and creators of the show. In the episode "Kenny Dies", Kenny dies after developing terminal muscular dystrophy, while Parker and Stone claimed that Kenny would not be returning in subsequent episodes. The duo insisted they grew tired of upholding the tradition of having Kenny die in each episode. Stone stated that thinking of humorous ways to kill the character was initially fun, but became more mundane as the series progressed. When they determined that it would be too difficult to develop the character because he was too much of a "prop", Parker and Stone finally decided to kill off Kenny permanently.
> ["Kenny Dies"] was the one episode where [all the characters] cared [he was dying] for once. After that, we said, 'Why doesn't he just stay dead?' And it was like, 'Okay, let's just do that.' It was that easy of a decision. I think a lot of people probably haven't noticed. I couldn't care less. I am so sick of that character.
> —Matt Stone, from a 2002 article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel
For much of season six, Kenny remained dead, though he still appears to possess Cartman's body, and both Stone and Parker entertained the idea of eventually bringing the character back. According to Stone, only a small minority of fans were significantly angered by Kenny's absence to threaten a boycott of the cable channel Comedy Central, on which South Park is aired. For most of the season, Stan, Kyle, and Cartman fill the void left by Kenny by allowing the characters Butters Stotch and Tweek Tweak into their group, paving the way for those characters to receive more focus on the show; nevertheless, Kenny returned from the year-long absence in the season six finale "Red Sleigh Down", has remained a main character since, and has been given larger roles in episodes.
The first explanation given for Kenny's deaths and reappearances was given in the 53rd episode "Cartman Joins NAMBLA", wherein the McCormicks have a baby exactly like Kenny, including the characteristic orange parka, shortly after the former Kenny dies. Mr. McCormick exclaims, "God, this must be the fiftieth time this has happened", to which Mrs. McCormick quickly replies, "Fifty-second". This explanation is expanded upon in the Season 14 episodes "Coon 2: Hindsight", "Mysterion Rises" and "Coon vs. Coon and Friends", in which Kenny, while playing superheroes with his friends, claims his "superpower" is immortality. He actually dies several times during these episodes—even committing suicide more than once—reawakening alive and unharmed in his bed each time. He is frustrated and angry that no one can remember him dying every time he regenerates and longs to know the source of his power, which he views as a curse. Unbeknownst to him, his parents were previously connected to a Cthulhu-worshipping death cult. After Kenny shoots himself the second time, Mrs. McCormick awakes with a scream, shrieks "It's happening again!", and minutes later, is shown gently placing a newborn Kenny in his bed. "We should never have gone to that stupid cult meeting," she grouses as she and her husband return to bed.
In "Put It Down", he is killed off-screen by a driver on his phone, as his picture is shown among those of kids killed by a driver on phone texting tribute. In "Bike Parade", Jeff Bezos tells Alexa to kill Kenny, and Cartman hauls his coffin while riding his bike in the parade. "The Pandemic Special" sees Kenny being gunned down by the police when they are equipped with military weaponry to deal with the children breaking free from COVID-19 quarantine.
In South Park: Post Covid, as a millionaire scientist in the future finding the cause of COVID-19, Kenny dies due to a time travel experiment that got him a variant named COVID Delta+ Rewards. This death is undone in South Park: Post Covid: The Return of Covid after Stan, Kyle, and Cartman time travel to the past.
## Character
### Creation and design
When developing the character, the show's creators had observed that most groups of childhood friends in small middle-class towns always included "the one poor kid" and decided to portray Kenny in this light.
In a 2000 interview, Parker said that Kenny was based on a childhood friend of his who was also named Kenny and wore an orange parka that muffled his voice. He too was the poorest child in the neighborhood and often skipped school, causing Parker and his friends to jokingly say he died, only for him to return to school later.
An unnamed precursor to Kenny first appeared in the first The Spirit of Christmas short, dubbed Jesus vs. Frosty, created by Parker and Stone in 1992 while they were students at the University of Colorado. The character was composed of construction paper cutouts and animated through the use of stop motion. When tasked three years later by friend Brian Graden to create another short as a video Christmas card that he could send to friends, Parker and Stone created another similarly-animated The Spirit of Christmas short, dubbed Jesus vs. Santa. In this short, Kenny is given his first name, and first appears as he does in the series. Kenny next appeared on August 13, 1997, when South Park debuted on Comedy Central with the episode "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe".
In tradition with the show's animation style, Kenny is composed of simple geometrical shapes and primary colors. He is not offered the same free range of motion associated with hand-drawn characters; his character is mostly shown from only one angle, and his movements are animated in an intentionally jerky fashion. Ever since the show's second episode, "Weight Gain 4000" (season one, 1997), Kenny, like all other characters on the show, has been animated with computer software, though he is portrayed to give the impression that the show still utilizes its original technique.
The effect of Kenny's speech is achieved by Stone mumbling into his own hand as he provides Kenny's lines. While he originally voiced Kenny without any computer manipulation, Stone now does so by speaking in his normal vocal range and then adding a childlike inflection. The recorded audio is then edited with Pro Tools, and the pitch is altered to make the voice sound more like that of a fourth-grader. As the technique of Kenny's muzzled enunciation frequently implies, many of his lines are indeed profane and sexually explicit, the lengthier of which are mostly improvised by Stone.
He first appeared unobscured by his hood in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, where it was revealed that he had messy blonde hair. Mike Judge provided the voice for Kenny's one line of uninsulated dialogue: "Goodbye, you guys." On a few occasions during episodes that have originally aired since the film's release, he has been seen without the parka; however, unlike in Bigger, Longer & Uncut his entire face has been only seen four times in the television series without being partially obscured or otherwise altered, this being in "The Losing Edge", "The Jeffersons", "You're Getting Old", and "DikinBaus Hot Dogs". He also speaks unmuffled during some of these instances, in which case co-producer Eric Stough provides Kenny's voice. During "The Coon" episodes of seasons 13 and 14, Kenny has his first major speaking role as the character Mysterion.
### Personality and traits
While most child characters on the show are foul-mouthed, Kenny is often even more risqué with his dialogue. Parker and Stone state that they depict Kenny and his friends in this manner in order to display how young boys really talk when they are alone. While Kenny is often cynical and profane, Parker notes that there nonetheless is an "underlying sweetness" aspect to the character, and Time magazine described Kenny and his friends as "sometimes cruel but with a core of innocence". He is amused by toilet humor and bodily functions, and his favorite television personalities are Terrance and Phillip, a Canadian duo whose comedy routines on their show-within-the-show revolve substantially around fart jokes. Kenny is shown to desire intercourse in the episode "The Ring", when Kenny gets a girlfriend and is overjoyed to find out that she has a reputation as a slut. Kenny is also lecherous, and often portrayed as being eager to do and say disgusting things in an attempt to impress others or earn money. Conversely, his alter-ego Mysterion is seemingly mature, principled, and serious-minded, the only exception being one instance in "Mysterion Rises" in which he takes delight in irritating Cartman. As Mysterion, he convinces his parents to take better care of themselves and their children, as seen by their reaction when he questions them about the cult of Cthulhu. He also uses his disguise to protect his sister Karen (who refers to Mysterion as her "guardian angel"), as revealed in "The Poor Kid"; however, in all of his guises, Kenny is depicted as being uncommonly selfless, dying for the sake of others and spending all of his time working so he could buy his little sister a doll.
In the trilogy of episodes "Black Friday", "A Song of Ass and Fire" and "Titties and Dragons", in which the boys play-act characters from the TV series Game of Thrones, Kenny cross-dresses as a fantasy-style princess with a wig and dress similar to the video game character Princess Zelda, and becomes a Japanese-speaking moe anime character at one point. When Cartman complains, "You're never going to be a real princess", Princess Kenny responds (via her translator, Stan) angrily to Cartman, calling him a "ball-licking lesbian".
This portrayal continues in the video game South Park: The Stick of Truth where Cartman notes that playing a "chick" is "just how [Kenny] seems to be rolling right now". Kenny's sister also refers to Kenny as a girl, if you talk to her in the McCormick house. Throughout the game, Kenny posts 'status updates' referring to herself as "the cutest of them all".
## In other media
Kenny had a major role in South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the full-length film based on the series, and appeared on the film's soundtrack singing (albeit muffled) several lines of the song "Mountain Town" from the film. As a tribute to the Dead Parrot sketch, a short that features Kenny as a "dead friend" being returned by Cartman to a shop run by Kyle aired during a 1999 BBC television special commemorating the 30th anniversary of Monty Python's Flying Circus. Kenny was also featured in the documentary film The Aristocrats, listening to Cartman tell his version of the film's titular joke, and in "The Gauntlet", a short spoofing both Gladiator and Battlefield Earth that aired during the 2000 MTV Movie Awards.
Kenny also appears in six South Park-related video games: In South Park, Kenny is controlled by the player through the first-person shooter mode who attempts to ward off enemies from terrorizing the town of South Park. In South Park: Chef's Luv Shack, a user has the option of playing as Kenny when participating in the game's several "minigames" based on other popular arcade games. In the racing game South Park Rally, a user can race as Kenny against other users playing as other characters, while choosing to place him in any of a variety of vehicles. In South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!, Kenny can be selected as a playable character used to establish a tower defense against the game's antagonists. In South Park: The Stick of Truth, Kenny (as Princess Kenny) can be selected as a companion over the course of much of the game. In South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Kenny is seen as his alter-ego Mysterion.
## Cultural impact
Kenny's deaths are well known in popular culture, and was one of the things viewers most commonly associated with South Park during its earlier seasons. IGN ranked Kenny at \#6 on their "The Top 25 South Park Characters" list. The exclamation of "Oh my God! They killed Kenny!" quickly became a popular catchphrase, while both Kenny and the phrase have appeared on some of the more popular pieces of South Park merchandise, including shirts, bumper stickers, calendars and baseball caps, and inspired the rap song "Kenny's Dead" by Master P, which was featured on Chef Aid: The South Park Album.
The running gag of Kenny's deaths in earlier seasons was incorporated into the season 9 (2005) episode "Best Friends Forever" when Kenny, in a vegetative state, is kept alive by a feeding tube while a media circus erupted over whether the tube should be removed and allow Kenny to die. The episode received much attention as it served to provide commentary on the Terri Schiavo case, originally airing just one day before Schiavo died. The episode earned South Park its first Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program.
Kenny's deaths have been subject to much critical analysis in the media and literary world. In the book South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating, an essay by Southern Illinois University philosophy professor Randall Auxier, entitled "Killing Kenny: Our Daily Dose of Death", suggests that the fashion of the recurring gag serves to help the viewer become more comfortable with the inevitability of their own death. In the book South Park and Philosophy: You Know, I Learned Something Today, University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point professor Karin Fry wrote an essay concerning the parallels between Kenny's role in the show and the different concepts of existentialism.
When Sophie Rutschmann of the University of Strasbourg discovered a mutated gene that causes an adult fruit fly to die within two days after it is infected with certain bacteria, she named the gene "Kenny" in honor of the character.
## See also
- South Park (Park County, Colorado)
- South Park City |
1,445,554 | Mother 3 | 1,173,916,132 | 2006 video game | [
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"Brownie Brown games",
"Cancelled 64DD games",
"Cancelled Nintendo 64 games",
"Cancelled Super Nintendo Entertainment System games",
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"Fiction about suicide",
"Game Boy Advance games",
"Grief in fiction",
"HAL Laboratory games",
"Japan-exclusive video games",
"Japanese role-playing video games",
"Media containing Gymnopedies",
"Mother (video game series)",
"Science fantasy video games",
"Science fiction comedy",
"Single-player video games",
"Vaporware video games",
"Video game sequels",
"Video games about dinosaurs",
"Video games about psychic powers",
"Video games about siblings",
"Video games about twins",
"Video games developed in Japan",
"Video games produced by Kensuke Tanabe",
"Video games scored by Shogo Sakai",
"Video games set on islands",
"Video games with oblique graphics",
"Virtual Console games for Wii U",
"Works about twin brothers"
]
| is a 2006 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It is the third entry in the Mother series. The game follows Lucas, a young boy with psychic abilities, and a party of characters as they attempt to prevent a mysterious invading army from corrupting and destroying the world.
Like previous entries, Mother 3 focuses on exploring the game world from a top-down perspective and engaging in turn-based combat with enemies. Its development spanned twelve years and four consoles, beginning in 1994 for the Super Famicom and then transitioning to the Nintendo 64 and its 64DD add-on. It was initially canceled in 2000, but development was restarted in 2003 for the Game Boy Advance.
Mother 3 was never localized or released outside Japan, due to its release near the end of the Advance's lifespan and the company focusing on the Nintendo DS. However, it was a critical and commercial success in the years that followed and has generated a cult following, in which it received praise for its character development, stylized graphics, music, and story, but was criticized for its lack of innovation in the role-playing genre. The game is noted for its themes of grief and rebellion against tyranny, progressively more mature and dramatic tone than its previous two installments.
An unofficial English fan translation was released by the Starmen.net internet community in 2008, and received over 100,000 downloads within a week. Mother 3 was re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan in 2016.
## Gameplay
Mother 3 is a single-player role-playing video game similar to previous games in the Mother series. The player controls a party of playable characters who explore the game's two-dimensional fictional world, primarily shown from a top-down perspective. While navigating the overworld, the player may converse with non-player characters, obtain items, or encounter enemies. Winning battles against enemies awards experience points to the party, which is required for leveling up. Leveling up a character permanently enhances its individual attributes such as maximum hit points (HP), power points (PP), offense, and defense. Weapons, armor, or accessories can be equipped on a character to increase certain attributes. The player can restore their characters' HP and PP or heal various status ailments by visiting hot springs which are abundant in the game world, and the player can save the game by talking to frogs. Currency is introduced in the later half of the game as Dragon Points (DP), earned by winning battles and used to purchase items. The player can deposit or withdraw DP from frogs.
Mother 3 retains the turn-based battle system featured in EarthBound. When the player comes into contact with an enemy in the overworld, the game transitions to a battle screen. Battles are viewed from a presumed first-person perspective, showing the enemies against a distorted, animated background. The player can assign each character in their party to perform an action, such as attacking an enemy or using items to restore HP or PP. Some characters can utilize psychic-based abilities referred to as PSI, which includes stronger attacks and healing abilities, and require PP to execute. Like EarthBound, combat uses a "rolling health" system: when one of the player's characters is injured, its HP will gradually "roll" down, similar to an odometer, rather than immediately decremented. This allows a mortally wounded character to perform actions like attacking or healing themselves, as long as the player acts quickly enough. If a character loses all HP, it will become unconscious and cannot participate unless revived by another character. The player loses a battle if all characters become unconscious; the player will then be given the option to continue play from the nearest save point, but with half the DP on their person.
Combat in Mother 3 includes a unique musical combo system not seen in previous Mother games. When one of the player's characters directly attacks an enemy with a weapon, they can repeatedly attack the enemy by pressing the button in time with the beat of the background music, with each enemy possessing a musical theme with different rhythms. Using this system, the player can attack the enemy up to sixteen times in a row. When the correct beat is not apparent, the player can put the enemy to sleep to isolate the beat from the music.
## Plot
Mother 3 is set in the fictional Nowhere Islands, an unknown length of time after the events of Mother 2. The game begins with twins Lucas and Claus and their mother Hinawa preparing to return home to Tazmily Village after visiting Hinawa's father, who lives in the northern reaches of the Islands. Before they can return, Tazmily Village is attacked by a mysterious military force known as the Pigmask Army, who bomb the nearby forest and start a forest fire. Hinawa's husband, Flint, is alerted to the fire and sets out to rescue his family. He finds Lucas and Claus, but discovers that Hinawa was killed defending them from a hostile Drago, a normally peaceful lizard-like creature. Later, Claus leaves the village to take revenge on the Drago; Flint attempts to follow him and discovers and defeats the Drago, which has been turned into a cyborg, but fails to find Claus.
In response to the Pigmasks' invasion, neophyte thief Duster is sent by his father and teacher Wess to the abandoned Osohe Castle to retrieve the mysterious Egg of Light. While there he meets the spirited young Princess Kumatora, but both he and the Egg are caught in a trap and vanish. At the same time a mysterious peddler known as Yokuba, who works with the Pigmasks, sells television-like devices known as Happy Boxes to the townspeople, with the unwilling help of a monkey named Salsa who he abuses. Yokuba introduces the villagers to the concept of currency, giving some money to one of them and then framing Duster for the theft of it. Salsa escapes from Yokuba's control with the help of Kumatora, Lucas, and Wess.
Three years later, Tazmily Village has been taken over by the Pigmask Army, who have modernized it with railways, Happy Boxes, and other modern technology. Lucas hears rumours that Duster, who has been missing since leaving for Osohe Castle, is working as a bassist at the nearby Club Titiboo, and sets off with his dog Boney. While travelling there, he learns psychic powers from a superpowered, benevolent, androgynous creature known as a Magypsy. At the club, he finds Kumatora working as a waitress, as well as Duster, who has lost his memory. They join and recover the Egg and restore Duster's memory, but while attempting to board a flying Pigmask airship, a mysterious Masked Man shakes them off and sends them flying to the ground, separating them.
Lucas and Boney land in a haystack back in Tazmily, and learn from the Magypsies that beneath the Islands is a massive dragon. The Magypsies' purpose is to guard seven Needles that were placed in the dragon to control its power; whoever pulls most of the Needles will be able to use the dragon's incredible power to completely reshape the world. Because of this, the Masked Man is trying to find and pull the Needles. Lucas and Boney reunite with Duster and Kumatora and race to pull the Needles before the Masked Man, but only manage to pull three before him, with the Masked Man pulling another three.
The seventh and final Needle is located beneath New Pork City, the capital of the Pigmasks. Lucas and company travel there and meet Leder, another villager, who reveals that the inhabitants of Tazmily Village are the last survivors of a global apocalypse, who travelled to the Nowhere Islands as they were protected by the dragon's power. To prevent a second apocalypse from reoccurring, the survivors sealed their previous memories in the Egg of Light; Leder was given the role of revealing the truth if the situation called for it. He also reveals that the leader of the Pigmasks is Porky Minch (Known as Pokey Minch in Mother 2), who after the events of Mother 2 travelled in time to the Nowhere Islands and began building an empire there, kidnapping inhabitants from other time periods (including Dr. Andonuts from Mother 2) to populate it, as well as transforming the local wildlife into twisted new forms (including the Drago that killed Hinawa).
Lucas and company set out to confront Porky and pull the last needle. While fighting their way to him, they discover that Yokuba was the Magypsy responsible for protecting the seventh Needle, who turned traitor and started working for the Pigmasks. The heroes confront Porky deep beneath New Pork City, but he seals himself inside an "Absolutely Safe Capsule" built by Dr. Andonuts; unbeknownst to him, however, Andonuts has tricked him, as the Absolutely Safe Capsule also renders the outside world safe by permanently sealing Porky within it.
Lucas reaches the seventh needle and confronts the Masked Man, who is revealed to be a brainwashed Claus. During the battle between Claus and Lucas, Claus's memory of his mother restores his humanity and ultimately unleashes the lightning on Lucas as a sacrifice, which was reflected by the Franklin's badge. Lucas pulls the final Needle, awakening the Dragon and destroying the Nowhere Islands.
In an epilogue set in pitch darkness, the game's cast reveals that they have survived and wish the player farewell. After the credits, the Mother 3 logo is shown restored to being made completely of wood.
## Development
Development of Mother 3 began in 1994 for the Super Famicom with Shigeru Miyamoto and Satoru Iwata as producers. The team mostly consisted of members involved in the development of the previous Mother game, EarthBound. Inspired by Super Mario 64, the team transitioned from the Super Famicom to the Nintendo 64, believing that they could also creatively flourish by making a 3D world without technical restrictions. However, their early specifications exceeded the capabilities and memory limits of Nintendo 64; halfway through development the team scaled back its large scope and changed the platform to the 64DD, a Nintendo 64 expansion peripheral that was later released only in Japan in 1999. Mother 3 was expected to be a 64DD launch game, but development shifted back to the Nintendo 64 after the 64DD's commercial failure.
Nintendo showcased a demo of Mother 3 at the 1999 Nintendo Space World trade show. It was expected to be released in North America under the title EarthBound 64, on a 256-megabit cartridge, similar to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. IGN reacted favorably to the demo and compared the multi-character narrative to the Japan-only Super Famicom RPG Live A Live, and Famitsu readers ranked the game as one of their top ten most anticipated towards the end of 1999.
Shigesato Itoi announced in late August 2000 that Mother 3 had been cancelled following a number of delays. Iwata and Miyamoto clarified in an interview that resources had been moved to the development of the GameCube, the next Nintendo console. Itoi stated that an additional two years would have been required to finish the game, which was 30% complete at the time of cancellation. Iwata stated retrospectively that the focus on 3D graphics made the project overcomplex. Miyamoto also stated that the Mother franchise had not been abandoned and that he was still interested in bringing the game to fruition.
In 2003, in a Japanese commercial for the compilation game Mother 1+2, Nintendo announced that it had restarted the development of Mother 3 for the portable Game Boy Advance console. Itoi had believed that restarting the project was impossible but changed his mind following encouragement from the Mother fanbase. Nintendo subsidiary Brownie Brown developed the game, with input from Itoi. While the graphics were changed from 3D to 2D, the story was not altered. Mother 3 was about 60% complete by July 2004, and was released on April 20, 2006 in Japan.
### Design
Itoi thought of the concept behind Mother 3 towards the end of Mother 2's production, a "detective story where the city was the main character". He thought of a hack, small-time, womanizing private investigator who would become engrossed in a big murder case, and the story would unfold from a young female clerk at a flower shop who would slowly recall parts of a story consequential to the plot. Thus, the city would appear to grow. This idea of a "single place changing over time" was central to Mother 3. Unlike previous RPGs, which he saw as "road movies" with little reason to revisit, he wanted the player to see the town gossip grow dynamically. It was enough of a departure from the series that the development team questioned whether fans would consider it part of the series. Itoi intended the game to have 12 chapters with various game mechanics and rotating player-characters. He conceptualized the development as moving 3D puppets before realizing the degree of programming required. As development wore on, Itoi reduced the scope of the chapters until seven or nine were left. The "uncomfortable beauty" of chimera—multiple creatures fused into one—was central to the game and the idea behind the metallic and wooden Mother 3 logo. Itoi served less of a manager role and more as a team member and scriptwriter than in previous Mother development cycles. He saw himself as simultaneously making the game he wanted to play and setting traps for the player, and as making a game Nintendo could not.
Itoi chose to use the pixelated style of Mother 2 for the Game Boy Advance Mother 3 because he was uninterested in computer graphics trends. The series' games were written in the hiragana alphabet instead of in kanji (Chinese characters) so as to remain accessible to young children. Itoi described the game world as governed by a "might equals right ... macho" power struggle. The antagonist, Porky, was designed as a "symbol of humankind", complementing Itoi's view of evil on a fungible morality spectrum with "pranks" and "crimes" at its extremes. Itoi compared the way in which the characters realize their psychic powers with menstruation and added that human physiology was "one of his themes". Players sweat when learning an ability based on Itoi's belief of how physical struggle facilitates growth. He also included characters like the Magypsies and Duster (who has a bad leg) to show the value of having friends with different qualities.
Another of his themes was the duality of the seriousness and lightheartedness of games, which is why he added a serious death scene to the first chapter. Itoi's Nintendo 64 version of the final battle was darker, "dirtier", and more upsetting, though the final version changed little in concept. Itoi attributed the change in tone to his own growth and the character composition of the new development team. Itoi later reflected on the ending's lesson on the virtue of helping bad people. Itoi felt that the ending's renewal theme reflected his worldview of appreciating our time on Earth in light of the planet's inevitable end. Much of the rest of the script was written after-hours at a local hotel where they would continue their work.
### Music
Shogo Sakai, a video game composer at HAL Laboratory whose previous works include music for Kirby Air Ride and Super Smash Bros. Melee, composed Mother 3's soundtrack. Shigesato Itoi stated that Sakai was chosen for the role given his deep understanding of the game's story and the EarthBound series in general, in addition to the fact that EarthBound composers Keiichi Suzuki and Hirokazu Tanaka were both unavailable. Sakai worked to make the music feel similar to previous entries in the series. The Mother 3 soundtrack was released on compact disc on November 2, 2006. Kyle Miller of RPGFan wrote that the game retained the quirkiness of the previous soundtracks in the series despite the change in composers. He found the second half of the album, which included reinterpreted "classics" from the series, to be its strongest.
"Love Theme", the main theme of Mother 3, was composed late in the game's development; earlier in development Itoi intended to use the "Pigmask Army" theme as the main theme of the game. During the creation of an important scene in the game, however, Sakai was asked to create a song that would have a greater impact than the Pigmask theme; upon its creation, it was chosen to be used as the main theme instead of the "Pigmask Army" song. Itoi claims that, given how quickly Sakai composed the song, that he had been "waiting for the order" to make a song like "Love Theme". Itoi requested that "Love Theme" be playable on a piano with only one finger, as the "Eight Melodies" theme from Mother had gained popularity and been played in elementary schools due to its simplicity. The "OK desu ka?" that plays after the player chooses the character's name was recorded without Itoi's knowledge by Hirokazu Tanaka more than a decade before the release of Mother 3.
## Release
Mother 3 was released in Japan on April 20, 2006, where it became a bestseller. Prior to its release, the game was in the "top five most wanted games" of Famitsu and at the top of the Japanese preordered game charts. At one point leading up to its release, the game's "Love Theme" would play as music on hold for the Japan Post. A limited edition Deluxe Box Set was produced with a special edition Game Boy Micro and Franklin Badge pin. The game was marketed in Japan with a television commercial that has Japanese actress Kō Shibasaki on the verge of tears as she explains her feelings about Mother 3. Itoi has said that her performance was unscripted. The game was released for the Japanese Virtual Console on the Wii U in December 2015. Game Informer editor Imran Khan alleges that Nintendo planned an English localization but canceled it due to fears that the central theme of bereavement, as well as instances of drug use and animal cruelty, would generate controversy. Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aimé later said in an interview with Bloomberg News that the lack of localization was because it "just didn't make business sense" to make one for a game released very late in the handheld's lifespan. He also said that he was in talks with Iwata to possibly release it on the North American Wii U eShop prior to Iwata's passing.
### Fan translation
Mother 3 did not receive an official release outside Japan. On October 17, 2008, Starmen.net released a fan translation patch that, when applied on a copy of the Mother 3 ROM image, converts all the game's text into English. Reid Young, co-founder of Starmen.net, said that when they realized Nintendo was not going to localize Mother 3, they decided to undertake the task, for themselves and for fans of the game. The translation team consisted of around a dozen individuals, including project lead Clyde "Tomato" Mandelin, a professional Japanese-to-English translator. The project took two years and thousands of work-hours to complete; it was estimated that the theoretical freelance cost of the translation was \$30,000.
The project included translating, writing, and revising about 1,000 pages of the game script in addition to extensive ROM hacking and testing to ensure that the game properly displays the translated text. The translation included minor deviations from the original, such as localization of place names and puns. The few dramatic changes included renaming some characters and locations. For example, the character "Yokuba", loosely derived from yokubō (欲望, "greed"), was renamed "Fassad", loosely derived from the French word façade and, incidentally, the Arabic word fasād (فساد, "corruption"). The ROM hacking entailed assembly-level changes to the game code to support features such as variable width fonts.
The team reported that "the highest levels" of Nintendo of America knew about their project, though they did not intervene. The localization team planned to end the project if Nintendo were to make an announcement about the future of the game, or if they were asked to cease development of the translation. They acknowledged that the legality of the localization was unclear since the final translation required use of an emulator or a flash cartridge. The localization patch was downloaded over 100,000 times in the first week following its release. Along with the translation, the team announced the Mother 3 Handbook, an English player's guide for the game that had been in development since June 2008. Wired reported the full-color, 200-page player's guide to be akin to a professional strategy guide, with quality "on par with ... Prima Games and BradyGames". The Verge cited the two-year fan translation of Mother 3 as proof of the fan base's dedication, and Jenni Lada of TechnologyTell called it "undoubtedly one of the best known fan translations in existence", with active retranslations into other languages.
## Reception
Mother 3 received critical acclaim, it sold around 200,000 copies in its first week of sales in Japan and despite not having an English localization, critics imported it for reception and gave it mostly positive reviews. It was one of Japan's top 20 bestselling games for the first half of 2006, and received a "Platinum Hall of Fame" score of 35/40 from Japanese reviewer Weekly Famitsu. It ended the year with over 368,000 copies sold, the 36th highest of the year in Japan. Jenni Lada of TechnologyTell called it the "perfect" Game Boy Advance role-playing game. Reviewers praised its story (even though the game was only available in Japanese) and graphics, and lamented its 1990s role-playing game mechanics. Critics also complimented its music.
Famitsu's reviewers noted the level of detail from the game's direction, accessibility and wit of the story, unconventional art style, and conventional game mechanics. They considered the timed battles to be both useful and difficult. Eurogamer's Simon Parkin detailed the 12-year development, the series' legacy as both "one of Japan's most beloved" and the video game cognoscenti's "sacred cow", and the endurance of its fan community. He was impressed by the quality of the fan translation and described Itoi as a "storyteller" who chose the Japanese role-playing game medium to tell his story. Parkin noted how the "excellent" script unfurled from a "straightforward tale" into "breadth and depth of quality that few titles many times its budget achieve" with "affecting scenes" and "unexpected impact". He compared the chapter approach with the method of Dragon Quest IV. Parkin wrote that the script allowed for the somewhat "heavy-handed" juxtaposition of "nature and technology, feudalism and capitalism, individuals and community", and that what he first considers a name customization "trick" becomes useful later in the game. NGC Magazine's Mark Green wrote that the game felt like Mother 2.5 in its look and feel, which he did not consider negative, albeit somewhat antiquated. Lada of TechnologyTell said Mother 3 was surprisingly "darker" than its forebears.
Eurogamer's Parkin wrote that the "childlike" and "unusually Western" graphics were similar to EarthBound's in "flat pastel textures devoid of shading" as juxtaposed with background art that "fizzes with life and character". He described the cutscenes' animations as "bespoke", rare for 16-bit role-playing games, and of greater dramatic impact. RPGamer's Jordan Jackson wrote that the visuals are typical of the series and fit the game's mood, and the website's Mike Moehnke criticized the inventory limits carried over from the previous game. Green of NGC said the game mechanics were "depressingly basic" against more advanced role-playing games. Eurogamer's Parkin felt that the role-playing game elements were less interesting and added that Mother 3 had few standout selling points other than its attention to detail and "only systemic innovation": the rhythm-based battle system. Kotaku's Richard Eisenbeis praised the system, and GameSpot's Greg Kasavin compared it with that of the Mario & Luigi series. Jackson wrote that the music was "just as catchy as previous games" despite being "almost completely new". Moehnke agreed, calling it "nothing less than stunning". He noted overtones of Wagner and Chuck Berry. Jackson said that the game was somewhat easier than the rest of the series and somewhat shorter, at about 30 hours in length. Both RPGamer reviewers noted that Mother 3 has few penalties for death. Jackson reflected that while the game is humorous and grows in enjoyment, it has some somber moments as well. Eisenbeis of Kotaku cited "the importance of mothers" as a key theme about which the game revolves, which he preferred to the mid-game "slapstick insanity" and final plot twist. Parkin wrote that the game was filled with "memorable moments", including a character who criticizes the player "for not giggling at puns", frogs with progressively silly costumes that save the game, a "reconstructed mecha caribou" battle, a bad haiku, and the "campfire scene", and that while the game's simpleness could have leaned towards "raw stupidity", instead it was "elegant in its simplicity".
## Legacy
Multiple critics wrote that Mother 3 was one of the best role-playing games for the Game Boy Advance. GamePro's Jeremy Signor listed it among his "best unreleased Japanese role-playing games" for its script and attention to detail. Tim Rogers posited that Mother 3 was "the closest games have yet come to literature."
Nintendo has been heavily criticized for Mother 3's lack of an international release. IGN referred to the Mother series as "neglected" in regards to EarthBound being the only game to be released outside Japan across the decades until 2015. Bob Mackey of 1UP.com wrote of Mother 3 that no other game in the history of time garnered such demand for translation, and Chris Plante of UGO Networks wrote that the lack of an official Mother 3 English localization was one of 2008's "worst heartbreaks". Frank Caron of Ars Technica said that the fan translation's "massive undertaking ... stands as a massive success" and that "one cannot even begin to fathom why Nintendo wouldn't see fit to release the game in the West".
Although acclaimed, Mother series writer and creator Shigesato Itoi has stated that he does not have any plans to create a fourth installment in the series.
The Super Smash Bros. series features Lucas as a playable fighter, as well as minor characters as collectibles, items, or stage hazards.
During Nintendo's digital event at E3 2014, Nintendo made a humorous reference to Mother 3's lack of a localization by presenting a stop-motion animation created by Robot Chicken. The short features a fan in attendance talking to then-Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé. After the fan says "Come on, Reggie, give us Mother 3!", Fils-Aimé responds by saying "How about this instead?" and then proceeds to eat a Fire Flower from the Super Mario series in order to throw a fireball at the fan. |
61,056,513 | Assignment: Venezuela | 1,171,407,478 | 1956 American oil industry propaganda film | [
"1950s American films",
"1950s short documentary films",
"1956 documentary films",
"1956 films",
"1956 short films",
"American propaganda films about Venezuela",
"American short documentary films",
"Articles containing video clips",
"Documentary films about Venezuela",
"Films about labor relations",
"Films about language",
"Films set in Venezuela"
]
| Assignment: Venezuela is a 1956 American short propaganda film. It is a fictional travelogue designed to promote working in the oil industry in Venezuela. It was directed by John H. "Jack" Tobin and is part of the Prelinger Archives, available in the public domain. It was made into a Mystery Science Theater 3000 spoof in the 1990s.
## Synopsis
Jim is a middle-level oil engineer who is being relocated to Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, with his family: wife Ann and two sons. He initially tries to use a Spanish pocket phrase book unsuccessfully, but is quickly greeted at Grano de Oro Airport by a company rep. Jim is taken on a tour of Maracaibo, Caracas, and Lagunillas to familiarize him with the new country; Venezuela is depicted in a positive fashion. In Maracaibo, Jim drives across the waterfront in an imported American car, and in Caracas he explores the newly built University City of Caracas, and studies Spanish intensively.<sup>:97–98</sup> He writes letters to Ann telling her how great Venezuela is before his family joins him a few weeks later, all having learnt Spanish beforehand.<sup>:158</sup>
## Production
Assignment: Venezuela was produced by Sound Masters, Inc. for the Creole Petroleum Corporation (part of the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey) and directed by John H. "Jack" Tobin. It was filmed on Kodachrome 16mm film with an Arriflex camera. The film is in color and 24 minutes in length, and is part of the Prelinger Archives. It is available in the public domain.
## Analysis
The film was produced in the context of the Marcos Pérez Jiménez military dictatorship, with scholar Lisa Blackmore describing the propaganda and national image of that time as having distinct dual purposes: for Venezuelans, the Venezuelan leaders wanted to show an independent anti-capitalist nation, and for Americans involved in the oil trade they wanted to present an attractive, modern, Western nation. Blackmore writes that "this mission to confirm Venezuela's development on this basis of its embrace of the American way of life transpires clearly" in the film.<sup>:97</sup>
Scholar Miguel Tinker Salas wrote that the film was part of a practice intended to make the American employees more sympathetic to the Venezuelan locals upon arrival, and to not be too brash; he also believes it was unsuccessful in this aim. He states this is because it was only shown to employees of petroleum corporations, not their families, and was paired with extensive classes in Venezuelan culture that generally perturbed the employees — enough for stories of expatriates calling the practice "indoctrination" to arise. Tinker also suggests that anything learnt from the lessons and film were quickly forgotten, with American oil workers still retaining their opinion of cultural dominance.<sup>:147–148</sup>
In examining the MST3K spoof, television scholar Erin Giannini argues the original film "shares features with mental hygiene films such as A Date with Your Family as well as the overt propagandizing of Invasion USA", writing that Assignment: Venezuela "attempts to sanitize" many of the racial and environmental issues relating to US-Venezuelan oil ventures. She notes that "some" treat the film as an accurate historical record of 1950s Venezuela.<sup>:150</sup>
## Mystery Science Theater 3000 version
In the 1990s, the satire television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) began producing content for a CD-ROM that included two short films: MST3K—Assignment: Venezuela and a lost film.<sup>:158</sup> Initially screened at ConventioCon 2, the spoof was temporarily lost during a period of upheaval at MST3K during its production, when it was moving TV channels from Comedy Central to Sci Fi Channel, and when CD-ROM sponsors Voyager began failing financially. It was later released on the home videos "Assignment Venezuela and Other Shorts" in 2001 and "The Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection, Volume 7" in 2005. Like many MST3K spoofs, it is a film from the 1950s, which were easier to acquire the rights to; Giannini also notes how this generally benefits the spoofs as it provides prime material to mock quaint 1950s American ideals in line with more contemporary social and political issues, which she believes Assignment: Venezuela shows very clearly.<sup>:149</sup> It also lacks the internal structure and scheduled framing narrative of many other MST3K shorts.<sup>:150</sup>
Chris Morgan, author of The Comic Galaxy of Mystery Science Theater 3000: Twelve Classic Episodes and the Movies They Lampoon, writes in the book that the MST3K version of the film is long for an MST3K short, noting that the intended format gave the producers a chance to "stretch their legs" and keep close to the original running length. He thought that the short itself was dull and lacking in comedic potential, and that keeping the original premise of oil-boom relocation to Venezuela ages the piece significantly, though he observed that "Mike and the 'bots do their best with it" and the running joke made about the width of the lake was funny.<sup>:158–159</sup>
In an article examining some MST3K shorts, Giannini selects the version of Assignment: Venezuela as a good example of where MST3K makes good film selections to spoof with suitable commentary, and as showing how this practice appears in their shorts as well as feature films.<sup>:147</sup> Giannini argues that the short's lack of public distribution gave the MST3K writers more leeway in their commentary,<sup>:149</sup> although the writers did not directly address the colonialism present in the film. The commentary does show an awareness of it, however, including interjections calling the protagonist "white devil" and a sarcastic reference to the United States as "the best country ever". Other reactions are more critical of the oil industry, dubbing the placement pattern of offshore oil wells a "pentacle to Satan" and spoofing the over-exuberant joy at Venezuelan oil success by saying that "oil is a loving god".<sup>:150</sup>
## See also
- Propaganda in the United States |
59,408,593 | India national football team at the Olympics | 1,165,821,134 | History of India men's national football team at the Olympics. | [
"History of sport in India",
"India at the Olympics",
"India national football team"
]
| Football was first introduced as an Olympic sports at the Summer Olympic Games held in France in 1900. It was played by only three club teams from three nations as an exhibition sport and played again at the 1904 Games. National sides played for the first time at the 1908 Summer Olympics. India did not send a football side to the Olympics until the 1948 Games; it participated in the next three Games. An Indian team last participated in the 1960 Games. India's best appearance was at the 1956 Summer Olympics where its team reached the semi-finals. Beginning with the 1992 Summer Olympics, the rules were changed so that only under-23 national teams are allowed to compete in the Games. India's U-23 national team has yet to qualify for the Olympic football competition.
## History
### 1948 Olympics: first participation
#### Warm-up
In 1948, London hosted the 1948 Summer Olympic Games. The Indian football team made its first Olympic appearance in a match against France. This was the first match played by a team from the newly independent India. Coach Balaidas Chatterjee had prepared the team which successfully defeated Department Store XI 15–0 on 13 July, and the Metropolitan Police F.C. 3–1 on 16 July. The team then went on to defeat the Pinner F.C. by 9–1 on 24 July, Hayes F.C. by 4–1 on 26 July, and Alexandra Park FC by 8–2 on 28 July.
Most of the Indian players were not accustomed to wearing boots and some having dislike of being shod. However, during trials in India, the players wore boots as the pitch was wet due to heavy rain. Thus during the Games, the Indian team decided to wear shoes if the conditions were wet and if they had to play on soft grounds. As conditions were dry, most players opted to play without shoes and instead wore bandages to protect their feet. Of the eleven players who took the field against France eight players were barefooted, three wore boots.
#### The match
On 31 July 1948, the first eleven men in independent India's footballing history walked to the middle of Cricklefield Stadium in front of 17,000 spectators wearing thick socks cut off at the ankles and bare feet strapped up to protect them and to provide grip. Taj Mohammed, K. P. Dhanraj, Thenmadom Varghese wore boots. For the first 29 minutes neither team dominated proceedings, then in the 30th minute René Courbin gave France a 1–0 lead. Just before half-time, Swedish referee Gunnar Dahlner awarded India a penalty kick; Sailen Manna missed it as the ball flew over the crossbar. In the second half Ahmed Khan created an opening, he combined with substitute Balasundra Vajravelu, beat the French defense, and passed the ball to Sarangapani Raman who scored the equaliser in the 70th minute. His name was recorded as independent India's first international goal scorer. Ten minutes after Raman's equaliser, India had a chance to take the lead through another penalty. This time Mahabir Prasad's shot at the goal was saved by the French goalkeeper Guy Rouxel. With one minute to go before the final whistle René Persillon scored to give France a 2–1 victory and a place in the quarterfinals.
#### Media and appreciation
The Indian team was acknowledged and appreciated by the crowd for their good sportsmanship. "The French had been given a run for their money – and that, too, by the barefooted Indians!", the British media reported. At a press conference, shortly after the match, the Indians were asked why they played barefooted. The Indian captain Talimeren Ao said, "Well, you see, we play football in India, whereas you play BOOTBALL!". This was applauded by the British and the next day Ao's comment was in the headlines of London's newspapers.
While the 1–2 loss to France and first round elimination was a huge disappointment to the team and the public alike, the quality of football the team displayed had captivated one and all. The Indian footballers' bravery and brilliance in bare feet at the 1948 Olympics earned them the admiration of Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. King George VI invited the team to Buckingham Palace and there, as the story goes, he lifted up Sailen Manna's trouser leg, telling him it was just to check if he really had legs of steel as it appeared from the strength of his shots. Encouraged by the accolades and the positive reception to India's football, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided to extend the tour with some friendlies across Europe over the next several weeks that enhanced the team's reputation at the time.
### 1952, 1956, and 1960 Olympics
In 1952, under Sailen Manna's leadership at Helsinki, India would again lose in the first round, this time 10–1 to Yugoslavia. The Yugloslavian Branko Zebec scored four of the ten goals for his side; the lone goal for the Indian side was scored by Ahmed Khan in the 89th minute as the final goal of the match.
Four years later, at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, India attained its best outing at the Games as they reached the semi-finals of the tournament. The team was led by Samar Banerjee and India's most successful coach Syed Abdul Rahim, who coached the team at both the 1952 and 1960 Olympics. India reached the first round without playing a scheduled preliminary match. The team received a walkover because Hungary did not play. The team beat hosts Australia 4–2 and reached the semi-finals becoming the first Asian team to do so in Olympic history. At the match against Australia Neville D'Souza scored a hat trick. He scored two goals in the first half at the ninth and 33rd minutes. The first was a nod to the rebound from captain Samar Banerjee's shot to the opponent's post. Then in the 33rd minute D'Souza converted a cross from P. K. Banerjee who sent the ball into the net from the right flank. A third goal was scored in the second half at the 50th minute when Banerjee converted a free ball received from a melee between Indian striker Muhammad Kannayan and Australian goalkeeper Ron Lord. The fourth Indian goal was scored by J. Krishnaswamy at the 80th minute. Bruce Morrow scored two goals for the hosts.
However, India failed to reach the final losing to Yugoslavia by 4–1 in the semi-finals. There were no goals scored in the first half. D'Souza scored the opening goal in the match for India at the 52nd minute, but in the next 15 minutes Yugoslavia scored three goals at the 54th, 57th and 65th minutes. A mistake by Indian defender Muhammad Salaam led to an own goal at the 78th minute ensuring Yugoslavia's victory in the match. After the loss, India faced Bulgaria in the bronze medal match where they were again defeated by a score of 3–0. With four goals Neville D'Souza became joint top scorer in that edition of the Games with Todor Veselinović of Yugoslavia and Dimitar Stoyanov of Bulgaria.
At 1960 Olympics in Rome, India was placed in a group with strong sides from Hungary, France and Peru. The team was led by P. K. Banerjee under the coaching of Syed Abdul Rahim. Tulsidas Balaram scored two goals, one each in the matches against Hungary and Peru, both of which India lost. In the second match Banerjee's goal in the 71st minute would help India hold France to a draw. With two losses and a draw, India placed at the bottom of the group and failed to move to the next round. This was the last time India qualified for the Olympics in football.
### 1964–present
From 1908 to 1988, football at the Olympics was played by senior national teams. Between these years the India national football team competed at Games from 1948 to 1960. From 1992, FIFA allowed only U-23 national teams to play in the tournament at the Olympics. India withdrew from qualifying competition in the 1968, 1976 and 1988 Olympics. For the 1964, 1972, 1980 and 1984 Olympics India failed to qualify.
Though U-23 players were allowed, every qualifying matches from 1992 Olympics to the 2012 Olympics were played by India's senior national team. It failed to qualify for the Olympic finals from 1992 to 2012. The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) started the AFC U-23 Championship in 2013 which now acts as the qualifying tournament for the Olympics for Asian countries. The top three teams are allowed entry to the Olympic finals. India has yet to qualify for the AFC U-23 Championship and thus for the Olympics since then.
## Record
India has played eight football matches at the Olympic Games, and managed one win, one draw, and lost in six of them. India scored ten goals in seven matches against five different teams and conceded twenty-seven goals in eight matches against six different teams. In 1948 and 1952, India was automatically qualified to play in the final tournament and for the 1956 Olympics, India was scheduled to play against Thailand in the qualification round, but both the teams got a bye as the Republic of China and the Philippines teams withdrew from the qualification round.
For the 1960 Olympics, India was scheduled to play the first round of the qualification against Afghanistan. In the two-legged tie India won the away leg by 2−5 and in the home leg Afghanistan withdrew before the match. Eventually India moved to the second round where they defeated Indonesia in both legs and qualified for the Olympics. 1960 Olympics would be India's last participation till date. From 1964 to 2012 India failed to qualify for the Olympics. From 2016 onwards the AFC U-23 Championship was considered to be the qualification tournament for the Asian teams, which India failed to progress from.
## Match summary
India has scored the most goals against Australia in a 4–2 victory at the 1956 Olympics, their biggest win in the Olympic history. The most goals the team conceded were in a 1–10 loss against Yugoslavia at the 1952 Olympics, their largest defeat to date.
† At 1956 Olympics, India got a walkover as Hungary withdrew from the match due to Hungarian Revolution, thus India proceeded to QF without playing any match in the first round.
## Goalscorers
## Coach, captain, and goalkeeper
‡ S. S. Narayan was the goalkeeper for the team against Yugoslavia and Bulgaria and Peter Thangaraj kept the net for the quarter-final match against Australia at 1956 Olympics.
## Squads
## See also
- History of the India national football team
- Football at the Summer Olympics
- India at the FIFA World Cup qualification
- India at the AFC Asian Cup
- AFC U-23 Championship
- India national under-23 football team |
42,960,116 | Cyclone Bella | 1,137,214,698 | Category 4 South-West Indian Cyclone | [
"1990–91 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season",
"South-West Indian Ocean tropical cyclones",
"Tropical cyclones in the Mascarene Islands"
]
| Tropical Cyclone Bella was a destructive tropical cyclone that passed near the Mauritius outer island of Rodrigues. The second named storm of the season, Bella originated in the middle of January 1991 from a surge in the monsoon trough to the southwest of Sumatra. For several days, the system remained weak as it moved generally west-southwestward. On January 25, it intensified to tropical storm status, but Bella took three more days to intensify to tropical cyclone status, with 10 minute maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometres per hour (75 miles per hour). The cyclone attained peak intensity on January 29, officially reaching winds of 155 km/h (95 mph). The Joint Typhoon Warning Center unofficially estimated winds of 240 km/h (150 mph), the highest the agency estimated for any storm in the Southern Hemisphere in the year. Bella later turned to the southeast and weakened, passing about 50 km (30 mi) west of Rodrigues on January 31. The storm turned to the south-southwest and back to the southeast again, becoming extratropical on February 4.
While passing near Rodrigues, Bella produced strong winds and high tides, the latter of which caused flooding in the capital Port Mathurin. The storm was considered the worst on the island in 20 years. About 1,500 homes were damaged or destroyed, leaving 1,000 people homeless. Bella also severely damaged crops, roads, and the power grid on Rodrigues. The storm killed about half of the Rodrigues flying fox, a critically endangered species. Elsewhere, Bella was believed to have sunk a Madagascar cargo ship, with its 36 people on board.
## Meteorological history
Similar to Cyclone Alison that had formed in early January 1991, a surge in the monsoon trough spawned what would become Tropical Cyclone Bella, associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone. On January 13, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) began monitoring a system about 660 km (410 mi) southwest of Padang, Sumatra in the Australian basin. Moving to the west-southwest, the system crossed into the south-west Indian Ocean on January 17, and the next day was tracked by the Météo France office in Réunion (MFR). On January 20, the disturbance turned sharply to the south-southeast, although its westward motion resumed late the following day, influenced by a ridge to the south.
On January 22, the disturbance intensified into a tropical depression. The JTWC upgraded the storm to tropical storm status on January 23, three days after classifying it as Tropical Cyclone 08S. On January 25, the MFR upgraded the depression to Tropical Storm Bella, a week after beginning to issue advisories. Around that time, the storm became visible on MFR satellite imagery. Following a lengthy period of minimal development, Bella subsequently intensified at a more regular rate as it slowed its forward motion. On January 26, it turned more to the southwest, but the westward track resumed on the next day. Aided by warm sea surface temperatures of 28 °C (82 °F), Bella began to intensify quickly. On January 28, both the JTWC and the MFR upgraded the storm to the equivalent of a minimal hurricane, estimating winds of 120 km/h (75 mph); this made Bella a tropical cyclone, the first of the season. Around this time, the storm developed a well-defined eye 60 km (35 mi) in diameter.
After becoming a tropical cyclone, Bella continued to intensify, reaching peak winds on January 29. The MFR estimated 10 minute winds of 155 km/h (95 mph), and assessed a barometric pressure of 936 mbar (27.6 inHg) at that time. Meanwhile, the JTWC estimated 1 minute peak winds of 240 km/h (150 mph); this strength, equivalent to a super typhoon, was the highest the JTWC estimated for any Southern Hemisphere storm during the tropical cyclone year. On January 30, Bella turned to the southeast and began weakening, affected by wind shear in the region. The cyclone passed about 50 km (30 mi) west of Rodrigues at 03:00 UTC on January 31, with 10 minute winds of 135 km/h (85 mph). Shortly thereafter, the cyclone deteriorated into a tropical storm. The southeast trajectory was short-lived, as Bella turned more to the south-southwest on February 1. After a final turn to the southeast, Bella became an extratropical cyclone on February 4.
## Impact and aftermath
Before Bella affected land, a class one warning, the lowest of four, was issued for Réunion, while a class four warning was issued for Rodrigues.
While moving near Rodrigues, Bella produced wind gusts of 210 km/h (130 mph), along with high tides that flooded the northern coastline, including the capital Port Mathurin. The storm damaged 1,200 homes and destroyed 300 others, leaving about 1,000 people homeless. About 30 schools were wrecked. The storm damaged about 75% of the electrical network was damaged, which also disrupted water supply on the island, and about 30% of roads were damaged. Over 90% of the crops on the island were destroyed, with many livestock killed. Cyclone Bella killed about half of the Rodrigues flying fox, a critically endangered species, decreasing the numbers from around 800 to around 400. The species had regrown from a minimum of around 70 in 1971, and the trend toward regrowth continued after the storm, reaching about 3,500 in 2002. The storm also affected the Rodrigues warbler. The storm also injured nine people, and overall, Bella was considered the worst storm on the island in 20 years.
A 16,570 ton cargo ship traveling from Madagascar to Réunion was lost on January 30 about 700 km (430 mi) to the south of the center of Bella. The ship likely sank due to the cyclone, with 36 people on board.
In the aftermath of the storm, seven people contracted Typhoid fever on Rodrigues in relation to the storm. After Bella passed, the government of Mauritius noted the need for 4,500 m (15,000 ft) of galvanized pipes to assist in rebuilding, as well as generators. The United States Agency for International Development donated \$25,000 (1991 USD) to Mauritius to help in the aftermath. France, the United Kingdom, and India also donated to the country.
## See also
- Tropical cyclones in the Mascarene Islands
- Cyclone Kalunde – similar storm in 2003 that struck Rodrigues |
10,050,000 | Lady Croissant | 1,158,102,741 | 2007 live album by Sia | [
"2007 live albums",
"Albums produced by Dan Carey (record producer)",
"Albums recorded at the Bowery Ballroom",
"Astralwerks live albums",
"Live albums by Australian artists",
"Sia (musician) albums"
]
| Lady Croissant is a live album by Australian singer Sia, released in April 2007 through the record label Astralwerks. Called a "mini-album" by Astralwerks, the collection contains one studio recording ("Pictures") as well as eight live tracks recorded during an April 2006 concert at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. Eight songs were written or co-written by Sia; also featured is a cover version of Ray Davies' song "I Go to Sleep", a studio recording of which later appeared on Sia's studio album Some People Have Real Problems (2008). The album was produced by Dan Carey, mixed by Jon Lemon and Taz Mattar at Sarm Studios in London, and mastered by Emily Lazar and Sarah Register at The Lodge in New York City. Lady Croissant received a mixed critical reception and spawned one single, "Pictures", which was released exclusively via American Eagle Outfitters on 27 November 2006.
## Composition
Just over forty minutes in length, Lady Croissant contains nine "slow-to-mid-tempo" compositions. The album includes one previously unreleased studio recording called "Pictures", co-written by Dan Carey, along with eight live tracks recorded during her 17 April 2006 performance at the Bowery Ballroom in New York City. "Destiny" and "Distractions" each appeared on Zero 7's 2001 album Simple Things, which featured vocals by Sia. Both songs were co-written by Sia and members of Zero 7; "Destiny" was also co-written by Sophie Barker, another vocal contributor to Simple Things. "Blow It All Away" originally appeared on Sia's 2002 studio album Healing Is Difficult, and "Don't Bring Me Down", "Numb" and "Breathe Me" were each released on her 2004 album Colour the Small One. "Lentil" and the cover version of Ray Davies' song "I Go to Sleep", made popular by both Cher and the Pretenders, would later appear on Some People Have Real Problems (2008). The album was produced by Carey, mixed by Jon Lemon and Taz Mattar at Sarm Studios in London and mastered by Emily Lazar and Sarah Register at The Lodge in New York City.
## Reception
Lady Croissant received a mixed critical reception. AllMusic's Marisa Brown called Sia's vocal performance "rich and passionate" and compared it to Nelly Furtado and Morley. Brown stated the band was "tight and lush" and that the music was "very modern, warm and melodic and cleanly intricate". In his review for BBC Music, Paul Sullivan wrote that the album successfully displayed Sia's vocal capabilities and versatility. However, he noted the minimal audience participation and felt that this prevented the album from capturing a "live" experience. For Sullivan, highlights included "Don't Bring Me Down", "Destiny", and "Lentil", which he believed were "executed with an appealing mixture of frankness and fluidity". Mark Perlaki of Gigwise.com awarded the album four out of five stars and opined that the album "portrays an artist who's [sic] star is in the ascendant, whose voice is unrivaled in style and expression, an artist on the brink of deserved and assured greater recognition". The Selby Times' review called the collection "mesmerising" and a good indicator of Sia's future work. One reviewer for WERS called the album "breathtaking" and wrote positively of Sia's vocals and the instrumentation. Like Sullivan, the reviewer warned that listeners expecting a traditional live album with "raw cuts and heavy improvisation" might be disappointed.
Roque Strew of Pitchfork Media found Sia's Adelaide accent to be a "liability", specifically noting difference in pronunciation between the studio versions of "Destiny" and "Distractions" and the live performances. Strew complimented "Pictures" and "Lentil", the latter of which shined through the "fog of elongated syllables and cut consonants". Popmatters' Mike Schiller felt the instrumentation was "robotic" and found Sia's vocal manipulation and bending of vowels "infuriating", even unintelligible at times. Schiller did, however, favor her vocal tone and found the power of her voice "occasionally transcendent". Stuart McCaighy of This Is Fake DIY appreciated "Pictures" but also criticized Sia's performance for lacking diversity and for "incomprehensible" vocals due to her slurring of words. McCaighy concluded that, like other live albums, Lady Croissant was redundant but would be appreciated by fans. The Australian publication DNA published a mixed review of the album in 2010 following the release of We Are Born, complimenting Sia's vocals but suggesting that "Pictures" sounded like a B-side and that the album's release smells like a "cash-in" on her "recent success".
## Track listing
Credits adapted from AllMusic.
## Personnel
- Kevin Armstrong – composer
- Sophie Barker – composer
- Henry Binns – composer
- Felix Bloxsom – drums
- Dan Carey – bass, composer, engineer, guitar, keyboards, producer, Wurlitzer
- Robin Danar – assistant engineer
- Ray Davies – composer
- John Dent – mastering
- Samuel Dixon – bass, composer
- Tom Elmhirst – mixing
- Sia Furler – composer, vocals
- José González – photography
- Sam Hardaker – composer
- Felix Howard – composer
- Joe Kennedy – keyboards
- Olliver Kraus – cello
- Emily Lazar – mastering
- Joey Lemon – mixing
- Blair MacKichan – composer
- Taz Mattar – mixing engineer
- James McMillan – composer
- Stephanie Pistel – cover photo, photography
- Sarah Register – mastering
- Michael Sendaydiego – photography
- Gus Seyffert – guitar
- Jeff Tweedy – photography
- Joey Waronker – drums
Credits adapted from AllMusic and CD liner notes.
## Release history
## See also
- Music of Adelaide
- Zero 7 discography |
272,906 | Sand cat | 1,171,653,598 | Small wild cat species (Felis margarita) | [
"Desert fauna",
"Felids of Africa",
"Felids of Asia",
"Felis",
"Mammals described in 1858",
"Taxa named by Victor Loche"
]
| The sand cat (Felis margarita) is a small wild cat that inhabits sandy and stony deserts far from water sources. With its sandy to light grey fur, it is well camouflaged in a desert environment. Its head-and-body length ranges from 39–52 cm (15–20 in) with a 23–31 cm (9.1–12.2 in) long tail. Its 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) short ears are set low on the sides of the head, aiding detection of prey moving underground. The long hair covering the soles of its paws insulates its pads against the extremely hot and cold temperatures in deserts.
The first sand cat known to scientists was discovered in the Algerian Sahara and described in 1858. To date, it has been recorded in several disjunct locations in Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Niger, Chad, Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. In Central Asia, it was first recorded in the Karakum Desert in 1925. The large gap between these two regions of its global range was partially closed in 1948, when a sand cat skin was found in an oasis of the Rub' al Khali in Oman. It is discontinuously distributed in the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East. In the early 1970s, sand cats were caught in southwestern Pakistan and exported to zoos worldwide. Due to its wide distribution and large population, it is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List.
The sand cat usually rests in underground dens during the day and hunts at night. It moves 5.4 km (3.4 mi) on average at night in search of small rodents and birds. It also kills and consumes venomous snakes. In spring, the female gives birth to two to three kittens, which become sexually mature around the age of one year. The sand cat's ecological requirements are still poorly understood, as only a few in-depth studies targeting wild sand cat populations have been conducted.
## Taxonomy
Felis margarita was the scientific name proposed by Victor Loche in 1858 who first described a sand cat specimen found in the area of "Négonça" in the northern Algerian Sahara. This holotype specimen appears to have been lost. The species was named after the French General Jean Auguste Margueritte. In the 20th century, the following zoological specimens of sand cats were described:
- Eremaelurus thinobius was proposed as a species by Sergey Ognev in 1926. The specimen had been collected in the eastern Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan. In 1938, Reginald Innes Pocock also considered it a species, but subordinated it to the genus Felis using the scientific name Felis thinobius. Later he considered it a sand cat subspecies, which to date is widely recognised.
- F. m. meinertzhageni proposed by Pocock in 1938 was a sand cat skin from the Algerian Sahara.
- F. m. aïrensis proposed by Pocock in 1938 was a female specimen collected in the Aïr Mountains in 1937.
- F. m. scheffeli proposed by German zoologist Helmut Hemmer in 1974 was described on the basis of seven sand cats that had been captured alive in Pakistan's Nushki desert.
- F. m. harrisoni proposed by Hemmer, Grubb and Groves in 1976 was described on the basis of a skin and skull of an adult male sand cat captured in 1967 in Umm al Samim, Oman.
In 1974, F. m. margarita, F. m. thinobia and F. m. scheffeli were temporarily recognized as valid taxa. At the time, it was considered possible that sand cats eventually recorded in Afghanistan and Iran might constitute distinct subspecies. In 2005, F. m. margarita, F. m. thinobia, F. m. scheffeli and F. m. harrisoni were recognised as valid taxa by W. Chris Wozencraft, who considered F. m. meinertzhageni and F. m. aïrensis synonyms of the nominate subspecies F. m. margarita. The Cat Classification Task Force of the Cat Specialist Group reviewed the existing information and in 2017 recognized only two subspecies based on morphological differences, namely:
- F. m. margarita is smaller in size and more yellow-coloured spotted or striped fur; it occurs in North Africa.
- F. m. thinobia is larger in size with reduced markings and a darker, more greyish coat; it occurs in West and Central Asia.
Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of 47 individuals from across the sand cat's range showed that their haplotypes differed only by one to three base pair mutations. This low degree of genetic differentiation between the African and Asian sand cats indicates that the Sinai Peninsula may have been a barrier to gene flow.
### Phylogeny
Phylogenetic analysis of the nuclear DNA in tissue samples from all Felidae species revealed that the evolutionary radiation of the Felidae began in Asia in the Miocene around . Analysis of mitochondrial DNA of all Felidae species indicates a radiation at around . The sand cat is part of an evolutionary lineage that is estimated to have genetically diverged from the common ancestor of the Felis species around , based on analysis of their nuclear DNA. Analysis of their mitochondrial DNA indicates a genetic divergence of the Felis species at around . Both models agree that the jungle cat (F. chaus) was the first Felis species that diverged, followed by the black-footed cat (F. nigripes) and then the sand cat. It migrated into Africa, possibly during Pleistocene glaciation events. Migration was likely facilitated by extended periods of low sea levels between continents.
A fossil jaw and other skeletal remains of a sand cat were excavated in a Late Pleistocene cave in El Harhoura located near Temara in Morocco.
## Characteristics
The sand cat's fur is of a pale, sandy, isabelline colour, but much lighter on the lower part of the head, around the nose, throat, and on the belly. A faint reddish line runs from the outer corner of each eye across the cheeks. There are dark brown to blackish bars on the limbs, and the tail has a black tip with two or three dark rings alternating with buff bands. Markings vary between individuals: some have neither spots nor stripes, some are faintly spotted, some have both spots and stripes. Its head is sandy brown. The large, greenish-yellow eyes are ringed with white, and the nose is blackish. Its whiskers are white and up to 8 cm (3.1 in) long. Its ears are tawny at the base and tipped with black. Its outer ear is similar to that of a domestic cat, but its ear canal is about twice the size. The magnitude of acoustic input-admittance is about five times higher than of a domestic cat. Additionally, hearing sensitivity of the sand cat is about 8 decibels greater than that of the domestic cat.
In Central Asia, the sand cat's winter coat is very long and thick, with hairs reaching up to 51 mm (2 in) in length. Its claws on the forelimbs are short and very sharp, and claws on the hind feet are small and blunt. The undersides of its paws are protected from extreme temperatures by a thick covering of fur. The long hairs growing between its toes create a cushion of fur over the foot pads, helping to insulate them while moving over hot sand. This feature makes the cat's tracks obscure and difficult to identify and follow.
The sand cat is characterized by a flat, wide head, short legs, and a relatively long tail of 23–31 cm (9.1–12.2 in). It stands 24–36 cm (9.4–14.2 in) at the shoulder and weighs 1.5–3.4 kg (3.3–7.5 lb). The head-and-body length ranges from 39–52 cm (15–20 in). The 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long ears are set low, giving a broad, flat appearance to the head.
Its skull is arched in lateral outline with wide zygomatic arches. The pinnae of the ears are triangular, and the ear canal is very wide, giving the cat an enhanced sense of hearing. The auditory bullae and the passages from the external ears to the ear drums are greatly enlarged compared to other small wild cats; the inner parts of the ears are protected from foreign objects by long, closely spaced white hairs. It has a bite force at the canine tip of 155.4 Newton and a bite force quotient at the canine tip of 136.7.
## Distribution and habitat
The sand cat inhabits both sandy and stony deserts. It is widely but not contiguously distributed in the deserts of North Africa and Southwest and Central Asia. It prefers flat or undulating terrain with sparse vegetation of grasses or small bushes; it avoids bare and shifting sand dunes, where little prey is available.
In the Western Sahara, sand cats were sighted and photographed in the Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab region several times between 2005 and 2016. Sand cat kittens that had been hiding beneath a tuft of Panicum turgidum grass were sighted and photographed in the area in April 2017. In Algeria, one individual was recorded near a salt cedar mound in the Ahaggar Mountains in 2008. No confirmed records are known in Mauritania, Tunisia and Libya. In Mali's Lake Faguibine area, one individual was shortly sighted by night in 2011. In the Ténéré Desert, sand cats were observed in the 1980s and between 2008 and 2015. Sightings in Egypt's rocky Western and Eastern Deserts date to the mid 1980s. In the Sinai peninsula, sand cats were sighted in the mid 1990s.
On the Arabian Peninsula, a sand cat skin was discovered by Wilfred Thesiger in 1948 in an oasis of the Rub' al Khali desert. In Saudi Arabia's Mahazat as-Sayd Protected Area, sand cats were captured and encountered trapped in wire mesh fence surrounding the adjacent Saja Umm Ar-Rimth Natural Reserve in the country's Najd region. In the Tabuk Region, two sand cats were killed by hunters in 2013 and 2016; and one individual was captured by a local farmer in 2014 and kept in a cage. Sand cats were also observed in 2014–2015 in three localities in the Turaif area in northern Saudi Arabia. In 'Uruq Bani Ma'arid on the western edge of the Rub' al Khali, sand cats use gravel valley and sand dune habitats in the cool season from October to April; in the hot season from May to September, they mainly use sand dune habitat. In Al Ain Region of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, a sand cat was sighted in a gravel plain between dunes in 2003. Several sand cats were recorded in a protected area in Al Dhafra, Abu Dhabi between April and December 2015, after an absence of sightings for ten years. In Oman's Dhofar Governorate, it was recorded at several locations between 2021 and 2022.
In southern Israel, four sand cats were radio-collared and tracked over a few months in the late 1980s in the Arabah Valley, which lies mostly in Jordan. The monitored sand cats frequently roamed in military camps of the Israeli army and crossed the international border. Since 2002, the sand cat is considered locally extinct in Israel, as it has not been recorded since the turn of the century. In Jordan, a sand cat was sighted for the first time in 1997 during a survey in a desert area in the eastern part of the country. In Syria, sand cats were sighted and photographed by a camera-trap in a protected area near Palmyra in 2000 and 2001. In western Iraq, sand cats inhabit desert areas in the Najaf, Muthanna and Al Anbar Governorates. In Iran, it occurs in arid flat plains and sandy desert of Abbas'abad Wildlife Reserve, Kavir National Park and Petergan Rural District. Between March 2014 and July 2016, sand cats were also observed at elevations of 900–1,100 m (3,000–3,600 ft) in Sistan and Baluchestan Province, foremost in black saxaul dominated habitat. In central Iran, sand cats were observed foremost in sand dunes and sabulous areas during surveys in 2014–2016.
In Pakistan, the first sand cat was detected in 1966 near the Lora River in Balochistan. In the late 1960s, sand cats were also encountered in the Chagai Hills, an extremely arid area comprising rolling sand dunes and stony plains at an elevation of about 1,200 m (3,900 ft).
In Central Asia, the sand cat was known to occur up to the late 1960s in the Karakum Desert from the Ustyurt Plateau in the northwest to the Kopet Dag Mountains in the south, and from the Kyzylkum Desert to the Syr Darya River and the northern border to Afghanistan. Adult sand cats with kittens were photographed in the southern Kyzylkum Desert in spring 2013 and 2014.
## Behaviour and ecology
The sand cat is solitary, except during the mating season and when a female has kittens. It makes loud, high-pitched and short rasping sounds, especially when seeking a mate. Its vocalizations are similar to those of the domestic cat. It communicates by urine spraying and using scent and scratch marks. It buries its feces and covers it with sand.
Its way of moving is distinct: with its belly close to the ground, it moves at a fast run punctuated with occasional leaps. It is capable of sudden bursts of speed and can sprint at speeds of 30–40 km (19–25 mi) per hour. Four radio-collared sand cats in Israel moved long distances of 5–10 km (3.1–6.2 mi) in a single night. They were generally active throughout the night, hunting and travelling an average distance of 5.4 km (3.4 mi). They retired below ground at dawn and stayed in the burrow during the day. During the survey period, they used several burrows in their home ranges.
Burrows are about 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) deep and dug in slightly slanting ground with usually only a single entrance, though burrows with two or three entrances have also been observed. These burrows were either abandoned by foxes or porcupines, or dug by gerbils or other rodents. In winter, sand cats stay in the sun during the day, but during the hot season, they are crepuscular and nocturnal.
A male sand cat in Israel had a home range of 16 km<sup>2</sup> (6.2 sq mi). In Morocco, a male sand cat travelled 14.1 km (8.8 mi) in 30 hours. A female sand cat moved in an area of 13.4 km<sup>2</sup> (5.2 sq mi) during six days, and two males had home ranges of 21.8 and 35.3 km<sup>2</sup> (8.4 and 13.6 sq mi). In 2018, several sand cats were observed resting in brown-necked raven nests built in umbrella thorn acacia trees in the Moroccan Sahara.
### Hunting and diet
In the Ténéré, a desert region in south central Sahara, sand cats were observed preying foremost on small rodents, and the young of cape hare (Lepus capensis), but also hunting greater hoopoe lark (Alaemon alaudipes), desert monitor (Varanus griseus), sandfish (Scincus scincus) and venomous Cerastes vipers. If they caught more than they could eat, they buried the remains for later consumption. They satisfied their moisture requirements from their prey but drank water if it was available. The Toubou people have reported incidents of sand cats coming to their camps at night and drinking fresh camel milk.
In Israel, remains of Egyptian spiny-tailed lizards (Uromastyx aegyptia) were found near burrows used by sand cats. They were observed preying on jirds (Meriones), Cairo spiny mouse (Acomys cahirinus), desert lark (Ammomanes deserti) and small reptiles. In central Iran, remains of Blanford's jerboa (Jaculus blanfordi) and Balochistan gerbil (Gerbillus nanus) were the most frequent prey species found around dens of sand cats.
Sand cats were collected in eastern Karakum Desert in the late 1950s. Their feces and stomachs contained remains of tolai hare (Lepus tolai), small rodents, birds, small reptiles and invertebrates. In March 2018, a sand cat was recorded feeding on a MacQueen's bustard (Chlamydotis macqueenii) in the Kyzylkum Desert.
### Reproduction and life cycle
Oestrus in female sand cats lasts from five to six days, during which they frequently call and scent mark. After a gestation of 59 to 66 days, they give birth to a litter of two to three kittens. The kittens weigh 39 to 80 g (1.4 to 2.8 oz) at birth, and have spotted pale yellow or reddish fur. They grow relatively rapidly, reaching three quarters of the adult size within five months, are fully independent by the end of their first year and reach sexual maturity soon after the first year. In some areas, sand cats give birth to two litters per year.
Of 228 sand cats born in zoos globally by 2007, only 61% of the kittens lived to day 30. They died primarily due to maternal neglect by first-time mothers. Otherwise, they can live up to 13 years in captivity. The life expectancy of wild sand cats has not been documented.
The generation length of the sand cat is about 4 years and 9 months.
## Threats
Habitat degradation and loss of sand dunes due to human activities are considered major threats to sand cat populations in Western Asia, where uncontrolled hunting and persecution of predators using poisoned baits are common practices. The sand cat's small-mammal prey-base depends on having adequate vegetation, which may experience large fluctuations due to drought or declines due to desertification and loss of natural vegetation. Fencing of protected areas threatens the sand cat in Saudi Arabia, where several individuals were found stuck in fences. In Iran, vulnerable arid ecosystems are being rapidly degraded by human settlement and activity, especially livestock grazing. In Uzbekistan, drifting sand areas are increasing, as local people uproot shrubs for use as firewood and as a substrate for silk worm (Bombyx mori) cocoons.
In the Sahara, sand cats have been killed in traps laid out by inhabitants of oases targeting foxes and golden jackals (Canis aureus) or in retaliation for killing poultry. Several cases of sand cats having been killed by domestic dogs (C. familiaris) were reported in Israel and Iran. In Israel, the sand cat was thought to be threatened by predation from caracals (Caracal caracal) and wolves (Canis lupus).
Sand cats have also been caught for the pet trade in the United Arab Emirates and in Iraq. In Baghdad, two sand cats were presented to a local nursery in 2012 that had been sold as pets; they died a week later. In 2014 and 2015, four sand cats were trapped alive by local truffle collectors and offered for sale in a wildlife market in Baghdad; their fate is unknown.
Sand cats may be at risk of transfer of diseases from domestic and feral cats encroaching desert areas. In Saudi Arabia, one of 17 wild-caught sand cats was tested positive for feline leukaemia virus.
## Conservation
Felis margarita is listed on CITES Appendix II. Hunting is prohibited in Algeria, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Mauritania, Niger, Pakistan, and Tunisia. No legal protection exists in Egypt, Mali, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. Previously having been classified as near threatened, it has been downlisted to least concern in 2016, as the estimated size of the global population exceeds the threshold for a threatened category; the extent of decline of the global population is unknown.
The Jerusalem Biblical Zoo started a sand cat reintroduction project in Israel's Arabah Desert. Several captive-born individuals from the zoo's population were kept in an acclimatization enclosure, but did not survive subsequent release into the wild.
### In captivity
Since the mid 1960s, sand cats were captured in Pakistan for trade and export to Europe until the Pakistani government ceased issuing permits in 1974. Captive sand cats are highly sensitive to respiratory diseases and infection of the upper respiratory tract. This is the main cause of death in adults. The most common disease is infectious rhinotracheitis. With sand cats being very susceptible to respiratory infections, they have to be kept in very arid enclosures, where humidity and temperature do not fluctuate.
The captive population kept in the European Endangered Species Programme is offspring of 18 founders that originated almost exclusively on the Arabian Peninsula. Until December 2009, the global captive population comprised 200 individuals in 45 institutions, including 23 European zoos with 102 individuals. The captive population within the Species Survival Plan for sand cat is based on eight founders.
In 2010, two sand cat kittens were born at the Al Ain Zoo after the first procedure of in vitro fertilisation and transfer of frozen-thawed embryos into the oviducts of ovulating females. In July 2012, four sand cat kittens were born at the Ramat Gan Zoo as part of the European Endangered Species Programme. |
3,242,429 | Geoffroy's spider monkey | 1,145,927,474 | Species of spider monkey, from Central America | [
"Articles containing video clips",
"Endangered biota of Mexico",
"Endangered fauna of North America",
"Endangered fauna of South America",
"Mammals described in 1820",
"Mammals of Colombia",
"Mammals of Mexico",
"Primates of Central America",
"Spider monkeys",
"Taxa named by Heinrich Kuhl"
]
| Geoffroy's spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), also known as the black-handed spider monkey or the Central American spider monkey, is a species of spider monkey, a type of New World monkey, from Central America, parts of Mexico and possibly a small portion of Colombia. There are at least five subspecies. Some primatologists classify the black-headed spider monkey (A. fusciceps), found in Panama, Colombia, and Ecuador as the same species as Geoffroy's spider monkey.
It is one of the largest New World monkeys, often weighing as much as 9 kg (20 lb). Its arms are significantly longer than its legs, and its prehensile tail can support the entire weight of the monkey and is used as an extra limb. Its hands have only a vestigial thumb, but long, strong, hook-like fingers. These adaptations allow the monkey to move by swinging by its arms beneath the tree branches.
Geoffroy's spider monkey lives in fission–fusion societies that contain between 20 and 42 members. Its diet consists primarily of ripe fruit and it requires large tracts of forest to survive. As a result of habitat loss, hunting and capture for the pet trade, it is considered to be endangered by the IUCN.
## Taxonomy
Geoffroy's spider monkey belongs to the New World monkey family Atelidae, which contains the spider monkeys, woolly monkeys, muriquis and howler monkeys. It is a member of the subfamily Atelinae, which includes the spider monkeys, woolly monkeys and muriquis, and of the genus Ateles, which contains all the spider monkeys. The genus name Ateles means "imperfect", a reference to the vestigial thumb. The species name geoffroyi is in honor of French naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire.
Agreement over the number of spider monkey species is not universal. Kellogg and Goldman (1944) based their classification on fur color, and Groves (1989) based his on fur color and geographic distribution. Kellogg and Goldman differentiated Geoffroy's spider monkey from other species by its dark black head, hands and wrists. Recent studies use mitochondrial DNA to help differentiate species. Such studies by Collins and Daubach (2000, 2001, 2006) indicate the Geoffroy's spider monkey is more closely related to the white-fronted spider monkey, A. belzebuth, and the brown spider monkey, A. hybridus, than it is to the red-faced spider monkey, A. paniscus. According to these studies, A. paniscus branched off from the other spider monkeys approximately 3.27 million years ago and the spider monkeys branched off from the woolly monkeys and muiriquis 3.59 million years ago. Older studies by Porter, et al. indicate the howler monkeys are believed to have branched off from the other Atelides over 10 million years ago.
In 2005 mammalian taxonomy reference work, Mammal Species of the World, listed five subspecies:
- Nicaraguan spider monkey, Ateles geoffroyi geoffroyi
- Hooded spider monkey, A. g. grisescens
- Ornate spider monkey, A. g. ornatus
- Mexican spider monkey, A. g. vellerosus
- Yucatan spider monkey, A. g. yucatanensis
In 2015 a phylogenetic study recommended A. g. yucatanensis was a junior synonym of A. g. vellerosus. Some authorities also recognize A. g. azuerensis and A. g. frontatus as valid subspecies.
The black-headed spider monkey, Ateles fusciceps, is considered by authorities such as Groves (1989) and Rylands et al. (2006) to be a separate species from Geoffroy's spider monkey. Other authorities, including Froelich (1991), Collins and Dubach (2001) and Nieves (2005), consider A. fusciceps to be synonymous with A. geoffroyi. Under this treatment, the two subspecies of the black-headed spider monkey represent additional subspecies of Geoffroy's spider monkey, A. g. fusciceps and A. g. rufiventris.
## Distribution and habitat
The range of this species extends over much of Central America, encompassing Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize and the south and much of the eastern portion of Mexico. Observations by local people indicate the southernmost subspecies, the hooded spider monkey, A. g. grisescens, may also occur in the portion of Colombia near the Panama border. In western Colombia and northeast Panama, it is replaced by the black-headed spider monkey, A. fusciceps, which is considered by some primatologists to be a subspecies of Geoffroy's spider monkey.
Geoffroy's spider monkey lives in various types of forest, including rainforest, semideciduous and mangrove forests. Higher densities of Geoffroy's spider monkeys are generally found in areas containing evergreen forest.
## Physical description
Geoffroy's spider monkey is one of the largest New World monkeys. Its length measures between 30 and 63 cm (12 and 25 in) and it weighs between 6 and 9 kg (13 and 20 lb). The tail is longer than the body at between 63 and 85 cm (25 and 33+1⁄2 in). Males and females are approximately the same size.
Its body color varies by subspecies and population, and can be buff, reddish, rust, brown or black. The hands and feet are dark or black. The face usually has a pale mask and bare skin around the eyes and muzzle.
Its arms and legs are long and slim. The arms are about 25% longer than the legs. The thumb is only vestigial, but the fingers are long and strong, making the hands hook-like. The long arms and hook-like hands allow Geoffroy's spider monkey to brachiate, that is, swing by its arms beneath the tree branches.
The prehensile tail is very strong and has a palm-like pad at the end. The tail acts as an extra limb, and is used for locomotion, as well as to pick fruits and to scoop water from holes in trees. Geoffroy's spider monkey can support its weight suspended by its tail and often does so when feeding.
The clitoris of female Geoffroy's spider monkeys is large and protrudes, looking like a penis. This organ, called a pendulous clitoris because of the way it dangles externally, is actually larger than the male flaccid penis. As a result, females are sometimes mistaken for males by human observers. The enlarged clitoris is believed to aid males in determining sexual receptiveness, allowing them to touch the clitoris and smell their fingers to pick up chemical or olfactory cues to the female's reproductive status.
## Behavior
Geoffroy's spider monkey is arboreal and diurnal, and mostly inhabits the upper portion of the forest. However, it comes to the ground more frequently than other spider monkey species. It lives in fission–fusion societies, large groups with a typical 20 to 42 members, which split into smaller subgroups to forage during the day. Subgroups typically number two to six members, and sometimes the subgroups remain separate from the main group even through the night.
Geoffroy's spider monkey forages over large tracts of forest in search of food. Home ranges for groups can exceed 900 hectares (2,200 acres). Monkeys can range about 2,000 metres (6,600 ft) each day. Males tend to cover a larger day range than females, and dominant individuals tend to have larger day ranges. Geoffroy's spider monkey sometimes rubs a mixture of saliva and ground lime tree Citrus aurantifolia leaves on its fur. This is believed to act as an insect repellent. In some locations, Geoffroy's spider monkey interacts with the white-headed capuchin. These interactions can include mutual grooming.
In addition to walking or running on four limbs and climbing, Geoffroy's spider monkey uses several forms of suspensory locomotion. Brachiation, or swinging from the arms with assistance from the prehensile tail, is the most common form of suspensory locomotion. Less common forms include swinging while suspended by the tail, and walking on four limbs under a branch. Studies have indicated the Geoffroy's spider monkey uses suspensory locomotion less frequently than other spider monkey species.
The most common method used by spider monkeys to cross between trees is "bridging", in which the monkey grasps for a branch from the new tree and pulls it towards itself so it can climb onto it. Airborne leaps are used when necessary, and certain populations of Geoffroy's spider monkey, especially in Panama, are known to leap between trees more frequently than other populations.
When not moving, Geoffroy's spider monkey uses not only supported postures, such as sitting or standing, but also suspended postures in which it hangs from a branch. Suspended postures always include support from the tail, and sometimes the monkey hangs by its tail alone. Other times it hangs by the tail and by one or more limbs simultaneously. Studies have indicated at least some Geoffroy's spider monkey populations use suspended postures less frequently when feeding than other spider monkey species.
### Communication and intelligence
Sounds produced by Geoffroy's spider monkey include barks, whinnies, squeals, squeaks and screams. Barks are typically alarm calls. Whinnies and screams can be used as distress calls, and are also made at dawn and at dusk. Each monkey makes a unique sound, which may allow monkeys to recognize each other through vocal communication alone. Several researchers have investigated the use of whinnies, which consist of between two and twelve quick increases and decreases in pitch, in more detail. This research has indicated one additional purpose of whinnies is to call other group members to a food source. Other purposes of whinnies suggested by this research have included maintaining vocal contact with other group members while traveling and distinguishing between group members and members of other groups.
Geoffroy's spider monkey uses several forms of nonvocal communication. A curled tail or arched back can be used as a threat display towards other spider monkeys. A head shake is used either as a threat or an invitation to play. Shaking branches or swaying arms is used as a warning of danger to the group.
Although they do not use tools, spider monkeys, including Geoffroy's spider monkey, are regarded as intelligent primates. A study performed in 2007 concluded they were the third most intelligent nonhuman primate, behind only orangutans and chimpanzees, and ahead of gorillas and all other monkeys. This mental capacity may be an adaptation to spider monkeys' frugivorous diets, which require them to be able to identify and memorize many different types of foods and their locations.
### Diet
Geoffroy's spider monkey eats mostly fruit – preferably ripe and fleshy – and spends 70% to 80% of its feeding time eating fruit. Leaves make up most of the rest of its diet. Young leaves are especially important to provide the protein that can be lacking in fruit. Other elements of its diet include flowers, bark, insects, honey, seeds and buds.
In addition to providing much of the monkey's nutritional needs, fruit and leaves provide much of its water requirements. Like other spider monkeys, Geoffroy's spider monkey drinks water from tree holes and bromeliads in trees, but unlike other spider monkeys, it also drinks from terrestrial water sources.
### Predators
Large cats – jaguars and pumas – appear to be the only significant adult spider monkey predators, other than humans. Eagles and large snakes are also potential predators. However, predation of Geoffroy's spider monkey has not been observed by researchers.
### Reproduction
Females bear young every two to four years. Among males, mating is not restricted to only dominant individuals. In one study at Barro Colorado Island, all males in the group were observed mating at least once over a one-year period. However, dominant males appear to mate more often than low-ranking males. It is unknown whether male dominance is correlated with greater success in fathering offspring.
Geoffroy's spider monkeys mate in a sitting position, both facing the same direction, with the male seated behind the female and his arms wrapped around her chest and legs wrapped around her waist. This embrace can last between 8 and 22 minutes. Prior to mating, the male and female both separate themselves from the rest of the group, so they are alone except for any of the female's juvenile offspring.
The gestational period is about 7.5 months, after which a single young is typically born, although twins sometimes occur. The young are dark in color until they begin taking on the adult coloration at the age of five months. They are carried on their mothers' chests for the first month and a half to two months, at which point they can ride on their backs. They nurse until they are about one year old, but begin eating solid foods and moving independently at about three months. Even when they move independently, they cannot always cross gaps in the canopy that adults can manage. To help them, an adult will stretch across the gap, forming a bridge over which the young can cross.
Females become sexually mature at about four years, and males at about five years. Upon reaching sexual maturity, females leave their natal group, but males do not. As a result, the males in the groups are typically related, while the females are not. This may help explain why male Geoffroy's spider monkeys form strong bonds. Maximum life span in the wild is unknown. In captivity, Geoffroy's spider monkey can live at least 33 years.
## Conservation status
Geoffroy's spider monkey is listed as endangered by the IUCN, mostly due to habitat loss and capture for the pet trade. It requires large tracts of primary forest to survive, so it is vulnerable to deforestation and is sometimes hunted by humans and captured for the pet trade. Because of its low reproductive turnover, it cannot quickly replenish its numbers when affected by these events. As a result, Geoffroy's spider monkey has disappeared from some areas where it was once common. Three subspecies are critically endangered.
Geoffroy's spider monkey was extirpated on Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Hunting had eliminated the native population there by 1912. However, between 1959 and 1966, an effort was made to reintroduce the species to Barro Colorado. At least 18 monkeys were reintroduced, but only five, one male and four females, survived the reintroduction. This small group has thrived, and the island population had grown to 28 monkeys by 2003.
## In culture
- The Mexican painter Frida Kahlo's Self-Portrait with Monkey 1938 portrays this species; the artist kept several of them as pets.
- In the Cartoon Network series Camp Lazlo, the title character is an orange Geoffrey's Spider Monkey with a really long tail. |
30,463 | Taxonomy (biology) | 1,173,838,086 | Science of naming, defining and classifying organisms | [
"Biological classification",
"Biological nomenclature",
"Neo-Latin terminology",
"Taxonomy (biology)"
]
| In biology, taxonomy () is the scientific study of naming, defining (circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxa (singular: taxon) and these groups are given a taxonomic rank; groups of a given rank can be aggregated to form a more inclusive group of higher rank, thus creating a taxonomic hierarchy. The principal ranks in modern use are domain, kingdom, phylum (division is sometimes used in botany in place of phylum), class, order, family, genus, and species. The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus is regarded as the founder of the current system of taxonomy, as he developed a ranked system known as Linnaean taxonomy for categorizing organisms and binomial nomenclature for naming organisms.
With advances in the theory, data and analytical technology of biological systematics, the Linnaean system has transformed into a system of modern biological classification intended to reflect the evolutionary relationships among organisms, both living and extinct.
## Definition
The exact definition of taxonomy varies from source to source, but the core of the discipline remains: the conception, naming, and classification of groups of organisms. As points of reference, recent definitions of taxonomy are presented below:
1. Theory and practice of grouping individuals into species, arranging species into larger groups, and giving those groups names, thus producing a classification.
2. A field of science (and a major component of systematics) that encompasses description, identification, nomenclature, and classification
3. The science of classification, in biology the arrangement of organisms into a classification
4. "The science of classification as applied to living organisms, including the study of means of formation of species, etc."
5. "The analysis of an organism's characteristics for the purpose of classification"
6. "Systematics studies phylogeny to provide a pattern that can be translated into the classification and names of the more inclusive field of taxonomy" (listed as a desirable but unusual definition)
The varied definitions either place taxonomy as a sub-area of systematics (definition 2), invert that relationship (definition 6), or appear to consider the two terms synonymous. There is some disagreement as to whether biological nomenclature is considered a part of taxonomy (definitions 1 and 2), or a part of systematics outside taxonomy. For example, definition 6 is paired with the following definition of systematics that places nomenclature outside taxonomy:
- Systematics: "The study of the identification, taxonomy, and nomenclature of organisms, including the classification of living things with regard to their natural relationships and the study of variation and the evolution of taxa".
In 1970, Michener et al. defined "systematic biology" and "taxonomy" (terms that are often confused and used interchangeably) in relation to one another as follows:
> Systematic biology (hereafter called simply systematics) is the field that (a) provides scientific names for organisms, (b) describes them, (c) preserves collections of them, (d) provides classifications for the organisms, keys for their identification, and data on their distributions, (e) investigates their evolutionary histories, and (f) considers their environmental adaptations. This is a field with a long history that in recent years has experienced a notable renaissance, principally with respect to theoretical content. Part of the theoretical material has to do with evolutionary areas (topics e and f above), the rest relates especially to the problem of classification. Taxonomy is that part of Systematics concerned with topics (a) to (d) above.
A whole set of terms including taxonomy, systematic biology, systematics, scientific classification, biological classification, and phylogenetics have at times had overlapping meanings – sometimes the same, sometimes slightly different, but always related and intersecting. The broadest meaning of "taxonomy" is used here. The term itself was introduced in 1813 by de Candolle, in his Théorie élémentaire de la botanique. John Lindley provided an early definition of systematics in 1830, although he wrote of "systematic botany" rather than using the term "systematics". Europeans tend to use the terms "systematics" and "biosystematics" for the study of biodiversity as a whole, whereas North Americans tend to use "taxonomy" more frequently. However, taxonomy, and in particular alpha taxonomy, is more specifically the identification, description, and naming (i.e. nomenclature) of organisms, while "classification" focuses on placing organisms within hierarchical groups that show their relationships to other organisms.
### Monograph and taxonomic revision
A taxonomic revision or taxonomic review is a novel analysis of the variation patterns in a particular taxon. This analysis may be executed on the basis of any combination of the various available kinds of characters, such as morphological, anatomical, palynological, biochemical and genetic. A monograph or complete revision is a revision that is comprehensive for a taxon for the information given at a particular time, and for the entire world. Other (partial) revisions may be restricted in the sense that they may only use some of the available character sets or have a limited spatial scope. A revision results in a conformation of or new insights in the relationships between the subtaxa within the taxon under study, which may lead to a change in the classification of these subtaxa, the identification of new subtaxa, or the merger of previous subtaxa.
### Taxonomic characters
Taxonomic characters are the taxonomic attributes that can be used to provide the evidence from which relationships (the phylogeny) between taxa are inferred. Kinds of taxonomic characters include:
- Morphological characters
- General external morphology
- Special structures (e.g. genitalia)
- Internal morphology (anatomy)
- Embryology
- Karyology and other cytological factors
- Physiological characters
- Metabolic factors
- Body secretions
- Genic sterility factors
- Molecular characters
- Immunological distance
- Electrophoretic differences
- Amino acid sequences of proteins
- DNA hybridization
- DNA and RNA sequences
- Restriction endonuclease analyses
- Other molecular differences
- Behavioral characters
- Courtship and other ethological isolating mechanisms
- Other behavior patterns
- Ecological characters
- Habit and habitats
- Food
- Seasonal variations
- Parasites and hosts
- Geographic characters
- General biogeographic distribution patterns
- Sympatric-allopatric relationship of populations
### Alpha and beta taxonomy
The term "alpha taxonomy" is primarily used to refer to the discipline of finding, describing, and naming taxa, particularly species. In earlier literature, the term had a different meaning, referring to morphological taxonomy, and the products of research through the end of the 19th century.
William Bertram Turrill introduced the term "alpha taxonomy" in a series of papers published in 1935 and 1937 in which he discussed the philosophy and possible future directions of the discipline of taxonomy.
> ... there is an increasing desire amongst taxonomists to consider their problems from wider viewpoints, to investigate the possibilities of closer co-operation with their cytological, ecological and genetics colleagues and to acknowledge that some revision or expansion, perhaps of a drastic nature, of their aims and methods, may be desirable ... Turrill (1935) has suggested that while accepting the older invaluable taxonomy, based on structure, and conveniently designated "alpha", it is possible to glimpse a far-distant taxonomy built upon as wide a basis of morphological and physiological facts as possible, and one in which "place is found for all observational and experimental data relating, even if indirectly, to the constitution, subdivision, origin, and behaviour of species and other taxonomic groups". Ideals can, it may be said, never be completely realized. They have, however, a great value of acting as permanent stimulants, and if we have some, even vague, ideal of an "omega" taxonomy we may progress a little way down the Greek alphabet. Some of us please ourselves by thinking we are now groping in a "beta" taxonomy.
Turrill thus explicitly excludes from alpha taxonomy various areas of study that he includes within taxonomy as a whole, such as ecology, physiology, genetics, and cytology. He further excludes phylogenetic reconstruction from alpha taxonomy.
Later authors have used the term in a different sense, to mean the delimitation of species (not subspecies or taxa of other ranks), using whatever investigative techniques are available, and including sophisticated computational or laboratory techniques. Thus, Ernst Mayr in 1968 defined "beta taxonomy" as the classification of ranks higher than species.
> An understanding of the biological meaning of variation and of the evolutionary origin of groups of related species is even more important for the second stage of taxonomic activity, the sorting of species into groups of relatives ("taxa") and their arrangement in a hierarchy of higher categories. This activity is what the term classification denotes; it is also referred to as "beta taxonomy".
### Microtaxonomy and macrotaxonomy
How species should be defined in a particular group of organisms gives rise to practical and theoretical problems that are referred to as the species problem. The scientific work of deciding how to define species has been called microtaxonomy. By extension, macrotaxonomy is the study of groups at the higher taxonomic ranks subgenus and above.
## History
While some descriptions of taxonomic history attempt to date taxonomy to ancient civilizations, a truly scientific attempt to classify organisms did not occur until the 18th century. Earlier works were primarily descriptive and focused on plants that were useful in agriculture or medicine.
There are a number of stages in this scientific thinking. Early taxonomy was based on arbitrary criteria, the so-called "artificial systems", including Linnaeus's system of sexual classification for plants (Linnaeus's 1735 classification of animals was entitled "Systema Naturae" ("the System of Nature"), implying that he, at least, believed that it was more than an "artificial system").
Later came systems based on a more complete consideration of the characteristics of taxa, referred to as "natural systems", such as those of de Jussieu (1789), de Candolle (1813) and Bentham and Hooker (1862–1863). These classifications described empirical patterns and were pre-evolutionary in thinking.
The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species (1859) led to a new explanation for classifications, based on evolutionary relationships. This was the concept of phyletic systems, from 1883 onwards. This approach was typified by those of Eichler (1883) and Engler (1886–1892).
The advent of cladistic methodology in the 1970s led to classifications based on the sole criterion of monophyly, supported by the presence of synapomorphies. Since then, the evidentiary basis has been expanded with data from molecular genetics that for the most part complements traditional morphology.
### Pre-Linnaean
#### Early taxonomists
Naming and classifying human surroundings likely began with the onset of language. Distinguishing poisonous plants from edible plants is integral to the survival of human communities. Medicinal plant illustrations show up in Egyptian wall paintings from c. 1500 BC, indicating that the uses of different species were understood and that a basic taxonomy was in place.
#### Ancient times
Organisms were first classified by Aristotle (Greece, 384–322 BC) during his stay on the Island of Lesbos. He classified beings by their parts, or in modern terms attributes, such as having live birth, having four legs, laying eggs, having blood, or being warm-bodied. He divided all living things into two groups: plants and animals.
Some of his groups of animals, such as Anhaima (animals without blood, translated as invertebrates) and Enhaima (animals with blood, roughly the vertebrates), as well as groups like the sharks and cetaceans, are commonly used.
His student Theophrastus (Greece, 370–285 BC) carried on this tradition, mentioning some 500 plants and their uses in his Historia Plantarum. Several plant groups can be traced back to Theophrastus, such as Cornus, Crocus, and Narcissus.
#### Medieval
Taxonomy in the Middle Ages was largely based on the Aristotelian system, with additions concerning the philosophical and existential order of creatures. This included concepts such as the great chain of being in the Western scholastic tradition, again deriving ultimately from Aristotle.
The Aristotelian system did not classify plants or fungi, due to the lack of microscopes at the time, as his ideas were based on arranging the complete world in a single continuum, as per the scala naturae (the Natural Ladder). This, as well, was taken into consideration in the great chain of being.
Advances were made by scholars such as Procopius, Timotheos of Gaza, Demetrios Pepagomenos, and Thomas Aquinas. Medieval thinkers used abstract philosophical and logical categorizations more suited to abstract philosophy than to pragmatic taxonomy.
#### Renaissance and early modern
During the Renaissance and the Age of Enlightenment, categorizing organisms became more prevalent, and taxonomic works became ambitious enough to replace the ancient texts. This is sometimes credited to the development of sophisticated optical lenses, which allowed the morphology of organisms to be studied in much greater detail.
One of the earliest authors to take advantage of this leap in technology was the Italian physician Andrea Cesalpino (1519–1603), who has been called "the first taxonomist". His magnum opus De Plantis came out in 1583, and described more than 1500 plant species. Two large plant families that he first recognized are in use: the Asteraceae and Brassicaceae.
In the 17th century John Ray (England, 1627–1705) wrote many important taxonomic works. Arguably his greatest accomplishment was Methodus Plantarum Nova (1682), in which he published details of over 18,000 plant species. At the time, his classifications were perhaps the most complex yet produced by any taxonomist, as he based his taxa on many combined characters.
The next major taxonomic works were produced by Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (France, 1656–1708). His work from 1700, Institutiones Rei Herbariae, included more than 9000 species in 698 genera, which directly influenced Linnaeus, as it was the text he used as a young student.
### Linnaean era
The Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) ushered in a new era of taxonomy. With his major works Systema Naturae 1st Edition in 1735, Species Plantarum in 1753, and Systema Naturae 10th Edition, he revolutionized modern taxonomy. His works implemented a standardized binomial naming system for animal and plant species, which proved to be an elegant solution to a chaotic and disorganized taxonomic literature. He not only introduced the standard of class, order, genus, and species, but also made it possible to identify plants and animals from his book, by using the smaller parts of the flower (known as the Linnaean system).
Plant and animal taxonomists regard Linnaeus' work as the "starting point" for valid names (at 1753 and 1758 respectively). Names published before these dates are referred to as "pre-Linnaean", and not considered valid (with the exception of spiders published in Svenska Spindlar). Even taxonomic names published by Linnaeus himself before these dates are considered pre-Linnaean.
### The digital era of taxonomy
Modern taxonomy is heavily influenced by computer technology, e.g. by the use of DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, databases, imaging etc.
## Modern system of classification
A pattern of groups nested within groups was specified by Linnaeus' classifications of plants and animals, and these patterns began to be represented as dendrograms of the animal and plant kingdoms toward the end of the 18th century, well before Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species was published. The pattern of the "Natural System" did not entail a generating process, such as evolution, but may have implied it, inspiring early transmutationist thinkers. Among early works exploring the idea of a transmutation of species were Erasmus Darwin's (Charles Darwin's grandfather's) 1796 Zoönomia and Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Philosophie Zoologique of 1809. The idea was popularized in the Anglophone world by the speculative but widely read Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, published anonymously by Robert Chambers in 1844.
With Darwin's theory, a general acceptance quickly appeared that a classification should reflect the Darwinian principle of common descent. Tree of life representations became popular in scientific works, with known fossil groups incorporated. One of the first modern groups tied to fossil ancestors was birds. Using the then newly discovered fossils of Archaeopteryx and Hesperornis, Thomas Henry Huxley pronounced that they had evolved from dinosaurs, a group formally named by Richard Owen in 1842. The resulting description, that of dinosaurs "giving rise to" or being "the ancestors of" birds, is the essential hallmark of evolutionary taxonomic thinking. As more and more fossil groups were found and recognized in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, palaeontologists worked to understand the history of animals through the ages by linking together known groups. With the modern evolutionary synthesis of the early 1940s, an essentially modern understanding of the evolution of the major groups was in place. As evolutionary taxonomy is based on Linnaean taxonomic ranks, the two terms are largely interchangeable in modern use.
The cladistic method has emerged since the 1960s. In 1958, Julian Huxley used the term clade. Later, in 1960, Cain and Harrison introduced the term cladistic. The salient feature is arranging taxa in a hierarchical evolutionary tree, with the desideratum that all named taxa are monophyletic. A taxon is called monophyletic if it includes all the descendants of an ancestral form. Groups that have descendant groups removed from them are termed paraphyletic, while groups representing more than one branch from the tree of life are called polyphyletic. Monophyletic groups are recognized and diagnosed on the basis of synapomorphies, shared derived character states.
Cladistic classifications are compatible with traditional Linnean taxonomy and the Codes of Zoological and Botanical nomenclature. An alternative system of nomenclature, the International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature or PhyloCode has been proposed, whose intent is to regulate the formal naming of clades. Linnaean ranks will be optional under the PhyloCode, which is intended to coexist with the current, rank-based codes. It remains to be seen whether the systematic community will adopt the PhyloCode or reject it in favor of the current systems of nomenclature that have been employed (and modified as needed) for over 250 years.
### Kingdoms and domains
Well before discovery of Carl Linnaeus (Botanist) plants and animals were considered separate Kingdoms. Linnaeus used this as the top rank, dividing the physical world into the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms. As advances in microscopy made the classification of microorganisms possible, the number of kingdoms increased, five- and six-kingdom systems being the most common.
Domains are a relatively new grouping. First proposed in 1977, Carl Woese's three-domain system was not generally accepted until later. One main characteristic of the three-domain method is the separation of Archaea and Bacteria, previously grouped into the single kingdom Bacteria (a kingdom also sometimes called Monera), with the Eukaryota for all organisms whose cells contain a nucleus. A small number of scientists include a sixth kingdom, Archaea, but do not accept the domain method.
Thomas Cavalier-Smith, who published extensively on the classification of protists, in 2002 proposed that the Neomura, the clade that groups together the Archaea and Eucarya, would have evolved from Bacteria, more precisely from Actinomycetota. His 2004 classification treated the archaeobacteria as part of a subkingdom of the kingdom Bacteria, i.e., he rejected the three-domain system entirely. Stefan Luketa in 2012 proposed a five "dominion" system, adding Prionobiota (acellular and without nucleic acid) and Virusobiota (acellular but with nucleic acid) to the traditional three domains.
### Recent comprehensive classifications
Partial classifications exist for many individual groups of organisms and are revised and replaced as new information becomes available; however, comprehensive, published treatments of most or all life are rarer; recent examples are that of Adl et al., 2012 and 2019, which covers eukaryotes only with an emphasis on protists, and Ruggiero et al., 2015, covering both eukaryotes and prokaryotes to the rank of Order, although both exclude fossil representatives. A separate compilation (Ruggiero, 2014) covers extant taxa to the rank of Family. Other, database-driven treatments include the Encyclopedia of Life, the Global Biodiversity Information Facility, the NCBI taxonomy database, the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera, the Open Tree of Life, and the Catalogue of Life. The Paleobiology Database is a resource for fossils.
## Application
Biological taxonomy is a sub-discipline of biology, and is generally practiced by biologists known as "taxonomists", though enthusiastic naturalists are also frequently involved in the publication of new taxa. Because taxonomy aims to describe and organize life, the work conducted by taxonomists is essential for the study of biodiversity and the resulting field of conservation biology.
### Classifying organisms
Biological classification is a critical component of the taxonomic process. As a result, it informs the user as to what the relatives of the taxon are hypothesized to be. Biological classification uses taxonomic ranks, including among others (in order from most inclusive to least inclusive): Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species, and Strain.
### Taxonomic descriptions
The "definition" of a taxon is encapsulated by its description or its diagnosis or by both combined. There are no set rules governing the definition of taxa, but the naming and publication of new taxa is governed by sets of rules. In zoology, the nomenclature for the more commonly used ranks (superfamily to subspecies), is regulated by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN Code). In the fields of phycology, mycology, and botany, the naming of taxa is governed by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants (ICN).
The initial description of a taxon involves five main requirements:
1. The taxon must be given a name based on the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet (a binomial for new species, or uninomial for other ranks).
2. The name must be unique (i.e. not a homonym).
3. The description must be based on at least one name-bearing type specimen.
4. It should include statements about appropriate attributes either to describe (define) the taxon or to differentiate it from other taxa (the diagnosis, ICZN Code, Article 13.1.1, ICN, Article 38, which may or may not be based on morphology). Both codes deliberately separate defining the content of a taxon (its circumscription) from defining its name.
5. These first four requirements must be published in a work that is obtainable in numerous identical copies, as a permanent scientific record.
However, often much more information is included, like the geographic range of the taxon, ecological notes, chemistry, behavior, etc. How researchers arrive at their taxa varies: depending on the available data, and resources, methods vary from simple quantitative or qualitative comparisons of striking features, to elaborate computer analyses of large amounts of DNA sequence data.
### Author citation
An "authority" may be placed after a scientific name. The authority is the name of the scientist or scientists who first validly published the name. For example, in 1758 Linnaeus gave the Asian elephant the scientific name Elephas maximus, so the name is sometimes written as "Elephas maximus Linnaeus, 1758". The names of authors are often abbreviated: the abbreviation L., for Linnaeus, is commonly used. In botany, there is, in fact, a regulated list of standard abbreviations (see list of botanists by author abbreviation). The system for assigning authorities differs slightly between botany and zoology. However, it is standard that if the genus of a species has been changed since the original description, the original authority's name is placed in parentheses.
## Phenetics
In phenetics, also known as taximetrics, or numerical taxonomy, organisms are classified based on overall similarity, regardless of their phylogeny or evolutionary relationships. It results in a measure of hypergeometric "distance" between taxa. Phenetic methods have become relatively rare in modern times, largely superseded by cladistic analyses, as phenetic methods do not distinguish shared ancestral (or plesiomorphic) traits from shared derived (or apomorphic) traits. However, certain phenetic methods, such as neighbor joining, have persisted, as rapid estimators of relationships when more advanced methods (such as Bayesian inference) are too computationally expensive.
## Databases
Modern taxonomy uses database technologies to search and catalogue classifications and their documentation. While there is no commonly used database, there are comprehensive databases such as the Catalogue of Life, which attempts to list every documented species. The catalogue listed 1.64 million species for all kingdoms as of April 2016, claiming coverage of more than three-quarters of the estimated species known to modern science.
## See also
- Automated species identification
- Bacterial taxonomy
- Cluster analysis
- Consortium for the Barcode of Life
- Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities
- Genetypes
- Glossary of scientific naming
- Identification (biology)
- Incertae sedis
- Open Tree of Life
- Parataxonomy
- Phenogram
- Set theory
- Taxonomy (general)
- Virus classification |
26,192,190 | An Ideal World | 1,172,060,100 | Chinese manhua written by Weidong Chen and illustrated by Chao Peng | [
"2006 comics debuts",
"Action-adventure comics",
"Fantasy comics",
"Manhua titles",
"Yen Press titles"
]
| An Ideal World (simplified Chinese: 寻找自我的世界; traditional Chinese: 尋找自我的世界; pinyin: xún zhǎo zì wǒ de shì jiè "Seek Self's World") is a full-color Chinese manhua authored by Weidong Chen and illustrated by Chao Peng. The series was released in five volumes and published in China by Tian Jin Creator World Comic Company (simplified Chinese: 天津神界漫画公司; traditional Chinese: 天津神界漫畫公司; pinyin: Tiān jīn shén jiè màn huà gōng sī) under the title Seek Self's World and as part of the Cunren Fairy Tale series. An Ideal World was licensed by various other companies and released simultaneously with the original publisher between 2006 and 2007. The French manhua-publishing company Xiao Pan licensed the series as "Un Monde Idéal" ("An Ideal World") and Yen Press later announced at the New York Comic Con that they had licensed the series from Xiao Pan. Yen Press released it in North America as one volume called An Ideal World.
An Ideal World follows the struggles of A You, a young man who, believing he has no luck, does not attempt to succeed in life even though others advise him to make his own luck. When he accidentally gets on the wrong bus, A You finds himself in the suburbs, where he takes shelter from the rain in a large tree and takes a nap. After waking up, A You happens upon the house of an old man, who sends him to an alternate world so that he may resolve his troubles. A You grows to enjoy the fantasy world and does not wish to return to his harsh reality. An Ideal World garnered mixed reception from Western critics, who objected mainly to the beginning and praised the overall story, artwork and themes.
## Plot
A You is a troubled 19-year-old who dislikes his life; he feels that his entire life is unlucky, yet he avoids hard work and prefers to be lazy. He is encouraged by the people around him to work harder and told that he can change his life if he takes control of it, but A You refuses to accept these notions. One day, he accidentally takes the wrong bus and finds himself in the suburbs of his city. A You enjoys his time away and takes shelter inside of a large, hollow tree when it begins to rain. After taking a nap and waking up, he wanders until he comes across a small, green old man referred to as Grandpa Beard. Grandpa Beard decides to help A You with his problems and transports him to a "utopia" called Abi Port in an alternate world.
Abi Port is home to several humans, anthropomorphic beings, and other creatures, some of which look similar to people A You knows in his world. A You is found by members of a circus, who invite him to join them in their act. Although he lacks experience, he finds that he can perform well and begins to develop feelings for a young performer named Anan. He meets others who give him advice on enjoying work and life, particularly the "Master of Universal Love", an anthropomorphic zebra who toiled to earn his position and helps others free of charge.
After A You spends time in this world, Grandpa Beard decides that his problems are solved and returns to take him away from the imaginary world. A You protests, not wanting to return to the cold reality, but Grandpa Beard captures him and tells him that he must change that reality if he dislikes it. Returned to his own world, A You awakens in the tree he had taken shelter in and heads back to his house, where he finds his worried friends and family waiting for him. A You's experiences at Abi Port inspire him to work harder, and he eventually marries his co-worker and friend Su Fei. The two are shown years later at the grand opening of Grandpa Beard's Fun House, a restaurant themed after Grandpa Beard, where A You sees he will accomplish his dream and spread happiness.
## Release
An Ideal World, authored by Weidong Chen and illustrated by Chao Peng, was originally published in China by the Tian Jin Creator World Comic Company and entitled Seek Self's World. It is part of the company's Cunren Fairy Tale series. An Ideal World was licensed by the French manhua company Xiao Pan, as well as several other companies, which released it in five volumes entitled Un Monde Idéal ("An Ideal World") from September 15, 2006 to March 14, 2007. Contracts were made that allowed for the French, South Korean, Taiwanese, and Mainland Chinese companies to release the five volumes at the same time as the original company; French, Chinese, and Korean language editions were published through a partnership with Beijing Total Vision Culture Spreads. An Ideal World'''s global release was meant to aid in the development of the Chinese comic industry and create a new business model, and its release marked the first simultaneous global release for a comic. Xiao Pan also made an omnibus of the original Chinese version available for purchase.
At the 2008 New York Comic Con, American-based graphic novel publisher Yen Press announced that they had acquired the rights to publish An Ideal World and would release it in full color. Rights were acquired from Xiao Pan, rather than Tian Jin Creator World Comic Co. On March 24, 2009, Yen Press released An Ideal World in North America as a single volume; at 176 pages long, the volume also includes character sketches, the additional French covers, and information on the author, illustrator, and Chinese publisher.
An Ideal World was licensed for release in Mainland China by TriWorks and Zhiyin Magazine and in South Korea by the South Korean branch of Cambridge University Press. Shenjie published the series in Taiwan. At a conference held in February 2006, Tian Jin Creator World Comic Company announced that negotiations were being made to release An Ideal World in other European countries, Japan, and with traditional Chinese characters in Taiwan.
## Reception
An Ideal World has received mixed reviews from Western critics, who generally praised the book's artwork and second half but did not like the beginning. School Library Journal's Lori Henderson reviewed An Ideal World positively; she praised the "Wizard of Oz feel" ending and the message that A You "controls his life, and he has the power to change it". Henderson called the characters "great" and the world "fantastic", also noting that the "cartoonish" and "exaggerated" artwork worked with the story. However, she remarked that the beginning of An Ideal World was "slow and plodding" and could "leave you wondering if it's ever going to go anywhere". Another School Library Journal critic, Joanna Fabicon, felt that the lessons and themes were "unimaginative", which made the artwork "a waste of visual whimsy".
Sam Kusek of PopCulture Shock also reviewed An Ideal World positively, grading it as a B+. Kusek applauded the artwork, saying that "colors really jump out" and set "the mood of the scene well, while keeping the backgrounds alive", and that character designs enhance "the mystical and magical elements of the story". Kusek liked the plot, but felt it was predictable; however, he noted that the main element and focus was the "philosophy of life" and that, overall, An Ideal World "flows really well". Writing for Comics Worth Reading, Ed Sizemore gave the book a mixed review. Sizemore wrote that he wished the message was conveyed "more [subtly]" and criticized the beginning of the book as "the toughest to get through", but felt the "pace and readability improve" afterwards. He praised the art as "gorgeous" with "lots of eye candy" for those who enjoy fantasy artwork. Overall, Sizemore thought An Ideal World was "wasted potential", with too much emphasis placed on the message, detracting from the storytelling.
Publishers Weekly praised An Ideal World for its message and art, but criticized how "the book gets bogged down in talky heavy-handedness, as if someone put nice fantasy illustrations into a business self-help book". R. Bézard, a French critic for BD Gest, rated the first volume of the Xiao Pan edition of An Ideal World with two out of five stars. Bézard stated that the volume did not draw in the reader or give any indication of A You's future adventure. However, Bézard praised the artwork as expressive and called it a cross between Dragon Ball Z and Fruits Basket''. |
15,073,119 | 2008 Maryland Terrapins football team | 1,148,371,498 | American college football season | [
"2008 Atlantic Coast Conference football season",
"2008 in sports in Maryland",
"Famous Idaho Potato Bowl champion seasons",
"Maryland Terrapins football seasons"
]
| The 2008 Maryland Terrapins football team represented the University of Maryland in the 2008 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It was the Terrapins' (also officially known as the "Terps") 56th season as a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) and its fourth within the framework of the ACC Atlantic Division.
Ralph Friedgen led the team for his eighth season as head coach and was assisted by first-year offensive coordinator James Franklin and third-year defensive coordinator Chris Cosh. It was the first season since the departure of Charlie Taaffe in 2005 that Friedgen did not call the offensive plays himself. Instead, those duties were handled by Franklin, a former Maryland wide receivers coach, who returned after a brief stint at Kansas State and in the National Football League (NFL). With him, Franklin brought a new system: the West Coast offense. Cosh, whose complex defensive scheme had been criticized as too passive, resigned at the end of the season.
The 2008 season in the ACC was described as chaotic, and for Maryland, there was no exception. The Terrapins were within grasp of the ACC Atlantic Division championship at the end of Week 12, but lost their final two games and fell to a four-way tie for third place. Maryland closed the regular season with a 7–5 record—including four wins against Top 25-ranked teams—which was enough to secure bowl eligibility. In the postseason, Maryland defeated Nevada of the Western Athletic Conference in the Humanitarian Bowl.
## Before the season
### Coaching changes
In December 2007, Maryland hired Kansas State offensive coordinator James Franklin to serve in that same role for the Terrapins. From 2000 to 2004, he was the Maryland wide receivers coach. In 2003 and 2004, he also served as the recruiting coordinator, and Rivals.com ranked Franklin as one of the nation's top-25 recruiters both years. Because of the arrival of Franklin, 2008 was the first since 2005 that head coach Ralph Friedgen did not call the offensive plays himself. At Maryland, Franklin installed a West Coast offense, which was well suited to quarterback Chris Turner's playing style and an experienced wide receiver corps that included play-maker Darrius Heyward-Bey and sure-handed Danny Oquendo.
### Key losses
Maryland lost several important players from the 2007 team. In January 2008, shortly after Oregon State defeated Maryland in the Emerald Bowl, linebacker Erin Henderson announced that he would forgo his senior year to enter the 2008 NFL Draft. Henderson, the brother of Butkus and Bednarik Award winner E.J., had recorded an ACC-high four fumble recoveries in 2007 and was the Terrapins' leader in total tackles (133) and tackles for loss (11). The defensive line lost tackles Dre Moore and Carlos Feliciano, while the secondary unit lost both starting safeties, strong safety Christian Varner and free safety J. J. Justice, as well as cornerback Isaiah Gardner. The Maryland offense lost tailbacks Lance Ball and Keon Lattimore who combined for 1,573 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns in 2007. The offensive line saw the departure of tight ends Jason Goode and Joey Haynos, and offensive guard Andrew Crummey.
### Key returns
Despite the loss of some of the previous year's important players, Maryland entered the 2008 season with a seasoned squad. Forty-six of sixty-two lettermen returned (74 percent), which included ten offensive and six defensive starters. The 2008 team contained 31 seniors, which was the largest group since Friedgen became head coach in 2001. Important returnees on the defensive unit included cornerback Kevin Barnes, who recorded four interceptions in 2007; defensive end Jeremy Navarre, who had recorded 5.5 sacks; and linebacker Dave Philistin, who had recorded 124 tackles. The offense's returning statistical leaders included quarterback Chris Turner, who threw for 1,958 passing yards in 2007; wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who had 786 receiving yards; and running back Da'Rel Scott, who had 135 rushing yards.
### Recruiting
The 2008 recruiting class was ranked 52nd in the nation by Scout.com and 38th by Rivals.com. Scout.com rated three recruits as four-star and six as three-star prospects, while Rivals.com rated six recruits each as four-star and three-star prospects. Kenny Tate, who was originally recruited as a wide receiver, was the only four-star prospect to see significant playing time in 2008. Before the season, he was converted to safety, a position that had been attrited by the graduation of former starters Christian Varner and J.J. Justice, and Tate also saw action on special teams. Cornerback Cameron Chism, who saw action in nine games as a reserve, recorded seven tackles on kickoff returns to tie for second on the team in special teams tackles. Tight end Matt Furstenburg saw limited play time on special teams against Delaware and Middle Tennessee, but injured his foot and was awarded a medical redshirt. Wide receiver Kevin Dorsey also sat out the season as a redshirt to recuperate from foot surgery. The other four-star recruits who sat out on redshirt status were wide receiver Kerry Boykins, tight end Devonte Campbell, and defensive tackle Masengo Kabongo. Running back Davin Meggett, the son of former New York Giants star Dave Meggett, was the only true freshman to start a game for Maryland in 2008, and he was a significant contributor throughout the season. Meggett was not a highly touted recruit, assessed by Scout.com as a two-star prospect, and his only other scholarship offers were from local-area Division I FCS schools. In 2008, however, he led all ACC freshman with 5.13 yards per carry, and Megett finished the season with 457 yards and four touchdowns as a reserve.
### Quarterback controversy
There was some controversy at the start of the season when head coach Ralph Friedgen selected senior Jordan Steffy as the starting quarterback over junior Chris Turner. In 2007, when Steffy suffered a concussion against 10th-ranked Rutgers, the relatively untested Turner took over and led Maryland to an upset victory. He then started the remainder of the season, compiled a 4–5 record in games he started, and led another upset against eighth-ranked Boston College. In comparing the practice performances of Steffy, Turner, and third-stringer Josh Portis, offensive coordinator James Franklin said:
> It gets hard if one quarterback all through spring and all through summer camp was statistically better in almost every single category, it's hard to rationalize not making him the starter ... because your gut feeling is one thing and the statistics are another. Jordan led by a pretty large amount in completion percentage ... [and] the least interception percentage. He didn't lead in yards per [attempt or] ... percentage of explosive plays. I consider an explosive play a play of 16 yards or more ... Portis led in that and Turner was second and Jordan was third.
In the season opener against Delaware, Steffy suffered an injured thumb, and Turner took over in the fourth quarter. He remained the starter for the rest of the season, and Steffy saw no further game action. Portis saw limited playing time throughout the season, usually being put in for a single option play at a time.
## Schedule
The Sagarin computer rating system calculated Maryland's strength of schedule to be 36th-most difficult out of the 245 Division I teams. The Cosgrove Computer Rankings calculated it as the 56th-most difficult out of the 120 Division I FBS teams. In accordance with conference rules, Maryland faced all five Atlantic Division opponents: Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, NC State, and Wake Forest. They also faced three Coastal Division opponents: official ACC rival Virginia, North Carolina, and Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech and Boston College were the ACC champions and runners-up, respectively, in 2007 and again in 2008. Maryland did not play ACC opponents Duke, Georgia Tech, and Miami.
Maryland also played four non-conference games. For the season opener, the Terrapins met the 2007 Division I FCS runners-up, Delaware. California of the Pacific-10 Conference was played for the first time in school history as the first half of a home-and-home series. Athletic director Deborah Yow wanted to play one of the University of Maryland's five academic peer institutions, and to take a two-year hiatus from the 28-year series against West Virginia. She said, by adding California, "We weren't trying to add to the degree of difficulty [of Maryland's schedule]; we were trying to substitute for West Virginia." Games were also played against Middle Tennessee State of the Sun Belt Conference and Eastern Michigan of the Mid-American Conference. For the 2008 Humanitarian Bowl, Maryland played Nevada in the teams' first meeting.
## Personnel
### Injuries
Injuries had devastated the Maryland roster the previous year, and while 2008 was more forgiving by comparison, several key players were injured. Starting cornerback Kevin Barnes suffered a season-ending scapular fracture against Wake Forest and missed the last six games. Sophomore LaQuan Williams and true freshman Kevin Dorsey, both wide receivers, sat out the entire season due to leg and foot injuries, respectively. Leading receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey sat out the Boston College game due to a calf injury, and leading rusher Da'Rel Scott suffered a left shoulder injury in the third game against California, which plagued him throughout the season, although he missed just one game. Running back Morgan Green, who had contended for the starting position during summer camp, had an injury-riddled season, before seeing his first real action in the bowl game. Starting quarterback Jordan Steffy was put out for the season by a thumb injury on his throwing hand in the first game.
### Depth chart
### Coaching staff
## Game summaries
### Delaware
- Opponent pre-game record: 0–0
- Opponent final record: 4–8
- Pre-game line: Lines are not released for games between FBS and FCS teams
The previous season, Delaware finished as the Division I FCS championship runners-up and scored more than 40 points in seven of 15 games. However, their star quarterback, Joe Flacco, and running back, Omar Cuff, both graduated and went on to the NFL. Later in the season, the Blue Hens finished 2008 with eight losses for the first time in school history.
Delaware kicked off to start the game, and wide receiver Torrey Smith returned the ball 23 yards to the Maryland 32-yard line. Quarterback Jordan Steffy then led a Maryland drive, but the series ended when placekicker Obi Egekeze missed a 48-yard field goal attempt. On the next Maryland possession, Egekeze missed another field goal attempt, this time of 45 yards. The teams then exchanged several punts before Maryland took over on the Delaware 48-yard line. Steffy completed a 36-yard pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey, which set up a 12-yard touchdown rush also by Heyward-Bey. Delaware drove 44 yards, but then missed their own 46-yard field goal attempt. With 3:33 left in the half, Steffy engineered a 47-yard drive to set up a 41-yard field goal attempt, which Egekeze missed for the third time. On the first play of the second half, Delaware quarterback Rob Schoenhoft threw an interception to cornerback Kevin Barnes, who returned it 10 yards to the Delaware 46-yard line. On the next play, Steffy threw an interception to Erik Johnson, who returned it to the Maryland 49-yard line. The Terrapins' next possession ended when, fourth and 18, Steffy threw another interception at the Delaware one-yard line. Incidentally, this put the Blue Hens in worse field position than if the Terrapins had turned over on downs. Soon after, Delaware punted the ball away. Running back Da'Rel Scott then rushed for a 30-yard gain, which set up a 14-yard touchdown run by running back Davin Meggett. Chris Turner took over as Maryland's quarterback on the second series of the fourth quarter after Steffy fractured his right thumb. On Delaware's subsequent possession, Schoenhoft engineered an 80-yard drive, which culminated with a one-yard touchdown rush by running back Johnathan Smith. With 3:20 on the clock, Schoenhoft threw an interception to safety Terrell Skinner. Turner then scrambled for a first down, and Scott converted for a second first down, which allowed Maryland to run out the game clock. Maryland won, with a final score of 14–7.
In his first career start, Scott ran for 157 yards, but Friedgen thought he could have done better. Friedgen said, "He was a little tired from camp ... Normally, he would break some of those runs. I don't think he quite had his third gear today." Steffy played a solid first half, but in the second, threw two interceptions before suffering a season-ending thumb fracture. He was replaced by back-up Chris Turner who started for the remainder of the season. Regarding their loss, Delaware head coach K. C. Keeler said, "This is not like a moral victory. I don't believe in moral victories ... This was not a payday for us ... We play a home game, we make more money than playing this game down here. When we scheduled this game, I thought our program would possibly be in a position to beat a solid ACC school."
### Middle Tennessee State
- Opponent pre-game record: 0–1
- Opponent final record: 5–7
- Pre-game line: Maryland −13
The previous week, Middle Tennessee made two rapid-fire fourth-quarter touchdowns in a failed comeback attempt against the eventual Sun Belt Conference champions, Troy. The week following the Maryland game, Middle Tennessee nearly upset Kentucky. The Blue Raiders lost that game, 20–14, after wide receiver Eldred King caught a 61-yard pass only to be ankle-tackled at the Kentucky one-yard line as time expired.
After receiving the kickoff, Middle Tennessee quarterback Joe Craddock led an 80-yard, 10-play drive. It included a fake punt that caught Maryland off-guard, which allowed the punter to complete a 28-yard pass for a first-down conversion. Craddock ended the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass. On Maryland's second offensive play of the game, Da'Rel Scott broke free for a 63-yard run for a touchdown. In the second quarter, Middle Tennessee re-took the lead with a 31-yard field goal. In the third quarter, Turner threw an interception that was returned 25 yards to the Maryland five-yard line, and Middle Tennessee subsequently scored on a rushing play. On Maryland's next possession, Turner completed a short pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey who ran for an 80-yard touchdown. In the fourth quarter, Maryland advanced inside the Middle Tennessee 35-yard line three times, but was unable to capitalize. Middle Tennessee defenders saved two potential touchdowns with interceptions on their own two-yard line and in the end zone to preserve a Blue Raider victory, 24–14.
The game marked Middle Tennessee's first ever win over an ACC opponent, although they had come close in Charlottesville the year prior, when Virginia made a go-ahead field goal with eight seconds remaining. It was Middle Tennessee's fourth win against an opponent from a Bowl Championship Series (BCS) conference. The other three all came against Vanderbilt.
### California (#23)
- Opponent pre-game record: 2–0
- Opponent final record: 9–4
- Pre-game line: Maryland +14
The Washington Post called the previous week's ten-point loss to Middle Tennessee the "worst defeat of [Ralph Friedgen's] eight-year tenure," and with the narrow margin of victory over Delaware, most analysts strongly favored 23-ranked California in its first meeting against Maryland. The previous week, California routed Washington State, 66–3.
The game began with a Maryland kickoff to California, who were stopped for a net loss of 4 yards and forced to punt. On Maryland's first possession, it mounted a 60-yard drive that culminated in a 24-yard touchdown rush by Da'Rel Scott. California quarterback Kevin Riley then threw an interception to cornerback Kevin Barnes, which allowed Scott to rush for his second score of the game. California made a field goal, but on the following series, Maryland drove 60 yards and tight end Dan Gronkowski made a touchdown reception. The Golden Bears made another field goal to end the first half with a score of 21–6, in Maryland's favor. During the second quarter, Riley threw a short screen pass to running back Jahvid Best, who immediately received a hard hit from Maryland cornerback Kevin Barnes. While still lying on the field, Best rolled to his side to vomit. Footage of the tackle and its aftermath circulated widely on the internet and became a viral video phenomenon. In the third period, Chris Turner completed a pass to Darrius Heyward-Bey for a 27-yard touchdown to end the quarter with Maryland in the lead, 28–6. In the final period, California scored two touchdowns against a preventative defense, before Maryland responded with a fifth score on a one-yard rush by Davin Meggett. In the final minutes, Maryland placekicker Obi Egekeze missed a 27-yard field goal which might have clinched the victory. Instead, California scored a third touchdown to close within eight points. With 1:55 remaining to play, California attempted an onside kick, but it bounced out of bounds, and Maryland was able to run out the clock to finish the upset, 35–28.
The Maryland offense scored five touchdowns against California, which bettered the combined total of four in the Terrapins' first two games. California running back Jahvid Best, an early Heisman Trophy contender, ran for 311 yards in his first two games, but was held to 25 yards on 10 carries against Maryland. In total, California's rushing offense was held to 38 yards. This was the first of four Maryland victories over ranked opponents during the 2008 season.
### Eastern Michigan
- Opponent pre-game record: 1–2
- Opponent final record: 3–9
- Pre-game line: Maryland −21
Against Mid-American Conference opponent Eastern Michigan, Maryland showcased its offense, which scored on nine out of thirteen possessions. Starting tailback Da'Rel Scott sat out the game because of a shoulder injury suffered against California, and he was replaced by Morgan Green.
Linebacker Adrian Moten blocked an Eastern Michigan punt, which gave Maryland excellent field position for their first possession on their opponents' 10-yard line. They were, however, were held to a field goal. Eastern Michigan responded with a 75-yard drive to the Maryland five-yard line, but threw an interception to safety Jamari McCollough. Maryland mounted an 80-yard drive, which included a 35-yard run by Darrius Heyward-Bey and culminated in a one-yard touchdown by Morgan Green. After both teams suffered "three-and-out" possessions, Eastern Michigan quarterback Kyle McMahon threw a second interception to Moten, which set up a second touchdown by Green. Eastern Michigan drove 80 yards in 11 plays, and running back Terrence Blevins ran for a touchdown to bring the score to 17–7. Torrey Smith returned the ensuing 59-yard kickoff 57 yards, which set up a 32-yard touchdown pass from Chris Turner to Heyward-Bey. Eastern Michigan then drove 80 yards for another touchdown. On the subsequent Maryland possession, Turner threw an interception to end the half with the score of 24–14. On the kickoff to start the second half, Smith returned the ball 27 yards. On the next play, Heyward-Bey gained 47 yards on a rush attempt, which set up a short touchdown pass to tight end Dan Gronkowski. On the next two series, the teams traded field goals which brought the score to 34–17. Turner threw another interception to start the fourth quarter, but linebacker Trey Covington then recorded a quarterback sack, which forced Eastern Michigan to turnover on downs. Turner was then sacked himself, and Maryland kicked a field goal. Eastern Michigan engineered an 80-yard drive for a touchdown, and closed the deficit to 37–24. Maryland reserve quarterback Josh Portis execute a lateral to wide receiver Danny Oquendo who in turn passed to receiver Isaiah Williams, which gained a 43-yard touchdown. Eastern Michigan was subsequently forced to punt, and Portis rushed 80 yards over six plays for the final touchdown. In the next series, Jamari McCoullough intercepted an Eastern Michigan pass to end the game, 51–24.
### Clemson (#20)
- Opponent pre-game record: 3–1
- Opponent final record: 7–6
- Pre-game line: Maryland +12
Maryland traveled to Clemson to play in "Death Valley", traditionally one of the most difficult ACC venues for opponents to play. Clemson firmly held the momentum of the game for the first half, and their running backs exploited holes in the Maryland defensive line. During that time, Clemson recorded two touchdowns and a field goal. Despite gaining excellent field position through recovering a fumbled punt on the Clemson 19-yard line and a recovered fumble on the Clemson 30-yard line, Maryland was able to produce just two field goals from those turnovers. The Terrapins drives were also blunted by penalties for two false starts and a holding call.
In the first possession of the second half, the Terrapins were forced to punt after a run attempt for loss, a false start penalty, and two incomplete passes. The Maryland defense took the field and stopped a Clemson drive. On the first play of their second series, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey executed a reverse to gain 76 yards before being stopped at the Clemson four-yard line. This set up a short Chris Turner touchdown pass to receiver Torrey Smith, and shifted the game's momentum in favor of Maryland. In the fourth quarter, three completions to Danny Oquendo set the stage for a one-yard rush into the endzone by Da'Rel Scott. In the second half, the Maryland defense allowed Clemson just 31 rushing yards and zero points, compared with 204 rushing yards and 17 points in the first half.
The upset marked the fourth consecutive Maryland win against a ranked opponent (the others: \#23 Cal, and, in the 2007 season, \#8 Boston College and \#10 Rutgers). It was also the fourth consecutive time that the visiting team has won the Maryland–Clemson series.
### Virginia
- Opponent pre-game record: 1–3
- Opponent final record: 5–7
- Pre-game line: Maryland −13.5
Virginia went into the game with a 1–3 record and at the bottom of the ACC. They mustered only 36 points (and just 20 points against Division I FBS teams) in the previous four games, while allowing their opponents 128 points. Their last game had been a 31–3 defeat at the hands of Duke, which finally broke the Blue Devils' 25-game ACC losing streak.
The Maryland offense had difficulty converting third downs, and managed only four on 13 attempts, while their defense allowed 226 passing yards and 201 rushing yards. Late in the first quarter, Virginia quarterback Marc Verica completed a pass to receiver Kevin Ogletree for a 51-yard touchdown, the Cavs' first passing score of the season. Virginia was able to score twice more before half, to put the Terrapins into a 21–0 deficit. With seconds left in the second quarter, in a desperate gambit to recoup some points, quarterback Chris Turner attempted a hook and ladder play with a pass to Isaiah Williams who then lateraled to Darrius Heyward-Bey, who in turn lateraled to Da'Rel Scott. The maneuver picked up 45 yards before Scott was shoved out of bounds, and a flag was thrown for a late hit by Virginia. Since a half cannot end on a defensive penalty, time would have been added to the clock, but it was ruled that the foul occurred after time had expired. Therefore, the penalty was assessed after the kick-off, and the Terrapins' trick play was for naught.
In the third quarter, things got worse for Maryland as the Cavaliers added a field goal and another touchdown. In a final drive for 46 yards, Maryland attempted to avert a shutout. The effort fell short when a Turner pass was intercepted. The final result was 31–0.
It was the first time Maryland was shut out since 2004, when they were similarly defeated by Virginia in Charlottesville, 16–0. It was Maryland's worst shutout loss since losing to Virginia in 1997, 45–0, and the largest margin of loss since losing to Virginia Tech in 2004, 55–6.
### Wake Forest (#21)
- Opponent pre-game record: 4–1
- Opponent final record: 8–5
- Pre-game line: Maryland +1.5
After an embarrassing 31–0 loss against struggling Virginia, the Terrapins continued their inconsistent season against nationally ranked Atlantic Division front-runner 21st-ranked Wake Forest.
Maryland first scored with a halfback option, when Chris Turner pitched to Da'Rel Scott, who connected with Darrius Heyward-Bey for a nine-yard pass into the end zone. In the second and third quarters, Maryland placekicker Obi Egekeze made four field goals. In the final quarter, Danny Oquendo brought down a short pass from Turner and ran it in past two defenders for a touchdown totaling 50 yards.
Against Wake Forest's best-ranked pass defense in the nation, Chris Turner threw for a season-high of 321 yards and a career-best 68% completion rate (28–41). Maryland running back Da'Rel Scott twice fumbled to give Wake Forest excellent field position, but both opportunities were wasted with missed field goal attempts. Wake Forest's leading scorer, placekicker Sam Swank, was out due to injury.
Ralph Friedgen stated that "We finally put a full game together. I think by far it's the best we've played all year." It was Maryland's fifth consecutive defeat of a ranked opponent, and the third of the season, making them 3–0 against ranked opponents, but just 2–2 against all others. The game also marked the first time that Wake Forest had been held scoreless in 124 games when it lost to Air Force in 1998, and it was the first time since 1957 that the Terrapins had bounced back to shut out an opponent following a shutout of their own. The last Maryland shutout of a ranked opponent was in 1955 against UCLA.
### NC State
- Opponent pre-game record: 2–5
- Opponent final record: 6–7
- Pre-game line: Maryland −12
In a frigid driving rain at College Park, NC State brought an inspired effort in an attempt to break a three-game losing streak. In the first series of the game, the Wolfpack used 14 plays and 8 minutes to drive 73 yards and score first. Maryland immediately responded with a drive that ended with a 13-yard Turner pass to Dan Gronkowski. In the following series, NC State again scored a touchdown, and Maryland kicked a field goal in response. NC State running back Andre Brown fumbled on the first play, and Maryland recovered on the Wolfpack 24-yard line. The Terrapins capitalized on the turnover with a Davin Meggett run into the endzone. After a Wolfpack field goal, the score was even at halftime, 17–17. In the third quarter, Maryland running back Da'Rel Scott rushed 24 yards for a touchdown. Late in the quarter, Danny Oquendo fumbled a punt return on the 50-yard line and the Wolfpack recovered. NC State equalized once more with a Russell Wilson pass, which brought the score to 24–24.
With 4:50 remaining on the clock, and the ball on their own eight-yard line, Maryland drove 89 yards to the Wolfpack three-yard line, which included a pass to Davin Meggett for 31 yards. This set up a 20-yard field goal attempt by Obi Egekeze with eight seconds on the clock. The kick was good and put Maryland ahead for good, 27–24.
The Wolfpack lost its fourth straight game to remain the only ACC team winless in conference play (ACC: 0–4). The favorite Terrapins once again struggled against an underdog opponent, but managed to edge the Wolfpack and secure a sixth win for bowl eligibility. With it, Maryland was ranked for the first time since 2006, at 25th on the Associated Press and USA Today Coaches' Poll rankings. The fan poll ESPNU Allstate Standings had the Terrapins ranked 14th in the nation, ahead of AP first-ranked Texas and fourth-ranked Oklahoma.
Maryland had a bye in Week 10, while ACC Atlantic rival 16th-ranked Florida State lost to Georgia Tech. This allowed Maryland to take the uncontested lead in the Atlantic Division and rise in the AP Poll to number-23 and USA Today Coaches' Poll to number-21. Florida State fell to 24th, while once 19th-ranked Tulsa, 20th-ranked Minnesota, 23rd-ranked Oregon, and 24th-ranked South Florida were all dropped from the rankings after their own loses.
### Virginia Tech
- Opponent pre-game record: 5–3
- Opponent final record: 10–4
- Pre-game line: Maryland +3.5
The two teams met for a Thursday night game at Blacksburg, a time and site where the Hokies have traditionally excelled. In the first quarter, Maryland drove 56 yards, but was held to a 46-yard field goal attempt, which was missed by Obi Egekeze. In the next series, Tech quarterback Sean Glennon led the Hokies on an 80-yard drive that culminated in a short pass to Greg Boone for a score. The next series went into the second quarter, and Maryland was again forced to attempt a field goal, which was made good. Hokies tailback Darren Evans then broke away for a 50-yard carry to the Maryland 30-yard line, and later capped it with a one-yard rush into the endzone. Before the half, Tech managed a field goal to expand their lead, 17–3.
In the second half, Chris Turner hit Darrius Heyward-Bey for a short bubble screen pass behind the line of scrimmage, and Heyward-Bey ran it 63 yards for the score. During the next series, the Terrapins were held three-and-out, but the punt was fumbled and recovered by Maryland on the Hokies 11-yard line. However, the Terrapins were again forced to settle for a field goal, which made it a one-possession lead for VT at 20–13 with 2:29 left in the third quarter. In the final quarter, the Hokies managed another field goal and held onto the lead for a final result of 23–13.
Hokies tailback Darren Evans ran for a school-record of 253 yards, and exceeded 100 rushing yards in a game for the first time in his career. The Hokie defense shut down the Terrapins running game and held them to −12 yards on 18 carries. Maryland also proved unable or unwilling to blitz against Sean Glennon, the Tech quarterback hobbled by an ankle injury. Glennon threw for 127 yards and a touchdown.
### North Carolina (#16)
- Opponent pre-game record: 7–2
- Opponent final record: 8–5
- Pre-game line: Maryland +3
In another driving rainstorm at College Park, Maryland met 16th-ranked North Carolina. Maryland's first possession ended as a "three-and-out" series, and the Terrapins elected to punt. The ball was snapped high and sailed over punter Travis Baltz's head. Baltz recovered it in the Maryland end zone for a safety, which averted a possible North Carolina touchdown. Maryland kicked off to North Carolina, and held the Tar Heels to a field goal. On the subsequent possession, Maryland took the lead, 7–5, after a 76-yard drive that culminated with a short run by Da'Rel Scott. On North Carolina's next possession, quarterback Cameron Sexton threw a long pass, which was tipped by Maryland safety Kenny Tate, but deflected into the hands of receiver Cooter Arnold hands, who ran it into the end zone for a 59-yard touchdown. Davin Meggett powered 57 yards through the opposing defensive line on nine carries for another touchdown, which put Maryland back in the lead. Shortly before halftime, North Carolina kicked another field goal for the game's fifth lead change. The rain and wind let up in the third quarter, but the waterlogged playing field still presented challenging conditions. North Carolina placekicker Casey Barth struck the left upright on an unsuccessful 28-yard field goal attempt, but the Tar Heels soon recovered a fumble from Maryland back-up quarterback Josh Portis. North Carolina failed to capitalize, however, and punted the ball away. Chris Turner engineered a 73-yard drive in 19 plays, which included a scramble for a first down by the typically immobile pocket quarterback. That run put Maryland within field goal range, and Egekeze made the 26-yard attempt with 1:42 remaining to play. North Carolina received the kick and managed a first down, but Sexton then threw a 34-yard interception to safety Jamari McCollough. The Terrapins were then able to run out the play clock to win, 17–15.
The victory was Maryland's sixth consecutive against ranked opponents, which set a school record. At the time, Maryland was the only team in the nation with four wins over ranked opponents during the 2008 season. Only BCS National Championship Game participants Florida and Oklahoma later finished with more wins against ranked teams. Maryland also improved their home record to 6–0 for the season. Head coach Ralph Friedgen improved his record against North Carolina to 5–1, and kept North Carolina winless in College Park since 1997.
#### ACC Atlantic Division championship race
The results of that weekend's games improved the clarity of the ACC Championship Game picture, but did not decide it. Maryland improved their ACC record to 4–2 and took the uncontested lead of the Atlantic Division. Florida State lost to Boston College that same day, which meant four teams were still able to secure the division title: Boston College, Florida State, Maryland, and Wake Forest.
Boston College (ACC: 3–3) could travel to the ACC Championship Game if they won out by beating both Wake Forest and Maryland. Boston College eventually did just that, and lost to Virginia Tech in the 2008 ACC Championship Game. Florida State (ACC: 4–3) would have won the Atlantic Division if they beat Maryland, Maryland beat Boston College, and Boston College beat Wake Forest. Under those circumstances, Florida State would have finished with a 5–3 record, tied with Maryland, but win the tiebreaker because they had defeated Maryland head-to-head. However, Maryland lost to Boston College, which relegated Florida State to a second-place finish in the division. Wake Forest (ACC: 4–3) would have won the division if they won their last game against Boston College, and both Florida State and Boston College beat Maryland. In that case, Florida State and Wake Forest would have had identical conference records (ACC: 5–3), and Wake Forest would have won the tiebreaker because they defeated Florida State earlier in the season.
Maryland (ACC: 4–2) would have won the division title if they had either: (1) beaten both Florida State and Boston College; (2) beaten Florida State, while Boston College lost to Wake Forest; or (3) beaten Boston College, while Boston College lost to Wake Forest. That last scenario would have caused a three-way tie between Maryland, Florida State, and Wake Forest. All would have possessed a 5–3 conference record, and no head-to-head tiebreaker would have been possible. In that case, the winner would have been decided by divisional record, of which the Terrapins would have had the best (ACC Atlantic: 4–1).
### Florida State
- Opponent pre-game record: 7–3
- Opponent final record: 9–4
- Pre-game line: Maryland +1.5
After Wake Forest lost to Boston College earlier in the day, Florida State required a win over Maryland to proceed to the ACC Championship Game. The Seminoles also needed Maryland to win against Boston College the following week. As a testament to the must-win nature of the game for Florida State, it was designated as a "Sod Game", where, if won, the team would bring home a piece of Byrd Stadium's sod to be commemorated in their "Sod Cemetery".
Maryland received the opening kickoff and pushed into Florida State territory. On third down, Chris Turner was sacked and Maryland was forced to punt. Florida State was held three-and-out and punted. The Terrapins again pushed down field, before, on fourth and four on the Florida State 27-yard line, elected to attempt a field goal. Obi Egekeze's 44-yard attempt went wide of the uprights far to the right.
Florida State started a drive in the first quarter for 73 yards which culminated with a seven-yard Christian Ponder pass to Preston Parker for the score. The two teams traded punts, and Terrapins running back Da'Rel Scott fumbled the ball on the Maryland 26-yard line. Seminole linebacker Derek Nicholson picked up the ball and ran it into the endzone to bring the score to 14–0. On the next possession, Chris Turner threw his first interception in five games. Florida State then went three-and-out and punted. Maryland drove for 53 yards before another Turner pass was intercepted by Toddrick Verdell, who returned it for 34 yards. Florida State quarterback Ponder completed a 17-yard pass to Parker, and then ran it himself for 16 yards to the Maryland five-yard line. Two Antone Smith rushes brought the score to 21–0 at the half.
At the beginning of the second half, the Terrapins kicked off to the Seminoles before both teams traded field goals. Those were the only points for Maryland all night. In the fourth quarter, Florida State added another field goal. On the next possession, Maryland running back Da'Rel Scott and receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey both made short runs for a first down. Scott lost his second fumble of the night on the Terrapin 43-yard line. Florida State took over and scored another touchdown. After Maryland went three-and-out, Seminoles kicker Graham Gano made his third field goal of the night.
The Seminoles defense accumulated six sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles. The loss ended Maryland's aspirations for the Atlantic Division title and, with it, a shot at the ACC Championship. Florida State remained in the running until Maryland lost to Boston College the following week.
Three hours before kick-off, Florida State safety Myron Rolle successfully interviewed for a Rhodes Scholarship in Birmingham, Alabama. Rolle then took a private flight to arrive at the game in time to play late in the first half.
### Boston College (#20)
- Opponent pre-game record: 8–3
- Opponent final record: 9–5
- Pre-game line: Maryland +6.5
Maryland entered the game having been knocked out of the running for the Atlantic Division title the previous week, but able to play spoiler for Boston College. The Eagles were playing to earn a berth to the ACC Championship Game for the second consecutive year. Additionally, competing within a closely contested ACC, Maryland could have greatly improved its standing for bowl selection with an eighth win. The Eagles were the fifth ranked team to face Maryland. The Terrapins were, to that point, 4–0 against top-25 opposition and the only team to beat four ranked opponents in 2008. Boston College was fielding second-string quarterback Dominique Davis in his first career appearance. He replaced starter Chris Crane, who had suffered a broken collarbone the previous week.
Boston College kicked off, and Torrey Smith made a 27-yard return to the Maryland 31-yard line. After a Terrapins false start and Eagles offsides penalty, Chris Turner connected with Torrey Smith for 12 yards and a first down. Turner gained another first down with a completion to Danny Oquendo to put them into BC territory. A rush for no gain and two incomplete passes forced a punt. Boston College responded with a 14-play, 88-yard drive that resulted in a seven-yard touchdown pass to Justin Jarvis. On the next possession, Turner completed passes to Emani Lee-Odai and Torrey Smith for 16- and 43-yard gains, respectively, and placed them at the Boston College one-yard line. Turner capped the drive with a one-yard rush for a score to tie the score, 7–7. To end the first quarter, Boston College linebacker Mike McLaughlin literally hurdled over 5-ft 8-in Davin Meggett to sack Turner in what was ranked an ESPN SportsCenter "Play of the Day". The Eagles and Terrapins traded punts twice, and then Boston College turned over on downs before Maryland was forced to punt again. After a Boston College punt, Chris Turner threw an interception to Mark Herzlich. On the next play Dominique Davis threw to Rich Gunnell for a 45-yard touchdown reception.
The second half started off with traded punts. Boston College took over with excellent field position on the Maryland 34-yard line, but was held to fourth and eight yards on the Terrapins' nine-yard line. The Eagles faked a field goal attempt, and holder Billy Flutie, nephew of Heisman winner Doug Flutie, rolled right and passed to Jordon McMichael for a nine-yard touchdown. The teams traded punts again, before Turner led the Terrapins on a 70-yard drive into the final quarter. A 13-yard reception by Danny Oquendo brought the score to 21–14. Boston College was then held three-and-out and punted. The Terrapins drove to the Eagles' 19-yard line, but Obi Egekeze missed the 36-yard field goal attempt. Boston College's next drive consisted of ten rush attempts by Montel Harris and burned three minutes off the clock. The Eagles punted and Turner completed three passes to advance to their own 35-yard line. Linebacker Robert Francois intercepted a pass and ran it 36 yards into the endzone. Steve Aponavicius's extra point brought it to 28–14. With 1:42 left, Turner completed eight passes including an 8-yard touchdown toss to Torrey Smith. With 0:14 remaining in the game, Maryland attempted an onside kick, but it bounced out of bounds. Boston College took possession and ran out the clock to end the game, 28–21.
Boston College ended Maryland's six-game winning streak against ranked opponents. With a 7–5 record, the Terrapins' postseason bowl game options were also limited. The Eagles secured the ACC Atlantic Division title and, with it, a trip to Tampa for the ACC Championship Game to face Virginia Tech for the second-straight season. Boston College held the Maryland run to −6 yards, forcing reliance on Chris Turner's passing ability. It was the second game of the season the Terrapins were held to negative rushing yards (this had also occurred against Virginia Tech). Turner, however, was able to throw for 360 yards, bettering Boston College's total offensive yardage of 318 yards.
### Bowl selection process
Maryland achieved bowl eligibility through its sixth win against NC State. The Terrapins finished the regular season with a 7–5 overall record and 4–4 record against ACC opponents. Maryland's conference record was identical to four other ACC teams, and the league fielded an NCAA record of ten bowl-eligible teams. For the 2008 season, there were eight non-Bowl Championship Series (BCS) bowl games with ACC tie-ins: the Gator Bowl, the Chick-fil-A Bowl, the Champs Sports Bowl, the Music City Bowl, the Humanitarian Bowl, the Emerald Bowl, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, and the EagleBank Bowl.
After Maryland suffered a fifth loss in the season closer against Boston College, it was very unlikely that the team's preferred postseason game, the Meineke Car Care Bowl, was going to extend an invitation. The game's selection committee in Charlotte, North Carolina was eager to secure nearby North Carolina (8–4). Meanwhile, the EagleBank Bowl, hosted by RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C., not far from the Maryland campus, secured in-state rival Navy, but the game date conflicted with Maryland's final exams. Soon after Maryland's regular season finale, sportswriters and analysts speculated that the Humanitarian Bowl in Boise, Idaho, was the most likely postseason destination. Bowl officials there worked to secure a game of undefeated teams between the hometown team, Boise State, and Ball State of the Mid-American Conference. However, Ball State rejected the proposal to play at Boise State's homefield as unacceptable.
On December 7, 2008, Maryland accepted a bid to play in the Roady's Humanitarian Bowl against Nevada. The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) team likewise finished with a 7–5 record. Nevada was ranked the number-five total offense and number-two rushing offense in the nation with 510.6 total yards per game. In 2008, running back Vai Taua ran for 1,420 and quarterback Colin Kaepernick for 1,115 yards, and the latter threw for an additional 2,479 yards. The Humanitarian Bowl executive director, Kevin McDonald, said, "We look forward to welcoming a Maryland [team] that defeated four Top 25 opponents and spent three weeks ranked ... Nevada comes in having played two teams, Texas Tech and Missouri, that were then ranked nationally in the top ten. They also gave ninth-ranked Boise State their toughest [WAC] game."
### Nevada (2008 Humanitarian Bowl)
- Opponent pre-game record: 7–5
- Opponent final record: 7–6
- Pre-game line: Maryland +1.5
Prior to the game, Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen placed a partial-game suspension on seven players who violated the team's pre-bowl curfew, including leading rusher, Da'Rel Scott, and senior wide receiver Danny Oquendo. Consequently, a much younger line-up started for Maryland, including, according to Friedgen, some who probably would not have seen playing time otherwise.
The game started with Maryland receiving the kick-off and on the first series, quarterback Chris Turner linked up with freshman Adrian Cannon for a 59-yard touchdown. However, placekicker Obi Egekeze missed the extra point. Nevada quarterback and Western Athletic Conference offensive player of the year, Colin Kaepernick, responded with a drive which included a 68-yard pass to the Maryland 3-yard line. The Terrapin defense stopped two rushing attempts by Vai Taua, but a short pass was good for the score, and with the extra point, Nevada took the lead 6–7. The Wolf Pack then kicked a 69-yard kick-off to Torrey Smith, who returned it 99 yards for a second Maryland touchdown. Egekeze made good the extra point and Maryland regained the lead, 13–7. On the next kick-off, Egekeze attempted to kick the ball as it fell off the tee, resulting in a short squib, which was returned to the Terrapins' 9-yard line. Kaepernick threw into the endzone where it was intercepted by Maryland safety Kenny Tate for a touchback, but the Terrapins were soon forced to punt. Kaepernick advanced the ball downfield before a Taua 17-yard touchdown run. In the next series, Maryland sophomore Morgan Green rushed for three yards and then a 53-yard touchdown breakaway. Later, Turner converted on third down with a 16-yard toss to Ronnie Tyler and threw again to Tyler for a 14-yard touchdown. Turner tallied a two-point conversion with a throw to Davin Meggett, and Maryland led at halftime 28–14.
Wolf Pack running back Taua was able to capitalize after a Turner-thrown pick and narrow their deficit, 28–21. A sack against Turner knocked the ball loose, was recovered by Nevada, fumbled again, and finally recovered by the Terrapins' Scott Burley. Turner then connected with Darrius Heyward-Bey for an 11-yard first down and a fresh Da'Rel Scott made his first touch of the game for another first down on the Nevada 23. Turner was again sacked and fumbled, and Nevada recovered. Kaepernick then completed 38-yard and 21-yard passes to even the score, 28–28. Turner converted on third down with a 26-yard toss to Torrey Smith. Scott was soon able to break open down the middle for a 49-yard touchdown run. On the next Maryland series, Da'Rel Scott was handed the ball four times in succession and scored his second touchdown. With 4:01 remaining, Kaepernick led a drive starting from the Nevada 23, before a scramble for a touchdown made it a one-possession game with 2:19 remaining. Jaekle attempted an on-side kick, but it was recovered by Maryland. Scott picking up a first down and clinched a 42–35 Maryland victory.
Maryland freshman wide receiver Torrey Smith, with his 99-yard kickoff return touchdown, broke the all-time ACC record for single-season kickoff returns with 1,089 yards. Maryland running back Da'Rel Scott rushed for 174 yards, earning Most Valuable Player honors alongside Nevada quarterback Colin Kaepernick who threw for 370 yards. Scott set the University of Maryland's record for rushing yards in a bowl game, in what was just one-and-half quarters of playing time due to his curfew suspension. He also broke the 1,000-yard per season barrier, making him one of just seven players in school history to do so. Four Maryland back-ups who saw significant play due to the curfew suspensions also scored touchdowns: second-string X-receiver Torrey Smith, second-string slot receiver Ronnie Tyler, third-string slot receiver Adrian Cannon, and third-string running back Morgan Green.
## Rankings
In Week 9, after defeating Wake Forest to improve to a 6–1 record, Maryland was ranked 25th by both the Associated Press and the Coaches' Polls. It was the first time the team was ranked since Week 11 in 2006. Maryland rose in the polls, and entered the Harris and BCS rankings after beating NC State the following week. However, after the loss to Virginia Tech, the Terps fell out of the rankings altogether. Maryland made one final poll appearance after the win over North Carolina, before losing to Florida State.
## Postseason
### Coaching changes
At the end of the regular season, but before the postseason bowl game, Maryland lost two members of its coaching staff. On December 5, 2008, the school announced that defensive coordinator Chris Cosh would return to Kansas State to take over as assistant coach and co-defensive coordinator. He joined the staff of the recently re-hired Bill Snyder, who was Kansas State's head coach from 1996 to 2005. Cosh previously served under Snyder as his linebackers coach from 2004 to 2005. For the bowl game, Maryland appointed outside linebackers coach Al Seamonson as the interim defensive coordinator. Maryland also lost its special teams and tight ends coach, Danny Pearman, who was hired by new Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney. Pearman was a Clemson alumnus and played there as a tight end from 1984 to 1987. At Alabama, he coached special teams and the offensive and defensive tackles from 1990 to 1997, during which time Swinney played there as a wide receiver. For Maryland's bowl game, third-year intern Brian White acted as interim tight ends coach, and he assisted head coach Ralph Friedgen in directing the special teams.
After the bowl game, in February 2009, the athletic department named offensive coordinator James Franklin the "head coach-in-waiting", meaning that he would be the eventual successor to Ralph Friedgen. Upon the expiration of Friedgen's contract in January 2012, Franklin will be offered the position or paid a US\$1 million contractual buyout. In June 2009, Friedgen said he might like to stay an additional two years past his current contract, but athletic director Deborah Yow responded that the school could not afford the buyout. She said that any extension would have to be worked out between Friedgen and Franklin.
### All-star games
Five Maryland players were selected by postseason all-star games. Defensive lineman Jeremy Navarre appeared in the Texas vs. The Nation Game. Offensive linemen Edwin Williams and Jaimie Thomas participated in the East–West Shrine Game. Linebacker Moise Fokou played in the Under Armour Senior Bowl. Kevin Barnes was also selected to participate in the Senior Bowl very early in the season before he suffered a scapular fracture. He attended the game, but did not play due to his injury.
### NFL Draft
Five former Maryland players were selected in the 2009 NFL Draft, which tied North Carolina for the most of any Atlantic Coast Conference team. Wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, who ran the fastest 40-yard dash time at the combine of 4.30 seconds, was selected by the Oakland Raiders as the seventh overall pick, far higher than most analysts had anticipated. Cornerback Kevin Barnes, who had scored the highest grade on the intelligence test at the combine, was selected in the third round by the Washington Redskins. Linebacker Moise Fokou, guard Jaimie Thomas, and tight end Dan Gronkowski were all selected in the seventh round.
Additionally, several former Terrapins were signed by NFL teams as free agents shortly after the draft. These consisted of: linebacker Dave Philistin, center Edwin Williams, wide receiver Isaiah Williams, defensive end Jeremy Navarre, offensive tackle Scott Burley, linebacker Chase Bullock, offensive tackle Dane Randolph, and defensive lineman Dean Muhtadi.
## Awards
### All-conference honors
All-ACC honorees were selected by a 67-member committee from the Atlantic Coast Conference Sports Media Association (ACSMA). Maryland tied with Atlantic Division Co-Champion Boston College for most All-ACC honorees at nine. Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech each secured eight All-ACC honors. Three Maryland players were selected to the first team: punter Travis Baltz, running back Da'Rel Scott, and center Edwin Williams. Linebacker Alex Wujciak was named to the second team. Offensive linemen Scott Burley and Jaimie Thomas, tight end Dan Gronkowski, wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, and defensive lineman Jeremy Navarre were named as honorable mention All-ACC players.
### Players of the Week
- Travis Baltz (P): ACC Football Player of the Week for special teams, September 29, 2008
- Bruce Campbell (OL): ACC Football Player of the Week for offensive lineman, October 20, 2008
- Chris Turner (QB): ACC Football Player of the Week for offensive back, October 20, 2008
- Edwin Williams (C): ACC Football Player of the Week for offensive lineman, November 17, 2008
### Other awards
- Obi Egekeze (K): Lou Groza Star of the Week (awarded for top-three placekicks), October 18, 2008
- Chris Turner (QB): ESPN/Pontiac Game Changing Performance nomination, November 15, 2008
### Watch lists
- Dan Gronkowski (TE): 2008 Draddy Trophy semifinalist
- Dan Gronkowski (TE): 2008 John Mackey Award watch list
- Dave Philistin (LB): 2008 Bronko Nagurski Trophy watch list
- Dave Philistin (LB): 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award watch list
- Da'Rel Scott (RB): 2008 Maxwell Award watch list
- Edwin Williams (OL): 2008 Rimington Trophy watch list
- Edwin Williams (OL): 2008 Rotary Lombardi Award watch list
## Statistics
### Team statistics
### Offense
#### Passing
#### Rushing
#### Receiving
#### Kicking
### Defense
### Special teams
Sources: |
57,909,841 | 211th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment | 1,092,812,825 | Union Army infantry regiment | [
"Military units and formations disestablished in 1865",
"Military units and formations established in 1864",
"Units and formations of the Union Army from Pennsylvania"
]
| The 211th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment of the Union Army in the American Civil War. Raised in western Pennsylvania in September 1864, the regiment initially served with the Army of the James during the Siege of Petersburg, holding trenches at Bermuda Hundred. In late November it transferred to the Army of the Potomac and during the northern hemisphere spring campaign fought in the counterattack during the Battle of Fort Stedman and the Union breakthrough at Petersburg. During the last days of the Appomattox Campaign it guarded trains, and participated in the Grand Review of the Armies following the end of the war before mustering out.
## History
### Formation and Army of the James service
The 211th Pennsylvania was raised in western Pennsylvania during September 1864 in response to President Abraham Lincoln's call for 500,000 men. A large number of its soldiers were veterans on their second enlistment. Company A was composed of men recruited in Crawford County, Company B in Jefferson County, Company C in McKean and Jefferson Counties, Company D in Mercer County, Companies E, H, I, and K in Westmoreland County, Company F in Erie County, and Company G in Warren County. The ten companies of the regiment moved to Camp Reynolds near Pittsburgh, where they were organized on 16 September under the command of volunteer officer Colonel James H. Trimble. After completing its organization, the 211th Pennsylvania was sent to the front and took up positions in the trenches at Bermuda Hundred, Virginia on 20 September; it joined the Provisional Brigade of the Defenses of Bermuda Hundred of the Army of the James in the Siege of Petersburg, Virginia.
Soon after its arrival at the front, the regiment mounted the parapets of its trenches and exposed itself to Confederate fire to divert attention from the successful Union attack on Fort Harrison; two men of Company F were killed by a single shell during this action. The regiment held a picket line from the James River opposite Dutch Gap through dense woods to its camp in a cleared area whose apex projected near the Confederate line. Fraternization between the opposing pickets was routine, but this state of affairs ended when Confederate division commander George Pickett launched a night attack on 17 November that captured 54 Union pickets and the angle, where a redoubt was constructed. Union commander Ulysses S. Grant considered retaking it inadvisable, and from this point hostilities in earnest resumed in the regimental sector, forcing its soldiers to remain under cover while in the trenches.
### Army of the Potomac service during late 1864 and early 1865
The regiment and the rest of the Pennsylvania regiments which formed the Provisional Brigade were relieved by a United States Colored Troops brigade on 27 November and transferred to the IX Corps of the Army of the Potomac, holding positions on the southern bank of the Appomattox River. The brigade was organized during December into the 3rd Division of the corps, commanded by Brigadier General John F. Hartranft. The 211th became part of the 2nd Brigade of Colonel Joseph A. Mathews alongside the 205th and 207th Pennsylvania. During the northern hemisphere winter of 1864–1865, the regiment spent most of its time training. This routine was broken by its participating in several forays without being involved in fighting, supporting the Weldon Railroad expedition between 7 and 11 December and the Battle of Hatcher's Run from 5 to 7 February 1865, doing much fortifying in the latter. Trimble resigned on 18 March, and was replaced in command by Lieutenant Colonel Levi A. Dodd. The regiment encamped in the rear of IX Corps halfway between Fort Howard and Fort Alexander Hays on the Army Line Railroad, a supporting position on the far left of the division.
### Fort Stedman
When Fort Stedman was captured by a Confederate attack before dawn on 25 March, the regiment was in camp almost four miles away. Command devolved on Captain William A. Coulter of Company D as Dodd was sick in hospital and Major Augustus A. Mechling was absent. The regiment was ordered to march to the division headquarters, arriving there by 06:30. Having formed up on the high open ground near Meade Station to the rear of Fort Stedman, the relatively large regiment with almost 600 men advanced in line in accordance with Hartranft's plan to use it to draw Confederate artillery fire. Hartranft led the advance, which was the signal for the attack of the rest of the division. The fort was quickly recaptured after the Union counterattack resulted in the retreat of the exhausted Confederate troops; the 211th Pennsylvania lost one killed and ten wounded in the fighting while capturing the rear of the fort.
### Petersburg breakthrough and Appomattox
The regiment fought in the Appomattox Campaign between 28 March and 9 April, during which it participated in the Union breakthrough at Petersburg on 2 April. The regiment prepared for the assault along with the rest of the division on the night of 30 March, but it was postponed until the morning of 2 April. After marching to the camp of the 207th Pennsylvania just before midnight on 1 April, the 211th moved to the front at 03:30 on 2 April, and took positions alongside the brigade with its left on the Jerusalem Plank Road. Lieutenant Albert Alexander of Company D commanded a detail of pioneers from the brigade, which cut down the abatis and chevaux de frise in front of the Confederate positions despite artillery fire. Behind the pioneers, the division advanced, with the 211th closely behind the 207th and 205th Pennsylvania in the column of the brigade. Dodd led the 211th and elements of the 207th towards Fort Mahone after the initial breakthrough and captured it, then brought artillerymen up to turn the guns around. The regiment repulsed multiple counterattacks in fierce fighting, suffering a total of 135 casualties: four officers and seventeen men killed, four officers and 89 men wounded, and 21 missing. Among the dead were Lieutenant Colonel Charles McLain and Alexander, while Major Elias B. Lee was mortally wounded. Privates John C. Ewing of Company E and Amzi D. Harmon of Company K were awarded the Medal of Honor for capturing the flags of the 61st Alabama and the 45th North Carolina, respectively.
On the night of 3 April, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia retreated from Petersburg, which the division entered on the following morning, meeting little resistance. The 211th picketed the bank of the Appomattox River and saved the railroad bridge and part of the foot bridge from fires started by Confederate forces before marching back to camp in midday. During the pursuit of the Confederate forces it guarded the trains as the army advanced along the Southside Railroad, receiving news of the Confederate surrender at Nottoway Court House on 9 April. The 211th remained there until 20 April, then moved to City Point and lastly Alexandria between 20 and 28 April, where it remained until mustering out. After participating in the Grand Review of the Armies on 23 May, it mustered out on 2 June. During its service, the regiment lost six officers and 38 men killed or mortally wounded, and 53 men to disease, for a total of 97.
## Monuments
The designation of the 211th Pennsylvania is inscribed on the monument to Hartranft's division on the site of Fort Mahone in Petersburg. Its 1909 dedication was attended by veterans of the regiment and the entire division.
## See also
- List of Pennsylvania Civil War regiments
- Pennsylvania in the Civil War |
57,513,364 | Sarazanmai | 1,168,231,952 | 2019 Japanese anime series | [
"2010s Japanese LGBT-related television series",
"2019 anime television series debuts",
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"Coming-of-age anime and manga",
"Cross-dressing in anime and manga",
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"LGBT speculative fiction television series",
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"MAPPA",
"Noitamina",
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"Works about kappa (folklore)"
]
| Sarazanmai (Japanese: さらざんまい) is a 2019 Japanese anime television series created by Kunihiko Ikuhara and jointly produced by MAPPA and Lapin Track. The series aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block from April 11 to June 20, 2019 for eleven episodes, and follows three middle school students who are transformed into kappas in order to collect shirikodama, mythical balls located in the anus that contains the physical manifestation of one's desires; Ikuhara broadly developed the series as a story about yōkai (supernatural monsters) for an adult audience.
In English-language markets, Sarazanmai is syndicated by Crunchyroll, which simulcast the series during its original broadcast run; a dubbed version of the series was produced by Funimation. The series was praised by critics for the quality of its animation and its thematic richness, notably its focus on anti-capitalism and materialism, but was criticized for its compressed storytelling. Sarazanmai spawned a range of spin-off and adapted media both prior and subsequent to its release, including a serialized manga series, a manga anthology, a dramatized Twitter account, two light novels, a radio series, and a stage play.
## Synopsis
After accidentally breaking a statue of a kappa that serves as the guardian god of the district of Asakusa, middle school students Kazuki, Toi, and Enta are transformed into kappas by Keppi, the prince of the Kappa Kingdom. They come to assist Keppi in collecting the Dishes of Hope, which fulfill the wishes of whoever possesses them. Dishes are acquired by collecting the shirikodama of zombies created by Reo and Mabu, agents of the Otter Empire. The Otter Empire, in the guise of "Kappazon, Inc.", controls society by manipulating the desires of the masses, and has been the enemy of the Kappa Kingdom for generations. To defeat the zombies, the boys must say the phrase "Sarazanmai", which can only be produced when the three are united. They struggle to connect, as each time the sound is made, one of the boys' secrets is revealed.
## Characters
### Main characters
Kazuki Yasaka (矢逆 一稀, Yasaka Kazuki)
A second year middle school student who is transformed into a kappa alongside Toi and Enta. He formerly played soccer with Enta, where they were known as the "golden duo", though he quit the sport immediately prior to the events of the series. He also cross dresses as the idol Sara Azuma to take selfies for his brother Haruka.
Toi Kuji (久慈 悠, Kuji Tōi)
A delinquent middle school student who is transformed into a kappa alongside Kazuki and Enta. A recent transfer student in Kazuki's class, he sells cannabis for his brother Chikai.
Enta Jinnai (陣内 燕太, Jinnai Enta)
Kazuki's childhood friend and classmate who is transformed into a kappa alongside Kazuki and Toi. Harbors a secret crush on Kazuki.
### Yōkai
Keppi (ケッピ, Keppi)
A kappa who is the prince of the Kappa Kingdom. Prior to the events of the series, the trauma of the Kappa Kingdom being defeated by the Otter Empire caused his shirikodama to split in two. The half containing his despair became Dark Keppi, a weapon of darkness controlled by the Otter Empire. Keppi maintained his other half, but was reduced to a chibi-style physical form, and was sealed in a statue in Kappabashi-dori before being awoken by Kazuki and Toi.
Reo Niiboshi (新星 玲央, Niiboshi Reo)
A policeman who works in a kōban with Mabu, his partner and lover. He is a kappa who once served as a knight to Keppi, but now extracts the desires of humans on behalf of the Otter Empire after Otter resurrected Mabu. He wishes to use the Dishes of Hope to restore Mabu to his former self, who Reo believes is now merely a re-animated facsimile. In the spin-off manga, he is the adoptive father to Sara.
Mabu Akutsu (阿久津 真武, Akutsu Mabu)
A policeman who works in a kōban with Reo, his partner and lover. He is a kappa who once served as a knight to Keppi, but now extracts the desires of humans on behalf of the Otter Empire after being resurrected by Otter. Mabu was implanted with a mechanical heart by Otter after sacrificing himself to protect Reo, and now behaves in a cold and detached manner. Though Reo believes this is due to Mabu having to have lost his soul and personality after being resurrected, in reality, Mabu was forced to never again verbalize his love for Reo in exchange for his life. In the spin-off manga, he is the adoptive father to Sara.
Sara Azuma (吾妻 サラ, Azuma Sara)
Introduced as an idol and host of Asakusa Sara TV, Sara is actually a kappa, as well Keppi's love interest and princess. Similarly to the Shadow Players of Revolutionary Girl Utena and Double H of Penguindrum, Sara functions as the series' Greek chorus, commenting on the events of each episode in an allegorical manner. In the spin-off manga, she is the adopted daughter of Reo and Mabu.
Otter (カワウソ, Kawauso)
The Chief "Otticer" of Science and Technology for the Otter Empire, who describes himself as "an abstract concept". He assumes the physical form of one's inner desires, appearing as Reo to Mabu and Reo, as Kazuki to Enta, and as Chikai to Toi.
Zombies (ゾンビ, Zonbi)
Zombies exist in the Field of Desires, a universe parallel to the human world, as the spirits of humans attempting to satisfy their desires from when they were living. Different zombies are fought throughout the series in a villain of the week-style format.
### Other characters
Chikai Kuji (久慈 誓, Kuji Chikai)
Toi's yakuza older brother. His worldview and actions are guided his ardent belief in the survival of the fittest, as demonstrated by his willingness to dispose of anyone he perceives as weak.
Haruka Yasaka (矢逆 春河, Yasaka Haruka)
Kazuki's younger brother, and fan of Sara Azuma. He uses a wheelchair after getting hit by a car, an incident that Kazuki blames himself for.
Otone Jinnai (陣内 音寧, Jinnai Otone)
Enta's older sister, and teacher to Kazuki and Toi.
## Production
### Conception
Ikuhara has stated that his chief inspiration behind Sarazanmai was a desire to create a series about kappas. As the majority of stories about yōkai (supernatural monsters) are fables for children, he wished to create a story about yōkai for an adult audience. The more sensationalistic elements of Sarazanmai'''s plot, such as the centrality of shirikodama extraction, were intentionally omitted from the series' pitch to improve the series' chances of being greenlit, with Ikuhara stating that "when you make an original anime, you may come up with some really out-there ideas, but the pitch may not get through. That's why you put in the really wacky stuff after it's already been approved."
Ikuhara has additionally stated that he wished to create a series where the primary protagonists were male, in contrast to the female-centric narratives of his previous directorial efforts. The series setting of Asakusa was chosen for its mixture of historical and contemporary elements.
### Development
In August 2017, MAPPA listed a job posting to recruit staff for a "Kunihiko Ikuhara-directed work", effectively announcing the existence of a series to be produced by Ikuhara and the studio. The series was formally announced as Sarazanmai on March 6, 2018 during a three-day Revolutionary Girl Utena marathon on Niconico, with one of three different teaser trailers shown at the end of each respective day of programming. A full-length trailer was released in five parts on Noitamina's YouTube channel, with the first part posted on October 4, 2018, and the final part posted on November 1, 2018.
The eleven-episode series is created by Ikuhara and produced by MAPPA and Lapin Track. The original story is credited to "Ikunirappa" (a portmanteau of "Ikuhara", "Lapin Track", and "MAPPA"), similar to how Ikuhara's previous directorial work Yurikuma Arashi was credited to "Ikunigomamonaka". The primary production staff includes Ikuhara and Teruko Utsumi as script writers, Nobuyuki Takeuchi as chief series director (who previously collaborated with Ikuhara on Utena and Penguindrum); the illustrator Miggy serves as original character designer, while Kayoko Ishikawa adapted the character designs for animation and serves as the chief animation director. The series' closing credits are directed by filmmaker and graphic designer Tao Tajima.
### Soundtrack
The series' soundtrack is composed by Yukari Hashimoto. Sarazanmai features two pieces of theme music: Kana-Boon performs the series' opening theme song "Brand-new", while the Peggies perform the series' ending theme song "Stand By Me". Two original songs are featured in the series, both composed by Hashimoto and written by Ikuhara: Sarazanmai No Uta (さらざんまいの歌, Song of Sarazanmai) and Kawausoiya (カワウソイヤァ, Otter Soiya). Two soundtracks for the series were released by Aniplex: Sarazanmai Music Collection, which collects the series' original score, and Sarazanmai no Uta/Kawausoiya, which collects the series' original songs.
## Media
### Anime
Sarazanmai aired from April 11 to June 20, 2019 on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block. In English-language markets, Crunchyroll simulcast a subtitled version of the original Japanese version of the series while Funimation simulcast an English-language dubbed version of the series.
#### Physical media
Aniplex released Sarazanmai across six volumes, in DVD and Blu-ray media formats.
### Manga
#### Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu
A spin–off manga series, Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu (レオとマブ~ふたりはさらざんまい, Reo to Mabu: Futari wa Sarazanmai, lit. Reo and Mabu: Together They're Sarazanmai) was published from May 22, 2018 to March 22, 2019. The series was written by Ikuhara (credited as Ikunirappa) with artwork by Misaki Saitō. It was published in Gentosha's manga magazine RuTile on odd-numbered months, and in the online magazine RuTile Sweet on even-numbered months. The complete series was collected into a tankōbon published by Gentosha on March 22, 2019. Seven Seas Entertainment released an English-language translation of the series as Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu on May 12, 2020.
The manga follows Reo and Mabu after they discover a baby lying in the street on a plate that can only speak the sound "でいっしゅ" ("dish"). They care for her while searching for her parents, giving her the name her Sara (サラ or sara literally meaning "plate" in Japanese). Reo and Mabu encounter various comedic and absurd scenarios throughout the series, many of which are solved by Sara's intervention, who Reo and Mabu come to believe has magical powers. They eventually come to love Sara as their own daughter, and privately hope that her parents will not be discovered. In the penultimate chapter, Sara suddenly grows up into an adult, thanks Reo and Mabu for being her fathers, and disappears with a man who previously sleepwalked into the kōban. Reo and Mabu suddenly both wake up to find Sara still with them as a baby, with an unspecified amount of the events of the manga having merely been a dream.
#### Sarazanmai Official Anthology
Sarazanmai Official Anthology, a manga anthology, was published by RuTile on January 30, 2020. The anthology features works from several of Ikuhara's current and former collaborators, including Sarazanmai: Reo and Mabu artist Misaki Saitō; Revolutionary Girl Utena co-creator and Be-Papas member Chiho Saitou; Penguindrum co-creator Lily Hoshino; Yurikuma Arashi co-creator Akiko Morishima; and Nokemono to Hanayome co-creator Asumiko Nakamura. Additional contributors include manga artists Mataaki Off, Samata Techno, Akira Kasukabe, Yamamoto Kotetsuko, Akari Funato, and Riyo. The anthology has also been licensed in English by Seven Seas Entertainment.
#### Sarazanmai
A manga adaptation of the anime series written by Ikuhara and illustrated by Miggy began serialization on the digital distribution platform Comic Boost on May 19, 2019.
### Other media
A two-volume light novel adaptation of Sarazanmai, written by Ikuhara and Utsumi with illustrations by Miggy, was published by Gentosha. The first volume was released on April 16, 2019, and the second volume was released on August 7, 2019. North American licensing rights to the novels were acquired by Seven Seas Entertainment in February 2020, with the first volume slated for release on September 1, 2020.
PreZanmai, a radio program hosted by series creator Kunihiko Ikuhara and Keppi voice actor Junichi Suwabe, aired from January 5, 2019 to June 28, 2019. The series was broadcast Saturdays at 9 p.m. online and on A&G Plus in Japan.
A Twitter account, @keeponly1luv, posted daily in-character tweets from Reo and Mabu from November 11, 2018 to March 31, 2019. The account's tweets were deleted on June 13, 2019, following the release of episode 10 of the anime series. A book collecting the tweets was published by Noitamina, and was released at Comiket in August 2019.
A stage play that adapts the anime series, Sara ni Sarazanmai: Ai to Yokubō no Stage (Sarazanmai Once More: A Stage of Love and Desire) was announced on September 12, 2019. The play was directed and written by Naohiro Ise and supervised by Ikuhara, and was staged at Theater 1010 in Tokyo from November 28 to December 1, 2019, and at the Cool Japan Park Osaka in Osaka on December 7 and 8, 2019. Teiko Kagohara, who voiced Sara Azuma in the anime series, reprised her role for the stage play.
## Themes and references
The primary theme of Sarazanmai is "connections". Quoting Ikuhara in an interview with Pash! Plus:
> "We live in an age where, with our smart phones and social media, connecting with people is a daily activity – so I wanted to ask, what does that all mean? What do we want to do with it? And made those questions a central theme of this series, and I wanted to look at things like how there’s this conflicting mix of emotions where you have this desire to connect with someone, but that connection can also bring pain. If you maintain the connection, where does it go from there? What happens to connections that are lost? Do we even need connections?"
Similarly to Ikuhara's previous works, the thematic content of Sarazanmai is in direct reference to major world events and systems. Sarazanmai was inspired in part by the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which informed the series' focus on materialism; in an interview with the Japan Post, Ikuhara stated that the disaster was a lesson in how "material things can be damaged and are not eternal. I have a feeling that young people have a desire to connect with each other instead of a desire for material things." The series' anti-consumerism stance is most overly expressed through the kappa zombies, which revolve around specific objects delivered by "Kappazon", an Amazon analogue.
Consequently, Sarazanmai makes explicit the theme of anti-capitalism, which critic Gabriella Ekens described as having "operated below the surface of Ikuhara's earlier shows, but never quite risen to the level of explicit text". Ekens argues that the series' anti-capitalist message manifests along three major plot elements: Reo and Mabu's subservience to the Otter Empire as an expression of capitalism's selective elevation of people from marginalized groups to positions of authority; Chikai's Faustian bargain with capital to save his family leading to his demise; and Kappazon and the Otter Empire representing capitalism's tendency towards monopolization and exploitation.
The word "Sarazanmai" is derived from the word sara (サラ, "plate"), referring to the plates located on heads of kappas from which they supposedly draw their power, and the suffix -zanmai (ざんまい), referring to indulgence. It is also a close variation of sarasanmai ("three plates"), a reference to the three primary characters who are turned into kappas. The series' setting of Asakusa and Ueno is the location of Kappabashi-dori ("Kitchen Town"), its name a pun for the area's proliferation of kappa imagery and dishware wholesalers.
## Reception
Sarazanmai was positively received by critics, and was listed as one of the best series of the spring 2019 anime season by James Beckett and Christopher Farris in Anime News Network's quarterly anime season ratings. In his review of the series for Kotaku, critic Christopher Lee Inoa praised Sarazanmai as Ikuhara’s "most optimistic, streamlined and realistic (yes, really) series to date". Inoa characterizes the series as "a positive step forward for Ikuhara’s career after the messy Yurikuma Arashi," noting that despite Sarazanmai being a shorter series, the production issues and compressed storytelling of Yurikuma Arashi are not present. In their review of the series for Comic Book Resources, critic Reuben Baron praised the series' animation, calling it "by far the most impressive Ikuhara-made anime from a strictly animation-based perspective" outside of his 1999 film Adolescence of Utena, and specifically noted its positive portrayal of gay characters.
Reviewing the series for Anime News Network, critic Gabriella Ekens described Sarazanmai as "a fantastic show" but qualified the series as "my least favorite within [Ikuhara's] oeuvre," calling it "his least complex and most technically flawed work". While Ekens praises the series' thematic material, she charges that Sarazanmai'' retreads subjects explored in Ikuhara's previous works, characterizing the series as "repetitious, even more so than Ikuhara's previous output [...] on the highest level of overt text, it's kind of just a pared down version of what's become Ikuni's archetypal narrative." |
627,057 | Plaza Sésamo | 1,173,901,811 | Educational children's television series for preschoolers | [
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| Plaza Sésamo (English: Sesame Plaza) is one of the first international co-productions of the first preschool television program Sesame Street. Its first season premiered in Mexico in 1972, and the last season ended in 2018 during the holiday season and the 50th anniversary of Sesame Street, but the show returned in 2020 and was immediately a ratings hit. It also aired throughout Latin America, to a potential audience of 25 million children in 34 countries. Unlike some of the earliest co-productions, which consisted of dubbed versions of Sesame Street with local language voice-overs, Plaza Sésamo was a true co-production. Half of the show was adapted from the American show, and half was original material, created in Mexico by Mexican writers, performers, and producers. The first season consisted of 130 half-hour episodes. The Plaza Sésamo development process was similar to that of the American show. Its goals were developed by local experts in television, child development, and early education during curriculum seminars in Caracas, Venezuela. Sésamo's goals emphasized problem solving and reasoning, and also included perception, symbolic representation, human diversity, and the child's environment. Other goals included community cooperation, family life, nutrition, health, safety, self-esteem, and expressing emotions. Early reading skills were taught through the whole language method. The show's budget for the first and second seasons was approximately US\$1.6 million.
The show's set consisted of a typical neighborhood square (or plaza) found throughout the region. New Muppets and human characters were created. In all, four seasons of Sésamo were filmed. The first season resulted in some of the highest ratings in Mexico. The fourth season, filmed in 1995, was broadcast in the U.S., making it the first foreign-language co-production shown in the U.S. Studies conducted after the first season of Sésamo showed that it had a demonstrable impact on the educational achievement levels of its young audience. Highly significant difference were found in tests about general knowledge, letters, and numbers after children were exposed to the show. Significant gains were made in several cognitive and perceptual areas by regular viewers, even in subjects that were not taught by the show. Characters from the show participated in campaigns promoting health and nutrition; in 2009, the Sesame Workshop, the organization responsible for the American show, was awarded the "Champion of Health" award by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) for its efforts.
Sesame Amigos, a Sesame Workshop production for Spanish-speakers from the United States, debuted in 2015. This series aired Saturday mornings on Univision as part of their Planeta U block until October 2017 when it was replaced by Calimero.
## Background
A few months after the 1969 debut of Sesame Street on PBS in the US, producers from several countries all around the world approached the Children's Television Workshop (CTW, later Sesame Workshop, or "the Workshop"), the organization responsible for the show's production, to create and produce versions of Sesame Street in their countries. Co-creator Joan Ganz Cooney was approached by German public television officials about a year after the US version debuted. Many years later, Cooney recalled, "To be frank, I was really surprised, because we thought we were creating the quintessential American show. We thought the Muppets were quintessentially American, and it turns out they're the most international characters ever created". She hired former CBS executive Mike Dann, who left commercial television to become her assistant, as a CTW vice-president. One of Dann's tasks was to field offers to produce versions of Sesame Street in other countries. By summer 1970, he had made the first international agreements for what the CTW came to call "co-productions".
As of 2006, there were 20 active co-productions. In 2000, CTW vice-president Charlotte Cole estimated that there were over 120 million viewers of all international versions of Sesame Street, and by the show's 40th anniversary in 2009, they were seen in more than 140 countries. Doreen Carvajal of The New York Times reported that income from the co-productions accounted for US\$96 million in 1994. Cole stated, "Children's Television Workshop (CTW) can be regarded as the single largest informal educator of young children in the world". Most of the early international versions were what Cole called "fairly simple", consisting of dubbed versions of the show with local language voice-overs and instructional cutaways. Studies conducted on the effects of several co-productions found that viewers of these shows gain basic skills from watching them.
## Production
Plaza Sésamo debuted in Mexico on the Televisa network in 1972. According to Sesame Street producer Gregory J. Gettas, Plazo Sésamo was one of Sesame Street's first true co-productions, programs that were developed using a variant of a flexible model, called the CTW model, created by the producers and creators of the American show, in the countries they aired. Like the American show in the late 1960s, the producers and researchers in Mexico conducted a curriculum seminar in Caracas, Venezuela. The goals they developed, however, were significantly different from the goals developed in the U.S. For example, the Plaza Sésamo team emphasized problem solving and reasoning. Their educational goals included perception, symbolic representation, human diversity, and the child's environment. Other goals included community cooperation, family life, nutrition, health, safety, self-esteem, and expressing emotions. The show was designed to address the educational needs of the region's 25 million children in 34 countries, including its target audience of 7 million children between the ages of 3 and 6 in Mexico alone. Despite their common language, the show's Latin American viewers had a wide variety of customs and lifestyles. The show's budget for the first and second seasons was approximately US\$1.6 million.
The American-produced and dubbed segments were analyzed for cultural appropriateness. If any segments were considered "too American", meaning that they contained English writing on the screen, showed the American flag, or overtly referred to American history, they were removed. The board was responsible for choosing content from the CTW's inventory, and it had to satisfy the curriculum goals chosen by the Latin American researchers. They chose to teach reading through the whole language method, which emphasizes teaching children to recognize entire words or phrases, as opposed to phonetics, the way the American show taught reading. The Mexican producers and writers designed a distinctive set that appeared different than the American set and consisted of a typical neighborhood square (or plaza) found throughout the region. The set included a background of mountains, a vacant lot with playground equipment, houses, a combination repair shop and store-cafe, and the plaza's central fountain and benches. New music, written and performed by Latin American artists, was recorded, and writers and performers from Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Venezuela, were hired.
New Muppet characters were created and performed by puppeteers trained in Mexico City. Abelardo (originally called Serapio Montoya during his debut in 1981), a giant parrot, was modeled after the American show's Big Bird, and like Big Bird, was a full-body puppet that was controlled by the puppeteer from inside the costume. Paco, a grouchy green parrot, was based on Oscar the Grouch. Abelardo and Paco were both played by Justo Martinez. The Muppets Beto and Enrique, who were based upon Bert and Ernie of the American show, were called "national favorites" by the UPI less than three years after the show's premiere. In 1975, Enrique and Beto were used to promote Mexico's nationwide free vaccination campaign.
130 half-hour episodes of the show's first season were shot in Mexico City entirely in Spanish, under the control of a Mexican research and production team. About half the show's material was adapted from the American show and dubbed into Spanish, while the other half was produced in Mexico and included animation, live-action films, and studio sequences with human actors and Muppets. A Mexican board of advisers, who set curriculum goals for the show, approved all content, both Mexican and American, something that followed the newly established policies of the CTW. Mexican psychologist Rogelio Diaz-Guerrero was the first chair of the show's advisory board, which was later expanded to include child-development and educators from other Latin American countries, so that Plazo Sésamo could be broadcast throughout Central and South America, including the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
The third season, which was filmed in 1983 and consisted of 130 half-hour episodes, had different goals than the previous seasons. One of its goals was instructing its viewers and their families about basic hygiene, "a matter of critical importance in an area of the world where gastrointestinal diseases abound and infant mortality rates are high". The third season of the show included characters created to "expose young Latin American children to both traditional and nontraditional role models". The producers created characters that demonstrated family diversity, in order to fulfill their curriculum goal of presenting more egalitarian lifestyles by modeling overcoming stereotypes, demonstrating different career options for both men and women, and exhibiting the sharing of household responsibilities. They cast performers in two different families. The first family was more traditional and consisted of a middle-aged couple named Tono, a mechanic (played by Maurico Herrara), and Alicia, a public health nurse (Alicia de Bari), who had two children. The adults in the second family were young working professionals; the wife was a veterinarian and the husband was a music teacher who worked from home. Other human characters included: Jose, a shopkeeper and his young assistant, a student named Mercedes (Xochiti Vigil): a truck driver played by Tony Diaz; and a pilot (Fernando Balzaretti), who travelled throughout Latin American and came home to tell his adventures to his friends on the plaza. As of 1990, the third season was still airing in reruns.
In 1995, a fourth season of Plaza Sésamo was produced. It featured two monsters named Lola and Pancho, a larger cast of children, more original music, and a new set designed by renowned Mexican architect Ricardo Legorreta. The season focused on a more innovative curriculum, developed by a board of Latin American educators and UNICEF, and included topics such as health, hygiene, safety issues, cooperation, counting, and the alphabet. The producers created outreach materials for Hispanic families, for the purpose of promoting media literacy and helping parents improve their roles as their children's first teachers. The fourth season aired in the U.S. because of the large population of Spanish-speakers in the country; it was the first time an original co-production was shown in the U.S. As Gary Knell, an executive at the CTW stated, "Our mission is to educate all kids. And the fact is, in the U.S., especially in cities like Los Angeles, there's an enormous number of Spanish-speaking households".
The fourth season was test-marketed for American audiences in April on PBS and Univision stations in Miami, Dallas–Fort Worth, and Los Angeles. The test-run was successful, so PBS and Univision began airing it nationally in December; it reached 92% of the country's Spanish-speaking households. At first, Plaza Sésamo's producers were concerned that the show would be attacked, but The Los Angeles Times reported that "even some staunch opponents of bilingual education concede that Plaza Sésamo has its merits". The L.A. Times also stated that its broadcast in the U.S. was an acknowledgment that Spanish was a prominent language in the U.S. and that more children were bilingual. The show's supporters believed that exposure to an educational program like Plaza Sésamo would result in the transfer of Spanish skills to English and increase literacy in both languages. Bilingual education opponents disagreed, but were not against the show's entertainment value. According to Knell, the CTW found that watching the Spanish version did not draw children away from the English version.
In 2012, Plaza Sésamo celebrated its 40th anniversary with the creation of a new website and a traveling photo exhibit. In December 2013, the show's 15th season premiered with 52 episodes. Segments were shot throughout Latin America; it was the first time the show was filmed in Colombia. Its curriculum focused on math, literacy, diversity, and health. A stakeholders meeting was convened in Bogotá in October 2012, consisting of interested parties from government and the private sector, and included officials from UNICEF. In 2016, episodes began to debut on HBO Latino, as part of a five year deal running from January 16, 2016 to July 11, 2020. All songs are left undubbed from English. That same year, Plaza Sésamo (alongside its Brazilian counterpart Víla Sesamo) shortened its name to simply Sésamo. Three seasons have been produced as of December 2017, with a total of 65 episodes. A fourth season, made exclusively for Azteca 7 debuted on April 27, 2020. The season mostly features dubbed segments from Season 50 of its American counterpart.
## Influence
When Plaza Sésamos's first season premiered, it was the highest rated TV program ever broadcast in Mexico. The UPI reported that all three seasons of the show had some of the highest ratings in Mexico; its second season, which premiered in 1975, "had piled on ratings that only Mexico's popular soap operas could rival". Gettas claimed that Plaza Sésamo was "the model for all subsequent Sesame Street co-productions throughout the world". He also stated that the first season "had a demonstrable impact on the educational achievement levels of its young audience". In 1974, a study was conducted by American and Mexican researchers that studied the effect of Plaza Sésamo on its viewers. Highly significant differences were found in tests about general knowledge, letters, and numbers after children were exposed to the show. Significant gains were made in several cognitive and perceptual areas by regular viewers, even in subjects that were not taught by the show.
Seasons 1 to onwards from Sesame Street were dubbed into Mexican (Latin American) Spanish.
In 1995, Parque Plaza Sésamo, a 12-acre theme park based on the show, was opened in Monterrey, Mexico, within the gates of the theme park Parque Fundidora. It is the first theme park of its kind in Mexico. According to a press release announcing its opening, Parque Plaza Sésamo includes water rides, live entertainment, interactive, and educational elements. It is privately owned, with Mexican investments, and features the show's characters, along with the American Sesame Street, via a licensing agreement with Sesame Workshop. The park's focus audience is around northern Mexico and South Texas. On May 18, 2022, the park announced that it would rebrand as Parque Fiesta Aventuras for the 2022 season following a two-year period of closure. The reason for the rebranding was not classified by the park, but is likely that the park terminated its license to use the Plaza Sésamo branding and characters.
In 2003, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Sesame Workshop collaborated in a program promoting vaccinations. Their promotion reached over 147 million children and adults. In 2007, the Workshop participated in an extensive health promotion in Mexico; they put many of the characters of Plaza Sésamo on milk containers, which were given to schools, with positive messages about nutrition and exercise. Studies showed that the promotion was effective. Children choose healthy food associated with the show's characters, and 68 percent of families exposed to the promotion reported positive changes in their children's nutrition and hygiene habits. In 2009, the Workshop was awarded the "Champion of Health" award by PAHO for its efforts. In response to a flu pandemic in Mexico, various national celebrities appeared in public service announcements with the Plaza Muppets, discussing flu prevention.
## Appearances
### Television
- 1997; 2017; 2020: "Sesame Street" (with Abelardo Montoya as Big Bird's cousin)
- 2002: "The 76th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade" (with Abelardo Montoya and Lola) (November 28)
- 2011-13: Sesame Street Road Safety Campaign (with Pancho)
- 2013-17: "¡Despierta América!"; "Dream, Save, Do" (with Bel and Lola)
### Events
- 2003: Sesame Workshop's Annual Benefit Gala (June 4)
- 2019: Sesame Street: Road Trip with Abelardo Montoya as Big Bird's cousin as he travels from Mexico to Los Angeles, for material taped for season 50.)
### Comic Books
- 2013: "Sesame Street": (Issue \#1, with Bodoque)
## International broadcasting
## Dubbing |
72,893 | Los Angeles Lakers | 1,172,098,439 | National Basketball Association team in Los Angeles, California | [
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| The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, an arena shared with the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, the Los Angeles Sparks of the Women's National Basketball Association, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League. The Lakers are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NBA, and have won 17 NBA championships, tied with the Boston Celtics for the most in NBA history.
The franchise began with the 1947 purchase of a disbanded team, the Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL). The new team began playing in Minneapolis, Minnesota, calling themselves the Minneapolis Lakers. Initially a member of the NBL, the Lakers won the 1948 NBL championship before joining the rival Basketball Association of America, where they would win five of the next six championships, led by star George Mikan. After struggling financially in the late 1950s following Mikan's retirement, they relocated to Los Angeles before the 1960–61 season.
Led by Hall of Famers Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, Los Angeles made the NBA Finals six times in the 1960s, but lost every series to the Celtics, beginning their long and storied rivalry. In 1968, the Lakers acquired four-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Wilt Chamberlain, and won their sixth NBA title—and first in Los Angeles—in 1972, led by new head coach Bill Sharman. After the retirement of West and Chamberlain, the team traded for superstar Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who would win three MVP awards as a Laker. While the team was unable to advance to the Finals in the late 1970s, two momentous changes came in 1979 that would inaugurate a new golden era for the franchise. First, Jerry Buss purchased the Lakers, and as the team's owner, pioneered a vision of basketball games as entertainment spectacles as well as sporting events. Second, the Lakers drafted Magic Johnson first overall in the 1979 NBA draft.
The combination of Johnson, a passing prodigy point guard, and a dominant center in Abdul-Jabbar provided the Lakers with two superstars to anchor their roster. The promotion of head coach Pat Riley in 1981 and the addition of forward James Worthy through the 1982 draft established the Lakers as an NBA powerhouse throughout the 1980s. The team was nicknamed the "Showtime Lakers" due to its fast break, transition offense facilitated by Johnson. The franchise won five championships in a nine-year span, including winning two out of three marquee Finals matchups against the Celtics. The Lakers were defeated by their Boston archrivals in the 1984 Finals, but triumphed over the Celtics in 1985 and 1987.
After Riley departed and Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, and Worthy all retired, the Lakers struggled in the early 1990s. It was not until 1996 when the team traded with the Charlotte Hornets for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant and signed star center Shaquille O'Neal that the Lakers returned to dominance during the early 2000s. The superstar duo of Bryant and O'Neal, along with Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson, led the Lakers to three consecutive championships between 2000 and 2002, securing the franchise's second "three-peat." The dynamic but tumultuous "Shaq-and-Kobe" era ended when the Lakers traded away O'Neal after the team lost to the Detroit Pistons in the 2004 Finals. It was not until after the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol that Bryant and Jackson returned to the NBA Finals, losing to the Celtics in 2008 but winning two more championships in 2009 and 2010. The 2010 Finals marked the latest matchup of the Lakers and Celtics, with Los Angeles winning its 16th title against its longtime rival in a seven-game series.
Jackson retired from coaching in 2011, and after a string of tumultuous playoff exits, the Lakers endured their longest playoff drought in franchise history. Gasol departed as a free agent in 2014, and Bryant retired in 2016 after twenty years as a Laker. After multiple rebuilding seasons with young, highly rated prospects, the Lakers signed superstar LeBron James in 2018. In 2019, the team traded several of those prospects for star big man Anthony Davis. The Lakers—led by James, Davis, and head coach Frank Vogel—won the team's 17th championship in 2020, tying the Celtics for the most titles in NBA history.
The Lakers hold the record for NBA's longest winning streak, 33 straight games, set during the 1971–72 season. Twenty-six Hall of Famers have played for Los Angeles, while four have coached the team. Four players—Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, O'Neal, and Bryant—have won a combined eight NBA MVP awards with the Lakers.
## Franchise history
### 1947–1954: Beginnings and Minneapolis dynasty with George Mikan
The Lakers' franchise began in 1947 when Ben Berger and Morris Chalfen of Minnesota purchased the recently disbanded Detroit Gems of the National Basketball League (NBL) for \$15,000 from Gems owner Maury Winston. Minneapolis sportswriter Sid Hartman played a key behind-the-scenes role in helping put together the deal and later the team. Inspired by Minnesota's nickname, "Land of 10,000 Lakes", the team christened themselves the Lakers. Hartman helped them hire John Kundla from College of St. Thomas, to be their first head coach, by meeting with him and selling him on the team.
The Lakers had a solid roster, which featured forward Jim Pollard, playmaker Herm Schaefer, and center George Mikan, who became the most dominant player in the NBL. In their first season, they led the league with a 43–17 record, later winning the NBL Championship that season.
In 1948, the Lakers moved from the NBL to the Basketball Association of America (BAA), and Mikan's 28.3 point per game (ppg) scoring average set a BAA record. In the 1949 BAA Finals they won the championship, beating the Washington Capitols four games to two. The following season, the team improved to 51–17, repeating as champions. In the 1950–51 season, Mikan won his third straight scoring title at 28.4 ppg and the Lakers went 44–24 to win their second straight division title. One of those games, a 19–18 loss against the Fort Wayne Pistons, became infamous as the lowest scoring game in NBA history. In the playoffs, they defeated the Indianapolis Olympians in three games but lost to the Rochester Royals in the next round.
During the 1951–52 season, the Lakers won 40 games, finishing second in their division. They faced the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals, which they won in seven games. In the 1952–53 season, Mikan led the NBA in rebounding, averaging 14.4 rebounds per game (rpg), and was named MVP of the 1953 NBA All-Star Game. After a 48–22 regular season, the Lakers defeated the Fort Wayne Pistons in the Western playoffs to advance to the NBA Finals. They then defeated the New York Knicks to win their second straight championship. Though Lakers star George Mikan suffered from knee problems throughout the 1953–54 season, he was still able to average 18 ppg. Clyde Lovellette, who was drafted in 1952, helped the team win the Western Division. The team won its third straight championship in the 1950s and fifth in six seasons when it defeated the Syracuse Nationals in seven games.
### 1954–1958: Post-Mikan dry spell
Following Mikan's retirement in the 1954 off-season, the Lakers struggled but still managed to win 40 games. Although they defeated the Rochester Royals in the first round of the playoffs, they were defeated by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the semifinals. Although they had losing records the next two seasons, they made the playoffs each year. Mikan came back for the last half of the 1955–56 season, but struggled and retired for good after the season. Led by Lovellette's 20.6 points and 13.5 rebounds, they advanced to the Conference Finals in 1956–57. The Lakers had one of the worst seasons in team history in 1957–58 when they won a league-low 19 games. They had hired Mikan, who had been the team's general manager for the previous two seasons, as head coach to replace Kundla. Mikan was fired in January when the team was 9–30, and Kundla was rehired.
The Lakers earned the top pick in the 1958 NBA draft and used it to select Elgin Baylor. Baylor, who was named NBA Rookie of the Year and co-MVP of the 1959 NBA All-Star Game, averaged 24.9 ppg and 15.0 rpg helping the Lakers improve to second in their division despite a 33–39 record. After upsetting the Hawks in six games in the division finals, they returned to the NBA Finals, but were swept by the Celtics, beginning their long rivalry.
### 1958–1968: Move to Los Angeles and Celtics rivalry
In their last year in Minneapolis, the Lakers went 25–50. On January 18, 1960, the team was coming off a loss and traveling to St. Louis when their plane crash-landed. Snow storms had driven the pilot 150 miles off course when he was forced to land in a cornfield. No one was hurt. Their record earned them the number two pick in the 1960 NBA draft. The team selected Jerry West from West Virginia University. During the 1960 off-season, the Lakers became the NBA's first West Coast team when owner Bob Short decided to move the team to Los Angeles. Led by Baylor's 34.8 ppg and 19.8 rpg, Los Angeles won 11 more than the year before in West's first season. On November 15 that season, Baylor set a new NBA scoring record when he scored 71 points in a victory against the New York Knicks while grabbing 25 rebounds. In doing so, Baylor broke his own NBA record of 64 points. Despite a losing record, the Lakers made the playoffs. They came within two points of the NBA Finals when they lost in game seven of their second round series against St. Louis.
Led by Baylor and West at 38.3 and 30.8 ppg respectively, the Lakers improved to 54–26 in 1961–62, and made the finals. In a game five victory, Baylor grabbed 22 rebounds and set the still-standing NBA record for points in a finals game with 61, despite fouling out of the game. The Lakers, however, lost to the Celtics by three points in overtime of game seven. Frank Selvy, after making two jumpers in the final 40 seconds to tie the game, missed a potential game-winning 18 foot jump shot in regulation, a miss which he said in June 2010 still haunted him more than 40 years later.
Los Angeles won 53 games in 1962–63, behind Baylor's 34.0 ppg and West's 27.1 ppg but lost in the NBA Finals in six games to the Celtics. After falling to 42–38 and losing in the first round of the 1964 NBA playoffs to the Hawks, the team won 49 games in 1964–65. The Lakers surged past the Baltimore Bullets in the division finals, behind West's record-setting 46.3 ppg in the series. They lost again to Celtics in the Finals however, this time in five games.
Los Angeles lost in the finals to Boston in seven games again in 1966, this time by two points. Down by 16 entering the fourth quarter, and 10 with a minute and a half to go, the Lakers mounted a furious rally in the closing moments, which fell just short. After dropping to 36 wins and losing in the first round of the 1967 NBA playoffs, they lost in the finals to the Celtics again in 1968. Los Angeles moved to a brand-new arena, The Forum, in 1967, after playing seven seasons at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.
### 1968–1973: The arrival of Wilt Chamberlain
On July 9, 1968, the team acquired Wilt Chamberlain from the Philadelphia 76ers for Darrell Imhoff, Archie Clark, and Jerry Chambers. In his first season as a Laker, Chamberlain set a team record by averaging a league-leading 21.1 rpg. West, Baylor, and Chamberlain each averaged over 20 points, and Los Angeles won their division. The Lakers and Celtics again met in the finals, and Los Angeles had home court advantage against Boston for the first time in their rivalry. They won the first game behind Jerry West's 53 points, and had a 3–2 lead after five. Boston won the series in seven games however, and earned their 11th NBA Championship in 13 seasons. West was named the first-ever Finals MVP; this remains the only time that a member of the losing team has won the award. In 1970, West won his first scoring title at 31.2 ppg, the team returned to the finals, and for the first time in 16 years, they did not have to face the Celtics; instead playing the New York Knicks, who defeated them 4–3. The next season the Lakers were defeated by the Milwaukee Bucks, led by future Laker Lew Alcindor (now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) in the Western Conference Finals.
The 1971–72 season brought several changes. Owner Jack Kent Cooke brought in Bill Sharman as head coach, and Elgin Baylor announced his retirement early in the season after realizing that his legs were not healthy enough. Sharman increased the team's discipline. He introduced the concept of the shootaround, where players would arrive at the arena early in the morning before a game to practice shots. They won 14 straight games in November and all 16 games played in December. They won three straight to open the year of 1972 but on January 9, the Milwaukee Bucks ended their winning streak by defeating the Lakers, 120–104. By winning 33 straight games, Los Angeles set a record for longest winning streak of any team in major American professional team sports. The Lakers won 69 games that season, which stood as the NBA record for 24 years until the Chicago Bulls won 72 games in 1995–96. Chamberlain averaged a low 14.8 points but led the league in rebounding at 19.2 a game. West's 9.7 assists per game (apg) led the league, he also averaged more than 25 points, and was named MVP of the 1972 NBA All-Star Game. The team failed to score 100 points just once all year, and at the end of the season, Bill Sharman was named Coach of the Year. The Lakers went on to reach the finals against the New York Knicks where they would avenge their 1970 finals loss by defeating them 4 games to 1. Chamberlain tallied 24 points and 29 rebounds in game five and won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award.
The Lakers won 60 games in the 1972–73 season, and took another Pacific Division title. Wilt Chamberlain, playing in his final season, again led the league in rebounding and set the still standing NBA record for field-goal percentage at 72.7%. The team defeated the Chicago Bulls in seven games in the conference semifinals, then the Golden State Warriors in five in the Western Division Finals. They played the New York Knicks in the 1973 NBA Finals. Los Angeles took the first game by three points, but New York won the series in five games.
### 1973–1979: Building "Showtime"
During the 1973–74 season, the team was hampered by the loss of West, who played only 31 games before his legs gave out. Goodrich, averaging 25.3 points, helped the team to a late-season surge. Trailing the Golden State Warriors by three games with seven left to play, the Lakers rallied to finish 47–35 and win the Pacific Division. They made the playoffs but managed just one win against Milwaukee in the conference semifinals. Following the season, West retired due to contract disagreements with Cooke, and filed a suit for unpaid back wages.
After missing the playoffs in the 1974–75 season, the Lakers acquired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who had won three league MVPs by that time. Abdul-Jabbar wanted out of Milwaukee, demanding a trade to either New York or Los Angeles. He was traded for Elmore Smith, Brian Winters, Junior Bridgeman, and Dave Meyers. Abdul-Jabbar had his fourth MVP season in 1975–76, leading the league in rebounding, blocked shots, and minutes played. The Lakers struggled in January, going 3–10, and finished out of the playoffs at 40–42.
West and Cooke settled their differences—and the former Laker's lawsuit—and Cooke hired him to replace Sharman as the team's coach. West became upset, however, when Cooke refused to spend the money necessary to acquire forward Julius Erving, who the Nets were selling. Behind another MVP season from Abdul-Jabbar, Los Angeles won the Pacific Division, finishing the 1976–77 season a league-best 53–29. They defeated the Warriors in a seven-game series to open the postseason before being swept by Portland in the Western Conference Finals. During the off-season, Los Angeles picked up Jamaal Wilkes from Golden State and signed first-round draft pick Norm Nixon.
In the first two minutes of the first game of the 1977–78 season, Abdul-Jabbar punched Bucks center Kent Benson for an overly aggressive elbow and broke his hand. Two months later, a healthy Abdul-Jabbar got into an altercation with Houston Rockets center Kevin Kunnert after a rebound. The team's starting power forward, Kermit Washington, who was averaging 11.5 points and 11.2 rebounds, entered the fight, and when Rudy Tomjanovich ran in from the bench to break up the action, Washington punched him in the face. Tomjanovich nearly died from the punch, suffering a fractured skull and other facial injuries, which prematurely ended his playing career. Washington, who stated that he assumed Tomjanovich was a combatant, was suspended for two months by the NBA, and released by the Lakers. The team won 45 games despite being down a starter in Washington and not having Abdul-Jabbar for nearly two months, but lost in the first round of the playoffs to Seattle. During the 1978–79 season, the team posted a 47–35 record but lost to the SuperSonics in the semifinal round of the playoffs.
### 1979–1991: "Showtime"
In the 1979 NBA draft, Los Angeles selected 6-foot, 9-inch point guard Magic Johnson from Michigan State with the first overall pick. It took Johnson's teammates time to acclimate themselves to his passing ability, as his "no-look" passes often caught them unaware. Once they adjusted, his passing became a key part of Los Angeles' offense. The Lakers won 60 games in Johnson's rookie year, and defeated the Philadelphia 76ers in six games in the 1980 NBA Finals. Johnson won the Finals MVP award, after starting at center for the injured Abdul-Jabbar in game six, and tallying 42 points, 15 rebounds, and seven assists. The team fell off in the 1980–81 season, though, as the Lakers lost Johnson for most of the season to a knee injury. The team turned in a 54–28 record and finished second behind the Phoenix Suns in the Pacific Division. The Rockets, led by Moses Malone, defeated Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs.
Early in the 1981–82 season, Johnson complained to the media about head coach Paul Westhead and demanded a trade. Westhead was fired shortly after Johnson's criticisms, and although Lakers' owner Jerry Buss stated that Johnson's comments did not factor into the decision, Johnson was vilified by the national media and booed both on the road and at home. Buss promoted assistant coach Pat Riley to "co-head coach" with Jerry West (although West considered himself Riley's assistant) on November 19 and the team won 17 of its next 20 games. Nicknamed "Showtime" due to the team's new Johnson-led fast break-offense, the Lakers won the Pacific Division title and swept both the Suns and Spurs in the 1982 playoffs. Los Angeles stretched its postseason winning streak to nine games by taking the first contest of the NBA Finals from the 76ers. The team won the Finals 4–2 to finish a 12–2 playoff run. On draft night in 1982, the Lakers had the first overall pick (the result of a trade with Cleveland midway through the 1979–80 season, when the Lakers had sent Don Ford and a 1980 first-round pick to the Cavaliers for Butch Lee and their 1982 selection) and selected James Worthy from North Carolina. The Lakers won the Pacific Division at 58–24, but Worthy suffered a leg injury in the last week of the season and missed the rest of the season. Nevertheless, they advanced to play Philadelphia in the 1983 NBA Finals after defeating Portland and San Antonio. The Sixers, however, won the series and the championship in four games. After the season West replaced Sharman as the team's GM.
In the 1983–84 season, Los Angeles went 54–28, and played Boston in the Finals for the first time since 1969. The Lakers won two of the first three games. However, Kevin McHale's hard clothesline foul of Lakers forward Kurt Rambis on a fast break is credited as a turning point of the series. Boston won three of the next four to win the title and send Los Angeles's record to 0–8 in Finals series against the Celtics.
Using the past year's Finals defeat as motivation, the team won the Pacific Division for the fourth straight year and lost just two games in the Western Conference playoffs. In the NBA Finals, the Celtics were again the Lakers' final hurdle. Los Angeles lost game one of the NBA Finals by a score of 148–114, in what is remembered as the "Memorial Day Massacre". The Lakers, behind 38-year-old Finals MVP Abdul-Jabbar, recovered to defeat the Celtics in six games. The team won the title in the Boston Garden, becoming the only visiting team to ever win an NBA championship there.
In the 1985–86 season, the Lakers started 24–3 and went on to win 62 games and their fifth straight division title. The Rockets, however, defeated the Lakers in five games in the Western Conference Finals. Houston won the series when Ralph Sampson hit a 20-foot jumper as time expired in game five at The Forum.
Prior to the 1986–87 season, the Lakers moved A.C. Green into the starting lineup, and acquired Mychal Thompson from the Spurs. Johnson won his first career MVP Award while leading the Lakers to a 65–17 record, and Michael Cooper was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Before the season, Riley had made the decision to shift the focus of the offense to Johnson over the 40-year-old Abdul-Jabbar. The Lakers advanced to the NBA Finals by sweeping the Nuggets, defeating the Warriors in five games, and sweeping the SuperSonics in the Western Conference Finals. The Lakers defeated Boston in the first two games of the Finals, and the teams split the next four games, giving Los Angeles their second championship in three seasons. The series was highlighted by Johnson's running "baby hook" shot to win game four at Boston Garden with two seconds remaining. Johnson was named the NBA Finals MVP, in addition to regular season MVP. At the Lakers' championship celebration in Los Angeles, coach Riley brashly declared that Los Angeles would repeat as NBA champions, which no team had done since the 1968–69 Boston Celtics.
Looking to make good on Riley's promise in the 1987–88 season, the Lakers took their seventh consecutive Pacific Division title with a 62–20 record. They swept the Spurs in the first round of the Western Conference Finals before pulling out a tough seven-game series win over the Utah Jazz led by youngsters Karl Malone and John Stockton. A seven-game Western Conference finals win over the Dallas Mavericks propelled the Lakers to the NBA Finals once again. In their seventh trip to the Finals in nine years, they met the Detroit Pistons. Los Angeles would take the series in seven games, and James Worthy's game seven triple-double earned him a Finals MVP award. The win marked their fifth title in nine years, but would also mark their last title until 2000.
In the 1988–89 season, Los Angeles won 57 games and their eighth consecutive Pacific Division crown. They swept through the playoffs defeating Portland, Seattle, and Phoenix. In an eighth trip to the NBA Finals in 10 years, they once again faced the Detroit Pistons. Hampered by injuries to Byron Scott and Johnson, the Lakers were swept by Detroit.
Following the 1989 Finals, on June 28, 1989, after 20 professional seasons, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar announced his retirement. The Lakers still cruised through the Pacific Division, winning their ninth consecutive division crown with a 63–19 record. However, after beating the Rockets in the first round, they lost four games to one in the second round of the playoffs to the Suns. Riley announced he was stepping down after the season citing burnout, and was replaced by Mike Dunleavy. Riley's departure received a mixed reaction from the players. They respected his contributions, but some, such as Worthy and Scott, had grown tired of his intense practices and felt he tried to take too much credit for the team's successes. Following the season, 1987 Defensive Player of the Year winner Michael Cooper decided to play in Europe and was waived at his request.
The 1990–91 Lakers failed to win the Pacific Division for the first time in 10 years, but still finished with a 58–24 record. After cruising through the Western Conference playoffs, the Lakers found themselves in the NBA Finals once again, their ninth trip to the Finals in 12 years. The 1991 Finals represented a changing of the guard as the Lakers were defeated in five games by the Chicago Bulls, led by superstar Michael Jordan.
### 1991–1996: Post-"Showtime" dry spell
On November 7, 1991, Magic Johnson announced he had tested positive for HIV and would retire immediately.
In their first season without Johnson, the team won 43 games to earn the eighth seed in the Western Conference playoffs. The Lakers were defeated in the first round by Portland. Following the season, head coach Mike Dunleavy was fired.
The Lakers would lose 43 games in 1992–93 under Randy Pfund, their first losing season since 1976. The Lakers would still make the playoffs, and would become the first eighth seed to win the opening two games on the road against a number one seed when they took a 2–0 lead against Phoenix. They lost the next two games at home however, then game five in Phoenix in overtime. During the 1993–94 season, Pfund was fired during the season that would result in the Lakers failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 1976. Magic Johnson, would coach the final 16 games of the season with former teammate Michael Cooper as his lead assistant. Johnson decided not to take the job permanently due to what he felt was a lack of commitment from certain players, and Los Angeles ended the season with a 10-game losing streak to finish 33–49.
Under new coach Del Harris, Los Angeles made the playoffs each of the next two seasons but was eliminated in the second and first rounds respectively. The team was led by young guards Nick Van Exel and Eddie Jones. Johnson came out of retirement to return as a player in the 1995–96 season to lead the then 24–18 Lakers to a 29–11 finish. After some run-ins with Van Exel, displeasure with Harris's strategies, and a first-round loss to the Rockets, Johnson decided to retire for the final time after the season.
### 1996–2004: O'Neal and Bryant dynasty
During the 1996 off-season, the Lakers acquired 17-year-old Kobe Bryant from the Charlotte Hornets for Vlade Divac; Bryant was drafted 13th overall out of Lower Merion High School in Ardmore, Pennsylvania in that year's draft, by Charlotte. Los Angeles also signed free-agent Shaquille O'Neal. Trading for Bryant was West's idea, and he was influential in the team's signing of the all-star center. "Jerry West is the reason I came to the Lakers", O'Neal later said. They used their 24th pick in the draft to select Derek Fisher. During the season, the team traded Cedric Ceballos to Phoenix for Robert Horry. O'Neal led the team to a 56–26 record, their best effort since 1990–91, despite missing 31 games due to a knee injury. O'Neal averaged 26.2 ppg and 12.5 rpg and finished third in the league in blocked shots (2.88 bpg) in 51 games. The Lakers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in the first round of the playoffs as O'Neal scored 46 points in Game 1 against the Trail Blazers, marking the highest single-game playoff scoring output by a Laker since Jerry West scored 53 against the Celtics in 1969. In the next round, the Lakers lost in five games to the Utah Jazz.
In the 1997–98 season, O'Neal and the Lakers had the best start in franchise history, 11–0. O'Neal would miss 20 games on the season due to an abdominal injury. Los Angeles battled Seattle for the Pacific Division title most of the season. In the final two months, the Lakers won 22 of their final 25 games, finishing 61–21, but still finished second to Seattle in the standings. The Lakers defeated Portland three games to one in the first round to advance to face Seattle. Although the Sonics won the first game, the Lakers responded with four straight wins, taking the series, but were swept by the Jazz in the Western Conference Finals.
During the 1998–99 season, All-Star guard Eddie Jones and center Elden Campbell were traded to the Charlotte Hornets. The team also acquired J. R. Reid, B. J. Armstrong, and Glen Rice. Head coach Del Harris was fired in February after a three-game losing streak and replaced on an interim basis by former Laker Kurt Rambis. The team finished 31–19 in the strike-shortened season, which was fourth in the Western Conference. The Lakers defeated Houston in the first round of the playoffs, but were swept by San Antonio in the next round. Game four of the series would be the last game ever played at the Great Western Forum.
Before the 1999–2000 season, West was prepared to hire Rambis as the team's full-time coach before an outcry from fans and members of the organization caused him to seek out a bigger name. Los Angeles hired former Chicago Bulls coach Phil Jackson, who had coached that team to six championships, and gave him a lucrative \$6 million a year contract. He brought along assistant Tex Winter and they installed Winter's version of the triangle offense. The Lakers signed veterans Brian Shaw, John Salley, Ron Harper, and A.C. Green, who was a Laker during the "Showtime" era. The team also moved to a new arena, the Staples Center.
Led by league MVP O'Neal, the Lakers won 31 of their first 36 games. They finished 67–15, the highest win total since they won 65 in the 1986–87 season. The eliminated Sacramento and Phoenix in the first two rounds of the playoffs. After the Lakers took a three games to one lead in the Western Conference Finals against Portland, the Trail Blazers won the next two games to force a game seven. The Lakers, who trailed by 15 points in the fourth quarter, would go on 19–4 run to tie the game and eventually win 89–84 to advance to the NBA Finals. In their first trip to the Finals since 1991, the Lakers defeated Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers four games to two win their first title since 1988. West retired from his spot in the team's front office after the season after a power struggle between him and Jackson over control of the team's operations. After the season, starters Rice and Green left the team, and Los Angeles signed Horace Grant.
The following season, the Lakers won 11 fewer regular season games than the prior year, but swept the first three rounds of the playoffs, defeating the Portland, Sacramento, and San Antonio. They met Allen Iverson and the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. Although the Sixers took game one in overtime, the Lakers won the next four games to win their second straight title. Their 15–1 postseason record was the best in NBA history.
The Lakers won 58 games in 2001–02. In the playoffs, they swept Portland and defeated San Antonio four games to one to advance to the Western Conference Finals to face Sacramento. The series would go on to be known as one of the greatest playoff matchups in NBA history. The series extended to all seven games and ended in a Lakers victory. In game one, Bryant scored 30 points as the Lakers won, 106–99. The series would then shift in Sacramento's favor, with the Kings winning the next two games. Facing a deficit in game 4, the Lakers had the ball with under 20 seconds to play. After misses by both Bryant and O'Neal, Kings center Vlade Divac tapped the ball away from the rim in an attempt to wind down the clock. It went straight into Robert Horry's hands, who drained a game-winning three with under three seconds to play. After the Kings won game five on a buzzer-beater by Mike Bibby, the Lakers were faced with a must-win game six. In one of the most controversial playoff games in league history (Tim Donaghy's betting scandal), the Lakers would win by four points. The Lakers went on to win game seven in overtime, with the Kings missing numerous potentially game-saving shots and free throws. The Lakers then achieved a three-peat by sweeping Jason Kidd and the New Jersey Nets in the NBA Finals. O'Neal won each of the Finals series' MVP awards, making him the only player besides Michael Jordan to win three consecutive Finals MVPs.
The Lakers would attempt a four-peat the following year, but started the 2002–03 season 11–19. However, they finished the season 39–13 to finish 50–32. They defeated Minnesota in the first round of the playoffs, but the four-peat attempt ended as they were eliminated by San Antonio in six games in the second round.
During the 2003–04 season, the team was the subject of intense media coverage generated by the teaming of four stars and the sexual-assault case involving Kobe Bryant. Before the season, the Lakers signed two-time MVP Karl Malone formerly of the Jazz, and former Seattle Defensive Player of the Year Gary Payton to join O'Neal and Bryant. Three of the "big four", however, struggled with injuries: O'Neal suffered from a strained calf, Malone an injured knee, and Bryant an injured shoulder. The Lakers started 18–3 and finished 56–26 and won the Pacific Division title, entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed. They defeated Houston, San Antonio, and Minnesota to advance to the NBA Finals. In the Finals, they would lose to Detroit in five games.
### 2004–2016: The Kobe Bryant era
#### 2004–2007: Rebuilding
During the 2004 off-season, the team entered a rebuilding phase when O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Brian Grant, Caron Butler, and a first-round draft pick. Bryant and O'Neal had clashed in the past, and the media credited their feud as one of the motivating factors for the trade. Jackson did not return as head coach, and wrote a book about the team's 2003–04 season, in which he heavily criticized Bryant and called him "uncoachable". The Lakers front office said that the book contained "several inaccuracies".
The Lakers also traded Rick Fox and Gary Payton to Boston, for Chris Mihm, Marcus Banks, and Chucky Atkins before the 2004–05 season. Derek Fisher, frustrated with losing playing time, opted out of his contract and signed with the Warriors. The team hired Rudy Tomjanovich to replace Jackson. After sitting out the first half of the 2004–05 season, Malone announced his retirement on February 13, 2005. Tomjanovich coached the team to a 22–19 record before resigning due to health problems. Assistant Frank Hamblen was named interim head coach to replace Tomjanovich for the remainder of the season. Bryant (ankle) and Odom (shoulder) suffered injuries, and the Lakers finished 34–48, missing the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history and the first time since 1994.
With the tenth overall pick in the 2005 NBA draft, the Lakers selected Andrew Bynum, a center from St. Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey. The team also traded Caron Butler and Chucky Atkins to Washington for Kwame Brown and Laron Profit. Jackson returned to coach the team after Rudy Tomjanovich resigned midway through the previous season. On January 22, 2006, Bryant scored 81 points against Toronto, the second-highest total in NBA history. Ending the season 45–37, the team made the playoffs after a one-season absence. After taking a three games to one lead in the first round, Phoenix came back to take the series in seven games.
In the following season, the Lakers won 26 of their first 39 games, but lost 27 of their last 43—including seven in a row at one point—to finish 42–40. They were eliminated in the first round by Phoenix again. Frustrated by the team's inability to advance in the playoffs, Bryant demanded to be traded in the off-season. Buss initially agreed to seek a trade, but also worked to try to change Bryant's mind.
#### 2007–2011: Bryant and Gasol duo
After re-acquiring Derek Fisher, the Lakers started the 2007–08 season with a 25–11 record, before Andrew Bynum, their center who was leading the league in field-goal percentage, went out for the year due to a knee injury in mid-January. In what would become a crucial transfer for the franchise's return to championship form, they acquired the six-time all-star power forward Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies in a trade in early February and went 22–5 to finish the season. The Lakers' 57–25 record earned them the first seed in the Western Conference. Bryant was awarded the league's MVP award, becoming the first Laker to win the award since O'Neal in 2000. In the playoffs, they defeated the Nuggets in four games, the Jazz in six, and the defending champion Spurs in five, but lost to the Celtics in six games in the NBA Finals.
In the 2008–09 season, the Lakers finished 65–17; the best record in the Western Conference. They defeated the Jazz in five games, the Rockets in seven and the Nuggets in six, to win the Western Conference title. They then won their 15th NBA championship by defeating the Orlando Magic in five games in the NBA finals. Bryant was named the NBA Finals MVP for the first time in his career.
The Lakers, who had added Ron Artest (now Metta World Peace) in place of Trevor Ariza in their starting lineup, finished the 2009–10 season with the best record in the Western Conference for the third straight time. On January 13, 2010, the Lakers became the first team in NBA history to win 3,000 regular-season games by defeating the Dallas Mavericks 100–95. They defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Utah Jazz, and the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference playoffs. In the finals, the Lakers played the Boston Celtics for the 12th time. They rallied back from a 3–2 disadvantage in the series and erased a 13-point deficit in the fourth quarter of the seventh game to defeat the Celtics. This series win gave them their 16th NBA title overall and 11th since they moved to Los Angeles. Bryant was named Finals MVP for the second year in a row, despite a 6–24 shooting performance in game seven.
After much speculation, head coach Phil Jackson returned for the 2010–11 season. In the playoffs, the Lakers defeated the New Orleans Hornets in the first round. But their opportunity for a three-peat was denied by the Dallas Mavericks in a four-game sweep of the second round. After the season, it was announced that Jackson will not be returning to coach the Lakers.
#### 2011–2016: Post-Jackson era
After Jackson's retirement, former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown was hired as head coach on May 25, 2011. Before the start of the shortened 2011–12 season, the Lakers traded Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks after Odom requested to be traded. On the trade deadline long time Laker Derek Fisher along with a first round draft pick were traded to the Houston Rockets for Jordan Hill. With a 41–25 regular season record the Lakers entered the playoffs as the third seed, the team defeated the Denver Nuggets in the first round in seven games but were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round in five games.
On July 4, 2012, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that would send him to the Lakers in exchange for the Lakers' 2013 and 2015 first round draft picks, 2013 and 2014 second round draft picks, and \$3 million. The trade was made official on July 11, 2012, the first day the trade moratorium was lifted. On August 10, 2012, in a four-team trade the Lakers traded Andrew Bynum and acquired Dwight Howard. On November 9, 2012, Mike Brown was relieved of coaching duties after a 1–4 start to the 2012–13 season. Assistant Coach Bernie Bickerstaff took over as interim head coach, leading the Lakers to a 5–5 record. On November 12, 2012, the Lakers hired Mike D'Antoni as head coach. On February 18, 2013, Lakers owner Jerry Buss died from cancer at age 80. On the court, D'Antoni coached the Lakers to a 40–32 record the rest of the way to finish 45–37, their worst record since 2007. The Lakers clinched a playoff berth on the final game of the season and finished seventh in the Western Conference after beating the Houston Rockets on April 16, 2013. The Lakers battled injuries all season, the most prominent of which is the Achilles tendon rupture to Kobe Bryant that ended his season after 78 games. The absence of Bryant was sorely felt as the Lakers were swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs. Nevertheless, Bryant passed Lakers legend Wilt Chamberlain to become the fourth all-time leading scorer in NBA history on March 30, 2013, against the Sacramento Kings.
On December 8, 2013, Bryant played in his first game since tearing his Achilles tendon on April 12, 2013. However, on December 17, 2013, he suffered a broken bone in his knee, and did not return for the remainder of the season. On March 25, 2014, the Lakers scored 51 points in the third quarter against the New York Knicks, the most points scored in a quarter in the history of the franchise. The Lakers went on to miss the NBA playoffs for the first time since 2005, for just the second time in the last two decades and for just the sixth time in franchise history. On April 30, 2014, Mike D'Antoni resigned from his position as head coach after a 27–55 season.
After spending the majority of the off-season without a head coach, the Lakers named former player Byron Scott as the new head coach. After the season, he was the frontrunner to become the new Lakers head coach. Scott interviewed three times for the position, which had become vacant after Mike D'Antoni's resignation. On July 28, 2014, he signed a multi-year contract to coach the Lakers.
During the first game of the 2014–15 season, the seventh overall pick in the 2014 NBA draft, Julius Randle went down with a broken leg, which ended his rookie season. The Lakers began their season losing 10 of their first 16 games. After playing only 35 games, Kobe Bryant tore a rotator cuff in his shoulder ending his season. Nick Young was also forced to end his season with a fractured kneecap, leaving the team with a record of 14–41. With 27 games left in the regular season, Byron Scott gave rookie Jordan Clarkson more playing time. Clarkson, the 46th overall pick in the 2014 draft, finished his rookie season with game stats of 11.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 3.5 apg, and shooting 44.8% from the field. The Lakers' season ended with a record of 21–61, the fourth worst record in the league and at the time the worst record in franchise history.
The next season, the Lakers had the second overall pick of the 2015 NBA draft, which they used to select Ohio State freshman point guard D'Angelo Russell. The team also selected Larry Nance Jr. with the 27th overall pick. On November 30, 2015, Bryant announced he would retire at the end of the season after 20 seasons with the team. In Bryant's last season the team missed the playoffs for the third straight year with a 17–65 record, the worst in franchise history.
### 2016–2018: Post-Bryant era
On April 24, 2016, the Lakers announced that they would not exercise their option on Byron Scott's contract for the following season. On April 29, the team announced another former Laker, Luke Walton, as their new head coach. At the time of his hiring, Walton was an assistant coach for the Golden State Warriors, who were in the playoffs, so he could not officially begin his duties as head coach until the Warriors' playoff run was over. The Lakers earned the second overall pick in the 2016 NBA draft, and selected Brandon Ingram from Duke University. The team also selected Ivica Zubac with the 32nd overall pick.
On February 21, 2017, the Lakers fired general manager Mitch Kupchak, while Magic Johnson was named as the president of basketball operations. The team's governor Jeanie Buss, also announced the removal of her brother, Jim Buss, from his position as executive vice president of basketball operations. On March 7, 2017, the Lakers hired Rob Pelinka as the general manager, signing him to a five-year deal. The Lakers again earned the second overall pick, this time, in the 2017 NBA draft, and selected Lonzo Ball from UCLA. The Lakers also acquired Kyle Kuzma from the University of Utah with the 27th overall pick from a draft-day trade, along with Brook Lopez in exchange for D'Angelo Russell and Timofey Mozgov. The Lakers also traded their 28th overall pick, Tony Bradley, in exchange for the 30th overall pick, Josh Hart, from Villanova University and the 42nd overall pick, Thomas Bryant, from Indiana University. In February 2018, Nance Jr. and Clarkson were traded away to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Isaiah Thomas, Channing Frye, and a 2018 first-round draft pick. On July 2, 2018, Randle was renounced by the Lakers.
### 2018–present: The LeBron James era
#### 2018–2019: The arrival of LeBron James
On July 9, 2018, the Lakers signed LeBron James to a four-year, \$154 million contract. By the Christmas Day game, the Lakers were six games over .500 before James sustained a groin injury leading to several weeks of missed games. Ball and Ingram also ended their seasons early due to injuries. On February 7, 2019, Zubac was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Michael Beasley in exchange for Mike Muscala.
On April 9, 2019, Johnson stepped down as the team's president of basketball operations, and two days later, the Lakers parted ways with head coach Walton after the team failed to reach the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
#### 2019–present: James and Davis era
On May 13, Frank Vogel was named the Lakers' head coach. The Lakers received the fourth overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft lottery. On July 6, the Lakers acquired Anthony Davis from the New Orleans Pelicans for Ball, Ingram, Hart, and three first-round picks, including the number four overall in the 2019 draft. This trade officially ended the young core era of the Lakers; only Kuzma remained out of the group of players.
Following the suspension of the 2019–20 NBA season, the Lakers were one of the 22 teams invited to the NBA Bubble to participate in the final eight games of the regular season. The Lakers finished the regular season with a 52–19 record, entering the playoffs for the first time since 2013, and as the top seed for the first time since 2010. They advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2010. They defeated the Miami Heat 4–2 to win the 2020 NBA Finals, and James was named the Finals MVP for the fourth time in his career. The win gave Los Angeles their 17th championship in franchise history, tying the Boston Celtics for the most all-time. Primary Lakers owner Jeanie Buss, who took over the team in 2017, would also become the first female controlling owner of an NBA team to win the NBA Finals.
During the 2021 off-season, the Lakers picked up many NBA veterans, the most notable of which was Russell Westbrook, who was acquired in a blockbuster trade with the Washington Wizards. Kyle Kuzma, the last player left from the Lakers' young core era, was traded away, along with others. Other veterans picked up during the off-season included Carmelo Anthony, DeAndre Jordan, and returning players Wayne Ellington, Trevor Ariza, Dwight Howard and Rajon Rondo. Alex Caruso left the Lakers and signed with the Chicago Bulls, and veteran locker-room voice Jared Dudley retired.
## Rivalries
### Boston Celtics
The rivalry between the Boston Celtics and the Lakers involves the two most storied basketball franchises in National Basketball Association (NBA) history. It has been called the best rivalry in the NBA. The two teams have met a record 12 times in the NBA Finals, starting with their first Finals meeting in . They would go on to dominate the league in the 1960s and the 1980s, facing each other six times in the 1960s and three times in the 1980s.
The rivalry had been less intense since the retirements of Magic Johnson and Larry Bird in the early 1990s, but in 2008 it was renewed as the Celtics and Lakers met in the Finals for the first time since 1987, with the Celtics winning the series 4–2. They faced off once again in the 2010 NBA Finals, which the Lakers won in 7 games.
The two teams have tied for the highest number of championships, with 17 titles apiece; together, the 34 championships account for almost half of the 74 championships in NBA history.
The all-time series record for the Lakers vs Celtics is 204–162 with the Celtics being the forerunners.
### Detroit Pistons
The rivalry between the Lakers and the Detroit Pistons developed in the late 1980s. Both teams faced each other in back-to-back finals appearances in the 1988 NBA Finals, which the Lakers won in 7 games and the 1989 NBA Finals, which the Pistons won in 4 games.
The rivalry reemerged in the early 2000s as both teams squared off against one another in the 2004 NBA Finals, which the Pistons won in five games.
### Golden State Warriors
The Lakers have a lengthy history with the Golden State Warriors as both franchises relocated to California during the early 1960s. Geography does play a minor role in the rivalry; however there exists more respect between both teams and fans alike. Unlike the Dodgers–Giants rivalry of MLB, or the 49ers–Rams rivalry of the NFL in which both teams express fierce animosity against one another. The rivalry began to sprout during the 1970s as the two teams would meet six times in the postseason from 1967 to 1991. Both teams fluctuated in success at varying times, however; the Lakers recent rise following the signing of LeBron James contributed heavily to adding a level of competition between both sides as James had previously faced the Warriors in four straight finals as a member of the Cavaliers. Both teams have met seven times in the postseason, combining for 38 division titles since both teams relocated to California in the early 1960s. The Lakers lead the all time regular season series 262–173, and the postseason series 25–11.
### Los Angeles Clippers
The rivalry between the Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers is unique because they are the only two NBA teams to share an arena, the Crypto.com Arena. It is also one of only two intra-city rivalries in the NBA, the other being the new crosstown rivalry between the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.
Los Angeles fans have historically favored the Lakers. Some contend that the term rivalry was inaccurate until the Clippers became more successful.
### San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs and the Lakers, developed what some would classify as a rivalry in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Since 1999, the teams have met in the NBA Playoffs five times, with the clubs combining to appear in seven consecutive NBA Finals (from 1999 to 2005). Additionally, the teams combined to win five NBA championships from 1999 to 2003; the Spurs won the NBA championship in 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014 while the Lakers won the championship in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2009 and 2010. From 1999 to 2004 the clubs' rivalry was often considered the premier rivalry in the NBA, and each time the clubs faced each other in the playoffs the winner advanced to the NBA Finals. In 2008, the teams met again in the Western Conference Finals where the Spurs were handily defeated only to beat the Lakers when they met again in 2013.
### Sacramento Kings
The Kings and the Lakers have faced each other in the playoffs nine times between 1949 and 2002, and since the Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985, both have been based in California. The 2002 Western Conference Finals was one of the most bitterly contested in NBA history, with many controversial calls in game 6. The Lakers would win the series in game 7.
## Ownerships, financial history, and fanbase
Berger and Chalfen purchased the NBL's disbanded Detroit Gems for \$15,000 in 1947, changed their name to the Lakers, and relocated them to Minnesota. Max Winter bought a third of the club in their early years and sold his share to Mikan in 1954. Berger bought Mikan's share in 1956 giving him a controlling (2⁄3) interest. After Mikan retired, attendance plummeted and the team lost money for several seasons, leading the ownership group to put the team up for sale in 1957. Marty Marion, a retired baseball player and manager, and his business partner Milton Fischman attempted to purchase the team with the intention of moving the club to Kansas City, Missouri. Mikan offered to mortgage his home in an attempt to buy the team and keep the club in Minnesota. The Lakers were sold to a group of investors led by Bob Short, however. The team was sold to Short's group with the agreement that it would not be relocated to Kansas City but kept in Minnesota. Short's ownership group consisted of 117 Minnesota businesses and private citizens, who amassed a total of \$200,000 for the purchase; \$150,000 to buy the team and \$50,000 to run it. By 1958 Short had become 80% owner of the team by buying out his partners, but the team was floundering. Attendance remained poor, and the NBA had put the Lakers on "financial probation", notifying them that if they did not meet certain ticket sales numbers they could be bought out by the league and relocated. Short was forced to move the team to Los Angeles in 1960; the club had lost \$60,000 in the first half of the 1959–60 season alone. The NBA's owners originally voted 7–1 against the move. When Short indicated that he might take the team to a new rival league that was developing, however, the owners held another vote that same day and allowed the relocation (8–0). Aided by Baylor's drawing power, and the new locale, the team's finances improved when they arrived in LA. Short sold the team to Washington Redskins owner and publisher Jack Kent Cooke in 1965 for a then league record amount of \$5.175 million. Short insisted the deal be conducted in cash as he was wary of Cooke, so guards transported the money in a cart from one New York bank to another.
Cooke was a more hands-on owner than Short, and overhauled the team's operations. He personally financed construction of the Forum in 1967 at a cost of \$16.5 million. He owned the team until 1979 when he sold it, the NHL's Los Angeles Kings, the Forum, and some real estate to Jerry Buss for \$67 million. Cooke was forced to sell the team as he was undergoing a costly divorce. Buss was a local chemical engineer and former University of Southern California professor who had become wealthy in real estate. Philip Anschutz bought a stake in the team in 1998, and until October 2010 Magic Johnson was a minority owner as well. Buss started the trend of allowing sponsors to add their name to team's stadiums when he renamed the Forum the Great Western Forum in 1988. In 2009 major sponsors included Verizon Wireless, Toyota, Anheuser-Busch, American Express, and Carl's Jr., and the team's \$113 average ticket price was the highest in the league. In 2013, Buss died at the age of 80 after being hospitalized for 18 months with cancer. His controlling ownership of the team passed to his six children via a trust, with each child receiving an equal vote. Buss' succession plan had daughter Jeanie Buss assume his title as the Lakers' governor as well as its team representative at NBA Board of Governors meetings.
Given the team's proximity to Hollywood, the Lakers fanbase includes numerous celebrities, many of whom can be seen at the Staples Center during home games. Jack Nicholson, for example, has held season tickets since the 1970s, and directors reportedly need to work their shooting schedules around Lakers home games. From 2002 and 2007 the team averaged just over 18,900 fans, which placed them in the top ten in the NBA in attendance. Red Hot Chili Peppers' song "Magic Johnson", from their 1989 album Mother's Milk, is a tribute to the former point guard, and frontman Anthony Kiedis and bassist Michael "Flea" Balzary are frequently seen attending home games. In 2008, the team sold out every home game, and in 2010, the Lakers had the most popular team merchandise among all NBA teams, and Bryant the most popular jersey.
## Name, logo, and uniforms
The Laker nickname came from the state of Minnesota being the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The team's colors are purple, gold and white. The Lakers logo consists of the team name, "Los Angeles Lakers" written in purple on top of a gold basketball. The team usually wears white jerseys for Sunday and holiday home games.
## Season-by-season record
List of the last five seasons completed by the Lakers. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Los Angeles Lakers seasons.
The Lakers have won 17 NBA titles and have appeared in the NBA Finals 15 other times. These appearances include eight NBA Finals appearances in the 1980s. The best record posted by the team was 69–13, in 1972; the worst record was 17–65, in 2016.
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage
## Franchise and NBA records
Bryant holds most individual team records for longevity including most games played (1,333), and most minutes logged (48,298). Johnson holds all significant assist records for the club including career assists (10,141), assists in a game (24), and highest assist average for a season (13.1). Johnson also has the most triple doubles, with his 138 over 100 more than the next closest player (Bryant; 17). Elmore Smith holds team records for blocks in a game (17), blocks per game for a season (4.85), and career blocks per game (3.93). The scoring records are mostly shared by Elgin Baylor and Bryant, with Baylor having the highest average for a career (27.4) while Bryant has the highest points scored in a single game (81). Baylor, Bryant and West hold the top five single-season scoring averages, with Bryant occupying the first (35.4) and fourth (31.6) spots, while Baylor has the second (34.8), and third (34.0), and West the fifth (31.3).
The Lakers hold several NBA records as a team including most consecutive games won overall (33) and most consecutive road games won (16), both of which came during the 1971–72 season, highest field-goal percentage for a season at 54.5% (1984–85), and highest road winning percentage at 0.816 (1971–72). They also hold records for having (into the 2009–10 season) the most wins (3,027), the highest winning percentage (61.9%), and the most NBA Finals appearances (31). The 2000–01 team set the NBA record for best playoff record at 15–1, which was later broken by the Golden State Warriors in 2017. The 1971–72 team holds franchise records in wins (69), most points scored, and largest margin of victory; both of the latter came in the team's 63 point win versus Golden State (162–99). They also held the record for most wins at home in the regular season (going 36–5 in 1971–72, then 37–4 in both 1976–77 and 1979–80) unil the Boston Celtics set the current record of 40–1 in the 1985–86 season.
## Home arenas
The Lakers play their home games at Crypto.com Arena, located at L.A. Live in Downtown Los Angeles. The arena opened in fall 1999 and seats up to 18,997 for Lakers games. Owned and operated by AEG and L.A. Arena Company, the arena is also home to the Los Angeles Clippers, the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, and the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. Before moving to Staples Center, for 32 seasons (1967–1999), the Lakers played their home games at The Forum in Inglewood, California, located approximately 10 miles southwest of the team's current home. During the 1999 preseason, the Lakers played their home games at the Forum before officially moving into Crypto.com Arena, and once again hosted a preseason game versus the Golden State Warriors on October 9, 2009, this time to commemorate the team's 50th anniversary season in Los Angeles.
In the first seven years in Los Angeles, the team played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, south of Downtown Los Angeles. While the team played in Minneapolis, the team played their home games at the Minneapolis Auditorium from 1947 to 1960.
## Players
### Current roster
### Retained draft rights
The Lakers hold the draft rights to the following unsigned draft picks who have been playing outside the NBA. A drafted player, either an international draftee or a college draftee who is not signed by the team that drafted him, is allowed to sign with any non-NBA teams. In this case, the team retains the player's draft rights in the NBA until one year after the player's contract with the non-NBA team ends. This list includes draft rights that were acquired from trades with other teams.
### Draft picks
The Lakers have had three first overall picks in their history: Elgin Baylor (selected in 1958), Magic Johnson (selected in 1979) and James Worthy (selected in 1982). The Lakers have also had six lottery picks in their history: Eddie Jones (selected tenth overall in 1994), Andrew Bynum (selected tenth overall in 2005), Julius Randle (selected seventh overall in 2014), D'Angelo Russell (selected second overall in 2015), Brandon Ingram (selected second overall in 2016), and Lonzo Ball (selected second overall in 2017). Other draft picks include Jerry West and Gail Goodrich in the 1960s, Michael Cooper and Norm Nixon in the 1970s, A.C. Green and Vlade Divac in the 1980s, Elden Campbell, Nick Van Exel, Derek Fisher, and Devean George in the 1990s, and Luke Walton, Sasha Vujačić, and Ronny Turiaf in the 2000s.
## Head coaches
There have been 22 head coaches for the Lakers franchise. John Kundla coached the team in Minneapolis when they won their first five BAA/NBA championships from 1949 to 1954. Pat Riley is second in franchise history in both regular season and playoff games coached and wins. Phil Jackson broke Riley's regular-season wins record in 2009, and he passed Riley's playoff wins and games coached records in 2010. Jackson, Riley, Kundla, and Bill Sharman have all been inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for their coaching careers. George Mikan, Jim Pollard, Jerry West, Pat Riley, Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis, Byron Scott and Luke Walton have all played and head-coached for the Lakers. Jackson, who had two stints as head coach, was coach from 2005 to 2011. In May 2011, Mike Brown was named his replacement for the 2011–12 season. Brown was fired on November 9, 2012, after a 1–4 start. Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff served as interim head coach for five games before the Lakers selected Mike D'Antoni as their new head coach. D'Antoni resigned at the end of the 2013–14 season. In July 2014, Byron Scott was hired as head coach. After the 2015–16 season ended, Scott was fired. On April 29, 2016, former Lakers player Luke Walton was named as Scott's replacement, and served as head coach until the end of the 2018–19 season. Frank Vogel was named his successor on a multiyear deal announced on May 13, 2019. Vogel was fired following the conclusion of the 2021–22 season.
## Hall of Famers, retired and honored numbers
The Lakers have 38 Hall of Famers (28 players, 5 head coaches, 1 assistant coach, and 4 contributors) who contributed to the organization.
Notes:
- <sup>1</sup> He also coached the team in 1957–1958.
- <sup>2</sup> He also coached the team in 1960.
- <sup>3</sup> He also coached the team in 1976–1979.
- <sup>4</sup> He also coached the team in 1994.
- <sup>5</sup> In total, West was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1960 Olympic team.
- <sup>6</sup> In total, Johnson was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
- <sup>7</sup> In total, Malone was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as player and as a member of the 1992 Olympic team.
- <sup>8</sup> He also played for the team in 1970–1975.
- <sup>9</sup> In total, Newell was inducted into the Hall of Fame twice – as contributor and as a member of the 1960 Olympic team.
### FIBA Hall of Famers
### Retired numbers
The Lakers have retired thirteen jersey numbers and an honorary microphone in honor of their players and broadcaster:
- The NBA retired Bill Russell's No. 6 for all its member teams on August 11, 2022.
In addition, several other players and coaches who were instrumental to the franchise's success during its days in Minneapolis have a banner commemorating them as Hall of Fame members of the Minneapolis Lakers, although jersey numbers for these players are not retired by the franchise:
## Media
For 41 years, Chick Hearn was the team's broadcaster until his death in 2002. He broadcast 3,338 consecutive games between November 21, 1965, and December 16, 2001. Hearn came up with West's "Mr. Clutch" nickname. He was a part of the team's "inner sanctum" when Cooke was owner, and was consulted on basketball decisions. Paul Sunderland, who had filled in for a couple of games while Hearn recuperated in the 2001–02 season, was named the permanent play-by-play announcer. Stu Lantz was retained as the color commentator. When Sunderland's contract expired in the summer of 2005, the team chose not to renew it. Then, Joel Meyers moved in alongside Lantz as the television announcer, with Spero Dedes and former Laker player Mychal Thompson on the radio.
For the 2011–12 season, Bill Macdonald became the new television play-by-play announcer, joining Lantz who remained as the color analyst. Meanwhile, John Ireland joined Mychal Thompson to call the games on radio.
Beginning in the 2009–10 season, Lakers radio broadcasts were heard on KSPN (Los Angeles ESPN Radio affiliate) in English and KWKW in Spanish. KLAC had the team's radio broadcast rights from the 1976–77 season until the 2008–09 season. Until 2011, telecasts had been split between KCAL-TV (road games) and Fox Sports West (home games), unless they are chosen for national broadcasts on ABC. KCAL had been the Lakers' over-the-air television broadcaster since 1977, dating back to when the station was the RKO General-owned KHJ-TV, the longest relationship between an NBA team and a television station. Prior to KHJ, Laker games were televised on KTLA. The Lakers had been on Fox Sports West since 1985, dating to when it was the original Prime Ticket and owned by Buss.
On February 14, 2011, Time Warner Cable and the Lakers announced the formation of two new regional sports networks (one in English, one in Spanish) that would exclusively televise the team's games and related programming for 20 years starting with the 2012–13 season. The said networks were originally known as Time Warner Cable SportsNet, before it was renamed Spectrum SportsNet in 2016 upon Charter Communications' purchase of Time Warner Cable. |
11,968 | George Washington | 1,173,820,190 | Founding Father, 1st president of the United States | [
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| George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Second Continental Congress as commander of the Continental Army in June 1775, Washington led Patriot forces to victory in the American Revolutionary War and then served as president of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted and ratified the Constitution of the United States and established the American federal government. Washington has thus been called the "Father of his Country".
Washington's first public office, from 1749 to 1750, was as surveyor of Culpeper County in the Colony of Virginia. He subsequently received military training and was assigned command of the Virginia Regiment during the French and Indian War. He was later elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses and was named a delegate to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia, which appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. Washington led American forces to a decisive victory over the British in the Revolutionary War, leading the British to sign the Treaty of Paris, which acknowledged the sovereignty and independence of the United States. He resigned his commission in 1783 after the conclusion of the Revolutionary War.
Washington played an indispensable role in adopting and ratifying the Constitution, which replaced the Articles of Confederation in 1789. He was then twice elected president by the Electoral College unanimously. As the first U.S. president, Washington implemented a strong, well-financed national government while remaining impartial in a fierce rivalry that emerged between cabinet members Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton. During the French Revolution, he proclaimed a policy of neutrality while sanctioning the Jay Treaty. He set enduring precedents for the office of president, including use of the title "Mr. President" and the two-term tradition. His 1796 farewell address became a preeminent statement on republicanism in which he wrote about the importance of national unity and the dangers regionalism, partisanship, and foreign influence pose to it.
Washington has been memorialized by monuments, a federal holiday, various media depictions, geographical locations including the national capital, the State of Washington, stamps, and currency. He is ranked among the greatest U.S. presidents. In 1976, Washington was posthumously promoted to the rank of General of the Armies, the highest rank in the U.S. Army. His legacy is marred, however, by his ownership of slaves and his complicated relationship with slavery, as well as his policy to assimilate Native Americans into the Anglo-American culture and waging war against Native American nations during the Revolutionary Wars and the Northwest Indian War.
## Early life (1732–1752)
George Washington was born on February 22, 1732, at Popes Creek in Westmoreland County, Virginia. He was the first of six children of Augustine and Mary Ball Washington. His father was a justice of the peace and a prominent public figure who had four additional children from his first marriage to Jane Butler. The family moved to Little Hunting Creek in 1734 before eventually settling in Ferry Farm near Fredericksburg, Virginia. When Augustine died in 1743, Washington inherited Ferry Farm and ten slaves; his older half-brother Lawrence inherited Little Hunting Creek and renamed it Mount Vernon.
Washington did not have the formal education his elder brothers received at Appleby Grammar School in England, but he did attend the Lower Church School in Hartfield. He learned mathematics, trigonometry, and land surveying and became a talented draftsman and mapmaker. By early adulthood, he was writing with "considerable force" and "precision". As a teenager, to practice his penmanship, Washington compiled over a hundred rules for social interaction styled Rules of Civility and Decent Behaviour in Company and Conversation, copied from an English translation of a French book of manners.
Washington often visited Mount Vernon and Belvoir, the plantation of William Fairfax, Lawrence's father-in-law. Fairfax became Washington's patron and surrogate father, and Washington spent a month in 1748 with a team surveying Fairfax's Shenandoah Valley property. The following year, he received a surveyor's license from the College of William & Mary. Even though Washington had not served the customary apprenticeship, Fairfax appointed him surveyor of Culpeper County, Virginia, where he took his oath of office July 20, 1749. He subsequently familiarized himself with the frontier region, and though he resigned from the job in 1750, he continued to do surveys west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. By 1752 he had bought almost 1,500 acres (600 ha) in the Valley and owned 2,315 acres (937 ha).
In 1751, Washington made his only trip abroad when he accompanied Lawrence to Barbados, hoping the climate would cure his brother's tuberculosis. Washington contracted smallpox during that trip, which left his face slightly scarred. Lawrence died in 1752, and Washington leased Mount Vernon from his widow Anne; he inherited it outright after her death in 1761.
## Colonial military career (1752–1758)
Lawrence Washington's service as adjutant general of the Virginia militia inspired George to seek a commission. Virginia's lieutenant governor, Robert Dinwiddie, appointed Washington as a major and commander of one of the four militia districts. The British and French were competing for control of the Ohio Valley: the British were constructing forts along the Ohio River, and the French between the Ohio River and Lake Erie.
In October 1753, Dinwiddie appointed Washington as a special envoy. He had sent Washington to demand French forces to vacate land that was claimed by the British. Washington was also appointed to make peace with the Iroquois Confederacy, and to gather further intelligence about the French forces. Washington met with Half-King Tanacharison, and other Iroquois chiefs, at Logstown, and gathered information about the numbers and locations of the French forts, as well as intelligence concerning individuals taken prisoner by the French. Washington was nicknamed Conotocaurius by Tanacharison. The name, meaning "devourer of villages", had been given to his great-grandfather John Washington in the late 17th century by the Susquehannock.
Washington's party reached the Ohio River in November 1753, and was intercepted by a French patrol. The party was escorted to Fort Le Boeuf, where Washington was received in a friendly manner. He delivered the British demand to vacate to the French commander Saint-Pierre, but the French refused to leave. Saint-Pierre gave Washington his official answer after a few days' delay, as well as food and winter clothing for his party's journey back to Virginia. Washington completed the precarious mission in 77 days, in difficult winter conditions, achieving a measure of distinction when his report was published in Virginia and London.
### French and Indian War
In February 1754, Dinwiddie promoted Washington to lieutenant colonel and second-in-command of the 300-strong Virginia Regiment, with orders to confront French forces at the Forks of the Ohio. Washington set out with half the regiment in April and soon learned a French force of 1,000 had begun construction of Fort Duquesne there. In May, having set up a defensive position at Great Meadows, he learned that the French had made camp seven miles (11 km) away; he decided to take the offensive.
The French detachment proved to be only about 50 men, so Washington advanced on May 28 with a small force of Virginians and Indian allies to ambush them. During the ambush, French forces were killed outright with muskets and hatchets, including French commander Joseph Coulon de Jumonville, who had been carrying a diplomatic message for the British. The French later found their countrymen dead and scalped and blamed Washington, who had retreated to Fort Necessity.
The full Virginia Regiment joined Washington at Fort Necessity the following month with news that he had been promoted to command of the regiment and colonel upon the regimental commander's death. The regiment was reinforced by an independent company of a hundred South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay,; his royal commission outranked Washington's and a conflict of command ensued. On July 3, a French force attacked with 900 men, and the ensuing battle ended in Washington's surrender. He signed a surrender document in which he unwittingly took responsibility for "assassinating" Jumonville, later blaming the translator for not properly translating it.
In the aftermath, Colonel James Innes took command of intercolonial forces, the Virginia Regiment was divided, and Washington was offered a captaincy in one of the newly formed regiments. He refused, however, as it would have been a demotion and instead resigned his commission. The "Jumonville affair" became the incident which ignited the French and Indian War, later to become part of the Seven Years' War.
In 1755, Washington served voluntarily as an aide to General Edward Braddock, who led a British expedition to expel the French from Fort Duquesne and the Ohio Country. On Washington's recommendation, Braddock split the army into one main column and a lightly equipped "flying column". Suffering from severe dysentery, Washington was left behind, and when he rejoined Braddock at Monongahela the French and their Indian allies ambushed the divided army. Two-thirds of the British force became casualties, including the mortally wounded Braddock. Under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Gage, Washington, still very ill, rallied the survivors and formed a rear guard, allowing the remnants of the force to disengage and retreat.
During the engagement, he had two horses shot from under him, and his hat and coat were bullet-pierced. His conduct under fire redeemed his reputation among critics of his command in the Battle of Fort Necessity, but he was not included by the succeeding commander (Colonel Thomas Dunbar) in planning subsequent operations.
The Virginia Regiment was reconstituted in August 1755, and Dinwiddie appointed Washington its commander, again with the rank of colonel. Washington clashed over seniority almost immediately, this time with John Dagworthy, another captain of superior royal rank, who commanded a detachment of Marylanders at the regiment's headquarters in Fort Cumberland. Washington, impatient for an offensive against Fort Duquesne, was convinced Braddock would have granted him a royal commission and pressed his case in February 1756 with Braddock's successor as Commander-in-Chief, William Shirley, and again in January 1757 with Shirley's successor, Lord Loudoun. Shirley ruled in Washington's favor only in the matter of Dagworthy; Loudoun humiliated Washington, refused him a royal commission and agreed only to relieve him of the responsibility of manning Fort Cumberland.
In 1758, the Virginia Regiment was assigned to the British Forbes Expedition to capture Fort Duquesne. Washington disagreed with General John Forbes' tactics and chosen route. Forbes nevertheless made Washington a brevet brigadier general and gave him command of one of the three brigades that would assault the fort. The French had abandoned the fort and the valley before the assault, however, and Washington only saw a friendly fire incident which left 14 dead and 26 injured. Frustrated, he resigned his commission soon afterwards and returned to Mount Vernon.
Under Washington, the Virginia Regiment had defended 300 miles (480 km) of frontier against twenty Indian attacks in ten months. He increased the professionalism of the regiment as it grew from 300 to 1,000 men, and Virginia's frontier population suffered less than other colonies. Though he failed to realize a royal commission, he gained self-confidence, leadership skills, and knowledge of British military tactics. The destructive competition Washington witnessed among colonial politicians fostered his later support of a strong central government.
## Marriage, civilian, and political life (1755–1775)
On January 6, 1759, Washington, at age 26, married Martha Dandridge Custis, the 27-year-old widow of wealthy plantation owner Daniel Parke Custis. The marriage took place at Martha's estate; she was intelligent, gracious, and experienced in managing a planter's estate, and the couple had a happy marriage. They moved to Mount Vernon, near Alexandria, where he lived as a planter of tobacco and wheat and emerged as a political figure.
Washington's 1751 bout with smallpox is thought to have rendered him sterile, though it is equally likely that "Martha may have sustained injury during the birth of Patsy, her final child, making additional births impossible." The couple lamented not having any children together. Despite this, the two raised Martha's two children John Parke Custis (Jacky) and Martha Parke Custis (Patsy), and later Jacky's two youngest children Eleanor Parke Custis (Nelly) and George Washington Parke Custis (Washy), along with numerous nieces and nephews.
The marriage gave Washington control over Martha's one-third dower interest in the 18,000-acre (7,300 ha) Custis estate, and he managed the remaining two-thirds for Martha's children; the estate also included 84 slaves. As a result, he became one of the wealthiest men in Virginia, which increased his social standing.
At Washington's urging, Governor Lord Botetourt fulfilled Dinwiddie's 1754 promise of land bounties to all-volunteer militia during the French and Indian War. In late 1770, Washington inspected the lands in the Ohio and Great Kanawha regions, and he engaged surveyor William Crawford to subdivide it. Crawford allotted 23,200 acres (9,400 ha) to Washington; Washington told the veterans that their land was hilly and unsuitable for farming, and he agreed to purchase 20,147 acres (8,153 ha), leaving some feeling they had been duped. He also doubled the size of Mount Vernon to 6,500 acres (2,600 ha) and, by 1775, had increased its slave population by more than a hundred.
As a respected military hero and large landowner, Washington held local offices and was elected to the Virginia provincial legislature, representing Frederick County in the House of Burgesses for seven years beginning in 1758. He first ran for the seat in 1755 but was soundly beaten by Hugh West. When he ran in 1758, Washington plied voters with beer, brandy, and other beverages. Despite being away serving on the Forbes Expedition, he won the election with roughly 40 percent of the vote, defeating three opponents with the help of local supporters.
Early in his legislative career, Washington rarely spoke or even attended legislative sessions. He would later become a prominent critic of Britain's taxation policy and mercantilist policies towards the American colonies and became more politically active starting in the 1760s.
Washington imported luxuries and other goods from England, paying for them by exporting tobacco. His profligate spending combined with low tobacco prices left him £1,800 in debt by 1764, prompting him to diversify his holdings. In 1765, because of erosion and other soil problems, he changed Mount Vernon's primary cash crop from tobacco to wheat and expanded operations to include corn flour milling and fishing.
Washington soon was counted among the political and social elite in Virginia. From 1768 to 1775, he invited some 2,000 guests to Mount Vernon, mostly those whom he considered people of rank, and was known to be exceptionally cordial toward guests. Washington also took time for leisure with fox hunting, fishing, dances, theater, cards, backgammon, and billiards.
Washington's stepdaughter Patsy suffered from epileptic attacks from age 12, and she died in his arms in 1773. The following day, he wrote to Burwell Bassett: "It is easier to conceive, than to describe, the distress of this Family". He canceled all business activity and remained with Martha every night for three months.
### Opposition to the British Parliament and Crown
Washington played a central role before and during the American Revolution. His distrust of the British military had begun when he was passed over for promotion into the Regular Army. Opposed to taxes imposed by the British Parliament on the Colonies without proper representation, he and other colonists were also angered by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 which banned American settlement west of the Allegheny Mountains and protected the British fur trade.
Washington believed the Stamp Act 1765 was an "Act of Oppression" and celebrated its repeal the following year. In March 1766, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act asserting that Parliamentary law superseded colonial law. In the late 1760s, the interference of the British Crown in American lucrative western land speculation spurred the American Revolution. Washington was a prosperous land speculator, and in 1767, he encouraged "adventures" to acquire backcountry western lands. Washington helped lead widespread protests against the Townshend Acts passed by Parliament in 1767, and he introduced a proposal in May 1769 which urged Virginians to boycott British goods; the Acts were mostly repealed in 1770.
Parliament sought to punish Massachusetts colonists for their role in the Boston Tea Party in 1774 by passing the Coercive Acts, which Washington saw as "an invasion of our rights and privileges". He said Americans must not submit to acts of tyranny since "custom and use shall make us as tame and abject slaves, as the blacks we rule over with such arbitrary sway". That July, he and George Mason drafted a list of resolutions for the Fairfax County committee, including a call to end the Atlantic slave trade, which were adopted.
On August 1, Washington attended the First Virginia Convention. There, he was selected as a delegate to the First Continental Congress. As tensions rose in 1774, he helped train militias in Virginia and organized enforcement of the Continental Association boycott of British goods instituted by the Congress.
The American Revolutionary War broke out on April 19, 1775, with the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Siege of Boston. Upon hearing the news, Washington was "sobered and dismayed", and he hastily departed Mount Vernon on May 4, 1775, to join the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
## Commander in chief (1775–1783)
On June 14, 1775, Congress created the Continental Army and John Adams nominated Washington as its commander-in-chief, mainly because of his military experience and the belief that a Virginian would better unite the colonies. He was unanimously elected by Congress the next day. Washington appeared before Congress in uniform and gave an acceptance speech on June 16, declining a salary, though he was later reimbursed expenses.
Washington was commissioned on June 19 and officially appointed by Congress as "General & Commander in chief of the army of the United Colonies and of all the forces raised or to be raised by them". He was instructed to take charge of the Siege of Boston on June 22, 1775.
Congress chose his primary staff officers, including Major General Artemas Ward, Adjutant General Horatio Gates, Major General Charles Lee, Major General Philip Schuyler, and Major General Nathanael Greene. Henry Knox, a young bookkeeper, impressed Adams and Washington with ordnance knowledge and was subsequently promoted to colonel and chief of artillery. Similarly, Washington was impressed Alexander Hamilton's intelligence and bravery. He would later promote him to colonel and appoint him his aide-de-camp.
Washington initially banned the enlistment of blacks, both free and enslaved, into the Continental Army. The British saw an opportunity to divide the colonies, and the colonial governor of Virginia issued a proclamation, which promised freedom to slaves if they joined the British. Desperate for manpower by late 1777, Washington relented and overturned his ban. By the end of the war, around one-tenth of Washington's army were blacks. Following the British surrender, Washington sought to enforce terms of the preliminary Treaty of Paris (1783) by reclaiming slaves freed by the British and returning them to servitude. He arranged to make this request to Sir Guy Carleton on May 6, 1783. Instead, Carleton issued 3,000 freedom certificates and all former slaves in New York City were able to leave before the city was evacuated by the British in late November 1783.
### Siege of Boston
Early in 1775, in response to the growing rebellious movement, London sent British troops to occupy Boston, led by General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in America. They set up fortifications, making the city impervious to attack. Local militias surrounded the city and effectively trapped the British troops, resulting in a standoff.
As Washington headed for Boston, word of his march preceded him, and he was greeted everywhere; gradually, he became a symbol of the Patriot cause. Upon arrival on July 2, 1775, two weeks after the Battle of Bunker Hill, he set up headquarters in Cambridge. When he went to inspect the army, he found undisciplined militia. After consultation, he initiated Benjamin Franklin's suggested reforms: drilling the soldiers and imposing strict discipline. Washington ordered his officers to identify the skills of recruits to ensure military effectiveness, while removing incompetent officers. He petitioned Gage, his former superior, to release captured Patriot officers from prison and treat them humanely. In October 1775, King George III declared that the colonies were in open rebellion and relieved Gage of command for incompetence, replacing him with General William Howe.
The Continental Army, reduced to only 9,600 men by January 1776 due to expiring short-term enlistments, had to be supplemented with militia. Soon, they were joined by Knox with heavy artillery captured from Fort Ticonderoga. When the Charles River froze over, Washington was eager to cross and storm Boston, but General Gates and others were opposed to untrained militia striking well-garrisoned fortifications. Instead, he agreed to secure the Dorchester Heights, 100 feet above Boston, with Knox's artillery to try to force the British out.
On March 9, under cover of darkness, Washington's troops bombarded British ships in Boston harbor. On March 17, 9,000 British troops and Loyalists began a chaotic ten-day evacuation aboard 120 ships. Soon after, Washington entered the city with 500 men, with explicit orders not to plunder the city. He refrained from exerting military authority in Boston, leaving civilian matters in the hands of local authorities.
### New York and New Jersey
#### Battle of Long Island
After the victory at Boston, Washington correctly guessed that the British would return to New York City, a Loyalist stronghold, and retaliate. He arrived there on April 13, 1776, and ordered the construction of fortifications to thwart the expected British attack. He also ordered his occupying forces to treat civilians and their property with respect, to avoid the abuses Bostonians suffered at the hands of British troops.
Howe transported his resupplied army, with the British fleet, from Halifax to New York City. George Germain, who ran the British war effort in England, believed it could be won with one "decisive blow". The British forces, including more than a hundred ships and thousands of troops, began arriving on Staten Island on July 2 to lay siege to the city. After the Declaration of Independence was unanimously adopted on July 4, Washington informed his troops on July 9 that Congress had declared the united colonies to be "free and independent states".
Howe's troop strength totaled 32,000 regulars and Hessian auxiliaries, and Washington's consisted of 23,000, mostly raw recruits and militia. In August, Howe landed 20,000 troops at Gravesend, Brooklyn, and approached Washington's fortifications Opposing his generals, Washington chose to fight, based on inaccurate information that Howe's army had only 8,000-plus troops. In the Battle of Long Island, Howe assaulted Washington's flank and inflicted 1,500 Patriot casualties, the British suffering 400. Washington retreated, instructing General William Heath to acquire river craft. On August 30, General William Stirling held off the British and gave cover while the army crossed the East River under darkness to Manhattan without loss of life or materiel, although Alexander was captured. Howe was emboldened by his Long Island victory and dispatched Washington as "George Washington, Esq." in futility to negotiate peace. Washington declined, demanding to be addressed with diplomatic protocol, as general and fellow belligerent, not as a "rebel", lest his men be hanged as such if captured. The Royal Navy bombarded the unstable earthworks on lower Manhattan Island. Despite misgivings, Washington heeded the advice of Generals Greene and Putnam to defend Fort Washington. They were unable to hold it; Washington abandoned the fort and ordered his army north to the White Plains.
Howe's pursuit forced Washington to retreat across the Hudson River to Fort Lee to avoid encirclement. Howe landed his troops on Manhattan in November and captured Fort Washington, inflicting high casualties on the Americans. Washington was responsible for delaying the retreat, though he blamed Congress and General Greene. Loyalists in New York City considered Howe a liberator and spread a rumor that Washington had set fire to the city. Patriot morale reached its lowest when Lee was captured. Now reduced to 5,400 troops, Washington's army retreated through New Jersey, and Howe broke off pursuit to set up winter quarters in New York.
#### Crossing the Delaware, Trenton, and Princeton
Washington crossed the Delaware River into Pennsylvania, where Lee's replacement General John Sullivan joined him with 2,000 more troops. The future of the Continental Army was in doubt due to lack of supplies, a harsh winter, expiring enlistments, and desertions. Washington was disappointed that many New Jersey residents were Loyalists or skeptical about independence.
Howe split up his army and posted a Hessian garrison at Trenton to hold western New Jersey and the east shore of the Delaware. Desperate for a victory, Washington and his generals devised a surprise attack on Trenton. The army was to cross the Delaware in three divisions: one led by Washington (2,400 troops), another by General James Ewing (700), and the third by Colonel John Cadwalader (1,500). The force was to then split, with Washington taking the Pennington Road and General Sullivan traveling south on the river's edge.
Washington ordered a 60-mile search for Durham boats to transport his army, and the destruction of vessels that could be used by the British. He personally risked capture while staking out the Jersey shoreline alone leading up to the crossing. Washington crossed the Delaware on Christmas night, 1776. His men followed across the ice-obstructed river from McConkey's Ferry, with 40 men per vessel. The wind churned up the waters, and they were pelted with hail, but by 3:00 a.m. on December 26, they made it across with no losses. Knox was delayed, managing frightened horses and about 18 field guns on flat-bottomed ferries. Cadwalader and Ewing failed to cross due to the ice and heavy currents. Once Knox arrived, Washington proceeded to Trenton, rather than risk being spotted returning his army to Pennsylvania.
The troops spotted Hessian positions a mile from Trenton, so Washington split his force into two columns, rallying his men: "Soldiers keep by your officers. For God's sake, keep by your officers." The two columns were separated at the Birmingham crossroads. General Greene's column took the upper Ferry Road, led by Washington, and General Sullivan's column advanced on River Road. The Americans marched in sleet and snowfall. Many were shoeless with bloodied feet, and two died of exposure. At sunrise, Washington, aided by Colonel Knox and artillery, led his men in a surprise attack on the unsuspecting Hessians and their commander, Colonel Johann Rall. The Hessians had 22 killed, including Colonel Rall, 83 wounded, and 850 captured with supplies.
Washington retreated across the Delaware to Pennsylvania and returned to New Jersey on January 3, 1777, launching an attack on British regulars at Princeton, with 40 Americans killed or wounded and 273 British killed or captured. American Generals Hugh Mercer and John Cadwalader were being driven back by the British when Mercer was mortally wounded. Washington arrived and led the men in a counterattack which advanced to within 30 yards (27 m) of the British line.
Some British troops retreated after a brief stand, while others took refuge in Nassau Hall, which became the target of Colonel Alexander Hamilton's cannons. Washington's troops charged, the British surrendered in less than an hour, and 194 soldiers laid down their arms. Howe retreated to New York City where his army remained inactive until early the next year. Washington took up winter headquarters in Jacob Arnold's Tavern in Morristown, New Jersey, while he received munition from the Hibernia mines. While in Morristown, Washington's troops disrupted British supply lines and expelled them from parts of New Jersey.
During his stay in Morristown, Washington ordered the inoculation of Continental troops against smallpox. This went against the wishes of the Continental Congress who had issued a proclaimation prohibiting it, but Washington feared the spread of smallpox in the army. The mass inoculation proved successful, with only isolated infections occurring and no regiments incapacitated by the disease.
The British still controlled New York, and many Patriot soldiers did not re-enlist or deserted after the harsh winter campaign. Congress instituted greater rewards for re-enlisting and punishments for desertion to effect greater troop numbers. Strategically, Washington's victories at Trenton and Princeton were pivotal; they revived Patriot morale and quashed the British strategy of showing overwhelming force followed by offering generous terms, changing the course of the war. In February 1777, word of the American victories reached London, and the British realized the Patriots were in a position to demand unconditional independence.
### Philadelphia
#### Brandywine, Germantown, and Saratoga
In July 1777, British General John Burgoyne led the Saratoga campaign south from Quebec through Lake Champlain and recaptured Fort Ticonderoga intending to divide New England, including control of the Hudson River. However, General Howe in British-occupied New York City blundered, taking his army south to Philadelphia rather than up the Hudson River to join Burgoyne near Albany.
Washington and Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette rushed to Philadelphia to engage Howe. In the Battle of Brandywine, on September 11, 1777, Howe outmaneuvered Washington and marched unopposed into the nation's capital at Philadelphia. A Patriot attack failed against the British at Germantown in October.
In Upstate New York, the Patriots were led by General Horatio Gates. Concerned about Burgoyne's movements southward, Washington sent reinforcements north with Generals Benedict Arnold, his most aggressive field commander, and Benjamin Lincoln. On October 7, 1777, Burgoyne tried to take Bemis Heights but was isolated from support by Howe. He was forced to retreat to Saratoga and ultimately surrendered after the Battles of Saratoga. As Washington suspected, Gates' victory emboldened his critics.
Biographer John Alden maintains, "It was inevitable that the defeats of Washington's forces and the concurrent victory of the forces in upper New York should be compared." Admiration for Washington was waning, including little credit from John Adams.
#### Valley Forge and Monmouth
Washington and his Continental Army of 11,000 men went into winter quarters at Valley Forge north of Philadelphia in December 1777. There they lost between 2,000 and 3,000 men as a result of disease and lack of food, clothing, and shelter. The British were comfortably quartered in Philadelphia, paying for supplies in pounds sterling, while Washington struggled with a devalued American paper currency. The woodlands were soon exhausted of game. By February, Washington was facing lowered morale and increased desertions among his troops.
An internal revolt by his officers, lead by Major General Thomas Conway, prompted some members of Congress to consider removing Washington from command. Washington's supporters resisted, and the matter was dropped after much deliberation. Once the plot was exposed, Conway wrote an apology to Washington, resigned, and returned to France.
Washington made repeated petitions to Congress for provisions. He received a congressional delegation to check the Army's conditions and expressed the urgency of the situation, proclaiming: "Something must be done. Important alterations must be made." He recommended that Congress expedite supplies, and Congress agreed to strengthen and fund the army's supply lines by reorganizing the commissary department. By late February, supplies began arriving. Meanwhile, Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben's incessant drilling transformed Washington's recruits into a disciplined fighting force by the end of winter camp. For his services, Washington promoted Von Steuben to Major General and made him chief of staff.
In early 1778, the French responded to Burgoyne's defeat and entered into a Treaty of Alliance with the Americans. Congress ratified the treaty in May, which amounted to a French declaration of war against Britain. In May 1778, Howe resigned and was replaced by Sir Henry Clinton.
The British evacuated Philadelphia for New York that June and Washington summoned a war council of American and French generals. He chose a partial attack on the retreating British at the Battle of Monmouth. Generals Charles Lee and Lafayette moved with 4,000 men, without Washington's knowledge, and bungled their first attack on June 28. Washington relieved Lee and achieved a draw after an expansive battle. At nightfall, the British continued their retreat to New York, and Washington moved his army outside the city. Monmouth was Washington's last battle in the North.
### West Point espionage
Washington became America's first spymaster by designing an espionage system against the British. In 1778, Major Benjamin Tallmadge formed the Culper Ring at Washington's direction to covertly collect information about the British in New York. Washington had disregarded incidents of disloyalty by Benedict Arnold, who had distinguished himself in many battles.
In 1780, Arnold began supplying British spymaster John André with sensitive information intended to compromise Washington and capture West Point, a key American defensive position on the Hudson River. Historians Nathaniel Philbrick and Ron Chernow noted possible reasons for Arnold's defection to be his anger at losing promotions to junior officers, or repeated slights from Congress. He was also deeply in debt, profiteering from the war, and disappointed by Washington's lack of support during his eventual court-martial.
After repeated requests, Washington agreed to give Arnold command of West Point in August. On September 21, Arnold met André and gave him plans to take over the garrison. While returning to British lines, André was captured by militia who discovered the plans; upon hearing the news of André's capture on September 24, while waiting to greet and have breakfast with Washington, Arnold immediately fleed to the HMS Vulture, the ship that had brought André to West Point, and escaped to New York.
Upon being told about Arnold's treason, Washington recalled the commanders positioned under Arnold at key points around the fort to prevent any complicity. He assumed personal command at West Point and reorganized its defenses. André's trial for espionage ended in a death sentence, and Washington offered to return him to the British in exchange for Arnold, but Clinton refused. André was hanged on October 2, 1780, despite his request for a firing squad, to deter other spies.
### Southern theater and Yorktown
In late 1778, General Clinton shipped 3,000 troops from New York to Georgia and launched a Southern invasion against Savannah, reinforced by 2,000 British and Loyalist troops. They repelled an attack by American patriots and French naval forces, which bolstered the British war effort.
In June 1778, Iroquois warriors joined with Loyalist rangers led by Walter Butler and killed more than 200 frontiersmen, laying waste to the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In mid-1779, in response to this and other attacks on New England towns, Washington ordered General John Sullivan to lead an expedition to force the Iroquois out of New York by effecting "the total destruction and devastation" of their villages and taking their women and children hostage. The expedition systematically destroyed Iroquois villages and food stocks, and forced at least 5,036 Iroquois to flee to British Canada. The campaign directly killed a few hundred Iroquois, but according to historian Rhiannon Koehler, the net effect was to reduce the Iroquois by half. They became unable to survive the harsh winter of 1779–1780; some historians now described the campaign as a genocide.
Washington's troops went into quarters at Morristown, New Jersey for their worst winter of the war, with temperatures well below freezing. New York Harbor was frozen, snow covered the ground for weeks, and the troops again lacked provisions.
In January 1780, Clinton assembled 12,500 troops and attacked Charles Town, South Carolina, defeating General Benjamin Lincoln. By June, they occupied the South Carolina Piedmont. Clinton returned to New York and left 8,000 troops under the command of General Charles Cornwallis. Congress replaced Lincoln with Horatio Gates; after his defeat in the Battle of Camden, Gates was replaced by Nathanael Greene, Washington's initial choice, but the British had firm control of the South. Washington was reinvigorated, however, when Lafayette returned from France with more ships, men, and supplies, and 5,000 veteran French troops led by Marshal Rochambeau arrived at Newport, Rhode Island in July 1780. French naval forces then landed, led by Admiral de Grasse.
Washington's army went into winter quarters at New Windsor, New York in December 1780; he urged Congress and state officials to expedite provisions so the army would not "continue to struggle under the same difficulties they have hitherto endured". On March 1, 1781, Congress ratified the Articles of Confederation, but the government that took effect on March 2 did not have the power to levy taxes, and it loosely held the states together.
General Clinton sent Benedict Arnold, now a British Brigadier General with 1,700 troops, to Virginia to capture Portsmouth and conduct raids on Patriot forces; Washington responded by sending Lafayette south to counter Arnold's efforts. Washington initially hoped to bring the fight to New York, drawing off British forces from Virginia and ending the war there, but Rochambeau advised him that Cornwallis in Virginia was the better target. De Grasse's fleet arrived off the Virginia coast, cutting off British retreat. Seeing the advantage, Washington made a feint towards Clinton in New York, then headed south to Virginia.
#### Yorktown
The siege of Yorktown was a decisive victory by the combined forces of the Continental Army commanded by Washington, the French Army commanded by General Comte de Rochambeau, and the French Navy commanded by Admiral de Grasse. On August 19, the march to Yorktown led by Washington and Rochambeau began, which is known now as the "celebrated march". Washington was in command of an army of 7,800 Frenchmen, 3,100 militia, and 8,000 Continentals. Inexperienced in siege warfare, he often deferred to the judgment of General Rochambeau and relied on his advice. Despite this, Rochambeau never challenged Washington's authority as the battle's commanding officer.
By late September, Patriot-French forces surrounded Yorktown, trapped the British Army, and prevented British reinforcements from Clinton in the North, while the French navy emerged victorious at the Battle of the Chesapeake. The final American offensive began with a shot fired by Washington. The siege ended with a British surrender on October 19, 1781; over 7,000 British soldiers became prisoners of war. Washington negotiated the terms of surrender for two days, and the official signing ceremony took place on October 19; Cornwallis claimed illness and was absent, sending General Charles O'Hara as his proxy. As a gesture of goodwill, Washington held a dinner for the American, French, and British generals, all of whom fraternized on friendly terms and identified with one another as members of the same professional military caste.
Afterwards, Washington moved the army to New Windsor, New York where they remained stationed until the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, formally ending the war. Although the peace treaty did not happen for two years following the end of the battle, Yorktown proved to be the last significant battle or campaign of the Revolutionary War, with the British Parliament agreeing to cease hostilities in March 1782.
### Demobilization and resignation
When peace negotiations began in April 1782, both the British and French began gradually evacuating their forces. With the American treasury empty, unpaid and mutinous soldiers forced the adjournment of Congress. In March 1783, Washington successfully calmed the Newburgh Conspiracy, a planned munity by American officers; Congress promised each a five-year bonus. Washington submitted an account of \$450,000 in expenses which he had advanced to the army, equivalent to \$ million in . The account was settled, though it was allegedly vague about large sums and included expenses his wife had incurred through visits to his headquarters.
The following month, a Congressional committee led by Alexander Hamilton began adapting the army for peacetime. In August 1783, Washington gave the Army's perspective to the committee in his Sentiments on a Peace Establishment, which advised Congress to keep a standing army, create a "national militia" of separate state units, and establish a navy and a national military academy.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783, and Britain officially recognized American independence. Washington disbanded his army, giving a farewell address to his soldiers on November 2. During this time, Washington oversaw the evacuation of British forces in New York and was greeted by parades and celebrations. Along with Governor George Clinton, he took formal possession of the city on November 25.
In early December 1783, Washington bade farewell to his officers at Fraunces Tavern and resigned as commander-in-chief soon thereafter. In a final appearance in uniform, he gave a statement to the Congress: "I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them, to his holy keeping." Washington's resignation was acclaimed at home and abroad and showed a skeptical world that the new republic would not degenerate into chaos.
The same month, Washington was appointed president-general of the Society of the Cincinnati, a newly established hereditary fraternity of Revolutionary War officers. He served in this capacity for the remainder of his life.
## Early republic (1783–1789)
### Return to Mount Vernon
Washington was longing to return home after spending just ten days at Mount Vernon out of 8+1⁄2 years of war. He arrived on Christmas Eve, delighted to be "free of the bustle of a camp and the busy scenes of public life". He was a celebrity and was fêted during a visit to his mother at Fredericksburg in February 1784, and he received a constant stream of visitors wishing to pay their respects at Mount Vernon.
Washington reactivated his interests in the Great Dismal Swamp and Potomac canal projects begun before the war, though neither paid him any dividends, and he undertook a 34-day, 680-mile (1,090 km) trip to check on his land holdings in the Ohio Country. He oversaw the completion of the remodeling work at Mount Vernon, which transformed his residence into the mansion that survives to this day—although his financial situation was not strong. Creditors paid him in depreciated wartime currency, and he owed significant amounts in taxes and wages. Mount Vernon had made no profit during his absence, and he saw persistently poor crop yields due to pestilence and poor weather. His estate recorded its eleventh year running at a deficit in 1787, and there was little prospect of improvement.
To make his estate profitable again, Washington undertook a new landscaping plan and succeeded in cultivating a range of fast-growing trees and native shrubs. He also began breeding mules after being gifted a Spanish jack by King Charles III of Spain in 1784. There were few mules in the United States at that time, and he believed that they would revolutionize agriculture and transportation.
### Constitutional Convention of 1787
Before returning to private life in June 1783, Washington called for a strong union. Though he was concerned that he might be criticized for meddling in civil matters, he sent a circular letter to the states, maintaining that the Articles of Confederation was no more than "a rope of sand". He believed the nation was on the verge of "anarchy and confusion", was vulnerable to foreign intervention, and that a national constitution would unify the states under a strong central government.
When Shays' Rebellion erupted in Massachusetts over taxation, Washington was further convinced that a national constitution was needed. Some nationalists feared that the new republic had descended into lawlessness, and they met on September 11, 1786, at Annapolis to ask Congress to revise the Articles of Confederation. One of their biggest efforts was getting Washington to attend. Congress agreed to a Constitutional Convention to be held in Philadelphia in Spring 1787, with each state to send delegates.
On December 4, 1786, Washington was chosen to lead the Virginia delegation, but he declined on December 21. He had concerns about the legality of the convention and consulted James Madison, Henry Knox, and others. They persuaded him to attend as his presence might induce reluctant states to send delegates and smooth the way for the ratification process while also giving legitimacy to the convention. On March 28, Washington told Governor Edmund Randolph that he would attend the convention but made it clear that he was urged to attend.
Washington arrived in Philadelphia on May 9, 1787, though a quorum was not attained until May 25. Benjamin Franklin nominated Washington to preside over the convention, and he was unanimously elected to serve as president general. The convention's state-mandated purpose was to revise the Articles of Confederation, and the new government would be established when the resulting document was "duly confirmed by the several states". Randolph introduced Madison's Virginia Plan on May 27, the third day of the convention. It called for an entirely new constitution and a sovereign national government, which Washington highly recommended.
On July 10, Washington wrote to Alexander Hamilton: "I almost despair of seeing a favorable issue to the proceedings of our convention and do therefore repent having had any agency in the business." Nevertheless, he lent his prestige to the work of the other delegates, unsuccessfully lobbying many to support ratification of the Constitution, such as anti-federalists Edmund Randolph and George Mason. The final version was voted on and signed by 39 of 55 delegates on September 17, 1787.
### Chancellor of William & Mary
In 1788, the Board of Visitors of the College of William & Mary decided to re-establish the position of Chancellor, and elected Washington to the office on January 18. The College Rector Samuel Griffin wrote to Washington inviting him to the post, and in a letter dated April 30, 1788, Washington accepted the position of the 14th Chancellor of the College of William & Mary. He continued to serve through his presidency until his death on December 14, 1799.
### First presidential election
The delegates to the Convention anticipated a Washington presidency and left it to him to define the office once elected.
The state electors under the Constitution voted for the president on February 4, 1789, and Washington suspected that most republicans had not voted for him. The mandated March 4 date passed without a Congressional quorum to count the votes, but a quorum was reached on April 5. The votes were tallied the next day, and Washington won the majority of every state's electoral votes. He was informed of his election as president by Congressional Secretary Charles Thomson. John Adams received the next highest number of votes and was elected vice president. Despite feeling "anxious and painful sensations" about leaving Mount Vernon, he departed for New York City on April 16 to be inaugurated.
## Presidency (1789–1797)
Washington was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, taking the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City. His coach was led by militia and a marching band and followed by statesmen and foreign dignitaries in an inaugural parade, with a crowd of 10,000. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston administered the oath, using a Bible provided by the Masons, after which the militia fired a 13-gun salute. Washington read a speech in the Senate Chamber, asking "that Almighty Being ... consecrate the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States". Though he wished to serve without a salary, Congress insisted that he accept it, later providing Washington \$25,000 per year to defray costs of the presidency, equivalent to \$ million today. Washington wrote to James Madison: "As the first of everything in our situation will serve to establish a precedent, it is devoutly wished on my part that these precedents be fixed on true principles." To that end, he preferred the title "Mr. President" over more majestic names proposed by the Senate, including "His Excellency" and "His Highness the President". His executive precedents included the inaugural address, messages to Congress, and the cabinet form of the executive branch.
Washington planned to resign after his first term, but political strife convinced him to remain in office. He was an able administrator and a judge of talent and character, and he regularly talked with department heads to get their advice. He tolerated opposing views, despite fears that a democratic system would lead to political violence, and he conducted a smooth transition of power to his successor. He remained non-partisan throughout his presidency and opposed the divisiveness of political parties, but he favored a strong central government, was sympathetic to a Federalist form of government, and leery of the Republican opposition.
Washington dealt with major problems. The old Confederation lacked the powers to handle its workload and had weak leadership, no executive, a small bureaucracy of clerks, large debt, worthless paper money, and no power to establish taxes. He had the task of assembling an executive department and relied on Tobias Lear for advice selecting its officers. Britain refused to relinquish its forts in the American West, and Barbary pirates preyed on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean before the United States even had a navy.
### Cabinet and executive departments
Congress created executive departments in 1789, including the State Department in July, the War Department in August, and the Treasury Department in September. Washington appointed Edmund Randolph as Attorney General, Samuel Osgood as Postmaster General, Thomas Jefferson as Secretary of State, Henry Knox as Secretary of War, and Alexander Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury. Washington's cabinet became a consulting and advisory body, not mandated by the Constitution.
Washington's cabinet members formed rival parties with sharply opposing views, most fiercely illustrated between Hamilton and Jefferson. Washington restricted cabinet discussions to topics of his choosing, without participating in the debate. He occasionally requested cabinet opinions in writing and expected department heads to agreeably carry out his decisions.
### Domestic issues
Washington was apolitical and opposed the formation of parties, suspecting that conflict would undermine republicanism. He exercised great restraint in using his veto power, writing that "I give my Signature to many Bills with which my Judgment is at variance..."
His closest advisors formed two factions, portending the First Party System. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton formed the Federalist Party to promote national credit and a financially powerful nation. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson opposed Hamilton's agenda and founded the Jeffersonian Republicans. Washington favored Hamilton's agenda, however, and it ultimately went into effect—resulting in bitter controversy.
Washington proclaimed November 26, 1789, as a day of Thanksgiving to encourage national unity. "It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor." He spent that day fasting and visiting debtors in prison to provide them with food and beer.
#### African Americans
In response to two antislavery petitions that were presented to Congress in 1790, slaveholders in Georgia and South Carolina threatened to "blow the trumpet of civil war". Washington and Congress responded with a series of racist measures: naturalization was denied to black immigrants; blacks were barred from serving in state militias; the Southwest Territory (later the state of Tennessee) was permitted to maintain slavery; and two more slave states were admitted (Kentucky in 1792 and Tennessee in 1796). On February 12, 1793, Washington signed into law the Fugitive Slave Act, which overrode state laws and courts, allowing agents to cross state lines to return escaped slaves. Many free blacks in the north decried the law believing it would allow bounty hunting and kidnapping. The Fugitive Slave Act gave effect to the Constitution's Fugitive Slave Clause, and the Act was passed overwhelmingly in Congress.
At the same time, Washington signed a reenactment of the Northwest Ordinance in 1789, which had freed all slaves brought after 1787 into a vast expanse of federal territory north of the Ohio River, except for slaves escaping from slave states. The 1787 law lapsed when the new U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789. He also signed the Slave Trade Act of 1794, which sharply limited American involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. On February 18, 1791, Congress admitted the free state of Vermont into the Union as the 14th state as of March 4, 1791.
#### National Bank
Washington's first term was largely devoted to economic concerns. Establishment of public credit became a primary challenge for the federal government. Hamilton submitted a report to a deadlocked Congress, and he, Madison, and Jefferson reached the Compromise of 1790 in which Jefferson agreed to Hamilton's debt proposals in exchange for moving the nation's capital temporarily to Philadelphia and then south near Georgetown on the Potomac River. The terms were legislated in the Funding Act of 1790 and the Residence Act, both of which Washington signed into law. Congress authorized the assumption and payment of the nation's debts, with funding provided by customs duties and excise taxes.
Hamilton caused controversy in Cabinet by advocating for the establishment of the First Bank of the United States. Madison and Jefferson objected to the idea, but legislation creating the bank easily passed Congress. Jefferson and Randolph insisted the federal government was going beyond its constitutional authority. Hamilton argued the government could charter the bank under the implied powers granted by the constitution. Washington sided with Hamilton and signed the bank legislation on February 25, 1791. The rift between Hamilton and Jefferson, meanwhile, became openly hostile.
The nation's first financial crisis occurred in March 1792. Hamilton's Federalists exploited large loans to gain control of U.S. debt securities, causing a run on the national bank; the markets returned to normal by mid-April. Jefferson believed Hamilton was part of the scheme, despite Hamilton's efforts to ameliorate.
#### Jefferson–Hamilton feud
Jefferson and Hamilton adopted diametrically opposed political principles. Hamilton believed in a strong national government requiring a national bank and foreign loans to function, while Jefferson believed the states and the farm element should primarily direct the government; he also resented the idea of banks and foreign loans. To Washington's dismay, the two men persistently entered into disputes and infighting. Hamilton demanded that Jefferson resign if he could not support Washington, and Jefferson told Washington that Hamilton's fiscal system would lead to the overthrow of the republic. Washington urged them to call a truce for the sake of the nation, but they ignored him.
Jefferson's political actions, his support of Freneau's National Gazette, and his attempts to undermine Hamilton nearly led Washington to dismiss him from the cabinet; he ultimately resigned his position in December 1793, and Washington forsook him.
The feud led to the well-defined Federalist and Republican parties, and party affiliation became necessary for election to Congress by 1794. Washington remained aloof from congressional attacks on Hamilton, but did not publicly protect him. The Hamilton–Reynolds sex scandal opened Hamilton to disgrace, but Washington continued to hold him in "very high esteem".
#### Whiskey Rebellion
In March 1791, at Hamilton's urging, with support from Madison, Congress imposed an excise tax on distilled spirits to help curtail the national debt, which took effect in July. Grain farmers strongly protested in Pennsylvania's frontier districts; they argued that they were unrepresented and were shouldering too much of the debt, comparing their situation to British taxation pre-Revolution.
On August 2, Washington assembled his cabinet to discuss the situation. Unlike Washington, who had reservations about using force, Hamilton was eager to suppress the rebellion with federal authority. Wanting to avoid involving the federal government, Washington first called on Pennsylvania state officials to take the initiative, but they declined. On August 7, Washington issued his first proclamation for calling up state militias. After appealing for peace, he reminded the protestors that, unlike the rule of the British crown, the Federal law was issued by state-elected representatives.
Threats and violence against tax collectors, however, escalated into defiance against federal authority in 1794 and gave rise to the Whiskey Rebellion. Washington issued a final proclamation on September 25, threatening the use of military force to no avail. The federal army was not up to the task, so Washington invoked the Militia Act of 1792 to summon state militias. Governors sent troops, initially commanded by Washington, who handed over command to Henry Lee to lead them into the rebellious districts. They took 150 prisoners, and the remaining rebels dispersed. Two of the prisoners were condemned to death, but Washington exercised his Constitutional authority for the first time and pardoned them.
Washington's forceful action demonstrated that the new government could protect itself and its tax collectors. This represented the first use of federal military force against the states and citizens. Washington justified his action against "certain self-created societies", which he regarded as "subversive organizations" that threatened the national union. He did not dispute their right to protest, but he insisted that their dissent must not violate federal law. Congress agreed and extended their congratulations to him; only Madison and Jefferson expressed indifference.
### Foreign affairs
In April 1792, the French Revolutionary Wars began between Britain and France, and Washington declared America's neutrality. The revolutionary government of France sent diplomat Edmond-Charles Genêt to America, and he was welcomed with great enthusiasm. He created a network of new Democratic-Republican Societies promoting France's interests, but Washington denounced them and demanded that the French recall Genêt. The National Assembly of France granted Washington honorary French citizenship on August 26, 1792, during the early stages of the French Revolution.
Hamilton formulated the Jay Treaty to normalize trade relations with Britain while removing them from western forts, and also to resolve financial debts remaining from the Revolution. Chief Justice John Jay acted as Washington's negotiator and signed the treaty on November 19, 1794; critical Jeffersonians, however, supported France. Washington deliberated, then supported the treaty because it avoided war with Britain, but was disappointed that its provisions favored Britain. He mobilized public opinion and secured ratification in the Senate but faced frequent public criticism.
The British agreed to abandon their forts around the Great Lakes, and the United States modified the boundary with Canada. The government liquidated numerous pre-Revolution debts, and the British opened the British West Indies to American trade. The treaty secured peace with Britain and a decade of prosperous trade. Jefferson claimed that it angered France and "invited rather than avoided" war. Relations with France deteriorated afterward and, two days before Washington's term ended, the French Directory declared the authority to seize American ships, leaving succeeding president John Adams with prospective war.
### Native American affairs
Ron Chernow describes Washington as always trying to be even-handed in dealing with the Natives. He states that Washington hoped they would abandon their itinerant hunting life and adapt to fixed agricultural communities in the manner of white settlers. He also maintains that Washington never advocated outright confiscation of tribal land or the forcible removal of tribes and that he berated American settlers who abused natives, admitting that he held out no hope for peaceful relations as long as "frontier settlers entertain the opinion that there is not the same crime (or indeed no crime at all) in killing a native as in killing a white man."
By contrast, Colin G. Calloway wrote that, "Washington had a lifelong obsession with getting Indian land, either for himself or for his nation, and initiated policies and campaigns that had devastating effects in Indian country." He stated:
> The growth of the nation demanded the dispossession of Indian people. Washington hoped the process could be bloodless and that Indian people would give up their lands for a "fair" price and move away. But if Indians refused and resisted, as they often did, he felt he had no choice but to "extirpate" them and that the expeditions he sent to destroy Indian towns were therefore entirely justified.
During the fall of 1789, Washington had to contend with the British refusing to evacuate their forts in the Northwest frontier and their concerted efforts to incite Indian tribes to attack American settlers. The Northwest tribes under Miami chief Little Turtle allied with the British to resist American expansion, and killed 1,500 settlers between 1783 and 1790.
Washington declared that "the Government of the United States are determined that their Administration of Indian Affairs shall be directed entirely by the great principles of Justice and humanity", and provided that treaties should negotiate their land interests. The administration regarded powerful tribes as foreign nations, and Washington even smoked a peace pipe and drank wine with them at the President's House in Philadelphia. He made numerous attempts to conciliate them; he equated killing indigenous peoples with killing whites and sought to integrate them into European American culture.
In the Southwest, negotiations failed between federal commissioners and raiding Indian tribes seeking retribution. Washington invited Creek Chief Alexander McGillivray and 24 leading chiefs to New York to negotiate a treaty and treated them like foreign dignitaries. Knox and McGillivray concluded the Treaty of New York on August 7, 1790, which provided the tribes with agricultural supplies and McGillivray with the rank of Brigadier General and an annual salary of \$1,200, .
In 1790, Washington sent Brigadier General Josiah Harmar to pacify the Northwest tribes, but Little Turtle routed him twice and forced him to withdraw. The Northwestern Confederacy of tribes used guerrilla tactics and were an effective force against the sparsely manned American Army. Washington sent Major General Arthur St. Clair from Fort Washington on an expedition to restore peace in the territory in 1791. On November 4, St. Clair's forces were ambushed and soundly defeated by tribal forces with few survivors.
Washington replaced the disgraced St. Clair with the Revolutionary War hero Anthony Wayne. From 1792 to 1793, Wayne instructed his troops on Native American warfare tactics and instilled discipline which was lacking under St. Clair. In August 1794, Washington sent Wayne into tribal territory with authority to drive them out by burning their villages and crops in the Maumee Valley. On August 24, the American army defeated the Northwestern Confederacy at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, and the Treaty of Greenville in August 1795 opened two-thirds of the Ohio Country for American settlement.
### Second term
Washington initially planned to retire after his first term, weary of office and in poor health. After dealing with the infighting in his own cabinet and with partisan critics, he showed little enthusiasm for a second term, while Martha also wanted him not to run. Washington's nephew George Augustine Washington, managing Mount Vernon in his absence, was critically ill, further increasing Washington's desire to retire.
Many, however, urged him to run for a second term. Madison told him that his absence would only allow the dangerous political rift in his cabinet and the House to worsen. Jefferson also pleaded with him not to retire, agreeing to drop his attacks on Hamilton, and stating that he would also retire if Washington did. Hamilton maintained that Washington's absence would be "deplored as the greatest evil" to the country. With the election of 1792 nearing, Washington relented and agreed to run.
On February 13, 1793, the Electoral College unanimously re-elected Washington president, and John Adams as vice president by a vote of 77 to 50. He was sworn into office by Associate Justice William Cushing on March 4, 1793, in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia. Afterwards, Washington gave a brief address before immediately retiring to the President's House.
On April 22, 1793, when the French Revolutionary Wars broke out, Washington issued a proclamation which declared American neutrality. He was resolved to pursue "a conduct friendly and impartial toward the belligerent Powers" while also warning Americans not to intervene in the conflict. Although Washington recognized France's revolutionary government, he would eventually ask French minister to the United States Edmond-Charles Genêt be recalled over the Citizen Genêt affair. Genêt was a diplomatic troublemaker who was openly hostile toward Washington's neutrality policy. He procured four American ships as privateers to strike at Spanish forces (British allies) in Florida while organizing militias to strike at other British possessions. However, his efforts failed to draw the United States into the conflict.
On July 31, 1793, Jefferson submitted his resignation from cabinet. Hamilton, desiring more income for his family, resigned from office in January 1795 and was replaced by Oliver Wolcott Jr.. While his relationship with Washington would remain friendly, Washington's relationship with his Secretary of War Henry Knox deteriorated after rumors that Knox had profited from contracts for the construction of U.S. frigates which had been commissioned under the Naval Act of 1794 in order to combat Barbary pirates, forcing Knox to resign.
In the final months of his presidency, Washington was assailed by his political foes and a partisan press who accused him of being ambitious and greedy. He came to regard the press as a disuniting, "diabolical" force of falsehoods. At the end of his second term, Washington retired for personal and political reasons, dismayed with personal attacks, and to ensure that a truly contested presidential election could be held. He did not feel bound to a two-term limit, but his retirement set a significant precedent.
### Farewell Address
In 1796, Washington declined to run for a third term of office. In May 1792, in anticipation of his retirement, Washington instructed James Madison to prepare a "valedictory address", an initial draft of which was entitled the "Farewell Address". In May 1796, Washington sent the manuscript to Alexander Hamilton who did an extensive rewrite, while Washington provided final edits. On September 19, 1796, David Claypoole's American Daily Advertiser published the final version.
Washington stressed that national identity was paramount, as a united America would safeguard freedom and prosperity. He warned the nation of three eminent dangers: regionalism, partisanship, and foreign entanglements, and said the "name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism". Washington called for men to move beyond partisanship for the common good, stressing that the United States must concentrate on its own interests. He warned against foreign alliances and their influence in domestic affairs, and bitter partisanship and the dangers of political parties. He counseled friendship and commerce with all nations, but advised against involvement in European wars. He stressed the importance of religion, asserting that "religion and morality are indispensable supports" in a republic. Washington's address favored Hamilton's Federalist ideology and economic policies.
He closed the address by reflecting on his legacy:
> Though in reviewing the incidents of my Administration I am unconscious of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence, and that, after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.
After initial publication, many Republicans, including Madison, criticized the Address and described it as an anti-French campaign document, with Madison believing that Washington was strongly pro-British.
In 1839, Washington biographer Jared Sparks maintained that Washington's "Farewell Address was printed and published with the laws, by order of the legislatures, as an evidence of the value they attached to its political precepts, and of their affection for its author." In 1972, Washington scholar James Flexner referred to the Farewell Address as receiving as much acclaim as Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence and Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In 2010, historian Ron Chernow called the Farewell Address one of the most influential statements on republicanism.
## Post-presidency (1797–1799)
### Retirement
Washington retired to Mount Vernon in March 1797 and devoted time to his plantations and other business interests. His plantation operations were only minimally profitable, and his lands in the west (Piedmont) were under Indian attacks and yielded little income, with squatters there refusing to pay rent. He attempted to sell these but without success. He became an even more committed Federalist. He vocally supported the Alien and Sedition Acts and convinced Federalist John Marshall to run for Congress to weaken the Jeffersonian hold on Virginia.
Washington grew restless in retirement, prompted by tensions with France; in a continuation of the French Revolutionary Wars, French privateers began seizing American ships in 1798, and relations deteriorated with France and led to the "Quasi-War". Washington wrote to Secretary of War James McHenry offering to organize President Adams' army. Adams nominated him for a lieutenant general commission on July 4, 1798, and the position of commander-in-chief of the armies. Washington served as the commanding general from July 13, 1798, until his death 17 months later. He participated in planning for a provisional army, but avoided involvement in details. In advising McHenry of potential officers for the army, he appeared to make a complete break with Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans: "you could as soon scrub the blackamoor white, as to change the principles of a profest Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the government of this country." Washington delegated the active leadership of the army to Hamilton, a major general. No army invaded the United States during this period, and Washington did not assume a field command.
Washington was known to be rich because of the well-known "glorified façade of wealth and grandeur" at Mount Vernon, but nearly all his wealth was in the form of land and slaves rather than ready cash. To supplement his income, he erected a distillery for substantial whiskey production. He bought land parcels to spur development around the new Federal City named in his honor, and he sold individual lots to middle-income investors rather than multiple lots to large investors, believing they would more likely commit to making improvements.
### Final days and death
On December 12, 1799, Washington inspected his farms on horseback. He returned home late and had guests for dinner. He had a sore throat the next day but was well enough to mark trees for cutting. That evening, Washington complained of chest congestion. The next morning, however, he awoke to an inflamed throat and difficulty breathing. He ordered estate overseer George Rawlins to remove nearly a pint of his blood; bloodletting was a common practice of the time. His family summoned doctors James Craik, Gustavus Richard Brown, and Elisha C. Dick. A fourth doctor, William Thornton, arrived some hours after Washington died.
Brown initially believed Washington had quinsy; Dick thought the condition was a more serious "violent inflammation of the throat". They continued the process of bloodletting to approximately five pints, but Washington's condition deteriorated further. Dick proposed a tracheotomy, but the other physicians were not familiar with that procedure and disapproved. Washington instructed Brown and Dick to leave the room, while he assured Craik, "Doctor, I die hard, but I am not afraid to go."
Washington's death came more swiftly than expected. On his deathbed, out of fear of being entombed alive, he instructed his private secretary Tobias Lear to wait three days before his burial. According to Lear, Washington died between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. on December 14, 1799, with Martha seated at the foot of his bed. His last words were "'Tis well", from his conversation with Lear about his burial. He was 67.
Congress immediately adjourned for the day upon news of Washington's death, and the Speaker's chair was shroud in black the next morning. The funeral was held four days after his death on December 18, 1799, at Mount Vernon, where his body was interred. Cavalry and foot soldiers led the procession, and six colonels served as the pallbearers. The Mount Vernon funeral service was restricted mostly to family and friends. Reverend Thomas Davis read the funeral service by the vault with a brief address, followed by a ceremony performed by members of Washington's Masonic lodge in Alexandria, Virginia. Word of his death traveled slowly; church bells rang in the cities, and many businesses closed. Memorial processions were held in major cities of the United States. Martha wore a black mourning cape for one year, and she burned their correspondence to protect their privacy. Only five letters between the couple are known to have survived: two from Martha to George and three from him to her.
The diagnosis of Washington's illness and the immediate cause of his death have been subjects of debate since his death. The published account of doctors Craik and Brown stated that his symptoms were consistent with cynanche trachealis, a term then used to describe severe inflammation of the upper windpipe, including quinsy. Accusations have persisted since Washington's death concerning medical malpractice. Modern medical authors have concluded that he likely died from severe epiglottitis complicated by the treatments, including multiple doses of calomel, a purgative, and extensive bloodletting which almost certainly caused hypovolemic shock.
## Burial, net worth, and aftermath
Washington was buried in the old Washington family vault at Mount Vernon. At the time of his death, his estate was worth an estimated \$780,000 in 1799, equivalent to \$ million in . Washington's peak net worth was \$587 million, including 300 slaves. Washington held title to more than 65,000 acres of land in 37 different locations.
In 1830, a disgruntled ex-employee of the estate attempted to steal what he thought was Washington's skull, prompting the construction of a more secure vault. In his will, Washington had left instructions for the construction of a new vault as the old family vault was crumbling and needed repair even before his death. A new vault was constructed at Mount Vernon the following year to receive the remains of George and Martha and other relatives.
In 1832, a joint Congressional committee debated moving his body from Mount Vernon to a crypt in the Capitol. The crypt had been built by architect Charles Bulfinch in the 1820s during the reconstruction of the burned-out capital, after the Burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812. Southern opposition was intense, antagonized by an ever-growing rift between North and South; many were concerned that Washington's remains could end up on "a shore foreign to his native soil" if the country became divided, and Washington's remains stayed in Mount Vernon.
On October 7, 1837, Washington's remains, still in the original lead coffin, were placed within a marble sarcophagus designed by William Strickland and constructed by John Struthers. The sarcophagus was sealed and encased with planks, and an outer vault was constructed around it. The outer vault has the sarcophagi of both George and Martha Washington; the inner vault has the remains of other Washington family members and relatives.
## Personal life
Washington was somewhat reserved in personality, but was known for having a strong presence. He made speeches and announcements when required, but he was not a noted orator or debater. He was taller than most of his contemporaries; accounts of his height vary from 6 ft (1.83 m) to 6 ft 3.5 in (1.92 m) tall, he weighed between 210–220 pounds (95–100 kg) as an adult, and was known for his great strength.
He had grey-blue eyes and long reddish-brown hair. He did not wear a powdered wig; instead he wore his hair curled, powdered, and tied in a queue in the fashion of the day.
Washington frequently suffered from severe tooth decay and ultimately lost all his teeth but one. He had several sets of false teeth during his presidency. Contrary to common lore, these were not made of wood, but of metal, ivory, bone, animal teeth, and human teeth possibly obtained from slaves. These dental problems left him in constant pain, which he treated with laudanum.
Washington was a talented equestrian, with Thomas Jefferson describing him as "the best horseman of his age". He collected thoroughbreds at Mount Vernon, his two favorite horses being Blueskin and Nelson. He enjoyed hunting foxes, deer, ducks, and other game. He was an excellent dancer and frequently attended the theater. He drank alcohol in moderation but was morally opposed to excessive drinking, smoking tobacco, gambling, and profanity.
### Religion and Freemasonry
Washington was descended from Anglican minister Lawrence Washington, whose troubles with the Church of England may have prompted his heirs to emigrate to America. He was baptized as an infant in April 1732 and became a devoted member of the Anglican Church. He served more than 20 years as a vestryman and churchwarden at Fairfax Parish and Truco Parish in Virginia. He privately prayed and read the Bible daily, and publicly encouraged people and the nation to pray. He may have taken communion on a regular basis prior to the Revolution, but he did not do so following the war.
Washington believed in a "wise, inscrutable, and irresistible" Creator God who was active in the Universe, contrary to deistic thought. He referred to God in Enlightenment terms, including Providence, the Creator, or the Almighty, and the Divine Author or Supreme Being. He believed in a divine power who watched over battlefields, was involved in the outcome of war, protected his life, and was involved in American politics and specifically the creation of the United States. Historian Ron Chernow has argued that Washington avoided evangelistic Christianity or hellfire-and-brimstone speech along with communion or anything inclined to "flaunt his religiosity", saying that he "never used his religion as a device for partisan purposes or in official undertakings". No mention of Jesus Christ appears in his private correspondence, and such references are rare in his public writings. At the same time, Washington frequently quoted from the Bible or paraphrased it, and often referred to the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
Washington emphasized religious toleration in a nation with numerous denominations and religions. He publicly attended services of different Christian denominations and prohibited anti-Catholic celebrations in the Army. He engaged workers at Mount Vernon without regard for religious belief or affiliation. While president, he acknowledged major religious sects and gave speeches on religious toleration. He was distinctly rooted in the ideas, values, and modes of thinking of the Enlightenment, but he harbored no contempt of organized Christianity and its clergy, "being no bigot myself to any mode of worship". In 1793, speaking to members of the New Church in Baltimore, Washington said, "We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this Land the light of truth and reason has triumphed over the power of bigotry and superstition."
Freemasonry was a widely accepted institution in the late 18th century, known for advocating moral teachings. Washington was attracted to the Masons' dedication to the Enlightenment principles of rationality, reason, and brotherhood. American Masonic lodges did not share the anti-clerical views of the controversial European lodges.
A Masonic lodge was established in Fredericksburg, Virginia in September 1752, and Washington was initiated two months later at the age of 20 as one of its first Entered Apprentices. Within a year, he progressed through its ranks to become a Master Mason. Washington had high regard for the Masonic Order, but his lodge attendance was sporadic. In 1777, a convention of Virginia lodges asked him to be the Grand Master of the newly established Grand Lodge of Virginia, but he declined due to his commitments leading the Continental Army. After 1782, he frequently corresponded with Masonic lodges and members, and he was listed as Master in the Virginia charter of Alexandria Lodge No. 22 in 1788.
## Slavery
In Washington's lifetime, slavery was deeply ingrained in the economic and social fabric of the Colony of Virginia, which continued after the Revolution and the establishment of Virginia as a state. Slavery was legal in all of the Thirteen Colonies prior to the American Revolution.
### Washington's slaves
Washington owned and rented enslaved African Americans, and during his lifetime over 577 slaves lived and worked at Mount Vernon. He acquired them through inheritance, gaining control of 84 dower slaves upon his marriage to Martha, and purchased at least 71 slaves between 1752 and 1773. From 1786, he rented slaves; at the time of his death he was renting 41.
Prior to the Revolutionary War, Washington's view on slavery was the same as most Virginia planters of the time. Beginning in the 1760s, however, Washington gradually grew to oppose it. His first doubts were prompted by his transition from tobacco to grain crops, which left him with a costly surplus of slaves, causing him to question the system's economic efficiency. His growing disillusionment with the institution was spurred by the principles of the Revolution and revolutionary friends such as Lafayette and Hamilton. Most historians agree the Revolution was central to the evolution of Washington's attitudes on slavery; "After 1783," Kenneth Morgan writes, "... [Washington] began to express inner tensions about the problem of slavery more frequently, though always in private". Regardless, Washington would remain dependent on slave labor to work his farms.
The many contemporary reports of slave treatment at Mount Vernon are varied and conflicting. Historian Kenneth Morgan maintains that Washington was frugal on spending for clothes and bedding for his slaves, and only provided them with just enough food, and that he maintained strict control over his slaves, instructing his overseers to keep them working hard from dawn to dusk year-round. In contrast, historian Dorothy Twohig said: "Food, clothing, and housing seem to have been at least adequate".
Washington faced growing debts involved with the costs of supporting slaves. He held an "engrained sense of racial superiority" towards African Americans but harbored no ill feelings toward them. Some enslaved families worked at different locations on the plantation but were allowed to visit one another on their days off. Washington's slaves received two hours off for meals during the workday and were given time off on Sundays and religious holidays.
Some accounts report that Washington opposed flogging but at times sanctioned its use, generally as a last resort, on both men and women slaves. Washington used both reward and punishment to encourage discipline and productivity in his slaves. He tried appealing to an individual's sense of pride, gave better blankets and clothing to the "most deserving", and motivated his slaves with cash rewards. He believed "watchfulness and admonition" were better deterrents against transgressions but would punish those who "will not do their duty by fair means". Punishment ranged in severity from demotion back to fieldwork, through whipping and beatings, to permanent separation from friends and family by sale. Historian Ron Chernow maintains that overseers were required to warn slaves before resorting to the lash and required Washington's written permission before whipping, though his extended absences did not always permit this.
During his presidency, Washington brought several of his slaves to the federal capital. When the capital moved from New York City to Philadelphia in 1791, the president began rotating his slave household staff periodically between the capital and Mount Vernon. This was done deliberately to circumvent Pennsylvania's Slavery Abolition Act, which stated that any slave who lived there for more than six months was automatically freed.
In May 1796, Martha's personal and favorite slave Ona Judge escaped to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. At Martha's behest, Washington attempted to capture Ona, using a Treasury agent, but failed. In February 1797, around the time of his 65th birthday, Washington's personal slave Hercules Posey escaped from Mount Vernon to Philadelphia and was never found.
In February 1786, Washington took a census of Mount Vernon and recorded 224 slaves. By 1799, the slave population at Mount Vernon totaled 317, including 143 children. Washington owned 124 slaves, leased 40, and held 153 for his wife's dower interest. Washington supported many slaves who were too young or too old to work, greatly increasing Mount Vernon's slave population and causing the plantation to operate at a loss.
### Abolition and manumission
Based on his private papers and on accounts from his contemporaries, Washington slowly developed a cautious sympathy toward abolitionism that eventually ended with his will freeing his long-time valet Billy Lee, and then subsequently freeing the rest of his personally owned slaves outright upon Martha's death. As president, he remained publicly silent on the topic of slavery, believing it was a nationally divisive issue that could undermine the union.
During the Revolutionary War, Washington's views on slavery began to change. In a 1778 letter to Lund Washington, he made clear his desire "to get quit of Negroes" when discussing the exchange of slaves for the land he wanted to buy. The next year, Washington stated his intention not to separate enslaved families as a result of "a change of masters". During the 1780s, Washington privately expressed his support for gradual emancipation. In the 1780s, he gave moral support to a plan proposed by Lafayette to purchase land and free slaves to work on it, but declined to participate in the experiment.
Washington privately expressed support for emancipation to prominent Methodists Thomas Coke and Francis Asbury in 1785 but declined to sign their petition. In personal correspondence the next year, he made clear his desire to see the institution of slavery ended by a gradual legislative process, a view that correlated with the mainstream antislavery literature published in the 1780s that Washington possessed. He significantly reduced his purchases of slaves after the war but continued to acquire them in small numbers.
In 1788, Washington declined a suggestion from a leading French abolitionist, Jacques Brissot, to establish an abolitionist society in Virginia, stating that although he supported the idea, the time was not yet right. Historian Philip D. Morgan wrote that Washington was determined not to risk national unity. Washington never responded to any of the antislavery petitions he received, and the subject was not mentioned in either his last address to Congress or his Farewell Address.
The first clear indication that Washington seriously intended to free his slaves appears in a letter written to his secretary, Tobias Lear, in 1794. Washington instructed Lear to find buyers for his land in western Virginia, explaining in a private coda that he was doing so "to liberate a certain species of property which I possess, very repugnantly to my own feelings". The plan, along with others Washington considered in 1795 and 1796, could not be realized because he failed to find buyers for his land, his reluctance to break up slave families, and the refusal of the Custis heirs to help prevent such separations by freeing their dower slaves at the same time.
On July 9, 1799, Washington finished making his last will; the longest provision concerned slavery. All his slaves were to be freed after the death of his wife. Washington said he did not free them immediately because his slaves intermarried with his wife's dower slaves. He forbade their sale or transportation out of Virginia. The provision also provided that old and young freed people be taken care of indefinitely; younger ones were to be taught to read and write and placed in suitable occupations. Washington emancipated 123 slaves, one of the few large slave-holding Virginians during the Revolutionary Era to do so.
On January 1, 1801, one year after George Washington's death, Martha Washington signed an order to free his slaves. Many of them, having never strayed far from Mount Vernon, were reluctant to leave; others refused to abandon spouses or children still held as dower slaves by the Custis estate and also stayed with or near Martha. Following Washington's instructions in his will, funds were used to feed and clothe the young, aged, and infirm slaves until the early 1830s.
## Historical reputation and legacy
Washington's legacy endures as one of the most influential in American history since he served as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, a hero of the Revolution, and the first president of the United States. Various historians maintain that he also was a dominant factor in America's founding. Revolutionary War comrade Henry Lee eulogized him as "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen". Lee's words became the hallmark by which Washington's reputation was impressed upon the American memory, with some biographers regarding him as the great exemplar of republicanism. He set many precedents for the national government and the presidency in particular, and he was called the "Father of His Country" as early as 1778.
Washington became an international symbol for liberation and nationalism as the leader of the first successful revolution against a colonial empire. The Federalists made him the symbol of their party, but the Jeffersonians continued to distrust his influence for years and delayed building the Washington Monument. Washington was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences on January 31, 1781.
In 1879, Congress proclaimed Washington's Birthday to be a federal holiday. Through a congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479, passed on January 19, 1976, with an effective appointment date of July 4, 1976, he was posthumously appointed to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States during the American Bicentennial. President Gerald Ford stated that Washington would "rank first among all officers of the Army, past and present". On March 13, 1978, Washington was militarily promoted to the rank of General of the Armies.
In 1809, Mason Locke Weems wrote a hagiographic biography to honor Washington. Historian Ron Chernow maintains that Weems attempted to humanize Washington, making him look less stern, and to inspire "patriotism and morality" and to foster "enduring myths", such as Washington's refusal to lie about damaging his father's cherry tree. Weems' accounts have never been proven or disproven. Historian John Ferling, however, maintains that Washington remains the only founder and president ever to be referred to as "godlike", and points out that his character has been the most scrutinized by historians. Biographer Douglas Southall Freeman concluded, "The great big thing stamped across that man is character." Expanding on Freeman's assessment, historian David Hackett Fischer defined Washington's character as "integrity, self-discipline, courage, absolute honesty, resolve, and decision, but also forbearance, decency, and respect for others".
In the 21st century, Washington's reputation has been critically scrutinized. Along with other Founding Fathers, he has been condemned for holding enslaved people. Though he expressed the desire to see the abolition of slavery come through legislation, he did not initiate or support any initiatives for bringing about its end. This has led to calls from some activists to remove his name from public buildings and his statue from public spaces. Nonetheless, Washington maintains his place among the highest-ranked U.S. Presidents.
### Places, namesakes, and monuments
Many places and monuments have been named in honor of Washington, most notably Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and the state of Washington, the only U.S. state to be named after a president.
On February 21, 1885, the Washington Monument was dedicated. The 555-foot marble obelisk, which stands on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was built between 1848–1854 and 1879–1884 and was the tallest structure in the world between 1884 and 1889.
Washington appears as one of four U.S. presidents on the Shrine of Democracy, a colossal statue by Gutzon Borglum on Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.
A number of secondary schools and universities are named in honor of Washington, including George Washington University and Washington University in St. Louis.
### Currency and postage
Washington appears on contemporary U.S. currency, including the one-dollar bill, the Presidential one-dollar coin and the quarter-dollar coin (the Washington quarter). Washington and Benjamin Franklin appeared on the nation's first postage stamps in 1847. Washington has since appeared on many postage issues, more than any other person.
## See also
- Founders Online
- List of American Revolutionary War battles
- List of Continental Forces in the American Revolutionary War
- Timeline of the American Revolution
- The Washington Papers |
3,685,744 | Rad Mobile | 1,171,580,558 | 1991 video game | [
"1990 video games",
"1991 video games",
"Arcade video games",
"Multiplayer and single-player video games",
"Racing video games",
"Sega Saturn games",
"Sega System 32 games",
"Sega arcade games",
"Sega video games",
"Video games developed in Japan"
]
| is a racing arcade game developed by Sega AM3 and published by Sega. It was first published in Japan in October 1990, followed by an international release for arcades in February 1991. Rad Mobile was Sega's first 32-bit game, using Sega's System 32 arcade system board. It was also the first appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, who appears as an ornament hanging from the driver's rearview mirror.
The game was ported to the Sega Saturn in December 1994 under the name A similar game with a two-seat cabinet, was also released in 1991 as Rad Mobile received mixed reviews; critics praised its 3D visuals, but criticized its gameplay.
## Gameplay and development
Similar to Turbo OutRun, the concept behind Rad Mobile is a race against opponents across the United States. Players must race across the country while also avoiding police cars. At certain points in the race, the road forks, allowing players to skip several stages. The game's weather and time of day changes, sometimes requiring players to turn on windshield wipers or headlights. Rad Mobile was also the first appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog, appearing as a decorative item hanging from the driver's rearview mirror. Sonic's appearance in the game predated his debut in Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Genesis by eight months. Interested in getting their new character visible to the public, Sonic Team approved of his appearance in the game.
Credit is usually given to Yu Suzuki and his Sega AM2 division, the developers of Out Run, which established the formula of Rad Mobile's gameplay but Suzuki has not listed it in any of his official lists of works. Zach Whalen, an associate professor with the University of Mary Washington, located a segment of text in the game's source code suggesting that Sega AM3 was the actual developer of the game. In a 1991 interview, AM3 head Hisao Oguchi made mention of AM3's involvement in Rad Mobile's development. Sega's AM4 division, at the time a designer of arcade cabinets, had involvement with constructing the game's deluxe cabinet that would bank and turn, and featured functioning brake lights, while the game was also released in an upright cabinet.
## Release
The arcade game was first published in Japan on October 3, 1990, at the JAMMA Show. Rad Mobile was Sega's debut of its System 32 arcade system board, Sega's last arcade board to utilize sprites in place of 3D polygons. The game made its overseas debut at the Amusement Trade Exhibition in the United Kingdom in January 1991, followed by its international release in February. A version of Rad Mobile was demonstrated at Japanese trade shows operating in Sega's R360 cabinet, but no record of a release has been found. Later the same year, Sega released Rad Rally, based on Rad Mobile but with changes and the addition of two-player multiplayer. Rad Rally was released in a two-seat arcade cabinet.
In 1994, a port of Rad Mobile was released only in Japan for the Sega Saturn, as Gale Racer. Its release was much later than the arcade version due to the Genesis' hardware being insufficient to play the game. Gale Racer was directed by Tomohiro Kondo, who had worked on the Panzer Dragoon series, and designed by Takashi Yuda, responsible for the design of The Revenge of Shinobi. As part of the port, designs of the cars were changed to polygons in place of the original sprites.
## Reception and legacy
At the time of its release, the arcade game was commercially successful in Japan. Rad Mobile was the fourth highest-grossing dedicated arcade game of 1991 in Japan, while Rad Rally was the year's seventh highest-grossing dedicated arcade game in Japan.
Rad Mobile was generally praised for its graphics but criticized for its gameplay. Sinclair User stated that Sega "concentrated on the technology and forgot about the gameplay". Reviewer John Cook called the gameplay "dull" and stated there was little to do in the game other than stare at the visuals. John Cook also reviewed Rad Mobile in The One, stating that it employs "some astonishing effects, but little or no gameplay" and suggests GP Rider as an alternative, stating that "Some will enjoy [Rad Mobile] because it's loud and colourful, but afficionados [sic] will stick to GP Rider". Computer and Video Games gave a review stating that the game is "technically superb" and has "exceptionally realistic 3D" but lacks anything to stimulate addictive gameplay. In a March 1991 review, Ace described Rad Mobile as "high on visuals and low on gameplay". Beep! Mega Drive praised the way the car used the windshield wiper in the rain, and headlights at night.
Gale Racer received a negative reception, with Horowitz stating that based on the talent behind the Saturn port, "one would have expected nothing short of the best home racing game ever made". Computer and Video Games detested Gale Racer, criticizing the gameplay, visuals, and hypothesizing that it was rushed out to shelves to tie in with the Saturn's release.
Retrospectively, video game historian Ken Horowitz has stated that Rad Mobile has struggled to be recognized as an influential racing game, though he reinforces that the game deserves at least some recognition as Sega's first 32-bit racing game and as the first appearance of Sonic the Hedgehog. Martin Dodd of Retro Gamer compared the game's graphics to Power Drift and called the game "very good for the time with it being 32-bit". Writing for AllGame, Anthony Baize gave a positive retrospective review, calling the graphics "better than any racing game that preceded it". |
15,746,136 | Franklin's lost expedition | 1,173,793,110 | British expedition of Arctic exploration | [
"1840s missing person cases",
"1845 in Canada",
"1845 in the British Empire",
"19th century in the Arctic",
"American Geographical Society",
"Arctic expeditions",
"Expeditions from the United Kingdom",
"Exploration of the Arctic",
"Formerly missing people",
"Franklin's lost expedition",
"Geography of Canada",
"History of Nunavut",
"History of the Northwest Territories",
"Incidents of cannibalism",
"Lead poisoning incidents",
"Maritime history of Canada",
"Mass disappearances",
"Missing person cases in Canada"
]
| Franklin's lost expedition was a failed British voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed England, United Kingdom in 1845 aboard two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and was assigned to traverse the last unnavigated sections of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic and to record magnetic data to help determine whether a better understanding could aid navigation. The expedition met with disaster after both ships and their crews, a total of 129 officers and men, became icebound in Victoria Strait near King William Island in what is today the Canadian territory of Nunavut. After being icebound for more than a year Erebus and Terror were abandoned in April 1848, by which point two dozen men, including Franklin, had died. The survivors, now led by Franklin's second-in-command, Francis Crozier, and Erebus's captain, James Fitzjames, set out for the Canadian mainland and disappeared, presumably having perished.
Pressed by Franklin's wife, Jane, and others, the Admiralty launched a search for the missing expedition in 1848. In the many subsequent searches in the decades afterwards, several artefacts from the expedition were discovered, including the remains of two men, which were returned to Britain. A series of scientific studies in modern times suggested that the men of the expedition did not all die quickly. Hypothermia, starvation, lead poisoning or zinc deficiency and diseases including scurvy, along with general exposure to a hostile environment while lacking adequate clothing and nutrition, killed everyone on the expedition in the years after it was last sighted by Europeans in 1845. Cut marks on some of the bones recovered during these studies also supported allegations of cannibalism reported by Franklin searcher John Rae in 1854.
Despite the expedition's notorious failure, it did succeed in exploring the vicinity of what was one of the many Northwest Passages to eventually be discovered. Robert McClure led one of the expeditions that investigated the fate of Franklin's expedition, a voyage which was also beset by great challenges and later controversies. McClure's expedition returned after finding an ice-bound route that connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. The Northwest Passage was not navigated by boat until 1906, when Roald Amundsen traversed the passage on the Gjøa.
In 2014, a search team led by Parks Canada located the wreck of Erebus in the eastern portion of Queen Maud Gulf. Two years later, the Arctic Research Foundation found the wreck of Terror south of King William Island, in the body of water named Terror Bay. Research and dive expeditions are an annual occurrence at the wreck sites, now protected as a combined National Historic Site.
## Background
The search by Europeans for a western shortcut by sea from Europe to Asia began with the voyages of Portuguese and Spanish explorers such as Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama and Christopher Columbus in the 15th century. By the mid-19th century numerous exploratory expeditions had been mounted, originating mainly from the Kingdom of England (England was a part of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707, and a part of the United Kingdom from 1801). These voyages, when successful, added to the sum of European geographic knowledge about the Western Hemisphere, particularly North America. As that knowledge grew, exploration gradually shifted towards the Arctic.
Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century voyagers who made geographic discoveries about North America included Martin Frobisher, John Davis, Henry Hudson and William Baffin. In 1670 the incorporation of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) led to further exploration of the Canadian coastlines, interior and adjacent Arctic seas. In the 18th century explorers of this region included James Knight, Christopher Middleton, Samuel Hearne, James Cook, Alexander MacKenzie and George Vancouver. By 1800 their discoveries had conclusively demonstrated that no Northwest Passage between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans existed in the temperate latitudes.
In 1804 Sir John Barrow became Second Secretary of the Admiralty, a post he held until 1845. Barrow began pushing for the Royal Navy to find a Northwest Passage over the top of Canada and to navigate toward the North Pole, organising a major series of expeditions. Over those four decades explorers including John Ross, David Buchan, William Edward Parry, Frederick William Beechey, James Clark Ross (nephew of John Ross), George Back, Peter Warren Dease and Thomas Simpson led productive expeditions to the Canadian Arctic. Among those explorers was John Franklin, who first travelled to the region in 1818 as second-in-command of an expedition towards the North Pole on the ships Dorothea and Trent. Franklin was subsequently leader of two overland expeditions to and along the Canadian Arctic coast, in 1819–22 and 1825–27.
By 1845 the combined discoveries of all these expeditions had reduced the unknown parts of the Canadian Arctic that might contain a Northwest Passage to a quadrilateral area of about 181,300 km<sup>2</sup> (70,000 sq mi). It was in this unexplored area that the next expedition was to sail, heading west through Lancaster Sound, then west and south – however ice, land and other obstacles might allow – with the goal of finding a Northwest Passage. The distance to be navigated was roughly 1,670 km (1,040 mi).
## Preparations
### Command
Barrow was now 82 years old and nearing the end of his career. He felt that the expeditions were close to finding a Northwest Passage, perhaps through what Barrow believed to be an ice-free Open Polar Sea around the North Pole. Barrow deliberated over who should command the next expedition. Parry, his first choice, was tired of the Arctic and politely declined. His second choice, James Clark Ross, also declined because he had promised his new wife that he had finished polar exploration. His third choice, James Fitzjames, was rejected by the Admiralty for his youth. Barrow also considered Back but thought he was too argumentative. Francis Crozier, another possibility, was of humble birth and Irish, which counted against him. Reluctantly, Barrow settled on the 59-year-old Franklin.
The expedition was to consist of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, both of which had been used for James Clark Ross' expedition to the Antarctic in 1841–1844, during which Crozier had commanded Terror. Franklin was given command of Erebus, with Fitzjames as the vessel's second-in-command; Crozier was appointed his executive officer and was again made commander of Terror. Franklin received command of the expedition on 7 February 1845, and his official instructions on 5 May 1845.
### Ships, provisions and personnel
Erebus (378 tons bm) and Terror (331 tons bm) were sturdily built and well equipped, including several recent inventions. Steam engines were fitted, driving a single screw propeller in each vessel; these engines were converted former locomotives from the London & Croydon Railway. The ships could make 7.4 km/h (4.0 kn) on steam power, or travel under wind power to reach higher speeds and/or save fuel.
Other advanced technology in the ships included reinforced bows constructed of heavy beams and iron plates, an internal steam heating system for the comfort of the crew in polar conditions, and a system of iron wells that allowed the screw propellers and iron rudders to be withdrawn into the hull to protect them from damage. The ships also carried libraries of more than 1,000 books and three years' supply of food, which included tinned soup and vegetables, salt-cured meat, pemmican and several live cattle. The tinned food was supplied from a provisioner, Stephen Goldner, who was awarded the contract on 1 April 1845, a mere seven weeks before Franklin set sail. Goldner worked frantically on the large order of 8,000 tins. The haste required affected quality control of some of the tins, which were later found to have lead soldering that was "thick and sloppily done, and dripped like melted candle wax down the inside surface".
Most of the crew were English, many from Northern England, with smaller numbers of Irish, Welsh and Scottish members. Two of the sailors were not born in the British Isles: Charles Johnson was from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Henry Lloyd was from Kristiansand, Norway. The only officers with prior experience of the Arctic were Franklin, Crozier, Erebus First Lieutenant Graham Gore, Terror assistant surgeon Alexander McDonald and the two ice-masters, James Reid (Erebus) and Thomas Blanky (Terror).
## Outward journey and loss
The expedition set sail from Greenhithe, Kent, on the morning of 19 May 1845, with a crew of 24 officers and 110 men. The ships stopped briefly in Stromness, Orkney Islands, in northern Scotland. From there they sailed to Greenland with HMS Rattler and a transport ship, Barretto Junior; the passage to Greenland took 30 days.
At the Whalefish Islands in Disko Bay, on the west coast of Greenland, ten oxen carried on Barretto Junior were slaughtered for fresh meat which was transferred to Erebus and Terror. Crew members then wrote their last letters home, which recorded that Franklin had banned swearing and drunkenness. Five men were discharged due to sickness and sent home on Rattler and Barretto Junior, reducing the final crew to 129 men. In late July 1845 the whalers Prince of Wales (Captain Dannett) and Enterprise (Captain Robert Martin) encountered Terror and Erebus in Baffin Bay, where they were waiting for good conditions to cross to Lancaster Sound. The expedition was never seen again by Europeans.
Only limited information is available for subsequent events, pieced together over the next 150 years by other expeditions, explorers, scientists and interviews with Inuit. The only first-hand information on expedition's progress is the two-part Victory Point Note found in the aftermath on King William Island. Franklin's men spent the winter of 1845–46 on Beechey Island, where three crew members died and were buried. After travelling down Peel Sound through the summer of 1846, Terror and Erebus became trapped in ice off King William Island in September 1846 and are thought never to have sailed again. According to the second part of the Victory Point Note dated 25 April 1848 and signed by Fitzjames and Crozier, the crew had wintered off King William Island in 1846–47 and 1847–48 and Franklin had died on 11 June 1847. The remaining crew had abandoned the ships and planned to walk over the island and across the sea ice towards the Back River on the Canadian mainland, beginning on 26 April 1848. In addition to Franklin, eight further officers and 15 men had also died by this point. The Victory Point Note is the last known communication of the expedition.
From archaeological finds it is believed that all of the remaining crew died on the subsequent 400 km (250 mi) long march to Back River, most on the island. Thirty or forty men reached the northern coast of the mainland before dying, still hundreds of miles from the nearest outpost of Western civilisation.
### The Victory Point Note
The Victory Point Note was found eleven years later in May 1859 by William Hobson (lieutenant on the McClintock Arctic expedition) placed in a cairn on the north-western coast of King William Island. It consists of two parts written on a pre-printed Admiralty form. The first part was written after the first overwintering in 1847 and the second part was added one year later. From the second part it can be inferred that the document was first deposited in a different cairn previously erected by James Clark Ross in 1830 during John Ross's Second Arctic expedition – at a location Ross named Victory Point. The document is therefore referred to as Victory Point Note.
The first message is written in the body of the form and dates from 28 May 1847.
The second and final part is written largely on the margins of the form owing to a lack of remaining space on the document. It was presumably written on 25 April 1848.
In 1859 Hobson found a second document using the same Admiralty form containing an almost identical duplicate of the first message from 1847 in a cairn a few miles southwest at Gore Point. This document did not contain the second message. From the handwriting it is assumed that all messages were written by Fitzjames. As he did not take part in the landing party that deposited the notes originally in 1847, it is inferred that both documents were originally filled in by Fitzjames on board the ships, with Lieutenant Graham Gore and Mate Charles Frederick Des Voeux adding their signatures as members of the landing party. This is further supported by the fact that both documents contain the same factual errors – namely the wrong date of the wintering on Beechey Island. In 1848, after the abandonment of the ships and subsequent recovery of the document from the Victory Point cairn, Fitzjames added the second message signed by him and Crozier and deposited the note in the cairn found by Hobson eleven years later.
## 19th century expeditions
### Early searches
After two years had passed with no word from Franklin, public concern grew and Jane, Lady Franklin, as well as members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and British newspapers, urged the Admiralty to send a search party. Although the Admiralty said it did not feel any reason to be alarmed, it responded by developing a three-pronged plan which in the spring of 1848 sent an overland rescue party, led by John Richardson and John Rae, down the Mackenzie River to the Canadian Arctic coast.
Two expeditions by sea were also launched – one, led by James Clark Ross, entering the Canadian Arctic archipelago through Lancaster Sound and the other, commanded by Henry Kellett, entering from the Pacific. In addition, the Admiralty offered a reward of £20,000 (£ as of ) "to any Party or Parties, of any country, who shall render assistance to the crews of the Discovery Ships under the command of Sir John Franklin". When the three-pronged effort failed, British national concern and interest in the Arctic increased until "finding Franklin became nothing less than a crusade." Ballads such as "Lady Franklin's Lament", commemorating Lady Franklin's search for her lost husband, became popular.
Many joined the search. In 1850, eleven British and two American ships cruised the Canadian Arctic, including the Breadalbane and her sister ship HMS Phoenix. Several converged off the east coast of Beechey Island, where the first relics of the expedition were found, including remnants of a winter camp from 1845 to 1846. Robert Goodsir, surgeon on the brig Lady Franklin, found the graves of John Torrington, John Hartnell and William Braine. No messages from the Franklin expedition were found at this site.
In the spring of 1851, passengers and crew aboard several ships observed a huge iceberg off Newfoundland, which bore two vessels, one upright and one on its beam ends. The ships were not examined closely. It was suggested at the time that the ships could have been Erebus and Terror but it is now known that they were not; it is likely that they were abandoned whaling ships.
In 1852 Edward Belcher was given command of the government Arctic expedition in search of Franklin. It was unsuccessful; Belcher's inability to render himself popular with his subordinates was peculiarly unfortunate on an Arctic voyage and he was not wholly suited to commanding vessels among ice. Four of the five ships (HMS Resolute, Pioneer, Assistance and Intrepid) were abandoned in pack ice, for which Belcher was court-martialled but acquitted.
One of these ships, HMS Resolute, was eventually recovered intact by an American whaler and returned to the United Kingdom. Timbers from the ship were later used to manufacture three desks, one of which, the Resolute desk, was presented by Queen Victoria to US President Rutherford B. Hayes; it has often been chosen by presidents for use in the Oval Office in the White House.
### Overland searches
In 1854, Rae, while surveying the Boothia Peninsula for the HBC, discovered further evidence of the expedition's fate. Rae met an Inuk near Pelly Bay (now Kugaaruk, Nunavut) on 21 April 1854, who told him of a party of 35 to 40 white men who had died of starvation near the mouth of the Back River. Other Inuit confirmed this story, which included reports of cannibalism among the dying sailors.
The Inuit showed Rae many objects that were identified as having belonged to members of the Franklin expedition. In particular, Rae bought from the Inuit several silver forks and spoons later identified as belonging to Franklin; Fitzjames; Crozier; and James Walter Fairholme and Robert Orme Sargent, two crewmembers from Erebus. Rae's report was sent to the Admiralty, which in October 1854 urged the HBC to send an expedition down the Back River to search for other signs of Franklin and his men.
Next were Chief Factor James Anderson and HBC employee James Stewart, who travelled north by canoe to the mouth of the Back River. In July 1855, a band of Inuit told them of a group of qallunaat (Inuktitut for "whites" or "Europeans", perhaps best translated as "foreigners") who had starved to death along the coast. In August, Anderson and Stewart found a piece of wood inscribed with "Erebus" and another that said "Mr. Stanley" (surgeon aboard Erebus) on Montreal Island in Chantrey Inlet, where the Back River meets the sea.
Despite the findings of Rae and Anderson, the Admiralty did not plan another search of its own. The Royal Navy officially labelled the crew deceased in service on 31 March 1854. Lady Franklin, failing to convince the government to fund another search, personally commissioned one more expedition under Francis Leopold McClintock. The expedition ship, the steam schooner Fox, bought via public subscription, sailed from Aberdeen on 2 July 1857.
In April 1859, sled parties set out from Fox to search on King William Island. On 5 May, the party led by Lieutenant William Hobson discovered the Victory Point Note, which detailed the abandonment of Erebus and Terror, death of Franklin and other crewmembers, and the decision by the survivors to march south to the mainland. On the western extreme of King William Island, Hobson also discovered a lifeboat containing two human skeletons and relics from the Franklin expedition. In the boat was a large amount of abandoned equipment, including boots, silk handkerchiefs, scented soap, sponges, slippers, hair combs and many books, among them a copy of The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith.
Elsewhere, on the island's southern coast, McClintock's searchers found another skeleton. Still clothed, it was searched, and some papers were found, including a seaman's certificate for Chief Petty Officer Harry Peglar of Terror. However, since the uniform was that of a ship's steward, it is more likely that the body was that of Thomas Armitage, gun-room steward on Terror and a shipmate of Peglar, whose papers he carried. McClintock himself took testimony from the Inuit about the expedition's disastrous end.
Two expeditions between 1860 and 1869 by Charles Francis Hall, who lived among the Inuit near Frobisher Bay on Baffin Island and later at Repulse Bay on the Canadian mainland, found camps, graves and relics on the southern coast of King William Island, but he believed none of the Franklin survivors would be found among the Inuit. In 1869, local Inuit took Hall to a shallow grave on the island containing well-preserved skeletal remains and fragments of clothing. These remains were taken to England and interred beneath the Franklin Memorial at Greenwich Old Royal Naval College, London.
The eminent biologist Thomas Henry Huxley examined the remains and concluded that they belonged to Henry Thomas Dundas Le Vesconte, second lieutenant on Erebus. An examination in 2009 suggested that these were actually the remains of Harry Goodsir, assistant surgeon on Erebus. Although Hall concluded that all of the Franklin crew were dead, he believed that the official expedition records would yet be found under a stone cairn. With the assistance of his guides Ipirvik and Taqulittuq, Hall gathered hundreds of pages of Inuit testimony.
Among these materials were accounts of visits to Franklin's ships, and an encounter with a party of white men on the southern coast of King William Island near Washington Bay. In the 1990s, this testimony was extensively researched by David C. Woodman and was the basis of two books, Unravelling the Franklin Mystery (1992) and Strangers Among Us (1995), in which he reconstructs the final months of the expedition. Woodman's narrative challenged existing theories that the survivors all perished over the remainder of 1848 as they marched south from Victory Point, arguing instead that Inuit accounts point strongly to most of the 105 survivors cited by Crozier in his final note actually surviving past 1848, re-manning at least one of the ships and managing to sail it down along the coast of King William Island before it sank, with some crew members surviving as late as 1851.
The hope of finding other additional expedition records led Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka of the United States Army to organise an expedition to King William Island between 1878 and 1880. Travelling to Hudson Bay on the schooner Eothen, Schwatka, assembling a team that included Inuit who had assisted Hall, continued north by foot and dog sled, interviewing Inuit, visiting known or likely sites of Franklin expedition remains, and wintering on the island. Although Schwatka failed to find the hoped-for papers, in a speech at a dinner given in his honour by the American Geographical Society in 1880, he said that his expedition had made "the longest sledge journey ever made both in regard to time and distance" of eleven months and four days and 4,360 km (2,710 mi), that it was the first Arctic expedition on which the whites relied entirely on the same diet as the Inuit, and that it established the loss of the Franklin records "beyond all reasonable doubt". However, Schwatka was successful in locating the remains of one of Franklin's men, identified by personal effects as John Irving, third lieutenant aboard Terror. Schwatka had Irving's remains returned to Scotland, where they were buried with full honours at Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh on 7 January 1881.
The Schwatka expedition found no remnants of the Franklin expedition south of a place now known as Starvation Cove on the Adelaide Peninsula. This was about 64 km (40 mi) north of Crozier's stated goal, the Back River, and several hundred miles away from the nearest Western outpost, on the Great Slave Lake. Woodman wrote of Inuit reports that between 1852 and 1858 Crozier and one other expedition member were seen in the Baker Lake area, about 400 km (250 mi) to the south, where in 1948 Farley Mowat found "a very ancient cairn, not of normal Eskimo construction" inside which were shreds of a hardwood box with dovetail joints.
### Contemporary search expeditions
1848
- East: James Clark Ross, (HMS Enterprise, HMS Investigator) only to Somerset Island because of ice.
- Centre: Rae–Richardson Arctic expedition Mackenzie River and along the coast.
- West: HMS Plover, HMS Herald to Bering Strait; William Pullen reaches Mackenzie by whaleboat.
1850
- West: Richard Collinson (HMS Enterprise), Robert McClure (HMS Investigator) to Bering Strait. McClure frozen in at Banks Island and Investigator abandoned after two winters, crew trek east to Belcher expedition ships, becoming first Europeans to cross the northwest passage. Collinson reaches Coronation Gulf, furthest east of any ship.
- East: Horatio Austin (HMS Resolute), Erasmus Ommanney (HMS Assistance), plus two steam tenders, Pioneer and Intrepid (Cpt. John Bertie Cator 1850). Ommanney finds Franklin's Beechey Island camp. Austin's four and the below ships gather around Beechey Island, are frozen in and in spring send out sledge expeditions in all directions. They left the Arctic before winter in 1851.
- East: Charles Forsyth (Prince Albert) financed by Lady Franklin; sledge on Somerset Island to Fury Beach.
- East: William Penny (Lady Franklin and Sophia)
- East: John Ross (schooner Felix)
- East: Edwin De Haven (USS Rescue, USS Advance) mounted the First Grinnell expedition.
1851
- William Kennedy (Prince Albert again) finds Bellot Strait proving that Somerset Island is an island.
1852
- Edward Augustus Inglefield in northern Baffin Bay.
- Edward Belcher in five ships: HMS Assistance (Belcher), HMS Resolute (Henry Kellett), Pioneer (Sherard Osborn), Intrepid (Francis Leopold McClintock) and depot ship HMS North Star (William Pullen); much sledge exploration; rescues crew of HMS Investigator; all frozen in and abandoned except for North Star. Joined by supply ships Breadalbane, which would be crushed by ice, and HMS Phoenix, which with North Star took off crews of the other ships, including that of McClure's HMS Investigator, in 1854.
- Elisha Kane led the Second Grinnell expedition.
- Boat expedition up the Wellington Channel under the command of R. M'Cormick, R.N., in HMB Forlorn Hope.
1854
- John Rae learns where Franklin lost his ship.
1855
- Anderson and Stewart descend the Back River and find relics in Chantrey Inlet.
1857
- Francis McClintock finds relics at King William Island, including the sole surviving written records of the Franklin expedition (the Victory Point and Gore Point records), and a ship's boat on runners containing two corpses.
1869
- Charles Francis Hall at King William Island
1875
- Allen Young blocked at Peel Sound
1878
- Frederick Schwatka at King William Island
## Modern expeditions
### King William Island excavations (1981–1982)
In June 1981, Owen Beattie, a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta (UAlberta), began the 1845–48 Franklin Expedition Forensic Anthropology Project (FEFAP) when he and his team of researchers and field assistants travelled from Edmonton to King William Island, traversing the island's western coast as Franklin's men did 132 years before. FEFAP hoped to find artefacts and skeletal remains in order to use modern forensics to establish identities and causes of death among the lost 129 crewmembers.
Although the trek found archaeological artefacts related to 19th-century Europeans and undisturbed disarticulated human remains, Beattie was disappointed that more remains were not found. Examining the bones of Franklin crewmen, he noted areas of pitting and scaling often found in cases of Vitamin C deficiency, the cause of scurvy. After returning to Edmonton, he compared notes from the survey with James Savelle, an Arctic archaeologist, and noticed skeletal patterns suggesting cannibalism. Seeking information about the Franklin crew's health and diet, he sent bone samples to the Alberta Soil and Feed Testing Laboratory for trace element analysis and assembled another team to visit King William Island. The analysis would find an unexpected level of 226 parts per million (ppm) of lead in the crewman's bones, which was ten times higher than the control samples, taken from Inuit skeletons from the same geographic area, of 26–36 ppm.
In June 1982, a team made up of Beattie and three students (Walt Kowall, a graduate student in anthropology at UAlberta; Arne Carlson, an archaeology and geography student from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia; and Arsien Tungilik, an Inuk student and field assistant) was flown to the west coast of King William Island where they retraced some of the steps of McClintock in 1859 and Schwatka in 1878–79. Discoveries during this expedition included the remains of between six and fourteen men in the vicinity of McClintock's "boat place" and artefacts including a complete boot sole fitted with makeshift cleats for better traction.
### Beechey Island excavations and exhumations (1984–1986)
After returning to Edmonton in 1982 and learning of the lead level findings from the 1981 expedition, Beattie struggled to find a cause. Possibilities included the lead solder used to seal the expedition's food tins, other food containers lined with lead foil, food colouring, tobacco products, pewter tableware and lead-wicked candles. He came to suspect that the problems of lead poisoning compounded by the effects of scurvy could have been lethal for the Franklin crew. However, because skeletal lead might reflect lifetime exposure rather than exposure limited to the voyage, Beattie's theory could be tested only by forensic examination of preserved soft tissue as opposed to bone. Beattie decided to examine the graves of the buried crewmen on Beechey Island.
After obtaining legal permission, Beattie's team visited Beechey Island in August 1984 to perform autopsies on the three crewmen buried there. They started with John Torrington, the first crew member to die. After completing Torrington's autopsy and exhuming and briefly examining the body of John Hartnell, the team, pressed for time and threatened by weather, returned to Edmonton with tissue and bone samples. Trace element analysis of Torrington's bones and hair indicated that the crewman "would have suffered severe mental and physical problems caused by lead poisoning". Although the autopsy indicated that pneumonia had been the ultimate cause of the crewman's death, lead poisoning was cited as a contributing factor.
During the expedition, the team visited a place about 1 km (0.62 mi) north of the gravesite to examine fragments of hundreds of food tins discarded by Franklin's men. Beattie noted that the seams were poorly soldered with lead, which had likely come in direct contact with the food. The release of findings from the 1984 expedition and the photo of Torrington, a 138-year-old corpse well preserved by Arctic permafrost, led to wide media coverage and renewed interest in the Franklin expedition.
Subsequent research has suggested that another potential source for the lead may have been the ships' distilled water systems rather than the tinned food. K. T. H. Farrer argued that "it is impossible to see how one could ingest from the canned food the amount of lead, 3.3 mg per day over eight months, required to raise the PbB to the level 80 μg/dL at which symptoms of lead poisoning begin to appear in adults and the suggestion that bone lead in adults could be 'swamped' by lead ingested from food over a period of a few months, or even three years, seems scarcely tenable." In addition, tinned food was in widespread use within the Royal Navy at that time and its use did not lead to any significant increase in lead poisoning elsewhere.
However, and uniquely for this expedition only, the ships were fitted with converted railway locomotive engines for auxiliary propulsion which required an estimated one tonne of fresh water per hour when steaming. It is highly probable that it was for this reason that the ships were fitted with a unique desalination system which, given the materials in use at the time, would have produced large quantities of water with a very high lead content. William Battersby has argued that this is a much more likely source for the high levels of lead observed in the remains of expedition members than the tinned food.
A further survey of the graves was undertaken in 1986. A camera crew filmed the procedure, shown in a 1988 episode of the American programme Nova. Under difficult field conditions, Derek Notman, a radiologist and medical doctor from the University of Minnesota, and radiology technician Larry Anderson took many X-rays of the crewmen prior to autopsy. Barbara Schweger, an Arctic clothing specialist, and Roger Amy, a pathologist, assisted in the investigation.
Beattie and his team had noticed that someone else had attempted to exhume Hartnell. In the effort, a pickaxe had damaged the wooden lid of his coffin, and the coffin plaque was missing. Research in Edmonton later showed that Sir Edward Belcher, commander of one of the Franklin rescue expeditions, had ordered the exhumation of Hartnell in October 1852, but was thwarted by the permafrost. One month later, Edward A. Inglefield, commander of another rescue expedition, succeeded with the exhumation and removed the coffin's plaque.
Unlike Hartnell's grave, the grave of Private William Braine was largely intact. When he was exhumed, the survey team saw signs that his burial had been hasty. His arms, body and head had not been positioned carefully in the coffin, and one of his undershirts had been put on backwards. The coffin seemed too small for him; its lid had pressed down on his nose. A large copper plaque with his name and other personal data punched into it adorned his coffin lid.
### NgLj-2 excavations (1992)
In 1992, Franklin scholar Barry Ranford and his colleague, Mike Yarascavitch, discovered human skeletal remains and artefacts of what they suspected to be some of the lost crewmen of the expedition. The site matches the physical description of McClintock's "boat place". In 1993, a team of archaeologists and forensic anthropologists returned to the site, which they referenced as "NgLj-2", on the western shores of King William Island, to excavate these remains. These excavations uncovered nearly 400 bones and bone fragments, and physical artefacts ranging from pieces of clay pipes to buttons and brass fittings. Examination of these bones by Anne Keenleyside, the expedition's forensic scientist, showed elevated levels of lead and many cut-marks "consistent with de-fleshing". On the basis of this expedition, it has become generally accepted that at least some of Franklin's men resorted to cannibalism in their final distress.
A study published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology in 2015 concluded that in addition to the de-fleshing of bones, thirty-five "bones had signs of breakage and 'pot polishing,' which occurs when the ends of bones heated in boiling water rub against the cooking pot they are placed in", which "typically occurs in the end stage of cannibalism, when starving people extract the marrow to eke out the last bit of calories and nutrition they can."
### Wreck searches (1992–1993)
In 1992, Franklin author David C. Woodman, with the help of magnetometer expert Brad Nelson, organised "Project Ootjoolik" to search for the shipwreck reported by Inuit testimony to lie off the waters of Adelaide Peninsula. Enlisting both a National Research Council and a Canadian Forces patrol aircraft, each fitted with a sensitive magnetometer, a large search area to the west of Grant Point was surveyed from an elevation of 61 m (200 ft). Over sixty strong magnetic targets were identified, of which five were deemed to have characteristics most congruent to those expected from Franklin's ships.
In 1993, Joe McInnis and Woodman organised an attempt to identify the priority targets from the year before. A chartered aircraft landed on the ice at three of the locations, a hole was drilled through the ice and a small sector-scan sonar was used to image the sea bottom. However, due to ice conditions and uncertain navigation, it was not possible to exactly confirm the locations of the holes and nothing was found although hitherto-unknown depths were found at the locations that were consistent with Inuit testimony of the wreck.
### King William Island (1994–1995)
In 1994, Woodman organised and led a land search of the area from Collinson Inlet to (modern) Victory Point in search of the buried "vaults" spoken of in the testimony of the contemporary Inuit hunter Supunger. A ten-person team spent ten days in the search, sponsored by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society and filmed by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). No trace of the vaults was found.
In 1995, an expedition was jointly organised by Woodman, George Hobson and American adventurer Steven Trafton – with each party planning a separate search. Trafton's group travelled to the Clarence Islands to investigate Inuit stories of a "white man's cairn" there but found nothing. Hobson's party, accompanied by archaeologist Margaret Bertulli, investigated the "summer camp" found a few miles to the south of Cape Felix, where some minor Franklin relics were found. Woodman, with two companions, travelled south from Wall Bay to Victory Point and investigated all likely campsites along this coast, finding only some rusted cans at a previously unknown campsite near Cape Maria Louisa.
### Wreck searches (1997–2013)
In 1997, a "Franklin 150" expedition was mounted by the Canadian film company Eco-Nova to use sonar to investigate more of the priority magnetic targets found in 1992. The senior archaeologist was Robert Grenier, assisted by Margaret Bertulli, and Woodman again acted as expedition historian and search coordinator. Operations were conducted from the Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker Laurier. Approximately 40 km<sup>2</sup> (15 sq mi) were surveyed, without result, near Kirkwall Island. When detached parties found Franklin relics – primarily copper sheeting and small items – on the beaches of islets to the north of O'Reilly Island the search was diverted to that area, but poor weather prevented significant survey work before the expedition ended. A documentary, Oceans of Mystery: Search for the Lost Fleet, was produced by Eco-Nova about this expedition.
Three expeditions were mounted by Woodman to continue the magnetometer mapping of the proposed wreck sites: a privately sponsored expedition in 2001, and the Irish-Canadian Franklin Search Expeditions of 2002 and 2004. These made use of sled-drawn magnetometers working on the sea ice and completed the unfinished survey of the northern (Kirkwall Island) search area in 2001, and the entire southern O'Reilly Island area in 2002 and 2004. All of the high-priority magnetic targets were identified by sonar through the ice as geological in origin. In 2002 and 2004, small Franklin artefacts and characteristic explorer tent sites were found on a small islet northeast of O'Reilly Island during shore searches.
In August 2008 a new search by Parks Canada was announced, to be led by Grenier. This search hoped to take advantage of the improved ice conditions, using side-scan sonar from a boat in open water. Grenier also hoped to draw from newly published Inuit testimony collected by oral historian Dorothy Harley Eber. Some of Eber's informants placed the location of one of Franklin's ships in the vicinity of the Royal Geographical Society Island, an area not searched by previous expeditions. The search was to also include local Inuit historian Louie Kamookak, who had found other significant remains of the expedition and would represent the indigenous culture.
HMS Investigator became icebound in 1853 while searching for Franklin's expedition and was subsequently abandoned. It was found in shallow water in Mercy Bay on 25 July 2010, along the northern coast of Banks Island in Canada's western Arctic. The Parks Canada team reported that it was in good shape, upright in about 11 m (36 ft) of water.
A new search was announced by Parks Canada in August 2013.
### Victoria Strait Expedition: wreck of Erebus (2014)
On 1 September 2014, a larger search by a Canadian team under the banner of the "Victoria Strait Expedition" found two items on Hat Island in the Queen Maud Gulf near King William Island: a wooden object, possibly a plug for a deck hawse, the iron pipe through which the ship's chain cable would descend into the chain locker below; and part of a boat-launching davit bearing the stamps of two Royal Navy broad arrows.
On 9 September 2014, the expedition announced that on 7 September it had located one of Franklin's two ships. The ship is preserved in good condition, with side-scan sonar picking up even the deck planking. The wreck lies in about 11 m (36 ft) of water at the bottom of Wilmot and Crampton Bay in the eastern part of Queen Maud Gulf, west of O'Reilly Island. On 1 October at the House of Commons, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper confirmed the wreck was that of HMS Erebus. A documentary, Hunt for the Arctic Ghost Ship, was produced by Lion Television for Channel 4's Secret History series in 2015.
In September 2018, Parks Canada announced that Erebus had deteriorated significantly. "An upwards buoyant force acting on the decking combined with storm swell in relatively shallow water caused the displacement," according to a spokesperson. The underwater exploration in 2018 totalled only a day and a half due to weather and ice conditions and was to continue in 2019. Also in September 2018, a report provided specifics as to ownership of the ships and contents: the United Kingdom will own the first 65 artefacts brought up from Erebus, while the wreck of both ships and other artefacts will be jointly owned by Canada and the Inuit.
### Arctic Research Foundation Expedition: wreck of Terror (2016)
On 12 September 2016, it was announced that the Arctic Research Foundation expedition had found the wreck of HMS Terror to the south of King William Island in Terror Bay, at at a depth of 24 m (79 ft), and in "pristine" condition.
In 2018, a team examined the wreck of Terror using a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV) that collected photos and video clips of the ship and a number of artefacts. The group concluded that Terror had not been left at anchor, since anchor cables were seen to be secured along the bulwarks.
## Scientific conclusions
### Reasons for failure
The FEFAP field surveys, excavations and exhumations spanned more than ten years. The results of this study showed that the Beechey Island crew had most probably died of pneumonia and perhaps tuberculosis, which was suggested by the evidence of Pott disease discovered in Braine. Toxicological reports pointed to lead poisoning as a likely contributing factor. Blade cut marks found on bones from some of the crew were seen as signs of cannibalism. Evidence suggested that a combination of cold, starvation and disease including scurvy, pneumonia and tuberculosis, all made worse by lead poisoning, killed everyone in the Franklin party.
More recent chemical re-examination of bone and nail samples taken from Hartnell and other crew members has cast doubt on the role of lead poisoning. A 2013 study determined that the levels of lead present in the crew members' bones had been consistent during their lives, and that there was no isotopic difference between lead concentrated within older and younger bone materials. Had the crew been poisoned by lead from the solder used to seal the canned food or from the ships' water supplies, both the concentration of lead and its isotopic composition would have been expected to have "spiked" during their last few months. This interpretation was supported by a 2016 study that suggested the crew's ill health may in fact have been due to malnutrition, and specifically zinc deficiency, probably due to a lack of meat in their diet. This study used micro-X-ray fluorescence to map the levels of lead, copper and zinc in Hartnell's thumbnail over the final months of his life, and found that apart from during his last few weeks lead concentrations within Hartnell's body were within healthy limits. In contrast, levels of zinc were far lower than normal and indicated that Hartnell would have been suffering from chronic zinc deficiency, sufficient to have severely suppressed his immune system and left him highly vulnerable to a worsening of the tuberculosis with which he was already infected. In the last few weeks of his life, his illness would have caused his body to start breaking down bone, fat and muscle tissues, releasing lead previously stored there into his bloodstream and giving rise to the high lead levels noted in previous analysis of soft tissues and hair.
Franklin's chosen passage down the west side of King William Island took Erebus and Terror into "a ploughing train of ice ... [that] does not always clear during the short summers", whereas the route along the island's east coast regularly clears in summer and was later used by Roald Amundsen in his successful navigation of the Northwest Passage. The Franklin expedition, locked in ice for two winters in Victoria Strait, was naval in nature and therefore not well-equipped or trained for land travel. Some of the crewmembers heading south from Erebus and Terror hauled in many items not needed for Arctic survival. McClintock noted a large quantity of heavy goods in the lifeboat at the "boat place" and thought them "a mere accumulation of dead weight, of little use, and very likely to break down the strength of the sledge-crews".
### Other findings
In 2017, Douglas Stenton, an adjunct professor of anthropology at the University of Waterloo and former director of Nunavut's Department of Heritage and Culture, suggested that four sets of human remains found on King William Island could possibly be women. He initially suspected that DNA testing would not offer up anything more, but to his surprise they registered that there was no 'Y' chromosomal element to the DNA. Stenton acknowledged that women were known to have served in the Royal Navy in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries, but he also pointed out that it could be that the DNA had simply degraded as further tests proved ambiguous and he concluded the initial findings were "almost certainly incorrect".
In 1993, three bodies were found at site NgLj-3 near Erebus Bay. The remains had originally been found by McClintock's expedition in 1859, and were rediscovered and buried by Schwatka two decades later. In 2013, a team led by Stenton had the remains exhumed for DNA testing and forensic facial reconstruction. The team's report, published in Polar Journal in 2015, indicated that the reconstructions of the two intact skulls from the remains resembled Lieutenant Gore and Ice-Master Reid of the Erebus; however, it was determined the remains could not have belonged to Gore, as the Victory Point note stated that Gore had died before the abandonment of the ships in April 1848.
In May 2021, one of the bodies was positively identified as that of Warrant Officer John Gregory, an engineer aboard Erebus. A genealogy team tracked down Gregory's great-great-great-grandson, Jonathan Gregory, residing in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, and confirmed the familial match through DNA testing.
## Timeline
## Legacy
### Historical
The most meaningful outcome of the Franklin expedition was the mapping of several thousand miles of hitherto unsurveyed coastline by expeditions searching for Franklin's lost ships and crew. As Richard Cyriax noted, "the loss of the expedition probably added much more [geographical] knowledge than its successful return would have done". At the same time, it largely quelled the Admiralty's appetite for Arctic exploration. There was a gap of many years before the Nares expedition and Sir George Nares' declaration there was "no thoroughfare" to the North Pole; his words marked the end of the Royal Navy's historical involvement in Arctic exploration, the end of an era in which such exploits were widely seen by the British public as worthy expenditures of human effort and monetary resources. Given how difficult and risky it was for professional explorers to cross the Northwest Passage, it would be impossible for the average merchant ships of the day to use this route for trade.
As a writer for The Athenaeum put it, "We think that we can fairly make out the account between the cost and results of these Arctic Expeditions, and ask whether it is worth while to risk so much for that which is so difficult of attainment, and when attained, is so worthless." The navigation of the Northwest Passage in 1903–05 by Roald Amundsen with the Gjøa expedition ended the centuries-long quest for the route.
### The Northwest Passage discovered
Franklin’s expedition explored the vicinity of what was ultimately one of many Northwest Passages to be discovered. While the more famous search expeditions were underway in 1850, Robert McClure set out on the little-known McClure Arctic expedition on HMS Investigator to also investigate the fate of Franklin’s voyage. While he did not find much evidence of Franklin’s fate, he did finally ascertain an ice-bound route that connected the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. This was the Prince of Wales Strait, which was far to the north of Franklin’s ships.
On 21 October 1850, the following entry was recorded in Investigator’s log:
> "October 31st, the Captain returned at 8.30. A.M., and at 11.30. A.M., the remainder of the parting, having, upon the 26th instant, ascertained that the waters we are now in communicate with those of Barrow Strait, the north-eastern limit being in latitude 73°31′, N. longitude 114°39′, W. thus establishing the existence of a NORTH-WEST PASSAGE between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans."
McClure was knighted for his discovery. While the McClure expedition obviously fared much better than Franklin's voyage, it was similarly beset by immense challenges (including the loss of Investigator and four winters on the ice) and a number of controversies, including allegations of selfishness and poor planning on McClure’s part. His decision to place numerous message cairns along his route ultimately saved his expedition, who were ultimately found and rescued by the crew of HMS Resolute.
In 1855, a British parliamentary committee concluded that McClure "deserved to be rewarded as the discoverer of a Northwest Passage". Today, the question of who actually discovered the Northwest Passage is a subject of controversy, as all the different Passages have varying degrees of navigability. Although he did confirm the first geographical Northwest Passage that is navigable by ship under ideal conditions, McClure is rarely credited in modern times due to his troubled expedition, his poor personal reputation, the fact that his expedition was after Franklin’s (who has a claim to be the first discoverer, see below) and the fact that he never traversed the strait that he found, instead choosing to portage over Banks Island.
#### Simpson Strait
Members of the Franklin expedition crossed the southern shore of King William Island and made it onto the Canadian mainland; this is evident by the fact that human remains from the expedition have been found inland on the Adelaide Peninsula. This may have involved walking across the Simpson Strait, which has since been recognised as one of the Northwest Passages to the Pacific. As none of the members of the expedition survived, it is not known whether any member of the party had realised this. George Back had discovered the strait in 1834 but did not realise it was a Northwest Passage. In any case, by 1854, it was widely believed that the remnants of the expedition had crossed the strait, and Lady Franklin was informed of such on 12 January by the Admiralty.
Franklin’s claim to having discovered the Passage was strengthened by Charles Richard Weld’s assertion that Franklin had long suspected that the Simpson Strait did connect the two oceans. In 1860, McClintock ascertained that the strait was indeed a Northwest Passage. Following this discovery, to honour Franklin’s legacy, the Royal Geographical Society declared that his lost expedition was the first expedition to discover the Passage. Lady Franklin was given a medal in his name.
The Northwest Passage would not be fully navigated by boat until 1906, when Roald Amundsen famously traversed the passage on the Gjøa via the Simpson Strait.
## Cultural depictions
### Commemoration
For years after the loss of the Franklin expedition, the Victorian media portrayed Franklin as a hero who led his men in the quest for the Northwest Passage. A statue of Franklin in his hometown bears the inscription "Sir John Franklin – Discoverer of the North West Passage", and statues of Franklin outside the Athenaeum in London and in Tasmania bear similar inscriptions. Although the expedition's fate, including the possibility of cannibalism, was widely reported and debated, Franklin's standing with the Victorian public was undiminished. The expedition has been the subject of numerous works of non-fiction.
The mystery surrounding the expedition was the subject of three episodes of the PBS programme Nova, broadcast in 1988, 2006 and 2015; a 2007 television documentary, "Franklin's Lost Expedition", on Discovery HD Theatre; as well as a 2008 Canadian documentary, Passage. In a 2009 episode of the ITV travel documentary series Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World, presenter Billy Connolly and his crew visited Beechey Island, filmed the grave site and gave details of the expedition.
In memory of the lost expedition, one of Canada's Northwest Territories subdivisions was known as the District of Franklin. Including the high Arctic islands, this jurisdiction was abolished when the area was set off into the newly created Nunavut Territory on 1 April 1999.
On 29 October 2009, a special service of thanksgiving was held in the chapel at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, to accompany the rededication of the national monument to Franklin there. The service also included the solemn re-interment of the only remains from Erebus to be repatriated to England, entombed within the monument in 1873 (previously thought to be Le Vesconte, but may actually have been Goodsir). The following day, a group of polar authors went to London's Kensal Green Cemetery to pay their respects to the Arctic explorers buried there.
Many other veterans of the searches for Franklin are buried there too, including Admiral Sir Horatio Thomas Austin, Admiral Sir George Back, Admiral Sir Edward Augustus Inglefield, Admiral Bedford Pim, and Admiral Sir John Ross. Franklin's wife, Lady Franklin, is also interred at Kensal Green in the vault and commemorated on a marble cross dedicated to her niece, Sophia Cracroft.
### Literary works
From the 1850s through to the present day, Franklin's lost expedition inspired numerous literary works. Among the first was a play, The Frozen Deep, written by Wilkie Collins with assistance and production by Charles Dickens. The play was performed for private audiences at Tavistock House early in 1857, as well as at the Royal Gallery of Illustration (including a command performance for Queen Victoria) and for the public at the Manchester Trade Union Hall. News of Franklin's death in 1859 inspired elegies, including one by Algernon Charles Swinburne.
Fictional treatments of the expedition begin with Jules Verne's Journeys and Adventures of Captain Hatteras, (1866), in which the novel's hero seeks to retrace Franklin's footsteps and discovers that the North Pole is dominated by an enormous volcano. Verne also remembers the efforts of Lady Franklin to discover the fate of her husband in Mistress Branican (1891), which stages a similar plot but situated in Oceania and Australia instead of the North Pole. Mark Twain briefly satirised the fate of the expedition and its subsequent searches in the beginning of the story "Some Learned Fables for Good Old Boys and Girls" (1875). The German novelist Sten Nadolny's The Discovery of Slowness (1983; English translation 1987) takes on the entirety of Franklin's life, touching only briefly on his last expedition.
Other recent novelistic treatments of Franklin include William T. Vollmann's The Rifles (1994), John Wilson's North With Franklin: The Journals of James Fitzjames (1999); and Dan Simmons's The Terror (2007), the third of which was developed as a 2018 AMC television series of the same name. The expedition has also been the subject of a horror role-playing game supplement for Call of Cthulhu, The Walker in the Wastes. Most recently, Clive Cussler's 2008 novel Arctic Drift incorporates the ordeal of the expedition as a central element in the story, and Richard Flanagan's Wanting (2009) deals with Franklin's deeds in both Tasmania and the Arctic. On 12 January 2012, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Erebus, a radio play based on the expedition by British poet Jo Shapcott. Kassandra Alvarado's 2013 novel The White Passage presents a vaguely science-fiction take on an alternative history of the expedition.
Michael Palin's 2018 book, Erebus, The Story of a Ship, was described by The Guardian newspaper as 'lively and diligent.' He also produced a one man show based on his book. A children's novel, Chasing Ghosts – An Arctic Adventure by Nicola Pierce featuring the expedition was published in 2020.
In 2017, The Breathing Hole, a play written by Colleen Murphy, premiered at the Stratford Festival, directed by Reneltta Arluk. In this play, the fates of the crew of Erebus and Terror are featured within the context of an epic saga spanning five-hundred years. Commissioned to mark Canada's 150th Anniversary and met with critical acclaim, the work involved artists from both Nunavut and the rest of Canada, including collaborations with Qaggiavuut Nunavut Performing Arts. In 2020, the play was published in a dual-language edition in English and in Natsilingmiutut syllabics—the Inuktitut dialect from where the story takes place in the central Arctic.
### Artistic works
In the visual arts, the loss of Franklin's expedition inspired a number of paintings in both the United States and Britain. In 1861, Frederic Edwin Church unveiled his great canvas The Icebergs; later that year, prior to taking it to England for exhibition, he added an image of a broken ship's mast in silent tribute to Franklin. In 1864, Sir Edwin Landseer's Man Proposes, God Disposes caused a stir at the annual Royal Academy exhibition; its depiction of two polar bears, one chewing on a tattered ship's ensign, the other gnawing on a human ribcage, was seen at the time as in poor taste, but has remained one of the most powerful imaginings of the expedition's final fate. The expedition also inspired numerous popular engravings and illustrations, along with many panoramas, dioramas and magic lantern shows.
### Musical works
Franklin's last expedition also inspired a great deal of music, beginning with the ballad "Lady Franklin's Lament" (also known as "Lord Franklin"), which originated in the 1850s and has been recorded by dozens of artists, among them Martin Carthy, Pentangle, Sinéad O'Connor, and The Pearlfishers . The Scottish pirate metal band Alestorm's song "Magnetic North" is dedicated to the expedition . Other Franklin-inspired songs include James Taylor's "Frozen Man" (based on Beattie's photographs of John Torrington) and Iron Maiden's "Stranger In A Strange Land".
### Significance in Canada
The influence of the Franklin expedition on Canadian literature and culture has been especially significant. Among the best-known modern Franklin ballads is "Northwest Passage" by the late Ontario folksinger Stan Rogers (1981), which has been referred to as the unofficial Canadian national anthem. The distinguished Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood has also spoken of Franklin's expedition as a sort of national myth of Canada, remarking that "In every culture many stories are told, (but) only some are told and retold, and these stories bear examining ... in Canadian literature, one such story is the Franklin expedition."
Notable treatments by Canadian poets include a verse play for radio, Terror and Erebus which was commissioned from Gwendolyn MacEwen, broadcast by CBC Radio (10 January 1965) and subsequently published in her collection Afterworlds (1987); and David Solway's verse cycle, Franklin's Passage (2003). The events have also featured prominently in Canadian novels, including Mordecai Richler's Solomon Gursky Was Here (1989) and Dominique Fortier's 2008 French language novel, Du bon usage des étoiles, which creatively considers the Franklin expedition from a variety of perspectives and genres and was both shortlisted and a finalist for several literary awards in Canada (2009 Governor General's Awards). Sheila Fischman's translation of Fortier's novel, On the Proper Use of Stars, was shortlisted for the 2010 Governor General's Awards for French to English Translation. Irish-Canadian writer Ed O'Loughlin's novel Minds of Winter was shortlisted for the 2017 Giller Prize.
## See also
- List of people who disappeared mysteriously at sea |
7,995,282 | 5,6,7,8 | 1,172,345,372 | 1997 single by Steps | [
"1997 debut singles",
"1997 songs",
"British synth-pop songs",
"Country pop songs",
"Jive Records singles",
"Number-one singles in Australia",
"Songs written by Barry Upton",
"Steps (group) songs",
"UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles"
]
| "5,6,7,8" is a song by British group Steps from their debut studio album, Step One (1998). It is a techno-pop and country pop song written by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby, and produced by Karl Twigg, Mark Topham and Pete Waterman. It was released as their debut single in November 1997 following their being put together after each group member responded to a magazine advert looking for people to audition to be in a pop band.
"5,6,7,8" peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart—one of Steps' lowest chart positions—but has become the third-best-selling single of their career in the United Kingdom, selling 365,000 copies and receiving 3,440,000 streams as of March 2017. "5,6,7,8" peaked at number-one in Australia and reached the top five in Belgium and New Zealand. Its accompanying music video was shot on a beach and features the group driving quad bikes and dancing in a bar. "5,6,7,8" was performed on The Ultimate Tour in 2012, Party on the Dancefloor Tour in 2017 and What the Future Holds Tour in 2021.
## Background and release
Steps were put together in 1997 following an advert in a magazine, The Stage, asking for applicants to audition for a place in a pop band. Out of the thousands who applied, Lee Latchford-Evans, Lisa Scott-Lee, Faye Tozer, Claire Richards and Ian "H" Watkins were successful in securing a place in the band. "5,6,7,8" is a techno-pop and country pop song which was written by Barry Upton and Steve Crosby, produced by Karl Twigg, Mark Topham and Pete Waterman, and lasts for a duration of three minutes, 22 seconds. Latchford-Evans performs the majority of the song, while Scott-Lee sings the middle 8, or bridge. It was recorded at PWL Studios in Manchester, England, and mixed by Lee Sharma at the same venue. Upton also arranged the track and played the guitar, while the banjo, violin, drums and keyboards were played by Sean Lyon, Chris Haigh, Chris McDonnell and Twigg, respectively.
Al Unsworth and Bradlee Spreadborough served as the assistant engineers and it was mastered at Transfermation Studios in London, England. "5,6,7,8" features all of the band members on lead vocals except for Ian "H" Watkins, who only performs background vocals. Various versions of the song were included on the CD single in the United Kingdom, Europe and Japan, including an extended version, an instrumental and a remix by W.I.P.; the CD single in the United Kingdom and Europe also included the B-side, "Words of Wisdom", which was also written by Upton and Crosby. It was released in the United Kingdom in November 1997, and it was later included on their first greatest hits album, Gold: Greatest Hits (2001), the W.I.P. remix on their first compilation album The Last Dance (2002) and their second greatest hits album, The Ultimate Collection (2011).
## Reception
### Critical reception
Lucas Villa from AXS said that "5,6,7,8" "was the beginning of Steps' campy, feel good sounds." Andy Coleman from Birmingham Evening Mail described it as a "line dancing ditty". Gary James from Entertainment Focus noted that the song "stands out from the rest of their catalogue for being somewhat a novelty single." He added, "It’s blend of country, techno and pop had us reaching for our lassos and thinking perhaps Rednex had returned with a 'Cotton Eyed Joe' for 1997." Sophie McCoid from Liverpool Echo called it an "epic tune". Mark Beaumont from NME described it as a "more traditional hoedown". Peter Robinson of NME gave the song a negative review in 2001. In his review of Gold: Greatest Hits, he wrote "Steps were only signed for one single – with good reason, for '5,6,7,8' was shit of the very highest order." Similarly, Digital Spy writer Robert Copsey wrote that retrospectively, the track was a "bizarre" choice of lead single in his review of The Ultimate Collection in 2011. In a review of Steps best-selling songs for the Official Charts Company in March 2017, Copsey noted how "5,6,7,8" is distinctly different from the rest of their discography in terms of its techno-pop genre, line dancing lyrics and lack of lead vocals solely from Claire Richards.
### Commercial reception
Commercially, "5,6,7,8" debuted at number 18 on the UK Singles Chart on 16 November 1997, and peaked at number 14 in its eighth week on 10 January 1998. It spent a further nine weeks on the chart from January through to March, and re-entered the chart for one week at number 100 on 18 April 1998. Altogether, "5,6,7,8" spent 18 non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart, 10 of which were in the top 20. Their first top 40 hit, "5,6,7,8" was the only song of their following fourteen singles (prior to their split in 2001) not to chart within the top 10. By July 2012, it had become it their fourth-best selling single in their career in the United Kingdom; but by March 2017 it had switched positions with one of their subsequent singles "Better Best Forgotten" to become their third-highest selling song, with sales of 365,000 copies, and is their most streamed track with 37,952,032 plays as of March 2021. It was certified platinum on 11 December 2020 for sales and streams exceeding 600,000. Copsey added that it is very rare for a pop band to be given a second opportunity to release more music following a top 20 debut.
## Promotion
Set primarily on a beach, the accompanying music video for "5,6,7,8" opens with Latchford-Evans and Watkins riding quad bikes along the beach while Scott-Lee, Tozer and Richards drive a car on the road next to them, with close-ups of each of the female singers performing the chorus. It is followed by a repetition of the chorus whereby all of the members perform a line dancing routine, which was very popular at the time of its release, to the music outside a bar on the beach. Latchford, with Watkins walking slightly behind him from the beach to the bar, performs the first verse where the chorus and dance routine is once again repeated. The second verse features clips of Latchford singing while playing a game of snooker while Watkins plays on the table football. For the final chorus, the group perform the dance routine for a final time, however the setting has changed to night time and inside a different bar. The official music video has achieved 14.8 million views on YouTube as of August 2017. "5,6,7,8" was included on Steps sixth concert tour, The Ultimate Tour, in 2012. Latchford-Evans stated in March 2017 that the band does not like performing the song, but they find new ways of performing it live as they know that it is a fan-favourite. It is also included on the set list of their eighth concert tour, the Party on the Dancefloor Tour.
## Formats and track listings
Album version – Step One
3. "5,6,7,8" – 3:22
CD single – UK/Europe/Australia
1. "5,6,7,8" (Radio edit) – 3:22
2. "5,6,7,8" (Extended version) – 4:03
3. "Words of Wisdom" – 3:52
4. "5,6,7,8" (Instrumental) – 2:52
CD single – Japan
1. "5,6,7,8" (Radio edit) – 3:22
2. "5,6,7,8" (W.I.P. remix) – 3:15
3. "5,6,7,8" (Extended version) – 4:03
4. "5,6,7,8" (Instrumental) – 2:52
## Credits and personnel
### A-side: "5,6,7,8"
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Step One.
Recording
- Recorded at PWL Studios, Manchester, in 1997
- Mixed at PWL Studios, Manchester
- Mastered at Transfermation Studios, London
Vocals
- Lead vocals – Lee Latchford-Evans
- Background vocals – Ian "H" Watkins, Faye Tozer, Lisa Scott-Lee, Claire Richards
Personnel
- Songwriting – Barry Upton, Steve Crosby
- Production – Karl Twigg, Mark Topham, Pete Waterman
- Arrangement – Barry Upton
- Mixing – Lee Sharma
- Engineer – Chris McDonnell
- Assistant engineer – Al Unsworth, Bradlee Spreadborough
- Banjo – Sean Lyon
- Violin – Chris Haigh
- Drums – Chris McDonnell
- Guitar – Barry Upton
- Keyboards – Karl Twigg
### B-side: "Words of Wisdom"
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of "5,6,7,8".
Recording
- Recorded at PWL Studios, Manchester, in 1997
- Mixed at PWL Studios, Manchester
- Mastered at Transfermation Studios, London
Vocals
- Lead vocals – Faye Tozer, Lisa Scott-Lee, Claire Richards
- Background vocals – Lee Latchford-Evans, Ian "H" Watkins
Personnel
- Songwriting – Barry Upton, Steve Crosby
- Production – Karl Twigg, Mark Topham
- Arrangement – Barry Upton
## Charts
### Weekly charts
### Year-end charts
## Certifications |
24,333,308 | Domestic of the Schools | 1,073,546,042 | Military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8c | [
"Byzantine court titles",
"Byzantine military offices",
"Domestics of the Schools",
"Lists of office-holders in the Byzantine Empire"
]
| The office of the Domestic of the Schools (Greek: δομέστικος τῶν σχολῶν, romanized: domestikos tōn scholōn) was a senior military post of the Byzantine Empire, extant from the 8th century until at least the early 14th century. Originally simply the commander of the Scholai, the senior of the elite tagmata regiments, the Domestic quickly rose in prominence: by the mid-9th century, its holders essentially occupied the position of commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army, next to the Emperor. The office was eclipsed in the 12th century by that of the Grand Domestic, and in the Palaiologan period (13th–15th centuries), it was reduced to a purely honorary, mid-level court dignity.
## History
The first holder of the office of Domestic of the Schools first appears in the sources (the chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor) for the year 767, shortly after the creation of the tagmata. These were elite cavalry regiments stationed in or around the capital Constantinople, commanded by officers titled "Domestics" (δομέστικοι, domestikoi) and distinct from the provincial armies of the themes under their respective stratēgoi. The Schools (Latin: scholae; Greek: σχολαὶ, scholai) was the senior tagma, tracing their origin to the Scholae Palatinae established by Constantine the Great (r. 306–337) and originally placed under the command of the magister officiorum. The historian J.B. Bury has traced a reference to a certain Anianos, "Domestic of the magister", in the Chronicon Paschale for the year 624, and considers this official to be the predecessor of the Domestic of the Schools. As the magister officiorum was gradually deprived of some of his functions in the 7th and 8th centuries, the Domestic apparently became an independent official. The Kletorologion of 899 lists his subordinate officials as comprising his deputy or topotērētēs (τοποτηρητής), the secretary or chartoularios (χαρτουλάριος), the head messenger or proximos (πρόξιμος) and the other messengers (μανδάτορες, mandatores), as well as the various subordinate officers of the regiment (cf. the article on the Scholae Palatinae).
In the 9th century, the office of the Domestic, or "Domesticate" (δομεστικάτον, domestikaton), of the Schools rose in importance and its holder was often appointed as the head of the army in the absence of the emperor. However, this role was not yet enshrined: it depended rather on the abilities of the current Domestic, and other generals of inferior rank were sometimes entrusted with supreme command instead. The Domestic of the Schools nevertheless rose to such prominence that the sources frequently speak of the office as "the Domestic" without further qualification, and the power and influence of the post saw it frequently occupied by persons closely related to the emperor. From the time of Michael III (r. 842–867) on, the Domestic ranked in the imperial hierarchy above all other military commanders except for the stratēgos of the Anatolic Theme. In practice, he quickly became senior even to the latter, as demonstrated by the fact that military leaders like Nikephoros Phokas and John Tzimiskes were promoted from the generalship of the Anatolics to the Domesticate.
In the reign of Romanos II (r. 959–963) the post was split, with a "Domestic of the West" (δομέστικος τῆς δύσεως, domestikos tēs dyseōs) and a "Domestic of the East" (δομέστικος τῆς ἀνατολῆς, domestikos tēs anatolēs) being created for operations in Europe and Asia respectively. The command of the Schools regiment then passed to the Domestic's deputy, the topotērētēs, although it appears that by that time there were several officers occupying that position at the same time. The ceremony for the Domestic's appointment is described in the De Ceremoniis (II.3); the same work describes his duties and role in court ceremonies.
With some exceptions, most notably the unparalleled 22-year tenure of John Kourkouas, or in times of domestic instability, Domestics were changed on the average every three to four years. During the 10th century, the Domesticate of the Schools was dominated by members of the Phokas family, which produced six holders of the office. Their attempts to monopolize the office led a series of emperors, concerned over the power of the military aristocracy, to entrust the potentially over-powerful office to non-military court officials, including—especially in the first half of the 11th century, before the military aristocracy reasserted its authority—to eunuchs, even though this was in theory forbidden, with the alternate office of stratopedarches having been created for this purpose.
In the 10th and 11th centuries, the variant "Grand Domestic" (μέγας δομέστικος, megas domestikos) appears sporadically, used in parallel with other variants such as "Grand Domestic of the Schools" or "Grand Domestic of the East/West" for the same person. The Byzantinist Rodolphe Guilland considers most of these early references either as anachronistic references by 12th-century writers, or simply cases where "megas" is used as an honorific prefix, as was the norm with other senior offices during this period, like the Drungary of the Watch or the Domestic of the Excubitors. Nevertheless, Guilland argues that from the time of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118) on, the "Grand Domestic" became a separate office, senior to the "plain" Domestics of the Schools and in effect the new commander-in-chief of the army beside the Emperor. However, the usage of the titles is not consistent, and the habitual division of command between East and West seems to have been sometimes applied to the Grand Domesticate as well during the 12th century, causing some confusion as to the nature of the office and its relation to the "plain" Domestic. In the 13th century however the two titles became clearly distinct: the Grand Domestic was the commander-in-chief of the entire army and one of the highest offices of state, while the Domestic of the Schools was relegated to a simple dignity without duties, awarded to provincial governors and other middle-ranking officials. In the words of the mid-14th century Book of Offices of Pseudo-Kodinos, "the Domestic of the Schools once had an office similar to that of the Grand Domestic currently, but he now holds none".
In Pseudo-Kodinos' work, the Domestic of the Schools ranks 31st in the imperial hierarchy, between the mystikos and the Grand Drungary of the Fleet. The Domestic's distinctive court dress, as reported by Pseudo-Kodinos, consisted of a gold-brocaded hat (skiadion), a plain silk kabbadion tunic and a silver staff (dikanikion) with a knob on top and another in the middle. For ceremonies and festivities, he bore the domed skaranikon, of lemon-yellow silk and decorated with gold wire embroidery, and with a portrait of the emperor seated on a throne in front and another with the emperor on horseback on the rear.
## List of known holders
The list above does not include holders known only through their seals but otherwise unidentified. For seals from the 8th–10th centuries, cf. . |
45,661,875 | The Childhood of Jack Harkaway | 1,145,285,613 | 1910 film | [
"1910 drama films",
"1910 films",
"1910s American films",
"American black-and-white films",
"American silent short films",
"Silent American drama films",
"Thanhouser Company films"
]
| The Childhood Of Jack Harkaway is a 1910 American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company. Adapted from Bracebridge Hemyng's Jack Harkaway story series by Lloyd Lonergan, the film depicts the life of the title character. Given to the care of strangers after his birth, Jack grows up and is sent to a school at age 12. After being severely and unjustly punished by the schoolmaster, Jack runs away and comes across two thieves plotting a robbery. Jack hurries to the house and warns the mistress of the planned robbery. The robbery is foiled and the lady of the house is very grateful, but Jack's schoolmaster and his guardian arrive to take him back. She recognizes the guardian as the man who forced her to turn over Jack and turns them out of the house. The film's cast and production credits are unknown. The film was released on December 23, 1910, it was met with favorable reviews and saw a wide national release. In 1988, a severely deteriorated nitrate print of the film was known to exist and it was likely transferred to the Library of Congress archives in 1997.
## Plot
The film is not lost, but a modern synopsis has not been published. The official synopsis of the film was published in The Moving Picture World on December 24, 1910. It states: "Jack Harkaway is of aristocratic birth, being the son of a wealthy Englishman's daughter and a poor young man, with whom she has eloped. Her parents bring about a separation and compel her to place the child in the hands of strangers, who are bribed to keep his whereabouts a secret from his mother. At the age of 12 Jack is placed in a school, the master of which is prejudiced against him, owing to the boy's mischievous disposition. After having received severe and unjust punishment from the schoolmaster, Jack decides to run away from school, and escapes from the room in which he is locked, through the window. Wandering along a country road, he accidentally overhears two sneak thieves planning to rob a house. Jack makes his way to the house in time to warn its mistress of the proposed robbery. Two [man] servants are placed in hiding, when the would-be thieves put in an appearance there and are immediately captured. Jack is given a fine supper by the lady of the house, who is very grateful to him. And when the schoolmaster, accompanied by Jack's guardian, arrives, she is touched by the boy's appeal not to be turned over to his rough-looking 'friends.' Upon getting a closer view of the man who calls himself the lad's guardian, she realizes that he is the man to whom she was forced to give over her child. The man admits that Jack is her own boy, and the picture ends with the men being turned out of the house and Jack restored to his mother's arms."
## Production
Lloyd Lonergan wrote the scenario based on Bracebridge Hemyng's Jack Harkaway story series. Film historian Q. David Bowers states that it was based on a stage play based upon a series of boys' stories, but does not cite a specific credit for which adaptation or work it was based on. Lonergan was an experienced newspaperman employed by The New York Evening World while writing scripts for the Thanhouser productions. The film director is unknown, but it may have been Barry O'Neil or Lucius J. Henderson. Cameramen employed by the company during this era included Blair Smith, Carl Louis Gregory, and Alfred H. Moses, Jr. though none are specifically credited. The role of the cameraman was uncredited in 1910 productions. The cast credits are unknown, but many 1910 Thanhouser productions are fragmentary. In late 1910, the Thanhouser company released a list of the important personalities in their films. The list includes G.W. Abbe, Justus D. Barnes, Frank H. Crane, Irene Crane, Marie Eline, Violet Heming, Martin J. Faust, Thomas Fortune, George Middleton, Grace Moore, John W. Noble, Anna Rosemond, Mrs. George Walters.
## Release and reception
The single reel drama, approximately 1,000 feet long, was released on December 23, 1910. The film had a wide national release, theaters which showed the film are noted in Indiana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Arizona. Reviews of the film were mixed, with The Moving Picture World describing the film as a "heart story which will interest because it presents more or less unpleasant possibilities of this character. The acting is well done, and the film will prove popular with most audiences." The New York Dramatic Mirror reviewer found the film to be interesting, but stated that it "would have seemed more natural had [Jack Harkaway's mother] not recognized [Jack] as her son until the appearance of [his foster father], into whose care she had given her child. If two of the scenes had been broken it might have been more consistent. The men came up to plot their robbery too soon after Jack's hiding. They also appeared in the house immediately after the plan laid to capture them. They surely would have seen the light and would not have ventured so soon."
A surviving, but very deteriorated 35 mm nitrate print of the film was known to exist in 1988. It was described as being in various states of decomposition throughout the entire reel, including severe shrinkage and brittle or torn perforations. This print is 925 feet long and was held by John E. Allen, Inc. though it is not specifically known if it transferred to the Library of Congress in 1997.
## See also
- List of American films of 1910 |
402,607 | Jerry Rice | 1,171,804,313 | American football player (born 1962) | [
"1962 births",
"20th-century African-American sportspeople",
"21st-century African-American sportspeople",
"African-American players of American football",
"American football wide receivers",
"American philanthropists",
"College Football Hall of Fame inductees",
"Denver Broncos players",
"Living people",
"Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils football players",
"National Conference Pro Bowl players",
"National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award winners",
"National Football League announcers",
"National Football League players with retired numbers",
"Oakland Raiders players",
"Participants in American reality television series",
"People from Crawford, Mississippi",
"Players of American football from California",
"Players of American football from Mississippi",
"Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees",
"San Francisco 49ers players",
"Seattle Seahawks players",
"Sportspeople from Starkville, Mississippi",
"Sportspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area",
"Super Bowl MVPs"
]
| Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter stints at the end of his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks. Nicknamed "World" because of his superb catching ability, his accomplishments and numerous records, Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver in NFL history and one of the greatest players of all time. His biography on the official Pro Football Hall of Fame website names him: "the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history with staggering career totals". In 1999, The Sporting News listed Rice second behind Jim Brown on its list of "Football's 100 Greatest Players". In 2010, he was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.
Rice played college football for four seasons with the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils, setting several NCAA and team receiving records, including becoming the all-time leader in NCAA receiving touchdowns. He joined the 49ers in 1985 after being drafted with the 16th overall pick. After a modest rookie season, Rice emerged in the following season as one of the best receivers in the league, leading the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns: a feat he achieved four times. In 1987, Rice set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season, with 22, in a twelve-game strike-shortened season. He won back-to-back championships in 1988 and 1989, and was the MVP of the former championship. Rice developed connections with quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young that are viewed as among the best in NFL history, helping him lead the league in both receiving yards and touchdowns six times, and in receptions twice.
Going into the 1990s, Rice won a third Super Bowl in 1994, and a second Offensive Player of The Year Award. After recovering from a knee injury and his play regressing, San Francisco released him in June 2001, where the Raiders would sign him to a 4 year deal. He continued to start for the team, and helped lead them to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII, where they were defeated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, affecting Rice's previously unblemished Super Bowl record. Midway through 2004, the Raiders traded him to the Seahawks, where he spent his final season. He briefly signed with the Broncos, retiring shortly before the start of the 2005 season.
Rice is the career leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers, including receptions, receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, scrimmage yards, and total touchdowns, holding the postseason records for these statistics, and once held the single season records for yards and touchdowns. He scored more points than any other non-kicker in NFL history with 1,256. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro twelve times in his 20 NFL seasons, including ten First-team All-Pros, tied for the most by any player. Rice was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006. Rice was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, and in the same year was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. The NFL honored him as a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, as well as both the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
## Early life
Jerry Lee Rice was born on October 13, 1962, in Starkville, Mississippi, and lived in Crawford, Mississippi, the sixth of eight children. Crawford was a small town, having only 600 residents. Rice's father, Joe, was a brick mason who built houses by hand, while holding other jobs to provide for the family. Joe was described by Rice as "a tough man" and held him and his siblings to a strict lifestyle. Eddie B., Rice's mother, raised Rice while Joe was working, and after Rice left cleaned the houses of wealthy families. Rice and his brothers often worked with their father building houses, catching bricks on top of scaffolds to make sure his father had bricks to lay. He did not see bricklaying as his future, later saying that: "It taught me the meaning of hard work." The Rice family struggled financially, with Rice sometimes not having many pairs of clothing or having a "hearty meal on the table". To provide for his family, he and his brothers picked corn, cotton, carrots, and hay. Rice asserted that he was shy as a child, and had few friends.
Rice attended B. L. Moor High School in Oktoc, Mississippi. Although he played mock games of basketball and football, Rice initially played no sports in high school. He enjoyed playing sandlot football and watching football on television. His mother didn't allow him to join the school's football team in his freshman year, as she thought that football was "too rough" for Rice. While a sophomore, the school's assistant principal caught Rice skipping class with a friend, causing him to panic and sprint away. After Rice fled, the principal was impressed with his speed, and informed the school's football coach, Charles Davis, who offered Rice a place on the team. Initially unhappy about this, Rice's mother relented after realizing that "the more I fought it, the more determined he was, so I gave it up." Rice played basketball as a forward and was on the track and field team, competing in the high jump. Rice played multiple positions in high school, including running back, defensive back, and tight end. The position he was most skilled at, however, was wide receiver. During the off-season before his junior year, Rice increased his training; running several miles back to his house because he didn't have a ride. Rice had a breakout junior season, primarily playing wide receiver and defensive back.
Rice was a Mississippi All-State selection at wide receiver in his senior year. Due to the small size of Moor, few of his statistics were officially recorded. According to sports journalist Glenn Dickey, Rice caught 50 receptions and 30 touchdowns as a senior, helping to lead the team to a 17–2 record over his final two seasons. He and Moor's starting quarterback, Willie Gillespie, were very dependable, enough for them to be nicknamed Johnny Unitas and Raymond Berry. Rice initially wanted to go to Mississippi State University, who wasn't interested in Rice. Mississippi State was one of over 40 NCAA Division I-A schools that contacted him, but did not offer a scholarship. He was drawn to Mississippi Valley State; in part, because the school's coach, Archie Cooley, ran a pass-heavy offense—so much so that Cooley was nicknamed "The Gunslinger." After Cooley watched him perform in person, and visiting the school's campus, Rice committed to playing at Mississippi Valley State.
## College career
Rice attended Mississippi Valley State University from 1981 to 1984. When Rice arrived at Mississippi Valley State, he attended summer school and freshman orientation before the regular season. Two of his former teammates from B.L. Moor were there as well, but both left before the start of training camp. Rice studied receiving techniques from Gloster Richardson, stating: "I soaked up everything I could."
In 1981, Rice's freshman season, he caught 30 passes for 428 yards and two touchdowns. In 1982, Rice played his first season with freshman quarterback Willie Totten. They became friends and practiced into the evening. Under the direction of Cooley, Mississippi Valley State ran an "unusual" offense, playing four wide receivers who tended to line up on one side of the field. Rice caught 66 passes for 1,133 yards and seven touchdowns as a sophomore that year. Together, Totten and Rice became known as "The Satellite Express." Success on the field did not put any money in his pocket, and many times he relied on friends for food, stating that the food given to him at Mississippi Valley "were not enough for a growing man".
Rice had a record-setting 1983 campaign, including NCAA marks for receptions (102) and receiving yards (1,450). He was named a first-team Division I-AA All-American. He set a single-game NCAA record with 24 receptions against Southern University. He acquired the nickname "World," because of his ability to seemingly catch anything thrown near him.
After an August practice experiment, Cooley had Totten call all the plays at the line of scrimmage without a huddle, resulting in even more staggering offensive numbers. Rice caught 17 receptions for 199 yards against Southern, 17 receptions for 294 yards, and five receiving touchdowns against Kentucky State, and 15 for 285 yards against Jackson State. During the game against Kentucky State, Rice caught twelve passes and scored three touchdowns in a single quarter. As a senior in 1984, he surpassed his own Division I-AA records for receiving yards (1,845), and receptions (112); his 27 touchdown receptions in the 1984 season set the NCAA record for every division. The 1984 Delta Devils averaged more than 60 points per game. Rice was named to the Division I-AA All-American team and finished ninth in Heisman Trophy balloting in 1984.
In the Blue–Gray Classic all-star game played on Christmas Day, he earned MVP honors after four receptions for 101 yards and a 60-yard touchdown. He finished his career with 301 catches for 4,693 yards and 50 touchdowns, (although some sources have his numbers as 310 receptions, 4,856 receiving yards, and 51 touchdowns); his NCAA record for total career touchdown receptions stood until 2006 when New Hampshire wide receiver David Ball recorded his 51st career receiving touchdown. Rice's all-division NCAA record for total career receptions stood until 1999 when Scott Pingel of Division III Westminster logged his 302nd career reception. By the end of his college career, he had broken 18 NCAA records. Rice became a member of the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity at the Delta Phi chapter. In 1999, the school renamed its football stadium from Magnolia Stadium to Rice–Totten Stadium in honor of the players. Rice was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006, and was in the inaugural class of the Black College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.
During this time, Rice met Jackie Mitchell at an MVS basketball game, while she was still in high school. Rice eventually approached her, and they dated casually before Rice met her mother. Her mother was initially unhappy about Rice and preferred that Mitchell see another boy that lived in Greenville, Mississippi, but after meeting Rice in person she approved of him.
## Professional career
### San Francisco 49ers (1985–2000)
Rice's record-breaking season at Mississippi Valley State caught the attention of NFL scouts. Sources vary on his 40-yard dash time, which was measured between 4.45 and 4.71 seconds. Both the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers showed interest in him. San Francisco had won two out of the previous four Super Bowls prior to the draft. Rice later wrote in Go Long! that he was unsure about what success he might have in the league, and that he would "often play head games" with himself; his backup plan if his football career didn't pan out was fixing electronics. In a 2022 interview with Fox News Digital, Rice expressed his doubts about being drafted at the time: "To be honest, I never thought I was going to get drafted, I downplayed everything because I didn't want that disappointment of getting up here and then come down in disappointment if it didn't happen".
In the first round of the 1985 NFL Draft, Dallas had the No. 17 selection and San Francisco, as Super Bowl champion from the previous season, had the last. 49ers coach Bill Walsh sought Rice after seeing television highlights of his college performances. Walsh "saw the deep-threat the 49ers lacked ... a player who could break open a game with one play." The 49ers traded their first, second, and third-round picks for the New England Patriots' first and third-round picks. The 49ers had the No. 16 selection overall and drafted Rice before the Cowboys had a chance. Walsh described Rice as "a swift, smooth player who's got great instincts running with the ball, going to the ball and catching in a crowd." Rice was selected by the United States Football League (USFL), where the Birmingham Stallions selected him with the No. 1 overall pick of the 1985 USFL Draft, but the league folded after its 1986 season. In training camp, Rice had to compete with 49ers Dwight Clark and Freddie Solomon for roster spots at the wide receiver position.
#### Joe Montana and first two Super Bowls (1985–1989)
In July 1985, Rice was one of 21 rookie players who had not yet signed a contract. Rice signed a rookie contract for five years that paid him \$377,000 per year. He wrote that during training camp, he was nicknamed "Fifi" because of his haircut, but he was praised by his teammates for his work ethic. It was with the 49ers where Rice switched from his college number, 88 (which was already taken by teammate Freddie Solomon), to his now famous \#80 (in honor of his idol, Steve Largent). Rice made his NFL debut in the 49ers' regular season opener against the Minnesota Vikings. He had four receptions for 67 yards in the 28–21 loss. Rice scored his first receiving touchdown against the Atlanta Falcons on a 25-yard reception from Joe Montana in Week 5. Rice had a breakout game with ten receptions for a then franchise-record 241 yards against the Los Angeles Rams in Week 13, his first over 100 receiving yards, with San Francisco losing 20–27. For his game against the Rams, Rice earned NFC Offensive Player of the Week. After a seven reception, 111-yard performance in a 31–16 victory in the regular season finale against the Dallas Cowboys, while scoring a rushing touchdown, CBS announcer Pat Summerall stated that "When this guy [Rice] is finished [retires], he'll be considered one of the greatest wide receivers to ever play this game." He recorded 49 catches, for 927 yards, and three receiving touchdowns, averaging 18.9 yards per catch in his rookie season, and started four out of sixteen possible games. United Press International (UPI) named Rice the NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year, and he was selected to the PFWA All-Rookie Team. Nevertheless, Rice struggled, dropping numerous passes that season. In a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Rice dropped two wide-open passes and later fumbled on an 8-yard pass that was intended to boost Rice's confidence. Rice said that his poor play may have been impacted by his increased wealth and the distractions that came with it. The 49ers finished the regular season with a 10–6 record and made the postseason. During the Wild Card Round against the New York Giants, Rice had four receptions for 44 yards in the 3–17 loss.
During the 1986 off-season, Rice spent much of his time studying the 49ers playbook. Playing against the Los Angeles Rams, Rice had six receptions for 157 yards and a touchdown in a Week 2 loss. He followed that with a seven reception, 120-yard game against the New Orleans Saints in a 26–17 victory in Week 3. Following a two-touchdown game against the Miami Dolphins in Week 4, Rice had six receptions for 172 yards and three touchdowns in a 35–14 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In Week 10, against the St. Louis Cardinals, he had four receptions for 156 receiving yards and three touchdowns in the 43–17 victory. Rice had his second career 200-yard receiving game against the Washington Redskins, having a 12 reception, 204-yard performance in Week 11. For his game against Washington, he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Month for November. Overall, he caught 86 passes for 1,570 yards and 15 touchdowns, both of which led the league, the first of four seasons in which Rice led the NFL in both receiving yards and touchdown receptions. He was named to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. The 49ers finished the regular season with a 10–5–1 record, won the NFC West, and made the postseason. Rice struggled in the Divisional Round against the eventual Super Bowl-winning Giants, fumbling what would have been a long touchdown on the game's first drive. The 49ers lost 3–49.
In the first game of the 1987 season, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Rice went for eight receptions and 108 yards with a touchdown in a 30–17 loss. The following week against the Cincinnati Bengals, Rice recorded four receptions for 86 yards and two touchdowns in a 27–26 victory. The NFL Players Association began a strike after the season's second game, causing Rice to miss the next four games while backups replaced him (including a canceled game). He picketed outside the 49ers practice facility while some of his teammates (including quarterback Joe Montana and halfback Roger Craig), crossed picket lines to play. When the strike ended, Rice resumed playing in Week 7. In Week 10, against the New Orleans Saints, he had four receptions for 108 yards and two touchdowns in the 26–24 loss. In the following game, a 24–10 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had seven receptions for 103 yards and three receiving touchdowns in the 24–10 victory. His continued his productive streak with seven receptions for 126 yards and three touchdowns in a 38–24 victory over the Cleveland Browns in the following game. For his game against the Browns, he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Two weeks later, in Week 14, Rice recorded three receiving touchdowns for the third time in four games in a 41–0 victory over the Chicago Bears. In the final two games of the regular season, Rice recorded four total receiving touchdowns. Rice scored a receiving touchdown in every game he played that season. In total, he scored 22 receiving touchdowns in 12 games, coupled with 1,078 receiving yards from 65 receptions. His touchdown number broke a then-NFL-record previously held by Mark Clayton (18), which Rice officially broke against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 15. The record was broken by Randy Moss in 2007, when he scored 23 receiving touchdowns. After being selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams, Rice was awarded the NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award, becoming the first wide receiver to receive the award. He was also named the NFLs MVP by the Newspaper Enterprise Association. In 1987, the touchdown runner-up was receiver Mike Quick with 11, marking the first time in post-NFL–AFL merger history that a category leader doubled the total of his nearest competitor and the second time in the history of the NFL from its inception; the first being Don Hutson in 1942. The 49ers finished the season 13–2 and made the postseason, but lost in the Wild Card Round to the Minnesota Vikings 24–36, with Rice having three receptions for 28 yards.
Before the 1988 season, Rice signed a five-year, \$5.05m contract in June that kept him with the 49ers through 1992. He was plagued by an ankle injury throughout the season, In Week 3, Rice had eight receptions for 163 yards in a loss to the Atlanta Falcons. In the following game, he recorded 163 receiving yards once again and had three touchdowns in a 38–7 victory over the Seattle Seahawks. In Week 13, he had six receptions for 171 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in a 48–10 victory over the San Diego Chargers. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Chargers. He still put up high numbers in the games he played, finishing the season with 64 receptions for 1,306 yards and nine receiving touchdowns, averaging a career-high 20.4 yards per reception, earning him more selections to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. The 49ers won the NFC West with a 10–6 record. Rice had five receptions for 61 yards and three touchdowns, scoring all three in the first half of the 49er's 34–9 win against the Vikings during the Divisional Round. In the 49ers' 28–3 win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship, he had five receptions for 133 yards and two touchdowns. In Super Bowl XXIII, Rice had an 11 reception, 215-yard performance with a touchdown, helping the 49ers to a narrow 20–16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals\|Bengals. Both his receptions and receiving yards were Super Bowl records. For his performance, Rice was named the Super Bowl MVP; he called the win "stupendous". He became the third wide receiver to earn Super Bowl MVP honors. Even though Rice won the MVP, Montana uttered the famous: "I'm going to Disney World!" line, instead of Rice; Rice attributed him not saying it to racism. Overall, Rice caught 21 receptions for 409 yards and six touchdowns; his yards and touchdown numbers stood as postseason records until Larry Fitzgerald broke both of them in 2008.
After the 1988 season, 49ers head coach Bill Walsh retired from coaching after much speculation, and was to be replaced by George Seifert; Rice was saddened by this, referring to Walsh his "West Coast father". Rice started off the season strong with six receptions for 163 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown in a 30–24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. In the following game, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had eight receptions for 122 receiving yards in the 20–16 victory. In the next game, a 38–28 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, he had a season-high 164 receptions on six receptions for two touchdowns. Two weeks later, he had seven receptions for 149 receiving yards and a touchdown in a 24–20 victory over the New Orleans Saints in Week 5. Starting in Week 7, Rice had a six-game stretch where he had three games with two receiving touchdowns and three games going over the 100-yard mark. By the end of the 1989 season, Rice had gained 82 receptions for 1,483 yards and 17 receiving touchdowns; both his yards and touchdown numbers led the league. For the fourth straight season, Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro team. San Francisco finished the regular season with a 14–2 record, the league's best. Rice had six receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns in the Divisional Round against the Minnesota Vikings; the 49ers won 41–13. In the NFC Championship against the Los Angeles Rams, he had six receptions for 55 yards in the 30–3 victory. Rice finished Super Bowl XXIV with seven receptions for 148 yards and three touchdowns in the 49ers 55–10 blowout victory against the Denver Broncos.
#### Steve Young years (1990–1994)
In the 1990 season, Rice started all 16 games. In Week 3, against the Atlanta Falcons, he had eight receptions for 171 yards and a touchdown in the 19–13 victory. For his game against the Falcons, he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. On October 14, in Week 6 against the Falcons, Rice caught a career-best five touchdowns to go with 13 receptions for 225 yards in the 45–35 victory. For the second time and against the same opponent in the 1990 season, Rice won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. On November 4 against the Green Bay Packers, Rice had a six reception, 181-yard performance with a touchdown. In the following game, against the Dallas Cowboys, he had 12 receptions for 147 yards and one touchdown in the 24–6 victory. In three of the last four games of the regular season, Rice went over 100 receiving yards. Rice had a successful year, leading the NFL in receptions (100), receiving yards (1,502), and receiving touchdowns (13), becoming the first player to lead the NFL in all three categories in the Super Bowl era: only Sterling Sharpe (1992), Steve Smith Sr. (2005), and Cooper Kupp (2021) have managed the feat since. He was named to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. Rice's efforts helped San Francisco finish the year with an NFL-best 14–2 record. During the Divisional Round against the Redskins, Rice had six receptions for 68 yards and a touchdown in the 28–10 victory. Montana injured his elbow in the NFC Championship against the New York Giants, ending with the 49ers losing 15–13, failing to repeat as NFC champions for a third time; Rice went for five receptions and 54 yards in the game.
In 1991, Montana was ruled out for the season with an injury, making Steve Young the starting quarterback. Along with Montana, teammates Ronnie Lott and Roger Craig had left in free agency, making Rice "the last of the Mohicans" as he described himself, the only remaining star player from San Francisco's 80s dynasty. Rice started the season with six receiving touchdowns in the first four games, which included a 150-yard game against the San Diego Chargers in Week 2. In Week 7, against the Atlanta Falcons, he had seven receptions for 138 yards and one touchdown in the 39–34 loss. Rice recorded 80 receptions for 1,206 yards and led the league in receiving touchdowns with 14 in the 1991 season, and was again selected to the Pro Bowl. He suffered a torn posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) against the Vikings, but the injury did not cost him any games. San Francisco managed to win their final six games to finish with a 10–6 record but they failed to make the postseason, marking the first time in Rice's career that the 49ers failed to do so.
During the 1992 season, a quarterback controversy swirled around Montana and Young. Rice openly supported Montana, but Young ended up starting, while Montana rehabbed. Wanting a high-value contract, Rice skipped training camp. He eventually signed with the 49ers for a three-year, \$7.5 million contract, returning to training camp. On September 13, Rice was knocked unconscious against the Buffalo Bills, and was taken out of the game with a concussion. In Week 7, against the Falcons, Rice had a seven reception, 183-yard performance with two touchdowns to go along with a 26-yard touchdown rush, totaling 209 scrimmage yards in the 56–17 victory. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for this game against the Falcons. In Week 13 against the Philadelphia Eagles, he had eight receptions for 133 receiving yards and one touchdown in the 20–14 victory. He won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Eagles. Rice surpassed Steve Largent's career receiving touchdown record on December 6 in a Week 14 game against the Miami Dolphins, scoring his 101st touchdown. In Week 16 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, he had seven receptions for 118 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 21–14 victory. Overall, Rice finished the season with 84 catches for 1,201 yards and ten touchdowns, and was once again named to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro team. Rice helped the 49ers to an NFL-best 14–2 record, and they made the postseason. San Francisco won in the Divisional Round against the Redskins, but lost in the NFC Championship against the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboy, being unable to stop the offense of Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith. Rice had eight receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown in the game, with the touchdown being his 13th of his postseason career, an NFL record.
After the 1992 season, in April 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs; Rice wasn't able to properly say goodbye to him, and believed that San Francisco should have "treated Joe with more class" when they traded him. In Week 8, Rice had a 155-yard performance with two receiving touchdowns against the Phoenix Cardinals. In Week 11, Rice had eight receptions for 172 yards and four touchdowns against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 45–21 victory. For his game against Tampa Bay, he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Two weeks later, he had eight receptions for 166 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 35–10 victory over the Los Angeles Rams. In Week 16, he had four receptions for 132 receiving yards and one touchdown in the 55–17 victory over the Detroit Lions. Rice caught 98 receptions for 1,503 yards and 15 touchdowns in the 1993 season; both his receiving yards and touchdown numbers led the league. He was awarded his second career NFL Offensive Player of The Year Award, along with being selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. San Francisco finished the season 10–6, and made the postseason. Rice and the 49ers won in the Divisional Round against the New York Giants, but once again lost in the NFC Championship against the Dallas Cowboys; Rice recorded nine receptions for 126 yards during the 1993 postseason.
While he didn't get along with free agent addition Deion Sanders, he believed Sanders would help in the 49ers' pursuit of the Super Bowl. These assertions were proven correct, as Rice made it back to the Super Bowl with the 49ers in 1994, recording 112 receptions for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns, with Sanders winning the NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award. The season began against the Los Angeles Raiders, where he had a seven reception, 169-yard game with two touchdowns (rushing for one more), moving into first place in the NFL records for career touchdowns, with 127. On September 18 against the Rams, his 147 receiving yards from 11 catches moved him past Art Monk as the NFLs active leader in that category and past Charlie Joiner for third all-time. In Week 12, in another game against the Rams, he had 16 receptions for 165 receiving yards and three receiving touchdowns. For his game against the Rams, he won NFC Offensive Player of the Week. In Week 15 against the Chargers, he had 12 receptions for 144 receiving yards in the 38–15 victory. He passed Largent for second place in the 16th game of the season. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. With a 13–3 record and making the postseason, the 49ers won against the Bears in the Divisional Round. Moving on to the NFC Championship, they faced the Cowboys for the third straight year. After two previous defeats, the 49ers were victorious against the Cowboys 38–28. Rice was a vital component in their 49–26 victory over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, combined with a six-touchdown performance by Young, Rice caught ten passes after catching six in the 49ers last two postseason games, coupled with 149 yards and three touchdowns, despite playing with a separated shoulder for much of the game. In three Super Bowl appearances at this point in his career, Rice caught 28 receptions for 512 yards and seven touchdowns, with all three statistics career Super Bowl records.
#### Final 49ers' seasons (1995–2000)
During the 1995 season, Rice had a record-setting campaign. After an 87-yard, one-touchdown day to start the season against the New Orleans Saints, Rice had 11 receptions for 167 yards and two touchdowns in a 41–10 victory over the Atlanta Falcons. Following a two-touchdown game against the New England Patriots in Week 3, Rice had 11 receptions for 181 yards in a 27–24 loss to the Detroit Lions. In Rice's next three games, he scored a receiving touchdown in each. On October 29, with an eight reception, 108-yard performance in Week 9, he surpassed James Lofton as the all-time leader in receiving yards against the Saints, with 14,040. Against the Cowboys, he had five receptions for 161 yards and a touchdown in a Week 11 victory. In Week 12, against the Miami Dolphins, he had eight receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the 44–20 victory. Rice had one of the best statistical games in his career against the Vikings, catching 14 passes for a career-high 289 yards (at the time the fifth-most ever in a game), and three touchdowns. Rice won NFC Offensive Player of the Week for his game against the Vikings. Vikings head coach Dennis Green said of Rice: "We did take the 49ers out of their running game, but Jerry was the one ingredient we had a hard time stopping", "In fact, we had a hard time slowing him down". In the final game of the regular season against the Atlanta Falcons, he surpassed Art Monk as the all-time leader in receptions, with 942; his performance included 12 receptions for 153 yards, a 41-yard touchdown-throw, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown; his yards total was enough to break the record for most receiving yards in a season, with 1,848 yards, coupled with 122 receptions and 15 touchdowns. He was selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro teams. His single-season receiving yards record was not broken until Calvin Johnson broke it in 2012. With an 11–5 record and making the postseason, the 49ers lost in the Divisional Round to the Green Bay Packers, in which Rice had 11 receptions for 117 yards.
During the offseason of 1996, Rice and Jackie were expecting their third child, and on May 16, 1996, Jada Rice was born. Minutes after the birth, however, Jackie suffered complications and nearly died from blood loss. She made a recovery after many surgeries. This caused Rice to miss almost all of June mini-camp and one week of training camp; he was supported by his teammates and coaches along the way. Even through these troubles, he was available for the start of the regular season. In Week 4, against the Carolina Panthers, he had ten receptions for 127 receiving yards. In Week 7, he had his only game of the season with multiple receiving touchdowns with two against the Green Bay Packers. He had ten receptions for 129 yard and a touchdown in a Week 15 loss to the Carolina Panthers. Overall, he recorded 108 receptions (leading the NFL) for 1,254 yards and eight touchdowns. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl and First-team All-Pro. With a 12–4 record and making the postseason, San Francisco won in the Wild Card Round against the Philadelphia Eagles 14–0 with Rice scoring a touchdown, but lost to the Green Bay Packers in the Divisional Round, as the 49ers were unable to gain any ground with their offense, with only 196 yards of total offense. Through 1994 and 1996, Rice racked up 342 catches for 4,601 yards and 36 touchdowns.
Before the 1997 season, Rice signed a seven-year, \$32 million contract. During the 49ers' opening game of the season, Rice tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee on a reverse. Warren Sapp of the Buccaneers grabbed Rice by the face mask and wrenched him to the ground, drawing a 15-yard personal foul. The injury broke Rice's streak of 189 consecutive games played; throughout high school, college, and the NFL he had never missed a game excluding three strike games. Wanting to make it back in time for the retirement of Montana's jersey number, he made his return 14 weeks later on December 15, much earlier than doctors wanted him to. He scored a touchdown, but he cracked his left patella as he came down with the catch. He missed the Pro Bowl team for the first time in 11 years due to the injury. San Francisco still made the postseason with a 13–3 record, beating the Minnesota Vikings in the Divisional Round 38–22, but lost for the third straight time against the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers 23–10 in the NFC Championship.
Rice made a full recovery, coming back in time for the 1998 regular season opener. In Week 4, against the Atlanta Falcons, he had eight receptions for 162 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns in the 31–20 victory. In Week 11, in another game against the Falcons, he had ten receptions for 169 receiving yards and a receiving touchdown. Overall, he recorded 82 catches for 1,157 yards and nine touchdowns, becoming the oldest receiver ever to record a 1,000-yard season, at age 36, and returned to the Pro Bowl team. San Francisco made the postseason with a 12–4 record. They faced the Packers once again the Wild Card Round. Though Rice only had one catch for six yards in the game, the 49ers defeated the Packers 30–27. San Francisco was defeated in the Divisional Round by the Atlanta Falcons 18–20. Rice had a receiving touchdown in the loss.
In Week 13 of the 1999 season, Rice had nine receptions for 157 receiving yards and two touchdowns in the 44–30 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. In the 49ers' regular season finale against the Atlanta Falcons, he had six receptions for 143 yards in the 34–29 defeat. Rice finished the 1999 season with 67 receptions for 830 yards and five touchdowns. The season was the first that Rice failed to reach 1,000 yards receiving while playing in all 16 games. San Francisco struggled as a whole, going 4–12 and missing the postseason, losing 11 out of their last 12 games after Young had concussion troubles, leading him to retire after the season.
In the 2000 season, his final season in San Francisco, he again missed 1,000 receiving yards, with 75 receptions for 805 yards and seven touchdowns. The 2000 season marked Rice's first without having a game where he recorded at least 100 receiving yards. Before the start of the season, Bill Walsh had informed Rice that it would be his last. In his final home game against the Bears, he had seven receptions for 76 yards in the 17–0 victory. It was the same game in which Terrell Owens set the single-game record for receptions, with 20. This angered Rice as he wanted it to be a special day for him, not for Owens, and many of Owens' receptions were intentionally called in order for him to break the record. San Francisco once again struggled, going 6–10 and missing the postseason.
### Oakland Raiders, Seattle Seahawks, and later career (2001–2005)
#### Oakland Raiders
With the emergence of Terrell Owens in San Francisco and because of their desire to rebuild the team and clear salary, Rice was released by the 49ers in June 2001 and signed with the Oakland Raiders for four years, \$7.8 million. He joined a Raiders team coming off a loss in the playoffs to form one of the oldest receiver duos with Tim Brown (age 35). During the season, he had an eight reception, 131-yard performance with three touchdowns against the Chargers, and a nine reception, 108-yard performance against the Broncos. Rice caught 83 passes for 1,139 yards and nine touchdowns for the year. Oakland finished the season with a 10–6 record and made the postseason. The Raiders played the New York Jets in the Wild Card Round, winning 38–24, with Rice having nine receptions for 183 yards and a touchdown. In the Divisional Round, the Raiders faced Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. In what was later called the "Tuck Rule Game", the Raiders lost in overtime 16–13, after officials ruled a Brady fumble was an incomplete pass, allowing the Patriots to kick the game-tying field goal, all in a severe snowstorm.
In 2002, Rice caught 92 passes for 1,211 yards and seven touchdowns, while being named to his 13th Pro Bowl team, and to the Second-team All-Pro team. Rice's teammate, Raiders starting quarterback Rich Gannon, was named the NFLs Most Valuable Player for the 2002 season. Against the Tennessee Titans, where Rice had seven receptions for 144 yards and a touchdown, he surpassed Walter Payton as the all-time leader in scrimmage yards, with 21,281 scrimmage yards. He scored his 200th career touchdown against the Broncos. Oakland finished the season with an 11–5 record and made the postseason. They won in the Divisional Round against the Jets, 30–10. Rice had a receiving touchdown in the win. The team won in the AFC Championship against the Tennessee Titans, 41–24, making it to the Super Bowl. There, against the Buccaneers, coached by former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden, they were defeated 21–48, with Gannon throwing five interceptions, including three for touchdowns, and Rice having five receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. Up to this point, Rice had been undefeated in the Super Bowl, having already won three with San Francisco. The fact that he lost a Super Bowl overwhelmed him to the point of crying in his hotel room after the game.
In Week 4 of the 2003 season, Rice had seven receptions for 126 receiving yards in the 34–31 victory of the San Diego Chargers. In Week 16, against the Green Bay Packers, he had ten receptions for 159 receiving yards in the 41–7 loss. Overall, in the 2003 season, Rice caught 63 passes for 869 yards; he didn't score a touchdown until the 12th game of the season, scoring only two through the whole year. Oakland as a team regressed from their 11–5 record in 2002 to a 4–12 record in 2003, leading to the firing of head coach Bill Callahan. This led Rice to be frustrated about his role with the team.
By the time the 2004 season was starting, Rice struggled, and by the fourth game of the season, Rice had five receptions for only 64 yards. Because of this, he asked Raiders owner Al Davis to trade him.
#### Seattle Seahawks
Rice was traded to the Seattle Seahawks six games into the 2004 season in exchange for a seventh round pick and reunited with Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren, who had previously worked with Rice as San Francisco's offensive coordinator. After speaking with Largent, Rice was permitted to wear Largent's retired jersey No. 80. In a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Rice set the career record for combined net yards by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck, his 35th career record. He finished that game eight receptions for 145 yards and a touchdown. In total Rice had 25 receptions for 362 receiving yards and three touchdowns with the Seahawks, having 30 receptions for 429 yards and three touchdowns in total for the season. At age 41, he managed to play 17 games in a 16-game season, as he was traded before Oakland's bye week and after Seattle's, and never missed a game, so he played six games for the Raiders and 11 for the Seahawks. Rice played his last non-preseason professional game for Seattle, a Wild Card Round loss to the St. Louis Rams in which he did not catch a pass.
### Denver Broncos
After the 2004 season, Rice signed a one-year contract worth \$790,000 in total salary with the Denver Broncos which was his lowest contract offer in his 20 years in the league. Rice never played for the Broncos, therefore he was only allowed his guaranteed money for a grand total of \$25,000.
#### Retirement
Just before the 2005 season, on September 5, 2005, Rice announced his retirement after twenty-seasons. In August 2006, the 49ers announced that Rice would sign a contract with them, allowing him to retire as a member of the team where his NFL career began. On August 24, he officially retired as a 49er, signing a one-day contract for \$1,985,806.49. The number represented the year Rice was drafted (1985), his No. 80, the year he retired (2006), and the 49ers (49). The figure was ceremonial, and Rice received no money. A halftime ceremony honored him during the 49ers' match-up with the Seattle Seahawks on November 19, 2006.
## Legacy
Rice holds numerous NFL receiving records. His 197 career touchdown receptions are 41 scores more than the second place of 156 touchdown receptions by Randy Moss; his 208 total touchdowns (197 receiving, ten rushing, and one fumble recovery) are 33 scores ahead of Emmitt Smith's second-place total of 175. His 22,895 career receiving yards are 5,403 yards ahead of the second-place Larry Fitzgerald. His 1,256 career points scored make him the highest-scoring non-kicker in NFL history. Many of these records are considered by sports analysts to be unbreakable. During a career spanning two decades, Rice averaged 75.6 receiving yards per game. He received MVP votes in six out of his 20 seasons, finishing as the runner-up twice in 1987 and 1995. He won two NFL Offensive Player of The Year Awards, and a Bert Bell Award in 1987.
Rice is remembered as one of the best clutch players in football history, often making game-winning catches throughout his career. Rice also was noted as an effective blocking receiver. Rice's "famous" catching ability, sometimes attributed to him having to catch bricks when working with his father during his childhood, led him to 1,549 career receptions, 117 ahead of the second-place Fitzgerald.
Despite being keen about his public image early in his career, Rice is remembered for his work ethic and dedication. He still cared extensively about his physical appearance, often tailoring his uniform and jersey, and combed his hair before putting on his helmet; his philosophy was: "If you look good, feel good, you'll play good", as described by Shawn Rogers, one of his friends. In his 20 NFL seasons, Rice missed only 17 regular season games, 14 of them in the 1997 season and the other three in the strike-shortened season of 1987; his 303 games are the most ever by an NFL wide receiver by a wide margin. In addition to staying on the field, his work ethic showed in his dedication to conditioning and running precise routes, with coach Dennis Green calling him "the best route runner I've ever seen". One of the best-known examples of his dedication and ethic was "The Hill," a steep hill in Edgewood County Park & Natural Preserve that is 2.5 miles (4 km) long. Rice would sprint across the hill every day during the offseason to improve his abilities.
In 1999, Rice was ranked No. 2 on the Sporting News''' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, behind only Jim Brown, and was 35 places ahead of the next-highest-ranked player then active, Deion Sanders. In 2000, Rice won the ESPY Award for Pro Football Player of the Decade for the 1990s. On November 4, 2010, he was ranked No. 1 on The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players. In 2011, The Sports Network awarded the inaugural Jerry Rice Award, to be given each year to the most outstanding freshman Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) player. The inaugural winner was Towson running back Terrance West.
In January 2015, Rice stated that he put Stickum, a substance that makes the ball easier to catch and hold on to, on his gloves during his career, saying: "I know this might be a little illegal, guys, but you put a little spray, a little Stickum on them, to make sure that texture is a little sticky." Stickum and similar adhesives were banned in the NFL in 1981, four years before Rice joined the league; he commented that "all players" in his era used the substance. The claims were rebutted by Pro Football Hall of Fame members Cris Carter and Michael Irvin. Rice retracted his claim shortly thereafter, stating that he "never used Stickum."
Rice was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010 in his first year of eligibility. He was inducted in Canton, Ohio on August 7, 2010, alongside Emmitt Smith, Floyd Little, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, and John Randle. On September 20, 2010, during halftime of a game against the Saints, the 49ers retired Rice's No. 80 jersey. He was officially named to both the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. During his career, he was included in the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team.
## NFL career statistics
### Regular season
### Postseason
## NFL records
As of the end of the 2015 NFL season, Rice holds the following league records:
- Most career receiving yards: 22,895
- Most career receptions: 1,549
- Most career touchdown receptions: 197
- Most career yards from scrimmage: 23,540 (22,895 receiving, 645 rushing)
- Most career touchdowns from scrimmage: 207 (197 receiving, 10 rushing)
- Most career all purpose yards: 23,546 (22,895 receiving, 645 rushing, 6 kick returns)
- Most career all purpose touchdowns: 208 (197 receiving, 10 rushing, 1 fumble recovery)
- Most career postseason receiving yards: 2,245
- Most career postseason receptions: 151
- Most career postseason touchdown receptions: 22
- Most career Super Bowl receiving yards: 589
- Most career Super Bowl receptions: 33
- Most career Super Bowl touchdown receptions: 8
- Most career Super Bowl points scored: 48
- Most games of 100 or more receiving yards: 76
- Most consecutive games with a reception: 274
- Most consecutive games with a touchdown from scrimmage: 13
- Most seasons of 1,000 or more receiving yards: 14
- Fastest player to reach 100 touchdown receptions: 120 games
- Fastest player to reach 14,000 receiving yards: 164 games
- Fastest player to reach 15,000 receiving yards: 172 games
- Most points scored by a non-kicker: 1,256
- Most games played by a wide receiver: 303 (leads all non-kickers and non-quarterbacks)
- Oldest player to catch a touchdown in a Super Bowl: 40 years, 105 days
## Awards and honors
Throughout his collegiate and professional career, Rice has won the following awards and honors:
### NFL
- 3× Super Bowl champion (1988, 1989, 1994)
- Super Bowl MVP (1988)
- 2× NFL Offensive Player of the Year Award (1987, 1993)
- 6× NFL receiving yards leader (1986, 1989, 1990, 1993–1995)
- 2× NFL receptions leader (1990, 1996)
- 6× NFL receiving touchdowns leader (1986, 1987, 1989–1991, 1993)
- NFL scoring leader (1987)
- 13× Pro Bowl (1986–1996, 1998, 2002)
- 10× First-team All-Pro (1986–1990, 1992–1996)
- Second-team All-Pro (2002)
- PFWA All-Rookie Team (1985)
- Bert Bell Award (1987)
- NFL 1980s All-Decade Team
- NFL 1990s All-Decade Team
- NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
- NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
- No. 80 retired by the San Francisco 49ers
- San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame
### NCAA
- 2× First-team Division I-AA All-American (1983, 1984)
## Personal life
Rice married Jacqueline Bernice Mitchell on September 8, 1987. Jacqueline Rice filed for divorce in June 2007, which became final in late December 2009. They have three children together: Jaqui Bonet (born 1987), Jerry Rice Jr. (born 1991), and Jada Symone (born 1996). Jerry Jr., who attended high school at Menlo School in Atherton, California, graduated in 2009. Jerry Jr. was a walk-on at UCLA and redshirted his first season. After three seasons and limited playing time, Jerry Jr. graduated from UCLA and transferred to UNLV, and was eligible to play immediately. Jerry Jr. played wide receiver for the Rebels, and participated in a 49ers local pro day before the 2014 NFL Draft, but was not drafted. Jerry has another son, Brenden Rice, who played football for the University of Colorado for two years. On January 1, 2022, it was announced that Brenden was transferring to the University of Southern California. As of October 21, 2019, Rice is married to Latisha Pelayo whom he had dated since 2008.
### After football
During the 2005–2006 broadcasting season, Rice competed in the reality show Dancing with the Stars. He paired with dancer Anna Trebunskaya, and they reached the final two before losing to singer Drew Lachey and his partner Cheryl Burke. In 2009, Rice portrayed Hal Gore in the film Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling. In the same year, he guest-starred as himself in the episode "Lyin' King" on the sitcom Rules of Engagement. Rice has co-authored two books about his life: Rice (with Michael Silver, published 1996, ) and Go Long: My Journey Beyond the Game and the Fame (with Brian Curtis, published 2007, ). In 2019, he co-authored a book America's Game: The NFL at 100 (with Randy O. Williams, ), celebrating the 100th anniversary of the National Football League. Rice and his dog, Nitus, were featured in Jerry Rice & Nitus' Dog Football'', a video game for the Wii that was released on August 16, 2011. Rice served as an alumni captain for "Team Rice" during the 2014 and 2016 Pro Bowls. In 2022, Rice partnered with the American Red Cross to raise awareness about blood donations.
Rice has played golf for over 20 years and woke up early to play golf during his football career. He competed in the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae on the Nationwide Tour on April 15–16, 2010, receiving a sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament. Rice missed the cut and finished one shot ahead of last place, 17-over and 151st among the 152 players who completed two rounds. He was a team captain on The Big Break Puerto Rico, where his team won.
After Colin Kaepernick announced that he would be kneeling during the national anthem during games, Rice criticized his actions, stating in a Twitter post: "All lives matter. So much going on in this world today. Can we all just get along! Colin, I respect your stance but don't disrespect the Flag". He backtracked these statements later that month, after being criticized by the public and other players.
## See also
- List of National Football League career receiving yards leaders
- List of National Football League career receptions leaders
- List of National Football League career receiving touchdowns leaders
- List of National Football League career scoring leaders
- List of National Football League annual receiving yards leaders
- List of National Football League annual receptions leaders
- List of National Football League receiving touchdowns leaders
- List of National Football League annual scoring leaders
- List of National Football League records (individual) |
415,475 | First Australian Imperial Force | 1,141,092,526 | Expeditionary force during World War I | [
"1914 establishments in Australia",
"Expeditionary units and formations",
"Military units and formations disestablished in 1921",
"Military units and formations established in 1914",
"Military units and formations of Australia in World War I",
"Military units and formations of the Australian Army"
]
| The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 August 1914, with an initial strength of one infantry division and one light horse brigade. The infantry division subsequently fought at Gallipoli between April and December 1915, with a newly raised second division, as well as three light horse brigades, reinforcing the committed units.
After being evacuated to Egypt, the AIF was expanded to five infantry divisions, which were committed to the fighting in France and Belgium along the Western Front in March 1916. A sixth infantry division was partially raised in 1917 in the United Kingdom, but was broken up and used as reinforcements following heavy casualties on the Western Front. Meanwhile, two mounted divisions remained in the Middle East to fight against Turkish forces in the Sinai and Palestine.The AIF included the Australian Flying Corps (AFC), the predecessor to the Royal Australian Air Force, which consisted of four combat and four training squadrons that were deployed to the United Kingdom, the Western Front and the Middle East throughout the war.
An all volunteer force, by the end of the war the AIF had gained a reputation as being a well-trained and highly effective military force, playing a significant role in the final Allied victory. However, this reputation came at a heavy cost with a casualty rate among the highest of any belligerent for the war. The remaining troops were repatriated until the disbandment of the 1st AIF between 1919 and 1921. After the war, the achievements of the AIF and its soldiers, known colloquially as "Diggers", became central to the national mythology of the "Anzac legend". Generally known at the time as the AIF, it is today referred to as the 1st AIF to distinguish it from the Second Australian Imperial Force raised during World War II.
## Formation
At the start of the war, Australia's military forces were focused upon the part-time Militia. The small number of regular personnel were mostly artillerymen or engineers, and were generally assigned to the task of coastal defence. Due to the provisions of the Defence Act 1903, which precluded sending conscripts overseas, upon the outbreak of war it was realised that a totally separate, all volunteer force would need to be raised. The Australian government pledged to supply 20,000 men organised as one infantry division and one light horse brigade plus supporting units, for service "wherever the British desired", in keeping with pre-war Imperial defence planning. The Australian Imperial Force (AIF) subsequently began forming shortly after the outbreak of war and was the brain child of Brigadier General William Throsby Bridges (later Major General) and his chief of staff, Major Brudenell White. Officially coming into being on 15 August 1914, the word 'imperial' was chosen to reflect the duty of Australians to both nation and empire. The AIF was initially intended for service in Europe. Meanwhile, a separate 2,000-man force—known as the Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF)—was formed for the task of capturing German New Guinea. In addition, small military forces were maintained in Australia to defend the country from attack.
Upon formation, the AIF consisted of only one infantry division, the 1st Division, and the 1st Light Horse Brigade. The 1st Division was made up of the 1st Infantry Brigade under Colonel Henry MacLaurin, an Australian-born officer with previous part-time military service; the 2nd, under Colonel James Whiteside McCay, an Irish-born Australian politician and former Minister for Defence; and the 3rd, under Colonel Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, a British regular officer seconded to the Australian Army before the war. The 1st Light Horse Brigade was commanded by Colonel Harry Chauvel, an Australian regular, while the divisional artillery was commanded by Colonel Talbot Hobbs. The initial response for recruits was so good that in September 1914 the decision was made to raise the 4th Infantry Brigade and 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades. The 4th Infantry Brigade was commanded by Colonel John Monash, a prominent Melbourne civil engineer and businessman. The AIF continued to grow through the war, eventually numbering five infantry divisions, two mounted divisions and a mixture of other units. As the AIF operated within the British war effort, its units were generally organised along the same lines as comparable British Army formations. However, there were often small differences between the structures of British and Australian units, especially in regards to the AIF infantry divisions' support units.
Hastily deployed, the first contingent of the AIF was essentially untrained and suffered from widespread equipment shortages. In early 1915 the AIF was largely an inexperienced force, with only a small percentage of its members having previous combat experience. However, many officers and non-commissioned personnel (NCOs) had previously served in the pre-war permanent or part-time forces, and a significant proportion of the enlisted personnel had received some basic military instruction as part of Australia's compulsory training scheme. Predominantly a fighting force based on infantry battalions and light horse regiments—the high proportion of close combat troops to support personnel (e.g. medical, administrative, logistic, etc.) was exceeded only by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF)—this fact at least partially accounted for the high percentage of casualties it later sustained. Nevertheless, the AIF eventually included a large number of logistics and administrative units which were capable of meeting most of the force's needs, and in some circumstances provided support to nearby allied units. However, the AIF mainly relied on the British Army for medium and heavy artillery support and other weapons systems necessary for combined arms warfare that were developed later in the war, including aircraft and tanks.
## Organisation
### Command
When originally formed in 1914 the AIF was commanded by Bridges, who also commanded the 1st Division. After Bridges' death at Gallipoli in May 1915, the Australian government appointed Major General James Gordon Legge, a Boer War veteran, to replace Bridges in command of both. However, British Lieutenant General Sir John Maxwell, the commander of British Troops in Egypt, objected to Legge bypassing him and communicating directly with Australia. The Australian government failed to support Legge, who thereafter deferred to Lieutenant General William Birdwood, the commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. When Legge was sent to Egypt to command the 2nd Division, Birdwood made representations to the Australian government that Legge could not act as commander of the AIF, and that the Australian government should transfer Bridges' authority to him. This was done on a temporary basis on 18 September 1915. Promoted to major general, Chauvel took over command of the 1st Division in November when Major General Harold Walker was wounded, becoming the first Australian-born officer to command a division. When Birdwood became commander of the Dardanelles Army, command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and the AIF passed to another British officer, Lieutenant General Alexander Godley, the commander of the NZEF, but Birdwood resumed command of the AIF when he assumed command of II ANZAC Corps upon its formation in Egypt in early 1916. I ANZAC Corps and II ANZAC Corps swapped designations on 28 March 1916. During early 1916 the Australian and, to a lesser extent, New Zealand governments sought the establishment of an Australian and New Zealand Army led by Birdwood which would have included all of the AIF's infantry divisions and the New Zealand Division. However, General Douglas Haig, the commander of the British Empire forces in France, rejected this proposal on the grounds that the size of these forces was too small to justify grouping them in a field army.
Birdwood was officially confirmed as commander of the AIF on 14 September 1916, backdated to 18 September 1915, while also commanding I ANZAC Corps on the Western Front. He retained overall responsibility for the AIF units in the Middle East, but in practice this fell to Godley, and after II ANZAC Corps left Egypt as well, to Chauvel who also commanded the ANZAC Mounted Division. Later promoted to lieutenant general, he subsequently commanded the Desert Mounted Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force; the first Australian to command a corps. Birdwood was later given command of the Australian Corps on its formation in November 1917. Another Australian, Monash, by then a lieutenant general, took over command of the corps on 31 May 1918. Despite being promoted to command the British Fifth Army, Birdwood retained command of the AIF. By this time four of the five divisional commanders were Australian officers. The exception was Major General Ewen Sinclair-Maclagan, the commander of the 4th Division, who was a British Army officer seconded to the Australian Army before the war, and who had joined the AIF in Australia in August 1914. The vast majority of brigade commands were also held by Australian officers. A number of British staff officers were attached to the headquarters of the Australian Corps, and its predecessors, due to a shortage of suitably trained Australian officers.
### Structure
#### Infantry divisions
The organisation of the AIF closely followed the British Army divisional structure, and remained relatively unchanged throughout the war. During the war, the following infantry divisions were raised as part of the AIF:
- 1st Division
- 2nd Division
- 3rd Division
- 4th Division
- 5th Division
- 6th Division (broken up in 1917 before seeing combat)
- New Zealand and Australian Division (1915)
Each division comprised three infantry brigades, and each brigade contained four battalions (later reduced to three in 1918). Australian battalions initially included eight rifle companies; however, this was reduced to four expanded companies in January 1915 to conform with the organisation of British infantry battalions. A battalion contained about 1,000 men. Although the divisional structure evolved over the course of the war, each formation also included a range of combat support and service units, including artillery, machine-gun, mortar, engineer, pioneer, signals, logistic, medical, veterinary and administrative units. By 1918 each brigade also included a light trench mortar battery, while each division included a pioneer battalion, a machine-gun battalion, two field artillery brigades, a divisional trench mortar brigade, four companies of engineers, a divisional signals company, a divisional train consisting of four service corps companies, a salvage company, three field ambulances, a sanitary section and a mobile veterinary section. These changes were reflective of wider organisational adaption, tactical innovation, and the adoption of new weapons and technology that occurred throughout the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).
At the start of the Gallipoli Campaign, the AIF had four infantry brigades with the first three making up the 1st Division. The 4th Brigade was joined with the sole New Zealand infantry brigade to form the New Zealand and Australian Division. The 2nd Division had been formed in Egypt in 1915 and was sent to Gallipoli in August to reinforce the 1st Division, doing so without its artillery and having only partially completed its training. After Gallipoli, the infantry underwent a major expansion. The 3rd Division was formed in Australia and completed its training in the UK before moving to France. The New Zealand and Australian Division was broken up with the New Zealand elements forming the New Zealand Division, while the original Australian infantry brigades (1st to 4th) were split in half to create 16 new battalions to form another four brigades. These new brigades (12th to 15th) were used to form the 4th and 5th Divisions. This ensured the battalions of the two new divisions had a core of experienced soldiers. The 6th Division commenced forming in England in February 1917, but was never deployed to France and was broken up in September of that year to provide reinforcements to the other five divisions.
The Australian infantry did not have regiments in the British sense, only battalions identified by ordinal number (1st to 60th). Each battalion originated from a geographical region, with men recruited from that area. New South Wales and Victoria, the most populous states, filled their own battalions (and even whole brigades) while the "Outer States"—Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania—often combined to assemble a battalion. These regional associations remained throughout the war and each battalion developed its own strong regimental identity. The pioneer battalions (1st to 5th, formed from March 1916) were also mostly recruited regionally; however, the machine-gun battalions (1st to 5th, formed from March 1918 from the brigade and divisional machine-gun companies) were made up of personnel from all states.
During the manpower crisis following the Third Battle of Ypres, in which the five divisions sustained 38,000 casualties, there were plans to follow the British reorganisation and reduce all brigades from four battalions to three. In the British regimental system this was traumatic enough; however, the regimental identity survived the disbanding of a single battalion. In the Australian system, disbanding a battalion meant the extinction of the unit. In September 1918, the decision to disband seven battalions—the 19th, 21st, 25th, 37th, 42nd, 54th and 60th—led to a series of "mutinies over disbandment" where the ranks refused to report to their new battalions. In the AIF, mutiny was one of two charges that carried the death penalty, the other being desertion to the enemy. Instead of being charged with mutiny, the instigators were charged as being absent without leave (AWOL) and the doomed battalions were eventually permitted to remain together for the forthcoming battle, following which the survivors voluntarily disbanded. These mutinies were motivated mainly by the soldiers' loyalty to their battalions.
The artillery underwent a significant expansion during the war. When the 1st Division embarked in November 1914 it did so with its 18-pounder field guns, but Australia had not been able to provide the division with the howitzer batteries or the heavy guns that would otherwise have been included on its establishment, due to a lack of equipment. These shortages were unable to be rectified prior to the landing at Gallipoli where the howitzers would have provided the plunging and high-angled fire that was required due to the rough terrain at Anzac Cove. When the 2nd Division was formed in July 1915 it did so without its complement of artillery. Meanwhile, in December 1915 when the government offered to form another division it did so on the basis that its artillery would be provided by Britain. In time though these shortfalls were overcome, with the Australian field artillery expanding from just three field brigades in 1914 to twenty at the end of 1917. The majority of the heavy artillery units supporting the Australian divisions were British, although two Australian heavy batteries were raised from the regular Australian Garrison Artillery. These were the 54th Siege Battery, which was equipped with 8-inch howitzers, and the 55th with 9.2-inch howitzers.
#### Mounted divisions
The following mounted divisions were raised as part of the AIF:
- ANZAC Mounted Division
- Australian Mounted Division
During the Gallipoli Campaign four light horse brigades had been dismounted and fought alongside the infantry divisions. However, in March 1916 the ANZAC Mounted Division was formed in Egypt (so named because it contained one mounted brigade from New Zealand – the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade). Likewise, the Australian Mounted Division—formed in February 1917—was originally named the Imperial Mounted Division because it contained the British 5th and 6th Mounted Brigades. Each division consisted of three mounted light horse brigades. A light horse brigade consisted of three regiments. Each regiment included three squadrons of four troops and a machine-gun section. The initial strength of a regiment was around 500 men, although its establishment changed throughout the war. In 1916, the machine-gun sections of each regiment were concentrated as squadrons at brigade-level. Like the infantry, the light horse regiments were raised on a territorial basis by state and were identified numerically (1st to 15th).
#### Corps
The following corps-level formations were raised:
- Australian and New Zealand Army Corps
- I ANZAC Corps
- II ANZAC Corps
- Australian Corps
- Desert Mounted Corps (formerly the Desert Column)
The Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) was formed from the AIF and NZEF in preparation for the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915 and was commanded by Birdwood. Initially the corps consisted of the 1st Australian Division, the New Zealand and Australian Division, and two mounted brigades—the Australian 1st Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade—although when first deployed to Gallipoli in April, it did so without its mounted formations, as the terrain was considered unsuitable. However, in May, both brigades were dismounted and deployed along with the 2nd and 3rd Light Horse Brigades as reinforcements. Later, as the campaign continued the corps was reinforced further by the 2nd Australian Division, which began arriving from August 1915. In February 1916, it was reorganised into I and II ANZAC Corps in Egypt following the evacuation from Gallipoli and the subsequent expansion of the AIF.
I ANZAC Corps included the Australian 1st and 2nd Divisions and the New Zealand Division. The New Zealand Division was later transferred to the II ANZAC Corps in July 1916 and was replaced by the Australian 3rd Division in I ANZAC. Initially employed in Egypt as part of the defence of the Suez Canal, it was transferred to the Western Front in March 1916. II ANZAC Corps included the Australian 4th and 5th Divisions, forming in Egypt it transferred to France in July 1916. In November 1917 the five Australian divisions of I and II ANZAC Corps merged to become the Australian Corps, while the British and New Zealand elements in each corps became the British XXII Corps. The Australian Corps was the largest corps fielded by the British Empire in France, providing just over 10 percent of the manning of the BEF. At its peak it numbered 109,881 men. Corps troops raised included the 13th Light Horse Regiment and three army artillery brigades. Each corps also included a cyclist battalion.
Meanwhile, the majority of the Australian Light Horse had remained in the Middle East and subsequently served in Egypt, Sinai, Palestine and Syria with the Desert Column of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force. In August 1917 the column was expanded to become the Desert Mounted Corps, which consisted of the ANZAC Mounted Division, Australian Mounted Division and the Imperial Camel Corps Brigade (which included a number of Australian, British and New Zealand camel companies). In contrast to the static trench warfare that developed in Europe, the troops in the Middle East mostly experienced a more fluid form of warfare involving manoeuvre and combined arms tactics.
#### Australian Flying Corps
The 1st AIF included the Australian Flying Corps (AFC). Soon after the outbreak of war in 1914, two aircraft were sent to assist in capturing German colonies in what is now north-east New Guinea. However, these colonies surrendered quickly, before the planes were even unpacked. The first operational flights did not occur until 27 May 1915, when the Mesopotamian Half Flight was called upon to assist the Indian Army in protecting British oil interests in what is now Iraq. The corps later saw action in Egypt, Palestine and on the Western Front throughout the remainder of World War I. By the end of the war, four squadrons—Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4—had seen operational service, while another four training squadrons—Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 8—had also been established. A total of 460 officers and 2,234 other ranks served in the AFC. The AFC remained part of the Australian Army until 1919, when it was disbanded; later forming the basis of the Royal Australian Air Force.
#### Specialist units
A number of specialist units were also raised, including three Australian tunnelling companies. Arriving on the Western Front in May 1916 they undertook mining and counter-mining operations alongside British, Canadian and New Zealand companies, initially operating around Armentieres and at Fromelles. The following year they operated in the Ypres section. In November 1916, the 1st Australian Tunnelling Company took over from the Canadians around Hill 60, subsequently playing a key role in the Battle of Messines in June 1917. During the German offensive in March 1918 the three companies served as infantry, and later supported the Allied advance being used to defuse booby traps and mines. The Australian Electrical Mining and Mechanical Boring Company supplied electric power to units in the British Second Army area.
Motor transport units were also formed. Not required at Gallipoli, they were sent on to the Western Front, becoming the first units of the AIF to serve there. The motor transport rejoined I ANZAC Corps when it reached the Western Front in 1916. Australia also formed six railway operating companies, which served on the Western Front. Specialist ordnance units included ammunition and mobile workshops units formed late in the war, while service units included supply columns, ammunition sub-parks, field bakeries and butcheries, and depot units. Hospitals and other specialist medical and dental units were also formed in Australia and overseas, as were a number of convalescent depots. One small armoured unit was raised, the 1st Armoured Car Section. Formed in Australia, it fought in the Western Desert, and then, re-equipped with T Model Fords, served in Palestine as the 1st Light Car Patrol. Camel companies were raised in Egypt to patrol the Western Desert. They formed part of the Imperial Camel Corps and fought in the Sinai and Palestine. In 1918 they were converted to light horse as the 14th and 15th Light Horse Regiments.
### Administration
Although operationally placed at the disposal of the British, the AIF was administered as a separate national force, with the Australian government reserving the responsibility for the promotion, pay, clothing, equipment and feeding of its personnel. The AIF was administered separately from the home-based army in Australia, and a parallel system was set up to deal with non-operational matters including record-keeping, finance, ordnance, personnel, quartermaster and other issues. The AIF also had separate conditions of service, rules regarding promotion and seniority, and graduation list for officers. This responsibility initially fell to Bridges, in addition to his duties as its commander; however, an Administrative Headquarters was later set up in Cairo in Egypt. Following the redeployment of the Australian infantry divisions to the Western Front it was relocated to London. Additional responsibilities included liaison with the British War Office as well as the Australian Department of Defence in Melbourne, whilst also being tasked with the command of all Australian troops in Britain. A training headquarters was also established at Salisbury. The AIF Headquarters and its subordinate units were almost entirely independent from the British Army, which allowed the force to be self-sustaining in many fields. The AIF generally followed British administrative policy and procedures, including for the awarding of imperial honours and awards.
## Weaponry and equipment
The weaponry and equipment of the Australian Army had mostly been standardised on that used by the British Army prior to the outbreak of World War I. During the war the equipment used changed as tactics evolved, and generally followed British developments. The standard issued rifle was the .303-inch Short Magazine Lee–Enfield Mark III (SMLE). Infantrymen used 1908-pattern webbing, while light horsemen used leather bandoliers and load carriage equipment. A large pack was issued as part of marching order. In 1915 infantrymen were issued with the SMLE and long sword bayonet, while periscope rifles were also used. From 1916 they also used manufactured hand grenades and rodded rifle grenades, both of which had been in short supply at Gallipoli (necessitating the use of improvised "jam-tin" grenades). A grenade discharge cup was issued for fitting to the muzzle of a rifle for the projection of the Mills bomb from 1917. Machine-guns initially included a small number of Maxim or Vickers medium machine-guns, but subsequently also included the Lewis light machine-gun, the latter two of which were issued in greater numbers as the war continued so as to increase the firepower available to the infantry in response to the tactical problems of trench warfare. Light horse units underwent a similar process, although were issued Hotchkiss guns to replace their Lewis guns in early 1917.
From 1916 the Stokes light trench mortar was issued to infantry to replace a range of trench catapults and smaller trench mortars, whilst it was also used in a battery at brigade-level to provide organic indirect fire support. In addition, individual soldiers often used a range of personal weapons including knives, clubs, knuckle-dusters, revolvers and pistols. Snipers on the Western Front used Pattern 1914 Enfield sniper rifles with telescopic sights. Light horsemen also carried bayonets (as they were initially considered mounted infantry), although the Australian Mounted Division adopted cavalry swords in late 1917. Artillery included 18-pounders which equipped the field batteries, 4.5-inch howitzers used by the howitzer batteries, and 8-inch and 9.2-inch howitzers which equipped the heavy (siege) batteries. The 9.45-inch heavy mortar equipped a heavy trench mortar battery, while medium trench mortar batteries were equipped with the 2-inch medium mortar, and later the 6-inch mortar. Light Horse units were supported by British and Indian artillery. The main mount used by the light horse was the Waler, while draught horses were used by the artillery and for wheeled transport. Camels were also used, both as mounts and transport, and donkeys and mules were used as pack animals.
## Personnel
### Recruitment
Enlisted under the Defence Act 1903, the AIF was an all volunteer force for the duration of the war. Australia was one of only two belligerents on either side not to introduce conscription during the war (along with South Africa). Although a system of compulsory training had been introduced in 1911 for home service, under Australian law it did not extend to overseas service. In Australia, two plebiscites on using conscription to expand the AIF were defeated in October 1916 and December 1917, thereby preserving the volunteer status but stretching the AIF's reserves towards the end of the war. A total of 416,809 men enlisted in the Army during the war, representing 38.7 percent of the white male population aged between 18 and 44. Of these, 331,781 men were sent overseas to serve as part of the AIF. Approximately 18 percent of those who served in the AIF had been born in the United Kingdom, marginally more than their proportion of the Australian population, although almost all enlistments occurred in Australia, with only 57 people being recruited from overseas. Indigenous Australians were officially barred from the AIF until October 1917, when the restrictions were altered to allow so-called "half-castes" to join. Estimates of the number of Indigenous Australians who served in the AIF differ considerably, but are believed to be over 500. More than 2,000 women served with the AIF, mainly in the Australian Army Nursing Service.
The recruitment process was managed by the various military districts. At the outset it had been planned to recruit half the AIF's initial commitment of 20,000 personnel from Australia's part-time forces, and volunteers were initially recruited from within designated regimental areas, thus creating a linkage between the units of the AIF and the units of the home service Militia. In the early stages of mobilisation the men of the AIF were selected under some of the toughest criterion of any army in World War I and it is believed that roughly 30 percent of men that applied were rejected on medical grounds. To enlist, men had to be aged between 18 and 35 years of age (although it is believed that men as old as 70 and as young as 14 managed to enlist), and they had to be at least 5 feet 6 inches (168 cm), with a chest measurement of at least 34 inches (86 cm). Many of these strict requirements were lifted later in the war, however, as the need for replacements grew. Indeed, casualties among the initial volunteers were so high, that of the 32,000 original soldiers of the AIF only 7,000 would survive to the end of the war.
By the end of 1914 around 53,000 volunteers had been accepted, allowing a second contingent to depart in December. Meanwhile, reinforcements were sent at a rate of 3,200 men per month. The landing at Anzac Cove subsequently resulted in a significant increase in enlistments, with 36,575 men being recruited in July 1915. Although this level was never again reached, enlistments remained high in late 1915 and early 1916. From then a gradual decline occurred, and whereas news from Gallipoli had increased recruitment, the fighting at Fromelles and Pozieres did not have a similar effect, with monthly totals dropping from 10,656 in May 1916 to around 6,000 between June and August. Significant losses in mid-1916, coupled with the failure of the volunteer system to provide sufficient replacements, resulted in the first referendum on conscription, which was defeated by a narrow margin. Although there was an increase in enlistments in September (9,325) and October (11,520), in December they fell to the lowest total of the year (2,617). Enlistments in 1917 never exceeded 4,989 (in March). Heavy losses at Passchendaele resulted in a second referendum on conscription, which was defeated by an even greater margin. Recruitment continued to decline, reaching a low in December (2,247). Monthly intakes fell further in early 1918, but peaked in May (4,888) and remained relatively steady albeit reduced from previous periods, before slightly increasing in October (3,619) prior to the armistice in November.
Ultimately, the voluntary system of recruitment proved unable to sustain the force structure of the AIF, failing to provide sufficient replacements for the heavy casualties it sustained and requiring a number of units to be disbanded towards the end of the war. In mid-1918 it was decided to allow the men who had enlisted in 1914 to return to Australia for home leave, further exacerbating the manpower shortage experienced by the Australian Corps. Regardless, by the last year of the war the AIF was a long-serving force—even if it was a citizen army and not a professional one like the pre-war British Army—containing 141,557 men with more than two-years service, including, despite the heavy casualties suffered at Gallipoli in 1915 and on the Western Front in 1916 and 1917, 14,653 men who had enlisted in 1914. Battle hardened and experienced as a result, this fact partially explains the important role the AIF subsequently played in the final defeat of the German Army in 1918.
### Pay
Soldiers of the AIF were among the highest paid of the war. The pay for a private was set at five shillings a day, while an additional shilling was deferred to be paid on discharge. As a result, the AIF earned the sobriquet "six bob a day tourists". Married men were required to allot two shillings a day for their dependents; however, a separation allowance was added in 1915. Reflecting the progressive nature of Australian industrial and social policy of the era, this rate of pay was intended to be equal to that of the average worker (after including rations and accommodation) and higher than that of soldiers in the Militia. In contrast, New Zealand soldiers received five shillings, while British infantrymen were initially only paid one shilling, although this was later increased to three. Junior officers in the AIF were also paid at a rate higher than those in the British Army, although senior officers were paid considerably less than their counterparts.
### Training
In the early stages of the AIF's formation, prior to Gallipoli, training was rudimentary and performed mainly at unit-level. There were no formal schools and volunteers proceeded straight from recruiting stations to their assigned units, which were still in the process of being established. Upon arrival, in makeshift camps the recruits received basic training in drill and musketry from officers and non-commissioned officers, who were not trained instructors and had been appointed mainly because they had previous service in the part-time forces. Camps were established in every state including at Enoggera (Queensland), Liverpool (New South Wales), Broadmeadows (Victoria), Brighton (Tasmania), Morphettville (South Australia) and Blackboy Hill (Western Australia). In some units this training took place over a period of six to eight weeks, although others—such as the 5th Battalion—spent as little as one day on live firing before departing for overseas. Following the embarkation of the initial force to the Middle East, further training was undertaken in the desert. This was more organised than the training provided in Australia, but was still quite rushed. Individual training was consolidated but progressed quickly into collective training at battalion and brigade-level. Training exercises, marches, drill and musketry practices followed but the standard of the exercises was limited and they lacked realism, meaning that commanders did not benefit from handling their troops under battlefield conditions.
Some soldiers had received training through the compulsory training scheme that had been established in 1911, while others had served as volunteers in the part-time forces before the war or as members of the British Army, but their numbers were limited and in many cases the quality of the training they had received was also limited. The original intention had been that half the initial intake would consist of soldiers that were currently serving in the Militia, but ultimately this did not come to fruition and while about 8,000 of the original intake had some prior military experience, either through compulsory training or as volunteers, over 6,000 had none at all. In terms of officers, the situation was better. For example, within the 1st Division, of its initial 631 officers, 607 had had previous military experience. This was largely through service in the pre-war militia, though, where there had been little to no formal officer training. In addition, there was a small cadre of junior officers who had been trained for the permanent force at the Royal Military College, Duntroon, but their numbers were very small and at the outbreak of the war the first class had to be graduated early in order for them to join the AIF, being placed mainly in staff positions. Other than small numbers of Duntroon graduates, from January 1915 the only means to be commissioned into the AIF was from the ranks of enlisted personnel. As a result, by 1918 the majority of company and battalion commanders had risen from the ranks. While the AIF's initial senior officers had been members of the pre-war military, few had any substantial experience in managing brigade-sized or larger units in the field as training exercises on this scale had been rarely conducted before the outbreak of hostilities. This inexperience contributed to tactical mistakes and avoidable casualties during the Gallipoli campaign.
After the AIF was transferred to the European battlefield, the training system was greatly improved. Efforts were made at standardisation, with a formal training organisation and curriculum—consisting of 14 weeks basic training for infantrymen—being established. In Egypt, as the AIF was expanded in early 1916, each brigade established a training battalion. These formations were later sent to the United Kingdom and were absorbed into a large system of depots that was established on Salisbury Plain by each branch of the AIF including infantry, engineers, artillery, signals, medical and logistics. After completing their initial instruction at depots in Australia and the United Kingdom, soldiers were posted to in-theatre base depots where they received advanced training before being posted as reinforcements to operational units. Like the British Army, the AIF sought to rapidly pass on "lessons learned" as the war progressed, and these were widely transmitted through regularly updated training documents. The experience gained through combat also improved the skills of the surviving officers and men, and by 1918 the AIF was a very well trained and well led force. After coming to terms with the conditions on the Western Front the Australians had played a part in the development of new combined arms tactics for offensive operations that occurred within the BEF, while in defence they employed patrolling, trench raids, and Peaceful Penetration tactics to dominate no man's land.
Following the deployment of the AIF a reinforcement system was used to replace wastage. Reinforcements received training in Australia first at camps around the country before sailing as drafts—consisting of about two officers and between 100 and 150 other ranks—and joining their assigned units at the front. Initially, these drafts were assigned to specific units prior to departure and were recruited from the same area as the unit they were assigned to, but later in the war drafts were sent as "general reinforcements", which could be assigned to any unit as required. These drafts were despatched even before Gallipoli and continued until late 1917 to early 1918. Some units had as many as 26 or 27 reinforcement drafts. To provide officer reinforcements, a series of AIF officer schools, such as that at Broadmeadows, were established in Australia before officer training was eventually concentrated at a school near Duntroon. These schools produced a large number of officers, but they were eventually closed in 1917 due to concerns that their graduates were too inexperienced. After this most replacement officers were drawn from the ranks of the AIF's deployed units, and candidates attended either British officer training units, or in-theatre schools established in France. After February 1916, the issue of NCO training was also taken more seriously, and several schools were established, with training initially being two weeks in duration before being increased to two months.
### Discipline
During the war the AIF gained a reputation, at least amongst British officers, for indifference to military authority and indiscipline when away from the battlefield on leave. This included a reputation for refusing to salute officers, sloppy dress, lack of respect for military rank and drunkenness on leave. Historian Peter Stanley has written that "the AIF was, paradoxically, both a cohesive and remarkably effective force, but also one whose members could not be relied upon to accept military discipline or to even remain in action".
Indiscipline, misbehaviour, and public drunkenness were reportedly widespread in Egypt in 1914–15, while a number of AIF personnel were also involved in several civil disturbances or riots in the red-light district of Cairo during this period. Australians also appear to have been over-represented among British Empire personnel convicted by court martial of various disciplinary offences on the Western Front from 1916, especially absence without leave. This may be partially explained by the refusal of the Australian government to follow the British Army practice of applying the death penalty to desertion, unlike New Zealand or Canada, as well as to the high proportion of front-line personnel in the AIF. Australian soldiers received prison sentences, including hard labour and life imprisonment, for desertion as well as for other serious offences, including manslaughter, assault and theft. More minor offences included drunkenness and defiance of authority. There were also examples of Australian soldiers being involved in looting, while the practice of "scrounging" or "souveniring" was also widespread.
The stresses from prolonged combat contributed to a high incidence of indiscipline within AIF units, and especially those in France during the heavy fighting between April and October 1918. The rates of personnel going absent without leave or deserting increased during 1918, and it became rare for soldiers to salute their officers in many units. Following the war, the indiscipline within the AIF was often portrayed as harmless larrikinism.
Australia's working class culture also influenced that of the AIF. Approximately three-quarters of AIF volunteers were members of the working class, with a high proportion also being trade unionists, and soldiers frequently applied their attitudes to industrial relations to the Army. Throughout the war there were incidents where soldiers refused to undertake tasks that they considered demeaning or protested against actual or perceived mistreatment by their officers. These actions were similar to the strikes many soldiers had taken part in during their pre-enlistment employment, with the men not seeing themselves as mutineers. The protests which occurred in 1918 over the planned disbandment of several battalions also used similar tactics to those employed in industrial disputes. Historian Nathan Wise has judged that the frequent use of industrial action in the AIF led to improved conditions for the soldiers, and contributed to it having a less strict military culture than was common in the British Army.
## Uniforms and insignia
The pre-war Australian Army uniform formed the basis of that worn by the AIF, which adopted the broad-brimmed slouch hat and rising sun badge. Peak caps were initially also worn by the infantry, while light horsemen often wore a distinctive emu plume in their slouch hats. A standard khaki puggaree was worn by all arms. From 1916 steel helmets and gas masks were issued for use by infantry on the Western Front. A loose-fitting four-pocket service dress jacket was worn, along with baggy knee breeches, puttees, and tan ankle-boots. A heavy woollen greatcoat was worn during cold weather. The uniform was a drab "pea soup" or khaki colour, while all buttons and badges were oxidised to prevent shine. All personnel wore a shoulder title bearing the word "Australia". Rank insignia followed the British Army pattern and were worn on the upper arms (or shoulders for officers). Identical hat and collar badges were worn by all units, which were initially only distinguished by small metal numerals and letters on the shoulder straps (or collars for officers). However, in 1915 a system of unit colour patches was adopted, worn on the upper arm of a soldier's jacket. Wound stripes of gold braid were also authorised to be worn to denote each wound received. Other distinguishing badges included a brass letter "A" which was worn on the colour patch by men and nurses who had served at Gallipoli, blue chevrons representing each year of overseas service, and a red chevron to represent enlistment during the first year of the war. Uniforms worn by the AFC were similar to those of the rest of the AIF, although some officers wore the double-breasted "maternity jacket" which had been worn at the pre-war Central Flying School. AFC "wings" were worn on the left breast, while an AFC colour patch and standard rising sun badges were also worn.
## Operations
### Gallipoli
The first contingent of the AIF departed by ship in a single convoy from Fremantle, Western Australia and Albany on 1 November 1914. Although they were originally bound for England to undergo further training prior to employment on the Western Front, the Australians were subsequently sent to British-controlled Egypt to pre-empt any Turkish attack against the strategically important Suez Canal, and with a view to opening another front against the Central Powers. Aiming to knock Turkey out of the war the British then decided to stage an amphibious lodgement at Gallipoli and following a period of training and reorganisation the Australians were included amongst the British, Indian and French forces committed to the campaign. The combined Australian and New Zealand Army Corps—commanded by British general William Birdwood—subsequently landed at Anzac Cove on the Gallipoli peninsula on 25 April 1915. Although promising to transform the war if successful, the Gallipoli Campaign was ill-conceived and shortly after the landing a bloody stalemate developed. This ultimately lasted eight months before Allied commanders decided to evacuate the troops without having achieved the campaign's objectives. Australian casualties totalled 26,111, including 8,141 killed.
### Egypt and Palestine
After the withdrawal from Gallipoli the Australians returned to Egypt and the AIF underwent a major expansion. In 1916, the infantry began to move to France while the mounted infantry units remained in the Middle East to fight the Turks. Australian troops of the ANZAC Mounted Division and the Australian Mounted Division saw action in all the major battles of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, playing a pivotal role in fighting the Turkish troops that were threatening British control of Egypt. The Australians first saw combat during the Senussi Uprising in the Libyan Desert and the Nile Valley, during which the combined British forces successfully put down the primitive pro-Turkish Islamic sect with heavy casualties. The ANZAC Mounted Division subsequently saw considerable action in the Battle of Romani between 3 and 5 August 1916 against the Turks who were eventually pushed back. Following this victory the British forces went on the offensive in the Sinai, although the pace of the advance was governed by the speed by which the railway and water pipeline could be constructed from the Suez Canal. Rafa was captured on 9 January 1917, while the last of the small Turkish garrisons in the Sinai were eliminated in February.
The advance entered Palestine and an initial, unsuccessful attempt was made to capture Gaza on 26 March 1917, while a second and equally unsuccessful attempt was launched on 19 April. A third assault occurred between 31 October and 7 November and this time both the ANZAC Mounted Division and the Australian Mounted Division took part. The battle was a complete success for the British, over-running the Gaza–Beersheba line and capturing 12,000 Turkish soldiers. The critical moment was the capture of Beersheba on the first day, after the Australian 4th Light Horse Brigade charged more than 4 miles (6.4 km). The Turkish trenches were overrun, with the Australians capturing the wells at Beersheba and securing the valuable water they contained along with over 700 prisoners for the loss of 31 killed and 36 wounded. Later, Australian troops assisted in pushing the Turkish forces out of Palestine and took part in actions at Mughar Ridge, Jerusalem and the Megiddo. The Turkish government surrendered on 30 October 1918. Units of the Light Horse were subsequently used to help put down a nationalist revolt in Egypt in 1919 and did so with efficiency and brutality, although they suffered a number of fatalities in the process. Total Australian battle casualties in the campaign were 4,851, including 1,374 dead.
### Western Front
Five infantry divisions of the AIF saw action in France and Belgium, leaving Egypt in March 1916. I ANZAC Corps subsequently took up positions in a quiet sector south of Armentières on 7 April 1916 and for the next two and a half years the AIF participated in most of the major battles on the Western Front, earning a formidable reputation. Although spared from the disastrous first day of the Battle of the Somme, within weeks four Australian divisions had been committed. The 5th Division, positioned on the left flank, was the first in action during the Battle of Fromelles on 19 July 1916, suffering 5,533 casualties in a single day. The 1st Division entered the line on 23 July, assaulting Pozières, and by the time that they were relieved by the 2nd Division on 27 July, they had suffered 5,286 casualties. Mouquet Farm was attacked in August, with casualties totalling 6,300 men. By the time the AIF was withdrawn from the Somme to reorganise, they had suffered 23,000 casualties in just 45 days.
In March 1917, the 2nd and 5th Divisions pursued the Germans back to the Hindenburg Line, capturing the town of Bapaume. On 11 April, the 4th Division assaulted the Hindenburg Line in the disastrous First Battle of Bullecourt, losing over 3,000 casualties and 1,170 captured. On 15 April, the 1st and 2nd Divisions were counter-attacked near Lagnicourt and were forced to abandon the town, before recapturing it. The 2nd Division then took part in the Second Battle of Bullecourt, beginning on 3 May, and succeeded in taking sections of the Hindenburg Line and holding them until relieved by the 1st Division. Finally, on 7 May the 5th Division relieved the 1st, remaining in the line until the battle ended in mid-May. Combined, these efforts cost 7,482 Australian casualties.
On 7 June 1917, II ANZAC Corps—along with two British corps—launched an operation in Flanders to eliminate a salient south of Ypres. The attack commenced with the detonation of a million pounds (454,545 kg) of explosives that had been placed underneath the Messines ridge, destroying the German trenches. The advance was virtually unopposed, and despite strong German counterattacks the next day, it succeeded. Australian casualties during the Battle of Messines included nearly 6,800 men. I ANZAC Corps then took part in the Third Battle of Ypres in Belgium as part of the campaign to capture the Gheluvelt Plateau, between September and November 1917. Individual actions took place at Menin Road, Polygon Wood, Broodseinde, Poelcappelle and Passchendaele and over the course of eight weeks of fighting the Australians suffered 38,000 casualties.
On 21 March 1918, the German Army launched its Spring Offensive in a last-ditched effort to win the war, unleashing 63 divisions over a 70-mile (110 km) front. As the Allies fell back the 3rd and 4th Divisions were rushed south to Amiens on the Somme. The offensive lasted for the next five months and all five AIF divisions in France were engaged in the attempt to stem the tide. By late May the Germans had pushed to within 50 miles (80 km) of Paris. During this time the Australians fought at Dernancourt, Morlancourt, Villers-Bretonneux, Hangard Wood, Hazebrouck, and Hamel. At Hamel the commander of the Australian Corps, Monash, successfully used combined arms—including aircraft, artillery and armour—in an attack for the first time.
The German offensive ground to a halt in mid-July and a brief lull followed, during which the Australians undertook a series of raids, known as Peaceful Penetrations. The Allies soon launched their own offensive—the Hundred Days Offensive—ultimately ending the war. Beginning on 8 August 1918 the offensive included four Australian divisions striking at Amiens. Using the combined arms techniques developed earlier at Hamel, significant gains were made on what became known as the "Black Day" of the German Army. The offensive continued for four months, and during the Second Battle of the Somme the Australian Corps fought actions at Lihons, Etinehem, Proyart, Chuignes, and Mont St Quentin, before their final engagement of the war on 5 October 1918 at Montbrehain. While these actions were successful, the Australian divisions suffered considerable casualties and by September 1918 the average strength of their infantry battalions was between 300 and 400, which was less than 50 percent of the authorised strength. The AIF was withdrawn for rest and reorganisation following the engagement at Montbrehain; at this time the Australian Corps appeared to be close to breaking as a result of its heavy casualties since August. The Corps was still out of the line when the armistice was declared on 11 November 1918. However, some artillery units continued to support British and American units into November, and the AFC maintained flying operations until the end of the war. Total Australian casualties on the Western Front numbered 181,000, including 46,000 of whom died. Another 114,000 men were wounded, 16,000 gassed, and approximately 3,850 were taken prisoners of war.
### Other theatres
Small numbers of AIF personnel also served in other theatres. Australian troops from the 1st Australian Wireless Signal Squadron provided communications for British forces during the Mesopotamian Campaign. They participated in a number of battles, including the Battle of Baghdad in March 1917 and the Battle of Ramadi in September that year. Following the Russian Revolution in 1917, the Caucasus Front collapsed, leaving Central Asia open to the Turkish Army. A special force, known as Dunsterforce after its commander, Major General Lionel Dunsterville, was formed from hand-picked British officers and NCOs to organise any remaining Russian forces or civilians who were ready to fight the Turkish forces. Some 20 Australian officers served with Dunsterforce in the Caucasus Campaign and one party under Captain Stanley Savige was instrumental in protecting thousands of Assyrian refugees. Australian nurses staffed four British hospitals in Salonika, and another 10 in India.
## Disbandment
By the end of the war the AIF had gained a reputation as a well-trained and highly effective military force, enduring more than two years of costly fighting on the Western Front before playing a significant role in the final Allied victory in 1918, albeit as a smaller part of the wider British Empire war effort. Like the other Dominion divisions from Canada and New Zealand, the Australians were viewed as being among the best of the British forces in France, and were often used to spearhead operations. 64 Australians were awarded the Victoria Cross. This reputation came at a heavy cost, with the AIF sustaining approximately 210,000 casualties, of which 61,519 were killed or died of wounds. This represented a total casualty rate of 64.8 percent, which was among the highest of any belligerent for the war. About another 4,000 men were captured. The majority of casualties occurred among the infantry (which sustained a casualty rate of 79 percent); however, the artillery (58 percent) and light horse (32 percent) also incurred significant losses.
After the war, all AIF units went into camp and began the process of demobilisation. The AIF's involvement in the occupation of former German or Turkish territory was limited as Prime Minister William Hughes requested their early repatriation. The exceptions were No. 4 Squadron, AFC and the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station, which participated in the occupation of the Rhineland. The 7th Light Horse Regiment was also sent to occupy the Gallipoli peninsula for six weeks, along with a New Zealand regiment. At the time of the armistice, there were 95,951 soldiers in France and a further 58,365 in England, 17,255 in the Middle East plus nurses in Salonika and India, all to be transported home. Around 120 Australians decided to delay their departure and instead joined the British Army, serving in Northern Russia during the Russian Civil War, although officially the Australian government refused to contribute forces to the campaign.
By May 1919, the last troops were out of France, and 70,000 were encamped on Salisbury Plain. The men returned home on a "first come, first go" basis, with the process overseen by Monash in Britain and Chauvel in Cairo. Many of the soldiers undertook government-funded training in civilian occupations while awaiting repatriation to Australia. Only 10,000 Australian soldiers remained in England by September. Monash, the senior Australian commander, was repatriated on 26 December 1919. The last transport organised to repatriate troops was H.T. Naldera, which departed London on 13 April 1920. The AIF officially ceased to exist on 1 April 1921, and on 1 July 1921 the military hospitals in Australia passed into civilian hands. As a volunteer force, all units were demobilised at the end of the war. Australia's part-time military force, the Citizens Force, was subsequently reorganised to replicate the AIF's divisional structure and the numerical designations of many of its units to perpetuate their identities and battle honours.
## Legacy
During and after the war, the AIF was often portrayed in glowing terms. As part of the "Anzac legend", the soldiers were depicted as good humoured and egalitarian men who had little time for the formalities of military life or strict discipline, yet fought fiercely and skilfully in battle. Australian soldiers was also seen as resourceful and self-reliant. The wartime official correspondent and post-war official historian C.E.W. Bean was central to the development of this stereotype. Bean believed that the character and achievements of the AIF reflected the unique nature of rural Australians, and frequently exaggerated the democratic nature of the force and the proportion of soldiers from rural areas in his journalism and the Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. The perceived qualities of the AIF were seen as being unique, as the product of the harsh Australian environment, the ethos of the bush and egalitarianism. Such notions built on the concept of men from the bush being excellent natural soldiers which was prevalent in Australian culture before the war. The achievements of the AIF, especially during the Gallipoli campaign, were also frequently portrayed by Bean and others as having marked the birth of Australia as a nation. Moreover, the AIF's performance was often seen as proof that the character of Australians had passed the test of war.
The exploits of the AIF at Gallipoli, and then on the Western Front, subsequently became central to the national mythology. In the years that followed much was made of ethos of the AIF, including its volunteer status and the quality of "mateship". Yet many of the factors which had resulted in the AIF's success as a military formation were not exclusively Australian, with most modern armies recognising the importance of small-unit identity and group cohesion in maintaining morale. Many of the qualities that arguably defined the Australian soldier were also claimed by New Zealanders and Canadians as having been exhibited by their soldiers, whilst undoubtedly soldiers of the German, British and American armies also exhibited such traits, even if they were known by different terms. Objectively, the foundations of the AIF's performance were more likely to have been military professionalism based on "discipline, training, leadership, and sound doctrine". While the volunteer status of the AIF has been seen by some to explain its military performance, it was by no means unique in this regard. The status of their enlistment made little difference against the artillery, machine-gun fire, and wire obstacles of modern industrial warfare at any rate. Equally, individual skill and morale proved to be less important than sound tactics, with effective fire and movement ultimately making the difference in 1918. The Australians were not alone among the Allied armies in embracing such tactical innovations, while many of the new technologies and integrated weapon systems they relied upon were provided by the British Army.
Commemorating and celebrating the AIF became an entrenched tradition following World War I, with Anzac Day forming the centrepiece of remembrance of the war. The soldiers who served in the AIF, known colloquially as "Diggers", in time became "...one of the paramount Australian archetypes." When the Second Australian Imperial Force was raised in 1939 following the outbreak of World War II it was seen as inheriting the name and traditions of its predecessor. Perceptions of the AIF have evolved over time. During the 1950s and 1960s social critics began to associate the "Anzac legend" with complacency and conformism, and popular discontent concerning the Vietnam War and conscription from the mid-1960s led many people to reject it. Historians also increasingly questioned Bean's views concerning the AIF, leading to more realistic and nuanced assessments of the force. However, some historians continue to stress the AIF's achievements, and state that it was representative of Australia. The "Anzac legend" grew in popularity during the 1980s and 1990s when it was adopted as part of a new Australian nationalism, with the AIF often being portrayed as a uniquely Australian force that fought in other people's wars and was sacrificed by the British military in campaigns which were of little importance to Australia. This depiction is controversial, however, and has been rejected by some historians. The Oxford Companion to Australian Military History judges that while it is unclear how popular perceptions of Australia's military history will evolve, "it is clear that the Anzac legend will remain an important national myth for some time to come".
## See also
- Australian Imperial Forces cricket team
- List of Australian diarists of World War I
- List of Australian Army artillery units in World War I
- List of Australian Army engineer units in World War I
- List of Australian Army medical units in World War I
- First Australian Imperial Force dental units
- Australian Army battle honours of World War I |
1,754,583 | Seaforth railway station | 1,168,137,742 | Railway station in Perth, Western Australia | [
"Armadale and Thornlie lines",
"Railway stations in Australia opened in 1948",
"Transperth railway stations"
]
| Seaforth railway station (officially Seaforth Station) is a suburban railway station in Gosnells, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia. It is on the Armadale line which is part of the Transperth network, and is 22.6 kilometres (14.0 mi) southwest of Perth station and 7.8 kilometres (4.8 mi) north of Armadale station. The station opened on 4 May 1948 with low level platforms. High level platforms were added in 1968. The station consists of two side platforms with a pedestrian level crossing. It is not fully accessible due to steep ramps and a lack of tactile paving.
Services are operated by Transperth Train Operations, a division of the state government's Public Transport Authority. Peak services reach seven trains per hour in each direction, whilst off-peak services are four trains per hour. The station is one of the least used ones on the Transperth network, with just 136 boardings per day in October 2017.
## Description
Seaforth station is along the South Western Railway, which links Perth to Bunbury. The northern 30.4 kilometres (18.9 mi) of this railway, between Perth and Armadale, is used by Armadale line suburban rail services as part of the Transperth network. The line and the station is owned by the Public Transport Authority (PTA), an agency of the Government of Western Australia. Seaforth station is located between Gosnells station to the north and Kelmscott station to the south, within the suburb of Gosnells, Western Australia. The station is between Albany Highway to the east and Seaforth Avenue to the west, 22.6 kilometres (14.0 mi), or a 25-minute train journey, from Perth station, and 7.8 kilometres (4.8 mi), or a 10-minute train journey, from Armadale station. This places the station in Transperth fare zone three.
Seaforth station consists of two side platforms which are approximately 100 metres (330 ft) long, enough for a four-car train but not a six-car train. The only way to cross the tracks is at a pedestrian level crossing at the southern end of the station. Two car parks with 41 bays in total are on Seaforth Avenue. Seaforth station is not fully accessible due to the ramps to the platforms being too steep and a lack of tactile paving.
## History
After a campaign by the South-East Gosnells Progress Association, the station opened on 4 May 1948, although at the time, all it had were low level platforms and no name. Later that month, the Gosnells Road Board passed a motion that the name "Seaforth" be suggested to the Western Australian Government Railways (WAGR) after the name of a local estate. When WAGR sought approval for the name from Canberra, they were reluctant to approve the name as it was used for stations in all other Australian states. The station had since become colloquially known as "Woop Woop". Seaforth was eventually approved though in April 1949.
In 1968, high level platforms were constructed.
## Services
Seaforth station is served by Armadale line services operated by Transperth Train Operations, a division of the PTA. The line goes between Perth station and Armadale station. Armadale line services reach seven trains per hour during peak, dropping down to four trains per hour between peaks. At night, there are two trains per hour, dropping to one train per hour in the early hours of the morning. Apart from at night and on Sundays/public holidays, most train services follow the "C" stopping pattern, which skips Burswood, Victoria Park, Carlisle, Welshpool and Queens Park stations. There are also two "B" stopping pattern services which run during the afternoon Armadale-bound. Those services are the same as the "C" pattern except they stop at Queens Park. Starting at night, trains stop at all stations. On Sundays and public holidays, half of all trains are "C" pattern trains and half are all stops trains.
On Seaforth Avenue is a pair of bus stops for route 907, the rail replacement bus service. On Albany Highway is a pair of bus stops for route 220, which runs along Albany Highway from Perth to Armadale.
In the 2013–14 financial year, Seaforth station had 51,887 boardings, making it the least used station on the Armadale and Thornlie lines. On an average weekday in October 2017, the station had 136 boardings, making it the least used Transperth station. The weekend average number of boardings was 170 in October 2018, making it the second least used Transperth station after Success Hill station. In 2018, City of Armadale Mayor Henry Zelones said that several hundred hectares of vacant land nearby had been set for high density development, which would increase patronage. |
45,542,423 | Strandzha Nature Park | 1,147,187,004 | Nature park in Bulgaria | [
"1995 establishments in Bulgaria",
"Bulgarian Black Sea Coast",
"Geography of Burgas Province",
"Nature parks in Bulgaria",
"Protected areas established in 1995",
"Strandzha",
"Tourist attractions in Burgas Province"
]
| Strandzha Nature Park (Bulgarian: Природен парк Странджа Priroden park Strandzha, also transliterated as Stranja Nature Park) is the largest protected area in Bulgaria spanning a territory of 1,161 square kilometres (448 sq mi) in the Strandzha Mountain in the extreme south-eastern corner of the country on the border with Turkey. It was established on 25 January 1995 to protect ecosystems and biodiversity of European importance, as well as the traditional cultural, historical and folklore heritage of the region. The altitude varies from 710 metres (780 yd) on Gradishte Peak to 0 metres (0 yd) at the Black Sea coast with average length of 50 kilometres (31 mi) from west to east and 20 kilometres (12 mi) from north to south.
The nature park is situated in Burgas Province with two towns, Malko Tarnovo and Ahtopol, and several villages within its territory. It includes five nature reserves: Silkosiya, Sredoka, Tisovitsa, Uzunbodzhak and Vitanovo. Silkosiya is the oldest one in Bulgaria, established in 1933, and Uzunbodzhak is included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme. The whole territory is part of the network of nature protection areas of the European Union, Natura 2000.
Strandzha Nature Park falls within two terrestrial ecoregions of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest — the Balkan mixed forests and the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests. Forests cover 80% of the park's area, with old-growth forest forming 30% of them. These woods are the last remaining temperate forests with evergreen laurel undergrowth in Europe. The park has the highest number of vertebrate species of all protected areas in Bulgaria, including 66 species of mammals, 269 species of birds, 24 species of reptiles, 10 species of amphibia and 41 species of freshwater fish, as well as 70 species of marine fish in the waters of the Black Sea. The invertebrate fauna is poorly researched and includes 84 Bulgarian endemic species, of which 4 are local, and 34 relict species.
The oldest traces of human habitation found in the territory of the park date from the Neolithic period in c. 6000 BC. By the mid-1st millennium BC Strandzha was inhabited by Thracian tribes, forming part of several Thracian kingdoms until the region was annexed by the Roman Empire in 45 AD. In the Middle Ages the area was contested between the Byzantine and the Bulgarian Empires until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the late 14th century. After the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Strandzha remained in the Ottoman Empire, which resulted in the 1903 Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising by the local Bulgarian population. The region was liberated in 1912 during the First Balkan War. The rich history has left an important cultural heritage by several civilizations and folklore traditions unique for Bulgaria, such as Nestinarstvo that involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embers — a vestige from the pagan past. Traditional Strandzha wooden architecture from the mid-17th to the 19th century is preserved in the villages of Brashlyan and Kosti, as well as in the town of Malko Tarnovo.
## Park administration
Strandzha Nature Park was established on 25 January 1995 to protect ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the traditional cultural, historical and folklore heritage of the region. Before 1995 the protection of the region had been fragmented, consisting of isolated nature reserves and protected areas. The park is administered by a directorate based in Malko Tarnovo and subordinated to the Executive Forest Agency of the Ministry of Environment and Water of Bulgaria. The directorate implements the state policy for the management and control of the protected area, aiming at the long-term conservation of the unique nature and ensuring the sustainable social and economic development of the region. It monitors the management and conservation of the forests, game, and fish resources while encouraging tourism and environmental protection.
The park falls within the International Union for Conservation of Nature management category V (protected landscape/seascape). The whole territory of the park and the adjacent Black Sea waters are included in the European Union network of nature protection areas Natura 2000 under the code Strandzha BG0001007. Strandzha Nature Park is listed as an important bird and biodiversity area by BirdLife International. There are two information centres for visitors: in Malko Tarnovo and in Gramatikovo.
## Geography
### Overview
Strandzha Nature Park is situated entirely in Burgas Province within the territory of two municipalities, Malko Tarnovo and Tsarevo, in the extreme south-eastern corner of Bulgaria. This area includes the 7,000 inhabitants of 19 villages, and the towns of Malko Tarnovo and Ahtopol. Strandzha is the least populated region in Bulgaria with a population density of 10 people per km<sup>2</sup>. It is accessible through the I-9 first class road to the west and the III-9901 third class road to the east which serves the park coastline. The two roads are linked by the II-99 second class road. With an area of 1,161 square kilometres (448 sq mi), or approximately 1% of the national territory, the park is the largest protected territory in Bulgaria. Due to the geographic location of Strandzha in the immediate vicinity of Asia, the park contains biodiversity of European importance as well as a unique historical heritage.
The vegetation of Strandzha evolved before the formation of the Bosphorus Strait when the whole southern Black Sea coast was linked and represents the westernmost extension of the Euxine-Colchic ecoregion. Because of the proximity of three seas, the Black Sea, the Marmara Sea and the Aegean Sea, Strandzha remained unaffected by the Quaternary glaciation and retained its mild and relatively humid climate. Under those conditions the region has preserved relict species from the Neogene.
### Relief, geology and soils
The relief of Strandzha is hilly, characterised by mild rolling ridges covered with dense woods. To the west the mountain is steeper and more rugged. Strandzha Nature Park has two clearly defined ridges — Rezovo ridge with its highest summit at Golyamo Gradishte peak at 710 metres (780 yd) and Bosna ridge with Papia at 502 metres (549 yd)) forming the highest elevation. Approximately 38% of the park's territory has an altitude from 0–20 metres (0–66 ft), 60% from 20–60 metres (66–197 ft), and only 2% lies above 60 metres (66 yd). The mountain is an anticline with core layers formed by igneous and metamorphic rocks with Paleozoic origin and surface strata covered with Mesozoic sediments dating from the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The anticline has an orientation from north-west to south-east. The river valleys are geologically young, formed during the Quaternary, and have gentle slopes and a slight inclination. In the western regions there is an extensive karst area with carbonate rocks spanning from the village of Varovnik to the town of Malko Tarnovo with ponors, caverns and caves.
The territory of Strandzha Nature Park falls within the Mediterranean soil area of Europe, characterised by wetter soils in comparison to the rest of Southern Europe. There are seven soil types in the park under the World Reference Base for Soil Resources soil classification — Fluvisols (4% of the park's area), Leptosols (10%), Cambisols (4%), Luvisols (46%), Planosols (20%), Alisols (11%) and Nitisols (5%). Strandzha is the only place in Bulgaria where Alisoils are found and the only place in Europe with Nitisols.
### Climate
The climate of Strandzha is influenced by the proximity of the Black, Marmara and Aegean seas which clearly distinguishes the local climate from that of the rest of Bulgaria. The region is among the warmest in the country with temperatures rarely falling below 0 °C in winter and rising above 24 °C in summer due to the cooling effect of the Black Sea. The average temperature drops with the rising elevation in the interior which creates conditions for more frequent and longer-lasting mists, heavier snowfall and earlier frosts. In winter frequent fogs lead to hard rime and the icing of the forests at altitudes above 500 metres (0 yd).
The winds are predominantly northern. Along the coastline the winds flow from the north in November – March, from the east in April – August and from the north-east in September – October. The sea breeze causes the high frequency of eastern winds in summer. In the interior the predominant wind direction is more varied with northern winds being the most frequent in January – March and in October.
The annual precipitation is high, reaching in some areas above 1,000 millimetres (39 in). Along the coast rainfall is under the influence of the Mediterranean and is characterised with a winter maximum while the higher regions of Strandzha also have a second maximum in May – June as a result of the continental climate. In the interior rainfall is higher and influenced by the cold northern and north-eastern winds. There is no natural protection to the north which often results in abrupt temperature falls.
Strandzha has a significant potential for climate therapy. Due to the healthy climate along the coastline combined with sandy beaches, Ahtopol was designated a climatic sea resort of national importance and Sinemorets a climatic sea resort of local importance.
### Rivers
Strandzha is criss-crossed by a dense network of deep ravines, streams and rivers. The rivers have a discharge maximum in winter, in November – December. With a total length of 147 kilometres (91 mi), the Veleka river is the longest and largest in Strandzha. Its upper course has a rocky bottom and many rapids. As the river flows through the karstic region of the mountain, its banks are steep with cliffs and precipices. After the village of Zvezdets, the river valley grows wider, the inclination decreases, the water flow slows and the river creates many meanders. In the lower course the river banks are flooded seasonally forming a wetland forest of alluvial longose groves. The Veleka is navigable in the first 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) up from the river mouth.
The second longest river is the Rezovo river, at 112 kilometres (70 mi). It generally flows east and along most of its course forms the border between Bulgaria and Turkey. According to a hypothesis its etymology is linked to the mythological king Rhesus of Thrace. The banks of the river are covered with dense oak and beech forests. The Bulgarian bank is characterised with many cliff formations and caves. The Rezovo river is faster and colder than the Veleka and therefore has a larger trout population. The tributaries of the Veleka include the Mladezhka river (40 kilometres (25 mi)), Mechi Dol (26 kilometres (16 mi)), Katun (15 kilometres (9.3 mi)), and the main tributary of the Rezovo river is the Delievska river (17 kilometres (11 mi)).
## Protected areas
Strandzha Nature Park includes five nature reserves (Silkosiya, Sredoka, Tisovitsa, Uzunbodzhak and Vitanovo), eight natural landmarks, and 14 protected areas. Silkosiya is the first nature reserve in Bulgaria, established in 1933. It is situated 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to the north of Kosti and 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) to the east of Balgari. It hosts 260 species of vascular plants and forests with average tree age of 120–130 years. Srednoka is situated in the lower course of the Mechi Dol river and is the only reserve in Strandzha with many meadows and open spaces. Tisovitsa is located in an area with a difficult access along the banks of the homonymous river and features archaeological sites from ancient Thrace. Uzunbodzhak is included in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under the UNESCO Man and Biosphere Programme and is situated along the border with Turkey. Vitanovo is located on the main Rezovo ridge 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) from Malko Tarnovo and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) from Brashlyan. Its altitude varies from 400 to 600 metres (0 yd), making vegetation different from that in the other reserves. Access to the reserves is restricted to research teams, with a few strictly defined tourist trails. Among the most significant protected areas are the Mouth of the Veleka river and Silistar. Silistar is situated on the Black Sea coast between the villages of Sinemorets and Rezovo and has the highest number of plant species per square kilometre in Bulgaria.
## Biology
### Flora
In terms of biogeography the park falls within both the Balkan mixed forests, and the Euxine-Colchic deciduous forests terrestrial ecoregions of the Palearctic temperate broadleaf and mixed forest. The combination of climate, specific geographic position and relief, as well as the lack of a strong anthropogenic influence, have contributed to the formation of 130 different habitats, making Strandzha Nature Park first in that indicator among all protected areas in Europe. There are 1670 species of vascular plants which constitute 44% of the total number of species in Bulgaria.
The vegetation of the park includes many communities of a Mediterranean and sub-Mediterranean type: warm oak forests with undergrowth of evergreen sclerophyll shrubs, such as tree heath (Erica arborea), butcher's-broom (Ruscus aculeatus), Rose of Sharon (Hypericum calycinum), green olive tree (Phillyrea latifolia), Cistus incanus, sage-leaved rock rose (Cistus salvifolius), among others. The xerothermic grasslands along the coast and in some areas to the west of the park have replaced forests destroyed by human activity. The most widespread floral communities of that type are dominated by Chrysopogon gryllus, Bothriochloa ischaemum and bulbous bluegrass (Poa bulbosa). The coastal dunes are home to psammophytic vegetation. The river banks are covered with dense forests of black alder (Alnus glutinosa), white willow (Salix alba) and crack willow (Salix fragilis).
Deciduous forests cover 80% of the park's area and belong to 28 forest and 18 bush habitats. This variety is due to the lower river valleys, the sea coast and the karstic terrain. These include forests of oriental beech (Fagus orientalis), sessile oak (Quercus petraea), Strandzhan oak (Quercus hartwissiana), Hungarian oak (Quercus frainetto), common hornbeam (Carpinus betulus), oriental hornbeam (Carpinus orientalis) and small-leaved lime (Tilia cordata) with undergrowth of pontic rhododendron (Rhododendron ponticum), Caucasian whortleberry (Vaccinium arctostaphylos), cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus), Black Sea holly (Ilex colchica), Himalayan meadow primrose (Primula rosea) and common heather (Calluna).
There are 64 relict plant species, 6 of which cannot be found elsewhere in the European Union — Strandzhan oak, Caucasian whortleberry, Colchic holly, twin-flowered daphne (Daphne pontica), tutsan (Hypericum androsaemum) and H. calycinum. The Pontic rhododendron is the symbol of the park and an important relict species with a highly disjunct areal in Europe where it inhabits only the north-western Iberian Peninsula and Strandzha. There are 56 endemic plant species, including local endemics (Veronica turrilliana and Anthemis jordanovii), western Black Sea coast endemics (Silene caliacrae and Lepidotrichum uechtrizianum), 6 Bulgarian endemics (Pyrus bulgarica, Oenanthe millefolia, Galium bulgaricum, Veronica krumovii, among others) and 40 Balkan endemics, such as Saponaria stranjensis. 113 species are listed in the Red Book of Bulgaria, including several species that within Bulgaria can only be found in the park — Ophrys reinholdii, Verbascum bugulifolium, Sideritis syriaca, Cistus laurifolius, among others.
### Fauna
Strandzha Nature Park has the richest vertebrate fauna among all protected areas in Bulgaria — 410 species, not counting 70 species of marine fishes. There are 66 breeding mammal species. Among the most common are the roe deer, red deer, wild boar, grey wolf, golden jackal, red fox, European badger, and beech marten. The park protects some of the largest and most important populations of European otter and wildcat in Europe. The European pine marten and marbled polecat are uncommon in Strandzha. There are 25 bat species present including Bechstein's bat and Kuhl's pipistrelle. 27 species of small mammals at the park include European ground squirrel, lesser mole-rat, Günther's vole, three dormouse species, and two other globally threatened species. The park is an important sanctuary of the Roach's mouse-tailed dormouse. There have been reports on the presence of Mediterranean monk seals in the rocks and caverns of Silistar.
Strandzha is situated on Via Pontica, the second-largest bird migratory route in Europe. The bays and estuaries along the Black Sea coast are a wintering destination for some birds. There are 269 avian species in the park, including populations of global importance of white-backed woodpecker, semi-collared flycatcher, olive-tree warbler and sombre tit, as well as populations of European importance of Egyptian vulture, white stork, black stork, Eurasian eagle owl and four eagle species.
There are 24 species of reptiles, 11 of which have a population of global significance. They include red whip snake, Aesculapian snake, European blind snake, sheltopusik (Europe's largest lizard), Kotschy's gecko, European pond turtle, Balkan pond turtle, spur-thighed tortoise, Hermann's tortoise, etc. The sand lizard, which is typical for western Bulgaria but very uncommon to the east, is also present in the park. Ten amphibian species have been recorded, such as European tree frog, eastern spadefoot and southern crested newt. The absence of common reptiles and amphibians, such as fire salamander, common spadefoot and common European viper, is noteworthy.
The ichthyofauna of the park is among the richest in Europe with 41 freshwater and brackish water species of fish, as well as 70 marine fish species. There are nine Ponto-Caspian and five boreal relict species. The Ponto-Caspian dates from the ancient Sarmatian Sea. The boreal dates from the epoch of Quaternary cooling. The Black Sea bleak and the Bulgarian minnow are endemic species that can only be found in the Veleka and Rezovska drainages. There are several species restricted to the Black Sea basin (vyrezub, mushroom goby, bighead goby, toad goby, tubenose goby, western tubenose goby and racer goby). The round goby and estuarine perch are found in the Caspian and Black Sea basins.
The invertebrate fauna is poorly studied. There are 80 Bulgarian and 4 local endemics, as well as 34 relict species.
## Cultural heritage
### History
The documented history of Strandzha dates back several millennia. The oldest traces of human habitation are stone axes and ceramic fragments found in the Ahtopol peninsula and are dated from the Neolithic period (c. 6000—3000 BC). Since the mid-1st millennium BC the mountain was inhabited by the Thracian tribes Thyni and Asti and was part of the Odrysian kingdom. The Thracians of Strandzha were infamous for their pirate raids. By the 2nd century BC, the power of the Odrysian kingdom declined and it became a client state of the Roman Republic. However, it kept its independence until 46 BC, when it was annexed by the Roman Empire, forming the province of Thracia. The region remained part of the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Empire. In Roman times, Strandzha was a centre of copper and iron ore mining and metallurgy. In the late 6th and early 7th centuries the Slavs settled in most of the Balkans, including Strandzha. The whole territory of the modern park was included in the Bulgarian Empire for the first time in the aftermath of the Byzantine–Bulgarian war of 894–896. Strandzha remained a contested region between Bulgaria and Byzantium throughout the Middle Ages. In the 14th century, Bulgarian emperor Ivan Alexander (r. 1331–1371) gave refuge to the Hesychastic monk Gregory of Sinai and provided funds for the construction of a monastery near Paroria, in the homonymous protected area in the modern park, which attracted clerics from Bulgaria, Byzantium and Serbia.
The interior of the region fell to the Ottoman Turks shortly after 1369 and the coastal towns were conquered in 1453. Under Ottoman rule, many villages provided auxiliaries to the Ottoman army or had to protect the mountain passes and therefore enjoyed a more favourable status — they paid no taxes and the men had the right to bear arms. There were 17 privileged villages in the territory of the modern park where Muslims were not allowed to settle. During the time of internal disorder in the Ottoman Empire in 1785–1810, brigand bands wreaked havoc in Strandzha resulting in the migration of thousands of people. Another massive migration wave followed the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29) and many Bulgarians settled in the southern areas of the Russian Empire. After the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878, Strandzha remained outside the borders of the reborn state. In July 1903 in the historic area Petrova Niva the delegates of the Internal Macedonian-Adrianople Revolutionary Organization (IMARO) discussed the outbreak of an anti-Ottoman rebellion. The Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising broke out in Strandzha and Macedonia in August 1903 and lasted for about twenty days before being suppressed by the Turks who committed great atrocities to the local population. Over 60 villages were burned down and thousands were massacred. Strandzha was liberated during the First Balkan War (1912–1913) and formally joined Bulgaria after the Second Balkan War in 1913.
### Archaeological and architectural heritage
The rich history of Strandzha has left important vestiges across the territory of the park. The Thracians worshipped a Sun god as early as the Bronze Age and many of their rock sanctuaries and dolmens have been preserved in Strandzha. One of the main characteristics is the presence of megalith structures. Among the most important monuments of that epoch is the Thracian cult complex in Mishkova Niva, one the south-eastern slopes of Golyamo Gradishte peak 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) from Malko Tarnovo. The complex, constructed in honour of a local chief and high priest, included a domed mound, a fortified edifice for the priests, a mould necropolis, a mine and a fortress. The domed mound has a diameter of 25 metres (27 yd), built by three rows and white marble blocks, and has been preserved up to a height of 1.8 metres (2.0 yd). The fortress is situated on Golyamo Gradishte peak, the highest point of the park; its diameter is 100 metres (0 yd) and the walls are 2.5 metres (2.7 yd) thick. In the 5th–3rd century BC it was a dolmen and it was reconstructed as a monumental sanctuary in the 3rd–2nd century BC. The complex had a prominent place in the religious life of the Thracian tribes from all over the mountain.
The Thracian necropolis of Propada, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to the north-west of Malko Tarnovo, contains 40 burial mounds on a hill made of marble blocks. Coins discovered during the excavations prove the practice of Charon's obol. The ritual constitutes a coin being placed in or on the mouth of the dead person before burial as a payment for Charon, the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. The top of the hill is crowned by a small domed tomb with similar construction plan to those of the Thracian tombs of Kazanlak, Aleksandrovo, Mezek, etc. The necropolis was active until the 4th century AD. Another sanctuary of interest is situated in Kamenska Barchina, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) from Malko Tarnovo. It is located in an area of conglomerate rocks, which are relatively rare in Strandzha. There are many circles carved in the rock, associated with the sun cult and the preparation of sacred wine.
There were around 60 Thracian fortresses in Strandzha, many of which were used in the Middle Ages when churches were constructed in their inner yards. The fortresses were built of large stones without the use of mortar. Vestiges of those stronghold can be found near the villages of Mladezhko, Balgari, Brodilovo, Malko Tarnovo, etc. The ruins of a fortress with church foundations are situated 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) to the south-east of Zvezdets. There are ruins of several small early Byzantine castles along the coast between the rivers Veleka and Rezovska. These were part of the defensive system built by emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) against Avar and Slavic incursions. On a small cape to the south of Ahtopol are the ruins of the Church of St Yani which used to be part of a larger monastic complex. The only preserved section of the edifice is the apse.
During the Ottoman rule the area was isolated, which influenced the formation of a local style of rural architecture. The Strandzhan wooden houses evolved in the 17th and 18th centuries. They have a stone foundation and first floor and a wooden second storey. The walls, floors and ceilings are constructed from oak timber. The houses often follow an elongated plan — all rooms are arranged one after another. An important architectural element is the fireplace, built in stone, up to 2 metres (2.2 yd) wide in its foundations and 1 metre (1.1 yd) deep. It narrows in height and takes the shape of a truncated pyramid. Examples of Strandzhan houses have been preserved in Malko Tarnovo, Brashlyan and Kosti.
### Ethnography and folklore
Historically the region has been a centre of Bulgarian culture. Strandzha is inhabited by three ethnographic groups — the Ruptsi, Tronki and Zagortsi. The Strandzhan or Eastern Ruptsi (called this way to distinguish them from the Rhodopean Ruptsi) are considered the largest of the three groups. The etymology of the name is linked to the word ropa or rupa, which means a "mine shaft" in the local dialects. They have preserved some vestiges of the pagan religious traditions and rites of the Antiquity. They speak the Strandzha dialect which is part of the Rup dialects and has preserved many words from the Old Bulgarian language. The traditional Ruptsi settlements in the park are Balgari, Brashlyan, Byala Voda, Gramatikovo, Kalovo, Kondolovo, Malko Tarnovo, Rezovo, Slivarovo, Stoilovo, Vizitsa, Zabernovo and Zvezdets. After 1913 the Ruptsi who inhabited the territory of modern Turkey settled in the north-western regions of Strandzha. Their main occupation was livestock breeding, and especially sheep breeding, logging, charcoal production and mining. The second largest group are the Tronki who inhabit mainly the areas to the north and to the west of the park in Sredets Municipality. They made a living mainly in agriculture but also in sheep and cattle breeding. The Zagortsi inhabit the regions to the north of the park and are thought to have migrated from north-eastern Bulgaria.
The customs and rituals in Strandzha are related to specific days of the year, which in most cases coincide with the church holidays of the Christian calendar. They are traditionally divided into a summer (beginning on St George's Day, 6 May) and a winter period (beginning on St Demetrius' Day, 26 October). The largest festival in Strandzha is celebrated in mid-August in the historic area Petrova Niva in commemoration of the Ilinden–Preobrazhenie Uprising.
The most characteristic tradition in Strandzha is Nestinarstvo, which involves a barefoot dance on smouldering embers performed by nestinari. The ritual was practised in several Bulgarian and Greek villages in the region and was first documented in 1862 by the Bulgarian poet Petko Slaveykov. Some historians theorise that Nestinarstvo dates back to Thracian times. The ritual is performed on the feast days of Saints Constantine and Helena on 3 and 4 June when a pilgrim procession consisting of all residents, led by nestinari carrying icons, heads to a holy spring near the village, where they consecrate the icons and dance horo. After sunset, the crowd makes a large fire about 2 metres (2.2 yd) wide and 5 to 6 centimetres (2.4 in) thick and dances around it until the fire dies and only embers remain. The nestinari's barefoot dance on embers that follows as the climax of the night is accompanied by the beat of the sacred drum and the sound of a gaida (Bulgarian bagpipe). After the dance, the nestinari's feet do not show any trace of injury or burns. In the past the ritual was performed in the villages of Brodilovo, Gramatikovo, Kondolovo, Kosti and Slivarevo but nowadays Nestinarstvo is preserved in its authentic form only in the village of Balgari.
## Threats and conservation issues
The main threat to the park comes from the uncontrolled tourist development which has plagued the Bulgarian Black Sea coast since the early 1990s. So far, the coast of the Strandzha Nature Park has remained almost intact. The most notable example is the case of the Golden Pearl hotel complex near the village of Varvara, whose construction commenced in 2006 on the territory of the part, supported by Tsarevo Municipality without ecological evaluation. After protests the construction was declared illegal later that year but the mayor of Tsarevo and the investor appealed to the Supreme Administrative Court of Bulgaria. In June 2007 the Court revoked the protected status of Strandzha Nature Park with order No. 6794/29.06.2007. After mass protests the National Assembly adopted legislation prohibiting the right to appeal to court orders of the government establishing protected areas. In 2008 the Court declared the Golden Pearl hotel complex illegal and in 2012 the construction site was demolished.
The issues regarding the development of the park's coastline remain open. The Master Plan of Tsarevo Municipality adopted in 2008 and approved by the Ministry of Environment and Water envisages the construction of vacation complexes with 75,000 beds on the territory of the park and Natura 2000 network. As a result, the European Commission launched an infringement procedure against Bulgaria that forced the Ministry to withdraw the positive environmental assessment of the Master Plan in 2010 but the decision was rejected by the Supreme Administrative Court. The Strandzha Nature Park Management Plan drafted in 2003 has not yet meet with approval by the Ministry of Environment and Water.
## See also
- Geography of Bulgaria
- List of protected areas of Bulgaria
- List of mountains in Bulgaria
- Bulgarian Black Sea Coast
- Strandzha |
32,279,190 | Pan American Games sports | 1,136,143,703 | Sports included in the Pan American Games | [
"Sports at multi-sport events by competition",
"Sports at the Pan American Games"
]
| The Pan American Games sports comprise all the sports contested in the Summer Olympic Games. In addition, traditional and popular sports throughout the Americas which are not contested at the Olympic Games are also contested such as bowling and baseball. As of 2015, the Pan American Games included 36 sports with 51 disciplines and 364 events. The number and kinds of events may change slightly from one Pan American Games to another.
## Sports, disciplines, events
For purposes of Pan American Games competition, the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) makes a distinction between sports and disciplines. A sport, in Pan American Games terms, is a single or group of disciplines as represented by an international governing body, namely an International Federation. For example, aquatics, represented at the Olympic level by the International Swimming Federation, is a sport at the Pan American Games that includes the swimming, diving, synchronized swimming and water polo disciplines.
Every Summer Olympic discipline is currently on the Pan American Games program. The last such discipline to be added was canoe slalom, which made its debut in 2015 in Toronto, Canada. The discipline had been scheduled to be held at both the 2007 and 2011 Pan American Games, but had been dropped both times due to the small number of competing countries. The Games also include some disciplines which have never been contested at a Summer Olympics. Examples can be found in baseball and softball, now considered a single Pan Am Games sport due to sharing a single international federation. Both were last contested in the Olympics in 2008 and will return in 2020, but baseball has been strictly for men and softball for women. In the Pan Am Games, men's softball has been on the program on several occasions, most recently in 2015; women's baseball made its debut in 2015.
Medals are awarded on a per-event basis; there can be one or more events per sport or discipline. In fact, every current Pan American Games discipline has at least two events.
### Changes
The Pan American Games charter establishes that they comprise the program of the Games, the 28 compulsory sports of the program of the Olympic Games plus seven sports recognized by the entity, due to its popularity in the American continent, if a new sport becomes Olympic it is automatically added to the program of the Pan American Games. This only happens, if the number of national federations in the Americas is sufficient. In the same way that it happens in the Universiade, the Organizing Committee of the each edition can request the inclusion of new sports or disciplines, respecting the local demands. An example of this is the removal of the Basque pelota in the program of the Games of 2007 and 2015 and its replacement respectively by futsal. and the woman's baseball tournament.
Until the 2011 Games in Guadalajara, just one olympic event was never held, the canoe slalom. The event was planned to be held in the 2007 and 2011 editions, but was eventually canceled due to the low number of entries. Thus, the event was held for the first time at the 2015 Games.
Previous Pan American Games have included sports which are no longer present on the current program, like futsal and polo.
The International Olympic Committee voted on October 9, 2009, during the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, to elevate both rugby sevens and golf as official Olympic sports and to include them in the Olympics, beginning with the 2016 Olympic Games. With this development, rugby sevens made its debut at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, and golf was played at the 2015 Pan American Games before becoming an Olympic sport. In 2015, as a result of a request from the organizing committee, PASO decided to include surfing in the 2019 Pan American Games program. The following year, a few days before the opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Olympics, surfing was integrated to the 2020 Summer Olympics program.
### Current Pan American Games program
The following sports (or disciplines of a sport) make up the current Pan American Games official program and are listed alphabetically according to the name used by PASO. The figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport contested at the respective Games; a bullet () denotes that the sport/discipline was scheduled to be competed, but was dropped due to a lack of entries.
Nine of the 39 sports (Aquatics, Basketball, Canoeing, Cycling, Football, Gymnastics, Volleyball, Equestrian and Wrestling) consist of multiple disciplines. Disciplines from the same sport are grouped under the same heading:
For equestrian and wrestling, the figures in each cell indicate the number of events for each sport, and not for each discipline separately.
Multiple new sports and events were added to the next edition of the games in 2023. The new sports are breaking, skateboarding and sport climbing.
The following sports have been contested at the Pan American Games:
### Discontinued sports
The following sports were previously part of the Pan American Games program as official sports, but are no longer on the current program.
### Winter sports
## Related article |
56,457,139 | Police Battalion 322 | 1,169,603,727 | null | [
"1941 establishments in Germany",
"SS and Police units",
"Security units of Nazi Germany established in 1941",
"The Holocaust in Belarus",
"The Holocaust in Russia"
]
| The Police Battalion 322 (Polizeibattalion 322) was a formation of the German Order Police (uniformed police) during the Nazi era. During Operation Barbarossa, it was subordinated to the SS and deployed in German-occupied areas, specifically the Army Group Centre Rear Area, of the Soviet Union, as part of Police Regiment Centre.
Alongside detachments from the Einsatzgruppen and the SS Cavalry Brigade, it perpetrated mass murder during the Holocaust and was responsible for large-scale crimes against humanity targeting civilian populations. In mid-1942, the battalion was reassigned to the 5th Police Regiment and operated in German-occupied territories of Slovenia.
## Background and formation
The German Order Police (uniformed police) was a key instrument of the security apparatus of Nazi Germany. In the prewar period, Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, and Kurt Daluege, chief of the Order Police, cooperated in transforming the police force of the Weimar Republic into militarised formations ready to serve the regime's aims of conquest and racial annihilation. The police units participated in the annexation of Austria and the occupation of Czechoslovakia. Police troops were first formed into battalion-sized formations for the 1939 invasion of Poland, where they were deployed for security and policing purposes, also taking part in executions and mass deportations.
Twenty-three Order Police battalions were slated to take part in the 1941 invasion of the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa. Nine were attached to security divisions of the Wehrmacht. Two battalions were assigned to support the Einsatzgruppen, the mobile death squads of the SS, and the Organisation Todt, the military construction group. Twelve were formed into regiments, three battalions each, and designated as Police Regiments Centre, North, South, and Special Purpose. The goals of the police battalions were to secure the rear by eliminating the remnants of the enemy forces, guarding the prisoners of war, and protecting the lines of communications and captured industrial facilities. Their instructions also included, as Daluege stated, the "combat of criminal elements, above all political elements".
Along with Police Battalions 307 and 316, Police Battalion 322 was assigned to Police Regiment Centre. Comprising about 550 men, the battalion was raised from recruits mobilised from the 1905–1915 year groups. They were led by career police professionals, steeped in the ideology of Nazism, driven by anti-semitism and anti-Bolshevism. The regiment was placed under the command of , a career policeman. When it crossed the German-Soviet border, the regiment came under the control of Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, the Higher SS and Police Leader (HSS-PF) for Army Group Centre.
## Operational history
Himmler made a personal visit to the headquarters of Police Regiment Centre in Belostok on 8 July where he spoke to Montua, Bach-Zalewski and the regiment's officers. The same evening, a company of Police Battalion 322 participated in the shooting of about 1,000 Jews under the direction of Einsatzgruppe B. On 10 July, Daluege visited the unit and addressed the members of the regiment arrayed in a parade formation, extolling them to "exterminate" Bolshevism as a "blessing for Germany". On 11 July, Montua passed a confidential order from Bach-Zalewski to the battalion commanders that Jews, who had been "convicted of looting", were to be shot; an execution took place the same day. Around this time, Police Battalions 316 and 322 rounded up approximately 3,000 Jewish men from Belostok and shot them in a nearby forest.
On 17 July, the regiment murdered over 1,100 Jews in Slonim, with Bach-Zalewski reporting to Himmler on 18 July: "Yesterday's cleansing action in Slonim by Police Regiment Centre. 1,153 Jewish plunderers were shot". By 20 July, the unit's reports referred to executions of Jewish women and children.
By late August, Police Battalion 322 moved to Minsk, where, on September 1, it conducted a killing operation together with the units of Einsatzgruppe B. The victims included 290 Jewish men and 40 Jewish women.
In September 1941, the regiment participated in the Mogilev conference, organised by General Max von Schenckendorff, commander of the Army Group Centre Rear Area, with assistance from Montua. The conference included three field exercises. On the second day, participants travelled to a nearby settlement where a company of Police Battalion 322, assisted by the troops of the SD, conducted a demonstration of how to surround and screen a village. According to the after-action report, "suspicious strangers" (Ortsfremde) or "partisans" could not be found. The screening of the population revealed fifty-one Jewish civilians, of whom thirty-two were shot.
On 2 October 1941, Police Battalion 322, along with Bach-Zalewski's staff company and Ukrainian auxiliaries, rounded up 2,200 Jews in the Mogilev ghetto. Sixty-five were killed during the roundups, and another 550 executed the next day. Throughout the rest of the month, the battalion continued to execute Jews, communists, and alleged partisans in the vicinity of Mogilev. The commander of the unit received the Iron Cross, 2nd class, following these operations.
In December, after the German defeat in the Battle of Moscow, the regiment was sent to the front lines to reinforce the German defenses, thus depriving Bach-Zalewski of manpower. The battalion was assigned to guard and security duties to the immediate rear of the front-line troops.
In May–June 1942, Police Battalions 307, 316, and 322 were reassigned to other regiments and continued to engage in security warfare and genocide. Battalion 322 was sent to the German-occupied territories of Slovenia, where it became part of the 5th SS Police Regiment.
## Aftermath
The Order Police as a whole had not been declared a criminal organisation by the Allies, unlike the SS, and its members were able to reintegrate into society largely unmolested, with many returning to police careers in Austria and West Germany. Personnel of Police Battalion 322 were investigated by the West German authorities in the 1960s. One of the battalion's members stated:
> "The expression 'combat of the partisans' is strictly speaking a complete misnomer. We did not have a single battle with partisans after we left Mogilev. ... The fact of the matter [was] that those found without identity cards sufficed for their arrest and executions".
## See also
- Bandenbekämpfung |
66,797,078 | The Mama Who Came to Dinner | 1,171,894,585 | null | [
"1989 American television episodes",
"1989 American television series debuts",
"Family Matters"
]
| "The Mama Who Came to Dinner" is the television pilot and series premiere of the American sitcom Family Matters, a spin-off of Perfect Strangers (1986–93) set in Chicago. The episode was directed by Joel Zwick and written by William Bickley and Michael Warren. It originally aired on ABC on September 22, 1989.
In the episode, police officer Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson) and his wife Harriette (Jo Marie Payton) prepare for the arrival of his mother Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), who is moving in to live with them. While Carl confronts his mother's want to usurp his authority over his family, his son Eddie (Darius McCrary) tries to convince him to let him go to a party.
The episode marks the only appearance of Valerie Jones as Judy Winslow before she was replaced with Jaimee Foxworth in the following episode. In its initial airing, "The Mama Who Came to Dinner" received mixed reviews from critics.
## Synopsis
Police officer Carl Winslow (Reginald VelJohnson), his wife Harriette (Jo Marie Payton), and their three children prepare for the arrival of his mother Estelle (Rosetta LeNoire), who is moving in to live with them in their Chicago home. While Carl confronts his mother's want to usurp his authority over his entire family, his son Eddie (Darius McCrary) tries to convince him to let him go to a party that would result in him violating his curfew. After various discussions, Carl lets Eddie go to the party. The episode ends with the Winslow family singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" around the family piano, with a camera pan fading over the Chicago skyline.
## Production
"The Mama Who Came to Dinner" serves as the television pilot of the American sitcom Family Matters. Directed by Joel Zwick, the episode was filmed in front of a studio audience at Lorimar Studios in Culver City, California; the closing shot of the episode was taken from a helicopter in Chicago, where the series is set. The pilot also marks the only appearance of Valerie Jones as Judy Winslow, Carl's younger daughter, as she was replaced with Jaimee Foxworth in the following episode. Furthermore, the episode is one of five to include "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong as its theme song; this was later removed entirely from the episode during reruns and from the rest of the series with "As Days Go By" by Jesse Frederick, Bennett Salvay, and Scott Roeme.
## Reception
### Viewership
In its initial broadcast, "The Mama Who Came to Dinner" was the thirty-eighth highest-rated television episode of the week from September 18 to September 24, 1989. With a household rating of 13.9, the ABC episode was watched by an estimated 21.9 million people.
### Critical response
From The Baltimore Sun, television critic David Zurawik praised the episode for its pacing, writing, and its "unabashed celebration of old-time family values," along with Reginald VelJohnson's performance as Carl Winslow, which he said made Family Matters "work." On the other side of the spectrum, Nancy Morris from the Shreveport Journal said the show was "not funny," negatively compared it to its predecessor Perfect Strangers, and called it a rip-off of The Cosby Show.
Writing for the San Francisco Examiner, Michael Dougan criticized the series premiere for lacking "originality" and for not having much in common from the original source it derives from. Phil Kloer's review for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution told readers to watch the opening theme song of the episode and then turn their television off after the song concluded as he felt the show was something viewers had "seen a zillion times [...] not unwatchable awful, just the same-old-same-old."
Various critics also had similar responses to the episode. While Lane Crockett from The News-Press also compared it to The Cosby Show, The Evening Sun journalist Michael Hill lauded the show for its humor and themes, and said it was "one of those nice little comedies that deserves to be on the air." On his television column for the Akron Beacon Journal, Mark Dawidziak compared the episode to the CBS series Good Times, criticizing its writing and stating that "the talents of likeable performers are wasted with an efficiency fueled by a sweeping lack of wit and vision." Diane Holloway, a critic for the Austin American-Statesman, said that the premiere of Family Matters was a successful episode, comparing it positively to Happy Days, and praising its premise along with "the likeable Winslow family." |
27,660,761 | Taurean Allen | 1,149,072,549 | Canadian football player | [
"1987 births",
"Calgary Stampeders players",
"Canadian football defensive backs",
"Canadian football people from Toronto",
"Living people",
"Players of Canadian football from Ontario",
"Saint Mary's Huskies football players",
"Sportspeople from Etobicoke"
]
| Taurean Allen (born February 15, 1987) is a former professional Canadian football defensive back who played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Stampeders selected Allen in the second round of the 2010 CFL Draft. He played college football for the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. In 2010, Allen played in six regular season games for the Stampeders, recording seven tackles. He did not play in the 2011 season due to injury and was released shortly thereafter.
## Early career
Allen played college football at Wilfrid Laurier University as a cornerback. As a freshman player in 2007, Allen led the secondary unit with seven knockdowns along with two interceptions. He was named a first-team Ontario University Athletics (OUA) All-Star and a second-team All-Canadian. Allen was again named to the OUA All-Star first team in 2008 and 2009. He studied communications while at Wilfrid Laurier. He also played at the CIS East West Bowl in his final year with the Golden Hawks after recording 16.5 tackles, two pass deflections, and an interception in 2009.
## Professional career
In September and December 2009, the CFL Scouting Bureau ranked Allen thirteenth on the list of top draft prospects for the 2010 CFL Draft. Allen saw his ranking increase to eighth place after being invited to the CFL evaluation camp at the University of Toronto. Going into the draft, Allen was reported to be the fastest cornerback available for selection. The Calgary Stampeders selected Allen in the second round of the 2010 CFL Draft with the 13th overall pick. After drafting Allen, Stampeders head coach and general manager John Hufnagel stated that Allen could play at cornerback, but the team would attempt to transition him to safety. Allen signed with the Stampeders on May 17, 2010 and spent time during the offseason training with several of his new teammates in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
In training camp, Allen competed with Wes Lysack and Eric Fraser for the starting safety position. Lysack and Fraser were considered to be stronger players than Allen physically, but Allen was both quicker and possessed greater ability in coverage. Allen started the first preseason game at safety but also spent significant time on the field as a cornerback, his previous position. After making the regular season roster, Allen spent the month of July moving on and off the roster but playing in no games. Allen made his CFL debut on July 31, 2010 in a 23–20 win against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, in which he played off the bench. He continued to spend most of his time on the inactive list or the practice squad throughout the season, playing sporadically. Allen also missed playing time due to a leg injury. He finished the season with seven tackles in six games. Allen's contributions were largely on special teams, where he performed five of his tackles. He played in the West Final against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Starting safety Lysack was released from the Stampeders during the offseason, and several players competed alongside Allen for the starting role in training camp, including Eric Fraser, Milt Collins, Mark Holden, and Saleem Borhot. Allen's preseason was cut short by an injury that affected his hip, groin, and leg, causing the Stampeders to place him on the nine-game injured list before the season opener. He ultimately did not play in the 2011 season. The Stampeders released Allen during the offseason. The Leader-Post's Allen Cameron cited his injuries as the primary cause of his relatively quiet and brief career in the CFL, saying they "slowed his development and sapped his confidence".
## Later life
After his professional career, Allen went on to work for Aerotek as a technical recruiter and account manager. |
335,017 | Naomi Watts | 1,171,904,079 | British actress (born 1968) | [
"1968 births",
"20th-century British actresses",
"21st-century British actresses",
"Actresses from Kent",
"Actresses from Sydney",
"British Buddhists",
"British emigrants to Australia",
"British expatriate actresses in Australia",
"British expatriate actresses in the United States",
"British film actresses",
"British film producers",
"British people of Welsh descent",
"British stage actresses",
"British television actresses",
"British voice actresses",
"Converts to Buddhism",
"HIV/AIDS activists",
"Living people",
"Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture Screen Actors Guild Award winners",
"People educated at North Sydney Girls High School",
"People educated at Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni",
"People from Shoreham, Kent"
]
| Naomi Ellen Watts (born 28 September 1968) is a British actress. After her family moved to Australia, she made her film debut there in the drama For Love Alone (1986) and then appeared in three television series, Hey Dad..! (1990), Brides of Christ (1991), and Home and Away (1991), and the film Flirting (1991). After moving to the United States, Watts initially struggled as an actress, taking roles in small-scale films until she starred in David Lynch's psychological thriller Mulholland Drive in 2001 as an aspiring actress. The role began her rise to international prominence.
Watts then played a tormented journalist in the horror remake The Ring (2002). She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a grief-stricken mother in Alejandro González Iñárritu's film 21 Grams (2003). Her popularity continued to rise with starring roles in I Heart Huckabees (2004), King Kong (2005), Eastern Promises (2007), and The International (2009).
For her role as Maria Bennett in the disaster film The Impossible (2012), Watts received another Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. In the 2010s, she starred in films including Birdman (2014), St. Vincent (2014), While We're Young (2015), The Glass Castle (2017), and Luce (2019). Watts also continued to act in blockbusters, with appearances in the Divergent franchise (2015–2016), and she ventured into television with the Showtime mystery drama series Twin Peaks (2017) and the biographical limited series The Loudest Voice (2019).
Watts is particularly known for her work in remakes and independent productions with dark or tragic themes, as well as portrayals of characters that endure loss or suffering. Magazines such as People and Maxim have included her on their lists of the world's most beautiful women. She has been an ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and Pantene's Beautiful Lengths. Despite receiving significant media attention, Watts is reticent about discussing her personal life. From 2005 to 2016, she was in a relationship with American actor Liev Schreiber, with whom she has two sons. In June 2023, she married American actor Billy Crudup.
## Early life and education
Naomi Ellen Watts was born on 28 September 1968, in Shoreham, Kent, England. She is the daughter of Myfanwy (Miv) Edwards (née Roberts), an antiques dealer and costume and set designer, and Peter Watts (1946–1976), a road manager and sound engineer who worked with Pink Floyd. Watts's maternal grandfather was Welsh.
Watts's parents divorced when she was four years old. After the divorce, Watts and her elder brother, Ben Watts, moved several times across South East England with their mother. Peter Watts left Pink Floyd in 1974 and remarried in 1976. In August 1976, he was found dead in a flat in Notting Hill, of an apparent heroin overdose.
Following his death, Watts's mother moved the family to Llanfawr Farm in Llangefni and Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, towns on the island of Anglesey in North Wales, where they lived with Watts's maternal grandparents, Nikki and Hugh Roberts, for three years. During this time, Watts attended a Welsh medium school, Ysgol Gyfun Llangefni. She later said of her time in Wales: "We took Welsh lessons in a school in the middle of nowhere while everyone else was taking English. Wherever we moved, I would adapt and pick up the regional accent. It's obviously significant now, me being an actress. Anyway, there was quite a lot of sadness in my childhood, but no lack of love." In 1978, her mother remarried (though she later divorced) and Watts and her brother then moved to Suffolk, where she attended Thomas Mills High School. Watts has stated that she wanted to become an actress after seeing her mother performing on stage and from the time she watched the 1980 film Fame.
In 1982, when Watts was fourteen, she moved to Sydney in Australia with her mother, brother and stepfather. Myfanwy established a career in the burgeoning film business, working as a stylist for television commercials, then turning to costume design, ultimately working for the soap opera Return to Eden. After emigrating, Watts was enrolled in acting lessons by her mother; she auditioned for numerous television advertisements, where she met and befriended actress Nicole Kidman. Watts obtained her first role in the 1986 drama film, For Love Alone, based on the novel of the same name by Christina Stead, and produced by Margaret Fink.
In Australia, Watts attended Mosman High School and North Sydney Girls High School. She did not graduate from school; leaving school she worked as a papergirl, a negative cutter, and managed a Delicacies store in Sydney's affluent North Shore.
She decided to become a model when she was 18. She signed with a models agency that sent her to Japan, but after several failed auditions, she returned to Sydney. There, she worked in advertising for a department store, which led Follow Me magazine to hire her as an assistant fashion editor. A casual invitation to participate in a drama workshop inspired Watts to quit her job and pursue acting.
Regarding her nationality, Watts said: "I consider myself British and have very happy memories of the UK. I spent the first 14 years of my life in England and Wales and never wanted to leave. When I was in Australia I went back to England a lot." She also has expressed her ties to Australia, declaring: "I consider myself very connected to Australia, in fact when people say where is home, I say Australia, because those are my most powerful memories."
## Career
### Early roles and struggling career (1986–2000)
Watts's career began in television, where she made brief appearances in commercials. The 1986 film For Love Alone, set in the 1930s and based on Christina Stead's 1945 best-selling novel of the same name, marked her debut in film. She then appeared in two episodes of the fourth season of the Australian sitcom Hey Dad..! in 1990. After a five-year absence from films, Watts met director John Duigan during the 1989 premiere of her friend Nicole Kidman's film Dead Calm and he invited her to take a supporting role in his 1991 indie film Flirting. The film received critical acclaim and was featured on Roger Ebert's list of the 10 best films of 1992. Also in 1991, she took the part of Frances Heffernan, a girl who struggles to find friends behind the walls of a Sydney Catholic school, in the award-winning mini-series Brides of Christ and had a recurring role in the soap opera Home and Away as the handicapped Julie Gibson. Watts was then offered a role in the drama series A Country Practice but turned it down, not wanting to "get stuck on a soap for two or three years", a decision she later called "naïve".
Watts then took a year off to travel, visiting Los Angeles and being introduced to agents through Kidman. Encouraged, Watts decided to move to America, to pursue her career further. In 1993 she had a small role in the John Goodman film Matinee and temporarily returned to Australia to star in three Australian films: another of Duigan's pictures, Wide Sargasso Sea; the drama The Custodian; and had her first leading role in the film Gross Misconduct, as a student who accuses one of her teachers (played by Jimmy Smits) of raping her. Watts then moved back to America for good but the difficulty of finding agents, producers and directors willing to hire her during that period frustrated her initial efforts. Though her financial situation never led her to taking a job out of the film industry, she experienced problems like being unable to pay the rent of her apartment and losing her medical insurance. "At first, everything was fantastic and doors were opened to me. But some people who I met through Nicole [Kidman], who had been all over me, had difficulty remembering my name when we next met. There were a lot of promises, but nothing actually came off. I ran out of money and became quite lonely, but Nic gave me company and encouragement to carry on."
> When I came to America there was so much promise of good stuff and I thought, I've got it made here. I'm going to kick ass. Then I went back to Australia and did one or two more jobs. When I returned to Hollywood, all those people who'd been so encouraging before weren't interested. You take all their flattery seriously when you don't know any better. I basically had to start all over again. I get offered some things without auditioning today, but back then they wouldn't even fax me the pages of a script because it was too much of an inconvenience. I had to drive for hours into the Valley to pick up three bits of paper for some horrendous piece of shit, then go back the next day and line up for two hours to meet the casting director who would barely give me eye contact. It was humiliating.
> –Watts on her early struggles
She then won a supporting role in the futuristic 1995 film Tank Girl, winning the role of "Jet Girl" after nine auditions. The film was met with mixed reviews and flopped at the box office, although it has gone on to become something of a cult classic. Throughout the rest of the decade, she took mostly supporting roles in films and occasionally considered leaving the business, but: "there were always little bites. Whenever I felt I was at the end of my rope, something would come up. Something bad. But for me it was 'work begets work'; that was my motto." In 1996, she starred alongside Joe Mantegna, Kelly Lynch and J.T. Walsh in George Hickenlooper's action-thriller Persons Unknown; alongside James Earl Jones, Kevin Kilner and Ellen Burstyn in the period drama Timepiece; in Bermuda Triangle, a TV pilot which was not picked up for a full series, where she played a former documentary filmmaker who disappears in the Bermuda Triangle; and as the lead role in Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering, in which children in a small town become possessed under the command of a wrongfully murdered child preacher.
In 1997, she starred in the Australian ensemble romantic drama Under the Lighthouse Dancing starring Jack Thompson and Jacqueline McKenzie. She also played the lead role in the short-lived television series Sleepwalkers. In 1998, she starred alongside Neil Patrick Harris and Debbie Reynolds in the TV film The Christmas Wish, played the supporting role of Giulia De Lezze in Dangerous Beauty, and provided some voice work for Babe: Pig in the City. She said in an interview in 2012, "That really should not be on my résumé! I think that was early on in the day, when I was trying to beef up my résumé. I came in and did a couple days' work of voiceovers and we had to suck on [helium] and then do a little mouse voice. But I was one in a hundred, so I'm sure you would never be able to identify my voice. I probably couldn't either!" In 1999, she played Alice in the romantic comedy Strange Planet and the Texan student Holly Maddux in The Hunt for the Unicorn Killer, which was based on the real life effort to capture Ira Einhorn, who was charged with Maddux's murder. In 2000, while David Lynch was expanding the rejected pilot of Mulholland Drive into a feature film, Watts starred alongside Derek Jacobi, Jack Davenport and Iain Glen in the BBC TV film The Wyvern Mystery, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Sheridan Le Fanu that was broadcast in March of that year.
Much of her early career is filled with near misses in casting; she was up for significant roles in films such as 1997's The Postman and The Devil's Advocate and 2000's Meet the Parents, which eventually went to other actresses. In an interview in 2012, Watts said, "I came to New York and auditioned at least five times for Meet the Parents. I think the director liked me but the studio didn't. I heard every piece of feedback you could imagine, and in this case, it was 'not sexy enough'." Watts recalled her early career in an interview in 2002, saying, "It is a tough town. I think my spirit has taken a beating. The most painful thing has been the endless auditions. Knowing that you have something to offer, but not being able to show it, is so frustrating. As an unknown, you get treated badly. I auditioned and waited for things I did not have any belief in, but I needed the work and had to accept horrendous pieces of shit." Watts studied the Meisner Technique.
### Rise to fame (2001–2002)
In 1999, director David Lynch began casting for his psychological thriller Mulholland Drive. He interviewed Watts after looking at her headshot, without having seen any of her previous work and offered her the lead role. Lynch later said about his selection of Watts, "I saw someone that I felt had a tremendous talent, and I saw someone who had a beautiful soul, an intelligence—possibilities for a lot of different roles, so it was a beautiful full package." Conceived as a pilot for a television series, Lynch shot a large portion of it in February 1999, planning to keep it open-ended for a potential series. However, the pilot was rejected. Watts recalled thinking at the time, "just my dumb luck, that I'm in the only David Lynch programme that never sees the light of day." Instead, Lynch filmed an ending in October 2000, turning it into a feature film which was picked up for distribution.
Mulholland Drive, also starring Laura Harring and Justin Theroux, premiered at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival to high critical acclaim and marked Watts's breakthrough. Reviewing her performance, Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian stated that "Watts's face metamorphoses miraculously from fresh-faced beauty to a frenzied, teary scowl of ugliness."; Emanuel Levy wrote, "... Naomi Watts, in a brilliant performance, a young, wide-eyed and grotesquely cheerful blonde, full of high hopes to make it big in Hollywood." The film received a large number of awards and nominations, including the Best Actress Award for Watts from the National Society of Film Critics and a nomination for Best Actress from the American Film Institute. The surrealist film following the story of the aspiring actress Betty Elms, played by Watts, sparked controversy over its strong lesbian theme.
Also in 2001, she starred in two short films, Never Date an Actress and Ellie Parker, and the horror film The Shaft, director Dick Maas's remake of his 1983 film De Lift. In 2002, she starred in one of the biggest box office hits of that year, The Ring, the English language remake of the Japanese horror film Ring. Directed by Gore Verbinski, the film, which also starred Martin Henderson and Brian Cox, received favourable reviews and grossed around US\$129 million domestically (equivalent to US\$ million in 2023). Watts portrayed Rachel Keller, a journalist investigating the strange deaths of her niece and other teenagers after watching a mysterious videotape, and receiving a phone call announcing their deaths in seven days. Her performance was praised by critics, including Paul Clinton of CNN.com, who stated that she "is excellent in this leading role, which proves that her stellar performance in Mulholland Drive was not a fluke. She strikes a perfect balance between skepticism and the slow realisation of the truth in regard to the deadly power of the videotape." In the same year, she also starred in Rabbits, a series of short films directed by David Lynch; alongside several other famous British actors in the black comedy Plots with a View; and with Tim Daly in The Outsider, a western.
### Established career (2003–2007)
In 2003, Watts took the part of Julia Cook in Gregor Jordan's Australian film Ned Kelly opposite Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush; as well as starring in the Merchant-Ivory film Le Divorce, portraying Roxeanne de Persand, a poet who is pregnant and abandoned by her husband Charles-Henri de Persand. Roxeanne and her sister Isabel (played by Kate Hudson) dispute the ownership of a painting by Georges de La Tour with the family of Charles-Henri's lover. Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C" rating and lamented Watts's performance: "I'm disappointed to report that Hudson and Watts have no chemistry as sisters, perhaps because Watts never seems like the expatriate artiste she's supposed to be playing".
Conversely, her performance opposite Sean Penn and Benicio del Toro in director Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2003 drama 21 Grams earned Watts numerous award nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, later that year. In the story, told in a non-linear manner, she portrayed Cristina Peck, a grief-stricken woman living a suburban life after the killing of her husband and two children by Jack Jordan (Benicio del Toro), who became involved in a relationship with the critically ill academic mathematician Paul Rivers (Sean Penn). She has said of the nomination, "It's far beyond what I ever dreamed for – that would have been too far fetched". The New York Times praised her: "Because Ms. Watts reinvents herself with each performance, it's easy to forget how brilliant she is. She has a boldness that comes from a lack of overemphasis, something actresses sometimes do to keep up with Mr. Penn". The San Francisco Chronicle wrote: "Watts is riveting, but she's much better in scenes of extreme emotion than in those requiring subtlety."
In 2004, Watts starred alongside Mark Ruffalo in the independent film We Don't Live Here Anymore, based on short stories by Andre Dubus, which depicts the crisis of two married couples, reunited with Sean Penn in The Assassination of Richard Nixon, playing the wife of the would-be presidential assassin Samuel Byck (Penn), and teamed up with Jude Law and Dustin Hoffman in David O. Russell's ensemble comedy I Heart Huckabees. She headlined and produced the semi-autobiographical drama Ellie Parker (2005), which depicted the struggle of an Australian actress in Hollywood. The film began as a short film that was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001 and was expanded into a feature-length production over the next four years. Film critic Roger Ebert praised Watts's performance: "The character is played by Watts with courage, fearless observation and a gift for timing that is so uncanny it can make points all by itself."
Watts starred in the sequel to The Ring, The Ring Two (2005), which despite a negative critical response, made over US\$161 million worldwide gross (equivalent to US\$ million in 2023). In 2005, Watts also headlined the remake of King Kong as Ann Darrow. She was the first choice for the role, portrayed by Fay Wray in the original film, with no other actors considered. In preparation for her role, Watts met with Wray, who was to make a cameo appearance and say the final line of dialogue, but she died during pre-production at the age of 96. King Kong proved to be Watts's most commercially successful film yet. Helmed by The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson, the film won high praise and grossed US\$550 million worldwide (equivalent to US\$ million in 2023). The Seattle Post-Intelligencer praised her performance: "The third act becomes a star-crossed, "Beauty and the Beast" parable far more operatic and tragic than anything the original filmmakers could have imagined, exquisitely pantomimed by Watts with a poignancy and passion that rates Oscar consideration." Alongside the movie, she reprised her role as Darrow in the video game adaptation of King Kong, for which her voice performance garnered her significant praise, leading to a nomination for a Spike Video Game Award for Best Performance by a Female. Watts and the other game's cast members also won an award for Best Cast. Her other 2005 film release was Marc Forster's psychological thriller Stay, alongside Ewan McGregor, Ryan Gosling and Bob Hoskins. At this point in her career, Watts stated the following:
> You'd better know why you're here as an actor ... I'm here to work out my shit, what my problems are and know who I am, so by cracking open these characters perhaps that shines a light on it a little bit better ... I know myself. I mean, of course I know myself better but the journey and search continue because hopefully we're evolving and growing all the time.
The romantic drama The Painted Veil (2006), with Edward Norton and Liev Schreiber, featured Watts as the daughter of a lawyer who marries a man for his reputation as a physician and bacteriologist. Comparing her portrayal with Greta Garbo's in the original movie, the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "Watts makes the role work on her own terms–her Kitty is more desperate, more foolish, more miserable and more driven... and her spiritual journey is greater. Watts also provided the voice of a small role, Suzie Rabbit, in David Lynch's psychological thriller Inland Empire. In the same year, she was announced as the new face of the jewelers David Yurman and completed a photoshoot which was featured in the 2007 Pirelli Calendar.
Watts portrayed a Russian-British midwife who delivers the baby of a drug-addicted 14-year old prostitute in David Cronenberg's Eastern Promises (2007), with Viggo Mortensen. In its review, Slate magazine observed that she "brings a wounded radiance to the overcurious midwife Anna. Though it's a bit of a one-note role, it's a note she's long specialised in, a kind of flustered moral aggrievement". Eastern Promises grossed US\$56 million worldwide, (equivalent to US\$ million in 2023). She was one of the producers and starred as a mother who, along with her family, are held hostage by a pair of sociopathic teenagers in Michael Haneke's Funny Games (also 2007), a remake of Haneke's 1997 film of the same name. The director said that he agreed to make the film on condition that he be allowed to cast Watts, according to UK's The Daily Telegraph, but it went largely unnoticed by critics and audiences. Nevertheless, Newsweek felt that Watts "hurls herself into her physically demanding role with heroic conviction".
### Biographical and independent films (2009–2014)
After a short hiatus from acting following the birth of her two children, Watts returned to acting in 2009, starring alongside Clive Owen in the political action thriller The International, in which she played a Manhattan assistant district attorney who partners with an Interpol agent to take down a merchant bank. The production was a moderate commercial success, grossing over US\$60 million (equivalent to \$ million in 2023) worldwide. She next appeared in the drama Mother and Child, portraying the role of a lawyer who never knew her biological mother. ViewLondon found her to be "terrific as [her character], delivering a powerful performance that [...] isn't afraid to be unsympathetic". She was nominated for the Best Actress award at the Australian Film Institute Awards and for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female.
Her next film, the Woody Allen dramedy You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, opened at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, and saw her portray Sally, a woman who has a troubled marriage with author Roy (played by Josh Brolin). It made over US\$26 million (equivalent to \$ million in 2023). Her portrayal of Valerie Plame in the biographical thriller Fair Game followed, and marked the third pairing of Watts with Sean Penn after 21 Grams and The Assassination of Richard Nixon. The film earned Watts a Satellite Award nomination for Best Actress. In 2011, she appeared with Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz in Jim Sheridan's psychological horror film Dream House, as the neighbour of a murdered family, and with Leonardo DiCaprio in Clint Eastwood's biographical drama J. Edgar, playing secretary Helen Gandy. While Dream House flopped, J. Edgar had a more favorable reception.
Watts starred in The Impossible (2012), a disaster drama based on the true story of María Belón and her family's experience of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami; she played the lead role, with her name changed to Maria Bennett. The film was a critical darling, had the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film in Spain, and made US\$180.2 million (equivalent to \$ million in 2023) globally. Deborah Young of The Hollywood Reporter stated that "Watts packs a huge charge of emotion as the battered, ever-weakening Maria whose tears of pain and fear never appear fake or idealised," while Justin Chang of Variety magazine remarked that she "has few equals at conveying physical and emotional extremis, something she again demonstrates in a mostly bedridden role." Damon Wise of The Guardian felt that "Watts is both brave and vulnerable, and her scenes with the young Lucas [...] are among the film's best." Watts went on to be nominated for the Academy Award, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress.
In Adore (2013), Watts starred with Robin Wright as two childhood friends who fall in love with each other's sons. On the film, critics concluded that Watts and Wright "give it their all, but they can't quite make Adore'''s trashy, absurd plot believable". She obtained the FCCA Award for Best Actress in 2014 for her role. The anthology comedy Movie 43 (2013) featured Watts as a devoted mother, alongside Liev Schreiber. Movie 43 was universally panned by critics, with Richard Roeper calling it "the Citizen Kane of awful".
In Laurie Collyer's independent drama Sunlight Jr. (2013), Watts starred with Matt Dillon as a struggling working-class couple. The San Francisco Chronicle, praising Watts and Dillon, wrote in its review for the film that they are "formidable actors at the top of their game here [...] exhibiting a remarkable chemistry". Watts portrayed the title role in Oliver Hirschbiegel's Diana (her final film released in 2013), a biographical drama about the last two years of the life of Diana, Princess of Wales. Released amid much controversy given its subject, the film was a critical flop. James Berardinelli found the film to be a "dull, pointless" production and remarked that while Watts did a "decent job encapsulating the look and feel of Diana", her portrayal was "a two-dimensional recreation".
Alejandro González Iñárritu's dark comedy Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014) featured Watts as the actress of a play mounted by a faded Hollywood actor (played by Michael Keaton). The film was the subject of widespread acclaim, and won four awards at the 87th Academy Awards including Best Picture; Watts and the other cast members earned the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture. Her other two awaiting projects were screened at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival. The dramedy St. Vincent starred Watts as a Russian prostitute. She learned the accent by spending time with Russian women in a West Village spa during a six-week period. Los Angeles Times reported a dividing reaction towards her performance, asserting that her part "put off some critics with its outrageousness", but "earned plenty of plaudits too". Watts nabbed a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. In While We're Young, Watts starred with Ben Stiller as a New York City-based married couple who begin hanging out with a couple in their 20s. That film was an arthouse success and Watts received praise for her on-screen chemistry with Stiller.
### Film and television work (2015–present)
Watts played rebel leader Evelyn Johnson-Eaton in Insurgent (2015), the second film in The Divergent Series, which is based on Veronica Roth's best-selling young adult novel of the same name. Despite mixed reviews, the film was a commercial success, grossing US\$274.5 million worldwide. Watts reprised her role in the series's third instalment, Allegiant, released on 18 March 2016, to negative reviews and lackluster box office sales.
Watts starred in Gus Van Sant's mystery drama The Sea of Trees, opposite Matthew McConaughey, as the wife of an American man who attempts suicide in Mount Fuji's "Suicide Forest". The film premiered at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival where it competed for the Palme d'Or, but was heavily panned by both critics and audiences, who reportedly booed and laughed during its screening. Critic Richard Mowe stated the audience reaction should "give the film's creative team pause for reflection about exactly where they went so badly awry." Justin Chang of Variety also criticised the film, but commended Watts's performance for being "solidly moving and sometimes awesomely passive-aggressive." The Sea of Trees did not find an audience in theaters.
Like St. Vincent and While We're Young the previous year, Watts starred in two films—Demolition and Three Generations— which screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, in 2015. In Demolition, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée and opposite Jake Gyllenhaal, Watts played a customer service representative and the interest of a grieving investment banker (Gyllenhaal). The Wrap felt that she "empathetically captures [her] harried single mom" role as she played "both the wit and the sadness with grace". In Three Generations, directed by Gaby Dellal, she appeared with Susan Sarandon and Elle Fanning as the mother of a young transgender man (Fanning). Pulled from the schedule days before its intended initial release, the film subsequently opened on selected theatres in May 2017.
Watts played Linda, the second wife of heavyweight boxer Chuck Wepner (played by Liev Schreiber) in the biographical sport drama The Bleeder (2016), revolving around the life of Wepner and his 1975 fight with Muhammad Ali. Variety wrote in its review: "Slightly out of place as the feisty bartender who gives Wepner a second chance at his downest and outest, a spirited Naomi Watts nonetheless gives proceedings her best Amy Adams in The Fighter." She headlined the thriller Shut In (also 2016), playing a psychologist isolated with her child in a rural house during a winter storm. The film received largely negative reviews and made US\$8 million worldwide.
Watts appeared in Twin Peaks, a limited event television series and a continuation of the 1990 show of the same name. It was broadcast on Showtime in 2017, to critical acclaim. Watts starred as "a therapist who begins to develop dangerous and intimate relationships with the people in her patients' lives" in the Netflix drama series Gypsy (also 2017), and served as one of its executive producers. While response was mixed, Gypsy was cancelled by Netflix after one season. In The Book of Henry (2017), Watts portrayed the mother of young genius who plans save the girl next door from abuse. The film polarized critics and audiences, but Rolling Stone described her as "a plus in any movie" and found her to be "excellent" in the role. In her other 2017 film, The Glass Castle opposite Brie Larson, and Woody Harrelson. An adaptation of Jeannette Walls's best selling memoir of the same name, Watts played the nonconformist mother of the author.
In 2019, Watts portrayed Gretchen Carlson in the Showtime miniseries The Loudest Voice based on the book The Loudest Voice in the Room about Roger Ailes's sexual harassment of Carlson. She next starred in the films Penguin Bloom, Boss Level, and This Is The Night.
In 2022, Watts played a lead in Netflix's The Watcher as Nora Brannock alongside Bobby Cannavale, who played Dean Brannock.
### Other work
Watts received an endorsement deal with David Yurman jewelry. She served as the ambassador to Thierry Mugler's Angel fragrance from 2008 until 2011 when Eva Mendes overtook the role. The pair later coincidentally fronted a campaign for Pantene hair care products. Watts also appeared in a campaign for Ann Taylor in 2010. She was announced as a new 'face' of L'Oréal in 2014. Watts also founded the skincare company Onda Beauty in 2016 and appeared in a campaign for Fendi in 2020.
In January 2021, it was announced that Watts was an early investor in Thirteen Lune, an e-commerce site focused on makeup, skincare, haircare and wellness products owned by people of color and ally brands.
## Philanthropy
In 2006, Watts became a goodwill ambassador for Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, which helps raise awareness of issues relating to the disease. She has used her high profile and celebrity to bring attention to the needs of people living with this disease. Watts has featured in campaigns for fundraising, events and activities, including the 21st Annual AIDS Walk. On 1 December 2009, Watts met United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a public event commemorating World AIDS Day 2009.
In 2011, Watts attended a charity polo match in New York City along with Australian actors Hugh Jackman and Isla Fisher, which was intended to raise money to help victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In 2012, she became an ambassador for Pantene's Beautiful Lengths, a programme that donates real-hair wigs to women with cancer. She has visited the St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney to meet some of the women the programme helps.
In 2016, Watts collaborated with Sportscraft and children's charity Barnardos to produce a range of namesake coats, with a percentage of sales going to the charity, and was one of the public figures photographed by Italian photographer Fabrizio Ferri for Bulgari's digital campaign "Raise Your Hand". In November 2018, she hosted the Worldwide Orphans 14th Annual Gala in NYC, and teamed up with McDonald's, to serve as a McHappy Day ambassador, making a special appearance and stepping behind the counter in Haberfield, Sydney.
## Personal life
Watts converted to Buddhism after having gained an interest in that religion during the shooting of The Painted Veil (2006), and became a strong proponent of Transcendental Meditation.
Watts had a relationship with Australian actor Heath Ledger from August 2002 to May 2004. In 2005, Watts began a relationship with American actor Liev Schreiber. Their first child, son Alexander 'Sasha' Pete, was born in 2007, and their second son, Samuel Kai, was born in 2008. On 26 September 2016, Watts and Schreiber announced their split after 11 years together. Watts began dating American actor Billy Crudup in 2017, after they met on the set of the Netflix drama series Gypsy''. The couple married on June 9, 2023, in a low key ceremony.
In 2016, Watts became the honorary president of Glantraeth F.C., a small football club in Malltraeth, Anglesey, Wales. The club is near her grandparents' farm, where she spent time as a child.
## Filmography and accolades
## See also
- List of British actors
- List of British Academy Award nominees and winners
- List of actors with Academy Award nominations
- List of actors with two or more Academy Award nominations in acting categories |
191,187 | USS New York (BB-34) | 1,143,640,323 | Dreadnought battleship of the United States Navy | [
"1912 ships",
"Maritime incidents in 1946",
"Maritime incidents in 1948",
"New York-class battleships",
"Ships built in Brooklyn",
"Ships involved in Operation Crossroads",
"Ships sunk as targets",
"World War I battleships of the United States",
"World War II battleships of the United States"
]
| USS New York (BB-34) was a United States Navy battleship, the lead ship of her class. Named for New York State, she was designed as the first ship to carry the 14-inch (356 mm)/45-caliber gun.
Entering service in 1914, she was part of the U.S. Navy force which was sent to reinforce the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea near the end of World War I. During that time, she was involved in at least two incidents with German U-boats, and is believed to have been the only US ship to have sunk one in the war, during an accidental collision in October 1918. Following the war, she was sent on a series of training exercises and cruises in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, and saw several overhauls to increase her armament, aircraft handling and armor.
She entered the Neutrality Patrol at the beginning of World War II, and served as a convoy escort for ships to Iceland and Great Britain in the early phase of the war. She saw her first combat against coastal artillery during Operation Torch around Casablanca in North Africa, and later became a training ship. Late in the war, she moved to the Pacific, and provided naval gunfire support for the invasion of Iwo Jima and later the invasion of Okinawa. Returning to Pearl Harbor for repairs until the end of the war, she was classified obsolete and was chosen to take part in the Operation Crossroads nuclear weapon tests at Bikini Atoll in 1946. She survived both explosions, and the effects of radiation on the ship were studied for two years. She was eventually sunk as a target in 1948. She received three battle stars for her service.
## Design and construction
New York was the first of two planned New York-class battleships, though construction on her began after her sister, Texas. She was ordered in fiscal year 1911 as the first class of battleship in the United States Navy to carry the 14-inch/45-caliber gun.
She had a standard displacement of 27,000 long tons (27,000 t) and a full-load displacement of 28,367 long tons (28,822 t). She was 573 ft (175 m) in length overall, 565 ft (172 m) at the waterline, and had a beam of 95 ft 6 in (29.11 m) and a draft of 28 ft 6 in (8.69 m).
She was powered by 14 Babcock & Wilcox boilers driving two dual-acting vertical triple expansion reciprocating steam engines, with 28,000 shp (21,000 kW), with a maximum speed of 21 kn (39 km/h; 24 mph). She had a range of 7,060 nautical miles (13,080 km; 8,120 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph).
Armor on New York consisted of a belt from 10 to 12 in (250 to 300 mm) thick. Her lower casemate had between 9 and 11 in (230 and 280 mm) of armor, and her upper casemate had 6 in (150 mm) of armor. Deck armor was 2 in (51 mm) thick, and turret armor was 14 in (360 mm) on the face, 4 in (100 mm) on the top, 2 inches on the sides, and 8 in (200 mm) on the rear. Armor on her barbettes was between 10 and 12 inches. Her conning tower was protected by 12 inches of armor, with 4 inches of armor on its top.
Her armament consisted of ten 14-inch/45-caliber guns which could be elevated to 15 degrees, and arrayed in five double mounts designated, from bow to stern, 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The class was the last to feature a turret mounted amidships. As built, she also carried twenty-one 5-inch (127 mm)/51-caliber guns, primarily for defense against destroyers and torpedo boats. The 5-inch guns were poor in accuracy in rough seas due to the open casemates mounted in the hull, so the 5-inch armament was reduced to 16 guns in 1918 by removal of the least useful positions near the ends of the ship. The ship was not designed with anti-aircraft (AA) defense in mind, but two 3-inch (76 mm)/50 caliber AA guns were added in 1918. She also had four 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes, 1 each on the port side bow and stern and starboard bow and stern, for the Bliss-Leavitt Mark 3 torpedo. The torpedo rooms held 12 torpedoes total, plus 12 naval defense mines. Her crew consisted of 1,042 officers and enlisted men.
New York was laid down on 11 September 1911, in New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn. The New York class was constructed under new labor laws that limited the working hours of her construction crews. It was also stipulated that each ship cost less than \$6,000,000, excluding cost of armor and armament. She was launched on 30 October 1912, and commissioned on 15 May 1914. The fifth ship to be named for New York State, she was sponsored by Elsie Calder, the daughter of New York politician William M. Calder. The fourth New York, an armored cruiser, was renamed Rochester, to free the name for this battleship, and was later scuttled in Subic Bay in 1941. However, the wreck site for that ship, which has become a popular recreational dive site, is still commonly referred to as USS New York.
## Service history
Under the command of Captain Thomas S. Rodgers, New York headed straight for Veracruz following its commissioning. She was designated flagship for Rear Admiral Frank Friday Fletcher in July 1914, commanding the fleet occupying and blockading Veracruz to prevent arms shipments from arriving there to support the government of Victoriano Huerta. The United States occupation of Veracruz ultimately ended and New York resumed her shakedown cruise along the East Coast of the United States. She also undertook several goodwill duties, and in December 1915 she held a high-profile Christmas party and dinner for several hundred orphans from New York City, at the suggestion of her crew. It later became a tradition on the ship to help the underprivileged when possible, earning it the nickname "Christmas Ship." Following this duty, she undertook a number of training exercises off the Atlantic coast.
### World War I
Following the United States' entry into World War I, New York, under the command of Captain Edward L. Beach, Sr., became flagship of Battleship Division 9 (BatDiv 9), commanded by Rear Admiral Hugh Rodman. She was sent to reinforce the British Grand Fleet in the North Sea, arriving at Scapa Flow on 7 December 1917. The ships of the U.S. fleet were assigned to the 6th Battle Squadron in the Grand Fleet, the American ships joined in blockade and escort. In December 1917, New York and the other U.S. battleships took part in several gunnery exercises. New York scored the highest score of the ships for her main battery, with an accuracy of 93.3 percent. Ultimately the New York was the best performer in these exercises, the only ship rated as "excellent" while many of her sisters received mediocre performance reviews.
She did not fire any shots in anger during the war, but does get credit for sinking an enemy vessel. During one of her escort missions, the convoy she was escorting came under two different attacks by German U-boats. On the evening of 14 October 1918, as New York led a group of battleships into the Pentland Firth, she was rocked by a violent underwater collision on her starboard side, followed shortly after by another to the stern that broke off two blades on one of her propellers, reducing the ship to one engine and a speed of 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h). It was immediately clear to the men on board that she had struck an underwater object, but the depth of the channel meant it could not have been a shipwreck. Commanders concluded that New York must have accidentally collided with a submerged U-boat. They agreed that the submarine had rammed its bow into the ship's side, then been struck moments later by the ship's propeller. In their opinion, the damage would have been fatal to the German craft. This strange—and accidental—encounter marked the only time in all of Battleship Division Nine's service with the Grand Fleet that one of its ships sank a German vessel. Postwar examination of German records revealed that the submarine lost may have been UB-113 or UB-123, however, neither of these seem possible, as UB-113 had been sunk by a French gunboat in the Gulf of Gascony weeks prior, and UB-123 sank in the North Sea Mine Barrage five days after the New York suffered the collision.
Badly damaged by the loss of a propeller, the ship sailed to Rosyth under heavy escort for repairs on 15 October. At 01:00 the next morning, a U-boat launched three torpedoes at the damaged vessel, all of which passed ahead of her. Unlike in previous cases, sufficient evidence existed to suppose that this torpedo attack was not a false alarm—a number of officers and men aboard New York clearly saw the wakes of the torpedoes in the full moonlight, and a submarine was spotted in the immediate vicinity by a patrol shortly after the attack. Ironically, the battleship's wounded condition is possibly what saved her: although standard procedure was to steam at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h), New York could make only 12 kn (14 mph; 22 km/h) on her one operable propeller. Due to this, historian Jerry Jones believes that the U-boat captain misjudged the ship's speed. With no further damage, however, the battleship arrived safely at a drydock in Rosyth. As she was lifted clear of the water, a large dent commensurate with a submarine bow was found in her hull.
New York was also frequently host to foreign dignitaries, including King George V of the United Kingdom and the future Edward VIII, as well as then-prince Hirohito of the Empire of Japan. The ship was of great interest to other European powers, as it was in many cases a first chance to see an American dreadnought up close. She was on hand for the surrender of the German High Seas Fleet on 21 November 1918 in the Firth of Forth, several days after the signing of the Armistice, after which she returned to the United States briefly. She then served as an escort for George Washington, carrying President Woodrow Wilson, on his trip from the United States to Brest, France en route to the Versailles Peace Conference.
### Interwar period
Arriving back in the United States in 1919, she began to undertake training and patrol duties, including at one point to the Caribbean with a number of other U.S. ships. During this year, she also saw a refit in Norfolk Navy Yard where five 5-inch guns were removed and three additional 3-inch/50 caliber AA guns were added, bringing the total to five. The secondary battery was reduced to sixteen 5-inch/51 caliber guns. In late 1919, she sailed to the Pacific Ocean and joined the newly formed United States Pacific Fleet. She continued to conduct training and patrol duties in the Pacific until the mid-1930s when she was transferred again to the Atlantic, and began operating out of the North Atlantic, with the exception of several occasional trips to the West Coast of the United States.
In 1926 New York was considered obsolete compared with other battleships in service, so she steamed to Norfolk Navy Yard for a complete refit. While several other battleships in service, including Utah and Florida were converted to training ships or scrapped, New York and Texas were chosen to be overhauled to increase their speed, armor, armament, and propulsion systems as allowed by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922. An additional 3,000 long tons (3,000 t) were added to her for defense against aerial targets and submarines. The number of 3-inch AA guns was increased to 8, and six of the 5-inch guns were relocated to new casemates on the main deck. The torpedo tubes were removed at this time. Her 14 Babcock & Wilcox coal-fired boilers were replaced with six Bureau Express oil-fired boilers and the twin funnels were trunked into one, aft of the forward superstructure. Tripods were fitted in place of lattice masts, and atop the forward tripod a control tower was installed. A tower was built amidships that contained additional fire control to backup the system on the foremast. A new aircraft catapult was installed atop turret Number 3, and cranes were installed on either side of the funnel for boat and aircraft handling. Additional deck protection was added, and her beam was widened to 106 ft (32 m). She was fitted with anti-torpedo bulges. However, these bulges made maneuvering harder at low speeds, she rolled badly, and her gunfire accuracy was reduced in rough seas. On 4 September 1928, she left for short-range battle drills with Arizona, and from 7 to 10 November the ships traveled to San Francisco together with Pennsylvania. On 3 April 1929 she undertook anti-aircraft practice with Arizona, and then the two ships and Pennsylvania steamed for Cuba, where they stayed until steaming for Hampton Roads on 1 May.
She remained with the Pacific Fleet training as part of the series of Fleet Problems until 1937. That year she was selected to carry now-Admiral Rodman, the President's personal representative for the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and New York took part in the Grand Naval Review of 20 May 1937 as sole U.S. Navy representative. In 1937, eight 1.1-inch (28 mm)/75 caliber AA guns in two quadruple mounts were added to improve the light AA armament. New York was fitted with XAF radar in February 1938, including the first United States duplexer so a single antenna could both send and receive. This made her the second ship to be outfitted with radar after the destroyer Leary. The tests conducted on New York led to similar radars being installed on the Brooklyn-class and St. Louis-class cruisers as well as newer battleship West Virginia. For several years, she served primarily as a training ship for midshipmen and newly enlisted sailors.
In September 1939, New York joined the Neutrality Patrol, safeguarding sea lanes in the North Atlantic, and served as flagship with the Atlantic Squadron, later redesignated the United States Atlantic Fleet, for the next 27 months. In July 1941, she protected a convoy of U.S. troops moving to garrison Iceland. She was in the midst of a refit on 7 December 1941, when the Imperial Japanese Navy attacked Pearl Harbor, sinking many of the battleships in the U.S. Pacific Fleet and bringing the United States into World War II.
### World War II
With the outbreak of war, New York's overhaul was sped up and completed four weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor. She returned to duty escorting cargo and troop ships to Iceland and Scotland. She continued on patrol duty for the next year. In her first series of escorts, she left Norfolk 15 February, arrived in New York 16 February, Nova Scotia 21 February, and Iceland 2 March, returning to Norfolk on 27 March. She left there on her second patrol 24 April and arrived at New York the next day, Nova Scotia 2 May, Newfoundland 5 May, and Iceland 10 May, returning to New York on 20 May. The next day she left for a third escort, arriving again at Nova Scotia on 2 June and Scotland on 10 June, returning to Norfolk on 30 June. Following these three escort missions, she put in for overhaul in Norfolk. The secondary battery was reduced to six 5-inch (127 mm) guns and the anti-aircraft armament was increased to ten 3-inch/50 caliber guns, 24 40 mm (1.6 in) Bofors guns in quadruple mounts, and 42 20 mm (0.79 in) Oerlikon cannons. She departed Norfolk on 12 August and arrived the next day at New York. From there, she escorted a convoy to Nova Scotia where she remained until 22 August, then departed for Scotland where she was from 31 August to 5 September. She returned to Norfolk on 15 September.
New York saw her first major action during Operation Torch, the Allied invasion of North Africa in November 1942. She left Norfolk on 23 October in order to join the Allied fleet. Attached to the Southern Attack Group, on 8 November, New York and the cruiser Philadelphia, screened by six destroyers, attacked Safi harbor in Morocco, supporting landings by the U.S. 9th Infantry Division's 47th Infantry Regiment, and defended the transports Cole and Bernadou which came under attack by 130-millimeter (5.1 in) shore batteries at Point De La Tour. New York fired several salvoes with her 14-inch (360 mm) guns, with one of them striking the base of the battery and ricocheting into a bunker, destroying the range finder and killing the battery commander and neutralizing the battery. Other shore batteries were destroyed by Philadelphia's guns and aircraft from escort carrier Santee. New York remained on station until the port was secure, then steamed north to support the Center Group off Fedhala and Casablanca, specifically to deal with the threat of the Vichy French battleship Jean Bart, but by the time she arrived, that battleship had been disabled by Massachusetts and other Vichy French ships had been driven off by Brooklyn and Augusta. New York remained on off the coast of North Africa until the beaches were secure, then retired on 14 November. She had expended a total of sixty 14-inch (360 mm) rounds. She returned to Norfolk on 23 November.
New York next returned to convoy patrol. She escorted two convoys to Casablanca from the United States during late 1942, leaving Norfolk on 24 November and in New York from 25 November to 12 December, Casablanca from 24 to 29 December, and back in Norfolk on 12 January 1943. She left Norfolk on the second escort on 26 February, in New York from 27 February to 5 March, in Casablanca from 18 to 25 March, and back to New York from 5 April to 1 May. In 1943 she was selected for a refit to become a main battery and escort training center. She arrived in Portland, Maine on 2 May, where she remained until 27 July. During her fourth and final refit in early 1943 her anti-aircraft battery was increased to ten 3-inch/50 caliber guns, forty 40 mm and thirty-six 20 mm guns. Improved fire control was added as well, and this ultimately increased her displacement to 29,340 long tons (29,810 t) standard and 34,000 long tons (35,000 t) full-load. She returned to Norfolk on 2 August 1943. She was used to train crews from the US Navy, US Coast Guard, and Allied navies on the 14-inch/45 caliber gun, the 3-inch/50 caliber gun, and the 20 mm and 40 mm guns, primarily because many newer ships used these weapons. Between July 1943 and June 1944 about 11,000 enlisted men and 750 officers trained on her in this capacity. However, the duty lowered morale among the crew and a large number of requests for transfer were put in. Following this duty, she was sent to the US Naval Academy and undertook three consecutive midshipmen cruises ferrying a total of 1,800 midshipmen from Annapolis to Trinidad between June and August 1944.
#### Pacific theater
Selected to return to action in the Pacific Theater in late 1944, she transited the Panama Canal on 27 November, and arrived in Long Beach, California on 9 December, breaking down at least once along the way and losing an observation plane in bad weather. She conducted refresher training off Southern California in December 1944 and January 1945. New York departed 12 January and rendezvoused with Idaho, Tennessee, Nevada, Texas, and Arkansas, forming a support force for the invasion of Iwo Jima. New York lost a blade off her port screw just before the invasion began and briefly put in for temporary repairs at Eniwetok from 5 to 7 February. She returned to the group, which was near Saipan, on 11 February. Together, they arrived at Iwo Jima on 16 February and began the pre-invasion bombardment. During the three days of shore bombardment that followed, New York expended 6,417 rounds, including 1,037 14-inch rounds. One of her salvoes struck the primary ammunition dump on the island, causing "the most spectacular secondary explosion in the campaign." She retired from the area on 19 February and arrived at Ulithi on 21 February.
After a permanent repair to her port propeller at Manus from 28 February to 19 March, she rejoined Task Force 54 at Ulithi on 22 March in preparation for the invasion of Okinawa. Joined by Maryland, Colorado, and West Virginia, the fleet of battleships began its bombardment of Okinawa on 27 March. Providing shore bombardment, and later naval artillery support for ground forces, New York was on station for 76 consecutive days, during which she expended 4,159 rounds of 14-inch ammunition and 7,001 rounds of 5-inch ammunition. She was subjected to a kamikaze attack on 14 April which destroyed one spotting plane on its catapult, but the Japanese aircraft crashed 50 yd (46 m) from the ship and New York received only superficial damage, suffering two men injured. She was detached on 11 June, her gun barrels having been worn out by fire, and proceeded to Pearl Harbor to have her guns relined in preparation for the invasion of mainland Japan. She stopped by Leyte on 14 June and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 July. She was in the harbor on 15 August, the end of the war.
During World War II, New York spent 1,088 days with the Atlantic Fleet from December 1941 to November 1944, and 276 days with the Pacific Fleet. She expended a total of 53,094 rounds of all types totaling 3,548.9 short tons (3,219.5 t), traveled 123,867 mi (199,345 km), spent 414 days underway, and consumed 22,367,996 US gal (84,672,080 L; 18,625,253 imp gal) of fuel oil. New York received three battle stars for her wartime service.
### Post-war
Following the end of the war, New York entered the Operation Magic Carpet fleet, leaving Pearl Harbor on 2 September and arriving at San Pedro on 9 September with a load of veterans embarked. She then proceeded to New York City to take part in Navy Day celebrations.
Selected as a test ship for Operation Crossroads, she was used in nuclear bomb tests at Bikini Atoll in July 1946 with about 70 other ships, surviving both the Able and Baker tests. Following these tests, she was towed to Pearl Harbor to study the effects of the bomb blasts on her. On 6 July 1948, she was towed out to sea and used as target practice, and was sunk by several naval aircraft and ships. |
13,297,885 | Los Ángeles Negros | 1,167,796,692 | Chilean pop ballad band | [
"Chilean rock music groups",
"Musical groups established in 1968",
"Rock en Español music groups"
]
| Los Ángeles Negros (English: The Black Angels) are a Chilean pop ballad band formed in San Carlos de Chile in 1968. The band's best-known line-up consisted of singer Germaín de la Fuente, guitarist Mario Gutiérrez, keyboardist Jorge González, bassist Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha, and drummer Luis Ortiz. Their music is a blend of boleros, psychedelic funk and rock music, known as Balada rockmántica.
The original members of the band included three teenagers and a worker from a local school. After winning a local competition in June 1968, they recorded and released their first single, "Porque Te Quiero", which attracted the attention of Chile's Odeon Records representatives, urging two of the four members of the band to record an album with three other studio musicians. As a result, they recorded Porque Te Quiero in 1969, and several chart-topping singles across Latin America in the following years.
Following De la Fuente's departure from the group, most of the classic band members also left and established bands with similar names, including Germaín y sus Ángeles Negros and Los Ángeles de Chile. Guitarist Mario Gutiérrez continued to work with other musicians under the name of Los Ángeles Negros. Songs by Los Ángeles Negros have been covered by singers including Celia Cruz, Raphael, and José Luis Rodríguez, while others have been sampled by hip-hop and rap musicians such as Funkdoobiest, Damian Marley, the Beastie Boys, and Jay-Z.
## History
### Formation, radio competition, and the first LP (1968–1969)
Cristián Blasser and Mario Gutiérrez, students from the Escuela Consolidada de San Carlos (now Liceo Politécnico de San Carlos), and Sergio Rojas, who worked at the school, formed a band in 1968. Upon hearing an announcement of a bands tournament organized by La Discusión radio station from Chillán, they recruited Germaín de la Fuente, who was well known in the local scene for his vocal abilities. Blasser and Gutiérrez played the guitar, Rojas the bass, and De la Fuente became the keyboardist and lead vocalist. Most of the band members were musically inspired by acts such as The Beatles except De la Fuente, who did not like them at all and wanted to do bolero music. As a result, they created a mixed style known as the Balada rockmántica or Bolero-beat.
Sergio Rojas suggested the band to be named Los Ángeles Negros (The Black Angels), in reference to another Chilean band called Pat Henry y Los Diablos Azules (Pat Henry and the Blue Devils). Although the band was initially reluctant to use a name in Spanish, they adopted Los Ángeles Negros after De la Fuente's mother said she liked it.
In June 1968 Los Ángeles Negros won La Discusión radio station's competition, in which they competed against a band named Los Cangrejo, and received the opportunity to record a single in Sello Indis, an independent label owned by pianist Raúl Lara. They recorded "Porque Te Quiero"/"Día Sin Sol", which was released by Indis as a single.
After recording the songs in Santiago, the band returned to San Carlos and became a quintet when drummer Federico Blasser joined them. In the meantime, their single received high airplay in some Chilean provinces, and because of De la Fuente's voice, attracted the attention of Jorge Oñate, the director of Chile's Odeon Records, who asked the band to go to Santiago to record an LP for his record company. However, only De la Fuente and guitarist Mario Gutiérrez eventually went. Oñate quickly contacted three studio musicians —drummer Luis Ortiz, keyboardist Jorge González, and bassist Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha— with which De la Fuente and Gutiérrez recorded Los Ángeles Negros' debut LP, Porque Te Quiero, released in 1969.
### Latin American success, and departure of Ortíz and De la Fuente (1969–1974)
Following the release of Porque Te Quiero, Gutiérrez and De la Fuente suggested the studio musicians to stay permanently in the group, a proposal which they accepted. The new band members used to be part of another Chilean group called Los Minimás, whose music was influenced by the psychedelic funk, which they incorporated in their next recordings with Los Ángeles Negros. Later, in October 1970, they recorded and released their second album, Y Volveré. The record contained songs which helped the band become popular throughout Chile and Latin America, including "Y Volveré" (cover version of "Emporte-moi" by Alain Barrière with new lyrics by De la Fuente), "Como Quisiera Decirte", and "Murió la Flor".
Los Ángeles Negros then began a tour in Latin America, visiting countries including Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, and Argentina. According to Jorge Leiva from the Chilean National Council of Culture and the Arts' website Música Popular, they performed at "stadiums which were full of people, with an unusual media coverage". In 1971, they moved to Mexico, where their LP Y Volveré sold 700,000 copies. The band released seven new LPs between 1970 and 1974: Mi Ventana (1970), Esta Noche La Paso Contigo (1971), La Cita (1971), Con Todo Mi Amor (1972), Déjenme Si Estoy Llorando (1973), Quédate en Mis Sueños (1974), and Aplaude Mi Final (1974).
Their popularity in Chile decreased, however. Besides the fact that the country was taken control by a Government Junta after the 1973 coup d'état, the musical scene of the time was mostly "folkloric", with Víctor Jara and Violeta Parra as some prominent figures. The band was also despectively qualified as "cebolleros" (drama queens). The internal relationship of the band was deteriorated, which concluded with the departure of Ortiz from Los Ángeles Negros, following an argument with De la Fuente in mid-1972. De la Fuente lost interest in the band, and subsequently quit the group in March 1974.
### Mi Vida Como Un Carrusel, continuing success, and return to Chile (1974–1993)
After Ortíz and De la Fuente left the band, the remaining members continued to play under the direction of Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha as Los Ángeles Negros. Ismael Montes replaced De la Fuente as the singer, and Luis Astudillo replaced Ortiz as the drummer. Los Ángeles Negros recorded and released the album Mi Vida Como Un Carrusel in 1975. Meanwhile, De la Fuente along with other Mexican musicians formed the band Germaín y sus Ángeles Negros, and settled in Mexico City.
Los Ángeles Negros played during the following years with the Argentine singer Oscar Antonio Seín and Enrique Castillo, Mickey Alarcón and Guillermo Lynch from Chile, releasing the albums Despacito, Bolerísimo, an instrumental one (all three from 1976), Serenata Sin Luna (1977), Pasión y Vida (1978), Será Varón, Será Mujer (1979), and Tu Enamorado (1980). Drummer Luis Ortíz returned to the band in 1982, following Astudillo's departure in 1981. They achieved success with songs such as "Volverás" and "Paloma Del Sur". After the successful period in the early 1980s when the band performed live at least 150 times in Mexico in a year, they decided to move to this country in 1982.
However, in 1982, keyboardist Jorge Gonzalez left for De la Fuente's band, although he would occasionally play for Los Ángeles Negros as a "hired musician". Singer Eddie Martínez joined Los Ángeles Negros, while drummer Luis Astudillo returned to the band for the second time in 1986, after Ortiz moved to Canadá the previous year. From Ortíz comeback in 1981 until his new departure, the band released Volverás (1981), Siempre Románticos (1982), Maldito Piano/Locamente Mía (1983), Con Alas Nuevas (1984), and Prohibido (1985). The band did not release new albums until the 1989 album El Esperado Regreso. The next year they released De Aquí En Adelante, an album "inspired by tropical music, which showed the band's difficulties finding a new musical path", according to Jorge Leiva.
"Nano" Concha decided to return to Chile in 1992, and established an oldies music store in Santiago. Former members González and De la Fuente also returned to Chile, in 1993.
### Gutiérrez's leadership and the reunion (1993–2021)
Guitarist Gutiérrez continued to be part of Los Ángeles Negros as the only original member, and later became its leader until 2021. Los Ángeles Negros recruited another singer in addition to Martínez, the Chilean Johnny Antonio Saavedra. The band plays yearly at least 50 times in Mexico, keeping the Ángeles Negros' most well-known songs in their live repertoire, and they have released two albums since 1993: Toda Una Vida (1996), and Metamorfosis (2003).
Gutiérrez has been involved in several legal battles against the former members of the band and other unrelated individuals who perform as "Los Ángeles Negros" or similar names, who are for him "músicos piratas" (illegal musicians). Those individuals include singer Germaín de la Fuente, who performs since 1974 as Germaín y sus Ángeles Negros, keyboardist Jorge González with singer Micky Alarcón, who created a band called El Sonido de los Ángeles in the late 1990s, and drummer Luis Ortíz and singer Guillermo Lynch, who created the band Los Ángeles de Chile.
De la Fuente, González, Concha, and Ortíz announced their reunion in February 2009 to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of Y Volveré, originally released in 1969. Their label EMI qualified the event as "unprecedented". Gutiérrez did not want to participate in the Ángeles Negros reunion, fearing eventual criticism. They played together for the first time since 1972 at the Teatro Caupolicán on 14 February 2010. The group's reunion, however, lasted until March of that year, because of "economic issues" just before a performance at Sala SCD, a concert hall in Santiago.
## Legacy and recognition
The style of Los Ángeles Negros, Balada rockmántica or Bolero-beat, was immediately imitated by Chilean bands such as Los Golpes, Capablanca, Los Galos, and the Peruvian band Los Pasteles Verdes. They also influenced bands such as Los Bukis from Mexico, and Los Bunkers from Chile. Los Ángeles Negros are regarded as a "classic example of romantic Latin music."
Several songs by Los Ángeles Negros have been covered by bands and artists such as Los Tr3s, Los Bunkers, Sexual Democracia, José José, Raphael, and Celia Cruz, while others have been sampled by hip hop and rap acts such as the Beatnuts the Beastie Boys, Jay-Z, Damian Marley, and Funkdoobiest.
A documentary titled Ángeles Negros directed by Chilean filmmakers Pachi Bustos and Jorge Leiva was premiered at the Hoyts and Arte Alameda cinemas in Santiago on 18 October 2007. The documentary, which was recorded in Chile, Mexico, and the United States, is a "tribute" to the band, and "reviews their history". The band was awarded "El Micrófono de Oro" (The Golden Microphone) by the Asociación Nacional de Locutores de México in 2012. The band's 1969 song "El Rey y Yo" was featured in 2013 videogame Grand Theft Auto V, specifically in the game's radio East Los FM. "['El Rey y Yo'] is the gamers' preferred song", states a La Cuarta article describing the song's inclusion in the videogame.
## Members
Current members
- Eddy Martínez – vocals (1983–present)
- Horacio Medina – bass (1993–present)
- Alejandro Muñoz – keyboards (1993–present)
- Antonio Saavedra – vocals (2001–present)
Principal line-up
- Germaín de la Fuente – lead vocals (1968–1974)
- Mario Gutiérrez – guitar (1968–2021)
- Jorge González – keyboards (1969–1985; 1989–1992)
- Miguel Ángel "Nano" Concha – bass (1969–1992)
- Luis Ortiz – drums, percussion (1969–1973; 1981–1986)
Other past members
- Mario Gutiérrez – guitar (1968–2021)
- Luis Astudillo – drums, percussion (1974–1980; 1986–2019)
- Cristián Blasser – keyboards (1968–1969)
- Federico Blasser – drums, percussion (1968–1969)
- Sergio Rojas – bass (1968–1969)
- Ismael Montes – vocals (1974–1976)
- Oscar Seín – vocals (1977)
- Micky Alarcón – vocals (1977–1981)
- Guillermo Lynch – vocals (1980–1981).
- Enrique Castillo – vocals (1981-1985)—(1987-1992).
- Gastón Galdames – vocals (1994–2001).
## Discography
Studio albums
- Porque Te Quiero (1969)
- Y Volveré (1970)
- Mi Ventana (1970)
- Esta Noche La Paso Contigo (1971)
- La Cita (1971)
- Con Todo Mi Amor (1972)
- Déjenme Si Estoy Llorando (1973)
- Quédate En Mis Sueños (1974)
- Aplaude Mi Final (1974)
- Mi Vida Como Un Carrusel (1975)
- Despacito (1976)
- Bolerísimo (1976)
- Instrumental (1976)
- Serenata Sin Luna (1977)
- Pasión y Vida (1978)
- Será Varón, Será Mujer (1979)
- Tu Enamorado (1980)
- Volverás (1981)
- Siempre Románticos (1982)
- Maldito Piano/Locamente Mía (1983)
- Con Alas Nuevas (1984)
- Prohibido (1985)
- El Esperado Regreso (1990)
- De Aquí En Adelante (1991)
- Toda Una Vida (1996)
- Metamorfosis (2003) |
531,452 | Frank Chance | 1,166,485,020 | American baseball player and manager (1877–1924) | [
"1877 births",
"1924 deaths",
"19th-century baseball players",
"American people of English descent",
"American people of Scottish descent",
"Baseball players from Fresno, California",
"Baseball players from Stanislaus County, California",
"Boston Red Sox managers",
"Burials at Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery",
"Chicago Cubs managers",
"Chicago Cubs players",
"Chicago Orphans players",
"Deaths from asthma",
"Fresno (minor league baseball) players",
"Los Angeles Angels (minor league) managers",
"Los Angeles Angels (minor league) players",
"Major League Baseball first basemen",
"Major League Baseball player-managers",
"National Baseball Hall of Fame inductees",
"National League stolen base champions",
"New York Yankees managers",
"New York Yankees players",
"People from Salida, California",
"Respiratory disease deaths in California",
"Watsonville (minor league baseball) players",
"World Series-winning managers"
]
| Frank Leroy Chance (September 9, 1877 – September 15, 1924) was an American professional baseball player. A first baseman, Chance played in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs (initially named the "Orphans") and New York Yankees from 1898 through 1914. He also served as manager of the Cubs, Yankees, and Boston Red Sox.
Discovered by the Cubs as he played semi-professional baseball while attending college, Chance debuted with the Cubs in 1898, serving as a part-time player. In 1903, Chance became the Cubs' regular first baseman, and in 1905, he succeeded Frank Selee as the team's manager. Chance led the Cubs to 100 wins in 1906, 1907, 1909, and 1910, becoming the first manager to compile four 100-win seasons (only eight other managers have accomplished the feat in MLB history), with no other manager other than Chance leading a team to 100 wins four times in five seasons. They would win four National League championships in that span and won the World Series in 1907 and 1908. With Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers, Chance formed a strong double play combination, which was immortalized as "Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance" in "Baseball's Sad Lexicon".
Let go by the Cubs after the 1912 season, Chance signed with the Yankees, serving as a player–manager for two seasons. He joined the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League as a player–manager, returning to MLB in 1923 as manager of the Red Sox. Chance was named the manager of the Chicago White Sox in 1924, but never took control of the team as he became ill. He died later that year.
Noted for his leadership abilities, Chance earned the nickname "Peerless Leader." He is the all-time leader in managerial winning percentage in Cubs history. Chance was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1946 balloting by the Veterans Committee, along with Tinker and Evers. He was inducted into the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame's first class, in 1959.
## Early life
Chance was born in Salida, California, in Stanislaus County, on September 9, 1877. His family was of English and Scottish descent. He was raised in Fresno, California and attended Fresno High School. His father was president of the first national bank in Fresno.
Chance enrolled at the University of California, where he pursued a degree in dentistry. He transferred to Washington College in Irvington, California. While playing baseball for the school's baseball team, he received an offer to play semi-professional baseball for a team in Sullivan, Illinois, for \$40 a month (\$ in current dollar terms), which he accepted.
Returning to college the next year, Chance led his team to a third-place finish in an amateur tournament of 50 teams. Bill Lange of the Chicago Cubs discovered Chance and convinced the Cubs to sign him as a backup catcher and outfielder, receiving \$1,200 a year (\$ in current dollar terms). Chance was scouted by other teams, but chose the Cubs as Tim Donohue was the only catcher ahead of him on the Cubs' depth chart.
## Professional baseball career
### Chicago Cubs
Chance began his career in 1898 with the Chicago Cubs, serving as a reserve catcher and outfielder. He played irregularly through the 1902 season. Due in part to finger injuries suffered while catching, Chance played in no more than 75 games in a season through 1902. In 1903, Johnny Kling became the Cubs' full-time catcher. As Bill Hanlon, the Cubs' first baseman, left the team, manager Frank Selee moved Chance to first base. Though Chance initially balked at the position change, he agreed when he received a pay raise.
In 125 games during the 1903 season, Chance recorded a .327 batting average, and 67 stolen bases; the latter mark led the National League (NL). His .439 on-base percentage was third-best in the league, behind Roy Thomas and Roger Bresnahan, and his 81 runs batted in (RBIs) tied Jake Beckley for sixth-best. Chance had a .310 batting average in 1904, good for sixth place in the NL. His .382 on-base percentage was the fourth-best in the league, and his .430 slugging percentage was fifth-best. Chance also hit six home runs, tying him with Dan McGann, Red Dooin, and Cozy Dolan for third place, his 42 stolen bases tied McGann for fourth place, and his 89 runs scored were seventh-best. On May 30, 1904, he was hit by a pitch five times in a double header.
Selee fell ill in 1905, and Chance was selected to succeed him as manager. That year, he also batted .316 with 92 runs scored and 70 RBIs. His batting average was sixth-best in the NL, while he led the league with a .450 on-base percentage, and finished seventh with a .434 slugging percentage. His 38 stolen bases were sixth-best in the league. In 1906, Chance batted .319 and led the NL in runs scored (103) and stolen bases (57). His batting average was fifth-best in the league, while his .419 on-base percentage finished in third, and his .430 slugging percentage placed him in fifth. When Chance stole home from second base in a tie game against the Cincinnati Reds, team owner Charles W. Murphy granted him a ten-percent ownership stake in the club to show his gratitude. Chance later sold his share of the franchise for approximately \$150,000. Meanwhile, The Cubs won 116 games during the 1906 season, taking the NL pennant. The Chicago White Sox of the American League defeated the Cubs in the 1906 World Series.
Chance batted .293 during the 1907 season, finishing sixth in the NL, while his .395 on-base percentage was third-best. He tied Ed Abbaticchio for seventh with 35 stolen bases. The Cubs returned to the World Series in 1907. Though Chance only batted .154 in the 1907 World Series, the Cubs defeated the Tigers in four games.
Chance began to decline during the 1908 season. Though he finished third in the NL with 27 doubles, he did not finish among the ten best in the categories of batting average, on-base percentage, or stolen bases in 1908, 1909, or 1910. Chance batted .421 in the 1908 World Series, as the Cubs again defeated the Tigers, this time in five games.
By 1910, Chance began to groom Fred Luderus as his successor at first base. He rebuilt the team in 1911 after Evers's nervous breakdown and the departure of Harry Steinfeldt, replacing them with Heinie Zimmerman and Jim Doyle respectively. The Cubs returned to the World Series in 1910, against the Philadelphia Athletics. Chance batted .353 in the 1910 World Series, though the Athletics won the series in five games. Chance was ejected in game three, becoming the first player ever ejected from a World Series game. Chance continued to transition himself out of the Cubs' lineup in 1911, as he played in only 31 games.
### New York Yankees
In 1912, Chance endured surgeries to correct blood clots in his brain that were caused by being hit by pitches in his head. Meanwhile, Chance argued with Murphy, who had been releasing expensive players from the Cubs in an effort to save the team money. The New York Yankees negotiated for Chance's release from the Cubs after the 1912 season. The Cubs released Chance while he was hospitalized, and in January 1913, Chance signed a three-year contract with the Yankees, worth \$120,000 (\$ in current dollar terms), to serve as the Yankees' manager. He also played first base for the Yankees and served as field captain, though he played in no more than 12 games in a season. The Yankees sat in last place on the next-to-last day of the 1913 season, but won their final game to finish in seventh place. In 1914, Chance named Roger Peckinpaugh the Yankees' new captain.
After struggling during the 1914 season, Chance criticized the talent brought to him by Yankees scout Arthur Irwin. After repeatedly seeking to have Irwin fired, he offered his resignation from the team late in the season on the condition that he still was to receive his 1915 salary. After this was accepted by team owner Frank J. Farrell, Chance resigned with three weeks remaining in the season, and Peckinpaugh served as player–manager for the remainder of the season.
### Later career
Chance returned to his native California, and was named manager of the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League in 1916. Chance won the league championship in 1916. He re-signed with the Angels for the 1917 season and was also granted a part ownership in the Angels from the majority owner, John F. Powers. Powers and Chance remained good friends for the rest of his life. He resigned during the 1917 season due to his declining health. He then served as president of the California Winter League, continuing to instill discipline in players: he fined Ty Cobb for "abusing an umpire".
Chance managed the Boston Red Sox in 1923. The Red Sox did not retain Chance after the season. But some sources noted that Chance had only agreed to a one-year contract and was not necessarily interested in returning to the Red Sox, a team described by one sportswriter as no better than a minor league club. After his relationship with the Red Sox was severed, he was named the Chicago White Sox manager for the 1924 season but developed severe influenza before he could take the helm. He soon developed other respiratory complications, including asthma. Chance submitted his resignation to owner Charles Comiskey, but Comiskey refused to accept it, giving him the opportunity to return to the team when his health improved. He returned to Chicago briefly in April, but was unable to take charge of the team. Chance returned to Los Angeles where he underwent emergency surgery in April 1924. Evers was named the White Sox acting manager for the 1924 season.
### Career summary
#### Overview
Chance was part of the trio of infielders remembered for their double-play ability, with Joe Tinker and Johnny Evers. The trio were immortalized as "Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance", also known as "Baseball's Sad Lexicon", written by the 28-year-old New York Evening Mail newspaper columnist Franklin Pierce Adams in July 1910. Chance helped Evers develop an underhanded throw.
Chance took over as Chicago's manager in 1905. His playing time decreased towards the end of the decade. The Cubs won the NL pennant in 1906, 1907, 1908 and 1910, and won the World Series in 1907 and 1908—the team's last World Series titles before 2016. He became the highest paid player in baseball, earning as much as \$25,000 (\$ in current dollar terms) in 1910. Noted for his leadership abilities, Chance earned the nickname "Peerless Leader." John McGraw, a contemporary and rival of Chance, considered Chance one of the greatest players he ever saw.
Chance's lifetime record as a manager was 946–648 (.593 winning percentage); his .664 winning percentage as manager of the Cubs is the highest in franchise history. As a player, Chance is the Cubs' all-time career leader in stolen bases, with 400. He led the Cubs in batting average in 1903, 1904, 1905 and 1907. In World Series play, Chance batted .300, recording 21 hits, scoring 11 runs, and stealing 10 bases.
Chance was a disciplinarian. He preached moderation in socializing, including avoiding alcohol, to his players. Chance fined his players for shaking hands with members of the opposing team and forced Solly Hofman to delay his wedding until after the baseball season, lest marriage impair his abilities on the playing field. In August 1911, Chance suspended Tinker for the remainder of the season for using profanity, though he reinstated Tinker two days later.
#### Managerial record
## Personal
During the baseball offseasons, Chance worked as a prizefighter. James J. Corbett and John L. Sullivan, among the best fighters of the era, both considered Chance "the greatest amateur brawler of all time." Chance owned a ranch in Glendora, California, which he sold prior to becoming manager of the Red Sox.
Chance married Edythe Pancake on October 3, 1903. Edythe became an advocate for baseball, imploring women to attend baseball games.
Chance died at age 47. Some sources simply said that he died after a "long illness", while others attributed it to heart disease brought on by severe spasms of bronchial asthma. He was survived by his wife, mother, sister, and three brothers. Chance was interred in the Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles. His death was greatly mourned, and his funeral received widespread publicity in Los Angeles and Chicago. Among his pallbearers were Powers and race car driver Barney Oldfield. His estate was valued at \$170,000 (\$2.35 million today).
## Honors
After falling short of induction in the Baseball Hall of Fame by seven votes in 1945, Chance was elected to the Hall of Fame in the 1946 balloting by the Veterans Committee. Tinker and Evers were elected the same year. Chance was also elected to the Fresno County Athletic Hall of Fame's first class, in 1959.
A baseball field in Fresno named after Chance operated from 1935 to 1941. Joe DiMaggio played in the first-ever game at Frank Chance Field. Retired players participated in an exhibition game in Chance's honor in 1937.
The City of Hope National Medical Center created the Frank L. Chance Research Fellowship Foundation in his memory.
## See also
- List of Major League Baseball annual runs scored leaders
- List of Major League Baseball annual stolen base leaders
- List of Major League Baseball career stolen bases leaders
- List of Major League Baseball player-managers |
8,807,822 | St. Vrain massacre | 1,164,924,415 | Incident in the Black Hawk War. | [
"1832 in the United States",
"Battles and skirmishes of the Black Hawk War in Illinois",
"Massacres by Native Americans",
"May 1832 events",
"Stephenson County, Illinois"
]
| The St. Vrain massacre was an incident in the Black Hawk War. It occurred near present-day Pearl City, Illinois, in Kellogg's Grove, on May 24, 1832. The massacre was most likely committed by Ho-Chunk warriors who were unaffiliated with Black Hawk's band of warriors. It is also unlikely that the group of Ho-Chunk had the sanction of their nation. Killed in the massacre were United States Indian Agent Felix St. Vrain and three of his companions. Some accounts reported that St. Vrain's body was mutilated.
St. Vrain and his party were attacked while en route from Dixon's Ferry, Illinois (now Dixon) to Galena, Illinois. St. Vrain had been ordered by General Henry Atkinson to deliver dispatches to Fort Armstrong. Colonel Henry Dodge's men interred the remains of St. Vrain and his companions after the massacre.
## Prelude
United States Indian Agent Felix St. Vrain was traveling with several companions which included, John Fowler, William Hale, and Aaron Hawley. Those men, along with St. Vrain, were all reportedly killed in the attack; also traveling with St. Vrain was Thomas Kenney, Aquilla Floyd, and Alexander Higginbotham.
The Native Americans that attacked the group were not part of Black Hawk's band of warriors but they were en route to join that group when the massacre occurred. Older histories described the group as a band of Sac warriors while modern sources indicate that the band were associated with the Ho-Chunk nation. Black Hawk asserted that the group was Ho-Chunk and unaffiliated with his band in his autobiography.
In fact, most Ho-Chunk sided with the United States during the Black Hawk War. The warriors that attacked St. Vrain's party acted with no authority or oversight from the Ho-Chunk nation. As the war began to be defined along racial terms most white settlers in the region did not notice the distinction. This led to unwarranted fear of all Native Americans in the area, even those friendly to the settlers' cause. One example of this appeared in an article published in the New Galenian on May 30, 1832. While the article described the events of the massacre it also went on to associate the murders of St. Vrain and his companions with the Sauk and Fox of Keokuk's band.
> It is supposed by many, that these Indians belong to Ke-o-kucks band We know nothing about it. Although Ke-o-kuck's band is supposed to be friendly, and are supplied with corn at the public expense, we acknowledge we have but little confidence in them. -New Galenian, May 30, 1832
Keokuk and his band were not near the scene when the murders occurred and had actually volunteered to assist white settlers against Black Hawk and his band of warriors.
## Massacre
The St. Vrain massacre occurred near present-day Pearl City, Illinois, in an area known as Kellogg's Grove. Felix St. Vrain, a U.S. Indian Agent to the Sauk and Fox tribes, was in Dixon's Ferry, Illinois, under the command of General Henry Atkinson prior to the massacre.
A group composed of Aaron Hawley, John Fowler, Thomas Kenney and Alexander Higginbotham had been purchasing cattle in Sangamon County, Illinois when news of trouble with Black Hawk's band reached them. They immediately decided to return to northern Illinois to protect their homes. On May 22, 1832 the men left Dixon's Ferry for Galena, Illinois. At Buffalo Grove they discovered the body of William Durley, who had been killed in the Buffalo Grove massacre. The men immediately returned to Dixon's Ferry to report their find and remained in the town overnight.
The following day General Atkinson returned to Dixon's Ferry on with dispatches destined for Fort Armstrong. Atkinson ordered St. Vrain to travel with the Hawley party and deliver the dispatches to the fort. The men traveled north from Dixon's Ferry and back to Buffalo Grove, where they interred the remains of Durley. They then traveled another ten miles toward Fort Hamilton before camping for the night.
The next morning, May 24, they set out again, but stopped for breakfast after about three miles. As they finished eating, about 30 warriors approached. The men retreated, but four were shot and killed. Slain with St. Vrain were John Fowler, William Hale, and Aaron Hawley. An account of the massacre from Gen. George Wallace Jones, who was St. Vrain's brother-in-law and the man who identified his body, said the warriors had scalped the dead men, but also cut off the hands, head, and feet of St. Vrain and removed his heart. They reportedly passed around pieces of the heart for the braves to eat. At least one source indicated that the mutilation began before St. Vrain was dead.
Three men, Thomas Kenney, Aquilla Floyd, and Alexander Higginbotham, managed to escape. They eluded the warriors and arrived safely in Galena, Illinois three days later. It is said that Aaron Hawley was initially able to retreat from the scene, but apparently was later killed as he fled.
## 'The Little Bear' incident
Frank Stevens in his 1903 history of the war, The Black Hawk War stated the attackers were Sauk and led by Little Bear, a chief who had purportedly adopted Felix St. Vrain as a "blood brother," presumably relying upon an account published by former Illinois governor Thomas Ford, who had fought in that war (though not that battle). Noting Little Bear's presence, St. Vrain allegedly assured his companions that there was nothing to fear. The same claims were included in an 1887 book by Nehemiah Matson, Memories of Shaubena. Matson's narrative described St. Vrain's allegedly pleading for his life with Little Bear. Matson, Stevens and John H. Kinzie all identified St. Vrain's assailants as Sac.
On the other hand, Perry A. Armstrong's 1887 history dismissed the idea that The Little Bear had adopted Felix St. Vrain. Armstrong denied that Little Bear had never existed as a Sauk or Fox chief, and thought it preposterous that a Sauk chief would have adopted St. Vrain as a brother.
## Aftermath
According to the New Galenian the three men who evaded the band that attacked the St. Vrain party, Floyd, Higgenbotham and Kenney, arrived in Galena at 7 a.m. on May 26, 1832. They provided their own description of events which the newspaper account detailed. However, at least one source indicated that Floyd was a victim of the massacre and his remains are interred in the cemetery with the other victims of the massacre at a public park within Kellogg's Grove near present-day Kent, Illinois. Public and military records, however, confirm that Aquilla Floyd was discharged from the militia on August 20, 1832, and returned to his home in Warren County, Kentucky, where he died of old age in next-door Edmonson County, Kentucky November 1879. His remains are not buried at the monument with the others, and his name on the monument is a mistake made in 1886 when the monument was erected. It is probable that it was assumed he was killed during the battles because no record could be found of him in Iowa, since he had returned to Kentucky after discharge.
Following the massacre a detachment led by Colonel Henry Dodge buried the bodies of St. Vrain and some of the other victims. Though Dodge and his men recovered the remains of St. Vrain, Hale and Fowler, the body of Aaron Hawley was never recovered.
## See also
- List of multiple homicides in Illinois |
28,189,517 | Rakta Sambandham | 1,152,932,322 | 1962 film directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao | [
"1960s Telugu-language films",
"1962 drama films",
"1962 films",
"Films directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao",
"Films scored by Ghantasala (musician)",
"Indian black-and-white films",
"Indian drama films",
"Telugu remakes of Tamil films"
]
| Rakta Sambandham () is a 1962 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by V. Madhusudhana Rao and produced by Sundarlal Nahata and Doondi. The film stars N. T. Rama Rao, Kanta Rao, Savitri and Devika, with Relangi, Ramana Reddy, M. Prabhakar Reddy and Suryakantham in supporting roles. A remake of A. Bhimsingh's Tamil-language film Pasamalar (1961), it narrates the story of bonding between Rajasekhar "Raju" and his sister Radha, who lose their parents at an early age. Radha falls in love with Raju's friend Anand and they marry. The rest of the film focuses on the impact made by Anand's aunt Kanthamma on their lives post marriage.
Produced on a restricted budget and filmed majorly in sets erected at Golden Film Studios and Vijaya Vauhini Studios, Rakta Sambandham's screenplay was written by Mullapudi Venkata Ramana. Ghantasala composed the soundtrack and background score. C. Nageswara Rao and N. S. Prakasham served as the director of photography and editor respectively. Krishna Rao was the art director.
Rakta Sambandham was released on 1 November 1962 and received positive reviews from the critics, who praised the performances of the cast, Ramana's screenplay and Madhusudhan Rao's direction in particular. The film was commercially successful, completing a 100-day run in 11 centers and over 25 weeks in Vijayawada, making it a silver jubilee film. It was re-released in 1988 and was well received.
## Plot
Rajasekhar "Raju" becomes the guardian of his younger sister Radha after their parent's death. The brother-sister duo love, care, and adore each other and are inseparable. He works at a local mill run for daily wages. One day, Radha is injured in an accident and Anand, Raju's co-worker at the mill, tends to her injuries. Raju is happy to know this and befriends Anand.
When the mill is shut down due to a labor problem, Radha gives a depressed Raju one thousand rupees which she had saved earlier. She advises him to use this money as seed capital and commence his own toy business. Raju follows her advice, starts a business, and buys the mill. Anand, who returned to the city after a legal dispute at his village, is jobless and approaches Raju for work. Raju appoints him in his concern and over some time, Anand and Radha fall in love. Raju, who is very possessive of his sister, gets angry with Anand as he feels betrayed. However, knowing how intensely Radha loves Anand, he arranges for their wedding.
After the marriage, Anand, along with his aunt Kanthamma and cousin Apparao, moves into Raju's house. Raju marries Malathi, a doctor, at Radha's suggestion. All of them continue to live under the same roof and several misunderstandings arise. Kanthamma uses every opportunity to widen the rift between the couples. Unable to witness Radha's troubles, Raju moves out of the house with his wife.
Kanthamma serves legal notice to Raju, demanding a share in the property for Radha. Meanwhile, Anand contests Raju in the local government elections. To avoid further issues, Raju withdraws his nomination. Still, the families do not unite. Radha delivers a boy and Malathi delivers a girl. After her child's birth, Malathi dies, leaving Raju heartbroken. Anand goes to meet Raju but is expelled by Malathi's brother Bhaskar, who holds him responsible for his sister's plight. Unable to cope with the separation from his sister and to have peace of mind, Raju goes on a pilgrimage for several months. He donates the entire property to Radha and sends the papers through a lawyer before leaving.
Raju returns on Diwali day and goes to meet Radha, but is denied entry by Kanthamma. While going back, he saves a boy from getting burnt by firecrackers and in the process, loses his eyesight. Through Subbanna, Radha learns that Raju had arrived and rushes to meet him. Raju learns that the child he saved is none other than his nephew. Anand, who learned about Kanthamma's misdeeds from Apparao, expels her from his house and goes to meet Raju. He is devastated to know that both Raju and Radha have died due to cardiac arrest, holding each other's hands before dying.
## Cast
Male actors
- N. T. Rama Rao as Rajasekhar "Raju"
- Kanta Rao as Anand
- Relangi as Apparao
- Ramana Reddy as Vishwanatham
- K. V. S. Sharma as Rathnam
- M. Prabhakar Reddy as Bhaskar
- Y. V. Raju as Subbanna
Female actors
- Savitri as Radha
- Devika as Malathi
- Girija as Sita
- Suryakantham as Kanthamma
## Production
### Development
Impressed with the commercial success of A. Bhimsingh's 1961 Tamil-language film Pasamalar (1961), Doondi and Sundarlal Nahata acquired its remake rights. They decided to remake it in Telugu for their production company Rajalakshmi Productions, but were skeptical of the film's success, as it had a very tragic story. After a delay, Nahata revived the plans and signed V. Madhusudhana Rao to direct the film. Doondi signed writer Mullapudi Venkata Ramana to work on the script. His decision was met with severe criticism, as Ramana was known for his humorous works. Ramana took it as a challenge and completed working on the film's script and shot division in a span of two weeks. To tone down the melodrama in the original, Ramana introduced two characters from his fiction works: Apparao, the chronic debtor and his love interest Sita. Both were the subject of Ramana's friend, collaborator and filmmaker Bapu's paintings.
### Cast and crew
Savitri was cast as the female lead, reprising her role from Pasamalar. Nahata approached Akkineni Nageswara Rao to play the male lead, but Nageswara Rao politely rejected the proposal, saying that the audience would not accept him playing Savitri's brother, given their reputation as an on-screen romantic pair. Doondi approached N. T. Rama Rao for the same, who accepted the proposal. Kanta Rao was signed as the other male lead, played by Gemini Ganesan in the original. Devika, M. Prabhakar Reddy and Suryakantham were cast in key supporting roles. Relangi and Girija were chosen to play Apparao and Sita respectively, and Ramana Reddy was cast as the latter's father. K. V. S. Sarma and Y. V. Raju played minor roles as the factory owner and servant Subbanna respectively.
Nahata and Doondi were impressed with Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy's soundtrack and score for the original, and approached them to work on the remake. They expressed their inability due to scheduling conflicts, and instead suggested Ghantasala's name. Doondi signed Ghantasala as the film's music composer. C. Nageswara Rao served as the director of photography, and N. S. Prakasham edited the film. Krishna Rao was the film's art director.
### Filming
Rakta Sambandham was majorly filmed in sets erected at Golden Film Studios and Vijaya Vauhini Studios, where the post-production activities were carried out. Doondi and Nahata wanted to wrap the film within a restricted budget. According to Madhusudhan Rao, Rakta Sambandham was physically and mentally demanding for Savitri, though she played the same role in the original. Savitri avoided using glycerol during emotional scenes and preferred method acting. As a result, she had swollen eyes and fainted on sets often. Shooting was cancelled at times due to Savitri's illness.
Suryakantham, who played the role of an abusive mother-in-law, could not bear watching Savitri struggle and used to forget her lines. She expressed her helplessness to Madhusudhan Rao and wished to walk out of the film, until Rama Rao intervened and requested to reconsider her decision. While filming an emotional scene, film producer Aluri Chakrapani visited the sets. He suggested Rama Rao to act in a subtle way; he stated that the Telugu audience would not appreciate melodramatic performances. The song "Yevaro Nannu Kavvinchi" was filmed on Kanta Rao and Savitri at Kodaikanal.
## Music
Ghantasala composed the film's soundtrack and background score. He was initially apprehensive about the songs as all of them were situation based, and that Viswanathan's music received critical acclaim. With Nahata's encouragement, he composed new tunes for all the songs except "Chanduruni Minchu", "Bangaru Bomma Raaveme", "Manchi Roju Vastundi" which were retained from the original. Aarudhra, Anisetty Subbarao, C. Narayana Reddy, Daasarathi and Kosaraju collaborated for the lyrics. The soundtrack was marketed by HMV Records and was released on 1 December 1962.
The soundtrack received positive reviews. Venkat Rao, in his review for Andhra Jyothi dated 9 November 1962, stated that Ghantasala's music was instrumental in taking the film to the next level, and praised the lyrics for the songs "Manchi Roju Vastundi", "Bangaru Bomma Raaveme" and "Yevaro Nannu Kavvinchi". Radha Krishna, writing for Andhra Prabha on 11 November 1962, opined that Ghantasala's music was "uplifting" and praised the lyricists for their contribution. Visalaandhra, in its review dated 11 November 1962, noted the songs "Idhe Rakta Sambandham", "Chanduruni Minchu" and "Bangaru Bomma Raaveme" as the finest among others in the film's soundtrack.
## Release
Rakta Sambandham was released on 1 November 1962, with an approximate total length of 15,386 feet (4,690 m) in 17 reels, and a running time of 144 minutes. The film's distribution rights were acquired by East India Film Company Private Limited. While Savitri was skeptical of the film's success owing to its melodramatic nature, Rama Rao expressed his confidence citing Ramana's screenwriting as the film's strength. Rakta Sambandham was a commercial success, completing a 100-day run in 11 centers and over 25 weeks in Vijayawada, making it a silver jubilee film. During Rama Rao's tenure as the Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Rakta Sambandham was re-released in 1988, and completed a 100-day run in Hyderabad.
## Reception
The film received positive reviews from critics. Venkat Rao, in his review for Andhra Jyothi dated 9 November 1962, praised the performances of the film's cast, especially those of Rama Rao, Savitri and Kanta Rao. Venkat Rao also praised Ramana's screenplay and the emotional climax, but found the inclusion of a dance number in the second half as an unwanted addition. Radha Krishna, writing for Andhra Prabha on 11 November 1962, termed the performances of Rama Rao and Savitri as "extraordinary", and praised Ramana for his spontaneity in the dialogues. Visalaandhra, in its review dated 11 November 1962, found Rama Rao's performance in the second half more effective and moving than the one he delivered in Kalasi Vunte Kaladu Sukham (1961). The reviewer noted that the film was "technically sound" with profound writing by Ramana and deft handling by Madhusudhan Rao.
## Legacy
Rakta Sambandham made a significant impact on the on-screen image of Rama Rao and Savitri. The portraits of the actors used in the film later gained wide recognition and were used in public gatherings on multiple occasions. During its theatrical run, the film influenced many Telugu households to celebrate brother-sister bonding. As a mark of gratitude to Doondi, Ramana dedicated his book Cineramaneeyam Part I to him. After Rakta Sambandham, Rama Rao and Savitri acted as a romantic couple in P. S. Ramakrishna Rao's Aatma Bandhuvu (1962). Its commercial success encouraged Rama Rao to experiment further with his on-screen image. |
2,203,813 | Richmond station (California) | 1,166,214,611 | Railway station in Richmond, California, US | [
"Amtrak stations in Contra Costa County, California",
"Bay Area Rapid Transit stations in Contra Costa County, California",
"Buildings and structures in Richmond, California",
"Bus stations in Contra Costa County, California",
"Former Southern Pacific Railroad stations in California",
"Railway stations in the United States opened in 1973",
"Railway stations in the United States opened in 1977",
"Stations on the Orange Line (BART)",
"Stations on the Red Line (BART)",
"Transit centers in the United States"
]
| Richmond station (officially the Richmond Transit Center) is an Amtrak intercity rail and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station located in downtown Richmond, California. Richmond is the north terminus of BART service on the and ; it is a stop for Amtrak's Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, and California Zephyr routes. The accessible station has one island platform for the two BART tracks, with a second island platform serving two of the three tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad Martinez Subdivision for Amtrak trains. It is one of two transfer points between BART and Amtrak, along with Oakland Coliseum station.
The Southern Pacific (SP)-controlled Northern Railway opened through what is now Richmond in 1878. A flag stop at Barrett's Station was established by the mid-1880s; it was renamed Richmond in 1902 during the town's rapid growth. The SP constructed a new station at Richmond in 1904 and again in 1914–15. The SP station was demolished around 1968, though passenger continued until the formation of Amtrak in 1971. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway opened to Richmond in 1900; service ran until 1968, and the station was demolished in the 1990s.
The modern station opened on January 29, 1973, as the northern terminal of BART service. Controversies during planning included the station location and the design of the concourse. Amtrak service to the station began on October 30, 1977. A new Amtrak platform was built in 2001, followed by a renovation of the whole station completed in 2007. A parking garage replaced the surface parking lot in 2013.
## Station design and services
Richmond station is located in Downtown Richmond in a large block bounded by Macdonald Avenue, Marina Way, Barrett Avenue, and 19th Street. The rail right-of-way runs diagonally (northwest–southeast) through the block at street level, with bridges over lowered sections of Macdonald Avenue and Barrett Avenue at the ends of the station. The BART platform – a single island platform with two tracks – is located on the east side of the station complex. Richmond is the north terminus of BART service on the and . The Amtrak platform – an island platform served by two of the three tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad Martinez Subdivision – is located to its west. It is served by the Capitol Corridor, San Joaquins, and California Zephyr routes.
A pedestrian concourse aligned with Nevin Avenue runs east–west under the tracks and platforms. Entrances from street level are located at both ends of the concourse. A semicircular "industrial post-modern" metal canopy covers the west entrance and a small retail building. A parking garage, a curved busway, and a kiss and ride lane are located on the southwest side of the station. Metro Walk, a mixed-use transit-oriented development, occupies the northwest corner of the block. The station is fully accessible, with elevators to both platforms and at both entrances.
The BART station was one of five designed by local firm Maher & Martens. Three pieces of public art are located around the station complex. A mosaic relief of marine life by William Mitchell, made of seashells and fiberglass, is in the BART paid area of the concourse. Architecture critic Dave Weinstein describes it as "rather disquieting" and "the strangest work at any BART station". On the Right Track, a 2007 series of tile murals by Jos Sances and Daniel Galvez, is located in the west entrance plaza. Moving Richmond by Mildred Howard consists of two bent weathering steel plates with poetry by Ishmael Reed on the side of the parking garage.
Although Richmond is a terminal station for BART, most connecting regional bus services instead run to El Cerrito del Norte station, which is much closer to I-80. Richmond station is served by several AC Transit bus services – local routes 70, 71, 72M, 74, 76, 376; several school routes; and all-night route 800 – all of which use the station busway. Flixbus intercity buses and local shuttles also use the busway. A Golden Gate Transit route over the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge connecting Richmond to the agency's main service area in North Bay ran until 2015, when it was combined with a route that terminates at El Cerrito del Norte station.
## History
### Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads
The Southern Pacific (SP)-controlled Northern Railway opened through the then-uninhabited swamplands near Point Richmond on January 8, 1878. Stops were soon established at San Pablo, north of what is now Richmond, and Stege in what is now the southeast corner of Richmond. By the mid-1880s, the SP established a flag stop at Barrett's station at modern-day Barrett Avenue. It was named for George H. Barrett, a local landowner whose house was nearby. By the turn of the century, Barrett's station was a three-sided shelter at which passengers could hail several daily trains.
In 1902, Barrett's station was renamed Richmond to match the rapidly growing town. The SP built a new Richmond station on the north side of Macdonald Avenue in 1904. The old "shed" was demolished on August 18, 1904, with the new station – a single-story structure with an attached freight house – opened soon after. The SP began work on a new station, estimated to cost \$11,000 (), in August 1914. It opened in September 1915, with the old station relocated west for use as a freight house. The new station was a larger wooden structure with porticos at both ends.
The East Shore and Suburban Railway (later a Key System subsidiary) opened from the Standard Oil refinery to the SP station on July 7, 1904. An extension eastwards along Macdonald Avenue opened in October 1905, crossing the SP tracks at grade. A city ordinance disallowed streetcars from crossing the SP tracks with passengers aboard, forcing passengers to cross the tracks on foot. A \$35,000 contract () was issued on September 1, 1907, for construction of an underpass to take Macdonald Avenue and the streetcars under the SP tracks. The underpass opened on May 10, 1908. Streetcars were replaced with Key System buses – later part of AC Transit – in 1933.
In 1900, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa De) made Ferry Point on Point Richmond the west terminus of its transcontinental mainline, where passengers could board ferries to San Francisco. A station was soon built at the west end of Macdonald Avenue next to the Santa Fe rail yard. It was a two-story wooden Craftsman style structure with a one-story portico on the southwest side and a one-story freight house on the northeast side. A small reading room for employees (later used as a trainmaster's office) was located nearby.
On May 16, 1904, the Santa Fe opened a branch line from Richmond to Oakland. Santa Fe trains began connecting with SP ferries at the Oakland Mole on April 23, 1933, replacing the Point Richmond passenger ferries, though Ferry Point was used for freight until 1975. (On July 1, 1938, the Santa Fe reverted to its previous Oakland terminal, with buses to San Francisco using the newly opened Bay Bridge.) During expansion of the Richmond rail yard in 1944, the station and freight house were moved eastward; the portico was replaced with an extension of the station building, which was stuccoed. A station was also located at Richmond Avenue in the Point Richmond neighborhood from 1903 to 1918.
Even as intercity rail service began to decline, Richmond was served by SP trains on the Shasta Route, Overland Route, and Central Valley routes, plus Santa Fe service to the Central Valley. The Santa Fe branch to Oakland closed on June 15, 1958, leaving Richmond as the transfer point to buses to San Francisco. Santa Fe passenger service to Richmond ended entirely in 1968 when the Golden Gate was discontinued. The SP station building was closed on August 30, 1968, and demolished shortly afterward for BART construction, leaving passengers with only a platform. SP service to Richmond on the San Joaquin Daylight continued until May 1, 1971, when Amtrak took over intercity passenger service. The former Santa Fe station was controversially demolished in the 1990s during expansion of the yard by the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway. The former reading room – the only remaining original building from the Santa Fe yard – was restored, relocated to Point Richmond, and reused as a business in 2006–07.
### BART station
As early as 1957, Richmond was identified as a likely terminus for a line of a proposed regional rapid transit system. The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) system was approved by voters in November 1962. The station was originally to be located at 6th Street and Macdonald Avenue west of downtown, but this was changed to 16th Street and Nevin Avenue (along the SP line) to allow construction of a rail yard north of the station and permit future extension. After tension between the Bay Area Rapid Transit District and the city, an agreement to use the latter site was reached in May 1967. The chosen BART alignment followed an ATSF branch line from to 23rd Street in Richmond, then curved north onto the SP alignment for the final one-half mile (0.8 km) into Richmond station. The tracks continued past the station to the rail yard; the grade crossing of Barrett Avenue – which was ranked the fifth-highest priority for elimination on a 1965 state list – was replaced with a road underpass.
By August 1967, with about 57 miles (92 km) of the initial 75-mile (121 km) system under construction, a budget shortfall led to the possibility of portions being deferred. Among the potential cuts was Richmond station, as construction had not begun past the Alameda/Contra Costa county line at . Not until March 1969, when the state approved a temporary sales tax to cover the shortfall, could work begin on the contracts for the remaining stations including Richmond. In June 1968, the original design for an elevated concourse was replaced with an underground concourse in response to objections from city officials.
The station was built by Rothschild & Raffin, which also constructed the Richmond Yard and several other BART stations, at a cost of \$2.3 million (equivalent to \$ million in ). The construction of Richmond station was credited by local officials as the key piece of downtown redevelopment efforts. BART service to Richmond began on January 29, 1973; it has remained a terminus since. (An extension to Crockett was considered in 1991 but not pursued.) BART service to Richmond was initially only on the Orange Line. Some direct service to San Francisco (today’s Red Line) began in April 1976; all-day service began on July 7, 1980, after BART was able to reduce train spacing through the Transbay Tube.
### Amtrak station
Unlike other large cities, the Bay Area did not have a convenient transfer location between Amtrak intercity service and local rapid transit; 16th Street station in Oakland was not located near a BART station. The introduction of the San Joaquin service in 1974 added a third round trip to the SP mainline north of Oakland. A \$667,000 Amtrak station adjacent to the BART station opened for use by the San Joaquin plus the long-distance San Francisco Zephyr and Coast Starlight on October 30, 1977. It included two 18-car-long platforms, with stairs and an elevator from a small station building to the under-track passage.
Amtrak service gradually expanded; a second San Joaquin was added in 1980, and the Capitols (now Capitol Corridor) service began in 1991. Richmond was also served by the Spirit of California, which ran from 1981 to 1983. Disagreements between Caltrans and Amtrak over funding delayed the addition of a station agent until September 1982.
The Coast Starlight ceased to stop at Richmond in April 1996, followed by the California Zephyr (successor to the San Francisco Zephyr) in October 1998. Richmond was the only transfer point between Amtrak and BART until the Amtrak platform at Oakland Coliseum station (which is served only by the Capitol Corridor) opened in 2005.
### Renovations
The Amtrak station building was closed on December 1, 1997, though trains continued to stop. On April 12, 2000, BART and the city broke ground on a "transit village", a large mixed-use transit-oriented development project adjacent to the station. In July 2001, the aging Amtrak facility was replaced with a modern island platform with better access to the BART pedestrian tunnel. The \$1.9 million project, funded by the state, was intended to improve the station as preparation for the transit village. The developer for the transit village – which included a parking garage for BART – was chosen in 2002.
A \$6.4 million renovation of the station was undertaken as part of the transit village project. The project included expanded entrances to the concourse, with a canopy over the west entrance. Richmond station was officially named the Richmond Transit Center at a dedication ceremony on October 18, 2007. A BART ticket window opened at the station in August 2008, joining seven other major stations in the system. The 750-space parking garage opened on May 30, 2013, with the surface lot on the east side of the station closed at that time.
The two long-distance trains began stopping at Richmond again on November 8, 2010. However, the Coast Starlight stop was again discontinued on January 14, 2013 because the train was scheduled to arrive at night – if it was several hours late, passengers would be unable to exit through the concourse, which is locked outside of BART service hours. In 2018, BART and CCJPA installed a "courtesy light" on the Amtrak platform, which will instruct northbound Capitol Corridor trains to hold for two minutes if a BART train is arriving to allow passengers to make their connection. |
58,085,796 | University of Missouri School of Music | 1,165,736,992 | School of Music within the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri | [
"1917 establishments in Missouri",
"Education in Columbia, Missouri",
"Music schools in Columbia, Missouri",
"Music schools in Missouri",
"Music venues in Columbia, Missouri",
"Musical groups from Columbia, Missouri",
"Musicians from Columbia, Missouri",
"Universities and colleges established in 1917",
"University departments in the United States",
"University of Missouri",
"University of Missouri School of Music",
"University subdivisions in Missouri"
]
| The School of Music is an academic division of the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. Its focus is the study of music, awarding baccalaureate, master's, and doctoral degrees as part of the College of Arts and Science. The institution's programs encompass composition, performance, conducting, music education, music history, musical theatre and musicology. Established in 1917 as the Department of Music, the school continues to play a prominent role in the cultural life of Missouri and is located in the Sinquefield Music Center, on the university's flagship campus in Downtown Columbia. The Fine Arts Building also houses classrooms, studios, and a recital hall. Its major performance venues are Jesse Hall, the Missouri Theatre, and Whitmore Recital Hall. The Missouri Tigers marching band, Marching Mizzou, performs at Faurot Field for Southeastern Conference football games. The school's ensembles have performed worldwide and can be heard weekly on the university's own KMUC 90.5 FM Classical, Mid-Missouri's classical music radio station. Alumni include singers Sheryl Crow and Neal Boyd, Canadian Brass founder Gene Watts, and jazz artist Mike Metheny.
## History
### Founding – 1960
Music has accompanied life at the University of Missouri since the dedication of Academic Hall in 1843. Although of that first venue only The Columns remain, music itself has since become a serious topic of study at the university. Instruction as part of official curriculum began in 1885 with the founding of the Cadet Band at the suggestion of military science professor Enoch Crowder. That band, today known as Marching Mizzou, proved popular with both university students and the townspeople of Columbia. It was not until 1907 that University President Richard Jesse appointed William Pommer as the first instructor of music. That same year Pommer, along with German professor Hermann Almstedt and future University President Albert Ross Hill, formed the Zeta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (ΦΜΑ). One of the earliest chapters of the fraternity, and the first at an institution without a school of music, Zeta played an instrumental role in the growth of the university's musical environment, especially the creation of a concert series which brought the likes of Vladimir de Pachmann, Percy Grainger, and the St. Louis Symphony to the campus. In 1910, the university became one of the earliest American universities to give credit for applied music lessons. The Department of Music as part of the College of Arts and Sciences was established in 1917, largely due to the efforts of Pommer, who would chair the department and continue to teach at the university until his retirement in 1922.
Organist James Quarles was appointed the chair of the department in 1923. Previously head of Cornell University's Music Department, Quarles became Missouri's first Dean of the School of Fine Arts upon its establishment as the university's tenth division in 1924. He also compiled and edited a book of school songs. Other dramatic changes occurred in 1924 as the Department of Music found a new home in Lathrop Hall, a re-purposed dormitory near Francis Quadrangle, and the university assumed responsibility for the Phi Mu Alpha Concert Series which had become too popular for the fraternity to manage. At that time it was rechristened as the "University Concert Series;" the series continues as of 2021. Outside of the concert series, famous Columbia ragtime pianist Blind Boone attended rehearsal and performed for the Cadet Band. In 1933, the Department of Music became a member of the National Association of Schools of Music and in 1935 the University Concert Series hosted pianist Sergei Rachmaninoff in front of a crowd of thousands. The university's most exclusive choral ensemble, University Singers, was created in 1946 by choral director Paul Van Bodegraven. In 1941, as women became increasingly involved in the department, they established an international music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota. In 1954, pianist Bethune Bischooff became the first woman appointed to a full-time position. The band program was reorganized in 1956 and the Cadet Band became the football band; Professor Richard Hills named them "Marching Mizzou".
### 1961–present
Modernity arrived in 1961 with the completion the Fine Arts Building. Though panned by critics past and present for its design, "FAB" was the first University space designed specifically for music and included a modern recital hall. The first jazz ensemble sponsored by the department was the Studio Band, which formed in 1966. Composer Thomas McKenney began the process of establishing an electronic studio for composition in 1969. In 1975, composition professor John Cheetham introduced a music appreciation course entitled "Jazz, Pop & Rock." This course, popular with music majors and non-majors alike, would become the most popular ever offered by the school. Apart from the budding study of music history, composition, and jazz, faculty members established the Esterhazy String Quartet in 1968. The quartet's tours of South America, beginning in 1976, drew international students to the university.
The School of Music's ensembles continued to tour widely over the next decades and august musical guests visited campus. Marching Mizzou and the University Singers represented Missouri during the United States bicentennial year; the University Singers performed at the Kennedy Center as part of the celebration. A Contemporary Music Competition began in 1977 in collaboration with radio station KBIA. Its brief existence included visits to the university by judges Vincent Persichetti, Lukas Foss, and Aaron Copland. Copland conducted the University Philharmonic and narrated his orchestral work Lincoln Portrait. In 1984, Robert Shaw conducted the University Singers and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The next year, Virgil Thomson premiered two compositions on campus as part of a symposium and series of concerts in Shaw's honor. Marching Mizzou, after touring England in the 1970s, performed for the all-Missouri 1985 World Series. In 1987, Philip Glass and his ensemble performed their soundtrack to the film Koyaanisqatsi as part of the University Concert Series.
Beginning in 1988, the Zeta Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia sponsored an annual jazz festival, drawing high school bands from across Missouri. The concert series brought the Modern Jazz Quartet to campus in 1988. By 1994 the department found itself in need of more space and a former Unitarian church adjacent to campus was acquired and dubbed the Fine Arts Annex. In 1995, the University Singers again performed at the Kennedy Center and in 2000, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble toured Australia and performed in the Sydney Opera House. The growing reputation of the department led to University of Missouri System President, Manuel T. Pacheco, to rechristen the Department of Music as the School of Music in the year 2000. Robert Shay would lead the School as Director from 2008 until 2014, when the school saw the appointment of its first female director, longtime percussion professor Julia Gaines, who still holds the position as of 2020. Also in 2014, the university announced the purchase of radio station 90.5 KWWC from Stephens College; the station was rebranded KMUC 90.5 FM Classical, and runs the weekly program Mizzou Music, featuring interviews and performances by faculty and students of the School of Music.
Growth came with a downside, by the new millennium, the school was spread across five buildings. Plans for new facilities had been proposed since the 1970s, but real progress was made in 2015, when Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield donated ten million dollars, the largest ever gift to the University of Missouri in support of the arts, to construct the Sinquefield Music Center. In 2018, the Fine Arts Annex was demolished for construction of the new building. On April 8, 2018, ground was broken for a new School of Music Building, which includes new large ensemble rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, faculty offices and practice rooms. The Sinquefield Music Center held its grand opening on February 1, 2020. There are unfunded plans for a four-story second phase, including a new concert hall and additional program space.
## Academics
The School of Music awards two types of undergraduate degrees: Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Arts. As of 2020, the Bachelor of Music degree is divided into nine focus areas: Composition, Music Education, Music History, Music Theory, Brass Performance, Piano Performance, String Performance, Voice Performance, Woodwind Performance and Percussion Performance. The Bachelor of Arts degree is intended largely for students double majoring outside music. A Minor in Music Theater is offered as an interdisciplinary minor in cooperation with the Department of Theater.
Masters and Doctoral degrees are awarded in collaboration with the University of Missouri Graduate School. The Master of Music degree is divided into fifteen different focus areas: Brass, Choral Conducting, Collaborative Piano, Composition, Jazz Performance and Pedagogy, Music Education, Music Theory, Orchestral Conducting, Percussion, Piano Pedagogy, Piano Performance, Strings, Voice, Wind Conducting, and Woodwinds. A Master of Arts degree is offered in musicology. A PhD degree in Music Education is also offered.
### Admission
As well as meeting the general requirements for admission to the University of Missouri, undergraduate students must audition on their primary instrument. As of 2019, auditions are held three times a year during Mizzou Music Days. Occasionally auditions can be scheduled at the discretion of individual instructors. Several scholarships are offered. Graduate applicants must hold a baccalaureate degree in music, or equivalent from an accredited institution. They also must have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the last sixty hours of undergraduate coursework. Additional requirements vary by field.
### International programs
The School of Music has partnerships with four Brazilian institutions and a conservatory of music in Avellino, Italy. The partnerships encourage student and faculty exchanges and collaboration in performance, teaching, and research. The first of these began with a tour of Brazil, and performance in the city of Belém by professors Eva Szekely, John McLeod, Carolyn Kenneson and Carleton Spotts; this led to the partnership with the Brazilian Fundação Carlos Gomes and continued with the State University of Londrina in 1998. An exchange program was begun in 2007 with the Theatro da Paz in Belém, Pará, home of the Pará Symphony Orchestra. More recently an agreement was formalized with Italian Conservatory Domenico Cimarosa in Avellino. The newest partnership is with the Federal University of Amazonas.
### New Music Initiative
The philanthropy of Rex and Jeanne Sinquefield greatly encouraged the study of composition by establishing the Mizzou New Music Initiative, which includes the Sinquefield Composition Prize, the Creating Original Music Project (COMP) Festival, the Mizzou Summer Composition Institute, and the New Music Ensemble. The school also host the Mizzou International Composers Festival. In 2019, the Mizzou New Music Initiative announced a 2.5 million gift from the Sinquefields to go towards undergraduate scholarships and graduate assistants. The Mizzou Music Initiative has encouraged the creation of new music and composers such as Stephanie Berg who has seen her work performed by the St. Louis Symphony.
### Budds Center
The Budds Center for American Music Studies was established in 2019 by musicologist, and faculty member, Michael J. Budds, with a 4 million dollar donation. The Center focuses on the study and preservation of American music. Budds was inducted into the Missouri Music Hall of Fame in 2009.
## Facilities
The Sinquefield Music Center, opened in 2020, houses faculty offices, classrooms, two large ensemble rehearsal spaces, a recording studio, many small rehearsal rooms. Across the street, the Fine Arts Building on Lowry Mall houses more faculty offices, classrooms, Whitmore Recital Hall, and Rhynsburger Theater.
Two large performance venues, Jesse Hall and the Missouri Theatre, are owned by the university and utilized for large ensembles and productions. Choral and chamber groups also often perform in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, primarily for its favorable acoustics. Whitmore Recital Hall in the Fine Arts Building host student, faculty, and guest recitals. The Missouri United Methodist Church, whose large Skinner pipe organ was acquired by former school Dean James Quarles, is occasionally utilized. Jazz Ensembles and special events often make use of Stotler Lounge in the Memorial Union. Marching Mizzou has a dedicated practice field and storage facilities near Faurot Field, where it performs.
## Ensembles
Student instrumental ensembles include three concert bands: Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, and University Band; two jazz Bands: Concert Jazz and Studio Jazz (along with numerous combos); and the University Philharmonic. Choral Ensembles include the University Singers, Concert Choral, and Choral Union. Hitt Street Harmony is a small ensemble of jazz vocalists. The Show-Me Opera combines the talents of vocalist and instrumentalist alike. As well as regular percussion ensembles, the percussion studio supports a world percussion ensemble and a steel pan ensemble.
Though Marching Mizzou is the largest athletic band at the school, there are several smaller ensembles. Mini Mizzou performs at Missouri Tigers men's basketball events. Musical Theater opportunities are provided through the Department of Theater. Faculty ensembles include the Esterhazy Quartet, the Missouri Quintet (woodwinds), Mizzou Brass, and DRAX, a percussion/saxophone duo. The Mizzou New Music Ensemble specializes in the performance of original compositions.
## Events
The School of Music plays host to several annual events throughout the year. The Plowman Chamber Music Competition, co-presented by the university, attracts performers from around the country; the 2019 festival presented seventy performers, including fifteen ensembles over five days. Another annual event is the Missouri State Music Festival, organized in cooperation with the Missouri State High School Activities Association. The Mizzou International Composers Festival takes place as part of the New Music Initiative, and host yearly artist in residence, such as Alarm Will Sound.
## Student life
As well as professional student organizations there are four Greek letter organizations open to students with an interest in music. The Zeta chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia (ΦΜΑ), a fraternity for men with an interest in music, was established in 1907. A fraternity for women, the Iota Lambda chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota (ΣΑΙ), was established in 1941. In 1982, the Eta Upsilon chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi (ΚΚΨ) and the Zeta Omega chapter of Tau Beta Sigma (ΤΒΣ), were established for collegiate band members.
## Notable people
### Alumni
- Sheryl Crow, singer, songwriter, and actress
- Neal E. Boyd, winner of third-season of America's Got Talent
- Stanley Grover, actor and singer
- Alicia Olatuja, mezzo-soprano, jazz vocalist
- Gene Watts, trombonist and Canadian Brass founder
- Mike Metheny, trumpeter and jazz journalist
### Faculty
- Michael J. Budds, musicologist and long-time faculty member
- John Cheetham, composer
- Julia Gaines, percussionist, director
- Esterhazy Quartet, string quartet made up of faculty members
- William Henry Pommer, known for his songs and chamber music
- James Thomas Quarles, organist and educator
- Yoshiaki Onishi, composer, conductor, clarinetist, and Guggenheim Fellow
## See also
- Columbia Chorale, a community choral group
- Missouri Symphony, a professional symphony orchestra |
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